Title: A Little Pain
Summary: At the age of 7, there were a few things Hinata Hyuga was sure of. One, her father, Hiashi Hyuga, was the strongest shinobi she knew. Second, just the thought of her having to one day make decisions for her entire clan terrified her beyond belief. Third, her younger sister Hanabi, at the age of 2, was very easy to impress.
Hinata Hyuga never wanted to lead her Clan and when she is stripped of her title and essentially an outcast in her home, she finds solace in the brief comforts of a pink-haired girl named Sakura. Though little did Hinata know that losing her heiress title would send her life spiraling down a path of self discovery, bravery, and the realization that changing yourself is a possibility is the most powerful jutsu of all. But... perhaps stopping yourself from fainting whenever you happen to be around your crush is a start. And convincing the entirety of Konoha that it's first all-kunoichi team won't be a complete and total failure should be prioritized before any of that.
[;';]
From now on, Author's Notes and Comment Responses will take place at the end of the chapter!
Disclaimer: Large pieces of the information used for the Konoha Clan book are all taken from the Naruto wiki page on Clans and the various individual pages about the Uchiha and Hyuga Clans.
Chapter 4: Meeting Sensei
Lunch had just ended and Iruka-sensei still had yet to arrive and there was an argument on who would be the one sitting next to Sasuke. It wasn't the first time that an argument like this had taken place in class, but it had stung the very first time Hinata had seen Sakura joining the ranks of girls fighting for just one seat. Looking at the scene now, Hinata had decided it was still a bit of a sting to watch. But like someone crying at recess over scraping their knee, Hinata could never bring herself to look away. Not completely.
"A forehead that big?!" Some random girl had stuck her nose up. "As if Sasuke-kun would ever like someone with a forehead like that!" Hinata felt her mouth open and then close. There weren't any words coming out despite what she had been thinking.
Don't talk to Sakura-san that way! And then Sakura and Ino would both be impressed that Hinata had came to Sakura's rescue against the bullies that still plagued the class over the topic of Sakura's forehead. Now that Hinata was older, she could admit she could see how people found it so large. But to the ten year old Hyuga, it was a cute forehead. Sakura's forehead. And if she had mustered the courage to say something against Kaori, Hinata thinks the girl's name is, it would be a stepping stone to becoming friends with the girls she had admired for so long.
Especially Sakura. Hinata felt her cheeks warming. But instead of remembering the daydream she was having earlier when she was walking to school about holding Sakura's hand (sometimes in that daydream Ino would pop up, teasing the two of them for acting like her parents. Other times, it was just her and Sakura, and they would just talk about anything. Like Hinata's training and Sakura telling her to not work herself too hard, before Hinata lost her right to being the family's heiress that is.), Hinata looked to where Ino was- and the flush dissolved instantly. And the warmth was replaced with cold.
Ino was smirking, arms crossed. "That's right, Sakura!" Ino said cruelly, but Hinata saw something in Ino's bright blue eyes. Was it hurt? Or maybe it was something else entirely, Hinata wasn't sure. "You might as well give it up now! Sasuke-kun would never date a girl with a Billboard Brow ! Right, Sasuke-kun?" Ino looked at Sasuke with a wild smile looking for some kind of response, but the boy promptly ignored her as he'd been doing all the girls in their class.
Hinata gasped silently and her lavender eyes quickly snapped to Sakura, whose face was warming and her jade eyes were wavering. "That's not true at all! You, you… You pig! Sasuke-kun would rather date a girl with a big forehead than a girl who looks like a pig!"
Hinata felt her jaws dropping. Was she seeing this right?
Ino's face lit up with shock before contorting into that of anger, "What did you call me?!"
"You heard me!" Sakura snapped, her red ribbon bouncing to her head movements. "You're a pig! A porker!"
"Well you're just a crybaby!"
"Yeah well-"
The insult battle was forced to a halt when Kiba Inuzuka, Akamaru scampering right behind him, ran into the class. "Guys, Iruka-sensei is coming!" The room went chaotic as everyone scurried to find any seat that was open before their teacher got here.
Sakura sat two rows ahead of her and Hinata felt shaken as she saw Sakura lay her head on her arms which laid atop her desk. Was Sakura crying? Then she looked over at Ino, whose face was red with anger but Hinata swore she could see Ino's eyes glistening.
At the end of class, Sakura had bolted for the door quickly while Ino stayed behind.
Hinata's chest was full with dread as she hoped that the two girls would make up and be friends again by next class.
They never did.
[;';]
"And finally, Team Ten will comprise of Shikamaru Nara, Chouji Akimichi, and Yuna Hamada." Iruka finished, this time there were no uprisings of upset genin wanting new teammates. "For those of you still upset about your placements, I suggest finding ways to cope and bond with your teammates for they're going to be the people you spend the rest of your lives depending on with missions. " Ino swore that Iruka had given her a look and crossed her arms indignantly. "And if there is no trust, there's no way your missions will succeed, or at the very least, succeed smoothly. So I'm going to leave this time that you have to eat lunch, which will be an hour, to enjoy your time getting to know your new teammates before your sensei arrive to take you to your team training grounds.
"I'm so proud of you all for making it this far." Iruka smiled. "I expect great things from all of you." With a final nod, Iruka taped a paper of the newly established teams on the chalkboard and left the room to let everyone soak in who'd they'd be 'spending the rest of their careers with'.
Ino rushed over to the front of the room, shouldering past someone. Ino Yamanaka, Ino Yamanaka, Ino Yamanaka- Ino scanned down the paper to find her name. Maybe this was just supposed to be a test from Iruka and it was just a prank and Ino was actually placed on a d- Ah hah, Ino Yamanaka! Ino's eyes dimmed almost immediately. There was her name right underneath Sakura's.
She was officially on a team with Billboard Brow Sakura.
Ino looked over her shoulder to glare over at Sakura who returned it evenly. Just great. Stuck on a team with her rival, the Billboard Brow know-it-all- Ino whipped her blue eyes over to her other teammate who was shyly looking down at her thumbs. And the quiet one. Ino couldn't have picked a better team for herself to make her breakout career. What was Iruka-sensei thinking?! If there had to be a team she could be placed on that wasn't with Choji or Shikamaru, something her dad said could very well happen, Ino was hoping it would at least be with, well-
"Enjoying your new team, Ino." Ami said coyly from her seat.
