Enjoying the Day

Today I had decided to relax and waste some time in the park, people were walking or jogging on a path that wrapped around its perimeter which I watched from me seat on a tree branch. I had decided to take on the form of a bear cub for now which caused a few kids to point and say things until I eventually got down to the ground and started playing tag with them, still in the form of a bear.

Myeong stretched out, her jacket shifting as she did so. Her small frame was being practically swallowed by the sea of folds that made up her patchwork jacket. People often stared at it, even here in the Samurai village. Rolling her shoulders, she rubbed her head softly. Gah, the chuunin exams had proven to be much more boring than Myeong had originally a thought. As she walked through a park, she came to a stop. Was that... a bear? Quietly, she approached the bear, the majority of her face hidden by the hood on her jacket. When she got close enough, she crouched down to stare at it. "You're from Mori right?" she asked to the bear, tilting her head, allowing one of the long locks of red hair to tumble out from the hood. She had heard something about a bear kid from the class before her's, some kind of clan skill or something.

I turned to look up at the ginger behind me that had recognized me as a human, my animal nose picked up the scent of the forest on her so I decided to trust my identity to her. I gave her a nod and a little sound to acknowledge that she was correct. I could only wonder at this point who she was.

Myeong tilted her head the other way, the second lock of hair falling out and dangling with the first. Why was this guy pretending to be a bear? "Ya' paranoid or something?" she asked, reaching out to try and pet him. "Or are ya' hiding from someone?"

As she petted me I started turning back into a human, deciding to stay the same height I would appear sitting with my legs crossed. "Naw, it's just more comfortable to be like that is all. Name is Takoda, whats yours?"

She nodded as he shifted back to human, however, Myeong did not move her hand. So, her hand was still resting on his head, if he permitted it, as he spoke. "Oh, that's neat. I guess having fur would be comfortable," she replied, nodding softly. Her eyes looked him over before nodding softly. "My name is Myeong, and you are not the oddest thing I've seen today!" she said suddenly, grinning widely as she lowered her hood, revealing a moppy headful of red curls.

I cocked my head to the side, I had never thought of my shifting as odd but then again not everyone had been given a lifetime to get used to such things. "Really now? Whats sorts of things have you been doing today to see such strange things?" I was rather curious since so far all I had found in the samurai village were clouds and houses.

She lifted her hand from his head and clapped them together softly as she thought. Then, she grinned, nodding to herself. "There was an exam taker walking around in nothing but a skin tight full body suit. It covered everything but his eyes!" she exclaimed, nodding firmly. Then, leaning it, she cupped the left side of her mouth with a hand, as if to tell a secret. "And get this! The guy had a Sharingan! Wild huh? Aren't those folks suppose to be like scary dignified?"

I scratched my chain a moment, so someone in the exams had a sharingan eh? I'd brush my hair a bit with my fingers as I spoke, "So an Uchiha you say? No, the only one of that clan I've ever met was a total goof." As I thought of my friend who had left the village to train and for some reason still not return I laughed a bit, but it had a hint of sadness hidden in it.

She tilted her head, "That was the first Uchiha I had ever met. When I was a kid all the stories about them made them sound like nobles or something... but this guy had his banana and kiwis dangling everywhere! I sure would love to be up against someone with as big a target painted on him as that for the final stage of the exam!" she laughed softly. When he laughed, she blinked, leaning in to stare at him. "Well wasn't that a suspicious laugh!"

I leaned back in the grass to look at the sky, my hands folded together behind my head. "It's nothing really, just thinking about the war and stuff. You know us members of the bear tribe, we can't think about anything but fighting."

She watched as he leaned back, tilting her head as she looked him over. He was hiding something, but Myeong didn't know him well enough to put forth the effort to care. "Really? That's sad," she replied bluntly, looking at his feet for some odd reason. "What if you're hungry? Do you just think about fighting then? Or do you think about jumping into a giant bowl of ramen and fighting the noodles?"

