Starring:
Date: March 15th, 2010
Summary:
N/A
"Earthquake Survival Mission"
Toshiba Forest
"Ok, are you all ready to head out?" Atsumida Gitatsu asks the class, his hands on his hips and an average sized backpack hung over one shoulder. The Chuunin teacher has been preparing the class for wilderness survival for a couple of weeks now, and at last it was time for them to set out on their final assignment for this module of study - the Wilderness Exam! "Now, you've all been told the drill: One night out in the wilderness in groups of three. I'll be there, as will several Genin, to make sure that nothing goes terribly wrong," the teacher explains, gesturing off towards the three Genin standing near the classroom door, "And other than that, you're on your own. Now, let's go!"
A couple of days beforehand, each of the Genin had received a scroll detailing their D-rank mission:
"You are to stand watch over night, along with Atsumida Gitatsu as your team leader, to ensure the safety of a group of Academy Students attempting their Wilderness Survival test."
Not much of a briefing, but in the end it was a pretty easy going mission.
Shisei is sitting in his usual spot towards the back of the classroom, a rather blase expression on his young face as if the boy could barely care less about the test they were about to undergo. Of course, having camped out multiple times on his own, this really seemed like nothing more than a boring evening without the comforts of his own home, nor the ability to duck off and train in secret. The Uchiha boy slowly looked around the classroom as he takes in the expressions of the other students - some of trepidation, others excited and a rare few who, like himself, look quite bored with the whole idea. One Akimichi Kuiro down the front looks worried, and after a second Shisei realises that the boy is worried that he won't be able to fit enough food in his backpack to last him the whole night. Shisei stifles a chuckle as he wonders whether he'll get time to pick on the boy sometime during the night.
Tamotsu was one of those more excited. He very much enjoyed the outdoors and had been on quite a few excursions with his packmates. So this test was a sure ace for him. The boy was wearing a traditional kimono, green in color, with the Inuzuka fang symbol embroidered on it. Other than that and the identifying marks on his cheeks it'd be hard to tell he was an Inuzuka. His hair nice and kempt, no dog smell coming from him, and his pup tucked safely away in the bag on his back. After the class was dismissed Tamotsu waited for the others, mostly smaller children, to line up. He never did like leading the line, too many eyes focused on you.
Tatsuya merely scratches the side of his face nervously as he finally realizes of what the full extent of his mission today would be. Although he's done plenty outdoor and survival missions with his father as well as a few fellow genin's the idea of camping out isn't something he enjoyed. As he waits for the mission to truly begin he takes a brief look at the class before spotting a familiar looking boy in the far back. 'Well, what do you know? I didn't think we'd met again for at least a little longer'
Shisei follows along with the crowd as they file out of the classroom, hanging somewhere near the middle of the group. As they get out into the fading afternoon sunlight he double checks the straps on his backpack and, after making sure that they're properly secure, starts heading towards the great gates of the Konoha Village. As they arrive at the gigantic gates, Gitatsu halts and turns to the large gathering of Students. "Ok, from now on the test is beginning. You will be allowed to stay together as a large group until we reach the forest, and then you will need to split into your assigned groups. So, the groups are.." and he begins reading a long list of names in groups of three. The final group is, "Itsugo Namiko, Inuzuka Tamotsu and Uchiha Shisei." Shisei sighs deeply as he hears the names, not at all impressed with the pair he's been grouped with, but humours himself with the thought, 'Well, at least being half-dog or whatever he is, he isn't likely to get himself killed overnight. That only leaves one I have to take care of.' Walking over to the pair, Shisei doesn't bother greeting, and instead simply orders, "When we get into the forest we need to head north. We head in that direction for about fifteen minutes, turn northeast for another minute or two and make shelter there." The Uchiha boy seems to expect that his order will be followed.
Moments later the group heads off again, and quite soon they've reached the edges of the forest. As the trees start thickening, various groups split off and begin the search for the camping sites. Without checking that his group are following, Shisei turns north and starts a light jog, heading off towards the site he had in mind for their little camping expedition.
His eyes shifting from side to side, Atsumida Gitatsu sighs and steps over to one of the Genin helpers - Hatake Tatsuya, and instructs the boy, "Keep your eye those three would you?" He doesn't elaborate further, but instead heads off to watch over other groups.
Tamotsu had viewed the test as more of a field trip. No work from the academy, nature all around, and nothing to do but camp and hang out with the other students. This was going to be fun!! At least he thought it'd be fun until hearing the pairing. An Uchiha? He couldn't help but remember the rumors of one half killing some other kid. Though Kaido had assured him it was an accident Tamtosu wasn't so sure of that fact. "Isn't the genin our team leader?" Tamotsu would ask, a little taken aback by the six year olds orders. He was getting the feeling that this kid was used to being in control. Not only that, but he seemed to know his way around.
