ALL NOVEL Chapter 24 – Academy Performance Examination
Naruto arrived and was amazed that Azuma and Hinata was already warming up. He hastily rushed to them.
“You both are early, Azuma I am ready!”
“Ah Naruto-kun, Good Morn-ing”
“Good Morning Hinata”
“Oh you’re here. Then let’s get started.”
“This time I will take on the pain.”
“Lets us see…”
…..
A few moments later…
“Ok Azu-ma I was wrong! No- no- Azuma I know that I was wrong… Ahhh!”
Meanwhile Minato and Kushina was secretly observing them…
“We have to thank Azuma, I have not seen Naruto this motivated in training like this.”
“En for Naruto to actually accept Azuma-chan training… I wanted Naruto to have this kind of motivation when learning fuinjutsu as well…”
“Sigh, we can’t force it. You could to ask Yuna to help you on this. From what Nagi told me, Azuma is on the verge of fuinjutsu mastery.”
“That’s amazing! he is indeed Nagi-sempai son. I will visit Yuna-chan later… oh by the way are you really going to introduce that examination now.”
“… Yes, it has been planned, although the third was quite reluctant to allow it saying it is too early for them. However, he was overruled with the support of the elders, the jonins, ANBU… Danzo whole-heartedly supported it as well.
I do know the third worry but we need to change the way we train the students. Especially now, indeed peace is good but we need strength to maintain this peace.
In addition, due to Mizuki case we need the students to start understanding that overly zealous towards accomplishing a mission without regards of others is good. Sigh, Mizuki was quite capable but sadly his actions during the mission was wrong. He is capable enough to accomplish the mission without killing his injured teammate, but he took the easy route…
Anyway, we picked their class as a pilot for a reason. Evaluating them in the regular method will not be relevant, and it does not reflect towards what they will do in the future. When they graduate, they will work as a team.
This type of evaluation is designed for that purpose. It is especially true for this class. The first half is the decedents from the konoha clans as well as ninjas. Because of that, they would have been undergoing training even without the Academy support. The other half is the decedents of the major clans in the capital. Based on what Nagi describe the clans there also hired ninja mercenaries to train their kids. Granted that there are a few civilians in the class, they are there because of their good results.
As a result, the class is completely full with capable individuals. They already got the necessary skills but that is it. I do not want them to end up like Mizuki case. That is why I accelerated this plan.
Plus we have our team of examiners as well as ANBU there to help in their safety, Kakashi and Itachi even volunteered to assist so there is no problem if things go bad.”
“I guess it will be fine then…”
“I got to go now, see you tonight, love you Kushina.”
“Love you too, Minato…”
….
‘Naruto training is going well, as for guiding Hinata… Sigh… she is just following and not actually trying to pick up my hints. I guess I will need to show her through examples of possible styles and disciplines, which complements her Hyuga gentle fist style.
By then I hope that she will be able pick it up from there. I really want to see her evolve that gentle fist style to fit her character better…’
“It’s the time of the year again; I hope you all are prepared!” – Iruka
‘Huh? What did I missed? Preparation? For what?’
(Class Murmur)
“Sigh, what a drag… at least during written exams I can sleep this one is another story.”
“Yea Shikamaru, I haven’t stock up my food supplies yet. Doing this physical taxing things make me hungrier. I need to restock today when the class is over.”
“Guys what is going on?”
“Oh, yea this is your first time. The performance examination is going to start… it is a drag explaining it. I will let Iruka-sensei will explain more about it.” – Shikamaru
“Ok quiet down, this time the performance exam will be different. I will allocate you into teams now. The team allocation will be based on what number you take out from the box here.”
“Eehhh….” (more murmurs)
“Quiet Down! This examination is completely different from before. Therefore, you all need to come down and take your number I will allocate the teams then. Only after the team allocation will I start explaining.”
‘Hmm, Performance Examination… haven’t heard of this. Now this is interesting.’
…..
‘Naruto ended up with Hinata, and oh I think he is called Kiyoshi from the Izuku clan… Sasuke… Sakura… Shikamaru… everyone else is separated…’
“Ok the allocation is completed. I will the explanation now.
For the students that attended this year, the performance examination is a yearly examination done by the Academy. It is an examination that will evaluate your taijutsu, bukijutsu, ninjutsu, and genjutsu. However, this time we will also include survival knowledge and cooperation as well. That is why you have been randomly allocated into a team.
Your mission is to deliver these scrolls to the specified location. Your team will start at different points at the edge of the Konoha northern forest, your final delivery point is the hilltop at this point.
We will provide each team a map of the area. It has mark your key delivery points for your mission. Please take note that each team has different delivery points to go as you all start at a different location. Your team must pass through each point noted in the map to deliver a scroll, if you fail to reach any point, your marks will be deducted accordingly.
