Most people would undoubtedly be despairing over the lack in higher-ranking shinobi, undoubtedly so. Kimiko was more than aware that both her husband and adoptive brother were both worried beyond belief as it was, although she had no idea why. They now had a larger amount of Genin, due to a recent graduation from the Academy, and that gave her plenty of hope for the future. The more younger shinobi they had, the greater their village would become as the Will of Fire continued to pass down through the generations; it was something that Konoha was famous for, after all. While it was indeed a worry that they had a lack in Jounin-ranked and Chuunin-ranked ninja across the village, the Hokage herself was not in the least bit interested about that much. Promotions were all in the works for numerous shinobi that she could think of, so that was not in itself a big issue. She was instead feeling rather excited, something which none of her few helpers could comprehend. It was plural, not so much because of her own needs, but rather the insistence of help being put upon her. First, she had her Administrative and general aide, a childhood friend of hers named Kaito, whom she had protected for many a time in their youth. He seemed to find it his duty to now help in the best way he could, utilising his famed intelligence and sharp mind/ skill in the written field. Then there was Yoroi, her younger brother and Sennin of the village, who insisted that in difficult situations she should take his counsel. This was mainly down to her ‘softer’ side to being a shinobi, which had worked thus far in times of peace and was slowly changing the hearts and minds of others, but was sometimes deemed too weak. He was also her main bodyguard, due to being highly ranked in the Protection Service. Next was her own husband, Toshiro, who was mainly there for moral support whenever she may need it. He too was a Sennin, part of Konoha’s powerhouse (which included herself), and thus proved to be a very strong asset to her politically as well as in her own personal life. Lastly, there was a man named Sadao, who had worked alongside the Hokage and the village council for many years now. He helped as her go-to with the sometimes uncompromising, pompous council members.

Of course she thought herself unbelievably lucky to have a whole team helping her in the very demanding job as opposed to just relying on the one aide. It allowed her to share out the burdens and do what she loved doing most of all alongside protecting the village; tutoring the next generation to become strong, reliable shinobi for the future. “Are you sure that you’re able to do this, Kimi?” Her aide asked, impatiently tapping a pen against his clipboard as he looked over the ebony-haired woman’s shoulder at the new paperwork she had recently filed regarding teams for the village. On it, were a collection of photographs from the professional profiles of the newest team, which included three fifteen year-olds as the students, and a very familiar face topping it as the sensei. Kimiko turned and smiled at the orange-haired man at her side, nodding her head firmly and gently placing the file down on her currently spotless desk. “Absolutely! I’ve cleared enough space in my schedule to manage another team with no problems. The correct question to ask is whether you’ll be able to cope with the extra loads of paperwork in my absence.” She quirked at eyebrow slightly as she looked at him, obviously expecting the reaction and answer to come as she suddenly grinned. Kaito huffed and his grip on the clipboard tightened his sea blue eyes narrowing a little before nodding his head just as firmly as his current companion had done. “Of course I will.” He paused, glancing at the pile of paperwork teetering in the corner of the room and inwardly groaned. Maybe he should reconsider. “You know, Kimi…”

But where the Hokage had once been sitting was now only empty air. Her aide sighed in a fashion which best explained his current feelings on the matter of having to stay late just to finish this paperwork, but amongst those downcast emotions of his, a small smirk placed itself upon his lips. He wouldn’t have agreed to becoming Kimiko’s aide if he wasn’t aware of how she was as a person, and while she had managed to grow up to become the very mature, powerful Hokage, sometimes she reminded him of the hyperactive, very childish kid that had saved his behind on more than one occasion. So he couldn’t truly complain.

The ebony-haired woman was chuckling to herself as she walked down the main street leading from the Administration Building, inhaling the sweet air around her more than happily. It had been a long time since she had been permitted to leave her office, due to an influx of new missions and the whole ‘team’ issue, but finally it had been resolved so that she may begin her favourite job. Yes, it meant that two teams were now in her care, but that wasn’t so much of an issue. All she wanted to do was help these Genin, because she was more than aware of a lot of their situations. One, she remembered had experienced issues with teams before; this was the female Genin, whose name was Satsune. Another was one that had only entered into the shinobi profession late, and thus had only just graduated from the Academy, one of the males called Suzaku. The last Genin on the team was a boy who had travelled for a couple of years, and as such hadn’t been on a team since graduating, the final male named Masamori. Their new sensei found it important that youngsters like them should gain experience working as a team, and learning to work together. Even ANBU, dubbed the most independent branch of working shinobi, had to work in cells on big missions. It was a fundamental skill that nobody would learn until they were placed in such a situation that would make them collaborate with one another. And from reading the profiles of these boys and girl, she realised that it would become quite a challenge to use the ‘normal’ methods that she would otherwise utilise. If for no other reason than Satsune being on the squad. All she could go by were the official profiles in which they were documented as being part of a number, so she would have to see how they interacted and what their personalities were like for herself. Thus far, she had noticed a correlation between their skillsets, of how each of them utilised the Weaponry skill. Even including herself to an extent, being proficient in the usage of such an art (although it was not one of her first skills).

She walked past the famed Training Grounds, and on again to the village’s gates, where she smiled and waved at the guards currently on duty. They allowed her through with no quarrel, and understandably so. Even if she hadn’t notified them of her leaving the village well in advance, they would have allowed her to do so anyway. She started her short journey to a small beaten path, not far down the main road leading to and from Konoha. Once on it, she ventured to the large caged-off area known affectionately as The Forest of Death. Even from a distance, one could hear the strangled and strange cries of monstrous beasts within. Why had she chosen this location specifically for her team to meet and undergo its test, you may ask? For no other reason that, if one did not work together with others in this place, they would undoubtedly die. And so, she waited there patiently for her students to arrive, having specified the place and time in a letter she had sent to each one of them.

Young Masamori was awoken by someone's incessant tapping and scratching of the window glass. He must have had dozed off whilst tending to the birds last night, for it was the definite smell of animals that had greeted his nose. The revelation also gave him a clue as to the origin of the sound; his sleepy eyes looked around until they found the majestic beast - it seemed much larger than a pigeon, but Masamori couldn't confidently identify what breed it was. His mind dared to nickname the bird a 'falcon', but in hindsight, the notion was rather silly and he must have been sleepy and had probably suffered from a mild, dozy hallucination, to conjure such a thought.

The bird, once allowed inside, circled him angrily, making so much noise the youth was tempted to shoo it away before it awoke the whole household and before the sounds completed Masamori's own process of awakening. He just wanted to go back to sleep. "God damn bird", he cursed, flailing his arm as if to order the 'falcon' to land on it and stay calm. It did get the message eventually, thankfully, and the little letter was pried away from the bird just before it shot off again, its angry shrieks echoing around the little room for a while still, even though it had long flew away, its temperament going away with it. Masamori opened the message with an equal degree of drowsy weariness and excitement; it was addressed to him.

