[hirana kizumi]

After the fights had concluded and the closing ceremony was done, the sun was making its final descent towards the horizon, washing the mountain range in a gorgeous gradient of purple and orange hues. Most of the participants would be exhausted both physically and mentally, but all would be hale and whole: no effort was spared from Kumogakure’s medical team to make sure even the tiniest of bumps and bruises were tended to after the final round of fights had finished. A veritable feast had been set up at the campsite, a mirror of the breakfast they’d enjoyed that same morning: salt-grilled fish, fire-roasted goat and venison, hearty soups and stews that had been slowly bubbling over heavy cauldrons for long, hungry hours. Snow was gathered, melted, and boiled in shifts some distance away, and everyone would be able to take baths in privacy, with plain but clean pajamas available for everyone to change into; the clothes they had fought in that day then taken away to be mended and laundered as needed. The tent assignments remained the same as before, and the genin would be allowed to relax and unwind for the night. The results of their efforts were still unknown, but undoubtedly all would be revealed when the participants made the journey back down the mountain to Akazaya in the morning. [This thread is intended for open RP after the conclusion of the team fights in round 3, but before the results of the exam are announced.]

LAIKA OF THQ

[Oborozuki Yuri]

Yuri has a little time to reflect on everything that's happened. Her expectations for the Exams had been surpassed, but were also somehow... lacking? She thought this was life or death, but so far Yuri has been at least halfway on the upper hand. She fails to consider that maybe she is less inept than anticipated.

As soon as the genin are let loose in their sanctioned pajamas, feeling a little odd in the sleek material, Yuri wanders away to light a smoke (or two) behind the campground, looking over the mountain's edge in the gradient sunset. It's beautiful, but Yuri fails to appreciate it, instead feeling some level of something sour. She's not sure what.

When she's done smoking, she goes to see Seiji first if he has not retired already. Saya is at the forefront of her mind, and she searches for her even as she speaks with the kononin.

"You were an admirable opponent," she's saying after barely a greeting, her voice slightly rasped from the exhaustion of the day and the three cigarettes she smoked a few minutes ago. Even with all that healing done on them, her bones were still filled with sand. "I envy your comradery with the Uzumaki boy. You make a good couple." As if unaware of the connotations of such a phrasing, she continues, flicking her eyes toward the stars as her hands find her front pocket. "Er. Sorry about your hand, too."

If she is around, Yuri's gaze finds Saya then, her brown eyes looking black in the setting night. She worries about what to say to her, feeling a weight of grief about their encounter. She doesn't want to be so hung up on it, yet the kusanin is taped to the back of her eyelids, strawberry locks filling her senses.

[Honō Saya]

Saya took in a long, slow breath, her throat sore but no longer burning as she walked back into the campsite, the air charged with a fevered, expectant energy. It was a far cry from the somber, exhausted aura the camp had exuded the night before, with everyone enjoying themselves and partaking of the massive banquet that Kumogakure had provided. There were some who were less enthused than others, to be sure, but on the whole the various groups of Genin were excited to hear the results and move on, regardless of who passed and who failed. It was a shame she couldn’t enjoy it with them.

Where is he… The Hono girl thought, glancing across the campsite as she looked for a specific person, her honey-yellow gaze flicking across the gathered groups of participants with quiet, almost brooding intensity. There were a lot of things she would have liked to have done differently, with many moments she would have chosen another course… but none of them stood out quite so strongly in her mind as what she had done near the end of her second fight in the last round.

The image of Atagi, splayed out on the ground, barely conscious, as she stabbed him through the shoulder with her blade, imprinting an explosive seal to his shirt, was seared into her head, as were the words his companion had spat her way afterwards. She wasn’t proud of that moment, wasn’t proud of many of the things she had chosen to do during the Exams, but something about Seiji’s words had lingered- the anger, the disgust, as if she had proven herself to be someone less than worthless by her actions. It was a reaction she understood, likely far more than the Haruno boy knew, even if she disagreed with it.

She had never intended to blow the seal, after all.

There. Saya thought, her honey-yellow gaze narrowing as she spotted the person she was looking for; with his red hair, and tall, leanly muscular frame, Atagi cut a fine figure amongst the other Genin, his usual jovial smile spread across his face, as if he hadn’t been half-dead from exhaustion just a few hours ago. Seiji was there next to him, the pair of them eating a meal that made the portions of everyone else pale in comparison… and there, standing next to Seiji, was Yuri. Because of course she would be there.

Letting loose a long, soft sigh, the red-haired Kusa-girl shook her head, walking past clumps of excitable Shinobi, one hand resting on Hitsuiken’s hilt as she made her way through the crowd. It took her a minute, and if any of the trio were paying attention they would notice her coming, but eventually the Hono girl made it to where Atagi, Seiji, and Yuri were, her normally bright smile replaced with a somber, knowing frown as she looks between the three other Genin, silent. It takes a moment for her to speak, her conviction wavering as she looks at the tiredness behind Atagi’s smile, the daggers in Seiji’s gaze, and the… whatever is going on in Yuri’s head. But, eventually, she does.

"I… I just wanted to apologize. For what happened. I… I wasn’t going to use it, but I definitely went too far, Atagi."

Uzumaki Atagi Oborozuki Yuri Haruno Seiji