First Encounter

Renji looked over his shoulder as he heard his sensei say something, blinking as he saw Tamia stumbling a bit. He wondered if she was alright. This training was pretty tough after all. The black haired kid slowed his pace to fall back beside Tamia. "Hey, you okay?" he asked quietly. As he ran though, he too had noticed it was getting warmer, and it certainly didn't help with the fact that this training was really intense.

Kana had her thoughts elsewhere as she ran. No longer was she thinking about joining this squad. What was the point if the sensei wouldn't even accept her as a student? All she could keep thinking of was how out of place she was. She raised her gaze to look ahead at the three other kids, and that horrid man. She could see their chakras flowing through them. Renji's was red. Tamia's was a pale green. Kiyo's was a dark blue. And the sensei's was a light, icy blue. She wondered if she'd ever get to see them move faster than a dormant state. She doubted it. They probably wouldn't get to jutsu training for another couple days to a week. And she'd be long gone by then. She shook her head lightly and kept running without a word.

Felix blinked when Renji slowed his pace to check on Tamia. Well, that was new. No man left behind, Felix thought with an amused look on his face. Let's see how long that last. He looked at Kiyo who had gained the lead since he'd been in the middle. "Igarashi, you've just been given an assignment. If you want to stay on this team, you're to take down both Kader and Zakura with all you've got. If you hold back, you're off the team. If you two don't make it out of here by the time I've finished these five laps don't bother reporting to training tomorrow." Felix started on ahead.

Tamia gave a small smile when Renji came back to check on her. "Yeah, I'm fine, just tired is all," she said. "Thanks for asking." With that she kept running. She'd be glad when these laps were over. That hope was soon turned into dread when Felix said Kiyo had to take them down. Was he serious? Apprently Kiyo thought he was serious, because the blond boy threw a kunai at both her and Renji. Tamia quickly moved out of the way. Her eyes wide, she grabbed her kunai, ready to counter Kiyo's next move.

Kiyo was glad to stop running, but he didn't want to attack kids. He knew Felix meant everything he had, but he didn't want to hurt the kids. He really had to stop calling them kids. He was only a year older than them, but he threw kunai at them regardless.

Kana ran in time with them until she saw that the kids had stopped, but the teacher carried on running. She'd heard what he'd said. Why was he pinning two against one? More importantly, why did she care. This wasn't even her squad. She had paused in her running, looking towards where their teacher had gone off to. She didn't know what to do. Two against one wasn't fair. And she'd heard the teacher say that he'd kick the one kid off the squad. That teacher was terrible. He was kicking people off the squad for no reason. She'd seen that Kiyo had kept up just as well as anyone else. What if he was just a genin looking for a good teacher like her? Maybe this guy wasn't the nicest teacher, but he seemed to know what he was doing. Shaking her head, Kana pulled out a kunai and threw it at Renji. She'd decided what she was doing.

Renji ran until the teacher suddenly told them to fight against one of their teammates. At first he wasn't sure he heard right. Why were they doing that? So wait, if they didn't make it out before the guy finished his laps, they were off the squad? And if Kiyo didn't stop them from getting out then he was off the squad? How was that fair?! Renji didn't have time to think about it before he had to dodge a kunai. And then another one whistled past his arm, slicing through his shirt. His eyes widened as he turned his gaze to Kana. "Wh-what the heck? What are you doing!"

Kana merely looked at him. "Two on one isn't fair," she stated simply.

Felix had started to walk after the kids had started to fight. He'd promised Izua that he would be a bit fairer. In his opinion, being unfair would have been running around using his Stealth speed. Felix grinned at the thought. Taking his hands out of his pockets, he enjoyed the trail, keeping his pace reasonable despite the fact that he was walking.

When Tamia saw the second kunai, she too turned to Kana. "Two on one isn't fair," she admitted. "But neither is pitting us against one another. We're a team. We shouldn't be fighting each other at all." She dropped her kunai onto the ground. "He can't kick us all off the team just because we refuse to fight each other."

Kiyo sighed, these guys had no idea. When Tamia started talking about how Felix couldn't get rid of them for not fighting, he spoke up. "Well, maybe Renji can go along, I take you out, and sensei will consider letting me stay since I at least took someone out," he said with a smirk. "Yeah, that'll work." His dark blue eyes shinned. "Fire style: Dragon flame jutsu!" Okay, so maybe it was a bit much, but hey, he had a job to do. He specifically aimed it at the unarmed Tamia.