His grey eyes darted over the parchment swiftly, his face expressing the utmost surprise; his brows had raised themselves as high as they could, and it was evident he was fully awake now. The Hokage is my sensei? he mused silently, the notion bringing a mixture of emotions and thoughts. The Yuki couldn't quite decide if he had found this revelation to be a happy one or not. He simply stood there, shell-shocked. It took him a minute, perhaps, or two to remind himself of the letter's contents - namely, the time and location of the meeting... a meeting which was starting very very soon. Crap!

The youth ran inside his room, and was out faster than one could say crapimlatemynewsenseithehokageisgoingtokillme! He had managed to change his clothes, wash his face with a quick splash of water, and grab all of his gear. Then he was out, and running, dashing down the stairs, through the corridors, dodging the drowsy servants of the Yuki clan, who looked more so bewildered than he had moments ago. He was at the door, and then past it, and then outside the gate, sprinting.

Masamori was surprisingly un-messy when he reached the village gates. If anything, the sprint had kicked some energy and life into his body, and he looked like a youth should look - invigorated. With a large sword - a nodachi to be precise - on his back and a spear in his hand, the guards gave him a weary look before he was allowed outside. After a few calm steps, he began running again, aware that he was not doing so well for time.

But, alas, he seemed to have reached the place that had been specified, and with the exception of his sensei, the Hokage herself, he was first! How exciting. And it didn't even look like Masamori exhausted; truth was, he had stopped short of the meeting place, giving himself a few seconds to catch his breath. Thus the Hokage would have seen him enter her field of vision calmly, garbed in splendid, myrtle or pine green clothes; his face was a handsome mask. His grey eyes looked around curiously, analysing what little of the "Forest of Death" he could see. A while later, when he seemed to have satisfied his curiosity with the dark trees and other thick, ominous foliage which he could see, he finally looked at his new sensei. He had seen her before, or at the very least, people tended to paint such a vivid picture of her that he seemed to know that it was her from the first moment he had seen her. "Ohayo Gozaimasu" he muttered in his usually ambiguous tone, the voice quiet and soft enough to almost be considered a whisper and yet loud enough for her to hear regardless. He had stopped short of her, a bunch of steps away, and he had no real desire to close the distance.

She reminded him of Satsune; as soon as that thought entered his mind, he could feel his awkwardness intensify. His eyes promptly darted away from her to escape the woman's gaze. He didn't know what it was about them - these two 'girls' in particular. Puberty was a mysterious thing.     

Ever since her huge shift in persona and appearance well over seven years ago, the former Katsumi had found that her body clock had taken huge leaps forward. She was always at least twenty minutes early for any meeting of any kind, and to be any later than that was odd for her. That was why, if ever she was late for a meeting, people would begin to worry. Even though she was so punctual, and always had been during her time as a sensei, she was not particularly irritated by those that didn’t adhere to time restraints. She was used to her husband, after all, who was standardly late to everything by an hour sometimes. That, and she was always so well occupied with her own thoughts that it even occurred to her that so much time had passed. And so, as she waited for her new students to arrive, she surveyed her surroundings and occupied herself in such a way. Her mind was filled with everything except the task at hand, just because there was no reason to be. With nobody to relay her plans to, why would she go back to it when she was already so certain in what would happen? She had been through the scenarios so many times in her head, and she knew exactly how she would explain the task, what the objective was, and how to handle anything in between. For once in a very long time, the Hokage allowed her mind to wander and effectively take a break. She exhaled a deep breath, feeling her shoulders relax as she clasped her hands together in front of her and found her chocolate orbs focusing on the wildlife outside the Forest of Death. These creatures never strayed too close to the closely fenced area, she noticed, and rightly so. The average blackbird would surely be devoured by the much larger grotesque birds of prey that inhabited the fenced-in area. Small mice and rats would become plant food, as the carnivorous plants used their cunning ways to ensnare and digest them. Whatever else that existed outside the Forest of Death knew not to slip through the wire fence, for they had undoubtedly had it ingrained in their very bones from witnessing mishaps of their own kin previously. In a way, the forest was very much like reality in the way it preyed on the weak. It truly was down to survival of the fittest within those barred gates, as in, only deadly things survived. The same could be said of the shinobi world on a wider scale. Yes, shinobi villages nurtured their youngsters until they were able to grasp killing intent for themselves, and thus these places were like safe havens when compared to the lands in between.

Kimiko had witnessed too many horrors away from the heavenly walls of her home village, and she didn’t wish to have any of them repeated if she could help it. It was this, fuelled by a natural desire to help all that she could to fend for themselves, and to protect everyone that could not otherwise fend for themselves, that built her as a person. A soft touch in many ways, perhaps. But still a cold-blooded killer underneath.

On that… cheery thought, she became aware of the sound of footsteps approaching from down the pathway. She raised her head in the direction she had first identified movement from, and smiled as she watched a familiar face emerge into the small clearing before the Forest of Death itself. By familiar, she did not mean a face that she had personally seen. Instead it related to the face she had seen printed on top of Yuki Masamori’s shinobi profile. “Ah, good morning, Masamori.” She greeted him cheerily, noticing how he stopped a fair distance away from her. It wasn’t a long distance, granted, but it seemed far away considering they were currently the only two of their team present. She looked at him curiously but said nothing, not wishing to make him apprehensive or intimidated by her in any way. That being said, she was not a particularly intimidating figure; of that she was well aware. It had not escaped her that he had averted his gaze from her so quickly after first seeing her that it was almost untraceable, and she was left feeling even more confused than she had been before. Luckily, to avoid any awkward attempts to make conversation with the angsty teenager, the next Genin squad member arrived. It was the female, Satsune, whose grating manner did not escape the ebony-haired woman in spite of the obvious attempt to cover it. She smiled at the girl, obviously not perturbed by the very forced action of courtesy whatsoever. “Good morning to you too, Satsune.” She greeted in response. That only left one more, Suzaku, that they were waiting for. Due to not wearing a watch of any sort, the sensei among them wasn’t sure of the time and thus wasn’t aware of whether the boy was late or not.

