Damn it. I started out with a clear idea of how I wanted to write this, and then somewhere along the way I lost it and it became this. Oh well. At least I'm over my writer's block. Enjoy. c:

Disclaimer: Nope. Don't own.

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People never do focus on Ino as much as they focus on the others—the boys, with their flashy strengths and sharp minds that don't miss a thing, the determination to never give up and how far they've all come from their Academy days. They see the other girls, too: Sakura, with chakra-enhanced super strength and healing abilities, both learned from her Sannin sensei; Hinata, with her all-seeing Byakugan and rarely-seen, but always there, steel courage; and Tenten, with her amazing mastery of weapons that outranks the knowledge of most of Konoha. They see Ino, too, but not the same way: they see blond hair and blue eyes and a blindingly white smile, perfect for seduction missions, luring men into bedrooms; but not for much else, they think, because all they see is the outside, not the inside, what she hides because she's never seen any reason to bring it out, even as she's ignored. The other girls used to do the same, though they possessed strength in abundance; and then they realized that if they brought out their strength, people would pay as much attention to them as they do their male counterparts.

While Ino had realized that as well, she just never did the same. She let people keep thinking she was just a bubblehead seductress, nothing more, even though she's good and knows it: she's one of the best in the clan at utilizing the mind transfer technique. She knows a variety of jutsu and uses them, too, unlike most of the force, because while all shinobi and kunoichi learn a variety, same as her, most tend to find a few that they like and primarily use those, making them easy to identify; she prefers to switch between many, making it a challenge to figure out who she is. She's also a torture and interrogation specialist; she'd started at fourteen and gotten good quickly. Only a handful of people know that she works there, though, because few ever see her there. Her father knows, as do Ibiki and Anko, along with a couple of ANBU who work there. While they're not required to keep the fact of her occupation quiet, they do because she's asked them to; she doesn't want people to know, because she likes the semi-double life she lives. On one hand, she's Yamanaka Ino, bubblehead blond who loves shopping and doesn't seem to be worth a damn when it comes to fighting; and on the other, she's Yamanaka Ino, torture and interrogation specialist who knows how to get her information, who hides herself with the mask of her other persona.

She likes being known as a bubblehead blond: that's why people never suspect her of being a good fighter, because her name isn't well-known like the others' are, and so they don't know that they should be wary of her until it's too late and she's going in for the kill. It's a mask to hide behind, her other personality, something to hide her true face like an ANBU mask, like the mask she dons from the day of her eighteenth birthday, when they approach her to ask her to join them.

They talk to her, tell her all they can of being an ANBU; and when they finish, she feels like laughing, because it's just the same as she's always done, only it's for a job instead of being a choice; hiding your true self behind a mask, not letting people see the power below the surface. Most of ANBU aren't well-known shinobi and kunoichi; no, they're unnoticed by most but very talented, unknown because people favor the obvious power, not the subtle. It won't be much of a change if she says yes, just a change from an invisible mask to a corporeal one; and she'd be among people who know how she lives.

She goes home the next morning with a red spiral on her right shoulder, a bag with a black bodysuit, white armor, and a porcelain mask with the face of a mouse, and orders to be at ANBU headquarters the next morning at seven for her first assignment.

She knows she won't tell her friends and family about joining the ANBU; there would be questions, too many, that she could answer easily but wouldn't want to at all. The only person she could ever imagine telling is her father; but, of course, he died in the Fourth Shinobi World War, fighting Obito and Madara, and as such she'll tell nobody. It will be her own little secret.

She does, though, sit down and pull out her new mask, white porcelain enhanced with chakra, to keep Byakugan eyes from seeing through and identifying the agent it hides. She's officially one of them, one of the élite of Konoha, and she's happy, incredibly so. She's recognized, even if only by a few for her own face; and she will be recognized as dangerous with this mask over her face. They'll see the mask of the élite, covering the blue eyes and blindingly white smile that together make people dismiss her as nothing; and they'll know to be wary of the person behind it.