Shun shot Cunom a "look." "Really? I don't think I could honestly fight you and seriously injure you... But to let you win?... I can't do that either. Ugh this is hard." She took off her hat to scratch her head and put it back on, now just watching the fight in stead of his notes. "That would be difficult. I don't like hurting friends, but to give up is just not an option. I guess that's what's going on in their heads too. It's sucks but you can't just give up for them. Too much self worth and respect."

 He nodded his head and agreement as he continued to jot down notes. ".. And thus the trials of the shinobi begins a new.  We have the same line of thinking as I imagine most friends and fellow shinobi do.  Nobody really wants to fight their own friends unless there is long standing rivalry or they have something to prove.   Now that I think about it though, I have heard of shinobi vying  for the attention of a kunoichi. At that point all bets are off."  His eyes went back to the match as he let out a slight chortle.

Shun snorted. "That's why boys are stupid. I mean, sure it's impressive but it's not going to make or break anything." After a few seconds of tapping on her own head band, she said. "Do you think kunoichi do the same thing? I think if I liked someone I would want to impress them like that but... How far would you go? It's one thing to want to look strong, but another to look like a jerk. I've seen some boys who don't know the difference."

Cunom stopped writing for a few moments to give Shun his full attention."I'm so positive kunoichi do the exact same thing that I'd bet you a week's worth of mochi. Don't tell your mom" He quickly looked around in a conspiratorial way as if her mom might be nearby."It's just that you all don't seem to fight fair, girls take the fight beyond the sparring fields and seem to get quite creative. I'm sure the girls in other villages could agree," he gestured over to some of the other kunoichis sitting not too far from them. "All is fair in love and war."

Shun chuckled a bit at the mom comment. "I guess it would depend on the girl. I would love to personally destroy someone with my own strength... Or at least out smart them. Because being petty really won't get you anywhere. Or do you guys think it's cool?" Shun still watched the fight mostly but glanced over multiple times so as to look like she was listening.

"Though I don't know if it would be fair. Some relationships are awful..."

Seeing a group of mist gennin, Riki silently joined their ranks. Taking a seat, he looked forward without interest, or general coherence really. He hadn't been left to his own devices in quite some time, and the transition was a bit jarring. Thankfully few paid him any mind, as few could recognize his face. The fight below also acted as a wonderful distraction from his person. He had been reassigned to a team after the fix, and Riki wasn't looking to give any second doubts to his family along the way.

There was only one hiccup. A crimson haired woman from his old squad.

"Chisame."

Riki said aloud without realising it at first. It wasn't a beckon or a call, but more of a label, as if he'd read the side of a cereal box with her name on it. Riki wondered if the old team assumed he died after his disappearance. Riki also wondered if things would've been better of if he had. He quickly buried the thoughts as this line of thinking often made his head hurt more than anything else.

[Private to Hikawa Chisame: I made an assumption that you were here after your last post, let me know if I was wrong!]

Eikitsu had arrived with his angels…erm, with the Mist kunoichi. Where Izumi and Saori conversed with Chisame, he remained silent for now. There was valuable intelligence to be gathered on Nori and Sigmund, and he refused to allowed unnecessary distractions to interfere with his current objective. Unfortunately, something, rather someone did distract him from Nori and Sigmund's battle, albeit only momentarily. That person was Riki, who had spoken Chisame's name casually.

Eikitsu cut his eyes at Riki. The young man's name flared to life in his mind. He recalled Riki from the Academy. From his limited experiences with Riki, he recounted mentally that he was brash and excitable. People like Riki were troublesome in Eikitsu's opinion because they were irrational and reckless. Clearly the Academy instructors knew something more about Riki if he'd been allowed to participate in the Chuunin Exam. For a few moments, Eikitsu casually wondered what revelation they had discovered before he returned his attention to Nori and Sigmund's battle. "Hikawa-san, it appears that Kalameet-san would like a word with you."

Chisame was visibly wilted by the time she arrived back at the stadium following her fellow Mist genin.  Healing was all very well, but what she really needed at the moment was rest.  And, in typical Chisame fashion, she was probably going to get it after literally collapsing at some point. snacks.  Looking around, everybody seemed to be watching the bony guy try to beat up another girl.  The fight didn't look particularly interesting and Chisame was casting her gaze around for the promised snacks, when she heard her name.

