ANBU-nin codenamed Leopard reclined on a patio chair inside the cabin deck with a thin, gauze-like cloth spread over her face. She hated wearing her mask when relaxing and, even though she was at work, it felt like a vacation because all she had to do was 'supervise'.

"Ma'am."

Leopard didn't bother to pull the cloth down as one of her subordinates for the duration of the assessment process appeared beside her. He was dressed in green-and-brown robes and his gear and ANBU mask were painted in dark forest colours to disguise them further into their surroundings.

"Oh, is it over?" she asked, mundanely.

"Six's stamp paper has been destroyed."

"Unfortunate. How did he do?"

"He was too exhausted to survive past the halfway mark."

The task asked the candidates to cover the distance under an allocated period. The ANBU expected the candidates to race for the first position in an attempt to showcase their ability, and there was nothing wrong with that. However, all candidates had been told that the assessment process would last around two weeks, so the ANBU expected them to realise that they needed to be ready to face challenges during that time.

Exhausting themselves to come first even though the passing criteria simply asked them to be there before a deadline was an illogical move. If the entire assessment had been considered a mission, Number #6 would not have been able to complete it due to poor decision-making. They were testing the candidates' decision-making abilities when given limited information. The candidates didn't know what would happen after they reached the final location or if they would be given a rest after completing the task—they needed to be in a condition to continue and face anything that was thrown at them.

Even though getting a stamp at the four checkpoints was as easy as finding the person with the stamp—it didn't mean they shouldn't be prepared for the unexpected. The task wasn't meant to be a puzzle where the game dropped hints regarding what was coming. It was intended to be similar to an actual mission where things often went wrong without notice, and agents were required to be prepared to handle them.

"He asked if he could bring another stamp paper for another try," said the subordinate.

"Show him the way out and send him home," she said. The candidate had to enter the woods immediately upon reaching the cabin, and there was no going back once they entered.

Leopard enjoyed half an hour of silence and peace until another candidate arrived at the cabin. She groaned as she put her mask on before pulling herself off the patio chair and walking down the steps to greet the new arrival.

Number #7, Hyuga Kojuro.

According to the file, he was nearly eighteen years old and had been a chunin for almost four years. He had the typical pale Hyuga skin, white Byakugan pupils, and shoulder-length seaweed green hair. He wasn't wearing his balaclava mask because it was useless; his eyes gave him away instantly anyway—but he wore a sash around his forehead to hide it.

Even with his eyes hidden, his face looked like he hadn't smiled in a decade and had lost the ability to do so somewhere along the way.

"Welcome, Seven," she said. "Congratulations on reaching the final destination. Show me your stamp paper to confirm that you stopped by the checkpoints." Kojuro presented his stamp paper with four stamps. "Excellent. However, there's one more stamp remaining that you need to get. That stamp is across the forest. It will take ten minutes to pass through the woods, so go and get that stamp."

The Hyuga didn't ask her any questions and gazed at the forest for a few seconds before silently heading inside.

"Not a talkative one, is he." She sighed before returning to her chair to rest. It was tough work being an ANBU-nin.

Fifteen minutes later, a subordinate came over to notify her that Hyuga Kojuro had successfully passed through the woods.

———

.

At the fourth checkpoint town, Number #1 and Number #9 sat together in a restaurant for a midday meal. The two shinobi had teamed up and promised to look after each other for the task's duration. They had arrived at the town two hours ago and were resting before proceeding to the final location.

"I bet there's going to be some catch at the final location," said Number #9 as he set down his chopsticks over an empty bowl.

"Absolutely. This entire thing's been too easy," replied Number #1.

"I looked at the stamp paper carefully. The stamp isn't complete yet. I think there's going to be some twist with that."

"There's a town nearby, but the final location is some distance away." Number #1 pointed on the map sitting between them on the table. "Maybe getting the final stamp won't be as easy as walking up to the person. There's a pocket of woods beside the location. I reckon it will be something like finding the final stamp bearer in those woods—or something like that, anyway."

"Hmm," Number #9 nodded. "We should scout the location in secret before openly showing ourselves. It'll be better if we know something before walking into whatever the ANBU has planned for it."

There was silence on the table. Number #9 looked up when he didn't get a reply and saw Number #1's eyes swimming over the map with a furrow between his eyes.

"Something wrong?" asked Number #9.

