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Chapter Text

Ino could still feel it, that disgusting feeling coursing through her blood, through her mind. It stained every fiber of her now, infected every thought, and with it held a sense of dread that showed no sign of wavering. Fear. Calling it that was an injustice. This was not fear. She would call it dread, but even that felt underwhelming. Were there even words to describe what she had felt, what she had seen?

Her rattled mind snapped into focus for a second only to realise she had stopped running. Her legs ached as if she had run a marathon and her lungs burnt with each gasping breath. She wasn't sure where she was, but it was somewhere deep in the forest surrounding the village. The setting sun let the trees cast massive shadows around her, and she slunk deeper into the forest, into the dark, as if trying to hide from something. Eventually she found shelter under the enormous roots of a tree, a dark and damp hole in the ground. Never in a million years would she have thought she would see herself crawl into such a confine, but here she was finding comfort in a place herself from mere hours ago would turn her nose up at.

'Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!' she chorused in her mind, banging her fists down on the dirt.

Curling up on the ground, she hugged her knees to her chest, not caring for how dirty her clothes were getting, or how discoloured her blonde hair got. Her eyes had emptied themselves of tears by the time she finally got her breathing under control and the sensations from before lessened enough for her to have a coherent thought. Not that thinking was doing any good for her now. How could it? Every errant thought was about it. The image of those eyes bearing down on her, piercing into her soul, regarding her as nothing more than a scrap of paper rustling along the ground. Was that how insignificant she was? How pathetic she looked?

Ino glanced around at her current situation and let out a half-hearted chuckled. Pathetic. This was less than that. Oh, if Sakura could see her now. She would be the laughingstock of village. That raised the question; did Sakura know? Did anyone know? Surely someone would. Someone had to, someone like… her father. Of course. Things were starting to make sense now. Why her father had told her to keep her distance from Naruto, why he had forbidden her from using the family jutsu on any of her classmates outside of an emergency. He must have known. But why couldn't he just tell her? Why wasn't anyone talking about it? Those were questions she would have to save for Shikamaru. He would figure it out. As she was now, Ino could barely figure out what she was going to do next, the memory of what had happened occupied most of her mind.

The moment she had gained control of her body again she had froze. Could anyone blame her? How many people could say they came face to face with the literal nightmare that they had grown up hearing horror stories about. No amount of loud-mouthed stubbornness could have helped her power through in that moment. No, instead she had just stood there, eyes wide, staring down Naruto like a deer staring down the shaft of an arrow. It was obvious from the look on Naruto's face, his eyes, he knew. She had seen it and he knew. That was scary enough, so she ran. She ran as fast and far as she could, until she wound up here.

'Brilliant plan, Ino. Real smart,' she chided. 'Idiot!'

Her only point of reprieve was that apparently Naruto hadn't followed her. She wasn't dense enough to think he couldn't have caught her if he had chased her. Perhaps he was smarter than she gave him credit. What did he have to fear if she went off screaming about what she saw? Who's to say she wouldn't just look crazy making such accusations. Was what she saw even real? Yes. It had to be real. No trick of the mind could make her feel like it had. She had spent years training to be ready to use her families jutsu. She would know a false construct if she saw it, and there was nothing false about that.

It was the Kyuubi. No doubt about it.

But how? The fox was slain by the fourth Hokage. Was the whole story a lie? Was Naruto the fox in disguise? There were simply too many questions now. Even as she felt a chill begin to set in and her stomach grumbled, Ino didn't budge. She needed to breath. She needed to think. There was plenty of time. No way Naruto would cause a scene. It would draw too much attention. She would wait here, where it was safe, and once she figured out what to do, she would go from there.

That left her with only one question.

'What the hell am I going do?'

Contrary to Ino's assumption, Naruto was already well on the way to causing a scene. Sure, he had been caught off guard when Ino used her jutsu on him, but when he waited for something to happen, and nothing did, he was puzzled. It was only after her body sprung back to life and she looked at him like that did he understand what had happened. Before he could say anything, she had taken off in a sprint, leaving him there blinking owlishly.

And now here he was, making his personal best time leaping across the rooftops towards the Hokage tower. Naruto wasn't sure why he was panicking, but he'd be lying if he said it didn't feel like he should be. Once he finally reached the tower, he couldn't even think about stopping, instead barrelling full speed through the Hokage's window, narrowly missing the old man, and crashing head first into a pile of paperwork. The papers hadn't even settled on the ground before he was back on his feet, his hands slamming down on the desk as his eyes locked pleadingly with the Hokage's clearly unimpressed gaze.

"Oldmanyougottahelp!" he blurted out nonsensically. "Inodidherfamilythingandwentintomymindandithinkshesawthefoxandthensheranandidontknowwhereshewentandyougottahelpme!"

Hiruzen rolled his eyes at the boy's antics. "Calm down, Naruto," he said. "Take a breath and tell me properly."

Naruto gasped for air. "Ino… jutsu… fox… help…" he managed to get out before the Hokage abruptly stood from his seat, the most serious look on his face that Naruto had ever seen.

With a snap of the old man's fingers four ANBU appeared kneeling before him. "Naruto, where did you see her last?" he asked, his tone sharp.

"Uhhh, I don't remember. I think she ran towards the village gate," he said.

No words were said before the ANBU disappeared; their mission already known. Naruto looked around in confusion before awkwardly bowing his head and backing away from the desk, not daring to look the Hokage in the eye. The old man must have been mad at him for this. He just hoped the punishment wasn't going to be too severe, but he was prepared for it either way. Painting the monument was one thing but letting a village secret slip so soon after he himself had learnt it was next level bad.

He continued to stare at the ground as he heard the Hokage's footsteps approach him until he was staring at the bottom of the old man's robes, patiently waiting to be chewed out like the screw up he was right now. Instead, he suddenly felt warm, the Hokage's arms wrapped around him tightly in a hug. As he pulled away, he was met with a look of concern from the old man, and a smile.

"Are you okay, Naruto?" he asked. "Did the jutsu do anything to you?"

Naruto shook his head. "No… I don't think so," he said, bowing to the man. "I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry?"

"I let the secret out. I screwed up."

Hiruzen chuckled. As much of a painful brat as the boy was, he was still such an innocent soul. "No, Naruto, you haven't screwed up. You've nothing to be sorry for," he said, ruffling his blond hair. "You came to me straight away and got help. I'm proud of you."

"But Ino…"

"Will be found soon enough," he interrupted. "And once she is back safe and sound, all this mess will be sorted out properly. Don't worry, Naruto, your secret is still safe. I promise." He stood back up, ignoring the pain in his back and smiled down at the boy. "Now, while we wait for miss Ino to be found, why don't you help a poor old man pick up all these papers you scattered around the place."

Naruto grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. "Oh…"

Ino wasn't sure how long it had been, probably far longer than she had initially planned, but oh well. She wasn't ready to get up yet. Her thoughts had calmed down now, and while the sensation of that monster's presence still lingered in the back of her mind, they no longer held a paralysing grip on her. Now she was just tired. Tired and unsure. So, she stayed. Hidden in the dark, protected by the tree, curled up on the dirt. This was the best place to be right now. She wasn't ready to see anyone, to talk to anyone, to deal with what had happened and what was going to happen as a result. She had had too long now to think about things to not realise that she was for sure going to get in trouble for this.

Her father had warned her about the family jutsu. Using it on an ally in any circumstances was an offence among her clan. Of course, she had been counting on Naruto not knowing that. To think this catastrophe was all for a stupid prank. What a fool she was. She could already here Shikamaru muttering his favourite word at her the moment he learnt what happened. God what she wouldn't give to just rewind time and forget all of this happened. At least for the moment she could have peace and pretend the world was still as it was. At least she thought she could, right up until a small flat faced dog with a forehead protector crawled into the hole with her.

"Are you Ino?" the dog asked, its voice much deeper and gruff than its small adorable frame would have implied.

"…oh look… a talking dog. I really have lost my mind," Ino said, not bothering to even lift her head from the ground.

"My name is Pakkun," the dog said. "The Hokage sent us to find you."

Ino frowned. "I don't want to be found right now."

"Obviously," Pakkun scoffed. "But we have our orders. I'm not gonna force you. I'll be waiting outside when you're ready to head back to the village. Take your time."

'Today is too much…' Ino thought to herself as she sat up. Brushing the dirt from her hair and fixing her clothes as best she could, she prepared herself to face the undoubtedly world breaking shitshow she was about to go back home to. Climbing out of the throw, she was surprised to find four masked ANBU standing off to the side, with Kakashi and Pakkun being closer to greet her.

"Kakashi sensei? What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Well, Pakkun here is my ninken summon. He is an excellent tracker, and finding you was important enough that I was called in to help," Kakashi answered innocently enough.

Ino looked at the man warily. Naruto was his student, and he himself was the student of the fourth Hokage. He had to know something about what she saw in Naruto's mind. Her eyes drifted to the ANBU keeping their distance. The Hokage was in on it too. Just how deep did all of this go. "Was it real?" she asked, earning a curious look from Kakashi. "What I saw. Naruto. Was it real?"

Kakashi eye smiled at the girl and put a finger up to his masked lips. "Why don't you save those kinds of questions for the Hokage. He is eager to talk to you."

Ino gulped at the man's words. She wasn't sure if he was intentionally trying to be ominous or not, but she was now considerably worried about what was going to happen. Was the village secretly a cult for the demon fox? Was everyone in on it? Would they expect her to keep the secret and join them in their plans to take over the world? She was letting her thoughts get ahead of her. Perhaps there was a completely reasonable and simple explanation for this that she was overlooking. The Hokage was a kind old man. Talking to him would be fine. There was no way anything would happen to the heiress of one of Konoha's most prominent clans. Right?

As she followed close behind Kakashi, they made their way to the Hokage tower. It didn't take her long to notice that each street they took was empty despite Konoha having a reasonable night life. They were obviously taking a path specifically to avoid people, or perhaps people were being kept away. Ino supposed it didn't matter which it was, all that mattered was that they were keeping her away from anyone for the time being. If anything, that only made her question what was going on more and more. Once they finally reached the tower, the true extent of her mistake became clear to her. ANBU surrounded the building, watching Kakashi and her approach, the streets surrounding had been cleared, and standing at the front door, waiting for her with an expressionless face, was her father.

"Dad, I…" she tried to say, only to stop as Inoichi held his hand up to silence her.

Without a word, her father gestured for her to follow him inside, offering Kakashi a nod before the masked ninja departed. Ino found herself in a daze. None of this was making sense. If they knew what had happened, what she had seen, then why weren't they worried? Was her father not at all concerned that his own daughter had just come face to face with a demon? She didn't even take notice when they arrived at the Hokage's office until she caught sight of the unmistakable orange attire that only one weirdo in the village would consider fashionable.

Naruto was sitting there, just outside of the Hokage's office, watching as Ino and her father entered, his eyes lingering on her long enough to send a shiver down her spine. She shuffled closer to her father, instinctively putting him between her and Naruto, all the while studying the boy's face. To her surprise he didn't look angry or scared, instead he looked… relieved. Ino maintained her guarded position behind her father as they entered, only growing more and more confused as Naruto directed a smile at her. Not a cunning or victorious smile, but a nervous one, sad even. So caught up in her focus of him was she that she had completely forgotten where she was, or better yet, who was waiting patiently behind her.

"Ino."

Ino jumped at the Hokage's voice. Stepping away her father, she bowed deeply. "Lord Hokage," she said apologetically.

"Are you okay?" the old man asked carefully. While to most onlookers he would seem to be looking at the poor girl with nothing more than worry and concern, those that knew him better would be able to see the practiced intensity of his gaze. He was concerned, yes, but he was also prepared. There was no telling what a confrontation between a mind walker and the Kyuubi could result in. The possibility of corruption, or any form of mental damage, was something he would not put passed the fox. And so, it would be a mistake on his part to let anything slip by him.

"Okay?!" Ino blurted out incredulously. "How can I be? It's sitting right outside!"

"Ino!" Inoichi snapped. "Do not speak to the Hokage like that."

The Hokage held up his hand to the man. "It's quite alright," he said. "She has had quite the night. I think we can tolerate an outburst or two." He turned his attention back to the girl who looked like she just realised her mistake. "Now, if you don't mind dear, please tell me what you mean by it?"

"The Kyuubi…" she said, turning to look at the door, knowing that Naruto was just behind it. "I saw the Kyuubi. In his mind. Is he…"

"No," Hiruzen said sternly. "Naruto is not the Kyuubi."

"But I saw it!"

"You did," he admitted. "And foolishly so. I'm sure your father warned you against using such techniques on your allies, and yet you did so anyway."

Ino cowered and looked up at her father who didn't bother returning her gaze. "I didn't think…"

"No, you didn't think, Ino. And that is the problem," Inoichi said with barely disguised anger. "Your actions tonight have put more at risk for this village than you could possibly begin to understand. Some secrets are supposed to stay secrets. We of the Yamanaka should know this truth better than anyone. And now I must deal with the embarrassment of my own daughter so carelessly disregarding our clan rules; rules that are the only thing solidifying the trust our village has in our clan and our abilities."

Tears welled up in Ino's eyes. She didn't dare to talk back to her father. No matter how much his words hurt her, she knew he was right. She had screwed up. No one would care how unintentional it may have been, and she had to deal with the consequences. But that didn't mean she still didn't want answers. Turning her attention back to the Hokage she swallowed the lump in her throat and readied herself. "You said he wasn't the Kyuubi. But then, how did I see it inside of him?" she asked.

Hiruzen nodded in response to Inoichi's nervous glance. "Before I continue, Ino, I need you to understand that what I am going to tell you is a village secret. Nothing that is said in this room tonight can ever be repeated, to anyone, ever, unless direct permission is given. If that is too much responsibility for you to handle then say so and I will send you home with your father to have your memories of what has happened corrected. Do you understand?" Ino nodded and the old man sighed. "The fourth Hokage was a powerful shinobi, an amazing man, but even he couldn't hope to defeat a tailed beast outright. In order to protect the village, he gave his life to seal the beast away. But the Kyuubi is not so easily caged. No mere item or construct could contain it. Only the strength of a human sacrifice could hope to hold back the fox. And on the night of its attack, there was a baby, and orphan. A boy who had already lost everything to the fox, who the fourth was forced to use as this sacrifice."

"Naruto…" Ino choked out.

"Yes, Ino. Naruto was used in the sealing, his body now a cage to the very beast that took his parents from him," he confirmed. "There are only so many who know of this fact. Above all, Naruto's anonymity is important in this matter. I'm sure you can understand why. The last thing we need is anyone thinking they can get revenge on the fox through Naruto."

"Does he know?" she asked.

"Of the Kyuubi within him? Yes. He is also aware that you invaded his mind and faced the fox," Hiruzen said, earning a worried expression from Ino. "You can imagine how worried he was. He came to me immediately to begin the search for you. You should consider yourself grateful; in that moment, all Naruto cared about was your safety."

"If I may, lord Hokage," Inoichi started. "My daughter has shown a level of immaturity that is unbecoming of my clan and her station as a genin of Konoha. While your willingness to trust her is generous, I do not think that letting her further in on such information is wise. With your permission, I would personally see to it that this night never happened, for everyone's sake," he said, ignoring Ino's look of betrayal. "I will accept full responsibility for her actions and make amends with both Naruto and you."

"You can't be serious!?" Ino said.

Inoichi continued to ignore her. "Lord Hokage?"

Hiruzen rubbed his temple, a headache already forming. It was one thing for this to be an issue regarding the accidental uncovering of Naruto's secret, but getting the clan politics involved was more than he wanted to deal with for one night. Inoichi had his right to be as furious as he was with his daughter, but at the same time, Hiruzen didn't feel right giving the man permission to go messing with people's minds over what was likely an innocent mistake. Speaking of…

"Ino, why was it you used your families jutsu on Naruto?" the Hokage asked.

Ino blushed and looked away. "I… he… it was supposed to be a prank," she muttered miserably. "I was going to parade him around the village in a dress…"

Hiruzen chuckled at the thought. Even Inoichi'c cold expression nearly faltered. "Well, I am sorry that such lighthearted intentions have led to this unfortunate moment," he said. "But nevertheless, a solution needs to be met. Sadly, this is not a decision I can make."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Ino asked.

"The secret of the Kyuubi is no longer mine to uphold," he said. "Such responsibility has passed onto young Naruto. Since his learning of his burden, he has been in control of who can and cannot know his secret. I will not deny him his right to make the choice." With a wave of his hand an ANBU appeared near the door and opened it, motioning for Naruto to enter.

Ino didn't shy behind her father as Naruto entered, but the tension was still apparent. She watched as he entered cautiously, being much more reserved than he normally was. Despite what she now knew, Ino couldn't help but still see the fox when looking at him. The whisker marks on his cheeks that she had once thought to be a weird quirk were now glaringly obvious. Even his presence felt off. He had always given off a strange aura, but now it was a constant reminder of the monster inside him. How was she supposed to go back to seeing him as the goofy, dead-last, orange wearing idiot she had always seen him as? Maybe getting her memory wiped wouldn't be so bad after all.

"Old man?" Naruto asked nervously. "Is everything okay?"

"Everything is fine, Naruto," the Hokage said. "I have explained the situation to Ino. She understands what she saw now. But you oversee your secret, so you have final say in what happens from here."

"What happens?" he asked.

Inoichi stepped forward and bowed to Naruto. "If it is your wish, I can remove the memory of tonight from my daughter. It will be as if nothing ever happened, and I will ensure another incident like this never occurs."

Naruto gawked at the man. "But won't that like… hurt, or something?"

"Not at all," Inoichi assured him before walking up to the boy and kneeling before him. "Did Ino's jutsu harm you? I promise to make amends for any discomfort she might have caused you."

"Uhhh, not really. It just felt funny for a little bit," Naruto said, looking over the man's shoulder to see Ino. She was standing there, looking down at her feet, her eyes red and puffy. Her hair and face were covered in dirt with the clear lines of dried tears running down her cheeks.

He had never gotten along well with Ino. Throughout their time in the academy together she had always looked down on him, not that that was uncommon. He knew she was once friends with Sakura, and that they were now in a bitter rivalry over who would win Sasuke's heart first, but none of that really mattered to him. Deep down, Naruto knew Ino was a good person. From what he had heard of her from Chouji and Shikamaru, she was always a stern but supportive teammate. While her methods might have been a tad aggressive, she always had their best interests in mind and always did her best by them no matter how much they got under her skin. He wasn't sure why she had tried to get into his mind, but he knew all of this was just a big accident. An accident that could have been avoided if he had not kept his secret from his allies.

"Ino…" he said, getting the girls attention. "Are you going to tell anyone?"

Ino was caught off guard; not by his question, but by the look in his eyes. He was scared. With what she now knew about him, she could destroy him, make him more of an outcast than he had ever been before, and he knew it. It was one thing for the Hokage to talk about keeping the secret to ensure Naruto's safety, but to physically see why, to see how scared Naruto was of the possibility of everyone learning the truth. It crushed her. That desperate, pleading look. She couldn't wait for him to make up his mind and have her memory erased. What she wouldn't give to never remember seeing him look at her with such fear.

"…No," she said softly, returning to looking at her feet, awaiting the inevitable.

"It's your decision Naruto," Hiruzen said. "You may choose to trust her. The consequences are yours to wear."

Naruto took a deep breath. He knew at some point he was going to have to face the reality of what he was, but he never imagined it would be so early. "Don't make her forget," he said, receiving a surprised look from Ino and her father. He smiled at Ino. "I trust her."

Ino stood there dumbfounded, her father sharing much of the same expression, albeit with a new found respect for the boy. To have such faith in his fellow shinobi even after what had transpired was commendable indeed. Hiruzen couldn't help but feel proud as he smiled at Naruto approvingly. It always surprised him that no matter what, the boy always found a way to be kind and trusting in the face of adversity.

"Then it is decided," the Hokage said. "Inoichi, if you wouldn't mind taking Ino home. I am sure you two still have much to talk about."

Inoichi nodded and made for the door, Ino following close behind, only to stop suddenly and give his daughter a stern look as he gestured to Naruto.

Knowing what her father was meaning, Ino quickly turned back to Naruto and bowed. "Thank you, Naruto," she said, standing up to look at him once more before leaving. "I'm sorry."

She turned and left quickly, Inoichi offering Naruto one final nod of thanks before closing the door behind him. Naruto let out a breath he didn't realise he had been holding. Why did everything have to be so stressful and complicated?

"You handled that remarkably well, Naruto. I am proud of you," Hiruzen said.

Naruto smiled at the old man. "Thanks, but I hope I don't have to do that again… 'least not for a while anyway."

Hiruzen chuckled. The boy was indeed not ready for politics just yet. "What say we go get some ramen? My treat. I think you've earnt a nice meal."

"Yes! You're the best, old man!"

And with just the mere mention of free ramen, the stress and fear of the night's events had all but vanished.

It had been days since that night, and Ino hadn't had a decent night sleep since. The truth had been eating her alive, and she knew it was starting to get under everyone else's skin. Her team and sensei could tell her training and performance was off. Shikamaru and Chouji had stopped by several times already to make sure she was okay. She always told them she was fine, but they weren't so dumb as to believe her. She was so not okay. She knew the truth, and she wanted nothing more than to scream it from the rooftops. But she couldn't. Consequences aside, she couldn't betray Naruto like that. Not now. Not after he had put so much trust in her. Her, of all people. Someone who had practically treated him like dirt.

Ino wasn't stupid enough to think her lack of sleep or endless mental and emotional summersaults had anything to with the Kyuubi. Perhaps that first night, sure, but she had long since come to terms with how the beast fit into things. No, it wasn't mindless fear that plagued her mind anymore, it was guilt. She had treated Naruto poorly, as everyone else did. At the time it seemed harmless enough. Everyone was doing it, she just followed along to fit in, and Naruto never showed that it bothered him much. But now that she knew why, she couldn't stop herself from reliving every harsh word or mean slur she had directed at him. How was she supposed to live with herself knowing she had belittled and picked on the one person who had lost more than anyone else, who had unwillingly sacrificed everything for the sake of the village.

Sakura would kill her if she knew, but in the past few days, Ino had concluded that Naruto deserved more support and compassion than even Sasuke. 'Thank god Sakura can't read minds,' she thought to herself. She almost didn't believe it herself, but after her father had assured her that, if anything, the Hokage had downplayed the true extent of Naruto's sacrifice and struggle as a result, she couldn't see things the same anymore.

But she needed to sleep. She needed closure… at least she thought she did. She needed… something. Something she wasn't going to get by moping around and being miserable at home, dragging those around down with her. Ino knew what she had to do, and exactly who she had to talk to about it. And so, with tired dark marks under eyes, her hair tied up in a messy ponytail, and her clothes put on with little care for neatness, she made her way across town in search of Naruto. It didn't take her long to realise that she had no idea where she was supposed to look for the elusive boy. You would think a blond haired, orange clad, louder than life teenager would be easy to find, but you would be wrong. Ino walked around aimlessly, for what felt like hours, until finally she caught sight of Sasuke. While certainly not who she was looking for, the Uchiha was still a step in the right direction.

"Hey, Sasuke," she called out, running up to the surprised boy. "Have you seen Naruto?"

Sasuke observed the girl carefully, fully expecting this to be some kind of trick to get close enough to attempt another show of affection that she and Sakura were so well known for directing at him. "Naruto? You're actually looking for Naruto?" he asked sceptically. "Why?"

"Doesn't matter. Do you know where he is?" Ino asked. Had she been in the right frame of mind she might have noticed that this was the closest Sasuke had let her get to him, also the most engaged he had ever been in what she had to say. She would likely also be horrified at her appearance currently; not that Sasuke was going to mention it to her anyway.

Sasuke pointed off to the distance. "Naruto is usually finishing up at the training grounds this time of day," he said. "If you hurry you might catch him."

He had barely finished his sentence before the girl was running in said direction, offering no more than a quick wave and calling out a 'thankyou' as she disappeared, leaving a very perplexed, if not mildly amused Sasuke in her wake. 'That was… weird' he thought to himself. He would be curious enough to follow and find out just what it was that had apparently cured Ino of her fangirl obsession of him, but he dared not take the risk. If for whatever reason the blonde's interests had turned to Naruto, then who was he to interfere. The less girls pining for his attention the better. He did, however, feel a sudden sense of sympathy for Naruto, for he was now a fellow sufferer of the most brutal curse he had ever known.

"Sasuke-kun!"

Every hair on the back of his neck stood on end as he leapt into a dead sprint, a certain pink haired girl closing in against all possible logic. 'Dammit, Naruto. Why couldn't you take both of them!'

Naruto liked clouds. He had never paid them much attention until he hung out with Shikamaru and Chuoji, and he didn't like them as much as the lazy Nara did, but he still found them pleasing to look up at after a long training session. His inability to move without everything hurting was just a side note for the moment. With each passing cloud came a moment of shade, a comforting break from the shining sun. So, you can imagine his surprised when one such moment of shade came out of nowhere, belonging not to a cloud, but to something much more frightening.

"Naruto."

Eyes wide, he scrambled to his feet quickly. "Ah, Ino. What… what are you doing here?"

Ino rolled her eyes. "I need to talk to you." Why else would she be here.

"Uhhh, okay? Is something wrong?" he asked. "Do you need to find Sasuke? Cause I don't know where he is."

"No. I need to talk to you," she said sternly, walking right up to him. "I have questions."

Naruto gulped. "I don't know anything more about Sasuke than Sakura does, I swear."

"I'm not talking about Sasuke, idiot," she said. "It's about the… you know. The secret."

Naruto's eyes widened in understanding before looking around carefully. "Wouldn't the old man be better to talk to about this?"

"No."

"Okay, fine," he grumbled. "But not here. We can talk at my place, if that's okay."

Ino nodded in agreement. She followed Naruto back through the village until they finally reached his apartment. While Ino was fully aware that Naruto was an orphan, she had assumed he had lived with someone, or at least lived in his late family's home. But no, he was alone, in this small, humble little flat. She would give the boy credit; the place was much tidier than she had expected. Whether that was due to a lack of possessions, or just him being a minimalist was up for debate. A small collection of potted cacti sitting on his windowsill did catch her eye though. A small watering-can hanging not too far, and a singular orange flower blooming from one of the prickly plants.

'His enthusiasm even infects his plants,' she thought amusedly.

"Do you want a drink?" Naruto asked, his hands fidgety and his eyes scanning for anything in his apartment that might be embarrassing. "I think I have some milk but… ah, no, that's out of date. Is water alright?"

"Yes, please," Ino said, taking a seat at his small dining table as he poured her a glass. She accepted it and drank nearly the whole glass greedily. In all her efforts today, she had forgotten how thirsty she had gotten.

"So… you want to ask me something?" Naruto asked. Sitting down across from her. His hands didn't seem to know what to do as they shifted and organised the handful of items on the table.

"Are you okay?" Ino asked. She knew he was antsy but this was a bit much even for him.

"Um, yeah, I think so. I mean… I don't know. No one's ever visited me before, except the old man, but that's just to check up on me. Oh, and Kakashi, but only to wake me up if I slept in or something."

"What about Sasuke and Sakura? Don't they at least pop by?" she asked. Naruto shook his head. Ino took a second to take that in. Did Naruto seriously have no one? Not a single person who thought enough of him to visit him in his own home? Just what kind of life was he living? "Wait, am I the first girl you've had here?"

"You're the first anyone…"

Ino blushed a little at that. "Oh…" she shook her head and got her thoughts back on track. She was here with a purpose after all. "We can worry about that later. I need to know, Naruto. Why?"

Naruto tilted his head curiously, an image that Ino would not soon forget. "Why what?"

"Why didn't you have them erase my memory? I know your secret now. Why let me keep knowing it? How can you even trust me with it?" she asked.

"You're my ally." He said it as it were the most obvious thing in the world. As if it needed no further explanation. But, if Ino's frustrated expression was anything to go by, he knew she wasn't pleased with that as an answer.

"But we aren't even friends!"

"Maybe not now, but one day, who knows. If we became friends in the future, I would feel bad for making you forget something. And even if we don't become friends, I still trust you. I know you're a good person, even if you're a little mean sometimes," he said, either ignoring or being completely oblivious to the bright red colour invading Ino's face. "And… I guess… I just wanted someone to know… ya know?"

Those last few words broke Ino out of her blushing stupor. If he wanted someone to know then why didn't he tell someone before now? A frown set in as she remembered that no one even visited him. Who was he really going to tell such a personal and life changing secret to who didn't already know. "How long have you known about it?" she asked.

Naruto chuckled awkwardly. "Umm, I found out the day we graduated from the academy," he said. "Mizuki-sensei made me steal the forbidden scroll from the Hokage tower and then told me about it. He was going to kill me too, but Iruka-sensei came in all badass and protected me and…" he froze, noticing Ino's horrified expression. "I don't think I was supposed to mention that."

"That's what happened to Mizuki-sensei? Wait, how did he know about it?"

"I think most of the grownups know," Naruto said uncertainly. "The old man said that someone who knew about the Kyuubi told some people and that's why everyone avoids me now. But that's okay, because when I'm Hokage they won't be able to ignore me, even with this stupid fox in my stomach."

Ino frowned deeply. It made sense to her why her father would know about the Kyuubi being sealed. Obviously the Hokage would know, and the ANBU. But to know now that so many in the village were aware of what Naruto was, what he had inside him… it left a sinking feeling in her stomach. Suddenly all the parents telling their kids to stay away from Naruto made a sickening amount of sense. His constant over the top desire to be the centre of attention and rebel against everything. All the pieces were coming together in Ino's mind, and it was making her sick. She had joined them, without question or thought, and picked on him as relentlessly as the rest. 'And yet he still trusts me. He trusts all of us. He wants to be the Kage of a village that doesn't even treat him like a person.'

"How…?" she asked softly. "How are you so… motivated, so forgiving, so kind. How?"

Naruto's cheerful demeanour fell suddenly and he looked at Ino in a way she had never seen him look. He looked tired, almost defeated. Broken. "I have to be," he said. "Everyone sees the fox. I didn't know that the whole time, but now that I do I understand. If I give up, if I let it get to me, then the fox wins. My parents, the fourth Hokage, everyone who died that night. It all would have been for nothing. The fourth Hokage trusted me to be strong enough to carry this burden. I can't let him down. I can't let the village down. Even if they hate me, I have to smile. I have to be everything the fox tried to destroy. Even if it hurts."

"You can forget if you want," he said sorrowfully. "I'll tell the Hokage I changed my mind. This is my burden, not yours. I don't want you getting hurt or anything. I'll understand."

"Naruto…"

"For what it's worth…" he interrupted. "It has felt good to talk about it with someone."

Ino didn't try to hide the tears in her eyes. If Naruto cared about that he did a good job of not showing it. With an indignant grunt, she stood from her seat and in a single step cleared the distance between them. The dam holding back her tears almost burst as Naruto flinched in response, no doubt expecting to be beaten on like she and Sakura had done so many times before. She wasn't sure how she was going to forgive herself for that. Grabbing his jacket, she pulled him to his feet, and before he could even try to figure out what was happening, she wrapped her arms around him tight and buried her face into his shoulder.

"Naruto…" she sobbed, the tears now soaking into his jacket. "I'm sorry. For everything. I'm so, so sorry."

Ino couldn't believe it. She had come here expecting simple answers. Closure. And here she was, hugging a boy that wasn't Sasuke, crying miserably and no doubt looking terrible while doing it. But she couldn't help it. As much as she needed a hug and to let her own frustrations out, she knew Naruto needed it more.

Naruto stood there in stunned silence, feeling each shaking motion of Ino as she cried into his shoulder. Her arms were wrapped around him so tight that he could feel his breaths getting tighter. "Uhhh, Ino…"

"Just shut up and hug me back, idiot!"

He didn't wait to be told twice. While an awkward and unfamiliar thing, he did slowly wrap his arms around the girl, albeit with slightly less pressure than she exerted, and let her lean into him. Ino couldn't see it, but after a few moments, and despite his own tears fighting to escape, Naruto couldn't help but smile. Not a fake smile, or a forced smile. Not a sad smile or even a nervous one. For the first time in a long time, he had a real, true to the stars, warm goofy smile plastered on his face for the world to see.

"Thank you, Ino."

Chapter Text

It was raining. Of course it was raining. Since when did the weather care about anyone or anything. The dark clouds hung overhead, casting a darkness on Konoha that didn’t appear to be leaving anytime soon. As if there wasn’t already a dark enough cloud hanging over the village already, a great weight hanging in the hearts of all its shinobi and citizens. Some argued that it was the heavens joining in the sorrow, crying alongside them. Ino wasn’t sure about that, but she didn’t mind the rain. At least in the rain, no one could see who was crying, even if everyone was.

The funeral was a village wide affair. Everyone had come to attend. How could they not. The whole village had been impacted by the invasion attempt. So many lives were lost so quickly, and so much destruction brought down on their head by those they had considered allies. It was heart breaking. Everyone had lost something… or someone. The chunin exams were supposed to be a time of celebration, of pride and prosperity between the allied shinobi villages. Instead, it now marked a dark day in Konoha’s history, and the passing of yet another of its great Hokage. Hiruzen Sarutobi. The professor. The god of shinobi. Had given his life in defence of his beloved village, fighting none other than his lost student, Orochimaru.

In the end none of the technicalities mattered now. Orochimaru disguised as the Kazekage, whom he had assassinated, leading the shinobi of Suna through deception to an act of betrayal. The unleashing of a tailed beast upon an unsuspecting village. The desecration of the bodies and souls of the first and second Hokage. The means no longer stirred in the minds of those who now mourned, only the end. The loss of loved ones, of homes, of innocence, and most importantly, of the peace that had held strong for so many years. As much as it was a heart shattering loss, the death of the Hokage was also the marking of a new era. Peace was gone. Orochimaru made that clear. Once the wounds healed and the hearts hardened stronger than before, there was no questioning what came next. Konoha would respond in kind, and it would respond swiftly and without mercy.

But for now, they could mourn. For now, they could join in the skies and water the earth to which so many had been laid to rest.

Under the cover of her umbrella, Ino kept her head bowed, both in sadness and respect as words were said for the fallen heroes. But every so often, through the stinging tears, she would look through the crowd to one person. Naruto. He was, understandably, at the front of the service. It may have irked some people, but no one dared to say anything. Not today. It was no secret how much the Hokage cared for Naruto, and vice versa. Today, Naruto was free to mourn alongside his village, without judgement, as an equal. After his own efforts to stop the rampaging Ichibi, no one was as sure of their previous disinclinations for the young jinchuuriki. He had proved himself to not only his fellow shinobi, but to the village as a whole. There wasn’t a soul within Konoha’s walls who hadn’t heard about, and subsequently gossiped about, the ‘Kyuubi brat’ saving the village.

Ino didn’t dare to disturb him right now. Over the past months she had learnt how he tended to deal with emotional issues. She would give him the space he needed and swoop in when the time was right. She might have been distraught at the events of the past few days, but she couldn’t even begin to imagine how broken Naruto was in this moment. The boy who had already lost so much, continuing to lose just that little bit more could push him over the edge.

The rain still hadn’t subsided by the time people started to depart. Eventually only a small number remained, Naruto obviously being one of them. Much to the surprise of Ino’s teammates, she was also still waiting. As the crowd lessened, she slowly made her way closer and closer to Naruto, until eventually she walked up behind him and let him under the shade of her umbrella.

“Hey, Ino,” he said, not turning to look at her just yet.

“You okay?” Ino knew it was a stupid question. He clearly wasn’t.

Naruto exhaled deeply. “Not really,” he answered. No surprise there. “I just… I know I’m supposed to feel something, but I can’t. It just feels empty.”

Ino reached out and gently grabbed his hand, finally getting him to look at her. His eyes were red, but he wasn’t crying anymore. He had exhausted his tears for one day, and his face showed as much. Ino had never seen him look so tired before. “Come on,” she said, tugging at his hand. “Let’s get you home and into some dry clothes. You know the Hokage would be cross if he knew you got sick like this.”

Naruto didn’t argue. He didn’t have the strength to. He let Ino guide him, their hands never parting, as they made their way past the last of the stragglers and towards his apartment. Upon arriving at his front door, Ino pulled out a set of keys and opened the door, pulling Naruto inside and pushing him towards the bathroom.

“Go have a shower,” she said. “Get dressed and I’ll have some ramen waiting for you.”

“Ino, you don’t have to…mmph,” his words were cut off as she clasped her hand over his mouth.

Ino gave him a look of warning, her eyes promising pain if he dared to ignore it. “Are you refusing my generosity, Naruto?” He shook his head. “Good. Now go. You’re dripping all over the floor.”

She rolled her eyes as he closed the door behind him, not missing the whispered mutterings about her being too bossy for her own good. Entering the kitchen, she grabbed a pot and made quick work of starting to cook some miso ramen, making sure to add extra pork for Naruto. While normally she would be trying to divert his eating habits to a healthier, or at the very least, a more varied option, she figured this time she could make his favourite. She made herself a cup of tea before looking around at the apartment with a pleased smile.

It had taken time, but she had finally got Naruto to incorporate some more plants to his living space. Ino made sure none of them were particularly fragile or needy, knowing that Naruto could be called away for long missions with short notice. Imagine her surprise when he had entrusted her with keys to his apartment, asking her if she could look after the plants if he was gone too long. She had been flattered that in the span of just a few short months she had earnt his trust to such a degree, but she supposed that came with the territory now. What could he really trust her with that was any more daunting than the knowledge of the Kyuubi.

Needless to say, Ino had immediately began using her access to Naruto’s apartment for evil. Well, Naruto called it evil. She would tidy up the place when she was bored or when Naruto was gone on a mission. If anyone found out, they might consider it weird, but Ino didn’t mind. It was the least she could do. Ever since that night, everything had changed between the two blondes. At first it was just them stopping for friendly chats instead of only swapping pleasant greetings. Soon it turned into inviting him along to her team’s lunches, much to her team’s curiosity. Eventually they found reasons to simply enjoy each other’s company in other ways.

The occasional training sessions quickly turned into a routine, from which they both gained surprising benefits. Ino was proud to say that her physical health had never been better, and it helped that Naruto was never shy about complimenting his friend’s strengths right to their face. She still wasn’t sure if he was knowingly messing with her when he did that, but she wasn’t going to stop him. It wasn’t like he ever acknowledged her blushing anyway.

Ino wouldn’t say that it was a surprise that her and Naruto had become fast friends. Everything considered, it was bound to happen. There was no telling if her finding out about the Kyuubi had simply sped up the inevitable, or if it had been a catalyst for something that would have otherwise never occurred. She liked to hope it was the former. She couldn’t imagine a world where she continued to be mean to him forever. Eventually that smile of his would eat its way into anyone’s heart, surely. She chuckled at that, remembering the first time she had bought him ramen at Ichiraku’s. The poor boy almost split his face in half he was grinning so wide. It didn’t even matter to him that she only did it due to losing a bet with him. But after seeing that smile, she made sure those special occasions popped up a little more frequently.

None of this was to say that their friendship was one sided. Sure, she did as much as she could for him. At first out of guilt, but that didn’t last long. Naruto was not the kind of person to take charity or pity lying down. At every opportunity he would go out of his way to make sure Ino was okay, helping her with everything from chores to just helping carry some groceries home for her. He lamely reasoned it as him making up for the fox nearly scaring her to death. Ino knew better though. After the first few weeks she could tell the two of them were just making excuses to spend more time together. She had to admit that Naruto was actually a very comforting person to talk to once you got past his over abundant enthusiasm for… well, everything.

She heard the water of the shower turn off and fetched two bowls from the cupboard, dishing herself up a small serving of the steamy noodle broth as well. She put the bowl for Naruto on the table across from her, not waiting for him to join her before beginning to eat. It had become apparent very early on that Naruto cared very little, if at all, for etiquette. Speaking of which…

“Dammit, Naruto!” Ino yelled out. “Put a shirt on when a lady is present!”

Naruto blinked owlishly at her before looking down and mouthing a silent ‘oh’. Disappearing into his bedroom, he returned with a shirt on and a mischievous look on his face. “Are you saying you’re a lady?”

Ino narrowed her eyes at him. “Are you saying I’m not?” she asked daringly, receiving nothing more than a cheeky smile. She rolled her eyes and pointed her chopsticks at the bowl across from her. “Sit.”

It came as no surprise when Naruto managed to finish his entire serving before Ino, despite her starting before him. When it came to ramen, he was a bottomless pit. Thankfully he had the manners to wait patiently for her to finish before jumping up and taking both empty dishes to the sink. It was a strange really, this whole interaction. Normally, during such things the two of them would be chatting up a storm, or trading half-hearted jabs at each other endlessly. It made sense that today would be different. Ino wasn’t going to question Naruto’s more passive demeanour right now. He deserved this time to let his mask fall, to let the world see just how low it had gotten him, even if he was doing his best to maintain the façade.

She walked up behind him while he cleaned the dishes. He was finding anything he could to keep his mind busy. He would never wash the bowls straight after the meal. With gentle hands she grabbed his arms. “Those can wait, Naruto,” she said, her voice so soft and full of warmth that it alone could have halted his actions. “You can talk to me. You know that. Don’t keep it all inside. I’m right here.”

His eyes were glassy again when he looked at her, a miserable downtrodden expression marring his bright features. “I couldn’t save him…” he whispered.

“The Hokage?” she asked, getting a nod. “Naruto, no one could save him. Everyone tried. Those far stronger than us were just as powerless to help. Don’t think for one second that it’s your fault.”

“But… I could have,” he said, placing his hand on his stomach. “I could have been stronger. If I could have used the fox… maybe none of this…”

“No!” Ino said sharply. “Don’t think like that. You know what happens when you use its power.” She still remembered his recounting of the mission to wave country. The fear he had for what the Kyuubi’s chakra had made him feel like, what it made him willing to do. Even now as he had started training to use it, it still made him uneasy. The last thing he wanted was to lose control. “The Hokage would never have you risk your life like that. You know that. Everyone knows that. And I know that he would be damn proud of what you did. Naruto, you fought the demon of Suna, and won. Who knows how many lives you saved.”

“But…”

“No buts!” she said, pulling his hand away from his stomach. “You did a great thing, Naruto. You protected the village, and all of Konoha knows it. Don’t let things out of your control overshadow that.” Ino took a deep breath and calmed down. She reminded herself that an argument was the last thing either of them needed right now. Naruto would come to acknowledge his accomplishments soon enough. She just had to help him through things here and now. “Gaara… he’s like you, isn’t he?” she asked, trying to change the subject.

“Yes. But he is different,” Naruto said. “He’s… lonelier. Scared. He is what I could have been, what everyone hoped I would be.”

“A monster?”

“No,” Naruto said quickly. “He’s just… broken. He needs help. A friend. Like you are to me.”

