One Step at a Time

Rubbing her eyes, Fumiko would stretch. It was still dark outside and her body pleaded to go back to sleep, but today was a special day so she had to get ready. Today she was accepting new students under her wings, metaphorically speaking. The young Jounin moved about her home getting ready for the day ahead. She had carefully picked out what she would wear - even though it was nothing special from what she would wear on a normal day-to-day basis. A sheer top under a zipped vest and a belted, ankle-length skirt with a slit on the left side up to her waist, the entire outfit black minus the gold hem and accents. Her pink hair was tied up into a high ponytail, and she was in the middle of slipping on her thigh-high stockings. Once she was satisfied with how she looked, she'd slip on her shoes before grabbing her full backpack and exiting her home.

I wonder what my students will be like... Fumiko thought, walking in the dark to the training grounds. Not very many shops were open so early in the morning, and she was too excited to eat breakfast at home. Skipped meals were regular for her though, and she was no stranger to the feeling of hunger. Perhaps after a good first day, she'll take her new students out to eat after.

Fumiko arrived with plenty of time before the sun began to touch the horizon line, daybreak had begun. Fumiko crossed her arms under her chest and begun to await for her students to arrive.

Even on a normal day, Kei's morning usually began well before dawn. He kept to his schedule almost religiously, and had done so almost since he first arrived in Konohagakure to begin his shinobi training. After a quick work out session he'd go on a 7 kilometer run around the village, take a shower, throw together some sort of breakfast, and then hit the archery range for a bit of extra practice before starting on his duties for the day. This day was no different in that regard, but it was notable for another reason. Today was the day he'd finally be getting assigned to a Jounin instructor.

Having only started his training at the age of 15, Kei had been older than a lot of his classmates, but he'd applied himself fully to the lessons at the academy. His drive had allowed him to advance quickly through his training, and in two short years he'd managed to go from a thieving street urchin to a competent shinobi, if only a genin. It was something he wouldn't have even imagined as a kid in the alleys, and yet here he was.

With the sun still down, Kei made his way through the streets of the village on his way to the training ground for the meeting. He was fairly early, considering that he'd been told to be there at sunrise, but the boy made a habit of being early to most everything. He was dressed in his usual attire, with the upper half of his body largely obscured by a dark-purple poncho-style cloak. Beneath it he wore a simple white tunic with his headband tied near the shoulder on his right arm, and a loose pair of black leggings that were bound below the knee. He carried his full set of equipment with him as well, A bow and quiver slung over his back, and a tanto sheathed at his waist along with pouches full of his various ninja tools. He wasn't sure what exactly to expect from this new instructor of his, he didn't really know much of anything about her, but he was confident that he'd be prepared.

As he approached the training grounds, Kei could pick out a solitary figure standing there with arms folded. There was still a decent amount of time before the meeting time, but it was probably a safe bet that this was the woman he was here to see. As he drew closer he scanned over the woman, a single pale green eye sweeping back and forth from behind a head of messy white hair.  Yep, that matched the description he'd been given. Stopping a few paces away, the boy offered a respectful bow. "Good Morning Ma'am, Kei Ishikawa reporting."

”Basically Aria’s Outfit”:

It felt like seconds between the moment her eyes finally welcomed the warm embrace of slumber to when her alarm clock began furiously beeping at her, signaling it was time to get up and start her day. Normally the ashen haired woman had no trouble falling asleep instantly, but today was anything except normal. Today was the day. Within hours she will be an official member of a squad, and the endless possibilities that having a team give her kept her up almost all night with excitement. She was about to make three new lifelong friends and go on countless adventures with them, exploring the world on missions, have the wealth of knowledge from three more minds to learn and grow from, and they could all go out and have fun during their days-off together! Aaah I can’t wait to meet my soon-to-be new best friends! This is the best day of my life!

The second round of beeping drew her out of her thoughts and back into the reality that if she didn’t get a move on, she would be disastrously late for her very important date! Dashing out of bed with renewed vigor, she lightly tapped the alarm clock to turn it off and then rushed to her bathroom to shower and brush her teeth. The sun was still hiding behind the otherside of the world when she immersed herself under the warm water, the heat draining her body of its former fatigue. After a while she exited the bathroom and donned the outfit she had picked out when she first received the notice she would be joining a team. The clothes consisted of a dark navy sleeveless top with a slight v-neck and the hem as well as the neckline are a maya blue hue, a matching dark navy skirt that ended mid-thigh and the same colored hem as the top, a large belt around the waist in the maya blue color that has two big ribbons flowing behind (the belt being tied into a medium sized bow with the ends being the ribbon), dark navy thigh stockings, and to the finish the look some maya blue string ninja high heels.

After a final look in the mirror with her hair tied into pigtails with navy blue ribbons she hurriedly ate breakfast with her father, since her mother was currently away on a mission but did send her congratulations by messenger bird. Her father asked her the typical questions one would such as how are you feeling, excited for your big day, ready to tackle the world, as well as gushed over how his little princess was all grown up and how it felt like only yesterday was she learning how to say dada.

