Knitting Fate

Second installment in Canon Patchworking with Uchiha Ren series

Twenty-Eighth Thread

•••

I'm sorry it's a week late and not writing my own OC for so long had probably have me write her as OOC, but I sure do hope that I can be back to weekly updates on Monday (which, for me, was yesterday, so it's technically a week and a day late), and I'm pretty sure I'm more than not over losing all the data.

Also, thank you all who wished me well! First few days were really hard, and even trying to take it apart and fix mechanically, and I really don't have 1800PLN (~480USD) to retrieve the data from someone who specializes in things like that.

This chapter has been beta'd for you by hestia8639. Thanks a lot!

My tumblr and deviantart name is KillerGirlFuria, in case any of you wants to spam by askbox. I'm pretty open person, and if anyone would like to discuss CPwUR, or anything else, really, you're very welcome.

"There are no 'ifs' in combat. When you win, you win, when you lose, you lose."
― CLAMP, Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE,

0

"I had no idea Konoha was capable of producing proper ninja, with how fluffy your policies are," Kisame says, and Shibi isn't even remotely surprised, to be perfectly honest. The Swordsman apprentice has spent the better part of the month with the girl, drilling the basics of swordplay into her head. And yes, Ren is a force of nature in both personality and talent. One that Kiri wouldn't be shy to claim as their own if they could, kekkei genkai or no.

But…

"She's also a hothead who rushes in and hardly thinks. Proper ninja or not, she will not get far if she continues thinking herself invincible. That's one of the shortest routes into the grave I know," Shibi answers, arms crossed, looking at the balcony where Hana is fussing over Ren, as usual. "Hana, however talented, is still merely an apprentice."

Kisame hums thoughtfully.

"But she is working on Ren's recklessness, isn't she?" he says, looking over at the bickering pair. He watches with amusement as Ren furiously spits out some blood and barks out something that earns her a smack to the head and a glare. And then she actually puffs her cheeks, like the brat she is.

"I'm just glad to see that she can still be childish after what happened to her clan," Shibi responds flatly. "That's perhaps the reason, too – she survived what no one else did and now thinks herself invulnerable?"

"I wouldn't say that," Kisame sighs, "but rather… she forgets herself. Forgets that she's a shinobi in dangerous situations. And that she can get hurt. As if she lived in a different reality up until now or something. To be honest, many genin are like that, until they taste real danger. Assuming they survive, that is."

"Speaking from experience?" Shibi asks, and Kisame can swear to god that he heard sass somewhere in there. Bastard.

"Maybe," he grins instead. "Or maybe I was just surrounded by enough idiots growing up," he finishes with a pointed look towards Zabuza.

Ren doesn't even want to know how Hana was allowed to remain on the contestants' balcony when even their teachers aren't, not to mention teammates that didn't pass the preliminaries. But then again, Hana can be quite frightening when she wants to be, and if one of the ninja by the door flinching each time she looks at him is any indication, well.

Ren really, truly does not want to know.

She hisses, swatting away Hana's hand and shaking her head. The Inuzuka huffs and rolls her eyes, but otherwise allows Ren to prod at the freshly patched wound on her nose. It's by no means healed – Hana is good enough to try, but in the rush of training and everything, she hadn't had enough time to actually go to the hospital and do an apprenticeship. So aside from bruises and small cuts, she hasn't had much experience with healing.

"You're an idiot, you know," Hana grumbles at Ren, who snorts, only to hiss and press her fingers to the sides of her nose.

"Fucking fuck that bitch," she growls, as her friend moves her hands to Ren's chest, willing a green glow to bleed out of her palms. "I hope he never regains full mobility in his hand, that motherfucker," Ren groans instead, and Hana sighs heavily, but with relief.

"None of your ribs were broken, but some are pretty badly bruised. If you strain yourself in the next few fights – and knowing you, you will – some of them will most likely break," she explains. "Now, if you feel sharp pain in your chest area, experience any difficulty breathing and possibly spit blood, I want you to forfeit because that most likely means one of your ribs has punctured a lung. Are we clear?"

