Silence took over the room after his proclamation. Yohei felt mortification swell in his chest with every passing second as his teammates – and possible jōnin instructor – stared at him with wide eyes. He did his best to ignore the heat creeping across his face.
Hayama let out a small chuckle.
"You certainly don't aim small. We'll see if you have what it takes."
His expression shed its mirth, sharpening into something serious that made all three of them straighten in their seats.
"Now, I suspect you already know what comes next. While you are officially ninja, mentorship under a jōnin – me, in this case – is not guaranteed. I have until the end of tomorrow to test you myself and decide whether you have sufficiently mastered what the Academy taught you, and whether you're ready for field work. If I'm not satisfied, you'll receive another year of remedial lessons. After that, you'll be given another chance at this test, with either myself or another jōnin."
His gaze hardened.
"Fail again, and you'll choose between resigning your headbands and returning to civilian life… or joining the Genin Corps."
Seeing them absorb his words with the seriousness they warranted – even as a few dry gulps echoed through the room – he gave a curt nod.
"I see no reason to delay the start of your test. You have one hour to gather whatever you think you'll need and meet me at the West Gate. Treat it like an official mission. Anyone who isn't there on time will be automatically failed."
With that, he formed a hand seal. A moment later, his form blurred and vanished with a sharp burst of displaced air.
It took only a heartbeat for the three of them to process what had happened before they scrambled out of their chairs. Yohei had already stepped up onto the windowsill and prepared to jump when Ren's voice stopped him and Souma both.
"Hey!" Ren called, making them turn. His lips pursed in a rare moment of hesitation for someone usually so carefree. He tried for an easy smile that came out more like a wince. "Don't be late… please."
Yohei exchanged a glance with Souma; both nodded in agreement. He turned back to Ren with a reassuring smile. "Don't worry. We'll all make it through."
Souma hummed in agreement, giving Ren an awkward pat on the shoulder that made the smaller boy let out a breathy laugh-sigh.
Without another word, all three of them leapt away toward their homes.
-~=~-
Arriving at his home, the first thing Yohei did was call out for his mom to see if she was back from work – which, since it was still the afternoon, she wasn't.
Knowing how she'd get if he didn't tell her what he was about to do, he grabbed a sheet of paper before gathering supplies and wrote her a message.
"Mom,
My Jōnin-sensei is Shirakumo Hayama. My team's test starts today rather than tomorrow. It may take the night, so I don't know if I'm coming back today. I'll pick some things from your storage, please don't be mad."
Furrowing his brows in thought, he quickly added:
"I liked my teammates. I think we'll work well together.
Love you lots,
Your son."
Nodding in satisfaction, he set the letter on the table and used the ink pot as a weight, then rushed upstairs to his room while taking off the clothes he was wearing.
He had gone to the Academy today wearing mostly civilian clothes, since he didn't expect they'd be tested until tomorrow. Sure, it was still clothing that was easy to move in and wouldn't obstruct him if he had to fight, but hardly what he thought appropriate for an actual mission.
So, dressed only in his underwear, he proceeded to put on a full-body ninja mesh, which worked as a base layer of protection under the black padded pants and shirt – the wrists and shins secured with cloth wraps. Fingerless gloves with metal plating on the back went on his hands, and he stepped into a pair of the common Konoha toe-less boots.
He made a mental note to visit a shoemaker and see about getting steel-toed ones. The boots he wore had been perfectly acceptable a few weeks ago, but now they felt distinctly uncomfortable on his feet.
He strapped a pouch filled with kunai and shuriken to his upper right thigh, and another to the small of his back with ninja wire. He wasn't the best trap-maker out there, but the stuff was as useful as steel wool.
Now, he'd really have liked to put on a flak jacket or, better yet, actual body armor. But considering he was neither a Chūnin nor wealthy enough to commission something like that yet, he instead wore a thick jacket as an extra layer. Even if the cloth offered minimal protection, the inner pockets at least gave him places to store empty storage scrolls and the one scroll he had bought from a shop – holding a "kit" of basic camping gear.
