Mission Details:

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When will the academy get good teachers? This is the second time I’ve taken a teaching job here. The first time was a delightful event with three unruly academy students needing assistance in taking their training seriously. It seemed that this “mission” involved a similar group. Thus I came prepared. Instructing that the class be moved outside for this demonstration. I was already outside, preparing the my materials for the “demonstration”. Kids these days didn’t have the determination that was ingrained in the older generations, that patriotic spirit the Konohagakure ninja were known for, apparently. The ninja I trained with in the Sunagakure before the fall were wholly dedicated to their ninja careers, whether it be for the pride of their clans and their own pride or for their own personal interest. My situation was a bit different however. No one forced me to be a ninja and there wasn’t much of a personal interest in actual becoming a ninja. I just did what I felt was necessary, to make me useful, and well, I suppose it worked. Already a few missions and commissions were completed with my help. Dead bear, weapon commissions, weapon testing, usual. (Apparently teaching at the academy was also covered in there.)

I sighed.

But anyways, regardless of a reason or not if these academy students did not want to focus on their training then it was best for them to not pursue the career. While that went for any career you were planning on taking, the life of a ninja only got harder the longer you spent in it. Compromising yourself for the sake of your village needs you to do, and in some cases that involves you killing others. Thankfully… I haven’t gotten to that point yet. However losing home and friends wasn’t anything new, so the job was easy, however I don’t think I could bring myself to kill someone else. Right now he only wanted to kill a select few people, however the Hokage still felt that he wasn’t ready for such a challenge. Honestly I was inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt, but after seeing how far I’ve come since first coming here, how much I’ve improved, it was nearing the time of the Hokage to keep their promise and reveal just who those three ninja are.

Though for now there were children to teach. I shrugged dismissively.

The footsteps behind indicated that his audience was approaching shortly. After a quick review over all the table verified that all the materials were still here. Another count to make sure nothing was missing. Check. Fastening the cloths binding the pinwheel on my back and a glance to the umbrella leaning against the demonstration table confirmed both their statuses. The scroll inside his jacket was also solidly held in place. Perfect.

Light footsteps cracked across the ground, still more people it seemed. I shrugged again, a habit perhaps a bit strange to the youngsters ‘round but at motion I carried absentmindedly. Swiftly I moved behind the presentation table, looking outward to the students from behind the safety of the massive titanium block on top of the table. ‘This didn’t look right…’ I noted sadly. There must have been at least two classes here. One. More. Than. Expected.

I sent a glare to the two academy teachers standing to the sides, they pretended not to see me. Good grief was I supposed to parade myself for two classes now? A bit of forewarning would’ve been nice. Then I could’ve ordered two titanium blocks. Oh well, it wasn’t like I could just make one class disappear. (Without killing them at least), a disturbing thought but I didn’t push it away, instead I simply shrugged again and waited for sign that everyone was here. As soon the classes settled down I began my presentation.

“So. There’s more of you than expected, but eh, doesn’t matter too much. Ain’t like yall are doing anything interesting.” Kisei shrugged. “Anyways, I came to talk to you why about the kinds of things I do as a… well-” (Totally forgot I’m not exactly a ninja anymore.) “A ninja associate.” I blurted, much to my dismay.

Immediately a little boy raised his hand and I called on them. “Yes?”

“What’s a ninja associate?”

Yeah. This was going to be a long and fun presentation. “Good question. Not going to answer that.” Yep. So fun.

“But anyways, my primary speciality is constructing weapons for ninja to use in battle, and in called upon; act as a ninja myself. These are my main weapons.” Reaching around the table I grabbed the handle of my pinwheel and flung it up in the air before dropping to a deep crouch and jumping after it. Spinning mid-air I unraveled my cloth bindings and grasped my pinwheel in my left hand. At this point the spiral took me upside down. With my other hand the umbrella was secured. The bindings drifted in a spiral towards the ground, my body however, wasn’t so aerodynamic and plummeted straight to the ground. Gasps from his audience followed the skillful display of agility, but I wasn’t done yet. With a simple thought and a flash of chakra Kisei traded places with the titanium block. Now crouched down on the table and the block falling straight for my head, I brought my umbrella skyward and clicked the trigger on the handle. Instantly a massive ball of energy shot out from the tip of the steel ornament, making contact with the metal block before shattering it into thousands of tiny pieces above them. The blast was shocking to the ears but the sight was phenomenal. As I stood up on the table sparks and the cloth spiraled around me as they fell, casting a beautiful background. “That, and acrobatics if you weren’t aware.”

Not too toot my own horn but I think they were pretty mind blown. A few sparse, nervous, claps snapped the air. Less than he would've hoped for all the effort he put into that but that was all for now. nervous claps, snapped through the air. Addressing them once more with a bow before moving behind the table. “So, as I’m sure you’re aware, I’m here to try to inspire you to get more serious about your education and training on the path to becoming hidden leaf ninja. However I’m not really all that inspiring.” I pulled out a simple sealing scroll from the inside of my jacket, placing flat on the table and unrolling it before addressing my audience. “When I’m not building weapons or writing, I’m out on missions.” Leaving out my status as a refugee and not an official member of the village. “Most of them are pretty simple. Kill something, protect something, find something or someone.” I shrugged. “There’s not much to say. You might not be interested in being a ninja, if so, drop out, there are plenty of other fields to go into. The life of a ninja, while pretty 'cool’, is also a pretty dangerous one. No one would blame ya for thinking seriously about what you want in life, and making your own decisions. Though I will say, being a ninja..” I paused, thinking about what I wanted to really push here. “Don't expect to be bored.” I smiled. 'Expect to be massively bored.’ was what I was meaning, but to these kids, well, they'll draw their own conclusions.

“But now kids, let's put this boring lecture aside and do something interesting.” Channeling a bit of energy into the scroll a massive puff of smoke engulf the engineer ninja and the table. Moments later the dank mist dispersed to reveal a massive grin of their face, sitting on top a much larger skull shaped puppet. “First person to catch me will be excused from homework for the rest of the week.” I called out. It took a moment for this to process through the children however at soon as the news caught up to their brains, but the moment that happened he was bombarded with twenty five or so children flying like bullets towards him. With a smile I directed my puppet’s bottom teeth to shoot out towards the ground, acting as pump to propel the puppet backwards, just out of the academy student’s reach. “What? You think I’m just going to stand there and take it?” I laughed. The petty taunt was an obvious move but when it came to kids like these obvious was easiest.

I would have kept my smug attitude for longer but it would seem that these weren’t normal kids. Subtle vibrations from behind me signalled that not all was as it seemed. Looking off to the side I saw piles and kids holding down the puppet. Despite their weak strengths, individually they had quite a the force behind them. Despite the superior power of the puppet this number of kids was going to be troublesome to deal with, if he didn’t want to hurt them.

For the next thirty minutes I would end up playing with these kids. They put up a pretty good fight. In the end they ended up on the ground, too tired to continued. Now as much as I would like to say that I came out of this flawlessly, nope. Somehow I had lost a jacket and half my shirt in the battle, and had resorted to using his umbrella to hide his frame. As the academy students were sent home he was given a stark talking to by the teacher for going all out against their charges. As usually I blushed through the conversation, leaving with a bit more money in my pockets.


[Exit]
[Mission Complete]
1660/1500
160 words left