"An evaluation?"
Kiyohara raised an eyebrow.
"What kind of evaluation?"
"The final evaluation for an Anbu Captain."
The man calling himself Fire Ape—Sarutobi Shinnosuke—spoke in an even tone, serious and businesslike.
"The Third Hokage believes that, based on your achievements and strength, you already qualify to serve as a captain. But Anbu has its own rules. You need to pass a live-combat evaluation to confirm your capabilities."
Kiyohara was a little surprised.
He'd definitely considered applying for promotion to Captain after the war, but he hadn't expected Sarutobi Hiruzen to arrange an evaluation proactively.
So this is how geniuses get treated?
Or rather—this is the village trying to secure a rare talent like him.
"Understood."
Kiyohara nodded.
"Where?"
"There's a dense forest on the east side of camp. It's secluded enough."
Shinnosuke turned.
"Follow me."
Kiyohara followed as they cut through the busy camp and reached a clearing far from the main area. The ground was flat, ringed by sparse trees—perfect for sparring.
Shinnosuke turned to face him.
He didn't attack immediately. Instead, he slowly removed his mask.
Under it was a rugged male face—well-defined features. His brows and eyes resembled a younger Hiruzen, but his lines were sharper.
"I'm Sarutobi Shinnosuke, Captain of Anbu Squad One," he introduced himself.
"Since we were in camp earlier, I used my codename."
Kiyohara understood.
So the Third was having his own son evaluate him.
He nodded in greeting.
"I'm Kiyohara, jōnin. Assigned to Unit Six. Please advise me, Captain Shinnosuke."
It was a formal self-introduction—even though he knew Shinnosuke already had his file. But ritual mattered. Like saluting.
"Good."
Shinnosuke hooked the mask at his waist and rolled his wrists loose.
"Everything you've done on the front line, the Hokage has seen. Capturing Pakura alive was a major feat. But an Anbu Captain needs more than strength—command ability, judgment, adaptability."
He paused, then continued.
"Today's evaluation is simple: defeat me. Or, hold out for three minutes without losing—force me to fight seriously—and you pass."
"You may use any methods you want, except large-scale destructive ninjutsu. We're too close to camp."
"Just sparring like this?"
Kiyohara raised an eyebrow.
Shinnosuke was confident.
Kiyohara had captured Pakura alive, after all. Did Shinnosuke think he was stronger than her?
Confidence at its peak, huh?
Still—Kiyohara was curious what Shinnosuke could do. In canon, Shinnosuke was basically a background name, but judging by Konohamaru's age, Shinnosuke and his wife had to survive into the Nine-Tails incident. That implied they weren't weak. The weak ones died in chaos—like Kurenai's father, Yūhi Shinku.
"Just sparring," Shinnosuke confirmed.
"But I'll take it seriously. Ready?"
Kiyohara quietly activated his Sharingan.
Crimson pupils—three tomoe turning slowly.
"Anytime," Kiyohara said.
He planned to fight slower.
Whenever he met an opponent, Kiyohara always tried to "farm" them—steal whatever techniques he could. In the shinobi world, ninjutsu channels were narrow and heavily dependent on relationships. Otherwise you had to trade war merits for scrolls… or rely on luck looting the battlefield.
"I'm coming."
Shinnosuke pulled a string of shuriken from his pouch and threw them.
Six shuriken spun through the air.
Kiyohara flicked only three shuriken in response—ones he'd won from Uchiha Tekka.
With high-quality steel and Kiyohara's refined Uchiha shuriken manipulation, he knocked all six of Shinnosuke's shuriken out of the air.
Shinnosuke's brow rose.
Solid fundamentals, he judged.
Then Shinnosuke was already in front of Kiyohara.
"Fire Release: Flame Attack!"
His right fist was wrapped in blazing heat as it drove straight for Kiyohara's face.
No hand seals—just Fire chakra condensed on the fist as a taijutsu enhancement, fast as lightning.
