Once again, I own neither Glee nor Naruto. Another bit of a time skip in this chapter.

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xXx-Chapter 5-xXx

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Her choice had been made. She was joining the academy and she would become a ninja. For the past two years she had done her very best to convince Ino to look at other options, but her sister would not be swayed. After that night it was as if a flip had been switched in her sister and every other child in the village. All Ino wanted to do was play ninja and soon that was all Chouji and Shikamaru wanted to do. Even at home, it was all Ino ever talked about. She was constantly asking questions, begging their parents to tell them stories about what it was like. About different things they had done, about missions and clients and battles, and her parents were more than happy to share with them.

Quinn was sure that they toned their stories down quite a bit for them, but Quinn had an adult's mind and could read between the lines. Being a ninja was a death sentence for all but a lucky few. Everywhere she looked she was surrounded by this singular concept. Ninja. A soldier who fought for the village. Who died for the village. Who killed for the village. Who was destroyed for the village. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't escape it. The one shining light in this whole Ninja mess was that she had been right about her parents at least, she had talked to them and knew they would have supported her is she decided she wasn't going to do it.

"Mama, may I speak to you?" Quinn asked nervously, as she stepped into the kitchen where her mother was preparing dinner.

"Of course, what's on your mind?" Megumi asks as she sets down her knife and the vegetable she had been cutting.

"I… It's about becoming a ninja…?" Quinn trails off nervously.

Her mother smiles warmly at her and takes a seat at the kitchen table, and motions for her to come to her. When Quinn is standing in front of her, her mother picks her up and places her on her lap. "Now, what about becoming a ninja?"

"I… I don't, the thing is… I don't know if I want to be a ninja." Quinn finishes softly, nervous about how her mother might react. One of her biggest fears was letting her family down and them not loving her anymore. That had been how it was in the Fabray family, love was conditional upon how good you made the family look. The Yamanaka's were nothing like that but the fact was it was still something she was very much afraid of.

Her mother is silent for a couple of seconds and Quinn worries that she may have really made her angry, but when she speaks her voice is full of understanding. "You've always been a very sensitive child, always very in tune to the people around you. You've always gone out of your way to try and make people feel better and to do good. You used to spend hours as a baby making Ino laugh, did you know that?"

Quinn did, but she shakes her head no because she shouldn't know that and she was enough of a freak as it was.

"I think that's why your abilities are so strong, you just tune into how people are feeling and you want to make them feel better. Being a ninja is… hard, harder than you can imagine. It can bring a lot of joy and pride into your life but… it isn't for everyone. As a ninja you will be asked to do very difficult things… very hard things will be asked of you and happy endings are few and far between. If you become a ninja you have to commit to it fully, if you don't put your heart and soul into it then you can get hurt and you can get those around you hurt. I'm really proud of you for seriously considering this."

"You wouldn't hate me if I don't become one?" Quinn enquires even more nervously, "Will daddy?"

The look in Megumi's eyes grows very serious. "You are our daughter, we will love you no matter what. Never, and I mean never, doubt that. If you decide that being a ninja isn't right for you that won't change how your father and I feel about you even a tiny little bit. Okay?"

Quinn nods her head, choked up. Even after all of this time it was still hard for her to accept that she had parents that loved her unconditionally.

"I will say this though. If you do decided to become a ninja, I think you'd be really great at it. You are so very smart and you pick things up really easy and you work hard. I mean just think about how much your speaking has improved this past year. I think that if you did become a ninja you could do a lot of good in the world. But if you decide it isn't for you, then I still think you have so much to offer this world, just in a different way. You have to decide what is right for you, you have to decide the path that you will follow in this life. I know that it seems like that's a lot of pressure to place on your shoulders especially when you are so young but you aren't alone okay. Whatever you decide, your father and I will both be there to support you."

Quinn nods her head. "How long do I have to decide?"

"You have as much time as you need. You need to know with one hundred percent surety that being a ninja is what you want. If you can't say that, if you don't know that becoming a ninja is the right path for you, know it with every fiber of your being, then don't become one. There are other options, we can set you up at the civilian school and that will be the end of it. Okay?"

