[OP: "Hieroglyphs"--The Oh Hellos]

Finally, after hours of work, they were pretty much finished. The place might need a few more touches, but it looked operational.

Everyone was glad to be finished... One of the kids did start a potting soil fight when they were wrapping up with the seedlings.

The fight got a little out of hand when one of them hit Sakura with dirt, and she got mad and threw dirt back, and they dodged, and she hit Tenten instead.

Tenten threw dirt back at Sakura, who batted it away and hit Naruto, who used clones to start pelting pebbles and dirt clods at both girls--until Sakura got so mad that he was too scared to do it again.

However, by that point, the kids had all joined the "fun" and flung dirt everywhere before their moms or anyone else could stop them.

Though they finally got them to settle down, almost everyone had dirt streaks on their clothes and exposed skin by the time it was over.

Sai didn't really care. He seemed very quiet once he'd calmed down. But the girls were not amused

"I always get dirty when we do anything!" Ino brushed dust off her sleeves.

"Hey, kids will be kids." Wally tried to wipe some off his face.

"How did they hit you? Aren't you supposed to be faster than anyone?" Kankuro asked him.

"I was trying to protect the girls," Wally protested.

"Very chivalrous." Shine pulled a clod out of her hair. "Well...we'll need showers tonight for sure."

"They already did," Suigetsu said. "Unlike me. I don't sweat." He grinned.

"You still stink," Karin replied testily.

"Ain't no one's fault that you can sniff chakra, Karin," Suigetsu grumbled.

"What does it smell like, sis?" Camie asked.

"Uh...I don't know, perfume maybe?" Karin said. "Or plants? But...if they were human."

"That made no sense," Kankuro said.

Camie sniffed her wrist. "So the vibes literally can smell rancid to you? Cool. What do I smell like?"

Karin sniffed. "None of you are the same...but maybe...ethereal? Effervescent?"

"Oh, come on that's bulls--," Dabi said. "We all know you just say people smell good or bad based on how much you like their personality. It's not really about good or bad itself, is it?"

Karin reddened. "That is not true!"

"I think it is," Bakugo said. "That would explain a lot."

"How so?" Shoto asked.

"She always says Waterboy is foul, but he's the most sane person out of the 4 of them," Bakugo replied. "Even if he's a twat."

"Hey!" Suigetsu said.

"Trust me, from him that was a compliment," Momo sighed. "A dirt fight? Really? My mother would be horrified. She'll think I've gone entirely wild if she ever hears about the things I get mixed up in around the others."

"If that's wild, I think you're fine." Temari rubbed her shoulder. "Those little brats really just wanted to cause problems today, huh? But no matter, it's just dirt. At least we finished."

"I think it was funny that Sakura got mad enough at a 7-year old to throw dirt back at them," Dabi said.

"What happened to being nicer to Sakura?" Hanabi asked him.

"I never promised that," Dabi said. "She can be nicer first."

"Shut up," Sakura said angrily. "You started this."

"Don't pretend like you didn't hit me with that big clod on purpose," Dabi retorted. "I didn't throw any dirt."

"Yes, you did," Sakura said.

"Nope, that was Sasuke," Dabi said.

"Right," Camie said sarcastically. "Sure he did."

"For real," Dabi said.

Sakura shot Sasuke an astonished look.

Sasuke shrugged. "I was aiming for someone else. You moved."

"What?!" Sakura said.

"I bet he was aiming for Todoroki," Camie hissed at Bakugo, who snickered.

That was in fact true, but Sasuke wouldn't admit to it.

"Sasuke did something that juvenile?" Temari remarked. "I'm shocked."

"Actually, Sasuke throwing something at someone because there was a fight going down sounds about right." Shikamaru rubbed his neck. "He's always been competitive if other people were trying to do a thing. Remind me why I never liked him again?"

"Why didn't you?" Temari asked.

"Oh, probably because he was stuck up," Shikamaru said. "Five-year old me was not a very complex thinker about why I did or didn't like anyone. Not like these people, who have a list of reasons to think everything."

