Why the hell did the Academy start so damn early? How the fuck was a woman supposed to enjoy Konoha's vibrant nightlife if she had to get up at the asscrack of dawn? Anko had hidden herself in the back of the classroom with some basic genjutsu before class, so she could observe her potential students' natural behavior as their sensei Iruka lectured.

Anko reached into her trench coat and pulled out a notecard on her students. Hinata Hyuga, the only female Hyuga in the class. Liked to dress all conservative, lacked self-confid- Who gave a shit about all that? She knew what a fucking Hyuga looked like. Anko found her mark quickly enough. She was huddled silently in the back of the classroom, about three arms lengths from the closest student, like touching him would give her cooties. Eh…

"Who was the First Hokage?" Iruka asked, breaking up the monotony of his lecture.

A pink-haired girl raised her hand eagerly. "Uchiha Madara," she said proudly.

"Correct," Iruka said. "Good answer, just what I'd expect from my brightest student."

The girl preened, in a way that was already fucking annoying. Oh-ho the rest of kids must've really hated her. Sakura Haruno. Anko had never heard of that last name. Pink hair though… Made it easy to remember her. She was in the front of the class, hanging onto every word of the lecture. A teacher's pet then, as Anko had been. Good…

Okay last was Naruko Namikaze… Namikaze, she felt like she'd heard that name before… Meh… She couldn't remember exactly, but she was pretty sure that Naruko was a second generation shinobi. Maybe her parents had taught her a few ninjutsu. Blonde, pig-tails, orange jumpsuit and three whiskers on her cheeks… Naruko was chuckling evilly, stirring something under her desk with a stick, rather than listening to the lecture. She'd even placed a manga in her textbook, so whenever she was done with whatever she was doing, she could continue to not pay attention. Anko found that hard-workers tended to work diligently no matter what they were doing, and slackers half-assed regardless of the circumstance. If Naru-whatever-her-name-was couldn't even be a good student, there wasn't a chance in hell she'd be a good shinobi.

In terms of first impressions: Sakura showed promise, Hinata didn't, and Naruko really didn't. Anko grinned. She was gonna fail the fuck out of them.

The bell rang, and all the students filed out of the classroom. Except Naruko, who had hidden underneath her desk. Probably for some juvenile prank or some shit like that. Anko prioritized Sakura, and followed the girl into the hall. The pinkette was chatting up a pretty Uchiha boy as he stuffed his textbooks into his locker. Apparently the spoiled little fuck didn't think they were important enough to take home with him.

"Hey Sasuke," Sakura said, holding her textbooks tight against her chest. "I've been struggling with my shuriken jutsu. Do you think maybe, you could, I don't know…" She giggled nervously. "Everyone says you're the best at shuriken jutsu, at everything really, we should train together sometime."

So that was Itachi's little brother. One of the so-called prodigies, the so-called future leaders of Konoha. Well the little fucker reached into his pocket and pulled out a planner. That apparently, he needed on hand, he needed to keep his dates straight more than he needed to learn ninjutsu. "Hmm…" Sasuke scratched his chin thoughtfully. "I've got a training session with Ino. Then tonight I've got dinner with Tenten. Maybe lunch tomorrow? You'd pay of course."

"Of course Sasuke," Sakura cooed, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Sasuke glanced at her hand, looked her up and down, his stare lingering on her textbooks. "Actually, I only go out with kunoichi," he said softly. "I think you're cute, but if my father sees me with a civilian girl I'll never hear the end of it. Sorry. Nothing personal. Maybe in a different world."

Sakura frowned as the pretty boy walked away, into the arms of a pretty blonde Yamanaka. She murmured something under her breath. But she wasn't down for long. She caught sight of a boy in a white kata, and ran right next to a handsome Hyuga.

"Hey Neji," Sakura said, catching her breath. "I hear you're really good at taijutsu. Maybe you could show me some moves sometime?"

"No," Neji stared down his nose at her, like she was some dogshit he had to clean off his sandals. "And that is to your irritating flirtations as well. You lack the talent and will to become a worthwhile kunoichi, and I find your appearance quite repulsive as well. Especially that ostentatious forehead. Decease your advances at once."

