Leadership Exercises

[Date Masamune]

Hake gets +3 Wis and Rank - C Leadership

[Shinomori Katsumi]

{Eric gave me permission to use Kenshin in this post, just fyi. ^_^}

Katsumi wasn't a leader, or at least she certainly didn't see herself as one. In fact, she wasn't supposed to be one now, just one of the archers on the practice mission Lord Kenshin assigned, but things has a way of turning around and going unexpectedly sometimes.

"Captain, what do we do?!" exclaimed one of the men.

The medium-sized man who was assigned as leader was bug-eyed, staring down at the map laid out on the table in the center of the room. His dark eyes frantically searched the paper, fingers clutching at the hair at his temples. Sweat covered his forehead and at each thump of the enemy fire on the shack he flinched. Jiro was about ready to have a panic attack from the pressure, that much was clear.

He stayed silent, and the other men began to shout about what to do, nearly everyone but Kat was panicking. Katsumi was at the window, occasionally shooting spirit arrows at the enemy just to do something and because she was assigned to do so. There was little point, but she followed orders. Jiro told her and the other archers to fire earlier. So that was what she was supposed to do, right?

"Come on, man! What do we do?"

"Yeah!"

"Come up with something, Captain! Please!"

"We're gonna lose this, aren't weee?!" began to cry one.

Most of these guys were older than her, and yet they held not the maturity and experience Katsumi had. She practically rolled her eyes at their shouts. That wasn't going to get them anywhere. But Katsumi remained silent. This wasn't her mission to lead, and she wasn't a leader. It was Jiro's job. Hers was to follow.

Finally Jiro cracked. "SHUT UP! I... I CAN'T... I CAN'T DO THIS! STOP IT! I DON'T WANT TO! I CAN'T!"

She furrowed her brows at hearing the captain panic and stomp away, and the archer moved her gaze over to him. He threw his hands in the air and gave up, tears streaming down his flushed cheeks. Jiro went over to a corner of the shack and slid down the wall, becoming an absolute mess, rocking himself to and fro.

The woman released a heavy sigh and her and the other archers lowered their bows and stopped firing. Rubbing her face, the petite woman masquerading as a man moved over to the table while the others wandered off, debating on what to do. She poured herself a cup of water and sipped at it, indifferently glancing down at the map. The woman didn't particularly care how this mission went. She was simply helping out Lord Kenshin.

Looking over at Jiro, she doubted it would be long before they would surrender. Maybe then she could actually get back to other training. But... it was rather a shame to lose after all of this work and "losing" so many men. Yet they were backed into a corner. What else could they do?

The lids of Kat's eyes drooped as she dropped her gaze back to the map. She curiously looked it over and, after a couple of minutes, she blinked a few times and stiffened. Was... that right?

"Guess it's time to give up then..." murmured one of the men finally. All of their shoulders were slumped.

The female archer's eyes narrowed, finger moving across the map, going back and forth between two points. "... Wait."

They all looked over at her in surprise. In the whole mission, she hadn't spoken a single word and simply obediently followed orders. That was all she did. But now she was speaking, and they weren't entirely sure how to react, looking amongst themselves. Katsumi found a mine, one end about six miles south of their current location. The other end was at the “enemy” camp. And she had a light-bulb (candle flicker? Lol) moment.

“Mine... there is a mine six miles off... and the other end near the back of their camp,” remarked the archer.

The men gathered around the table, peering down at the map. Her finger showed them what she found, sliding back and forth, and some of them began to nod.

“That's right. Didn't they used to mine the metal there and make the swords in the camp until it ran dry?” asked one of the men.

One of them nodded in response. “Yeah. It was real convenient because of how close it was.”

"But... it's covered with rocks, isn't it? Blocked off?" interjected someone else.

Katsumi shook her head and, with slight hesitation because of her constant wariness, she admitted, "Wind... I can use... my musou.” She nodded. "Trust me."

