Chapter 15 – The First Task
Disclaimer: Naruto and its characters do not belong to me
Previously on Secret Keeper: The Genin Trials have begun! Team 7 can only hope for a good score, now...
First to step forwards was a rather busty blonde, bearing an easy smile.
"Himura Sana, jounin-sensei of Team 5, consisting of Ito Hiroki, Shimizu Takum and Nigoshi Risa." she gave a two-finger salute, before sticking her tongue out. "That's all I'm saying, so there!" Turning, she returned to the other jounin.
"Yosh!" the jounin in the green jumpsuit exclaimed loudly as he leapt forwards. "Thank you, Hokage-sama, for allowing my team and I to join this most youthful competition! I am Might Gai, sensei and confidant of Team 3! Together, my genin cover such a broad range of skil-" he was interrupted by one of his genin.
"Team 3 – Hyuga Neji, Rock Lee and Higurashi Tenten." he bowed slightly, before rejoining his team.
Gai blinked in surprise, before following suit. He was quickly replaced by a red-eyed kunoichi.
"Team 8." she announced simply. "Yūhi Kurenai, Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino and Hyuga Hinata." she finished with a nod.
Kakashi sighed before stepping forwards, book still open.
"Maa, is this really necessary? Oh well, Hatake Kakashi, Harano Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke." he shrugged, returning to his cute genin, causing everyone to sweat-drop.
"Well, now we're all introduced," Hiruzen coughed, "let us get to it, As I'm sure you all know, the Trials will last for three days, each with two sections – the overnight challenge will take place tomorrow. This year's prize will be a brand new set if equipment for all the winning team members, covering weapons, one set of combat gear, one set of gear of choice - be it casual or combat – and one B-rank jutsu scroll of chosen affinity." he paused to let the excited whispers die down. "Each of the Morning and Afternoon sections will contain several Challenges. The first of which will begin...now. Iwana, if you will?"
The chunin nodded sharply.
"Unless otherwise stated, you will be attempting to score individual points. Most of the challenges for the morning will be physical-based. For your first task, we've set up an obstacle course." he grinned. "Points will be awarded ti the first five to complete it – only. The rest of you'll get nothing. As for the course itself, its located somewhere in the woods. Begin!"
Having finished the explanation, each chunin grabbed a jounin-sensei and shunshined off, leaving the genin behind, The assembled genin blinked once, twice, and then dissolved into chaos. Teams 3 and 8 ran off, straight into the woods, Byakugan activated. Team 5, however, started discussing possible locations of the course.
Sasuke smirked.
"Seek and find." he ordered sharply, before taking off, teammates easily keeping up.
The moment they entered the woods, Naruto began spamming clones.
"Kagebunshin no jutsu! Spread out and find the target!" the blond ordered.
"Wait!" Sakura frowned. "We're going about this wrong. Everyone's searching this part of the woods, not across the path. This task seems to be in two parts – finding the target and completing the obstacle course. So, therefore, it stands to reason that this first part is meant to hit out endurance, tire us out before the course."
Sasuke nodded grimly.
"Right, They had us facing this part of the woods the entire tine, psychologically implying the course is here. Let's go!" that said, the raven spun on his heel and set off.
Finding the obstacle course didn't take long, once they were in the correct part of the woods. A lesser team would start the course as soon as they arrived, it certainly appeared easy enough.
However, the genin of Team 7 were no idiots. And, if the Wave Mission had taught them anything, it was the importance of Planning and Observation. There was also the small matter of points to be considered.
A quick check with Naruto's clones confirmed all three opposing teams to still be searching the wrong part of the woods. Opponents located, the genin turned their attention to the course.
Mostly single-track, the course ran from one clearing to another. It didn't seem to contain any traps, but then again, you couldn't be too careful, in the Shinobi World.
Quickly regrouping back at the start of the course, it was decided Sasuke, with his Sharingan, would go first, just in case. Sakura would follow, with Naruto bringing the rear, to prevent 'enemy action'.
"Right, all ready?" Sasuke asked, Getting confirmation, he turned and lead the way up the ladder.
At the top of the ladder, a set of wooden ledges stuck out of the tree. The higher they climbed, the smaller and narrower the ledges became. When they reached the drop-off point, the ledges had faded into little more than knots of wood.
A quick walk along a couple of branches led them to a long, narrow beam spanning four trees. This was easily navigated, helped along by their knowledge of Tree Walking. The beam ended with a rope swing onto a small, wooden pillar. From there, the genin had to jump onto another wooden pillar. This would then be repeated across the clearing, backtracking so the final landing was the tree next to the start.
Upon reaching the wider ledge, Sasuke paused for his teammates, running a quick scan on them. Sakura was fine, if a little winded from the jumps. Naruto, the ball of energy, was bouncing along behind excitedly.
"Ne, ne, guys! Team 3's incoming!" said blond called, eyes loosing focus for a moment.
Sasuke nodded sharply.
"Looks like we've another couple of obstacles before heading down." he motioned towards the series of hanging ropes.
Sakura grinned ferally.
"What are we waiting for? Let's go! You heard Iwana-sensei, only the first five get points!"
Grimly, they set off on the ropes. The main issue, they found, was maintaining momentum. Reaching the end, they were confronted by a pile of logs stacked onto branches.
Hidden immediately behind the stack was a sharp drop, with another narrow ledge serving as a landing pad, along with a scroll fastened to the supporting tree-trunk.
Sakura groaned, but refrained from commenting, as Team 3 had finally arrived. As could be predicted, Neji's eyes narrowed, before he led his team up the ladder.
Readying himself, Sasuke launched forwards, barely getting a hand on the narrow ledge – the gap deceptively larger, before turning to help his teammates. Once across, Sakura moved to the scroll, allowing Naruto space to join them.
"According to this, we head down three branches, then jump. There's twelve wooden rings suspended half-way down, one for each of us. We get a bonus point if we can collect and present it at the finish." she grinned, quickly mirrored by the rest of her team.
Turning, Sasuke took point, heading for the three branches while Sakura replaced the scroll. The drop was actually rather easy, all things considered. It was the final jump that was complicated – obtaining enough momentum to reach the rings took quite a bit of skill. Too much, and the angle would be wrong, the tether wouldn't release. Too little, the jumper wouldn't reach the target...
Once on the ground, they hurried off along the track, easily scaling the mesh net hidden in the trees, before dropping to crawl through the narrow tunnel. Knowing from their earlier reconnaissance what awaited them, they sped up into a run as soon as the tunnel ended, and the final obstacle came into sight, A large, curved wall, behind which sat the finish line.
The wall wasn't the real issue, however. The issue was that it had to be cleared in one go – Team 3 were closing in too fast to allow a second attempt...