#eohkatabasis2026

“What the fu-?” A hand sets a styrofoam cup of coffee onto a cluttered desk, then reaches to turn a series of multiple monitors on, tapping against the keyboard at first in confusion to wake the PC, but then in alarm. “Hey, what the fuck?” “Program ran itself overnight, we’re trying to see how fucked we are.” Another voice chimes in, reverberating the stress of someone whose mistakes haven’t come to light yet. “It hasn’t even gone through user testing yet. Shit, the code shouldn’t have even been complete, what the fuck you mean - “ “I know. I know.” A beat, then with a little vibrato of tension as the speakers met eyes and the severity of the situation settled on them. “Yeah. Yeah.” “Good morning you two. We’re making good progress on beta for the patch update, yes?” “Date-san! Good morning! Shit-!!” The coffee cup tumbled over, soaking the keyboard, and the hands scrambled to wipe everything away. “Whoops! Hopefully the rest of your day isn’t so bad.” The voice is pert and amused, and her heels click on the floor as she leaves. Another beat of silence as the two programmers look at one another, and decide that they need to keep this from President Date for as long as they possibly can until they figure out how the hell this happened. Patch Sengo has been released early. And they have no idea what that will do to the base code.

CHUUNIN EXAMS KATABASIS 2026 — END.

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the Kage

The world around you shimmers. You aren’t sure when that began, the delicate way the air misted, staticky and flickering with every step down the mountain path and through the woods to return to the village whence you had come. Are you tired? The day has been long, longer than you could count, because deep down you aren’t sure if it has been a day, or longer, a week, weeks, exactly how many hours that you had lost in that lonely wilderness, in the dark and empty halls of the academy, in the presence of something beyond this world’s ken.

You yawn, stifled or exaggerated, and it’s in that moment that you find yourself distracted from the stuttering glass crack in the forest at your flank. But then it happens again, a flicker of light reflected out of the corner of your eye.

Where is the light coming from?

The sun still has not risen.

You turn, and the darkness warps, fractures, splits the treeline and the very air, a clean line that scatters the landscape into an abstract of millions of shapes. After a moment, the space straightens, corrects itself.

You have one final choice to make.

>>Select one: >The watchful’s job is never complete. Investigate the anomaly in the woods… or >Your mind is playing tricks on you. Return to the village, and get some much needed rest.

Deidara was tired. Pushing himself further, especially with the limitations placed on his abilities, was not a wise choice.

The exam had been proclaimed over, and so he will treat it as over. Investigating was not his responsibility.

The world around you shimmers. You aren’t sure when that began, the delicate way the air misted, staticky and flickering with every step down the mountain path and through the woods to return to the village whence you had come. Are you tired? The day has been long, longer than you could count, because deep down you aren’t sure if it has been a day, or longer, a week, weeks, exactly how many hours that you had lost in that lonely wilderness, in the dark and empty halls of the academy, in the presence of something beyond this world’s ken.

You yawn, stifled or exaggerated, and it’s in that moment that you find yourself distracted from the stuttering glass crack in the forest at your flank. But then it happens again, a flicker of light reflected out of the corner of your eye.

Where is the light coming from?

The sun still has not risen.

You turn, and the darkness warps, fractures, splits the treeline and the very air, a clean line that scatters the landscape into an abstract of millions of shapes. After a moment, the space straightens, corrects itself.

You have one final choice to make.

>>Select one: >The watchful’s job is never complete. Investigate the anomaly in the woods… or >Your mind is playing tricks on you. Return to the village, and get some much needed rest.

After the last Chunin Exams, Tenten was determined to make sure this one ended differently. And she's definitely had some stumbles admittedly. But she likes to think that she's been doing a decent job. She definitely feels like she has the sour muscles of it. Although not as bad as last time. The forest of death had been rather draining, even if most people on her team faired better than most of the others.

When she notices the fracture and the split, she tenses. She takes a moment to see if she can sense a genjutsu, cause there seems to be a lot of people who have been using it on here recently. But when nothing is sensed, she already has made her decision. She probably should have warned someone or asked them to go with her, but she figured 'what's the worst that could happen'?

The world around you shimmers. You aren’t sure when that began, the delicate way the air misted, staticky and flickering with every step down the mountain path and through the woods to return to the village whence you had come. Are you tired? The day has been long, longer than you could count, because deep down you aren’t sure if it has been a day, or longer, a week, weeks, exactly how many hours that you had lost in that lonely wilderness, in the dark and empty halls of the academy, in the presence of something beyond this world’s ken.

You yawn, stifled or exaggerated, and it’s in that moment that you find yourself distracted from the stuttering glass crack in the forest at your flank. But then it happens again, a flicker of light reflected out of the corner of your eye.

