Spring Area

Jari and Megumi were quiet as they began to make their way through the tangle of trees and branches. There was more room to move here than they had expected, but the going was still slow.

"Why can't I just let Shinshi-san slash our way through?" Jari asked again, "I mean, we could get through this stuff much quicker that way, right?"

"We can't do that because we don't want to leave a trail you dummy..." Megumi said, rubbing her head. "Your supidity is giving me a headache, please just shut up for a few minutes, okay?"

Jin watched as Jari's face sank and he resumed the tedious task of moving the branches and vines aside so that they could make their way through the thicket. they were rewarded for their efforts, however, as once they were through they found a large open space, a natural clearing, with a small stream running through it from north to south. Once he felt how cold the water was, Jin suspected that this stream began in the Winter Area to the north and continued down into the southern Summer area, where it simply dried up at some point.

"We'll make camp here for the night." Jin said. He hadn't been given the position of leader, but because he was older, and at least when it came to Jari's skills, more apt as a ninja, the others listened to him. "Now, as far as I can tell, we're near the Winter Area border, and with the stream here anyone from that or the Summer Area could follow it right to us, so we should make sure we're ready for the night."

Reaching down to the case on his hip Jin takes out a kunai and uses it to mark a tree, pointing from the way they came towards the center of the test area. That way when they woke, or if they got lost, they could find their way. with a nod the three of them then scattered. They had previously made the plan that once camp was made they would scout for food and other supplies.

Jin headed south, while Jari moved north, and Megumi southwest, more towards the Autumn Area. but, as Jin left, he noticed an odd looking scorpion watching him.
-=-=-
Summer Area

Rather than makeing camp Mitsuru and his team began moving. Mitsuru himself has started towards the Autumn Area, hoping to find those Amegakure-nin. For reasons unknown, Gyaku has taken an intrest in any shinobi from that village and made is a priority to 'speak' with any such ninja.

"I can already see the deathly looking trees. It shouldn't be more than an hour until I reach them." Mitsuru says, pausing atop a sand dune as one of his scorpions reappear at his feet. "Ah, there you are. Now, where are they?"

Using the bond Mitsuru and his family have with the Blood Stalker scorpions it is easy for him to understand it. this scorpion was able to find the Amegakure-nin easily enough, at a large water source surrounded by dead trees, but there was a small hole filled with freezing cold water that it fell into before it could find anything more. With a strange, kind smile Mitsuru reaches down and pets the scorpion, then dismisses it, leaving nine others scouting things out.

Jo and Itcho have moved towards the Spring Area.

(( Ignore this.. stupid double post -___- ))

Shiro yawned, putting his hands behind his head. "Lets get this over and done with.." he mumbled. Miyuki, one of his teammates smacked him on the back of the head. "Cant you take this a bit more seriously?" she said, although it sounded more like a demand. "OW! Damn it Miyuki, you dont have to smack me!" he complained rubbing his head where she hit him. "Oh? I think you deserved it." Kenji said with a small grin. Shiro rolled his eyes before stepping in through the gate. Miyuki did a bit of stretching before being ready. "Alright stick close, dont get distracted." she said. "Why dont you just lead the group?" Shiro said looking at her. She thought for a moment before answering, "No I dont want to. I may be good at ordering people around, but I dont like leading. Come on Kenji do your job." she said. He waved her off and jumped onto a tree, soon followed by Shiro and Miyuki. "You have the scroll right?" Kenji asked just to make sure. Miyuki stuck up her thumb, "It's all here." she said with a grin. With that, that raced off into the woods.

"Try looking for a decent place for a shelter. Somewhere safe that blocks out the ran." Kenji ordered, as he looked from left to right. "Remember Shiro, you're in charge of looking out for the back." Miyuki reminded him in a stern voice. "I know. Just focus on your job and dont worry about us." he said keeping an eye out. After a few minutes of jumping from tree to tree, Miyuki spotted a small den like cave. "Over there." she poined out, jumping down to the ground. Kenji gave her a nod, as she pulled out a kunai and silently ran over to the cave. She peered in through the entrance and slowly stepped in. It was empty, and it seemed like a pretty good place to stay in. "It's safe." she informed them coming out of the cave, putting the kunai away. "Alright!" Shiro shouted, but not too loud. He stepped into the cave with Kenji trailing behind him. Miyuki sat down, leaning against the cave wall, and crossed her arm across her chest. She had her eyes closed, but she was listening to every little sound. Staying alert as ever...

