...

The visions were getting worse.

They had started on her tenth birthday three years ago. Often they were insignificant little insights, such as the time she would wake up the next morning or what the chefs planned to prepare for dinner. In no way did they compromise her daily life, it worked as a quick image in her mind that took only a second-long pause, and boom, she knew that it was going to rain at noon. Ino had arrived at the conclusion that she was a psychic, and planned to keep it a secret on account of two facts. One, it really was not so fantastic a power considering the uselessness of her visions. Two, no one would believe her anyway, because most of what she saw was easily predictable. So, yes, she just accepted that she had an advantage over everybody in life, and that was how things were meant to be.

But then it hadn't become so easy to live with. When she dreamed that the milkman's horse would rage and crash his carriage into a shop, and that Otonashi-san's house would be destroyed by a storm, the time came to be more concerned. Sometimes it didn't even need to be laid out for her because there weren't just visions, there were premonitions—she would get this feeling that a misfortune awaited come the afternoon.

And when she turned eleven and foresaw an unsturdy pillar plummet and instantly kill a man, she chose to confide in her parents with her problem.

Their reaction was one of sorrow, and not surprise or disbelief. Her mother pulled her into her arms and hugged her tightly, and her father pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking his head to himself. "Ino, Ino, my daughter, Ino…" He had said. "I'm so sorry that this has happened to you…"

She began to get worried and had asked, "Mom, dad, you're scaring me. What are you talking about? What's going on?"

The truth revealed to her was one that would change her life.

Once in a generation, her father regaled, a child with the ability to see glimpses of the future was born into the Yamanaka Clan. Some of their family theorized that it was a rare, advanced version of their traditional clan abilities (because they already possessed "visionary" powers, so to speak), but really, there was no explanation for it, scientific or other. However… as the past dictated, it was no gift from the gods. It was a curse, for all records of those born with the "Foresight" shared the same grim fate.

Each and every one of them had disappeared.

"What happened to them, dad?" Her younger self persisted, squeezing his fingers, "were they taken? Did… did they die?"

His face was long and labored, as if he'd aged ten years in mere minutes. The man sighed, tenderly pushing her bangs out of his daughter's wavering eyes. "We don't know. Nobody knows. But that won't happen to you, Ino. I won't let it. Everything will be okay, so don't worry about it, alright?"

"You promise?"

"I do. But… listen. There are some important things that I need you to hear..."

...

Two and a half years later and Ino's life had taken to a different course. Her father had withdrawn her from public school, and she began a private tutorship at home. It was the best course of action, he'd said long ago, to prevent any possible mishaps if she stayed around the only people that knew about her "condition." Everybody in their clan had been told, and it was made law to never speak or ask her about it, only to accept the abnormality and leave her to be.

The power had not relented even slightly, though. Rarely nowadays did she ever see something so explicit and traumatizing as a person's death—rarely, but not never—and there were times when she desperately wanted to act on her visions, to see if the future could be changed, but that clashed with one of her father's three grand commandments for her power. Severe consequences awaited if they were violated.

There was the first rule, the hardest one to keep.

"Do not attempt to change the future."

The second rule, the hardest to prevent.

"Do not allow anyone to look into your eyes while having a vision."

The third rule, the one that made her feel like a traitorous criminal and a liar.

"Do not tell anyone about your power or your visions."

All of which were incredibly difficult things to do. Especially now, when she had literally broken all three in the span of a night.

These were the thoughts running rampant through her skull when she awoke from a restless sleep. Ino arose in the company of two members of the opposite sex. It was raining outside.

One was a (now) fourteen year old boy named Chouji. He was short, tolerant, with a kind heart and unique appreciation for the little things in life. She had met him on the basis of an "arranged friendship" when she was twelve. Their mothers were close acquaintances, so the equation demanded that their children become the same. As the heir to the wealthy Yamanaka and only child of two parents, Ino was, to put it nicely, used to getting her way. She also had very few friends (an unsurprising fact, given her upbringing) and little to no experience dealing with people her own age or being considerate of others' feelings.

"Mom," she had warned, "I don't wanna be 'friends' with that fatty."

So it hadn't been much of a friendship at first. However, this Akimichi Chouji turned out not to be half bad. From him, Ino learned to not make judgements or assumptions about people before getting to know them (with some justifiable exceptions, though). Through him, she met her second friend, Shikamaru of the Nara Clan.

Unfortunately, he was not the second male in the room.

Last night. What happened?

