Jun went to the meeting place a good hour early the next day. He knew the purpose of the exercise was to test their ability to function as a team. That knowledge already offered him an advantage. He hadn’t been able to share it with his teammates because he had sensed their sensei was spying on them after he left. Moreover, his two teammates departed soon after that day. He came early hoping to remediate that. In the meantime, he walked around the training ground to get familiar with the terrain. He even placed explosives tags in some strategic places.

Natsumi must have had a similar idea as she arrived half an hour early. She proceeded to place steel wires and set up traps with kunais. Jun didn’t see her do it, but he sensed her chakra racing through the training ground. He also nearly fell into her traps. He realized they risked stepping on each other’s toes. He grimaced and went to meet her. After a brief run through the trees, he landed behind her.

“I think we should coordinate our traps.”

Natsumi jumped violently with a strangled cry before turning around and pointing a finger at him.

“Don’t sneak up on me like that.”

Jun opened his mouth to tell her she needed to be more on guard… then he closed it. He decided against employing those words. It was the wrong approach. They were supposed to work together, not antagonize each other.

“My apologies, it was rude of me.” He said.

Natsumi looked at him suspiciously before letting out a grunt. She glanced at the explosive tags in his hand.

“You’re setting traps as well?”

“Just placing these tags around. I’m not good with traditional traps. I’m more familiar with explosive tags.”

The girl gave him an amused snort and relaxed a little.

“I don’t have many explosive tags… not enough to be using them as traps. They’re not reusable like kunais and buying a stock of them is too expensive.”

Jun had never discussed the benefit of using explosive tags versus other types of traps. The conversation surprisingly turned out to be an interesting one. It kept them talking while they finished setting up their traps. When the meeting time was nearing, they returned to the clearing. Susumu was there. The atmosphere was pleasant. They felt comfortable in each other’s presence.

“We set up traps around the training ground. Don’t trigger them. Have you seen the sensei?” Jun whispered to Susumu.

The latter looked at him sideways.

“Not yet.”

As if to contradict him, Shiba Arata appeared out of nowhere, a slight whirlwind of leaves surrounding him briefly. The three genins automatically took their Taijutsu stance. The jonin observed them for a moment, arms crossed, without drawing his sword. He then took a step back, also adopting his fighting stance.

“Don’t hold back.” He advised.

Everyone attacked simultaneously.

Jun and Natsumi leaped toward him, one going to his right and the other to his left. They didn’t consult each other beforehand. It was purely instinctive. They launched kicks and punches. Everything was performed at full speed. The jonin counterattacked without backing down. His experience showed. Moreover, the newly formed team wasn’t completely used to each other.

On several occasions, they got in each other’s way. Shiba effortlessly contained the two of them. He redirected a blow here, used one’s strike to block the other’s there, and caused them to trip over each other. He perfectly took advantage of their lack of coordination. Jun and Natsumi managed to get a few hits in, though. But they received many more in return. Then suddenly, Shiba seemed to slow down.

“Genjutsu, Veil of Drowsiness,” Susumu muttered behind his teammates.

The jonin infused his chakra and shattered the illusion. He went on the offensive. Jun and Natsumi were thrown backward as they let out a yelp of fright. Shiba then rushed towards Susumu who cursed while retreating at full speed.

“Raiton, Electric Discharge” Jun shouted.

Before his Jutsu reached its target, it had collided with a volley of shurikens thrown by Natsumi at the same time. The result was quite unexpected. There was a high-pitched sound, and the electrified shurikens flew in all directions. Jun almost received one in the face. That being said, they achieved their goal. Their sensei still had to turn around to deal with whatever was left of their jutsu. Susumu was able to escape into the trees.

“Join Susumu, let’s move to point number 4.” Jun said to Natsumi.

She nodded before disappearing into the trees to find Susumu. The plan was to move to a location with traps and corner their sensei there. Jun must lead the jonin there for the plan to have a chance to succeed. His eyes narrowed. Shiba placidly stared back at him, a smile on his face.

“That’s all you can do?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.

Jun sent a volley of kunais to his face. He leaned down to dodge them… the explosive tags suddenly detonated.

It was a common practice for ninjas to tie their explosive tags at the end of the kunai, making them trail behind like a small flag. It was quicker to do, but it gave away the surprise effect as it was easy to notice. Jun, on the other hand, had wrapped the tags around the hilt of the kunai, then hid it under a bit of string, similar to the kunai’s color.