"Hi."  She waved at Riki.  "Do you have ice-cream?  Or peanuts?  I don't really like peanuts.  Do you like peanuts?  Are you here to watch the fight?  Did you fight?  I fought that bony guy."  She pointed down into the arena.

"Oh...no. I didn't-"

Riki began, too late to stop the man's words as he called Chisame over. He'd only said her name because it was the first clear memory he'd had in quite some time. Irregardless, there was now a former team mate addressing him, so Riki did his best to answer her concerns.

"I am here to wait, but I was given no food. Apologies."

The way he talks is passive, devoid of any vigor one might remember Riki having. He doesn't even look Chisame in the eye when he talks, only in her general direction with an unchanging expression on his face. He behaved much like a whipped dog, a man with no fight left in him.

"Congratulations on your fight."

He said finally, turning back to his general stare towards the fight below.

Izumi hummed in agreement with Saito, who had voiced what she had been thinking. Down at the arena the match had been going surprisingly even although the edge the boy had started to show eventually. Since the girl was apparently focused on taijutsu the injury she had sustained limited her much more than the boy's injury did him.

"It's a valiant effort she's putting up out there but it doesn't look very good for her." Izumi spoke in bored tone while sluggishly leaning on the railing. As the match proceeded down at the arena several different discussions were going on around her and she had to say their tones and topics varied greatly.

On one side the cloud genin they had met just before visiting the infirmary were discussing about relationships. The other conversation included Chisame and apparently an old teammate whom Izumi hazily remembered from academy days. Then there was Kotatsu and Nanami.

Izumi wondered idly how easy going they were, even envying them for that kind of attitude. On the other end of the rope was Eikitsu who had been staring at the match almost non-stop, probably making notes inside his mind about everything.

"I guess that's it, then." The tattooed kunoichi declared as Nori made her last effort attack against Sigmund. While she respected Nori's determination it was just too unlikely Sigmund couldn't counter that attack and Nori looked like she would keel over any second now.

Saori had been watching the match with perhaps a little more interest than Izumi.  It seemed to be a little bit of a blowout in some respects, as Sigmund had blocked or dodged everything that Nori threw at him.  Still, it was giving Saori a chance to watch their techniques.

"The girl is the better taijutsu practitioner," Saori said in response.  "If they were fighting this match uninjured, I'd put my money on her.  The leg injury is really impacting her attacks though.  I'm not sure the guy can block some of these attacks normally.  Just getting them off with a messed up leg is difficult," she pointed out as Sigmund used his ability to defend against the kick.  "But his neck injury seems to be something he can work through with pain management better than her leg injury.  His attacks have all been executed well, but none of his limbs are injured."

The girl had vaguely heard some of the other conversations around them, but was content not to butt into them for the time being.  She didn't really know Riki all that much either.

"Yes, that's probably the end of it.  She'll be a tough fight next go around.  She's an excellent taijutsu practitioner," Saori commented.  It was just bad luck on her draw of opponent in this case, Saori figured.

"Having superior skill over an opponent in just one school of the shinobi arts does not make one a superior shinobi, Saito-san," Eikitsu began coolly without interrupting his observation of the battle between Nori and Sigmund. "Consider your strengths versus mine or Makinoe-san's. Based on that information alone, are you truly certain who would prevail in a battle to the death?" Eikitsu's attention moved from Nori and Sigmund to Sima when Sigmund moved to carve up Nori once again. Would the proctor allow this match to end with a death, or would he intervene once again? "Also, you should be more careful with your money, Saito-san. Even if Yamada-san had been in perfect health, she was unlikely to defeat Akitoki-san, assuming he too was uninjured. Did you not notice the physical changes Akitoki-san underwent during the battle? Without more information or the proper resources to study Akitoki-san, I can't begin to know the effect of those changes on him, but I suspect he held back a great deal against Yamada-san, whether he realizes it or not. What do you think, Makinoe-san?" He didn't bother asking Chisame's opinion on things because she was preoccupied with both Riki and her hunger and thus unlikely to have been paying attention.

