HEY KIDS LETS BUILD A GUNDAM

[Octopus Garden]

IM GONNA TAKE YOU ON A SPECIAL TRIP

A SUPER SONIC SHIP

A STUPID

SPACE

SHIP

.

Ikanbi and a few of the students loomed over a really, really, really large puppet.

How large?

It was the absolute largest thing they thought they could conceivably convince the Sunagakure board as being a D-Ranked threat.

Stretched out and disassembled it required several tables and spanned over fifteen meters tall.

It was a ridiculously large puppet meant to be wielded by several different puppeteers simultaneously.

Ikanbi stared into the Oracle Engine with a few of the children at Sky Reach and they watched the past for a little while and got some visual guidance on how a few cool puppets worked.

They watched as an old man grabbed a weird axe with an eyeball in the side of the axe head that seemed to stare at them as the viewed into the past.

"Hello there, children," It had said to them, frightening the children that did not immediately understand why the axe knew they were there if they were not actually there in the past but instead viewing it from the present through the use of a mechanical eyeball and a fuuinjutsu.

"That is an oracle engine."

[Trusted Grader]

What a crazy idea, but when didn't Ikanbi have crazy ideas? Ever since he had stepped foot in this Orphanage, things had gone in interesting directions, him and his brother had managed to become strong enough within a year that they could challenge adults to drawn out spars. He could feel it, victory was close, but that also meant that hardship would multiply. Yet, through winds of courage, the boys knew that they were in good hands, that no matter what they faced they would be able to overcome that obstacle.

A subtle nod was shared between the brothers before their eyes landed on the Gundam part that was in front of them, Ziv had thought them all they needed to know for the twins to be effective at making sure that the right arms mechanics would be up to par with the best of the machines parts. The twins job was to make sure that every bits and bobs were in place, they were to help lead Hozok and the orphans to assemble the arm. What an insane idea, a very terrifying one at that. One look at this beast and any sane person would turn tail. Yume slowly screwed two pieces together as he thought about the upgrades they could install on this thing.

"Hey kids, how about we make this into a race? We will compete against the team constructing the left arm as they are using nearly identical components." Hozok scratched his chin as he looked over to his students, his eyes had left the other team and landed upon Yume's as he smirked.

[Octopus Garden]

"Did any of you by chance see Ziv's golden monstrosity?"

Ikanbi had finally piped up to a few of the kids as she had floated around looking at a few different things here and there, watching some stuff.

"I heard it was forty meters tall, though I have not yet seen it for myself," Ikanbi had said to them as she began working on a little something of her own. She was working in some anti acidic properties so as to make sure the mech could resist her weathered erosion techniques.

She would help with the reinforcements, and provide guidance on how things would and could work, but she would allow them to choose their own designs snd components. She would merely guide them.

She carefully ran a knife down the length of a piece of board after having marked it carefully.

When a bit of a race was suggested, she piped up again,

"OH, that is an excellent idea."

[Zao]

"Did I hear my name?" A tall, athletic looking young man who appeared to be approaching his late teens entered through a side door that led into Ikanbi's workshop area as a pair of cloaked figures over two meters tall seemed to be hunched over as they followed in trace of their master with one flanking each side of him in that moment. The two hooded puppets moved in such a way that without a well-trained perception technique they would have easily of passed for real human bodies as they casually walked with the same pace as their creator and even had a gentle arm swing that kept them from appearing to stiff or robotic in nature.

In the eyes of many the young man could still be considered just a kid, despite all the efforts of his own to push himself in strength and responsibilities as he soon hoped that his request to take over a teaching position within the academy would also be accepted. His skills in crafting, fuuin, and many other aspects made for a well-rounded mentor who could teach a number of different classes and subjects for the different grades. Traveling with Ikanbi and on his own over the past few years had truly allowed for the young shinobi to get a better grasp of the world's climate and tensions, only furthering to push his strength to a higher level. Though he wasn't quite sure if he was on the headmaster's level, he also didn't feel that he was too far off. Even saying that he could match any of the other teachers here at the academy with the exception of only one or two specific individuals who still caused for him to be cautious of them, even now.