"Oh shut it." Ino snapped, in no mood for Ami's remarks. She never liked the girl and the only thing Ino could have had to lord over her today would have been being on the same team as Sasuke. At least there were other quips. "You're lucky I don't have any flowers with me to use you as a makeshift vase again. Remember that? Because I sure do."
Ami flushed red, mouth gaping angrily.
Ino just walked away with her nose in the air, she could at least be more mature than Ami right now.
She could still be better than Sakura even if they were on the same team, right? Right. Ino just had to just act like this wasn't bothering her at all. In fact, she had almost made it to the door to go off and eat lunch when-
"Hey, aren't you gonna wait for your teammates and eat with them?"
Why am I even in the same class as him? Ino wanted to pull down her eyes in irritation as she looked over to where Naruto was sitting with Hinata. "No offense, but I spent a good chunk of my life getting to know everyone in this class. So I don't think I actually have to eat with either of them." She glanced away cooly, but from the corner of her eyes Ino could see Hinata looking back down at her hands with a frown. She felt a prick of guilt, but she shoved it back down. She could be upset about her placement on this team if she wanted to be.
Naruto made an insulted face. "Hey, you don't have to be rude!"
Ino felt a tinge of guilt, but she was too irritated to apologize after everything had happened. From the ribbon to the stupid team placement. She could apologize and make amends with Hinata later. At the very least, Hinata hadn't ever done anything wrong. She was just a victim of circumstance in Sakura and Ino's ongoing rivalry. "I'll be sitting with them anyway after lunch so get off my case, Loud Mouth."
"Listen here y-"
Ino ignored the boy as she abruptly headed for the door, ignoring the growing feeling of guilt in her stomach.
Sorry Hinata.
[;';]
Sakura remembers being around seven or eight years old when she really caught notice of Hinata Hyuga.
At the time, Sakura had still been pretty shy and she had yet to become friends with Ino. So she spent most of her time, if she wasn't busy getting picked on by her classmates, in the classroom sitting off to a far corner to herself where it relatively easy looking at everyone else. Off to the opposite end of the room in another far corner in the back sat Hinata. She was quiet, meek, basically everything Sakura was at the time.
She looked pretty normal and cute, someone Sakura could easily imagine being popular like Ino and the rest of the cool crowd with her dark hair and light eyes. Yet Sakura never actually worked up the courage to talk to her, but Hinata hadn't reached out to Sakura either. So they never became friends. In fact, Sakura couldn't really remember Hinata making any friends.
Nor does she really remember Hinata being someone actively chosen for any class projects
Then at recess, she always managed to swiftly disappear somewhere so Hinata often was able to escape potential bullies.
The next thing Sakura knew about two years later it was winter and Sakura had been playing hide and seek with Ino and some friends when her efforts to hide from Kiku lead her to Kenta, Atsushi, and Ganta picking on Hinata. So gathering the courage that was had been growing since her first official meeting with Ino, Sakura had decided to try and give Hinata a helping hand.
Major emphasis on 'tried' because Sakura had only managed to get beaten up herself until Ino had come and chased them off for good.
After that, Sakura can't say that she and Hinata really interacted ever again.
Sometimes Sakura had caught Hinata staring in her direction sometimes before Hinata would suddenly look away as if she hadn't been looking in the first place- Sakura's jade eyes narrowed- but she could have easily have just been looking at Sasuke.
Hinata didn't have a crush on Sasuke too, did she?
She glanced over to the girl under scrutiny before she sighed tiredly. Ino had just stormed out the room and regardless of the problems Sakura had with her, Hinata didn't have anything to do with it. She certainly didn't deserve Ino trying to act too cool to be on the same as them either.
Sakura looked to her left at Sasuke who still hadn't said a word since the teams were made. Apparently he was just that unphased by anything, off in his own world. Most of everyone else was still chattering away, surrounding the chalkboard. It was the perfect time to really say anything to the boy and hope for the best, now that there was no one to interrupt them.
Then Sakura looked over to her right and saw Naruto making an effort to cheer up Hinata whose face looked considerably gloomier than it normally did. Not that Sakura really focused on Hinata's face before this but-
Sakura glanced at Sasuke again.
Then she sighed.
Her parents would want her to do the right thing, Sakura stood up. And Iruka-sensei's right. We are going to be stuck with each other, so we might as well try to get along even if Ino wants to be catty right now.
What did it matter anyway. Even if Hinata was crushing on Sasuke, it wasn't like either of them would spending a lot of time with him now. Yet it also wasn't like they'd completely be unable to see Sasuke either. So Sakura could try impressing Sasuke some other time.
"- so don't let her get you all depressed, she's just hissy cause she isn't on the same team as Sasuke." The blond's blue eyes were concerned as he patted Hinata on the back.
"... right." Hinata replied but her eyes remained on her still hands, Naruto's words of reassurance having no effect. When did they start becoming friends? Sakura decided to make note of the strange development and ask Hinata later. Since when had she and Naruto become friends?
"Uh hey, Hinata!" Sakura smiled, trying to look as presentable as possible. Considering her outburst with Ino, she had a distinct feeling she hadn't made the best impression. Naruto and Hinata looked over at her, both of them flushing for distinctly different reasons. Naruto because, well Sakura knew he had a giant crush on her. And Hinata was probably just embarrassed to be caught upset. Or maybe she was upset Sakura was trying to talk to her? "Sorry about earlier, it's not you. It's just Ino. I'm pretty sure the two of us will be great teammates."
"I-I um…" Hinata's hands started flittering about as she stammered over her words. "Me too…"
Sakura felt her smile become a bit more genuine. At least Hinata wasn't completely put off by the idea of them being on a team. "Sorry about Ino too. She gets like that sometimes, but I'm pretty sure later she'll have her crabbiness all sorted out."
Hinata glanced back down at her hands. "It's… fine."
"... Great!" Sakura wasn't sure what to really say next, her smile feeling stiff as Hinata avoided looking her in eye.
