The Chunin Exams are here and to get ready, we must mingle and discuss! Plan and train even! Post among yourselves.

Nanami wakes up and stretches out fully. "Nanami, better get up. Or you might miss that valuable training time you always talk about." Her father yells from the kitchen. She rolls out of bed, her eyes dance over her freshly pressed outfit "I hope its to your specifications. You were very picky about it." Shikamaru says from the doorway. "Its perfect, it should allow for faster movement when using my bow."

A few minutes later she was dressed, and ready for another fun day of training. Nanami loved it, she enjoyed the degree of difficulty of the training she was put through. She picks up her bow, and waves at Shikamaru as she leaves. He smiles, and holds up a bag "The usual snacks, and vitamins for the day." Nanami stops and grabs the bag quickly. With that the door slams behind her. Shikamaru chuckles "Very much like your mother."

Nanami makes her way to the training ground. She finds the pond, walks out on it and sits down. Nanami takes out her bow. The bow is made of strong oak, and through tireless effort, and chakra. The bow is now black in color, it gleams like marble would. Yet it was wood. Everyday of the weeks of training, she would sit down with the bow, and bond with it. Nanami would infuse her wind, and fire chakra within the wood and string of the bow. Many times Sensei asked to see her bow, and he barely could lift it. On the other-hand it was light as a feather in Nanami's hands. She had been also slowly carving her families names on one side of the bow, and the names of her Sensei, and teammates on the other-side. After about an hour of this she walked over to the archery targets.

Nanami walked about two hundred yards out to start. She started letting arrows fly at a very rapid pace. Each one on target for the body part of the target dummies she was aiming for. She then backed up to three hundred yards. She was slightly less accurate, but still on target for the most part. With normal arrows this was her extreme limits. She usually stayed in the hundred to hundred and fifty yard markers, mostly for accuracy. This did however give her a great advantage against melee ninja. Something Akuma had worked quite hard with her on was using her genjutsu to camouflage herself, making her invisible. Through Akuma's help he helped show her what else could be done. At this point the False surroundings jutsu made her vastly more effective for a sniper style ninja. She had adapted it to where she could turn herself invisible even when standing right in front of people. Nanami was very proud of how far she had come.

Nanami knew her weakness would be melee combatants, and her tricks would not always work. So she came up with tactics to create distance. She adapted her wind jutsu to make one giant tornado instead of several small ones, as well as creating a massive gust of wind. Combine this with her fire jutsu, and you get an explosion based on how much chakra she used. The body flicker technique was also another way out, as well as the replacement technique. Nanami was looking at every angle she could. Preparing herself the best she could. Regardless if training was scheduled or not, Nanami would train relentlessly. She had settled on a goal. Her goal was to become the strongest ninja, and protect those she holds precious.

Nanami trains for the rest of day, or until interrupted.
This message was last edited by a game editor at 00:05, Mon 11 Jan 2016.

   Three weeks have passed and Sigmund wakes up, feeling fresh and ready for the day. His intense training over the last three weeks have allowed him to develop a new jutsu and he feels pretty great knowing it and learning it. He hopes to master it soon. He looked at his calendar, seeing it was only a few more days until the Chunin Exams. Their sensei had mentioned it and had explained that was the reason why he was so tough on them. Sigmund wanted to participate in the exams and had hoped none of his team would ruin that opportunity for him. His sensei only spent minor time training him. Sigmund taught himself his new jutsu and could not wait  try it against his opponents.

   He got up, getting dressed quickly and ran downstairs, seeing none of his family in the house as usual. He didn't mind as he walked to the kitchen table, a note left behind. He skimmed it quickly and just smiled. His family had left the village to head to the Chunin Exam destination, taking their trip and agreed to see him in a couple of days. He yawned as he made his way to the kitchen, grabbing a carton of milk and drinking out of it and grabbing a rice ball as he left his home.

   He rushed his way to their agreed spot for the day like Akuma-sensei told them. When he jumped from roof top to roof top, he finally came into view of the training grounds within the academy. He immediately noticed Nanami practicing with her newly constructed bow. It was part of her newly found jutsu. He only knew that because she never had it before and now she began carrying it around for the past week, so he figured she had some sort of ranged new jutsu in store for the rest of the competition.

   She was shooting arrows at the archery targets. He stopped from afar and allowed a small, sharp bone come out of the palm of his hand, almost like a kunai knife. He gripped it and waited until Nanami was about to shoot an arrow. Right when she pulled the string back, he threw it and she let go, launching an arrow towards one of the targets. His bone knife struck the arrow, breaking it in half and his bone knife hit the side of the building, making his presence aware to her now. He smirked.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 06:49, Mon 11 Jan 2016.

Nanami chuckled "Always the showoff." She winks, fading into the background. She just seemed to vanish. Then out of nowhere three arrows slammed into the wood or tile just beneath Sigmund's feet. He could feel the force of the impact from the arrows, was more then a normal bow should have had. Nanami appeared again on a rooftop not far from him "How did your training go?"

   He chuckled to himself when she commented and then seconds later she was gone in the blink of an eye. He scanned the area closely, but could not find her. He wasn't that experienced just yet. That's when he felt the force of the three arrows strike the tile right next to his feet. Something was off though. He noticed normal arrows or a normal bow for that matter, could not make that kind of impact. She had something going on and he wasn't too clear about it just yet, but he knew it was definitely from her new training. She had reappeared on the roof not far from him.

   His smirk had vanished and he sat down on the roof, letting his feet dangle on the edge. "It was actually pretty great. I enjoyed it, to say the least. Toughest training I have ever undergone, even though it was by myself," he answered and looked at her. "And you?" he asked in return.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 06:49, Mon 11 Jan 2016.

Nanami hops over and sits near him "I loved it. I've trained everyday since I was five. I wasn't able to do jutsu at that age. But mother was very strict. She had me eating healthy, taking chakra pills, and vitamin pills. Being the Kazekage's sister, and council. She was busy, I always looked up to her." She looks up and smiles "I miss mother, but I won't let her down. My goal is to become strong, and protect those I hold precious."

Her bow rests in her lap, she looks at the arrows "I made this bow, with the help of the weapon smith." She flips the bow and holds it up "Sigmund, Nori, and Akuma. Our teams names are on this side." Nanami flips the bow to the otherside "On this side, the names of my family. You all give me strength, and hope. Because of all of the names on here, I strive to do my best. In return, I hope the names on here do their best as well."

Nanami looks out across the village "I am often up here at dawn daily. I try to start the day by looking out across the village, as the sun rises. It is so peaceful, and beautiful."

   Sigmund listened intently to her training and he paid attention to her bow in particular. She showed him the names of her team and then her family on each side. We was surprised she put her teams/ names on their, but he was rather honored to be part of the reason why she tries so hard. Over the weeks, Sigmund and Nanami had grew a tad close. He was the bronze and she was the smarts. They made the perfect duo but Nori completed the team. She was the glue that help them together. They needed each other, more than he wanted to admit.

   She went to talk about how beautiful the village was in the early mornings, when she watches the sun rise at the crack of dawn. He admired her dedication a lot. "I use to be up this early with Nori when we were kids, because we too found the village beautiful when the sun rose. That was a long time ago though," he mentioned and watched the village too. He yet wondered where Nori or their sensei was at.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 06:49, Mon 11 Jan 2016.

Nanami looks at Sigmund, she reaches over and with two fingers. She taps the center of his forehead, kind of like Itachi did to Sasuke when they were young "We'll protect one another." She takes out a muffin and offers it to Sigmund "I also have vitamins pills if you want one." Nanami's eyes gaze back across the village. Her legs swing, and she leans forward on her palms.

   He smirked as she tapped his forehead with her two fingers. It had taken him by surprise, but he was calm about it. She promised to protect him as he silently promised to protect her and Nori from anything and everything. He placed his hand on top of her head and gave her hair a bit of a messy shake. "yeah, yeah. You know I got you too," he replied back, accepting the muffin. "Sure, I'll take a vitamin," he said as he took a bite of the muffin and gazed with her. He allowed his legs to swing a bit too on the roof.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 06:49, Mon 11 Jan 2016.

Nanami laughs, and blushes slightly. She hands him a vitamin pill "I think our next bit of training should be on team tactics. With all of our abilities finally finding their path, we can start to strategize how to deal with situations. The new jutsu does deal with using this bow. It has three modes, I have only mastered one, I have a grasp on the second. The third is being a pain. But I will master them all, and expand on them, pushing them to far greater heights." She was all smiles as she spoke about all of this.

