Hitomi had to wait for lunch break to act. Before that, she simply couldn't see any opportunity to approach Naruto in a natural manner, but she watched him carefully, noting his gloomy face when he entered the classroom and the way he held himself, a bit prostrated over his desk in the first row. She spent that whole morning so angry at the world, at the boys who had played with him the day before, at their stupid, stupid parents. She sat there, her back stiff and her chakra so agitated the students next and in front of her could probably feel it. It wasn't killing intent, not yet, she was too young, but an intent of some sort, that was for sure.

At noon, she engaged Shino and Hinata in a ninja game. The teachers expected their students to play those kinds of games during their free time, so they could practice what they learned in class. They hadn't learned anything yet, really, but clan children still had skills to work on. Hitomi's plan to approach Naruto and persuade her friends to follow, was simplistic. "We need one more player to have two teams of two," she frowned. She made a show of looking around then to light up as she saw Naruto, alone on a swing. "I have the solution, wait for me!"

She took off before they could answer, hurrying to the boy. She didn't allow her heart to ache for him too much. Wallowing in compassion for him was useless. She wanted to act, not to watch him stay unhappy. Soon, that sad and lonely look on his face would just be a bad memory, she promised herself that. "Hi!" she chirped. "D'you wanna play ninja with us? We need you so we can have teams of two."

She had expected to have to convince him but, as soon as he heard her voice, his whole face lit up and he jumped on his feet, clearly excited and amazed. Now that was more like it.

"I'll be the best ninja you've ever seen, believe it!" he beamed before following her back to Shino and Hinata.

With a grin, she suggested doing girls versus boys. She knew Shino wouldn't be pumped about getting paired up with the loud and energetic Naruto, but she wanted her friends to grow closer to the jinchūriki too, and was aware that Hinata couldn't manage if she had to work with someone she didn't know at all.

That game ended with the girls winning, but not by much. The boys had done well, but Hinata was an excellent strategist when she set her timidity aside and her chakra control was as excellent as you could expect from any Hyūga her age. Hitomi, over the moon, congratulated her friend profusely, making her blush and smile at the same time.

Shino was lecturing Naruto – the blonde boy listened with surprising diligence. The two had been a good pair during the game, scoring points often enough that they could have won if Hinata or Hitomi had been just a bit less efficient together. Naruto's impulsive and daring nature was a good counterpoint for Shino's reluctance to act without a solid plan ready.

During the afternoon, they got their first taijutsu lesson. Mizuki-sensei – Hitomi hated associating this sign of respect to the man's name but she had no choice – was in charge of those classes. For the first day, he just wanted to assess his students' physical skills. He explained the safety rules they would have to follow in his class, listed the supplies they would need, including wooden shuriken and kunai, then got them started.

First, the students had to run a lap around the courtyard. Hitomi was faster than all the other girls, but a bit slower than Sasuke, who finished first, and Kiba, just after the Uchiha boy. Shikamaru had kept to the middle of the group, as usual. After that, Mizuki tested their strength through muscle-building exercises, including press-ups and sit-ups. Most times, Hitomi beat Kiba, but she could never surpass Sasuke. He always had a few seconds on her, no matter how hard she tried.

Then Mizuki tested their stamina, making them run laps for as long as they could. There, Hitomi truly shone, with her travelling experience. Even Sasuke had to stop, well before she started to sweat, his face red and damp. Finally, the teacher realised he wouldn't tire her out and made her stop. She obediently came back to her classmates, waiting for the next exercise.

Naruto had done well so far. He had no talent whatsoever for the intellectual dimension of the Academy's program, but he was in excellent shape and had ranked high in all the exercises. Was it the Kyūbi lending him its strength? If it was the case, he didn't show any sign and the girl didn't ever feel, even once, the demon's chakra manifesting.

After that came precision exercises. Hitomi didn't have an innate gift for that discipline, but Ensui had mercilessly trained her, refusing to let her settle for an average performance. She had thrown those damned weapons again and again, until her wrists were on fire and her arms couldn't aim anymore. She could even do it with senbon, the long needles most ninjas didn't like much but she appreciated their true value. She would never be perfect in that field, but she was good, and she intended to show it.

When that class was over, several girls waited for Hitomi in the locker room. She recognised Aimi, a civilian-born student who was trying to overcome Ino as the leader of the crowd. She wasn't eloquent or pretty, but her size and strength made people respect her instinctively. Wary, Hitomi waited for one of the girls to speak, shifting quietly to a defensive position.

"So apparently you're better than anyone around here uh?"

Hitomi shrugged, staring down at the other girl. It was a hard feat, since Aimi was a few inches taller than her, but she managed. Fights weren't exactly forbidden out of taijutsu class, if you didn't seriously injure your opponent, but she preferred psychological warfare against other children. "If you want to surpass me, Aimi-chan," she said with a sweet, dangerous smile, "you should train a little harder. You did okay earlier, after all."

But I was far better than you, was left unsaid but still painfully obvious. Hitomi didn't get any pleasure from pushing another kid around, even if that kid was already showing herself to be a fucking pain in the ass. Still, she wouldn't hesitate to go harder on her if she didn't settle down and accept the situation. She would take the first rank, at least amongst the kunoichi of their year, whether Aimi liked it or not. There were very few things she wouldn't sacrifice for that goal, and the ego of a pitiful little bully wasn't amongst them. An air of disdain on her face, she grabbed her things and pushed through the girls like they were nothing. Like all bullies were.

Shikamaru was waiting for her outside with Ino and Chōji. Naruto, Hinata and Shino were there too. All looked various degrees of worried, except maybe her cousin, who knew more than anyone what she was capable of when she was in danger, or just crossed, really. After all, they had trained together for the last two months, mostly under Kurenai or Yoshino's supervision.