With a kiss on the cheek she said farewell to her father and lightly jogged to the training grounds, not wanting to get too sweaty when she just made sure she looked presentable and her best. The sun was nowhere to be seen during her first portion of the jog, and once she could see the training grounds with her naked eyes she slowed her pace to a slightly fast walk, not wanting to see too eager and make a fool of herself such as tripping in front of the two figures she could vaguely makeout against the last of the moonlight, and if she had to guess there was less than an hour left before dawn would break.

Aria inwardly sighed of relief at arriving on time, having been fretting about being late and making a terrible first impression since yesterday. As the kunoichi drew closer she noticed the woman’s soft pink hair and recognized immediately that she was their sensei. She looked so cool and collected with her dark clothes and folded arms, just as much of a badass as the ashen haired woman’s mother.

Then it dawned on her as she was now standing next to the figure with the white hair and familiar cloak, she hadn’t been sure if it was her friend from the other day or not, but once she saw his face she knew instantly.

“We seem to be running into each other quite often, what a fun coincidence!" Aria softly chuckled, the crazy luck of having the person who aided her in getting out of a sticky situation in the red light district was now one of her teammates felt a little humorous. Of all the people in the village, fate decided to string them along, although she wasn’t complaining. Kei has a good character and sense of justice, two things she definitely respected about him. “Oh! My apologies for the late introduction. I am Aria Uzumaki, and it’s a pleasure to meet you, sensei!” She smiled brightly at their teacher and bowed to be polite and out of respect for the Jounin, after all she was two ranks higher than the Uzumaki and had far more experience in the real world.

Early mornings were literally a part of each and every day for a farm boy. Takeshi was no different and he was up at 2 AM as usual doing morning chores that included but was not limited too. Shoveling manure, feeding the animals, brushing the animals, checking hooves, checking the fences along the property, ensuring the animals had plenty of water, and forking fresh hay into the barn. They fed their animals once a day, ensuring they had plenty at the meal and as he finished up the morning chores he would move inside for a hot shower. He stood beneath the cascading water as it sluiced over him, his blue hair hanging down into his eyes as it hung limp and wet. He took time here, letting his muscles relax under the pounding of the hot water after his chores. He washed, soap, shampoo, conditioner, the works. When he left the shower he put on deodorant before dressing. Of course dressing for Takeshi consisted of black shinobi pants and black boots. He wore no upper body clothing due to the very nature of his bloodline which allowed him to generate bones from his body for the purposes of stabbing and cutting enemies. The bones would of course as a necessity, cut through any clothing he wore and made upper body clothing less than effective.

Even the knees of his pants weren't left unmarred, with a single round hole in each one.

Once he was dressed and his hair combed back he would bid his mother adieu before leaving for the village. He moved at a relatively decent pace, wanting to get there on time, preferably early if he could. So when he arrived at the training ground, coming through the trees, his well muscled, although not overly so, form coming into view of three others, he would be marginally disappointed. Simply because he was the last to arrive. It meant in his view that he was in fact late. He hated making people wait, however when it happened one simply had to deal with it and move on. When he landed, next to two individuals, one in a cloak with white hair and another with white hair and a dark kunoichi outfit. They would be standing before a pink haired woman with black and gold clothing who...was so adorably fucking short it almost made Takeshi cackle.

Luckily he didn't, didn't even make a noise or change his expression. Although it did take him a moment to make sure he was under enough self control to speak. It wasn't polite to laugh at someone for their appearance. To be perfectly honest she was an attractive woman with pink hair and blue eyes. It was just the sheer size difference he found amusing, not how short she was. But how short she looked compared to him. Once he was fully under control he nodded his head in greeting, once against mentally noting everyone's hair colours. 'One Pink, one blue, two white..Go go Team 'Odd Hair Colours'' He would think as he spoke calmly and respectfully. "Good morning everyone. I'm Takeshi Kaguya and it seemed I must apologize for being late." He would say before standing back to his full height.

Fumiko kept her arms crossed as each student began to show. Kei showed up first, he seemed to be prepared for the day. She gave the white-haired boy a once over, he was a bit taller than her, and that wrung her heart. That’s okay, some kids are just tall… she would tell herself. Fumiko raked her brain for information about the student before her. Kei Ishikawa, the refugee of an attacked village. She bowed her head to him, then took notice of the next student who arrived.

A soft smile played on her lips, hearing that the two previously met before. That was half the battle, getting to know your team that is, so she definitely saw it as a plus that they already knew of each other. Her blue eyes scanned the kunoichi before her, she was very pretty. Her heart tugged again, this student being slightly taller than she was. Fumiko would chuckle slightly at her misfortune so far, bowing her head at Aria just as she did with Kei. Uzumaki and Hyuuga were an interesting bloodline combination. She was saving her personal introduction for all three students, which movement catching her eyes, wouldn’t be waiting too much longer for.

The third student that came up, her eyes would widen at how tall he was. He dwarfed her by almost a solid foot. She would also make a face at the fact he came without a shirt. She then relaxed her face, remembering a bit of his file that was given to her. His bloodline creates having a shirt on a bit difficult. Once all of the genin students showed and had introduced themselves, Fumiko decided it was her turn.

