Ino
Sasuke groaned when being led out of the area and away from Naruto. Immediately, all he could do was try to bargain with his sensei, “Sensei, let me stay. I know this curse mark isn’t something to take lightly, but Naruto…he’s an omega. Iruka sensei got on everyone else about this at the academy, but he could be marked by force if someone isn’t there to protect him. Please, you have to let me stay! I promise I won’t act out of line, I’ll keep Naruto safe and that’s it!”
Kakashi rejects this notion, though he does feel for the young alpha, “I understand you’re worried over Naruto and all you want is to protect him. There’s nothing wrong with that, but you can’t do it without this mark being sealed right away.”
“What if someone tries to mark him by force when we’re gone?”
“Sakura is here; she’ll keep him safe.” When this does nothing to ease Sasuke’s worried mind, he brings up someone else, “There’s also Ino Yamanaka—she won’t ever let any alpha or beta harm Naruto.”
As much as he doesn’t care for Ino…he can admit he feels much better about leaving him alone than he did before. He knows Ino would be one to jump into battle immediately to save any omega from any alpha or beta since she seems to hate them all anyway. When he thinks about it, who else to better guard Naruto than Deidara’s alpha and beta hating little sister?
While he does worry about her poisoning Naruto against him, he knows that when it comes down to it, he’d rather have Ino trying to save Naruto from an alpha or beta than leave Sakura to do it alone.
“Alright…but I want you to come back to Naruto’s side immediately if I can’t.”
“I will, Sasuke.” Kakashi promises him with all of the sincerity he has within himself.
He can understand where Sasuke is coming from with his concerns. He himself has had similar concerns in the past regarding Iruka (mainly with the fear he had of Iruka being called to handle Mizuki and other missions where he was dragged into it) so he can relate to the young alpha here. However, he also believes he needs to calm down for now and have Ino and Sakura keep an eye out for Naruto.
(He would have Lee do the same thing, but he seems too troubled to be properly focused on saving Naruto from an alpha or beta trying to forcibly mate him.)
Meanwhile, Ino herself is feeling a sense of calm about her potential match. She knows she will be going up against an alpha or beta, but she doesn’t really care. All she cares about is getting one step closer to becoming a Chunin for herself—at the same time, she is hoping her fellow omegas pass as well. Naruto to prove everyone wrong about his dream of being hokage and Lee to hopefully escape the situation he’s stuck in with Neji…
Wait…Lee…the mark…
If he fights someone, it could be dangerous. What if his opponent tries to mark him by force or shows too much romantic interest in him? They could end up dying up on the spot and Lee could get in trouble for it since there’s no way an omega could get away with killing an alpha or beta during an exam without there being some sort of uproar about it.
She quickly turned to face him, about to tell him of this thought on her mind, “Lee, you should—”
“Yamanaka, if you don’t mind, I’d like to speak to Lee alone.” she didn’t know when Neji had approached them, but seeing him standing there had her growling at him, “What are you doing here, alpha?”
“I’m here to speak to Lee. Last I checked, you are not his keeper, so I’d much appreciate it if you left us alone.”
She was getting ready to pummel him when Hinata tapped on her shoulder and whispered in her ear, “You don’t want to do that… Neji isn’t above fighting omegas and he’s very strong—he’s said to be the strongest Genin in our clan, so please, back down now.”
The omega was about to hit him as hard as she could despite this warning because the idea that this jerk felt that entitled to Lee to make such demands when he’s already so upset because of everything that’s happened to him because of him…it makes her see almost see red.
“I can’t do that, not when he’s such a jerk to Lee.” she whispered back to Hinata, her attention back on him, “I am not his keeper, but I am his fellow omega and I’m not leaving him alone with you.”
Neji doesn’t outwardly react but he does try to land a hit on her, “Fine, since you won’t leave when I ask—I’ll just have to use force then.”
His attempt failed only because he paused in mid strike when Lee inserted himself in between them, “Stop it, Neji! I’ll talk to you alone, but don’t hit my friend, please.”
“You’re friends with the Yamanaka? You know what kind of person her brother is, right? You know she’s just a difficult as he is and damned in her fate to wind up just like him, don’t you? Why associate with her then? What’s the point in that?”
“She’s a good person, Neji, and while we all have differing opinions about her brother, there’s no evidence she will end up on the same path as him.” Lee goes on to make a claim they hadn’t seen coming, “When I was here, she helped to keep me calm when I was too stressed to sleep or deal with the issues bothering me. I know you may not approve of her, but that doesn’t matter. You can’t say who I can or can’t be friends with.”
