"Honestly, what's that guy's problem?" Endo simmered, giving Skaven fiery glares from the other side of the row where the Stars sat alongside one another. With the entire roster of the gang being filled up and the recruitment closed for good, the lot of them occupied an entire line all by themselves. "See that? Won't even reply to me that prick…"
"I've only seen him talk casually to Mana so you're barking up the wrong tree here, buddy." Damisan pointed out with way more vigor than he should have displayed when addressing someone who had never once spoken to him without attaching a demeaning title somewhere in a focal part of the sentence.
"Not to mention that we're in the middle of a lecture." Mana rolled her eyes with a muzzled whisper. Little Tomi chuckled from Mana's right. "You shouldn't be barking up trees at all."
"The reason he won't talk to me is because he knows I'd show him he's not all that the instance we throw down." Endo finally settled down. He seldom used the comfort of a deceitful web to help him ease up from his anger fits. Whether Endo knew it somewhere in that hot-headed noggin of his that his serenity came from a lie bothered Mana very little.
"Calm down, Endo. This is the Teamwork course, the one place we're supposed to shine 'cause we're allowed to do tests and perform as a crew here," Shige-H took up her role as a leader seriously. She even gone far enough to stand out and talk over Endo, which was the one prerequisite necessary for the feisty numbskull to hear someone.
"Shige-H. I see that the Stars are volunteering to perform in today's lesson." Tutor Kushon pressed her teal-colored fingernail to her lip. It was something of note, given the excessive headdresses that the woman usually wore so whenever she touched her own face without flicking the hard materials comprising them or tangle her hand in feathers or colorful strings it was always impressive. "That's just amazing, but given your level of renown amongst the recruits, I'll be expecting some splendid results as well."
"Great, now we're all in trouble…" Endo rolled his eyes. "Thanks, jerk," the apprentice leaned forward to direct a stare at Skaven, who possessed an aura of calmness and utter dismissal to the extra attention they've earned as a group that matched his complete apathy toward Endo and his attitude.
With the theoretical part of the lecture finally being over, the entire hall of recruits rushed outside into the training grounds for the practical part of the activity. The Stars took their place on the training grounds while the rest scattered all across the observational stands to oversee the practice exercise and judge the performing group with about the same level of strictness and about half as much knowledge of what they were even looking for as compared to tutor Kushon herself.
"Do any of you even remember the subject I was lecturing about today?" the extravagant tutor positioned her hands on her hips as she instructed the group with her finger before feeling inclined to push her slipping stone headdress back into a more suitable position.
"Roles." Mana replied. She's been out of action for so long and has been showing some struggling with her test results enough for her to have more than one thing to prove. She simply couldn't ignore the fact that being a source for competent homework and on-the-spot knowledge for the Stars was a role she struggled to live up to, even if she never asked for it to begin with. Regardless, failing to live up to it lately didn't help her general mood and future prospects with the Allied Ninja.
"That's rather broad, but given that I didn't state the subject, I'll allow you to summarize it like that. That's right. Whether or not you like it, each team member fulfills a role in a team. Even two complete strangers eventually settle in roles, with or without their direct attempt to do so. It's only natural. What defines an experienced ninja and separates them from a newbie is the ability to switch those roles and improvise with them on the fly." Kushon elaborated.
As the educational figure stopped talking, light burst forth from the seals all over the training grounds forcing the recruits to cover up their eyes because of natural irritation while Kushon lowered her stone headdress to hide her eyes under black lenses that only revealed themselves to serve such a purpose once the woman changed the position of her headgear. Normally the lenses hung at about her forehead level. Naturally, because of such a drastic dip, the accessory flaunted its colorful feathers as they fell over on the front side.
After the light settled, the Stars realized that they were inside a rundown warehouse that spanned the entire training grounds. Since their memory served just fine, in such cases the happenings of inside enclosed training ground fields appeared on screens at the top of the construction, wherever that might have been.
"This place looks like the backstage area of most halls." Mana said in passing observation.
"Only because my assistant for today asked it to be like that," tutor Kushon smirked, revealing the colorful and odd field to not even be the last surprise the Stars would have to work with for that day. An ear-shaking pop preceded a straight-up rising eruption of smoke and dust, though it wasn't an ordinary method of Body Flicker Jutsu. The user had customized the technique somewhat showing some decent knowledge and comfort using it as streamers and confetti flew out alongside the smoke.
"Is this a joke?" Skaven pointed at the man that appeared beside tutor Kushon. He came to work that day wearing a flashy, striped suit donned over a shirt that didn't at all match the suit's colors and a bowtie that might have spanned half of his head if positioned properly. The man, despite having the features of a dark-skinned Kumogakure native, had purposefully dyed his face pitch black with ghastly features provided by white make-up, and he donned a jester's hat with the jingling bells and all.
