You smirk.
[X] "Who needs talent? Or courage, for that matter? We're ninja. If we can't win fair, we can always just cheat."
Neji gives you a look of disgust (hee, he's so cute when he's mad), then turns on his heel to retake his seat.
"That's enough outta both of you," Sagara-sensei says, and calls the next match-up. "Harada Risa vs. Hio Mio."
You get to your feet and go back to where you were sitting before.
"Do you really believe that?"
You turn. There's a rather homely little boy sitting next to you, with a vaguely scared expression on his face. From the feel of his chakra, he's really hopeful about something, but there's a note of sadness and nervousness that's stomping all over that hope.
"Believe what, sempai?" you ask in a low voice, not wanting to disturb the other spectators.
"That it doesn't matter if you're not talented... that you can still be a great ninja even if..." He bites his lip, and seems unwilling to go on.
You think about it (maybe you should have done that before you said it, but eh, it sounded cool at the time). "Well, talent's not totally unimportant, or anything; if I weren't double-jointed and naturally fast, I wouldn't be able to compete against Neji on almost-equal terms."
"Oh." Oh, man, he's visibly wilting. Overprotective Ino mode, activate!
"That said," you continue, "you don't have to be talented at the things people think of first in order to be a shinobi. A shinobi isn't just someone who can throw around chakra attacks, or plant magic daydreams in your head, or punch someone really hard. It's a job, and just like any other job, all your employers are going to care about is results."
"Results?" the boy asks.
You nod, warming to the subject. "Right. Imagine you're a merchant who wants protection from bandits on the road. Do you hire someone because they know a lot of jutsu, or because they got all As in the Academy? Hell no; you want to hire the guy you've heard has successfully protected a dozen other caravans in the past. You don't care about jutsu, because the whole point is that you
don't want there to be a fight next to the things and people you want protected. You're counting on this guy's fame to keep the highwaymen at bay.
"Or think about an infiltration assignment, where you have to pretend to be a lady-in-waiting to a daimyo's daughter; the difference between success and failure there has nothing to do with taijutsu and everything to do with your acting ability. A good spy can't just go around hitting everyone for information, that's retarded. At most he should have to knock out the people he's going to replace.
"Or if you're fighting other ninja in a war, and you come up against someone who completely outclasses you in all three disciplines. What do you do? You can run away, sure, but that doesn't solve the whole problem."
The boy looks surprised. "You can't run away!"
You blink. "Why not? Why should you have to fight on ground your enemies chose? Make them fight where
you wanna fight, on
your terms. If you're smart enough and you prepare well enough, it doesn't matter if you're weak and they're strong. You can win anyway."
"... does it have to be by cheating?" he asks, almost pleading.
You consider arguing that cheating in real life isn't like cheating in a game. How the world is a
staggeringly unfair place and you have to take what you can get.
But then you think of a man whose sword never touches the flesh of anyone who does not deserve death. A man who always shows the utmost respect to his true opponents. A man whose pride in his skill will not allow him to take shortcuts to victory.
"... no," you admit. "Not if you don't want to. But it's really hard to live life without cheating at least once in a while."
The boy smiles. "I'm not afraid of hard work."
You return it. "... Ino the Fifth, of the Yamanaka."
"I'm very pleased to meet you, Ino-chan," he says formally. "My name is Rock Lee. How do you do?"
Two of them, you think to yourself with an internal chuckle.
No, not even two; half and half.
=
Sasuke's birthday comes and goes; you do end up getting him those gloves, which he greatly appreciates. He doesn't have a non-family birthday party, but the two of you and Shikamaru and Chouji go get ice cream together on the day of, so that's something.
Aside from Shika and Chouji, who do you wanna hang with now? Pick two.
[X] Menka (who I really should have included last time as an option)
[X] Sasuke
[X] Kiba
[X] Hinata
[X] Ami
[X] Lee
[X] Neji
clearly needs a rival to get him to lighten up. He's too bitchy to accept a friend at this point, but you're sure you can get around that.
What classes would you like to focus on for the next few months? Pick two.
[X] Trap-Making goddamn it, you're already top of the class, what more do you want?
[X] Handseals
[X] Taijutsu
[X] Chakra Theory
[X] Beginners' Weaponry
Free time! Whaddya do? Includes the option to do some of this stuff with the people you choose to hang with. Pick two.
[X] Introduce someone to the art of the five-finger discount.
[X] I'm dreamin' in the mornin', dreamin' all through the night~
[X] Tessenjutsu innovation time!
[X] Ride the Lightning
[X] Write-in
