Chunin Exam 5th Room

[Hashigaki Kurokawa]

Room Description: The fifth found herself in what could be best descried as a dungeon. Chained to a table is a strange, pitiful creature that does not appear human but not demon either. Flesh of earth and twisting sand, he is shackled to a stone slab. A rusted blade rests against the wall. All of the plain doors are reinforced with metal rivets and are locked.

Kurokawa was bit surprised. She was told that the Chunin exam from be a team thing and that they would either fight each other for scrolls or try to solve puzzles and get them from a location disclosed by the solution but she did not expect this. Guess open fields and large scale battles were out. Oh well this less violet approach to it might come in handy. So this puzzle was apparently something with a rusty blade and a shifting sand elemental chained to stone. She could hear the shifting sand and knew the sound from outside. She could feel the presence of the thing and just make out its anatomy. Was she suppose to use the rusty sword to slay the creature or to release it. She decided to first find out if it was sentient.

"Hello there. I'm known as Kurokawa although my keepsake getting me the name no longer exist. Oh well. Do you have a name?"

She would wait a while for an answer. She would also keep her senses peeled for any sign that it understood her words in case it did not speak. If it even moved in response to the sound but not in a way that indicated linguistic familiarity that would also be valuable information.

 

[Michi]

The Hashigaki would be able to see better than most because eyes lie in ways her ears would not. The room was simple, the mortar and stone walls would seem abnormal. Runic symbols embossed on the stone that her ears could pick up on with the simplest reverberations, the sound of her own footsteps, the beating of her own heart and the moans of a pitiful and tortured creature. The door, plain, unmarred by these strange symbols still appeared strong and durable. The sounds would be dull and she could not hear beyond. Still the acoustics here were amazing. She could almost feel the creature, it had a heartbeat that was slow and melodious. In fact, an aura of song seemed to flow off of the captured monster.

She would not know this but she had come across an 'extinct' species known as an Ancient. In the beginning of recorded history, there existed beings comprised of prime elemental power and energy. Created by the hand of a now nameless but extremely powerful being, it is believed that Ancients were given the task of over-seeing and managing the natural world. Each of them possessed powerful dominion over their element and over the course of thousands of years gathered both denizens of the natural and spiritual worlds to them to form large feudal system-like courts. The most powerful of them were the Solar, Flame and Earth Courts as those were the elements in the Wind Country which were most present. The Solar Court was the greatest of them and led by the Ancient of Sun and Sky, Fuujin and given the role of ruler of the skies and the keeper of the surface world. Hailing from below all things within the streams of magma and fire existed the Flame Court and their ravenous leader Homura whom was the Ancient of Iron and Flame. Homura was the flame in which the other Ancients were to be tempered, created to constantly test and prune the others to ensure that no one court ever grew too powerful as to lord over all others. Suna, the Ancient of Desert and Earth, was queen of the Earth Court and given the task of governing the desert and it's all of it's flora and fauna. There also existed lesser courts as well and while the various courts never bent knee to any one leader nor were bound to any court in servitude, none could contest the size and affluence of the Prime Courts.

It was not until the First Coming of mankind that the Ancients found another being that was truly native to their world but also possessed the power of spirit and thought as they did. At the time, the Wind Country was home to many creatures both mundane and supernatural but none took the world into their hand as Man did. Carving out settlements and places for themselves in the world, the Ancients quickly became aware of Man... and almost as quickly shoved them beneath their heel. Feeling in their hearts the manifest destiny to rule the domains they had been given, the Ancients lorded over humanity for centuries before He was born. Born from a tribe in the south of Wind Country, His true name has since been lost to history. Known to Sunan historians as the One King or Primus, this king was the first of humans to throw off the shackles of slavery and give death unto an Ancient. It took little from there for Primus to begin liberating humans from the grip of lesser courts and slaughtering any Ancients which dared to oppose their ascent to sovereignty. Those that joined Primus shared in his spoils and bathed in his power becoming paragons of their kind which would eventually come to be called the First Men, even though they were generations beyond the literal definition of such a title.

Mankind had earned the ire of the Ancients, Homura and Fuujin cursed those defiant to them to become beasts of burden. Homura turned the contumacious rebels into stone men. It was said that some went mad after this transformation: violent, angry, their intellect stunted. Some even claimed that they devolved into primates. Despite this, those who could hone their mind found this curse to be a powerful asset as their strength and durability was enhanced. Fuujin turned man into wolves in a demonstration of his power. These accursed men only served to swell the ranks of discontented humanity. Primus did not turn away any who were wronged by the ancients, he welcomed them into his fold and gathered his forces.

