Welcome to Chapter 9 of this story. I'm gonna try to pick things up a bit from here and get ready to set up what our plot is gonna be. Tbh I am still making some of this up as I go to help flesh out the plot. So if anything doesn't make sense just tell me in a review or pm me. Also, I could still use some ideas for future side stories, so either send in a review or pm if you would like. Without further ado, please enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Senran Kagura characters at all.

Warning: Strong sexual content, mild language. Heavy trigger warning on attempted rape in the side story, if that makes you uncomfortable you can skip it and not miss important story elements.

Chapter 9: The Kohana Tournament prelims

Kat sighed and massaged her throat, "Damn, she didn't need to do that. My throat is a really sensitive place. Did she leave a bruise at all?" I tilt my head to look at her pale throat, there was some reddening, but I can't see any purple in this lighting. As a result, all I could do was shrug at her question, "Great, that means I have some then…"

It was then that a female shinobi came over with a professionally blank expression and handed some paper to the three of us, "Please fill out these forms before proceeding."

I looked at the paper and read it over with a quick glance. The blank spots requested stuff like name, age and all that junk. I saw the other two starting to write, so I got to writing down stuff on mine as well. It took forever to write all the information out, half of the stuff I'm pretty sure they don't even need. After I finished I noticed that Kat was still writing but all the lines were filled. Out of curiosity I look down and noticed that Kat was adding lines, putting her measurements and cup size but at the same time she dodged the weight question. I pointed to Kat's sheet, "You don't need to put your measurements, Kat. They didn't ask."

Kat paused in her writing, slowly looking at me and just gives me a seductive wink, "Don't I, Renka-Honey? It'll give the higher ups something to imagine while they look at me. What's the harm in that?"

My jaw dropped, "How can you be so bold?"

Minori then poked my shoulder, "Renka um, can you go over my answers to be sure I put the right ones down?" She timidly held out the paper to me.

I smiled, "Sure Minori." After looking over her answers I gave her a nod of approval , "Everything looks good. But is a bucket really gonna be your weapon?" I eyed the bucket in her arms with concern. Could she really fight using that?

Minori gave a determined nod, "That bucket I have has been with me for as long as I can remember. I can't abandon it now. Especially since it has all my sweets with it."

I groan at Minori's reasoning, "Fine." I held back a smirk when Minori gave a tiny jump for joy.

A male shinobi soon came around, "I'm here to collect all of your info sheets." We all handed over our sheets to him and he glanced through them a bit, he handed both mine and Kat's back to us, "Please fill out the proper lines with the proper info."

I don't blame him, to be honest, I put NA for a lot of stuff since I had no clue what to put. I looked to him with a head tilt, "What if I don't know them?"

He looked at weirdly, the same way someone looks at a child who asked the same obvious question 3 times already, "This is information that you should have memorized. How do you not know it?"

I looked away slightly embarrassed, "I just don't know them, give me a break..." It's not my fault I was entered into this tournament, how was I supposed to know I would need this information?

Kat cut into our conversation, "I didn't put my weight cause that's private information. I put my measurements to make up for it. Didn't you see that?"

The male shinobi took the sheet from Kat, "You did what?"

When he looked over the sheet again, he gave a real perverted look after reading it with a giggle. I rolled my eyes, of course, he would. He soon looked up and started to check out Kat's body, not at all being subtle. Kat snapped her fingers rapidly and the guy looked straight up at her. She pointed up to her face, "Hey, my eyes are up here buddy boy."

When I looked into her eyes when she said that, they were glowing green, which means she activated her x-ray vision. So I looked to Minori, "Minori, get behind me now."

Minori had a weird look on her face but obeyed nonetheless. The male shinobi saw Kat's eyes and his eyebrow rose, "What the hell is that?"

Kat looked him up and down for a second before planting her hands on her hips, "This is my superpower buddy boy."

The male shinobi, whose eyes were wondering again, looked straight into Kat's eyes, "What does it do exactly?" He gave a once-over to the surrounding area, expecting the environment to change or something like that.

Kat removed her hands from her hips and crossed them across her chest casually, "It tells me you need to change those tighty whities buddy boy. Doesn't that kill the sperm count?"

The male shinobi's face turned bright red instantly with a random sound escaping his throat that sounded like he choked on something. Stammering like a broken record he took the forms and hightailed it outta here. Kat chuckled loudly and her eyes reverted to normal, "Man, I love doing that."

