Character File
* Mokuren (木蓮) *
Other names: 'Zoruna Mei (ｿﾞﾙﾅ命)',
The titular character of the AU story she exists in, Mokuren is a shinobi of Sunagakure no Sato (The Hidden Village of the Sand). She entered training to become a ninja following her father's death in the line of duty. She was born some ten years after the end of the Fourth Great Shinobi War.
Personal
Birth date: 21 April (Taurus)
Age: 12
Height: 147 cm (4'10")
Weight: 39.4 kg (86.862 lb)
Blood Type: AB
Nature Type: Wind
Affiliation: Sunagakure
Team: 'Team Temari', Mo-En-Ka Alliance,
Rank
Ninja Rank: Genin (as of The Chunin Exams arc)
Academy Grad. Age: 12
Chunin Prom. Age: N/A
Family
* Teru (Father)
* Hanatsuya (Mother)
* Yamako (Paternal Grandmother)
Background
Mokuren is described by a family friend as a 'lonely child'; in the first chapter it is shown that Mokuren knows very few of her classmates, and likes only Kamiki, Kirikama and Maitsu. Her father's former teammate Senurou, and Senurou's wife Umerano, are family friends that she visits and refers to affectionately. She is also friends with two civilians living in Sand - Reiko and Karusuke. Though she lives with her mother, their relationship is poor and Hanatsuya is rarely mentioned. Her father, Teru, was killed in action on an A-Rank mission; from a rumor, Mokuren suspects that he died near the Hi no Kuni (Fire Country) border.
Appearance
Mokuren has thick, straight brown hair that is poorly cared for and usually left in loose pigtails, though she has bangs. Her eyes are dark, typically drawn as black. She has a wide face, and often has slight bruises under her eyes from a combination of genetics and poor sleep. Her usual outfit has a full mesh top and leggings vaguely covered by a sleeveless khaki 'crop top', with a matching paneled skirt.
Personality
Mokuren is initially shown as uncaring, internally irritable, and mentions sleeping during class several times within the first chapter. Though she is revealed to be fairly determined and invested in the shinobi lifestyle, Mokuren ruins her first impression with her fellow genin by scolding them and falling asleep. Mokuren refuses to use the real names of people she does not acknowledge, or wants to annoy, instead picking names that are often belittling or contain inside jokes. She is shown to view herself highly, looking down on most of her classmates with Maitsu as an exception, as Maitsu '[is] one of the few people in their class that Mokuren actually thought deserved to be a ninja'. She is also entertained by the idea of Suikana, a classmate, feeling the need to show Mokuren pity.
As the uncaring facade starts to show through, Mokuren is shown to greatly enjoy weirding others out due to an unacknowledged desperation for attention. Mokuren is a very restless person, opposite the relaxed look she tries for, and often does unnecessary work for the sake of not being bored. She places great value on the title of shinobi, and was defensive of that status. Mokuren is socially inept, and has difficulty expressing her emotions, especially anger.
A great flaw of hers appears to be nostalgia, which makes it hard for her to appreciate the present, instead desiring her 'better days'. Her great ambition is to discover who exactly killed her father, and what it was that he died for.
Arc One: Team Temari
This arc covers nearly three months of time, starting with Mokuren meeting her team, introducing some of her close friends, and slightly developing her character. The first two chapters happen over two days, showing Mokuren attending meetings and visiting friends. The third is primarily about the team as a whole figuring out whether or not they can manage together, or would be better off split. The final three parts to this arc are about missions, with brief interlude paragraphs that summarize the training that she and her fellow genin teammates undergo. A couple of spars between the teammates are mentioned, all tense, and the three discover their nature types.
Despite the length of time, Mokuren does not actually act any more comfortable with Kentsu, Tetsuko or Temari by the end of this arc. Instead, she treats them only as people she has to be around for the sake of her career and focuses her interactions with them on establishing control or on her own improvement.
Arc Two: The Lost Mission
Initially, Mokuren is the same as ever, if slightly happier for the freedom from Sunagakure's walls. She demonstrates more ease with Temari than before, and reveals that she has a habit of stealing from the people around her when her other hobbies are not available. The mission is wrapped up fairly easily, in large part due to Mokuren, with her teammates appearing rather silly for their approach to the situation and their naivety after finding the 'villain'. The real trouble of the arc is hinted at when a restaurant owner mistakes Mokuren for someone else, and properly begins with a sandstorm that leaves Mokuren, Kentsu, and Tetsuko stranded, with Mokuren gravely injured.
She wakes eventually to find her teammates in danger, and kills for the first time. The comfort she receives when she opens up after creates a bond with her teammates that their previous days could not. All three are stressed and troubled, and Mokuren's pretensions don't hold up very well in the situation. When they are attacked and lose to a large group of bandits, Mokuren is able to turn herself over to them to play the part of a dead girl, Zoruna Mei, giving her teammates a chance to leave the situation alive.