Images played in her head like a dark horror movie.

The tournament. The tower. The vision. The flames.

Could this have happened because of me? The question haunted her. Because I broke dad's rules? It sounded absurd, but in actuality… the likeliness of it was quite plausible.

Ino froze, blood draining from her face. How could she live with herself if that were true? There was still so much unknown about the power of the Foresight. Bad things were promised to happen if the rules weren't followed, terrible things, but for it to scale to a disaster of this magnitude—an entire village wiped out in twelve hours—Ino had never been more petrified of her power.

It started when, on her travel to Pearl Moon with Shikamaru and Chouji, she had gotten a vision of someone's ankle getting bitten by a brown, purplish snake. It wasn't revealed who was bitten or when it would happen, but she got the sense that it was poisonous, fatal, even, and seeing as how it was the first time in her life that she'd been so far away from her parent's influence, Ino had taken the liberty to stop by a hospital on their trip and purchase some anti-venom. "Just in case," the girl had explained to her curious friends. The first rule didn't make much sense, she reasoned. Why wouldn't one want to change the future, save a life, given the chance?

Well, that must have been a mistake, seeing where she was now.

She sat there for a while. It was still raining.

Dad… I don't know what to do. What am I supposed to do?

Her eyes leaned to her snoozing friend, whose drool dangled from his chin to his scarf. She frowned, disgusted.

But she didn't look away. Her eyes scanned him, thoughtful. She had already broken all of the rules, and the first two were irreversible. Shikamaru had gotten a front row seat to her eyes up close and suffered some unknown damage for it. And twice, she'd tried to change the future based on her visions. The last rule, though… it was possible to undo it, perhaps lessen the cosmic repercussions.

Her expression hardened. At this point, doing anything seemed better than nothing.

Ino found her bag and searched for one of the colorless gemstones inside. When she found it, she took a deep, shaky breath. This had to be the right thing to do, spare herself more heartache in the future.

Silently, Ino moved the stone to his forehead and held it there with her index and middle fingers. Her other hand formed the hand seal for the technique. Putting the Foresight aside, the Yamanaka Clan possessed an arsenal of techniques that dealt with the human mind. Memory, emotions, thoughts, her family had the ability to manipulate them all. Some considered this to be quite sinister, actually, which was one of the reasons why they had started anew two generations ago by migrating the entire clan to the Village of the Fire Rat. Now that she thought about it, Ino didn't know the full explanation behind that bit of their history… but that was hardly important, not at the moment.

"Art of the Boar: Memory Distortion!"

It worked exactly as it sounded.

Ino closed her eyes and concentrated. In her mind's eye a million pictures floated to life, animated scenes that played to her like cuts of a movie. All of them were from Chouji's point of view, and they moved fast, as if on fast-forward. She struggled to scoop through his recent memories until she found the one she wanted—where she had told him about her vision, about Pearl Moon being invaded. That needed to be removed.

The girl rewatched it again and again and again, making sure that she had everything memorized from the decor of the pagoda to the details of her face, and mentally clung onto that scene in the forefront of her mind. And then, the hardest part, she put her all into extracting that memory from his consciousness, subconscious, and any other residual traces of it there might be in the furthest recesses of his mind. If even the slightest vestige of it remained, other problems might arise.

But it was taking longer than she thought to take it out. The success of the Memory Distortion technique all depended on the ability of the user to concentrate and how important the memory was to the person. Ino never would have thought that Chouji held on to it so closely, because why would he? It was as if his mind was rigidly refusing to have that short little scene removed. She pulled and pulled, and it took nearly ten minutes to perfectly remove it, its essence floating into the gemstone and coloring it bright lime green.

Ino wiped sweat from her forehead. That was way harder to do than expected.

Thump thump thump.

Three shallow knocks from the other side of the door shocked her out of her entranced stupor.

"Are any of you awake yet?"

It was the low feminine voice of an adult woman, she assessed. But…

… Hold on. Where are we?

Yellow wallpaper, patterned with rubber ducks and slippers, surrounded her in an orthodox little room, with one iron bedpost in the far left corner. A variety of flower paintings lined the walls with other miscellaneous decor, and gold mesh curtains embraced two grand mahogany windows through which she could guess that she was on the second floor of a house. The word "quaint" came to mind when describing it. It seemed the type of room to be designed by a mom with a fancy for antiques and a lot of time on her hands. She might have appreciated the cheery, old-fashioned aesthetic more if not for the myriad problems that demanded her attention.