”Welcome Kei-san, Aria-chan, and Takeshi-san,” she’d bow fully to her students and then raise back up to stand erect, ”My name is Fumiko Arasaki, and I’ll be your sensei this day forward.” A bright smile shone on her face, ”Today is going to be about getting to know each other, to build comradery.” She would clap her hands together, ”We will do a few exercises, and depending on performances, I will take you all out to a meal. How does that sound?” Fumiko went silent, allowing her students to mull about the goal for today.

After what she felt was an appropriate amount of time, the ground underneath their feet would begin to rumble. The earth beneath Fumiko would begin to rise and it would cease to the moment she was taller than Takeshi. Standing on her earthen platform, she’d begin to bark her instructions. ”Our first exercise will be losing a sense of ourselves to find our way through a maze.” She would slide her backpack off and bring it to the front of her. Digging inside of it she would toss to her genin three pieces of fabric, two long rectangular pieces, and two smaller square pieces. ”Takeshi-kun, you will perform this exercise deaf. Kei-kun, you will perform this exercise mute. Aria-chan, you will perform this exercise blindly.” She would wait for them to sort out the fabric before continuing. ”Cheat, and you will return back to the academy,” Fumiko’s voice and face was stern, hopefully showing she was not joking. ”Now, I am going to set up the maze while you all prepare.” Fumiko bowed her head then turned her back to the Genin. The earth began to rubble once more as a large maze began to form just behind the mound of earth Fumiko raised earlier. The maze was set up in almost no time, hopefully, her Genin were about ready.

---

Chakra Use

155 | 185
• 185 - 10 activation | 185
  
• 175 - 20 activation | 185
  

Unique Ability:

Jutsu:

With his greeting given, Kei stepped back and took a moment to examine the woman who would now be acting as both his teacher and team leader.  She was a shorter individual with notably soft features. No prominent scars or injuries that he could see either. In all honesty she didn't exactly have the look of a hardened warrior about her, nothing at all like the grizzled captain that led the force to rescue his village. Still the boy knew better than to judge people on their appearances. They didn't make just anyone a jounin after all. It took years of training and experience to reach that level, so this woman had to have proven herself time and time again to get where she was. He'd give her the respect the title deserved so long as she didn't prove otherwise.

The leader was only one part of the unit though. Kei had to admit that he was rather curious to see who his other teammates would be. Because he was on the quieter side and older than most of the other students in the academy he hadn't gotten to know too many of his classmates at the time. No, he'd been much to preoccupied with learning as much as he could as fast as he could. These people would presumably be working with him for a long time to come though, assuming nothing went wrong at least. Having arrived so early he figured he'd probably have a bit of waiting before the others showed up, but it was only a few minutes before another figure began to approach the training grounds.

Oddly enough, the face that greeted him was one that he was actually familiar with; a kunoichi that he'd become acquainted with only a few days earlier while he was patrolling the shadier parts of town. As she greeted him, Kei shot Aria a soft smile. "Glad to have you along." The girl may have seemed a bit scatter brained from time to time, but he could tell that she was a good person and he'd already seen a bit of what she was capable of. As far as team mates go, he couldn't really complain.

The final squad member didn't take much longer to make his appearance. A man with spikey hair and hardened blue eyes. He had a few inches on Kei in terms of height, and the former street urchin had to admit that the guy cut a pretty intimidating figure. The fact that he'd chosen to forego a shirt was kind of odd, but when he gave his name the logic behind that snapped into place easily enough. Aside from the family, Kei didn't know much of anything about this Takeshi, but he greeted the man with a quick but respectful bow of his head before returning his attention to their sensei.

Folding his arms, Kei listened carefully as Fumiko went over the basic outline of what they'd be doing for the day. There wasn't anything particularly surprising there; it was basically the same thing he'd heard from just about every shinobi team; a set of exercises to test their abilities as individuals and help them them start to get used to working together. As a first step it just made sense, and it would highlight any potential issues with a team early on. The specifics of the exercise were a bit more interesting. As the ground began to shake beneath them, he braced himself and prepared to move, but it turned out the Jounin was just giving herself a higher vantage point. Kei caught the piece of fabric that was thrown his way and took a moment to look it over. So he wouldn't be allowed to talk at all during the exercise? Certainly not the most demanding limitation she could have given him, he barely talked more than he had to in the first place, and it would be even less important if one of his other teammates wouldn't be able to hear him anyway.  

With the ground shaking again, Kei glanced up to see a set of great earth walls rising from the ground behind Fumiko, quickly obscuring the land beyond from view as the labyrinth formed. The fact that she was able to perform such an impressive display of power without lifting a finger just proved that Kei's assumption was on point; this woman had the skills and power to back up her rank.

Tying the fabric in place to block his mouth, the boy stepped forward and approached the outer wall of the maze. There was a trick to solving conventional mazes, one just had to turn the same direction at every single junction, keep a wall to one side at all times and they'd eventually hit the exit. Of course, there was no way of knowing from the outside if there were any looping passages in this one, so it wouldn't be a guaranteed solution. Luckily the boy had another, much more straight forward idea on how to find their way through. Reaching out, he placed one hand one the wall and focused his chakra. As he closed his eyes he sent out a pulse into the wall, mentally tracking the wave as it expanding out and flowed through the earthen structure like a conduit. Snaking through the walls, the chakra's path quickly formed into distinct shapes that he could make out. Each twist and turn the energy took added more and more detail to the image that formed in his head, gradually filling out until he had a full map to work with.

