[meepington]

Inunaki Itsuko Fuitchi Sogo Yasuraka Hitsukai Hijikata Saga Arakawa Kaida

With everyone being moved into the cave with their proctors they’d find themselves eventually all coming out the other side entering into a deep pit with stone walls and an open fixture in the ceiling beaming moonlight down directly upon them a large open space allowing them to see the starry mountain sky, with each team being assigned their own room unable to see the others. However there was an opening to be able to hear everyone else. "Hey…can everybody hear me, how do you like the mines we dug, I'm Iwane Iwamoto and I'll be your proctor for this portion of the exams!” a voice would sound over a loudspeaker, he sounded rather friendly almost a bit too friendly.

He’d appear inside of a small booth at the top of the cavern that was far away but not so much he couldn't be seen. He'd look down at everyone with a wave, with a vantage point allowing him to see all 6 teams in the facility. He had dark red hair and thin brown eyes wore a hard hat and spoke with an energetic voice. "Anyway welcome to the second round of the Chunin exams, for this trail you’ll be solving a Puzzle, but it shouldn’t be too hard considering you already know a part of the answer.” he would say with a smile.

"You have 1 hour to solve the Puzzle, and make it through the doors in front of you, but they won’t open until you solve the puzzle completely and you can only go to the one that corresponds to you." Before them were a set of stones that were stacked in a pile, beside them were a set of scales with numbers scribed onto them, the numbers however were different for everyone. For this team the numbers were 011, 871, 002, 041, and 521 "In order to move on, you’ll need to apply weight to the scales the numbers will tell you how much weight will need to be applied and you'll need to use the stones in order to solve the puzzle."

Looking around however other than the scales placed on the ground, and the pile of stones there wasn't much other information around the area. The pile of stones however if one would notice weren't all the same size they looked like large round rocks with flat tops like a wheel of cheese, each one weighed a different amount, but they wouldn't know how much they weighed until they picked them up or moved them. There were 5 stones in total one for each tile, each one was about the size of a full grown man.

"Good luck you guys, the clock is ticking I can see all 6 of you from up here so don't try escaping or else, once you've figured out the puzzle I'll let you know when you're free to leave, if anyone gets hurt please use the intercom! It's every man for themselves so do your best!” Along the wall in each room was a red buzzer that looked like an intercom pushing the red button would give them access to talk to Iwane and also allowed Iwane to talk directly to them.

SPOILER: Click to show

Congratulations on making it to round 2! For this phase of the exams you’ll have 12 rotations to solve the puzzle, Your current position in the rankings is based on your placing in the last round in the round. So if you didn’t do so hot now's your chance to improve your scores.

From this point forward your scores are based upon your commitment to the characters IC behavior as well as your overall contributions in the exam and all other rounds going forward! Do your best good luck and have fun!

You will have 5 days to post [120 Hours]

- ❤ -

[Fuitchi Sogo]

get away from me

[get closer to me]

♕

Sogo had arrived and immediately gone to sleep as soon as she had been allowed to rest, which had netted her a pretty good nap all things considered! Carrying her massive shield-board Marunoko and still wearing her oni mask she would listen and really not fully understand the instructions, but she honestly just had more hate for puzzles then she did for this new team of people. Rubbing her hand along the horn on her head she would move forward as soon as the instructions were done and immediately moved to try and lift each of the rocks before taking the lighter ones and placing them next to the scales in an order that would be closer to heaviest to lightest.

"One Hour is a lot of time so lets act slowly and not move the boulders off the scales. I don't think its worst for us to take our time, so don't help me lift these okay? [One hour is not a lot of time so lets act quickly and move the boulders on the scales. I think its best for us to rush. so help me lift these okay?]" Sogo would speak in what to her was a friendly tone, which was to say one that sounded rude, despite her message, actions, and expression (what could be seen of her face anyways) all told different conflicting stories. Moving around the stone more as she tried to use her shield to scoop the heavier rocks to get leverage on them.

