My Brother's a Jinchūriki!

Chapter Three- The Graduation Exam Part Two

Kiri held up a piece of paper and waved it around.

"For this part, I'll be evaluating your tracking, stealth, problem-solving, and critical thinking."

She held the paper with both hands and cleared her throat dramatically.

"Your assignment is to rescue the daughter of a wealthy and powerful family. A rival family contracted a team of mercenaries to take the girl, and it is up to you to follow their trail, find the girl, and protect her until backup arrives."

She retrieved a small flare gun from her pocket and held it out for Natsumi to take.

"Once you've found the target, you'll fire this into the air as a signal. I'll be close by, so it's not entirely necessary, but it's just to make this exercise more authentic."

Natsumi took the flare and stuck it into her pocket, nodding.

"Also, as part of the exercise, myself and a few others will be in disguise as the enemy. You must use your stealth to the best of your abilities to avoid detection, and then try to defeat all attackers— if you can."

Kiri chuckled and crossed her arms.

"Although, I do ask that you only knock us out or simulate a fatal blow. This isn't a full combat exercise, and I don't want to die by accident. Got it?"

Natsumi giggled and nodded. "I've got it."

Kiri passed over the paper to Natsumi. "You'll find the coordinates for your starting point at the bottom of the page there. Once you're there, you're going to investigate and pick up the trail that I've laid out for you. It's not meant to be easy, so don't expect it to be."

Natsumi looked over the paper and pictured the location in her mind. She knew where this was.

"Alright, do you have any questions?"

Natsumi shook her head. "No, it seems straightforward enough. Follow the clues, avoid detection, subdue the enemies, and rescue the target."

Kiri nodded and patter Natsumi's head.

"You seem like you're a smart girl; I'm sure you'll do fine. But, I'll still wish you luck anyway."

"Thanks." Natsumi smiled and folded the paper, storing it in her pocket.

"Alright, start now!"

Natsumi raced off to the coordinates and arrived quickly. The building itself was older and largely unused except for training purposes and Natsumi knelt behind a nearby tree to look over the area.

No light came from the windows but she could clearly see that one window on the third floor had been recently broken. There was no broken glass on the ground below the window, so she knew that the window had been broken from the outside by an intruder, rather than from the inside, by someone attempting to leave quickly.

Natsumi quickly created a clone of herself and it kept to the shadows around the building, scouting the perimeter. Once she was satisfied that the area was truly empty, she emerged from her hiding spot and concentrated her Chakra at the bottoms of her feet, carefully pressing them to the wall and beginning to walk up to the window.

She examined the broken window and found a small fragment of torn black cloth there, as well as a few strands of brown hair.

Natsumi picked them up carefully and held them in her fist, peering into the room now.

The interior had been staged to mimic a simple bedroom with very little accessories. The bed was heavily rumpled with small, fresh spots of blood on the floor. A struggle. Natsumi concluded and spotted a broken lamp on the ground nearby.