25Chuunin exams: part 2
Izana sighed in relief and thanked his lucky stars Ren and Miyu weren't scared away by Morino. They were both rather timid in situations that had dire consequences. He was rather proud of them for being courageous enough to stay, even if they risked never getting a chance for the exam again.
Ren and Miyu quickly met up with Izana and complained about the content of the test.
"It was way too hard. Even with your help in reviewing the content, I couldn't even answer half. I had to use all kinds of ways to look for answers from other people's test papers." Miyu said as she wiped away imaginary tears. He could see her glancing at Ren with a smirk, giving a small victory sign when she thought Izana wasn't looking.
"No shit, I had to ask Nero to look for the answers." Ren said as he patted his Ninken, Nero, on the head. Nero barked in pride, tugging playfully at Ren's hair, as if indicating Ren's head was filled with fluff anyway.
Izana chuckled slightly, praising the both of them for a bit.
"Well, you made it so that's all that matters. Great work you two. Though if I have to say something, it's really surprising that barely twenty teams made it. I would have guessed more teams would pass, as their village's would surely have prepared them for this." Izana said as he looked around at the other surviving teams. It was evenly spread, as each village had around the same amount of teams still participating.
"Let's hope the next test won't be so hard." Miyu said as she crossed her fingers and hoped for the best. She even went as far as to give a small prayer to anything she believed in, even confectionary, to grant her a passing mark on the exam.
Izana looked at Miyu and couldn't help but feel she was a bit naive. If she thought this test was hard, then the next test would most likely be hell for her. As far as he knew, the first test would always be the easiest, as all were. It was common knowledge, as it was often used in books. Go from easy to difficult in a steady pace, weeding out those who are inferior and won't make the cut. Today surely won't be any different.
As Izana had thought, it was soon announced that the next test would be held at the Bloody Marshes. The test would take place one week from now and the participants had to sign a liability waiver, as the area was very dangerous and the village couldn't guarantee their well-being. It was a dangerous area, one where more than a few people had died.
He needed ample preparation to clear this test.
Izana bade farewell to Miyu and Ren and went home to take a rest. He had to look up about the terrain and about the pecularities the Bloody Marshes might have.
Once back, Izana was greeted by Mikoto as she congratulated him for passing the first test. Izana told Mikoto about the little information he got for the next test and she easily told Izana about it. She knew more about that place than most, as she had often trained there in her free time, way before Itachi and Sasuke had been born.
"Bloody Marshes is the forty-eighth training ground that is one of the possible locations for the Chūnin exams. Like the name says, it's mostly compromised of marshes, while the other part are forests and rivers. There are also a few plains, but they are really small. The flora and fauna are poisonous, with few edible plants around. The animals inside it are big and very aggressive to humans."
Mikoto said, slightly concerned for Izana's well being. It was a dangerous place, even for veteran shinobi. One misstep and it could lead to a fate worse than death.
"You need to be careful out there. Make sure you come back in one piece. It doesn't matter if you fail the exam, you can always try next year." Mikoto said as she pulled Izana into a hug.
Izana hugged her back, saying "I know, I'll be careful."
Izana had planned to ask something else, as he wanted to know if Mikoto knew about the coup, but he decided to postpone asking till after he finished the exams. The exams shouldn't take too long and if something went wrong, he would race back as soon as possible to stop it.
.
.
.
A week passed by uneventfully and Ren, Miyu and Izana met up near the Bloody Marshes. Like all the other training grounds, it was surrounded with steel fences, prickly wire running above it and wires with electricity strung about.
More and more teams gathered until all the participants had arrived. The groups waited for a long time for the proctor to arrive, but after an hour he still didn't come.
"I wonder if the proctor is directionally challenged?" Miyu said, her words hiding barbs.
Izana shook his head as it was very unlikely for a shinobi to be directionally challenged, especially if he was to be a proctor for the exams.