Most of them had seen her use the musou during the Uesugi training, and quickly silenced those that opposed, backing up her claim. As the others gathered hope again and grew excitable, Jiro still sat on the floor and hearing what was going on only caused him to panic more. He began to shout about like he did earlier. That they were fools. That they just needed to give up. He failed, which meant they failed. This irked Kat, and swiftly she made her way to him, lifting him up from the scruff of his neck with surprising strength for her size. And then a loud sound filled the air, the back of her hand slapping him across the face.

“Calm the hell down. Focus on your breathing and not being an idiot. Okay?” said the woman sternly. He had been hysterical, and that would only result in trouble, whether towards himself or for the whole of the group. Either one was unacceptable. This surprised everyone, but no one more so than Jiro. While he stopped shouting, Jiro was certainly shaken up, staring wide-eyed at Kat, trembling violently.

Seriously. What the hell was with this guy? Had he never been engaged in conflict before? Lord Kenshin certainly wouldn't have put someone so green in this position, right? Regardless, Jiro was too unstable to move forward right then. He would only slow the team down and screw shit up, and further damage himself. Katsumi knew enough about paranoia and panic to realize he needed to rest and take a break.

“Jiro-san should stay behind if... the group wants to... to move forward,” claimed Katsumi. The men glanced about and discussed the matter. Did they want to keep moving forward? There was fire within their eyes, and it was quickly determined they did. The archer's lips pressed together in a straight line, and she replied, “Alright, but if we do ... they need to believe we're here.”

One of the men offered to stay behind with Jiro and shoot occasionally. Kat and men nodded, packed up their things, and proceeded to head out towards the mine. The trekked for about an hour through the woods, eventually reaching a clearing. Upon reaching the mine, she turned towards the group and informed them to step back and hold onto the trees. For those that saw her musou, they did so very quickly and motioned for the others to do the same and to hurry their asses.

Katsumi faced the mine and closed her eyes, inhaling deeply. Clasping her hands together, the woman focused on her breathing, calming her mind and body, and the wind began to pick up. It swirled around and turned into a large whirlwind, growing in power until it was able to lift up the rocks and boulders blocking the mine. The spun round and round, until the flew off far into the forest, and then the whirlwind died down. Releasing her breath, the archer wiped her brow and opened her dark eyes.

There was a sudden applaud and Katsumi blinked and turned around, confusion clearly written across her features. They laughed at this, and the woman felt as though she were out of the loop, her sense of humour not quite developed as of yet. Since the mine would be pitch black, Katsumi suggested creating torched and so her and the men did. They stood at the entrance of the mine, readying to venture in.

“What about a strategy once we get there?” inquired one of the men. They all nodded.

“Well... when we reach the end, I will use my musou to take care of the blocked passage,” said the woman. They all looked at Katsumi expectantly, waiting for her to continue and she blinked, glancing at them all. It seemed they saw her as the new leader now and since nobody else was contributing or seemed to desire the role, Katsumi sighed heavily. She detested being the center of attention but... one had to do what one had to do, right?

“From there... well... we should be facing the camp, according to the map. They won't see the attack coming and will get them from behind. So... I will use my musou to bombard the enemy with the rocks at the other end, and... those with bows will stick back and shoot, and... when we gain ground, swordsmen move forward. I will protect them with the wind, and the archers will defend them as well. We will use our force and power defensively and offensively until... until the enemy eventually surrenders. If they don't... well... we can... force them,” she ended with a nod, closing her mouth. It was weird to talk so much in front of so many people and give orders.

And that was precisely what they did. It took some time to make it through the mine, Katsumi guiding the eight other men through the tunnels with the map. When they reached the blocked off end, the plan went into action, and it worked beautifully. No one suspected a thing, and when powerful gusts of winds caused the rocks to shoot out and boulders began to fly into the camp, there were shouts of terror and surprise. Katsumi used the boulders and rocks to destroy some of the buildings and weapons, and the enemy side was bombarded by her attacks and the arrows of the archers, and they quickly gained ground, moving forward. And soon enough the swordsman clashed swords. men shot arrows and clashed swords.

