Exams 4.14
The dawn light filtered through an almost empty house during the morning of the Third Exam. Hisana was alone in the large building, which had once been a guesthouse. The old clan head mansion was silent and empty, kept clean but left unused. Hisana likewise hadn't been back to her old house just outside the compound, save once to remove what few photos exisited of her mother.
Sasuke was away with Kakashi, and Naruto had already left. They'd arrive at the stadium three separate competitors, but she hoped they'd leave as a team. The past month had been hard in a way she hadn't expected it to be. She'd grown so used to Naruto and Sasuke that their absence felt odd and disconcerting.
Hisana ate only a little as she went over her preparations for the day once more. She had sealed everything of particular value from the vaults onto her body, not trusting the security there in the event of invasion, and gathered up as many supplies as she could fit into her regular seals. She had ejecting scrolls sealed into her palms filled with everything from water to solid rock to kunai. She had enough throwing weaponry and explosive tags to take out a small army in the palm of her hands, and she just hoped that it'd be enough.
Her sword was at her side, the inscribed chakra steel still just as deadly as the day it had been forged. Deadlier, even, with Hisana's modifications applied to it. Now, she could draw it and activate her chakra flow whilst using her lightning blood seal. Combined with an Iaijutsu strike, it made for an extremely powerful opening move.
She placed the massive boss-summon jutsu formula on her back - at a certain point, jutsu formula tended not to like storage seals. It was comprised of a single large scroll, tightly bound and on a sling. Formula like it were hard to make and didn't last long, but they had their uses. She had only one more thing to do before heading towards the stadium for the exam.
On her way to Karin's temporary quarters, Hisana overheard two of her functionaries discussing the civil defence drills she'd had them run for the Uchiha district. They'd gone well, and a few gaping holes that might otherwise have been serious issues were plugged.
Karin had a temporary apartment on the way to the stadium from the Uchiha district, and Hisana dropping in wasn't that uncommon an occurrence.
"Yo, Karin! Open up you lazy ass!" Hisana shouted, whilst knocking at the Uzumaki girl's door. She could sense her fellow transmigrant's chakra was still here, and there wasn't that much time before they had to get to the stadium.
After perhaps thirty seconds of shuffling and crashing pans, a bleary eyed Karin answered the door.
"Who the fuck are you calling lazy, miss 'my eyes do all the hard work for me'," she answered, clearly just having woken up.
"Nervous, huh?" Hisana asked with a smile, and Karin nodded. They both stepped inside the messy apartment, whilst Hisana strated to unseal scrolls.
"I couldn't get any sleep at all last night. Knowing what's coming... it's messed up," Karin said, sitting on the arm of her ratty couch. She was playing with a little chakra chain, flicking it back and forth.
"This whole world is the most epically messed up kid's cartoon ever printed. If I ever get my hands on the editor who allowed it... anyway, I got you stuff," Hisana said, handing Karin the scrolls she'd unsealed. The two of them let the time pass in silence as Karin got ready for the Third Exam, and what awaited afterwards. "Ready?" Hisana asked.
"No, but let's roll anyway,"
+++++
Hisana could hear the crowds from ages away. The stadium was large, and there was a seemingly endless amount of pop-up food stands and tourist attractions on the way there. With rich guests pouring in from all over the country and beyond, there was an awful lot of money to be had in selling overpriced stadium food.
The two transmigrants walked through the crowds of people arriving at the stadium; weaving through dense crowds was a lot easier when one was a heavily armed ninja. Two taciturn chunin guarded the competitors entrance, from where they could keep an eye on the members of the genin corps doing general admittance security under their command.
They nodded Hisana and Karin through, and the two of them chatted as they made their way up the bare concrete staircase up towards where they were supposed to go. Hisana broke into a smile as she saw Naruto and Sasuke waiting for her.
"Hey sis," Naruto said, beckoning her and Karin over.
"Glad you two could finally make it," Sasuke said, the barest glimmer of humor shining through his dour exterior.
"Well, I couldn't let my bratty cousin and his no-good Uchiha friends have all the fun," Karin said. Naruto just stuck his tounge out in reply. Over her shoulder, she felt Temari's chakra. She was nervous as hell, and it didn't take a genius to figure out why the sand genin might be nervous. So the invasion is happening today, Hisana thought.
The sword at her hip suddenly felt much more comfortable there. Karin didn't have her chain out anymore - that'd be an even more obvious tell - but Hisana hoped that she hadn't given the game away. If she could spring a counter ambush, she might be able to save the Third Hokage. She might be able to save a lot of people.
Then, it was time. The call went out for the competitors to go down to the arena below to hear about the rules - and after that for the first match to begin. It would pit Hisana against Temari, one of the strongest genin in the exam. She favoured wind ninjutsu and her warfan; but Hisana wondered what the right approach to take was. Was it an all-out ninjutsu assault, or simply focusing on getting close enough?
When fighting Temari, will Hisana...
[x] Focus on ninjutsu. Ranged firepower will carry the day!
[x] Focus on taijutsu. Up close and personal is the same of the game.
XP rewards for art tomorrow.