Disclaimer: I'm only going to say this once. Anything you recognize from somewhere else obviously doesn't belong to me.
Brief Author's Note: This is OC-Centric, takes place in Suna long after the series, uses some Japanese terms with no translations, and personalities are presented slowly. Everyone will seem stereotypical in the beginning - I am really, really bad at beginnings. I also introduce too many characters at a time, but there will be reminders of initial details for important characters.
Arc One, Team Temari; Chapter One, Meeting Temari-sensei
The Village Hidden in the Sand was the least populated major ninja village in the world. It was known best for its poisons, its puppetry, and its Kazekage, who had lead the entire world in an unbelievable war.
It was not known for forgiving useless ninja, regardless of how tired they might be.
"Team One - Maitsu, Udonsu, Kirikama!"
Entering the classroom as quietly as she could manage, Mokuren wasn't sure if she should feel annoyed that her clock had fallen behind or relieved that she hadn't been too late to hear all of the teams. She slid into a seat in the back beside Maitsu, hoping that her teacher hadn't noticed her absence.
Today was a very important day, after all. The first real day of her genin career. She should have gotten more sleep, definitely, and left earlier. If only her neighbor had actually passed the exam...
"Team Two - Kurekiro, Aomaru -"
"You've got rings around your eyes." Maitsu scolded Mokuren, sounding more irritated than concerned. Since they were in the very back, Inoue paid them no mind. "You'd better hope your jounin sensei doesn't expect anything of you today, 'cause you don't look like you could handle any work."
"Don't you worry about me, Chibi-chan." Mokuren yawned away Maitsu's concerns.
"Don't call me that!" The three-feet six-inches high kunoichi snapped, glaring fiercely. Maitsu's short spiky black hair, short eyelashes and board-flat chest caused most people to mistake her for a boy. As this also led to people taking her more seriously despite her height, Maitsu dressed to encourage this misconception.
Because of that desire to be taken seriously, Maitsu was one of the few people in their class that Mokuren actually thought deserved to be a ninja.
She didn't particularly dislike her classmates, but none of them trained enough for her to feel secure asking them to watch her back.
"Team Three - Kentsu, Mokuren, Tetsuko!"
Mokuren's head flew up, and she frowned, not knowing who her teammates were. The names sounded familiar, but she couldn't put faces to them. It was one of the few downsides to spending her indoor class time sleeping.
"Team Four - Aiko, Shirota, Mizuru!" Inoue finished up, rolling her scroll back up.
"Yumi-sensei, who are my teammates?" Mokuren stood up to ask.
"My name isn't Yumi, it's Inoue!" She shot back reflexively. "Honestly, how did someone like you ace the test?" The teacher moaned, rubbing her forehead.
Just looking at Mokuren, much less speaking to her, gave her instant headaches. The way the girl slept in class and forgot the name of a teacher she'd had for years - how could such a disrespectful girl become a kunoichi?
"The heck?! A girl got the best score?" A boy with pinkish-orange hair whined, standing up angrily. "That's ridiculous! Who the heck is she anyway? She doesn't look familiar at all. Are you even in the right room?" His voice was very loud, and he banged the table with his fist a few times for emphasis.
"Are you suggesting women can't become strong ninja?" Inoue spoke icily, releasing an angry aura. Personal affronts were nearly punishable by death in her classroom.
"N-no, of course not!" He yelped, ducking under his desk quickly.
Mokuren snorted and shook her head, seeming unwillingly amused by the cowardice of her classmate.
"I pity whichever girl is on your team." She told him.
"You are the girl on his team." Inoue scowled, her anger abating as her headache returned.
"What? How is that fair?!" The thin boy with crazy black hair sitting beside the loud one called, standing up and frowning. "I thought teams were supposed to have an even distribute or whatever of -"
"Your team is even! After all, she aced the test... and the two of you just barely passed at all!"
In fact, Inoue had expected them to fail it miserably. The two never seemed dedicated to learning, as they always focused on arguing with one another and hardly interacting at all with their other classmates.
"Shouldn't we have the worst, the best, and the most average on our team then?" Mokuren argued, more for the sake of argument than any other reason.
"They tied for worst, and - oh, just shut up!" Inoue snapped, annoyed at having her authority questioned.
She glared around angrily, her eyes daring another student to talk. When nobody did, she relaxed slightly.
