Brass and Beautiful [Class]

[Eishi]

Huh, it felt strange being the one to conduct a class. The fact they were asking me to do it seemed downright stupid. I was barely older than some of the academy students here. Hell, there was a good chance I'd be teaching those who were older than I was by a few years and that just felt wrong on so many levels. The best I could do is not remind everyone that, objectively, I was much better then them if we only went by rank and age. It was a funny thought, for all purposes outside of my work at the hospital, I might as well have been a glorified genin with a sticker over my nametag that read 'welfare chunin'.

Either way, I could only sigh at my fate today. It seems to have been becoming a bit of a habit that I felt resigned to these tasks, but I had no time to dwell like I usually would. It was about time to start expecting peeps to show up soon. I had no grandiose ideals for them to follow. I wasn't the type to assume knowledge onto others when I had no design myself. Thus, I instead, opted for the lesson most will learn well on their own, anyway. The art of getting hit and standing back up.

This works I thought to myself as I finished the bare minimum by planting some metal poles into the ground using my magnetic affinity. I already had all the equipment I'd need for this class set up, but I still needed to mark the boundaries. Pouring some white chalk, as I walked from one end to the other, I made sure there were no weird interpretations of what was considered 'in bounds' as I went. After all, it wouldn't be good if someone got smart on me and left the court. Then again, this wasn't exactly calculus that I was teaching and I would probably just mark the offender off my record for attending the class at all. Not like there was any skin off my back for doing so.

Regardless, I finished my task of laying the field into the resemblance of a large court, took my spear out its holster and drilled it head first into the ground next to the gathering sign I had left for others. I was quick to take a seat on the only bench in the immediate area, while I waiting for others to show up. I wondered if anyone would make the jump in logic that I was the teacher, but I doubted it. It wasn't like I was wearing anything to distinguish my rank. I would just act as my usual haughty self and ignore them if they bothered to address me as such, either way.

"Let's go, people," I muttered to myself in impatience as I took another look at my personal clock. Maybe if I was lucky no one would show up and I could still collect my pay.

OOC: Next post is at Thursday at 0:01 UTC aka 26 hours from this post's time.

 

[Saotome Asami]

Technically, there was no need for Asami to be in a class. She’d earned her headband, and for most shinobi, that was good enough reason to stay well away from the academy. Those same shinobi had probably attended all of their classes, however. Asami had a notably terrible attendance record – one that she had intended to stick with, until she accidently got herself ‘counselled’. And promoted. A troublesome turn of events, but if Asami was going to be made into a shinobi, she would much rather be a live one than one killed by a lack of training.

That train of thought led her to the hospital, as much as she wished she could be doing anything else. If she was lucky, a class there might even involve a med-nin, and one of those mysterious healing jutsu she had seen from her friend. Then again, that would probably involve somebody getting hurt to be a test dummy. She sighed as she walked into the assigned field, reminding herself that such an aversion for violence couldn’t last forever.

Fortunately, it appeared that she was among the first to arrive. There was a familiar face waiting for other students, though it took her a moment to place it. One of her first classes; he’d tried to start a fight with Ikko, and forced their teacher’s hand. In other words, a troublemaker. She’d have to keep an eye on him, but there was no reason why she couldn’t be cordial until he made a scene. The girl raised a hand in greeting as she tried to remember the boy’s name, taking up position a few feet away from him and awaiting the rest of their class.

[1/5, 283]​

 

[Byakko Yukiin]

Training, the bedrock of the development and molding of young shinobi into the weapons of war that they were called upon to be...also, as it turns out, incredibly inconvenient when it creates scheduling conflicts. The scheduling came to him a bit behind schedule and caught Yukiin a bit off guard when it slipped under his door, wiping the frost from his head as he put the finishing touches on remodeling his puppet to incorporate the icy elements he preferred over metallic components. His eyes caught onto the sheet as his hand reached out for it, casting a string from his palm to catch the envelope and drag it closer to him so he didn’t have to get up for it and leave his puppet unsupported, his other arm bracing the machine as it was opened up.

