~Defeating A Mirage~

[Shadow_Yue]

'Hmm... that kids cheating...'

"Number 76, Number 54, Disquailified!"

'Caught again... Ok now let's see..' Yumi had been amusing herself by catching kids cheating. She had been done for almost 10 minutes now and had been looking around the room for quite sometime. It was starting to get boring.. nothing was happening except for the obvious and not-so-obvious tricks going on but they had gotten repetitive by now. Whispering the answers to the person beside was pretty obvious. You'd think ninja would've known that.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiinnng!

Yumi winced. She couldn't block out all of the sounds she heard unfortunately and that loud ringing was pretty annoying. 'Jeez' She turned her head toward the proctor and waited for the last question. Ibiki explained it and Yumi immediately got it. ' I knew there would be a catch. There always is isn't it?' . One by one more and more genin raised their hands to quit. She turned her head towards her teammates and sent them a fierce glare as if daring them to quit. If they did she would have their hides and they knew that. However she was quite surprised by her teammate's outburst.

"I didn't go through all this skull drudgery crap just to quite and go home when it starts getting interesting. Besides, when you take on a task you see it to the end, stand or fall! That's team 11 honor, and if anyone on my team was even thinking of backing out, remember I'll kick you square if you do!"

Yumi couldn't help but chuckle. She really shouldn't have been surprised by that, and yet somehow she was. At least she knew she wouldn't have to get Hanako not to quit. Somehow her voice sounded less annoying than usual. Yumi smirked in the direction of Ibiki and rested her head on her hands. 'Looks like you didn't intimidate as many people as you thought.'

 

[Scarlet Weather]

Akane might have been embarassed by Hanako's assertion if it weren't for the fact that she agreed wholeheartedly. Not only that, but she could smell the bluff wind a mile away. There was no way that Ibiki could bar them from taking the chuunin exams ever again, after all, there were very few genin who made it through the exam the first time. It stood to reason that if the villages wanted applicants to take and re-take the exam, it would be set up so that you couldn't be banned for missing something as silly as one question. Besides, the fact that choosing not to answer the question resulted in failure made it particularly obvious that all this was was a test of resolve. The shinobi who falters in battle will endanger himself and his squad. This question was just a way of testing that, Akane was sure of it.

Of course, she didn't feel like making a speech. That was Hanako's job. Instead, she slipped another kunai from a hidden pouch sewn into the lining of her sleeve and slammed it into her desk. The message, she hoped, was clear: No backing down, even in the face of death.

It was then that Akane realized something else of importance. This question... it could go both ways. What if the goal was testing a shinobi's ability to weigh the risks and benefits of a situation? After all, judgment under fire was important as well. Still, Akane felt that the die had been cast. If Hanako was staying to answer the question, she'd never forgive the rest of the team for backing down. But there was always the possibility that there really was a "final question". Akane felt her resolve waver momentarily. Perhaps she could back down?

No. She had already made her choice when she had removed the kunai. If she missed the question, so be it. She'd figure something out. After all, Hanako seemed confident enough, and even Dansei hadn't raised his hand yet. If a blind shinobi could handle the question, she could as well.

 

[ThatInsaneKid]

Dansei smiled. So far, three of the four ninja on his team had stayed firm. Hanako had made her speech, and Akane's kunai slamming had given him the message he had hoped for. Now the only one left was Yumi.

We're doing well. Tenten-sensei warned us about things like this... Yumi is fairly smart. She should've remembered.

Dansei took out one of his kunai and started swirling it around on his finger, his mouth now a thin frown and his brow furrowed.

 

[Đ a r κ]

Eyes, glaring into the crowd of genin who seemed to have made their final decision to stay and take the last question, Ibiki kept things cool without giving out any hint of what he was about to do. Just after the outburst of two of the genin in the room had finally died down, Ibiki thought to himself; "Well now, looks like we have a couple of cheerers in here. Just by that outburst, the others suddenly followed in their thoughts of not giving up. Interesting...reminds me of someone else." Once Ibiki was finished, he took a faint glance around to check if there were any genin who gave the slightest look of regret, but he didn't see a single one. He looked toward the sides of the room, at the other proctors to see their thoughts, and they shook their heads in agreement. Then, Ibiki made his final statement.