The final picture wasn't a terribly complicated one, so now it would just be a matter of getting all three of them through it. As long as he could communicate to Takeshi that he knew where he was going neither of them would have an issue, but they'd have to guide Aria through. Theoretically not that big of a deal.... unless of course there was more to the maze than it appeared at first glance.

Turning back to the other two, Kei looked Takeshi in the eye and tapped the side of his head as if pointing to his brain. Hopefully the guy would get what he was trying to say based on what he'd just done, charades wasn't exactly a specialty of his. Next he'd reach out to take one of Aria's hands and gesture for the other man to do the same before waving for him to follow. Assuming he could get them to cooperate, the passive flow of his chakra would continue to give enough of a picture to lead them right through.

---

Chakra use:
49.5/50

Jutsu:

Kei’s reply to her greeting brought a smile to her face, brightening up the girls already shining day even more. It was nice to know your feelings were mutual and that the crazy happenstance didn’t leave a bad first impression on her teammate, that would’ve made this day a lot more awkward. Shortly after she introduced herself to their sensei, a new figure arrived at the scene. He was slightly taller than Kei, and towered over the two kunoichi, and had spikey blue hair with the same color of eyes to match. Her eyes widened slightly when it registered he wasn’t wearing a shirt, and she began to worry he would get chilly being so bare- although she wasn’t one to talk since her clothes weren’t insulated or meant for the cold either.

“Nice to meet you Takeshi! I can’t wait to get to know you all better!” She warmly smiled at them before turning her attention back to Arasaki-sensei, and after a few moments the pinkette spoke up, her voice soft as she did something that took Aria by surprise: bowing to them. Never in a million years did she think anyone that wasn’t a child would be bowing to her, especially not their sensei. It was an endearing sign, making her heart melt a little at just how amazing their teacher was. Somehow it seemed Aria scored the jackpot of a team, as all of her new friends were friendly, nice, and adorable. She knew it was going to be the best team konoha has ever seen!

Arasaki-sensei then explained that all day they were going to be getting to know each other and working on their bonds...literally the most exciting thing she probably could’ve ever said, and it was hard for Aria to hide her excitement about their first team activity. “Sounds lovely, sensei! This’ll be so fun!” Her voice was chipper as she wondered if anyone else would speak out or if they were going to give non-verbal agreements, and it seemed Kei was part of the latter. Either option was fine of course, it’s not like they needed to be basically jumping up and down in their spot.

Rumble

Out of nowhere the ground beneath their feet started trembling, and Aria couldn’t help but let out a surprised “Ah!” when she began to lose her balance. Thump went the girl as she fell sideways, her bent legs bracing her fall from face planting and getting a mouthful of soil, which she luckily didn’t do and embarrass herself even more than she just did. Her cheeks began to glow a light rosy hue as she rose from the ground, wiping off the dirt from her thigh highs as best she could while looking up at their teacher so as to not distract them from what she was saying again.

Arasaki-sensei is so impressive, she made the earth move without making any hand signs! I can’t wait to see what else she’s capable of. Aria took the piece of fabric for her eyes, a little worried about the fact that she wouldn’t be of much assistance to her companions with her main ability being stripped from her arsenal. Without her eyes, or more specifically her Byakugan, she was practically a sitting duck at the moment with her minal list of techniques she knows how to perform.

“Let’s hold hands, so we don’t get separated!” Her voice could’ve fallen on deaf ears depending on if Takeshi already placed his fabric over them or not, but in Aria’s defense sensei did say they could prepare while she set up the fun adventure for them so it’s not like she was breaking the rules. With her thought of how to best go about this task out in the open now, she moved next to Takeshi and then tied the blind fold over her closed eyes. By the time she finished placing the fabric over her eyes the maze was completed, although she wasn’t aware of that fact.

With the blindfold secure on her eyes she reached a hand out for Takeshi, hoping he had heard her idea or could at least connect the dots about what the blind girl was trying to do. If not then she would wait there until someone guided her either with grabbing her hand or talking to her, and if that didn’t happen her game plan was to loudly ask what they wanted her to do. Thankfully she didn’t have to resort to that plan, not yet anyways, as someone grabbed her hand, instantly allowing the young woman to relax a little now that she wasn’t left to fend for herself in the silence- figuratively speaking that is since Aria has more faith than that in her companions. They wouldn’t just leave her to run into an earth wall or somehow walk off a cliff.

If the hand that grabbed hers moves then she will follow them, and if another hand takes her free one then even better for at least she’ll know they are both next to her and that someone didn’t wind up lost (although out of everyone she was most likely to get stuck and confused).

He would nod his head at Fumiko-Sensei's words of what the intent of today's training would be. Building comradery was of course important for a team as one had to be able to trust each other and know what the others would do in a given situation. So far is impression was that Aria was kind and talkative, while Kei was quite and reserved. He himself tended to be more talkative, although he was currently just nervous about being around women. He always made a fool of himself around woman and it was always quite embarrassing for himself. The market with Tsuyu, Chiaki, and Naomi wasn't a good memory for him. Or at least not the beginning when he was being confronted openly and publicly about his lack of upper bodywear. Of course in that scenario he stiffened his spine and argued back, and that hadn't helped.

