мοrι ηo κο 『森の子』

Eleven || The Final Test

(Pictured is my friend's drawing of Aoi and Ken! No, they're not actually this close in the story~)

》Dιsсlαιмεя: I own no Canon characters that shall be used within this story。Only the OCs, as well as the setting in which the beginning of this tale has taken place。 All other things within the Narutoverse belong to none other than the marvelous, Masashi Kishimoto! READ ONWARD, LOVELIES!! ( ' ▽ ' )ﾉ《

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It was early the next morning and the newly formed Squad 11 was just arriving at Training Ground 3. It was an open space with shrubbery and many trees surrounding it, almost like a forest, but more revealed. Aoi and Midori had chatted their entire way there, while Ken had partially led them there in silence.

As they glanced around the area, they noticed their new capricious sensei had yet to arrive and the clock was ticking down. Sighing, Aoi shook her head in disapproval. "He tells us to be here at 8:30, yet he isn't even he---"

Before she could finish, the blue-haired Jounin appeared behind them as if out of thin air. "Right on time," he said, his suave voice catching the two girls off-guard, causing them to leap away from him and give him a shocked expression. Cocking his head to the side, he performed a graceful bow and gave the two a quick grin that seeming twinkled. "You two seem surprised," he mocked, his onyx eyes examining their slowly-diffusing stances. "Did you not expect me to be here on time?"

Aoi gave him a stern look before crossing her arms and whipping her gaze away from him. "You just startled us, that's all," she huffed, to which the man let out a laugh.

"Now," Toru said, his chin propped between his thumb and index finger, "I expect you're all wondering what we'll be doing today, no?" He glanced over at Ken and beckoned for him to get closer to his fellow squad members.

The red-haired lad looked between them all before shaking his head. "I refuse," he answered, causing Toru to deadpan and slump his shoulders.

"K-Ken," he mumbled, partially sniffling. "Please don't be like this; we're all supposed to want to be here."

Said boy gave them all a smug expression before arching his eyebrow in a sassy manner. "Why would I ever want to be here with an idiotic man like you, who acts like a child, and two pathetic, spoiled girls?"

Toru gasped in an exasperated manner, clutching his heart with both of his hands, the tears brimming at his eyes. "Ken, you wound me!"

Midori and Aoi shared a knowing glance between one another then looked at Ken and back at each other again. "Did he just ...?" asked Midori, to which Aoi nodded.

"He just did," she responded in a bland tone, shifting her blazing blue eyes over to the fiery haired boy. "You don't wanna work with us as a team? Fine---leave!" she retaliated, a scowl apparent on her face and finger pointing in the direction of the village town.

Ken willingly turned his back on Midori, Aoi, and Toru, then started walking away. However, before he could, Toru had slung a paper-bomb tagged kunai in front of his feet. Noticing it had little time left before it would explode, each Genin's eyes widened. Without thinking, Aoi dived towards the petrified Ken, knocking him out of the way and shielding him as it blew up.

When the raven-haired girl opened her eyes, she stared down at the boy and noticed his wavering golden irises. As she was going to shove herself off of him, a mass of water fell upon them both. Aoi's left eye twitched out of irritation as she stood up and looked over at Midori, who heaved out a held-in breath. "D-Did you just ... create a water barrier?"