Starring:
Date: June 13, 2016
Summary:
Jun finally gets his hitai-ate!
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"Jun's Graduation Exam"
Academy Rooftop
For the season it's a relatively warm and dry day that brings the graduation of a few students out to the top of the Academy. A few clouds litter the otherwise blue sky but there's no threat of rain visible. The one in charge of this graduation is not a normal Academy instructor but, well, sometimes they have to call in help. And Hige /has/ been called in a number of times, so he's not exactly an unknown figure. The short teen is standing on the rooftop waiting for the class to arrive and he appears to be recovering from something. Bandaging covers portions of his head and arms and likely more since they vanish under his clothing. Next to him are his ninken - Konsho, the giant five foot plus dark furred wolf, is on one side while Kizoku, the white furred pup, is on the other. A row of six chairs are set upon the rooftop for the students to sit when they arrive. Which should be any minute…
Jun filed in among the other candidates, a hard lump in his throat. Cap yeah, he was nervous! After having failed the last examination… Well, he didn't want to think about that. All he knew was that Katsumi and Shinjiro were counting on him to pass, so they would have a whole team to go on missions with. There was no way he'd prove Shinjiro right by failing a second time… That guy was a real pain, the way he berated Jun with his stupid comments. Jun's face was fuming at the thought, as he took his seat in the middle of the row, clutching his knees and huffing slightly. That's right. He wasn't going to fail. He was going to prove all of them wrong.
He wasn't all that surprised to see someone other than Kaido-sensei proctoring the examination. It happened pretty commonly, actually. But he heard good things about this guy, so hopefully the test wouldn't be too hard…
Heard good things? Whaaaa? He must be thinking of another Inuzuka. Or maybe the Students just don't know until after they've graduated. There's always that too. Hmm…Hige watches as the Students file in, feral eyes flicking between each one as they sit down in front of him. After they're settled he begins.
"Welcome to your Final Examination for the Academy. From what I've heard this may not be the first time for some of you," he pauses and looks over the group, not focusing on anyone in particular. "But today should be the last time." After letting that settle in he motions for the Students to stand. "We're going to start with the henge technique." Konsho steps forward and sits in full view of everyone, tail wagging happily and tongue lolling out of his mouth, making the large creature seem like an overly large adorable puppy. "This is Konsho. You will all be hengeing into him. It's a little more difficult than another human, so make sure you take time to study him before you attempt it. I don't care who goes first either, but let's get to it."
Jun swallowed down the lump in his throat, standing with the rest when he is signaled. 'Henge,' he thinks, nodding to himself. 'Okay.' He looked over to the large animal Konsho, tilting his head and laughing a little bit internally. Now THAT was a cute dog. Sure, he could do that… Stepping forward, Jun takes a deep breath to settle his nerves. Then he weaves a hand seal and focuses his chakra. "Henge!" *POOF* … There where Jun once stood is a sizeable copy of Konsho, lazy lolling tongue and all. "Woof!" he barks, bounding over and lowering his front paws in a playful pounce toward the look-alike ninken, tail wagging happily.
Hige's eyes move over the group as each takes a little time to henge into Konsho though only Jun seems to be so excited with it. Konsho's tail wags faster as he gets down into a playful position, head low to the ground like he's going to pounce. But he doesn't. He doesn't need to accidently kill someone. He gives a bark back before he sits again, tongue still sticking out of one side of his mouth. After a few moments Hige claps his hands for attention and nods to the group. "Well done everyone. Like I said animals can be more difficult but you all did well enough. Just remember to watch for even the most minor details in the future, including any spots that may be a little darker than others." He waits for them all to untransform before he moves on.
"Next we'll be doing the clone technique. This is, of course, knowing how you yourself looks from all sides and being able to duplicate that. I don't expect them to do anything since they're normal clones, but they should match you very well." Again Hige lets that sink in for a moment before he nods. Konsho returns to his side as he says, "Alright, get on it." Again there's no order to it, he's just watching for them to do it when they're ready.
Jun played for another second before POOF! His transformation disappears in a cloud of smoke. It seemed like the next skill he had to use was clones… He groaned. Of anything, that was the hardest skill for him to learn.. But he had worked hard for this! He wasn't gonna fail… He took a step back and inhaled deeply. 'I got this…' He focused his chakra - a lot of it. He waited until he could feel the air around him become supercharged, and then…!!! "Bunshin no Jutsu!" *POOF* …. Hey! Suddenly there were five Jun's, each of them looking startled that they had actually pulled it off. "Yes!" Jun exclaimed emphatically, all five copies leaping into the air and laughing at each other. Then Hige got a five-row victory sign and a cheeky grin. "Take a good look!"
It's not the number of the clones that matter, it's the quality of the clones. Hige gives the clones a passing glance but otherwise doesn't respond to Jun, though Konsho's watching him closer and the ninken's tail wags faster when he pulls it off alright. After Hige confirms everyone was in some way successful he nods again, indicating they can dismiss the clones. When all the smoke from the combined clones disappear something might appear a bit off to the Students. A slight change here or there, a patch of fur, a shade of color, just something different about the trio at the head is not quite the same. They might also sense a bit of a tickle at the back of the mind that would signal a possible genjutsu of sorts. Meanwhile Hige says nothing, just looks over the group as if considering them.
