Chapter 7: Team Eight and The Wolf

Rekka ran through the forest in glee, she danced and swung on the branches of each tree she flew by, like a ballerina her precision was graceful. For every step she took, a random jutsu would miss it's target. Her! . Infront of Rekka were three girls who she had assigned to team one. They were lost little lambs running for their lives and Rekka was the eager predator getting ready to pounce. They seemed to be in a state of panic, their arms shook as one after the other would occasionally turn around and fire a Jutsu at Rekka.

[Utility Scroll: Darknet Jutsu] Rekka causally dodged while admiring the size of the capture net, the girl in the middle had some potential, what was her name again? Ah it was...never mind. She made little effort to pay attention to the rift raft, her goal for circling back was to find team seven, if it was not for her own ego, she would have never accepted the bet with that oaf Braun. She didn't want to lose, so unfortunately for these three girls she had to take them down.

Dodging another Jutsu she spun towards a tree, and used both of her feet to propel herself forward, then she activated her Ninja Tool. [Water prison Jutsu] she used the momentum from the tree to position herself directly above the three girls, who's eyes widened as they looked above. The girl furthest to the left, gave out a scream before being encased in a round bubble made of water. The impact caused the girl next to her to shriek, only to be made silent as she too was suspended in the air, encased in a cage made of water. The last girl turned around and aimed her ninja tool mid flight, but before she could muster the strength to unleash any Jutsu, she smashed directly into a tree. Rekka witnessed the young girl lose consciousness before she sped forward and caught her.

She took all three of the unconscious girls, and placed them on a nearby tree branch. Then she reached into her pocket and pulled out two objects: a red marker, and a red signal flair that projected smoke into the air. Braun had given her these two objects before the game started. He had a blue tag and she had a red tag. This way they could keep tally of their score. Rekka opened the marker and walked over to the sleeping teenagers. With a few swipes she drew a smiley face on their foreheads, then she reached for the signal flair and shot it into the air before placing it on the ground.

This was just another team she had dispatched. With that she would continue her search, she was sure on the path she was taking but uncertain she was going in the correct direction, it only took a slight change in her heading, for her to get lost. Going at her speed it was crucial that she slowed down ever so often to listen to the surroundings, one could never know just how close the target may be. When she landed on the nearest tree branch, she calculated that it must have been just a few minutes since she took out the three girls, she should be right on top of team seven by now.

Rekka leaned forward and began sniffing the air, the rain made it pretty difficult to track moving targets, and visually the forest became more shrouded in mist as every second passed. It would have been great if the bug she placed on Kenji had not been destroyed by that that nosy school counselor Tensen.

Looking around she doubted her path forward and began moving in the opposite direction. As she sped through the forest, the force generated by her movement created a small barrier around her body that made the rain repel. It was the only reason she wasn't soaking wet as she covered more ground than an average person.

After traveling a few more feet, she stopped once again and analyzed her surroundings. Getting around the trees was not the problem, it was the series of different elevations that left uncharted areas too easy to hide in. Suddenly she heard a loud BANG, as the area around her shook ever so slightly. It came from her previous direction. Small animals, such as birds, frogs, snakes, squirrels and even some bats came rushing towards her. It was a moving orchestra of sounds as the little critters ran past her.

With no hesitation she traveled towards the direction of the noise. She was accustomed to retracing her steps, perhaps more so than she should be, especially considering she was a shinobi. As she approached the origin of the sound she could see a large cloud of smoke covering much of the forest ahead, she entered the smoke and made sure to stay above the source of the sound.

When she looked down, there were three students kneeled over coughing. That must be the brat and his friends she pondered. With several jumps she descended to the group of teenagers. She landed perfectly just a few feet from the kids. Rekka brought both of her hands together and made a huge gust of wind as she clapped. The sound of her ninja tool faded away. The cloud around the entire area cleared, and Infront of her stood three students.

Two boys and one girl. The girl had black hair, her eyes were unremarkable but her cheeks had two red markings that resembled triangles, she wore a grey hoodie and underneath her jacket was a small brown dog. Tsume Inuzuka. Next to Tsume was a boy with large glasses, underneath his glasses his eyes were paper white, and his outfit was a black turtleneck with blue jeans. His brown hair was messy and unkept. Hiyoto Hyuga. The last boy was giving off serious vibes, his eyes were covered in tea sized glasses and his hair stood up like a black stereo, it matched his black trench coat, which his legs were hidden underneath. Shoko Aburame. Rekka had remembered their names, as these students were very odd, and one of them was a Hyuga.

The Hyuga were considered royalty. Among the three great royal families stood; the Hyuga, the Harano, and the great Lee family. This clan had stood the test of time and often quarreled with the Lee family. From Rekka's knowledge they always placed second to their Lee counterparts. When it came to the Uzumaki, they played no role in the squabbling between the great nobility. Rekka had encountered dozens of Hyuga in her lifetime, and never has she seen one wearing glasses.

