Welcome to Gaia! ::

Ka’rinth arrived in the waiting area and looked around briefly before moving his heavily cloaked body to the sign in location and received his number. He watched as various people were led away until his own number was called and he was led to an entrance to what was clearly a labyrinth. Despite his aversion to the idea of becoming a chuunin Ka’rinth found his curiosity piqued. Puzzles were fun, far more so than dreary exams as a whole or questionnaires. Something like a maze was infinitely more interesting than the prospect of being a team leader or the responsibilities of a chuunin. With a slight huff he made his way forward his feet thudding softly on the stone floor as his leather bound feet muffled the fact that it was his customized puppet with him inside moving and not simply a person. He had paid special attention to the makeup and movements as he had prepared to travel to the exam because the last thing he wanted was some fool attacking him while he relaxed. The wonderful thing about a puppet armor was that he could relax far more than walking around in the flesh as it might be called. Something minor like caltrops or a rogue kunai would be a problem in his actual body but tended to be barely more than distractions when he resided in his puppets. Ka’rinth looked around slowly as he studied the passage ways around him.

He took a deep breath of the air opening a special filter in the nose of his puppet so that the actual air circulated briefly within and allowed him to get an idea of just what was outside of it. It appeared to consist primarily of damp stone with faint traces of blood. Ka’rinth turned slightly and ran a hand along the wall only pretending to feel as he glanced upwards at tags along the top, it seemed quite obvious what those would do but with an air of caution he proceeded along the wall planning to follow it wherever it would lead. His puppets hand did not actually touch the wall but instead merely hovered an inch away from it as he relaxed and used the chakra strings to move the puppet and himself within along. He felt calm about the test so far and was hoping that this maze would have some interesting little twist such as maybe a shift that could actually prevent someone from walking along with a hand on the wall until they found an exit. That’s what he would do if he got to design one but the age of the stone did suggest that any such twist was unlikely or would be manufactured with genjutsu or some creative ninjutsu. There did seem to be quite a few ways to do such a thing but would they bother with it for the exam? It was always when it came to the concept of putting extra effort into things with simple solutions that Ka’rinth lost track of what others might do, he himself favored simple solutions and was most content when others did as well.

Now lets see, logically there is a test beyond navigating the maze, after all anyone can get through a maze given time, so does that mean there is something in here that would stop people from getting through? Why else would they take people one at a time to different places? Or the way out will be sealed and the test is not just navigating a maze but surviving. Damn I knew I should have left after getting my number. Well at the very least I have my cards so I can play a bit of solitaire if I must. It might also be wise to warn the unwary to leave me be or rather fail the exam on their own. Let’s see if I have anything that would suit that particular purpose. Ka’rinth talked to himself not to hear his own voice but as an affection for his puppets and to provide a narration for any listeners that would lead them to inaccurate conclutions about what he could do, would do, and intended to do. It was in his way of thinking a logical step to take to keep people from disturbing him or endangering his life but most importantly from wasting his time. After all time was one of those rare things that you could not recover by normal means and that could not really be bought or sold only loaned or lost. With a slight shrug Ka’rinth paused and glancing down at the floor ran another chakra thread along the stones before finding what he was looking for, a series of counterweights that would correspond to the seemingly random holes and niches in the wall. He traced the length of the trap carefully before settling his chakra threads on the stones and walking across them casually while actually using the threads to prevent them from shifting and setting off the traps. It was always best to pass over such gifts for others to find and enjoy than to trip them on purpose or obviously avoid them. It wasn’t paranoia that made him assume someone was watching him or listening in on him, just another logical view that chuunin exams would have proctors like all other that would monitor those involved. It also seemed logical to him that they might judge him well for avoiding the trap in such a way but it was better than springing who knows what on himself, he was a survivor by nature but there were a large number of things he was not equipped to survive in a normal setting much less a confined setting such as a large lump of metal moving at high speed in the shape of a blade from any direction much less all.