How did we get here?

"Hello?" The knocks persisted, "I've made breakfast, and there's a medic next door who can check up on your friend."

"Um…" Both offers sounded excellent at the moment, but she still didn't know why she had, apparently, spent the night in a stranger's abode. "T—that sounds great, thank you...?"

"Of course. Come downstairs when you're ready."

A gradual fade of footsteps echoed from the hall beside the door. The woman had left.

Ino exhaled a bellyful of air, grateful that nothing else had gone horribly wrong, and nudged the shoulders of her sleeping friend. "Chouji!" She whispered, "Chouji, wake up!"

The boy stirred, moaning something about fried chicken. She huffed, frustrated, and pinched his cheek.

"Bwuha!" He yelped. His hand rushed to the assaulted area and massaged it, wincing, squinting as he tried to make out his surroundings despite the morning grogginess. "Ow… what's going on..."

"You tell me! I wake up, and I find that we're sleeping in some lady's house! What happened, Chouji?"

"Ino…?" His words slurred, eyes still closed. "I'm… f… the refrigerator..."

He's half-asleep! "You're getting on my last nerves…" She drawled, though she was very much tasking to hold back the snickers in her throat. "This is so not the time to be joking around…"

"Hm… is it… it's morning? Wake—wake up, Ino... We gotta… gotta get to Tenten's tournament…"

The rumbling laughter in her stomach withered instantly. She sobered, furrowing her eyebrows. Her cerulean eyes glistened with regret, and sadness, and overwhelming distress and the pent up frustration and she was crying before she knew it, lowering her head and silently weeping. Her whole body shuddered, shoulders shaking.

"Ino…? Don't cry. It's okay…"

"It's not!" She screeched and she covered her eyes, sniffling and hiccupping and violently hyperventilating, snot mingling with the parade of salty tears falling from her ducts. "It's—it's my fault, everything is my fault, I broke—" a sniffle, "—I broke dad's r—rules and I," a gasp, "—I acted on my Foresight and the entire village is gone and—and—"

"Ino… Ino, stop," His eyes were still closed as he interrupted, placing a tender hand on her shoulder. "You're not making sense. Just talk to me, Ino, what's wrong?"

She stuttered with sniffles. "Wh—wh—what do you mean what's wrong? I—I—I'm the reason Shikamaru d—died, he died in the village and it's all my fault…"

Chouji pulled her into his arms. Her eyes widened, her body went rigid. Time froze like winter, and it seemed that the only things moving in the stillness were the tears flowing down and the rapid beating of her heart. It didn't feel right to have him console her, not when she had wronged him, kept secrets, when she'd caused him such grief, when her choices had let to the death of his best friend, but it felt so good to indulge in his solace. She needed to know that he didn't hate her, and that things were going to be okay, and they would get through this. The girl gripped his sides and sobbed into his shoulder, emptying her soul and the toxic guilt into the air, shaking. He rubbed her back and said nothing. Part of her wished that he would lash at her, leave, never speak to her again, so then maybe she could pay for the choices she'd made. But he didn't. And she was more grateful than he would ever know.

Chouji's still on my side.

"So… are you okay, Chouji? About what happened… Shikamaru…"

"Sorry, Ino… I don't know what you mean. What happened to the village? Who is Shikamaru?"

Silence stabbed hard and twisted the invisible wound.

Her heart might have burst that second.

Hyuuga Hinata's heart had stopped beating around 5 am last night. The poison had been too far in her bloodstream to be counteracted by the anti-venom, it was too late to have any effect, and so she silently crossed the great divide and left the Earth for good.

Hanabi was the type of person who liked to consider the meaning and purpose of things.

She believed that her Onee-sama went peacefully and did not suffer pain during her last hours, and mother as well. With the help of the odd green-clad boy, she was able to properly bury Hinata and honor her in the village. But besides Onee-sama's grave, there was nothing left in Pearl Moon for her. The pagoda tower had collapsed, and mother's corpse was nowhere to be found. She had no place to go, nothing to live for, and no one left in the world that cared about her.

What was she supposed to do now?

Well, currently she was back in the hut where they had stayed overnight with a Rock Lee and Nara Shikamaru. She owed both of them a great debt, but what meaning did that have? Those two would simply return to their own villages and continue on with their lives. And she would be left here.

Hanabi was not a girl of many tears; she'd already cried a lifetime of them over the past 24 hours. So no more would she weep for her deceased. They wouldn't want that. But what new road had destiny paved for her now? She had no idea what to do next. Pearl Moon was gone.

