~Defeating A Mirage~

"And let's not forget...we have quite good hearing too."

Murasaki was completely unbothered by the foul glare Hanako threw him as he continued, "Oh, don't let me interrupt. I think throwing a flash bomb and tying us up is a brilliant plan. I'd love to see it in action." he gave the hand mirror a meaningful twirl, "I really would."

"Better be careful." Kurodaiya warned, her voice drenched in mock dread, "Kunai-girl probably wouldn't forgive you for that."

"And this one wants to fight us." Suigyoku scoffed, pointing at Yumi, "Thrill-seeking barbarians flock together, it seems."

"Enough already!" Hanako might have been intimidated at first, but right now she was nothing short of angry, focusing her glare straight at the person she presumed to be the leader of this strange group, "I don't have the faintest idea of what you're talking about, but it has nothing to do with my team, right? Regardless of what happens, do you swear on the honor of your clan that you will leave them alone?"

"You've got some nerve to invoke clan honor, bloodtraitor." Kurodaiya spat out, "But yes, you have my word that we will leave peacefully...provided that they do nothing hostile in return. We do not slaughter the innocent, that is the honor of the Houseki clan."

"I see." the kunoichi replied evenly, taking a few steps forward to face her opponent, "And I do not let the innocent come to harm. That is the honor of the Tamori Clan"

Much to Hanako's surprise, her adversary broke a tiny grin at this, "You sound like you actually believe that." she remarked, gesturing for her companions to make room, "It's too bad you're so sadly misguided."

"Likewise." the young swordswoman replied, assuming her standard fighting stance.

"There is no end to your bold words, is there?" Kurodaiya asked, "We'll just see if you can back them up then, shall we?" with a simple finger movement, she finally extended her weapon to its full splendor. In terms of overall shape, it was a slightly larger-than-normal fan, but instead of feathers or paper, it seemed to consist entirely of thin, colorfully tinted crystals, the entire visible spectrum ranging across its surface while numerous eye-like pattern gave it a slightly mesmerizing appearance. The only dull part on the object was the bottom, a uniform black, attached to her wrist by a matching chain. Disarming quite clearly wasn't an option here.

"I'll make the first move, shall I?" Kurodaiya inquired, not waiting for a reply, she swung the fan towards her opponent in a downward, sweeping motion, as if performing a two-hand slash, "Houseki style! Rainbow Blades!"

At the command, Hanako could have sworn that the outer edge of the fan glowed, but a mere blink later it was gone. More confusingly, the gale-force wind and ensuing dust storm she had expected were nowhere to be seen. In fact, the attack seemed to have accomplished nothing whatsoever. Just as she was about to seize on the opportunity and charge her opponent, however, a warning bell went off at the back of her head. There was a certain talent you developed when you were around Akane long enough and on a regular basis, a talent which having a projectile specialist for a sensei only enhanced. You learned to notice projectiles, not just by look or even sound, but as a form of sense. There were times when you just knew that something sharp and pointy was soaring through the air, and Hanako had been through this often enough to know that stopping to analyze usually meant you'd be too late in acting. Not stopping to think, Hanako did what came naturally, channeling her chakra into her feet and immediately leaping backwards.

This, as it turned out, had been a last moment save, as a thin, red crescent shape suddenly embedded itself into the ground where she had been a split-second before, soon followed by five others. Orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple, the last landing straight by her foot. The projectiles, Hanako realized, would have drawn a clean line down the middle of her body had she been a second slower on the uptake.

It wasn't exactly a thrilling prospect. She had never been too bothered by projectiles in general, but invisible projectiles? How the heck was she supposed to fight against-

"Houseki style! Rainbow Blades!"

A pair of sweeping movements from Kurodaiya's fan reminded the swordswoman that this was not the best time to start theorizing, the familiar sense of imminent danger spurring her on. Like before, there was no sign of the projectiles save for the primordial insistence that they were there, but if she was going by the assumption that this woman couldn't manipulate their path much beyond the initial launch then...

"Shimatta! Tamori style, Forest's Skin!"

Not long after her realization, a set of colorful shards appeared on each side, effectively pincering her and sending a spray of tree sap into the air as they made contact with the newly formed bark. Hanako, despite being largely uninjured, didn't look much better off than the temporary armor that was now shedding off her, its limited endurance exhausted. The bark may have taken the brunt of the assault, but an impulse of that magnitude wasn't something you wanted to receive on a regular basis, especially not two at the same time. Even so, Hanako had not halted her fervent dash for a second, drawing straight towards her opponent for a diving slash. This persistence, it seemed, had not been expected, and she thought she caught a glimpse of shock in the other's eyes as the blade arced down, only to rebound with a wailing complaint as it struck decidedly rigid opposition.