Kotatsu kept his eye on the prize the entire time of the match: Sigmund. He was worthy of a fight and knew all too well how this boy worked. That kekkei of his was awfully deadly, but he wouldn't stand a chance again Kotatsu himself. He had observed Sigmund the entire time. His foot movement, his quick wits of executing substitution jutsus and even clone jutsus. Sigmund to Kotatsu's eye, would put up one hell of a fight, but after observing him, Sigmund was bound  lose.

"I guess that's it then. Looks like it is my turn," he uttered as he disappeared almost instantly. Kotatsu had vanished out of thin air and all the way down to the fight.

Kotatsu redirected his attention to the proctor. "Nobody lays a hand on me!" he uttered before grabbing the proctor's hand with his own, a dark ball engulfing his own hand. Bones could be heard snapping and breaking as the proctor did not see this move coming. He had the proctor on his knees before Kotatsu sent him flying to the stadium walls with a dark blast. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he declared as a hundred shadow clones appeared of Kotatsu. They took up most of the battle field and the stadium stands as well.

The crowd had panicked and began screaming once a dead body was discovered from the stands. The body was identified as the Land of Fire, a Jonin leader: Kenji Akuma, Sigmund, Nori, and Nanami's leader. He was killed in cold blood with multiple stab wounds to the neck from Kotatsu's clones. "Ladies and gentleman of Kumogakure, Kirigakure, Iwagakure, Konohagakure, and Tsukigakure. We, the land of Snow, will declare this our land and to start, take a look at your leaders!" he said pointing to all of the Kages, including the land of snow's own Daimyo.

They were surrounded by a mysterious man in a cloak. The entire audience was blocked from entering a black vortex that surrounded all of the kages. "We are a revolution who will rule this world, one land at a time! To start, please, enjoy the Daimyo of the land of snow as we be head him, the same fate as the rest of the Kages will face in the near future!"

Daimyo Minato had a look of panick, horror, and most of freight on his face. His hands were bind by some kind of black chakra, unbreakable from his hands. The black vortex that surrounded him and the other 5 kages could see nothing but pitch black. On the outside of the vortex though, was clear to the rest of the people of Kumogakure and everyone else in the stands. A mysterious man with a black hood held a perfectly sharp blade, made from the same black chakra that bind his hands behind his back. "Please don't! I have a family! I gave you my land. I gave you everything I had! Please don't kill me!" he had cried out in agony as he pleaded with the cloaked man.

He held the blade closer to the Daimyo's neck. He watched as the events grew. He watched every battle, chatted with every kage and his lower ranking officers. He had made a trip to all 5 lands prior to the Chunin Exams in Kumogakure. Every land and village was so welcoming. Nobody regulated their gates. They allowed anybody to enter their city. It was foolish of them really. His plan was perfect and now Kumogakure would become his. The Land of Snow had already been his for years now and nobody even knew the disaster that became of that tragic land. Everyone almost completely forgot about them after the incident with Naruto and his friends many, many years ago.

"The Land of Snow is ours. We ask all of you to bow down now, or one by one will each kage suffer the same consequences as dear 'ol Minato here," he announced as he drove the blade across Daimyo Minato's neck, cutting open his neck as blood gushed from his neck. Minato struggled, gasping for air, making gurgling noises. As the man pushed the daimyo down to the ground from within the vortex, a blast of darkness shot right up to the sky, directing to the sun.

The sun was then drowned in pitch black darkness. Even the sun was no directly of course hit, the planet's atmosphere was covered in the same darkness that he used and Kotatsu used. "I am searching for a certain individual. A person of interest and one by one will I capture, interrogate, and destroy every village until I find them. And we will start with you!" he pointed directly towards Sigmund, who was in no shape to even defend himself if it came down to it.

