Second Phase (Day 1)
Satomi, Shin, and Katsu and the other chunin stood just outside a training ground enclosed by high walls. All their focus was on Anko, who was explaining the second part of the exams.
"You all are going to be put on in this arena. You guys get a special arena this time - tundra. We keep its icy climate using machines. You tamper with the machines, you automatically get booted from the exams. Understand? Good. Also, just because it's tundra - don't believe that there won't be dangerous animals inside."
She went on to explain the setup of the arena, the Earth and Heaven scrolls, and how to pass this part of the exam.
"So we steal another group's scroll," Katsu said with a cocky smile on his face. "Should be easy." He began to follow the other groups to the line to get the scroll, with Satomi and Shin soon following behind.
* * *
Heaven. Satomi looked at the scroll in her hands, and wondered about it contents. It wasn't really forbidden to look at it, was it? It wasn't really against the rules to cheat in the written exam, so maybe... Her hands began lightly playing with the seal that was holding the scroll closed, debating.
Before she had the chance to decide Katsu walked up to where she was sitting. "Here, I'll take it. If I put it with my other scrolls with the label facing in, no one would be able to tell the difference."
Knowing Katsu was right, she handed the scroll to him.
"Alright, everyone, prepare to enter in your gate." Anko called out.
"Come on, teme. We're about to start, and I don't want you stupidly sitting on your butt while everyone else has the chance to attack."
She stood up and walked over to Shin.
"You ready?" she asked.
Shin looked straight ahead, his hand slightly inside his jacked, but he with determination.
The doors opened, and a blast of cold air blew right in the trio's face. When they entered, they saw nothing but snow to the left and right, and a cliff in the distance.
"Those cliffs - they probably have caves. There we could set up a defense and just wait for someone to come to us," Kastu said.
"Or we might get ourselves trapped instead," Satomi grumbled.
"Either way, it'd be a smart idea to try and check it out." Katsu began walking ahead. Satomi and Shin silently looked at each other, then decided to follow him.
As they charged forward through the knee-deep snow, Satomi and Katsu were able to keep a steady pace, but Shin kept falling behind. Katsu told Satomi to go talk to him while he scouted ahead.
Falling back, Satomi asked Shin, "Are you okay? Are you cold?"
"It's the bugs..." he responded. "They're eating at more of my chakra to keep themselves warm. It's keeping me warm, too, but I can't move very fast because of it."
Satomi looked ahead at the cliff, then back at the gate. "Don't worry. We're halfway there," she declared. "Once we get to the cliff, we'll find a cave and I'll make a fire to keep us warm."
Shin shook his head. "I'll be fine. You save your chakra."
Satomi opened her mouth, then closed again. She wanted to argue, but ever since they were little Shin always won these types of arguments. Besides, she knew he was right. She should save her chakra, if possible.
She stuck next to him until they reached the cliff. Realizing that she had no idea where Katsu was, she closed her eyes and began to sense the chakra around her.
"He's... over there." She pointed down the length of the cliff.
Shin nodded, then added as an afterthought, "...How can you tell...?"
"I can sense chakras. You didn't know that?"
Shin's face fell. "No, I didn't..."
Satomi sighed. "Well, now you do." She gave him an encouraging smile, then started heading in Katsu's direction.
* * *
Katsu was looking inside a deep crevice in the rock with a pondering look when Satomi reached him. "It's a cave."
"Yes, I know that."
"No, I mean that this crevice goes inside a huge cavern. It's probably all interconnected in there, creating a huge icy tunnel system," Katsu said.
"So, what are we waiting for? Let's go inside." Satomi began to walk towards the entrance.
Katsu grabbed the back of her jacket. "Wait a minute, dobe. If you'd stop being a stupid baka for a single moment, you'd understand that there could be a million traps set inside. We have to be very careful."
Shin stepped into the conversation. "I'll send my bugs out. They'll detect any traps long before we reach them," he said as dozens of his bugs crawled out from under his jacket towards the cave.
"Good. Just make sure they aren't seen. I don't want us to be detected," Katsu responded.
Shin turned sideways and stepped inside the fissure with Satomi and Katsu following. Soon the narrow crack began to get wider, allowing them to walk straight forward. Satomi kept steady small ball of fire in her hands to give them light. After a few minutes of walking, they reached a fork in the tunnel.
"To the left is team. They have a heaven scroll; they won't be of any use to us. To the right is a dead end, but it's a good place to rest and to set up traps of our own," Shin said as a bug crawled up his leg.
"To the right, then." Katsu said, and they started heading that way.
Satomi looked around once they reached the far wall of ice. The icy walls, void of any life, helped her to channel part of her energy into sensing any possible chakra source towards the entrance. This would be a good place to rest, indeed.
Side Note: Yes I know tundra hardly ever actually has precipitation, but for dramatic purposes, I'm including more of it.
