3 hours later,
Students of the elite class were lined up behind the starting line.
"Just like the entrance test, run as many laps as you can in 2 hours." Iruka said and headed towards the other proctors.
"Begin!" Immediately the students began running but unlike last time no one exploded in speed, that someone being Naruto. In the last race, he had run ahead of everyone else till the end.
Several minutes later, "Faster! Faster. We don't have the whole day. Keep pace but don't be too slow!" Iruka shouted from the sidelines. The kids picked up pace and it was an hour later when the group began to split into the sections; lead, middle and tail.
Kudo was running in the middle group however he did not talk to anyone mostly focused on running while other were talking. Naruto was running in the lead group; his stamina was truly insane something Kudo never understood. How could someone who slacked of so much have such stamina?
At 1h30 minutes, some students had caught up to the tail group and passed them, as a results most lost pace trying to outrun each other.
The test stopped at 2 hours and the students left for the day heading home. Tomorrow the results would judge whether one was at risk of losing their spot in the class.
In the land of fire, nighttime;
In a thicket of woods, a squad of 4 rapidly advanced their destination, the village.
"Captain, was there a need for an elite squad like ours for such an easy mission?" Ichirou Uchiha asked trailing behind Yashiro Uchiha.
"It's an order from the clan leader, with our recent growth in power root will likely start assassinating Uchiha on missions outside the village."
"What do you know, speak of the devil." Ito Uchiha spoke his words making the others alert, "Captain, chakra fluctuations at 3 o'clock, they are trying to mask their chakras but I have got them."
"Chakra level?" Yashiro asked, "3 elite Jonin and 1 elite Chunin chakra levels." Ito replied, instantly Yashiro's face became grim. His squad had 1 elite Jonin and 3 Jonin shinobi, he had almost argued with the clan leader about the team composition that it was too much, now he was glad he had held his tongue. While his teammates were certainly a bit weaker, against the Uchiha the sharingan was enough to bridge the gap.
"Ito, create a shadow clone and hide it underground." Yashiro commanded, "Sasaki, we will attack first with a combination jutsu. Ito use the opening to get rid of the elite chunin." The other 3 nodded.
3 minutes later the two squads were about to fall into sight of one another, "Remember, Lord Danzo said no survivors. Dog poison them if you can especially Yashiro."
"Alright." A root ninja wearing a mask of a dog replied, dozens of insects leaving his robe dispersing into the forest.
In the Uchiha squad, "Captain, one of them might be from the Aburame clan, dozens of small chakras are trying to form an encirclement." Ito replied, while with the sharingan insects of the Aburame clan did not pose a serious threat their poisons were deadly.
"Change of tactics, kill if possible but focus on escaping." Yashiro ordered making the tiger hand seal, "Fire style: Great fire ball jutsu!" Alongside him, Sasaki made the snake hand seal "Wind style: Great breakthrough!"
Yashiro's massive fireball intensified as instantly a firestorm rushed towards the root ninjas, "Disperse!" the root captain ordered. Trees were charred and birds escaped as hellfire consumed the forest.
"Earth style: Earth dome." 2 root ninjas hid behind half dome while the Aburame ninja encased himself in a water sphere.
The root captain used Earth style: Subterranean movement to hide underneath the ground.
"Go." Yashiro ordered, Ito immediately went after the Aburame ninja. Ichirou and Sasaki flickered towards the two behind the dome while Yashiro went after the root captain.
"Incoming." Kitsune shouted, grey eyes underneath his fox mask. "I got it." Rabbit said as he flickered backwards, pressing his palms together "Lightning style: Flash pillar."
A blinding light forced Ichirou and Sasaki to close their eyes. "Cling!" "Clank" "Thud" kunai deflected shiruken that then struck trees as Ichirou and Sasaki advanced with their vision restored.
"Wind style: Gale surge!" A seal-less jutsu scattered Rabbit's False darkness jutsu.
Over at the side, "Fire style: Phoenix fire sage jutsu!" clusters of flames spread around incinerating the insects charging towards Ito, water shiruken sliced the air aimed at Ito, he flickered between the trees avoiding the attack. The Aburame ninja was about to chase when…" Earth style: Head-hunter Jutsu." A pair of arms dragged him underneath the ground, "Thwack!" A Kunai stabbed into his brain, his body split into insects as over in the distance Dog stood heaving, 'That was close.'
From behind him, a dozen shiruken struck "Clank" they struck each other mid-air as they changed trajectory aiming at his evasion routes. Blood splattered as Dog evaded but some of the shiruken still grazed him.
"Clank" "Clank" Kunai struck each other as Yashiro and the root captain flickered between the trees. Yashiro's shiruken multiplied as they shot towards the enemy.
The battle had entered a stalemate as it intensified, injuries accumulating on both sides.
Several minutes later, Ito stood heaving over the corpse of the Aburame ninja, a red tint vanishing in the dead man's eyes. "Asshole." Gritting his teeth, Ito ate a soldier pill and moved towards Ichirou and Sasaki's battles.
Flickering onto the scene, the battlefield had been divided into two, on one side the root ninjas and the other side the Uchiha.
"Earth style: Rampant earth flow!" Ichirou counted with a water style jutsu, raging waves. The root ninjas avoided close combat due to the sharingan gleaming in the eyes of their enemies.
Ito's arrival intensified the battle even more, another fire-wind combination jutsu swept through the forest along with Rabbit's blood curling screams.
Kitsune rushed in the forest evading kunai and shiruken as he headed towards the root captain but what greeted him was another burnt corpse, Yashiro had opened a storage scroll about to store the dead root ninja's corpse.