Kai was eager to learn the answer, but when he realized it was practically a trap once the answer was both, he prepared himself for the worse. He perhaps was the only one who was prepared. Once the floors collapsed under them, they fell into a pit and he witnessed the electrical surges. It radiated quickly and it looked as if they electricity was slowly rising so he needed to be quick. He still had his bandages over his eyes, but he wasn't stupid, that's for sure.

He reached into his pouch, pulling out his chain and knife. He stabbed it into the dirt as deep as he could as he wrapped the chain around his arm. He braced himself for some pain in his arm as he fell and then suddenly stopped in mid fall. He felt a sharp pain in his shoulder and arm, and he noticed the knife had almost popped out, but still stayed. He held onto the chain tightly and just dangled there. He looked around, looking for Kurochi and Yuuka. He would no be able to take his pain much longer. He noticed some students had already made it up, using team work while mainly other used lone wolf.

In reply to Nara Nanami (msg # 38):

   Sigmund had noticed Nanami using her wind jutsu, and he knew right away she would rescue them and take them up safely. Nori had been lifted first and then him and just before they left his part of the wall, he took his sword out and let it drop below them, witnessing the interesting spark of electricity. They were all carried up and over the pit, out of harm's way and they landed safely on the ground. His feet touched the ground as did the others. They weren't the only ones who escaped safely. About half of the competition had been eliminated though and could hear the cries down below. "I wouldn't say these exams would have been boring, but that certainly was interesting," he commented as he let the adrenaline pass.

Noticing Kai was farther down the pit than he was Kurochi went after him. Picking up the 2 Kunai he was holding, then dropping down to the ones he had used for his feet, continuing down. Slowly making it towards Kai, Kurochi said,"You ok Kai?" holding out his hand, while Kurochi made sure that the 4 kunais he had used for his holding would hold them both up if needed.

Kurochi was determined to make it to the top no matter what, tolerating Kai was a little downside but Kurochi dealt with it. Kurochi looked up seeing that multiple people made it up all the way, making Kurochi more determined to get up.

As she looked around, Yuuka saw that both of her team-mates had managed to catch themselves by digging blades into the wall.  She breathed a sigh of relief.  Noticing that Kai's position seemed somewhat precarious, she maneuvered herself under him so that Sunasakana could help support his weight.

She knew that the ninja manta would have difficulty lifting them all, but she thought that she should be able to use her own wind chakra to supplement his in order to lift them out of the pit.  "Hold on," she warned her team-mates.

Placing her hands on Sunasakana's back, she channeled her own chakra through his body into the cushion of air that supported them.  "Cutting Whirlwind Technique!"

Propelled upwards by their combined gale, Yuuka launched herself and her team-mates out of the pit.

Water Release: Binding Water Chains

Sakuya quickly invoked the jutsu, creating chains of water that wrapped around her and her teammates as well as securing for whatever support structure is present overhead to pull them up. She had learned from training how to use her jutsu for unusual occasions, but never thought she would have to use it so soon on herself and her team. With their fall arrested, Sakuya then willed the water chains to pull them up to where they managed to secure themselves and get back to stable ground.

Nori waited patiently as they waited for the answer to be revealed and when it was revealed, she was a little baffled and confused, but then again, who said it couldn't be both true and false? It was then that she saw the Jonins came up from behind the boards and wondered just why it was they did that. A rumbling was heard and it caused Nori to look down below her feet. What was going on? The ground suddenly caved in beneath their feet and she found herself beginning to fall. She looked around her as she heard the other Genin start to scream. Her eyes casted down to see there was electricity at the bottom of the pit. Nori got one of her kunai and took it out so she could stick it in the wall, but then she felt her hand grabbed. She looked up and saw that it was Sigmund. She wrapped her fingers around his hand and held onto it as he drew out a bone sword and stuck it in the wall to slow down the rate of which they were falling. She was thankful that he was there because she was a little bit too far from a wall to stick her kunai into.

Nori turned her head and looked over to see if she could find Nanami. She found her, but she wasn't able to grab hold of her as she had the kunai in her hand. Damn. How was she going to do this? It was then, though, that she saw her female teammate grab hold of her and fling them upward with her wind jutsu. They all propelled upwards and over the edge of the pit to land safely on their feet on the ground. She was going to help pull Nanami up onto the ground with them, but then she saw her flip and land beside them. "Yeah. I'm alright. How are you?" she said before she looked down at Nanami's hands. They were bleeding from when she was holding onto her wire. "You're bleeding. Take this." Nori put her kunai away and let go of Sigmund's hand that she was still holding onto before she unraveled one of her wraps from around her hand and began to dress her friend's wounded palm.

