Shuusei Touma - ANBU Captain
NPC
Touma, from the beginning, had simply remained out of sight. He was observing the entire time, so he watched the struggle that Tatsuo had set up for Saito. In addition to watching, he occupied his time working on a wooden carving from a piece of wood he had obtained in the forest. It was a passtime he enjoyed, not surprising given his use of wood Ninjutsu. Asking the student to climb a waterfall was certainly a tall order (no pun intended). Touma couldn't argue against the merit it had as a test. If Saito managed to do it. He took a seat on a branch in the canopy with a good view of the waterfall and watched carefully to see how Saito would rise to the challenge. In all honesty, he expected the student to simply run at the waterfall and attempt to climb it right away. He figured the boy would try this over and over if and until he actually managed to stick to the moving water. That would have been one way to go about it and it might have worked for some, but was it the
best way? Probably not.
But Saito surprised Touma as well that day. Unprompted by Tatsuo, the boy used his Ninjutsu to convert a portion of earth into mud. The partial solidity of the mud made it a perfect intermediary step between walking on the solid surface of a tree and surface tension of water. This was a common teaching method for students, but one Saito had not likely encountered yet. Having the thought to train himself in this way before tackling the hurtle of the waterfall climb was actually quite impressive. Touma watched over the next hour as Saito worked with increasing progress, mastering walking on the mud and then walking on the water itself. However, he did use quite a lot of time just learning that. The difference between walking on the surface of water and climbing a waterfall was significant. With only an hour left, Touma wasn't sure if Saito would succeed.
He watched as Saito made his attempts at climbing the waterfall with much more initial success than he would have had if he had simply gone at it without the previous training. His process had definitely paid off. Without first learning to crawl and then walk, he would have had almost no chance to fly, so to speak. There was no way he would have made nearly this much progress otherwise. Still, time was quickly ticking down. The boy was not deterred and with every attempt he made it higher. At last, with little time to spare, with one last desperate attempt, the boy almost slipped. Touma unconsciously stood up as he watched to get a better look. Saving himself just barely, Saito made it to the top. Touma chuckled to himself, unable to help with smirk that formed under his mask. He'd been rooting for the boy without realizing it.
Forming a quick few handseals, the wood underneath Touma's feet warped and pushed upwards with force propelling him off of the branch and towards the waterfall. A tree root pushed out from the water just in time to serve as a springboard for Touma as he landed on it and launched himself the rest of the way up landing several feet away from Saito. Tatsuo had also scaled the waterfall and it seemed the exam wasn't quite over. Wordlessly, the Leaf shinobi pulled out a map and showed it to Saito who was no doubt completely exhausted. Even Touma was surprised that Tatsuo had more in store for the student. Tatsuo began explaining a hypothetical scenario to Saito in which he was unexpectedly placed into a leadership position with terrible odds against his team. He was presented with the option to push forward or retreat. Many young, hot blooded shinobi had the false notion that retreat was never an option. Yet, with barely any time passed, Saito chose the option that would save the lives of his hypothetical comrades.
Satisfied, Tatsuo declared that the boy had passed. Tatsuo called out for Touma, who stepped forward and approached them. He thanked him for allowing the Genin exam to take place and gave his opinion that Saito was ready for graduation from his status as a student. Touma nodded slowly.
"I've been watching the entire time and I'm inclined to agree. You showed excellent presence of mind to tackle that challenge in the methodical way that you did and impressive skill to take your plan of action and make it work for you. Additionally, your decision making even in your obviously exhausted state of mind led you to make the right call in the hypothetical situation presented to you," Touma agreed. He paused as Tatsuo leaned over to whisper to him, though Saito could likely hear anyway, before bursting into laughter. Touma chuckled, shaking his head.
"Unfortunately, I don't keep spare headbands on me... so, I do not. However, I did send a message to Kumogakure to have one delivered here in the event that Saito passed. It shouldn't be much more than a couple weeks before it arrives. In the meantime, I did prepare a temporary measure..." Touma replied, reaching into his belt pouch. From it he withdrew an interesting little item. This was the project that he had been working on while observing the exam. A piece of wood had been shaped precisely to the size of the metal part of a normal headband. Upon it, Touma had skillfully carved the Kumogakure symbol in the center. The engraving was spot on- this was a hobby Touma had been practicing for most of his life after all. He had obtained the headband portion from within Konoha- it was the very same used for their own headbands. The wooded portion had been fastened to it with bolts the very same way the usual headband would be. It was, essentially, simply a wooden version of the usual headband.
"I won't force you to wear it, though I did enhance the wood with my Ninjutsu to make it durable. I did want to give you something if you passed, while you waited. Think of it as a symbol if nothing else," Touma said as he showed it to the two of them before handing it to Saito.
"So with the authority granted to me, I hereby name you a Genin of Kumogakure. Congratulations, Saito," Touma announced, making the promotion official.