Naruto chuckled and tipped in, Sakura could almost say she was happy about it. "Hinata-chan's pretty shy sometimes, but she's pretty nice!" The blond said cheerfully. "You'll like her a lot, Sakura-chan!"
"I bet." For Hinata's sake, Sakura stayed cordial with him. Plus, it wasn't like Naruto was really doing anything wrong for once. "So Hinata, did you want to eat lunch together? I know we're missing Ino but at least two out of Team Eight could actually do what Iruka-sensei said. We never really talked before." Hinata's face flushed even more- was she really that shy around people?- but she still managed to a smile a bit as she nodded. Sakura hadn't brought her own lunch for once, so they'd have to buy something from the cafeteria. She glanced at over Naruto, trying to keep her tone leveled and free from being less than pleasant. "Were you going to come and eat with us too?"
Naruto's face seemed to glow like a light bulb. "Really?!"
"Unless you were going to eat with your new teammates too." Sakura added, not entirely sure if she was ready to spend an entire hour eating lunch with Naruto.
Naruto's face fell into one of dismay, "As if, I wanna eat lunch with either of them!" Hypocrite!
"Ah, Naruto-kun, that's not very nice to Asahi-san." Hinata said clearly with a sheepish smile, her voice lacking any kind of scolding nature to it. It was still as soft as it was when they were ten and in the forest, Sakura noted, barely changing over the years. "You should really try to get along with both of your teammates too."
Naruto groaned and crossed his arms behind his head as he leaned onto the back of his seat. "Don't try to sound like Iruka-sensei!"
Hinata only seemed amused by her friend's statement while Sakura rested her hands on her hips. "You should totally take her advice, Naruto. You're going to be working with them for a long time." And one of them just so happens to be Sasuke-kun, shannaro! You should be happy!
"I guess." Naruto said half-heartedly.
"Then Hinata and I are gonna go ahead to the cafeteria." Sakura said decidedly. "Later, Naruto." Sakura then smiled at Hinata directly. "Let's go before all the good things get taken." Hinata fumbled, but she stood up before giving Naruto a wave goodbye and following Sakura out of the classroom.
Maybe the two of them could become friends. Even if Hinata was happy with her friendship with Naruto, just having one friend had to be depressing. Sakura would know. It wasn't like she really had any friends in the class now.
After her friendship ended with Ino, Sakura had turned her focus onto growing out her hair, learning about makeup from her mother, and focusing on her grades. So that left no real time for trying to be friends with any of the girls in the class if they were all vying for Sasuke's attention. So she had acquaintances in the classroom, buddies for note exchanges if Sakura ever needed to help someone who had missed a day of lessons.
But no real actual friends.
….
Sakura looked over at Hinata with another smile. "Hey maybe after meeting our sensei, we should go somewhere to celebrate!" She announced. "Like to a dango shop or shopping for clothes to wear on missions." And maybe they could do each other's nails! Hinata didn't seem like the type to enjoy that kind of activity but Sakura was sure they'd find something in common.
Hinata blinked, surprise. "You want to do something with me?"
Sakura gave her a playful nudge. "Well yeah." She said it like it was as clear as day. "We should obviously do stuff together outside of missions so we actually get to know each other. Like shopping and stuff."
Hinata looked away with her cheeks a light shade of pink. "I don't really go shopping."
"Oh." Well there goes that. "Well what is something you like?"
"... Flower pressing?" Hinata mumbled out after a moment. "My mother taught me how."
Flower pressing? Sakura repeated. With her quiet and shy demeanor, flower pressing did seem like an accurate hobby for Hinata to have. Although, it was not a hobby Sakura would really invest in. To be honest, that's something Ino would probably like. Sakura somehow managed to not scowl at the thought of anything Ino-related. So maybe Hinata would enjoy Ino's company in that regard. "That sounds really pretty! Do you flower press a lot?"
"Um.. yes. I have a lot of notebooks." Hinata still wouldn't look in Sakura's direction as the walked, but there was a small smile on her face, her voice was warm. "Since I was seven. My mother she really likes ikebana… So I got to press what she didn't use."
Sakura tried envisioning Hinata's mom. With nothing to go off of, the only thing that really came to mind was just an older Hinata with longer hair. But who knew how accurate that description could have been. Sakura had never seen her in person. Ino's mom would probably enjoy Mrs. Hyuga's company though with their enjoyment of flowers. Sakura's own mother, Mebuki, own thumb at gardening was anything but green. Only relying on the Yamanaka's if there was a need for floral decor in their household. Throughout her childhood though, Sakura could only really recall her mother enjoying the presence of silk flowers in crystal jars to actual flowers in their home. There really isn't anything we have in common at all. Sakura clenched a hand into a fist around a part of her skirt. Hinata would find much better company with I- Sakura. Stop. She really needed to curb her Ino-related things. Sakura was going to be the better teammate even if flowers weren't totally her shtick. "I'd like to meet your mom then!"
"R-really?"
"Yeah, I've never flower pressed before." Sakura only barely managed to stop any thought of how Chiaki kept many a frame of pressed flowers around their section of the Yamanaka Compound thought of something else. "Maybe you could teach me?"
Hinata nodded her head quickly, her eyes closed and cheeks looking feverish. Sakura wasn't sure if she kind of face she was supposed to be making but it was something? "But you'll have to go shopping with me and do puzzles. That way it's fair." Mind games were more of Sakura's forte instead of flower pressing, but she could make an attempt to try it out.
"O-okay…"
The silence between them became almost unbearable as Sakura ran out of things to say after that and Hinata started playing with a fraying string on her large coat.
It's gonna be a long time before we ever hang out. Sakura noted uncertainly with a glance at passing tree. Maybe she should have brought Naruto after all, he would have at least filled in the silence.
It didn't take much longer from there to reach the cafeteria where others in different classes had already begun flocking. (They definitely left at the right time to get the good bento boxes.) From there it had taken another ten or so minutes to find a bench a good distance from the crowd to eat. Ino hadn't been spotted, so she must have made quick work of getting to her wherever she had wanted to eat. (She definitely owed Hinata an apology for being a jerk.)