The string snapped short as it lifted, the paper gliding with its residual momentum and being snapped from the air like a pest being caught by a frog. Yukiin opened it up slowly as his other hand returned to its work, it would be unwise to stop working on something as critical as the support frame for a puppet right now even if he was finishing it up. Fortunately he found that multi-tasking with two seperate arms was something he was becoming increasingly good at, almost as if it were innate to him, but he put that thought out of mind as he read on.

The first thing he noticed was the time it was scheduled for and realized that he was much shorter on time than he thought, an hour was a short frame in which to gather himself and be at the meeting spot after all.

“We’re going to have to cut this short Tsurara...we’re leaving.” He said, not breaking eye contact as he finished sealing the puppet back up with his free hand. Yukiin directed the strings from his hand to catch it, both wielder and weapon rising up from the floor in unison and beginning to ready themselves. Tsurara threw on its cloak and sealed itself into its carrying case, falling lifeless to the floor with the strings broken by the zipper shutting as the puppeteer affixed his pouches and pants. With both arms available he addressed the shirt and jacket, unfortunately he couldn’t put top garments on with one hand...something he would have to keep in mind for later.

He threw the puppet pack over and onto his back, saddling the weight with a practiced roll of his shoulders as they caught the heft of it. The door was pushed open and he made his way to his destination as swiftly as he could, a deliberate pace and step as his eyes looked straight ahead. It was time to work, not time to be distracted by the chakraless masses after all.

Approaching his destination Yukiin paused, taking in the surroundings and noting the presence of another student as he dropped to a knee to slide the pack from his shoulders and dump out its contents. Tsurara caught itself on the earth in the same motion as it fell out, the puppeteer guiding the icy puppet. The puppet walked alongside its wielder, Yukiin making his way to the marked sign and halting in front of it as both of them took a bow.

“We are prepared for instruction.”

[WC 559]

 

[Eishi]

I simply nodded at the two who decided to show up. I didn't really expect many if I was being honest, this had been an impromptu course for the most part and even I hadn't even known I was going to be teaching until a day ago. Despite that, I was still somewhat disappointed only two people showed up, I was thinking about changing my original plan, but decided this could be fun regardless, though I'd have to modify it a bit. Either way, this was going to be a bit of a practice session for any future classes I was charged with. I honestly would rather not be in the teaching role.

"You're up," I thought to myself as I got up from the bench to go stand with the others. I could feel a ping of activity before I even took a step and knew I had her attention. I just hoped she wasn't going to give me sass for doing my job.

------------------------------------------------------

I was awake. I did not dream, but I was aware of the outside the moment I heard the boy's inner voice. I knew his intent well enough, we had discussed it in depth beforehand. Regardless, it did little to lessen my annoyance that I, an instrument of war and carnage, was being used to teach children how to scrape their elbows and rub their noses dry. I didn't get the moment to laminate, however. It didn't take long to feel the boy and his own impatience directed at me. I was quick to send him the equivalent of a telepathic middle finger as I finally took on a human form.

Without much preamble, I formed next to my real body before gripping my shaft and pulling it free from the ground. I noticed some earth came as I pulled my head free and frowned. Couldn't he have done a better job of looking after me than to stick me headfirst into the ground? I grimaced at that thought as I looked over at the two children and my master seemingly standing around waiting for me to play my role. I was quick to the punch from that point.

"Good evening children," I started off, greeting the lot of them in as clear an concise as I could. I think I had a friendly enough voice, but I wasn't very good at acting human yet.

"I will be your instructor for the day," I looked at all three of them in the eye, weighing the responses of two students and getting nothing other than a glare from the boy.

"Today you will be playing 'Dodgeball'. I would suggest utilizing any defensive techniques you possess along with any clone techniques you know. Unless you want to be eliminated after a single hit, I suggest not letting your guard down," I commented leaving a pregnant silence between the lot of us before continuing.

"There are only two rules to the lesson today, stay in bounds and stay conscious throughout the duration," I concluded, launching an attack at all three right as I finished my sentence. Three balls of spiked metal came ricocheting at the kids from their underground hiding place, launching dirt and rocks as they came flying in. Hopefully, the two wouldn't be knocked out too quickly. The spikes were dulled enough to not kill them, but causing brain damage and concussions was still a possibility with a well-placed shot. I was just going to stand there and watch the show. I wasn't the one actually in control of these metal balls, so it wasn't my problem with whatever happened to them next.

