Chapter 1: The Story Begins

Kaze stood up high in a tree, looking down at the scene and said, "You know, it would be a little fun to make a cage of fire, but I do not wish to harm anyone but my true enemy." Kaze turned his back and began to charge his chakra.

Raiku looked down and saw the syrup trap. "Clever," he thought. As he approached the ground, he quickly made a hand sign. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Jutsu!)" Raiku created a clone of himself standing in the sticky liquid directly beneath him. Although the clone was trapped, he was able to catch Raiku, keeping him from touching the syrup trap. "Good attempt Chie," he said, "Seizing an opportunity like that in a split second is exactly how to take your opponent by surprise. I must be seeing some of that wisdom you spoke of earlier." Raiku then jumped off of his clone onto dry land.

From behind the shadows, Mugen attacked with a kunai aimed at Raiku's throat to throw him off balance before giving him a spinning reverse kick to the head. "How that for surprise sensei," He said.

Raiku just narrowly ducked under Mugen's kunai attack. "This kid is pretty fast," he thought. Mugen then followed up with a kick aimed at Raiku's head.  However, Mugen simply kicked through the Jonin's afterimage, with the real Raiku appearing behind him, lunging four fingers towards his butt. "Friendly a-hole," he said, "meet my not so friendly fingers."

Kaze looked over his shoulder and saw his allies having trouble, "Hm, that flame cage may have to be deployed after all, I got it." Kaze looked at his allies and yelled, "Hey you two throw your Kunai at me with full power!" Kaze stood tall and bravely.

"FUUUUCCCK YOOOUUUU," shouted Mugen as he flew through the air into the treeline. He hit so hard that he bounced twice before coming to a stop. "Ooww... I'm gonna kill him for that," He groaned before staggering to his feet, "Oh yeah he'll pay for that."

"Mugen are you ok?" asked Chie, "You know, it's funny. I've only seen bottled rockets fly far like that and pinballs bounce around like you did." Chie couldn't help but let out a smirk and a giggle. What happened to Mugen was quite comical. "Well anyway, my plan backed fired. Got any ideas?"

Kaze looked at Chie and gave a very serious face and said, "I am sorry, I give up." Kaze said and he looked down at the ground. "I am no good at making plans or executing them, I would just hold the team back, I trained all my life for this and I failed. What was I thinking avenging two people who I don't even know. Forgive me you two but I quit." He said and feel to his knees.

"What's this?" thought Raiku, "He's giving up? No student has EVER given up as far as I know." Raiku walked over to Kaze. "Stand up kid," he said with a stern tone, "You're not giving up that easily. I'm not letting you. You're a shinobi. Maybe not a proper one, but a shinobi none the less. Do you have no pride at all? You haven't even made a move on me yet. Now come at me with all you've got and take these bells!"

Kaze looked up at Raiku with a smile. "I can't believe you actually left your back so unprotected, Am I planning to take the bells? Eventually but I like to play with my victims before I spring the full trap. I trust that my allies know what to do and that is a lot coming from me." Kaze said with a proud grin, "I don't mind if I fail this test. I see it as a chance to show my abilities." Kaze said while pulling out his Kunai and his gaze hardened, "Ok sensei, show me what you can really do." Kaze said with determined look in his eye.

"This is your first time working with these two," said Raiku, "You can't trust that they know anything. You all need to get better at communication and not just wait for others to make a move that you can exploit. I want to see some team work."

Kaze's eyes widened as he came to realization. "Guys meet up with me at the starting point. I got a plan and I need your guy's help!" Kaze said to Chie and Mugen. Kaze began running through the trees swiftly to the meeting spot.

Mugen was stunned by Kaze's performance, he wasn't sure what to make of it but decided to follow him anyway to hear this 'plan' of his. "Hey Kaze," Mugen says as they ran, "next to you try to fool a Jonin try putting some follow through into it."