The conversation between Sakura and Hinata, however, hadn't picked up. And Sakura was just about ready to pull her hair out.
Awkward silences just weren't her thing.
"... So the weather is really nice today." Sakura said suddenly, trying to lighten the mood at least a little bit.
"Yeah..."
"..." Darn it.
Sakura kept her sigh internal and took a bite of her meal as she came to the decision that maybe she'd have to settle for awkward silences until Hinata felt more comfortable being around her. It makes sense. Sakura said, mostly in an attempt to relax her own nerves. We barely know each other and we've been classmates for months. Years even and only now was Sakura learning that Hinata had a thing for flower pressing which wasn't really stellar information to go off of if someone were to ask her to talk about all the things she knew about Hinata off the top of her head.
Sakura didn't even really know anything about her Clan other than the fact it was one of the largest and most powerful clans in the village. Oh, and there was the Byakugan eyes they were well-known for as well.
Sakura remembered when she was younger and how when she had first really noticed Hinata, the first thing to stand out about her were her eyes. They had seemed weird at first, the nearly opal sheen and glossy look of them almost akin to paintings she had seen of ghosts. But Sakura remembers it didn't take too long for her to suddenly find them pretty, akin to that of the shimmery pearls her grandmother owned and let Sakura wear a few times as long as she was monitored carefully. When she had gone home that day, Sakura had told her parents about seeing a pearl-eyed girl 'with no dots in her eyes' and they'd explained a brief summary that she must have been a Hyuga because everyone in that clan had those unique eyes.
(Which Sakura found to be true over the years during the times she'd occasionally see a Hyuga walking around the village, all of their eyes just like Hinata's.)
Through the corner of her eye, Sakura observed her teammate. Hinata had barely picked through her food, pale face flushed.
It was like she was skittish rabbit who was ready to leap away at any source of sound or confrontation. It was a huge contrast when she was part of a clan that was the most strongest and secretive clan in the village. That was probably why it was so rare to see them out and about in the village, to keep their secrets to themselves. Maybe I should read about them so I can try and learn a little about her? It was only fair. Sakura had known her fair share about the Yamanaka due to her past experiences with them. And the sudden raise of curiosity made
"U-uh, Sakura-san?" Hinata's voice cut off Sakura's thoughts and when Sakura snapped back into reality, she noticed how much her flush had deepened.
"Yeah?"
"You're- did you want something?"
Sakura raised an eyebrow and cocked her head to the side, "Huh?"
Hinata looked down at her lap for a bit. "You were staring…"
Oh.
Great.
She got caught.
"Er, sorry." Sakura grounded out. "I was just wondering about how to…." Understand you better because you don't talk a lot? Wanting to know what kind of books I could probably find about your clan? "I was wondering how we could best get along since we don't know a lot about each other?" The pink-haired girl said finally. That sounded a lot nicer and a lot less creepier than revealing your intentions to go to a library to learn about someone's family. "I mean, I think the last time we really talked was back when-" Ino and I were still friends. "it was snowy and those jerks were picking on you."
"You remember that?" Hinata's head turned over so fast that Sakura was surprised she didn't hear her neck snap.
"Well yeah!" Sakura giggled. "I got beat up."
"... Sorry." Hinata mumbled, eyes lowering to the ground.
"It's fine though!" Sakura said, holding up her hand that hadn't been holding her chopsticks. "Really! I'm happy that I was brave enough to try and stand up for you." The Sakura from when she was a little kid would have never done that for anyone, not even herself. "It's crazy to think that after all that time we'd end up on the same team." Iruka had said that the teams had been made by matching skills and compatibility. Sakura couldn't really think of what Iruka had been thinking when he thought she'd be a good match for either Ino or Hinata, but maybe it was just something she hadn't noticed being busy with other things.
"So we should make the best out of it." Sakura said at last. "But I guess you probably wanted to end up on a team with Naruto."
Hinata shook her head. "No! I-I mean- well… yes. I-" Hinata's mouth clamped shut. "... I mean I'm not upset if we're on the same team."
"It's okay, when I was little I wasn't really good with talking to anyone either." Sakura said trying to be comforting.
Hinata didn't reply, she just nodded and started to find her food more interesting.
And the awkward silence was back.
Sakura still made the mental note to eventually go to the library after this and to find whatever book she could on the Hyuga.
She briefly considered glancing back in Hinata's direction again, but after the staring incident decided not to. Just in case Hinata was glancing at any given time to see if Sakura would start staring at her again. Someone throw a kunai at Sakura now.
How would this go if she were on the same team as Sasuke, she wondered. Probably a lot smoother.
Sasuke wasn't the type to be around large groups of people, so it would probably just be the two of them. Maybe on this bench since it was pretty far off from everyone else and peaceful, so if they wanted a conversation with each other this would be the place.
Maybe he could be leaning against a tree, looking at her intently with a smirk on his face.
Sakura had to try her hardest not to squeal at the thought of it.
Sasuke was definitely the strong and silent brooder that was secretly very romantic like the love interests of the novels Sakura would read when the librarian wasn't looking (the kind that would have some shinobi on the cover, muscles ripped and sweaty while some girl was in his arms. Sakura enjoyed reading them. For research in order to know what to expect when she actually had to be confronted by her crush on Sasuke).
If only we were actually on the same team now for us to do things like that. Sakura sighed a little, hoping that her disappointment wouldn't be super obvious. Completely disregarding her previous decision, Sakura took a quick peek at Hinata to see what she was doing now anyway.
Thankfully, the girl was still picking at her lunch but her cheeks were pink and a small smile was on her lips.
Huh, I wonder what she's thinking about. Hopefully not Sasuke.
Lunch with Hinata had remained silent much to Sakura's chagrin, but eventually the hour had passed and they headed back to their old classroom. The walk itself, wasn't anything to brag about but at least Hinata seemed a little more relaxed.
Ino had beaten them there, sitting off in her own corner of the room.
"... Should we sit with Ino-san then?" Hinata mumbled, barely audible. The other students were, for the most part, sitting with their newly established teams, talking amongst themselves. Ino looked over at them and Sakura swore that another wave of electricity passed through their mutual glares.
