Konoha Chunin Exams

[Ristridin]

Zap. ZAP!

'OUCH. That second one was supposed to be the last one... I must be slipping. Oh well, better than none of them activating.'

Kotetsu gets up and quickly disables the three other alarm clock tags he set to go off a minute later before they go off and become useless. The next thing he does is checking the flashbang tags he made last evening.

'Seem dry enough.'

Grabbing his gear and the new tags, he heads towards the agreed-upon meeting place.

'Misinformation or really good genjutsu aside, we should still have plenty of time.'

[JamestheFox]

oog: Also, in before "I attack the gazebo. I rolled a 20. Did I kill it?" jokes.

ig:

"That lying liar said the location was already marked, but it looks like they only just now started setting it up! There's these spotlights that just turned on, and I can see a lot of people around there, including..." Sho squinted, trying to get a closer look. "... Including some foreign ninja I saw wandering around here earlier, I think. They're over by the gazebo. You LITERALLY can't miss it, unless they turn the lights off."

[Flux_Blade]

Ichigo is glad about looking for one thing, he had already gone through this once, he had a rough idea on what might happen. After packing enough to survive a week. Jogging up to the meeting place, he sees one of his teammates already there.
"So, any ideas on what horrific ideas things they'll put us through?"

[Ristridin]

oog: Damn, I knew I should have made a gazebo joke last post... Now my chance is gone.

"Dealing with false information for starters... Though we did ask for that of course. There's probably a survival part, which is probably straightforward, some test of combat and a test of teamwork. Dealing with traps; wanna bet it might be a bit harder to get to Old Konoha by now? They have to weed out the weaker teams somehow, and the location cannot be that hard to find in the time we still have if there are no 'distractions'... Information gathering, which will be hard for me most likely since I don't know any surveillance seals."

'Note to self, try harder to find information about surveillance seals. Those would have been handy if I could have set up a few in the area.'

"And of course, horrible mind games. If there are rules, try to bend them if you can, but don't make it too obvious. Always think beyond what is said and don't trust what you hear. In a way, they already gave us a friendly reminder of that by making the false information obvious once you checked the area. Nothing more specific than that though; do you have a better idea?"

[Flux_Blade]

Ichigo nods at the explanation, "I think that covers it, well at least we know the hypotheticals, I am so glad my former sensei is not doing any testing. Also, remember to avoid reactioning strongly to any announcements, they decide to pick on you a bit. And unfortunately, I cannot do Neji's reactions well enough." Ichigo stretches before starting to walk in the direction. "Also, don't forget to talk like we've been a team for a while."

[Ristridin]

Kotetsu grins and follows along. "Heh, I wish my sensei was doing the testing. You'd just know the right solution would be the one that would require the least amount of work. Anyway, which place should we try first? The gazebo near the west gate seems like it might be near the place, with all the chairs and all. On the other hand, the north gate had three chairs, possibly enough for one genin team? And of course, both of them could be false leads."

"As for talking like that, maybe I should call you Ichi and Ushi? Or would that be too much? As I said, I can be KK."

[Zankaru Zelladonii]

Ojike pauses in the alley he was passing through, tiredly sneering at the stench of the overflowing trash-cans lining the cramped lane. Before he can continue sho's voice booms loud in his ears.

"Raito, Kenta, are you guys up?"

He shouts in surprise and instinctively jerks his head away from the sound, right into a pile of wet garbage-bags.

"Ahh! Filthy villagers leaving their shit everywhere, bah! Why did I think this was a good idea?"

After scraping the worst of the garbage from his pants, he moves to answer only to find his radio was already transmitting. Quickly composing himself, and turning the radio's volume down, he answers in his normal monotone.

"Raito reporting in, sho-san. Do you have something to share?"

[Phht]

[Iwa team! Which gate did you camp out at? (Nice plan, btw; I was wondering if anyone was going to do that.)

Now, to make sure we're all on the same page - the collapsible gazebo is basically four posts with a roof framework and tarp/whatever roof and no walls/rails. Actually, make the west gate one a double-wide (six posts) and the north gate one a regular four post one.