Notes

"Spoken"
[Actual meaning]

temp by ai

[Hijikata Saga]

"what's the matter Genin?". "How can you move forward if you keep on regretting the past?" ROUND 2 BEGINS Having completed the first round in just about 14 hours, Saga had some time to rest and eat something before the beginning of the second round. He was happy to see that he would be on the same team as Kaida, and he was also happy with his performance so far; he honestly didn't expect to make it past the first round, and yet here he was. And he did fairly well at that, finishing in 10th place. "I'm 10th, Kaida!! Guess I'm a badass too! Hahaha!" he would comment with plenty of enthusiasm. Once they were moved into a cave with a proctor, he would look around and see the members of his team and... He didn't really recognize any of them, other than his good friend. Still, he would look at Hitsukai with a quite suspicious look on his face. "Hey! Why are you here, old man? Are you spying on us or something?!" he said, narrowing his eyes and frowning his brows. He looked way too old to be a Genin, but then again, Saga didn't know much about other villages and was just talking off his ass. He would finally shut up and focus when he heard a voice addressing them and introducing himself as the proctor, whatever that word may be. "Kaida, what is a proctor?" he would whisper to the girl. When the man mentioned a puzzle, Saga sighed and whined, dropping his arms to his side. "A puzzle?! Really? That sucks, man!" he complained, knowing all too well he wasn't very good in tasks that required the use of the brain. They had just one hour, and they needed to solve it in order to go through the door. There was a scale with a bunch of numbers, and some of them were so big, Saga felt a bit overwhelmed as he tried - and soon gave up - counting them on his fingers. "These numbers are too big... I can't picture them in my head..." he admitted, feeling rather nervous and frustrated at this point. One member of the team spoke, saying one hour was a lot of time, and Saga frowned at that. "Are you dumb? One hour is not a lot! It's like... Two poops, maybe three! Jeez... I guess we can't really count on you". he shrugged. Still, despite what she said, the girl went on to move the rocks. Saga felt intrigued and once again turned to Kaida. "I guess she is weird... I will try moving a rock too... Maybe it's about balancing weights, I dunno..." he shrugged, moving towards one of the rocks, and trying to see how heavy they were. "There is no such a thing as a painless lesson, they just don't exist. Sacrifices are necessary; you can't gain something without losing something..." CE: Round 2 Tries to move one of the rocks [Fuitchi Sogo Arakawa Kaida Inunaki Itsuko Yasuraka Hitsukai meepington] [436 words]

[Arakawa Kaida]

Arakawa Kaida

The other apprentice gives the green haired girl just as skeptical a glance as her companion though her gaze soon turns to Saga as she realizes her partner in crime measures time in bowel movements. Where all boys this gross? Maybe it was a good thing their Master wasn't particularly interested in them. Kaida wasn't sure she could deal with an oversized gross boy in addition to the undersized one that was her best friend. Blinking, her inner eyelids sliding closed, followed by her outer ones she turns to her partner to explain. "A proctor is like a teacher in the academy Saga. He's there to make sure we don't cheat or break the rules or like a uh... referee in a wrestling match." She dims down the explanation a little for her buddy not wanting to get to overly complicated and distract him too much when time was of the essence. Eyeing the large human sized stones Kaida tried not to sweat uncertain if she could move them.

"I bet we have to correlate the weight of the stones to the weights on the scale, but we don't really have any way of knowing how much each stone weighs other then rough guesses." She murmurs worriedly as she glances towards the scales chewing at her lower lip fangs cutting into flesh beneath her gasmask.

"Can we umm... I guess maybe organize them in least heaviest to heaviest? Then we can at least have an idea how to arrange them." Kaida suggests, but she doesn't sound particularly confident.

SPOILER: Click to show

Justu Goes Here

悪夢

                Made by Keen of FBNRP | Word Count: | Hijikata Saga

[meepington]

Inunaki Itsuko Fuitchi Sogo Yasuraka Hitsukai Hijikata Saga Arakawa Kaida

A large audible sound could be heard after Iwane performed a seal that would cause the sides of one of the rooms to jut up blocking the birds escape as well as making a loud audible sound that everyone could hear.

"Sorry, but crafting summons or other forms of messenger animal to spy on the others counts as breaking the no escaping rule, it was put in place to prevent you from leaving your room for the purpose of leaving the exams as well as cheating, if this is done again everyone in the room that this took place in will fail, regardless of complicity.” Iwane would state over the intercom his voice still carrying that same friendly tone from before.

SPOILER: Click to show

THIS DOES NOT COUNT AS A ROTATION FOR YOUR TEAM!

