The Chunin Exams, Chapter 2

Coren sighed, pulling himself out of bed.
Today was the second day of the Chunin Exams, and yesterday's bout and extensive training left his body incredibly sore, even if his regeneration took away any actual damage.
Tossing on some clothes, he walked out of his room, only to stumble into a team of Kumogakure ninja.
"Hey, watch it, Leaf-scum."
Coren locked eyes with the guy. He had silver eyes and black hair, along with a large sword that rivaled his own 6' 3". He was wearing a large coat similar to Coren's, but his was adorned with silver bolts of lightning.
"My bad," Coren said, rubbing one of his eyes.
He looked over another of the members, being an even taller guy standing at at least 6' 5". He had the same coat and hair as silver-eyes, but his bolts and eyes were gold.
"Of course it is," Goldilocks responded. "You'd better watch where you're going."
"I will, sir," Coren said, looking over the third member.
Whereas the other two look like they're at least 20, she looks like she was only 15.
Coren locked eyes with her, but that glare almost made him cower. Not because she was trying to be intimidating, but because those eyes were wrong.
They were slitted like Orochimaru's.
That alone made him want to run.
But he knew who this girl was; she was no snake.
Yugito Nii; jinchuriki of the Nibi no Nekomata, the 2-Tailed Demon Lord.
Coren stood at attention the moment that she looked at him, and for some reason, she seemed to relax.
It was almost like she-
Wait.
That look.
...
Impossible.
"Anyway, I'd best be going; I don't want to bother you any more than necessary," Coren said, beginning to walk away.
"Wait," Yugito suddenly said. "...You're the one who beat Team B."
Gold and Silver froze at that, and Coren couldn't really claim to not have either.
"Yeah." He slowly turned around. He didn't like this. "So?"
"...Congratulations," she said after a short pause, surprising everyone. "Defeating an entire team is definitely praise-worthy... But can you do it again against a stronger team?"
"No," he responded simply. "I got lucky. That's it."
"You're lying." Coren grit his teeth together. "...Come on Sen, Yarui."
They started walking away.
What did she mean by that?
He was telling the truth.
And how could she even know in the first place?
Was it because she's a jinchuriki?
He'd never heard anything about an ability like that.
Cursing as he walked away, he realized that his knowledge was full of holes at best, and completely crippling at worst.
He needed info.

---

"Damnit, where is he?" Hanako was tapping her foot impatiently. "He should've gotten here already. D'you think he's in trouble?"
"No," Kuroi responded. "He had a rough day yesterday; he's probably just tired. Let's wait a bit longer."
"We've waited three hours," she said bluntly.
"Take on an entire team of trained Kumo-nin, then talk."
Kuroi sighed.
First, Jacob started whining about Coren's tardiness, and now Hanako wouldn't just shut up. If Coren didn't arrive soon, he'd hunt down the boy and subject him to one of Gai's genjutsu for putting him through this.
One of the beach ones.
"Why do I feel like someone just trudged over my grave?" Coren asked, suddenly appearing.
"You're late!" Hanako yelled at him.
"I was busy," he responded. "Sorry, but I don't think I'll be taking part in today's group training."
Kuroi frowned.
"This is our only chance to train before tonight's exam."
Coren mentally filed away the 'tonight' part, and just shrugged.
"I need to work on a few new techniques on my own, is all; they're not exactly safe, so I don't want anybody near the possible blast radius."
Kuroi tensed a bit.
"What kind of technique is this?"
"A hard one," he said. "Now, if you don't mind, the boss's in need of another test dummy, and it looks like I'm up."
"What d'you mean by bo-"
Hanako was cut off as Coren suddenly disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"...Shadow Clone?"
"Yeah." Kuroi sighed, shaking his head. "Alright, that's it; training's scrapped for today. Count this as a free-day and go crazy."
With that, Kuroi Shunshin'd away from the area, leaving his other two students to their own machinations.
"...So, you wanna train together?" Hanako asked, turning to Jacob.

"Sure. What kinda training? You don't really strike me as a hand-to-hand fighter."

