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Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_304

Added 2024-10-05 13:32:15 +0000 UTC

The ANBU had set up a temporary camp to house the candidates. It was a bunch of tents around a campfire and was located near a small stream. After Takuma had passed through the woods, the ANBU-nin showed him the way to the camp. Instead of immediately going to the camp, he first went to the stream to clean up a day's worth of sweat and grime and wash his gear before making his presence known.

He changed into the clothes he had purchased on his detour and headed to the camp. He was spotted before he could even say anything. The candidates were sitting on logs around a campfire when they noticed him walking in.

Everyone except bar one had their faces covered. Most either had the balaclava or the hard front mask on, but the only woman on the ground had one bandana covering her lower face with another one tied in her hair; it looked much more comfortable than the thick balaclava or the hard Scars mask Takuma had on. Then there was the Hyuga with his bare face; no mask would hide his eyes, which gave his identity.

"Oh, we have another," said one of the candidates. He wore a mask with a blue ocean wave pattern, but Takuma knew what he looked like underneath it because it was the same candidate who had been stalking the inn's pub at the first checkpoint town and had tried to follow him out. "Come, sit down. You must be hungry. They gave us a stash of field rations."

The candidate with the big afro hairstyle tossed a field ration at Takuma.

"Thank you," he replied.

"Don't mention it. Cheers," said the tall and buff, afro guy. "You can dry your clothes over there." He pointed at a couple of makeshift racks hanging near the campfire with other clothes hanging.

Takuma would've refrained from leaving his clothes in the open, but the ANBU-nin had informed him that the camp was a 'safe zone' until the task's deadline and the candidates were barred from sabotaging each other while they were there—which was the reason why he had washed his clothes in the first place.

"We are going by our numbers. Introduce yourself to the group... I'm Five. Nice to meet you," said Five.

"...I'm Thirteen," Takuma replied as he hung his clothes on the rack.

One by one, everyone around the camp introduced themselves by their numbers.

"You had the bad luck of arriving at the cabin at night, huh," said Sixteen, who Takuma noted had lengthy limbs. "I don't think I could've escaped them if they had the advantage of darkness."

"It worked out well, fortunately," Takuma said humbly. However, the truth was that not only had he planned to arrive at the final location at night so that he was in perfect condition every day, but he also liked that he had gone through the woods in the dark.

The darkness narrowed the view of the ANBU team; the moment they found the clone, they stopped looking as the darkness made it so that they had nowhere else to look. Moreover, the Water Clone Jutsu had the flawed quirk of the clone's body where affected parts of it would momentarily distort when taking a substantial hit—which would've alerted the ANBU team that they were chasing a clone—but the darkness increased the chances that they didn't notice it.

"So you have been sitting here since you arrived?" asked Takuma as he took a seat.

"Pretty much," said Three, the woman.

That meant he had one whole day to recover and relax. Three days on the road wasn't much for him, and he had been getting regular rest at night, but fatigue built regardless; a free day would reset his condition, which was important since he wanted to be on top of his game.

"So, we have been discussing what the ANBU will make us do next to pass the time. Any thoughts on the matter?" asked Three, resting her chin on her palm as she gazed at him in interest.

Takuma considered the question. They could throw many challenges at them; he tried to think what he would do if he were in the ANBU's shoes. It was difficult because he had no idea what they were looking for in the candidates.

"I... think we would be moved to a city," he started. "Activity happens in a settlement with people rather than in the middle of nowhere. You wouldn't find bigwigs of a criminal group in a base inside a forest but in a city with luxury. Even thugs on the lower ladder need common amenities like food, water, and other needs that make living tolerable. While you can get them in a mountain somewhere, it's difficult and even costly... If they're going to send us on the field as agents, then they need to test how we perform in a village, town, or a city."

He had spent two months in Yu, so he understood the attractions of a city, its people, and its economy. People wanted control, and there was nothing to control in untouched nature away from civilisation—it was among droves of people that could be controlled. Humans were social animals; being stuck with the same handful of people with nothing to do would seem like a dull hell for many people.

"That's an intelligent take," said Seven, the Hyuga, giving Takuma a nod.

"We have been thinking that they would either team us up or pit us against each other—openly, this time," said Five.

"Or both," said Ten, the afro guy.

"Teamwork and competition. Makes sense," Takuma nodded as he opened his field ration pack.