Spoiler

 

[Byakko Yukiin]

Dodgeball? That was usually the game someone played with shuriken, kunai, or senbon so at the mention of the word the puppeteer brought his body into its ready position. The rest of the speech was half tuned into, Yukiin considering that the markings and the poles likely represented the boundaries that he would have to 'stay in' since no specification was offered. The suggestion prior that he not let his guard down and waiting, as if baiting a response, struck him as quite strange for an educator...there wasn't a whole lot of point in testing readiness if you were going to be given several verbal warnings prior to it. The speaker didn't seem to be wielding any projectile weapon and he doubted the spearhead on a weapon such as the one being brandished would remove itself, although that was always a slim possibility. Probably wouldn't call it dodge ball if that were the case, he was more likely to be assailed with smoke or poison bombs, something that better fit the 'ball' description.

All that information could be gleaned from the other party since they seemed happy to offer it but it didn't ensure his safety, only he could do that. Even if he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being greatly underestimated he didn't return the favor of underestimating whatever was coming next.

When the balls came up, so did the Genin's feet. His hands similarly sprung into action, Tsurara intercepting the first of the spheres that came at him. They were edged and metal but thankfully so was his weapon of choice, the steel-hard ice of its talons pressing into the thing and holding it at bay while the spikes cut into the wood. Yukiin's first thought was that he might be better served replacing the whole thing with ice, clearly wood was not the right material for his purposes and it wasn't like metal was an uncommon material for weaponry. Yukiin's second thought was that he didn't understand how the ball was even propelling itself, it had no visible strings and the wielder didn't seem to be moving in the fashion of another puppeteer...so what was at play here?

A third thought was interrupted by another sphere crashing into his body, prompting the puff of smoke from the technique he knew best at the moment - Kawarimi. Tsurara dropped lifeless long enough for the first ball to slip out of its fingers, the body falling out of the way of being crushed as the Genin returned his strings now that the replacement stone had been smashed. Yukiin thought the test might be a bit lenient but if it was capable of that kind of damage to an object he was certain that he didn't want to be in its path a second time without being able to save himself.

Thankfully his gear included enough materials to do that a couple more times, so it really just depended on how long the game of "dodgeball" lasted as to whether or not he would be able to endure. He sighed, a bloom of iced air spreading from his lips as he turned to look at what he could only assume was the controller of these weapons, his eyes flickering with something foreign, a cold flame no less intense for its lack of heat.

"He wishes to clarify, those are the only two rules? In that case, the easiest way to win a game of Shogi..." Tsurara opened its jaws, mimicking the speech its puppeteer cast out into it.

Yukiin didn't wait for an answer, throwing the puppet, edges pointed out, towards the source of the problem at full force, the weapon gliding through the air as the puppeteer snapped one hand free to ensure the puppet's assault on the underestimating woman would not leave him defenseless.

"...is to flip the board."

[WC 646]

 

[Saotome Asami]

Their third arrived, and what a curious one he was. Most of the students arrived as unarmed and clueless as she was, if not more so. Once in a while, the exception appeared – a boy bearing a sword as big as he was, or in this case, a wooden murder machine crudely disguised as a human. That was to say nothing of the boy himself – bizarrely pale, even by Kumogakure’s standards, with a choice of clothing that only drew more attention to his strange features. To her, it was nothing worth freaking out about; shinobi bloodlines showed themselves in the strangest of ways, and she would rather not make their class awkward by asking. Instead, she made a mental note to be cautious of the ‘student’ that turned up to class with their weaponry on full display.

Her gaze moved to the abandoned spear, just as its wielder appeared. She wondered why the woman - ‘Man? No, look at her breastplate. That’s a woman’s breastplate.’ – chose to make such a dramatic entrance, but wasn’t going to interrupt by asking. She already knew the veteran shinobi tended to be oddballs – or rather, the shinobi life made oddballs out of ordinary people. Her face bore a look of deep thought as the woman continued.

