Naruto != mine
~Chapter 6~
The Higurashi weapon shop was a small shop tucked away in the market district which catered mainly to those chunin-level or higher in the ninja corps, and it was the supplier of the swords which were standard-issue for ANBU. Ren entered the shop and looked about at the wide variety of weaponry which was on display, including bo staffs, swords of all shapes and sizes, kama and kusarigama, yari and naginata polearms, ono axes, and a plethora of other arms with a smattering of armor here and there, mostly net mail and flak jackets with one or two heavier pieces. Standing at the counter using a rag and oil to clean a katana was a girl around his age wearing a pink chinese top and a forehead protector. She had a light tan and brown eyes, with her brown hair up in a pair of tight buns. Hearing the door close she looked up. "Hello, how may I help you?" she asked politely. "Hello, I'm here to have my sword inspected," Ren said, placing Mizuchi on the counter, the edge side of the saya facing him, "I'd unsheath it, but I only have one hand at the moment." The girl didn't seem to hear him, as her eyes had stars in them and she looked like a fangirl who had just gotten a proposal from her victim. "Where did you get this?" she asked in a demanding tone.
"Mizuchi is a family heirloom. I am Ren Senju, and who, may I ask, are you?" Ren replied with an icy tone. "I am Tenten Higurashi. My father owns the store. Sorry, I got excited when I saw Mizuchi. I've read about this sword, but I never thought I'd ever see it. Is it true that you can create water on the blade?" Tenten said, ending with a small squeal. "Water condenses on the blade when I channel chakra into it, yes. Can you inspect it now?" Ren replied, slightly disturbed by the display of fangirlish enthusiasm. "One moment," Tenten said, unsheathing the blade and started examining it. About ten minutes later, after Tenten had thoroughly investigated every inch of the blade, she resheathed it. "The blade is in perfect shape. It has no scratches or chips in the blade, and there's not a hint of rust. This sword is just as perfect as when it was forged," Tenten said, and reluctantly handed it back to him. "How much do I owe you?" Ren asked, reaching for his wallet. "Nothing, nothing at all. I'm just glad I got to see and hold such a sword," Tenten said, sighing in a dreamy manner. "Okay. I'm leaving now. Goodbye," Ren said, beating a hasty retreat. "Who was that?" a deep, gruff voice asked from the back of the shop. "That was the Senju heir, dad. He brought in Mizuchi!" Tenten squealed once more, prompting a sweatdrop from her father as she sighed again.
A week had passed, and Ren was finally out of his casts and back to his training. Once he was healed, Tsunade and Shizune left, as Ren had opened up a secondary account for her to draw on. He had started to memorize the intermediate kata of Hayate's style, which was all about distraction and misdirection to catch the enemy unawares. Many of it's kata included a number of feints in addition to conventional slices and slashes. Also, missions had resumed for Ren, which allowed him to ease back into the cycle of training and missions. However, that changed when Kakahi signed them up for the chunin exams and gave them a week off of missions in order for them to prepare.
Ren spent his week when not at team training drilling himself rigorously, perfecting the kata of Hayate's style in addition to working on improving his own, which had matured into a more concrete discipline, with an emphasis on parrying and blocking, taking advantage of the reverse grip's defensive advantages.
It was three days into the week, and Ren was returning home to train when he saw Konohamaru run into a black-clad nin with a bandaged bundle on his back. The ninja picked up the small boy, and a confrontation was brewing with Naruto and Sakura on one side and the ninja in black and the blonde girl beside him on the other. She was quite attractive, with a light tan, black eyes, and a slim, shapely figure. She wore an off-white battle kimono with fishnet underneath and had her hair up in a quartet of short ponytails, and carried what appeared to be a black metal-cased battle fan, marking her as a futon user, and almost definitely from Suna, as that was where the only makers of such weapons were located. This was due to the fact that Suna was the only village with enough futon affinities to make a demand for fans, which were primarily useful to futon users to enhance their jutsu, and even then it was best for increasing their normally average range.
Before the situation escalated any further, Ren intervened, putting his sword at the blonde's throat with a kunai aiming its point into the neck of the one in black. "I warn, you, Suna, if you try anything, you and your teammate will die. And possibly others, since the gaki there just so happens to be the grandson of the current Hokage. I do believe that harming him would count as an act negating your diplomatic immunitiy, and I would be obligated to kill you. Or worse, capture you and give you to T&I," Ren said, casually threatening the pair of them.
