A/N (4/5/15): Oh my god I've never had so many alerts in my life. The Naruto fandom is so intimidating. But thank you so much for the support! Especially edvin. ka; thanks for reviewing!

I realize that I'm really throwing out a lot of OCs here (most of them won't be seen ever again ahah), but I just wanted to show how well connected Shikon was? I hope it came out alright… there's a list at the bottom of this chapter, if that helps ;;

I bullshit so much science I'm a physics student not a biology student kill me

Chapter 1

Classroom

.

.

.

I've… never actually told anyone else before but. Well.

I have dreams. Dreams of this fantastical, modern world where there was peace. There wasn't any fighting or killing; in fact, humans just kinda enjoyed life till they died. Ma suggested I write them all down, since it was all I could talk about when I was younger. So I did.

Thing was, I remembered a whole other life. I remember every little thing she did, every detail of importance. From a kid, till an adult; from when she became a mother, to when she died.

There's much more to that, of course, but I don't wanna talk about it now…

… You seem to be taking this well, Ginko.

Don't you think it's even a little crazy? Man, if word got out…

Ah, of course you'd think that.

I'm so glad I found you, Ginko. Thank you.

Two weeks later and Shikon was still admiring the affect her new partner has on her classmates.

As the only Inuzuka in her cohort, this would've been their first encounter with intelligent animals, unless their relatives owned a summons contract.

She snickered at the look on Miza's face as Ginko walked up expectantly to the girl for a rub.

… Perhaps it was just the fact that she was a fluffy animal in general that made Ginko the centre of attention, especially to ease the boredom in class.

Ginko wasn't exactly 'cute' per say, even if she was smaller than average; Inuzuka hounds weren't bred for domestication, thus their looks were far from non-threatening. Add to the fact that Ginko was fully grown and had actually produced several litters despite her size…

The result was a slightly lop-sided, if musculature, ball of silver-grey fur. It was the eyes, Shikon decided. Ginko had very pretty gold eyes.

Hiashi Hyuuga and Kyouko Uchiha sneered at the display, for once synchronized in their actions and not at each other's throats. The two got along like oil and water, and it wasn't just because of clan animosity. Kyouko was feisty by nature, and absolutely detested the stoic Hyuuga.

Though Kyouko actually hated a lot of people, Shikon included, despite her best efforts. But ranking was on thing Shikon was not going to let go off; if Kyouko wanted the top stop, she was going to have to fight her for it.

Shikon knew her purpose in class was simply for political connections; the other clan children in the class were mostly aware of it as well. On her first day of academy, her father even left the specific instructions of "Make friends," incredibly detailed for the man of such few words. Thus, she did her best to remain civil in front of the others; she would not spread her clan's reputation as being animals or beasts.

The academy was really a place of sucking up and being 'friends' with everyone; such was the ideals of the Hokage when the school was first established.

It made Shikon snort internally whenever she saw people try to act in front of Nishiki Sarutobi; having a classmate that was the Third's first son was enough incentive to make parents crack down and force their children to behave around the boy, no matter how cynical or rude he was.

When clan pride came into the equation, however, the veils of benevolence went flying of the railings.

It was rather unfair, Shikon realised, how often she sent the other girls to the hospital during their spars. Kyouko was her most often victim; the girl kept charging relentlessly when she was angry. Chinatsu Sato and Ran Fujiwara were also rather worthy opponents; both girls were cousins coming from a fourth or fifth generation shinobi family.

The teachers were obligated to feel upset over her lack of control, but Shikon's equally unenthusiastic excuse was that she didn't know her own strength.

However, her theoretical marks suffered. Sayaka, Kyouko's minion and closest friend with amazingly superior administrative skills, had pointed out rather exuberantly to the entire class that the best female combatant had failed a mathematics test. Kyouko had been intolerable for weeks.

On the male half of the class, Hiashi and Hizashi Hyuuga were obviously among the upper ranks, along with Masaaki Tsukuda and Ken Adachi. The former was the son of S class ninjutsu specialist Masato Tsukuda, but the latter… the latter was an anomaly. He was a civilian.

There was, in fact, only a handful of civilian students in Shikon's class. Those who had made it this far without dropping out only managed it because they had found an edge over those born to ninja families.

Sayaka Midorikawa was the rather attractive daughter of a well-to-do merchant without any ninja background. As a kunoichi-in-training, Shikon honestly respected her, because Sayaka's edge was her relationship with Kyouko. Sayaka had confided in her a year ago, after a rather infamous period where the two 'best friends' wouldn't talk to each other, that she found Kyouko abominable.