Ino smiled as Naruto took a hold of her hands as he said that last part. As awkward as he may have been at times, it was never a secret how much he appreciated their newfound friendship, and he reminded her of that often. “You could have killed him,” she said carefully. “Why didn’t you?”

“How could I?” he said.

Ino nodded in understanding. While it took some digging in the library, they had found the history of the jinchuuriki. What little there was that is. As soon as Naruto had learnt there had been others like him, and that were more out there in the world, he had wanted nothing more to meet one. Now he had. She could see it wasn’t what he was hoping for. He never said it outright, but Ino knew Naruto had hoped that the other jinchuuriki were treated better than he was. Those hopes were crushed with Gaara. But in its wake, she could see something else spark to life. Sparing Gaara wasn’t just a whim or impulse. In his eyes, everyone deserved a chance; a fellow jinchuuriki more so. How could he possibly bring himself to kill someone who had never been given a chance to be anything more than a monster before. It wasn’t in his heart to do it.

“I think I’m going to go to the training grounds,” Naruto said.

Ino pouted. “You just got dry. Do you really think raging out in the rain is going to help right now?”

Naruto smiled. “No.”

“Argh, fine,” she grumbled, shoving him away playfully. “I’m using your shower. If I’m not here when you get back, I’ll be at the shop.” The flower shop would be very busy for a few days and Ino’s dad would need the help keeping up. Grabbing a spare change of clothes out from a bag she conveniently left in Naruto’s apartment for emergencies, she headed for the bathroom.

“Ino,” Naruto called out, catching her just before she closed the door. “Thanks.”

Slipping on his orange jacket, he left Ino in his apartment and headed for the training grounds. He knew she was just trying to help him talk about things, but he wasn’t ready yet. Destroying a training ground wouldn’t help, but he needed to vent somehow. If he was lucky, he would be able to find Jiraiya and hound the pervert to help him with some training.

The rain had finally stopped. Repairs were already being planned, and as Sakura made her way through the village, she felt proud of how resilient Konoha and its people truly were. She hoped deep down that nothing like this would ever happen again, that their display of strength in fighting the invasion back would deter anyone else from attempting something so horrible. But she knew anything was possible. Since becoming a kunoichi she had been forced to face the reality that life, and everything in it, was unpredictable. The loss of the third Hokage proved that. The man might have been old, but his strength and prowess had been legendary even at his age. He was a pillar of Konoha, always upholding his beliefs in the will of fire. Konoha wouldn’t be the same without him.

Sakura had stayed at the funeral for a while, doing her best to be supportive for her teammates. For the most part, Sasuke seemed to be handling it well, but she knew he was angry at himself for not being able to do more. No matter how much she tried to assure him that his efforts hadn’t been pointless, he simply wouldn’t hear it. She didn’t push the matter too hard. The Uchiha had been through a lot, and who was she to judge his way of grieving. When it was finally time, she had walked with Sasuke back to his home, if only to make sure he knew he wasn’t alone in this time. Much to her surprise, he did say a curtly thanks before leaving her in the rain. Baby steps were still steps.

Wandering back to the site of the funeral, Sakura fully expected to see Naruto still there. She knew he was close to the third Hokage, even if she didn’t fully understand their relationship, and it made sense that his passing would have a heavier effect on him. It would make sense that he would be here for as long as he could. She was surprised to find that of the few stragglers still mourning, Naruto was not one of them. A certain masked pervert, however, was still hanging around.

“Kakashi-sensei,” she said.

“Sakura,” the man greeted cheerfully. “What brings you back here? Come to check on your dear old sensei? I’m flattered.”

“Actually, I was wondering if you had seen Naruto,” she said, looking around once more for the head of spikey blond hair. “I thought he would still be here.”

Kakashi eye-smiled at the girl. It made him happy to see that his little team had come a long way since the bell test. Sure, they weren’t as close as he’d wished, but the effort was there. Sasuke and Naruto had developed an adorable rivalry. They were constantly pushing each other to do better even if they wouldn’t admit it. Sakura was doing her share too, and even though her attention was still heavily focused on the Uchiha, Kakashi could tell she was warming up more to Naruto. Naruto’s noticeable improvements in socialising and not getting under his teammates skin was also a very important step in the right direction. Such improvements in such a short time had left Kakashi curious, but a little bit of harmless stalking and a few eye-opening conversations with Asuma had told him everything he needed to know on the matter.

“Your compassion and concern for your teammates is a true embodiment of the will of fire, Sakura,” he said. “The third Hokage would be proud of you, as I am.” He almost chuckled at the poor girl when her face flushed nearly as pink as her hair. Oh how he loved stirring up his beloved students. “Naruto was here not long ago. He left with young Ino, so I think he is in safe hands.”

Sakura furrowed her brow. “Ino? Are you sure?” she asked.

Kakashi nodded. “Yes. They left heading towards Naruto’s apartment. Very kind of her to walk him home.”

‘Weird,’ Sakura thought to herself, turning to leave for Naruto’s place. “Thanks, Kakashi-sensei. I’ll see you tomorrow for training.”

Weird was an understatement. Since when did Ino care about Naruto? Sakura knew that her teammate was always running off to have lunch or dinner with team ten, but she assumed that was to hang out with Shikamaru and Chouji. Now that she thought about it, however, she did remember Ino asking a bunch of questions about Naruto a few months back. It had been weird then, but now it was suspicious. Sakura would be the first person to admit she didn’t like Ino. At least, she would have been until they started to repair their friendship before the chunin exams. She had to say, it was nice to finally not be at each-other’s throats. For whatever reason, the blonde had decided to drop her pursuit of Sasuke. Ino still boldly claimed that the Uchiha would realise what he wanted and choose her in time, but Sakura was beginning to question the sincerity of that statement. At the same time, Naruto had mysteriously stopped asking her out all the time and, as if by a miracle, had even learnt some manners in some sense.

‘Oh god…’

There was no way. She would have known. She would have seen something, caught onto it before now. She could not have missed something so… so… impossible. Sakura almost tripped over as her thoughts began spiralling out of control. With a deep breath she regained her composure and increased her pace to Naruto’s apartment. Sakura was convinced she was overthinking things. She had to be. Naruto couldn’t keep a secret to save his life, and Ino, well, Ino could lie with the best of them. But there was no way. No way at all. Sakura was sure of it. Ino must have just been walking Naruto home to be kind in this dark time. Sakura would have done the same for him if she didn’t need to walk Sasuke home first.

Sakura hadn’t even noticed she had worked herself up into a light jog until she was already coming to a sudden halt at Naruto’s door. Shaking her head dismissively of the crazy thoughts, she knocked and waited, trying her best to think of what comforting words to say to Naruto.

“What did you forget this ti…” Ino said, her words dying suddenly as she opened the door and came face to face with an equally shocked Sakura. ‘Oh crap,’ she thought to herself, quickly smiling. In times like this it was best to act as if nothing was wrong. Nothing at all. “Oh, hey Sakura. If you’re looking for Naruto, you’ll have to go find him. He went to blow off some steam at the training grounds.”

“Ino… you… and Naruto… apartment… what the…” Sakura stammered out, the gears in her mind colliding and grinding together in ways they simply weren’t designed for. “You’re dating Naruto!?” she all but yelled, pointing accusing at the blonde.

“What!?” Ino returned the tone. “I’m not dating him! Don’t you think it’s a bit rude to go around accusing people of things you don’t even know are true? What gave you that idea anyway? Who said it?”

Sakura took a step back and gave the blonde an up and down glance, finishing with a questioning but knowing look. “Uhhh…” she gestured to Ino and where they were standing.

Ino’s eyes went wide and she looked down. She cursed mentally as she realised she was wearing one of Naruto’s jackets, while in Naruto’s apartment, and Naruto wasn’t here with her. “Oh…” she said. “This isn’t what it looks like.”

“Uh huh,” Sakura said smugly, crossing her arms. “Then what is it? Cause from where I’m standing you sure look guilty.”

“Guilty? Guilty of what?”

“Getting tangled up with Naruto and trying to keep it a secret,” Sakura said. “And doing a bad job of it too. I’ve had my suspicions for weeks now. This just proves it.” She was lying, obviously, but hopefully Ino wouldn’t pick up on that. A little white lie was worth pressuring Ino into admitting the truth, and Sakura needed all the details. “But seriously, Ino. Naruto? Of all people? I thought you were better than that.”

Ino reached out and grabbed Sakura by her dress, pulling her in close with a glare. “You got something to say about him, billboard-brow?”

Sakura couldn’t help but grin victoriously. “Oh? So protective already,” she said in a sickeningly sweet tone.

Ino quickly let Sakura go and stormed back into the apartment, muttering to herself about nosey pink haired friends. Grabbing her bag and clothes she marched back out, closing the door behind her and locking it, doing her very best to ignore the smug shit-eating grin she could feel directed at her.

“You have keys to his place?”

“We aren’t dating!” Ino exclaimed. “We are just friends.”

“Of course, Ino. I believe you,” Sakura said sarcastically. “But I can’t say that everyone else will. You know how people get when gossip gets around. What will your teammates think?” The way she said it, the wicked smile on her face and evil glimmer in her eyes was more than enough to make Ino stop in her tracks. ‘Checkmate, Ino-pig.’

Ino narrowed her eyes. “You wouldn’t dare.”

Sakura chuckled menacingly. “Ino, Ino, Ino,” she chided. “You know I would.”

Ino sighed in defeat. “What do you want?”

At this point it didn’t matter that she was telling the truth. Ino knew all to well how easy it would be for Sakura to twist what little she knew right now into what would no doubt become the talk of the village overnight. She didn’t care if anyone knew she and Naruto were friends, that much she had never tried to hide. But it was different if people found out just how close they had gotten and how much Naruto trusted her. Neither her or Naruto knew how careful to be with that aspect of their friendship, and with the Hokage gone there was no telling what risks could arise. The last thing she wanted was to become a weakness for Naruto, a way for people to get to him. She also really didn’t want to inflict upon him the embarrassment of a romantic accusation. He was far too sweet and innocent to handle that right now.

“I want to know everything,” Sakura said.

With a deep defeated sigh Ino started towards the flower shop, gesturing for Sakura to follow her. “I need to go and help my dad at the shop,” she said. “Come and help and I’ll tell you everything after.” She almost let out an audible groan of disdain as Sakura literally began cheerfully skipping to catch up.

‘Why God? Why?”

When they reached the flower shop Ino was glad she had Sakura tagging along. Her father was swamped, and many customers were starting to get irate. Many were more sad than angry, only here buying flowers to decorate new graves that now held their family’s or friend’s names. Others were more patient, having only old memories brought up by the attack. Today was a day to mourn everything it seemed. New wounds and old. It was exhausting, but with Sakura’s help Ino was able to help her dad get most of the work done before night finally fell, for which Inoichi promised to pay them for. Thankfully he didn’t feel the need to stick around after Ino offered to close up shop and left the two girls to themselves.

“Alright then,” Ino said, dropping herself into a seat. “Ask.”

She regretted saying it as soon as the words left her mouth. Sakura’s squeal of delight as she ran across the empty shop to join her might as well have been a death sentence. There was no way Ino was going to leave this conversation with all her dignity intact. She knew it, Sakura knew it, hell, even her dad probably sensed it. That would explain why he took her offer so easily and hightailed it out of the shop. The tension between the two girls had been perceivable by even the civilians passing by.

“How long?” Sakura asked as soon as she sat down.

“I told you we aren’t dating.”

“Fine. Then how long have you two been hanging out all buddy-buddy like?”

“A while,” Ino answered vaguely. “We started spending more time together a little while before your mission to wave country.”

Sakura blinked. “Wow, you two sure kept things quiet.”

Ino scoffed. “We weren’t keeping it a secret. You just never paid enough attention to where Naruto went to notice.”

Sakura frowned. Ino wasn’t wrong, but it sure made her sound like a pretty lame teammate. “Why are you two even hanging out?” she asked. “I understand why he goes and has lunch with your team. Shikamaru and Chouji are his friends. But it seems like you two have been spending a lot more time together than that. What kicked that off?”

“I…” Ino paused and thought about her words carefully. She couldn’t just tell Sakura the truth, but she also needed to give her a believable answer. “I tried to pull a prank on him. It failed, spectacularly. He pointed out what I could have done better and then helped me set up a prank for Shikamaru. I guess we just never noticed until we were already meeting up every other day to come up with new ideas.”

“Trying to prank the prankster. You should have known better,” Sakura said, seemingly accepting the answer. “The keys to his place?” she asked.

“I water his plants when you guys are on missions.”

“Wearing his jacket?”

“It was cold.”

“His favourite food?”

“Miso ramen with extra pork,” Ino answered without thinking, freezing only after she had said it.

Sakura’s grin could have rivalled Naruto’s. “And does he like it more when you make it for him or…?”

“Dammit, Sakura. I told you it’s not like that.”

“Does Naruto know that?” Sakura asked.

“Of course he does.” Ino said sharply. “Why do you even care?”

Sakura shrugged. “It’s just all very surprising,” she said. “Can’t blame a girl for being curious. I mean, come on, Ino. It’s you and Naruto. Anyone would be curious what force of nature could get the two of you to spend time together.”

Ino scoffed. Sakura had no idea just how right she was. A force of nature was one way to describe the Kyuubi. The blonde hated to attribute her and Naruto’s friendship to that cursed fox, but it was the truth. If not for her finding out his secret, she would have no reason to get so close to Naruto. “Are you done?” she asked, hoping this interrogation would be a short and easily forgettable affair.

Sakura hummed thoughtfully. “How can you stand him?” she asked. “He’s always so over the top. Everything is all or nothing with him. I didn’t think you would have the patience.”

“At first it was infuriating,” she admitted with a smile. “But he grows on you quick. He’s actually quite considerate once you calm him down, sweet even.” Ino would die before she admitted that the best method she had found to calm Naruto down so far was to hug the idiot. Sakura was already getting too many ideas.

“Are you sure you didn’t hit your head or something on a mission?”

“Is it really so hard to believe that I gave Naruto a chance and he turned out to actually be a pretty decent guy?”

Sakura sighed in defeat. “I guess not,” she muttered. “I was hoping for some juicy details. Oh well, I guess its not so bad. It’s not like you like-like him or anything…” she narrowed her eyes as Ino quickly looked away and blushed ever so slightly. “Right?”

Ino desperately fought down the blush, but to no avail. Sakura’s evil grin was already forming again and that knowing look in her eyes spelled doom for the poor Yamanaka. It wasn’t as if she had anything to hide. She was being honest. She liked Naruto, but not like that. Right? Oh no. What if she did? Was that wrong? Sure, she enjoyed seeing him, and he was such a nice guy, but it wasn’t like she had ever thought about being with him or anything and… ‘Oh no… Do I?’ she thought. Almost as soon as the idea had blipped into her poor mind had it lingered a second too long before being utterly squashed down by her own embarrassment. It was one thing to consider it, another to actually think about it, and Ino had just taken that all too dangerous step. It terrified her. Not because of Naruto, or the Kyuubi, or how her friends might look at her for it. No. It had scared her because for that split second, that brief moment of panic, she had caught herself feeling… happy at the idea. Did she really see Naruto like that? Had they really gotten that close so soon?

For Sakura, this was a dream come true. Finally, she had the upper hand on Ino. Finally, it was her turn to feel the power one had over another with the knowledge of a secret. It was everything she had hoped. She watched gleefully as the poor blonde tried so desperately to look like nothing was wrong, the faint blush on her cheeks giving her away. “Well, well, well,” she started, her sickly-sweet tone returning full force. “I wonder what Naruto will think when I…”

“I will end you,” Ino hissed, silencing Sakura with a glare.

“You so like him,” Sakura said smugly, grinning like an idiot.

“I don’t know! Maybe? Kinda. I mean yeah, but… argh,” Ino said exasperatedly. “It doesn’t matter, because you aren’t going to tell anyone. Right?”

Sakura made a zipping gesture across her mouth. “My lips are sealed,” she said, letting her words sink in just enough to have Ino relax a little before… “So, when are you going to ask him out?”

“What?!”

Naruto groaned as he stirred to the unmistakable sound of knocking. He could almost fondly remember a time when he had never been woken up to such a sound. What a wonderful time that had been. But a fond memory it would stay, because he wouldn’t dare want that back if it meant losing what he had now. Slipping on a pair of pants he groggily headed to the door while trying to wake himself fully, the knocking getting louder and more frequent as he went.

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” he called out, unlocking the door and grabbing the handle. “Geez, Ino. Just use your key already.” He opened the door, his face quickly falling as he was met not with the frustrated expression of Ino, to which he was now very accustomed, but instead to the all too interested expression of a certain inappropriate old man.

“Ino, huh?” Jiraiya said. “Don’t tell me a brat like you has a girlfriend and didn’t tell me.”

‘Noooooooo!”

“Ino’s not my girlfriend, pervy sage,” Naruto said. “She’s my friend.”

Jiraiya placed a hand on Naruto’s shoulder. “Ah, my poor uncultured student. Allow me to impart some wisdom on you,” he said sagely. “If your friend is a girl, and that girl has a key to your apartment, she is no longer just your friend.”

Naruto huffed and pushed the man away. “Yeah, like I’m going to listen to a pervert like you,” he said. “But you’re right. She isn’t just a friend. She’s my best friend.”

Jiraiya pouted and shook his head in shame. “I have much to teach you. But fear not, for Jiraiya the gallant will guide you on this most sacred path to manhood. And that training starts today,” he said. “Pack a back, brat. We are hitting the road.”

“Huh? What for? We can just train at the training grounds.”

“You and I have a mission. We are going to go and track down my old teammate, Tsunade,” he said. “And with any luck I can knock some sense into that thick skull of yours before I have to bring you back to your lovely Ino-chan.”

“Do I have to?” Naruto whined. “Last time you said you were going to train me, you threw me off a cliff.”

“It worked, didn’t it?”

“Why do we need to find your old teammate anyway?” Naruto asked.

“I’ll tell you all the details while we are going. Meet me by the gate when you’re ready. I’ll go let Kakashi know I’m stealing you for a while.” Jiraiya said. “Oh, and I’ll even sweeten the deal for you. If you come and help me find Tsunade, I’ll teach you a jutsu used by the fourth Hokage.”

Naruto watched as the man disappeared in a swirl of leaves before he could question what he had just heard. Not that he needed to hear any more. A jutsu used by the fourth Hokage was too good to pass up. Any ideas of going back to bed were gone as he tore through his apartment like a hurricane, frantically packing a bag and watering his plants. He considered leaving a note for Ino, but he knew that would just earn him a lecture about manners and consideration. The fact that he even knew the word consideration now was alarming. Just how much of an effect had Ino had on him?

As soon as he was done packing, he sealed everything into a scroll and locked his apartment behind him. He didn’t need to find Sasuke or Sakura. If Jiraiya was telling Kakashi then they would find out from him in time. With that in mind, his one and only destination was the flower shop. Naruto hoped Ino was there otherwise he was going to have to annoy Jiraiya and be late for the mission. It had been a couple days since the funeral, and Naruto hadn’t seen her. He just hoped she wasn’t on a mission as well or his precious plants were as good as dead if he was gone too long.

Ino absentmindedly twirled a kunai in her hand as she walked back to her place some yards away from the training dummy. Without any visible effort, she spun on her heels as soon as she reached her desired distance and threw the kunai at the dummy. Bullseye. Reaching into her pouch she pulled out several shuriken, sending each one flying with practiced ease, the same bored expression on her face as each hit their mark in the form of wooden planks hanging from the surrounding trees. She wanted to be engaged in her training, she really did, but hitting stationary targets just didn’t do anything for her anymore.

Ever since she started training with Naruto, using his shadow clones to perfect her accuracy, she had found that her old ways of training were useless. Shikamaru and Chouji could neither produce shadow clones, nor were they willing to take the risk of acting as moving targets for her. At least they both didn’t hold it against her that she was training with someone else, although Ino suspected it was because it took the heat off them. She still made it a point to try and drag them off their lazy butts and actually train, but there was only so much she could do. Asuma appreciated her newfound effort and enthusiasm for training, and Naruto was always happy to drop whatever he was doing if it meant training with her.

Speaking of Naruto, Ino had specifically chosen not to bother him to come train with her. Actually, she had been avoiding him for a couple of days now. She hated doing it, but she knew she needed some time to think. Ever since her little heart to heart with Sakura, her mind just hadn’t been able to rest. She was plagued with thoughts about what to do, how to approach it, and whether or not she needed to be thinking about any of this in the first place. All of this snowballing from a single, painfully simple, question.

Did she like Naruto?

She did. There was no point trying to hide from the facts. Naruto had grown on her in so many ways in such a short time, it was the most obvious thing to anyone paying enough attention. But that didn’t make it easy. Admitting to herself that she liked him was easy enough, but to figure out to what degree, and to even bridge the thought of admitting it to his face was…

‘Dammit!’

Her kunai missed its mark, clobbering the wood with its handle before falling to the ground. Ino muttered a string of curses as she walked to retrieve her weapons, all the while fighting down a blush that threatened to turn her the same shade as Sakura’s hair. Sakura. This was all her fault. None of these thoughts needed to exist, and they wouldn’t have, at least not until Ino deemed, if Sakura hadn’t brought it all up in the first place. Why was it so hard anyway? She had experience with proclaiming her feelings, didn’t she? She had done it for Sasuke of all people. It should have been a cakewalk.

She knew better of course. The brutal truth of the matter was that she hadn’t actually liked Sasuke. A ‘schoolgirl crush’ as her father had so eloquently put it. Ino regretted opening up to her father about such things, but she had no one else to talk to. He was right, much to her frustrations. He even had the gall to ask about Naruto. It was no surprise that he had discerned much from his observations. That didn’t mean Ino had to like it. She liked it even less when he advised her to be more open about such feelings with Naruto, even encouraging her newfound fondness for the jinchuuriki, albeit with a suspiciously mischievous look in his eyes.

That was the problem. Ino knew she had to talk to Naruto about it. She knew she had to be honest, not just to him, but to herself too. Her feelings were real. She needed to know if they could go anywhere. But how? What would she do if Naruto didn’t feel the same? What if he thought she was only doing it out of pity for his being the nine tails jinchuuriki? What if the idiot rejected her for fear of how people might treat her for being with him? There were just too many ways it could all blow up in her face. If admitting her feeling to him was going to destroy the friendship they had right now, then Ino would rather stay silent. But it was killing her to do so.

Thankfully, she had time. Time to think, to plan, and to orchestrate the perfect scenario for her to express how she truly felt. All she had to do was keep her distance from Naruto and everything would…

“Ino,” Naruto called out, running towards her. 

‘There is no god,’ Ino thought, forcing herself to smile without letting her internal panic escape. “Hey, Naruto,” she greeted pleasantly. If she played dumb, maybe he wouldn’t question her avoidance. “What’s up?”

Naruto was grinning like an idiot by the time he reached her. “I’m so glad I found you,” he said. “I was going to leave a note with your dad, but he told me you would probably be here. Good thing too. I don’t have much time.”

‘Note to self: Kill my father post-haste.’ “A note? Don’t have much time? What are you talking about?” she asked curiously.

His grin only got wider. “I’ve gotta go on a mission with pervy sage,” he said. “We are going to find his old teammate and bring her back to the village. I thought I would come and let you know I was heading out and I don’t know how long I will be.”

Ino smiled warmly. He could have just left a note, but she was glad he didn’t. These little send offs meant a lot to her for some reason. They had a dangerous profession, so maybe she was just worried any time together could be their last. “I’ll look after your place, don’t worry,” she said. “But who is pervy sage?” Ino had heard of this so called “pervy sage” but never bothered to ask about the man properly. Naruto just told her that the Hokage had organised for him to try and train with the Kyuubi’s power and that his teacher was a massive pervert. She thought that was the end of it.

“Jiraiya,” Naruto answered. “He said he’s a Sannin or something, but he’s just a big pervert.”

“Jiraiya… of the Sannin?” Ino asked incredulously, earning a nod from Naruto. “Author of the Icha-Icha books, student of the third Hokage, sensei to the fourth Hokage, and arguably one of the most powerful shinobi to still be serving Konoha? That Jiraiya?”

“Huh, I guess he is kinda famous. Still just a pervert though,” Naruto said, before narrowing his eyes at the girl. “How do you know about his pervy books?”

“And he’s the one who has been teaching you how to use the Kyuubi’s chakra?” she asked, ignoring his last question. “And now he’s taking you on a mission with him? To find Tsunade of the Sannin? Is your team going too?”

“No. Just me and him,” Naruto said like it wasn’t a big deal. “He said he’s going to teach me an awesome jutsu that the fourth Hokage used. It’s going to be so cool.”

Ino stood there, mouth agape, eyes unfocussed, trying with all her might to understand how… just how the hell did Naruto not realise what was happening. Any back shelf thoughts she had about confessing to Naruto in this moment were immediately squashed down. The fool was being groomed to be the next student of Jiraiya of the freaking Sannin and he didn’t even realise it. Her feelings could wait. History was literally unfolding before her, and she’d be damned if she got in the way of that. Besides, with Jiraiya looking after him, Ino had no doubt that Naruto would return safe and sound. She could deal with the awkwardness once he was back and use the time until then to figure out what she was going to say.

“What the hell are you doing here?!” Ino yelled, catching Naruto off guard. “Go. Go. Don’t keep a Sannin waiting you idiot.”

Naruto laughed as Ino began pushing him towards the gate. “Woah, calm down, Ino,” he said, only to receive a stern look and a finger pointed towards the village gate. “Okay, I’m going, I’m going. I just had to come say goodbye.”

“And you’ve said it,” Ino said, giving him another shove. “Now go, before I drag you there by your ankles.”

“What, no hug this time?” Naruto whined.

Ino blushed but kept pushing him. “Plenty of time for that when you get back. Now go. I won’t tell you again.”

Naruto waited until she tried to push him again and weaved around her arms, wrapping his own around her in a quick hug, thankfully not paying any mind to the brighter shade the poor girl turned. “Gotcha,” he said victoriously before letting her go and running off towards the gate, waving to her as he went. “Thanks, Ino. You’re the best.”

Ino stood there, silently fuming at the audacity of that cursed boy. Her blush refused to leave even as he vanished from sight. This was exactly why she needed to keep her distance from Naruto until she was ready. How was she supposed to get anything done with him messing with her like that. Ino was sure Naruto had no idea what he was doing, but that just made it worse. She was defenceless against such dumb innocence.

With a growl she threw another kunai, this time missing the target altogether as it flew past the dummy and disappeared into the woods behind.

“God dammit!”

She knew she should have made Naruto leave her with some shadow clones to obliterate. He owed her that much for leaving her so flustered.

Chapter Text

“Chidori!”

“Rasengan!”

The two lunged at each other, their respective jutsu in hand. Sasuke’s Chidori, chirping and crackling around his hand, overpowered, and fuelled by his new cursed form, the corrupting chakra of the curse mark now in full effect. Naruto’s rasengan, swirling in the palm of his now clawed hand, the red chakra of the Kyuubi fully form around him with a single tail trailing behind. The battle had long since transcended that of two genin fighting for a simple outcome. It was now a battle between a boy who would gladly become a monster to get what he desired, and a monster who would rather die than watch someone lose themselves in such a way.

It made Naruto sick to his stomach, this power that he was now relying on, this shroud of blood red that enveloped him. As if the fox’s mere existence wasn’t a curse enough, now it had to literally cover him with the colour of the blood that stained its hands. But he had no choice. He needed to be stronger, to use its power for good. He needed to bring Sasuke back to the village. It didn’t matter what the cost was. All Naruto cared about was getting the pompous Uchiha home, to safety, to his friends. But even he was starting to realise how lost that cause was.

Naruto could barely recognise Sasuke in his current form. There was no telling just how much damage that curse seal had done in the time since the chunin exams, but Naruto was convinced that he wasn’t fighting his teammate anymore. This was someone else, something different. This wasn’t Sasuke. The Sasuke he knew wouldn’t do this. He wouldn’t take the easy way out in the pursuit of cheap power. No. This was Orochimaru’s doing. Naruto swore that once he had dragged his friend home and gotten that seal off of him, he would hunt down the snake and personally tear his throat out.

‘Damn fox!’ Naruto thought, gritting his teeth as he fought down the ever-growing rage bubbling up inside him. The fox was trying desperately to infect him with its bloodlust, its desire to kill and destroy anyone in its path. It had taken everything Naruto had to hold back the mental onslaught, all the while trying to fight Sasuke to a standstill without doing too much damage. Granny Tsunade would kill him if he dropped a half dead Uchiha at her feet.

Their jutsu collided, neither one buckling under the weight of the other. The air warped around them and the water beneath them swirled angrily. Naruto knew this was it, the deciding moment. He couldn’t maintain the fox form any longer, and once it faded, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to stand. At the same time, he could feel Sasuke pouring more and more chakra into his Chidori, the blade of lighting slowly working its way through his rasengan. That’s when he felt it, a sudden burst from within himself. He wasn’t sure if he had slipped up. Maybe he was too weak to hold it back any longer. The fox’s chakra flooded into him, more powerful and enraged than before, the tail of chakra whipping around and wrapping around Sasuke’s arm in a crushing grip.

‘What the heck!’

“Kill him,” the fox growled, its voice invading his mind. “Use my power. Do not let us die to the likes of an Uchiha.”

Naruto’s eyes widened as he heard Sasuke’s arm snap under the tails grip. To the Uchiha’s credit, he didn’t let up in the slightest, fighting through the pain in a desperate last attempt to cut through Naruto’s defence. Naruto’s eyes quickly turned to his rasengan. It had changed. The Kyuubi’s chakra now taking over it, overpowering the Chidori, condensing and grinding more and more, all the while aimed at Sasuke chest. ‘No!’ Naruto fought against the chakra, trying to pull his arm back, trying to undo his jutsu. It was too late. The fox had taken hold of it, and with what little time it had left, was trying to kill Sasuke.

Panic took over. Naruto knew he was done for if he killed Sasuke. If he let the Kyuubi control him like this. He would have failed everyone who trusted him, who had faith in him to contain the fox. The fourth Hokage, his parents, the old man, Kakashi, pervy sage, and… Ino. How would he ever be able to look Ino in the eye again if he killed one of their friends. How could he trust himself to not hurt anyone else. Naruto, in his panic, came up with solution. It was stupid, but if there was one thing he was good at, it was stupid. With everything he had left, he took a deep breath and pulsed his chakra outward, the constant dull burn of the Kyuubi’s chakra quickly disappearing and being replaced by a hot and wet feeling in his chest. It was almost strange. He knew what had happened. What he had allowed to happen. But somehow it didn’t bother him. It didn’t even hurt anymore. Maybe this was what giving up felt like. Was he really giving up?

“Naruto…” Sasuke’s voice was barely a whisper. His eyes wide, and even as his Chidori laid firmly planted inside Naruto’s chest, he couldn’t help the tremor in his hand. “What… did you do?”

Naruto chuckled, blood quickly filling his mouth as he coughed. “Heh… you should see your face,” he said, wincing as he slumped forward.

Sasuke’s Chidori died out as he pulled his hand back, catching Naruto as he fell forward. He could feel the blood pouring from Naruto’s chest, soaking his clothes and staining his hands. He wasn’t an idiot. His Sharingan had seen everything. That vile red chakra taking control of Naruto, overpowering him. He had seen the fight for control, the fight Naruto had put up to hold back, to avoid killing him. Even after everything, when the opportunity was right there, Naruto wouldn’t kill him. Then it had all stopped. In a single burst of chakra, the red was cast aside, the rasengan vanished. Naruto had chosen defeat. He had chosen death.

“What have you done?!” Sasuke yelled. “You idiot, Naruto! Why?” He could feel it. Naruto’s heartbeat. With each pulse more blood pumped out onto him, the water below darkening. Almost too quickly Naruto’s feet slid into the water, his chakra no longer able to support him, leaving Sasuke to bear both their weight. His curse mark receded, his body returning to normal, but his Sharingan remained. Every moment of their fight was now burnt into his mind, replaying in his mind, over and over, just like the night of the massacre, just like before. Only this time was worse. It was real. Itachi may have forced him to see his parents die, but he had never felt it. He hadn’t held them, hadn’t felt their breath fade, their heart weaken. What had he done?

“I… couldn’t…” Naruto said weakly. “I don’t… want to be… a monster. I wanted… to help you.”

“I don’t need your help,” Sasuke said, pulling Naruto to the edge of the water and laying him down. He tried to put pressure on the gaping hole in Naruto’s chest, but it didn’t seem to do anything other than cover his hands in more blood. “Someone will be here. Just hold on.”

Naruto reached out to grab Sasuke’s arm. “Don’t go,” he said. “I made a… promise. I have to bring you back.”

“Shut up!” Sasuke growled. “Why couldn’t you just let me go! I didn’t want this to happen. None of this had to happen. This is all your fault!” Despite his harsh words, there was no hiding the tears in his eyes. Sasuke may have been cold, and he was committed to leaving Konoha, but he never wanted anyone to get hurt. Not like this. Naruto was infuriating at the best of times, but he didn’t deserve to die. Only Itachi deserved that. “Why, dammit! Bringing me back isn’t worth your life.”

“It is… to me,” Naruto said, a smile still on his face even as the colour slowly left it. “The village needs you. We need you… I won’t give up on you, Sasuke. You don’t need to be alone. We can still… be friends.”

“How are we supposed to be friends if you die?!”

Naruto coughed, blood trickling from his lips. “Heh, I didn’t think this through huh,” he said with a pained chuckle.

Sasuke glared at him. “Stop joking around,” he said. “Save your strength. Someone will be here soon. Just stay alive, idiot.”

“I knew you cared,” Naruto said, a shit eating grin plastered on his face.

“Stop talking!”

“Do you think I’ll see them?”

“What?” Sasuke asked. Naruto’s heartbeat was so weak now. So much blood had poured out. How was he still awake?

“My parents,” Naruto said, tears forming in his eyes as he looked up to the sky hopefully. “I… I don’t know who they were. I want to see them. If I could. Do you think… they are waiting?”

Sasuke winced as he kept pressure, his broken arm screaming at him to let go. “You’re not seeing anyone but a doctor.”

Naruto smiled. It was hard to breath now. At least the fox wasn’t yelling in his mind anymore. He supposed it was too much to expect the Kyuubi’s chakra to help him heal from anything. He took the time to think, about his life, of those in it who he held dear. Maybe he shouldn’t have been so annoying all these years. If this was really where things were going to end, then he regretted that more people didn’t have better memories of him. Granny Tsunade was going to lose her mind. He hoped she didn’t kill anyone, or worse, knock down Konoha in her grief. That would be bad. Everyone else would be okay he figured. He was sure Ino would be mad at him for dying like… oh right. Ino. Naruto wished she was here now. Not to see him like this, but just so he could see her once more. Of all his mistakes and regrets, not telling Ino how he felt about her would be top of his list.

It had been something that had taken him too long to realise. Maybe dying was putting things into perspective for him. Perspective. Another word he would never have used had she not spent so many late nights helping him with his book smarts. She would never know how much those headache inducing nights meant to him. How her belief in him drove him to improve in ways he never thought he could. Ino had become his best friend. Naruto’s decision to trust her with his secret that one night had changed his life. He only wished he could tell her that. Tell her how much she meant. How much he liked her… and not just as a friend. He didn’t know what it felt like to have family, or someone to love. But he knew it must have felt like he did whenever Ino was with him. Wherever she was, whenever they were together, it always felt like that was exactly where he was meant to be. He would give anything to feel that feeling once more. To hold her hand. To see her smile.

“You are a fool, boy,” the Kyuubi grumbled, his words falling on a mind already too far gone to hear them.

“Hey, Sasuke…” Naruto said, the smile on his face slowly falling as the colour of his eyes began to dull.

“I said shut up!”

“Tell Ino… I’m sorry.”

Sasuke froze as Naruto went limp. His hands moved ever so slightly with each feeble beating of his heart, until, with one final breath, it stopped. Everything stopped. The world around them was silent, and the image of Naruto’s lifeless body was already burnt into his mind, into his cursed eyes. Why wouldn’t his damn Sharingan deactivate? He waited for what felt like forever. Time didn’t seem to move properly anymore. He knew he couldn’t stay. There was too much blood on his hands now. Literally and figuratively. There was no way he could return to Konoha now. Not after this. For what it was worth, the curse mark no longer burned. The slimy words of the snake Sannin were for once quiet. Sasuke wasn’t sure if that was a good thing. He wasn’t sure of anything anymore. Was his mission really worth all of this? Did Itachi’s death require more people to die? Had he gone too far?

He steeled his nerves. None of that mattered now. What was done was done. No matter how much he might have regretted it, there was no going back. “Forgive me, Naruto,” he said softly, leaving the boy to be found by the inevitable search party. He had to keep going. Even if he knew it was stomping on Naruto’s sacrifice to not return to the village, he had to leave. He needed to get stronger. He had to kill Itachi. He couldn’t let all of this be for nothing. Naruto’s death had to be for something more than just bringing him back. It had to mean more than that. It needed to. He needed it to.

As he made his way towards Otogakure, Sasuke mistook the pain in his eyes to be from both the tears he couldn’t hold back, and the overuse of his Dōjutsu. He failed to notice how the world now looked to him as his Sharingan began to twist and reshape.

The hospital was chaos. By the time Ino had arrived some of the members of the retrieval team were starting to be brought back. She had almost had a heart attack when she saw how skinny and frail Chouji was when he was brought in. She knew his family’s secret recipe pills were dangerous, but she never imagined it would leave him in such a state. Tsunade assured her that her teammate would survive, but that did little to ease Ino’s nerves as more of her friends were brought in. Neji was in better condition, exhausted and cut up, with a couple of deep puncture wounds, but at least he was well enough to show more concern for everyone else than his own condition. Shikamaru was brought back by Temari of the sand, a fact Ino took particular notice of with the way her teammate’s eyes lingered on the Suna kunoichi. She would take delight in grilling him for information about that when things weren’t so dire.

Everyone else came back in a group, accompanied by the other two of the sand siblings, and Rock Lee who was still supposed to be recovering. Kiba was in the worst way of them all, but he seemed too arrogant to acknowledge it. His bravado would be the death of him. That only left…

‘Naruto…’

Ino paced impatiently back and forth at the entrance to the hospital. Waiting for that knuckle-headed blond to waltz in, dragging Sasuke kicking and screaming behind him, that same stupid grin on his face that he always had when he got what he wanted. She wasn’t even sure how long she had been pacing, but if the idiot didn’t show up soon there was going to be holes in the floor. What was he thinking? Making her worry like this. Taking his sweet time to get back. Oh, he would come to learn the error of his way, that much she could promise. Never again would he keep a lady waiting. When she finally heard the door barge open, she was all too quick to spin around, reprimanding ready.

“Do you have any idea how long I’ve been waiting for…” Ino’s words died in her throat, he eyes went wide, and her pale complexion suddenly went ghostly white. “…you.”

There was blood. So much blood. It was everywhere. Soaking Kakashi’s clothes, dripping through his fingers onto the floor. The masked man was breathing heavily, no doubt having just broken a speed record getting back to the village. Ino could see the panic in his one visible eye, the pain. In his arms, hanging limp and broken, was Naruto. He wasn’t conscious. He didn’t even look alive. You wouldn’t even have known his clothes had been orange with how much blood now covered him. Even his hair, his brilliant bright hair, hung heavy and red against his paled face.

“Tsunade!” Kakashi yelled, marching straight past Ino as he raced Naruto to the nearest bed.

“What now?” Tsunade grumbled as she rounded the corner before she adopted a look not too dissimilar to Ino. “Naruto!” she yelled in shock, rushing to the boy with her hands already glowing green. “What the hell happened?”

Kakashi stepped back and looked down in shame. “I found him like this,” he said.

“And Sasuke?” Tsunade asked.

The man shook his head. “Gone.”

Tsunade growled as she pushed her hands into the hole that was once Naruto’s chest. She had already used so much chakra keeping the others alive, what she had left was being pushed to its limits trying to perform a miracle. “What the hell did this to him?” she demanded.

“The chidori,” Kakashi said shamefully. “Sasuke must have…”

“Fuck! I can’t feel a pulse,” Tsunade exclaimed. “Call anyone who is free. I need everyone now.” Pulling her hands back for a second, she blitzed through some hand seals and bit her blood covered thumb. Her fear of blood could wait until Naruto wasn’t dead. In a puff of smoke, a large white slug appeared on her shoulder. “Katsuya. Chakra. Now,” she ordered, plunging her hand back into Naruto’s chest and began hand pumping his heart. There was still time. There had to be. With her spare hand she ripped the boy’s shirt off and wiped the glowing appendage over his stomach, letting out a sigh of relief as the seal appeared on his skin.

Ino stood there, dead to the world, her eyes fixating on Naruto. He looked so peaceful, so soft, so innocent. How could this have happened? Why him? After everything. Tears filled her eyes as she watched Tsunade wheel the bed into an operating room, followed quickly by everyone else who could spare their efforts. She followed, slowly like a ghost, silently keeping her distance as she watched the chaos unfold. No one even noticed her in the room. They were all too focused on Naruto. It almost made Ino happy to see so many people so focused on his wellbeing.

“Something’s wrong,” Tsunade said, placing a hand on the seal. “Why isn’t the Kyuubi healing him? God dammit, I can’t heal him if that stupid things chakra is going to fight me every step of the way. Someone, find Jiraiya. Shizune, help me.”

Shizune rushed to her sensei’s side and got to work, only to stop suddenly. “…Tsunade.” Her voice was barely a whisper as her own tears began to form. It only took her a few seconds to realise how serious this was. It was a miracle Naruto’s body was holding on at all. But she knew a lost cause when she felt one. Such a wound would be near impossible to repair normally, but now, with the Kyuubi’s chakra lingering in Naruto’s body, it was simply unimaginable.

“Don’t you dare!” Tsunade barked. “I will not lose him. Not like this. We can still save him.” She reached towards the seal. She knew little about seals outside of her own, let alone one made by the fourth Hokage, but she knew enough about disrupting them. If she could just mess with it enough to flood Naruto with the Bijuu’s chakra then maybe that would be enough to kickstart his heart. He was still there, just waiting to be pulled back. He wasn’t gone yet.

“Tsunade!” Shizune yelled, grabbing the woman’s arm.

Tsunade glared at her apprentice. “Let me go, Shizune,” she said. “I don’t care if that fox raises this village to the ground. I’m not losing Naruto.”

As the two medics had their little standoff, Ino watched on in horror. Her mind halted and time itself seemed to stretch on forever as she took in the sight before her. There was no way this could be real. Naruto was the strongest of them all. He had proved that. How could Sasuke have done this to him? A part of her was glad that Tsunade’s lack of care with words right now wasn’t going to lead to any more drama. She already knew of the Kyuubi, and no one else was in the room yet. But that also raised questions. From what Ino understood, the fox’s chakra was meant to heal Naruto, not fight against him. What was even happening? Did the Kyuubi truly want Naruto dead that bad?

