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“There’s a cluster of chakra signatures up ahead!”
Ino signalled, and her squad descended from the trees to a clump of bushes on the forest floor.
“Where and how many?” she asked, turning to Hinata.
“I’m not sure about the exact number since they’re so close together, but at least twenty.”
“And Chouji and Shikamaru?” Tenten asked.
“They’re there. Their chakra seems normal, if a little weak.”
Good. They weren’t under any genjutsu.
“Anything else?”
“They’ve set up traps in the surrounding woods. Nothing special, just paper bombs and tripwires.”
“Let’s go,” Temari said, already standing.
“Not yet.” Ino grabbed her arm and pulled her down again. “We need a plan.”
“Avoid the traps, take down the enemy, and get them out of there. That’s the plan.”
“That’s not a plan,” Ino hissed. “We need more details, which calls for reconnaissance. Hinata, find me a squirrel or a mouse, something inconspicuous. Then help Tenten find and disable the traps. Temari, you’ll have to watch my back for a bit.”
She could see a protest starting to form on the Suna kunoichi’s lips, but she bit it back. She wasn’t even supposed to be here. She had just arrived from Suna that afternoon. When Shikamaru hadn’t met her at the gates like he usually did, she had figured he’d been called to help with an emergency. What she hadn’t expected was to walk into the Hokage’s office as Ino informed Kakashi that her teammates had been abducted that morning.
Ino was supposed to have met them for some training and lunch, but a clan emergency had delayed her. It had been both good and bad. She hadn’t been abducted with them, but she also hadn’t been there to help them fend off the kidnappers. She knew it had been meant for all three of them from the traces of flash bombs and the spread of the damage. The kidnappers had come prepared to counteract the Naras’ shadow jutsu and go toe-to-toe with the powerhouse that was Chouji. Between the flash bombs and destructive combat, it would have been difficult to get a lock on someone for her mind transfer jutsu.
When Temari had burst in while she was recounting this information to Kakashi, she had been surprised at how anxious the Suna ambassador had become. She and Shikamaru had been dancing around officially dating for months. Still, she ought to know staying level-headed was the best way to help the abductees. It was one of Shikamaru’s golden rules.
Ino couldn’t tell if this was a strike against the Leaf or their clans specifically. With Naruto away on a mission with Sakura and Sai, and Sasuke journeying who knows where on his path of atonement, her team was one of the strongest lines of defense for the village. Shinobi across the nations had learned to respect the InoShikaCho teams, maybe even fear them. It was part of their fathers’ legacies. That, and the responsibility of being the heads of their clans, giving them great influence within the village. They could easily be leveraged as hostages and used to threaten the Leaf.
Within moments of learning about the abduction, Kakashi ordered her to assemble a team and go after them. Hinata’s sensory jutsu and Tenten’s adaptability made them the ideal partners in this recovery mission. Temari should have left it to them. It was Leaf business, after all, and any interference by a Suna ninja could cause diplomatic rifts between nations. From the handful of interactions they’d had, Ino knew the wind-style user was smart and could handle herself. But she was a largely unknown variable, and her presence complicated this mission.
“There’s a squirrel in the tree to your left,” Hinata whispered, pointing. Ino followed the trajectory of her finger with her eyes until she spotted the telltale twitch of its tail.
“Thanks. Give me five minutes.”
In moments, she was running through the trees towards the enemy’s camp. She preferred using birds for reconnaissance with their precise eyes and swift wings, but time was urgent and the squirrel would accomplish the task. The mind transfer was always more disorienting when used on smaller creatures. The world became different, distorted, strangely proportioned, and her body was suddenly small and simpler than the range of her mind. It was uncomfortable, but she would endure a lifetime of discomfort to get her teammates back.
The kidnappers had chosen a small clearing for their camp and boldly lit two fires. Were they that confident in their abilities to retain their captives, or were they looking to be found? She slowed as she approached, carefully stalking along the branches to escape detection and take in the cluster of shinobi sharing dinner or standing guard. She couldn’t see any village headbands or distinctive clan markings on any of them. They were probably hired thugs paid to execute the kidnapping and make it difficult to trace the actual perpetrators. It was frustrating not knowing who was after her team.
But figuring that out could wait. Rescuing Shikamaru and Chouji came first. She could see them at the edge of the camp tied to a large oak tree while four of the kidnappers stood guard. Blood had crusted over a wound on Chouji’s forehead and his eyes were closed. She hoped he was okay. Shikamaru had a cut on his cheek but was scanning the encampment with narrowed eyes. She could practically see the cogs of his brain spinning as he gathered information and extrapolated meaning.
