Iruka has not been honest with Asuma when he visited a couple of hours earlier. It does not mean that what he told him moment ago is a lie, as it is still one of the affecting factors for accepting this mission, thus it is still consider he has been honest with Asuma, well, not totally. 'Damn that day.' How can he forget that fateful day?
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The Test - Part 1
Before the man in the blue robe explains the content of the test, the male Shinobi gives out the grouping instruction to all the candidates and separates them into groups of four. They are separate in a way that none of them know in-depth of each other, not to mention each other's specialty. A leader is chosen in what seem to be in random. The female ANBU comes round and passes on three scrolls; green, blue and yellow, to three out of the four man team in each individual group. The one without the scroll is handed with a rendezvous map, is the leader. The map shows Training Ground Thirty-fourth.
When the blue robe man is satisfies that all the groups are allocated and each group has indeed receives their scrolls, he explains.
"The content of the test is simple. There is a total of four colour rendezvous point; green, blue, yellow and red as the last rendezvous point. Go to the respective colour rendezvous point in the given map, take the respective colour orb placed at the location before proceeding to the next rendezvous point and so forth until you reach the last rendezvous point, red. However, each individual member has to collect a set of the three colour orbs before reaching the red rendezvous point are then consider a pass in the test. By now, some of you will be wondering what is the purpose of the colour scroll? Unlike in the Chūnin Exams, which all of you have experienced before and successfully advanced, where scrolls are fight among the candidates to complete their exam, here it is the exact opposite. You are not supposed to hold any scroll when you reach the last rendezvous point. If you do, you are immediately disqualify from the test. The scrolls detect the flow of chakra. Any attempt to dispose the scrolls, disrupting the flow of the chakra in the scroll, will cause the scroll to explode and the last person holding the scroll before it explodes, will be considered disqualify. Each colour scroll holds a mission which you have to complete and it will disintegrates upon successful completion, if you chose to open the scroll. I can personally assure you all the missions in the scroll are specially selected for this test and extremely challenging; not just to test your skill, but in other aspect as well. However the reward for completing it may help you in the test. The scrolls can only be unseal and read in their respective colour rendezvous point. These missions can be complete as a team or individually. You have three days to reach the red rendezvous point. Any question?"
"Are there a sequence to the rendezvous point?" one of the special Jōnin asks.
"No, there isn't. Red rendezvous point is the last rendezvous point, the rest of the point has no sequence." comes the reply.
"Is there any other question?" Studying the rest of the candidates, "No? That's good. We will begin the test in fifteen minutes. All the necessary choice of gears and weapons are placed in the respective given entrance point. Dismiss."
Iruka and Iuzmo are in different groups and before they part their way with their corresponding groups, they wishes one another best of luck and no hard feeling if they are to see each other again in the training ground.
Training Ground Thirty-fourth is located in the west of Zeroth Training Ground. It has a unique G-shaped terrain. Similar to the other training ground, the entrance of the perimeter is surrounded by metallic fences bearing the forbidden entry signs. The interior of the training ground is filled with dangerous flora and fauna, inhabited by exotic animals which are both poisonous and deadly, and hidden death traps. This training ground is barely use due to its geographical close proximity to Zeroth Training Ground, which may have affect its ecology. Nevertheless, it is still a perfect place to train when one is trying to harness the intuition of death.
There are a total of eight groups in this test. Iruka belongs to the fifth group, whereas Izumo belongs to the second group. All eight groups are part equally in distance along the perimeter from each other at the entrance of the training ground. The members in Iruka's group are of the same gender, wearing the same standard Konoha Shinobi outfit with sandals and flak jackets. They swiftly choose their choice of weapons and equip themselves with the necessary gears and equipment they are most familiar with before introducing themselves.
The leader. A slender male with pale complexion. Slightly taller than Iruka and has a short, straight black-haired with dark amber green eyes. Under his standard attire, he wears a mesh armor that showed past his sleeves. The shuriken holster and the bandage are placed on the left leg instead of the right, which indicates the user to be a left-handed. He introduces himself as Kaigan Shiru.
Yamada Yucho, the second member, has a distinctive pink straight line scar trailed from his left cheek to the side of his left ear He has a light olive hair colour and a matching pair of olive eyes. He wears fingerless gloves with a rectangular metal piece attached to the back. A sword is strapped to his back and has two hip pouches strapped to his lower back. He wears his forehead protector like a bandanna.
The third member in the group introduces himself as Tanikawa Ishigaki. He has a muscular and well-defined in build compared to the first two. He wears a happuri-style forehead protector that frames his face. His flak jacket, unlike the standard, has no scroll pouch, instead attached to his lower back is a large green scroll.
The last member, Umino Iruka.
"Nice to meet you, Iruka Sensei."
"Yes, it is an honor meeting you, Iruka Sensei."
"It is a fancy surprise seeing you here, Iruka Sensei."
The three members say almost in unison after Iruka introduces himself.
"Erm... hold up," confuse by the sudden unison of the other three members, "Why do I get the feeling that you all seem to know me better than I know you?"
The three of them look at one another, a common understanding has establish among them.
Yucho is the first to speak, "Don't you know you are pretty well-known? To become the Sensei of the jinchūriki when no other teachers are willing to and to even establish a bond with him."
"Yea, and to be in a relationship with the famous Copy Nin, Hatake Kakashi, it is hard not to know who you are." Ishigaki continues.
"With those mentioned, curious people start to notice and observe your action in public, find out more about you and gossips about your personality and characters. The things you do, etc. Bam! You are recognized by most of the Shinobi in the village." Yucho finishes his statement.
The leader muses when he notices the lack of word from the Sensei; opening and closing his mouth, like a gulping goldfish. 'How adorable.'
Iruka did not know how to react. He did not know himself to be the central of attention, neither did he expects other Shinobi to be conscious of him. 'Don't you remember? There was a time when you are the central of attention?" a tiny voice echoes in his mind.
'What?' questions Iruka's inner voice.
A hand rested onto his right shoulder. "Huh?" Iruka slightly jolts in responds and turns to the owner of the hand.
"Are you alright, Iruka Sensei? They are teasing you. I can be of certain all the rumors and gossips I have heard about you are all positive. Nothing to worry about." assures Shiru with a concern look. He turns to the other two members, "The two of you, knock it off. Our foremost importance is the test ahead of us. Let's recap the rules and come out with a plan if we are to survive this together."
"Hai, you are the boss." exclaims Yucho.
"We are all clear that each of us has to get a set of colour orbs and there is no sequence to how we get to each rendezvous point." Shiru recounts.
"Right." reply Yucho, while the other two nod.
"Therefore, the only problem is the scrolls." confirms Shiru.
"Do we want to do all three of the current scrolls we have?" asks Yucho.
"Since they mentioned that the mission in each of the scroll is challenging, I am going to leave it as it is." Shiru responds.
"Hey, it is easy for you to say when you are not the one having the scroll." Ishigaki retorts.
Giving him an plausible look, "I understand your doubt so let us make this clear now. If we are to survive this together, we have to stick together as a team. At any point if we have to do the mission in the scroll, we will do it together. If any of you disagrees or have anything you want the rest of us to know, now is the time to speak up."
Everyone looks at one another, affirming that all four of them have the same agenda in mind.
Satisfy that all of them are on the same page, Shiru proceed on, "The scroll remains dormant due to it is actively detecting chakra from the user. If we are not allow to dispose it, then it will mean one thing; we let the other groups have our scrolls."
"Oh, I get it. A gift to other groups. I like that." Yucho beams on the idea.