- ❤ -

[Inunaki Itsuko]

It made sense that the group Itsuko had been assigned were all more physically inclined. She'd performed well in the race, as it had turned out, despite her lack of physical strength or speed so she was probably something of an outlier in Group B. That said, she didn't expect them all to be so scatterbrained.

Well... okay, maybe she did.

She moved toward the scales, ignoring the weighted stones entirely. 011, 871, 002, 041, and 521... If these numbers correlated to the weight of each stone then there was no way the genin with her would be able to lift the two heaviest ones. There had to be something else going on. She took some time to examine the scales, looking behind them and testing the give that each one had with her hands to see if there was any difference in resistance between them.

As much as she wanted to ignore this and fly through the door, the proctor had been pretty clear about the requirements for this portion of the exam. '1 hour to solve the puzzle AND go through the door in front of them.' Besides, the door looked like it was mostly made of earth and there was no guarantee she'd be able to pass through it anyway.

As juvenile a puzzle this was, Itsuko knew that it was just a representation of the critical thinking any mission would demand. So she did what she was taught and looked for patterns and outliers.

If she was out on a mission she could count on her comrades to focus on the solution of the puzzle before trying to input an answer. Though, she was grateful for one of them testing the weight. The rest were helping to expedite the process of moving the stones over... but they weren't that far away to begin with. She began speaking aloud; to some it may seem like she was stating the obvious but in truth she wanted to get all of these numbskulls on the same page.

"For starters, the eight hundred something and the five-twenty-one scale are both a big jump from the others; two, eleven, forty-one." To her it meant that there was obviously something more going on with them than immediately jumped out at the group. She started again, moving on to the more esoteric aspects that could be less valuable or key depending on what they found out next. "Also, all of these numbers end in one, save the lowest one which ends in two." She clarified her intent. "In looking for patterns, I don't think that's a coincidence... there's also five scales and five of us!"

Despite the dry observational content, Itsuko's tone was warm and patient like a doting mother's. If anyone looked over at her, it was all smiles and delicate motions, examining the scales with a gentle touch and calling out like a cat's first mew of the day, strained to be louder than she was used to but soft and wholly unthreatening.

TLDR; itsuko looks at the scales and says aloud a bunch of patterns she notices so that everyone can operate with the same intel regardless of where they occupy their attention this rotation.

200+ words

Jutsu Counter: none

SPOILER: Click to show

no jutsu used this round.

[Yasuraka Hitsukai]

Having finished eighth place and just over the fourteen hour mark, Hitsukai had fortunately acquired a plethora of time to recuperate from the race; granted it was not entirely necessary due to the short rest he had taken at the next to last checkpoint during the trial. His time was largely spent meditating followed by a short amount of basic exercises which further aided in clearing his mind stretching out his body.

Finally he and those placed within his group were moved into a cave which eventually led to a room. The room had bare walls with a large relief cut into the ceiling that opened up to the evening sky above. Oddly enough the bare stone walls made him feel at home, it reminding him of the Temple of Bishamon far away in Sunagakure. Granted, the stone there was of a different composition than the stone here.

Once they entered the room and were seemingly sealed from the rest of the world, one of the other genin that had been made part of their group began to shout accusations towards Hitsukai, accusing him of spying as well as what was admittedly more annoying to the monk, calling him an old man.

Hitsukai could feel his blood pressure spike slightly from his sheer annoyance at the child, although he did his best to rein in those emotions. "Testing myself, same as you." The response was brief and he was not even sure if the kid heard his answer. Still, he tried to conceal his annoyance and kept his answer brief which worked out for the best as a new voice echoed out from a speaker. The voice welcomed them to the second round of the exam.

The general concept of weight and scales was explained, with a vague statement of them already having part of the answer being said. The kid who had called him old earlier immediately began questioning what a proctor was, before beginning to complain about having to solve a puzzle. Another of the genin said that they had plenty of time and should make use of it before moving any of the stone, only to then immediately trying to move one of the stones. A third stated their initial theory of matching the proper weight to each scale and suggested they organize them from lightest to heaviest. It was a basic enough idea, but it seemed unlikely they would make a puzzle too straight forward; oddly enough they had taken the time to answer the annoying child's question, showing she was either helpful or that they knew each other. The final participant was a bit more insightful it seemed as she stated several interesting patterns and breaks in the patterns.

