Seeing that Ooyama was still too scared to speak, Hitomi seemed to take the reins.

  "Um, I think something is wrong with your dog."

  "Hmmmm?"

  "It's going Walf! Walf! and not Woof! Woof!" Hitomi said. "Dogs go Woof! Woof! not Walf! Walf!"

  Ooyama slowly struggled to his feet, and peered through Saisei's eyes, careful not to look the pup in the face.

  "Um, w-what do you want with us?"

  "This is Inuzuka territory, I'll say it again. You're squatting. I heard some complaints from a group of friends who were on the beach yesterday. They said you scared them off!"

  "Is Saisei t-that u-ugly?" Ooyama said sadly.

  "He's amazing!" Hitomi said. "They were running away in excitement!"

  "When they came back later their food was gone!"

  "Y-You don't have a-any proof!" Ooyama exclaimed.

  The girl turned her direction to the pile of trash on the other side of the room, and simply pointed at the empty bento boxes; though the one Ooyama hadn't finished was still in Saisei with him.

  "That doesn't prove anything!"

  "H-Hey, they gave us that food for free!" Hitomi cried out. "It's cultural!"

  "HA! Caught red handed!"

  "?????????"

  Ooyama was all out of options, and the girl in front of him didn't seem likely to concede. For a moment he thought about sneaking back into Kusakyu castle. The Kusakyu rarely went down into the crypts, and he'd have plenty of room to build his puppets; though he'd need to figure out a way to ditch Hitomi.

  "O-Okay, we'll leave, but I-I have a question."

  "Well, go on, spit it out. I don't have all day."

  "Walf!"

  "Um, w-where do I go to f-fight in the Mock E-Exams?"

  "The Mock Exams? Why are you asking about the Mock Exams?"

  "B-Because I-I'm a participant."

  "Yeah, I don't think so."

  "I-It's true!"

  "Okay, tell you what puppet boy. Me and you, one on one. If you got what it takes I'll tell you everything I know about the exam. Oh, and on top of that, I guess I can let you get away with staying in my tower."

  "??'? ? ??????????."

  “What was that?”

  "D-Deal."

  "Well, let's go outside, we're not doing this inside the tower."

  Ooyama used his chakra strings to walk Saisei outside of the tower, and onto the beach, Hitomi following him close from behind

  It was just as cold as it was the previous day, but this time it had begun to snow. The sand was white, and grainy and the water from the tide gently caressed Saisei's legs. A handful of bystanders seemed to form a crowd up on the road staring down at the beach where Rui, and Saisei were standing.

  "?? ????."

  "Um, Bearyama..."

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  "H-Hitomi, p-please step aside for now."

  "O-Okay."

  "Ugh, this is just getting weirder." Rui said.

  The crowd up on the road were murmuring to themselves. Hitomi had sat just below them, still in the sand, but not so far that she couldn't intervene if she was needed.

  "N-No dogs."

  "Walf!" The dog was still sitting on the girl's shoulder, and was waiting to pounce.

  "Go on Nina."

  The dog whined a bit before leaping off the girl's shoulder, and running to the sidelines by Hitomi.

  "This won't take long at all."

  "P-Please go easy on me."

  It was true. Up until now Ooyama had never been in a real fight with his puppets. Aside from very short training sessions with Endou this would be the first time he's put his creations to the test.

  "Hmm let me think about that - no."

  And with that the battle began.

  "Let's see just how strong that puppet of yours is," Rui said charging Ooyama.

  'I-I'll just keep my d-distance.'

  Ooyama pulled Saisei back, and pulled down on a lever just under his foot. As a result two small square pockets opened up in Saisei's torso, and launched a barrage of kunai at the young shinobi.

  "Useless!" The girl then started to run on all fours, her speed increasing with each stride.

  "Fang Bullet!" Her body twisted, and spun at such an immense speed the sand on the ground began to levitate off the ground. She crashed straight into Saisei crashing through the wood, splintering it all over the ground.

  The puppet's constitution was not easily broken however. Saisei's feet remained planted on the ground despite being pushed all the way back into a rock, the boulder behind the puppet cracking.