"Hey kiddos" stated Rekka.

Tsume and her team took defensive stances. They wished to fight?

"Calm down now, I just have a few questions."

"Were not falling for any tricks." shouted Tsume.

"We know we cant run, not at this distance any way." said Shozo

"Yea what he said" stammered Hiyoto.

Rekka slowly inched forward as she spoke.

"Did you happen to see Kenji and his crew come by here?"

"What's it to you" Tsume readied her ninja tool.

"If you guys give me good info I might just let you walk out of here."

Shozo leaned to his side and whispered in Tsume's ear.

"Your not going let us go, why would you, we heard the bet you made with the professor. Logically speaking there is no incentive to let us go, it's not like Kenji and his team is worth more points, so what business do you have with them?"

He was the smart one, Rekka needed to crush him first. The other two would break and she could squeeze information out of Tsume and the four eyed Hyuga. However, Shozo made one crucial mistake when he spoke, his hand motioned towards the direction of Kenji's squad almost subconsciously when he brought them up. This was all Rekka needed.

Shozo lifted his hand in the air and hundreds of bugs poured from the tree behind him. Normally using jutsu outside of the three defined one's, was against the rules. But this was no jutsu. Members of the Aburame Clan were born with the ability to control insects. It was there [Kekkei genkai].Unique traits that were passed down rarely between members of a Clan. For the Aburame it was the ability to control the internal chakra of insects.

The bugs poured off the tree and flew towards Rekka. She gripped her ninja tool and activated

[ Paralysis Jutsu]

she closed her fist and jumped into the air dodging the tsunami of insects. Her fist glowed a bright yellow, then she released her clenched fist towards the wave. The blast of light struck the insects and caused the wave to lose it's form before scattering into a lose pattern of bugs. While in the air, Tsume had already launched another jutsu at her. [Water prison Jutsu] a medium sized ball of water came flying in Rekka's direction. But with a simple kick she sent the ball of water back to her attacker.

"Wait what" Tsume stood stunned in place.

The ball of water hit Tsume and wrapped around her head. She dropped to both knees and began clawing at the mass. Shozo quickly intervened and popped the bubble with one decisive chop with his right hand.

Rekka had landed on a nearby branch, then unleashed a jutsu at the trio. [ Utility scroll: Darknet Jutsu] The net covered enough area to ensnare all three of the brats. They needed to do something quick if they wanted to escape this. The four eyed Hyuga fired two jutsu consecutively at the net. [Water prison Jutsu], [Paralysis Jutsu]. The two jutsu collided with Rekka's and the electric discharge spread all over the net and caused it to dissipate.

The slight hum from Rekka's ninja tool continued to haunt the air. Shozo and Tsume prepped for another assault. It wasn't against the rules for the students to physically attack the pursuers, it was strategic to keep distance in this fight. Rekka understood this. So no student would be reckless enough to charge in and risk getting put out of commission. At least no sane student would try it.

Suddenly Tsume was behind her. And to her front were two jutsu on a collision course with her. Rekka glanced at the three students and made sure to count again. One, Two, Three? How was Tsume behind her and simultaneously standing next to her teammates. Within just a split second the Tsume that stood ground level, vanished and what remained was a small dog.

Rekka quickly jumped to the side as the sound of a ninja tool activated behind her, though the sound would be cut short by the brief cries of a young Tsume. When Rekka dodged the incoming attack, it had instead struck Tsume, who sat wrapped up in a tight net against a tree. Bounds of electricity danced through her hair as she lay unconscious. The small dog from below had made its way from the ground to it's master and began licking Tsume's cheeks.

As soon as Rekka landed on the branch Shozo and Hiyoto stood on. Shozo blanketed the entire branch in a thick layer of insects. The bugs covered Rekka's shoes as she marched forward. With each step she took, the bugs would cling on to her feet and slowed her down. Shozo and Hiyoto took this opportunity to unleash two water prison jutsu at her. Both balls of water combined to make a larger ball that was sure to hit it's target. Rekka dug her feet into the insects and used them as a magnet, then shifted her weight so that she could walk underneath the branch, out of sight of the two boys. Within just a few seconds she would close the distance between them, but she was positioned underneath them.

Shozo watched as the ball of water hit nothing but air. Rekka quickly appeared behind them and fired a paralysis jutsu into his side. The four eyed Hyuga attempted to quickly punch her with an open palm, but she deflected the attack back at Shozo, who took the brunt of two attacks. The resulting impact caused Shozo to slide across the tree branch, but the insects held tightly to their master, then slowed and cushioned his fall.

