The Chunin Exams, Chapter 1

Due to training for the Chunin Exams, player [JacobHyuuga] has gained +5 Taijutsu, +5 Ninjutsu, +5 Sneak
Due to training for the Chunin Exams, player [CorenKeitaro] has gained +5 Sealing, +5 Kenjutsu, +5 Ninjutsu

Having trained themselves greatly over the course of the previous month, the trio of genin were on their way to the Chunin Exams, held this year in Kirigakure, a land once plagued by war and prejudice, but is now a safe land... Or, at least as safe as a ninja village can be.
The trip there via caravan had been absurdly slow, and each of the teams were being taken separately, so that meant no fraternizing with potential enemies...
Coren filled the silence every so often by annoying Jacob to no end by breaking out into song and/or dance, as well as making witty jokes that made fun of his various features. Like how his last name means dog.
And so, in the middle of his eternally smooth moves and the song 'Ain't Nothin' Gonna Break My Stride', the cart stops, and Coren lets out an internal 'yay'.
"Alright, it's time to serious up," he said. He'd rather the other villagers not think he was just a silly putz. "Are you two ready for this?"
Hanako just smirked, running her hand over her senbon pouch. Jacob made some boast about how they'd totally win, but Coren could care less.
"Alright then, let's do this."
He pulled his trench-coat's hood over his head, obscuring his features completely as he closed the front of his coat.
He set a quick pace towards the designated hotel, where Kuroi would be waiting for them. Apparently, the jonin teachers got to leave a few hours early; a load of bollocks, if you ask me.
In any case, Coren managed to track down Kuroi because the latter'd given him a small seal that would lock onto his chakra signature and point the way.
Coren was planning on keeping it and reverse-engineering it later.
As they arrived at the hotel, the beginnings of rain had just begun to fall; droplets would occasionally graze our protagonists as they walked. They quickly walked inside, as they knew the rumors about a Kiri rainstorm... They made monsoons look like child's play.
"About time you three got here," Kuroi said plainly. "I was starting to think that the seal I gave you didn't work."
"It worked; with the rain starting up, I'm glad we had it," Coren responded. "I'd rather not be caught in a Kiri storm, y'know?" Kuroi chuckled.
"True 'dat. Anyway, come on. It's time to introduce you to the other four Konoha teams here."
The trio shared a look before following him. Konoha nin were at least from the same village as them, so maybe they could broker a deal for a bit of info...
"Team 7, meet Team 8," Kuroi said as they walked into the main room.
Looking them over, Coren saw a Hyuuga, an Inuzuka, and an Aburame; each clan had their own defining features, so it wasn't hard to tell.
...Having an entire team recognizable by their faces is never a good idea in a ninja's line of work.
"Hinata," Coren said, bowing slightly. "It's been some time."
She stepped back a bit. Still as shy as ever, it seems.
"Y-yeah."
Coren knew Hinata because in his earlier years, he had a tendency to mess with the Hyuuga clan. Why? Because he used to always joke that if you shook the tree enough, it might finally come out of their asses and get rid of that infernal stuck-up personality. Hinata was the only one exempt from that because she acted nothing like any of the others.
As of late, though, his training took up too much of his time for elaborate pranks... That, and the Inuzuka locked down their cabinets of dog whizzle a lot better after the last time.
The second one Coren noticed was one Kiba Inuzuka, who was probably still angry at him for whatever terrible prank Coren had last inflicted upon him.
Not that he had any solid evidence it was him. Coren was good; all Kiba had was his intuition. Unfortunately, Inuzuka trust their gut more than family, so that couldn't be helped.
Both he and the Aburame, Shino, gave a slight upwards nod to the boy, who returned it in kind.
"Your team looks rather..."
Their sensei, Kurenai Yuhi, drifted off a bit. The Genjutsu Mistress, as she was called, tended to sugar-coat her words.
"Odd? Mismatched?" Coren said helpfully. "I definitely think we're pretty odd."
"...Yeah, I think that's the word I was looking for," she said.
Next was Team 9, or 'Team Gai' as it was called, now that they were in their second years as graduates.
A Hyuuga, Rock Lee, and...
"...Tenten?"
She turned towards the speaker and smirked.
"I was wondering if you'd show up, Coren. How ya been?"
He shrugged.
Wait, how is everybody recognizing him? He's covered from head to toe!
Anyway, Coren knows Tenten because he was the son of a weapons merchant, who was the one to sell Tenten a lot of her weapons. Since Coren usually minded the shop, they hit it off pretty well. A lot of sparring and bleeding was done between the two of them.
Looking over the other two, he saw Rock Lee first.
This guy deserves a whole category of his own. With giant bushy eyebrows, a shiny black bowl-cut, and a green spandex outfit with what looked like orange leg-warmers on the outside, this dude freaked Coren right the flip out.
"Ah, Coren! That is not a very youthful attire," he called out.
"...No, it isn't."
Quickly attempting to alt-f4 out of there, he looked at the last person there, who he barely restrained the urge to openly hiss at.
"Neji Hyuuga," he said coldly, staring at him.
"Hn." Neji just stared right on back. If there was anyone who embodied the Hyuuga personality of pride and debauchery, it was this guy. The Hyuuga family had a tree up their ass; this guy had the whole damn forest.
Coren looked away, not wanting to be around him any more than absolutely necessary.
Next was Team 10, consisting of a Yamanaka, a Akimichi, and a Nara. The first had the same bright blond hair as Hanako's, and he'd seen her working the Yamanaka Flower Shop on his way to training and/or pranking a while back.
The Akimichi was obvious because of his rotund body and facial paint. Him gorging on chips certainly gave it away.
The last of the three Coren placed as a Nara because of how laid-back he seemed; behind those eyes, though, was an analytical genius.
Unfortunately, he didn't know any of those three personally, so all he knew was their clan's info.
Their teacher, on the other hand, was Asuma Sarutobi. Son of the Third Hokage and member of the Twelve Ninja Guardians back before they disbanded, he had a bounty on him almost as large as people like Kakashi Hatake.
That was a team to be wary of.
The last two teams were people Coren didn't know in the least, but they were introduced nonetheless. After all of the introductions were complete, he asked his team,
"Who would you say seems weakest out of them all?"