Dodgeball. Something told her rubber balls wouldn’t be their enemy. Fear began to creep its way into her thoughts. She’d technically earned her headband in the midst of combat, but actual fighting was still foreign to her. Honing her many weak points may have been why she forced herself to attend the lesson, but in the face of actual danger… She couldn’t say she was fond of bleeding.
She’d just have to avoid getting hit, then.

There were no projectiles in sight, which meant whatever was coming at them would either be ninjutsu or unsealed. Either way, there was no guarantee that they would come from where they were looking – perhaps that was why their teacher continued to talk, hoping to lower their guard. She dared to look around, but saw no causes for concern. A lot of grass, the boundaries, the ghost of a man watching from afar, her fellow classmates… Nothing hostile, but that could change in a second. Knowing that was why she started a string of handseals as their instructor gave them their rules.

When the enemy’s ninjutsu arose, so did hers. What should have been a basic barrier jutsu was enhanced in several ways, beyond what any normal student should have been able to muster. Innate talents manifested as a web of concentric circles adorning her force field, defending her from all sides. She didn’t have to move with her defences up – not that she could without breaking them. Each sphere left large cracks in her dome, but overall, she was protected for at least one or two more attacks.

So far, so good. Not having to worry about dodging gave her a chance to observe her… peer? Ally? Enemy? For the moment, one of the former. His sword was also his shield, or at least, it was the best he had on hand. Unlike herself, he opted for the most basic of techniques, but she had to assume it wasn’t for a lack of skill. His ‘partner’ spoke, and then he attacked. If any of the participants bothered to look her way, they would see surprise on her face. What a brave, suicidal boy, to try and attack what had to be a chuunin at least. “I think that rule might go without saying… Unless you want a fast trip to a hospital bed.” An interesting move, but if she was going to try to bend the rules, she would have targeted one of her peers instead of a tutor that outclassed them.

The thought was followed by a sigh. She wasn’t going to wait around unprepared if that was an option. Rather than strike, she used the few seconds she had to consider the best means of retaliation, when that time came. A tag would do well, she decided. With little to do until her barrier broke, she listened, watched and waited for the next wave.

[2/5, 695/978]​

 

[Eishi]

It was interesting to see how the two newbies handled themselves. I was putting up enough of a show myself, as it was. Obviously, this was no trouble to defend against, especially seeing as I was the one in control, but I wasn't about to give away my own affinity. Anyone observant enough could probably put two and two together if I did anything suspicious, so instead, I had grabbed out my baton and was having a time treating my metal balls of death like you would something made of rubber. As I swatted it every time it came screeching at me, I'd bat it away from me and get some distance as it was. I was sneaky enough to even get a couple shots to go over and bounce off Asami's barrier a few times as I pretended to be oppressed by one of my own weapons. It wasn't really enough, in my opinion, to call into question if I was targetting her specifically, but if nothing else it should be annoying and seem like I was just being reckless in general.

I had to admit that the barrier was pretty solid, I was even going to lay off her for a bit and pretend that the spiked ball locked onto her was useless to her defenses before refocusing my efforts on the teenager. That idea was nixed, however, when I could feel that my spear was going to be handling him instead after he attacked her. At that point, I figured I might as well just redouble my efforts back onto the girl. She would probably be a bit salty about what is about to happen, but I'll enjoy it at least~ I mused to myself as I redirected the spiked ball on the boy to go pound on the barrier. Now that two were beating on her drum, keeping her occupied, I, without warning, launched my last hidden spiked ball directly into her barrier. This one, however, was not dulled in the slightest, unlike the other three had been. Asumi was going to find her barrier stood no chance as it pierced through cleanly and was barreling right for her head. I just pray it didn't hit her, that'd end up being a nightmare and a half if I inadvertently killed a genin in training on my first outing. Asumi didn't seem incompetent, so I was only moderately worried about her either way. It also wasn't like the other two balls were just gonna sit around. They'd be following this one pretty swiftly before she had any hope of getting a breather. I had to wonder if she'll be pissed at how easy I've been seemingly having it back here so far with only one ball appearing to be going after me as I kept swinging on it every time it was within range. Well, that would mean she had time to glance my way and I didn't feel like giving that to her as I doubled down on harassing her with my shiny metal balls.