The lack of tension among the candidates stuck out to him like a paper cut. They were all competitors aiming for the same job, yet they all acted buddy-buddy. There was nothing wrong with being friendly, and he liked the fact that none were being assholes, but seeing every single one chatting up at the campfire felt off. He expected at least one of them to keep to themselves, and yet everyone was present.

As he poured the curry rice pack into the pot provided in the backpack, he discerned something he hadn't put a finger on till now. Even though he was being cautious in the company of strangers, he couldn't sense an iota of danger from his competitors—all of them were hiding behind a friendly facade and were doing it beautifully.

They managed to make him feel comfortable enough to have him give a real answer to a question, which revealed his thought process and thus gave them insight into him.

It was a team effort that started when he stepped into the camp. They were strangers, competitors, and yet they had worked with each other perfectly.

He was in admirable company.

"I must say, this is nice," said Takuma, pulling up a facade to join the team.

"I totally get what you mean," said Three with a joyous giggle.

———
.

The task's deadline passed without fanfare except for a large explosion in the woods caused by one of the candidates. After Takuma, three more candidates tried to make it through the woods. Only two of them—Number #4, a man, and Number #14, a woman—survived the forest and reached the camp.

On the sixth day, Leopard, Ant, and the ANBU team arrived at the camp for the first time.

"Your batch started with twenty candidates, and after nearly a week of testing, twelve were weeded out, leaving you eight as eligible prospects," said Leopard. Unlike before, when she wore loungewear, she looked professional and decked in ANBU gear. "Don't mistake this for an achievement. Personally, I don't think the tests were difficult or even sufficiently challenging... These guys went too easy on you," she pointed to Ant and his team.

Ant stood beside her, still as a rock. Either he didn't agree with her assessment or didn't care for her agree with her—either way, her words bounced off him.

"Before we move on to the next stage of the assessment, we will be announcing the results of this task—to be exact, how long it took for everyone to pass through the woods," said Leopard.

Ant stepped forward and listed the numbers in ascending order for how long they had taken.

Number #7 — 8 minutes

Number #13 — 12 minutes

Number #16 — 13minutes

Number #10 — 14 minutes

Number #14 — 14 minutes

Number #5 — 16 minutes

Number #3 — 17 minutes

Number #4 — 19 minutes

———
.

Ant observed the candidates and how they all had glanced at Seven, the Hyuga, when they heard his time. He was the only person to take the single-digit minutes for a distance marked as ten minutes to travel. It showcased the terrifying gift of Byakugan that the illustrious Hyuga clan possessed.

During Seven's turn, Ant and his team had failed to spot Seven, much less catch up to and engage with him. He had undoubtedly used his Byakugan to not only avoid them completely but also use the power of his eyes to pathfind a route of least resistance through the dense woods to traverse it in record time.

The team had no chance of catching or slowing him down from the very start.

Thirteen came second by fooling the team with the water clone gambit while he made it through the woods without ever engaging with them, much like Seven. He hadn't completed it sooner because he had to remain within a certain range from the clone or lose control of it. Thirteen had to stop every time he felt his clone on the edge of the permitted limit, which added two minutes.

In many ways, it was more frustrating than not catching the Hyuga's shadow.

Then there was Sixteen, who the team had trouble keeping up with. Ant didn't know if it was because they were in a forest or if he was always like this, but Sixteen was fast, agile, quick, nimble, and moved in a way that even if he wasn't holding back, he would still find it challenging to keep up with him. Sixteen had an impressive presence of mind and situational awareness; he made the unknown woods feel like he had been there hundreds of times and knew every tree and branch on the back of his hand.

His movements had literally no gaps, and he flowed between them seamlessly.

Ten wasn't good at losing a tail during a chase, but he made it up with his ability to be constantly on the move. The team was always on him, attacking him every ten seconds, yet they could never pin him into a place for more than a few seconds. He would evade or strong-arm their attacks until he found an opening. From the moment they made contact till the end of the woods, the team always had an 'upper hand,' yet Ten always gave them the slip.

From experience, Ant could tell that Ten was more familiar with hunting than fleeing and used that familiarity in one department to make up for a lack of skill in another department.

It was an appreciable show of adaptability.

Fourteen had started very strong. It took the team a whopping seven minutes to find her, which showed excellent stealth abilities, and even after they made contact, she slipped between the trees, sneaked into the foliage, and travelled with hushed steps that an entire group lost sight of her multiple times—and even though it took her a long time to pass through a forest, it was an impressive feat to be so elusive.

