Chapter 98: 95 Through the Eyes of the Broken

After the Anko girl walks away, the next exam proctor arrives.

I'm not sure what to think of the Anko girl. Sensei says she is the third most important person to pay attention to for the test, just behind the weird guy in spandex, Guy, was his name, and of course the prodigy, Kakashi.

I don't know why he says to be weary of her, and he didn't seem to think he should tell me either, so I had to find out myself, all in less than a day.

I assume it's another one of his ????????????????????. At least it's not a painful test.

All I've really managed to gather is that she's a student of Orochimaru of the Sannin, I didn't have enough time to get a proper profile before the exam.

But then she helped that problem by coming over and literally introducing herself.

Through her talk with Hayate, who is still struggling to keep being the friendly person he was before Sensei, I came to find out a bit about her.

She is manipulative, obviously, and well taught, but she also seems to be a bit stubborn, struggling to accept it when she lost.

Honestly, I don't see why Sensei has her at such a high priority, she doesn't seem to be a big threat after all, nothing like Kakashi would be.

See, Sensei says there are four types of Ninja, there are the ones who will stay a Genin forever, then there are the average ones, then the talented and above everyone else the prodigy.

He says that me and Hayate are both in the talented category, while Tokara is average.

In this exam, everyone is at least average, or they are Guy.

I'm still not sure why Sensei says he is the second most important person to keep an eye on when he also says he is the least talented, especially since both of his teammates, Genma Shiranui and Ebisu fit in the talented category.

As well as Hayate, Anko and I, with Kakashi being the only prodigy and everyone else being average.

Because of this, if the next test truly is a treasure hunt, then all I should need to keep in account is that we stay away from Team Minato, because Sensei says that Prodigies live in a different world, and that no one short of a prodigy can defeat one.

Considering who my Sensei is, as well as the fact that he is friends with Minato of the Yellow Flash, and in a relationship with Tsunade of the Sannin, I think it's fair to assume he knows what he's talking about when it comes to prodigies.

But enough of that, the next proctor is about to start speaking.

"Greetings, I am Yūkichi and I will be your proctor for the second phase of this exam, now if you would all follow me, I will explain on the way."

Saying so, the unremarkable looking Shinobi walks out of the room, all of us quickly following behind him.

The proctor himself looks unassuming, like he is nothing much, but Sensei has made sure to imprint on all of us how frequently looks can be deceiving in the Shinobi world, and oftentimes, it is actually the more dangerous looking people that are less of a threat.

Sensei himself is a great example of this, as he looks more like a Daimyo's spoiled, pretty boy son, but I know that he is much more dangerous than that.

Hell, I would say he's the most dangerous person in the world, after all, what else could you call someone who can go anywhere completely unnoticed?

The proctor starts talking once we get out of the building and start walking to the forest of death, as Anko had said.

"The second phase of the exam will take place inside the Forest of Death. Hidden inside there are five tokens, by the end of the day, you must have gotten a token and made your way to the tower in the centre of the forest. Meaning at least two teams will fail."

'At least' two teams? Meaning we can hold more than one token to ensure that there is less competition?

"Killing each other is naturally not permitted, however injuries short of dismemberment are fine."

That's ominous.

After that, the proctor doesn't say anything more, and we don't engage in conversation either. Sensei says that it's best to make sure your enemy knows nothing about you, and even just talking to each other might give away information to observant enemies.

So we walk in silence until we get to the Forest of Death, where the proctor splits us up, leaving each group alone at different parts of the edge of the forest, so that we don't start right next to each other and immediately fight.

When he leaves us, I notice him slipping something into one of my pockets. Other than tensing up at the sudden movement that was fast enough that I literally couldn't react, I make sure not to display any reaction to it.

Then, after the proctor and the few teams still with unassigned entrances leave, I quickly do a check of our surroundings before taking the item out of my pocket.

My eyes widen at what I find. It is a scroll, and when I unroll it, I see that it is a map.

A map of the Forest of Death.

A map with three locations marked on it, one mark showing where we are, and, if the annotations are to be believed, the other two locations are places where tokens are located.

I would be sceptical of the information, if not for the addendum at the bottom, which causes a sweat to involuntarily break out on my back.

'???????????????? ???????????? ???????????? ????????????????????. ???????? ???????????? ???????????????? ????????.'

I see.

Sensei is cheating.

The fact itself doesn't surprise me, he made sure to teach me that cheating is the Shinobi way, but I am slightly surprised that he would cheat for ????????.

Though, if I think about it, maybe it isn't strictly for us, after all, having his Genin team not even make it to the final round would be an embarrassment to his capabilities as a teacher.

I do find it odd that he only gave two locations though, but I don't bother to question it.

Instead, I address the others, who have been waiting for instructions, as Sensei emphasised how I am the only one with any brains here and that they should listen to me.

Those are his words, but personally, I value Hayate's opinion at least, he can be insightful sometimes in ways that I cannot.

It feels mean to say, but Tokara isn't really intelligent enough to contribute to the plans, something that Sensei pointed out, saying that being aware of our strengths and weaknesses is more important than hurting peoples feelings with hard truths.

"We have a map. First we will head to this location, as it is close and we could probably get there without encountering anyone, then, we will go for this one before heading to the tower. I expect we will run into another team at the second location."

They both nod at my words and since they have nothing to add to the plan, neither of them say anything. Still scared of our Sensei's influence, even when he isn't here.

Probably.

That's just the thing though isn't it? He could be right in front of us and we'd never know it.