James: The ruins don't go quite so far east or south. I'd have the fence line somewhere along that third old wall chunk from the north, and have it end somewhere along the SW shoreline of the lake (the three southern gates are along this section). The northern edge would be further east, though not quite far enough over to reach the northernmost point on the lake (the northern gate is on this section). No fence line along the ruins-lake shoreline. The Old Wall serves as a fence for the ruins, so the only fencing outside the Old Wall should be where there are gaps in the wall. And I'm thinking less of the crater is filled in than that, but that area's not so important for RP purposes at the moment.]

[Lthayer3]

oog: Whoops, forgot about that. They're at the Northern gate, figuring that the bunches of chairs at the Western gate would be for the teams as they finish, with only enough chairs for a certain number of teams -- though they aren't completely sure, as they don't know how many teams are actually in the exam...

"Ouch, Yume, I said I was sorry!"

"That was the least sincere apology I've heard since you apologized to Jirou-sensei for accidentally hitting him with that mud technique."

"I meant that one, too!"

"You were rolling around on the ground laughing."

"So were you!"

"But if I had been the one to perform the jutsu, I'd have been mortified."

"Sure, sure. Ouch!"

Tamachi decides his teammates have made fools of themselves for long enough, hops out of his tree, and walks in front of his teammates as they approach the gazebo. As they near one of the Konoha ninja they think is a chuunin, Kitsuchi and Yumetsuki grow quiet and watch different Konoha ninja carefully for any possible tells.

"Excuse me, chuunin-san," Tamachi speaks, "but can you tell us if this is the starting point for the exam?"

If the actual first exam is just to determine the correct location, Jirou-sensei is going to laugh his head off.

And at least we were told that the exam starts at 6 am. If Fuyaba-sama were running this test, we'd have to do something absurd like steal a set of chairs without being caught...

[JamestheFox]

Oog: Okay, I've redone it. I've also added the Gazebos in light blue. Let me know if something's off.

http://james-the-fox.deviantart.com/art ... -302187868


IG:
When Sho hears Raito's shout, he panics. "Raito!? Oy, Rai! Are you alright!? I can get to you in 3 minutes if you need me! I'll-"

Then he hears Raito's voice come in again, more calmly.

"Whew, good to hear you're okay. I thought someone might have attacked you. Okay, Ken, Rai, I've think I found our goal. There's a gazebo that's lit up like day over by one of the gates to the ruins. There looks like there's people there, so I'm guessing that's our goal post... unless it's just a decoy. Hmmm... when I went down there on foot, there were a lot of chairs there... but there's another gazebo that's only got three, across the lake. What if they're expecting us to just take the more convenient location, with the real spot being the one that's hard to wait in or get to? Or what if THAT gazebo is the actual decoy, and we're supposed to not overthink it? Or what if...?"

Already Sho's mind was conjuring up images of everyone waiting at the convenient location, when only 5 minutes before dawn a jounin announces that the actual location is across the lake, and the teams had to take their folding chairs and tables across in only 5 minutes if they wanted to make it.

"AAAIIIIEEEEEEE! That would be horrible!"

[Phht]

[Don't tempt us. I'd answer Iwa team's question, but I'm/spud's gonna wait until the 2 leaf teams make a decision on which one they're going to.

I would say the northern fence section is more just vertical from mountain face down to shore, but this is accurate enough for our purposes.]

[Flux_Blade]

Ichigo nods at the nickname, glad it was not some variant of Strawberry. Or his other nickname.
"So, KK, I'm thinking they want us at the larger area, while the north area seems more of a, lets catch the genin of guard who over think it. Though I really wish that we had Shun here right now. She's an Aburame and would have tagged all the people making the announcement and we would have a better idea. Also, too bad we can't just make Shadow Clones like the Rokudaime." He cuts his musing off as he waits to see if his team agrees.

[Ristridin]

"The things that could be done if we could make Shadow Clones... Anyway, let's not over think this then. Plenty of time to move to the other place if we're wrong after all, right Ichi? Let's just see whether we can recognize the location immediately when we get there."

[spudman]

[kay, I'll count that as confirmation for where Ichigo, Kotetsu, and Ushio are going. Now just Raito, Kenta, and Sho.]

[Random_fan]

"Yeah, which one to go to is tricky, I say we go to the bigger one we can always ask if it's the right place and we'd have enough time to run to the other gazebo if it's not. What do you two think about it?" Kenta start's moving towards the bigger gazebo but doesn't go very fast in case his teammates have other ideas.