Regardless, it would appear if they did well they would be treated to food. Takeshi nodded before the woman somehow used ninjutsu without performing hand seals and caused the earth beneath her to rise. He looked up toward her, his eyes showing not much of anything beyond curiosity. Why had she bothered to make the earth stand so that she was taller? Wasn't that just a waste of chakra? Did she want to look down on them? No that didn't seem to fit. Oh well, Takeshi wasn't suited to seeing the insecurity in others quickly and so the fact that Fumiko was sensitive about her height would elude him. After all, why would it occur to him that she might feel that way when in reality, he actually found her quite attractive? When she tossed him his materials and instructions he would nod before waiting for her to finish speaking. When she did and turned away he would deafen himself as the maze rose up out of the ground. This caused him to tilt his head slightly as he looked at it. He was deafened now to be sure but he could still feel the earth trembling as the earthen walls rose from the ground. Blinking at the wall he would turn to watch the others.

Kei would move over to a wall and place a hand on it after closing his eyes. Aria would have her eyes blinded and be reaching out after saying they should hold hands. Kei would meet Takeshi eyes and point at his own head, was he trying to tell him that he's stupid? Wouldn't be the first time someone accused Takeshi of that. Either way without wasting time Takeshi would climb the wall, using chakra to stick until he reached the top. Once there he would look at the maze from above before climbing back down. They had to go through the maze, that didn't mean they had to do it without knowing where they were going. When he reached the bottom of the wall again he would have a minor realization over Kei's actions. "Oh, you know the route too..Okay cool. Holding hands is a bad idea in this case though. Kei and I might need our hands and if they're entwined with yours we'll have a harder time. So how about this, Kei, you lead us through the maze. Aria, you place her hands on my shoulders. You'll have more trouble defending yourself while blind anyway while I can at least see what's going on. I can defend you if necessary and if Kei needs to communicate a location of any hazards, if there are any, he can just point them out. That way both mine and Kei's hands are free, you get guided, and Kei can at least communicate somewhat because I can see his motions and actions. Nod if you agree." He would say, he made an effort to make his voice it's normal volume and tone.

Should they agree Takeshi would move to Aria and take her hand before placing it on her shoulder while standing across from her. Then he would slowly turn around, making sure her hand didn't fall off, so that she could feel where he was and place the other hand on his other shoulder. Then Takeshi would nod to Kei to lead on. If they didn't agree he would shrug and take Aria's hand as it was probably what they would want to do anyway. He wasn't going to argue any point on the first day of training. With that he would follow Kei, keeping an eye out for any traps or obstacles while also watching him carefully to see what actions or motions he took.

Once the walls of the maze were formed, Fumiko brought her hands up into the tiger seal. In a poof of smoke, a second Fumiko stood next to the original pink-haired woman. The two identical beings looked at each other with a bright smile. With a thumbs up from the clone, the original Fumiko took off through the maze. The clone then turned around to face the genin awaiting to start.

”Alright, I hope you’re ready and formulated a plan. All three of you have to make it to the other side to pass this exercise. Let’s see if you can do it.” Fumiko’s clone would cross her arms under her chest, bolstering her breasts. While setting up, she couldn’t help but hear some of the things they had already talked about getting through the maze. Right now, she was just awaiting the sign from the original Fumiko she made it through. Then up in the air, a kunai with an explosion tag went up and off. ”Alright team! Begin!” The clone would call out excitedly. However it did not disappear from the mound that Fumiko made earlier.

Once the Genin would enter the maze, they’d come to an immediate choice: going forward to make a right, or turning left. Fumiko made the maze relatively easy, only twelve turns prior to the exit. However, the genin would only know that when they progress through. However, at the end of dead-ends there would be spikes protruding from the walls or the occasional hole going towards a dead end if it came after an immediate turn. Plus the extra that the Fumikos had up their sleeves for the Genin.

---

Chakra Use

77.5 | 92.5

• Clone Chakra: 77.5 | 92.5
  

Unique Ability:

Jutsu:

Kei began to lead Aria toward the opening that lead into the labyrinth. The girl had had the same thought about how to make sure they didn't lose track of each other with their limited senses, but as they approached the stone walls it seemed that Takeshi had a few ideas of his own on the matter. After simply scaling the wall to get an idea of the overall layout, a feat that spoke of solid linear thinking and some impressive chakra control, the deafened man made his own suggestion about how they should proceed. Kei paused as the man went about outlining his plan of action, and... the argument that he put forward was one that made plenty of sense actually. Rather than limiting all three of them when it came to their ability to respond to a threat, Takeshi's method would allow him to more or less progress unimpeded, while still allowing the man himself to make use of both hands and keep Aria in tow. It would increase the risk of Aria getting separated though, since it would be down to just her own grip. That worried Kei a little bit, seeing as she seemed a tad clumsy on her own, but they could probably account for it. After taking a moment to weigh the options, he inevitably glanced back toward Takeshi and gave a nod of agreement.