Men were getting injured or kneeling down to admit defeat to avoid serious injury. Katsumi was getting weary from using her musou for such an extended time, but they were almost done. All she needed was to get them to surrender. It wouldn't be long now... Enemies were knocked onto the ground and defeated on after the other. Katsumi was near the lead uncharacteristically, blocking attacks with gusts of wind and making it difficult for the other side to attack and move forward. Upon catching sight of the leader, marked by a ribbon of red, the archer rushed forward, removing her whip sword and knocking the men out with some of her swordsmen. She kept shouting about surrendering, but the leader seemed determined to win, which was foolish. Nearly all of his men were down for the count by now. Due to her speed and strength, and their support, before long the woman stood before the leader, bow and spirit arrow now in hand, aimed right for him.

“Surrender now?” said the woman, tilting her head and quirking her brows. He visibly gulped and put his hands up, finally surrending with chagrin. At the news, Kat's side cheered, all of them having made it, and Katsumi felt.... good. They won. And.... she had actually led them. It was an unusual but pleasant feeling. One of satisfaction and pride, both of which were unfamiliar to her. The men surrounded Katsumi and lifted her up, and the petite archer yelped, flailing her arms and feeling uneasy, “P-Put me d-down! … P-Please!”

They laughed and lowered her back to the ground, proceeding to playfully punch and push her. Slowly they drifted off, celebrating amongst themselves, and Katsumi rubbed her slender form, nibbling on her bottom lip.

“Ow,” she moaned under her breath.

Her nose was wrinkled as she rubbed the bruises she knew were to come. At hearing even more commotion from the men and some of the conscious losing side people, Katsumi saw Lord Kenshin with others entering the camp. He was quickly greeted by people of both sides, verbally bombarded by accounts of what happened and how great he was just as Kat's enemies were previously.

Katsumi stuck back, simply bowing in respect and staying silent. Others talked about her and what happened with Jiro, the whole thing, with enough vivacity and fervor that it would be a wonder indeed if he didn't instantly have a headache. He nodded as they spoke and glanced over at Katsumi. She looked up in time and their gaze held longer than it should have, causing the woman to furrow her brows and tilt her head. The wheels in her head began to turn and her eyes narrowed slightly.

No... No way. It... couldn't be...

'Was this your intention, Kenshin-sama?' inquired her chocolate hues.

Had he intended for her to take the lead the whole time? She had noticed how he seemed impressed with her at the trials but... that didn't mean she was special or anything, right? She was just a merc. Someone even less important than one of the foot soldiers. Although, it had seemed odd that someone like Jiro had been put in charge, but everyone had to be trained at some point, right?

A small, warm smile grew upon his lips as they stared at one another and she gaped at him, eyes widened. “No fucking way.....”

Lord Kenshin seemed to chuckle and looked away, moving forward and talking to his men, and Katsumi's gaze fell to the ground, a single hand rising to her head, which slowly shook from side-to-side in disbelief. A blush coloured her cheeks, the woman feeling embarrassed for only now catching on and realizing his intentions, and... well... for also now knowing that he saw enough in her to feel the incentive to trick her into a test that otherwise she would have refused.

“.... Well, shit.”

Katsumi had just been played. Played good.

[Date Masamune]

Katsumi: +3 Wis and Rank - C Leadership Proficiency.

[Deleted]

The day had started off normal for Juubei, but that ended when the mercenary commanders had informed the men that a select few of them would be participating in a mock skirmish with another mercenary unit. Juubei was picked to lead his unit and he in turn assisted in picked the other nineteen people. After that was all said and done, the men were led out onto a wide open field where they were introduced to the opposing unit. Trash was talked, egos flared, and in the end every man was ready to kick some ass.

Some time later……

“Things aren’t looking good, guys,” Juubei shouted to the remaining ten men who were trying their best to avoid being hit with the constant volleys of arrows. This was supposed to be a mock skirmish between mercenary units to serve as valuable training, build some camaraderie, and see who the best was. Pride and bragging rights were on the line, so things had to go in their teams favor, but things were pretty grim. They couldn’t afford to close the distance between them with the arrows pinning them down the way that they were. It was an open field and there was no cover to speak of, so that limited their options. The way Juubei saw it, they had only two options. Ensure that the arrows couldn’t hit them or find someway to obscure their vision so as to make their arrows less accurate. Juubei went with the latter. He ordered some men to set fire to the grass in front of their position and this in turn created thick black smoke that covered the field in which these two groups of men were fighting. Juubei’s men took this opportunity to scatter, each men being responsible for their own safety.