Shiba-sensei emerged from the could of smoke, his eyebrows scratched. His smile had disappeared. Jun had definitely caught the jonin off guard. He decided to maintain his momentum and started waving hand seals.

“Raiton, Thunderfox.”

It was the very first B-rank Jutsu he had learned. The only one of that level, his father had taught him. A vaguely fox-shaped bolt of lightning shot from his hands and went upward before swooping down as it multiplied in its fall. It became a whole pack of lightning foxes, crashing down on the jonin. Shiba’s eyes widened, and Jun saw a real look of shock briefly pass over his face before determination replaced it. The sensei drew his katana with lightning speed.

“Futon, Vacuum Sword.”

The arc described by his sword generated a powerful blast of wind, like a physical blade. It collided against Jun’s technique and nullified it in a violent explosion of electric sparks. The teenager cursed. It was his best technique, and it was easily neutralized.

The jonin leaped toward him. Jun lunged backward, narrowly dodging a sword strike before drawing a kunai. There was a brief Taijutsu struggle where he tried to break his guard and land a hit with his kunai. The jonin pushed him away. Jun turned around and ran off like a rabbit, his sensei on his tail.

He jumped from tree to tree, zigzagging from branch to branch, shooting like an arrow between the trunks in a frantic chase where he had become the prey. The jonin was so fast. He was also stronger, sharper, and obviously more dangerous than him. It didn’t feel like a training session anymore; there was a real danger. He was running like a crazy person. Shiba caught up to him three times, and there was a frantic exchange of blows in the trees until he managed to increase the distance between them.

The Shunshin he learned from Shisui was very useful. However, the pressure was on Jun. He couldn’t shake off his sensei. His heart was pounding, he was pushing his speed and agility to the limit. But it wasn’t enough, he was losing ground. He suddenly executed a sharp turn and propelled himself onto the ground just as the jonin turned behind him.

“Surprise, sensei,” Susumu exclaimed.

A Genjutsu of his making hit Shiba first. A second later, a volley of shurikens flew toward him followed by the ignition of explosives tags previously placed there. The timing for each attack was perfect.

Shiba emerged from the cloud of smoke, and the genins let out a disappointed groan.

“Run!” Natsumi yelled, following her own advice.

The others did the same.

The training transformed into a mad chase through the trees. The genins tried to lead their sensei from trap to trap with the latter surviving every one of them or simply disarming them. He also made use of a Kage Bunshin to trigger some traps intentionally. Susumu gradually realized their sensei was forcing them back towards the clearing. The open ground was ideal for him. He let his teammates know, and they worked harder to stay in the forest.

A huge number of shurikens and kunai were thrown. Natsumi’s techniques were quite impressive. They were on par with the weapons techniques he had learned from Shisui. Susumu was not good at close range, which made him the weakest of the group. But he adapted very quickly by taking on a support role. His Genjutsus were ideally timed, buying them a few seconds here and there. Those precious seconds created openings. Jun used Taijutsu when possible and also planted explosive tags behind them to keep the sensei at bay.

Susumu took them through a tortuous route that guaranteed them to stay clear of the clearing. Jun’s Ninjutsu was their greatest asset. He used all his Raiton techniques on the jonin. When the latter got used to them and utilized his Futon to counter them, the teenager promptly switched to Katon, taking advantage of the Fire element superiority.

The wind amplified his fire technique and created a big ball of fire that exploded in the air. Jun found it magnificent. It only worked once, though. The jonin quickly adjusted his strategy. Despite all their efforts, they were against an experienced shinobi. Shiba inevitably pushed them back to the center of the clearing.

The genins were exhausted. Jun had stopped using Ninjutsu and relied more on Taijutsu now and his explosive tags. Natsumi was running out of her projectiles weapons. Susumu was the least tired of the bunch, but he was also the weakest in hand-to-hand combat. Even with the three of them facing the jonin, Susumu quickly used most of his energy. It wasn’t that his Taijutsu sucked, but he lacked speed and technique.

Ironically, he was the last one to be defeated. Shiba seemed to be particularly obsessed with Jun. The teenager defended himself with the ferocity of a cornered prey. All it took was one misstep. While he ducked to avoid the sensei’s kick, the blow hit Natsumi who was near him. She didn’t have time to react. It was a clean hit to the face, sending her against a tree, She lost consciousness. Jun tried blocking the next strike. He was exhausted and misjudged the power of the blow. He suffered some damage. His guard came down, and the sensei sent him to sleep with a well-placed palm strike.