Chapter Ten: Spotlight

Asuma decided that Yuina could have all the spotlight even if he had to encourage it.

It wouldn't stop people from having high expectations of him, but having someone else to redirect their attention towards made his life significantly more relaxing.

Yuina joining in on playing ninja during break? Hype up that she's good at hiding.

Practicing their katas? Mention how fluid it was.

Doesn't answer questions during class? Tell everyone that she had all the answers written down before anyone gave an answer. It was usually true anyway.

Tell other students to watch Yuina during their chakra exercises? Check.

Caught Yuina talking to sensei during lunch about things he didn't understand? Well, Asuma didn't need to play up that. He willingly gossiped with Kurenai and Goro about that. It was how he found out that despite Goro's complaining about Mayumi's gossiping, he gossiped just as much.

He almost felt bad, but she seemed unfazed so it was probably fine.

Kichiro now believed Asuma had a crush on Yuina from how often he brought her up, but it was a small price to pay to get out of the spotlight.

"Now class, quiet down," said Sato-sensei. They were outside so the class was excited as to what they would get to do. "This is the Seal of Confrontation. As we start sparring, we will use it before the match starts. At the end you'll lock fingers to form the Seal of Reconciliation together." He showed the hand seal that they had been shown in class before.

Some of the kids watched Sato-sensei with anticipation. Some whispered to their friends. And a few looked horrified that they would be fighting already. Asuma watched Yuina blink, frown, and whisper something under her breath, but by the time he blinked she was back sporting a neutral expression.

Sensei's eyes darted around the students determining who should be the first to spar.

"Let's start with…Hatake Yuina." Asuma would have preferred her fight be later so he could compare her to the fights before to his peers. She had at least some sparring experience considering what he witnessed on the first day of class.

"…and Sarutobi Asuma." He was not prepared for that match up. He's sparred before, more so with his older brother than dad, so they were probably on equal footing. He could downplay his abilities to make Yuina shine more? Having a close fight would just draw attention back to himself.

He just wanted a nice academy experience where he wasn't tied down by his parentage. He was even able to make a friend – Kurenai! Someone who enjoyed spending time with him without expecting anything.

Asuma and Yuina stood on different ends of the ring facing each other. Making the Seal of Confrontation the match began—

He saw sunlight as he felt a light tap against his chest. Asuma splattered against the ground dazed. A light tingle from his right arm below the elbow and behind his knee.

"Did you see that?"

"What happened?"

"You think he's okay?"

The light tap had been Yuina's fist. Any thoughts he had before vanished as his mind blanked as it attempted to process what had happened.

Yuina extended a hand to Asuma. It took a moment, but when he grabbed her hand she helped him up before she offered her two fingers for the Seal of Reconciliation.

She was happy that she was able to react quick enough at the start of the match for her benefit and Asuma's. Yuina's mind fed her information that her opponent would be a child. What kind of adult attacks? But she wasn't an adult anymore, and these kids were accelerated living weapons. She was becoming a living weapon. The conflicted information signals kept her on edge until the two sides reconciliated to wanting a swift victory.

For Yuina, efficiency. For the woman of her past, to reduce overall physical harm while quickly putting an end to the spar.

That wasn't right. When had she started thinking of herself as two different people? There may be some differences, but she was still herself. No different than people changing with age or experience.

"Good job! You were so fast," Nakahara's voice broke Yuina out of her thoughts.

"Yeah. Yeah! How'd you do it?" said Jun as he peaked around Nakahara as sensei called Aburame Susumu and Ibiki Morino.

Curiosity and child wonder. It wasn't the first time she witnessed the expression such expressions, but for the briefest of moments she would doubt reality. They were just as talented. There was no reason for curiosity when her classmates were capable of the same. But then why?

It was probably because of Sakumo. They walked to and from the academy together when he wasn't completing a mission, and Nakahara idolized stories about the White Fang who he had come to realize was a Hatake and her father. As for Jun, he found excitement in most things.

"You know my endurance isn't great. I'm good with short distance sprints, so I thought I would try my luck with that. It only worked because it was our first time sparring together." Yuina had faith that the next time she needed to spar that her opponent would be prepared for her now that they knew how she fought. That also meant she should be paying attention to the matches so she would know what to expect from them.

Jun gapped.

"You truly are the White Fang's kid," said Nakahara in a breathy tone.

Did he not believe her when she confirmed her relations to Sakumo before? She thought Nakahara didn't like lectures because of their academic nature but maybe he simply had a poor memory?

It didn't matter. She just had to worry about herself.

Strong enough.

Right, she needed to be strong enough.

Not just strong enough to put up a fight against her classmates, but strong enough to handle whatever this world through at her for one day she will come across people who will want to commit real harm to her rather than a supportive but cautious group of family and peers.

Author's Note: Thanks everyone whose been reading! This started as a few scattered plot bunnies that I had written over the holidays while waiting for plane transfers and never expected this many people to read it - especially within a month's time. Cheers!