"Heh, I admire your determination, but you'll need more than that for what I'm about to tell you, and all I have to say is-" Just then, there was dead silence in the entire room. Not one person moved, spoke or made any noise what-so-ever. The silence broke once Ibiki spoke again.

"You all...have passed the first round of the chuunin exams." He said with a giant smile on his face, his eyes almost covered by his cheeks. Souran's eyes bulged so far out, they almost fell out, just as most of the other genin's were as well. Souran's mouth fell strait to the ground in awe to what was said, but then, his eyes showing slight anger, he banged his fist onto the table and spoke out; "What do you mean; we pass, what about the tenth question!?" Ibiki's large smile died just then, glaring at Souran who didn't show any intimidation.

"You mean you didn't figure it out? Guess I'll explain things then. You see; there is no tenth question, there never was one. The first ones were used to test how well you could gather information," The edges of Souran's lips smirked a bit, knowing that he was right before, "And so I don't have to be asked this, I'll explain the last question."

"Wait, you just said-!" Souran began, being cut off swiftly by Ibiki, who grunted so loud that a lion would curl up into a ball. Souran seemed to shrink as he fell into his chair.

"...Well, if you want to be smart about it, then there was a tenth question; Whether to leave, knowing you could try again, or stay, knowing if you failed your entire team would suffer...The truth is; the test was to test you as a team. Those who sacrifice their own team for their own gain are scum, but those who choose to laugh at the face of danger, put their comrades before themselves, and never fall back. Those are the people who can be called, without a dought; Chuunin." The room was still in awe as the once intimidating proctor showed a deeper side to himself. Souran was surprised, yet; encouraged by Ibiki's words.

 

[Kansas]

Fen sat, leaning back in his chair staring at Ibiki, unimpressed as he gave his 'heartfelt' speech. All this sitting around... it goes against against his nature. He was becoming more and more antsy as the talks droned on. He was truly an intimidating man but also a man who loved to hear himself talk. It was annoying.

"Silly old man...any decent shinobi knows to put their team before themselves...lets get on with the next exam already. This room is starting to get stuffy." Fen said quietly under his breath.

As he sat in the room, his anxiousness was becoming more and more apparent. Fen began fidgeting around in his seat, uneasily. His movements had to be becoming increasingly distractive to those around him, so he just blurted it out.

"Are we going to do the next test or what?"

The room seemed silent as Fen apparently said the question that was on the mind of every genin in the room. Fen knew his impatience was a shortcoming of his, but all this sitting around was just too much.

 

[ThatInsaneKid]

"Nice mind game you've got there," Dansei muttered, his thin frown turning into an enormous smile -- he liked mind games. He suddenly stopped the twirling kunai, grabbing it so the blade was facing towards him, and put it back in it's pouch.

Now... The only problem now is... What's the second portion of the exam? the ninja thought, stroking his chin as he leaned back in his seat. If the first portion was this nerveracking, who knows how bad the next one will be? And it might involve combat, too... Dansei bit his lip. This could get ugly.

 

[Shadow_Yue]

Yumi was growing impatient with this man. He had been stalling for an awful lot of time. As he began to say the 10th question she felt herself lean in a little bit eagerly. Then what he said next nearly made her go off her rocker.

"You all...have passed the first round of the chuunin exams."

Did she hear him clearly? We passed? But what about the 10th question?! The proctor began to explain,Yumi felt herself frown as she realized she had done unnecessary work. She shouldn't have been so easily tricked like that. She hated it. Yumi had to surpress the urge to start screaming in his face. On the bright side she and her team had passed the first part of the exam, yes that was a definite plus. And the second part of the exam was about to start too.

"Pfft. If there is a second part."

Still, she had been expecting so much more. She knew there was a catch somewhere in there but she was expecting a fight, or battle , or something! It's probably because she's been so restless that day. Yumi wanted a fight badly today. She wanted to become a chuunin badly too. So naturally she was expecting to have to fight in order to become a chuunin. Ofcourse Yumi knew it wouldn't be just brawns they were deciding on but still. It would've been expected to have that part come first.

'Duh Yumi.' She mentally slapped herself when she realized the thoughts that had just processed through her head. The exams couldn't have PREDICTABLE exams and tests. That would be just silly, especially since these are supposed to be trained jounins that are giving the exams. Compared to them,the rest of the genin there were weaklings. Whatever they may be considered by the jounin was not her problem. Her problem was going to be the next part of the test and she had to be ready for it.

