Yamaru barely made back in for breakfast, regaining some strength from the previous days training. He made his way to the examination hall, waiting for his class and the instructors to arrive.
All his classmates mostly ignored him, idly talking about things not worth the concentration it took to overhear them, and sometimes pretty comments on how they though he would do.
"Hope you don't have to use Kido." A trio of student off to his side caught his attention as one of them insulted. "We'd like to be able to finish our exams today at least."
"At least your Zanjutsu and Hoho are good." Another one added. "But with Kido as bad as that." She implied, not finishing her sentence.
"It's been nearly a year; can you even cast a Kido?" The last one asked.
Yamaru glared over to the three, and if he recalled correctly they were average students. They didn't excel at anything, caught on pretty good, and had few weaknesses. "I could probably beat them all at a Zanjutsu match." He thought, not conceitedly. "No." He replied truthfully.
The three burst out laughing. "Everyone here, besides you, has at least an 80% success rate." The supposed leader said spitefully. "There are graduating students who wished to become accepted into the Kido Corps, but were refused because they didn't have a perfect 100%, and yet you have seen more of the Kido Corps then they ever will."
"How is that my fault?" Yamaru asked.
"You have a 0% success rate it Kido, yet get to see the area where the elite kido practitioners train." The male responded. "We don't know what strings you pulled, but you don't deserve the honor of seeing the Kido Corps facilities."
"That wasn't my choice." Yamaru replied coldly. "Get over it and move on, it's embarrassing to even be part of this conversation." He turned his eyes away from the three and continued to wake for the exam to begin.
"You think you are some much better than everyone else here don't you?" The leader said, walking over to Yamaru.
"I've never once thought I was better than any of my classmates, you are the ones who thought I did." Yamaru countered, not even turning to face the annoyance.
"Conceited bastard." The male student said, bringing his foot back to kick Yamaru. His foot was caught, however, as Yamaru disappeared from view, reappearing behind him, holding his foot. "Shunpo? No that's and advanced seated officer level Hoho." He thought, surprised. "Subayaiho? But that's an advanced 3rd year technique."
"Go back to your friends, now." Yamaru said, releasing his classmate. He returned to where he had previously been sitting as the other student scurried back to his little group. "It's like babysitting." He sighed under his breath.
By this time, all the students had made it to the examination hall and awaited the arrival of the instructors. Suddenly, using Subayaiho like they always have, 5 instructors appeared at the front of the classroom. Yamaru was finally able to track their movement after all his intense training.
"Form up!" The central instructor ordered, calling all the students over. The classes always organize themselves in columns of 10, making as many rows as necessary. "Listen up. It has been decided that this year, the first years will be evaluated by the process of one-on-one sparring matches with your instructors." He continued. "You do not have to win to pass, and a total defeat does not mean you fail. Just perform the best you can and good luck to you all." Each instructor led the first student of row out of the room.
"So I guess we just wait then." Yamaru thought, returning to his spot.
Every so often an instructor would come back; taking another student but the one who already took their exams didn't come back.
"Either we're free after we take the exam or they hospitalized themselves trying to get a good grade." Yamaru thought as another student went to take his exam. Judging from his position in line his turn was coming soon, and he would be faced with the central instructor, whom he hadn't seen before. Finally the instructor came and took Yamaru to be tested. "It's been a year since I came here," Yamaru thought as they walked through the halls, "I wonder how good I've gotten?"
The two walked into one of the many dojos the Academy had.
"Are you ready?" The instructor asked, pulling two wooden swords off the rack and tossing one to Yamaru.
"Yes, sir." Yamaru said, firmly and confident.
"Good response." The instructor thought, seeing the determination emanating from him. "Just use all the skills that you've learned to try and beat me. Remember that losing does not mean failure. All your skills will be marked separately. Any questions?"
"No, sir." Yamaru said, shifting into a defensive stance.
"Very good indeed." The instructor thought again, looking at Yamaru's stance. "There are only a few opening, and some of them he must be leaving intentionally." He assessed, readying his sword. "Then begin."
He rushed Yamaru, coming in for a horizontal swing to his ribs.
"Block or dodge?" The instructor thought as his sword closed in on its target. A few inches before it hit, Yamaru began to bend his knees. "Dodge!" The instructor thought, lifting his backward leg, intending to continue spinning to kick at Yamaru. As Yamaru jumped, the instructor noticed something off. "He's not jumping back!" He thought, trying to pull his foot back.
Yamaru jumped, flipping precariously close, but over the instructor's sword. Midway through the flip, he swings his sword up towards the instructor's head with one hand, shooting the other to the floor to help finish his flip. "Got him." He thought.
"Got to take this more seriously. He's in a different league than his classmates." The instructor thought, as he quickly drove out of the way of Yamaru's attack with his still planted leg. Rolling along the floor he used a Subayaiho to get back as Yamaru sprang to his feet.
"That's right; this is an instructor, so no holding back." Yamaru thought as the instructor appeared in front of him, thrusting his sword forward.
