The Exam and the Hunt

Three days flew by. Early that morning, Lu Zeming met up with Mui and Shinbu Kosuke, and they headed to the Ninja Academy together.

The first round was a written exam, held at the Ninja Academy.

At the entrance, Lu Zeming found roughly a hundred candidates.

There were men and women of all ages. At seven, Lu Zeming was the youngest; the oldest were in their twenties or thirties.

Everyone stood respectfully on the school grounds, waiting for the Kusakage to speak.

But the Kusakage did not come. Shinomiya Eita, head of the Shinomiya clan, spoke on his behalf.

Like many leaders' speeches, Shinomiya Eita's dragged on and on. The other candidates either let their minds wander or yawned incessantly, but Lu Zeming listened closely.

Shinomiya Eita opened with the spirit of Kusagakure.

"Where wildfire burns, grass roots endure" was the same rhetoric as "Where Konoha's leaves dance, the fire lives on." Different packaging, no real difference.

Shinomiya Eita then spoke of the deep ties between Kusagakure and Konoha.

He lavishly praised Konoha's progress and said Kusagakure should learn from its advanced management practices.

He went on for over an hour.

From Shinomiya Eita's seemingly dull speech, Lu Zeming extracted three useful pieces of information.

First, the Shinomiya clan had the upper hand in its struggle with the Shinbu clan. The fact that Shinomiya Eita could speak for the Kusakage said plenty.

Second, Kusagakure had long been on good terms with Konoha.

Third, the Shinomiya clan wanted those friendly ties with Konoha to continue.

Lu Zeming knew war inevitably reshaped the international order.

The Third Shinobi World War had just ended. As a buffer between Konoha and Iwagakure, Kusagakure was bound to see its internal balance of power reshuffled. Who, then, was backing the Shinbu clan in its opposition to the Shinomiya clan? The answer was obvious.

Lu Zeming then thought of the Nine-Tails' Attack that would soon strike Konoha.

The Fourth Hokage would die, the Third would return to power, and Konoha would face a shortage of capable fighters. When that happened, Konoha would have no choice but to pull back strategically.

That left the Konoha-backed Shinomiya clan with a bleak future!

Lost in thought, Lu Zeming followed the crowd into the exam room.

The desks were familiar. So was the blackboard. Only the people were different.

Lu Zeming felt momentarily dazed. When he unfolded the exam paper, he found that the first question asked him to explain the Will of Grass.

The next few questions were more conventional, covering visual distance estimation, stealth and infiltration, and how to gather and pass on intelligence—all topics suited to ninja.

Lu Zeming had no intention of answering on his own. He released his Spiritual Power perception and started copying.

Unlike Konoha's written exam, Kusagakure's did not have someone put on a show and deliver a grand speech so the chosen one could pass without answering a single question.

The written exam was little more than a formality. Most of those eliminated were civilian ninja; not one candidate with connections failed.

Lu Zeming could not tell whether he had passed because he copied well or because Shinbu Kosuke had pulled strings.

After all, as Shinbu Kosuke left the exam room, he had given Lu Zeming a pointed look that said, Don't worry. I've got everything covered.

The second round was a capture-the-flag battle fought in three-person teams.

It took place in Crescent Valley, east of Kusagakure.

Each team was randomly assigned a red, yellow, or blue flag. To pass, they had to seize flags of the other two colors, collect all three, and reach Lakeheart Island in the middle of the lake.

Though called a valley, it looked more like a basin. Sheer cliffs ringed it, with an endless forest below. A small river ran from north to south, widening at the center into a crescent-shaped lake.

The valley was relatively enclosed but spacious within. From the clifftops, the entire field could be watched. It was an ideal exam site.

Lu Zeming's team was assigned the southeast corner. From the cliff's edge, they could see candidates from other teams on the opposite cliffs.

Whoosh!

A plume of colored smoke shot into the sky: the signal to begin.

Lu Zeming did not hesitate. He leaped off and plunged into the valley.

Mui and Shinbu Kosuke sucked in a breath. The cliff was at least forty meters high. Jumping straight down was insane.

When the two ran down the cliff face and reached the valley floor, they found Lu Zeming sitting in a tree, delightedly examining a plant.

"Oh, this is nice! I barely got down here, and I've already found wild ginseng. Look at its shape, its color. This is a rare find!"

Lu Zeming gazed at the plant in his hand as if it were a beautiful woman, much to the other two's surprise.

Neither had imagined he had this side to him.

"Ahem. Zeming, we're still taking an exam!"

"Oh, right!" Lu Zeming put away the wild ginseng and asked, "So what's our plan?"

Shinbu Kosuke answered as if it were obvious. "Find people and take their flags!"

Mui saw Lu Zeming fall silent and knew he already had a plan.

"What are you thinking?"

"My plan's simple. You two find somewhere to hide while I gather herbs. Crescent Valley is a treasure trove. There must be plenty more waiting for me to find!"

Lu Zeming wore the look of a subway creep.

Mui's and Kosuke's mouths twitched.

"What about the exam?"

“The exam lasts three days. On the last day, we'll lie in wait at Lakeheart Island. Any team that makes it there will have all three flags. We can just take theirs!”

Mui thought the idea had merit. They could conserve their strength and get all three flags at once.

Shinbu Kosuke, who had plans of his own, was firmly opposed.

"What if the other teams collect their flags and pass before the third day? What if someone finds us while you're off gathering herbs and picks us off one by one?"

Lu Zeming narrowed his eyes and watched Shinbu Kosuke in silence until Shinbu Kosuke grew embarrassed and started to stammer.

Lu Zeming did not call him out. He merely nodded. “You have a point. We'll look for flags first. Once we have them, I'll gather herbs.”

The three hurried northeast. Whenever they came across medicinal herbs, Lu Zeming stopped to pick them. By midday, his pack was bulging.

Lu Zeming was fast. Even after stopping for herbs, he quickly caught up with Mui and Kosuke.

Around midafternoon, Shinbu Kosuke suddenly took the lead and headed due north.

Lu Zeming smiled and followed.

Before long, the three hid behind a slope. A hundred meters ahead, three ninja wearing Kusagakure forehead protectors were resting by the river.

Lu Zeming whispered to Shinbu Kosuke, “You knew they were here all along, didn't you?”

Shinbu Kosuke blushed. “That doesn't matter. It's three against three, and we have the element of surprise. Our odds are good!”

Lu Zeming shrugged, unconcerned.

The three concealed themselves and closed in on the ninja by the river from different directions. The moment they came within range, Lu Zeming and the others hurled their Hidden Weapons.

Pop! Pop! Pop!

All three figures by the river dissolved and vanished.

“Damn it! The Phantom Body Technique!”

Mui and Shinbu Kosuke grimaced. They stood back-to-back, scanning their surroundings.

Lu Zeming looked as though he had expected this. He simply planted his sword against the ground and stared at a large boulder nearby.

A young figure appeared atop the boulder, his face smug with triumph and contempt for Lu Zeming's team.

“You Shinbu scum. I knew you were up to no good. You thought you'd hunt me down, but you're the ones we came to hunt!”

Shinbu Kosuke raised his chin defiantly. “Shinomiya Takuto, don't get cocky. My ambush failed, that's all. It's still three against three. We'll see who hunts whom!”

Shinomiya Takuto burst out laughing.

"Hahaha! You still haven't figured it out, you idiot? It's not three against three. It's nine against three!"

As soon as Shinomiya Takuto finished speaking, six more people flashed into view, surrounding Lu Zeming and the other two.

At the sight, Shinbu Kosuke went deathly pale. Mui pressed his lips together, his expression grim.