The First Step

"You will have one hour to complete the written portion of the test," the middle teacher said from his seat at the desk at the head of the classroom. He was but one of three, though none of them Seresana recognized as they had taught other classes, and were only brought in currently to judge and evaluate Seresana's exam. The reason for the use of teachers other than the one that had actually taught her was to take an extra action to prevent bias from interfering with the test. "You may begin when ready," the same instructor went on before leaning back in his seat.

Seresana nodded from where she sat, in the middle of the front row of desks and then looked down to the single piece of paper sitting there before her. At the start, it was face down and only after her nod did Seresana flip over the paper to actually begin the test, grabbing up her pencil in the other hand at the same time. On the other side was a series of ten questions, listed in two rows of five questions each. Her gaze went to the first question in the upper left corner of the paper and she began to read through the question. It was a pretty basic one related to the five basic chakra natures and the tendency of each nature as well as a true or false part asking whether each and every ninja had a chakra nature. Seresana readily answered the question, feeling confident in her answer and believing that if each question was going to be that easy, then she wasn't going to have much trouble. This hope was readily dashed the moment she looked towards the second question, a situation question about the choice of actions in a hypothetical scene. The question asked what would you do on an escort mission when the escort target has been separated from the group and a threat has appeared between the squad and the escort, threatening the escort. Seresana had to cringe her teeth on that one as she considered her answer, going through different possibilities in her mind and dreading the consequences as the first few ideas failed, but then she came up with a manner that would get the escort out of harms way, and Seresana in the position instead to where she could counter attack and start to handle the threat.

With two down and eight to go, Seresana chanced a glance at the clock and was shocked to find that fifteen minutes had already gone by. One full quarter of her time was gone and all she had to show for it were just the first two questions. With new drive, Seresana forced her attention back to the test and began to try to quickly work through the remaining questions. Seresana tore through them as quickly a she could, and even then she still barely managed to finish the written test before the clock struck five and the middle instructor stood up to announce, "time's up, turn in your test now Seresana." Seresana had to gulp as she slowly got up and grabbed up her paper to turn it in. Despite her confidence in answering each question, there was still the regular test anxiety that welled up within her, casting doubt into her mind and dredging up all kinds of feelings of uncertainty when it came to what she had wrote. She wanted to second guess herself, to rush back to her seat and reread over the answers she'd made and likely rewrite over half the paper with something different, but now there wasn't time to do any of that as Seresana begrudgingly handed over the paper to the instructor. The man took it, glanced at it for a couple seconds and then laid it face down on the table before leveling a stern gaze at her. "Good, now you will perform a few jutsu and we will judge your performance on it. First off, we would see your clone jutsu skill," the instructor went on before gesturing for Seresana to stand in the center of the space between the table and the desks.

"Alright," Seresana replied with a nod before taking the few steps until she was in the space and then turned about to face the instructors. She clasped her hands together and focused her chakra to perform the jutsu. Her nervousness though was getting the better of her and she took some extra time to focus her chakra to make sure she had an ample amount to perform the jutsu. When she felt she was ready, Seresana performed the jutsu and was momentarily hidden in a cloud of smoke that suddenly puffed up. When it cleared a couple seconds later, five additional Seresana's all stood in a line before the assembly of instructors with the same nervous, but still confident grin now that the jutsu was actually completed. The proctors shared some murmurs and nods before looking at Seresana with the same flat and level expression.

"Now you will perform the transformation jutsu, assuming the form of your teacher from nothing more than memory and with no visual aid," the same teacher said without any change of expression or tone as he sat there. The other two teachers that flanked him didn't waver, shift, or even appear to breath, yet Seresana was still unnerved just a bit more by their constant staring and general presence.

Still, the commanding sounds of the next part of her test were enough to get Seresana going and she clasped her hands together once again to make the needed sign for the jutsu. Then she paused for a little while, thinking back to how her usual instructor appeared. She needed to make sure every detail was correct for it to work, including his hair color, style, and length, his eye color, height, weight, skin tone, common clothes, headband, bandages on the sleeve, the belt that hung at his waist, everything. And she had to be sure it wasn't only there, but in the right spot and at the right sizes as well since these instructors likely knew her teacher well and would probably be able to spot the tiniest difference between the real thing and her attempt at the transformation jutsu. When she was fairly certain about all the little details about the look she was going to be trying for, Seresana focused her chakra and performed the jutsu. Another cloud of smoke appeared, obscuring Seresana from sight for a few brief moments before fading away itself and revealing the newly transformed appearance. Seresana couldn't tell if she was close or not, for the seemingly statue like instructors were harder to read than stone, their expressions giving away nothing, their eyes not letting out a single word.

After a few moments spent studying Seresana's technique, and being told to turn around so they could see the entire form, Seresana received a dismissive nod that silently told her she could release the transformation, she also took that time to dismiss the clones of herself, making 6 total explosions of smoke, and after it cleared, there was just one little Seresana standing there and awaiting the instructor's judgement. To Seresana, that waiting may have been the hardest part of the test. Forced to just stand there while the three shinobi that decided whether or not you'd advance in the ninja world leaned over to one another and whispered quietly enough that Seresana couldn't hear no matter how closely she tried to listen in without  leaning forward or making it obvious that she was trying to eavesdrop. Then the three instructors leaned back in their seats and settled their judging gazes back on Seresana. "Are there any Jutsu that you would like to demonstrate for us," the middle judge then asked still in that flat and level tone.

Seresana thought about that for a moment, about the other jutsu that hadn't been part of the academy's curriculum that she'd learned. There were the jutsu of her clan, but there was no way she could showcase them. There were the earth style jutsu Ranzaki had taught her, but those were a little too destructive for a classroom setting, and she didn't have a bow or projectile for the projectile push jutsu, so that left only one jutsu she could really show the instructors without damaging the classroom. "Yes, yes I have one extra jutsu that I would like to show you three," Seresana said before once more beginning to build up her chakra.

"Very well then, tell us of this jutsu and then show us," the instructor on the left spoke this time, an unexpected turn of events that nearly threw Seresana off enough to lose her concentration, but she managed to keep building up her chakra in preparation for the jutsu.

"It is the levitation jutsu, it allows me to hover in the air and move about in it," Seresana replied before making a couple other hand signs and then performing the jutsu with her built up chakra. True to the nature of the jutsu, some powerful winds picked up in side the classroom, all around Seresana they swirled, enveloping and lifting her until she was actively floating a couple feet above the ground. Seresana held that position for a few seconds before shifting her weight and moving a couple feet to the right, and then leaning the other way to move back, showing that she could move with the jutsu active. Then Seresana canceled the jutsu and gently landed back on the ground with a confident smile on her face. The judges went back to her murmuring and once again Seresana was stuck waiting to see what would come of their judgement.

After what felt like a second eternity, all three instructors stood while the middle instructor spoke, "Hatasuko Seresana, we have seen your ability with jutsu and read over your test paper for this graduation exam. Now we are pleased to announce that you have passed the Academy's graduation examination and are now a Genin rank ninja," the middle instructor announced, as all three gave a short applause for the work Seresana had put forth. Seresana was ecstatic, only just barely forcing herself not to jump for joy and do a victory dance right there on the spot, regardless of how embarrassing it might have been. "Please, step forward and have this," the instructor on the right spoke for the first time as he withdrew a neatly folded headband with the leaf village's symbol on it's surface. Seresana complied, taking the prize of passing the exam with a bow and still a smile just bursting with happiness. "Know now that you are a leaf village shinobi, you represent the village as a whole and your actions will reflect back on the village. So wear this with pride and honor, so that you may bring more of each to our great village, congratulations," the middle instructor said again before the three offered up another short round of applause with small smiles on their faces.

Seresana respectfully bowed again, and then waited the precious few seconds before she was dismissed before rushing out the door, and out of the school. As soon as she was outside the building, Seresana let out the loud cheer that had been building up inside her for some time. "I DID IT! I PASSED THE EXAM!" She yelled out while jumping about happily. Then Seresana began to rush home, "I can't wait to tell mom and dad!" she cheered to herself and continued to do so as she ran down the streets and towards her house.

Word Count: 1949