Mid Term Assessment

[Zao]

Concealed deep within the center of the academy ground inside the twisting, almost maze-like, hallways that made up the large institution was the aptitude testing ground. All the student when they first arrive to the school go through this testing, at least the first half of it, in order to judge their natural skills and abilities to ensure that this mixed together with their personality testing help to place them in the proper house to facilitate their growth as warriors that someday may help support and defend the Crescent Coalition. On their first crack at this obstacle course the entry level students are only required to traverse the first half of the course but today the fifth-year students were coming up on their mid-year exams and as part of those written exams were also a series of practical evaluations.

The obstacle course inside the massive gymnasium was just one of those practical tests, at this moment the first fifth-year class was being led down from the other side of the school grounds where their normal classes were given down to where a slender youth with shaggy white hair stood. His blue irises seemed to encompass the entire iris and pupil put together, giving them a look as deep as an ocean as Ziv glanced over the first series of obstacles as the second-year student awaited the arrival of the students. As a second year they only took classes with about a quarter of their time, half was spent either working under another professor or as a teacher's assistant, depending on the skill set of the student, while the remaining time was filled with missions from either the academy or the Coalition.

A simple looking clip board could be seen in the jade like hands of the young man, on it was a list of names with four different grading criteria to judge each of the students on as they attempted to maneuver through the large obstacles. Then to the far right was their scores from the initial attempt at the beginning of the school year, which would allow the proctor like himself to accurately assess the student's growth and in which areas to better focus on teaching the students at the individual level as they progressed to being a fourth year, giving they passed their other testing requirements. "This names seems familiar...?"

[Ruudwig]

Susen was approaching today's evaluation with a sense of confidence. He had been getting good grades. He had been paying attention in class. He had kept up with his training and even spent most of his free time practicing new maneuvres. He expected to breeze through this evaluation with minimal effort. This feeling showed in his gait. With his chest puffed up and chin held high, he followed the rest of his classmates to the gymnasium.

They took several turns, going from one far side of the academy to the other, until the gymnasium and the proctor came in sight. When he noticed the proctor, his confidunce sunk into his shoes like hard lead. He didn't remember the kid's name, but he sure remembered his face. Those blue eyes and that telltale white hair. He had seen him around the school a few times ever since their little encounter, but Susen had been able to avoid him. What with the Sky-reach being an enormous place and the two boys being in different years.

Right until now.

Susen considered shuffling behind some other students to prevent himself from being seen, but he realized that would be pointless. At some point Susen would take his turn in the physical course and the white-haired kid would obviously notice him as he would grade him.
No, the best move would probably be to just do his best and hope their previous encounter didn't influince his grade. If the kid chose to screw him over, maybe Susen could complain to the staff about the proctor of the exam being biased.

Or something like that.

OOC InformationShow

Word count: 265

[Zao]

The first class arrived right on time, led by their homeroom teacher. The man approached Ziv with a gentle smile before speaking. “All of Class 1A is here except for Jungo. He snapped his leg during physical training two days ago and is in the recovery ward. That leaves twenty-five students present for the midterm physical assessment.” Ziv’s solid blue eyes dropped to the clipboard in his hand. With a pen in his left hand, he flipped to the second page, jotting down a note about the injured student, then returned to the front page.

“Thank you, Mr. Honso. I’ll take it from here. This first part of the test should take about an hour to an hour and a half. Anyone who performs exceptionally well will also have the chance to try a section of the second half.” The second half of the obstacle course, which filled the massive gymnasium, was part of the final exam. Anyone testing it today would gain an edge for the end-of-year assessment that determined eligibility for the fourth-year classes. “Hmm, that gives me time to catch up on some grading. If they finish early, send for me.” Ziv gave a polite bow. Though both were teachers, Ziv was only a teaching assistant, while Mr. Honso had been a full-time instructor for over five years. The bow was a gesture of respect for his senior.

