Special thank you to Ravenclaw Slytherin, who caught a few errors last chapter and pointed them out for me.
Author's Note: I've been awake since yesterday working around the house, so I'm posting this early -before midnight- instead of late -sixish\noonish- since I've only once gotten a review more than six hours after posting anyway. But you're still only getting five chapters this week. Let me know if you want the last one tomorrow or on Friday since my sleeping schedule is approaching human norms. Also: this chapter (this fic- most of my works), not Beta'd, and I'm prone to missing my own mistakes. Drop me a line if you spot any.
Chapter Note: A month has passed since the last chapter. I originally intended to do exposition on the growing relationships (especially KakashiXMinako), but my bunny decided it was just done, so you'll have to settle for hints of it. This chapter's a little more like the original snap-shot-y style since I didn't want to fill it with meaningless fluff.
"Target spotted."
"Acknowledged. Everyone in position?"
"Unit One in position."
"Unit Two in position."
"Boooorred. C'mon, let's go already!" Naruto could physically feel the sweatdrop their sensei gave at her declaration.
"Team, move out!"
A minute and a half later, Naruto held the purring bundle of feline bliss her her arms, Tora the cat rubbing its face frantically against the hand waving the catnip Naruto had grown. She held their 'target' up, "Mission accomplished!"
Naruto honestly felt bad for Tora the cat as it was squashed to the Fire Daimyo's wife's... assets. That poor thing...
Sakura and Sasuke both winced at the blatant animal abuse as Kakashi-sensei shuffled them away. "There are quicker, less cruel ways of killing something..."
Naruto fell into step with her team as they followed their sensei back to the Hokage's office to report and pick up their next mission. She spoke in the lowest whisper, careful to make sure the Jounin couldn't hear her, "I'm not taking that poor creature back to that woman if it escapes again. Hell, I think I'll give it sanctuary in the Compound."
The other teens both nodded in sympathy.
It wasn't long before they were standing stone-faced before the Hokage and giving a brief report. He laughed at them and shuffled through some papers, "Well, let's see here. For your next mission, we have a choice of repainting-"
Naruto stepped up and pressed her hands flat against the desk, leaning forward, "Jiji, with all due respect, if we're forced to paint one more room\building\fence, I swear by Kami we're going to paint it tie-dye. And the next brats we're made to look after are going to be molded into little mini-me's by the time their parents get back. You know I can do that; you've seen me what I did with Konohamaru after just one day, now imagine if I got them sooner. And so help me, if I have to wash one more Inuzuka dog, they'll be getting the same treatment as the aforementioned room\building\fence. We are ninja. We've got enough of our own chores at home!"
The Hokage looked up at all of them, "Do you all feel this way?"
Sakura fidgeted in place, "With all due respect, Hokage-sama... haven't we set the record for most D-rank missions done in a single month?"
Indeed, they had. If Sarutobi hadn't reserved a few missions daily for the rest of the Genin, Naruto would have had them all. He could admire her -as Kakashi had praised several times- prodigious ability with Shadow Clones, it was almost cheating.
Naruto's arms came up, her hands under her chin, and her cheeks puffed out, "So help me, if you don't let us take a proper ninja mission, I'm taking all the D-Ranks and requesting again until there are none but proper missions!"
Kakashi bopped her on the head, "Naruto, you do not threaten the leader of the village."
She whined and rubbed the spot, "But sensei... I dare you to find even one other team that's done as many missions as us!"
"The Hokage doesn't decide when you're ready for higher missions, I do." He had signed his own death warrant with those words.
In an instant, all three of his Genin were in front of him -Sasuke semi-reluctantly as Naruto held him there- and the girls both gave him the Chibi Eyes of Doom, "Pleaaaaaase, Sensei~?"
He sighed and rolled his eye, looking towards the smiling elder ninja, "Hokage-sama."
"Yes, Kakashi?"
"...Do you have any C-Rank missions for us today?"