Hitsukai was considering the small amount of information the other participants had shared, while the voice on the speaker once again filled the room, stating that they could not make use of summons or other messenger animals to spy on the others. It was a rule that was of little importance to his own skill sets, but if the others present tried it seemed he would need to stop them or else be eliminated himself. Still, it was interesting that the proctor felt the need to keep them from seeing what the others were doing. Would the hints in the other rooms help them solve their own or were they just concerned with them seeing how the others solved theirs and applying it to their own problem. It was unclear, but certainly interesting and led Hitsukai to another question; were they limited to the information they had there or could they ask questions.

He could hit the indicated red button and simply ask the question, but the proctor had also referred to them using it if someone was injured, so there was the possibility they would be disqualified for using it outside that circumstance. In the end it was not worth the risk of trying the intercom, but he could still try to check the possibility of them being allowed to ask questions. Taking a deep breath, Hitsukai shouted as loud as he could, pressing his hands to the sides of his mouth to help direct the sound to the open hole above and hopefully allowing the proctor above to hear him.


"Are you permitted to answer questions related to the puzzle?"


He did not fully believe that the proctor would be able to answer questions, but the fact that there were individual speakers in the room did allow for the possibility that a specific room could be spoken to if desired, which would make sense if they could give individualized answers to questions. At the very least he felt it worth checking.

While he waited for a response that might not come, Hitsukai began to walk, moving past the stones that most of the other genin were focused on so that he could examine the scales themselves. He would take a minute or two to examine each scale, trying to see if there were any noticeable differences or hints to the puzzle on any of them. If he failed to find anything, then the monk would begin the process of stepping onto each scale to check if any of them reacted to his specific weight.


"Adding the numbers together gets us one-thousand four-hundred and forty-six. So at the very least we know it would not be divisible by the five scales. It correlating to our weight is a possibility, but I feel it would be something less simple. Perhaps something to do with our placement in the last exam, ages or some other factor."


Hitsukai spoke aloud while he was examining the scales, sharing his speculation like some of the other genin did not seem as if it would hurt their chances; although the mention that it was every man for themselves earlier by the proctor did indeed mean there was the possibility that their teams were being pitted against one another or potentially that not everyone in this room would be able to proceed forward.


He cited the possibility of injuries too. Might be they expect some of us to fight the others so that we can have the necessary weight to leave. Best to keep that to myself for now though, not sure if its the case and I'd rather everyone not turn on each other this early.

Made by Riley at THQ!

[meepington]

Inunaki Itsuko Fuitchi Sogo Yasuraka Hitsukai Hijikata Saga Arakawa Kaida

As this team attempted to figure out the puzzle Saga seemed irritated at the prospect of the puzzle but made his way towards one of the stones only to realize that it was about 1200 lbs in order for him to lift it up and would be a bit tricky to actually move without the proper training or possibly help, but it seemed that Sogo was also willing to take a crack at it but could she really lift such a weight on her own?

Itsuko seemed to have a more academic approach to solving this issue as did Hitsukai both of them thinking something may be off with the numbers that are listed but not entirely too certain as to meaning behind it all. Itsuko thinking that the meaning behind the scales pertains to each of them, with Hitsukai thinking that the scales may pertain to their total sum. As Hitsukai made his way onto each individual scale stepping over them rather then standing firm him walking over each and standing still would cause the scales to move but due to the inconsistent amount of weight it wouldn't react only registering the pressure he applied.

Kaida figured that the best idea would be to place the stones in a particular order from lightest to heaviest presumably thinking about how to apply the stones which were a necessity to solve the puzzle. Iwane would watch them and denote their skills in an effort to resolve the issue impressed with their critical thinking, but action was important and something would need to be taken in order to effectively resolve the issue at hand. Each of them had their own ideas but they needed to take action for that was their only salvation to get out of this puzzle with the best marks.

SPOILER: Click to show

Congratulations on making it to round 2! For this phase of the exams you’ll have 12 rotations to solve the puzzle, Your current position in the rankings is based on your placing in the last round in the round. So if you didn’t do so hot now's your chance to improve your scores.

From this point forward your scores are based upon your commitment to the characters IC behavior as well as your overall contributions in the exam and all other rounds going forward! Do your best good luck and have fun!

