SUMMARY: Other characters get some screen-time.
I won't be able to update for the next few days (probably until Wednesday) so I'm posting four chapters (Part 13 to 16) now.
Ino is a good Kunoichi.
She knows to arrange flowers, how to seduce people - she is pretty, it often doesn't take more than that and how to be competent enough to catch a boy's interest but not enough that he is scared of her.
Ino isn't a good Shinobi.
She hasn't ever tried to be.
She doesn't need to be.
She is a Clan heir.
And a Yamanaka.
She will be part of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio.
It all goes to plan.
And then, against all odds, two clanless children make it to Genin.
Ino didn't really look at them before - no point in getting attached if they are going to leave.
But they don't.
And Ino - who socialises with everyone but doesn't really have 'true friends' - is interested.
But it is hard to approach them.
Sumire is open but she is open like the sea - there is always something hidden below the surface.
Sakura plays shogi with Shikamaru but even then, she never gets anything out of him.
Naruto is the easiest to approach but he's so...
Naruto.
Ino can't stand him for more than five minutes a day.
She doesn't know how the other girls manage it.
Still, she watches their gentle touches and exchanges and it feels like something she is not supposed to see.
They are friends.
Ino doesn't know how to make friends.
She knows how to gossip, how to smile, how to manipulate but she doesn't know how to make friends.
So she keeps her distance.
The next time she sees them, properly sees them, not just in passing is at the Exams.
They pass the first round and the second and then Ino is facing Sakura in the third round.
They start with physical blows.
Sakura is strong.
She knows how to hit.
But she does in it in a weird way, not like what they learnt in the Academy.
Ino swears she sees her flinch.
Sakura is a civilian.
Perhaps the instinct hasn't quite been drilled out of her yet.
People say civilians are weak.
Ino agrees - they need Shinobi to protect them.
It is a mistake.
And then Ino makes her second mistake - she tries her clan technique.
She wishes she hadn't.
She doesn't understand what she sees at first.
Then she gets it.
Realisation is heavy and painful.
Sakura - the quiet and logical girl - is broken in the scene.
Sakura - her classmate - is hurt.
Sakura - the girl who she wants for a friend - is falling apart.
And Ino cannot move, cannot do anything.
Ino knows enough about minds to realise it is not a fabrication.
She wishes it was.
But it was a memory.
And she finally, finally understands why Sakura clings so close to Sumire and Naruto.
How she can tolerate the boy.
Because the other two helped Sakura piece herself together.
Ino knows Sakura would have managed but the point is that she didn't have to.
Ino wishes she had never known.
Because, now, she has to face the truth.
The truth is neither kind or unkind but this one hurts.
And Ino begins to understand.
She does not know whether that is a good or bad thing.
It hurts.
But she can't go back to not knowing.
She doesn't have a choice.
Sakura didn't have a choice.
In comparison, Ino asked for it.
It still hurts.
Baki does not know what to do.
He is loyal to Suna.
And by extent the Kazekage and his children.
And those children become his Genin.
His Genin who decide going against their Father is worth it.
For what?
Five brats from Konoha?
He doesn't tell anyone.
They are still his Genin.
But he is also loyal to the Kazekage.
So he cannot support them.
But who is he first?
Their Sensei?
One of the Kazekage's Jounin?
He doesn't know.
So he follows them.
Watches them talk to the Konoha Nins they have befriended.
But he doesn't see Nins.
He sees happy children.
And Baki decides.
That night, he pledges his loyalty.
For better or worse.
Gai beams.
He has long since decided that he would rather smile and joke than cry and rage.
He knows the others think of him as an idiot.
But still, he continues on, as unfazed as possible.
Then he meets Lee.
His Youthful boy - his son in everything but blood.
He watches the boy grow and when it is time for him to take a Genin team, he pleads for the boy.
This boy will go far with his encouragement.
He teaches the boy all he can.
He teaches the Hyuuga and weapons specialist too.
There is Youth in everyone - he must simply coax it out.
He teaches them all he can.
But he cannot teach them to live, to love.
Then he finds Lee on a rooftop.
With 6 other Genin.
The next day, Tenten is there too.
Gai has never seen anything so youthful!
So when their Senseis - oops Sensei and Anko finally approach him, he is ready.
Anko threatens him!
She clearly cares about the Genin - how Youth-
"If you say youthful one more time!" there is a senbon in Anko's hand.
Gia would continue but he doesn't want to anger Anko.
She is simply trying to protect her Genin.
How Youthful!
He cheerfully flees from Anko as she begins to -
That senbon almost hit him!
Anko is helping him practice by keeping him on his toes!
How Y-
"That's it!"
Kabuto sighs.
It is annoying that he must always drop out before becoming Chunin but it is what Orochimaru-sama ordered.
Kabuto is good at following orders.
Life is so simple when he has missions.
He knows exactly what he needs to do.
But sometimes, he wonders if he is doing the right thing.
Would Nono be proud of him?
She is dead.
He wonders if he should kill the Uchiha.
Kabuto is not merciless.
Unless ordered otherwise, he treats the prisoners as politely as possible.
They hate him all the more for it.
But what can he do?
He is Kabuto.
Servant of Orochimaru-sama and secret Oto Nin.
Nothing else.
He cannot allow himself to be anything else.
Anyone else.
He can't.