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Hiyo kept up his pace, he slowly felt the climate change from cold to slightly warm. He was probably still half way out of the lightning country, right on track. The only thing he had to decide was to either keep going through the night or stop and rest... Yeah... Needless to say, he kept running, he would wait until he was probably in a more secure area possibly another village. Slowly as night fell he sent the lizard into his sleeve to help it keep warm from the chill that the night brought.

As Akeru tried to leave the exam stadium, there were crowds of people blocking her way. She hated crowds and people! She wished she could have called up the fires of hell to burn all of them to ash so they'd all be out of her way! But those people lucked out, seeing as she didn't control the fires of hell. Still, she was happy when she finally escaped the crowds and got back to the forests. Then she realized she was alone, and this forest seemed to look the same in every direction.

"Umm...Kazuki? Akira? Are there any suna ninja anywhere around here? Umm...is there...anyone around here?"

When Akeru got no response, she just sighed. She looked in every direction, but couldn't find anything distinctive telling her which way was which.

"Great! This is just fricken great! I'm lost! How the hell did I get lost!? I was in a large crowd of people, then I finally got out of the crowd and ended up here...ugh, this is so damn frustrating!

She didn't understand how she could get lost. She was taking the same path that she took to get there. That's why she hated those villages surrounded by trees, they all looked alike, and it was so hard to tell which way was which.

"*sigh* I guess I walk and hope to find something that tells me which direction I'm going in..."

Akeru took out a kunai and slashed at the nearest tree, making a mark. If she did that for every few trees, she could at least make it back to that spot and then back to the sound village.

Theme Music: Headstrong

Akeru knew that she had been travelling in a straight line. She made certain she didn't break from her course, going straight and marking the trees. She was 100% certain that it was a straight line! There was no way she could have gone off course!

But yet and still, here she was once again at the point where she started. She saw the cuts that she made on the trees in front of her as well as the ones behind her she had just made. This was no good. Even the trees with the marks were lined up perfectly. This could only mean one thing, something that was very bad.

She was in a genjutsu...

"H-How did this happen!? W-when did I...who would even do this? I was just walking home, for goodness sakes!"

Akeru began to panic a little. She figured out it was a genjutsu, but that didn't help her at all. She was still trapped, and unlike others, she didn't have a way out. She knew the pain thing wouldn't work, but she figured she had to try. She took a kunai and stabbed it as deeply into her hand as she could, concentrating on the pain. But as she opened her eyes, she saw herself still in the same area, though her hand was now bloodied. Because of the chakra network that all Sukamis had, it was all too easy to invade it with a genjutsu. Akeru was caught, and now she was sure of it.

She didn't know who did this to her or why, all she knew was that while her mind was trapped in this genjutsu, she was completely helpless and at their mercy. She fell down to her knees, completely at a loss for what she should do. That was when she heard a voice speaking to her through the genjutsu.

"Wow, you're nothing like your brother! You look so scared and helpless, but he always looks so calm and cool! Hmm...are you two really related? You're really part of the Sukami clan?"

The feminine voice sounded very young, like a girl that was still in the academy or had just made genin. There was an air of innocence about the voice, but Akeru knew this girl could still be a threat. Akeru immediately scrambled to her feet, looking around for whoever was speaking. She held her kunai in her hand defensively, ready to try to repel any attack that was coming.

"Who are you? Are you the one that cast this genjutsu on me? Or...are you here to help?"

There was a moment of silence as Akeru waited for a response, or an attack, or something. Eventually, however, the silence was broken.

"Hey, that's not fair! I asked a question first, two in fact! You can't just ignore mine and ask your own, you have to answer mine first! *sigh* Oh well, I guess I dn't need your answers. You have the same eyes, and Gendou-sama says that the eyes are how you can tell a Sukami is a Sukami! But anyway, I'll answer your questions, even though you didn't ask very nicely. Hmm..let's see. The first question was 'who are you', right? Well, my name is Maya! Nice to meet you! Okay, for number two... 'are you the one that cast this genjutsu on me?' Nope, it wasn't me! I can't even cast genjutsu! And the last one...'are you here to help?' Well, that's a tough one. I'd say...err...yes! ...And no... Gendou-sama said I'm here to help you help yourself, so I am helping, but just not in the way you want, I guess."

Akeru was just confused. If this girl couldn't cast genjutsu, then how was she having a conversation with her inside of one? And who was this person she kept mentioning?

"...Okay...Maya...just what's going on here? Who is this Gendou guy? And what..."

"Ahhhh! Stop it, stop it, stop it already! I'm not a question answerer, I'm you're helper...er...or is it just helper? See, you got me all confused now!"

Akeru didn't know who this girl was, but she at least didn't seem to be dangerous. She was definitely strange, however, but then again, who wasn't at least a little strange?

"Umm...okay, I'm sorry. Just forget my questions and do what you're here to do them."

"Okay! That's something Maya can do! Gendou-sama wanted me to relay a message to you. He says that...*ahem* All Sukami have a natural weakness to genjutsu, but those that become strong enough can eventually learn to nullify genjutsu completely. In order to do such, however, one must unlock the second form of the Tenraigan, the cross state. To learn this, the Sukami clan would trap their genin in genjutsu like you are in now, and they would be forced to either learn how to activate the crossed state on their own, or would be trapped in the genjutsu until they died of lack of water. I however, am more merciful than our ancestors. I will spare you the slow agonizing death, if you are not able to break out in one hour, I have ordered Maya - that's me, remember? - to finish you. So, you had better begin. With the way that Maya carries on, you probably have lost ten minutes already."

