Part 2 Children of Fire
The Konoha Twelve, they call them.
One generation of children born in a village hidden in a forest of trees. The post-war generation – but in a world like theirs after a war is before a war. When the question is not how to keep peace but how to prevent a war – and there is a difference, albeit subtle – life seems on hold. Only to children it never ceases to flow. Days pass and months and years - moving forward is their second nature. Naruto is the best example, here: despite all the pain and hardships he has had to overcome he never lost his optimism. Even Sasuke always ever looked forward; his past was what made him strive towards the future he wished for. The past and the future are interconnected; there is no one without the other. But it is the stopping in mid-stream and looking closer at the present that is dangerous. Ino learns this at an early age.
Team Ten is like every other team, except where it is not. They grow into each other, slowly, slowly, it is like learning to swim in a pool filled with sand and a treacherous sheen of ice. She can never stand in fear of breaking in and sinking under. Shikamaru is their genius boy, brilliant, intelligent, some people say he is lazy but Ino knows he is anything but. He's so damn clever he cannot understand there are other people who need some time puzzling out the riddles he has solved within seconds and gets bored while they still try to demonstrate they are not as stupid as he might think they are. Problem is: Shikamaru does not think himself especially clever; and he does not think everyone else especially stupid. He just expects the same of them as of himself and it is what makes it impossible for anyone else to catch up to him. Chouji, on the other hand, is sensible; and sensitive, too. Compassionate and understanding. He is, in that regard, very human. It is why everybody likes him, later, when they are old enough to understand that there is more to every person that what the eye sees. Problem is: Chouji does not think he is especially kind, and he does not think everyone else especially cruel. He just expects them to be as integer and dedicated and understanding like he is and it is what makes it impossible for Ino to look at other people the way Chouji does. When it comes to it she knows she can only mistrust people she knows well. They are too different, all three of them, in any other place they would never have even met. But Team Ten works out, or perhaps it works because they are so different. Or because they have the best teacher to learn from. They survive the chuunin trials, the fight against Pain and the loss of their beloved Asuma-sensei, they survive the Great War and everything in between and after and in the end they find themselves still standing. So there they are: Ino's best friends in the whole world, the two people she trusts more than she trusts herself. And, at the same time, they have the potential to hurt her the most. Because, despite all of it, they do not see her properly and she wonders whether it is just the way she is or whether no person truly can be understood. Maybe she doesn't know Shikamaru and Chouji, either.
Team Seven, much like Team Ten, is mostly referred to by their number. Ino thinks they are, perhaps, the most tragic team. Kakashi is too young to be that scarred on the inside (and the outside, in that regard), Sasuke is too young to be that hate-filled and haunted, Naruto is too young to be marked as an outsider like that. And Sakura? Sakura is too young to lose her innocence, too precious to be tainted, Sakura is Ino's best friend – no, was. She forgets the destroyed that, too, like everything she touches, she set Sakura free by making her hate her and even if it was for the best the only thing that remains is the fact that Ino is alone. Almost every single one of her decisions ends like this: for the better, yes, but not for her. It is fine: Ino has learned to live with the consequences of her actions. So she watches. Naruto fights so fiercely, so protective, he is so strong-willed and honest and maybe, Ino thinks, he will be able to actually do what he strives for. He will succeed, one day. Sasuke is determined, and cool. Ice to Naruto's fire. Apparently it seems to work out well, messages reach Hidden Leaf that Team Seven has defeated Zabuza all by themselves and Ino thinks that perhaps, perhaps there is something that still can be done. And last, Sakura: the girl Ino wishes to be and yet knows she cannot. They were like sisters, once, until Sakura spread her wings and left and Ino remained where she always had been. Team Seven is a thing born from necessity, forged in a fight and tempered by time. But everything breaks. It was to be expected only she had so, so desperately hoped it wouldn't happen. Team Seven breaks far earlier than Team Ten but differently: the cracks and pieces are visible on the outside. It comes back together eventually, only differently, like a mended glass that will never be the same again. With time, Sasuke learns to understand Naruto's desperate wish to be accepted, Sakura learns that she, too, is a part of something so integral that she will have to give up a piece of herself in order to gain something even more valuable, and Naruto learns that there are things that cannot be fought for, only given freely.