“Alright boys, the way I see it, we need to obscure their line of sight on us. There’s no cover in this field, so we need to make some. Start a fire in front of our position to generate smoke and fire flaming arrows at them through the smoke as you advance. Close the distance and go to work. That’s the best I got. “

Each warrior was instructed to set their arrows ablaze and fire them through the smoke as they advanced. Each arrow was to be shot in a high arc to trick the enemy into believing that they were further away then they really were and use the time to close the distance. The fact they each man was away from another meant that the remaining archers couldn’t target them as a whole and it would make their arrows easier to avoid. Each flaming arrow that hit the ground would also begin to cause small fires, which made even more smoke. This allowed Juubei’s unit to advance largely unseen. They lost two more men in the process of getting next to their enemies, but the gambit paid off in the end. They’d relied too much upon keeping their opponents at a distance and were unprepared for close-quarters-combat. When the smoke finally cleared from the battlefield, the enemy forces had been defeated and eight men, including Juubei, remained standing. Although he would have preferred to have taken no additional casualties in their counteroffensive, Juubei realized that they were lucky to have gotten away with only two. In many situations such as the one he was just in, the ones pinned down usually didn’t fair as well. It’s a tough spot to be on, that’s to be sure of, and it’s usually best to not let a situation get that far out of hand.

[Brandt Solveig]

Thus far the skirmish was not weighing on Brandt's favor. The tide of battle was pulling against him, but there was no way that he would allow himself to submit to defeat. A volley of arrows were fired toward his small squad of remaining soldiers, and he roared out immediately.

"Shieldwall up! Do not let a single arrow through!"

Pulling his own shield to the center, his fellow soldiers would immediately intertwine their shields to form a dome of protection. As the barrage hit, it was like the continuous thunder of deadly rain. No arrow took a life, though some managed to crack and splinter shields. immediately more commands would sound out from the giant.

"Push forward! Slow, steady and strong!"

Pushing forward first, Brandt would lead his soldiers forward as they moved into another barrage of arrows. The Nord would encourage them to hold strong and continue pushing. Two more volleys would fall before they were close enough, many of the warriors shields littered with whole or broken arrows.

"After their next volley, Split in two! I will take them head on. KEEP THOSE SHIELDS AT YOUR SIDES AND GIVE THEN NO QUARTER!"

As soon as the next rain of arrows finished, every warrior of Brandts would roar out in unison as they split into two seperate groups. They would circle around to take the group at the sides. Brandt would rush forward only to drop his massive shield to the ground to brace it, while the shell side faced the enemy skirmishers. With a thunderous explosion would rip fourth from his shield, scattering metal balls in a large cone in front of him.

Most of the troops that didn't catch the explosion or get torn to bits from the shrapnel, would be quickly overrun at the sides as he shield warriors bashed and slashed away. Eventually the pings and pangs of warfare would settle to the sound of glorious war crys. The giant himself leading the victory cheer himself. It had been a grueling challenge, but his squad had overcome it in the end.

[Mōri Motonari]

Brandt Solveig: +3 Wis and Rank - C Leadership Proficiency.

[Takeda Shingen]

Kurosawa Juubei: +3 Wis

Proficiency: Leadership - C

[Ichimura Ryunosuke]

As a part of training, groups of 20 soldiers were pitted against each other for them to be trained on teamwork. The drill commander letting the soldiers group themselves into groups of 20, Ryunosuke found himself grouped with other members of the militia. They took up their weapons, and, as their opponents were drew up, they started to spar.

But, as the battle progressed, it seemed that the team of Ryunosuke was the only one suffering losses while the other team was almost unscathed as they fired away their bows. The one-sided assault continued on until only half of Ryunosuke's team remained standing; the others unable to stand due to injuries. The others seemed to lose hope due to their dwindling number and the still unchanging number of their opponents, and they were asking the others on what they were going to do. Many times Ryunosuke was asked, but was unable to answer since he also did not know what to do. He then surveyed the area around him, and as he saw their current terrain, an idea sprouted off his head. He then said his idea as discreetly as possible to his other teammates, and although at first they didn't know if that would work, they were desperate on a victory, and so they agreed.