Nanami smiled and looked down at her hands "I have had worse." When nori took her hands to dres her wounds she blushed slightly. She was used to taking care of others, not being taken care of. But she gave in and sat down "Thank you Nori." She smiles and shoulder bumps the girl "I was a bit surprised by the trap, but it wasn't much worse then some of the pitfalls in Sensei's training area. Which we all fell for more then a few times. But managed to overcome it. I kind of think of these exams like that. Just another day of training. So I will support you and Sigmund however I can, and complete the training."

She smiles and leans against Nori "Even if I have to fight either of you. Something that has been on my mind. Beating either of you will be difficult. I don't like coming up with tactics to hurt the people I care about. I guess its my nature." She gives Nori a kind smile..

Nori looked up to Nanami and smiled. "You're welcome. Anything for a friend," she said and lightly bumped her shoulder back. She finished dressing her friend's wounds and tied a knot to hold the wrap together so it wouldn't fall from around her hands. Once she was done, she knelt down beside her and folded her arms across her knee. "I don't think Sigmund and I would have made it out of there if it wasn't for you, Nanami. Thank you for getting us out." She smiled a little brighter. Nori never really had a friend like Nanami before that cared so much about her, so it felt...nice. She glanced back at Sigmund. They used to defend and protect each other once upon a time. In a way...they still did. Her mind flashed back to when he caught her hand and stopped her from falling moments ago.

"And thank you, Sigmund. If you hadn't caught hold of my hand, I probably would have kept falling. Well, at least until I caught my grip," Nori said with a smirk before she looked back down to Nanami. "I will put my best efforts in moving forward and make you guys proud. I promise. I won't let you guys down."

Katsumi had followed the judgement that Sakuya provided him and their new teammate. They had gone to stand on the platform marked true and waited for the rest of the genin to make their choices. He had watched on knowing that the answer would surely be right as his faith was entirely in his teammate. Then his Sensei walked back onto the platform and informed them that both answers were right. Katsumi stood a little shocked at first not understanding what he meant, but then it dawned on him to never underestimate his Sensei. There was something else at play and they had to figure it out. However, just then the floors fell out from under them. Katsumi heard the familiar buzzing of electricity below and and began to move quickly, but was stopped by a sudden jerk. Sakuya had already secured them and before he knew it they were back on safe ground. He smiled in her direction and looked to find his Sensei.

Chisame grinned back at Kanzo before returning her attention to the bottom of the pit.  I wonder what electrocuted genin smells like?  Chisame watched with anticipation as some of the other genin failed to save themselves from falling into the electricity, only to pout with disappointment when she realised that it wasn't actually strong enough to cook them.

Looks like the others are getting out of here.  I guess that's what we're supposed to do then?  One of the things Miss Miyamoto had made her practice while refining her chakra control was the trick of walking on water by manipulating chakra through the soles of her feet - next to that, walls were easy.  Focusing her chakra, Chisame planted her feet on the side of the pit, before wrenching her sword out of it and replacing it on her back.  Keeping an eye on the rising electricity, Chisame clambered back up out of the pit.

Now that he was close enough to the wall, Kanzo pressed his feet against the wall and sent chakra through the soles of his feet.  He then withdrew his kunai from the wall and walked up to the top where the others were waiting.  He had the ability to use chakra to walk up simple surfaces, but had trouble with more complex ones.  Thankfully this was a simple one.  Once he was back on solid ground, he put the kunai back into their pouch and walked over to Chisame.  "Well that was a fun little surprise they had waiting for us wasn't it?" . At this point, Kanzo didn't believe there would be another trick like that until the next exam but remained alert regardless.

Chisame seemed to consider Kanzo's question for a moment before responding.  "Hmm.  I'm hungry."  Looking around nobody else seemed to be doing anything.  "Is that it?  Was that the first test?"  Chisame shrugged.  She wasn't really sure what was going on, but Kanzo was smart.  If anything else happened she figured she'd just follow his lead.  In the meantime...  Pulling some sushi out of her pouch, she sniffed it before starting eating.  "Oo wan' shum?" she asked with her mouth full, offering some of the slightly squished snacks to Kanzo.