She chose a perch in an oak next to the one where her friends were tied. She had a clear view of Shikamaru between two of the guards, and she was high enough not to catch their notice unless they were deliberately looking up in the trees. Like Shikamaru was.
She flicked the squirrel’s tail purposefully as his eyes passed over her and he paused. He blinked once, slow and deliberate, tilting his head slightly to his right. She flicked her tail once to confirm that yes, it was her. The ghost of a grin pulled and her teammate’s lips. He had understood. Now they could start their discussion.
She cocked her head and flicked her tail twice. Are you okay?
He blinked once. Yes.
She cocked her head and flicked her tail three times. Is Chouji okay?
He blinked once. Yes.
That was a relief. Chouji must be faking the gravity of his injuries to better catch the enemy off guard. Or he was genuinely sleeping. Her teammates had an annoying knack for rest and relaxation every chance they got.
She lifted her right paw and cocked her head again. How many enemies?
He wrinkled his nose twice, then blinked twice. Twenty-two . He gave her a long wink with his left eye. One warning . He blinked three times. Kekkei genkai.
That could make things tricky. It was nearly impossible to communicate the nature of a kekkei genkai using their nonverbal code. Nor would she be able to easily counteract it without knowing what it was. Things could get tricky.
She cocked her head and raised her left paw, asking a final question. What’s the level of danger?
The smile tugged at Shikamaru’s mouth again. He blinked once and shook his head slightly. Ino narrowed her eyes. If they were a level one threat, meaning barely any danger at all, how the heck had they managed to capture Shikamaru and Chouji? It didn’t make sense. But if he claimed they were barely a threat, she had to trust him. After all, he was the smartest person she knew.
She flicked her tail three times before scampering away. Fifteen minutes . That would be just enough time to get back to the rescue squad and come up with a plan. There were a myriad of unknown factors that she couldn’t account for, so she focused on what she knew. She had a team with wide-ranging skills, the best in the village. She knew the number of their enemies and the layout of their camp. She knew Shikamaru was confident in their victory, even with an unknown kekkei genkai in the mix. Really, that was all the information she needed.
A moment later she was blinking up at Hinata and Tenten, Temari kneeling alertly next to them. It was always momentarily disorienting to return to her body after being squished into a smaller being. Her human body seemed so much larger, and her mind was no longer confined to the simplicity of a smaller animal. A lot of early training had been dedicated to shortening the time of disorientation so she could bounce back quickly in a fight.
“Ino,” Hinata breathed. “Were you able to find them?”
“Yeah.” She sat up, mind working faster than it had moments before. “They’re both fine. Are the traps disabled?”
“Every one we could find,” Tenten reported,” and we were thorough.”
“Okay, good.” She relayed what she had learned and the plan she had come up with. Then they began creeping toward the camp, wasting none of the fifteen minutes she had given them to prepare and launch their rescue.
“Temari,” she whispered, dropping back a step to speak with the Suna kunoichi, “I need you to stay out of this fight no matter what.”
The wind user narrowed her eyes but remained silent.
“Shikamaru would never forgive me for increasing his workload if your involvement caused an international incident. And no doubt the Kazekage would be hard-pressed to explain why his ambassador got tied up in an internal affair of the Leaf.”
“I know,” she growled. “I understand the implications of my being here. It’s my job.”
Ino pressed her lips together tightly. Temari could be blunt and sharp, especially when her emotions were running high. She was less tactful than usual. But she was also rational, even under pressure.
“I won’t do anything to risk our peace,” she promised, “assuming your plan goes smoothly.”
“It will,” Ino insisted, a grim smile painting her face. It has to .
They paused on the edge of the camp, giving Hinata time to better map their enemies’ positions with her Byakugan. Ino also stretched her mind, using it to pinpoint the guards around her teammates. She could feel the pressure building behind her eyes as she reached further, connecting with Shikamaru and Chouji. Their minds were familiar and comforting. She reached into their thoughts and was relieved to find Chouji alert and ready. Shikamaru was steadily counting down the final seconds of the fifteen minutes she had promised. She pushed her mind to reach Tenten and Hinata waiting beside her so they could all hear Shikamaru’s countdown and her quick summary of their plan. Chouji focused on what he knew from their abduction--that the man near the far fire with the sword seemed to be their leader, and the brother-sister duo standing guard on the far side of the camp were the kekkei genkai users, able to turn their bodies to steel and withstand powerful physical attacks. The details were communicated quickly and last-minute, but the information was vital to the success of their rescue, and she had known her captured teammates would be able to fill in the missing details of her plan. They had prepared for situations like this.