That the Land of Snow was up to something wasn't a surprise to Eikitsu given everything that had transpired with Kotatsu during the Chuunin Exam; however, he didn't expect such an overt declaration of war against the shinobi lands. Kotatsu and the mysterious man were either very powerful or very foolish. Unfortunately, he hadn't the luxury of waiting to find out which was the case. With the Mizukage's life threatened, Eikitsu shifted his blood into its curative state which caused his chakra level to surge momentarily. Afterward, he deftly formed a series of hand seals with both hands which culminated in his skin on his left shoulder wriggling about wildly moments before it slithered down his left arm and onto the floor beside him only to then grow from a puddle on the floor into a duplicate of Eikitsu. With its newfound existence, Copy Eikitsu attempted to flicker down to the arena near both Nori and Sigmund while Eikitsu calmly addressed Chisame, Izumi, Riki, and Saori, his eyes never leaving the Mizukage's prison.

"Our priority is to rescue Mizukage-sama. We should begin by analyzing the prison. Given its strength and the number of shinobi opposing it, it is probable that it requires constant maintenance. I will attempt to tend to Akitoki-san and Yamada-san. It is likely that we will need every able-bodied shinobi, even rival ones."

Her academy instructors always said that a ninja had to be ready for anything at anytime. Nakano guessed they'd been right. The moment chaos filled the stadium, her first thoughts were of her family. They'd gone for food only a few moments ago, leaving her to hold their seats. Only her younger brother was any good in a fight and he wasn't even out of the academy. She searched the now churning stands for any sign of them, the crowed surged and pushed against her, forcing her away from her search.

Nakano opened her mouth to call out to her family, but a disturbing presence drew her attention and froze her voice. She recognized Kotatsu from the exams. Even though this was just one of his clones, the blood lust she could sense was greater than any she'd felt before. Readying herself, Nakano knew she'd have to keep herself alive before she could start looking for her family. She couldn't afford any distractions during this fight, but it was hard to forget that their lives might hang in the balance.

Saori had a perfect reply already to go for Eikitsu's analysis of the fight.  Really, she did.  Then Kotatsu had to go and start having people killed and attempting to take over.  Though none of that actually really passed in Saori's mind for more than a microsecond, as the rebuttal was forgotten as the tall girl started analyzing the situation.

So far there weren't that many real enemies.  There was Kotatsu, of course, and his hundred or so clones.  Only one was real though.  Hiding in a sea of clones was a classic ninja trick.  Then there was the mysterious man who was blotting out the sun.  That was of no concern to Saori, however.  The darkness was as much her ally as it was anyone else's.

She listened to Eikitsu's plan.  She wasn't sure about this one.  But with the clones filling up the stadium's stands, she said nothing yet.  She wished not to be overheard, and the only sign Eikitsu might pick up on was a very slight movement of her eyes in the direction of the nearest clone.

For the moment, the girl kept analyzing the area, getting a read on how the clones were positioned and what areas they seemed to be shoring up defensively the most.  She expected the prison to be guarded with clones, but she expected there would be other areas heavily guarded.

Cunom looked on as the match drew to a close and put his scroll away. When he saw Kotatsu land in the ring prematurely, he assumed that the fool was just too eager for the next fight. "Will ya look at this guy, I guess fools really do rush in." Moments later he watched in sheer disbelief as Sima-dono got blasted into the stadium wall, by some ominous technique he had yet to discern. In one fluid motion, the sharp yellow-eyed shinobi was on his feet.

The crowds trampled toward the exit with reckless abandonment leavening overturn food and drinks in their wake. He was about to leap down into the pit to aid Sima-dono when he saw a small crying child separated from her family and leapt to her before she fell underfoot by the fleeing audience. By the time he got her to safety he was nowhere near his front row seating or Shun. When he saw the Kotatsu clones now in the stands he knew this was bigger than his village.

 "All Shinobi defend the civilians and push the invaders back." Cunom saw a Kunoichi, a  Konohagakure shinobi by the look of her forehead protector. "Hey Leaf, let's take the snow  shinobi's village idiot down a peg." He yelled as he pointed at the Kotatsu clone. "I just knew I didn't like you", he mused at the snow ninja

Chisame hadn't been paying much attention to the goings on in the arena, being primarily occupied with thoughts of food.  As such, the events transpiring didn't really register with her.  In the ensuing chaos, she rushed to rescue as many snacks as possible before they were trampled underfoot.

