35: Easiest Test, Maybe Ever

All of the other reincarnators heard it. The World Message.

[-World Message-]

[-Reincarnator #17 has died. Cause of death: Scorched by Reincarnator #15.-]

This was the first time that this had happened. A reincarnator was killed by one of their own. A terrible precedent to set... After all, nobody wanted to be the first one to do it. It'd paint a huge target on their back. But now that it was set...

A pair of reincarnators were having a chat, one seated at a desk trying to read a book, while the other slapped a hand on the surface which almost knocked over the first one's drink.

"Yo, Yuta! You wanna try fight some other reincarnators? You've got that 'Oracle' thing that you can find 'em with, right?" Reincarnator #13, Ryu, asked.

Yuta, reincarnator #12, looked up from his book with a sigh. The Kumogakure Library was full of interesting subjects and he hated to be disturbed while reading. But still, Ryu was his childhood friend in this world, so he answered.

"No, Ryu, I don't. Not until Prometheus levels up again and I can get a better feel for their abilities. I'm not risking going into a fight with another reincarnator yet when they could have anything at their disposal. Tell me, do you have any counterplay in mind if you end up fighting someone with a power from another world? We already know that we can get abilities from other worlds through gachas, quests, or our starting wishes. We both have already wished for such powers ourselves, have we not?"

"Heh, of course I have counterplay! I'll just beat 'em!" Ryu happily responded with a big, dumb grin on his face. "By the way, you talk too much at once, bro! Relax a little!"

"Never." Yuta flatly refused the perfectly resonable request while simultaneously complying with it.

- - - - -

Seija read the Global Chat as she always did when these kinds of World Messages showed up.

[-Global Chat 2.0-]

[-Reincarnator #4: "Well... Fuck."-]

[-Reincarnator #7: "I'm gonna kill that little shit. Swear to god."-]

[-Reincarnator #6: "...I will update the memorial. I had hoped that Renji would find a way to win against or escape from Mishima, but it would seem that fate is cruel."-]

[-Reincarnator #6: "Also, I would like to know how many reincarnators are available to start leaving their hidden villages and begin travelling. There are only a few months left before the Third Shinobi World War starts in full. If you have goals outside of your home territory, now is the time to act upon them before the fighting kicks off on a wide scale again."-]

[-Reincarnator #5: "Man, this sucks... Number #6, I'm gonna go on a little field trip myself soon."-]

[-Reincarnator #6: "Good. If you see Mishima, kill him. Do not hold back. That goes for any others of you who are also travelling. Refer to the pictures that Renji took of him which were posted to the Reincarnator List."-]

[-Reincarnator #5: "Uh... yes ma'am?"-]

[-Reincarnator #7: "Don't gotta tell me twice. He's dead meat when I see him. ON. SIGHT."-]

[-Reincarnator #8: "Well, #2 and I can give it a shot if we do see him, but neither of us are really equipped to deal with Scorch Release. Number #7 probably has the best shot out of any of us thanks to her Water Style."-]

[-Reincarnator #7: "Damn fucking right I do."-]

[-Reincarnator #4: "What am I, chopped liver? I can use Water Style too!"-]

[-Reincarnator #7: "Should've said it sooner, dumbass! None of us knew that you could!"-]

'So.' Seija thought to herself as she closed the menu, 'Renji didn't survive in the end. I don't want to say I called it, but his survival was never going to be likely.'

She turned her attention to more important matters. Namely, the queue that she and the Ame trio were standing in. They were currently in the Hidden Village of Amegakure itself, waiting in line to take the test that would qualify them for shinobi work. Amegakure had no shinobi academy at this time, relying entirely upon volunteers to supply its military.

Although Hanzo, the current leader of Amegakure, did most of the military work himself anyways. His gigantic salamander summon could cover entire battlefields in poisonous fog, rendering all but the most capable of Jonin shinobi powerless against him. Thanks to this, most of the invading nations who constantly crossed into the Land of Rain's territory chose to remain near the edges of the country, not willing to risk catching his attention by approaching the capital itself.

The queue became shorter and shorter by the minute, most candidates dropping out at the first step which was - according to rumors - to be able to hit a moving target from 20 meters away using a kunai.

'I guess I understand why. Most shinobi combat during wars takes place between the lowest tiers of ninja, and most of those low tier ninja could die to just a few thrown kunai and shuriken.' Seija rationalised.

They reached the front of the queue and the bored-looking Ame Chunin looked up from where he was crossing a name off his clipboard. Behind him was the ninja-equivalent of a firing range, complete with machines made to toss targets into the air. He addressed Yahiko first, since he was at the front.