Minori called out from behind me, "Kat, what was that?" It was kind of cute how she increased the volume of her voice despite Kat being nearby.

Kat chuckled a bit, "I'd rather keep that a secret from you a little longer. Least till I use it on you."

I quickly stepped in, "Its x-ray vision Minori. Kat can see through clothes with that. Hence why I had you hide behind me."

Minori quickly realized what that meant and her face blushed, "So, Kat wants to see me naked then?"

The hair on the back of my neck sprang up as I quickly waved my arms to defuse any thoughts, "Don't worry, she can only see till about your underwear. If she went further, she'd damage her eyes a bit."

Kat chuckled, "Don't ruin all my fun, Renka-Honey." I'm not ruining your fun, I'm ruining Minori's thought process to the harsh realities of life that some people are perverts.

My hand connected with my face as I looked at Kat between my fingers, "I had to. She still has a childlike mind, you know?" She's going to have to face the grown-up world some day, but as long as she's with me I'm keeping her mind pure.

It was at that point that that female shinobi came back. She cupped her hands around her mouth to increase the amount of people that could hear her, "All shinobi are required to gather in the woods around Mt. Orochi! Would you all start heading out please?"

As the female shinobi left, I quickly turned my head to Kat, "Kat, isn't that where you live?"

Kat smiles, "Looks like fortune is smiling on me today. Got me some home field advantages for the first round."

So we headed out to the woods around Mt. Orochi and it took till sunset since the prelims took place after school. Once we found the crowd, we noticed that everyone was all gathered together around a pink haired girl in a blue turtleneck. She was wearing white boots and hair braided into two braids that came out at both sides at the very bottom on the back of her head. Her most defining feature came from her light blue eyes, which had weird floral symbols in them.

Kat saw this and leaned to the side to whispered to me, "Who's the pink haired hottie?"

I shrugged, "I don't know." She didn't look familiar to me in the slightest. Transfer student perhaps?

The pink haired girl soon looked at her watch, "Six o' clock. Well then." She soon cleared her throat, "Welcome everyone, to the preliminary round of the Kohana Tournament. My name is Hibari Iguchi, and I'm part of the Shinobi Sailor Law Enforcement."

Kat just put her hand to her chin in thought, "Whoa! Color me impressed. This girl's a sailor? Nice, she looks pretty young too." I did not miss how her eyes shifted to different locations of the other girl's body.

The Shinobi Sailors Law Enforcement is a group of Shinobi that go around and maintain the peace. They're even responsible for catching criminals and terrorists that would threaten our shinobi world. The girl before us had a gentle appearance, it takes some serious skill to become a sailor that not many qualify for. Even my sister, Hanabi is a sailor. She was offered the part-time job last summer when she caught a rapist that had been targeting non-shinobi women in the area. His mistake, targeting my sister who was a shinobi in training.

Anyway, Hibari cleared her throat, most likely noticing how some of the people in front of her looked rather dazed, "I will be in charge of the preliminary round." That seemed to have made several shinobi jolt out of their thoughts and I also straightened up at the news. Something tells me this is going to be an interesting few minutes...

A shinobi came out of the crowd and pointed to Hibari, "How can you be in charge? You're too gentle looking! I bet you're lying about being a sailor too!"

Oh boy… we have some idiots participating huh? Also, holy shit I must be psychic because I totally called it!

Hibari chuckled, "You think so huh?" She then pulled up her turtleneck a bit, to reveal a pair of white shorts around her waist. With quick movement, she took something out of her back pocket and showed it to everyone. It was her badge that proved she was in the Shinobi Sailor Law Enforcement, something that was nearly impossible to fake.

The shinobi that called her out gasped in surprise, "But how?! That doesn't make sense!"

Hibari smiled in a way that almost seemed fake, "If that's all you have to say, then please step back so we can get this started."

A radio that was clipped onto her belt went off, "Lt. Iguchi. Come in, Lt. Iguchi." I couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman on the other end.

Kat made a sound of approval in the back of her throat, "She's even a lieutenant. I'm impressed."

Hibari took her radio off her belt, slamming her thumb on the reciever, "Hibari here, go ahead. What's the problem?"

