[X] A little less fight and a little more spark
"Good~ afternoon, Hinata-chan," you say cheerfully, sidling up and wrapping an arm around her shoulder companionably.
She eeps and tenses before realising that it's you. "Ino-chan..."
You nod to your other friends with a wink. "What's the good word, Chouji, Shika-chan?"
"What are you scheming?" Shika asks dryly.
"Well, if you're gonna be like that, maybe I won't let you in on the fast track to a week of downtime between now and whatever the next test is. More naps for me."
"... I'm listening."
=
"Scroll me," Kiba says, handing in your waivers.
The man reaches under the desk and hands over a Heaven scroll to Ami, who reaches over her shoulder to stick it in her backpack, only for it to slip through her fingers and roll away.
(Heaven scroll acquired.)
Before she can so much as say 'oops', Akamaru jumps off Kiba's head, barking joyfully, and snatches it up.
"Good boy!" Kiba says encouragingly, "Now bring it back."
Tail still wagging, Akamaru bounds off with the scroll.
"Oh, not again..." Ami says, exasperated. "I thought nin-dogs were supposed to be intelligent."
"Shut up!" Kiba snaps, and runs off after his canine companion.
"Menka, no!" you say in dismay as your bodyguard darts over the desk. "Crap!"
"Is it too late for me to switch teams?" Ami asks the proctors as one of them scoops up the kitty and tries to wrest an Earth scroll out of his mouth.
"I'm sorry," you tell the two chuunin behind the desk sheepishly, taking Menka from them and dislodging the scroll in question to hand back over. "I've trained him to bring me stuff I want and sometimes he gets carried away." You hold the cat up to look him in the eye and say in a syrupy tone, "No, you're not getting a treat this time, mister. You almost made us fail the exam."
(Earth scroll acquired.)
"He shredded it," Kiba growls, dragging a whimpering Akamaru back into the hut, the remains of the Heaven scroll in his hand.
"I don't believe this," Ami says, eyes wide with anxiety as she starts to hyperventilate. "First Ino's stupid ego trip almost gets us thrown out and now your idiot dog gets us disqualified before we even get a chance to really compete!"
You stroke her on the back comfortingly. "Hey, Ami, it's okay, it's only a six month wait, we can try again next time."
"Calm down," one of the chuunin scolds, pulling out a fresh Heaven scroll from under the desk. "Have some dignity, will you? You're representing the village here."
Ami gasps at the new scroll, blinking back tears as she smiles hopefully at the proctor. "W-we can really have another chance?" she asks, biting her lip.
"W-well, yeah," he says back, suddenly slightly pink around the ears. "You can pay me back by getting to the finals. Konoha's honour is at stake with Suna sending that demon brat here to steamroll the competition."
(Second Heaven scroll acquired.)
Ami snatches up the Heaven scroll and clings to it like a drowning woman, beaming at the chuunin and bowing repeatedly. "Thank you, thank you so much!" A thought seems to strike her, and her expression becomes slightly panicked again. "Please, sir, promise me you won't tell any of the other competitors that I cried?"
"I promise," he says, embarrassed, "just please, move along."
You do so, Ami still repeating her thank yous as you pull her out the door with a fond roll of your eyes.
Menka rejoins you, and the genjutsu collapses with a wave of your hand just as a team from Amegakure enters the hut.
(Third Heaven scroll acquired. Second Earth scroll acquired.)
"How was that?" Ami asks, wiping her eyes. "Did I match your precious Himekawa-sensei?"
"You're lucky it was two guys," you say, shaking your head. "No way would a woman have bought it."
"Why do people think nin-dogs who can't talk are stupid?" Kiba says indignantly. "Have they ever tried to learn to speak Dog? It's way harder than Gyogo!"
"Really?" you ask, intrigued. "Think I could get some lessons?"
"Are you starting a zoo?" Shikamaru asks idly.
You hug him, stuffing a Heaven scroll into the seal you etched into the lining of his shirt.
He twitches, surprised, but returns the hug.
"See you in a bit," you say in his ear. "Take it easy on the way in, yeah? If we all show up at once it'll be undeniable."