The Sarutobi were like the Uchiha: a clan skilled at wielding flame, with many Fire Release techniques passed down.
Kiyohara shifted aside. The flame grazed past his cheek.
He didn't stop moving. His left hand snapped onto Shinnosuke's wrist, while his right-hand kunai stabbed for Shinnosuke's ribs.
Shinnosuke flicked his wrist—using flexible joint technique to break the grip—then dropped his left elbow to deflect the kunai.
They collided at point-blank range, exchanging rapid strikes—dense impacts, elbow checks, wrist traps.
This was what a veteran elite jōnin looked like.
Kiyohara could tell Shinnosuke's raw stats were lower than his, but experience filled the gap.
So Kiyohara's Sharingan went hungry. He started learning.
Anyone who couldn't beat Kiyohara only ended up making him stronger.
Shinnosuke felt it too. At first, he was comfortable. A few exchanges later, it became even. Then the momentum started slipping against him.
Combat instinct kicked in.
Shinnosuke disengaged, then leapt into the air.
"Fire Release: Great Flame Technique!"
He spewed a storm of fierce flames roaring toward Kiyohara.
Kiyohara's three tomoe spun. His Sharingan caught tiny gaps in the flame pattern.
He kicked off the ground, using Magnet Release-assisted repulsion to slip out of position, avoiding the blaze, then formed seals.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
A violent gale blasted from his mouth. Under the wind pressure, the flames bent, scraping past his clothing.
Approval flickered in Shinnosuke's eyes.
To react that precisely that quickly—Sharingan dynamic vision really lived up to its name.
But he didn't stop.
His seals shifted—this time to Earth.
"Earth Release: Earth Flow Spears!"
The ground shook violently. Dozens of sharp earthen spikes erupted under Kiyohara's feet—fast as bullets.
Kiyohara jumped into the air. Mid-turn, he caught a subtle movement from Shinnosuke's sleeve.
One-handed seals.
A trap.
Sure enough, in the air Kiyohara became the perfect target.
"Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder!"
Electricity surged along the earthen spears, instantly spreading across the whole forest clearing.
Kiyohara was midair, with no foothold.
So he flew.
Under Magnet Release, Kiyohara hovered in the air.
"Magnet Release…" Shinnosuke murmured.
"Just like the reports said."
He stopped holding back. He bit his thumb and slapped one hand onto the ground.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
White smoke burst.
A figure sprang out of the smoke—
A monkey about two meters tall, covered in brown fur, muscles corded, eyes bright and clever.
"Sarumi, I'm counting on you," Shinnosuke said.
"Another newbie evaluation?"
Sarumi's voice was rough. It looked at Kiyohara, golden pupils flashing with curiosity.
"This brat… has a lot of chakra."
"Sarumi," Shinnosuke said. "Please."
"Leave it to me."
Sarumi spoke human words and charged.
Clang!
Kiyohara drew his ninja blade to block.
He studied Sarumi.
This was likely a monkey of the Enma clan. The Enma clan and Sarutobi clan had been close for generations. In the future, Konohamaru would contract a monkey called Enra.
Sarumi grinned.
"Kid, you've got strength."
Enma monkeys weren't human. They were powerful summons—species advantage, raw and simple.
And yet Kiyohara, a human, could match Sarumi's strength. That reminded Sarumi of his clan leader, Enma… and of Tsunade's student—people with monstrous power.
"Transform into the staff," Shinnosuke ordered.
Sarumi nodded. In a puff of smoke it transformed into a long staff around two meters in length, with golden bands at both ends.
Shinnosuke gripped the staff and his aura changed.
The staff spun, whipping up a shrieking wind.
Shinnosuke stepped in. The staff extended and swept at Kiyohara's waist.
Kiyohara jumped, but Shinnosuke suddenly redirected, hooking upward from below.