I laughed at her example and for a moment imagine my uncle attempting to conquer his lunch with his fists, "You know I get the feeling that if we had bowls big enough there are some that would do exactly that." I returned my gaze to the clouds and stayed quiet a moment, "So how do you think this third round is gonna be? Fighting for sport is something I normally look forward to but this seems a tad different somehow."

Myeong nodded solemly, "If I had a bowl that big I'd swim in it too.." When he became quiet then asked about the exam, Myeong clapped her hands together in thought. "They'll probably be a combat of some sort. The exams typically have some part where the countries can show off the shinobi they trained, also known as the fighting tournament. That's usually considered the biggest part of the exam. However, how the fights go has varied a lot over the years. There have been random match ups where the opponents are decided right then and there. Other years they give the people a few days, sometimes a month, to prepare after they announce the person they're fighting against. I heard once they were team battles too. But if you look at the size of this village, chances are there isn't an arena big enough to do that. So, it'll probably a bracket match of some sort.

I nodded, "It just seems weird doesn't it? We won't be fighting to win but to prove our skills, I've heard that people who won this tournament before have managed to not be selected so this is almost as much a mental exercise as that written test."

She rubbed her chin, shrugging softly. "I think that usually only happens in extreme cases when the winner has done something really really stupid. But yeah, it's totally a mental test. Even the part where you could end up fighting someone from your village. As chuunin, we'd probably be sent out to hunt down deserters, so this test pretty much covers all the basics. And, of course, this tournament is also a way for clans to show off to each other."

I laughed at the comment about clans, seeing as I had revealed my clan by being in bear form it was obvious that I was no stranger to families showing off. "That's true, should there be any Dovahkiin entrants that I go up against and take down no doubt the Kuma would throw a festival level celebration. Their rivalry can work out for some good at times it seems."

She crossed her arms and nodded, "Yep! Clans can add a whole other layer of fun and political heat to these kinds of events! But they can also be annoying! Especially when larger clans all crowd into one section of an arena and scream at the top of their lungs during a match!" she huffed, obviously disliking that.

I laughed again when thinking about my family, "Might want to get some ear plugs because my family is pretty big and we tend to be a roaring crowd, quite literally."

She stared at him for a moment, silently looking him over. For a brief moment the grin dropped from her face, but it soon returned. Myeong nodded, "Haha! Alright! I'll make sure to try and sit on the other side of the arena once my match finishes!" She sunk down, sitting in the grass and staring at Takoda. "So are you nervous about the final phase of the exams?" she asked him suddenly.

I scoffed, perhaps she didn't know anything about my clan after all. Or perhaps she was intentionally messing with my pride. I raised my hands so my fingers were pointing to the ground and then clenched then into fists, activating the mechanism to cause my steel bear claws to swing around into place. "I think I should do just fine, but what about you though? Kinda on the scrawny side for a ninja."

Myeong watched as he did his little trick to get some claws on his hand. Her green eyes stared at them for a while before looking back to him, just in time for him to call her scrawny. She stared at him, her green eyes glaring coldly. "It's not my fault I'm the youngest contestant!" she huffed, crossing her arms and turning around. It was true. Myeong was the youngest contestant at this exam. Whenever the other exam takers found out who she was, they would all stare at her, thinking she was an easy match during the third phase. Well! They were dead wrong!

I chuckled as she got all upset over what I said, I hadn't meant to offend her but living among a bunch of people that use harsh name calling as a means of saying hello makes you forget not everyone is as thick skinned as you are. "Eh Im sure you'll do fine. Youre a mori ninja after all, we always have been cream of the crop at these things."

Myeong shrugged, scoffing softly. "Yeah. I know I'll do fine!" she said, turning with a wide grin. Shifting down, she sat on the grass, staring at him. "So have you gathered any data on the other contestants yet?" she asked him, twisting a lock of her red hair in her hand.

I laughed as she scoffed as I had, it seemed I wasnt the only one in this exam with a strong and easily hurt pride. But as she asked about other contestants I just shrugged, "Only one I know anything about is that Finnik kid, the one who always shouts extreme or something. Me and him fought for the academy students before so I have a grasp of his style. Though he wouldn't be much of a challenge anyway."