Ino didn’t know what to think. She didn’t know what to do. But she did know one thing. If this was her last chance to talk to Naruto, then she would be damned if she didn’t get to hear his voice once more. And so, in possibly the stupidest move ever made by someone of her clan, she formed a hand seal, and pointed it straight at Naruto’s body.

“Mind transfer jutsu.”

Neither Tsunade or Shizune processed those words quick enough, both so transfixed on their current dilemma, to notice what was happening before it was too late. Tsunade looked at the now unconscious body of Ino laying on the floor before turning her attention to Naruto on the table. Realising what had just happened, she jerked her hand out of Shizune’s grip and doubled her efforts to keep the boys blood pumping.

“Get Inoichi here,” she yelled.

Naruto’s life was now no longer the only one in the balance.

It was darker than the last time she had been inside Naruto’s mind. Admittedly, that had been some time ago now, but the memory of that night had faded very little. Immediately after arriving, Ino found herself fighting with everything she had to not get thrown away. Her body screamed as the pain in Naruto’s body was mirrored into her own. This was the danger of her families jutsu. Ino knew that if she stayed here for too long, her soul would tangle too much with Naruto’s, and they would be bound in their fate together. With that in mind, she took off down the flooded corridor, making her way through the small maze as if this place was her own mind. One would think she knew his mind like the back of her hand, but in truth she was just following a sensation. As if something was guiding her through.

“Naruto,” she cried out, entering the main chamber.

What she found only made her stomach sink. Naruto was there, slumped up against the bars of the Kyuubi’s cage, the same injuries from his physical body now present on his own consciousness. That was never a good sign. Ino ran up to him, ignoring the bright red eyes that peered down at her from the shadows.

“Naruto, I’m here,” she said, falling to her knees and pulling him to her. “Come on, idiot. Wake up. You’re going to make it through this.” She shook him gently, but he didn’t stir. “Please… Naruto. Get up…”

“You are too late,” the Kyuubi said in a bored tone.

Ino glared at the beast. “Shut up!”

The fox chuckled. “Your scent is familiar,” it said curiously. “How foolish to return here again at such a time as this.”

“I said shut up!” Ino screamed. “This is all your fault. Why aren’t you healing him? Why didn’t you help him beat Sasuke?”

The Kyuubi slammed its hand against the cage, surprisingly earning little more than a flinch from the girl. “The runt chose this!” the beast yelled. “He would rather let us die than use my power to kill that worthless Uchiha. And now that he has cast aside my strength so arrogantly, die is what he will do. Unless…”

Ino narrowed her eyes. “Unless what?”

The Kyuubi’s eyes flickered with a cunningness that wasn’t lost on Ino. “Unless… you weaken the seal.”

“And let you free?” Ino said sceptically. “Do you honestly think I am that stupid?”

“I am bound to his soul, as you too soon will be,” the fox said knowingly. “When he dies, so shall I. You would be wise to leave before you share in our fate.”

Ino would have liked to say she thought about things a bit more in depth than she actually did. Shikamaru would give her such a lecture on reading the fine print before agreeing to a deal, but there just wasn’t time. “What do I have to do?” she asked desperately.

The Kyuubi’s eyes turned to the piece of paper stuck to the outside of the bars, the word “Seal” printed plainly to see. “Tear the seal,” it said.

Ino looked at the paper unsurely for a moment before turning back to Naruto’s lifeless form. “It’ll be okay,” she whispered, gently laying him down. She tried to walk to the middle of the cage, only to stumble and fall to her hands and knees, the air seemingly knocked from her lungs. With a glance, she saw the blood now slowly leaking from her chest. ‘Oh no.’ The wounds were transferring so much faster than she expected. She was running out of time. With a pained grunt she got back to her feet. She wasn’t sure if this would work. Taking the word of a monster was definitely high up on her list of dumb ideas. But she didn’t have a choice. If there was even a small chance, she had to take it, and she had to hurry. Each step felt heavier, and every breath weaker. The taste of blood filled her mouth and her vision blurred.

Ino knew she was now beyond the point of no return. Her physical body would have started succumbing to the injuries as well. Somehow, this didn’t bother her as much as she thought it would. Dying was always a possibility as a shinobi. It was something she had come to terms with a long time ago. But this, right here, right now, didn’t feel like dying… at least not in the way one would assume. No, this was repayment. Naruto had already sacrificed so much for the village, for the people. He had lost more than anyone she knew. He didn’t deserve to lose his life as well. Not like this. Not yet. It was time that someone made a sacrifice for him instead. Ino only regretted not being able to tell him how she felt about him before she did this. ‘And I was supposed to be the smart one out of us…’ she thought amusedly. She had barely noticed the water rising beneath her feet until she was standing right before the seal itself. Her hand trembled as she reached for it, her fingers weakly grasping the paper. It was a weird feeling, to hold such a thing in her hand, knowing what power it held at bay. Such a simple feeble thing. Ino gripped the paper with both hands, took a deep breath, and…

“Wait,” the Kyuubi said suddenly, stopping the girl in her tracks. Its eyes watched her carefully as it quickly considered its thoughts. The fox wanted out, there was no denying that. But this girl, this child, was willing to die on the mere hope of savings its jinchuuriki. Hell, she would likely already die from trying in the first place. Was his freedom worth such a cost. The lives of children. The innocent. So much blood already stained his claws. He had been used as a weapon of destruction and death against his will too much already. Was he prepared to truly let himself become the monster the world now saw him as? What would his father think of him if he knew such hatred had poisoned him so. He raised himself to Ino’s level. “This… saving him. Saving us. It could kill you. You understand, don’t you?” he asked, Ino giving a stern look of resolve to answer. “Only a small piece,” he said.

Ino, wasting none of the near non-existant time she had left, grabbed the corner of the paper, and pulled. The paper tearing far easier than she expected. She didn’t have to wait to see the results. As soon as the torn piece of the seal fell from her hands into the water, the room lit up, red chakra gushing in through the bars and flooding down the corridors. She expected it to burn, to drown her out and cast her from this plane, but it didn’t. It felt warm. The water in the room began to rise, lifting Naruto’s body to the same level. Stumbling over to him, Ino collapsed beside him, watching in relief as the Kyuubi’s chakra enveloped him, the wounds already starting to heal and fade.

“Thank you.”

Ino jumped at the words, her head shooting up only to see a man, smiling at her. He looked just like Naruto, only older, and eerily familiar. For the life of her Ino could swear she knew who she was looking at, it was on the tip of her tongue and yet… “Lord fourth?”

The fourth Hokage continued to smile, gently placing his hand on the girl’s shoulder, chakra flowing into her and numbing her pain, the wounds that had begun forming on her stopping suddenly. “Please, look after my son,” he said. “He cares deeply for you.”

Ino’s eyes widened. “Your son?!”

“Farewell.”

“No, wait…” Her words disappeared as she was suddenly enveloped in red chakra, her spirit forcefully ejected from Naruto’s body.

Minato’s eyes lingered on Naruto for a short while. Taking his time to cherish this moment with his son. It was so much earlier than he had planned. Naruto was so young still. “Oh, Kushina. I wish you could see our boy,” he said softly, stroking Naruto’s hair. “I’m so sorry Naruto. I had hoped to take this chance to talk to you, just once. I love you… so much.” He stood, cradling Naruto in his arms, turning his attention to the cage from which a tidal wave of chakra was now freely flowing from. Behind the bars, two large red eyes stared at him, a deep and shameful sorrow held in them.

“We need to talk…”

Outside, in the real world, mere minutes had passed. Ino’s body was now laid in a bed beside Naruto. Several doctors and medic nin now filled the room, frantically working alongside Tsunade to try and stabilise Naruto while also desperately trying to halt the injuries now forming on the young Yamanaka. Tsunade had no idea what Ino was thinking, but if the girl survived, she was going to find out, painfully. Despite everyone’s best efforts, none of them were actual miracle workers. Naruto’s condition wasn’t improving in the slightest, and Ino was quickly following the same path. Who even makes a jutsu with that disastrous of a flaw, honestly. The best they could do was keep the two of them alive and hope for… well, Tsunade wasn’t sure what to hope for. It was a struggle to maintain her medical jutsu for so long, let alone think straight.

That was when it happened. If the level of chaos was sitting at a maxed out ten, then it officially broke the limit by several more scales. Tsunade sensed the chakra before she felt it, the red boiling ooze pouring out of Naruto with next to no warning, burning her hands before she could pull them back. “Everyone out!” she yelled in a panic as the Kyuubi’s chakra fully enshrouded Naruto’s body, the wound on his chest bubbling and sizzling as it was forcefully closed. Had her worst fears been realised? She tried to rush to Ino, intending to get the girl out of the room to what little safety there might have been, only to be stopped by a giant clawed hand of chakra slamming into the ground in front of her. Those who hadn’t headed her warning to get out quickly fled the room at the sight of the glowing red appendage.

Tsunade looked at Naruto, and felt her heart nearly stop in her chest. ‘…no.’ Sitting upright, coated head to toe in red chakra that took the form of a fox, was Naruto. Only it was not Naruto. Tsunade could see that much. His once bright blue eyes were now a dark red, pupils slitted, and they stared at her with such disgust, such a disregard for her existence that it couldn’t possibly be human. She backed away slowly, preparing herself for what was to come. Only it didn’t. The Kyuubi didn’t attack. It just sat there, staring at her. Even as it withdrew the hand, its eyes didn’t leave her. Then, using Naruto’s body as a puppet for its own sick joke, the beast pointed to Ino’s body.

“Heal her,” it demanded, a tail of chakra moving behind her and shoving her towards Ino’s bed.

Tsunade shakily raised her hands to the girl’s chest, noticing that her injuries had stopped forming any further. Was the jutsu interrupted? It must have been. Why on earth would the Kyuubi want her to heal Ino? It didn’t matter. She tried, with what chakra she had left, to close the wounds, but it was hopeless. She had already nearly exhausted herself healing the others beforehand, and combined with her now burnt hands, still throbbing with the Kyuubi’s foul chakra, there was no way she could mould the necessary medical jutsu to be of any use. Even with Katsuya’s chakra it would take too long to both heal herself and Ino.

‘Guess I’ll have to use it,’ she thought to herself, carefully directing her chakra around the gem on her forehead, but before she could do anything she stopped, the pain in her hands replaced with a warm sensation as Katsuya was dispelled from her shoulder. Tsunade felt her chakra surge, and she felt stronger than she ever had before. Tsunade watched in shock and confusion as Naruto’s clawed hand rested atop her own, the Kyuubi’s chakra shroud now flowing harmlessly over and into her and Ino.

“Use it,” the fox growled. “Heal her, while I permit it.”

“Why are you doing this?” Tsunade asked.

The Kyuubi grinned. It was an unnerving and twisted expression to see on the sweet boy’s face. “You’re wasting time.”

It was easier than she expected, moulding the unnatural chakra how she needed to. Tsunade could feel the Kyuubi’s chakra cooperating with her, learning as she went and taking over where it needed. It was remarkable. On the one hand, Tsunade could only begin to imagine the potential such chakra could provide to the medical field, how someone like herself could use it; and to think the bijuu were traded around to be used as nothing more than weapons. Her disappointment in the existence of jinchuuriki only grew with this discovery. On the other hand, however, were now far too many questions with no time to ask them. The Kyuubi helping someone, or just the beast showing any sign of humanity, was unbelievable. Tsunade knew that once this was over, if she was still alive, she would be looking into it extensively.

With the newfound chakra at her disposal, it didn’t take long for Tsunade to heal Ino back to perfect health. Her hands had healed as she worked, and even her chakra reserves had rapidly returned. She knew the regenerative powers of a jinchuuriki were legendary, but to feel it herself was a humbling experience. The effortlessness of it all, the seemingly endless supply of power, it was all so much to take in at once. But it wasn’t to last. As suddenly as the power had been extended to her, was it pulled away. With her part to play finished, it made sense.

The Kyuubi swatted the woman’s hands away as soon as its power had withdrawn from her, a tail quickly pushing her back to a distance. Placing a hand on the seal on Naruto’s stomach, it pulled a small orb of blue chakra from the boy’s body, holding it almost carefully as he brought it down to Ino and watched as it slowly faded into her chest. As soon as the orb fully disappeared, Ino’s eyes shot open.

“Naruto,” she yelled, quickly finding herself looking at the boy in question. A combination of fear and discomfort filled her as the red eyes of the Kyuubi looked back at her, a grin of teeth too sharp sending a chill down her spine. “…Kyuubi?”

“You owe me,” the fox said ominously, its chakra quickly drawing back into Naruto’s body and its voice fading. Eventually only the red eyes were left to show its control until those too faded back to their original blue. Naruto blinked as he came to, looking back and forth between Ino and Tsunade like a lost puppy. “Ino? Granny? What the hell… is… goi…” his world went black as he passed out, falling forward into Ino’s arms.

“Tsunade, hel-what the hell!” Ino winced as she received a firm slap to the side of the head. “What was that for?”

Tsunade glared at the girl with tears in her eyes. “I should kill you for the stunt you just pulled,” she yelled before quickly wrapping her arms around both blondes in a bone crushing hug. “Thank you. I don’t know what you did. But thank you.”

Ino gasped for air. “Tsunade… can’t breathe… let go.”

Tsunade released her grip, taking a few deep breaths of her own as her nerves finally calmed. She had earnt herself a strong drink after today, and anyone who argued otherwise was a walking corpse. “Don’t think for a second you’re off the hook for this, Ino,” she said sternly. “You could have died, or worse…”

“I know,” Ino said, hanging her head in shame. She couldn’t imagine what the punishment this time would be, but she knew that the lecture she was going to get from her father would go down in Konoha’s history. “I’m sorry, but I had to. I… I couldn’t let him go. Not yet.”

Tsunade sighed deeply. “What happened in there?”

Ino hugged Naruto to her tightly and shook her head. “I… I don’t know. Not really. I’m sorry.”

“We can discuss this later,” Tsunade said. “For now, get some rest. The two of you are to be confined to this room until I figure out what just happened. Am I understood?” Ino nodded. “Good. Oh, and Ino… don’t ever do that again.”

Ino was worried. Actually, that wasn’t quite right. She was terrified. It had been almost three whole days since the incident at the hospital, and nothing had happened. Most people would have considered that a blessing, but not Ino. She knew something terrible was brewing, and it would come crashing down on her head at any moment. She had thankfully been given permission to leave the hospital rather quickly. Tsunade had given her a full and very extensive medical, while her father conducted the most intense mind assessment she had ever felt. The fact that neither of them took the time to yell at her or chastise her for her actions so far was only the start of why she was as worried as she was right now.

The real cause for her concern was also the same reason she had spent the last few days in the hospital room she had been discharged from. Naruto was still unconscious. He was alive, that much was obvious. Ino was over the moon about that. But he hadn’t so much as stirred in his sleep this whole time. It left her wondering if she had messed up. Had she accidentally broken his mind? Did her actions release the Kyuubi into Naruto’s body and the fox was now just biding its time to attack? No, that would be ridiculous. For obvious reasons, Ino was now forbidden from using her clans jutsu for the foreseeable future, and even if she wasn’t, there was no telling what another delve into Naruto’s mind might do. Her father had attempted to check in on Naruto’s mind, but he was forcefully removed every time. The Kyuubi had Naruto’s mind locked down tight. No one had any idea if that was a bad thing or not. Jiraiya had thoroughly investigated the seal, finding that, although damaged and weaker than before, it still contained the Kyuubi in the way it was supposed to.

Tsunade had been suspiciously tight lipped about her findings from the medical examinations. Outside of giving Ino a clean bill of health and discharging her, nothing else was said. It had made things… interesting to say the least. Ino didn’t have any answers to give when her teammates and the rest of the rookies had come to check in on her and Naruto. She couldn’t just tell them what had happened. Not that she thought they would believe her anyway. The truth seemed almost too ridiculous to be real. But she also lacked a convincing lie to tell everyone. Everyone knew she hadn’t gone on the retrieval mission. As far as anyone else was concerned, Ino was just hell bent on being by Naruto’s side during his recovery. While not exactly wrong, it did make Ino worry about the ideas people were getting in their head about the two of them. She hadn’t even had the chance to tell the idiot she liked him. She didn’t need people thinking they were an item before she could confess.

Ino took a breath to calm herself down. She knew worrying was pointless, she just couldn’t help it. Glancing at the clock on the wall she groaned. It was almost time for her to head home. She hated leaving Naruto here, alone. What if he woke up to an empty room? The thought had crossed her mind to simply kidnap him. Tsunade would murder her for that.

‘Speak of the devil,’ Ino thought, the woman in question casually walking in and locking the door behind her. “Lady Tsunade,” Ino greeted, bowing. “Don’t worry, I was just about to leave.”

“Stay,” Tsunade said, grabbing a nearby chair and sitting herself across from the girl. “We need to talk.”

Ino gulped and sat up straight. She had been expecting this moment. Tsunade had been far too busy lately, what with Rock Lee’s surgery and the recovery of the retrieval team. She thought she would have more time. “Of course.”

“I read your report,” Tsunade said. “You aren’t a very good liar. At least on paper.”

“Oh…”

“Don’t worry. I don’t blame you for trying,” she said. “But I do need to know what happened. You did something to the seal, didn’t you?”

Ino nodded, averting her eyes in shame. “I… I removed a piece of it,” she said. “It was the only way to get enough of the Kyuubi’s chakra through to heal him.”

“And how did you know that would work?”

“The Kyuubi… it told me.” Ino knew the moment those words left her mouth just how stupid it sounded. How could anyone trust the beast that attacked their village. She didn’t fully understand what came over her to trust the fox in the first place. Maybe it had been the panic, or the near-death circumstances. Either way, Ino knew that in that moment she felt she could trust the Kyuubi. It didn’t make sense, but it didn’t need to. It had worked out after all… she hoped.

Tsunade rested her chin on her interlocked hands, furrowing her brow in thought. “So, the fox was trying to help,” she mused. “Any idea why?”

“It said if Naruto died, it would die too.”

“Self-preservation then. That makes much more sense than a benevolent bijuu.” Tsunade felt a sense of relief as another puzzle piece fell into place. She didn’t need to add feeling guilty for having a kind creature imprisoned to the list of her concerns. “That still doesn’t explain why it helped save you. Any thoughts?”

Ino shook her head. “No. But…” she paused, thinking carefully on whether to say what she wanted to say.

Tsunade smiled reassuringly. “It’s okay,” she said. “You’ve been through a lot. You don’t have to tell me anything. I’m honestly just glad the two of you are safe. But I want you to know that you can trust me with anything. If there’s something I should know about, please tell me.”

“The fourth Hokage,” Ino said, looking at Naruto. “Naruto’s father… is the fourth Hokage.”

“How do you know that?” Tsunade asked carefully. Such knowledge was beyond confidential. She could name those that knew the truth with her fingers, and Naruto wasn’t one of them. Unless Ino had been diving into some very specific minds, with a level of skill she ought not have, then there was no way she could have known. Maybe she figured it out on her own? The resemblance was there, so it wasn’t out of the question.

“I saw him… in the seal,” Ino said. “He seemed… kind.”

Tsunade smirked. ‘Minato, you insufferable fool’ It was just like him to put fail-safes into an already overkill seal. “Ino, I want you to listen to me very carefully. What you saw, what you know, is all to remain a secret. Only you and I can know. Okay?”

Ino’s eyes widened. “But Naruto…”

“Will find out when the time is right,” Tsunade interrupted. “This is no insignificant bit of knowledge. I know you were entrusted with the secret of Naruto’s jinchuuriki status, but this is much more than that. I am willing to trust you, as I know Naruto does, but make no mistake, if you jeopardise his safety…”

“I won’t,” Ino said quickly. “I won’t. I promise. I just… doesn’t he deserve to know? Hasn’t he dealt with enough?”

“He has,” Tsunade said sadly. “But some things have to wait, even if they hurt. Now, while I have you. I think we should talk about how you were affected by all of this. Do you feel anything strange?”

Ino tilted her head curiously. “Uhh, I don’t know. Should I?” She hadn’t felt any different than usual, but she also wasn’t exactly paying attention to her body since waking up. If anything, she felt… better?

“You were healed by the Kyuubi’s chakra. Some of that chakra has remained in your system,” Tsunade said. “It appears dormant. In all likeliness it will work its way out naturally, but it is something we should keep an eye on just in case. If you notice anything out of the ordinary, or have any concerns, do not hesitate to come to me. We have no idea how such chakra will act within someone who doesn’t also contain the beast it belongs to. For now, there is only one notable side effect you will have to deal with.”

“Oh?”

“Your chakra pathways have expanded to compensate for the Kyuubi’s residual chakra,” Tsunade explained. “Now, while the chakra may dissipate, your pathways will likely not return to their natural state. Right now, I would say that you have more than triple the amount of chakra you had before.”

“Hell yeah,” Ino exclaimed. ‘Take that billboard-brow!’

“That also means you will have to learn how to control that new amount of chakra.”

“Hah. Piece of cake. I have great chakra control,” Ino said.

“You did,” Tsunade corrected.

“Huh?”

Tsunade smirked. “You’ll figure it out,” she said, getting up to leave. “Don’t waste too much time in here. Naruto isn’t going anywhere. Once he wakes up, I’m sure you’ll be one of the first to know.”

Ino watched her go for the door, only to call out at the last moment. “Lady Tsunade… am I in trouble? For damaging the seal, I mean?”

“Oh… yes. Absolutely,” Tsunade said. “… as soon as I figure out how to punish you that is.” It was a tricky situation. If she overdid the punishment, it might draw attention. No one needed to know what happened, so it would be best to play it quiet and safe. But how to go about it. ‘Oh… oh I couldn’t,’ Tsunade thought, a wicked smile tugging at her lips. ‘Oh, but I can.’

“Ino… do you know Anko Mitirashi?” Tsunade asked. Had someone not known otherwise, they would have thought Tsunade was the snake of the Sannin with how she was now looking at Ino. The poor girl may as well have been a helpless little rabbit ready for slaughter.

“Mitirashi? You mean that creepy snake lady from the chunin exams?” Ino asked, already feeling uneasy.

Tsunade smiled. “Oh good, you’ve already been introduced,” she said innocently. “It appears that Anko has put in a request for some assistance in some menial tasks. Nothing dangerous, mostly D-rank nonsense. No one has been willing to take it up yet and Anko has been nagging me. I would consider it a very big step in the right direction if you were to… volunteer, so to speak.”

Ino pursed her lips. It was clear by Tsunade’s tone that there was no room to argue. “A mission? So, does that mean I get to keep being a kunoichi?” she asked hopefully.

“For now, yes,” Tsunade said. “We can’t afford to be turning down capable hands at the moment. You will start by helping Anko. After that, you will continue to be on a probationary period. You have a bad habit of doing very stupid things. We will have to try and correct that.”

“That’s… fair,” Ino said. Truth be told, it was a million times better than what she had been expecting. At least this way she wouldn’t spend the rest of her life working at the flower shop. 

“Report to me tomorrow morning. We will work out the details then,” Tsunade said, closing the door behind her as she left.

Ino sighed deeply and turned an amused smile to Naruto. “Well, good to know I didn’t just ruin my career trying to save you,” she said cheekily. “Now you just have to wake up.” Her smile turned as she gently held his hand. “Please wake up,” she whispered, leaning down to give a quick kiss to his forehead. “I’ll be back tomorrow, okay.”

With a blush that could put Hinata to shame, Ino quickly grabbed her things and headed home. She wasn’t sure what was in store for her tomorrow but something told her she would need to be well rested for it. Anko couldn’t be that bad, right?

Naruto knew where he was the moment his consciousness began to drip back into his body. He would never forget the feeling of the hospital beds, or the cheap sheets they used for them. The smell was different this time, pleasant even, like flowers. He was surprised to find his body didn’t hurt this time. Not so much as an ache or pain that normally accompanied his recoveries.

‘Am I dead?’

He didn’t put that out of the realm of possibility. The last thing Naruto remembered was his fight with Sasuke and… the smell of burning flesh. His flesh. Damn he was stupid. Letting Sasuke get away like that. How could he face Sakura? What was he supposed to tell her? What would Kakashi think of him? Maybe being dead wouldn’t be so bad. Living with the shame of failure seemed unpleasant at best. Of course, if this was what death felt like, Naruto had to admit it wasn’t too bad. No pain, peace and quiet, a suspicious warm sensation on his arm and… wait, what?

Naruto opened his eyes, taking the time to adjust to the dull light of the room. The sun was just starting to disappear over the horizon, which meant it was the perfect time to break out and get home. There was just one problem. Ino. She was there, asleep, in his hospital room. Her fingers interlocked with his and her face resting on his forearm. She looked so peaceful, so pretty, propped up on the side of his bed. Naruto didn’t notice he was staring so intensely until he had to fight back a blush. What was she even doing here at this time? Taking a closer look, he noticed her clothes were ragged, and she was covered in dirt. Even her hair was a mess. Naruto had never known Ino to let her appearance falter so much, even when they trained. Something must have been up.

“Ino?” he said softly, gently moving his arm beneath her.

“Five more minutes, dad,” Ino mumbled, wrapping her arms tighter around Naruto’s arm and nuzzling her face into his hand.

Naruto held back a laugh. He would make sure Ino never lived this down for as long as he lived. If only he had a camera. “Uhh, Ino. Wake up.” He gave his arm a slightly firmer shake this time, earning a groan from the girl.

“Ugh, what?” Ino asked tiredly, lifting her head and slowly blinking. She yawned and stretched, finally letting go of Naruto’s hand as she rubbed her eyes awake.

“Sleep well?” Naruto asked.

“Huh? Oh, hey Naruto,” Ino said, slumping back into her chair. “Man, Anko is a slave driver. That woman needs a boyfriend or something.”

Naruto was having a great time. Ino had no idea what was going on. He would have to remember to take advantage of her sleepiness in the future. “The snake lady?”

“Feh, more like snake bitch,” Ino scoffed. “Did you know she has a jutsu that…” she stopped, eyes widening as her head turned slowly to a now grinning Naruto. “…Naruto?”

“Yeah?” Naruto said sheepishly, scratching the back of his head like he always did.

“Naruto…”

“You okay, Ino?”

Naruto yelped in surprise as the air was suddenly knocked out of him, Ino crashing into him and wrapping her arms around him in the tightest hug he had ever felt. Since when had Ino been this strong? “Gah, Ino, what the hell?”

“You’re back,” Ino said happily, as if that explained everything.

“Did I go somewhere?”

“Shut up and hug me.”

Naruto didn’t hesitate, quickly wrapping his arms around her. He knew from prior experience that she wouldn’t stop until he returned the gesture. This time felt different though. The way Ino relaxed into his arms was something new, as if all her worries were melting away. It was nice. He liked the idea of being able to provide that kind of comfort for a friend. “How long was I out?” he asked as Ino pulled away slowly.

“Almost a week.”

“A week?!”

“Oi, you don’t get to be freaked out. That’s my job. Do you have any idea how worried I’ve been? I’ve been coming here morning and night to check on you. You could have at least woken up a little earlier and saved me the worry,” Ino said.

“Yeah, right. Because I totally have control of that, don’t I,” Naruto said. “Not my fault you wasted time checking on me.”

“You are not a waste of time!” Ino blushed furiously as the words left her mouth a fair bit louder than she intended, but she didn’t back down. No matter how embarrassing it was to say, she wouldn’t take it back. Naruto wasn’t a waste of time. Not to her.

Naruto grinned. “Careful, Ino,” he teased. “Someone might hear you caring about me.” He laughed as Ino’s blush only got worse.

“And what if they do,” Ino said with a huff. “Am I not allowed to show that I care?” It really didn’t matter anymore. If anyone hadn’t figured it out before, they certainly would have by now. It wasn’t like the whole village wasn’t astutely aware of her intense visiting schedule.

“Huh?” Naruto stopped laughing. “Oh… uh, sorry. I… thank you, Ino. I didn’t… it means a lot. You being here and… I just… thank you…”

Ino smiled. She found it cute when he was lost for words. In a way it showed how much he cared. He may not find all the words he needed, but he took the time to make sure he didn’t just blurt out the wrong words. It was a lot from him when considering how little he cared about saying the wrong thing any other time. Reaching out, she gave a light-hearted knock on his head. “It’s okay,” she said. “Just don’t do it again.”

Naruto’s expression fell as his hand rubbed his chest warily. “It was bad, wasn’t it?”

“Don’t worry about that,” Ino said. “All that matters is that you’re okay now. We can worry about everything else later.”

“But Sasuke…”

“Is gone,” Ino said sharply.

“But…”

“No,” she continued. “We aren’t talking about him.”

Naruto opened his mouth to argue but snapped it shut when Ino glared at him. She could be scary sometimes. “Is everyone okay?”

“Mostly. You’re the last one left in hospital. I think Chouji was the worst off aside from you,” Ino said.

“Oh, well at least everyone is alright,” Naruto said, giving Ino a cheeky grin and patting his stomach. “I guess this stupid fox is good for something after all.”

Ino forced a smile. She wanted to tell him everything. To hell with the Hokage’s orders. She wanted Naruto to know everything, for there to be no secrets between them. He trusted her. How could she keep things from him? It didn’t feel right. “Yeah, I guess so,” she said. Now wasn’t the time to unload all of that onto him. She would tell him, in time. For now, she just wanted to make the most of him while she could.

“Hey, Ino. You hungry?” Naruto asked.

As if on que her stomach growled loudly for the world to hear. “Starving,” she said. “Ramen?” Ino would never get tired of how Naruto’s face lit up at the mere mention of ramen. Like a kid in a candy shop.

“Yes please.”

“I’ll go make us some,” Ino said. “You stay put. No running amuck until Tsunade makes sure you’re okay.”

“Ugh, fine, fine.”

Ino chuckled at his antics as she left. With Naruto awake, Ino felt a great weight lift from her shoulders. He was okay. Everything was going to be okay…

…as soon as she figured out how to tell him she liked him.

Chapter Text

Shikamaru was at his wits end. Things had been going downhill ever since the chunin exams blew up in everyone’s face. Why Sakura had to wake him up for that mess was beyond him. Being made a chunin straight after wasn’t supposed to happen either. Shikamaru didn’t want the added responsibility, or the workload. But here he was, silly flak jacket and all, regretting ever becoming a shinobi in the first place. The mission to retrieve Sasuke had been, for a lack of a better word, a disaster. For his first mission in charge, it was also a giant stain on his record. No one blamed him. They all made that very clear. But it didn’t matter. He had failed, and he knew it. He had failed his friends, his village, his Kage, his rank. For Shikamaru, that was enough to make him question himself. Perhaps if he had trained more, not slacked off so much in class, actually pushed himself to be the best he could be… maybe he could have avoided all of this.

He supposed none of that mattered now. What was done was done. There was no changing the past, only preparing for the future. Hence his newfound dilemma. Shikamaru wasn’t sure if he could trust himself anymore. He knew now how much could go wrong, how much he could lose if even a single move was made incorrectly. Even if he started now, there was no guarantee that he could improve himself enough to ensure nothing like that happened again. No guarantee that he could think ahead of everything and keep everyone safe. No one had died this time, thankfully. Not that it brought much comfort. It had come too close for that. Too many of his friends had barely scraped by in their survival. Had it not been for Temari, Shikamaru knew he would have died. And Naruto…

The Nara had felt sick once he read the medical reports. He wasn’t a fool. He knew there was information redacted from Naruto’s charts. Figuring out Naruto was the nine-tails jinchuuriki had been an easy enough puzzle, as was understanding why it was being kept a secret. He never uttered his discovery to anyone, not even to Ino once she developed a strange obsession with the boy. Shikamaru didn’t care what Naruto was. Naruto was his friend, and that was all that mattered. That fact alone had made what he read so much worse. Naruto had nearly died trying to bring Sasuke back. He should have died. No one could have survived those injuries by any normal means. Just imagining a fist sized hole through Naruto’s chest had made Shikamaru physically ill. And for what? For a pompous Uchiha who didn’t even want to be saved. How would he have faced Ino if Naruto had died under his command?

“…It’s like he doesn’t even realise how infuriating he’s being. Every time I think he’s going to ask me out, he just says something sweet and leaves it at that. And every time I try to tell him I like him, he’s oblivious,” Ino complained. “Are you even listening, Shikamaru?”

“Huh?”

“Argh! Why are all you boys the same?” Ino said.

Shikamaru groaned. He hadn’t even kept track of how many times Ino had hunted him down for the sole purpose of whinging and complaining to him. It was like she expected him to miraculously come up with the answer to all her problems. Which he had, and she had completely ignored. For nearly two weeks this had been going on, and it didn’t stop there. Naruto was also to blame for the headache. The rambunctious boy had come to Shikamaru, albeit with far more courtesy and manners, to ask for help in how to confess his feelings for Ino. He too, had not listened to the advice given. That both of the annoying blonds had come to him for the same thing was far too troublesome for a singular Nara. Even his father had turned tail and ran away when Shikamaru tried to ask him how to help the situation. Relationships were not a logical problem that could simply be solves it seemed, and he was stuck in the middle of it.

“I’ve already told you. Naruto likes you. Just spell it out to him clear as day that you like him too and everything will be fine,” Shikamaru said. He was starting to feel like a broken record.

“But how do you know that?” Ino asked incredulously.

“Call it a hunch,” he said. For obvious reasons he wasn’t going to just tell Ino that Naruto had come to him for advice as well. The less he meddled, the better in his opinion. Besides, if he admitted that, then who knows how long Ino would stick around grilling him for every piece of information he had. It wasn’t worth the trouble.

Ino pouted. “I can’t work with a hunch,” she said. “I need to be sure, Shika. What if I ask him, and he says no?”

‘He won’t’ the Nara thought.

“And what if he doesn’t like me the way I like him?”

‘He does.”

“I don’t want to wreck what we have; you know.”

‘You won’t.”

“Why aren’t you saying anything?”

Shikamaru sighed. “Ino. Trust me, the only wrong move you can make here, is no move at all,” he said. “Now, do you really like him? Truly?”

Ino blushed and nodded. “Yes,” she answered meekly. It was still weird to admit, out loud anyway. A year ago, she would have laughed at the very idea of liking Naruto, but now, well, now she knew better.

“Then go and tell him, to his face, plain and simple,” he said. “It doesn’t have to be this complicated.”

“Yeah right,” Ino said. “Says the guy who can’t keep his eyes of Temari. The poor girl was practically begging for you to talk to her the whole time her team were in Konoha, and you managed to be more awkward than Naruto.”

Shikamaru’s eye twitched. “Then why are you asking me for advice?”

“Because you’re the smartest guy I know, and you know Naruto better than most people.”

“Heh, I think you know him better than anyone by now, Ino,” he said, making her blush again. “You know, you’ll have to figure it out soon. I heard my dad talking about the last clan meeting. Apparently, Jiraiya is taking Naruto on as his apprentice. They’ll be leaving the village any day now.”

“What?! For how long?” Ino asked.

Shikamaru shrugged. “No idea. A while I guess,” he said. “Jiraiya is known for disappearing for years at a time and… where are you going?”

“To find that idiot and make him pay,” Ino yelled, quickly disappearing as she went off to hunt Naruto down.

Shikamaru sighed in relief as he laid down and stared up at the clouds. He should have said something about that an hour ago. He just hoped the two figured out their feelings before Naruto left or he was going to be stuck with a very pent up and annoying Ino for who knows how long. Just the thought sent a shiver down his spine. ‘Don’t screw this up, Naruto,’ he thought. In all honesty, he wished them luck. He knew Naruto would be good to Ino, and Naruto deserved someone like Ino. At the very least, it would get the two of them more focused on each other and leave Shikamaru with all the more time to do what he did best.

Nothing.

“Naruto!”

Ino pounded on the door, internally fuming that she had left her key for his apartment at home. After the incident at the hospital, she hadn’t needed to use it. Neither of them had left the village, and they had been spending a questionable amount of time together even by their standards, so he was always with her to let her in when they eventually made their way back.

“Naruto Uzumaki, open this door right now.”

“What the hell, Ino?” Naruto asked tiredly, opening the door only to be pushed inside and the door slammed shut behind them. “What have I done now? I swear, whatever I said, I’m sorry.”

“You haven’t said anything, and that’s the whole problem,” she said crossly, aiming a pointed stare at the boy and waiting for him to catch up.

“I haven’t said… what?” Naruto was at a loss. Ino could be confusing at the best of times, but now was a particularly bad moment.

Ino frowned. “When were you going to tell me that you’re leaving the village with Jiraiya?” she asked.

“Oh…” Naruto had the decency to look ashamed while he nervously scratched his head. “Yeah, that. Jiraiya only told me about that yesterday.”

“And you didn’t come and tell me straight away, why?”

“I tried. You were asleep. Your dad said you had a bad day with Anko. Remember the last time I woke you up after your training?” Naruto said defensively.

Anko had, much to everyone’s shock, taken a liking to Ino and offered to train her whenever possible. Ino had eagerly agreed, what with her chakra control now being shot to hell, but she wasn’t prepared for just how much of a dedicated teacher Anko was. Training someone into a coma wasn’t unheard of before, but the snake lady was on her way to perfecting it as an art form, and poor Ino was the canvas. The results couldn’t be ignored. Even Naruto noticed that their sparing sessions were now much more fun and not boringly one sided, and Ino was finally taking a significant interest in her development as a shinobi. It did, however, leave the Yamanaka extremely worn out and moody, as Naruto discovered one fateful morning when he had woken her up. He had never run so fast in his life before, or since.

“Oh, don’t be such a baby. I barely even touched you,” Ino said.

“Not for lack of trying…” Naruto mumbled under his breath.

“You wanna go for round two, smart guy?”

Naruto paled. “Please, god no,” he said pleadingly. “I’m sorry okay. I was going to tell you, I swear; I was just waiting to see you is all.”

Ino took a deep breath. It was hard to stay mad at Naruto when she knew that he only ever meant well. Honestly, it was so frustrating. No matter what happened, she would always end up feeling guilty for being mad at him. He was just so sincere, so infuriatingly honest. Truth be told, she should have known better by now than to come barging in like this and not expect Naruto to have a legitimate excuse. She just couldn’t win with him.

“When are you leaving?” she asked. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too soon. She still needed time.

“In a couple days,” Naruto said.

‘Crap!’ “And how long are you going to be gone?”

Naruto laughed nervously. He had been dreading this moment ever since Jiraiya had dropped the news on him. He knew Ino wasn’t going to take it well. “Uhh, three years, maybe four,” he said, waiting patiently for the girl to explode, only it didn’t happen. Instead, she just stood there, a strange expression on her face as if she was trying to think of what to do. “Ino? You okay?”

Ino blinked and smiled half-heartedly. “Oh, yeah, I’m fine,” she said, her tone not reassuring at all. “I just… wow. That’s… so soon.”

“Tell me about it,” Naruto groaned. “But pervy-sage wants to get a head start on my training. There’s, uh… some stuff I need to be ready for.”

Ino narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean by that?”

Naruto was apprehensive to answer straight away. He trusted Ino, maybe more so than he trusted anyone. She knew him better than even his team now, and she knew about the Kyuubi. There was nothing he felt he couldn’t tell her. But he wasn’t sure if telling her this would be worth it if it got her in any kind of trouble. The last thing he wanted was for her to get hurt because of him. “They are called Akatsuki,” he said vaguely. “They are… hunting the jinchuuriki. Two of them tried to get me when I went to help find Tsunade. Pervy-sage says they won’t stop, so I have to be ready for next time.”

“…oh.” Ino wasn’t sure what to say to that. It never occurred to her that Naruto’s jinchuuriki status would present more of an issue outside of people learning about it and having an issue with it. For people to actively be hunting them though, that was a scary thought. “Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked gently.

“I didn’t want you to worry,” he said. “Stupid, I know. You would have found out anyway. You’re smart like that. But if people are coming after me, I didn’t want you getting caught up in it. You’re my best friend, Ino. I don’t want you getting hurt because of me.”

Ino walked up to him and punched him in the arm, hard. “That’s for being an idiot.”

“Yeah, I deserve that,” Naruto said with a smile, rubbing his arm. Ino was much stronger than he remembered.

“Well, I guess we better do something before you go running off,” Ino said. “How about dinner? Get all the rookies together to see you off. Yeah, that’s a plan. What do you think?”

Naruto hummed thoughtfully. “I dunno. I don’t want people to come out just for me,” he said. “It’ll feel… weird. Can’t just me and you go? You and Sakura are the only ones I have to really say goodbye to anyway.”

Ino had gotten pretty good at forcing herself not to blush whenever Naruto said something silly like that. She knew he didn’t mean it the way she wanted him to, but that didn’t mean each and every moment he slipped up wasn’t now burnt into her mind forever. Sometimes she wondered if he was playing it safe and knew what he was saying, but then she remembered who she was talking about. Naruto was many things, but safe and forward thinking with his words was never going to be one of them. Were it not for Ino knowing full well that she wasn’t ready to go out on a date with him, she would have taken him up on his offer. But she wasn’t brave enough just yet. Making herself look like a fool in public could wait until he got back from his training.

“No, no, no. They will all be happy to see you and say goodbye. Trust me,” Ino said. “Now, where should we have… don’t you dare say Ichiraku’s.”

“Aww, why not? It’s the best.”

“Because you always eat there. Besides, I’m organising it, and I need to watch my figure. I can’t afford to stuff my face with ramen if I’ll have to spend the next week working it off,” Ino said.

Naruto rolled his eyes. “I don’t see what the big deal is. You look great. One night of ramen isn’t going to change that,” he said, clearly not thinking as he spoke.

‘This boy is going to be the death of me,’ Ino fumed internally. Why did he have to compliment her without even realising it? “Because I said so,” she said sternly.

“And who made you the boss?”

“I did. About twenty seconds ago. Any complaints?” she asked smugly. “And before you ask, no, nothing you say will change it.”

Naruto pouted. “You suck sometimes.”

Ino laughed. She loved winning. “Don’t be such a sad sack,” she said. “If you behave, I’ll make you some ramen after the dinner. I know you always have room for ramen, and it can be my little treat before you go. After all, who knows how long you’ll have to go without my specially made ramen. You’ll have to savour it.”

“Ugh, okay. I’ll do the stupid dinner. But you better not hold back on that ramen, or I’ll tell Anko about how it was you that put the dye in her dango,” he said.

“You wouldn’t dare,” Ino said. Anko still hadn’t let go of that prank. She swore to murder whoever it was that had left her with a bright orange stained mouth for two days.

“Ino. You know me. You know I would.”

