Jin Finds Someone Else
Jin remembered Lord Fifth's history lessons, and how he taught that Hashirama Senju, the first god of shinobi, was an idiot savant with big tree energy, and seeing the trees behind the chain link fence surrounding Konoha's Training Ground 44 filled Jin's big shark boy mind with a sudden enlightenment. Hashirama didn't have big tree energy; no, he had Big Tree Energy, because anything that can make trees with roots big around as houses and a canopy heights reaching into the hundreds of meters is a proper noun.
The explanation of the rules didn't matter to the Kirigakure genin, Konoha loved handing out paired objects to the applicant teams for the second exam and turning them loose in the Forest of Death for a free for all match your pair event. Usually scrolls. They set out one guy to listen to the harlot in case she tries something funny while the rest gathered round to take last minute orders from Jin, Keiko, and Haruto. They all new their play, get to the river that cuts through the over three hundred square kilometer training ground and use it to pump the Forest of Death full of Hidden Mist Justu. They'd spent an entire twelve hour day learning from Lord Fifth learning to cast and navigate in the iconic Kiri jutsu, making them likely the greatest genin to ever use the technique.
Despite not needing to change the game plan Jin Hoshigaki took over the meeting, "Alright everyone listen up!" he pointed to the pink haired girl and her teammates, "You see that girl over there with the heart stealing pink hair? That's Sakura, the woman who will bear my children. If any of you hurt her… I'll kill you. If any of you see her needing help and don't provide it… I'll kill you. If you kill her teammates, and it turns out that they were this someone else I've been looking for… I'll kill you. Understood?"
One of the genin raised his hand in the air and Jin pointed at him, "Yes, Yuta, what is your question?"
"What if we kill someone other than her teammates and it turns out to be this someone else you are looking for?" Yuta asked and a few other genin nodded in agreement and complimented him for such a good question.
Jin put chin chin in his hand and furrowed his brow, searching his heart for the answer to such a good question, "I see. That would be a great misfortune for me, but… if any of you kill this someone else, and take his or her place in Sakura's heart, and it wasn't the pair I specified, then it can only be fate itself telling us that you are the intended person for her. I'm not the kind of man that gives into fate, but to love another is to will their good for their own sake. If I interfered with fated love like that, it wouldn't be an act of love, but of hate, and would make me a lesser man. As such I will not kill any of you should this occur. That was a good question, Yuta. Worthy of a chunin of Kirigakure!"
The rest of the genin clapped for Yuta as he blushed and bowed lightly.
"Oh thanks, guys. This really means a lot to me." Yuta's smile nearly went ear to ear.
"Excuse me! My name is Rock Lee!" a Konoha genin intruded upon their Kiri gathering, a lone man in a green jumpsuit in a sea of black kimonos.
Such bravery, Jin knew that a lion amongst men approached.
"Did I hear correctly that you are seeking the hand of the fair Sakura Haruno?" Rock Lee inquired, no, demanded an answer, the set of his masculine brows set the tone.
"You most certainly did, Rock Lee." Jin spoke from the chest and nodded, "I am Jin Hoshigaki, and I seek to take the lovely Sakura to wife."
Jin thanked this young man in his heart for telling him the family name of the woman he loved.
"Then it is I you seek, your rival in love for her maiden heart!" Rock Lee declared and Jin felt stunned.
Here he was, someone else, and truly he was a fool to suspect the twerpy orange clad boy for before him stood a man of lean muscle, and Jin knew if he unwrapped the bandages on his hands he would find fists tempered like twin pieces of sword steel. He understood why Sakura denied his affection, for she already had this magnificent green beast of a man in her life.
"Oh what a man, what a wonderful man!" Jin Hoshigaki shouted to the sky and then whipped his head back down to lock eyes with Rock Lee as he stepped closely to him, "Rock Lee, I see you."
"Humph!" Rock Lee grunted as he entered a taijutsu stance with one hand up and extended and the other hand behind his back, a beautifully narrow stance that presented as thin a target as possible to the opponent, "And I see you, Jin Hoshigaki!"
"ROCK LEE! Know that I must kill you for love, but it is nothing personal! Our battle shall be legendary!" Jin roared and put his hand on his grandfather's longsword.
"That sounds incredibly personal, but I won't back down. Prepare yourself Jin Hoshigaki, to face the might of Konoha's majestic green beast!" Rock Lee declared and Jin felt proud to have such a rival.
"Hey you two idiots, stop making a scene and get in line!" the harlot shouted, ruining the moment.
"Hmm… it would seem this battle of love must wait. It would be rude of me to hold back Ginza and Miri's chances to advance due to, as you so wisely pointed out, personal matters." Jin grunted and klinked his sword back into its sheath.
"I too have a team I must not let down. I hope to see you in the exams, Jin Hoshigaki, so we may settle this matter in battle." with that declaration of intent, Rock Lee made his exit, but he remained in the hearts of those who saw him, a lion amongst men.
"For the love of Lord Fifth…" Keiko face palmed, "Now there's two of them."
"I for one feel all the more excited for this coming exam, knowing that there are genin like that for us to face off against." Haruto Hozuki smiled, "Lord Fifth's teachings will find worthy canvas to paint in the only color we know."
"He means blood, right?" a genin asked.
Now Haruto face palmed, "There are good questions, and there are dumb ones." He declared, "Kenji, learn how to be smart from Yuta before you shame us in front of the foreigners."
"Yes, Haruto, sir!" Kenji bowed in acceptance.
