"Aoki-san, are you proficient in tracking?" I asked, trying to come up with a way for us to pass whatever improvised test this was.
"I'm not a tracker!" Kenji barked, sounding offended. "I'm going to be a ninjutsu specialist."
That was promising. He was like every other kid out there that wanted to spit fireballs, water guns or throw lightning spears at their enemies. I was my self like that even at my high mental age.
I wanted to tell him that he might not become a ninjutsu specialist since he was a civilian born and that meant he would have low chakra reserves.
"Do you know any jutsu that can help us find Ren-san?"
"I…" He trailed off, rubbing the back of his head shyly. "I only know the Academy three." he grumbled quietly.
I took a deep breath to soothe my disappointment. It was like I expected. He was the dead last in his class. It was to be expected that he was rough around the edges. He would get better.
"Okay, we need to stick together and try to find Ren-san. The genjutsu might have started as early as the Academy, so I suggest we go back and start from there."
"But he could have cast it anywhere along our route." Kenji said, crossing his arms. "We might pass him."
"Aoki-san, Ren-san is a jonin. He could be far outside of Konoha by now if he wanted to be. The fact he cast the genjutsu at all means he is testing us to see if he wants to take us as his genin students. The better we work together and the closer we are to finding him, the more likely he will be to teach us."
"Four o'clock high." Misa suddenly announced, snapping around to indicate the direction. She'd seen something with her Byakugan.
"Aoki-san, you're our rear guard. I'm on point. Misa, without you, we can't follow him, you stay between us and prioritize evasion over engaging him." I quickly ordered.
"Understood." Misa said, leaping after me.
"Hey! We… Dammit!" Kenji roared, leaping up onto the roof after us.
"He is staying just inside my range on the streets below, running through the crowd. What is our goal?" Misa asked after relaying Ren's current whereabouts.
"I can't be sure. My guess is he wants us to track him through the crowd and make an attempt to stop him." I didn't know how all jonin tested their genin, but the bell test had a substantial combat element, so it stood to reason Ren would kick our asses at some point. He would be in a surprise though.
"Can you guys…slow down?" Kenji asked in between panted breaths, his conditioning and speed were abysmal. We'd only been running for three minutes. If this kept up, he would pass out.
"Misa, is Ren-san maintaining his current pace?" I asked.
"Yes. He is not slowing down and is maintaining his course. I believe he is leading us out of the village proper." Misa reported.
So he was likely bringing us to an area free of civilians where we could fight him. If Kenji was too tired to fight when we got there, we'd likely fail because he wouldn't be able to work with us as a team. I don't think that every test was like Kakashi's but it was better to be careful.
"Misa, you're on point from here. Be on guard for ambushes." I said.
"Understood." Misa easily accepted.
"Aoki-san, I am going to use the Shadow Imitation Technique on you. I will control your arms and legs and run for you. Catch your breath and be ready to fight when Ren-san turns to face us."
"What?" Kenji asked, his eyes widening as a tendril of shadow leapt out of the sleeve of my coat and spread out against his chest.
Kenji fell under the effect of my Shadow Imitation, and I began running side by side with him so all of the jumps and obstacles we had to clamber over were similar. Kenji had a disturbed look on his face as his body did whatever I told it to do, but I'll give him credit for this much, he started taking deep breaths.
With my shadows puppetting him, his muscles weren't under nearly as much strain as they were previously. He wouldn't be anywhere near fresh when Ren turned to fight us, bu he wouldn't collapse either. Not that I think he would be much help against a Jonin in a fight.
Ten minutes of running later, we were out of the village and lost in the vast expanse of trees that gave Konoha its name.
"He stopped in a clearing. We're emerging now." Misa reported.
The three of us stopped at the edge of a clearing in the trees. The circular area had a small pond to Ren's right and was rimmed by trees on all sides. Misa and I were both cool and collected; Kenji was panting, but he was still on his feet, so my improvised plan had worked well enough.
"I expected better." Ren said dryly, sticking his hands in the pockets of his jonin jacket. "Two of you are supposed to be prodigies. I fought with a prodigy during the war that was half your age. He put all three of you to shame."
Ren fought with Itachi? Or maybe Kakashi since Itachi was too young to be a part of the war? Or maybe some other prodigy from another village. No. Not important right now.
"What is our current objective, Ren-san?" I called, on guard and being careful to monitor my chakra for genjutsu influence.
"Your task is to incapacitate me. I suggest you try to kill me. Anything less and you won't stand a chance." he said, bored.
"Misa, behind me." I said, clipped, already gathering my chakra. I didn't want to have to worry about friendly fire in case Ren took evasive action.
"Hai." she said, already knowing what I was about to do. She grabbed Kenji and leapt a short distance away from me, her byakugan still active as she prepared to cover me if necessary.
---------Author Notes--------
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