Naruto snarls, his scent flaring openly as angered pheromones of his filled the air around them, “Who are you to make those claims anyway! Like you’re so perfect and great—how can you talk about her and her brother like that? We don’t even know why Deidara left the village with Itachi or why he became a criminal. Maybe he really is innocent in all of this, maybe he’s not, we won’t really know until we find him and talk to him about it in a place where he feels safe enough to speak about it. Either way, it doesn’t give you the right to write him and her off like that!”
The Hyuuga alpha gives them all a blank expression with a hand going up to pinch the bridge of his nose in what appears to be irritation, “Looks like you two are going to be painfully difficult…fine, so be it, I’ll handle you both then.”
“There’s no need for that!” he turns to them and practically begs, “Naruto, Ino, please…I don’t want any trouble. I don’t want you two to get punished over something I should be able to handle on my own.”
“But Lee—” Ino begins, only to have him shoot this down with a raising of his hand, “I appreciate the support you two have given me. You guys have made my day a lot easier on me, but Neji is my teammate and whether I want to or not, I will have to speak to him sometime.”
It’s only because of Lee’s insistence that she backs down, but it’s not without throwing a kunai at Neji’s feet, “Speak about my brother again like that and I won’t miss on purpose.”
With that, she left them to speak alone, not sure of what Neji would say to Lee, but feeling positive that he would definitely be the type to get mean to him the moment she and Naruto were gone.
When walking away from him, Hinata—a kind but shy beta Ino has no problem with—was walking alongside them, commenting with a nervous push of her fingers together, “T-That was very brave of you, Ino. Standing up to Neji like that in a way that actually unnerved him—I’m impressed.”
“It’s no big deal, I’m sure you’ve done the same to that jerk.”
“Actually…um…I…never have.”
Now that’s strange for her to hear.
Betas and alphas usually see each other as being pure equals—especially in the Hyuuga clan. She remembers Deidara always telling her to avoid dating, mating, or courting Hyuugas because “they are the most sexist towards omegas of them all and they’d only treat you as a true equal if you’re a beta—I swear Ino, if you ever date or mate a Hyuuga, I will kill them, un”. Given what happened to Lee, it’s safe to say she feels as though her brother was right about the clan in general.
Which is why hearing Hinata say this is so strange for her, “You really never stood up to him before? Why not?”
Hinata is quieter when admitting, “I’ve never really been…you know…strong enough to take him on in the past. He’s just so—so aggressive towards me and it’s hard not to feel intimidated.”
“I’m sure you’ve gotten a lot stronger now, though! Besides, you’re a beta Hyuuga, I’m positive he’s more likely to see you as an equal long before he ever would with me, Naruto, or Lee.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, he—”
She got cut off by Naruto speaking up, “Who cares what he thinks? All he’s done so far is proven that he’s a shameless jerk who sees Lee as being beneath him for being an omega. I just cannot believe anyone in our day and age would actually act like that—doesn’t he know that sort of attitude has no place in today’s age? Really, I cannot believe the guy!”
Ino was about to fill Naruto in on a little thing called sexism when Hinata beat her to it, “Ah, actually Naruto…his attitude towards Lee and other omegas isn’t an old-timey thing. In the Hyuuga clan, omegas are supposed to be submissive, quiet, and homemakers to their alphas and betas no matter what.”
Naruto’s vibrant blue eyes widened out of pure horror then, “What! You’ve gotta be kidding me! There’s no way that’s normal!”
She nods, dealing him with an extra hard dose of reality right after only learning about Lee’s predicament with Neji a mere few minutes earlier, “It is, though. I don’t agree with it, but in my clan, it’s tradition and expectation for omegas to set aside their dreams, desires, wishes, and happiness for the alpha or beta who mates them.”
“That’s so stupid! I wanna be hokage someday and if I have to mate someone, I would never mate a Hyuuga if that’s what they believe! No way, not me!”
Naruto’s outburst clearly upset Hinata, who appeared crestfallen at the news, “Oh…I…see…”
After all she had done to help Naruto in the first part of the exam, after all she had done, cheering him on from a distance…the rejection hurts and it’s so plain across her face yet Naruto—being as oblivious as he is—doesn’t notice it.
Ino steps in and changes the subject for her sake, “Naruto, a lot of clans are like that. Why do you think Iruka sensei’s the only omega Chunin in our village? It’s because omegas in other clans are pressured, coerced, manipulated, and forced into mating so they never get to have a chance to be shinobi even if that’s what they want for themselves. Clan expectations can be the worst for omegas—I’m only lucky I got born into a more liberal clan that allowed me to do as I please and treated me like an equal to the alphas and betas in it.”
“Well then, if they think that way, then I’ll just mate someone who doesn’t!” Naruto pauses before thinking, “Sakura is off of the table because she wants you and I’m sure many of the other ones here are jerks.”
