An Apple a day.[Genin Exam]

-Will not keep his anxiety from killing him at the ripe age of twelve.
He's waiting for his turn now and he's honestly not sure if his current disheveled state will get him docked any credits, or the Proctor will send him home in their misguided attempt at trying to care for the health of the blonde who is clearly only being kept awake by a combination of stress, caffeine, his racing thoughts and PURE WEAPONS-GRADE SPITE at his situation. Luckily it won't be one of his normal Teacher's running this exam, as he's fairly sure the Teachers have been keeping him at arm's length in fear of catching the rampant paranoia he's clearly battling with.

Still, it's almost time, and he's prepared to take that final step...

Though his name being called has him jolting slightly in his seat-.


YUP. HE'LL BE COMPLETELY FINE-.

The Deputy Kage would appear at the front of the room in a brilliant flash of light. His pulled back white hair, tanned skin, and trademark crimson cloak a giveaway to his identity to those who knew of him. His lithe, yet powerful physique and dual katana strapped to his waist a sure sign of his preferred combat style as steel gray eyes scanned the room. The room would erupt into whispers and murmurs at his appearance. The teacher in the corner would be smirking softly at the reactions of the students as Valens cool glare moved from student to student. ‘Who to pick to examine first.’ He would think, arms crossed over his chest. “For those who do not know me. I am Valen Akari, Deputy Hogokage of this village. To those who do not know what village this is I invite you to leave and try again when you’re clearly not high as a kite or drunk off your ass.” He would say as he continued to scan the room. “Today, I am here to proctor your Hoshigakure Orientation Examination. Also known as The ‘H.O.E.’. It’s a rather simple  test in application, merely a demonstration of your techniques thus far. Those of you who do not pass The H.O.E. will be allowed to retake it in a months time to make sure you have time to learn what you need to know.” He would explain as he continually moved from person to person. Finally his eyes would rest on one. His arms would uncross as he pointed a single finger at the individual in question. “You, state your name and proceed to perform both the Clone and Transformation technique. You may showcase any other techniques you know as well but those two are required.” He would  say as the person he was pointing at stood up. They were shaking uncontrollably at his presence, like a leaf on the wind. 

“Misame, Valen-Sama” she would say before he would interrupt. “Just Valen is fine thank you.” He would say, prompting her to nod quickly. A little too quickly in his opinion. ‘Pathetic, these are the students you intend to promote to fully fledged ninjas?’ A deep voice would echo within his head. ‘When one of the village leaders appears to give your exam personally then it gets a bit more nerve wracking. You know that’s why I do this. If they can handle the pressure of trying to perform under the watchful eye of myself or even Kyousuke if he were to come then they will be find themselves to be stronger for it.’ He would respond to the great beast within himself. ‘Isn’t that being a little overconfident in your title?’ The chakra monster would respond to his Valen would shrug mentally and respond. ‘Maybe, but that’s how people think and work Gobi. Regardless of my personal views on it. I can’t really change that, but I can use it to their advantage. This is my way of doing so.’ He would say before tuning back into the world to see Misame perform a shoddy clone technique. Her transformation was good, she transformed into himself however he did note something off. “You’re clones are shoddy and your transformation into me was good. However I see you got my swords on the wrong side of your body. I’m left handed.” He would say as he put on ‘x’ next to her name. “You’ll be able to try against in a month. I suggest you work on your chakra control Miss Misame, it’ll do you wonders later on.” He would say as the girls shoulders slumped and she turned to leave the room. 

Valen’s cold eyes would begin to scan the room again before they fell on a boy who was in a greatly disheveled state. ‘Nervous? I probably didn’t help him any. He’s barely functioning, I’ll call him by name to make sure he knows I’m talking to him.’ He’d think before checking the seating assignments. His eye brows would rise as he looked at the name. ‘Interesting, if passes I might look into training him personally. Or getting Hikari to do it. It would depend on his style of fighting.’ He would think as he voice rang out across the room, clearly and for all to hear. “Tsukasa Akari.” He would say as he brought his gaze upon the young boy once more. “Demonstrate the clone and transformation techniques. Anything else you wish to demonstrate to ‘show off’ is allowed as well. Do me proud, clan member.” He would say as the eyes of every student in the room would turn toward the blonde. ‘Time to see how you do in the spotlight with that kind of pressure put into you.’ He would think as he heard the dark chuckle in his mind of the Gobi as he watched. 