"Houseki style, Mineral Clone."

The familiar smirk of superiority remained on Kurodaiya's face as she grinned at Hanako from a tree branch above, bringing up the fan with a casual heave of the chain it was attached to while leaving her opponent to glare at the vaguely humanoid lump of metal in front of her.

Hanako felt like kicking herself. A simple Genjutsu and Ninjutsu combination with a puppetry twist and she had fallen for it. This time, however...

"Rainbow Blades!"

"Tamori Style! Dance of Budding!"

Tapping into the chakra reserve in her blade, the swordswoman immediately transfered as much of it as possible into her arm, swinging wildly to deflect the blades raining down on her. There was a number of flaws to this plan, the least of which being that this dance was intended for a visible target, but taking the battle into close quarters and making sure it stayed there was definitely her best bet.

With another metallic crash, sword and fan connected, the owner of the latter holding her ground despite both of Hanako's hands being at the handle in order to add to the pressure.

"Not...bad." Kurodaiya conceded, locking eyes with her opponent, "Most swords would break or bend from that kind of abuse, but it seems yours is quite well crafted, then again...Houseki weapons always were the best."

Just as she was about to retort, Hanako suddenly reached a realization about the situation, and this time around the petrified sensation had barely gotten past her toes before her leg rose, dealing out a roundhouse kick that forced her opponent to retreat a bit, breaking the eye contact in the process.

The impudent expression remained firmly plastered onto the older kunoichi's face, "You're learning." she said, "But I wonder how long you can keep up at this pace. Rainbow Blades!"

By now Hanako already knew what to expect, leaping over to the next branch as a fresh row of projectiles punctured the tree trunk behind her, one scratching her left forearm and leaving a nasty gash in the process, followed by another, and another, and another. Geez...was there no end to this crazy lady's weapons? Hanako was being pushed to the limit just dodging them, and Kurodaiya didn't even seem to break a sweat. Energy conservation be damned, if she didn't overpower her opponent now while she still had some chakra left, this wouldn't even be a contest.

"Petal Blade!"

Compared to the endless stream of serrated crystals heading her way, the measly five flower petals looked practically laughable.

"Oh, please." she scoffed, swatting aside the attack before turning the fan towards Hanako once more, "Now you're not even trying!"

Had she been a bit less relaxed about the situation or a bit more attentive about the rather casual pose her opponent had suddenly adopted, she might not have been so surprised when the other's body suddenly disappeared with a cracking sound and a puff of smoke, she might also have expected the second cracking sound from behind her back, not to mention the sword heading her way. As it was, the best the kunoichi could do was reel backwards in a desperate attempt to keep her younger opponent's attack from striking a critical spot, being effectively forced off her branch and back down to the ground in the process.

"How reckless..." Kurodaiya hissed, grasping the surface scratch that had been made across her right cheek while unleashing another wave of projectiles to keep her opponent back, "You transformed yourself into a flower petal?!"

"You're learning." Hanako echoed the other's words, charging forward with a fresh series of slashes to keep her opponent off balance. Much to the other's frustration, it was working well, and even though the majority of the attacks were parried, that was also precisely as much as Kurodaiya managed to do. It had been a reckless gambit if ever there was one, and it was precisely the sheer insanity of it that had made it work, Hanako knew. She'd need to finish this now, and to do that, another reckless gambit was called for. Though her opponent probably didn't notice amidst her parrying attempts, Hanako fitted in a hand seal with her free hand between each slash, willing her ever more loudly complaining body to keep up. Just a little more, just one falter, one weak spot and...

"There! Tamori style, Dance of Blossoms!"

Though Hanako herself couldn't see it, the effect of this maneuver was quite the sight in its own right, a giant twister suddenly rising up in the previously calm air. Carried up by the illusory gale, a multitude of vividly pink blossoms rose up as well, their fragrance hanging heavily in the air as they circled around their target, obscuring both battlers from view. The kunoichi herself had something quite different to focus on, however, smoothly angling her way to her preoccupied opponent's unprotected back, gathering her excess chakra around the blade as she slowly raised it above her head in preparation of an all-ending two-hand slash.

Explosion was probably the best way to describe it. Raw, unharnessed chakra unleashed with the sole intent of harming was not the most stable of substances, and it certainly did not take kindly to being interposed. So when you took two sources of raw, unharnessed chakra unleashed with the sole intent of harming and pitted them against each other, nature could really only think of one way to resolve the issue.

