[The Avian House] Welcome to the Aptitude Test

[Trusted Grader]

Do you have what it takes to be an Avian?
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Stressed, hair in a tangle, and fury driven up to maximum, AVIAN!? I thought I was assigned to be a Lupine Headmaster... Nehan crumbled the piece of paper that reported that she was now going to be the head teacher of Avians until they found a suitable replacement or Nehan became more comfortable with that role. "IKANBIIIII!!!" Nehan punched her wall so hard half the school would feel it, fortunately, it was so early that most kids were asleep when the miniature quake happened.

On the other side of the Orphanage was a young boy getting ready for his first day in the Orphanage, the Inauguration was rather interesting but it all went by so fast that he barely got the chance to introduce himself to the other students, let alone get comfortable with the fact that he was now a freshman in an orphanage, which was strange. No matter, the boy was quick to push through the gathering class, he wanted to make sure that he got in the classroom as one of the first because he wanted to pick out a spot that would allow him to find a way to sneak out of it.

Unfortunately, they weren't going to have regular class, no, the kids had been told by their class representative that they were going to have to do an aptitude test, Aptitude test? What does that even mean? Shit... Was I supposed to study for something? Did I miss anything? The other kids seemed to speak his thoughts out loud, he looked over a the wall and saw how his shadow shrugged, his "Twin" seemed to be as confused as Yume, but no matter, if there was a test then the kid would do his best to prove that he was worthy of staying here, even though he barely understood why he had been chosen to be an Avian.

They walked down the maze-like halls, his nerves were getting the best of him and he felt how he was starting to question if he was good enough for this Orphanage, it was pristine and clean, but he felt like he wasn't worthy, well that was until they reached a classroom that appeared to be a massive obstacle course, with climbing walls, ball pits, and fiery hoops that they would have to get past, the course looked both fun and a bit dangerous if Yume was honest, but there was no point in complaining now, for the boy was already smiling. Oh... I thought we would have to do some stupid math test or something. Yume chuckled while his shadow just nodded at him.

Nehan entered the room and looked over the kids for a brief second, then let a sigh roll out of her breath, she wasn't sure if she was going to be a good Avian teacher as she had mentally prepared to be a Lupine teacher but such was life. She kept quiet until the room filled up with the students who were going to take the aptitude test.

Yume stopped looking at his shadow and turned to face a boy who looked strikingly similar to him, at first he was taken back as he had never seen anyone look so alike him, he was taken back a little, wondering if he was some long-lost brother before he would give him a nod while his goofy "Twin" would do an exaggerated hand wave before slithering his way to Ziv, he would place himself under his shadow and hide for a while, Yume was sure he didn't notice the shadow when he waved as most people didn't look at his shadow until it became 3 dimensional or when it attacked.

---

616/600 +1 Chakra

[Zao]

Ziv had just arrived at the school, barely able to even get settled into the new living arrangements made by his father's old friend before being thrust out into this testing stage. Supposedly it was a sort of aptitude testing to judge the potential of each new student along with assignments to which respective house of the three branches within the school system. With this school being located out of the major five countries and within the remote part of this new Coalition of countries his late father hoped that it would be a place for him to slowly grow as a young man and as a shinobi. Hopefully without being placed in his father's shadow for both the Spirit Saint's achievements and his great mistakes one in the same.

The bright blue eyes of the white haired kid seemed to take up his entire eye, almost as if their was no pupil to be found as carefully walked through a series of wide hallways that almost felt like some sort of maze to the freshman. But eventually he was able to decipher his own way to the testing chambers where he would come across another handful of newer students that appeared tonall be here for the same exact reason, the aptitude test. But as for what that test actually consisted of, who really knew exact for the head instructors. Yet, as the simple looking child entered into the large exam area he couldn't help but freeze momentarily at the sight of a single individual.

It was the mature looking woman that caught his eye, not because of her looking or any sort of strange infatuation but instead the tiny hair's on the back of his neck stood up. 'This woman is...' The one he was Hyper focused on for that moment was none other than an S-rank missing-nin known as Nehan. Part of the gifts left by his father was two scrolls, a few strange weapons, and lastly a bingo book. That woman was one of the people contained in that book, he tried to breath slowly and diverted his bright eyes to the ground and away from this figure as he attempted to navigate to the line of those waiting to be tested.

Attempting to look anywhere but the dangerous woman in the room he began sneaking glances at the other students. Due to his up bringing Ziv hadn't had really any interactions with kids his own age or even to man humans for that matter after his father had placed him under the care of the monkey king in order to hide his presence from the world. He didn't fully understand why or even what his father had done to warrant such actions...Sadly he was unable to ask him now. As he was sneaking looks he spotted another figure about his age who had a few similar features to himself and it caused him to produce a slight smile as he nodded at the fellow student. Perhaps after this he could introduce himself, it would be good to make some friends in this place...


