Ino and Chouji are sitting in Rabbi Nara's office. In a week's time, a new year will begin. Then there will be the High Holy Days, and after that it will be Ino's Beth Din date. Rabbi Nara takes her through the process; three rabbis will be sitting on a panel, and will ask Ino questions about her beliefs, her level of practice, and so forth ("don't expect it to be over-formal, though, it's not like you're being court-martialled before the Hokage"); she will read a passage of Hebrew ("something that means a lot to you, or if you can't think of anything, there's always the blessing for the Torah"); and then, if she passes – which they all know she will – she will be given her Hebrew name, and then she will go to the mikveh, the ritual bath that will signify her entrance into the Jewish faith.
"Are you nervous?" Rabbi Nara asks.
Ino wonders if she should be honest, and decides, fuck it, this guy is my dad's team mate, he knows my family, no need to worry about putting on a front. "In a way, yes," she says. "I know it's weird, coming from a shinobi – I've faced far worse things – but this seems bigger, somehow. Like, more than becoming a genin or a chuunin."
Rabbi Nara leans across the table and takes Ino's hand. "That's perfectly natural," he says, and then breaks into a smile. "But you're a bright woman, Ino. And I'm not just saying that. You'll do fine."
Ino looks at the scars on Rabbi Nara's forehead and jawline, his iron-grey hair and beard, and wonders how he's survived so long. The previous Ino-Shika-Chou trio always had a reputation for being one of Konoha's most formidable cells – with her dad's mental powers and tracking, her soon-to-be father-in-law's strength and the rabbi's tactical knowledge and shadow jutsu, they were, and still are, a force to be reckoned with. It was not for nothing that the Hokage herself had chosen Rabbi Nara as her advisor, even though she was a Christian and he a Jew. Religious divisions, Tsunade believed, were unimportant in the grand scheme of things when it came to lives being put on the line.
Author's note:
Beth Din: Jewish rabbinical court who preside over religious matters