Sakura frowned, but hopped right onto the next boy. She put a hand on a tall Aburame. "Hey Shino-"

"No," the Aburame walked away.

This had to be one of the most pathetic things she'd ever fucking seen. A small part of Anko wanted to step in and stop the girl from humiliating herself any further, but the much larger part of her wanted to see just how low little Sakura could droop. The sorry fangirl went crawling for the skinny little Nara, who didn't look like he wanted any part of her.

A dinosaur-looking, middle-aged sensei interrupted Anko's show, when he came charging out of the classroom with big globs of orange paint mucking up his green chunin vest. Okay, now that was the most pathetic thing she'd ever seen! How the fuck could you let a fucking academy student get one over on you and still call yourself a shinobi? "Who did this?" The instructor barked, a vein popping out of his forehead, grabbing an Inuzuka boy by the collar.

"Hahaha!" Naruko Namikaze pointed at the pathetic instructor. "C'mon Bekko, you know I'm the only one who could do something so horrible!"

So, that was what she'd been doing in class. Stirring some paint so she could dump it on some uppity instructor. Clever, cunning, and especially idiotic. If she treated herself like a joke, a class clown, then that's how her shinobi career would turn out.

Bekko charged the girl, but she disappeared in a blonde blur. The girl danced in front of some lockers, flashing away as Bekko slammed into them headfirst. She slipped around him diagonally, as he darted after her through the hallway. She gleefully swayed from his grasp, as he threw his hand through a door. She let out a happy laugh, like she was having the time of her life. And really, Anko had to say, where the fuck did she think she was? This was Konoha. They didn't tolerate that kind of shit here.

Bekko growled, and ripped his hand out of the doorway, his forearm splintered and bleeding. His hand shined blue as he activated the girl's seal.

Naruko screamed like she'd taken a kunai to the eye, falling to her knees, clutching her forehead like it was burning. The x-shaped seal glowed green, as her Caged Bird Seal activated.

Anko questioned what exactly Naruko had been expecting. There was a reason Konoha shinobi were so fucking disciplined, so fucking polite all the time. Piss off somebody of higher rank, and it'd feel like your forehead was splitting open. Konoha's strict hierarchy was a pain in the ass, but necessary for the village to function…

"Who is this girl?" Anko asked Bekko, voluntarily breaking her concealment jutsu.

"She's a mediocre kunoichi. More interested in pranks than anything serious," Bekko said, dropping to his knee to address Anko. "A worthless slacker and a troublemaker, not a good girl like Sakura here."

Sakura preened.

Anko hated 'em both. She had seen their type before. Naruko was the classical orphan. Parents both dead, so no attention at home, and without any real talent she had to get her attention somehow. So she pulled pranks and made jokes to try and get someone to notice her. And Sakura, she was a little more self aware. A civilian girl who knew her time at The Academy was running out, who knew her only chance at the glory of the shinobi world was to get hitched with a genius. She was a golddigger looking to marry into a wealthy clan.

Her musings were cut short when the bell for taijutsu training rang. Anko followed all the clan kids out of the school. She didn't need to see anymore. Her students were more worthless than a virgin bloody mary. If either of them saw combat, they'd get themselves killed faster than a blink. Itachi had been right, she needed to fail them…

The fuck? Her third student, Hinata Hyuga, wasn't leaving with the rest of the clan children. Had things changed? When Anko had attended the academy, all the clans insisted on training their own themselves, because The Academy taijutsu and ninjutsu were pretty much worthless. Since when had The Hyuga's been an exception? They were the snobbiest shits of all of 'em! Maybe The Academy had improved…

Nope. Anko winced as she saw Sakura win a fucking pillow fight with another student. Their punches had no weight, their movements were telegraphed, and their defenses were full of holes. Anko had never been like these girls right?

"Next we have Hinata Hyuga," the instructor called. "Fighting Naruko Namikaze."

Hinata walked to the center of the courtyard, surrounded by her fellow students, her arms out in front of her, shaking like she was about to piss her pants. Some fucking Hyuga, she was scared to fight a sorry slacker, what a fucking joke.

