Rivals and Reinforcements

The next day was the day we finally began sparring matches and I was both nervous and exited. The excitement came from finally being able to go all out in a class because let's face if Naruto couldn't take out civilian children with ease jinchuriki or not there is no way he'd be able to survive all the shit he did. But I was also nervous because I have no idea how to fight at all. I know the stances that I'm supposed to use put I don't know how they work. So I figured I'd just have to wing it.

"You know I seem to be doing that a lot lately." I muttered to myself.

It wasn't long until we reached the sparring ring. Ago-sensei cleared her throat "Alright now listen up! We were supposed to start sparring matches yesterday but due to certain... developments we had to start them today instead. Choji Akimichi and Kiba Inuzuka would you come to the center of the ring."

Both boys entered the ring silently "You clan kids will go first so you can demonstrate how these matches work understood?!"

"Yes Mam!" They both said fearfully.

"Good now begin!" Ago commanded.

The match didn't last for long Kiba was too fast for Choji to catch and was easily thrown out of the ring by Kiba's swift attacks. Ago nodded and wrote a few things on her clipboard "Shikamaru Nara, and Hinata Hyuga you're up next."

"Ugh what a drag..." Shikamaru muttered "Hey I'm not going to hit a girl so can I just not fight?" He asked.

Ago grit her teeth "If you're not going to fight back then I hope you don't mind getting your ass kicked. Now begin!"

"So-sorry about this." Hinata said apologetically as she threw Shikamaru out of the arena.

Ago sighed and wrote something else on her clipboard "Sasuke Uchiha and Shino Aburame you're up next."

Me, Ino, and Kiba immediately gained sly grins "Oh man that's amazing!"

"What are the chances of that?" Ino asked.

"I'd say it has to be pretty rare." Kiba said.

"Wait what are you guys talking about?" Choji asked.

Shikamaru sighed "Troublesome, they're talking about how Sasuke seems to be obsessed with one upping Shino."

"Finally I can pay you back for what happened yesterday!" Sasuke said excitedly "Nobody makes a fool out of an Uchiha and gets away with it!"

'If you only knew how wrong you are.' I thought.

"I won't apologize for upsetting you." Shino said "Why, because we were only playing a game and it's not something to get upset over."

"Oh! I'll show you!" Sasuke said determined to defeat Shino.

"Begin!" Ago called.

Sasuke began the fight by charging at Shino who easily sidestepped out of the way. Sasuke then threw multiple punches and kicks that Shino Sasuke could punch faster then Shino could block and he landed a kick on the Aburame's chest.

Shino was sent stumbling back but he didn't exit the ring so the fight continued. While everyone else was focused on the fight I was looking everywhere else to see if I could spot any of Shino's insects. I smirked when I spotted a small army of ants marching towards the ring. "Oh Shino you crafty bastard." I snickered.

However it seemed that I had underestimated Sasuke as he jumped into the air before the ants could reach him. Sasuke attempted a drop kick but luckily Shino dodged it with a swift sidestep.

Then for seemingly no reason Sasuke began to swat the air in front of him. "Now what's going on?" Choji asked "This whole fight is confusing and hard to follow."

'Welcome to the world of ninjas, where nothing makes sense.' I thought.

Shikamaru sighed "There are flies circling him, Shino's probably using them as a distraction." Shikamaru explained.

"Is that even aloud?" Sakura asked.

"I only said that there was no jutsu aloud, besides there's no real way to prove that glasses is controlling the bugs for all we know this is all one big coincidence." Ago explained.

"Oh... I guess that makes sense." Sakura admitted.

Back at the fight Shino took advantage of Sasuke's distracted state and landed a powerful gut punch sending the Uchiha stumbling back. Shino didn't waste any time and the second Sasuke stood up he was swarmed by butterflies of multiple different shades and colors both disorienting him and impeding his vision.

Shino tried to throw Sasuke out of the ring but when he got close a fist popped out of the butterfly swarm and knocked Shino back once again. "How did you know where I was?" Shino asked.

"My clan's full of Dojutsu users, I may not have the Sharingan yet but we've been training our eyesight for our whole lives. It'll take more then that to disorient me." Sasuke boasted.

"Wait... how do you train your eyesight?" I asked.

"I... actually don't know..." Sakura mused.

Shikamaru sighed "It might just be a Dojutsu thing because I don't know either."

"Stupid Uchiha bullshit" I muttered.

"Sasuke took a second to glare at me before focusing his attention back onto Shino, who was quickly approaching him. A swift duck protected him from the first strike, but he was unable to dodge the leg sweep that came right after. Sasuke stumbled back to the edge of the ring and Shino charged in an attempt to end the fight.

Sasuke got back on his feet quicker then Shino expected however and an unexpected roundhouse threw the Aburame out of the ring. "Sasuke Uchiha is the victor!" Ago called.

