Starring:
Date: Unknown (log received July 9, 2010)
Summary:
The genin are tested in a maze full of opponents.
"Yamayuki Death Maze"
Training Grounds
Kumogakure was in a state of rebuilding! People were busy fixing the damage that the Kiri-nin had done to the village and with the lumber being brought in from other sources, Maia was overseeing the construction. She wasn't a carpenter herself, but she could at least make sure people were working hard, though she was no slavedriver.
"Okay guys! Let's call it a day? We've fixed a good bit of the major structural damage, the rest is mostly cosmetic in this area. You did good!" she said with a bright smile and a cheery wave she let peple go back to their homes and let out a soft sigh as she wiped her brows. Being a construction fore(wo)man was hard work!
Kazuki walks onto the construction site with his hands in pockets, and takes a look around casually. "Good work.." He says "Looking good." With a nod "See ya." He waves. He seemed as though he was supposed to be there, or he was trying to give the impression that he had been there the whole time.
Was Kazuki there the whole time? With all the new responsibilities she had, Maia actually didn't notice for once, but she still had her suspicions. With a soft chuckle of amusement, she headed towards the genin and ruffled his hair playfully. "I see that of those of us who worked here today you've barely broken a sweat! Of course this means that you can still train after, right?"
Kazuki peers at Maia after she ruffles his hair, it was not like he cared about his hair style but it made him feel young and insignificant, but he knew it was just a playful gesture. He hadn't broke a sweat until she mentions training "Yeah, I just don't sweat a lot, hehe." He says trying to brush the comment aside "Training, what did you have in mind?" He asks, masking his hesitance with curiosity.
"Well, that's dependent on you? I figure, if anything, the war with Kumogakure has revealed our weaknesses, and know thyself is always a god adage to live by. But you shouldn't stop there, you should either increase your strengths to compensate for your weakness, or turn your weakness into a strength, so which approach will you take?" she asks curiously, her brows furrowed as she places an arm around his shoulder.
Kazuki is faced with a choice to make, and thinking for a second it became clear to him. He had been getting by with using the basic ninja moves for a long time, and realized he actually needed to work and study some more advanced justu. "I will focus on my strengths, Maia-san. There are many sound jutsu that I have been experimenting with but haven't been able to take them to the field."
"Well, you've come to the right person for training in the sound ninjutsu. Tell me about the techniques you're trying to develop and we'll see what we can do about it, yeah?" Maia said with a wry grin as she smiled cheerily towards the genin. She took a deep breath and pursed her lips for a few moments as she scratched the back of her head. "And then, after a bit of ninjutsu training, we can see about perhaps teaching you about the nejigan." she says with a sage nod.
Always on time usually, or lurking about.. A few quick movements and Takeda can be seen hopping from spot to spot, until he is ground level, and walks towardsMaia.."Greetings Maia-sama, I'm here for training as requested.." The masked genin nods to the other Yamayuki
Kazuki hand seals and opens a grin, his voice comes from all angles towards Maia, even though his lips do not move "I know many sound jutsu, but my defense is minimal at best." A bow of the head at Takeda's arrival. He apparently knew his abilities well and that he had to improve.
"Perfect timing! Since you're both of the clan, I can kill two birds with one stone as we're going to focus on ninjutsu training today!" she said rather cheerily, fistpumping as she still seemed rather enthusiastic and full of energy. But then again, she did only mostly oversee the reconstruction and didn't do much of the manual labor herself.
"Kay, let's go to the training grounds and do this. I have a special treat for you guys anyway there." she said as she started to head in that direction.
Takeda nods and begins to follow.. nodding to Kazuki's technique.. Still with what has been happening lately, he really wanted to step his game up a lot..
Kaz nods to the two of them and gets excited about the surprise. "Maia, what is the surprise?" He can't help but ask, making his way to the training grounds, with his casual demeanor but with a bit of a faster step.
It didn't take that long to get towards the training grounds, but what the pair of Yamayuki genin would see is that she had sequestered an area separate from the typical training grounds. What they saw before them was the surprise. "SURPRISE!" Maia chirped cheerily as she motioned towards the square shaped maze of sorts. It was made of wood that was painted completely black and filled up what used to be an open field. From the looks of it, it was a maze and a wry grin curled onto her lips.
"If I'm going to teach you two more advanced sound jutsu, you're going to have to perceive the vibrations in the air as the more advanced jutsu requires finer pitch control. You just can't slap or make any random noise if you want things to be focused. You'll going to have to control finer frequencies, so, we're going to work on unlocking the nejigan in the both of you." she said firmly and resolutely.