How Ino wished she could wipe that smug look off his face… with her foot. “You’re a real piece of work, you know that?” she said.

Naruto smiled. “I wonder who I learnt that from.”

“You trying to say something, smart guy?”

“I thought I was an idiot?”

“You are!”

“Nuh uh.”

“Well, well, well, isn’t this cute,” Anko said, grinning from ear to ear in the biggest failed attempt at innocence she could accomplish. How she managed to slip into the apartment without either of the two noticing was scary enough without her expression. “Little Ino’s got herself a boyfriend. Wouldn’t have been my first guess, but I guess this does explain why you kept running off to the hospital all the time.”

Ino laughed nervously. “Anko-sensei, what are you doing here?”

“What are you doing in my apartment, crazy snake lady?” Naruto asked. “And how did you get in here?”

Anko pointed a thumb at the window. “You have a thing called a window. Which you, one; don’t lock, and two; don’t seem to be constantly aware of,” she said. “I have my hands full teaching one blonde idiot how to be a half decent shinobi, I don’t need to be dropping in here to give you any lessons. And if for whatever reason I feel the need, and if get back in here, I will make it the most painful lesson of your life.”

Naruto grinned menacingly. The evil glint in his eyes making the hair on the back of Anko’s neck stand on end. “If you get back in here…” he began ominously. “I’ll make sure the whole village remembers what happens to you.”

Anko’s eye twitched. “That’s a pretty fucked up thing to say to me,” she said, quickly turning her attention to an equally unnerved Ino. “Just what kind of boys are you into, piggy? Couldn’t you have found a normal boyfriend?”

“He is not my boyfriend,” Ino seethed, blushing furiously. “And don’t call me that!”

“Piggy?” Naruto laughed. “I thought only Sakura got away with calling you names. Oh crap.” He ducked, narrowly avoiding a small pot plant aimed for his head. “Hey! That one was a present from you. Go ruin your own plants.”

“Don’t ever say that around me again, or I swear, I’ll…” Ino let the threat hang in the air.

“Or you’ll what? Break more stuff that you paid for?”

“You guys are adorable,” Anko said, happily watching her new favourite form of entertainment. “But sadly, I am here on business. You’ll have to cut it short.”

“Huh? What do you mean?” Ino asked.

Anko pointed at Naruto. “I gotta steal your boyfriend for a little while,” she said. “Lady Tsunade wants to talk to you about something. And before you ask, I don’t know, and I don’t wanna know. So don’t try and drag me into anything.”

“Aww man. Do I have to?” Naruto whined. “I was supposed to go and have ramen with Iruka-sensei today.”

“Iruka, you say?” Anko said. “Is he still single?”

Naruto and Ino gawked at the woman. “You can’t be serious?” Ino said.

Anko shrugged. “He’s cute, and good with kids too. If he can put up with you two for all those years, imagine what else he could put up with. Of course, I’d reward him for putting up with me,” she said, a slightly dazed expression on her face.

“You stay away from Iruka-sensei. He’s a good man,” Naruto said.

“Oh god, I’m gonna be sick,” Ino said. “It’s just… so wrong.”

“Well screw you two. I don’t need to take this from two little twirps like you,” Anko said. “Come on, brat. I don’t want to have to drag you kicking and screaming, but I promise I will if you make me.”

“Argh, fine. Ino, can you lock up for me?” Naruto said, heading out the door with Anko following behind.

“Oh, and piggy,” Anko said, turning back to give Ino a deceivingly innocent smile. “Don’t think we’re done here. I look forward to your next training session.”

Ino grimaced as Anko left, slamming the door behind her. No matter how much she appreciated the noticeable improvements in her skills since starting with Anko, she couldn’t bring herself to enjoy it. It churned her stomach to imagine just what the snake summoner had in mind for their next session. If Ino was lucky, she would die before that day came to be. But such things could wait. Ino had to get started immediately. There was no time to properly plan something by herself, so she took off quickly in search of help. It wasn’t until she was halfway down the street that she realised she had no idea who to go for help.

Naruto wasn’t exactly disliked by the rest of the rookies, but Ino also wasn’t sure how many of them would actively assist her in setting up the farewell. Shikamaru would, if he wasn’t so damn lazy. Choji was definitely on the list, if only to help find the absolute best place to eat for everyone. Everyone else would be a guessing game, depending on who was even available. Sakura would have been a good option but… well, the girl still hadn’t quite gotten over Sasuke leaving the village. For obvious reasons it had put a wedge between the two of them for the time being. Ino could understand Sakura being upset, but she couldn’t stand to hear anyone say Sasuke’s name out loud. Even just thinking about him made her angry.

As she rounded a corner, lost in her internal frustrations, Ino didn’t have time to stop herself from running into someone. The two of them tumbled to the ground in a mess of limbs and dirt, and Ino just hoped she hadn’t barrelled over some poor old woman. There were only so many mistakes she could make in one year before she concluded she was cursed.

“I am so sorry, please for… oh, Hinata. Are you okay?” Ino asked, jumping to her feet and helping the other girl up, taking the time to pat the dirt from her clothes. “I really am sorry. I wasn’t paying attention. It won’t happen again.”

Hinata smiled. “It’s alright,” she said. “I should also have been more aware. Please, d-don’t let me keep you.”

“Don’t worry. It’s nothing really. I’ve just gotta find some people to help me…” Ino paused as a lightbulb lit up in her head. “Hey, Hinata. You like Naruto, don’t you?”

“U-u-um, what do you m-m-mean?” Hinata stuttered nervously as her cheeks burned.

Ino grinned. Hinata would be perfect. She was always so sweet and kind-hearted. There was no doubt she would help. “Naruto is going on a training trip,” she explained. “He’s going to be gone for a while, so I need to find some people to help me put together a little farewell. Can you help?”

“Naruto is leaving?” Hinata asked, her blush almost immediately gone as it was replaced by a look of sadness.

“I know, right,” Ino said. “He didn’t even tell me until today. I mean, me, his best friend. I honestly don’t know why he chooses to hurt me like this.”

Hinata blinked curiously. “You are Naruto’s best friend?” she asked.

In a twisted joke, Ino was for once the one blushing and speechless in front of the Hyuuga heiress, something that didn’t go unnoticed by Hinata. “Uhh… yeah. Yes. Definitely. At least… I hope so.” She shook her head. There was no time to be questioning things. “It doesn’t matter. Do you want to help?”

“O-okay, sure,” Hinata said. “What c-can I do?”

“You’re the best, Hinata,” Ino exclaimed, giving the girl a quick hug. “Can you run around and see who else can come to the dinner? I need numbers. It’ll have to be tomorrow night. I’ll get back to you on the exact time. I gotta go find Choji. Thank you.”

Hinata stood there awkwardly as Ino ran away, nervously touching her fingers together as she realised what she had just heard. Naruto was leaving, and soon. Her heart sunk as she realised what that meant. There was no way she could work up the courage in such a short span of time to confess how she felt about him. Sadly, there was now also another issue. Hinata wasn’t unaware of Naruto and Ino’s newfound friendship. In fact, she probably knew better than most how close the two had gotten. It didn’t bother her. She was happy to see someone finally treating Naruto how he deserved. She was happy he had someone. If anything, Hinata had only wished she had the confidence to be like Ino.

Now, however, she wondered if even that would help her. Ino was getting too close too quickly. Hinata had no chance in catching up. She already knew that though, ever since the chunin exams. She had seen how Ino had cheered for Naruto during his fight with Kiba, how she had rushed to his side after he had won. It was clear something had brought the two together over the past months. Hinata wasn’t sure what it could have been, but she was glad things were turning around for Naruto. Even if it wasn’t her doing it, someone was making him happier.

With a smile on her face, Hinata headed towards the training ground her team frequented. She wasn’t about to let Ino down, and she knew it wouldn’t be hard to strongarm Kiba and Shino into helping as well. They all owed Naruto a decent farewell.

Naruto toyed with his food, stirring the noodles endlessly with his chopsticks. The very image of him, Naruto Uzumaki, not enthusiastically inhaling any bowl of ramen put before him, would have made most think he was an imposter. If only it were that simple. Naruto was still Naruto, but his appetite had taken a backseat for the time being. In its place sat a sinking feeling in his stomach, an uncomfortable combination of dread and butterflies. He knew why. How could he not. Even someone as thick as him could figure it out.

He was scared.

Not of leaving with Jiraiya of course. That was exciting. Just the thought of journeying around the world and learning from the pervy sage had him giddy in ways he had never been before. It wasn’t even anxiety about the farewell dinner Ino was planning. He had no concerns about who would and wouldn’t show up to see him off. Any negative opinions any of his old classmates may have had about him would just be added to the list of minds he would change when he finally became Hokage. It was Ino he was scared of. Not of her directly… well, maybe a little of that too actually, but for now he was just scared of what to do regarding her.

Naruto wasn’t an emotionally complex person, he knew that. But he also knew that when he felt something, he meant it with every fibre of his being. And for the past week, he had been dealing with the realisation that he felt something stronger than ever before. He liked Ino. He really liked Ino. Sure, he liked her a lot before, but it was different now, or maybe it had always been different. She had become his best friend so quickly that he hadn’t even really thought about it until it was too late. It was a terrifying thought for the poor boy. Even his crush on Sakura didn’t hold a candle to how he felt about Ino now. It was frustrating.

“Naruto, you’ve barely touched your food. Is everything okay?” Iruka asked. In the back of his mind, he was secretly hoping that this would be their first outing where Naruto didn’t eat him out of a week’s pay. Sometimes he wondered if Naruto was eating for the Kyuubi as well.

“I guess…” Naruto mumbled. “I just… can I ask you something? And please don’t laugh.”

“You can ask me anything,” Iruka said.

“So, like, if you’re friends with someone… and you find out you like them as more than a friend… how do you figure out if they like you back in the same way?” Naruto asked, looking at Iruka with wide desperate eyes, pleading for an answer.

“Is this about Sakura?” Iruka asked, internally shaking his head. The young Haruno had been exceptionally clear in her refusals of Naruto’s advances before. If the boy couldn’t figure that out by now, then there was going to be problems.

Naruto grinned sheepishly. “Aha, no,” he said. “Sakura is still cool, and super pretty, but… umm, it’s Ino actually.”

Iruka quirked his brow. This was going to be one of those headache inducing nights, he could feel it. “Ino? As in Ino Yamanaka?” he asked sceptically. He supposed he shouldn’t have been surprised. He had run into the young clan heiress a couple of times while going to visit Naruto in the hospital. She was always there, and always coming and going from Naruto’s room. He really should have put two and two together.

“Yeah. I told you we were friends now, didn’t I?” Naruto said cheerfully. “She helped me sort out my apartment, and I have a bunch of new plants she showed me. She even helped me find a type of flower that smells nice for my room. We train together all the time, well, we did. It’s been a bit hard to find time lately, but we hang out whenever we can. She’s awesome, and pretty, and she doesn’t treat me like dirt, and she’s super smart. She’s been teaching me stuff that I missed back when I ditched classes. Sorry about that by the way. And she’s pretty, and… I already said that didn’t I?”

“I think I get the point,” Iruka said, chuckling. “Why are you unsure if she likes you back the same way? You said it yourself, the two of you are spending a lot of time together. I don’t think Ino is the kind of girl to take so much time helping and teaching someone she didn’t like. Maybe you should just ask her.”

Naruto shook his head. “No. Too risky. I need to figure it out first,” he said. “Ino is… complicated. If she doesn’t like me back, I could wreck everything. And I don’t wanna wreck what we have. She’s my best friend.”

Iruka nodded sagely. “Girls can me complicated.”

“Girls aren’t complicated, Naruto,” Ayame said, chiming in from over the counter. Neither Naruto nor Iruka seemed to mind that she had been eavesdropping. “Take it from me. If Ino is the type of girl I think she is, she will appreciate you being honest and up front. Don’t overthink it. Just tell her how you feel. You might find yourself surprised by just how much she does like you.”

“But what if she doesn’t?”

Ayame deadpanned at Naruto. The only person Ino’s feelings weren’t clear as day to, was the one said feelings were directed at. The poor girl. She was fighting the worlds cruellest uphill battle when it came to the density of Naruto’s skull. Watching the two of them drop in more and more often of the past few months had been the cutest and most torturous experience for the young ramen chef. She wanted so desperately to beat Naruto over the head with a pot, not that she thought it would help him. There was no hope that he would actually notice the way that Ino would watch him enthusiastically demolish every bowl of ramen. But Ayame had noticed, and she knew what the goofy smile on the girl meant straight away.

“Trust me on this one,” Ayame said.

“Okay, but that still doesn’t help me,” Naruto groaned. “I still don’t know how I’m meant to tell her how I feel without making a fool of myself.”

“I don’t see why this is such an issue, Naruto,” Iruka said. “There is plenty of time to worry about this. What’s the rush?”

“I leave the day after tomorrow. I have no idea when I’ll be back, and who knows what could happen in that time. What if she forgets about me, what if something happens to me. What if Sasuke come’s back and confesses his feelings for her…”

Iruka sighed. Naruto was clearly overthinking everything. “I don’t think you have anything to worry about, Naruto,” he said. “If you’re really worried about something happening before you can tell her how you feel, then why not tell her tomorrow night at the farewell she is organising for you?”

“In front of everyone? No way.”

“Aww, come on, Naruto,” Ayame cooed. “It would be so cute.”

“Oh no. Not happening. Ino would kill me if I embarrassed her like that in front of everyone,” Naruto said.

“Well, at least you’re smart enough to take her feelings into account. That’s a big step in the right direction,” Iruka said. “But no, I didn’t mean do it in front of everyone. She’s your best friend, right? Surely you can find a reason to have a moment to say goodbye to her personally, then you can tell her without fear of judgement.”

Naruto pursed his lips in thought. “I could walk her home from the dinner…”

“Now you’re thinking.”

“But what do I say?” Naruto asked.

“Oh no you don’t,” Ayame interrupted. “If you’re going to tell a girl you like her you better use your own words. If you say something from someone else, she will know it, and then she will think you didn’t care enough to come up with it yourself. Just be honest and say it how you would. Understand?”

“Ayame is right,” Iruka said. “If you truly like Ino, you won’t pull any tricks to try and make her like you back. She has to like you for you, just as you like her for who she is.”

Naruto smiled. “Yeah, that makes sense. I knew you were the right person to ask about this sort of stuff. You too, Ayame,” he said cheerfully. “But, uh, if I could trouble you for one more thing?”

“Of course. What is it?” Iruka asked.

“Can you, uh… help me shop for some better clothes tomorrow. Before the dinner,” Naruto asked sheepishly. “I don’t really have any good clothes for going out, and I wanna try and look decent or something if I’m going to tell Ino how I feel. I think she would appreciate that.”

Iruka laughed. “Wow, you really do like Ino,” he said. “If I’d have known she would be the one to get you to take better care of yourself I would have sat the two of you together in class years ago.”

Naruto crossed his arms and huffed. “You said you wouldn’t laugh.”

“You’re right, you’re right,” Iruka said, holding his hands up in defeat. “I’ll tell you what, I’ll even buy you an outfit for tomorrow night. Then you can use your money to buy Ino a gift. Something for her to remember you by while you’re gone.”

Naruto’s eyes lit up. “That’s an awesome idea, Iruka-sensei,” he said. “What should I get her?”

“You’ll have to figure that out yourself. Do you know what she likes? What she’s interested in? Try and make it a gift suited to her. Something thoughtful.”

“Hmmm, something suited for Ino. Okay. I think I can do that,” Naruto muttered to himself. “Hey, Iruka-sensei, if you know so much about all this stuff, why don’t you have a girlfriend?”

Iruka blushed. “Well… it’s not… I uh… I’m very busy and… I’m waiting, you know… for the right time,” he stammered. “Why don’t you run off and try figure out what you’re going to get Ino. The more time you take to choose the better chances it’ll be the right thing.”

“Good idea,” Naruto said, quickly slurping down the bowl of ramen with inhuman speed. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning, Iruka-sensei.”

With a quick thanks to both Iruka and Ayame, Naruto took off down the street. Iruka sighed in relief as he was left to finish his meal in peace. Naruto meant well, but dammit if he didn’t somehow find himself in the strangest situations. Ino Yamanaka, of all people, seriously? The boy was stubborn enough without someone like Ino challenging him. Why couldn’t he find a nice quiet girl that would calm him down? Not that it mattered. Iruka would be happy as long as Naruto found someone who treated him right. But Ino? That was going to take some time for him to wrap his head around.

“He really looks up to you. You know that right?” Ayame said with a smile. “He never shut up about you after you gave him your headband when he graduated.”

Iruka chuckled nervously. “Oh? Is that so? Well, I’m flattered.”

Ayame’s smile quickly shifted to a mischievous smirk as she eyed the man up and down. “So… how does someone so knowledgeable in the ways of romance not find himself tied down?” she asked cheekily. “No one catch your eye? Or are you scared?”

“I think I’m starting to see where Naruto got some of his influence from,” Iruka said.

“You’re avoiding the question,” Ayame said in a sing song voice.

“Thank you for the meal,” Iruka said with a smile, before disappearing in a swirl of leaves, a small pile of money left neatly on the bench next to a now empty bowl.

“Awww, no fair,” Ayame whined, crossing her arms with a huff. “It’s always the cute ones that run the fastest.”

“Ayame, stop flirting the customers away. We’ve talked about this,” her father said from the back.

“But daaaad…”

Naruto fidgeted nervously, his fingers constantly tugging at the collar of his new button up shirt. In his opinion it hugged to closely to his neck for comfort, but Iruka assured him it made him look both tidy and presentable without overdoing it. Naruto was just glad it was orange. Not quite as bright a shade as his normal jacket and pants, but that was okay. He was now also sporting a nice new pair of black pants, and Iruka had gone so far as to buy him a new pair of sandals as his old ones were on their way out. As uncomfortable as he may have been, Naruto wasn’t about to refuse any of the generosity.

Even without the gifts, Naruto was happy. Just getting to spend the day with Iruka was quite the event as far as he was concerned. It did help that the villagers often forwent their usual distasteful stares and murmurs when someone else was with him. Not a single store had asked him to leave the entire day, it was awesome. But of course, all good things had to end eventually, and as the afternoon began to die down, the two of them slowly made their way towards Naruto’s apartment.

“Feeling ready, Naruto?” Iruka asked.

Naruto smiled nervously. “I think so,” he said.

Iruka laughed and put a hand on Naruto’s shoulder. “Who would have thought. The great Naruto Uzumaki, self-proclaimed future Hokage, trembling at the thought of telling a girl he likes her,” he said, earning a pouty glare from the boy. “Oh, come on, it’s funny.”

“Iruka-sensei,” Naruto whined. “This is serious. I’m leaving tomorrow. If tonight goes bad then I won’t get a chance to make it better for who knows how long. What if Ino holds a grudge?”

“Hmm, good point. Ino can definitely hold a grudge,” Iruka said thoughtfully. “All the more reason to not mess it up then.”

Naruto deadpanned at him. “You aren’t helping.”

Iruka shrugged. “I’ve done all I can. Thanks to me you look the part. Now, do you remember my other advice?”

“Don’t talk with my mouth full. Always keep eye contact when she’s talking to me. Small compliments go a long way. Just be myself,” Naruto rattled off as if perfectly rehearsed. “Oh, and make sure to thank her for setting up the dinner. That’s a big one.”

“Very good. You may just survive this evening after all,” Iruka said. “Did you manage to find Ino a gift?”

Naruto smiled wide and gently patted the pouch hanging at his waist. “Yep,” he said. “It’s nothing fancy. I didn’t have much left after pervy-sage spent all my money. But I think she will like it.”

Iruka frowned at the mention of Jiraiya spending all of Naruto’s money. If it weren’t for the Sannin’s rank, and the fact that the man was taking Naruto on as his apprentice, Iruka would have half a mind to give the sage a stern talking to. “I think Ino will appreciate a smaller gift anyway,” he said reassuringly. “Much like with complimenting, you don’t want to go overboard with gifts. It can make people uncomfortable.”

“How will I know if everything is going okay?” Naruto asked.

“You’ll know,” Iruka said. “Ino isn’t the kind of girl to keep her thoughts unknown after all. As long as she seems happy by the end of the night, I’m sure it’ll all be fine.”

Naruto wanted to feel reassured by his sensei’s words, but his nerves didn’t want to calm down. There was too much at stake for him to not overthink tonight. Ino was more than just his best friend. Feelings aside, she was also the only person who currently knew about the Kyuubi. She was the one he knew he could trust the most of all his comrades. That alone meant running the risk of upsetting her or pushing her away was a terrifying thought. Deep down, Naruto knew he shouldn’t be worried. Ino was, as he had found out firsthand, an incredibly kind and caring person. No matter how badly he might screw things up, there was always the hope that she would find it in her heart to forgive and forget. Well, forgive him maybe, but Naruto knew she would never forget, and she would make sure he never forgot either.

Quicker than Naruto would have liked, the two of them arrived at his apartment. He didn’t want today to end. Both to continue enjoying his time and to avoid the potential chaos of the evening’s events.

“Is this a bad idea?” Naruto asked. “Do you think I should just leave things as they are?”

“Do you want to leave things?” Iruka asked. “Regret is a… complicated thing. In our line of work, playing it safe is admirable, but it can lead to other problems down the line.”

“What does that mean?”

Iruka knelt down and smiled. “It means don’t get caught up on what could happen. You have the rest of your life to fix things if they go wrong, but you only have right now to see if they can go right,” he said. “If you don’t tell Ino you like her, then you’ll never know if she likes you back, and you’ll spend more time than you’ll be proud of sulking about what could have been. Being a shinobi is about putting everything on the line for what you believe in. You’ve already risked your life for the village several times, I think you can risk your feelings for Ino, don’t you?”

Naruto nodded, and before Iruka could stand back up, he lunged forward and caught the man in a hug. “Thank you, sensei. I… really appreciate this. Everything. You.”

Iruka gently wrapped his arms around Naruto and returned the hug. “Well, it wouldn’t do me any good if I didn’t stay on the future Hokage’s good side, now would it?” he said with a laugh. Pulling back from the hug, he patted Naruto on the shoulders and straightened his shirt back out. “So, where are you off to?”

Naruto blinked. “I uhhh… I don’t know,” he said. “Ino just said she was going to organise a dinner. No idea what she came up with.”

“In that case, it might be wise to just stay here. I’m sure Ino will come and find you.” Iruka stood up and gave Naruto a thumbs up. “You got this.”

To say Naruto was nervous would be a hilarious understatement. As soon as Iruka left him to his own thoughts he became an internal rambling mess. The only upside was that he could practically feel the irritation emanating from the Kyuubi within him. Apparently, a giant immortal fox wasn’t all that hard to annoy. He was too afraid to do anything out of fear of messing up his new clothes. Despite his growing hunger he didn’t even dare to make a quick bowl of instant ramen. Something told him that Ino would know if he did, and he didn’t want to seem rude by not eating wherever she had planned to go. Thankfully, he didn’t have to wait long.

“Naruto, you here?” Ino asked, letting herself in. 

“Coming,” Naruto called out, quickly leaping from his bed and rushing to the door. “I was worried you might have been waiting for me somewhere.” He froze as he finally caught sight of the blonde, his jaw dropping. “Wow.”

Ino blushed, both because of Naruto being stunned by her appearance and because she couldn’t help but return the gesture. Since when did Naruto have nice clothes? “What are those?” she asked, gesturing to all of him. “I have been through your wardrobe. Those were not in there.”

Naruto snapped out of his stupor. “Oh, Iruka helped me pick out some clothes for the dinner. Do they look alright?” he asked, spinning around to give her a full look. He wasn’t sure if that was necessary, but Ino had always done a little spin when showing off new clothes, so he figured it was appropriate.

‘I knew he would clean up well’ Ino yelled inside her head as she smiled. The little spin was also adorable. “Quite good,” she said. “Iruka huh? I guess even he couldn’t pry you away from wearing orange, but at least he chose a good shade. Really suits you.”

“It was a fair compromise,” Naruto said with a laugh.

Ino smirked as she took a step forward. “And what about me?” she asked, taking far too much joy in the fear quickly appearing in Naruto’s eyes. “How do I look?”

She gave him the same courtesy, spinning around on the spot to give him a full view. The only difference was she knew what she was doing. Her spin was slow, graceful, and devilishly intended to catch Naruto off guard. Ino was proud of her appearance, even in the more casual outfit she had chosen for the night. A black knee length skirt that billowed around her as she spun and a dark purple top with one loose fitting sleeve on her left arm, all brought together with her somewhat shorter blonde hair that she had chosen to let hand down for the night. At least it was growing back now. It had been difficult for her to allow herself such a laid-back look, but she’d be lying if she said she didn’t need it. She wanted as much comfort for tonight as she could get. Besides, if Naruto’s blush was anything to go by, then Ino was happy with her decision.

“Well?”

Naruto gulped and repeated all of Iruka’s advice over and over in his head. “You look great,” he said, grinning as wide as he could to hide the fear. He hoped that was the correct answer.

Ino rolled her eyes and smiled. “Naruto, when a girl asks you how they look, you’re supposed to say beautiful or pretty. Something along those lines,” she explained. “But you didn’t say something stupid, so I guess there is improvement.”

“Huh? You’re always really pretty though. I thought you were talking about your clothes,” Naruto said, scratching his head thoughtfully. He would have to be more careful in his responses if he wanted tonight to go well.

“Time to go,” Ino said quickly, grabbing Naruto’s hand and dragging him behind her as she left. There was no way she was letting him see how red her face was right now. Even someone as thick as him wouldn’t be able to ignore such a blush.

As the two of them walked Naruto was all too happy to recount his day spent with Iruka, making sure to leave out the advice and gift side of things. Ino, for her part, finally got to vent her frustrations about how difficult the rest of the rookies could be when trying to organise something. Choji had been the easiest of all; as soon as food was mentioned, he was on board. Strangely enough, things only seemed to start coming together smoothly once Hinata got properly involved. Ino wasn’t sure what that girl did, but she had never seen Shikamaru and Kiba so keen to help out before. Everyone else fell into place naturally, and much to Ino’s delight, no one gave the slightest inkling of not wanting to attend due to some sort of dislike of Naruto. The only person who couldn’t be accounted for was Sakura.

Ino had tried to find Sakura, albeit half-heartedly. It wasn’t that she didn’t want the girl there, it was just that Ino knew Sakura wasn’t quite over Sasuke leaving. She had taken their comrades betrayal worse than anyone. Ino wasn’t sure if inviting her would have been a good idea even if she had found her. Seeing her last teammate off while still coming to terms with the loss of the other might be too much. As such, Ino had opted to leave an invitation with Sakura’s parents. She hoped Sakura would attend, if only for Naruto’s sake, but she doubted anyone would blame the girl if she didn’t make an appearance.

“Naruto!”

Naruto couldn’t help but grin as everyone greeted him when he and Ino entered the restaurant. Apparently Ino had planned for everyone to already be here before him. “Uh, hey guys. Thanks for coming.”

“Like some of us had a choice…” Shikamaru said, ignoring Ino’s glare as he smiled at Naruto.

“Yeah, some of us could have found better things to do with our time, ya know,” Kiba said with a grin.

“Don’t listen to them, Naruto. Nothing is more important than celebrating the progress of our comrades,” Rock Lee said loudly. “To be training under one of the great Sannin is an honour that you should undertake with the full extent of your youth.”

Everyone sighed.

“Thanks Lee. I’ll try my best,” Naruto said, he and Ino taking their seats next to each other before being barraged by everyone.

“Please keep an eye out for any strange insects during your travels.”

“Bring back some cool weapons from the other countries if you can.”

“Don’t let us down.”

“Be s-safe out there.”

“Make sure to try all the different food.”

Eventually everyone got a turn to congratulate Naruto and make some sort of request of him during his journey. The mood never dulled as everyone enjoyed each other’s company, eating and drinking to their hearts content. Choji had gone above and beyond, making sure that there was at least one of everyone’s favourite dishes available at some point through the night. The only thing that stood out as strange the whole time was the fact that Naruto and Ino were dressed up while the rest of the rookies had all shown up in their usual gear. Not that anyone was game enough to comment on that. Until…

“Hey, what’s with the getups?” Kiba asked, eyeing the two blonds suspiciously. “Why’re you two dressed up like… ow! Hinata?”

“Don’t be r-rude, Kiba,” Hinata said.

Naruto snickered at the boy. “I thought there might be a dress code or something,” he said. “I’m still surprised they even let you in looking like that, dog-breath.”

“My breath is not that bad!” Kiba exclaimed, only to shrink back as everyone gave him a knowing look. “Well, what’s your excuse, Ino? Got a date after this or something?”

Ino smirked. “Why, are you jealous?” she asked, earning a chuckle from the group.

Kiba, not even slightly wounded by her words, puffed his chest out proudly and grinned cockily. “Me? Jealous? Hah, don’t be silly,” he said, leaning back in his chair and resting his head back on his interlocked hands. “What with the Uchiha gone, I’m officially the next in line for best looking of the rookies.”

The silence that followed his words was palpable. Everyone took turns either looking cautiously at Naruto or glaring at Kiba. The idiot should have known that Sasuke was an off-limits topic for tonight. It wasn’t a secret that Naruto felt like a failure for not being able to bring his teammate back, and no one needed to remind him of that. For several tense seconds, everyone waited in fear, expecting the blond to have an outburst or excuse himself under some lame excuse. By the time Kiba caught on to what he had done wrong, even he was beginning to worry about what was going to happen.

“Hey, Kiba…” Naruto said, immediately getting everyone’s attention. His face was blank, unreadable, his eyes seeming to peer into Kiba’s very soul. “Are you admitting to us that you find Sasuke attractive?”

Everyone froze. Kiba’s face twisted into an expression best described as what happens when disgust meets horror in a dark alleyway behind a brothel. “What? No! That’s not what I said!”

Naruto was now trying his best to hold back his laughter, a toothy grin slowly worming its way onto his face. “It’s okay. We accept you for whoever you are and however you may be. We’re your comrades, Kiba. We’re here for you. We support your romantic interest in Sasuke,” he said, almost real warmth in his words. Truly a performance worthy of praise. “I just wish you’d have said something sooner. I could have put in a good word.”

“I… no… that’s not… why’re you all looking at me like that? That’s not what I meant!” Kiba spluttered out desperately. “Hinata, back me up here.”

Hinata hummed thoughtfully. “Well, y-you did spend a lot of t-time glowering at Sasuke in the academy,” she said softly, taking a special kind of glee in her teammate’s expression only sinking further and further into despair. Payback, she thought, for all the times she was forced to listen to him badmouth Naruto after the chunin exams. “And you really wanted to f-fight him during the exams…”

“Hinata… not you too…”

Shikamaru nudged Kiba with his arm. “I would stop digging this particular hole if I were you and just admit defeat,” he said. To be honest, he expected his advice to fall on deaf ears. Dogs would do as dogs did best, dig.

Eventually, Kiba did concede, slumping in his chair and muttering miserably about blondes being too mean for their own good as the night continued on without a hitch. Sadly, much like the day Naruto had had with Iruka, tonight too had to end before he wanted it to. Slowly, everyone took turns and bid their farewells, offering Naruto one last goodbye as they all made their way out onto the open street. The gentle cool breeze of the night welcoming them all. Naruto couldn’t stop smiling as everyone began slowly departing… everyone except Ino.

“You have a good night?” she asked, staring at him hopefully as she awaited his answer.

“It was great,” Naruto said. “Thanks, Ino. This was amazing. You’re amazing.”

Ino blushed. “It was nothing, really,” she said. “If I had more time, I could have pulled off something really cool.”

Naruto shook his head. “No. This was perfect. I don’t think I would have liked a big send off or anything,” he said, taking a moment to admire the girl standing in front of him. She was one of the smartest, kindest, and prettiest girls he had known, and here she was, throwing a get together for his sake. How did he deserve someone like her in his life? “Hey, Ino… can I umm, walk you home? If that’s okay?”

“You saying I can’t look after myself?” Ino asked cheekily.

“No. What? Of course not. I’m sorry, I just…” his words were cut off as Ino quickly stepped up to him and wrapped her arms around his and hugged it close to her.

“I think I can allow you the honour this one time,” she said softly, giving the poor boy a mischievous smirk. “Don’t waste it.” As far as Ino was concerned, tonight was her last chance to confess her feelings. There was no telling what could interfere with her intentions once he left the village, so no one would blame her for coming on a little strong. The boy was dense at the best of times, so she was really just helping him.

Naruto laughed nervously as the two went to begin their walk back to Ino’s house, only to be stopped suddenly by Kiba landing in front of them, an accusing finger pointed at them and an all too confident grin on his face.

“Ahah! I knew it!” he shouted victoriously. “You two are so da…”

The Inuzuka’s words died in his throat as he fell face first to the ground, a paralysed groan being all he could muster. Much to both Ino and Naruto’s surprise, standing behind where Kiba had just been, was Hinata. Sweet, quiet, innocent little Hinata, calmly stepping out of her gentle fist stance and bowing apologetically to the two. “I’m so sorry. I couldn’t stop him in time,” she said, looking up in shame only to look down quickly from the sight before her with a blush.

Ino wanted to die. She was sure everyone had cleared off before she wrapped herself around Naruto’s arm so blatantly. Not that she cared if anyone saw at this point, but Hinata wasn’t just anyone. The Hyuuga’s fondness of Naruto was the worst kept secret in Konoha, right next to Naruto’s fondness for ramen. In fact, Ino was pretty sure Naruto was the only person who wasn’t aware of the poor girl’s crush. Ino looked down in shame but didn’t let go of Naruto. As much as she hated that this was how Hinata was finding out that they were competing for the same thing, she also didn’t want to just throw away what chance she had. She just wished she had of taken the time to talk to the Hyuuga before this kind of thing happened.

“Hiiwwannnnaaa!” Kiba drooled into the dirt, glaring at his teammate as best he could.

“Is he going to be okay?” Naruto asked, prodding Kiba with his foot.

Hinata nodded. “He will be f-fine,” she said. “I’ll take him home. He w-wont bother you again.”

Naruto frowned. “Do you need help? I can carry him back if you’d like and walk you home.”

Hinata’s eyes lit up for a moment at the prospect of Naruto walking her home, yet as quickly as her expression had lifted had it dropped, her eyes locking onto the saddened look of Ino. She was no fool. A stammering disappointment to her family, a shy pathetic thing with a ridiculous crush, those things she was, but not a fool. Hinata knew what was going on, what Ino was aiming at, and sadly, she knew she had already lost this particular fight. The whole night she had watched the two blondes, how they talked, interacted, looked at each other, smiled. They were so happy together, so pure. Everyone had noticed it. Hinata couldn’t in good conscience get in the way of that. Her crush aside, Naruto was happy, and that was all that truly mattered to her. It would hurt watching someone else give him that happiness, but not nearly as much as it would hurt knowing that she sabotaged said happiness in any way.

“I’ve got him,” a new voice said, Shikamaru lazily walking up to the downed boy and making some hand seals. His shadow merged into Kiba’s, the boy slowly stood up, wobbly and flailing like a weird human puppet until he took the exact stance of the Nara. “I can walk you home Hinata.” Shikamaru ignored Ino as she gave him a look that said ‘thankyou’ with her eyes. He wasn’t doing this for her. He was doing this for him. If the two blondes could just hurry up and admit they liked each other then they could stop tormenting him for advice and interrupting his cloud watching.

Hinata smiled and nodded, turning once more to the blondes. “Thank you for the offer, but I’ll be okay,” she said, aiming a knowing but kind look at Ino. “You two enjoy the rest of your night.”

Ino couldn’t help but watch on in shock as Hinata trailed off, Shikamaru and a puppeteered Kiba in tow. What did that exchange mean? Obviously Hinata was aware of Ino’s intentions, but did this mean she approved, or at the very least, wasn’t going to interfere? Ino had no idea, but that was okay. She could sort things out with Hinata later, girl to girl. For now, she finally had Naruto to herself, and there were still a few hours left of the night.

“Still hungry?” Ino asked. “I did promise you ramen after dinner.” She was a woman of her word. No one could question that.

Naruto chuckled. “Uhh, maybe a little. But that can wait,” he said, gently grabbing her hand and leading her away. “I wanted to show you something.”

Ino didn’t protest, allowing herself to be led along by the boy. It could have been a prank waiting to happen, but she figured it was worth the risk. They walked through the streets of Konoha silently, finding just each other’s company to be more than enough for the moment. That, and the two of them were both far too afraid to say something yet as the realisation of how they appeared finally set in. Two young blondes, dressed up for a night out, hand in hand as they strolled through the village. Needless to say, they were astutely aware of all the stares they were receiving. Eventually that issue resolved itself as they ventured away from the populated areas and past the Hokage tower until they arrived at the foot of the Hokage monument, which, for safety reasons, was locked off to the public during the night. Naruto was quick to assure Ino that they technically didn’t count as ‘the public’, but that didn’t make her feel any better about jumping the fence.

Naruto led Ino up the stairs to a point, and then off the designated trail. He did his best to ignore her protests for breaking the rules and disrespecting the Hokage monument. He figured that if she truly cared about it, she would have backed out by now. Instead, with very little persuasion on his part, she continued with him until they both stood precariously atop the head of the fourth Hokage. The village beneath them was still alive, albeit with a slightly lessoned hustle and bustle of street life. The great five shinobi villages never truly slept in this time of peace. Between traders and shopkeepers, shinobi and civilian night lives, there was a never-ending overlap of activity for anyone to enjoy. From up here, above it all, Naruto had found comfort as a child. A way to watch on without fear of scrutiny. A way for him to feel connected with his village without the fear of being rejected.

For him, this was what it meant to become Hokage. To watch over everyone, even if they never bothered looking at you until they needed you. To look at Konoha with the same eyes as the great Hokage of the past now did, was something he would never grow tired of. This was the one place in the village he never felt alone, the one place he could truly appreciate his dream and what it would mean for him. This view, this place, it was everything to him. And now, Ino was a part of it too.

“It’s pretty,” Ino said, admiring the view herself, still clinging to Naruto’s arm.

“Yeah,” Naruto agreed, though his eyes had long since drifted to another view. “This is where I go to think sometimes.”

Ino snorted. “You? think?”

“Hey!”

“You were wide open for that one.” The goofy grin on Naruto’s face was all Ino needed to see to know he appreciated her joke.

“I’ll let that one slide,” he said, quickly fishing into his pouch and retrieving a small box with a ribbon tied around it. “I… well, I thought it might be nice… ya know, to get you something. To remember me by while I’m gone.” Holding the gift out to Ino, he was actually rather proud to notice that she was surprised by the gesture.

“What? That’s not fair! I didn’t get you anything to remember me by,” Ino said, eyeing the small box. How dare he put her on the spot like this.

“I don’t need anything,” Naruto said, smiling ear to ear. “You’re uh… kinda hard to forget.”

The blush on Ino’s face was priceless. “Stop saying stuff like that!”

Naruto blinked. “Stuff like what?”

“Shut up. Give me that,” she said, snatching the gift out of his hand and quickly undoing the ribbon. Taking a deep breath before opening the box, she gave Naruto a side-eyed stare and pouted. “I swear, if this is something expensive, I will make you return it.” She understood Naruto had more than enough money. His frugal life style left much to be saved from his mission income. But that didn’t mean she needed him to go wasting any of it on her. That was not the kind of woman she wanted to be, and he would have to respect that.

With a deep sigh, Ino finally gave into temptation and opened the box, taking the contents gently into her hand. She wanted to scream. The only thing that was currently keeping Naruto alive right now was the shock factor keeping Ino locked in place. Naruto was dead. There was no changing that fact. As soon as her body responded to her command again, he would be a pig to slaughter. But until then, she was too caught up, staring in awe at what she had just been given. Perhaps, somewhere along the line, Ino had truly underestimated Naruto’s ability to think. He was clever, and kind, but this… just what level of thought had he invested into this?

“Took me a bit to find someone who could make it on such short notice,” Naruto said, scratching the back of his head nervously. “I remembered how you told me once that your favourite flower was the same as your clan’s symbol. I had to ask your dad about that one, that was awkward. But I wanted to get you something you would like. Do you… do you like it?”

Ino blinked. Like it? What a stupid question. He would have known by now if she didn’t. Many boys had tried to give her gifts to try and win her affection. All of them had learnt the hard way that she didn’t care about such things. Actions and thoughtfulness were the true key to her attention, or rather they must have been with how quickly Naruto had wormed his way into her heart. And now the idiot had gone too far. In her hand, Ino held a small delicate pin. A beautiful twisting of thin shimmering steel, adorned with an array of tiny green leaves and bright purple flowers made of glass. The flower of the bush clover. It was perfect. Not too big, not too small. Not made of anything that she knew was absurdly expensive. And it was tailored specifically to her.

“Naruto… this is… this is beautiful?” she said softly. “I love it.”

Naruto let out a breath he didn’t realise he was holding. “That’s a relief,” he said. “I thought for sure I’d screwed it up somehow.”

Ino shook her head and quickly pinned the brooch just under her collar. “How does it look?” she asked.

“Beautiful,” Naruto said with a smile.

“You aren’t even looking at it.”

“I know.” He was looking at her.

Ino blushed. She knew that comment had to be intentional. As smooth as Naruto accidentally could be, it was obvious he wasn’t relying on dumb luck right now. “You didn’t bring me up here just to give me this, did you?” she asked. Her heart was pounding in her chest. Did he like her too? Would he say it first? This was a dream come true.

“No…” Naruto said, looking down nervously. “I… I’ve been wanting to tell you something for a while. Things just kinda kept happening, and I didn’t have time, and I got nervous every time I wanted to say it, and I thought for sure you’d yell at me or something if I told you, and now I’m rambling and…” He paused to take a deep breath, too nervous to even notice the smile on Ino’s face. “I like you, Ino. Like, really like you. More than a friend. At least, I think I do. I don’t know. I’m not good at this sort of stuff. But I was thinking that maybe, if you’d like, we could, err, go on a date… when I get back, I mean.”

“Naruto…”

He laughed awkwardly. “It’s okay if you don’t want to. I’ll understand. We can just stay friends. I’d be happy with that,” he said quickly. “I just… I wanted to be honest with you… about everything. You’re… my most precious person and…” His words were silenced by a soft hand clasping over his mouth.

Ino smiled. Bringing her other hand up, she cupped Naruto’s face, gently stroking the whisker marks on his cheek with her thumb and staring into his deep blue eyes. “You’re my most precious person too,” she said, earning the widest grin she had ever seen. Right now, she was the luckiest girl in the world. Who knew Naruto could be such a romantic, not that she was complaining. “You promise then, to take me on a proper date when you get back?”

Naruto nodded enthusiastically. “I promise.”