The Kiri genin joined the line for scrolls, having earned the ire of the entire assembled applicants. Jin received a white scroll from the seemingly annoyed proctors and the gate assignment 26. The team performed a final check of their gear, including special sealing scrolls created by Lady Shigure, the mysterious sword and seal mistress Lord Fifth brought to Kirigakure. She is called the Womb of the Golden Age, for from her has sprung forth a multitude of improvements to Kirigakure's knowledge and infrastructure. The vital steel industry is expected to grow like never before, and already she has produced the Shorikimasu, a sword wielded by Lord Fifth believed to be equal to the Seven Swords. And she's a woman, so… womb.
The chunin assigned to Gate 26 watched his wristwatch, and after three thirty in the afternoon unlocked the door in the chain link fence and signaled for the team to enter. The team began navigating the dark forest at high speed, limited visibility never a problem for Kirigakure shinobi, and in fact, they intend to make visibility worse still. Lord Fifth instructed all the genin how to navigate in various difficult terrain without getting lost or turned around, and the team certainly needed that training now, for the trees in the Forrest of Death often twisted and turned and pressed into each other, creating a dark labyrinth of wood and vine. Already they noticed toxic and poisonous substances and plants in the environment and signs of animals, massive animals. The teams all had a standing order to collect samples from this forest to bring back to the Village Hidden in the Mist, but Jin didn't stop the team to start collecting roots and cuttings, not when they had neighbors to introduce themselves too. Instead he took them on an interception angle towards Gate 25, trusting the teams footspeed and navigation skills to get them ahead of the other team.
All he needed was for even one of them to cut themselves, to get some blood into the air, and then Jin's powerful nose would lead him right to them. He could smell a single drop from up to a half a kilometer away. He didn't need to wait long for the scent to fill his nose, blood, and a fair amount too. Not just a scrape.
With a wide grin, he closed the distance through the difficult forest, filled with giant roots and creeping vines, and the team arrived above the other, the sight of pinkish red hair setting off a memory in Jin's mind of Lord Fifth explaining to the Konoha teams about a priority recruitment target.
"What luck." Jin grinned as source of the blood scent became apparent, a Kusa genin biting onto the wrist of his teammate.
Upon drinking the blood, the genin's twisted leg set to right, but it didn't matter. Their awareness was typical of shinobi from the small do nothing villages, where just a simple jonin could take the position of leader, unfit for the title Kage. As experts in silent killing taught by the master himself, Jin made no sound as he launched himself at the genin testing his restored leg.
Suddenly, the girl with light red hair and eyes looked up and screamed, but it came too late, perhaps if she hadn't been distracted by the bite wound on her wrist, her pointing would have gotten the genin to move or at least see his killer coming, but instead he simply made a face at the girl right before two Kirigakure sandals impacted the back of his head. Jin rode the genin to the ground where upon contact the genin's head burst.
"Perfect landing." Jin smiled, his joy at such a flashy and optimal takedown overflowing like a bright beacon of light to the extrasensory perception of the girl.
"Behind you!" the girl suddenly shouted as she stumbled backwards over a gnarled root.
Not behind Jin, behind her other teammate who currently stared at Jin wide eyed mouth open. Behind him arrived Ginza, already swinging his sword for a swift decapitation. The second Kusa genin fell over, and his head remained connected to his body by a small flap of neck flesh.
"Clean." Miri admired Ginza's perfect cut.
The three turned their gazes upon the terrified Kunoichi.
"Don't worry." Jin assured her in his most calming tone, "We were ordered by the Mizukage to spare the other genin when possible. Your teammates were kill on sight though, but you are okay!"
"What? Why?" the Kusa kunoichi gasped as she settled into the terror of the situation.
"Well, obviously if we killed all the genin attending the chunin exams then all the other villages would get pissed." Jin explained the easy concept to her, but he didn't hold her ignorance against her.
That's just how people from Kusagakure are, why would anyone expect anything else?
"Anyway, now that we've dealt with pleasure, let's get on to business." Jin adopted his super professional tone, "You are being recruited by Kirigakure."
The kusa genin didn't respond, and this made Jin angry, "Why am I not hearing gratitude? I thought people from the less developed parts of the world were supposed to be quaint and polite, yet here we inform you of such great news and you aren't even bowing. Such audacity."
Realizing that her inaction was putting her into greater danger with these cheery psychopaths, the Kusa genin rolled and twisted into a traditional dogeza kneeling bow. With her headband pressed to the forest floor she declared, "Thank you!"
"Ah, I see you understand what an honor you have received, to be recruited by the command of Lord Fifth himself. Your future is bright. Just remember not to forget the little people who helped get you to the top." Jin smiled and helped the girl up dusting her off and straightening out her glasses, "Now team, I know we were going to have lots of fun hunting down the other genin teams and asserting our dominance, but we have a VIP with us now." Jin took out a notebook covered in seals and a pen, paging through to the next available blank space, he updated the log and then put it away in a hard case in his tactical haori, "I've updated the other teams. After we help fill the zone with mist, we'll just stick to sample collection."
"Ah, boring duty, but this is the price we pay for our exceptional performance." Ginza sighed.
"Even if we must suffer our days in drudgery, seeking out plants and animals, we do so for the glory of Kirigakure and the honor of Lord Fifth! Long may he reign! Banzai!" Yelled Jin with all his might.
"Banzai!" the other two cheered and then all three looked at the formerly Kusa genin.
"Banzai?" she managed.
"I'll forgive you this time, on account of you being new, but next time say it with your chest. Like this: Banzai!" Jin instructed with a friendly hand placed on her shoulder to encourage her to fully take her place with the team.
"Banzai!" the other two shouted.
"Banzai!" the redhead screamed like her safety depended on it.
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I tried to get the entire forrest of death into this chapter, but then realize we were already at nearly 2500 words on Jin's first PoV...
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