He was aided by Sasuke, who revealed his presence with a rock that hit the black-garbed one's wrist with enough force to make him drop Konohamaru as the Uchiha dropped out of the tree. "I have a bad feeling. Someone just showed up and is giving me a seriously bad vibe," Ren said, looking around nervously. It was then that a red-haired boy appeared, wearing a large gourd on his back, secured by a strap which also bore the plate of a Suna forehead protector. His clothing was a simple black garment. He was pale, with dark rings around his green eyes and the kanji for love tattooed in red above his left eye. "Stop this foolishness, Kankuro, or I will kill you," he said darkly. "Oh great, a murderous insomniac," Ren said, reverting to his usual snark. "What's your name?" Sasuke demanded of the redhead. "I am Sabaku no Gaara. And yours?" the redhead replied, indicating both Sasuke and Ren. "I am Sasuke Uchiha." "And I am Ren Senju." "Mother wants your blood," Gaara said in his standard emotionless tone. "An insomniac and a psychopath, you are an interesting one," Ren snarked back, making Gaara's teammates look at him in shock as he walked away. "See you around, Sand Siblings," he said over his shoulder as a parting shot.
The days passed quickly, and the chunin exams arrived. Team 7 was gathered outside the building, planning their strategy. "Now, no showing off or giving away an advantage. Try to avoid boasting, or attracting attention to us. If we manage it, we may be underestimated and have an edge on the other teams," Ren said in a low voice that didn't escape their huddle. His teammates acknowledged his advice with silent nods and proceeded into the building.
Inside the building, they were met by Kakashi, who expressed his pride in them before letting them pass with a few words of encouragement for each of them. Then Team 7 went up and found a large group outside of a door marked 301, despite the fact that it was only the second floor. Sasuke was about to say something when Ren set a hand on his shoulder. "No," he said simply, guiding Sauke up to the proper floor. Suddenly, they were accosted by a green blur.
The blur was a boy with black bowl-cut hair wearing a green spandex bodysuit. He had enormous dark eyes, with massive eyebrows. His hands were wrapped in bandages and his shins were covered by leg warmers. His hitai-ate was worn as a belt. "Sasuke Uchiha. I am Rock Lee, and I challenge you to a battle!" he cried out, executing a powerful taijutsu combo on Sasuke, making Ren reach for Mizuchi, which was now tucked into his black sash that was worn as an obi, putting the sword at his waist. "I'd rather not injure you, but if you continue I will use force," Ren said, adjusting his posture and putting pressure on the tsuba with his thumb until the habaki popped free of the saya (This was an aggressive posture for samurai, as it freed up the blade for a lightning-fast iaijutsu/battojutsu strike). Not recognizing the hostile stance, Lee turned to Ren and shouted, "YOSH! Your flames of youth must indeed burn bright to defend your com-" He was cut off by Ren jamming the kashira (bottom of the tsuka) into Lee's solar plexus, knocking the wind out of him. Seeing an opportunity, Team 7 beat a hasty retreat, Sasuke deactivating his Sharingan in the process. The commotion caused the genjutsu on the door to be dropped as the two "genin" guarding the door used the distraction to vanish unnoticed.
Team 7 arrived quite loudly, with Ren still keeping his hand on Mizuchi's tsuka. He relaxed slightly, but his hand stayed on the blade. They moved over to a gathering of the other rookies. Some conversation ensued which got rather boisterous as Sasuke dodged Ino's attempted glomp. This ended up sending her straight into Ren, and fell onto him lips first as they both took a tumble with Ren on the bottom. They quickly separated from the momentary kiss, blushing slightly. Ren's immediate reaction was to backhand Sasuke as retribution as he wiped his mouth on his sleeve.
The chaos was interrupted by a silver-haired genin from Konoha wearing glasses, who warned them that they were attracting alot of negative attention. He introduced himself as Kabuto Yakushi, and admitted to repeated failures of the exam in the past, though he did seem to have a great deal of information stored away in a deck of ninja info cards, which were coded to his chakra. Sasuke requested info on Gaara, Lee, and also Ren. However, before Kabuto pull out Ren's info card, Mizuchi came down and sliced Kabuto's deck in half, nearly taking off Kabuto's fingers, with water condensed on the blade which ruined the cards. "I like to keep my skills a secret," Ren said, giving Kabuto a smile that didn't reach his eyes. The standoff was interrupted by a large, bear-like man with scars on his face and a bandana hitai-ate stepped forward, garbed in all black with gloves and a trench coat. He proceeded to outline the first part of the test and the rules governing it. "Alright, maggots, sit down, shut the hell up. and get to work! You have only one hour, and if you haven't finished by then, you and your team fail," the man growled out in a rather intimidating manner. The genin picked up their pencils and started their test.