The First Meeting (Squad Nine Only/No killing)

Upon reaching the top of the roof, the purple-haired girl was caught by surprise as she saw her sensei stood right in front of her. She gasped in surprise as she watched Daisuke advance towards her, arm outstretched and reaching for her, supposedly. Her eyes made a quick sweep of the ramen stall's rooftop, seeing how the roof was being busted by a currently unknown party. Takeshi should be approaching any second now. But that didn't help her dilemma that she was currently being targeted. Out of her sheer surprise, her left foot moved backwards and met nothing but air. She was standing on the very edge of the roof, after all. Her eyes opened wider with pure shock, and before long, she felt gravity doing its job on her body. Try as she might, there was no way to right herself.

Her right foot followed the left, and before long she was falling backwards through thin air, with only time for her to shriek with sheer surprise and terror. Her back was currently facing the ground, and she tried to manouvre her body so that she was falling upright and could see around herself better. Her heart was racing, and her adrenaline was pumping; she was desperate at this point not to fall straight down onto the ground. A fall from fifteen feet was going to hurt!

She looked down and saw the mounted swinging sign, the kanji on which spelled out 'Ichiraku Ramen'. That was going to be her target. She lunged her left arm forward and reached for the top of the sign, crying out softly at the impact and tugging feeling on her whole body from the pain. Yes, she was a slight girl with barely any meat on her bones, but gravity acting upon her made her considerably heavier than she was used to dealing with. Her arm strained to hold her up on the sign, and she grunted softly before letting go, bending her knees and rolling onto the street to break her fall. She was panting, and it was then that she allowed herself some pause to catch her breath. Physical activity did not come easily to her, and she already felt rather spent. That, and falling off a building without much time to react had set her heart racing.

Her knees felt a little weak from the whole experience, in all truthfulness; while she never admit as such, she noticed it. She slowly took deep breaths and was able to steady her breathing again, but by that point their sensei had taken off again. 'This test is insane!' She thought to herself, shaking her head and slowly lowering her clenched left fist while uncurling her fingers. A few cuts had been inflicted upon her from the way in which she had caught herself; the top of the sign wasn't the smoothest, and had some jagged pieces sticking up where she had grasped on. At the time, she hadn't even noticed because of her adrenaline rushing. Now they were starting to sting a little.

'I can't worry about this now. We have to tag Daisuke-sensei if we want any chance to prove ourselves to him!' She thought, turning and looking up at the building she had fallen from, hoping that her comrades would be down soon to regroup and aid her.

Words: 559
Total Word Count: 6643

Takeshi had indeed taken a bit longer to reach the shop's roof than his female companion but the time it did take was a bit shorter than their sensei had seemed to anticipate. Though the young boy was far from adept at using the wall climbing technique, the desire to follow his friend and thought of helping her had served as excellent motivation to help Takeshi forget his own limitations in that regard. The three figures crested the building, landing on the roof just in time to see Chikami's form stumbling backwards, her form unable to recover from the sudden offensive by their sensei. She was going to fall! At seeing this Takeshi felt his teeth sinking hard into his own tongue. Shit! And like that he was rushing toward her in a mad sprint, his body diving forward in front of their sensei's and landing with a firm impact on the wooden roof, most likely passing right in front of the Jounin while paying the older woman no mind as his hand moved down in a desperate attempt to grab hold of his companion. Due to the postion of the female's body and how Takeshi had managed to place his own body, his hand would find it's place around her ankle, grasping tightly to arrest the girl's descent as he felt the sudden and rather painful tug on his shoulder from the action.

"Rrngh!"

Takeshi's voice wavered as a low grunt escaped his throat. Ideally the boy wanted to pull the girl to safety, hoisting her back up onto the roof where she could recover but sadly the grip on her ankle, while tight, wasn't entirely stable. Sweaty palms caused the girl's appendage to slowly slip further and further. He was going to drop her at this rate! With another powerful grunt Takeshi's arm began to swing back and forth, his shoulder joint crying out in pain as Chikami's body would begin to sway back and forth from her upside down position.

"Chikami! Focus your chakra to your hands and feet!"

Takeshi's voice cried out in a somewhat pained tone as he continued to swing her, doing his best to build up momentum. Four arm swings were given, accompanied by a verbal count down that was made loud enough for the girl to hear.