In the split second, Kiyohara twisted midair and slipped past.
When he landed, he had already widened the distance.
He stared at the black staff that could extend and retract freely, recalling what he knew of the Enma clan.
Their greatest point wasn't just strength—it was weapon transformation. Hiruzen's staff could even shove the Nine-Tails out of Konoha.
"Two-on-one, huh…" Kiyohara murmured.
"You can use any methods you like," Shinnosuke said.
"Anbu missions never care about fairness."
Kiyohara nodded.
Fair point.
"Magnet Release: Sand-Iron Shower!"
The gourd at his waist vibrated. Black sand iron surged out like a fountain, condensing into countless thin needles in midair.
The next moment, the sand-iron needles fell like a storm, covering a huge area around Shinnosuke and Sarumi.
"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"
Shinnosuke formed seals and slammed both palms down. A curved earthen wall rose.
The sand-iron needles hissed as they struck it.
But Kiyohara wasn't done.
"Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire!"
He spat three fire dragons. They curved around the wall and pounced from three angles.
At the same time, he formed seals to control the sand iron.
"Magnet Release: Sand-Iron Bind!"
The needles embedded in the earthen wall softened, stretched, and became black tendrils, lashing toward Shinnosuke and Sarumi.
A pincer attack.
Shinnosuke snorted. The staff became a black blur, smashing the fire dragons and sand-iron tendrils apart.
But in the instant his attention split, Kiyohara appeared behind him.
When?!
Shinnosuke's heart jumped. But his experience moved before thought—he dove forward.
Kiyohara's blade scraped his back, slicing his uniform and leaving a thin bloody line on the skin.
As Kiyohara raised his blade for a second strike, Shinnosuke barely twisted around and used the staff to block.
The collision made Shinnosuke's hand go numb. The sheer force shoved him backward three meters, his boots carving deep grooves.
That much strength? Shinnosuke frowned.
Then his tempo increased.
Kiyohara's Sharingan read Shinnosuke's movements cleanly.
The staff's attacks were fierce, but Shinnosuke wasn't a pure taijutsu specialist. The linkage between staff forms and ninjutsu had tiny seams.
Now!
As Shinnosuke brought the staff down, Kiyohara didn't dodge—he stepped in.
He'd already tested its power. In Shinnosuke's hands, it still couldn't break Kiyohara's defense.
Steel Release!
Earth Release: Earth Spear!
Kiyohara's skin flashed with black metallic sheen.
He raised his left hand and caught the descending staff barehanded.
At the same time, lightning wrapped his right-hand blade.
"Lightning Release: Chidori!"
The shriek of a thousand birds screamed as the blade thrust toward Shinnosuke's chest.
If it hit, the fight ended.
But Shinnosuke's battlefield instincts were too sharp. The instant the staff was caught, he released it and leaned back, barely avoiding the Chidori thrust.
Hand seals—
"Fire Release: Ape Dragon Fire!"
He spat a fire dragon shaped like a monkey's head.
Kiyohara redirected the Chidori arc, ripping open a gap through the flame.
In the same breath, his next seals were already completed.
"Magnet Release: Sand-Iron Shower!"
Sand iron burst from the gourd, splitting into needles that rained toward Shinnosuke again.
Shinnosuke's eyes widened.
He had to abandon offense. The staff spun rapidly in front of him, forming an airtight defensive wall.
Sand-iron needles pinged against the staff in a storm of sparks.
And then—Kiyohara vanished.
Not Body Flicker. Pure speed.
He reappeared behind Shinnosuke, his blade silently stabbing for the kidney.
But the tip stopped an inch from skin.
Because from the staff's surface, a thick monkey paw had extended—clamping down on Kiyohara's sword-wrist.
"Nice," Sarumi grinned.
"But your tricks won't break the synergy between me and Shinnosuke so easily."
Kiyohara smiled too.
"Is that so?"
