"Are you sure this is fine?" Jon-D wondered, stroking his blond hair. The bandana that covered the lower part of the young man's face tilted from time to time suggesting that his exhales were erratic and packed some punch to them. A sign of the unease that the young Kumogakure ninja felt.
"That is my decision as the leader, you were free to accept the burden yourself and I would not have objected, Jon-san." Minato nodded with a stoic expression. For such a little shrimp with pretty-boy's esthetics, Meiko found the boy's resolve and persistence admirable.
"You do not address a Kumogakure ninja by their nickname with the honorific," Jon-D replied. "The letter tied to our nicknames is the appropriate honorific. Please address me as Jon-D, that will be fine."
"Oh, I see…" Minato scratched the back of his head, looking apologetic about the mess-up. "The Kumogakure of this universe has a whole different culture from ours, it seems. Thank you for clearing that up."
"At least you are willing to learn. Now let's see what chops you've got as a leader, shall we?" Jon-D nodded and turned to the opposing team. The ground beneath Team White lit up with a glimmer, even the black squares were emitting their own brand of light, it was a signal that Team White was to move first.
"It appears that it is our move," Minato stated to his team while looking around the board he had set-up with the aid of the whole Team White. As a great leader should do, Minato listened to everybody's opinions although had settled on his own decision and did not let said opinions break him away from what he seemed right. He was not immovable on his decision but Minato was a boy with a clear idea of what he wanted to do with this game and how he was to go around reaching those goals.
The mighty powerhouse, Spyder-Wolf of Team Nimbus, stood in the leftmost corner of the front row. His abilities were entirely in the close range making him the perfect meat for the cannons, although one that had great potential for disruption of front rows, someone that carried away dozens of enemies while going out in a blaze of glory.
Beside him stood Minato's teammate – Kotaro Uchiha. Meiko was unsure of what the boy's abilities were, nobody in Team Jiraiya specified that, however, they presented the boy as a long-range ninja and placed him beside two close-range ninja – Jon-D and Spyder-Wolf. It may have seemed like a good idea to keep those two nearby though Meiko was not so sure – Spyder-Wolf had a darker skin whereas Jon-D and his sister did not, their skins were tanner than those of Konoha villagers though nothing like the common Kumogakure ninja, that might have made them lower caste and someone looked down upon in their home village.
Perhaps that was why Spyder-Wolf was so quick to attack his teammates back when Jon-D tried shaking off the responsibility of leadership and Jean-D tried to claim it?
To the right of Jon-D stood Shino Aburame and Hinata Hyuuga. The duo of Team Kurenai was meant to complement each other's abilities and Shino was a long-range combatant whereas Hinata excelled at close range. Moving on to the right of the front row, Meiko stood alongside Kushina Uzumaki, the kunoichi of Team Jiraiya which confused Meiko a bit – given the tomboyish attitude of the redhead, Meiko had assumed the girl to be a close-range brawler, same way Meiko was a close-to-mid-range combatant. Still, Minato insisted on placing Kushina beside Meiko as if she was a long-range combatant.
At the leftmost corner of the front row stood Corot Epsiriya of Team Rutile. It was unclear what sort of abilities this young lady had though she claimed to Minato to be a close-range fighter and to Minato it was good enough. Given how vital the information on the abilities of the enemy was, Minato understood the hesitation of anyone to reveal their fighting styles and did not press too hard, taking what he could work with and leaving the matter at that.
Team Black had placed Sakura Haruno of Team Asuma, Mujin of Team Sajin, Akimichi Choji of Team Asuma, Shira of Team Shira, Yome of Team Shira, Naruto Uzumaki of Team Hokage, Doma Nacasa alongside the newbie of Team Phobos who replaced Stea. The finalist of the last exams must have been promoted to the ranks of chuunin. The leader of Team Black placed that bunch in the front row, from left to right. In the back row, from left to right they'd placed Sajin of Team Sajin, Baiu of Team Shigure, Mijin of Team Sajin, Midare of Team Shigure, Ino Yamanaka of Team Asuma, Shigure of Team Shigure, Sen of Team Shira and Gasco of Team Phobos.
"Alright, let's try this thing out…" Minato cleared his throat and called out Spyder-Wolf's name. Upon being named, the square under the genin's name lit up, showing that areas where the piece could move, in Spyder-Wolf's name – one square to each side. "Spyder-Wolf, move one square forward, please."
As instructed, Spyder-Wolf stepped forward one square and the areas all around him lit up red. Minato's glare sharpened, the boy must have realized that those were the areas where Spyder-Wolf could eliminate other pieces. Noting the information as he knew the opposing team would note it as well, the boy nodded declared the end of his turn. The red gleam died out after that declaration.
"Mujin, please move one square forward." Midare, the member of Team Shigure declared, revealing that during the strategy discussions and piece-placement phase, Team Black had elected him to be their team leader.
The boy of brown, spiky hair, facial markings and the visor over his eyes stepped forward, the attacking area of Mujin was most curious – it was not the area around him but the two squares diagonally to his positions upward as well as the square two squares in front of Mujin. It was an interesting long-range method of eliminating pieces, however, it looked rather clunky and awkward to work with something like that. Trying to come up with a way to utilize such a piece in a clever way made Meiko's head spin.
