Chapter Three

Sakura walked up to Hinata, Ino, and Tenten one morning at the Academy before class started.

"I know you guys don't like me," she said, determined. "But I came for two reasons. First, to apologize to you, Hinata. What I did to you unintentionally that day was very cruel, and I've been feeling shame about it ever since."

"... It's alright," said Hinata at last, reserved. "You forced me to face up to reality. Unintentionally, as you said."

"... Hinata. I am not going to give up on Sasuke!" said Sakura fiercely, surprising Hinata. "And I don't pretend to understand the appeal, but if you really want to follow Naruto… you should not give up!"

Hinata sat there, torn. She knew Sakura meant well. It was the kind of advice Sakura herself would have wanted if she felt down. But…

"Ino," Sakura said, "can I talk to you alone for a minute?" Her voice was hushed and she winced. "That's… that's the other thing I came for."

Ino observed her coolly for a moment. "Fine," she said at last. She stood, and followed Sakura out of the classroom into the corridor.

"What do you think of Sakura's advice?" Tenten asked Hinata in their wake.

"I think… I think that I don't know if that's healthy," Hinata admitted. "Constantly following someone who cares nothing for you -"

"Hinata." Hinata looked around, and gasped. Naruto was standing there. He shuffled on his feet, looking nervous. "Can I, uh - can I talk to you for a minute? In the back of the classroom?"

"... Y-yes," said Hinata nervously, and she followed him away.

Tenten sat there, both of her friends gone, looking after them curiously.

"Hey, Tenten - what's been up with you lately?" She looked around. One of her old guy friends was sitting in front of her, turned around, grinning. The other guys looked curious.

"Oh, just… friend drama. Boy trouble. You know." Tenten smiled, chin in her hand.

"You didn't used to care about stuff like that," said the boy, frowning. "Why the sudden change?"

"Well… it's not that I never cared, it's just… I never had someone to share all that stuff with before," Tenten argued, frowning. "Friend drama and fad diets, guys and girly hobbies - like my herbs, or my fortune telling."

"Girl stuff," said the guy, making a face. He laughed.

But Tenten thought those were serious things. "Yeah," she said, fading, troubled. "Girl stuff."

She realized, unexpectedly, that she may have more in common with Hinata and Ino than she did with the boys. And she wasn't sure what to think about that. It didn't fit in with her self image at all.

Because she knew, looking at their grinning, disbelieving, unworried faces right now, that they just wouldn't get it if she tried to talk about important things like that with them. Little boys, they didn't care.

And she wanted more.

Sakura whirled to face Ino out in the corridor. "What's gotten into you?" she demanded, almost angry.

"What?" said Ino, caught off guard.

"You've given up on Sasuke, you've fallen in popularity, and it's like you don't even care!" said Sakura, impassioned.

"It's just - it's a weird time for me, okay?" said Ino, uncomfortable. She realized she'd fallen in popularity, and it made her conflicted and uneasy.

"... Alright. But you should know," said Sakura seriously. "You should know how it looks, hanging around with freaks like Hinata and Tenten. I'd never say it to their faces, because they seem nice, but - well, they're not exactly popular. You know?"

Rage suddenly filled Ino. "They may be freaks," she spat, "and they may be unpopular, and boyish, and shy, and awkward - but they're damn better friends than you ever were!"

Sakura looked like someone had slapped her, not just because of the words, but because of the way they had been snarled. Ino stomped, flat-footed, back into the classroom.

"Uh, Hinata," said Naruto uneasily, "someone - someone told me you liked me." Hinata looked down, humiliated and pained. "And I - I've been avoiding the issue because I don't know what to do. I grew up an orphan and, well, no one's ever really liked me before. So I don't know what to do in this situation."

Hinata looked up. She felt hope slowly begin to leak into her heart.

"But I - I just wanted to say - I think you're a great person Hinata, though kind of weird and quiet I guess. But still a great person. But… you know… I like Sakura," he finished awkwardly. "And she likes Sasuke. It's complicated. But…

"You know, I just wanted you to know that. That I wasn't just blowing you off. I hate it when people do that to me. I acknowledge you as a person, Hinata, just… not like that."

It was disappointing, but not as much as it might have been a few weeks ago.

"... Thank you, Naruto. Hopefully I will find someone who doesn't mind that I am, as you say, 'weird and quiet.' Or who doesn't see me like that at all.

"And I… I acknowledge you as a worthwhile person as well."

Naruto's eyes grew huge, and then he gave a great big smile. "Thanks, Hinata!"

Hinata watched him hurry away and pondered missed opportunities.

Ino, Hinata, and Tenten all met back up in the classroom, each a little downcast.

"I don't have anything in common with my old friends," Tenten shared.

"Naruto doesn't like me," Hinata offered.

