Squad 2's First Lesson (Akito/Hayabusa/Ky/Sabaku)

"I love the scent of explosive clay in the morning." Akito closed his one good eye as the desert winds tousled his platinum blonde hair and orange highlights. Taking a deep breath, he could already envision the art he was about to create with his newest students. Not exactly Explosion Corp material, but hopefully they'd realize how glorious the art of destruction was in time.

Akito stood atop a large boulder, smoking his pipe as usual while the rising sun caught his hair to make it glow. One can only imagine how long he spent considering what angle and which side of his face they'd all see first. This was his training ground, the place he forged weaklings into warriors. Amateurs into true artists. At the very edge of the minefield was a wooden sign that read as follows:

WARNING! MINES AHEAD!

Hello everyone, and welcome to your first lesson! I think doing introductions first is dumb, and I'm sure you're itching for your first lesson, so let's swap the order around a little. Ahead of you is a minefield I've personally constructed. Traps, explosives, seals and all lay beneath the sand and stone. Your task is to reach me and tell me your name, your goals, and your favorite medium of art. I tuned the difficulty so that the mines won't kill you. Probably. Have fun!

- Akito-sensei

Ky made his way through the desert, being the first to arrive as he stopped at the end of this 'minefield'. Raising a brow as he read the small note that was left for their squad and just tilted his head, letting out a sigh. "I should of assumed I would get stuck with him as a sensei... this is gonna be... different than I was expecting." He didn't want to attempt anything until the others showed up, though by placing his hands onto the sand beneath him, maybe he could gather some intel while he waited for the others to arrive. "Magnet Release: Sand Sensing", his chakra running through the sand beneath him and seeming to stretched out like a massive hand reaching throughout the desert ground, sensing for anything out of place or not entirely sand based. "Depending on the type of material used... I may just be able to detonate them all... but I doubt it would be that easy as a first lesson.. there must be a trick somewhere." He spoke softly to himself but loud enough that anyone close would be able to hear him.

Magnet Release: Sand Sensing:

Finally the long trek through the desert was coming towards the end as the people of the village had finally started to arrive towards the mountainous land of earth, the young Genin of the sand found himself waking from his tent, a bird perched on the peak above the opening a note on his leg. Stretching to the sky Sabaku turned towards the bird, pulling the note from the leg and reading it. The gist of the note was that he was to head back towards the sand village towards the old Explosion Corps headquarters, specifically a training field near there.

"So, apparently I am of less use here among the villagers than I will be on whatever this is for." Shaking his head Sabaku would head back into the tent pulling out his collection of scrolls and loose armaments as well as a cloak of some sort to keep the desert elements at bay. Once his gear was packed up he would collapse his tent folding it together, with his bedroll he would seal it into an empty scroll before heading south wards, back towards home.

Arriving at the destination he would find another person already there standing by a sign warning of a mine field. "Soo, there is mine field ahead that we have to find out how to cross so that we can get to this person who is apparently our teacher? Am I getting this right?" A quick scan of the wind swept desert beyond the sign left no obvious signs of possible mine locations. Pulling a Kunai from his pocket he would look towards the other young man standing there, "Any idea if this minefield is a hoax or real? And if it is the latter, are they proximity or weight based detonation? Cause depending on what they are, I may have a plan to get us through though it will not be quiet, Granted he didn't say anything about us being stealthy did he?"

The third genin looked at the sign with wide eyes, like a fish out of water. He blinked twice, then looked out over the shifting sands, seeing no obvious traces of mines in sight. He put his hand on his forehead, slowly running it through his hair as he considered what he could possibly do. "Mines? What the heck am I supposed to do about mines?" They didn't teach this in the academy - that was for sure.

At least his teammate seemed to have some idea what to do, scanning the sands with his jutsu. Hayabusa had no such luck - a bow and arrow would do nothing to mines. He felt bad to be, well, useless this early on. In the grand scheme of things though, it was only a minor setback. Just another bullet point in the list of things he had to learn to overcome.

"Any luck?" He asked the other two, hoping for some kind of solution. Maybe. Possibly.

Ky's sensing jutsu would reveal a decent amount of information as Akito gave the three genin a short nod of approval. Granted, if they couldn't even get that far he was shipping them back to train from scratch. In any case, as the sands shifted and touched at what Akito had buried for them, he would learn a few interesting things. Firstly, it appeared as if there were three concentric rings to this minefield with the boulder Akito stood atop as the central point. The first ring appeared to be full of various interspersed mechanical mines. Based on their shape, they were likely pressure-based explosives and simple enough to disarm.

The second ring was odd, though. All the shapes beneath the sand were strange. Rocks, paper, and what seemed to be clay animals and balls? It was rather bizarre for stuff like that to be buried. Considering what they had been told so far though, they were probably also explosives of some kind. The final ring though, the one closest to Akito was strangely empty. Just sand. Finally, there also appeared to be two more signs at the edge of each new ring with further instructions. They were a little tough to see considering the distance. Almost as if Akito was too lazy to yell instructions at them.

