The next day arrived in a flash. Only 36 candidates remained, so only half of them would undertake their missions the following day. When she reached the arena, she saw a board with paired names. She approached it, following the crowd of jonin candidates, and saw that she had been matched with a kunoichi from Kirigakure, someone she didn't know at all, in the seventh match.
"Fights will begin in 15 minutes. You will have 20 minutes to knock out your opponent or force them to surrender. As in the previous stage, killing is allowed, so think carefully about whether or not to surrender."
She did the math and realized her fight would be at least 2 hours and 20 minutes away, assuming no one surrendered or died before their time was up. Seina leaned against a wall in the candidates' gallery, watching as Mei Terumi initiated the jonin exams. The crowd, unsurprisingly, went wild at the sight of the first contenders.
The first and second fights were closely matched, lasting the full 20 minutes. In the first, one fighter was knocked out, while in the second, neither wanted to surrender, resulting in both being disqualified for failing to defeat their opponent within the time limit. The third fight was a real pity for the ninja from Iwagakure, who lost in just 5 minutes.
The fourth and fifth fights were relatively even, but each had a clear winner. In the sixth fight, however, a ninja had to be revived by the medical team after just 7 minutes—with no success. The winner walked away with a huge grin, celebrating their victory. Seina couldn't have been more disgusted.
Sooner than she expected, it was her turn. The only kunoichi candidate from Kirigakure smiled at her with a sharp-toothed, threatening expression. She seemed completely confident in her victory—likely because Seina appeared to be only 12 years old, while her opponent was at least 4 years older and two heads taller.
"Ready to be humiliated in front of all these people, brat?" her opponent asked in a barely audible whisper, without moving her lips much.
Seina felt her eyebrow twitch in irritation at the thought of a 16-year-old trying to put her in her place. Initially, she had planned to showcase her skills a bit, to prove she was there for a reason. But after seeing how casually the other woman dismissed her just because she was younger… she decided instead to end the fight as quickly and humiliatingly as possible.
The jonin repeated the rules while they stared at each other, sizing each other up before the start.
"Are you ready?"
"Yes."
"Yes."
"Wait for my signal." Silence fell as the examiner stepped back, positioning himself perpendicular to a wall. "Hajime!"
Seina leaped backward, dodging a rather fast stab. As she flew, she used the shunshin to vanish. Immediately afterward, she attacked with a clone, distracting her opponent with a water jutsu she knew wouldn't do much while she performed the hand signs for her original genjutsu. The girl froze, fighting an imaginary Seina, unaware it wasn't real. Another shunshin, and Seina knocked her out with a blow to the head.
It was obvious her opponent wasn't very skilled with genjutsu, much less one that used chakra mixed with her magic, making it almost undetectable. She was also increasingly convinced that the best genjutsu was one indistinguishable from reality.
The jonin descended to the ground with a surprised expression and confirmed that the kunoichi was unconscious. He gestured for the medical team to take her away.
"Winner of the fight by knockout: Seina Uzumaki of Konohagakure."
She left the arena to the sound of the crowd's excited cheers. A few spectators seemed disappointed that the mud-slinging fight between two teenagers had lasted barely 5 minutes. She returned to the gallery, receiving pats on the back from her Konoha teammates. She noticed Tsunade-sama's blank expression, holding back a smile beside the Mizukage.
"I didn't know you were so good with genjutsu," said Shihiro, the Nara.
"And why should you?" she rolled her eyes with a grin.
"Now I understand why Shikamaru complains about you sometimes," he laughed, leaning against the wall beside her.
They watched the rest of the fights attentively. Of the 15 Konoha members who had made it to this point, 11 managed to defeat their opponents. The boys she had given the scrolls to, fortunately, won their matches.
"This is taking forever," complained the Yamanaka. He was just as blond, but with short hair and grey eyes, bearing a resemblance to an idiot from the past, Draco. "I can't wait for these exams to end."
