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Post by Daisuke Hizuhiro on Apr 11, 2012 16:40:08 GMT -5
Daisuke looked down at his feet. "Go over our mistakes, huh...?"
It was a real laundry list of problems. Daisuke had the potential, but kept choking in these real situations, and he really needed to work on his jutsu and chakra so that he wasn't so useless after firing a single lightning ball. Mizuki didn't seem to have any area of expertise whatsoever, and Shouten seemed well... a little dim-witted at times, but it seemed like something he was working on.
Nodding silently while Shouten did his analysis, Daisuke considered the possibility of pre-planned formations and scenarios. Not a terrible idea, especially to a strategist such as himself.
"Well, that would actually be a great plan, because the entire time, I was trying to make up plans on the fly and I had no way to clue you two in. Speaking of my plans, they weren't exactly golden either, but lately i've been working on my ninja tool mastery, as I attempted to demonstrate with my whole canteen-kunai fiasco..."
It was true, Daisuke had been experimenting with the many possibilities of ninja tool training, perhaps he would learn how to summon weapons like he'd seen other ninja do before? What a valuable tool to a strategist to be able to summon the tools he'd need on the battlefield, afterall, the player with the most pieces is typically the winner.
"But really, how can we call anything we saw back there mistakes? All I saw was a veteran ninja smack some Genin around. Did any of you learn anything valuable, really?"
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Post by walkerm on Apr 14, 2012 20:08:03 GMT -5
Apologies were an interesting thing. In the strictest sense of the word, they were an admission of error, and they were usually accompanied by these things called feelings - more specifically, they were supposed to be expressed with 'regret.' Yet, more often than not, when people apologize, the regret was lacking, as if they were merely going through the motions. 'Oh, sure, I regret this, but look at all this cool stuff, pay attention to that okay?' And there was this odd sentiment that, if one apologized, it magically made things better. What was up with that?
In Shouten's case, it was more of a glorified excuse, a justification. He started off doing lip-service, and right off the bat, next thing next, he was offering excuses for why it happened. Trying to lessen the fact that it was a mistake. If she hadn't been so fastidious in controlling her facial expression and maintaining a neutral demeanor in the face of any and all public interactions (and her new teammates definitely counted as 'public'), Mizuki's lip likely would have curled. A mistake is a mistake - dancing around and explaining the whyfors doesn't make it any better.
What was constructive, however, was taking apart those whyfors and approaching them with a 'how can we fix this?' attitude. Like, how could things be better executed, how could personal flaws be corrected - or, at least, complemented/made up for? Shouten's big, grand contribution to that was the that they should work together. And he didn't even say that outright. Which, Mizuki thought, was odd, given that he'd been so open about his abilities. Why was it so easy for him to reveal his skills for all the world to hear (was he stupid? this wasn't a terribly secure location, for all it was in the heart of their village), but he couldn't even bring himself to make a direct statement of what-they-ought-to-do. Odd.
Well, that wasn't strictly true, and Mizuki had to revise her assessment of his character a tad when he mentioned sitting down and going over possible scenarios and such. It was an intriguing idea, probably worthwhile - and if Mizuki was honest with herself, it was something she'd probably grow weary of long before the others did. It was something she'd been working on for a long time, practicing patience and ignoring her restless urges to do something all of the time - but her success came in degrees, and while talking was fine, lots of talking and lots of sitting around... It didn't bode well.
She seconded Daisuke's endorsement of Shouten's idea with a nod of her head. Because, for all the misgivings she had about her ability to tolerate the doing of, it was an excellent idea to go over plans. Being prepared, while sometimes a lot of work, was worth it when it came to actual fights. Mizuki had been in enough fights to be able to tell this (though, granted, her scuffles weren't quite on par with a legitimate battle between hostile shinobi, but still...)
In her mind, their encounter with their sensei could be filed directly under the heading "legitimate battle with hostile shinobi" - Masami had attacked and had behaved hostile in every which way she could discern, and while it might have been unfair in terms of skill level, it'd still been a fight. And it'd still been riddle with mistakes, things they could have done differently, things they should have done differently. That Daisuke disagreed was... Well, it didn't endear himself to her. Point of fact, she found herself judging him. Daisuke, it appeared, was now on strike two.
