[Yoshiko]

First Exam: Maze Seven Reiki's Lucky Number 7 A slide which once was a standing stage would eject it's chosen participant into a dark room. At first both the slide end trip and the room would be quite dark, it'd be almost to the point of sightless vision. A mere shimmer of the arena they'd once stand in beckoning light from above, but the slide continued to steepen it'd angle until it'd eventually seal the path it'd given shut. A moment would pass and Reiki would be in a room of total darkness, a moment more than long enough to let fear and uncertainty settle. The room however as time grew disturbingly still would finally begin to light up, as torches upon the sides of the walls and before an estrange doorway would light up. The doorway appeared to be the only way out of the room, it however lead to another abyss of darkness. Could this of been the start to the maze? It had to be surely, but there was always room to doubt. Especially those lacking allegiance to that of Takigakure. If one didn't just sprint for the maze and hopefully escaping the creepy maze they'd entered, then they'd realize the room wasn't empty. A table would stick out first and foremost in the room, as it'd be mere feet from the place the contestant was ejected. This table seemed to be like a gaming table, as it'd have a square grid designed in it's center, as well as symbols drawn to each side of the grid. It was hard to make out anything from a glance, but that'd all be clear from that glance. In each corner of the room appeared to be pedestals, about chest high with a bust of someone's head. Each appeared a little different, but none were easy to make out from a distance or a glance. It'd appear the trim of the room, as well as the top trim to the doorway would all have images upon them, but nothing that stuck out with a glance.

[Omori Reiki]

Reiki's lucky number 7

And so he landed in what seemed to be a pit of darkness on his feet, though he had to crouch really low in order to make that so. Not a single thing was visible, and without a trace of light, his eyes couldn't see anything. Damn it, he wanted to see so badly, it was so eerie and uncomfortable! Still, moving around was suicide without an idea about where to go, and so he would stand until something revealed to him. It didn't take long for that to happen, for light began to shine with torches on the walls. The most noticeable thing was likely the most dangerous thing to fear in the room, so that door wasn't going to be passed through without a little investigation. Fortunately, his eyes were designed for this sort of task.

The brunette would notice the table right after, a few cautious steps taken towards it before he noticed a checkerboard pattern in the center of it. Every side of it had some sort of symbol, none of which seemed too familiar to him for the moment. Still, he had to keep every one burned in the back of his head. Perhaps this was a map, but of either the maze or the room he was in? Hm. That door seemed rather suspicious now, because it was the most obvious way through! The goal was to get to the end of the maze as fast as he could, but haste could lead him to his demise. Perhaps a slow approach was the safest way to go. After all, it wasn't like being first was a necessity.

Looking around the room, he would notice another irregularity. Nothing that big a deal, and what could be taken as just a design flaw, but the pedestals had different appearances. If nothing interrupted him while doing so, he would drink up the image of the grid in his mind once more so that he could remember as many details as he could before looking to all the pedestals so that their designs didn't become a stranger. Escape rooms were all about detail, Reiki needed to play this game like a puzzle if he wanted to make it out without his blood being spilled. Was there anything else that needed examining?

One more thing, yes. And finally, there were images in the room. All right, he needed to examine them by detail so that he could bring their memory with him along for the journey. A part of him told him that this was a waste of time and that he needed to rush the door. Instinct could damn him, and someone else was bound to act on it and not see the light of day. Eight entered the flower petals, that didn't mean eight needed to come back out. But he'll be damned if he wasn't one of the people who escaped.

Reiki was on full recon mode. Whatever his eyes could see, they would, for he is devoting time to a full examination of the room rather than just storming out of the door. Not to say he would understand every detail, but he would see them as long as the light permitted.

SPOILER: Click to show

SA in effect:

Enhanced Eyesight

The user's eyesight is heavily enhanced, even without the use of the Tennogan. The smallest details could be observed as if it were in front of the user should the distance between them not exceed 30 meters. Peripheral vision also seems as clear as if it were the main sight of focus.