"Okay… thank you for… you know…" Quinn trails off.

Her mother hugs her tightly and kisses her on the forehead. "I love you. Now, go play, and I'll call you when dinner is ready."

Later that night her father had pulled her aside and basically told her the same thing. That whatever path she chose they would love and support her. Quinn could say with absolute surety that she did not want to be a ninja. Everything in her mind, heart, body, and soul told her not to. It didn't matter. Because far stronger than her desire to not be a ninja was her need to protect her sister.

Her sister knew she wanted to be a ninja, knew it with the same resolve that Quinn knew that she didn't want to be one. But Ino was entering a dangerous world, one that there was no leaving it unscathed so Quinn would follow her. She would follow Ino into this hell and she would protect her. She would become the monster she was afraid of becoming so that Ino wouldn't have to.

There would be no holding back. If she was going to do this, she was going to give it everything she had. She was going to be the very best at it, because second best just meant dead. Any attention that drew to her didn't matter. What mattered was being strong enough to protect her sister. They were about to enter a world where a single tiny mistake could get them killed, that meant that Quinn no longer had the luxury of making mistakes. Perfection or death. There was nothing in-between. Perhaps spending eighteen years as a Fabray did have its upside, this was a mentality that she was used to.

For two years she had tried to get Ino to want to be something else. A singer, an actress, a doctor, a shop owner, a chef, but it did no good. Ino was determined that they were going to be ninja. So with only a week until school started Quinn took a deep breath and knocked on her parent's door. It was time to tell them about her decision. She always had a hard time actually committing to a plan but once she came to a decision she was able to focus in on it and get it done. But she needed to act now before her courage failed her.

There was a muffled groan and she heard her father's sleepy voice echo through the dark. "C'm in. Hey sweetheart what are you doing up?" He asks as she steps into the room.

Her mother sits up in the bed as well. "Are you okay sweetie, did you have a nightmare?" She asks.

No, but she felt like she was living one. Quinn shakes her head no. "I'm sorry that it's so late, but I've been thinking about this a lot lately and it couldn't wait."

"What is it?" Her father asks, taking her very seriously even though it was almost two in the morning. She knew she had really lucked out in the parents department when she came to this world, it wasn't fair to them that they had someone like her for a daughter. They deserved to know, they treated her so well and she was lying to them, it made her feel sick inside but she was too much of a coward to ever tell them the truth about herself.

"I've decided that I'm going to be a ninja. I would like you to sign me up for the academy with Ino." Quinn tells them seriously, actually a little surprised that her voice didn't waver.

"I thought you didn't want to be a ninja sweetheart, what changed your mind." Her mother asks.

"I… you told me not to become one unless I was one hundred percent sure that it's what I wanted and ever since then I haven't stopped thinking about it. I don't know that I want to be a ninja but I can feel it, really deep inside of me that it's what I have to do."

Her parents exchange glances. "Rin, you know you don't have to if you don't want to. Your mother and I will love you no matter what you decide to do. If you're doing this because we've pressured you to in anyway then please reconsider."

Quinn shakes her head. "It's not that, you both have been so great about this. I know what it means to this family to be a ninja, heck, what it means to this village, and considering our family history you would have had every right to try and force this on me but you didn't. You were willing to let me choose my own path, and… and I love you both so much. I have to do this. So please, could we sign me up at the academy tomorrow? It's not too late is it?"

Her father shakes his head. "No, it's not too late, and if you're sure then of course we'll take care of it tomorrow. But are you sure, one hundred percent sure, once you start down this road, it won't be easy to turn back."

"I'm sure."

Her mother motions for her to come to her which Quinn obediently does. "I am so very proud of the way you thought this through. I know this can't have been an easy choice and that this is something you've struggled with for a while. You are going to be so great sweetheart." Her mother says as she wraps her arms around her daughter.

"You're mother's right and this thoughtfulness that you've shown while you came to this decision will serve you well as you train." Inoichi says as he gets out of bed. "C'mon you, I know you're getting big but you're not too old for me to tuck you in are you?" He asks as he lifts her up and begins to carry her out of the room.

