Ino got 100% on her reading and writing test, her oral history test, and her taijutsu katas test. She got a 75% on her throwing test to her surprise and delight. She had been certain of her impending failure. Sasuke got first in throwing obviously and Naruto got last, which sadly was unsurprising. He always got last.
A smug Sakura beat her for the #1 overall spot in class, with Sasuke coming in at #2 and Ino at #3. It wasn’t too surprising. The first three tests were laughably easy for both Ino and Sakura, and so it just came down to who threw better, which Sakura was better at to Ino’s eternal frustration. It felt good to place so high amongst their peers, especially since they both knew that the coming years would focus more and more on physical strength and speed, which they were decidedly not head and shoulders above the class on.
Sakura’s dreams had become infrequent as of late. They were mostly self-aggrandizing nonsense. Sakura moving like a Hokage, defeating crazy powerful enemies. Sakura acting as the commanding medical officer of a whole army. Sakura pumping someone’s heart for them with her own chakra. Neither of them had been especially hungry after that one. Ino had all but given up on being a part of Sakura’s dream world. Any time Sakura had a dream about her she was always fawning over Sasuke or bullying someone, usually Sakura, Shikamaru, or Chōji. And while initially Ino had been offended, and a small part of her still resented Sakura’s image of her, every once in a while she would catch herself about to yell at Chōji or Shikamaru and wonder if she would have ended up being a bully forrealz without Sakura’s scathing visions.
But she hadn’t. She was the smartest kid in her year at the academy. And she would be the most beautiful and the most confident. And damnit if she wasn’t going to do her best to be the strongest shinobi too.
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