9 Ability Appraisal

Author's Note: Btw guys, this is a fanfic so its not going to follow the canon completely or be identical, don't tell me when there are variations (Its purposely done). That being said I appreciate the support, make sure to keep supporting by leaving good reviews (Need more of those) and powerstones!! Finally JOIN MY DISCORD: dis cord.gg/wkhPUDrmyU. Write out the link to join, there's no spaces between dis and cord. 300 extra words this chapter.

-End of Note

Outside the classroom in the hallway stood Ibiki Morino, with two other figures beside him. "They must be my teammates," Shinji speculated. Before he could get a better look at the two, Ibiki Morino broke the silence and said, "Meet us at the third training ground," before the three of them disappeared in a puff of smoke. Shinji began to sulk; the third training ground was quite a distance away from the academy, and he didn't feel like the thought of walking there either. That's when a bright idea hit him: "Why don't I just make my shadow clone carry me there?" he thought.

He hurried outside the academy building and created a clone, hopping onto its back. "Take me to the training grounds," he ordered, pointing ahead. The clone nodded and began running towards the destination. Before long, Shinji had arrived at the location. He hopped off the clone and dispelled it, then proceeded to enter the training ground. The girl who Shinji had seen earlier with Ibiki was nibbling on a sandwich but stopped when she spotted Shinji. "You took a very long time…" she asserted before going back to nibbling on her sandwich. "Yes, she's right, we thought you wouldn't come," Ibiki agreed. Shinji felt embarrassed. "I've got to learn the body flicker technique," he thought to himself.

Masakuro, who seemed to be amused by the situation, stepped forward and said, "Give the kid some slack; he's new." Masakuro stood at around 5'5, a few inches taller than Shinji who was only 5'0. He had long spiky brown hair that reached his waist, brown eyes, and he wore a black short-sleeve cloak over his Anbu uniform, with a headband similar to the Second Hokage's. Sel, on the other hand, was only 5'2; she had short brown hair that reached her shoulders and wore a large green coat over her Anbu uniform, with black goggles covering her eyes and her headband tied around her neck.

Masakuro walked over and placed his hand on Shinji's shoulder. "I'm Masakuro Yotsuki, and the girl over there is Sel Aburame," Masakuro said with a large grin on his face. "They will be your undercover teammates, and I will be your team leader, on paper at least. These two were initially disguised as civilians, but papers have now been forged that make them genin for your sake. We needed a reason for you to be out of the village for long periods of time without your parents suspecting anything," Ibiki explained.

Shinji was surprised to hear the extreme lengths the Anbu went to hide their members' identities. "Well, since my job is done, I'll be leaving," Ibiki said. Just as Ibiki was about to leave, Shinji interrupted, "Aren't you going to be training us?" he said in a confused tone. Ibiki turned to Shinji, annoyance evident on his face. "You're lacking in reasoning ability; I just told you that we are in disguise. Once again, I am only your instructor on paper; I will not actually be conducting any training for you," Ibiki scowled.

Ibiki then immediately disappeared, not leaving a trace. "Two weeks," Masakuro said, holding up two fingers. Shinji, who was perplexed, scratched his head and asked, "What do you mean two weeks?" "We have two weeks until our next mission. I will test your abilities and from there will determine your role within our squad. After your role is determined, you will train for that specific duty for the next two weeks," Masakuro explained.

Masakuro then turned around and looked at Sel while smiling and scratching the side of his face. "By the way, are you going to introduce yourself?" Masakuro said with an awkward laugh. Sel looked up from her sandwich and said, "Sel Aburame, nice to meet you." Shinji nodded awkwardly back, acknowledging her greeting. "So Shinji, are you ready?" Masakuro asked. "For wha-" a sudden blow to the stomach denied Shinji from being able to finish his sentence; instead, he went tumbling into the tree behind him.

Shinji recovered quickly, standing up while holding his stomach. "That was a cheap trick," he said with a pained expression. Determined to win, Shinji summoned a clone and made it throw a shuriken at Masakuro. As Masakuro prepared to evade the shuriken, Shinji had already thrown a Kunai in the direction Masakuro would go. "Pretty good, not enough to stop someone like me though," Masakuro said as he jumped, evading both the Kunai and Shuriken.

Unfortunately for him, however, Shinji had already considered the possible evasion and sent the Shadow clone to do an up-close attack. "You can't move around in the air; you've set yourself up!" Shinji exclaimed. Masakuro smirked, unsheathing a katana that was on his back that Shinji hadn't noticed earlier; he then struck the clone, causing it to disappear. "That was not bad, now it's my turn," Masakuro said as he charged towards Shinji.

He swung his blade at Shinji's torso, but to his surprise, Shinji wasn't hit; rather, he burst into petals that spread across the field. "Neat trick you got there. Hey Sel, isn't this cool?" Masakuro laughed. Although she didn't say anything, it was easy to tell that she was also intrigued by Shinji's ability. Shinji sat in a tree waiting for Masakuro to fall into his trap. Masakuro, trying to figure out where Shinji could've gone, began walking around, peering at the surroundings. "I've got him!" Shinji thought.

The petals began to rise and form together. "What on earth is going on?" Masakuro exclaimed. The petals then began to swarm him, approaching him head-on. Instead of running, Masakuro stood there waiting for these petals. "... Innovative," he said as he slashed the swarm in half. The petals flew past him, now dispersed into two groups. Not giving up, Shinji weaved a few hand signs and yelled, "Cherry Blossom: Confine!"

The petals that were dispersed flew towards Masakuro. Masakuro, thinking it was another attack, attempted to strike the petals once again, but they evaded him and formed a prison around him. Shinji jumped down from the tree, making himself visible again to the two. "How'd you like that?" Shinji said, feeling proud of himself. Masakuro touched the petal bars with his finger but quickly retracted his arm after it cut him. Masakuro watched the blood trickle down his finger. "This technique could be useful on missions. These aren't truly petals though…. Wind style, I'm guessing," Masakuro guessed.

Shinji was shocked at how quickly Masakuro had figured it out. "Well done, but the question is, can you escape?" Shinji taunted. Sel looked irritated, "Kuro, you've had me sitting for quite some time. Now that you've seen his skillset, stop prolonging the fight," Sel scolded. "Alright, alright," Masakuro said.

Masakuro began weaving hand signs and uttered, "Water style: Water compression." Large bubbles of water appeared. Shinji jumped back, anticipating what Masakuro was about to do. "He's going to attack me to force the jutsu to stop," Shinji thought. Unbeknownst to Shinji, Masakuro didn't need him to stop the jutsu; rather, he was going to directly destroy it.

The water began to encase the prison. Once the water had completely covered the prison, Masakura closed his fist and yelled, "Compress," this caused a small explosion of water that annihilated the prison. As Shinji was about to make another effort to attack, he found that his legs were bound to the ground; upon looking down, he saw a puddle that had water emerging from it and wrapping around his ankles.

"Let's finish this off, shall we?" Masakuro inquired, stabbing the ground. "I'm not done yet!" Shinji said through gritted teeth. "Finish it, Kuro," Sel decreed. Masakuro looked back at Sel, then at Shinji and let out a big sigh. "Lightning Style: Shockwave," he finally shouted. His sword began emitting lightning that flowed into the ground, getting closer to Shinji. "Great job today," Masakuro said, and those were the last words Shinji heard before he was zapped unconscious.

JOIN MY DISCORD: dis cord.gg/wkhPUDrmyU