Minato moved Shino one square forward and revealed another clunky-looking, though much more convenient attacking method of a square formation two squares ahead of Shino, taking two squares past the square directly in front of Shino as well as the two cubes to the left side of those two. It just barely missed Mujin. It just might have been that it would have been beneficial to place long-range combatants out in front, Meiko thought. Then again, the two bickering strategists had claimed that long-range combatants would be quite useful in the later stages as well so Meiko could not focus on her own thoughts without realizing how in over her head she was.
Midare, much to the surprise of Team White, did not press on any offensive and did not try to establish a strong board presence in the middle of the board with his own pieces, instead he moved Haruno Sakura right behind Mujin, moving her not forward but to the right and where Mujin was at the beginning of the game.
"This is a wise move, why? Because Sakura is a medical ninja." Shino mumbled to himself. Because only those right beside the Aburame heard him, Hinata was the one who felt inclined of informing Minato about that piece of intelligence, although, because of her high-pitched voice and rather weak vocal presence, even that achievement came through great effort from Minato's part.
"I see. So perhaps Midare-san knows that and is attempting to use Sakura-san's abilities as a medical ninja by keeping his long-range combatant in the game. He must have seen something in the information about his pieces, something troublesome for us, I'd say…" Minato pondered while scratching his chin.
"We need to hit Mujin with a long-range attack to see what kind of medical effects we are talking about. Don't be afraid to sacrifice a unit, if you need to." Jon-D advised. "Maybe this Sakura can outright bring units back onboard or maybe she just prevents them from being cut, in which case, we will need to eliminate her, sacrificing as many pieces as necessary to do so."
"You're really keen on sacrificing pieces, Jon-D…" Minato smiled and made a pacifying gesture with both of his hands as an attempt to imply that he was not trying to pick a fight with that observation.
"That is how the game of shogi is played, Minato." Jon-D gave his team leader a strict glance. "By being nice to your pieces, you will never get anywhere, that's kindergarten level of board gaming. This Midare seems to be a leader worth his salt, with two moves he had created an undying long-range unit while keeping his medical ninja protected from all sides and near impossible to target effectively. You need to respond with the same kind of clever strategies or the game will be doomed from the beginning if he establishes an unbeatable board."
"I see…" Minato nodded. "Though I would rather not throw away my pieces. That's just the way I do things."
"You may not like sacrificing pieces but the idea of hitting Mujin from long-range is pretty solid, ya know!" Kushina exclaimed from the other side of the board. Minato looked at his teammate for a pair of blank moments before nodding and analyzing his board. The leader of Team White was trying to determine which one of his pieces was best capable of delivering the needed long-range attack.
"Kotaro Uchiha, move one space forward," Minato ordered his other teammate. He examined the lit up red spaces but found that Kotaro ran a bit short of range, being able to attack pieces up to two squares ahead of him whereas Mujin laid three squares ahead.
"Heh, Akimichi Choji… Huh…" Midare was about to order Akimichi Choji of Team Asuma to move but then noticed an interesting lighting pattern across the board. Choji not only had a green square available to him in either direction but also had the ability to cut pieces instead of moving in his movement phase. The lighting was unlike the cutting patterns of other pieces, however, there was one red square right in front of him with two orange squares ahead of that red square.
"Hey, fatso, what's your secret technique?" Midare wondered, trying to better understand what this curious case of lighting meant.
"What did you just call me!?" Choji flipped out, his eyes whited out while his face left no doubts about the composition of Choji's facial musculature being just that – muscle, not fat. The chubby Akimichi launched himself at his team leader, dashing diagonally at Midare with a fist cocked back and ready to smash his team leader's face. Right before the overwhelmed and confused Midare would meet the final moments of his life, however, Choji bashed against an invisible barrier.
"Movement foul!" a dull, masculine tone that belonged to neither Ibiki nor Musha declared, throwing Choji back on his butt and repelling him with enough blunt force to snap the chubby shinobi out of his enraged daze.
"Don't call Choji fat, he's just a little chubby!" Ino reprimanded the team leader, worried about the fact that Team Black had just revealed the fact they weren't entirely cohesive whereas Midare looked worried most about the misplay he had just made and the turn he had just wasted.
"Kotaro, move one square forward and cut Mujin." Minato did not waste any more time in order to capitalize on the opportunity that the quarrels in Team Black had granted him. Kotaro stepped forward and glared at Mujin.
"Yo, you're cut!" he yelled at Mujin who just shrugged, oblivious as to what exactly he was supposed to do about that fact.
"Please attack the enemy to seal the elimination of the piece from the board." The masculine voice that appeared to come from the game board itself demanded.
"W-Wait… Like… Attack him for real?" Kotaro hesitated but, upon seeing the determined and somewhat peeved eyes of his teammates behind him, he weaved the appropriate hand seals and breathed a great amount of air into his lungs. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" he chanted out before spitting out a fireball twice his size that traveled straight at Mujin.
