Starring:
Fulgur (emitter), Sado, Ryouji, Michiko
Date: July 13, 2014
Summary:
Team Katonari finds their first scroll during the chuunin exams but without a bit of problem solving.
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"Fourth Promotion Exams - Second Obstacle pt 1"
Tenrai Mountain
It looks like a small three man group of genin have camped out on Tenrai mountain down the slope to the lake. It's hidden well enough, but there appears to be a rock shelter dome and other signs of a campsite. It's only been up for maybe a day or so, not too long. But probably long enough for someone to show up sooner or later.'
It's a quiet evening on the mountain and all seems to be calm. The weather isn't unruly, thankfully enough as the storms tend to get heavy up here around this time of year. Aside from the plateaus and other level parts of the mountain, there are more uneven areas that host beauty and danger. A waterfall isn't too far from here. A number of them actually only separated by the weathering between the falls. Animals convene around the basin every so often to drink from the waters, but there's something curious around these parts now that have had the shinobi busy. It's rumoured there's a scroll around there that needs acquiring and it's anybody's game to go and retrieve it.
A harmless rock rabbit, hopping along and eating some of the tough grass growing on the side of the slope of this mountain, is busy minding its own business. It nibbles here and there as he bounds about, always wary for any predators that might be about. Suddenly, as it takes another hop it slips away, being pulled off the ground and flung about. It squeals and flails about, but its back foot is firmly secure in a wrapped white snare wire of some kind. Ryouji comes out from behind a rock. The wire is leading up to him and up to his head? It unrolls from the tight wire like form to what resembles hair that ends on top of Ryouji's head. The hair begins to retract and draw the rabbit in as Ryouji jumps for joy, "I got one, I got one! We're having rabbit tonight. Come to Ryouji!"
It looks like a small three man group of genin have camped out on Tenrai mountain down the slope to the lake. It's hidden well enough, but there appears to be a rock shelter dome and other signs of a campsite. It's only been up for maybe a day or so, not too long. But probably long enough for someone to show up sooner or later. (re)
Ryouji has the rabbit hanging in front of him. It's scarred and thrashing about still, scared out of its little mind. Ryouji sighs and says, "Don't look at me like that. Of course I'm going to eat you." The hair uncoils from the rabbit's foot and the thing plops to the ground and takes off like a shot. "Later…you owe me rabbit." Ryouji says, "We've got scrolls to find." He calls out, "Hey Michiko-chan. I'm going to go check out the waterfall for scrolls. I can't catch nothing yet."
Michiko raises an eyebrow at Ryouji. She sighs at him. "Ryouji-kun, if you keep letting our food go, we won't be able to survive for very long…" She watches the rabbit go off with another sigh. "I'll come with you, then, in regards to the scrolls. If you can't get a rabbit, then I doubt that I'll be able to." She makes her way down towards the water, going out of her way to make sure the fire is still going well.
Ryouji says, "I could catch one, if we wern't busy. We've been out here for a few days now, and we haven't gotten scroll one yet." He waits a moment for Michiko and once she's ready, he starts off in a normal jog towards the falls at the far side of the lake.
Michiko reaches out with her senses to try and find any large animals a scroll could be attached to, or maybe a person that might be holding the key to it. She keeps a bit higher than Ryouji, mostly so she isn't at a disadvantage thanks to her short stature, and looks around. "You see anything, Ryouji-kun?" she wonders, hoping for something obvious to show up.
Ryouji keeps his eyes and ears open. Anything in the air, anything at the top of the waterfall. Anything moving around the rocks too. Who knows if it's a goat, that he wouldn't be surprised. He says, "Fish, goats" he points down in the basin the waterfall ends in. He gestures towards the ones sitting about the basin. "But I would think it wouldn't be so easy as catch the goat."
Michiko sighs. "I don't see anything either, sadly…" She tsks and keeps making her way toward the waterfall. "Next time, go for the goats, Ryouji-kun. They give you more meat and are likely a bit easier to catch. Could easily firebolt them to death."
Ryouji nods, "I guess so. Was just trying too hard." He scans the goats, trying to make out anything attached to them. "Maybe we should climb the waterfall?" He walks towards the wall side the waterfall and adjusts his swords moving them from the hip to the back. Easier to climb that way.
The waterfall, at first, appears easy to climb, but it soon becomes apparent that the flow of it is far too strong to allow passage. It easily pushes anything that tries to get through back down and out of the way. Most people will want to be pushed out of the way. If they are pushed down it's very likely they'll be impaled by the rocks below and likely sleeping with the fishes there too. There's good news, though. A box hangs in the middle of this waterfall just waiting to be opened. Inside of it is likely the scroll they're looking for. There's just one thing missing. A key.
Michiko eyes the waterfall. "Do you think water-walking up that fall would do much good?" she wonders before giving her head a shake. "Probably not a good idea…" She uses a bit of chakra to climb the wall so that there's less of a chance of slipping, forcing herself to look up into the water spraying down on her face so she can keep an eye out. "Hey, Ryouji-kun! Look! There's a box!" she calls out, struggling to keep a hold on the wall and not end up plunging to her death.