Sakura looked away sharply, leading to a completely different desk. "She can sit by herself if she wants to be a jerk." Even if I'm not that happy about being on this team, at least I'm making an effort! Ino could at least do the same.
"Sakura-chan, Hinata-chan, over here!" Naruto's voice drowned the sounds of everyone else as he enthusiastically waved over to where he was sitting, Asahi right across from him at the table next door. This time, Sasuke was sitting closer to the front of the room. More than likely wary of Asahi unknowingly knocking him and Nauto close to one another again. Honestly a close call. "You can sit next to me!"
"Thanks, Naruto." Sakura said, surprisingly pleasant. Anything was better than dealing with Ino and her attitude right now. "Why aren't you all sitting together?"
Asahi chuckled nervously, "I asked if he wanted to and I kinda got glared at. By Sasuke and Naruto."
You did ruin my and Sasuke-kun's first kisses being together, you little- "Well I guess you guys will get closer eventually." Sakura said, gesturing over to Hinata to take a seat before her, closest to the person she felt most comfortable to.
"T-thanks, Naruto-kun." Hinata stammered, playing with her fingers. Huh...
Maybe Hinata having a crush on Sasuke was something Sakura didn't have to worry about.
"No problem." Naruto grinned. "You guys haven't missed much. I thought a sensei would be here by now but nope."
"Did you have a sensei you really wanted to teach you?" Hinata asked with a small smile.
Naruto shook his head, his dopey look remaining. "Nah, I don't even know who the sensei are gonna be, I just want mine to have a lot of cool jutsu to teach me." He wriggled his headband, looking like he could barely contain his excitement. "Finally, my steps to becoming Hokage are starting now. I bet he'll be the first guy who walks into the room!"
Sakura rolled her eyes but for once, it was out of amusement instead of irritation which it normally was when it came the blond. "Hokage, huh?" The boy had preaching that one day it would happen since their first year in the Academy, perhaps even becoming the youngest Hokage in history. She could hardly imagine the boy before her donning the Hokage robes and giving out command.
Naruto nodded, "You can wear the cape thing I get when the day happens, Sakura-chan." He offered with a bashful expression.
"No thanks." Sakura replied tersely. "I'd rather wear them because I'm the Hokage."
Her three classmates looked at her curiously, Naruto gawking moreso than looking curious. "Wait, you wanna try and be the Hokage too!? Sakura-chan, you can't!" He almost looked defeated.
Sakura squinted, "Why not? Is it because I'm a girl?"
Naruto shook his head rapidly, throwing his hands up defensively. "No way!" He exclaimed defensively. "You'd be a great Hokage, it's just..." Naruto trailed off, his face scarlet. It was so weird knowing when a boy actually had a crush on you. Maybe one day they could be friends, but Sakura couldn't see herself marrying the blond, orange-and-blue loving boy sitting a head away from her at all. Sakura looked Hinata in the eye, smiling a little. Don't worry, I'm not gonna try and marry your crush. She tried to mentally project to her teammate. When Hinata suddenly blushed in shocked and looked down at her hands, Sakura was sure that the message had been received. "Anyway, do you wanna be the Hokage too?"
"Nope." Sakura said with a pop of her lips, taking her eyes away from Hinata's blushing form. "I wanna be something else."
"What is it?" Naruto questioned.
"It's a secret." Sakura grinned as the boy flopped over the table in disappointment. It really wasn't. Honestly, Sakura didn't know what she was going to do with her future. It kinda got blurry between becoming a kunoichi and the eventually becoming Sasuke Uchiha's girlfriend part. What do I want to be? The thought rang against her mind loudly as the realization of never having thought about it before catching up to Sakura's present.
"Team Six." The voice of a man brought Sakura back to reality as her head looked to the classroom entrance closest to the chalkboard. "Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame, and Ami Nishimura?"
Sakura relaxed with a sigh and said mostly to herself, "I would have panicked if our sensei was the first person to walk in." Hinata softly agreed while Asahi lightly said something about his and Naruto's own sensei not being the first to make his grand entrance.
Not too long afterwards, more a few more sensei came one by one, calling out the names of their students.
"Team Two? Hikaru Takashi, Hanabi Kamishiro, and Agito Heiwajima."
"Team Nine-"
"Team Four-"
"I'm here for a Team Ten." The most recent man, someone Sakura recognized surprisingly to be the youngest son of the Hokage, Asuma Sarutobi, announced. "Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akmichi, and Yuna Hamada. Looks like you kiddos are stuck with me."
Sakura sighed in disappointment. "Lucky." She whispered. Getting trained by one of the Hokage's sons was probably one of the best sensei matches someone in their class could get. Our sensei better be someone cool! Sakura crossed her fingers under desk, hoping it would at least be someone with some kind of similar status in their class. "I wonder when our sensei is going to get here."
"Who are you telling?" Naruto grumbled, looking more disappointed than Sakura felt. "This is taking forever. And it isn't like they're even coming in order so it isn't like we can even guess when they're coming!"
"Maybe they're busy?" Hinata suggested, sounding hopeful.
More than likely, they were. It didn't make waiting any easi-
A beautiful woman with long wavy black hair and crimson colored eyes walked into the room stopping Sakura's train of thought. "I'm the sensei for Team Eight, Kurenai Yuhi." The woman announced. "Hinata Hyuga, Sakura Haruno, and Ino Yamanaka."
Thank the gods! Sakura could barely stop herself from jumping to her seat. Their sensei -Kurenai- was beautiful. Kurenai smiled when she caught the eye of her two of her students and Sakura felt nervous as she gestured to Hinata to hurry on over. "Later Naruto, Asahi." As she went ahead, Sakura could make out Hinata giving her own farewells to the boys.
"And I'm guessing my students are you three lovely ladies." Sakura took a glance behind her seeing Ino there. Team Eight were finally all together. "Then I suggest that we get a move on so we can get to know each other."
It all seemed like a blur before Sakura found herself sitting on a patch a grass under a small tree with her team, their sensei sitting on a bench across from them. "So," Kurenai said at last with a clap of her hands. "congratulations to the three of you for finally graduating and making history as Konoha's very first kunoichi three-man cell. This is something very exciting and new. And while some of my colleagues have mixed feelings about this, I have no doubt that the three of you are going to make wonderful kunoichi. But before that, I think some introductions are in order." Kurenai's eyes skimmed over the three of them.