"I'd say Team 8. I'm trained to beat the Byakugan, so the girl won't mean much. I think you could take on the Inuzuka, but the Aburame? I heard some freaky stuff about them, and I don't want nothin' to do with 'em."

"Yeah... You're probably right," Coren responded. "Hinata's altogether too shy to fight, so she'd be easy to take out if you have conviction. Kiba's cocky; all we need to do is take advantage of that. Shino, on the other hand..."
Coren had always been wary of the Aburame. They creeped him out, and it wasn't their bugs. They saw through his mask as easily as others did glass, and that worried him. He didn't know much about Shino as an individual, but if he was anything like the others, then he didn't want to.
"Let's just hope we get lucky and land some no-names, eh?" Coren said cheerfully.
"Aaaanyway," Kuroi said, stepping in, "We should probably get to our rooms. That ride here was long, and you three need as much rest as you can."
Quickly shooing the trio into their respective rooms, he slammed the doors shut, locked them, and yelled
"Sleep!"

---

Insert Time Skip Here

---

The next morning, the trio woke up abruptly as someone rapped lightly on their doors.
In Coren's case, that was literally.
"Come on Mr. K, you don' wanna be late. Let's go; we're makin' 'em wait!"
Coren sighed as he pulled himself up.
Whoever just woke him up will be force-fed their femur if they don't shove it with the rapping.
Opening the door, he saw a tall, dark-skinned man in a lot of white and with dark shades on his face.
"I'm Mister Eight, the Killer Bee-"
"I am not a morning person," Coren plainly responded, cutting him off. "Give me a minute."
Closing the door, Coren quickly got ready. He had no idea who this rhyming man is, but from his headband, he's from Kumogakure, and they weren't the kind you mess with.
In around thirty seconds, he opened the door again, having changed into his combat uniform.
"Good morning, Mr. Eight," Coren said, this time with a bit of a smile.
Killer Bee returned the smile.
Then he started rapping again, and Coren, still smiling outwardly, pleaded whatever god exists to smite him on the spot.

---

"Gimme a minute!" Hanako called out, pulling on clothes as fast as she could.
When she managed to stumble her way to the door in a sleep-induced stupor, she opened it, looking at the person in front of her.
A guy from Sunagakure stood there, half of his face obscured by a white turban and the other half marked with facial paint.
"Sir?" she asked. Was he a proctor?
"I'm here to escort you to the Kage chambers."
Hanako's eyes widened.
"Why?"
"It would seem that they have decided to place a... Wager," he said with a bit of annoyance in his voice.
Needing to hear no more than that, she followed obediently.

---

Kurotsuchi stood there, tapping her foot impatiently, knocking again on the Hyuuga's door. How much she just wanted to kick down the door and drag him to her grandfather, but no, she was strictly told no physically harming them.
Sighing, she waited for that damn Ghost-Eyes to just open the damn door.

"Oh, for the love of Kami, just SHOVE IT!" I screamed at the door. Grumbling about not being a morning person, I took a minute to toss on my clothes, before shoving open the door. Not recognizing the girl standing in front of me, and recognizing that glare of female anger I'd come to familiarize myself with when it came to Hanako, I immediately knew it'd be a bad day.

Kurotsuchi's brow twitched as she ignored every bit of that part of her that said to tear him apart piece by piece.
"Follow me," she said through gritted teeth, before just grabbing him and dragging his poorly-dressed arse towards where they were going.