 

[Alter Ego]

Hanako had to admit being just a tad nervous as the wait for the final question dragged on and on. Calling what seemed like an obvious bluff had seemed like the right choice at the moment, but what if she had been wrong? What if her sheer bullheadedness had dragged her team down? What if the purpose of this was to see if they could evaluate risks, and she had done wrong? What if-?

'No, stop it!' she told herself, 'Now you're just over-analyzing, baka. You made your choice when you invoked team honor. No turning back now!'

On the outside, the young swordswoman betrayed no sign of nervousness, save for a slightly tighter-than-usual grip around the hilt of her blade. Yes, that was right, she had invoked team honor and each of her teammates had replied in their own way. They had all placed their confidence in her way of doing this, so having any less confidence in herself would be letting down their trust. Reciting this argument for herself, she braced herself for what was to come as Ibiki declared that they had all...passed?

Hanako had half a mind to protest, but then realized how ridiculous that would have been and kept her mouth shut while the grizzled old examiner explained his little game. So...the examination had been a cheating exercise like she thought! She had not, however, anticipated that the final question had actually already been posed in the form of a big, fancy metaphor and that their decision to stay or leave was actually answering that question.

Now that it was explained to her, it was obvious, and Hanako had half a mind to slap her forehead. A shinobi always saw beyond the obvious, didn't they? That was a basic that had been drilled into them on their very first academy lesson. She couldn't believe that she had forgotten about it. Far above her exasperation over having been so stupid, however, was the joy in realizing that she had made it through.

Well, part one, anyway, but she had made it nonetheless.

"Hells yeah!" the teenager declared, punching the air triumphantly and causing the others around her to make a few precautionary movements away from her vicinity, "Bring on part two!"

Noting that nothing seemed to be going on, however, Hanako let her thoughts drift to a certain other person in the room...specifically, the only other one who was already demanding a second round. A small smile spread across the girl's face as she came to a decision. Though she may not have thought much of him during their academy years, that green-haired kid certainly had spunk. Honesty too, by the sound of it, and those were two traits she valued highly.

Nodding for herself, the young swordswoman rose from her seat, nonchalantly sauntering past the remaining shinobi in her path, who -- having witnessed the multiple outbursts on her part -- wisely gave way. Without betraying her presence by as much as a sound, Hanako snuck up behind Fen, who was already looking bored, leaning over the desk behind him as she launched her assault.

"Congratulations, Kyokou-kun!" the loud declaration was probably a heart attack all by itself, but being who she was, the teenager punctuated it by a strong pat on the back, though of course only a complete sissy would have cringed at that. Still smiling, completely unbothered by the fresh score of weird looks it earned her, Hanako then proceeded to give her unfortunate victim a quarter turn so that they came face to face. After all, you couldn't really make introductions to someone's back, "Tamori Hanako, team 11." she introduced herself, not that the latter part was necessary given that she had just declared it to the whole classroom a few moments ago, "I think we were in the same graduation group? Anyway, that was one heck of a speech you just gave. Sure broke Ibiki-sensei's little game up, didn't it? And you know what else? It makes me feel inclined to..." she edged her face a few inches closer to his. Hanako may not have been much of a flirt, but she did realize the value of this type of gesture in shutting normally loud genin up for a moment, leaning a bit closer to whisper the last part of her message into his ear, "Declare you my guy-to-beat for the remainder of this examination." casually bringing her middle and index fingers together, she performed a small nail flick on the genin's nose, pulling away from him, "It's been nice talking to you, Kyokou-kun, but I think I'd better go before Akane-chan throws a kunai at me. Good luck with the next exam." with that, she began her retreat from her probably still shocked victim, turning her head to finish her statement, "Because I'm going to be disappointed if you just drop out after that."

Oh yes, she was pretty sure that she had made an impression. It didn't really matter what kind of impression she had made, the point was that the loudmouth probably wouldn't forget her name in a hurry. Plant a seed and let it grow, that was the Tamori way, and in her experience it worked for forming friendships as well.

With that, Hanako put on her usual bright smile and strode towards her own teammates instead, giving them a cheerful wave, "Akane-chan, Yumi-chan, Dansei-kun! Over here!"