Light temporarily blinded both of them. Metal groaned pitifully as the combined force of the attacks deformed them, and then, the inevitable backlash of momentum sent both fighters reeling back, both weapons helplessly spiraling out of their owners' hands. The result had all the makings of a stalemate, save for one detail...

Kurodaiya's weapon was still chained to her wrist, and this fact was soon mirrored in her expression as she recalled the fan back into her hand while Hanako's sword landed broken point first onto the ground by the Houseki shinobi's feet.

"Don't..." Hanako growled, rising to her feet and ignoring the bruises and cuts on her body as she grasped her scabbard in a surprisingly imposing manner, charging at her foe once more, "Don't think it's over yet!"

"You just never give up, do you?!" Kurodaiya snarled, preparing her fan once more, "I was hoping not to resort to this, but I can't risk you having another technique like that in store." shifting her weight backwards, the woman performed a movement surprisingly similar to Hanako's dance movements, twirling elegantly on the spot with her fan raised. The moment they caught sight of the motion, both of the other Houseki shinobi immediately retreated behind their respective trees, "Houseki style, Spectrum Attack!"

It had been a clear sign that something nasty was about to happen, but Hanako seemed unable to either realize or act on it, merely swinging the wooden scabbard at her opponent like a sword before the world dissolved into a blur of color.

The previous impact might have been more cataclysmic, but when it came to widespread damage, Kurodaiya's recent technique definitely had it beat. Colorful crystal fragments had wedged themselves into anything and virtually everything unfortunate enough to be within a three-meter sphere around her. Kurodaiya herself didn't seem much better off, trembling visibly from exhaustion, and the fan in her hand had been reduced to a tiny line of colors by the black rim, apparently having fired off the entirety of its projectile supply. Despite her condition, the Houseki shinobi seemed decidedly triumphant as she observed her foe, covered in shards much like the rest of the objects in her environment, pieces of bark feebly shedding off as a mixture of sap and blood drenched the ground beneath her as she struggled to raise her face back towards the opponent, one hand weakly attempting something akin to a hand sign.

"Know your limits already!" Kurodaiya scoffed, procuring the earth scroll from within the confines of her coat and tossing it carelessly in Team 11's general direction, "That...was a good fight, but it's over. You have no chakra and no weapon. You can't even stand anymore. Do you seriously expect to pull off another miraculous gambit?"

"No..." Hanako manged to utter, her voice barely audible as she turned her face upwards, revealing a sight that downright shocked her opponent, "...you already bought into this one." her grin reached an almost manic proportion as she completed the last seal, "Branch Shackle."

At those simple words, a terrifying realization finally struck the older kunoichi, her glance barely managing to register the scabbard and wooden hilt on each side of her before the thick branches grasped her, immediately constricting both arms and forcing them firmly across the Houseki shinobi's chest before they started squeezing together, "But..." she managed to gasp out, struggling in vain to pull out some form technique or tool to get her out of the ever tightening grasp while the branches snaked up towards her throat, "...the Dance of Blossoms, don't tell me it was all-"

"Diversion." the younger kunoichi filled in, rising to her feet in a painstakingly slow manner, "One thing...you should have noticed during the exam...Kurodaiya-chan...I'm terrible with Genjutsu, but...pretty good at pretend games." she slowly brought her hand upwards, performing a grasping motion on the air. On queue, the branches slithered forward, grasping her opponent around the neck and tightening around it, "It is...as you say...over."

"Houseki style! Earthsplitter!"

The moment the giant-like shinobi's voice rumbled into her ears, the hand Hanako had used to manipulate her technique reeled back, a pained yelp escaping her lips as the illusory damage struck her back down to the ground. Her vision was getting blurry fast, but even so she could vaguely make out the large, gaping rift that had been created mere inches from Kurodaiya's body, and the splintered pieces of wood and metal around it that had once been Hanako's scabbard and blade respectively.

"Kurodaiya-san!"

"No...matter, Suigyoku." the other replied, still gasping for air "The traitor's weapon is broken, not ideal...but our mission is over all the same."

For a moment, Suigyoku looked like he was about to enter a battle of vengeance, her violently coughing superior cradled in her arms, but then he seemed to think the better of it, nodding towards Murasaki, who immediately darted over to the rift his companion had created, performing a rapid succession of hand seals before placing both hands on the ground while his partner disappeared in a chakra-hastened blur of motion.