"Well, for one, we learned - as Shouten mentioned - that we need to work on communication. We probably would'a figured it out later, but I feel like Saito-sensei really drove the point home..." Mizuki was of the mind that sooner was better than later. "Not to mention we got to see a little bit of each other in action, and we got to see Saito in action. I mean, it's one thing to hear people tell of their skills, and it's another to see..." It was interesting to see Shouten's fireball (even if he had been attempting to defeat her at the time), and it was more interesting still how they'd immediately reacted as fighters. At the time, they'd been fighting against each other, but the girl found herself curious to know what it'd be like if they all worked together as an actual team. It would be novel, that much was certain - most of the fights Mizuki had been in had involved her versus another, or herself versus a couple of others. Some she'd won, others she'd lost... And they'd all been fought by herself.
Somewhere around a few seconds after uttering her last sentence, the girl realized that perhaps they didn't see the fight the same way she did - there weren't a whole lot of obvious "this is what you did wrong now fix it" things to learn from, but there were numerous small bits of information that she felt all the better for having picked up. It was with that realization that she clammed up slightly, and had to fight the urge to reach up and fiddle with a lock of hair.
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Post by Masami Saito on Apr 19, 2012 11:06:36 GMT -5
Anyone who had interacted with the famed Mirage of the Desert within a reasonably recent time frame would tell you he is a somewhat sullen man who rarely gets involved or speaks up unless the issue truly holds some consequence for him. As such, him having no desire to be around a team of three young children who believe themselves to be of any importance whatsoever might not come as any sort of surprise to the casual observer. However, at the same time, Masami was never the mind of man to allow himself to show any sort of weakness, or to back down from any sort of confrontation. Therefore, directly following the events at the oasis, Masami immediately retreated into the solace of his own thoughts. This retreat had been both physical as well as mental, as he'd left the three children to get themselves back to the village. Masami Saito did not feel regret for his actions, for he did not allow such feelings to enter into his stream of consciousness, and yet somehow he'd come from his encounter with the three feeling sudden and stabbing pangs of guilt in his heart. It was not his conduct during the encounter that was creating these feelings, although he would be the first to admit that his actions ranged from a tad indelicate to wildly inappropriate; but rather, it was an encounter from long ago that sent the echo of his heartbeat booming throughout the hollow confines of his current state of being.
In truth, what had happened in Masami's past seemed almost to have been an occurrence from some other sort of dimension. That was a different man. Thinking back, he felt almost as if he were a being of a higher order; an omniscient viewer looking on from the perspective of an angel or demon of sorts. Though in truth, even if he were able to piece himself back together and view the event from the first-person, his actions most certainly warranted the above title of 'demon'. Such memories had not been lost, but rather distorted in his mind. He was suffering something of a disassociation between the him of the past and the him of the present, and quite frankly he did not mind nor pay heed to this abnormality in his thoughts. Masami Saito was, and forever would be, a man without a conscience. However, this did not seem to be the case in this particular instance. Here, he was feeling like the sort of man he'd been before all of that had happened to him; before he'd lost himself in bloodshed and abandoned his heart to service to the Sand.
What was he thinking? Halting his retreat, he stopped on the outskirts of the village. Nothing could be gained from giving into such weakness and lending credence to thoughts that shouldn't even be considered. Regardless of the past, Masami Saito was an immovable object, and he would not allow his opinion of or his tactics in regards to his Genin students to be swayed so simply. Pausing for a moment, he had to admit that yes, those three were indeed his official students now. He almost wished he had had the strength to leave without any assessment of their skills whatsoever, as it would have been easier to maintain his persona without three children at his heels. Yet still, the task had been for them to impress him. The word 'impress' may have several meanings, but the gist of the word is that the subject is affected greatly by whatever outside force is impressing itself on him. Although he couldn't say their skills were any better or worse than the typical child fresh out of the academy, the very fact that he was now sitting here contemplating himself meant that their fight had impressed something on the Jounin. Was this explanation the result of mere wordplay? Most certainly. Does this mean that Saito would refuse to use this as an explanation for his own acceptance of them? Not a chance. Masami Saito only does things that make sense. That is his absolute and complete perception of himself. Admitting that he had no reason for accepting the three would be painful for him; albeit not as painful as admitting the true, ulterior reason he had accepted them.