"Tsk… As if I'm going to just stand here and get incinerated…" Mujin declared with pride that suggested he was very satisfied with the fact he had thought up of the opportunity to dodge the technique that was meant to eliminate him. A streak of black and white lightning jolts ran up and down the body of the young ninja, shocking him enough to daze him and stun him in place before the fireball smashed right into him and detonated in a devastating explosion.
"Shit, you could have killed him!" Sajin, Mujin's team leader yelled out into thin air, directing his outrage at Kotaro at first, then the game board, then the black and dead-cold monitor on which Musha's face gleamed not too long ago.
"I… I think I'm okay…" Mujin yelled out from the smoke and debris, examining his unburnt skin and barely rustled clothes. "It… It barely even hurt at all…"
A green light lit up underneath Sakura's square and that of Mujin's. Minato's gamble to find out the ability that Sakura had in this game had paid off, Midare now had to choose if he wanted to use that ability.
"Sure, I choose to use Sakura Haruno's ability." Midare nodded. The green light went out and the game continued, apparently.
"Wait… Didn't that sucker get blasted? He should remove his ass off the board!" Spyder-Wolf growled.
"Sakura Haruno is a medical ninja. The game clearly intended for that to translate as an ability that keeps a figure in a square next to her around despite being cut. The game would not allow us to break rules, this board clearly has a mind of its own…" Midare replied.
"I agree, let's continue the game." Minato nodded. Of course, he would not object, finding out the ability that medical ninja had in this game was his goal all along.
"Choji, move one square forward," Midare ordered his piece, this time holding back from calling his teammate with the trigger word that would have sent him into a frenzy.
"Not until you apologize!" Choji turned around at his team leader with a clenched fist. "I'm gonna keep misplaying until you do!"
"Are you a fucking idiot!?" Midare pulled on his own hair in frustration. "Look, I'm sorry I called you fat, I did not know that made you feel this way, now just move one square forward."
"Choji, just play along, for now. We're all in this game together. You can pummel this guy all you want in the next rounds, maybe we'll even run into him again in the first round. Just do as he says for now…" Yamanaka Ino asked.
"Fine…" a deep sigh left Choji's test as he was about to take a step forward but then Midare stopped him.
"Wait, I think I understand what this lighting means. Choji, cut one piece ahead of you, use your signature technique." Midare changed his order.
"Cut? But there's nothing to cut, the piece ahead of me is empty…" Choji pointed out the obvious fact. "My attack is not long-range either, it won't reach anything or anyone… Plus, what would even be my signature technique anyway?"
"Ah, I get it!" Ino clutched her fists by her side. "Midare-san is pretty sharp for figuring this out without even knowing your ability, the board suggests that you can sacrifice your movement for your cutting ability."
"Cutting ability?" Choji scratched his head.
"Yes! The orange squares mean that your cutting range will increase and that you will be cutting by movement and not separate cutting action. What does that remind you of?" Ino jumped in her boots, realizing how potent of an ability her teammate had in this game – the ability to cut with movement while the range of his movement increased by one square each successive turn. Choji might have eliminated the entire enemy board like that if Midare utilized him in a clever way, he was the ultimate snowballing piece.
"Oh, I see!" Choji, at last, had his own ground-shaking discovery moment as he clapped his arms together and then extended them outwards. "Multi-Size Jutsu!"
The technique Choji employed greatly expanded his size, it was different than the way in which Meiko recalled Akimichi Chominu using the technique, where Chominu became much more round instead of growing into a version of his super-sized self. The giant Choji bent his body into a human-boulder shape and rolled forward, there were hints of worry in the young man's face, drops of sweat that came from the worry that they've misread the board's suggestion and that Choji would just once more bounce off of an invisible barrier and misplay.
"Human Bullet Tank!" Choji yelled out, rolling out into a rotating frenzy in the shape of a human-boulder. Choji rolled one square forward before stopping and canceling both of his techniques, returning to normal size.
"Why did you cancel your jutsu?" Midare wondered.
"I need to keep moving with it. I can't just stay in place until the next turn." Choji shrugged.
"I see, in that case, the game board must have known that. That means that it will treat the next turn as if you kept using it, as long as we use it repeatedly. Yes… I truly do apologize for calling you fat, you may just win us the whole game, Choji…" Midare appeared almost as excited as Ino was before.
"Hell yeah! Sakura keeping pieces in the game, Choji acting like a human-juggernaut, Team Asuma's the MVP!" Ino tried to high-five the sky, overcome by the buzz of the situation.
"Not all of it, you know." Naruto wrapped his arms over his chest. "You're not doing anything…" he pointed out.
"Shut up, Naruto, nobody's asking your jealous butt!" Ino clutched her fist. Her eyes flared with a fury not too different from the way Choji acted before. "I'm the clay that sticks the team together!"
"Right… That's what everyone who doesn't have anything to do says, you know…" Naruto squinted. It did not look like he fostered anything malicious towards the Yamanaka, he just saw something he felt like pointing out and did so out of honesty. Even if he was criticizing his own teammate…
"What a weird guy…" Meiko smirked.