"Name, age, and place of origin?" The man drawled. He looked tired despite it still being noon.

"Yahiko, ten years old, Shirei Village." He responded. The man raised an eyebrow at that.

"Rather tall for a ten year old... No matter. You already have your own weapon pouch, so perhaps you'll prove to know how to use its contents, hm? The sorry idiots I've been getting today can't throw for shit. Stand behind that red line. When the target appears, try to hit it with a kunai. You don't need to hit the center, but it looks a lot better in the report if you do."

Yahiko stood just behind the line and took out a single kunai.

"Ready? Then, your target will appear in three seconds."

3. 2. 1.

*Clack*

Yahiko nailed the center of the wooden target before the whole thing was even fully visible.

The instructor collected the fallen target and whistled when he saw the result.

"Well alright then. Normally I'd call you an overachiever for showing off like that, but honestly? I'm too damn tired to complain about adding someone actually competent to our ranks. You head through that door over there for test number two. Next person." He handed Yahiko's kunai back to him and waved Konan forwards.

"Name, age, and place of origin?"

"Konan, ten years old, Shirei Village." She answered.

"Hm. You kids all part of the same group?"

They nodded.

"I see. Then I hope you all have the same level of skill."

Konan performed similarly well to Yahiko, scoring a bullseye as soon as the target was in view.

"Good. You go through as well. Next."

Nagato approached. The man tilted his head and squinted for a moment upon seeing the boy's eyes.

"That a Kekkei Genkai, kid?"

"My eyes? Yes."

"Never seen that kind before. You can actually skip straight to the third test if you have a Kekkei Genkai. Unless you also feel like showing off like those two before you, you can head straight on through that door."

Nagato smiled. "Then I will take you up on that offer." And he too headed through to the next room. After stating his name, age and origin, of course.

The Chunin turned back to the only remaining member of the group.

"Alright, masked kid. Name, age, place. You know the drill."

"Seija, eleven years old, Itami Village."

"Same place as the red haired kid, then. Don't suppose you've got any bloodline tricks too, eh?"

"Nope."

She left him in blissful ignorance and approached the red line.

She performed just as well in the kunai test as Yahiko and Konan did, though the examiner had significant difficulty prying the kunai out of the target due to the strength of her throw. She was promptly sent through to the next room once it was given back to her.

There, a second, younger-looking Chunin was waving Konan through to the next room and dusting himself off.

"Another one already? God I hope you're not as good as the last two were. I'm already covered in bruises..." He rubbed his arms as he spoke.

Seija chuckled. "I'm guessing this is the Taijutsu test, then?"

"Got it in one." He stretched and retreated to the other side of the sandy arena that covered this room's floor.

"This test is simple, just impress me enough that I say you can go through. Alternatively, you can also knock me out. Please don't actually do that, though; that's just a failsafe in case anyone else in my position tries to fail a candidate just because they don't like them. Fortunately, I'm not one to hold a grudge just because some kids turn out to be stronger than me. When I'm holding back, of course." He said with a wink.

"Alright then. Whenever I'm ready?"

He nodded. "Whenever you're ready."

Ducking low, she launched herself towards the instructor. His face instantly turned serious as he brought a hand down to block her first punch, which he caught with his open palm. She chose not to put much force into her strikes since she didn't want to risk crippling the poor guy. Despite this, he still winced when the strike connected.

'Oh? He's got fast reactions and quite a bit of strength. More strength than Yahiko and Konan, that's for sure. Chunin standards must be high here.' Seija noted as she backed off.

Since he hadn't said anything, just one straight punch clearly wasn't enough to pass the test by itself, so she continued her assault. Her next two punches were both met with blocks, but she could see the man wince again and heard him suck in a breath as the third strike hit his already sore right arm. Then he retaliated with a strike of his own, which she caught by the wrist easily.

Pulling the arm past her she brought her other hand up and applied pressure to the back of the man's elbow. She didn't conclude the attack, and she could tell he understood the strength behind her strikes so far, as he raised his other hand in surrender.

"Alright! That's a pass. Don't actually break my arm..." He pleaded.

She happily obliged and let his hand go.

"Sheesh, what is it with you three kids and your Kekkei-Genkai-having friend? Uh, there are only four of you, right?" He asked with a slightly terrified glance towards the entrance as if another one of them was about to walk in.

Seija waved him off. "Yes, just the four of us. You probably have a good break ahead of you since nobody else waiting in line with us seemed capable of anything spectacular. You should get some rest, I'll head on through to the next test."

