First Encounter

That was it, it was made up in Renji's mind: this guy was insane! How were they supposed to take on something like that with only a kunai each?? And with an injured person no less! Renji blinked. Crap. Kana. When Tamero ran from the creature, Renji went over to Kana and pulled her along, stopping when she nearly fell. This was bad. This was really bad. "We can't run! We have to get past this thing somehow, and Kana won't be able to outrun it!" he called to Tamero.

Kana merely shook her head. "I'll be fine running, we can't fight that thing," she told him, glancing at the thing that was charging them.

Renji shook his head. "Don't be so stubborn, if one of us gets dragged down, we might as well all be down," he said in annoyance, swallowing. He needed Tamero's help with this one. He wasn't very good at taijutsu, and he was pretty sure he couldn't use ninjutsu to help him here. And he only had one kunai, so throwing it wouldn't help him here. But...who in their right mind would go for close combat with a thing like that?

Felix watched as he sat on a tree branch. He knew this was an unfair fight, but hey, nothing was fair in life. If they couldn't handle being ninja without chakra, then they should go home. Hell, if they were to run out of chakra, then what exactly would they do in such a scenario. He leaned forward. Maybe he should have given them more weapons to start with. Maybe he'd throw some out throughout the fight, yeah. That would be fair.

Tamero had forgotten about Kana. He sighed when he had to turn around. That thing was going to run right over his teammates if he didn't do something. Tamero looked at his kunai. "Hey ugly!" He called. "How about picking on someone your own size!" The Executioner turned and looked at the small boy. It gave a growl at Kana an Renji then charged Tamero who started running at it. Please don't let this thing kill me. Felix raised a brow. "What is he doing? He's going to get himself killed." Tamero sucked in a deep breath as the thing leaped into the air at him. Tamero quickly dropped to the ground, slidding underneath it, barely avoiding it's fangs and claws. Rolling across the ground he ran towards Kana and Renji. "We have to get to that wall! Now!"

Kana's eyes widened when she heard Tamero call the creature out. And it changed direction. She looked at her kunai. She couldn't throw it, or else she'd be out of a weapon. But Tamero was...huh? Right in front of them? How had that happened? Pushing the thought from her head, she nodded when Tamero said they had to get to the wall. Kana started running as fast as she could to the wall, trying to ignore the pain that pulsed through her leg.

Renji couldn't say he wasn't surprised at what Tamero had done, but he was also impressed by it. He ran next to Kana, making sure she didn't fall, glancing behind to make sure Tamero was catching up. When they got to the wall, the first thing he noticed was the significant lack of footholds. "What do we do now?" he asked, his red eyes wide. This would have been easy if he could just use chakra!

Kana almost scoffed at Renji's question. "We help each other out, of course," she said, slowly getting to a knee. "I'll give you guys a boost, and you use your kunai when there's no holds, I'll do the same," she said. She knew it wasn't smart for her to go last, but at this point, climbing wasn't her best skill. Those two could make it up faster than she could, and help her up at the end. She realized that driving the kunai into the rock wouldn't be easy, but it also wasn't impossible. If anything, they could use it to carve out a small hold for themselves as they went up.

Felix leaned back. So the kid had some brains and courage. He looked at the group as they moved to the wall. "I wonder how they'll get over this wall," he said with a grin. He looked at his summoning, it was coming back around. "Better hurry," Felix called to them. "Remember, time is running out." The blue eyes shinobi jumped down from the branch and started to a different tree.

Tamero looked up when their sensei told them they'd better hurry. Good reason too, that thing was coming back. He turned back to Kana when she gave them an idea about climbing. "We won't be able to climb faster than that thing that's running at us," he protested. "After all, you're hurt. You should go first." He then looked at the beast that was heading their way. They needed a plan. "Renji, give her a boost, hurry. If we go up, we all go up," he said.

Felix watched closely. "Renji's, you've been granted two jutsu, use them wisely," Felix said to the black haired shinobi. Felix was curious as to how the genin would react to being giving the chance to use their abilities. Well, one could. The others had to use kunai. Felix shrugged. It was fair enough. He'd given them some hope of survival.