Eventually the Great Rebellion would catch the eye of Fuujin and Homura, two of the great Ancient Lords, and against humanity they brought their strongest and fiercest soldiers. But Primus and his First Men would not be denied. As if they were protected by the unseen hand of a god, Primus hewed through champion after champion of the Ancient Courts and through his martial might ascended to near deific status among the humans. As their faith in him grew, so too did his power and through him grew the rebellion. Soon humans all over the Wind Country were rising up on their own and forcing the hand of the Ancient Lords to kill them for their defiance. Finally growing to the end of his patience with this upstart race, Fuujin summoned to him all the might of the remaining Ancient Courts. Demanding something that had never before been demanded, he sent emissaries to each of the remaining courts demanding that their Lord and their armies join him to crush the Rebellion once and for all. Most responded, some did not. Most notably, the Earth Court fought but their Ancient-- the Desert Queen Suna --was mysteriously absent from the battle. The last battle of the Rebellion was a blood bath the likes of which the Wind Country is never likely to see again. The blood of both Ancient and Man spilled and mingled in the sands that day, thousands of lives were lost and most of the Ancient Courts were wiped from existence by the blades of the First Men and their One King. Perhaps the massacre would have continued if not for Primus issuing a challenge to the greatest Ancients on the field; Fuujin and Homura. He boasted that their power combined could not defeat him with the strength of human faith behind him and as they chaffed against his arrogance Fuujin and Homura agreed to the slanted duel. Both armies ceased their battle temporarily as the titanic clashes of power between Primus and the two Great Ancients shook the desert itself. The legends do not say for sure how long they battled, all that is said of the outcome is that while Fuujin and Homura were victorious over Primus he had battled them so viciously and wounded them so greatly that forever a scar of fear towards humanity was carved into their hearts. With the duel done and their power spent, Fuujin and Homura retreated from the battle leaving their armies to fair against the furious First Men. The resulting resumed battle was nothing more than butchery.

With the Ancient Courts scattered and defeated by the might of Primus and the First Men, humanity turned at last to what they would do with themselves now that they were free. The desert was harsh to them still and they now lacked supernatural power without Primus to tame it. But curiously, to the leaders of the First Men came the missing Desert Queen. She spoke of her duty and role, to steward the desert's denizens and reflected that with the defeat of the Ancient Courts, the desert would require a new breed of caretakers. In the aftermath of Sunagakure's formation it is said a true goddess native to the desert came to the people to aid them. She came to be known as Mother Suna. She brought not war to the First Men, but blessings. She blessed the Sunahoshi with control of the desert sands and blessed the First Men with ingenuity. From this moment in time, the First Men and the Kazekage converted from nomadic living to stationary. With some aid from Mother Suna, Sunagakure was built. To that end, she offered the mantle of power that she possessed to the Sunahoshi-- the greatest of the First Men-- but not simply to their leader. She instilled her power within their very blood, their spiritual identity as a clan and family, and then disappeared into history to whereabouts unknown.

The Ancients themselves had faded into obscurity, but it was a little advertised fact that the Ancient race was exterminated by the recently freed and empowered people. It was a darker part of humanity's history and while there is never one side that is wholly righteous, it would be a fool's errand to seek truth in a history book. To the victor goes the spoils and it is the victor who writes the history.

"Hello there. I'm known as Kurokawa although my keepsake getting me the name no longer exist. Oh well. Do you have a name?"

"Sahqo Golz" it answered, its name as antediluvian as its form. It would mean in common simply 'Red Stone.' "Now they send children," it lifted its head in complaint before resting its weary head again on the unyielding surface.

 

[Hashigaki Kurokawa]

[OOC: Not to make anyone angry but that was like 5 lines of useful stuff and a long story that starts with stating that my character does not know this. It would be using off game information if I read through it and used it to solve anything. I'd rather not make it than use off game information so please. Love descriptions but I would really like if there was not a 1370 word history lesson from Sand filling it all up.]

Kurokawa made a note that she was not the first to come here. This one was probably visited frequently over the past decade and had been used to serve many purposes. Which meant that it would be odd if the assignment was to kill the creature. One thing was for sure. It's speech pattern indicated that it was old.

"Guess I'm not the first one here. Suppose to find a scroll or two in this room. Any clues you want to share?"

While she was waiting for the answer he listened to the tune of its body. She had the voice of an angel but since she had never heard any songs that would match this feeling she got when listening to the creature she would just hum whatever came to mind that fit the bill.

 

[Michi]

OC: Then it won't happen again

IC:

She would hear the constant, slow and rhythmic sound of its heart. The tiny granules of sand that sounding like rainfall. There was an aura of song that rang out gently, the words unknown and perhaps forgotten but the presence of the creature seemed to call out and soothe. It was similar to the arias sung by he Hashigaki but the beast or rather Ancient was not singing. "Break my chains, release me from these fetters and I will show you the way," the creature made of earth offered as it looked over at the rusted blade. There was no scroll in this stone-lined room, only the three reinforced doors.

