Chunin Exam Arc: Mountain Maze - Hayakawa Masumi

Masumi's red ink scroll revealed a map labeled as the 24th floor. It didn't help her when she didn't know what floor she was on or in what direction the floors were counted. It was probably from the top or bottom, but for all she knew the proctors could have been messing with her by having the numbers shuffled. All it really told her was there were allegedly 24 floors. It sounded like a lot, but wasn't hard to imagine when they were near the mountain's peak and there were plenty of examinees that needed to be crammed in.

She waited at entrance 49 waiting for the signal for the second round to begin.

Hayakawa Masumi was worried. She didn't like being separated from Nobu and Ryuu. They were a team. There were meant to stick together. It was how she got dragged along to the exams in the first place. She was especially worried for Ryuu. She hadn't seen him in the crowd. Masumi bit her lip, a bad habit of hers when she fretted.

Though, she had to admit it was nice spending some time away from Kushina. Masumi loved Kushina as a person. She was warmth like sunshine and her encouragement was pleasant like a bird's song. She could be a little scary when she wanted to be, particularly when adamant they learn certain skills or if someone looked down on her, but she was a person of comfort. The problem wasn't Kushina herself. The problem stemmed from Masumi status as a sensor, a highly sensitive one at that, and she could feel two chakras in her. No, that wasn't quite right. The two chakra signatures also partly mixed like how sugar dissolved in hot tea. The difference was the sugar within Kushina never completely dissolved. One exuded the warm, sunny signature that aligned with Kushina's personality, but the other signature was suffocating to be around. Masumi thought even killing intent was more manageable than feeling Kushina's secondary chakra. She could only be happy that Kushina didn't use it in her jutsu.

The horn blasted, signaling the start of the second round.

Masumi ran in. Sixteen spots weren't many. She knew she wasn't the fastest and the others probably had a lot more practical experience. She was even more wary of who she would come across. She would love to avoid them. For once, she felt that there could be a purpose to sensing chakra, if only to avoid the others, but she needed another scroll if she wanted to pass. Surviving was more important, but what would be more difficult? Hiding in a cave for five days or trying her hardest to enter the victory room so she wouldn't have to be in a continuous state on guard?

Masumi thought of her deceased father. It didn't matter how much experience or skills one had. One wrong hit and they still died.

The stone interior twisted and curves until she hit a dead end. Well, almost. There was a hole in the floor. She could feel the signatures through the walls. Honestly, she had been waiting for an initial bloodbath being so high up. Being lower would have given them the space to disperse more, but the inside had been artificially tampered with.

Masumi looked down the hole. It was dark but there was a peak of light. There was nowhere else to go but downwards, so she jumped and braced herself.

She twisted her body and took a few steps back so that her back was nearly touching the cavern wall as soon as her feet touched the ground. The sounds of metal clashing and a scream echoed.

Her current position allowed for four different paths. Left. Right. Centre-left. Centre-right. Not knowing where the paths lead, it was a gamble, regardless which route she took.

Masumi decided to go left.

It was frustrating. Everything started to look the same. Walls became repeated blurs of themselves. She thought about the scrolls. Having more to map really would help when there weren't many identifiable landmarks.

Even worse, it wasn't just people she had to be wary of. There were other things living in there, as she unfortunately discovered. She used a Water Release: Dense Water Wall jutsu to block an attack from a swarm of oversized blood-sucking bats. Something that took a noticeable amount of chakra which wasn't a good feeling so early in their trial.

There were also small paralytic spiders. She preferred them to the bats, but they made her skin crawl. Like hell she was letting one of those creepers touch her.

If she had any luck, she hopefully wouldn't run into anything else.

As soon as she thought that, there was a rumble. Masumi knew someone was on the floor above her, but she didn't pay too much attention because as long as they couldn't reach her, it wasn't her problem.

Now it was her problem.

Some idiot thought it was a good idea to set up several explosive tags, which caused a large enough explosion to blow through one floor and broke through enough of a second floor where she was. Giant blocks of debris fell through the opening. A ninja slipped through with the rocks before the debris blocked the hole too. He apparently thought it was worth a few scratches.

Masumi couldn't hesitate. She threw a kunai towards his jugular. He saw and reacted, throwing a smaller rock to deflect it.

Masumi tugged. The ninja wire attached to the loop of the kunai straightened with tension as she whipped it back, embedded in his eye. The pain was enough to draw attention to his wound. More so when she ripped the kunai out.

She knocked him out, placing her foot over his neck.

She hesitated.

She hesitated, then steeled her resolve. She bit her lip as she thought of her dad as she crushed the other genin's windpipe. She thought back to the academy. Act. Kill. Hesitation will make you vulnerable. She had been prepared to do it, but it all felt like it was too much of a test. Cooperation? What a joke. Still, she wished her first kill could have been on a mission. Then she wouldn't have had to think about the politics of it all.

Masumi bit her lip as she felt the water pool in the corner of her eyes. She brushed them away with the sleeve of her shirt. She would live in the memory of her father. She needed to keep her head held high. She needed to go back to being with her team. Groups were better than being alone.

She scavenged his body for anything she may want. She took what she could carry, which included the scroll he had been given. Masumi opened it dissatisfied that it was red ink like her own, but it revealed another piece of the map.

Masumi looked at the stones that blocked her path. She would need to find another way around. She retraced her steps in search of another of another way around. She needed to be quick. The noise was sure to attract someone.

Nobu. Masumi needed to find Nobu. That was more important than some stupid test.