"Sakura's still a royal bitch," said Ino, like it left a bad taste in her mouth. "Did I really used to be like that? All insulting and obsessed with popularity?"

"Yes," Tenten offered, and smirked when Ino offered her a half-hearted glare.

"You weren't supposed to agree with me," Ino sighed.

"I, um… I think it's better that we be honest with you, Ino," said Hinata, faintly amused.

"True," Ino admitted, smiling. "So…" She straightened and her eyes lit up; she began preening herself. "I went shopping the other day," she dished, bright and bubbly, "and I got this brand new dress, and Tenten's stopped listening, and -"

"Hey!" said Tenten, as Hinata, who had been listening politely, began laughing.

Ino cackled with mischievous laughter.

"I - I listen very well," Tenten protested.

"Sure you do," said Hinata innocently. "What? I was agreeing with you -!" she began, laughing, as Tenten made to pretend-attack her. Ino watched them in amusement, head in her hand.

Suddenly, they heard giggles behind them. They frowned and looked around.

Ino's posse of old, popular friends were standing there. "Ino," said the girl who'd taken over position of leader, grinning, "is it true? I heard you hadn't bathed in three whole days!" More giggles.

Ino scowled. They'd heard no such thing, but now everyone else in the class certainly had. "Fuck off," she said flatly, to more giggles.

"You know," said Tenten thoughtfully, "I'm no fashion plate, but even I can tell that unclean, Ino's still way prettier than any of you."

The giggling stopped.

"Yes, and more talented as well," said Hinata, eyes wide and innocent, mock sympathetic. "How hard that must be, constantly being compared to a girl who has rejected you who is much better than you without trying. In fact, I heard a rumor - that that's why you've been spreading unsavory rumors in the first place."

Ino swelled up to her former heights, smirking. "Dirty or not," she said smugly, grinning playfully, eyes bright, "I still look damn good. Even girls who aren't interested in fashion can tell."

The tables had turned. "Fuck you, Yamanaka," the lead girl snapped, and they all flounced off, scowling.

The rest of the class went back to what they were doing. But they'd gotten the message - even when not at the top of the social echelon, Yamanaka Ino was still not to be fucked with. And neither were her friends.

The cut between Ino and her former friends was complete… but so was the cut between Tenten and hers. They'd watched Tenten get catty in front of a bunch of girl drama, and had assumed (somewhat wrongly) that she had completely changed.

The deal was sealed. Their old lives gone, their friendships with each other solidified, their determination to train and be the best was now free to show up in their classroom.

"Your first task in learning genjutsu," said Kurenai in the training field, "is to learn how to break out of other people's genjutsu. Now, Hinata, no Byakugan. I know that can be used to see through genjutsu, but you need to learn how to sense an illusion even when your Byakugan is not active." She looked at Hinata seriously.

Hinata nodded firmly. "Yes, Sensei."

"Okay. So. All illusions have flaws. They can be little ones, they can be big ones, depending on the skill of the user, but no genjutsu user's imagination is perfect. What is Ninja Rule # 39?"

"Always observe your surrounding environment," they parroted back to her.

"Very good. So first step, you have to look for details in your surrounding environment that tell the lie. This means keeping up a high level of observational skills pretty much all the time. Once you've noticed you're inside a genjutsu, you disrupt your chakra flow and the illusion goes away - unless you're in multiple layers, in which case you fall into the next layer. In that case, you must keep breaking out of illusions until you find reality.

"So. We are going to practice picking out genjutsu and breaking ourselves out of them. Your opponent will be me, though I will go easy on you at first."

They tensed. "When do we start?" asked Ino.

Kurenai smiled. "I'll give you a hint," she said. "You're already in one. Look around… What gives it away?"

They looked around. "The sun is in the wrong place," said Tenten suddenly, "and that bend in the creek is supposed to go west, not east."

They made hand seals and disrupted their chakra, saw a hazy chakra mirage filter before their vision - and then the sun and the creek righted themselves.

"Very good," said Kurenai. "We will practice this relentlessly until you can break out of even advanced illusions. As a genjutsu master, falling for someone else's genjutsu is the height of shame. And imagine you're fighting another genjutsu user? You must keep track not only of your own illusions, but of the ones they're sending back at you."

The girls looked convinced. "Alright," said Kurenai. "Let's get started."

They broke out of increasingly more difficult illusions. Some of them were ordinary; others took the form of psychic attacks, horrifying and gruesome.

"You must keep calm!" Kurenai commanded. "Genjutsu requires not only observational skills, but calm! Look to see in a matter of seconds if the horrifying thing is real!"

This took a great deal of practice.

At the same time, they were beginning training in their individual skills.

