A cool breeze went by as soon as he asked for the weasel's followed by an awkward silence. Maru's smile never seemed to fade, his hand outstretched waiting for the children to give him the 'food' so he could graduate them already. Maru looked at the Nanami, who had looked at him sheepishly, then at Ai, who looked at him in horror, then he looked at his hand, that remained empty, then he looked back at Nanami. Nanami spoke up first, about to tell him something but seemingly cut herself off for some reason.
"They what? Did you two eat them? No! You must've burned them to ash, no biggie, their souls gotta linger around here so I'll just help myself." Maru raised his head up then sniffed around, trying to sniff out any remains of animal hair around but the smell was pretty faint. He looked at the children again, Nanami explained what happened in the most educational and professional way that she could. But however, Maru's inner demon already decoded the language into something that he could understand.
Maru extended his hand towards Nanami, cupping her chin to tilt her head back up to look at him. A smug smile now plastered onto his face, he knew that their future was riding on him and now that they made a rather critical mistake this exam was starting to look grim.
"So… what you were trying to say was that they got away. That you had an opportunity to capture them but because she…" he gestured his head in Ai's direction.
"was hurt. You decided to let the weasels go to rest, get stronger, than come back to the Academy with a vengeance. Is that correct?" Maru letting go of Nanami's chin, he turned his back to proceed to walk towards where the now broken teachers desk was.
"I suppose when the Raikage orders you two to get rid of a spy you'll let them go too, huh? Oo! Or how about finding a missing child. You'll find them but because returning them wasn't in the description mission complete. Yanno… I really need to start doing that I'm inspired!" he laughed to himself, turning back to again decided the children's fate.
"Under normal circumstances I'd just fail you and get it over with but… of course we are kinda low on shinobi so I'll grade you two to show I at least attempted. So weasels left that half the grade right there so you already got 50%" Maru explained.
"The capture was worth 10 points so I guess you lose those points along with the extra credit for each one captured which is 10 for each weasel captured. So much for a perfect 100%." Looking up towards the ceiling, he began to think of something else then pointed at them.
"Oh we grade on flawless too, basically how much you were injured. Nanami ain't badly hurt so I'll give her a 7 but Eye over there was hurt bad enough to warrant concern from her teammate so she'll get a 2 since she doesn't know how to dodge." He scored. Maru would've given Ai a 5 based on his judgement but since Nanami used her as an excuse he scored Ai based on HER judgement! So far it's looking 57% for Nanami and 52% for Ai however there was still more. 70% or higher would be enough to at least graduate so let's see how Mr. Normal grades them on the next two categories.
"Now the use of Justu, now I wasn't here but if you managed to use enough to make them flee then you two must've scared them otherwise why would they run. Buuuuuut you two didn't knock them out so I'll give you both an 8 on that." he scored.
"Good. Looks like you two are now in the sixties. The next category is the most important, not only is it important because it's your only shot at passing but it's important that all gennin get a perfect 10 on this one. If you don't then you actually lose points depending on what your grade already is. Like say if you score a 5… you gain and lose 5 meaning you get nothing. Get anything lower and you might just lose points." everything was riding on getting this last category right, Nanami could afford to lose a couple points but Ai needed the whole 10. The fox smirked, folding his arms and closing his eyes letting the tension build.
"The last category was…. Teamwork. Nanami seems to show a bit of leadership though doesn't look down on her teammates and Eye seems to be pulling her weight too as a good servant so I'll give you two a 10 for that. Congrats… you two passed by the skin of your teeth. 70% for Eye and 75 for Nanami." Maru clapped the two on a job well done, turning away from the two to remove his mask so he could reach down in a seemingly empty space within the inner part of his mask to bring out two shiny silver headbands with the Kumogakure's symbol of allegiance etched into it. Putting the mask back over his face then turned back to hold the headbands towards the two graduates.
"By the power granted by the Raikage, Lord Enma, and all the horrors that lurk in the shadows of Kumogakure. I hereby promote you two to Gennin" now that they were beginner nin's it was a good of time as any to see what branch will they be interested in…
"Also as agreed you'll get my recommendation to a branch of your choice. Though now you're free to choose your own path, how about you two become a team with me as your Jounin supervisor?" he offered, looking to get his first shot at recruiting some Gennin since the other branches would be more than happy to take them. While Maru wasn't exactly a particularly good person, he was in a position of power in which he wasn't afraid to use.
"You see, I've seen countless Academy students and currently Gennin be stuck in the same rank for years on end. Not only that but they speak of wanting to protect the village but when a bloodthirsty rogue walks in they aren't ready to defend themselves." the fox went on, raising his finger to the sky.
"I for one am offering to supervise your ninja career! That means I'll train you up to defend yourselves, do a few missions, and continue ranking you two up until you're a Jounin like me! Of course, it won't be easy but it'll be faster than waiting for years on end without purpose. I am your best option though if you really don't want for me to supervise you than… Don't be surprised if there's another wanna be kage kid ranking up under my supervision." he shrugged. It was indeed hard enough for their future at the academy to be at the hands of the fox man, but will they let him watch over their ninja career. They could be done with him here and now though what if his offer was genuine? What if he was offering to rank them up faster for a few missions and a couple of training sessions?
"Besides you need a Jounin to recommend you for the rank, if not that then you better hope the Raikage or a Sennin will promote you. Otherwise I'm the only Jounin who could recommend you. Thank Enma for all those shinobi coming up missing." Maru snickered wondering if it was a deal….
[Nanami and Watanabe Ai PASSED their Exam!]
[Post what branch You'll be joining and I'll request your banners!]