[centre][img]https://i.imgur.com/fgEjWNV.png[/img][/centre]

[i]Seven letter word for tiresome because of length or dullness.[/i]

As Daichi-sensei of Team 9 outlined the rules of the joint training exercise, Kimiko’s mind wandered. She thought of all the other possible things she could be doing with her time. Lounging about back home. Eating some of Masahiko’s homemade udon. Taking a nap. Finishing up that crossword she was working on. Maybe even ‘borrow’ another one of Takehiko’s smutty romance novels?

Nope! No time for any of that. Rather than relaxing and enjoying one final day off before showtime, she was stuck here. In the middle of a field. Being briefed on how to play capture the flag. It was all just so very…

[i]Tedious.[/i]

Needless to say, Kimiko wasn’t exactly in the best of moods. All of her plans of vegging out were ruined, and for what? What could a last-minute game of capture the flag possibly do to help prepare literally any of them for the Chuunin exams? Surely if they weren’t ready by now, then they were hopeless, right?

The young Uesugi girl narrowed her eyes at the rival team captain. It didn’t take a Byakugan to see through his bullshit. This whole dog and pony show was just an excuse for the spineless little shit to get to spend time with Emi-sensei, wasn’t it? Pathetic. Despicable. If he wanted to ask her out, then he should have grown a spine, done so, and left the rest of them out of it.

Whatever. 

The girl took a moment during Spineless-sensei’s super stupid speech to take in her surroundings. The training area was actually rather beautiful all things considered. The plateau was engulfed in a sea of gold surrounding a lone tree. Marigolds reached up and tickled her exposed calves as the girl shifted her weight from one leg to the other. She mindlessly tugged at the band above her left bicep, tightening the knot holding the Leaf’s metal protector in place before returning her right hand to the top of the twin hilts of the swords that sat against her hip. If she drowned out the droning, then the training grounds became a rather peaceful place.

She let out a quiet yawn as she glanced over towards the Team 9 trio. Emi-sensei and the invertebrate posing as a man were teammates back in the day, and as such, Kimiko ended up spending more time around them then she might have done so otherwise.

The girl’s eyes landed on Hoseki first. To be fair, he wasn’t that hard on the eyes. Shitty personality aside, the guy was hot. A little on the short side, but still hot. Kimiko even had a little crush on him back in her academy days...but then this weird phenomenon occurred in which every time he opened that fat mouth of his, he somehow became less and less attractive. Totally weird. Anyway, Kimiko didn’t see him as much of a threat. He seemed...sloppy. He had stamina for days but...he primarily relied on taijutsu, and rather unrefined taijutsu at that. Getting in close enough to punch her would mean getting within range of her extremely sharp swords. Which would be, to put it quite frankly, stupid. Though to be fair, she wasn’t completely convinced that the guy was capable of thoughts more complex than ‘durr, Hoseki smash.’

[i]Still hot though.[/i]

Next, her gaze passed over a truly revolting sight. Aberashi Mizo. That disgusting little [i]toad.[/i]

Stupid. Fake. Weak. Pathetic. Loser. Nerd. [sub][sub]cute.[/sub][/sub] 

She wasn’t worth Kimiko wasting precious energy over. She might have had everybody else fooled, but Kimiko could see right through the phony bitch. When Mizo questioned Daichi-sensei on the purpose of the exercise, Kimiko couldn’t help but roll her eyes. So intense was her dislike of her Team 9 counterpart, that Kimiko silently rallied to the defense of Konoha’s resident Man-Slug hybrid. How stupid did you have to be to not get the point of an exercise like this? Dummy.

Kimiko would place Mizo about the same as Hoseki as far as threats went. Maybe slightly higher? She shared the whole “punch first, think later” philosophy when it came to fighting, so Kimiko welcomed yet another idiot running into her range. But hey, at least she had the mental capacity to know that going into battle completely unarmed was maybe not the best idea. Those arm guards of hers would make her a bit more durable. Still, fist versus blade didn’t often turn out well for fist.

Finally, Kimiko glared over at the remaining Team 9 member. Uh…

…

Fuck. What was his name again? Hana? Lana? Vamana? Banana? Whatever it was, he hadn’t left much of an impact on Kimiko. He was small and quiet. She often saw him reading on those rare occasions that she actually made note of his presence, so unlike his knucklehead teammates, he was at least literate. A slight breeze might knock him over, but at least he could probably read a map, so, y’know Team 9 MVP right there.

He was probably the biggest enigma to Kimiko on Team 9, to be honest. For the life of her, she couldn’t remember what the little guy could do. Oh well. It probably didn’t matter.

As she finished her initial assessment of her enemies, Emi-sensei called for the teams to get in place. That worked for her. All she had to do was beat the shit out of the Toad, cut out Hoseki’s tongue, glance menacingly at What’s-his-name, and hope that her own teammates could manage to not lose the flag.

Speaking of which…

Kimiko approached her team, consisting of two little boys picking flowers. The girl could feel a vein throbbing in her forehead, the harbinger of a massive migraine in the very near future. Konoha’s best and brightest right here, folks. 

The boy actively picking flowers was Kanman Ataru. Like Team 9’s Hana Banana, Ataru was also a small, quiet boy. To put it bluntly, he was weak. There really wasn’t much debating that. Still, despite his frailty, Kimiko had some respect for the boy. Well, as much as she was capable of mustering. See, while he was physically weak, Ataru was smart. Way smart. To be a little guy and excel in their line of work, he had to be. She could still whoop his ass - of that she had no doubt - but that didn’t mean that she would want to be on the opposite side of him. Smart, supportive types like him could be a nuisance to go against and a godsend to fight alongside. As long as he stayed out of her way and put that big brain to good work, they were shoo-ins for the exam.

Also, she just liked the little guy. He was a good dude. Weird, but you got used to it.

And beside little Ataru, there was Kushizu. Despite being teammates, Kimiko didn’t know a lot about the guy. He was kind of a clam. Which was fine by her - he didn’t want to talk about it and she, quite frankly, didn’t care to know. He did his job well enough. He was also fairly smart, although he could handle himself a bit better in a fight than Ataru. More of an all-arounder, really, and a bit more mid-ranged than she was. The way Kimiko saw it, as long as Kushizu could protect Ataru and also stay the fuck out of her way, they would get along just fine.

[b][color=888c44]“You’re worrying too much, Kuku.”[/color][/b] Kimiko cooed as she approached her boys. [b][color=888c44]“We’re up against a couple knuckleheads and a bookworm.”[/color][/b] she continued, a smug smile spreading across her face as she jabbed a thumb back over her shoulder towards Team 9.

[b][color=888c44]“Honestly, I’m pretty sure that you and Ruru can handle this just fine without me.”[/color][/b] she added, crossing her arms in a little self-hug before letting out a drawn-out yawn. 

[b][color=888c44]“I might even just hang back and take a nap by the flag if that’s cool with you two.”[/color][/b]