Trial of the Forest: Part 1

Kibou walked through the sacred grove, taking out a mission scroll that was in his pocket. As he walked he began to read what was written on it. An ancient door has been found near the caves in the sacred grove, the door having some sort of inscription written in the language of the Dovahkin Clan.

Blah, blah, blah, more mystical crap. Oh? A trial? Hmm...

Kibou placed the mission scroll back in his pocket and began to walk a bit faster. A trial to test out his skill eh? Well that should be fun, since he never gets to show his true skill. Something strange began to stir in Kibou, something that he had rarely experienced. Excitement? No. Motivation? Maybe. Whatever it was Kibou liked it, and he was ready to try and complete this trial.

Kibou then found the huge golden door, the entrance of the Forest Trial. He touched the door, and examined it. It glimmered much like gold, yet felt stronger. On the door was strange runes, probably the inscription that the mission talked about. Kibou didn't care what it said. He was about to push the door open when he realized he needed to make sure he had everything.

He checked his clothes and his inventory: He wore his signature black jumpsuit with his shinobi shoes. On his back sort of tilted was his steel staff, and he fished around his weapon pouch and felt one kunai and two shuriken. He sighed, perhaps he should have stocked up on more tools. It was too late now, and cautiously he opened the door, awaiting these ancient trials, charging chakra as he did.

Word Count: 276

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Kibou slowly opened the door a crack, only enough to let his head through, scanning the entire area. The hall looked ancient, though was lit by an almost ghostly fire on the lamps near the ceiling. What kept them lit was a mystery, a mystery that Kibou had no intention of finding out. Kibou scanned the area for a few minutes and slowly crept through the entire door. He kept the muscles in his legs tensed, and crouched a bit, ready to spring and run in case any traps were set. Kibou also kept his peripheral vision on the ground, in case he saw a pressure plate. It always seemed that ancient people loved setting traps whenever they had some sort of trial or treasure. Those ancient bastards.

Kibou cautiously walked down the hallway as it slowly descended into the earth, until he reached the end and found the door to the first trial room. The door was made of similar material to the first one, yet had a different inscription again written in the Ancient language. Kibou hoped that this did not have a hint, or the answer, to the trial that lay ahead of this door. Kibou knocked on it, and placed his ear on it, hearing something that could have either been scurrying, or wind. Kibou sighed, and slowly opened the door.

He walked in, his muscles tense, and his senses alert. At first all he could see was pitch black, until the sound of a flame coming to life was heard, and the lamps around the room came alive with fire, illuminating the whole room. The room was wide and circular, possibly 100 ft in diameter. The walls were ordained with mysterious carvings and runes, pictures of dragons and trees. The dancing flames from the lamps made them look alive. However, the sound of a small screech cause Kibou to break away from this observation, and his eyes were drawn to the center. 10 vile, disgusting, wretched looking rat-creatures were crowded around something. As they sensed a presence they all turned to look at Kibou, and Kibou caught a glimpse of a corpse, have eaten by the rats. It was a good thing he still charged chakra.

Word Count: 371

The rats screeched loudly, causing a slight ringing in the ears, and scattered off towards the shadows and holes that were in the side, probably some sort of system in the walls that let them ambush their prey. In a few seconds they were gone, and Kibou was left with the dead body. He brought his hand to his nose as the stench became apparent.

"hate to be you..."

Kibou took a step forward and a quick scurrying sound on the stone floor was heard, as was a small screech, and Kibou's calf burned with pain, and he could feel the blood ooze from it. He barely caught the sight of the rat running into another hole. Kibou quickly ran towards the center, near the dead body. His reasoning was, though he could be ambushed, the center had the most light and he would be able to see the rats coming. towards the edges of the room the light was darkest, and it was there he could easily be killed since he couldn't see the rats. Though, the cadaver next to him did not give him any sort of confidence in his plan. Kibou placed his right hand on his staff, and pulled it out of the sheath, taking his stance. His legs were wide apart, and he held his bo-staff with his right hand behind him, his left hand in front of him and his hand open. He took in a deep breath and waited.

He could hear the rats scurrying in the walls, screeching, communicating, planning on how to deal with this next victim. One became brave, and rushed out of the hole towards Kibou. It screeched loudly, giving away its position, and jumped at Kibou, aiming for a bite at his neck. Kibou heard this, and reacted suite. As the rat was about to jump Kibou turned towards it, and crouched a bit, thrusting his open palm forwards, and during that time the rat would have been air-born. Kibou then slammed his palm in the rat's neck and forced him down, simultaneously moving hos staff, and as he slammed the rat to the ground his staff smashed into the rat's neck, crushing its windpipe and killing it. Kibou got up, tensing his staff-arm, and looked around. The rats had now surrounded him, all nine of them. Kibou then point his staff in the air.

"Haven't tried this one before.."

Word Count: 402

The rats all bared their long incisors at Kibou, waiting to see what he was going to do. They each slowly crept towards him, as he stood there with his hand in the air, his eyes locking into each of theirs. They all stopped as they heard his voice.

"They say the crow is a harbinger of death..."

As the words escaped his lips a loud screech broke out in the room, echoing from the walls and nearly stunning the rats as it was so loud, yet Kibou looked completely unaffected. The sound of wings flapping reverberated in the chamber, and from the holes came swarms of black crows, cawing and screeching at the rats, the rats screeching back as they began to swarm around Kibou. The rats were completely confused, where did they come from!? Two crows broke from the whirlwind surrounding Kibou, hell, the rats didn't know if the crows had killed him. The crows came towards two rats, their beaks pointed at them. The rats looked up, only to see the swarm surround them, and soon the two crows pierced two of the rats heads, killing them.

The rats watched in horror as they saw two of their pack were devoured by the crows. They saw a glimpse of Kibou in the middle of the crows, and all rushed towards him, the rest of the seven. One came close, but soon the crows swarmed it and Kibou's staff smashed into his skull, killing it.

The other rats jumped into the swarm, biting the crows, kibou, or air. Fear had over-taken them, and they did not know how to deal with it. But, as the others, Kibou's wooden staff came from the crows and smashed all their skulls.

Kibou fell down, breathing heavy, his body scratched and bit by the rats. He breathed heavily, the genjutsu took a lot out of him, but worked perfectly. He looked at the two rats in which the shuriken were lodged into them. He walked up to them and took out the shuriken, wiping the blood on his shirt and placing it back in the pouch. Who knows when he would need it again.

He placed the staff on the ground and sat in front of the door on in the end of the room, the next door, the next trial. He breathed a sigh of relief, the first trial was done. He looked at the door, and waited till he was ready to go onto the second trial.

Word Count: 417

[MISSION END]

(Chakra: 130/160)

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