517 words

[Trusted Grader]

"Welcome to the Avian house children, my name is Kijo, Nehan, hopefully, none of you have heard of me, for that would mean that your parents haven't been nice to you and told you what some would call horror stories, but no matter, we are not here to dwell on the past but here to carve a better future for all of us. WE are going to test you out on this aptitude test, this obstacle course will be your new training ground, where you will learn how to always be on the move, whether it is by leaping around in the air like a fre— I mean, leap around to make yourself a harder target, for we here in the Avian house are proud supporters, we don't focus on glory nor do we focus on rushing into battle headfirst like a fool." Nehan crossed her arms, Unlike me... Heh... She looked over at the kids, Yume and Ziv looked so similar that she wondered if these two were siblings, but when she spotted Ziv give Yume a slight smile, it told her what she needed to know.

Yume continued to listen to Nehan, he wanted to laugh at the idea of her almost cursing but stopped himself, the other kids didn't they giggled as they understood that she was about to say "Freak", no, Yume was rather focused on Ziv, he had caught his attention almost as much as the obstacle course, he had a mix of emotions when it came to all of this, he was both excited, a bit afraid and intrigued. His shadow would pop his hand out of Ziv's shadow and attempt to shake his hand as Yume inched closer to him, he would share another nod and a grin, indicating that "Yeah, that's my shadow" whether or not Ziv shook the shadows hand didn't matter for Nehan would notice that the two boys didn't seem to pay attention, unlike the rest of the class.

"Seems that we have two volunteers, and they are even willing to do it without instructions as well, mighty impressive." Yume stopped looking at Ziv, his eyes barely moved towards Nehan as she vanished from thin air and appeared right next to the two. Whoa! She can teleport!? No, but her movement speed was so great that none of the kids would be able to perceive it, in fact, from her perspective she had been standing beside them for a while, while in reality she immediately grabbed their shoulders.

"You two seem to want to socialize instead of listening to your teacher, so, show the rest of the class now what the two of you are made of." Nehan pushed them both forward, her strength was immensely dialled back but both Ziv and Yume would be able to tell that she was strong for it felt like they had been touched by hardened metal, the push would force Yume and Ziv in front of the class, where they were given a single opportunity to raise their protest, but if they did then they would be singled out as trouble makers already.

Yume's ego could not tolerate this, so he wiped his nose with a cocky attitude and then nodded at Ziv. "Pss, I don't need instructions, I was born ready."" Yume acted tougher than he was, he tilted his head back before he nodded at Ziv, unsure if the kid was confident or not as he had noticed a look of fear in his eyes as he had spotted Nehan, perhaps the boy was afraid of their teacher. No matter, Yume activated his doujutsu and sent a piece of his consciousness within Ziv. "You got this!", Yume would say to his ally before he would fist bump both his brother and Ziv.

---

632/600 +1 Chakra

MetaShow

[Musou • Positive Reinforcement]
D-Rank Status Doujutsu
Prerequisite: Musou
After forming a set of hand seals or channeling chakra, Yume concentrates his chakra on his eyes, once ready they will twirl, which will send out a portion of their consciousness at a speed of [Control] to a range of 10 meters. If it makes contact with its ally, Yume can insert a single thought into the target's head. Things such as "You got this", "Don't fall for their trap" and "You are trapped within a genjutsu." Their ally will be able to discern where the thought appeared from as this isn't an invasive thought but rather him assisting his allies. But if they are trapped within a genjutsu then it's a battle of the enemies [Will] vs the user's [Control]. The user has a -1 [Will] for the duration of the technique.

[Zao]

Ziv had been completely obvious to the fact that the fellow student had sent his 'shadow' over into his, something that his father had probably written about in his journals but in that moment, he couldn't recall anything due to the sheer shock he received when he caught the slightest hint of movement out of the bottom of his vision, having briefly looked away from Yume after the boy made eye contact back with him. A shadowy hand reached up from the depth of his own shadow at that point and it was all that he could do not to let out a startled scream of his own, perhaps only due to the setting that he found himself within and the other fact being the scary woman who was talking to them at the moment. Who knew what might transpire if he had made some sort of noise and interrupted her, but with barely a sound squeaking past his lips the body slide back a few steps instinctively distancing himself from the 'handshake' that was being offered by the boy who had similar features to his own.

