Violet: Sen

Violet: Sen
Red: Jin
Green: Shinro
Silver: Yuma
Pink: Himari
Yellow: D
Orange: Takeru
Purple: Ghidorah

It was a cool, windy day in Konohagakure as Sen sat motionless in the alcove of a large tree and stared intently at the clearing below her. It had been one day since the written portion of the Chunin exam and Sen, alongwith the rest of her Team 6 teammates had received an ominous warning from the exam proctors – that they had a single day to “prepare”. Prepare for what? No further information had been forthcoming from the proctors. Sen, however, had the benefit of having studied the history of the Chunin exam, which she had also discussed with her mentor Tsugumi, who had even more knowledge to share. Together, they had figured out a general idea of what the next phase of the exam would look like.

Together Tsugumi and Sen had pored over Konohagakure histories until they found exactly what they had been looking for – a note in a biography of the 2nd Hokage Tobirama Senju that described how he had started a critical phase of the Chunin exam that had become colloquially known as the “Forest of Death”. The Genin that had advanced past the first stage of the exams would be let loose within a closed off, circular area containing a plethora of dangerous flora and fauna. Although the particulars of the exam phase weren’t set out in detail, and it would be likely that there would be tweaks within the rules year-by-year, Sen was able to get a general sense of how the next phase of the exam would go.

After Team 6 had a debrief regarding the next phase of the exam, they begun preparing in earnest. Ghidorah and Junki went off to train, but Sen felt her time would be better spent in getting even more information on the other teams. So that was how she ended up in a tree overlooking a clearing where Team 5 was engaging in training exercises with their mentor. Sen had already been wary of the Team 5 as one to have an eye on, and so she wanted to get a greater sense of their combat capabilities if they ever ran into them in the Forest of Death, or more likely, figure out the best way to keep their distance from them.

D, Himari and Takeru walked briskly through the outskirts of Konohagakure. They had received the “warning” from the proctor and now were looking to get some training in before the second phase of the exam began. Himari felt that the best use of her time would be to collect medicinal herbs and other ingredients that would be a boon to the next stage, which she imagined would be more physically demanding than the written exam. Although Himari had stated that she would go grab what she needed herself as she didn’t want to interfere with D and Takeru’s training regimen, her two teammates had insisted that they would come with her, to provide any “protection”. Himari wasn’t sure exactly what she needed protection from, and something told her that D and Takeru were more interested in just spending time with her. Well, at least we can get some good team bonding time. Maybe we’ll work on some team exercises once I’m done getting what I need.

A decent-sized clearing came into view of Team 1. “I think that’s where I was told I could get what I’m looking for,” said Himari as she pointed out the clearing to her teammates. As they neared the clearing however, they soon discovered that they were not the only Genin team who had come across this clearing on the outskirts of Konohagakure. A shirtless pale-eyed youth, a bald youth wearing what looked like monk vestments and a young girl with an eyepatch and scandalously tight one-piece leotard came into view.

“Magnetic Release: Magnetic Dragon!”

Shinro executed his handsigns and sent a dragon of shimmering, translucent gray energy towards Jin, who stood opposite him in the clearing where they were situated. Jin waited calmy as the dragon approached him as he prepared a jutsu of his own.

“Eight Trigrams Palm Rotation!”

Jin spun in place, expelling chakra from his body as he executed a perfect 360 degree spin and deflected the chakra dragon coming towards him.
“Hahaha, you didn’t even get any dirt on him! YOU SUCK HAHAHA!!!”

That was Yuma, the third member of Team 5, who was sitting on a nearby log swinging her legs carelessly and observing the sparring session between her two teammates.

“SHUT UP YUMA! You need to be training too! We’re trying to make all of ourselves better, we’re not actually fighting to the death! Why don’t you trying not to be a deadweight on us?!” Shinro was frustrated with Yuma’s “commentary” as they tried to train, but as soon as he was done his outburst he felt slightly ashamed at his loss of composure. That’s not how I’ve been trained he thought. There was another reason that Shinro felt he had lashed out at Yuma, and it had to do with a nagging feeling he had felt in the bottom of his stomach that had been growing some time. He was surprisingly growing quite fond of Yuma, and he wasn’t exactly sure what these feelings meant.

Yuma had turned her back to the sparring Jin and Shinro, having felt offended at Shinro’s outburst. “You guys suck!”she shouted and stuck her tongue out before turning around. Shinro felt even worse now, as the feeling in his stomach began intensifying. He stopped his sparring with Jin and turned towards Yuma. I should be nicer to her. We’re teammates after all, and also… Shinro didn’t finish that thought, but he placed an affectionate hand on Yuma’s shoulder and started to apologize “Yuma, I…”

Shinro was caught off as Yuma suddenly turned around and aimed a punch right at Shinro’s nether regions. Shinro reeled over in pain as Yuma began laughing hysterically. “HAHAHAHA!!! I don’t even need jutsu to beat you!! I rule!!”

