Chapter Text
Chapter One: The Ugly Duckling
Anko and Kurenai hid high up in the branches of a green front courtyard tree, looking down at the eight-year-old children on the Ninja Academy and grounds below.
“Look at the little rugrats. It sure is the era of peace,” Anko noted, for a second melancholy and almost sad. She was sitting with one knee bent up on the high branch, the other leg dangling over the edge, leaning back against the tree trunk.
Kurenai stood beside her on the branch, arms crossed, calm through the leaves. “Focus. Keep the six girls in view,” she said seriously.
“I know,” Anko snapped back irritably. “Don’t nag.”
The children aged eight to twelve were spread out over the Ninja Academy below. The Konoha Ninja Academy was a multi-floored rural wood and red painted building, liberally decorated with the Fire Country symbol. It had a flat roof, and was surrounded by a recess courtyard on one side, fenced off training fields on the other. As in the entirety of Konoha, all of the outside was covered in an endless swathe of green.
The little children laughing, playing, and concentrating that Kurenai and Anko were watching were in the beginning set: They were eight. And in an era of peace, they were allowed to be happy, open, and expressive children.
Images flashed throughout the day. The children taking lecture-style lessons and notes from their desks. The children taking the open front area of their classroom to practice physical skills. The children trooping out to a back training field to spar in pairs. The children taking a lunch and recess break in the front courtyard.
“Look at that girl,” Anko said suddenly partway through the day, sounding thoughtful. “Rock Leigh. The girl with the weird name.”
She was pointing at a girl with a deep black braid of hair, and thick dark eyebrows that made her look intense in a striking face.
“Not conventional,” said Kurenai, raising an eyebrow. “A bit of an ugly duckling.”
“Exactly! Doesn’t the idea of helping her intrigue you? She’s not particularly talented or attractive at anything at first, but watch her in lessons. I’ve had my eye on her for a while, and her fiery spirit is incredible! She’s so determined to be the best in spite of everything working against her.
“Come on, Kurenai. I know you love being a big sister, you’re a sucker for girls like that,” said Anko in mild exasperation.
Kurenai watched Leigh for a while, reserved, as Leigh tried throwing blunted kunai knives at a stationary target out in a back training field. All the knives fell uselessly to the ground, but her face a picture of fierce determination, Leigh just kept trying silently.
“She works hard even though she’s no good,” Kurenai realized, and there was respect in her voice. Anko smirked, victorious.
“Look at Rock Leigh! I bet she won’t even last the first year!” a girl nearby jeered, and the tight-knit group of girlfriends around her laughed. “Hey, freak! Why can’t you hit the target?” she added mockingly, to more laughter.
Leigh turned right around, black braid swinging, her bunched up thick dark eyebrows making her striking face look particularly fierce. “I’m going to get it!” she called firmly. “You just watch!”
She turned back around with another swing of the braid, and went right back to target practice, ignoring the group of girls to her left.
Anko and Kurenai caught each other’s eye - and nodded. They suddenly leaped down on either side of Rock Leigh, and the entire class gasped and stood stock still. Leigh froze, staring up at them with big eyes.
“Iruka-san, I believe we’ve found our girl. May we take her away from the group temporarily?” said Kurenai firmly.
“Of course,” said Umino Iruka, a young man with a brown ponytail and a clan nose marking, smiling warmly and a bit mischievously. He’d been watching Leigh and the girl group too, and he seemed to approve of their choice.
Leigh followed Anko and Kurenai away, frowning and confused. As soon as they’d stopped in the front courtyard below the same tree, she said earnestly, “Does this mean I have to leave? I promise you, ma’ams, I will get better!”
“Relax, Leigh. You are not being thrown out of the Academy. Quite the opposite,” said Kurenai with a warm smile. “We have a proposition for you.”
Leigh paused, cocking her head, puzzled.
“But first: What is your goal, looking from your performance there at the Academy?” said Anko, suddenly and aggressively. “What do you want to do with yourself?”
Leigh responded immediately, firm and determined. “I want to prove myself as a good ninja - one of the best there is! Even if I’m not good at first, I’ll keep trying!”
Anko and Kurenai’s eyes met - and they smiled.
“Yes,” said Kurenai, wryly amused. “I think you’ll do. Leigh, what do you think… of having some special outside training?”
Leigh’s eyes slowly got huge and awed as she listened.