"Houseki style, Crystal Boundary!"

On his command, a translucent, crystalline wall snaked its way out of the wide gash in the ground, interposing any attempts of ranged attacks or other reprisal. Apparently, these two had taken Akane's kunais far more seriously than they had let on.

"Don't think this is over." he remarked from behind the comfort of his barrier, "You, Tamori Hanako, have made an enemy of Houseki clan's second house today, and we do not forget those who wrong us. Our pact of honor keeps us from interfering, but rest assured: we will meet again and next time we shall not hold back."

As far as Hanako was concerned, the shinobi's words fell on deaf ears. His sudden departure was equally irrelevant, as was the crumbling of the technique he had set up. Even the fact that she had technically won and that they now had a scroll meant nothing right now. Her right hand still hanging limply, the girl crept and dragged her way towards the splintered remains of her weapon the best she could, tears streaming down her cheeks. It hurt, everything hurt, but right now there was only one thing she knew.

"I need my weapon..."

She should have been lying down, she should have been getting the numerous cuts on her body treated, she should have been resting and replenishing, but instead she struggled her way towards the pile of debris, starting to assemble the individual splinters into a pile in front of her at a painstakingly slow pace.

"...is my weapon..." she mumbled, as if in trance, a series of sobs which normally wouldn't even have thought of letting out escaping her throat, "...need my weapon...is-is my weapon...please..." she turned an utterly piteous glance to her comrades, anxiously holding onto the small collection of splinters she had managed to assemble as if they were young birds who might fly off at the slightest provocation but who would be hurt if she held on any harder, "...please...really...really need my weapon..."


OOC: Woo-hoo, annoyingly long battle post and freak out scene done. ^0^ Alright, still have a follow up post to do once somebody helps her with those wood shards. They're not so cruel as to just ignore that plea, right? D=

Once arriving within the Forest Of Death's darkness, things seemed overly silent, as if nothing in the forest lived. No shaking of leaves, no tiny animals scurrying along the tails, just quiet. Souran, keiko, and Fen had been walking around for a while now, and there was no sign of other genin. Though this had been known as a grim looking forest, it seemed a bit peaceful if you took it all in. Souran stayed cautious during the entire hike through the forest, he found things just a tad too quiet. It was then that he began to wonder if entering the forest late was a good thing, whether it was only a minute, it still gave them the upper hand since the other ninja wouldn't expect them to enter, but if they came in contact, they'd still be in the same danger. Souran would have loved to use a bird to get an eye over the forest to look for other genin, but there were no animals in sight. Then, out of the dead silence came the sound of loud hissing. Souran looked around to find the source of the noise. He glanced to his left and
say two red, devilish eyes staring right towards him. Souran slowly leaned toward the ground, ready to jump if attacked, and then warned Keiko and Fen.

"Hey, guys. There's something in that tree to your left. It's huge!-" Before he could say anything else, the mysterious figure revealed itself to be a giant snake as it leaped forward at Souran, Fen, and Keiko.

"Jump!" He yelled, commanding the others to dodge the attack which came at the speed of
a strongly thrown kunai. Souran had leaped upwards, attempting to avoid the snake, and succeeded, but was shocked to witness the snake quickly twirling upward in Souran's direction.

"Crap, now I can't avoid it!" He panicked, trying to think of a tactic to avoid the snake. Then, Souran laughed like he couldn't believe it. He almost forgot to react, he was laughing so much. This laughing could most likely be heard from the edges of the forest, it was so loud. He then stopped to be serious, and aimed his body manipulation at the snake.

"Ha! And to think I was afraid I was about to get eaten." The attack he made was a success and he had control over the snake. He whipped off some sweat from his forehead as he safely landed on the earth.

"Hahaha, that was actually fun. I guess I was so jumpy from the silence of the forest that I didn't think of using body manipulation earlier. Heh!" Souran had then realized that the snake was standing upright right behind his seemingly shrunken body. Souran was expressing the most frightened look on his face.

"But, how could it resist my body manipulation technique?! It's supposed to take complete control of it's target... Genjutsu!" Souran's voice sprang from his frightened body. He quickly pulled his left thumb to his teeth and bit down hard enough to puncture his skin, causing enough pain to release the genjutsu. Things suddenly began to disappear slowly until he say his team staring oddly at Souran.

