"A ninja must be strong."

Yamanaka Ino, with short blonde locks that brush her shoulders and bright blue eyes gleaming with the determination to stand tall, doesn't really understand the meaning of these words. She tells her daddy she wants to be a ninja like him, become the leader of her clan, make him proud. So he smiles down at her and says these words to her, affectionately and warmly, bending down to her level and his large hand atop her head.

The second time she hears them is from her teacher Iruka-sensei, when she is first studying at the Academy. This time, she takes it literally. Her body is trained for the years she attends, she builds herself to become a strong woman that could become the head of the Yamanaka clan — to make her daddy proud. To be a strong ninja.

The third time she hears them from her sensei, assigned to her new team with that Nara boy and his chubby friend of the Akimichi. She's known the two boys for a long time, their dads are old friends and when they spend time together like old veterans, she's stuck with them. Ino rolls her eyes a little, since she's heard it all before.

The fourth time she hears them is from her rival, her best friend, a person she had taught to be strong without even really knowing what it meant quite yet herself. When those emerald eyes blaze at her, Ino feels a fire down in her belly that burns and pushes her. She must also be strong so she doesn't lose to Haruno Sakura.

The fifth time she says them to herself, her eyes clouded and stinging and her cheeks wet. The rain is cold against her bare flesh but her heart feels frozen. It hurts to breathe, or think, or move, or blink. Asuma-sensei's fallen cigarette glows dimly by her knees and she begins to understand why her daddy had said those words to her so long ago.

The sixth time is when her entire village is reduced to nothing but rubble and a memory, the people of it buried beneath. She had only gotten to talk to so little of them, of blushing boys that had seen her working at the shop, of a friendly vendor she had bought a treat from, of the laughing children at the Academy. Shizune lays limps in her hands and she swears she willbecome strong so she will never lose anybody again.

Ino believes she is strong and maybe that's enough. In heart, in body, in mind during the Fourth Shinobi World War. She understands those words much more now that she's older. She is there as protector, as backbone, as anything she needs to be. She is fearless for the alliance. She is support for Chouji when he falters. She is hardened even as she lets silent tears streak down her face at a second goodbye to her sensei.

'A ninja must be strong.' She remembers the fondness in his eyes, even so long ago. His voice hasn't changed even now, when she is a young adult, and it echoes in her mind. She doesn't realize she's crying until she can taste the salt of it on her trembling lip.

"You are strong, Ino. I've always been proud."