Miho saw it at the last second, jumping back as fast as she could, barely dodging the attack. Elder Torifu drew back the upper part of the staff, slamming it forward into Miho's shoulder. She winced, but otherwise shook off the pain. The old man grinned, eyes closing in amusement.

"You are being reckless, child. Center yourself or you will fall. And you will fail." He swept the staff toward her feet with such speed that she barely caught sight of the movement. She jumped, throwing herself out of the way and her breath caught.

In the next instant, she was on the ground—not quite sure how she got there. Overhead, a sparrow darted across the training yard into the nearby trees. She could feel the heat of the sand on her back.

Elder Torifu leaned over her, his bō acting as a cane. He blocked out the sun like an elderly, deadly eclipse. His expression was severe, the same expression she'd come to know from her teacher over the past four years. "You are unsteady. You need more muscle stability. The metal bō is swinging you. You will begin weight training next week." His features softened and he held out a hand to help her up.

"Your speed is good, but not good enough. You will begin wearing weights next week as well."

"Yes, Elder Torifu."

He chuckled, raising his hands in the customary spar-ending signal. Miho mimicked, resting her right hand over her heart with a nod. Clucking his tongue, he made for the buffet at the end of the training grounds while Miho followed.

The buffet was full of high protein foods, prepared each morning and replenished throughout the day. Housed at one end of the training and sparring grounds, it was one of the main hubs for Akimichi ninja. Miho's head was patted at least three times by cousins they passed on their way to the plates.

"Your Lee graduated last week, did he not?"

"He did. He's on Maito Gai's team." Miho waited until the old man shoveled some scrambled eggs onto his plate before doing the same. She added bacon and oats. They settled into the shade of a large oak nearby at a table affixed in the large roots. "He's…changed a bit. But in a good way. He's happier."

"Having a goal will do that for a person." Elder Torifu smiled. "Gai is a good role model for this. Goals can help us to have purpose in our growth." He downed a whole carton of milk before gesturing toward her. "What is your goal, child? What do you aim for?"

Miho'd already thought of this— to an almost frightening extent for someone so young. She had to, didn't she? With what was coming… "I want to protect the people I care about. That's all."

Elder Torifu nodded, chewing three pieces of bacon before he sat back and looked up at the light filtering through the oak leaves. "A good goal. It's one that you will fail." Miho jolted, breath catching. "We will lose that we care about, Miho. That is our reality."

A wood thrush was singing nearby and Miho wanted to scream. Because she knew. She knew her teacher was right, but… "Reality is what we make it. I'm going to get so strong that I can force reality to change. I know it won't always work, but I gotta try." She looked back at the old Akimichi and forced a smile. "Losing people… It's a fact of life, I know. I just—"

He clicked his tongue again, rolling his eyes. "I am not going to shame you for your determination, child. Change reality if you can, but do not destroy yourself if it doesn't budge for you. Powerful as you may be, Fate is the one thing that is stronger than us Akimichi." Elder Torifu eyed her for a long moment and Miho held his attention with her shoulders squared. "Eat up now. If you don't, my daughter will have my head."

"She's upped my caloric intake by 1,000 calories."

"You're lucky it's not more. Those morning 'jogs' of yours are keeping my dearest daughter on her toes."

Miho felt a bit smug at that, tapping a hand to the rolls that spilled over the waist of her capris. "I think I'm maintaining well! Those cookies she's got me on are awesome. They're keeping me steady on those runs."

"Yeah? Well, you wait until she shows up with some banana-infused oat apple protein monstrosities and then see what you say." He scoffed around his last shovel of eggs.

"They're better than chips."

Elder Torifu looked absolutely affronted. "Take that back. I won't let any student of mine speak blasphemy."

Miho smiled with all the innocence she could muster.

He had been to that hospital far too many times.

First, when his mother passed into the next life. He had been no more than a toddler, still playing with a wooden kunai. She had carved that kunai herself from the wood of an old hardwood that had fallen on the clan property. From that young age onward, the hospital had rarely been a symbol of good tidings.

