A.N: Err... Haha. Thanks for all the reviews, they got me back on track.

What Doesn't Kill You

Chapter Eleven

[manipulative: exercising unscrupulous control or influence over a person or situation.]

The class was unusually subdued for the weeks following the Uchiha massacre. The whole of Konoha was subdued, and for a while the topic became a sort of taboo, never to be spoken of in broad daylight. The fact that it had been caused by one of the village's most promising young shinobi added a layer of tragedy to the event.

By keeping the clans in the dark about the true reason for the massacre, the Hokage had managed to avoid potential civil war breaking out. Instead, it was the civilians who were uneasy. The dramatic reminder that a single ninja could cause damage on that scale awakened a wave of unrest among the population, manifesting itself with distrustful looks and petitions for more regulation in the village's training of their killers. The Uchiha clan had been comprised of civilian families too.

The Hokage dissipated most of the tension, though the Academy students had to comply with a few absurd rules for the following months. No using or carrying weapons except in bukijutsu class. Two hours of community service tasks every week, which were essentially D-rank missions they didn't get paid for. A new subject called Education for Citizenship more commonly known as 'the stupid civvie class' which they were terminally forbidden from skipping by the Hokage himself. It was taught by a civilian instructor named Hana who despaired a bit when she realized exactly how deeply the Shinobi way of life was ingrained in some clan children. "But Neji, surely she could have refused?"

Neji stared at her like she'd grown an extra head. "No, Hyuga don't refuse missions, even when they know they are suicide."

"But what if the orders told you to kill an innocent baby, for example? Or torture your family? Would you still do it?"

Neji remained silent for a while. "Yes," he finally replied.

Hana was horrified. Given Neji's family, Aoi wasn't too surprised.

The questions Hana asked would make perfect sense if they'd been in a different world, but here they just seemed terribly naive. Hana herself looked like a generally naive person, with pretty hair and wide, trusting green eyes. She probably volunteered in orphanages, gave money to beggars, and in general dedicated her life to making others' better. She wouldn't survive two seconds as a ninja.

Even the civilian-born kids made an effort to think like a shinobi would and not like their parents had taught them to all their life. "So suppose someone in your team was taken hostage," Hana asked Ten Ten, "and you could put off the mission for a while and get them out, or go ahead and abandon them. Which would you choose?"

Ten Ten gave the textbook answer. "Completing the mission has priority over everything else."

"But don't you care about your teammate's life? How would you feel if you were the one taken hostage?"

"If I was taken hostage," she replied slowly, "I'd have to remove myself from the situation so my teammate could complete the mission."

Hana paled. "How?"

"Well, if it's possible by freeing myself, or, you know, the suicide pills. Or running my neck into the enemy's kunai, or biting out my tongue. Whatever."

Hana's hands slammed down on the table and her voice came out in a screech. "They're teaching you how to commit suicide?"

The lesson wasn't very productive after that. They were supposed to learn about the values of a citizen, ethics, some philosophy and sociology, but it went over the children's heads completely. All the moral dilemmas she proposed they answered without the slightest hint of hesitation, not even questioning whether the ninja way was the right way. At the end of the day, Hana dismissed them wearily and put her head in her arms as they left the classroom.

When she lifted her head again a few minutes later, the quiet girl who sat at the back (Aoi? Orai? Something like that) was standing in front of her desk, staring at her with a mix of pity and amusement. It was an expression she was used to, but never had she seen it on the face of a child. The yellow eyes made the staring kind of creepy too. "Yes?"

"I was just wondering what you were planning on doing," the girl replied vaguely, mirth plain in her voice.

Hana sighed. They were alone in the classroom, everyone else having already filed out. "Did they really teach you how to commit suicide?"

"They taught us it was an option. 'When in possession of crucial information compromising the village's security, or in a situation where torture is the only alternative, the ninja may choose to commit suicide.'" She blinked owlishly. "Some of the most important missions in history were only successful because someone stayed back to set up a suicide ambush, like the Second Hokage."

Hana slumped on her desk again, defeated. She couldn't believe it. Sure, she knew ninja died all the time, but... But... "Yes, but... They shouldn't be teaching you that!"

There was a silence.

Hana could see what they were doing with these children - they were trying to turn them into machines, robots that didn't question orders, which was the exact opposite of what a classroom should do. Teachers were supposed to push their students to find their own answers, to think by themselves, to be critical, to be independent. Not behave like emotionless drones.

"If it makes you feel better, not all of them are like that," Aoi said. "Rock Lee wouldn't abandon a teammate and neither would Ten Ten, even if she claims otherwise."

She didn't mention the Hyuga, or herself.

"What about you?"

Aoi shrugged, the ghost of a smile playing at the corner of her lips. "Depends."

Hana decided she didn't want to know. Ninja children were thoroughly disturbing. "Well, you should be heading on home. Run along."