The radio went off again, "We have a missing shinobi in training report. Do you want to hear it?"

Hibari thought for a minute, then placed the radio close to her mouth, "Later, I am just barely starting the prelims to the Kohana Tournament."

The speaker on the radio had a surprised tone, "Oh, was that today? Sorry Lt. Iguchi. It's just that the family wanted her back safe and sound, so I thought to give you a call to help speed things along." I suddenly had a gut feeling that I was forgetting something.

Hibari sighs but soon gives in, "Fine. Just give me the description of the missing shinobi in training and I'll come to help out after I'm done here."

The speaker cried out in a high pitched squeal that made all of us wince, "Kyyyaaaaaaa! Really Hibari-Senpai? You're so cool! Let's see here... the shinobi in training is about eighteen years old. Female, 5' 6", hair color brown, eyes dark brown. She's the eldest daughter of the Mikagura family. Renka Mikagura!"

I cringed inwardly and whispered, "Aw god damn it! I forgot to tell my parents that I was taking part in the Kohana Tournament." This is so embarrassing, out of anything I could have forgotten… this had to be the worst besides forgetting my weapons… thankfully I remembered those.

Kat chuckled, apparently very amused with the situation, "And now they're looking for you."

I put a hand on my hip and stared Kat down, "I fail to see how this is funny, Kat."

At that point, I see Hibari mumbling to herself, "Renka Mikagura? That name sounds familiar."

The speaker on the radio continued, "She apparently always comes home every day after school is finished, but had failed to show up today. The parents said that she'd usually warn them when she was gonna go out to train. But had not said anything to them prior to this morning."

Hibari picked up a clipboard and looked it over, occasionally looking up to scan the crowd. Within seconds she goes back on the radio, "Tell them, that she has been found."

The speaker spoke again, "You found her, Hibari-Senpai?"

Hibari takes one last look, "Yeah. She's on my roster for the Kohana Tournament tonight." Soon the group of students around us all started chuckling to themselves and Hibari puts a finger to her lips and everyone soon stops, "She must have forgotten to inform her parents about it, an honest mistake any teenager could make really."

I soon heard my mom's voice off of the radio, "Can we speak to her, please? To make sure she's okay?" Oh god mom… I think my face is red at this point.

Very soon the other voice spoke, "Apparently they want to speak to her, Hibari-Senpai."

My face heated up so fast I could've sworn that my ears had steam coming out of them. I thought my head was gonna explode. Hibari just kind of groaned, "Right now? But I'm already behind on starting the prelims here? Will they settle for a visual? I'll scan the crowd and see if I can see her. That should prove she's okay right?"

I soon heard my mom's voice, "I-I guess?"

The previous speaker soon spoke, "You have the go-ahead, senpai."

Hibari smiles brightly, "Roger." Hibari then starts to cast her gaze slowly looking around at all of us. Her light blue eyes, with those floral patterns in her pink pupils, scanned the crowd of shinobi in training. No doubt looking for me. Hiding at this point would only raise further alarm, so I stood there and waited for Hibari's gaze to be cast over me. When Hibari's gaze fell over me, it only took three seconds for her eyes to lock with mine. Hibari smiles widely at me, "Ahhhhh, there you are." My face heated up more, I was pretty sure I was blushing by this point. She chuckled and soon pressed the button on the radio, "I have visual. She appears to be unharmed with no injuries. She's even armed, which means she's supposed to be here."

My mom's voice came out of the radio again, "A-Alright. Is it possible to speak to her?"

Hibari smiles, "I'll be handing out something to all the teams, so I'll be able to give the radio to her then. Give about 15 minutes."

The speaker from earlier spoke, "She's willing to wait, Senpai."

Hibari hummed in approval "Good. Alright." Hibari soon hooks up her radio back onto the belt on her shorts and cleared her throat, "Ok. Here's how the preliminary round is gonna go." She pulled out an object from her shorts. It was a tiny flag that had the emblem for the school on it. She waved it around high into the air so everyone could see it, "There are currently 360 teams that are participating this year. In other words, a total of 1,080 applicants. But there are only a total 100 flags that look like this scattered around the forest. That means only 100 teams will be able to advance on. In other words, 300 applicants will be the only ones permitted to pass."

All of the shinobi students groaned in annoyance at the news. Someone spoke what the majority were thinking,, "You're gonna cut that many of us off already?"