-----------------------------

I didn't expect to be attacked, I guess I should have, but it still surprised me as I let go of my real form and decided to fight his puppet unarmed. It wasn't too much effort to block, dodge and parry most of the puppets attacks. Any slash heavy enough to cause me damage I just avoided. The puppeteer simply wasn't at that level to push me too hard at this point, but I'd still humor him. If anything, he'd probably thank me for the practice I was about to give him. From there I was quick to cast [Magnetic Control] on my real body between a couple of dodges and it didn't take long before my spear form was flying through the air on a direct course for the teen. I wasn't going to aim for any vitals, and while I was definitely sharp enough to maim him if I didn't mind myself, I justed wanted to see how he worked to defend himself as his puppet was already engaged with me with enough pokes and slashes from me to be downright hectic.

"How's your spacial awareness? I am a master at fighting multiple battles at once, and if you plan to play proxy with your dolls, you best be too." I stated in a calm and collected manner as I dodged another of his puppet's swings. I was giving him a heads up for sure. And while I doubted he needed it, as it seemed like he would probably come to that conclusion himself, I still decided to play up my role as the instructor. Regardless I was going to keep him just as busy as my master was keeping the girl locked down with his silly, contrived metal spikes. The two of us had absolutely no chill.

 

[Byakko Yukiin]

Strike in, knee up, foot forward...no purchase.
Claw up, headbutt in, strike in...no purchase.
Foot forward, bite, claw...no purchase.

Weaving the commands into the puppet in any variety he liked wasn't able to land the blow he wanted and even when the opening presented itself and the Genin thought he would be able to take a pound of flesh off the defender, it was evaded. It was becoming a more tedious prospect than he wanted to admit it, but she was still talking. At least the metal disasters seemed to have lost their focus on him, moving towards the girl who he glanced back at only in glimpses to ensure his attention was not too divided...but he didn't fully understand what he saw, even in the corner of his eye.

Symbols? Fuuinjutsu?...no that didn't seem right, that required a medium to place the mark on, he understood that much even if it wasn't exactly a talent of his at the moment. Genjutsu perhaps? No...what would there be to gain in convincing him of anything in this moment, that would be no help with other attackers on the field. So something else maybe? Something unique. Something foreign...well, he supposed that was a rude thought to have. It was inappropriate of him to call anyone else foreign when he was far more than most villagers, his blood didn't even come from these lands after all.

She looked younger then himself and now that he thought about it, she seemed to share his style of appearance even if it was muddled by whatever type of barrier she was using - delicate, pale, but more of a glass-like impression than Yukiin's icy presence. Something was common between the pair of them but he didn't have his finger on it quite yet. Was she the other one? That would be convenient, maybe too convenient to be true, but he would have to inquire as to the girl's heritage later.

Her words seemed a bit hyperbolic, the hospital? Really? After all the training he'd been through that seemed rather ridiculous but Yukiin's train of thought was interrupted by the sensation of something punching his body that was not intended, nor friendly...a lot like a spear, actually. Right...the spear. When did that get there?...recently, he figured. Probably recently.

Yukiin's eyes moved over it with a slow patience, unwilling to allow something like a spear in his gut to break his concentration but definitely needing a moment to really register the amount of pain that was rushing through his nervous system like a livewire current. He crunched his teeth audibly, bone grinding to bone as he put his free hand around the weapon's shaft and gripped onto it.

'This is nothing.'
'This is nothing.'
'This is nothing.'

The boy chanted to himself, the words reaching out to capture every stray scream before it left his mouth and he exhaled only the stream of chilled ice that he was beginning to think was an indicator of his temper...new as it was. He'd never been able to produce this much of the stuff that quickly, the air around him crystallizing as his breathing continued, heavy, deep, spreading the icy mist as his fingers clutched the weapon that had pierced him and without a sound from his lips, dragged himself back off of it. Moving the weapon might not be possible, it moved on its own and he couldn't find any strings on it, so that only left the option he employed as he fell backwards.