   He accepted the vitamin pill and popped it into his mouth as she suggested about working on team tactics. He took another bite of his muffin too to help chew the pill down. He noticed her excitement when she began talking about her new bow jutsu, explaining what it does and its power levels. She was only able to do part of it and had a long way to go, but he wasn't surprised. It had only been three weeks so she wasn't the only one who couldn't wield the full potential of their new jutsu.

   "Yeah, team tactics. I heard it is always good to combine jutsus with each other. It makes them stronger and it helps everybody work together better. Your bow would be the perfect ranged attack. Maybe even a distraction. Your arrows could be infused with one of our jutsus. Nori's fire or my water or lightning. Whichever works. It would be a pretty powerful ranged arrow. Or like I said, the perfect distraction so I can get the perfect timing for close combat," he agreed with her as he took another bite of the muffin. He chewed and swallow before commenting on her bow. "You'll get it down. Probably after the Chunin Exams. If you become a Chunin, you'll definitely be training harder to master it," he added as he finished his muffin, whipping off the crumbs from his pants and onto the roof/ground.

Nanami smiles and looks back at him "Actually the mode I mastered isn't an attack mode. Its a healing arrow, the arrow itself is made of chakra. We lacked a medical ninja, so I figured this type of thing would be useful. Especially once it grows in strength. For now it will heal minor wounds, or it will give you a little extra chakra. The one I have a grasp on, it is my trump card. And yes, the other reason I have been molding the bow with my chakra. So it, and the arrows fired from it would be able to handle chakra. Also adding paperbombs that explode on impact will also be nice. So I can help us adjust to many given situations."

   "That may be true, but that does not mean we can't infuse our jutsus to regular arrows. For specifically lightning, your arrows could be used as a conductor. Or if we infuse fire with a regular arrow, it can help detonate a paper bomb trap," he explained further. "Chakra isn't a problem for me anyways, so a chakra arrow really wouldn't benefit me much anyways," he chuckled. "Whatever floats your boat though. Your jutsu," he finished.

Nanami looks at him weird "I did just say that would be a good idea, and thats why I have chakra treated my bow. So chakra can be infused into it.." She laughs gently "I am aware, most Kekkai users have a little more chakra then non-kekkai users." She pokes Sigmund "My goal with the healing mode, is to eventually be able to fully restore a person from a fatal wound." Nanami smiles "And jutsu combinations is definitely on my to do list. You know I am wind and fire. I know you are water, and lightning. I think lightning, and arrows could make for some pretty destructive stuff. It could also be used to knock somebody out from great distances. Our team has extreme potential." She shoulder bumps him "So lets become the best we can!."

   He gave her a shoulder bump back playfully. "It's a shame that not all of us can become Chunins together. There's only one winner out of the whole thing. It's crazy. All five great shinobi ninja will be there so we gotta give it our all. We have to show our potential. Our full potential, even it means going up against each other," he explained. "Promise me you won't go easy on me. You need to give me your all out there if we ever face each other," he grew more serious as he looked at her with his dark eyes. He was dead serious about this. It was like becoming a chunin was his ultimate goal right now, even it meant beating his comrade.

Nanami smiles "I know what the chunin exams can bring. But I ask one thing. If you get into a situation that could be life threatening, and its die or submit defeat. Don't die." She frowns slightly as she says that, but her smile quickly returns "I know that won't happen, if we have to face one another, lets agree to do so in the finals. All three of us are evenly matched, we each have our weak points as well. But who knows what will happen between now and the Chunin exams. Growth happens through experience. The chunin exams will definitely be a growing experience."

   When Nanami brought up about don't choose death over life, he remained quiet. Taking the coward's way out was not suitable for him. He actually would rather die than even surrender. It was just stubbornness, but also his pride. He didn't answer right away and thought it over, but not wanting to ever have her be burden with his death, he decided to promise her that as well. "I promise to surrender rather than die. I cannot leave my teammates by themselves," he joked. "You girls better make the finals. You can't leave me there by myself!" he exclaimed and smirked, challenging them both and being a tad cocky.

Nanami smiles happily at his response "Thank you Sigmund-kun. That will help me focus. As far as the finals go, I am more concerned about you making them then me." She says in response to his remark. Nanami giggles "I have been working on various tactics while I trained, you need to be prepared for every situation. Yet you can't be prepared for everything, but I am certainly going to try." Her voice lowers "Everyone has fears though. A nightmare reminds me of this every now and then." She lifts her head and smiles "Sorry, I guess I needed to tell someone that."

Nanami looks back out across the village silent for the moment..

   Sigmund smirked when she mentioned she was worried about him not making it all the way instead of her. "Your lack of faith in me is insulting. You haven't seen what I have been practicing these last couple of weeks. I am prepared for long range and close combat. I feel sorry for the suckers who have to face me. I can't promise they'll live," he commented seriously and perhaps that was the truth. His new jutsu was new, but that does not mean it was unstable. It was more so deadly and he wasn't too sure if he could stop himself if he even tapped into his new jutsu. It was for extreme measures more than anything.

   "I am not afraid of anything, not even death itself," he mentioned, showing off again that he was a courageous and fearless ninja. He was definitely going to be a great candidate for the ANBU if he ever wanted to be. He had the fearless and emotionless attitude for it.

Nanami laughs, and smiles at him "Huh, lack of faith? Think of it as motivation. Thats what teammates do, they push each other to be better. I have a hundred percent faith in you, but if I let you think your the best already. Then you will make that one little mistake at that critical juncture. But then, we don't even know if there will be a tournament. The venue, and the tests change at each chunin exam. So we won't know if there will even be a tournament till we reach it. As each test is only known when it is given. So in someways trying to prepare for them should not be on our minds. The only thing on our minds should be training as a team, and being as strong as we can be before the exam."

She seems happy when talking about the team, and how strong they will be. Nanami is leaning forward and swinging back. Her hair flows with the morning breeze.

   He thought it over about the previous exams. He seemed to remember they did change frequently, but noticed there was a pattern. He was glad she had faith in him, but the thought of him choking at the end was unappealing. He wanted to burst into the laughter at the ridiculous thought if it, but he refrained from it. He didn't want to come off too friendly. He was growing soft with these girls around and needed to get back to his old ways, so he remained quiet and decided to talk about the exams even further.

   "There is always a tournament at the end. That is the sole purpose why all the five kages come together. They want to witness it. They enjoy a good show, to praise one another in their own royalty together so there will be battles, I can promise you that," he reassured. "The exams are usually the same every time, except the first and second tests. Those are different, however, the concept it still the same if you have ever studied them. The third part is always the battles. It would be fairly too easy if they left those out," he explained to her.

Nanami smiles "There are two types of tournaments from what I have gathered. A single elimination tournament, and a team battle tournament. I am more hoping for the team battle tournament, especially with what I will be preparing. If it ends up being a singles tournament. I look forward to facing you. As I said a few moments ago, the chunin exams often cause growth in the ninjas that participate. What we are when the exam first starts, things may be different when it comes time for us to face one another."

She continues to smile. Nanami seems to be really enjoying herself as the two talked "We do have a long road, and some rather tough competition to beat. So lets worry about winning and losing in the tournament, once we actually make it to that stage."

   "We should be working on team tactics right now then. If it comes down to having team battles, that is the one thing we have not even started yet," he claimed and jumped down, landing perfectly on his feet and stared up at her as she was still sitting on the edge of the roof. "I don't know about you, but I want to learn to work with my team, so if it ever comes down to it, we could possibly be the best trio out there," he explained and took his jacket off, tossing it on the ground. He had gotten a new one, but the exact same one because all the hardcore training they did in Akuma's training house had ruined his old one so badly that he had to replace it.

Nanami stands, falls forward. She spins several times before landing on both feet "I agree, its something to work on until the rest of our team get here." She walks at a normal pace back towards the training area. She looks back at Sigmund "So where do you want to start? We can test the chakra limit of the arrows, or we could work on a formation. Kind of hard to do that without Nori." She thinks "Or we could work on endurance, or target practice. Any other suggestion Sigmund-kun?" Suddenly she smiles "How about you be a moving target for me? I can use the healing arrows, so you won't be hurt."