Check to spot barrier 1200 (int x 2) vs 100

Ka’rinth sighed as he followed the vines noting how they shifted and using it to help plot his course, within the puppet he had already activated his own unique sharingan developed after the only serious training he had cared to do in his life. It was said that killing a close friend was the key to unlocking the advanced form was to kill someone that was a close friend, lacking those Ka’rinth had settled for killing off those of his first team followed by his foster parents and finally in a certain philosophical sense himself. Yet what he had gained were not the triangularly patterned eyes of the mangyou sharingan but the demon eyes that he did not show others and rarely used when not inside a puppet or hiding his face. He knew from experiments that his pupils were currently red and instead of irises or sclera he instead had a solid blackness expanding from the red pupil. The main reason he used it now was that while the plant could locate chakra sources it did not tell distance while his eyes in this form were easily capable of registering the color of chakra and judging how far it was if there was no interference. In the current case though the barrier was causing him a bit of trouble as it made it difficult to lock on to the other colors, in many ways he felt as though he were walking through a corridor of steam, there were outlines that were vague overpowered by a fragmented blue from the barriers that distorted the exact space to the chakra sources. Ka’rinth paused at a point where the path split and turned slowly like a sleep walker without stepping forward. His thoughts were on what he would do in such a situation and as he considered the types of traps he would be likely to set he looked up then down before spreading out tendrils of chakra string. He smiled slightly as he saw the entire floor was a pressure plate and while he could see the mechanism to trigger the trap in such a way by feeling it out it did not tell him what the trap did, only general guess work could provide that. It could be a false floor, a trigger to close off all passageways and flood the room to drown people, a drop the ceiling on them and get a person pancake, or a send sharp shrapnel out from every which way and cause a terminal loss of red water from the body trap. He often assumed that the result of a wrong move was something involving sharp bits of metal from all sides either impaling, cutting, or crushing him and as such had found himself rarely on the wrong end of a trap. When you walked through life assuming all missteps were terminal it was much easier to think ahead and not make glaring mistakes of which becoming a chuunin would increase his danger of dying versus remaining employed and fed ration to an uncomfortable level. It was always wise to trust yourself and avoid things that could kill you and since he was already here he felt obligated to complete the first stage, that way at the very least he could tell his kage and team leader he had tried and not just slacked off in the waiting room. The downside was having to at least start the second stage but the upside was not being banished or forced onto yet another inept team of overly eager brats foaming at the mouth to be sent on more impressive missions. He was comfortable on his own and knew that only pissing off those above him with an obvious lack of effort would get him reassigned, they were deluded to an extent into believing that after all this time any progress with him taking on tasks was a good sign and he was quite happy to give them just that perception because it meant more time with his garden and less being sent out on missions. He had a good arrangement with the higher ups and they knew if the village was attacked he would fight seriously to protect his garden and he knew that they knew it would be a bad idea to force responsibility on him because he would just shirk it and set an embarrassing precedent in the minds of any possible clients from outside. It all came down to you can ask me to go to the exams so long as you don’t ask me to pass them and a you’ll damn well put some effort in so long as you want to stay a ninja. At the end of the day they ended up in the same place though with Ka’rinth remaining a genin because he failed the exams and the higher ups knowing that skill wise he was anbu material but personality wise he was barely a genin. Yet his abilities and nature made them accept the arrangement and just write him off each year though he suspected they hoped he would eventually slip up and pass one year at which point his desire to remain a ninja and have food and shelter for relatively little effort would conflict with the requirements for the new rank forcing him to work harder for the village.


He smirked at the thought and resolved himself to carefully not pass the exams, he did so hope for a written test at some point, those were by far the easiest to fail, or maybe a test involving responsibility, he was born to fail those. With a sigh he shook himself slightly seeming as though he had been confused bout which direction to go before jumping lightly and clearing the floor to make it to the other tunnel where he began walking down it sure it was if not the most direct route a relatively safe one. He meandered slightly as he went and hummed softly seemingly oblivious to the concept of stealth. To Ka’rinth it seemed like making it seem like avoiding non-living traps was the only talent he had was the best way to achieve the results he desired and as such relaxing at the finish line would be easier to do if the proctors thought he was a bit daft. He grinned at the idea as he turned a corner and paused suddenly, the plant was quivering slightly suggesting that it felt something nearby that it was drawn to which in this case suggested chakra. He looked at it carefully and noted that there did seem to be a concentration a bit ahead as well as the fact that more of the tendrils seemed to be converging. He hoped he was near the end and made his way forward at a brisk walk keeping a practiced eye out for mundane traps while his eyes themselves and the little chakra plant would warn of less than mundane troubles should they seek him out. He picked up his pace slightly and accelerated forward hoping to be nearing the end of this first test as he reached a branching in the tunnel and on a gamble headed the direction most of the vines pointed. He could tell that the area ahead would open up and reflexively slowed as he approached a line of sight on the opening in order to avoid any nasty traps or other entrants that wanted to use physical force to win the test.