“Good. Then you don’t have a choice but to come back to me safe and sound. Because Naruto Uzumaki doesn’t break his promises, right?”

“Believe it.”

“Now, shut up and hold me.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Chapter Text

Ino drummed her fingers idly on the countertop. Tuesday. The day she most resented. Oh, how she wished she was on a mission, somewhere, anywhere, it didn’t matter. She just wanted to be out of Konoha. Not to say she didn’t love her village, and her friends, and her family. It was just whenever she was stuck in the village and had nothing to do, which was thankfully not too often these days, her father always somehow knew about it. Ino swore he was using their clan techniques to keep tabs on her, or it was a creepy instinctive thing to know when his beloved daughter was free to mind the shop for him. Had she known he was going to use her as slave labour any chance he got, she wouldn’t have leant anything about flowers and plants to begin with.

Alas, here she was, sitting around, occasionally watering some plants, or trying to help some poor fool find the perfect bouquet to apologise to their girlfriend. It was not what she would call exciting work. There were some positives though. Ino was now unintentionally in the know of far too much gossip, ranging from new budding romances, or teetering marriages. It made for some interesting snooping, but even that had quickly lost her interest. Imagine that. Ino Yamanaka, the gossip queen of her academy years, now bored to death of hearing what was happening in peoples lives. Time, thou art a heartless bitch.

The bell on the front door range, alerting her to someone entering. It was late in the afternoon and Ino could only hope that whatever this customer wanted wasn’t going to take too much time to arrange. God help her if she had to do any overtime in this accursed place. Her dad didn’t pay her enough to get that kind of effort. “Welcome to Yamanaka flowers. If you need any help, just sing out,” she said, not bothering to look up to see who it was. Too many people had already walked in and silently left for her to care anymore today.

“You sure make this job sound fun, Ino,” Shikamaru said.

Ino’s eyes lit up at the sound of her teammates voice. “Shika!” she said cheerfully. “Did Asuma-sensei send you? We have a mission. Please tell me we have a mission. I need to get out of here. I swear the flowers are starting to talk to me.”

Shikamaru shook his head. Ino often got a little too stir-crazy when left to her own thoughts in the flower shop, but this time was more so. Poor girl probably hadn’t seen many customers to keep her distracted today. Oh well, not his problem. “No, Ino. No mission yet,” he said, ignoring the girl’s pout. “Make the most of this time. Relax a little.”

“Easy for you to say,” Ino grumbled. “Not all of us can sleep on command you know. Some of us actually enjoy getting things done.”

“Sounds like a nightmare,” Shikamaru said with a smirk.

“What do you want Shika?” Ino asked. She could use the company, sure, but not if he was going to be annoying. He knew she couldn’t hurt him in her father’s shop, but once their team regrouped at a training ground anything was fair game.

“The Hokage said she wants to see you when you’re finished your shift,” he said, shrugging. “Can’t really imagine why, but luckily I’m only the messenger.”

“Lady Tsunade? Huh, that’s weird, but okay,” Ino said. “I wonder if I’ll run into forehead while I’m there. That’s assuming she hasn’t flunked out of being Tsunade’s apprentice.”

Shikamaru chuckled softly to himself. “If anyone should be flunking out of an apprenticeship, it’s you, Ino,” he said, earning a hard stare from the blonde. “Don’t look at me like that, you know it’s true. That troublesome woman is corrupting you.”

Ino crossed her arms in a huff. “Anko-sensei is not troublesome, Shika. She is a loyal and skilled kunoichi of Konoha,” she said defensively. No one bad-mouthed Anko around Ino, no one. The woman was absolutely insane, and brutal in her training, but underneath the dangerous bloodthirsty exterior was a heart of gold that had deigned to take Ino under her wing. “You’re just upset because the last time she had to take over for Asuma-sensei, she woke you up in a creative way.”

“Putting a snake in my pants while I’m asleep is not creative, it is insane,” Shikamaru said heatedly, shuddering at the memory of that day. He still couldn’t look at snakes the same way. “I don’t have to be here. You have fun, Ino. I’ll tell Choji you said hey.”

“Wait, Shika, don’t leave me. I need someone to talk to. I’m losing my… and you’re gone. You ass,” she said, dropping her head to rest on her hands. The hours were not going by fast enough. Having responsibilities was bullshit.

Sadly, Ino wasn’t stupid enough to fool herself into thinking that being in the flower shop was her problem. It was making things worse, but it wasn’t the cause of her frustration. No, she owed her mood to none other than Naruto Uzumaki. It had been over a year now since he left, and she hadn’t heard a peep. Not one letter written for her, and it wasn’t like she could send one to him. No one knew where he and Jiraiya were. That was the point. Ino figured that also meant he had to be careful sending any letters to begin with, but it still hurt. Couldn’t he have used the toads like Jiraiya was to keep the Hokage updated? So far, the only comfort she got was the rare confirmation from Tsunade that the pair were still alive and well. It was good, but Ino wanted more.

She wanted to know how he was going, the sights he was seeing, the training he was doing. Ino wanted to know everything, but she also knew she didn’t want to simply read it. She wanted Naruto here, to tell her in person. No written word could replicate the excitement he could tell a story with. Oh, how she longed to have another late night with him, the two of them just yapping away like idiots until one of them realised that her father would likely be worried about her not being home yet. Those were such good memories. As soon as Naruto got back to Konoha, Ino swore that he wasn’t allowed to do anything until they spent all night catching each other up to date on everything. Even his promised date night could wait until that was out of the way.

With a deep sigh she resigned herself to the fact that she just had to wait, like everyone else. There was no point stressing when she knew he was coming back at some point. He had promised as much. Even the Shinigami likely knew better than to get in the way of that promise being broken. Quickly glancing around, Ino made sure no one was around before pulling out a small brightly coloured book from under the counter and opened it back to where she had left off.

 A bright blush on her face, Ino couldn’t help but giggle perversely as she read. Who would have known that Naruto’s new sensei had such a way with the written word. And to think, she never would have known these masterpieces existed if she hadn’t ‘accidentally’ hit Kakashi with her mind jutsu. The world worked in mysterious, suspiciously perverted, ways. She idly wondered just how much of a pervert Naruto would be when he got back after years with the Sannin. She giggled again, a small trickle of blood coming from her nose as her eyes seemed to glaze over slightly. Ino hoped Jiraiya didn’t completely destroy Naruto’s innocence and charm, but dammit he had better come back with a healthy curiosity or so help her she would cry.

“Ino?”

In a show of speed that would have made a jonin proud, the book disappeared, thrown into the void never to return, along with all of Ino’s dignity after being caught reading such things. With a practiced smile, she looked towards the owner of the voice, doing her best to act as if nothing was wrong. That’s right, nothing happened here. Nothing at all. “Oh, hey Hinata,” she said cheerfully. How the timid Hyuuga had managed to sneak up on her was neither here nor there, all that mattered was that she had, and now Ino’s reputation was at stake. Curse her lack of impulse control.

Hinata could only giggle at the display Ino had put on for her. “Your nose is bleeding,” she said softly, watching in amusement as the Yamanaka cursed and quickly wiped the blood away. “Slow day?”

Ino shrugged. “Yeah. You’d think I’d be used to it by now, but it’s getting to me,” she said. Perhaps that was the idea. As a Yamanaka, she needed to hone her fortitude as much as she could, and there was nary a better test of one’s mind than customer service. Whether her father had intended for that to be a method of training was yet to be confirmed. “Anyway, what brings the ever-elusive Hyuuga princess to my humble little shop?” Her curiosity was at an all time high. While she had a surplus of information and gossip regarding the general populace of Konoha, her ability to keep up to date with the rest of the rookies, save for her own team, had been sorely lacking. Hinata in particular.

Ever since Naruto had left with Jiraiya, everyone seemed to have gone into overdrive. Be it training, or back-to-back missions, they were all finding some way to be busy more often than not. But Hinata, she was the odd one out. Yes, she had upped her training, a fact no one was quick to miss, but she had also volunteered to work alongside Temari as the go-betweens in the Konoha Suna relations. It made sense for the young heiress to take an interest in some political matters, what with her potential future as a clan head, but no one had managed to hold the girl down long enough to get a clear answer out of her. Ino was committed to figuring it out.

Hinata smiled. “Nothing,” she said pleasantly. “I not long got back from Suna, so I am checking in with everyone. Gaara escorted me back. You should say hello while he is here.”

“I take it everything is still going well then?” Ino asked. The memory of Gaara’s rampage was still fresh in everyone’s mind, but the boy had come a long way since then. He was still creepy, no doubt about it, but he was trying his best and that was all that mattered to Ino. Apparently, Naruto’s beatdown had given him a new outlook on life.

“Very well,” Hinata said. “He has come so far already. His control over the Ichibi is almost enough to let him sleep properly now. His people are still very wary of him, but I am sure they will warm up to him soon.”

Ino smirked. “Hinata… I meant between the villages,” she said, earning a small ‘eep’ from the girl. Okay, so maybe Hinata’s newfound confidence and interest in Suna was the result of a much more personal reason. That was good to know. “Something I should know about?”

Hinata shook her head furiously, a bright blush on her face. “N-no. Nothing at all. I-I just thought e-everyone should know h-how well Gaara is going. It’s q-quite inspirational,” she said quickly. Bless her heart, she hadn’t quite been able to break the nervous stuttering when she was caught off guard like that. Looking up from the ground that she found to be so interesting for some strange reason, Hinata was met with an all too knowing look from Ino. “Please don’t say anything…”

Those puppy dog eyes could melt anyone’s heart, Ino was sure of it. She smiled and made a zipping motion across her lips. “Not a word,” she assured the Hyuuga. “But seriously, you need to learn to hide things a little better Hinata. An enemy could use that against you.” Ino didn’t want to sound too harsh, but her dad worked in the interrogation department of the village, so she had heard things. Using someone’s feelings, especially a cush, against them was to be expected in their profession. Hinata had a both a pure heart and a lot of skill. Normally that combination would lead to an early grave, although Ino hoped Hinata would be the exception.

To be completely honest, Ino was just happy that Hinata was allowing herself to consider other prospects in the romantic scene. It had been a depressing couple of months after the Hyuuga’s discovery of Ino’s own feelings for Naruto. The two of them had never come to blows over the matter, in fact, now that Ino thought about it, they hadn’t brought it up at all whenever they did run into each other. Ino had intended to apologize to her friend for so rudely moving on her own feelings despite knowing how Hinata felt, but the right time never came up. Not to say Hinata ever acted as if she was owed an apology. If anything, Hinata seemed… happier? It didn’t make sense, but Ino wasn’t going to take it for granted. If Hinata wasn’t going to make a fuss about the whole thing, then neither was she.

“I know…” Hinata said softly, a brief expression of sadness quickly being replaced by one of determination. “Actually, if it’s okay, that is part of the reason I came to talk to you.”

Ino blinked owlishly. “Okay?”

Hinata bowed slightly. “Would you help me overcome myself?” she asked in her best formal-Hyuuga-ass-kissing voice. Her father would likely murder her if he saw what was transpiring here, but oh well.

“Help you… how?” Ino asked unsurely. This was the last thing she ever would have predicted. What kind of help could she offer someone like Hinata anyway?

Like a switch had flipped, Hinata was back to her nervous self, avoiding eye contact and poking her fingers together. “Well, you’ve always been so confident, and sure of yourself. I was hoping that maybe, if you didn’t mind, you could help me be more like you,” she said. “I just… I don’t want to be weak anymore.”

Ino reached over the counter and flicked the girl’s forehead. “You are not weak, Hinata,” she said crossly. “Don’t ever say that again. There’s nothing wrong with being a little nervous sometimes. You just have to work on controlling it and powering through, which I know for a fact you can do. You don’t have to be like me either. You are your own beautiful person. Don’t go ruining what makes you who you are by trying to copy other people, it never ends well. You just have to believe in yourself, Hinata, just like how the rest of us believe in you.”

Hinata’s eyes widened. “Y-you all believe in me?”

“Of course we do, silly,” Ino said. “If we didn’t believe in you then we wouldn’t be able to trust you with our lives while out on a mission. Everyone believes in you. Trust me on that. You just have to start doing it for yourself, okay.” Damn, when did she become a pep-talker? This would have been so much easier if Naruto were here. He was the really gifted one when it came to talking sense into people. Maybe not for Hinata though, assuming the girl could stay conscious through one of Naruto’s speeches. What Hinata really needed was a little kick, that’s all. She had so much potential just waiting to be unleashed. It was just too bad that Ino didn’t have the heart to push the girl hard enough to make a difference.

… but perhaps she knew someone who did.

‘Oh, Ino, you fiend,’ she thought to herself while outwardly putting on the sweetest smile she could. “Actually, if you really think you need help getting out of your shell properly, then I think I know the perfect person,” Ino said. Was she really about to do this to poor sweet Hinata? Yes. Yes, she was. “I will warn you; it won’t be pleasant. You can only ask this person for help if you’re serious about it.”

Hinata steeled herself and looked Ino dead in the eye. “I am,” she said. For too long had she been held back by her own lack of confidence. If Ino truly knew someone who could help her, then she would take whatever challenge awaited her head on. She owed it to her friends who trusted her, to her family, and most importantly, to herself. She needed to improve.

“Excellent,” Ino chirped, clapping her hands together. She pulled a piece of paper out and quickly wrote something down before folding it and scribbling something on the other side. “Here. Go to this address and give her this note. Don’t let her scare you away either. She might seem rough, but she will do her best to help you if you ask.”

Hinata accepted the piece of paper gratefully and smiled at Ino. She knew coming to the blonde was a good idea. Kurenai was kind but seemed too content to let Hinata work things out for herself. Surprisingly, it had been Temari of all people who had helped her improve as much as she had in the last year. The older Suna kunoichi was quite the infectious personality it seemed. Spending time in Suna had done wonders. “Thank you, Ino. This means a lot to me,” she said, bowing once more and heading to leave.

“Hey,” Ino said, getting Hinata to pause. “You said there was something else you found me for. What was it?”

“Oh…” Hinata blushed, albeit not as bad as usual this time. “Well, I don’t want to intrude. But I was wondering if you had heard from Naruto at all. It has been a year now, and I was curious of how he was going.”

Ino frowned. So was she dammit. “No, sorry. I haven’t heard anything,” she said gloomily. “I know he’s okay. Tsunade said as much. But he hasn’t sent me any letters or anything.” She shook her head and smiled. “Don’t worry. He promised me he would come back in one piece, so he doesn’t have a choice now.”

“You’re worried about him, aren’t you?” Hinata asked.

“Of course I am!” Ino exclaimed. “I mean, come on. A whole year and not a word. And he could be gone for a few more years yet. What am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to think? What if he gets hurt, or killed, or loses his memory or something. What if he found a girl he likes on his travels?” Okay, maybe she was overthinking things, but her concerns were warranted, in her opinion anyway.

Hinata giggled, drawing Ino out of her own little world, much to the blonde’s horror. “You shouldn’t worry about Naruto,” she said confidently. “He is strong, and he is with Jiraiya. He will come back, I’m sure of it. And I don’t think he would risk falling for anyone on his travels knowing what he is coming home to. He did promise you a date, didn’t he?”

Ino’s eyes widened. No one was supposed to know about that. “You followed us?”

“Naturally,” Hinata said innocently. “I had to confirm my suspicions.”

‘Well… fuck.’ Ino sighed. And here she thought she was going to be able to avoid this topic with Hinata for the rest of her life. “So… I guess I should say I’m sorry, huh?”

“What for?” Hinata asked curiously.

“For stealing your crush.”

“Oh, that,” Hinata giggled. Finding out that her crush on Naruto had been glaringly obvious to literally everyone, including those who barely knew her (namely Temari and Kankuro), had been a humbling experience to say the least. “Don’t worry about it.”

Ino tilted her head curiously. “You aren’t upset about it?”

Hinata shook her head and smiled. “Maybe at first, I was,” she said. “But after thinking about it, no. You were there for him. You were his friend. You cared for him. I wasn’t able to do any of those things, and that is no one’s fault but my own. He cares deeply for you, and you care deeply for him. That much I can see, no Dojutsu required. That night on the Hokage monument proved that. As much as part of me hoped I would have all the time in the world to work up the nerve to finally talk to Naruto, it was silly to think the world would wait for me. As Neji says now, fate is what we make of it.”

“Are we sure Naruto didn’t hit Neji too hard during the exams?” Ino asked. “I don’t think someone should be able to beat a better outlook on life into people. It’s unsettling.” Don’t get her wrong, Naruto was very likeable and persuasive when he needed to be, Ino could attest to that, but some of his influence seemed to be unnatural.

“Maybe,” Hinata said, sharing a laugh with Ino at the thought. “I’m sorry for interrupting your day, Ino. I should be going to find my team now. Kiba is likely very keen to go out on a mission now that I am back.”

“That’s okay. You’re welcome any time, Hinata,” Ino said, waving the girl goodbye. In the back of her mind, she did wonder if sending Hinata Anko’s way was perhaps a tad too mean, but it was too late now. The outcome of that little meeting would be… interesting. “Oh, wait, you didn’t happen to see where my book went did you?”

Hinata blinked, the veins around her eyes bulging slightly. “Over there, third shelf, behind the empty pots,” she said, a faint blush on her cheeks and her eyes not being able to look straight at Ino for the moment. She was very aware of the contents of that particular series of books, having used her byakugan to peak at one Kakashi-sensei was reading once. Hinata blamed Kurenai for her curiosity on the matter. Had her own sensei not chastised the cyclops for reading such material openly, then the young Hyuuga would have thought nothing of it. Nevertheless, Hinata was now very much tainted, and no one was ever allowed to know it. What she wouldn’t give to have her innocence back.

“Thanks,” Ino said quickly, rushing over to find the book. She had been coming up on a juicy scene before Hinata interrupted her and it looked like she was going to have plenty of time to herself to enjoy it once the girl was gone. By the time she found the book and took her place back behind the counter, Hinata was already gone. With a shrug, Ino opened the book and continued reading.

Hopefully no one else walked through the door.

Tsunade had been waiting patiently for Ino to show up for some time. Not that she was complaining. The more time it took the girl to get here, the more time Tsunade had to think about what she was going to say. Her years as a medic had been paramount in developing her understanding of when to handle things carefully. Wording things properly was top of the list most of the time, but never more so than right now. Hokage or not, Tsunade owed a certain level of care and courtesy when dealing with her shinobi. Ino was just lucky that Naruto had such a soft spot for her, otherwise Tsunade might not have cared as much. Not that that fact made what was to come any less stressful.

She sipped lightly at a small glass of sake. A noted improvement over her previous drinking habits, but no doubt still a questionable act while on duty as the leader of a hidden village. Oh well, baby steps. With a sideways glance she reminded herself of her company. Tenzo, or rather Yamato now, was stood silently off to the side. The former Anbu was respectably unreadable for the moment, but Tsunade knew he was also just as curious as to the reason of him being here as Ino would be. Turning her eye to the file in front of her, she sighed. How did her sensei ever manage to hold this position for so long? Tsunade could already feel the age catching up to her and it hadn’t even been two years.

“Lady Tsunade?” Ino said quietly, poking her head in through the door.

“Oh good, you’re finally here,” Tsunade said, gesturing to the seat across from her. “Come in and take a seat Ino.”

Strolling into the Hokage’s office, Ino eyed the blank faced man off to the side warily before shrugging and sitting down. He must have been one of the Hokage’s guard. “What did you want to see me about?” she asked.

“Before we get into that, there is something I would like to show you,” Tsunade said, picking up a small vial of red liquid from her desk and showing it to Ino. “Do you know what this is?”

Ino blinked. “A blood sample,” she answered.

“Correct. To be specific, this is your blood sample,” Tsunade said. “Well, one of the ones that we had readily available anyway.” She popped the cap off the vial and place it upright in a stand before picking up a small syringe full of a thick purple liquid. She emptied the syringe into the blood sample and put the cap back on the vial, giving it a quick shake to mix it well before setting it back down and turning her attention back to Ino. The poor girl was now thoroughly confused if the expression on her face was anything to go by.

“Uumm… okay?”

Tsunade smiled reassuringly. “Don’t worry. It’s just a little test is all,” she said, opening the file in front of her. “Now, I know we’ve been keeping up to date with your more frequent checkups, but is there anything you want to add? Any strange feelings? Changes of any kind?”

Ino pursed her lips in thought. “Not that I’m aware of,” she answered honestly. “In fact, I’ve never felt better.” Not to say that feeling the best she ever had physically didn’t help Ino from feeling uneasy in this moment.

She wasn’t dense. Ino knew exactly what Tsunade was pertaining to. All the frequent check-ups, medical examinations, hell, even phycological evaluations courtesy of her own father. All of them had been for one specific purpose. To ensure her interactions with the Kyuubi had no lasting effects. So far, it hadn’t. Ino was relieved to know as much. But even she knew that what little of the bijuu’s chakra that had lingered in her system after the incident had failed to dissipate the way Tsunade had hoped. What that meant was up for some debate, but if this out of the blue summons meant anything, then Ino could only assume that Tsunade had come to some conclusion on the matter.

Tsunade hummed thoughtfully. “Yes, I figured as much,” she said, picking up the vial just in time as the blood inside began to glow a dull orange colour. “Watch.”

The two of them observed the vial closely, the orange glow holding steady as the blood, blackened and sickly looking from the added purple liquid, began to slowly clear until soon only a clean red liquid was left. Tsunade put the vial down with a smirk, receiving only a perplexed look from the Yamanaka. Even Yamato watched on with some near discernible intrigue.

“And that was?” Ino asked.

“That-“ Tsunade gestured to the empty syringe that had previously housed the strange purple liquid. “-was a sample of a poison we have from the snake summons, courtesy of Anko. Let’s just say that as far as poisons go, that was one of the more lethal we have on record. Even I would be hard pressed to fight it back. But your blood, or rather your chakra, just purged it out like it was a common cold.”

Ino felt herself sit up a bit straighter. This wasn’t going to be good. “So that means…”

Tsunade nodded. “The Kyuubi’s chakra isn’t going anywhere I’m afraid. Your body has adapted to it, and now it is there to stay, albeit with some benefits on your end,” she said.

Ino silently mouthed an ‘Oh’ as her eyes widened slightly. That had always been a possibility, Tsunade had said as much, but the chances had been so insignificant that no one cared to prepare for it. The only known records of someone being able to contain a stable amount of bijuu chakra without being an actual jinchuuriki were so rare that it bordered on being a myth altogether. And yet, here she was. Ino had to wonder if this was just a matter of bad luck on her part, or a twisted sense of humour on the Kyuubi’s part. She still remembered that night, when the Kyuubi had chosen to help her, to save Naruto, and by extension itself. At the time it had seemed too good to be true, and perhaps now was the time to find out just what such a benevolent act was going to cost. Ino could only imagine the stupid grin the fox would be wearing if it could see her now. God she was stupid. There was no way her little stunt didn’t come with strings attached.

“You understand what this means, don’t you?” Tsunade asked seriously, receiving an unsure look. “For the time being, you are to be restricted to the confines of Konoha. You may return to your duties and team once an accurate assessment of your condition has been made and we are certain you pose no potential risk to yourself or others. I’m sorry, Ino.”

Ino didn’t even try to argue with Tsunade, merely hanging her head at the words. “I understand,” she said. To be completely fair to Tsunade, this whole interaction could have been done in a far less friendly manner, so Ino was at least comforted with the knowledge that the older woman was being as kind and accommodating as possible. “So, what now?” That didn’t mean she had to just sit on her butt and wait. The faster she could prove she wasn’t a risk, the sooner she could get back to normal shinobi life. The process couldn’t take that long, could it?

Tsunade gestured to the man silently sitting to the side. “Yamato here will be conducting your physical assessment regarding the Kyuubi’s chakra,” she said. “He has the Mokuton bloodline which has proven to be uniquely effective at neutralising the chakra of the bijuu. Should what your body contains show any signs of instability, then he is the best bet at ensuring you don’t lose control or get hurt. Obviously, I will be overlooking all of your medical assessments and general health. As soon as both of us are confident that your condition isn’t going to cause any ill effects, then you will be free to continue life as normal.”

“It’s that bad?” Ino asked softly. She knew the Kyuubi was dangerous, but Naruto had the whole damn fox sealed away inside him, and he was still free to be a shinobi. Sure, he had only ever lost his cool a couple of times, and he had the willpower to boot the bijuu back into the seal, if need be, but was he not also a risk? Ino was feeling extremely singled out to say the least. She only had a small amount of its chakra in her, didn’t she? She couldn’t even feel it.

“No,” Tsunade said, shaking her head. “From a medical perspective, the amount of bijuu chakra in your system is negligible. The fact that it hasn’t dissipated in the slightest is what draws concern. Without a source, the chakra should have burnt itself out over time. The only thing I could think of that would negate that would be if the chakra was sealed inside of you, but since that didn’t happen, we aren’t entirely sure of what to expect. I don’t pretend to understand how your clan’s jutsu works, but somewhere along the line with the stunt you pulled to save Naruto, you have taken a piece of the Kyuubi into yourself. Without a seal to keep it contained, and with no bijuu to control it, we need to be prepared for anything.”

While everyone had complete faith in the sealing prowess of the fourth Hokage, the bijuu were still literal living beings of pure chakra, and the Kyuubi was the strongest of them all by a large margin. The chances of it finding a way to circumvent the seal that imprisoned it wasn’t out of the realm of possibilities. Ino’s condition might be an accident, but it could also be the work of an ancient and cunning beast. Neither option was entirely to Tsunade’s liking.

Ino slumped in her chair. Her dad was going to lose his shit once he learnt of this, assuming he didn’t already know. “Can we get it out?” she asked.

“Unlikely,” Yamato said, finally speaking for the first time. “Even if we could, it would be a painful, if not life-threatening process. All we can do is test you and ensure that the presence of it is truly of no concern. After that, you can forget it exists. Consider it nothing more than a simple boost to your health and chakra.”

Ino nodded in understand. That would be the best-case scenario, but something else was bugging her. “Who knows?” she asked.

Tsunade hummed thoughtfully. “Outside of those present, very few,” she said. “Your sensei, obviously. Anko was the one to bring up your surprise resistance to poison, so she knows. We have yet to inform your father, but I’m sure you understand that he has to know. For now, those are the only people I deem need to know, and they all know better than to go spreading such information.”

“Naruto?”

Tsunade’s eyes widened a little at that. She knew the girl had her sights set on Naruto, hell, the whole village knew at this point. Tsunade thought it was cute, but newfound circumstances made her curious about some things. What exactly would the children of an Uzumaki jinchuuriki and a pseudo jinchuuriki be like? Would Konoha even survive such a thing? “No,” she answered. “I wasn’t planning on telling Naruto. You know what the brat is like. He would blame himself for this.”

Ino gave the Hokage a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. She was glad to know that Naruto wasn’t going to be dragged into her mess, but she was also saddened by that fact. That made two. Two secrets she had to keep from him, even as she knew he never kept any from her. What kind of friend did that make her? Would Naruto even be able to forgive her once, if, the truth came out? A part of her was beginning to understand that the weight of responsibility as a shinobi was perhaps not as bearable as it had been made out.

“Can… can I go?” Ino asked gently, looking to Tsunade for permission to leave. She wasn’t sure if she was allowed to leave given the circumstances.

Tsunade smiled warmly at the girl. “You aren’t a prisoner, Ino,” she said. “Yamato will find you when he is ready to begin his testing. Until then, you are free to go about your business within the village.”

Ino stood and bowed deeply. “Thank you, lady Tsunade. And you, Yamato,” she said.

Tsunade watched as Ino made a quick departure. She was no doubt going to run off and find somewhere quiet to stress out over everything. “Do you think that was too much? I knew I should have had Inoichi here for this.”

Yamato merely shrugged. “She is a shinobi; she can handle it. I think she took the news rather well, all things considered,” he said.

“And your thoughts? Now that you’ve been close enough to her.”

The man took on a thoughtful expression. “She is clearly not being influenced by the chakra, but we aren’t out of the woods yet.” Oh yes, Mokuton pun for the win. “The chakra is acting on its own to protect its host. So far, cleansing poison is nothing too worrisome, but I will have to find out just how far the will of the Kyuubi is ingrained into the chakra within her. With your permission of course.”

Tsunade waved him off. “You’re free to do as you like so long as she doesn’t die or get so injured that I can’t fix her. If either of those happen, then you’ll be the one explaining it to Inoichi.”

Yamato gulped audibly at that. Mokuton or not, even he knew better than to mess with the Yamanaka clan head. The man could do things to a human mind that would leave most S-rank shinobi trembling. Yamato didn’t need to live the rest of his life thinking he was a seven-year-old girl named Tsumaki with a deep love for all things pink. No, Ino would be getting the utmost of care, that he would make sure of. “Are we sure it is wise to keep lord Jiraiya out of the loop on this?” he asked. If the Kyuubi truly was trying to reform itself from inside of the young Yamanaka, then it only made sense to get the toad Sannin back to Konoha as a precaution. No one else could possibly have the sealing knowledge to halt such a process.

“Probably not,” Tsunade admitted. “But we don’t have a choice. Naruto needs to complete his training, and Jiraiya needs to stay on the move for the moment. Bringing them back now would only make things worse, especially if Naruto found out about Ino.” That, and it could very well have been the distance between the two genin that was keeping Ino safe. Bringing the Kyuubi back to Konoha simply wasn’t worth the risk.

Yamato nodded and the two fell into an odd sort of silence, with Tsunade enjoying the man’s calm demeanour that opposed the often uptight nature of most Anbu. Yamato himself was simply content with sitting around in the Hokage’s office. He was both hard at work (guarding the Hokage), and yet hardly working. This was the perfect role for someone of his rank.

“Wanna make a bet?”

Yamato paused, internally wondering if taking advantage of his superior, a woman known to have the worst luck at gambling in the world, was morally acceptable for a man such as himself.

“I’m listening.”

It was.

(One month later)

Ino carefully placed a plate of dango next to her as she sat atop the wall that surrounded Konoha. With her legs hanging precariously off the edge, and the gentle evening breeze blowing through her hair, she could feel all her worries and stress of the day melt away with the setting sun. It was embarrassing to admit that she came here more often than she should, to watch the sun set and stare longingly at the horizon, hoping that she would spot Naruto and Jiraiya returning from their trip earlier than expected. A silly thing maybe, but she enjoyed it none the less.

The last month had been… interesting. Ino would have described it with much more colourful language if she weren’t worried that such descriptions would earn her the undivided attention of Yamato. Speaking of the strange ex-Anbu, he had finally given her the all-clear regarding the Kyuubi’s chakra. It might have taken him a month of pushing Ino to her absolute limits, and Ino might have developed an acute dislike for wooden furniture, but the results spoke for themselves. Call Yamato what you will, the man was nothing if not thorough. Of course, being given the all-clear didn’t mean everything was back to normal. No, it just meant that she was free to return to her shinobi duties with her team.

Turns out that despite having no source, and no seal associated with it, the chakra that now resided in her was there to stay whether she liked it or not. Apparently bijuu chakra had the potential to simply become its own entity when enough of it was separated from the main body. The only plus side being that instead of forming a mind of its own, it latched onto Ino’s subconscious and built itself from there. Hadn’t that been a fun discovery. She could still hear her father’s inane ramblings about the absolute indestructible wall of defence the chakra now put around Ino’s own mind. Being immune to her own clan’s techniques was something she was going to lord over her dad for many years to come.

Thankfully, there wasn’t much more to it. The chakra was boosting her own reserves, and keeping her at peak physical health, but outside of it defending her mind, it seemed to be mostly benign. No apparent effect on her emotions, no fancy schmancy chakra cloak (Ino was most upset about this), and no risk to herself or others. Anko had of course been the most peeved due to Ino’s newfound immunity to practically all of her poisons that wouldn’t outright kill her. Speak of the devil.

“Hey, Anko-sensei,” Ino said pleasantly, not bothering to turn around to look at the woman who was trying to sneak up the wall behind her.

Anko cursed under her breath as she abandoned her stealthy intentions and clambered up the wall, regarding the plate of dango suspiciously. “Okay, not being able to sneak up on you anymore is fine, but this-“ she gestured to the plate “-is bullshit. I am not that predictable.”

Ino smiled innocently. “Uh-huh, and I’m not a natural blonde,” she said sarcastically.

“Oh, ha-ha, very clever. Just because I can’t poison you anymore for my own amusement doesn’t mean I can’t still run you into the ground,” Anko said. “Kyuubi chakra boost aside, you’re still years away from keeping up with me, princess. So, fess up. Who told you I was looking for you?”

“Maybe I just keep a plate of dango here in case you ever show up,” Ino suggested.

Anko’s eye twitched before she sighed in defeat and sat down next to Ino, wasting no time in claiming the dango for herself and not showing any signs of intending to share. “You figured out how you’re gonna tell your boyfriend yet?” she asked.

Ino sighed. The whole time she had been training with Anko, the woman had always referred to Naruto as her boyfriend. Ino didn’t mind the idea of it, but the reality wasn’t there yet, and Anko had a bad habit of blabbing her own opinions on things to anyone who would listen. The poor Yamanaka had already been forced to defend several rumours about her and Naruto. The last thing Naruto needed was coming back to the village thinking Ino had run around prematurely claiming him as her own, even if that was totally something she had thought of doing. Ino was confident she would get what she wanted, but there was no point in jumping the kunai on it.

“He isn’t my boyfriend,” Ino groaned for the millionth time, pouting only when Anko gave her a deadpanned expression. “…yet. And no, I haven’t figured out how to tell him.” There wasn’t a good way to just come out and tell someone that they had unknowingly dumped a portion of a giant demon fox’s chakra in them and then run off to galivant around the world. Such conversations were simply not designed to go down smoothly, no matter who it involved.

Anko shrugged. “Would have made more sense if he had just knocked you up,” she said, before pausing and raising a questioning eyebrow at the blonde. “That isn’t how this happened is it?”

“Sensei! No! God no! We were kids. We are still kids. What is wrong with you?” Ino exclaimed with a blush. She hadn’t even kissed the boy yet dammit. And no, thinking about doing things with Naruto didn’t count. Her innocence was still very much intact.

“Damn you kids are lame,” Anko said, snickering as Ino continued to glare at her. “Okay, okay, I’ll give you a break. But seriously, how you coping? Take it from someone else who had some dark twisted shit stuffed inside them without their knowledge, it gets better. And hey, at least no one really knows about your situation, so that’s cool.” Had anyone leaked Ino’s condition to the populace to any negative response, Anko would have gone on a rampage. It was bad enough she had to deal with it, and she had been too young to do anything when it happened to Naruto, but she would sooner kiss Orochimaru’s bare ass then let someone else get ostracised in the village for something that wasn’t their fault.

“I’m fine,” Ino answered honestly. “This is nothing compared to what Naruto went through when he found out about the fox, and he still came out of it with a smile. I can’t do any less than that. I just… I don’t like keeping secrets from Naruto.”

“I wouldn’t stress about it. It’s not like you can just go over to his place and tell him. He’s a big boy, he’ll understand that you had to wait to tell him when he got back,” Anko said. “Unless you plan to keep it from him forever. Not a bad idea and completely up to you if that’s the route you wanna go.”

“No. I’m going to tell him about the Kyuubi chakra. But there’s something else, something I know,” Ino said softly. “If you knew something about someone, something really important that they deserved to know, would you tell them even if got you in trouble?”

Anko blinked in surprise at the question. “How much trouble we talking?”

“Whatever kind of trouble you get in for disobeying a direct order from the Hokage and spilling the beans on an S-rank secret.”

The older woman let out a low whistle at that. “That’s a tough one, but I guess it would depend. Does this secret protect anyone?” Anko asked. She was a brash and loudmouthed person, but she knew when to keep her mouth shut, even if her requirements for doing so were much greater than her superiors would have liked.

“Yes. At least I think so. It’s… complicated,” Ino said.

“Best to keep it yourself then,” Anko said in a surprisingly serious tone. “If the Hokage told you to keep it a secret, then she must have good reason behind it. And if they haven’t had your dad or someone scrape the knowledge from your mind by now, then that means she thinks you’re trustworthy. Do not go undoing that image she has of you. Tsunade can hold a grudge, and the last thing any shinobi wants is their Kage knowing they can’t be trusted. Besides, the truth has a funny way of getting itself out there, so don’t worry about it.”

Ino looked at her sensei with wide eyes. “Wow. That was actually some good advice. Who would have thought you had it in you.”

Anko scoffed. “Easy, princess. Just ‘cause you sent some fresh meat my way doesn’t get you any free passes to take a jab at me,” she warned. “I might be crazy, but I’m still technically a jonin. I didn’t get to where I am without being smart, so don’t ignore what advice I freely hand out. Got a literal goldmine sitting up here, untapped.” She tapped her head while nodding sagely.

“How is Hinata doing by the way?” Ino asked. The mention of ‘fresh meat’, as Anko liked to refer to the shy Hyuuga, reminded Ino that she was not alone in suffering at the hands of the snake summoner. Hinata had rightfully blamed Ino for sending her in Anko’s direction, but even with all the embarrassing, painful, and downright humiliating things that Anko had put the girl through, Hinata never backed down. Hiashi nearly had a heart attack once he realised that the backbone his daughter was growing was at the behest of the village’s most deplorable shinobi (in his eyes anyway).

“Oh, little white-eyes is doing just fine,” Anko said with a grin. “Give me another six months and she’ll have that Suna boy eating out of the palm of her hand.”

Ino shook her head. Only Anko would be bold enough to say something like about Hinata… Gaara too actually. Now that Ino thought about it, Hinata had stayed in Suna a little longer than usual on her last mission out there. She would tease the girl about that later. As the last light of the day began to fade beyond the tree line, Ino got up and dusted her clothes off. “Well, no such luck on them coming back today. Guess I’ll have to and wait and see about tomorrow,” she said. “I’ll catch you later, sensei.”

Anko waved the girl off lazily as she finished her dango, a curious expression forming on her face as she tried to wrap her brain around a concept that she simply couldn’t let go of. “Now I have to wonder… is Naruto’s stuff actually Kyuubified?” she mused aloud, thankful for once that no one was listening in on her. She didn’t need the village thinking she was interested in Naruto of all people. God no. Her tastes were much more refined.

Speaking of her tastes, Iruka would be nearly getting home by now. What perfect timing. A mischievous grin formed on Anko’s face as she stood up and stretched for what was to come. Apparently, no one ever informed Iruka that a chunin wasn’t supposed to be able to run that fast. Not to say Anko was complaining. The chase was most of the fun anyway.

Across the village, a certain academy teacher felt a very real chill shoot up his spine as every instinct screamed at him to run for his life.

Chapter Text

Naruto let out a deep sigh of relief as he heard the all too familiar click of the lock on his apartment’s front door. With no wasted time, he hurried inside and locked it behind him as he took refuge. By some divine miracle, he had been able to avoid running into anyone he knew on his way home, but he knew that wouldn’t last. Eventually he would have to venture back out into the village, and even if he didn’t, the gate guards had seen him enter so it was only a matter of time before the whole village knew he was back. He could only take solace in the fact that Jiraiya hadn’t made their return a big deal, opting to sneak into the village to try and surprise Tsunade. It would be the pervert’s funeral, but who was Naruto to argue with the man.

Dropping his pack on the ground, he took his jacket off and undid his forehead protector. He wanted to run off and see all his friends, to see how they had grown and changed over the years, and he would, but for now he needed a moment to himself. Running his hand through his hair, he could already feel his excitement at being back building inside of him. He kicked his shoes off and took a deep breath as he looked around his apartment. It was so good to be home… only something wasn’t quite right. The place was impeccably clean, his plants had all been taken care of and were in good health, some of his furniture had been replaced, and there was a chunin flak jacket hanging on the back of a chair. That certainly wasn’t his.

‘Great. So, they rented my apartment out to someone else while I was gone. Bet the owner made a killing getting double rent this whole time. Greedy bastard,’ Naruto thought to himself, a frown setting on his face as he made his way deeper into his/their abode. There was no point in being angry about it. The other person likely didn’t even know this was Naruto’s apartment. He would just wait for them to get home and explain the whole mess. Tsunade would sort something out anyway, so it wasn’t like he was going to be kicking someone out onto the streets. He opened one of the kitchen cupboards and grinned, pulling out a packet of instant ramen. At least this new tenant had good taste. Maybe they would be open to a roommate agreement.

He went to boil some water, eager to have his first decent meal in what felt like days only to stop and sniff his shirt, blanching at the smell. That’s right, there was a good reason he wanted to stop in at home before running into his friends. He and Jiraiya had made good time getting back to Konoha from where they had been, good time that came at a cost. He needed a shower, bad. Leaving the food for the moment, he ventured into the bathroom, only to stop and gawk at what had become of his once humble washroom. Gone were his plain blue towels, his non-scented soap, his simple non-patterned shower curtain. In their place now were purple-coloured towels, a shower curtain decorated with flowers, and a large array of soaps and hair products that he could smell from the doorway.

Naruto scrunched up his nose. Brilliant. His apartment had been taken over by a girly-girl. That was just what he needed to deal with. With a shrug, he resigned himself to his fate and made his way in. Maybe it was time to see what all the rage was when it came to these expensive shower products. He would deal with everything else once he was clean and smelling like… creamy vanilla and raspberry? Wow. He sure hoped he didn’t run into Kiba anytime soon.

Ino was at the end of her rope, both physically and mentally. She had not long got back to Konoha from her latest mission, and she was exhausted. It was one thing to have to run all around the countryside trying to find a group of bandits that had been causing trouble for local trade routes but needing to invade the minds of so many to find the ones in charge had been too much. She wished she could get her dad to purge several memories she had extracted from her victims before they set in. What some of those men, and even the women had gotten up to left her feeling sick. Still, the mission was a success, and she had been a key factor in that outcome, so she couldn’t help but feel proud of herself. All that was left now was to go home and wash away her worries. And by home she of course meant Naruto’s apartment.

At first, she had stuck true to her promise to Naruto, only using her access to his apartment to look after the place and take care of his plants. Over time that had evolved into her crashing at his place on the rare occasion, mostly when she and her parents had some sort of disagreement. The fact that she had somewhere private to escape to irked her father, though not nearly as much as it did when he realised it was a boys apartment. Oh yes, crashing at Naruto’s served many purposes for Ino, none more important than being a place that she could lounge around and truly relax. No one would bother her there. No one knew she went there save for a select few, and they knew better than to intrude. The only person she had to worry about was Naruto himself, but it had been years now with only the occasional report back to the Hokage, so Ino was confident she didn’t have to put the place back to how it had been for quite some time yet.