   He thought it over some. It did make it hard to work on things like this without their third member or their sensei even here for that matter. He yet wondered where that old fart was at anyways. He was suppose to be here by now. "Well, it is ultimately up to you. It is obvious we cannot do formation tactics because we are missing one, which is surprising because Nori claims she's all about training," he muttered in disappointment. When she mentioned the arrows thing, he wanted to laugh.

   He smirked at the thought of her arrows being shot at him. "Is that suppose to help you aim better?" he teased her before walking yards away from her, on his toes and ready to vault and dodge anywhere he needed to go to dodge her arrows or perhaps, even stop them. "Ready when you are," he challenged, ready for any sort of counter attack.

Akuma had tested his students in a manner that some Jonin thought was unnecessary and harsh, but it got it's job done. They were subjected to new and different trials everyday. They never knew what lay before them. Some days they went back into the maze never running into the same series of events twice. Some days they endured vigorous physical training and if their sensei was in a good mood were allowed to practice sparring with each other. When the dust settled and Akuma had finished testing and training his squad for what he considered the basics he was proud of them.

They had all grown by leaps and bounds showing their progress through their actions. Sigmund , whether he would ever admit it or not, seemed to be opening up to the team and grew to keep the team structure strong. Due to this he allowed Sigmund to act as squad leader many times when Akuma could not be present. Nori who originally seemed to be the weakest of the three made the most improvements and with time was easily seen to be on the same level as he squad members. Nanami worked hard and proved to Akuma and the squad that she deserved to be with them everyday. Akuma was so impressed by her that he gladly took her on as the closest thing he would have to an apprentice.

During all of this time the team was given small missions to perform around the village. The squad was never fond of it as they could have easily handled more, but they struggled through and any moment not spent working on a mission was spent working on their training. Then the Hokage gave Akuma some important news. If ready his squad was eligible to enter the Chunin exams. Yet, he didn't tell his squad at first. He wanted them to remain focused as he began his next phase in their training. He would take each of them to a different and special place for a four day trip on which they began to learn and perfect a new jutsu. He knew that it would be more than useful when they exams came.

Before the exams there was today. Only yesterday Akuma has informed his students that part of their most recent training was to prepare them to take this next step if they decided to do so. He dismissed them so that they could each make their choice and asked them to meet back at their normal grounds in the morning. He was running late when he saw Nanami fall forward of the building and continue a conversation with Sigmund. He had heard just enough of it to add a little quip in himself.

"C'mon now. This is Sigmund we're talking about. With his thick skin an actual arrow would be lucky is it penetrated the skin."

Nanami tilts her head back "Your late sensei. And you should know by now. My bow is far from normal. With how I have infused it with my chakra, and how the weapon-smith taught me to treat the wood. The last time you could barely pick up my bow, let alone pull the string." She points at the arrows in the targets. Only the tail ends of the arrows were showing "It would take a skin of iron to stop a normal arrow.. Even then if you were able to, you would still feel the impact."

She pauses and looks at Sigmund "I would be using my divine shot, thus the arrows are made of chakra, and yes you would be simply target practice. It would be a set pattern, as most times they won't see me coming." She smiles and looks at them both "Sensei, you wouldn't have any tracking-nin training in your repertoire?"

It had been three weeks since Nori, Sigmund, and Nanami had managed to successfully pass Akuma-sensei's test at his house. It was a little bit harder than any of them had anticipated, but what kind of test would it be if their teacher were to go easy on them? If there was one thing she had learned from the experience it was that although she had did her best to prove her techniques and value to her team, she knew she was the weakest of the three. Nanami was definitely the brains and Sigmund was their strength. Where did that leave her exactly? She had always trained and worked hard and was given the opportunities to showcase her abilities during the test, but she felt like she wasn't able to prove what she could really do and that left her disappointed in herself just a little bit.

Over the course of the three weeks, the team had gone one small missions they were assigned by the Kage of the village, and although they proved to menial and tedious, Nori had found them to be great learning experiences. Little by little she was able to show what she was capable of doing to not just her teammates or to their sensei, but to herself, too. She wasn't going to be the weak link anymore. She was going to be a strong asset to the team and carry her weight. In the process of all this training she had done with her team and on a one-on-one basis with Akuma-sensei, she managed to learn a new jutsu and was excited to be able to show it to her fellow teammates with whom she had developed quite a close bond with.

Somehow in the course of her time with him, Nori managed to rekindle that hint of a friendship she had with Sigmund when they were kids. He had started talking to her a little bit more day by day and they even developed a sort of friendly rivalry with each other. Somehow whenever they trained together, he always brought out the best in her and pushed her to work harder and give him all she had, which she was glad to. Nori knew she had to prove even more that she had value to this team, but there was one thing that she knew she couldn't do and that was to disappoint Sigmund. Over the course of time that had passed, Nori had noticed the close bond that was forming between him and Nanami and although it seemed to be just a friendly relationship between them, she envied that. She envied that because she knew that that was something that her and Sigmund would probably never have again. She hated it, but he would probably never form that close of a bond with her like they had when they were kids.

Although this weighed on her mind, Nori knew she couldn't let it weigh her down. She would admit to liking Sigmund, but she couldn't let that distract her. Not when the Chunin exams were coming up. She was going to give it her best there, too. Akuma had given them the option to sign up for the exams and she sure as hell wasn't going to back down from it. This was just another step for her that she to overcome. Morning time came and it was the day before the exams. Akuma was going to meet the team at the training grounds for their decisions. Nori had woken up a little later than she had wanted to that morning, but she managed to get up, shower, and get dressed before grabbing an apple and leaving her house. It took her no time at all to reach the training grounds and when she did, she saw Nanami and Sigmund had beaten her to it. Not to mention Akuma-sensei.

"Hey guys! I'm here! Sorry I'm late!" she called out as she landed a few feet away from them. "I can see you started without me." She smirked.

   Just before Sigmund and Nanami could begin, Akuma-sensei appeared before them at the last second, putting in his comment just as he landed onto the ground with them. Not even a few minutes later, the final member of the team finally showed up: Nori. All Sigmund could do was smirk at the both of them. His sensei should have been here before them, but he guessed life happens sometimes perhaps. As for Nori, Sigmund only was a bit disappointed. He believed she changed and was motivated like him and Nanami, but he was probably wrong.

   "Well, well...look who finally decided to show up," he stated as he relaxed his shoulders and stood up straight, referring to both their sensei and Nori. "Took you guys long enough. Nanami and I were starting to get bored," he teased as he waited further instructions.

Somehow it irked Nori to hear Sigmund say 'Nanami and I,' but she just let it roll past her shoulders and forced a smile on her face. "Well, at least we are here now, right? Besides it's not as if you guys haven't already started without us anyway," she said as she lightly folded her arms across her chest and looked over at Akuma-sensei. He was technically supposed to be here before any of them were, right? "So what do you have in store for us today, sensei?"

Before Akuma-Sensei could respond, Nanami runs up and hugs Nori "Its been a rough few weeks, and you looked like you needed a hug." She smiles and taps the center of Nori's forehead with two fingers. She pushes off with her right foot, and lands back in the spot she was before. The training had left Nanami more composed, and even more inspired.

"Oh yeah, I know sensei and Sigmund have seen it." She shows Nori the bow. One side had the names of her family members on it. The otherside had Nori's, Akuma's, and Sigmund's names on it "All these people including you, have helped shape me into who I am today." She was upbeat, and enthusiastic about it. If nori looked around, she would see all the arrows that were stuck around the center mass area of the target dummies, the arrows had only the feather end of the arrow showing.

Nori hadn't been expecting for Nanami to come up and hug her like that, but when she did, she unfolded her arms and wrapped one of them around her to hug her back. "Thanks, Nanami. It has been a rough couple of weeks, but it's nothing," she said before she felt her tap the center of her forehead and move away from her. When her friend had showed her her bow, Nori's eyes widened slightly as she looked it over. "I don't know what to say. Thank you, Nanami. I feel honored that you think of me as such a good influence." She smiled as she looked up to her before she looked around the area to see arrows sticking out of the training dummies. "You're becoming a pretty good shot, girl. I'd hate to be on the other end of that arrow that's for sure," she said and let out a light laugh.

