Pov: Kenzo

  I am currently adjusting the ninja headband on my upper arm, I am also sitting in one of the training grounds, seems like the entire pce is booked... must be a jonin team bonus, more trees than field and it seems to be a great area for hide and seek.

  Kurenai-sensei stopped us in the middle of this training ground and sat us down so she could talk- to sum it up, most genin don't actually graduate and head back to the academy for repurposing.

  This test throws out the losers and keeps the winners- at least that's what I got from it.

  "Now before we begin, is there any questions?" Kurenai-sensei asks.

  "You said this is a team test right? What happens if one of us does really good and the other does really bad?" Kanata asks.

  "Lets hope you both do good" Kurenai-sensei says in a reassuring tone... not quite the reassuring message however.

  "No more questions? Lets begin then" Kurenai asks and after a moment of silence cps her hands together.

  "This team will be an investigation unit- so two things are necessary, investigating an area... and usually fighting whatever or whoever it is we found. Today I will be testing both, I have set up a fake scenario within the forest, a fake murder investigation to be precise... and when you find me using the environmental clues I will test your fighting capabilities... understood? Good. Lets go" She doesn't hesitate to flicker away and I cant hear her anymore...

  ...

  "So, Kenzo and Katsuko right? Anyone have any special skills in investigation?" He asks and I hear Katsuko shake her head.

  "Nothing concrete I am afraid, I do have excellent ears however" I respond.

  "Ah! That sucks tremendously. Lets start looking around the area for clues, footprints or such" He suggests and I shrug my shoulders before staring down at the ground and through my blindfold.

  Hmmm... I scan the ground for multiple things... blood, footprints, broken leaves or branches, maybe even a leftover item of apparel.

  But soon enough we all realise that there is absolutely nothing within the general area.

  "Maybe, we should... split up... cover more ground" Katsuko suggests.

  "But if you guys suck at something and I fail because we didn't all do good together...?" Kanata asks.

  "But if we don't we cannot find the 'murderer', remember that Kurenai-sensei is teaching us teamwork, sometimes a team needs to split up and sometimes a member of that team lucks upon something important while another is stuck" I expin.

  "But... if the other person does nothing for the entire test?" Kanata questions again.

  "We need a way... to communicate from afar" Katsuko shyly suggests.

  Hmmm good point, question is how we can do that.

  "Any suggestions to do that?" I ask.

  "Shout" Kanata shrugs.

  "And let her know you found her?" I raise my eyebrow.

  "Well what do you suggest?" Kanata replies with some tone.

  "Genjutsu, I cast it on you two and you dispel it to notify me if you find something" I suggest.

  "And what if you find her?" Kanata retorts.

  I raise my finger and then lower it to my chin... did not think of that.

  "Lets just split up and reconvene here again in ten minutes... whoever has the best trail we focus down" I sigh and hear the other two shift before walking away.

  ...

  A few missteps in our first 'mission' together, at least we can communicate.

  I start walking to another direction and start staring through my blindfold again, I look for any traces of a 'murderer' hiding.

  ...

  What am I supposed to be looking for? This training ground obviously has some pnted trails, I just need to figure out what that could be.

  *Step*

  I stop and stare up at the tree... a body hangs from it, slowly swaying in the wind... a genjutsu.

  Is this the fake trail we need to start with? I shouldn't dispel it with my stare- lets go meet up with the others after I check the surrounding area.

  Nothing really obvious around the body, a broken twig... but that's all- I need the others to come see and add their opinions.

  I walk back through the small forest and stand where we left from, a moment ter Katsuko walks to our meeting point.

  "Hey, I found a body but nothing much else, it was a genjutsu... don't know if that means its a fake lead or not" I tell her.

  "I see... I found a pit of dead people... I couldn't find anything else... maybe that was a genjutsu as well?" She asks.

  Probably... unless our new sensei is more sadistic than I thought.

  ...

  "Kanata hasn't shown up yet... should we look for him?" Katsuko shifts awkwardly.

  "It has been 12 minutes... lets go, if he is just te we can meet him on the way" I nod my head and we walk off into the trees.

  As we walk it becomes very apparent that Kanata has either become lost or was taken by this test in some way.

  We eventually arrive at a unique pce in the direction he went- I can smell a corpse... I stare through my blindfold and see that this one isn't a genjutsu, though I do notice some inconsistencies with it- must be a 'fake' corpse prepared for this test.

  ...

  "Katsuko?" I ask and listen intently.

  ...

  Where did she go? Damnit- if she is just quiet I cant stare at her and make her scared- no, no, she wouldn't be that stupid to remain quiet... she must have been taken in some way.

  I look to the body and examine it some more for any clues that could be attached to it- it seems to be a civilian with the clothing it wears, blood seeps from the chest, probably a stab wound with how the blood falls, looks like its been dead for around a day or less, I can see two Kunai up in the trees pced as a missed shot- so a ninja killed this one.