(800 words, go!)
WC: 810

“Do me proud, clan member.”

Fuck.

So no shit there I was, dead on my feet, stressed, and panicking inwardly as I'm called on by the one man my parents said they'd disown me for if I ever pissed him off.
To say I'm screaming in my head currently would be an understatement to the ringing agonized cursing currently occurring in the very depths of my soul, if a Yamanaka were to suddenly appear I'd be getting dirty looks for being so disruptive in the middle of a classroom environment.

Still, I've been instructed to show off and while that is not my forte I'm good at thinking on my feet well enough to keep myself from getting killed during family dinners, so with that in mind...And by quickly judging the room, I form a quick shoddy plan for my impromptu routine which will hopefully impress the scary Ninja who just might decide to shank me for disappointing him....At least as far as I know.

My face is set in stone now even as the heavy bags under my eyes make my current state clear, I answer with a nod and march forward even as his hands begin flashing through hand seals, by the fourth step he's decided to cut his time by body-swapping with Misame, who was unaware because of the despair of her own failure after being deemed unfit due to the poor discipline behind the clone technique...Something which he's glad to have beaten out of himself with the week he spent training tirelessly while camping out on the Academies roof.
He bursts into movement as he appears at the end of the beginning of the seating arrangement, more hand seals and more of his chakra expended as images of himself appear moving in tandem with himself perfect down to the movement of his hair and clothes.

He's not the fastest in the class, but he pays attention to every detail he can and with barely a moment in between he's flickering through more hand seals as the clones and himself begin traveling in a loose circle traveling around the Deputy Hogokage and behind the desk and along the walls, clinging to it with nothing but his feet and chakra as he travels high above the desk which he soon leaps over followed by his clones, and mid-leap with his knee's bent in the apex of his jump, a cloud of smoke appears and as he jumps out of it, Valen Akari has taken his place his expression mirroring the cold gaze he had as he adressed the class his lips curled downwards before he adjusts himself by quickly pivoting his hips and kicking his leg out, sliding back along the wooden floors in a three point landing before he draws a fist back...


And pops the first clone with a sucker punch to the face, followed by leaping backwards while flashing through hand seals, the clones a second behind him before he suddenly thrusts his hands forward, keeping the high ranked Shinobi far from the line of fire as electricity arcs from his open palms and obliterate the clone leaping backwards and the one about to land, stopping just short of the desk and the walls behind it his eyes set, gleaming with a surprising amount of focus for his fatigued state which has vanished once he took on the form of Valen Akari and only reappears once he allows the transformation to fade and his eyes flick to and fro...

A moment later, Misame stumbles and catches themselves on a desk before blinking in awareness of their sudden position and Tsukasa Akari veery calmly keeps his face blank as his steps carry him into parade rest in front of the High ranking Shinobi, eyes clear and hopeful as a small amount of sweat begins forming at the back of his neck which may also make a good target for a knife if Misame figures out the cause of her sudden trip past her seat and nearly stumbling into another students desk.

....It occurs to him that there may be a reason he's not exactly popular in this classroom, but these thoughts are just a distraction to keep his head exploding as his nerves reach critical mass and the only thing keeping him from hyperventilating or diving out a nearby window to escape is the thought of what his Mother would do to him if she found out he looked weak in front of a high ranking Akari clan member in the village.


So with that in mind, he keeps himself still and his face the very picture of calm as he awaits the verdict that will no doubt let him know if he should change his name to Sylva and flee the country after dying his hair and robbing a bank-.
Not necessarily in that order, either.

