Ino
On the day of the Chunin exams, Ino hadn’t been as excited as Lee and Naruto. If of anything, she went in with a steely resolve to become a Chunin so she could bring Deidara home and clear his name after so many years of hearing nothing but awful things said about him.
It was enough of a change in her demeanor—or at least she thinks it must have been—for Shikamaru to note, “You seem serious today…you’re usually going on about being the first ever omega kunoichi or blaming the Uchiha for your brother’s crimes. What’s gotten you so quiet now and how can we keep it up?”
“I am going to become a Chunin, Shikamaru. I don’t need to distract myself now, not when I need to do all that I can to pass these exams and bring Deidara back.”
Shikamaru feels alone in his own thoughts that Deidara chose to become a criminal of his own free will without any Uchiha trickery. Perhaps he is a horrible person for thinking so, but he doesn’t agree with Ino on this. He’s never vocalized this to her, yet he never once wavered in his own thoughts on it.
Forgive him for thinking that Deidara’s many, many outbursts weren’t due to sexism only…
Of course, he’s not one to discredit the sexism omegas face in the ninja world and society as a whole. He knows there are laws that are sexist against omegas, he knows Iruka sensei received far too much flack for being the only omega Chunin in their village, and he knows there are many omegas who ultimately don’t become ninjas or quit being Genin because the pressure to find an alpha or beta to mate (along with the harsh sexism faced in the field) is enough to burn them out. Unlike Naruto and many others, he knows the sexism is real and he doesn’t partake in it because he sees it as being wrong.
It’s just that in the case of Deidara, he has an incredibly hard time believing that he did everything he did because of sexism alone. He believes Ino tends to look upon her brother with rose tinged glasses of nostalgia so severely to the point where she cannot think back on him with a critical lens. Though he believes she won’t do this because she knows deep down if she did, then she’d have to accept the fact that he was a flawed human being who didn’t need to be manipulated, forced, or coerced into a life of crime by Itachi Uchiha—which, it should go without saying, would ruin her world even though he firmly believes she should before the truth of his nature does devastate her completely.
Oh well, there’s no point in getting upset over or thinking about it. What does matter now is getting this exam done and over with already.
Chouji, on the other hand, is entering this with a certain calm to himself, “Whatever, you can get brother if you want, but after these exams, I’m going out to get myself some barbecue as a Chunin! You wanna check it out with me, Shikamaru?”
The lazy genius accepts the offer as half heartedly as ever, “Fine, but don’t expect me to pay for it.”
“Like I’d ever ask you to do that!”
As they are able to speak about food, all Ino can think about is getting this done so she can become a Chunin to get Deidara back.
She knows they probably think her goal is futile, but she really is committed to it—she’ll kill Itachi for taking her brother away from her and bring Deidara back so he can finally clear his name.
Chouji paused, looking at her oddly, “Um, Ino—your scent is a bit intense right now. Maybe you could try toning it down for those of us who aren’t on your hit list.”
“Oh, sorry, Chouji.”
In all truth, she likes her teammates. Shikamaru fully understands sexism and how hard she’ll have it as the first ever omega kunoichi, which is why he does stand up for her whenever they do deal with sexists during missions or elsewhere. Chouji is a beta and they get the best treatment in Konoha right alongside alphas, so much so to the point where they are at times called ‘honorary alphas’. Despite this, he too is quick to support her whenever someone doubts her ability to be the first ever omega kunoichi and as such, she is grateful for him as well.
Do they drive her up a wall at times? Yes, they do, but she knows she does the same to them since they never really sugarcoat it when she does. It doesn’t mean she hates them or wants to make them uncomfortable with her soured scent at any given moment when she gets angry over thoughts of that stupid Itachi Uchiha stealing her brother away from her.
“It’s no problem, just don’t get too mad today. Some alphas and betas would take that as a challenge against them personally and you’d never know what they would pull in a stressful environment like the one we’re going into today.” He means well, but Ino herself isn’t worried. She’s doing this for Deidara. Her brother never failed her, and she refuses to fail him now.
She thinks back on her brother on the last day she ever saw him and the final words he said to her back then before leaving her because of that damned Uchiha:
“Ino, don’t ever let any alpha steal your dream, your freedom, and your independence from you. Trust me—no alpha bastard is ever worth it, un.”
