Progress

Since he was officially in a team with A, Yoroi was able to get to the Raikage quite easily. After all, he was A's father. And so Yoroi knocked on the door of the office and was called straight in. As almost expected, A was also in the office and next to him were several Jonin of the village.

"Very good that you' re here Yoroi. We are discussing the chunin exam and your name has come up as well." The Raikage greeted him and after a few words to the group it was time for the Jonin to leave.

"I have to send A on a mission with B, but since A thinks you're not ready, you'll stay in the village for now."

Yoroi looked to A who smiled at him, "You can't keep up with our pace and should continue to focus on your training."

Yoroi didn't object as expected, he was reminded almost daily of the difference between him, A and B when he lost to them in training.

"Training aside, you should also do your part for the village. So, in order to foster you and at the same time to involve you, you will test all genin teams who want to participate in the examination in combat and judge whether they have a proper level. Everyone who is good in combat will be promoted this time, we have to prepare for the war against Iwa. The teams will be at set locations at set times, for you to attack them. The clue will be that you will not be recognisable as a Kumo shinobi. I hope they will feel in danger and not hold back. The Jonin of each team will be nearby to help you in case of emergency. Of course, you yourself will not inflict any severe injuries on the genin, you should be aware of that. I think with your current strength you should be a challenge, but a few promising teams should be able to beat you. That's how it's going to be for the next two weeks, I'll need your evaluation in time for the exam in three weeks. There's nothing more to say, Dodai should be at the door waiting for you, he's in charge of the exam."

As was often the case, Yoroi was motioned to leave the office with a wink. Dodai was indeed standing in front of the door. Dodai was very well known in the village and among the shinobi. His lava release was feared by enemies and the stories he liked to tell were popular among children. It was his eye patch, however, that made him unique.

"So you must be Yoroi, I had heard about your past missions. If you can't handle your experiences report to me, it happens a lot and you're not abnormal because of it."

Dodai gestured for Yoroi to follow him.

"You probably know me already, I'm Dodai and I'm in charge of the chunin exam. As A has already told you, you will be doing the first assessment of the genin teams. This should give you some combat experience and aid your training progress without having to deploy you outside the village. In my office I will give you some papers where the times and places of your attacks are listed. The skills of each team will remain sealed for you, so that you have a harder time fighting against them. The reason for this is that they have a greater chance against you."

Yoroi was a little confused because the Raikage told him the plan and not A. He was about to ask again when he remembered that the Raikage's name was also A. 'People here are just as creative in naming themselves as I am.' Yoroi muttered to himself.

Once in the office, everything became formal and boring. There were a few papers to fill in and after about an hour Yoroi was able to return to freedom. He put his real goal of telling A about his training progress on the back burner. After his mission he could still tell him and he himself should be already better by then.

His first attack appointment was already that evening on a remote training ground. Accordingly, he did not have much time to waste and after a short visit at home, he set off for there. The training ground was the one where he developed his own jutsu: a small clearing with an artificial pond. The target team was not there yet and so he prepared some traps with a wicked grin. Of course, he set them so that they would be harmless. He equipped a kunai trap with kunai dummies that he had bought for his former genin a long time ago but had never put to proper use. His favourite trap was an explosive tag that did not explode but released sticky water. In fact, the old Yoroi had 'confiscated' some of these on one of his missions, but never used them. They would be good for scaring the genin and would not cause any injuries.

It was slowly getting evening and he could see three genin running through the forest towards the clearing. Their mood was very good and they were joking. Arriving at the clearing, Yoroi heard that this was apparently the training ground booked by their jonin and that they had been training there for days. But what upset Yoroi a little was that it was Ainari, Tahei and Sakugai he was up against. 'You'll get your fight now,' he cursed softly, shaking his head. The Raikage, or probably Dodai, had deliberately sent him against his own students first. He took another deep breath, placed his sword behind a tree, otherwise they would recognise it immediately and threw a kunai with 'explosive' tag at them.

"Splat!"

The unexpected attack took the three genin by surprise and they managed to dodge the tag just in time. Had it been an explosive tag, they would have at least suffered burns. Tahei reacted quickly and fled to the tree line, his specialisation was Genjustu and therefore he always fought in second line. Unfortunately, Yoroi's kunai trap caught him off guard and he was forced to stay in the clearing. In his view, the forest was probably equipped with traps to prevent their escape. Ainari directly began to form finger signs: "Earth Release: Dust Bowl."

