Kiri held up a piece of paper and waved it around.
"For this part, I'll be evaluating your tracking, stealth, problem-solving, and critical thinking."
She held the paper with both hands and cleared her throat dramatically.
"Your assignment is to rescue the daughter of a wealthy and powerful family. A rival family contracted a team of mercenaries to take the girl, and it is up to you to follow their trail, find the girl, and protect her until backup arrives."
She retrieved a small flare gun from her pocket and held it out for Natsumi to take.
"Once you've found the target, you'll fire this into the air as a signal. I'll be close by, so it's not entirely necessary, but it's just to make this exercise more authentic."
Natsumi took the flare and stuck it into her pocket, nodding.
"Also, as part of the exercise, myself and a few others will be in disguise as the enemy. You must use your stealth to the best of your abilities to avoid detection, and then try to defeat all attackers— if you can."
Kiri chuckled and crossed her arms.
"Although, I do ask that you only knock us out or simulate a fatal blow. This isn't a full combat exercise, and I don't want to die by accident. Got it?"
Natsumi giggled and nodded. "I've got it."
Kiri passed over the paper to Natsumi. "You'll find the coordinates for your starting point at the bottom of the page there. Once you're there, you're going to investigate and pick up the trail that I've laid out for you. It's not meant to be easy, so don't expect it to be."
Natsumi looked over the paper and pictured the location in her mind. She knew where this was.
"Alright, do you have any questions?"
Natsumi shook her head. "No, it seems straightforward enough. Follow the clues, avoid detection, subdue the enemies, and rescue the target."
Kiri nodded and patter Natsumi's head.
"You seem like you're a smart girl; I'm sure you'll do fine. But, I'll still wish you luck anyway."
"Thanks." Natsumi smiled and folded the paper, storing it in her pocket.
"Alright, start now!"
Natsumi raced off to the coordinates and arrived quickly. The building itself was older and largely unused except for training purposes and Natsumi knelt behind a nearby tree to look over the area.
No light came from the windows but she could clearly see that one window on the third floor had been recently broken. There was no broken glass on the ground below the window, so she knew that the window had been broken from the outside by an intruder, rather than from the inside, by someone attempting to leave quickly.
Natsumi quickly created a clone of herself and it kept to the shadows around the building, scouting the perimeter. Once she was satisfied that the area was truly empty, she emerged from her hiding spot and concentrated her Chakra at the bottoms of her feet, carefully pressing them to the wall and beginning to walk up to the window.
She examined the broken window and found a small fragment of torn black cloth there, as well as a few strands of brown hair.
Natsumi picked them up carefully and held them in her fist, peering into the room now.
The interior had been staged to mimic a simple bedroom with very little accessories. The bed was heavily rumpled with small, fresh spots of blood on the floor. A struggle. Natsumi concluded and spotted a broken lamp on the ground nearby.
The girl tried to defend herself? Or maybe the attacker used it to knock her out?
She carefully entered the room, avoiding the glass, and leaned in close to the blood and sniffed.
It's fake. She smiled faintly. They really did go all-out for this exercise, though. It's really fun.
Investigating the room further offered no more clues, except for a bit of still-wet clay in the shape of a partial footprint. While she couldn't tell who the print had belonged to, she did recognize the standard Ninja footwear.
She lightly touched the earthy clay with her fingertips and rubbed it between her thumb and forefinger.
They came from somewhere damp, with clay. A river, probably, or a marsh.
Natsumi climbed out of the window and clung to the exterior of the building with her feet again and scanned the area of below. She spotted her clone investigating a broken branch and hopped down to join it.
Her clone stepped back and her eyes fell on a small dusting of clay on the branch.
They came out of the window, landed here, and went… She turned in a circle and then eyed a tall building nearby. Natsumi released the clone and it vanished in a puff, and then she leapt up to the building's roof, finding more evidence of clay. She followed the path ahead with her eyes, imagining the kidnappers veering North, toward the river, and then beyond the Village walls to the dense forests beyond. Her lips curved upward in a slight smile.