“Ugh….. you absolute idiot!!! Why do we put up with you!” “Because I rule!”

Jin sighed as Shinro and Yuma began another bickering session. The training session had been going well so far but was now off the rails. It might have been a different story if Ezaki was here but the evasive Jonin had given them some general tips after they had received their warning then literally disappeared.

The Team 5 training session that Sen had been observing had taken a turn for the comical. She had been getting good intel on Shinro and Jin’s jutsus until Yuma had interfered, and now she observed something more slapstick than useful. I don’t think I’ll get anything more useful here. Maybe I should see how Junki and Ghidorah are doing? Or check out some other teams? Before Sen could decide on her next course of action she sensed three individuals approaching the clearing where Shinro and Yuma were now rolling around in the dust wrestling with each other. Another team looking to scout out the opposition? The three individuals that were approaching were from Team 1, another Konohagakure team. This could be interesting. It’s a good thing I didn’t leave yet.

D, Himari and Takeru were greeted by an unusual sight as they entered the clearing. They now recognized the individuals that occupied the clearing they had entered – it was their Konohagakure comrades in Team 5. Shinro and Yuma appeared to be engaged in some sort of scuffle on the ground. Jin stood off to the side looking frustrated.

“Well, if it isn’t Jin HySUCKA!” D had noticed the Byakugan user and shouted towards him.

Jin turned around with a start. Drat, I was so frustrated about Shinro and Yuma I didn’t put any thought into monitoring my surroundings. He took a confrontational pose as he saw three fellow Konoha genin approaching. He took particular notice of the blonde swordsman that had shouted towards him. D… why did it have to be him? Jin still remembered the quasi-official sparring match he had engaged in with D where the swordsman had bested him. It still stung.

Takeru had drifted towards Shinro and Yuma, who had paused mid-scuffle and stared up at the newcomers. “Are you two… doing it?”

Shinro and Yuma sprung up with blazing speed and indignation. Both of them had turned beet red. “W-what are you talking about?” Shinro sputtered.

“It’s just, the way you were rolling around, I mean I don’t really know but it really looked like-“

“You stupid idiot, it’s called TRAINING!” Takeru was cut off by Yuma, who began reaching for her eyepatch.

“YUMA! What are you doing? Remember what Ezaki-sensei said!” Shinro grabbed Yuma by the arm and held her back from the bemused Takeru.

As this unfolded, D and Jin had begun a staring contest, neither genin wanting to bow down with the knowledge of their previous contest. Jin, however, now turned his gaze to the kunoichi that had accompanied D. He recognized her instantly – after all he had spent quite a lot of time during the written exam staring at her well-developed figure. Himari… did D tell her about our previous fight?

“Don’t worry Himari, I’ll protect you. I already beat this idiot without even breaking a sweat! He’s no match for me.”

“Protect me? We’re not here to fight, D.” Himari was frustrated. This was one of the reasons she had wanted to come alone. D and Takeru were strong teammates, but they had a tendency to act like… well, teenage boys. And this was especially true when they encountered another male genin while with Himari. Himari wasn’t clueless, she had an idea that D and Takeru had teenage crushes on her. And now it was leading to yet another pointless, testosterone-filled confrontation.

Jin bristled at the other genin’s insults. Normally, he would’ve tried to avoid a confrontation, but the presence of Himari changed things. He didn’t want to look weak in front of her. He felt redness rise in his cheeks as he looked again at Himari. Not wanting to feel embarrassed by the kunoichi’s prescence, he turned towards D. He adopted a fighting stance and activated his Byakugan.

D smirked. “You want another whooping? I’m happy to oblige”.He unsheathed his sword. “And stop staring at my girl!”

“Your girl? And who is that exactly?” Himari turned to D.

“Uhh… you know you’re the only girl on our team, so you’re my girl, my girl team-mate!” D started blushing after being confronted by the kunoichi.

“Look, D, just leave it alone. We can go somewhere else to train. There’s no point risking injury before the second phase of the exam.”

“There’s no risk for me.” D smirked again, his bravado back up.

“Listen to ‘your girl’ D. The training exercise was just, that, training. I won’t hold back this time.” Jin had bristled when D described Himari as “my girl” but he felt better when Himari had reprimanded him. He had a chance to impress her.