The next time he arrived at the hospital in a hurry, his teacher had been mortally wounded in a battle with Iwagakure. His sensei's body was so mangled that it still haunted his nightmares from time to time.

Blood and gore.

Chōza knew from late-night (drunken) talks that Shikaku was still suffering with the memory of their old teacher. Inoichi as well. They couldn't forget it.

Then, not too long after, his father succumbed to an illness within those walls.

Finally, his sister…his sister was lost and so many others on that fateful day the Kyuubi attacked.

Now, as he rushed through those doors, he was hurrying toward one of the only good things that came out of that nightmare building. Trying to remain as calm as possible, he strode toward the nurse station.

"Excuse me," he tried. The nurses continued about their tasks, paying him no heed. If there was one thing he learned from his sister, it was that he had to be more assertive if he was going to get anything done. "Excuse me." He approached one nurse in particular and blocked her path out of the station. Her eyes trailed up his enormous height and he plastered on a kind smile to ward of any panic she might have felt.

A picture of contrite demureness, she lowered her head in difference. "Sorry, Lord Akimichi. Oh! You're here about your daughter!"

"I was told that she was admitted. Is she alright?" Worry laced his tone and he didn't bother to hide it. "I'm unaware of the details. As soon as I arrived back from my mission, I was told she lost consciousness. My wife hasn't even been informed yet."

The nurse grabbed a clipboard and made a motion for him to follow behind, her eyes scanning the document that was sitting at the top of the pile. "Your daughter was admitted less than thirty minutes ago. Word has already been sent through the proper channels and she will have to stay the night for observation. We haven't had time to send word to your clan. Her condition was and is not dire."

"What happened?"

"An incident at the Academy, apparently."

Rounding the corner, they arrived at the room farthest from the nurse station. Akimichi Chōza froze, breath catching in his throat. His large hands fisted at his sides. In his mind, he could recall walking into the same room only ten years prior.

Then, the world seemed so much darker.

Then, there had been screams cutting through the air and wails and pleading to whatever deity would listen for mercy.

Then, he had been identifying the body of his sister and collecting the daughter she had left behind.

This room…was the same room that he had lost Chisato in all those years ago.

This was the room in which Miho had been born, into a world filled with chaos.

Now, instead of the piteous wails of the victims, laughs jingled through the air like bells. He would recognize one of those laughs anywhere. It was more of a chuckle than anything else. Miho never possessed a hearty laugh like her brother. It was the mild chuckle of her father, of Keisuke, mannerisms that carried in her blood. Keisuke was in her, reborn into his little girl.

And it was upon hearing that laugh that Chōza found himself able to move again.

If the nurse noticed, she said nothing.

Her attention was instead focused on the chart she pulled from the box by the door.

"Your daughter came in with severe dehydration and an unhealthy blood pressure. Her unhealthy blood pressure hit both extremes. It bottomed-out en route from the school. She was also hyperpyrexic. That means that her body temperature far exceeded average." The nurse rubbed a hand on her forehead and sighed. "To be short, she overheated and overexerted herself. It caused a whole range of issues, which resulted in her loss of consciousness. The doctor can discuss the rest with you. Until then…" the woman gestured toward the room and the raucous laughter that came from inside. "Until then, see if you can get them all to calm down a bit."

Uncertain of who she could be referring to, Chōza stepped toward the door and let himself inside. The nurse disappeared down the hallway once again, off to make her rounds. What he saw inside the room was something that he never quite expected.

Miho was holding her sides as she laughed, tears streaming down her cheeks and brows pulled together. Beside her on the bed was Yamanaka Ino, who was kneeling and pointing toward two mainstays in the Akimichi household (somehow, Miho seemed to have adopted them). Rock Lee was giving a pouting Naruto a thumbs-up, grinning like a lark. Naruto, for his part, was wailing and tearing at his hair, looking so desperate that Chōza almost laughed. Sitting by the bed with his head rested on the mattress was Nara Shikamaru. Closest to the door was Chōji, mouth open to eat a chip.