  'Ooyama, the wood we use to build our puppets is infused with our own chakra.'

  That's what Endou had told him. But was his chakra strong enough to resist the might of the Inuzuka?

  "Ahhhhhhhhhhh!" Rui yelled.

  Then it happened. A claw burst through the wood like it was made of paper. If Ooyama wasn't as frail, and limber as he was, it would've gutted him. The claw continued to reach for Ooyama's body, but the boy dodged left and right while inside Saisei. When he had the opportunity he brought both of Saisei's arms down onto the beast as hard as he could, but before they could crush her she leapt several feet back, and began to corner Ooyama like how a wolf would corner its prey.

  The crowd up above began to murmur even louder as the fight continued. Hitomi watched as the crowd grew larger, and larger. Even shinobi started to get involved; though they were in Inuzuka territory so it was mostly shinobi belonging to that clan that were watching.

  Just as Rui charged Ooyama again he activated a smoke screen. It engulfed the area, but Saisei was still leaned against the boulder with little room to run, so the Inuzuka shinobi took a chance and leapt into the smoke. She found her target with little issue, and stabbed her claw straight into its chest, and tore apart the cavity. Then she took her other claw, and picked the puppet up, and threw it out of the smoke, and to the other side of the arena. It crashed into a tree exploding into pieces, but to Hitomi's surprise Ooyama was not in it.

  The young girl continued to watch the smoke. For some reason neither Rui or Ooyama had emerged from it.

  "You think I'd fall for a trick like that?"

  It was Rui's voice.

  "Let's try this again."

  "Fang Bullet!"

  The smoke in the arena immediately disappeared, flowing up, and over the audience with intense speed.

  "Look!" One of the bystanders called out.

  Rui was in the middle of her Fang Bullet ability once again crushing Saisei, and Ooyama against the same rock.

  "You thought you could trick me with a substitution!"

  Hitomi knew better. She knew that the boy had three scrolls on his back. It wasn't a substitution, it was another copy of his puppet. It was another Saisei.

  "But the Inuzuka rely on scent to track our opponents!" Rui explained.

  There was already a hole in Saisei's armor so the puppet would not last if this kept up. Ooyama tried to launch the kunai out of Saisei's chest again, but.

  "I don't think so!"

  Rui lifted her legs up, and smashed both of her feet into the two holes where the kunai would've flown from. Saisei was falling apart.

  Struggling from inside Saisei, Ooyama tried raising the puppets arm again, but the Inuzuka shinobi tore it off with brute strength, and held it up for the audience to see. Then she slammed the arm into Saisei's head, piercing through its skull, Ooyama ducking just in time as the life of his puppet met its end.

  She slowly stood up on her legs, and looked down at Ooyama who could barely see her under the rubble of his puppet.

  "Is that all you got? Really?"

  "Move," before Rui could react she was on the ground, her hands full of sand.

  Hitomi dug through the wreckage looking for Ooyama.

  'W-What? I didn't even hear her coming. Who is she?'

  "I-I'm fine H-Hitomi l-let me g-get my other s-scroll. D-Don't look at me." And after a moment a new Saisei had formed just before the group.

  Rui got to her feet, and eyed Hitomi suspiciously.

  "You're next."

  "Oh, uh n-no I don't think that's a good idea," Hitomi replied anxiously. She was looking up at the crowd, and everyone that had gathered.

  "You need a place to sleep don't you? Then fight me."

  Nina had run up Rui, and climbed up her leg sitting right back on her shoulder.

  Hitomi turned back, and looked at Ooyama.

  "Y-You don't have to," he said. The boy was already back in Saisei, no one had managed to see him outside of it yet.

  "B-But we need a place to sleep - for when you get back." Hitomi clenched her fists. "I-I'll fight you then."

  "No, you won't!" A loud voice boomed from the crowd, and down into everyone's ears.

  The group looked up, and saw something parting the crowd. It was a man atop an extremely large wolf. He had a large sword sheathed to his back, and dark orange hair.