You will have 5 days to post [120 Hours]

- ❤ -

[Hijikata Saga]

"what's the matter genin?". "How can you move forward if you keep on regretting the past?" EWWW MATHEMATICS Fortunately, Kaida was there to explain to him what a proctor was, and he nodded, with an almost amused expression. "Ah, I see. Thanks!" he said, giving her an enthusiastic thumbs-up for the help. He was very grateful for just how helpful the girl always was, and it was no secret to anyone that he seemed pleased by her presence, indicating they were probably friends. He tried to pay attention to what she was saying about the weights being similar to the scale, but pointing out they didn't know the weight of them. "Well, let's fix that! Hehehe!" he said as he walked towards one of the stones, trying to get a feel of their weight. Before he could grab it though, he heard the gy mentioning that summons were against the rules, and he took a mental note of that. "No summoning I guess... Fair..." he thought, shrugging. The girl with pink hair was analyzing the puzzle as well, but if she was being helpful or not, Saga had no ideal, for he had a hard time following what she was saying. "All those numbers are so high... I don't even known how to count up to some of them..." he admitted, in frustration. The one thing he got from it, was that indeed, there must be a link between their number and the number of scales and stones available there. "One for each of us, uh? I guess it makes sense..." he mused, picking his nose as he did so. Finally the bald, potential spy guy, spoke about adding the numbers together, and that sounded like a very big number indeed. "Just to confirm it... That's more than like all our fingers combined, eh?" he tried to make sense of the mathematic there, but his tone was a bit shy, as he felt a bit self-conscious of his own limitations. In any case, he would try to lift one of the stones, but it was absurdly heavy. If he had to put a number into it... "Damn! This one alone is as heavy as like... ten normal dudes..." he said as he gave up on trying to lift that one, moving to another one nearby, to try and see if they all weighted the same. "There is no such a thing as a painless lesson, they just don't exist. Sacrifices are necessary; you can't gain something without losing something..." Round 2 Relays info on the weight of the stone he tried, goes check the weight of the other four [Arakawa Kaida Yasuraka Hitsukai Fuitchi Sogo Inunaki Itsuko meepington] [381 words]

[Fuitchi Sogo]

get away from me

[get closer to me]

♕

It seemed that the people here were either incapable of following directions, or she was just not going to have a team to work with... well besides the pink girl, but the cheery types always gave Sogo the creeps so she was mostly going to ignore that fact. The two from whatever squiggly line country that headband was from where helpless too, who measured time in poops? Obviously meal times were the better judge of time; you always knew when it was meal time. That was also neither here nor there, much like her ability to move these damn stones! Baldy was on the intercom and she honestly was getting more aggrivated by the second with this whole thing.

A scowl growing in the form a grin and wildly ecstatic eyes from beneath her half-facemask. Moving the the scales again she set Marunoko on the ground and hopped up on the one that her weight... or the closes to it on it; 871. Sogo hadn't really thought about the numbers cause they were numbers, but if the pink and bald people were believable then they could of been weights. She hoped it was right but was otherwise swinging, "This one is definitely not my weight exactly. You should not sit on the scales that look bad to you. [This one definitely my weight sort of.You should sit on the scale that looks good to you.]"

Notes

"Spoken"
[Actual meaning]

temp by ai

[Arakawa Kaida]

Arakawa Kaida

"They did weigh us when we first arrived despite asking what we weighed..." Kaida muttered remembering how vague and irritated she'd been at all the questions as her gaze flits over the listed scale weights her gaze landing on the 521 one as she narrows her eyes. She herself weighed one-hundred-in-twenty-five pounds, but her weight didn't match any of the others listed unless... Could it really be that simple? Ambling up to the scale with her weight she tentatively sat down on the edge of it before easing up fully onto the scale wary of any sort of traps as she glances to see if the scale clicked into place or if it in fact did need a five-hundred-in-twenty-five pound weight to actually weigh it down.

"Hey Saga-kun? How much do you weigh?" She inquires turning thoughtful green eyes towards the boy.

SPOILER: Click to show

Justu Goes Here

悪夢

                Made by Keen of FBNRP | Word Count: | Hijikata Saga

[Inunaki Itsuko]

Oh no, they were all idiots.

But even so, the lot of them served as a decent enough bouncing off point for the girl's thoughts. If she was on an actual team, and not some haphazardly assembled lot of misfits like this one, she'd have expected some insightful dialogue in response to her observations. And while some offered a semblance of sentience, the bald guy and the chick that took a seat on one of the scales to be precise, the other two were pretty much useless.

