a shinobi's tale

Chapter 7 : THE TEST COMMENCES!!!

Good morning me. Good morning world. What time is it? Oh shit! I'm gonna be laaaate!

I woke up to my noisy alarm clock. It read 8:00. I had to get to our gathering area in 5 minutes. I shoved a piece of natto toast into my mouth, swallowed, poured down some milk into my mouth and ran out, all ready for training. I had practised like mad on my targets that I set up and I was ready for anything. Or so I thought.

I arrived on the nick of time. "ohaiyo everyone "I said. "ohaiyo ochimiyo we are just about to start so listen carefully to what I have to say" said osao sensei. I saw kurai standing there listening intently. I waved at him. I glared at Hitoshi and he glared back at me. Sensei began speaking " OK everyone listen up, this is a survival exercise were you will have to try to get these 2 bells off me. " I grimaced. " but sensei there are 2 bells you said but three of us so does that mean-" "yes one of you will fail and be tied to a stump and watch the rest of us eat lunch and not get any" said sensei. No wonder he wanted us to skip dinner before coming. " ok good luck everyone you may begin, you have until sunrise to get a bell."

" shadow clone jutsu". 100 of me and 1 of sensei. All of me charged at sensei, kunais in hand. A group went in for the kill. The kunai hit his face. Then he turned into a log. " damn, he used substitution jutsu"
I looked around frantically. Then in the blink of an eye,  he ambushed me from behind. With only a puff of smoke left behind a few clones disappeared from sensei's attack. Only a few clones remained. They were sent flying by sensei's merciless fist. "Only two left, one of them has to be you ochimiyo " he grinned. He lunged at them, smacking them down with his fist leaving behind a cloud of smoke. They were both clones. "what! But how " cried sensei. Stealthily I leaped at him from behind. My kunai held  at the front of the vein of his neck. "sensei I was waiting in the bushes all along, I let my clones attack you so you'd be detracted and think I was among them, that way I could make an opening to attack".
Then with a clump of smoke left behind,  he was gone. A log lay in his place. Damn I was tricked again. Meanwhile Kurai was hiding along with Hitoshi.
I also slipped back into hiding. "well done, the first shinobi rule is to be able to hide well for successful ambushes and to find and create openings".

This time Hitoshi leaped out, kunai in hand. He aimed a kick at sensei's head, went for it and missed. "Got you" sensei grinned. Hitoshi's hands were being held by sensei. Hitoshi launched a kick at sensei's groin causing him to dodge and set him free. "let me teach you some important shinobi techniques " said sensei. "skill number 1, taijutsu". Sensei charged at Hitoshi, kicking him in the groin, making him hurtle into the air, then repeatedly landing blows on him speedily with his fists. Hitoshi deflected a few punches and aimed a kick at sensei which he caught in his hands. "taijutsu is hand to hand combat, it's essential for a shinobi to be able to do this when in a close combat situation,  you require speed and strength for this."

Sensei pushed Hitoshi to the ground. Then in as quick as flash he was gone. A log remained in his place. Hitoshi was back in his hiding spot now. We were all close toghether so I decided to relay a plan since our methods were failing. "listen up everyone, so far we've attacked sensei one on one and it's not working too well so we need to try something else, I suggest we work together to get the bells" I whispered. " yeah but there's only two bells remember so what's the point in working together if only two of us can pass, didn't think it through did ya genius" replied Hitoshi with a hint of sarcasm. " we can worry about that when we get to that stage but for now lets gather our strength and attack together, strength in numbers right" I replied "Ochimiyo's right, we'll have a better chance of getting those bells if we work together and combine our strength". Hitoshi was hesitant at first but he went with it in the end.

So we put the plan into action. "ok kurai you hide and wait for an opening while I use my shadow clones to destract sensei, then Hitoshi you attack sensei from my blind spots, that way our distraction will be more effective and sensei will have a hard time trying to escape . Kurai once you find an opening you come in and attack sensei with your jutsu, everyone understand?"
"we understand" they both replied. " now let's do this!"