Sen was suddenly very glad she hadn’t left. It seemed like she would be able to witness a direct confrontation between two genins on different teams! She had heard, through her information-gathering around the village that D and Jin had engaged in sanctioned fight before the Hokage and several other village elders. Now she would be able to see them in action with her own eyes.

D sped towards Jin with his sword outstretched. Jin waited, looking for a counter as the swordsman came towards him. Before they could clash however, D was suddenly buffeted and flung sideways as he was hit by a wide crescent of dark red blood.

“W-what?” D leapt to his feet. He turned towards his unknown assailant and spotted, in a tree at the outskirts of the clearing, a youth clad in a trench coat and a gas mask. Gripped tightly in his hand was a kunai dripping with blood. Blood dripped down from not only the kunai, but also the newcomer’s wrist. It didn’t appear that anyone had attacked or cut him. Had he cut himself? Perhaps more alarming was that the blood that dripped from both the kunai and his wound sizzled as it hit the ground and caused the greenery to wilt and die when hit by the blood. D suddenly felt slightly queasy as the blood that had hit him and splashed onto his face began to burn. Poison!

“Who the hell are you?” D shouted towards the newcomer. He looks like a freak. I’m going to slice that gas mask open. I bet he’s super ugly under there. What kind of coward uses poison anyways?

Sen was incensed. She had sensed Ghidorah wander towards the clearing was she was situated, and sent him a telepathic message as he came closer. What are you doing? Ghidorah was startled by the sudden intrusion into his head. He still hadn’t gotten used to Sen’s communication arts. Uhh.. I’m training. I was practicing moving through the trees with chakra thread. Trying out something new I guess.

That’s fine, but don’t come this way! There’s a fight brewing between Team 1 and Team 5. I’m going to get some invaluable information from this.

Oh… okay. Maybe I could watch too?

You suck at stealth. What if they notice you?

I mean, won’t they be busy with their fight?

Just be careful okay. And do NOT get involved!

Sen gave a stern warning but she hadn’t been worried. Maybe Junki would’ve been hot-headed enough to want to jump into a fight, but Ghidorah was fairly level-headed, and from her experience seemed to avoid conflict as opposed to invite it, to the point that she had actually begun slightly worrying if his gentle demeanor would cause problems for them as the Chunin exams progressed. After all, they might need to be increasingly ruthless in the Forest of Death. Having had these thoughts going through her head, it came as a shock to Sen that, just as D and Jin were about to meet in battle, Ghidorah emerged from the thicket of the forest and sent a Blade of Blood towards D, knocking him off balance.

What the hell is he thinking!!!

This wasn’t like Ghidorah. Or maybe he was like all teenage boys and cared about fighting… and girls. He couldn’t help but notice that D and Jin’s scrap seemed motivated by the presence of Himari.

Boys can be so stupid.

Himari was alarmed at how things seemed to be escalating. First Jin and D were fighting, now someone new had jumped into the fight! And Takeru and Shinro seemed to be ready to strike at each other at any moment too. Himari turned towards the newcomer with a startle of recognition. I remember him. Himari had observed the gas mask-wearing Kirigakure genin prior to the written exams, noticing how the genin had been feeding a crocodile of all things. She remarked that even in a room full of unusual teenagers, this genin stood out as particularly unusual. Himari had always been intrigued by unusual things, but it was the tenderness in which the stranger had been feeding the crocodile that had made him particularly memorable to Himari.

Himari turned to D. “He’s another genin. I saw him at the written exam.” “Another dude that’s going to get destroyed by me,” D responded. “D, stop being so hardheaded. We need to train, not pick fights with two different teams!”. “The more, the merrier. Why not take them out now so we have less competition later?”.

D turned towards Ghidorah and started towards him as he took a few steps, he reached the area where he had first gotten hit by the Blade of Blood. Suddenly, the ground opened up and a crocodile emerged from the earth! The crocodile grabbed onto D’s leg and began spinning him around. “Ahh, what the hell!” shouted D.

Jin wasn’t sure how to react to the unfolding situation. He had been preparing for a fight with D, but as he had activated his Byakugan he had noticed two observers on the outskirts of the clearing. He didn’t want to worry about them yet as he needed to keep his full attention on D. But now one of the observers had interfered and attacked D. Jin recognized him. He had been in the written exams. Jin recalled how the Kirigakure genin had use a multitude of tricks to share answers with his teammates during the written exam, including a walking pencil. Interesting. Normally, he would be fine with sitting back and letting D and the newcomer go at it, but he didn’t want to get upstaged in front of Himari. From what Jin had observed from the written exam, he felt that the newcomer wasn’t a taijutsu user. He sprung towards him.

