Exam Day [Private, Xyxer]

The morning of her exams, Uchiha Azami felt queasy. She had prepared most of the afternoon the previous day but felt like she couldn’t possibly be prepared after such a short crash course by the instructor. She tried to figure out how to weasel out of the test as she sat at the table eating breakfast. Maybe she could beg off as sick? She didn’t think that would work. None of her other ideas were any better though. That meant she’d have to go.

Suppressing the urge to puke from welling up deep within her stomach, she began strapping on her gear. When she cleared the door and locked it, she felt the bile rise, stinging her throat with it’s acid. By the time she reached the bridge to switch islands, her whole body was in a cold sweat. The blue jacket she wore with the Uchiha crest on the back felt like it was made of lead. If she failed, she’d be the oldest Uchiha to ever take the test, let alone fail it!

The front doors of the academy loomed before her, as if in judgement. As she passed through them, she felt as if passing under the gaze of juggernauts. She couldn’t be worthy. She shouldn’t even be here. This was all just some big kind of mistake, or maybe a prank. Everyone knew she wasn’t cut out for the shinobi life. Why were they doing this!?

As she stepped into the classroom her heart beat drowned out the sounds of the world. It thundered like a jackhammer, her chest thumping with each beat as she took her seat. Her eyes moved to the front of the room, waiting for the proctor to appear, waiting to show her for the laughingstock she was.

[296 words]

Hisashi stood in the center of the classroom donning his usual bleak attire with a crop of aging grey hair. Once the girl entered the desginated classroom his scowling eyes locked onto her as if he was a bloodhound that had caught the scent of the feeble fox. His bulbous hands hugged his elbows as she decided to take a seat, enabling the gnarled veteran the opportunity to haze her almost immediately, speaking as soon as she sat down, "Stand up." The man spoke, the scar running diagonally down his cheek to his jawline almost popping out with each syllable. A few seconds elapsed before he commanded her again, "Take your place down here, a good distance from myself." Hisashi spoke as he pivoted on his heels to follow her location at all times, gesticulating with his left hand as he continued on, "You'll now demonstrate the clone technique, and then the transformation technique. Explain their effectiveness to me in a combat scenario; war." A smirk formed upon his features, almost appearing as a grimace due to the placement of his scar. He licked his lips to ease them of their dryness before continuing for the last time, "Then describe to me where the strength of Kirigakure lies; you have two minutes, begin." With that he nodded his head to accentuate his point, watching her intently.

[Write 800 words of your character performing the aforementioned tasks]

Adrenaline surged through Azami’s veins, her heartrate circulating the potent chemical through her system. Her pupils dilated, making the light of the room seem brighter, almost like an interrogation. The chair she sat in scraped backwards, being rudely thrust back by the force with which she stood. The cold sweat she had been in left her hair and clothes damp, but currently all she felt was the heat of her own body as the blood circulated, engorging the muscles. Small twitches revealed just how keyed up she was.

Run or destroy? Her animal brain was close to deciding despite herself as she looked on at the scarred proctor. Thoughts raced through her brain, taking back control from base animal instinct. The way of the ninja was one of deception, not primal urge. Trying to measure her steps, she made her way to the front of the class, across from the proctor. She stopped four meters back, judging the distance between the two of them. She had to begin by planting the suggestion.

Azami hesitated, peeling back her jacket instead of starting her hand seals, or at least that’s how she wanted it to look. In reality she was really taking the opportunity to flash the uchiwa fan sigil on the back of her jacket, red and white. The symbol of clan Uchiha. She gave the jacket a toss back onto a nearby desk, the back of the jacket landing face up to continue to show the Uchiha crest as she finally brought her hands up to demonstrate the jutsu.

Dog. Boar. Ram. Her fingers twisted through the wrong seals for the clone technique, but she wasn’t planning on performing the clone jutsu first. Her eyes closed as she concentrated on the image she wanted to project as she completed the jutsu. Chakra surged up into her eyes, leaving the rest of her untouched. Did she fail to perform the jutsu? It probably looked like it, until she opened her eyes.