Whether or not this had anything to do with Itachi that she didn’t know about, she’s not certain. All she knows is she is going to follow her brother’s advice and become a kunoichi he will be proud of when he finally comes home…when she finally brings him back to their home.
The first part of the exams wasn’t too bad—if of anything, she was happy to see Naruto there and she could’ve sworn there was a scent of another omega in the air, but she couldn’t find them when the room was as crowded as it was then.
“Naruto, hi!” she greeted him with a wide smile and a hug, “It’s been too long—how have you been? Has the Uchiha been any good to you or do you need to kill put him on my kill list too?”
Naruto knows by now what all Deidara used to say to her about Uchihas (she never sugarcoated this to him whenever they spoke) and while she knows he doesn’t have the biggest problem with Sasuke that Deidara did with Itachi, she still worries over him being in the same squad as an arrogant Uchiha.
“Don’t worry Ino; he may be a teme, but he’s not worth killing just yet.” Naruto reassures her with a smile as their hug is broken off and Ino can feel the strong death glare of the Uchiha on her back.
She knows Sasuke doesn’t care for her—he has regularly accused her of ‘trying to turn Naruto against me’ back at the academy—but she doesn’t care what he thinks. If he ever does hurt Naruto, she will kill him after killing Itachi.
“Right…so is my nose deceiving me or is there another omega here?”
To this, he immediately lights up, “There is another omega here! He’s a Genin from Konoha just like us! His name is Rock Lee, he’s got these bushy eyebrows, but he’s also really strong and awesome in battle. Your brother would’ve loved watching him kick Sasuke’s butt earlier!”
She grins at the thought of Sasuke—the ever mighty Uchiha alpha—losing to an omega like this Rock Lee person, “You’re right, Deidara would’ve loved that! It would have made him so happy to see an omega beating an Uchiha for once…”
Deidara did try to beat Itachi but lost every time they sparred. It was always a dream of his to see an omega defeating an Uchiha alpha in battle. Which is why it almost brings a tear to her eye as she realizes just how much he’s missed over the years since he’s been gone.
The tears die though when she remembers it was Itachi who took him away in the first place, “Is there anything else to this Rock Lee guy that would help me spot him out? I know we may be in an exam where we’re supposed to compete against each other, but omegas have to stick together or else we could all fail as ninjas.”
“Well, he wears a green jumpsuit and he’s got a bowl cut—don’t worry, you’ll notice him when you meet him. He’s incredibly hard to miss, but don’t be thrown off by his scent. It smells like a beta scent at first. When you get used to it though you can spot out some softer notes to it that any omega would have.”
“Okay, I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for that.” she pauses before going to look for him, “Oh, who are his teammates by the way? Are they all betas or alphas or both? I want to be sure I’m not going to be dealing with some weird alpha or beta pulling some sexist crap to prevent him from speaking to me.”
Naruto gives her his most honest, even if it does make his scent sour at the memory of it, “He has this guy named Neji on his team who seems to act like a real jerk to him. I don’t know the name of his other teammate, but I’m positive they’re nowhere near as punchable as that Neji guy.”
Neji…where has she heard of that name before?
Did he come from a clan that Deidara hated?
She’s not too sure, but she does want to meet this Rock Lee and give him her respect for beating Sasuke earlier.
Before she can go to meet him, she is cut off by Sakura calling out to her, “Ino, you’re here? I had no idea—”
“That I could make it? Well guess what, I did.” she was rough in her response to the alpha, but she didn’t care. What she really wanted to do was find this Rock Lee guy and thank him for beating Sasuke in battle.
If Sakura weren’t getting in her way of that, she wouldn’t be as annoyed as she is right now.
Sakura, on the other hand, feels a bit annoyed.
She is shocked Ino made it here because she thought it would’ve been too dangerous for an omega to survive ninja missions. All she really wanted to do was to make sure she’s okay and not hurt by any alpha or beta she could have encountered, what was so wrong with that?
She swears, her brother just poisoned her against all alphas and betas for no reason whatsoever…stupid Deidara! Why did he have to be so influential in her life? Why couldn’t it have been anyone else who held a good view of alphas and betas like Naruto does?