"Uhmm, no, nothing. I was just thinking about something," Number #1 leaned into his chair with a sigh before standing up. "I'll go wash my hands."

"Sure, I'll pay up," said Number #9. He waited until Number #1 was out of view before looking at the map to see if he had missed something. Even though they had allied with each other, they were still competitors, and he didn't want to be at a disadvantage by not knowing something the other guy had found.

As Number #9 poured over the map, Number #1 walked over to the washing sinks in the corner, but instead of washing his hands, he patted around his body and reached into the pockets and pouches until he found his stamp paper.

"Found it," he whispered with an elated smile—before ripping the stamp paper into a few pieces and slipping them back into the same pocket.

He washed his hands and then returned to the front of the store, where Number #9 was waiting for him after he had paid their bill.

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"Ready to leave?"

"Yes, let's go."

They left the store and were walking when Number #1 suddenly stopped in the middle of the road.

"Huh, h-how did we..."

He looked bewildered, immediately taking out a kunai while looking at the townsfolk as though they were in danger. Mostly to scare the hell out of them as being near a shinobi fight was equal to forfeting their lives.

"Woah, what are you doing?" asked Number #9, stepping away.

Number #1 immediately reached into one of his pockets, panic gripping his face, only to freeze for a moment before pulling out ripped pieces of his stamp paper with a shaky hand. He looked up at Number #9. "...What d-did you do?"

"Come on, man. I didn't do anything," said Number #9, but he took out his kunai because he knew it wasn't going to end well.

"You will pay!" Number #1 yelled as he charged at Number #9, triggering panic in the street as the townsfolk scattered.

Inside the teashop across from the restaurant, a girl dressed in a long skirt and a plain top rested her head in her arms on the table as though she was sleeping. She opened her eyes and sat up with a soft sigh before picking up the warm cup of tea to take a sip.

A moment later, a mischievous smile along with a giggle appeared on Number #3, Yamanaka Amami's face as the commotion broke out

———

.

The sun was about to set on the third day, and Number #17, Orikashi, was on his way to the fourth checkpoint town. He was a chunin in his late twenties who had participated in the Third Shinobi World War and had been posted at the Hidden Leaf Village during the Nine-Tails incident. He had been through a lot during his career, so when the ANBU showed interest in him, he knew he deserved an offer. To ensure that the ANBU didn't make a mistake by missing out on him, he decided to help them out by eliminating undeserving candidates.

He started by stalking one of his prey straight from the Hidden Leaf Village. On the second day, he caught them in a trap before ripping their stamp paper and destroying most of their gear. On the third day, he laid ambush on two separate candidates and jeopardised their positions by freeing them of their stamp papers.

It prevented him from being first in the task. However, he considered this an acceptable trade-off as it was still early in the assessment process, and he would have other opportunities to showcase his abilities to the ANBU. As he made his way to the fourth checkpoint town, he planned on finding one more prey in the town to hunt and take out of the game.

In truth, he wanted to target more, but he didn't actually have the time to do so if he wanted to reach the final location with some contingency time in case the ANBU had something planned.

I could cut out other undeserving ones in future tasks, thought Orikashi. There were young shinobi among the candidates who weren't good choices for the ANBU due to their lack of experience. He had already done three of them a favour by eliminating them early so they wouldn't get their hopes up.

As Orikashi was running along the road, he looked back when he heard a noise and saw a candidate closing in on him at a quick pace. He didn't know the candidate's number but recognised the mask with the red and yellow swirl pattern. He had seen the man from close at the office building in Hidden Leaf Village, and he was absolutely enormous.

His instincts told him that interacting with this man would be bad, so he picked up the pace to put some distance between them—but the man had closed the distance between them in five minutes and was only a few dozen metres behind him.

Orikashi realised that the man was trying to catch up to him, and seeing that he couldn't outrun him, he decided to face the guy to see what he wanted.

"I notice you trying to catch up to me. May I know how I can help you, friend," he asked, noticing the massive afro on the man's head, which wasn't noticeable before because of the balaclava.

"I have been—"

Orikashi didn't give him a chance to speak and rushed him with his kunai to gain an advantage with an element of surprise. The man dodged the kunai strike, but Orikashi pushed on stringing one strike after another, leaving no opportunity for a counter. Not a single one made contact. The large, muscle-bound man was light on his feet and gracefully dodged all his attacks with minimal movement.