---

Coren sighed in relief, finally reaching the Kage chambers.
“-you see!”
He looked at Killer Bee, smiling.
“Of course, sir.”
“Please, get me away from him,” he said in his head.
Shoving open the door, Killer B yelled out
“Hey bro, didja miss me?”
The Raikage turned to look at B, instantly making Coren really wish that he’d listened to the rapping man.
“I see you arrived first, B… I’m surprised the boy didn’t jump out a window on the way thanks to those rhymes of yours,” he said nonchalantly.
A; current Raikage.
“Oh, I don’t mind it too much,” an orange-haired woman said.
Mei Terumi; current Mizukage.
“Are you kidding? That infernal rhyming makes me want to crush him!” a small, old man responded.
Onoki; current Tsuchikage.
“It’s tolerable,” a man with orange hair and a blue coat remarked.
Saiken; current Kazekage.
“Oh, come on; it’s actually pretty funny if you ask me!”
Everybody turned to look at the blond speaker, staring at him in horror.
Minato Namikaze; current Hokage.
Coren looked between them all, about to ask a question when, suddenly, the sound of resounding steps filled the air.
“Team Baki, reporting,” said a blond woman who walked in. She had two twintails coming out of the sides of her head, and was wearing a small skirt. The giant battle-fan on her back was also noticeable… Just a little.
With her came someone with the same shade of hair as the Kazekage, but his eyes were surrounded by black eye-shadow, and he had a tattoo reading ‘love’ in kanji on his forehead.
With that kind of glare, though, you’d think that love’d be the last thing on his mind.
The last one to walk in was a man in all black with kabuki make-up on, with a large… Sack, thing, on his back.
Knowing Suna, that was probably a puppet. They just loved their puppets.
“Team Tara, reporting.” This time, the speaker was a flat-chested green-haired girl with a short tank-top and a short skirt. She… Really didn’t have anything to set her apart from a standard kunoichi.
The second member of the team had a large coat on, covering most of his body… One thing it didn’t cover, though, were those piercing black eyes with forest-green pupils.
Staring into his eyes was one of those ‘Oh Lord, how horrifying’ moments.
Their third teammate, though, was the textbook wimp. With very short-cut black hair, glasses, and a tiny frame, you’d wonder what he was doing in a ninja team.
“Team Kuroi, reporting,” Coren added in as he noticed who was just behind the last of ‘Team Tara’ as they were called.
“Hey gramps,” Jacob’s escort called out.
The Tsuchikage nodded his head.
…Okay, so Coren was escorted by the Raikage’s brother, and Jacob by the Tsuchikage’s granddaughter?
They weren’t that important… Why did they get special treatment?
At least Hanako's escort seemed fairly nor-
"Hello, Baki."
"Hello, Kaizen."
Said escort took his place just behind the Kazekage, as his personal body-guard.
...
...
...
"...Okay, I give up; why are we all here?" Coren asked, thoroughly confused.
Minato smiled at the boy, taking it upon himself to answer.
"Oh, we all made a little bet is all. We were betting on which of our teams would get the farthest and do the best in the Exams, and we needed one team from each village to represent us. So, in other words, you're me!"
Coren stared at the eccentric blond Kage, his words failing him.
Hell, he could feel them committing seppuku at the thought of that.
"...You chose us for what reason?"
"Yeah," the blond from Suna said, cutting in. "Why our teams?"
"Because, to put it simply, you're the best," the Kazekage said. "Which, of course, means that you're expected to exceed beyond those of the other teams," he added.
Coren immediately started twitching.
He hated high expectations on him. He hated it almost as much as people who defile pizza with anchovies.
Almost.
"...I see," Coren responded plainly. "I will do my best to live up to your praise, sir."
Minato frowned.
"Y'know, you should really lighten up," he said. "Just do your best; that's all we want from any of our ninja. Right, guys?"
Mei nodded, but the remainder seemed to lock eyes with their groups teams and basically said silently "Out-do those pansies".
"...Alright then... Minato," he said.
"That's more like it!" Leaning back, the Hokage then pointed towards the large stadium just outside. "Getting down to business, that's where your preliminaries will be taking place. We'll have get rid of half of everybody in order to get the proper number, so we'll be having the teams take part in battles, either in trios or singles."
"...You're telling us this, why?"
Minato shrugged.
"We'll tell you anyway, so why not?"
The remainder of the Kages seemed to face-fault at that, the only person left unconfused being Minato's bodyguard; one Uzumaki Kushina.
"...If we may take our leave, sir? We have much planning to do, if we wish to succeed in this exam," Coren said.
"Again with the 'sirs'... Fine, you can head out," Minato said, waving his hand. "Just try and do your best; later, Coren."
"...Later, Minato," Coren said, obviously straining to be so informal.

---

"First day, and I already hate these exams," Coren said, his anger invisible to his team, despite his words. "I can handle murderers and explosions, but these tests have made me already begin to sweat." Shaking his head, he continued "I really need to calm down; I'm sure everything'll be hunky dory, even though we'll probably be fighting the One-Tailed Demon Lord's container, who was in the same room as us, who happens to be the Kazekage's son."
Pacing in a circle, Coren said quietly
"I really wanna jump out a window right now. How about you two?"

"Well, it's been pretty exciting in my opinion," I said gleefully. "I met all five Kages and I got to see you spaghetti so hard that it came out more like ravioli!" Laughing, I turned to Hanako. "What about you?"

"I did not ravioli," Coren said firmly. "At the very most, I linguine'd." Coren sighed, still pacing.
"Well, I thought it was pretty weird in there," Hanako stated. "It was... Tense." Coren nodded.
"I can do tense; I'm good at tense," he muttered, annoyed. "I don't do laidback, though; especially in a room full of people that could beat Orochimaru like he could beat a naughty puppy!"
He only barely raised his voice, maybe by a few decibels, but his distress was obvious on his face.
"And I especially don't do heightened expectations, and more than anything else, I do not, under any circumstances, let my guard down near potential enemies."
Coren sighed, palming his face.
Reigning in control, he just shook his head.
"In any case, we need a game plan."
He pulled out a storage scroll and pulled out a large piece of paper, easily Coren's height and width.
Using a kunai, he stuck it to the wall, pulling out a pencil.
"Alright, I'll get to working on this; you two, I want you to go around and... Socialize," Coren said, spitting out the last word with obviously fake hatred. "I want as much info and dirt on everyone you can get, on anybody you can get it on. Information is power, and power is important."
Hanako was about to say something about the plan being better if they all worked on it, but Coren quickly shooed the duo out of the room.
"Gimme the dirt, damnit! I want pictures of Spiderman," he called out in his J. Jonah Jamison voice, before slamming the door shut.
"...You know," Hanako said with a sigh, "He can really annoy me sometimes." She shook her head. "Anyway, where should we start? I mean, the more important teams are probably the ones that represent the villages... But which village do you want to hit up?"

"I think we should get some info on that guy from Suna. Coren said that he was the Kazekage's son and the container of the Ichibi. I think we want to learn as much about him as we can."

Hanako nodded.
"Alright, Suna's our first target. It's time to make like archaeologists," she said, pulling out a ridiculous hat, "And dig up some dirt."

---

"Honestly?" The sixth Suna-nin said. "All I can say is that if you get in a fight with him, then you quit. You forfeit, and you run away as fast as you can."
As he started to walk away, Hanako sighed.
"Okay... Gaara of the Sand; not someone we want to fight. All they'd say is that he has an absolute defense, and that he's good enough to complete B-Rank missions without getting hurt." She lightly bit her knuckle. "...I think we should follow those guy's advice if we get in a fight with him."
Lowering her hand, she turned back to Jacob.
"Alright, what village next? I heard that Kumo and Taki also brought in their jinchuriki; Demon Lord containers. Kumo has the 2-Tails, and Taki the 6-Tails. Where to now?"