"Like I said before, my name is Kurenai Yuhi. I place a lot of pride in my abilities and I would say that my strongest points would have to be that of my genjutsu techniques and intuition." She gestured to the three of them. "Now I would like to hear about the three of you."
It was quiet for a moment, Sakura scrambling for something to say that would sound impressive.
Ino, sadly, beat her to the punch. "My name is Ino Yamanaka!" Her nose in was pointed high in the air as she crossed her arms proudly. "When I wasn't busy training at the Academy, I was helping my parents run the family flower shop. I'd say that being smart is definitely my strong point." Her blue eyes were wide as she waited for any gesture of approval and when Kurenai nodded, Ino pumped her first silently as she glanced to give Sakura a look that shouted 'Try and beat that, Billboard Brow!'
I will! "I'm Sakura Haruno. I passed with one the highest grades in the class and I'm really great at memorizing things. I even memorized the Shinobi Code in one day!" The very first day Iruka had passed out the sheet containing that code to the entire class and Sakura had read each sentence carefully until bedtime in order to get them all committed to memory.
"Very impressive, Sakura." Kurenai praised. Sakura giddly didn't even bother sparing Ino a look of victory, this round went to her.
Sakura brought her knees closer to her chest and looked over at Hinata, waiting patiently.
The girl looked absolutely mortified, nothing coming out of her mouth.
Hinata... Sakura winced, from the corner of her eye she could see Ino oozing her own sympathy for the girl. Public speaking was probably not one of her strong points. It's going to be okay. She tried telepathically projecting again, hoping that Hinata would look up from the grass she was tearing up from the dirt and feel reassured. Hinata's eyes stayed glued to the ground instead, eventually stammering out a "Hi.. Hinata Hyuga" before going back to deathly silence.
Sakura was grateful herself when Kurenai didn't press the blue-haired girl to say more. "It's very nice to meet you three."
"When do we start missions and stuff?" Ino twittered, hand high in the air. Sakura was sure it was to get rid the tension of the air.
"You're going to have to start training first." Kurenai said with a playful expression. "While I do appreciate your eagerness, running into missions head first with no form of training wouldn't be the best move for three genin fresh out of the Academy."
"When do we start training then?" Ino countered. "I'm ready to go and start hitting stuff with combos!"
"Well not today." Kurenai replied, her crimson eyes darting to Hinata for a heartbeat. "I think we've all had enough excitement today and that you all deserve to tell your families about the events of the day. But tomorrow we'll be meeting here and the real training starts so I suggest heading home immediately to get some rest. And depending on how tomorrow goes, maybe we can get something to celebrate."
Sakura felt a small glimmer of disappointment but nodded anyway, glancing over to Hinata hoping to catch her eye. "Are you okay?" She mouthed when she did, almost immediately.
The lavender-eyed girl pressed her lips together and nodded, but Sakura felt doubtful all the while.
Sakura crashed onto her bed.
Talk about a long day.
Today had been her first official day as a kunoichi and instead of being on a team with Sasuke Uchiha as she longed for for months, she was on a team with two other girls; Ino and Hinata. Considering the entire talk about moving past the shadow she still felt she couldn't shake off from her times as Ino's friend, it was complete and utter irony.
"How did the day go, dear?" Mebuki asked when Sakura had entered the front door. Her honey blonde bangs were pinned back and she had discarded the long sleeved shirt she had been wearing earlier that morning.
"Fine, Mom!" Sakura said, already trying to head to her room. Mebuki made quick work of stopping her daughter.
"Fine?" Mebuki repreated, incredulously. "You've finally been promoted to genin and got your three-man cell, and you don't want to tell me more?" Mebuki placed her hands on her hips, in that 'mother-y' way that Sakura could never find a word to describe it. "Tell me who your teammates and sensei are!"
Sakura looked for her father to save her, but his blue eyes were looking expectantly at her as well. "No boys, I hope?" He tried looking stern, but then he chuckled. "Well, I guess the boys are expected. But if they make any moves on you, just tell your old man and I'll take care of it."
"Uuuuugh, Dad." Sakura rolled her eyes. "I'm on a team with Ino and Hinata." Sakura added after a second, "Hyuga. So you don't have to worry about any boys." Her parents eyes lit up in surprise at that last part.
"A Hyuga, eh?" Kizashi said, touching his stubble thoughtfully. "Their eyes were quite useful on the battlefield." Kizashi had remained a chunin, never going anywhere in his career as a shinobi from what Sakura was told. Then he retired to be a merchant after an injury left him with a limp and settled down with Sakura's mother. When she was six, Sakura remembered how Kizashi would let her wear his headband and how she felt like she had received some kind of power boost. Now her dad did nothing but crack wisecracks and wanted her to stay five forever. "You'll be very lucky with that girl on your team. She's the daughter of the Hyuga's head, isn't she?"
Sakura glanced down at the couple of books in her arms. True to her own personal promise, she had gone to the library and asked on books on the Hyuga Clan. She was only able to get two. A book on Konoha's Noble Clans ('a second, updated edition' the librarian emphasized) and one about all of the clans originating from Konoha in general. The information was very limited as the librarian said that the Hyuga were a clan that kept their secrets to themselves. But some information was better than nothing.
Mebuki nodded. "And to think you're on a team with Ino." Sakura felt a spark of irritation as she looked as her mother who had a concerned look on her face, hand over her mouth thoughtfully. "Are you sure?" Why wouldn't Sakura be sure about that? It took a lot not to voice that opinion aloud, instead reconfirming who her assigned teammates were.
"Yeah. Iruka-sensei said they wanted to try making the teams more diverse this time, so we're going to be Konoha's first kunoichi three-man cell."
"Oh dear. I wonder how Inoichi is taking this." Mebuki said, mostly to herself and then she looked at Kizashi who shrugged.
