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Just as Kumiko grabbed Shinzu's hand and pulled him, he made one last kick at the dummy. Somehow, through the grace of the Kamis, the kick hit the dummy square in the chest. "Oh you have to be kidding me!" Was all Shinzu said as he was dragged to the ceremony.

Taijutsu training:
15 + 0 = 15 Pass
DC: 10 + your ranks in Taijutsu
12/20

If Andou were any more emotive he would have face palmed at the fact that this boy had somehow mastered yet ANOTHER jutsu in what the short time between yesterday and today. Or between dawn and now. Probably the latter.

"Okay, good. Basically, the ceremony will go like this," he informed Masanori and Hiru quickly. "There will be a few speeches. By me, by some members of the Council and so on. You'll be called up to the stage at after all the speeches to receive your headband, certificate and.. an extra something." If Andou had time he would probably put a smirk on his face or something. But the boys wouldn't be able to question him at any rate as he whirled around. He still had to look for Takamura...

"Get in your seats now in the hall. The special designated ones in the front row of course. I'll be there with Takamura soon," he bit off to the two before disappearing. He really hated using his chakra for anything actually for this was a bit of an exception.

Cp: 120 - 60 {Shunshin running around the place <.<} = 60


Andou had skimmed the training fields, classrooms, and so on. He had contemplated taking a quick trip to the Takamura family home but he had no idea where it was and even if he did, it was too far. Students were meant to be responsible for some of their actions after all. If he wasn't in the premises, he wouldn't bother to retrieve him. Thinking about where he hadn't looked yet and where the boy was likely to be, he suddenly recalled an odd object lying to the side when he'd brought Shinzu down to train. It was a pile of raincoats that Andou now knew wasn't just that. Down in the gym, his face getting almost as annoyed as Andou could look, Andou flung the first few layers of raincoats off to uncover the sleeping Shin.

Masanori took a random seat and waited for the ceremony to begin.

((Sorry, haz gotz noz timez))

"The graduation ceremony is going on," Andou answered, irritated. "Or rather, it will start to go on in around 5 minutes. You need to be in your seat... and I have to go make preparations. Kaijuu and Hoshigaki will brief you on what's going to happen, I assume." He pushed more raincoats off Shin and bundled them off to a side. Might as well make the gym presentable while at it...

"Come on then, Takamura," he said sharply. "You wouldn't want to disappoint your parents or anything would you by being late?"

"Oh, that's cool."

Shin remarked nonchalantly, not quite understanding why such a thing involved rudely awakening someone from their much needed rest and scaring them half to death.



"crap....Crap....CRAP!"

And then it hit him, he was late, and late was something he could not afford to be at the moment. His family looked down him enough and thus anything he did, or rather anything they saw he do or heard about him doing, had to be perfect. There could be no mishaps on this day. Thus there was no need for Andou-sensei to try and remove any more jackets from off of him, as Shin would be jumping out of the pile before racing towards where the graduation services were going to take place.

He would not stopping running until he neared the locale and then he'd only slow down as not to make a scene with his entrance. Therefore he'd arrive at the seating area with half a minute or so to spare, just enough time to greet Hiru and Masanori with a handshake and a short greeting before he plopped down in a seat of his own.

Andou watched unimpressed as Shin scampered off in the direction of the gym. Hopefully he would enter without too much interruption. Well it was normal for ceremonies to start late ANYWAY, but well Andou was kind of a punctual, obsessive kind of person.

He headed towards the door leading towards the back of the stage, where the staff would be waiting for him. Hopefully they would have good progress to report and not some sort of major problem... Andou rubbed his temples, he felt that he wasn't cut for organising things, he just preferred to be out there doing things instead of watching them unfold. But he was the principal and this was his duty... sadly.

After being briefed on what was going on (everything was going fine, guests had arrived, hall was almost full, almost time to make your speech sir) Andou took a moment to take a deep breath. He could faintly hear the music that some local community orchestra was playing to set the mood and to keep the guests occupied while last minute preparations were being made. Reaching into the folder he'd brought with him he delicately took out a piece of paper that was to be his cue for the speech. As the music came to an end he walked out and met everybody in the crowd's eyes. He waited until the murmuring ceased (good thing this was a private SHINOBI event, which was not a place meddling civilian politicians tended to go to).

"It's been a tough few years for Kirigakure," he began bluntly. No s**t, his brain and possibly the rest of the crowd told him. "Invaded and razed, we were helped of course by our allies in Konoha but most of the work we had to bear ourselves. The rebuilding of the harbour, for one." Although he could see his notes, they weren't really registering to his brain. Plus he had said much of this before in the earlier Sakana Festival and he hated repeating himself. "Lots of us have had to take on extra burdens to rejuvenate our village and to restore our lives." He glanced across the crowd again, noting with surprise and slight suspicion the presence of several people he knew to be in the ANBU. "Our graduating students, of course, have undoubtedly done so too.

"So it's with a certain modicum of respect that I view these students, soon to be genin, today. I studied in the Academy during a quiet, peaceful time. My experience was nowhere near the tumultuous one of the three graduates today. So I think it must be noted that although these three have displayed sufficient shinobi skills... excessive shinobi skills in fact," Andou said, surprising himself and possibly his students with his compliment and odd choice of wording, "they are mentally much stronger. It takes a strong spirit to return to shinobi life right after enemy shinobi finished razing your village. Many students dropped out after that, but these didn't and so you should be proud." Andou really meant those words although he certainly hadn't planned them. It was more pulling strings and words out of thin air than anything but it seemed to sound all right. Sensing that it was the right time to end the speech, Andou inclined his head.

"So... to the three graduates. To Hoshigaki Hiru." His eyes trained on the ANBU, Andou beckoned Hiru to come over. He'd been briefed so he'd know what to do. Shin could learn from his example. To his side, he could hear his aides on the stage rustling and reaching for Hiru's certificate, metal headband and of course a special item as a reward for attaining genin status, ready to hand it to Andou who would then present them to Hiru.

{Y'all can just come in turn. Or Mokujin can help me start the cert/headband/gift giving since I'll be away ALL of tomorrow I believe. Well the size of this post makes up for that at least!}

Andou

Andou was aware of the boy making his way to the stage as he turned to his aides and nodded. A trolley table had been arranged for which made it convenient to wheels things back and forth across the stage. Hiru's headband, certificate and a little package containing something soft were on the table right now. As the aide pushed the trolley towards him, Hiru reached him. He seemed really nervous and Andou mentally sighed. This kid... he didn't know what to do with him. "Chin up," Andou muttered as he moved to shake his hand. "It's your glory day. Congratulations," he said a bit louder first giving the headband to Hiru. Hiru should probably tie it to his forehead or arm or waist or something so that his hands would be free to accept the graduation certificate which was coming next. And then after that...

"This is a special reward from your senseis for graduating," Andou said to him as he handed the soft package over. "We've monitored your progress and determined that this is the best gift for you." He felt a bit awkward now that his words were done. He didn't have much of a good history with this kid...

Andou