The white-haired boy lifted his bright eyes back to the owner of the shadow with a slightly startled look still on his young face, unsure of what to make of things but the look he received was enough from the fellow student to understand with his own experiences that whatever it was it belonged to the boy. Perhaps he was just trying to be friendly or make friends with him, both of which would have been great in the eyes of Ziv if it hadn't been right in the middle of the introduction speech from Nehan. Before he could turn his eyes back onto the next words that were spoken something about having two volunteers a taller figure appeared to his right, in between both Yume and he, it was none other than the head teacher! His mind said to move as he tried to speak, "Wait. Umm!" But it was to late for both of them as the moment the woman appeared to teleport next to the two similar looking boys an iron clad grip accompanied the appearance leaving the boy with a feeling that a mountain had descended upon him leaving him unable to even move a single muscle as his words were immediately cut off.

Her fingers felt like pieces of steel as he felt her easily move him forward, just what was this crazy woman's body made of?! Without any hope in resisting, even fearing what might happen if he tried to, Ziv was rapidly pushed forward from his previous position in the back of the gather to out in front of the entire group now as the shocked look from the appearance of Nehan beside him still worn on his small face. It was truly too late to try and talk his way out of this, only lowering his head for a moment and taking a deep breath to try and reset his mind, it seemed that just trying to make friends could be troublesome here. Exhaling out the deep breath he lifted his brilliant blue eyes and shifted his gaze toward his now opponent, he guessed, for what ever this aptitude test really was. He was one who loved to understand the details of things, it was one of the things that drew him into the art of puppetry, fueled by being able to take apart and learn about the puppets his father had hand crafted. Shaking his head a bit, understanding that the only way to continue to move forward was to place one foot in front of the other, despite what might lay in front of them Ziv steeled his thoughts as Yume looked at him.

As he made eye contact, he felt something, something that he wasn't familiar with, but it was accompanied with the words from his opponent now who raised his hand up in a fist bump. Something in those words seemed to help him focus, he could do this. A gentle smile graced the boy's thin lips now as he nodded and raised his tiny hand up to return the fist bump. He was strangely excited inside now to see what this test really consisted of...


517 + 715 = 1232 words

[Trusted Grader]

With no words being shared, the two boys would have to prep for what would come ahead, the first obstacle was a wall that reached 4 meters high, there were ropes hanging down to allow them to climb up, but there were other ways around it, the wall covered the next three obstacles but further back they would see a massive wall with nets and rings hanging in a web of confusion. This caused Yume to sweat a little, he might have overestimated his skills, for if he failed then this would be an embarrassment, but it still looked fun.

Yume looked over at Ziv once again before Nehan leaned in between the boys, "Are you guys just going to stand there or?" Yume looked forward and was just about to start when he heard a strange voice call out to the boys. "Ey yo, stop!" A dark-skinned man dressed in a black-on-black suit reached out and stopped the boys. From their perspective, he would just appear out of nowhere, but Nehan's perception was fast enough to spot him coming from a mile away.

"Why?"

You can't just send them out without any instructions, they can injure themselves and stop their progress." The man replied.

"Who are you?" Nehan was a bit confused, she knew that he was supposedly a teacher, or was he just someone who wandered into her class?

"I am the new Avian teacher, Mahou, Hozok." Hozok pushed up his black shades as he grinned, the kids bowed before the teacher stood straight. "Alright kids, the first obstacle is a wall you have to climb, you can either use the rope, chakra on your feet, or whatever you can come up with to get over it as fast as possible.

Following that we have moving boxes that you will have to jump on (10 speed), third is a smaller walled section that is separated by three bars, each placed in between the walls. Once you are on the third wall you are to run on the back wall and get through the hoops, try to not get tangled in the ropes but also use them to your advantage.

The fifth obstacle is a large suspended tunnel that leads to multiple swings that take you back down, we are keeping the obstacle levels to those for today as we are not here for the exam, just the aptitude test. [Hozok looks over at Nehan] You can go to the Lupine house, I'll take over their education from here on out." Nehan grinned and nodded, she looked over at Ziv who had been the only one to react to her presence as if he knew her before exiting the building.

"Was that understood? Begin!"

Yume planned ahead, he knew that if he wanted to beat Ziv then he would have to stay focused, he began by rushing towards the edge of the platform before leaping towards the wall, his twin had already moved ahead, the 2D shadow protruded a hand out from the wall and pushed Yume up to the top, "Don't disappoint me!" Yume chuckled, he was already getting cocky but he had just cleared the first obstacle, who was to say that he would be successful in the upcoming ones?

He lept onto the first box as it moved towards the center, the other two were moving diagonally from each other, while the last one was moving up and down, this was to help them get up on the upcoming wall. Crap, this was harder than I expected! Yume wasn't about to give up, Ziv's boxes would move identically to his so the race was truly on.

---

611/600 +1 Speed.