"If these are teams that Lord Hokage approved himself, he'll just have to bite his tongue." Kizashi said, a rare moment of seriousness taking him. "Sakura and Ino are good friends, so Iruka must have been going off of something like that." Sakura had almost cut in to make it clear that she and Ino were definitely no longer friends, but her mother had beat her into saying something to Kizashi instead.
"Yes, but the InoShikaChou exists for a reason." Mebuki's eyes were full of concern. "Her being on the same team as Shikaku and Choza's sons is something pre-determined by default since their abilities are honed to be compatible in combat. Sakura doesn't have anything like that."
Sakura felt her temper flare. "I'm just as good as Ino!" She snapped and her mother looked back at her in surprise, as if she'd forgotten that Sakura had even been there in the first place.
Then she tried to go back over her words. "Sakura, honey, I'm not trying to say that your skills are inferior to Ino's, just that-"
But after that, Sakura hadn't been in the mood to talk any longer and stormed upstairs to her room and locked the door. If her parents were still downstairs talking, Sakura didn't care. It was nice knowing how little of her abilities they thought she had.
I'll show those guys!
Sakura could punch her pillow.
Instead, she just looked at the books she had, spread out to her side. She could just distract herself instead; that always seemed to work wonders for her back in the Academy.
With a huff, Sakura picked up the smaller of the two books to begin skimming; Konoha's Four Noble Clans.
Introduction: Clans
The Four Noble Clans of Konohagakure no Sato
I. Aburame
II. Akimichi
III. Hyuga
IV. Uchiha
Other Notable Clans of Konoha
Introduction: Clans
A clan, in the loosest sense of the term, refers to a family or group of shinobi who form a basic unit of a shinobi village. A majority of these clans were mercenary military forces even before the First Shinobi World War. The Senju Clan and Uchiha Clan were the first known clans to have agreed to settle and form a shinobi village, facilitated by creating agreements with the daimyō of the land they inhabit. Many clans would follow the example of the Senju and the Uchiha, later establishing the Five Great Shinobi Countries as they are known today.
Membership in a clan is usually determined by blood relations and genetics, which is vital in the usage of kekkei genkai and secret techniques. These attributes and abilities made many clans feared and renowned throughout many villages. While clans may be composed of many individuals and extended families, many clans are small, limited to a nuclear family. In regards to the largest Clans, they can almost be compared to that of a secret society, having their own secret techniques, laws, policies, and much more. As such, the information within these pages are considered public information that non-members are allowed to know.
In each of the Shinobi Countries, there are a number of clans that exceed all others in terms of power both physically, in strength and numbers, and politically. These clans are referred to as 'Noble Clans', Konohagakure containing four of its own two of which having two of, if not the most, strongest Clans in recorded history; the Hyuga and the Uchiha.
Sakura felt her heart thumper in excitement when her eyes landed on the finely printed kana that read 'Uchiha'. Sasuke-kun's clan. And the last name she would write on the pages of her diary when she would write about her dream wedding where she'd become Sakura Uchiha. Her father walking her down the aisle, her mother wiping away at her tears with a small handkerchief.
Sakura turned hurriedly flipped to the page where the Uchiha passage began, admiring the large red and white paper fan onto it. At the bottom of the page, Sakura's eyes caught a glimpse of a footnote under the main text.
"Uchiha" is another way of pronouncing "uchiwa" (paper fan) written as 団扇, hence the Clan's symbol.
Sakura Uchiha! Sakura's heart squeezed as she contained a squeal, trying to imagine the day she would have the symbol of this Clan somewhere on her clothing. Hell yeah I will!
Focus Sakura, focus. Sakura took a deep breath, closing her eyes trying to shove away the thoughts of her dream red and pink ceremonial kimono that she would undoubtedly wear to her and Sasuke's wedding. You're supposed to be reading about the Hyuga remember? Sakura opened her eyes, reluctant, but making no move to turn the pages back to where she could find the information she was originally looking for.
...
Well it wouldn't hurt to read about the Uchiha first. Sakura coughed, ignoring the small smidges of guilt. She would still read about Hinata's clan, even if it would take a moment or two.
IV. The Uchiha Clan
One of the oldest clans, the Uchiha were one of the founding clans of Konoha alongside the Senju. Like the Hyuga, the Uchiha are descendants of the Otsutsuki, particularly through that of Indra Otsutsuki, the eldest son. Hence making the Uchiha and Hyuga distant cousins. Once the holder of the strongest clan title in all of the shinobi village of Konoha, there are now currently two recorded Uchiha remaining in history. Their former title is now held by that of the Hyuga, with whom. The title the Uchiha once had is largely attributed to their power and abilities, the Sharingan especially-
Sakura cut herself off there and the giddy feeling she had in her chest was gone.
She remembered when one day, Sasuke hadn't come to school. It wasn't something that major in all honesty. There were times when some classmates wouldn't come to class because they'd caught a cold. Still, the female population of the class had been worried since the class crush hadn't been there. Then Sasuke stopped coming to the Academy for a solid two weeks.
When he eventually came back, he'd been different. A lot quieter than he already would be in class. He was the most distant Sakura had ever seen him be in her life.
Then it was through sneaking to the bathroom after bedtime that she had caught her parents gossiping about it. About how Sasuke's entire Clan had been killed and that the mass funeral would be happening soon. The black garbs everyone wore that day even more unsettling than the darkness of the hallways she used to fear before her parents would leave the bathroom light in case Sakura would wake up in the middle of the night. Sasuke wasn't spotted anywhere present.
It was suddenly hard to swallow, Sakura's mind drifting to her own parents. Her anger from before dissipated completely. Sakura couldn't imagine losing her parents, let alone an entire clan of family and neighbors in the span of one night and just being alone. The book said there was only two Uchiha remaining, but Sakura had never seen another Uchiha aside from Sasuke around the village. She never knew what happened to them. She wanted to ask Sasuke. But she knew she wouldn't; she couldn't.
Sakura bit her lip. I should finish reading about Hinata's Clan. She decided, going back to her original plan, skimming until the pages until she caught a glimpse of a large flame painted inside of an odd triangle, semi-circle contraption.