"I'd say Kumo. I mean, the Nibi has only two tails, while the Nanabi has six. That's got to mean something, right?"

“Kumogakure it is,” Hanako said, nodding. “Let’s go, shall we?”
Adjusting her still-ridiculous hat, she lead the way.

---

The Kumo-nin growled. “Like Hell I’ll rat her out.” He took a step forward, putting his hand on his kunai pouch. “I don’t know how your village treats your jinchuriki, but we’re not about to give anything about her up, Konoha scum.”
Hanako was surprised; this was a completely different reaction from asking about the Ichibi’s container.
“Alright, alright; I didn’t mean to make you mad,” she said, taking a step back and raising her hands defensively. “We just wanted to get a read on our enemies; though to be honest, it’s not looking to good.”
The Kumo-nin’s eyes narrowed a bit.
“…Fine, just get out of here,” he said, starting to walk away.
Hanako sighed as they left their line of sight.
“…Damnit, we didn’t get any info on her!” Hanako stomped once in annoyance. “All of them were a bunch of info-prudes!”
She shook her head.
“Yo, you two,” a voice called out from aside.
Turning, they saw Coren walking up.
“Got any dirt yet?”
The two shared a glance.
“Err… Besides the fact that fighting the Ichibi is a fool’s errand?” she said sarcastically.
“That’s what I thought,” Coren said. “I was told the same thing about Takigakure’s 6-Tails… I did manage to get something interesting from the guy, though.”
Leaning forward, he said quietly, as to prevent anyone else from hearing it,
“Apparently, she and the 6-Tails are not just on first-name terms; they’re friends,” he said, surprising the team. “I couldn’t find out much besides that, other than her teammate in the black cloak being even stronger than her.”
Hanako sighed.
“We aren’t too good at gathering info, are we?”
Coren shook his head.
“Anyway, we should head back to the room; I’ll give you the run-down on my plans.”

---

Arriving in the room, the other two could only marvel at how many papers adorned the wall. Each one had a battle plan on it, and well over half of them had large X's on them.
“Alright, so do you wanna hear about the Ichibi, the ninja who represent Kiri, or what people know about us?”

"I wanna know what people know about us," I answered. "I'd also like to know how you figured out what they think."

"Oh, just a Henge," Coren responded. "I just looked like a Kiri-nin, and they spilled the beans. It looks like they aren't too friendly to Konoha; nobody is, 'specially Kumo and Iwa."
He pulled out several papers.
"Let's see; their opinion on us changes from person to person. A Kumo-nin told me that we look absolutely pathetic, but that we hold ourselves with 'an air of strength', whatever that means, and that I should try not to fight them if I can. Something about us seems off to him."
He smirked.
"Somebody's a smart cookie."
He checked another paper.
"...An Iwa-nin said 'nobody from Konoha could ever be strong enough to handle an Iwa-nin!' Talk about a superiority complex," he said, shaking his head. "Take advantage of their pride, and it'll be a straight shot to victory."
"These Kiri-nin, on the other hand..." Looking over the paper, he sighed. "'They're stronger than they look; the one with the ponytail especially. He's got a dark aura about him, and it sure isn't pretty,' as said by one of the men." Coren rubbed his neck uncomfortably. "They'll be cautious; they won't just be pushovers."
Turning the page, he continued
"The Suna-nin don't really care either way; either we're strong, or we're weak. They said it like they knew something I didn't, though, so there might be some underlying tones up in this bizatch."
He pulled out the last two pages.
"I asked the Taki team, with the Nanabi's container, and only the cloaked man responded. He said, 'I like them. I admire the fact that they are entering the Exam in their first year. In fact, I might just take the black-haired one's heart; he has a strong wind affinity.'" Coren shuddered. "Somehow, it didn't feel like he was kidding about taking it."
"The last page is our fellow Konoha-nin; apparently, they think we won't end up faring so well, to the point that Kiba Inuzuka actually hopes we'll be beaten."
Hanako stared in shock at Coren, who'd managed to gather so much info so quickly.
"Well, that's that; anything else you'd like to ask, you two?"

"How about the ninja who represent this place, Kiri? They've got the home-field advantage, so I want some dirt on those guys."

"Eesh," Coren said, shuddering. "Well, the team is certainly powerful, that much I can say for certain. Their jonin-sensei is the only rapier-wielding swordsman in Kiri, or anywhere I know of, for that matter, and the strongest on their team is... Well," Coren scratched the back of his head, finishing with "He's one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist; the only current member, at that."
"Wait, how can a member of a group like that possibly be a genin!?" Hanako damn near screeched.
"Politics; they couldn't do a field-graduation for certain reasons I don't know, so they just put him in here to just hand over the rank..."
Coren sighed.
"I don't like the odds of fighting them." Shaking his head, he pulled out one more paper.
"The last group I learned anything about was the Ichibi's; I think I found a way to counteract his special defenses."
Gesturing to the wall to their trio's left, he began to point out certain things.
"The reason Gaara of the Sand can't be hurt is because of an absolute defense; sand that's so fast to respond to an attack that no one can hit him, and he doesn't even need to know about it. Is it sad that he'll actually be the easiest of everyone important?" Coren asked, pointing to a another section.
"Bypassing his defense'll actually be pretty easy; it's so simple that I'm surprised nobody's done it."
He pointed to a large blue orb, crudely drawn on the wall.
"Water slows down the sand, and then we strike. If it's one-on-one, then I have to be the one to fight him. I'm the only one with water techniques. If it's three-on-three, though, we'll have to take him out in a joint strike; his team's far too scared of him to get in the way, so that means the biggest enemy is nothing more than a sitting duck."
Smirking, Coren did a little twirl.
"Now, ain't I just so clever? Out of all of the entire set of jinchuriki, he's the only one that openly displays his abilities to the world, and therefore, gives up all his weaknesses to those with the keen eyes to hound after them."
Finally, Coren pulled out a kunai, hurling it right into a chibi Gaara's drawn head.
"And there's no stopping these hounds!"
Hanako stared silently. She certainly wasn't expecting this... Either the plan, or Coren's sudden eccentricness. It was... Off-putting, to say the least.
"Any questions?"