Not long after the arrival of Satsune, the woman whose senses were highly honed became aware of a set of footsteps approaching them. That, and the smell of… cigarette smoke? She inhaled a little discretely to try and confirm this, but she couldn’t surely be right. She caught sight of a dark-haired boy round the corner, however, and knew from that moment that she saw him holding a cigarette that this was indeed one of her new students, and the last to arrive. While she had no issue with smoking in general, as numerous of her peers at her own age had taken up the habit as a stress relief considering their line of work, she was a little put-out by one so young openly ruining his lungs. She restrained herself from saying anything, instead glancing at the cigarette in a way that would politely suggest ‘Please put that out’, before paying more attention to the boy’s question of who she was. The doubt was obvious to her, more so because she was so well-versed in people and how they portrayed emotions in numerous ways, but she didn’t grow angry at the boy’s question and instead smiled kindly at him. “That’s correct, I am indeed Katsumi Kimiko to the village. Personally, however, I am Hinamori Kimiko. But that isn’t something that you should concern yourselves with.” She unclasped her hands and held them out to her sides, gesturing at the foreboding forest behind her. “You are all here today as part of a team that I will tutor personally. There are certain expectations that I have of you as shinobi of the village, but nothing too lofty that none can hope to attain them. Perfection is the end goal, not the starting point.” She nodded slowly and turned to face the place that she had led her new students to, chocolate orbs shimmering softly as she surveyed the surroundings from the safe side of the fence. “Perhaps it seems bizarre that the Hokage is to be your sensei, of all individuals, but it is my desire to see a strong upholding of our leading skills and tenacity. I was a teacher before I was the leader of Konohagakure, and I still enjoy to pass down knowledge to the next generations to ensure our safety for the future. When I’m dead and gone, it will be you three and your other peers that take over.” She turned her head back over her shoulder to survey the expressions of her new students, and would then reach a hand out to the tall gate allowing admittance into the famed Forest of Death.

“Your task is simple. I have hidden five special scrolls within this forest, and you must retrieve them as a team. They must be collected in a certain order, as I have used a special Fuuinjutsu trap between the five so that if they are picked up in the wrong order, they will detonate and rip you to pieces.” She said the latter part in a rather ironic cheery tone, and laughed, realising that the task was currently sounding very serious and dangerous indeed. “Each scroll is numbered to make things easier for you all. And they are hidden in equally obvious places. Although they might be easy to find, they will not be easy to obtain. After collecting them all, you must then find me in the forest. Maybe that will be the easiest part, but there is the possibility that it might not be.” She pushed open the gate and ushered the three Genin inside. When they had all entered, she turned and swiftly slammed the gate shut, barring and bolting it behind them. Above their heads, the fence continued in a literal cage to keep them inside, as well as the horrible creatures that dwelled within. “I wish you all the best of luck.” With a blur of movement, the ebony-haired woman disappeared in no particularly fathomable direction.

{Scroll Number 1 is hidden in a cave in the centre of the forest, which is inhabited by monstrous spiders, the smallest of which is the size of a bike.
Scroll Number 2 is hidden in the treetops, hanging from a rope which will (upon being pulled) destroy numerous hornet’s nests. It is to be noted that these hornets are each the size of large rats.
Scroll Number 3 is concealed at the bottom of a small pond, which is infested with carnivorous piranhas.
Scroll Number 4 is hidden in an underground cavern, which is safe except for the entrance where a huge bear guards the entrance.
Scroll Number 5 is tied above poisonous plants that have a taste for meat, the smallest of which is the size of an estate car.}

Jutsu Used:

SCs Active:

Chakra Remaining:

Masamori didn’t appear to react in any particularly distinctive way when his teammates arrived. He did show some surprise at the order in which they showed up however – it struck him as rather odd that Satsune beat Suzaku to the chase. After all, wasn’t Satsune the self-styled princess of the group? The idea of waiting on someone else must have grinded her gears a little at least. Not that Suzaku’s arrival was in any way rewarding. Instead, he showed up smoking a cigarette, and though he paused in good distance of the others, Masamori couldn’t help but scowl. He resisted the urge to lash out at the other boy, or rather, specifically at the cigarette in his hand. How many times had they discussed the matter? Suzaku never learned...

It was curious to see what equipment the others had brought with them for this task. Masamori had carried his usual things though granted, they would have been a new sight to the eyes of both of his teammates - his nodachi was comfortably placed on his back, his spear was clutched tightly in his hand whereas his ninja kit sat quietly by his waist. These were all weapons and items he knew how to use and could use effectively, something that was very important when they were about to enter the most dangerous place in the Fire Country. As for his teammates, well, the Yuki boy wasn’t so sure if they could protect themselves or use whatever items they brought today.  Satsune seemed to be a swordswoman, judging by the sight of her katana, though she carried scrolls and pouches which suggested to Masamori that she was a bit more than that. Good. Suzaku on the other hand, seemed armed to the teeth with weapons that the Yuki youth figured couldn’t have been more than a few days old. He was well aware of his friend’s financial situation, so to see these weapons meant either one of three things – that he stole a lot of money, that he had managed to make a profit on gambling (highly unlikely) or that the administration had provided the weapons for him. Masamori hoped it was the latter that was true. Regardless, the Yuki was doubtful of his friends’ skill; even if Suzaku was good with blades, a weapon took some getting used to. The Yuki had been piercing and throwing his spear for the last five years at the least. He knew what he was doing and, to put it bluntly, which end of the weapon to use where.  

The Hokage proceeded with her explanation far more swiftly, than the Yuki imagined she was capable of. She had a look of a politician about her, or maybe a philosopher, not that those were compliments in Masamori’s mind. What he was trying to insinuate was that he had imagined that she would try to give some long-winded, passionate speech (with a lot of gesturing and varying intonation) with the goal of motivating the three and giving them an overall sense of purpose. Instead, he felt like what was achieved instead, was the swift and careless removal of three genin from an area of relative safety, from which they were thrown instead into an area of danger and chaos, with little advice and an obscure goal to complete. So much for guidance, or leadership for that matter. Far too quickly did Masamori found himself being ushered inside, and for that matter, getting locked in by the young woman who had, throughout this short interaction, shown a surprising capacity for double-facedness and faked sweetness. She was surely the perfect role model for Satsune, no?

Once inside, and with the Hokage disappearing so quickly as if she had never been there in the first place (good riddance, Masamori figured), the Yuki found himself standing awkwardly in between his two teammates. Although Suzaku had finished smoking, the stink still clung to him, the smell heavy and unpleasant to the Yuki, who took a step back from his friend only to find himself a little bit closer to Satsune. The notion must have seemed to the Yuki to be just as terrible as breathing in the remnants of Suzaku’s death stick, so he decided to just step back from the both of them. He cringed a little, measuring up the two quietly with his dull, grey eyes.

Although Masamori had never been one to talk much, when the situation demanded for it, and judging by the fact that neither of the two was likely to contribute anything worthwhile or positive, he decided it was probably for the best that he would take the reins of conversation.

“Ok, so as far as I see it, we’re going to be looking for these stupid scrolls for at least a few hours” he began, straight to business, as tended to be his style. “Though this is a team exercise, I feel like splitting up carries more benefits than not and it certainly should seriously cut down the time this task will take us” he continued, putting forward his plan of action. “If we go our separate ways, and then rendezvous back here in an hour or so, we can cover more ground and with some luck, find at least a single scroll if not more. Obviously if someone is in danger, we will need some sort of signal to know that they require our help, but then using a jutsu as a flare should do the trick” he finished, now waiting for his teammates to respond. Going by their personalities, Suzaku would be in favour of being alone whereas Satsune... well, again, she should be in favour of it, but Masamori wasn’t so sure. It was perfectly possible that she had some rare physical condition that demanded that she was constantly in the presence of people she could torment.