And so, the man waited. He knew that the three would return; something in his gut knew that after such an encounter, the desert would not simply claim them. A Jounin's instincts are rarely wrong. A ninja that might have otherwise been called a Jounin with inferior intuition could merely be referred to as a dead Chuunin. Therefore, it was not a surprise when the three finally arrived in the village, and looked to right themselves after the pummeling they had just received. He decided he would give them a certain amount of time to get some rest and relaxation; not out of pity or mercy, of course. After all, such feelings had no place in the heart of the Mirage. No, rather, Masami was sure he was allowing them this time because training or even confronting them at this juncture would prove to be fruitless. Their bodies were too worn and their minds too muddled for anything of use to be learned. Thus, he waited until they had gotten water and supplies for themselves, and had been able to talk amongst themselves in regards to what had happened, before presenting himself to them.
Although the Jounin cared little for what the three thought of him, he knew that as their teacher, it would be his duty to educate and instruct them in the most effective manner possible. Therefore, understanding their thoughts on today's session would be vital to getting a feel not only for their individual personalities, but also for how he could best instruct each of them. As one might suspect, the general consensus between the three was rather negative. They thought him unfair; and why shouldn't they? The test had been designed to be unfair. A young shinobi who is given nothing but praise from their teacher and sees nothing but success from their trials is likely to get lackadaisical, and put both themselves and their team in jeopardy. However, it pleased him that at least some of them were willing to admit that they would have stood a better chance if they had operated more effectively as a team. Perhaps this was not a completely lost cause.
Masami believed wholeheartedly in the strength of the individual. If a shinobi cannot stand on their own, then they are liable to be unable to provide the foundation upon which others can stand. When it came to teamwork, Masami tended to see such a thing in terms of a few powerful individuals working together in synchronization, rather than seeing the team as an entity in and of itself. This was why he had started the examination by accentuating their individual skills, before turning it to teamwork. Any team of his would need to switch between the two modes of thinking at the drop of a hat, or they would be considered a complete failure. After Mizuki finished speaking on her thoughts, Masami decided now would be an acceptable time to reveal himself. Walking to them from his nearby vantage point, Masami obviously had no desire to surprise them or catch them off-guard with his appearance.
On the contrary. He wanted them to be ready.
”Well said.” The man began, his stride neither quickening nor slowing as he drew attention to himself. ”Indeed, knowledge is certainly one of the most essential tools a shinobi can have, in any circumstance. I hope you've learned at least something from your examination, regardless of whether you saw it in a positive light or not.” He diverted his glance from Mizuki to Daisuke, obviously directing this aside to him. ”However, because said assessment is past, after today I will think on it no longer. I recommend you do the same. Encapsulate what lessons you can draw from this experience, and leave the past where it belongs. We will begin preliminary training as soon as possible. As you said, it will be important for you to know one another nearly as well as you know yourself. However, this only applies to your direct teammates. There is no need to share details with all in the general area.” Looking to Shouten now, he had reached the three and positioned himself in front of them, standing as emotionless as he'd been when he first appeared to them.
”Before you discard this experience, however, I believe some of you have unresolved qualms in regards to the method of your test. If you lack any understanding, or have anything that needs answering, direct these questions to me now. If you ask me about this in the future, you will have no success in finding answers.”
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Post by Admin on Apr 19, 2012 22:44:53 GMT -5
Shouten was, in a word, dumbfounded. He lightly daydreamed his way through both Daisuke and Mizuki's words. They simply restated the obvious. They were trash and they needed to become better. No need beating each other over the head with it. Still, they both had agreed with the young Genin. Training needed to happen. The true shocking moment was when Masami Saito himself appeared to agree. The poor kid hadn't expected an appearance from Masami and he definitely wasn't hoping for one.
