Arc One, Team Temari; Chapter Two, Temari-sensei
Luckily for Mokuren, Tetsuko was kind enough to wake Mokuren when Inoue dismissed everyone and explain to her where and when they were supposed to meet their jounin sensei. She just hoped he hadn't lied so that he could laugh about it later, because she had the feeling that if she asked Inoue she'd be taking Academy classes all over again.
Mokuren arrived at the rooftop Tetsuko had directed her to ten minutes early to see that the black-haired boy was already there waiting. Stepping around a poorly hidden trap, Mokuren raised an eyebrow at him. Tetsuko awkwardly rubbed his neck. "It's for Kentsu." He explained.
"There's no way he's that stu-" Mokuren began to say, but broke off as her unfinished statement was proven wrong.
"What the heck?" Kentsu shouted, writhing on the ground for a moment, trying to pull his foot out of the trap. Soon enough, though, he was free and throwing angry hooks at Tetsuko. Mokuren couldn't judge the strength behind the punch, but she raised an eyebrow at the way he wildly threw it. Not a single hit landed, although the other boy also seemed clumsy and didn't punch back. Instead, he broke away and began throwing shuriken. Tetsuko's aim was such that although Kentsu was unaffected, Mokuren - who was far to the right - almost lost a toe.
"Are you two seriously this pathetic?" She asked, doing her best to sound uncaring, but internally she couldn't help thinking, they are, they really are, maybe I shouldn't have annoyed Yumi-sensei so much -
"Who are you calling pathetic?" Kentsu shouted, while Tetsuko looked somewhat dejected.
"Is there some other pathetic duo around here I could be referring to?" She asked irritably, stepping forward.
"Why, you -" The pink-orange-haired boy - seriously, why wasn't there a specific color for the shade? - growled as he ran at Mokuren. He tried to punch her, but she sidestepped and then tripped him, sending him sprawling.
"Even Kamiki fights better than that, and she failed the genin exam." Mokuren sighed as she shook her head. Maybe Yumi-sensei only passed them so that they could drag me down. The idea wasn't completely impossible - Inoue was a little more vengeful than an Academy teacher should be. Still, Mokuren had hoped the woman would be happy enough just to see her gone.
Tetsuko finally stepped in, although he looked very hesitant. "Look, you two really shouldn't argue, I mean, Kentsu really does need to work on his skills but -"
"He's not the only one." Mokuren pointed out. "What were you aiming at, earlier? None of the shuriken even came close to hitting him. Do you ever practice?" Tetsuko wilted at the criticism, and Mokuren couldn't help but feel annoyed. "And honestly, what is with you? Even your attitude is pathetic! You're a ninja, aren't you? When someone insults you, get angry."
"He's not going to get angry at a girl." Kentsu sneered, pushing himself up.
"Funny, I remember him yelling at me in the classroom..."
"That was before he saw your face and -"
"Shut up!" Tetsuko barked, his face apple-red. Actually, it suddenly looked really familiar... While Mokuren took a moment to try and recall exactly what his face reminded her of, the two boys began to argue again. She didn't listen to much of it, but she distinctly heard the word 'crush' and wondered if they were really tossing around threats that lame.
"If the both of you don't quiet down, I'll make you." Mokuren had just declared when she suddenly felt someone heading their way. If it was their jounin sensei, she didn't want her team making such an awful impression that they were sent back instantly, even if a return to the Academy seemed inevitable.
"Ha! I'd like to see you -" Kentsu began to say, but Mokuren cut him off, appearing in front of him suddenly and covering his mouth.
"Someone's coming - do you want our teacher's first impression of you to be the same as what you've given me? You'll be back in the Academy before you can say 'No'."
Somehow, that logic actually got into the boy's head, and the three arranged themselves in a line. Although Mokuren felt quite nervous waiting as the person she could sense slowly approached, she nonetheless began to doze off standing now that all was quiet.
"Are you team three?" Mokuren's eyes shot open at the question, as they had closed without her noticing. She felt even more dizzy when she recognized the woman in front of her.
"Are you our jounin sensei?" Tetsuko managed to mumble out despite his jaw resting beside his toes. Mokuren had a feeling she wouldn't be able to speak nearly as well just then.
"I am. My name -"
"Aren't you Kazekage-sama's sister?!" Kentsu blurted out.
"I am." Temari's voice was flat this time. "However, I do still have a name. Temari."
Kentsu grimaced and made to hide behind Tetsuko. However, the other boy pushed him away and bowed respectfully to Temari, with Mokuren copying him a second later. Their other teammate took a minute, and then realized that he should probably apologize. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have interrupted..."
Temari exhaled, and reminded herself that the three in front of her were mere children. "Nevermind that. Anyway, introduce yourselves. Give your names, likes, dislikes and goals."
Glancing at the other two and seeing that they were looking towards him, Kentsu grimaced. "My name's Kentsu... I like to eat?" It sounded more like a question than a statement. "I really dislike those two." He added with a sudden burst of confidence. "And as far as goals... I'm going to beat the smug look off this girl's face," He waved an arm towards Mokuren, "And become Kazekage some day!"
Mokuren groaned. Weren't there any original goals left in the world? Couldn't they just settle with becoming jounin or learning a certain number of techniques, or something plausible like that? There had only ever been four Kazekages. Four. There had been thousands of Suna nin, and even if that didn't bring his chances down to almost nothing, the current Kazekage, Gaara, didn't look like he'd be stepping down anytime soon.
"I'm Tetsuko." The black-haired boy introduced himself nervously, but in a clearer voice than Kentsu had used. "I really like looking at the stars and... well..." He turned slightly pink again and Kentsu scowled. "Anyway, I dislike this guy, and I'll definitely become Kazekage before he does."