He sucked in a breath and spat out dust that flew in the direction of the attack. A clever idea to sort themselves out and at the same time block the opponent's view. When the dust settled a few seconds later, the three genin were lined up in formation. Sakugai and Ainari in front, Tahei behind.

Yoroi walked slowly into the clearing with a kunai in his hand and was about to start running when Sakugai charged at him. From her stance with her sword together, Yoroi could tell that her kenjutsu was clearly more refined. Just before she reached him he heard Ainari shout something again: "Lightning Release: Lightning Bolt".

Sakugai leaned her upper body a little to the side and a Lighting bolt shot past her towards Yoroi. It had to be said, the team was very well coordinated. Yoroi was hit, but it was a charred piece of wood that remained. He had swapped places with it right away. He came at Sakugai from the side and at the last second he felt an icy chill down his spine. This delayed his attack slightly and she was able to avoid him. Now it was Ainari who went into the melee and there was a small exchange of blows between Yoroi and him. In the middle of the exchange of blows he again felt a chill down his spine, but this time he was prepared for it and it did not hinder him. Thus he was able to avoid an attack from Sakugai from behind by simply stepping aside. The latter then collided with Ainari and the shock and question marks were written all over their faces. Yoroi took the chance to attack Tahei: "Water Release: Mouth Shot".

It was a jutsu the old Yoroi had learned, that shot senbon-shaped droplet of water with high velocity. He aimed at the solar plexus and as expected Tahei went down gasping for air. The jutsu was not strong enough to seriously injure him and so Yoroi could take care of the remaining two. They were just about to get up when they saw Tahei go down.

"Water Release: Water Binding"

Yoroi used the next jutsu with two large tendrils shooting from behind him towards the two. Without being able to react quickly enough they were caught and it was a clone of Yoroi he had placed in the forest earlier that held a kunai by both necks.

"So that' s it then. I must say you worked very well together. I don't quite understand what Tahei was doing all the time, but so far you were quite good. I suppose something in your plan didn't work out and you couldn't react properly. Sakugai, your attack endangered your teammate because you evidently collided with Ainari. Always plan your attack so that it doesn't pose a danger to your teammates."

Yoroi took off the robe and mask he was wearing and shock was etched on Ainari and Sakugai's faces.

A jonin appeared beside Tahei, who helped him up and joined the others.

"Yoroi, you have also become much stronger and have not held back one bit. You three should take his words to heart, he is absolutely right. One of your attacks was too reckless. That was a test in the course of the chunin examination, you should be aware that this fight did not take place and you are not to warn other genin."

The Jonin was Hamui, an experienced Jonin who had led many missions during the war. The fact that he was the team leader was a testament to the potential that lay within the three genin.

"What didn't actually work in your strategy?" Yoroi was curious, after all, up to this point the battle was going quite well for them.

It was Tahei who answered in a weak voice, " My genjutsu had no effect on you. They were supposed to immobilise you so sakugai could cut off your head. Uhh, sorry about that, I guess?"

"I was about to intervene, but I'm also surprised that the genjutsu left you completely unaffected." Hamui was also very interested in the reason for the genjutsu's failure.

"I just felt it shiver down my spine and since that was once before at the beginning of the fight, I just ignored it. I knew that sakugai was coming from behind, so it was okay to blank out the feeling. I'm not aware of being immune to genjutsu at this point, though." Yoroi was also perplexed, but nonetheless he was also happy inside. Battles would be much safer for him this way.

After Hamui left his signature in Yoroi's documents, Yoroi quickly went to a restaurant. Dodai had invited him for dinner and he didn't want to miss the chance to get to know one of the best Jonin in the village.

"Ah, there you are, I took the liberty of inviting some other people." Dodai greeted him at the door leading Yoroi inside and to a table where two people were already seated.

"These two here are in need of a distraction, so I invited them without further ado. You don't mind, do you?"

Yoroi sat down at the table with both of them, of course he had no problems, on the contrary, this way he could make new contacts to calm A down.