Chōza felt his breath catch.

The position of these children was frightening and humbling.

Ino was a close guard, situated closest to the one protected.

Shikamaru was blocking the window.

Lee and Naruto were distracting, drawing attention to themselves.

And Chōji was guarding the door.

What in the world happened?

Miho turned to him, laughter-teared eyes going wide. "Papa! You're back!" Chōji echoed her, moving to hug his waist. For a moment Chōza tried not to realize how much taller his son was. Only ten and he was already to his hip. Miho stood even taller by a head. It would be some time yet before her brother caught up. In the periphery, Lee and Naruto stopped bickering.

"I finished the marathon, Papa."

The marathon was this week? He frowned. Was that why his little girl was in the hospital? That didn't make sense. She was training in heavy endurance. If Elder Ayumu was right, Miho was on track to become one of the best endurance-based ninja in the clan. She could do the marathon with little difficulty. He scrutinized her, eyes straying to Ino's sour expression and Naruto's obvious irritation.

"I wouldn't have been able to finish without Naruto's help."

Naruto lifted a hand to scratch the back of his neck, a nervous habit if he had ever seen one. His grin was a little anxious and he waved her off with this free hand. "Aw, you did it on your own. I just helped you the last bit, ya know? No big deal." He chuckled a bit and Chōza saw Miho shake her head.

"You didn't have to help me, Naruto. Not like you did."

Ino settled a bit more, leaning back into the mattress beside Miho. Her arms crossed. "She's right. It was pretty heroic."

Naruto's blush was particularly cute for a boy that rarely got flustered. Chōza decided to wait and see how that played out. Inoichi would be insufferable. At the thought, Chōza might've grinned. "Nah. Besides, Miho's one of my good friends. I couldn't leave her behind!"

"A beautiful display of friendship and loyalty, Naruto! It shines like the sun after a rainstorm. Alas, if I had been there, I would have helped shoulder the weight! Only then can we all reach our dreams!"

"Hell yeah, bushy-brows!" Naruto declared.

Both fell into a very loud dedication, shouting that their dreams were "just within reach" with clenched fists and victorious grins. Chōza ignored the flashbacks of Gai's sparkly rants about friendship and love. True as they were. His attention skittered back to Miho, who was watching the pair's rambunctious tirade with half-lidded eyes. Half-lidded, hopeful, caring and dedicated eyes. Ino was idly playing with his daughter's matted curls.

Ino looked just like her father when he was forced to hide his anger. The same tick in her brow. The same stern fury in her eyes. Miho shot her friend a look and Ino's eyes rolled. The two girls were having some kind of silent conversation.

As if she could sense his attention on her, Miho looked up to him. In that moment, she seemed so small and fragile. Like when she was seven, asking him why three fully-grown shinobi attacked a helpless child. Like when she was nine and asked him if her cousin Chihiro was ever coming home, only to learn that the answer was 'no.'

One day, she would be the ninja she had always wanted to be. At that moment though, she was nothing more than a little girl—his little girl—and she was exhausted from her hard work. Her thick fingers reached out and grasped his scarf, the brown one he always wore on recon missions. Ino leaned back so Miho would have easier access.

"What a drag. Just tell him already."

Miho sighed, letting her head fall back into the pillows. Her fingers loosened and fell away. "You promised."

"I didn't." Shikamaru retorted. And there was the sassy Nara tone he'd definitely learned from his father. The kid didn't even lift his head, but he did look up by angling it a bit differently. "Teacher Mizuki made her run the marathon with—"

"No snacks."

Chōza quickly tamped down the knee-jerk fury that came with those two words. "Excuse me?"

Chōji stepped away from the door, looking guiltily at his feet as he shuffled forward. His boy was obviously feeling that this was somehow his fault. "No snacks. Or…Or water."

