The announcement finished, the echoes of Iruka-sensei's voice fading amidst the shuffling and murmurs of newly formed teams. Kenji remained seated for another moment, letting the reality settle. Team 4: Kenji, Sora Ito, Riku Tanaka. Jonin leader: Yumi Adachi. It wasn't the all-star lineup of Team 7, nor the infamous clan dynamics of Team 10, but it was his team. A new constellation in the complex map of Konoha life, one he now had to navigate while safeguarding his secret.
He looked towards Sora. She was small, almost swallowed by her standard Academy uniform, her round glasses perched on her nose as she fidgeted, looking more nervous now that her team had been called. Kenji perceived a subtle shift in her aura, a tightening of her 'anxiety' runes overlaid with sharp 'observation' patterns. Interesting. Not just shy, but clearly processing everything around her. He'd never paid her much mind beyond recognizing her quiet nature and meticulous note-taking; her chakra signature was unassuming but possessed surprising reserves of 'clarity' when focused.
Riku Tanaka stood slightly apart from the milling crowds near the door. Taller than Kenji, with a sturdy build and a quiet, grounded energy. His expression was stoic, almost unreadable. Kenji's runic sight revealed a practical, no-nonsense energy flow – solid 'stability' and persistent 'focus'. He'd seen Riku methodically master taijutsu stances and patiently disassemble and reassemble basic traps during exercises. He felt 'reliable' and 'methodical'. Not a flare of genius like Sasuke or the raw chaos of Naruto, but a deep current of competence.
They weren't a team of overt prodigies or loud personalities. This might actually be beneficial. Less flash, less inherent drama, potentially less intense scrutiny. The question remained: what kind of scrutiny would Yumi Adachi bring?
Kenji pushed himself to his feet, moving with casual steps towards where Sora now tentatively stood, her eyes wide behind her glasses, seemingly waiting for one of her teammates to approach. Riku was already heading towards them.
"Sora? Riku? Kenji," Kenji said quietly as he reached them, nodding to each in turn. He tried to project calm confidence, the comfortable persona of someone who had passed, nothing more.
"Oh! Hi, Kenji," Sora said, pushing her glasses further up her nose. Her voice was soft. "Guess… we're Team 4." She offered a shy, hopeful smile.
Riku gave a silent nod of acknowledgment. His dark eyes seemed to take in Kenji quickly, assessing. Kenji sensed no suspicion, just calm, methodical observation. Relief. He needed to be just another piece of the puzzle for Riku, not a loose thread.
"Yeah," Kenji replied, mirroring Sora's light tone. "So… waiting for Sensei?"
As if summoned, a woman with sharp, intelligent eyes and dark hair tied back efficiently approached their small cluster. She wore standard Jonin flak armor, but something in her bearing suggested academic discipline as much as combat readiness. This was Yumi Adachi. Kenji felt a prickle of intense focus, not just from her physical presence but from his runic sight engaging.
Her runic signature wasn't a blazing fire like Sasuke, nor the storm of Naruto. It was a clear, organized system, pulsing with 'analysis,' 'structure,' and 'preparedness.' Beneath those layers, Kenji felt something complex – threads of 'information retrieval' akin to what he'd sensed in Sora, woven with 'detection' and careful 'categorization.' This wasn't a taijutsu powerhouse or ninjutsu blaster. This was a strategist, an information broker, perhaps a sensor type. Someone who noticed things. Lots of things. A dangerous presence for a secret keeper.
She stopped before them, her expression professional, calm. "Team 4? Kenji, Sora Ito, Riku Tanaka?" Her voice was measured, efficient.
They nodded in unison.
"I am Jonin Yumi Adachi. I will be your Sensei," she stated. She paused, letting her gaze sweep over them, lingering perhaps a beat longer on Kenji than the others. Kenji consciously smoothed his aura, maintaining his calm, "talented in Fuinjutsu but otherwise average" facade. Did she see anything? Her runic sight seemed highly developed, but was it truly equivalent to his? He doubted it, but he wouldn't bet his life on it.