"Okay, troops," Shine called, "enough bickering. Let's go. I'm starving and I'm filthy."

"Heck of a slogan there, Shine," Dabi said.

"At least for me it's unusual, Touya," she replied archly.

Dabi smirked.

"See, it's fine if she says it," Karin grumbled, folding her arms as they started to exit the premises. "But when I do, it's mean."

"Things can be interpreted different ways depending on how someone perceives your character," Momo remarked. "For example, we know Shine doesn't insult people for petty reasons, so that was just a wry comment from her. But from someone who does that all the time, it would be much easier to take it as offensive."

"Are you directing that at me?" Karin asked.

"No...just in general," Momo shrugged.

* * *

After they'd washed themselves off and had decided collectively to just get dinner at a restaurant, the team was visited by Kurotsuchi. She'd stopped by to see their progress and been quite shocked by what she saw.

"You work quickly," she told them. "Grampa will be impressed (maybe). Can you do our bathrooms next?"

"I hope that's a joke," Wally said. "Because the fertilizer was enough of that kind of thing for me."

"It is a joke. Unless you actually are willing to do it," Kurotsuchi said.

"Sorry, I think we can't make these fine people do that as a reward for their work," Shine said politely. "And Stone Village was a huge help to us."

"And you putting a greenhouse in right before Winter was an inspired idea," Kurotsuchi added. "We usually have to ship things in once it gets cold. We've wanted one of those for years, but no one knew how to make one big enough... The flooring you put in was interesting also."

Momo's idea had been to use floor panels that retained heat easily. [I've heard this is a thing in Asia, but for some reason it's not really used in the USA in any great amount. Seems like a good idea though.]

"Just trying to do our best." Wally hoped she didn't ask too much about it.

"Perhaps now the Tsuchikage and I can discuss business," Gaara said.

There was a pause as everyone remembered the importance of that business and why they had prolonged talking about it a few days.

"I see no reason why not, though you'll have to ask him," Kurotsuchi nodded. "I have to ask, who came up with the idea of a gesture of goodwill as a way to open the visit?"

"It was a group effort," Shine said. "I forget now who said it first. Wally, probably."

"Nah, wasn't it Gaara?" Wally said.

"Well, it was one of us," Gaara said, vaguely amused. "We've been working together so much, I suppose we're sharing ideas."

"We might have to steal that idea the next time we visit another village," Kurotsuchi said. "It might make the Chunin Exams a little less hostile in the future..." 

She was touching on a subject that had been of concern to Temari. The Chunin Exams at Sand Village had gone okay between the villages themselves, surprisingly, though there had been some brawling, but, post the war, they did wonder how they might play into the tension between nations. Reminding them of fighting each other seemed like a bad idea.

"That would be a good idea," Gaara echoed her thoughts, with some concern.

Kurotsuchi left after that.

"She does a lot," Ino noted.

"She'll so be the next kage." Camie waved her hand. "I bet that's why."

"Astute," Temari said. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Oh, haha." Camie stuck out her tongue at Temari.

Sakura came in then, hair in a towel. "Hey, I just got a messenger hawk from Leaf Village."

"In the shower?" Camie said.

Sakura frowned. "When I came out of the shower building it was waiting."

"But was it watching you while you were in the shower?" Camie pressed. "'Cause there are little windows pointing to the top of the building."

"It's a hawk. Who cares?" Sakura replied crossly.

"What did the message say?" Shine interjected.

"Right," Sakura said flatly. "It was from Lady Tsunade. She told me she's coming here."

"HERE?" several people exclaimed.

"Read it out loud," Shine urged.

"Uh...fine." Sakura cleared her throat. "'Sakura, now that things have settled down in Leaf, I've decided to heed the many requests from the other villages that I would share my medical knowledge with them now that the war is over. It would seem the kage alliance hopes to cement itself more by sharing the knowledge of how to heal them. Since the Kazekage's mission seems to be going well so far, I intend to reinforce it. Unlike you, I prefer to take the more direct route, so I have already been to Sand Village and will be heading to Stone Village at perhaps the same time you'll be leaving. The Tsuchikage has already agreed to this, but if our paths should intersect, I expect a full report of the state of their medical care when I arrive.'"

