[center][color=#ACECFC][h2][u][b]Kouken, Ayame[/b][i][/i][/u][/h2][/color]
[COLOR=silver][sup][b]Iwagakure | C-B | Barrier nin[/b][/sup][/COLOR][/center][hr][INDENT][sup][COLOR=silver][b]TIME:[/b] [i]Present Day - Morning[/i] | [b]LOCATION:[/b] [i]Lightning Challenge Room[/i] | [b]INTERACTION:[/b] [i][@Ganryu] [i]Ai Kabe[/i], [@Kalas] [I]Renjiru Kurogama[/I], [@Spanner] [i]Hikaru[/i].[/i][/COLOR][/sup][/INDENT][hr]Glancing over to Ai as her sister put an arm around her and tapped her hip in what at first she thought a playful gesture, Ayame smiled slightly. After a moment the expression became more conflicted before Ai departed, leaving her with a frown. Ayame looked at her former teammates, and then threw a barrier rod down, the rod puncturing the ground easily.

She'd rather work with a team, perhaps at least one other person, but at the same time it was risky. What if one of them took it in mind to backstab her, that was the sort of environment they were in anyways. Channeling chakra through the metal frames in her body, she bowed respectfully, 

[color=#ACECFC][b]“I doubt you'll want to work together, but I greatly appreciate your assistance in the previous trial. Perhaps we can...avoid accosting one another at least?”[/b][/color] Her head rose and she smiled lightly, the slightest hint of worry creasing her brow.

It was in part because of the fact that she'd realized what Ai had done. She'd given her a scroll, which made her even more of a prime target than she otherwise may have been. Of course, it also gave her a distinct advantage over a great many others. Boons and banes as it were.

Drawing forth two more barrier rods, one in each hand, Ayame  nodded once more to her likely former allies then oriented herself towards the exit and started in that direction. She moved from a walk, to a job, a run, and then vanished into a Shunshin.

She'd liked Ai's plan, it would likely let her avoid as much combat as possible, and also to choose her opponent. Hopefully she would make it to the exit without encountering anyone else.[hr][center][color=#525087][h2][u][b]Nisekuru, Koutaku[/b][/u][/h2][/color]
[COLOR=silver][sup][b]Iwagakure | A | Tsuchikage[/b][/sup][/COLOR][/center][hr][INDENT][sup][COLOR=silver][b]TIME:[/b] [i]Present Day - Morning[/i] | [b]LOCATION:[/b] [i]Konohagakure - Stadium Observation Room[/i] | [b]INTERACTION:[/b] [i]TBA[/i][/COLOR][/sup][/INDENT][center][img]http://i.imgur.com/kEOUnIM.png[/img][/center][hr]Eyes widening at Shinko's sudden appearance, Koutaku quickly utilized chakra threads to move wires and kunai into place for whatever his next encounter became. This meant that there was wire going into the holes of a total of 10 kunai, which were then strung up beneath his shirt and threaded down the inside of his arms to his hands where they were bound at the fingers. There was enough slack that he could move easily, but not so much that moving would reveal the wire at all.

So it was that when the Hokage's assistant transported him, he was quite ready for an immediate engagement. Alas, there was none, which while good, was also troublesome in a way. It meant he'd have to [i]find[/i] someone and then steal that someone's scroll. Additionally, unlike the majority of shinobi in this exam, he had not been in a team. This meant that while others might naturally stay with their teams and hunt their peers to gain scrolls while working together, Koutaku did not have that option. He had to do this solo.

Narrowing his eyes a bit as he glanced around, sniffing the air, he took in a deep breath and sent a rush of chakra to his ears, closing his eyes as he did so. Immediately the sounds of the forest became much more clear, but so too did the faint sounds of voices and heavier movement elsewhere. He opened his eyes and sprung into movement, launching upwards into the treetops where he stayed for a moment to get his bearings and make a decision. Here he was protected somewhat by the canopy, the many branches making it hard to attack from any angle with a linear projectile or technique.

It bought him time to think, but it also let the enemy organize.

Not good.

Hmm, so if they were going to form teams, and they were—it was the only thing that really made sense—he would need to exploit the weaknesses of people in groups. That said, he'd need to exploit such a thing when there was chaos, when there was confusion...so he would need to go where conflict was going on.

He listened again, and this time he focused on finding the most noise, non-forest sounds he could, and when he did...well, it was good. He smiled, opened his eyes once more and moved. He was heading for what he was almost certain was an encounter between two teams.

It would be a fight in a larger group. Even if they had sensors and detected his approach, neither side would quite know what to do with him, the interloper. Plus, they would be at eachother's throats, and so would not be likely to all turn against him.

He wasn't a big enough threat for all that. This in mind he traveled the top of the canopy, totally out of sight, he still decided to take an additional precautionary measure. He transformed himself into a hawk and sped up his approach, while also hiding his nature. He even changed his flight pattern to be almost indistinguishable from any other bird in the forest.

They would never see him coming...even if they did he'd just be a bird...or perhaps something else entirely.

This was going to be interesting.