Renji nodded in agreement with Tamero when he said that Kana should go first. "He's right, you're gonna be climbing slower, so you're going up first." He started to kneel down to give her a boost, but stopped at their sensei's words. His eyes lit up considerably. "Both of you, by me, hurry up," he said, starting a jutsu just as soon as he'd finished speaking. The whole time they'd been pursued, he'd been thinking of how useful a jutsu would be at that moment, so he'd ended up thinking of the perfect one. "Earth Style: Rock Wall jutsu!" Balling his hand into a fist, Renji quickly punched the ground, and a moment later, a wall of earth shot up underneath them, bringing them a good ways up the wall. Unfortunately it hadn't taken them all the way up, but it was at least out of range of that beast that had been chasing them.

Kana didn't like the fact that the two were going to make her go first. It was already bad enough Tamero had risked his life for the two of them only moments before. She looked at the beast as it came closer and closer with each passing second. They wouldn't make it in time. And then Renji was allowed to use a jutsu. Well, two actually, and the black haired boy seemed to already have one in mind. Kana hurried next to him as he did his jutsu, grabbing the kid's jacket so she didn't lose her balance as the earth shot up underneath them. The blond's brown eyes widened a bit. "Nice..." she admitted quietly. But they were still on a time limit. Even so, Renji had just eliminated about half the wall climb, and Kana was beyond grateful. "Same game plan," she told them both.

Tamero hurried over to Renji and Kana. He grinned as they went up. "Awesome," he said as he looked down. He then looked up and estimated how far they had to climb when Kana said it was the same game plan. "We've got another fifteen or so feet to climb. Let's get a move on," he said. "But Kana, you're still going first." He didn't want her to fall back down if her leg gave out on her. "No, wait. Renji, you go first, Kana in the middle, I'll go last." If Kana needed help climbing, Renji could pull her up. If she fell, he could catch her.

Felix grinned. He wouldn't let them get away that easily. Oh no. He looked at the Executioner and gave a nod. Growling it jumped on the wall and began climbing upwards. It's claws grasping the rock where it could and pulling itself up.

Renji couldn't help but give a small smirk at Kana and Tamero's reactions. He nodded when Kana said same game plan, but paused at Tamero's change. That was actually pretty smart. He went to start up, but paused when he heard something scraping, then looked over to see that the creature had started climbing up the wall he made. Swallowing, Renji started to climb, stopping when he was far enough up for Kana to start up the wall to look down and make sure that Tamero was helping her up okay. He wasn't worried about the beast for now, for he had a plan when it got too far up. When it was too far up, he could drop portions of his rock wall at a time, and bring the creature straight back down to the ground, even causing it to crash, if he timed it right. The best part was, it wouldn't waste another of his shots at using a jutsu.

Kana also looked at the side, her eyes widening. "Oh hell." She watched Renji start up, putting her kunai in her mouth when Tamero gave her a boost, taking a hold of a rock and quickly planting her kunai into the wall to keep from falling back down. Now that she was actually on the wall, she was a bit nervous. There weren't many places to hold on, and climbing up with an injured leg...she swallowed. Not something to think about at a time like this. Quickly searching for another rock to grab onto, Kana started up at a pace slightly slower than Renji, cringing every time she had to find a hold for her injured leg. She hoped she could get up in time for Tamero to start climbing before that thing got to him. She didn't know that Renji could drop pieces of the wall at will.

Tamero clearly didn't want to be at the bottom anymore. Lifting Kana up, he waited for her to get up a few paces before joining her and Renji on the wall. He hoped they could get up a bit farther before that thing made it up there with them. He looked up at Renji and then down at the black and yellow creature. He didn't want to complain about how it was getting closer, that would be rude, but they'd understand. "Guys, it's getting closer." He pulled his kunai out of his pocket as he continued going up.

The Executioner was making it's way up. It's powerful muscles rippling underneath it's yellow pelt. It bristled as it saw the children going higher. The black stripe on it's back rose like spikes as it saw Tamero grab his kunai.

Kana suddenly felt a wave of fear wash over her as she heard Tamero say that the thing was getting closer. She didn't want to rush, because if she stumbled, she could have ended up falling down and taking Tamero with her. But she did start looking for footholds faster. The next step she took up made her cringe as a wave of pain shot through her leg. Darnit... she thought silently. At least she hadn't fallen.

