Yuuhi Kurenai watched her new Genin students through the scrying crystal in the Hokage's office. Sakura and Ino were skeletally thin, breaking away temporarily from their fighting over one boy to beat the crap out of another. Hinata was in a large sweatshirt that self-consciously hid her form, watching the beating, looking torn but too timid to do anything about it.
Kurenai reflected on what the Hokage had told her about this team.
"It was Elder Koharu's idea. She argued that the girls' potential is being unrealized and that they need to be placed together and given a strong female mentor to change them early on in life. She, one of the first and oldest Konoha kunoichi herself, suggested the idea of an all-women team. It's your job to whip them into shape, Kurenai, should they pass the bell test."
Kurenai had volunteered to be the Jounin-sensei for the all-female Team Eight for two reasons. First, and less importantly, because she was a new young Jounin woman with something to prove and making a strong team out of these three dysfunctional girls would prove her mettle and her worth. Second, and more importantly, because she was a feminist with a natural fiery older-sister streak who wanted to support three growing kunoichi.
She hoped she was up to the challenge of making Haruno Sakura, Hyuuga Hinata, and Yamanaka Ino into strong ninja, strong women, and a strong team.
Iruka separated the girls from Naruto. Everyone took their seats and teams were announced. Ino and Sakura had both been hoping to be teamed with Sasuke, bickering over who would end up with him; Hinata hoped secretly to be teamed with Naruto.
None of them got what they wanted.
"Team Seven: Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, and Inuzuka Kiba.
"Team Ten: Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chouji, and Aburame Shino.
"Team Eight: Yamanaka Ino, Haruno Sakura, and Hyuuga Hinata."
All three girls looked horrified. The height of Ino and Sakura's fears was being teamed with each other, and Sakura and Ino's overbearing personalities frankly frightened Hinata. Also, none of them were with the boys they liked.
The minute team announcements had finished, Sakura, Ino, and Naruto all stood.
"Iruka-sensei, why do I have to be teamed with Ino-pig -?!" Sakura.
"Iruka-sensei, why do I have be teamed with Forehead Girl -?!" Ino.
"Iruka-sensei, why is a great ninja like me on a team with two losers like Sasuke and Kiba -?!" Naruto.
"Hey, you want to say that again, Uzumaki?! I'm not the one who failed every test the Academy ever gave to me except the really important one!" Kiba, who had also stood, Akamaru barking in agreement.
"Everyone sit down!" Iruka barked. The four sat slowly, reluctantly.
"Naruto, you're with Sasuke and Kiba because they got excellent grades and you got the lowest grades. The teams are formed to balance each other out."
"See? We're here so we can bail your sorry ass out on a mission!" Kiba crowed.
Naruto stood to storm over and punch Kiba, and Sakura pulled him irritably back down into his seat. "Stop being an idiot!" she snapped.
"... Sorry," Naruto muttered begrudgingly at last.
"Tch. Neither of you had better get in my way," said Sasuke contemptuously, and Kiba and Naruto glared at him.
"Sakura, Ino, you two and Hinata were specifically requested to form an all-woman team," said Iruka. "Your Jounin-sensei is a woman too."
"That's cool," Ino admitted, pained. "But… why those two women?"
Hinata, who took this personally, sank down, depressed.
"Hey," Sakura said, annoyed, "that's my line! Iruka-sensei, can't we request a new team?" she added despairingly.
"I'm sorry, everyone, Hokage-sama's decisions are final. Take a lunch break. Meet back here in one hour to meet your new Sensei."
The three girls met outside the Academy's main building.
"We are eating lunch together," said Ino bossily, "and we are going to go find and watch Sasuke-kun. And you two are going to follow what I say."
"I'm not following anything you say!" Sakura said heatedly. "And why do we have to watch Sasuke-kun? Why can't we just go up and talk to him?"
"You fool," said Ino contemptuously. "Of course Sasuke-kun is the type who would want to eat lunch alone. Don't you know anything about him? I bet you don't even know how to track him."
Sakura fell silent begrudgingly, glaring.
"That's what I thought." Ino smirked.