"Before you is a maze that the elders and I had built. Considering we're having a lot of up and coming Yamayuki through the ranks, we want as many of you to be able to access our bloodline's strength due to it helping your efficiency as shinobi. And so, we're going to play a game of tag. In complete darkness. There are five bells in that maze. I will give you two a three minute head start to go from one side to another. You'll have to navigate yourway through the maze to find as many of the bells as possible. For each bell you get, I will leave you alone for one minute as they're all in difference frequencies."
As to the other surprises inside the maze, she doesn't mention nthose yet. It's a game of ninja Pacman!
Looking around, the maze doesn't seem to hard, to try and get thru.. From a tactical standpoint anyway, nonetheless waits,a rms now folded, studing the maze, its angles and such.. a glance over up and over the mage
It was a surprise to see the training area set up like a maze. 'huh..' Kazuki thought it seemed like an easy enough task, but wasn't sure if Maia had anything hidden that could hinder their progress through the maze. His sense of hearing might be enough the follow the maze "I can see how this could help in training the nejigan." He says understandingly.
"Now, it's said that if you're ever caught in a maze that by placing your hand against the wall the entire time, you'll eventualy find your way out. Now while that is true in the case of this maze, I would highly recommend NOT touching the walls if possible." A wry and almost predatory grin curls onto her lips as she had thought ahead, making sure the walls were booby trapped if touched. Of course, they might accidentally bump into something and set it off, but she wasn't going to worry about that for now.
"So, come on. Find as many of the bells as you can inside. The maze itself is pitch dark, so you'll be without your sense of sight. You need to navigate with your intuition and other senses. Now go!" she chirped as she motioned towards the maze.
Little did the pair know that with each bell was a surprise. Five other Yamayuki nin waited inside guarding the bells, ready to challenge each of the genin in time.
Kaz says to Takeda "We need to make it to the other side, sounds easy right?" Kaz hmms, and takes a look into the maze but can't see anything. He feels around and listens for the sounds of bells but can't hear them "Which way?" he asks turning to Takeda for help with a shrug.
"Its simple, in this case we work together.. We are a clan, and part of teams as it were.." Takeda says.. As he looks around, begins to extend his senses somewhat "I think we will do better than she expects.."
Oh dears. Maia knows exactly where they are, and they aren't in a good place. She chuckled a little as she scrunched her nose a little, sending out a signal to the other Yamayuki within the maze. Still, just as they moved about the maze, Kazuki was just a bit too close to one of the booby traps stored within.
With a sudden bright flash, the area was immediately illuminated. If they couldn't use their eyes before, the little flash would make things much harder now as there would be spots and an impish giggling. If they felt their faces, they'd realize that they were suddenly covered in thick layers of makeup. One of her younger sisters was there with her patented Makeup No Jutsu trap ready to make the two boys covered in lipstick, eyeliner and foundation. Boy would they look funny if they got out of the maze.
Still, there was the sound of a jingling bell to the east. Takeda and Kazuki would hear the footsteps of someone running to the left, then to the right, then another jingle. Who else was in there?
The blinding light caught Kaz off-guard and made it even harder to see, and was hit with something that didn't inflict pain but he couldn't tell. "Takeda, are you ok?" If they felt weird then maybe he would feel the effects of the makeup no jutsu but he still didn't know what hit him. He picks up the sound of the bell and the person immediately "M…Maia-chan?" He could trace their movements with his sense of hearing, and jumps back as he throws a kunai straight at them.
Using his version with 'Sense of Sound, Takeda never opened his eyes again.."Its cool, lets just focus, and put our backs to one another.." While saying that.. the masked genin did begin focusing chakra into his form, then quickly strikes out, but in such a way as too not injure, since whoever the attacker is, a nother nin from the village hell we don't need any more losses
Maia continued to 'watch' from outside of the maze. She just chuckled as she pursed her lips and ran her fingers through her hair. "They should have just run into Haruhi now. I wonder if she got them." she pursed her lips as she shrugged her shoulders and took another deep breath.
Inside though, there was a little squeak as while the two genin couldn't exactly see, Haruhi had known how to find the two. She had trained with her older sister extensively afterall and just giggled once more as she tumbled out of the way of the kunai.
"Naughty!" she chirped merrily, her voice rather impish and high pitched. She just giggled before she let out an oomph as she just barely dodged the strike by Takeda. Still, she was small and eventually tripped on her own bag of makeup.
With that, the bells rolled towards the two boys. They had defeated the first keeper of the bells as she whined and ran out towards the entrance past them. "Meanie heads!" she grumped. This is why she was still at the academy and not yet a genin.
Kaz chuckled as he picked up a bell "Hehehe…you are no match for us Haruni-chan!" Then shocked when he realized he probably got hit with the makeup no jutsu. They still had a few more bells to look for "Now we know that someone is holding on to each of the bells…It might make it hard to get them but in any case they should be easier to find." He makes a hand seal and listens for the other ninjas in the maze, and coincidentally tries to find Maia's location as well.