Masamori was not surprised to hear that neither Satsune nor Suzaku approved of his plan. He had anticipated as much, though was uncertain what reasons the two would give and those were the things that he was most curious about. The girl went down a fairly predictable route, trying her best to insult him though his face was impassive and he presented practically no emotional reaction; instead Masamori donned the general impression of being completely unimpressed. Let her talk, he thought to himself, letting his ears expertly filter all the crap that came out of her mouth. His academy days had been filled with Satsune’s rants and outbursts, and although most of them were directed at others, it was practically impossible to completely dodge the bullet when her voice carried throughout the whole damn building. The Yuki had developed a great talent for avoiding and ignoring the girl back in those days, being less and less on her receiving days, as graduation came knocking. Well, so much for that now. Still, he was used to her being like this and seeing that kind of reaction only told him that she had not grown up at all since back then.

“So you’re scared” he summarised simply, knowing that the words would carry so much more bite, than his innocent and calm voice could possibly hide. “The reason why I wanted to split up, as I explained, was to cover more ground. We find the scrolls, we don’t pick them up unless the one you find is numbered ‘one’ and return to meet with the group, to report on anything you have seen, scrolls included. That way, we can go back for the ones we have located and pick them up in the right order” he explained calmly, though his voice allowed a glimpse of annoyance to show in his tone. The plan wasn’t so hard to understand. “If anything, the monsters that you anticipate are in here, are more likely to come out at night then now, when it’s still relatively early” he added, partially because he wanted to scare the girl, but also partially because he wanted to drive the point home that splitting up now would be far better than doing so later. In fact, splitting up later, when the sun was no longer in the sky was not an option at all. The youth chuckled at the comment regarding the Hokage’s chest. He had spent the entire time with the woman trying very hard to avoid her face, forget the rest of her. Still, it was funny to see where Satsune’s priorities lay.

Then, Suzaku spoke up. It seemed like he too missed the point of Masamori’s plan. The Yuki didn’t want to split up the group completely, he only wanted to cover more ground and do some basic scouting, before returning to their starting point. As he had outlined, he hoped to find at least one scroll in that first hour, a task which would be much hard if the group moved together. And of course he wasn’t going to pick up any old scroll. Though he personally didn’t believe that the Hokage had really told the truth when it came to these apparently decisively lethal explosives, he wasn’t exactly going to test that theory either. Still, it was frustrating to feel that neither of his teammates understood what he had wanted to achieve. He had expected Suzaku to at least do so.

Masamori didn’t reply to Suzaku’s comment about his survival skills. The Yuki wasn’t so sure he could manage to brave the Forest on his own. Sure, maybe he had some worldly experience behind his belt, but there were still things that he needed to rely on, like a teammate watching over him sleeping, so that nothing crept up on him when he was at his weakest. He did smile a little at the compliment, though wasn't certain that's what it was intended to be.

Suzaku seemed to have a plan of his own, or maybe he had made up an excuse to get closer to Satsune, for he certainly moved quite near to her and looked ever so intently upon the girl. Not that Masamori thought much of it. He merely interpreted this as Suzaku standing up for himself – making a statement. Maybe he felt that he had looked weak in front of the girl when they had first met in the Electric Dish. If that was the case, then he had managed to make a stronger impression quite well.

The map idea was... an okay thought, though Masamori could pick faults with it. Without a clear sense of where they were, trying to draw out an area seemed rather a pointless venture. Once inside the forest, it would be hard to gauge where they had started from, and should a monster or monsters get in their way, any sense of direction they previously had, would be instantly lost due to the scuffle that would likely follow with the animals. The notion of establishing a safe place was a much better idea however, though the Yuki had figured that hugging the gate and the fence was probably their safest bet. After all, wouldn’t the monsters have been ‘taught’ to stay away from the entrance?

And then came the last point. It seemed that Masamori’s plan was interpreted as his desire to go at this task alone. A part of him did want to do so, but then the Yuki wasn’t so sure if that was the best idea. For starters, he would have to find his teammates eventually and without any real means of doing so, that could take far longer than he would have liked, especially considering that the Yuki was incapable of producing his own light source; that meant that travelling at night would be more the so perilous if he was on his own, with finding the two teammates made more the so impossible. On the other hand, he was certain that he could cover more ground and by doing so, cut down the time they were to spend here. He hadn’t expected or planned for a long team session, and if they weren’t quick and diligent about this task, they could be stuck here for days. And the longer they spent here, the more of their time would they have to commit to surviving rather than to looking for scrolls. He wasn’t too keen on monster meat either.

“Look, I will scout ahead okay? Try to go in as straight a line as possible, so that I can find you eventually once I have taken a good look around. Maybe mark a few trees to make it easier on me” he told them, smiling reassuringly. “If I’m in trouble, I will definitely let you know. Look out for explosions or jutsu flying in the air” he added, jokingly, though there was seriousness hidden behind those seemingly carefree words. Deciding that was about all he had to say, or could muster himself to speak, he clapped Suzaku on the shoulder and, after giving Satsune a wary, threatening look of “Don’t hurt my friend whilst I’m gone”, he ran towards the nearest tree and launched himself from the ground, leaping on to the nearest branch. From then on, he continued to jump higher and higher until he eventually reached the very top. The dome was not so far above him.

From here, everything was ant-like. His grey eyes did their best to scout the area in front of him, but he couldn’t see as much as he would have liked. The forest was, despite its name, a forest with ridiculously high and thick trees, and as such, areas of darkness and shade. All he could see from here was a small pond, and a cave nearby. Those didn’t seem like places where the scrolls could be. There was no sign of monsters, which made him more afraid than the sight of them could ever have. An unknown enemy was the worst enemy. Sighing to himself, he began to move east. He noted, mentally, where the general direction of the entrance was. He could always just move by the fence until he found it.  

As the Hokage softly landed on a tree branch elevated high from the forest floor, having used her new cat-like agility granted from the jutsu she had used beforehand to get her up here, she grasped loosely onto the tree trunk beside her. To put into perspective how high she was from the ground, the tree (which was positioned directly in the centre of the forest) was very close to brushing the top of the high domed fence covering the whole forest. Up here, she was concealed due to the thick branches that grew all the way to the top of the tree, and she had a perfect birds-eye view over her students. To keep this jutsu active it didn’t take too much effort on her part, and she realised the necessity of it in this situation. Her eyesight, hearing and sense of smell were all heightened to superhuman levels in this form, plus her speed, strength and acrobatic skills were enhanced to the point where she felt confident about getting anywhere in the forest with little effort… but still in good time. While she had told each of her new students that they would be going this ordeal alone, it was far from that. And she was more than aware of how they must think about her regarding this task of theirs. Of course it pained her to start things off in this way, but sometimes drastic circumstances called for drastic measures to make things work. She would much rather have a successful trial for her new students, like this one, instead of having an utterly failed (basically elementary) task due to the background of each specific student. They needed this push, much more than they most probably assumed. She remained poised on the tree branch, looking down on proceedings with wide amber, very feline and almost feral eyes, drinking in all of her surroundings and quickly spotting the whereabouts of her students.