"Guys, there's an enemy close by...I was just caught in their genjustsu, be on your guard. They might have the scroll we need, so look for them..." Just then, a group of three appeared from a nearby tree. Once they landed, one of the genin, standing firm in the middle of her team, held out her hand and commanded; "Give us your scroll!" Souran smirked to this and answered; "Sorry, but I'm not quite fond of being the controlled one...I rather being the puppeteer. So, I think I'll tell you to give us your scroll." Souran commanded before flicking his right and left hands at the two thug-like team members next to her.

"In case you don't know, this is the body manipulation technique." He said as he forced her teammates to grab hold of her.

"Keiko, !" Souran yelled as he analyzed the woman to find the location of the scroll. She seemed to be the leader-type who always took things under her wing while the other two do the dirty work. "The scroll is in the kunai pouch on her right leg." The kunoichi began to scream at her teammates to snap out of being controlled.

"You buffoons, let go of me! Their going to get our scroll!" She roared to her hypnotized friends. Souran signaled Keiko to hurry and retrieve the scroll as he flicked his head toward the girl.

"Okay! Thinking: Fire Petal: Silent Flame Bow Jutsu. Keiko dashed to the women hoping she got caught in his Genjutsu. "Now to get the scroll! Keiko grabbed for the pouch on the Women's leg. He heard screaming so his jutsu was effective. " Hey Souran! Catch the pouch!" KEiko threw the pouch and hoped Souran caught it.

Souran clenched his teeth together as his eyes followed the kunai pouch flying towards him. He lifted his right hand to catch the flying object, assured that even though the genin to the right of the girl would release his grip on her, she'd be under that genjutsu for enough time. Then, as Souran was about an inch from the pouch, he felt pain in his left leg, like it was injected by a sharp object. Souran fell to the ground, letting the pouch do the same. Souran told Fen to grab it since it was within his distance. Then he moved his head to see what had happened. It was that kunoichi, she had been able to release the genjutsu, and by the looks of her hand, she bit her thumb, then took a shuriken from her back pouch and shoved it in her teammate to the right, and due to the bloodline of Souran's, any pain below the head is inflicted to both people. Souran would have released the jutsu to stop the pain, but Keiko was near the two and if the jutsu were to be released, Keiko would have to deal with two of them. Souran pulled himself up from the ground and forced the genin, who she had hit with the shuriken, to punch her across the face, hopefully knocking her out cold.

"Guys, I'm not sure how long she'll be out, so I think we had better scurry on out of here." Souran said as he began to place his body in a battling stance.

"Since I can't just let those other two go, I'm going to have to knock them out as well." Souran stated as he positioned the two largely built genin into a stance to punch each other. Within the blink of an eye, the two smashed the other's forehead, which caused both to collapse onto the ground.

"Alright, lets go!" Souran said as he leaped into one of the trees to their left and continued until reaching a fine distance away from that team. Souran sat on the branch, leaning on the base of the tree, waiting for the other two to catch up.

"Heh, boy was that fun. It seems like I haven't fought in so long, it feels refreshing." He said to himself, smiling.

"You're right, that was fun!" Keiko looked back at the tree's behind them. "Whew, I just did not think I she would have dispelled my GenJutsu!" Keiko stared and asked. "Do you think people would notice if I burned down the tree's in out path to see how close we are to the tower?

"Earth Release: Underground Projection Fish Technique!" Dansei bellowed cycling through the hand seals, shoving his trench knives back in his pouch, and grabbing both Yumi and Akane by the wrists in one fluid movement, as Kurodaiya released her Spectrum Attack. After making sure the attack was no longer around, he released his jutsu, springing back above ground with his teammates, then leaping onto a tree branch several yards away, trembling from his lack of chakra as he watched the battle unfold.

Once the Rock shinobi left, Dansei leapt back to the forest floor and retrieved the Earth Scroll, then headed over to Akane and Yumi. "I... I can't do anything right now," he told the two kunoichi, frowning. "I can't see any of the shards, and I can't heal Hanako, either." He took his trench knives back out and slipped them back over his knuckles. "I'll go ahead and keep look out."

IC: i have time to make a quick post, i'll try to take care of my posts from now on, thanks ACC-M... and Sharpay... try to give us a BIT more to work with on your posts, please? 3 lines isn't really cuttin it...

Fen scooped the pouch from off the ground and emptied its contents into his hand. He let the kunai and shuriken fall to the ground and grabbed the scroll, tossing the bag to the side and slipped the scroll along side the other in his kunai pouch. He leaped up into the trees behind Souran, listening to his two team mates talk. They were excited about the match that had just transpired. Fen had an indifferent feeling about it, since he didn't get any action in the fight, quite disappointing.