Shino sighed when when unexpectedly Sasuke reached out to take his hand. "Hn, I knew you wouldn't win against me but you were still a pretty decent fight."

Shino took his hand and Sasuke lifted him off the ground. "Yes we'll I suppose we don't really know whose stronger. Why, because the no ninjutsu rule limited both of our capabilities."

Sasuke smirked "You, me, Uchiha compound after school, I want a rematch."

Shino nodded "I'll be there."

The two left the battle field and Ago called the next two names "Since we don't have an even number of clan heads I'll have to pair Yamanaka with a civilian." Ago explained "So would Ino Yamanaka and Ami Kuma step into the ring."

"Wow is today full of perfect outcomes or what?" I asked.

"Yeah it's like it was planned or something." Choji agreed.

"Maybe Ago sensei was also tired of Ami's bullshit and decided that this was the only chance she had of seeing the girl getting the shit beat out of her." Kiba suggested.

"It was actually a random outcome." Ago explained "However I won't deny that I'll enjoy watching that little brat get her comeuppance."

"Humph do you hear that Ino? She thinks you're a brat." Ami sneered.

"She was talking about you!" Just about everyone yelled.

Ino smirked and cracked her knuckles "Oh I'm going to enjoy this."

As I watched Ino demolish Ami I couldn't help but wonder how much Ino's personality change would affect canon. Ino had started the 'fight' with a punch to the chest which had connected easily. Quickly learning that she had no chance of defeating Ino she ran away my from her frantically.

Her chance of escape however was futile as Ino was simply too fast for the bully to escape from. She was hit by a barrage of leg sweeps, gut punches, roundhouse kicks and punches in the face.

As I watched the onslaught however I found myself wondering if any of these small changes would affect canon in some way. I already know that I've fucked up canon in one way since Shisui would have to be an absolute dumb ass to die to Danzo after I warned him.

"Ah not the face!"

"Yes the face!" Kiba cheered.

Eh fuck canon this is definitely the preferred outcome.

"Isn't this a bit much?" Sakura asked.

"No!" Everyone including Hinata yelled.

Ago blew her whistle "All right, you've had your fun now let the girl go."

Ami limped out of the ring and winced both from the pain and the lack of sympathy from her peers. Meanwhile Ino was being congratulated by her group of friends while Ami could spot her own rooting against her. "Ago sensei I'd like to go to the bathroom."

Ago sighed "Fine kid, but head over to the nurse right afterwards."

Ami nodded and limped back into the academy.

"You didn't do anything to bad to her right Ino?" Sakura asked.

Ino looked at her appalled "I'm not a monster Sakura. Sure I hate her but I wouldn't actually try to hurt her. We were sparring so things were bound to get a bit rough."

"Yeah I guess you're right." Sakura said "I'm going to check in on her anyway."

"Well have fun with that." I said absentmindedly "Now which one of these kids are going to be my victim?"

Sakura rubbed her temples and silently headed inside the academy.

Ami had always thought of herself as a pretty popular girl. She thought she had everything she ever needed. She thought that every guy wanted her and every girl was jealous of her. It was truly amazing how a single day destroyed her entire worldview.

She thought that she was above everyone else, when in reality she was at the bottom. She was beneath Choji who she had called fat, she was beneath Shikamaru who she thought was lazy, beneath Hinata, and Shino, and Kiba. She was even beneath Naruto. Somehow the dead last had become more popular then her.

Ami looked at her self and instead of showing pride her face was ridden with disgust. It wasn't because of her hair, which was still dyed orange, and it wasn't because of the numbs and bruises that now covered her body. In fact Ami didn't really know why she felt disgusted, all she knew was that she couldn't bare to look herself in the eyes.

That was the state she was in, broken and sobbing, when Sakura found her "Ami? Are you in here?"

"Oh great what do you want?" Ami asked.

Sakura sighed "Hey I'm sorry-"

"For what?" Ami asked "What do you have to be sorry for? If anything I should be the one apologizing."

"Look" Sakura said "my friends can be a bit... intense and I know Ino didn't mean to hurt you..."

"That's not it!" Ami cried "I don't care that she hurt me! It was a sparring match and I lost, it's no reason to get upset."

"Then... why?" Sakura asked.

Ami hugged her knees "Mom and Dad said I was perfect. They said that there was nobody better then me and... I really did believe that. And maybe if it were just you guys cheering I could've shook it off. I might have said 'Oh look at the losers so proud of themselves' or something like that. But the whole class was rooting against me, Ago sensei was rooting against me, my friends were rooting against me and... it just really hurts."

Sakura grit her teeth not really sure what to do. Just the other day this girl was insulting her and now she had to comfort her as Ami sobbed on the bathroom floor. "Well I..."

"I'm sorry..." Ami croaked.

"Huh?"

"I'm sorry I made fun of your hair..." she said "It was just so pretty."

