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((88 lines before roll))

Hisaki bent down, and took a look at the spikes closer. Apparently, most of them had gotten stuck on Yuki's jacket and long pants. From what Hisaki could see, only one of the spikes actually broke the skin. Hisaki put his fingers on the little violet spike. At first, the spike was stuck a bit, but a swift pull removed it from inside his buddy. Hisaki stood up as the color returned to Yuki's face.

Hisaki grinned as his friend came-to, "Well then. I'm totally the best medic ninja ever! Admit it!"

((93 lines))

As the needles struck the left leg of the dummy Ka’rinth moved forward and up flipping to the ceiling of the room as he brought his needles back to him, it was his favorite method for dealing with weak or soft targets, or in this case playing with the test method and it consisted of reducing mobility first and then breaking down the rest of the target causing pain before death. It wasn’t that he enjoyed the sight of suffering, but more that he enjoyed letting targets dwell on the fact however briefly that they were bound for an express ticket out of the world as they knew it. It was a casual enjoyment that made him weaken a target before trying to kill them but also a trial and error concept that said a target with an injured leg is less likely to escape should the plans go south and something cause a major delay. Of course it was possible to avoid delays by an promptly terminal approach but that was the type of approach that most often ran into wards or unexpected hitches where as he had found reducing mobility then going for a fast kill tended to work far better. There was something about lethal attacks that people naturally avoided, to an extent, it was not that they avoided them all together but the reflexes of a person having their heart, head, or throat attacked were far sharper than those of someone having their leg attacked. However in this case it was not a person but a puppet and as such while his own puppets blocked the door out he recovered his needles to his hands and began the motion to throw them again even as the puppet took cover behind the furniture in the room. That however was not something that would delay Ka’rinth as he had methods of manipulating his needles so that he very rarely attacked directly, at least not when it was possible to accomplish the same effect with more finesse by moving around a target. All attacks to him were in a three dimensional space and as such he frequently attacked from above, below, around, and in some cases through to hit his targets.

The biggest problem with such hits though were that they were shallow and even as he felt the puppet be pulled away he drew his needles back once again, this time for what should be the final attack, his eyes were calm as he analyzed the movements of the puppet and decided to calculate a proper vector for his needles this time, they were not a quick kill weapon but they were none the less quite dangerous when used properly. He had always felt that anyone that used needles himself included was a bit of a sadist though he rarely considered himself in such direct terms it was much like the girl that had made him curious enough to decide to try and pass the exam, she had used needles on a dog and then arced electricity through them to override it’s nervous system and while needles could cause immense pain it was also possible to use them in a medicinal manner though even that had pain involved though it could be dulled for at least a time. He shook his head to clear it of the image and words the girl had spoken as he noticed the puppet seemed to be heading for the window by a fairly indirect route, he smiled as he walked across the ceiling with his needles still in hand and observed it carefully, this type of test would have been so much simpler if he allowed himself the use of his actual combat jutsu or even his blood line abilities but he still was not sure about who was viewing him and as such wanted to keep other surprises for as long as possible, or barring that as long as feasible, there was a paper thin difference between the two but knowing it was a survival trait in his eyes as it often was decided by waiting until just before dangerous situations arose instead of the last moment. The difference was before danger meant there was a chance of avoiding it but the last moment meant you were screwed unless the ace in the hole was very good indeed. He felt his aces were good but wouldn’t bet them against a royal flush if he could play them early and keep the flush from being put together. Yet his mind digressed even as his body acted in a well trained fashion lashing out again and releasing needles towards the target as he subtly manipulated the threads attached to the needles to alter their trajectory and in a very real sense home in on the target as his fingers twitched as though he were manipulating his puppets because both shared a very common denominator. The threads from his hands to the needles shifted with the twitches and the needles each seemed to alter course and head for the dummy as it neared the window while Ka’rinth watched somewhat impassively, he could have used his puppets to do this faster but he was loathe to display the weapons they had integrated into them though that they were puppets was not much information for others.

((20/20 for 3rd attack. Check 3 against the target: 1200 (agix2) + 3500 (Threaded needle accuracy) vs. 300 = 99%.))