All that done, he proceeded to his mother's room, knocking on the door out of habit despite knowing she wasn't there, then walking inside and heading straight for the wardrobe where she stored her ninja equipment.
Rows upon rows of shuriken, kunai, and senbon greeted him, along with neat piles of small seal tags and scrolls, plus paired vials lined up on stands.
Hesitating for a moment, he settled on taking a stack of Bomb Tags, Smoke Bombs, and Light Bombs, carefully placing them into another pouch secured at his waist.
Finally, he picked a single vial of a murky green and unnervingly warm poison – along with its antidote – and a small vial of Soldier Ration Pills, storing all of them inside one of his storage scrolls.
Patting himself down to make sure he had everything ready and nothing out of place, Yohei put on his sunglasses and headed out toward the meeting point.
-~=~-
When he arrived at the West Gate, with plenty of time to spare before the one-hour mark, the only one already waiting was Souma. The boy looked much the same as he had earlier, with the addition of a long, thin, straight sword with a strangely sharp curve on the handle hanging from his belt.
He and Yohei exchanged nods, and Yohei inclined his head toward the sword with a grin.
"You sure you won't cut yourself with that?"
Souma chuckled, picking up the weapon to show it off. "Pretty sure, yes. I've been training since I could walk, but this is the first time Mother allowed me to pick this sword up." He slid it from the scabbard, eyes softening with nostalgia as he looked at his reflection on the blade. "It was my father's."
Yohei let him have his moment, smiling quietly, then chose to break the silence just before it turned awkward. "Guess we know now why your taijutsu is so wonky," he teased.
"Using my arms like a sword doesn't work as well as I hoped," Souma replied.
"… really."
Not noticing the sarcasm, Souma only nodded seriously. "I heard martial arts are usually inspired by animals or natural events, so I tried to replicate it with the motions of a blade. Unfortunately, it seems my understanding of a sword was insufficient to translate it fully. I still have much to learn."
"Have you tried using another martial art instead? Like the one they taught us at the Academy?"
"Why would I?" Souma asked, tilting his head in honest confusion. "Swords are better."
Whatever Yohei was about to say in response to Souma's affirmation was cut short by the arrival of a panting Ren, who bent over with one hand braced on his knee, the other raised with a finger up as he tried to catch his breath.
Once he'd recollected himself, he threw his head back with a laugh, cheeks still faintly red as he grinned at them.
"Now I'm feeling like an idiot for telling you guys not to be late and then being the last one to get here," he said, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.
"It's okay, I just got here," Yohei said, waving it off. "What about you, Souma?"
"I've been here for thirty minutes," the white-haired boy answered, making the other two blink at him.
"Did you just pick up your sword before coming?" Yohei asked faintly.
Much to their horror, Souma nodded. "My house was on the way."
'That's not the problem here!' Yohei thought, shooting a pleading look at Ren. Ren let out a long-suffering sigh but gave him a small smile with a raised eyebrow.
"Don't worry, I brought some extra supplies," he said, unstrapping two of the pouches on his belt and handing them to Souma. The latter opened them to reveal shuriken, kunai, caltrops, and ninja wire.
Souma stared at the contents, completely baffled. "But… I got my sword now." He lifted the blade slightly, as if afraid they might've forgotten.
"Just… keep them with you. Just in case, you know?"
Souma scratched the side of his head in confusion but complied, tying the pouches to his legs.
Yohei was starting to understand – painfully well – why his teammates and… well, himself, he supposed, hadn't made it through this exam in the version of events he remembered.
Choosing to ignore Souma's one-track-mindedness for the sake of his own sanity, he turned to Ren, who was looking down at a small pocket watch with an engraved flaming eye on the back, an eager look shining in his expression.
"So, what kept you up, Ren?"
The other boy shrugged. "Just a family thing. Everybody cheering me up," he said vaguely. Then, with a not-so-subtle attempt to steer the conversation elsewhere, he asked, "What do you think the exam is gonna be?"
