Ino Yamanaka was conflicted. And the reason was, like always, that handsome bastard Inugami. She honestly regretted the day she got a crush on him. The outcome of that was the most embarrassing moment in her young life. She still remembers the humiliation of that and the long crying session afterwards when she realized that her crush found her so unappealing that he laughed in her face when she confessed to him.

After the rejection she tried to get over him, which didn’t really work out. First, her pride was severely damaged. Ino had always been a girl who was confident in herself, so when the person she held the most interest in dismissed her like yesterday’s trash, she couldn’t accept it. So she became resentful. Something was obviously wrong with him, she thought, and because of that, she used most of her time in the academy to be hostile to him. Which really didn’t help with the whole — getting over him — plan. Second, Ino strangely became even more obsessed with Inugami, again because of her pride. Inugami was popular, and many girls besides Ino wanted him. Inugami was not interested in them, contrary to most of his male classmates, which made him, in the eyes of the girls, really special(the same goes for Sasuke as well). He was like a precious stone, shiny and hard to get. This got the greed of the girls going. Everyone wanted to bag him and present him proudly to the world.

Ino was the same. And after the crushing rejection, her desire for him soared to new heights, because of a mixture of great greed and pride. If someone will get that precious stone, it will be no one other than Ino. She was the only one that was good enough to marry him, and soon he will realize how foolish he was when he rejected her. He will come begging for her attention. First she will let him squirm a bit, make him feel the taste of rejection like her, but then she will forgive him, and then they will create the perfect family. All the women in Konoha will be so jealous, hehehehe…

Well, that’s how it was supposed to go. In the last few years, the only time Inugami payed any attention to her was when she was annoying him. When Sakura one day ended her friendship with her because of some false rumor of her liking Sasuke, she saw a great opportunity. If she pretended to like Sasuke, she could make the two most annoying people in her life jealous!

But reality was often disappointing.

Well, it worked for Sakura, but not for Inugami. She got nothing from him. He simply didn’t care.

And on top of that, she got someone else that wholly rejected her. Ino played herself.

But she couldn’t stop, she was too deep in. It also didn’t help that the bastard just saved her life recently, while she only could watch like some damsel in distress. Honestly, who told him to awaken a new bloodline limit and defeat a freaking jonin, while looking so utterly cool and handsome? It was just unfair. But she couldn’t tell him that, so she mentioned nothing to him, even though she really should have thanked him.

It was all going wrong. He should have started falling for her, and not make her fall deeper. But that did not happen, and Ino knew deep down that it was her own fault.

And if the universe itself was mocking her, yesterday’s events happened. That bastard had stuck up for Hinata! She didn’t even know that he was capable of such positivity. When she saw that, she was conflicted. On one hand, she was happy to see her crush act so nice and courageous. On the other hand, he was acting like that for a girl other than her.

What did Hinata have that she did not? Why the meek and depressed dead last in the first place? What does he see in her? Was it because her boobs were already growing bi —

Suddenly Ino slipped from the tree bark and fell. With a mighty thud, she landed on the ground, groaning, startling the nearby birds.

“Ow, my leg!”

Immediately, the pale-eyed demon was upon her. “What did I tell you about losing focus? Get up and do it again! You are not as hurt as you are pretending to be. Tch, at this rate you will never be able to do it…”

‘I’m sure you are not supposed to get this in one day!’ that was what Ino wanted to say, but she wisely kept her mouth shut, lest she wanted to draw the ire of the slave driver looking down on her. That was the thing she learned today during the grueling training session. Her teacher was a cruel slave driver!

“Why again did you not call Inugami for our first training session?” She wanted to ask her this after her first question she had for her earlier. Yesterday, she met Sakura, and found out that her teacher gave them an additional test to determine if they would become genin. Ino, of course, asked Hanabi later if they have to do the same. Her answer was: — “Fate brought us together, there is no need to test you.” — What does that even supposed to mean? Her teacher was truly a weirdo, not that she would say that to her face.

“Because you two are way too far behind Inugami, and I want to put all my focus on getting you two at least to a decent level before leaving the village.” Hanabi said while glancing at Hinata, who was going clumsily through different gentle fist forms. Apparently, Ino was the only one who could not tree-walk. Strangely, Hinata had a determined look on her face during today’s training session. Ino, for some reason, felt bad seeing it.

“Also, Inugami is perfectly able to train himself, so I will call him when it’s time for our first mission. He should have cooled down a bit until then.” Hanabi continued. Then her face turned stern, and she said in an indifferent tone. “Now, enough talking, get up!”

Ino could only groan.

- - -

“First, whip your sword out!”

Inugami was currently trying to train his puppy on the training ground he usually frequented. Jin, understanding his order, followed it.

“Hm…”

Inugami was staring at the black object that was sticking out of Jin. It was long and thick, but there was something wrong with it.

“That is not a sword.”

Inugami didn’t realize it last time, but the blade on Jin’s forehead did not look like a sword. It looked more organic, like a thorn.

Inugami pulled out one of his scrolls and released a basic Katana. Jin was gazing at it, fascinated.

“Let’s start with something simple. Try turning your blade into this.”

Jin did just that, though the result was underwhelming. His blade grew indeed sharper and thinner, but it did not really resemble a Katana yet.

“Huh, I guess I can’t expect you to get it on the first try. Try it until you get it right.” Jin ordered, not getting discouraged. He was used to failing. The thing that mattered was to not give up.

So for the next hour, Jin was getting closer and closer, until he made the blade resemble a Katana. The blade looked as bland as the katana in Inugami’s hands, but it was a significant achievement!

“Good job beas — cough — I mean… buddy.” Inugami caught himself awkwardly. He looked thoughtfully at Jin’s blade. “So this thing is supposed to cut everything in the future, even concepts, hmm? Honestly, I can barely believe that you can become so overpowered, Jin.”

Jin simply stared at him blankly. Though he suddenly stiffened and looked behind Inugami. Inugami’s first reaction was to pump chakra towards his nose. A feminine scent, with a hint of sweat, came from behind him. Inugami whipped his head towards it and spotted a brown-haired girl around his age.

“Oh, I didn’t know that someone was already here. Would it be okay if I trained here as well? My teammates are being… too excited for my tastes right now… again.” The girls said apologetically. Though after she got a closer look at Inugami, her eyes widened and her cheeks reddened lightly.

“Go ahead, I don’t mind,” Inugami said casually. “My name is Inugami Inuzuka, by the way.”

“Tenten, nice to meet you!” The girl quickly regained her composure and greeted him with a smile. Her eyes widened again when she saw Jin. “Oh my god, is that a sword sticking out of the dog’s head?!”

“Hm? Yeah…” Inugami answered her while scratching his cheek distractedly. ‘Do I know this chick? She seems faintly familiar.’

Tenten was gaping at him in disbelief, but soon shook her head. “I won’t even ask. I’ve already have enough weird things in my life…” She gazed upon the katana and the used scroll on the ground, and her eyes lit up.

“Oh, do you have an interest in weapons and fuinjutsu as well? I thought I would never meet some like that in my age group. Usually everyone is interested in flashy nin…” Inugami tuned her rambling out, and tried to remember where he saw this girl before. ‘Brown hair, weapons, buns, fuinjutsu, Chinese-looking clothes… Wait, buns?’

“Ah!” It suddenly struck him like lightning. Tenten, the girl that never got screen-time!

“E-Eh?” Tenten was startled at the sudden outburst, but blushed brightly when Inugami looked at her face and smiled.

This was perfect.

“Say Tenten, how about some one-on-one training~?”

“Huh?”