Sorry about the extra long break; I have been really busy.
Anyway, I noticed that a lot of you are interested in this story, so I thought I'd give you a few more chapters to read. Think of it as a late Xmas present. Have a good Boxing Day
BTW, I do not own Naruto etc, just my OC
It had been two years since I had graduated –a whole year since I had awoken the demon that had been slumbering within me all this time. It was the end of June –soon I would turn thirteen. Over the two years that we had worked together, gotten stronger together and made mistakes together, we had formed a solid team. It was probably because we all had a different role, a different strength within the group that we used to the team's advantage.
I specialised in mid and close-range combat with the combination of kenjutsu and my developing Kekkai Genkai –it required massive amounts of chakra and control in order to activate and use it. I had practiced and practiced with it until I had nearly run out of chakra in training on several occasions. But now, I could activate it on a whim and hardly any effort. My favourite strategy was to ensnare our opponent and drain their chakra before one of the others finished the job with a single blow. My other unique ability –or rather, the ability that I had gained from the demon inside me actually co-operating with me rather than trying to take over my body –to sense danger had saved us from many ambushes and traps and manipulations. I was also the strategist of the group.
Kai had really come along, specialising in his family's trademark Water-style jutsu techniques. It was the most versatile of all the jutsu styles, adaptable in any situation. He was fond of large and flashy techniques, though –and the length of time that it took him to complete a jutsu left about a hundred openings in his defences that an opponent could use.
Osamu was the most skilled genjutsu user, despite my Sharingan visual prowess, and he had taken a course to learn about medical ninjutsu. It turned out he had a natural talent for it –and we all knew that he had excellent chakra control that perhaps surpassed mine. Now we could be healed on the battlefield. It protected us from defeat.
We met with Hayama-sensei the day after the conclusion of an escort run for a band of travelling merchants –a relatively quiet run only interrupted by bandits who thought that merchants made easy targets. And they had gotten their butts kicked.
"I know this is sudden notice, but the Chunin exams are coming up. Naturally, I recommended you for participation." He handed out the registration forms which I looked at. It was short notice –the exams were less than a week away. "Just sign this application form, fill it in and come to Room 301 at the Academy at 3 pm on July 3." He disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving us to our own devices.
"Alright! We're going to become Chunin!" Kai sang out.
"You're celebrating a little early, Kai," Osamu reasoned. "The rumours are that the exams are supposed to be really dangerous."
We all knew what passing these exams meant –we would advance from Genin to Chunin –we would no longer be rookies. We would be qualified to led our own teams, be sent out on missions of a true ninja.
"You just watch –I'm going to be a Chunin by the time the exam's over!" Kai bragged. I laughed at my friend's enthusiasm. I couldn't exactly blame him. I was just as excited at the proposal of going through the exams to advance to the second rank.
I knew that the exams were bound to be hard –but anything that was worth getting was also a lot of hard work. To me, it wasn't just an exam to prove myself to the village –becoming a Chunin meant that I would be acknowledged as prepared to take on the responsibilities of being the future head of the Takeda clan. And, more personally, it would show me how far I had come, how powerful I was. I had to know how much more I could grow –I was still chasing the dream of hunting down and eliminating Tsurugi.
I headed off to a training ground that I used, leaving the others behind. I was experimenting on the accuracy of my Kekkai Genkai. I had targets set up, crosses scratched into the trees in places that were difficult to see –just as if an enemy had concealed themselves in my surroundings.
"Tori-Tatsu-Mi," I muttered under my breath as my hands went through the corresponding hand signs. The grass at my feet twisted and thickened to form a tendril. I fed it chakra and it grew into large whip-like forms that danced around me as though they had a life of their own.
Good –that was the first step. Now I focused my chakra, directing chakra into the tendrils. The chakra flowed through the tendril, circulating within without me having to do anymore. Thorns grew along the tendrils at points where I focused the chakra more intently.
OK, so far so good. This was the difficult part coming up. This was a barrage attack that I was trying to improve the accuracy of. I fixed my sights on the target that I wanted –about halfway up a tree truck on the far side of the path. I took a breath. "Plant Style: Thorn Darts," I said, more to myself than anything as I released the barrage.
Too late, I realised that there were people heading down the road.
"Look out!" I shouted a warning as the thorns flew. It was way too late to stop the attack –I had lost all control over the barrage strike that I had unleashed. I released the jutsu, and raced in that direction, intent on ensuring the damage wasn't too great. I landed on a tree branch overlooking the road. My thorns had found their mark –apart from one which seemed to have embedded itself in the ground by the foot of a boy dressed in a black outfit, with a head-protector that bore the emblem of the Hidden Sand. He was carrying what seemed to be a bandaged mummy on his back.
"Hey, is this your handiwork?" he asked, glaring up at me. I saw that his face was covered in make-up.
"I'm sorry about that," I replied. "It wasn't deliberate –a training accident."
"Let it go, Kankuro," his companion said –a girl with blonde hair and was carrying a large folded fan on her back. "It's not that big a deal. And we don't have time to go around picking fights."
"This brat attacked us!" the boy, Kankuro, responded angrily. "There's no way in hell that I am going to just let this go! Don't worry –I'm just going to teach her a lesson."
I sighed –I really didn't have time for a fight. And this guy was dangerous –I didn't need to have my strange sixth-sense for danger to know that rage and hate were boiling off him. I really didn't want to run the risk of being unable to compete in the Chunin exams due to being injured before the first exam even got started. But I wasn't going to be able to talk me way out of this.
Kankuro pulled the mummy from his back.
"Hang on –are you really going to use the Crow for this?" the girl with him asked. I wasn't sure what he was carrying with him, and I was sure that I didn't really want to find out. I rested my hand on my katana, ready to draw it.
"That's enough, Kankuro," said a voice from behind me. I almost fell off my perch in surprise. I turned to see a red-haired boy with dark rings around his eyes and a gourd strapped to his back standing on the branch over my head. I sensed a strange aura around him –something sinister enough to make the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. And the fact that Kankuro was immediately cowed by his mere presence only made me feel even more uneasy –that and the fact that he moved at a speed that even Hayama-sensei couldn't have moved at.
His gaze shifted to me. "I'm sorry if he caused you any problems."
"It was more my fault than anything," I responded. He then disappeared, joining the other two. They passed under the tree I was sitting in, heading deeper into the village. I guessed that they were here for the year's Chunin Exams –it was one of the only reasons a foreign ninja such as these three would be allowed to enter the village.
Still, I was curious about the red-haired boy. I jumped down from my perch.
"Hey, wait a moment!" I called after them. They turned back towards me. "This is my village –identify yourselves."
"I am Temari, and this is Kankuro," the girl responded, gesturing to herself and the older boy. "We hail from the Hidden Sand in the Land of Wind."
"And what about him?" I asked, pointing towards the red-haired boy. He turned back towards me.
"I am Gaara of the Desert," he responded. "I am curious about you, too. Who are you?"
"I am Hazuki of the Takeda clan," I replied. "I guess I'll be seeing you at the Chunin exams." I headed back towards the clearing –I wasn't going to work on that technique anymore. There were lots of kenjutsu techniques that I could use.
"That brat's actually a Genin of this village?" Kankuro muttered. "She can't even control her own powers."
"Don't underestimate her, Kankuro," Temari commented. "She said that she was a member of the Takeda clan –they're reputed to be skilled at kenjutsu. We'll see just how good she really is soon enough."