Kotetsu's Genin Exam

"Wake up, Kotetsu." Kotetsu slowly got out of bed at the sound of his mother's voice. Today was a big day for him. For Today was the day of the Genin exams and a chance to pass his brother by become Genin at an earlier age. Kotetsu got dressed and walked out of his room. He walked into the kitchen and quickly ate his breakfast. It was early, but the Academy was quite a distance from where he lived. He hugged his mother goodbye and set out for the exams. As Kotetsu was walking his mind went a drift. It flashed back to the memories of he and his older brother Kenji training in the forest behind their house. As the memory played in his head, a tear slowly slid down his cheek. "Why did you have to go and die," he thought to himself. He snapped back to reality and quickly wiped away the tears. He was almost at the academy, and was ready to take the exam. Finally reaching the academy, he slid open the door finding the room full of his classmates. He walked to the back desk in the corner, and waited for the examiner to call his name. He needed to clear his mind quickly. Somehow he felt his brothers spirit alongside him, giving him the confidence to pass the exams. "I'll become greater than you in your honor, brother." He thought to himself, "Just you wait and see."

Asuka sat in a spin chair at the front of the classroom, waiting for the small children to come in for their class. Today was the day of the Genin Exams, probably the day they had all been looking forward to. Asuka looked forward to it too, and was constantly adjusting the gray patch strapped over his eye. He was excited to see how well he had taught his students. He was looking forward to congratulating the class on coming one step closer to real ninja, just like he had way back in his prime youth. Ahh how it was to be old and past your prime, to have the youngsters go through what you had done before and accept that it was time for the new generation to step up. It would bring tears to his eyes if he still had both. Asuka rolled out from behind his desk on his wheelchair and waited for the class to get situated and ready, let the young ones talk a little before they took their test. Once the talking died down, Asuka happily announced that the Henge no Jutsu test would be first. He remembered his old examiner. He was rough on him, and Asuka failed five times before passing and becoming a Genin. That was then, and this was now. Once the students had lined up, he would begin.

The classroom was full and the students were beginning to line up. Kotetsu waited in line waiting for Asuka Sensei to call his name. Kotetsu was nervous but confident. His brother had prepared him for the three tests that were about to come. Kotetsu had become fairly skilled in them although the Henge no Jutsu was his weakest of the three. He could almost make a perfect copy, but his pointed ears would always give him away. He would practice as much as he could back home. One day he was close to fixing his ear problem, but when the copy was finished his ears were still the same. Hopefully today would be different. He wanted to graduate at a younger age than his brother, and this was the day to prove to himself and everyone else that he could do it.

Asuka watched as the young ones lined up and performed Henge no Jutsu. As they performed, Asuka was sad that most of them didn't do very well. There were a few perfect copies however. But the perfect copies only reminded Asuka of his old age. He tried to ignore the fact that these young ones still had their whole life ahead of them while Asuka was just that old timer who taught at the academy. Asuka looked behind the current tester and announced unconsciously whether he had passed or not as he looked back to the near end of the line. Standing there, looking quite nervous in his eyes, was Kotetsu. Asuka remembered his brother whom of which he had taught here back when his prime had not yet ended. Once the line reached Kotetsu, Asuka waited eagerly to see what he had learned from his brother and Asuka himself.

Finally it was Kotetsu's turn to prove himself. He stepped forward and bowed to Asuka Sensei. He was still a bit nervous though he believed in himself. Kotetsu took a deep breath in focusing his chakra through his body. He formed the hand signs to the Henge no Jutsu, and in a flash became a spitting image of his sensei. He'd hoped that all of that training and hard work would pay off, and his ears would be a perfect copy. Although he was still nervous he felt that this transformation would be his best one yet. He still stood there waiting for sensei to finish critiquing his jutsu.