I rubbed my chin thoughtfully. "Does Gaara have any other weaknesses that we should know of?"

Coren looked through the papers again.
"Uh... No, not that I could figure out. But he's ruthless and isn't above murdering people; I forgot to mention that part."
Placing the papers down, he looked at the door.
"...I think that Kuroi is-"
"Hey, open up," their sensei's voice called out.
"...Yup," Coren said, walking over to the door.
Taking a kunai in hand, just in case, he opened it.
"What's up?"
"Prelim's are starting," he responded. "You need to head out, and be careful; your first opponent's are from Kumo, and they don't sound too happy to be fighting a Hyuuga."
Coren nodded, following the man to the arena, as did his team.

---

"Alright, the rules here are very simple," Mei Terumi called out. "You fight all-out; don't hold back, or you'll lose. However, if they pass out, yell 'I give up', or the battle is determined to be over by the proctor, then you must either stop fighting, or forfeit your right to continue the exams."
She looked over the various groups to let that sink in.
"Now then, with that, we will begin our first battle!"
She pulled out a piece of paper.
"Team Kuroi Taka of Konohagakure versus Team B, from Kumogakure!"
She turned around and took a seat, beginning to whisper to the Raikage and Minato.
"...She's asking about which of us'll win," Coren said.
"How can ya tell?" Hanako asked.
"I read lips."
The proctor walked up, rolling a coin in his fingers.
"Alright, so here's the deal; I toss a coin, you call it, the person who calls it right chooses whether you fight one-on-one, or three-on-three. Got it?"
All six people nodded.
"Good."
As the coin was flipped into the air, Coren said "Heads," staring deeply at the metal piece.
He quickly caught it as it fell, slapping it onto his arm.
"...Heads." He nodded to Coren. "Choose."
He turned to his team, saying
"Alright, three-on-three? Or what?"

"Let's take it one-on-one; that should make it a bit easier."

Coren nodded.
"Alright then; I'll go first."
Stepping forward, he nodded to the proctor, who returned it.
"One-on-one battle! Fighters, take your positions!"
Coren took his spot and got into his stance; the person he was fighting had dark skin and white hair, as well as a large cleaver-like blade in hand, resting on his shoulder.
"Name's Darui."
"Coren," he casually responded. "Let's keep it fair and clean, and show them our worth, eh?"
Darui smirked a bit.
"'Course."
They both turned to the proctor, who nodded.
"Begin!"

This would take too long if we did it with the rolls; with Coren and Hanako's fights, it will be over in one post. Just a warning.

