​

"Five hundred and ninety-eight."

"Five hundred and ninety-nine."

"Six hundred! Yosh!"

Yuna rose from her perch as she dusted off her bottom. Smiling, she turned towards the scent of the annoying twerps the Hokage insisted she supervise. They had manoeuvred downwind away from her in an attempt to deprive her of her ability to sniff them out.

The gang, at least, seem not to be incompetent. For that, she was grateful. Getting stuck with kids was already a hassle. Getting stuck with stupid kids was just pure torture. Yuna stretched her spine as she turned to her ever-faithful partner with a smile. "Come, Hachi," she said.

"Let's wrap this up."

The ninken huffed calmly in response.

…

Tatsuya Hyuga, medical-nin-cum-taijutsu-specialist. Age, 12. Favorite food, miso soup and salt ramen. Favourite activity, bird watching.

Easily recognizable by the signature traits of his Hyuga ancestry—his cascading, ebony hair and pale, pupil-less gaze—Tatsuya wore his usual attire today: a white kimono shirt with long, loose sleeves, matching pants, and a navy-grey apron tied around his waist.

Pathologically unambitious and renowned for his predisposition towards laziness, Tatsuya was a boy with a peculiar notoriety. His talent and skill have always been obvious, yet his personality and unruly propensities made gauging the true level of his proficiency and ascertaining his boundaries a challenge for his instructors.

If Yuna was being honest, he was the one she liked the least. The fact that he had such talent, yet squandered rather than cultivated it just rubbed her the wrong way. With a frown, she turned her attention to the second scent trail.

Kaede Tanaka, kenjutsu-specialist. Age 12. Favourite food, sukiyaki beef in raw egg. Favourite activity, sword training.

The girl was easily the most tolerable of the bunch. Diligent, responsible and compliant. The fact that she reminded Yuna of her younger self also didn't hurt: they shared hair, eye colour and unassuming facial features so similar, that if not for Yuna's cheek markings it would be easy for someone with slight vision impairment to mistake them for siblings.

Unfortunately, the girl was still easily the weakest of the bunch. Despite Tatsuya securing the lowest overall ranking among his fellow graduates, his skill alone arguably positioned him as the superior shinobi.

Compared to her other teammate, however, it was no longer a debate.

Uchiha Itachi, Polymath. Age, 8. Favourite food, Oyakodon. Favourite activity, babysitting.

For a long moment, Yuna stared at the third trail, unsure what to make of the boy.

Genius

Savant

Prodigy

Indra's second coming

Everyone she spoke with, had something to say about him that could be summarized succinctly in these four words. Awakening his Sharingan at birth. Completing the academy's curriculum in his first year. Receiving personal tutelage from the Uchiha clan head for another, before finally agreeing to graduate. When she took a glance at his dossier just a few days ago, she almost assumed it to be a joke of some kind. Never could she have imagined that during her few years away a promising gem like this would emerge within Konoha's walls.

Still, despite the boy's gleaming repertoire, something about him just didn't sit well with her.

Yuna's eyes flickered between the three trails before she eventually decided on first tracking down Tatsuya. Sure, she was certain the scroll wouldn't be on him and pursuing him would end up being a waste of time. But that wasn't the point.

She wanted them to pass her test.

Despite what she said about not wanting to deal with them, Yuna was aware that this was probably the best team she might ever get. None before them could compare, and the likelihood of any afterwards surpassing their level was frankly slim. Very slim. The Hokage's patience with her was getting thin and it was only a matter of time before he directly ordered her to accept a team under her tutelage.

Better she did so now under her terms than be forced to settle with a trio of dead-weights later on.

"Shunshin!"

Yuna flickered forth, phasing through the jungle canopy in search of her prey. Fifteen seconds later, she found him. Beneath a layer of fine soil, nestled beneath a small cluster of shrubs, the indolent Hyuga concealed himself.

Earth Release: Hiding like a mole technique. At a glance, Yuna deduced his intention and the ninja art he employed. She could make out his poorly hidden scent emanating from his hiding place. A saccharine smile formed on her face as she let her gaze settle on where he hid. With his ability to see through the earth, it would probably feel to the boy like they were making eye contact. At that moment, the smell of sweat soaking his clothes suddenly intensified…

Almost as if in response to his mounting anxiety.

Mercifully, Yuna turned to move on in search of his teammates, with the intention of leaving Hachi to shakedown Tatsuya in case he was, in fact, the one in possession of the scroll. However, much to her surprise, Tatsuya emerged. He slid to a stop in front of her, his stance lowered and his ocular blood vessels swollen with chakra. "Not so fast, Sensei," he groused, evidently unhappy. Surprised, Yuna tilted her head. He appeared ready to put up a fight, perhaps with the intention of stalling while his team continued to flee.

A smart decision, Yuna decided. After all, any extra second they could make her waste was one more in their favour.

"Really," she cooed as she raise her hands to crack her knuckles. The boy flinched, taking a cautious step back as he eyed her anxiously.

"Grrrr!" Surprised, Yuna looked down at her growling ninken.

"You want to test him yourself?" she asked, intrigued by the proposal. Never before had Hachi shown interest in any of her prospective students. "Sure," she said after momentarily considering it, raising her hands to form the tiger seal.

"Beast Human Clone."

In a puff of white smoke, a feral clone of herself appeared where her ninken once stood.

With a smile that made the Hyuga flinch and take another cautious step back, she told him, "Have fun."

Barely forty seconds had gone by since she caught Tatsuya when she found Kaede, some fifteen miles away. The girl hid in the canopy, poised with her grip around the hilt of her katana. With a smile, Yuna flung a shuriken at her. A split moment later, there was a flash of reflected light and the ding of metal striking metal as the projectiles were knocked off course.

"Excellent form," Yuna complimented from where she stood on the forest floor.

"T-thanks—"

"Next time, do not let your opponent distract you," Yuna interjected from behind the girl before promptly knocking her out. A quick search later and all she came up with was a henge'd replica of the scroll she was after. A wry smile crossed her face as she realised Tatsuya probably had a similar one in his possession.

With a pleased exhale, she turned in the direction of the Uchiha before flickering away.

Two minutes and fourty-three minutes…

This was turning out better than she had been expecting.

Predictably, the Uchiha was significantly harder to find. A whole minute passed before she found him hidden by a tree. His skin colour and texture perfectly matched that of the bark behind him, and his entire body was still, as a rock, unmoving. If not for her highly advanced sense of smell she would have never known he was—

The wind shifted.

Yuna's eyes dilated, the hairs on her skin rising as she intuitively felt something was wrong. Her heart began pumping as adrenaline flooded her bloodstream. Chakra rushed into her brain and…

[PERCEPTION SLOWS]​

[RESUME]​