Naruto let out a whoop as Sakura squealed, both of them hugging the hell out of their male team mate.
"Mission~ A mission~!"
Kakashi and Sarutobi both laughed at them.
"What are we doing? Where are we going?"
Sarutobi motioned with his hand and the door opened, "Your mission is to escort Tazuna-san back to the Land of Waves and protect him while he finishes construction on the bridge there."
They all turned in excitement, only to see an old man stagger through the door, sake bottle in hand, and look them over with bloodshot eyes. "This is the team of 'deadly shinobi' that will be escorting me? The Silent Wall, Strawberry Shortcake, and the midget little Sun Puff there?"
Sakura's hands curled into fists next to her at the same time Naruto cracked her knuckles. It was only due to Sasuke's (reluctant) hold on the back of both his female team mates' outfits that kept the murderous Kunoichi from tearing their prospective client to shreds.
Naruto's eyebrow twitched, "Midget..." *twitch-twitch* "Little..." *twitch* "Sun Puff?! Just who the hell do you think you're calling names, you drunken old bastard?!"
"I can call you whatever I want to: I'm paying you!"
Sensing the change in the blonde, Sasuke immediately released his grip on the back of her jacket, then watched wide-eyed as Naruto sauntered over to their client and leaned in close, the whisper in no way below the hearing range for trained shinobi, her voice sultry in a way only paid courtesans ever accomplished, "For the sake of this assignment, Master, we aren't whores. If you want to call us what you wish and degrade us, you need to pay for an entirely different sort of 'escort' mission..."
The drunk man stumbled back, choking on his sake, "I-I-I-"
Naruto followed him the whole way, body swaying enticingly from side to side, "Until then..." Her storm blue eyes narrowed to dangerous slits and he gulped at the feel of cold steel pressed against his throat, "You will treat us like the valuable -and deadly- shinobi that you've paid for, ne?"
Kakashi's voice came out strained, "Naruto..."
She spun around, pocketing her kunai, and held her hand to the back of her head, "Yes, Kakashi-sensei~?"
Her sensei sighed, "Meet up at the Main Gate at nine. Pack enough for two weeks."
Usagi sighed as she moved through the streets, ignoring the disapproving looks and hateful glares. She reached up and wrapped one of her tails around her wrist. Maybe blonde hair and blue eyes were bad luck. For Naruto, for Usagi, for Minako. They were all three pariahs of the village, for different reasons.
Naruto for the Kyuubi, Usagi for associating with Anko, and Minako for the short-sighted misconception that the House of Internal Healing was a brothel and she was a whore. They three just couldn't catch a break ever.
Her fingers tightened. No one ever looked at them and saw them, all they saw were their own thoughts. The village didn't know any of them, not the real them. They didn't see them as people, even. And, Usagi realized, as much as they wanted the village to accept them, they could never be what Konoha wanted if they were themselves. Konoha would never accept Naruto as Naruto. Maybe Naruto would really become Hokage, but then the village would see her as Hokage, not just Naruto.
Just like they didn't see Usagi as her clumsy, happy, shining self. All they saw was 'the Snake-Whore's Whore'. Like she had no right to exist outside being a satellite to Anko's own infamy. None of them saw the young girl who loved eating, who took pride in standing up for others, who tried her best even if most times it wasn't quite enough. To them, she was trash, and they tried to throw her away.
Her grip tightened again, her knuckles turning white. You can't just throw me away. Usagi didn't know how Minako handled it all so calmly and serenely. It got under her skin like a thorn and festered. The village saw only what they wanted in her, and wanted her to be different from that. But she wasn't that to begin with!
She was a person, dammit! She was real, she existed. She had friends, family. Of her own making, yes, and- she shook her head. She had feelings. That mattered. Her feelings were her own, they didn't perfectly mimic Minako, or Naruto. She was her own person, she had become her own person. Her grip went limp and her shoulders slumped. She wanted just one moment to actually feel like it. A moment to feel real, that she existed as only herself in someone else's eyes.
