Disclaimer: Naruto and co are not owned by me. We owe the existence of this series to the ever reneverable Kishimoto-sama, and the respective people that make the existence of an English speaking fan base possible. I'm not that great at this, but I hope to improve in the future. So any type of comment is welcome, even negative ones so long as they're honest and point out the problems. I've revised this chapter according to the suggestion of Bunch-o-Nuts-san, so I hope it is better. If not, please tell me how I can fix it. Arigatou.
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Kunoichi and Shinobi
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The difference between a kunoichi and a shinobi is,
that a kunoichi is always looked down upon for being a female.
This is not necessarily a bad thing.
I heard my aunt Tenten complaining to my mother the other day.
She resents my uncle Neji for believing that she is weak
just because she is a woman.
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During dinner time later that day, I told my mother what I thought.
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"I don't think girls are weaker than guys. They just think we're weaker,
but they're wrong. And it's not necessarily a bad thing, ne? This means we have an advantage.
After all isn't it in the shinobi rulebook that you should never underestimate your opponent?"
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"That's true… However, Hikari, you should never forget…
that a man is always stronger... physically at least"
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I don't think I entirely believe her. Once I saw a female ninja from the Hidden Sand,
literally blow half my class away because one of the guys insulted her to her face.
I hid underneath the desk for that particular experience.
But I will never forget the look on the sensei's face when he challenged her,
and was defeated in one swipe of her gigantic fan.
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At first, there was some hype about punishing her from the sensei.
He complained to the Hokage. But of course, when Naruto told him who she was,
Temari of the Sand, he shut up right away.
You can't exactly punish the Kazekage's sister without considering the diplomatic consequences.
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"Besides," Naruto said, "Even I wouldn't want to challenge her to a fight."
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No, I don't think all females are weaker then men, only some.
I plan on being better than most shinobi. I plan on one day surpassing my father,
and perhaps even that evil uncle of mine, who I shall not mention by name.
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I plan on doing so in my own way, of course.
Not by killing anybody, much less my best friend.
Killing my best friend would be a pretty hard thing to do anyways,
considering that my best friend is a Hyuuga, and a mighty good shinobi at that.
I do plan on beating him one day. However, that kid never stays still.
Pretty much, he never stays down for over ten minutes. I swear,
every time I knock him unconscious for being overly perverted,
he just gets right back up again. There have been countless times I've wondered
how he's a Hyuuga? But the answer to that, is a long story.
Needless to say, he's quite annoying... but I've gotten used to it.
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This is also one of the reasons why I don't think men are stronger than women.
They can
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"Mother, it might be true that a shinobi is often physically stronger,
but doesn't being smarter count for more?"
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"Yes," she smiled, "It does count. But we women are also emotionally stronger.
Because of this we live longer than men. That is our ultimate advantage.
Strength counts for nothing
to one who is no longer alive."
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At this, she did not smile anymore.
I think she is remembering my father.
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My father sacrificed himself for the sake of this village.
In doing so however, he also sacrificed his own life.
I think my mother still resents him for that. She says she forgives him, but
after all, he did leave her all alone in the world,
with the burden of me to boot.
If it had not been for the rest of the rookie nine, mainly the kunoichi I might add,
I doubt I would even be here today.
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It is true that it was uncle Lee who ran and got Tsunade in time for the birthing to begin,
or at least that is what grandpa Gai told me, but it's not surprising
considering he is the fastest shinobi in our entire village.
However, it was Ino, Tenten, and Hinata who stood by my mother for emotional support.
Ever since I can remember, it has been aunt Ino who's picked out all my clothes
whenever she and my mother go out shopping.
I don't buy clothes particularly often; it's a waste of time when I could be training.
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Aunt Tenten is the one who started training me when I first started at the academy.
She is so good with weapons, and her chakara strings are so handy.
I can do them too now, just not as well as her.
She tells me that with enough practice my aim will be as good as hers.
She seems to have a natural talent at it though…
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I have to practice controlling my chakara.
I already do it better than most other shinobi, including Hizashi,
my Hyuuga friend who I've mentioned previously.
However, it is still not as good as my mother, who controls her chakara almost perfectly.
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Because we live in a shinobi village, the hospital is almost always busy.
Due to this, my mother hardly has time to even eat dinner with me,
always on those emergency calls,
much less train me to be the excellent ninja I wish to be.
So aunt Tenten trained me during my academy days.
She told me that it was her duty to Sakura as her friend to help train me.
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Of course, she herself often has time to train with me because her two sons,
Hizashi and Hiashi are always training with their father in the gentle fist style of the Hyuuga.
This is natural, since uncle Neji is the strongest shinobi in their clan.
At first, she didn't know what to do, but then she got a great idea.
My initial training during the academy days consisted largely of hunting and fishing,
fishing to improve my chakara string control, and hunting to improve my aim with the kunai.
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I've made quite a lot of money from the furs I brought back from the woods.
I've made a name for myself as a hunter by bringing in at least five or six tiger or bear pelts a week,
in addition to monkey pelts, and the occasional poison sac from some of the snakes and giant insects I kill.
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My aunt Tenten always intervened if she thought the animal was too strong for me to handle.
This did not happen often, I am proud to say.
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Because I became so well known for my hunting skills,
after graduation, I was put into the survival and scouting group as a genin.
This incidentally is causing me to spend more and more time at the Hyuuga compound,
because Hizashi happened to be put into the same team as me.
This is a good thing, considering it is always aunt Hinata who patches me up after training.
She doesn't feel that I need to trouble my mother for small wounds such as these.
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I think I understand why my mother says that we women are emotionally stronger.
Every time Hiashi or Hizashi are emotionally troubled at all, they go to aunt Tenten, or aunt Hinata.
They rarely if ever go to their father for emotional support,
unless it is something that only another guy can understand, which then in most cases they rely on each other.
My mother also relies on her female companions for emotional support.
She rarely if ever goes to uncle Naruto or uncle Lee.
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Aunt Hinata is a very kind person, always giving encouragement, compliments and is wise in many ways.
She speaks softly and has a gentle touch. She also makes very good salves and herbal medicines.
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Many times, I've gone into the forests and mountains surrounding Konoha to gather herbs for her to use in her medicines.
This has helped me immensely with my agility, and I guess has always been somewhat of a training experience.
She always sends Hiashi with me on these missions though, just in case I ever get hurt.
It seems I'm always the one pulling him out of messes though,
like the last time he somehow accidentally bumped into a bee's nest.
It seemed an awfully convenient time for my sharingan to activate for the first time,
and I managed to burn the bees off of both of us with a jutsu I just learned from a textbook.
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Even Hiashi was impressed, and he's as hard to please as his father.
Of course it never impresses him when I'm able to get a particular herb,
in a particularly hard to reach place, that he is unable to get to.
Nor does it impress him when I can adroitly squeeze past a crevice
that he has to blast his way through.
He just practically attributes it to the "smaller size, and greater agility of kunoichi",
and claims that if it wasn't for this there would be no use for female ninjas.
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What nerve! I'll show him how much stronger a female ninja can be…one day.
I still haven't managed to win more than four out of ten matches against his younger brother,
and Hiashi is actually a lot stronger. But as I have said before, I take my blessings as they come,
and I'll use whatever advantages I have, whether it be smaller size, greater agility,
or even the underestimation of the opposite sex.
But the most important of all, is that I'll use my emotional strength,
because in the end that is what counts the most.
No powerful jutsu, not even the immortality no jutsu was able to defeat a person who just didn't give up.
That is the power of emotional strength. And as such, I will never give up my goal.
After all, "that is my ninja way".
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