Ino's POV (Uzumaki Residence - Hidden Leaf Village)
Ino watched as Kushina and the other senior shinobi moved in to disperse the angry crowd. At first, merely ordering it, most shinobi, even Genin, could give orders to villagers. Yet alone the Jounin, Anbu, and Sannin present. If things had gone right, the civilians would recognize the situation and disperse. Instead, they seemed offended by the orders.
"The demon commands them!" A seemingly drunk voice had called out.
Despite how illogical and unlikely it was, the crowd started to surge at this soon, shouting abuse and even shoving at the assembled shinobi. Several of the new Anbu forces arrived and dived in. Now, the shinobi, who had before attempted to calm the crowd, were getting more forceful. Gently physically guiding the more rowdy members back. The crowd became even more incensed by this. Ino heard a crowd was only as innovative as their dumbest member, her father had often taught her during their psychology studies. She now fully understood what he meant. Before, the crowd had been rude and jeering but had seemed subdued once the shinobi moved in. Now, it appeared each escalation done by any member would be adopted as the norm for the whole crowd. Soon, the bigger and braver members start to swing at the shinobi. Ino could even see some shinobi seeming to join the crowd. Shinobi had rights, one of which allowed them to protect themselves against even civilians. Ino watched as this was enacted. The dark Anbu did not hesitate to slam or strike those who acted out of line. One even went as far as to break the arm of a large drunk man. Kushina and Co were trying to be more gentle, but with the crowd slowly getting more violent, they got more involved. Grimly striking those down who refused to calm.
Despite the scene before her, Ino felt numb. She felt like a small, foolish girl trembling from the scorn of those around her. She had become strong, she had thought. Matured, but now, as the hatred that Naruto dealt with was leveled towards her, she felt she had not grown at all. She was still the coward she had always been. She was concerned with how others saw her. It was just like then…
She could remember how her career had started. Ino walked into her classroom shyly. She was Ino Yamanaka, heiress to the infamous Yamanaka clan. Her Daddy had told her of its importance and the job she would one day inherit. He told her she was exceptional! She had promised him to try her best. But if she was honest, she hated school. She had assumed that she would be a big deal. She was from a big clan, and her Mom had assured her she would make friends. Ino wasn't sure why her family was such a big deal, but she was proud of them.
On her first day, she had loudly declared her name in her introduction. She was only meant to say her name as an introduction. But Ino had simply been too excited, and she had always enjoyed attention. She bragged about her family and some of their history. It was only once she finished she realized her classmates were unimpressed. In fact, they were somewhat uncomfortable with her. She later found out she was the only clan student in her class for the year. There was a slight difference in her opinion, but it mattered. Her classmates seemed to sense the difference and did what kids did best. Alienate it.
It had started subtly enough. At lunch, she was often left to sit alone. Each table with her classmates was seemingly full. Even the one or two with space remaining had rejected her. One boy called her a brain eater. Ino, as a child, hadn't realized, but to students like these naive to the shinobi world, her power wasn't extraordinary. It was weird, weak, and, to some, even scary. Soon, even in the classroom, she was left alone. The teacher caught onto this and attempted to fix it by assigning seats, but then the children would merely ignore her. Soon, the alienation evolved; as if an unseen and unheard signal had been enacted, the ignoring became harassing. Boys in class would throw things at her. The girls would treat her like a disease. Whenever her back turned, she would be insulted out loud. Brain eater alone had made the young girl want to cry. But the children made many mind stealer, mind reader, and creep. The title didn't matter; each was a hammer to her. Soon, she had lost her excited facade; she was careful not to show her Mommy and Daddy. They would be disappointed in her for not doing well. She faked her usual self around them. But soon, she became shy and flighty. Always worried about how they would treat her. One year of this had gone on. Ino's parents, of course, caught on eventually and raised hell for it. But even switching classes didn't help. However, Sakura had changed that.
Sakura had been somehow worse off than herself. Ino may have been a pariah, but she was doing well otherwise; a big, important family backing her ensured that.