  They hit the tree at that angle... so if I follow the directions- south from the corpse and our initial meeting area, I need to speed up this investigation so I may find my two new teammates faster- a quick scan of the environment leads me to traces of the 'killer' walking west from the corpse, and it seems that signs of struggle happened here as well- two small dirt patches where it looks like my teammates where taken... how did they get taken so easily? I didn't even notice, I suppose that's what a Jonin level ninja can do.

  I start walking through the forest and every other minute staring at the ground and making sure I am on the right track- droplets of blood and broken twigs seem to be my main lead... it seems this new Jonin-sensei of ours has gone easy on us in the investigation department.

  Eventually I arrive at a tree where the clues stop- it all points to this one tree, must be where our teacher is hiding.

  I start to sit still and listen for any signs of life in the area... I can hear faint panicked breathing above me, shuffling of someone else trying to free themselves and another moment of listening I can feel three stares descend onto me.

  One panicked.

  One annoyed.

  And one stare screaming 'what now?'.

  I look up directly at the 'what now?' Stare and smile, I don't stare but I keep my gaze following my sensei's.

  "Impressive, I thought that your... 'stare' could have been exaggerated but it seems it wad underestimated entirely" our sensei decres before dropping from above.

  As she drops I hear her clothes shift and I raise my hands to block the sudden swift kick she releases to my head- I hear her nd and- *Sm!* she hits my side suddenly.

  I take a breath and- *Pow!* my shin is kicked and I get swept onto my back, I cannot hear my sensei as she somehow hides against my hearing... I get up and listen for the two above me.

  I grip two Kunai and throw them both above me before getting kicked in the chest and stumbling backwards.

  The two others fall down onto the ground- I could hear the rope being stretched and the two struggling so I could pinpoint where to throw them.

  "In front of you-" Katsuko yelps and I dodge to the side and hopefully narrowly dodge an attack.

  *Sm* *Pow*

  I cannot hear the sensei- but my teammates are making a lot of noise targeting her, I raise another kunai and throw it in her direction, hopefully distracting her long enough so Katsuko can hit or Kanata can use a jutsu.

  *Pow!*

  Someone hits her at least and I *Snap!~* my fingers, throwing some chakra in my sensei's direction.

  *Pow* *Whabam!* *Sm* *Swish*

  Multiple attacks from all around me sound out, I cannot distinguish where anybody is anymore... I focus down heavily on the sounds and try to find a sembnce of something concrete, but they all move so fast I cannot pinpoint any one attack.

  ...

  I back up against a tree and try to listen into- wait- this is a genjutsu, I just tried to cast this same one on her, how did she redirect it so easily? My system barely noticed it being attacked by foreign chakra... our sensei must be a genjutsu master as it takes an annoying amount of talent to understand how to manipute my systems via chakra with how odd my affinity made me.

  *Sp!*

  I sp my hands together and dispel the chakra from my body, I listen around and notice the fighting taking pce a little to the left now, Katsuko seems to be ramping up in speed while Kanata is weaving a few wind jutsu to push sensei back- I wish I could see what's happening without harming my team or sensei in any way...

  I walk over to the fighting and don't try another genjutsu, it would be useless against her.

  I pick up a kunai and listen intently while the fighting goes on-

  "Kenzo-" Katsuko yelps out again but it is too te.

  *Swish* *Sm!*

  I get hit on the head and start to stumble... that was... a good... hit.

  I fall to the ground.

  ...

  I wake up probably half an hour ter, I scratch my head and get up off the dirt I am ying on- I can hear the other three talking.

  "Finally he is up- can we know if we passed yet?" Kanata asks.

  "Alright then, lets get into my report on how well you did" I hear Kurenai-sensei decre and cp her hands.

  "Are you okay?" Katsuko whispers to me and I nod before sitting down again.

  "Lets start with Kanata- you found the corpse first, dangling from a tree and a kunai its chest, the good thing is that you went to inform your teammates, the bad thing is that you didn't investigate the are first, if you did you would have found me nearby and been able to yell out to your teammates and alerted them to your capture" Kurenai-sensei tells him.

  "But- I did as told? If I went ahead and scanned the area before they arrived my teammates wouldn't have pulled any weight and I would have failed due to them?" Kanata grumbles.

  "Teamwork is never an equal distribution of work, the reconvene in ten pn was enough to convince me that you are capable of working together at least, pulling yourself down for no reason is just your fault not anyone else's" Kurenai-sensei retorts.

  "Katsuko, you did well- as well as you could with no investigation experience, I more measured your combat ability as that is what you specialize in, it is outright standard. But do not worry, with diligence and practice we can improve on your taijutsu, kenjutsu and investigation abilities in the future, right now you passed in any way I could have tested you" Kurenai-sensei expins and I hear Katsuko shift awkwardly.