"Hah! Don't gotta tell me twice!" He rubs the back of his neck before snapping his fingers and speaking again.

"Oh, and I'd offer you good luck on the next test, but you've technically already passed this whole assessment. The third and final test is just where you go to show off any more substantial tricks just so we can put 'em on record. Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, Kekkei Genkai, that sort of thing. Show them something really impressive, and you might even get automatically put on the list to be put on the list for our next batch of Chunin promotions." He finished before leaving through the 'Employees Only' door at the back of the arena.

With that information in hand, she headed on through to the final room, where Yahiko and Nagato were being handed a pair of headbands, while Konan showed off her Wind Style techniques to the last instructor, slicing up a set of straw training dummies.

The last instructor noted down something on her clipboard before she turned to the newcomer.

"Ah, you'll be this 'Seija' that these three have told me about. Just stand on the other side of that wooden barrier like your friend Konan, and just do whatever you want to the training dummies. If it's particularly impressive or useful I'll note it down right here and send it off to the higher-ups."

Seija thought about what she should show. This will be the information that Hanzo and any other influential figures in Amegakure will be able to find out about her. She decided to go with the things that she would be using most frequently in missions. Namely, her physical strength, her Earth Style, and her Lightning Style. She hadn't practiced Lightning Style as much as she felt she should have, given that it had very few weaknesses and tended to be especially hard to dodge for low-ranking shinobi.

And of course, she would be using her summons as well. She explained the theme of her summons to the examiner, who noted it down on her clip-board. 

With that out of the way, she hopped over the barrier and cycled her chakra for her first demonstration.

"Well then, I think I'll go with these."

Swiftly clapping her hands together into a Ram seal, she raised both palms towards the left-most set of dummies, which had just burst out of their storage seals built into the ground.

She spoke out loud for the examiner's benefit.

"[Lightning Style: Thunderbolt]"

Streams of lightning rocketed forth, tearing through the dummies like paper, completely wiping them out in a second.

The instructor took a note. "Ok... Lightning Style's good; it counters our most common foe, Iwagakure... Exceptional casting speed... Only one seal for an elemental jutsu... Doesn't look tired... Right, that's everything so far. I noticed that you only targeted one third of the dummies, so I assume you have more to show?" She questioned.

Seija nodded and turned to the right-most set.

"[Earth Style: Spears of Earth]"

Slamming her hand down, the ground in front of her flowed and sharpened into spikes, which shot forwards and impaled the entire group of highly unfortunate training dummies, before fully solidifying into place.

The instructor took more notes.

"Great, two elements, both the highly offensive Lightning Style and the highly defensive Earth Style, good balance there... similarly quick casting speed... still isn't tired at all?" She raised a questioning eyebrow at Seija, who nodded.

"Excellent. And you've left that cone of dummies right in the middle for one final display, yes?"

"That I did. It won't be Ninjutsu this time, though." Saying this, Seija turned back to the dummies in front of her and pulled back a fist.

The examiner barely had time to tighten the grip on her clipboard as the girl shot forwards, creating a whirlwind in her wake and cracking the floor beneath her footsteps before absolutely launching the first dummy away, shattering it into pieces that tore through the dummies behind it. When the dust settled, all that remained of the dummies was a pile of straw at the very back of the room.

The examiner blinked before resuming her write-up.

"Extreme physical strength... magnificent chakra-enhancement... high movement speed... Well, Seija, I'm happy to announce that you are officially the most terrifying child I've ever met, although your three talented friends here come close. The only things you personally seem to lack are Genjutsu, and any sort of greater stealth capability. Is that correct?" The woman asked her.

Seija nodded. "Yeah, my chakra is more potent than normal which means that I light up like a festival street in any sensor's active detection range. There wasn't much point learning subtlety thanks to that, so I spent my time focusing on more important things. Although I can at least hide myself from any non-sensor or civilian just fine." She answered.

With that, the examiner reached into the pouch on her belt and took out a headband which she handed straight to Seija.

"Well then, this is for you. Your loyalty will have to be proven through work, so you may find your first few missions being trickier than the usual standard, but I'm sure none of you four will have any issues. Your information that us examiners have gathered here today will be put forward to Hanzo himself, as well as his closest aides. They will be the ones to decide how your team will be structured... however, I think there is a high chance that you will be allowed to remain in your current group. I can tell you for certain that you are all at least Chunin level combatants, which means that they won't have to assign a Jonin sensei to babysit you. Come back here in a week and you'll be directed to the Office to receive your first mission. That will be all."

And with that, she pointed to the back door, and the new team left the exam halls behind them.