"Alright. So. I want you all to sit with your teammates and get to know each other. I'm going to come around and explain what location and time you are to meet your jounin sensei. If there's any fighting, I'm taking away the genin status of each participant!"
While adding this, Inoue glowered at the two loud-mouthed boys Mokuren now had for teammates.
Once each team had been placed together, Mokuren smiled brightly towards the boys. "It's nice to meet you both. My name is Mokuren - what are your names?"
The larger boy merely scowled at her, while the black-haired boy's face turned a little pink and he hurried to say, "My name is Tetsuko - this idiot's name is Kentsu. It's nice to meet you, Mokuren-chan!"
Mokuren's smile slipped away and she raised an eyebrow at the honorific. She wasn't exactly used to such familiarity, and especially from someone she was talking to for the first time.
"Who are you calling an idiot? You loser!"
"You're both annoying - have you forgotten what Yumi-sensei said already?" Mokuren asked them, setting her head down as a wave of tiredness hit her. She thought she heard Kentsu reply - something about a boar, or maybe a well - she fell asleep too quickly to really listen.
Tetsuko was kind enough to wake Mokuren when Inoue dismissed everyone and explain to her where and when they were supposed to meet their jounin sensei. She just hoped he hadn't lied so that he could laugh about it later, because she had the feeling that if she asked Inoue she'd be taking Academy classes all over again.
Mokuren arrived at the rooftop Tetsuko had directed her to ten minutes early to see that the black-haired boy was already there waiting. Stepping around a poorly hidden trap, Mokuren raised an eyebrow at him. Tetsuko awkwardly rubbed his neck. "It's for Kentsu." He explained.
"There's no way he's that stu-" Mokuren began to say, but broke off as her unfinished statement was proven wrong.
"What the heck?" Kentsu shouted, writhing on the ground for a moment, trying to pull his foot out of the trap. Soon enough, though, he was free and throwing angry hooks at Tetsuko. Mokuren couldn't judge the strength behind the punch, but she raised an eyebrow at the way he wildly threw it. Not a single hit landed, although the other boy also seemed clumsy and didn't punch back. Instead, he broke away and began throwing shuriken. Tetsuko's aim was such that although Kentsu was unaffected, Mokuren - who was far to the right - almost lost a toe.
"Are you two seriously this pathetic?" She asked, doing her best to sound uncaring, but internally she couldn't help thinking, they are, they really are, maybe I shouldn't have annoyed Yumi-sensei so much -
"Who are you calling pathetic?" Kentsu shouted, while Tetsuko looked somewhat dejected.
"Is there some other pathetic duo around here I could be referring to?" She asked irritably, stepping forward.
"Why, you -" The pink-orange-haired boy - seriously, why wasn't there a specific color for the shade? - growled as he ran at Mokuren. He tried to punch her, but she sidestepped and then tripped him, sending him sprawling.
"Even Kamiki fights better than that, and she failed the genin exam." Mokuren sighed as she shook her head. Maybe Yumi-sensei only passed them so that they could drag me down. The idea wasn't completely impossible - Inoue was a little more vengeful than an Academy teacher should be. Still, Mokuren had hoped the woman would be happy enough just to see her gone.
Tetsuko finally stepped in, although he looked very hesitant. "Look, you two really shouldn't argue, I mean, Kentsu really does need to work on his skills but -"
"He's not the only one." Mokuren pointed out. "What were you aiming at, earlier? None of the shuriken even came close to hitting him. Do you ever practice?"
Tetsuko wilted at the criticism, and Mokuren couldn't help but feel annoyed. "And honestly, what is with you? Even your attitude is pathetic! You're a ninja, aren't you? When someone insults you, get angry."
"He's not going to get angry at a girl." Kentsu sneered, pushing himself up.
"Funny, I remember him yelling at me in the classroom..."
"That was before he saw your face and -"
"Shut up!" Tetsuko barked, his face apple-red. Actually, it suddenly looked really familiar... While Mokuren took a moment to try and recall exactly what his face reminded her of, the two boys began to argue again. She didn't listen to much of it, but she distinctly heard the word 'crush' and wondered if they were really tossing around threats that lame.
