[X] Did you really expect any other outcome?
"Settle down, rugrats!" the woman... nay, the
vision shouts dramatically. As you sit up, rubbing your aching jaw and trying to ignore the laughter around you, you see that her name is written on a banner that has unfurled behind her.
Mitarashi Anko... You smile dreamily.
What a delicious handle~!
"Forty-eight?" she asks Ibiki. "16 teams? You sure?"
"We've got some exceptional talent this year," he confirms.
Anko shrugs. "Oh well. The Forest should cut that number in half easy."
As you follow her out of the room with the rest of the chuunin hopefuls, you hear Gaara's voice in your ear.
"Hey, henge-girl. Do me a favour, next time use Kankuro's voice, will ya?
He's the creepy doll-collector, not me."
You look behind you, but Gaara isn't there. Turning back towards the exit, you see him further up the line, smirking at you.
Damn. He's gonna be a heartbreaker when he's older, you can tell.
[X] Leave it. Apparently good-humoured or not, you don't wanna turn the nice monster-boy's mood sour with an accidental offence.
[X] Utsusemi him back. "Hey, you should be more supportive of your brother! Whatever a grown shinobi and his fully-articulated wooden wife get up to in the privacy of their own home is entirely their own business. Who're we to judge?"
=
Training Ground #44.
Whelp. There go your chances of having a victory dinner with Sasuke tonight.
"I know this place," Ami says, looking faintly sick. "Dad's friends have an agreement with the Hokage that lets them dump undesirables in here for a nominal fee."
"Then I bet they'll piss themselves when they hear you walked out of it without a scratch on ya," Kiba says confidently, slapping her on the back.
Ami grimaces, but some of the colour and determination comes back into her face.
"Welcome to Training Ground #44," Anko announces to all and sundry with gleeful morbidity. "Also known as the Forest of Death."
"Sounds cozy," Gaara remarks.
"Oh, you have no idea," she replies cheerfully. "You should see it in the spring. The toxic slime on the Madara birch leaves glows really beautifully in the sunset, if you can get to the top branches without going into anaphylactic shock."
... how is she so scary and so hot at the same time?! My libido is confused!
Ami's sharp elbows catch you in the shoulder and Kiba in the chest. "Stop ogling her and listen to what she's saying," she hisses.
The second test is much more geared toward Kiba and Ami's specialities than the last one; it's a survival game/battle royale over dummy intel, a pair of scrolls. They're to be handed out in private so no one knows which team has which scroll, and then everyone has to go to their assigned gate to wait for permission to enter the training ground. You pass or fail as a team, you're not allowed to look inside the scrolls, and you have to reach the tower in the middle of the Forest within five days.
You have a little time before Team 5 gets their turn in the scroll-hut. What would you like to do until then?
[X] Write-in