Hiyoto had lost his balance and began to fall off the branch to a lower level. Rekka fired [ Water prison jutsu] at Hiyoto's impact location, the jutsu sped past the four eyed Hyuga then nestled perfectly on the branch, when he landed, he plopped onto the jutsu like a water bed. Then he sunk to the bottom while clawing upwards attempting to escape before his eyes closed and he lost consciousness.

Two down, one to go. Shozo had just recovered. He stopped and looked at Rekka, then held both hands up in the air like a composer conducting a symphony. Within one motion a thick swarm of insects surrounded them both from all sides. The creepy crawlies formed a massive dome around both Shozo and Rekka. All light had been extinguished, and was replaced by several flicking yellow and green lights that emanated from the insects. It was like being lost in outer space, but every star that filled the endless void was instead an insect glowing faintly in the dark.

"Wow, your full of surprises." said Rekka.

"You should see me when I'm angry" replied Shozo in a robotic voice.

Rekka couldn't see a thing. Her vision was clouded in darkness, and her sense of sound, was masked by the thousands of bugs that sang their heart out for their master. This was an unprecedented situation. To have witnessed such an advanced technique from someone soo young filled her heart with joy. Truly the future of the city was in good hands. However, this was not her first time encountering this technique. Being who she was, and having to deal with all manner of shinobi across her career, ever so often the occasional genius would appear. And with every new genius who would challenge the Uzumaki name, there was an accompanying funeral with that genius's name written across a hedge stone.

A slight humming sound filled the bug encased dome, as Shozo fired several jutsu at Rekka. [Utility Scroll: Darknet Jutsu] Rekka felt the wind around her change, and with little movement, dodged the incoming attack. But then the wind changed, again, and again. And with each coming storm she dodged. It was clear the boy wanted to overwhelm her, while taking advantage of the darkness. Had he used paralysis, or water prison, he could run the risk of harming his barrier and revealing his position. Rekka could imagine the amount of internal chakra it must have taken to maintain such a spectacle. With each step she took, the sound of grounded up insects squealed beneath her feet. Disgusting. She would need to wash her shoes when she finished with this. Despite dodging the attacks, Rekka felt there was no end to amount of them, which was strange.

When a ninja tool user activated a scroll, it syphoned energy from the internal chakra of the user. It also drew from the chakra stored inside of the scroll. If a shinobi used a scroll too many times it would render the scroll useless. Or if a shinobi ran out chakra he could no longer use the scroll in his tool. Understanding both became a delicate balancing act. It was paramount to understand the limits and capabilities of one's scroll and more importantly one's self. But here this kid was, firing off dozens if not hundreds of the same jutsu. She dodged again, and again. As she moved through the dome she searched for his position. She couldn't trust her eyes, but what she could do, was act on the information already given to her.

The source of the attacks had only one location. So she decided to run head first into the storm of nets that machine gunned towards her. She slipped, dipped and dived past each attack, with every twirl a net would be inches away from hitting her. She got closer, and closer to Shozo's location. Rekka practically ice-skated towards his position then launched a paralysis jutsu into the black mass that she assumed was his stomach. The light generated from the jutsu was quickly consumed by little dark creatures that nested nearby. It was in that moment she realized the mass in front of her was not Shozo, but a clone made entirely of insects. It wasn't just the dome that was made of insects, it was the entire area, every nook and cranny inside the dome was occupied by bugs. Rekka waved her hand around, and sure enough bugs filled the air. Shivers ran down her spine. This was definitely something she hadn't seen before. Could this boy be another genius shinobi?

As intrigued as she was, Rekka could not afford to waste time playing with the bug boy. She turned around and dodged as several more nets came flying at her. Accept this time it was from multiple locations. Rekka fired several paralysis jutsu into random locations in the dome. As each ball of light traveled they were quickly eaten by the insects. What fascinated her, was the boy's ability to control the insects enough, so that his attacks had a clean path of travel, while hers' were being destroyed by the creatures mid flight. If only she had more time, she could dissect the brilliance of this strategy. Rekka ran forward then dodged another darknet, then she held her ninja tool towards the ground.

"Sorry kid" she spoke to herself.

The once light hum on her wrist, turned into a nightmarish screech that vibrated the entire dome, the surrounding insects began to cry out as if they were in an immense amount of pain. The sound drowned out their cries and was replaced with the screams of a thousand souls being tortured in the fires of hell. With one activation she released a jutsu [ Water prison Jutsu] the sheer size and volume of the jutsu dwarfed the entire dome made of insects. Every inch of the dome was engulfed in water, the bugs began to drown and wither away. Then Rekka unleashed [ Paralysis Jutsu] the electricity danced through every atom in the water and turned the insects to crisp, as they melted into dust. The darkness cleared away, and several feet from Rekka, was Shozo's unconscious body. Rekka held her breath then swam like a shark toward his location. She held him in her arms then released the jutsu.A slight tingling sensation exited her body.