Fumbling with her keys at the door, she made her way in. Whether it was due to her tiredness or just simple lack of awareness while in the safety of her second home, Ino failed to notice the travel pack and orange jacket laying on the floor. She went to the kitchen, giving the open pack of ramen no more than a passing glance as she went about making a very strong cup of coffee. She didn’t remember leaving anything out before she left, but obviously she had. With a shrug she started to boil some water. There was no point in wasting a good packet of ramen, and she was rather hungry. Within minutes she was sipping on a warm cup of caffeine filled goodness and sauntering over to the table with a steaming cup of noodles. No sooner had she sat down and broken apart her chopsticks did she freeze in place, the sound of something crashing to the floor somewhere followed by an indignant cursing catching her off guard.

Ino may have been taking some privileges with Naruto’s home, but no one would say she wasn’t extremely vigilant about keeping it safe and undisturbed by the hands of anyone else. Kunai suddenly in hand, she stalked her way silently out of the kitchen and down the small hallway, coming to a stop at the bathroom door. She frowned, the intruder having gone silent save for the barely audible sound of the sink faucet running, a thin whisp of steam escaping around the closed door and a shadow casting out through the crack underneath. Someone obviously thought it was funny to take advantage of Naruto not being here and use his apartment as their own little pad. Well, so was Ino, but she had permission… somewhat.

Twirling the kunai around her finger she rested her free hand on her hip and waited. Ino knew she had the element of surprise here. She could barge in and throw this person out with little to no effort. The only thing that stopped her was the risk of catching someone in their birthday suit. She already needed enough memories purged from her mind; she didn’t need to be adding to that list right now. Almost on cue, she heard the intruder walk up to the door and open it. Gripping her kunai tightly and scowling, Ino flared her chakra and prepared to unleash the most intense tongue-lashing Konoha had seen in quite some time.

“You better have a good reason to be… here,” Ino said, her harsh tone quickly dying as light blue eyes settled on an unexpected view. “You… what… when… I… fuck…” she blubbered out. So many thoughts raced through her poor tired mind. So many words, so many questions. In the end all she could do was stand there dumbly and stare. Yes, just stare. Ino definitely wasn’t drinking in the sight before her like she had just spent a week in the desert and had finally found water. No, she was more refined than that, more in control of herself. Yes, self-control; Ino absolutely had that.

“Ino?” Naruto said, quirking an eyebrow at the blonde girl’s presence before giving her an up and down glance and blushing slightly. Holy hell had she grown up. She was taller, obviously, but her outfit was what really caught Naruto off guard. A purple sleeveless crop top that left her stomach bare, and a matching short skirt paired with mesh armour that showed off her legs. Her hair, now grown out considerably longer, was surprisingly done up in a long single braid that reached down past her waist, a large bang covering the right side of her face and obscuring her eye. Speaking of her eyes, they appeared to be looking Naruto up and down in a way that made him feel uneasy. He had seen that kind of look before and it rarely indicated anything good. Realising that he had just stepped out of the bathroom with nothing more than a towel wrapped around his waist, Naruto gawked. ‘Idiot!’ he cursed himself while on the outside he only grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his head nervously. “Uhh, long time no see.”

Ino didn’t even hear Naruto’s words. She was too lost in her own little world, the image before her being burnt into her mind with more clarity than a Sharingan could dream of offering. She had often times daydreamed about what Naruto would look like when he finally returned, wondering how much he had changed as he grew up. Nothing could have prepared her for what stood before her now. He was tall. Much taller than she expected as she now had to look up slightly to lock eyes with him, which she would get to eventually. His body was still somewhat lithe, but he had amassed quite the impressive muscle tone. Being shirtless with beads of water still dripping down his chest was almost enough to elicit a perverted giggle from the Yamanaka. This was just like a scene in one of the Icha-Icha books she had read.

There was no way in hell she was going to let this fine specimen slip out of her grasp. ‘I know how to pick ‘em. Hmmm,’ she thought to herself, finally tearing her eyes up from the welcome view to see his bright and warm smile. That was where the excitement halted and Ino’s eyes widened. His wonderful blonde hair was a little longer and messier, but that wasn’t surprising. What was surprising was his other features. His whisker marks had darkened noticeably, his grin was accompanied by now enlarged pointed canines similar to an Inuzuka, and his eyes… his eyes weren’t those brilliant blue that she had longed to stare into again after so many years. From a distance they would have looked normal, but Ino was too close not to notice the changes. They were darker now, pupils slitted, with tiny flakes of red scattered through them. There was only one thing that could do that to his eyes.

“Naruto?” Ino said softly.

Naruto chuckled. “Oh, come on Ino. I haven’t changed that much, have I?”

Ino reached out and gently cupped his cheek, stroking his darker whisker marks. She was happy, incredibly so, and excited to see him again, but something felt off. That feeling was expressed in the concern she looked at Naruto with. “What happened?” she asked, causing Naruto’s smile to drop. She couldn’t explain it, she just knew something had happened in the years he was gone. People’s features didn’t change that drastically, and eyes never changed unless you had a Dojutsu. There was also the fact that just his presence made her feel wrong somehow, her flight or fight response wanted to kick in despite there being no obvious threat. Even the Kyuubi’s chakra within her seemed to stir from being so close. ‘Maybe because I’m so close to the actual Kyuubi,’ she thought to herself, forcing any doubt out of her mind. She had nothing to fear when it came to Naruto.

Naruto grabbed Ino’s hand and held it. “I’m fine,” he said, trying to ignore her frown. She was gorgeous. Truly breathtaking, even while she looked at him in a such a way. “I made it back, just like I promised. Safe and sound.”

Ino held her frown for a moment before letting her smile come back. Now wasn’t the time to be worried. He was back. That’s all that mattered. She could grill him on the gritty details later. “Yes. Yes, you are,” she said, squeezing his hand and letting the reality set in. Her face scrunched up once she glanced back down, intending to get another good view before letting him go and get dressed, only to spot the purple towel he was using. “Is that my towel? And what’s that smell? Did you use my… you did not use my stuff! Do you know how expensive that is?”

Naruto’s toothy grin could have split his face in two. He wasn’t the sharpest kunai in the pouch, but the years away from Konoha had helped him at least hone is mind to an acceptable level. It didn’t take a genius to put two and two together. Ino had clearly been crashing at his apartment and had even gotten comfortable enough to start leaving her stuff here. He could have fun with that. “Oh? Your stuff? Hmmm, now that’s interesting. Last I checked, this was my apartment. Everything in it belongs to me. Whatever stuff someone may or may not have left here is their problem, not mine,” he said, making a point to run his hand through his noticeable shiny and soft hair. “That shampoo was really good too. Took half a bottle, but the results are awesome. So soft.”

Ino’s eyes bulged out of her head. “Half a bottle!” she yelled. “You’re paying to replace all of that!”

“No, I’m not,” Naruto said cheekily. “Like I said. It’s in my home, it belongs to me now. Maybe you should have thought about that before you turned my beautiful bachelor pad into your little getaway home.” He really didn’t care that Ino had crashed here. She was welcome to his home whenever she wanted. But an opportunity to pick on his fellow blonde could not be passed up. His reputation as a prankster demanded a call to action when such a moment was presented. Besides, Ino was very cute when she pouted.

And pout she did. Arms crossed, eyes hardened, Ino could pout with the best of them. She knew he was right. She had no right to be angry, and he had every right to claim what had been unknowingly brought into his home. Not that she would back down. Spending years away from the village didn’t earn Naruto any special treatment, and clearly not having seen her for years didn’t get her any reprise from his craftier side. As quick witted as Naruto may have gotten in his time away, there was one thing he clearly failed to get any better with, and that was choosing his words carefully. Naruto wanted to be cheeky. Well, two could play at that game, and Ino was the better player, hands down.

“Is that so? It all belongs to you now?” she asked with a smirk.

Naruto didn’t pick up on the danger of her words and nodded enthusiastically. “Sure does.”

“Everything in your home?”

“Yep!”

With a single purposeful step, Ino closed what little distance between them there was, making sure to keep a firm hold of Naruto’s hand so he couldn’t back away. With a glint in her eyes that would make Anko proud, she got right inside Naruto’s personal space, to the point where all she could smell was her expensive body wash on him. Looking up at the now slightly flustered jinchuuriki, she battered her eyelashes at him and smiled. “I’m in your home, Naruto. Do I belong to you now too?” she purred, taking no small amount of delight in watching his face turn a bright shade of red. Ino was a woman now. A very attractive young woman. She was not afraid to use that to her advantage whenever possible. Naruto never stood a chance.

 Naruto, to his credit, didn’t immediately hit the deck from the myriad of inappropriate thoughts that suddenly flooded his mind. His face flushed, and he was frozen in place, but he was still standing even as he fought back one hell of a perverted nosebleed. Women were evil. “I… made a mistake,” he said blankly, taking a robotic step back. “You can take all your stuff. I’ll pay to replace what I used.”

Ino rolled her eyes. “I was only teasing,” she said, pulling Naruto back in and wrapping her arms around him tightly. “It’s so good to see you. I missed you.”

“I missed you too, Ino,” Naruto said, returning the hug. Internally he did wonder if Ino was as aware of his state of undress as he was in this moment. “I see you’re a chunin now. Congrats. I knew you were awesome.”

“Pfft, after the hell that was our first chunin exam the second time round was a cakewalk,” she said, squeezing Naruto once more extra tight before stepping back. “How was your trip? Learn much? See anything cool? Bring me back any presents? Come on, tell me everything. I’ve been dying to hear something, anything from you.”

“Uhh, can I get dressed first?” he asked, earning a blush from Ino. “Ya know, unless you want me to stay like this?”

Ino’s eyes lingered a little longer than they should have. “Well, I mean, if you’re offering…”

Naruto snorted as he walked past the Yamanaka. “No,” he grumbled. “I’m not even gone for four years, and you’ve been corrupted. Why does everyone I’m close to have to be a pervert, seriously? And now you too? Get your head out of the gutter.”

“Like you’re any better,” Ino chided playfully. “I saw the way you looked at me just a minute ago. Don’t think I didn’t notice. First day back and you don’t even have the decency to not ogle your best friend. Hope it was worth it, you perv.”

“Of course it was,” Naruto said without missing a beat. “You’re beautiful.” The struggle of making himself say that with a straight face was worth it. While he would never allow himself to fall completely to the corruption of his sensei, Naruto would be lying if he said he didn’t take the time to learn absolutely everything he could from the man. That included how to deal with a beautiful woman who would leave better men paralysed. Ino was good at the game, he would give her that much, but Naruto had been taught by a legend. ‘Sorry Ino. It was you or me, and I chose me,’ he thought to himself, watching as the girl in question went bright red and stormed away silently. He had won, though at what cost he didn’t yet know.

Damn it was good to be home.

“Don’t eat my ramen!”

“It’s mine!”

“My house, my ramen!”

“Bite me, fox boy!”

“Hey princess.” No sooner had the words left his mouth did Jiraiya let out a yelp as he was forced to dodge a sizeable book aimed for his head. “What was that for?”

Tsunade glared at her old teammate. “You’re late!” she said crossly. “What happened to being back within three years?”

Jiraiya grinned sheepishly. “Oh, come on. It’s only a few months difference. Well worth it if you ask me,” he said.

“Worth it?” Tsunade inquired, raising an eyebrow. “You didn’t report much back to me outside of the bare minimum. Want to take this moment to explain yourself before I show just how hard I can punch you?”

The toad summoner paled at the memory of having nearly lost his life at the hands of the woman now threatening to do it again. Her strength was her beauty, and she was so very strong. “Sorry. Had to be careful with what I sent back. Wasn’t sure how secure those types of reports are.”

“You don’t trust me?”

“Of course I trust you, Tsunade,” Jiraiya said. “But you know what our lives are like. Better to be safe than sorry.” He sighed deeply as he climbed in through the window of the Hokage’s office and took a seat. “I didn’t mean to take that long with the kid but trust me when I say he needed the extra time. Whatever happened back when he fought that Uchiha brat, it altered the seal somehow. Training him was a pain taking that into account.”

Tsunade frowned at that information. “The Kyuubi? Any risk factors?”

Jiraiya waved dismissively. “Surprisingly, no. The fox has been disturbingly helpful. You can imagine how shocked I was to learn the thing actually talks to Naruto,” he said. “The seal is significantly weaker than it should be, but the Kyuubi isn’t trying to get break out. It seems… cooperative. For the moment at least.”

“And Naruto? How is he taking it?”

“About as well as you could imagine the knucklehead to take any life altering news,” Jiraiya said with a laugh. “Either way, he’s fine, and the fox isn’t a threat, so at least we can focus on more important matters for the time being.”

Tsunade didn’t like to be reminded that there were other important problems to focus on. She longed for the days when giant nine-tailed foxes were the biggest of their concerns. Such simpler times. The position of Hokage was not worth the headaches. “I assume Akatsuki are on the move again,” she said, earning a nod. “Figures. But that’s fine, as long as you did your job properly. So, tell me, is Naruto ready?”

“Ye of little faith, princess,” he said. “The brat is ready. More than either of us hoped he would be. It’s a little scary to be honest. He isn’t like his father. Naruto is a whole different animal.”

“Speaking of…” Tsunade grumbled, glancing over to the photo of the fourth Hokage hanging on the wall. “That little secret isn’t going to last. Naruto’s little Yamanaka girlfriend, Ino, she still knows about Minato. I was going to have Inoichi erase it for good measure, but that’s not an option anymore. The Kyuubi’s chakra has melded with her, changed her. The only thing keeping Naruto from learning the truth now is her ability to follow my orders.”

“You don’t think she would tell him, do you?”

“She’s a teenager. Anything is possible. I don’t think she is stupid enough to go running her mouth to the whole village. It’s only a matter of time before she tells Naruto though. You need to break it to him first,” Tsunade said.

Jiraiya crossed his arms. “I don’t think it’s the right time.”

“The right time was years ago,” Tsunade chided. “Let’s face it, sensei was a fool for keeping Naruto and the rest of the village in the dark about this. He needs to know. He deserves to know. And you are his godfather, so you are the most qualified to explain to him why he had to grow up the way he did.”

“I haven’t told him I’m his godfather yet…”

“…” Tsunade’s eye twitched.

“Don’t give me that look.”

“…”

“Tsunade?”

The wood of the Hokage’s desk, made from her grandfather’s kekkei genkai and stronger than some metals, groaned under Tsunade’s grip on its edge. It was taking a lot of restraint not to use the piece of furniture as a weapon to finally end her teammate once and for all. “You idiot!” she yelled. “What the hell is wrong with you? Why not?”

“It isn’t the right time,” Jiraiya said, sticking to his defence. “I’ll tell him everything, I promise. But it has to be when I know he is ready to hear it.”

“You mean when you know that he wont try to take out his anger on you over it?” Tsunade sneered. Was Jiraiya really that much of a coward? “Face it, Jiraiya. There will never be a time when hearing the truth won’t make him angry. But it will certainly help to hear it from you. Did you ever stop to consider what would happen if the Kyuubi is the one to tell him of his parents? The Yamanaka girl I can handle, should she be the one to tell him. But you just told me he has an actual voice in his head that not only knows who Naruto’s parents are, but how they died. Can you even begin to comprehend how much damage this news could do to him if it comes from the wrong place?”

“It hasn’t told him so far.”

“That isn’t a good thing! The longer this drags on, the worse the outcome. That blasted fox could be waiting for the perfect moment, when Naruto is at his most vulnerable. Then what happens?” Tsunade asked. “I can’t justify sensei’s choices, but I can understand them in some capacity. But you… I have never been able to wrap my head around what you’ve been doing all this time.”

Jiraiya frowned but didn’t try and argue back. He knew he had made mistakes, and the repercussions of those mistakes were still unfolding every day. But this wasn’t something he could rush into. Naruto, for all his strength and positivity, was still just a boy. The seal was weakened, the Kyuubi’s chakra now more easily accessible to him, and the whole thing was dependant on his emotions. It was a ticking time bomb. Dropping any kind of emotional turmoil on Naruto right now was just not a good move. “I’ll handle it, okay. Just give me some time and keep the Yamanaka from blabbing,” he said sternly. At the very least he needed to put Naruto through the rest of his sage training. If he could balance natural chakra within himself properly then his emotions would be a piece of cake.

“You better,” Tsunade said warningly. “I’ll see what I can do about the girl. But if she doesn’t listen, you don’t get to complain about it. Hell, you’re lucky I’m not giving you a direct order to tell him now, let alone just telling him myself.” She slumped back in her chair, having lost the urge to hold her temper. “At least tell me what he learnt with you. I need to know what kind of skillset he’s working with so I can team him up properly for any missions. How strong is he?”

Jiraiya’s eyes hardened slightly as he got serious about the conversation. The whole point of the training trip was to get Naruto as powerful as possible to best hold his own against those that would come after him. Still, the Sannin had to be careful of how he answered. Naruto was good at blowing expectations out of the water, but that didn’t mean people could take the news well. “If he goes all out, without losing control of the Kyuubi, he could give either one of us a run for our money,” he said, no hint of exaggeration in his voice. “For now, I’ve seen him hold four tails of it’s chakra steady for a decent amount of time, but it won’t take him long to go beyond that.”

Tsunade knew she wasn’t going to like the answer to her next question. “And if he loses control?”

“He would kill us both…”

Tsunade took a deep breath as she digested that information. She and Jiraiya weren’t dumb enough to think they could go toe to toe with an actual bijuu without some serious preparation. To think Naruto was that level of threat already. That was good. At least now she didn’t have to constantly worry that he would be taken from her without a fight. “You’re grounded,” she said. “No missions or leaving the village unless its accompanying Naruto. His training is the only thing I want you focused on right now. If he’s as strong as you say, then he can get stronger. By the time Akatsuki come looking for him, I don’t want a single one of them to stand a chance. Do you understand?”

“I can’t. Someone needs to keep tabs on Akatsuki and…”

“Jiraiya…” Tsunade growled. “I am not losing anyone else. That was the promise I made to myself when I agreed to come back here and take this hat. Not you, that brat, or anyone else can make me break that promise. You are grounded. That is an order. If you need eyes out of the village, then use the shinobi we have on hand.”

Jiraiya went to retort but was silence by a glare. Tsunade was not joking around, not even a little bit. He knew a losing battle when he saw one. “I’m going to go and make sure the brat isn’t getting himself in trouble yet,” he said, heading for the door. “Let me know if you want to have a drink together later, for old times’ sake.”

Tsunade knew she would likely take him up on the offer. For now, she had paperwork to deal with. Maybe she could burn it all and find a way to blame it on Naruto now that he was back. He did have a reputation for pranks after all.

“You know… when you said you wanted to show me something cool, this isn’t what I had in mind,” Ino said from her spot across from Naruto.

They were in the middle of a training ground, both sitting cross legged facing each other. Naruto in a deep meditative state, and Ino with a strange stick in her hand. She wasn’t about to outright question her supposed role in this ‘training’, but did the stick have to be slimy? Seriously, where did he get this thing? Ino figured it was best she didn’t know.

“Sorry,” Naruto said, still sitting unnaturally still. “I just wanted to see how well this works in the village. There’s a lot of natural chakra here. Besides, I need to stay completely calm for this to work properly and having you here with me is helping with that.”

Ino pouted. “Listen here, mister smooth talker. You don’t get to just waltz on back into the village and start flirting like you know what you’re doing,” she whined. “I was supposed to be the one getting you all flustered when you got back. You’re ruining my perfectly laid out plans.” Not to say there was anything wrong with that in Ino’s mind. The two of them had been playfully flirting with each other almost non-stop since he returned, and Ino was enjoying every second of it. They knew they liked each other, now was just the time to have fun with that knowledge, albeit with the awkward addition of teenage hormones and less than pure thoughts.

“You planned to flirt with me?”

“Duh!” Ino exclaimed. “I was going to rile you up so bad that you could barely stammer your way through our first date. It was foolproof.” She would argue that it was more on principle than anything. She liked Naruto, and she still wanted that promised date, but she also knew what Naruto was like. He was annoyingly confident at times, and that would not fly. He needed to be a nervous wreck when on a date with the Ino Yamanaka, even if she had to help that nervousness along. She had an image to uphold. Ino had not turned down every single advance thrown her way over the past three years for nothing.

Naruto smirked. “You think I was going to risk coming back unprepared, knowing full well who you were training under while I was gone?” he asked sceptically. “As if I’d be that stupid. The moment pervy-sage warned me of what Anko was like, I learned everything I could. Clearly, I was justified in doing so.” Leaving out the part where Jiraiya had gone to great lengths to set up specific training scenarios for ‘seduction resistance’ was probably smart. Ino didn’t need to know that the only reason he could think straight around her was because he had already been overloaded by paid professionals. Where Jiraiya had found said individuals, or how he knew them in the first place, was something no one needed to know.

Ino let out an indignant groan. “You’re no fun.”

“Anko really corrupted you, didn’t she?”

“As if lord Jiraiya didn’t do the exact same thing to you.”

“He tried. But I’m awesome,” Naruto said humbly. “Now please, I need to be quiet for this.”

Ino leaned back on her hands and watched on in silence. It was strange watching Naruto sit so still and quiet. If Iruka were here he would be trying to break out of a genjutsu. Evidently, Naruto had grown up in more ways than just the obvious. As time dragged on a little, Ino figured she would occupy her time with some meditation of her own. Naruto had vaguely described what he was trying to do, what with drawing from the very essence of nature itself and combining it with his own chakra. Ino wasn’t going to fool herself into thinking she understood, but she was curious.

Over the years, Ino had discovered her proficiency in chakra sensing and tried to hone that ability like her father before her. It was part of what made the Ino-Shika-Cho trio so formidable. While her training with Anko had helped fill out a lot of gaps, there was a reason her and her teams’ clans stuck to the same formation. It worked, and it worked well. From this distance, Ino would have to be chakra blind to not sense Naruto in front of her. That wasn’t what she was trying to do, however. If what he said was true, and he was drawing on an invisible, unnoticeable, outside source, then perhaps she could try and sense what was going on inside him while he did it. And so, mimicking Naruto, Ino took a meditative pose and focused.

As she had thought, sensing him wasn’t hard. It was impossible not to sense him. Ino knew Naruto had a lot of chakra, but holy crap that was a lot of chakra. Even without the Kyuubi, he was a walking ocean of power. Speaking of that troublesome fox, Ino could sense that too. It was a weak flicker of a sensation, something that she would attribute to only being able to perceive thanks to her own intimate connection to the foul chakra. The seal holding it was of amazing design. Ino was confident that only those who knew what they were looking for, or those with absurd sensing abilities would be able to ping Naruto as a jinchuuriki. As for this so called ‘natural energy’, Ino was drawing a blank. She couldn’t feel anything around them, or anything else within Naruto. His chakra was doing some funky stuff as far as flow and trying to mould itself in a weird way, but that was it.

And then he started to fade. No, that didn’t sound right. He was still there; she could sense that much. His chakra was just different all of a sudden. It was… melting? Flowing into everything around them? That didn’t make sense. Ino opened her eyes and gasped. Naruto was changing, physically, right before her eyes. His right arm was now discoloured, fingers webbed, strange warts forming on his skin. Even his face was starting to disfigure. Was this what was supposed to happen?

“Uhh, Naruto? You okay?” Ino asked carefully.

Naruto opened his eyes, one now noticeably toad like in appearance, and looked down at his deformed arm with a frown. “Ah, yeah. This happens. Still don’t have it down properly,” he said casually. “Mind hitting me with that-“

Whack!

“-stick.” Naruto rubbed his head with his now suddenly normal hand. “Thanks.”

Ino smiled brightly and twirled the stick around playfully. “Anytime,” she chirped. “Now, wanna explain what just happened. I might have to rethink our friendship if you’re going to turn into a toad on me.”

Naruto took a deep breath and let himself fall back onto the grass. “It’s Senjutsu. Pervy-sage has me learning it. Apparently once you master it, it lets you do some super cool stuff,” he told her. “Problem is, if you can’t get the balance down right, you start turning into something. For me and pervy-sage, we start turning into toads. If you mess up real bad, you turn to stone. That’s where that fancy stick comes in real handy to knock the sage chakra right out of someone’s body.”

Ino’s smile turned as her expression darkened. “Turn to stone, huh? As in die?” she asked.

“Yeah, more or less. I think you stay alive in the stone. Trapped for all eternity or something. I dunno. I wasn’t listening too hard when Fukasaku explained it,” Naruto said. “But it’s cool so long as we have the-“ Whack! “-hey!” He winced as he nursed another sore spot on his head. “What the hell?”

“You. Could. Have. Died?!” Ino yelled, emphasising each word with another not so light whack from the stick. It didn’t matter that Naruto was blocking all of them. “You do not involve me in your suicidal training exercises without warning me! You only just got back. Are you insane or just stupid?”

“I can be both,” Naruto said defensively, laughing as he continued to block and roll away from Ino’s onslaught. “Quit it.”

“Stop laughing. And hold still so I can smack that stupid grin off your face.”

Naruto rolled onto his feet, continuing to duck and weave around all of Ino’s admittedly half-hearted blows. Eventually the sage training stick was cast aside as it turned into a playful game of seeing just how far Ino could push things before Naruto was forced to defend instead of dodge. That too quickly devolved into a full-on sparing match. They could have spent the whole afternoon talking and boasting about how much each of them had grown and honed themselves as shinobi, but words could only capture so much of the truth. Trading blows, seeing each other in action, feeling how the other fought and trying to work around it; that was how ninja really showed their progress. As Ino and Naruto lost themselves to the friendly fight, they both came to understand one another a little better.

Ino was impressed. Naruto had developed some tact as far as fighting went. Before he had always tried to turn the tide of a fight to his own benefit as soon as possible and rely on his ability to be a battering ram. He had been an offensive fighter first and foremost. Now, however, he was relaxed and seemingly happy to stay on the defensive side of things. Ino wasn’t fooled. She knew it had nothing to do with some apprehension or refusal to hurt her. He never had a problem putting her on her ass in the past. Naruto was watching and learning. Taking his time to figure out how to beat her with the least effort. Guess he really did have a brain in that head of his after all.

Naruto ducked under a kick aimed for his head and continued to backpedal across the field. Ino was fast. Sure, he was faster, but what Ino lacked in raw speed and strength she was making up for in fluid motion and relentless follow ups. It was scary. No sooner had he dodged one attack was she already in position for the next. What happened to her lack of stamina? She should have been winding down by now. After a few more minutes of trying to put some distance between them, Naruto gave up and chose to fall back on old faithful. Bringing his arm up, he blocked her next kick and grabbed her leg, giving it a firm pull in an attempt to throw her off balance. It didn’t work.

The moment he pulled her, Ino gave into the new direction without resistance, letting Naruto do all the work in closing the distance between them. Even as he reached out with an open palm, stopping her at an arms distance from him, she could only smirk victoriously. As soon as his hand touched her, Ino clung to it, causing Naruto to let her of her leg leaving her free to regain her footing. He reached out to grab her with his now free hand, to which she simply dropped her weight, using his arm as a swing to slide down between his legs, dragging him down with her. Or at least, that had been the plan. Naruto had planted his hand on the ground before his head could be dragged down into it and stopped Ino dead. Grabbing hold of her top, he used his strength to his advantage and reefed her back up from underneath him and hoisted her up in the air.

Ino went wide eyed at her newfound position. With Naruto holding onto her tight, the air providing no leverage whatsoever, and the shit-eating-grin on her fellow blonde’s face, she knew this was not going to end well. Quickly wrapping her legs around his arm and neck, Ino twisted and squeezed hard, only realising her mistake once she felt the world rushing past her. Ino grunted as she was slammed down onto the ground hard enough to knock the wind out of her, but her hold on Naruto didn’t break. With a grin, she continued to try and pry the arm in an unnatural way whilst attempting to choke him with her legs to no avail. Ino was no pushover in the strength department, but Naruto was inhumanly strong, even for a shinobi. She felt herself get lifted from the ground once more before being sent crashing back down into the dirt, the smile never leaving her face. Ino had missed having someone to spar with who didn’t take it easy on her like her teammates often did.

Naruto grit his teeth as Ino’s efforts started to get painful and lifted her up once again, only this time she didn’t let herself go along so easily. A swift kick to the face and a twist of her body was enough to get the momentum she needed to pull Naruto off his feet and send the both of them crashing to the ground. In that moment, her hold of his arm let off enough and he took the opening to pull himself on top of her and quickly pinned her down by her wrists. He grinned even as she pouted at him, but his face expression quickly fell as Ino’s turned to a victorious smirk.

“Gotcha, Whiskers,” she chirped.

Naruto frowned. This wasn’t an impossible position for her to get out of, he knew that. He just wasn’t sure what she was being so smug about since she didn’t seem to be trying to get out of his grip. It wasn’t until he felt a slight prickle on his neck that Naruto realised what was up. A senbon that was just barely touching his throat, dripping in a suspicious purple ooze, was the reason for Ino’s smugness. It was protruding from the end of Ino’s now extended braid, which was moving on its own, much like a tail. “That’s a neat trick,” he said, taking care not to move. Naruto could think of a certain Suna puppet user that would appreciate this dirty little hidden weapon, poison and all. While he could survive most poisons, that didn’t make it a pleasant experience. If Anko had any hand involved in the poison Ino was using, then Naruto wanted nothing to do with it. “Whiskers?”

“You don’t like it? I can think of something else,” Ino said, letting the senbon retract into her hair and the braid return to its natural length. That had been a good little workout. It was good to see that Naruto had matured enough to accept a loss gracefully, even if she knew he wasn’t actually trying to beat her. It was still a win in Ino’s books.

“Do you really need to give me a nickname?” Naruto groaned. He was already being called brat so often it might as well have been his name now. He didn’t need to be called anything else. Naruto was a good name. It was the name his parents, whoever they were, had bestowed upon him. It was all he had of them, and it meant a lot. That being said, the sincerity behind Ino’s intentions was not lost on him. But Whiskers? Really? Way too on the nose for his tastes.

Ino hummed. “Did you really have to go nearly four years without sending me a single letter?” Was she going to mention that he was still on top of her holding her down? Maybe. But not just yet.

Naruto squinted at her. “What?”

“You heard me.”

“I sent you letters.”

“I didn’t get a single letter. I waited patiently, and not a one,” Ino said in a manner of fact tone. “And don’t try and say something stupid like how I didn’t send you any either, because I would have if I could. Kind of hard to send letters to someone who is flying under the radar.”

Naruto got up off Ino and scratched his head. “I sent letters, Ino. I swear,” he said earnestly. “And I didn’t expect anything back, but it would have been nice of you to send something back with the toads.”

“How was I supposed to use the toads? I can’t summon them.”

“Uhh, you give the letter to the toad that should have given you my letters. That’s how it works, Ino.”

“Naruto, listen to me very carefully. I did not get any letters. I never even saw a single toad summon the entire time you were gone,” Ino explained, sitting up and stretching. She would be feeling those love taps with the ground later.

Naruto’s face went blank. Without a word he went through some hand seals, bit his thumb, and placed his hand on the ground. A sizable puff of smoke later and before them sat a large orange toad wearing a blue vest. The toad didn’t look too surprised at being summoned, but Naruto definitely didn’t look too pleased at having needed to do so. “Gamakichi…”

Gamakichi lifted a webbed hand in a lazy wave. “Heya, bro. What’s up?”

“You remember all those letters I gave you to send to Ino?”

“Sure do.”

“Did you actually give them to her?”

“Yep.”

“You gave them to her personally?”

“Of course.”

“And who is standing next to me right now?” Naruto asked. By now his eye was twitching dangerously and he was holding back the urge to claim the new world record for Toad punting. Gamakichi’s next words could very well decide his fate here and now.

Gamakichi squinted at Ino and shrugged. “New girlfriend?” he asked nonchalantly. “Guess all those letters to that Ino girl didn’t do you any good, huh.”

Naruto took a deep breath that Ino mistook as an attempt to calm himself down. It wasn’t. “THIS IS INO, YOU IDIOT!!!” he yelled at the top of his lungs, causing the toad to go bug-eyed and stare at the Yamanaka in question.

“Well, how ‘bout that,” Gamakichi said, not even slightly fazed. “Yeah, I’m gonna be real with you, bro. I told you before you gave me those letters that I wasn’t a messenger toad. You’re lucky I even tried to deliver those things. You didn’t even tell me what she looked like, or where she lived.”

“Then why did you keep taking them?” Naruto asked exasperatedly.

The toad shrugged. “Seemed harmless,” it said, ignoring the killing intent being directed at him. He had nothing to fear. As soon as Naruto’s temper got out of hand, he would just un-summon himself and go back to what he was doing. No biggie.

Meanwhile, as Naruto was preoccupied with trying to tell off a giant toad, Ino was having a ball. Sure, she would have liked to have actually received the letters that had been intended for her, but simply knowing they existed at some point was enough for her. Besides, the entertainment she was receiving right now was worth it. Part of her always knew that Naruto would have never intentionally done anything to hurt her feelings, and she was right. He had simply been too trusting of his toad summon and was now suffering for it.

Naruto halted in his reprimanding of his summons and sighed deeply, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “You know what, forget it,” he said. “Go home. I’ll sort it out.”

Gamakichi, still just as unbothered as he was when he first arrived, gave a mock salute. “Sounds good to me,” he said before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Naruto glared at the ground where the toad had been for a moment before turning to Ino with a defeated expression. “Okay, so I did write to you. It just… didn’t work. I’m sorry,” he said apologetically.

“Don’t worry about it,” Ino said. “It’s not like I was worried you had died or anything. Tsunade still kept me up to date whenever Jiraiya reported back. And it doesn’t matter anyway. You’re back now. We have all the time in the world to catch up.” And there was much catching up to do. Ino hadn’t even begun to plan out what she was going to tell him or how. A slight frown formed on her face as she realised there were still things she wasn’t supposed to tell Naruto. She had promised Tsunade she wouldn’t and sworn to herself she wouldn’t break that promise unless she felt it was necessary. That meant she had to do some digging and figure out where Naruto was at mentally. She wasn’t going to unload such secrets on him if he wasn’t ready to handle them. “How’s the fox?”

Naruto clammed up at the question for a moment, forgetting that he didn’t need to be so guarded about his jinchuuriki status around Ino. The years outside of Konoha had made him paranoid. Having to be so careful on the off chance that someone knew what they were seeing and were game enough to try and claim it for themselves would do that to a person. “He’s good. Kinda annoying sometimes. Still an ass though,” he said, idly rubbing his stomach. “His name is Kurama.”

Ino blinked in surprise. “You named your bijuu?”

“Yeah, Ino. I named the immortal chakra demon in my stomach,” he drawled sarcastically. “Of course I didn’t. That’s his name. From… before.”

“Before what?”

“Good question. He won’t tell me. Tell you what, if you wanna go for another dive into my head and ask him, be my guest,” Naruto said. “Maybe he will talk to you.”

“No, I’m good,” Ino said. Two dives had been more than enough. “Kurama, huh? So, you two are getting along somewhat? How does that work?”

Naruto groaned. “Barely,” he muttered. “It works well enough.” Well enough to keep him alive if he absolutely needed it, not enough to justify using it often. The constant flow of the Kyuubi’s chakra was a good bonus, especially after his seal weakened and the flow increased. Jiraiya still hadn’t explained why his seal had weakened to begin with, but it didn’t seem to be a problem, so Naruto let it be.

Ino was a mind reader, but she didn’t need to read Naruto’s mind to know he didn’t want to delve into a conversation about the Kyuubi. Some things were best left for a later date. “Well, I think I’ve hogged you all to myself long enough,” she said slyly. “How about we go and get you caught up with some of the other rookies. I can already sense where Kiba, Hinata, and Shino are.”

Naruto smirked. “You don’t want to keep me to yourself? Interrogate me on everything and all that.” There were some sore points from his travels, and it would be uncomfortable talking about everything. For Ino, however, he would do it. She had known everything about him before he left, and he would make sure she knew everything about him now, so long as she wanted to. Naruto didn’t want to get ahead of himself, but he had a pretty good feeling she wanted to. The lack of secrets between them was what made their friendship so important to him.

“Nah. You deserve a break. I can get you back later,” she said, motioning for him to follow along with her. As they walked, Ino filled Naruto in on some of the goings on of the village, such as who was getting close to who, what rank everyone was now, and a little about how she had branched slightly into a role in the interrogation division under her father’s instruction. Apparently being adept at poisons, mind based jutsu, and having a natural psychic barrier made Ino a quite useful at times. It helped that most hardened criminal types didn’t take to well to being put through their paces by someone as sweet and innocent in appearance as Ino. Those that were a little too into got what they deserved in the form of one Ibiki Morino.

“Hey, Naruto,” Ino said, a thoughtful expression on her face. “If you sent all those letters, and I didn’t get them, but the toad said he had delivered them, then who was he delivering them to?” She probably should have thought about that before Naruto had sent the summons on his merry way.

Naruto stopped walking and stared into nothing. Where did the letters get delivered to? To whom? He shrugged. “I don’t know,” he said. It wasn’t worth summoning Gamakichi back just to find out either. “They were all addressed to you anyway, so it’s not like whoever got them thinks they have a secret admirer or anything.” He hoped not. That wasn’t something he wanted to deal with, ever.

Days flew by like they were hours, and soon enough more than two weeks had passed. Naruto wasn’t even sure what was going on half the time, but he was having a blast catching up with everyone, finding out what they had all been doing while he was gone. It was great. All of his friends were doing so well, were getting so strong. It was a big weight off his shoulders. The threat of the Akatsuki was no secret to Naruto. Jiraiya had made it clear the purpose of the training trip, and he liked to think he took it seriously and improved enough to stand his ground. His friends, however, were always a point of concern for him. Not all of them were aware of the approaching threat, so how could they have known to train themselves into the ground in preparation. What would he do if they weren’t ready and got caught up in his mess? Naruto didn’t know for sure. The feeling he got in his stomach just thinking about any of his friends dying over such a thing was more than enough to make him uneasy.

Naruto would have liked to say that he could do this without them, that he could get strong enough to fight his own battles and keep those close to him out of harms way. Nothing was that simple though. He knew he would need them, and even if he didn’t, they weren’t going to stand by and watch from the sidelines. That’s just how they were. As such, coming home and finding that everyone was keeping up in their own ways was a relief. Not to say that Naruto thought they could go and take on Akatsuki at any time, it was just comforting to know that everyone had a chance. If Jiraiya’s intel on the group was in any way accurate, then everyone needed to be at the top of their game to come out on top. That was going to require them to understand why things were happening, why Naruto was being hunted, why they needed to be ready.

They all needed to know the truth.

This day had been a long time coming, along with the intense sensation of dread that accompanied it for Naruto. The secret of the Kyuubi was his to unfold whenever he so chose, but that didn’t make it easy. Sure, a lot of people already knew the truth, but not his friends, not his closest comrades who he would have to rely on and trust with every fibre of his being. Only Ino knew and that had been an accident. Naruto wasn’t quite foolish enough to think that everyone would be as accepting of the truth as Ino had been, or that they would continue their friendship with him after finding out. Being a jinchuuriki wasn’t quite as much of a problem as keeping it secret for so long was. How could he expect them to trust him properly when he hadn’t trusted them with the truth.

It was this fear and anxiety of the situation that had resulted in Naruto seeking help. He wasn’t stupid, but he also wasn’t the brightest when it came to figuring out how to best approach people and gauge how they would react. For that he would need someone who was good with people, good with emotions and minds. That someone was Ino, and judging by the look on her face, she wasn’t too impressed with the idea.

“You want to what now?” she asked, checking her ear with a finger and hoping she was hearing him wrong. On the chance she hadn’t heard wrong, Ino was glad that they had retreated into her bedroom and closed the door. If her father caught wind of anything to do with secrets, it would turn into quite the lecture.

Naruto grinned sheepishly. “I want to tell everyone the truth,” he said. “You know, about the Kyuubi. Things are being put into motion now, and its only a matter of time before they start coming for me again. Everyone deserves to know what’s going on and why. I just don’t know how to tell them without it blowing up in my face. I need your help.”

Ino hummed thoughtfully. Planning wasn’t usually her forte. Shikamaru would be better at this, but she could understand the need for a gentler touch. Shikamaru was a genius of tactics and strategy, not people and emotions. “We should do it all at once,” she said. “Make sure no one feels left out for being the last to know. If everyone is on the same level, then they will take it better. Also helps to have many minds in one place. No one can go off the handle without looking like an idiot, and the more reserved of the group will keep the rowdier of them under control.” That was assuming anyone even took the news in a negative light anyway. Ino had confidence that none of the rookies would turn on Naruto for keeping his secret.

“Good idea,” Naruto said. “But that means we will have to wait for everyone to be back in the village at the same time. I don’t know if we have that sort of time. I don’t want anyone being caught off guard.”

“We could get Tsunade involved,” Ino suggested. “She can organise the missions and make sure we get a window where everyone is back in the village for this. You’ll just have to make sure you let her know how important this is to you.”

Naruto nodded. “Yeah, granny Tsunade will help out for sure,” he said, letting himself lean back against the wall that Ino’s bed was pushed up against. Why would she settle for crashing at his place so often when she had such a soft mattress here? “So, who do you think is going to take it the worst?”

Ino grinned. “Kiba for sure,” she answered. “He still hasn’t gotten over the way you beat him in the chunin exams. He will take this information way out of proportion and try inflating his ego with it. Surviving a fight with the jinchuuriki of the greatest of all bijuu is no small feat you know.” She laughed at the mental image of such a thing. Kiba was a good guy, but he really needed to ground himself sometimes. “I’m pretty sure Shikamaru already knows somehow.”

“You told him?”

“Of course not. He’s just a know it all. If he hasn’t figured it out on his own by now then I will lose a bit of respect for him honestly,” Ino said. “Shino and Hinata will just accept it as is. I don’t think they would care either way what you have inside you. Choji wont even blink as long as you feed him first. The only real unknowns are team Guy and Sakura.” Now there was an interesting thought. How would Sakura react to learning that her teammate, someone she had come to trust and work alongside, was hiding something like the Kyuubi. Ino wasn’t sure really, but it would be fun to watch what happened.

Naruto’s eyes widened slightly at the mention of Sakura. He hadn’t even considered how she would react. She was scary enough before her training with Tsunade, but now, well, Naruto had seen her in action during their friendly little team fight against Kakashi a couple of days ago. He would much prefer not to get on her bad side, ever. “I think Lee will be the worst of them. Neji and Tenten are level-headed. Sakura though…”

“Sakura will be fine. She knows you the best, second only to me,” Ino said, a little proud that she had that over her childhood rival. Sakura may have gotten the chance to apprentice under a Sannin, but Ino would endeavour to win at the finer facets of life.

“Sasuke would have taken it well I think,” Naruto said solemnly. “He might have gotten a bit worked up about it, but I’m sure he’d come around.”