She tapped her chin.
"We should work on our techniques. I mean, Coren's got his False Prophecy or whatever, but what new techniques do we have?" she asked. "We should try and make up some stuff, like crazy jutsu, or new ways to use what we've got. What d'ya say?"

---

Coren sighed.
He was rid of his team, for now, and could go ahead and learn some things.
"Henge," he said quietly, changing into a Kiri-nin.
He waited a few moments for the moment he planned.
POOF
The memories of the Shadow Clone appeared in Coren's mind, telling him precisely the locations of all of the chunin proctors near-by, and how many were drunk enough to mistake his Henge'd clones for real women.
Those ones were very easily distracted.
In any case, he took a stroll out of the area, making sure to steer clear of anyone who could see through his Henge.
Finally, he arrived at a cafe in a portion of the city that ninja from other villages weren't allowed.
In his Henge, he'd only bothered changing his facial structure, skin color, and his clothes' color scheme, so he took off his coat and placed it on the back of the chair.
"Sitting alone, Keitaro?"
The voice instantly locked Coren in place.
"...Yes, ma'am," he responded.
Terumi Mei walked up beside him.
"Is there any reason that you're here in your free time, instead of training for the Exams?"
"I was bored."
She frowned.
"That's hardly a reason."
"It's enough of one for me."
They locked eyes for a few moments.
"...You know, taking out the entire team that represented Kumo alone is quite the feat," she said, dropping the earlier subject.
"I got lucky, and they got careless."
"I don't think that's all." Coren raised an eyebrow.
"Oh? Another person said mostly the same thing. Mind elaborating?"
She smiled slightly.
"The last person to have that level of sealing at genin happens to have a very well-known name, you know."
Coren got the sinking suspicion that he knew the name, but he decided to bite anyway.
"And what name is that?"
"The Toad Sage."
Coren nodded.
"Indeed. I suppose I'd need quite a bit more training to reach that level, though."
"Maybe," she said, leaning back in her seat. "But if you're good enough to make seals good enough to take on Team B, then I think you're well on your way there."
"I suppose I should take that as a compliment, coming from you, Mizukage-sama."
"Just Mei is fine," she said, waving her hand.
And that right there is the moment that Coren's brain exploded.
"...And if I'm more comfortable saying it formally?"
"Just Mei is fine," she repeated.
...Damnit.
"Well then, Mei," he said, obviously discontent with the informality of the situation, "Is there a reason you decided to walk up here?"
She smirked.
"I was bored."
...
Okay, so that made Coren chuckle.
"I see. Well then, perhaps we should order something? It hardly seems fitting to sit at a cafe without actually buying anything."
"Sure." Coren reached into his pocket for a moment, before she added "It's on me."
"...Did I mention how nervous this is making me?" He asked with a steady voice.
"No, I don't think you did."
"Would you care much if I had?"
"...Not really, no."
"...Alright then." Calling the waitress over, Coren requested one of those tiny cakes that they seem to serve in every cafe to exist, as well as some tea.
While waiting for it, Mei decided to fill the silence with idle banter; nothing really important.
Finally, just after their food arrived, Coren said
"You were put as Mizukage because of the civil war, weren't you?"
Mei's eyes widened.
"What makes you say that?"
"You act like Minato," he responded. "Neither of you have that political mind-set, and you'd rather be straight-forward and honest even when tact would serve you best."
"...So you're saying I'm really blunt?"
"To put it simply, yes. Yes I am."
She nodded.
"I think I'd rather be blunt than like the old Fence-Sitter the Tsuchikage, or that muscle-bound airhead Raikage."
"Then take it as a compliment; I meant it as a statement that you can take as you wish," he said, taking a bite of his food.
"...I think I will, actually." She smiled. "Your team was the one that was trying to go around and get some info, right?"
Coren nodded.
"For being such enjoyable company, I think I'll give you a freebie on tonight's exam."
Coren's eyes widened.
"Please, continue," he said, lowering his fork.
"Well, I can't say too much, but here's the thing:" she leaned forward. "This exam'll test your skills at gathering information. They want find out a password and tell it to them."
"...Would it be so easy for you to tell me it?"
"No," she said, shaking her head. "That's cheating. But rules are very bendable; I can give you a hint." Coren nodded, doing his best to listen.
"Where two worlds collide and the Earth bows to another's will, you shall find a land of the divine, and deep within its bowels you will find the key to victory."
Coren etched that into his memory, nodding.
"...Thank you, Mei."
"No problem. Personally, out of every village's representatives, I think I'm rooting for you the most. Well, besides my team, anyway." She smiled.
"I'm grateful for your confidence in me, ma'am; I hope it isn't ill-placed."
"Oh, I don't think it is," she said. "Now, I've got one more tip for you."
"Hmm?"
"Go home, and go to sleep."
Coren looked at the sky, only to see it as the middle of the day.
...Wait.
Get some sleep.
Tonight's exam.
"I suppose that would be a good idea," he said, standing. "I want to be well-rested when they wake us up."
She grinned, clapping her hands together.
"You got it! I knew you were clever!"
Coren chuckled.
"Thank you, Mei, for the information and the tips. I'll do my best not to lose so early in the exams."
With that, he turned on his heel and left.
For some reason, as he walked away, he didn't feel nearly as nervous as he did when she walked up.
...Interesting.

