Enter, the Chuunin Exams: Phase Two---The Forest of Death
[Third Person POV]
"Midori!" exclaimed Aoi from the branch above, causing said blonde to rip her gaze away from the path ahead and carry it to the trees above.
"You shouldn't be speaking Aoi---enemies could be all around us." she said, her voice low, yet loud enough for the ravenette to hear her.
Aoi nodded quickly to herself as she set her sights ahead.
They're t-tough, said the clone to Midori, telepathically, they've taken down the clone of you and now they're aiming to take down the clone of Aoi.
The blonde balled her hands into tight fists, causing her knuckles to whiten. "Jerks," she hissed, "killing off the girls first---how sexist of you."
"What's their position?" asked Ken in a calm, low voice, his golden eyes fixated on the path ahead.
Midori glanced over her left shoulder and stared back at him. "We're nearly twelve meters away from them. Be ready for any traps or surprises."
The fiery-haired lad subtly nodded and pulled out a fresh, sharp kunai from his right thigh's pouch. Life or death, he thought, they will be the ones not making it out of here, not us.
Aoi unstrapped her bow and knocked an arrow into the string, preparing herself. "Gotcha, blondie." she whispered.
Midori opted to not draw any weapon just yet because it was too early in her opinion. Her eyes suddenly widened as the remaining clone, the Ken one, transmitted this message to her:
I-I'm s-sorry, it muttered, the clone's voice slowly fading, but we . . . have . . . failed.
There was silence afterwards, for Midori knew that her clone had dissipated into nothing more than a mere pile of mud. I should've known, she thought, that my clones wouldn't be capable enough of fighting real shinobi they, nor we, knew nothing about. She internally slapped herself in the face for being so ignorant of these facts.
"Ken, Aoi," said Midori in an unusually sharp tone. "We have no other option but to engage them from the shadows. The memories from my clones . . . they showed me that the enemy is too skilled in taijutsu and close-range ninjutsu."
Aoi stared straight ahead as she leapt to the next branch ahead of her, momentarily clutching the bark of it with her porcelain, still slightly scar-covered, hand.
Ken's golden eyes never wavered once as he carried them to the ground and subtly nodded. "Understood." he muttered, his face hardened and cold. What if he's . . . no, thought Ken, that's impossible. He'd never come here.
"Should we take this at different angles, blondie?" asked Aoi from above.
Midori pondered the possibilities of them splitting up and attacking the enemy from three other directions, then nodded. "It would give us a slight advantage over the enemy, if not a winning chance. We'll split up. Both of you can create clones, right?"
"Pft!" Aoi scoffed. "Simple clones; yeah. Just not any of that big-wig shit that you do."
Midori smirked. "Good," she said, "you should both make one to stick with you." She quickly performed a set of hand seals and formed a clone from wood out of her left shoulder blade. "They'll keep you company and give you an extra pair of eyes." The clone glanced over at its creator, nodded, then leapt onto the branch above. Before following after her clone, Midori looked over shoulder briefly and said, "When you both make it there and are on either side of me, I want you to break off a small twig from a nearby branch and drop it to the ground so it'll let me know that you've both made it."
They both nodded, agreeing to follow through with the plan.
Midori sent them a gleaming thumbs-up before leaving Ken and Aoi to do their parts.
Ken raised his hands and stared at them. Create a . . . clone? he thought, What hand seals was that agai---?
Almost as if she'd read his thoughts, Aoi sighed and said, "Tiger, boar, ox, dog," and went ahead of him with her clone traveling beside of her.
Ken knelt down and focused his chakra as much as possible then performed the hand signs. He waited for something to happen . . . but nothing did.
What's wrong with me? he wondered. Why can't I make a simple clone?!
"Damn it," he muttered as he ignored this odd occurrence and picked up his speed after his comrades, "if I can't make a clone . . . then I'll just have to focus on keeping those two idiots alive."
***
Midori paused nearly twenty feet away from the enemy, sidling against the mossy bark of a tree, she peered around the corner and counted each enemy: three. Two of them wore black masks that hid their features from the nose down. All were slightly sunburnt on the visible pale aspects to their bodies. Only one, the enemy with their face uncovered, was female; she held the most of the burns for her hair was a dashing shade of reddish-orange, and her skin was extremely freckled.
Midori shifted her gaze to her left and spotted Aoi crouched on a branch nearly twelve feet up with her clone right behind her. She nodded to herself, then peered over to her right, just as Ken landed on the branch at the same height as Aoi. However, he was alone.
The two, Aoi and Ken, reached over to an immediate branch and snapped a twig loose from its base, then let it near-soundlessly fall to the ground. Taking notice of their signal, Midori crouched down, preparing herself to initiate the operation.