"What?"

"Teacher Mizuki is a jerk." Ino supplied.

"Right! He let everyone else have water but Miho and…" Naruto stopped, blue eyes going impossibly wide. His attention shifted to Miho, who was watching whatever realization hit Naruto. "Well, shit." Miho grimaced.

"Language," Chōza said out of habit. "Tell me."

All eyes turned to Shikamaru, who noticed the attention and deflated. "Why do I have to tell the story? I'm not the one in bed. I'm not her brother. I wasn't even involved."

"Not involved?" Ino sat up, taking a swipe at his ponytail. "You're literally the one who noticed the whole thing from on-high or whatever."

"Troublesome. You noticed too. You tell him."

"I'll start yelling. Do you really want me to start yelling?"

"She was running with me." Naruto interjected. There was a lot of false bravado in his stance, hands firmly on his hips. "She was running with me because I wanted to skip school."

"With us." Chōji stepped forward to grip the rail at the end of the bed. "Naruto wanted to skip with us. We were watching the marathon from the top of the hill."

Chōza tried to keep the disappointment from his face. He knew— Boy, did he know!— that Chōji, Shikamaru, Naruto, and Tsume's son often cut class. It affected their scores and he'd already garnered a half-hearted promise from his son that it wouldn't happen again. Peer pressure was powerful. Doubly so when the entire system seemed to ignore you and your needs. "You skipped the marathon?"

"Yes, sir."

At least Chōji looked suitably ashamed. "We'll talk more on that tonight. Continue."

"She was running with Naruto. Teacher Mizuki said that Naruto couldn't have water during the run. Miho couldn't either. And she couldn't stop for snacks." Ino sat up further. "Because Mizuki is a jerk." That seemed to be a theme.

Naruto looked devastated, much like he had all those years ago at the festival. Chōza clenched his teeth.

"Is all this true, Miho?"

Her head rolled back and forth, until she faced away from him. Her eyes focused on the window. She was trying to avoid a lie by keeping silent. Perhaps that is what she had been doing this whole time. If his suspicions were correct, his Miho had been dealing with some terrible things on her own for quite some time.

She and Chōji were forbidden from lying to him, but they were not explicitly forbidden from withholding the truth.

"It… wasn't a big deal."

A lesser man would've winced at the uproar that statement caused. Ino screeched. Shikamaru actually sat upright. Chōji raced to his sister's bed, eyes narrowed dangerously. Meanwhile, the two loudest people remained silent. Naruto looked away while Gai's prodigy looked to his shoes.

"Lord Akimichi," Lee spoke up. Glancing over, he saw the boy practically at attention in the corner. "Since Miho began training with me, I have taken responsibility for her. She is an Honor Sister, one of blood, sweat, and tears. Miho does not want to cause trouble with the Academy. After today though, I cannot stay silent any longer."

"Lee!"

Honor Sister? Chōza nearly choked.

Rock Lee sent his daughter a look that stunned the hardened shinobi. It was a mix between the care of a brother, the protection of a leader, and the concern of a friend. His thick brows were pulled downward and his stance challenged Miho to stop him. This was the friend that his daughter had made, the one that she would develop the ultimate trust with.

Chōza watched in subdued awe.

Because, while he'd seen them training and once every-so-often for dinner, he'd never seen this side of their relationship.

It was far deeper than he ever imagined.

"Teacher Mizuki targets any students that associate with Naruto. They are given lower scores, set against unfortunate opponents, and are given handicaps in spars from which they cannot recover." Lee stepped forward. Lee could only know all of this if he were told."Miho was given an unearned detention just a few days ago."

Chōza remembered that. She'd hit another student during lunch. He'd accepted it at face-value. After all, it wasn't the first fight that she'd finished. He told her to be careful of her strength. She'd nodded and accepted her home punishment without a word. She'd cleaned the entire storage unit out back with her brother sneaking in to help her out.