She just had to hold strong. If she didn't hear them, didn't listen to the whispers and lies, they couldn't touch her. They couldn't break her as long as she knew who she was. Usagi's gaze drifted up to the sky. Now if only I could feel it...
Just one moment. To feel like she belonged somewhere. One moment to reach out and feel the things that others couldn't see that she knew were there, to take those hopes and dreams and shape them with her own hands. Usagi didn't even realize she'd stopped in the middle of the alley and raised her hand toward the sky, reaching. She closed and brought it back down to her chest, opening it to stare at her empty palm.
They called her an airhead, that she wasn't even there half the time. And maybe... maybe they were right for once. Usagi wasn't like Minako. Minako was grounded and focused on the here\now. Usagi saw beyond that- usually to the exclusion of the same here\now her sister embraced. And she was always left feeling out of place because of it.
I'm real. I know I am. But am I'm not even here, am I? Not her, not when she felt so unattached. Like she could just lose herself in the sky and float away, never to be seen again. That would be preferable in some ways.
She jerked in place, her head whipping up as an arm settled itself comfortably around her shoulders. Anko grinned down at her, "Hey, Usa. What do you see today?"
Usagi couldn't look away from the closed burnt-amber eyes, couldn't look away from the smile Anko showed only to her and Kurenai. Anko didn't ask her to change -even when she teased her, she made sure Usagi knew she was only playing- and Anko... "Who am I to you?" Usagi grabbed the Special Jounin's shoulders urgently, "Can you see me? Am I real to you?" Anko's eyes snapped open and pinned her in place, her own hands coming up to Usagi's shoulders as she became nervous and let her own fall away. She shook her head, "Nevermind. I'm just being-"
"You're being you. Wouldn't have it any other way. You're the ditz that can't walk a flat surface without finding something to trip over, the girl that can't leave a table without fourth and fifth helpings, the airhead that sees the best in people I can't even imagine being there. And... You're my friend. That's all that matters to me."
Usagi's breath caught in her throat as Anko stared at her. She reached out with her hand, to the shining strands of light that were always around Anko, fingers caressing them, and those burnt-amber eyes closed as she trailed her fingers just above her cheek. Anko didn't care if she was a dork, if she said things that didn't make sense, didn't care that she clung to her arm to keep herself upright.
She let her hand fall away, pulled it to her chest and stared at her empty palm again. But even if she couldn't see it, she could feel it. Anko's kindness that she always denied having. Anko didn't see her as anything, anyone else but her, whoever she was.
Her eyes closed and she wiped at the moisture gathering there, unable to hold back a smile. Then she opened her eyes and stepped forward, grabbing Anko's arm and holding it tight, beaming up at the other woman, "Right. So, are we going to the dango stand again today?"
Anko looked at her- looked through her, then nodded with her own smirk, "Of course, where else?"
Usagi fell into step with the Kunoichi. This was her place: Next to Anko, next to the one that helped keep her grounded from losing herself and floating away. This was a place she had made for herself, a place where she belonged. Her grip tightened on Anko's arm just a little as her world settled into place. I'm still here.
Naruto had never been the fast one. The attack came too quick for her to react to it, all she could do was watch as bladed chains wrapped themselves around Kakashi-sensei, attached to the two enemy ninja that had appeared from nowhere, and pulled in opposite directions. It was all she could see, and her world exploded in red.
Her body reacted without the input of her mind as it shut down, "Sakura! Burrow, now!"
She couldn't look behind her to see if her team mate listened as the enemy shinobi turned on them, eyes flicking behind her, where Tazuna and Sakura were. Half a second later, Sakura's voice rang out: "Earth Style: Twin Burial Jutsu!"
