A/N: I don't own Naruto only the OCs.
9
"You will be attending the Chunin Exams in three weeks' time. The Exams are to be held in Konohagakure and you will be accompanied by two other shinobi of my choosing and your current sensei."
I pause in my current preoccupation of popping candied ball after candied ball into my awaiting mouth and flick my eyes briefly across at my uncle. Yagura says nothing to his thirteen year old niece just continues to read through the mounds of paperwork.
Exams?
I snort.
I don't need to be tested. But…my hand pauses, this may mean travel. Despite (or more likely because of) my status I haven't set so much as my little toe outside of the Land of Water. Though my expectations (which consist of these foreign shinobi giggling girlishly and flicking leaves at me) greatly differ from the reality I can't help but feel a pull of excitement. There's a pang of insult that they are going to put me through exams.
Then a decidedly feral grin pulls at my face.
Different country. Different shinobi. Different opportunities to prove I am the best through different challenges.
Oh, so many asses are going to get pasted.
"Thank you Oji-sama."
….
"Dear, dear teacher with your wise and huge, shining head-"
"Can I ask what it is you want Ren-san," Hitoshi gives me that watered down, kind smile as he continues to test the sharp edges of kunai, "and my head happens to be shiny because you insist on shaving it."
"You are our human notepad," I reply unapologetically, "and we like to bald-slap you when the mood strikes us."
"I am honoured," Hitoshi replies with that false sincerity that I find sickening.
"These exams," I squat down further on the wall and pull out another candied ball, "why now? We don't think Oji-sama has ever intended for us to be measured by the same standards as human shinobi."
"An astute observation Ren-san, well done."
I smirk and chuckle to myself, "hardly. We're well aware of what we."
Hitoshi pauses in his ministrations and adjusts his glasses while muttering in that strange language of his.
"According to sources this year two other Jinchuriki will be taking the Exam," he replies finally and my hand pauses from where it hung to plop another sweet into my mouth.
"Other Jinchuriki?"
Hitoshi glances at me and I see that clinical curiosity pass over once before his face is the ever pleasant fool again.
"Yes though your uncle is only aware of the presence of one."
"There…there are others…like me?"
"Yes, you did not know?"
I grit my teeth, "no, no we didn't."
…
"Why didn't you tell me?"
'Isobu-boku did not know you wanted to know.'
"Of course I would!"
I deflate and my body slumps to the floor.
"Of course I wanted to know," I whisper.
There are others. Other Jinchuriki.
The revelation hits me with all the force of a sledgehammer and I can barely slink around it. There...there are others like me. I try to forcibly sink this information in but still it resists. My uncle controls all the information that I receive, he controls what I learns, what I do, what I think. Never before has this bothered me. I had no interest in others why would I seek to know them? But now my fists are shaking and something hot and heady is bubbling up under the surface of my skin.
Because this isn't the others this is me, beings like me and I'M THE MOST IMPORTANT DAMN THING HERE! I should know! Why hadn't I known?
'Ren...please calm down...your hands are bleeding.'
Snapping my eyes down I register rather dumbly through the thick, knotting thing inside my veins that they are bleeding as they clasp around the jagged edges of another coral formation I've summoned.
"DAMN IT!" I roar, kicking at the thing instead and feeling satisfaction as it splinters and falls apart under my assault.
But still I'm not satisfied.
I turn on the wall now, pounding it mercilessly under my feet.
'Ren! Stop!' Isobu sounds worried but the concern falls away under the pulsing haze I'm under now, 'You're hurting yourself!'
That doesn't matter. Why hadn't I known? How long had they all let me wander around this damp, cold, empty place thinking I'm the only one? I hate them! They deny me their own company then deny me the company of others like me! For what? Do they like this? Do they get off to treating me like this? Don't they know I'm stronger? By rights I should be better! Why do I always have to be alone?! I hate them! I hate them! I HATE THEM! EVERY LAST ONE! DISGUSTING, CRUEL, WEAK THINGS!
'Ren! Calm down now! You'll be seeing the other Jinchuriki won't you? That bald human said so...so calm down...please.'
My foot makes one last juddering impact with the wall and I slump with it. Resting my head against the cool down, still damp from the fog and yesterday's rain. My fingers are clawed in-between the scars in the concrete, they tighten then lax as I release one ragged breath.
Isobu's right.
I will be seeing them. Something small and flickering putters to life in my ribcage and it takes me awhile to recognise it as hope.
I snort.
No, that's impossible. I don't need anyone else, I'm so fantastically fantastic that I don't need anyone. No, its merely curiosity. Who wouldn't be curious about something like this? I want to meet them, see if their like me in any way, shape or form and then I'm going to beat them, prove that I AM the best! Yes, that sounds suitable. I nod once, a smirk growing at the new found conviction.
Straightening myself up, I dust my clothes down and wince at the sharp throbbing of my hands and feet. I'm Ren.
I am the best.
And I'm going to prove it.
'Ren...why does Isobu-boku get the feeling you're planning something...nasty?'
"Isobu-sama how could you think such things," I mock pout and shake my head in disappointment, "I'm practically an angel."
'...Are you planning something?'
I smirk, "yep."
A/N:
Thank you all for the lovely reviews and favourites and follows ^_^ it honestly makes my day when I see this has gotten a new review. Sorry this chapter is later than usual but I've been having trouble trying to FF net to load :/ Next chapter will mark the beginning of the Chunin Arc and Ren's arrival in Konoha. I'll likely upload that one later today since this chapter is so SHORT D: but I wanted to start the Chunin Arc of on a completely new chapter. I hope this chapter gives an idea of how much control Yagura has over Ren and how sheltered she really is (I mean she's NEVER been out of Kirikagure and she wasn't even aware that there were other Jinchuriki).
Thanks for reading