Playing as Mei becomes distressingly nostalgic for Mokuren as she finds that the primary person she is asked to fool is Zoruna Ryuu, Mei's distraught father. Though Mokuren tries to view the situation clinically, especially in regards to gaining a summons contract from him, she is still torn up about her own father's demise and empathizes greatly with Ryuu. She appears to be considering staying with these bandits and giving up her ambition to live as her father might have wanted, only attempting an escape when she senses her teammates nearby and worries for them.
At the finale of the arc, Temari arrives and kills Ryuu, believing that he was in the midst of torturing Mokuren. As they start home, Mokuren uses Kentsu and Tetsuko's real names for the first time to indicate her acknowledgment of their perseverance and sharp increase in ability.
Arc Three: The Chunin Exams
The arc starts by briefly summarizing several months, paying brief attention to Mokuren's realization that her capture has changed her teammates permanently just when she was starting to feel a solid bond to them. A side story also exists within this time, discussing Senurou's guilt and Mokuren's somewhat hypocritical views about living in the past.
She is shown to be fonder of her teammates' antics as they walk over the Great Naruto Bridge into Wave Country, where the new Hidden Village of the Coral is hosting the Chunin Exams. Once they are within the city, she and her team manage to meet a great number of people their own age and have interactions in which Mokuren is more willing to listen, and expresses her joy more clearly. She no longer isolates herself from them, and acts much less mature and guarded while they are present.
The first exam's Sensory Overload illusion takes them all by surprise, and causes Mokuren a great deal more pain than most of the others due to her sensory difficulties. She does clearly attempt to focus on her teammates first, and does not try to tackle this on her own - although in fairness, she was not given much time. Trust was still displayed between the three of them, and they managed to scrape through the tampered exam.
The second exam has them separated; Mokuren trusts that her teammates can handle themselves for the immediate future, certain that they will not get their team disqualified, and chooses to make new friends. She also manages to summon a talking rat for the first time. Though she is overly mature and condescending again with Hibito and Kanemaru, she warms up fairly quickly and together, they work to prevent foes from ambushing the large group Kirikama pulled together. She is drugged by Kanemaru's mosquito summons and unintentionally helps his team to succeed the exam almost at the cost of Maitsu's team. She also causes trouble by calling Kanemaru's bluff when he takes a prisoner.
As the preliminary exams are about to begin, Mokuren forgives Kanemaru, deciding to place blame on his teammate, and tries to convince Hibito to be as forgiving. In her preliminary fight against the Konohagakure nin Aida, Mokuren is still very weak and tries to play it off as being merciful towards Aida's weak confidence. She has difficulty hiding her fear and disgust with Temari due to her drugged state. She plays cards during most of the other matches, something she has mentioned enjoying several times in this arc. Mokuren sobers up a great deal when Kirikama is seriously injured by Kanemaru's teammate, Kujaku, but still comes up with some nicknames for the remaining contestants.
Arc Four: Pre-Tourney Fillers
Within the first chapter, Mokuren messes with her teammate a bit and thinks of her father. She starts to sleep in the closet of the boys' room rather than in her shared room with Temari, as she is still heavily affected by Zoruna's murder at Temari's hands. The team goes to see Kirikama in the hospital, and Mokuren becomes more determined for it.
The team decides to seek serious specific training from Temari, and are asked to complete essays. However, Mokuren receives an offer from her summons for training from their council, and greatly prefers that to being around Temari. Mokuren leaves her teammates a note, hoping that they will pass her disappearance off as another of her quirks. She meets with the king of rats, and is amazed by the tunnels that the rat summons live in. Her training with them consisted mostly of ninjutsu spars at the beginning, but an injury has her turned over towards meditation aimed at sensing and drawing in natural chakra.
Frustrated with the slow pace of that, Mokuren ultimately decides to be trained by Temari anyway. She starts to talk more casually with Tetsuko in this time, becoming protective as she realizes that some of his issues are due to his father.
Reiko's arrival for the exam and the subsequent discussion hints at her association with the black market of Wind Country. Mokuren is clearly more than alright with this, another example of her irreverence for her country's laws.
Arc Five: The Great Tournament
She stood in a corner thus far.
Trivia
*Her name came somewhat from Hua Mulan - Mokuren is a Japanese name meaning magnolia; Mulan is a Chinese name meaning the same. I'm also personally fond of magnolia trees. If she were a character in an english speaking setting, she might go by Maggie and pretend that it is short for Margaret.
*Mokuren's favorite food is squid, with other fish coming close. She loves to reference western children's literature, to the confusion of most other people. She loves phrases that she can include to indicate that she believes the person she is talking to doesn't know much, but has no particular favorite saying.
*Her hobbies include helping out at local businesses, training, stealing, playing card games, and bothering her teammates.