OOC: Tee-hee...outside-of-the-team character interaction. Sorry, I just couldn't resist. xD Oh, and for the record: Kyokou = big mouth, so it's a nickname of sorts. :3

 

[Kansas]

"Congratulations, Kyokou-kun!"

The voice seemed to pierce straight through one ear and out the other, making Fen's hair stand on end. And was immediately accompanied by a hard smack on the back. Fen cranked his head upside down slowly to look behind him and find the culprit. A girl from his academy days, she introduced herself nicely.

"Hm... Hanako? ya I think I remember you...um... i'm Kurai... Kurai Fenra...team 4." He said slowly, still questioning the girl's presence.

She leaned over and whispered into his ear. A challenge, to be her 'guy-to-beat' in this year's exams. She flicked his nose and walked away. Hmpf. Fen let his chair fall forward and was about to stand up and launch his attack right there. Taunting in any fashion was enough to get Fen way too worked up. He raised his hands to sign his seals but out of the corner of his eye, caught what seemed to be a "don't even think about it" glare from Souran. Fen sat back in his seat and crossed his arms staring at the girl through narrow eyes as she smiled and turned to leave she clearly thought she had won the little tangle but it was obvious this would be a clash of ego's. He cracked a grin and said quietly before she was out of earshot.

"Sure... just don't be upset if I shatter your bones..." He said softly, then shifted his gaze to the flower in her hair "Is that your favorite kind of flower? I'll be sure to bring you a bouquet of those while you're in the hospital." He finished cracking an even bigger grin. Of course this confrontation entirely went against Shikamaru Sensei's teachings of 'girls are a bother...just ignore them' but this one was too much. The exchange of words left an impression on Fen as he watched her walk away. His first rivalry he hadn't immediately fought. And considering how she snuck up on him without his noticing...she wasn't as direct of a fighter as him which could make this hard. But no matter what the case... he would beat her.

"hmmm Tamori Hanako...lets hope you've still got all that spunk when I nail you with this fist..." He thought to himself, while rubbing his right arm through the bandages. "She seems cool enough... If she can still walk after i beat her, maybe we could hang out..." Fen thought, grinning to himself.

 

[Usagi-Chan~]

Keiko got up speechless. He was amazed he had passed, and that the pencil he used is magic. "Hey Souran! You will not believe this! My pencil was magic!" Keiko looked at Fen and saw that he was talking to Tamori. " Wonder what they could be talking about?" Said Keiko curiously


OOC: okay Xenocrates I will make them one paragraph.

 

[Alter Ego]

OOC: Only two and a half lines to go, then. ;D

Btw, Hanako's introducing herself in jap terms, so do recall that Tamori is the surname. If referring to her by surname was intentional, feel free to ignore this. Just wanted to ensure that there's no confusion. :3

IC:

Hanako couldn't help chuckling at the boy's response, which effectively confirmed that she had indeed succeeded, turning her gaze to him with an expression of mock disapproval on her face as she wagged an index finger at the boy, "Now, now, Fenra-kun, that's really sweet of you, but we've only just been introduced. Don't you think that it's a bit early to start courting me with flowers? I'm not that kind of girl, you know."

Still chuckling for herself, partially because she could only imagine what Akane's -- let alone Fenra's -- response would be, the kunoichi self-consciously adjusted the flower behind her ear a little as she sauntered over to her team, taking a seat next to Akane, "Rather eager, isn't he?" she remarked nonchalantly, stretching out in her seat, "Would you mind teaching me some of your kunai technique, Akane-chan? If he keeps going on like that I might actually need it." she paused for a moment, drumming her fingers against the desk as her gaze slid back to the examiner, "And besides, Ibiki-sensei seems to be taking his time too, so it would give us something to do."