"I'm glad you guys had fun.... next fight is mine..." Fen said quietly, while being unusually quiet and letting the breeze flow over his face.

"Do you think people would notice if I burned down the tree's in out path to see how close we are to the tower?" He heard Keiko's voice break his concentration.

Fen turned his head slowly with narrow eyes at Keiko's question. Almost surprised... but Fen and Souran were used to these sort of comments from Keiko by now.

"I hope you were kidding. Keiko. Giving away our location like that would attract the attention of multiple teams at once and definitely put us in a situation that we can't handle. This isn't the time for stupid comments." Fen snapped, still being unusually serious. He returned his gaze forward and stopped on an upcoming branch and remained still, letting the breeze blow over his face, feeling its current. A common tracking technique of Kurai wind users.

"Keiko, Souran, stop. The winds are blowing unnaturally, probably someone fighting. Its off to our right, probably not a long distance. What do you guys want to do? Its still an easy day's travel to center of the forest still. I think we should look... somethin really doesn't feel right about it that area...but its a team decision... so what do you think?"

OOC: It meats the Standards, you were in my rp, you know how i roll

Keiko looked at Fen. You're point? I find my funny coments very enlightening, I think it brightens up everyone's day! So boo to you! Now I think I have an idea, most people who get to the tower and don't have both scrolls will ambush us near the tower to get the scrolls, so we send a decoy to attracted them, then we sneak behind and then the decoy leaves and comes back. I elect Fen for decoy!" Said Keiko almost out of breath.

"No."

Akane's simple word as all that it took to express her feelings. The battle... Hanako had been ahead. She could have won. But that final jutsu... and then the shattering that sickened Akane. She knew how much Hanako cared about her sword. That thing was a part of her, a part of Hanako. It was as much a part of her as an arm or a leg. And they... those bastards had broken it. Part of it had flown past Akane's cheek and cut it. As the blood trickled down, she felt the anger growing. Hanako collapsed, a nervous wreck. And two kunai thudded into the crystal barrier of the Housekis. Akane had already reached her limit. This was no time to remain calm. It was time to terminate with extreme prejudice. Another kunai hammered into the wall, this one attached to an exploding note. The small explosion was enough to penetrate the wall, but the Housekis were long gone, and through an area that look suspiciously like leech territory to Akane. In her experience, leech territory was never a good place to go when you had an open wound, no matter how small. So instead of pursuing the Housekis, she ran to Hanako's side and grabbed the shoulders of the shinobi. "Hanako... your sword... no way... they.... bastards.... kill them..." she muttered unintelligibly as she bent down to take a look at the wreckage of a once-proud Tamori clan blade.

Or was it Tamori clan?

A sinking feeling in Akane's chest began. 'The traitor's weapon'. 'Houseki clan weapons were always the best'. 'They're calling themselves a clan now?' Those statements... they weren't random. A sinking feeling came over Akane. If the Tamori clan were offshoots of some sort of clan from the rock who built weapons, their clan might understandably consider them traitors and have orders to eliminate and disgrace members. If that was the case, then Hanako was still in grave danger. There was no reason that those three wouldn't come back for more. One thing was for sure- nobody was safe. Hanako was in no condition to fight at the moment and most of her jutsu relied on the blade anyway. With both blade and scabbard destroyed, she had no reliable combat jutsu to draw on. The group was fragmented, without Hanako's combat jutsu they were in no position to enter any sort of frontal assault. Dansei was low on chakra. The group had no reliable system of command. The current location was unsafe. There was only one choice now.

Akane stooped and grabbed the scroll. "Alright, Yumi, Dansei, we're going to move out now. We can't stay here, they could find us again. We'll take our chances with them during the next portion of the exam. Dansei, take these." She rolled her father's present, the hyorogan jar, over to him. "Use them in case you need to replenish chakra. I think that jar has maybe six or seven in it, so be careful how many you use. One should be enough for now. We'll be moving out in the formation that Tenten-san taught us. I'll take front guard, Dansei, take rear. Yumi-chan, if anyone you don't recognize appears I want you to trap them in a Genjutsu before they can react and finish them. We have no time to worry about being nice. Hanako..." Akane's voice trailed off. "If you can't find a way to carry it, you'll have to leave your sword here for now. I'll go back for it later, I promise. Right now, we're going to the tower as quickly as possible, and we can't afford to leave you behind. Understand?"