Four...Three...Two...One .
Suddenly the camp was filled with smoke, the smoke bombs they’d thrown discharging and obscuring their surprise attack. Ino felt Hinata race towards the kekkei genkai users, eager to block their chakra before they could join the fight. Surprised shouts and groans signalled Tenten setting to work with her bo staff, using the element of surprise to mow down as many as she could before they got wise to what was happening.
Ino wasted no time making her way to her captive teammates, a kunai gripped in her hand. She did her part in thinning the enemies’ number, taking down one guard with a stab behind the knee and another with a palm-strike to the nose and a knee in the gut. Slipping past a third guard, she slashed through the ropes keeping her friends tied. She threw Shikamaru’s knuckle knives into the tree near their owner before turning back to their adversaries, fending them off long enough for her friends to untangle themselves from their bonds.
Chouji let out a roar as he pulled free, and all of Ino’s worries disappeared. The outcome of this fight was now inevitable, even if the odds were twenty-two to five. She’d be confident if the odds were twenty-two to three. The kidnappers may have rallied now that the element of surprise was gone, but they were no more of a threat now than they had been when they first sprung their rescue. Nothing could stand against the perfect InoShikaCho formation.
The fight was over in less than ten minutes. The full force of their team ravaged the kidnappers. Hinata’s quick action had disabled the kekkei genkai users before they could pose a threat, and Tenten triumphed during a stellar bout of one-on-one combat to take down the group’s leader. But the most impressive work was the newly freed prisoners and their teammate. Without speaking, without even using a mental connection or nonverbal code, they moved totally in sync. Ino knew how those boys were going to fight almost better than she knew what she herself would do. She knew when to be the diversion and when to be the fatal strike. They were a single organism, moving as one, rising as one, triumphing as one. Everything was as it should be.
“See?” Shikamaru smiled as he finished binding the last of the kidnappers with some rope Tenten had brought, “I told you they weren’t a threat.”
Ino rolled her eyes, but she was too giddy with fading adrenaline to argue. She pulled him toward her with an arm around his shoulders, using her other arm to bring in their partner. “Next time you two decide to get kidnapped, remember to wait for me, okay?”
“You got it,” Chouji chuckled as they pressed their foreheads together in a group hug. They held the hug for an extended moment, drinking in the relief of being back together, their breaths subconsciously syncing up. This was comfortable, comforting, and as it should be. Her friends--her brothers --were okay, and that was everything.
“Typical,” a voice behind them said, breaking the moment. “I arrive in the village to find someone needs rescuing. Again.”
“Temari.” Shikamaru pulled away, a look of surprise morphing into a frown. “What are you doing here?”
“Come on, let me take a look at that head wound,” Ino said, leading Chouji to sit on an exposed tree root far enough away to give their partner and his maybe-girlfriend some privacy.
“Here, I figured you might want this,” she began, pulling a bag of chips and half of a sandwich from the pouch at her waist.
“Aw yes!” Chouji cheered. “Ino, you’re a lifesaver!”
“And don’t you forget it,” she huffed. “Now let me see that thick head of yours.”
She cleaned away the dried blood while her teammate munched away happily. She wanted to ask him what he knew about the kidnappers so she could begin piecing together the narrative and compile questions for interrogation. Her work was just beginning. For the safety of the village and their clans, she would get to the bottom of this abduction and make sure something like this never happened again. But right now they were all exhausted. Getting intel could wait for the night. After all, the kidnappers weren’t going anywhere anytime soon.
When a jounin team arrived twenty minutes later to help them escort their prisoners to the village, they were all sitting together on the tree root passing the bag of potato chips between them. Ino was tucked between her teammates, head resting on Chouji’s shoulder with her leg pressed against Shikamaru’s. He and Temari seemed to have come to some sort of mutual understanding because she was leaning against his other side, his arm casually wrapped around her. Hinata rested against Ino’s knees, humming quietly to herself as she looked at the stars, and Tenten drew nonsensical patterns in the dirt with the tip of a kunai while she watched the prisoners out of the corner of her eye.
Tomorrow would bring numerous questions and--hopefully--much-needed answers. There would be meetings with the Hokage and their clans and their friends. This event was a stone that would cause ripples in their lives, but in this moment, exhausted and squished between two of the people she loved most, Ino knew they were unstoppable. They would ride whatever waves were to come because nothing could stand against InoShikaCho.