The two women were waiting for them at the gate, as if the mere thought of them was enough to summon them. Now that would come in handy during a fight, Hitomi thought with a smile. Kurenai's thoughtful stare fell on Naruto, who was telling his new friends what he would do to Kiba if he continued ignoring him the next day. Hitomi knew the Inuzuka boy would come around, but she understood Naruto's wounded reaction.

Kurenai, though, didn't say anything before she was alone with her daughter, both working on dinner. Hitomi loved gyoza and was humming a tune as she put seasoning in the mix of grounded meat and vegetables that would fill the delicious little dumplings. Her mother had promised to tell her the full recipe one day, since it was an original. "So, sweetheart," the woman started gently, "you hadn't told me you were friends with Uzumaki Naruto too. Did it happen today?"

The girl stiffened slightly, glancing at her mother before going back to the filling. She didn't try to be discreet about it; nothing could really surprise Kurenai. "The other kids have decided to leave him all alone today. Yesterday, I heard parents say mean lies about him. So, at lunch, I decided to ask him if he wanted to play ninja with Hinata, Shino and me."

"And I gather it went well?"

"Yeah, of course it did! He's really nice. Well, he's a bit loud and obnoxious sometimes, but he hasn't done anything wrong. He doesn't deserve to be isolated like that for something that was never his choice, something that saved the whole village."

Kurenai gasped. Hitomi gave her a bored look, like she hadn't just mentioned an S rank secret. "Mom, everybody in my class knows, even the civilian-born kids. That's not a secret, or no one should ever trust the adults with secrets again."

Kurenai burst out laughing and messed with her daughter's hair with a playful hand. "That bad, uh? Don't worry, sweetheart, I wasn't going to forbid you from seeing your friend. You could invite him to dinner here, tomorrow evening. The orphanage is not really the happiest place in town after all…"

Hitomi nodded, a relieved smile on her lips. She wasn't certain she would have had the guts to confront Kurenai if she had decided to stop her from being around Naruto. She respected her and loved her so much, the mere idea of disappointing her filled her with anxiety. It would have been dreadful, harrowing, to be forced to choose between her mother's approval and the path she had decided to follow years ago.

The next day after class, Hitomi invited Naruto to dinner and was astonished to see him blush up to the ears. When he got down to it, he could even compete with Hinata. A hand to her lips to hide her smile, she shook her head slightly, moved by the intensity of his reaction. "Don't worry, okay? My mom just wants to get to know my friends. She'll be delighted to meet you, you'll see. And she's such a good cook!"

That night, after dinner – delicious, just like she had promised – Hitomi settled her guest in the living room. He kept looking around, seemingly astounded, and she understood he didn't quite know what to do with himself. She did everything she could to put him at ease, ignoring his manners when they got awkward. She knew no one had taught him how to behave in someone else's house.

"I was wondering, Naruto," she said after a bit of chitchat, "do you know why you have a hard time with Iruka-sensei's lessons?"

He lowered his head, obviously ashamed. She put a hand on his shoulder and rubbed it gently to encourage him. "I try to listen, you know, I really do, but I get bored so quickly and I can't focus on what he's saying when I get like that. So since I can't focus in class I tried to read the books he told us to read, but the kanjis keep changing and getting mixed up in front of my eyes. I don't want him to think I'm lazy…"

"You're not lazy, Naruto. You just need a little bit of help, and you're going to get it, you see." What he described looked like what most people thought dyslexia and hyperactivity were. She didn't know much more herself, but she could help him. Help him work, help him study, make sure he didn't fall behind. As long as he was trying, she would be able to support him.

The next day, the ranking was waiting for them in the Academy's hall. Hitomi wasn't surprised when she saw it: she was first on the girls' side and tied with Sasuke, who was first on the boys' side. Naruto was last in the written test but decently ranked in the physical one. Shikamaru was somewhere in the middle of their class. As Hitomi had foreseen, the children from the two other classes had far lower results than her own classmates. So it was intentional.

This discovery didn't disturb her. In class, she continued doing her best, always pushing further than what the teachers expected. When she came back home, she made Naruto study by short sessions of fifteen minutes, explaining again to him alone what Iruka had taught them that day. This worked marvelously with the little boy, but not enough to push him to the top part of the ranking in written tests. At least he wasn't dead last anymore. The tests were still hard for him, but he understood, she could see it in his big blue eyes. And his reading and writing did improve, which was important too.

When Naruto went back to the orphanage – before dinner during the week and after on the week-ends – the day wasn't over for Hitomi yet. Ensui arrived around that time and trained her too, making sure she didn't lose any of the skills she had acquired during their journey together. When he wasn't available, Kurenai trained her daughter herself. She had gone through it first, after all. Even if the village had been at war when she had graduated from the Academy, the competition had motivated her too.

Her correspondence with Gaara – and Shikamaru, too, sometimes, when theoretical lessons were too boring but he didn't want to nap – was her breath of fresh air. The Sunajin told her, day after day, how he grew closer to his sister, who was starting to warm up to him. He had tried to approach Kankurō, too. To the jinchūriki's deep surprise, he had just had to congratulate him on his proficiency with his puppets to make his elder brother feel safe with him. The boy seemed happy, calm, and Hitomi was immensely proud of him.

One night, though, those feelings were smashed to pieces, giving space to a cold, cold wave of panic. As she was getting ready for the night, she felt her communication carnet turn cold against her leg, where she had put it after closing it an hour earlier. Her belly twisted into knots by a bad feeling, she opened the notebook and felt like her heart was sinking from her chest.

Hitomi, help me, please! I was attacked by my uncle tonight, he said he was doing it because my father asked him to and I think I killed him, please, help me, I don't know what to do!