His feet caught him, stamping back onto the ground as he pressed a hand to his wound, threads of chakra spreading out like his strings to trace the injury before turning to ice and sealing the wound shut before anymore of his blood dotted the ground. The patchy repair of jagged red ice became visible as Yukiin took his hand away from it, eyes locked on the offending wielder.

"Two."Said the Genin, continuing his speech from the vessel puppet as it reanimated itself and stood between the wielder and the blood stained spear. "He can only watch two things at once, unfortunately the girl was a third. A mistake, it won't be repeated."

[WC 710]

 

[Saotome Asami]

So far, so good. She could roughly measure the strength of the spheres against the damage they did to her shield, which made estimating the time she had left. Not as long as she would have preferred, but in a class meant to train her combat skills, she wasn’t too surprised by that. Their silent classmate wasn’t helping – she had a sneaking suspicion he was trying to make things harder for her, but the pale one was too busy handling his own problem to interfere with hers. Good thing, too. She had two spheres trying to bore holes in her barrier and they were slowly but surely succeeding. At the rate they were going, she’d be lucky to have more than a few seconds before they decorated her body with holes. She pulled a deep frown, trying to consider her options. If she knew how to handle herself effectively in a fight, she wouldn’t have been attending classes; the stress that came with combat would have to be learned the hard way. An Earth jutsu came to mind – one that would allow her a different kind of barrier. She put her hands together, confident that she had the time that she needed until she heard the third.

An observer could tell that she was aware of the problem - her widened eyes made that much clear. Reacting in time, however, seemed beyond her ability. As intended, three students’ worth of attacks reduced her barrier to countless shimmers in the air, quickly fading into nothing. Her first and last defence had been stolen too quickly for her to form another, and physical movement was by far her weakest suit. The results were not pretty. The sneak attack planted itself in the back of her head. She saw a flash of white, and then… nothing. Her body crumpled, but instinct compelled her to put a foot forward, trying to catch herself. It didn’t work, and shecollapsed face down on the grass. Hopefully, her attacker had the mercy to halt the assault; otherwise, the spheres would be free to leave their mark on her. Soon enough, blood showed itself around the point of injury, but not before it matted and dyed the surrounding hair.

There was probably a lesson to be learned from it all, if she was concious to consider it.

[3/5, 390/1368]​

 

[Eishi]

"Well, fuck," I grimaced as I rubbed the back of my head and rushed over to the downed girl I most likely just killed. I was quick to turn her onto her side into the recovery position, laying her on her own arm and moving her legs into a bicycle position as I went to check out the wound in the back of the head. I didn't dare take the embedded spike out for fear of the damage and blood loss that it could cause, but I still needed to see if I should call for help or the morgue. When I saw where the hit had actually embedded itself. I sighed in both relief and a tinge of guilt. I used my affinity to feel the metal inside of her as I re-dulled the edges of the ball. The spike had definitely punctured her skull cleanly. It seemed it hadn't caused her skull to cave in on itself, thank god, but the one spike that did get through was easily an inch or so deep.

"Go notify the hospital, we need a gurney and straps stat. She's still alive, but most likely just suffered a traumatic head injury." I stated as I brought out a first aid kit from my bag. It wasn't as standard a kit as you may expect, but it did contain enough of my own workplace equipment to be useful. I was going to have to keep watch for the vitals of this girl as I waited for help. I took another look at the wound as I waited, going over in my head what I had learned for the countless sleepless nights of studying the human anatomy. From my guess, the spike seemed to be poking her in the center her occipital lobe, the part of the brain that, thankfully, wasn't important for the function of life. Unfortunately, it was the part of the brain that controlled sight and perception. Assuming she regained consciousness again, it was going to become a question of how this was going to affect her functionality. The fact it was also settled right next to the brain stem was definitely concerning but thankfully the puncture didn't seem to reach that far down from what I could tell.

This class was effectively over.