"One! Two! Three! Go!"

As soon as the the signal was given, Takeshi's grip loosened as he tossed the girl's body with all his might in the direction of an adjacent building, hoping the slight shift in the girl's trajectory would give her enough time to right herself and stop her descent by using her chakra. Once the girl had been released the boy would lie there for a moment, his arm hanging painfully over the building's edge as his shoulder continued to sear with pain due to the recent strain.

So distracted was the blonde with helping his friend that the two illusionary clones had long vanished. Along with that, Takeshi had completely missed the sound and impacting feeling of the section of roof suddenly being destroyed. Given the scenario though, if Daisuke spent even a second watching the events unfold he would have most likely been tagged by Makoto's sudden appearance, the only real way of avoiding the Senju's hand being that Daisuke would have tried to run from the scene the moment Chikami had fallen. For the time being at least, Takeshi had seemed to have forgotten all about the task at hand, the thought not even registering until Chikami was safe.

Makoto's head emerged from the roof amidst a myriad of wooden shards. The sound like crackling lightning pierced through the calm dark. He could see each one floating through the air like a feather. As they drew nearer he closed his eyes as he braced for the inevitable. They were a lot softer than he had anticipated. The feather like shards caressed his cheek gently, almost like a kiss. It was as if his mother had just put on a fresh coat of red lipstick and gave him lots of kisses, similarly to that of his first day at the academy. However it seems his mother's kisses were haphazard on this day, as the kissy marks were not a stamp of her perfect round, soft lips; they were much more feral and jagged. He opened his eyes and looked up at the figure he was about to touch. It was Chikami. Thinking quickly, He twisted his body to the right, hoping it would be enough to avoid groping his teammate. His hand came into contact with something soft.NO!! thought to himself terrified that he had just violated his teammate. It was Chikami's thigh. Makoto breathed out in relief. He was now in front of her. As his shoulders cleared the threshold of the roof his emerald spheres darted around, trying to orient himself. Out of the corner of his right eye he caught a glimpse of a tall blonde figure. The green spheres focused to absorb more information. The blonde figure had his back turned to the young senju about four feet away. What is he-... his thought got cut short. The blonde figure jumped into the air towards a building that was directly in front of Makoto. The building was about 40 feet away. This building was the one directly across the street from the entrance of the ramen shop . perfect he thought to himself, his hands instinctively forming the ram seal as soon as soon as the blonde haired figure's feet left the ground. six three-foot long hands with a diameter of  four inches each erupted from the boy's shoulders instantaneously. Luckily he had positioned himself with clear line of site of the target and no way of hurting his teammate, due to her being behind him. The rest of his body then cleared the roof. The hands were arranged in a pentagon with one in the center, each a seven inches apart, aimed directly at the back of the mid-air blonde figure. The one in the center was aimed directly at the chest, positioned right between his pectoral muscles, which would the wind to be knock out of him. By the time the hands would reach the target he would be about 8 feet from the threshold of the ramen roof. The hands would reach the target in half of second due to the spikes moving faster than the blonde figure. The spikes spikes would pierce four inches into the flesh if hit. Being in the air would seriously limit the blonde figures options. Makoto smiled. Makoto then tensed his body to give chase if need be.

Jutsu Used:

Chakra: 12.5-107.5=95
Chakra Remaining: 95

Word Count: 522
Thread Total WC: 4344

Takas plan had been quite successful as she had slammed the girls hands together. However the missing Genin had leaped out from the roof and began a roll towards her. Before then Taka had already made her jump and sailed backwards towards a building across the street. She was moving extremely fast and had already made it 10 feet by the time the boy had finished his roll forward. Taka was 20 feet away from the Ramen shop now and by now the young Senju had made a hand sign, Taka traveled another 10 feet backwards. Taka by now knew what was coming and had at least a couple of seconds to respond, she prepared herself. She ripped her upper body like a chain saw and twisted her spine as much as she could in order to turn herself sideways and move her center of mass away from the traveling pentagon. This caused her to shift positions, her center of mass was now a good 14 inches away from the center hand in the pentagon that had fired from the Senju. She had dodged it! However Taka had curled her body like that of a cat in order to maximize the distance and in her drunken stooper she had forgot that her arms could be hit. The wooden hand that was closest to her flew right next to Taka right hand which was extended nearby. As it got closer Taka knew she was going to be hit. The tip of the right index finger of the wooden hand brushed against the palm of Takas hand. This touch would be unnoticeable by the Genin, it might be see able but no one could tell if it hit or not, only Taka knew.

