Walking home after the gathering, Kōki had no idea someone had already set their sights on him.
After returning home, he was just about to get ready for bed when he heard a knock at the door.
He opened the door and found an unfamiliar ninja outside. "Can I help you?" he asked the stranger.
The stranger replied, "Kōki Itō, Lord Hokage wants you to go to the training ground tomorrow and wait for your teammates and your Jonin instructor."
It turned out Hiruzen Sarutobi had sent this ninja to tell Kōki to meet his instructor.
"All right, understood." After hearing Kōki's reply, the ninja turned and disappeared into the night before Kōki could ask anything else about his instructor.
Once the man had left, Kōki closed the door, wondering whether tomorrow's Jonin instructor would be someone who had appeared in the original story.
But on second thought, anyone who had appeared in the original story at this point in time held considerable standing. They were either members of ninja clans, such as the Ino-Shika-Cho clan heads, or the heads of the Uchiha Clan or Hyuga Clan. Even civilian-born ninja were people like Minato Namikaze, a student of Jiraiya of the Sannin.
It was unlikely any of them would serve as the Jonin instructor for his Genin squad.
Kōki guessed his Jonin instructor was probably someone who had never appeared in the original story. Animation was animation, and reality was reality. There were far more people in reality than in the anime.
After letting his thoughts wander for a while, Kōki slowly drifted off to sleep.
Upon waking, Kōki immediately washed up and headed to the training ground.
When he arrived, he saw two young ninja chatting, a boy and a girl. The girl had a delicate little face and looked very cute.
Her male companion looked brimming with confidence, giving the impression of a hot-blooded youth.
Kōki realized they were probably his teammates.
"Hello. Are you two newcomers waiting for your instructor too?" Kōki asked as he approached.
"Yes, but she and I aren't newcomers. We're seasoned ninja with a full year of missions under our belts," the easygoing boy replied directly.
The girl beside him added, "You're Itō, right? I'm Yui, Yui Fujiwara. He's Katsuto, Masato Yoshino."
"We're both students of Uehara-sensei. We originally had another teammate, but he was seriously injured on a mission and stopped being a ninja."
The girl named Yui grew a little downcast when she mentioned their injured teammate.
"Yui-senpai, Katsuto-senpai, let me introduce myself properly. I'm Kōki Itō. You can just call me Kōki." Before he finished speaking, Kōki sensed killing intent coming from the woods nearby.
He immediately drew a kunai and took a defensive stance. The other two reacted swiftly as well, drawing a kunai and shuriken, their faces tense and ready.
Both had been on missions and had a deeper understanding of killing intent. From their experience, the ninja releasing it had to be at least Chunin level. That conclusion made them even more cautious.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! Several shuriken suddenly flew from the woods, spinning rapidly as they hurtled toward the three of them.
Seeing the shuriken, Kōki and the others immediately moved to intercept them. The two sides' shuriken collided and scattered, but a few still broke through the trio's defenses and flew straight at them.
With their own shuriken unable to block all the enemy's projectiles, the three could only scatter.
But the assailant seemed to have anticipated their movements. An even faster kunai shot from the woods, heading straight for Yui, who was still in midair with nothing to push off from, seemingly intent on taking one of them out first.
Kōki reacted extremely quickly, however. He hurled his own kunai hard, striking the incoming kunai with precision.
"Thank you."
After landing safely, Yui immediately thanked Kōki for what she had just seen.
"You're welcome, Yui-senpai. We're teammates, after all," Kōki said without turning his head, his eyes constantly searching for the enemy's position.
On the other side, seeing Yui nearly struck by the kunai, Katsuto immediately called out, "Yui, are you all right?"
But while Katsuto was distracted by his concern for Yui, a figure rushed toward him at tremendous speed. Once close enough, the figure immediately drew a kunai and stabbed at him.
Caught off guard by the sudden attack, Masato Yoshino hurriedly raised the kunai in his hand to block. Although he had over a year's experience fighting enemies, he had rarely faced a ninja of Chunin level or higher in a head-on, one-on-one fight.
But the assailant was too fast. Takuma Yoshino failed to react, and the assailant exploited the opening to send him flying with a kick.
Just as the assailant was about to press his advantage, a circular earthen wall suddenly rose beneath his feet, enclosing him.
"Earth Release-Earth Prison Dome!" At some point, Kōki had begun forming hand seals, trapping the assailant with an Earth Release technique.
Seeing Kōki trap the enemy, Katsuto called happily from the ground, "Nice work, Kōki!"
His delight was short-lived, however. A powerful surge of chakra came from within the earthen prison. "Lightning Release-False Darkness!" A sharp bolt of lightning formed from lightning release chakra shattered the earthen enclosure.