Nanami smiles "The people a person cares about gives them strength and hope. Nobody can survive in this world without people to back them. Whether it be from the sidelines, or people you are fighting side by side with." She blushes slightly at the compliment "Oh you haven't seen anything yet." She winks, eluding to something she hasn't shown anyone yet.

Her eyes dance over Sigmund and Akuma "So we going to get started sometime today, or should we come up with out own team building exercises Sensei?"

   Sigmund stayed silent as Nori and Akuma-sensei had shown up. He really didn't have too much to say, aside that he was ready for today, but their sensei was probably tired of running them around any longer. Sigmund stretched his arms in the air as he walked towards Nori and Nanami to see what's up. "As Squad Leader, I say we try to come up with some team tactics with everyone's jutsus, newly found or not. We need it," he suggested, taking command again like earlier in the last few weeks. "If not, I'm freaking starving. I skipped breakfast and only had a small muffin today," he mentioned, hinting to wanting food and could use some grub right about now. However, he did not mind running off of a muffin. He was just ready to start now.

At hearing that she hadn't seen anything yet only told Nori that Nanami had something up her sleeve that she hadn't shown them."Well, I can't wait to see what it is," she said with a smile before she looked over to Akuma and then over to Sigmund as he approached them talking about coming up with some team tactics. He always wanted to get straight down to it, didn't he? Not that she wasn't already used to it by now. He was their squad leader after all. "Well, I say let's go eat something first and then come back and work it off. We all know how you get on an empty stomach, Siggy."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:59, Thu 14 Jan 2016.

Akuma smiled softly and watched as his squad conversed among themselves. Then he realized that he was supposed to be taking a part of it too. As if snapping out of a daze he spoke to them.

"Well I figured I would treat the three of you to a good lunch today. It's my treat so pick anywhere you want to go. While we are there we can talk about the Chunin exams. I trust that you have all decided to go. So it will be best to go ahead and discuss tactics and what to expect."

He stood closer to the three of them as he waited for a choice to be made about where they were going to eat.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:18, Thu 14 Jan 2016.

Nanami bounces "Sounds good Sensei. And yes, I believe we are all wanting to join the chunin exams. As far as food, barbecue sounds good. That's my vote." She says with a glow about her caused by the morning sun. As the other decide, she takes a moment to sling her bow, and put the cap on her quiver.
This message was last edited by a game editor at 06:57, Thu 14 Jan 2016.

   Sigmund thought it over and couldn't help but agree with Nanami. "I don't mind barbecue either. I could use some good 'ol meat on a hot grill right now," he chimed in and walked away from the group, walking passed them and picking up his coat. He began dusting it off with his hands and he held it up with another. He finally tossed his over his shoulder and slipped his arms right through the sleeves and kept it open. He ran his hand through his hair as he walked back over to the group again, ready to chow down and discuss team tactics already.

Upon hearing that Akuma-sensei was going to treat them all to lunch, Nori turned her head and looked over at their teacher with a smile. "Barbeque sounds good to me. I'm starving. All I got to eat was an apple this morning," she said before she saw Sigmund brush past her and grab his coat. Once he came back, though, she walked over to him and linked her arm with his with a type of cheery disposition spread across her face. "I have actually been wondering about team tactics myself, so I'm anticipating to see what we can come up with."

   Sigmund was ready to go, ready to eat, ready for the day. He honestly was ready for the exams. As he got lost in thought, Nori had linked her arm with his. He was displeased with it. He assumed it probably meant something different to her rather than to him. He immediately had pulled his arm away and stepped away from her, not wanting to lead anything on for her. He didn't want romance. His life revolved strictly around serious shinobi business and he did not want to get involved with anybody or girls for that matter. He honestly always had that trouble growing up. It was the hair, he thought. Girls were always all over him when he was in the academy and it was annoying. It was the hair and was Sigmund's mysterious aura that he had radiate off of him. He believed girls like the silent, strong, mysterious type, but he did not like any of them. They were all annoying.

   He remembered reading something similar like that in a bingo book that explained the same things would happen to Sasuke Uchiha because he was the "hottie" of Naruto's generation. Sigmund was always inspired by Sasuke. He even got to meet him only once in his life and Sigmund really wanted to personally train under him, but Sasuke had declined to take on as an apprentice because he "simply did not have time" or so he had claimed. Since that encounter, Sigmund always looked up to Sasuke even more and wanted to devote all his time becoming as strong as Sasuke or strong enough to be considered for training. Rumor had it that Sasuke is the only person on Earth that evenly matches the Hokage. Sigmund got lost in thought once more in less than a minute, but he eventually came back into reality.

When Nori saw Sigmund pull his arm away and step away from her, it honestly didn't surprise her that he did that. He was always keeping his distance from her and she knew why. He wasn't the type of person to let anyone or anything get in his way of what he wanted or needed to do. They may have been friends and she knew that was all they would be. Maybe he was smart to keep her away from him, but still...it disheartened her that she couldn't even reach him just a little bit. He always pushed her away and yet he had no problem getting along with... It didn't matter. She shook her head. "I'm going to walk ahead," she told them with a forced smile before she turned on her heel and brushed her way past Sigmund to head down the small hill.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:48, Thu 14 Jan 2016.

Akuma nodded it seemed that they were indeed going to be eating barbeque for lunch. He began to walk with the group and couldn't help but notice a slight...miscommunication between Sigmund and Nori. As much progress as Sigmund had sometimes he did value his personal space. Yet Nori tried to make it seemed like she brushed it off. She couldn't fool her Sensei though. This was a situation that needed serious defusing before they got into the exams like this. So he hurried his pace to catch up with Nori just out of ear shot of his other two students.

"So what was that back there? And don't tell me nothing. I've been on plenty of outings where I've watched other people go on dates where that happens. You know because I don't do that whole dating thing. It probably has something to do with the whole death trap dungeon I keep in my basement. That or my cooking is bad. Who could say really." He smiled at his student hoping to raise her mood some by poking fun at himself.

Nori had folded her arms across her stomach and was keeping her head up instead of looking down at her feet as she walked ahead, but then she heard Akuma's voice from beside her and it caused her eyes to look down at the ground. "It's nothing and Sigmund isn't exactly interested in dating anyone right now," she said in a monotone voice. "He has other priorities and things that he is focusing on and is keeping me at arms length so I don't get close to him. I guess it's just...I want to reach him, you know? Be close to him a little bit. We used to be friends when we were kids and then it turned into a kind of rivalry thing, which I was cool with and everything, but now..." She glanced back to Sigmund and Nanami behind her. "...It's like he can connect with people other than me and I guess it's just...disheartening that he doesn't connect with me that way, you know?" Nori turned her eyes back to look at Akuma. "I'm sorry, sensei. All this is just...stupid. I won't let it get to my head, okay? I know I need to focus on the exams and I know you're afraid of something like this clouding my judgment, but I promise it won't," she said with a small smile.

Nanami looks at Sigmund "Baka.." She shakes her head "You know its good to let those close to you in." She brings up two fingers and holds them an inch apart "Even if it is just a little. Thats all she truly wants. To be friends like you two were when you were kids." She shoulder bumps Sigmund "Think about it. You don't want to end up alone do you?" With that she brings up her hands and makes a seal.

Instead of the usual poof of smoke there is a neon outline of the girl, after she used the Body flicker technique. She appears a few yards ahead of Nori. She runs up and grabs Nori's hand "No time to be down, time to Barbecue!" With her loud proclamation, she starts running off in the direction of the eatery, dragging Nori behind her. Nanami was laughing, and smiling brightly as she looked back at Nori.

   Sigmund knew he hurt Nori's feeling but had no remorse about it. She had walked away shortly after the incident, brushing passed him as if it was suppose to bother him. He watched her walk away for only a moment before their Sensei caught up to her and probably began talking to her about it. Sigmund at this point didn't really care. When he turned back to look at Nanami, she began lecturing him about getting close to people and that it was okay to let people in. He just rolled his eyes. "She and I can never be close again. I don't want to be. I'm all for teamwork  and all, but I'm a lone wolf and I always will be," He told her and with that she had used her body flicker technique to be ahead of everyone and practically dragged Nori away, in an attempt to try and cheer her up. He just signed and shook his head. Women. he thought as he followed pursuit but never did come close to the girls again. He walked along with his Sensei, remaining quiet the entire time with his hands in his pockets.