Coren launched himself forward, running his hand over a storage seal on the outside of his coat.
Pulling out his katana, he immediately slashed downwards, which Darui easily blocked.
"Take this! Lightning Release!"
His blade started coursing with electricity, making Coren leap backwards lest he get electrocuted.
"Tch. Should've guessed a Kumo-nin'd use lightning."
Coren quickly went over his options; hand-to-hand was pointless with his electricity, and water would only serve to hurt himself... So that leaves...
"Take this! Fuuton: Kazekiri no Jutsu!"
Swinging outwards, the wind slashed through the air and earth, carving a gash into the ground as it flew towards Darui.
Said ninja quickly dodged to the side to avoid it, but then noticed something.
"Kage Bunshin!"
Six Corens quickly appeared, though he looked rather tired because of it.
There was no holding back right now; not when he was at such a disadvantage.
"Hn." Darui slid into a defensive stance, waiting for them to strike.
However, they didn't; instead, they all pulled out small orbs and tossed them into the ground simultaneously, covering the area around them with smoke.
"You can't hide," he said calmly, forming several hand-seals. "Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"
He exhaled quickly, blowing out a large burst of air that pushed away all of the smoke.
...Only for nothing to be there.
"I can't fight you fairly; you have the advantage there," Coren's voice said, coming from all directions at once. "That just means I'll have to beat you like this."
Darui whirled around, blocking a blade just before it carved his back like a turkey.
"Or maybe I mean like this," another version of his voice said.
The Shadow Clone leaped away, making Darui do the same.
When nothing happened, though, he knew he fell for a feint.
"How about this?"
This time, the voice clearly came from one direction, so Darui spun on his heel and threw a kunai.
And it impaled itself on a stone.
He yelled out in pain as a blade cut the side of his arm; if he hadn't dodged at the last moment, he wouldn't have gotten away with something so small.
"Ventriloquism; a valuable skill in a ninja's arsenal."
Darui turned around to see Coren standing there, before disappearing in a puff of smoke.
Did it dispell? Or did he Kawarimi?
Not letting his guard down, he began to look around in all directions.
"Y'know, you rely far too much on your instincts; it's helped you thus far, but you never know when your gut'll be wrong," Coren said casually.
He leaped to the side again, narrowly avoiding a kunai aimed for his other arm.
"Enough with the games; get out here!" Darui spun around, annoyed.
"Ooh, that's good; feel the anger building," Coren said with a laugh. "Just let it fester throughout the battle, and use it to find me. Unless, of course, you don't know how."
Darui howled out again as another slash appeared on his arm, Coren laughing harder as he stepped away.
"Damnit!"
He leaped forward, desperately trying to cut open the laughing genin with his cleaver.
"Too slow," another voice sang out.
He got met with a rising knee-to-the-face from beneath the earth as he moved, sending him flying backwards.
"Oh, I forgot; anger makes you stupider, not smarter," Coren said with a smirk. "My bad."
"What happened to 'keep it clean'?" Darui asked between gritted teeth.
"You should know by now that a ninja's job is never a clean one," Coren said, resting his blade on his shoulder. "It's filled with lies, treachery, death, and the warm, rusty taste of blood."
He pointed the blade at the Kumo-nin, frowning.
"It's not a fun job, but it's one that needs doing; honor is no more than a word in a world of assassins and murderers."
Stepping backwards, Coren sighed.
"Unless, of course, you can prove me wrong?" He looked at Darui with a bored expression. "If you think you can, then beat me with your honor; in all honesty, I'd like to see it."
Darui stood up, spitting onto the ground, before smiling.
"Heh... Fine, I guess I can show you-"
He was cut off by a fist to the face.
"...Oh, I'm sorry," Coren said, still looking bored. "I was just wondering how good your reflexes were."
Darui let out a small laugh as he pushed himself up.
"Y'know... You're kind of an ass."
"Oh, that's only because I need to be," Coren responded. "Let's get to it, shall we? You may be the light for this round; I'll be the darkness."
In another puff of smoke, he disappeared.
Darui closed his eyes, breathing deeply as he tried to track the black-haired genin's movements.
...There.
He threw a volley of chakra-enhanced shuriken behind a bush, and he heard a pained yelp and a poof.
"Heh... Only 5 more clones, and you're up."
He repeated this, but this time, there was no yelp; Coren was expecting it, after all.
"Don't get cocky; pride cometh before the fall."
Darui's smirk faded for a moment; funny... B says the same thing.
He took another deep breath, listening to every tiny sound.
A single twig cracked behind him, making him whirl around and catch Coren's blade on his own.
"You've gotten more perceptive," Coren said, surprised.
"And you've gotten a lot stupider," he responded.
Grabbing his shirt, Darui yelled "Lightning Release!"
The Shadow Clone howled in pain before dispersing, leaving nothing left but a few tiny wisps of smoke and the smell of burnt clothing and flesh.
He nearly gagged on the scent; he hadn't actually been expecting it to actually burn before dispelling...
"Ah, the smell of burnt flesh in the morning; gotta love it," Coren said, getting himself another slash on Darui's arm. "Don't get too wrapped up in things like disgust; they only serve to distract you."
Darui charged forwards, once again attacking his target with his blade.
"Too slow," a clone said, getting ready to spin-kick him.
"Lightning Style: Black Panther!"
The Shadow Clone's eyes widened as Darui let out a large amount of black electricity that pounced onto him and ripped out his throat.
Dispelling, Coren flinched at the feeling. Burning was one thing, but removal of chunks of the neck? Eesh.
"Take this!"
He slashed quickly, the panther also targeting the now-blocking genin.
"You're pretty good," Coren complimented. "But you're not good enough. Water Style:"
"Water Dragon Bullet!" another voice called out.
Looking over his shoulder, he saw another Coren standing behind him.
"Damn i-"
He was hit with the bullet at a high-speed, smack-dab in the middle of his back.
Rolling quite a ways away, he groaned in pain before standing.
"Water and wind? You're just full of surprises." He wiped some water out of his eyes, staring at the collected 3 clones and original Coren, standing there.
"You don't even know the half of it," Coren responded lazily. "Let's get moving, eh?"
Darui nodded, forming several hand-seals.
"Lightning Release: Pitch Dragon!"
Coren's eyes widened as a decently-sized drake flew towards his group, made up of that damn black lightning.
They all immediately substituted for logs, which were obliterated.
"Damn..." One of the clones ran out into the open, blade in hand.
"Lightning Style: Lightning Strike!"
The clone howled out in pain as a bolt of lightning pierced his chest, leaving the entire area reeking of flesh and ozone.
"Tch..."
Only two clones remained, making Darui smirk.
"What, can't take a little thunder?"
"It's not the thunder I can't handle," Coren called back. "It's that tingling sensation and the whole 'now I'm dead' thing that I don't like."
"Though really," a second of his voices said,
"It's not even that bad."
The last voice came from behind Darui, making him whirl around.
"Ventriloquism," a voice behind him hissed into his ear.
He screamed out in pain as he felt his arm nearly get torn out of its socket, and his elbow bent in the wrong direction.
"Come on Darui," Coren said walking out from behind a tree as his clone substituted away. "You have the Third Hokage's famed Black Lightning techniques; I didn't even know there was a living person who knew it. That can't be all you've got."
Darui hissed, turning towards Coren.
"Y'know, that's not all I know," he said between gritted teeth.
"Oh? And what, pray tell, do you know?"
"How to delay an explosive clone's explosion."
Coren frowned, before getting thrown backwards into a stone wall, surely breaking something important.
POOF
"Damnit!" Darui stepped out from behind the tree. He was usually so calm, yet now, he was blowing up both figuratively and literally. "But wait... I heard three voices, and none of them came from over there! You only had three people left!"
Coren chuckled.
"Y'know, Darui, I have something tell you."
"Earth Style: Mole Decapitation Technique!"
Darui looked down, surprised as a clone grabbed his legs and pulled him down under.
"You need to work on a lot of things," Coren said, pacing around Darui. "You're not a person for hunting spies; that much's obvious. All it took to trick you was make a false stanard!"
Shaking his head, he sighed.
"Y'know, normally, a person wouldn't think 'he only has five clones', he would think 'he has five clones and however more he decides to make'."
Darui's eyes widened.
How did he fall for that? He should've seen through that!
"But that's not even the worst thing," Coren said theatrically. "You forgot to take into account the one greatest thing you have on your side."
"And what's that?" Darui spat out.
Coren poked him on the forehead-protector.
"Stop being so aggressive." Coren stepped around him for one more circle before saying
"You had anger, yet you suppressed it."
That confused Darui.
"But you said that it makes you stupider."
"Do you believe every word out of your enemy's mouth?" He countered. "Actually, don't answer that; I don't wanna know. In any case, anger is good, as long as you can control it."
Coren stepped down on the top of Darui's head, sighing.
"But you wouldn't even let it come out. Fighting without anger is foolish, even if it's better that being blinded by it."
Staring at Darui, once more bored, he continued.
"Anger, fear, hatred; all of these are the most powerful motivators in the world; the fear for your life makes you dodge faster, anger makes you hit harder, and hatred shall be your guide."
Smirking devilishly, he leaned in real close to Darui.
"You just weren't good enough to take me on."
Darui then bit Coren's nose, making the latter howl in pain.
"What the Hell!?" Coren screeched, clutching his face.
"Just making sure you weren't a clone," he said, before beginning to glow.
"Oh, for the love of-"
BOOM
Coren screamed in pain as he was hurled through the air away from the explosion, before tumbling across the ground.
"You said pride cometh before the fall; so why get so damn prideful near the end?" Darui asked, stepping out of a tree's shadow. "You're not the smartest individual here, are you?"
Coughing, Coren looked up.
"...You don't see it," he said, starting to smirk. "Do you?"
Darui frowned. "See what?"
"That sealing matrix underneath your feet." Darui's eyes widened as he looked down.
"Check-mate." A tree suddenly dropped a Henge, turning into Coren as he channeled chakra into the seal.
Darui yelled out in pain as his body weight multiplied by eight.
Dropping onto his stomach, he could hardly move.
Standing up, Coren sighed, dusting off his jacket.
"Good job," he said simply, before walking forward and putting his blade above Darui's neck. "But that's game over."
Darui tried to pull himself up, but he could hardly move, let alone stand up and fight.
"...Darui of Team B is incapable of further combat; this battle is over."
The proctor nodded to Coren, who placed a Chakra Disruptor seal on top of the first seal's matrix; the effects immediately faded away, allowing Darui to stand, albeit shakily.
Darui glared at Coren in annoyance.
"...Coward."
"I'd rather be a coward and win, then live by honor and die."
With that, Coren stood by his team as Darui took his place in his own.
"Alright," the proctor said, walking up, "Now then, you can send in the same guy to take on this next ninja, or you can send in someone new. You can't bring back Coren if you don't take him in, though; it'll be like he was KO'd."
Coren turned to his team; they could go ahead and make the decisions.

