Disclaimer: I own neither Harry Potter nor Naruto.

Pressure

The next day, Shikamaru and I are standing in front of the Academy. Every muscle of my body is sore. Mom started training me in taijutsu yesterday. Shikamaru will mostly train with Shikaku from now on, and Yoshino will focus her lovely, undivided attention on me.

The taijutsu style she wants me to learn isn't actually an official style and doesn't have any kata. It works by darting in fast, hitting the opponent in a weak spot and then jumping away. It requires speed, agility, precision, medical knowledge, focus and constant attention. And a lot of hard work. Yoshino ran me through drills designed to train reflexes and agility yesterday. This meant that she used a water jutsu that looked like a whip and I had to try and evade it. Over and over again.

"You are small," she said. "In this taijutsu style, your height is an advantage. However, if your opponent hits you, you might be done for. So don't get hit."

The logic of her reasoning is hard to argue with, but her methods leave something to be desired. I have bruises on my bruises.

"So," I say. "We should go inside and look at our ranks." Or I should. Shikamaru probably looked at the knowledge evaluation, figured out the minimum amount of questions he had to answer to not become dead last and thus target of mom's wrath, and then spent the rest of the time sleeping.

Shika puts a lot of effort into not making an effort.

We go inside. In front of the rankings board a large number of students is already assembled, staring up at their ranks. Some of them look pleasantly surprised, some are smug and a lot of them are disappointed.

I scan the rankings. There are two columns, one for the boys and one for the girls. I find my name easily enough. Above Yamanaka Ino's. Directly above Haruno Sakura's. Right at the top.

I'm numb. I did not expect to beat two girls that have already been going to the Academy for a year.

I can't be first place. I can't.

This will make me the target of jealousy and competition. And Ino and Sakura, once potential friends, will now want to be my rivals. I know Ino can be very competitive. And I don't know Sakura at all and she seemed nice enough yesterday, but nobody wants to lose their place in the top.

"Shit," Shikamaru says with a grim look.

He's the only one I told about my status as a pariah in my class. The looks and whispers. The crippling pressure.

My high rank is not going to get me placed in a different class. Dad told me yesterday. There won't be any reassignments to different classes until the number of dropouts equals the headcount of a full class. I should have stuck to doing the Nara thing and flown under the radar. I could have told my class I was born a civilian. They would have forgotten about my clan name soon enough.

"I know. I really messed this one up," I say.

"You did what you thought was right. And some people will think twice about starting trouble with you now."

"Not until I have proven myself in a fight."

He doesn't argue. We both know I am right.

We figured out the whole secret of the Academy yesterday, when it was too late to change anything.

The Academy is designed to put us under pressure and make us compete with each other. That is the real reason the rankings exist. It has nothing to do with team placements and fancy titles after graduation.

Nobody wants a ninja that cracks under pressure. Nobody wants a ninja that gives up in the face of adversity. Weak-willed ninja are useless.

So they pit us against each other and make us compete. Put us under psychological pressure so we either crack or get stronger. Force us to strengthen our mind and will or else. The number of dropouts isn't so high because of the physical requirements. It's because of the psychological ones.

Only those strong of body and mind will last.

I have portrayed myself as one of the strong. I have announced to the entire Academy that I intend to be at the top. There is no going back from this. Not with the black '1' before my name.

If my rank falls too far, I will be considered a failure. If I want to keep it, I'll have to fight for it over and over again and keep winning. It will get worse until the taijutsu spars start. Then a clear hierarchy will be established. The strongest on top, the weakest at the bottom.

Shikamaru doesn't tell me not to worry. He doesn't tell me I'll be fine and get through this alright. We both know I might not.


Shika and I went back outside. I needed fresh air.

Currently, we're discussing our plan of action. It's not much of a plan.

"You're Top Girl now," Shikamaru says. "Keep that title. Ask mom to step up your training. You need to be ready for the taijutsu spars when they start."

I nod numbly.

"You can do this. You're strong. And you have Chouji and me here. It'll get better once the classes get merged."

"Yeah," I say, my voice wooden. "I'm sure it will."

"You should go to class now. You shouldn't be late."

I nod and we stand up and walk into the building. Shika squeezes my hand once and then I'm alone.

