A Team Building Exercise!

Sayuri would simply smile, Hana had caught on almost immediately and the others were not too far behind her. It was good that they wouldn't try and brute force their way through her barrier. One of the reasons she had made sure they know her skillset was to give them a clue. Not that this thing was her best barrier, in fact she had thrown it all together in a rush so it probably was a little weaker than normal. Regardless, she sipped away at the drink she had once again retrieved and watched to see what they might do next. Kuroi seemed the most keen on trying to force her out of the bubble, at least that's the feeling she got from the lava that the girl was generating on the ground. Kuroi would quickly find out that around the circle where the barrier began, nothing would be destroyed to force the young jounin from her sanctuary. She couldn't help but feel the jinchuriki was performing her own test, to see just how thorough Sayuri herself had been, which was intriguing to say the least. "Nice try" She smirked as she stretched out in her chair, crossing her hands behind her head after setting her now empty glass aside, apparently settling in for another nap. Thankfully, Kuroi's efforts weren't in vain, as the lava seemed to be at least causing the barrier to shimmer along the previously invisible sealing formula, the blue light running out into the training grounds in slow moving pulses.

Her teammmates immediately began to believe every word that came out of the Uzumaki's mouth, whether it be because Hana was part of a clan that specialized in seals or be it because they had no other thoughts was almost inconceivable to her. However, the fact thaat they trusted her was an accomplishment all on its own. THe young giel felt very proud of herself and felt that she could trust her teammates more now that they accepted her ideas rather than shunned her away. Without further consideration though, Kuroi would do something astonishing for her rank. "L-L-Lava?!... so cool.." Hana would whisper with a bit of a shaking body. Of course, she was a bit scared, but how could she not be? This giirlwas years too strong for her, how could Hana ever bbegin to imagine being Hokage at this point... or even a decent jounin for that matter. If anything, Hana would be a silly little chunin for life while Zakul and Kuroi went off to do greater things and work harder. The smal Uzumaki would slump over with disappointment before thinking about her parents. No! Hana had to do her best! She would fight for them! She would be the best!

At this point, Hana would notice the fluctuating barrier and follow a strand eminating from teh back of Sayuri. Without a second's notice, the young girl would take off running into the woods leaving the trio behind her as she attempted to track down her chosen tag. She would follow the strand through shrubs, thorns, and a pile of leaves only to be tripped by a wire. The Uzumaki would fall flat on her face as she heard the thudding sounds of ssomething entering a tree. The girl would shae her head and look up only to see three kunai lodged into the tree where her head had just previously been. "What the hell?! Sayuri is trying to kill us! What kind of demon tries to kill a kid! I could have died!" The girl would stand up as she yelled and dusted herself off. Her smile had turned into a grimmace as her small body burned from a few of nature's inflicted cuts. SHe would walk forward more as she looked around for the strand and the source, once more.

Zakul smiled, Kuroi's attempt to try and 'cook' their sensei out of the bubble didn't work as she intended but it did do exactly as he had asked and lit up the barrier as well as the the strands leading off into the woods. Of course he fully agreed with Hana's sentiment on Kuroi's skills, they were quite cool, and he was rather glad that she had chosen to restrained herself in their training session earlier in the week. Seeing Hana follow one of the strands, Zakul followed her lead heading off into the woods following a different strand, staying to the limbs of the trees, being careful knowing that there are probably tricks along the way. However as he was pulling his monkey act leaping from tree to tree, he misjudged a limb and slipped falling landing hard on his back.

Laying there dazed he blinked his eyes, catching his breath he sat up and shook his head. "I am glad that none of the girls was here to see that, talk about embarrassing." Carrying on, this time ground bound his eyes peeled for trip wires he followed the blue string to it's source, He found a small dome on a tree, inside of it he could see a tag though he was wary about touching the dome that covered it, especially after his last encounter. Heck feeling had just returned to his right arm from his last encounter with one of that lazy woman's barriers.

[ketsu]So, the barrier was thorough enough to withstand the lava, and penetrated the ground... seemeed the raven-haired kunoichi would have to play along with this test for now, though she'd keep her eyes open and her ears alert. As Hana took off into the woods and Zakul began monkeying around after her, Kuroi shook her head and sighed.

"I'm not sure why or how we're suddenly all split up but I'm not sure I like it... Zakul-san can handle himself, and I certainly can, but..." Glancing after Uzumaki Hana, Kuroi sighed again and took off as fast as she could to catch up to the girl, wanting to make sure she was safe just in case Sayuri had set any traps at whatever destination they were headed towards. A flash of silver caused her to stop dead in her tracks.

So, Sayuri had made traps to go with these. Kuroi still was not sure if the intention was to split up or to stick together, but knowing nothing of Hana she wasn't willing to let her face these dangers alone, and hearing another tripwire snap only a few meters from her position caused her to rush over there as silently as she could, smiling softly when she saw Hana was unharmed. As the girl seemed to be looking for the source, Kuroi jumped down from the tree.