"He's more likely to be challenged time wise than directionally." Izana murmured.
"I heard that." ???
Izana looked back in surprise as he hadn't noticed the person behind him.
"Ryuujin, what were you doing?" Izana thought.
[You didn't feel him coming?] Ryuujin said a bit mockingly, silently criticizing Izana for letting his guard down.
"Alright, I wasn't paying attention." Izana thought, giving up immediately when Ryuujin adopted the mocking tone. If he didn't give in, he would surely be tormented with more training. A fault is a fault, especially since he had been careless.
The man that had appeared behind him had short silver hair, while half of his face was covered. The forehead protector was slanted down and hid his left eye.
"Etto, Nice to meet you all. My name is Hatake Kakashi and I will be your proctor for the second part of the exam." Kakashi said with a monotonous tone. He didn't really seem to bother with sounding interested. He surely didn't look like it.
Izana didn't blame him as he definitely had better things to do than look after a group of Genin. He could even see a corner of a book peek out Kakashi's hip bag. It was probably important information as he kept it close to him.
"Well then, let me explain the gist of it. Each team gets a scroll. In it is information about multiple items you need to harvest or steal from inside the Marshes. The participants must deliver each of the items in pristine condition to the building in the middle of the Bloody Marshes. I don't care if you trade or negotiate, you must deliver all of your items. Killing is forbidden, participants are allowed to forfeit, the exam lasts for seven days. If you can't reach the building with your designated items within seven days, you will fail the test. Now then, each team grab a scroll and a sealing scroll for your items. You will be led by an examiner towards different areas." Kakashi motioned to the people who had appeared beside him.
"Then last of all, Good luck and be sure to survive."
Leaving those omnious words, Kakashi disappeared in the forest.
Each team grabbed a scroll, a sealing scroll and one that would hold their items, and was led by an examiner towards different areas. Once Izana and his team were left at a small river, the person that guided them went up in a cloud of smoke.
Miyu and Ren were still a bit dazed but when the horn sounded, they both became ready to depart. The exam had started.
Taking a peek into the scroll, he confirmed they needed to collect four items.
- The Blooming Cap, a poisonous mushroom with a purple cap and yellow crescents resembling a flower.
- A silver crest serpent.
- The red identity tag of a shinobi proctor.
- A piece of black iron from the Turbid Lake.
Writing down all that he knew about the items and their possible whereabouts, the team departed shortly after.
Izana and his team jumped across the trees and kept moving. Meanwhile Miyu looked closer at the map Izana had given her, carefully directing them on where to go, while also keeping an eye on her surroundings.
"We need to head east to reach the Turbin Lake, as it is closest to our location." Miyu said as she folded the map and safely put it away in a paper seal and hid it on her body. This one was her personal paper seal, avoiding using the one from the exam, as it might be stolen in the future.
"Let's first see where the building to deliver or items is. We need to gain more insight on the terrain and we need all the help we can get. My map isn't allknowing as things often change in this place." Izana said as he stopped on a branch, bit his thumb and slammed his hand downwards.
"Summoning jutsu."
A cloud burst forth, revealing seven to eight black panthers from sizes that were equal of Izana's own height.
"Izana, why did you call us?" The slightly bigger panther said as he spoke for the others.
"I need to know where the examiners building is and where these items could be. Our priority is the Silver crest serpent and the Proctor with a red tag. Think you can help us?" Izana said.
"No problem, leave it to us." The panther said as they all shunshined away.
"Now we just need to wait. I the mean time we need to gather water and food. We don't want to be weakened when possibly engaging the other teams. We don't know how many items there are and who has the same items on their list. An ambush is not ruled out." Izana said as they all did their own tasks. Miyu went to fill the bottles with freshly filtered and purified water, while Ren and Izana hunted the small edible animals they could find or gathered the edible plants.
Not that long later all the resources for their camp had been gathered and the panthers returned with their information.