[JamestheFox]

"Sure, I'll catch you there," Sho says as he prepares to land at the south gazebo. "It looks like someone's already at the north gazebo, so if we need to have chairs I think we're out of luck up there anyway."

[spudman]

Each of the teams make their way towards the western gate. Tamachi's team gets there without complication. Whether by luck or skill they have avoided triggering any genjutsu traps.

The same cannot be said for some other teams of genin, as they move around the fence in circles or veer off in the opposite direction.

Raito and Kotetsu are among the genin that fall prey to the genjutsu traps in the ruins. Through their eyes the gazebo is further off than they first thought, and large groupings of thorny brush in the direct path to the gazebo (that they didn't notice before, hmmm) do not look friendly at all. For Kotetsu there also looks to be some large and frightening looking genin (probably on steroids) that were in their immediate path. The genjutsu would lead them in circles while making them think they were still moving closer to the gazebo.

Fortunately for them, their teammates managed to dispel the genjutsu. They will have to snap their teammates out of it if they want to make it to the gazebo on time without dragging them there.

[Lthayer3]

oog: I'm confused and have no idea what just happened. The Iwa team was at the North gazebo, and from what I can tell, no team would have had to go through ruins to get to either of the two gazebos. Were they told to move somewhere else? Did the first exam start? Did the presumed chuunin answer the Iwa team's question? Did other random genin teams arrive at either of the gazebos? Did a proctor show up at either gazebo?

[spudman]

oog:

......

D'oh.

Well, the chunin would have told Tamachi and the others that this is the wrong place. Other than that things proceed the same, the Iwa team makes it without running into any genjutsu, but with less time to spare.

As for the ruins/obstacle bit, I'll go back and fix that.

ig:

At both gazebos the amount of waiting genin continues to increase as teams trickle in. The chunin and jounin there have yet to acknowledge any of them.

[Lthayer3]

"So the exam isn't a simple race. I knew you two were overthinking things!"

"Talk quieter." "You should have spoken up, then!"

"Quiet, you two," Tamachi hisses.

"Yeah, yeah. Let's get moving before other teams show up. We've got plenty of time, at least. Though ten to one the good little Konoha team hanging back plans on telling everyone in the world."

"Hey, Yume, is there a rule about no combat yet? We could take them out so they don't tell anyone else?"

"The exam hasn't officially begun, Kitsuchi. Plus, the chuunin would probably give the other teams a warning to give them enough time even if they didn't think to ask."

"Move faster."

"We've got plenty of time, Tamachi. Stop being so impatient."

*sigh*

"Hey, Tamachi, could you do that thing so I don't have to water walk across the lake?"

"Kitsuchi, it isn't worth the chakra. Tamachi, let's just go around the lake."

"But Yume, what if only the first teams to get there get to participate?"

"Crap, good point. Ok, water crossing formation it is."

Yumetsuki proceeds to water walk across the lake slightly in front of her teammates. Kitsuchi easily carries the much smaller Tamachi on his shoulders, and appears to also be water walking. In reality, Kitsuchi has never managed water walking for longer than a few seconds, and is walking on a thin layer of Midorikiji (*) that Tamachi is forming in a path slightly beneath the lake's surface. The trio reach the larger gazebo after a bit over six minutes, still having a while to spare before dawn. After Kitsuchi places Tamachi back on his feet, the team approaches one of the apparent chuunin.

"Excuse me, chuunin-san. Is this the starting point for the exams?"

And if it isn't, the place isn't as obvious as we hoped. The Konoha proctors wouldn't be too devious, would they?

(*) Translation: Green spirit glass. Created by Tamachi's bloodline, modified version of Midoriki: Jikabe no Jutsu, requires concentration to use, and about a third of Tamachi's reserves are used in crossing the lake.

[Phht]

[It's forest that the teams have to pass through to get to the gate. Mentally correct any instances spud's missed fixing from 'ruins'. ;) Unless they zoom across the lake and then stick within the 20-50m distance to the ruins fencing, because there'd be no forests in that range. The genjutsu in that area probably makes you think you're in a minefield or something instead.

The exchange with the Chunin went something like this: ]

Chunin starts to open mouth to answer with amusement visible on his face and gets hit by another Chunin. "What was that for?!"

