Academic Inspiration [Mission. Nickito]

[Krethean]

SPOILER: Click to show

ACADEMY EXPERIENCE
RANK: C
DESCRIPTION: It's a truth that children do sometimes strive to find someone to look up to - a role model of sorts. Whilst both trying to inspire them to do better in their future shinobi career and to serve as some sort of entertainment, the local shionobi academy in the village has asked for fully-seasoned shinobi of any rank, ranging from Genin, to Kage, to deliver an inspiring speech to the young students of the village. Some kids may be tougher to get to, not being impressed by such words, but others will find themselves bowing at your feet in awe of your magnificent tales from your shinobi career! They've also asked for them to display some advanced shinobi skills that the students can view and aspire to learn in the future!
OBJECTIVE: Attend a class in academy and show the students exactly what it means to be a proud shinobi of Kusagakure , and show off your skills to them!
PAY: 200 EXP and 1,000 Ryo.

Next on the agenda was a pretty simple mission: attend an Academy class, talk to the students about being a Shinobi... and maybe show off some skills. It had been quite a while since he graduated as a Genin, but he was sure his rank as Chuunin might inspire some of the young ones to really keep at it. After all, he became Chuunin almost a year after he became Genin.

He entered the Academy and waved at the blond haired receptionist, who looked at Ujiyasu and smiled. She couldn't have been much older than twenty

"Ahh, Ujiyasu! Been a while... what brings you here?"

"Here for a mission with my own pupil. We're going to meet a class of Academy students and talk to them about Shinobi life. Maybe even show some of our skills."

"Ahh great! We could sure use some people who have demonstrated skill and discipline. I heard you got to Chuunin in a very short time!"

Ujiyasu handed the mission slip to the young and admittedly pretty receptionist. She brushed a bang of her hair aside as she took a look, while the Chuunin spoke up.

"Well... I did have some issues that kinda stopped me before, and the last Exams weren't really exams."

"Even still, you've grown very well since your time here, I know that much!"

Ujiyasu laughed a little and smiled as he rubbed the back of his head. It felt a bit funny to receive praise like that, that's for sure. Especially when you feel that being a Shinobi is more for the people than for any ounce of glory.

"So... where is your student?"

[Nickito]

ENTER~

Despite being eager to escape the confines of Kusagakure's Ninja Academy when she had been forced to go through it due to protocol, Kasumi seemed unable to break free of the place for extended periods of time since graduating. First it had been a mission to serve food, and now it was a mission to speak to the Genin hopefuls about what being a shinobi really meant, and what they could expect. If it came down to it, she would end up showing them the skills that she had learned to aid her as a shinobi. As she entered the Ninja Academy, she stopped just at the door, spotting Ujiyasu at the desk. She began to walk forward, but halted all movement as she saw him speaking to a woman, who seemed to be smiling at the Chuunin. 'I wonder what that's about.'

As her smile seemed to fade rather slowly, she heard the woman ask him where his student was, and as Kasumi realized that she had already been mentioned as a student, her cheeks flared a quiet red color. 'He's barely older than I am,' she thought, almost embarrassed and somewhat upset with herself for feeling such a way. Usually things like that would simply roll off her back, but with Ujiyasu they seemed to stick to her like glue. She couldn't figure out why for the life of her, but she hoped to eventually. As she felt her face return to normal, she took several more steps and approached the desk with her slip ready.

"Here I am," she said, looking at the woman only briefly as she handed her slip over. "I know, I don't really look like I'd be his student. We're practically the same age, after all," she said in a flustered, rushed manner. Getting a closer look at the woman, she recognized her from her own time as a student at the school. During her time there, she had thought nothing of her, only that she had seemed somewhat pretty. As she stood at the desk, however, she saw nothing more than an old, ugly hag. "If we can hurry up and get started, that would be great," she added, growing more and more impatient over the short period of time that she stood there.

[Krethean]

Catching Kasumi's rather rushed manner and gradual impatience, Ujiyasu could tell what got her in such a state. Despite knowing her for a short while, he knew she was quite a flirt. While he wasn't sure why it bothered her, he figured that perhaps she wanted his eyes on her, rather than the receptionist. Mind you, he did find himself pretty intrigued by her. He found himself being a bit more... lax nowadays, and he had to admit, she had to have rubbed off on him.

"Sorry... Kasumi's pretty eager today."

"No problem! Just go to room 2-G... I'm sure you both know where to go from here. Have fun!"

Ujiyasu bowed as he walked off, sure Kasumi would follow... especially given her current disposition. He looked at her and smiled a little slyly as they walked through the halls.

"Kinda surprised you wanted to leave quickly there. She give you a hard time during your time in the Academy?"

He looked ahead as they saw 2-G ahead, where he spoke up again, a little quieter so only she could hear.