Hibari stared at the complainer blankly, "You realize that this tournament will only feature the top sixteen of you. To be able to showcase your skills you need to prove that you are the best of the best. Because that's the only kind of shinobi that will be able to call themselves the Elites of this school." She took a deep breath, "Your goal is to capture one of these flags and bring them back to me by dawn. Once that time limit is up all remaining flags will become worthless to you, meaning there will be a chance that not even 100 teams will make it."

Everyone groaned again, and Hibari chuckled in amusement. Her voice becoming playful as she spoke, "And I haven't even gotten to the fun part yet. The flags will not be hidden in plain sight. Which in turn means that if you find one, you'll be painting a target on your back. Why? Cause opposing shinobi can steal that flag from you through battle if they think you have one. The only way to do that is to defeat the opposing team either by incapacitating or killing the other members of the opposing team."

Everyone fell silent as one shinobi spoke up, "K-Killing?" It almost feels like it's the same guy that's always narrating our thoughts...

Hibari nodded, "You're all shinobi, so this shouldn't come as a surprise to you all. If any of you aren't feeling up to the task, you're free to leave the competition now."

Another shinobi raised their voice to the point where it sounded snarky, "Yeah right. What's the catch?"

Hibari smiles and even gives out a slight chuckle, "How very observant of you, young man. If any of you duck out now, with the competition lock like this, you will be expelled from New World Academy, Teehee~. After all, if you can't handle the idea of killing by this point in your training… then the shinobi world has no need for you!"

Like a button being pressed, everyone all started moaning and complaining about how unfair the rule was. Hibari just ignored this and continued, "Each of your numbers will be called out. When we call your number come to the tent over to my right to sign a release form. This is so that just in case you die, then we can't be held responsible and stating that you knew the dangers going into this."

As everyone all started to throw fits as if that would be enough to change the rules, Hibari looked straight at me and mouthed, "You'll speak to your mom inside the tent. This'll keep you from being singled out by your shinobi peers."

To keep myself hidden from an already antsy crowd, I gave her a discreet nod before looking at my friends. Pretending that I wasn't the one teenager in this group that forgot to inform my parents.

Hibari clapped her hands loudly, "Alright, Now that that's taken care of, we'll start by calling out numbers! Number 1, 2, and 3 to the tent please!"

It was finally starting and everyone was required to sign a release form. Some teams considered going under fake names so they could quit without punishment, only to drop the idea after realizing that they may have photographs of each student with their name. Lying was impossible. Very soon, Hibari called out, "Will numbers 74, 75, and 76, please come to the tent!"

Kat jumped up excitedly, rapidly clapping her hands like a caffeinated seal, "That's us! Let's go!"

Minori and I both followed Kat into the tent and Hibari read off, "Number 74 Katsuragi Kobayashi, Number 75 Renka Mikagura, And Number 76, Minori Igarashi. Please sign the release form on the table."

After I signed my name, Hibari smiled at me, "Renka, your mom would like to speak to you."

I sighed but smiled at Hibari, though my lip felt twitchy, "Yeah, I know. Thank you for being discreet about this whole thing."

Hibari nodded, "You're welcome. I'm a sailor, so I know how to be discreet." She unhooked the radio from her belt, "Dispatch, this is Lt. Hibari Iguchi, do you copy?"

A voice came back over the radio, "Hey Senpai. You've got her now?"

Hibari presses the button, "Yes, we've got her and her team alone in the tent, you can let her take control. But I will ask her to refrain from yelling since we are still in the middle of getting ready for the tournament."

The other voice over the radio spoke again, but it didn't seem to be towards Hibari, "You got that? Alright, here you go."

My mom's voice soon came over the radio, "Renka? Renka, are you there?"

Hibari handed me the radio, so I pressed the button and spoke into it, "Yeah mom. I'm here. Sorry, I forgot to tell you that I was taking part in the Kohana Tournament today."

After releasing the button my mom's voice came back, "It's okay honey. Don't worry about it. I'm just glad you're safe. But I am curious, why did you enter the Kohana Tournament so suddenly? You do know that the test is looking for the best of the best shinobi so they can name them the Elites of the school. You just barely discovered your element. I know I've said why can't you be more like your sister a lot, but that doesn't mean you should try at something even she didn't get to achieve."