I sigh and make my way to the classroom.


I walk into the classroom with my head held high, face expressionless. I can feel the eyes on me. Hear the whispers, though now they are tinged with jealousy and longing.

Top Girl.

Kuramoto is glaring at me, whispering something to one of his followers who gives me a malicious look. I sit down somewhere in the middle of the room and take out my notebook and textbook. Our first class will be history.

I've read so much about that subject; I doubt the teacher will tell me anything I don't already know. I'll pass the time by writing my notes down in code.

Hiroshi comes in right on time and starts the lecture. Two minutes later, Uzumaki storms in without knocking, apologising for being late.

"Uzumaki. You are already dead last. Since you don't intend to do this seriously, maybe you should think about quitting."

Snickers sound through the whole room. Huh. I didn't know he became dead last. It's weird though. He didn't do that bad in the physical tests. He was pretty fast doing his push-ups, and his squats and sit-ups didn't take all that long either. He finished his laps last, but he didn't give up like some of the other students.

And what's up with Hiroshi? Teachers aren't supposed to openly discourage students from becoming ninja. Putting them under pressure? That's fine. Outright telling them to quit? Not fine at all.

"I'm not gonna give up! I'll definitely become Hokage!" Uzumaki says with so much conviction and confidence, I can't help but admire him a little. Here he stands, dead last, all eyes on him, all his classmates laughing at him, his sensei telling him to quit, and he smiles and keeps believing in his dream. It makes me think that maybe I can get through this too.

Hiroshi has Uzumaki doing push-ups again and starts the lesson.

I quickly realise that boredom isn't my only problem. I can feel their eyes on me. Every time I lift my hand so I can answer a question, I hear them whisper. They are all waiting for me to make a mistake. To slump in my seat for just a little, to display one moment of weakness. By the end of the lesson, I'm a nervous wreck.

It's worse for Uzumaki. Hiroshi singles him out multiple times to ask him questions, and each time, he sheepishly scratches the back of his head and says: "I don't know" and the others laugh at him. Our teacher doesn't tell him to quit again, but the snide comments he makes concerning Uzumaki's intelligence aren't much better. It doesn't appear to bother Uzumaki much though. There is no tension in his neck that I can see, meaning he doesn't feel threatened like I do.

Maybe Uzumaki and I could be friends. I could really use an ally in here.

But given how much everyone seems to either hate of fear him, do I really want to risk becoming friends with him? It could make things worse. And he'd probably not want to be friends with me anyways. Top Girl and Dead Last. We'd make a fine pair.

I mentally shake myself. It wouldn't do to dismiss the possibility outright, no matter how unlikely a friendship between us is. I'll just watch him for now and decide later if I should talk to him.

The lesson ends. We have a five minute break, and then we'll have our first lesson in Shinobi Law with a different teacher. I'm looking forward to my first real shinobi class.

Akio-sensei arrives a minute late and launches right into the lecture. And he is boring. He drones on and on with no apparent voice inflection and no effort at all to make the topic even remotely interesting. He doesn't ask us questions, he just continues to hold his sermon until the bell rings, then he grabs his things and leaves without a word to us.

Well. That was disappointing. At least it's lunch break now.


I meet Shika and Chouji under our tree again. The moment I sit down with them, I can feel the tension falling off me. It feels like coming home. I want to break down crying and tell them how awful my school life is, but I don't want to burden Chouji with my problems. There is nothing he can do anyways and the best way he can help me is to be himself around me.

I already know how helpless Shika feels about my situation and how angry it makes him. No way am I doing that to Chouji too.

When Chouji asks me how my day so far went, I tell him I did well in class, even if it was boring. I feel guilty about not telling him the whole truth. I know it would hurt him if he ever found out.

We have been sitting there talking for about a half hour when Ino joins us with Sakura in tow.

"Hey Ino-chan, hello Sakura-san," I greet them.

"Hey Riko-chan," Ino says friendly, and Sakura just gives me a tight nod. "I just wanted to congratulate you on your high rank. I look forward to competing with you." She gives me a smile, but I can see in her eyes how much she wants to beat me. How much she wants to be where I am now. Oh Ino. If only you knew. Sakura doesn't say anything, just stares at me with a determined and focused expression as if she is preparing for a battle.