Sakura looked up.

She didn't seem excited about this idea for some reason.

"Tsunade is coming here?" Sasuke spoke for the first time. "Is Leaf having her check on us?"

"But she said she'd probably arrive after we're already gone," Momo said.

"There's no guarantee of that," Temari said. "We could be here for weeks. She won't travel as slowly as we do. But she already went to Sand Village?"

"If you go in linear order, it makes more sense to go to Sand, then Stone, then Lightning, and then Mist," Gaara said. "We had to go roundabout because of their permission coming late, but Tsunade is well liked and well known by the other shinobi for her medical ninjutsu, and she is only one woman. I can't imagine they'll hesitate as much to allow her in."

"Wait, did you know she went to Sand?" Wally asked.

"I did know she was going to," Gaara said. "But I had not heard that they left yet. Sand sees her as an ally because of all her help, and they wouldn't hesitate to allow her in. I've told them she is to be considered a friend."

"Tsunade is coming here." Shine rubbed her chin. "By now she'll be on her way, if she sent that hawk ahead. Surely we'll still be here by the time she arrives. She must know that's likely, despite her words. I think she is checking in on us."

Sasuke nodded. "Which means Leaf isn't sure we're behaving ourselves."

"Well, in your case they have reason to be worried," Dabi snorted. "But I would say that Neji not going back might also have something to do with it."

Pause.

"So there are repercussions for that," Shoto said. "I hoped that there wouldn't be."

"Oh, there's repercussions for everything," Shine said, dismissively. "But what is she going to find? We're not doing anything wrong here. Tsunade doesn't scare me. She's not nearly observant enough to be a problem for us, even if we were up to something."

"She's a Sannin," Sakura said.

"A Sannin who constantly gets outwitted by teenagers," Shine replied. "She's not a threat to us, whatever you were hoping, Sakura."

"Hoping?" Sakura exclaimed.

"Yes, you hope that she could make us toe the line, but it won't happen. We'll do exactly as we think we should, regardless of what she says." Shine shrugged, a little huffily.

"I wasn't thinking that," Sakura said.

"I bet you were," Camie muttered.

"I'm worried that you'll offend her," Sakura said, crossing her arms. "She's never really liked you, you know. Not since you sassed her the very first time you met. I can't imagine why that bothers some people so much."

"Was that sarcasm?" Shine asked.

"So?" Sakura frowned.

"No, no, I was just surprised," Shine shrugged.

The fact that she didn't care beyond that made Sakura even angrier.

"You know, I hope Tsunade does make you all shape up," she said crossly. "Not get away with all these...theatrics! And setting people off!"

"Since when does that old granny care about that anyway?" Dabi pointed out.

"Truly, I don't see what Tsunade's goals and ours have to do with each other, other than she'd be helping us along," Momo said. "We're not worried about her honing in on our turf, I hope. That seems so petty."

"Do I think she's possibly riding our coattails? Yes," Shine said. "This is a good way for Kakashi to show he won't be outdone by Gaara, without it being seen as showing off or interfering with us directly. But it's not necessarily malicious. It's a good political move, and if we work together well, it's no reason for us to worry. Tsunade has different ideas than we do, but if she's here to do medicine and we're here to change lives, there's no reason for us to argue about that. And the village would benefit from what she has to teach them. So why be alarmed? Gaara? Babe? Don't you concur?"

"I do," Gaara said, shrugging. "I see no problem with it."

"As long as she does her thing and lets us do ours, it's fine," Wally said. "And she won't try to stop us, right? It's not her business."

"But Leaf might be supervising us in a way," Temari said. "That would insult me. How could we be doing better than we've been doing?"

"You forget, sis, that success makes people just as suspicious as failure does," Kankuro said. [That is too true.]