"Yeah, that whole thing was bullshit!" Naruto jumped in, looking a bit desperate. "Miho was defending me. She laid out that Naka-stupid-whatever like that." He slammed one fist into an open palm and then winced. "But he hit me first!"

So, she'd been defending Naruto.

Again.

"Miho had to run today with no snacks as punishment."

No snacks. No water.

"As punishment? In addition to the detention?"

Miho was obviously resigned, sighing as she palmed her forehead.

"Teacher Mizuki said she copped an attitude, but she didn't!" Naruto threw out his hands. "The whole thing was bullshit."

That earned nods from the children. Chōza felt his hackles rising, rage lapping at him like a thousand Aburame bugs roiling in his ears. Denying an Akimichi food...

"Said that people that mouth-off don't get water or snacks."

"I would've made it, but I tripped on the last lap."

"Seriously… that's not what this is about, Miho!" Ino was on her feet now. Her frustration and anger turned on her bedridden friend. Miho somehow remained completely calm, obviously used to Ino's flare-up temper. "No one cares if you finished or didn't finish the marathon. It's a waste of time anyway. We care that a stupid teacher decided to target you and make you suffer through stuff you literally need to survive." With pinpoint accuracy, she nailed Naruto down with a glare. "You're not at fault here either. Get it through your thick skull!"

"I—"

"Stop." Chōji's voice cut through the quickly erupting argument. To Chōza's surprise, the kids quietened. His son's grip on the bed rail was so tight that his knuckles were white and the metal was giving way a bit. His son didn't notice. "I skipped the marathon. I should've been there. I should've been there for her. I'm her brother."

"No arguing that." Ino shot back.

Miho lightly tapped Ino's hand, shaking her head a bit. "Arguing like this doesn't accomplish anything." Her eyes flickered up to him. "Please don't go after him, Papa."

His daughter must've sensed something because her attention immediately turned to Naruto, who had saddled up behind Shikamaru's chair.

"Don't. you. dare."

Chōza was at a loss.

"Justice doesn't involve putting snakes in his bed, Naruto."

"Never said anything about snakes. Where'd you get that idea? It is a good idea though!"

"Naruto…"

"Dye his hair green or something instead. Make it permanent."

"Don't help him, Ino. Geez."

"Troublesome. Just put mousetraps around his office and hide them with a genjutsu."

"Revenge is not necessary, beautiful friends. Our revenge should be Miho and Naruto's success."

"Lee, I'm pranking him. I don't care what speech you have prepared."

"Count me in, Naruto. I'll destroy him."

"What was it about 'don't you dare' that none of y'all understood?"

Biting back a laugh, Chōza watched with amusement as the tense atmosphere faded. The kids fell into dramatics again while he stepped away, resting a hand on Chōji's shoulder to guide him into the hallway.

Miho noticed and sighed, resting her head back onto the pillows. She settled in to watch her friends create diabolical plans for revenge, which Chōza would claim ignorance of. If he "wasn't listening," then he had plausible deniability. And Ino took after her father. Torture and Interrogation was certainly in her future with a mind like that. He turned his attention to Chōji.

"Have you ever been denied snacks at school?"

Chōji looked away, shuffling his feet.

"Chōji."

His son looked up and his expression told him everything he needed to know.

"When? By whom?"

"It's always…Teacher Mizuki. He doesn't do it so often with me. Only when I'm not paying attention. Miho's…a target. She has been all year." Chōji looked uncertain, to the point that Chōza wondered when his son's trust had wandered away. Swallowing that realization, he sank to his knee in front of his son. Chōji bit back tears, but they were filling his eyes anyway. "Shikamaru saw her stumble. And Miho just…just…fell. I saw it. From the hill. I couldn't…I couldn't get there. I thought…"

The hospital room had gone quiet again and Chōza wrapped his son in a hug, looking back into the room to see Miho's dark eyes staring back at him. Chisato's eyes. Keisuke's eyes. Chōza flinched, gritting his teeth together at the memory of his sister in that bed. That same bed.