I want to tell them I don't want to compete with them. That I never meant to put myself in this situation, that I'd much rather be friends with them. But it would be an insult to them if I rejected their veiled challenge, and any friendship is going to be tainted by rivalry and competition.

"I look forward to it as well," I tell them. "Let's all do our best!"

They give me determined smiles, then they say their goodbyes and flounce away toward a group of girls in pretty kunoichi dresses. As soon as they're gone, I let out a sad sigh.

"What's wrong?" Chouji asks me. I give him a smile and a rice ball.

"Competitions are troublesome," I say.

Understatement of the year.


Lunch ends soon after that. Our class has taijutsu class now.

At the moment, it's only physical conditioning and learning kata.

It has become Kuramoto's main goal in life to beat me. After every exercise he finishes, he looks to me to see if he was faster. If he was, he gives me smug and condescending looks that last until the next exercise. If he wasn't, which is more often the case than not, he glares at me as if he wants to crush me. When Hiroshi shows us our first kata and explains how the movements could be used against an opponent, his looks at me tell me he is imagining using those moves on me.

It makes my skin crawl. And for the first time, I'm scared I might really get hurt.


Over the next month, I throw myself into training and getting stronger.

I let Yoshino run me through drill after drill. When I fall, I get up again. If I can't do what she asks of me, I practise and practise until I can. If I can still stand when she ends a training session, I ask her to let me keep going.

She teaches me how to throw precise lightning fast punches. The footwork she drills into me allows me to turn and twist, to take quick, graceful steps around an opponent and get into his blind spots before he can react. We spar until I can't stand anymore.

My steps and movements become graceful. My reflexes improve to the point that I almost always notice surprise attacks and can evade them four times out of ten. The way I hold myself changes. Even when I am not training, I stand in a way that would allow me to break into movement at a moment's notice.

I run and run and run until I can barely walk anymore and have to drag my feet to get home.

Evenings I spend reading and studying until my eyes burn and I can't keep them open anymore and fall into a fitful sleep.

I dread going to school every morning. My situation hasn't improved. Kuramoto has become the leader of my class and he has turned almost everyone against me. They don't bully me outright and it has never gotten physical, the teachers make sure that kind of thing doesn't happen. The psychological pressure though is unbearable.

Wherever I go, I feel their looks and sneers. Whenever I say something, they whisper and giggle. Sometimes my notebooks vanish, not that they will be of much use to whoever took them since they're encoded. And it's not just my class. Civilians from other classes look at me with cold eyes too. Almost all the kunoichi in training look at me with jealousy and whisper about me whenever I walk by. I went to the kunoichi classes once and never again. Anything I could learn there, Yoshino can teach me, without the added mental stress.

The only time I can relax a bit is during lunch with Shika and Chouji that we now have in a secluded spot on the rooftop, where no one can follow us. The only class I enjoy is Anatomy. It's taught in a smaller group, and Shika is part of it.

I can feel the changes in me. I sit in the back of the class now, where no one can sit behind me. I'm constantly aware of my surroundings and try to let nothing escape my attention. eople standing behind me make me nervous. Sudden noises sometimes make me panic inwardly. I feel constantly threatened.

There were some offers of friendship, but I rejected them, distrustful of the motives behind them.

I keep up my facade of arrogance and inexpressiveness everywhere I go except during lunch. Sometimes I'm scared that I'm becoming my facade.

My family worries about me. I know Shika talked to dad who now squeezes my shoulder whenever he walks past me. Mom knows something as well and she always gives me whatever training I need. Shikamaru actually asked dad to train him so he can get stronger too.

I don't know what I would do if they weren't here.


It's time for our taijutsu spars. Shikamaru's class already started sparring a week ago.

Hiroshi explains how this will work. Since it's the first class on sparring, he wants to see everyone fight and see who is strong and who isn't.

The principle is simple. Two people fight. The winner stays and fights the next person. The loser can sit down and watch the rest of the matches. The strongest is the one last standing.

The consequences of this won't be that simple. One win against the right person can push a person's social standing to the top. A loss can destroy it.

I am paralysed with fear behind my cool facade. I sparred with Yoshino, but this is different. These aren't people I trust not to hurt me. These are people who want to see me on the ground.

