章 17: Chapter 16 - Before the Chunin Exam Arc

In the inner part of Konoha, in two-floor house near the commercial street, in one of the bedrooms one with some simplistic decoration where the only things that stand out are a small bonsai tree with pink leaves near the window and some sword maintenance tools on the desk.

Lied on the bed wide awake was Ren 'Yesterday was bad, I didn't sleep a wink and passed all night meditating and talking with Senbonzakura, thank god for her, she helped come to terms with that,even tought I'm still not completely over it is still better than as soon as it happened'.

What was the thing that shocked Ren so much, well it all started yesterday when Hayate-sensei decided that it was time that is team took a certain kind of C-rank mission, Bandits Extermination the result after the succesful mission was two shocked twins that stood rooted on the spot after the first kills and a pale and silent Ren that cleaned up all the remaining bandits.

The first half of the night passed with Ren still hearing the screams of the dying bandits and going to bathroom to throw up before deciding to meditate for the second half where then he met with Senbonzakura in his inner world, where different from usual rain was falling all over his inner world,

Ren sat together with her under a big tree and started crying in her embrace then after he calmed down they started talking about it, when morning came, in his inner world stopped raining and was only a little cloudy.

the thing that made Ren feel a little better was when Senbonzakura totally out of character said "It's good that this kind of thing happened with some scum,you have to experience killing Ren-dono as some enemies are too dangerous for you or other to let them live, and not everyone can be like that brat Naruto that talk his enemies into suicide" after that verbal jab Ren laughed for the first time that day and then the conversation went on in a lighter tone.

'And so thanks to that crappy mission we have today free, something I am grateful for, but just I do not know what to do...I do not feel like training today so let's just go around the village'

So Ren dress himself and goes out of his new home 'Two month ago the whole family put their funds together to buy this bigger house as it was getting awkward sleeping in the same room as my sister especially while she dream hugging the pillow and saying "Sasuke-kun"...god all emo-power fault'

After a while he reach one of the bigger parks of Konoha one inside he saw the various kid around the park playing "ninja" and going around the park on the more isolated zones he saw some academy students training, some trained the basic ninjutsu, some practiced shurikenjutsu and some just played around with friends.

As he was walking around something caught his attention in front of an empty clearing all alone there was a girl of about 11-year-old painting, and without noticing Ren started walking closer to her.

The girl possesses long brown hair and light brown eyes. Her hair is straight on one side, but on the other side it is in a braid. In addition, she sports a clip with two circular designs.For her outfit she wore a pink kimono held closed by a pink sash with two pockets on the front. She also wore violet baggy pants and red mesh armour underneath her kimono and legs along with sandals that were orange in colour.

What drew Ren attention was that while the girl was drawing he felt that she was infusing chakra in her painting so curious Ren decided to see what she was doing.

As soon as the girl was done drawing a wave of chakra unleashed from the painting and hit everything in a range of 100 meter Ren included and soon something magical happened.

In the before empty clearing, now stood a huge and blooming cherry blossom tree but the most amazing thing was that he could not only "see" the tree but also smell it and felt the wind moving its leaves and flowers.

But soon Ren felt a stream of chakra coming from Senbonzakura and the tree soon vanished, unable to contain himself Ren said "That was amazing",startling the girl who screamed "Kyaaaa" and the yelled almost afraid "Who are you? what are you doing here?"

Noticing that the scare the girl Ren say "Sorry for startling you, I was just walking around the park and then I noticed you painting, I got curious and came closer, again I'm sorry, by the way my name is Haruno Ren nice to meet you" and the girl seeing that calmed herself said "Sorry for reacting like that I was just so focused, and usually no one come here so I can practice as much as i want without disturbing anyone"

And then said "And my name is Kurama Yakumo nice to meet you Ren-san" then Ren said "That was some amazing genjutsu even I fell for it for a few seconds, and you can call me just Ren" and she replies "Then you can call me Yakumo too"

And then they started talking to each other just about anything, Ren learned that Yakumo was at the last year of academy and that she was worried that she could not pass the exam as she was to weak physically so she started to concentrate on her speciality that was genjutsu,

Ren then told her that he had the almost same problem only he was unable to use ninjutsu and passed thanks to his kenjutsu skill something that made Yakumo admire Ren and said that she want to follow his example.

They continued chatting till it was getting late so Ren offered to send Yakumo home and she accepted so the keep chatting and walking together till they reached the Kurama clan household, near the entrance Ren was able to see a woman with very delicate features and long smooth silver hair along with light-coloured eyes. She wore a long-sleeved grey jacket with a large red belt wrapped around the waist area. She wore a grey long dress that went down to her feet and she had three different coloured shirts all underneath the grey one. She also wore a necklace.

Seeing the woman Yakumo goes near her and say "Mom, sorry I lost track of time talking with my new friend here, Ren this is my mom Uroko Kurama, and mom this is my friend Haruno Ren" and soon Ren say "Nice to meet you Kurama-san"

Uroko looked at Ren and Yakumo then with a knowing smile she said "Nice to meet you Ren-kun you are the first friend that Yakumo bring would you like to come inside?"

Ren looked at the sky a noticing starting to darken say "I'd love to , but unfortunately can't as I have a meeting with my jonin-sensei early morning tomorrow, but if the offer still stands, I'd like come the next time I'm free" then Uruko replies "Sure have a safe trip Ren-kun" and after saying goodbye to Yakumo and her mom Ren went home and after dinner with his family went to sleep.

Meanwhile in his inner world Senbonzakura was looking at the sunny sky with a smile on her face.