To say that she was dismayed that they had already broken off into two ‘groups’ was an understatement. Her mouth pulled down into a very firm scowl of sorts as she watched the movements of the former trio; now a separate individual and duo. She wasn’t particularly surprised by who had paired with who (or rather, who hadn’t paired up with anyone), noting that Suzaku and Satsune were the pairing and Masamori was the lone wolf. She thought about how Suzaku was still a recently graduated Genin, and he would undoubtedly feel nervy about approaching this kind of situation alone. In fact, she was rather sure that he would have insisted they all stay together as a group. Satsune, the only girl in the little team, would most probably have paired with Suzaku due to self-preservation. In these situations, it was most commonly seen that people had one of two reactions; go it alone, or group together for safety. Of course there were pros and cons in each situation, but the whole point of this exercise, as Kimiko had made an elicit comment about, was to work together. It was a fundamental skill that every shinobi needed in order to survive in their life, especially as village ninja, because they would always be placed on teams. If you weren’t compliant in a team, you would become shunned and nobody would come to your aid if you were caught unaware by something. The ebony-haired woman witnessed the teamwork shown by the small pairing, of how some kind of strange technique was used to… send little mice out into the forest for a wider range exploration. Good thinking. While it became obvious that the creatures in the forest were more than a match for the strange mice that had been… painted, it appeared, the girl that had used the technique seemed satisfied about the results of her strategy. The pair continued to converse, and it seemed that Suzaku was actually giving direction, judging by his movements and gestures, following something that Satsune had told him. Her feline ears twitched madly atop her head as she tried to strain to hear what exactly was being said, but above the din of the very noisy forest (which would be eerily quiet to most), she found it very difficult indeed to pinpoint their voices specifically. After double-checking that the dark-haired pair were safe and on the right path, she turned her attention to the obvious… exception of the group, Masamori.

He had leapt up to the highest point (excluding where Kimiko was currently hidden, partially due to the fur patterning camouflaging her in the tree which had specifically thick branches) to survey things from afar, which was a smart move. But not one that his sensei particularly agreed with. If she had simply given them the exercise to retrieve the scrolls, without putting emphasis on the teamwork aspect, then she would have appreciated his decision more. Having surveyed the forest, he started moving away again, and the Hokage monitored his movements very closely. To her estimate, which was spookily accurate due to how well she knew this forest, he was heading in the direction of the Second Scroll that she had hidden. On a lower canopy level, he would possibly stumble upon a scroll dangling down in the midst, above which were four medium-sized hornets nests. If anyone would pull at the rope whatsoever, it would knock a large rock which was dangling amongst the nests and thus jostle each one. The creatures that resided within the nests were… particularly feisty as well. Easily provoked. And, like everything else in this forest, super-sized. While she wasn’t happy with the youth’s choice to separate from the group, she would rather the forest teach him a lesson instead of her. She would never let any one of the kids die, of that she was certain and felt confident in her abilities to preserve all of their lives. It was more of the… shock treatment she was going for. The realisation that ‘Oh damn, we could die here… maybe we should do what she says’.

Apparently not.

As for the scroll that Suzaku and Satsune were approaching, it was most definitely the Third Scroll, made obvious due to where the mouse had retreated from when Kimiko had been watching. Things would most certainly start… burning up in this forest. Especially since the snake (which was very disappointed by its meal being tasteless ink) that had snapped at the Genin girl's mice was now heading straight for a not-so familiar scent, something it had been craving for a long time; fresh meat. It hissed loudly as it approached, raising its head up from the ground where it was slithering to spot two dark-haired children heading across its path. And meanwhile, where Masamori was venturing, a huge and multi-feathered creature launched itself through the treetops headed straight for him, squawking loudly with its huge beak gaping open in readiness.  

[OOC: Sorry for the short post, but it gives info on each area that your characters are approaching, plus actions to deal with.]

Jutsu Maintained:

Chakra Remaining:

Masamori had soon lost track of time. He had proceeded to utilise the high ground, moving from tree, from branch to branch, always on the lookout, wary of attack by unknown creatures. His eyes dashed around left and right, and back and forward, trying to locate a scroll or an ‘obvious location’ where one might be found. But he found no such place and it disheartened him to think that the task wasn’t going to be as easy as he would have liked. It was likely that it would take the trio some sizeable time to find the scrolls. In the worst case scenario, they would have to sleep here. He did not like the prospect.

Although some short amount of time elapsed since the team had split up, already he felt as if he had spent hours in the forest. There was something psychologically unsettling about this place. Maybe it was the odd similarity of every branch and bark, and the familiar shade under which one always travelled due to the height of the trees and the dome, both of which obscured the sun’s light. Though the youth had been fortunate not to encounter any monsters thus far, he was forced to move lower and lower down, though he still kept to the branches, as the trees became increasingly thick and it was harder and harder for him to see what surprises the ground held. The one minus of this was that he could no longer see what dangers the air held. And in that moment of ignorance, was when the danger decided to show its ugly head.

The squawk, the original warning sound, was a distant affair. Whatever its source, Masamori had began his descent by then and had no need of fearing what sounded like a giant bird. Well, that’s what he believed anyway. With branches around him, he felt safe, his eyes turning their attention more so to the ground. But, the youth was completely unaware of the fact that the shrieking creature had located its prey – him that is – and had shadowed him carefully. Its eyes were far more powerful than his, and those wild irises pierced the canvas of leaves and wood to locate their target with an expert ease. Still he was safe, for the time being at least, blissfully unaware of the danger he was in. That is, until he reached a momentary clearing in the forest.

The suddenness with which the creature appeared had caused the youth to stop less quickly than would have been ideal. Before him, hovered a bird-like monstrosity, multi-coloured and yet artistically disfigured, with red crashing awkwardly with the blue and the purple, whilst green mingled with orange and yellow. The thing had wild, white eyes that followed him with a terrifying intensity. Its beak was huge and scarred, jagged and cracked in places, where it had faced off with other monsters and won. In fact, the whole creature was scarred and hideous, missing a claw here and many feathers there. If it was a bird once, it had lost all of its charm, having given itself away to madness and carnivorous hunger.