Ky slowly opened his eyes, keeping them facing forward as what he assumed were his teammates. He had seen the two around the village, but never really spoke much.. in all honestly he never really spoke much to anyone and kept to himself as he tried to master the desert. "Whether the minefield is a hoax or not I can't fully speak on. I do know that their are things buried within the sand in front of us.. almost in a pattern. It seems to be a three ringed pattern.. the first shape seemed to be something along the size of a .. plate, I can't fully comprehend their size from this distance." He once again closed his eyes to try and see if he can comprehend a bit more of the information he was given. "The second ring is multiple shapes within them.. not just a singular one.. so something is very off about those.. and finally the last ring is completely empty.. obviously that is the most dangerous part though." Ky would seem to drip a bit of sweat as the sand would seem to ripple outwards form his position. 'Magnet Release'. Toward the closer half of the first ring, sand would seem to swirl up ever so slightly, attempting to give positions for each of the buried items. "I don't know if those are directly above the buried items.. but they should be close enough to give us an idea."

Magnet Release:

"We are still just gathering information right now, though I think I have an idea for clearing the mines if they aren't proximity based." Sabaku would offer as the third person arrived asking for a plan of some sort, though as the first teammate gave a description of what was going on in the sand before them the young weapon master had a hint as to what his teammate here could do, within reason though whether or not their combined techniques will be able to help here is entirely dependent on the trigger to the explosives. "Now this is just a guess based off of what you are doing... uh I don't think I caught your name yet, but you seem to use Magnet release right? And are using magnetic waves through the ground to detect and signal the location of the items in question, can you make metal float comfortably?"

Should Ky confirm Sabaku's suspicions, he would holster the kunai he had been twirling pulling one of the scrolls from his pouch he would pull it open until he found the exact lines he was looking for, touching those lines with a bit of chakra there would be a poof of smoke before three broadswords would be summoned from the scroll. With a twitch of his fingers Sabaku would connect threads of Chakra two of the blades causing them to float in the air, "These should be wide enough for either of you to ride on, and if you apply your chakra similar to the tree climbing exercise you shouldn't fall, though I will need help with my blade. And we will also need a safe place between the first and second ring to see what the sign says and whether or not this will get us past that."

Sabaku would give the pair a moment or two to think over his suggestion, "So what do you say, does that seem plausible? Or at least worth a shot?"

Hayabusa put his hand on his chin, making a show of thinking. He closed his eyes, and pictured the shape of the rings, and the spacing of the items inside of them, based on where the sand had shifted. He nodded as Sabaku spoke along. Riding on a sword would definitely be a new experience for him, but he was proficient enough in chakra control to adhere to things, so he could maybe do it. Maybe.

"It could be plausible. I might be able to set them off remotely as well, depending on how deep the mines are buried. I should be able to give my arrows significant enough velocity..." He thought about it, looking out over the rippling sands. "What do you think? Sound like a plan?"

Ky's efforts would quickly bear fruit as the shifting and swirling sands moved according to his will and formed little semi-spherical protrusions to mark off the locations of all the mines in the former half of the first ring of the challenge. Based on how close each of the sand protrusions were, it looked as though they could be triggered safely without starting a chain reaction of some kind between each pressure-mine. In addition, once the three Genin began their super cool hoversword trip over the mines, they would notice a white ring around the second sign slightly off in the distance, just big enough for the three of them to stand comfortably in. Presumably to mark where the next level of the challenge began more clearly.

Akito watched on with his sketchbook out, doing a quick charcoal sketch of the three youngsters putting their heads together to work out the problem. He shaded the sands around Ky's feet in such a manner to give them a more fluid, shifting look as Sabaku's swords floated nearby all while Hayabusa's keen-eyed gaze looked at the problem they faced with a critical eye. Yes, seeing new squads come together like this was always a treat, as well as great inspiration. Humming to himself, the Ganbi patriarch poured himself some tea from a kettle and took a sip. Lapsang Suchong, his favorite. Of course, where he'd gotten a tea set and when he'd had the time to prepare piping hot tea while the kids were busy working at the challenge was a mystery. "You guys are doing great, keep it up!" Akito called while waving a hand clad in a fingerless glove while beaming at them proudly.

Ky stared out into the desert for a few moments, while he had sensed the location of everything, even with the sand up, he wanted a visual picture as well. Though watching the genin to the side of him seem to manipulate weapons the same way he manipulated the desert was rather interesting. He would slowly rise up, pulling a bit of the desert into his, and manipulating it into a small gourd he would wear on his waist. Jumping up onto the swords, he chakra would seem to attached to the weapon fairly easy. Then again, his entire existence of manipulating chakra around his body would make such a thing much easier. "As long as you can change the course of these blades quick if an explosion occurs, we should be fine." He spoke softly, still staring outwards as his eyes slowly rose up to hear the man at the top of the boulder. It was no mistaking, the art sensei.. the one that he had heard rumors about keeping their distance from... they were either scared of him, or though him an idiot. Either way, he was one of the best choices as a sensei in his personal opinion.