Sen was paralyzed by indecision. Ghidorah had jumped into the unfolding fray in a major way, and now Tock, Ghidorah’s crocodile companion, was involved too. She knew about D’s general capabilities, and while Tock may slow him down for a bit, it wouldn’t be good for Ghidorah once he was able to get away from Tock and towards Ghidorah. What do I do? Sen wasn’t exactly going to be much help if she interfered. As D was still trying to extricate himself from Tock, Sen noticed another new development. Jin was bounding towards Ghidorah! Ghidorah was focused on D and did not see the Hyuga approaching him from the side. This isn’t good!

--
Jin hit Ghidorah hard in the midsection. The Kirigakure genin went flying into a tree and doubled over in pain. The crocodile which had been holding onto D’s leg, suddenly let go of the blonde swordsman and began galloping towards Jin. Before it could get there, the second observer leapt down from the outskirts of the clearing into the middle.

STOP!!!

A telepathic message rang through the heads of all six genins present. All activity stopped and everyone stared at the white haired kunoichi who had jumped down from a tree overlooking the clearing.

“I don’t think this is a valuable use of anyone’s time. Ghidorah and I will leave.” said the newcomer.

“Hold up, I’m not letting this dude just go like this! We have unfinished business!”D retorted.

“D! She’s right. I came here to pick herbs not fights.” Himari put a hand on her teammate’s shoulder as she spoke. “And I need to do something about that poison on your face.”

“Oh! Uhh, okay Himari. But I can totally whoop him!” D had felt a blush coming on as his teammate touched him.

Sen turned to her teammate. “Ghidorah, are you okay? Let’s go and get you some medical help.”

Jin turned towards Sen. “No. We will leave. I apologize, I lost my composure. This is not my shinobi way. Shinro, Yuma, let’s go and train elsewhere.”

“HUH? Why are WE leaving? We were here first!” shouted Yuma. “YUMA! Listen to Jin! Let’s go!” Shinro grabbed Yuma and forced her to accompany him as he followed the Hyuga genin out of the clearing. Yuma struggled, but to a careful observer like Sen, it seemed as if the struggle was more for show and not a real attempt to extricate herself from Shinro’s grasp. Those two are far more fond of each other than their bickering lets on, thought Sen.

Himari was rubbing a salve on the bottom of D’s face, where the splash of the Blade of Blood had hit him. D was struggling to maintain his composure as he felt the touch of the kunoichi and she bent over him, putting his figure into his line of sight.

“All done.”Himari stood up after having finished administering medical help to her teammate. “I need to do what I came here for and get medicinal herbs. You two go train somewhere else.”

Takeru retorted “But what about your protection?!”

“I think you two have given me enough ‘protection’ I can handle for one day.”

D was silent, still caught up in the glow of the medical attention he had received from Himari. Takeru, knowing how stubborn Himari could be, and also not wanting to upset her, grabbed D and the two turned to leave the clearing.

3 genin remained. Sen was trying to help Ghidorah, who was bent over in front of a tree. I don’t really know much medical jutsu thought Sen.

Himari turned towards the pair (or trio, if you counted the crocodile who had also ran to Ghidorah’s side). “Do you… do you need help? I’m a medical-nin.”

Sen glared at her fellow kunoichi. “I think your teammates have helped enough.”

“Your teammate attacked mine, not the other way around. I’m just trying to help,” responded Himari.

Sen was about to say something further when she was interrupted: “It’s okay. She didn’t do anything.”

The soft voice came from Ghidorah. Himari was caught off guard. The gas mask wearing genin had not spoken yet. She was slightly surprised at his voice. She had expected something gravelly or hoarse, but the genin spoke with a soft, almost melodic lilt.

Sen begrudgingly relented to her teammate. “Alright, but I’ll be watching you.”

Himari bent towards Ghidorah to begin administering medical jutsu. The crocodile, which was next to Ghidorah, emitted a low growl in Himari’s direction.

“It’s okay, Tock. She’s here to help.” The crocodile assented to Ghidorah but remained alarmingly close to Himari as she began applying her chakra to the area where Ghidorah had been impacted by Jin’s strike.

“This will be more effective if you take your shirt off, so I can work directly on your skin,” Himari said. “No!” Ghidorah’s refusal was sudden and forceful. “Just do what you can through the clothing.” He had only been hit once, so Himari was able to deal with it fairly efficiently through the thick layers of clothing Ghidorah was wearing. She wondered at Ghidorah’s hesitation at taking his shirt off, but she didn’t press the issue.

“That should do it.”Himari stood, satisfied at her work.

Sen took note of the medical work done by Himari. Impressive for a genin level.