I am the sole survivor of the Hyuuga Clan.

She clenched her fists. How dare that vile snake violate their arrangement. It was ancient Hyuuga law carved in the stars—it was only supposed to take Neji-niisama, and even then it had to wait until he fathered a child…

Ah. Neji-niisama might still be alive.

The girl pondered this.

Should I seek him out?

Neji-niisama had never been kind to her. He was distant, seclusive, and rightfully so, perhaps, considering the gruesome fate assigned to him at birth. She pitied him, really. His only reason for being born was to die a sacrificial lamb. Such an undeserved, meaningless existence.

Well. It was also possible that he'd escaped his fate. For now.

"Ahh…" Hanabi moaned, the drumming of a headache throbbing in her skull. Electric pain flared behind her eyes. She closed them, rubbing her temples. It hurt to think. She didn't want to think about anything anymore.

"Hanabi-san." Chimed Rock Lee at her left.

"...?"

"What type of person was your sister?"

He was sifting in the wound she wanted to bandage. She didn't want to think about it.

"Onee-sama was…" Her lips moved without her consent. "She was kind. And gentle. And she always cared for others, always tried her hardest, no matter how pointless it was." Pictures of her sister's smile flashed in her mind. But she didn't want to think about it. "And she was soft… too soft, but passionate. She never told lies, put everyone's feelings above her own. She must have had the purest soul in the world."

"She sounds like a wonderful person, Hanabi-san."

"She was." Hanabi pursed her lips. "Why are you asking me this?"

"Because I would like to request something of you."

He got down on one knee before her, fist piked in the dirt as if punching it. She quirked an estranged eyebrow.

"What are you…"

"Come back with me to my village, Hanabi-san!" He stole her hand from her lap and held it within his own. His eyes dazzled as they gazed into hers, perfectly black circles facing her white-lavender ones. "You can live with me and my sister and my sensei, and we can grow stronger together!"

Hanabi stared back. Faint pink surfaced to her cheeks.

He is… mesmerizing…

She blinked and snapped back to her senses. Quickly she swiped her hands away from his grasp and held them close to her chest, as if wounded. They were warm.

"Ah, I apologize, Hanabi-san!" He said, grinning wide. "I should not invade your personal space. Tenten is always reminding me to respect the boundaries of others."

"Tenten?"

"Tenten, yes! That is the name of my precious sister. It would be excellent if you could meet her!"

Tenten… Her eyes widened. That was the winner of the tournament. She is the sister he speaks of?

"So what do you say, Hanabi-san? Will you return with me to my village?"

She struggled for words, rubbing her wrist for some reason. "Why… why would you offer that to me? You don't know who I am. You don't know anything about me."

"Ah, well… That was why I asked you what your sister was like. After hearing you describe her, I just knew that you were a good person!"

She almost smiled. How naive could a person possibly be? His innocence was unheard of. No one in Pearl Moon would extend a hand to a perfect stranger so generously, never offer to welcome them into their house based on one question. Hanabi was accustomed to believing the worst in people, in their darkest colors, but… Rock Lee. He was also pure of heart. She knew this, now.

And he reminded her of Onee-sama.

Her eyes shone. Could this be a sign?

"You said… grow stronger together…" Her voice was strangely soft. "Rock Lee, what did you mean by that?"

The boy's face visibly darkened. He lowered his eyes.

"You see..." he solemnly began, "I simply cannot forgive that demon for what it did. For an entire village to be vanquished by its hands, and then to let it go free… I could not live with myself if I let that happen."

"So…" Disbelief curled on her tongue, "you mean that…"

"Yes! I will train harder than I ever have with my sensei, and I will become stronger so that I can make it pay for its crimes!"

She was almost speechless—almost insulted that he'd suggest such a thing. Was this bravery or insanity at its finest? "Are you serious? How could you possibly defeat the demon when it destroyed my entire village within hours?"

"I know that it will not be easy, Hanabi-san. That is why I promise to you that I will train my hardest until I am strong enough, even if it takes my whole life!"

"You're being an idiot!" She snapped. Her voice hung in the air and she immediately felt guilty, seeing the hurt expression on his face. Hanabi followed up in a quieter tone, "... It isn't wise to make promises you can't keep."

"Rock Lee is not a man that breaks his promises." Oddly stern was his voice. "But you did not allow me to finish, Hanabi-san. I do not intend to face the demon alone."