"U-umm… I would like to watch Naruto-kun." They looked around in surprise. Hinata had spoken shyly for the first time.
Sakura and Ino turned canny. "Just because you like Naruto, doesn't mean we have to watch him."
"How is that any different from what you two are doing?!" Hinata protested, her eyes wide.
"Well - well - that's - completely different -" Ino sputtered.
"Why do you even like him, anyway?" said Sakura curiously, frowning. "He's so obnoxious."
"He's that way to be funny, and confident, and because he's hurting inside," said Hinata firmly. "What about Sasuke? He's cold and indifferent; he doesn't even seem to like you."
"Sasuke-kun is just shy!" said Sakura fiercely. "He's quiet, talented, and sensitive!"
"You're so wrong, Forehead Girl!" Ino snapped. "As always! Sasuke-kun is arrogant and hot-tempered; he needs a big personality to deal with him!"
"What do you know, Ino-pig?!"
"I still want to watch Naruto-kun -" Hinata began.
"Naruto's an idiot!" Sakura shouted to the skies. Hinata, angry but cowed into silence, said nothing.
"Finally, something we can agree on," said Ino contemptuously. Hinata's fists were clenched, her words choking her throat and refusing to come out.
Naruto, who had just come up under a Transformation in Sasuke's guise, heard only the last two lines, and Hinata's silence. Well. That answered that question. He'd been wondering what Sakura really thought of him before they were separated forever, and he'd gotten his answer. He slumped and trudged off, depressed.
The argument continued.
"Hinata, Naruto would walk all over you!"
"Naruto-kun would never do that! He needs someone shy to balance him out! And Sasuke would never like you, Ino, because you throw yourself at him!"
"Ha! She's right, Ino-pig."
"And what about you, Forehead Girl? Have you ever gotten any reaction from Sasuke at all? No! Because you're too girlish, ugly, and book-obsessed!"
Sasuke had stalked up. "Where is Naruto?"
They all whirled around. "Sasuke-kun!" Ino and Sakura cried, delighted. Ino grabbed Sasuke's arm and rubbed herself up against him.
Sakura said fiercely, "Forget about Naruto! All he ever does is pick fights with you. He's annoying. And it's because he has no parents - no one to teach him right from wrong. You do know he's an orphan, right? He's so lucky. No parents to scold him -"
"I know," Ino sighed, sympathizing with Sakura.
"I - I am better than all of you," Hinata forced out angrily, quietly, her fists still clenched in passive aggression.
"Hey! You want to say that again?" Ino snapped. "What makes you better than us -?"
"You're all equally worthless," said Sasuke coldly, bitingly. They all whirled around to look at him, gasping. Sasuke was glaring, his face twisted in hatred, and he let it all out at once:
"Ino. You think you're better than everybody. You're obsessed with how many people like you. You touch me constantly even though you know I don't like it. You make fun of your own best friend because the two of you like the same boy. You're bossy but you barely have any abilities to back it up. You're a spoiled brat.
"Sakura. You're needlessly violent, and cruel to everyone except me. You call your best friend a pig because the two of you like the same boy. You're narrow minded and judgmental. You have no skills whatsoever. You think being an orphan is fun? Would you like to try being one? Because I can tell you right now, the paralyzing loneliness is a lot worse than having your parents be angry with you. Did you just really call an orphan lucky because he has dead parents? Do you even think before words come out of your mouth? You're supposed to be so brilliant, but it never shows in your actions at all.
"And Hinata. Privately you think you're better than the other two, but you're not. You have a crush, but you never step in to talk to him or defend him from others in anyway. Instead, you follow him around, essentially stalking him, hoping he'll notice you. All three of you, you're complete stalkers. You're obsessed with people you don't even know. Hinata, you're timid and you give up too easily. That's your real problem - it's not physical weakness at all. And let me divest you of one illusion right now: self pity and depression are not dramatic and flattering. Not at all. You take the moral high horse in this weird, passive aggressive way, but are you really any better than the other two?"
All three girls had fallen silent, stunned.
"Your team is weak and dysfunctional and thank God I'm not on it." The scathing rant was finished. Sasuke stalked away darkly.
It took a while for any of the girls to speak.
