Asuka Koizumi and Fuyuko Wakahisa
Asuka followed her former sensei's orders, walking out of the classroom with her leftover classmates. Something was definitely wrong here... but what? It made Asuka feel more than uneasy that the rest of the other Genin had started off their day normally unlike herself, who was getting dragged out of the classroom to some other random room. Although Asuka was known to be much more patient than most, the questions that were thrashing about in her head made her want to punch through the wooden floorboards of the building. Shuffling outside and into the hallway with the others, Asuka lingered behind Toko and Seichi, loosing herself in her own thoughts.
"Good morning, Asuka-chan."A familiar voice suddenly came to her, interrupting her deep thoughts and making Asuka jump. Trying not to make a complete fool of herself, the young Koizumi straightened her back, looking directly at the spokesman. Seji Onoda was a smart one, despite his rather vibrant personality. His cheeriness wasn't to be mistaken for low intelligence; his tactical mind was far above the others. Asuka gave a friendly nod, smiling.
"Good morning to you too, Seji-san."Arriving at the new classroom, Asuka felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to see Seichi, a bright smile plastered on his face as always. The two made eye-contact, striking up a small conversation between themselves.
"This is pretty odd," Seichi spoke, already taking his seat.
"My dad never described this ever happening when he was in the Academy.""Yes, it does seem quite odd, Seichi-kun. I actually feel a bit concerned about our current situation... I-I hope we're not in trouble or anything of the sort."The girl's voice seemed to rise an octave higher at her last sentence, a certain shakiness clearly distinguished from it. Causing trouble and shaming her clan at the same time was one of Asuka's greatest fears. Well, not exactly her greatest, but it was clear she opted to stay well away from various wrong-doings. The even more confusing and worrying thing however, was the fact that she really couldn't recall doing
anything bad enough that would cause her teachers to act in such a manner. Sitting herself down, Asuka started to twist the long hairs that framed her face, averting her eyes towards the rough wooden surface. What had she done wrong that resulted in her ending up
here? In fact, what had the
others done wrong that resulted them in ending up
here?A tall woman, black-haired and steel blue-eyed, burst into the room, like a bright white light shining upon a darkened stage. Her wide smile seemed to outshine even Seichi's, a feat that was deemed impossible by the majority of Asuka's class. Her radiant aura seemed to wash over the room like some giant tidal wave, overwhelming Asuka. Never before had Asuka seen a woman with such a bright personality! Do be honest, however, this Fuyuko person seemed a bit... weird.
"Hey there! The name's Fuyuko Wakahisa, proud Jōnin of the Hidden Leaf Village. Pleasure to meet you guys!"Silence.
Asuka let the odd woman do her bidding. However, something that immediately caught her attention was the mention of 'doing something a little bit different'.
"So basically there's this organization that we gotta take down and blah, blah, blah, it's kinda complicated so I'll just keep the description pretty vague. Don't kill me yet, though. We still have introductions to get through! Now, I'd like your name, your likes and dislikes, and… your favourite season. Pretty simple, right?"Well, that went pretty fast. Asuka didn't even have time to interrupt... Not that she would, though...
Asuka let some of the other people speak out first before introducing herself in front of her new sensei. She didn't want to seem like the rushed and 'can-we-just-get-to-the-point-already' type of person, no matter what her mind pushed her to do.
"Good morning, Fuyuko-sensei... My name is Asuka Koizumi. I like... dango and training with my grandfather. My dislikes... People who can't... address their elders properly. I actually enjoy spring quite a lot, too. The cherry blossoms put me at peace."Asuka seemed to be quieter than usual. After her small intro, she hid her mouth behind her kimono top sleeves, returning her gaze towards the desk. Had she overdone it? Did she seem like some harsh old woman in front of her sensei? What
where her sensei's first impressions on Asuka anyway? What did she think of her?
Did her sensei necessarily... like her?
Fuyuko smiled at each and every one of them, beaming wide grins as they all came to a conclusion on their introductions. She could tell this was going to be an interesting group to handle; The way they presented themselves, their introductions and the way spoke was more than enough intel for Fuyuko. The woman smiled again, eyeing her new students.
This is gonna be fun!"Now about that organisation to mentioned-""Hold up! We'll get to that complicated stuff later. In the mean time, however..."Fuyuko straightened herself, her face going from jolly to sly. She folded her arms across her chest, pacing up and down the classroom.
"You see, you lovelies aren't exactly safe yet... There's still one more thing that all of you must complete before we start doing the dirty work..."Again, she paused for a second, waiting for the tension to build up. Now, with the cunning, yet serious look on her face, the tense atmosphere was bound to be much thicker now. With a flick of her head and a cheeky grin on her face, Fuyuko finished her long awaited explanation.
"We're going to put you guys through one more test. Just one, simple test. I expect to see all of you Training Ground 94 at 12 PM on the dot, today. Is that okay with you all?"Asuka nodded her head. Another test, huh? What was the point in taking those previous tests anyway? Actually, what was the point of taking
this test when she had already completed the rest in the past.
"Also, if any of you are late, for whatever reason at all..."Fuyuko swivelled around, her grin widening even more.
"The squad is gonna be failed on the spot, whether you guys like it or not!"
With that, the students were dismissed. Only a few hours remained before they had to be at Training Ground 94, fully equipped and ready to fight. Well, who knew if they were going to have to battle this woman? Not all tests had to be centered around fighting... right? Still, whether they were going to have to get their hands dirty or not, it would be best to have at least a set of kunai and shuriken tucked in somewhere.
