While Usuzoku was busy playing around with Mana's hat the magician turned around and went Kiyomi's way. Momentarily, a loud poof with a cloud of smoke signaled that the rabbit had chosen to return home the easy way. Mana's chest, crushed by the weight of her friend's injury and the risks they had to take, barely moved. The psychological pressure alone made breathing difficult.
"Zoku-chan said that he couldn't help us. I'm beginning to get an impression he doesn't like me very much…" Mana scratched the back of her head, her eyes wandered down as she felt quite guilty about not being able to help out.
"Goddamn it!" Kiyomi screamed out clutching herself into a fetal sphere of pain and rage.
"We need to move back to the southern entrance. Move Meiko there and ask them to treat her as eliminated." Mana admitted what Kiyomi must've been thinking as well.
"No! Meiko can't know. She'll fight back, she'll make her own injury worse by trying to escape. Can you contain her if she decides to flip her shit?" Kiyomi began losing it.
"Actually I can."
"Please tell me you haven't just said that!"
"You're right…"
"We can't move her there. There's a genin out there that is out to get Meiko. If she is eliminated they'll lose their chance and fail. Removing her from exam isn't fair, they'll likely consider removing our whole team from the exam." Kiyomi started thinking of the worst.
"Maybe they'll just count Meiko as eliminated and just count a win for that guy? I don't know… We won't know until we give it a shot." Mana shrugged.
"Mana… Please…" Kiyomi grabbed the magician's shoulder forcefully stopping her from relaying the news to Meiko and asking to have her moved the southern entrance.
"We won't fight. We absolutely cannot fight over this. It's a luxury we can't permit ourselves." Mana's voice cut back strictly.
Kiyomi's hand moved back, shaking. Even in her extreme duress she realized that if they raised their fists against each other everything would've ended – they'd have wasted too much resources to continue to compete.
"If Meiko is out they won't eliminate anyone. They must have a scenario where a genin is eliminated due to hunger, natural causes or sickness. The most reasonable case would be just to pass the genin whose target the eliminated person was, granted, the genin without a takedown would risk approaching the northern entrance…" Mana sighed.
"What are you guys talking about?" Meiko's weak and lingering voice surprised both of the girls.
"You should stay tuckered in!" Kiyomi jumped to the blacksmith who just rudely stepped aside from being gently pushed back, avoiding the Yamanaka's arm. The girl then staggered and fell on her butt as even such elementary evasive action was too much for her paled and weakened state.
Kiyomi felt up Meiko's forehead. "You're burning up… Go back to the campsite!" she lied.
"What were you talking about? "If Meiko is out" part, what's about that?" the blacksmith demanded to know. She began wriggling in Kiyomi's embrace and almost fighting out of it.
"Your cold is very suspicious. We are considering giving you up to have you treated. Granted that'd eliminate you from the exams." Mana admitted starting it off with a sigh that both demonstrated her hesitance to admit it but also heralded her honesty.
"No!" Meiko objected, her bandaged gut began briefly flashing red, the bleeding was very weak but it was there and its weakness was quite likely because the smith had diminishing liquids left to bleed with.
"We know you don't like it, Meiko. Still, I won't allow you to die on us. I'll disable you and drag you there by force if I have to." Mana walked up to Meiko and stepped on her toes to elevate her eyes closer to those of Meiko just to show that she was serious.
"No! You don't get it! This is my contribution to the team, this is what I'm good at, you can't take it away from me. You can't just snuff out the part where I feel useful. Promise me you won't!" the smith demanded.
Mana answered with silence. She genuinely didn't know how to respond to it. She kind of related to how Meiko felt. The redhead was strong, strong enough to fight off rogue ninja by herself. Strong enough to be the powerhouse and the wall of the team that protected those she held dear without fail. The only time Mana saw Meiko so distressed was when her death at Akimichi Francho's arms was all but inevitable. When it began to be clear that her protection of her friends was about to end and all of them will soon die right after the blacksmith.
"Meiko, you can't possibly ask that of…" Kiyomi tried softening the situation.
"Promise me! You're a shitty liar so I'll know if you don't mean it!" Meiko demanded it again. Her strong will was the only thing that even betrayed some semblance of life still beating in her chest.
"Alright. Whatever we do, we won't end this for you." Mana caved in, almost collapsing due to the weight she just placed on her shoulders.
"Now I know why Hanasaku-sensei doesn't want you on the team. Why she's such a bitch to you…" Kiyomi cried out. "Or is this related? Maybe you're just afraid to lose because you know what it means to you as the part of Team Hokage!?"
Tears began running down Mana's face, she couldn't stand where she stood any longer.
"Watch over Meiko." Her shaking voice ordered before she leaped away into the shade of the forest. Now that the sun was beginning to hide behind the horizon the darkness of the Forest of Death became just that much more apparent.
Mana grazed her uniform on a tree while leaping past it carelessly. A deck of sealed cards fell out and scattered all over the forest's mossy floor but Mana kept on leaping ahead before she reached a tall and thick branch positioned by one of the few holes in the leafage where some sunlight could still pass through. She just wanted to see the sky…
Her teary eyes made seeing the road ahead difficult. That was exactly why she so carelessly slammed into an obstruction. At least her body chose to instinctively augment itself and protect the magician from needless bruises and risks of infection. Of all things she needed that the least.