Orikashi switched tactics by pulling back to attack with ninjutsu—but the moment he tried to do so, the man shifted into an offensive stance to launch a palm strike to the chest within the span of half a second.

Orikashi crossed his hands to block the palm strike only to feel a bestial strength assault his body, sending him flying to the woods lining the road. He barely regained control of himself as he smashed through a tree and immediately hid in the foliage, abandoning the idea of facing him head-on. He erased his presence and patiently waited for the man to walk into the woods to launch an ambush.

A few seconds passed, but there were no signs of the man, which made Orikashi nervous from not having his opponent in his view. Just as he thought about moving, he heard the leaves shuffle behind him and looked back to see the man jumping at him.

When did he get behind me?!

The man stabbed Orikashi just underneath the shoulder blade and left a kunai in his back. Orikashi turned around mid-air and launched a volley of shuriken, thinking the man would be coming after him, but he was absent.

When Orikashi landed on the ground, he realised their positions had changed. He was now on the ground, and his opponent was in the position to attack from stealth. He bit back a groan as he pulled out the kunai that was digging into his back and made a quick decision to abandon the fight and flee.

A part of his brain told him to take care of the situation because it was sure to become a problem later on—but seeing how their fight had turned out till now, he was at a disadvantage and would fare better under other circumstances. He also didn't want to get injured to the point where he could no longer compete in the assessment.

Orikashi took out the smoke bombs he had stolen from his prey and threw them to the ground to create a smokescreen to create an opportunity to escape. He immediately ran in the opposite direction from the fourth checkpoint town because anyone would assume he would go toward the town—and it seemed to work as he ran without any sign of the man for a full couple of minutes.

However, as he jumped toward a tree branch, his eyes caught the glint of a kunai stuck in its base. The explosive tag attached to it was already burning, and exploded when he stepped onto the branch. He lost his balance and was blown away at the same time, crashing head-first into a tree, the impact of broke against his skin, causing him to bleed.

Orikashi realised that in an attempt to avoid the fight to not get injured, he had gotten even more hurt. As he ran, he had a decision to make—continue to flee or take the fight. The man stepped out from behind a tree Orikashi was running toward.

Hiss fists were glowing with a yellowish-red tint that looked like some sort of Fire Release ninjutsu. Too fast to stop, Orikashi ran right into a body-blow. The man's fist pressed all the air out of his body, but before he could gasp, a compact explosion smashed him into the ground.

"Three people attacked me today to take my stamp paper," said the man, his voice muffled behind his mask. "I asked them how they lost theirs—and they all gave me a description that matched you."

"So wh-what? T-This was w-what—reven-n-ge?" asked Orikashi, finding it absurd.

"Revenge? They attacked me. Why would I take revenge for them," the man scoffed. "This was supposed to be a simple task; there was no reason to mess with others—but of course, there are always people like... I'm not doing this for revenge; I'm doing this because I don't like you, you fuck."

Orikashi opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but the man kicked him in the head, knocking him out.

———

.

Number #10, Sonaba Yazo, burned the three stamp papers he found on the man he had just knocked out. He could've returned the stamp papers to the victims, but that would've required him to travel back to the previous checkpoint towns—and he wasn't going to do that for people who had attacked him, even though he understood why they had done it.

Eliminating competition was all well and good, but only when necessary. There was no need to go after each other during the current task, so it really bothered him when he found that someone had targeted not one, or two, but three candidates for the sake of competition.

It pissed him enough to go after the guy. Yazo looked down and sighed before slinging the prick over his shoulder. It wasn't right to leave him alone in the woods, so he was going to take him to the next checkpoint town and leave him in the care of the ANBU staff member.

Just like he had done with the three other candidates who had attacked him.

———

.

As the third day ended, Takuma laid his sleeping bag in an empty room he had rented inside some guy's house for the night to avoid the inns at the third checkpoint town. He had crossed two checkpoints without any obstacles and was planning to do the same the next day with the goal of arriving at the final location before sunset.

From the village chatter, apparently, someone had dumped three injured shinobi in the town. It wasn't surprising, given how the rules were written, but it was still a matter of concern as he was sure a considerable number of candidates would be looking to recover the stamp papers they had lost by taking others'.

If he didn't play it carefully, he would be pulled into that conflict irrespective of his wishes.