Quinn shakes her head no.

It was done, her path was set. Next week she would join her sister in the academy and train to become a ninja. She says goodnight to her father as he tucks her in and kisses her goodnight. And when the door closes she falls into an uneasy sleep.

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xXx-Scene Break-xXx

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Quinn had to fight to keep from crying. She would give anything to not be here right now. To be home safe with her family, with her parents and her sister. Instead she was in the middle of a room, standing next to Ino and surrounded by other children as they started their first day of the academy. There were various ninja, Mostly chūnin, but a couple of jōnin as well, surrounding them all as the Hokage stood at the head of the room at a pulpit welcoming them to the academy. Telling them what a pleasure it was to see their smiling and excited faces and other such nonsense.

Quinn really couldn't say because she was tuning him out. Pretty it up all you like, wrap it up in Nationalistic bullshit, it didn't matter. No matter how you looked at it, at the end of the day you were training children soldiers. You were setting five and six year olds on a path to kill. Call it necessary, call it noble and honorable, give it a pretty name like the "Will of Fire." Whatever, it didn't matter to her, she saw it for what it was and it made her sick inside.

As the Hokage steps down and another person takes his place Quinn reaches over and grasps Ino's hand. Ino turns to look at her beaming but Quinn can't muster up even a little smile to return. She just needed to know that her sister was okay, that she was here and real.

"It's going to be great Rin, you'll see." Ino whispers to her confidently. Ino knew that her sister had doubts about doing this, had almost decided not to come with her to the academy but she was glad that she did. She knew her sister was nervous about becoming a ninja but she didn't have to be because she had her as a big sister. Rin was the baby, she was sweet and sensitive and she needed to be looked after. And as the older sister she would look after Rin no matter what.

Not long after the Hokage finished speaking various chūnin began to call out names, and the different children in the room lined up in front of the chūnin who called out their name. Ino's name is called out before hers and with one last squeeze let's go of her hand and moves over to the line headed by a brown haired chūnin with a prominent scar across his nose. Not a second later Quinn's heart rate goes back down to normal when her own name is called out by the same man.

Ino is grinning from ear to ear now that she knows she gets to be in the same class as her sister and Quinn gives her a smile in return. They hadn't split them up, this was a good start. It seemed that Rin was the last person assigned to this group, so they followed the man down the hall and into a classroom marked 1-A. Quinn counted thirty six of them total.

The room is set up a bit like an auditorium with each level containing desks that had enough room for two people each. The base of the room was fairly spacious and empty. Along the wall facing the students was a large chalkboard and off to the side was a neat and orderly desk that was obviously their teacher's.

"Alright class, my name is Umino Iruka, and I will be your homeroom instructor for the duration of your time here at the academy. You may call me Iruka-sensei. As long as you are willing to work hard I am sure that each of you will become a splendid shinobi or kunoichi in your own right. I look forward to working with and getting to know each of you. Now go ahead and find your seats and we will begin."

"Come on!" Ino says happily as she grabs Quinn's hand and pulls her to a spot near the top.

"Okay. Here we go." She whispers quietly and more to herself than anything but Ino had heard her anyway.

"That's the spirit!"

Quinn takes her seat next to her sister and begins to fish out her notebook and pencils from her bag. While she doubted they were going to be doing anything all that advanced it didn't change the fact that she needed to take this seriously. Not only that but while she was okay at speaking at this point, at least she could sound like a normal person anyway, this was still a foreign language to her, one that she had yet to master and so she needed to focus. So that meant taking excruciatingly detailed notes to review later.

"Alright everyone, let's begin." Iruka sensei calls out.

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xXx-Scene Break-xXx

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Quinn was quietly sitting next to Ino eating the bento meal that her mother had made for her and reading their first year Shinobi textbook that had been handed out to them in class. Meanwhile Ino was happily chatting away with a couple of the other girls, eager to make new friends. It made her happy, this was what she wanted for her sister, something normal like this. Just going to school and making friends.