"Maybe this guy just really doesn't want students," Kana said in response to Tamia's complaining. And if you don't remember right, I'm not even on your team! The thought definitely stung, but so had a lot of things the past two days. Kana blinked, looking Kiyo as he sent a jutsu towards the other girl. He could use jutsu?! She knew it wasn't the time for admiring, but Kana always enjoyed watching the chakra of others flow. She couldn't help but feel like she might've been a bit weird in that sense. She wasn't sure others felt the same way.

Renji nodded in agreement with Tamia. He didn't think they should have been pit against each other, but it didn't seem like Kiyo was arguing. So neither would he. His eyes widened though, when Kiyo sent a jutsu after Tamia. "Earth Style: Rock Wall jutsu!" A rectangular wall of solid earth shot up in front of Tamia to stop the flames from getting to her. But instead of simply being on the defensive, Renji was making his way over to the wall, doing a jutsu as he went. He wasn't any normal genin, his parents were ninja who'd been sure to train him while he was in the academy. "Earth Style: Shard Assault!" And just as soon as he'd finished the jutsu, Renji punched the wall, causing it to break, and sending shards of rock in every which direction. Of course, him and Tamia were safe behind what had once been the wall.

Kana didn't wait for Renji to finish his assault before she made a clone and came up behind the two as Renji sent shards everywhere. Instead, she sent a roundhouse kick to Tamia's side. It seemed Renji was adamant on protecting her.

Tamia felt embarrassed. She couldn't use jutsu just yet. "Thanks," she said when Renji saved her from Kiyo's attack. She wished they didn't have to fight. She gave a small gasp when Kana kicked her, her hat flying into the sky. Tamia wanted to argue that she wasn't even on the team anymore, so it was none of her business, but the shy girl didn't have the nerve. Getting up, she threw two shuriken at Kana. She had to come up with a plan. She knew nothing about Kana, but she did know the girl was mean and determined. Okay, that was not something to go off of. Diving behind a tree, she pulled a smoke bomb, and tossed it off the side to distract the other girl.

Kiyo blinked. A genin who could use jutsu? He'd seen it before, but it was still odd, because it was rare. And not only that, the guy was using his jutsu as both defense and offense. Diving out the way of Renji's attack, he picked up a kunai and threw it at the boy. He didn't see why Kana was trying to join in. He wondered what Felix would do when he saw the girl. "Fire Serpent." A small snake formed on the ground and started for Renji, when it was close enough, it burst into flames, growing ten times it's size as he hissed at him.

Renji blinked and looked behind him when he saw that Tamia had gotten kicked. He hoped the girl could hold his own, because he had problems of his own to deal with at the moment. Looking to the snake, Renji threw a shuriken at it, but the thing was so small that it just slithered out of the way. When it got closer and burst into flames, Renji looked at the thing with wide eyes. "O-oh." Swallowing, he backed up and started another jutsu. While he could probably win the fight with the amount of chakra he had, that wasn't the issue now. Now the issue was time. Their sensei was deadly fast, and they had to get out of the forest before the guy did five laps. Renji wasn't sure they had a lot of time. "Earth Style: Enclosure." Renji hoped this would work. Hoped he was far enough away from the snake. For where the snake touched on the ground, earth started wrapping around the fiery creature, trying to capture it.

Kana pulled out a kunai after she kicked the girl, in case she tried weapons, which she did. The blond girl managed to block one of the shuriken, but the other grazed her arm. Kana flinched. She wasn't used to being hit. She fell for it though, when Tamia tossed a smoke bomb off to the side. She didn't see any chakra in that direction, but maybe the girl had found a way to hide it. Kana figured it wouldn't be unusual, since it would be so easy to spot someone from just their chakra alone.

Tamia took a deep breath and then came up on the opposite side of Kana, aiming to land a kick to the girl's side. Since she was skilled in Taijutsu, she could at least show this girl that was no rag doll. Not stopping at a single kick, Tamia dropped to the ground and swung her leg underneath Kana's. She would not lose.

Kiyo couldn't help the tiny chuckle in response to Renji's reaction. When his snake got captured in the jutsu he shrugged. "Not much I can do about that," he said as he allowed the jutsu to stay up, fighting against the earth. Kiyo on the hand went for Renji. He guessed he should test the guy's combat skills. He aimed a solid punch at the black haired boy.

Felix was coming around the corner to see a full fledged fight had broken out. He looked at the fire snake and the earth that was keeping it steal. Which one of his students new jutsu? Felix wasn't sure which jutsu belonged to who because he didn't know about Kiyo either. When he didn't see Tamia, he turned his attention to the smoke. Where was Kianashi as well? Felix was surprised that she hadn't tracked him down and begged for him to allow her on the team. Felix shrugged and started jogging. As he moved away, he could see Tamia going for someone near the smoke. It must have been Kana. "You don't gain any points for fighting someone who isn't a part of this squad," he called to her.