Yet, the young man still felt that he had a decent amount of room to grow in both power and experience, still developing unique runes and puppet schematics that he had yet to have the time and/or resources to build at the moment. Though he'd come to speak with the headmaster personally about his request, Ziv had not expected to find the group of her and Hozok working with the other kids on what could only be described as a large puppet frame of some sort. At first glance it was bit difficult to tell its original form as it had been separated into so many pieces at the moment. With a straight back and wrinkle free robes of a forest green hue, the white-haired youth could only smile with a bit of interest in the workings of the group here, tilting his head slightly to the left as the solid blue eyes scanned over the pieces in a quick fashion before adjusting his gaze to the head lady.

"Head Mistress, could you spare me a few moments of your time?"

[Trusted Grader]

In walked the man himself, the one that had mastered the art of puppetry, now, most of the students would take it as Ziv was walking in with two assistants but Yume knew better than to not read into his slight hand movements, they were ever so subtle but to the trained eye they were visible. His strength just grows exponentially. This was true for Yume as well, it was just harder for him to focus on that when he had a clear sign right next to him, a smile was shared between the twins as they cheered Ziv´s entrance.

"Ziv! You made it!" The young boy ran up to him and gave him a hug, Yami on the other hand just waved and then went back to zipping around within the mechanics to make sure that the intricate parts were bolted shut.

It was important that things went smoothly because for the first time in a while, the young twins felt that things were finally happening, besides, they always seemed to enjoy themselves around Ikanbi, even though she had a tenancy of bringing dangerous people around the orphans.

"Done!" The left arm had been fully assembled by Yami himself, it seems that whenever their brother entered the fray the twins got competitive, which was good for them but bad for the other students.

[Octopus Garden]

Ikanbi of the sands was lost in the sauce as it were as she was examining potential outcomes in future realities through the Oracle Engine, though she suddenly snapped back to the present time and took her head out of the device as Ziv entered the room.

How about that?

Ikanbi looked up from the Oracle Engine and stared out at the rest of the room and reoriented herself with the present timeline rather than the possibilities of the future. It was a lot to take in sometimes.

Ziv had indeed arrived with some friends of sorts though they were certainly of the quiet structure. They seemed timid, or something. Shy?

There was no need for that, really.

To the winning team of the arm assembly race she tossed a few pastries, to the losing team she tossed a few ryo.

She floated across the room last the rest to meet with Ziv.

"Yes, of course, whatever you need," Ikanbi grinned to ziv as she floated in the air.

[Zao]

Seeing his brother running up to him, the slender young man couldn't hide the genuine smile that formed on his lips as he drew the jade-like hands from their former location in his pockets as the sleeves pulled up to reveal part of his forearms as Yume came in without regard and gave him a hug that should have been reserved for a family member. Yet, the trio of Yume, Yami, and Ziv were truly closer to one another that some of the same bloodline would be, true bothers in all sense of the word. Returning the hug the exposed forearms were found with what looked like metal spikes about a half an inch wide sticking out of the skin about a half an inch. Not enough to be to visible through the long sleeves he wore but somewhat catching to the eye, but the most eye catching feature of the young man use to be the strange solid blue eyes of his was played down as his face had a number of black pierces that could be found in his ears, and three bar like body pierces down the bridge of his nose.

Ziv had been slowly adapting his body to his unique black metal powers and had a number of his transmitter rods surgically placed into his body through his own hand mostly, while sourcing out some help from the medical division at Sky Reach for some of the others that still remained hidden under his flowing outer robe. "Always good to see you brother." His attention was shifted to the right side as the familiar voice of his other brother and Yume's twin sounded off as he had finished working on what looked like an arm mechanism, prompting Ikanbi to her own actions before she spoke back directly to him. It never got old to see the young-looking woman floating around, something that seemed as natural as breathing for the Headmistress and something that Ziv had determined was unique to her elemental body.