"Namikaze!" The instructor barked. "Get your ass over here! It's your turn to spar!"

Naruko didn't respond. She was off in a corner of the courtyard, away from the other children, chucking rocks up a tree, aiming for a nest of hornets way up there.

"Naruko!" The instructor barked again, "Get over here! I'm not gonna say it again!"

Naruko reluctantly glanced back at the circle of students. She spotted Hinata and rolled her eyes. "I forfeit." Then she was back to chucking rocks up at the hornets nest, because that was clearly more important.

Anko threw a kunai, cutting the little punk's cheek. She flashed behind the blonde, and whispered into her arrogant ear, "Show some damn respect!"

Hinata shook her head. "Fighting me would only be a waste of time… I'm sorry…" And the Hyuga bowed her head like she'd been the one in the wrong.

What a fucking pushover! Well if she was just gonna lie down and take the disrespect, then Anko wasn't gonna do a damn thing to help her. So she snatched one of the rocks Naruko was holding, and threw it through the damn hive.

"You're welcome!" Anko smiled, as a swarm of hornets descended on the class. All the little academy shits screamed, and the instructors cut off class early. Anko didn't mind, she'd seen enough. Hinata was a wallflower, Sakura a fangirl, and Naruko a delinquent. She'd scouted 'em out, given 'em a chance, and they were a bunch of failures.

So why had she tailed Hinata home? Cuz' she was bored and curious was all. What the fuck happened to clan children who became civilians? Were they banished? Did they work as servants for the rest of their clan? How fucking humiliating would that be?

Hinata timidly slid open the front door to the fucking massive estate, and cowtowed to the first person she saw. The bluenette got on her knees and really polished the wooden floorboards with her nose, bowing to her…

"Ne-san," Hinata whispered quietly.

Anko strangled her laugh, keeping her genjutsu cover. What kinda girl bowed to their little sister? How fucking gutless, prideless, could a person be?

That handsome Hyuga boy Sakura had asked out earlier was there too, and looking at Hinata with all the contempt she deserved for accepting this farce.

"When will you finally do what's right? When will you give up this farce?" Neji asked, his voice quivering. "Quit trying to become a shinobi. Can't you see it's useless?"

Hinata whispered something. Anko strained her ears. "... Won't know unless I give it my all…" But she didn't even have the courage to look Neji in his damn eyes.

"Stop trying to change who you are," Neji said haughtily. "A weakling is weak and a failure fails. People cannot change who they are. That is why your father named your sister heir over you. Your pathetic struggles only bring you misery. Fate cannot be fought. It is useless."

Neji stormed out of the room, tilting his head at Hinata's father, who had wandered in halfway through his speech. Hiashi Hyuga patted Neji on the back. "Hanabi, come, it is time to train." He slyly waved at Anko, as he took his daughter out to train, leaving Hinata groveling alone on the floor.

Anko left too. She wished she hadn't seen that. Made her feel sorry for the little fucker. It was really gonna suck to fail her. Ahh hell, who was she kidding? Once she got some alcohol in her, she wouldn't feel a damn thing.

Author's Note: Thanks for reading! Sorry for the long wait. Real life has been kicking my ass lately and I haven't had any time to write. And now, onto the reviews:

Mimi-moo224 - Thanks, hope you enjoyed the chapter. I've actually thought this story through, and more of the main plot will be revealed by the end of the arc.

Les - Thanks! And yeah, Naruko will be seriously nerfed in this story so she can be the underdog that Naruto never really was.

Usernameisinvalid - Thanks for the review!

Sumantha - That was a lot of fun to write. We probably won't see much more of that for a while, unless you squint, and really focus on what the characters are saying.

Amaterasu53 - Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and the reveals to come.

ZilverWolf - Thanks, hoping that this chapter wasn't too boring. Things get a little more exciting in the next chapter.

Narutoto - Thanks!

Bankai777 - Oh for sure! One of the fun things about this chapter is that Anko is actually book smart. I kinda expected she'd sympathize more with Naruko, but instead she gravitated towards Sakura.