The kunoichi wasn't mad at her teammate. If anything she admired Kiyomi's friendship and affection for Meiko. At this point, seeing to what depths of irrationality both she and Kiyomi were willing to sink for their friend made Mana wonder if one of them felt more than friendship towards Meiko. Mana knew that she didn't, to her Meiko was always just her best friend. Why did she actually promise her that? Maybe Kiyomi was right?
Brooding here alone and courting ambush wasn't smart. She needed to go back. While similar thoughts of return continued to brew in Mana's head she just kept on sitting until the sky completely changed from early evening to a starry sky.
The magician sighed and picked herself up, she felt embarrassed to face her friends but she needed to swallow her own social feelings about the situation and face reality – the three needed each other, more than ever before. One skip by another, she kept on making her way back wondering if her friends had it in them to not make a fire.
After Mana finally returned she noticed Kiyomi having her hands wrapped around Meiko and pressing the sleeping girl against her body in desperation to keep her warm. Obviously whenever the two lied to Meiko about her burning up, truly they meant absolutely different – her skin was feeling chilly and looking just as snowy.
"I'm... I'm so…" Kiyomi opened her mouth to whisper but Mana just pulled out a card from her inner pocket and removed her bag.
"Let's eat." She said out loud which instantly woke Meiko up. Somehow the magician wasn't surprised that the only thing to keep the blacksmith up and conscious instead of passing out and going to sleep for good was the prospect of food.
"Is it a good idea? I mean it's her gut that was injured, the injury isn't too deep but it's fair to assume some of her innards burst and released something out there." Kiyomi sadly exclaimed.
"True. It may make her infection worse, but it'll also give her energy. It may also accelerate her natural metabolism a little bit and make her feel better short term." Mana wondered before removing a cup of instant ramen and a blue backed card which she positioned on top of a pack with silver colored powder inside. Making fire was a bit risky when most of the genin in the forest wanted them hurt or dead so chemistry needed to be used to heat the ramen…
"You have a card with just a flask of water sealed into it but you forgot to take food pills?" Kiyomi raised her eyebrow when Mana unsealed the small amount of water inside that card into the contents of the pack, the powder inside reacted to the water bloating the pack and heating it. After placing the cups of ramen onto the bloated bag of heat Mana allowed them to heat up a bit.
"I didn't forget, I chose something else over that. I took ramen with me. Makes sense I'd also take something to heat it with." The magician replied.
"I thought this exam would be easy… We were so strong, so much stronger than any normal genin. We haven't even faced off against any genin in the exam and we're already almost wiped out…" Kiyomi sighed watching the instant ramen cups slowly heat up from inside and waiting until the paper stickers on top bloated from the built up air pressure inside before bursting and signaling it was ready to eat.
After the ramen was done Meiko instantly dug in. The food and the energy it provided livened her cheeks up a bit. Her supernatural ninja metabolism found some more energy to draw strength from and attempt to quicker compensate her chakra loss so she could recover from her wounds. Meiko needed days to even begin to get better and the trio didn't have that amount of time, neither did the redhead herself. After finishing the ramen, the blacksmith fell asleep on Kiyomi's lap who continued to rub Meiko's skin to heat it up. The chemical pack used to heat the ramen was a bit too hot at the moment to be used for that purpose.
"She looks peaceful enough. Don't think she's in any danger for some time…" Kiyomi noted. "You haven't eaten anything though, we may need you still."
"I hate ramen…" Mana replied before closing her eyes for a brief nap while Kiyomi was still watching over Meiko. "It's easy to prepare, it's really easy to carry around also Meiko likes it and you don't hate it. I may despise it but it was the reasonable ration choice for a short term exam."
"Look… About what I said…" Kiyomi brought it up again.
"Forget it. You like Meiko, you're not yourself when her wellbeing is threatened. I get it…" the magician spoke while continuing to briefly twist her lips upwards. "I can't imagine how much things I'd later regret I'd do if Kouta was in danger."
Kouta's shaking and blood hand moved into his ninja pouch and pulled out a yellow food pill which he quickly cracked between his teeth, chewed up to gooey and mustard-like paste and let it slide down his throat. Within an instant he began feeling his racing and spouting blood heart calm down and his Mystical Palm technique slowly becoming more effective as both the food pill and his own ninjutsu assisted his efforts to treat his injury.
"You bastard!" Trot growled out, standing up all covered in blood stains and cuts. Several cuts appeared to have really gotten deeper into his muscle and flesh but most of them didn't hit any vitals. Granted, if Yushijin wished or tried to kill him he had plenty of time for it.
"I assume that jutsu of yours was an illusionary technique? That's how you move so fast, you trick our minds. Still, how did you do it before – the first time you cut Trot? Didn't hear you say any words or make any seals…" Jord wondered apathetically.
