(late March, year 54 AK)
'This must be it.' Yuta thought as he went into a medium sized forest patch that was the training grounds number 72. He came here for his combat evaluation, since he was informed by Mamoru earlier that this is where it was supposed to take place.
As Yuta went inside the forest, he quickly found a clearing, as he approached it, he saw a man in a shinobi attire standing in the middle of the clearing, waiting. He was in his late twenties, he looked stern and bored.
Yuta came out of the trees into the clearing and approached the man.
"Finally, what took you so long, kid?!" The man yelled angerly, and Yuta felt a heavy pressure and a sense of danger descend on him.
'Huh, what is this bullshit? I'm sure I came here exactly on time!' Yuta thought confused, 'Is he for real? Is he trying to intimidate me? Is this some kind of a test? Better be that than just an instance of unprofessional conduct! And this amount of pressure is nothing for me after facing Shisui's Mangekyo Sharingan...'
As Yuta approached the man, he reported formally, strictly following the protocol, "Student Yuta Arai, came here for a combat evaluation."
Hearing that, the man stood silently for a few more seconds, but seeing as Yuta stood unbothered by his pressure, his attitude changed back to a relaxed and bored one.
"Good, the combat evaluation will start in five seconds." The man stated without explaining any further.
As soon as Yuta heard the last words, he immediately turned around and ran to the nearest trees, not wasting any second. As the five seconds ended, Yuta was already hidden in the forest.
'It's not just a combat test it seems. At first, he tested my composure and tried to unsettle me with words and pressure, and now he tested my reaction and quick-thinking abilities by suddenly declaring that the fight will start in five seconds... But isn't this excessive? Does every student go through all of this? That pressure from before is not something a normal student can easily withstand...'
As Yuta thought about that in the background of his mind, he hid himself while preparing for a fight.
As Yuta finished counting up to five in his mind, he felt how the examiner's chakra dropped significantly, as he was actively focusing on his chakra-senses.
'He probably substituted himself...' Yuta concluded as he stopped paying attention to the examiner in the clearing, who continued to stand there after the five seconds ended, and surveyed the area around him instead. As Yuta did that, after a few seconds he felt a vague feeling of examiner's chakra slowly approaching from the opposite side than the clearing, it was so vague that Yuta only was able to notice it when it was already fifteen meters from him, the halfway through his usual radius of detecting chakra.
'Some kind of chakra concealment jutsu? Why bother using it on a student, did he know that I'm a sensor? Or is he using it every time when he is in a combat mode?' Yuta thought in the background while concluding that examiner didn't notice him just yet and still just moving in his general direction.
Yuta formed a series of hand seals and created a clone in his place, while he himself jumped on a tree and hid himself in its branches.
'This position should be in range for a genjutsu when he comes closer, now it will depend if he would be able to figure out in time that it was just a clone over there...' Yuta thought as he starts to form a plan for the follow up moves depending on which direction the fight would take next.
...
Koichi was slowly approaching the position where Yuta was hiding.
At first, he was confused why would Hokage assign to him a mission of a simple combat evaluation of the three academy students for early graduation test. He was a Jonin after all, and this job is supposed to be handled by Chunins.
But after evaluating Itachi Uchiha and Hikari he understood why he was assigned for this, since those two are true geniuses, both of them already are firmly on the level of strength comparable to a Chunin at the age of seven and eight, only lacking a real combat experience.
If there a regular Chunin would've being assigned to evaluate those two, he might just lose the fight while being unable to fully determine the extent of their skills.
'This Yuta kid is not half-bad either, with how he handled the pressure and how he reacted, although his chakra felt much weaker than those two... Now, where is he?' Koichi thought as he approached closer to the Yuta's approximate location.
'There he is...' Koichi spotted Yuta who was hiding in the bushes, but as he approached him closer, he felt that something isn't right, and as he looked closer he noticed that plants aren't being pushed back by Yuta's body, he instantly recognized that it was a clone, but as he did so and start to look around, he had a vague and subtle feeling of foreign chakra carefully enveloping his chakra system.
'A genjutsu?' Koichi immediately concluded, 'But it is quite subtle, this kid has great chakra control and his genjutsu is quite advanced, it is highly likely that a Chunin won't be able to notice it. Not bad at all...'