Temari frowned, since she knew it was a fact.

"I don't get it." Naruto was confused. "You mean they think we're cheating or something?"

"Possibly," Shine shrugged. "Bribing, threatening, lying, any number of false things can make a deal go more smoothly. Just because we aren't doing them doesn't mean people don't think we are. But she won't find anything, and if we have nothing to hide, it won't matter."

"It is an insult, if that's what they're doing," Sasuke pointed out.

"And who are you to take offense to that?" Shine replied roundly. 

"And what she won't say is that you're likely the reason for it to begin with," Dabi pointed out.

"Touya," Shine warned.

"What? Might as well admit it. No one trusts him," Dabi said. "Him being here makes people think we're up to something. It's just how it is. You knew it when you invited him. And did Tsunade even like that you did that?"

"I never discussed it with her to find out." Shine's temper began to show in her tone. "And I wouldn't do so now. I don't let people make my decisions for me, Touya."

Dabi knew he'd pushed his limit with that, so he shut up.

"Uh, hey," Suigetsu said, "not to be that guy, but this Tsunade--the former Hokage, right?--will she have a little problem with us being here too? You didn't tell them, right?"

"I didn't see a reason to," Shine said. "Leaf didn't pick who joined us, unless it was a matter of being able to spare them."

"But we're...from Orochimaru," Karin said. "And he and Tsunade are enemies...were enemies."

"If she asks, just tell her the truth," Shine replied. "He's dead, you're out of work, and you want to make up for your past by helping us bring peace. Simple as that."

"If it worked for Sasuke, why not you?" Wally added. "You kids all worry too much."

"I suppose you don't care about making me look bad," Sakura said.

"You don't need our help for that," Dabi snorted.

Shine gave him another warning look. He coughed nervously and left the room.

"As for you--" Shine turned to Sakura. "--if you're worried about it, I'll tell her you've disagreed with every single thing we've done up to this point."

"Don't tell her that!" Sakura gasped.

"Or I could tell her that you've been fighting with us constantly," Shine added.

"Hey!" Sakura said. "That's not what I meant."

"If you don't want me to tell her the truth," Shine said, "then I suggest you figure out what you want to say to her instead. Surely no one can make you look bad but yourself. It's not as if you control what the rest of us do. She can't expect that. And if she does, I'll tell her you have no say in the matter whatsoever."

"Definitely do not tell her that!" Sakura exploded.

Ino almost laughed.

"Well, then my hands are tied." Shine threw her hands up. "Guess it's your problem."

"I'm sure Tsunade won't blame Sakura for trying," Momo said. "Besides, we haven't done anything wrong...except the mud fight. And that was the village too."

Sakura couldn't explain to them that Tsunade would be more likely to think that they were unruly and setting a poor example than that they did anything illegal. And to Sakura, that was just as bad.

* * *

Day 39:

The following day, Lord Onoki inspected the "gift" in person and declared it to be acceptable.

They had to assign someone to oversee it, which gave someone else in Stone Village a job to do. And they picked the two ladies, Ming and Lulu, to be assistants.

Shine was well pleased with her efforts here, despite the somewhat rocky start to their acquaintanceship (and Wally made that joke, yes).

Lord Onoki told Gaara that they could meet at any time to discuss the diplomatic aspect of their mission, and alluded to the idea that he respected that they had decided to show they were willing to work, rather than just talk about it.

Gaara was more well pleased than Shine that their idea had paid off so well. He said he would have the meeting the following day.

Team Zoe had the day off for the rest of today, and Momo told them it marked nearly the 40th day of their journey.

"Forty had significant meaning in the Bible," Shine remarked. "The Israelites wandered for 40 years in the wilderness; Jesus fasted for 40 days before he began His ministry; it rained for 40 days and nights during the Flood. Forty is a number of testing and trials being completed."

"Do you really believe that numbers are lucky?" Karin asked skeptically.

"Not lucky, but they do mean things," Shine said. "Not always, of course, but sometimes. Why can't God use math? He invented it."