"... He's right," Hinata whispered in realization.
Sakura smiled sadly. "Yeah," she said, pain in her voice, "he is. Maybe… maybe we could try to be nicer from now on?"
Ino nodded, looking for once downcast and somber. "I… I don't know how to be nice," she admitted. "But I guess I'm willing to give it a shot."
"Come on," said Sakura, depressed. "We'd better go back to the Academy. We have to meet our Sensei."
They trudged back toward the Academy in defeated silence.
Yuuhi Kurenai was a tall, curvy, beautiful woman with long black curls and crimson eyes. She wore a wrap dress. She was everything a kunoichi was supposed to be - beautiful, glamorous, and strong.
She looked them over critically, noticing their depression. She had watched Sasuke's rant at them in the Hokage's office through the scrying crystal before walking over to the Academy, but for now she said nothing.
"You're Team Eight?" she said, meeting them through the crowds of students being introduced to Jounin in the classroom. "My name is Yuuhi Kurenai, and I'm your new Sensei. Follow me."
She led them out of the classroom and to a quiet park. They sat in a circle underneath a tree, she on an equal level with them.
"We start out by introducing ourselves," Kurenai said. "For example. My name is Yuuhi Kurenai. I'm a genjutsu illusions specialist. My hobbies are making my own beer, wine tasting, and gardening in my back garden. I'm a new young Jounin woman, so my dream is to prove myself as a powerful Jounin. Now it's your turn."
She looked around at them all.
"My name is Haruno Sakura! I love Uchiha Sasuke, and I hate Ino-pig!"
"Oh yeah? Well my name is Yamanaka Ino! I love Uchiha Sasuke even more, and I hate Forehead Girl!"
Ino and Sakura began bickering.
Hinata looked like she slowly wanted to sink into a hole in the ground. "M-my name is Hyuuga Hinata… I-I have a crush on Uzumaki Naruto…" She could barely be heard over all the shouting.
Kurenai sighed. This was going to take a lot of work.
"Silence!" she said at last, and everything fell quiet. "Now, there are actually two tests required to pass into Genin. I administer the second one. It will take place tomorrow at 8 AM, training field forty-two, and it will be a kind of survival training."
Ino raised her hand. "What if we don't pass?"
"You will either be sent into the reserves, or back to the Academy," said Kurenai evenly.
Sakura, Hinata, and Ino looked horrified.
Kurenai stood. "So meet me tomorrow at 8 AM, training field forty-two, with all your weaponry and ninja supplies. Understand? Oh, and don't eat." Her eyes became mysterious and she began disappearing in a swirl of leaves in a genjutsu. "You'll only throw up if you do."
Her voice echoed toward them as she disappeared. The girls swallowed, staring straight ahead of themselves, paling.
There was nothing else for it. They would have to try their best.
They met at 8 AM. Kurenai was already waiting for them. The training field was as most Konoha training fields were: a grass field, a forest, a bubbling brook, and three posts in the center of the field.
Kurenai held up two silver bells. "Your objective is to take these bells back from me by force," she said. "Getting a bell means one passes into Genin."
Sakura raised her hand curiously. "But there are only two bells."
"Exactly. One of you will have to go back to the Academy. That person will be tied to the center post, and while everyone else has lunch they will eat in front of that person."
Their stomachs grumbled. So that was why she'd said not to eat breakfast.
"Hey! This isn't fair! Without food we're not fighting at full capacity!" Ino protested.
"When," said Kurenai, "did I ever say the test into Genin was fair?"
They fell silent. Hinata was sick with fear. She'd be the one sent back to the Academy. She just knew it. And her father would be even more disappointed in her.
"Ready… begin!" Kurenai waved a hand, and they all leaped off into the trees and shrubbery to hide.
Sakura and Ino both came to the same conclusion: If there could only be two people on the team, they wanted to be with Hinata. Anything was better than their arch rival.
So they both found Hinata amid the leaves - and found the other person already there. Ino and Sakura glared at one another - and then they both pounced on an unsuspecting Hinata out there in the forest. Hinata was quite alarmed.
"Hinata! Team up with me! I'll be your best friend!"