Naruto bounded over Shikamaru onto the bed, earning an expletive from the Nara. Without a bit of fear or nervousness, the boy cuddled up to Miho's side and held on with a plaintive look. Miho broke eye contact with her father and looked down, saying something that got the boy to dramatically sigh, throwing his arms out as if he'd been hit by a kunai and was falling faint.

Lee jumped into action, rescuing Naruto from spilling onto the utterly fed-up Nara.

"You're all idiots! She's recovering!" Ino barked, shoving Naruto off the bed with enough finality that it sent all three boys toppling to the floor. "There! Now get out if you're going to be annoying!"

"Ino, stop yelling."

"You want me to start yelling, Nara? I can start yelling."

Miho shut her eyes and leaned back.

Patting Chōji's head, Chōza smiled.

If that smile had an edge— and edge that promised retribution— then, well, all Akimichi's had their limits.

In the still-cold early hours before dawn, when others woke to ponder their coming days or the feel of their loves cocooned against their chests, or even their minimal daily embarrassments they suffered at the hands of themselves or others, Akimichi Miho pushed herself through the cool morning air. Her chest was aching terribly as she rounded the training ground.

She was completing her 555th lap of her daily jog.

Muscles burning and eyes watering, she slowed down her pace and stumbled over to a green towel that had been thrown over a low branch. She patted her forehead and took a deep breath, running a hand through her thick damp curls.

Judging from the dim light that was rising on the horizon, sunrise was swiftly approaching. Soon enough, Lee would arrive for their daily full-tilt run around Konoha.

It was better than lying awake, she thought vaguely.

It was better than watching different conclusions to a lifelong nightmare played out in her mind like visions.

In each version, a new person was killed.

With one errant decision, Chōji died gruesomely before her very eyes—under a huge orange-furred claw. He would look to her in the last moments before his bones were crushed, begging her to help.

Muscles ripped from bones, blue flames gathering about his body.

She was always helpless, watching her brother's death as if it were a movie.

It wasn't flat and two-dimensional anymore.

It was real.

In other flickers, Naruto was impaled by a hand through his chest and birds were screeching. Naruto, whose smile was so comforting and bright. He would be lost with the chirping of birds. And her chest would begin to throb, each beat of her heart like a sentence for torture. She never saw the attacker die.

But she wanted to.

Lee was stabbed, terribly mangled in the onslaught.

Shikamaru was consumed in bright white light.

Ino, her vibrant eyes blank and unseeing.

Her father burned alive in an explosion that shook the very earth beneath her feet as she looked on from a distance. Hundreds of thousands gone in mere seconds.

No matter how hard she struggled not to see these things, they still came.

Years. She kept her silence for years.

Ino knew.

Ino was the only one.

Ino carried that weight, never once faltering under it.

Taking a deep breath, she eased her eyes open and looked upward to the lightening skies. Light blues into pale pinks. The sun would soon rise.

Listen to the wind blow.

Watch the sun rise.

Knowing Lee, he would demand they spend an hour enjoying the "beauty of youth" by settling themselves under a huge oak deep in the forest for the rest of the morning workout.

Nothing but push-ups, extreme calisthenics, and intense spars: that was Lee's idea of—

"Miho!"

—a light workout.

Right on time. As usual. Maybe even a little early, if the colors of the sky were right.

"Miho, my dear Beautiful Friend of the Ages! Have you finished your warm-up? Are you ready for a run around the village?"

Lee landed on the ground beside her in a crouch, bowl-cut hair shimmering. He looked up past his bushy eyebrows and cocked his head to the side with obvious confusion. Miho grimaced, hiding her face in her towel. She was making a show of it, trying to imply that she didn't want his obvious wide-eyed staring.

"You look pale. Is your morning youthfulness fading? It cannot be! You are always so full of gleaming youth during the fruitful hours of first sunlight!"

