[center][h1][b][color=00746b]Keita Ryuukaze[/color][/b][/h1][/center]

[color=00746b][i]“Hello. Are you Takeo-sensei?”[/i][/color]

Keita would quickly lean back as the man came to a sudden awareness. Had he been asleep? he wondered and would offer an almost polite smile as the man seem to assess the group gathered before him in silence. He didn’t find it strange. It was the look his father would give him when trying to decide what else he could learn. Finally, seemingly satisfied with whatever conclusions had come to him in the time passed, he stood and introduced himself, answering Keita’s question from a little earlier.

[b]"Yup! My names Takeo."[/b] He would say with a warm smile. [b]"but it'd be cool if you could call me Takeo-senseo. Rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?"[/b]

‘Strange’ would be his immediate thought. [color=00746b]“I suppose…”[/color] he responded instead, a bit confused as he awkwardly raised his fist to bump against the other man’s. In which he would receive a beaming response.

[b]"Don't worry about introductions either. I already know who you cool cats are,"[/b] the Jounin would say before pointing at the genin as he snapped to some sort of inner beat. [b]"Momo, Keito, and Isamo." [/b]

Even weirder. Mouth slightly open, Keita would look back and share a look with his teammates, wondering if they were just as bewildered as he was with the man’s antics. Either way, he didn’t dissuade the jounin from calling him by that name. He had a feeling he would be ignored, and Keita thought it would simply be best to give up when he knew an argument was moot. So he simply took initiative and cautiously followed at the man’s beckoning, closer towards the field.

He would listen further as the man spoke about another test - another test! - and become more and more horrified as he described the obstacle set before them. His assurances that the assessment would not include pen and paper was like water evaporating in the sun. They would have to do [i]40 laps[/i] around the giant area. 40! Color drained from his face, making him even paler than he normally was. Silver eyes once more surveyed the training grounds with whole new insight, already feeling like his legs were giving out beneath him. He no longer thought of the training ground as beautiful and more a deathtrap than anything else. 

[color=00746b]“This is practically worse than my father’s training,”[/color] he would say quietly, eyes going up the craggy hill before resting on the trees in quiet disbelief. The lake more than anything would prove to be difficult. He could not walk on water and he damned well didn’t think that the others could as well, having been genin fresh out of the academy. Aside from the leaf training exercise to practice chakra control, he was unfamiliar with the more advanced versions required of older shinobi. Swimming wouldn’t be ideal, either, as running uphill waterlogged did not appeal to him one bit and that would just tire them out faster as their clothes would be too heavy to simply carry on themselves unless they stripped naked. But somehow he knew that just wouldn’t be happening with the two other girls in his team. If they had been all males, then maybe but that was neither here nor there. How was he to traverse that then? Judging by the size of it, he wouldn’t be allowed to walk around it seeing as it would be considered ‘cutting corners.’

And there was still the possibility that Takeo-sensei wouldn’t not take the chance to attack them while they were trying to complete the course. That worried him more than anything else as he knew they were not up to par to trade blows with a jounin. As much as the strange man portrayed honesty, there were lots of holes in his instructions. And what about traps? Keita began to wonder if maybe their sensei really was just testing them or if he was as sadistic as he was turning out to be.

Once more his eyes would rove over the field, a sense of determination making his gaze steel, his back to straighten, and the gears in his head began to churn as he thought up a solution to their most current predicament. He knew better than to question the man. More than likely this was just to work out their strategizing skills and their teamwork. The jounin may have read about their skills on paper but he would want to see it firsthand and come up with a teaching strategy for the three. As he thought about it, he became more convinced. There was no other way to complete this course. He just hope his teammates would be willing to lend an ear to what he had to say. He would be willing to do the same. After all, his plan might not be the most solid and other solutions would be a God-send about now.

Making up his mind, he would turn to the others, standing from the crouch he didn’t realize he had gotten into, as deep as he was into his thoughts. 

[color=00746b]“I have a plan.”[/color]