Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Tsunade felt sick every time she thought of the latest batch of kunoichi.
In her day, kunoichi had been women to respect and fear. Kunoichi had been strong and ruthless; they hadn't even known what the word mercy meant. They were killers without compunction, whores without modesty, soldiers without hesitation.
Now, it was different.
The last generation that had held steadfast to the unwritten laws of the kunoichi had been the mothers of the present generation. Kushina had almost been possessed of a dual personality: she pulled off merciless and cold on the battlefield and warm and kind at home. Kushina had achieved a balance that Tsunade had never been able to master.
After that, things started to fall apart, bit by bit, piece by piece.
Kurenai, Anko, Shizune and Yugao didn't quite hit the mark; they were kunoichi of a lesser age. Kurenai had grown into her own in the waning days of the Third War when things were becoming more… civilized (the very word made Tsunade shudder; no true kunoichi should ever have the word "civilized" used to describe them); the rest came afterwards.
They were like a distorted photograph, like a puzzle missing a few pieces.
Out of the four, Anko came closest to being able to stand with those who came before her; her ruthlessness and skills were formidable, it had to be admitted. But her cruelty wasn't focused; her brutality was hodgepodge, here and there. She was a blunter blade than the keen swords of Tsunade's day.
Yugao fought almost exclusively with a sword; it never crossed her mind to improve her skills in ninjutsu or genjutsu. Despite being known as the best-looking woman in her year, Yugao showed close to no real skill in using her body to her advantage.
Tsunade had worked long and hard to beat any softness out of Shizune, and she had succeeded; her apprentice wasn't one to extend mercy on the battlefield. But she wasn't one for excessive cruelty; the only kill Shizune had ever made that involved overkill was her first, and that had been out of fear. Shizune was genjutsu-weak; her real strengths were in taijutsu and her medical expertise. Shizune could poison a well and probably take out Gai if he didn't catch her before she was able to pull off a disabling attack, but she couldn't cast a decent illusion, and she just didn't have the capacity to be bloodthirsty.
Kurenai was a genjutsu specialist; in Tsunade's day, genjutsu specialists made sure not to neglect their ninjutsu or taijutsu training, and they always had some skill in poisons, just because it worked so well with illusions. Kurenai, however, displayed nothing, nothing at all, in any of these categories. Tsunade had seen just how useless Kurenai was when the illusions were all used up and it came down to a physical fight, and she just shook her head.
Kurenai, Anko, Shizune and Yugao represented the twilight days of kunoichi, when the best had gone out of them but traces of the old glory remained.
As bad as the lesser breed were, Tsunade had to shudder when she looked at the "up and coming" kunoichi.
What Tsunade saw in Ino was the archetype of the materialistic girl. Ino was obsessed with her looks; she couldn't believe how often the girl bathed. Ino had ruined her body through obsessive dieting; even if she suddenly started eating like a kunoichi was supposed to again, it would take years for her body to recover. The girl's taijutsu skills were pathetic; her stamina (or rather, lack of) left her gasping for breath after fifteen minutes.
Yamanaka Ino was a weakling.
When Tsunade thought about it, she could see why the Hyuuga elders called Hinata the weak heiress. When compared to Neji and even her far younger sister Hanabi, the girl was pathetic. But alone, she wasn't quite as bad. Her taijutsu was far better on average than others in her year, and someone, it seemed, had bothered to teach the girl medical ninjutsu (At least she can service her teammates when they're injured).
But her personality was her fatal flaw. Hinata had been beaten down. It wasn't at first her fault, but Hinata was at fault for allowing it to continue. She let people walk all over her. Tsunade was sure that if Hinata was sealed and placed in the Branch House of her clan, she wouldn't raise her voice to be heard even then.
Hyuuga Hinata was pitiable, pitiable in the way one would pity a beaten dog.
Tenten was the perfect example of imbalance. Tsunade saw in her, her ferocity and her determination, some small hints of the former glory of kunoichi of bygone days, but she was pitiful in comparison to Chiyo of Sunagakure, Ito Kana (the founder and Shodai Raikage of Kumogakure) of Kumogakure and Tsunade herself.
The girl fought with weapons. Weapons, and nothing more. Tsunade almost laughed when she was told. As far as she knew, the girl had no genjutsu training whatsoever, and only the most minimal of ninjutsu training; Tsunade had seen Gai and Tenten blowing fireballs at each other one day. The girl only knew how to throw straight punches and kicks, and how to handle weapons. Her perfect accuracy was absolutely nothing. Tenten had no chance against a ninjutsu or genjutsu user; hell, she might even lose against someone who knew how to dodge. Her battle against Temari in the Chunin Exams proved it. The girl had focused on only one area, and she had paid the price.
Tenten wore blinders over her eyes.
Even Sakura, Tsunade's own prized apprentice, was a weakling in comparison to older kunoichi; she was a weakling compared to some of her peers.
When Tsunade set down to teach Sakura something other than medical ninjutsu and taijutsu, she began to realize why Kakashi had given up before he'd even started. Sakura had absolutely no potential at run-of-the-mill ninjutsu; she choked on fireballs before they ever left her throat. She had had potential at genjutsu, it was true, and if Sakura had been put under Kurenai when she was first made a genin she might have become a genjutsu genius, but a shinobi has to be taught genjutsu young, and Sakura was just too old.
Oh, yes, she was book smart, but book smarts wouldn't save the girl in a fight. Sakura's obsession over her traitor teammate disgusted Tsunade; the perfume she inundated her body with made her lip curl. Sakura, even having been taught taijutsu by Tsunade herself, had all the grace of a street brawler and the subtlety to match. The girl was weak in spirit. She expected everything to just come to her, which Tsunade knew to be the mentality of a girl who had never had to work for something in her life (It was a mentality she had once had as well, but it was long gone).
Haruno Sakura was a disgrace to the name kunoichi.
In Tsunade's day, kunoichi had been tough. But now…
Now, Leaf kunoichi were soft. They filled their heads with dreams they would never achieve (it made Tsunade sick with shame to know that a Sand kunoichi, even with Suna's reputation for breeding tough-as-nails kunoichi, could have beaten every single Leaf kunoichi under twenty bloodily into the ground without working up a sweat, though Tsunade supposed she shouldn't have been surprised; no weakness would have been tolerated in a daughter of the Kazekage) and dreamt of love and marriage; fool's dreams.
Now, Leaf kunoichi nurtured and mothered instead of fought, and advocated mercy for their enemies.
Now, Leaf kunoichi were preoccupied about getting calluses and scars.
Now, Leaf kunoichi actually worried about modesty.
Leaf kunoichi were even given a choice about whether or not to take a seduction mission after the first. Hah! Tsunade laughed derisively. Choice? What choice? It's a mission, just like any other; they shouldn't be given a choice.
In Tsunade's day, no kunoichi would have taken disrespect from any of their male colleagues, not even a kage. But somehow, today's kunoichi had allowed themselves to become second-best and derided by their male counterparts, and looking at them, Tsunade couldn't help but think that the kunoichi had become second best.
Nowadays, girls who wore perfume and makeup and spent excessive time washing their bodies and hair, girls with soft skin and flabby limbs, girls who daydreamed of love and marriage and settling down had the gall to call themselves kunoichi.
Four girls who in decades past would have had no business calling themselves half-way decent kunoichi were the strongest of their generation. It made Tsunade afraid to think about what the next generation of kunoichi would be like.
And it made Tsunade wonder…
When did kunoichi suddenly become soft, prissy little girls? How did we fall so far?