[Zao]

'I don't understand any of this!?' The youth panicked a bit as he looked out at the huge obstacle course that had been prepared the student assessment, Ziv worked to control his breathing, this would be the first test for him since he had appeared in this country from the spirit world, it shouldn't be as hard as anything he was already doing there, right? Exhaling a big breath, he focused his almost glowing blue eyes that seemed to lack any puppet at the first obstacle, the large wall. Seemed simple enough but he wasn't sure exactly what was behind the wall, which seemed on purpose for those first challenging the course to have some surprise about the next couple obstacles and force them to think on their feet in order to come up with the best strategy to conquer each of them. Bust just as they prepared to start this crazy obstacle race, someone else popped up out of nowhere causing the white-haired kid to jump slightly to the opposing side of Hozok's arrival. This one was a dark-skinned shinobi dressed in black on black, guess he really like the color black as he even wore black sunglasses, weren't they indoors?

Ziv could only shoot a questing look at Hozok and then look back and forth to Nehan and him a few times before stealing a look around the new man to see what the situation for Yume was, was he as questioning as himself about what the hell was really going on here. It would seem that after some discussion, this Hozok guy was the appointed teacher for their house, 'Thank goodness! At least it isn't that crazy lady. ' If the youth was religious, he would have sent up a prayer of thanks that for now he wouldn't have to be in the presence of Nehan, who knew what could happen.

With his formal introduction, the white haired Saisuko responded in kind with the rest of the class giving a gentle bow as a respectful greeting towards their teacher who unlike the other began to explain the first part of the course in front of them and what lay beyond the wall. It seemed that this course had a bit more difficulty that Ziv had given it credit from the sounds of Hozok's detailed words about it, but this was also probably designed for those just joining the ranks of the academy, while people like Yume and himself had already been learning about and using their chakra for a few years at this point. "Understood." He replied with his soft voice giving the affirmation that he understood the man's words as he turned briefly back to Yume giving him a polite nod and then focused his blue eyes on the large wall in front of him.

Then with a word from the instructor the race started, leaning forward slightly the boy felt his strong legs tense up before he pushed off the ground running forward towards the wall and the ropes that hung down from the top. Yume was a bit faster than him in a straight-line race it seemed as the boy pulled ahead on the short sprint towards the wall as Ziv caught a glimpse of that weird shadowy thingy of his opponents for a second time, this time he used it as a launching platform to help him quickly ascend the giant wall. But there were a few things Ziv was confident in himself in, one was his chakra control and the second was his current level of strength after his time spent in the elephant spirit world where strength is considered the number one thing for those in charge. Reaching the wall, he pushed one foot up and forward as he planted it against the surface of the wall and used it to spring himself a few meters into the air where his tiny hands grasped hold of the braided rope.

Drawing on the strength in his arms and back he seemed to almost slingshot himself upwards as he threw his arms down putting his body in motion as it almost seemed to fly upwards close to the top edge of the wall, from there he reached out and grabbed the edge of the wall. In a similar pulling motion as before he would pull himself up on top of the wall structure now, landing in a kneeling position as he lifted his gaze to take in the large course in most of its entirety now. 'Wow!' He was awe struck for a second before quickly shook it off as he looked down from the wall at the next obstacle: a trio of moving boxes. The first was moving back and forth, the second set diagonal, the last one was strangely moving up and down; were they controlled by some sort of chakra? "At least the first one isn't too bad. "The words were more for his own self encouragement as he timed the first back that moved at an impressive speed, at least from the youth's perspective and skill level, but it moved directly towards the wall making it the easiest one to mount.

As it neared the boy started moving rapidly forward and as it approached its end point closest to the genin he leaped out and firmly landed upon the box that then suddenly changed its direction of movement heading back now towards the other box force Ziv to regain his balance as it transitioned. His eyes looked at the second set of boxes, the ones moving diagonally, but he could tell that they weren't in the best of sync as the back-and-forth box hit its end point the diagonal one was still too far away to make a clean, calculated jump so he'd have to try again as the box headed back towards the tall wall. With a short break he turned his eyes to the other side of the course to see how his new friend was doing.

999 + 1232 = 2231 words

[Trusted Grader]

Yume watched how Ziv kept up, forcing him to pick up the pace. I can't let you win! Yume didn't know why he got so competitive around Ziv, perhaps because they looked like brothers. Maybe he reminded him of his shadow twin, no matter, he lept onto the second box and skipped the third to jump the fourth. He slammed into the box and held on with dear life. He tried to push himself up but struggled harder once the box started going upwards, fighting gravity the boy's shadow once again came with the clutch, pushing his bro up and on the box.