A nod from Takeda, who merely smiles.."I'm not using my eyes now, to see where I'm going, nor am I blind".. reaches down and picks up his bell and pockets it.."Don't worry, we will mroe than be able to get all the balls and some.. However remember they are of our village so try not too hurt anyone, if you can help it.." continues walking though he seems more on alert and not bothered by the darkness
Alas, the two genin still could not find the elder Yamayuki. Maia was outside of the maze. There was still no reason for her to go inside afterall as she just trained on her own nejigan skills by trying to see what was going on inside. It was multiple training for everyone! Killing lots of birds with one stone. That's how she rolled.
Still, the two boys were a bit more successful this time. No booby traps were triggered and off in the distance they could hear a soft humming. As they got closer, navigating successfully through the twists and turns of the maze, they would eventually hear a male voice. Considering the pitch and timbre, the boy was not yet in puberty as his voice was still high pitched, but just as they had caught his presence, he caught theirs.
The jingle of the bells upon his person cuold be heard as he started heading towards them with surprising speed. He twisted and turned through the maze, eager for a brief spar against two of the Yamayuki genin.
"Nee-chan says I should be hard on you, so I'm giving it all I got!" he chirped merrily. There was no real animosity in his voice. He was just doing as big sister told. This time, it wouldn't be a simple trick like the Makeup no Jutsu. With a sudden whomping and alow rumbling bass, he smashed his fist into the ground, releasing a shockwave of pure force aimed for both boys. Would they dodge it? Who knows?
Kazuki heard the boy running towards them, and thought that he was silly for following Maia's orders directly. Before he even performed the shockwave jutsu, Kaz was out of range and ready to strike, though he had been told to hold back by his team mate. Doing his best he attempts a sweep kick to catch the other Yamayuki off-balance.
It seems a battle was earnest inside the maze! The shockwave caused the maze to vibrate just a little as it seemed another was soon going to join the fray. The sound of another jingling bell could be heard as yet another Yamayuki came to the rescue.
It was two boys, huffing and puffing. That much could be determined as one of them had brought a lamp with them. Totally unfair really! Still, the dark was no longer an issue inside as the two faced each other before facing the pair.
"Should we do it?" asked the first.
"Definitely, though nee-chan might kill us for it." replied the other.
"Bah! It'll so be worth it though!" the first chirped enthusiastically as they started running towards Kazuki and Takeda together. They were known for their teamwork, and their synchronization almost to the point of the nin-pup and its master in the Inuzuka clan.
"Sound Combination Release: Constructive Interference Slam!" they both cried out as they both punched the ground hard, the two sound drills in their arm working in unison to let out a wave of powerful force towards the two. Oh noes!
Kazuki noticed the next two Yamayuki's coming towards them and just as their attack hits, Kaz turns into a bell 'ding ding!' as he used the replacement technique. He appears down the hall with a hand seal formed and ready to use a jutsu against the two. An small explosion of sound waves bursts between the two of them, and Kazuki says with a smart tone "You two use way too much effort."
Having heard Kazuki's warning, Takeda smiled, and followed suit, tripping the other boy, with a simple leg sweep, but only to trip them up, not too seriously injure them.. however, reaches out to grab one of the bells in doing so as well.
Kazuki was proud that he and Takeda beat the other pair of Yamayuki but one of them did something unexpected to block his trail. The frequencies he used were disorienting and Kaz couldn't tell where he went with the bells, so he puts his mind to work and uses chakra to enhance his sense of hearing. This worked especially well to decipher the other's location through the misleading frequencies. Alerting Takeda to the other's presence he moves to capture the remaining bells from him. "Don't think that will work, my hearing is too precise!" He smirks
Takeda attempting to try and percieve the bells,w as to no avail for him, a slight frown creases his features.. and says to Kazuki.."Any luck, I seem to have momentarily lost my bearings"
Kaz got the bells, and there was only one more pair to get before they had to find the exit. He didn't have a clue where to 'look' for the other bells, but he uses a seal to examine the sounds around him more closely. The low frequency leads him to a place much closer than expected, as it seemed Takeda was holding one of the last remaining bells. Was this all a trick, maybe Maia put it there without him knowing, if that was the case…he checks himself for a bell.
Takeda seems to be a bit lost.. And quite turned around.."Damn!!" is the only response for now.. as he loses his bearings.. walking in the wrong direction.
"Takeda, looks like you've found the way to the exit. Good thing I found this pair of bells, so we can get out of here." He grabs the bell that Maia had seemingly placed unnoticed from an inside pocket of his jacket. "You have one too, now we just need one more." He was happy to have got past that trick and accomplished the mission successfully thus far.