"You're not the only one," sighed a kunoichi from Konoha, her face exhausted. "If I'd known, I might have reconsidered. I'm drained."
Hours later, Seina and the others regrouped with the Konoha delegation. Kakashi-sensei was the first to congratulate her with a broad smile. Over his shoulder, she could see the gazes of some ninjas directed at their group. After all, they had the most candidates still alive in the final stage of the exam. If they performed well in the last part, Konoha would gain 11 new jonin—for the misfortune of the other villages.
"You must be eager to go home. I can imagine it," Kakashi-sensei said, walking beside her, ignoring the stares. "I remember my jonin exams… Luckily, I took them in Konoha."
"You were promoted at 12 as well, right?" she asked him with some curiosity.
"That's right. I spent more years as a chunin than as a genin," the jonin mocked himself.
"I find it incredible that you've spent more time as a mid- and high-ranking ninja than as a genin or academy student…"
"Times were different," he admitted with a sigh. "Even in times of peace, villages can't waste talent. In the end, we're still a ninja village."
Seina nodded. That was one reason why Shikamaru and she, at just 11 years old and less than a year as genin, had been promoted to chunin. She used the silence between them to listen to the murmurs of other participants and their delegations.
"…-na of their genin. She was promoted to chunin last year," murmured a ninja from Iwagakure.
"I thought the famous Kakashi Hatake didn't take on genin teams."
"Until now, apparently."
"Another of his students is an Uchiha. The last survivor of the massacre."
"I've heard something else," a kunoichi cut in. "Apparently Uzumaki is also the Hokage's apprentice. I overheard one of the disqualified Konoha candidates talking about it"
Seina avoided showing any surprise at the rumours swirling around her and Kakashi-sensei. Luckily, none of what they overheard was truly important or secret, so she let it go. Being the student of someone like her jonin sensei had to come with certain drawbacks…
She spent the afternoon with the rest of the Konoha group, staying away from the other participants. The next day, she would leave for the mission she had chosen in the Land of Hot Springs, and in less than 5 days, she would complete it.
"I imagine you already have a plan, don't you?" Kakashi-sensei asked her, walking beside her through the hotel grounds.
"Yes. I've decided on the moderately difficult mission," she admitted with a smile.
"Mmm… You'll have to tell me how it goes. I'll be heading back to Konoha tomorrow morning, so I won't be here to welcome you back, but Tsunade-sama and the others will be."
"It's okay. It was amazing to have you here. Thank you, Kakashi-sensei."
"I wouldn't have missed it for the world… even if your fight lasted less than 5 minutes," he smiled.
That night, after having dinner together one last time, she went to bed following a long bath. Her pouch was once again securely tied to her waist and right thigh, with all her weapons back in their holsters and secret pockets. She fell asleep fully dressed, eager to finally finish the exam.
The next day, she woke up abruptly at dawn. She checked that she was alone and safe before leaving her room. She met the others in the hotel lobby, and each was escorted to the appropriate exit of the village. She signed the special exam registry and handed over her scroll to have it sealed.
"You have exactly 5 days to complete your mission," the Kirigakure jonin informed her, returning the scroll. "If you don't return here before the time limit, you'll be disqualified."
She bowed her head, nodding at the last-minute instructions. Her mission was relatively simple: she had to capture a fugitive from Kirigakure with an A-rank bounty, dead or alive. She hadn't decided on that last part yet. Normally, on a standard mission, she would've brought him back alive to Konoha without hesitation, as he likely had valuable information for her village. However, since he was an exiled ninja from Kiri, why should she do them the favour of delivering a criminal alive without even getting paid for it? She was leaning toward interrogating him and then killing him, just as she'd done with her enemies from Kumo.
At precisely 8 a.m., they were released for the final time. Seina began walking toward the port. She would fake taking a boat, making everyone believe she was there, though hidden, and then use the hiraishin to appear in the Land of Hot Springs. Even if she hadn't left one of her marked stones there, she could've used her summons to fly over the ocean separating Kirigakure from the mainland in just a few hours. That alone gave her an advantage over the others.
