Assessment

The Chunin assessment was scheduled for three days after Byakuya submitted his application.

The Senju Clan had fully integrated into Konoha, and as its last princess, Tsunade had always wielded considerable influence in the village.

With the Third's approval as well, preparations for the hastily arranged Chunin assessment were completed quickly.

The written exam was in the morning and the practical test in the afternoon. The entire assessment would be completed in a single day.

Of course, the Third Hokage would still have to personally evaluate and confirm the results.

The morning's written exam was held in a small meeting room on the first floor of the Hokage building.

The exam room was plainly furnished: one table and two chairs. Byakuya was the only candidate. The proctor, a bespectacled middle-aged Jonin, handed him the paper with a blank expression, then sat by the window and gazed at the scenery.

The questions were easier than Byakuya had expected. Unlike the large-scale Chunin Ninja Exams, this assessment did not test intelligence-gathering abilities, so most of its content fell within reasonable bounds: basic ninja skills, the body's meridians, knowledge of hand seals, distinctions between mission ranks, and wilderness survival. The bonus section contained several medical questions on methods of stopping bleeding and basic antidote ratios.

Byakuya finished the paper, checked it over, and handed it in. The proctor glanced at it and nodded without a word.

When Byakuya walked out of the exam room, the sun was shining.

The afternoon's practical test...

He had to consider what sort of performance would count as "normal."

That afternoon, at a training ground on the outskirts of the village.

The training ground had been requisitioned for the occasion. By the time Byakuya arrived, the two examiners were already there.

Byakuya recognized them both: the "Shika" and "Ino" of Ino-Shika-Cho, two well-known Jonin in Konoha.

One was Shikaku Nara. His black hair was tied in a short ponytail, and he wore the green flak jacket of a Konoha Jonin. With both hands in his pockets, he leaned lazily against a tree.

The other was Inoichi Yamanaka. His blond hair was tied back, and a Konoha forehead protector was fastened across his brow. His features were gentler than Shikaku's. He stood at the edge of the training ground with his arms crossed, his gaze fixed on Byakuya from the moment he entered.

What a coincidence. They were the "men" behind Minato.

Byakuya stepped forward and bowed.

"Gekkō Byakuya. I look forward to working with you."

Shikaku nodded without speaking. Inoichi skipped the pleasantries too and simply said, "The assessment is a practical fight. Your opponent is already inside."

Neither man was particularly warm or cold, but Byakuya sensed an extra note of scrutiny in Shikaku's gaze.

It was less like an examiner looking at a candidate and more like a circle sizing up a newcomer.

Byakuya did not particularly mind. He walked into the training ground as though he had noticed nothing.

A man stood in the center of the training ground. He was in his early twenties, of average build, with a Chunin flak jacket and a forehead protector tied across his brow. His face was stern.

He stood steadily, his feet slightly apart.

"Kumazaemon, Chunin." The man's voice was quiet but clear. "Your opponent for this assessment."

Byakuya stopped opposite him, removed the tachi from his waist, and held it in his hand.

"Gekkō Byakuya, Genin. I look forward to working with you."

Kumazaemon said nothing. He raised his right hand, extended his index and middle fingers, and crossed them with Byakuya's—the Seal of Confrontation.

They lowered their hands at the same time.

The fight began.

Byakuya did not rush in. He stood where he was, left hand gripping the scabbard and right hand resting loosely on the hilt, his gaze level with his opponent. Kumazaemon did not move either, but his right hand had already drawn a kunai from the ninja-tool pouch behind his waist.

Kumazaemon made the first move.

Two kunai flew from his hand, one to either side, cutting off Byakuya's escape routes. Byakuya turned sideways. The first kunai brushed past his ear, and he knocked the second away with his scabbard.

Before the sound of the kunai hitting the ground had faded, Kumazaemon was already in front of him, thrusting a kunai upward from an angle straight at Byakuya's abdomen.

Byakuya took half a step back and pressed his scabbard down to deflect the kunai. At the same time, he drew his tachi and slashed across with a backhand stroke. Kumazaemon leaned back, and the blade passed across his chest, leaving a tear in his flak jacket.

In the first exchange, Byakuya gained a slight advantage.

Kumazaemon gave him no chance to press it. He darted back to open the distance, his hands flying through hand seals.

Byakuya pursued for two steps, then stopped. His opponent was quick with his hand seals, and there was no time to close in.

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"

With his hands pressed together, Kumazaemon blew a fierce gale from his mouth, sending it sweeping toward Byakuya with sand and stones caught in its path.

Byakuya did not meet it head-on. He retreated while forming hand seals—Substitution Technique.