Masamori took evasive action as soon as he could, and that was not too soon, for it shrieked once more – the sound was so close to him this time and so ear-shattering, that he was afraid his skull would be decimated by the sheer power of it – and proceeded to peck at him. But from his perspective, and the ‘bird’ being huge, the sight was more akin to a wrecking ball coming dangerously fast in his direction. The youth darted upwards, dodging the beak narrowly, watching the branches below him get dashed aside with the ease a human dashes aside leaves. Then the bird proceeded to lunge again, and this time the youth went the other way, dropping fully to the ground. During his fall, he had fumbled for a kunai and an explosive tag, and by the time he had dropped ‘safely’ to the ground, those two items had been combined. Before he could make use of this device however, the bird clawed at him, now landing beside the little ant. He jumped back, missing its misshaped talons by inches. At this failure, it stomped angrily and tried to peck again. But the youth had moved further into the forest, using the trees as cover. The bird tore through trees with ease, and yet they slowed it down considerably. The youth was grateful for that much intervention from the forest.

As the bird became more slowed down, so did the Yuki become braver.  He placed the explosive kunai back into his kit, and instead decided to damage the beast to the best of his ability with his spear. That of course went rather poorly. He found quickly that it was too dangerous and rather impossible to cause damage to the claws or the beak – they both had taken damage from much greater and stronger things than his spear, and had survived. The fleshy part of the creature was too well guarded, for the monster had great instincts and was always following the Yuki’s movement.

In fact it was that very intensity with which the monster’s eyes followed the boy that resulted in his idea. Hiding momentarily behind a tree, the youth’s hands darted through some very simple seals and within a second, two others of his exact appearance stood next to him, uneager to perform the task he had set out for them. Still, the two Masamoris dashed from behind the tree, each in different directions; the bird was thoroughly confused, and the original used that to his advantage by climbing the very tree he had hid behind in the meanwhile. With the creature deciding to follow the clone that had moved to the right, the youth followed quickly, spear in hand, trying to time his attack as best as he could.

Finally, it seemed the bird had trapped the young ninja. It seemed to arc its head back in triumph, its eyes bloodshot and excited, lingering, tasting the moment of victory. Then, with a heavy and hammer-like blow, the beak (that might as well have been made of steel) crashed into the ground where the boy was stood, obliterating the earth and the flesh? under it. But there was no blood or flesh. The flesh and blood was in the air, completely ordered, unaffected by this deadly act. With a spear brandished in both of his hands, the youth fell from the tree, fell from the sky like an arrow, fast and furious, the steel of the weapon aimed at the bird’s head. With a crunching sound that announced the penetration had been successful, the tip of the lance had, at first, struggled through the flesh, but upon reaching the bone, the crunching and splintering sound seemed to suggest that indeed success had been achieved. The explosion of blood from the wound covered the youth whole. And yet he had enough wits about him to carry on fulfilling his plan. With a swift movement of the hand, he had brandished his explosive-tagged kunai. Dislodging his spear, much to the protest of the now full-in-agony bird, he threw the projectile into the little hole he had made. Blinded partially by the blood, the youth jumped away as best as he could; knowing that time was crucial here and every second could mean his death, should the bird retaliate faster than the youth could traverse the air and locate the nearest branch with his feet, Masamori formed a single seal with his right hand. “Katsu” he muttered, before the bloody, yet somewhat muted explosion occurred.

------

It was hard to tell whether it had been the explosion or bits of the monster that had resulted in Masamori’s impact with a tree, then some branches and finally, unmercifully, the ground. He felt broken, disorientated, highly bruised and was certain some great amount of time had passed. The sounds coming from the carcass of the bird were unsettling at best; he was lucky, regardless, that monsters were scavengers at heart and hunters only when necessity called for such. Fear of shinobi and humans had been erected in them throughout the many years the Forest had been used to train the prior. Perhaps it was also the stink of blood and bird-flesh on him, that made the corpse of the monster more appetising.

The youth made slow progress towards the nearest branch he could find – he figured the high ground provided some temporary comfort. He had no idea how long the encounter had lasted, worse yet, how long he had been out. He was painted red, which made his stomach churn uneasily and his spear was missing, though he was sure he had held it in his hands when the explosion occurred; his kit was by him thankfully. Had Suzaku and Satsune heard the explosion? Had they seen the bird in the sky? Did they think he was dead? He shrugged those thoughts of, seeing as his aching head could not stand for such frustrating ideas to plague him. He looked around bleakly. Nothing particularly big or dangerous had come to benefit in his victory. That was good for him. Still, it was unsafe to stay here... and yet he couldn’t help but watch, half fascinated, half aghast, how his former nemesis’ carcass disappeared under the needy, desperate claws and teeth of what, in comparison to the bird, seemed like mere critters.  

He would be moving again soon enough.

---

Chakra: 68/70

Item Lost: Steel-Headed Spear

Items Used:
1x Kunai
1x Explosive Tag

Jutsu Used:

Spoiler:

[OOC: I’m so sorry for this being late! I didn’t get a notification from it! And that’s what I rely on… never mind. Here goes. *prepares self for the rusty writing*]

If only the ebony-haired woman had known what kinds of disasters would unfold slowly, one by one, in the Forest of Death. She would have never set the test to be in such a dangerous place if she had been aware of the drastic events that started a domino effect, worsening in intensity and sheer volume by the second. Kimiko kept a close watch on the forest, her feline ears and adjusted nose twitching rapidly to not only listen for danger, but to also smell it as well. As a common rule of thumb, the more dangerous the animal, the more potent their scent seemed to be. It was especially true when considering which animals were poisonous and which ones weren’t. She wasn’t particularly concerned by the snake approaching Satsune and Suzaku for the simple reason that it wasn’t poisonous, she realised as much from looking at its markings and not picking up on a potent poison-laced scent. Apart from its size, it wasn’t too much of a threat. As for the bird that had hurtled towards Masamori, the same rule applied. The typical bird brain wasn’t too intelligent, and was instead fixated on feeding itself. Not an intelligent enemy by any stretch of the imagination. She slowly crouched down onto her haunches on the wide tree branch, arms resting over her thighs and dangling loosely past her knees while her feline senses worked overtime to ensure the safety of her students. Everything was looking to be okay thus far on both sides (she inwardly cursed the group splitting up, because every observation she made on each side was delayed due to the time it took to switch between both wide distances), with no major issues. No injuries. Just them realising that this was a challenge that they had yet to face in their young lives, which was no bad thing. But as the Hokage would most likely chirp to them, adaptability was a shinobi’s greatest tool. It was all well and good being highly trained in your specific specialties, but if you couldn’t back it up with the ability to adapt and change strategies for survival purposes, they’d soon perish. Growing up, this young woman was a literal laughing stock in the Academy and as a Genin for her lack in skill, but somehow she always managed to survive. She came back stronger, sporting battle scars and stories, but it was better than not returning.