Removing his arms from Yume he turned to meet the floating woman, clasping his hands together in a traditional martial salute as he bowed his head in a respectfully manner to the woman almost solely responsible for the creation of this school and its success up to this point. Many had never seen the mysterious ways of Ikanbi and even Ziv who regarded the woman as his 'aunt' had only been privileged to see a few things that still astounded him. "You're always to kind to me." Her response had him smiling but also shaking his head, Ikanbi had always done for him and the other to a point that it was almost unbelievable how much kindness one person could have for children. While he didn't see himself as a child anymore when he felt her gaze upon him it still seemed just like the first time, he had met her.

Shaking that thought he spoke, "Sorry to disturb you guys, but I came to ask about taking the teacher's exam." While he had come to request to take the exam as he wished to give back to the academy that had helped him become the young man that he was today, as a crafter and tinker, his ocean blue eyes couldn't help but sneak glances at the giant puppet skeleton that many people were working on in the background. 'That's an intriguing design.'

WC: 570

[Trusted Grader]

Yume, who was somewhat shorter than Ziv currently was happy to see him, the boys were now past Mid-teen, which meant that they would soon graduate not only out of school due to age but also due to their power levels. Yume chuckled as he turned around and saw his brother finish the mechanism, it seems that Ziv´s presence lit a fire under his rear, which caused Yume to rush to the second arm, even though he had accumulated great speed he was still not as fast as Yami who managed to enter the arm and screw all the nuts and bolts before Yume managed to get there in time.

The white haired kid slid to a halt, turned to run towards the left leg but switch to the right once he saw Yami zip towards the leg. Oh no you don´t! Said Yume as he reached the right mech leg and began working on it. Hozok shook his head in disappointment, but made sure to wave at Ziv as he continued to inspect all the mech parts. He went to check on the arms to see that they were properly screwed together and not just haphazardly, seeing as the trio had a tenancy of messing things up. To his surprise the mech parts had been perfectly screwed together.

Huh... Maybe I am holding old conceptions of them in my head. The old man thought as he continued to inspect the mechs.

[Octopus Garden]

In order to properly return Ziv's bow Ikanbi had to make a slight alteration to the posture of her legs, because her feet refused to touch the ground due to the Kuuton of her floating jutsu.

Her right hand was a softly not clenched fist that met her open left palm as she bowed to him respectfully and met his eyes for a brief moment of intense contact, floating juat before him but with her knees slightly bent in a bit of curtsy so that her feet wouldn't carve a hole in the ground with the fuuton, causing them to be a bit behind her instead.

"The teachers exam?"

Ikanbin was ecstatic, overjoyed.

Of all of the children to be a teacher, this was a good one, no, a great one! She couldn't have hand picked a better candidate to become a teacher in their own rights. Ziv was a perfect candidate and being a teacher would give him access to even more privileges and resources. He'll, she'd even be allowed to give him a key to her office to access her poison samples and other materials.

For that matter, he'd have access to the rest of the school too.

She laughed to herself for a moment as she thought about how much money she had sunk into this project and how easy it had been to obtain the money since she was immortal and quite old.

What a good use for the money, she smiled to herself.

"You and any of the other students are actually capable of taking the teachers test at any time. You can take it right now if you want, and you can bring your friends if you want, or we can do it privately somewhere else."

[Zao]

"Yes ma'am." The young man's tone was confident but filled with respect for the head mistress as she repeated his own words back to him in the form of a short question. Ziv had felt that he'd outgrown the student status of the academy for some time and had even been acting as an assistant teacher for the past six- or eight-months in-between tasks that came down from the headmaster, herself. "For now, I would prefer for it to be just between yourself and me." There was a sense of confidence in the youth's demeanor as he spoke in reply to the immortal's question.

"Though, it would probably be best for us both to step outside for it." His bright blue eyes swept the workshop, his friends, and even his former teacher Hozok whom he gave a respectful nod towards as their gazes passed one another's. Ziv understood a good bit about the powers wielded by the headmaster and how much destruction she could cause to a large area when she wanted to. "I wouldn't want either of us to hold back." A slight smirk entered the corners of the second year's lips as he gazed at his auntie while she floated just off the deck at the moment due to her strange elemental body.

His eyes almost seemed to glow as he spoke directing his full attention back onto Ikanbi, he would await her words and follow her wherever she was to lead them for the testing purposes.

WC: 249