"Then I barely strained myself. I forced your brains to skip out on maybe a millisecond. Making you believe time has frozen for seconds is difficult and needs the package deal: hand seals and name and all that…" Yushijin replied switching his deadly cold stares between the two opponents of his.
Trot looked like he should've considering calling it quits. He was certainly past his fighting point and was now pushing at his limits to find power to keep standing. Maybe he could go for a couple of more rounds but a focused and connecting cut from Yushijin's sword would cleave him in half for certain this time.
The jounin mentor of Team Pyrite landed nearby closely observing the situation and keeping herself from speaking. Any advice she could've given could have been interpreted as cheating, after all. Her very presence by Jord's side was an exception granted for her country and her team all by itself.
Jord laughed out, finally breaking into an uncontrollable and very prevalent emotional fit. "It appears we've got even more toys to play with!" she declared pointing at a bush behind Yushijin that split open revealing her third teammate – the tall and powerful mute - Horein Ptet walking out with Budoki resting on his shoulder, seemingly unconscious.
"Hmmm, it seems it's three against one. Time to play it safe then and gamble two on one!" Trot finally mustered the strength needed to show his bloodied teeth through his smug and cut up face as he took steps back to hide behind his female teammate.
"If you wish, after this I can heal you a little so that these wounds don't leave scars!" Kouta suggested as he was standing on his feet again, granted, somewhat slouched and with a face twisted in pain but standing nonetheless which very few young men who have been stabbed from behind right through their toughest defenses could do.
"Well well…" Jord licked her lips.
Yushijin smiled, finally busting through the façade of deadly swordsman assassin he was putting up recently.
"I believe you've miscalculated…" he expressed in a happy and bashful manner before laughing more energetically.
A sizzling marble-sized orb rolled out from Budoki's unconscious body and without giving ample time to react simply exploded right by his feet. After the smoke had cleared large chunks of hay and leather started to fall from wherever the explosion had blasted them, the medical ninja who thought he had caught up to the crafty kunoichi from Kouta's team was resting on a nearby branch waving her legs like a go-lucky child. She used a dummy of leather and hay disguised as herself to appear like she's been beaten and caught.
"Gotcha, big guy…" she grinned with a full-teeth smile.
The explosion had torn skin and coaled up muscle tissue for the mute giant. It also released his tidily kept blond hair from their ponytail. The big man just followed up with a bunch of hand seals placing his palms against the most grievous wounds and sticking out bone to patch the injuries up. It wasn't even close to being the first time that this crafty and slippery young lady had inflicted such damage to him and caught him in a trap of her making.
"Well… This just got a whole lot of fun!" Jord smiled as her figure straightened out and she took a modified crane stance, ready to pound the ground with any one of her palms or one of her feet to use one of her powerful earthquake Earth Release techniques.
"You kidding? I'm on my last legs here… Let's scram!" Trot growled with his broken up voice before all three of the genin ninja erupted into flames, burning up like life-size paper cutouts of their originals.
Kouta and Budoki sighed easier. Yushijin kept on standing and waiting for a stealthy strike but as time kept on passing nothing came. The jounin lady looked at her side and immediately dashed away in speeds that appeared almost matching the Body Flicker Technique that a lot of higher ranked ninja used to amp their speed.
"I hate fighting without preparation like that… I really need time to set my stuff up, I almost got caught for real." Budoki complained before wiping her dirty cheek with her thumb and checking one of her two hair buns that was ruined and now lazily spread hair all over her face and behind.
Kouta laughed it up before his chest pain made itself clear again. Yushijin sighed before sheathing his sword and looking around the bloodied and devastated battlefield. Trees and lurking predators laid cut up from the gusts of cutting wind emanating from his previously deadly use of the sword. The young man almost felt bad about losing his composure like that.
"You know… I think I understand your clan a little better now." Yushijin caved in with a submissive bow of his head which allowed his long and messy hair flow all over his shoulders and his face.
Kouta looked around, finally getting the chance to see what losing one's composure for just one moment could've done. He had seen plenty of similar sights, one of the more gruesome ones was his father's gritty display of nearly blowing up the planet despite perfectly channeling his energy all into his opponent when fighting Akimichi Francho.
"You guys… Don't lower your guard just yet. That creepy mute is a pretty wicked medical ninja, maybe on par with Kouta. He'll have that Trout-guy patched up in no time." Budoki warned her careless teammates.
"Trot…" Kouta fixed his teammate's mistake.
"He may treat Trot's body but his chakra reserves he spent on not dying will take time to replenish. I'd say it'll be days before we hear from those guys again." Yushijin concluded.
"Ma'am! Engagements all over the map! It appears the teams have all settled in and are now gunning for their targets!" the sensory corps officer reported energetically.
"It appears the exam has finally truly begun. Prepare to report target takedowns. A chakra dip below ten percent is considered a takedown! If it falls below four percent let me know, we'll send a retrieval squad for immediate medical attention." Shibari kept on managing the corps.
"Ma'am!" all sensory units reported in unison continuing to observe the glowing liquid ball with red sparks signaling engagements all over the liquid representation of the battlefield.
