The shadows

ch54

They read the scroll. It was written in cipher, which was immediately solved by Naruto and Shikamaru. At first, it all looked like a jumbled mess of shapes. So their first thought was of a replacement cipher, where characters are just replaced with a new character.

But the frequency of characters in the whole text didn't match the word distribution. So it was probably a shift cipher as well. They were ruling out any keyed ciphers since they weren't given any extra information and had to solve the whole thing just by reading the scrolls.

After a few times, they found the shift and then replacements. Now they had a readable text. It was a long text that looked like an ordinary school assignment that children did to improve their literature.

It told a story about Konoha, describing the scenery and the forest around. There was nothing particular in the text to catch their attention. Even the information didn't point to anything.

It could be any location. It talked about rivers, forests, plants, mountains, and buildings. Similar to what you expect an average person to answer when talking about their hometown

Upon more inspection, they found that by counting the words in each sentence of the paragraphs, they get coordinates. They found a map and found the location. It was one of the training grounds usually reserved for Jonin. They were going there carefully, trying not to rush things.

They got there soon. Three Jonin were standing there, ready to test them. They weren't hiding or anything. Behind them, there was a forehead protector hanging from a tree. The three Joninn were standing lazily, not really doing anything.

Naruto volunteered to go. Even though his chakra was sealed, he could still fight. Sasuke also volunteered. Choji as well. So Kiba and Shio, and Akamaru could take the last test. They were trackers, after all, and it was their specialty.

They talked for a few minutes to strategize; Naruto knew the Jonin. It was Genma, Hayate and Raido. Realistically they had no chance to beat them. But it was apparent that they would hold back. Their best strategy was for Naruto to fight Hayate, Sasuke to fight Raido, and Choji to take care of Genma.

Hayate was the best Kenjutsu master among the three. And Since Naruto couldn't use chakra, he was best suited to handle him. Raido used a combination of ninjutsu and kenjutsu, so Sasuke was better suited for that.

And lastly, since Genma mostly used senbon and ranged fighting, Choji could use his family jutsu to defend and get close, not allowing him the advantage. Either Sasuke or Naruto had to finish their fights early, so they could get the headband.

Naruto didn't have his sword on him. It was sealed, and he needed his chakra to access it. Sasuke had his, so that was ok. Naruto went to Kakashi. He mustered up the best version of puppy eyes he could. "Mmmm. Kakashi-nii-chan." Naruto said in a very childish voice, acting like a shy small kid.

Kakashi was visibly shocked. He didn't know what to do or how to react. Thankfully most of his face was hidden, minus one eye. "Y-Yes?" He asked. This was so easy.

"Kakashi-nii-chan. I don't have my sword. Can I please borrow your tanto?" Naruto asked, making sure his eyes were a bit teary. His acting lessons were paying off. He knew Kakashi wasn't supposed to help them, but there was no way he could resist.

"Aaaaah... sure?" He said his voice between a question and an answer. He unstrapped the tanto from his back and handed it to Naruto. Naruto gave him a very bright smile. Hugging him. Kakashi just stood there frozen.

"Thank you, nii-chan. You are the best." Naruto said. Poor Kakashi was blushing and went into a cuteness overload. He melted like a puddle.

"Ok, guys, let's do it." Naruto turned toward his friends, who were in varying degrees of shock.