((Check for progress (1200 (int x 2) + 600 (plant) =1800))

Oasis entered the sign in area with her usual aura of chipper peppy energy. She watched the varying people whose strength varied almost as most as their appearances. Some were very obviously taijutsu masters from their apparent martial-arts style outfits to the more outlandishly dressed who likely used genjutsu but they could use ninjutsu just as likely. She tipped her head to the side as she saw them going to a table and receiving something. She realized thats where she should be and so she slipped her way through the crowd her bare feet lightly touching the surface of the ground as she moved to the end of the line, however as she stood there the line didn't move. She glanced to the side and saw another receive their number and the line didn't proceed. She huffed and took a half step back before kicking off the ground and flying over-head of the line infront of her with an arching flip. She looked at them on the way over and realized they were clones of some sort, someone was pranking her, she hit the ground with nary a sound and shook her head “Gotta get up earlier in the mornin than that to trick Oasis.” she states with a grin as she turned to table and received a number. Number thirteen was it? She noticed that quite a few had already been lead away. She looked around and saw a sign that said which number was up, it had just changed to number ten, she looked in time to see nine be lead to the area, she couldn't see who it was at all, all she could see was a heavy cloak as the person vanished off. She thought about the outfit and decided he or she, couldn't come from any of the hot nations, that outfit would be way too hot to wear in one of those areas like her home. She rocked from side to side energetically as she watched number ten, and then shortly eleven be lead away. When the number turned to twelve a massive individual walked past Oasis. He was a genin? But he was so huge how long had he been trying to pass and become chuunin. She thought about it for a bit until the giant turned around and looked at Oasis who was absolutely dwarfed in his huge presence, and instead of anything else coming to mind Oasis smiled brightly and waved “Good luck to you!” she chimes with a smile, the giant genin smiled warmly and nodded his head in appreciation.
“The same for you little sand.” he states with a booming voice before turning and following the proctor that lead him to his entrance. Oasis grinned brightly now, that was neat she met a nice person and he was so big too. She rocked from side to side not really noticing her number was called, she blinked and looked to the display and then finally realized her number was on it, she popped up onto the balls of her feet and swam her way through the crowd with light movements she came to the proctor “READY!” she states fairly loudly, the proctor only grumbled and lead her off to her door.
Oasis stepped lightly into an area separated from the others which was a bit of a bummer to her, she wanted to make more friends. She had actually learned quite a bit about her power during a short visit home between leaving the village and arriving at the exams, her parents helped her to understand her interesting eye technique as well as the glow she had experienced, while she didn't know exactly what it was she had come to understand how to use it. She looked around the area for a good long while not seeing an awful lot of anything, aside from a long corridor of stone. She could smell and feel water, or at least moisture really all about the place. That was rather nice for her actually she was worried about entering some bone dry dungeon. Eventually she decided she would need to focus to continue forward with this exam so eventually she sat down on the ground for a moment she closed her eyes and when they opened her eyes were red. Her demeanor changed as her expression went from an energetic and childish one to a more attentive face. She took a deep breath and looked at the entrance of the maze the longer she looked at it the more it began to change. Eventually the whole area looked a kind of monochrome color scheme aside from several squares at the top of the entrance and dotting along the top of the corridor down its visible length, she wondered what their purpose was for but as she stared at them she started to feel like she could understand why they were there, slowly she walked into the beginning of the corridor and as her feet touched the ground at the start she raised up to the balls of her feet and began to walk a lot softer fearing the potential of traps she brought her eyes level instead of at the squares to see if perhaps she could see traps like she could see those strange seals. Oasis started to walk lightly forward while contemplating the purpose of the seals.