Souran listened to Fen's words and gave them some thought. It had only taken them less than thirty minutes to get another scroll and yet the, exam gives us five days. This must mean that the next exam won't start until five days have passed, but why so long? Well, aside from that, Souran didn't quiet approve of actually going around the forest looking for fights. Souran was the type to want some action, but he also wanted to pass everything without being tired to death. Also, if Fen gets caught with both of the scrolls in his possession, not only will we have to search for more scrolls, but he'll be in danger. Souran had made his final decision on the matter.

"I say we don't. The way I see it, now that we have both scrolls, we have a higher chance of more people looking for us...see what I mean. The scrolls were separated evenly to each team and now that we have both, we're a candidate for both of those halves. So, say we do go and both teams have different scrolls, they'll probably team up on us and split the scrolls they need evenly...but, now that I'm curious, I think I just want to know what's going on." Souran turned his entire body toward the tree and used a kunai to pry some bark off. Just as he thought, there were millions of bugs. He chose one and used his body manipulation on it, it was a regular roach which Souran mostly wanted to use to get it away. He moved back to his first position and spoke to Keiko and Fen.

"I know it's not very smart to constantly use up my chakra, but I'm sure there will be time to rest. Okay, I'm going to use this roach to see what is going on around that area, Fen, I'll need you to use your wind jutsu to guide this little guy to the area you felt before. If it's something we can handle at the moment, I'll change my decision. Alright, lets do this." Souran loved to spy, it was probably his most favorite thing about being a ninja. Souran first used eye transfer so he could see what the bug saw, then he readied the flying roach in the direction that Fen had stated earlier and awaited Fen's wind to guide it.

Souran had then listened closely to what Keiko stated and replied; "If things don't look good at this place Fen sensed...I'll take that into consideration...but the decoy could change." Souran smirked evil-like as he joked around.

OOC: ACC-M, Can we just go with what Evkay's post did cause I dun feel like editing again x.x

"Hm... guide the bug...okay it will take a considerably less amount of chakra than i'm used to but i'll give it a shot." He said looking off into the direction of the disturbance.

He sat cross legged and closed his eyes, feeling the wind's currents around his body and focusing. He stretched his arms out in front of him and formed three hand signs. "If i concentrate... i can guide the roach on gentle currents of a weak Gale Force Jutsu..." he thought to himself.

Fen formed 3 hand signs in front of him and took a deep concentrating breath.

"If my concentration is disrupted, this wont work right. So stay quiet." He said quietly, mostly aiming the comment at Keiko.

"Wind Style....Gale Force Jutsu"

Fen's face instantly tensed as he manipulated the wind currents in the direction towards the disturbance. He was glad Souran was at least inspecting the disturbance... it felt like there was definitely trouble.

Fen had finally attained the balance of chakra needed to curve and bend the winds to his will and gave a small nod to Souran, signaling him to release the bug. They would know the mystery situation soon enough.

Keiko looked at the bug. "What are you staring? Ya weird bug". Keiko smirked and got up." So how long till we do something 'cause I'm bored!" Keiko looked around. "Hey Souran you have an umbrella there are leeches falling from the sky!"

As Yuki watched the battle go on she nearly fell to pieces. 'It..they..she…' It was terrible. Hanako had them! She did! And they…

'They broke her sword...' They broke it. It shattered into a thousand pieces. Her teammate's sword. Her friend's sword.. And Yumi didn't do anything. They had told her a one on one fight and she listened. She obeyed the enemy! How could she have been so stupid!

Right now Yumi had the utmost look of anger and sympathy on her face. How could they do that?! Those bastards! She had been angry before that they called her barbaric but..That look on Hanako's face. It only made her angrier. She had to stop herself from following them to prevent further injuries.

Akane had told her to look out for approaching teams. She had barely heard going through her own thoughts. . Yumi moved slightly her eyes not moving from Hanako's body and performed hand seals for her kekkei genkai. She hadn't used up any chakra, because she was that useless.

"Eyes of the Forest.." she mumbled pathetically. It was then that her eyes snapped open. "There's another team nearby! You guys go ahead on. I'll trap them by my self." She told them trying not to be too loud. As she passed Dansei to jump into one of the big trees she muttered "Take care of her you guys.." and jumped off. Whatever team came within 2 feet of her team was going to get it..!

Souran noticed the slight gust of wind coming from Fen and got the signal to get things started. Souran began by forcing the roach to jump forward and then spread it's wings. It then rode the wind to the location Souran hoped that Fen was correctly aiming at. Within a couple minutes, the bug reached a point where Souran could see about seven people. Four were in a tree while the other three were on the ground. Souran noticed that by the look of the team of four, they were in need of help, but then with a closer look, he identified them as team 11. That team from before this exam had started. Souran moved his head to his team and informed them.