"If the both of you don't shut up, I'll make you." Mokuren had just declared when she suddenly felt someone heading their way. If it was their jounin sensei, she didn't want her team making such an awful impression that they were sent back instantly, even if a return to the Academy seemed inevitable.
"Ha! I'd like to see you -" Kentsu began to say, but Mokuren cut him off, appearing in front of him suddenly and covering his mouth.
"Someone's coming - do you want our teacher's first impression of you to be the same as what you've given me? You'll be back in the Academy before you can say 'No'."
Somehow, that logic actually got into his head, and the three arranged themselves in a line. Although Mokuren felt nervous waiting as the person she could sense slowly approached, she nonetheless began to doze off standing now that all was quiet.
"Are you team three?" Mokuren's eyes shot open at the question; she hadnt noticed them close. She felt even more dizzy when she recognized the woman in front of her.
"Are you our jounin sensei?" Tetsuko managed to mumble out, despite his jaw resting beside his toes. Mokuren had a feeling she wouldn't be able to speak nearly as well, just then.
"I am. My name -"
"Aren't you Kazekage-sama's sister?!" Kentsu blurted out.
"I am." Temari's voice was flat this time. "However, I do still have a name. Temari."
Kentsu grimaced and made to hide behind Tetsuko. However, the other boy pushed him away and bowed respectfully to Temari, with Mokuren copying him a second later. Their other teammate took a minute, and then realized that he should probably apologize. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have interrupted..."
Temari exhaled, and reminded herself that the three in front of her were mere children. "Nevermind that. Anyway, introduce yourselves. Give your names, likes, dislikes and goals."
Glancing at the other two and seeing that they were looking towards him, Kentsu grimaced. "My name's Kentsu... I like to eat?" It sounded more like a question than a statement. "I really dislike those two." He added with a sudden burst of confidence. "And as far as goals... I'm going to beat the smug look off this girl's face," He waved an arm towards Mokuren, "And become Kazekage some day!"
Mokuren groaned. Weren't there any original goals left in the world? Couldn't they just settle with becoming jounin or learning a certain number of techniques, or something plausible like that? There had only ever been four Kazekage. Four. There had been thousands of Suna nin, and even if that didn't bring his chances down to almost nothing, the current Kazekage, Gaara, didn't look like he'd be stepping down anytime soon.
"I'm Tetsuko." The black-haired boy introduced himself nervously, but in a clearer voice than Kentsu had used. "I really like looking at the stars and... well..." He turned slightly pink again and Kentsu scowled. "Anyway, I dislike this guy, and I'll definitely become Kazekage before he does."
Well, that wasn't quite as awful... but now it was her turn. What to say, what to say... "My name is Mokuren, I like to eat squid and help out at my favorite restaurant. I don't particularly dislike anything, and my goals are to surpass my father and protect my village." Because obviously that should be in every shinobi's list of goals. "It's nice to meet you, Temari-sensei." She added, bowing again.
Temari nodded her head at Mokuren, her slight surprise not showing on her face. The information she'd received on the girl was that she had a habit of sleeping through lessons, ignoring her peers, and disrespecting her teachers. A note had also been added that the teacher suspected Mokuren had cheated somehow in order to pass the genin test with the top score, but Temari would judge the truth of that later. For now, the girl simply seemed boring.
Surveying her new team once more, Temari spoke authoritatively. "I expect to see the three of you on training ground twelve at four in the morning tomorrow. If you're not there on time, make sure you return your forehead protector afterwards. I've no use for tardy ninja. Dismissed!" She said abruptly, and disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Mokuren blinked. "Was that a shadow clone?" She asked uncertainly. "That didn't seem right for a space-time jutsu..." By 'that', Mokuren was referring to the smoke, and the fact that the Temari just now had definitely had chakra and so it couldn't have been a normal clone.
"We have a teacher who knows the jutsu! Do you think we could -" Kentsu began eagerly, his eyes lighting up.
"You don't have enough chakra." Mokuren immediately shot him down.
"You can't know that." Tetsuko protested.
"I do." Mokuren assured him. "No genin has reserves large enough to use the shadow clone, that'd be ridiculous."
"Naruto-sama -"
"Was a container for a bijuu, so his chakra reserves were huge even as a genin." After a pause she added, "Don't try to compare yourselves to him - Nanadaime Hokage is a thousand times more powerful than either of you could ever hope to be."