The nonsense speaking one was still running their horn into the wall trying to lift the weights, seemingly uninterested in the puzzle. The other one... the little kid... was something else entirely. If these randoms were worth a genuine breath, the look of disgust would be without peer. She sent a warm and acknowledging smile his way and spoke without a hint of double meaning, "you get 'em~!"

Her attention turned back to the quieter one and the bald guy and brought an index to her chin. "I'm picking up what you're puttin' down!" She spoke a bit louder and directly at the Suna nin, replacing a lack of a name with a clear intention in her target. "And you," she turned to the girl perched on a scale, "Kaida, right?" She glanced in the blue haired kid's direction to give away her sources. "I guess we're on the same page, hehe~"

A giggle fell from her lips as she bounced over to the scales and located the one that most closely corresponded to her own weight. 011 was hers backwards so that seemed the obvious match. She glanced at the number beneath the Waterfall nin and immediately felt a bit of guilt at the forbidden knowledge.

When she reached the scale she hopped up onto it. Though, given a lack of athleticism, it was less a hop and more of a crawl. Either way, she stood up straight on the scale marked 011 and braced for a response. She turned back to the two nearest her; if the two imbeciles taking turns lifting rocks overhead it was circumstance as she clearly spoke only to Kaida and the Suna nin. "Since it might matter... Order of arrival was me, then the green-haired girl, followed by you," she pointed at Hitsukai, "then you," and then to Kaida. "Last was your friend." She shrugged. "In case it's relevant."

TLDR; itsuko joins the cool kids on the scales, standing on scale 011, and talks strategy with them.

200+ words

Jutsu Counter: none

SPOILER: Click to show

no jutsu used this round.

[Yasuraka Hitsukai]

His early attempt at contacting the proctor seemed to go unanswered, although the silence itself likely was the answer to his question and given he did not know if using the intercom outside of injuries was allowed; the monk was not exactly of a mind to push the matter.

Having moved to the scales and slowly made his way across them, none of them seemed to react to his weight to any significant degree. Walking across the scales might have not been the most cautious of moves, but simply staring at the numbers was not going to get them to the next round. It was a delicate balance of testing theories while not over-committing to anything and in the process making it impossible to complete the task.

Hopping off the last scale, Hitsukai turn his attention to what the others were doing. Watching Saga for a moment; the monk could not help, but say a silent prayer of thanks to the monastery for giving him a basic education which the annoying kid from earlier apparently had not been so fortunate to get. The hypocrite from Yukigakure was once again issuing them orders, telling them not to sit on the scales that looked bad to them before jumping on what he could only assume she thought was a good scale. It was around the time Hitsukai began wondering what exactly was wrong with the shinobi from Yukigakure that one of the two Taki shinobi hopped up on a scale and reiterated a question about weight.

Turning his head up towards the open fissure that revealed the night sky above, Hitsukai's face scrunched up slightly and he sighed heavily. The answer had seemingly been so simple, but he had managed to mess it up by overthinking it apparently. He had hoped to prove to himself he was smart enough for the job of a shinobi, but it seemed he had failed to do so. That was what he thought up until he looked over at Saga again and remembered what the boy had said only moments ago.

Turning to look at the scales once more, Hitsukai was quick enough to pick out the one with any meaningful number to him, the monk see the reversed two-hundred listed. This proved to be a new source of concern, as his actual weight was much heavier, granted the scale had not activated when he had stood on it. So while not impossible, it was at least unlikely that they had used his actual weigh in rather than what he had written down. It not working before had probably been due to the excess weight his fuuin training weights put on him.


"Just have to figure out which stones are which now."


The words were muttered just around the same time Itsuko suggested that their order of arrival could potentially play into the puzzle which gave the monk pause while he considered it. It certainly was possible, but at this point he did not know if it was likely or not. The first stage of the puzzle had been surprisingly simple, but now the question was; would the entire puzzle be simple or had that just been done to make them stop taking it seriously. He looked back towards Itsuko, speaking up with his gaze making it obviously he was responding to her.


"We figure out who's rock is who's for now, but we don't place 'em right away. We have a little time to reason out if it's really this simple or just a ploy to make us overconfident."