Kaze looked at Mugen and gave him a small smile. "My plan is to have us all rush him all at once and Chie will have to set another syrup trap and you will need to use your clone jitsu while I create a cyclone to frighten him and when he has us on the ropes I will threaten him with my fire chakra and while he is distracted you either grab the bells or attack him, the choice is yours." Kaze said to Mugen and Chie with a grin.

Raiku could have followed them but he chose not to listen in on their plan. "Hopefully they can come up with something," he thought, "Even if the plan is unsuccessful, their team work is what I'm really concerned about."

Kaze had a thought, "I should start the windstorm now huh?" Kaze asked as he used his wind chakra to create a massive gust of wind going on all directions. "Ok, Mugen, Chie go!" Kaze said as his plan begings to play out.

Well, I guess its better then doing nothing, thought Mugen as he quickly made three Shadow clones then made hand signs for the lighting blade. "Alright let's go," shouted Mugen as he and his clones dashed toward Raiku with amazing speed.

Chie set up another syrup trap as ordered. "Ok kaze, it's all set up and I hope this works," she said.

As the clones approached, Raiku readied himself.  The three clones rushed up first, with Mugen (chidori in hand) following close behind them. Raiku noticed that Chie made another syrup trap. "Yeah no," he thought as he started running up a tree.

Kaze smiled wickedly as Raiku did what he anticipated, Kaze used his wind to blow Raiku out of the tree and made him fall to the ground but to not deal serious damage to Raiku Kaze used his wind to slow Raiku's fall before he hit the ground but left enough force to knock the wind out of him. "Mugen! make your move Chie, you back him up!" Kaze ordered.

One of Mugen's clones front kicked Raiku in the abdomen then another gave him an Aú Batido kick to the chest while the final one uses Corta Capim to catch his legs knocking him over. "Eat this," shout the real Mugen as dives from the tree driving his feet into Raiku's abdomen then hitting him in the chest with an electric punch.

Raiku wasn't expecting such heavy winds. He knew Kaze possessed the wind chakra nature, but he could barely keep his balance in the trees with all this wind. He stopped channeling chakra into his feet, allowing Kaze to blow him down. He expected to land a bit harder than he did, as Kaze used wind to make it softer. "Didn't I tell you that you need to be ready to kill me kid?" said Raiku, "Don't go easy on me. Give me all you've got."

Kaze then ordered his teammates to attack Raiku. Mugen and his clones quickly closed in. The first attempting to kick him in the abdomen. But Raiku caught his foot. The second attempted to kick his chest, but Raiku also caught his foot. The third swung a low kick to knock him over. With both hands still occupied, Raiku jumped to avoid the leg and then kicked the clone in the face. He suddenly heard a voice from above. "Eat this!"

Raiku looked up and saw the real Mugen coming at him with an electric punch. He could have countered with his own, but his hands were still occupied. The impact of Mugen's punch caused an explosion, dispersing the clones. Out of the smoke, Mugen could be seen standing in a small crater along side a mostly destroyed log. "Phew, I barely pulled that off" thought Raiku. He was in a tree overlooking the three genin. "That was some pretty good team work," he thought, "But I think I'll put them to one more test before I pass them."

Kaze stood trying to catch his breath, Kaze looked up at Raiku and seen that he had survived his first part of the ploy. Kaze remembered to what his old friend and mother figure told him while training him years ago. "Give your enemy a false sense of security." Kaze said to himself quietly. "Let him make the first move." Kaze said quietly to Mugen and Chie.

"I'm gonna hit his blind spot," Mugen says quietly, "I need you two to cover me as I move in."

Raiku climbed down from the tree and then pulled out a scroll. "Summoning Jutsu."  Two rabbits, one with a leaf head band, appeared.  He handed each of them one of the bells and told them to run off in different directions.  As the rabbits ran off, he looked towards the genin.  "Time for the final test," he thought. He lunged forward, sprinting right passed Kaze and Mugen and kicking Chie.