“Hinata isn’t a jerk either. You shouldn’t be so quick to write her off because of her clan.” Ino reminds him on the spot because truthfully, she’d rather have Naruto with the kindly Hyuuga as opposed to the dreadful Uchiha.
To this, Naruto shrugs, “Sure she’s nice, but her clans too messed up for me.”
Ino was about to tear into him for being so mean about it right in front of her when he asked, “How about Shikamaru? He never said anything bad omegas back when we were in the academy.”
She feels so awful for Hinata right now. This propels her to undersell her own teammate because she doesn’t want Naruto to make the same horrible mistake Lee would have, “Shikamaru comes from a very liberal clan. He sees all omegas and betas as being equals to alphas and he will always stand up for omegas when facing sexism. But he’s freakishly lazy, loves to play board games, and wants a bland, effortless existence so he can coast on through life. Are you sure you want that in a mate?”
Naruto rubs a hand underneath his chin, “Hmm…now that you mention it…he sounds perfect!”
“What!” Ino nearly shrieks, “You’ve got to be kidding me!”
“No, I’m not! Shikamaru is so lazy and his clan wouldn’t demand me to be a homemaker when we do mate, so that means when I become hokage, Shikamaru can stay home with the pups and go on missions with me whenever I please! Also, isn’t he supposed to be pretty smart too? Oh, that means I can go to him for advice when I’m hokage and in a tight bind!”
She wants to punch him in the arm for being so inconsiderate of Hinata and yet at the same time, she wants to save Shikamaru’s life. Hinata could her own against Sasuke if she really tried and she knows she could, but Shikamaru? He’s too lazy. He would probably throw in the towel and get himself killed by Sasuke to spare himself the trouble of having to defend himself from him.
She tries once more to talk him out of it, warning him, “Naruto, if you do go out with Shikamaru, you will be disappointed.”
To this, he shrugs when starting to make his way over to the lazy alpha, “Don’t care! As long as he lets me be hokage and his clan doesn’t hold stupid views about me for being one, then I’m fine with it!”
Ino growls at his stupidity before facing Hinata, “I’m so sorry about that. I didn’t know he would be so mean to you—honestly, if you ask me, you’d be the best mate for Naruto out of anyone else here, but he’s too dumb to see it.”
“No, no it’s fine… I don’t think he’d be happy with me anyway. My clan wouldn’t approve of such a loud, independent omega and I can see Naruto’s being hokage causing tension there.” hearing her talk herself out of liking Naruto was enough for her to hug the beta and reassure her with a bit of calming pheromone thrown in the mix, “Don’t take yourself out of the running for his heart so easily. I know it seems rough now, but trust me, he’ll get sick of Shikamaru after one date and want nothing to do with him ever again. Sasuke? Ha, he has no chance with him! Naruto’s too dense to notice his obvious feelings for him and even if he did, there’s a good chance he’d reject him. Once he opens his eyes, he’ll see how great you are and know you’d be the perfect one for him.”
She ends the hug, with the beta blushing a bit, thinking then that calla lilies have the most pleasant of scents, “Thank you, Ino. You really are nice, just like your brother was.”
She doesn’t say this as an insult. Long before she had a crush on Naruto, she had a crush on Deidara. He may have been fiery, loud, and bitter, but she saw it as more of a defense mechanism from having to deal with alphas and betas around him constantly belittling him for wanting to be something other than a stay at home parent. She loved his artwork, the mouths on his hands, and the way he would make her things at times whenever he caught her spying on him making his sculptures.
They always blew up, but that was okay: it only made the memory last longer, especially the one of his smile as it did so.
However, Itachi had one day caught her watching the blonde from her hiding spot, and the Uchiha had been clear when making the remark he did to her: “You can look, but you can never touch. Deidara’s far too old for you and besides this fact, he’s going to be my mate one day.”
“You are a Hyuuga, after all—he would never be happy in your clan, no independent, loud, vibrant omega would be.”
The idea of it hurt back then as much as it does now that Naruto made it clear Itachi may have had a point about Deidara and Naruto as well—they wouldn’t be happy in her clan.
Ino doesn’t seem quick to judge her on her clan’s beliefs and the fact she doesn’t makes her feel less awful about what Itachi said back then.
Sakura was quick to approach them, a forced smile on her lips as she said, “Ino, we’re up next for battle. You know I won’t hold back on you, right?”
“I know and I don’t intend to hold back on you either.”
As the two girls exit the viewing area, Hinata is ready to silently cheer for Ino in the same way she did for Deidara and Naruto for all of these years, not caring if Sakura sent her a dark glare over her shoulder or tried to walk closer to Ino in a show of jealousy.
She can be jealous all that she pleases. Maybe it’s time for Hinata to stop caring what these alphas think and go for what she wants herself.