мοrι ηo κο 『森の子』

Nine || A New Rival

》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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With friends to call her own and a mind set as solid as stone, Midori was growing into a stronger, more aware shinobi. In the first year that she had spent at the Konoha Academy she had learned new skills, honed new abilities, and formed new bonds with her fellow classmates.

Midori, Aoi, and Tenten sat close to one another in their classroom, conversing about how their lives would be once they graduated in the next few years and, of course, about how many bad guys they were going to "beat up". Even though they knew their physical strength couldn't match up to that of a full-grown man, the thought of going head-to-head with a bad guy thrilled them.

After that first month of adapting to her new village, Midori spent the next eleven months getting to know Aoi and Tenten. In that time, Midori discovered that Aoi was a year older than the two of them, and that Tenten's father ran a family-owned business of making and selling various ninja weapons and tools. With that basic knowledge of her two friends under her belt, she found herself slowly learning more and more about them with each passing day.

Aoi and Tenten were Midori's only friends up to this point, and now ... she found herself in the presence of a boy. A very ... strange, pale-eyed lad with an attitude to suit his smug face.

While Midori was waiting outside of the academy for another day of learning, he was propped up against a shady tree nearest to the academy entrance. For the past ten minutes, the blonde waited for him to open his eyes or uncross his arms---to show any sign that he wasn't just sleeping in an inhuman manner really---but he never did.

Who is he? she wondered, before a memory of her first day at the academy flit through her mind. She remembered seeing him in her class. Now that she actually thought about it ... he had always been there, she just hadn't bothered to learn his name.

As she was about to look away, he opened his eyes and shot a glare at her. "Why are you staring at me?" he inquired, his tone abnormally bitter for someone his age.

Midori's emerald eyes widened and she froze. Almost as if she was a fish out of water, gasping from the air around it, she repetitively opened her mouth to reply, but no words came out, only sounds that made it seem as if she'd choked on them.

The boy narrowed his gaze and raised his eyebrow at her. "So you're stupid," he mockingly said, a sadistic smirk spread across his lips. "I should have known."

"I ... I---"

Uncrossing his arms, he shook his head. "If you manage to graduate from here ... I hope you're not on my team," he mumbled, walking away from the tree to the opposite side of the academy building.

Feeling a pang of hurt from his words and harsh attitude, Midori could only stare at the tree where he had been at with a shocked expression etched on her face. H-How could he ... have known? she wondered, not bothering to pay any attention to the multitude of kids gathering around her and entering the academy with eager faces.

As a hand clasped around her shoulder, Midori was startled from her appalled state. Glancing over at the culprit, she was greeted by a curious pair of deep blue eyes. Aoi.

"Hey Blondi---" pausing, she examined Midori's dazed expression and arched her hidden eyebrow. "Blondie ... why do you look so ... weird?" she asked, her head tilted slightly to the side.