Yuki bit his lip again, to keep his yelp down. He saw the incoming wave of fire and panicked. In his mind, it had looked like a star that had blown up and the wave of heat that was once an orb of gas began to spread towards him. The Yamanaka tried to get up and run, far away from the explosion coming towards him, before the giant yellow ostrich had picked him up on it's back. It began squawking at the Bishop Genin and trotted over the flames as if it were immune to them. The Astronaut was waiting for them, hovering over the ground without using any equipment. The environment was still swirling around him, as if someone chopped off Yuki's head and stuffed it in a dryer. It wasn't until the Ostrich began pecking at his body that the world began to slowly right itself. The yellow ostrich slowly formed into Hisaki Hyuuga, while the astronaut mutated back into Notwen. Yuki took a gasp of breath and sat up, staring down at his torn clothes. "Oh no, my Mother is going to kill me, literally." Were the first words out of his mouth.

Noticing his team staring awkwardly at him, he slowly stood up and brushed himself off. "I apologize for lagging behind like that." He said solemnly, adjusting his Hidden Leaf Village headband on his forehead, "Thanks for the help." He stated before looking ahead towards their next destination, "Now, our next task is to get through a field laced with Mind Altering Tags, if I remember correctly." Yuki tried to act like nothing happened, how he had lost his cool when his friend took a fall, or how he began to lose hope while trapped within the vines. He shook his head violently, "Alright let's go."

As the Kunai came closer Notwen activated his Suzume Koumyaku, giving him a much needed speed boost. He flipped and twisted around branches, slid down tree trunks and stopped any tags from latching on by releasing a burst of heat from his body, which caused the paper to burn. After a few minutes of this, the long-haired blonde came to a clearing past the trees. He was home free! Turning around, he wondered what had happened to Hisaki and Yuki.

Hisaki scoffed at the Uchiha's remark, "Stay behind and rest? Hardly..." Under his breath, he continued, "Arrogant jerk..." Hisaki stepped lightly he and Yuki approached the area were the kunai and tags were supposed to be hiding. Hisaki let Yuki jump ahead. The boy flipped and dodged over several kunai, but Hisaki saw the truth with his Byakugan. Every time a kunai zipped past Yuki, a tag would inconspicuously snag itself onto Yuki's clothes. Yuki picked up quite a few, and by the end, he had enough to do some major hallucinations, as far as Hisaki could see. Apparently, they did their job, as the Yamanaka dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes only seconds later.

Hisaki shrugged, and pulled a cigarette from the carton in his pocket. As he fingered through the box, he did a quick count. He only had like, two... no... three left. He pulled one from the box and looked it over in his fingers before sticking it in his mouth and lighting it with a small flame at the tip of his finger. Hisaki waved out the light and let a cloud of smoke escape his mouth. Grabbing onto the mouth end firmly with his lips, Hisaki took a running start, and activated his Sharingan. Instantly, the combination of the White Eyes and the Copy Wheel Eyes (One Swirl) slowed down time for Hisaki just enough for him to pin point each kunai and tag.

At this point, it was a game of split second reflexes and dexterity. He slid to the ground, and kicked back up with his hands. After springing forward, Hisaki pulled off a few more outrageous spins and balance-orienting kicks to complete each dodge. Finally, after dodging about half of the trickier kunai, Hisaki got back onto his feet, flat on the ground, and took off, sprinting to avoid the last of the fleet. A final jump signaled the end of the barrage.

At the end, Hisaki pulled off his jester hat, and rustled his hair with his hands, passively deactivating his dual eye-jutsu as he did.

"Well, how's our favorite Yamanaka doing?" Hisaki said as he looked down at the starry eyed blond. Hisaki plopped the hat back on his head, and said with a sigh, "Well, it's like they say: A medic's work is never done..." Hisaki kneeled down and pryed at one of the many tags. It was sealed on Yuki tight somehow.

Hisaki glanced up at Notwen over his shoulder, "You might want to run ahead and scope out the next area for us. We'll be there in a sec as soon as twinkletoes wakes snaps out of it."

Aya stayed with Fuyu a little longer, to ensure he was alright, before turning back to Jin, as she did, she was able to catch the end of him jumping to the other side, she looked at him and signed, then noticed the blood running down his arm. She was able to watch as Jin fell over for a few moments, she had began to move as he seem to be in some pain from the cut, but before she was able to get fully up, Jin seemed to snap out of what ever it was he was going though. As the team recovered a little Jin seemed to get spooked and run off into the woods as he noticed some kunai fly by them, Aya took her time and moved a little to her left, avoiding the kunai as they fly by her, as she looked at the kunai, she noticed the tag attached, it seemed to be a genjutsu seal that would locks ones mind if activated, Aya wasn't able to tell how it works but knew touching it or getting too close would be bad news.