"No, team up with me! I'll make you stronger!"
Hinata was overwhelmed. "Look," she said, pained, "we all may be weak, but I'm the weakest person on this team." They fell silent, staring at her. "I'll be the one who gets left behind. I was never that good anyway. The three of us should fight together - I'll help you out."
"How do we know to trust you?" said Ino suspiciously.
"You heard Sasuke." Hinata smiled sadly, self deprecatingly. "I'm timid and I have unappealing depression and self pity."
Sakura and Ino looked at each other across the distance for a moment - and then Sakura nodded. "Alright," she said quietly. "Let's do this."
They already knew one critical detail: Kurenai specialized in illusions.
So they all hid, and Hinata used her Byakugan eyes to divine the real Kurenai once she'd found them. "Fake Kurenai is there," she whispered to Sakura, pointing at the Kurenai that Sakura could see walking into the clearing. "Real Kurenai is there." She pointed at a place in the underbrush around the clearing.
Kurenai was using a genjutsu illusion to lure them out of hiding. Well it wouldn't work.
"Got it," said Sakura, smirking craftily, and she rung her clever trap by a rope through the trees until it was about to reach the real Kurenai's foot. The illusion broke, Kurenai jumped back and avoided the trap - but she'd fallen right into Hinata, who had snuck around from behind.
Hinata flashed her hands out in Jyuuken moves, and Kurenai dodged and dodged. She tried using plant-like illusions to fake Hinata out, but Hinata saw right through them and continued attacking the real Kurenai. Hinata wasn't very fast, so Kurenai wasn't hurt, but she moved farther and farther back, trying to avoid the deadly Jyuuken blows - and Sakura's trap tried to ensnare her again!
She was trapped in one place. And then it was Ino's turn. Sakura and Hinata had afforded her a straight shot.
"Mind Body Switch!" Her mind jumped across the distance to Kurenai's body, and took it over. Ino collapsed, Kurenai slumped - and then straightened, smirking in an all-too-Ino way.
"Here ya go," said Ino as Kurenai, taking the bells from her hip and tossing one to Sakura and the other to Hinata.
They'd worked together, using the value of being underestimated, to get the bells.
Ino retreated back into her own body, and the three girls tensed cautiously, surrounding Kurenai. Kurenai had just awoken.
"... So," said Kurenai, "you three used teamwork to get the bells. Now who wants to be sent back to the Academy?" Her expression was veiled.
Hinata swallowed, and began to raise her hand. "I-I…"
And Sakura and Ino suddenly realized they couldn't do it. They leaped in front of a surprised Hinata defensively.
"Sensei, Hinata can't go back!" said Sakura.
"Yeah! She did too much of the work!" Ino protested.
"So which one of you is going back?" Kurenai asked Ino and Sakura.
They glared at each other - then looked at Kurenai. "No one's leaving!" they snapped. "We all stay!"
"You all stay, huh?" Kurenai mused.
"It would be stupid and arbitrary to send someone back when we all did the work," said Sakura, crossing her arms.
"Exactly!" said Ino. "We used Hinata's Byakugan and Jyuuken, my Mind Body Switch, and Sakura's intelligence and craftiness!"
"Sensei… I'm with them," said Hinata at last. "We can't leave anyone behind."
Kurenai paused - and began laughing softly.
"Sensei? What's so funny?" said Sakura, bemused.
"Congratulations," said Kurenai, smiling. "You all pass into Genin. The test was a ruse, to see if you could put aside your differences and work together. Teamwork was the point of this exercise, and it is the single most important aspect of being a Konoha ninja. Individual abilities are important, but good teamwork is always more important. Remember that."
"Wait… so… because we worked together… we all pass?" said Ino, stunned.
"That's right," said Kurenai cheerfully. "Congratulations. You're all Genin."
Sakura began leaping into the air and cheering. Ino shouted, "Hell yes!" and pumped her fists. Hinata smiled in disbelief, positively beaming.
"Now, let's go eat lunch, all four of us," said Kurenai. "And then, Team Eight -" Her eyes gleamed. "The training begins. We have work to do."
The girls swallowed.