As Kei moved to place Aria's hand on Takeshi's other shoulder, their sensei finished with her preparations for the task. While they had been going over their plans the woman had created a clone of herself. With his enhanced senses the white haired youth could tell that it wasn't your standard illusionary clone, too much chakra for that. That was probably information that  was worth holding onto for later, since it would mean that they'd likely be able to use jutsu like his own water clones. For the time being though, all he could do was keep an eye on the extra chakra signature; if Fumiko had gone through the trouble to make a double then it was likely she had something planned for the maze proper.

Glancing back one last time to make sure that his teammates were prepared, Kei moved forward to take his first steps into the stone structure. Ignoring the path straight ahead, he immediately made a turn to the left, advancing for a short distance before taking the first turn to the right. Although his chakra sense gave him a pretty clear blueprint of the area around him, his eyes continued to scan back and forth constantly as he moved. The behavior was in part caused by the habits of his upbringing, but he also knew better than to bet everything on just one line of defense. Of course the fact that the walls were largely just featureless slabs of stone didn't make the exercise particularly interesting.

Ignoring an offshoot to the right, Kei continued forward to the end of the corridor and followed the path off to the left. It almost instantly opened up into another intersection and he started toward the right side, but suddenly stopped just before entering the next hall, raising up a hand to signal Takeshi to stop as well. Kneeling down, he placed one hand on the ground and sent out a fresh pulse of chakra. Though on the surface the ground appeared completely normal, the flow of chakra around the area revealed something else entirely. Beneath the surface was a large cavity, the ground left thin enough above it that any notable amount of weight would cause it to give way and dump them into the pit below. A simple trap, but one formed by jutsu that would have been almost undetectable by the average person. Kei reached for his belt and produced a kunai from one of his pouches, before proceeding to trace the outer edge of pit into the dirt so that his teammate could see. Just to make sure he got the point across, he drew an arrow with an X through it pointing at the line, not that that was likely necessary, Takeshi seemed like a bright enough fellow.

With the warning given, the genin proceeded forward, sidling against the wall as he slowly inched his way around the edge of the pitfall. Once he was clear he hopped into the joining pathway and looked back to make sure his teammates could get through as well. If Takeshi could relay his instructions to Aria then she could probably just feel along the wall to get herself past... or the guy could just pick her up and jump the gap. Either way it didn't seem like it would prove too much of an obstacle, which left the boy's mind wandering slightly as he continued to track the two chakra sources from their teacher and her clone.

---

Chakra use:
49/50

Jutsu:

Takeshi would wait patiently as Kei placed Aria's hand on his shoulder to ensure that both of her hands were on him. Then he would reach up and pat her hand softly to tell her without words that he would guide her and protect her. He wouldn't fail a teammate now, not on the first day, not ever if he could help it. When Kei began to enter the maze Takeshi would follow calmly, keeping his longer stride short and controlled so that Aria could keep up. He made sure to take notice if she was stepping short herself due to nerves regarding her lack of sensory input from her eyes and would compensate so that things weren't awkward. Honestly he could probably just carry her, however he didn't know what kind of traps Fumiko-Sensei had laid and if any of them involved projectiles he was far more useful as a human shield than as a taxi and he couldn't act as such if she was literally in his arms. So they walked, probably fairly slowly, Takeshi deaf to all, Aria blind to all, and Kei, mute to all. First they turned left, then immediately took a right and at that point Kei would throw a hand up to signal a stop. Takeshi would freeze and watch as Kei traced the outline of something with a kunai and the blue haired man would nod in understanding. A pitfall of some kind was there Takeshi would move himself and Aria to the wall itself. Provided she continued to stick with him of course.

When they got to the wall, before the trap, he would turn to Aria and actually break the logic he had utilized earlier to judge whether or not he should carry her or not. He couldn't risk her accidentally tripping the pitfall and they didn't know what was beneath it. So Takeshi turned toward the white and blue haired woman and would move to pick her up, bridal style. "Pitfall ahead, it's probably best if I just carry you after all. Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you." He would say simply as he held her close before simply hopping over the pitfall. He had the strength to carry her, given her weight and his build and he could hop the traced pitfall with her in his arms easily enough. With that done he would turn toward Kei and nod his head at him so that the man could continue guiding them. If anything came at them he could still play the part of human shield for Aria if necessary by turning her away from the threat and interposing his back. His own Shell technique would allow him to tank just about anything someone could throw at him and so all he had to do was use it to protect his teammate. The downside was that he couldn't move while using it, so he would simply be little better than one of the walls around them while he used it.

The hand that had latched onto hers guided her forward, presumably towards the entrance of the maze, and she wondered briefly if they were going to follow her suggestion or if they had other plans due to the lack of a second person holding her free hand. She wasn’t left to think for long as someone’s voice permeated the silence, and even without recognizing the familiar voice she would’ve been able to tell it was Takeshi’s since Kei had lost his voice. The bluenette’s words made sense to the Hyuuga-Uzumaki, it was far more logical than just trying to not get separated. He was thinking ahead in case there were traps or surprises, neither of which were things she had initially thought of, thus showing how skilled his deductive reasoning and problem solving abilities were. It also demonstrated how much Aria still had to go in order to be a useful mind for the team, and to survive in the shinobi world.