Renji couldn't say he wasn't a bit relieved that the snake had gotten caught. But he didn't want to take any chances, so he took it up a level. Adding more chakra to the jutsu, the earth tightened around the snake in an attempt to crush it. And if it couldn't crush it, it would at least deprive the fire snake of oxygen. Turning back to who was supposed to be his opponent, his eyes widened when he say the boy coming at him. Crossing his arms in front of him to block the punch, Renji tumbled back a bit before rolling to his feet. Taijutsu was not his strong suit. His speed was average, and his strength only a little above average. What he lacked in that area was technique. His aim wasn't that great which was why he used broad ranged attacks. Despite that, when he got to his feet, Renji threw several shuriken at the other kid.

Kana looked around for Tamia, cringing when a kick made contact with her side. She didn't have much time to dodge when the girl's leg came under her to trip her up, so she ended up falling. She blinked when she heard what squad eight's sensei had said. It wasn't fair. Either way someone was going to end up off the squad. Now that she thought about it, it seemed like Kiyo was being set up to fail. But if they fought her, then the other two were being set up to fail as well. Kana slowly stood up and looked at Tamia. She didn't know what to do. She didn't hold a grudge against the girl for having fought back, it was what she'd been supposed to do. But she didn't want the girl to fail if she fought her. Kana hadn't been this confused about something in a very, very long time. She didn't like the feeling. Taking a step back, Kana turned her gaze to the two that were fighting outside the smoke. All she could see of them was their chakra. She looked back to Tamia. "You should go help the other kid," Kana said, before turning and bolting towards town. She didn't know what was going on anymore. That man had put her in a hard situation. She didn't like it. "Screw trying to be on that team. Screw trying to be on any team," she mumbled, heading towards the small apartment the village had temporarily given her. She was done with this stupid village.

Felix didn't bother seeing how the group would react, instead he kept moving forward. Tamia on the other hand looked at Kana as she spoke. She went to tell Kana sorry, but the girl had already ran off. She hurried over to Renji and Kiyo. When she saw that Kiyo was dodging weapons, she hurried off to his side and threw an explosive tag under his feet. The Chuunin never saw it coming. He'd been busy dodging and then an explosion knocked him back. He gave a groan as he hit the ground. Tamia looked at Renji. "Let's go." She told him, though she was clearly nervous. She quickly took off. She wondered if they had to make it through five times. Felix hadn't specified it.

Kiyo frowned as he stood up. He'd just let a genin blow him across the forest. Oh yeah, this was war. He dusted himself off, watching her leave. "How do I wanna do this." He pulled a kunai and flipped it into the air. "Maybe I shall use a jutsu....nah, too easy. Combat will be better." He quickly jumped into the tree and started after the Tamia. The kunai in his hand, he threw it down at the girl, making her stop. Dropping from the tree, he aimed a kick at to her shoulder. He was careful not to use too much force, he didn't want to break her arm.

Renji blinked as he saw something land under Kiyo, shielding his eyes when there was an explosion. He looked to Tamia who was suddenly next to him, telling him to go. Had she taken care of Kana? Without waiting, Renji hurried next to Tamia. "What happened to the other girl?" Renji too stopped though, when a kunai flew in front of his partner for the moment. He looked to where it came from, only to see Kiyo flying down at Tamia. "Duck!" he told her, a moment before the kick would have hit. But the black haired boy was already on the move. He'd moved his arm above Tamia's shoulder to take the impact, only to use his other hand to grab onto Kiyo's leg before spinning the kid around once and tossing him as far off as he could. Whether Kiyo landed or hit something wasn't his main concern. "Keep moving!" he told Tamia, pulling her along.

Tamia shook her head. "She left," the young genin said as she ran. Stopping when the kunai landed in front of her, she turned around when Renji said dunk. Dropping to the ground, she watched as he blocked the attack for her. She felt utterly defenseless. When Renji pulled her along, she quickly followed behind him.

Kiyo rolled his eyes when Renji saved Tamia. Why wouldn't he let the girl fight for herself. How was she suppose to be a ninja if everyone was protecting her? When he was swung through the air, he landed on a tree, using chakra control to push himself off, and towards the two genin. "Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu."