"By the way... she's no real contest. I like red-heads more... that and she isn't my type anyway."

With a very sly grin on his face that almost threatened to turn into a very mirthful chuckle, Ujiyasu opened the door to the room and bowed to the instructor, before he gave a cheerful wave to the crowd before him.

"Ahh! Class, it's time for you all to meet our guests. Two ninja from a new team that has cropped up for Kusagakure's Shinobi Forces: Doshaburi. Sansei, Kasumi and the squad leader Nakamura, Ujiyasu!"

Ujiyasu smiled as he gave off a somewhat slightly casual "Hiya" to the young boys and girls... the future of Kusagakure.

[Nickito]

Ujiyasu's quick comment about Kasumi being eager elicited an almost hostile look directed straight at him, complete with eye contact and glare. "I don't need to be apologized for," she muttered under her breath, loud enough so that only he would hear her. As he began to step away, she did too, her pace carrying her forward and only slightly in front of him. She was eager, alright. Eager to get away from that woman and, to an extent, from Ujiyasu. She caught his smile out of the corner of her eye, but paid no attention to it. She wasn't sure why, or even how someone that was more closely associated to the cold could make her cheeks flush with the heat of anger and embarrassment. Perhaps it was because she was unused to being on the receiving end of such feelings.

"No, why would you think that?" she asked, consciously unable to grasp the source of his question. She didn't bother turning to look at him for a couple of reasons. She was afraid that he'd still be smiling that alluring smile, and she didn't want him to see the dull red color that had imprinted onto her skin. As she spotted the door marked as 2-G, relief flooded over her as she knew that the current topic would be dropped as soon as they stepped over the threshold. As she reached for the handle, his voice fought their way through to her ears, and her face turned from white to a red that was only a shade or two lighter than her face. Every muscle locked in place and she couldn't help but mumble some incoherent thing. As he stepped inside, she found herself unable to do much of anything.

She heard her name but didn't move, she heard the children greet Ujiyasu but quickly ask where the second person was. After a few seconds that seemed like several lifetimes, the teacher peeked his head out to look for Kasumi, and upon catching a brief glimpse of her, motioned rather hurriedly for her to enter the room. As if it were an automatic response, her feet were picked up and her legs placed one in front of the other, bringing her forward and into the room just next to -- and slightly behind -- Ujiyasu. Rather than trying to speak words that surely would not come out the way she would want, she smiled and nodded to the group of students, her face slowly returning to its regular, almost colorless tone.

[Krethean]

Ujiyasu figured now wasn't a good time to tease her about that... but then, she did have to pay for her bold move earlier with the merchant. Ujiyasu looked at Kasumi as she entered, seemingly quite flushed from his comment, which prompted a smile to spread on his face. He'd speak quietly to her, both to see if she'd be up for the simple mission, and to cover for her, knowing that he caused her to be in such a state.

"You alright Kasumi? I'll start off to give you time to try and relax."

At this, he turned to the class of students, where he gave them a warm smile and another wave.

"Well, I'm Ujiyasu, and as you heard, I'm part of Team Doshaburi. Became Chuunin within a year of being made Genin, and I've found myself in a number of tough situations, but also some pretty good adventures! Been to different countries, seen many sights."

"I think one such adventure I had with with a good friend of mine, Usio Yamamoto. We were to investigate what was going on with an old watch tower due to reports of noises and lights from it. Some folks believed it was haunted, so they wanted Shinobi to look into it. After passing through a number of traps, we found a group of crooks who had used it as a hideout. Had quite a fight, but we got them."

A young, brown haired girl who had it in pig-tails waved her hand as if to ask a question, which Ujiyasu nodded to.

"How did you two get them?"

"Ahhh, well it was a pretty difficult fight. The crooks did have some rogue shinobi with them. My friend's quite good with Doton, and the tower was mostly made of stone, so he had a good advantage there. Helped him a fair bit too. Me? I was born with the ability to use Hyouton. Can thank my parents for that... but it didn't offer me as much of an advantage as Usio had. I had to take on a Genjutsu user that blinded me. I wasn't too good at dealing with Genjutsu back then, and my friend was too distracted with a Katon user, so I did the only thing I could to break out of the jutsu: I had to stab my arm with my sword."

A few winces and a few audiable sounds from the children came about from that, which Ujiyasu pulled up a sleeve to show the arm in question. It scarred quite well and was visible, but thanks to the treatment he gave himself, and the trained medical staff, it wouldn't have done much after the initial stage it was at. He figured the scar itself would disappear in time.

"Usio's clones and my clones helped immensely there, since the Genjutsu user had to deal with both rock and ice clones, while the Katon crook got distracted long enough to get hit by my clone's Snow Wave... and slammed into the rock wall Usio raised. And that was that!"

