Chuunin Exam [1st Room - Hiraoka Okitsugu]

[Aburabuta Yutaka]

Hiraoka Okitsugu - Sound Genin

The seal on the back of Okitsugu's hand suddenly began to engulf in a burning sensation but the curiously metal-armed youth did not seem alarmed by it as he raised his hand to gaze at the now searing mark on the back of his hand. Indeed from the blank expression on his face it didn't seem like there was much that cause him alarm. He quickly surmised that the stamp they'd placed on the back of his hand was no mere mark of qualification but this was something he'd come to expect from the Daimyo of Wind, armed as he was with the knowledge that Master Tarou had armed him with regarding both Sora and it's now infamous leader. Dust swirled around his body and in a matter of moments he was transported through time and space to what he assumed was the place where his exam would take place.

As the dust died away Okitsugu got his first good look around himself at the room and slowly examined each inch of the various mirrored surfaces... save for the floor. Ceiling, floor, doors... everything was a mirror. Clearly they were significant in some way but their purpose was not immediately obvious as Okitsugu examined each. He dared not move immediately, it was possible that the room was trapped and moving to any significant degree might trigger those traps. He was confident in his skills but even a simple trap might be dangerous to him if he jumped head first into a contraption he did not understand.

Looking down at the floor, Okitsugu noted the tremendous inscription and sidelined it for the moment until he'd determined if he could move at all. With full attention to his surroundings, Okitsugu lifted a single foot and cautiously took a step forward while staying alert to any possible changing elements of his surroundings. Following the step he waited for a few counts and then took another. Again, nothing.

No movement-based traps., he determined as he looked back down at the floor and brought his attention to the inscription and the scroll which rested atop it. The fact that he had not been immediately attacked only meant that the room was not trapped to attack him based on his movement -- it did not in fact curtail the possibility of traps. Only ones that were hostile to movement. Moving to the scroll, Okitsugu once again cautiously lifted it from the floor and opened it to read the singular word that was contained within it; Invidentia? Common tongue but old. Archaic Wind Country word meaning "envy". Envy?

The yellow pupils of Okitsugu's strikingly inorganic eyes dilated independently back and forth like the lens of a camera as he considered the meaning of the inscription. Clearly the inscription was a clue to solving the room. Was the entire room a singular puzzle? He'd expected a physical challenge of some kind and come outfitted for that. Perhaps that part was yet to come. As he thought a gout of steam and smoke hissed from the plates of his arms which surrounded him in a four-smelling vapor for a moment before quickly dissipating into the air. At least, the oily acrid sensation of the vapor would have been upsetting for anyone that wasn't Okitsugu or one of his fellow students of Master Tarou. The smell of that vapor was one of the precious few things in the world that Okitsugu found comforting.

Envy? Mirrors?

Folding his arms across his chest causing the clanking and scraping of metal against metal to fill the air of the small room he'd been transported to, Okitsugu traveled to the edge of the room and stood before the mirrored door that was at the far end of it. Was he expected to open the door? Break the mirrors, perhaps? No, that was too simple. In likelihood simply breaking the mirrors would cause a fail state for the exam. They'd given him a great deal of them so that if he screwed up then he would have an opportunity to try again. Clearly the organizer of the event had expected the petitioner of the exam to experiment with a few of the mirrors. Choosing to eliminate the obvious from his list of possibilities first, Okitsugu reached forward to turn the doorknob of the door and found it locked just as he expected it to be.

Of course. That would have been stupid.

Now it was time for something... a bit more forceful. Turning to his right, Okitsugu looked upon one of the other doors in the room and raised his right hand while curling his fingers into a fist with the exception of his index finger which pointed forward as he aligned his straightened arm with the far door. With a popping noise like that of a cork bursting from a bottle of wine the first joint of Okitsugu's pointer finger separated from his finger and flipped up to reveal a narrow tube hidden within the finger which glowed for a moment before erupting with a joke of blue electricity which jumped from the barrel that his finger had become and lanced across the room towards the mirror.

It was seven years bad luck but they had given him so many. He'd have been a bad scientist if he didn't experiment at least a little bit.

[Okitsugu attacks one of the mirrored doors with his finger blaster to test it's reaction to being broken. He is standing across the room to avoid any potential collateral damage to his person but also alert for any counter-attacks from the room.]

 

[Michi]

The Otogakurian shinobi entered the room on a gust of dark current. It would spin him about wildly before he would make his landing. While dizzied by the violent method of transit, one would not know to look at the young, inquisitive man. The mirrors watched him move about the room, like a dozen eyes that not so secretly spied on him. They watched as he took caution in his movements. The only adornment in the room was a scroll left haphazardly on the floor. It read one simple word 'Invidentia.' Yes, he recognized the archaic word for what it was, 'envy.' Common had changed greatly over the years and had its roots in other languages, the boy was well learned. Envy is thin because it bites but never eats. He would see himself from every conceivable angle and it would appear that he was alone.

