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The ANBU had set up a temporary camp to house the candidates. It was a bunch of tents around a campfire and was located near a small stream. After Takuma had passed through the woods, the ANBU-nin he'd escaped showed him the way to the camp. Instead of immediately going to the camp, though, Takuma first went to the stream to clean up a day's worth of sweat and grime and wash his gear before making his presence known to his fellow candidates.
He changed into the clothes he had purchased on his detour and headed to the camp. He was spotted before he could even say anything. The candidates were sitting on logs around a campfire when they noticed him walking in. Everyone except bar one had their faces covered. Most either had the balaclava or the hard front mask on, but the only woman on the ground had one bandana covering her lower face with another one tied in her hair; it looked much more comfortable than the thick balaclava or the hard Scars mask Takuma had on. Then there was the Hyuga with his bare face, but covered eyes; the balaclava and mask wouldn't hide his eyes, which gave away his identity.
"Oh, we have another," said one of the candidates. He wore a mask with a blue ocean wave pattern, but Takuma knew what he looked like underneath it because it was the same candidate who had been stalking the inn's pub at the first checkpoint town. "Come, sit down. You must be hungry. They gave us a stash of field rations."
The candidate with the big afro hairstyle tossed a field ration at Takuma.
"Thank you," he replied.
"Don't mention it," said the tall and buff guy with the afro. "You can dry your clothes over there." He pointed at a couple of somewhat-occupied makeshift racks hanging near the campfire. Takuma would've refrained from leaving his clothes in the open, but the ANBU-nin had informed him that the camp was a 'safe zone' until the task's deadline and that the candidates were barred from sabotaging each other while they were there.
That was the reason why he had chosen to wash his clothes in the first place.
"We're going by our numbers, so introduce yourself to the group. I'm Five, nice to meet you."
"...I'm Thirteen," Takuma replied as he hung his clothes on the rack.
One by one, everyone around the camp introduced themselves by their numbers.
"You had the bad luck of arriving at the cabin at night, huh," said Sixteen, who Takuma noted had lengthy limbs. "I don't think I could've escaped them if they had the advantage of darkness."
"It worked out well, fortunately," Takuma said humbly. However, the truth was that not only had he planned to arrive at the final location at night so that he was in perfect condition every day, but he also preferred his odds in the dark.
The darkness narrowed the view of the ANBU team; the moment they found the clone, they stopped looking for anything else. Moreover, the Water Clone Jutsu had the flawed quirk of a clone's body where affected parts of it would momentarily distort when taking a substantial hit. In the daytime, that would've alerted the ANBU team that they were chasing a clone.
"So you've been sitting here since you arrived?" asked Takuma as he took a seat.
"Pretty much," said Three, the woman.
That meant he had one whole day to recover and relax. Three days on the road wasn't much for him, and he had been getting regular rest at night, but fatigue built up regardless; a free day would reset his condition, which was important since he wanted to be on top of his game.
"We've been discussing what the ANBU will make us do next to pass the time. Any thoughts?" asked Three, resting her chin on her palm as she gazed at him in interest.
Takuma considered the question. They could throw many challenges at them; he tried to think about what he would do if he were in ANBU's shoes. However, it was difficult because he had no idea what they were looking for in the candidates.
"I... think we'll be moved to a place with people next," he started. "Activity happens in a settlement with people rather than in the middle of nowhere. You wouldn't find bigwigs of a criminal group in a base inside a forest but in a city with luxury. Even thugs lower on the ladder need common amenities like food, water, and other stuff that make living tolerable. While you can get them in a mountain somewhere, it's difficult and costly... so if they're going to send us on the field as agents, then they need to test how we perform in a village, town, or a city."
He had spent two months in Yu, so he understood the attractions of a city, its people, and its economy. People wanted control, and there was nothing to control in untouched nature away from civilization—it was among droves of people that could be controlled. Humans were social animals; being stuck with the same handful of people with nothing to do would seem like a dull hell for many people.
"That's an intelligent take," said Seven, the Hyuuga, giving Takuma a nod.
"We've been thinking that they would either team us up or pit us against each other—openly, this time," said Five.
"Or both," said Ten, the afro guy.
"Teamwork and competition. Makes sense," Takuma nodded as he opened his field ration pack.
The lack of tension among the candidates stuck out to him like a paper cut. They were all competitors aiming for the same job, yet there they were, acting all buddy-buddy. There was nothing wrong with being friendly, and he liked the fact that none were being assholes, but seeing every single one of them chatting at the campfire felt off.
He expected at least one to keep to themselves, and yet everyone was present.
As he poured the curry rice pack into the pot provided in the backpack, he discerned something he hadn't put a finger on till now. Even though he was being cautious in the company of strangers, he couldn't sense an iota of danger from his competitors—all of them were hiding behind a friendly facade and were doing it beautifully.
They managed to make him feel comfortable enough to have him give a real answer to a question, which revealed his thought process and thus gave them insight into him. It was a team effort that started when he stepped into the camp. They were strangers, competitors, and yet they had worked with each other perfectly.
He was in admirable company.
"I must say, this is nice," said Takuma, pulling up a facade to join the team with a slow nod.
"I totally get what you mean," said Three with a joyous giggle.
———
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The task's deadline passed without fanfare except for a large explosion in the woods caused by one of the candidates. After Takuma, three more candidates tried to make it through the woods. Only two of them—Number #4, a man, and Number #14, a woman—survived the forest and reached the camp.
On the sixth day, Leopard, Ant, and the ANBU team arrived at the camp for the first time.