"She'll get you if you answer a question about that yet, you know."

"Please, like she'll find out."

"You know what her career is. She'll find out and then you'll be fucked and cleaning toilets in the public restrooms near the villages gates for the next year while newly graduated genin laugh at you as they go by doing D-rank and C-rank missions."

Higure seemingly appears from nowhere and steps up behind them. "Almost certainly! However, she likes me more than either of you and thus won't have to file paperwork regarding your untimely demise for disobeying her." He checks to see if any other genin teams are present before shaking his head 'no' at the Iwa team. "Have fun, and try not to die! ... until after you've signed liability waivers, at least."

As the Iwa team is leaving, Higure sets down a box on the table one of the two Chunin had just finished setting up. "And hey! I brought some breakfast for you guys setting up this end of things. Feel free to snack on them, and beat up any genin trying to sneak a bite. We can always relocate them elsewhere and claim the injuries were caused by themselves while under genjutsu on their way to the Exam."

--

At the western gate, several Chunin have taken up some of the chairs under the gazebo and have started waving forward complete teams to hand over exam tickets and sign liability waivers. Other Chunin sit down in chairs around the general area, forming a bit of a perimeter and keeping an eye on the overall area. A table behind the Chunin at the gazebo has several boxes of dango and other pastry that the Chunin snack from as they carry out their duties.

Near the gate to the ruins is the jounin, a woman shorter than just about everyone present. She just watches over the genin while munching on dango. She directs a stare towards the Chunin asked the question by the Iwa team, drawing her thumb across her neck when he happens to glance in her direction before answering.

The Chunin turns back to the Iwa team slightly paler than he had been. "Sorry, I can't answer that until much closer to start time."

Among the teams present so far are 3 Uzu teams, 5 Konoha teams, 2 Kiri teams, 4 Suna teams, 1 Kumo team, and 3 Taki teams. Genin are directed to the opposite side of the gate from the gazebo after they've checked in and signed the waivers.

[note: by opposite side, I mean still on the outside of the fence. If you decide that meant inside the fence, there's a Jounin there ready to chastise you out of the Exams and into the hospital. ;) Because, hey, you already signed the liability waivers at that point!

Also, the reason for the different table/chair amounts is now explained! The chairs aren't for the midgets wanting a sweet jacket, they're for the poor, suffering Chunin helping out with the Exam.

Hopefully this post has cleared up any confusion. And yes, you have to have a complete team to compete. If any of your team is trapped in a genjutsu in the woods or somehow becomes unable to compete, you better get them loose/healed in time or you're out of luck. :D ]

[Ristridin]

oog: Am I supposed/allowed to be posting while I'm under a genjutsu? If not, just ignore this post. I'm assuming I can't get out of this genjutsu without outside help?

'Huh. Did they plant those bushes overnight, or is it just the darkness that is confusing me? Probably best to get around them. If it weren't for those genin over there... They should really move before they get late, but since they're not, maybe they're trying to eliminate other teams first... Or maybe they just got lost?'

In a soft voice: "Ichi, Ushi, what do we do? Evade or approach?"

Which village are those genin I see from anyway? If they're not from Konoha, I slip a flashbang tag in my hand.

[Phht]

[You can post while under the genjutsu. And you can get out of the genjutsu yourself... once you actually realize you're in a genjutsu. Alternately, a member of your team that's not under the genjutsu can try breaking it on you (like Sakura did at the start of the Suna-Oto Invasion, and Sakura again with Naruto post-time skip when he was under Itachi's genjutsu).

The genin Kotetsu sees appear to be Konoha genin.]

[Flux_Blade]

Ichigo frowns as something feels wrong as they continue on, and once he hears quiet comment from his team.
"Evade or approach, what, exactly... KK, I think you're under a genjustu." If his teammate fails at breaking it, he'll attempt to break it.

[Ristridin]

If Kotetsu can hear that: "I fell under one that easily, huh. Tsk. Well, I always wondered whether this would work..." He grabs an alarm tag and sets it to go off immediately, hoping the shock of the tag will be enough to get him out. If it doesn't, he'll try a dispel and if that doesn't work either: "Too persistent... Can either of you help me get out? I don't feel like cutting myself yet."