"Here is where your test begins." Yakumo gestured towards the Forest of Death. "You know nothing of each other and in this task you shall forcefully how to act with and around each other." As she said this she glanced over all of them, paying special attention to Namika. "You may use any techniques you know - you simply have one goal; make it to the central tower before me. It should take you around one hour and thirty minutes to get there. I'll be there in fifty-five minutes. You may use any tactic to slow me down or speed yourselves up. You have twenty minutes to form a strategy and then a five minute head-start starting... Now" Yakumo then leaped away to give the group some privacy.
"How can she expect us to know anything when we've only just finished at the academy?" Isamu whined.
"Didn't you know that each group gets tested by their sensei in the first training session?" Kano inquired. "It's to see if we're worth being genin. If we don't meet her expectations, we may be sent back to the academy.
"I may have an idea for a strategy" Namika said, barely above a whisper.
"Nami-chan? What was that?" Isamu taunted.
"Don't patronize her, she is the Hokage's daughter you know. She's definitely got more to contribute than you have" Kano defended. She then turned to Namika "What's your strategy?" she said, kindly.
"She said we're allowed to use any tactics, I read everyone's files whilst Yakumo-sensei was speaking and I think I know what we can do. Isamu-kun is very skilled in taijutsu techniques and works well with weaponry so if we use him for all of our brute force measures, he'll be indispensable as both Kano and I are suited to mid or long distance fighting. Kano-chan, you are very talented in Ninjutsu with limited genjutsu capabilities and average taijutsu so we can use you to fill in any areas where Isamu-kun and I need assistance. My specialties lie in genjutsu techniques and barrier jutsu. Here's the plan..." Both Isamu and Kano stared at Namika. This was the most they'd ever heard her speak. Ever! Namika was known to be timid and reserved so they had both just ignored her, they now realized how much of an asset she was.
Once the plan was discussed, they turned to Yakumo and told her they were ready.
"Are you sure? You've still got eight minutes left until your head-start. Maybe-" she then saw the readiness and determination in all their eyes and smirked to herself. "Alright then" After a short pause she shouted "San!". The three children ran off the woods.
Isamu, Kano and Namika all knew what they had to do. Isamu hid in a bush, very close to the entrance, with a hand on a branch as to be ready for Yakumo to enter. Kano was focusing her chakra as to build up some more (having expended a fair amount yesterday in the Academy final test and not fully recovered) and reciting a basic Suiton technique she knew. Finally, Namika was setting up a medium sized barrier to trap Yakumo briefly whilst checking the trees for small hiding spots for when she had done so. All of them were done with a minute to spare. They waited.
Yakumo sprinted in, activating the barrier, she froze. 'Immobilization barrier' she thought to herself 'Very clever Miss Senju' . Almost immediately, she heard a rustling in a bush nearby and a shout from another direction.
"Genjutsu: Infinite Darkness!". Namika shouted from her hiding spot. Soon after, Yakumo's sense of vision, hearing , smell and taste were reduced to nothing. she could not see, hear, smell or taste.
"Yes!" Isamu called from his perch. "We should be able to get really far ahead now!" He added.
"Quickly, Namika said she can only hold both of these justu for a short period of time. Stick with the plan and run! I'll get Namika" Kano called.
"Okay, which way do I head again?" Isamu scratched his head as he asked Kano.
"Follow your compass to the north. If you can't do that, find the river and follow it until you get to a tower, We'll meet there" Kano answered.
"Yoshu, Cya in a bit!" Isamu called back as he jumped from tree to tree.
"Kano-chan, let's go" Namika called as she ran passed. Her hands in the position of the Rat hand sign.
'Wow' Kano thought 'She's able to cast a jutsu like that without assistance. I can see why she's the Hokage's daughter'
"Kano-chan. Hurry! the second barrier needs to be broken!" Namika shouted.
"Okay, now coming!" Kano called and raced after Namika. Kano then formed three hand signs: Tatsu - Tora - U. "Suiton: Water Trumpet" Kona hollered and aimed her stream at a large dam. The dam completely obliterated and gargantuan amounts of water from the river gushed towards Yakumo. Just then, Namika released the barrier technique. Yakumo was oblivious to the water until it crashed into her, sending her into the river stream.