Even after breaking free, the assailant did not abandon his intent to attack Katsuto. It seemed that, in his eyes, Kōki posed less of a threat than Katsuto.
Kōki saw what the enemy intended and continued forming hand seals. "Water Release-Water Whip!" A whip made of water shot toward the assailant.
But the moment the water whip touched the enemy, he vanished into smoke with a poof.
"It's the Shadow Clone Technique!" Kōki recognized the ninjutsu, then immediately realized something and turned toward Yui. Sure enough, the assailant had already seized her.
"Kid, you're pretty good. Too bad you're still too young." Holding a kunai, the assailant looped his arm around Yui's neck and spoke to Kōki with a smug expression.
Katsuto, who had already gotten to his feet, grew very tense when he saw Yui captured, at a loss for what to do.
The assailant then drew another kunai and tossed it in front of Kōki and Katsuto. He said to Kōki, "Kid, pick up that kunai and kill your teammate. Only then will this girl live. Otherwise, she dies."
The assailant wore a twisted, cruel smile as he spoke, seemingly delighted at the prospect of watching teammates kill each other.
After hearing the enemy's words, Kōki slowly picked up the kunai on the ground.
"Kid, hurry up! Stop dragging your feet, or I'll kill her right now!" Seeing him move so slowly, the assailant flew into a rage and moved to teach Kōki a lesson.
As he spoke, he thrust the kunai in his hand toward Yui's arm.
Suddenly, something unexpected happened. With a poof, the captive Yui turned into Kōki, then struck the assailant with his elbow.
Startled by his hostage's transformation, the assailant failed to react and was sent flying by Kōki's blow.
He only stopped after crashing through several large trees.
Seeing the assailant defeated, the Kōki standing near Katsuto let out a breath of relief and changed back into Yui.
Katsuto was stunned by the scene before him too. He had no idea how Yui had turned into Kōki, or how Kōki had turned into Yui.
"Yui, you... when did you turn into Kōki?" Takuma asked in surprise.
"The moment Kōki trapped the enemy with Earth Release. I hadn't thought of it myself."
"But Kōki thought the enemy would first take out me, since I looked weak. So, just in case, he had me turn into him while he turned into me, and we waited for the enemy to take the bait."
"But Kōki's strength...?" Katsuto still could not quite understand.
"Did you forget that Kōki beat Kakashi on his own?" Yui explained.
That reminded Takuma. After all, when their instructor told them Kōki would be joining them, they had specifically looked into him.
It was just that seeing Kōki's youthful appearance when they met today had made him overlook it.
"Sensei, aren't you coming out yet?"
Kōki's words left Yui and the others puzzled.
Kōki explained, "It's not that easy for spies to infiltrate Konoha. And don't forget, we're here waiting for our Jonin instructor."
"It's been almost twenty minutes since the assailant appeared. I don't believe our instructor would be this late."
"Besides, if an enemy really had invaded Konoha, twenty minutes would be enough for the village's ninja to get here. But as you can see, no one from the village has come even now. That's how I realized this attack was a carefully planned test."
Having finished, Kōki looked toward a shadow in a tree and said, "Isn't that right, Sensei?"
"Sensei?" Takuma and Yui followed Kōki's gaze. A figure slowly emerged in the previously empty tree. It was the very ninja who had visited Kōki's home yesterday to tell him to come to the training ground.
"A very sound analysis, Kōki Itō. And your skills are quite good too."
"You almost caught me with that Superhuman Strength."
Before Kōki's blow had landed, Mamoru Uehara had already escaped using substitution, then hidden in the tree to observe. Only now, after Kōki called him out, did he reveal himself.
"Uehara-sensei, what's going on?" Yui asked in confusion upon seeing Mamoru Uehara appear.
"This was a test for Kōki, to see whether he would fit into our team. Of course, it was also a surprise test for you two," Mamoru Uehara replied to Yui's question.
"Of course, Kōki, your teamwork was excellent. You came to your teammates' aid in time when they faced danger, and you showed excellent battle awareness. You passed the test. Welcome to my squad."
After praising Kōki, Mamoru Uehara addressed the other two. "Compared with Kōki, Katsuto disappointed me a little. Failing to respond calmly to an enemy attack is a cardinal mistake on a mission."
"You too, Yui. While it's good that you could trust a new teammate, you're his senior. You should shoulder your responsibilities in front of your junior."
The two Mamoru Uehara had singled out lowered their heads in shame, unable to refute his words.
"All right, that concludes this team test. Let's officially welcome Kōki to our team."