The dome of water collapsed as she landed on the tree branch below. Shozo was still breathing lightly as she placed him down.

"Dam kid, not bad at all."

She reached into her pocket and grabbed the red marker, then drew a giant letter x across his jacket. Rekka turned around and looked at what was left of team eight, then she picked Shozo back up and placed him next to Tsume, who slept soundly next to Hiyoto. The brown dog who licked Tsume's face stopped and growled at her. Rekka stroked it's head and fed it a small treat. This team was the future of this city and nothing made her feel more proud. With that she continued her search for team seven.

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Braun stood valiantly in the middle a small open field. He had just finished dispatching a group of students and contemplated his place in the competition. He had bested his foe Rekka by entering the forest before she could, it goes without saying he had this competition in the bag. Being an expert navigator of these woods gave him quite the advantage. With his chest held up high and his rippling muscles poised perfectly, the rain dripped down his physique. Oh what a sight it would be, he would exit the forest with crowds of students cheering him on, the sun would bless his skin as the water on his flesh created steam that would lift off his body as he declared his himself victor. Oh lady Rekka would you marry an old fool in love? or perhaps go on a date? This was a dream he wanted to make reality, and by capturing these little ducklings, surely he would make his dreams come true.

Tilting his head up to the sky, Braun stroked his chin. Hmm yes, yes. It will be the classic tale of guy meets hard to please girl, and he would sweep her, off her feet and declare himself champion. As Braun continued to daydream, three students stood just a few feet in front of him. They were breathing heavily as the rain poured down over Braun's bald head. Suddenly three jutsu launched towards him and struck him in the chest. But upon contact the jutsu did not make him budge, not an inch. In fact the jutsu dispersed entirely. This was the fifth round of attacks Braun had withstood from the trio. And with every attack he just stood there, completely unphased. Braun stopped day-dreaming.

"You have to put more POWER into your attacks my little one's" Braun shouted at the top of his lungs. Then he placed both hands at his side and began to laugh.

"This is how you do it! take note at my amazing form" he extended his body and flexed his muscles as if though he were going to throw a football. With his ninja tool directly Infront of his face he activated [Utility scroll: Darknet Jutsu]. A large net quickly shot out from his hand and engulfed one of the students who shrieked before falling to the ground.

"HaHa YES! this is the way forward, one down and two to go!"

Braun propositioned the students an early victory if they could capture him, he told them he would not move from the spot he stood. And if they managed to knock him out, they would win the competition. The only catch was, they were not allowed to run away. The three students looked confident in the beginning of the deal, but now, one of them had fallen and the other two were trying to muster up the courage to continue attacking him. Braun was a man of his word and as the greatest, most beautiful specimen that was, he would set an example for these budding shinobi. He would not move from this spot.

"Cmon you two put your back into it, show me what you ladies can do, ah HA YES!" Braun struck another pose.

The remaining two students activated their ninja tools and another volley of jutsu struck Braun. A net wrapped around his body tightly and covering the net was a medium sized body of water. Braun laughed, then flexed both his arms, the net snapped and the water exploded into a million droplets. The wide eyes of the students reflected perfectly what was going on inside of their heads. They shook uncontrollably as they readied another attack. But before they could muster the courage to shoot again, Braun had already fired another net at one of the students. But this time the net traveled slow, but covered enough area it could swallow them both. One of the students jumped out of the way while the other wrestled on the ground as the net covered every inch of their body.

"Good hustle!" Braun threw up both hands as if he just scored a field goal.

( Muffling noises) the student on the ground, mouth was covered as they tried to speak, but the net was wrapped perfectly around his entire body.

"And you, put more pep in your step!"

Braun looked at the remaining student, he then turned around and flexed his upper back muscles.

"Can you see what hard work and dedication brings my - . "

Braun turned his head to look at the student, but the boy took off running in the opposite direction.

"The deal is OFF, come here my little lamb."

Braun positioned his hands into a square frame, as if he was getting ready to compose a scene for a movie. With one hand extended he fired a small net that ripped through the air and caught up with its' target in no time at all. The net wrapped around the feet of the student and caused him to hit the ground.

"Booya! and that is what happens when you break your promise, I dare say."

Braun reached into his sash and grabbed a blue marker and smoke signal. He walked over to each student and wrote words of encouragement onto their foreheads.

' You can be the greatest'

'With hard work, comes.... hard work'

' With one foot in front of the other, you can do it'

Braun wasn't much of poet. But what he was going to be was a married man soon. To be sure of his future, he wanted to see how the competition faired. So he looked for the tallest tree he could find. Once he found his target he quickly began to climb as high as he could. He stood at the top of the tree and he looked over the forest. What he saw caused his eyes to widen and his mouth to open. There were dozens of red smoke present all over the forest. His eyes bounced around as he attempted to count how many there were.

"Oh my."