Nori wasn't expecting for Nanami to come in front of her and grab her hand like that, but when she did, her attention went away from Akuma-sensei and to her teammate. Before she could get a word in edgewise, she was forced to run as she was dragged along behind her friend. She grew silent and just blinked at her. She knew she was just trying to cheer her up by the way she was smiling like that. She always did things like this in order to keep them all happy. Nori wasn't sure she'd be completely happy with her situation with Sigmund, but she couldn't let it discourage her. They were never going to be close again and that was something she was being forced to accept, but was accepting it nonetheless. He was always going to keep her at arms length physically and emotionally. That was just the way things were. All Nori could do now was just a force a smile on her face. "Y-yeah," she said with a small nod.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:30, Thu 14 Jan 2016.

Nanami slows down, and looks at Nori "I don't know much about your's and Sigmund's past. I know you two were close when growing up. But I won't pry." She looks ahead seeing the restaurant "I do know how you can get him to acknowledge you at least. It won't be easy though. Become a Chunin. More then one is usually appointed. It's up to the Kage ultimately. So lets do our best!" This wasn't spoken loud enough for others to hear.

As they closed in on the shop, Nanami grasped Nori's hand "You and Sigmund are precious to me. I know Sigmund cares about us. But as he said, he is a lone wolf. So he will do his thing, we will do our thing. I have a pretty big agenda planned. If everything goes as I hope. Things will be fun." 

   Sigmund followed them, but from a distance, out of ear's length so he wasn't able to hear the conversation between the two girls. Their sensei followed quietly as well, but Sigmund eventually kept his pace faster so he eventually left Akuma behind. They reached the restaurant. The girls walked in first and Sigmund eventually joined them, but he kept his distance still. The girls sat together, and he sat across, keeping his arms to his sides so neither of them would touch him and kept his feet closer to him so nobody got the idea to play footsie or something. He sighed out of boredom. With the other incident on his mind still, he really just wanted to be away from them at this point.

   He wanted a mission. An adventurous one that would keep him busy. It was too bad he couldn't solo missions. He was all for teamwork, but he liked being alone. He thought over Nanami's words about whether he wanted to be alone for the rest of his life. The answer was without a doubt yes because he couldn't have companions. He didn't want friendship and he didn't want closeness with anybody. He sighed again as he ordered for himself some chunks of steak.

Akuma trailed his students into the restaurant and sat himself down next to Sigmund who obviously desired a bit of personal space. With that in mind he made sure that he didn't sit to close to the boy. He ordered himself a large plate of pork chops and looked over his group. He had faith that they would all find a way to get out of these exams and become the ninja he knew they could be. He sat up a bit straighter and began.

"So I want the three of you to know now that this exams is not going to be easy. The tests are typically designed collaboratively by people who make my basement look easy. You;re going to run into people who have trained much differently than you and possess skills you didn't think possible. So I need to know now that all three of you are sure this is the path you desire to take."

   Sigmund remained quiet as he listened intently what Akuma-sensei had to say. He was wanting to make sure they were absolutely sure they wanted to go into the exams. Sigmund heard that sometimes, some don't come out alive, or sometimes terrible things happen that make genin not able to continue further in their ninja career. Whatever the risks were, Sigmund was positive this is what he wanted. Although he had no desire to want to train genin of his own, he was positive he wanted to rank and achieve greatness for himself.

   "I don't know about them, but I am in all the way. I have been waiting for this moment for a long time and I am ready to crack down on this. I need a challenge. I look forward to seeing other ninja from other lands. I want to observe them and I want them to be intimidating because that will be my motivation to surpass all those who participate in the exams," he vouched for himself and then his steaks came and were placed on the grill in front of them. He cooked them himself. They didn't take too long because they were seriously bite sized and he began eating.

Nori let herself be led away by Nanami and when she turned her head to look at her, she listened to her talk about if she wanted Sigmund to acknowledge her, that she should become a Chunin. "I don't know what my chances are of that happening, but I will do my best. We are facing off against some equally skilled Genins," she said as she gently tightened her hand around her friend's and smiled. "All of you mean a lot to me, too. I know Sigmund is going to do his own thing and I respect him so much as a ninja and as a person. Maybe one day we can be the friends we were back then, but I don't want to give my hopes up. Even if we don't, at least we will still be friends."

They soon closed in on the barbecue restaurant they decided to eat at and upon finding a table towards the back, Nori and Nanami sat across from Sigmund while Akuma took a seat beside them at the end. When someone came to take their orders, she decided to get a few beef skewers and dumplings. Her eyes wondered over to Sigmund, tucking her feet underneath and looking over at their sensei as he started to talk. "I want to take the test, sensei. What you are saying is true. There are going to be genin who practiced differently from us and know different skills from us, but I think you prepared all of us for what's to come. You gave us confidence, sensei, and you taught us to believe in ourselves and our abilities, so I think we can all do this."

Nanami was busy putting meat on the small barbecue pit, but eventually replies "I know this, I am actually excited to see the abilities of our competition. I have some things I'll need to request from the medical core before the day ends. To be honest, unless there is no other choice, I don't plan on killing anyone. As in the future they may be useful allies."

She pauses as she serves the meat to herself, she takes a bite "So good!" She giggles and goes back to talking "I have many aspirations for myself, many are going to be extremely tough trials, but I look forward to them. I look forward to the friends I will make in the future. The thing I am most looking forward to. Is watching the two of you growing Stronger. Sigmund-kun, you're fighting skills are second to none, I am sure you will accomplish whatever you wish to."

Her gaze turns to Nori "Nori-chan you are growing by the day, the sky's the limit for you." She turned and looked at Akuma "Sensei, I don't know much about your goals, but you are strong, and a great teacher. You will bring about many strong ninja's if you continue to take on teams."

Nanami goes quiet, and eats with a true smile on her face...
This message was last edited by a game editor at 10:28, Fri 15 Jan 2016.

Akuma nodded proudly. His students were more than ready to take on the exams. Each of them had honed their talents as best as they could and began to open themselves up to new challenges and possibilities. He had no doubt that they would take care of each other and that they would give it their all. However, they needed to start preparing mentally for how tough this test would be. In his own exam he watched as ninja died and almost had to take a life himself. It was something he wouldn't wish upon his students, but if it were to become necessary they would need to be prepped for it.

"Well if you are all set to do this there is only one thing I can help you do. Plan your tactics. Of course even that is limited as no one but the Kage's know what challenges await you. However, you've each worked on a new jutsu and grown it as far as you can for the time being. So I propose that we work on forming team tactics based around those jutsu."

   Sigmund had stayed quiet for the most part, eating by himself before finally their sensei spoke again about tactics and teamwork and wanting to establish tactics with their newly found jutsus. He chewed his food in silence as he listened with interest and finally swallowed. "How do we do that, per say, sensei?" he asked. His jutsu in particular couldn't really be paired up with anything. The only thing he could think of was Nanami's healing arrows. She found heal him while he was up front and close. He had no idea what Nori worked on so he did not have a clue what she could do. "I honestly don't think my new jutsu could benefit from either of the girls. Maybe Nanami at most, but that is about it," he explained.

Nanami nods "There is a bonus here, since both Nori and Sigmund are frontline. I will have plenty of openings to fire arrows. Dodging them and arrows will quickly become increasingly difficult. Especially if they can't see the arrows, or me." She grins as she eats "Also I plan to request some minor sedatives, and injectors. So I can sneak up and take them out without harming them." Her enthusiasm seems to ramp up the more she talks "Hmm as far as team tactics go, we can't really design ones sitting here as at most we only know part of each others new jutsu. Without knowing all of our capabilities, we can't really plan correctly."

She goes back to eating and humming a cheerful tune.

The skewers and dumplings that Nori had ordered had finally come to the table and she thanked the man that had brought them before she began to nibble on one of her dumplings. She listened to Akuma speak of them having to form team tactics around their new jutsu's. She was vaguely aware of what her teammates new jutsu's were and it made her think of just how they could form any tactics around what she was going to do. "Nanami is right. We can't really say for certainty which team tactics will work for each of our individual jutsu's if we don't know the full extent of them," she said after she swallowed her bite of dumpling. "I mean, I'm not one hundred percent certain about Sigmund's new jutsu and its capabilities, but as Nanami said, he is at the front like I am so maybe there is a chance we can work something out there. Maybe. I guess we won't really know anything until we have more information."