Three tomoe swam in a sea of red, the visage of the sharingan peering back at the proctor. She tried to meet his eyes, selling the suggestion that the illusion was real. That was when she began forming more hand seals. Ram. Snake. Tiger. Where once there stood only a single Uchiha, now there stood three, each with it’s dreaded eyes locked on the proctor. They stood roughly two meters apart from each other, hands synchronized on the last seal of the clone. Tiger. Each Azami dropped their left hands away from the right, taking in a deep breath. Half Tiger Seal.

Her chest began to burn, heat building up inside her lungs as chakra flashed to flame when she exhaled, a thing stream of fire blossoming out to a three-meter-wide blaze. Surprise. From the tip of the licking flames, a meter of space was left in front of the instructor. Meanwhile her left hand was not idle, slipping behind her hip to draw a shuriken, which she snapped out just as the jutsu was ending, slinging the throwing star through the last remnants of flame just to the side of where the proctor positioned himself. Feints within feints.

Warmth kissed her lips as she straightened up, drawing in a gulping breath as she half expected to be disciplined for not following instructions exactly. She took another breath, steadying herself before beginning the oral section of the exam.

“The transformation and clone techniques are not potent combat techniques, but techniques used to distract and confuse. With them we can appear to be what and where we are not until the ruse is discovered. I did not expect to be able to fool you with clones, so I tried to mislead you first with my eyes. Because you thought you knew what I would do next, I used the clone technique to position my hands without warning you of my intent. This allows less time for an opponent to react. Then I used the fire to conceal the incoming shuriken, hiding my true intent behind doubt layer of deceit.”, sensing that time was running short, she rushed to finish the required questions.

“The true strength of the Hidden Mist is its singular direction and will to wield its strength.”, Azami finished, words running together ever so slightly as she rushed to finished before she perceived time had run out. Without a clock, she actually had no idea if she had finished in time. Her ears throbbed with her pulse, every beat of her heart thumping like a drum.

“Please, please, please don’t let him be a stickler for instructions”, Azami thought to herself, bringing her hands together behind her back to come to attention, hoping that she hadn’t somehow disrespected or insulted the proctor by deviating from the letter of his instructions.

As Hisashi stood there with his arms crossed over his torso which resembled a barrel, he watched as the girl immediately performed the wrong handseals. A disappointing sight given that she bore the symbol of the Uchiha. They were supposed to be efficient ninjutsu users if the rumours were true, yet unfortunately they were not.. or at least the girl was not capable of following rudimentary instructions. Her crimson eyes reflected the very light within the room so that the sheen of blood perforated the proctor, which caused him to stop raising his arm from raising in order to halt the performance. 

Those eyes..

Hisashi was momentarily paralyzed, unable to refocus his gaze as a chill ran down his spine. Rumours of the revered sharingan ran wild and far, yet they weren't something the scarred man had encountered before. The fabled gaze was every bit as frightening as the tales suggested, so much so that he didn't notice any handseals before two clones popped up beside the kunoichi. Just as he started to regain his composure he noticed handseals that weren't affiliated to either of the techniques he'd requested before a breath of flame roared from the lips of Azami. He instinctively stepped backwards away from the unexpected warmth, yet he was too stunned to utter any words against her.

Her words proved to aid her demonstration fluently, giving what was perhaps one of the better explanations for her actions that the proctor has heard. Hisashi's eyes finally pried away from her terrible gaze and he instead focused on the tip of her nose while she spoke. Unification and a willingness showed a decent understanding of their ways. He nodded his head and waited for the transformation jutsu which he hadn't noticed, given that it was so small and over a detail he had no intricate knowledge of. Fifteen seconds remained, and Hisashi spoke out, "Don't forget the transformation jutsu, Azami. You've done well so far." With that Hisashi keenly watched the girl, wondering if she would top the demonstration with the cherry on top that he so desired.