---

"Are you sure it was such a good idea to tell him all that, ma'am?"
A silver-haired man with an eye-patch walked up to the table where Mei was sipping on her tea.
"I think so," she responded. "I like him. He's smart, strong, and clever... I think he'll go far, with the right guidance. What do you think, Ao?"
"...His chakra is darker than I've seen in a long time," he confessed.
"You and I both know why that is." Mei sighed. "...I hate snakes."

"Alright; anything specific, or just go crazy nasty on each other?"

"I think that crazy nasty'll do; just not on each other. I've got you whooped in long range, but I've got nothing when it comes to hand-to-hand." She took a few steps forward, beginning to pace. "Maybe we should work on your Divination first. Maybe we could figure out a new way to use that chakra of yours."
She cupped her chin, thinking deeply on this.
"..Actually, have you ever heard of chakra poisoning?"
She completely ignored any response Jacob gave as she sped up.
"That's when you have so much of someone else's chakra in your body that you can't properly regulate it, and your usually left in immense pain for days. I've only seen it be done in torture by draining their chakra and replacing it, but if you blocked off several chakra points in someone, and then pushed your chakra into it and forced their chakra out, you'd be able to give them severe chakra poisoning!"
She grinned widely.
"That means that you'd be able to beat a guy in one hit!"
She gave a fist-pump, suddenly very happy at her cleverness.
"What d'ya think of them apples, Hyuuga?"