III. The Hyuga
One of the oldest clans in the village of Konohagakure, the Hyuga are descendants of the Otsutsuki Clan, through Hamura Otsutsuki, and the largest political figure in the village outside of the Hokage and the elders. The Hyuga may be considered the most secretive of Konoha's clans, guarding their techniques about their eyes ferociously . Their fame and prowess stretches far and wide, leading others to both praise and covet their abilities; specifically surrounding that of their kekkei genkai, the Byakugan.
The Byakugan, gives them extended fields of vision and the ability to see through solid objects and even the chakra circulatory system, amongst other things. Members of-
[;';]
Hiashi Hyuga was no normal man, of that, Kurenai was certain as she stood in front of the man who didn't even spare her any sort of look even after waiting for what seemed like an eternity for someone to announce to her that she could speak to the Clan head.
"What was it that you wanted with me." Hiashi spoke coolly, back rigid as he stared down at the crumpled form of what Kurenai presumed to be his youngest daughter. Their similar features were almost uncanny.
"I believe your oldest daughter has been placed onto to my team." Kurenai replied evenly, ignoring fact she was interrupting a training session. She had seen the man's daughter a few times before, but until today she had never known her name and the fact that the heiress of a clan was on her team was an unsettling decision.
"What of it." The man didn't hesitate with his own counter. Harshly, he barked out an order for his daughter. "I said 'stand', Hanabi." The girl struggled to get to her feet, clasping her kunai tightly.
Kurenai's eyes narrowed, "Hinata will be under my command from now on." She answered calmly, temper flaring just beneath the surface. "I just wanted to know if you were sure about this. I was originally told that Clan Heirs don't maintain a genin status." The man said nothing. "Hinata is your successor." She added firmly. "And even as a genin, missions come with a high chance of death. Are you really prepared for the risk of losing your h-"
"Do what you want with her. If she dies, then it was in her destiny to have a short career as a genin." His tone was cold and uncaring and at that, Kurenai couldn't contain the small gasp that escaped from her lips. He couldn't possibly be serious! "That girl is a failure who couldn't even beat her sister, five years her junior. My clan has no use for such a person."
Kurenai opened her mouth to retort then closed it, gritting her teeth.
"If that was all you wanted to discuss then you may leave now." Hiashi told Kurenai crisply. "We're busy here."
Kurenai spun around hotly and leaving the two behind in the training room when she caught a flash of navy blue. The anger melted swiftly when Kurenai looked sharply to her left and saw Hinata in her compound clothing, dejectedly looking to the Hyuga grounds ahead. Kurenai didn't have time to say anything before the girl quickly paced away leaving Kurenai alone to hear the sounds of Hanabi's grunts and the sounds of steel hitting a hilt behind her.
The anger flared again.
Those girls would be the best Konoha would ever see, Kurenai would make sure of it.
Author's Note: OOOOF, sorry it took so long to finally update guys. I kinda went on an unintentional hiatus and with my newest fanfiction projects suddenly coming into play, the guilt of leaving one that I've been wanting to finish since high school on the back burner finally caught up to me. So finally chapter 4 of ALP is finally here! I'm having a lot of fun writing this story (and definitely a lot more fun imagining all the events playing out lmao instead of actually typing out stuff to get there). Thanks so much for anyone who was still here hoping that this would eventually be updated and still favorited and followed the story, so big shout outs them at the end of the AN and Comment Responses. I usually do it a different way, but since there were a lot of users this time, I made a list.
This chapter to me was fun due to one, not only having fun writing from Ino's perspective but writing from Queen Sakura's perspective. When it came to Ino's part, I was really focusing on that feeling where you can feel yourself being nasty or brat but can't really stop yourself. Even if these guys are all ninja and trained to kill, at this point they've never been outside of their village and they're all in the very emotional 12-14 year old range, so I wanted those scenes to have their own impact with the characters emotional states. I've also put a lot of thought into the eventual team dynamic of this New Team 8 for the future. But also because if there's one thing I love working on in any type of writing, it's world lore. Especially for fanfiction. It makes me feel like some ancient historian. I also feel like if it weren't for the InoShikaChou (which will play a big part for this half of the story) and Ino and Sakura being on the same team, they would have been able to rekindle their friendship faster. So I'm going to have fun with that.
Comment Response:
Guest: Thanks for being the first reviewer of the story! I thought that all around, a team like Neo Team 8's had a lot of room for potential and unexplored character dynamics. As much as I loved Naruto, Kishimoto had his weaknesses as a writer, primarily in writing romances and with his treatment with most of his female cast. So I wanted to improve on that (and on my old version of this story which is still available on my account if anyone wants to read it. I apologize for how bad it is in advanced). I think the stupidity of Sakura and Ino fighting over a guy is dumb as well, but I still think it was something important to keep in the story since it truly was a petty reason to end a friendship and Hinata being that outsider wondering what happened really seems to add to that tension. ALP is really going to focus on that dynamic of friendship and teamwork first while romance, which there of course will be, takes a secondary focus.
JyuneFuma: I'm glad you thought it was all written so well! Outside of ALP and the original prototype of this story, Catch My Breath, I've never written regular Hinata and Ino's perspectives (but I have for their RtN versions) so I really hoped that this would be enjoyable for anyone reading, you know? In CMB, I completely skipped over writing over Hinata's losing her title of being heiress due to the fact that 'Well everyone already knows she lost her title as heiress', but I never stopped to think about writing it from Hinata's perspective of losing it all and having to work from the ground up and really touching on the fact that sometimes it is harder to change than one might think. I hope to see you comment again, sorry for the long wait!
writegood: Thanks so much for being someone from the old story! Glad to hear my writing levels went up, because honestly... the cringe of it all makes me go christ 14/15 year old Me. You needed help.' But at least it's still fun to look back on since I kept the OG fic up still. Kind of as a reminder, I guess, that anyone can hone their writing style. In the filler, Hanabi kinda had her mind blown when she would peek on Hinata and Neji's training and found out about the curse seal that way and ended up becoming more focused on her training and confused. So I really wanted to hint towards that and what Hinata might have been feeling along with taking the Butterfly Effect approach of changing one thing in Hinata's life (Kou deciding not leave her to play around Naruto) leading to something completely different. I hope to see your name in the comments section again really soon!
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