"A ticket to the Land of Fire?" a sailor asked. She nodded. "That'll be 3,000 ryo."
She paid the fare and boarded the ship. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed several of her rivals aboard. After all, the route to the Land of Fire was the most direct and dropped them in a central point of the mainland. Even so, it would take hours to reach land. She headed down to the cargo hold, feeling the speculative gazes of several people, and then used the hiraishin.
She felt the chakra expenditure instantly. Even though she could afford it, she wasn't accustomed to using the teleportation jutsu for such long distances. A millisecond later, she landed on the ground, bending her knees with a muffled grunt, and immediately leaped onto the nearest branch. Luckily, no one was around, so she took the opportunity to move elsewhere in case someone had detected her and pulled out the scroll containing her target's information.
Jinbei Biwa. The younger brother of Juzo Biwa, one of the former Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. Supposedly, both brothers had deserted Kirigakure at the same time but later separated on the mainland for unknown reasons. Juzo had attacked the former Mizukage but ended up dying, losing his weapon to the village until it fell into Zabuza's hands. Meanwhile, his brother remained in exile. Upon hearing of his brother's death at the hands of Yagura, he hid for months. Recently, Kiri's hunters had detected him in the Land of Hot Springs. She glanced at the description of his skills without much surprise: water jutsu, kenjutsu, taijutsu, silent assassination—typical. She put the scroll away.
Her first move was to enchant herself so no one could detect her. She used a tracking spell to head in Jinbei's direction. It took her several hours to cross the forests of the neighbouring country, realizing she was quite far from her target's location. She stopped at noon to eat one of her bentos, then resumed her mission, thinking the ship she had boarded earlier that morning likely hadn't even reached port yet. A few hours later, she got lucky. When she saw the twig in her hand turn, she realized she had passed by him. She retraced her steps, watching the arrow point ahead again, and closed in on Jinbei's hideout.
It was an abandoned shop. It looked so run-down she wasn't surprised he was squatting there. After all, renovating it would be a nightmare, and no one would want to spend money fixing something better off being demolished. The front entrance was barred with wooden planks in an X shape to prevent anyone—civilians, at least—from entering. She spotted broken glass from a distance and a shabby ochre-coloured cloth covering the entrance from the inside.
Using her X-ray goggles, she confirmed her target was inside. Indeed, he was. His face matched the ninja registration photo she'd been given. He seemed to be patching up holes in a pair of pants, so distracted that she knew she could use the moment to introduce a couple of her summoned insects. A pair of spiders would suffice. Minutes later, through the multiple eyes of her summons, she got a closer look at him. He was a slender man with the pale complexion typical of Kiri ninjas. His short, dishevelled hair framed a face partially covered by bandages. He wasn't wearing his ninja headband, but she saw it on top of a dresser. His overall rusty appearance indicated he hadn't touched it in a long time.
She waited patiently all afternoon until he appeared to fall asleep after heating up a pre-prepared meal over a small fire. She wasn't sure what he did daily besides hide, but he didn't seem to be in need. He had a futon on wooden logs, a five-drawer dresser, a cooking space with items stored in baskets, and even a coffee table with one missing leg repaired using books for balance. The front door was full of traps, while the back door, still functional, was buried under a thick layer of leaves for camouflage—also full of traps.
When she was certain he was fully asleep—or so it seemed—she descended silently to the shop and used her Somnus spell. She sent one of her clones with the hiraishin to confirm he wasn't faking it, and once the area was clear, she teleported herself. Immediately, she cast a Stupefy to knock him out, followed by an Incarceus and a Petrificustotalus.
"You're really getting the hang of capturing people stealthily," Kurama praised. "You'd make a good hunter-nin."
"I think I already have enough obligations," she said with some exasperation.
"Weren't you the one who said you wanted to be the best at everything?" the bijuu reminded her sarcastically before retreating mentally.
