The class followed their respective Jounins towards a training ground close by …

  They all stood at attention, waiting for what they would be doing …

  [Maito Guy] - Now that we are here young leafs, let's start with the main question … whose team is going to be the face of Konoha in the oncoming competition … -

  Guy said with a booming voice and a smile the beamed pride.

  Asuma and Kurenai shook their heads at their loud companion while Kakashi rolled his eyes.

  [Kakashi] - Come on Guy, six months of extra training and a team heavily focused on combat, your team is the stick we are measuring against … -

  [Maito Guy] - A reductive assessment eternal rival … -

  Guy said in a less enthusiastic voice.

  [Kurenai] - Reductive but fair, we all know that not all teams are suited for the loud displays like this competition demands, some of us have more finesse to our purpose … -

  [Asuma] - Said the woman with an Aburame, an Inuzuka and a Hyuuga on her team, you can't ask for a better tracking team than that … my team takes down targets before they can even react, classic Ino-Shika-Cho combo, do try to make anything surprising with my team … -

  [Kakashi] - At least your teams have a specialty, mine is a combat focused generalist team, I’m competing with Guy and I'm at a six months disadvantage … -

  Kakashi put a hand over his heart and pretended to clean fake tears out of his covered sharingan, pushing even further the bad acting.

  [Maito Guy] - Worry not eternal rival, I won't count this inevitable defeat towards our score … -

  Guy gave a thumbs up and a loud laugh that made Kurenai groan and look away for a moment, giving Asuma enough time to light a cigarette and take a long drag before it was extinguished once more by the genjutsu mistress …

  ***

  The genins looked at their Jounins bickering between themselves for a moment before turning towards the elephant in the room … or in this case, the Fox in the room.

  Ino approached Jay with a smirk on her face.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  [Ino] - Uzumaki Jinchuriki hmm ? -

  [Jay] - Yes, what of it ? -

  [Ino] - You don't look the part, Uzumaki generally came with a more fiery hair you know ? -

  [Jay] - I probably take after my father a bit more, I mean, people said I look just like him -

  Jay shrugged and smirked.

  Ino blinked at what Jay said and paid close attention to him, trying to compare his looks to some other blond who looked kind of like …

  [Ino] - No way, there is no way … -

  [Jay] - Feeling stupid ? -

  Besides them, Sakura and Sasuke muttered.

  [Sasuke] - Cut her a break Jay, it's not like you told us that either … -

  [Jay] - Don't ask, don't tell, besides, what difference does being the son of the fourth hokage make ? -

  Sasuke and Sakura rolled their eyes while Ino choked on the words trying to get out of her mouth.

  The other genin eyebrows rose to their foreheads as ‘Jay’ became more and more an object of attention.

  Shikamaru released a sigh, shaking his head slightly as a few pieces of the puzzle that was Jay fell into place.

  [Shikamaru] - … Troublesome … you say this like it doesn't make a difference, thought it very much did, didn't it ? -

  [Jay] - Oh, absolutely made a difference for me, being made a jinchuriki, training, having every moment of my life documented and dissected by the higher ups, it made a world of difference … it MADE a difference, past, I asked what difference does it make, present … -

  Jay smirked and Shikamaru narrowed his eyes …

  [Shikamaru] - … Only our attitudes towards you … but we aren't currently relevant, everyone that is relevant, already knows, including our parents … tsk -

  Shikamaru clicked his tongue in annoyance.

  [Shikamaru] - Why the secrecy then ? -

  [Jay] - Remember that the Nine Tails was released and that Minato Namikaze gave his life dealing with it … but why did that happen ? The transfer of hosts between Mito Uzumaki and Kushina Uzumaki was done without problems, so what caused the Nine Tails to be released and the disaster that came after ? -

  And the piece clicked in Shikamaru’s head.

  [Shikamaru] - External meddling … keeping your existence secret until everyone could be vetoed … but why keep it during all this time ? -

  Jay shrugged.

  [Jay] - Hiruzen left my secret for me to tell and I didn't see any advantage in being the center of attention at the academy -

  [Shikamaru] - So why tell it now ? -

  [Jay] - I don't gain anything by hiding it either, you guys are asking directly and I have no reason to lie, besides, after this whole competition passes, everyone here will gain enough clearance to be in the known anyway … -

  [Shikamaru] - So you aren't bothering to hide … troublesome blonds … -

  Shikamaru received a slap to the back of his head courtesy of Ino.

  [Ino] - Lazy Nara, I'm blond too … -

  Shikamaru just looked at her with a deadpan look that basically said ‘yes, I know’ in bright neon lights.

  A loud clap of hands turned the conversation back to the Jounins who finally stopped bickering.

  [Asuma] - Alright everyone, we finally settled on what we will be doing … each one of us will issue a challenge for everyone and the team with the most victories will be aided by the others whenever possible, understood ? -

  Everyone nodded.

  [Asuma] - Great, so we will start with my challenge then, non-lethal capture … -

  Ino puffed up her chest and looked at the rest of the genins who made sure to roll their eyes at her.

  [Asuma] - The test is simple, I'll make a Shadow Clone and you guys have to make a capture without popping it, that means using only minimal force to acomplish the task … the four of us will judge your performances and say who did best and so on, any question ? -

  Asuma turned to Jay who had his hands raised.

  [Jay] - Do we get time to prepare ? -

  [Asuma] - Hmm … great question, that's actually mission critical … -

  Asuma turned to the other Jounins.

  [Asuma] - What do we think ? Give them the tasks now and apply them tomorrow for a day of prep time ? -

  They all looked at each other and nodded.

  [Maito Guy] - Sounds like a splendid idea, a good ninja shouldn't be caught unprepared … -

  [Kakashi] - Guy, you're the last one to talk about it, you barely use any gear … -

  [Maito Guy] - Ah my dear rival, not needing it doesn't mean not having it … -

  Konoha's Green Beast said with wisdom … Rock Lee his apprentice loudly proclaimed the youth behind it and furiously wrote on a small notebook he took out of a internal pocket on his own green spandex …

  [Kakashi] - Let's just say what our challenges will be … -

  ***

  Each team went on their own way, to plan on how to win against each other …

  They had four tasks to complete.

  Non-lethal capture.

  Tracking and rescue.

  A tournament style sparring match.

  And a destructive showdown.

  The genins understood, their senseis made tasks tailored for each of them to win, which means they only needed to do good on the other tasks to gather more points …