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[Yoshiko]

First Exam: Maze Seven Reiki's Lucky Number 7 Upon further examination of the table Reiki would be able to notice that the grid was twenty-three high, by twenty-three wide. Lightly carved onto the sides were the alphabet minus x, y and z as to give each point on the grid. However at the top and bottom of the grid would be numbers 1 to 25. It'd appear coming from the trap shoot that the numbers went up left to right, while the alphabet went up as one went up on the grid. At the walls of the grid there'd be an opening in one square per side. At P on both sides of the grid pattern, as well as at 13 on the bottom and 15 at the top. Closer examination of the images at each side of the grid seems to provide little information. The top image appearing to be a tiger face, the left side image a bird, the right side image a fish and the bottom image a snake. Investigating around the whole table, it'd also come clear the table had one drawer on it. A normalcy on a gaming table as to store game pieces and other accessories or utensils with the table. The pedestals in the room all head busts, each was either either a leader of Takigakure or a Daiymo of the land. The last Lady of Takigakure in the back right corner, and the leader before her in the front left corner. The last Daiymo in the front right corner, then the Daiymo before that in the back left corner. Each bust was kindly labeled with a small metal plaque. It'd be easy to look at the images on the walls as trim and at the top of the doorway. Not because they were large and easily noted, nor due to them being incredibly simple. Instead it'd be hard to look deeply at the images, as there'd actually only be two images. One image was a monkey facing right, with it's tail curled up like a question mark and it's posture sitting as it eats a banana. The second image would be that of a coiled dragon facing left, it's mouth gaping baring fangs and breathing fire. The images might be the only ones, but there appears to be no pattern from one image to the next.

[Omori Reiki]

Reiki's lucky number 7

The grid told him a lot about what he needed to know already. Simply put, this room was a grid in it's own. At least, that is what the map would suggest, for it possessed the images of animals on it per side with the exception of the fist towards the right. The only one that seemed harmless would be the bird, and even then, there were some that possessed a level of danger. Placing his right palm over his mouth while curling his fingers, he would begin to examine the pedestals and their heads. There might not be much significance quite yet to them, but they were noteworthy.

The top of the room. The tiger, clenched between the top left corner with the leader before the last Takigakure and the Daiymo before the last in the top right corner. At least, that was what the grid told him. But looking back up to it, the Monkey with the oddly shaped tail looking at the dragon with the menacing glare would remind Reiki that there was more to that specific door than it seemed. No way was he walking through it. A confused monkey who acts without thinking will find himself helpless to the breath of a dragon. Screw that, the door couldn't be the way.

The left side of the room. The bird, trapped between the top left corner and the bottom left corner. The Daiymo and Leader of Takigakure before their last ones.

Behind Reiki, the back of the room. The snake, between the bottom left and bottom right corners. The last lady of Takigakure and the second to last Daiymo.

Finally, the right side of the room. The fist, right between the last lady of Takigakure and the last Daiymo. The bottom right corner and the top right corner.

Now there were a few more details to note. For example, that one obvious open door with a menacing couple of images on it could genuinely be the way out of there! At least, that was what Reiki thought before he looked back down onto the grid to notice the open spaces. Upon turning his head up and looking to where that would be in the room, he smiled. Not a single hole in sight in this room.

Now it was starting to make sense. THAT is why the door is there is the first place. It was a huge inference, but Reiki was pretty confident that the door wasn't going to lead him anywhere good. It was contradicting what the grid was telling him. The maze is likely very different from the ones that people are familiar with, but for ones who paid attention to the methods used in this exam, they'll notice the same thing.

Still though, he was stuck because there was a good chance of him killing himself if he acted with his current knowledge! There had to be a way to increase the odds, some detail that he was missing! So he took another scan at the table to notice that on the side would be a drawer. Oh ho~

With that in mind, he would slowly open it up so that he could see what was inside. But the instant something hinted for him to slam it shut, he would. Sharp eyes told him of visible danger in front of him. As long as there is none though, he'll place his hand inside of the drawer to take out anything in there that might bring him closer to solving the puzzle.

