It was a cold morning, but then it usually was this time of year. Snow blanketed the farming landscape on the lower parts of the Lightning Country giving it an almost dystopian feel. All the farmers of the Low Lands were currently huddled up for warmth within their houses; well, with the exception of the animal farms, anyways. Produce wise? It was an off season for everyone except one sect of the Ryuu Clan because cabbages, their main call to fame, were planted and harvested all year around. One branch specialized in Summer Cabbage and the other in Winter Cabbage, but this year was proving extra difficult. The permafrost that had settled this week had made planting the summer’s harvest a chore and the winter harvest group were seeing rotting cabbages from the sudden cold snap. It would be a rough year to be a Ryuu for sure - well, if you were part of the farming community that was.
Tobias wasn’t, thank the Kami. The man stood 7’ tall with standard shinobi gear mostly covered by a heavy long white coat that nearly blended him in with the background. His eyes were a startling ruby color with the tell-tale Tomoe marking his latent genetics. Starting into his early 20’s, the young man had always had a distaste for farming. He often tried his hardest to avoid working in the fields before the Tenouzan War. After, once chakra returned to the people and he found himself with an abundance of power, Tobi quickly enlisted for Academy Training. By gone were the days of wallowing in the mud, and now he…wallowed in a different kind of mud; usually filled with blood. The man had gone in with high hopes and dreams of the old Shinobi Way - the one he had grown up with in which ninja were the law. Not there to actually do much besides tell others what to do and sit in the lavish lap of comfort within the Ryuu Clan's shinobi home. That, had been the dream. He had always looked up to the current clan leader with the a sort of jealousy, never realizing just how hard Rei had it. Sadly, it was a far, far, different world than he could have ever hoped to imagine.
Training was rough. He personally held a child as they died in his arms in the Academy, during two different missions, and once on patrol. The country he had lived in beyond the walls of the Ryuu Clan’s haven-like farms was dangerous and Tobi hadn’t a clue of it. The shock of reality had hard-boiled the man in way, and thus when he had been selected to teach after completing his twenty-second mission he had initially turned it down; terrified of reliving the worst part of his career. It had taken Rei to convince him otherwise, and her whole reasoning behind it was because the man had seen so many children die in service to Kumogakure. She felt that Tobi was far more likely to train their soldiers in away that wouldn’t bring about such immediate death; and that quickly became the curriculum he stuck with. Finally granted the comfort he had wanted since he joined the military, now he took his job far more seriously than he would have normally. There were a handful of teachers who continued to teach brutally as they had in the Old Days, and Rei did nothing to stop them claiming there needed to be a balance.
“Kumogakure Shinobi are built different,” he had been told. Yet with a burning passion did the Ryuu hate Hoishitoka Wex and Uzumoreru Iziang, and their draconian teaching methods. Someone was bound to die in their classes at least once a year; almost like clockwork. Thus, why he was standing out in the frozen tundra that was a farming field for a vegetable that couldn’t be planted until after winter. For miles all anyone would be able to see was a white field of snow, ice, and the outlines of a few barns. It would be perfect for a team exercise he had cooked up to help with Leadership Skills. Eventually every last Student in Kumo would be paired off with someone they could mesh with in combat until Chuunin - this was the perfect opportunity to start taking notes on who worked well together and who didn’t.
Pulling his long white hair into a bun he pulled up the fur-lined hood of his long coat to warm his ears and double-checked his clipboard as Students began to gather at the location he had posted up in his normal in-room class. Attached to the note for each Student was a special passport that would allow them to exit through the dreaded Gates and down into the farmlands where Tobias was waiting for them. While he had planned on the entire lesson being about Leadership training, he also thought it wise to give the group time to warm up in getting here. Winter was such a harsh time in Lightning, after all…
[The class is technically being held in the Farm Lands. It is late-fall, early-winter and cold. Any questions please direct them to me on Discord or here through DM]
Tobias wasn’t, thank the Kami. The man stood 7’ tall with standard shinobi gear mostly covered by a heavy long white coat that nearly blended him in with the background. His eyes were a startling ruby color with the tell-tale Tomoe marking his latent genetics. Starting into his early 20’s, the young man had always had a distaste for farming. He often tried his hardest to avoid working in the fields before the Tenouzan War. After, once chakra returned to the people and he found himself with an abundance of power, Tobi quickly enlisted for Academy Training. By gone were the days of wallowing in the mud, and now he…wallowed in a different kind of mud; usually filled with blood. The man had gone in with high hopes and dreams of the old Shinobi Way - the one he had grown up with in which ninja were the law. Not there to actually do much besides tell others what to do and sit in the lavish lap of comfort within the Ryuu Clan's shinobi home. That, had been the dream. He had always looked up to the current clan leader with the a sort of jealousy, never realizing just how hard Rei had it. Sadly, it was a far, far, different world than he could have ever hoped to imagine.
Training was rough. He personally held a child as they died in his arms in the Academy, during two different missions, and once on patrol. The country he had lived in beyond the walls of the Ryuu Clan’s haven-like farms was dangerous and Tobi hadn’t a clue of it. The shock of reality had hard-boiled the man in way, and thus when he had been selected to teach after completing his twenty-second mission he had initially turned it down; terrified of reliving the worst part of his career. It had taken Rei to convince him otherwise, and her whole reasoning behind it was because the man had seen so many children die in service to Kumogakure. She felt that Tobi was far more likely to train their soldiers in away that wouldn’t bring about such immediate death; and that quickly became the curriculum he stuck with. Finally granted the comfort he had wanted since he joined the military, now he took his job far more seriously than he would have normally. There were a handful of teachers who continued to teach brutally as they had in the Old Days, and Rei did nothing to stop them claiming there needed to be a balance.
“Kumogakure Shinobi are built different,” he had been told. Yet with a burning passion did the Ryuu hate Hoishitoka Wex and Uzumoreru Iziang, and their draconian teaching methods. Someone was bound to die in their classes at least once a year; almost like clockwork. Thus, why he was standing out in the frozen tundra that was a farming field for a vegetable that couldn’t be planted until after winter. For miles all anyone would be able to see was a white field of snow, ice, and the outlines of a few barns. It would be perfect for a team exercise he had cooked up to help with Leadership Skills. Eventually every last Student in Kumo would be paired off with someone they could mesh with in combat until Chuunin - this was the perfect opportunity to start taking notes on who worked well together and who didn’t.
Pulling his long white hair into a bun he pulled up the fur-lined hood of his long coat to warm his ears and double-checked his clipboard as Students began to gather at the location he had posted up in his normal in-room class. Attached to the note for each Student was a special passport that would allow them to exit through the dreaded Gates and down into the farmlands where Tobias was waiting for them. While he had planned on the entire lesson being about Leadership training, he also thought it wise to give the group time to warm up in getting here. Winter was such a harsh time in Lightning, after all…
[The class is technically being held in the Farm Lands. It is late-fall, early-winter and cold. Any questions please direct them to me on Discord or here through DM]
