{Ino's Home, Yamanaka clan compound, Konohagakure}

{7:14 PM, 18th Jan 13 Yrs ANB}

{Ino's POV}

"What about his Sensei though is he or she strong enough?" She asked getting a confused look from Inoichi.

"One of them is ex-ANBU and the other one is one of the best genjutsu users in Konoha" Inoichi replied.

'Genjutsu huh, Ren hasn't practiced Genjutsu much but then again we aren't taught any structured genjutsu in the academy... I don't think it would suit him but having a genjutsu master would mean better survivability in the field. Though an ex-ANBU also means that at the very least his sensei would be a jounin level and he isn't some random unproven guy...'

"Honey?" Inoichi asked getting her attention once again.

"Yeah, umm... so what are we having for dinner today," She smiled at her mom who gave her a smile in return before she stood up and walked towards the stove to get the rice cooker.

"Aren't you curious about your team," Inoici asked her face back in a stoic mask.

"Everybody knows I'll be with the lazy bum and Choji..." she replied as she stood up to grab a couple of dishes and brought them back to the table. Her legs trembled missing the warmth of the heater so she swiftly hopped back after laying down the table.

She looked at Inoichi hesitate and then her mom rolled her pupilless brown eyes and spoke, "You're Dad's just concerned honey, it is quite clear to us that you are changing your behavior ever since you started hanging out with your new friend. I just don-"

"I'm not changing my behavior because of Ren," Ino refuted hotly but under her mother's knowing look she calmed down and explained, "Well at first I was, just a little bit in the first couple of months, but slowly I realized he doesn't like to hang around too many people and avoids crowds, except when training..." she muttered as she thought about how to frame her next words. She glanced at her father at the corner of her eyes and Mom instantly understood and elbowed Inoichi out of the room.

"It all feels a little different when I'm with Ren, sometimes I even have to jumpscared him to get a reaction which is pretty hard to do most of the time but sometimes he goes into these weird dazes when he's training..." Ino ranted but then she looked at her mother's smiling face and froze.

"Anyway, his priorities are a lot different than all the other kids in our class, I'm sure he thinks I'm pretty and I have caught him looking at me plenty of times-" Ino could hear a sudden creak from outside the door and she had to suppress the urge to roll her eyes, "-but I could see it in his eyes that he is dealing with a lot right now, he trains like crazy to become stronger, he's smart, crazy smart when it comes to fuinjutsu. Sometimes I swear his eyes glitter when he looks at a seal..."

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She smiled a little as she continued, "I asked about his sensei because he told me about his last exam, that after passing the graduation exam last year, ranked 2nd in his class and some idiot sensei decided to fail their entire team because of this weird exam that he conducted. I mean yeah that exam makes sense to most of us but you can't give that exam to 3 orphans who were used to the world being unfair, that psychologically just doesn't make sense..." She shook her head and huffed a couple of times to stop herself from going on a rant.

"I think he has a little bias towards clan shinobi too but I'm not sure, it is one of the reasons he drives himself so hard though, the unfairness of his life that he had to battle against. Most of the time he cares little for his surroundings, it was one of the things that I first admired about him, how he could focus on just running laps and doing basic exercises day after day without complaint..."

...

...

Ino paused as she sighed, "I don't know how I feel Mom, I..." She sighed again and didn't say anything for a moment before she continued, "I like him, a lot... I think, but I don't think neither he nor I am ready for anything more than friends at the moment. So I just want him to have a good team and hope that we don't get out of touch when our life as a genin starts."

She looked at her mother who had a happy smile on her face, she stood up and walked to sit beside her and pulled her into a hug, "Everything would be alright sweetheart..."

Ino sank into her mother's embrace and sighed in contentment for a moment, a fleeting thought about Ren being right about life being unfair entered her mind before she suppressed that thought, Inoichi swiftly entered the kitchen and stiffly sat down at the table. She gave him a mock glare and he pushed his hands up with a defeated look.

"I'm just glad that you can still talk to us honey, it's been quite some time since you have been honest to us about your feelings." Mom nudged Ino who gave her a tight hug before letting go.

"Yeah..." Ino looked at her smiling Mom and Dad and she thought, 'It's because I realized I'm lucky...'

"And I still haven't properly met your new friend," Ino's Mom mock glared at her daughter, "why didn't you invite him to your birthday party?"

Ino got a little sad thinking back to that night once again, "I was impulsive when I forced him to come to Choji's birthday party, he didn't want to come but I still dragged him there. He came and bought the gift and a new kimono just for the party, after that I noticed that he was just a little more tired during the next couple of weeks and there were even light bags under his eyes. I had to corner him to find out that the kimono and the gift were too expensive and he had to work after training to make up for the money he had to use for just one stupid party..." Ino grumbled.

"Is that why you were depressed for a couple of days and even stopped your shopping trips," Mom asked and Ino nodded, "You didn't offer him money did you?"

"I'm not that much of an idiot Mom," Ino grumbled as she opened the cooker and started serving dinner, "I think it was that night I realized his actual situation, after that my games to make him break his cool mask didn't seem that interesting anymore..."

"After the genin exams you should invite him to have dinner with us," Inoichi spoke getting Ino's attention, "maybe at the Yakiniku Q that way he won't have to dress and we can all go in our shinobi hear."

'Hey, that's not bad...' Ino thought as the plan to persuade Ren was already forming in her mind.

"Don't go into planning mode, you have an exam to pass tomorrow..."

...