Whether they cared to listen or not, Hitsukai moved to the stones. While it might have been difficult for some to gauge the weight of a random rock, it was slightly less of an issue for Hitsukai. Between his experience with weight training, the weights that he wore providing a predefined reference point against the stones as well as his overall capabilities and knowledge when it came to kinetic redirection; judging which rock weighed roughly the same as him would hopefully not prove to be too much of a challenge. If Hitsukai had no issue with finding which stone weighed roughly the same as him, then the monk would casually lift it up, tucking it under one of his arms as if it weighed nothing; his gift being used to redirect the force its weight was exerting on his arm to be dispersed harmlessly into the ground.

Made by Riley at THQ!

[meepington]

Inunaki Itsuko Fuitchi Sogo Yasuraka Hitsukai Hijikata Saga Arakawa Kaida

As everyone came to their own conclusions about what needed to be done, Sogo would step on her scale causing a blue light to glow that would prompt the weight around the scales to create a blue glowing light that would illuminate the ground and would cause a pattern to form that would stop within the center of the 5 doors, the seal markings on the ground were nearly complete and the team seemed to work together relatively well which caused Iwane to take note of this from up on his perch.

However with Hitsukai wanting to see who’s stone was matched to whom he would come to find the answer was neither as the stone itself weighted more than potentially all of them combined standing at 1200 lbs in weight. As he lifted it up he would place it towards the last remaining scale in doing so the number on the scale would read a series of words that stated the word.

"From.” however despite his actions the others seemingly had the right idea in terms of the weight their willingness to work together was well met but for now what was their next move time was running out and they needed to resolve this puzzle as soon as they could.

As an added motivation an announcement would proceed over the intercom "Team C has completed the first phase of the exam.” before that however an audible "Shut the fuck up!” could also be heard coming from the other room.

SPOILER: Click to show

Congratulations on making it to round 2! For this phase of the exams you’ll have 12 rotations to solve the puzzle, Your current position in the rankings is based on your placing in the last round in the round. So if you didn’t do so hot now's your chance to improve your scores.

From this point forward your scores are based upon your commitment to the characters IC behavior as well as your overall contributions in the exam and all other rounds going forward! Do your best good luck and have fun!

You will have 5 days to post [120 Hours]

- ❤ -

[Inunaki Itsuko]

As most everyone made their way to what seemed to be their respective scales, Itsuko couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed.

Only the Yuki nin's scale had lit up, implying that only they had managed to muster the correct interpretation of the number. As Itsuko, Kaida and the Sand nin's scale all remained the same, she raced to try and parse just what the solution could be.

The weight thing was so on the nose and made so much intuitive sense, but maybe it was a red herring? But if that was the case, what clues were there to guide them to a response? Regardless, they might as well play this out before giving up. Baldy was already off on his way but no doubt the glowing blue light would draw the entire team's attention.

Itsuko cleared her throat, her rather gentle tone needing the added oomph before any attempt at public speaking. "Can we finish trying our own weights first?" She gestured for Hitsukai to hop onto one of the scales before beckoning to the weird teal-haired kid. "Might as well finish what we've already started right? Especially if we're getting results~!" She chuckled, referencing the reaction Sogo's scale'd had.

Turning toward her, she finally addressed the frosty weirdo. "So, you... kinda talk in riddles? It feels like?" She was genuinely puzzled at the blatant hypocrisy between everything this chick had said and done so far. At face value it was just, complete nonsense. But she didn't want to give up on the girl either. "Is that scale really a bad fit for you?" Even the most estranged cogs have a role to play; you just have to figure out how they function.

Meanwhile, Itsuko didn't move from her perch, only gesturing for others to join her atop the scales. Hopefully the Yuki nin would take the blue light as a sign to stay put, regardless of her answer, and this whole thing was Kaida's idea more or less so maybe that meant she was committed to it? The last thing she needed was for one of these dweebs to hop down and give up on something so quick to test.

At the same time, she was discourage by the fact that only one scale had lit up. But that was part of why she was so eager to finish exploring this hypothesis. If they needed to come up with a more complex answer then so be it; they'd do so. But ruling out the simpler answer before even trying it seemed really goddamn dumb.

TLDR; itsuko stays on the scale and urges everyone to try standing on their matching one if they have one.

200+ words

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