“That’s a really logical idea, Takeshi!” Her voice would be accompanied by a nod of her head to communicate with their deaf companion, having forgotten he wouldn’t be able to hear her compliment at first, and with everyone in what seemed to be agreeance, her hands were softly guided from grasping whom she assumed to be Kei to resting on the warm flesh of Takeshi’s shoulders. While she did have a light grip on his skin, she didn’t want her nails to stab him and he didn’t want to accidentally pinch him, since those would hurt even the toughest of shinobi. A gentle pat on her hand caught her off guard, spooking her a little and causing her grip to tighten ever so slightly before her fingers relaxed against him again. She figured it had been meant as a reassuring gesture, and even though she caused herself to be taken aback by it, she appreciated the thought and smiled softly in case he was looking at her.

Aria turned her head upwards as her ears picked up their teacher’s voice, explaining the main goal once more before allowing them entry into the maze. It seemed whatever she was building within the rock structure had been completed, or perhaps saying that all the traps had been laid was a better way to imagine it, since it would be highly unlike for their teacher to not hit them with some tests.

Without further adieu they walked into the maze, with Kei leading the way and Aria holding onto Takeshi’s shoulders with enough force to not slip off from just their walking, and she was thankful that the pace was on the slower side. Aria tried to memorize the turns they took in case she ended up lost or at the beginning of the maze again. Straight a few steps, then immediate left, straight for a little bit, then a right, straight for a really long time, now left again?, oh we stopped. What’s going on?

At the abrupt stop, Aria nearly ran into the back of her guide, a little too apprehensive and on edge to react as quickly, plus with the loss of her main sense, she was still unaccustomed to relying as heavily on her other functions. This lack of coordination and being a sitting duck without her eyes left a sour taste in her mouth, and a yearning desire to never let something like this happen again began to burn inside of her. To make matters worse, for her thoughts that is since in actuality it was helping them in this situation, she was guided to the side before strong arms wrapped around her waist and under her knees. She was barely able to keep a squeal from leaving her lips as her feet no longer felt the ground beneath them. At Takeshi’s explanation she nodded her head and flashed a smile at him while wrapping her arms around his neck, explaining to him nonverbally that she understood what he had and and appreciated all of the help he was giving her, especially now that he wasn’t just guiding but actually carrying her.

Although now that she was in the arms of Takeshi, with her head resting on her arm that was wrapped around the back of his neck, she couldn’t do much of anything and was left to thoughts since there weren’t any noises to listen for at the moment. Aria’s mind raced and her heartbeat quickened as her blood began to figuratively boil. Having to be babied by her teammates and weighing them down irritated her, even if the likelihood of her actually going blind was on the slimmer side, she couldn’t cross it off the list entirely, thus meaning that potentially one day this very scenario could play out when they have real enemies attacking them. As dark as it may be, she couldn’t help herself from thinking about how she could end up costing her teammate their lives if they were too stubborn to leave her and save themselves…

Once the three Genin entered the maze, the Fumiko clone jumped from the mound of dirt the original had made and landed on the wall she had built. Applying chakra to her feet, she walked up the wall to watch the three genins make their way to the original Fumiko. So far, they were doing her proud - not getting caught up in any traps so far. She followed at a short distance behind silently from the top of the walls. Already impressed with their current teamwork.

Kei seemed to be the forerunner, but that could always change. However, for this exercise, it made sense. He was probably sussing out the traps that she had laid initially and keeping track of her original self along with her clone. The fact they had Aria hold onto the tall Takeshi led Fumiko to think that the Hyuuga-Uzumaki was indeed not using her eyes. She gave the young woman props, knowing that if she was her age - she’d at least attempt to cheat. However, Fumiko as a child was a bit more of a risk-taker than she was now. She was impressed with Takeshi as well, even when he deaf she wouldn’t have expected him to keep so much control over the volume of his voice.

The Fumiko clone watched carefully as Kei began drawing in the dirt. So you’ve found one of the dump holes, hmm? Well… unfortunately it cannot be so easy to avoid… Just like the original Fumiko, she had no need for hand seals with Doton Ninjutsu. The earth beneath the three genins would begin to tremble and rumble before suddenly it would begin to spin into itself. Collapsing the earth hiding the hole and part of the maze walls. The clone sprinted down the wall and jumped to the next out of range one - remaining just out of sight - as the inner walls behind the genin began to collapse. She would remain there to see what the Genin would do as the ground beneath them turned into a whirlpool.

The original Fumiko was busy setting something up while her clone studied her students. All information will eventually return to her soon enough when the clone disperses but currently she would have no clue how her students are doing. She hoped fairly well. She was tagging a Genjutsu onto the last turn of the maze. This way the moment her students rounded the corner - they would be led to believe that the maze continued on rather than the end. Something that would help her see their skill with recognizing and dispersing a Genjutsu. So the moment they rounded the last corner it would appear that they had begun the maze over again. Once satisfied, the Jonin stood and exited the maze herself.

At the end of the maze, as the original Fumiko felt the earth tremble from the Tearing Earth Turning Palm jutsu, she would create an Earth and Stone Dragon just outside the exit. She did not make it as big as she usually does - but still large enough to take up nearly all of the walkways of the maze. She sent it onwards into the maze awaiting for either the Genin to stumble upon it or it to stumble upon her students.