"Let's step somewhere less... populated," Yumi-sensei said, gesturing towards a quieter corner of the training grounds just outside the Academy. "First impressions are best made without an audience."
They followed her. As they walked, Yumi-sensei asked casual, introductory questions – hometown (orphanage), hobbies (drawing, she seemed to mentally categorize that as consistent with 'Fuinjutsu precision'), things they hoped to achieve as shinobi. Kenji gave rote, practiced answers, revealing little beyond the surface. Sora spoke nervously but intelligently about her interest in theory and reconnaissance. Riku answered minimally but directly, mentioning practicality and mission completion.
They stopped in a secluded clearing. Yumi-sensei turned to face them, her gaze sharp but not unkind. "Alright. You've all passed the Academy exams, which means you have a foundational understanding. Now, we see how you function as a team, and as individuals under non-simulated conditions."
She pulled out a small, smooth, ordinary-looking rock from her pouch. Kenji's runic sight flared; it wasn't ordinary at all. Woven subtly into its core was a 'marker' rune – weak enough not to register as dangerous, strong enough to sense with dedicated focus. A test.
"Basic exercise," she said, holding up the rock. "Starting... now. I want you to find this rock." With a practiced, deceptive ease, she tossed it not into the air, but skimming low along the ground and then flicking it hard behind a dense cluster of bushes and rocks at the edge of the clearing. It was completely out of sight.
"Thirty minutes," she stated, looking at her wrist. "Without using any jutsu beyond standard Body Flicker to reach the search area. Show me how you approach a simple task: information gathering, search techniques, teamwork. Go." She then sat calmly on a tree stump, crossing her arms, looking utterly prepared to wait.
The three Genin exchanged glances. Find that specific rock? Kenji felt his internal calculations immediately engage. He could sense the rock's unique runic marker even from here. He could walk straight to it, perhaps twenty meters away, behind the fourth large grey rock from the left cluster, nestled slightly to the west. He could be back in a minute.
But that would violate the carefully constructed facade. No Academy student should be able to pinpoint an unmarked object hidden from view so easily, especially one simply flicked away without any discernible tracking method like visual cues or a scent. This was exactly the kind of "unexpected brilliance" Iruka had warned against.
Okay, Kenji thought rapidly. Opportunity for a 'fun choice', disguised as a tactical dilemma. Use the ability and risk exposing his secret? Or suppress it completely and fumble like any normal student would, relying only on standard methods, wasting valuable time, and risking failure or disappointing his first impression with his sensei? The test wasn't just about finding the rock; it was about the process. She wanted to see how they looked.
Choice Moment: Kenji knew the rock's exact location via runic sight.
Option 1 (Risk Exposure for Efficiency): Feign searching but use runic sight for hyper-efficient triangulation, subtly guiding his teammates directly to the rock in minutes. He would need a plausible cover for his uncanny navigation.
Option 2 (Play it Safe - Hard Way): Completely ignore his runic sight. Rely on conventional search patterns, treating this like any other hidden object test. Engage with teammates conventionally, collaborating based on visible evidence or logical deduction. This would be slow, maybe less impressive as an individual showing 'initiative,' but completely safe in terms of hiding his unique ability.
Option 3 (Calculated Risk - Fuinjutsu): Feign search patterns, but maybe subtly create a different, minor tracking seal (pretending to scrawl on a leaf or stone when "adjusting footwear"?) whose reaction he can perceive to act as a compass pointing towards the target rock's runic signature. This combines conventional Fuinjutsu (a known skill) with his runic insight, creating a partially explainable edge, but still risks exposure if the subtlety isn't perfect or if Yumi-sensei notices his 'tracking' method isn't standard.
