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The forest that grew in the confines of Training Ground No. 42 was a significantly large area but not big enough that a trek from the boundary to the center would take more than a day.
Takuma gazed at the central tower. He could just see the tip of the building with antennas fixed on the top as he walked along the river. The sky only had an hour to ninety minutes of sunlight left, after which it would be unwise to travel any further. He would cut through the short forest distance to reach the tower if he didn't have to wait for his team.
His journey had been mostly smooth, and he considered himself early to the meeting point, and didn't think that anyone would be there before, given that his river route was one of the shortest.
As he continued his march over the riverside gravel, he heard the sound of water grow louder. After fifteen to twenty minutes, he found himself at a bend where the river stream cut into two sub-streams— one which he followed and the other that split again later down the route.
He had reached the meeting point.
"Yo."
Unexpectedly, he wasn't the first one to get there.
Taro was already there. "You got here quick," he said.
"Not faster than you, though," Takuma dropped his backpack beside the large rock on which Taro sat.
"I just followed her," Taro pointed his thumb over his shoulder. Beyond the gravel, under the tree line, sat Kameko with her eyes closed and her sword laid in her lap. "It looks like others had the same idea as you."
"It's basic to follow the water for direction," Takuma shrugged.
Taro pulled a face as his shoulders dropped. "She didn't follow the water," he said. "I had to follow her through the forest until we reached here... it was horrible— so horrible." He sighed before asking in a more serious tone, "Did you meet someone along the way?"
"Twice," said Takuma. "I negotiated with one to part ways peacefully and hid from the other. Pacifist strat. What about you?"
"Pacifist... strat, what? Whatever, I don't wanna know.... We met four people, and she scared three of them and beat the crap of the fourth one— he pulled the flare. I didn't have to do anything other than just mind my step and maintain a constant distance from her," Taro pointed to Kameko.
Takuma could see that happening. With her personality and combat prowess, Kameko had a reputation for being someone not to be messed with. That sword of hers made long and deep cuts, and no one wanted to be spurting blood in the middle of the forest, waiting to see who would get there first— the shinobi or the forest residents, desperately hoping it would be the former.
"I see no one else's here yet," he said.
Taro shook his head. "I just hope they're here soon. I would prefer to get to the tower before dark and go straight home. Leave the rest of them to struggle for another day."
Takuma decided to treat some river water for drinking. It had already been a few hours since he had his last drink, and after the all-day activity, it was high time he got some more. By the time he had the fire setup ready and the water boiling, more people had arrived at what turned out to be a common meeting point for multiple teams.
"Aww, I wasn't first," Ai was one of them, "that sucks."
"How does it feel to lose to Turtle Taro?" Takuma smirked at Ai.
Ai groaned as she received the water canteen from Takuma.
"Hey, I take offense to that. And it's not like you can say anything, I arrived before you as well," said Taro.
"That's only because you had the killer rabbit Kameko's help," Takuma bantered as he kept an eye on the other who had arrived.
There were a total of three teams at the meeting point. Takuma, Taro, and Ai from Team-5. Kameko was joined by one of her teammates. And finally, there were two more members of another team. None of them had their complete teams, which meant no one could move forward to the final step of entering the tower. They were in a deadlock until every member of the team arrived at the place.
'Or maybe we're wasting time here, and the other two teams are already in the tower.'
The three teams remained in their area. Kameko and her teammate sat beneath the trees. Takuma and Ai make their place around the big rock that Taro was sitting on. While the other group stayed stationed near the river, cautiously looking at the others.
The silence between the groups was broken by a sudden loud sound.
"Ah! I found it!"
Masaaki came running out from the woods on the other side of the river with small branches and dead leaves sticking out of his clothes and hair. His face was all muddy, and he looked like he had come out of a mining cave. He stretched his arms above his head and looked up at the sky before gazing at the river. A grin appeared on his face. Masaaki dropped his backpack on the ground and ran towards the rivers before jumping into the water with a loud cheer.
"That idiot," Ai sighed.
"It is pretty hot here," Taro said, eyeing the river.
When Masaaki came out, Takuma passed him the water canteen that Masaaki chugged down empty in a second.
"Did I not tell you to head towards the river? Why did you come running out of the woods?" asked Takuma.
"Oh, that was good," Masaaki said after emptying the canteen. "I tried to find the water, but no matter where I walked or how much I walked, I couldn't find water." He pointed at the river behind him, "I did find this river, though, and I found you guys, so I guess it's all okay."
Ai saw that there was a tear on Masaaki's clothes. Worried, she asked, "Did you find others on the way?"