"I really can't believe you believe in a God that invented everything," Suigetsu said. "Mostly if people even believe in any gods, they think they do different things. How could one God do it all?"

"I might ask you where the many gods got the ability to do what they do, if not from something that could give out different powers to each," Shine replied, unmoved.

Suigetsu frowned. "They could just get the powers on their own."

"And how does someone or something get power on its own?" Shine pressed.

"I dunno," Suigetsu shrugged.

"Well, until you do, I think I'll stick with the explanation I'm provided," Shine shrugged.

"Ah, but where did that God get the power from?" Suigetsu said. "You have the same problem."

"Not in the least. The idea of many gods implies that power is not sovereign, but split between entities, and that means that the power would have a common source somehow, something that decides that they don't overlap. You might say that's not true, that they just have power over the earth and the animals and such, but that only proves it. The earth is one thing, and the creatures on it belong to it, so you just make nature the thing that gives things power; or perhaps, they have learned to hold power over it in a strange way. We call that witchcraft, and you call it jutsu and ninja secret arts, but all that doesn't explain where the earth itself got such a wealth of resources." She paused.

Suigetsu's head was spinning. "Huh?"

"In my case, I believe in one sovereign God," Shine went on, "who provided the sources for all other powers, in some way, though they might twist it into something unrecognizable. So I don't have the same problem."

"Did you get that?" Suigetsu asked Karin.

"Not entirely," she said. "But I can believe she's smarter than you, easily."

Suigetsu rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

"I'm bored," Naruto announced to no one in particular. "I'm gonna play kickball outside somewhere."

"Don't you mean that you're going to ask if you can?" Shine corrected.

"No, I was just going to go." Naruto didn't understand.

Shine cleared her throat. "Naruto."

Naruto frowned. "Can I?" he said, a little annoyed.

"Sure, just take someone else with you, and no, clones do not count," Shine said cheerfully.

"Why make me ask at all then?" Naruto grumbled.

"I'll go," Hanabi offered, getting up from the dining room table. "I don't want to spend the day inside."

"Um, I can..." Hinata began.

"Okay, but don't expect me to take it easy on you because you're a kid," Naruto said to Hanabi.

"Easy on me? You'd need clones just to have a chance," Hanabi scoffed.

"Has she play kickball before?" Dabi asked her sister.

"Not that I know of," Hinata said. "Though we have played hackey sack... She's good at that."

"Well, gotta give her props for at least talking a big game," Dabi shrugged.

"It's against Naruto--she doesn't need that big a game," Sakura said dryly. She was reading a medical scroll.

"Never miss a chance to diss on your most loyal friend, do ya, Cotton Candy?" Dabi said.

Sakura frowned. "Shut up."

"Hinata can join us too, right?" Hanabi said, willing to be the wing woman for her sister.

"Oh, sure." Naruto hadn't even heard what Hinata said before. "If she wants."

"Where y'all going?" Camie asked, seeing them head to the door as she and Bakugo came into this building.

"We're just going to play kickball--oh, I don't have a ball," Naruto said.

Momo tossed him one.

"I anticipated that you might say that," she said.

"Wow...you're awesome, Momo-senpai," Naruto said.

"Yeah, nice forethought there," Hanabi said.

Momo flushed. "It was nothing."

"Could you guys find somewhere that doesn't have windows you could break?" Shine called. "Far away from this building, for example."

"There's more spots along the south side of that Village wall that don't have buildings, remember?" Hanabi reminded them. "We should go there."

"Yeah, okay," Naruto agreed.

* * *

 They found an empty, field-like spot at the edge of the village. 

Bakugo had tagged along because he preferred to do something active rather than to sit inside.

Naruto made several clones and formed teams with them to back up the others.

They started to kick the ball around with kind of makeshift goals, so it was a lot like soccer. But with less rules. 

Bakugo was winning pretty much on all points, despite Naruto's greater numbers. He was a lot faster than Naruto and had a lot better aim.