Ino frowned. “You know I don’t like anyone talking about him around me,” she said. She didn’t care what his reasons had been for leaving, or what may have been affecting him to do so. Sasuke had made his choice, and in the process had nearly taken Naruto from her. Ino wasn’t sure if she could ever forgive her former crush for that, even if Naruto wanted her to. “You still want to try and bring him back, don’t you?” Naruto nodded and Ino sighed. “Look, I get it. You’re just that kind of guy, and that’s great. Your heart is what makes you so special. But I need you to make me a promise.”

“A promise?” Naruto asked curiously.

Ino reached over and took a hold of his hands gently. “I’m not going to tell you to let him go. I know you won’t listen,” she said. “If you have to try, if you need to go after him, then please, just promise me you wont risk your life for his.”

“Ino, I…”

“No,” Ino interrupted, seeing that he was going to try and say something stupid. “We nearly lost you, Naruto. I nearly lost you. Sasuke almost killed you and I don’t understand why that doesn’t seem to bother you, but it bothers me. So, promise me. Promise that no matter what, you’ll come back, with or without him.” She could have chosen her words a bit better so as to not come off too strong, but Ino didn’t care about that right now. She had only just gotten Naruto back in her life, and nothing was going to take him away from her again, especially not a traitor.

Naruto smiled and squeezed her hands. He had promised Sakura that he would bring Sasuke back, but that had been years ago now. It hadn’t crossed his mind at the time how ridiculous such a promise was. He knew a little better now. Ino’s promise however, was much more achievable. “I promise,” he said, taking the time to disarm her with a smile and look deep into her eyes. “I’ll always come back to you.” Was that last part necessary? Not at all. Was Ino now the colour of a tomato? Yes. Was it worth it? Absolutely.

The two of them were suddenly torn from their little moment as the door swung open and Ino’s mother strode in holding a basket of laundry. “Ino, hunny. I have your… Oh?” It must have been quite the sight. To see her daughter and a young man sitting on the bed, holding hands, both with eyes wide in horror at being caught in such a state. She would remember this moment till the day she died, then make sure it was passed on to others via the Yamanaka clan jutsu to ensure it was never forgotten. “Oh, sweetie. Why didn’t you say you had company. I would have made tea.”

Ino glared at her mother. “I thought we had an agreement on knocking before coming into my room,” she said irritably.

“We did, but that was before you started sneaking boys into the house,” her mother said pleasantly before turning her attention to Naruto.  “And you are?” She didn’t need him to answer. Everyone knew who Naruto was, as well as his reputation. But manners were manners, and she wasn’t about to let her daughter consort with just anyone, no matter how much her husband assured her the boy was trustworthy.

“Oh, umm, sorry. I’m Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki,” Naruto answered nervously, only now realising he was still holding Ino’s hands and quickly pulling them back. Somehow Ino’s mother was more unnerving than her father. “I didn’t mean to sneak in miss Yamanaka-“

“-Himiko,” the woman said.

“-Uhh, miss Himiko. I just really needed Ino’s help. I swear I wont sneak around your house again,” Naruto finished with a nervous smile, doing his best to avoid the woman’s scrutinizing stare.

Himiko was having good fun making the boy squirm. It wasn’t to last sadly as she could already feel her daughter’s eyes burning a hole in her head. “Well, Naruto, it’s nice to finally meet you,” she said pleasantly. “I’ve heard so much about you from Ino and her father. It is good to finally have a face to go with the stories.”

Naruto did not find that very reassuring. “What kind of stories? All good ones I hope.”

“Hmmm, most of them.”

Ino groaned. “Okay, Mom. You’ve had your fun, now quit tormenting him,” she said, crossing her arms and staring expectedly at her mother. Her room was supposed to be private. Ino would be bringing up this breach to her father later, that was for sure.

Himiko laughed and waved dismissively, dropping a basket of clean clothes on the floor, and turned to leave. “I’m just playing,” she chortled. “But if you plan on bringing boys back home more often, then I would recommend you ask your father to put a privacy seal in here. We don’t need to know what you get up to.”

“Get out of my room!” Ino yelled half-heartedly, launching a pillow at a suddenly closed door, the sound of laughter echoing down the hall as her mother retreated. “Argh! That woman. Just wait until daddy hears about this.” She loved her mother, she really did. But sometimes there were days when she wondered why she was forced to suffer the woman’s sense of humour. If it weren’t for her father spoiling her all the time Ino doubted she would have survived.

Naruto chuckled at the display, not able to hold back a longing smile. Seeing moments like this were always special for him. Every family worked differently, and each had their own weird way of showing love. That being something Naruto had always wanted to experience, he often took the time to truly absorb these interactions whenever he had the chance to see them. “I like her,” he said.

Ino huffed. “Oh yeah, she’s great. When she’s not being a pain in my ass.”

“But you still love her even when she is a pain, don’t you.”

“Obviously. She’s my mother,” Ino said, not entirely sure where Naruto was going with this.

His smile was wide, but his eyes were lost. Naruto was searching for something that didn’t exist. Memories he simply didn’t have. He and Jiraiya had gotten close over the years, and he had a handful of people he considered close enough to be his family, but there would always be a part of him that longed to know what a real family felt like. Would he have argued with his own mother about privacy as well? “It’s nice,” he said. “Having these moments.”

“Oh,” Ino said, realising what he meant. Suddenly she felt like the worst person alive. She of all people should have understood the importance of choosing words carefully around people. She might as well have rubbed the fact that she had a family right in Naruto’s face. “Hey, Naruto. What made you want to tell everyone about the Kyuubi?” Yes, the Akatsuki were a thing now, and yes, he said he wanted everyone to be ready and on the same page, but surely there was more to it. He had allowed Ino to keep knowledge of the truth on a gamble that he could trust her. If he was taking the same approach this time, then he would have done it much sooner.

“It just feels like the right thing to do,” Naruto said simply. “I don’t like secrets. If I wasn’t away all those years, I would have told everyone sooner. I don’t want any of my friendships to be built on a lie, and I don’t want people fighting alongside me if they don’t want to. You proved to me that I can trust people with my secret. Everyone should be free to make up their own minds about it too.”

Ino felt a lump form in her throat. “But everyone has secrets, Naruto,” she said. “You are allowed to keep yours, just as everyone is allowed to have theirs.” Right? It wasn’t unfair to think all concepts of secrets were off the table now. Deep down, Ino knew that she was just trying to justify the secrets she was keeping from Naruto. She could hide behind the guise of the Hokage’s orders all she wanted, it didn’t change the facts, or the feeling of guilt at keeping such things from him. He was the most trusting and openhearted person she knew. To keep a secret from Naruto felt unforgiveable, even if she knew he would likely forgive her eventually anyway. That was the way he was, and Ino loved that about him. ‘Dammit, Ino. Stop using the L word.’

 Ever the embodiment of positive outlooks, Naruto didn’t falter at her words. “That’s fine. I don’t expect anyone to trust me. They just need to know that I trust them,” he said. “I hope everyone can learn to trust me, like you did, but I know better than to expect it. If their secrets affect me, then I trust that my friends will tell me. If not, then there’s no harm right.”

That was a kick in the guts if Ino had ever heard one. “Naruto…” Ino took a deep breath and prepared herself for what was about to happen. He would blow up, there was no doubt of that. It would cost her greatly, somehow, but she had to tell him. Naruto needed to know the truth; about her, about his father, that she trusted him as much as he trusted her. There would never be a good time. Ino couldn’t trust that Tsunade would tell Naruto unless it was absolutely unavoidable. That was something Ino couldn’t live with. Playing with minds was what her family were known for. With that power came an understanding and respect for the act. Worst comes to worst, Ino knew her father would have her back on this decision.

“Ino? You kinda spaced out for a second there,” Naruto said worriedly. He hoped he hadn’t upset her somehow.

With a newfound resolve, Ino sat up and grabbed Naruto’s hand again and levelled a serious stare at him. “I need to tell you something,” she said. “You’re going to be mad with me, and I will understand if you need some space afterwards. But please, know that I didn’t want to keep any of this from you. I will probably get in trouble for telling you anyway, so-“

“-Then don’t tell me,” Naruto interjected quickly. He didn’t want Ino getting into trouble for his sake. Whatever she needed to tell him wasn’t important enough in his mind to warrant her suffering for it. “And I wouldn’t get mad at you, Ino. You’re my best friend. If you’ve kept something from me, I know its for the best. I trust you.”

Ino looked down. “You shouldn’t,” she muttered before taking a deep breath. “I need to do this. You need to know. There’s a little bit to get through, so bear with me and wait until I’ve gotten it all out before you lose your shit.” She watched him nod, but the amused expression on his face told her that he wasn’t ready for what was coming. Telling him about the Kyuubi’s chakra was going to be bad enough, adding his dad to the mix was a recipe for disaster. Oh well, no going back now.

“Naruto… the fourth Hokage is your father.”

Chapter Text

“Hello?” Ino called out softly, closing the door to Naruto’s apartment behind her and locking it just to be sure. She knew it was locked for a reason.

“Hey, Ino.”

Ino frowned as she entered the loungeroom and was met with the sight of Naruto lying flat on the floor, staring off into the ceiling. His voice when greeting her had been so weak, so lacking in the joy and life that she had always associated with her fellow blonde. It reminded Ino of how he had been when the third Hokage had passed. She glanced around, taking note of the numerous used bowls and empty ramen packets that littered the apartment. The place was a mess, and Naruto wasn’t much different. He was still wearing the clothes he had on when he got back from Suna, clothes that were stained with blood and dirt, torn and burnt in more places than not. It was a miserable sight to say the least.

“Is it okay that I’m here?” Ino asked. She knew letting herself in was rude, especially after everything that had happened, she just had to come and check on him, even if only for a moment.

Naruto turned to look at her and smiled half-heartedly. “Of course,” he said.

Without another word, Ino made her way over and laid herself down next to Naruto, her nose scrunching up as she finally relaxed. “You smell like a furnace and blood,” she said, not even trying to not sound rude.

“Yep,” he said with a chuckle. “Other guy used explosions. I got caught in a few.”

Ino grimaced at the thought. “I spoke to Sakura,” she said, earning a wince from Naruto. “Are you okay?”

He nodded. “I’ll be fine.”

“That’s not what I asked, Naruto.”

“Oh? Back to my name now? No more whiskers?”

She crossed her arms and pouted. “Not until you start behaving.”

Naruto chuckled, reaching his hand out askingly, the gesture quickly being answered by Ino’s own hand. “I’m okay. I’m just…”

“Worried,” Ino finished for him, earning a nod. She expected as much. From what she had heard from Sakura, the whole missions to Suna had been one huge mess. Between the Akatsuki and the Kazekage, there was already too much going on for half of the people on the mission to have kept a level head. That was before Naruto lost his cool.

“I fucked up, Ino,” Naruto said with a heavy sigh. “I couldn’t hold back. I saw Gaara lying there and I just… lost it. In front of everyone.”

“I know,” she said softly, squeezing his hand reassuringly. “But it’s okay. You made it back safe. You and everyone else. We didn’t lose anyone, and that’s all that’s important. You saved Gaara. Mission accomplished as far as I see.”

What an ill-timed mission it had been too. Ino would have been worried about Naruto going on the mission regardless, but it hadn’t been two days since she told him everything, about his father, about the Kyuubi, before he had been whisked away to save the Kazekage. Ino had stayed behind. Her team weren’t equipped to deal with Akatsuki, nor were they good trackers. They would have just gotten in the way, as much as it pained Ino to admit. She wanted to be there, for Naruto at the very least. Now she regretted not going even more. Naruto had been struggling enough with the newfound information she had dumped on him, he didn’t need to add any more stress. Yet here he was, stressing about everything.

“Everyone else… are they okay?” Naruto asked.

Ino nodded. “Everyone is fine,” she answered. “Sakura will take a few more days to truly get over the poison. Her antidote wasn’t one hundred percent since she made it so quick. Other than that, no one came back in any worse shape than they left in. Kakashi might hold off on using his Sharingan for a bit.” She knew that wasn’t what he was asking about though. “They’ve been sworn to secrecy, just like I was. Tsunade isn’t hopeful that everyone will hold to it. Too many people know now, so it’s only a matter of time until its all in the open.”

“Doesn’t leave me with much of a choice, does it?” Naruto said in mock humour. Despite his intentions to tell everyone about the Kyuubi and Akatsuki, he had hoped to have more time, or at the very least a good opportunity to do it properly. Now he would have to get it over with before rumours got the better of him. What a bummer. With a deep sigh he turned to look at Ino, only to find her already looking at him with a knowing smile. He had missed seeing that smile during his years away. The way she always seemed to know what was going on in his head without the need for her family jutsu, and making sure he knew it too. “I’m going to need help with this.”

“As if you need to ask,” Ino said. “I’ll sort out getting everyone together, you just worry about how you’re going to tell them. Sound good?”

“Yeah,” he said. What would he do without her, honestly. “What about you? Is everything okay? I, uh, guess I was a bit distant lately, huh. I’m sorry.” That was putting it mildly. Naruto had retracted into himself so hard with all the news he had received that he hadn’t even taken the time to check with Ino to make sure she was okay. Then all the mess with Suna happened and, well… there hadn’t been a chance to make things right yet. While Naruto knew the Kyuubi wasn’t a solely evil creature, there was still no telling what kind of effects its chakra had on the Yamanaka, let alone how the whole ordeal had left her feeling. He supposed it must have not been too bad since she was still here, happily being the best friend he could hope for. Even so, Naruto couldn’t help feeling guilty and ashamed of what Ino now had to deal with.

The Kyuubi was supposed to be his curse, and his alone. Naruto would be having a stern talking to with his tenant very soon.

“I’m fine, Naruto,” Ino assured him gently. “No long-term damage; Tsunade made sure. Actually, it came with some pretty cool benefits, so I think I got off pretty light, all things considered.” She accentuated her statement by flaring her chakra ever so slightly in a specific way, her blue eyes quickly gaining a red hue as she grinned madly at Naruto. “No more leaving me in the dust with your stupid stamina and chakra reserves, Whiskers.”

Naruto scoffed. “You get a taste of the fox’s chakra and now you think you’re a match for me?” he asked sceptically. “You sure granny-Tsunade checked your head properly? Has your dad made sure that stuff isn’t going to your head?” Truth be told, he was actually scared of the prospect of an Ino that could keep up with him. The girl was scary enough as she was without adding a bijuu boost on top of that.

Ino let the chakra drop and pouted. “Can’t just let me have a win here, can you?”

“Not a chance.”

“Of course not,” Ino sighed, quickly giving up. Now wasn’t the time to let her competitiveness get the better of her. “So… what now?”

That… was a good question. Naruto had no idea what to do, or what he wanted to do. Learning about his father had been a lot to take in, but after seeing Gaara die and be brought back, he could safely say a lot had been put into perspective for him. A younger, more naïve Naruto would have shouted his newfound knowledge from the rooftops. He knew better than that thankfully. Jiraiya had been the sensei to the fourth Hokage, and the third Hokage had been, well, the Hokage. Obviously, they both knew and chose not to tell him, which begged the question as to why. Naruto knew there had to be a good reason for the secrecy. There couldn’t not be. All he needed to do was find out what it was, and things could go back to normal.

“I need to talk to some people. Figure out what’s going on,” Naruto said. “Would you mind keeping things to yourself until I do that?”

Ino nodded. “I wasn’t planning on telling anyone anything, don’t worry.” Telling Naruto alone would likely get her in enough trouble as it is. “Who do you need to talk to?”

Naruto shrugged. “Kakashi-sensei for a start. The man was my dad’s student and now he’s my sensei. Something’s gotta be going on there,” he said thoughtfully. “Granny-Tsunade and Pervy-Sage are on the list too, obviously. Can’t exactly question the old man anymore, but I’m sure he had his reasons, so I’ll let that go for now. No point in getting myself worked up over things that can’t be changed. I can already tell this is going to be so annoying.”

“Look at you, all mature now, with a working brain and everything,” Ino joked, earning a pout from the boy. “Guess those years away really did do you some good. Made you think for a change.”

“Yeah, made me think of you,” Naruto quipped, smirking as Ino blushed ever so slightly. “That’s two for team Naruto, and a big fat zero for team Ino.”

“Idiot,” Ino grumbled as she pulled her hand out of his and got to her feet, glaring down at the smug, smiling idiot. “You go run your little errands then. I’m going to go and check in with everyone else that went to Suna and start planning that meeting. Come find me when you’re done,” she said with a huff.

“Hey, Ino,” Naruto called out quickly, making said girl pause in her step and look back at him. Still lying on the floor, he lifted his arms out in front of him and made an ‘up-up’ gesture with his hands. “Help.”

Ino narrowed her eyes. “Absolutely not.”

Naruto chuckled and let his arms drop down. “Worth a shot.”

“Go have a shower already.”

“I’m getting there!”

{I}

Finding Kakashi had been insultingly easy. The man was far too predictable outside of a battle. The moniker of ‘wielder of a thousand jutsu’ was hilarious when compared to his list of habitual activities. If the man couldn’t be found doing one of three things within Konoha, such as buying/reading questionable literature openly, being actively late for anything and everything he could get away with, or standing at the memorial stone for an infuriating amount of time, then he wasn’t in Konoha to begin with. Naruto considered himself lucky that he had caught his sensei at the memorial stone, though admittedly that was before he was forced to sit around for hours waiting for Kakashi to leave. He didn’t want to have this conversation in such an… unpleasant setting.

Eventually time got the better of him and Naruto took a deep breath to prepare before walking over to stand beside his sensei. Kakashi didn’t react at his presence, probably having sensed him approaching. For several uncomfortable minutes the two simply stood there silently. For whatever reason, Naruto couldn’t bring himself to disturb Kakashi’s peace just yet. It was actually rather nice, the silence. It gave Naruto the chance to think about what he wanted to say, what he wanted to ask. He should have used the previous hours to do so, but oh well, no time like the present.

He wanted to be angry, to yell and demand his sensei spill everything he knew about his parents, about why his childhood had been the way it was. He knew better than to do that. It hadn’t taken a genius to figure out that Kakashi would have been too young to have any say in what went on after the Kyuubi attack. There was also the village’s notorious history of keeping secrets, the Kyuubi being the biggest example Naruto could attest to. He wouldn’t be able to hold it against Kakashi if the man had simply been following orders and holding true to his loyalties.

“Thank you for waiting,” Kakashi said suddenly, turning an eye-smile to his most energetic student. “Thought of what you want to say yet?”

Naruto pouted. He was not that easy to read, was he? “Sort of,” he said, turning his attention back to the memorial stone. “Your team are on this stone, aren’t they?”

Kakashi nodded. “That they are,” he admitted sadly. “I’m sure you think it’s silly, but I still feel a great debt to both of my late teammates. Coming here, spending time with them, is the best I can offer until I eventually join them.”

“My parents are on here too, aren’t they?” Naruto asked, watching as Kakashi didn’t so much as flinch at his words. Figures it wouldn’t be that easy to catch the cyclops out.

“They are,” Kakashi said, getting a look of surprise in response. “Come now, Naruto. I’ve been a ninja for a while now, I know when someone is fishing for information they already have. Though I am curious as to who told you.”

Naruto sighed in defeat. He was still just a student it seemed. “Does that matter?”

Kakashi hummed thoughtfully. “Not to me, no. But there are some who might be upset, depending on who told you,” he said. “Do you know their names?”

Naruto looked at the stone intently, his eyes focusing in on one name in particular. “Minato Namikaze.”

“My sensei. A great man, an excellent Hokage, and if life had permitted, he would have made an exceptional father,” Kakashi said, putting a hand on Naruto’s shoulder. “You look a lot like him.”

“I don’t know my mothers name yet,” Naruto admitted. “You were the first person I came to. I thought, since you were his student, you would know.”

“Kushina Uzumaki. A very hard-headed woman. Loud, obnoxious, loyal to a fault. No need to wonder which of your parents you took after the most for anyone that knew her,” Kakashi said with no small hint of amusement. “She would have made a good mother. There isn’t a ninja village in existence that wouldn’t have feared her wrathful protectiveness over you. Your parents were some of the best people I ever knew. Kind, powerful, strong willed. They would have been proud of the man you’ve become, Naruto. Just like I am.”

Naruto stood frozen in place, a lump forming in his throat as he swallowed painfully. The tears could wait till later. His eyes scanned the stone more, finally fixing on the new name he had burnt into his mind. The location of both names on the stone were dedicated to memory faster than anything else in his life. Truth be told, he hadn’t expected to get anywhere with Kakashi. His lazy sensei had surprised him, pleasantly so. Now, at the very least, he had both of his parent’s names, along with a vague idea of what kind of people they were. It was more than he could have hoped for. “Why didn’t you say anything before?” he asked weakly.

“The third Hokage made your lineage a secret. Only a select few were permitted to know,” Kakashi explained. “For obvious reasons, your parents had a lot of enemies. People who would have gone to great lengths to get revenge, make a name for themselves, or otherwise just take satisfaction in the misfortune of a Kage. After the Kyuubi attack, Konoha was vulnerable, whether we like to admit it or not. Minato and Kushina sacrificed themselves to save both you and the village, sealing the fox in you in the process. Had word gotten out that they had a son, a jinchuuriki no less, and neither were alive to protect him, there would have been no shortage of people, whole villages even, storming our gates looking to claim you for themselves.”

Naruto listened intently, absorbing every word his sensei said. He had known about the fourth Hokage sealing the Kyuubi in him for years now, yet hearing the explanation again with the new knowledge that the man was his father hit a lot harder than he expected it to. To also find out that his mother had helped in that process was also quite shocking. Did neither of them think about what his life would be like after they were gone? Was it selfish of him to even think like that given that his parents had sacrificed themselves for such a cause? Naruto didn’t know, and he didn’t care. All he knew was that he just needed to feel and think however he needed in the moment. Get it all out of his system while he had the chance. The silent tears weren’t letting themselves be held back anymore.

Kakashi squeezed Naruto’s shoulder. “Your parent’s loved you, Naruto. I know that might be difficult to think given the burden they entrusted you with, but it’s the truth. I swear it,” he said. “You were meant to learn all of this when you were promoted to chunin. The third Hokage often spoke of how eager he was for Jiraiya to finally explain it to you. I do admit, I too was looking forward to finally talking to you about them myself.”

The world stopped for a second. “Huh?” Naruto scrunched his face up and looked at his sensei questioningly. “Why would pervy-sage be the one to tell me? I know he trained my dad, but I thought he was in the same situation as you.”

“Oh,” Kakashi said, thankful for his mask hiding his embarrassed expression. “I might have said too much.”

“Kakashi…”

“It really isn’t my place to explain further, Naruto. I’m sorry.”

Naruto balled his fist tightly and frowned. “Fine,” he grumbled. He wouldn’t push Kakashi. The man had already given him more than he had hoped and without any real prodding. Naruto knew his sensei was just doing what he felt was right, including right now, even if it pissed him off to no end. “I’m going to go and talk to granny-Tsunade soon.”

Kakashi chuckled. “That can only go well.”

“Tell me about it,” Naruto groaned. He knew bringing this up with Tsunade would be a nightmare, especially considering she was the one who ordered Ino to keep it quiet. There would likely be some choice words thrown around the Hokage’s office before the day was over. “Hey, Kakashi-sensei, why are you telling me anything? Isn’t that, I dunno, breaking the secret?”

“Not at all,” Kakashi said a little too cheerfully. “I wasn’t the one who told you first. What I’m doing here is easily explainable damage control. Speaking of which, I must admit I am quite proud of how you are handling yourself. You’ve come a long way in such a short time.”

Naruto wiped his face on his sleeve and smirked. His eyes quickly settled back onto the stone before them, drifting between the two names of his parents every few moments, a repetitive sway back and forth that threatened to lull him into a trance. He was starting to see how Kakashi could spend so much time here. “I think I’ll stay here for a bit.”

“The company will be appreciated.”

Sadly, the peace and tranquillity of the moment came to a screeching halt as a sudden realisation hit Naruto like a mountain falling on his head. If Jiraiya was his father’s sensei, and his father was Kakashi’s sensei, and both legendary men that he already knew were notorious perverts, then…

“Kakashi…”

“Yes, Naruto?”

“…Was my dad a pervert?”

Some questions were best left unanswered.

{I}

 It was almost dark by the time he managed to drag himself away from the memorial stone. He had asked his sensei where his parents were actually buried, which Kakashi had happily answered. A plan had already been made to visit their graves with the man, so it could wait for now. Naruto was just grateful that Kakashi was as eager to share as Naruto was to learn. His respect for the cyclops had grown considerably in the past few hours. However, while his bonding time with his sensei had been great, it couldn’t last forever. As such, Naruto now found himself staring at the door to the Hokage’s office, trying to decide on whether entering was a good idea to begin with.

He knew the reason the third Hokage had made his family a secret. It made sense when he thought about it properly. Yes, it still hurt like a kick to the guts, but he couldn’t hold such a thing against the old man. Difficult times often resulted in difficult decisions being made, every shinobi understood that. Tsunade however, he understood a little less. Naruto would give her the benefit of the doubt for now. She was the student of the third and the immediate next Hokage. It would make sense for her to honour her sensei and predecessor’s wishes and rules. If that was all it boiled down to, Naruto knew he would be able to forgive the Senju easily enough. Not that he thought he was any good at holding a grudge to begin with. Sasuke was proof enough of his ridiculously positive outlook on people.

With that in mind, he opened the door and walked in calmly, ignoring the immediate perplexed expression on Tsunade’s face. “Hey Granny,” he said with a smile that quickly fell as the woman slowly brought her hands together in a seal to dispel a genjutsu. “Oi, I am not that bad!”

“Like hell you aren’t,” Tsunade shot back. “Since when the hell do you come into my office like a normal person?”

Naruto paused and glanced at Shizune who was sharing much the same look as her sensei. He didn’t think Shizune would know anything about what was about to go down, so the safe approach was probably best. “Since I found out who my parents are,” he said.

You could almost hear the grey hairs starting to grow on the Hokage.

“Shizune, please give us some privacy,” Tsunade said, her student quickly doing as was told. With a sigh the Hokage leaned back into her chair, sliding open a draw under her desk and pulling out a bottle of sake and two cups. “I have been waiting for this. Thought it would happen much sooner in all honesty. I’ll give Ino credit; she kept her mouth shut longer than I expected.”

“It wasn’t-“

Tsunade raised a hand to silence him. “Brat, I’m not an idiot,” she said. “I know damn well it wasn’t Jiraiya that told you if you came here to talk to me about it. Only other person I know that would tell you anything is her. So come on then. Let’s get this over with so I can drink the headache away.”

Naruto frowned and crossed his arms. “Kakashi mentioned Jiraiya too. What the hell does pervy-sage have to do with any of this?” he asked.

There wasn’t enough air in the room to accommodate the sigh Tsunade wanted to let out at that question. “Curse that man,” she muttered. “Sit down, brat. Have a drink with me. So long as you don’t blow your top, I’ll answer any questions you have.”

He accepted her offer, taking a seat across from her and reaching out to take the freshly filled cup she pushed towards him. With a single gulp, which left his face twisted at the flavour, it was gone. He was confident alcohol would never be for him. “Are my parents actually Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki?” he asked simply.

“Yes,” Tsunade answered, downing her own drink and quickly refilling her cup.

“Why was it kept a secret?”

Tsunade downed the second glass. “Sensei was old, Konoha was weakened after the Kyuubi. There were questions about whether you could be protected properly if word got out that Minato and Kushina had a child that just so happened to be the jinchuuriki to the most powerful bijuu,” she said, shrugging. “Shit move, but it had it’s intended outcome. No one ever came looking for you, and Konoha was never threatened as a result.”

Naruto reached out, prompting the woman to refill his glass before he downed it quickly. That was good. Both Tsunade’s and Kakashi’s answer matched up. He could live with that. “Why did you keep it a secret when you took the hat?”

“I… I don’t have a good answer for that,” Tsunade admitted solemnly. “I could say I wanted to respect sensei’s wishes and wait until you were strong enough to look after yourself. If that were true, I would have told you a while ago.” She downed another. “Truth is… I didn’t want anything to do with it. I wasn’t here when the decision was made, so I didn’t feel it was my responsibility to undo it. Sensei should have been the one to tell you, years ago. I thought Jiraiya would have made the right choice and brought you up to speed while you were out on the training trip, but I guess I put too much faith in that idiot to do the smart thing.”

“So, Jiraiya knew all along?”

Tsunade downed two more cups in a row before grimacing. “Naruto, who do you think Jiraiya is to you?” she asked.

Naruto quirked an eyebrow. “My dad’s old sensei, and now my sensei,” he said. “I figured he knew, and that he was just trying to do a good thing by teaching me like he did my dad.” He frowned as Tsunade’s expression only got more miserable. “He’s more than that, isn’t he?”

“Your parents were quite fond of my foolish teammate. Minato basically treated him like his own father. When they found out you were on the way, well, they practically jumped at the chance to expand their little family in any way they could,” Tsunade said. “They named Jiraiya your godfather.”

The cup in his hand strained under his grip, but he was able to control himself enough not to break it. That had been unexpected. Suddenly the years spent training under the sage had an entirely different feel to them. All those fond memories now tainted by the knowledge that he could have had that earlier in his life, that he could have had someone, that he was supposed to have someone. This whole time he thought he was completely alone, only to find out that the closest thing he had to proper family was right under his nose. The man hadn’t so much as hinted at his relation in the years he had known him, not once. Was that all a part of the secrecy, or was it Jiraiya’s own reasons that had him withhold so much? The bubbling rage that threatened to flood his body told him that it didn’t matter in the end. All that mattered was that he had been alone when he shouldn’t have been. All that suffering for no good reason. Or at least no reason Naruto would accept.

“You’re pissed, I get it. But try to keep a level head,” Tsunade said, interrupting his thoughts. “There were a lot of things at play during your childhood. Even if Jiraiya wanted to be here for you, it would have caused more problems than it was worth. The world would have caught on to who you were pretty quickly. Konoha also had to make sure they didn’t look weak, and that meant keeping our heavy hitters out in play. I know it seems like no one was thinking about you at the time, but trust me, you were always the priority for quite a few people here… you just weren’t the biggest problem they had to deal with.”

Naruto wanted to call bullshit on that. He wanted to scream and yell, throw a tantrum and break everything in his path to hunt down his godfather and put his foot so far up the man’s ass that every perverted thought the sage had would have to tiptoe past his shoe straps. Alas, he couldn’t do that, not anymore. While as a child he had no reason to hold back on his emotions, now he had two really good ones. His parents would have wanted him to be better than that. Life was easier when they were just nameless, faceless shadows. Now he had names to live up to, an image to uphold. The fourth Hokage was a legend across all of the nations. It would be an insult to his father, to his childhood hero, if he carried on whichever way he wanted.

‘Damn, I definitely hang out with Ino too much,’ he mused internally. Not that he minded. Ino had been a good influence and would continue to be for so long as she would put up with him. With any luck she could teach him how to act a bit more presentable, more fitting for a Kage’s son. Oh yes, Naruto was sure Ino would have far too much fun trying to straighten him out.

“Naruto?”

“I’m okay,” he said, taking a deep breath to calm down. “Sorry, it’s a lot to take in.” That was an understatement. Today had been a complete mind melter. If this had happened when he was younger, Naruto wasn’t sure how he would have handled it. Not well, that was for sure.

Tsunade smiled sadly at him. “Any more questions?” she asked softly.

Naruto shook he head and put his cup back on her desk. “I think I have enough to think about for one day,” he said. “But… if it’s okay, I’d like to come back to talk to you when I’m ready. Ino told me about the Kyuubi stuff too and I want to make sure everything is okay on that end of things.”

“Of course. Whenever the two of you are ready, just come and find me.”

“Thanks… granny.”

“I’m not that old, brat,” she huffed.

“Yes, you are.”

Tsunade sighed deeply. Illusions aside, she was really beginning to feel the years weighing on her. “Yeah, guess I am.”

“Does that mean you’ll drop the henge?”

“Hah! Not on your life.”

{I}

It had taken longer than expected, along with a tad more effort than Ino thought would have been necessary, but in the end, she had succeeded in roping everyone together for a surprise meeting. She had been a little surprised when Naruto had dropped by to say he wanted to get it done as soon as possible. There had been something in his eyes that told her that his desire to speed it up may not have been the best idea, though she wasn’t about to argue. Almost everyone was currently in the village, so there was no time quite like the present for Ino to work her magic. The only ones missing were team Guy. Since the events that occurred in the recent mission meant they already technically knew, Ino didn’t think it would be a problem. Sakura also knew, but she had shown up to support her teammate in this moment, much to Ino’s delight.

So, there she was, in Naruto’s apartment, currently babysitting the rest of the rookie nine while they waited patiently for Naruto to show up. And when she said patiently, she really meant that there wasn’t much holding back the tension currently growing in the small apartment. Most of the rookies were pleasant enough and happy to wait, but some were more annoying than they were worth. The sound of the toilet flushing, and the bathroom door opening, drew Ino’s thoughts back to the biggest annoyance of them all.

“Hey guys, you should see how girly Naruto’s bathroom is,” Kiba said, a big stupid grin on his face as he held up a small bar of soap and sniffed it. “Guess that trip out of the village finally got him out of the clos-“ he paused, eyes narrowing in on Ino as he sniffed the air again. His eyes darted between her and the soap, then from Ino to the bathroom before doing a general glance of the apartment itself. “-No way.”

Ino narrowed her eyes at the Inuzuka. “Be very careful with your next words, biscuit-breath,” she said warningly.

Every so slowly, Kiba’s grin grew across his face, eyes lighting up mischievously. “Wow Ino. I knew you had it bad for Naruto, but to move in so quickly. I’m impressed,” he said, drawing the attention of everyone present, thought not for the reason he thought. “Or did you move in while he was gone? Your scent is almost as strong as Naruto’s is in here. You’ve been here a lot. Didn’t think you’d actually settle for the dead last.”

Everyone was silent as they stared at Kiba with varying looks of pity. It was one thing to earn the wrath of Ino Yamanaka, but it was an entirely different thing to risk the wrath of both Ino and Naruto simultaneously. The boy truly had a death wish it seemed.

“Kiba…” To everyone’s shock, it was Hinata who spoke up first, her voice as soft and sweet as ever while she smiled at her teammate. Her eyes were anything but kind, however. “Be quiet.”

Like a switch had been flipped, Kiba changed his attitude immediately. His cocky and confident demeanour was discarded under the pale-eyed glare of his teammate. With a nervous smile and a shakiness to his movements, he took a cautious step back and put his hands up defensively. “I’m sorry. I’ll behave,” Kiba said quickly and fearfully, taking his seat. “No need to do anything drastic, okay. Look, everything’s fine. Right guys? Everything’s fine. Just joking around.”

Ino held back a chuckle at the display. Everyone in the group knew of Hinata’s new… confidence. Many that didn’t know the Hyuuga personally would assume that those around her were only careful because she was currently very close with the new Kazekage. They were wrong. Hinata’s relationship wasn’t as much of a speculation among the group as it was a known fact. No one minded. In fact, they were happy for the girl. That being said, Hinata had… grown a bit more than anyone had expected with her relationship. It was no secret that her time with Gaara had served to soften the once murderous jinchuuriki into a polite and respectful young man, but that went both ways. As much as Hinata influenced Gaara, so too did he influence her. The world was still adjusting to the confident, deceptively terrifying, young woman that the Hyuuga heiress was growing up to be.

“Ino, please tell me you didn’t drag us all here just to announce that you and Naruto are dating,” Shikamaru droned from his place laying on the floor.

Everyone perked up at that, causing Ino to blush slightly. “No, Shika, that isn’t the reason at all,” she said. “Naruto has something very important to tell everyone.”

Shikamaru groaned loudly. “Troublesome. Why do we all need to be here though?”

“It’s important, Shika. Like, really important. And we are all his friends. We owe him enough to be here to support him together,” Ino said. “Also, he didn’t want anyone to feel left out. He wants everyone to know at the same time.”

“Troublesome.”

“Naruto isn’t… dying, is he?” Choji asked hesitantly.

Sakura scoffed. “If only,” she said. “I saw his medical charts. He’s the healthiest one out of all of us, by a lot. It’s ridiculous. The only people even close is me and Ino.” It went without saying that the apprentice of Tsunade and a side-timer medic nin would be the healthiest members of the group.

“You sure he isn’t coming out of the closet?” Kiba chimed in, chuckling nervously as everyone glared at him. “Okay, shutting up.”

“Is Naruto okay, Ino?” Hinata asked worriedly.

Ino wasn’t sure how to answer that. Yes, technically Naruto was fine. It just wasn’t that simple sadly. Ino knew there was more going on underneath, there couldn’t not be with everything Naruto was coming to terms with so suddenly. He hadn’t even taken the time to let her in on what else he had learnt from Kakashi and Tsunade. Ino knew he would tell her eventually; the fact he was holding onto it for the moment told her enough as it was. It must have been a rough couple of days for the Uzumaki. “He’s fine. He’s just dealing with a bunch of stuff right now. That’s why we need to be here for him now. We need to show him that he can rely on his friends.”

Everyone seemed to accept that, many nodding in understanding and returning to waiting for the blonde to arrive. Ino knew Naruto had his doubts about the rookies. Who in his position wouldn’t. It wasn’t as if he had been close friends with all of them, and there was no telling what kind of rift being gone for three years would create in what little relationships he did have. Ino, however, was confident that everyone would surprise Naruto. She had made sure that no one forgot about him while he was away and had even gone to some interesting lengths to find out what everyone thought of the boy. Had she been going a bit overboard to sus out what people would think if she started dating him? Obviously. Did she care? Absolutely not. Information was a shinobi’s best friend.

A knock on the door got everyone attention, especially Hinata’s, who activated her byakugan and smiled. “It’s Naruto,” she said quietly.

“This is his apartment. Why would he knock?” Sakura asked.

Ino had the decency to blush, remembering a near miss the two had had when she was too tired to remember whose apartment she was in, and Naruto hadn’t thought barging into his own apartment could lead to any unfortunate accidents. Needless to say, despite Naruto’s newfound habit of knocking before entering, Ino now made sure to always be fully dressed when ‘visiting’. Quickly turning away from the group, she rushed to the door and opened it with a bright smile. “Took you long enough,” she said cheerfully.

“Oh, am I late?” Naruto asked unsurely, peeking over the girl’s shoulder.

“Nope. Right on time. Now get in here,” Ino said, grabbing him by the shirt and pulling him in. She could see how anxious he was, so a little bit of a forceful push in the right direction couldn’t go astray. Leading him to their friends, she smirked as she pushed him into the spotlight and took a step back to truly enjoy the catastrophe this would be. Ino would happily make sure their friends didn’t misunderstand what they were told, and she would fight anyone that so much as tried to get a twisted idea in their head, but that didn’t mean she was going to stop Naruto from embarrassing himself.

“Uhh, hey guys,” Naruto said awkwardly.

“Naruto, please, let’s get this over with quickly. This is prime nap time, and you know it,” Shikamaru grumbled.

“No one forced you to come here, Shikamaru,” Naruto said, quickly earning a sharp look from everyone present before their eyes drifted to an all too innocent looking Ino. “Okay, maybe they did, but a ninja shouldn’t be sleeping all the time man.”

“Naruto,” Hinata said, getting the boy’s attention before smiling sweetly at him. “We have all been waiting. You wanted us all here to hear what you have to say. So please, let us hear it,” she said softly.

Ino grinned at the Hyuuga. Who would have guessed the shy little Hyuuga had the authority to suddenly command a room. Her father would lose his mind if he could see his precious little girl in moments like this. Turning her attention back to Naruto, who was looking at her unsurely, Ino gave him a nod. “It’ll be okay,” she promised, gesturing for him to go ahead.

Naruto sighed deeply and clapped his hands together. “Right. Okay. Umm, there isn’t really an easy way to explain this without making it sound weird, so here it goes…” he took a deep breath as every pair of eyes focused on him keenly, ears at the ready to soak in his next words. “The fourth Hokage couldn’t kill the Kyuubi all those years ago, so instead he sealed the thing inside of me, making me a jinchuuriki. I’m sorry, I should have told you all sooner, I just thought you would hate me for it. Sorry.” With his final apology he bowed deeply, not wanting to catch sight of the likely mixed emotions crossing all his friends faces.

After a few moments of silence, nothing happened.

“Is that it?” Shikamaru asked in a bored tone.

“Huh?” Naruto looked up at everyone to find no one particularly concerned with the news he had just given them. “No one’s… angry?” Everyone shook their heads in the negative. “Well… that’s, cool. I think. I thought this would be a bigger thing.”

“It wasn’t hard to figure out,” the know-it-all Nara commented.

“Wait, some of you knew already? Who?” Naruto’s eyes widened as no less than four of his friends raised their hands. Ino and Sakura already knew so they just kept to themselves for the moment. The others though; Shikamaru, Choji, Shino, and… “Hinata? You knew too? How did you guys find out? Did Ino tell you?”

“E-Excuse me?!” Ino spluttered at the accusation.

“No Naruto, Ino didn’t tell anyone,” Shikamaru said. “As annoying as she can be, running loose with people’s secrets isn’t something Ino does. I figured it out during the chunin exams, then I told Choji.”

“What do you mean annoying?!”

Naruto grinned sheepishly and scratched his head. “Damn, that early,” he mumbled. “Smart ass.”

Shino stepped forward. “I learnt of your condition in the academy,” he said simply, earning shocked glances from the group. “I attempted to use my insects to drain your chakra, as I did with everyone else. Why? To create a familiarity with the chakra of any potential teammates in my future of course. When all attempts at draining your chakra left my insects dead or dying, I asked my father. He did not tell me, but it was easy to deduce after some time in the Aburame archives.”

“Huh,” Naruto said, both a little freaked out and rather impressed with the creepiest member of the rookies. “Why did you never say anything?”

“It was not common knowledge. I assumed for good reason,” Shino answered. “Your condition was not dangerous, so it would have served no purpose to inform anyone. Would it also be rude and hypocritical of an Aburame to judge someone based on what they contain within them? Yes, yes it would.”

Everyone considered Shino’s words and nodded in understanding. Out of all of them, the Aburame was likely the only one who could sympathise with Naruto. Sure, Shino was a willing host for his hive, but his clan were often kept at a distance and regarded carefully due to the ‘unnatural’ and creepy tactics they utilised. No one even questioned why Shikamaru and Choji never said anything. Shikamaru was too lazy and would avoid drawing attention to himself at all costs, and Choji was too kind-hearted to have a negative opinion about anyone. It also helped that Choji often let Shikamaru be the brains of the two. If the Nara didn’t say anything, then it was for good reason. Hinata however…

The Hyuuga heiress blushed nervously for the first time in quite a while as she poked her fingers together out of habit. Being the centre of attention like this, with everyone looking at her so questioningly, was clearly not something she was expecting. “I, uh, I always knew you had a strange chakra inside of you. My Byakugan told me as much. B-but I never knew what it was until I saw the same thing in Gaara at the chunin exams,” she explained. “Later, Gaara told me what he was on one of my trips to Suna, and also that you were the same for the Kyuubi.”