"Shit!" Taka yelled as she sailed over the building next to the ramen shop. She quickly began to drop and her feet sprung out and caught self. She skidded a bit across the barren roof. Taka then began to walk over towards the edge. When she the edge she cranked her legs and gave a forward jump back to the roof of the ramen shop. 'They got me, little runts. Just by a hair....damn booze' Taka thought. The young Senju had tricked through the meaning of what Taka had meant about touching with one of your hands. A sober Taka would have ignored the touch as the context was meaning their actual hand. However this wasn't a sober Taka. So the handicap would help them in securing past the first test. Taka now landed back onto the roof of the Ramen shop and would allow the genin to get in there tags if they wished so, the roof would shake and almost buckle under the force from the landing Taka, which in turn caused a little chaos below. "Well...it seems you'e wun. Damn Makato-kun. Now to sober up." Taka said in a disgruntled voice. Taka sat down and crossed her legs. She began to breath deeply, all Taka was doing was collecting her thoughts and exerting self control. Trying to regain some cognitive ability. She couldn't a do a mental test without being somewhat sober.

Things had happened faster than Chikami could have comprehended fully, but she still understood at least what was going on. Their sensei had appeared in front of her as she crested over the ramen shop's roof and reached out to grapple both of her wrists. Try as she might, she had not been able to twist her hands or push them forward to get any form of contact on the man's body for a tag. She thought back to the explanation, and silently cursed as she remembered that this test had related to hands doing the tagging; not feet or any other appendage, like the arm. Daisuke had specified the hands. If he had not, the young purple-haired girl would have exploited it to the fullest and pulled a different maneuver than what she was being forced into. She was being spun around to take the place of her sensei in being tagged by Makoto, coming up through the roof thanks to a jutsu of his, no doubt. Her whole body tensed as she tried and failed to move, being held in place by Daisuke's grapple. He was much bigger and stronger than her, and based on his exemplary performance even while this drunk, he had to be at least a little familiar with Taijutsu.

Suddenly and out of the blue, she felt a hand reach up and grab/ smack her thigh. She knew who it must be, based on who had just emerged from the roof. Her cheeks flushed red at the touch she had felt at a very sensitive area, very close to her butt. She was at least pleased that he had managed to stop himself from touching that. Her held breath was let out in a steady stream, arms falling uselessly to her sides as she tried to gather herself. Even before she could start doing so, Makoto suddenly moved past her and used a jutsu; something which incorporated wooden hands.

'Perfect! If this hits...' She thought, deciding to place hope on a bit of a long-shot. Technically, the wooden hands were indeed hands, and Daisuke had specified that hands had to be used to tag him. So this would count, in a strange way. Instinctively, she found her fingers crossing and she hoped upon hope that this would be it. This physical challenge had been hard on her, it was clear to see for anyone that got close enough to her. She was breathing heavily from the exertion, and her body was trembling from the strange use of muscles that she wasn't used to. It hard to see whether or not the wooden hands had even touched their target, and just when Chikami was losing her earlier hope, she heard a loud curse from Daisuke. All of a sudden, the tall blonde male would leap back to the ramen shop roof and almost destroy it in the process. She awaited the words, just to be sure, that she had assumed correctly about the loud curse that was heard. He confirmed that they had won, which made her face light up into a smile. He sat down after stating that he had to sober up, supposedly for the mental challenge next, and that gave the Genin some time to celebrate their victory.

She turned to her Senju comrade and nodded at him, obviously pleased with his quick thinking that had ultimately won them the challenge. "Well done, Makoto-kun! You did great with tagging Daisuke-sensei!" She told him, her praising tone making it obvious that she was happy with the result. Her head turned and searched for her childhood friend, making sure that he was still around wherever he had moved to. She was delighted that her team mates seemed to resonate well with her, and they didn't seem to have the wish to pick on her. Takeshi would never do that, so she was lucky to have him on her team, especially given their promise to one another. And Makoto was a nice boy, one she could relate to quite well. Plus, he seemed to be highly skilled; a real step above her childhood friend, and especially her. She shifted to stand beside Takeshi, wherever he had ended up standing, and encouraged Makoto to stand beside her, or the blonde boy. She then looked expectantly at their sensei, waiting to find out what the mental challenge would entail.