She emerged from the mob with her mouth and arms filled with food in time to see fights breaking out across the stadium between various people and clones of some guy.  "'Ow 'a's 'us' 'reegy," she mumbled around her newly acquired snacks.  "'Ow um 'e 'e's a fige erryun?"

Izumi had already readied herself to leave the stadium when the unexpected events took place. However when the kunoichi noticed the perperators she would have liked to act surprised but couldn't. The signs had been there: unusually strong team from the land of snow, one bloodthirsty genin above everyone else. That Kotatsu had always given her creeps but to be after world domination sounded so clichèd. How disappointing, he was just a normal goon of a villain after all.

Watching as the clones of Kotatsu started wreaking havoc and chaos engulfed the arena Izumi prepared to act, grabbin a kunai from her holster."A sound plan, Eikitsu-san but we really need to deal with these clones first if we wish to get near that vortex. The jonin are probably on it already." Her first though was to locate her fellow mist shinobi and work in tandem with them but everybody had their hands full with fending off the attackers(or food in Chisame's case).

Izumi dodged a passing civilian and found herself bumbing in to somebody's back. A look over shoulder confirmed it to be the cloud kunoichi they had talked earlier about killing. A mirthful smirk appeared on her face as she adressed Shun.

"How about it, Ishikawa-san? Care to be my partner for this dance?"
This message was last edited by the player at 18:49, Sat 11 Feb 2017.

"Time again already?"

Riki said quietly, standing up calmly in contrast to the crowd. He looked at Chisame with passing thought before looking outward. He couldn't understand what she was saying, but she didn't sound too worried either. He couldn't figure out what, but he felt as though he was forgetting something. His nose began to bleed...

Eikitsu's initial test of the situation ended in failure when his doppelganger was torn apart by a hail of kunai and shuriken from the Kotatsu horde. "It can't be avoided then," he muttered while he watched the blood rain down on the stadium's battlefield in the wake of his clone's destruction. The ideal situation of rescuing the Mizukage and leaving the shinobi from rival villages to fend for themselves against Kotatsu and his mysterious ally had passed. Now, the path before him was to thin the Kotatsu herd while the jounin occupied Kotatsu's ally and possibly Kotatsu himself. With his task clear, Eikitsu reached behind his back with his right hand and undid a hidden clasp on the barrel-like object he carried on his back. It was an action that seemed innocent enough until the white linens that bound the barrel unraveled to reveal a second Eikitsu inside with his head and knees buried into his chest. The second Eikitsu (Eikitsu B) unfolded his body and landed on the ground behind the first Eikitsu (Eikitsu A). Back-to-back with each other, both Eikitsus drew kunai from within their weapon holsters into their left hands then began navigating the chaos in the stadium with each one covering the other's six.

"Makinoe-san, Sai…," yelled Eikitsu B above the ruckus only to fall silent abruptly when he noticed that he and Eikitsu A had gotten separated from the others. After both Eikitsus literally knocked and tossed aside several panicked civilians who threatened to barrel into them, Eikitsu A's eyes fell upon a nearby Leaf shinobi similarly navigating the chaos. "You, Leaf shinobi-san," Eikitsu A pointed at Kurochi with his right index finger, "I believe we can be of assistance to each other." His tone was firmer than usual but retained much of the insincere friendliness and politeness he was known for.

---

10:08, Today: Eikitsu rolled 75 using 1d100.  Will the Real Eikitsu Please Stand Up?
Private to GM [Private to GM: Per the results of the roll, Eikitsu A is the real Eikitsu. An odd result meant Eikitsu A is the real one, while an even result meant Eikitsu B is the real one.]

---

Shun walked the fight with some interest, but mostly she could tell this would not be really remembered later. Though as everything seemed to be falling apart, she was somewhat scared, not for herself, but for everyone else in the Exams. As battle instincts took over, anger and bloodlust washed over her like waves. Nodding at Cunom's comment, she was somewhat worried for him when he disappeared in the crowd. She dodged more people hoping to rush out, backing up and bumping into Makinoe.

Quickly she swerved with a kunai in her hand, ready to deal some serious damage but stopped at seeing the one she recognized from earlier. Relaxing, she gave a mischievous grin back, holding her kunai as if to hide her grin, "Aw Makinoe-san, thought you'd never ask!"