There.
Natsumi followed the faint trail around the perimeter of the village, only stopping when the clues ended. She looked all around and panic rose in her chest.
No! I followed it right here! It can't just end here like this. She clenched her jaw as she scanned the area, kneeling to examine the underbrush thoroughly. There's nothing here! How is that possible?
She crouched in the shade of a tall tree and crossed her arms. Think, Natsumi, think. They couldn't have just flown off or vanished into thin air while carrying someone. If they'd gone underground, there would be evidence of overturned and recovered earth. And there's no evidence that someone hid their tracks, either or any signs that they'd doubled-back.
She pursed her lips and let out a soft breath.
There's gotta be a clue here somewhere. She adjusted and sat, and the paper in her pocket crinkled. She pulled it out and looked it over again. There's nothing useful here, either. Just the starting coordinates.
She sighed and lowered the page and then quickly turned her attention back to it. Some of the pen's ink was smudged before it dried. She leaned closer and tilted the page at different angles until she smiled. There are indents in the page from the one before it. But I can't read what it says.
Natsumi looked all around and spotted a brown, wilted cluster of flowers that had been deprived of nutrients by the towering trees surrounding it. Plucking a dry leaf off, she crumbled it in her hand to make a dark powder and gently rubbed it against the indentations in the page.
The Kanji were faint and barely legible, but it was enough. She held the page up to the light and read the message.
…the third training ground for… Natsumi narrowed her eyes to look more closely but the rest of the message was missing.
"The third training ground for… what?" She folded the paper up and tapped it against her lips. It could be where the kidnappers went…. But it could just as easily be a note for something completely unrelated.
She looked up and eyed the area again, her eyes resting on the final footprint that led to nowhere.
It's the best lead I've got, though, even if it is kind of cheating.
She adjusted her direction and shot off toward the training ground, clutching the paper in her fist.
Please let me be right.
Natsumi slowed her pace as she neared the area, watching for paper bombs or traps as she went.
It looks all clear… it seems wrong. There should be a trap or something.
She landed in a branch concealed by heavy foliage and peered out into the large clearing. There, tied to one of the three posts, a girl was tied.
That must be her, but no one's guarding her? She bit her lip. Everything about this screams that it's a trap.
From the woods beyond the posts, a masked man in a heavy coat emerged. He tugged at the front of his pants momentarily before leaning against another post.
A… pee break. She snorted to herself. But he seems to be alone and I don't see any evidence of a trap. It looks like he's waiting for someone. Probably to hand over the girl.
Natsumi quietly hopped down and pressed her back to the tree's trunk as she peered back at the man.
I should be able to take him out quickly if I can lure him away from her.
She formed a hand seal and summoned a clone, whispered to it quietly, and then formed a series of other hand seals, vanishing belowground.
Above her, the clone kept to the shadows and carefully hid in the brush. It froze and saw a paper bomb attached to a nearby tree, along the path that Natsumi was originally supposed to take.
A small smile spread on the clone face as she stood to approach it. "Check." It muttered and struck the bomb, disappearing in a puff in the explosion.
Natsumi traveled underground and felt the earth shake around her. Was that the distraction? She finished counting and reached her destination, slowly emerging from the ground under cover of the thick brush.
In front of her she could see the opposite tree line that she had come from. Smoke rose into the air and the guard straightened and took a kunai from his sheath running toward the small explosion.
Now!
Natsumi took a final look around and leapt out from hiding, landing softly in front of the post and the girl.
The girl was a few years older than Natsumi with short, straight, brown hair and soft blue eyes. Up close, Natsumi saw that her gag was loose— all part of the simulation.
She wiggled her face and worked the gag off of her face and smiled at Natsumi.
"Hey, it's you!" She smiled and greeted Natsumi quietly. "Or, I can assume it's you, since you're here."
