Chapter 3: A Small Test
They walked for 10 minutes before arriving at a small forest clearing. Kurenai stopped walking and turned around.
"Ok. Please introduce yourselves."- the red eyed kunoichi asked.- "Any volunteers?"
"Me."- Shino rose his hand. He wore a grey jacket that hid half of his face and dark brown ninja pants.- "My name is Aburame Shino, I am twelve years old and my goal in life is to prove to everyone that our clan is strong and not weak just because we fight with insects."
"Sounds like a great goal."- Kurenai commented, turning her head and pointing at Hinata.- "You?"
"M-My name is H-Hyuuga H-Hinata. I-I'm twelve y-years old and my m-main goal is t-to become v-very strong a-nd a-acknowledged by e-everyone."- the girl replied. She seemed very shy. She wore a beige/white hoodie and dark ninja pants. Her eyes were completely white, a trait of the Hyuuga clan.
"Very well!"- Kurenai turned her head again and almost trembled. The kyuubi boy. The Hokage had told her he would be in her team, but she still shivered at the thought.- "You?"
"My name is Hono. I have no surname. I am twelve years old. My main goal is to be the first target in the bingo book."- he said with a grin that sent shivers down Kurenai's spine.
"Hm. Ok. Why is your name Hono? Who gave it to you?"- the jounin asked.
"A girl gave it to me a long time ago after I burned someone down. It means blaze."- he answered with a grin and slitted eyes. Kurenai didn't even want to know who he had burned down.
"Ok, well, before I can accept you as students, you have to go through a little test."- the genjutsu master explained before melting into the ground. The world turned dark, and there was a red eye instead of the moon. Shino immediately got out of the genjutsu and helped Hinata out. By the time he was done, Kurenai already had a kunai to her neck. Hono's doing.- "H-How?"
"I control several insects. They live inside my body. To break a genjutsu you need to have a partner or be very powerful. The insects are my partners, and helped me out."- the sinister boy explained. Kurenai turned her head to Hono.
"Genjutsu don't work on broken people, for they have lost the ability to dream."- the demon muttered before letting her go.
"Well, that was quick. Good job everyone. Uh, you have the rest of the day off. Meet you here tomorrow morning."- she said before walking away. The students exchanged looks and went on their separate ways as well.
As he was roaming the village with no direction whatsoever, he got lost. Staying inside the house for so long didn't turn out to be so great as he didn't know most of his own village. He seemed to be in a poor district since all of the buildings around were abandoned except one. It had a woofen sign in front of it shaped as a Shuriken. It had "Little China's Weapons" written on it. Hono walked a bit and opened the door.
The inside was warm and smelled like incense. The wooden walls were covered with weapons. Katanas, Shuriken, Kunai, Senbon, Exploding Tags and a lot more. He looked around but didn't see a counter. After turning around again he saw another door. He walked through it to find another room as big as the other, also smelling like incense and wooden walls engraved with weapons. The only difference was that in this room there was a wooden counter with a man in his fourties standing behind it. He was wearing a black apron that had burn marks over a red shirt and black pants. He was very muscled, probably due to blacksmithing, and seemed healthy. He had short grey hair and dark brown eyes. He looked at the first person that had entered the store in weeks and desperation appeared in his eyes.
"Please, for Kami's sake, tell me you are here to buy something."- he begged. Hono thought that the man looked familiar.
"This seems like master work."- the kyuubi commented, looking at the weapons with a critic eye.- "Do you make them yourself or order?"
"All made by me in the workshop in the back room. It's sad to see them gather dust in the walls. Everyone of them is like a child to me."- the man said in a sad tone.
"You know, I was looking for someone that could rent me a workshop and I even want to buy ten of your cutting shuriken."- the kid said, taking out a bunch of money from his left pocket. The man paid little attention to it and was looking at Hono, really focused. Suddenly his eyes widened.
"You're Hono!"- the man exclaimed. Awh, crap. Hono thought to himself.