Actually Quinn was a little surprised at how normal this all seemed. It was a ninja academy but so far all they had done was simple math and writing exercises, not unlike what she would expect from a kindergarten or first grade class back in her old world. I guess even ninja's needed to know how to read and write and do arithmetic. So far the only really ninja based thing they had done was starting to learn hand seals. There were twelve basic ones, each one based off of an animal in what Quinn knew back in her old life to be the Chinese Zodiac, but here were known as the twelve guardian animals. Legend stated that each individual animal had taught their specific seal to a mysterious figure known as The Sage of Six Paths which allowed him to manipulate the world around him. The very first ninja.

Of course nobody actually believed he really ever existed, at least not the way that the stories described him. He may have been based on a real person from long ago, but it was just as likely that he was made up or even a combination of many different people. Quinn likened his existence to something like Hercules or some other ancient Greek myth. Maybe a kernel of truth was buried in his stories somewhere, but ultimately he was just a fairy tale.

Each hand sign when executed properly manipulated your chakra a certain way. Each specific hand seal added something to the jutsu and helped to give it life. You couldn't just throw hand seals together and expect a technique out of it, careful planning and testing were required. Hand seals told a story with your chakra and the end of the story was your technique coming to life.

Or at least that's what her book said they did. So far they had only gone over what they looked like, with Iruka-sensei having them practice them for a couple of minutes before lunch. But by the end of the week they were expected to have them memorized and their first test would be on their ability to perform them flawlessly.

Made sense to Quinn, you needed these seals to perform jutsu and if you messed up you died. Memorizing them and perfecting them seemed like a pretty good place to start.

"Rin, we're going to go play on the playground, come on." Ino says standing up with the rest of the girls.

"Actually, I kind of want to keep reading, but you can go." Quinn says smiling. Let Ino play and be a kid, that was the whole point in her being here.

"Oh come on, that's so boring! You have to come play with us." Ino says, hands on her hips, not quite believing that her sister could actually want to read instead of play.

"You go, I'm okay, and besides I think it's kind of interesting." Quinn says.

"But-" Ino pouts, it usually got her what she wanted with Rin and her father. Her mother was strangely immune.

"Go!" Rin laughs, "Your friends are waiting."

Ino's new friends were already halfway there but had stopped to wait for her and were in fact calling her over to them.

Ino huffs, "Fine, but you have to play with us next time, okay." Ino says before taking off. "See you in class!"

Even once she was out of sight Quinn never lost track of her sister. Her ability to sense her location through her sensor abilities made sure of that. Actually she was able to keep tabs on pretty much everyone here, knowing their location and approximate moods. Ino's stood out because she was so familiar with her but she could also make out her sensei fairly easy too. He was currently on the roof with about seven others of approximately the same strength.

She lets out a sigh before turning back to her book. She could tell that Ino was a little disappointed that she hadn't joined her but that feeling was soon forgotten and swept away by the excitement and happiness of playing with her new friends. Actually, Quinn figured she was the only person here who wasn't excited to some degree or another. And why shouldn't they be, after all in this world being and training to be a ninja was exciting.

She's able to finish most of chapter one of her book before the bell rings signaling that it's time for them to return to class.

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xXx-Scene Break-xXx

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Ino and Rin are both happy to be let out for the day. Ino had pretty much established herself as the most popular girl in class by the end of the day and was riding high on the fact that just about all of the other girls were clamoring to be her friend. Quinn's excitement at getting out for the day was for a different reason. Other than hand seals the day had pretty much been normal, which meant that the school work involved really was designed for five and six year olds. It was so easy that Quinn was ready to pull her own hair out by the end of it. She would have to read ahead just so she wouldn't go crazy.

Their homework for the night was math and writing. The math was done in about five minutes during class, and the writing was Kanji memorization which was nice in that it would help her master the language but not very difficult either. Then of course they had to work on their hand seals and finally Iruka-sensei had sent them all home with a basic exercise regimen that they were expected to start and follow, it focused on building flexibility and endurance. Clan children were exempt if they already had a particular style that needed something different than what was assigned. So kids like Chouji and a rather brash and obnoxious boy named Kiba were exempt. However, despite being in a clan, theirs didn't have a specific clan Taijutsu style so they had to do it.