Well, that wasn't quite as awful... but now it was her turn. What to say, what to say... "My name is Mokuren, I like to eat squid and help out at my favorite restaurant. I don't particularly dislike anything, and my goals are to surpass my father and protect my village." Because obviously that should be in every shinobi's list of goals. "It's nice to meet you, Temari-sensei." She added, bowing again.
Temari nodded her head at Mokuren, her slight surprise not showing on her face. The information she'd received on the girl was that she had a habit of sleeping through lessons, ignoring her peers, and disrespecting her teachers. A note had also been added that the teacher suspected Mokuren had cheated somehow in order to pass the genin test with the top score, but Temari would judge the truth of that later. For now, the girl simply seemed boring.
Surveying her new team once more, Temari spoke authoritatively. "I expect to see the three of you on training ground twelve at four in the morning tomorrow. If you're not there on time, make sure you return your forehead protector afterwards. I've no use for tardy ninja. Dismissed!" She said abruptly, and disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Mokuren blinked. "Was that a shadow clone?" She asked, slightly uncertainly. "That didn't seem right for a space-time jutsu..." By 'that', Mokuren was referring to the smoke, and the fact that the Temari just now had definitely had chakra and so it couldn't have been a normal clone.
"We have a jounin sensei who knows the jutsu! Do you think we could -" Kentsu began eagerly, his eyes lighting up.
"You don't have enough chakra." Mokuren immediately shot him down.
"You can't know that." Tetsuko protested.
"I do." Mokuren assured him. "No genin has reserves large enough to use the shadow clone, that'd be ridiculous."
"Naruto-sama -"
"Was a jinchuuriki, so his chakra reserves were huge even as a genin." After a pause she added, "Don't try to compare yourselves to him - Nanadaime Hokage is a thousand times more powerful than either of you could ever hope to be."
Neither of the boys argued, but Mokuren wasn't the least bit surprised. The way her father told it, Uzumaki Naruto was God to this world now, and even the stupidest of idiots would agree.
With her meetings and such over for the day, Mokuren headed to Gyo Shokudou. Just the outline of the restaurant was enough to drown her in memories, but nearly all of them were pleasant and she couldn't help smiling as she hurried in. As it was midday, the restaurant was very nearly empty, and Reiko, the owner, was napping on a table in the corner by the bathrooms.
"You're going to get robbed someday." Mokuren told her exasperatedly, sliding into the seat across.
"If that happens, I'll just make you go get my money back. You're a ninja now, aren't you?" Reiko mumbled, her head still on the table.
"I am, which means you'd have to request a mission and pay me."
"But I won't be able to pay you, I'll be broke."
"That's your problem then, isn't it?"
"Mokurennnnnnn... you're so mean." Reiko complained, finally lifting her head. "I used to give you free food, didn't I?"
"Out of the kindness of your heart, you told me. That means you can't go asking me to pay you back for it." Mokuren pointed out, absently scraping gum off the underside of the table and tossing it into the garbage can across the room.
"Mean mean meanie..." Reiko pouted, and then started as one of her employees giggled. "What are you laughing at?" She snapped over their way, which sent the poor boy scurrying back to the kitchen.
"Somehow, that seemed more 'mean' than my refusing to help with a hypothetical situation."
"Somehow, you sound like a puppet." Reiko retorted, sorting out her dark hair. "Now if you're not going to eat anything, get out - I can't have you loitering around here all day!"
"Fine, fine... I'll go bother Senurou-jii." Mokuren spoke around a small yawn.
"Actually, could you go and see Kamiki-san? She came by here earlier looking for you." Reiko's tone became much more polite and her back straightened as her eyes followed a family entering her restaurant. "Isn't that Suiko or whomever?" She added, looking at a girl around Mokuren's age with golden blonde hair.
"That's Sui-chan." Mokuren agreed. At the moment, Suikana and her family were not really on the list of people that the brunette wanted to talk to, considering that the girl was still visibly upset about her failure on the genin exam. The blonde had always thought herself much better than Mokuren in strength as well as appearance, so Mokuren hoped that the girl hadn't noticed her or her forehead protector. Suikana had never been one to take such things well, and so Mokuren slipped out of the building through a window in the girl's bathroom as soon as she could.
Almost the second Mokuren knocked on the door, Kamiki opened it. The quiet girl looked oddly upset as she let Mokuren in and hurried to get something to drink, but the brunette still took a moment to look around the apartment. She and Kamiki had been friends-of-a-sort and neighbors since they were about seven years old, but Mokuren still knew next to nothing about the girl. Kamiki had black hair, dark green eyes, and she was an orphan - she didn't really like board games or leaving her house, but Kamiki was enrolled in the ninja academy nonetheless. Mokuren didn't know why, and although she'd been tempted she had never asked.
"You wanted to talk to me about something?" Mokuren started the conversation as she took a glass from Kamiki.
The other girl bit her lip nervously. "Nothing specific." Kamiki's voice was very soft, to the point she could barely be heard. "Just... I wanted to know if you had become a genin. I haven't seen you in quite a while... Clearly you are." She added, her eyes on Mokuren's forehead. "Do you know who your teammates are yet?"
"I met with them today. One has pink-orange hair and a tan, and is constantly yelling something or another. The other boy has black hair and pale skin, and acts rather strange."
"Kento and Tetsue or something similar, right? They're famous for being the most annoying people in our class. I don't think they're really too bad, though." She mumbled the last part while looking down at her lap.
"Most annoying? Then how did I not know them?"
Kamiki coughed a little to hide a slight smile. "I think you were too deeply asleep to really hear them..."
Mokuren shrugged unabashedly.
End Note: I'm still grossed by the way I made Kentsu in these chapters... leaving it, though. A lot of his development was about learning better. Changed a couple lines to be less irksome.