 

[Usagi-Chan~]

OOC: okay then but four sentences is a paragraph and i did not know that it was her sername and i will edit this post when i think of something to say

 

[Scarlet Weather]

OOC: Sharpay... I'm confused. Does Keiko just think he's got a magic pencil, or is the pencil actually supposed to be magic? *UBER SHOT'ED* Oh, and... here four lines makes a full paragraph, not sentences. If you go by sentences alone, I believe the acceptable number is six. Just thought I'd mention that in my capacity as resident nit-picky RPer. *BLASTED FOR BORDERLINE MINI-MODISM*

Akane felt a wave, no, an ocean of relief sweep over her. Yanking her kunai from its position on the desk, she thoughtfully twirled it by its metal loop as she surveyed the class. Somehow everyone in here had managed to pass, if only by the skin of their teeth. Still, Akane felt she could do better. If this written test had been an actual exam she would have only passed by virtue of sheer luck. A shinobi who survived only through incredible luck, Akane knew, was not the kind of shinobi who survived very long. Perhaps Yumi could teach her something? Or Dansei? The moment the blind shinobi's name entered her head, Akane grimaced. There was no way that Yamato Akane would allow any of her success to be attributed to a lesson learned from a potential stalker. Even if he was a blind man, Dansei could sense things with those sonar cuffs of his, she knew, and there was always the possibility that he was using that strange kekkei genkai of his to restore his sight in order to peep on you when you least expected it and to use his blindness as a cover-up later. Yes, Dansei-kun might be her team mate but she would not allow him to come anywhere near her, no sir. Her kunai-armed hand began to itch. Perhaps she should just take care of him now and avoid any potential danger?

As luck or providence would have it, Fen and Hanako began their exchange at the exact moment that Akane stood wavering in indecision. Akane only caught the first few snatches of their conversation, but from what she could tell it was not a friendly exchange. More of a targeting between rivals, actually. Akane breathed a sigh of intense relief. If Hanako had started to get soppy over some loudmouthed boy she would never be able to associate with the Tamori-clan shinobi again. It would be much too embarrasing. Fen's comments, on the other hand, brought only new waves of paranoia to Akane's heart. This boy... he was up-front and not likely to stalk a fair maiden such as herself effectively, but he was obviously hostile from his comments about breaking bones and whatnot. And his grin... was this Fen, perhaps, a sadist? Maybe he was secretly planning to take advantage of Hanako after breaking her limbs in some horrifying manner? Akane was fully aware of the fact that Hanako was capable of handling herself in combat, but she still worried about her friend. Hanako wasn't half as suspicious as she needed to be, and more worried about swordsmanship than general combat. If Hanako were separated entirely from her Tamori clan weapon an enemy shinobi could easily defeat her.

Hanako didn't seem overly concerned about Fen's comments, instead remarking to him that she wasn't "That kind of girl." Akane fleetingly thought that she glimpsed a hint of flirtiness (If such a word even existed) in that comment, but she dismissed this notion quickly. Tamori Hanako, for all her sagacity when it came to swordsmanship, was most definitely completely ignorant in the art of flirting. She smiled gently as her friend sidled up to her, joking about learning some kunai techniques. Akane smiled impishly. "Actually, kunai are rather easy to utilize," she commented. "First you choose a target..." she said as she prepared her kunai, "And then you launch it!" At these words the kunai seemed to leap from Akane's hand to hurl through the air and bury itself nearly an inch away from Fen's hand. "Sorry! I missed!" she called out cheerfully, though anyone who knew Akane well was aware that she had done no such thing. She giggled slightly, disguising her true paranoic nature most effectively, as she returned her attentions to Hanako. "The trick is getting the kunai concealed and recovering it for future use. Tenten-sensei taught me a trick or two about that, but she made me promise not to tell you."

 

[Đ a r κ]

OOC: I think it is four sentences, if not then the rules should be edited for misleading ;o
No more OCC's for now. If you guys have anything to say to each other take it to pms for a while, ty.

IC: Souran had been going into thought, wondering what kind of tricks would be placed into the second session of these chuunin exams. This first one was mentally difficult, but if things get more dangerous, then these exams may be more fun than expected. All-of-a-sudden, Souran's thoughts were broken by Keiko's voice who seemed to think his pencil had come to life by magic. Souran lifted his right eye-brow before placing his right hand over his face, like a mask to show how he couldn't believe what he just heard. Souran removed his hand and gave a strange look to Keiko as if he were glaring.

"Are you serious. We've been a team this whole time and your telling me you don't even know my jutsu, sheesh, thanks a lot." Souran pouted, just before hearing a faint whistle that became louder and louder. Then, from the window near the front of the room, the glass burst into miniature pieces which flew across the room. Souran wondered if this was the next exam or part of this one, which would make all that had happened a trap. With the burst of the window came a large, red blanket that had been led by two kunai where on darted to the top while the second headed for the floor. Once the entire sheet was in the room, it didn't cover much, but only the length of a chalkboard. Souran had then noticed letters on the sheet which read, "The Best, The Only, The Second Test's Proctor; Anko Mirarashi!" Souran was unimpressed. He noticed a woman standing in front of the large sheet, Souran figured that was Anko.