Naruto didn't have to look to know her pink-haired team mate and their client would be gone. Her body acted on instinct: she dove low to the ground and lashed out with her feet for her enemies' legs. They easily jumped over the move, reaching for her with taloned claws. Naruto pushed off with her feet, body arcing into a perfect backflip as the talons embedded themselves into the ground. She didn't think -she couldn't, because if she stopped to think, she'd think about Kakashi-sensei and she couldn't- her hands automatically fell into the Cross Seal for Shadow Clone Jutsu and three other Narutos appeared with a poof of smoke.
Even five-on-one, the enemy shinobi were good, they lashed that lethal chain around and took out two of the clones in an instant, one of them struck out at a clone that jumped over the chain and came in for an aerial attack, those too-sharp claws tearing into its throat. Naruto herself faltered as she slid between them with two kunai out, aiming for the back of their legs to hamstring them. She choked as the memories flooded her mind: the bladed chain cutting through her stomach, those shining claws ripping through her neck.
Naruto's storm blue eyes widened and she rolled away as one of them tried to take advantage of her distraction, talons aimed right for her face. She hissed as she rolled, feeling the sting as they caught the back of her hand.
She jumped up as soon as she could, to see Sasuke struggling with them in her place. Sasuke was the fast one, he was quick and agile, and even he was only able to keep up with them just enough to avoid their claws, but he wasn't fast enough to strike back against two enemies while dodging their every blow at the same time.
Naruto's heart pounded against her ribcage and all she could see was Sasuke slipping up and dying, just like Kakashi-sensei. Her body moved without her mind, the kunai she had in her hands leaving them without her permission, aimed for the small of their enemies' backs. One of them slid to the side to dodge the one she'd aimed for him, then blocked the one meant for his ally with his claw, turning his attention on Naruto.
Sweat slipped down the back of her neck as he focused his full attention on her. Naruto knew she couldn't take him on her own; he was just too fast for her. But with him focused on her, Sasuke would be able to handle the other one. So she didn't have to win, she just had to last.
She dropped back to the ground as his claws shot towards her, flashing through handseals on the way down. She finished them in time as she rolled away again, using the contact with the ground below as she pushed off to complete the technique, "Organic Tripwire Jutsu!"
Naruto rolled to her knees and looked up in time for her opponent to come at her again, until a root, aided by her chakra, sprang from the ground in his path. His eyes flicked down to it and he jumped over it, for a new one to spring into existence. Naruto jumped up and pulled out another kunai as she ducked under the bladed chain he whipped at her. It wasn't perfect, but it at least put them on more even footing.
Now he had to fight the environment as well as Naruto herself. Of course, Naruto had to watch out for her own traps, but since they were charged with her own chakra, they lit up like beacons in her mind. He was still blindingly fast, and it took everything in her to dodge his strikes, his claws tearing through roots with ease when they threatened to trip him.
"Naruto!"
There was no choice, no control: in reaction to her name, her head jerked around to see Sasuke with his own enemy, who'd whipped his bladed chain their direction. Her heart stuttered as, with her attention away from her fight, the back of Naruto's foot caught on the root behind her. Her eyes widened and her life flashed before her eyes as she saw her death coming at her from two directions: the lethal chain behind her, and the deadly talons in front about to bury themselves in her chest.
One image in her mind stood out among all the others, though: the moment she, Sasuke, and Sakura had completed the bell test. In her mind's eye, her chakra littered across the battlefield glowed- including what was on the claws that had blooded her. Naruto's chest felt like it was going to explode as everything slowed down and she watched the sunlight glint off the blades reaching for her. She panicked and, in her desperation, pulled off the one Jutsu every shinobi trained until it was an instinct.
A wet, stomach-churning squelch seemed to echo around them all, Naruto's eyes wide in horror. She could see the evil smile on her enemy's face through his half-mask as warm wetness splattered her face. It faded into a frown, then his own eyes widened in growing realization as, on the end of his claws, it wasn't Naruto, but his own comrade surrounded by the poof of smoke that marked a Substitution Jutsu.
Naruto felt ringing in her ears as she stared at the gleaming claws coming out the back of the opposing shinobi, before the bladed chain he'd whipped towards her finished its arc and wrapped around them both, forcing his ally's claw even further through his back in a hellish display of the cost of being shinobi.