Renji swallowed when he looked back and saw that Kiyo had stuck to a tree using what seemed to be chakra. After all, how else would he do it? "Is this guy seriously a genin?" he asked, looking at Tamia. He didn't expect her to know, but he just didn't feel like keeping quiet about it. Stopping, Renji turned around, but didn't look at Tamia. "Keep going, I'll catch up," he told her as he started a jutsu. "Earth Style: Drill Sharks." While the technique was usually only used with a singular shark, the red eyed boy figured he could handle making a couple more. There was a rumbling noise, and Renji stood his ground as the fire balls shot at him, hoping that he'd finished the jutsu in time. Moments before the fire balls hit, several sharks formed from the earth behind Renji and jumped over him, into the fireballs, only slightly scorched before going back into the ground like it was water. But that wasn't it. Another moment later and the three sharks with drills for noses were 'swimming' through the ground at Kiyo, each taking turns jumping at the boy and trying to take him in their jaws. When one missed, the other jumped, and it went like that until they were either stopped, or they caught Kiyo in their mouths, using the drills on their heads to drill a deep hole into the ground before disappearing, leaving the target in the hole.

As soon as the sharks had jumped over him, Renji turned and started after Tamia. He wasn't sure he believed that Kana had just run away. She seemed too hard headed for that. He glanced at Tamia, wondering if the blond had used a transformation jutsu. Not that he didn't believe the brunette couldn't hold her own, but he was just thinking, what if? After all, Renji didn't even know enough about his teammate to ensure that it wasn't a transformation jutsu. He could only hope this was his real teammate.

She looked at her teammate when he asked if Kiyo was a genin. "She shrugged. "Maybe he's got a private trainer or something," she spoke quietly. Kiyo was kind of strong. Maybe he'd been a genin longer than they had, but failed his training. It was all she could think of. When told to run, she nodded, feeling bad about leaving Renji. Tamai started running forward. Her hat was bobbing up and down with each step. When she saw the exit ahead, she was thrilled. "Renji, the exit!"

Kiyo sighed when he saw the sharks. "Give me a freaken break man." He turned around and headed in the opposite directions as the earth sharks came at him. Hurrying up the tree, he jumped to the opposite one. When Tamia called out the the exit was near, he sighed. Had he just lost to a bunch of Genin? "This sucks."

Upon reaching the exit, Tamia almost ran into Felix who side stepped the girl. "Looks like Kiyo isn't going to be apart of this team any more, what a shame." He looked at Tamia and Renji. "As for you too, this is your final test. Only one of you will be a member of squad eight. Your task is to fight one another, whoever comes out on top will be a member of the squad, the other will have to go home." He looked to Kiyo who was coming out of the forest. "You might as well stay and watch, maybe you'll learn something."

(You know, if anything, they should be asking if Renji isn't actually a chuunin...)

Renji ran out after Tamia, looking back every now and then to make sure Kiyo wasn't launching another attack. He stopped, relieved when he was through the exit, blinking when he saw his sensei already there. He looked towards Tamia when given his instructions, then back to their silver haired mentor. "But...whoever wins will be the only one on the squad," he said. "You can't have a one man squad...are you just gonna keep testing students like this?" In all truth, he didn't want to fight Tamia. It would be an unfair fight. Well, maybe not. Renji hadn't really allowed Tamia to fight in that last scrap, so he didn't know what she was capable of. But she knew that he used primarily earth style jutsu. It wasn't all he could use, but right now that was the jist of it.

(lol, you're right)

Felix looked at the boy as he questioned him. "Hmph, Zakura, you're the newest member of squad 8, Kader, go home." Felix turned away from the group. "Dismissed." The silver haired ninja headed for the exit at a casual pace. Tamia looked at Renji with a blank expression. "I-I'm sorry. You should be on this team, you're much stronger than I am." Kiyo looked at Felix, his expression holding confusion. Had he just kicked a kid off the squad for questioning him? What the hell?

Renji blinked as he was told to go home. "S-sensei?" he asked, clearly surprised. He looked down. "What're you talking about? She's the only member of squad eight!" He didn't get it! Maybe that Kana girl hadn't deserved to get kicked off either. Maybe she hadn't even done anything wrong! Suddenly Renji felt bad. She'd been trying so hard to stay on the team. And he'd just ignored her! And now he was about to ignore him. No, it wasn't gonna happen. He took a breath, then turned to Tamia. "You're right. And I'm going to fight you to prove it," he said, pulling his gloves on tighter. He stepped back and got into a defensive stance. "Ladies first." He hadn't become a ninja just to get kicked off a team because his first sensei was a total jerk.

Tamai gave a small nod when Renji said he was going to fight her. AT heart she was scared, he knew jutsu, she didn't. She took in a deep breath and then launched herself at him with a punch aimed at his midsection, right as she turned and aimed a kick at at his leg. Tamia was going to give it all she had. She wanted Renji to be on Squad 8. He deserved it. And what exactly happened to kids who got kicked off their squads anyway?