Sakura had no such fortune. The young girl had decided to become a shinobi out of curiosity. And to her credit, she was incredible book-wise. Unfortunately, the pinkette had a difference as well. A prominent forehead was all it took for the class to victimize her. Sakura took it wrong; her reactions often entertained the group. Ino, despite being young, knew how to make things slightly better with her bullies. Sakura held no such wisdom, and soon, she became the target of even Ino. Ino had taken her suffering as well as she could. It had made her shy and nervous around others. Yet seeing Sakura suffer as such made her determined to do something. Ino threw herself into her psychological studies. She learned as much as she could about people. Learned how to be charismatic and likable. She gained popularity quickly once she had known. It became easy to befriend her former tormentors. They seemingly forgot her status quickly once her demeanor had changed. Ino had figured out the social hierarchy and exploited it in her favor. Her confidence soon returned, and she gained flair. But one day, seeing Sakura crushed after another bullying day, she decided to become her friend. As soon as Ino had adopted her, things became better for both. Ino had promised herself to maintain her popularity.
The world only treated those with status well. So Ino had assured them she was cool, friendly, and fashionable. Anything to escape the scorn of those around her. Ino hadn't told the tale to anyone; she knew how easy it was for people to alienate different people. Her father knew something was wrong, and eventually, Ino told him. He had said she may be suffering from Autophobia. She was terrified of being ignored, isolated, abandoned.
For years Ino had never been concerned about her childhood woes. She had done as she intended all of those years ago. Become popular, liked, included. She had first thought of it again after meeting Naruto. Similar to Sakura, he had always been an outsider. Shikamaru, her own friend, had introduced the blonde with a sort of desperation. Ino had yet to think much, not seeing the need to be involved with Shikamaru and co-offering aid. It had piqued her interest in seeing someone who could make Shikamaru go out of his way. But they never indeed interacted. But once they had formed Team Seven, she had sucked into the days of old.
Neji was cruel and cold; he treated them both like trash. It had reminded her of those days. She had been stunned at first. But unlike her and Sakura all those years ago, who had been meek and shifted themselves to escape scorn. Naruto took it head-on. He didn't care that he was disliked or seen as odd. At least not in the same way. He was determined to prove his worth to people authentically. Not afraid like her. It was something she found endearing about the blonde and had been the main reason for their friendship. Naruto simply made her uncaring towards her reputation and what others thought. She could be herself around him. Now, her connection to him had brought one of her worst fears to light. She was terrified of being a pariah.
Neji stalked in front of the both of them, Byakugan activated and veins around his eyes seemingly ready to burst as he seemed to try to glare the crowd into submission. He stood in a wide defensive stance as if to shield both of the blonds from the crowd.
"Pay no heed to them, teammates. Those who are blind can only see darkness." Neji said to the two.
"Ya screw 'em, Ino." Naruto forced a laugh. "At least we have each other. Who cares what they think?"
"I do." Ino answered softly. Naruto froze at this, surprised at her answer. Neji in front of them stiffened.
"What, but why would yo-" Naruto started.
"You don't get it… I… I can't stand people treating me like this." Ino said sadly, tears falling from her eyes in clumps. "I worked so hard on making them like me… and now." She sobbed brokenly after that, covering her face with her hands.
Naruto was silent; shell-shocked by Ino's tone.
"Ino maybe tread lightly, don't say something you may regret." Nei warned. "People are fickle; this will not stick."
"You know better, Neji!" Ino screamed, now rising to face them with red, teary eyes. "Just because of Naruto, I'm hated now! After I tried so hard to avoid it…" Ino stopped catching up with her words. Her eyes raced up to Naruto's face, which for a moment contained a level of anguish Ino had never seen from the blonde.
"Because of me…" Naruto said slowly, staring at his hands as if coated in blood. "I'm sorry." The blonde told before suddenly poofing away in a body flicker.
"Naruto!" Neji called. He glared at Ino before shaking his head. "Take the time you need to think this over. Once you have, I'm sure you'll see what you just did." The Hyuga said darkly.
A sob broke from Ino's throat. She raced away in the opposite direction of Naruto.
Neji growled to himself as he faced the ground. He hadn't meant to hurt her, even after her mistake. He would endeavor to talk to her again after speaking to Naruto. He likely would need some company. Neji poofed away as well. Having a decent idea where the blonde went.
The raging crowd continued its scrap against the allies of Naruto. The fighting crowd did not notice Naruto's exit.