Ryouji calls out over the roar of the water, "I see it too!" He looks at it for a moment and processes ideas of getting the box. "Come to the top of the waterfall! I've got an idea." He walks up the wall and reaches the top, waiting for Michiko to get up too. "You've got that earth wall jutsu, right? Try to raise a wall of earth to divert the falls to either side for a while, we'll get the box and then bring down the wall. Want to try it?"
Michiko moves to the side so she isn't getting blasted by the falls now. Now that she doesn't have to worry (as much) about falling, she summons up some chakra and makes a few seals to create an earth barrier just above the box, having it extend into the water to hopefully create some form of safe passage.
"Hey guys, what's going on?" comes a curious voice as Sado appears in the area, having gone out hunting for some supplies for their camp and found it empty upon return. He had gone out looking for them and just now had located them. "What happened to the food?" he asks, getting pretty hungry. As he awaits an answer, he would remain below the waterfall on the shore, safe.
You paged Sado with 'Oh and in case no one told you, Odin told me that there are no teams for the exam. We're all on our own. Also, we need an earth scroll and a heaven scroll for each of us.'
The box hangs, largely unmoving as the water rushing water keeps it forced down and in position. The top of the waterfall reveals that the flow of the falls is controlled by a small opening in the mountain that's compacted enough to cause the waterfall to turn into more of a jet than the gentle thundering typically associated with the falls around here. The water strikes the earth barrier and it maintains…at least until the earth begins to chip away at it and quickly. Before long, the earth begins to crumble. For a short moment it was effective, but it appears it wasn't quite enough. Perhaps there's more to that earth thing, though.
Ryouji waves down at Sado and looks over at Michiko. "That was good, if you can keep it diverted for a little while longer, I can drop down to the box and grab it. I'm not sure if it's locked, or how it's attached, but I can try to get the scroll out before the wall breaks down again. Think you can do it again, Michiko-chan?"
Michiko nods. "Of course, Ryouji-kun." She frowns a bit and focuses a bit more chakra, seeing if she can't do it again. "Ryouji-kun, I hope you're ready for this." She glances over to Sado briefly. "Trying to get a box at the moment. Hoping to divert the water enough that we can get it." She focuses on the crack and makes a few handseals to get an earth barrier to patch up the hole.
Sado wonders what in Tar-nation was going on as Ryouji just waves to him and doesn't answer his questions. "What exactly is going on." he says as he looks at the waterfall, not seeing any food or anything there. He looks to Michiko, the smarter of the trio, for an answer, getting one thankfully. "I see. What are we going to use the box for, storage?" he asks as he watches them try to maneuver the rushing water.
Ryouji is ready and pushes his body into his highest blur setting. He'll need the 9 spd to do this. He sucks in a breath does a running leap drop past the newly made earth barrier. To make sure he won't over leap it, he reaches out and grabs the edge of the barrier and pulls himself closer to the wall of the waterfall. Aiming for the box, he uses his wall walking on his hands to slow himself, then plants his feet on the wall and crouches. He grabs the box and tries to pull it open, hoping it's just water pressure keeping it closed. He pulls hard and if successful, pulls out the scroll and runs like nose down the middle of the waterfall. "Don't look back, don't look back, don't look back!"
With the efforts of Michiko and the constant stacking of earth together, the waterflow is directed enough to retrieve the box hanging on its chain and bring it down. Unfortunately, that's not the end to the box. It is firmly locked, not by pressure, but by a latch requiring a key. Until the key is retrieved, the box remains closed. Not too far off, some other shinobi participating in the exams have taken note of the successful retrieval of this box and waiting for the contents within to be revealed. Even if they didn't get it now, they might be able to get it later…
Ryouji pushes off the wall, just as he reaches the bottom. He bounces on the shore coming to a halt at Sado's feet of all people. He looks up and says, "Hey Sado-kun, we got a scroll. Won't count if we can't open the box though. Don't suppose you know where the key is?" He calls up the waterfall and says, "I got it!" holding the box up.
Michiko lets out a relieved sigh and relaxes now that she doesn't need to keep the chakra going to keep that wall up. She peers at the box curiously, trying to see if she could possibly do anything about it. "Well, a key might be a bit difficult to find…" she murmurs. "Good job, Ryouji-kun. Sado-kun, we should get looking for a key. And keep an eye out to make sure there aren't any people around here… We should make sure out defenses are secure."
"A scroll? So that's what you two goofballs were doing to the poor waterfall." Sado says with a chuckle, eyeing the box that Ryouji has in his possession. "Looks like the key is about the only way that box is getting opened." he says as he takes a look, testing the material, the hinges, etc. "Anything else in the waterfall?" he asks towards Michiko as he scans the falling water and surrounding area.