“Listen, all I want is to be sure you’re okay and that you didn’t get hurt by any alpha or beta. I don’t see how that’s wrong or a bad thing.” her inner Sakura was simply raging against Deidara, growling,“Stupid Deidara! When I see that guy again, I’m going to beat him, cha!”
“I am just fine. I am just as capable and powerful as any alpha and beta here, Sakura. I don’t need you to protect me and baby me like I’m some weak flower in your eyes.”
Before Sakura could comment on much else, Shikamaru stepped in before things got really ugly between them. Having sensed (as well made an accurate guess) that Sakura would say something to escalate the situation, he did all that he could to intervene before more attention was drawn to them, “Guys, look there’s some beta offering to give us cards on certain people in the exam.”
By drawing their attention to Kabuto, the crisis is averted for now and Shikamaru can breathe easy for now.
After the first part of the exams was over, she tried to find Lee, only to not succeed in this endeavor which was very disappointing for her. Then when she did get a chance to see him right before they had to enter the Forest of Death, she was stopped in her attempt by Sakura approaching her, “Ino, wait, let me scent mark you! That way no alpha or beta will try to mark you by force!”
“I don’t need your scent mark! I’ll be fine on my own!”
“Nonsense, you’ll need it and you know it. You don’t know what these other alphas and betas are like; how do you know they won’t do something horrible to you to win in these exams?”
She was about to implode on her when Chouji interrupted the conversation with a basic tug on her arm, “Ino, we need you to brainstorm a strategy here! We will lose in these exams if your input isn’t given right away.”
She takes a breath to calm herself and walks away from the irritating alpha, “…Alright, I’ll be there.”
With her head held high, she walks away from Sakura for now and does all that she can to focus on passing this second part of the exams.
The first day wasn’t too bad in the forest. What did catch her off guard was the way she had ran into Neji and dealt with his sexism firsthand as soon as she recognized from the memories of what Deidara and Naruto told her, “Wait—you’re Lee’s teammate? The one Naruto called a jerk?”
Neji’s face is stoic but his eyes show his disdain clear as day, “I am but I am not a jerk, omega. Whatever it is I do to Lee, it’s only done out of what’s best for him. It’d be in your best interest as well as that of the other omegas to stay out of it.”
She was about to argue with him on this, but the fast Hyuuga was gone before she could really chew him out on anything. Shikamaru, in response, took her hand and reminded her, “Forget that guy. We have to get a scroll if we want to become Chunins, remember? Now, let’s focus on doing just that.”
“Right, let’s focus on that.”
Ino really did try her best to do just that, but it was easier said than done when her team wound up being in close vicinity to the area where Sakura was attacked by a gang of three alphas with Naruto—her fellow omega—being knocked out cold.
At the sight of those alphas trying to peek at him, making their crude comments of, “Look, there’s a pretty omega over there, all passed out too. What do you say we forget about Sasuke and take him for ourselves? All we have to do is kill the alphas and then we’ll have our own personal fuck toy.” Ino saw red.
The alpha in the bandages hummed to this, his eyes on the omega on the ground—Lee…that had to be Lee! The poor guy, he was knocked out and about to be taken advantage of by those pricks!
“You two can have the blondie. I’ll take this one right here; he’s got the better body and flexibility for days if he could use a taijutsu like that.”
She stood up from her spot in the bushes, readying herself with a jutsu as she told her friends, “I’m not standing down now, not when Lee and Naruto need me to keep them safe! C’mon Shikamaru, Chouji, we’re joining in on this fight!”
Shikamaru, on the other hand, pulled her back into the bushes, “Ino, you idiot! We can’t join this fight!”
“Why not? You did nothing to stop us from going here in the first place!”
“Only because I thought Naruto’s team would be the easiest one to beat and no, it’s not because he’s an omega, it’s because he’s a class clown with no real ninja skills.”
Before she can do something incredibly stupid, he kept his grip on her strong, “Look, there’s something going on with the chakra coming off of that guy on the ground. Whatever it is, it could get you killed if you dare to possess someone’s body right now.”
Thanks to Shikamaru pointing this out, she is able to see there is a strange chakra coming off of Lee as the alpha on top of him leans close to his ear to say something to him that she couldn’t catch, but it was promptly followed by a terrified Sakura standing up with a kunai in her hand, shouting defiantly, “Don’t touch him!” as he came close to marking the omega right then and there.