SPOILER: Click to show

SA in effect:

Enhanced Eyesight

The user's eyesight is heavily enhanced, even without the use of the Tennogan. The smallest details could be observed as if it were in front of the user should the distance between them not exceed 30 meters. Peripheral vision also seems as clear as if it were the main sight of focus.

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[Yoshiko]

First Exam: Maze Seven Reiki's Lucky Number 7 The images at the doorway only had the variety of monkey and dragon, but there'd be 8 above the doorway, as to cover the fact there was no longer the bottom line of trim to image. The trim shared these images, there'd be twenty per-wall and the door perfectly centered would thus have six images to either side of it. There wasn't a pattern to these images, but there was more than a couple and they did highly populate the room at a total count of 80. Despite Reiki's expectations there'd be no holes in the room aside from the doorway out of the room. It lead to an abyss of darkness, so maybe it was in fact the incorrect route. It did however appear to be the only route presented. Re-examination of the posts images and even grid would relay no more information than it had. Thankfully though the boy would maybe find the next step in escaping the maze. A drawer in the table. He'd take his time cautiously open the drawer and though suspense built with it's opening there'd be no jump scare to this drawer. Instead there was an odd lay of different things; a deck of cards that'd looked open a many time, two bags of checker pieces to fill the squares on the grind; one bag triangle shapes and the other circles. Another bag of player pieces, these would consist of four people and four pigs. Finally and most oddly placed in this 'gaming table' would be a rather fresh looking fortune cookie. A fortune could be nice and a cookie was always delicious, but what would Reiki make of the oddity? Maybe he'd pull more from the pieces or maybe the deck of cards held his answers. A door of darkness still ominously stood waiting for someone to pass it.

[Omori Reiki]

Reiki's lucky number 7

Reiki was alone. No one to correct him or tell him about his theory being right or wrong. Guesswork was the best work he could give himself with this, and so he figured that he had to go through one of the holes that the grid presented. But there were game items to hopefully lead him away from that theory? Let's see. There was a silly little stack of cards. A quick scan to see what they contained was in order. So he would begin to shuffle through them to see if there is anything of importance to take this into his mind.

Next, player pieces! Perfect! Maybe he could just place the humans and pigs onto each of the spaces and see if any of them fell through the table. Perhaps there was something to react to his pieces when he placed them there. Of course, this meant that he had to overlook the pieces being humans and pigs, which were probably important to note. Oh well, he was hopeful in his theory. And so he would attempt to place each pair of pieces onto the empty spaces of the grid, one pig and one human.

Last, the fortune cookie! Eating it sounded like a bad idea, but why not just open it in the middle? So he did, cracking it open to see what the slip of paper offered him. Nothing else seemed to be in the drawer, and that seemed to be the very last detail. If nothing interesting popped up for him, perhaps he should retire on the theory of being dropped down a chute.

SPOILER: Click to show

SA in effect:

Enhanced Eyesight

The user's eyesight is heavily enhanced, even without the use of the Tennogan. The smallest details could be observed as if it were in front of the user should the distance between them not exceed 30 meters. Peripheral vision also seems as clear as if it were the main sight of focus.

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[Yoshiko]

First Exam: Maze Seven Reiki's Lucky Number 7 Playing around with the pieces on the grid accomplished very little it'd seem. The empty spaces he filled with these player pieces had no effect upon the grid. They did fit perfectly to the grid, similarly to that of the checkers. It was quite clear these things went with the table, but whether or not they held the key to the maze wasn't obvious. Within the deck would be the cards in their natural order and not shuffled, but atop of the cards like many good deck was a rule card. A means to explain to anyone the simple games one could attempt with the deck. It'd however not be the rules of any game of cards, instead it'd be quite clear this card was added. It's rules would read as follows: You're being timed as a measure of skill, but you're also limited on time. You're beginning at the snake of this maze. You're in one of four rooms attached to the maze. You're the controller of the light, but little else. You're not alone, BEWARE. You're provided everything you need. You're limited to one escape route. You're allowed to cause harm to living objects. This list of rules didn't really tell the tale of what to do, but it would make it clear this wasn't a safe exam. There were both things to beware as well as the potential need to cause harm to another living creature and somehow time was limited. A mention to a start was made, it'd even seem to correspond to the grid upon the table. At least the image at the bottom side of it. Upon opening the fortune cookie Reiki would be in fact greeted to a fortune. "Your entrance way is also your best guide." It definitely wasn't the clearest of messages either, but surely something could be made from that fortune? Or maybe it'd be breaking the rules down that awoke an answer in the Kumogakure shinobi.