"There is no need to fear me, I am but a shadow of what I once was," it continued unaware that the Hashigaki was of a foreign breed. Those who grew up in Sunagakure grew up with tales of the old courts and the valiant bravery of the first to stand against oppression. The Earth Ancient considered himself to be at the least a curiosity and at worst an entity to be feared. "You have a lovely voice,"<i></i> he confided. She indeed hummed such a sweet melody.

She would notice something odd, perhaps it was the reverberations of her own voice or the sound of the churning sands that would alert her to the sound that the sands were pinging against something. It was faint and utterly distant, but still there was a point of contention between the unstoppable force and the immobvable force within the Ancient.

 

[Hashigaki Kurokawa]

[As it is played out in game in some way that makes it relevant its welcomed. Nice touch with the Dragon Language for the name btw.]

Kurokawa picked up the sword whilst still humming. She went closer to the creature on the stone slab but did not raise the blade. She focused on this point of disruption within the creature. Some form of solid object not suppose to be in there? The scroll perhaps. Was the creature lying on it or was it embedded into it. She tried to seek out her inner blood spirit for guidance. Not being able to use Ninjutsu was one thing but being cut of from ones other half as a Jinchuuriki was another. She needed to know if there was any chance to defend herself if she set this creature free.

Kurokawa stopped her humming and started to speak to the creature.

"Something bounces the sounds away. It's on the stone slap. It's inside you. The scroll? Under you or embedded in you?"

She had so many questions.

"Last time I broke the chains of a creature like you it took hold of me. More than one person has been send down here judging from what you said before. So why is it that I feel like the answer lies within you rather than in removing these chains?"

She raised the sword.

"Such beautiful music. The aura I see around you would be equivalent to the colours in a rainbow. I have never seen one but from how people describe it this could be it."

She rested the sword against some part of the creature. Was it being sandpapered? Did it make a musical tune or amplify it? Did it make no difference?

"In my current state I think it unwise to set something I don't understand free in a sealed room with me."

 

[Michi]

"Something bounces the sounds away. It's on the stone slap. It's inside you. The scroll? Under you or embedded in you?"

Its 'eyes' widened with the Hashigaki's assessment. She could see it? Fascinating little human child. He did not answer immediately, rather it listened.

"Last time I broke the chains of a creature like you it took hold of me. More than one person has been send down here judging from what you said before. So why is it that I feel like the answer lies within you rather than in removing these chains?"

"So a 'heretofore' monster it is," the creature echoed. "Strange they send you if you have nothing to learn here," it commented more to itself than to the young woman as he saw her lift the rusted blade. He let out a sigh and counted, "seven-hundred and eighty two." He relaxed his body the best he could, the song changed ever so slightly to one of reluctant wait. She knew not that it would be an augury of the fateful tragedy of her kind.

"Such beautiful music. The aura I see around you would be equivalent to the colours in a rainbow. I have never seen one but from how people describe it this could be it."

"In sooth, this world is ruled by contraries, their fall should presage ira's reward. You seemed hardly the type, I should know better by now," the creature relented as the blade pressed against him. It was dull and full of rust, it would shift lightly as the shifting sands rocked it. Some of the rust at the very edge would be rubbed off but the churning mass of sand that occupied this Ancient seemed to move only fast enough to give him the image of form. Would she hear a song? No, just the grating of sands against the blade, it would be uncomfortable for the creature if weight was behind the weapon or it truly tried to press into him. If she did such, the song would grow shill as if it was crying.

"In my current state I think it unwise to set something I don't understand free in a sealed room with me."

"Preservation... understandable," even still he yielded to the first law. "There will be a time when you are no longer contrite, soon if the time has not already passed."

 

[Hashigaki Kurokawa]

Apparently getting through to her inner blood demon was not possible as it yielded no answer. She was indeed cut off from any form of defence other than resorting to taijutsu if she had to. She did know one sword fighting technique. Would that be enough. The creature seemed quite agitated by the mere touch of the blade. Maybe it was worth the shot. She ran through what it had said this time. It had gotten more obscure in its choice of words. A Heterofore monster would be her blood spirit but apparently that had something to do with her not learning anything? Or did it refer to it taking hold of her if she released it and the fact that she already knew that.

Kurokawa removed the blade from the creature. It did not yield a new tune of music as she had hoped. She tried out her sword technique striking 4 consecutive times to see if her taijutsu was also blocked. This would determine if the could run the risk of letting out the creature. It seemed that the announcement counted physical combat as Jutsu. The blade felt heavy in her hands.

What did he say more. The world is ruled by contraries? Did it mean contradictions? Opposites? Seemed true enough. For every good there was always a counterpart. Even within a person. Presage had too many linguistic uses for her to discern which the creature was using as the sentence made no sense. Ira was a form of anger or a name. Sounded most like a name but it still made no sense to her.