"Trip wires. Normally, people don't actually trip over them so much as "trip" their mechanisms. This one was rigged to launch the three kunai it seems. I'm glad you're okay, Hana-chan. Zakul-san took off towards another strand, but I wasn't sure if we should actually split up or not... so I wanted to make sure you were okay. Zakul can handle himself. Are you okay?"[/ketsu]

Sayuri would shrug and watch them run off to follow the strands, it was somewhat disappointing they didn't think to try team up first instead of running away in separate directions. Maybe the three seals had tricked them a little too well... The jounin would stand and be last seen by kuroi tossing the long sleeved kimono top aside before flopping herself down into her chair to get relaxed, it could be a while before they figured out the trick and it was getting a little hot out there.

Zakul would find the bubble to be something of a trick, if he tested it he would find it was just some additional effects the showoff of a sensei he had been assigned thought would delay the trio just a little. The seal itself was indecipherable though, but seemed to be a simple paper seal attached to a tree. The only word he could make out was 'key' in the center. Maybe if he took it back to the main barrier it would let him through? Or if they had all three it would disable it all together. Either way, should he try and peel it from the trunk it would come easily, but the shadowy figure that looked eerily like himself would manifest nearby. It issues smoke from it's form, with the only distinctive feature being the glowing yellow eyes that would be glaring at him. Getting only a moment to figure out what was going on before it would charge him, leaping into the air to try and kick his head from his shoulders. It's form seemed perfect, if a little slower than he would recognize of his own abilities.

Zakul Clone Techniques:

The girls would find no more traps on their way to the seal, and find a very similar situation to Zakul. They had to choose who would be peeling the seal off however. The bubble that surrounded the paper turned out to be more than just being for show. Nothing they did seemed to destroy it, be it simply tearing the paper to burning it to cinders. The only success they would find would come from removing it without destroying it. Whoever pulled the seal down would find a similar shadowy clone, that would similarly charge the one who had summoned it.

Hana would coninue her journey forward only to be startled at the voice of her teammate sneaking up behind her small figure. The girl would jump only to turn around bright faced and embarrassed at Kuroi's words. It's not like she wanted to trip over the wire. It was close to the ground and she had been moving at a fast pace leaving her without option when her ankle had collided with the wire. Hana would sigh before listening to the rest of Kuroi's words and would realize what was happening in this moment. Hana's teammate had actually come looking for her because she was nervous that Hana couldn't handle things on her own. While this made Hana a bit angry, it made her far more happy than anything in the world. Hana had never had someone to care for her wellbeing, not even a friend, so this certainly put a smile on the Uzumaki's face. "Yep! Just a few scrapes, but nothing I can't heal on my own," the Uzumaki would grin before realizing they had no time to lose.

"Ok! We have to keep going!" The red haired female would grab for Kuroi's wrist and whether she allowed it or not Hana would begin to point them in the direction with the other hand. "This is where I need to go. It should be a straight shot through there," her small feet moved quickly over sticks, roots, and dirt. Her body started to weave between bushes before she knew it, the duo had popped out into a small opening where the tag lay surrounded in a blue aura. The uzumaki wpuld release Kuroi, if she had so let her drag the Jinchu around, and begin to slowly approach the glowing item taking note that it could very well be trapped to the canopy. However from the blue eyes of the girl who knew Sayuri's abilities all too well, Hana saw nothing and instead reached for the blue light to see what sort of barrier it truly was. Fingers creeped towards the tag in the slowest of motions not stopling until they touched its very surface, "It's just a silly facade!" An angry Uzumaki child would rip the tag off the tree before throwing it upon the ground in a fit of rage before being kicked in the back by a figure, which seemed to have formed from the seal on the ground behind Hana. The Uzumaki would fall face first upon the ground before sliding the distance between the tree and Kuroi. Then, the black figure would charge the Jinchuriki as it seemed to be pulling out small shadow weapons of its own. "Wow. I did NOT see that coming," Hana would say as she winced at the small trickle of blood running from her cheek while she sat up facing Kuroi not seeing the shadow figure charging from behind her.

Testing the dome around the tag with a stone he found he watched as the pebble passed harmlessly through it, shrugging Zakul approached the tag slowly. Examining the tag he could see that it was what looked like a bunch of random scribbles, the only thing even remotely legible was the word Key. [i]So either this will unlock the big bubble or let me pass through, either way I should collect this and bring it back to Kuroi and Hana, they might have a better understanding of it.

Carefully reaching his hand through the bubble of chakra Zakul couldn't feel anything odd, as he worked his fingers under one edge, gently pulling the tag off of the tree he would fold it, turning around just in time to see what looked like ... well a reflection of himself in a darkened mirror. The same, yet slightly darker, almost as if looking at himself with sunglasses on. Though the young genin didn't get much time to ponder the appearance of the strange person before the Zakul-clone would leap, performing an aerial-spin kick. Ducking under the blow the Real Zakul would perform Konoha Shoufuu, shooting his left leg up in a form of a kicking uppercut that would probably end up splitting the clone's uprights before sending the doppleganger flying.

Assuming the Shoufuu succeeded, and the clone didn't get poofed by having their berries kicked into their throat Zakul would leap up after it performing Konoha Kage Buyo, and follow up with Shishi-rendan, attempting to strike from their right, feinting if it gets blocked and striking from their left in a manner that would send them falling down to the ground hard before finishing it up with a powerful kick.

Chakra (Full Combo): 33/50
Chakra (Just Shoufuu): 45/50

Jutsu Used: