Ganryu
Your Lovable Jackass GM
~Naruto: Lull and Maelstrom~
In a small wooden shack attached to the side of a cliff sat a private meeting room. The shack shook and creaked along, but had been steady for years, not yet falling. And even if it did, it was filled with the best of the best of the Hidden Whirlpool village, the jonin council. In the middle sat a rather young looking man with crimson red hair, and a red mask over his mouth and nose. He seemed distracted over a piece of paper, before shaking his head. He finally held up a hand to speak.
“Now…. I’m sure you’ve all guessed why I’ve gathered you. Mist and Leaf are at eachother’s throat. This evening Kishi here returned with evidence of a scuffled between the two in the Land of Waves. Kishi?”
A gentleman stepped forward, who despite the solemn meeting had a pleasant smile on his face, his expression seldom changing from the gentle face. His hair was white and tied into a pony tail by an elegant blue bow, and he wore a suit rather than the jonin vest. Bowing, he answered.
“Why, most certainly.”
Pulling out a scroll, he deposited a pile of three corpses on the table, both Hidden Mist and Hidden Leaf headbands on them.
Kenshin sighed.
“I’d really like to avoid war...and that’s why I’ve set up what I think is a clever solution. We’re hosting the chunnin exams this year. I’ve already met with both the Mizu and Hokage. They’re coming. They’re probably going to try looting us, but that gives us time to prepare, they won’t dare move openly against each other with this on the line.
If we perform well enough in the exam, they might just be afraid of us being caught in the crossfire. We NEED this to happen. There… is a bit of a problem of us not having any genin… but the academy is looking promising. Makato, your last batch… turned out okay, are you prepared to teach again?”
He gave a suspiciously worried look at Miyako, a young jonin in the room, as he said that.
A man nodded, with dark wild hair and more than his share of scars, he was the oldest looking of those gathered. “This could certainly be our best chance of averting the next Great War.” Makoto hesitated for a brief moment, “Though, if I may Lord Kenshin, this leaves us little time to prepare these genin to compete against the other villages.”
Kenshin raised an eyebrow.
“What about you, Miyako, do you think you’d have trouble raising a few students? It seems it’s a bit much on your old sensei”
He gave a small little smile, knowing exactly what he was doing.
“Huh?” Miyako’s face shot up suddenly from where it had been positioned, over one of the dead hidden leaf jonin as she poked him curiously in the cheek, “Oh yeah totally! What are we talking about again?”
Makoto just sighed, pulling a cigarette from a small metal case and lighting it.
Kenshin sighed.
“I really want to be more amused… figured start a fight with the youngsters… all that. Miyako, you’re training a team. So is your sensei. And Kishi here.”
The gentleman bowed simply behind Kenshin.
“I need you to do the impossible, raise them to chunnin level. Dominate the exam coming up. Failure is not an option, don’t test them. How about this… whichever sensei manages to raise the winner of the chunnin exams, gets a pass to the hotspring village.
Oh, other side note concerning that… and while I have some of your short attention spans. We need to start preparing the exams themselves. Do not help your students know what’s coming.
Kishi, prepare the intelligence portion. Miyako, you’re in charge of the survival section. Makoto, you’re overseeing combat. We need to weed out as many other villages as possible so they don’t think we’re pampering. You have 6 months to come up with something. Got it?”
“Oh! Ohh Yes!” Miyako said, brightening up immediately and pumping her fist under the table. This was exactly what she had been waiting for since becoming a jonin! The perfect chance to prove how capable and mature she was! What was more mature than raising up a squad of little minions? “I will NOT let you down chief I have been preparing for this day! I already have some awesome team code names that I can run by you after the meeting. If it’s alright with everybody I’d like to go ahead and reserve wolverines as like a theme? Though I do have some back up ideas that-”
Makoto swatted his former student on the back of the head. “What’d we say about code names?”
Behind them a puff could be heard as Kishi restored the bodies, tidying up the table in the small shack, before gathering up a folder, flipping through it.
“Besides which, if you need more than one code name, you haven’t settled on one. I reserve the Hitodama, or Will-o-wisps. Ah, let’s see who I’m to instruct. Here are your folders as well, Madam ‘Super Dynamic Ultra Wolverine Force Go?’”
Kishi said with a slight sarcastic tone, guessing a name.
“And Sir Brute Force.”
And a folder to Makoto.
“It seems yours is awaiting a third. Some academy trouble. I’m sure it’ll clear up.”
“Hey that’s not-” Miyako frowned and tapped a seal inscribed on the bandages around her wrists, producing a notepad in a small puff of smoke that she flipped through with a furrowed brow. “Well okay it is in there but it was only like my fifth choice! Besides I’m sure the kids’ll think its a cool name!” Miyako said, sulkily snatching the folder from Kishi and opening it to scan the contents, her expression changing once again as she did so.
“Lemme see...Kokoro Nagaraka, Yukari Hara, Jun Uzumaki- aww I get all the important little clan sproglings! I’ll take good care of ‘em don’t worry! Especially yours boss! I’m sure we’ll be best buds in no time!”
Makoto shrugged, “Some people have a natural inclination for genjutsu’s subtleties. I’m just not one of them.” He flipped open the folder to skim the names listed, he’d give their files a more proper look once their meeting had ended. “Mitsunari Takeda and Ryuuka Tagamatsu, then? Hopefully they get the last genin sorted out quickly.” They had a lot of work to do and not nearly enough time to do it. The genin couldn’t afford to be hung up in academy errors. He didn’t particularly want to ask this question, but… “Should I assume we’re dropping them straight into C Rank missions as well?”
Kenshin nodded.
“And above. It’s up to your discretion as far as the absolute limit of their ability. Stretch it. Don’t let them die. Don’t nanny them. Death’s door should be an average evening for them. Speaking of which, I do have a few missions to start us off.”
A few sheets came out.
“Makato, there’s been an abnormally large bear hunting hunters in an island forest to the north. They can’t get to it without getting attacked. Clear it. Or rather, have your genin clear it, and bail them out before they end up in the hospital.
Miyako, there’s been a tribe of bandits attacking a river pass to our West. I have a message that needs delivering to a friend out there. While we could eliminate the bandits, we have no idea of their strength or number. It would be advantageous to sneak past.
Kishi, there’s a haunted house your genin will clear. How haunted it is I have no idea. Good luck. Figure the ‘will-o-wisp’ of the Hidden Whirlpool is a good match for it."