"It's team 11, from earlier. Hanako was it, Akane and those two others...I can't remember their names a the moment, but they are in a lot of danger...I think we should help them." Souran gave a horrified expression, also aware of how Fen would probably want to help whether he approved or disapproved of going. Souran released the justsu and stood firm on the branch.

"The amount of chakra I have isn't the kind for a full length battle. I think we should at least hold those three genin off until team 11 can escape...Fen...Keiko and I will hold them off. You should take care of their team...I mean, we can't afford the scroll to be taken." Souran smiled, hinting that he thinks Fen and Hanako had a bit of a connection...Then, Souran felt the presence of someone else, and without the roach, he can't see as far, so he prepared himself.

"No." Fen responded sternly to Souran. "With a team that most likely needs medical attention, we wont be attempting escape with the scrolls anyway. You're the best defensive fighter we have, no ones getting close the scrolls if they're in your possession. And besides, with Keiko, I can even up the numbers against 3 opponents using my Mirror Clone. And uh... my fist is itchin to show off a bit..." He said, rubbing his bandages.

Fen stood up and tossed the pouch with the scrolls to Souran and faced into the forest. He made 4 seals and the winds began to swirl around him.

"Wind Style, Whispering Winds"

He gave a small wave to his other two team mates.

"I'll see you two there."

And with that he vanished with a swirl of leaves.

"Hmph, that is mean!" Keiko said angrily." Why the nerve of that guy!" Keiko yelled. " When he gets back I'll punch him so hard. Just. Ugh..." Keiko said frustrated.

OOC: Sharpay, I know it meets standards but, I'd prefer you to take a little more time to make your posts longer, it just makes things seem more interesting x]

IC: Souran snatched the pouch quickly and strapped it onto his left leg, where there was enough space for a pouch. He pouted to hear what Fen had said and thought to himself; "Darn, I was hoping he'd forget about getting to fight, and would focus on that girl so I could fight...Oh well. Looks like I'm going to have to deal with that Akane girl...I think I'll be nice this time around." Souran could still feel that odd presence coming closer. He moved his head to the left, and then to the right innocently, and then followed behind Fen, leaving Keiko to deal with that person. Besides, It was only one, Souran figured Keiko could take who ever it was, also it was most likely one of those people Souran witnessed, so It probably helps the mission at hand. Souran began to catch up with Fen and before he knew it, they were along side each other.

"Okay, so, you are going to take on those bad guys while I..." Souran took a small dramatic pause. "Keep the others safe. Yeah, not sure they'll listen to me, but I guess you'll not only get some excitement, but also get to show off your moves. We'll here goes nothing, give it your best." Souran then saw a figure in the distance.

"Looks like plans might have changed, Fen." Souran stated as he waited for the shaded figure to fully reveal him or herself. Souran glanced over to Fen and began to speak again.

"Once we meet up with this shadowed figure, I'll take care of things, you continue on." Souran stated as he slowly gained speed to meet with the unknown genin.

OOC: I'm confused. Is who Keiko is fighting supposed to be me because I thought I was still heading towards you guys. How could you pass me up without me attacking you?

OOC: Oh, my bad. I think I miss-read your post .-. Wow, I must be tired. Also, I forgot to tell you Sharpay, it's supposed to be Yumi who Souran sensed coming. Anyway, I'll edit my entry to fix things as much as I can ._.

Edit: Well, hopefully that helped to some extent. As for Keiko: I'm gunna need Sharpay to edit your post to something dealing with trying to catch up with Fen and Souran. Then, when Yumi and Souran meet up, Fen will continue on and Keiko will show up next to Souran and Yumi and we'll see what happens from there. Simple enough, right x]

Fen watched as the dark figure closed the gap between Fen and Keiko. He settled on a large branch and kneeled, waiting for the ninja to make their first move. Fen was getting restless again, the others were in trouble and these distractions weren't welcomed... Souran would take care of the mystery ninja but the wait was taking so long.

"i'm pretty sure that once Souran engages this enemy, i'll be able to sneak by unseen using Whispering Winds... and hopefully hold off these enemies until Souran gets finished..." Fen planned to himself quietly as the figure drew closer. He prepared to dart straight passed in order to help the distressed team 11.

Fen slowly moved his hands closer together, preparing to sign the seals for whispering winds and escape, the figure was becoming clearer.