"Oh great, a nut-case." Souran thought to himself as he reorganized his hand on his face.

 

[Usagi-Chan~]

"You have got to be kidding me." Said Keiko, in an bad attitude. "That was the most corny entrance ever." Keiko said, then turned to Souran ."And of course I know your jutsu , I was trying to bring s little comic-relief. We just got through a super hard test with the Procter being a freaky headed ninja!

 

[Kansas]

The conversation with Hanako was terminated ...talking of fighting without being able to do anything about it was making Fen even more fidgety. His eyes began to wander around the room then instantly darted to the side of his head as an object hurled towards him. A kunai...It stuck into desk inches from Fen's left arm, he sat unflinching and silent... more out of aggravation than shock. His eyes drifted up slowly to see the kunai culprit was none other than a team mate of Hanako's... go figure.

"Not one... but two girls...what a bother..." Fen chuckled as he realized Shikamaru-Sensei rubbing off on him even more than he realized. though the next gesture was definitely a product of his heritage in the Kurai Clan.

Fen pulled the kunai from the desk and twirled it, being sure he had the girl's attention. He grabbed it quickly in his palm then placed left hand over his right and popped his knuckles. The sound seemed to echo but the popping was music to Fen's ears, the trademark sound of his favorite jutsu. He parted his hands and switched Akane's kunai to his right hand and smirked having heard something about 'recovering the kunai for future use'.

"haha...recover this kunai for future use..." he thought to himself as he gripped the kunai in his right hand while glaring at Akane. He wrapped his bandaged fist around the outsides of the kunai and proceeded to crumple it like paper, and twisted it into an awkward contorted shape. He tossed the mangled kunai and let it slide across the floor to the girls' feet then smiled big and gave them both a wink. Fen dispelled the technique around his right arm, trying to be careful not to reveal too much about it. He prepared to say a sarcastic comment to the girls, boosting his ego once more but he was cut off by Anko's entrance into the room. Fen's gaze shifted to the front of the room slowly away from the girls. His eyes rested on the proctor and he let out a giant sigh, slapping his forehead with his palm in disbelief and exclaimed out loud but quietly to himself.

"Another crazy woman...what is wrong with this village...*sigh* at least the 2nd part of the exam is going to start....."

 

[Shadow_Yue]

Yumi rolled her eyes at the scene in front of her. Hanako was messing with some boy who seemed to be messing with her too. You'd think something interesting would happen already. What were they thinking anyway? Leaving them to sit in chairs until they got bored to death? It would seem like it with all these weird tests. Yumi's head had been resting on the desks trying to block out Hanako's loud voice. Turning her head to look at what mess Hanako had made now showed that she had gotten Akane mixed in it too. Yumi frowned when she realized they were the only ones that were talking so loud. They were going to draw too much attention to themselves....

Yumi's head bolted up straight. 'Wait a second...' It had taken her only a second for her to jump out of her seat and flip backwards behind her before the shards of glass from the window struck where she had been sitting seconds before. This was followed by two kunai and the sheet that had been posted on the wall. 'So much for a nice window seat.' Then a woman had also come flying through the window, in which Yumi was about to reach for her kunai pocket, and landed in front of the sheet. Yumi's jaw nearly dropped when she saw that , that was their next test's proctor. Her hands dropped from the kunai pouch and Yumi straightened herself up before reaching for her chair that had fallen on the floor when she jumped out of the way, and pulling it a considerable distance away from the Hanako-like woman before sitting down. She really had to be on her senses with this test didn't she? First interrogation and now ninjas flying through window?! Yumi checked around to make sure all the other windows were still in place and that no other ninjas had come flying through them. She found ,with a somewhat relieved sigh, that no other ninjas had come into the room. Yumi turned to the woman and frowned for what seemed like the tenth time that day. She seemed to act like Hanako and Yumi wasn't sure if she was ready for another one of those.