[Omori Reiki]

Reiki's lucky number 7

Reiki did figure something out. The rules on the card provided to him were crystal clear when they talked about the present. Everything that he needed was here, so he was just going to place everything he could back into his jacket pockets and pant pockets. Each one had their own section, the pieces of the grid being placed back into his jacket pocket as well as the cards in the other. Controlling the light? Okay then, he might have had something important to note with that.

There were three ways of going about this maze if he wanted to make it out of here, but only one way was secure. Either that meant he can only choose one of the three escapes, or there truly was just one escape. Fun. Reiki wasn't alone either, so that meant he had to fight something if he wanted to survive encounters. Perhaps just not crossing something at all would help. But let's face it, Reiki wasn't sure what to do, and that poor monkey looked just as confused. He was bound to stumble onto a deadly foe, he was going to have to fight for his life later on.

The fortune brought him little information, though it did allow him to change his theory. Entrance being the best guide was an interesting fortunate, but one clearly set up for the exam. So he placed the slip of paper into his pocket along with the other things found in the drawer before looking at the door. There seemed to be nothing else that could help him figure anything else in this puzzle out. He was in four rooms attached to the maze, so he wasn't actually in it yet. In that case, the door HAD to be the only way out. The grid didn't offer him any answers for what may or may not have been a trap hole. As for what they really are, hell would he know.

All that he truly could know was that he would slowly walk towards the door that would lead him to what he believed would be the beginning of the maze. If Reiki didn't have any reason to look back, he would proceed to walk into the void.

SPOILER: Click to show

SA in effect:

Enhanced Eyesight

The user's eyesight is heavily enhanced, even without the use of the Tennogan. The smallest details could be observed as if it were in front of the user should the distance between them not exceed 30 meters. Peripheral vision also seems as clear as if it were the main sight of focus.

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[Yoshiko]

First Exam: Maze Seven Reiki's Lucky Number 7 Unable to discern an answer or key to his escape, Reiki would decide something if not everything provided was useful. He'd fill his pockets and as the puzzles popped up to solve, he would be the one ready for them and everyone else running back to get their missed pieces! That or he'd filled his pockets with clues to unravel later or maybe scatter ammo to throw in someone's eyes. There wasn't anything in the rules about not taking what was in the drawer. Fully 'geared' he'd take one last look at his path into the maze, four dragons and four monkeys miss arranged staring down upon him. A final breath of bravery before entering the dark and Reiki would cautiously enter the most dangerous of mazes. It'd be eerily chill and quite, but shortly into entering the maze torches would light up at either side of him. Proceeding further into the maze another set of torches would light, but with it the rooms torches would extinguish. Further in another set of torches would light, at each there'd be an almost line equal distance from the torches. As well as equally spaced out. The huge stone tiles would almost be like a grid. It'd however be at the third tile in, that Reiki would already notice the start of the 'maze' portion. There'd be a choice of going right or proceeding straight. An almost left or right sort of deal at the fork, but as far as the maze went it provided even less than the rooms. There was absolutely not information on the walls, instead there'd be a pair of torches until a choice. Here was the cloud shinobi's first. Which would he choose?

[Omori Reiki]

Reiki's lucky number 7

There wasn't much for him to go off of when he was about to leave the room. And now he entered the lion's den, fight or flight was going to have to happen here. There was little comfort in the fact that the previous room's torches were burned out when he did exit. It was so quiet, his footsteps were light so that nothing that could hear him would attract unwanted attention. Still, there were sources of light on the torches that aligned with the walls. The rules did say that he could control the light, and little else. If that was the case, perhaps it was meant in a literal sense! Reiki did take some of the pieces for himself, perhaps he could take some light for him to control as well. So he would try to take one of the torches for himself on the walls, assuming they weren't stuck on the walls. Being stuck would be enough to tell him to keep his hands off of items that didn't belong to him.