Renji looked down every now and then to see where the yellow beast was. As long as it wasn't at the top of the wall he'd created, it'd be fine. But he wanted to wait as long as possible, to buy them as much time as possible. When Tamero spoke up, Renji nodded. "I got it," he said. And just like that, the wall that the Executioner had been climbing suddenly dropped down rapidly. With luck the thing would smash into the earth, since it hadn't been at the top of the wall yet.

The Executioner gave a howl as it tumbled to the earth. When it got stuck under rocks, it growled in anger and then dug itself out. Looking at the kids, it's orange eyes looked around madly and then began to bristle. The brown stripe on it's back rose and then fired off several spikes at high speeds, landing at various places on the wall. It then began to climb upwards.

Tamero grinned. "Nice work," he told Renji when the wall dropped on the creature. He looked at Kana. "You okay?" he asked. When he heard rocks moving, he paused and looked down. "Why did you have to go and piss the thing off?" Tamero yelled. Then the spikes came flaying. Tamero gave a yelp when something pierced his shoulder. He would have fell off the wall if he wasn't pinned to it. "Oh...it's...it's in my arm," he said with tears coming to his eyes. "I-I..." Tamero didn't know what to feel or what to say.

Felix watched. Renji was a ninjutsu specialist it seemed. Kana knew Genjutsu. And Tamero knew taijutsu. Good, they would make the perfect team. When Tamero got hit, Felix shook his head. The Executioner was clearly trying to live up to it's name. He wouldn't step in. Felix had told them not to die during training. He wondered how they would get out of this. Kana was injured and Tamero was pinned to the wall. Looked like Renji would have to carry the weight of the team.

"Keep climbing," Renji told them when the thing crashed to the ground. He stopped, however, when a spike suddenly pierced the wall right above where he was about to move his hand. Gulping, the black haired boy looked down to see the thing climbing up again. And the to Tamero as he said that it had got his arm. His eyes widened. Both of his teammates were hurt now. He only had one jutsu left, but couldn't perform it because he was holding onto the wall. He was almost at the top, but he couldn't leave the two there for something that might not even work. Taking a shaky breath, Renji reached down to Kana. "Here, I'll pull you up. You get to the top, and I'll get Tamero. There isn't much we can do on this wall." Kana looked unsure for a moment before taking his hand. It took a moment before Renji could pull Kana up to where he was, but he managed it. "Get to the top," he told her, going down to Tamero's side. "Don't worry, I'll get you up there," he assured the other kid. He wasn't sure how he'd get him up there, considering he wasn't all too strong physically, and he couldn't perform a jutsu right now. He was trying to move quickly, because of the creature approaching, but he didn't want to hurt Tamero too much. Holding onto a rock as best as he could, Renji took the kunai and quickly sliced the part of the spike that was going through the front of Tamero's shoulder, so that he could move. There wasn't time to take the other half of the spike out just yet. "Come on Tamero, we need to get to the top so I can take care of that thing," he said, sounding rather scared as he looked towards the creature, putting his kunai in his mouth as he grabbed Tamero's hand. The plan was to do the same thing with Tamero as he'd done with Kana. Just keep pulling him up until he was at the top. But that would take time. And time was something they didn't have much of.

Kana climbed to the top of the wall, pulling out the spikes that had hit the wall as she went. She was hoping that she could use objects she found along the way, instead of jutsu or her own weapons. Because if not, she was about to be cheating. Pulling herself onto the top of the wall, Kana cringed as she brought her leg over. Looking over the edge of the wall, she saw the thing getting closer and closer to her teammates. She'd only managed to get three spikes out of the wall, and she hoped it would be enough. Taking a breath, Kana gripped one of the spikes and threw it downwards at the very creature it had come from. She had to aim for the head, to cause the most damage. At least, that's what she was hoping would cause the most damage.

Tamero flinched when Renji cut the spike. "Thanks," he said. Tamero was not afraid to cry. Pride meant nothing to him when he was hurting, so those tears were flowing freely without the over dramatic sobs. Allowing Renji to help him up, he started to climb. Why he have to go and get hit, now they were moving too slow. The worst part was that they were on a time limit. Tamero sighed. "Sorry about yelling at you," he said rather embarrassed. He was trying not to look down and see how far away away the creature was. "This is near impossible," he said through clenched teeth. "We can't get through an obstacle course like this. We don't even know what's after this...."