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Total Word Count: 7376

Breathing heavily, the boy had managed to scale the building along with his clones, the three forms surrounding that of their sensei and his childhood friend. His eyes widened at the sight of the Jounin grabbing hold of Chikami's wrists before breaking into a sudden spin that force the two bodies to switch places, placing Daisuke's back to the road below. In the next moment the Jounin was in the air. So focused was the blonde haired Genin on the older ninja that he seemed to miss the fact that Makoto had managed to shatter a section of the roof directly behind the two females, his hand poised in an attempt to tag the Jounin. Sadly, due to the recent spinning maneuver the boy's hand was heading straight for Chikami's rear. The Senju, reacting far quicker than Takeshi felt he could never hope to match, managed to redirect his momentum just enough to send his hand toward Chikami's thigh as he tried to continue redirecting himself as not to barrel over the girl. The resulting scene seemed to unfold with the young Senju diving in a manner that barely spared the small girl a sudden and unpleasant collision that would have most likely sent her over the edge of the building.

By now Daisuke was in the air and not missing a beat Takeshi took off at a mad sprint toward the roof's edge. I'm not letting her get away! The internal voice snarled as the clones behind him vanished in two distinct puffs of smoke. Now there was only a single Kurosawa child chasing after the Jounin, his eyes narrowed in a determined expression. He had to catch her! He couldn't fail! Up until now he seemed to have been playing catch up with the rest of the group, following Chikami's lead while Makoto managed to formulate his own strategy. Without thinking the boy neared the edge and suddenly pushed off the wooden roof a second after Makoto managed to launch his rather unorthodox jutsu. The fact that the Senju had managed to launch such a jutsu had been completely lost on the blonde child as his body sailed through the air, but his flight path combined with his current velocity would be no where near the speed of the wooden projectiles. With wide eyes, Takeshi noticed the wooden missiles racing toward Daisuke.

"...Hands?"

The child choked slightly as his grip on his kunai loosened just a bit. From that moment the world seemed to move in slow motion. So fascinated was the blonde child in what was happening before him that he failed to notice how his body began to make its descent. While the jump itself had been rather impressive for a child of his age and skill level, taking him nearly thirty feet, it was no where near enough to clear the distance between the ramen stand and the building that Daisuke had been heading toward. It was only when he watched his sensei's body beginning to contort in the air in what looked like an attempt to dodge the projectiles that Takeshi snapped out of his daze. NOW! In that moment the boy's body whipped around in midair, spinning quickly as the kunai was launched in his sensei's direction at a break neck speed, careful to make sure that his projectile didn't manage to interfere with any of the Senju's, lest the combo attack be ruined. The fact that the Jounin had been "tagged" by wooden hands seemed to have eluded him. Such a thing surely couldn't count. The kunai would fly toward the older woman, spinning end over end just as Takeshi had intended. The goal wasn't to impale the female, but rather pelt the woman in the back of the head with the side or blunt portion of the kunai, taking advantage of the blind spot which was mostly directed toward the ground due to her currently stretched, sideways posture, and the fact that she seemed to be preoccupied with dodging Makoto's attack. The last thing he wanted was to spill her blood and thus he had taken great care to put the rather strange spin on the weapon in order to guarantee that she'd not be seriously harmed by the sudden pot shot.

Unfortunately Takeshi wouldn't manage to see whether the attack connected or not as he felt his body suddenly hit the ground. From the moment of impact his world went black as his body lost nearly all sense of muscle tension as the air in his lungs emptied in one sudden spurt and his mind instantly blacked.

A good minute and a half would go by before the sound of not-so-distant voices seemed to stir the young Kurosawa from his unconscious state. With a low groan, Takeshi's eyes slowly slid open, only to be greeted by a crowd of faces that both surrounded and stared down at him. Near his side was a middle aged man whom had managed to prop the boy's head up just a bit, cradling the youth's skull in his hand as his eyes stared desperately into Takeshi's. "Child! Are you alright?"