"Miyuki, everything's set up." Kenji said with a stretch. She nodded, knowing exactly what he meant by that. Shiro on the other hand game back with 3 full bottles of water from the river. "Catch." he said throwing one to each. "It's safe to drink." "Thanks." Miyuki and Kenji said at the same time. "Tch, it's going to be a pain in the neck if someone comes.." Shiro grumbled. "It's too bad we might have to fight some of our friends.." Miyuki added. Kenji nodded in agreement. "Remember try not to get in a fight during the morning. Night is the best time to ambush someone." he said. "Yeah, yeah I know." Shiro said with a yawn. Miyuki kicked him against the wall, "How many times do I need to tell you? Be serious!" she hissed at him. "Ahyaya... That hurts." he whined. Kenji sighed and took a seat. "Both of you, keep is quiet." Miyuki took a drink of water, and sat there. The whole team stayed quiet, taking a break.

Jin stops suddenly and kneels behind a tree. Already he has almost reached the border between Spring and Summer, and he can feel others approching. It feels like an entire team, and then another set of two, both headed for his position.

Damnit, we shouldn't have split up...well, I can't lead them back to camp. I'll just hide and wait, maybe they'll pass me over... he thinks, crawling behind a large thorn bush to wait it out. Looking around he finds a gap he can see through and suddenly one of those scorpions walk by, first one way, then the other.

A moment later two ninja appear. From what Jin can tell they are from Wind Country, but don't seem to pose too much of a threat to anyone. But then, one of them reaches down and picks up the scorpion.

"Hey, Itcho, lookie here, we found one of them." the taller of the two said, "Must've been tracking somone. Might still be close by."

"I doubt it Jo, you know if anyone ever sees his spies they try and kill them. I mean, why would anyone let something like that stay alive in the first place?" Itcho responded, keeping his distance from the scorpion. "Besides, how smart can those bugs be anyway? they've got to have brains the size of a peanut..."

Jin wasn't sure weather to laugh at this or get ready for a fight, so just to be ready in either case, he reached into his pouch and took out one of the figurines, a frog, and held it in a closed fist, pouring a little chakra into it in case he needed to fight.
-=-=-

Jari and Shinshi were making quite a racket as they moved through the underbrush of the forest. They were headed north, towards the Winter Area, but already they'd reached about as far as they wanted to go, and were about to turn around again when Shinshi picked up the scent of someone. The bear stopped in it's tracks and looked to their right, then growled.

"What is it boy?" Jari asks, patting his friend on the back, then taking a step away as the bear stands up. "You mean, there's a group of ninja over there somewhere? Well, let's check it out. I'm sure Jin and Megumi wouldn't mind a little recon work, right?"

As they approched the area shinshi had sniffed out they slowed down. The bear could feel three chakras coming from a cave up ahead.
-=-=-

Autumn Area

"There they are..." Mitsuru says with a smirk.

He and his scorpions have tracked down the Amegakure-nin to their camp near the lake. Already most of his scorpions have returned to him, giving him the information he needs to know where everyone is. Jo and Itcho should be near the Summer and Spring borders, as well as one member of the Iwagakure-nin, and the entire Kumogakure-nin team. That should be an interesting match.

"Now, let's see what we can do here my little friends..." Mitsuru says, rolling up his left sleeve more then before, revealing a second, more elaborate tattoo. "Summoning Technique: One Hundred Scorpions!"

With a line of blood through the summoning tattoo the jutsu is completed and all around him Blood Stalkers sppear. With a nod from their master they all moves out, spreading out as they go. They move towards the Rain-nin and will begin to surround them, more to draw attention than anything, although their stings can cause you to loss control over your muscles.

Ruko and his group moved further into the Spring area, being careful to be quiet. As they leapt from branch to branch, he let his cloud cover fade, the tree shade being enough cover from the sun.

He focused on the air. It felt more...moist here. Not humid, just wetter. Maybe there was a lake or stream nearby. Wouldn't hurt to top off their water. He had taken a few swigs while they ran. He signaled to Sora and Touma and they angled their movements to move to where the moisture seemed to be coming from. After a quick drink they could resume looking for the other ninja teams.