"Release the genjutsu whilst she's in the water, we have enough of a head start!" Kano shouted to Namika, who was lagging slightly behind. "We're slow enough without you having to concentrate on your leaps as well as the genjutsu"
"No, it's a part of the plan. A plan that'll work. I can hold on for-" Namika began but she lost her footing and fell. Automatically releasing her genjutsu on Yakumo, due to panic. A yellow and black blur grabbed her from falling.
"Not so useless, huh?" Isamu jeered as he looked at Namika, whom he held in his arms. She blushed.
"C'mon you too, we need to keep up a good pace." Kano called from infront of them.
"Nice to see that she was worried about you" Isamu commented and smirked at Namika. "We're now coming, you'd better not slow us down Takao!" Isamu then launched himself and Namika. Neither Namika nor Kano could believe how fast he moved. It was, what seemed like, a hundred times faster than they'd seen him run earlier.
As they were running, Kano came up with an idea.
"Namika, are you good at sensory techniques?" Kano called from behind, Namika still being carried in Ismau's arms.
"I am okay with them" Namika lied. She had been trained in sensing others by her mother and father. Both of them had been very forceful in her ninja studies, even before she attended the academy. This obviously meant that she was highly skilled in sensing others, even without trying.
"Would you be able to track Yakumo-sensei's position behind us?" Kano shouted again.
"Yes." Namika replied. After a moment she called back "Yakumo-sensei is about a kilometer behind us" She relayed, Namika could easily read Yakumo's large chakra.
"Crap, we'd better speed it up." Kano cursed. "Isamu, can you go any faster with Namika tracking?" Kano inquired to the other teammate.
"Sure, I think a better question is can you keep up?" Isamu cockily shouted back.
'I'm going to have to kick it up a notch. Everyone is trying their hardest and I'm lacing behind.' Kano thought to herself. She started to sprint.
"It looks like we have about two more kilometers to go. I have an idea if we need to slow down Yakumo-sensei" Kano said as she caught up with Isamu.
Namika quickly chimed in. "We'll need to. Estimating her speed, she'll be there before us. She's only half a kilometer behind in the five minutes we've been talking."
"Right. Namika, we're going to need you to build up another barrier. Is that okay?" Kano inquired.
"Yes, I'm not sure how much chakra I'll have left though so that may be all I can do." Namika knew she had a large reserve for someone her age but she only had an availability to half of it, at the maximum.
"That's fine. Isamu, I'm going to need to know what style release you can use, or what is your most proficient area style technique." Kano waited for an answer.
"Well, my base chakra is apparently Lighting but I can only use one jutsu. Raiton: Five. It means that i can push an electrical current from one of my hands." Isamu replied quickly.
"Perfect!" Kano ecstatically commented.
"How?" Isamu queried.
"You can perform a lightning technique that passes a current, I can perform water techniques which means if I use Suiton: Instant Puddle and you use Raiton: Go; we can trap Yakumo-sensei in a electrostatic field!" Kano seemed very excited with her idea.
"Wow Kano, you really are clever" Isamu exclaimed, surprised at Kano. 'I guess the guys at the academy were right when they called her the Konoha Overachiever'.
"Wait, Kano stop!" Namika called as Kano was about to leap from one tree branch to another. Luckily, Kano heard her in time.
"What's wrong, Namika?" Kano questioned as Isamu caught up.
"I can detect three other chakras almost directly infront of us. We should be wary of traps" Namika replied. Isamu and Kano looked at Namika, then ahead of them, then back to her. "Maybe we should go around them. But then we'll lose the time we just bought. What a predicament" She continued.
"Or we could run straight through and hope that Yakumo-sensei gets stuck in the traps instead of us." Isamu theorised.
"That could work. First we need to find out who those three are. If we do that, we may know who we're up against" Kano replied.
"That's a good idea" Namika commented. She then proceeded to give Isamu and Kano the positions of all three chakras.
"How long do we have until Yakumo-sensei catches up?" Isamu asked Namika.
"About ten minutes" Namika answered.
"That's more than enough time for us to find out who they are" Isamu commented. He then put Namika down.
"Isamu; you go the one on the left. Namika; you go to the one on the right and I'll go to the one almost dead ahead. The plan is to find out who they are, why they're in the forest and where their traps are. If there are any. Got it?" Kano ratted off her list quickly.
"Understood" Isamu and Namika said and dashed off to their assigned directions. Kano went soon after.