For that instant Takeshi felt stunned. What was going on? Why was he on the ground and why were all these people so close to him?! It was then that he remembered and in that sudden burst of clarity he found his trademark anger.

"Get off of me! Don't touch me!"

He'd yell, despite the fact that the sudden exertion made his head spin. Flailing his limbs, the boy slowly pulled himself to his feet, his body swaying unsteadily from side to side as the throng of bodies seemed to slowly spread and disperse, giving the child room to limp toward the ramen shop, a low growl escaping the base of his throat as his eyes searched the area for his team and their target - Daisuke-sensei.

"Where is she?!"

The words oozed with anger as his eyes continued their rapid flitting motions in order to catch some sign of where the group had gone.

Inventory Remaining:

Taka had leaped backwards and then noticed that another genin (Takeshi) had leaped with her. Taka made sure to keep some focus onto him as it seemed he had a kunai drawn and would most likely throw it at a opportune time and Taka would take note of this and make sure she was ready for his throw and keep an eye on him even during the dodge against the Senju attack. However the Senju had launched a attack before Takeshi and then Taka knew she must dodge this one first which she did. During Takas dodge against the Senju she had dodge to where she was facing Takeshi. This was highlighted by the fact it seemed the Takeshi had taken into account the attack by the Senju and threw to where it wouldn't interfere with each other, meaning Taka would be facing Takeshis front. The young boy did throw the kunai at Taka, due to the timing of the throw it would give Takeshi plenty of time to react as Taka had already finished dodging Senjus attack and now simply had to avoid the young boys throw which was a throw from around 25 feet. Right before the boy had thrown Taka locked onto the arm that held the kunai she knew the throw was coming because the boy had started the motion to give it power for a throw. Knowing the throw was imminent Taka readied herself for the throw and when the boy finally released it, Taka already knew it was headed right for her head! This made the dodge simple. Taka simply tilted her head to the right out of the way of Takeshis Kunai. The head tilting by Taka caused the Kunai that was original aimed at Takas head to now be aimed at nothing but air, the kunai sailed past Takas head and landed into a building harming no one. With dodging both Senjus and Takeshis attack, Taka would jump sail and land onto the roof unharmed. She would then continue what she was doing and leap back over pronouncing the genins victory.

Taka would sit down and wait slowly sobering up, a loud thud would be heard from someone crash landing. Taka ignored this herself and keep on with her own sobering up

Exit

Spoiler:

In the midst of Makoto's earlier attack on their sensei to try and tag him, Chikami's attention was drawn to her childhood friend who suddenly took off running and leapt off the building in pursuit of Daisuke. 'What... what on earth is he doing?' She thought, her eyes opening wide in sheer shock as she watched the blonde carry out his manouvre. He managed to jump rather impressively for his rank and physical capabilities, but still wasn't able to match their sensei; putting him below Daisuke. He then chose to throw a kunai end over end in an aim to get their sensei in some form, even if the hands did not reach their mark. It was an impressive combination attack; something that left the indigo-haired girl a little speechless while she merely stood and could only watch what was happening. The way in which is happened, Makoto's Mokuton jutsu managed to get a good hit on Daisuke's arm, and much to her surprise, sent the older man sailing over to the roof he was originally targeting to leap to. 'Perhaps overdid it a little...' She thought, watching the tall blonde man flying in that direction. She saw Takeshi's kunai sail past, presumably having not met its target, as it clattered to a stop on the ramen shop roof. The next thing she heard was a very distinctive thud and crash from below.

She gasped and pushed past Makoto to look down over the roof, seeing her childhood friend sprawled out on the ground. Civilians were muttering and looking at the scene as if it were some kind of freak show, while one man moved forward to see what was going on specifically and whether Takeshi was okay. He seemed to be out cold. 'Oh god... he could have really hurt himself this time...' She thought as she suddenly hefted herself up onto the ledge and then leapt down from the height, seeming to disregard the fact that she would be falling very fast. As she got closer to the ground, she realised that she was going far too fast to break her fall, and decided to take matters into her own hands right then. She channeled chakra into the palms of her hands and her feet, and then turned to face the front of the ramen shop. She used her chakra-infused appendages to act as sticky pads, slowing down her falling speed and allowing her to stop entirely right at the bottom of the restaurant.