The Executioner shook his head when his own spike hit him. It gave a fierce growl and looked up past the boys and too Kana. Again the stripe on it's back bristled into spikes and shot forward at the blond girl. It then looked back at the boys and started back at it's climb.

Felix watched the scene. And Renji was taking charge. He shook his head as Kana provoked the summoning. It may have been accidental, but he was clearly not happy about, the Executioner that was. She should have left the spikes in the wall, they were in pretty deep, Kader and Oujinshu could have used them as footholds. Oh well, she had good intentions.

Kana swallowed when she saw the creature look up at her. At least she'd gotten it's attention. She wondered if that thing would follow them through the entire obstacle course. She sincerely hoped not. Her eyes widened when the thing bristled, shooting spikes at her, then she took a step back. There were two things that caused what happened next: one, her injured leg caused her to stumble back, and two...well, she hadn't been paying attention to where she'd been stepping. She fell off the wall. Letting out a small scream as she did, Kana closed her eyes. She didn't know what was at the bottom of the wall, it could have been rock spikes for all she knew. A few seconds later, Kana hit something, but it wasn't something she was expecting. Water. Opening her eyes, Kana realized that she hadn't exactly held her breath very well when she was falling. And now she had no oxygen. Swimming her way to the surface with only her arms and uninjured leg, Kana gasped and coughed a little when she broke the surface. "I-I'm fine!" she called in response to Renji's question.

Renji continued pulling Tamero up, pausing when he heard the beast growl. He'd seen a spike fly downwards, but hadn't realized until now that Kana had been the one to throw it. The next moment, when he heard a scream, his eyes widened. "Kana!" When he heard a splash, he waited a moment, still pulling Tamero up, while trying to climb up himself. "Are you okay?" When she got his answer, he was relieved. "Well, now we know what's on the other side of this wall," he told Tamero. It wouldn't be long before they reached the top. In fact...just a few more footholds.

Felix smirked when Kana fell off the edge. He was sure a 35ft drop was not as pleasant as when you fell and knew there was water below you. He moved so he could watch both scenes. Kana staying afloat and Renji and Tamero climbing the wall. Felix checked his watch, time was ticking and they'd not gotten past the first part.

The Executioner gave a gruff when he heard the girl scream. She must have fallen off. He saw that the other two were almost at the top. This climbing thing wasn't working out for it, so it did what all other beast would do, it started shooting an array of spikes at the genin.

Tamero groaned when he heard Kana's screaming. Had she just fallen to save their lives? His heart sunk deeper than any heart would go and then he perked up when he heard a splash. Had she fallen onto something soft? He waited until he heard her reply to give a small cheer. "That thing doesn't look happy. Hopefully it'll stop chasing us if we make it to the top." Tamero gave a gasp when spikes started flying everywhere. "Hurry!" Tamero pulled himself up using his good arm and the spikes in the wall.

Renji shook his head when Tamero said hopefully the thing would stop following them. "We can't rely on hope," he said, climbing using the spikes the thing was now firing. 'When you're under fire, you don't stop moving. Never stop moving until you know that the enemy is out of energy, even for the moment. When the enemy stops firing, you start. Understand?' Renji kept climbing, watching where he put his hands as he climbed. His brother Raiken had told him that. He lived with his brother when he wasn't out training. The man was one of the best ninja Renji knew of. There was no one the kid respected more. When Renji reached the top, he pulled himself up, before turning and reaching down for Tamero. As soon as he got his teammate up, Renji started a jutsu. "Earth Style: Rock Wall jutsu." Putting his hand onto the wall they were standing on, a wall shot out horizontally of the wall about half way up, preventing the spikes from hitting them anymore, as well as preventing the beast from climbing up. The horizontal wall spanned the entire length of the 35 foot wall they stood on. He looked to Tamero. "Better safe than sorry," he said. Kneeling down, Renji reached for the spikes that he could grab from where he was. There was only about five that he could reach, but that was more than enough. He looked to Tamero as he stood up. "We have to get down to Ka-..." he started saying, but then his gaze fell on the drop that was before them. He hadn't even thought of what would happen when they'd gotten to the top of the wall. This was a problem, considering Renji was deathly afraid of falling.