"Your batch started with twenty candidates, and after nearly a week of testing, twelve were weeded out, leaving you eight as eligible prospects," said Leopard. Unlike before, when she wore loungewear, she looked professional and decked in ANBU gear. "Don't mistake this for an achievement. Personally, I don't think the tests were difficult or even sufficiently challenging... These guys went too easy on you," she pointed to Ant and his team.
Ant stood beside her, still as a rock. Either he didn't agree with her assessment or didn't care for her agree with her—either way, her words bounced off him.
"Before we move on to the next stage of the assessment, we will be announcing the results of this task—to be exact, how long it took for everyone to pass through the woods," said Leopard.
Ant stepped forward and listed the numbers in ascending order for how long they had taken.
Number #7 — 8 minutes
Number #13 — 12 minutes
Number #16 — 13 minutes
Number #10 — 14 minutes
Number #14 — 14 minutes
Number #5 — 16 minutes
Number #3 — 17 minutes
Number #4 — 19 minutes
———
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Ant observed the candidates and how they all had glanced at Seven, the Hyuga, when they heard his time. He was the only person to take the single-digit minutes for a distance marked as ten minutes to travel. It showcased the terrifying gift of Byakugan that the illustrious Hyuuga clan possessed.
During Seven's turn, Ant and his team had failed to spot Seven, much less catch up to and engage with him. He had undoubtedly used his Byakugan to not only avoid them completely but also use the power of his eyes to pathfind a route of least resistance through the dense woods to traverse it in record time.
The team had no chance of catching or slowing him down from the very start.
Thirteen came second by fooling the team with the water clone gambit while he made it through the woods without ever engaging with them, much like Seven. He hadn't completed it sooner because he had to remain within a certain range from the clone or lose control of it. Thirteen had to stop every time he felt his clone on the edge of the permitted limit, which added two minutes.
In many ways, it was more frustrating than not catching the Hyuuga's shadow.
Then there was Sixteen, who the team had trouble keeping up with. Ant didn't know if it was because they were in a forest or if he was always like this, but Sixteen was agile and moved in a way that, even if Ant wasn't holding back, he would still find it challenging to keep up with him. Sixteen had an impressive presence of mind and situational awareness; he made the unknown woods feel like he had been there hundreds of times and knew every tree and branch on the back of his hand.
Ten wasn't good at losing a tail during a chase, but he made it up with his ability to constantly be on the move. The team was always on him, attacking him every ten seconds, yet they could never pin him down for more than a few seconds. He would evade or strong-arm their attacks until he found an opening. From the moment they made contact till the end of the woods, the team always had an 'upper hand,' yet Ten always gave them the slip.
From experience, Ant could tell that Ten was more familiar with hunting than fleeing and used that familiarity in one department to make up for a lack of skill in another department.
It was an appreciable show of adaptability.
Fourteen had started very strong. It took the team a whopping seven minutes to find her, which showed excellent stealth abilities, and even after they made contact, she slipped between the trees, sneaked into the foliage, and travelled with hushed steps that an entire group lost sight of her multiple times—and even though it took her a long time to pass through the forest, to be so elusive for that long was an impressive feat.
The ANBU could use someone like Fourteen on missions requiring high stealth.
Five had a weak performance in the woods. They found him quickly, never lost track of him, and trapped him several times. His backpack got damaged, and he almost lost possession of his stamp paper. While he managed to escape them and exit the woods, Ant and the team agreed that it was barely an acceptable performance but their review would show their opinion when they sent it back to Hidden Leaf Village.
Ant knew, of course, that everyone had their strengths and weaknesses, but Five would have to show some firm strengths to balance his lacklustre performance.
Three was the most bizarre of them all. The team wasn't told about the candidates' identities or capabilities to make it more fair and allow the candidates to surprise the team. So they were utterly surprised that the moment they found Three, two of their members suddenly turned to attack the team with explosive tags, smoke bombs and weapons—essentially emptying their arsenals.
It became clear that Three was from the Yamanaka clan, but at the moment, they were occupied by why the people they had known for years were suddenly attacking them during a recruitment exercise. She created chaos and took advantage of the chaos to make a run for it. Ant and another member caught up to her and gave her a hard time, but in the end, she crossed the threshold without losing her stamp paper.
Three was the only candidate who turned the team against themselves. Even if they didn't like it, the team fairly added her feat to their review.
Four was unfortunate. He was the last to arrive at the final location. He panicked when he lost his backpack, which had a lot of essential gear, and even damaged his weapons belt, which he then had to carry, occupying one of his hands. He was clearly used to the forest terrain, traversing it smoothly, which allowed him to stay in the game.
But then he used a particularly strong Fire Release ninjutsu, burning a patch of trees to char and caused a commotion. If this were a real combat situation, he would have alerted other enemies, making the task more difficult. While the ninjutsu allowed him to break free and escape, the team didn't appreciate it as the correct choice.
They held the opinion that Four could've shaken them off if he had just calmed down and assessed the situation.
———
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"For the next part of the assessment, we will pair you together," Leopard announced.
The candidates weren't surprised. Takuma and the others had speculated that they would team up for the next challenge, and their speculation was correct.
She continued, "As I said, things have been too easy till now, so we want to add some stakes, some real danger to spice things up. I want you all to have put some skin in the game. If I had a say, I would've shipped you all off to the Land of Earth or made you participate in the Steam-Frost War—but I can't do that because we can't have unproven recruits operating on foreign territory."
Takuma would've quit on the spot if they made him participate in a war he had just returned from.
"Because we can't do that, we're going to do the next best thing. The location for the next challenge is one day's travel north from here—at the seat of the Fire Daimyo, the capital of the Land of Fire: Ember Imperial City."
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