”Before you discard this experience, however, I believe some of you have unresolved qualms in regards to the method of your test."
Oh, Shouten had plenty. Sadly, they were contained to his mind for the moment. All he could do was rant and rave at Masami's non-existent smug face.
"Qualms?! I've got qualms! What exactly were we supposed to learn out there? You pitted us against each other, but you waited until we were exhausted to make us team up. At what point in our career as ninja are we going to have to fight against each other? Beyond that, what lesson were we supposed to learn? Solitude or Teamwork? I feel like I didn't learn either rather than learning both! Hell, what if I had killed Daisuke or Mizuki? What if either of them had killed me?! We were dehydrated, chakra exhausted, and beat to hell. So then, in your infinite knowledge as a Jounin, you left us in the desert to die. If you wanted to fail us, surely you could've done so without killing us. Dick."
Shouten MEANT for that to be a mental rant. Sadly, his brain and mind had gotten a recent divorce and were no longer communicating. His words came flowing out of his mouth at top speed and it was only after his final insult that he realized. He immediately regretted his actions. He couldn't stand to be hit anymore by Masami in one day. Still, he was going to stand his ground. Apologizing when he didn't mean it was a sign of weakness. Weakness unbefitting of the leader of a clan.
In the least subtle way possible, Shouten nodded towards his teammates. He wanted to inspire courage in them. If they had something to get off of their chests, now would be the time. Despite his outburst, Shouten agreed with Masami on one point. After today, this test was merely a memory and it would not do them well to dwell on it. They needed to bond in order to survive.
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Post by Daisuke Hizuhiro on Apr 19, 2012 23:05:29 GMT -5
It seemed that all the Genin had come to an agreement. They were weak and needed improvement, despite the clear unfairness in that battle. Suddenly, though, Saito-Sensei appeared seemingly out of nowhere to add his thoughts to their own. Had he been following them the whole time? Daisuke wouldn't put it past the man, he'd already shown his mental stability to be questionable at best. But still, the Hizuhiro boy stood and nodded at the sensei, because though he wasn't happy with him, he was the only sensei he'd get.
As he spoke, sure enough, it was clear he had been following them. He knew they had problems with him and he was prompting them to tell them to his face. Daisuke paused for a moment to consider whether he even wanted to say anything. Saito-sensei was quite clear in that this incident would not be brought up again, so with the allure of it dissappearing under the rug without needing to be talked about, Daisuke elected to say nothing.
Shouten Li, however, didn't see eye-to-eye. He exploded in a rage fit for a madman, citing one horrible thing after another, and punctuating the entire shit storm with a tactful "Dick." It put Daisuke in an awkward situation. It seemed that Shouten expected Mizuki and himself to join in, as he gestured toward them. Really, the Genin would have loved to just say nothing and let the moment pass, but what if Mizuki also spoke up? Then he'd be alone in his solidarity, and alone wasn't a good thing to be.
He didn't know what to do, so he gave a glance over to Mizuki, somewhat reluctantly, searching her face for any sign of what course to take.
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Post by walkerm on Apr 19, 2012 23:44:17 GMT -5
Masami Saito's appearance was unsettling, to say the least. Oh, it wasn't that he'd magically appeared out of nowhere like a ghost (or a mirage, come to think of it.) He'd showed up from somewhere, same as any person, as mundane as could be. But that wasn't what threw her off, oh, no. Mizuki had, in all honesty, not expected to see the jounin for the remainder of the day. She'd figured, since he'd left them behind in the desert, he meant to stay good and gone, and for a while. That he hadn't brought up questions - the forefront of the host being 'Had he followed them the whole time?' Pride made her think that, no, that was impossible. How could he hide in a desert whilst following them? There wasn't anywhere to hide! Later reflection would reveal to her that, actually, in case she'd forgotten, he was a jounin, whereas she was a newly-graduated genin fresh out of the academy. Hiding himself from them would have been a piece of cake.