The next part she might have gotten right. It did not see her as a killer. But by raising the blade she would have tricked memories of past events where people aren't what they seem. The next part. What did she have to show remorse for. Her mother? The bloodbath that happened when she got her new companion embedded into her soul. No unless it read minds it would have to be something current. Sadness over killing it perhaps? Or did it simple mean to say that she shows too much pity on the ones before her?

Two choices... Either behead the creature and find out if that kills it or just makes it angry, or let it loose and find out if it is indeed a benevolent creature ready to help or something best kept chained up.

She thought about what she needed to leave the room. Two scrolls. There was suppose to be one in her possession from the start but no such luck. If the resonance inside the creature is indeed one of the scrolls then killing it would leave her without the second half of the puzzle.

"Guess I'm taking a leap of faith. Lets find out what's in your heart shall we?"

She lifted the blade again and swung it full force towards the stone slap. A large clinging sound would ecco through the room as the blade struck the chains. Either the blade would break or the chains would.

[MFT]
[WC: 513]

 

[Michi]

Spoiler

OC: Trying to keep these rooms in cadence for leaving.

IC:

The Hashigaki would heave the heavy, addled weapon rusted and pockmarked with age into the air and allow it to crash down. The weapon would cut cleanly through the unfortunate creature, whatever it was. The sands that had occupied it lost their consistency. Like a balloon popping, the impossibly thin, intangible membrane that ensured the creature's given form has dissolved. "A shame... another like all the rest," was all it said. The strange creature was certainly alive, but it was no more. A quivering could be seen in the sands and perhaps if the Hashikai had any intuitive sense she would have the feeling that the sands were not something she ought to touch. However in the center of this mess, it would be gruesome to one who had kinship with this thing but to most others it was nothing more than a pile of copper sands. A scroll lay in the center, it was a small and simple thing, a cream colored piece of parchment tied with a long fine string of the same color. Not that hues mattered, at least for one such as the hopeful standing there. Embossed across the face, in gold leaf filled letters that one could feel with their hand or even 'see' in the auditory sense as depressions on paper the single word Ira.

The Hashigaki would hear a click, three clicks to be precise. She would be able to identify their source with her keen hearing - the doors to her left and to her right which were both locked up until this moment as well as a lonesome door without an opposing one. The left and the right had no mechanism that the Genin would have to finagle with, however the lonesome door has two oblong openings that seemed to be reflective of the scrolls in shape and size. If she tested this theory in the depression alongside the door she would note a perfect fit, but she would also notice that the door remains locked. The deadbolt was pulled back but it would seem that there was an additional lock to open these solitary doors.

"Brrrootall!" an excited disembodied voice announced from speakers unseen. "All-righty folks, we got ourselves a cold one here. She just killed a bound and defenseless creature known as an Ancient. As we all know those buggers predate humanity by a good margin, at least here in Wind Country! HaHa! Let's see how she feels about one of the other rooms!"

Regardless of the direction she chose, be it left or right she would walk into a very simple room and once she entered the space the door would close behind her. It was a frsh puzzle, but assuming she had a scroll still in hand and that she did not leave it behind then she would conceivably need only one more. She would find herself in a room bisected by a wall and a porticulous. On the frame of the passage in raised letters that her ears would be able to clearly see would be the following: "you must enter twice but leave once. Gloria et inertes." There would also be a scroll on the floor, identical to the one in her hand of a cream color and bound in utterly simple string. Embossed upon its simple face and filled with gilded leaf would be the term Pigredo. If she was to rest the door she entered through, she would discover that it was locked. If she walked through the porticulous, nothing would happen to her and the door against the far wall would also be locked on the opposite side of the room. On the lone wall with no match was the same oblong openings. If the scrolls were both placed in the holes, a dull *click* would be heard but the door would not unlock.

OC: New statement made because missed the last sentences of the post previous and saw it as the creature being slaughtered. The immediate result is similar but the end result ultimately is very different.

The Hashigaki would heave the heavy, addled weapon rusted and pockmarked with age into the air and allow it to crash down. The weapon would not cut cleanly through the chain but the link would be badly damaged, enough for the creature, whatever it was, to break free. With a mighty pull, the chain snapped under his power. He let out a roar from his exertion as he pulled his other extremities free. The chains would snap and the recoil was like a whip that chipped at the ground. "A first... not at all like the rest," it announced as it stood upright. The strange creature was certainly alive and sentient. There would be no scroll for her to recover, just a behemoth that towered over her.