Sakura blushed slightly "what do you mean by that?"

"Your hair is much prettier then mine." Ami said "But I thought I was perfect so I didn't want you to think your hair was nice. I was jealous, I made fun of Shikamaru because he's smarter then me, I made fun of Ino because she's more popular then me, I made fun of Hinata because she's nicer then me" Ami laughed as tears rolled down her face "I was even jealous of how Naruto could be much happier then me. I'm not perfect... I'm not even average." Sakura gave her an awkward hug unsure of what else she could do "What are you doing?"

"Trying to make things better." Sakura said "Is it weird?"

"Yes it's weird." AmI deadpanned.

Sakura laughed "I don't really get why your jealous of us though. We're just a bunch of friends hanging out."

"Cou- could I be your friend?" Ami asked "I don't think I have any anymore..."

Sakura but her lip "Sure... But you have to promise to be nicer!"

"I promise"

The rest of the day was boring and uneventful with Mizuki dead Ago and Iruka had to fill in for his classes. Iruka was still a bit out of it but seeing as he bounced back relatively fast from his betrayal in canon so I'm sure he'll be back to normal sooner or later.

But the real fun began once school ended after Shino joined in me and Ino's feud everyone wanted to take part in it. Well almost anyone that is, Sasuke decided to stay neutral and Shikamaru help obligated to help Ino after the whole ramen incident. Choji was also on their side to keep the Shika-Ino-Cho trio together and Sakura was obviously also on Ino's side.

With me However was the aforementioned Shino, Kiba who unlike Shikamaru had already gotten me back for the ramen prank by using a pack of Inuzuka dogs to wake me up at five in the morning. And even though Hinata wasn't usually a prankster as an active supporter of all things Naruto she immediately took the chance to join my team. We had agreed to keep our fighting outside of the academy but the second the bell rang and we left the gates everything was fair game.

A lesson that I learned a tad bit too late since I had been covered in a black powder the moment I stepped out of the academy. "What in the world is thi-achoo! this stuff?" I asked.

Kiba sniffed the air "Ahchoo! That's definitely Akimichi pepper."

"Damn, they were one step ahead of us." I grumbled "I guess I should have expected that with Shikamaru on their side."

"Well what do we do now?" Hinata asked.

"We have to counter attack." I answered "Shikamaru will be expecting us so we'll have to do something" I smiled sinisterly "unpredictable."

"Alright what's the plan?" Kiba asked.

I took out a book titled 'A beginners guide to medicine' "I found this is in the library I figured that knowing how different medicines worked would help me out when I started making poisons."

"That makes sense." Shino said "Why, because medicines and poisons are made in a similar way."

"Exactly" I said "but more importantly I found these" In the center of the page was a round white pill and around it were a list of ingredients and steps to make it. "This drug can put any person to sleep instantaneously, doctors usually use it for surgeries but if we can get Team Ino to take some..."

"It would be the perfect revenge." Kiba finished with a savage grin.

"You guys are weird." Said Sasuke who had watched the whole thing.

"Ah whatever your input doesn't matter anyways you're neutral remember." I said dismissively.

Sasuke rolled his eyes "Whatever I'm heading back to the compound, Shino you promised me a rematch remember?"

Shino nodded "Yes I remember, I'll help you out with your revenge tomorrow then."

"It's fine, it would take a while to get all the stuff ready anyways. Not to mention we have to find a way to trick Shikamaru and that's a whole other can of worms." I said.

"Right I'll see you tomorrow then."

The next day finally rolled around and me and Shino took our usual seats "So how was the match with Sasuke?" I asked.

"I won" Shino answered honestly "Why, because he tried to fight me without burning any of my bugs so he couldn't go all out."

"So same problem as the sparring match huh?" I asked "I guess it makes sense, unless you have a way to make those things fire proof I don't see how you two could really go at it."

"Fire proof... I'll have to look into that." Shino mused.

It was then that everyone's least favorite person decided to make her presence known however there was something clearly different about her. While she normally showed a disgusting amount of self confidence and pride she now seemed nervous, and while she usually wore expensive outfits today she wore a simple t-short and shorts, but most surprisingly was that she had dyed her hair orange. Either that or Ino pranked her again since all of the purple blotches that appeared from Ami's last attempt to undo Ino's prank had disappeared.

She then startled us further by bowing and saying "I'm very sorry for how I treated the both of you and I hope you could forgive me." At that point everyone in the room was staring at her with their mouths agape as Ami went from row to row apologizing to her past victims before sitting at her desk with an incredibly red face.

"That was... weird." I said "what do you think got into her?"

"Perhaps she wanted to do something different." Shino suggested.

"Yeah I guess... hey wait a minute!" I said when I realized just what Shino told me "that was my line!"

"I have no idea what your talking about." Shino said stoically.

"Shino your my best friend but I really hate you sometimes." I sighed.