"Thanks brotha!" Yume chuckled as he looked back, he tried to see if he was ahead of Ziv but to his surprise, they were neck and neck, I can't underestimate this guy... Yume had no idea how he operated but would have to contend with the knowledge that he was still keeping up. The next part would be interesting, for they had to leap off the box and onto the wall, fortunately, it was wide enough for them to stand atop, here they would see the three bars that they would have to interchange jump between the walls.

Yume was already in the air the second his foot planted on the wall, he couldn't waste any time hoping that he would get in front of the puppeteer and instead focused on what he could get out of this exercise. He had to prove that he was something, that he belonged in this house, that he didn't have to move yet again. Gritting his teeth, the boy grabbed the railing and pushed himself onto the next wall, bounced up, and repeated the pattern until they landed on the last platform that would lead them to the massive running wall.

The sideways obstacle would be the real test, here they would have to figure out how they were going to jump against gravity in a way that pushed them back toward the wall. Man... I wish we at least had a demonstration... Yume spotted how his wall went behind Ziv's, meaning that they wouldn't be able to see each other's progress. No matter! Yume thought as he pushed up the wall, the first obstacle was the ring that was up from his perspective by 3 meters, the problem was that if he jumped he would be pulled by gravity, meaning he'd have to find a way through the hole. Use the ring. Yume lept and grabbed the ring before spotting the rope that was on the other side. I see.

He used it to swing back to the wall then continued the dash at full speed towards the next ring, this time he would clear it and use the swing, combined with his momentum to swing across the final ring and into the shoot that would swing him into the tunnel. Final stretch is near, come on Yume, you got this. His body was aching, legs were shaking but the final stretch was within reach, could Yume win or was Ziv already ahead of him? For now, neither would have a clue, the race was on and the boys seemed to be neck in neck.

Hozok watched and chuckled, he couldn't see what Yume was up to but Ziv's actions entertained him, he was secretly inspecting what he needed to train the kid, for he had been doing this for a couple of years, he was just late to party was all. "Come on now, y'all are at the final stretch. Don't disappoint me now." Hozok got the kids rowdy, they cheered on the kids, switching between the names as they couldn't decide who they wanted to win, for now.

---

621/600 +1 Strength

[Zao]

His comrade was one step ahead, that shadow of his truly was quite the helper at times, his box was already moving back towards the diagonal ones now and thankfully this time they were going to link up much closer toward their end points as Ziv prepared himself. Bending down in a crouched position, he leaned forward letting his hands grip along the wooden edge of the box he was currently on at it moved back toward the end of its route. 'One, two, three!' He counted in his head for the moment to jump and finally at three he pushed off with all his might leaping up a few meters into the air from the strength of his legs before coming back down right in center of the box. 'Made it!' As he came down the box abruptly changed directions moving diagonally back the way it had come causing the boy to tumble over at this point, luckily the box was big enough that he only fell on his side, catching himself with his hands, instead of off the side. How embarrassing would that have been?

Letting out a sigh of relief he quickly jumped back up on his feet this time, his bright eyes shifting up to track the path of the other box, this one was able to strangely float up and down. He wondered again just what kind of fuuinjutsu or ninjutsu was in use here to make the boxes here move in such unorthodox manners. "This isn't going to work." Ziv whispered to himself as he looked at the moment pattern of his box and the next one. It was already at the box of its route and started back up, it was much like the last box jump where he'd been delayed because the two routes weren't in sync with each other. But if this continued his friend would get too far ahead for him to be able to catch up. There really weren't any rules explained about what they could or could do or use on the obstacle course. Perhaps that meant they were free to use any means necessary, without attacking their opponent (at least his believed that much) to make one's way through this jungle of challenges.

"Very well!" With his mind made up and focused once again, both of his hands came together almost in what looked like prayer hands, chakra glowed around both of them as he then pushed both arms outwards and the fingers on each hand extended straight towards the vertical moving box. Ten threads of cyan blue chakra extended in only a few moments across the fifteen-meter gap over to the box that had already started its upward ascent towards the top of the second, shorter wall. Both of his hands then curled into fist before he ripped them backwards and down behind him as though yanking on a rope as he shortened the length of the string at the same time. This action launched the child from the diagonal moving box into the air and up to the edge of the up and down box as it traversed upwards in that moment, but he had miscalculated the power needed and found himself slowing down in mix air, not quite going to make it to the box's top. "Crap!"