The inhuman would ponder, meander and test the door. The door were indeed locked and unyielding even if he had tried to force it open. So it was time for a test, the Chuunin-hopeful pointed at the far door with his index finger and the distal portion of his phalange flicked upward revealing a hollow shaft. A burst of electrical current current was released, the snaking, twisting and arcing as the current shot across the room in a flash only to be swallowed by the mirror. It seemed seamless, the disappearance of that bolt of electricity and the sudden searing pain he felt as something ripped through his shoulder. A flash of blue could be seen out of the corner of his eye just like the bolt he cast. It bit through him without mercy.

What Happened?
Hiraoka Okitsugu has been hit by his own attack in the shoulder.

 

[Aburabuta Yutaka]

Hiraoka Okitsugu - Sound Genin

His eyes narrowing as his attack was consumed by the surface of the mirror, Okitsugu was too distracted by the strange phenomena to predict the attack he'd sent at the mirror being disgorged from another one of the mirrors in the room and slamming into his right shoulder. With the sound of scraping metal and sizzling flesh, parts of Okitsugu's metal-armored shoulder splintered into the air as his blast of energy bit deeply into it and erupted from the other side causing his right side to blossom in pain. Stifling a yell, Okitsugu went to his right knee as blood and oil poured from the wound and he fought to recapture his scattered thoughts. Almost immediately the damage to his shoulder began to glow with a strange yellow light and reconstruct itself as the flow of oily blood-like ichor quickly ceased and once more Okitsugu stood back up. Turning his right arm slightly, he found that it still hurt quite a bit to move but he'd recovered much of the function of the limb. He wouldn't know quite how much damage had been done until he had time to examine it properly but for now he had to focus on the task at hand. Moving over to the mirror, Okitsugu ran his fingers across the surface of the mirror to inspect it for any damage at all that he'd done... but as he did he felt a strange sensation on his cheek as if he were touching it.

"Hypothesis. Room is outfitted with mirror element ninjutsu." It was the most logical conclusion aside from genjutsu but genjutsu was tricky to predict. It was possible to blame anything unusual on the effect of an illusory construct being made in his mind and that made it dangerous to make assumptions about. It was too easy to blame genjutsu. Until he had more evidence to support the idea that the room were somehow outfitted with a persistent genjutsu.

He could not use mirror element techniques himself but one of the cornerstones of advanced puppetry was the ability to assimilate and wield powers that were not your own. He had experience with the techniques from his training with Master Tarou even though he possessed none of them himself. So, mirror ninjutsu. He'd proven that he could not damage the mirrors; they'd only reciprocate the attack back at him. In the case of a physical attack, he might simply just suffer the damage that the attack would have done to the mirror. That made it somewhat similar to the teachings of Jashin in nature but with important subtleties that set them apart. If he were linked with the mirrors... what might happen if he hit himself?

Turning from the mirror, Okitsugu walked back to the center of the room and raised his hand as he curled his fingers into a fist while charging it with his chakra. This would hurt a considerable amount but anything less than a genuine hit would not properly test his theory. Steadying himself for the incoming pain, Okitsugu slammed his knuckles into the slowly repairing wound on his right shoulder and felt his vision swim as his body protested against his decision to test the theory by way of another wave of fresh agony.

[Okitsugu uses Janken (Master Rank) with the Special Action: Rock on himself.]

 

[Michi]

The Chuunin hopeful struck himself at the site of his injury, the searing pain from the self-inflicted attack had to of been searing. But it was not, Okitsugu did not feel a thing. The mirror, on the other hand, let out a grating sound that was followed by a sharp crack. The image in the mirror looked back at Okitsugu, it was not mimicking the examinee's movements any longer. It raised its hand to cover the wound, the reflected face a visage of suffering. The mirror started to crack over the reflection of Okitsugu's shoulder in several mirrors. The cracks yawned over the face if the mirrors like a spider's web that expanded to the distal most points of the glass. The mirror then shattered, the glass was like diamonds as it littered the floor. What remained, bare walls and three metal-reinforced doors and one lonesome scroll.

He would hear a click, well three clicks. The doors were unlocked and he would have the option to move left or right. Those doors would open easily, but the third door, no longer mirrored like the rest revealed a pair of grooves near it that would fit something long and narrow. It would fit the scroll on the floor perfectly, but it appeared that there was space for one more. If he tested the door, he would find it locked still.

It did not matter if he went left or right. Once he left the formerly mirrored room, the door would lock behind him. Okitsugu would find himself in an empty room. There would be a mural on the walls of this room that illustrated gods and monsters, some in battle, some copulating, still others in mundane acts of friendship, valiant acts of bravery or merely profiled. These would be images of beings unlike the person thrust into this strange, alien place and the room would seem to change... to transform. Okitsugu would no longer see what was etched on the walls as the world faded away like a memory or a dream. Hr would be where he wanted to be, rather than where he actually was. Where you cannot be but wished you were.


Everyone has something that they lack and something that they wanted more than anything. He would see no scroll. He would see no doors.