Kana had held onto the two remaining spikes that she'd grabbed from the wall. It wasn't even funny how relieved she was that the water had been there. If it hadn't, she would have died, no doubt about it. Swallowing, Kana looked up at the wall, grinning lightly as she saw the two boys get up to it. She wondered if they were at least allowed to use medical wrap, so they could pull that spike out of Tamero's arm. While it would have taken up a few minutes, it could have seriously hindered them the rest of the way if it wasn't taken care of. "You guys okay?" she called up.

Tamero was thankful for Renji's help. Laying down on the floor he gave a sigh of relief. When Renji suddenly stopped speaking, Tamero looked down and then shrank back. "There's no way for us to get down unless we jump," he stated. When Kana asked if they were alright, he nodded. "Yeah, we're fine." He looked at his shoulder. "But I won't be for long." Tamero's tears had dried up, but now that he could focus on his shoulder, it throbbed with pain. Now he know how Kana felt. Well, she'd lied about getting injured during training, he on the other hand really had. "Renji, can you help me get this thing out of my arm please."

Felix was a bit disappointed when he saw the Executioner get blocked off from getting to the kids. "You had a good run," Felix said as he closed the summoning scroll. He looked up at the kids. He couldn't tell how bad a wound Tamero had. If it had hit a vein, the kid would bleed out. Felix shrugged. He shouldn't have gotten hit in the first place.

Renji seemed a bit distracted by the drop, only looking to Tamero as he asked for help. "W-we'll be down in a second, Kana. I'm gonna patch Tamero up real quick," he said, swallowing lightly. He didn't like the idea of jumping. In fact, he was terrified. He didn't want to. Instead of focusing on that, Renji turned to Tamero, nodding. "This is probably gonna hurt..." he warned. Taking a hold of the spike, Renji pulled it out as carefully as he could. He really hoped it hadn't hit a main vein or artery. He wasn't equipped to deal with something like that. When it was out, Renji quickly pulled out medical wrap and started wrapping Tamero's shoulder. He wasn't about to let his teammate die, either one of them. He didn't care about the stupid no-jutsu rules. If their lives were in legitimate danger, he was going to use jutsu. But if they had an option to get away otherwise, he'd try to hold back on it. This was only training, and he wasn't about to die if he had a choice in it.

Kana looked up at the boys, nodding when Renji said that they'd be down soon. It was a little hard to keep afloat in the water with only one leg, but she was managing. Her stitches had reopened a while ago, but she hadn't said anything about it. Something told her that the wound on her leg was going to be worse after this was all over. If training was like this everyday, she'd have to go get it restitched every day. It would probably even scar. Kana gripped her kunai and looked around. She wanted to wait until they got into the water as well before swimming to land. After all, who knew what was over there...

Tamero put his kunai in his mouth when Renji said it was going to hurt. "Do it," he mumbled around the kunai. When Renji pulled it out, Tamero gave a small scream. Why were they being trained like this? He looked at Renji as he spit the kunai out of his mouth. "Thanks," he said. He looked down at the water. It looks like it was 15ft long. Tamero looked at Renji with a rather embarrassed look on his face. "Renji, I can't swim," he said. Before Renji could say his arm wouldn't be a problem, Tamero continued. "I don't know how."

Renji looked at Tamero with a nod at his thanks. He tilted his head and went to speak when the white haired boy said he couldn't swim, closing his mouth when the other boy elaborated. "You...don't?" he asked. He then looked down, swallowing once more as fear took over at the thought of having to jump. "I can't use anymore jutsu though..." he said lightly. He didn't know what to do. Why was this suddenly all up to him? Kana was down there, injured, and Tamero was injured up here with him, and couldn't swim! "I guess you'll just have to hold on to me and Kana. It looks like she can swim..." His gaze was down at the water, and he finally swallowed, his red eyes tearing a bit. "Oh god...I don't want to jump..." he whispered, shivering lightly. He couldn't help it. Why was it so high up? Why was there even a wall in the first place! He knew time was wasting, but he couldn't jump!