I quickly spoke before mom jumped to any more conclusions, "That's not it mom! I know I'm not strong enough to do something like this. But I'm trying to help a friend, and I know she'd rather die than let something happen to me."

Kat chuckled and leaned into the radio to talk to my mom, "Got that right! I'll carry this team if I have to!"

Mom stayed silent for a few seconds a bit before answering, "Well... if you feel you have to, go for it then, Renka. I'll be rooting for you."

I pressed the button, "Thanks, mom."

My mom's voice came one last time, "Good luck."

Soon the original speaker came back, "She's done, Senpai."

Hibari took the radio, "ten-four." She looked to us, "Now head on out there with the rest. We'll inform you when the tournament has begun.

Chapter End

Side story 4 - How Hanabi became a Sailor

Hanabi's POV

It was summer time and we were all out for a night on the town. The day seemed like any other normal day, I completed my first year of shinobi training and had gone to the bathroom when we were dining out. Something odd happened though when I walked over to the sinks to wash my hands. A menacing looking man pushed open the door to the women's restroom and stared straight at me when he saw me. His gaze drifted a little lower and he smiles, "My my. How are you doing young lady?"

My face heated up and I sputtered out pointing, "H-Hey! Wh-What the hell! You shouldn't even be in here, you pervert!"

The man just had this... evil smile, "Pervert suits me just fine. I can't wait to get my hands all over those tits of yours."

This was a foreign word to me, I had never heard this used in any context at all, not even any of my sister said it. So all I could really do was him a confused look, "Tits? What the hell are tits?"

The guy just laughed at me like I said something funny. As I was about to yell in anger, the guy suddenly lunged at me so fast, I almost didn't react in time. I dodged back and barely managed to dodge the man's hand that had reached out for me barely missing my chest in the process. After I backed up and create some distance, the guy stared at me in shock, "That fast? Just what the hell are you?!"

I looked down at my chest, realizing now what he was trying to do, "That's what you meant, huh? Well, you can try all you want but you're not touching these at all!" If he did I would break his wrist in 5 different angles...

The man perked up at those words, probably considering them a challenge, "We'll just see about that..."

The man wasted no time in making another attempt at me, his hand reached out for my chest once more. I quickly made my dodge back, but he has counted on that and after his first lunge, he lunged at me once more pinning me to a wall quickly before I was able to react. His other hand quickly grabbed my breasts. My mind cried out instantly after he started touching, 'I've got to do something, I've got to do something! What do I do, what do I do?! Think Hanabi, think! I need to get this man off of me now! Think, think, think, think, THINK!'

The man soon noticed me fidgeting in his hold as he did what he pleased with my breasts, "What the hell is wrong with you? This your first-time sweetheart?"

I didn't move, "K….. k, k, k, k, k."

The guy stopped what he was doing and puts his hand to his ear, "Huh? What's that I can't hear you? Have you broken already?" The guy soon laughed at an almost insane frequency

I continue uttering the same thing, "K, k, k, k, k, ka, ka, ka…" Until I finally found my voice, "KABOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!"

After shouting that flames exploded forth almost instantly and the main immediately cried out in agony. I soon brought my leg up into the man's groin and he recoiled back, finally giving me space. I punched him in the stomach and the guy doubled over instantly while burning in the flames that I summoned forth. I don't remember most about what had happened afterward because I blacked out on the whole event. But apparently the guy I took down was a serial rapist that was taking advantage of civilians in the area and the authorities had been trying to get him for ages.

After speaking to the sailors, and having myself checked out, a girl with an eyepatch asked to speak with me. It wasn't long after talking to her that she extended an offer to me, "Come and join the Shinobi Sailors, Hanabi. You're strong and we need someone like you in our force. We'll take care of anything you might need and even give you a full scholarship to New World Academy if you're worried about expenses."

Naturally, I accepted and became a member of the shinobi sailor, spending the summer training and honing my skills. It was all worth it cause I became soooo much stronger than before. My next task was given to me by our leader herself... and I will accomplish it no matter what.

Side Story End

Well, I hope you all enjoyed. This story takes a dramatic shift in the next chapter as our trio of heroes learns just how hard the world truly is. Remember if anyone wants to pitch in and give me a side story idea just leave it in either a review or pm. Well, that's all for now. Ayame out.