Ujiyasu was happy that the students didn't ask about Usio being a Yamamoto. He knew that a year ago, the Yamamoto name was mud... but it definitely seemed like Roji was earning the respect he needed to clear the Yamamoto name. Ujiyasu knew that Usio would be happy about it... even though he was a cynic.

[Nickito]

It was safe to say that she had never felt the way she was feeling before, particularly because she couldn't explain it to herself in her own head, and she couldn't justify the feelings no matter ho hard she tried. She knew what caused them, but she didn't know how or why Ujiyasu's actions and words affected her so. It was uncharted territory for her, being that most of the males that she flirted with didn't respond in any way like Ujiyasu had. It was as if he had turned her own game around on her, and she hadn't been able to handle the heat of the moment. In response to his words, she cleared her throat and shook her head. "I'm fine."

After he had given his introduction and spoken about an experience he had had as a shinobi, a girl had asked him a question and he responded promptly. Kasumi listened closely, though pretended to be less interested than she actually was so that her team leader wouldn't get any type of idea, but inside, deep within her mind, she was impressed. He spoke about it like it was nothing, and though it sounded to her as if he had been nothing short of spectacular, he was humble. Though her face wanted to smile, Kasumi's pride got the best of her and shut down the muscles in her face before they succeeded.

A short silence followed his story, and it seemed that all eyes were on Kasumi, though it took her a moment to snap out of her trance and realize it. "Oh, my turn," she said quietly, a short giggle serving to fill the awkward silence as she decided what to say. The children all looked up at her, but she could tell her headband was the main attraction. That's how it always went though. When a kid was in the Ninja Academy, their eyes were always attracted to headbands and other official shinobi equipment. With a small smile, she cleared her throat to break the stares so that she could speak.

"Well, I'm Kasumi," she said. "I'm still a Genin, but I only recently graduated from the Academy in all honesty," she continued, drawing a myriad of looks from the students, mostly bewildered and surprised. "I was a late bloomer, I guess. My parents didn't really want me being an official shinobi because they wanted a better life for me. I was pretty stubborn about it though, and one day I just shopped up and enrolled." Her head dropped down for a moment and she looked to the floor, searching for her next words, waiting for them to come to her.

"I don't really have any stories to share. I'm from Mizu no Kuni originally. I left there with my parents when I was five because... Well, they wanted to go somewhere that was safer and better. I started training at six to develop my skills; I was born with the ability to sense and detect Chakra, and I also was born with the Fire and Water Releases. I haven't been able to develop them into anything yet, but I'm a really talented sensor. I used it to make sure that... I used it to make sure nobody ever surprised me or my parents while we were traveling," she said rather quickly, her nerves getting the best of them.

Where one of the kids had asked Ujiyasu a question, it seemed that nobody felt like asking her anything. Usually she was perfectly find around kids, she felt more comfortable with people younger than her than she did with people around her own age. Something was off though, and she knew exactly what it was. Her bottom lip became stuck between her teeth, appearing to be permanent, or at the very least, for a long while. She glanced over at Ujiyasu and her eyes held an almost sad look. She was, in one word, a mess. Another silence filled the room, and she waited for something to happen.

[Krethean]

Hearing Kasumi's tale was something that had started to trouble Ujiyasu. She hinted that she was in a similar position to him in a way, but this shook him a fair bit, though outwardly, he looked as calm as possible. The look she gave him had him worried mentally, and he thought fast.

"Well, now that I know where you want to go... later, I can teach you some Suiton if you like. Help you out in learning how to use your Kekkei Genkai."

He gave her a warm smile to try and help relax her a bit. His mentor-like side kicked in again and he wanted to let her know without directly saying it, that he would see to it that she can grow.

"Besides... you know how to do something most can't, and only people who have great chakra control can master it."

He looked to the students and opened his arms while he spoke, as if to address all of them.

"This is what you can do if you perfect your talents, and if you can put in the time and effort into your training. You will find that you can do things better than others, and you'll find that you can support everyone much better if everyone works together. For instance, I am able to use Fuuinjutsu... sealing techniques."

By performing a few handseals, Ujiyasu planted his hands onto the ground, where suddenly, chains made of pure chakra appeared from the floor, and both seemed to have a life of their own, as they seemed to "look" around. Once Ujiyasu lifted his hands from the ground, the chains dispersed and faded into nothing/ The students seemed interested in it, as well as hearing about Kasumi's skill at being a Sensor.

"What skills we have we were both gifted in, and we trained hard to get ourselves to where we're at. I'm very sure each of you have something you're very good at. So brush up on the basics, but also work on what you're good at. Then cover any weakness you might have. Working together will make you much stronger than if you just went through things alone."