Regaining his bearings, Isamu sighed with relief when the barrier and earthen platform sprouted out from beneath him. He'd been watching other teams with some degree of fascination, making note of their various ways of escaping what would be a painful end to their run of the Exams. Heaving the now dull kunai from the wall, he looks to his team with a shy smile.

"Sorry for being so... pushy there. Just acted as I could. Shall we go?"

Looking up at the sun filtering through the entrance of the pit, Isamu felt relieved that he and his team had passed the first stage of the exams. Now they were ever closer to becoming fully realized Chunin. The smooth stone that made up the wall reminded him of the game they often played in the Academy, an exercise in chakra control disguised as a fun activity to inspire some competition between the students. Even the lazier ones joined in.

The object of the game was to ascend a nearby cliff without using hands, extra appendages, bloodlines or jutsu. At first the soon-to-be Genin were confused, but within weeks many had mastered the art of stone walking. Setting his right foot against the wall, Isamu began to take measured steps up the vertical edge - reminiscing about the antics of his fellow academy students that seemed so long ago.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 13:39, Sat 30 Jan 2016.

Eiko stood up at the edge once his teammates proved their own way to get up from the hole. He turned back around to view the rest of the squads that had passed the first stage, at least, trying to recollect all the jutsu he saw fly in the two pits. It was a moment of instinct for most of them, and it was a bit of insight to see their first reaction to the plummet.

He shook off, both his head and a hand, Isamu's concern for his first reaction. He didn't even vocalize a retort, as if it was such a non-issue that it didn't warrant one. He gestured to Isamu's kunai while they waited, "Do you have more, or need a replacement?"

Dusting himself off, Isamu walks over the crest of the pit. Before him are a plethora of teams, some in a sufficiently ruffled state and others who looked as if the fall had been nothing but a minor inconvenience. Turning to Eiko as he spoke, he gave the other Genin a wide grin.

"I should be okay. My kekkei genkai involves a lot of shape manipulation, so I know how to do this..."

Raising his Kunai in front of him, Isamu channels wind chakra across the blade, sharpening it until the wind forms a cutting edge of its own. As the wind becomes more and more dense, the Kunai grows ever slightly smaller, shavings of metal flying off the blade until the point is as fine as it has ever been.

In reply to Yamada Nori (msg # 46):

   He had dusted himself off, trying to remove all traces of dirt from his clothes. The adrenaline rush had subsided and he looked around. Villages from the Land of Snow were still around, as was the Sound and Forests. Even the great shinobi land squads were around still too. He was proud they got passed this part. That was one exam down. They still had one more to go. That's when he heard Nori thank him and he just glanced back at her for a second before turning back to the crowd of Genin. He really didn't have anything to say. Truthfully, he only did it because he needed a team of three to advance.

In reply to Tsukino Yuuka (msg # 42):

Kai had been dangling for what felt like forever. His arm was turning red and the pain increased. That's when Kurochi asked him if he was okay and extended his hand out. Just before he was about to grab his hand, that's when Yuuka came to the rescue. She had managed to summon her pal and he was impressed to say the least. She was quite handy at that. When she came around, he was able to at least use his feet to stand on Sunasakana for a bit as he was able to release his chain from his arm and pull out his knife by tugging on the chain and it came down. That's when she used one of her wind Jutsus and he wasn't too prepared yet but it managed to burst them out of the pit and safely on the ground.

Once they made it back to the academy grounds, he was exhausted. They had a tricky question and then a trap all in one day? Well hot damn. "Thanks, Yuuka. I don't know how you managed that, but that was awesome," he praised her and gave her a thumbs up. "Is everybody okay?" he asked as he shook his arm to get feeling back.