The floor seemed to match the grid, with all the squares and whatnot. Reiki started at the snake, so he would be approximately two or three tiles away from the snake, right? He wasn't sure if the first room counted as a square. Regardless, the Omori kept a note of the fact that it wasn't the room that the grid represented. And if he was south, perhaps the objective would be to move north.

But then... WAIT! Reiki's eyes lit up when he had an epiphany! One of the four rooms ATTACHED to the maze! They weren't in the maze, but the snake room probably brought a lot of good hints for him. If he visited every single one, perhaps he might get all of the puzzle pieces needed in order to get out of here! Going by that logic, he possessed a fourth of the puzzle and answers. Now he just needed to take a trip to the rooms to see what else they had within them.

Regardless of whether or not he had a fire stick in his grip or not, there would be a split for him to make a decision on! One that pushed him to go forward, and one to go towards the right. Well, if they are trying to push him away from the left side, maybe he should try to locate the left room. But damn, overthinking things might force him to make a mistake. Haste makes mistakes, but so does overthinking. Still, straight would theoretically just lead him towards the middle, right? Going to the right so quickly seemed like a mistake. Perhaps he should go down what seemed to be the indifferent route. So with/without the torch held out in front of him, he would proceed to advance straight down.

SPOILER: Click to show

SA in effect:

Enhanced Eyesight

The user's eyesight is heavily enhanced, even without the use of the Tennogan. The smallest details could be observed as if it were in front of the user should the distance between them not exceed 30 meters. Peripheral vision also seems as clear as if it were the main sight of focus.

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[Yoshiko]

First Exam: Maze Seven Reiki's Lucky Number 7 Removing the torch would prove do able, but it didn't stay lit. It'd near immediately go out upon Reiki moving half the stick out of socket made for it. The control it seemed that the rule card mentioned seemed to only refer to the fact the path would be lit by his direction. It'd likely be done to keep a certain air of the place, as it'd also obscure the paths length and turns with dark deceit. There was a first split and the kumogakure shinobi didn't trust it. He'd go for the straight path forward, there'd be a center room of sorts at this paths end. Though straight would after another four tiles would force the kumogakure shinobi right. Within six more of these tiles a similar conundrum of a forced right would be at hand, but there'd only be two tiles before from the darkness. A squeal would be heard, as there'd be a brief moment for the boy to react, before a boar would charge into scene and try to gore the poor genin. It'd be a large creature likely a similar weight to that of the genin. A mean looking creature too, it'd seem seven might not of been so lucky after all.

[Omori Reiki]

Reiki's lucky number 7

A free weapon for him at least, but nothing that would send the demons away from the light, because the flame wanted to be so mean. On the plus side, that meant that Reiki had a near unlimited supply of weaponry around him. At the cost of a bit of light for him to control, Reiki could just start beating things over the head with the torch handles, so there was always a positive to come out of a negative.

So he continued to step down the maze with caution, eyes aware of every surrounding. The darkness wasn't something for him to see through, but he could make out some small outlines thanks to his eyes being able to read things so clearly. And without them, he might have his his head against the wall that would have forced him to go right. Naturally, he didn't. Turning to the right would reveal a patch of darkness rather than revealing things with the torches. But there was no split path this time, meaning...

A squeal. Oh bring it on, motherfucker. Or perhaps not, time was of the essence after all. Besides, he needed to save that technique for something really important. Reiki had two good legs for running, he damn well better use them!

In the darkness, Reiki saw an outline growing bigger to show that something was trying to close distance between them. Fortunately, it looked like something for him to jump over. Perhaps it was a tight area, but if he bent his knees up to his body, he could just barely avoid the tusks of the boar. And so he took the leap of faith, literally, and proceeded to jump over the animal when it charged to avoid being gutted. Now to run before it had the chance to turn around!