Chakra flowed into the right arm as flipped open the right hand and from within the sleeve of his oriental style kimono robe, a thin black rod about a foot in length seemed to slide out of it and into the grasp of the same hand. It was gripped tightly as he drew back and performed and overhead stabbing motion piercing the black rod into the side of the box, leaving himself hanging by one hand as the box continued towards the top of the wall. His head hung down for a minute and he shook his head, reaching up with his left hand the boy grabbed a spot on the rod and used it to climb up to the edge and finally to the top of the box. With a swift jump his feet landed squarely atop the second wall now as he looked forward at the next set of obstacles, this one at least appeared a bit easier, but he couldn't help but glance over at his opponent who had arrived just a moment before him and had already pushed off the top of the wall.

'No time to catch my breath.' A bit behind Yume, Ziv leaped off the wall and pushed chakra into the soles of his wooden sandals, allowing for him to safely stick to the thin metal bars that were placed one in between each second of triple walls. Attempting to keep his movement fluid he only took the time he needed to crouch slightly to ensure a stable position before leaping to the next and the next, quickly clearing the triple wall obstacle moving on to the hoop one. Landing on the last wall that was built more like a platform he turned to his right and hit almost a dead sprint, racing across the wall to the next challenge point. A race to the finish, as he observed the rings on the other side of the wall, they were supposed to travel through with the last ring leading to a tunnel he also took note that he couldn't see the rings for Yume, guess he had no was after this to judge how close they were. With no method to pace himself he would just have to go all out till the end, since they also weren't running the entire course this time Ziv could afford to push himself harder than he would have known there was still another half of the course to do.

Chakra threads attached to the corner of the wall, and he used them like a swing as he stepped off the edge of his wall now and swung down to the first ring slipping through it as his other hand projected more threads onto the wall allowing for him to swing into the wall, then push off with his legs swinging towards the second ring. He definitely would have been a little bit slower if he had tried to use the ropes hanging there, but he was attempting to make up time against Yume at this point, unsure of how far ahead or behind he was right now. Reaching the third ring he actually used it as a swing, as he swung into it front his chakra threads before landing his feet on its and allowing his moment to carry him forwards up towards the suspended tunnel a short distance away.

As the ring swung up Zao would let go and leap upwards towards the tunnel now, tucking his body so as to allow him to go in feet first, it almost felt like the covered slide you played in as a kid as the world went dark for a moment at, he could only see the pin hole of light at the end. Feeling how just the short obstacle course so far had him breathing heavily and his arms and legs a bit weak. "This should be the final obstacle!"


1207 + 2231 = 3538 Words Endurance training

[Trusted Grader]

Yume slid through the last part of the slide and began to crawl on all fours when it came to the tunnel section, he heard how Ziv made a commotion as well but his came a bit ahead of him, meaning that he had gained some momentum during the last part of the obstacle course. Damn it! I have to pick up the pace! Easy to say when your muscles began to ache, his legs and arms were starting to question whether what Yume was doing was even healthy for he had never utilized his body to this extent before, at least not to such short notice.

Yume crawled out of the tunnel and spotted Ziv exit his just before he did. the last two obstacles were easy, well, would be easy if Yume wasn't already sweating, there were signs that they were forced to either maneuver around by jumping downwards or climb down the ropes to their levels before descending the next part. Yume, thinking he was tough jumped down the first swing and landed hard on the first platform, he instantly regretted that decision as he rolled to his knees still feeling the impact of his rough landing.

Rolling over the edge, the boy reached out to grab the second rope and was captured by his twin who swung him to the rope, grabbing on to dear life the boy would have to contest with swinging back and forth for a couple of seconds before he could begin his downward climb. Come on Yume! There's only two left, don't give up just yet! Yume almost lost his grip but noticed that he was near the platform so he let go, this landing was a lot smoother and gave him a bit of confidence, he had no time to check for where his ally was for the race was on, the last stretch was within reach.

"Come on now kids, who's going to be the winner? The white-haired boy with the blue eyes, or the blue-eyed boy with the hair hair. " The rest of the class laughed with Hozok. "Also, try not to break your legs this early, for this is still just an aptitude test, you can't fail this." One could fail but it wasn't like they would have to redo class, they just had to physically train until they were capable of at least completing the aptitude test, so Hozok wasn't all too worried that most of the class wouldn't make it, as there was no time limit after all. Don't disappoint me. Hozok had already read their files and knew that these two had been singled out as special kids, so it was important for Hozok that these two did well, to help him shape up the rest.

Yume now stressed to the max, leaped for the second to last rope and lost his grip, his shadow grabbed his heel but fell with Yume, with quick thinking the shadow returned to 2D, rushed ahead of him as Yume activated his Doujutsu and returned to 3D below him, he would catch Yume and the both of them would crash to the hard platform. For a brief second, the boy would contemplate if it was worth trying to fight his way out of the pain or just give in. His shadow thought the contrary and pushed him off of him, signaling that Yume should focus on the last rope, which he did.