Akuma nodded in agreement with the three. There was no way that they would be able to make team tactics if they didn't even understand the full extent of their new abilities. So he began to eat quickly and paid for their meals before standing and looking down at his students.

"I am going to go back to the training fields. I expect the three of you there in no later than an hour. You will each show off your new Jutsu and we will begin our tactical training from there. Once we are all done being amazed at each others new powers it will be that much easier to train you all to use these abilities as a team." As he finished he turned and walked away leaving his students alone in the building to think about what he just said.

Nanami finishes the meat she had cooked for herself. She sits there humming a very enchanting melody. Sigmund heard her humming before. She stands and looks at her teammates "I look forward to seeing your new jutsu's." With that she stands, as she walks through the door way she whispers something and seems to fade into nothing.

She stays under veil until she catches up to Akuma, and fades back into view "So Sensei, where are the exams being held? I know at least that much should have been announced." Nanami humms happily as she waited for his reply.

When Nori heard Akuma say that they were going to show off their new jutsu's to each other, she was a little bit happy and disappointed at the same time. While she was excited to show off her new jutsu to Nanami and Sigmund, she was also disappointed that she couldn't wait until the Chunin exams to reveal it to them. She worked so hard on developing it and although it wasn't entirely perfected yet, she wanted to work on it a little bit more before she showed it to anyone. "O-oh, okay, sensei. See you in an hour. Thank you for the food," she said with bow of her head before she saw their sensei walk off.

She lightly sighed and went to nibble on her beef skewers before she saw Nanami stand up beside her through the corner of her eye. Nori turned her head and looked up at her teammate before she, too, disappeared and left her and Sigmund alone at the table. There was a bit of an awkward silence between that caused her to look down at her plate. Odds were that he was going to get up and leave, too. He probably didn't want to be around her anymore than he had to. "You can go, too, if you want. I'll see you at the training grounds," she said in a low voice as she brought up her skewer to nibble on the piece of meat again.

   Sigmund watched their sensei leave, giving them only an hour to finish up their food and meet him back at the grounds to work on their new jutsus for team tactics. Nanami followed their sensei, excusing herself shortly after finishing up here food. That left Sigmund and Nori at the table alone, the awkward silence drawing between them. Sigmund was still eating, but he was on the verge of finishing up when Nori spoke about him leaving too. Sigmund's eyes glanced at her momentarily before back at his food. He managed to finish his food as she spoke. With a heavy sigh and low, emotionless tone he replied with,"We're a team. I'll wait for you. There could be danger."

When Nori heard Sigmund say that he was going to wait for her because there could be danger, she looked up to him. In all honesty, it did surprise her that he would wait for her, but she also couldn't help but wonder if he thought she couldn't take care of herself on her own. "Thank you for being willing to wait for me, Sigmund, but I'll be okay. I don't want to burden you. I can take care of myself," she said in response before she took a small bite out of the piece of meat in her skewer. "I mean, you probably want to get some more practice in before the exams, right?"

   Sigmund's eyes glanced at her for a moment as he took awhile to respond. His eyes went back to the exit of the restaurant, remaining silent as he waited for her patiently. "Just hurry up and finish your food. We have training to do," he replied with in a serious and low tone. As awkward as it was, he was willing to wait for her. He did feel bad after their earlier incident, so to try to make up for it, he thought he'd wait. He knew she'd like that.

Nori looked up at Sigmund just as she saw him look towards the exit of the restaurant. She was sure he was going to leave and it caused her to look back down to her plate. When she heard him tell her to hurry up because they had training to do. She grew silent. She hadn't expected him to say that. Was he trying to make her feel better? All Nori could do was nod her head. "Okay," she mumbled before she resumed eating her food. It didn't take her too much longer before she finished her food and placed her used napkin on her plate. "Sorry to keep you waiting. We can go now."

   Sigmund had waited patiently for her to finish. It wasn't long until she did so they could get going. She announced it and he just looked at her, getting up and scooting out of the seat. He walked out of the restaurant, positive she would follow and from afar, he could see Nanami and Akuma together. He couldn't tell what exactly they were doing, walking or waiting for them, but he knew they were instructed to head to the training grounds and that is exactly where Sigmund would go.

Nori slid out of the booth and bowed towards the owner and a few of the workers before she followed Sigmund out of the restaurant. She clasped her hands in front of her as she started to walk a few feet behind the other in silence. She looked ahead of them and saw Nanami and Akuma in what seemed to look like a conversation. That didn't look like too bad of an idea. Nori's eyes slowly shifted over towards Sigmund before she looked down to the floor. "So, um...how are you feeling going into the Chunin exams?" she asked. "You must be working hard on your new jutsu, huh?"
This message was last edited by the player at 05:35, Sun 24 Jan 2016.

Akuma had waited patiently at the training grounds for his students. Nanami was the first to show up arriving moments after Akuma himself. He had engaged her in simple conversation as they both waited for the other two to arrive. He was mid-sentence when he noticed the two of them out of the corner of his eyes. So he smiled politely at Nanami and shouted out to his students.

"The last one here runs laps after practice! Obviously it's not going to be Nanami." He then shifted to watch them both out of curiosity.

   They had remained silence for almost the whole way until she asked him about his new jutsu. Nobody had seen his sacred art yet, not even his sensei. He had trained alone those three whole weeks. Akuma-sensei only helped with endurance training and some of his taijutsu. He remained quiet for a bit before answering her question about his jutsu and going into the Chunin Exams. "I'm not nervous. I'm ready. I've been ready. I'm ready to lead and move up in the ranks. I'm also willing to take down anybody who gets in my way of that," he told her, sounding serious and determined. He smirked when it came to his jutsu though. "I can barely tap into it, but it is enough to wreck somebody," he added and that's when he heard their sensei yell at them as they came right into view of the training grounds. Nanami and Akuma-sensei were of course waiting for them. He shouted at them that the last person had to run laps and he immediately stopped walking and looked at Nori. He knew he wasn't going to lose to a girl.

---

Akitoki's speed: 4.1
Yamada's speed: 3.7

Default, Sigmund wins race.

---

   Sigmund then started sprinting, taking off a second earlier than Nori, perhaps giving him the advantage. He was all for practice and training, but after the three weeks of it, he was ready for a minor break and he sure as hell wasn't going to spend it running laps of all things. He pushed his legs as fast as he could towards Akuma and Nanami.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 18:51, Sun 24 Jan 2016.

When Nori didn't hear Sigmund answer her question, she opened her mouth to say something but then he spoke. She knew he was ready and had been ready for a long time. He was very determined and hard working. Those were the things that she admired about him. If anyone was going to pass these exams, it was going to be him. "I think you're going to do great in the exams, Sigmund. I know how strong and hard working you are. I hope you'll reach your goals," she said and lifted her head up to look at her teammate beside her before she gave him a small smile. "I can't wait to see it. I'm sure if it's you, it's going to be amazing." It was then that she heard Akuma call out to them from the training grounds and tell them that the last one that reached them would have to run laps after practice. Nori stopped in her tracks and looked at Sigmund. Knowing him, he wasn't about to lose to a girl but that didn't mean she was going to lose to a boy, either.

It only took a second for Sigmund to take off before her, but that wasn't going to stop her from falling behind. They had all been working really hard to get up to this point and now everything was going to pay off. Although, Nori had always tried her best to keep herself in shape and that included her being physically fit so she always tended to try and run every morning. She could easily do this. When she saw Sigmund push himself forward, so did she and kept in close proximity of him as they closed the distance between Akuma and Nanami.

   Sigmund heard Nori's feet almost completely next to him. Sigmund pushed himself even more, making a small gap between him and her. He made it to Akuma first, Nori only a second behind him, meaning Sigmund would be safe from running laps and Nori would be stuck after their practice session. He didn't feel bad for winning though. He needed to show his dominate nature; he needed to show that the leader was always in first. He faced Akuma after panting from their small race. He regained his breath and said,"Now that that's settled. I'm ready to begin."

Nanami walks over to Nori and hooks her arm "Don't worry, I'll run those laps with you. I enjoy running, and what makes it better is running with your best friend." She shoulder bumps Nori and smiles "Yep sensei I am more then ready for whatever you have planned. Whether it be running, climbing, sparing, testing our new jutsu, or a surprise. We will are ready, so lets get this show on the road!"