Naruto's legs gave out on her and she fell back, closing her eyes as the chain wrapped around both men's throats.
Her heartbeat pounded in her ears like a drum, drowning out everything else. Naruto blinked open her eyes at a touch on her shoulder, staring unseeingly at Kakashi leaned over her. He said something, but she couldn't hear it through the ringing and she couldn't see his mouth to read his lips.
She was able to read Sasuke and Sakura's when they both knelt next to her. Sasuke reached out and shook her by the shoulders, "Naruto. Naruto!"
"Fine." she mumbled. "I'm fine. I'm fine. Fine." Sakura helped her stand upright and she staggered, the whole world tilting. Sasuke grabbed her so she wouldn't fall.
Naruto blinked as Kakashi-sensei, back from the dead, dealt with their enemies' bo- She shook her head hard, until her vision swam. "Naruto? Naruto, are you okay?"
She stared at Sakura as the pinkette fussed over her, "I'm fine. I'm fine."
"You you sure? You've got blood there."
Naruto raised a hand to where Sakura pointed, feeling the stickiness on her cheek. She pulled away and saw bright, vivid crimson covering her fingers. Her breathing hitched and the world blurred, going monochrome. All she could see was the scarlet covering her hand. Blood. It was blood. Their blood. Blood from when that claw had-
Naruto's free hand clapped over her mouth and she turned away, sprinting for the bushes as she lost control of her stomach and puked. She only noticed Sakura rubbing her back for her when she finished, panting heavily. She gratefully accepted the water bottle Sakura handed her, rinsing out her mouth and spitting, then taking a long drink. She shivered as they moved back to their team mates.
Naruto was barely there, unable to follow the conversations as Kakashi-sensei grilled Tazuna about the enemy ninja. Their client took one look at her and lowered his head, telling them about the problems plaguing the Land of Waves. Naruto followed the conversation only by dint of being in the area as he spoke.
Her attention was drawn to Kakashi when he crossed his arms, "We need to make the decision of whether to continue this mission or not."
Naruto couldn't pull herself out of the stupor gripping her mind and body. All she saw was that same scene replaying again and again in her mind.
Sakura spoke while her blonde teammate was lost in thought, "Kakashi-sensei? We should turn back. We're rookies, we're not cut out for a mission like this." her gaze wandered over to Naruto's still form, "And... we need to get Naruto back to a doctor; she's hurt."
Naruto's eyes slipped down and she stared at the wound disbelievingly as the words penetrated. 'she's hurt', 'need to go back'... So it would be on her, was that it? She'd been poisoned and hadn't even noticed until she took stock of the wound. They'd turn back from the first real mission they'd been assigned because she messed up and got injured. She couldn't take the stress of being a shinobi, couldn't handle her first encounter with an enemy.
No...
The Yamanaka clan failure, unable to complete even a simple C-Ranked mission without stumbling home in shame, undone by a little scratch on the back of her hand and the weight of her own mind.
No!
She would not cost them their mission, she would not return home a failure to her clan, she would not let her mother, her sister, her village down! She wouldn't!
'Poor thing, look at her. Ino-sama takes such pity on one such as she so she can keep up. Barely knows the clan studies and can't perform any of the Jutsu at all...'
Hell no!
Naruto's injured hand fisted and she whipped out a kunai from her belt pouch with her other one, deepening the already-bleeding cut with hard, assessing, stormy eyes. "Anti-coagulant. Numb. Tingling." She prodded farther up her arm with the kunai to test her sensitivity. It ended somewhere about half-way to her elbow. Fast acting, but not immediately lethal: meant to take the opponent out of the fight and kill them painfully. She tried flexing her hand and found it excessively difficult. Paralytic. It'd stop respiration muscles and leave the victim to suffocate, if it didn't overtake the heart first.
