Hymn of Ragnarok said:
Damn right you win! You turn even the one dimensional nobodies that we don't care about and give them life. This, this is damn interesting perspective. Distorted view of how things worth, (young girl reading Icha-Icha? That's...surprisingly believable if disquieting), have her work to get in here, and Ino has everything she wishes she could have
and has the ability and maturity to utterly outclass Ami.
Put that way, us being so damn good would make others feel horribly inadequate. Not that we should ever stop, it's a shinobi-eat-shinobi world and if you can't handle self-esteem issues, better to be miserable and alive than over-confident and dead, but I do feel a little bad.
The novelty of Ami's situation helps a great deal.
Well, I worked from the premise that she's somehow in the Clan kid-dominated class despite not being anyone important (we don't even learn her last name; I just picked my favourite underdog surname and gave it to her). That led me to decide to have her be civilian-born, the way we always thought Sakura was, which led me to the reason she would be mad at Ino; a combination of feelings of inadequacy for being the one person in her class who can't just go to a relative for homework advice or ask for kunai for her birthday, and idolization of the ultimate in ninja backgrounds, the Uchiha Clan.
And then I wondered what kind of civilian parent would be cool with their daughter becoming a shinobi, and the obvious answer was 'a shitty one'.
And then I decided to punch myself in the feels and Matilda that shit, so now Ami grows up in a household where reading primarily involves racing forms and two special ledgers she's not allowed to tell anyone about, one of which is kept locked in her dad's desk and the other in the wall safe behind the painting of the topless lady.
In short (rather late for that but whatever), I wanted to build an environment that inspires pity but also makes canonical sense. I mean, can you think of a better cliche breeding ground for a bully than what I just described?
I also wanted to have a chance to show just how
disquieting Ino is from the outside. Liam-don mentioned it in Wallflower Quest, way back after the kidnapping when Hinata gave a formal apology to that friend of Jiraiya's, but someone under the age of ten
should not be naturally eloquent. They
should not be observant and insightful. When they are, it is profoundly creepy to anyone who isn't used to them, especially other kids. Shika and Chouji are kind of inured to it because you grew up together, Kiba just thinks you're weird the way all girls are weird, and Sasuke thinks
Itachi is normal. And the cats are just pleased to have finally found a human kid who develops at a sensible rate; fuck this ten years of childhood bullshit!
Anyone else remember seeing the expressions on new people's faces change when you spoke to them, growing up (don't even
pretend to be modest, all of you at least
think you were and are above average)? Multiply that by ten. That's what someone's dealing with when they talk to Ino. On the one hand she gets a social boost because the adult she sorta is is a gregarious, friendly guy; on the other, he's also an arrogant sexist nympho whose speech patterns really don't suit a cute little blonde cherub, so girls whose instincts are sharp have a natural disinclination to want to be Ino's friend.
That's why I included a Hinata option. Hinata is a sheltered, introverted girl whose instincts are so fucked up thanks to her childhood trauma that in canon she thinks Naruto is admirable for being a stubborn jackass who doesn't know how to come at a problem more than one way. If you're nice to her and model effective behaviour, such as Victory By Third Option, you'll have a friend for life.
Of course, there is still the matter of Ami to discuss.
*Gendopose*