Yohei ran a hand through his hair. "Well, if it was something like direct combat, Hayama-sensei would've told us to meet at one of the Training Grounds inside the village instead of one of the gates. Though I suppose he could just be using this as a meeting point…"
"But it's not likely," Ren agreed, crossing his arms and staring into the distance, chewing on his lower lip. "If we're starting a day early and going outside the village, it's probably something that takes time and needs a lot of space. Maybe tracking? Test us in something none of us specializes in."
He definitely looked worried at the thought.
"Maybe," Yohei conceded. "Could also be something like a treasure hunt – make us look for specific things hidden through the field. Or something endurance-based. Make us survive until tomorrow while he tries to take us out."
"I don't think a jōnin would need to try particularly hard to take us out, dude," Ren snickered.
"Yeah, well, if he's trying to measure us against the standards of a jōnin then we're toast anyway. Gotta be realistic and expect him to hold back in some way," Yohei said with a shrug, though the possibility lingered in the back of his mind. Memories of a dozen different fanfics flashed through his head – stories where the main character failed because their jōnin sensei set some ridiculous standard, like actually expecting a fresh genin to defeat them at full power.
"You're right," said Hayama from behind them.
All three jumped, whipping around to see him standing there as if he'd always been part of the scenery.
The man didn't acknowledge their surprise. He simply gestured for them to follow and began walking toward the gates. He gave the guards a polite nod; the guards, amused, offered the same to the genin, who hurriedly copied the gesture.
Once they were far enough from the village that the road was swallowed by the colossal trees created by the First Hokage, Hayama glanced back at them.
"Keep up," he said – and then he jumped into the branches above and vanished forward in a smooth burst of speed.
The three genin scrambled to follow, hopping up into the trees. When they caught up, Yohei could've sworn he saw the faintest smile tug at Hayama's mouth before it disappeared into his usual stern mask.
"Your task is simple," the jōnin said once they were all within earshot. "We will be heading to Training Grounds Twenty-Seven, a fenced area of the forest covering ten square kilometers. Inside that space, you will have until tomorrow's sunset to locate and take down a target."
"And this target is…" Yohei trailed off, suspicion mounting.
"Me," Hayama confirmed with a nod.
Yohei and Ren traded deeply worried looks. Souma, meanwhile, looked about as concerned as someone choosing a snack.
"For the first part of the exam," Hayama continued, "I will take no action other than staying away from the three of you. If one of you manages to touch me or land an attack, we proceed to the second part. At that stage, I will engage in combat. I will not use ninjutsu or genjutsu, and I will neither run away nor go on the offensive. I will only defend myself and counterattack."
"Is there anything we're not allowed to do?" Ren asked, brow furrowed in concentration.
"As long as you don't leave the boundaries, anything is allowed. And, of course, you should all come at me with the intent to kill – otherwise I may just fail all of you on principle."
What should have otherwise been a cringy one-liner was delivered with such seriousness and gravitas that Yohei felt a cold shiver run down his spine.
For a brief moment, he reconsidered his mother's offer to join her at the hospital. But he couldn't. This world was on the road to multiple apocalyptic disasters, and he had a chance – however small – to become someone who could actually make a difference when those disasters came knocking.
If he wanted to be that kind of person, he couldn't fold at the first sign of pressure. He couldn't backpedal on his decisions the moment things got scary.
So he swallowed as much hesitation as he could and gave his sensei a somewhat shaky nod. Ren mirrored it, though his eyes were distant, clearly stuck on some internal worry; Souma's nod, meanwhile, was downright decisive, as if the idea of not doing so had never even crossed his mind.
"Good. Since you all seem to have understood, I'll be going ahead. The training grounds are straight ahead – four minutes at this speed. The exam officially begins the moment you pass through the gate." He gave them a heartbeat to absorb that before raising his hands into a seal. "Good luck."
And then he vanished – just a swirl of displaced air and trembling leaves left behind.