"Let's send Coren back in; if nothing else, he'll be able to weaken the next one, if not win."

Coren nodded.
He didn't show it as he walked forward, but he was tired. In reality, all of those mind-games he pulled off weren't him just playing around; he'd had to stall until he got him in just the right spot.
Taking his own spot, Coren put one hand in his pocket, where he kept a storage scroll.
As a red-headed woman with skin as dark as Darui's took her spot, he said
"Coren."
She just snorted derisively.
"I know, asshole."
"...Not gonna give your name?"
"Karui," she said. "Not that it matters much. After what you did back there, I'm not letting your team pass this test."
"Let's see you stop us," he said coldly.
The proctor looked between the two combatants, before saying
"Begin!"
Karui shot off like the lightning Darui fired off, making it hard for him to block her strikes. She was certainly skilled in swords; that he couldn't deny.
Then again, Coren also prided himself on being the best swordsman in Konoha under the rank of jonin, so he managed to match up pretty well.
The moment she slipped up, Coren was pushing her back; while he preferred defensive, it's obvious that she's an offensive fighter, and he didn't want her in her element.
"Damnit...," he heard her say through gritted teeth. "You're pretty good."
"I could say the same of you," he responded, grunting as he let loose a swift slash.
As he pushed her back, he was surprised that she hadn't noticed precisely where they were walking.
"If you think you'll get me in that matrix, you're dead wrong," Karui said.
...Apparently, she did notice.
He blocked a sudden slash to his throat, pushing back at her. As she stumbled backwards, Coren formed several hand-seals.
"Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet!"
"Heh, like that'll work."
She quickly dodged to the sides, deftly avoiding the trio of watery explosives as they soared past her.
She didn't even realize, though, that these things didn't go in straight lines.
As she twirled and avoided the last one, the first was falling down towards her from the sky.
Unfortunately, Coren forgot that the shadow would be visible.
Noticing that very thing, she managed to evade it with a sudden roll to the side. As she righted herself, she saw the other two coming at her quickly.
"I wonder," she said, once again dodging the two of them, "How much chakra does it take to control these things?"
Seeing as Coren was doing his best Big Bad Wolf-style huffing and puffing, it was obviously a rhetorical question.
However, that's when she thought of something.
Where did he get the water?
Hell, she didn't even know where it came from against Darui!
Dodging again, she looked around.
Sure enough, there was a large pond near-by; that must be it.
"Fuuton: Kazekiri no Jutsu!"
She was pulled out of her thoughts as a blade of wind slammed right into her chest. If Coren didn't have so little chakra, then that'd probably ended the battle.
Instead, all she did was fall into the pond, sputtering as she got as much water out of her mouth as she could.
"Maybe that'll cool that hot head of yours, girly."
Karui nearly blew up at that point; her hot-headedness was something that she was made fun of for from both her teammates and her teacher; she didn't need it from this punk too!
She pulled herself onto the pond, running quickly across it.
"Y'know, fighting against someone with water techniques on a pond, while sopping wet... Does that sound smart to you?"
She sneered at him; he was trying to psych her out, and she knew it.
She formed several hand-seals.
"About as smart as fighting a lightning-user in a wet area."
She fired off a small bolt of electricity, hoping to make him dodge.
All he did was raise his arm, though.
"Lightning Seal!"
He pulled down a part of his coat to reveal a seal emblazoned onto his shirt.
As the lightning impacted, it was sealed directly into the shirt's storage seals, for later use.
"How did-"
"Seals are the greatest form of fighting," Coren said, cutting her off as she ground to a halt. "As long as you can design it, you can create it... Even if it does feel like I'm running several thousand volts of electricity through me, and it will for a minute or so."
That caused Karui to smirk.
"You shouldn't give up that kind of info."
She dashed forward with incredible speed, actually causing a crater to appear in the pond for a moment.
She launched a punch straight towards his face, but then he did something.
"Release."
He caught her fist and redirected the lightning's energy into her own hand, causing her entire body to lock up as the lightning coursed through her.
He immediately grabbed her face and slammed it into his knee, before finishing it with a simple move.
"Phoenix," he yelled out, pulling his arm back as far as he could, "FIST!"
Pushing an absurd amount of chakra into his hand, he slammed it right into Karui's flat chest, sending her flying at a speed you know is impossible outside of anime.
By the time she hit the wall, she was unconscious.
By the time she reached the floor after that, there was almost no wall left.
"Karui is unable to continue combat; Coren wins a second time!"
Coren turned on his heel, walking towards his team.
"Alright, they have one person left. Are we sending me in again?" he asked, fatigue hardly visible on his face.