After Maya was finished reciting her master's words verbatim, her voice seemed to grow more cheery.

"Wow, Gendou-sama was right, it has already been ten minutes! Don't worry though, I'm sure you can do it! I'm rooting for you, I don't want to have to snap your neck while you're all peaceful and sleeping! Actually, I don't want to snap your neck ever, it's really mean to do. But Gendou-sama did give me the order, so..."

Akeru was beyond words. So this Gendou, who from Maya's earlier statements weemed to be her brother, was trying to train her to use this cross stake of her tenraigan? And if she didn't figure it out in an hour (well, fifty minutes now) he was going to have her killed? Why?

"So this brother of mine wants me to learn some ability I've never even seen in an hour or you're going to kill me? What kind of sick joke is this?"

"It isn't a joke and nobody's sick that I know of! Oh, and you don't have an hour anymore, it's only fifty minutes...well, fourty nine now."

Akeru just pulled at her hair. She couldn't believe this. Someone from her clan finally found her and all this happens? She tried to calm down and make sense of things. This Gendou couldn't have done all of this just to kill her, or else there wouldn't be the our of wait time. There had to be a way to learn this ability fast. Maya was supposedly the helper here, so maybe she knew something.

"Okay. Maya. You're supposed to help, like you said before. So, what is this cross state like? Surely Gendou must have told you something..."

"Oh, of course he did! It wasa really looong time ago, like two years or something! I said ' Gendou-sama, why do your eyes look so weird? And he said..."

"THE SHORT VERSION PLEASE!"

Akeru couldn't help but rub her temples in frustration. This girl was a little more than a half hour away from snapping her neck, and she wanted to sit here and chat?

"Oh, err...right. He said its basically the...opposite of when his eyes are all swirly..."

"I see...the opposite of the swirled state?"

That was some actual useful information. It made some sense too. If the chakra network was like a net or streams, then chakra whould always flow easily with the flow of the stream. However, if the flow was reversed, the chakra would be pushed away rather than brought closer. The problem was actually changing the flow of her whole chakra network. It always just seemed to flow in one direction, just like a stream.

"Okay, I think I know what I have to do."

"Hurray! I knew you'd think of something! You're Gendou-sama's sister, so you have to be!"

Akeru first activated her Tenraigan. Even though she was in the genjutsu and couldn't move, she began to feel her chakra circuating. She was even able to pinpoint Maya's position; or at least she figured it was Maya. She was sitting on the ground with Akeru's body, holding her. The girl was in the perfect spot to snap her neck right there, but Akeru quickly put the idea out of her head, hoping that it wouldn't happen. She then concentrated on changing the flow of her chakra, making it move the other way. Akeru couldn't see it, but her eyes began to change. Instead of the regular swirl pattern that they had when her tenraigan was active, they now had a cross pattern. Activating and holding the cross state did take a good amount of chakra, but Akeru did start to see the genjutsu melting around her. Akeru was now on the ground, and she quickly got up. Maya was right there, but the girl was wearing a long cloak that covered her face. Size wise, however, Akeru's estimation of her age seemed correct. The girl had a cheery smile on her face.

"Way to go, Akeru! Well, my work is done! Gendou-sama's calling me, so bye bye!"

Akeru was surprised as the girl seemed to just fade away in front of her eyes. figuring it was another illusion, she used her new eye ability to try to block it, but there was nothing. Her fading didn't seem to be an illusion.

"...Oh man...this whole thing was just...crazy. I'd...better make it home before anything else happens..."

Theme Music: Headstrong

((B Rank Genjutsu: Cross State - Genjutsu Break 1610/1500 Technique learned!))

Hiyo couldn't keep his eyes open for much longer, three days of straight traveling with that sword was more than enough to exhaust him. He sat at the base of a tree with his sword and pack in front if him and Aoiro on top of them, stretching out its own small legs. Hiyo chuckled a bit as he shared a bag of rations with his pet, the dried nuts and berries being the perfect choice for the pair. Hiyo's legs slowly awoke from their slumber and it appeared that he was not robbed during the night, that was good...

After a couple more minutes he stood placing his pack and sword back in their places, as well as placing the lizard in his spot. With a quick breath Hiyo began running again, he was close, maybe another day, lucky him.

Protect everyone...

empty... thats what the forest was. just a big space with plants everywhere, and a lone female walking slowly through the green grass as it crunched beneath her feet. it was dark, since she hadnt gotten out at the same time as everyone else had. Yukai shuddered. she hated the dark, the dark brought out..... spiders.... i wanna go home i wanna go home i wanna go home! she wrapped her arms around herself to keep her from the cold. feh... if i die here at least they can just bury me and forget it all...

And look cool doing it...

Protect everyone...

Theme of Yukai

And look cool doing it...

On the outskirts of the Leaf Village an interesting progression came into view. The massive Buchi was followed by 9 small adorable baby pandas carrying 3 very large, very heavy crates as they tromped threw the woodland along an established route. His genin team was providing security though by the way he looked- it seemed his brilliant jolly smile could ward off any evil. His arm was in a sling and a large cast covered his hand but all and all he couldn't look more vibrant or healthy.