At this point, there was no turning back unless he wanted to face the boar again. So Reiki proceeded to run forward towards the forced right turn he had to make before looking to whatever was there. And he swore if it was a dead end, Reiki was going to be making bacon of the fool behind him. Otherwise, he had to keep going with a stupid boar on his ass.

SPOILER: Click to show

SA in effect:

Enhanced Eyesight

The user's eyesight is heavily enhanced, even without the use of the Tennogan. The smallest details could be observed as if it were in front of the user should the distance between them not exceed 30 meters. Peripheral vision also seems as clear as if it were the main sight of focus.

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[Yoshiko]

First Exam: Maze Seven Reiki's Lucky Number 7 Charging the animal might of worked to scare some animals, but it did nothing to dissuade the boar. This animal was large rugged and quite violent looking, it'd actually rear up and sway it's snot as Reiki jumped it. This animal wasn't just some stray picked, it was likely trained to fight. It's snot attack causing it's charge to end and it's hooves to skitter about and regain balance. Reiki would escape the animal, but he'd charge straight into a dead end. Evading the animal was a close call, but the sound of it turning itself around would mean a call long from over. Killing the animal was a plan to say the least, but he needed to keep in mind everything. His best technique might be his worst to use, as it was this whole affair would be taking one day. He had to conserve his chakra in case the next challenge demanded more. The boar charges the cornered cloud shinobi, a fiendish roar as it does so.

[Omori Reiki]

Reiki's lucky number 7

Slamming his hand against the dead end, he would look at the wall with hollow eyes as he knew that there was only one way out of this area. Back. Seems like the right turn was the one he was supposed to take... And now he was going to have to earn his second chance. The boar wasn't stupid, it nearly caught him with it's raised attack before. Now that it knows how Reiki could evade, well... He was going to have to take a different approach. Rushing something with the same weight as him was going to hurt a lot. Maybe he could just, er...

Well it wasn't like he was being given many options now was he!? Screw it, he had a beat stick on his being, he needed to let it go and stun the boar! Perhaps it might not work if it was resilient enough, but there weren't too many things that wouldn't cost him an arm and a leg. And time was of the essence, the Omori was losing too much of it!

And so he would take aim with the torch he had in his hand. With careful aim, he would throw it with almost all of his strength towards the boar's forehead, at least to try and distract it. But regardless of whether or not it worked, Reiki was taking anther shot and would use the moment he hoped it would be distracted by the torch bullet to get over it yet again. It was time to bail out! And if he did make it to the other side, hooray! Off back to where he came from.

SPOILER: Click to show

SA in effect:

Enhanced Eyesight

The user's eyesight is heavily enhanced, even without the use of the Tennogan. The smallest details could be observed as if it were in front of the user should the distance between them not exceed 30 meters. Peripheral vision also seems as clear as if it were the main sight of focus.

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[Yoshiko]

First Exam: Maze Seven Reiki's Lucky Number 7 The boar would re-aim itself again for the boy and with little hesitation charge him. It'd not go full boar as it'd done for the first charge, but this was to avoid running straight into a wall. The creature was quick and possibly hungry, it's squeals threatening and shrill in the maze. Though it's presence would in fact be stopped by the kumogakure shinobi's projectile. It'd not be knocked unconscious though, nor did the stick hitting the boar make a triumphant sound. Instead it'd hit the animal with an almost hollow sound, to which the creature would pause with confusion. There'd really be a second of confusion, before the boar went immediately back to trying to gore the male. He'd manage to once again hop the boar, but this time it'd be at the cost of a boar tusk slashing at his leg. The animal needing a moment to shuffle itself around again, as to chase the shinobi. It'd become quickly clear the boar had no training to 'guard', it was merely hostile and now woken would keep coming. At least the fact it'd chase the genin without giving up was a good sign, especially as the boy would round the couple bends back. Reaching the impasse again Reiki would be left with the choices of straight or left, it was different than before, but made sense due to the change of approach. However would the Kumogakure shinobi think straight? Would he remember where he'd exactly come from or would it even matter in the heat of the moment. A decision needed to be made immediately, as the boar would be quick on the genin's trail. Unless Reiki choose to turn and fight the beast.