Bewilderment played across her face, Azami’s head tilting ever so slightly to the side. The hamster in her brain ran in circles, trying to make sense of the proctor’s words. Was this some sort of trick? Her eyes narrowed as she scrutinized him, precious seconds ticking past as she tried to decipher his game. Her fingers contorted into the first seal of the technique: Dog.

Her concentration on holding the previous transformation fell away as she began to paint a new image in her minds eye. The red eyes disappeared with a swirl back into their native green as they roved over Hisashi. Bleak clothing, gray hair, diagonal scar running down the cheek, bulbous hands. Her fingers twisted into the boar seal, her lips twisting into a gloomy smirk that tried to mirror the one he had worm before, but on her girlish features. Overall it wasn’t a convincing copy, it couldn’t be without the scar and the signs of age he bore.

Finally, her fingers contorted into the position for Ram. Chakra spiraled through her belly, mixing yin and yang together, culminating in a pop and a small cloud of smoke that cleared nearly as quickly as it formed. Azami disguised as Hisashi glared back at himself, the smirk that had looked wrong on the girl finally looking right on the man.

She wanted to double check his features, check him from head to foot, but she knew that was out of the question. The real Hisashi wouldn’t do something that looked nervous. He exuded an aura of authority, which meant that she would need to as well if she was to pass at him. She knew she probably couldn’t handle the voice though. Instead she played with what she could, pulling her shoulders back and chin up to look more confident than she felt.

“I hope this works…”, she thought, dreading some sort of negative response. Having to perform the jutsu twice really threw her off, making her wonder if she screwed up in some manner.

[338 words]
[1,435 words total]

The chuunin eagerly watched the girl as she repeated the same handseals from earlier, something that caused him to rethink what he'd seen moments earlier. Yet those thoughts had no time to conjugate into a more solid understanding of the girl as he had to focus on the time as well as the accuracy of her transformation. Only a few seconds remained when she went for the final handseal before the signature smoke appeared to reveal a replication of himself.

Initially, the appearance of the girl was all well and good but her aesthetic was off. Her body language was awkward and nervous which easily ruined the copy, and just as he was about to call her out on it, she changed. She understood the importance of body language when imitating others; nobody would believe an arrogant man to wander around with his shoulders slumped and his head bowed. An important aspect that was often overlooked.

Hisashi nodded his head once, looking ahead at the girl before he spoke for what would likely be the last time to the girl as she prepared to leave his classes, "Congratulations, Azami Uchiha. You have passed the exam, you're now a Genin of the Hidden Mist. Collect your headband at the entrance of the Grand Academy." When Hisashi watched her walk off, he wondered how she'd perform in the Blood Games.. would she be able to survive with her knowledge of deceit, or would it turn into the burden that claimed her life?

[Granting her genin status
You get 15 stats, genin rank, and genin jutsu, and a free specialty
Congrats]

Congratulations. The word struck like a piledriver. The sudden relief of passing nearly brought her to her knees as her blood pressure plummeted. The transformation dropped away as her concentration slipped. A slight sway rocked her from side to side before she was able to steady herself from the shock. Dropping from the adrenaline suddenly, she felt cold and mildly numb as she went to pick up her jacket. Slipping into it didn’t help much, her sweat soaked clothing chilling her despite the extra layer.

Her walk to the front of the grand academy was quiet. With a graduating class of one, there was no fan faire as she passed through the halls. She was alone with her shivering, arms crossed over her chest subconsciously to try and maintain core temperature. As she approached the clerk near the front she managed a weak smile.

“Azami Uchiha, here to collect my headband”, she said to the man behind the counter in hushed tones. She waited quietly while he collected the headband from the shelves of the stock room, thanking him quickly before turning to leave. Most genin were liable to want to wear the headband immediately, but not Azami. She simply tucked it securely away in a pouch and headed for her apartment on the next island over.

[Exit]

Claims:

[217 words]
[1,652 words total]

Approved