The Hashigaki would hear a click, three clicks to be precise. She would be able to identify their source with her keen hearing - the doors to her left and to her right which were both locked up until this moment as well as a lonesome door without an opposing one. The left and the right had no mechanism that the Genin would have to finagle with, however the lonesome door has two oblong openings. There was nothing in her reach that would fit these openings, the scroll allegedly within the entity that stood beside her. That door remains locked. The deadbolt was pulled back but it would seem that there was an additional lock to open these solitary doors.

"Ugg" an disappointed disembodied voice complained from speakers unseen. "All-righty folks, we got ourselves a sentimental one here. She just released a formerly bound dangerous creature known as an Ancient. As we all know those buggers predate humanity by a good margin, at least here in Wind Country! She is going to be the ruin of us all if they try to subjugate humanity agaun. HaHa! We will worry about THAT later. Let's see how she feels about one of the other rooms!"

Regardless of the direction she chose, be it left or right she would walk into a very simple room and once she entered the space the door would close behind her. It was a fresh puzzle, but assuming she had a scroll still in hand and that she did not leave it behind then she would conceivably need only one more. She would find herself in a room bisected by a wall and a portcullis. On the frame of the passage in raised letters that her ears would be able to clearly see would be the following: "you must enter twice but leave once. Gloria et inertes." There would also be a scroll on the floor, iof a cream color and bound in utterly simple string. Embossed upon its simple face and filled with gilded leaf would be the term Pigredo. If she was to rest the door she entered through, she would discover that it was locked. If she walked through the portcullis, nothing would happen to her and the door against the far wall would also be locked on the opposite side of the room. On the lone wall with no match was the same oblong openings. If the scroll was both placed in one of the holes, she would note it a perfect fit. "They like making a game out of this even still," it commented.

 

[Hashigaki Kurokawa]

After walking through the door Kurokawa took in all the details of the room. She then went to pick up the scroll, while still carrying the sword. According to the announcer the creature she had following her now was known as an Ancient. She did not know much about them other than it meant that the creature had to be old.

"So. I'm short one scroll from the other room. That object disturbing your inner tune wouldn't happen to be it?"

She went to check out the portcullis. It was open apparently as she had just walked under it. The doors were locked and there was a riddle here.

"Enter twice but leave once? Sounds like some maze riddle. You are the old and wise one. Any insights?"

She had two rooms but only one door so while waiting for an answer she checked the wall slowly and meticulously to look for hidden switches or secret doors. One way to look at this was that she had to go through the portcullis twice from one end then once from the other but in order to do that she needed a different passage. She did not want to put her blood into making clones if she could avoid it.

 

[Michi]

OC: Welp, farewell Kageoni's student. =/ You be slows. Moving on here.

IC:
"So. I'm short one scroll from the other room. That object disturbing your inner tune wouldn't happen to be it?"

The set-up was rather obvious likely to the Chuunin-hopeful. The point of these rooms was to commit a travesty not to deny the terrible ambitions that linger in the deepest parts of one's mind. "No,"<i></i> he announced "...or at least not what you are looking for."<i></i> Its voice rumbled, like a thousand boulders crashing from within its ever shifting form. "This place looks to change you or to reinforce an unpropitious nature."<i></i> In the first room, the intent was to kill the Ancient with that rusted and dulled blade. That was what they wanted to see, that unflinching brutality common among seasoned shinobis, not mercy. Here, they were looking for something similar. Something utterly basic to any brute that entered the room as a pair, there were other answers as well but the creative and gentle mind was not what the Daimyo wanted. Haste and desire for a reward, people are by nature selfish, weak little things and the needs of another and especially an inhuman is often a pittance of a price to the one who does not have to recompensate the steep cost.

"Enter twice but leave once? Sounds like some maze riddle. You are the old and wise one. Any insights?"

She would ask but Sahqo Golz would remain silent while the young woman searched the room. Her sense of sound was like an ultrasound and more than made up for her limited sight. She would notice something unusual about this room, it was the same in the room adjacent. They were being watched, flush with the wall and impossibly small there was an array of small cameras out of their reach in these rooms. Also, there was a series of small holes far above their heads near the seam, something anyone with a lesser sense would have readily missed. However, the Ancient was well aware that they were being watched and what those holes were for. Neither were pleasant topics of conversation of course. "The goal of this room is like that last, a glutton unwilling to sacrifice what is theirs out of avarice, selfishness or sloth... the result always the same that the loss of another is not a concern for the others especially when they derive gains from those very losses."<i></i> He stopped before the threshold, there was of course another answer that did not end in blood. "Be careful human,"<i></i> Sahqo Golz warned. "Remember, the Daimyo only has the authority your people give him, what he considers a success they might not acquiesce."<i></i>

He was hungry... So hungry... but he would stave his appetite for now.

