89. Test begin

“The test is simple. My real self is at the center of the training ground with a totem like this.” Doing some quick hand signs a wooden totem pole appeared from under Yamato. 

“Your test is to touch the pole by the end of today. Oh and only two of you will pass, the third one will be sent back to the academy, that’s all.” Just like that Yamato and the totem pole disappeared into a cloud of smoke.  

“Well that was that” Shrugging Tomoka turned around to see the two girls with frowns on their faces. That is when she realized that unlike Hinata and Nozomi, she knew that the last part wasn’t real or not completely. 

“What are we going to do? One of us will be sent back no matter what” The worry painting Hinata’s face was tinged with a bit of despair as she clutched her hands to her chest. 

“There must be a way for all of us to pass. It just doesn’t make sense otherwise” Nozomi for her part decided to go for denial. She wasn’t willing to let either Hinata or Tomoka be left behind. If push came to shove then she would be the one going back. 

“For now let's disregard that. We will still fail if none of us manages to pass. Not to mention that if all of us touch it at the same time then there is nothing Yamato sensei will be able to do about it.” Tomoka could have told them about the truth of this test. However, she decided against it. This was a lesson they needed to learn. Not to mention that she doubted they would fail it. 

“You are right” 

“Nn.” Having received Nozomi’s and Hinata’s answers, Tomoka got to work. 

“Alright then. First off, do either of you have any plans, any ideas?” Normally Tomoka would be the one in the lead but she wanted the other two to grow as well so this time she would reduce her input to the bare minimum necessary.

“Right, Hinata, how far is your range with the byakugan?” Nozomi decided to take the lead since it looked like Tomoka wouldn’t do so this time. 

“I have trained diligently like Tomoka said. Currently it's at two-hundred meters max.” Hinata had worked really hard on improving her byakugan. She had strained her eyes to the point Tomoka had to tell her to rest or she would end up injuring herself. 

“Alright then, keep scanning the area at all times. Taking into account that Yamato-sensei is using a hard to move object as the objective then it should be safe to assume that he will be defending it through the usage of the terrain and traps.” Tomoka nodded her head as she had come to the same conclusion. She felt proud that Nozomi could manage things by herself. 

“Understood. In that case I think that one of Tomoka’s clones should be on the lead to be safe. I might not be able to spot all the traps so having the clone trigger them should be safer.” This time Hinata had offered a good idea. Once again Tomoka felt pride in knowing that she trained these two well. 

“The forest is disadvantageous for us as sensei is a wood style user. Tomoka you have trained in this place before right? Do you know any non-forested area leading to the center?” Once again a good analysis by Nozomi. Unfortunately…

“No, sensei was smart in choosing this place. The only thing that could be called non-forested would be a river that passes quite close to the center. Other than that there is nothing.” Having received Tomoka’s answer, Nozomi fell in silence. 

“I say we use that. We already learned how to walk on water thanks to Tomoka. It would be safer too, I doubt sensei could easily place traps on the river. Not to mention it gives Nozomi some environmental advantages.” Hinata was right about the problem so it was decided. 

“Alright then, let's go with that plan” The one who spoke was the still buried Tomoka who was in fact the real one. After all, she had been flirting and exchanging kisses with her two girlfriends when coming to the training grounds. There was no way she would leave such things to one of her phantom controlled puppets.  

A moment later, The buried Tomoka broke through the ground and stood next to her girls while the puppet moved towards the river. Things were about to get fun.  

minimi22

I could even make Orochimaru and jiraiya have the most akward relationship ever XD