In reply to Senju Katsumi (msg # 47):

Sima watched as squads managed to make it up out of the pits. He was impressed, but not even. Most Genin chose to either help only themselves or simply used kunai knives. Only a few had actually put effort into saving their group. One particular group actually surprised him by using a summoning jutsu. The girl had managed to summon as she fell and saved her and her teammates using a wind Jutsu. He had smiled and was quite amused. He also noticed the two squads from the Land of Snow had immediately been the first two squads to have made it out of the pits in a matter of seconds. He was very interested how they managed to do that but it happened in seconds where he missed it. None the less, he was impressed. Half the competition was already eliminated and among the squads, he saw his squad had managed to get out quickly. He knew Sakuya would use her binding chains. He expected quick reflexes from his squad. Once he noticed everybody was practically up here, Sima simply nodded his head and the rest of the Jonin in the grounds had released the Jutsu as did Sima. The electricity stopped in the pits and the Jonin had assisted getting everyone else out. He faced all of them now.

"Half of the competition has been eliminated. If you were one of the unfortunate ones to have felt my jutsu, you are to remove yourself from these grounds immediately " he said sternly. "If one of your team members fell into the pit and you only saved yourself, you are also eliminated. A squad of three is what you need to continue advancement," he continued on. Several other squads walked away angrily. "Those who are remaining...well, congratulate yourself. You have officially passed Exam 1 of the Chunin Selection Exams. You all will gather here tomorrow for Exam 2 at the same time. And if I were you, I would get all the rest you needed," he said and began to laugh lightly as he got down and some squads had already began leaving, heading to their inns.

In reply to Suzuki Kai (msg # 55):

Kurochi was surprised, at the least, when Yuuka appeared with her summoning creature and helped Kai and himself out of the pit. After flying out of the pit and landed on solid ground, Kurochi was a little shaken up but fine at the least, after the ride.

"Thanks, Yuuka. I don't know how you managed that, but that was awesome,"Kai had said. Kurochi agreed and spoke,"As Kai had said thanks, that was great Yuuka." giving her a smile of appreciation. What else are these exams gonna give out.. he thought as he looked around at everyone else.

When Kai asked,"Is everybody okay?". Kurochi replied,"Ya, I'm fine but a little shaken that's all" nodding to Kai to confirm that he was fine. "If that was Exam 1, then we better be prepared for Exam 2 and 3. But so far this is really fun." Kurochi said smiling at his squad.

After seeing every single team make it through the tunnels, some squads had been eliminated along the way. Many reasons being they couldn't handle the shocks, they killed the man they interrogated, they were getting hypothermia, and some nearly drowned. Sima had ensured that every team was given food and drinks, medical attention if needed, and a quick break. They all awaited for the Raikage to show up to introduce the next exam. Sima didn't interact with his squad at this time for he already did and had to take his place back on that stage.

[Squads are to gather here in this thread now with their Jonin please. Jonin are to interact with their group for one last speech of encouragement before they head into battle.]
This message was last updated by the GM at 19:51, Tue 01 Mar 2016.

Katsumi quickly made his way to the clearing with his group. He saw many of the others crowding around their Jonin, but he had a feeling that they wouldn't get to have that treatment. He took a deep breath in. If their Sensei wasn't going to be there to give them quick words of courage then he would do his best to do so. He had already let his group down as a leader once and he wasn't prepared to do it again.

Akuma quickly saw the doorway open and his students revealed. He was honestly a little disappointed with the performance that they had given in the tunnels. However, he knew that they were strong enough to take on the next portion of this test. So he walked over to them and gave them a casual smile. "So how do you guys think you did in there and are you ready for the next part of the exams."

In reply to Senju Katsumi (msg # 59):

Jhinsokyo approached his former captain of the squad, put his hand on his shoulder and simply whispered to him "This is time for our actions, not words Katsumi."

Sakuya looked around, noting that only a handful of teams have remained after the second exam. She also noticed that other participants are older than her, something that made her feel a bit of unease. She mentally reminded herself that their sensei have trained them thoroughly, especially in the matter of combat.

If it were not for her forehead protector presently worn around her neck, Sakuya would have been mistaken for an Academy-level ninja. Despite having just graduated several weeks ago the memory felt distant, now mostly filled with the time spent training.

In reply to Kenji Akuma (msg # 60):

   Sigmund bowed his head as they were approached by their sensei. He felt a bit of shame, but was not going to deny what happened in there. "We failed as a squad in there and I am very angry we came in dead last," he explained. "However, these battles will not stop me from succeeding. They're one-on-one, meaning I don't have to rely on any team, just myself and my own strength. Hopefully my own teammates can hold their ground without me," he added and shook his head. "I am ashamed to be apart of this team and I can promise you I won't let this happen again," he promised, hopefully he would keep that promise.