Naruto looked away and lifted the kunai, she licked her blood from the blade, ignoring the basic metallic taste. It tingled across her tongue, too, making it numb, but it gave her an important piece of information. It was spicy, hot and astringent, stinging like pepper juice, and her eyes lit up. Plant-based! She closed her eyes as her mind grabbed hold of all the minor details, sorting through the myriad plants she knew, narrowing down closer and closer, hundreds of images and descriptions flicking through her mind's eye in a matter of seconds.
Finally, a single scene of a short, purple-edged plant against a white background. Her eyes snapped open. Got it! Naruto's free hand dug into one of her back pouches and she pulled out two leaves- two still-living clippings kept healthy by seeping minor amounts of her chakra away. She crouched down, slapped them against the ground, and pumped quick, high volumes into them, rapidly excelling their growth, and her team -and client- watched wide-eyed as they sprang to life right there in the middle of the dusty road, growing to small shrubs.
One had deep, dark green leaves, hand-shaped with sharp edges, and the other wide, flat, bright green leaves. Naruto plucked two leaves from the dark one and tore them, the leaves seeping white sap instantly, and slapped it on the wound, then did the same for the cuts she'd made further up. That would help draw out the worst of the poison. With that done she chewed some of the brighter green leaves, rolling the soothing juice across her tongue. The clean, sharp, grassy taste cleared out the pepper-esque sting and tingling. Then she took off the patch on her wound and spat the poultice on, grabbing a few more leaves to chew and swallow.
Naruto could see Sakura out of the corner of her eye, looking half fascinated, half horrified, and just a bit disgusted.
She wiggled her fingers, the prickly feeling of her nerves waking up again still preferable to the numb tingle of before. Satisfied that her first-aide was sufficient, she plucked a leaf, low at the stem, from each of the plants and put them back into her pouch to replenish her store, then stood up and turned around to properly face her team, "I'm fine now, Kakashi-sensei, and fully prepared to continue on with the mission."
Trays clattered to the ground, pots of tea spilling and rolling across the floor, cups shattering as they hit the ground. Everyone's attention instantly went to Minako as she fell to her knees, screaming.
Setsuna was in front of her in an instant, "Minako!"
The sounds made them all wince. It wasn't a shout of pain, that was the sound of someone's whole world collapsing in on them. It was the sound of a heart breaking, and in this place, like no other, it was a sound others around could sympathize with.
The blonde's agony went on and on, Setsuna's presence unable to provide any kind of comfort as Minako curled in on herself, arms around her middle and her forehead nearly touching the floor. It finally trailed off into heart-wrenching sobs that shook her whole body.
"Haruka." Setsuna didn't have to look far for the tomboyish woman; she was at her shoulder in an second.
"Yeah, I got her." The sandy-haired woman leaned down and scooped Minako into her arms like she weighed nothing at all, the golden blonde emitting a pitiful whimper that had Setsuna's expression softening even further. Haruka looked to her for instructions, "Where to?"
"My bed."
She nodded and she motioned for Setsuna to lead the way. She did so, her presence moving others out of Haruka's path as those in the hall all rushed to find out the reason for the screaming. They rounded the corner that led to her office and Setsuna stopped them before the blank wall before it, reaching out to open the hidden door to her personal rooms. Haruka set the crying girl on the luxurious bed and nodded to the older woman, "I'll handle things downstairs."
"Thank you, Haruka."
" 'Course, Sets."
She didn't even wait for the sandy blonde to leave before she climbed onto the plush bedspread, sitting next to Minako's head and running her hand over the younger girl's hair. She was too locked up inside herself for any other form of comfort at the moment. "There, there. Let it out. There is no shame in tears. There is no judgment in this place."
Minako scooted closer and leaned into the touch, hiding her face against Setsuna's thigh, and cried her heart out. The older woman never let up on her gentle comfort and quiet encouragements.
Eventually, Minako's sobs broke off with a great gasp, and she finally spoke, "It h-hurts! Kami, it hurts so much! Wh-what do we do wh-when we're the one-ones who need comf-fort?"