"A joke, is it a reference to how I look? That's rich, it is!" the man cracked up, grabbing his gut and turning around in a genuine attempt not to collapse on the ground and start rolling in cackling. "Nope, I'm a ninja magician, I am!"
"So it is a joke. And I'm the clown…" Mana muttered in somber self-reflection, realizing how more close-minded people might have seen her just like this. Even there seemed to be a league of difference between the attitude and how she and this man carried themselves around–trying to point at them would have been a moot point when talking to a member of an older generation of ninja with much stricter ideas of what ninja could have and what they should have been like.
"This is Purini-D. A ninja magician, not unlike Nakotsumi Mana. In fact, I believe that Mana inspired this gimmick that Purini-D has adopted in his later career, hasn't she?" tutor Kushon turned to the guest she invited for the lecture.
"That's right. I used to be a boring, old Kumogakure jounin back in the day, but then I saw young Mana perform on stage. After finding out that she's a kunoichi too, I decided to have a little bit of fun at work too," the jester bowed. While he looked absolutely ridiculous in that getup and his tone of voice was loud and screechy, his chakra signature was matching the size of a jounin and the amount of close combat training Mana had tipped her off to how economical and confident the man's movements were.
"I guess now you guys understand why I was so excited to pick you for today's practice! Sure, it would have been fun seeing just about anyone perform against Purini-D, but this match-up has a sprinkle of poetry to it, don't you guys think?" tutor Kushon nodded her head twice, as if affirming it to herself that this was an excellent idea would have left the audience and the performing recruits just as convinced.
"So we have to take this clown on?" Endo growled, already reaching for the scroll containing his restored and sharpened double-blade sword. "Beat him all together and we're in the clear - top scores and bonus for the test this month, right?"
"Not quite, I'm afraid. I'll leave you guys with Purini-D to explain the rules of the exercise. I'll be looking forward to seeing you guys in action!" the female tutor winked before performing the Body Flicker Jutsu to remove herself from the enclosed premises of this massive backstage area that basically served no purpose.
"Well then, there are essentially two ways of beating this exercise–defeat me or claim the prize hidden in the training grounds. You can complete this assignment without scoring the prize that your tutor went through some trouble to procure. I'm sure it would break her heart if you did that." Purini-D explained while posing around and grabbing a stuffy wand that he spun about and toyed with as he spoke. Being an expert at sleight of hand, Mana couldn't skip past how quick and trained Purini-D's hands were. These weren't nerves guiding the toy wand–it was instinct.
"You've noticed it, didn't you?" Endo smirked, glancing at Mana.
"Yeah, let's not underestimate him, however weird he looks." Mana nodded.
"Those moves, that swiftness, he's a knife-fighter." Endo elaborated to the Stars that noted the pair's mumbling in a similarly reserved tone. "I don't think I've seen hands this good at handling knife-sized objects before. And master's concubine was known to fillet a vagrant or two that didn't please master's eyes."
"What's this prize you're talking about?" Damisan wondered, raising a mechanical finger that hummed pleasantly as the steel rubbed against the rubbery filling in between the pieces.
"The Ruby Supernova. A ruby stone etched into a golden star-shaped accessory, it is." Purini-D waved his hands around slowly, speeding them up for a single wave before a star-shaped toy appeared in between his right thumb and index. "This one's just a replica, so don't get any bright ideas, don't get any." The ninja magician cackled as he made it disappear just as easily with a wave of his hand as he made it appear.
"Huh? Looks neat and shiny but it doesn't look much besides something to please birds with glitter…" Tomi rested her head on her crossed behind her head arms. It was rare to see a little girl that didn't immediately erupt in sparkling joy at the sight of a gemstone as well-refined and incrusted as this. "Does it do anything special?"
"Not at all, not at all!" Purini-D proclaimed, posing with open hands as he positioned himself on one leg, stretching the right one out to the side.
"So what's the point? Does it net extra points then? Like maybe the Stars automatically will pass the Teamwork course by flashing it?" Shige-H scratched her chin, trying to figure out the point behind this illustrious prize.
"Try again, try again!" Purini-D spun around on his one leg, acting as if he was making fools of the imaginative recruits.
"I'll tell you what it does!" Endo clenched his fist out in front of his chest with a determined look on his face. "It yells loud and clear that whoever holds it is better than those without it!"
"Huh, how does that even work, how does it?" Purini-D leaned by, placing his open hand by his ear in a cartoonish manner as he squinted his eyes. "Do tell, do tell…"
"I don't care what you think it does, clown!" Endo became all fired up. "Those that gun for the gemstone, those who claim it, they're ninja of remarkable guts and skill. They're ninja that do not settle for mediocrity and are ready to strike for the jugular whenever the enemy taunts them! They're the best of the best and having that gemstone relays the message that unlike this jester, the one holding it is the king!"
