Disclaimer: I'm only going to say this once. Anything you recognize from somewhere else obviously doesn't belong to me.
Brief Author's Note: This is OC-Centric, takes place in Suna long after the series, uses some Japanese terms with no translations, and personalities are presented slowly. Everyone will seem stereotypical in the beginning - I am really, really bad at beginnings. I also introduce too many characters at a time, but there will be reminders of initial details for important characters.
Arc One, Team Temari; Chapter One, Meeting
The Village Hidden in the Sand was the least populated major ninja village in the world. It was known best for its poisons, its puppetry, and its Kazekage, who had lead the entire world in an unbelievable war.
It was not known for forgiving useless genin, regardless of how tired they might be.
"Team One - Maitsu, Udonsu, Kirikama!"
Entering the classroom as unobtrusively as she could manage, Mokuren wasn't sure if she should feel annoyed that her clock had fallen behind or relieved that she hadn't been too late to hear all of the teams. She slid into a seat in the back beside Maitsu, hoping that her teacher hadn't noticed her absence.
Today was a very important day, after all. The first real day of her genin career. She should have gotten more sleep, definitely, and left earlier. If only her neighbor had actually passed the exam...
"Team Two - Kurekiro, Aomaru -"
"You've got rings around your eyes." Maitsu scolded Mokuren, sounding more irritated than concerned. Since they were in the very back, Inoue paid them no mind. "You'd better hope your jounin sensei doesn't expect anything of you today, because you don't look like you could handle any work."
"Don't you worry about me, Chibi-chan." Mokuren yawned away Maitsu's concerns.
"Don't call me that!" The three-feet six-inches high kunoichi snapped, glaring fiercely. Maitsu's short spiky black hair, short eyelashes and board-flat chest caused most people to mistake her for a boy. As this also led to people taking her more seriously despite her height, Maitsu dressed to encourage this misconception.
Because of that desire to be taken seriously, Maitsu was one of the few people in their class that Mokuren actually thought deserved to be a ninja. She didn't particularly dislike her classmates, but none of them trained enough for her to feel secure asking them to watch her back.
"Team Three - Kentsu, Mokuren, Tetsuko!"
Mokuren frowned, not entirely sure who her teammates were. The names sounded familiar, but she couldn't put a face to them. It was one of the few downsides to spending her indoor class time sleeping.
"Team Four - Aiko, Shirota, Mizuru!" Inoue finished up, rolling her scroll back up.
"Yumi-sensei, who are my teammates?" Mokuren stood up to ask.
"My name isn't Yumi, it's Inoue!" She shot back reflexively. "Honestly, how did someone like you ace the test?" The teacher moaned, rubbing her forehead. Just looking at Mokuren, much less speaking to her, gave her instant headaches. The way the girl slept in class and forgot the name of a teacher she'd had for years - how could such a disrespectful girl become a kunoichi?
"The heck?! A girl got the best score?" A boy with pinkish-orange hair whined, standing up angrily. "That's ridiculous! Who the heck is she anyway? She doesn't look familiar at all. Are you even in the right room?" His voice was very loud, and he banged the table with his fist a few times for emphasis.
"Are you suggesting women can't become strong ninja?" Inoue spoke icily, releasing an angry aura. Personal affronts were nearly punishable by death in her classroom.
"N-no, of course not!" He yelped, ducking under his desk quickly.
Mokuren snorted and shook her head, unwillingly amused by the cowardice of her classmate. "I pity whichever girl is on your team." She told him.
"You are the girl on his team." Inoue scowled, her anger draining away as her headache returned.
"What? How is that fair?!" The thin boy with crazy black hair sitting beside the loud one called, standing up and frowning. "I thought teams were supposed to have an even distribute or whatever of -"
"Your team is even! After all, she aced the test... and the two of you just barely passed at all!" In fact, Inoue had expected them to fail it miserably. The two never seemed dedicated to learning, as they always focused on arguing with one another and hardly interacting at all with their other classmates.
"Shouldn't we have the worst, the best, and the most average on our team then?" Mokuren argued, more for the sake of argument than any other reason.
"They tied for worst, and - oh, just shut up!" Inoue snapped, annoyed at having her authority questioned. She glared around angrily, her eyes daring another student to talk. When nobody did, she relaxed slightly. "Alright. So. I want you all to sit with your teammates and get to know each other. I'm going to come around and explain what location and time you are to meet your jounin sensei. If there's any fighting, I'm taking away the genin status of each participant!" While adding this, Inoue glowered at the two loud-mouthed boys Mokuren now had for teammates.
Once each team had been placed together, Mokuren smiled brightly towards the boys. "It's nice to meet you both. My name is Mokuren - what are your names?"
The larger boy merely scowled at her, while the black-haired boy's face turned a little pink and he said hurriedly, "My name is Tetsuko - this idiot's name is Kentsu. It's nice to meet you, Mokuren-chan!"
Mokuren's smile slipped away and she raised an eyebrow at the suffix.
"Who are you calling an idiot? You loser!"
"You're both annoying - have you forgotten what Yumi-sensei said already?" Mokuren asked them, setting her head down as a wave of tiredness hit her. She thought she heard Kentsu reply - something about a boar, or maybe a well - she fell asleep too quickly to really listen.
End Note: This chapter has been through many edits, but let me know about any further ones needed. Going through and removing Mokuren's internalized misogyny because I'm not sure how to put it in a bad light, as I meant to the first time.