Having gone through the whole phase as a child of ‘playing the hero’ (as Kimiko used to be quite known for in her younger years), she knew how dangerous it could be if you didn’t have the skill to back up such strong claims and actions. She was hoping that her students wouldn’t make the same mistakes she had made, up until… well, she got quite the shock and all her hopes were dashed when she watched Suzaku step up to tight the snake. Her heart felt as if it stopped beating in her chest for a second or so when the snake latched itself onto the boy’s arm, and amazingly, protrusions of sharp bone shot from him. ‘A Kaguya?’ She thought to herself in sheer shock, feeling literally staggered by the revelation. Oh yes, she knew the bloodline very well indeed with her own adoptive brother being of the strange strain that could use their bones for combat purposes. Her brain raced through Suzaku’s profile, however, and she couldn’t recall his surname being ‘Kaguya’ or any of his characteristics matching the typical user of the Kekkei Genkai. How bizarre. Her ears twitched and managed to lock onto the boy’s words as he had literally defended his team mate from meeting a sticky end of her own, and this too managed to surprise her. Somehow it felt as if she was looking at a male version of herself from many years ago, when she was his age of fifteen and facing down two Nukenin that would have overpowered her if not for her literal inability to give up.

She raised a hand to her face and pinched the bridge of her nose sharply, eyes shutting for a brief second or so as she sighed deeply, realising that this whole exercise was slowly becoming a disaster; especially when she heard a loud explosion coming from the last location she remembered seeing Masamori. The area was surrounded in a cloud of smoke, and she knew that he had detonated an exploding tag, most likely, to help himself deal with his own opponent. After inspecting the area a little further, opening her eyes and leaning forward as much as possible on the tree branch without falling off, she turned back to find that Suzaku and Satsune were beginning to backtrack, seemingly heading for their team mate’s location. Now that the smoke was clearing, Kimiko could see her Yuki student and wasn’t surprised by his state. After wrangling with a huge bird and having to detonate an exploding tag (probably in close proximity to himself) it was unsurprising. She pushed herself back up to her full height and ran a hand back through her long ebony locks, pushing at a few bangs to put them behind her ears. She started to descent the tree she had climbed up, starting by leaping and allowing herself to free fall until she hit the next level of tree canopies beneath her. Her hands shot up and grasped onto branches as her body twisted to avoid obstacles in her way, swinging through the treetops with a quick haste, following her nose for guidance of where to find her blood-soaked team mates. They were a walking meat feast, considering how bad the stench was, especially around Suzaku. If she allowed her consciousness to disappear/ ‘go on autopilot mode’ her lioness instincts brought out by her current jutsu would probably alert her to the meal up ahead, which was disturbing in itself. She had to get the disastrous trio out of this forest, and quickly, plus get them all to the Hospital to get them checked out. From what she had seen, Satsune hadn’t sustained too much damage, but that didn’t mean to say that she should take that as law. A thorough examination and healing process was required for Suzaku and Masamori, it went without saying. She released the last branch and dropped down to the middle section of a line of trees, instead starting to dash through the trees in a full-on sprint. Her body was nothing more than a blur as she hurtled out of the trees and landed on the ground not far from the secret Kaguya and the Ink-user, having controlled her landing into an animalistic crouch.

It would probably come as a shock to the trio that she had turned into more lion than human, except from her usual humanly gait and posture. Her long ebony locks remained the same, but everything else was different; as in, covered in sandy-coloured fur. And her eyes were wide, bright and amber-coloured. That, coupled with how claws had grown long and dangerous on each of her fingertips and toes, the latter being visible due to her black sandals showing them, and fangs protruding over her bottom lip made her quite the… interesting sight at present. “The task is, undeniably, terminated.” She stated, already making ushering motions back to where one of the gates was situated in the Forest of Death, aiming to get them out as soon as possible. “We’ll get you all to the Hospital and talk later. Hate me all you want for this, but I think you know more so than I that serious training is in order to right some very fundamental wrongs.” She stated crisply, her nose twitching noticeably and her eyes widening a little at the realisation. “Hurry!” She hissed, having caught whiff of a very large predator heading straight for their current location, obviously excited by the smell of fresh meat simply waiting for them like sitting ducks. Even if they had moved at insane speeds, however, the hunters currently stalking them were much faster and reached them first. Out of the undergrowth behind them, a huge pack of super-sized monstrosities burst forth, growling, snarling and snapping their jaws at them. What they were was hard to pinpoint exactly, but they were visibly a hybrid between a Direwolf and some form of bear, each one super-sized to epic proportions. They gave Kimiko’s immense lion summon, Aslan, a run for his money. And what worried the Hokage was that she had not yet seen these creatures in the forest, meaning they were a new species and she had no idea of what they could do. Safe to say, she would be facing these alone.

She moved forward to put herself between her students and the huge creatures (of which there were probably about six or seven), briefly turning her head to look at the trio with an entirely serious gaze. “You three need to get out of here, they’re attracted by the smell of your blood. Run back to where we came from and get through the gate, bar and lock it after you and don’t wait. Get to the Hospital. Get your respective wounds treated.” She ordered, hoping upon hope that the three of them actually listened to her this time, that all of them turned and ran to safety. Having told them as such, it seemed that the leader of the pack was growing impatient and tried to push its way past Kimiko to get at the fresh smell of lovely blood. Her head snapped round to focus on the hybrid creature, eyes narrowing and a low, animalistic snarl ripping from the back of her throat. Her dominant right arm shot up from her side, hand extended with her fingers all pressed together close to create an edge of sorts, swinging it round to impact with the side of the creature’s huge neck. The strength of the strike made it stagger and buckle on its otherwise quite steady legs, falling to a crouch as she rounded on it again, left foot pivoting madly as her body spun and lunged to close the very short distance between where she had been stood and where the beast had almost fallen, springing into the air like only a feline could. She flipped in mid-air so that she was facing where her students were hopefully gathered and/ or already fleeing (which she hoped was happening at present), and came down hard atop the creature’s skull which further stunned it. Taking advantage of the precious seconds she had perched there, one of the four seals on her forearms started to glow as she released from it her Nodachi, a fearsomely long blade that she wielded with one strong hand to come down through the back of the beast’s neck, using the strike as leverage to leap from the leader’s head by vaulting herself using the handle of her blade. She landed with a controlled skid back where she had been stood, acting as a barrier between the beasts and her students, not perturbed by their size or the sheer number. Having slain the ‘leader’, the creatures didn’t even seem fazed. All they wanted was their next meal. They began their charge, all at once, in the hope of getting further than the one annoying human standing in their way. None of them would get past if she could help it.