I hate to say it, but he has conditioned us. Conditioned our fear of him.

I hate that even though I know about it, I still break out into a sweat every time I imagine his cold blue eyes staring down on me, like the wrath of the deep sea hides behind his cerulean orbs.

The worst part is that his expectations can't be called unrealistic, even as we fall short so many times, because he holds us to the same standard he holds himself.

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I'm not sure if he forgets that he's a prodigy, or if he actually does think of himself as merely talented.

My thoughts are cut off by a firework exploding in the air, signalling the start of the round.

Without so much as a word, we get into formation and rush towards the first token, all of us having memorised the route from the map in the short time we were looking at it. A skill Sensei insisted on us learning.

In no time at all we are at the first location and we collect the small idol in the shape of an elephant before heading of for the next location.

With Hayate in front and Tokara and I behind in a triangle, it takes us only a few dozen minutes to make it to the next location, with Hayate cutting through branches and such that we would have had to run around.

The only thing that delayed our straight path was when we came across a large snake and took a detour.

By large I mean large, large, like it was thicker than a tree trunk and we didn't see wither of it's ends, only the middle.

We make it to the next location, a large dead tree that has hollowed out and has a big circular entrance to it.

Unfortunately, our luck runs out as right as we touch down in front of the opening, another team does the same.

Looking forward I raise my eyebrows at the sight of the team before us.

It is Orochimaru's team.

Thankfully, in my research of Anko, I came across some information on her squad. Other than Anko herself, who I'm confident Hayate can face, equally if not with the advantage, there is Sensoshi Yakumi.

He has brown hair and glasses and his position in the team is similar to my own, being that he is the brains of the operation, his specialty in combat is Genjutsu, something that we have all been trained to counter.

Then there is Hikaru Hyuuga, a branch member of the Hyuuga clan, but because of his clans focus on Taijutsu, Tokara should be able to keep him at bay.

"Heya again, how about you guys just leave this one to us, that way we can avoid a fight yeah?" Anko's voice rings out, but she is already drawing kunai so they kind of ring false.

once again, we ignore her, the others waiting for me to give direction, which I don't wait to do.

"Ka, keep the Hyuuga busy, Te, Anko. I'll take the other out then we pincer." I keep my voice a low murmur so that the team opposite us cannot hear me nor read my lips.

Sensei imprinted how important it is to keep orders quick and to the point so you don't get interrupted.

The idea behind this plan is simple, the other two keep their opponent busy while I finish off mine, then I can join whichever fight is going the best to make it an easy two against one and we can finish them off one at a time.

I got this strategy from Sensei, as he explained how he acted during one of his memories and how it resulted in more survivors than what I did, which was joining the fight that was struggling the most.

Team Orochimaru aren't inactive as we prepare ourselves, and it's Anko that throws the first move, launching a flurry of kunai at us, only for a stream of water to leave Tokara's gourd and form a mobile wall that both blocks the kunai and keeps going for the Hyuuga.

As that is happening, Hayate charges forward to Anko, who dodges his opening strike and blocks the follow up.

Right as Sensoshi is about to launch a Jutsu to help his allies I appear by his side through the use of a Kawarimi and launch a kick for his chest that hits home and sends him flying backwards with the air forced from his lungs.

I don't stop after the kick to watch its effects, which I why I am upon him as soon as he is back on his feet.

He blocks my first punch and tries to subtly put me in a Genjutsu, but I am far to familiar with the feeling by now for such an amateur attempt to work on me, so I easily shrug the effects of.

Something he clearly wasn't expecting if his wide eyed look as I punch him in the face is anything to go by.

He goes down like a sack of rocks, and I spend no time admiring my victory, instead I rush back to the others and I signal Tokara as soon as I am in his field of vision.

Tokara makes no move as if he saw me, but he surrounds the Hyuuga in a ball of water regardless.

Sensei gave a small lecture about the Hyuuga and their visual prowess once. They have almost 360 degree vision and their sight can pierce through almost any surface.

However, chakra saturated materials, like high quality smoke bombs can work to block their sight. So what Tokara is doing is saturating his water with more chakra than usual so that he can't simply look through it.

The reason for this being important is shown a moment later, as the dome splits in front of me and I keep running and land a jump kick right on the Hyuuga's temple, the small size of the dome meaning he didn't have enough time to react, even as he saw me coming.

Once he's down, I spend a moment looking at him in thought.

Sensei really does have a plan for everything. It's scary just how prepared for everything he is.

I shake my head and focus on the present as me and Tokara head over to Hayate and Anko, who are fighting a fairly even fight right now.

Then Anko sees us and stops, prompting Hayate to also stop as Tokara and I surround her in a triangle.

"Damn, I guess we lost this bout huh?" She jests, but her nervousness in noticeable, but we don't engage.

If your opponent is skilled enough, then fighting, even when you have them outnumbered could result in a loss, even if you win.

There is no sense to fight her if we don't need to, since she could keep up with Hayate it's possible that she would be able to injure one of us before we take her down.

So I signal Tokara, who goes and grabs the next token as me and Hayate keep watch of Anko.

"Still not even going to say anything? What are you guys, travelling mimes?"

Tokara comes back with the token and we regroup before heading off for the tower, Anko and her team no longer a concern.

There, mission complete.

Did we do well enough for you Sensei?

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A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!

Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck I hate two chapters a day. Please gib me money, it would make me feel much better about my schedule, and you'd be getting early chaps!

We are approaching the final arc too, so it's going to get exciting after this mini arc is over.

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