Yamaru blocked the thrust with his sword, sliding it passed him as he disappeared from the view of the instructor. "Subayaiho?" The instructor thought as a sword came down aimed for his head. He brought his hand up to catch the sword, swinging his own around. Trying to dodge the attack Yamaru jumped back, losing his grip on the sword. "Well, now let's see those Hakuda and Kido skills." The instructor thought, throwing Yamaru's sword behind him. "His strength is in Zanjutsu and Hoho." He thought, rushing Yamaru. "With his sword gone he'll try to use his Subayaiho to get pass me to his sword, but unlike Shunpo, Subayaiho can be tracked with the naked eye."
"I have to get to that sword." Yamaru thought, blocking a fury of attacks from the instructor. "Now." He parried a finishing strike and used a Subayaiho to close the distance between him and his sword. Reaching out to take his sword, the instructor appeared in front of him, block his hand.
"You didn't think it would be that easy, did you?" The instructor asked through a sarcastic smirk.
"Of course not." Yamaru counted, mirroring the smirk as he spun around, sweeping his leg under the instructor's. The instructor easily dodged the attack, but Yamaru's heel hooked the sword, sending it spinning across the floor. "Easy." Yamaru thought, diving for the sword, but meeting a foot to the gut as the instructor kicked him away from the sword.
"You're going to have to do better than that." The instructor teased, tapping his sword off his shoulder.
Yamaru grabbed his stomach as he got to his feet. "Okay, let's try this again." He thought. He charged the instructor with a Subayaiho, appearing ready to punch forward. The instructor stepped to the side, swinging his sword over Yamaru's arm. Yamaru grinned, bringing his back hand forward to stop the sword and bent his other arm up at the elbow, trapping the instructor's sword with his arms. He twisted his body, throwing the instructor along with his sword. He rushed over to his sword, only to be met by the instructor again.
"It'll take more than that." The instructor said, swinging his sword down to knock Yamaru's hand away.
Yamaru grinned, planting his hand on the ground, flipping over himself, bringing a heel down on the instructor. Instinctively the instructor brought his arms up to block the kick, not noticing the backhanded strike to his knee Yamaru did with his free hand. Buckling under the weight of Yamaru's kick the instructor fell backwards as Yamaru reached out and grabbed his sword, springing upright again.
"I just keep underestimating him." The instructor thought, lunging back at Yamaru, who expertly blocked it.
The two exchanged blows for a while, Yamaru continuing to pressure the instructor, making him use more and more advanced techniques.
"He's advanced since the beginning of this match." The instructor noted that Yamaru could now follow his Subayaiho perfectly now. "I've seen enough, but I doubt he'll just stop. I'll have to finish it."
"This is getting me nowhere." Yamaru thought. "I can follow his Subayaiho now, but he has been able to follow mine the entire time. I need to faster, faster than he's expecting. Focus all my reiatsu into my legs, and all my attention on him."
Yamaru stood, ready to defend against another fury of attacks from the instructor, as the instructor disappeared from sight, appearing behind him.
"He's got to behind me." Yamaru thought as the butt of the instructor's sword came perilously close to his temple. "Focus all my energy into my legs, for the fastest Subayaiho I've used yet."
The instructor was sure that his strike would hit, and knock Yamaru out, so sure he didn't expect him to disappear from sight as his strike missed. Without anytime to think of what happened the instructor felt a stinging pain at his side as Yamaru's sword struck from behind then fell to the floor. He turned to see Yamaru kneeling on the floor, breathing heavily on the verge of passing out. "He just performed a Shunpo!" The instructor thought in astonishment. "Well now he's too tired to do anything," He noticed Yamaru reaching for his sword. "Yet still he wants to continue, I'll have to knock him out." He sighed, walking behind Yamaru, as he was about to strike Yamaru to knock him out.
He noticed a change in Yamaru's breathing, and heard a faint whisper. He leaned in hear what Yamaru was whispering.
"-to the south. Hado #31, Shakkaho." Yamaru squeezed the last few words out, and the instructor's eyes widened in horror remembering the incident under a year ago.
"Cunning bastard." The instructor said with a smirk as Yamaru's body was propelled into his with shocking speed, throwing him off his feet and through the wall behind them.
The room filled with smoke, and leaked into the connecting room through the hole created by two bodies.
"What the hell just happened?" The student in the room asked, as he and his instructor looked over to the trail smoke reaching across the room.
"Hold on a second." The instructor said, walking over to the hole. Looking through, he decided that until the smoke cleared there was no reason look at nothing, so he then followed trail of smoke and splintered wood to find two unconscious bodies. "We have to get these guys to the Squad 4 barracks right now. We'll finish your exam later."
NRawk's Notes:
Well, even though this isn't my longest chapter, it feels like it took forever to write. Anyways, please R&R and of course enjoy. Also, Subayaiho literally means quick step. Shunpo is something used by seated Shinigami and is a high level technique that shouldn't be taught to greenhorns, yet the ability to move quickly is essential, so I created this. Anyways, look forward to the coming chapters, a new OC with an actual name is coming soon.