Tamero stood up. He felt bad that he'd gotten hit, adding onto the problem of them being hindered due to Kana's leg injury. He looked at Renji when the guy said something about not jumping. "The water will cushion our fall. If Kana survived, I'm sure we can," he said, not considering that Renji had a fear of heights. He looked down at Kana. "Hey, me and Renji are going to jump down, stay clear," he called to her. His heart ached when he thought about being in that water. There would be no oxygen, he'd be lost in the dark swarming waves. Tamero shook his head. Pull yourself together!

Kana wondered what was taking the two so long to jump down. If she had survived jumping into the water, obviously they would. "Okay," she called back up when Tamero said they were going to jump, swimming backwards a bit.

Renji wasn't worried about surviving the landing. He was more worried about surviving the fall down. Wasn't it that a bunch of people who commit suicide die of heart attacks before hitting the ground? And oh, how he hated that feeling of having nothing to grab onto, nothing solid around him. Floating in midair, for however brief a time, with nothing tangible surrounding him... When Tamero told Kana they were going to jump down, Renji started shaking lightly, his eyes fearfully gazing downwards. "T-Tamero...push me," he said, his voice quivering lightly. He wouldn't be able to jump on his own. There was no way.

Oh no, oh no, this wasn't happening! Renji was scared of heights? Tamero shook his head. "I-I'm not going to push you! That's crazy. If I push you, what makes you think I'm going to jump?" He asked. "This is suicide." He shook his head. "I refuse to do this training, I refuse," he said with pure fear. "I'm not pushing you and I'm not getting in that water. I've already been nearly killed. What kind of training is this?" Tamero sat down with a stubborn look across his face. "I'm not dying for some training exercise."

Felix looked at the kids on the rocks. What were they doing? His blue eyes narrow. Why weren't they jumping. When he heard Tamero yelling about something, he started to walk forward. He couldn't hear from where he was. "You have two hours," he called to them. "You'd better get moving if you want to remain a genin on this squad."

Renji turned his gaze to Tamero as the kid started panicking. Big surprise. Renji himself was near panicking. He was the only one not injured on this team, and their sensei had just told them they only have two hours. His eyes were pleading on the white haired boy. "Tamero, please, I told you, me and Kana will help you get to land," he said.

Kana was starting to grow more annoyed by these two than she was relieved they'd gotten over the wall. She didn't know that Renji had put up something to stop the creature from getting up. "What the hell are you two waiting for, get down here! We don't have all day!" she called up to them. Like their teacher, she couldn't hear what they were discussing either, but only heard Tamero getting upset over something. Right now she didn't care, they were wasting time! The water was only fifteen feet from the shore, it wasn't even that far, all they had to do was jump! "Why did you two even bother climbing if you didn't plan on jumping! You might as well just have waited for that thing to get you," she called angrily. What the hell was wrong with them? They had something to cushion their fall, it wasn't like they were going to die!

Tamero shook his head, taking a step back, but stopping when he heard Kana. He frowned and walked over to the edge. "Will you shut up!" He called down to her. "If you want to go to land, then go to land, just shut up! We've got a situation up here and your constant nagging isn't helping!" He turned away from the edge and looked at Renji. "Give me a second to think, okay?" He started pacing. How could they get down there without dying of freight. Then it hit him. He turned and looked at Renji. "We're going to jump at the same time. You'll know you're not jumping alone, and I won't drown. It's a psychological thing or something," he said as he started pacing again. "Just trust me."

Renji felt a bit bad when Kana started yelling, because he knew she was right. They didn't have all that much time. He blinked though, when Tamero yelled back down at her. He guessed the kid just lost his temper when under stress. He swallowed, nodding when Tamero asked for a minute to think. He didn't know what they were going to do. Neither of them wanted to jump, and he figured the only person on this team who would have pushed them would have been Kana. When the other boy said they'd jump at the same time, Renji's gaze dropped. He'd have to jump, he knew he would have to if he wanted to continue this training. If only he could use jutsu, it could have been so much easier! Renji took a shaky breath, finally nodding. "A-alright..."

Kana made a noise of irritation as Tamero yelled back down at her. "A situation, what the hell is he talking about," she mumbled angrily. She wished they'd just jump already, she was getting sick of floating about in the water!