"Like hell I will," Ren grumbles. "Not if I can win, I won't. Now, I want to see how Hibiki does, let's go."

Hana just groans and swats her head with an exasperated, but fond "you bloody moron."

Turns out the Taki chick is pretty pathetic, to be perfectly honest. And the only comparatively worse match she could find among the competitors would be Ren herself. The reason? Simple – she is a genjutsu type, and the Byakugan is a dōjutsu that could easily spot signs of genjutsu, especially if it's a lower-level illusion.

The fight went like this:

The Taki chick set a genjutsu, Hibiki dispelled it immediately after. She used it again, he dispelled it again. And so on for another three times until she finally understood that genjutsu isn't going to help her here. So she resorted to other methods. Namely taijutsu. Against a Hyūga. Unsurprisingly, a Jūken later Hibiki was named the winner as he glanced rather nervously at a grinning Ren.

Victory is one thing. The idea of facing Ren on the field in his next match? That is straight-up terrifying. He saw what she did to that guy from Kiri, he really doesn't need to experience it firsthand.

Doesn't mean he is going down without a fight, of course.

"Why are we taking a break?" Ren complains, tapping her foot impatiently while leaning her back on the railing.

"It's just how it goes," Deidara chimes in, hopping up and over the metal fence separating their balconies. "There's a twenty minute break between each set of fights, to put the competitors on the same page, un. This is not a real battlefield, it's a tournament that sees how ready we are to go onto the real field. Can't go in ragged and tired, un."

"How do you know all these things?" Hibiki asks around the rice ball he's been nibbling on. Eating something is a good idea, but it can't be too heavy. However, between eating rice and eating nothing, Ren opts for eating nothing. She doesn't want to eat while fighting a gag reflex with every bite, and eating rice would cause just that.

"My team and I are apprenticed directly under the Tsuchikage," he says, and then scoffs. "That's about the only perk to being in a team with his grandkids. They're impossible and rude. Brats!"

"Look who's talking," Hana mutters, but Deidara ignores the remark.

"Thanks for beating Kurotsuchi though, un. Satisfying," the blond says with a smirk.

"So I've been told," Ren snorts. "Many times. By you."

Deidara only scoffs, puffing his cheeks in a way reminiscent of another blond ball of energy. Ren sighs and shakes her head, looking to the sky as a sudden wave of nostalgia hits her out of the blue. Had someone told her she would start feeling nostalgic in the middle of the last stage of the Chūnin Exam, she would punch that person in the face. Repeatedly.

But here she is, sad, miserable (ha ha), and missing a bunch of children.

Goddamnit.

Twenty minutes after the announcement of the break Chōjūrō is already in the arena along with some generic, unremarkable Konoha genin, with generic brown hair and black eyes. To be honest, Konoha is the most mundane when it comes to the appearances of its citizens, unlike Kiri's blue, green and white hair, Suna's redheads, Kumo's white and blond hair on dark skin or even Taki's green hair. Actually, the Taki Chick Hibiki faced and her teammates all had hair in varying shades of green. Enter Uchiha Ren, with generic dull black eyes and unruly, shaggy black hair that makes her feel like some skewed version of Harry Potter.

Ren sighs, ruffling her hair and leaning against the railing. Her bet is on Deidara making it to the finals, but who knows. She'd much rather keep herself informed just in case.

As much as neither of the participants is anywhere near as strong as to be able to stand against a seasoned chūnin, the Konoha genin actually doesn't seem like a pushover. It might have come from the fact that he is too massive to be a preteen, and Ren is sure he is actually in his late teens. So, yeah.