"You really are a good friend," he answers, snickering as he pats you on the back.
Hinata squeezes your hands and tells you to be careful. And Chouji is as always an all-out assault on the forces of respiration.
"Try not to blow the whole place up," he says when he lets you go. "I'd like to have something for dinner that isn't charbroiled."
"Team Asuma," a proctor calls, "follow me to your entry gate."
You slip the spare set of scrolls into a pouch on Sayuri's leg as you pass by her.
"Hey, it's the Triple S squad," you say brightly, turning back as you go by as if you'd only just noticed them. "Good luck, you three!"
"Good luck to you too, Ino-chan," Sayuri replies with a smile, unaware for now of the favour you've just done her.
Sagiso nods, but quickly holds the papers she was just examining to her chest, as though afraid you stopped by to snoop on them,
"Mm. Good luck, Ino-san," Sakura says, looking up from the blanket she's sitting on, where she's taking inventory of her medical kit and cleaning her instruments. Her long hair is pulled back into a sensible knot now, just like her teammates'. You notice they each have little サ-shaped hairclips for good luck; Sakura's is holding back her bangs while she works. And now you see why she wears them as long as she does; the poor girl could probably pull in some extra cash renting that space out for advertising.
"Well, yeah," Ami says, grinning when you comment to that effect as your team makes its way to Gate 19, where you'll begin. "Why do you think we used to call her forehead-girl?"
"Yeesh, you really have no knack for nicknames at all," you say, shaking your head. "And I thought you said you didn't remember her."
She shrugs. "Give me a break, the last time I saw her she was a mopey little thing with her hair in her eyes. I have to be honest, I assumed she'd dropped out; I remember her kind of sucking at everything but bookwork."
"Yeah?" You stick out your tongue. "I remember you kind of sucking at everything but Weaponry back then."
"Wasn't she the one you pushed in the river that one time?" Kiba comments.
"What?" Ami asks in surprise. "When was this?"
"Well, was there some other pink-haired girl in our class?" he asks, shrugging. "I remember being on a field trip and seeing you yell something at pinkie-chan, and the next minute the teacher was helping her up out of the stream."
"She must've fallen," Ami says, frowning. "I can't think why I would've pushed her."
You and Kiba share a look, and then raise an eyebrow each at Ami.
"What?" she asks, frown deepening.
"Ami, it could turn out that you pushed her because she picked a flower you wanted and I'd buy it," you say with a snort. "You were not a happy kid."
"Yes I was!" Ami says, shocked.
"You aren't even happy now!" Kiba says incredulously. "Why would it be any different back then?"
"The test begins..." says your escort, staring at his watch, "... now!"
"We'll finish this discussion when we get to the tower!" Ami says as the three of you dive into the foliage.
=
You make it to the centre of the forest in about an hour - a new record, or so an astounded Iruka-sensei informs you.
The tower has a couple dozen rooms set aside for chuunin training in the Forest, and since you have first pick you guys choose:
[X] The one closest to the onsite kitchen.
[X] The one close to the library.
[X] The one with the ensuite bathroom.
Voting on the initial segment is closed. See latest update for further details and continue voting below.
The Hina-Shika-Cho show up around four in the afternoon (whereupon Shikamaru falls into the first bed he finds and refuses to leave until supper), but by nightfall the office ladies still haven't shown up. You wonder if they ran into trouble (with a capital G), or if Sayuri just hasn't checked her pouches lately.
Well, at any rate, you have a lot of free time to fill in the next few days. (Pick two.)
[X] You have this idea about converting storage seals to hold chakra in reserve until you need it. Let's see if that's feasible...
[X] Shintenshin. Hey, are you the clan heir or not? Get it up and running.
[X] Work on your Sasuke army. (Choose up to two.)
-> [X] What's say you add some more... 'exotic' predators to the mix? (Multiple incarnations of any one of the Fab Four, or one construct of each.)
-> [X] Figure out if you can leak your mental static into a memory palace and subject people to it intentionally.
-> [X] Write in?
[X] Make a genjutsu of your own, you lazy brat. (Write in subject to GM approval.)