"We enter together... twice, you traverse once more,"<i></i> it explained a simpler method than using her own blood to summon a clone or being forced to fight a battle he would not win in his debilitated form. "But, you will not be what he is looking for... you'll pass,"<i></i> he nodded at the seem in the ceiling unaware that the Hashigaki was already keenly aware. "You will not learn what those holes do and likely will never know this place's true intent... a blessing I assure you."<i></i> He looked over at a camera lens defiantly as he said to an unseen party, "unless you want to show your nature and undo your efforts for fear of my freedom."<i></i>

 

[Hashigaki Kurokawa]

Kurokawa turned towards Sahqo Golz with a witty smile on her face and a tilted head.

"And who would keep me company if I did that?"

She pointed at him with her blade

"If it was up to me you were going back to Stone with me. Could always use someone with ancient knowledge by my side were I ever to realise my dream. But I'm not sure the ones who arranged this event would let me or that you would even want to."

Knowledge is power after all and friends are in short supply. At least here in sand it seemed. People were apparently hell-bent on ending each other in this ancients eyes.

"Now for the room riddle again. I need to be sure that you don't just die from whatever would come from the sealing when we do this. Not getting the scroll from the last room means I need another room to pass and for some reason I feel like that portcullis will come down once we try to solve this."

She licked her fingers and went around their side of the room with one hand going along the wall without touching it. every time she would come across a camera she would dot it with her fingers leaving saliva on the lenses. It would not stop the cameras but at least some of them would be out for the time being. A few less angles for people to stare at her.

"Now then. You say these people are looking for something simple but specific so lets give them what they want"

She would form seals and mold her chakra. But instead of Chakra she used her health as the fuel for the fire. Out of her body poured blood to either side of her. More than it seemed like she as actually losing and it did not stain her clothing or stick to her hair even though it came from every pour in her body. Her Jinchuuriki had given her access to the blood element and if she was going to use her body as a fuel source she might as well at something for the masses. From the two large pools of blood rose clones of herself.

"Oh god am I happy I heal fast. This is not a pleasant way to activate Jutsu"

The clones would enter through the Portcullis before one of them would colour the wall red with blood and the other would turn around to run back the other way.

Spoiler

Kurokawa uses Elemental Clone (Mastered) with the special ability to make more than one clone. Since blood cannot be the element in combat treat it as a water clone. The blood is for fluff. 625 CP so that would make it 625 HP instead?

 

[Michi]

"And who would keep me company if I did that?"

He did not have an answer for the young adventurer. he let out a dusty breath, he was not 'good company' even by his low standards. She raised his blade to him but he was unflinching, it was not that he did not fear death or pain but rather it was commonplace. He had died hundreds of times before, what is one more.

"If it was up to me you were going back to Stone with me. Could always use someone with ancient knowledge by my side were I ever to realise my dream. But I'm not sure the ones who arranged this event would let me or that you would even want to."

"I would never survive the journey,"<i></i> Sahqo replied. Well, he might survive but it would come at a terrible price. Ancients were the living embodiment of their elemental nature, him an amalgamation of earth and wind, he was a personification of the very desert. There was something powerful and old about these lands, an unseen and untouched but always felt force that fed him but this energy was lost to him when he left these lands. Ancients did not require food to sustain themselves, nature was gracious in its bounty in Wind Country but there were alternatives: souls. Like these lands, souls were condensed life energy and it is a basic scientific principle that energy cannot be created or destroyed... only transformed. Souls were also an acquired taste and to some a sin or perversion to consume but that did not stop some from taking their fill before they descended into madness. Ancients had a natural propensity towards the consumption of life energy, much like man enjoys the salty and sweet and hearty. Still, a glutton takes many forms. He knew that beyond the borders of Wind Country his voracious hunger would be all-consuming and he would be like his devil mother. "But I will never deny a curious mind a piece of mine."<i></i>

"Now for the room riddle again. I need to be sure that you don't just die from whatever would come from the sealing when we do this. Not getting the scroll from the last room means I need another room to pass and for some reason I feel like that portcullis will come down once we try to solve this."

Clever girl. She had a point, the metal gate would likely crash down leaving them trapped on the other side, otherwise they would have only had to traverse an open threshold in theory. The Earthen Ancient would look up at the heavy, thick metal spikes. "Possible,"<i></i> he admitted as he too pondered this strange riddle. He had never left the previous room... not once. The Iwa-nin made her way around the room, licking her finger before rubbing it over near invisible lenses throughout the room. The haze would not obscure their vision of the pair completely but it would leave an unfortunate and an annoying haze. "I doubt they want you dead,"<i></i> he reasoned.