She was bouncing up and down on the back of her heels. Nanami grins as she waits for whatever their sensei had in store for them.

Akuma watched as the two sprinted towards him as fast as they could. They stayed as close to each other as they could, but Sigmund was a clear winner at the end. He smiled and nodded to his student acknowledging his success. "So it looks like you have a running buddy Nori." He walked over to stand by the pond's edge. "Before we can start working on team tactics we have to share our secrets. I would personally find it hard to perform as a team if I didn't know anything. Now who am I going to ask to go first."

He paced by the water for a few moments mumbling to himself and taking the last couple of weeks in before stopping and looking back towards his students. "Nanami could you show us what you have been working on. You seemed to be eager to do so this morning and I would like to provide you with that opportunity."

Nanami walks over and picks up a small practice dummy, one about the size of a small person "I'll be right back." She brings up a hand, making a seal and she vanishes. She appears on top of a boulder a good seven meters yards away. Nanami waves, places the target on the boulder, and quickly makes her way back. When she lands back next to her team "So the jutsu I have devloped has three modes. I have mastered one mode. Which is a healing arrow. The arrow itself is made from chakra. Which is why I needed to apply my chakra to my bow, so it will flow freely without hindrance." She takes aim at Akuma "So I will use Sensei as a guinea pig." When she draws the string she utters something under her breath. An arrow of pure chakra forms, and Nanami fires it at Akuma. It strikes him and dissipates. Any cuts, bruises, and such wounds would heal.

"This mode is primarily for support, when I am not needed as a direct combatant. The second mode is currently my most powerful technique. At the moment I can only use it once a day, since I haven't gotten the chakra balancing quite right. But it is a sight to see. So I might as well show you. A side note, the chakra infusion into my bow has made it to where it will only be able to be used by me. Along with increasing the impact power of a nomral arrow." She points towards the boulder, its a little over seven hundred meters "That is my target." Nanami closes her eyes and brings her bow up, again uttering something in a quiet voice. The area around her starts swirling intensely with wind chakra. The chakra starts radiating towards her fingers, and arrow forms. The wind chakra swirls around the arrow almost like a drill head. Nanami takes aim, and releases the shot. A massive gust of wind blows in all directions. In less then a second the arrow strikes the target, then an eruption of wind chakra shreds the boulder.

Nanami smiles and looks worn out, kinda like Sasuke did when he was first training with the chidori "Well there you have it. It won't miss if you are stationary, and if you aren't aware of it, you won't be able to dodge it. It is a kill move. If a person gets hit by it. Not only will the arrow do significant damage, but the eruption of chakra would shred their body to pieces."
This message was last edited by a game editor at 03:38, Mon 25 Jan 2016.

Akuma watched as his student suddenly took aim at him and then loosed the healing arrow. Fortunately he had no injuries so the arrow had no real effect besides giving him more energy. Then he watched as she set up and then loosed another , albeit more deadly, arrow. After she looked exhausted as she should. Nanami hadn't gotten to a point where she could frequently use this arrow, but he had hoped that she would only ever have to use it in dire circumstances. Especially during the upcoming exams. Then he turned his attention to her teammates "I'm sure you've both noticed at this point that Nanami has trained to work with you both in a much more long range based role. This will allow her to provide you with unexpected and much needed support while out. However, she will also be able to see the battle from a long range perspective and help you in that way as well. Now Sigmund I would like you to show us what you will be bringing to the table."

   Sigmund nodded his head as he watched Nanami's demonstration. He was impressed but her repetitive disappearing and reappearing trick would eventually become predictable and someone will eventually start catching on to her little trick unfortunately. It took chakra to keep it up too and if she kept excessively doing it, she would tire herself so much quicker, especially if kept using her new technique. Akuma-sensei explained her supporting role and he was completely okay with that. She was the smarts after all and he were the bronze. She would be able to read the battle field must faster than he and Nori could.

   That's when Akuma-sensei said it was his turn. "With pleasure, sensei," he said as he threw off his coat and tossed it away from them. He stepped away from them because things could get ugly. He took a battle stance, crossing his arms in an x shape across his chest and closed his eyes. His team could hear bone cracking and starting witnessing bones popping out of his skin, from his shoulders, all over his arms, in the palm of his hands, and his torso. He reopened his eyes and when he did, they had changed color from his dark blue to a bright green. He seemed to have red lining outlining the bottom of his eyes, resembling his unknown late father, Kimimar. "I call this one Dance of the Larch. Very deadly if someone ever comes close. Incredibly fast and incredibly troublesome for all taijutsu users," he said, seeing the darkness in his eyes.

   "It's the third of my five dances I have planned for myself. From my body, several bones pop out all at once. The stronger the opponent's physical attack, the more powerful the counter attack is, dealing severe damage. The sudden defence, combined with the needle-like bones high killing ability, makes way for a technique which has great potential for battle," he began to explain his dance. "The bones can be used to block or trap an opponent's taijutsu strikes. In addition to being an unwelcome surprise for opponents, it makes me basically untouchable at close range. If an opponent would start to get close to me, I will begin to spin rapidly slashing the foe in multiple areas," he finished and then stood up straight. "The only down fall to this technique is that I can't hold this form for long just yet. It takes too much of my chakra to maintain. 10 seconds is the best I can do if I gradually build up my kekkei techniques using the other two first," and as he explained this, his bones began to start retracing back inside his body, making minor crackling sounds and the red underneath his eyes vanished. "If I go straight to this jutsu without buildup, only 20 seconds," he finished, clearly showing them he couldn't hold it anymore. His eyes final turned back to blue.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:46, Tue 26 Jan 2016.

Nori had pushed to finish before Sigmund, but she was just a few seconds too late and now she would have to run laps after practice. She looked over to him and saw him have to catch his breath. Somehow that gave her a little bit of satisfaction as he had to push himself more just so she wouldn't finish first. She looked over to Nanami when she hooked her arm with her's and said that she would run the laps with her. She gave her a small smile. "Thanks, Nanami. I appreciate that," she said before she looked over to Akuma. Looks like this was it. They were going to show each other just what they had been working on up until this point. She was a little nervous, but she was proud of what she had accomplished so far and couldn't wait to show her teammates what she had been working on.

When Akuma had called upon Nanami to show what she had been working on first, Nori stood beside Sigmund and watched her friend demonstrate her healing arrow on their teacher. That was amazing. In case one of them would need any kind of healing, she would be able to help them from afar. It was a good supportive technique that was certainly going to come in handy for the future. She folded her arms across her chest as Nanami started up her next mode. She watched as the arrow was infused with wind chakra and released it to hit the boulder. Nori shielded her eyes as a large gust of wind blew in their direction until it hit the boulder, causing it to erupt. Her eyes widened slightly. "So cool..." she muttered in a low breath.

Akuma soon called upon Sigmund to demonstrate his new jutsu next, leaving her to be the last one to show off her's. She was ready. Sigmund stepped up to their sensei and took his stance. She could hear his bones crack before they started to pop out of his skin, causing her to slightly jump and wince. Did that really not hurt him? It wasn't the first time she had seen it, but it still looked like it hurt. He made it seem like it was nothing, but somehow she expected that from him. Her eyes just took in all the popped out bones and the way his eyes changed from one color to the next as he explained his dance. Nori honestly felt sorry for those that would have to fight him. It wouldn't be pretty. When she saw his bones start to retreat back into his body, a sense of relief came over her and she relaxed.

Nanami walked over to a tree, leaning against it she takes out a pad. She quickly starts writing down various forms resulting from the new information of Sigmunds jutsu. -A new dance huh, the bone popping and such is great for intimidation. I wonder if my chakra arrows can extend the duration of his dance. Something to try out later when we have finished showing our jutsu.- She said to herself, and she also wrote it down.

She continued to draw up many different attack patterns as she stood there waiting for Sensei to chime in and call Nori. Nanami was especially excited to see Nori's technique. She knew not what to expect from her. She smiles at Nori "Impressive Sigmund-Kun. I can't wait to see yours Nori!"
This message was last edited by a game editor at 22:39, Tue 26 Jan 2016.

Akuma watched in amazement at Sigmunds jutsu. This was even his first time seeing it and it was truly something to marvel at. He would be able to provide close range protection to the team and make sure that any enemies were incapacitated. Now he just has to see Nori's justu in relation to the others and they could begin. So he turned and looked in her direction.