And yet I'm still paying attention, despite the thoughts of my imminent demise at the hands of my Mother.

[825 words.]

A small chuckle would escape from Valen’s mouth as he watched the young boy do as instructed. ‘What do you think Gobi, did he show off well enough?’ He’d ask mentally to the beast whose power he was slowly mastering more and more of. Of course whether or not the boy passed had been decided the moment he showed the main two techniques required. The Transformation and the Clone techniques. One was used to transform oneself into someone or something else. However this was merely an illusion, and a weak one at that. The other was used to create illusory copies of the user in order to try to fool and confuse an opponent. They were easy tell the difference of though for a multitude of reasons. However, these techniques were the basis for a great many others down the career of becoming a shinobi. The fine chakra control required as well as the methods of channeling it were different between the two techniques. One dealt fully with keeping the chakra on or within your body. The other pushed it outward into a weak construct. These two aspects form the bare bones basics for many techniques used today. It was for that reason that these techniques were required for graduation. They were an essential stepping stone for shinobi on their career. 

A deep rumble would echo throughout his mind, heard to no one but the Deputy himself. ‘Does it matter? He’ll be passing anyway. I wish he could’ve killed someone. The more from your village that die the better in my eyes. To think that I was willing to forego attacking you all for the sake of my late container.’ He would hear, prompting an internal roll of the eyes if you will. ‘Yes, yes. You hate me for doing what I had to do to keep my home safe. We get the picture Gobi-San.’ The ashen haired teenager would say as he reached into his desk to pull out a headband. ‘Watch, sometime soon I’ll tame the rest of your power and we’ll become friends. Or at least partners.’ He would think back to the beast. He’d cut the connection there, not wanting to get into another large argument with a giant mass of chakra. Looking the boy in the eye he would give a small smirk. “I think that’ll do. Rookie of The Year level performance. Everyone look at Tsukasa carefully now. He’s who you have to strive to catch up to, anyone who beats him in a spar gets a training session with me.” He would say as he tossed the boy the headband ‘That’ll light a fire under his ass and get him to train harder. If he does well then maybe I can show him a few, interesting tricks with light release.’ He would think as he stood and gave the boy a polite bow. “Well done indeed, do try to keep your lead over the other students. After all, it would be bad if someone beat the crap out of you and got extra training for it now wouldn’t it? You’re a genin now Tsukasa, now get out of here where the Academy Students, Instructors and myself are and do something productive. Or celebrate, it makes no difference to me. However you don’t belong in this room anymore.” He would say with a nod of dismissal before turning to look at his roster and calling the next name. “Sven, no surname.” He would call out, no longer paying the boy he had just passed any attention. 

-exit-

TWC: 1402
Claims: Putting it all toward Bladestorm 1402/5000 (Unless I decide to discount it which would make it 1402/4000)

If you listen closely you can hear the sound of Tsukasa's hopes shattering like a glass bowl against a stone wall, he stiffly returns the bow from the Deputy Hogokage and accepts the headband which he ties around his neck the only sign of a slip of his composure is the slight twitch in his left eye.
He's dismissed and he nods, giving a soft 'Yes, Sir.' in response as he marches right on out....Before breaking into a sprint as soon as he clears the door, fleeing the sudden hungry eyes locked onto him because of the declaration of Valen Akari.

He's gonna be dealing with this for weeks, his need for a nap completely forgotten in the face of this sudden attention...
He needs to hide out for a bit, continue his training until he's assigned a team and his first mission.
He ducks his head, his hand pressing against the headband now resting tied to his throat, and allowing a small smile to tug at his lips as a feeling of warmth rises up from his chest, pleased with his weeks worth of labor actually bearing fruit.

He escapes now, diving past the fence and rolling up and over his shoulder before he leaps up and clings to the side of a building which he scales quickly and runs over the top of-.
Escaping the eyes clinging to his back, and heading home to tell his family the good news...


[Exit, claiming Genin rank.]

Approved. Tsu, don't forget your 15 stats and spec