She leapt away from the building and skidded down onto her knees beside her friend just as he was starting to wake up. "Takeshi-kun!" She called out loudly to him, already seeing his anger begin to flare while he looked at the stranger who was trying to make sure he was okay. The blonde boy pushed himself up to his feet and started to hobble towards the ramen shop while snarlig and growling about the fact that he couldn't find their sensei. That was indeed correct; Daisuke-sensei was on a building across the street, unless he had moved. Chikami hadn't been paying attention to him, and instead wanted to make sure her friend was okay. She scrambled to her feet to try and keep up with the disorientated boy, and stood straight in front of him, clasping her hands down firmly on his shoulders and forcing him to look at her.

"Don't worry about Daisuke-sensei, worry about yourself for a second!" She found herself borderline yelling. The realisation that she had raised her voice at her friend slowly started to sink in after she had done so, and her eyes started to lower while her cheeks flushed scarlet. "You could have broken your neck from what you did, Takeshi. And you may still have a concussion." She muttered, shaking her head to try and dispel her embarrassment and the horrible heavy feeling she felt from shouting at him. Never before had she been the one to yell at him. She remembered a few instances when he had shouted at her to stand up for herself for a change, or to not be so passive, or to be able to take a conflict. Now the tables seemed to have turned, albeit slightly. She hadn't meant to sound harsh; she was concerned about him, and that was why she had raised her voice. "We tagged him, and he's... wherever he currently is. Makoto's jutsu hit him in the arm and he went hurtling over there somewhere. Let's try and find him." She said in a calm, level tone, the redness slowly fading from her cheeks as she finally looked into his bluish green orbs. Before they went to find their sensei, however, she conducted a few basic tests to make sure he wasn't concussed. She made sure that his eyes followed her finger with no issues, he could remember his name, who he was and what he had been doing. When all of that checked out, they went to find Daisuke together.

Words: 837
Total Word Count for the Topic: 8213

Takeshi felt his body seize momentarily as a wave of pain surged through his form, causing his muscles to tighten for that moment. Despite his fondness of his female friend, the sight of her hadn't seemed to register in his rage filled mind. All that mattered to him was finding the female Jounin whom had started this insane exercise. Takeshi wasn't done yet. So far Chikami and Makoto had been the ones to do any real work. Takeshi had only had the chance to play second fiddle to Chikami's planning and Makoto's raw skill. It infuriated him. If only he could have a solid chance! Clenching his jaw at the thought, Takeshi's eyes darted around the ramen building, searching for any sign of their sensei. Where had she gone?! That was when he noticed Chikami suddenly rushing in front of him, her voice shattering his concentration as he turned his glare in her direction. The hands nor her raised voice did well to calm him down and only worked to further rile the blonde child up. There wasn't any time for him to worry about himself! He needed to catch her. It was only when Chikami went on to explain what had happened that Takeshi found himself slowly coming down from his emotional high.

"M-Makoto got him?"

Takeshi blinked several times as a familiar sinking feeling overcame him. Disappointment. The child's chance to prove himself better than his Senju classmate was gone. A small grunt of frustration would escape the young Kurosawa as his eyes darted away from Chikami's form in an attempt to mask his disappointment. It was painfully obvious that little regard was being paid to his own injuries while his mind was so focused on his own failure. It wasn't fair. It simply wasn't. Takeshi had always struggled in the academy but despite everything he had managed to make it this far. To come so far only to fall short again, it was more painful than he could have ever imagined. With a defeated sigh, the boy allowed his anger to melt away. There was no need for it now. Slowly the boy felt himself calming down as his eyes shifted back in Chikami's direction as she tried to make sure that he wasn't suffering from any ill effects from the fall. While the child had suffered some blunt force trauma all over his body from the large fall, he thankfully wasn't showing any signs of a concussion and thus was able to follow the girl's finger perfectly, remember his name, and detail just what had happened moments before he had fallen. Once Chikami seemed satisfied the two set off to find their sensei. There were still two tests left and Takeshi was going to do his best to prove himself in at least one of them!

"I won't lose again."