After Jun dispels his clones, he looks at Hige and company for a good, long while. Jeez… When was he gonna tell them what to do next? This was getting uncomfortable… Jun's knee began to bounce, and his eyes got a little bit shifty. Wait.. Why was he so unsettled? Looking up at the trio again, Jun felt his vision swim a little… It felt almost dreamlike. Was he really looking at them? He shook his head fiercely. Maybe he was just sleepy…? No.. Wait! This was a graduation exam, right? And the proctor was just standing there… Like he was waiting for something. That's it! "It's a Genjutsu!" he called out at Hige, confidence now in his gaze. "You're trying to put me under Genjutsu, aren't you?"
Hige smirks faintly as Jun breaks through the genjutsu as do the others in the class, some not until Jun's exclamation however, as if they hadn't yet figured out what was going on. "Well, not me. I don't use genjutsu. That's why I have an assistant for times like these." Hige nods to behind the class to where a Chuunin stands, holding the last hand seal of the jutsu in place for a few more moments before releasing it. Once he's done he bows and goes back down the stairs. "Next up we'll be working on the replacement technique." Hige thumbs over his shoulder to a couple piles of logs. "Go ahead and pick one and do the replacement. Just try not to do the same log as someone else or it'll get a little weird."
Grinning, Jun nods and sprints over to the pile. He was acing this test! And replacement was someting he had mastered a LONG time ago. No problem! Eyeing one of the large logs, Jun focused his chakra swiftly and… Swap! In an instant, the log fell to the ground where Jun had once been, and Jun waves to Hige from atop the pile with a cheeky grin. "Bam!"
Hige smirks at Jun's exuberance as he glances over to him and nods appreciatively. "Good job." The others work on their replacements as well, a bit staggered so they don't stumble over each other. Once they finished that Hige motioned to the scattered Students. "Good job. Just about done. They won't let me work your escape test anymore since I left some Students tied up for a night to try once…" Ahh the good old days…"So we'll move on to the final portion. You have five minutes to hide somewhere around the Academy. Then you have to remain hidden from me for five more minutes." He pauses as he glances upwards at the sky, judging the time for a moment. "Alright, better get moving." His feral eyes move down over the Students as he gives a rather feral looking fang toothed grin. "If I catch you then you /do/ get to work on your escape techniques."
"Urk!" Jun's brow suddenly sweats. 'This guy's kinda scary..' Nervous laughter erupts from his belly, then before someone could drop a pin, he was outta there. He had to find somewhere to hide… He ran and ran, darting in between classrooms until he found the perfect spot! Under a desk. Yes. He snickered quietly to himself. (In reality, one of Jun's clones had taken off running. The real Jun is hiding in plain sight, disguised as one of the training logs!)
Hige waits the allotted five minutes, taking a seat and resting himself for a bit. All those injuries tend to build up and no matter what they're still making him do he's not fully well. His eyes close to give the Students an easier time of it, per se, though in reality if he wanted to find them all it wouldn't be very difficult. After the time has expired he stands again and stretches, then looks around. His eyes pass over the piles of logs and for a moment he gives another fang toothed grin right at that not-quite-a-log, but he doesn't bother it as he instead heads back inside to search out the others. After five minutes have passed four of the students had succeeded while one…simply didn't show back up. And it did take a few extra minutes for Hige to appear as well.
As the other students started showing up one by one, Jun struggles to maintain his disguise. 'Where the gown is Hige?' he wonders frantically as his limbs began to tremble. FInally, he couldn't hold it any longer, and he POOFS in a big cloud of smoke, laying sweating and dazed on the pile of logs with a dramatic sigh. "Gah! Couldn't hold it," he groaned, and shuffled over to go take his seat and wait with the others.
Hige appears not long after Jun has reappeared and he glances towards the boy with a faint grin. "Tired of being a log?" he asks nonchalantly though before Jun can respond Hige turns to face the five and raises a hand for attention. "You might notice one of your fellow Students isn't here. Well, he tried to cheat, so he's currently working on his escape jutsu. I'll consider passing him if he manages it. However unlikely." Poor kid is tied up somewhere in the school probably. "As for the rest of you, this completes your final evaluation. Which means that you have all earned these." Hige pulls out five Leaf hitai-ate, and motions the students forward to collect them. "Congratulations. You're now a true Shinobi of Konohagakure."
Jun gives Hige a dry expression for the log comment. But his face turns to pure shock and joy when he sees the hitai-ate lined up before them. Shakily, he raises his hand, his eyes suddenly uncertain. "… Um… Sensei…? Is… Is one of those… For me? Are you sure? I passed…. for real?" He couldn't believe it. He had to be sure before his hopes soared too high.
"Oh did you not want it? I can take it back," Hige says in a far to evilly sweet voice. In the end he tosses the hitai-ate at him. "Yes, I'm sure. No more classes, but that doesn't mean you can't still attend some if you'd like and you are expected to train on your own until you get a team with someone in charge to train you. If you need help with training you can see someone at the Academy. Or me, I suppose." Hige grins at the lot, then makes a shooing motion with his hands. "Now get out of here."
Jun catches the hitai-ate in his hands, and just stares at it in disbelief. Then his face cracks into a wide grin, and such happiness fills him that he thinks for a minute that he just might cry. Maybe. "Hai!" he says, holding it in so that he doesn't have to get blubbery in front of everyone. 'I did it… I'm finally a real shinobi!'