"You still haven't told me if you plan to do anything."

"About what?"

There it was again, the mocking light in her eyes. Like she knew exactly what Hana was thinking and found it childish, or funny. "The whole thing. The obvious mental and emotional conditioning going on, the brainwashing, the manipulation."

Hana stared at Aoi.

"Though you should know, the Academy's not so bad. In fact, it's almost surprising it manages to produce highly competent ninja despite its civilian methods. Other institutions are much more brutal."

That was not the way normal eight-year-old children talked, no matter how mature. Hana made a split-second decision. "Would you like to have afternoon tea with me, Aoi-san?"

"Alright," Aoi replied with an indulgent smile, in the same way an adult would agree to play doll house with a kid for a while.

Hana, as Aoi had suspected, was painfully guileless, even for a civilian. She was twenty years old and a regular teacher at the civilian school of Konoha. Her hometown was a small, isolated village near Otafuku Gai. She'd never seen a ninja before arriving to Konoha two years ago. She knew they were soldiers, but sincerely believed they were good people underneath, and only fought to protect the village, and never did more harm than was strictly necessary. In part this was because of the glorified image of the Shinobi ranks actively cultivated among the population, but mostly because Hana was a deluded, gullible idealist.

Her house reflected her personality perfectly. It was a small one-story home near the outer walls of Konoha, all pastel tones and lovely flowers under the windows. If Aoi had bothered to pay attention in the kunoichi special classes, she'd have learned that the particular combination signified "Welcome" and "Happiness."

The mug of milk she gave her had a picture of a pink flower on the handle. The woman sure tried to prove she was worthy of her name.

Aoi found the whole thing entertaining, which was why she'd agreed to spend some time with her. Hana was a rarity, a kind of person she'd never expected to meet in this world, much less a hidden village.

They talked about the nice weather, Mizuki and the Academy. It was plain the teacher thought Aoi was a weird, amoral little kid, but it only seemed to make her morbid fascination grow. Aoi sat through a few questions about her life up to that point, which she blandly lied about, before the woman finally asked her what she'd meant with her earlier comment.

"Well, there are some organizations who train their prospective ninja together for years, brainwashing them into absolute loyalty, and then order them to kill each other. It's like their graduation exam."

"But... The Bloody Mist stopped that practice about ten years ago... right?"

Aoi took another sip of milk. "Nah, there are still places like that, trust me. Ninja kill and die all the time, you realize." She wondered what her reaction would be if she told her about all the underhanded assassinations and unofficial missions going on in Root. She'd flip.

"But you're not ninja, you're eight-year-old kids. You shouldn't be learning about that yet. You should be learning maths, and playing with puzzles and dolls."

Aoi didn't reply, instead choosing to stare at her through half-lidded yellow eyes. "You're interesting, Hana," she offered.

That seemed to anger her. Whether it was the lack of honorific, the words themselves, or the detached way in which they rolled out of her mouth was anyone's guess. "You don't see anything wrong," Hana ground out, forgetting she was talking to a child as her anger rose, "with children dying on battlefields? With thirteen-year-olds murdering their entire clan?"

"Of course it's wrong." The whole shinobi system was wrong. It was geared for conflict, war, and killing, much like the military and weapons of her old world. "And it's wrong that people see it as a normal thing."

Hana was visibly confused. "Then why do you act as if..."

"As if I don't care?" Aoi smirked faintly. "Because it's wrong and sad, and I really don't care."

Hyuga Hinata sat by herself in a corner of the courtyard, twirling her thumbs while she watched Naruto stand up to that bully again. He was a year older than them, bigger and stronger than Naruto, and seemed to be trying to steal his packed lunch. Hinata was torn between helping and staying put, because her father would be angry if she got into a fight at school, and besides the boy was kind of scary. Still, she really, really wished she was brave enough to help. Naruto wasn't a coward like her, he was telling him to go bother someone else.

"Hi," a girl's voice said next to her. Hinata jumped, not having heard anyone approach. The newcomer had yellow eyes and short black hair. She was pretty, though not as pretty as Ino. "My name is Momoru Aoi. I'm one year above you."

"Hi," she replied clumsily, not really sure why an upperclassman was approaching her out of the blue. "I'm Hyuga Hinata."

Aoi sat beside her on the grass, following her previous line of sight to the bully, who was currently grabbing Naruto by his shirt lapels and jostling him around. Hinata bit her lip as the urge to do something returned, not because of Naruto in particular but because she didn't like seeing people get hurt or treated unfairly in general.

"I could do something, you know," Aoi proposed.

"Wh-what?"

She gestured towards the scene. "That boy is my classmate. I could tell him to stop, if you want."

Hinata's pupil-less eyes widened. She wondered why the girl wasn't doing it already, if she said she could. Was she afraid of Naruto like everyone else? But Aoi just kept staring at her, as if waiting for something. "P-please?"