With great pain the boy would climb down the last set and then leap to the finish line, he would crash on the floor in a puddle of sweat, and his breathing was hard as if it was trying to catch up to 10 years of smoking, but either way, the boy had now finished the aptitude test, what the results were was unknown to him for the time being.

---

644/600 +1 Endurance.

[Zao]

The pin hole of light at the end of the long tunnel grew larger and larger as the boy had transitioned onto his hands and knees after swinging himself into the suspended obstacle, he knew that at the end of this long tunnel would be the large set of obstacles that not only him but his new friend and competitor Yume would face to finish out the first half of this course for the aptitude test. He had no idea how or even who was there scoring them or what they used from this performance to determine the student's aptitude, but all he knew in that moment was that he didn't care about any of that. Ziv had finally found a bit of competition inside his body, it allowed for him to push past the burning sensation in his legs from being in such a cramped space in this position, the feeling radiated not only through his legs but in his forearms and biceps, even now into his shoulders as he attempted to push himself a little father, trying to keep his breathing steady as he neared the exit finally after what seemed like forever for the youth. He had no idea of knowing hard far along his fellow racer was but that just helped to fuel him to go until he couldn't in this last leg of the obstacle course assessment, with a final he made it out of the tunnel and was able to finally stand back up as his body ached from crawling in the position.

'Down we go.' He quickly assessed the last couple of obstacles as he noticed his friend also exiting the tunnel a mere split second after himself. The pair had two options for climbing down, leap down to the series of offset platforms below or they could use a slightly safer, albite slower, route of swinging down and sliding down the ropes to each of the platforms. Despite what would have been normally his best interesting the boy made some hand seals and jumped, from his right sleeve a long spike of what appeared to be black metal shot downward and stabbed into the platform before Zao used his feet around it almost like a firepole, sliding down it and landing firmly on the first platform as he heard a smack on the other platform just before he'd touched down. His friend must have had the same idea as him, to leap down to the first platform, this sound told him that he didn't have the time to turn around and look or he would undoubtedly be passed by his opponent for taking even the briefest of breaks. Acting quickly he almost dove off the edge of the current platform as his tiny hands snagged the thick rope as he tried to stabilize himself in order to rapidly descend down to the next platform, using his body's momentum to cause the rope to swing as he neared the bottom in order to swing himself up onto the second platform.

Though in his exhausted state the boy swung a bit too far and ended up landing closer to the edge as he rolled and reached out grasping for the edge, barely able to cling on with a single hand, if he hadn't trained his strength back in the spirit realm it would have been a rough fall for him. But after a few moments he managed to recover as slowly hauled himself back onto the platform as he took off running and jumped to grab the third rope sliding down quickly. Timing the fourth platform better he landed dead center in a crouched position as his hands smacked the hard planks making up the structure. "Just a bit further, don't quiet, yet!" Summoning some of his last physical energy he, using both his arms and legs at this point the fatigued shinobi lifted his bright blue eyes onto the final prize, one more rope and then a sprint to the finish line. Catching Yume grabbing the rope ahead of him, Ziv pushed too and rolled off the edge of the last platform grabbing hold of the rope to make his final descent onto the ground floor. Yet, his strength had been pushed to its limits a little over halfway down the rope his finger strength gave out and his fell crashing into the solid floor below.

Attempting to ignore the pain in his legs and ankles, he managed to force himself up with his arms and began to quickly limp towards the finish line, it was this 'slip up' on Ziv's part that caused him to no be able to catch up to Yume in that last moment as the two leaped to the end point. His fellow white-haired friend managed to beat him by about a second in time as a few meters next to him he also collapsed first on to his backside, deep, heavy breaths being taken as he would eventually just flop down on his back and stare up at the ceiling of the testing room. Though he'd lost, the kid didn't really feel bad about it, more so just excited for having finished at this point as a rather unsightly pool of sweat was forming under his body as he laughed out loud a bit and turned to the other racer, "Just beat me. Nice one."

898 + 3538 = 4436 Endurance

[Trusted Grader]

Yume continued to lay on the floor, his heart beating out of his chest, he looked up from the ground, one eye closed the other at Ziv with Musou activated, then over at Hozok's feet, he couldn't believe it when the Teacher announced that he had won. "Good job, Eh... Zi... No... Yume, you won by a fraction of a second. Now, if you two hadn't been called out by Nehan-Sensei then I would've taught you guys how to perform the basic air walk technique that would've made this entire ordeal easier." Hozok demonstrated by air walking in front of the boys, he showed them that he was channeling chakra to his soles and creating makeshift barriers that allowed him to step on the air. Yume watched closely with intrigue, he wanted to figure out how to pull that maneuver off so that he could use it in a future situation, he had already figured out that this little aptitude test was to see what their bodies were made of but not the true purpose of the exercise.