As Koichi was an experienced Jonin, he was able to notice the subtle influence on his chakra system right away, but still, he resisted his instincts to immediately dispel the genjutsu, as that would be counterproductive to this evaluation, as Koichi wanted to test Yuta's genjutsu skills a bit further.
As Koichi raised his guard significantly, since he intentionally allowed himself to be influenced by a genjutsu, he noticed the real Yuta in the branches of a tree right above him. When he made eye contact, Yuta looked startled after realizing that he was being spotted and jumped to the side, trying to get away from Koichi.
As Koichi observed Yuta's movements, he concluded that this wasn't a clone, as Koichi didn't notice any of the usual indications of him being a clone.
'So, this is the real one, or is it a genjutsu?' Koichi analyzed without making a move, 'Something doesn't feel right here...'
As Koichi was used to trust his intuition, he waited for another second while trying to figure out what it was, that he felt being wrong here, while standing in place and not making a move on the retreating Yuta.
'I see now. How interesting.' Koichi comes to a realization, 'It must be just a clone after all it seems, but the fact that I wasn't be able to notice it right away is impressive, this must be the work of that genjutsu of his. I'm looking for usual indications of him being a clone, for example, if he leaves proper traces on the branches when he moves or not, but it's like I look for it but not perceive it, unable to actually find what is wrong here, what an unusual genjutsu...'
Koichi was surprised by encountering a completely new genjutsu he wasn't aware off before, 'No, it's not like it's blocking my vision or other senses, it's not interfering with what I actually see or hear, but it alters my perception and comprehension of what I'm looking at!'
As soon as Koichi finished his analysis of the genjutsu, he realized it's true nature, and as he did that, his instincts flared and he immediately substituted himself away from the place he was standing a moment ago, and as he did that and reappeared a dozen meters to the side, he looked at his substitute, that was still standing there, and felt that something is very wrong there, but he wasn't able to figure out what exactly.
Feeling a little uneasy, Koichi stopped playing games any longer and skillfully dispelled the genjutsu, and as he did so, he was surprised to find out that his substitute, that was still standing in his previous position, had a kunai pressed to its throat, and Yuta was standing to its side, holding the kunai.
Koichi quickly analyzed his vision and other senses and realized that he saw Yuta all along. Koichi remembered how he saw Yuta and his clone in the branches, while clone was running away, the real Yuta jumped down and came closer, while pulling out a kunai.
Koichi felt how a cold sweat was forming on his forehead as he recalled how he stood there oblivious to Yuta's advances, he saw him all along it seems, but he was ignoring and dismissing what he saw, unable to recognize or comprehend it, as if Yuta was just another bush or a tree, unworthy of his attention, while Yuta was slowly approaching him with a kunai in a smooth and fluid movements.
'What a scary genjutsu, what was I thinking allowing it influence my senses...' Koichi thought as he forced himself to calm down, 'I underestimated his genjutsu as I wasn't expecting it to be that impressive, the kid is not even a Genin yet. Either way, I better stop playing games with him. In a way, he is even more dangerous that those two...'
...
From the time the examiner approached Yuta's first clone and came in range for Yuta's genjutsu and to the present moment, only a couple of seconds passed.
As Yuta pressed his kunai to the examiner's throat, he felt with his chakra senses, that even before his kunai reached the neck, examiner's chakra level dropped to almost zero, and Yuta sensed his chakra from a completely different location, and the next moment he lost connection with his genjutsu he was maintaining on the examiner all this time.
'Damn he is good, he got away... And casting a genjutsu on him is quite hard and exhausting, is he really just a Chunin? Why he has so much chakra? He has no business being a Chunin with so much chakra, to the point that I have a very hard time sustaining a genjutsu on him for just a few seconds...' Yuta thought as he quickly jumped away and retreated into the forest.
--- AN ---
Thanks to Krishna_Razz, Loalola, Eyes_Of_The_Void, GokageSensumo, waltersaaron16 and Jayroy_63 for the power stones. We almost made it into the top-200 in seasonal ranking, we have 35 stones and the top-200 work there has 36.