Tenten's first goal was to master each weapon individually. This took up a good chunk of the two and a half years. She practiced, not only after school with Kurenai, Ino, and Hinata, but after hours, alone in training fields, going through katas with different weapons, sweating and panting. She worked relentlessly, mastering movements and katas, fighting with her fellow women using various weapons - sometimes with Kurenai clones, when she wanted to really make an impact. Kurenai even set her up with sparring sessions with a series of masters in each of her close distance weapons, and introduced her to a range where she could practice throwing long distance weapons at both moving and unmoving targets.

Ino's first goal was to master both mind control and body control from a straight line, close distance, across from someone. She, too, practiced on her fellows and on Kurenai clones. The goal was to throw your chakra out in a rope around the opponent, and travel down the invisible rope of chakra to them - either as a mind or as a physical body. As a physical body, she could then flick her fingers and have her victims do anything she wanted. As a mind, her real body slumped over and she was now in the victim's mind, moving their body and reading their panicked, trapped thoughts. There was nothing like making a ninja realize they were no longer in control of their own body for freaking them out.

Hinata's first goal was to have a good basic mastery of the heart of Jyuuken. She used her Byakugan constantly, in order to better its strength and distance, and she sparred every day not only with her fellow girls but also with Neji. She made a lot of mistakes at first, but slowly, through relentless, sweaty sparring, she improved, becoming faster, softer, and more graceful. Her fellow women pointed out to her that she seemed to be improving, and slowly her self confidence grew as well.

They were on their way.

Ino approached Kurenai one afternoon after a training session. "Sensei…" she said uncomfortably, "can I talk to you for a minute? Alone?"

Tenten and Hinata looked after them curiously, but left the field. Kurenai nodded after them. "Thank you, girls." She turned to Ino. "What is it?"

"Sensei, I'm asking you this because you're not like my parents or my friends. You're the person in my life that I trust the most to be completely objective. You're not like Iruka-sensei or Suzume-sensei. You don't mince words."

"Okay," said Kurenai, frowning.

"Am I fat? Do I need to be losing weight? In order to look good, I mean," Ino added quickly.

Kurenai was silent for a while, Ino standing there nervously in front of her. "Do you want me to share with you the secret of having a truly attractive body, Ino?" she asked at last, almost conspiratorially.

Ino nodded eagerly, leaning forward.

"Exercise regularly, eat healthy things, and take good care of yourself. It's that simple." Ino paused, frowning skeptically. "Ino, do I look stick skinny?" Kurenai added pointedly.

"... No," Ino realized. "You're even curvier than me!"

"And would anyone accuse me of being unattractive?" Kurenai asked ironically. Ironically, because the idea was absurd. Ino had seen the looks people gave their Sensei when she passed in the streets.

"No, Sensei."

"But that's because I refuse to bow down to standards," said Kurenai stoutly. "I'm confident in myself, I believe in myself, and I take good care of myself. That's what's attractive.

"You're not fat, to answer your question, Ino. You don't need to be dieting at all. But that's not the right way to go about being attractive anyway. You don't get a good body by stopping all eating altogether. You get a good body by being confident and healthy - dealing with what you've been blessed with.

"I think you may have to face up to the fact that you have some sensitive body image issues, and they may be lying to you about both the way that you really look, and the way you're supposed to look. Do you understand?"

She peered, concerned and all knowing, into Ino's face.

"... Yes, Sensei," said Ino at last, her mind spinning with new thoughts.

"Do you know what you could use as a ninja, Ino? You could actually stand to bulk up and gain some muscle - which is different from gaining body fat. Just a piece of advice." Kurenai patted Ino on the shoulder, and walked off the field leaving her student with a lot to think about.

Ino had been left torn. Because popularity was important to her, and popularity had always taught her that dieting was the most important thing for a good body. But not only had popularity led her toward the wrong people… what it had told her about looking good did not seem to be true either.

The cult of popularity may have lied to her.

Tenten had decided to apply for a clan name. This was the first step in being able to live on her own, away from the orphanage.

She walked into the vast, gleaming Konoha home offices one day, and walked up to the front desk. "Clan name?" said the bureaucrat there, bored.

"I don't have a clan name," said Tenten in a tiny, young, determined voice. "I'm a civilian orphan."

The bureaucrat paused - looked over the desk and sneered at her. "And what are you doing here?" he asked with contempt.

"I want to apply for a clan name."

"Are you even out of the Academy yet?" he asked skeptically.

"According to what I've read, that shouldn't matter." Tenten held up the booklet of information their office printed and circulated, her expression fierce.

"Look, little girl. Come back in a few years and -"

"I have concrete abilities!" Tenten shouted. "I have a private tutor who's teaching me weapons and genjutsu!" The bureaucrat stared at her. "And I'm not leaving until I get a meeting with somebody to talk about gaining a clan name."