"It's a meaningless distraction from the goal is what it is." Mana groaned, realizing that with this foolish, masculine obsession with having to prove he's the best at all times, Endo might sabotage the entire exercise.
"It might be a goal in of itself though…" Damisan pointed out. "I wouldn't mind being the best at something either…"
"Not you too…" Tomi shook her head in disappointment in a young man almost a decade older than her. "I'm with Mana-nee on this one. Let's just kick the clown's ass!"
"Perhaps we should put it to a vote?" Shige-H wondered to herself.
"Seriously? What kind of leader are you?" Skaven raised his right eyebrow, giving Shige-H a questioning look.
"Oh, are you finally going to contribute something to the plan!?" Endo flipped out, shaking his fist out in Skaven's direction who just sighed and straightened his back, leaning back on his arms as he looked away to examine the countless impractical props laying all over the place.
"Wow, it's like they've completely forgotten I even exist, it's like that…" Purini-D scratched below his eye before sighing and clapping his hands. As a potent gust of wind picked up, the curtain under a bunch of useless scrap slipped out and covered the ninja magician up, providing him with a way to slip away from the Stars' attention and hide until they try looking for him or to locate the Ruby Supernova.
"What's wrong, Mana?" Shige-H noted the severity decorating Mana's look as the magician stared at a banjo peeking its star-shaped plastic corner from under a pile of trash.
"It's something that tutor Kushon said, about roles in a team. I have a feeling that there was a point to all that and that we might not win much by trying to confront this situation the way we normally do." Mana expressed her worries.
"If that's your way of taking over the Stars, I have something to say about that." Endo smirked. "As I have been plotting to take over for a while now."
"You have?" Shige-H scratched her head, looking a bit taken aback by this proclamation.
"Of course, I suppose, you're a decent placeholder just for now." Endo shrugged. "I've come to think that you're the second most suited person to lead this team. Plus, it's not like I can claim my leadership without the signifier of being the best clutching in my hand."
"Please tell me you're not still talking about that stupid gemstone!" Mana grabbed her head, nearly losing her hat in the process as the sudden motion forced it to move back and take a dangerously dangling angle to stay on top of the magician's head.
"Heh, for now let's just carry on as we are." Shige-H nodded twice, overcome by nerves of realizing that one of her less stable gang members had been plotting to remove her as a leader of the group she assembled. "We'll see if we need to change our roles once we encounter difficulty."
"Can you though?" Skaven spoke up again. Given how rare such an instance was from the half-shaved rebel who just carried on by himself mostly even when accompanying the most noticeable gang in the entirety of Allied Ninja, when he spoke up–people took note and stopped talking. "Can you make a call like that as a leader?"
"What's gotten into you guys?" Shige-H pulled the collar of her fur coat, becoming a tad disgruntled by this joke of a topic becoming more and more serious as Stars mentioned it repeatedly. "I've put this gang together, I've researched your personalities and your skills for just this purpose."
"Yeah, but I know what everybody's like: Damisan's always energetic and keeps losing his body parts, Mana-nee is smart but quiet but she dresses classy and stands out to overcompensate with her need for attention, Endo's a doofus and Skaven doesn't matter and he doesn't want to matter. You keep talking about being the leader, but you're always just along for the ride." Tomi pouted while she listed her impressions of everyone.
"Apart from the part where the brat insulted me, I agree." Endo nodded. "You did little to get us out of trouble. Worse yet–we didn't even get in trouble because of you."
"We got in trouble because of you!" Mana clenched her fists and swung them down with a growl.
"Is that how everyone feels?" Shige-H sighed.
"Guys… Skaven's gone." Damisan pointed at the dimly lit, endless labyrinth of corridors cluttered with useless stage props such as balloons, all sorts of cycles, from mono to quadra, and musical instruments and the sort.
"That bastard! As if I'm letting him claim my prize!" Endo yelled out before taking off in a much hastier and louder way, pretty much challenging Purini-D to take a swing at him from the shadows.
"Wait, guys, I haven't still figured out what we feel like about me being the leader!" Shige-H yelled out, though her voice could only clasp at shadows and darkened objects hidden inside. The leader of Stars sighed.
"Don't be down, since you haven't been demoted yet–that means you're still the leader!" Damisan gave Shige-H a thumb-up. Given Mana's moderate taste for gambling, as long as she could stack the odds accordingly in her favor, she'd have bet that he was smiling under that cylinder too.
"Make the call," Mana nodded in agreement. "Do we cut those two off and look for Purini-D, do we look for the Ruby Supernova or do you have a different idea?"
"Well, I'd like to hear some…" Shige-H shrugged before little Tomi interrupted her by jumping up and bursting in petite wrath.
"I swear, if you say something along the lines of "how do all of us" feel, I'll kick you!" she growled with an animalistic, primal tone seeped with roughness like only she could.