Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Chronicles of a Self-Made Shinobi ❯ The Calm Before the Storm (2) ( Chapter 17 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Chronicles of a Self-Made Shinobi: The Calm Before the Storm (chap. 2)

“KUMIKO-SAN!” Lee shouted and leapt at her. “Finally we are acting our dreams together. Let us promise to help each other along the way! Let us promise to triumph! We will, against all odds, have our names be revered throughout the ninja world!”

“Lee!” Kumiko gasped. “I can't breathe.”

He released her and hopped from one foot to the other. A ticking time bomb. Shikamaru sighed and mumbled what a drag and Lee's smile was the size of an eagle's wingspan.

“As a celebration, let us go eat curry! You can come too Shikamaru-kun!”

He backed away, “Oh, um…actually I have something I have to do. See you later Kumiko-chan,” he waved, and walked away rather quickly.

“We can still go?” Lee asked.

Kumiko sighed and nodded (no sense in bursting his bubble) then followed him to the restaurant.

That night Gai-sensei called them for a team meeting. It was out in the fields where she had sat playing a few weeks ago, her last day before she became a real ninja. Crickets were yelling in the humid air and a few fireflies hung over the field like fairy lights. The four ninja sat in a circle.

Gai gave a heartfelt lecture on teamwork, hard-work, pride and all that jazz. After awhile he insisted that the team have time together to bond and discuss battle strategies. Before he left he knelt by Kumiko and put a hand on her shoulder.

“I'm not at all worried about you. Don't mind what anyone else says. I see in you what I see in my adorable Lee. Also, you can trust Neji, like you trust Lee. There are things he hides from everyone.”

After he was gone there was silence between the three genin. Neji was sitting back on his elbows, eyes closed. Lee was cross-legged, his lips turned down in his serious face, and Kumiko was on her knees staring at the middle of the circle. It was Neji who broke the silence.

“I don't think Kumiko should take the exams.”

There he goes. “Why not?” she snapped back.

“You're not meant to be a ninja.”

“Your personality says you should never have any friends. Yet you do, why is that?” she countered.

Neji's eyebrow twitched and lines appeared above his still closed eyes. “Insults won't change the fact that you are not meant to be a ninja. Everyone has fed you a lie. They like your determination, but that doesn't change the facts. You're not a ninja.”

By now Kumiko's face was screwed into a grimace. His words stung, and Kumiko was surprised. She had learned to ignore Neji a long time ago; why did it suddenly hurt again? She clenched her teeth to keep the building water in her eyes from rolling down her cheeks. Heart of stainless steel.

“Is it your calling to crush other's dreams? Just because you were born with talent doesn't mean you can treat everyone like they're trash. You stupid spoiled brat. Does it bother you to hang around with commoners like Lee and myself? Maybe you should complain to the Hokage and ask for a team full of nobles, eh? If you didn't have it so easy, then maybe you wouldn't be this way.”

Neji was glaring at her, sitting straight up. “Watch what you say.”

“Things aren't the same for us. You were born with people listening to what you had to say, we had to earn it. You hear? You don't know the true meaning of working hard to reach your dreams.”

Neji suddenly leapt across the circle and tackled Kumiko to the ground. His face was corded with his Byakugan eyes. Rage and hurt betrayed his normally emotionless face. “I didn't have it as easy as you'd like to think,” he snarled.

Maybe she had gone too far. But she couldn't help it, he made her so hurt and angry all the time. She wanted him to know what it felt like.

His hands on either side of her head were gripping the grass so tightly she could hear his fingers rubbing against the skin of his hands. His looked frantic as he opened his mouth to speak: “I said it…because you're going into needless danger. Just…just live damn you!”

He stood up and walked away then sat with his back to them a little ways off. His words left her utterly confused. Just live. But wasn't that what she was doing? One couldn't live without reaching for a dream. That's the only reason to keep on going. Without a dream, there'd be nothing important to live for.

Lee's arm wrapped around her shoulders and she noticed that the collar of her shirt was wet. “C'mon, let's go.”

He walked her home, keeping his hand on her shoulder and didn't say a word. She expected him to give her some kind of lecture on how she wasn't worthless and how she would become a ninja, but he didn't. Neji's attack only made her desire burn fiercer. She was lucky, she had a chance to show him first-hand what she could do. During the chuunin exams she was going to be the hero, no matter what it took. Lee knew this, and let her be.

Next up: Written Examination.