As the second round started, Shunsui and his teammates found themselves in the middle of trees after they opened their blindfolds.
The forest was dense with tall trees that blocked most of the sunlight, creating many dark spots on the ground. Distant animal sounds echoed around them.
Shunsui muttered as he stretched his stiff shoulders, "Being carried by other shinobi blindfolded is not much fun." His body felt a bit sore from the rough transport, but he quickly shook it off and looked around.
The three teammates stayed close together at first, making sure no immediate threats were nearby before they began to examine their surroundings carefully.
"There is our flag," Guy pointed out to a red flag stuck deeply into the ground. It was attached to a six metre pole and seemed to be inscribed with some symbols. The flag also had Team Choza written on it in clear letters.
The bright red color stood out against the green forest, making it easy to spot but also easy for enemies to find. Guy walked closer to inspect it while the others followed.
"What are these symbols?" Shunsui muttered as he studied the markings on the pole.
The symbols looked complicated and clearly placed there on purpose. Genma examined them closely for a few moments and then explained, "They seem to be standard Fuinjutsu put on items to prevent them from being kept in storage scrolls."
Shunsui nodded in understanding. "I see. So they are preventing us from just putting our flag in a storage scroll and running off. And then come back to put the flag here again when the test is about to end. Carrying such a huge pole would be easily noticeable and would easily make us a target. And if he takes just the flag, we would be disqualified since it's against the rules to carry your own flag."
He realized the examiners had thought ahead to stop simple tricks that would make the test too easy for smart teams.
"But does not that mean that we would be having difficulties in getting others poles back?" Guy asked with a serious look on his face.
He imagined how hard it would be to carry multiple tall poles through the dangerous forest while fighting. Genma answered quickly, "We only have to carry the flag part. You see the pole has several hooks. We would have to attach those flags there."
He pointed to the metal hooks placed at different heights on their own pole. Shunsui looked at the pole and there were multiple hooks for other flags. "Hmm. So after getting others flags we have to hook it here. So if someone comes to take our flag, they can take all the flags that we have gathered," Shunsui muttered as he understood the clever design. This rule made defending their home territory very important because losing the main pole would mean losing all their hard work.
"So how are we doing this?" Shunsui asked his teammates as they stood around the flag pole. The three of them needed a clear plan before they started moving.
Genma looked at Guy who nodded with full confidence. "We both will defend our flag. You should go and get others flags."
Guy stood tall with his fists ready, showing he was prepared for any fight that came their way. Shunsui looked at them with doubt in his voice. "Are you sure about that? You will not be able to fight at your best if multiple teams try to take your flag one after another."
Guy said with strong determination, "Do not underestimate our youth Shunsui. Me and Genma would be enough to defend our flag." Genma nodded in agreement, showing he fully trusted their ability to hold the position.
"Very well. Then it would be my duty to get us the points to qualify for the next round," Shunsui said with a small smile. "I will be off then."
And with that Shunsui disappeared with a flash step. His body moved in a quick burst of speed that left only a faint afterimage behind.
Genma thought, 'I could not even see him move. He has become so good with flash step. Heck, he even modified it and made it even better for himself. I pity the fools who meet him on the way.'
----
Shunsui travelled the forest with flash step. He had learned to use his chakra reserves to his advantage by using his massive chakra with good chakra control to perform rapid flash steps at a much more explosive speed and without hand signs too.
The benefit of flash step was also that you did not have to move linearly. You could move chakra in different directions in your feet to move to whatever direction you wanted. This made his movement unpredictable and very fast through the thick trees.
As he travelled, he heard voices. Voices of people talking not too far away. 'Ah, I found my unfortunate victims,' Shunsui thought as he moved silently toward the direction where he could see the genin were from Taki.
The Taki genin were standing near their own flag pole, discussing their plans openly.
Hiroshi, the leader of the team, spoke. "We should stay together and defend our territory strongly. The forest is dangerous, and we do not know how many teams will come after us. If we split up, we might lose everything too quickly."
Kenji nodded but looked a bit worried as he replied, "Yes, but if we only defend, we will not gain any extra points. We need to capture at least two or three other territories to have a good score. Maybe one of us can scout nearby areas while the other two stay to protect the flag."
Akira, the third member, shook his head and said, "Scouting alone is too risky. I heard there are giant animals and poisonous plants everywhere in this forest. We should wait a few hours and see if any weak teams come close to us first. Attacking blindly might lead us into a trap set by stronger villages like Konoha or Kiri."
Hiroshi thought for a moment and then added, "You are right about the strong villages. I saw some Konoha teams during the first test, and they looked prepared. We should focus on taking flags from smaller villages like ours. That way we can build points without facing the monsters from the big five. Though only two of them are participating in this exam."
Kenji smiled a little and said, "Agreed. Let us set some basic traps around our flag first. Simple wire traps and noise makers will warn us if someone approaches. We can take turns resting so we stay strong for the full three days."
Akira looked around nervously at the dense trees and continued, "I still think we should move a bit deeper into the trees where it is harder to spot. The open spot here makes us an easy target for anyone passing by. A hidden position will give us more time to react."
Hiroshi replied firmly, "We cannot too far because we need to be able to protect the flag before its too late."
Kenji added with excitement, "If we work together perfectly, we can even try to ally with another small village team temporarily. Two teams defending one area would be very strong, and we can share the points at the end."
Akira laughed softly and said, "That might work if we find trustworthy people, but in these exams, trust is hard to come by. Everyone wants to win for their own village. We should stick to our original plan of careful defense and smart attacks only when we have the advantage."
The three Taki genin continued talking about their strategy, feeling somewhat confident in their small team plan. They did not know that Shunsui was already watching them from the shadows, listening to every word they said.
Shunsui made his move as he located their flag and memorized it's position as well as the position of all the three genins.
Then he used Hidden Mist Jutsu. Thick white mist began to spread quickly through the trees around the Taki team, covering their flag and reducing visibility to almost nothing.
The three genin stopped talking suddenly as the mist surrounded them, their faces showing surprise and alarm at the unexpected technique.
------Author Notes---------
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