None of us were going to give up our asses to "entertain" them. Seeing that, they sent us away in disgust. "This is why all you minor clans should just quit. Staying genin forever should be too bad if you could earn that rank on your own power." another one of their shinobi said. Once we were a safe distance, I said "That was better than expected. Let's backtrack if we use the construction entrance, we should be able to regroup easier." They agreed with me and we made our way there. There were green birds flying and chirping around the catacombs. "Some clan must be beast masters." Keisuke shrugged. We continued making our way back. It took us over half an hour to get back. The proctor looked at us in annoyance. "Your teams were at the exit way earlier. Because you were not together, we could not reward them the credit for completing this stage. Instead of a top 5 spot, you have now finished and 10th and 11th." I shrugged. There was no use crying over spilt milk. "That's fine! We were here for the long haul anyway. The tournament is the best way to prove our skills!" I shouted.
Morale was a valuable resource. You had to keep it high, or your companions would feel like shit and do worse than normal. Now that we were in the tournament, we had to do our best. Especially for the first round. That was the make or break round. As we were taken to where the fights were being held, I saw Suzie's character in the street. I called out to her. She looked at me and nodded. "Who is that? She looks like a Hanha shinobi." I said "She is a friend I made when wandering. I wonder if she is in the tournament. If she is, she's going down though! I have the best team ever formed!" Keisuke gave me a playful shove. "You might have the best team, but I have the best ninja ever with me." he teased. We then began to banter among the 6 of us. The fights were to take place in an underground dojo. The full bracket was already drawn up for us. Keisuke was in 10th place. I was 11th. We both had random village ninja teams. We would hopefully blow through them all. It was a series of 6 simple 1 on 1 contests. As captain I could put any member in any order I wanted. We need 4 wins.
Suzie