---

Coren sighed, walking back towards his training grounds.
Just think; if the Mizukage herself was interested in him, then that means that everyone else is too.
Coren hated being the center of attention. He was trained to be a stealth-killer, a true assassin in a world of loud-mouthed braggarts. Now that everybody knew who he was, that meant he can't take anybody by surprise; he can't lull them into thinking he's weak, only to make a sudden comeback at the last moment.
He hated that.
That meant he actually had to work for his wins instead of cheating for them, and in a world of ninja, that was never good.
He sighed again; this was going to be a very long exam.
"Hey, kid."
Coren turned his head to see someone standing in the dark, gesturing to him.
"Identify yourself," he said coldly.
"Whoa, no need to be so stingy," he said, stepping out of the shadows. "I've been keeping an eye on you; I thought you were a Kiri-nin until the Mizukage called you Keitaro."
Coren was about to dash forward and break something, but then he saw the guy completely.
He had silver hair and glasses along with some pretty standard clothing, but the thing that caught his attention was his Leaf headband.
"I'm Kabuto Yakushi. Mind telling a fellow Konoha-nin what she told you?" he asked, chuckling nervously at the end.
"Why do you want to know?" That got him only to chuckle a bit more, rubbing the back of his head.
"I, uh... This's my 7th time in the exams, to be honest, and I was hoping for a bit of help."
Coren's eyes widened. He'd failed that many times?
No, more importantly, he came back to take it that many times?
Nobody has that kind of tenacity.
And if they did, Coren didn't want to fight them.
But... If he failed that many times, that must mean he's extraordinarily weak.
"...She said that the exam takes place tonight, and they'll wake us up for it; probably to simulate the fact that you never know when you might be needed. Go back to your hotel and sleep, Yakushi; you'll need your rest if you don't want to make it eight."
Coren began to walk away, but Kabuto called out
"Wait!" Running up beside him, he said "I heard what the Mizukage said; that you want info. You gave me what I want, so I think I can do the same for you."
Coren frowned, but went with it; info, no matter how suspicious, is still info, so he'd listen.
Whether or not he trusted it would be decided later.
"These are my Ninja Info Cards," he said, pulling out a deck. "I can give you info on several of the ninja. Any requests?"
"Nii, Yugito. Kumogakure." Kabuto nodded.
"Let's see..."
He charged his chakra into the card and handed it over.
Excellent taijutsu, lightning affinity, and...
"...Completed 6 A-Rank missions," Coren said incredulously. "This kitty's got claws."
Overall prognosis: Flee on sight.
"Fuu, unkown last name. Takigakure."
Kabuto's eyes widened a bit.
"Got an eye for the demons?"
"You could say that," he responded.
Taking the card, he looked it over.
Fuu's taken on four B-Ranks, no A-Ranks, 9 C-Ranks, and 103 D-Ranks.
...They must really not want her to advance if they're giving her that many D's.
Despite that, though, all of her stats were high, save for chakra control.
Once again, not a person he wanted to mess with.
"Sabaku no Gaara, Sunagakure."
Kabuto sighed.
"Y'know, fighting against any of these people'll get you killed."
"I imagine that's what they would say about fighting three Kumo-nin like Team B back-to-back," he responded.
He sighed.
Only one A-Rank completed, but a nice little tidbit made Coren cringe.
It had been an assassination, which was normal. What wasn't normal was the fact that there were over 300 confirmed kills, all chunin or higher ninja, and he left there without a single scratch on his body or clothes.
These jinchuriki were out of his league.
"Anything else?"
"Just one more; I'd like to see my card."
Kabuto nodded, handing it over.
Looking over it, it was a painfully accurate representation of his abilities. It only listed skills that he's used in combat, though, so his Hyoton and spiral ball weren't here.
He handed the card back to Kabuto.
"Thank you."
With that, he leaped onto the roofs and began to run as fast as he could to his team.
Kabuto just made himself the worst enemy Coren could possibly have.
Knowledge is power, and Kabuto had more than he should.
Far more.

"So, what you're saying is that I should cut off their chakra with Divination, then flood 'em with mine? Sounds kinda tough."

"It shouldn't be too hard; you've got some practice in it already, with your whole Divination skills. I mean, the worst that could happen is-"
"Yo, you two," Coren suddenly called out, cutting off his blond teammate. "I've got some knowledge that might be of use to us."
Landing in front of them, his hands in his pockets, he frowned.
"What is it?" Hanako asked, looking a bit concerned.
"It's about the jinchuriki... And it's rather disconcerting."
He quickly relayed the info he learned to them; the whole Gaara A-Rank, Fuu taking on over 100 D's, and Yugito's 6 A's.
"Holy Hell...," Hanako said, shocked.
"Yeah. But that's not all," Coren continued, "Apparently, after taking down Team B, we've gained the notice of the Mizukage herself; that means everybody's got eyes on us now. Good thing, though, is that she gave me a tip."
He quickly repeated "Where two worlds collide and the Earth bows to another's will, you shall find a land of the divine, and deep within its bowels you will find the key to victory. I think I can guess what this means, but we should start the actual test before we start speculation."
The pony-tailed boy looked around the area tastefully.
"...Well, if you're done here, we can head on to bed; apparently, the test takes place in the middle of the night, so they'll wake us up at some ungodly hour. You two ready to head out?"