The blonde angled herself to the side, her eyes set on her clone, then numbly bobbed her head. You know what to do, she said through their mental link.
Midori then glanced between Aoi and Ken, catching that their attention was fixated on her, she beckoned her hand towards the enemy, informing them that it was time for them to commence. Aoi smirked as a signal towards her fiery-haired teammate.
Ken heaved out a low breath as he ran his calloused fingers through his somewhat spiky locks. Bringing the rough appendages upward, he then erupted into a swift set of hand seals. "Fire-Style: Blazing Nightmare Jutsu," he muttered as he placed his hand underneath his chin and blew out a massive cloud of ashen gray smoke into the clearing.
That ought to do the tric---.
"What the hell?!" shouted Aoi, causing both, Ken and Midori to swiftly shift their furious eyes over to her.
"Aoi!" said Midori, whispering. "Are you trying to give away our positi---?!"
The long raven-haired girl's clone disappeared in a quick, white cloud of smoke as the real Aoi fell from the branch above and to the ground. "Get this fire off of me!" she exclaimed as she frantically stood to her feet and rushed out into the clearing.
The three Mist enemies within the ashen cloud had all but disappeared from sight.
Having knowledge of the situation, Midori sent her clone out, after her hallucinating friend in hopes that it would be of use, however . . . once her clone was less than four feet away, she was suddenly hoisted into the air and left suspending, hanging by her feet, held secure with a tight rope.
"Aoi, calm down, it's only a genjutsu!" explained Ken, his tone sharp and serious as he leapt down from his branch and after the frantic girl.
Seeing as how Ken was now racing towards Aoi, Midori left the scene in search of the real trio of enemies.
Sorry, you guys, she thought as she placed both of her hands together, you're going to hate me for deserting you . . . but it's what must be done. Closing her eyes, she concentrated on molding the two natures, Earth and Water, together. I'll do everything in my power, she thought, opening her glowing green orbs, to get you two out of this mess.
***
"Tch," scoffed Ken as he examined the confines that held him upside down, "you have to be kidding me."
Aoi allowed her arms to dangle towards the ground, which was almost three feet away from her reach, as she groaned. "There's no sense in complaining about it, Kenny; we're all stranded here."
Midori glanced over at Aoi from her upside-down position and sighed. "I just hope that the enemy forgot about this booby-trap and moved o--."
"Your hope should be gone now," said a suave, hissing voice to the group's right, causing their attention to shift from one another to the trio of Hidden Mist ninja making their way out of the shrubbery. In lead was the red-haired girl, a kunai swirling around her index finger and a smirk on her peach-colored lips.
"God dammit, Midori!" shouted Aoi as she forced herself to swing over at the girl, whacking at her with her fist. "You jinxed us!"
The Hidden Mist ninja all snickered at the blonde and her dark-haired friend before the one to the red-haired girl's right spoke up, "We'll be taking that Earth Scroll of yours now, you piss-haired brat."
Midori slipped her hand into her kunai pouch and grabbed a fresh knife, then pointed it at the ninja. "Go ahead," she said, gritting her teeth, "try to take it from me!"
The three shinobi shared amused glances with one another then took hurried steps towards the girl, causing her eyes to widen and mouth to open in shock as they closed in on her and easily unarmed her and took the Scroll. Without another word, the trio left through the shrubbery, vanishing from the Genins' sight.
Aoi blanched as she stared at her friend and crossed her arms. "Really?" she said, mockingly. "You practically handed them our Scroll, blondie."
Midori sweat dropped and spun around, away from Aoi. "Ah heh," she chuckled, "it's not my fault they took it from me."
Ken arched his eyebrow. "Not your fault?" he said, his nose twitching. "You provoked them, didn't believe they'd try, then was proven wrong when they snatched it right out of your pocket. Now tell me: how the hell wasn't it your fault?"
Midori groaned and allowed her arms to dangle to the ground as she swayed herself back and forth. "Okay, I get it! I should learn to keep my mouth shut at serious moments!" She closed her eyes. "Sheesh."
Do they suspect anything? inquired the real Midori, telepathically to the clone dangling from the ropes.
Not yet, answered the clone.
Good, said Midori, her voice sounding partially excited, do you think I should come back and get you all down?
The clone tapped her chin in thought. Hmm, she said, I think we'll be down in a bit; go ahead of us. I'll talk these two into formulating a strategy.
I suppose I'll have to trust your intuition then, Midori, said the real one, after all, you are me. Both internally laughed, before they both grew serious and continued with their own problems.
****
It's truly been too long since I last updated, but I promise I will start updating more frequently than I've been because it's now my Summer Break from school----WOOHOOO! (/^o^)/