Not that Quinn minded. It wasn't even close to what Sylvester used to have her do, and it would be a good start to getting her back up to that level of athleticism. Ino however hated it, playing and running around with friends was fun, exercise was boring.

When they step out of the front gate of the academy and out into Konoha they are both surprised and pleased to see both of their parents there. Ino dashes straight over to their father while Quinn goes over to their mother.

"Hey princess." Inoichi says as he lifts a giggling Ino and twirls her around.

"Daddy! Not here, my friends are watching!" She says a little more firmly when he sets her down.

"Oh, I see how it is." He teases while Ino just rolls her little eyes.

"So did you have good first day then?" Megumi asks looking over at Ino as she hugs Rin.

"It was awesome, Iruka-sensei is kind of boring but I guess he's nice and I made a ton of friends!" She says excitedly as they begin their walk home, going into great detail about everything that she did today.

Quinn however doesn't mind, happy to let Ino fill the air with her chatter.

"And how about you sweetheart, did you have a good first day too?" Megumi asks smiling down at her youngest once there was a bit of a lull from Ino. She was worried for both of her daughters, this was a big day for the both of them, but she had fretted particularly over Rin who up until a week ago hadn't wanted to be there.

"Yeah, it was good." She says with a shrug.

Ino huffs, "She spent all day reading, she wouldn't even come play."

"How come, were you feeling a little shy?" Megumi asks.

Quinn shakes her head no. "No, it's just that we got our textbooks today and it was kind of interesting. I just wanted to read, that's all." She says with a shrug and a smile.

"Studying is important but don't forget to have fun and make friends too." Inoichi says with a fatherly smile.

Quinn nods her head but doesn't say anything back.

"So do you two have homework?"

Ino lets out a long suffering sigh. "Yes. It's so boring we have to do math, writing, and hand seals…" she trails off.

"Don't forget that they want us to start exercising as well." Rin speaks up quietly. Ino gives her a dirty look, having hoped to avoid that.

Both parents chuckle. "Well how about when we get home both of us will help you with it and if you get done early enough we can go out to eat to celebrate your first day? How does that sound?" Inoichi asks.

"Can we go to Nomura's!?" Ino asks excitedly, it being her favorite restaurant.

"I'm okay with that, how about you Rin? This is your day too." Inoichi says.

"I'm good, Nomura's sounds fine." She answers back.

"Yay! Quick lets hurry home and get this over with, the sooner we're done with our homework the sooner we can eat!" Ino says as she begins to run dragging a laughing Inoichi behind her, a determined look on her face.

Megumi looks down at Rin, a bit of a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Do you want to race them home?"

"Well… they're already quite a ways ahead but… sure."

"Don't you worry about that." Megumi says with a wink as she picks up Rin. "Alright sweetheart, hold on tight." She says as she activates the body flicker technique.

In a whirl of wind and chakra Quinn hangs on tight and suddenly before her eyes can even register it she and her mother are about twenty yards in front of Ino and Inoichi. "Race you there." Megumi calls out, she then sticks her tongue out playfully and Quinn can't help but giggle and do the same.

She can hear Ino shout, "Let's get them!" and in a flash Inoichi has picked up Ino and the two of them give chase. It was fun. There was no other word for it. The stuff that she watched her parents do as they raced through Konoha was incredible. It showed her not only just how far she had to go but it also showed her another side of this ninja world. It would still be scary and there would be death in her future, but there were also people. Families and moments like this. She would never be able to accept the whole child soldier aspect of this world but she finally realized that there was more to it than that. That this world wasn't just filled with amoral monsters. In some ways that made what she had to do harder but in other ways it gave her hope.

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xXx-Author's Note-xXx

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So I'm not sure where hand seals really come from in the Naruto-verse but I thought the 12 guardian animals idea was a fun little world building thing. It's not really vital or anything but I thought it was kind of cool idea. If any of you do actually know the origin of hand seals I would love to hear about it though :)