"Huh, no, I didn't find anyone. I did meet a couple of cats, though," said Masaaki, grinning. "Played with them a bit. They scratched me up a little bit," he lifted his backpack to show a large rip in the fabric.
Takuma stared at the rip in the bag, and even without his experience in fabric stitching, leather work, and equipment repair, he could tell that rip didn't come from the claws of a wee bit cat. But Masaaki looked fine, so he decided not to pursue the line of questioning.
"Now, we just need Nenro, and we can go to the tower," said Ai as she handed a dry towel to Masaaki.
Taro looked up at the sky. The sun had already pulled halfway down, and blue had already begun to blanket the sky. "Let's hope he can make it soon, or else we might have to camp here for the night," he said.
Takuma nodded with pursed lips. He would've been perfectly fine and happy camping by the river for a night, admiring the starry sky with his teammates, if not for the fact that they would have to shovel shit for a week.
Just as the riverside had begun to settle down again after Masaaki's loud entrance, the peace was once again disturbed by a red emergency flare ripping into the sky, leaving behind a smoke trail as it climbed up— brighter than the flares were earlier in the day against the bright sun. The location of the flare was relatively nearby to their position.
"How many does this make?" Ai asked as everyone watched the smoke trail.
She got nothing in response. No one knew the exact number. While the flares made it to the sky with the canopies blocking the view, the people inside the forest couldn't tell all the time when the flare was launched.
But they all hoped no one from their team had been eliminated.
"What are they doing?" said Taro suddenly.
They all looked and saw that the two near the river had gotten up and walked to Kameko and her teammate. Kameko was up on her feet before they could even reach her with her sword in hand. The two guys raised their hands and showed their palms, signifying peace— and then began whispering something to Kameko, who frowned for a moment before her eyes widened.
"Get ready. They might strike," said Takuma.
"Huh, why?" Masaaki asked.
"No fucking idea, but we need to be ready."
They didn't stand up and assumed combat stance, but all four of them did keep an eye on the others. There was silent tension between the two parties that grew louder with each passing moment.
"Does anyone know how to read lips?" Masaaki asked.
"If you shut up for a second, we might be able to hear something," Taro whispered at Masaaki.
Takuma tried to strain his ears to listen to what they were and even tried to look at their lips to see if he could make it out words, regretting that he didn't have friends in his life who didn't play the lipreading challenge with loud music pumping through headphones.
Eventually, one of the guys from the other team walked toward them.
"Be cool, be cool," Ai whispered to them as she crushed Takuma's arm in her grip. But it was also she who suddenly shouted, "What do you want, Rei?!"
"Hey, I have a proposal for you guys," said Rei with a smile.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Taro said out loud.
Rei shook his head. "No, no, this is beneficial, definitely," and seeing that they were listening, he continued.
"The four of us," he pointed back near the trees, "are ready to go to the tower and need one more member to come along with us, and we will get inside and get the number one—"
"What are you talking about?" Ai interjected, frowning. "You can't just gather five random people and enter the tower. You need to do it with your team."
Takuma nodded. The first two out of five teams entered the tower to not get punished— and hopefully, got some reward.
Taro suddenly whispered, "Oh no," he closed his eyes and sighed deeply, "oh no, he said it... Yoshio said it. How did I miss that? It was there in front of me..."
Takuma frowned. What was Taro talking about? The instructions from Yoshio were clear...
'—Every one of you will get one of these five tokens—'
'—All of you will start separately at different points of the fence, with the control tower somewhere in the forest as the goal. Five tokens, each of a unique shape, are needed to enter the tower. The first two sets of five tokens will be granted entry, while the remaining fifteen will be declared failures and have to shovel shit in a stable for a week—'
Takuma's heart leaped up his throat as he recalled Yoshio's instruction.
"The first two sets of five tokens...." he looked up at Rei. "Nothing in the instruction said anything about the team."
"What?" Ai frowned, confused. "I don't understand."
Takuma looked behind Rei at Komeko and company. He could see why they had joined hands. His team already had four members assembled, with only Nenro remaining. Expecting three members to arrive faster than one single person from another person was a tough wish— especially not knowing who was eliminated. So when Rie and his teammate approached Komeko and her teammate, he could see why she so readily agreed.
"Which token do you need?" Taro said to Rei.
Four people meant four tokens. The Rei-Kameko coalition needed one more token— meaning they needed only one more person.
"The pentagon."
Taro... Ai... Masaaki— all their heads turned as their eyes fell on Takuma.
Takuma, on the other hand, could feel the token with negligible weight grow heavy in his gear pouch.
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The link is in the synopsis!