The ANBU could use someone like Fourteen on some missions requiring high stealth.

Five had a weak performance in the woods. They found him quickly, never lost track of him, and trapped him several times. His backpack got damaged, and he almost lost possession of it. Yes, he managed to escape them and successfully escape the woods, which warranted him a pass—but Ant and the team agreed that it was barely an acceptable performance. Their review would show their opinion when they sent it back to Hidden Leaf Village.

They, of course, everyone had their strengths and weaknesses, and Five had to show some firm strengths to balance his performance.

Three was the most bizarre of them all. The team wasn't told about the candidates' identities or capabilities to make it more fair and allow the candidates to surprise the team. So they were utterly surprised that the moment they found Three, two of their members suddenly turned to attack the team with explosive tags, smoke bombs and weapons—essentially emptying their arsenals.

It became clear that Three was from the Yamanaka clan, but at that moment, they were occupied by why the people they had known for years were suddenly attacking them during a recruitment exercise. She created the chaos, took advantage, and made a run for it. Ant and another member caught up to her and gave her a hard time, but in the end, she crossed the threshold without losing her stamp paper.

Three was the only candidate who turned the team against themselves. Even if they didn't like it, the team fairly added her feat to their review.

Four was unfortunate. He was the last to arrive at the final location. He panicked when he lost his backpack, which had a lot of essential gear, and even damaged his weapons belt, which he then had to carry, occupying one of his hands. He was clearly used to the forest terrain, traversing it smoothly, which allowed him to stay in the game. But then he used a particularly strong Fire Release ninjutsu, razing a big patch of trees to char and causing a commotion. It would've been a big 'DON'T' of trying to escape as it could alert other enemies, making the task more difficult.

While the ninjutsu allowed him to break free and escape, the team didn't appreciate it as the correct choice. They held the opinion that Four could've shaken them off if he had just calmed down and assessed the situation.

———
.

"For the next part of the assessment, we will pair you in duos," Leopard announced.

The candidates weren't surprised. They had speculated that they would team up for the next challenge, and their speculation was now turning true.

She continued, "As I said, things have been too easy till now, so we want to add some stakes, some real danger to spice things up. I want you all to have put some skin in the game... If I had a say, I would've shipped you all off to the Land of Earth or made you participate in the Steam-Frost Wars—but I can't do that because we can't have unproven recruits operating on foreign territory."

Takuma would've quit if they made him participate in the war he had just returned from.

"Because we can't do that, we will do the next best thing... The location for the next challenge is one day's travel north from here—at the seat of the Fire Daimyo, the capital of the Land of Fire, the Ember Imperial City."

———

A/N — Time to introduce Samurai to the world of TOR.

———

NEW CHARACTER GLOSSARY (sorry, I forgot to add it to the last chapter)

Yamanaka Amami, #3, Three— A Yamanaka who did perfectly on the questionnaire. Is proficient in her clan's Hiden jutsu. Used it to against her candidates—and against the ANBU team to her advantage. [Chunin]

Number #4, Four — Panicked and set the woods on fire. [Genin]

Igabi Kyusu, #5, Five— The candidate who stalked out the pub in the first checkpoint town to observe his competition but got outsmarted by Takuma. Had a weaker performance in at the Final Location. [Chunin]

Karo Jinzatan. #6 — First one to arrive at the Final Location, but was eliminated because of being exhausting himself and not thinking there would be an additional challenge at the end. [Genin]

Hyuga Kojuro, #7, Seven— A Hyuga who wears a sash around his forehead. He was the first one to pass the woods successfully, and did it the quickest. He doesn't wear a mask because he can't hide his eyes. [Chunin]

Sonaba Yazo, #10, Ten— Afro. A large man, buff man. Nephew of a Jonin. Works as a Rogue Hunter near the border. He hunted another candidate who was eliminating other candidates because it pissed him off as they attacked him. [Chunin]

Number #14, Fourteen— Stealthy as fuck. [Genin]

Yaya Utamatsu. #16. Sixteen— Married, and wants to move to Hidden Leaf. Fought in the Third War. He was attacked on Day 1, and broke the hand of the guy who did it. He has long limbs and his speed and dexterity stands out as he was able to outrun an entire team chasing him. [Chunin]

Orikashi, #17— Attacked three candidates. Eliminated by Yazo. Fought in the Third War and was present in the Hidden Leaf during the Nine-Tails Incident. [Chunin]