"Okay Nori. You're up and then we'll start working on the tactics."

Nori turned her head and looked over at Nanami before she gave her a small smile. "Thanks, Nanami. Mine probably won't be as amazing, but I've been working hard at it," she said before she looked over to Akuma when he told her that she was next. She took a deep breath and released it as she closed her eyes. When she opened them back up, a determined and serious look were within them as she vanished and reappeared a good distance away from her sensei. "I hope you don't mind me demonstrating on you, Akuma-sensei." Nori rolled her neck from side to side before she cracked it and relaxed her shoulders.

She took her stance, sliding one leg behind her and slightly bending the other in front of her. Her fists curled at her sides and let her chakra envelop her body. Within a flash, she kicked off her back heel and flash stepped towards Akuma. Each of her fists made contact with her sensei's face four times, leading into a full circle kick, then a swift kick to the stomach that led to her fists making contact to her sensei's face four times, which led to turning around swiftly and delivering a tornado roundhouse kick to his head, enabling her opposite foot to do a side kick to his stomach. Nori crotched down, planting her hands on the ground and delivering a high kick to his chest. Once she did that, she swiftly pushed herself up onto her feet, twirling around and bringing a clenched fist to land a blow to his stomach that would make him fly back and land on the ground.

Nori took a step behind her and began to catch her breath. "For this technique to work, I had to build up a lot of my stamina and speed," she said and looked back to Sigmund and Nanami. "Sensei and I were thinking that I could change up a few of the types of kicks I use as it may be more efficient to land against my opponent. If I were to put more strength behind my last punch, I could increase the efficiency of how far back they could land."

Akuma had only just given his consent when he felt Nori's physical barrage start laanding blows on him. He had helped her develop it for the past couple of weeks and he still could barely prepare himself for it. As she continued to pound on his body he prepared for the finishing move and it came. He flew back a couple of feet and landed on the grass hard feeling the wind get knocked out of him. He lay there and stared at the sky waiting for his lungs to fill themselves again. Then he stood already feeling sore from the attack and walked over to his students. "As you can tell if the enemy isn't prepared for such a rapid and unexpected attack it can be quite an unpleasant experience." He smiled softly though. In a way the team was almost perfect. The would be able to cover short, medium, and long range combat. The offensive sides the three presented was strong to say the least. He was worried about the teams defense though. So he knew this is what they were going to need to work on.

"So as you all can see you are more than prepared for the offensive side of battle. Sigmnd can easily defend himself with is new jutsu as well as attack. However, we are going to need to develop defensive strategies in the case that the battle is to ever force you out of the offense."

Nanami claps and smiles "That was awesome Nori-chan.." She leans back against the tree and begins to quickly make notes. Now she had all three of their new jutsu on the mind. -Two dances in essence. Hmm, what to do with two dances. Lets see they both leave attack holes, so I am best to use my arrows in those gaps.- She thinks to herself.. Nanami starts to draw a graph using his teammates heights and length of their reaches.

After which she walks up to the group "So we have two amazing Taijutsu techniques developed and a tactician with a bow. From the length of your reaches, you will leave many open gaps for me to shoot through. Also the healing arrow can instead be used to restore a little chakra . So I may be able to extend the length of your dances Sigmund-kun. Nori, you and Sigmund will make a deadly frontal unit. I will be your support."

   Sigmund watched the blows be dealt to Akuma-sensei, however he wasn't too impressed. Taijutsu, anybody can do. Most of his dances relied on it, but he expected a bit more from her. That's when he watched their sensei literally be thrown into the air a few feet as Nori landed the final blow. Their sensei had been staring at the sky within a matter of seconds. He felt awful for underestimating her, but if it ever came to it, his jutsu could prevent the whole thing. Akuma was right though, if it was unexpected, it would be even deadlier.

   Sigmund only worried about how she had to be so close to the enemy to do her new technique. That did leave her defenseless and very prone to explosions, counter attacks, and even an ambush. If they saw her attack coming, she would be doomed. That's when Akuma explained they needed defense tactics because their offense was covered from long range, to medium, to close hand-to-hand. Their defensive line was wide open.

   He picked up his coat and put it back on as they waited for sensei to walking back to them. That's when Nanami had came back to the group after isolating herself on a tree with a a notepad. She had wrote down notes about their upcoming offensive tactics. She suggested that she could keep Sigmund's dances going with chakra arrows and Nori also had her own taijutsu attack that could potentially be a deadly duo. Her plan was flawed though with the open loops. "This tactic only works if it's unexpected though, like an ambush. If they're expecting something, it'll be less effective, especially if they catch on to your disappearing act and just shooting arrows. You could only keep that up for so long before they find you. They'll just be evasive instead. I like the plan, but this works for an ambush, which could come in handy," he put in his concerns, hoping they would be taken into consideration.

   That's when he nodded his head as their sensei talked. "Well Akuma-sensei, these were just our new techniques. We still have our others too, you know. Our body flicker, substitution, transformation, and clone. Those seem to come in handy from time to time as well. But you're right. We do need defensive tactics. How do we go about this, sensei?" he asked, clearly unsure how to go about the whole situation.

Nori rolled her neck from side to side and cracked it before she looked over to Akuma as he got up from the ground. "Thanks for helping me out, sensei. I think my last punch got a lot stronger than the last time we practiced it," she said as she rubbed her wrapped knuckles and walked back over to her teammates. She smiled at Nanami. "Thanks, Nanami. I appreciate it." Her eyes drifted over to Sigmund and he seemed less than impressed with what she had done. She didn't feel discouraged, though. She knew how much work, time, and effort she put into her training. Nori held her head high as she stopped beside him and folded her arms across her chest. She listened as Nanami explained that she could potentially keep Sigmund's dances going with her chakra arrows as both her and Sigmund's taijutsu attacks could prove to be a deadly duo. Then she heard Sigmund speak up from beside her and it cause Nori to look over at him.

Although, Nanami's plan seemed to be concrete, it still didn't change the fact that they had to work on their defense. They did have Sigmund's technique, but that wasn't going to be enough. "I agree with both Nanami and Sigmund. I mean, Nanami's plan sounds great but Sigmund is right. I mean, my attacks are only good up close to an opponent, but we do have other techniques that could work from afar like Sigmund said. But even though we do need defensive tactics, won't we need more time to make them more effective before the exams? Won't we all be more vulnerable if our opponents find out our weaknesses when we do need to work as a team?"

Akuma nodded and took in the input that his students were giving him. It was good that they were already doing their best to figure out the situation on their own. One they were in the exams he wouldn't be able to help them make these choices. So he spoke up.

"You're right that we need more time. There isn't a way where we can leave and you can know that your defense will be perfect, but if we begin to form one today it will become perfected in the heat of battle. The easiest way to deal with your opponents finding your weakness is to not show them. If all you allow to be seen is your strengths your opponents won't be able to get leverage on you. How to develop your tactics is surely not a simple task especially as we've pointed out you don't have enough time. So I will have to do something that you all haven't gotten to experience yet. In order to learn how to fight as a team and figure out your strategies in the heat of the moment you will need to be placed in the position. So you are going to fight me." Akuma then pulled a small scroll out of his pocket and held it up to his students. "The goal will be to take this scroll from my possession. I do believe this is going to be fun"

For the next 3 days, Kenji Akuma tested his students' limits on team work. Not only did they learn to work better together but they also learned to protect each other way better than they did before.

Sigmund and Nori learned to put aside their differences for now so they could learn to work together better in the front lines. Sigmund learned to control and build up his chakra better to execute his new dance. Nori learned to time her new taijutsu technique effectively as Sigmund kept most dummies and props occupied. Nanami learned to control her chakra control on her body flicker technique so she could continue her supporting arrows for both Sigmund and Nori.

They also learned defensive techniques from setting traps, learning to ambush properly from ranged to close combat, and learning to effectively escape in a matter of seconds. Akuma tested their new found skills in his training arena again, but with him as the enemy. His students managed to ambush him effectively and he approved.

With their newly learned jutsus, skills, and new found teamwork, the entire squad was headed on a three day trip to the Land of Lightning, making their way to Kumogakure.

Their new test awaited.

---

Akitoki Sigmund, Yamada Nori, and Nara Nanami gained .2 in the following categories:

Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, Strength, Speed, and Stamina.
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:50, Fri 29 Jan 2016.