((54 lines))
((305x2 610 vs 100 =510 =99%))

Hatsuma arrived in the country finally, the place was no desert but held a few similarities one being a lot of flatlands about. Oasis was quick on her feet and had already gone to the first area and Hatsuma followed after giving a bow of gratitude to the carriage before turning about and making her way into the waiting area where she retrieved her number and sat in waiting to be called down into the first challenge. She sat next to a rather flamboyant genin who kept bragging about his skills and how he was gonna be the first to slay some sort of dragon that was set up for them in the first challenge. To that Hatsuma gave an audible scoff which got his attention immediately.
“Hey baby don’t worry I’ll protect you from the beasties they got set up down there, after all I got inside info on the entire event so it’ll be a breeze.” The flamboyant shinobi’s words oozed out as if they were some kind of muck to which Hatsuma responded with a rather deadly gaze before she spoke.
“You are a shame to your village if you take in any information you are given as truth, and foolish to assume that I would need your protection from anything down there.” Hatsuma’s words were much calmer then the look in her eye. There was an audible background jeering of the shinobi’s peers consisting of things like ‘Ohh burn!’ and the like.
“Y…Yeah good luck to you too chicky…” The shinobi stumbled over his tongue before returning to his friends seeming a bit more dejected and defeated then before. Hatsuma seemed to have a flare about her not quite usual in her normal demeanor but then she didn’t often confront shinobi from another country then either. The thing about beasts was unlikely to be in the first stage of the exams, her studies taught her otherwise. It was likely some kind of test that measured ones logic and wits. Several more genin were called down and by the looks would be weeded out rather quickly from the exams. The time came when Hatsuma’s number was finally called and she stood and followed the proctor downwards into the depths of what seemed like a massive basement. Finally the stairway came to an opening a grand room whose ceiling was out of sight and in front of her a massive stone wall that had a small entrance. She wasn’t sure if this was the same starting location as the others but she had to assume otherwise as she approached the overbearing wall. The shadow from the wall loomed out over her as she examined it carefully.
“When you are ready Kidomaru Hatsuma you may enter the maze and make your way to the goal at the center. Good luck to you genin.” The proctor stated sternly before stepping back towards the stairway that they had entered through.
Hatsuma said her farewells to the proctor and wished her comrades luck silently, however this task was to test ones personal skill not cooperation abilities. Hatsuma stepped into the corridor of the maze this would be quite a task, one that required the use of logic as well as memory. Likely it was taken from tales about the Minotaur’s labyrinth meaning you had to go forward and make it to the center to retrieve your prize. Hatsuma spotted the papers riddling the walls and didn’t even have to examine the things to know they were some type of method to keep one from climbing over the walls to reach the goal. Giving a sigh she started forward down the corridor, there was likely to be some trick when one reached the center however that would be something to worry about when the time came. The straight corridor seemed to go on for quite a while before something finally changed; before Hatsuma’s eyes there was a choice to be made, a three way split in the path sent the corridor winding away into nothing. “hm…” Hatsuma exclaimed to herself as she sat in the center where the paths connected. There was only one path towards her goal but which of the three would lead her there? She began plotting in her mind the possible angles at which each path could turn given the current point in which she sat was a starting point. Assuming the paths themselves wouldn’t actually intersect it would be safe to gather that they would never come together at another intersection. That left it a matter of which path would likely dead end? The foreward most path seemed to turn off at an angle not giving it a straight view of whether it ended or not and the other paths curved away as well making it difficult to estimate as to which was right. There was one solution to this and that was to map out the maze until it could be traversed easily. Hatsuma stood up once more and placed one of her right hands gently against the stone wall on her right and began walking along it taking note of the layout as she traveled along. This method would take a while to get to the goal however it did ensure she could find her way around easily in case she needed to return the way she came once the goal at the center was reached.


((52 lines))
((int=37 x2= 74 +10 awareness buff =84 vs 150= 43%? ))

((sooo dunno if 97... nevermind it doesn't D: stupid RNG die!!!!! ))

Sai tells you to Roll Low.

Edit: Good Dice.

’I shall fight to honor the name of Kaiten, the name of my father…

Erkamina entered the area through a strange entrance that seemed to force her to be alone. She sighed heavily and looked around, noticing strange tags on the top portion of the walls. She wanted to know what they were and why they were there but she also noticed the maze like arrangement in front of her. This was a test? What for, strategy or intelligence? She growled softly, she hadn't trained for such things, in fact she felt as if she hadn't trained at all. She looked at her scabbed knees and felt at the wall, trying to find a way up past those barriers. Wall Walking would work but it would take too much chakra, and the maze was probably her best bet. She studied the tags, they looked familiar, if only slightly. She squinted at them and they became clearer, they were barrier tags and they ran in all directions along the top half of the walls. "Crap. I figure I can't jump then. Doesn't matter, I'm not good at jumping anyway." She muttered as she continued forward into the maze, leaving the safety of the entrance area behind.

… Soon I will show the world the worth of that name.’

((*Facepalm* forgot the roll))