章 7: Chapter 7: Test
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. The only thing I own is a bag of ideas and a bit of inspiration.
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Ren and his teammates were running towards ground 11.
'Why ask us to come to the academy ground, If ground 11 is almost on the other side of it, dammit.'Thought Ren a bit irritatedly as the shinobi training grounds were located near the outskirts of the village to prevent any mishaps due to training.
He estimated that reaching there would take at least 30 minutes. 'And we have to conserver stamina for landing an attack on him.' Thought Ren as he noticed his teammates were looking a bit strained, particularly Kokoro as she was from a civilian background.
Ren avoided the Konoha traffic as he was jumping over buildings most of the time. Ren's eyes widened as he saw another ninja appear out of thin air before him, spreading out in a bunch of leaves.
Ren quickly diverted his momentum downwards and jumped down the streets narrowly avoiding the guy who had mistakenly shunshined in front of him.
Ren couldn't fully control his momentum and dashed into a person mistakenly, but he did not stop or turn around and kept running.
'NOOO, NOT MY DANGOOS' came a faint voice behind Ren, but he didn't pay it much mind. Soon they were out of the city and neared the training grounds area which was adjacent to the forest.
'Ground 11... Ha!' thought ren as he finally stopped outside a fence named Ground 11. Though even the fence seemed to be covered with thick vegetation.
Kokoro and Soba arrived at the same spot after a few seconds later. "Let's wait for a minute." Said Soba as he waited to regain his stamina. Ren agreed to this as going to attack a Jonin while fatigued was an idiotic move.
After a minute, all of them went inside the fenced area. As they headed deeper into the ground one thing became clear. 'At this rate forget attacking, even finding Sensei is going to be difficult.' Thought Ren, Fortunately, Soba seemed to have the same line of thought.
*Srrr*
At the same time, they all heard a weird noise. This made Ren raise his guard. "Eh?" Kokoro looked around but just as she was about to say something. Ren jumped sidewards.
*Thud*
In the place of Ren now was a creature which had just fallen from the trees. Kokoro froze as she saw thousands of legs on the creature.
*Krekrekree*
The massive centipede recovered from the fall missing its target. It set its eyes on them. Kokoro screamed and started to run away as she just wanted to get away from the disgusting creature.
Ren and Soba didn't fare any better as both of them Dispersed away from the massive centipede. Ren and Soba ran in the opposite direction.
*kreeee*
But the creature followed Ren as he ran. Ren while running observed his surroundings to use anything to get away from it. Ren used the forest to his advantage as he ran from tree to tree. 'Why is this stupid bug so fast?'
[Due to being in close proximity to the forest of death, some of the creatures have crossed till here and even the chakra of the forest has run wild in this training ground.]
'Forest of death?' questioned Ren.
[It is a forest influenced by Hashirama's chakra which was in misery. Some of the animals seem to have adapted to the chakra and thus have mutated.]
'Then this thing is just an overgrown bug.' Thought Ren as he formed an idea to take the creature down. Ren while running looked back to see the centipede which was still following him, he threw a shuriken but it was just deflected by the protective layer on its back.
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Kyokei Kokoro stopped running as she noticed that the centipede had not followed her.
*Sigh*
Kokoro caught her breath and looked around her to identify where she was currently at. 'Why did I want to become a Shinobi...' Thought Kokoro as she looked at her dishevelled state.
'I wanted to become a merchant like Papa, But be a shinobi, it will help the business he said.' Thought Kokoro a bit annoyed at her father's words. But her thoughts halted as she noticed large snake skin peels on the ground.
Kokoro gulped and wanted to go back but stopped 'Well damn it, I can't run away from everything' Thought Kokoro as she stepped forward to the clearing, which was obscured by the trees.
But it made her blink her eyes as she saw her Indo Abe standing there leaning on a tree.
"Oh, are you alone where are your teammates?" asked the Indo as he looked at her. But Kokoro didn't answer and glanced back 'I need to inform my teammates.' thought Kokoro as she slowly backed away.
"Wait, Are you leaving, without even trying to hit me?" Taunted Indo in a condescending voice. But Kokoro ignored it and backed away.
"I guess the report about you being a weak-minded, Daddy's girl was true." This had some reaction on her as she flinched. Indo smiled like a predator, "It sucks, doesn't it? Being so weak, I mean." said Indo, his voice dripping in false sympathy. Indo's tone made Kokoro clench her fist in anger.
"How about a deal? I find taking care of a team a little too much trouble." Said Indo persuasively. 'What, then why is he assigned to become our sensei?' thought Kokoro as she was now confused.
"If instead of a team I had an apprentice per se. It would make things easier. Don't you think." said Indo in a little sluggish tone.
Kokoro's eyes widened 'That is why he looked so uninterested before' thought Kokoro as she thought of when he first appeared. Indo smiled as he watched her going through emotions.
"Yes, How about this. When you find your teammates, lead them away from here. Waste their time, If you do that I can make you my apprentice. You will receive individual training from me if you wish or you avoid all training while still having the title of shinobi."
These words were the words of the devil as Kokoro couldn't stop thinking 'Apprentice..., I can get preferential treatment. I can lead care free life.' But she didn't say anything and continued walking away.
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Uchiha Soba was quite a mediocre ninja, considering he was from the Great Uchiha clan which takes care of the Konoha police. Though he was expected to excel, he often felt overshadowed by his more talented clanmates. But still, he didn't blame them as he accepted mediocrity as a part of life.
Thus, the first time he encountered a foe, he bolted from the spot. But still, he had ethics so he was now following the trail left by the centipede to help Ren.
Soon he neared the end of the trail as he heard the noise of a battle going on. He peaked around the corner of the tree. Just as expected Ren was still running over the terrain with the centipede following close behind him.
Soba waited for the perfect time to ambush the creature. Soon, the opportunity presented itself as Ren climbed a weak tree, and the centipede crawled up on the tree. It seemed that Ren had been cornered ending his escape.
Soba aimed his kunai and was about to throw it but stopped mid-way. 'Why is he grinning?' thought Soba as he looked weirdly at Ren who still stood on the topmost branch of the tree.
'Shouldn't he use Kawarimi to escape now or something?' That question was soon answered as Ren jumped from the tree at the last second and lodged a shuriken into the weak tree's trunk.
The tree which was already under strain due to the big centipede's weight collapsed backwards throwing the centipede on its back. But Ren didn't stop he threw 4 kunai with explosive tag to the underside of the centipede.
*BOOM*BOOM*BOOM*BOOM*
The underside of the centipede which didn't have the thick armor to protect it exploded in a shower of gore. The centipede twitched for one last time before it lay dead.
"Who's there?" ordered Ren as he looked toward a tree. "Just me." said the Uchiha as he raised his hands above his head. Ren relaxed a bit and then said, " Let's continue the search." Both nodded and then resumed their search leaving behind the corpse of the centipede.
"KYAAA" Hearing a feminine scream, both of them ran towards it. They saw Kokoro hanging upside down on a rope trap. 'Can't she just cut the rope?' thought Ren for a second before Soba cut the rope making her fall on her butt.
Soba helped her up and she patted her clothes to remove the mud. Ren looked around and saw the poorly hidden trap mechanism.
'It isn't hidden well, only if you didn't pay attention would a person get caught. Maybe, she has found Sensei' Thought Ren as he guessed that Kokoro had been in some kind of rush and missed the trap.
So he questioned her "Did you find Sensei?"
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Author's note:
If you liked the story or if there are any errors in it be sure to comment and let me know.
SURRENDER YOUR POWER STONES. 50 power stones for a bonus chapter.
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