The Inuzuka waited for Tatsuyo or Shisei to give an answer. When the Uchiha darted toward the north he gave a roll of his eyes and followed. This was going to be a long trip. As they continued on there bath a few squeaks would be heard coming from Tamtosu's general direction. Then a ball of black and white fluff poked it's head out. "About time you woke up." Tamotsu stated without glancing back to the animal now sticking its head out of his backpack.
Tatsuyo chuckles lightly at Gitatsu-sensei's instructions before following after Shisei's and Tomatsu group. Thankfully, he manage to pick up his back pack with supplies along the way. When he finally manages to catchup with the tail end of his assigned group he overhears tamotsu's question and answers instead. "Heh, We're just here as extra help and… What..Who might this little guy be?" He finishes with a question after tomatsu's dog pops up. "And shisei please don't get too far ahead", Tatsuya yells.
Glancing back over his shoulder to find that both Namiko and Tamotsu are following, the youngest of the group assures them both, "Don't worry. From the sounds of it the Genin are only here to make sure we don't get attacked during the night. Anyway, isn't the point for us to survive on our own?" With that he leaps into the air to get over a large fallen tree trunk that was blocking the path and lands gracefully on the other side before taking off again at a run. A few minutes later the trio arrive at their destination, a nice little clearing atop a small hill that gives good visibility but enough tree cover to protect them from the harsher elements of the weather. Without wasting time he starts gathering wood for a fire without saying a word. The forest around them is silent as night quickly approaches. Finally when he thinks he's gathered enough wood, Shisei turns towards Tatsuyo and asks, "I thought you guys would've hid and checked up on us from the shadows. Following us around in open view doesn't seem very ninja-like to me." His tone makes it quite obvious that he's trying to goad the Genin, but before anything further can happen there's a distant rumble. The little Uchiha boy frowns and looks around him for a moment, not entirely sure what the noise could have been. Another rumble follows the first, and this time there's a very distinct shift in the ground underneath them. It settles again for a few seconds before the ground heaves and opens up beneath them. The massive earthquake leads to a rockslide, and the sound of distant screams is audible right through-out the night.
It seems to be hours later when Shisei opens his eyes again. Somehow he's managed to avoid being crushed during the freak earthquake, but as his eyes adjust to the light, he realises that he could still be in just as much trouble. He has ended up underground, with rubble and debris from the earthquake scattered all around, and up above only a fist sized hole leaks in moonlight to see by. "Oh crud, that's not good," the Uchiha mutters, and looks around the cavern, hoping to find the other members of his group.
Kinari darted back into the backpack upon hearing the new voice behind him. The puppy slowly crept back up, sticking his nose out of the back, and peaking at the genin. "That's Kinari. He's an Akita pup. Pretty shy around strangers though so I'd reframe from trying to touch him." Tamotsu explains while slowing down in order to let Tatsuyo more easily catch up. "He responds pretty well to treats though." The boy would add with a smile once the genin caught up enough so that they could walk side by side.
As they continued on Tamotsu let Shisei get farther ahead, not really in the mood to run, while chatting with Tatsuyo. Upon getting to the top he was a little caught off by how quickly the Uchiha wanted to get to work. Well, that was one positive about the other student. He was carrying his own weight. The Inuzuka was not going to let Shisei out shine him. Tamotsu set his back down before giving a quick glance around the area. "I'll get us some chow." The boy called before giving a pat on the ground and then heading off into the woods.
Kinari quickly followed his master and they were off. The day drug on and just before nightfall the two had returned. He held out a rabbit and two chipmunks. He was a little embarrassed of his rather small hall but it was better than nothing. The boy set the rabbit and one chipmunk down on the woodpile. He threw the other to Kinari who quickly went to town chewing on it. "I skin you cook?" The boy asked when Shisei had finished wood gathering. The sound of rumbling in the distance caused Kinari to stop eating and look up. Tamotsu trotted over to the Uchiha and the genin expecting one to explain what the rumble was. Then the next thing he knows the ground is opening and all went dark.
Kinari gave a whimper. He crawled through the darkness using his nose to find Tamotsu. The puppy nuzzled the boy who for now seemed unconscious. Then a voice in the distance was heard. It was the Uchiha. The puppy began barking frantically, trying to get the other boy's attention.
Tatsuyo withdraws his hands before he could try and pet the pup. "I guess I gotta make a note to start carrying pet treats for these occasions.", He says with a wide grin and eyesmile. By the time they finally make it to a suitable campsite, tatsuyo grabs and eats one of his ration bars as he watches over the students as they work through the day.
