The Jinchuuriki's Brother

The Chunin Exams Chapter 4: Smooth Sailing?

"Talking"

'Thinking'

Jutsu/ Bijuu/ Summons

Flashbacks, Letters, and Setting

I don't own Naruto

Chapter 45: Smooth Sailing?

Narumi dashed through the trees towards the source of commotion and despair. She didn't know what was going on to who, but she knew the person needed help, and while they were still in a competition, the genuine fear and anguish she sensed made her want to see if she could help.

When she finally arrived at the site of the distress she sensed, she found a red-haired girl up in a tree, throwing whatever she could get her hands on towards a growling bear that was as ginormous in scale as all of the other creatures of this particular forest were in comparison to their regular counterparts.

The girl in the tree continued to scream as she threw small branches and twigs she was able to break off in desperation. She seemed to have terrible aim, as barely any of her makeshift projectiles hit her mark, and even the ones she was able to land didn't seem to do any damage, as twigs didn't necessarily make for good projectiles, especially considering the massive size of the bear.

The bear growled and tried to climb the tree again, even though its massive size prevented it from being able to scale this particularly young, and therefore small, tree.

The girl continued to scream, both in fear and to attract help, when she sensed a massive chakra signature quickly approaching. Though the chakra was warm and soothing in general, its sheer size, which even dwarfed the incredibly massive source of chakra her teammates died to, and the bit of malicious chakra that lay hidden or suppressed beneath it, briefly scared her more than the bear.

Narumi jumped towards the bear and used its head as a platform to jump up to land on the branch the other red-haired girl was taking refuge on.

"Hi! I heard you screaming for help, so I came to see if I could do something for ya. What's the problem?" Narumi asked the girl.

The girl looked at the girl incredulously. She looked down at the still growling bear, and then back at Narumi. Was she crazy or was it not obvious what her source of distress was? Also, why was she so nonchalant about this whole situation?

"Ummm... you DID see the bear down there that's STILL trying to kill me, right?" She asked Narumi.

Narumi looked down at the bear and scratched the back of her head as she looked back at the girl sheepishly.

"Ooohhhh... right! The bear!" Narumi replied as if it was obvious. However, she was still a little confused.

"Sooo... you're hiding from the bear? Up here?" Narumi asked in curiosity.

The girl couldn't understand the purpose of the question. Was this girl stupid or something?

"Ummm yeah? Isn't that obvious?" She asked barely managing to not sound condescending.

"Ok, maybe I should have put it differently." Narumi said as she tried to ask what she was wondering in a clearer manner.

"I guess what I wanted to ask was WHY are you hiding from a bear in this tree, instead of just beating it up, or running away?" Narumi asked. Wasn't this girl a shinobi? What kind of shinobi was scared of some forest animal? Even if she was, what kept her from simply running away?

While it was true that Narumi had a point, her judgement of what shinobi should be capable of was biased due to being surrounded by extraordinarily powerful shinobi that did in no way set the standard for what average shinobi should be capable of.