Team Four is Kurenai's team. The word most suitable for them is harmonic because they get along so well. Which is strange, regarding the host of personalities accumulating here – or, perhaps not so strange. While Team Seven's relationship is built on desperate longing for acceptance and rivalry, and Team Ten because they desperately need each other, Hinata, Shino and Kiba remain together because they are good with each other. They complement each other, pick up on each other's thoughts. Maybe outsiders just don't see it because of the first impression they make. Ino has learned one thing: first impressions allow close estimations. And yet it is only time – along with familiarity – that allows a clear image. First impressions usually work like this: Kiba is loud and obnoxious, a smelly brat with an annoying pup traipsing along wherever he goes, and he has no care in the world. Shino is withdrawn and hostile, perhaps the fact that he hides his face accounts for that, and he doesn't care much for others and others' opinions. And Hinata, finally, is shy, fragile and weak and extremely awkward around people: exhausting in public, a hindrance in a fight. Oh, of course everyone who thinks like that is dead on. But every shadow has a light side, every land reaches the sea at one point, and human beings are so much more than meets the eye. Because Kiba is the best friend one could wish for, loyal and dependable, and strong in a fight. Shino is a very kind person when it comes to people he cares for, not hostile at all, and he complements Kiba's reconnaissance abilities with an offensive power that holds his own. His dark appearance hides a humor as black as night and the first time Ino hears him make a joke she is so stunned she even forgets to laugh. And Hinata, finally – Hinata is strong. No girl should grow up like that, losing her mother early, being disliked by her father, treated badly by her entire family including her little sister – and yet she has pushed through, struggled and built up an incredible strength. She is kind, too, and gentle, the defensive force in her team, and it suits her perfectly. Hinata learned to stand up – for herself, for others and for her dreams, and that is more than Ino thinks she can ever hope to achieve herself.
Which leaves Team Gai. Incredible, unbelievable and inhuman, Ino would like to think of better descriptions but they are the ones that come to her mind. Mostly, it is due to their teacher. Gai-sensei is one of those people one really admires because he says what he thinks, does what he wants, never loses his end- and boundless optimism and dresses without caring for what others say but, at the same time, nobody actually wants to get to know all too closely. Lee is a different story, perhaps because he is their age plus one year. Team Gai is the team everybody knows and whispers about behind closed doors. But it is also the team that attracts approving glances and applause at their performances, the team that is cheered on in exams and the team that makes everyone's mood lighten up. Mind you, Ino knows it's not exactly due to the other male member of the team. Neji is a stubborn blockhead with a stick so far up his ass she sometimes thinks she can see it emerge from the collar of his shirt. He's uptight, traditional and terribly arrogant. What Tenten sees in him she has no idea. But he also can be very gentle, he has been protecting Hinata faithfully ever since that day and he fights for what he believes, so maybe it is that. It is like someone showed him light in the middle of a dark night and Ino sometimes wonders whether it was Hinata, Naruto or Tenten – probably all of them. They have her deepest respect. Dealing with someone like Neji is exhausting and Ino has her own teammates to care for. Tenten, in the meantime, is strong, determined and a model example for emancipation. Ino has seen a lot but she never has seen a human being fight like Tenten. And while she might be easily offended and overly emotional there are few other shinobi Ino would trust as much as she trusts Tenten. Since she is a year older than the rest of the girls, she takes the role of the elder sister: laughing, going out with them, looking out for them. For this Ino is grateful, although she prefers to keep her own affairs to herself. But for days out with Sakura and Hinata it is wonderful to have Tenten who can laugh, boast and eat at the same time and when some weirdos try to hook up with them Tenten sends them to hell. And Lee, finally – Lee is a Gai-clone, there is nothing more to say. Only Ino could add that Lee would never ever leave a comrade behind – and that, in her eyes, counts as one of the most important qualities a shinobi could ever claim to possess. He also keeps challenging himself, always daring himself to go further, to become stronger – there is nothing he sees as impossible, nothing that can't be done. Together, all three of them radiate a kind of optimism that is admirable and sometimes stupid, but admirable nonetheless.
Four teams, twelve children: one story. One village: Hidden Leaf.
A/N: Thanks to you, too, Reader-chan, for reading and reviewing.