Again, Lee's eyes locked with hers. The world was still.

"By grow stronger together, my meaning was this. You and I, our combined power, someday, will face that demon and gain retribution for what it did to your sister." Pause. "Will you help me to do that, Hanabi-san?"

The entire day, she had mourned for her family and worried over what she was going to do. What meaning her existence now had. Since the day she was born, it had been drilled into her skull that her purpose for living was to become a strong warrior for the Hyuuga Clan. Now, the clan was charcoal ash at her feet, wiped from the face of the earth instantaneously and her future along with it.

But here was someone offering her a new reason to live.

Rock Lee carried the comatose Nara Shikamaru on his back as he stepped over limbs of scorched wood decorating the village. She walked behind him. They approached the dipping sun, heralded by the bleak horizon and blackened graveyard of flowers. That day, her eyes changed. That day, something died inside Hyuuga Hanabi, and in its place a burning black fire emerged and alighted her core with the all-consuming drive to seek out one thing and one thing only.

The trio left Pearl Moon.

From that point on, she walked a singular narrow path with one destination.

So this is my answer.

Revenge.

Tenten walked the sea of cinders with a black heart. The rain clung to the threads of her clothing and made each footstep feel twice as heavy, and her skin was cold, eyes downcast, the ghosts of two hanging over her head like constant stress and grim regret. Unexplained, Neji strode in the direction of the Hyuuga estate and like a puppet led by his strings she followed his wake subliminally, slow and two feet behind. Inside, she was hollow and dense at the same time, walking, walking, without really caring about what she was doing or where she was going.

Her eyes stung; they were red and throbbed in their sockets as they were spent for moisture. Each breath was hard to endure as they drifted from her lungs to her pipes to her nose, because the guilt was overwhelming, that she was still above ground, she was still breathing and the two closest things to family she'd ever had were not. They were dead.

Lee… Gai-sensei… why did you leave me all alone?

It was so cold she was shivering, teeth chattering. The sounds of thunder boomed in the overlooming clouds and she remembered her brother's last words.

...

"Gai-sensei will be here to assist me soon," He assured her. "So please, hurry! I promise we will find you!"

...

Her eyebrows furrowed, wiping at her eyes with her already wet sleeves.

Lee, you liar… I'll never forgive you…

She took a deep, shaky breath through her mouth and exhaled. The piece of green fabric from one of their jumpsuits she had found was held tightly in her hand. Tenten looked to it, contemplative, sad, and closed her eyes. When her lids fell shut she could see both of them again in all their rambunctious splendor—sensei's thumbs up when she'd perfected the high jump, the pride on his face as he added merciless spices to his curry, their gleeful, supportive cheers when she left for her first match in the tournament, Lee's confident promise, forever unfulfilled. It hurt, hurt so much that those times were over. And that she would never see them again.

But… her mind chided, but you guys are definitely watching over me, right?

She almost grinned. She could imagine them shouting from the tops of the clouds, "Yes, we are, Tenten! Do not forget—the power of youth flows strong within you!"

Tenten lifted her head. All that talk about "the power of youth", she had never understood it. She still didn't understand it. Lee certainly seemed to get it. Gai-sensei would never explain, only assure that it was inside of her. Whatever that meant.

I think I'll figure it out someday.

And she would.

Someday.

"... have confirmed that there are no known survivors in the coordinated attacks that left five villages along the border of Hashirama's Mountains in cinders last night. It is believed that…"

A groan awoke the dust particles fleeing from the light shifting in through the curtain's parting. The man struggled to open his eyes, and when he did he saw the glaring white of a wide ceiling. He groaned again, straining himself to rise up and—backtrack, backtrack, the searing hot plaguing literally every inch of his body sharply shocked his nerves. There was no moving from this bed.

"... Empress Tsunade has declared a state of level one emergency for all nearby villages as professionals issued by the capital investigate the remains…"

He turned his head to see yellow wallpaper, decorated with… were those rubber duckies?

"... stay indoors until it is deemed safe…"

The radio on the antique shelf next to him spoke blurred words that, in his disorientation, failed to register properly in his brain. He caught bits and pieces, but those little blurbs of information divulged nothing useful to him.

"... attack may have started in the Village of the Pearl Moon and continued on through the Village of the Lilac Valley, Yellow Crest Alley, the Village of the Fire Rat, and the Village of the River Spirit…"

And lightning struck him atop his shiny black head and sent him hurtling back to lucid reality.

Lee, Tenten. Where were they?