Once again the arrows were fired at them. Then suddenly cries of anguish were heard from Ryunosuke's party, and then they scampered to run away from the other team, dodging the arrows as much as possible, shouting and running as if they saw death staring at them. Some of them even stumbled on the ground, while crawling away from the opponents. Ryunosuke just stared blankly at his running teammates and shouted, "Why are you running away? We could still win this!" To which one soldier shouted back, "I don't want to get hurt! I'm outta here!" as he ran to the bushes without ay particular direction. Ryunosuke just stared back at the opponents and drew his two bokken.

"Your teammates ran away and you still think that you'll win against us?" one of his team's opponents sneered as they continued to fire their arrows at Ryunosuke. Ryunosuke just charged forward, his twin bokken hitting every aarrow that were about to hit him, most of the arrows dropping to the ground harmlessly. But still some of the arrows penetrated his wooden whirlwind of defense, and the arrows hit some parts of his body, and fortunately they were not that painful as they only connected to non-vital parts of Ryunosuke's body. But as Ryunosuke thought, he could not keep up with the pace of 20 archers, and his body ought to give up sooner or later. He would wait for that moment to happen for him to break through their opponents and defeat them. Suddenly, from the bushes, a lot of arrows rained down on all sides of the opponent team, rendering them shocked. But by the trajectories of the arrows, Ryunosuke, as he charged towards the opponents, pondered that these were unloaded many at a time. And so he knew that it should be his teammates that were unloading the strafes of shots, as he had instructed them to do so. Knowing that the diversion worked, Ryunosuke was confident that the opponent team would not notice him charging on them, as they were still in the state of shock. Taking advantage of the situation, Ryunosuke unleashed all of his agility in taking out as many opponents as he could, whipping his bokken on their vital parts, and due to this and Ryunosuke's teammates' continual rain of arrows, the number of their opponents dwindled steadily, until they had finished all of their opponents. As Ryunosuke saw the opposition unable to continue further, Ryunosuke unleashed a shout of victory, but since he bore the brunt of the enemy arrows and bokken, the hits took a toll on his body, and as the drill commander announced their victory, he stumbled on the ground, unconscious. It would take 2 days for him to wake up again after that training.

[Takeda Shingen]

Ichimura Ryunosuke: +3 Wis

Proficiency: Leadership - C

[Fujii Yori]

This certainly could of gone better i think to myself as a hail of training arrows bounce off of a wooden wall of an old abandon hut, that we're using as cover. We're down to me and four other men, an the enemy has fifteen archers bombarding the wall with arrows. One of the men under my command jokingly asks.

" How many arrows do you think they have "?

" enough to build another wall ".

I jokingly reply to question, we all let out a small laugh as the arrows pile below the wall. I glance at all the men, then look back at the wall, i begin to kick an push the wall trying to rip it out of the floor. I motion the men to do the same. We twist,push and pull untill we free it from the floor. with all of us holding the wall in front of us i yell.

" Charge "!!!

We charge at the archers holding the wall out in front. They continue firing at the wall but the training arrows don't have the force to penetrate the wall. They begin to fire franticly and three of them drop their bows and flee. We reach the archers and throw the wall at them causing them to stumble and lose sight of us. I dispatch their leader and continue to the others. Upon seeing their leader taken out an that fact that they were on the ground surrounded by enemies with training swords drawn. They admitted defeat and let go of their weapons looking down at the ground, angered by their defeat. The same soldier who asked about the arrows then made a suggestion.

" Maybe we should learn how to use a bow ".

" Or we could just take a big wall with us ".

I sarcasticly suggest, we both let out a small chuckle and help are defeated allies up and talking about the mock battle as we travel back to our compound to report are progress.

[Takeda Shingen]

Fujii Yori: +2 Wis

Proficiency: Leadership - D