"Let's see what's in that head of yours, Jinbei Biwa..." she thought to herself, lifting one of his eyelids.
She dove into the ninja's mind instantly. It was a dark, clouded, and somewhat bloody place, as expected. She easily found memories of his brother since that's what he thought about most. She saw how he had lived under Yagura's regime in Kirigakure, how he and his brother had clandestinely formed a dissident group to overthrow the Mizukage—a group that failed miserably. It wasn't until the brothers fled Kiri for the first time that she found something surprising.
The brother of her victim, Juzo, had joined a group called Akatsuki despite the hesitation and pleas of his younger brother not to do so. Why had that information surprised her so much? Because his partner in Akatsuki had been none other than Itachi Uchiha, freshly recruited just days after the massacre of his family. She found it strange that Itachi had joined Akatsuki so quickly. According to Jinbei's memories of talking with his brother, Itachi was welcomed into Akatsuki still wearing his bloodstained anbu uniform. So, either it was a massive coincidence that Itachi was recruited so soon, or they had been waiting for him...
Jinbei knew very little about the missions his brother carried out, but he knew he had completed a few with Itachi before being sent back to Kirigakure on the mission that ended his life at Yagura's hands. Jinbei was consumed by a mix of sadness, guilt, and anger over losing his brother to his own village. What he kept secret was the knowledge that they were looking for him and that if they caught him, he wouldn't be able to avenge his brother. What he most desired was to know what had happened on that mission, but unfortunately, Yagura was dead. His best option was to try with Itachi.
Seina emerged from her thoughts, pensive, and executed him with a lightning jutsu straight to the heart. She realized it was already early morning, so she set up her tent and stored the body in a sealing scroll. She would sleep in her victim's hideout and, in the morning, return on foot to the port to kill time. At worst, if something delayed her, she could teleport back to the port where she had left another sealed stone. She already had a few of them scattered across the continent, marked on a detailed map to keep track of them.
She had dinner, bathed, and went to sleep. The next day, she set off back to Kirigakure after dismantling the secret hideout, reinforcing the abandoned tent, leaving a stone with the shiki jutsu, and placing it under a fidelus charm in case she ever needed to use it for her own missions. Jinbei was many things, but foolish he was not.
The next two days were a repetition of each other. On the third day, she arrived at the port and boarded the first ship of the morning heading toward Kirigakure. She spent the journey atop one of the sails, staring at the horizon without being disturbed by anyone. Fortunately, there were no ninjas on the ship she had hired, so they left her alone with her thoughts. When she arrived in Kirigakure at night, she headed toward the gate.
"Stop! Who are you?" asked the registry ninja.
"My name is Seina Uzumaki. I am one of the participants in the jonin exam," she explained. "My name should be in the registry from three days ago."
She waited for them to check, reviewing the special records, and then they nodded. She handed them the scroll that had been sealed for her at the checkpoint days earlier, and they wrote her return name in the register, signing it as well.
"We've notified someone. A ninja will escort you back to complete your mission."
"Thank you."
Seina waited about 10 minutes until one of the jonin examiners of the event arrived, observing the fog that impaired visibility in the lower areas of the village. When he appeared beside her, she straightened up and handed over her mission scroll. The ninja silently reviewed the documentation and motioned for her to follow him inside.
"We'll go to a room prepared for you at the academy. There, you'll have to present the body as proof."
She nodded. It didn't take long to reach the academy, where, at that hour, there was no one else but her, the Kiri ninjas, and the Konoha representative, Shikaku. She handed over the mission scroll as well as the body, once she removed it from the sealing scroll. A hunter ninja, dressed in the typical attire of Kiri's hunter ninjas, approached the corpse to confirm its identity.
"It's Jinbei Biwa. Interesting death. Lightning jutsu to the heart?" the ninja asked rhetorically, straightening up and glancing at her.
"Yes."
"Congratulations. You've completed the mission and the jonin exams. You may return to the hotel with your representative."