Whatever the case was, the man had appeared, and the full Team Masami was once again gathered. Masami's purpose, as it were, was to address them in his capacity as a most high and mighty jounin - and if a part of that was to cow the three genin, it worked on her end. Masami was fearsome, and, having just taken a beating at his hands (and not even at half his full power - probably less than that, Mizuki figured), the girl would not soon forget how powerless she was before him. When their sensei invited the three to ask of him any questions that they might have, Shouten immediately blasted off into a heated spiel detailing just how unfair their desert encounter was, yada yada yada. And Mizuki couldn't help but feel a bit miffed that Shouten actually thought he could have killed either her or Daisuke. Sure, he was from the fancy Li Clan and had his fancy-pants jutsu, but he was still a genin, same as them. It was actually really insulting that he thought so little of their abilities. And, in fact, had Masami not been present, she would have snapped at him. As it was, however, while she might feel at least a little on par with the boys and therefore more open in her interactions, Masami was whole 'nother beast entirely, and her awe and fear moved her to shrink inward.
Involuntarily, without any conscious thought, she finally gave into that urge to fiddle with her hair. As she twisted the strands around her finger, she glanced over at Daisuke, and then at Shouten, before settling her gaze on their jounin-Sensei. With a swift, brusque jerk of her head, she negated any indication that she was going to ask something. At least, for the time being, anyhow. She did have a question, but it didn't have anything to do with reflecting on their battle.
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Post by Masami Saito on Apr 20, 2012 8:19:53 GMT -5
It was interesting to watch the way in which his new team interacted with one another. Clearly, there had been no rapport built between the three of them, as they seemed to exhibit something of a trust problem. From all he had observed, Mizuki was having the most trouble adapting to having these two boys as her companions. Although like any other she was prone to the censorship and inhibitions which her own mind placed on her as to what was considered socially acceptable, something had clearly been bothering her since the three began their conversation. If Masami had to guess, she had a few unvoiced concerns of her own, whether in regards to himself or Daisuke and Shouten. Regardless of this suspicion, he would not press her on that matter at all. One's business should be left up to oneself, lest said person choose to divulge their matters. If she would not speak, then he saw no reason to try and encourage her any further.
On the subject of a lack of speech, it seemed as if Shouten had been put in something of an awkward position for a boy of his age. Shouten's excitable nature had been no secret to Masami nearly from the moment the team met one another. Yet there was something else about the way in which he spoke that led Masami to take an extra moment to consider and appraise the action. At first glance, he might be tempted to dismiss Shouten's outburst as an immature tantrum of sorts. In fact, the word 'immature' may be too strong in this situation, as he was sure that even grown men might have a reaction of this nature if they were subjected to the same examination. Thinking about it, there was in fact little else to his action. It had been an outburst, and yet that outburst spoke volumes about his character. Judging from the way in which he had immediately responded to Masami's prompting, Shouten's impulsivity stemmed deeper than Masami had necessarily understood previously. Considering the overall low amount of censorship that he subjected his thoughts to before allowing them to become speech, he could also tell that he did not have control over his impulsivity, as paradoxical as this may sound. This world is full of hot-blooded fighters and shinobi who run nearly on instinct alone. Some carve their destiny impulsively, making use of their unpredictability and quick reaction time to gain the upper-hand. However, kicking with both legs leads not to double the power, but to a fall. One must root one leg firmly, so as to supply a foundation upon which one can fall back if necessary. Impulsivity without the temperance of experience often led to tragedy, rather than success.
Shouten then looked to the remainder of his group, seemingly for support. Masami supposed he was feeling somewhat stranded at this point in time. Even he could remember a time in which he'd acted without properly thinking of the consequences, and had been left praying that some outside force would aid him, whether in the form of his team of some kind of divine intervention. It was entirely likely that, acting on impulse, Shouten had voiced his frustrations without realizing what he was saying, and had only now realized the implications of him saying such a thing to his teacher. However, regardless of his hope, it did not appear as though his new team had any desire to aid or support him in his folly. Masami could not blame them; after all, staying silent if one did not have something of worth to contribute was generally the best course of action. It either spoke volumes of the maturity of both Daisuke and Mizuki that they held their tongues, or it showed how petrified they were of him as a warrior. Such possibilities were not entirely unrelated, however; were one really mature, they would understand that goading the Jounin was not the best course of action.