"Dude, you just took out two of 'em. You can rest if ya want, but you could also keep going. Your choice, dude."

Coren nodded.
"Once more unto the breach, once more."
He turned back to the arena, not showing any of the damage dealt to him on his face.
"Again?" The proctor looked a bit worried. "Are you sure?"
"Yes, sir."
He sighed, looking over to the other team.
"Alright, then. Get ready."
A blond woman with rather large mammaries and a blade walked forward.
"Samui," she said in a cold tone.
"I'm sure you know mine by now," he said, matching her coldness.
"Well, here we go; begin!"
The proctor leaped away, barely in time to avoid a viscous lash from Samui.
Coren tried to block it, but right off the bat, she proved her skill with the blade.
In three seconds, she'd knocked down Coren's guard, disarmed him, and cut open his right arm, before slamming her leg into his chest, sending him flying backwards.
With a loud thump and a stifled groan, Coren had crashed into a wall.
He managed to force himself into a standing position, but at that point, Samui had already run through several hand-seals.
"Lightning Style: Electro Bolt!"
A blast of lightning shot forward, which Coren only barely dodged; his leg still got a few complimentary scorch marks, though.
He quickly stood up, ignoring the pain in his side. He quickly began hurling several kunai and shuriken, but Samui easily deflected them all with her blade, as if this were no more than a training exercise.
Coren hissed in pain as he leaped to dodge another bolt of lightning; with how much energy Samui was generating, he wouldn't be able to move if they hit him, absorbed in the seal or not.
Finally, he managed to weasel his way close enough to start his plan.
"That's enough," he said decisively. "It's time to get serious."
Samui didn't even respond, instead opting to fire bolt after bolt at him, while closing the distance between them so she could thrash him some more with her blade.
With a deep breath, Coren focused.
He may not be able to see them, but that wouldn't stop him.
He'd had Lilligant teach him every single one's location, and exactly how to work medical jutsu.
That meant he could push his chakra out through his hands.
And with a basic knowledge of what he was doing, albeit one of a child when it comes to this, he only had one thing to say.
"You've entered the range of my Divination."
Hanako nearly choked on the water she was drinking as he said this.
"What in the name of The Log!?" Kuroi screamed out.
Taking one step forward, he mostly evaded Samui's slash, though it tore into his cheek.
He darted one hand forward, hitting one of the memorized tenketsu points.
"First Strike."
Samui screamed out as he overloaded her systems.
"Second Strike," he continued, striking her chakra points repeatedly.
She was shoved backwards, dropping her blade from the pain.
"False Prophecy: Final Strike," he said, slamming his palms into her chest.
She flew backwards, over 30% of her chakra points completely sealed off.
She ended up forcing herself to stand, her entire body burning like she'd been lit aflame.
"H-How can you know H-Hyuuga techniques!?" She called out.
Coren laughed loudly.
"Comparing that to the real Divination techniques is comparing open-heart surgery to an ice-pick lobotomy," he said, feeling the pain from his body of exerting that much energy. "I just temporarily blew out your chakra points; a real Hyuuga would've just shut them. Hell, a three-year-old could've done a better job than me."
Coren did several handseals.
"But I don't need true Divination; I just need a False Prophecy to guide me. And that chakra thread coming out of your rack is enough of a guide for my chakra."
Samui looked down, only just noticing it.
She instantly went to cut it off, but then the chakra reached her chest.
Her entire body locked up as Coren activated the Lightning Seal.
Throughout the battle, he'd been charging it up continously, until his entire body was numb.
Now, he let every bit of it out, through the thread and into Samui.
Unfortunately, that meant into himself as well.
They both screamed loudly in pain as their entire bodies began to fry from the electricity.
Finally, they both collapsed, unable to move and in need of immediate medical attention.
Team 7 sat there, unable to process what just happened.
"...We won," Kuroi said awkwardly. "We... Move on to the actual Exams. Any, uh... Questions?"

"Wat. Just... Wat. What in the name of his Holiness, the Log, did I just watch?"

"That's what I want to know!" Hanako yelled out. "How- I mean, when- just- WHAT!?"
She immediately jumped to her feet.
"That's it, to the medical ward! We're questioning him the moment he gets up!"

---

Around four hours later, Coren opened his eyes.
Thanks to his powerful regenerative rate, bolstered by the Cursed Seal, his entire body was healed.
Looking over at Samui, he wasn't too surprised at how little she was hurt. She had an incredibly potent Lightning affinity; if Coren wasn't sure that breaking the fourth wall wasn't allowed, he'd say she doubled down on the Elemental Affinity perk.
"ANSWERS!" a woman shrieked into the side of his skull.
"...I'll explain when I gain my hearing, happy?"
Rubbing the side of his head, he looked over to his team.
"Ask away."