Asollan's Genin Exam

It was finally time to graduate from the academy. At long last, Asollan would finally become a Genin like he had dreamed of. Of course, some would say that it was a pretty small dream as most would aim for Hokage. But he believed in taking things one step at a time, and right now that was this exam. After all, how could he ever hope to uphold and strengthen the Konoha's will of fire, if he couldn't even make it out of the academy? He wasn't nervous in the slightest, he knew he had trained harder than anyone in this classroom. If he was to fail, then so should the rest, not that he wanted them to though. He was sure that most would go through if not all of them. It made sense considering the situation of the village, many families wanted their children to be able to protect themselves and the village, to be strong, just like Asollan desired.

[Requesting Procter for examination]

Though winter may wipe them out the leaves always return, it is all a matter of time.

The words of his late father always comforted Shinji Kojima in times of turmoil both external and internal. Of course, as of late, Konohagakure found itself in dire need of comfort. Brought to its knees by the treacherous shinobi of the Mist and its own shortcomings, the Leaf village had certainly seen better times. Though, ever the optimist, Shinji liked to believe that the leaves would return at some point in the future.
The young minds he tended to day in and day out were all the proof he needed of a bright future and today those minds would take their first step forward towards the future.

Sitting behind a large oaken desk at the head of one of Konohagakure' many classrooms, Shinji went over the list of names before him. He recognized a few here and there, but, by and large, most of the names were just that, names and nothing more. The academy did not allow a teacher to examine his or her class for fear of bias, so today he would be testing strangers.

"Good morning," the old man croaked. "I hope you all got enough sleep."

He paused here and glanced down at the list again.

"Asollan Hamada, you will be first," his eyes flicked up from the sheet. "Please come to the front of the classroom and perform both the transformation and clone techniques. Also, when you are done, tell the class what the will of fire means to you."

Falling silent, the older man leaned back in his seat and waited; the rest would be up to the future of Konohagakure.

[Please create a 800-word post doing as the proctor asked and you'll be a genin. Don't do it? And, well, you won't. Best of luck!]

And so, it was time to begin it seemed as the proctor walked into the room and took his time behind the large oaken desk reading through all the students. Most of the students were restlessly shuffling in their seats eager for their names to be called. Personally, Asollan hoped he’d be first, that way he’d set the bar for everyone else for the path to success. If someone who didn’t know what they were doing were to go up first, he feared that it’d lower the moral of everyone else in the class.

Asollan watched the proctors face carefully as he stood and came to the front of the class hoping everyone got enough sleep. That wasn’t the case for Asollan, he was much too excited for this day he could barely sleep. Then proctor then flipped through his pages before announcing “Asollan Hamada, you will be first.” Asollan lit up with joy, it was just as he wanted. “Alright! Let me show you what I’ve got!” He flew down from the back and positioned himself at the front beside the proctor. The clone and transformation jutsu would be easy enough, but what was more interesting for him was being asked about the will of fire. That thing Gaku kept talking about.

Asollan smiled, but first thing was first, he had to perform the jutsu asked of him. “First up I’ll perform the transformation jutsu which is a jutsu with many uses and applications as I’m sure you’re all aware. It can be used out of combat for things such as espionage and infiltration, as well as in combat to trick an opponent out. Though sensory jutsu may counter this.” Asollan put his hands together to build up a good balance of chakra just as he had practiced tirelessly the weeks before. He felt the spiritual and physical energies swirling in his stomach and created the perfect balance before performing that hand signs Dog → Boar → Ram. “Transformation jutsu!”

Just like that a puff of smoke covered him before clearing and revealing the perfect replication of his adoptive father Gaku. An old man in a black and white kimono with his signature katana resting comfortably at his side. “Howdy everyone. Hope you all pass.” He said with Gaku’s distinct croaky old voice. Asollan demonstrated some clean movements such as drawing out the katanas blade and doing a 360 spin before releasing his transformation. “Ta da, easy peasy!”

“And now for my next trick… I’ll perform the clone jutsu. The clone jutsu as im sure you know is merely an illusion used to give the user an upper hand in heated situations. A split decision can mean life or death in war and this jutsu may give it to you.” Asollan once again put his hands together and built up the perfect balance of chakra before performing the hand signs Ram → Snake → Tiger. “Clone jutsu!” With a small release of chakra Asollan’s body split into three, each indistinguishable from the other. “Can anyone tell which one is the real me?” All three Asollan said.

No one seemed to know the answer which made Asollan smile, they all thought he was still in the middle. The middle clone reached to the left and ‘struck’ the clone on its left making it vanish, then the real Asollan did the same to the clone in the middle. “To be effective with the clone technique it’s ideal to not stay in the same position.” It seemed as though all the days and nights of training was pulling through for him. Although these were very low ranking jutsu and he wondered how much harder things would get from here. It kind of made him nervous and excited at the same time.

Now that he had the two jutsu out of the way it was his time to answer the question… what does the will of fire mean to him? He looked down for a moment to think “At first the will of fire seemed like such a trivial thing to me. Something old people would just say to scold and control people… but… That was a foolish thing to think. The will of fire is a real and very important part of the village especially now in times of hardships more than any other. When we were attacked…” Asollan paused, being taken aback by the memories of that fateful day.

“My father told me something that someone once told him long ago. ‘That to those who possess the will of fire, everyone is family. The desire to protect one's family builds thicker and stronger bonds between each and everyone in the village. If the will of fire is embraced by everyone, the village will be alright no matter what happens.’ I believe his words, and I believe that if everyone embraces the will of fire, our power as a village will become insurmountable. It's a way of life for me, one that has been lived by many great shinobi in the past... I hope to be like them some day.”

(WC: 848)

Some people talked too much.

Asollan Hamada talked too much.

Of course, the boy's mouthiness would not be counted against him—Shinji was not in that bad of a mood. Instead, the proctor scribbled down a few notes here and there as the genin hopeful performed. All in all, the kid seemed to have all the basics down pat. In fact, the older man could not help the slim smile that spread across his face upon hearing Asollan's rendition of the will of fire. Yeah, Konohgakure would be alright with kids like this leading the way.

"Congratulations, you pass," Shinji tossed the boy a headband. "Make your village proud...Next up we have..."

[Good job! Make your exit post and you'll get all the rewards for your rank including a free specialty, +15 stats, and the free jutsu alloted to your rank, which can be found on the all rules page. Oh, and do request a rank change here..]

Asollan was so ecstatic to hear the words come out of the proctor's mouth 'congratulations, you pass' that he jumped and fist pumped the air letting out a yell of excitement. Though he suddenly realised everyone was staring at him and quickly controlled his composure. "Ahem, thank you, Proctor." now It was time to move on from the academy, and he'd do his best to make his village proud.

[Asollan Exits]

Spec: Weaponry
+15 Stats