Chapter 33: Makeover Day Pt. 2

"Um, did, did we hear her right?" Choji was quick to ask as we all went silent at the blonde's sudden words.

"You're not going to simply list down our makeovers?" TenTen asks, shock written all across her startled face. "You've always done that! That's always been your thing!"

"It has, but this year, I wanted to change things up a little," Tsunade explains, her grin going from ear to ear. "This time, I'm putting the choice into your hands."

Before any of us could ask what she meant by that, a woman dressed in all black walked out from behind the curtained doorway with a series of blue envelopes in her hands, a welcoming smile lining her face as her black ponytail swung back and forth behind her.

"Everyone, this is Yui! When neither Asuma nor I are here in this building, she's the one in charge of our fine establishment," Kurenai explains as the woman walked over to stand on the other side of her husband. "Now, I'm sure you're curious as to why she's holding all these blue envelopes in her hands, right?"

We all nod our heads, none of us willing to voice our concerns.

"Well, those envelopes belong to you guys," Tsunade announces, pointing to Yui. "There is one envelope for each and every one of you in her hands, and those envelopes hold the details of what you're going to get for your respective makeovers."

"Seems easy so far, right?" Kakashi asks, scanning our group to find any naysayers. "Well, here's the twist. When Tsunade calls your name, she will ask if you want to take your envelope or not. If you say yes, then that means you have accepted your makeover, but if you say no, then you will get no makeover . . . You will have to go through the rest of the competition with the look you already have. Once you decline, it is final."

"Oh, things just got serious. . ." I whisper to no one in particular, digesting the implications of what he just said.

I honestly didn't think they would ever give us a choice when it came to our makeovers. Sure, there have been models in the past that have famously denied their makeovers over the years, but that eventually led to their eliminations either that same week, or the week afterward when it was evident that they still wouldn't get over it. Denying your makeover was considered a cardinal sin on 'You Wanna Be on Top?', but they were actually giving us the choice to not take it?

I smell a conspiracy.

"So, now that you know the rules, is everybody ready?" Yamato asks, and though not everyone looked too sure about what was to come, we all nodded in the affirmative anyway. "Excellent. . . Now then, Tsunade, if you will?"

"Why, certainly my good man," says Tsunade, already scanning our group to see which person she would call out first. "Hmm, Sakura, please step forward."

Though visibly nervous, Sakura managed to hold her head up high as she stepped out from the group with her hands folded in front of herself.

"Nervous?" Tsunade asks, pointing out the obvious.

"Who wouldn't be in this situation?" Sakura asks, smiling despite herself as some of the boys, Yamato, and Asuma started chuckling. "I would be lying if I said I wasn't."

"Well, let's get this over with, shall we?" Tsunade suggests, and the pinkette immediately started nodding. "Sakura, will you accept your makeover?"

"I will!" Sakura declares, her voice hitching slightly as Yui approached her with her envelope pointed toward her. After taking it, she quickly opens it, eager to see what was inside. Pulling out a beige piece of paper, she scans what's written on the page before looking up. Thanks to the big mirror behind the receptionist desk, it was obvious that Sakura was smiling. "A weave?!"

"All the way down to the waist. . ." Tsunade added, gesturing down to her hips.

"Your hair is one of your most striking attributes, so we thought it was best to enhance your pink locks by adding more length to it rather than cut some away," Kakashi adds, his eyes looking bemused as Sakura held herself back from jumping up and down. "I hope you don't mind sitting in one spot for a while though. . . Weaves tend to take their time."

"I'm just shocked that you managed to find a pink weave that fits with this color!" She exclaims, pointing at her hair.

"It took a while to find just the right shade, but we did find it!" Kurenai clarifies as her husband barked out a laugh. "Okay, Tsunade! Who's next?"

"Choji," she calls, turning to the plus sized model. "Will you be accepting your makeover?"

"Indeed, I will," Choji announced, taking the offered envelope from Yui. "Cut to the shoulders and slicked back. . . I can handle that."

For about the next ten minutes, model after model stepped forward to answer Tsunade's question, and their reactions were quite telling once they got to see what was in store for them. Some reactions were muted, like Gaara's when he found out his hair was getting cut shorter and smoothed out, and Sasuke's, who found out his duck ass of a hairstyle would be traded out for extensions that was supposed to give him a more mysterious look once it was added.