Natsumi blinked, then copied her smile and moved to untie her. "I'm Natsumi."
"The Uzumaki girl." The girl nodded and shrugged the ropes off once Natsumi had finished. Then, she extended her hand. "I'm Sena. Sena Itou. It's nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you." Natsumi looked around, then remembered Kiri's instructions and retrieved the small flare gun from her pocket and fired it into the air.
"You got here a lot faster than we expected. Good job." Sena praised and then covered her mouth to stifle a giggle. "Oops. I'm supposed to be playing a damsel in distress. Sorry."
Clearing her throat, Sena titled her head back dramatically and brought a hand to her forehead. "Oh, I'm so happy to be free! Those terrible men kidnapped me. You're my hero!"
She giggled again and Natsumi laughed.
"How was that?" She asked. "Convincing?"
Natsumi nodded with a grin. "Very." She looked around. "So… the test… is it over?"
Sena shook her head and crossed her arms. "Not yet. Not until your "backup" arrives."
"Oh, right." Natsumi stood close to Sena and looked around. Kiri said that there would be people dressed as enemies, but so far there's only been the one.
Natsumi eyes widened and she threw her arm around Sena and shoved her to the ground as a Kunai passed by her head, barely missing her head before it lodged itself in the post.
I should have expected that. Natsumi scolded herself and quickly stood and turned in the direction of the strike. Without any time to think she brought her arm up to parry a thrust, avoiding the kunai and immediately countered with a firm kick to the attacker's gut.
The force was enough to push back the attacker long enough for Natsumi to dislodge the Kunai from the post and hold it out defensively as she took a grounded stance.
Her attacker was none other than Kiri— wearing in a black cloak and a cloth mask that covered the lower half of her face now.
"Don't ever drop your guard because of a familiar face." Kiri spoke low and Natsumi furrowed her brow and raised the kunai.
Kiri lunged at Natsumi who flickered behind her and swung a wide kick at her ribcage. Kiri leapt to the side to dodge and threw a pair of shuriken at Natsumi.
Natsumi blocked the shuriken and rushed Kiri, swinging the kunai only to be blocked repeatedly.
She's so fast! Natsumi blocked a volley of attacks, struggling to keep the kunai firmly in her grasp against Kiri's. She's so much stronger than I am. How am I going to beat her?
Natsumi dodged another strike and leapt out of the way only to be pursued by the woman.
I don't even have enough time to form any hand signs!
Natsumi blinked and her feet were swept underneath her. Oh no!
She fell to the ground and rolled to dodge Kiri's stomp.
Now's my chance!
Natsumi formed a series of seals and plunged belowground and navigated to a safe distance away, summoning a handful of clones. They appeared aboveground as a distraction and Natsumi took a breath.
I don't have a choice but to use that technique. It's the only way I can beat her when she's both stronger and faster…
Natsumi took a breath and formed a hand sign. Please let this work.
Natsumi knelt on the ground, panting from exhaustion. I did it… but I used up all of my Chakra.
She turned to look at Kiri, who lay nearby, on her back, breathing hard as she looked over at the girl.
"That was…" Kiri laughed. "That was awesome." She sat up slowly and let out a long breath. "I didn't expect you to have something like that up your sleeve. Nicely done."
Natsumi blinked and smiled at the praise. "R-Really? You're not mad?"
"Mad?" Kiri broke into loud laughter, holding a hand on her stomach. "Why would I be mad? You had a good plan and you beat me fair and square."
Natsumi let out a sigh. At least I won't be getting in trouble. That's a relief.
Kiri stood slowly and dusted herself off. "There's just one little thing."
Natsumi looked at her and Kiri grinned. "What?"
The woman knelt in front of her and whispered. "I have a trick up my sleeve, too."
Natsumi's eyes widened as their eyes locked and Kiri tapped her temple.
"Genjutsu."