When the time comes to use what they gathered and shisei asks his question. Tatsuyo responds with, "And how would you know if I…. what's that noise?", He asks just before the ground gives away below them. Although caught off guard somewhat ,but unwilling to just give up Tatsuyo flashes through the set of handsigns to unleash a great fireball below and slow his descent. Unfortunatly, fate deemed it necessary for a large chunk of earth to hit him upside the back of his head and knock him uncouncious until he hit the ground. For what felt like hours later Tatsuyo finally wakes up on and rolls painfully onto his back before calling out for the others.
Hearing the barking come from nearby, Shisei nods to himself and begins slowly moving in that direction. It's difficult both because of the dark and because the dog's barks are echoing, making it an exercise in frustration, but eventually he ends up near his unconscious team-mate. The Uchiha feels around himself and finds his waterskin still intact and attached to his belt. He unties it and lets a few droplets fall on the unconscious Inuzuka's lips, hoping to stir the boy from his sleep without startling him too much. "There was a landslide," Shisei explains, as if one could have missed the whole event, "We need to see if we can find the others and get back to the village." He hears the second voice calling out and turns towards it. After a second of consideration, Shisei reaches out and offers Tamotsu a hand to help him up, then sets out to find the third voice. "Ok Genin-san," he says as he reaches the older boy, "In this situation, what do we do?"
Tamotsu gave a cough as the water went down rather rough. "Wha…" But before he could ask Shisei had already began his explanation. He gladly takes the Uchiha's hand, any trust issues resolved, and slowly follows the boy to their genin instructor. Kinari brings up the rear, making sure to keep right on Tamotsu's heels. While waiting for a response from Tatsuyo, Tamotsu gives himself a once over. His body was acheing and he had some dried blood on his Kimono but for the most part he felt alright. "Man, lucky we weren't crushed." The Inuzuka stated before giving another cough. There was quite a bit of dust in here and it was irritating his nose.
Tatsuyo would try to wave to the genin only to get no response from the arm. 'Must of dislocated it… Dang' He thinks before sizing up the two students. "*groans*… It's Tatsuyo Hatake. And first things first, let's see any injuries before we take a look around for any supplies we could use before trying to look for an exit. *peers up* Because I doubt we're leaving the way we came in… And don't worry we'll definetly find our way out!" The young genin exclaims with a cheery smile. Afterwards, he would then slowly manage to rise to his feet kneel. "… How good is Kinari's nose? Cause we're gonna need his help as well if we're gonna link up with the Gitatsu-sensei." He states as calmly as possible to avoid scaring the two too much.
Nodding and helping the Genin up, Shisei sighs and says, "I saw an opening into another tunnel towards the back. We should head through there and then see if Kinari's nose can get us closer to the others. Hopefully there aren't too many hurt back there." As he starts walking off, he notices that he's limping and realises that the adrenaline of the moment had been hiding an injury he'd taken to his leg during the fall. "Damnit, looks like we're all hurt too. Could be bad if we need to climb," he notes, and laughs at his own dark humour, even though its a vague attempt to cover up his own anxiety. It is, after all, the first time Shisei's been in a situation this dangerous without his brother to look after him. With that, he heads off towards the opening at the back of the cave.
"Normally it's pretty keen but with all the dust and stuff in here I'm no so sure." Tamotsu replies. The particles in the air were affecting him quite a lot right now and he wasn't even using chakra to amplify his senses. He could only imagine how the small pup felt. Then his stomach gave a growl. Could this situation get any worse? Kinari spoke up with a few grunts and yelps. Tamotsu listened intently and then gave a grin. "That's right! Kinari's got… well, canine hearing." The boy translated; hope filtering out through his voice. He followed Shisei for a distance and then Kinari piped up. "He can hear voices off in the distance. Want to investigate?" The boy asked Tatsuyo. Kinari stood with his tail wagging, excited by the fact that he was actually useful.
Tatsuyo supresses a sigh at tamotsu's words before nodding in his direction. "Chances are the tunnel you saw earlier is where kinari is hearing the voices from..*hm*..Could you two lead on?" He asks ,but falls just enough behind to try and place a reassuring hand on shisei's shoulder before moving on. "Don't fall behind now." He states with a small smile before walking ahead to catchup with tomatsu. 'Meh, supplies probably ended up destroyed in the fall… *shrugs* Oh well' He thinks with a bemused smile. A small shiver does passes through his spine though as the thought of being trapped in the cavern really starts to dig in.
Following the voices through the twisting caves, and managing to squeeze through a few very tight spots, the trio eventually come out into a larger cavern. Another group of students, all injured enough to make moving them impossible, are here, along with Atsumida-sensei. Unfortunately the Chuunin has one leg trapped under a large piece of rubble and is unable to move, and the students available aren't able to shift the gigantic stone in order to help him.