--------------------------------------------

I wasn't too far behind in what was happening, I could feel the distress in the boy's voice. I couldn't tell if it was because he felt a need to save the girl or it was because he wanted to cover his own ass, but I guess the motivation didn't really matter. My real form flying back into my hand as I sheathed it behind my back in one fluid motion.

"Class is over, collect your things and get yourself looked at," was all I gave the teen as I was already off to the ER to collect some paramedics. It was mostly due to laziness that this spot had been chosen originally next to the hospital, but it seemed this time it had inadvertently been a wise choice. I could tell from the strong emotions it hadn't been intentional, but I still had to reflect on the fact that both students had gotten rather badly hurt in roughly the same amount of time. I questioned if we had gone a little too hard on the training, but I'd heard from my boy that he had been impaled once or twice in the name of training before. Maybe these kind of incidents weren't that uncommon?

Either way, I was almost at the hospital's entryway before I started feeling the first tinge of panic creep in. Best be speedy it seemed I thought to myself as I entered the ER.

 

[Byakko Yukiin]

Yukiin's expression was a mixture of the roiling mass of agitation in his gut and the desire to not acknowledge the injury sustained, finding that the premature end was entirely inappropriate but not finding time to present that information before his combatant had decided the matter was settled. He bit his tongue, although his fingers remained arched and ready as he was not yet ready to relinquish his battle position and the strings attached to his weapon did not fade.

This kind of behavior was highly unusual and he didn't trust it, after the Academy how could anyone be so invested in one shinobi's life? Why sympathy now? Had they crossed some imaginary line with their graduation that prompted the village to suddenly become much more concerned with their well being or was this instructor combo simply an odd pair out? It didn't click for him.

The puppeteer turned from the woman and moved his attention to the other instructor and the girl he was currently attending to, watching his examination of the injury carefully. His gaze passed from one to the other, trying to determine if there was some connection between the pair he was unaware of but near as he could tell the treatment offered was not particularly gentle or aggressive, the kind of neutrality that didn't imply previous association. This appeared to be the kind of behavior he might've received if he wasn't sufficiently proactive in his care but that didn't address why it was happening in the first place.

"He doesn't understand, the Academy was rougher than this but you dote on her as if the injury were significant and the loss substantial. Are we that valuable now? Because of a piece of metal?" Tsurara spoke as it always did, with the boy's voice, and he tapped on his headband to clarify the point. Was it really that simple? A headband made you someone or something else in this world? It couldn't be that easy...it just couldn't.

[WC 332]

 

[Saotome Asami]

Asami would have had a lot to say about treating human beings as if they were anything less. Unfortunately, such a conversation only took place because she was unable to speak. Or move, or speak, or anything beyond a plant’s capabilities. At the very least she was breathing, and didn’t seem to incur any notable injuries from her bad fall. The weapon in her head was unlikely to cause any more damage while she was in the care of a med-nin, and her chances of a good recovery were high, considering how close they were to the hospital. Still, the small blade in her head hadn’t been a perfect plug; her blood rolled down, through her hair and onto the grass.

As for her? With her senses locked away, she slowly slipped into dreamland. She felt herself in an endless freefall. Felt, not saw – the world around her was pitch black, but she could knew the sensation of wind flying past her all the same. As with most dreams, she didn’t feel nearly as panicked as she should have. If anything, it felt nice. She could get used to it, which was great, because she’d be there for a while.

[4/5, 200/1568]​

 

[Eishi]

"What are you, stupid? We're right next to a hospital," I responded brushing off his question like it was nothing as I kept a check on her pulse. I took out some gauze and kept it pressed around the wounds entry point without causing a problem along with using a few basic medical ninjutsus to keep her stable. I was in no way qualified to deal with this type of injury, but I'd do what I could. While I had been fretting, I had also forgotten a key aspect that I probably should have noticed sooner. I decided then and there to break the spike in her head from the rest of to the ball. When all was said and done with a bit of precise control on my part, it looked like only a smaller nail was now stuck in place. If nothing else, it should help when we finally did move her out. A large metal object like my weapons was likely to rattle her brain in the transition and I'd rather avoid that if I could. I just hoped my fucking spear was hurrying it on up.