This exam will test your ninja skills, general survival skills as well as your cooperation with your team members, the exam duration itself will last for a week. If you failed to accomplish your missions by then we will consider that you failed the test so you had better be prepared.
The exam will start in two days, use that time to prepare for the mission. I would advise you to discuss with your team on what you all need to prepare.
By the way, during your mission, you will face dangers such as wild animals, wild beast, traps and obstacles set by the examiners.
On that note, an examiner will monitor your team during the examination period. They will monitor your actions in managing the problems you face. If you are in serious danger, the examiner will intervene to help you. If that happen it will be up to the examiner to decide if you may continue your mission or you have failed.
Nevertheless, must know that there may be a chance that the examiner is not around at the time you are in trouble. For example, a time when the examiner notice an extremely strong wild beast around the area. The examiner will probably leave monitoring you to engage it leaving you all without examiner protection. That is why you will also be holding this alternate scroll. If you encounter any serious problems that you think you cannot manage while the examiner is not around to help, you may open this scroll. You will receive help as soon as you open that scroll. However if you do open this scroll we will assume that you forfeit this exam.
That is all, now please go to your team members and select a team leader. After the selection, the team leader will come forward to collect the map. We will provide the scrolls before your departure.”
‘Field training… this is an unexpected turn of events. But I like it, I like it a lot. First thing first, I need to get to know my team members.’
…..
‘Sigh… why it ended up like this…’
“All of you, there is no discussion I will be the leader.”
“Heh, you? What right do you have to be one?”
“All you all be quiet, I will be the leader.”
(Argument and bickering continues for a minute)
‘… I think it should be long enough, most of the other teams already elected their leader.’ “… Ahem!”
“““Huh?”””
“Why don’t we all reintroduce ourselves first since apparently no one actually know each other, especially me not knowing both of you.”
“Eh… ah… Azuma are you in our team as well?”
“I suppose it is, hi Ino.”
“Sor-ry… we for-get abo-ut it…”
“Ye-a sor-ry…”
‘Why are the two of them stammering all of the sudden?’
“I am Niko Seiji, from the Niko escort group, it is nice to meet you in person Azuma-sama”
‘Uzufuyuki Azuma… I remembered that the Uzufuyuki are our main contract business partner. I even overheard my parents in glee saying that our escort group will be their subsidiary soon if talks goes well…’
“Nice to meet you Azuma-san, I am Kauri Rumia from the Kauri Association” ‘I need to tell my parents about this… maybe we can make a connection with the Uzufuyuki’
‘-sama? san? … Niko Escort Group. Come to think of it my first convoy travel was with them, they are probably the contract escort that we use. Kauri Association on the other hand is not known to me, I will ask mother when I get back.’
“I am Yamanaka Ino form Konoha Yamanaka clan”
‘I still have to act as I do not know about them…’ “Although it seem that both of you for some reason knows me, for formalities I am Uzufuyuki Azuma from the Uzufuyuki family.”
“Now introductions out of the way, lets us discuss about the team leader position? It could be temporary as we still do not know each other well enough. We still have time since the mission starts the day after tomorrow. In addition, I would like to see the map before making any more decisions. We will elect a leader for this mission after looking at the map and getting more details regarding the mission. What do you all think about this?”
“““Ah! agreed”””
“Then let me go get the map from Iruka-sensei”
…..
‘Three relay post before reaching the final position… Konoha northern forest… I think I will vote Ino to be the scout lead, for camping I think Seiji should be up to it, as for Rumia I do not know her origins to decide… unless it is serious issue I will not take the lead… Will they accept it? But I may change this plan after getting better details regarding Konoha northern forest.’
“So what do you all think after looking at the map and knowing what we will facing during the mission?”
“… Indeed this is problematic, especially the terrain at this point reaching to the third relay post.” – Ino
“Oh, why is that so Ino could you please explain?”
“It is due to this river, the current is extremely strong if you fall into it chances are you will be caught in the current, if unlucky you would drown if not you will be dragged by the stream currents down to around this point. If that is the case, reaching the third relay post will take at least another day if nothing happen in between.
To attempt to cross the river is not a good idea unless every one of us have good enough chakra control to walk on water. So I suggest us taking a longer route at this area, it will take us about six more hours out of the route but it will be a safer route to take.” – Ino
“Then we will take your advice on this… do you two have any input?”
“… Nope.” – Seiji ‘I hate to say this but Ino really helped us big time. Her experience of the Forest will help us greatly’
“Ah, no.” – Rumia ‘…Ino and Azuma… one contributed her experience another … sigh… mother said that each and every Uzufuyuki is not to be underestimated… I will be the judge of that.’
“… Let us meet up tomorrow morning to discuss further. I think it is better for everyone to digest what we know now. We can also take this time to gather more information regarding the mission as well.”
“Agreed, lets meet up tomorrow to discuss it more.” – Seiji
““Yes”” – Ino/Rumia