Shisei motions for the team to hurry over, and as the approach he asks, "Atsumida-sensei, are you alright?" The teacher shakes his head slowly and replies, "I'm not getting out of here any time soon, and the students are a higher priority anyway." He then turns his attention to Tatsuyo and tells him, "Alright, it looks like this D-rank mission just got a little more complicated. I need you to make your way to the surface and get back to the village to get help. Chances are there are already search teams out looking for us, so you might be able to get there attention." Looking back at Shisei and Tamotsu he adds, "As much as I hate to send students on a real mission, I need you two to back up Tatsuyo and make sure that help gets here. From what we've gathered there are a lot of injured students here." Shisei nods his head in reply and turns back to Tatsuyo, happy to give him command now.
Kinari gave a happy yip of understanding before heading off toward the voices. "Slower Kinari, we all don't have four legs." Tamotsu yelled after the pup. As they got closer the voices got loud enough for human ears to perceive. When the sensei gave out the orders Tamotsu almost gasped. A real mission? He was being assigned to a real mission? "Yes sir!" The boy exclaimed a little over zealously. The echo served to hurt Kinari's ears. "Sorry." He whispered to the pup with a pat. Then he and the small Akita looked to Tatsuyo. Both of their hearts pounding at the thought of people's lives depending on them.
After finally arriving with the rest of the group Tatsuyo would start to lose alittle hope after seeing the extent of the injuries. However as soon as he comes face to face with the instructer he puts on his best nonchalant mask and salutes the elder man with his uninjured hand before the debriefing. With a half-hearted grin he simply nods in understanding and turning to his two "helpers". "I'll take point from here ,but keep an eye or in kinari-san's case an ear and nose out for an exit…. And no rushing into anythings, Okay?" And with that tatsuyo takes the lead down another tunnel.
Shisei nods again, and begins to follow closely behind Tatsuyo as they head down the new tunnel. It continually gets darker as the go along, until it gets so dark that the trio can hardly see, even though their vision is now completely adjusted to the inferior light. "I can't see a thing down here," the Uchiha mutters as he nearly trips over another rock, but catches his balance again. However they soon reach a point where there's a little light up ahead. "What do you think that is?" he asks to no one in particular, and keeps heading towards the pale blue light. As the three young ninja come into a new cavern, they notice a man-sized hole in the roof, obviously created by the earthquake earlier. "Do you think," Shisei begins wondering, "We could climb up and out of that hole?" He looks back and forth between his two companions, wondering whether they can pull it off between them.
Tamotsu nods and then allows Shesei to follow behind Tatsuyo. He'd let Kinari go next and then take up the rear. It would be slow going through this cave but hopefully an exit wouldn't be far. Upon getting into the room with light the air began to clear up, much to Tamotsu and Kinari's relief. "Hm? Might be easier if we boost one person up. Then they could go get help?" Tamotsu suggested, not confident that he could make it. Then something occurred to him. "What about that tree walking thing? I saw Nobu-sensei teaching Taji-san how to do it. It'd let you stick to the side of the wall right?" The Inuzuka asked. He wasn't an expert on the technique by any means and from what Nobu had told him was a long way from being able to perform it himself. Maybe Tatsuyo could do it though.
Even as the darkness begins to encroach on them Tatsuyo continues onward; occasionally stopping along the way to check and make sure the other two are still behind them. When the finally reach the source of the light at the end of the tunnel tatsuyo and nod silently to himself. "I… can't use tree walking yet either ,but… alright here's how we gonna do this. Uchiha-kun and I will boost inuzuka-kun up the hole. From there I'll need shisei to hop on my shoulders and pass kanari-kun up to inuzuka-kun so that he'll be able to help sniff your way back to the village. Now c'mon." He states before waving shisei over to the wall next to him and bracing against it. "If you can Uchiha-kun, try and grab onto the ledge and pull yourself up afterwards but DON'T LEAVE. Just try and lead them back when you here them coming."
Shisei takes a deep breath before accepting the offer, and uses Tatsuyo's hands to get close to the rim. The boy then pulls himself up with a loud struggle. "Oh gosh! Grrrrr" he growls, but finally his chin tips up over the edge, and Shisei can stop and breathe for a minute. However his rest is cut short when he sees people in the forest. Unable to get their attention from here, the student struggles up on to his elbows and starts yelling. Still they haven't heard him, and the Uchiha gets desperate. He manages to climb out onto his knees and forms several seals quickly. With a sudden flash of red, he launches a small fireball over their heads and… SUCCESS! They turn and run over. The two men are Med-nin from Konoha. "Ok you two," one of them yells down into the cave, "help's going to be here really soon. It's going to be ok."