And, taking a page out of Ino and Hinata's book - Ino was stubborn, Hinata passive aggressive - she sat down on the floor in front of the desk, crossed her arms pouting, and waited. For half an hour. Then an hour. She was ignored first, but soon passing people began whispering and staring.

First the bureaucrat asked her to leave. She said nothing. Then a security Chuunin walked up to her and commanded that she leave.

Tenten glared up at him with narrowed brown eyes. "What are you going to do, attack a little civilian girl for sitting on the floor?" she sniped. "Konoha's way too peaceful to go for that."

At last, the Chuunin shrugged helplessly at the furious bureaucrat, and left.

So the bureaucrat sighed, looked at his calendar, and said, "Is next Thursday at two a good time to meet with one of our officials?"

Tenten jumped to her feet and cheered. "Yes! Yes!" she shouted.

So she went eagerly again next Thursday, her argument and confirmation paperwork from Kurenai ready. The official wasn't there yet. She sat in his office, and she waited.

About half an hour later, she realized something important: They were ignoring her again. He wasn't going to come.

Tenten considered crying, and indeed scrubbed a few tears furiously from her eyes. But then she began thinking: Where would he be at this time? It was past lunch… So if he wasn't here, he must be in one of the big board meetings on the other side of the building.

She snuck out of his office - behind and past the bureaucrat's front desk (she stuck her tongue out at his back silently on the way by) - and down the hall into the boardroom offices. That room didn't have anyone - that room didn't have anyone - ah, there!

She slammed open the door and shouted, "I have special ninja abilities and I demand a clan name!" They all looked around to stare at the impertinent, furious little girl who'd just burst through the door. "Someone scheduled an official meeting with me during this time to talk about gaining a clan name. I have paperwork here from a Chuunin certifying that I have special abilities. Is this home office policy?" she asked sarcastically.

There was an embarrassed silence. At last, one older man stood, and everyone else looked terrified. "No, it is not," he rumbled. "I head home offices. I will personally assist you. Come with me."

Everyone else stared pointedly at their toes as he and Tenten left the room.

They walked down the hall, past the bureaucrat - horror passed across his face and his mouth opened and closed like a fish after them; Tenten snickered - and into a larger, grander office. "Please sit down," said the head of home offices, sitting down behind his desk.

Tenten sat across from him and offered him her paperwork.

"Hmm. Yes, that all seems to be in order," he said. "Except for one thing." He looked up as Tenten's stomach gave a jolt. Had she forgotten something? "An established Konoha ninja clan must 'sponsor' you until you are making your own money as a ninja. They will vouch for you and pay for your independent housing until you are made a Genin."

"Sponsor, huh?" said Tenten thoughtfully.

"Here." The man handed her a business card with a personal phone number on it. "In the meantime, I will draw up the paperwork. When you find someone to sponsor you, this is my personal number. Call that, and I will set up a time to meet with you and complete your ninja clan integration. At that time, you will be able to choose your own surname."

Hinata had grown a strange friendship with Neji over the course of their spars together. He was extremely reticent, but they'd grown an unexpected respect for one another as teacher and student. In a guard formation, Neji would walk her back to her set of rooms each night.

"It is only my duty as teacher and branch member," he said simply, looking straight ahead, when she thanked him for doing this.

He was doing this one night, when he paused and stared expressionlessly ahead of himself. Hinata looked around - and gasped.

Her things were out of her room, spread all over the hallway in front. A branch servant was bringing more of her items outside.

"What is going on?!" she called, hurrying over, horrified.

"My apologies, Hinata-sama." The branch member bowed. "Hanabi-sama requested you be moved to a smaller set of rooms. She wants these rooms for herself. And as clan heiress -"

"She is allowed them." Hinata had suddenly looked troubled, but hard to read.

"Is Hanabi-sama doing things like this to you a lot?" Neji asked, his brow wrinkling.

"She keeps making political moves against me… Setting me up against older, stronger people during the weekly spars so I'll be humiliated. Requesting I be served at dinner foods I do not like. Now this."

"She won't face you since that day," Neji observed. "She's fearful of you - jealous. She doesn't want her place usurped."

"All I want is to be her sister," Hinata whispered.

Neji pulled Hinata aside. "Look," he said, "it's not my place to say, but Hanabi-sama seems to be grouping political allies against you. If you're not careful, you could wind up with a cursed seal.

"Hinata-sama, if Hanabi-sama is setting political moves against you… you must learn to play politics again back to her. That is the only true way to gain admiration from your father. If you show your strength, he will intervene.

"That is how Hiashi-sama is."

"... But how?" Hinata whispered hopelessly. "I know nothing about politics. And Hanabi is the clan heiress."

"Hinata-sama," said Neji, "you have one advantage over Hanabi-sama. You are good at convincing people and getting people to like you, are you not? You are humble and graceful, usually calm. A diplomat.

"That is the key to defeating your sister."