"Eesh; middle of the night? That sounds one part horrifying, and one part super-horrifying. Let's go."

Coren nodded.
"Yeah... Let's."

---

A crash tore Coren out of his meditation.
"Get up, you sorry excuse for a shinob-"
The chunin instructor from Iwa was immediately shut up as a kunai nicked his throat.
"Sorry, did I break your concentration?" Coren asked, already across the room and with his blade pointed into this guy's neck. "Please, continue."
"...Ghat damnit," he said, holding as still as possible. "The next exam is taking place now; it's time to move."
"...I see." Putting away his knife, he nodded. "Lead the way, sir."
"O-Of course."

---

Hanako sighed.
She could hear the guy coming here from a mile away; he was one loud guy.
Opening her door, she looked down the hall, annoyed.
"Are you going to take me to the exam, or are you just gonna impersonate a rhino and stomp over here!?" she called out.
"Err..." The guy took a step back; he seemed to be from Kiri. "Uh, yeah; let's go."
"Good," she said, obviously not happy.
"What did I do...?" the unfortunate Mist-ninja was left to think.

I was in that delicate and completely perfect moment of half-sleep when a jarring light ripped me out of it. A figure stood in the doorway, his footsteps having been inaudible even in the echoing hallways outside.
Sighing, I pulled myself up, already fully clothed.
"I know, I know; let's get this over with."

"Hey there!" a certain jovial jonin said to the collected genin. "Looks like everyone's arrived, huh?"
Coren frowned.
Of course they'd put Anko as one of Konoha's proctors.
Of course they would.
"Alright, so here's the thing," the snake-woman said, smirking. "This test's to determine your skill in gathering information and properly applying it. The whole thing is actually fairly simple and straightforward; all you have to do is get to the location of the next stage of the exam. That's it."
Another competing genin spoke up loudly in protest, "Well? Aren't you going to tell us where the place we're supposed to go is? Or do you just expect us to find it ourselves?"
"Actually punk that's exactly what we expect you to do." She informed the group of potential chunin, "You're going to be asked to locate hidden strongholds for your village, whether to scout it out or to infiltrate it, or to destroy it altogether. We're actually making it easy for you, all you have to do is just find where the next test is supposed to be and get there."
"There's a but somewhere in there, isn't there?" Coren asked, making Anko's smirk widen further; if he didn't know any better, he'd say she looked like a snake moving in for the kill.
"Oh, I guess there is, now that you mention it," Anko said playfully. "Out of every team remaining here, only twelve will pass."
That immediately got an absurd quantity of murmuring, nearly blowing out Coren's ears from the sheer quantity.
"The first twelve teams to find the location win; but be careful... Even if only three teams pass, in three days, the test ends."
Even more whispering shook through the area, making Coren run his hand over his blade.
"How many tongues do you think we can decorate the floor with?" a low hiss echoed within him.
With a wince, he ran his hand over the Cursed Seal, which didn't escape Anko's notice.
"Hey, shut it!" she yelled out. "Your ninja, not teenage civilians; cut the damn chatter!"
Anko and Coren's eyes met for a moment, followed by the boy giving a slight nod in thanks.
"So how are we supposed to find the damn place?" a certain blond Suna-kunoichi asked.
Anko frowned over at the young genin, "That's not our problem. There's no restriction on what you can do to find out where to go. Treat it as if you're trying to find the stronghold of bandits that are sacking villages in an area and disappearing. No one knows where to look but you have a general area of search. The destination you're all searching for could be anywhere around Kirigakure. There will be certain clues in tons of areas, but there will be no solid answers as to where to go."
Coren frowned slightly. It seems like this type of test would prove to be quite hard; his team was quite obviously structured for front-line combat, not information gathering.
It's a good thing that he excels at doing things that nobody expects/wants him to do.
"Now go, get; you've only got three days to find the place, so don't go wasting time here!"
The various genin from the villages shared cautious glances amongst themselves, before Anko finished with
"NOW!"