With that, Mr. Honso nodded and returned to his classroom, leaving Ziv alone with the students. Holding the clipboard in his right hand, Ziv stepped into the center of the group. His lean frame and composed demeanor drew the attention of the younger classmen. Ziv wore a white kimono-style robe with navy-blue trim, tied at the waist with a matching sash. Simple black cloth pants and wooden sandals completed the look. His deep, ocean-like blue eyes swept across the group, moving from left to right before settling at the center. When he spoke, his soft voice carried a calm authority that made it clear everyone could hear him.

“Good morning. My name is Ziv, and I will be your proctor and evaluator for today’s midterm assessment. Everyone here has already experienced the first half of the obstacle course during your initial evaluation. That test assessed your physical capabilities and decision-making skills, which helped place you into your current house and class.” The students stood quietly, listening as Ziv continued.

“Today, we’ll use the same scoring metric as before. Your results will be shared with your teachers to evaluate your improvement and identify areas where you can grow. This will allow them to tailor their lessons to your individual needs.” He paused, allowing his words to settle before continuing. “We’ll proceed in alphabetical order. Please form two lines. As before, you’ll compete against a partner to push yourselves further.” Ziv’s eyes scanned the group, noting a few familiar faces from passing interactions. One name, Susen, tugged at his memory, but no face came to mind. Whatever had happened months ago was distant and unimportant to him now.

“If there are no questions,” he said, “we’ll begin with the first pair.”

[Ruudwig]

As the white-haired kid, who introduced himself as Ziv, gave no hint of recognizing Susen, the young man bit his lip and clenched his fist ever so tightly. Either he was mocking him or he had forgotten about their encounter completely, the thought of both of which pissed him off. "Alright then.", Susen thought to himself. "I'll show you what I'm made of.." Of course, he had to wait first. Many other students took their turns before Susen. The boy hardly paid any attention to their performance as he considered none of them competition, instead he stood there stewing in whatever negative feeling he couldn't put his finger on and focussing on his own test. Slowly the line before Susen became shorter.. and shorter..

Until he stood there at the edge of the obstacle course. To his right, another kid named Teru Satsumou. Susen knew him by name, but had interacted with him a grand total of two times in this semester. One time to ask if he could borrow a pen and the other time because he...

Because... Susen had honestly forgotten. Teru hadn't registered as even a blip on Susen's radar and he wasn't going to start paying attention to him now. Instead, as the signal sounded Susen dashed past the boy and into the obstacle course. The first few obstacles proved no challange for the boy at all. He easily zigzagged past several rotating training dummies, not letting the wooden arms meant to symbolize the enemy's blades even so much as graze him.

Next, he had to scale a wall using the tree climbing technique, which was something a student of his year had to have mastered already. Despite this, there were still young shinobi who struggled with this bit, meaning they had slacked off on training an essential basic jutsu that they had probably learned years ago but forgot to apply. Finding no problem here, Susen arrived at the top of the wall and...

!

The last third of the course came with a nasty surprise. The pupils were supposed to leap across several platforms that were stacked to a height of ten feet. Easy enough, if not for several launchers hidden in the walls shooting rubber shuriken at the students as they crossed the last stretch. Nothing lethal, but painful enough that you didn't want to get hit. Plus, each time a shuriken would hit the student it would symbolize getting hit with an enemy projectile. Which meant losing points. Luckily, Susen was able to deflect the one coming right to his face with his spear. The young shinobi would begin weaving his trusty polearm around his body at high speed, fluently moving it between his arms and around his body, deflecting projectiles left and right as he hopped across the parkour. Landing confidently at the finish. Susen would turn around to see Teru still had just started his platform section.

Boink

A rubber shuriken bounced off the back of Teru's head. The boy winced in pain and embarassment. Susen followed the boy with his eyes, surpressing a smile. It felt good knowing he was ahead of most of his classmates. Hell, it even dulled the sting of Ziv humiliating him earlier.

OOC informationShow

Word count: 536

Jutsu usedShow

* Kushou・The Courtier Taps his Fan
D-Ranked Taijutsu Maneuver
This simple technique involves proper use of the pole of the user’s weapon to deflect blows. By properly angling and manoeuvring their spear or staff they can deflect other like weapons, hand to hand blows or even sword blows by striking the right place at the right time, even while in motion.