As they moved deeper into the Spring zone, he enjoyed the rustling of the trees and leaves, always a nice sound - though for some reason it seemed more like clicking today...

"Did they show up yet?" Kenji asked as they continued to head over to the summer zone. "Nope.. my clones dont see anyone for now. Wow there's a lot of teams in the spring area.." Miyuki mumbled. They all jumped down to a small river. "Hey lets look for some fishes so we can eat." Shiro said with a smile. Miyuki rolled her eyes but agreed anyways. They all caught some fishes with their kunai, and gathered some wood. "Katon, Gokakyu no Jutsu." Miyuki sent some fireballs onto the wood, making a camp fire. They stuck the fish through a stick and left it above the fire. When it was done, they took a bite. "You have to have a full stomach first before you do anything else." Shiro said already finishing his.

A few minutes later, they all finished eat and just sat by the fire, taking a short break. "Come on lets get going now. We need to find a place to stay during the night." Kenji said. They poured some water onto the fire before heading off again. "Ah~ this exam is boring." Shiro complained. "It's because we're not ready to steal other people's scrolls yet. Be patient." Miyuki said going ahead of Shiro. He made a face and tried going in front of her. Kenji couldnt help but chuckle at how childish Shiro was acting.

Jin had stayed still long enough. from what he had gathered of the two Sand-nin before him neither was very strong, and only the one called Itcho seemed to be smart enough to tie his headband on securely. He had also gathered that their leader, the third member of their team, was working for a man named Gyaku. Personally, Jin had never heard of this man, but he didn't sound like good news, and he would remember the name for later on. Something told him it would be important.

So far he had managed to silently use his Particle Control jutsu to create three full sized figurines; frog, wolf, and snake. Now, he wishes he had a scorpion, for tactical reasons more than anything. The snake slithers around the feet of the two shinobi and they jump. Jo stomps on it, wincing as he hurts his foot on the solid stone body of the animal.

"Damnit! What kind of snake is that?" Jo asks, stepping away.

"It's not, it's some kind of jutsu. Come on, get ready. The ninja must be around here somewhere!" Itcho says, reaching for a kunai.

The wolf, by now, has gotten behind them, and it howls. This distracts the two of them, and they turn to check it out. This is when the frog leaps up and swallows Iicho's hand, along with the kunai, and because of his weight, the ninja looses his balance and falls over. This is when Jin personally steps out, making a series of hand signs as he does so.

"Ninja Art: Dust Shuriken!" Jin yells as the dust collects in the palms of both his hands while he raies them up. when the dust has formed completely he tosses two shuriken at the standing Jo. They explode into a cloud in his face and he stumbles backwards. At the same moment Jin leaps forward, delivering an upper cut that sends him into the air a good foot before he drops back down, unconcious.

"You must think you're pretty good, useing deception like that to get Jo," Itcho says, standing up, shattering the stone frog with his chakra alone. "But, I'm quite a bit better than my partner. Let's see how you do against a medic-nin, a master of chakra manipulation!"
-=-=-

"So, they're just clones?" jari asks, looking over at Shinshi and sighing. "Well, I guess you guys aren't a threat then. I want trouble, but a real fight, not just some fakes. I'll see you later maybe."

He turns and waves them away as he and Shinshi head back towards camp. Along the way the collect a few fruit and refill their canteens. Once they reach the camp they simply wait for the others to return.
-=-=-

Autumn Area

"Mitsuru...that idiot. He's already gotten into a fight with them." Megumi says, hiding among the dead trees, having cast a genjutsu so that she looks just like one of them. "I know the master wanted more information on those three, but this is just stupid. He's got the scroll, the Heaven that they need as well. He should have at least left it with his partners..."

Megumi had been sent into this exam as a spy, but only that. She has no intention of actually fighting anyone, and if it comes to combat, she'll simply use genjutsu and try to escape.
-=-=-

Winter Area

"They picked the perfect place for us, didn't they girls?" Kasumi says with a giggle as she takes the Earth scroll they needed from the body of a waterfall-nin. "With Masumi's genjutsu, my water skills, your taijutsu Chisumi, and the cold of this place, we can easily win it all."