---

Coren dragged his two teammates along the path back to the hotel that the Konoha-nin were staying, and pretty much slammed the door behind him as he casually tossed the both of them into his room.
"Hey, mind explaining!?" Hanako yelled out.
Quickly whipping out a kunai, he said
"Explaining takes time, and we're in some twisted rat-race."
Hurling his blade into a map on the way, he scowled.
"I hate riddles." He turned to look at his team. "Hurry, give me an idea about that hint Mei gave us; something smart, something stupid; anything. I feel like I'm on the brink of blowing everyone's minds, like that color. Y'know, the color when you first wake up and know you saw the meaning of life in your dream but don't remember it. I think it was white. Or yellow. Or something of a similar hue; actually, it might be silver, or green.
"Point is, my brain is going into mega-overdrive, so throw something at me in a figurative sense ASAP."

Mei Terumi's Hint:

"Well, 'when two worlds collide' sounds sorta like giant rocks hitting each other. Y'know, since the world is made of rocks and all. Do you know of anything like that?"

Coren shook his head.
"If this were the Land of Iron, or Iwagakure, I could tell you where to go, but here?" He sighed. "Kiri's flatter than that pink banshee Sakura. All that's here is the sea."
Scratching the back of his head, Coren suddenly froze.
"The sea!"
He immediately hunched over a piece of paper, frantically scribbling down on a scrap of paper.
"Two islands with the sea between them were once referred to as 'worlds apart'! If you count the sea as a 'world', than where they collide would be the water line; the beach! The Earth bows down beneath the water to make way for the ocean!"
He did a little joyous hop.
"There's our first clue! Now hurry; say something else stupid!"

"Hmm... Maybe it means a land of the gods? A temple, or something like that? Maybe a temple to a sea goddess; that'd make sense."

Briefly looking over his map, Coren frowned.
"Sorry, no holy temples over-"
He abruptly stopped, his finger hovering over a small warning on the paper.
"...Holy?"
He shoved the map almost through his facehole, peering deeply into it with intense force.
If you didn't know better, than you'd think he was trying to disintegrate it with eye-lasers.
"There's a warning here," he said, lowering the map. "'Beware of underground tunnels.' Divine; synonymous with holy. Hole-y. Holes in the ground. Tunnels!"
Jabbing his finger into the small portion of the map, he damn-near giggled at this discovery.
"Deep within the bowels of the divine land, I.E., the tunnels, we'll find the key to victory; our objective!"
He shot a look to the clock.
"We're a minute in, and we already know where to go!"
Kicking his way out of the room, he smirked widely.
"Let's go!"
Hanako just stood there, looking at the boy in shock.
She would've gone with a temple on top of a mountain, to be honest, yet he managed to get sea-side cavern from it.
...Sometimes, she has to wonder about her teammates sanity.
She quickly pushed that thought aside; who cares if he's insane if he gets the job done?
"Hey, just lead the way, smarty-pants."
"Oh, it's not my pants that're smart; just my noggin'."
With that, Coren ditched the two, leaving them staring at each other for a moment.
"...Let's go?"

---

"Here we are," Coren said jovially.
The journey took all of two minutes, meaning that you were already drawing towards your goal in the first five minutes of the exam.
This might not be as hard as it sounded.
"Alright, I have a plan for navigating the caverns," the pony-tailed boy said. "I say we strap a really long cord to Jacob's stomach and roll him to our goal."
Smirking, he turned to his ghost-eyed teammate.
"What do you think?"

"Screw you, mate." Turning to your teammate that isn't a total ass, you asked her "Hanako, what do you think we should do?"