  "Kenzo. The best when it came to investigation, scanning the area and examining the wounds to figure out where I came from in case you were attacked from that same direction, finding the trail to me and your teammates- and most importantly understanding that you could not possibly fight me blind and bringing in your teammates... my only problem with you is your unwillingness to unseal your eyes when necessary and not informing your teammates of them- it is important that your teammates, no matter the ones you are with, know about your eyes in case you need to use them" Kurenai-sensei expins to me and I nod in understanding.

  I should probably be less hesitant when using my stares... even if my enemy is my sensei, I only endangered my teammates with that one.

  "Eyes?" Kanata asks and I feel two inquisitive stares nd on me.

  "My stares can frighten people, I seal them away because my passive ability to cause terror is an inconvenience to even some Chunin" I expin.

  "Okay... so you aren't blind?" Kanata asks.

  "No. I am not" I reply.

  "What else isn't true... do you even like women sensei's age?" Kanata gasps in mock shock.

  I frown. He is trying to rile me up- just ignore him.

  "So did we pass?" Kanata asks hopefully when I don't react to him.

  ...

  "Yes- congratutions you have passed your genin test... welcome team six, I hope you learn well under my training" I hear Kurenai-sensei chuckle and the other two shaking with joy, I let out a smile as well.

  "Lets meet up tomorrow- at five in the morning, same pce" She tells us right before leaving.

  "Yes! Yes! Yes! Now I can save up money for a new violin!" Kanata gets up and starts walking away, I assume he waved goodbye to us.

  "I suppose... I must go tell my parents... I will see you tomorrow Kenzo" Katsuko gets up and walks away as well.

  But I sit and smile, thinking on the small notification in my head.

  ------

  Complete: Become an official Genin!

  Reward: C rank scroll, Statistic scroll, C rank title, Quest notifications unlocked.

  ------

  Quest notifications? Alright... that probably means I can know a quest before I complete it, most likely just the sudden ones rather than the long term ones like graduating or promotions.

  Stat scroll... I could pce it into lightning mana again- but that wouldn't do much... I needed it for my dragons breath so it could be used, but right now I have a technique that uses much less lightning mana and have gotten used to the small doses of dragons breath.

  Strength? Maybe... It would not help me with my wires... so maybe I should steer away from that for now unless I need to use it for a weapon that I can use in front of others without exposing my lightning.

  Then that leaves the st option, hearing would be a no for many reasons and picking a new stat to upgrade would be sheer stupidity.

  I immediately pce the stat scroll into my genjutsu affinity... and I feel the pain ripple across my body as my chakra points start to shrink even more than before...

  My chakra nerves twist and pull on each other as they rearrange within my body and I take multiple shaking breaths as I feel my entire body become different.

  ...

  I can... feel the chakra in my body even more... I am losing it? I lose chakra every time I do this upgrade... why? Why would less chakra equal a better affinity for genjutsu at all?

  After thirty minutes the pain dials down a bit and I can stand up to walk- walk with a bit of a wobble but I have trained to do so...

  I focus on my stats.

  ------Titles:

  Knowledge Taker: E-rank.

  Root Initiate: D-rank.

  Genin: C-rank

  ------

  Skills:

  Unyielding Stare: E×D×C×B×A×S×K×

  Burst Breathing: E×D×C×B×A?S?K?

  Word- Truth: E×D×C×B?A?S?K?

  Eternal Walk: E×D×C×B×A?S?K?

  Genjutsu Snap: E×D×C×B×A?S?K?

  Lockpicking: E×D?C?B?A?S?K?

  Juggling: E×D?C?B?A?S?K?

  Hearing: E×D×C?B?A?S?K?

  Dragons breath: E×D×C×B×A×S?K?

  Lightning Wire: E×D×C×B?A?S?K?

  Statistics:

  Genjutsu Affinity +5

  Strength +2

  Hearing +1

  Lightning Mana +3

  ------

  Challenges:

  Three Standard Genin.

  ------

  (E) Knowledge Taker: Able to process any mental dilemmas within the orange box, infinite time to solve a simple mental quirk.

  (D) Occupied: No one is capable of taking over Kenzo's body or mind.

  (D) Root Initiate: Danzo has tested you and you have passed. People are less likely to notice you or your characteristics.

  (C) Genin: completing fifty D-rank missions gives you a statistic scroll.

  ------

  I need to upgrade hearing with my C rank scroll then- no others can be upgraded that way.

  Lets do that ter, I need to celebrate with Naruto and I don't want to waste today... the pain should dull in another hour or two so I can celebrate fully with him.

  Lets go eat some dinner first- Ichiraku's of course.

  Thanks for reading :)