Upon hearing Shouten's outburst, Masami's first thought was that Shouten should be disciplined, as he would need to better understand the dynamic between teacher and student. After all, what if in the future Masami elected to demand something of Shouten that at first seemed harsh, or unrealistic, and yet ended up being the better option for his own well-being? It would be foolish to allow Shouten to continue defying him, and may also lead to him believing he holds more sway over the group as a whole than he did. However, something stayed his actions, as he gazed back into the eyes of the newly accepted Genin. Each individual has a particular strength, of that Masami was absolutely certain. Some call it talent, some call it ability, but Masami thought of natural skill as more of a convergence of one's own personality traits than any sort of outside factor. Limiting this facet of Shouten's personality may stint development of skills that he may otherwise have mastered. Yet still, the Jounin could not allow this outburst to go unanswered, and as such he resolved to give Shouten an answer that would validly counter each point he made, yet not necessarily punish him physically or otherwise. After all, being countered or proven wrong in an argument would be enough of a punishment for a proud boy like Shouten.
”Your frustrations hold merit, I will say that. Anyone would feel anger after going through what you have just experienced. However, I myself like to think that you would rather be held to a standard of excellence, rather than being cast into the faceless crowd of mediocrity. As heir of the Li Clan, surely you would rather your predecessor see you being beaten while trying to challenge the best than see you dominate on a field of weaker opponents. I am merely giving you an outlet for what potential may lie dormant within you, however minimal it may be.” With that answer, Masami stopped for a moment to draw breath before continuing to address Shouten's other issues. ”As for your point about my changing the aim of the exercise midway through, I can tell you that you receive no sympathy from me on that front. A proper shinobi must not only be strong, but adaptable. They must be able to fight side by side with a man at one moment, and stop his heart in the next. In addition, as the three of you had already been discussing, you must know each other well. There is no better way to understand another than to engage them in heated combat. In the mix of adrenaline and aggression, one reveals more of himself than he would ever have allowed otherwise.”
Arriving at the topic of their possible injuries, Masami's face suddenly grew harsh, and his eyes exuded as much of a frigid chastisement as was needed. ”And when it comes to your possibly doing harm to one another, your limited skills as newly appointed Genin would have trouble doing enough damage to be worth noting. If anything, the environment was the danger in this examination, and such was the point. You say that if I were to fail you, I would be looking to avoid your death, however,” This Masami directed at the group as a whole, being sure not to stammer on a single syllable. ”I would rather have you die in a controlled environment than fail to serve your village well. At the very least, your death would then not interfere with more important matters.”
With that, Masami appeared to rest his case. Glancing to Daisuke and then to Mizuki to see if they had anything else to add, he closed his eyes and allowed his response a few moments to sink in completely before adding his final address to the group as a whole. ”You will need training before we can begin thinking about missions. I would like you to work on your skills, and the manner in which you do this will be entirely up to you. If you would like to work in solitude, you may do so. If you would prefer to challenge one another, feel free. As your teacher, I leave it to you to come and ask for instruction from me if you so desire. Before embarking on a mission, I will make sure you have made adequate strides in your training before continuing on with this plan. I hope I have made myself clear, and if you so require, I am not a difficult man to find.”
With that, Masami turned his back once more and walked off nonchalantly, obviously fully committed to moving on without recollection of the day's events. He had responded to the rant, and was now setting sights on the future. These three would either become powerful warriors, or they would perish eventually. The only thing Masami was certain of was that in the end they were just as cogs in a machine. Lifeless and faceless. He would examine them, instruct them, attempt to better them, but there would be no bonds of weakness between teacher and student. If the three chose to forge such bonds within their own ranks, that would be their own mistake.
THREAD END
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