Hanabi held her own but lacked the upper body strength to really beat Bakugo. They were pretty quick realizing why no one in his class wanted to ever fight him.

Hinata was not trying that hard, which offended Bakugo.

"At least use your full strength, Quiet Girl!" he nearly shouted at her.

Hinata flinched. "I...uh...don't usually play games like this."

"I can see why--you don't try that hard," Bakugo shot back.

"Ah, don't be mean to her," Naruto said.

"It should offend you that she's holding back," Bakugo said. "Victory doesn't count unless you beat someone at their very best."

"Do you know how statistically hard it would be to measure if someone was fighting at their very best at all times?" Hanabi pointed out in a nerdy tone. "Any number of factors could contribute to their prowess at a given moment, so you really can't ever be sure you'd fighting someone at their best. That's just part of the game."

"Shut up," Bakugo said.

"Why don't you shut up?" Hanabi replied, folding her arms. "I don't want to play anymore if you're going to be such a poor sport."

"Freaking what?" Bakugo wasn't used to this.

But then, he also wasn't used to dealing with slightly spoiled rich girls like Hanabi who expected people to behave more politely to them.

"Yeah, I don't have to take this," Hanabi insisted. "Show some respect."

"Eh, I can't blame her much. You are kinda making it not fun," Naruto said.

"Competing is part of the fun," Bakugo argued. "Making it challenging is what makes it fun."

"For you," Hinata said meekly. "But maybe none of us cares that much about winning. We just want to play...and you are making it a little more...difficult to enjoy it."

Bakugo looked at her like she was crazy. "My classmates would never say that bullcrap."

"Well, it's fine to want to win if it's a real fight," Naruto said. "I mean, I want to win, but this is just a game."

The words "just a game" clearly were foreign to Bakugo.

"Mind if we join in?" someone surprised them by saying.

They turned.

They saw nothing but a bunch of boys from around Hanabi's age to slightly younger and slightly older, the oldest probably being just 2 years older than her, who had noticed them playing and come out of the village to watch.

"Beat it, ya little punks," Bakugo said.

"Bakugo-san, please," Hinata said quietly. "There's no reason to yell at them. We're supposed to be making a good impression..."

"You sound Iike Ponytail," Bakugo grumbled.

"I suppose she's rubber off on me a little," Hinata admitted. "I don't mean to bother you, but you might make them cry."

But not many of the Stone kids were very likely to cry. It was part of their culture to be hard and tough.

"What a Grade-A jackass," one of them said rudely. "Are all of you from the Kazekage's party like that?"

"No, just him," Naruto said. "Usually. I'm Naruto Uzumaki."

"We know who you are," a different boy said. "You're famous...but you suck at this game."

"I do?" Naruto said.

"All of you are doing it all wrong," said the first boy.

"We're just having fun." Hanabi stuck out her chin. "No need for you to give us pointers."

The boys rolled their eyes.

"What do you expect a girl to say?" said a different one.

"They sound like Shikamaru," Hanabi remarked to Hinata.

"I don't suppose they mean any harm..." Hinata wasn't sure.

"Hey." Someone stepped forward, and they saw it was Ryuji. "Why don't you let us join in? Then we'll see if you know what you're doing."

"It's that marketplace kid," Bakugo said. "Brat, are these friends of yours?"

"Uh...some of them." Ryuji glanced around. "I actually don't know a lot of these guys..."

"We're from the village," a different boy said, almost defensively.

"Where's Lin?" Hanabi asked.

"He had to stay home with his siblings," Ryuji shrugged. "But some of my other guys are here. Yao, Ping, Eichi, these are some of the underlings to the Kage. They just got done working on that big plant house in the village."

"We know," one who appeared to be Yao, from the order he'd introduced them in, said. "We saw it."

"Didn't expect them to be such snobs from what you told us," Ping said. [Getting the Mulan references? I know that's Chinese not Japanese, but a lot of names are in both languages or mingle in the cultures.]

"Can't we just let them play?" Naruto said. "Then we'd have enough for a real team without clones. Anyway, now you've made them think we're snobs."