"Now then. You say these people are looking for something simple but specific so lets give them what they want"

The girl would run her hands through an array of seals. He had seen the humans do this a number of times before, apparently that was how they summoned their energies to perform miracles. Blood seemed to seep from her pores. "Human!"<i></i> the ancient snapped "you're leaking!"<i></i> The blood would drip from her small frame into twin puddles. From these crimson pools a pair of arms would pull free of the pools and posses a humanoid form that resembled near identically the Chuunin hopeful. "You're with child. This is wrong!"<i></i> Sahqo Golz insisted as he looked upon her progeny. An Ancient does not reproduce through intercourse but do so asexually when they have gathered enough energy to do so. Life would be breathed into their element and it would take life. To an Ancient everything was alive, even what is dead.

"Oh god am I happy I heal fast. This is not a pleasant way to activate Jutsu"

"A what? Children are not..."<i></i> he started to protest as the pair of neophytes entered through the portcullis before one of them would burst like a popped blister and the wall behind them would be painted a deep scarlet. "Woe, constrained by the wonder of birth and death... what have you done to your children!"<i></i> The Ancient accused. He averted his own gaze from the gore, she was just like the rest but the portcullis crumbled and from it came a scroll. She would hear the locks on the doors unlock, the sounds would be familiar. She would have heard this happen once before already and she would know that this meant that she could move on to the next room if she so desired. The Ancient was visibly distressed by her child's sacrifice, he was scraping the blood from the wall and the floor and blew on it to no avail. He would glower as a small spark at the tip of his finger would be plunged into the sanguine. "Child wake,"<i></i> nothing would happen as he pressed the spark against the blood. "WAKE UP!"<i></i>

OC: He thinks you killed your baby. =( He is Sanqo is sad.

 

[Hashigaki Kurokawa]

apparently this ancient did not take lightly to clones. Being made basically of her own blood she figured that these ancient gave birth this way, so something resembling their own element. Maybe water clones would have been better. She already had a scroll from this room is she was a bit puzzled when another one dropped from the cumbling portcullis. Now she had two and would not need another room.

To try and ease the disturbed Ancient she would damage herself further to reabsorb both the standing clone and the one who had perished rather than just dispelling the one she still had going.

"If you think we humans can reproduce that fast, I am not the only one with things to learn. The world would be overpopulated with humans if that was the case but that was not my child. That was like a mirror image of me, a clone. One mind one set of thoughts, different bodies. A part of my energy that can't survive on it's own and needs to return at some point."

Since she now had two scrolls she would move to the slides in the wall on either side of the door that would lead out of this puzzle.

"You gonna be alright Ancient-san? We don't work the same way so don't get too upset ne?"

She would place the scrolls in the slots as the setup suggested and then attempt to enter through the door.

 

[Michi]

The Ancient was visibly distressed by the exhibition as the young woman ate her second child and the first refused to waken. He clasped his hands over his ears and closed his eyes tight. "You monster!"<i></i> He cried. Ancients were not necessarily evil creatures but rather simply creatures that wanted to live and to love; they had dreams and ambitions and even fear much like humans did. And most of all they desired companionship and freedom, basic liberties so many take for granted and so many take from others without a second thought. He would calm... eventually.

"If you think we humans can reproduce that fast, I am not the only one with things to learn. The world would be overpopulated with humans if that was the case but that was not my child. That was like a mirror image of me, a clone. One mind one set of thoughts, different bodies. A part of my energy that can't survive on it's own and needs to return at some point."

He was still traumatized. He shook his head in half disbelief. He believed she ate her young, having decided that she was a creature much like himself. She had the signs of a fellow Ancient, all less the aura. There was a hum, a song that she recognized. That was his aura, that melody that seemed to roll off him that presently sung a requiem. They bled their element, his sand that would drip from his wounds; hers blood much like her progeny.

"You gonna be alright Ancient-san? We don't work the same way so don't get too upset ne?"

He frowned, "I'll be fine."<i></i> It was the truth, he was not disabled or crippled. He was a product of the first law and like so many others bound by it but he was also the sentimental sort comparatively but those are facets for an other day.

The Hashigaki would place the pair of scrolls into the grooves on the walls and she would hear an internalized click from deep within the wall or the frame. Her adventure would be for the most part non-incidental, at least comparatively. People needed to be malleable and this one was not, the exam was slanted as to encourage the labyrinth runner to devolve from whatever enlightened state they were at to the point of savagery. The callous loss of life for personal gains. The willingness to harm another for the sake of one's own promotion or indifference to their innocence. Humans and Ancients were at their core the same tired, petty and self-serving creatures, just in different packaging. Still there was blood and it was the blood sacrifice that Jashin desired and it was for that reason the threshold crumbled and the second scroll was afforded to the young Chuunin hopeful.

If she were to open the door she would note an open sky. The sun would be far from where it hung when she entered the maze but that would be far from the most curious fact. This stony patio with an altar in the center, etched into the face of the the stony surface was a circle with a triangle inside.