And then there is Chōjūrō, thin and scrawny and in the middle of growth spurt- but also silent, focused, and wickedly fast, not to mention his skill with the blade. In all honesty, Ren has some doubts that she would ever reach that level herself, even if Chōjūrō is still only a genin. But you don't become one of the Seven Swordsmen for nothing, do you? Also, even with his awkward gangliness, Chōjūrō is still fast and horrifyingly in control of his body. Ren's fighting style, compared to the boy, feels… crude, for lack of a better word. Crude, aggressive, brutal. Nothing of the fluid, almost elven motions the Kiri genin is currently going through with ease.

Also, cutting the tendons in the knees of his opponent? That was smart and effectively put his opponent out of commission.

Beside Ren, Deidara, who can't be bothered with returning to his balcony, bites his lip with a hiss.

"Problem?" Ren asks, eyeing the smaller boy.

"Not really, but if I let him get close, I'm as good as done," he mutters.

"Ooh, finally getting scared of the competition?" Ren chuckles, but instead of flaring red, Deidara looks at her and smirks.

"Out of all the lot that's gathered here for the Exams, only you and that Kiri kid down there are interesting, un," he shrugs.

"Ohh, so I'm not interesting?" Hana purrs from behind them and Deidara jumps up with a squawk. Given that he's a ninja, he jumps rather high. Given it was sudden and he was absolutely not prepared, Ren gives him some leeway due to lack of experience and catches the boy midair. She doesn't know if it's her magical ninja-enhanced strength or something, but holding Deidara up at the moment is comparable to holding a housecat.

"Hi," she said smugly, and Deidara let out a whistling breath through his clenched teeth.

"No, you aren't interesting, un," the blond says to Hana, apparently deeming that his spot in the arms of her best friend is the safest he'll get from her. "You're just weird."

"And scary," Ren adds with a smile, leading Deidara to curse at her and huff. She sets him down then and pats on the head with a smile. "Off you go, Dei. Your turn."

"Time to show the bastard true art," he grins like the maniac he most certainly already is. "Besides, dolls? Who the hell plays with dolls at that age?" he scoffs, and Ren has to stop herself from cackling out maniacally, because she's suddenly seeing a flashback of every interaction that he has with Sasori in the-future-that-hopefully-won't-be-because-fuck-Kishimoto.

Deidara does exactly as he said in regards to showing his opponent, a puppeteer from Suna, what 'true art' is. Well, in Deidara's understanding. Ren is more into art that translated into fancy and tasty dishes.

(Things like these happen when you're living alone in a flat during the third decade of your life, bored out of your mind outside of work because even the fauna and flora in the Sahara are more lush and lively than your social life.

That, and she really likes to eat, so she learned to cook and make it fancy. And, to be perfectly honest, she's kind of longing for a kitchen of her own. She's hoping that Genma will take care of it and she'll come to a stocked pantry and full-equipped kitchen.)

Other than her musings, Ren is also reassured in her standing that Deidara is a little monster in the making, and a driven one at that. The Suna genin isn't the most experienced, his only real advantage being his puppets and poisons – but for them to take effect, he has to actually cut Deidara. And the blond had blewn up his puppet before that could happen, then glued his clay all over the other boy, threatening to blow up his opponent. When the other refused to yield, he actually detonated some of it, causing his opponent a scorching, ugly-looking wound reaching from his neck to about past the shoulder-blades. Vicious little bastard.

With Deidara named as the victor, another twenty-minute pause is called.

Hibiki seems quite dazed at the fact that he is part of the four that have advanced to the semi-finals. He knows there is little chance of him advancing futher – he only 'got his shit together', as Ren would say, not too long ago. And she's been training herself ragged for gods know how long. Since the Massacre at the very least, but she was at the top of her class long before that.

Ren is calm. It is all she can do right now, letting the rest play out. In twenty minutes she would face Hibiki – a formality, to be honest, she is lucky that he was lucky to get to this point – and then, it's up to fate.

Whoever wins the round after hers – be it Chōjūrō or Deidara – she is equally fucked against either prodigy with only her determination and aggressive strength, and lacking in areas that are exactly their specializations.

It isn't going to be easy, but she'll be damned if she goes down without a fight.