When the final stick was delivered by a beaten and bloodied Kumo team, Ryzo snapped it and turned to everyone that had passed the first test. "All of you with me." He turned and began running up the rock wall of the area.
My team quickly followed, moving at a slightly slower pace than the Iwa teams over the unfamiliar terrain.
I compared our chunin exams first round to what was Naruto's first Chunin Exams. And I could see a lot of difference but there was also the similarity in the fact that they tested our strategic thinking under pressure.
Naruto and the genins that took the test with him had to use their strategic thinking to cheat in an exam while under the invigilation of chunins.
We had to use our own strategic thinking to steal a stick under the eyes of hundred other genin team that would not hesitate to rip us apart for the stick.
Ryzo ran us around the village in a wide berth. For my team and the others that had finished quickly, keeping up wasn't an issue.
For the teams that had to fight for their sticks and had suffered injuries, it seemed hellish. One of the Kumo shinobi was leaking blood from a wound in his shoulder when he'd turned in his stick and was starting to look pale. It wouldn't surprise me if his team dropped out.
After Ryzo had ran us a little over halfway around the village, he suddenly stopped. He was standing on the edge of a cliff. In front of him was a valley.
A stream was visible through sparse trees and jagged rocks on the valley floor. Several kilometers away, almost even with the horizon, was a high rock wall that was on the other side of the valley.
"Tenjo!" Ryzo yelled, a scowl on his face. "You better not be sleeping on the job!"
"I'm right here, Ryzo."
The Kiri and Suna teams jumped as the tall, black-haired man rose out of the rock next to Ryzo. The only reason my team hadn't leapt back was because I'd held all of us, myself included, in place with the Shadow Imitation Technique. We were young and therefore already appetizing targets, I didn't need the other teams to also think we scared easily as more incentive to hunt us down.
"Good. They're your problem now. I'm heading to Bork's." Ryzo said. He vanished in a shunshin, leaving us alone with Tenjo. Tenjo, like Ryzo, wore a rock headband and jonin jacket, but there wasn't much else notable about him.
"My name is Tenjo Osuki. I will be the proctor of the second test of the Chunin Exams." He stuck a thumb over his shoulder.
"Behind me you'll see the venue for the second test. We call this the Valley of Crows, because the crows always have something to feed on. Your task is to make it to the other side of the valley and meet me there But,"
He said, glaring at an Iwa team as they moved to leap off the cliff. "There is another detail. In order for your team to pass, you must have a captured nin from another team with you and you must reach the other end of the valley in no more than five days. How you capture them is up to you to decide, but the hostage must be alive when you reach the other end of the valley. As nin, there will be many missions where you'll need to take a target alive. Consider this practice for that. Are there any questions?" Tenjo asked, looking around the group of gathered genin.
There were forty-five of us here. The valley was about to turn into a warzone.
The Kumo kid who'd been hit in the shoulder raised his hand weakly.
"Yes?" Tenjo asked patiently.
"If I…withdraw. Can my team participate…without me?" The Kumo kid was struggling to speak. He needed a medic soon or he'd bleed out.
Tenjo nodded. "The only rule is that a team must have a living hostage at the other end of the valley in five days to pass. A team of two or a lone individual that arrives with a living hostage will still pass the test."
The Kumo kid looked at his teammates. "Sorry, guys." When his teammates gave him encouraging nods, he turned back to Tenjo and said, "I'd like to withdraw."
Out of nowhere, an ANBU in a mask styled to look like the face of a two-dimensional ghost appeared at Tenjo's side. "Please take him to the med nin, Spirit-san." Tenjo said.
The ANBU picked the Kumo kid up bridal style and vanished.
Another hand went up, this one that of an Iwa kunoichi.
"Yes?" Tenjo said, his patient air still about him.
"Is killing allowed?"
The atmosphere turned tense after the question was asked. The remaining genin were watching each other warily out of the corner of their eyes.
"The only rule is that a team must reach the other side of the valley with a living hostage in no more than five days to pass the test." Tenjo said. There was no change in his tone of voice.
The Iwa girl grinned evilly. She made eye contact with one of the shinobi from Suna and licked her lips. I didn't know what her issue was with that guy – maybe they'd traded blows fighting over a stick? – but I was happy she'd be trying to kill someone other than me.
"Are there any more questions?" Tenjo asked. When no one spoke up, he said, "You will be allowed into the valley in the order you finished the first test. There will be a fifteen minute gap in between each team. Team 42, you were first. You may enter the valley."
The Iwa team that had beaten us to Ryzo in the first test shot off into the valley, running down the face of the cliff and quickly disappearing among the trees and rocks below.
The more teams that were allowed into the valley before you, the more likely you would be to walk into a trap or an ambush. It was good we were going second.
"It will likely take us a full day to reach the other side of the valley while moving at a cautious pace." Misa said quietly after pulling us away from the other genin teams, her byakugan still active as she watched the genin around us.
"Should we set a trap?" Kenji asked, his eyes narrow as they flicked between our competitors.
"No. Too much risk of the other teams showing up after the fight and taking us out while we're tired." I said.
"Then we move to the other side quickly and set up a defensive position?" Misa asked.
"Unless either of you have a better plan? We can take a hostage easily. It's making it out with that hostage that will be tricky."
Kenji nodded. "We'll stick with your plan."
The three of us fell silent as we waited for our turn to enter.
Tenjo hadn't moved since appearing. When fifteen minutes was up, he said, "Team 3, you may enter the valley."
Misa, Kenji and I took off down the side of the cliff, Misa's byakugan active as she watched for any traps or other nasty surprises the Iwa team might have left for us.
The second stage of the Chunin Exams had begun.
---------Author Notes--------
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