Where is the light coming from?

The sun still has not risen.

You turn, and the darkness warps, fractures, splits the treeline and the very air, a clean line that scatters the landscape into an abstract of millions of shapes. After a moment, the space straightens, corrects itself.

You have one final choice to make.

>>Select one: >The watchful’s job is never complete. Investigate the anomaly in the woods… or >Your mind is playing tricks on you. Return to the village, and get some much needed rest.

His tail flicked in agitation, tossing loose stones and shorn earth in the direction of the fracture. Sasori had heard the crack, and then again, and Hiruko's sensors had caught the flicker of light and the break of the line against the trees, a shearing that made it seem like a cleave of micah, a split glass creation that he could not see to the other side of, and it irritated him. There had been so many disturbances here, and nearly nothing to show for it but the fact that the Leaf nin were just as put off by this as he and his were, and that the Shukaku’s vessel was just as much a scared little boy at his core as he had been ages ago.

For a kinder and more nostalgic heart that might have been touching, the type of sentiment that might have brought pause to him - but he was the one who brought the red to the sands, and the Akatsuki had a job to complete.

The clods of dirt and pebbles had disappeared, with nary a clatter to give him a hint as to what lay beyond, and his tail swayed again, once more a flick of annoyance. It nearly was not worth it.

But then he saw the vessel step closer, and the Hokage shortly after, and he crouched within his shell for a moment with eyes narrowed in thought.

And then Sasori clicked his tongue, and shuffled forward, driven not by curiosity, but the need to see what beauty might have lain beyond. Or at least, what he could make of it.

Beauty was pulled from a skilled artist’s hands.

The world around you shimmers. You aren’t sure when that began, the delicate way the air misted, staticky and flickering with every step down the mountain path and through the woods to return to the village whence you had come. Are you tired? The day has been long, longer than you could count, because deep down you aren’t sure if it has been a day, or longer, a week, weeks, exactly how many hours that you had lost in that lonely wilderness, in the dark and empty halls of the academy, in the presence of something beyond this world’s ken.

You yawn, stifled or exaggerated, and it’s in that moment that you find yourself distracted from the stuttering glass crack in the forest at your flank. But then it happens again, a flicker of light reflected out of the corner of your eye.

Where is the light coming from?

The sun still has not risen.

You turn, and the darkness warps, fractures, splits the treeline and the very air, a clean line that scatters the landscape into an abstract of millions of shapes. After a moment, the space straightens, corrects itself.

You have one final choice to make.

>>Select one: >The watchful’s job is never complete. Investigate the anomaly in the woods… or >Your mind is playing tricks on you. Return to the village, and get some much needed rest.

"This forest just keeps getting weirder. I really ought to meet up with others and figure out the nature of this place. Running around blind doesn't sit well with me," she signs, resigning her self to her station. Though, as always, the moment you think everything is over, the fight drags on.

The world around you shimmers. You aren’t sure when that began, the delicate way the air misted, staticky and flickering with every step down the mountain path and through the woods to return to the village whence you had come. Are you tired? The day has been long, longer than you could count, because deep down you aren’t sure if it has been a day, or longer, a week, weeks, exactly how many hours that you had lost in that lonely wilderness, in the dark and empty halls of the academy, in the presence of something beyond this world’s ken.

You yawn, stifled or exaggerated, and it’s in that moment that you find yourself distracted from the stuttering glass crack in the forest at your flank. But then it happens again, a flicker of light reflected out of the corner of your eye.

Where is the light coming from?

The sun still has not risen.

You turn, and the darkness warps, fractures, splits the treeline and the very air, a clean line that scatters the landscape into an abstract of millions of shapes. After a moment, the space straightens, corrects itself.

You have one final choice to make.

>>Select one: >The watchful’s job is never complete. Investigate the anomaly in the woods… or >Your mind is playing tricks on you. Return to the village, and get some much needed rest.

Shikamaru wanted to go home.

Home being the warmth of his bed, the gentle caress of his fluffy pillow smooshed against his cheek, the weight of a blanket that drowned out all the noise inside and outside of his head.

Home meant the quiet.

The peace, and the indecision of it all.

It meant being unbothered by responsibility and untethered by the hands of culpability. It meant running away with his tail between his legs, teeth clenched, praying that someone—anyone—would step in, analyze the situation for what it was, and give everyone the answers they needed. It meant taking the easy way out.

The whole lot of them were capable. They could each hold their own. It was for this very reason that Shikamaru shifted his foot back and peered in the direction of the fractured light. They would be intrigued. They'd investigate. It was in a shinobi's natural instinct. He knew this.

And he couldn't leave them to it. If the Chuunin Exams had taught him anything, it was to never let his guard down.

Nothing was over until it was over.