She smiled. It was too thin for a genuine smile, in Hinata's opinion. "First, you have agree to help me with my taijutsu."

"Huh?"

"I need a sparring partner," Aoi repeated slowly, almost mocking her. "Can you do that in exchange for me stopping Daichi?"

Hinata couldn't believe someone had asked her for help! She'd always been deemed useless by her family, and now someone thought she could actually help them, and an upperclassman no less! She would have said yes even if she didn't get anything in exchange. But Aoi didn't seem the kind of person to go out of her way for anyone without a reason, as proved by her bargaining. So maybe she could try to get something more out of it before she agreed?

"Okay, I'll help you," she chirped, "but you have to stop Daichi from bullying anyone, every time, not just today."

Aoi gave her a strange look. "Fine," she grudgingly replied, before unfolding from her seated position and heading towards the two boys. After a moment of hesitation Hinata followed along, trailing a bit behind, curious as to what would happen. Aoi's strides were lazy and unhurried, not picking up the pace even when Daichi grabbed Naruto's lunch and smashed it on the ground. Hinata let out a soft "eep!" but didn't dare ask her to walk any faster.

"Hi, Daichi," she greeted, without any particular inflection in her voice.

He grunted in reply, too busy pushing Naruto's face into the ground, who struggled furiously beneath him.

"If you stop bullying Naruto I'll give you some of my pizza."

Daichi let go of the boy. "Really? That weird cheese thing from yesterday?"

Aoi blinked assent.

"Alright, deal! You're awesome, Aoi. Where's your bag?"

"Class."

Daichi grinned and left skipping towards the building. "Oh yeah! Pit-zah! Here I come! I'm starving!"

Hinata watched the whole thing with fascination. That bargaining tactic really did work, it was so useful. She should try it more, it was the kind of thing her dad would approve of. Meanwhile, Naruto had stood up, picked up his lunchbox and started cleaning it with his sleeve. "I didn't need your help, you know," he grumbled, but Hinata could see in his shifty eyes how happy and grateful he was. Almost hopeful?

There was a pause. "Don't talk to me, monster," Aoi replied placidly, and walked away, leaving two shocked seven-year-olds behind.

"Uh-ummm... I'm sure she didn't mean that..." Then Hinata ran away, because the mask of bitterness that fell on Naruto's face scared her.

"Why did you do that, Momoru-san?" she asked when she caught up, still shocked and a bit angry.

"I don't want to be his friend for a lot of reasons. But it doesn't matter. Daichi won't steal Naruto's food anymore as long as I bring him pizza every day, and we had a deal, right?"

Hinata wasn't very happy but she did have a point, Naruto wouldn't get bullied anymore. Well, if she hung around Aoi for long enough she could maybe convince her that Naruto wasn't a monster but a brave little boy, and that stopping bullies was good. "R-right." She blushed, and a little thrill started in her stomach. This was the first time she ever did anything like this, that she ever succeeded at helping anyone. It felt funny, but it was a good feeling. Maybe if she kept bargaining with Aoi she could get her to do other good things.

The allowance from the Orphan fund came every Thursday and was only enough to pay for basic necessities, like food and clothes. Aoi didn't spend much in the way of clothes - she'd burned her Root uniform, but what she got in replacement wasn't particularly fancy or expensive. A few dark shirts, knee-length shorts appropriate for the warm weather of the Land of Fire, a jacket for the days it rained.

Instead she'd spent the money on expanding her library. Some scrolls she'd managed to wring from Mizuki, the hospital, or the village library, but others she had to buy, and they weren't cheap.

She'd just come back from the bookstore and had settled down on the dusty couch when a voice startled her.

"Danzo-sama expects you at seven a.m. tomorrow in training facility three."

When she looked up, no one was there, but her window was open.

Of course she didn't go to the meeting the next morning. She left a note to the Hokage's secretary that carefully didn't mention Root and headed to the Academy as usual. She left the Academy grounds with Hana and they went for tea again. Aoi stayed with her throughout the afternoon, until an ANBU with a dog mask and spiky silver hair poofed in front of her while Hana was looking away, and gave her a little wave. Aoi waved back. She bade her goodbyes to Hana and returned home.

She felt her tail watching her until she slipped into her bed. It was intentional, of course, to let her know she was safe. Since she woke up the next morning in her own bed, she concluded the Hokage had managed to keep his word, for now.

She spared a thought for Shin, who didn't have the luxury of his protection. She could bet that he and Sai were back in the organization's clutches by now, even if it was against his will, though she'd never truly established whether Shin was loyal to Root or not or what his motivations were.

It didn't really concern her anyway. She had enough with her own problems. The Sandaime wouldn't be able to spare one of his ANBU for her every time. She needed to continue securing her position in the village.