Ryouji switches off the blurred state as soon as he gets up and has a chance to do so. He yawns, "That can take a lot out of you if you're not ready for it. I'm ok…" and he makes a hand sign to charge up a bit more chakra. Nothing that his reserves won't take care of in time though. "Maybe we have to pick the lock? It's safe to assume it's trapped somehow if we do though." He looks around as well and won't even try to use his perception. Sado is getting higher rolls anyway.
The waterfall's flow returns to normal soon enough as it crumbles the earth and falls back into the basin. What small pieces of the earth fall into the water are responded to by the fish as they begin to suck in the sediment only to spit it back out. One fish, however, seems to have a small problem with spitting it back out. It does manage to jettison the earth out, but now it can't seem to get anything else out. It thrashes around a bit before settling down.
Michiko blinks as she notices a fish having some difficulties. She quickly forms a few seals and a small earth dome forms around the fish that she noticed was acting up, effectively (?) trapping it in the dome so it can't escape. "I think we might want to go look at the fish I captured…" she says quietly, trying to maintain the chakra to keep the dome up and trapping the fish as she makes her way over to it.
"Yeah, don't go around pulling that off without proper prep in this area, Ryouji-kun." Sado says with a grin. "Might get you hurt." he adds before Michiko goes into action, trapping a fish inside her earth dome. "She's found more and more uses for those moves of hers since coming here. Can't wait to see what she thinks up next." he says to Ryouji as he moves towards the dome, He jumps on top of it and examines the fish carefully.
Ryouji nods and grins, "So I noticed." He watches Sado go for the fish, "What did you see?" He crouches down looking at the water and slithers out a tenticle of hair holding it above the water like a snake about to strike, "If you can't hold it, I'll spear the thing."
Michiko says, "Well, I can only be so innovative… I haven't hit the barrier of inspiration quite yet, though." She nods to Ryouji. "I'll release it, and you catch it quickly, Ryouji-kun. Sado-kun, you make sure to keep an eye out too in case Ryouji-kun isn't fast enough with his spear…" Better safe than sorry, right? "I thought the fish was suspicious. If it has the key, that will make us all rather happy, I think." She nods a bit. "When I say three. One… Two… THREE!" On three, the fine crumbles.
The other fish in the area dart away from the dome while the single fish remains trapped within it. The fish swims around inside the dome trying to find an exit, but can't seem to see any. So, maybe there's a way up that it can take. Just as the dome crumbles, the fish hops out of the water, not knowing that the dome was actually going to give way. If there was any time to catch it, it'd be now.
"Looks like it could've eaten something, will need a closer look." Sado response with, listening to the plan Michiko has. "Alright, you better get it Ryouji." Sado says, being the backup for this endeavor, listening to Michiko count down dramatically. "Go!" he shouts to Ryouji as Michiko says three, to help his instincts kick in.
Like Mr Miyagi catching flies with chop sticks, Ryouji uses his speedy hands to do the same for the fish. Out snaps a hand and catches the fish right below the gills and any throny bits in the fins. No sense getting stabbed. He nods and says, "You're not going anywhere fish. Ok, let's see…" he feels around for a key in the belly with his gripping fingers while pulling out a kuani with the other hand. "We'll have to gut him." he says.
Michiko sits down on the ground with a small thud, tired from her Jutsu-usage. It was constant chakra flow from her so she could keep everything strong enough, and now she's a bit tired. "I see… Ryouji-kun and Sado-kun should get to opening up that fish, then," she says, recovering slowly. Then she gets up and stretches a bit.
Upon gutting the fish, it reveals that indeed a key was inside. The key that should open that box and get to that scroll. Looks like it's finally in the group's possession! And they get some free food to boot. There are other animals around here that are ripe for the picking, but it's likely they've retreated a small distance away from all the activity. Those goats that communed around here weren't going to stay around for long, right? In fact, they've been watching everything from afar before deciding they would go back to their typical activities.
"Go for it, Ryouji-kun, looks like Michiko-chan might not like gutting fish." Sado says as he watches, the gutting revealing the key. "Woo, lets unlock this box and see what we have." he exclaims, getting a bit excited with the 'treasure' box and the small adventure, etc. "Hurry, hurry, Ryouji-kun." he says eagerly as he moves over to the box, awaiting the unveiling.
Ryouji yelps for joy as the key falls out of the fish. Then ewws as it's covered in blood and other fluids from said fish. "Oh gross…" as his aristocratic side peeks through. He washes the key in the water for a moment to clean it off and says, "Ok ok, Sado-kun, hold on. Paitence must be learned." He puts the key in the lock and turns it. "When we're done here, I'm killing a goat to roast. I'm starving!"
Inside the box is a single scroll for the exams, safely tucked away in the box without any water damage. Outside the box is a dead fish that can make for some good eats. All in all, it was a great effort put up by the group, but only one scroll to share between them. Best to rest up and regain their strength…or keep their eyes peeled and hope no one tries to take the spoils of their one way war with a waterfall.