There was a paper left folded on the slab. It had commandments written on it simply:

1. Suffering is pleasure, brings enlightenment and ensures paradise.
2. Honor thy God in death, blood and sacrifice.
3. Death is an eventuality.

There was a way to leave, it was simple enough. Scale the wall and depart this place. Still there was something of dire concern that the Chuunin hopeful was likely unfamiliar with the ritualistic bloodmagic of Jashinism. The purpose of this place was bizarre, what kind of examination has a basis in a forbidden religion to a dark god? A stone bowl on the floor,the implements here seem limited. This was not a place to rest but rather recruit and intuition was the only thing that would serve a visitor of this temple space. She was free in theory, free to leave with only the heavens to limit her.

If Kurokawa were to scale the building she would only see desert in every direction. She was in the badlands, somewhere far from the village. Even further than the Genin hopefuls who were hurled through space to the wilds only to find a sandworm. The sandworm had been felled by the group, a miraculous event and over the distant horizon Kurokawa would see the strange, curious felled beast perhaps two miles to the east over gently sloping hills. Sandworms were not small beasts, the size of buildings it was a mere earthen-hued speck in the distance. The Genins who surrounded this massive soon to be slain beast could not be seen from this distant vantage point. From here there would be no sound, no action or reaction. It was likely that Kurokawa expected something... well something more at the end of this escapade. There was something, but not what she would have expected. Chuunins were different from the Genins who were basically being treated as fodder and the Jouinins who were being framed, the Medics who were being put out of the way and the ANBU who were supposed to play the role of 'Patient Zero.' The Chuunins were semi-trained but were not entirely indoctrinated yet, malleable enough. Sadly, it would seem that the Daimyo's expectations were indeed lofty, he expected a larger turnout than just the pair.

Oh well... no loss and no gain except a recently released Earth Ancient. Pity the Rangers are long-dead.

Options:

• Something to potentially link you to Jashinism for the future if this is your cup of tea.
• You can 'see' (hear with sonar) the Genin Exam distantly -- the worm looks like a cylindrical stone in the distant horizon so obviously unnatural.

 

[Hashigaki Kurokawa]

Kurokawa would miss most of what was in this room. The markings on the floor might have to be cut into the stone for her to see it since mere blood on a flat surface would not catch her ear. She didn't know anything of the symbols though. She would not be leaving any blood behind in the room before as she had already used her powers to recall any remnants of herself. Her ties to blood made it easy to get every last drop. Just because her Inner companion was silent did not mean he was gone and with his guidance she would make sure to not leave anything behind for the Jashinists to use for later rituals.

Jashinism would not be Kurokawa's cup of tea with her current mental state but even if it was she would be unable to pursue it due to being a Blood Jinchuuriki and thus wanting to obtain blood rather than spill her own. She would turn to the Ancient.

"Well seems I'm out where I can move freely again. If you want to you can come with me. I'll make sure to come between you and whoever we meet should they be hostile. You are also free to stay here although it seems from your statement that for whomever controls this place, you are something forever bound to a stone slap. I wont force you but I will start making my way out."

Kurokawa gave Sahqo Golz exactly one minute to respond before she proceeded to scale the wall. Once on top she would stand there silently taking in everything around her. She would hear the sounds of the falling sandworm and decide to move towards it. Being close to the rest of whoever was placed out here in the desert seemed the logical solution.


[OOC: Will be posting in the Genin exam shortly since it seems that is where I'm heading. If Sahqo Golz follows he can be in your next post as well ]
[OOC: Even if I wanted to go the Jashinism road I already have a kin so. Also the reabsorption of all the blood happened last post. Couldn't tell from your post if you got that part.]
[OOC: I consider the Chunnin exam part over then.]

 

[Michi]

Kurokawa actually learned an important fact about the mindset of the people running this examination. They were ritualistic blood magicians in the lay sense, the rooms were not much of maze as they were a test. The proctor was looking for something special in Kurokawa -- a malleable youth with a propensity for causing harm. She actually failed for all intents and purposes, but in the eyes of the spectators she was not a villain but rather a hero. There is one question that a great many of us have failed to even ponder: why would we give a foreign Diamyo domain over the promotion of military forces sovereign from his rule in Wind Country and places external? If she had 'passed' she likely never would have left this country because she would have found herself conscripted into a different army.

"Well seems I'm out where I can move freely again. If you want to you can come with me. I'll make sure to come between you and whoever we meet should they be hostile. You are also free to stay here although it seems from your statement that for whomever controls this place, you are something forever bound to a stone slap. I wont force you but I will start making my way out."

The girl announced as she started to climb the wall. Ancients do not have the same chakra as humans, they are made of energy certainly but they are far from utilitarian. The cobblestone floor would rattle and quaver as beads of sand would stream from between the stones beneath his feet. A geyser of sand would catapult him skyward. He would follow the girl wordlessly from thereon.