"We aren't done yet, one more set to go.. I am just lost for the moment" Takeda calls out, while looking around.. How in the hell did that happen.. A pause to to rub his chin..
Kenta yawns and waits at the exit. He's leaning up against a nearby wall, but as the ninja are starting towards the exit he pushes himself away from the wall. "Guess that's my cue…" he says, regretting he hasn't finished his research. It could have helped here. But oh well. Kenta's tempted to call out, instead he reaches into his belt for something. Two somethings actually. He jingles the bells now in his hand and mumbles, "That should speed things up…"
Kaz heard the ringing of a couple of bells, and knew they were on the right track. Coming up to the sound he notices Kenta, and stops. There wasn't going to be any easy way past this one, and all the hard work they put in was on the line here. But it was two against one and he didn't know how Kenta's senses fared the dark. "What are you doing here, why don't you just drop those bells." He shrugs and makes a single hand seal increasing the sound of Kenta's bells that would be ear shattering to the holder.
Takeda leaping into the fray, deciding to not try and injure Kenta, does an open hand strike, followed by a leg sweep.."Remember that Maia-sama is up to soemthing, why this one be so open, get the bells quickly Kazuki"
Kenta just stands there waving a hand at the pair as they launch their attacks. The sound from Kaz ripples across Kenta causing him to clutch at his ears. Which leaves himself open to Takeda's open hand strike from in the chest which unbalances him. The leg sweep is more than enough to finish him off which he yelps in surprise and hits the ground. Kenta grunts out, "Not even close guys…I'm still at the exit." The water clone explodes in a splash of water giving a gurgling laugh. Kenta isn't about to blow all his chakra dodging all night. He wants to at least do something that's part of the orignal excercise in that maze. So he carefully picks a spot where some of the maze's shadows are blocking light on the outsize of the maze itself. From there, he waits for the two to come out in the open.
Kazuki had been concentrating chakra to improve his hearing since they entered the maze, at this point nearing the end he was getting low on reserves. Kenta was good with the clone jutsu but so was he and he sends a clone down the hall which poofs! Kaz was ready with a small ball in hand that jingles like a bell, rolling it down the floor after the clone it bursts in an explosion of sound.
"That was interesting indeed, sorry man I seem to be losing it.." Takeda says this time, still trying to get those bells off Kenta's slipper-ass.. and doess a kick towards him, then a another leg-sweep
Kenta didn't even see the bell coming. Well, he did, but from his celing corner hiding spot he didn't see it in time. Kenta does try to fire off a blast of water to form a shield around himself to block the water, but he remembers a split second too late, water and sound don't mix. The bell's sound blasts through his shield like it wasn't even there and he looses his grip on the corner wall. "Wha….woh!" he says before slamming face first into the newly soaked floor. One bell comes bouncing out of his hand, scoring one for Kazuki. He does a quick kip up as Takeda comes in kicking and sweeping. But Kenta just into the physical and gets dropped and slammed against the wall. He shakes his head and says, "Ok ok…geesh. Watch the kicks Takeda-san." He tosses the second bell to the genin. "Nice show guys…" he says wiping his coat off with the film of water.
With everyone now out of the wooden maze, Maia appears on the other side in a little npuff of smoke. She's clapping, applauding all three genin as she smiles cheerily towards them. At first, she inspects Kazuki for signs of sweat and fatigue this time. She wanted him to work hard.
"You three did wonderfully." she said with a sage nod as she let out a soft chuckle escaping from her lips. "I was deciding between who would hold the last pair of bells, and decided Kenta would be fine. Perhaps once you guys get stronger I'll ask Kaoru, Akemi or Hikaru to be the last holder of bells." she said matter of factly, beaming the entire time.
"But Takeda, your taijutsu has improved tremendously. I'm going to try to get you under some private lessons from my younger brother, Kaoru. He's a taijutsu specialist in our clan's style, would you like that?" she asked curiously.
"My apologies, I was only trying to recover the bells, not do any injuries, many of us have visted the hospital one time too many" Takeda replies.. a shake of his head.."I should have done a lot better, more training is required, not striong enough yet"
Takeda looks to Maia "Sure that would be fine, should I expect the training to be like last time? I can take it"
Kazuki had broken a sweat, and the journey through the maze felt like a lot of training for him. He bows to Maia, and his team mate Takeda, as well as Kenta "Thank you…" His tummy rumbles. Time for some udon, then…sleep.
Kenta gives a small bow, "Glad to help, but really…" he gestures to the two, "…this isn't my kind of training. I don't do the physical stuff very well. But…" he gives a resigned shrug, "…that's why you're making me do it, right?" He smiles to himself and goes over to a side bench and picks up a bottle of water to chug it. He does not looks as tired as the other two, probably because he didn't do as much. But even with what he did, he still looks like he could go a few more rounds. He hasn't even broken a sweat.