Kiyo watched the two of them. He gave a tiny smile and sat down on the log Tamia had been on earlier. "You guys have got some nerve man, that guy's got issues on top of issues and you want to be his students. Good luck to the both of you."

Felix was still walking as Renji spoke. There would be more to join and go. Felix had tried to be nicer, but hey, he couldn't just take anyone. When he heard Renji and Tamia getting ready to fight, he doubled back and sat at a distance to watch. Children were so naive.

Renji only ignored what Kiyo said. He should have wanted to be the guy's student too, he'd been assigned to the team! What ninja in their right mind would just sit down and let themselves be kicked off a team for nothing? Renji cleared the thought from his mind when Tamia came at him. First with a punch, which Renji caught, only to be kicked in the side. Tumbling sideways, Renji caught himself only to throw shuriken at Tamia. He wasn't aiming to hit, only to buy a few seconds as she dodged. For as soon as he threw them, he started a jutsu. His brother had created this one after having gone to the Leaf and ended up in a fight with an Uchiha. "Fire Style: Phoenix Offshoot." Several seconds after the jutsu had been completed, a heat emanated from Renji's hands and feet before flames suddenly surrounded them. The black haired boy straightened up, cracking his knuckles. After a moment, Renji punched forward, shooting a small ball of fire at Tamia before charging at her, aiming a kick at her side. Even if it missed, a wave of fire would have shot forth from his leg.

Tamai blinked confused. Didn't Renji only use Earth style jutsu. The young girl rolled out of the way of the flame, but then she saw he was coming at her with a kick. Quickly she went to block the kick, but saw the flames. She dunked down in panic. Her hat flying off her head and she gave a low sigh as it was scorched by the flame. She wasn't sure if she was going to be able to fight him anymore. He was literally on fire and she was only skilled in taijutsu. She didn't want to, but she'd have to go on the defensive and use kunai. The saddest thing is, she was terrible with kunai and shuriken. They were too heavy for her to hold properly and fight. She did however draw the kunai, holding it with both hands.

Normally Renji only did use Earth Style jutsu, but this was his only exception. This was, his specialty, if you will. The only reason he wore gloves in battle. They'd been specially made to be flame resistant, as were his boots. When he saw that the girl had gone on the defensive, he quickly moved forward to strike again. It no longer mattered how good his aim was, if he could shoot flames in every which direction. But he had to be careful about it. Fire wasn't his best element, so using his chakra for it was consuming. He also noticed the way she was holding the kunai. He wasn't sure exactly what it meant, but he brought out his own kunai, and went to slash her with it. But he wasn't aiming to injure her too badly. This wasn't a true fight, and he wouldn't kill her. But he was sure as hell good at acting.

Tamia honestly wanted to cry. Why couldn't their sensei just train them like normal people? She wanted to learn how to be a ninja, but she was so weak. She couldn't fight Renji, and it made her tremble when he pulled his own kunai. She stepped back when he came at her with a slash. Dropping the kunai, she decided to take her chances with combat. She aimed a kick to his side and then another.

Renji couldn't say he wasn't surprised when Tamia suddenly dropped her kunai, but he wasn't in the right state of mind to bother with that. Right now, his mind was in combat mode. No distractions. His sensei and Kiyo were both gone from the area. Right now it was just him and Tamia. The black haired boy backed away from one kick and ducked under the other, using that opportunity to swing a leg under the brown haired girl, fire disappearing from one of his hands as he used that hand to grab her throat and pin her to the ground, one hand still on fire, raised to deliver a final punch. But with his arm raised, he stopped, panting lightly, the fire gone from both his legs. He was sweating lightly, but only because the chakra he'd had to use to make the fire had heated up his body considerably.

Tamia hadn't even seen it coming. The entire scene had happened in a matter of seconds. When she'd been pinned to the ground, Tamia's eyes began to water with tears as Renji looked like he was going to finish the job. When he didn't hit her, she burst into tears, combined with soft sobs. She'd never felt so weak in her life. So miserable. She was supposed to be the smart one. She should have been able to get past this, to outsmart her opponents, not drop her weapon during a fight.

After a few moments, the fire disappeared from Renji's raised hand, and he slowly got up, offering a hand to Tamia. His red eyes had lost their intensity already, and he looked once more like any other ordinary kid. When she took his hand, he pulled her up, and she'd notice that his gloves were only a bit warm now. "You okay?" he asked. He figured that his sensei would consider that a done fight. He wasn't about to kill her just to get on his team. That just wouldn't be worth it.