The Beasts wrote:

Name: Beowulfs
Rank: A
Appearance:

Here:

Species: Hybrid between large bears and Direwolves
Extra: These things not only look intimidating, but they have the raw strength and power to back it up. Their claws are rock-solid and capable of ripping through most materials with ease, let alone the average flesh on prey animals. They rely heavily on their sense of smell and their hearing, which means that their eyesight is not entirely up to par. Contrary to the picture description, the lot that have confronted the Hokage and her students are rather deformed; probably due to the species mutation that has occurred. Their ears are flat to their heads and areas around their eyes are mottled. But their teeth are equally sharp, and they have two sets; the front set, and the back set. Stay clear at all costs and try to reach safety... if you can.

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‘One down… six more to go…’ The ebony-haired woman thought rather grimly to herself, her eyes narrowing on the beasts as they all started their charge towards her. Her hands were hastily brought up to her chest, already flashing through familiar seals and her chest slowly expanding and moulding Katon chakra there. The technique was cut short, however, when she became aware of a flash of clothing moving swiftly, and her chocolate orbs widened in surprise. She almost literally staggered back, having just seen her Yuki student hurling himself forward to join the fray. “Masamori, what on earth are you doing?!” She bellowed at the youth, feeling panic well up in her system at the very sight. He could be severely injured, or worse, killed. These were not the run-of-the mill animals here in the Forest of Death; that much was obvious. Kimiko didn’t even know that these things existed, so they were suitably dangerous and strong to have flourished so quickly from the last time she had entered this place. It didn’t bode well, not at all. A beast obscured her view and blocked her way to the dark-haired youth who was now doing his part in the fight, making her hiss loudly in sheer irritation and desperation, watching as she was being partly surrounded due to them assessing her as the bigger threat. Suddenly, an explosion sounded out of nowhere, and it was then that the Hokage knew what her student was trying to do. Scatter the beasts. It worked well enough, all of them sent reeling from the loud, harsh sound and the destructive power that went with it. Now that the creatures had cleared from her immediate view, she saw just in time how Masamori had let his guard down for half a second and was swiped aside. The blow looked harmless, but judging by the size of the creature that dealt it and the way in which the boy went flying through the air like a rag doll made it very clear that it had been a lot harder and possibly fatal. The woman gritted her teeth and tried to move towards her student’s location, where she had heard a sickening thudding sound as he impacted with a solid object of some description, only to be stopped by the beast itself moving towards her aiming to do the same thing as it did to the boy beforehand.

She leapt up into the air to avoid the swinging claw, landing on its leg and sprinting up onto its back, easily confusing it and making it run amuck trying to shake her off. This in itself managed to scatter the beasts further, and it was from her vantage point that Kimiko could peel an explosive tag from her weapons pouch and slap it onto the monstrous animal’s back after leading it far enough away from where Masamori had fallen, leaping off and activating it hastily before it could follow her and cause her any damage. It exploded into a ball of flames and its body was scattered here there and everywhere from the point blank explosion that it couldn’t do anything about just as its assailant landed in a crouch-like position on the floor with plenty of distance to spare. She was now quite far away from where her student had been launched at a tree by the very creature she had just killed, reflecting on the youth’s choice to aid in combat. ‘Has he finally understood the importance of the lesson I set out to teach?’ She thought fleetingly, the thought making her smile ever-so-slightly as she sprang up to her feet and readied herself yet again to fight as she found the creatures flocking towards her. There was five left now, with three moving to her position and the other two further way. One was moving straight for Masamori, recognising an easy feast when it saw one, making the Hokage start to panic. She was about to dash using her enhanced speed to intercept when something made the beast start rearing up and bellow in pain. ‘Satsune? No… it has to be Suzaku.’ She thought, realising that out of her two other students, the male would be much more likely to put himself in harm’s way for the good of a friend. But then she started to panic. Suzaku had been the worst out of all three in terms of injury, so this wasn’t a good combination by any means. ‘I have to get to his position, and fast.’ She thought grimly, realising that if she didn’t get there soon, the worst situation could happen.

For now though, she wasn’t allowed through due to three beasts blocking off her path. One of them made an active attempt to attack her which she dodged by rolling off to the side, aiming to make her way to Suzaku slowly but surely while keeping these creatures occupied. She was very worried about how the last one (other than this grouping) was in his location, and would be deadly to him if even a second was spent wrongly; looking at Masamori’s case. Speaking of the youth… the ebony-haired woman noticed that the body was gone from where it had been laid. It made her fear the worst at first, but then she heard a shout from her female student, confirming that he was okay and that she was taking him for treatment. This made her smile and nod slightly to herself as she let that fast sink in, having already noticed a great change in the girl since the very start she had arrived at the Forest of Death. Oh yes, it was quite obvious. It was a good sign, for sure, as it hinted that the girl wasn’t as cool and closed off as she appeared to be. She did actually care for her comrades, on whatever level that may be. She started racing through somewhat basic hand seals, taking a deep breath and letting out a very high-pitched screeching noise that filled the area, making the three beasts that had cornered her wail and bow their heads at the insufferable din. Having executed the effective distraction technique, she dashed through the three beasts and to the location where her remaining student had managed to take down yet another creature, but he appeared to be suffering for it. Without a word, she reached him and grabbed his arm, pulling him towards her and bundling him into her arms before making a dash for it before the creatures had the time to respond. When they finally came to from the assault on their sensitive ears, they saw their prospective meals running away and gave chase frantically, but by that time, it was already too late for them.

While running and holding Suzaku, the Hokage had freed up her hands a bit to make some hand seals for a particularly powerful, devastating technique that was launched from her mouth straight at the three creatures. Immediately after impacting with the ground, huge flames leapt from the spot and spread across the immediate area, making it rather hot even for the fleeing woman and youth in her arms. Grotesque cries of pain were heard from the beasts as the flames instantly attacked their flesh and melted through, killing them rather quickly due to the point blank range in which they had been when the fire made contact for its later explosion. They didn’t even have a chance to evade Kimiko’s technique, one of the strongest in her arsenal for its sheer range capacity. She didn’t stop running until they made it to the gate, at which point she paused and looked at the boy she was carrying to make sure he was safe, turning to look behind her to make sure that they weren’t being followed, and then placed him down onto the ground again. “Can you walk?” She asked him, already busily unlocking the gate and ushering him out, locking up after herself to put a solid barrier between them and the deadly creatures inside. “We have to get you to the Hospital as quickly as possible.” She stated, looking at him worriedly as she feared that he didn’t have much longer left until he fell unconscious from his heavy bleeding and most likely chakra exhaustion looking at him. It was quite easy to tell when a shinobi was chakra exhausted, or getting to that point. He had the same pasty look and drawn appearance to match this and confirm her thoughts, meaning that she was already taking him by the arm and walking briskly with him back to the village. By comparison, she had come out of the ordeal with little more than scratches and dirt marks from where she had rolled to avoid attacks and the like. If he couldn’t walk very well, she’d pick him up in her arms and start walking back like that instead.

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