Setsuna reached out with her other hand and grasped Minako's, "Then we get it. We are just as entitled to comfort as those for whom we are the comfort."
"He's g-gone, Sets. I saw i-it. They ki-killed hiiim!" she broke off into more sobbing and Setsuna held her tighter.
She didn't know what had happened, what Minako knew or how she did, but she didn't need to know in order to offer respite to the young woman. Minako huddled close to her and Setsuna let her pour out her sorrow. "It will be okay. Maybe not now, maybe not anytime soon. But someday, it will be okay again. And I'll be right here for you until then."
Usagi dropped to the ground in the middle of the dusty street as her legs gave out on her. Blood. There had been so much blood. An elite shinobi, a Jounin, killed in an instant, his life snuffed out in a single quick attack.
All that power, all that skill, putting three Genin in the ground like it was nothing. All that Kakashi had been- gone. Usagi wrapped her arms around herself as her entire body shook from reaction. She swallowed roughly and panted, her body still twitching in phantom reaction to having her stomach slit open -twice- and her throat torn out. That had been what it was like for the Jounin: those blades ripping through his insides in a bloody display of power.
She leaned over as her stomach heaved, clapping a hand over her mouth and staring at the ground with unseeing eyes. The shivers started at her spine and spread out from there, overtaking her whole frame. The fingers of her right hand dug into her bicep through her pink jacket as she tried -and failed- again and again to get control of herself. Her breathing trembled through her nose, not trusting her mouth with the way her stomach continued to cramp and twist.
"Usagi?!" It took several seconds for her to register the form kneeling in front of her with hands on her shoulders was a familiar one. Anko leaned closer, "What happened?"
She carefully lowered her hand from her mouth, curling her nails into the palm of her hand and unable to look into the concerned burnt-amber eyes. It wasn't even her own memory. Did she have any right to act like this? She didn't even know Kakashi; not like Naruto, not like Minako. They had a reason, a right, to be so upset, she didn't. What was wrong with her? It was, she was-
"Pathetic..."
"What?"
Her hold on herself tightened, the fingers of her right gripped her arm so hard she could feel the bruises forming under them, her nails gouging bloody crescents into her palm, "Pathetic. I'm so pathetic. Look at me, weak and trembling in the middle of the street. How can you stand to be around me? I talk and talk, but what can I really do? Nothing. Not a damn thing. Kami, I disgust myself. Weak, so damn weak." Her eyes slammed shut on tears, "I couldn't do a damn thing!"
A crack resounded across the street and Usagi gasped, her cheek flaring in hot pain, her head jerking to the side from the force of the slap. It felt like slow motion as she turned back to Anko, crystal blue eyes widening in shock at seeing tears in the powerful kunoichi's eyes. "Stop it. If you're too weak, then get stronger! Don't sit there and cry about your weakness, don't give yourself excuses. There will always be excuses to give, ignore them and continue on."
Something shifted between them in that moment, and Usagi saw Anko in a new light. Not as the self-confident, empowered kunoichi she'd made herself, but as the scared, tormented girl Konoha had turned its back on and vowed to show them all that she had been. She nodded and pushed herself up on shaky legs, Anko holding out a hand in case they gave out on her again. Crystal blue eyes closed for a moment, and opened again, lit from within with a newborn determination.
Usagi reached out and caught Anko's sleeve, looking up into her eyes, "Help me. Help me make myself stronger so it doesn't happen again."
Anko nodded and pulled her up the rest of the way, letting Usa lean against her as her tremors began to trail off, "Yeah, I'll be here."
xxx
For those confused: because the Replications are more 'real' than regular Shadow Clones, when the Clones were killed, their memories went to both Minako and Usagi as well as Naru since they're both functioning as additional 'Original' Narutos.
So their strong reactions were due to suddenly having memories of dying horribly and\or having someone close to them killed before their eyes.
XXX