"My name is Yoroi, I am a Tokubetsu Jonin and that is all I can say. I am missing almost all my memories after an ambush I was caught in during a mission." Yoroi introduced himself to the two new ones, hoping to break the ice right away. The other two followed suite:

"My name is Nemui, I am a Jonin and have only recently returned to the village. I fought on the war front before."

"My name is Usui, I am also Jonin and fought with Nemui in the war."

After both introduced themselves, Dodai took over the conversation and it was about the young shinobi's development. Especially the oppressive situation with an upcoming conflict with Iwa and the resulting faster promotion, which Dadoi didn't think much of, were a topic. After everyone had eaten and it became quiet, Yoroi started a conversation: "Dodai said you needed a distraction?"

"cough" "cough"

Nemui and Usui choked at the same time and Yoroi guessed that the two probably didn't need a distraction but rather wanted to escape from something.

"Hahaha, that's when they both choke. Yoroi, our esteemed gentlemen here are fleeing from their responsibilities. Both have returned from the war to find that they have become fathers. Nemui has been the one to suffer the worst, he was always lazy and sleepy and yet now he has to look after his son."

Dodai burst out laughing and the two fathers faces turned red. The conversation became lively and Yoroi got to know them both better. In fact, he was a little shocked when he heard the children's names, Uruis had the name C and Nemuis the name Darui. The latter name rang a bell with him, but he couldn't really place it. His only recollection was that Darui was the bodyguard of the raikage. How likely was it to meet Darui's father?

Unfortunately, he was not given the chance to think about it, because his mission to test the geninteams continued.

"I don't want to rush you, Yoroi, but don't you have to test the next team right away?" Dodai reminded him of his duty and so Yoroi stormed off without paying: "Sorry, I completely forgot."

After Yoroi had left the restaurant in a hurry, he went straight to the next meeting point. Fortunately, he was still equipped from the previous fight, so he did not waste any more time equipping. After a few minutes he reached the target training ground and spotted three young shinobi sitting in a tree.

To his disappointment, one of them turned directly around. 'Whew, one of them has sensor skills.' Somewhat perplexed by the sensor ninja, Yoroi had no choice but to attack directly. He threw a kunai with a false explosion tag towards the group of three. The sensor ninja, who was small and scrawny, responded with a kunai, distracting Yoroi so that it struck far away. Before Yoroi could launch another attack, a bolt of lightning flew towards him, another genin with a handsome figure and short grey hair had already launched an attack in the meantime. Yoroi had to jump down from the tree, but the last Genin, a muscular child, was already there. Forced, Yoroi went into a teijutsu fight while the sensorninja stared at both of them.

"The enemy is no taijutsu expert, I suggest we make sure he can't use jutsu. Moi you prepare to use ninjutsu in case Jooi gets into trouble." The sensor ninja was probably the team leader and had directly exposed Yoroi's weakness.

The fight did not go well for Yoroi and when he finally managed to get a few metres distance to use a jutsu, Moi attacked him at a distance with a Lightning Release. It was difficult to avoid the jutsu and Yoroi tripped over a root. Even during the fall he could see a grin on the face of the sensor ninja who must have been waiting for the moment. With the impact on the ground, a glowing box formed around him and he could see that a clone of the sensor was using a barrier jutsu to catch Yoroi.

"Very good guys, I'll take it from here." A new person appeared next to the barrier, apparently the team's Jonin. After sending his genin home, and of course informing them beforehand that this was only a training match, he released Yoroi from the barrier.

"What do you think of my team, the boys are great aren't they? Hope this doesn't leave you too scared, but they had already won against a Tokubetsu Jonin in a recent mission."

"I didn't stand a chance from the start, I was caught cold by the sensorninja. The three of them are definitely chunin level and very well coordinated." Yoroi gave some more feedback before it was time for him to go home. This fight was good for him, it showed him some need to improve and so his training for the next day was already set.

Once home, Hanai was already asleep, so he quietly washed up and went to bed. He couldn't sleep well at night, again a lot had happened in one day. The training success in the morning, then the fight against his students, the restaurant and finally his bitter defeat in the night. 'Sigh. I still have a long way to go.' He murmured softly to himself until he finally fell asleep.