The Chunin Exams: Development of Kisei and Shichirou

Alone Time
Kisei snores quietly, half-buried in the pile of leaves that served as his bedding the previous night. The shifting shadows of the canopy play against the skin of his face, and the flashing light of the sun occasionally teases his eyelid. Beginning to rouse, the young ninja flips onto his back, and his arms and legs splay in every direction as he resumes his snoring.

As he sleeps, he dreams.

''A familiar mountain, unmistakable as his home. The high towers and open bazaars of the city strongly contrast the living rock from which they've been hewn. As Kisei strolls down the streets nostalgically, he sees people cheerfully milling about the plazas and stalls. The familiar hustle and bustle of the city is relaxing. In an explosive flash, it all changes. The screams of the innocent, pleading, begging for help surround him. Kisei stands amidst the ruins of Kumogakure. His fearful gaze sweeps the area, passing over countless bleeding and scorched bodies. He begins to walk forward slowly. The victims around him cry out for his aid. People half-buried in the wreckage of their homes reach out to him in desperation. He wants to help them. He wants to save them. But he is powerless to. His legs do not obey him, and he turns away from the survivors. His placid eyes focus on a single sight ahead of him.

Two scorched bodies lie atop eachother, both burned so badly, that not only are they unrecognizable, they are barely recognizable as human beings. A piteous, high-pitched cry rises above the tumult from beneath the pair of dead bodies. Revolted, but determined, Kisei pushes the charred corpses aside to reveal what lies beneath. The cries emanate from a cocoon of swaddling cloths, and movement from within occasionally jostles the fabrics. Kisei reaches down for the baby, and lifts the infant up.

It cries in his arms, shaking and quaking in fear... or is it, anticipation? Kisei's hand hovers over the cover, and doubt and fear take root. In a last bid at a semblance of self-control, he contrives to see for himself, and his hand grasps the edge of the fabric and pulls it free. Glittering eyes, a black, hairy body, and eight spindly legs reach out for his face as he draws back the cover, and an inhuman keening fills his ears as the darkness of the spider covers him."

Kisei sits up with a start, and finds himself back in the forest glade. He would have breathed a sigh of relief, except that something is lodged in his throat. He coughs up a spider- one of his spider puppets. "What? What the hell?!"

He finally looks up, to the branches above him. Reclining in a care-free manner, sits an aged ninja. "I expected your awareness of your surroundings to have improved somewhat in my absence. You're still full of vulnerabilities..."

Kisei stands abruptly, brushes the leaves off of him, and grins. "Yoshitsune-sensei! You're here!"

The elder nonchalantly replies, "Your talents at discerning the obvious never cease to disappoint." Rather than getting down from his perch to greet his student, it appears as though the branch itself is gradually drifting down the trunk of the tree. Kisei's confused for a moment, until he sees that it's actually a kind of puppet arm that has extended itself beneath Yoshitsune, and is holding him up.

"It was never a branch at all!" Kisei exclaims in surprise.

"Obviously." Yoshitsune casually stands, and the puppet construct folds back into concealment among the clothes of his kimino. He appraises Kisei for a moment, before asking, "How are you holding up?"

Kisei stretches out his arms tentatively. The pain is gone. "I'm feeling great, actually. Don't let my dirty clothes fool you. I heal pretty quickly, two broken arms is nothing!", he brags.

"Hmm. Still reckless with your body, I see. Do you actually have any idea how close you were to death in that forest?" Yoshitsune's calm exterior becomes stony as he interrogates the young ninja.

Kisei gets the feeling he messed up at some point in the discussion. "Uh, well. I was never in any great danger really. I mean, so long as I can get chakra from trees and plants and stuff I should be fine."

Yohitsune shakes his head before indicating Kisei should follow him with a subtle wave of his hand. "That way of thinking is just like you, you know..." Kisei begins to smile, "and that is not a compliment. Your recklessness and lack of foresight will be your end, mark my words. Come. It is time to enact the next phase of your training."