"I'm not tired, Lee. I'm scared."

She wasn't going to avoid the conversation. There was no sense in beating around the bush about it. It was probably a bit too blunt though because it made Lee stumble a bit on a tree root. He recovered easily and sent her a bright smile, teeth gleaming as the sun broke over the horizon behind him. Miho raised a hand to shield her eyes, trying not to see the reassuring look that Lee was giving her. Turning her back, she reached down and grabbed her bottle of water.

"It's the day, Lee. It's pass or fail. I have to pass."

"You'll do wonderfully, Miho! I have a lot of confidence in you. Ino, Naruto, Chōji, Shikamaru, Kiba, even the beautiful flower, Sakura…All of us have confidence in you. You work hard and that hard work will pay off. We'll be the greatest ninja through our hard work! I promise you! If I'm wrong, then I'll run around Konoha two hundred times on my thumbs!" She gulped down a swig of lukewarm water and gave him a close-lipped smile, eyes closing due to her rounded cheeks. "Even Gai-sensei says that you will be a great ninja! He says that he can see a youthful glow in you!"

Her eyes opened and, though she usually couldn't see it in herself, she could see the certainty in Lee's eyes. Confidence. He had never doubted her before.

Why would he suddenly start now?

Miho grinned and settled her water bottle in the crook of the roots. Straightening, she pushed her hands down the front of her blouse, rolling over the extra meat that hung over the edge of her loose brown pants.

"Thank you, Lee. I'll try my best." He nodded enthusiastically. "Let's run. We've got three hours before I've got to be at the Academy. We'll make them count. What time is your mission?"

"Nine," he leaped up and performed a backhand-spring onto a large branch overhead. "Four hundred laps full-speed!"

"Three copies should do it," Teacher Iruka told her. There was an easy smile on his face and she could remember all the times he pulled her from the dirt. All the times that he brushed the dust from her sweaty shirts. Her eyes skittered to where Teacher Mizuki sat with a critical look on his face. There was no outright contempt. Not anymore, not since she was ten and competed in the marathon.

Her eyes never left him though. Because she wanted him to know, for him to see.

"Do you have a goal, child?"

Hurry it up, Akimichi! I want three hundred. You're at twenty! We've been at this for thirty minutes already! No food until you finish.

Fatty. Slug. Pig. Useless lard. Fat ass. Big girl.

"I want to protect the people I care about. That's all."

I can still hear you saying...You would never break the chain.

She could see her whole life building up to this.

All of her training— All of the hard work.

Weekends spent conditioning her body. Hours spent running and running and running. Falling down and running some more. Every hit. Every time she was in the dirt, washing the grime and blood from her mouth. The callouses, the blisters, the sunburn. Even at the present, her body would still occasionally lose its motor functioning, lose its coordination. Like her mind remembered a different body, a different movement. Even now, she struggled to overcome the obstacles. Even now, as the weights tugged on her muscles at all hours. Even as she ate and ate and ate to stay the same, to gain.

She struggled and worked hard to overcome it, everything.

Just one jutsu.

One jutsu and she would be a ninja.

One technique.

One chance.

She raised her hands and never looked away from the silver-haired instructor. Her fingers looped around each other with practiced ease. A goal? Maybe she did have a goal. A smaller one. With a slight quirk to her lips, she performed the technique and stepped back to gesture toward her copies.

Three girls, just as large as her. Same wild dishwater-brown hair, same sharp dark eyes. Same cheek swirls. Same roundness, same thick legs, thick center. Thick arms. Thick shoulders. Thick rolls. Muscles and height. The same scarf, the symbol of her clan emblazoned on the fabric. Big. Powerful.

She looked at herself and saw her achievement. She saw. For the first time, Miho truly looked at herself and saw something unbelievably and wonderfully beautiful: that "big girl" was a ninja now—she was a kunoichi. She could do anything.

She could protect anyone.

There was nothing anyone could do to stop her.

And with a grin she let her clones disappear.