He dismissed Option 1 quickly. Guiding them directly was too overt, too fast. No Academy grad could do that. It would raise immediate, serious questions. Option 2 felt safer, but disappointing. It meant deliberately acting less capable than he was, potentially letting down his teammates, and reinforcing the "mediocre everywhere but Fuinjutsu" idea too strongly, which might itself be suspicious. Option 3... that had potential. He could perhaps make a small 'location' or 'direction' seal disguised on something natural or mundane, infuse it subtly with a pulse directed towards the target's 'marker' rune, and use its response to guide them without needing to pinpoint the rock himself directly. It leveraged his known talent (Fuinjutsu) to create an unknown edge (rune interaction), blurring the line. It was a risk, but less of a jump than simply knowing where the rock was.
Alright, calculated risk it is. Frame it through a technique he appears to invent or adapt on the spot, something slightly unusual but not impossible within the vague realm of sensory Fuinjutsu, explaining his navigation while keeping the how obscured behind 'talented improvisation.'
"Okay," Kenji said, turning to Sora and Riku. "Search patterns are probably best, split up areas. We should establish a rough perimeter first…" He trailed off, pretending to size up the search area thoughtfully. This would buy him time. He needed to create his 'compass.' As he spoke, his mind raced, identifying the best way to implement Option 3 with minimal risk. He scanned the ground near the bushes... a small, flat stone... yes, perfect. He could "trip" slightly, kneel to "retie a bootlace," and in that moment...
"Riku, maybe start with that rock cluster Yumi-sensei threw towards," Kenji suggested, pointing. "Sora, perhaps scan the wider area first, look for scuff marks or disturbances near the edges. I'll… uh…" He paused, fumbling a little, giving the impression he was thinking hard about his own role. "I'll try something else. Something I was experimenting with using a basic orientation seal… see if I can narrow the search area faster. If it works." This lie needed to sound like genuine, hesitant experimentation.
Sora nodded uncertainly. "An orientation seal?"
Riku simply nodded, his expression practical. "Got it." He immediately began moving towards the rock cluster, scanning the ground methodically.
Kenji saw his window. He walked slowly towards the bushes, pretending to stretch a tight muscle. He deliberately stumbled slightly, enough to take a knee beside a flat, nondescript stone. With rapid, practiced movements, using the pad of his thumb against his index finger where he'd subtly collected a trace of dust as makeshift 'ink', and channeling a focused, minimal amount of chakra through his fingertip, he quickly traced a simple, abstract 'direction' symbol onto the stone's surface. In his runic sight, he focused on the rock Yumi-sensei had thrown, trying to link this symbol's energy output to that target's runic signature. He wasn't activating a search spell; he was telling this seal: "point towards that thing with this signature." It wasn't a standard technique, bending Fuinjutsu and runic sight together, creating something new and fragile.
He subtly infused the mark as he lifted his hand, feeling a faint drain and a brief thrum from the stone. It was crude, imperfect. He quickly dropped his knee again, pressing his finger on the stone as if securing a loose patch of dirt. He looked at his finger mark; it was barely visible, just smudged dust, and already fading. But his rune had activated.
As he stood, careful to betray no urgency or sudden knowledge, he discreetly held his thumb near the faint mark. In his runic sight, the small stone pulsed weakly, and from its center, a fragile thread of light extended like an invisible arrow, pointing directly towards where the target rock lay hidden. Success. A wonky, improvised compass.
He brushed dust from his knee. "Okay, going to try my thing," he mumbled, sounding slightly hesitant, as if unsure if his 'experiment' would work.
Sora was methodically scanning the periphery, occasionally peering under roots. Riku was meticulously checking the ground around the initial cluster of rocks. Kenji glanced subtly at his improvised compass-stone, letting its fragile runic arrow guide his own initial steps into the dense undergrowth. He walked slightly slower than the runic guide suggested, feigning caution, occasionally looking under leaves or around bushes as if genuinely searching. The arrow in his sight remained steady, a constant, silent guide.