Ujiyasu looked at the crowd, but kept Kasumi in the corner of his eyes, to keep watch over her, to see how she is coping. He hoped she would recover, and her current state had him really concerned.

Once he got the chance, he turned to her and whispered to her, his face showing only her the concern he had for her.

"Do you want to get some fresh air for a bit? I can finish up if you like."

[Nickito]

Kasumi turned her head to face Ujiyasu as he made his proposition, and she nodded with a small smile. "I'd like that," she said calmly, her voice soft and hushed. "I don't really know if I managed to inherit it just yet, but there's no harm in trying, now is there?" she added. For awhile, she had felt almost hurt when Ujiyasu talked to her like she was a student, but the simple fact was that she was, and she had a lot to learn. If Ujiyasu could help her, then she would accept the help. It was true that her sensory abilities had given her an edge when it came to Chakra Control, seeing as she was able to so easily feel others, which translated into her own. She had faith that she'd accomplish it some day.

The demonstration of the Sealing Technique was very impressive, and Kasumi couldn't help but grow wide eyed just as the Academy students did. She'd heard about the wonders of Fuuinjutsu before, and had even contemplated studying it, but she'd never actually done anything with the impulse. It always seemed like something that was out of her reach, out of her league in terms of Ninjutsu. But Ujiyasu was, if nothing else, inspiring and though Kasumi hated to admit it, wise. Maybe once she had come to a level of mastery in the areas she was already exposed to, she would ask to be taught. For the time being though, her pride overcame her once more and set her face back into hard stone.

"Working together allows you to better see your faults, faults you wouldn't see in yourself. If you can do the same thing for somebody else, then you'll develop a very close and strong relationship... Sort of like Ujiyasu and I. We've only known each other for a short time, but we get along rather... Well," Kasumi piped in, adding on to Ujiyasu's final statement. Though at the moment she was having a rather hard time, she knew that what she had said was the truth. There's bound to be hardship, but that's the nature of the human condition.

As he offered her a break, she shook her head to say no. "I'm fine," she said, repeating the same two words that she had spoken before. She wasn't about to step out and leave the mission because she was confused and upset. If anything, she needed to stay because of that. She needed to get used to controlling her thoughts and emotions in the line of duty. If she couldn't do it in front of a room full of little kids, she'd be hopeless if and when she found herself in a more dire situation. As she looked around, she began to breathe and attempt to calm herself. The mission was almost over, and she just needed to get through a little bit more. "What else should we do?" she whispered to him. As she looked at the clock, it seemed like they were almost out of time.

[Krethean]

Hearing Kasumi speak, Ujiyasu couldn't help but feel proud of her... and a bit relieved. After her recount of her past, he grew concerned for her when she showed a side of her that he hadn't seen, one he was sure he would need to talk to her about sometime, to help her get it off her chest at the very least.

The students seemed to be motivated, which was the whole point of their mission, even though things did get complicated there, and with their talk about teamwork, and working on their gifts and skills, they seemed very keen. A number of them talked to the students next to them about what they thought of the talk, and from what the Chuunin could pick up, it was quite positive.

He turned to the instructor and nodded.

"I think your crew seem more fired up now."

"Ha ha, I think so too. Whaddya kids think? Keen on helping Kusagakure out and work together?"

While undoubtedly most kids would have wanted to be Shinobi "because they're cool", a good number of them also thought it'd be cool to protect Kusagakure, and those childred were the ones who responded positively. Ujiyasu turned to Kasumi and grinned happily.

"I guess we did our job well there."

The instructor shifted his bandanna and grinned as well before he waved his hand to the two teammates.

"Please thank Ujiyasu and Kasumi for takng the time to talk to you all about what being a ninja is like... and take in what they said. They know what it's like out there, and you will too when you graduate. However, you will be trained by the best we have to make sure you'll not only be able to handle yourself, but also become important for our village. You are all the future of Kusagakure and Kusa no Kuni."

With a bow, Ujiyasu then waved to the students and left the classroom, then got the slip back from the receptionist along with Kasumi's slip, ready to go for the next mission with Kasumi.

[/exit]

[Nickito]

The buzz that seemed to erupt from each of the students was a very fulfilling sound to the kunoichi's ears, and signaled the end and completion of their mission. If she were one to toot her own horn, she might say they did an incredible job at motivating and inspiring the Genin to be. It gave her a sense of hope that Kusa would continue to be on the rise and stay safe. It was good to know that they were so enthusiastic about the way of the shinobi, and that they were as energetic as they were. They were certainly going to need it.

As the children thanked the two of them for speaking to them and sharing their tales, Kasumi smiled and bowed her head. As her head returned to being held high, she watched as Ujiyasu exited the room, and after waiting a moment longer, followed. She wasn't ready to have a full on interaction with him just yet.

EXIT~

[The Dude]

k: 40
@n: 39