Before they all knew it, the man on top of Lee…he was…starting to wither away in rapid procession in front of them. His legs and arms thinned out as did his face. Somewhere in this horrifying display, his teammates tried to save him, only to meet the same fate the moment they touched him and found themselves merged to his body with no way out. Soon after this, the entire team of alphas were mummified alive before withering away further yet into dust flowing on the wind, but not without Sakura crying out what they were all thinking as this horrific display happened before their very eyes, “Lee, what’s going on? What’s happening to them? Lee? Lee!”
At this moment, Neji Hyuuga had approached the omega, leaving his spot on the tree branch where it appeared he had watched everything happen. It was enough to leave Sakura traumatized as she asked, “W-What was that? How did someone as kind as Lee do something like…like this?”
Somehow, Neji made him pass out after doing something to him that Ino couldn’t see from her spot in the bushes. After this, he explained it to the alpha in a manner Ino believes he would never do to her since she is an omega and he appears to have no respect for them in general from what she’s seen so far, “Before the Chunin exams took place, Lee came out as an omega to me after hiding it for as long as he did. I did the right thing by him then—I placed a mark on his hand that will keep him safe from alphas and betas who go anywhere near him with any ill intention that would end up in him being raped or forcibly mated. This mark will wither away those who try to mate Lee by force into being nothing more than dust on the wind, while doing the same to anyone who interferes in the process and for those who intend to rape Lee or otherwise show too much romantic interest in him…it will give them an incurable illness that will make them suffer a long, painful death.”
Shikamaru had a feeling something weird was going on…he didn’t think Lee could use ninjutsu or genjutsu. Also, the omega didn’t seem to be the type to be that cruel if he could defend someone as sexist as Sakura without any complaint on his end.
“So you marked him with that because you love him and you’re worried for his safety?”
Ino wasn’t shocked she’d think that when in her eyes, Neji’s answer wasn’t shocking in the slightest, “No, I marked him with this so his being my mate would be all but guaranteed. You see, this mark will only vanish if he manages to somehow, someway beat me in battle after giving me all he’s got or if he would lose to me in battle after giving it all he’s got and he’s marked as mine.”
Sakura’s eyes widen then, finding it so disgusting that anyone would ever do such a thing to such a kind, brave omega like Lee, “That’s sick—Lee is a person! He deserves to have some say in who he ends up with someday!”
“He’s an omega.” Neji reinstates the obvious while fishing through the pockets of the clothes of those who died from his mark for the scroll, “You know as well as I do that omegas are fated to be barefoot and pregnant. They’re inferior to us in strength, with their weaker musculature and their overtly emotional minds, they could never survive without us if they tried. All I did was protect Lee from sharing that fate with someone truly horrible. As an alpha, you should understand this…when you want something, it’s only logical that you do all that you can to keep it to yourself no matter what.”
Sakura’s hands are shaking in outrage to everything Neji is saying, her voice going up in volume to this, “That’s not true and you know it! Lee fought those guys all by himself and almost won. He gave it his all and did everything he could to succeed, even when he had no other reason to save me other than the fact that he wouldn’t let them forcibly mate and rape Naruto. Lee is just as strong if not stronger than many alphas and betas I know—he beat Sasuke right before the exams started, that should mean something to you!”
“Only because I allowed him to have that chance.” Neji pointed out something to her that hit her in a spot she didn’t expect it to, “With this mark on his hand, I can use the chakra I embedded into it to make him submit to my will by inflaming his chakra points. Then, who are you to act so self righteous, Sakura Haruno? We’ve all heard the way you speak to Ino Yamanaka about omegas in the past, and while you use nicer language than I do, it doesn’t change the fact that you and I hold the same views of omegas. You would do this to Ino too if you could and saying otherwise would be a lie.”
He takes the scroll of the deceased, telling her as he picks up Lee’s limp body and tosses him over his shoulder, “Just because you cloak your views under the guise of care, concern, and love doesn’t mean you are any better than me. If of anything, most would consider me to be the better person because I am honest about myself and my views, unlike you.”
He leaves the scene with Lee and Sakura alone with the conclusion that maybe she wasn’t any better than Neji…maybe…just maybe…she really was just like him no matter what she said to herself to make the harsh truth of what he said any easier on herself.