 

[ThatInsaneKid]

As the rest of the classroom became tense and alert as a result of Anko's entry, Dansei sighed and rested his chin on his fist, his bony elbow digging into the desk. His SONAR sleeves hadn't given him any warning of it, but once Anko had entered the room, he instantly knew what was going on. After a half minute of pondering as to whether he was going to activate his Kekkei Genkei or not, he resolved on the option, "yes". With another sigh, he leaned back in his seat, cycled through the Hand Seals, and blinked rapidly as his sight came back to him.

A kunoichi proctor... he thought. More unusual surprises. I wonder what our next exam's going to be. With the previous occurences, it's probably going to be very... hard. On our mental and physical health.

 

[Đ a r κ]

"The Second Exam; The Forest Of Death!"

"Eyes open little kiddies, this is no time to be relaxing! I'm your next proctor; Anko Mitarashi!...Ready?! Then lets go!" Anko filled the entire room with her voice. Souran could barely believe that she was any rank above genin with how she acted. Then, out of the odd silence that came from Anko's commotion, Ibiki spoke to her.

"Anko, I don't think you'll ever be late or on time."

"Oops, hehe, my bad. Maybe next exams, right?!" Anko joked, but Ibiki didn't seem the least bit effected by her sarcasm. Anko then faced the genin face to face and spoke.

"Anyway, all you genin are going to follow me straight to the Forest of Death, where your second exam, and most likely your last exam will begin." She cautioned to the genin, attempting to be as intimidating as Ibiki. Her facial expression had killed her chances of being intimidating though, due to how she had been smiling while she stated that. Souran was almost sure he would die of annoyance before these exams were over.

"So many weirdo's..." He thought, placing his head upon his desk, just before the genin began to rise from their seats to follow Anko. Not wanting to be left behind, Souran got up and followed, but first looked for his team so they could regroup.

 

[Alter Ego]

Hanako couldn't help another chuckle as Akane chucked her kunai in a seemingly haphazard manner, only for the projectile to land mere inches away from Fenra's hand. She had called it a slip, but it was obvious both from her manner and from experience that this was just talk. Yamato Akane was about as likely to mess up a kunai toss as she was to ask Dansei-kun for a date. Though the kunoichi had disguised it as mere mischievousness, Hanako had a gut feeling that there was more to her choice of target than that. Akane was quite the protective friend, in her own, paranoid way, and a number of boys who had tried being a bit too friendly around Hanako had experienced close calls with a sharp projectiles much like this one. This was slightly bothersome, particularly when she found herself in need of a sparring partner, but Hanako had always felt that complaining about it would have been rather rude.

Besides, men in Akane's vicinity already needed to be on their guard against incoming kunai anyway.

It was then that the screech of tormented metal struck Hanako's ears, the kunoichi soon tracing it to Fenra. Though the reckless Genin might not have realized it, he might just have made a fatal mistake.

The kunai was the one and only warning Akane gave, signaling that you had ignored it like that was bound to lead into trouble.

Fortunately, Fenra's foolhardy display was soon overshadowed by the sudden breach of a window that sent glass shards flying across those unfortunate enough to have been seated close to it and created a general wave of unrest among the students in the room. Noticing the flying kunai, Hanako instinctively reached for her sword, but the arrival of the second academy proctor silenced her worries.

"Mitarashi Anko, huh?" Hanako's expression changed from suspicion to a smile as she investigated the examiner in front of them. There was just something about her that struck a chord with the young swordswoman. This person...she wasn't one of those usual kunoichi, quiet and oh-so-mysterious little reeds who hid behind fancy genjutsu and dignified manners. No, both the dramatic entry and Anko's manner of speaking made it clear that she was an up-front type, and no weakling in a fight either, by the looks of it.

Besides, her outfit was cool.

With a grin almost as wide as the examiner's, Hanako rose from her seat as Anko prompted them all to move towards what she referred to as 'the Forest of Death'. It was hardly a frightening prospect, despite the name. After all, Tamori clan techniques drew their power from nature. If anything, a forest would give her the edge. The girl's eyes still remained on the examiner until she walked out view, her mouth absently forming a word, "She's..."

"She's so cool!" Hanako's exclamation only attracted a few weird stares this time around. Apparently, the examination group was starting to accept that loud noises came with the kunoichi, "Finally a real examiner! Come on, Akane-chan!" she called enthusiastically, half-lifting her friend out of her seat and half-dragging her towards the exit, "We don't want to be late for the next exam."