Neither of the boys argued, but Mokuren hadn't expected them to. The way her father told it, Uzumaki Naruto was God to this world now, and even the stupidest of idiots - like these two - would agree.They did, however, seem to sulk.
With her meetings and such over for the day, Mokuren headed to Gyo Shokudou.
Just the outline of the restaurant was enough to drown her in memories, but nearly all of them were pleasant and she couldn't help smiling as she hurried in. As it was midday, the restaurant was very nearly empty, and Reiko, the owner, was resting her face on a table in the corner. It was the nearest booth to the hallway that contained the bathrooms and her office - which she normally napped in.
"You're going to get robbed someday." Mokuren told her exasperatedly, sliding into the seat across.
"If that happens, I'll just make you go get my money back. You're a ninja now, aren't you?" Reiko mumbled, her head still on the table.
"I am, which means you'd have to request a mission and pay me."
"But I won't be able to pay you, I'll be broke."
"That's your problem then, isn't it?"
"Mokurennnnnnn... you're so mean." Reiko complained, finally lifting her head. "I used to give you free food, didn't I?"
"Out of the kindness of your heart, you told me. That means you can't ask me to pay you back for it." Mokuren pointed out, absently scraping gum off the underside of the table and tossing it into the garbage can.
"Mean mean meanie..." Reiko pouted, and then started as one of her employees giggled. "What are you laughing at?" She snapped over their way, which sent the poor boy scurrying back to the kitchen.
"Somehow, that seemed more 'mean' than my refusing to help with a hypothetical situation."
"Somehow, you sound like a puppet." Reiko retorted, sorting out her dark hair. "Now if you're not going to eat anything, get out - I can't have you loitering around here all day!"
"Fine, fine... I'll go bother Senurou-jii." Mokuren spoke around a small yawn.
"Actually, could you go and see Kamiki-san? She came by here earlier looking for you." Reiko's tone became much more polite and her back straightened as her eyes followed a family entering her restaurant. "Isn't that Suiko or whomever?" She added, looking at a girl around Mokuren's age with golden blonde hair.
"That's Sui-chan." Mokuren agreed. At the moment, Suikana and her family were not really on the list of people that the brunette wanted to talk to, considering that the girl was still visibly upset about her failure on the genin exam. The blonde had always thought herself much better than Mokuren in strength as well as appearance, so Mokuren hoped that the girl hadn't noticed her or her forehead protector. Suikana had never been one to take such things well, and so Mokuren slipped out of the building through a window in the girl's bathroom as soon as she could.
Almost the second Mokuren knocked on her door, Kamiki opened it. The quiet girl looked oddly upset as she let Mokuren in and hurried to get something to drink, but the brunette still took a moment to look around the apartment. She and Kamiki had been friends-of-a-sort and neighbors since they were about seven years old, but Mokuren still knew next to nothing about the girl. Kamiki had black hair, dark green eyes, and she was an orphan - she didn't really like board games or card games or leaving her house, but Kamiki was enrolled in the ninja academy nonetheless. Mokuren didn't know why, and although she'd been tempted, she had never asked.
"You wanted to talk about something?" Mokuren asked, taking a cup from Kamiki.
The other girl bit her lip nervously. "Nothing specific." Kamiki's voice was very soft, to the point she could barely be heard. "Just... I wanted to know if you had become a genin. I haven't seen you in quite a while... Clearly you are." She added, her eyes on Mokuren's forehead. "Do you know who your teammates are yet?"
"I met with them today. One has pink-orange hair, can't stop yelling. The other boy has black hair, acts pretty weird. I think they're friends?"
Her vagueness meant that it took Kamiki an extra moment. "Kento and Tetsue or something like that?" At Mokuren's nod, she continued. "They're famous for being the most annoying people in our class. I don't think they're really too bad, though." She mumbled the last part, looking down at her lap.
"Most annoying? Then why haven't I heard of them?" In her opinion, Suikana was the most annoying, so.
Kamiki coughed a little to hide a slight smile. "I think you were too deeply asleep to really hear them..."
Mokuren shrugged, unashamed.
End Note: I'm editing the original first two chapters to smash them together, on advice from a friend. I will still be able to restore them if it looks dumb. Sorry if I'm a little wordy, too; I wrote this when I was a fifteen year old with a lot to prove.