Others were very eager to go through the process. My brother was getting his hair closely cropped, Matsuri was getting a curly weave, and Temari and Kankuro were both getting dye jobs, with Temari getting a lighter shade of blonde while Kankuro was getting jet black.

Oh the emo jokes I could say about him once the makeover was over.

Some looked nonplussed by what they were getting, either because they were either hoping for more, or were shocked that they weren't getting a more drastic change. Kiba was one of those people, who looked like he was trying hard to keep the smile on his face as he found out that he too was getting extensions added for a more slicked back look. . . He probably thought his makeover was too close to Sasuke's. . .

. . . Now that I think about it, he did make a point. The makeovers did sound a little similar.

Shino and Shikamaru were only getting minimal changes via trims, but neither seemed that put out about such a small change. On the opposite side, Neji and Hinata were going to get major haircuts, with Neji losing hair up to his shoulders, while Hinata's was to stop at the chin with bangs added. Both were kinda startled by what they were getting, so I'm guessing long hair was a certain staple within their family.

The family photos must be amazing.

Surprisingly enough, more than one person was getting no makeover this year, and not because they refused it. When Suigetsu and Lee both opened their envelopes, they discovered that they weren't getting makeovers, much to both of their shock.

"Okay, when it came to deciding what both of you were going to get, we came to the conclusion that nothing could really suit you more than the looks you have right now," Tsunade declares as she looked at the two shocked men. "Suigetsu, white is definitely your color, and you Lee, well, the bowl cut actually suits you."

"Eh, I can get behind that," Suigetsu conceded as Lee simply nodded in acceptance. ". . . At least I'm getting my teeth fixed."

By the time most of the makeovers were known, only TenTen, me, and Ino were the only ones left to be called forward. Judging how Tsunade's gaze was now locked on me, I think it was safe to say that I was next.

"Well, why do I have the feeling I'm going next?" I sarcastically mumbled as I took a tentative step forward.

"Well, because you are," Tsunade blatantly admits as she gestures for me to come forward. "Will you be accepting your makeover Izuka?"

"Yes, I will!" I say, outstretching my hand to take my envelope from Yui's grasp. Ripping open the top, I take the paper out and read the words, my eyes widening when I was getting. "Dyed silvery blonde and cut short?"

"Your hair is very pale, so we want to make it more vibrant by giving you a color that we think works best with your skin tone," says Kakashi. "As for the cut, we feel that the silver color may weigh you down if we kept your hair at its current length, so cutting it shorter was the only remedy."

"I can understand that. . ." I say as I fall back in line, satisfied with what I was getting. "And now only Tenten and Ino remain."

"Ino, please step forward," Tsunade orders, my fellow blonde immediately doing as she was told. "Will you be accepting your makeover?"

"Um . . . no."

You could hear a pin drop thanks to how silent the room got.

"Um, did we just hear her right?" Temari asked, undeniable shock written on her face as she glared at the back of Ino's head. "Did she just outright refuse her offered makeover?"

"Trust me. Your ears are definitely working." I say, as I sneaked a look around at the rest of the group. Most were as shocked as we were about Ino's decision. Even the more stoic members of our group were baffled, with Gaara and Shikamaru wearing matching wide-eyed stares, and Shino's eyebrows having gone up a visible inch since Ino last spoke. The only one that didn't seem shocked was Sasuke, who looked amused over this latest turn of events.

Considering he was more focused on winning than on making friends, he was probably thinking about having to worry about one less contestant in the coming days.

"May I ask why you have decided to refuse your makeover?" Tsunade decides to ask, looking as if she was reserving her judgement until she heard the truth from Ino herself.

"I know that declining makeovers tends to be a taboo in this competition, but I truly believe that I can win this entire thing with the look I currently have right now." Ino answered, sounding firm with her decision.

"And this is your final decision?" Kakashi asked, looking more intrigued than dismissive, a far cry from Yamato's reaction.

The runway coach looked like he just witnessed someone slap his mama, and his grandma in quick succession.

"Yes, yes, it is."

"Alright, you've made your decision, and we respect it," Tsunade concedes, gesturing for Yui to hand Ino's envelope over to her. "TenTen, you're the last one. Will you be changing your look?"

"YEP!"

The solemn vibe that came down on everyone immediately went away when TenTen started jumping for joy at the news she was getting a chocolate brown weave that was going to stretch down to her waist, a nice shot of positivity that we all needed after the bombshell Ino just dropped.