He followed the non-physical pointer, leading himself away from where Riku and Sora were concentrating, deeper into the tangled edge of the clearing. It felt less like following directions and more like perceiving a tendency, translating the runic guidance into plausibly hesitant movements. His heart hammered a quiet rhythm against his ribs. Was Yumi-sensei watching him specifically? Could she possibly decipher the incredibly subtle runic thread connecting his crude stone-compass to the hidden target? He forced himself to relax his shoulders, to make his movements natural, not those of someone acting on impossible information. Just a kid trying a weird idea.
He passed a fallen log, brushed aside a low branch… and there. Tucked between the base of a rock and a clump of moss, half-buried in loose soil, was the small, smooth stone. Exactly where the runic arrow had pointed.
He paused for just a moment, fighting the urge to immediately call out his discovery. Process, not just result. How would a normal talented Fuinjutsu student stumble upon it after using a theoretically functional, untested seal? Maybe he could say the seal just vaguely 'activated' when he got close? Or that it pointed in a 'general direction' he followed?
He knelt, brushing away some dirt, making sure his body language looked like genuine searching turning into a successful discovery. Then, keeping his voice steady, he called out, "Uh… Sensei? I think I found it!"
He held up the rock. Sora hurried over, her eyes widening. Riku followed, his usual stoic expression softening slightly with surprise. Yumi-sensei approached, observing both Kenji and the rock.
"Found it?" she asked, her tone neutral. She took the rock, turning it in her hand, checking the faint runic marker only she knew about. She glanced from the rock back to Kenji. "That was... quicker than I expected. And quite far from where you were searching initially, Sora, Riku. Kenji, you mentioned experimenting with an orientation seal?"
Kenji managed a slightly sheepish expression. "Yeah. It wasn't a real technique, just... an idea. I smudged a bit of dust on a stone back there," he gestured vaguely, "tried channeling chakra into it, focusing on finding the target's presence... hoped it would... pulse, or something, if I got close. I guess it worked?" He carefully avoided saying it gave him a precise direction. "It felt like... there was a pull, roughly in this direction," he exaggerated a slight hand motion, "so I followed that."
He waited, bracing for her reaction, analyzing her aura. Yumi-sensei studied him. Kenji saw complex runic thoughts sparking behind her eyes – 'verification,' 'correlation,' 'analysis of claims vs. evidence.' Was she scrutinizing the rock he'd used? Was the smudge enough? Was his "improvisation" believable?
Finally, a small, almost imperceptible smile touched Yumi-sensei's lips. "A creative application, Kenji," she said, neither confirming nor denying the validity of his improvised seal story. "Using an orientation concept, hm? And relying on felt sensation rather than a visible marker. Intriguing. An unconventional approach, Tanaka, Ito. Did either of you notice anything unusual?"
Riku shook his head silently. Sora blinked behind her glasses. "No, I just… saw Kenji heading that way."
Yumi-sensei held the rock. "Alright. Retrieval time: roughly ten minutes. Method... unconventional. We will discuss your teamwork, or lack thereof, and Kenji's...'intuitive sensing' experiment, back at the Academy in half an hour. Go wait by the front gate."
As Yumi-sensei stayed behind for another minute, perhaps discreetly inspecting the 'compass' stone, Kenji walked with Sora and Riku back towards the Academy gates. The internal storm subsided slightly, replaced by a cautious sense of victory. It had worked. He'd navigated the 'fun choice,' risked a subtle use of his ability disguised as Fuinjutsu experimentation, and gotten away with it. It was a razor's edge, relying heavily on misdirection and feigned uncertainty. But it provided a more impressive initial impression for his sensei than simple mediocrity, without revealing the impossible truth. He'd painted a picture of "talented, experimental Fuinjutsu kid," a much safer color than "see-through-the-world prodigy."
His teammates were looking at him with dawning curiosity. Sora nervously pushed her glasses up again. Riku met his gaze, his usual stoicism less impenetrable, showing a flicker of unexpected interest. Kenji knew this wouldn't be the last time he had to navigate these choices. His new team. His new Sensei. More challenges ahead, hidden just beneath the surface of conventional shinobi life. He just had to keep watching the lines, and choosing his steps very, very carefully.
--- End of Chapter 14 ---