She turned to leave. Ghidorah remained where he was at. “Ghidorah?”

“I was getting some good training done here. I’m going to continue.”

Sen turned to Himari. “I need to get my herbs from here. I’m not going to do anything to your teammate, I just healed him. Besides, it seems like he can handle himself anyways,” Himari responded to Sen’s questioning glare.

“Fine.” Sen turned to leave. As she did, she sent a telepathic query to her teammate: You sure you’ll be fine?

Yes. Ghidorah’s response was succinct.

Ugh, boys thought Sen as she left the clearing.

Only two genin remained in the clearing. Himari began walking towards the center of the clearing, having spotted small herbs growing near the log that Yuma had been sitting on. As she neared the spot where D had been hit by the attack from Ghidorah, she was suddenly stopped in her tracks as Ghidorah placed a firm hand on her chest and prevented her from moving forwards.

“W-what are you doing?!”

Ghidorah was not looking at Himari but instead downwards. He silently pointed.

Himari followed his arm. She noticed what Ghidorah was pointing at. There was an ant-hill on the ground.

“Is that – is that why you attacked D? You were trying to protect the ant-hill?”

Ghidorah nodded.

He did all that for an ant-hill. Himari didn’t know whether to be shocked or impressed. Meanwhile, Ghidorah had realized that his hand, which he had put out to stop Himari from crushing the ant-hill with her steps, was still firmly placed on Himari’s chest. He removed his hand with haste. Although his face was covered by a gas mask, Himari couldn’t help but feel as if he was blushing from the awkward situation they had found themselves in.

“I won’t bother the ants. I just want to get those herbs over there.” Himari, being careful to avoid the ant-hill moved towards the log and collected the ingredients she had her eyes on. Once done, she turned back towards Ghidorah and the ant-hill, where it seems a clay dome had been placed on top of the ant-hill.

“What’s that?” she asked.

“I put some protection on the ant-hill, so they don’t get crushed by another person training. I imagine a chunin or jonin would be able to tell the ant-hill is here and avoid it, but another genin could crush it by accident. I’m putting some openings in the dome too so the ants can come and go. I don’t want to block them in.”

Does he think that a chunin or jonin would alter their training just to avoid a measly ant-hill? Himari wondered. Ghidorah’s thought process was shockingly naïve, but Himari couldn’t help but be impressed by the thoughtfulness of the other genin. Even an ant’s live matters to him.
After he was done Ghidorah turned away from the ant-hill and began walking back towards the outskirts of the clearing where he had emerged. “Well, it was nice to meet you. Hopefully we don’t see you in the forest.”

“The forest?”

Ghidorah winced. Sen had been extremely clear about not letting it slip to anyone at all that they knew what the next stage of the exam would look like. He shuddered at the thought of how she might react if she found out. Sen had treated Ghidorah with nothing but kindness in their short time as teammates, but Ghidorah was still intimidated by the older kunoichi. More than that, he was afraid that she would request that he be kicked out of their team if he let her down somehow. I’m going to be friendless again.

He turned to Himari and realized that she had been staring at him inquisitively for some time as thoughts had been racing through his head. He had to say something. “Uhh… you’re looking for more herbs and stuff right? I was going to train in the forest here, I don’t want you to get caught in the middle of someone training again…”

Himari wasn’t sure how to react to this. This genin was… unusual to say the least. But she felt a strange kinship with him. I’ll take weirdness over stupid bravado. “That’s right. That tree over there... I think that’s a serenna veriformans. The leaves at the very top of that tree are supposed to have very strong medicinal properties.”

Ghidorah and Himari both turned towards the massive tree. It was perhaps 30 metres tall. “Getting up there is going to be a pain,”remarked Himari.

“I can help.” Ghidorah put his hand on the tree. Suddenly, a plethora of beetles began emerging from his sleeves! The beetles began climbing up the side of the tree.

As Himari watched in awe, the beetles climbed the length of the tree and then began descending. Himari noticed in surprise that the beetles were returning in groups as they descended, each carrying the leaves of the serenna veriformans!

“Is that enough?” Ghidorah asked Himari.

“That’s more than enough! Wow, that’s really something!” Again, Himari noticed that Ghidorah seemed to exhibit signs of a blush hidden behind his gas mask.

“I think… I think I’m going to go train again. It was nice to meet you.” Ghidorah turned from Himari and made his way into the forest.

Himari watched as Ghidorah turned to leave. His crocodile companion suddenly rubbed himself over her legs. I think… the crocodile is trying to thank me? Himari rubbed the snout of the crocodile, who turned towards her in a pleased toothy smile and then followed Ghidorah into the thicket.

What an interesting person, thought Himari.