Fuyuko had already made her way to the training ground, strolling around the forest with quiet steps. The wind whistled through the tree branches, shaking them gently like a mother waking up their child. Beams of light passed through the leaves, whitening small patches of grass. The woman stood in a tiny clearing, mouth shut and eyes closed. She inhaled and exhaled, letting the fresh spring breeze ruffle her thick hair. Fuyuko just stayed there in a neutral position, eyes closed and breathing at a steady, controlled pace. Then, everything around her suddenly went still.
It was as if time had frozen over the forest.
"Woah... The books weren't lying, that's for sure."Opening her eyes, Fuyuko sat herself down and crossed her legs, looking up at the sky. The clouds dotted the pale blue behind it, but it didn't seem to bother Fuyuko in the slightest. The woman smiled, stretching out her arms and legs.
"Humans cannot freeze time, but time can freeze us... The only way to melt away ice is by lighting it up with fire."Fuyuko searched for a pencil and a piece of paper in her back pouch, laying it on her thigh. In simple Hiragana, Fuyuko wrote out the quote she had mumbled earlier on. Then, once she had finished, she ripped the piece of paper into five different pieces, slipping the fifth one into her pocket. Standing up, the woman smiled, gazing up at the glaring morning sun.
"Hiroki Koizumi... You're a genius."
"Grandfather, grandmother, I'm home!"Slipping her sandals off and placing them at the shoe rack, Asuka strolled into the house, floorboards creaking as she stepped on them. An eerie silence had filled her home, not a single light flickering in any of the rooms. The dark curtains where only covering half of the windows, less light covering the wooden surface. It almost felt like Asuka was in some sort of haunted house.
I wonder if there's anybody home...A much older man poked his head around the door, squinting at Asuka. Emerging from his bedroom, Asuka's grandfather greeted her at the door, a gentle, wrinkled smile creeping up onto his face. He shuffled across the floor with slow steps, almost like a turtle who was nearing the end of its life. Slipping his slippers on, he approached Asuka.
"Welcome back, Asuka.""Good morning, grandfather."The elderly man sat himself down on a nearby couch as Asuka went to prepare some tea. To avoid the creepy silence from filling the room again, the two decides to converse for the mean time.
"So, how did things go, Asuka? You seem very bright and jolly today."Turning her head, Asuka gave him a soft smile, removing her binding hair tie.
"Everything went very well, grandfather. Our new sensei seems a bit... odd... but other than that, things seem to she quite normal. We have a good, balanced team, so I hope we'll all be able to get along."Asuka's grandfather coughed a few times as she brought over the tray, placing it down on a short wooden table. The man took a sip, savouring the green tea's taste.
"What about Seichi and Toko? How are those boys doing?""Oh, they're doing very well. All of us are actually on the same team now, so..."Asuka stopped. Should she tell him about the unusual squad arrangements? Or should she leave it until she actually gains some new knowledge on the squad's 'purpose'? Well, it might be best to leave it for later... But keeping something from her grandfather... Asuka didn't want that.
"Asuka... Maika-sama spoke with me earlier this morning."The girl stopped sipping, slowly placing her cup onto the table. Her sharp amber eyes widened, astonished at her grandfather's words.
"Did she try... asking again?"Asuka's grandfather nodded. "I rejected her offer, of course."
The girl placed her hands in her lap, staring down. That was the
second time, now. She had heard that a selected few would get 'asked' at least once... but this was the second time in a month. Even after the first time she was asked, both her and her grandparents had been careful on the toes.
"Hmph... Such a persistent woman..."Asuka stood up, offering a small bow to her grandfather before leaving for her bedroom.
"Please excuse me, grandfather. I need to set off in a few hour's time."
"So, you lot have finally arrived, huh?"Standing tall and proud with her arms crossed over her chest. Fuyuko looked over (Well, more like looked up at) them, a flashy grin displayed on her face. She examined each of her new students, all of them fully equipped and more than ready to go. Fuyuko pulled out a piece of paper from her flak jacket, waving it in front of the soon-to-be Genin.
"All right, you all managed to arrive on time! It would have been sad to see you all go so soon... however, you lovelies seem pretty serious about this. And that's good."Taking a step closer to the group, Fuyuko smiled, popping the piece of paper back into her jacket.
"So, the test is gonna go like this. There are five pieces of paper hidden in the forest just to our left here. I've also planted about a hundred explosive tags all over the place, so expect to hear a shit tonne of screams and explosions. All you kids have to do is find those pieces of paper and put them together. Seems easy enough, right?"Fuyuko then pointed towards the sun, her smile becoming much wider.
"However, you're only going to have an hour to find these pieces of paper, and put them together. It may seem like a long time to you lot, but time is everything in this test. Use it wisely. Oh yeah, and one more thing..."Walking over to a nearby rock, Fuyuko sat cross legged in front of it, leaning her back against it.
"If you don't manage to beat the time limit, then that one person without a paper is sent back to the Academy. If more then five traps are set off, then all of you are sent back. Got that?" It may seem different from the bell test we usually put the Genin through, but it still teaches the same lessons. Decision making and strategy are also key elements in this task. However, the really question here is...Fuyuko watched them sprint into the forest, watching the sun as it slowly drifted across the sky.
Will they stick together to lessen their risks of setting the tags off, or will they decide to go solo so they are able to find the papers much quicker?
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