Seina bowed, accepting the congratulations and her new promotion, and left accompanied by Shikaku and the Kiri escort. Due to Yagura's recent fall and considering the internal and external conflicts of Kirigakure, it seemed the Mizukage wanted as few security issues in the village as possible during the event. Additionally, it gave her an excuse to keep everyone under surveillance.
"Thanks to you, I've won 10,000 ryo," the jonin commander grinned from ear to ear.
"What?" she asked, puzzled by the abrupt confession. "Why?"
"I'll let Tsunade-sama explain it to you," Shikaku chuckled, walking with his hands in his pockets. "Good thing this exam only happens once a year... It's too much work."
"Ha! You've done literally nothing but lounge in a luxury hotel," she sighed, causing the Kiri ninja accompanying them in silence to choke, perhaps at her insubordination, a second before regaining his composure.
"You don't know what it's like to avoid Tsunade-sama and her gambling addiction. In the end, she convinced me."
Seina bit her tongue to avoid laughing out loud at the jonin commander's indignant tone. She felt her shoulders shake as she imagined it. If there was one thing true about the rumours of Tsunade-sama, it was that she always lost every bet. She didn't understand how or why she kept trying to gamble. It was both ridiculous and amusing.
"You could've won more money."
"By making the Hokage lose? No, thanks. I don't want her to punch me back to Konoha. I'm fine with just one bet."
She caught a glimpse of the Kiri ninja's slightly incredulous face before he rearranged his features into a poker face.
"We're here. Good night," he courteously wished them, bowing and leaving them at the hotel door.
"Tell me... was the exam interesting?" Shikaku asked her with feigned calm.
"I've learned a lot, that's for sure."
"Oh, really? I'm glad. Congratulations on your promotion, by the way. I knew you'd make it."
He left her at her room, bidding her goodbye. She took a shower, removed her weapons, and fell asleep instantly.
The next morning, she woke up at dawn abruptly, as usual. Realizing she had the day off, she went back to sleep for another hour, taking advantage of having nothing to do. A bit later, she went downstairs for breakfast. She saw her rivals with the easy missions were there, waiting for their teammates like her while resting and celebrating their promotion. From Konoha, the only one present was Shihiro.
"You're already here?" he asked with some surprise. "A bit faster than I expected."
"I arrived last night."
They exchanged congratulations on their new jonin promotions. When Tsunade-sama appeared, she smiled broadly in her direction while avoiding Shikaku's gaze. Seina bit her tongue to keep from laughing, realizing she was trying not to think about her failed bet.
"What did you bet on?" she asked. The Hokage sighed.
"How many days it would take you to complete the mission. I said one day," Tsunade-sama confessed, to the astonishment of the newly promoted jonin from various countries present. "Shikaku said three days."
Shihiro, beside her, stifled a laugh at the revelation. He glanced at her sideways with a calculating expression. He winked. Gradually, the new jonin separated by delegations, leaving only Seina and Shihiro from Konoha until a couple more jonin from their village came down for breakfast. They sat at a separate table, leaving Tsunade-sama at the end while waiting for the rest of the delegation.
"Why do I get the feeling it didn't take you three days to complete the mission?" Shihiro asked, seated to her right.
"Actually, both of them are right," she shrugged. "It took me one day to complete it; I just extended the mission to avoid attracting attention."
"I knew it!" exclaimed the Hokage indignantly, rising abruptly. "I need to talk to Shikaku!"
"You finished the mission in a single day?" asked another Konoha teammate, astonished. "How is that possible?"
"I'd already done a mission before in the Land of Hot Springs, and I can use the hiraishin."
"I see. That's why you gave Genichiro the easy mission despite being able to take it yourself," Shihiro mused aloud.
"Are you saying you can use the hiraishin over such a long distance?" asked another, still somewhat shocked.
"It just depends on the amount of chakra," she said, sending them a sharp look, alluding to her jinchuriki state.
Shortly after, they began to eat breakfast, celebrating their promotion. She still couldn't believe it, but she'd have time to get used to it.