---

Chakra Use

62.5 | 92.5
• Clone Chakra: 72.5 | 92.5
  

Unique Ability:

Jutsu:

Alright, so far so good. Or so Kei thought to himself as he waited for his new teammates to clear the pitfall. Apparently Takeshi had elected to just carry Aria for the time being, which was probably the safer way to navigate the obstacle. It looked like he planned to continue to provide transport for the kunoichi for the time being as well, which would certainly help them keep her safe, but as Takeshi himself pointed out, would also make it harder for them to respond to any surprises from their teacher. And it just so happened that that fact would come into play far sooner than any of them likely anticipated.

Just as Takeshi hit the ground on Kei's side of the pit, the genin's enhanced senses lit up. Instinctively his whole body went tense as he felt a mass of chakra released from the direction of Fumiko's clone. It shot out in a wave, rushing toward the trio of shinobi and concentrating in the center of the pitfall. Kei almost shouted out a warning purely by reflex, but he managed stifle his voice enough that the result was only an awkward grunt as he darted away. With the advance warning given by his chakra sense, he was nearly able to make it to the edge of the energy mass just by the time the earth beneath him began to churn. Throwing himself forward the last bit of the way just as he started to sink, Kei pulled his tanto from his waist and stabbed the blade into the ground. Using the planted weapon as an anchor, he was able to pull himself clear of the whirlpool before turning back toward Takeshi and Aria. Without really thinking about it he extended a hand toward them, but what he saw immediately put an end to the idea of just trying to pull them free. Takeshi was only a few steps behind him, making for the edge when the wall to their side gave way and started to crumble. Evidently caught by surprise in the confusion, the Kei saw the man take a blow to the back of the head and start to go down. Stifling another curse before it could escape his lips, the snow haired boy was about to dive back in and try to pull his teammate free, but he'd never get the chance.

As Takeshi's body swung forward his hold on Aria slipped and the girl was suddenly flying right toward Kei. Barely reacting in time, the boy was able to catch the kunoichi, but he wasn't the strongest person in the world and the transfer of momentum knocked him off his feet. The pair crashed to the ground in a heap, with Kei taking the brunt of the impact as he landed on his back.

Stars swam in his vision for a few seconds, but as the disorientation began to fade he quickly took stock of the new situation. He was holding Aria, if one could even call it that given his position, but as the rocks finished settling around them Takeshi was nowhere to be seen. A quick search with his senses did locate the man's chakra signature, but... it was beneath the surface. Unless he misunderstood the rules of the exercise, that likely meant that the older genin was out of commission.... less than ideal. That wasn't all that he could sense though. At the edge of his senses, Kei could feel another massive burst of chakra, this time coming from the direction of the maze's exit. And this one was big. Probably one of the largest releases he had ever felt. That didn't bode well at all, especially when they were down a man and he couldn't communicate effectively.

As crippling as they seemed though, getting hung up on the setbacks wouldn't solve anything. And so the gears of Kei's mind were already grinding into motion as he went about getting himself and Aria back up onto their feet.

---

Chakra Use: 48.5/50
Sensing technique still active.

Bracing herself from impact, the blinded kunoichi ducked her head against her arm tightly to become as small as possible in order to lessen any chances of one of her limbs hitting something due to it not being squished together with the rest of her form. The leap was graceful, or as well as one could be when there were two bodies bridging the gap between the two sections of earth. Aria barely felt the wind across her body during the leap, it had been that smooth of a ride; however, the tranquility from the jump was momentary. A strangled grunt from their other teammate signaled something had gone awry, yet alas she was none the wiser until it hit them, quite literally. The dirt beneath them shook and although her feet weren’t on the ground, she could feel Takeshi vibrate and was able to sense the shaking that way.

She bit her lip softly to keep from calling out as specks of dirt began to graze her cheeks from the wall collapsing above them. Calling out and adding to the confusion during the chaos appeared to be a terrible idea, thus Aria waited to see if everyone was okay until they weren’t trying to dodge rocks falling from the sky (or at least that is what she envisioned to be possibly happening).

A small squeak escaped her mouth as the once firm grip against her body weakened and she was thrust forward, into the unknown. Was she about to fall into a pit trap? Would she be seriously wounded from the drop? These were the questions racing through her mind as she tried to block her head with her hands, hoping her arms would take the brute force from the fall instead of her winding up with a fractured skull.

There was an unexpected warmth radiating from the solid mass she had collided with, then her mind registered the thump noise that echoed after she hit the softer ‘ground’. Her cheeks flushed a rosy hue as the realization dawned on her that no, she was not face first into the ground, but into the chest of their light haired companion.

“Ah! I am so sorry, Kei! Are you alright?!” Aria was slightly frantic, worrying about whether the force behind her being thrown had knocked out the man beneath her. She lifted her torso upward, moving from laying on the man to sitting up, her legs straddling his torso and her hands flat against his chest (despite her lack of medical knowledge, she hoped she could at least tell if he was still breathing). “Oh right you can’t speak...Um if you are okay tap my hand as a sign! Then tap my other hand if Takeshi is okay since I can’t hear him right now...”

She nibbled on her lip again, although this time due to nervousness, as she anxiously waited for Kei, hoping he would give her a sign he was okay. There was no way they would be able to pass this test if she was the only one not unconscious, especially given she had no clue where Takeshi’s location was nor where the exit to the maze from Hell was.