"But I need an advantage," Sayaka admitted. "Kyouko was coaching me with my taijutsu, and even let some genjutsu tips slip, so I just kept on smiling and agreeing with her. I still can't believe she kept falling for it."

When Kyouko found out, she was furious, and refused to associate with her anymore. Sayaka just smirked indulgently. "She wouldn't dare." Shikon silently approved of the menace the girl displayed. It was much more preferable to her mindless sycophant persona. "My father is her clan's main supplier of that ninja wire they like. He has to get it all the way from the Land of Iron, so it would be difficult to find a replacement."

Miza Hizuki was the last surviving child of her family, having come from a poor village outside Konohagakure. She was timid, but exceptionally intelligent, only rivalled by Tooru Akimichi with his eidetic memory. Those two were good friends, and delved into topics that Shikon could not begin to comprehend. An aspiring medic, Miza was a valuable asset to Konoha, if only because the hospital was lacking.

She was also Shikon's closest companion, before Ginko came along. Shikon rather enjoyed the other girl's company, and the fact that she was clan less meant that her father couldn't disapprove. Her only fault was that Miza disliked sparring, though if she had to admit, it might had been because of how rough Shikon fought.

Ken Adachi was an orphan sponsored by the Nara clan. That in itself was already ridiculously high praise, considering the aloof genius the clan was famous for. Him turning out to be a prodigy simply affirmed what everyone was guessing. Ken's marks were consistently high; his jutsu some of the most refined in the class. His sharp mind, in addition to iron discipline and diligence, allowed him to advance leaps and bounds in order to catch up and surpass his more privileged classmates. But it was his charisma that made him stand out – there was no one in class that could say they disliked him. People just found that they wanted to follow whatever he said.

Shikon would also admit to herself that he was rather cute. Not that she would ever tell anyone that she had a crush on him. Maybe Ginko, now that she had her.

There was, and always would be, a gap between the civilian and shinobi-raised students.

It wasn't only because of their upbringing and their earlier start, it was their composition altogether. Miza and Tooru, who oddly wanted to work in the Intelligence sector in spite of his clan, had gotten into a rather enlightening conversation with her about the topic.

"It's like we're totally different species," the boy said excitedly, licking his lips. "Selective breeding and all that. You would know right, Inuzuka-san?"

Miza adjusted her glasses, hiding a small giggle. "He found his clan genealogy, dating way back to its founding," she explained. "We can't exactly read it, unfortunately, but Tooru found out some cool stuff."

"Our chakra circuits are wired completely differently from civilians! For every generation of shinobi, the child's circuit becomes more suited for shinobi work. By the fourth generation, the nodes at the vascular tenketsu have significantly increased in sized. By the eighth generation, the aortic glands surrounding the main coil have completely changed shape!"

"Speaking of which," Miza chimed in. "I've noticed that bloodline limits seem to have an effect on chakra system as well. Most don't seem to effect the tenketsu that focus on the efficiency of the system, they work more of an 'extra boost', I suppose. Though I guess that's rather obvious, um." She faltered, blushing. "Ok lemme rephrase ah -

"I asked Hyuuga-san – Hizashi-san; he's friendlier – and he gave me a sketch of mine and Tooru's circuit. Notice how his seems more concentrated around the torso, especially in comparison to mine."

So what if two bloodline limit users had a child together?

Miza looked to the Akimichi. "… I suppose the parents would be very lucky if the child was even a stillborn. That seems rather dangerous, Shi-chan, to mess around with human bodies that way. The chakra circuit is delicate; if perhaps those two bloodlines had wires that intersected, the child's chakra could backflow while it was still in the womb – gosh, I don't want to think about that. Not to mention half-grown pathways, or unstable tenketsu, and perhaps a whole other host of complications."

That certainly told Shikon a lot about the animosity between the clans. Maybe it wasn't just about jealousy and petty rivalry, after all.

Maybe it was a safety measure.

The one thing Shikon felt the civilians lacked was, however, instinct.

There was debate among those philosophers that instinct was trained; instinct was earned. Some more radical thinkers thought that instincts were born, coming from your forefathers.

Shikon leaned towards the latter explanation, but perhaps she was biased.

She could, after all, remember distinctly the sensation of falling –

She shook herself, causing Ginko to look up and weave her way onto Shikon's lap. Shining gold eyes gazed meaningfully at her. Shikon grinned reassuringly, shoving away her wandering thoughts.