With a puff and a cloud of smoke, a wooden log appeared in his place. Almost instantly, the Wind Release swept it away. It tumbled through the air, hit the ground, and split in two.

Byakuya emerged from the smoke ten steps away, breathing unevenly and covered in dust. He looked a mess, but fortunately, he was unhurt.

Kumazaemon did not stop. The moment he saw Byakuya appear, he threw three more shuriken at him in a triangular formation. Byakuya formed hand seals again—"Substitution Technique."

Another log appeared. The shuriken struck it, burying themselves deep in the wood.

Kumazaemon frowned slightly. Byakuya was not particularly fast at forming hand seals, but he timed every use of the Substitution Technique perfectly. He had probably practiced it for a long time, until using it was almost instinctive.

This was in fact the situation for most civilian ninja. Without a family's inheritance or a good teacher after graduation, they had no opportunity to learn new Ninjutsu for a long time and could only keep practicing the three basic Ninjutsu they had learned at the Ninja Academy.

Kumazaemon did not pity Byakuya. If anything, he found him troublesome.

An opponent who had mastered his own abilities and kept a clear head... was harder to deal with.

In that case...

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"

Byakuya easily dodged the gusts now that they had lost the element of surprise, but Kumazaemon showed no sign of discouragement.

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"

Another gale swept through, carrying sand, stones, and debris with it. The two examiners watching from the edge of the field had to dart over to the other side.

"Kumazaemon shouldn't have much Chakra left, should he? He doesn't seem like the reckless type."

Inoichi Yamanaka asked, rubbing his chin.

"The conditions are just about right. Look at the field."

"Oh?... Interesting."

Most of the debris on the field had already been blown away. Only one log had "survived" because it was behind Kumazaemon.

Just then, Kumazaemon, who had gradually forced Byakuya toward the edge of the field, grabbed all the shuriken from his ninja-tool pouch with both hands and hurled them at Byakuya in a dense volley.

Faced with so many shuriken, Byakuya abandoned the idea of defending himself with his sword. Instead, he ran toward Kumazaemon while forming hand seals.

"Puff!"

A log passed through the gaps between the many shuriken and landed a short distance in front of Kumazaemon.

But Kumazaemon did not even look at it. He turned around while forming hand seals.

The only object he could substitute with was there. Byakuya could only appear there too!

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"

The gale swept past. Watching the log split in two, Kumazaemon showed a look of confusion for the first time.

A blade extended from behind him and came to rest on his shoulder.

"...Transformation Technique?"

Kumazaemon turned his head with difficulty and looked at the twelve-year-old boy before him, unable to hide the shock on his face.

"Weren't you afraid the shuriken would hit you after you transformed?"

Byakuya smiled, sheathed his sword, and raised his hand to form the Seal of Reconciliation.

With his powerful Reiatsu sensing, the trajectories of all the shuriken were clear in Byakuya's mind. There was no chance of them hitting him after he transformed.

"Thank you for going easy on me!"

"I lost."

Kumazaemon formed the Seal of Reconciliation as well.

The assessment was over.

At the edge of the training ground.

Shikaku Nara sat beneath a tree, while Inoichi Yamanaka stood beside him with his arms crossed.

The two watched Byakuya and Kumazaemon leave the training ground, neither saying a word.

After a moment, Inoichi spoke.

"Why wouldn't you let me tell him? As a medical-nin, he only had to avoid defeat for ten minutes to pass the assessment."

Shikaku did not look at him. His gaze remained on Byakuya's retreating figure.

"If we'd told him that, we probably wouldn't even have seen this much of his ability."

Inoichi turned to look at Shikaku.

"Even? You mean... he was still holding back?"

"Of course. Someone Minato thinks highly of couldn't possibly be limited to this."

"Someone Minato thinks highly of?... Haha, I was wondering why you volunteered to be an examiner. So that was another reason."

Inoichi watched Byakuya disappear through the training ground's exit and replayed the fight in his mind.

Seen that way, had the seemingly perilous fight just now actually been under Byakuya's control all along?

And he had defeated a veteran Chunin using only the Transformation Technique and the Substitution Technique...

"Hiding his strength? Just to keep a low profile?" Inoichi said.

Shikaku turned and walked toward the edge of the training ground.

"You could call it keeping a low profile..." He repeated the phrase. "But before anyone noticed, he had already developed a close relationship with Minato. And Lady Tsunade personally recommended him for the Chunin assessment."

He paused.

"What exactly is Gekkō Byakuya's goal?"

Inoichi followed behind him without answering.

The training ground fell quiet. The wind swept over the wood chips and sword marks on the ground, carrying away the last traces of the fight.