"As interesting as Coren's plan is, I think we should do something a little different." She pulled something out of a pouch at her side. "I know caverns go on into eternity, so maybe we could just use some ninja wire?"
Coren shook his head.
"That's a straight line to us; the kind that a Katon ninjutsu could set aflame... I'd rather not die in such an ironic fashion as holding onto my lifeline only to get killed by it."
He pulled out a small paper.
"I've got some pretty low-level seals prepped already; they're the standard tracking kind. If I put a bit of chakra into them, I can tell exactly how far I am from them, and they have an almost invisible link to me, so I can usually backtrack to them with a 60% chance of getting it right the first time."
He looked over the papers.
"They were in case I ever got lost in the Forest of Death or something like that."
Beginning to walk ahead of his team, he smirked.
"So... Shall we?"

---

It took all of thirty seconds to get lost.
Sort of.
Coren's plan was to get mind-blowingly lost, then use his tracking seals to guide them through the areas; it worked well.
Except for the fact that this is their second hour underground.
"Please, please tell me that you know where you're going."
Coren waved his hand carelessly.
"Don't worry about it; everything's fine. Just gimme a few more minutes, and we should be fine," he said for the eighth time this hour.
"...Fine," Hanako said with a sigh. It's not like she could could do much about it.
"Yo, Jacob?" Coren asked. "Could you use those pearly whites of yours to see if you can find anything? Like, where to go?"

"Byakugan," I said, looking around briefly at the area. The chakra strings that Coren put up caught my interest more than anything else; they were hard to see, even with my totally kickass ocular organs. "I see your chakra threads; want to follow 'em back out or something?"

"...I see." Coren scratched the back of his head. "Then I suppose the people tailing us can only be one group."
His teammates froze, and silence reined the area.
"...How'd you know?" a cold voice rang out.
Sure enough, out from the shadows came one Neji Hyuuga, the Hyuuga Prodigy, flanked by Rock Lee, the Beautiful Green Beast of Konoha, and Tenten, the Leaf’s Mistress of Weapons.
"You could hide from the Byakugan," Coren said calmly. "Only someone who knows the workings of it could come up with a way to properly counter it... Besides that, you've been following the chakra threads; only someone incredibly versed in their knowledge, like a Suna puppeteer, or someone who could see the threads could follow them."
Sliding his hand along his blade's sheath, Coren sighed.
"How unfortunate that we have to fight three of Konoha's finest. I was hoping to get there without quarrel."
“Then why call us out?” Neji asked.
“Because I won’t let another team of ninja become chunin on my team’s laurels,” Coren responded, turning to look at his team.
“Alright, who should take on who?”

"I think I should take on Tenten; my Byakugan's our best chance for taking her out quick."

"Alright," Coren said, nodding. "Hanako, stall Lee. I'll take out Neji in under a minute; just survive that long."
Hanako frowned. Lee must be pretty strong if Coren talks about him like that...
"Hah. You think you could take me down so easily?" Neji asked. "Your pathetic jabber is entertaining, if nothing else."
He slid into position, a small smile on his face.
"The only thing I regret about getting into this fight is showing everyone just how weak you really are," he said.
"Funny," Coren growled out. "I was thinking the same thing. Both of you, take your positions; the fan's about 'ta turn brown."
With that, combat began.

---

Coren launched himself forward, targeting Neji.
The fool couldn't even begin to comprehend what was about to happen.
"Heh. You know you couldn't possibly beat me in hand-to-hand, even with that False Prophecy."
Neji's Byakugan went active as Coren smirked.
"What a terrible night to have a curse."

---

Hanako looked at Lee, who stood there, staring at her.
"Well?" she asked. "Are you gonna attack, or what?"
"You haven't even entered a stance," Lee responded. "I am not one who would attack an unprepared opponent."
"...In a world of assassins and murderers, you choose to keep your honor?" Hanako sighed, scratching the back of her head. "That's your choice, I guess, but it'll just get you killed."
"I'd rather die with honor than live with treachery," he responded firmly.
...
"...You remind me of someone I know," she said softly. "Never let that go."
Sliding into her stance, she steeled her gaze and readied her weapon.
"Heaven or Hell; let's dance."

---

The moment that Coren shot forward, Tenten immediately pulled out two large scrolls and unsealed a variety of weapons, sending everything from axes to zweihanders straight at her opponent, the Fallen Hyuuga.
"You can't beat us!" she called.