We were soon led into the back of the building, where the rest of Kurenai and Asuma's staff awaited us. We were soon split up between the shampoo and styling areas, well, except for Ino, who followed Kakashi upstairs to get ready for the post makeover photoshoot.

Wait, does it really count as a post-makeover photoshoot in Ino's case?

She did refuse hers after all.

"Okay, what the hell is Ino thinking!?" Temari asks after we got settled in our chairs, which were on the far corner of the styling section. My seat was at the very end, with Temari being on my left and the walkway leading to the shampoo area being on my right. "Has she gone mad?!"

"I guess she has a closer connection to her hair that no one else will understand," I suggest, shaking my head, "But still, even I have to admit her decision was a ballsy choice. She actually refused the makeover, right to Tsunade's face. That takes nerves of steel to accomplish!"

"It takes nerves of steel, but that doesn't mean you should actually act on such nerves!" Temari argues, just as her stylist comes up wheeling the products for her dye job. "She just committed a taboo! Refusing a hairstyle is pretty much a cardinal sin in this competition!"

"It is, but you heard Ino back there. She believes that she can win with how her hair looks right now, and well, more power to her," I say, slightly impressed. "Me, I would have never done such a thing, but if Ino thinks that she can win without a makeover, then let her prove it!"

"She's going to have to survive the next elimination first," Temari reminds me as her stylist wraps a smock around her front. "Those who end up refusing their makeovers always end up in the bottom at the very next panel . . . Ino pretty much reserved her spot by declining her makeover."

"But remember, did all those other competitors ever get the chance to decline their makeover like we did today?" I ask, knowing that she knew the answer as well as I did. "No, they didn't, but we did, and the only person to buck the trend was Ino. . . Can you really penalize her for choosing something that was offered?!"

"Okay, that's fair," Temari concedes as my stylist, a blue haired man who styled his hair into a neat bun, came over with his own little portable station in tow. "But still, this is not a decision that the judges will forget. . . They will have questions for her come panel."

"Oh, no doubt," I say, lifting my chin up so that it wouldn't get caught on the smock my stylist tied around me. "But panel's for another day, let's get through today first, shall we?"


A/N: Please review!

Also, below is a breakdown of my thinking for each makeover.

Gaara - I really loved Gaara's look in Naruto The Last so that's what I'm giving him here.

Izuka - Silvery blonde is one of my favorite shades of blonde, and I didn't want my OC to stay a pale, ice blonde, so I thought silver blonde was a nice medium. As for how short her hair will be, it'll likely be mid-length, likely stopping halfway down her neck.

Suigetsu - I like his hair just the way it is in the manga, so it'll stay that way here.

Sakura - I know she's had long hair before, but that was in the very early beginning of the manga and I wanted to go back to that look here. I was never going to change her hair color. It's just her thing.

Neji - Wanted to keep it long, but not too long.

TenTen - She gets no breaks in canon, so I gave her a break here by giving her a weave. She's going to look so fabulous that Neji will find it hard to keep his pale eyes off her!

Kiba - I like Kiba's look in Boruto, so I decided why not go with that?

Lee - Can you really imagine Lee without his bowl cut? No? Me neither!

Naruto - Same boat as Gaara. I liked his look in Naruto The Last, so I'm bringing it here.

Temari - I thought a lighter shade than her usual color would bring out the beauty of her eyes.

Shikamaru - I was never changing his hair to a drastic degree, so a trim should suit him well.

Matsuri - I wanted someone to get a curly weave, so I'm giving it to her!

Choji - That mane of his he has in Shippuden - though I like it - had to go for this story. I think making his hair slicked back and neater - a la Boruto - would be a good idea.

Hinata - The bob she has in Boruto was too suburban mom-ish for a model competition, so I figured a more angular style bob would work for her.

Ino - I had to drum up some controversy somehow, and out of all the remaining competitors, Ino seemed the most likely to refuse her makeover. As for what it would have been, you just have to wait till the next judging panel to find out.

Shino - Same boat as Shikamaru. I like his hair but wanted to trim it.

Kankuro - Kankuro with black hair. . . Need I say more?

Sasuke - I hate the duck ass of a hairstyle that he has for most of the Naruto canon, but I do like his hairstyle in Boruto, so that's what I'm going with.