The spars start. The first match is between two girls. I know they are friends, and they are both afraid to get hurt and to hurt each other. They stumble through their punches and one of them nearly trips when evading a kick. It's horribly awkward to watch.
The girl that wins loses the next round to a boy that I think is Kuramoto's friend. He wins the next match too but loses the one after that.

And so it goes on, until it's Kuramoto's turn. Of course, he wins. Hiroshi praises him.

Kuramoto has become our teacher's favourite over the last month, even though I'm still Top Girl, at the top of the class and should logically be the favourite. Hiroshi just doesn't quite know what to do with me, a tiny girl that by all logic should be weak but keeps winning. Kuramoto makes more sense to him.

The next match is between Kuramoto and Uzumaki Naruto. Of course.

Hiroshi hates Naruto. Of course he would pit him against Kuramoto, who is the strongest and meanest in the whole class and hates Naruto too and taunts him at every turn since he never gets a reaction out of me. Naruto always yells back how he is going to beat him and become Hokage. It amuses Kuramoto to no end to tell him the exact reasons why he won't.

Naruto never gives up though. He skips classes, but he always comes back. Every morning, he runs through the door of the classroom with an excited grin on his face and possibly an apology for being late. No teacher seems to like him, especially since he is a troublemaker and occasionally pranks them, but no matter how much he is yelled and laughed at, Naruto keeps on believing in his dream.

I don't want to watch this match. I don't want to watch the only person here who is just good and happy be crushed by Kuramoto.

And crush him Kuramoto does. Punch after punch rains down on Naruto and why doesn't Hiroshi stop the match?! I want to scream at them to stop, but I'm paralysed. I my head it's not Kuramoto and Naruto I see but Vernon and a red haired girl.

By the end of the match Naruto is lying on the ground, blood dripping from his face where his lip is split, black eyes already forming.

Some students mutter worriedly when they see him like that. How dare they? After they laughed at him and mocked him, they don't have the right to pretend to care about him. Not when they'll just go back to mocking him tomorrow.
I never talked to him, much too busy with my own drama. I pretended to ignore him, even if I was watching him. I'm not much better than those whispering.

Hiroshi declares Kuramoto the winner with a satisfied expressionon his face and moves to drag Naruto out of the way of the next match. But before he can reach him, Naruto moves. Drags his hands to himself. Places them on the ground. Moves his feet into position. And slowly pushes himself up on his feet, obviously in pain but not asking for help. Stands awkwardly, holding his side, looking so much taller than Kuramoto at that moment. Then he hobbles away, favouring his right leg. Beaten, but not broken.

After a moment of silence, Hiroshi clears his throat and announces Kuramoto's next opponent and the spars continue, but I'm not really watching as Kuramoto pounds opponent after opponent into the ground, though not half as brutally as he did Naruto.

My match will be the last of the day, the finale, the triumph of Kuramoto against his most hated rival. It's obvious Hiroshi is setting it up that way. If he were being fair, he would have pitted me against an opponent my size first, and he certainly wouldn't have set Naruto against Kuramoto. He wants Kuramoto to win.

I wait as Kuramoto wins match after match. I'm not scared anymore. My mind is clear the way it is when I play shogi. Seeing Naruto stand up like that... it did something to me.

Last one left. I move forward before Hiroshi can call my name.

I stare at Kuramoto. He smirks at me. "I'm going to beat you bloody, bitch," he says, giving me a bloodthirsty grin, high on his previous wins. Naruto's blood still stains his knuckles.

I look at him. "My name is Nara Riko. But it makes no difference, because I'll win, no matter what you call me."

He growls. "Let's end this!" he says, taking his fighting stance while I sink into the stance Yoshino taught me.

Hiroshi gives the starting signal.

Kuramoto jumps forward, his fist flying towards my face. I step forward, lean my head to the side, letting his fist fly past my face. Two more quick steps and a sharp turn and I am standing behind him before he even realises that his punch didn't connect. Then I place a small hand softly on his neck.

He freezes. I could easily send him into unconsciousness now, or even kill him.

I beat him without throwing a single punch and causing him any pain.

"Winner: Nara Riko," I say, because Hiroshi is speechless. Then I take my hand back, turn on my heel and leave them staring after me.