As her weapons flew towards me, I said "Nice try. Eight Trigrams: Palms Rotation!"
With a large spin, I forced out enough chakra to block every one of her annoying baubles.
"My turn."
Running forward, I muttered to myself
"Eat Divination, Knife-Ears."
With that, I slammed my hand right into her stomach; she obviously didn't have anything for close range.
"Here's a nice new technique," you say, pulling your other arm back.
"Ox Fist: First Strike!"
Your entire hand flared with chakra, before embedding itself into Tenten's stomach, earning a scream of pain from her and actually pushing her several inches into the air.
And that's why when you said Second Strike, it hurt that much more.
At that one, she went up a good meter, before you said
"Ox Fist: Final Uppercut!"
With that, as she fell, you threw your entire body weight behind one blow, slamming right into her jaw from below, and exploding chakra from your legs.
You flew over four feet into the air, and Tenten cracked the ceiling.
She was done.

Coren felt the power flood his body as he blasted forward, the voice resounding within his mind.
"Terrible, oh, no," it hissed in his ears.
"No night is as beautiful as one with such a red moon."
With that ringing in his skull, Coren moved.
First thing's first.
Disabling the Byakugan.
Channeling absurd quantities of energy into his body, he let it out in a burst that literally shook the ground they stood on.
Neji screamed in agony as he responded to what had to be the most powerful flash bomb he'd ever seen.
It ended as quickly as that.
Pulling out a water bottle, Coren smashed it over his opponent's skull, drenching him.
"Stay frosty, Hyuuga," he said, snapping his fingers as the wind spun around him and the temperature dropped by over seventy degrees in an instant.
Placing his hand on the Hyuuga's head proved to be the final straw, as he was flash-frozen.
Stepping back, Coren turned to look at his teammates.
He'd taken out Neji in seven seconds.
And yet Lee already was putting an unconscious Hanako down.
"...You're just as good as I've heard, young Green Beast."
Lee turned to him, then his eyes widened at the newest ice sculpture in the area.
"What did you-"
"He'll be fine," Coren said. "Just thaw him out and keep him warm after this, and he'll be fine."
Lee gritted his teeth, before the cavern shook.
A quick glance at the unholy physical obliteration that Jacob let loose on Tenten explained that much.
"Tenten!" he yelled worriedly.
"She'll survive," Coren assured him. "She might not be able to stay on the active rosters for the next few weeks, but she should be fine after that."
Lee's teeth all but shattered as he tightened his jaw.
"...So, it's two against one, huh?" he asked.
"Unfortunately so; we can't afford to fall here because of honor and pride," he said, putting his hand on his katana. "You have my apologies, but the mission comes before anything else."
"...Of course," he responded. "But I guess that means I shouldn't hold back... For my partner's sakes."
With that, he reached underneath his orange leg-warmers, pulling something that made Coren's entire mind scream.
Weights.
According to the marks on the sides, they weighed around 600 lbs.
He took out Hanako in five seconds while weighed down that badly.
...
...
"...Jacob, strike to kill," Coren said, drawing his katana. "Otherwise, we won't walk away from this fight."
Sliding in his stance, he looked to his partner, and waited for him to get ready.
This battle would be Hell.

Getting into stance, I looked at my conscious teammate.
"Ready?"

“You take point. We’ll take him out the same way we do everyone else,” Coren said.
”Sealing’s our only shot at this… I know Gai, and if his disciple is anything like him, we can’t win in hand-to-hand.”
“Running away?” the voice hissed into his ear. ”I expected more of you, Kei-kun.”
Coren internally hissed at the infernal speaker.
He leapt backwards into the shadows, using his chakra to hide himself in his black cloak.
Unless Lee was actively focusing on him and him alone, he wouldn’t be able to find Coren.
And Jacob’s job is to keep him from doing that.
“Don’t blink,” Coren whispered. “He’s faster than you could ever believe. If you even blink, you’re dead.”
With that, he got to drawing a seal.
“I only need fourteen seconds…”