That should be easy to perform... Yume looked over at his shadow who was already in 3D trying out the technique, the real dreamer was steady on the ground breathing hard next to Ziv, forcing himself up on all fours before pushing up the final part with the last of his strength, Yume kicked his hair back and looked Hozok deep in the eyes before his body was filled with shame. "Could've used that jutsu earlier, but whatever." He knew that it would be pointless to try to explain what had really happened as he expected the Teacher to abide by some noble camaraderie among other faculty workers. "But anyway, good job boys, I think you guys might have set the class record already, depending on how the rest of these sorry a—I mean candy a—These students perform. You two can take the rest of the class off. I would suggest talking to Adobaisu, Warui and see if you can get ahold of whatever psychological shit is holding you guys back."

Yume wanted to spit on the classroom floor but knew better than to tempt fate, he'd probably have to clean up after him if he did, instead, he chose to gloat in front of his comrades and walked in the air, he had already mastered the jutsu the second he saw it, his shadow just confirmed it and now he had proven it. His open eye shot over to Ziv and sent him the same message he had sent earlier. "You got this." He still hadn't asked for his name so he waited until he reached the back door, leaned against the wall, and forcefully opened the door. "¿Como te llamas?" Yume asked him in a language he had learned throughout the years as a traveling orphan, doing his best to impress the kid who looked like his twin. "¡Me llama Hōrō-sha, Yume!" Yume bowed as he let Ziv travel through first.

Yume would first go towards Warui's office before stopping midway to turn around and face Ziv. "How about we skip it and go out and do something else?" As soon as those words left his lips, he heard the creaky old voice of Warui dance over his. "How about not... Let's talk boys." Yume shivered as he slowly turned around to see Warui's office door being slightly ajar. He didn't want to enter, and he certainly didn't want to ask why his office was so close to the Avian gym halls. Even though the next part would be torturous, he would at least be able to endure it with his new friend, Ziv.

---

614/600 +1 Endurance.

[Zao]

Ziv already knew the answer of who one just based on the pair's arrival at the finish line, but he smiled and nodded back from his current position on the ground as he turned his head to look at Hozok as he spoke to them and the class as a whole now. It was hard to resist the urge to roll his eyes in the next moment, just because they had been called out by the former teacher didn't mean the man couldn't have taken some time to demonstrate the house technique. All he could do was shake his head back and forth one before bringing his arms up and placing both palms on the slightly damp ground, from his sweat, exerting himself in order to fully set up onto his bum at this point. After a few moments of light struggle, the white-haired youth reached up to push some of his wet locks to the right side of his face and watched the new teacher now as he began to demonstrate the basic air walk technique.

'Seems simple enough.' Ziv had a good understanding of chakra control, especially the basic water and tree walking techniques thanks to the time that he got to spend with his father before he appeared here. So, the concept that Hozok was presenting him with wasn't anything to advanced or even impressive, more so it was a unique view on how to utilize chakra in a temporary solid state, much like how one could create a solid construct of raw chakra to fight or defend with. "That would have been useful." A simple nod accompanying the boy's words as he closed his bright blue eyes, envisioning the technique within his thoughts for a moment. The technique was actually an interesting one, allowing the user to not really fly but find solid footing in many dangerous situations or move between long gaps in obstacles, if one was to use that technique when Yume and himself were pushing through the course it would have almost made it child's play, at least from his perspective if one had the chakra pool and control to maintain it throughout the entire course.

But it was too late to ponder on what ifs as he his almost glowing eyes snapped open, pushing himself forward to a knee he was able to manage himself into a somewhat shaky standing position now, his hands out to each side for a moment to gain some stability before allowing them to come into a resting position. "Thank you, Kozok-sensei." Respect, it was something almost bred into him within the spirit kingdom he had grown up within and even back here something he found himself doing out of habit, one should respect both their elders and teachers. Along with his words was a gentle bow of his head as he turned to follow his new friend, unsure of whom this Adobaisu, Warui person was, but he really wanted to just go back to his dorm room and rest up for a bit, following Yume at this point to the exit door.

He was unsure what the boy was saying, it sounded like some foreign language but Ziv only knew two languages and it was neither of them, but he tried to be polite and nodded before walking through the door. The pair made it out into the hallway and started toward the assigned office before his comrade turned to ask about just skipping this, which honestly the boy was completely on board with at the moment. "I can get...." He was cut off as he didn't realize just how close they were to that person's office and their voice seeped from the partially opened door, guess he wasn't getting any rest any time soon...

629 + 4436 = 5065 words = 8 Endurance Trained