"Right, now let's hurry up and get to the tower!" Chisumi says impatiently, pulling her jacket closer. "You two know I hate the cold!"

Masumi nods in agreement and the three of them start for the Tower. Kasumi holds one scroll and Masumi the second. As long as no one tries to stop them they can head straight for the Tower without incident and be the first with both scrolls there.
-=-=-

Hidden Village of Growth

"And you said your name was Makoto, from Sunagakure?" Yamamoto Sonkei asks the young man in the red kimono standing with him among the large group of shinobi from all over the world, waiting and watching the cameras to see which team makes it to the Tower first.

"Yes, why do you ask?" Gyaku asks with a friendly enough smile for a stranger. "Is there a problem with that?"

"No, no problem. Just curious." Sonkei says, looking the man over once more. He can tell there is definately something off about this man, but can't put his finger on what. He decides it'll be best to keep an eye on him throughout the exam, just to be sure.

"I guess they found out we were clones huh..." Shiro said putting his hands behind his head. With that they poofed, and disappeared.

"They found out... but it's ok. We're far away anyways." Miyuki said as they got closer to the border. "Hey can we find shelter first. We might not make it in time." Shiro said jumping down to the ground. "Didnt I say that?" Kenji said following him. Miyuki rolled her eyes. "He never listens." she mumbled before jumping down as well. They walked around looking from here to there. "Well... there's a small den where the tree is." Shiro said scratching his head. "That'll do." Kenji replied with a nod. "The trees will cover the rain.. if it does rain." "And it's roomy too." Miyuki said poking her head out of the den. "Whoa when did you get in there?" Shiro said jumping back. Miyuki giggled, "You dont need to know." she said with a small wink. She climbed out of the den and stretched, "Onlt bad thing is... there's too much dirt." she said dusting some of it off. She jumped onto a tree doing a backflip in the air and sat down on a branch. She leaned against the tree and closed her eyes, ready to take a nap. Hopefully nobody would come here and bother them.

Roku nodded. A decent plan, but he questioned the 'swipe both scrolls' part. It made sense, but if they stole both teams' scrolls when one lost, then they might be double teamed by both ninja teams - he was sure he could make it out with his strength and speed, but wasn't sure what Touma or Sora's max speed or strength was - granted, the enemy would be weakened, but even a weak team is something to consider when it's twice in numbers. He shrugged. "Sounds good for now, but put those hands out until you need 'em, last thing we want is one of the water nin or scorption nin seeing a tiny flame in the nearby trees."

He looked things over. "So, who grabs the scrolls? Three of us, three targets - the two other teams and the scrolls. One could grab the scrolls while the other two each deal a blow to the weakened teams to keep em down - the fastest one is probably me, but do either of you have a jutsu strong enough to cripple that scorpion for a few moments if I'm taking the scrolls?"

Roku groaned. "Ah, geez, now the scorpion's gone - that thing would have been fun to fight. I hope the fight ends soon, I'm getting twitchy just sitting here waiting. At least we can scope out their jutsus this way."

Touma nodded. "That poison mist tech might be troublesome."

Roku snorted. "Hardly - I have a few ideas of how to get around it, and I'm fairly sure Sora knows a jutsu or two as well that might get the job done."

They waited from the trees, watching the battle.

Roku dropped to the ground, carefully. He had dodged the kunai that water-nin had thrown, as deflecting would have made sound and light - smart of him to attack a potential enemy before they made a move - made less smart by the 3 clones that had been right in his face. That poison user's armor, though - he growled in frustration - he would have liked to test his lightning armor against that. Everyone back in the village knew it's strength and refused to fight him anymore. Spoilsports. But he noted that the other two water-nin weren't around, and peering into the lake carefully, sure enough, there was a very faint glow at the lake's bottom - one of them must have been injured, he thought.

He grinned as an idea occurred to him. Was it mean? probably. Was it effective? hell yes. He raised a hand. "Sorry, you two" he murmured as he dipped it carefully into the water to avoid any ripples that might alert the water-nin below, "but this is too good to pass up and the less competition, the better." He grasped his right arm in the water around the elbow with his left hand, and yelled "Chidori Current!" and send a wave of electricity into the lake where it was instantly conducted, thoroughly shocking anyone unfortunate enough to be in or on the water, save Roku himself.