"It takes pretty much no effort on my part to help her, anyway," I chuffed as I removed and replace a bandaging that had already soaked through. I wasn't about to give him my own nuanced philosophy on the subject. I had seen enough death in my life to know I didn't like it, I was great at my daytime job as a surgical assistant, and I got to feel good about what I was doing. Was there much more of a reason beyond that? Regardless, it only took another minute or so before I began to hear a commotion as three emergency mednins were here with a head securing gurney. At that point, my job was done. They would be the ones to take over as they strapped some oxygen to her face and carefully placed and strapped her into place before wheeling her off a couple hundred meters to hopefully be saved.

"Hooooo..." I breathed some relief as I took out a cigarette and brought it my mouth. It took me a second to calm my nerves. the adrenaline still a bit present in my system, but it was disappearing fast now that she was outta here. I was about to take a light to my lips before my weapon showed up and plucked it from my mouth.

"What, you got a problem, ho?" I swore at my spear who seemed keen on sneaking up on me and pissing me off today.

"That's Onee-chan to you, bitch," She was quick to respond as she lit the cigarette herself and took a puff,

"Couldn't have gone a bit easy on her, could you?" She spoke derisively, striking while the iron was still hot. I'm not going to lie, I flushed at that, but I didn't say anything in response as I took a seat back on the bench that I originally had sat on at the beginning of the class. I still had a bit of time tell until the end of the classes allotted time, and I figured I might as well spend it mulling.

"Whatever," I directed at her. She at least seemed to have enough sense not to say anything else after that as she continued to stand there, smoking my cigarette.

 

[Byakko Yukiin]

Stupid? The statement, as the question was not intended to be answered, struck Yukiin unfavorably and he tilted his head in confusion at the matter. It seemed, at least to him, that his question was in earnest and did not seem to have been given an appropriate response so stupidity did not seem a natural conclusion. Shinobi lived and died, training accidents were not uncommon, and many of his peers had undergone the kind of modifications that would make a chakraless flinch so to think a few balls to the head was so important was odd. Then again, perhaps their entire training environment was regulated tighter than he thought and if any of them had actually died, prior to their value being determined, they would've intervened. Had the truth of the situation simply been woven differently for him?

He considered this as he watched the boy go into action, younger but seemingly more competent as was the trend and also the fact that agitated him ever so slightly like the brushing of thorns against the skin. Why couldn't he manage that? What made this one so special? How did he even manipulate the weapons in the first place, how did either of them? No strings were evident and they seemed to, at a second glance, lack any seals to denote they had a power source. They would have to be directly manipulated, or at least he thought, through a method he didn't know and the idea that he was being bested in several areas at once did not sit well with Yukiin.

The puppeteer's fingers traced his injury and his makeshift treatment, flinching momentarily and deciding that it would be best for him to disengage from the situation. He wasn't going to be able to pry information from the pair like this, they had their hands full regrettably and he had been excused already...so he might as well act on that.

"We...see. It has been...informative." The puppet spoke, pausing to consider the words most appropriate for this situation as it was a social arrangement he had not much experience with and he didn't want to come as rude. "There is little he can offer in this situation and we have been excused, as we intend to act upon now. We hope the girl recovers...favorably."

The pair repeated the bow they had given upon entrance and made their way away from the field. Yukiin hoped that this wasn't the one he'd heard about, the other shinobi whose fate was cut out from the Byakko line, but those answers wouldn't come to him here so he would have to return to the matter another day. Perhaps a visit in the hospital later would be wisest, depending on the length of recovery. For now, he had several matters knotted in his mind and this was not the place to begin that unknotting.

[Thread Exit]
[WC 483 - Total 2730 over 5 Posts (Tutor/Class Minimums Meet)]

 

[Saotome Asami]

The girl was unsurprising unresponsive. Within her mindscape, she was blissfully unaware of her mortal peril. Her focus was on the flashes of coloured light that appeared as she fell, appearing from miles away but still bright enough to steal her gaze. They were unpleasant, she thought, but it was brief – even her observations were whisked away by the rushing winds around her. She could only hope that they would leave her soon.

[Thread Exit]
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