Heights was certainly something she would go out of her way to avoid, though.

That was, however, a problem for another time.

Junichi-sensei slammed a stack of books onto the teacher's table, startling everyone into silence.

Class was in session.

.

.

.

Tsume Inuzuka was five when she realised what she felt towards her elder sister was hate.

Perhaps hate was a strong word for it, but Tsume was five and she honestly didn't care.

She slammed her fist into one of the training posts at the clan training grounds, simply focusing brute strength without bothering about finesse or technique. Ma always complained whenever something in their house got broken; didn't matter if they were rich enough to replace it. She just kicked them out of the house, no questions asked.

This particular post had become rather accustomed to Tsume's stress-relieving attacks. The nicks and scratches told a story of pain and long suffering, the scuffs and dents showing frustration and anger.

Tsume brought her palm down again, putting all her hate behind the motion even as a low growl escaped her throat. Just thinking about her made Tsume want to tear something apart, break it down, destroy destroy destroy.

So much hate in such a tiny thing was hardly conducive.

Wasn't it just a little bit fair to crave some recognition?!

Shikon treated her like shit; the extremity of the issue made it warrant the word in Tsume's mind, no matter how Ma swatted her whenever she cursed.

What even was her problem? As heir, she was the one who got all the privileges, she was the one people looked to first, the one Father focused on more, the one the clan practically revered.

Again and again, she battered the poor post, bitterness leaking from the downturn of her mouth.

Did she even deserve the damn title? Everyone just assumed that because she was born first, she was the perfect little leader?

What kind of dumb idiot came up with that rule?

In this world, strength was everything. Even now, those that weren't blinded by the glare of the Holy Heir could see that little Tsume would be stronger than whatever Shikon could muster up. It was all in the body; the way it grew, the way it adapted.

So why the hell was Shikon even acting so insufferably?!

Tsume was better.

Slam

Tsume was stronger.

Slam

Tsume was the one who should've been the heir.

Tsume's fist shattered the training post, leaving the skin of her knuckle raw and throbbing.

"Idiot, you're doing it wrong," a condescending voice interjected, and Tsume inhaled sharply to contain her impulsive growl as she turned to face good ol' sis.

"Shi-nee," she greeted, poker face failing her as her lips tilted into a furious scowl at her sister's little chuckle. Always laughing at her; always making her feel so small.

A flash of grey drew Tsume's eye and she scoffed at the new pet that shadowed Shikon like a mindless drone. She didn't feel the least bit jealous, even if that's what others assumed. The dog is much too scrawny and tiny to pack much of a punch; her fur lacked lustre and shine that indicated youth. Ginko was just an old breeding hound; she'd just get killed in the field.

In Tsume's opinion, it just proved how sadistic her sister was to have chosen to doom the poor thing. She should've imprinted on a stronger dog, a more powerful dog. A dog like Makkuro, perhaps; he was the best one.

"What do you want?" Tsume said, intending for it to sound commanding; instead, it comes out as more of a whine.

"Ma would blame me if you got hurt. If you're going to break clan property, at least do it properly." And then she proceeded to punch an adjacent post in half, wood splintering cleanly and not jagged as it generally was. "You should know the technique already. Use it." And then she just upped and walked away.

The bloody heir just did as she pleased.

Anger exploded in her chest, but suddenly, all Tsume felt was calm.

"Wait," she called out coolly; it wasn't loud or emotional, but it just made Shikon stop short.

"One day, I'll be Alpha," Tsume declared, with such conviction in her voice that made her seem so certain of its truth.

Shikon's lips curved upwards into a challenging smirk. "If you can beat me, then by all means."

Konoha Ninja Academy, 14th Cohort -/only the ones who appeared in this chapter; class size is generally 15-20 pupils at that point. There are a disproportionate number of girls, but I guess it's because Shikon herself is a girl, thus she knows them better.

Shikon Inuzuka

Miza Hizuki

Hiashi Hyuuga

Kyouko Uchiha

Nishiki Sarutobi (I have no better name for him I'm sorry -)

Chinatsu Sato

Ran Fujiwara

Sayaka Midorikawa

Hizashi Hyuuga

Masaaki Tsukuda

Ken Adachi

Tooru Akimichi

Have fun guessing who's going to die! I already have a list. A rather detailed list. Mwahaha.

You can actually deduce Shikon's team already, haha. Do me a favour? Drop a review with who you think her teammates are! I think that'll be fun!