Another noob to the slaughter (genin exams)

Here it was! The genin exams!

Jeisuta scurried as much as a relatively large man can scurry, down the different alleyways, arriving at the academy in the nick of time to be admitted.

Looking for the line to take the exams, he found himself quite unfortunately at the front. Having appeared right as the doors opened, and looking like he knew where to go, had cause everyone else to follow him, it seems.

(Awaiting a doctor)

It would seem Tehniyat had a cruel sense of humor. 'Get ready to go to Bird Country' she had said. Of course, she had left out the part about having to proctor a round of genin exams before his departure. No, Lucian was not laughing and yes the princess would hear about it. That said, he had a job to do and he wasn't one to slack.

Sitting behind a large wooden desk at the front of the room, he waited. In theory, all the job required was a discerning eye and a basic grasp of the shinobi arts; he had both. However, he also had to write a report about each test taker. It wasn't a horribly long report, but it did require some thinking and analysis on the proctors part, on his part. On the plus side, he didn't have to memorize names or faces as the village had provided him with a roster of eligible test-takers.

"Alright," Lucian started as would-be genin streamed in. "Please take a seat and wait your turn. First up will be..."

A pause as he glanced down at the roster he had been given.

"...Jeisuta. Come to the front of the room and perform the clone technique, the transformation technique and tell me who the current Hogokage is."

The last bit was more for Lucian than the actual test, but important nonetheless. After all, if an academy student didn't know who they'd soon be serving did they really deserve to be a genin? Probably not.

[Craft an 800-word post performing what was asked of you in-character and you'll be awarded the rank of genin. Good luck!]

Unfortunately, Jeisuta had no idea that cruel fate, nor princesses for that matter, had dragged his current proctor to the room. Not that it would have affected his performance much. Probably because he as overcome with something else.

Stage fright.

That's right. A twenty year old was scared stiff in front of a proctor for an exam. One who was glancing down at the list as the genin wanna-bes entered.

"... Jeisuta". His mind went blank, and he almost missed the rest of the proctor's words.

Realizing he was going to be tested in front of everyone else made his stage fright worse. Pleasant, huh? He started sweating. As in visibly sweating. From the moment his name was spoken, his mind began to seize up, and his perception of time slowed until it became a crawl. Actually, that's incorrect. Time stood still for him, his heart thumping loudly in his chest, as he stood there.

Who was the Hogokage?
Shoot.
Shoot.
I can't remember. I can't remember.

He realized he was panicking, and closed his eyes, taking deep breaths.

Trying to not explode with nervousness, he stumbled to the front of the room.

I gotta center myself. Remember what's important. I studied these techniques, I know who organizes the ninjas around here. Teacher believes in me. I understand these techniques. This is my first step into the world of ninjas. My first step towards godhood and uniting the shinobi and antagonistic enclaves of this old city. I must succeed. I WILL succeed.

His thoughts tumbled forward in a rush and he nearly spoke unintentionally, as he neared the front of the exam room. Slowly, his heart reduced its frantic tempos, his face regaining some of its normal color.

Slowly, he turned to stand in front of the examiner. It would be immediately obvious to any observer that this guy had been sweating bullets earlier and was still very nervous. Fortunately, he was calming down slightly. His breathing had been audible and near hyper-ventilation speed earlier, now it was fast but it too was becoming controlled.

After a few more long seconds, he took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly.

"My apologies, proctor."

He took a second to wipe the sweat from his brow. Figuratively, because that was a symbolic gesture meant to placate his inner nervousness. Additionally, it did little to hide the fact that he had been clearly sweating in a nervous fashion earlier.

"I'm afraid that performing is not one of my strong suits. I appear to suffer from stage fright, unfortunately."

He bowed for a moment, starting with his hands clasped together in a sort of prayer position. His body bent at the waist, and with his hands out of sight of the proctor, he weaved some hand seals. The proctor would have gotten a good look at his face now, Jeisuta would try to answer two questions at once. Slowly, he weaved the hand seals for the Art of Transformation, thinking through his plan carefully, making sure it wasn't against what the proctor had said to do.

Perform the Clone technique. The Transformation technique. Then tell me who the Hogokage is....

No order to them. Technically, he could read the intent behind the question about the current leader. But he had started on this idea, he would see it through, before making sure he actually said the name of the Hogokage.

His hands completed the last hand seal, and his bowed form was surrounded by a puff of smoke. He rose from his bow, his hands weaving to form another hand seal, his face now that of the Hogokage, Denkiteki Hayato, whom he had seen publicly before. The rest of his body had transformed, his usual outfit being replaced with a suit and some nice shoes. Even a  belt!

"Do I have this correct? I hope so, or I will look very silly."

His hands finished weaving the hand seals for the clone jutsu as well, and he activated that - popping two copies of himself into existence, one on either side of his body. All of them faced the proctor for a good ten and a half seconds, during which time Jeisuta struck some truly outlandish poses, the idea being to demonstrate their imitation of his own movements. At the end of the time period, he dispelled both of the jutsu, and walked up to the proctor.

"Sorry, couldn't help myself. If memory serves, the Hogokage is Denkiteki Hayato?"

He spoke in a hushed tone, unsure of whether anyone could listen in. If he was right, he didn't feel like handing the answer to everyone else in the group.

Having hopefully completed his assignment, he stepped back from the proctor's table, and stood somewhat stiffly, awaiting the decision. Man, holding those jutsu was harder than he thought, he could feel his stamina reduced already!

(ttl wc should be 810)

Silent, Lucian remained silent as the boy performed the required tasks. Truthfully, he would have very much liked to have shown some signs of encouragement throughout the task, but it would run counter to his purpose as proctor. As an unbiased observer, he had to grade each genin hopeful under a strict set of criteria, one of which was composure under pressure. Now, while Jeisuta obviously had a long way to go when it came to mastery of self he did perform each task to an acceptable level.

Thus, only one question remained for Lucian: is acceptable enough?

One hand lingered over a set of stamps to his left. One stamp soaked in green ink while the other red. Red for failure and green for success. It really would be a shame if he had to fail the first one. Yes, a real shame.

"That is correct," He pressed the green stamp into Jeisuta's report with a dull thump. "Composure will come in time, but for now take pride in being Hoshigakure's newest genin. Congratulations."

Acceptable was enough, for now.

Nodding once the Nazar pulled a new shiny headband from under the desk only to toss it to the boy, one last test. Reflexes were important too, after all.

One down...twenty-nine to go.

[Good job, while I cannot approve your rank up I can remind you that it comes with one free specialty of your choice (choose wisely), +15 stats, this bad boy (post in linked topic to claim), and the jutsu free to genin. Cheers.]

"Whew"

Jeisuta didn't realize at first that his body straightened after the proctor accepted his attempt.

"Thanks you mist-"

His words abruptly ended as the proctor seemed to grab something from under the table, then suddenly his arm disappeared. (RT is only 69, I'm vaguing your throw to be normal max speed lol)

What the-

Something hit his chest, and he barely reacted in time to catch it before it fell to the floor. A Hoshigakure headband? Sweet! This was his first time touching one too.

He tied it around his head, then waved at the proctor. "Wow, that was fast. Thanks mister!"

He turned and walked towards the exit. Before leaving, he said "Good luck guys!", waving at the general group of assembled student, before he took his actual exit.

******

(exit)

(claiming genin rank, +15 stats, the free genin jutsu, and ninjutsu spec)

Approved.

thanks guys!