Bakugo frowned. "As long as they don't mind losing."

"Check this guy out," said one of the older boys, who didn't appear to be Ryuji's friend. "He thinks he's all that and a bowl of ramen."

"Ramen?" Naruto said.

"We should take him down a peg," a different boy said. "Name's Chin, by the way."

"I'm Ishi," said the older, competitive one. "Don't forget it." ["Ishi" is another word for rock. "Iwa" is the one the show uses though.]

"I'm Bakugo," Bakugo said, with a scary grin. "And I hope you're ready for a humiliating defeat, losers."

This was more than enough to get a bunch of preteen and teen boys riled up. But then they didn't want to have the girls be on the team.

Hinata was okay with just sitting it out, but Hanabi said she'd be just fine.

Ryuji and his friends sullenly agreed to let her play on their side, out of gratitude for Team Zoe's help to them.

Bakugo was on their side too. Naruto was the only one the new challengers liked enough to play with, so Ishi and Chin said he could go on their team.

Most of the other boys wanted to go with them. There were nearly a dozen of the village kids, so even with some on the Zoe side, it wasn't quite even, but Bakugo said he could take them all on anyway.

"I hope he remembers that this is a game," Hinata said to herself, sitting on a large rock.

"Eichi, you guard the back with the girl," Ryuji said.

"Why are you putting me in the back?" Hanabi asked, irately. "I'm fast. I can be on the offensive."

"You're shorter than most of us," Ryuji objected.

"Not by much, and that means I should be in front, or you'll block me," Hanabi said.

"You can just block our goal," Ping said. "We'll kick harder than you."

Hanabi frowned, and then she kicked the ball into his stomach.

Ping gasped and fell over.

"That hard enough for you?" Hanabi crossed her arms.

Ryuji and Yao started laughing at Ping's expression.

Hinata was really starting to worry that, without the clan around to watch her, her sister was going a little wild. Starting fights with these boys they didn't even know seemed like a bad idea to her.

But Hanabi had always been one to pick a fight with someone bigger than her without any hesitation.

"You all right, Ping?" Eichi asked.

He seemed to be of a more sober disposition than his friends, no jeering or bragging so far. 

"Fine," Ping wheezed.

"Maybe this chick is tough," Yao said to Ryuji. "But she's a little mean."

"I'm not mean, you were mean," Hanabi said. "Don't be sexist pigs. There's a guy like that on my team, and everyone just laughs at him for it. Be more original."

"We're not sexist pigs," Yao said.

He didn't actually know what that meant, but he didn't like the pig part.

"Then let me play offense," Hanabi said. 

"Maybe the other guys will underestimate her," Eichi spoke up. "Might be a good strategy."

"Hey, now you're talking, Ei," Ryuji said. "We just need a little planning."

"This is just a game...right?" Hanabi said, confused. "How badly do you want to beat these guys?"

"Oh, for that? Those idiots are bullies." Ping pointed at Chin and Ishi and their crew. "Think they better than us just because they have fathers or more money. Some of them are Genin too. Full of themselves. We may not be ninja students, but we're capable of beating them. That's why they wanted your famous heroes on their side, to make sure they have an edge so we don't show them up."

"Oh, so it's personal." Hanabi rubbed her hands together. "People underestimate you because you're not ninjas? I have the same problem at home. I get treated like a delicate little kid because I'm not allowed to go on missions like my older sister."

The boys already thought Hinata was easily the bigger wimp out of the two of them, since she was sitting this out, so they didn't quite grasp how Hanabi was the one who wasn't a ninja.

"But I can handle myself just fine," Hanabi declared. "Let's show these guys."

"I guess her name fits her," Yao said. "She and this other guys are both firecrackers."

"I don't care about your dang feud," Bakugo said. "I just wanna beat those arrogant, little punks."

"Then we need a good offense," Ryuji said. "We're literally going to kick them to the curb."

His friends cheered him on.

[This will be important later, if you were wondering why I was spending so much time on it. Pay attention to these boys.]