His left palm was already pressed against Sarumi's abdomen, heat spiraling in the center.
"Fire Release: Microwave Flame Stream."
Kiyohara swept a sheet of flame with his palm—then "microwave-heated" it.
It looked almost like a white stream of water following his hand.
Sarumi's pupils shrank. It sensed real danger.
It instinctively released Kiyohara's wrist and retreated.
Too late.
The flame-stream flew out, coiled into a sphere in midair, and detonated.
Shinnosuke and Sarumi barely escaped the blast radius, but the heat wave still made their skin sting.
As the glare faded, Kiyohara stood calmly. Wind chakra swirled around him like a shield, pushing away the heat.
That blast was essentially a "youth-sized" version of Fire Release: Microwave Bullet—not very strong.
Sarumi grunted, scorched.
"Brat, you've pissed me off."
Its body swelled, and the staff thickened and lengthened, radiating danger.
"Sarumi, calm down."
Shinnosuke pressed a hand to the staff.
"Evaluation ends here."
"What?" Sarumi snapped, dissatisfied.
"It's enough."
Shinnosuke shook his head and looked at Kiyohara.
"Three minutes passed a while ago, and you forced me to use a summon. That exceeds the evaluation standard."
Kiyohara relaxed, returning to a neutral stance. His Sharingan faded back to normal.
"You flatter me, Captain Shinnosuke."
"You passed, so you passed."
Shinnosuke reabsorbed Sarumi and put his mask back on.
"I'll submit my report to the Hokage. Your squad-leader appointment should arrive within three days, but…"
He paused.
"Anbu has a standard roster. There are currently only seventy members. After the expansion, you'll be a newly added squad captain. Some shinobi will be transferred from other units under you."
"Most of them will likely be reserves—newcomers, or people without formal slots for various reasons. You'll be responsible for leading them."
"I understand."
Kiyohara nodded.
Perfect. Once Kabuto became a shinobi, he could be slotted under Kiyohara directly. And Chūnin? For Kabuto, that was trivial—canon simply had him dragging his feet.
"Then I'll take my leave."
Shinnosuke slipped into the shadows and disappeared quickly.
Once he reached a place with no eyes on him, he finally pulled off his glove.
His palm had blistered, skin red and swollen.
Shinnosuke ended it early because he could tell: if they kept going, he'd lose.
Newbies these days are terrifying…
He bared his teeth in pain.
His back had a long gash too.
He hurried off to find med-nin to stop the bleeding and treat it.
A few seconds later and he feared his image would've been completely ruined.
…
Elsewhere, Kiyohara's Sharingan vision could see far—still not Byakugan-level, but far beyond normal eyes.
So he saw Shinnosuke's ridiculous movements—one hand clutching his burned palm, the other patting his back—nothing like the elite Anbu aura he'd worn earlier.
"…"
Kiyohara felt Shinnosuke and Asuma were completely different personalities.
He looked over the sparring ground they'd just wrecked.
Anbu Captain… faster than he'd expected.
Hiruzen was pushing his promotion quickly—partly recognizing his strength, partly binding him tighter to Konoha's war machine.
But that suited Kiyohara perfectly.
"Mm. And I copied Fire Release: Ape Dragon Fire, Fire Release: Great Flame, and Sarutobi staff techniques too."
Kiyohara felt the haul was worth it. Otherwise he could've ended the fight in a few exchanges.
He'd dragged it out purely to copy more techniques.
Asuma had used Great Flame too, but back then Kiyohara didn't have three-tomoe yet—his ocular power wasn't what it was now.
Only after finishing Uchiha Kiyohara's second wish did he obtain the full three-tomoe Sharingan—and inherit a large increase in mental energy.
"I'm about to become an Anbu Captain," Kiyohara called.
Anbu Kiyohara's spirit floated out.
"So fast?" Anbu Kiyohara looked shocked.
"Past me was really that efficient?"
~~~
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