“Well…” Naruto began, letting out a deep breath as his shoulder slumped. “Guess I really made a big deal over nothing then, huh?”

“Is that really the big secret?” Kiba asked, unimpressed.

“You mean you aren’t the least bit shocked?” Naruto asked.

Kiba shrugged. “Doesn’t matter to me what kind of furball you have sealed inside of you. I’ll still get stronger and kick your ass eventually. Just you wait. That Hokage chair is only big enough for one of us, and it ain’t gonna be you.”

Ino shook her head as the two idiots began to bicker between each other who was more suited to lead Konoha. No situation was ever serious for very long wherever Naruto was involved. Stepping forward, she cleared her throat and got everyone’s attention. “My turn,” she chirped, placing her hands together and flaring her chakra. It wasn’t as much of a spectacle as she was sure it would be if Naruto had done it, but it was still enough to shock the room. An ever so faint red chakra shroud glowed over her body as her eyes turned red, her nails growing into small claws, and three barely noticeable whisker like marks appeared on each cheek as she flashed a particularly foxy grin. Had no one known otherwise, they could almost mistake Ino for Naruto’s sister based solely on appearance, as wrong as that sounded.

“That… explains a lot,” Sakura said slowly. “No wonder your medical records are sealed.”

Shikamaru groaned loudly but kept his opinion to himself.

“What the… there’s two Kyuubi’s?” Kiba asked.

“Nope. I just accidentally took some of the Kyuubi out of Naruto and, well, it didn’t leave,” Ino explained, letting the chakra fade quickly. “It’s nothing like what Naruto has, but it’s similar, and I had to keep it a secret until he came out with his.” And God if it didn’t suck having to hold back all these years out of fear of letting anyone find out. The only times she could ever cut loose was when she trained with Anko in isolated areas. Now she could start really focusing on improving at all times, maybe even use it to try and kick her lazy team into doing more. Poor Shikamaru had no idea what was in store for him now, or maybe he did. Was that why he was currently glaring at the ceiling? ‘Too late, Shika. Cursing the gods won’t save you now!’

“Ino was right,” Naruto said suddenly, grinning ear to ear. “I really was worrying about nothing. You guys are awesome. I’m sorry I didn’t give you all enough credit. I should have told you all sooner.”

“It’s okay, Naruto,” Sakura said softly. “We understand. This is a big deal for you. You told us when you were ready, and that means you trust us all enough to do that. That’s all that matters, right?”

The sun would be jealous of how brightly Naruto was grinning. “Right!”

“Are we done? Please tell me that’s all the news we have for tonight. I have enough to think about tonight as it is,” Shikamaru droned.

“Well, there is a group of S-rank missing-nin who are hunting down all the bijuu, meaning they will eventually come after me. Other than that, not really,” Naruto rattled off nonchalantly.

Shikamaru’s eye twitched violently. “Noted.”

Ino went to tell her teammate off for his unneeded attitude, only to catch herself as she noticed the mischievous glimmer in Naruto’s eyes. ‘Oh, this is gonna be good,’ she thought, holding herself back and waiting for the fireworks.

“Or would you like to know about how the fourth Hokage is my dad?”

Silence.

“That’s a joke… right?” Kiba asked.

No response.

Shikamaru raised his head just enough to glare at Naruto questioningly, then turn his eyes to Ino. Ino could only smile and nod, causing the Nara’s eye to twitch again before he slammed his head back down to the floor. Everyone else shared in a mixed range of expressions, ranging from sudden violent understanding, to horrified realisation. Only Ino was spared from the headache such a revelation was inducing.

“Naruto… come on, man. Tell me you’re joking,” Kiba pleaded.

Ino giggled.

“…what the fuck, bro.”

Chapter Text

Ino was practically bouncing on her feet as she brushed her hair. Today was the day. There was no question in her mind. Nothing short of a natural disaster would stop her from getting what she wanted today, what she had waited so patiently for, what she was owed, what she was promised. Today was the day Naruto would finally take her on a date. If only the poor fool knew it himself.

It had been over a week since their little meet with the other rookies. Obviously, the news had been jarring to a lot of their friends, but most were able to take it in stride. Within a few days everything was almost back to normal. Naruto, the loveable idiot that he was, seemed over the moon at simply not having lost any of his friends by unveiling his secrets. The smile he had worn in the days following was so infectious that Ino and Sakura suspected a genjutsu… an annoyingly unbreakable one at that. In spite of the good mood, Ino had found Naruto to still be quite reserved, still somewhat retreated into himself. She knew why of course, as did anyone else who understood the whole situation.

Learning that Jiraiya of the freaking Sannin was Naruto’s godfather had been a manageable piece of information when compared to the rest of the mysteries that had made up the young Uzumaki. Ino had been able to more or less shrug the fact off when she was told. That was until she realised that Naruto had family. Living, breathing, belonging to Konoha, family. Maybe not by blood, but who even cared about that stuff these days. There were stronger bonds than that of blood being forged in the world every day. No, Naruto had someone, someone who should have been there for the boy after losing his parents; only they weren’t. It went without saying that Jiraiya was a very lucky man to have been mysteriously out of the village for the moment, lest he find himself at the mercy of one extremely irate Yamanaka.

Tsunade may have nearly killed the man in their youth, but Ino would have done her best to have the man begging for death.

Sadly, no matter how upset Ino may have been about the whole thing, she knew Naruto was much more so. He put on a brave face, focusing on the happiness of being free of the burden of his secret and spending time at the memorial stone whenever he could. Ino could see it though, the pain in his eyes whenever his thoughts drifted to his absent godfather, to the man he had spent years training with without even knowing the truth. There was a rage in that pain, in that sadness. Ino could feel it, as if his emotions were being broadcast directly to her through the Kyuubi’s chakra. Naruto was being himself for the sake of those around him, and Ino knew that as soon as Jiraiya returned to Konoha, all hell would break loose.

That was an issue for a later date, however. Today was a day for good things, and for Ino Yamanaka that meant it was finally the day she provided Naruto with the greatest distraction from all the woes the world had to offer. Herself. Sure, it would be a surprise for him, and it was very likely that he would panic and not know what to do, but Ino figured that would be part of the charm. Naruto did his best thinking on the spot anyway, so it could only work in her favour. If by chance it fell apart around him, then Ino knew it would at least be entertaining and so very memorable. She pocketed a small camera just in case any memories needed to be captured for the world to see. There was honestly no telling what could happen with Naruto involved, so Ino stopped trying to plan around the chaos-magnet she was pining for.

With a quick check of her outfit and a satisfied nod, Ino was off. She didn’t have to look for Naruto. His chakra signature was burnt into her mind by now, and he was only ever in the same four or five places when in Konoha. One day she would point that out to him when he complained about Kakashi being a creature of habit. Coming up on the training ground that homed the memorial stone, Ino slowed her pace and straightened out her clothes and hair before walking up to stand beside Naruto silently. He had brought her here before, proudly pointing out his parent’s names with a big smile on his face before rattling off a book’s worth of information on the two. Ino could only guess that he had spent a lot of time at the library absorbing every possible piece of information he could find on the two shinobi. As such, the Yamanaka had merely listened as he bragged, not so humbly mind you, about how awesome his parents had been. It had been too cute to stop him.

“Hey Ino,” Naruto greeted happily. “What’s up?”

Ino smiled warmly. “Nothing. Just checking in,” she said innocently. “Got any plans for this evening?”

Naruto shrugged. “This. Maybe drop by Ichiraku’s on my way home.”

“I’m a little peckish too, mind if we get something together?” she asked.

“Uh, sure. What do you feel like?” Naruto wasn’t dense enough anymore to think everyone could enjoy ramen for every meal, especially Ino.

“Not sure actually. How about we hit the town and figure it out as we go,” Ino said with a smirk, enjoying the suspicious look on Naruto’s face. Was it perhaps a little evil to push him into this situation? Yes. Thankfully, she didn’t care about being evil. Naruto had made a promise, and she had waited nearly four years for it to be paid in full. He would just have to deal with it.

Naruto’s eyes narrowed questioningly before going wide with realisation. He could only chuckle nervously as Ino’s smirk got more sinister. She must have been planning something. It had been quite some time since he had fallen victim of one of her pranks, he figured it was only a matter of time before she tried to get the better of him. “Sounds good to me,” he said with a smile. ‘I got my eye on you,’ he thought. He was the king of pranks. There was no way she was going to catch him out. “I might go get changed first.”

Ino eyed him up and down quickly and shrugged. “Nope, you’re fine as you are,” she said. Whether it was a conscious effort or not, Naruto always managed to tidy himself up a bit more than usual when he went to the memorial stone. “Come on.”

She walked alongside him in silence for a time, stealing the occasional glance to appreciate the thoughtful look on his face as they got back into the village proper. Would he figure out what she was doing before she had to spell it out for him? He had matured a lot in his time away, but some things never really changed. Ino wouldn’t mind either way. She wasn’t chasing Naruto for his mind, at least not in that way. If she wanted someone smart, she could have easily gone for Shikamaru, even if everyone and their grandmother knew how difficult a Nara male could be. No, Ino knew exactly what kind of man she wanted in her life, and Naruto was all that and more.

Ino wanted an honest man, a kind man. The kind of person she could rely on and trust without a second of hesitation. Naruto was the person she trusted the most. She didn’t want her family’s reputation or techniques to scare them away, something that Naruto had already proven didn’t bother him despite his own history with Ino using the technique. She didn’t want a man who would coddle her and treat her like a delicate flower, despite how much of a princess her father had accidentally raised her as in the beginning. There were more than a few scars across her body, as well as some more recent bruises, that proved Naruto wasn’t going to hold back in their training. He wanted her to be as strong as she could be, and Ino appreciated that level of support and respect that he showed her.

There was no mistaking it. After many a night thinking hard on the matter at hand, Ino could only conclude that Naruto was absolutely the man she wanted. It helped that she already had a crush on him from years before, and that she knew he had one on her too. All Ino had to do was put in a little leg work, give the poor idiot the push he needed to sweep her off her feet and the rest would be history. Now it was just a matter of figuring out how to lead him into doing it of his own volition. Much harder said than done, Ino was sure.

“Know where you want to eat?” Naruto asked, looking around curiously at many of the restaurants and vendors lining the streets they were walking down. “Can’t convince you to choose Ichiraku’s, can I?”

Ino patted him sympathetically on the back. “No. Not a chance,” she said. It wasn’t that she disliked the humble ramen stand, quite the opposite actually. They made some amazing food, not limited to just ramen. Ino was long past her days of trying to diet to maintain her figure, and as such could enjoy whatever food she wanted. That being said, a shinobi needed a good, varied diet to be healthy. Naruto may have had the benefit of the Kyuubi compensating for that, but it wouldn’t stop Ino from trying to impart the importance of trying new foods onto him. “Oh, how about there?”

She pointed to the distance and watched as Naruto’s eyes followed her finger. The horrified expression he adopted once he saw Ino’s suggestion was worth it even if he outright refused. It was a smaller restaurant, clearly one of a higher standard of dining. Neat little tables for two scattered around with enough room between them to provide a little more privacy than normal. Definitely not the kind of place that would serve ramen. Actually, anyone who knew anything about dining out in Konoha, would know this particular one was notoriously popular among couples. Ino was banking on Naruto not knowing that at all, and judging by the string of amusing expressions that crossed his handsome face, she was right.

Naruto tried to give her a convincing smile. “You sure?” he asked, voice straining ever so slightly. Ino nodded and he sighed. “Okay.”

Ino held back a laugh. She didn’t know what was cuter, the fact that he was willing to do it just to appease her, or the fact that he didn’t seem to know that he could say no. She wouldn’t accept it, but he could still say it. And so, on they went, marching right up to the host of the venue with wide smiles, strained or otherwise. Ino took her chance to sneak her hand into Naruto’s as they went. He was either too distracted to notice, or he just didn’t mind being seen holding her hand in public. Ino hoped it was the latter.

“Welcome to the Enchanted Leaf,” the host greeted pleasantly, only momentarily eyeing Naruto with a strange expression before his eyes were met with a cold and daring stare courtesy of Ino. “H-how may I be of service?”

Ino smiled and perked up. She was very prepared to deal with anyone’s distasteful opinion on Naruto. Thankfully, she had a reputation of her own around the village, so it was unlikely that anyone would try anything with her around. “Just a table for two please,” she chirped, not daring to let go of Naruto’s hand even as he chuckled nervously under the scrutinising gaze of the host.

The host was quick to give up with a shrug and gestured for them to follow, leading them quickly to a small table at the back and in a corner. Ino knew it was to keep up appearances by tucking them away like this, but it worked in her favour. The less people that saw Naruto eating here, the better for the business, just as the less people that saw the two of them eating together in a place like this, the less headaches and questions Ino would have to deal with later. She was only going to put up with that crap after she had officially sunk her claws into the boy. They were handed a menu each and quickly left to themselves to read over it.

Naruto hummed thoughtfully as he scoured the menu for anything he recognised and liked, only to pout and put it down. “I have no idea what any of these are,” he admitted defeatedly. Ichiraku’s at least had the decency to put photos with their menu.

Ino waved dismissively. “Don’t worry. I’ll order for you. How does something with pork sound?” she asked, getting a nod. Ordering was as quick and efficient as the seating had been. Ino ordered a beef curry for herself and chose to spare Naruto any embarrassment by ordering him a simple pork bowl. Being adventurous with food could wait for subsequent date nights.

“You going out after this?” Naruto asked curiously, eyeing Ino’s current attire.

Ino smiled. She hadn’t gone all out for the occasion, knowing it would set off alarms in Naruto’s mind no matter how dense he could be at times. Her skirt was a longer version of her normal one, her small purple top replaced with a dark blue blouse that went a little past her waist and had long sleeves. She had chosen to wear her hair down today, not needing it to be tied up when not out on a mission. Subtlety would be the best weapon Ino would have against a man like Naruto. Just enough for him to notice, not enough for him to figure out why.

“Something along those lines,” Ino replied nonchalantly. “I just wanted to be comfortable for today. Why? Do I not look good?”

Naruto’s eyes widened. “What? No. That’s not what I meant. You look great. As beautiful as always. I swear. I just-”

“Calm down,” Ino laughed. “You worry way too much, Naruto. But thank you for the compliment. I’m glad you think I’m beautiful.” She winked at him, making a mental notch in her mind as he blushed slightly. She promised she wasn’t keeping score. That would just be petty. “So, I see you’re handling things well. Do you feel better? Knowing who your parents are now, I mean.” Ino had waited to ask this question until it was just the two of them, in a situation where it wouldn’t distract him too much. Assuming he could get any more distracted. He had been so out of it lately, the poor thing. While there were no regrets in telling Naruto the truth, a part of Ino still worried that the information had left him with unresolved issues he was keeping to himself. It would explain why he was spending so much time at the memorial stone.

“It’s…” Naruto smiled sadly. “It’s a relief, you know. But at the same time, I think in some ways, it was easier not knowing who they were. Not better, exactly, just easier. Back then I didn’t have to think about it too much. I wanted to know, but I also didn’t think I’d have any names to live up to or anything. Now that I do, I dunno, it kinda feels… weird.”

“It is a lot to take in,” Ino said. “But if you’re worried about whether they would be proud of you, don’t be. I know they would be, and so does everyone else.”

Naruto didn’t put up a fight. “Thanks. That means a lot coming from you,” he said earnestly before chuckling to himself. “Has Kiba gotten over it yet?”

“I mean, he’s come to terms with it being the truth, if that makes a difference,” Ino answered amusedly. It didn’t. Everyone knew. The Inuzuka was slowly working his way through the revelation, and it was clearly not going the way anyone would have liked. If Kiba had been cocky before, he was on the right path to being doubly so. Being able to claim that he only failed the chunin exams due to being matched against the son of the fourth Hokage and jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi was going to the boy’s head. Eventually someone was going to have to knock him down a peg, and Ino had called dibs. “You don’t have to worry about him. We have it under control.”

Naruto winced at that, forcing Ino to suppress a laugh. It was no secret that whenever Ino said ‘we’ she meant Hinata and herself. There were many in Konoha who had begun cursing Anko for her contributions to moulding the two clan heiresses into what they were today. Naruto had likely heard more than enough since his return to know better than to get on either of their shit lists. Good thing he was smart enough to know better, and sweet enough to never get written in one of them. She watched him relax a bit and look around the restaurant, a strange look appearing on his face as he started realising just where they were. Oh, so he had been properly out of it when she nabbed him. Good. That would make this all the sweeter for her.

Ino felt him steal a glance as she turned to wave the host back down. They were going to need something with alcohol if they were going to get through the entire night without one of them getting too nervous. Ino refused to let butterflies ruin her masterfully not-thought-out plans. When she turned back to him, she was met with a smile that she knew was Naruto’s attempt at hiding his true expression. By now he was probably realising what was going on, or at the very least was trying to deny it somehow. ‘No way. This is all part of a prank. Ino wouldn’t do this to me…’ that was what Ino figured was running through his head right now. Her own smile only grew as the horror in his eyes became more apparent until his face went blank.

‘Yep. He’s got it now,’ Ino thought happily. Now the real fun could begin.

“Where are you going later?” he asked casually, trying and failing to not give himself away.

“Not sure yet,” Ino answered just as casually. “I’ll see where life takes me, but I am prepared for just about anything to happen tonight.” She may have put a little bit too much emphasis on the whole being prepared part, if Naruto’s nervous gulp was to be trusted. She wanted to make him sweat, not scare him away. “What about you? Any plans? Any promises you have to run off and fulfill? I know you’re a man of your word after all. It’s one of the things I admire about you, you know.”

He laughed anxiously and scratched the back of his head out of habit. “Oh? You think that’s a good quality? Most people think its annoying or naïve, what with being a shinobi and all. Not exactly a good profession to prioritise keeping your word.”

Ino rolled her eyes. Of course a world full of back stabbers would think being honest and truthful was a bad thing. “Well, I like it,” she said. “It means you’re trustworthy, and trust is something I take very seriously.”

“Didn’t you just break the Hokage’s trust not that long ago when you told me-“

“That was different!” Ino spluttered. She was immediately grateful for the drinks having been served in that moment. Naruto’s cheeky grin wasn’t missed by her, however. “And would you rather I not have told you?”

He frowned. “If it got you in trouble, then yes,” he said honestly.

Ino shook her head with a smile. Naruto would really rather not learn who his parents were if it meant getting someone close to him hurt in any way. Thankfully, Tsunade had been more bark than bite on the subject. Sure, Ino had been called in for the tongue lashing of the century, but considering that it was a controlled leak, and the fact that Naruto was handling it so well, there wasn’t much to punish the Yamanaka for. Ino was also pretty sure Naruto had said something to get her off the hook since Tsunade hadn’t really put her all into it.

Ino took a sip of her drink. “Good thing it never came to that,” she said. “While I’ve got you to myself, I wanted to ask you something.”

Naruto tilted his head curiously. “Okay?”

“My mother has invited you over for dinner with us,” Ino said with a shrug. “No set date, no pressure or anything. I think my parents just want to meet you properly. You can refuse if you aren’t comfortable with the idea.” She definitely wasn’t going to force her parents upon anyone, especially Naruto. As much as it would mean to her for them to all get along, Ino wouldn’t tell Naruto that, knowing he would twist himself up inside and force himself to go even if he didn’t want to. That wasn’t what she wanted at all.

“Oh,” Naruto said in pleasant surprise. “Dinner? At your house? Are they sure they want me there? They do know who I am right? What I am?”

Ino nodded. “Naruto, my father is the head of the T&I department of Konoha. He has the highest clearance, second only to the Hokage herself. I do not think there is anything about you daddy hasn’t already thoroughly investigated. As for mom, well, she is very intuitive. Daddy wouldn’t let anything too important slip, even to her, but you can never know what she can figure out on her own.” For example, how her mother had deduced Ino had developed a massive crush on Naruto only days after Ino herself knew. Looking back, however, it was probably easy to figure out. There had been some very clear signs. “It’ll be fine. I promise. But like I said, you don’t have to do it. It’s only an offer.”

Naruto sighed in relief before drumming his fingers idly on the tabletop. “Dinner with the parents…” he mumbled quietly to himself. With a worried expression, he looked up and met Ino’s gaze. “Ino… Is this a date?” he asked apprehensively, gesturing to the both of them. “I know I promised I would take you on a date when I got back, and things have been super busy and unexpected, so I haven’t had time to think about it. I’m sorry if I was taking too long to ask you. I didn’t mean to force you to take it upon yourself or anything. I-“

“Shh,” Ino interrupted gently, reaching over and grabbing his hands. “Settle. No stress, okay.” She waited for him to take a deep breath and calm down a little before smiling and continuing. “Yes, you did promise me a date. I haven’t forgotten. I also understand everything that’s going on and that you have bigger things to think about right now, so don’t worry about it. As for this. This is whatever we want it to be. A dinner between friends, a little practice run, or, if you’d like, I’m more than happy for this to be the start of our first date night.” The way his eyes lit up had her hands itching to snatch the camera from her pocket. Sadly, it would have to wait for a more opportune moment.

“You’ve been planning to catch me off guard like this for a little while, haven’t you?”

Ino grinned. “I’m not very patient. You should know that.”

Naruto snorted. “You could have just asked.”

“A lady shouldn’t have to ask for a date, Whiskers,” Ino chided playfully. “But now that we are here, what will it be?”

“Hmm, let’s think about my options,” Naruto started. “I could turn down a date with the most beautiful girl I know, who happens to be my best friend, and look like a complete loser for a few months, until people forget, or I do something even more stupid to make them forget. Keep in mind that I know turning you down will result in some sort of consequence involving poison that I may or may not be able to recover from quickly. Or I could take you up on the offer and make a fool of myself anyway because I’m hopeless at this stuff. I’m willing to bet that you were banking on that fact for your own sick amusement.”

Ino propped her elbow on the table and rested her chin on her hand, all the while beaming at Naruto and idly playing with a strand of her hair. “You know me so well, Whiskers,” she cooed. “There is still the option of making this a practice run. Help you get over those first date jitters before the real thing.” Ino could have trapped him here and had her fun, but that would be needlessly cruel. It wasn’t as if Naruto was avoiding the whole thing, he just needed a little push.

Naruto shook his head firmly. “Nope. Can’t do it,” he said. “It’s all or nothing. No half-arsing important things.”

“Oh? Is taking me on a date that important, is it?”

“You’re important,” Naruto said with a mischievous grin as Ino blushed. “Another point for me.”

Ino narrowed her eyes. “Keeping score, are we?”

“And you weren’t?”

She shrugged. “Fair point. Now, enough of that,” Ino said, lifting her glass up. “I think it’s about time you and I had a drink together.”

Naruto eyed his own drink warily. That last stint with Tsunade had left him with an unsure opinion on alcohol. With any luck, having a drink with Ino would change that. Picking up his glass, he moved it towards Ino’s and clinked them together before he took a tentative sip. He grimaced at the taste but kept his complaints silent. And so, the night went on, the two of them losing themselves to each other’s company, aided along by the growing number of drinks they were having. The food ended up being amazing, even in Naruto’s biased opinion, and for the first time in quite a while everything felt like it was going the way it was supposed to. Sadly, fate had an interesting sense of humour.

“Well-well, if this isn’t a pleasant surprise,” a loud an overly excited voice announced, followed quickly by the sound of a chair being dragged over to the couple’s table. “And here I thought I had wasted all that money on those private tutors for you, eh Naruto. You should have told me you had such a beauty waiting for you back home.”

Ino felt herself sober up almost immediately. Not out of any sense of threat or danger, at least not for herself, but more so that she didn’t want to miss anything that was about to happen. Someone would have to be a reputable eyewitness if things erupted. A single glance was all it took for her to see that Naruto was in the same boat, his carefree smile having dropped after the first few words of the new member of their table. Her eyes turned back to the interrupter with a vicious glare. How dare anyone disturb what was turning out to be an amazing night for her.

“Pervy-sage,” Naruto greeted flatly, smiling emptily at the Sannin. “When did you get back?”

Jiraiya was either unaware that he was interrupting, or he didn’t care. Either option was dangerous. “Only a few hours ago,” he said, reaching out to take Naruto’s cup without a care and finishing its contents. “Damn, brat. This is good stuff. You’re really pulling out all the cards for this one, huh? I’m so proud. I was almost going to teach you a lesson about being so hard to track down, but now that I see why, well, I certainly can’t blame you.”

Ino held back a growl. Did Jiraiya need to continue to talk about her like that without even properly trying to introduce himself? Ino idly wondered just how much trouble she could get in for killing a Sannin. Surely Tsunade would understand, maybe even be elated at the news. That was if Naruto didn’t manage to do it first. If the rage boiling in the jinchuuriki’s eyes could spill out, this side of the village would be an inferno by now. That wasn’t even the worst of it. Ino could feel the Kyuubi, it’s chakra stirring and bubbling so intensely within Naruto that it was affecting the traces in her own body. Whatever anger Ino had naturally in this situation was being amplified, incredibly so. The fact that Naruto was dealing with it much worse than her, along with having much more reason to be angry, spoke volumes to his level of control.

Jiraiya needed to put some distance between himself and his student if he knew what was good for him.

“Did you need something?” Naruto asked.

“Nope. Just thought I’d check in and see how my favourite student is getting along,” Jiraiya said cheerfully, patting the boy on the back. “Heard you had a run in with the Akatsuki already. Gave them a real beatdown too. Guess all that training I gave you paid off, huh? Don’t worry, you can thank me later.”

Ino could feel how tightly Naruto was gripping the table. Where was Tsunade when you needed her?

“Actually, there is something I would like to show you, Pervy-sage,” Naruto said suddenly. “Wanna go to the training grounds? I promise it’ll be worth it. I’ve been waiting for you to get back so I can show it off.”

Jiraiya glanced questioningly between the two blondes. “After this, or…?”

“Now is fine,” Naruto said, flashing Ino an apologetic smile as he stood up. “It’s too good to wait. You’ll lose your mind once you see.”

“Well, alright then. Consider me intrigued. But let’s make it quick. If I’m lucky I can still get back to Tsunade’s office and catch her on the end of a bender,” the Sannin said with a perverted glint in his eyes. “She’s much friendlier in those moments.”

Jiraiya turned to leave, and Naruto took a moment to look at Ino like he had just accidentally kicked a puppy. She smiled at him and nodded. “It’s okay,” she mouthed silently, gesturing for him to go ahead. He didn’t need to be told twice, quickly following after his sensei. Ino sighed deeply and downed the last of her drink. She settled the bill, making a note for Naruto to be the one to pay for the next outing, and set off to the Hokage’s office. As creepy as Jiraiya’s earlier comment had been, it had let Ino know that Tsunade was still there. Ino could have left well enough alone, left Jiraiya to his fate with Naruto, but that wouldn’t be right. Jiraiya and Naruto had a lot to sort out. Trying to beat someone to a pulp wasn’t usually the recommended method of working things out though, and Ino needed to make sure the fallout was contained. They were two of the most powerful shinobi in the village, so there was no telling how out of hand things could get.

{I}

Naruto managed to maintain his flimsy façade for the entire walk to the training grounds. Not once did he faulter as he and Jiraiya caught up on the days from their travels, exchanged stories from the past weeks that the Sannin had been out for. No matter how much every part of him screamed to punch his godfather in the face, he didn’t let it take control, not yet. Naruto wasn’t quite drunk enough to think he had any kind of a chance facing the Sannin, not without losing control of himself. No, he had to rely on the element of surprise, catch the toad off guard and get in as many cheap hits as he could before Jiraiya got serious and beat the shit out of him. One decent punch to the man’s smug perverted face would be enough for Naruto, even if he knew it would only be shrugged off.

As they came to the centre of one of the more out of the way training grounds, Jiraiya stopped and rubbed his hands together excitedly. “Okay brat, let’s have it. What spark of genius has that weird little mind of yours conjured up?” Jiraiya said.

Naruto continued to smile. “Hey, Pervy-sage, can I ask you something? It’s been bugging me for a while now, and I was hoping you’d know.”

Jiraiya shrugged. “Sure. Let’s hear it.”

“The old man, I used to ask him who my parents were sometimes. He never told me… said it wasn’t something I should worry about at the time,” Naruto told him. “I… I thought he would tell me after I learnt about the Kyuubi, but he still didn’t say anything. Then the chunin exams happened and… I did have parents, right? One’s that loved me? I wasn’t just some baby dumped somewhere in the village and made into a jinchuuriki, was I?”

Jiraiya, the spymaster he was, had decades of experience in controlling his outward expressions. As such, he didn’t so much as blink at the question, offering nothing more than another careless shrug. “Beats me kid. I wasn’t around when the Kyuubi attacked. Only person that would know would have been the old man or the fourth,” he said nonchalantly. “I guess if it’s really bugging you, you can ask Tsunade to look into it. Might take some digging, if they can find anything in the first place. You gotta remember, a lot was lost that night. Not just people and buildings, but records too. What I’m trying to say is don’t get your hopes up. Dwelling on the past isn’t what you want to be doing right now.”

Naruto smiled sadly and nodded in acceptance, though internally his rage ignited anew. Even after all this time, after everything, Jiraiya was still choosing to play dumb. This man, this perverted buffoon, his godfather, was still unwilling to tell him the truth and embrace him as the only family Naruto had left in the world. That couldn’t be allowed to continue, it wouldn’t be allowed. Silently, Naruto lifted his hand and channelled his chakra, a small ball of rapidly spinning energy springing to life, floating just above his palm. A perfect, one-handed rasengan. His fathers jutsu, his legacy. It had been an awesome jutsu before, something Naruto had invested a lot of time into trying to perfect. After learning the truth, he had returned to it with a vigour unlike anything else, committing himself to perfecting it, to mastering it. In his mind there was no better way to honour his father, and he had succeeded.

“Woah-oh, and not a clone in sight,” Jiraiya said proudly. “I’d say even the fourth Hokage would be impressed.”

“You think so?” Naruto asked. “I thought it would be a good idea to perfect it. You know, as a way to remember dad a little better.”

Jiraiya nodded sagely, stroking his chin thoughtfully and not registering Naruto’s words at all. “Hmm, well, at a base stage you’ve got it down perfectly,” he explained. “But your dad always rambled on about it being an incomplete jutsu. Something about trying to add a…” The sage’s words died in his throat as the gears of his well-oiled mind came to a screeching halt. Alarm bells were going off and somewhere deep, deep down inside of him, Jiraiya felt a sudden spike of fear the likes of which he had only felt once before when Tsunade caught him peeping on her.

“You okay, Pervy-sage?” Naruto asked innocently, only there was nothing innocent about the way he was grinning at his sensei. “Something wrong? Perhaps there’s something you need to get off your chest? I know how much a secret can weigh on you. Trust me, it feels much better to tell someone.”

Jiraiya could practically feel the Shinigami tickling his spine with the sickly-sweet words of his dear student. This must have been how Sarutobi felt whenever Orochimaru talked to him like that. No wonder the old goat aged like bad milk. The toad sage was already feeling the years weighing down on him. He went to say something, only for Naruto to close the distance between them in the blink of an eye, the rasengan aimed for his stomach.

“Here, let me help you get it out!” Naruto yelled, slamming the swirling ball of chakra into his sensei with as much force as he could.

The toad sage was sent flying away, skipping and hopping across the open field like a stone across a lake until he caught his footing and came to a sliding stop. Naruto rolled his shoulders and took a defensive stance in preparation. He hadn’t put nearly enough power into that rasengan for it to be lethal, and even if he had, he knew from experience that Jiraiya had a knack for shrugging off some truly scary jutsu. Naruto weaved through some hand seals and ducked just in time to avoid the kick aimed for his head, his hands pressing down on the ground as he went.

“Earth style: Rupturing Earth!”

The ground around them erupted, the once most flat training ground quickly turning into a giant field of rubble and raised rocks. The earth seemed to erupt and shoot up at Jiraiya wherever he moved as he was forced to retreat until the technique finished, leaving him standing atop one of the higher pieces of earth. Naruto jumped up onto his own high ground and glared at his sensei.

“Ready to start telling me the truth?” he asked coldly.

Jiraiya frowned. “Naruto, I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but this isn’t what it seems-“

“Shut up!” Naruto yelled. With a single hand seal, the field was swarmed with shadow clones, all of whom set upon the Sannin with a matching rage. “I gave you a chance to do the right thing, and you blew it!”

Jiraiya faced the small army of clones head on. For all of Naruto’s power and skill, he was still young and nowhere near the Sannin’s level. Not without the Kyuubi anyway. Time would fix that, no doubt, but for now, this little show was exactly that, a show. It wasn’t the physical bombardment that bothered the aging shinobi, no, it was the psychological warfare being thrown his way.

“Why weren’t you there for me?”

“What was more important?”

“I didn’t even know who you were?”

“Were you ever going to tell me?”

“Do I even mean anything to you?”

With every clone he dodged, with each one he pummelled into a satisfying plume of smoke, came another question, cold and sharp like a knife to the guts. There seemed to be no end the clones, and with them came no respite from the questions as they slowly whittled him down. Sure, he could have answered, he could have come up with a million different reasons for his absence from Naruto’s life. None of those answers would be true, and Jiraiya knew Naruto would know that. The brat had an annoying way of figuring people out like that. There was nothing he could say right now that would make a difference in Naruto’s mind, not with the boy being so angry. And so, he remained silent, taking the onslaught without a word, without complaint, battling his own student down piece by piece in the hope that he would wear himself out sooner rather than later.

Not a likely outcome to say the least.

“Why aren’t you talking!” Naruto yelled, charging the man with another rasengan from behind, his clones keeping Jiraiya distracted… or so he thought.

No sooner had the words left his mouth were his clones slaughtered by a sweeping of weaponised hair, Jiraiya spinning on the spot and catching the real Naruto by the wrist, rasengan dissipating instantly. Following his momentum, Jiraiya spun, driving his elbow into Naruto’s gut before launching him across the field, his body pinballing off several pieces of raised earth. Racing through hand seals of his own, Jiraiya brought his hands down before the next wave of clones could engage him once more.

“Swamp of the underworld.”

The field shifted once more, the ruptured earth melting into a giant swamp of deep dark mud that swallowed the small clone army as suddenly as it appeared. Only the very tips of several raised pieces of earth were left protruding from the muck, a handful of clones being quick enough to take refuge on them. Jiraiya stood atop his own and cracked his neck. Naruto was a good shinobi, a good student, but even he would struggle to fight on such hostile terrain. Jiraiya may have taught him well, but he still taught him, and as such he knew everything the kid did. There wasn’t a jutsu in his arsenal that couldn’t be immediately countered. That’s what was eating at the Sannin. Angry or not, Naruto had to know trying to fight his sensei was pointless. Unless…

He got his answer in the form of a torpedo of wind chakra shattering the earth pillar beneath, forcing him to jump to another spot, taking out another clone in the process. Looking back, he watched as the swamp bubbled and bulged in a strange way, a clawed hand emerging from its murky depths as Naruto, clad in the red shroud of his stage one bijuu cloak, pulled himself atop the mud and glared at Jiraiya. To his credit, Jiraiya didn’t flinch, even if he was surprised to see someone not only overpower his jutsu, but also treat it like a mere inconvenience. Swamp of the underworld was not supposed to be that easy to ignore, even for a jinchuuriki. Add on to that the fact that Naruto was angry enough to start using the Kyuubi, and Jiraiya was ready to start sweating. Maybe he really should have told the boy about everything before he started training him to be a monster.

“Nothing?” Naruto growled. “All these years, and you’ve got nothing? No excuses? No reasons?”

Jiraiya took a deep breath and positioned himself, ready to continue the fight without a word. He knew there was no talking the boy down, and even if there was, this confrontation was a long time coming. It would do him good to let off a little steam.

Naruto lowered himself onto all fours, a single red tail swaying behind him. The remaining shadow clones dispelled themselves as he stared down Jiraiya. “Fine then. Don’t talk,” he said. “You spent three years trying to get me ready for the Akatsuki. Let’s see how well you did.”

With that, the two lunged at each other, the populace of Konoha being reminded once more of just what kind of monsters it so proudly raised within its walls.

{I}

“Well, this is fucked,” Tsunade grumbled, rubbing her eyes in frustration.

She stood on the edge of the training ground, or what was left of it that is, where Naruto and Jiraiya had chosen to have their little grudge match. The earth shook again as the aforementioned battle raged on, a little too close for the Hokage’s comfort, but certainly not close enough to be a danger to anyone. With a silent gesture the Anbu behind her leapt into action, scattering themselves around the ground. Within moments a giant barrier of chakra erected itself around the training ground. A wonderful failsafe installed on many sections of Konoha thanks to the late great lord Fourth. Tsunade would have to a drink in the man’s honour after tonight.

“There’s no stopping them, is there?” Ino asked sadly from beside the woman. She had raced to the Hokage’s office in an attempt to maybe catch Naruto and Jiraiya before they could start. Not fast enough apparently.

Tsunade shrugged. “I’m not going in there. Are you?”

Ino looked past the barrier and watched the two blurs speeding around, jutsu after jutsu being thrown around like children’s toys, the very landscape changing with each one. That didn’t worry her. Ino knew Naruto was tough enough to walk away from this fight, and Jiraiya had his own reputation for such things. What worried Ino was the mental ramifications of such a battle. Even now, as she could feel the Kyuubi’s chakra flowing from Naruto, she knew the fight was less about physically overcoming an opponent and more about coming to terms with his own emotions. Easier said than done, even for someone as optimistic as Naruto.

“What the hell is going on?”

The two blondes turned to acknowledge Kiba as he landed near them, followed quickly by a large group of shinobi, many of whom seemed fully prepared for a fight. Apparently lighting up an entire training ground like a warzone without properly notifying anyone set of a lot of alarms across the village. Who would have guessed. As Ino went to answer, her voice was drowned out as the earth shook again, the barrier before them being covered by a wall of fire as one of the largest fire jutsu anyone had seen collided with it full force.

Tsunade tsk’d in annoyance. “Those idiots are going to kill each other.”

“Are we under attack?” one shinobi asked in a panic.

Kakashi uncovered his Sharingan and peered beyond the barrier. “Lady Tsunade, the Kyuubi-“

“Is perfectly contained,” Tsunade interrupted, the headache already forming at the front of her head. “Everything is fine. Naruto and Jiraiya just have a little family matter to resolve. Nothing to panic about.”

Many of the shinobi present nodded in understanding, letting their guard down as they instead went on to simply watch the show. It wasn’t very often someone got to see Jiraiya of the Sannin in action. Those that weren’t in the know looked at their Hokage like she had just blurted out gibberish.

“Wait, Naruto’s in there?” Kiba asked incredulously, watching in horror as the scale of the jutsu being used within the barrier only increased with each turn. “And Jiraiya? A family matter? Don’t tell me that idiot’s related to a Sannin as well.”

Ino laughed sheepishly. “Well, not by blood. Jiraiya is Naruto’s godfather,” she explained, much to the growing confusion of many present. “Naruto didn’t know about it until recently, and now he has some stress to take out. That’s all.”

“Yeah, and technically the little shit is distantly related to me by blood,” Tsunade chimed in. “The Uzumaki and Senju have a distant relation. Don’t go telling him that though. Can barely stand him calling me granny as it is.”

Kiba completely blocked out Tsunade’s words as he looked at Ino with wide eyes, slowly turning between the Yamanaka and the literal natural disaster being unleashed right before their eyes. “Oh, yeah. Just a little stress. That’s all. Perfectly normal. Nothing out of the ordinary,” he said meekly, wincing as everyone watched Jiraiya take a particularly nasty hit that sent him flying through a tree. “You don’t think Naruto can hold a grudge, do you?”

Hinata placed her hand on her teammates shoulder and looked down solemnly. “You will be missed,” she said softly. “Do not worry, I will care for Akamaru in your place.” Said dog chose this moment to slowly inch away from his partner.

“Why me.”

{I}

Jiraiya groaned as he righted himself, clutching at his side. That hit definitely cracked a rib or two. Damn that brat was strong, and fast too. Two tails, that’s what Naruto was up to, and he showed no signs of slowing down as of yet. Jiraiya knew he had to put a stop to that. Not for his own safety, but for the safety of everyone. Naruto was a tough kid, stubborn to no end, but the Kyuubi was much more than anyone could handle with even a calm mind. No matter how good Naruto might be at controlling his emotions, at harnessing the bijuu’s chakra, he was still only human, and that left too many opportunities for a freak accident. Something like that couldn’t be allowed to happen so close to the village.

His hair whipped around him in a hardened shell of spikes, a large, uprooted tree crashing into his new shield hard enough to shatter the trunk and throw Jiraiya off his feet once more. Twisting himself in the air, he narrowly dodged a punch from Naruto, bringing his own legs up and driving both of his feet into the boy’s stomach. As his student was sent crashing away, Jiraiya made a quick hand seal, four shadow clones quickly appearing at his side and scattering across the battlefield. Landing atop the mud, he looked up to where Naruto was already back on his feet and closing in fast.

“Earth style: Mud Dragon.”

The swamp around him churned and erupted out towards the oncoming jinchuuriki, taking the form of a giant dragon that chased Naruto, tearing through anything that got in its path. He considered summoning the elder toads and ending things quickly but decided against it. Naruto was their summoner too, so it would be unfair to make them choose a side. This was Jiraiya’s fight, and his alone. His mud dragon exploded as a wind bullet tore through it like paper, showering the area in mud and debris before he was set upon by his student once more.

Jiraiya was almost impressed as he guarded against the flurry of punches and kicks aimed for him. Naruto’s taijutsu was definitely coming along nicely. He could tell Naruto was holding back, even with the bijuu cloak activated. The only thing Jiraiya had working in his favour was his longer reach, years more experience, along with having trained his attacker. Knowing how someone fought was half the battle, and he had almost taught Naruto everything he knew. Unless the brat had been learning some tricks on the side, there wasn’t anything he could use that would surprise the Sannin.

“Why aren’t you saying anything?” Naruto asked angrily, accentuating each word with a strike.

Jiraiya winced as he blocked a kick with his arm, the force behind it making his whole arm ache. His expression quickly changed to a smirk as one of his clones emerged from the ground beneath Naruto’s feet, grabbing hold of the boy and pinning him in place. Two more clones appeared at Naruto’s sides, grabbing an arm each. It was only a momentary pause to the fighting, but a moment was all Jiraiya needed. With fingertips suddenly alight with chakra, he rushed the blonde, hand aimed for the seal on his stomach only for it to stop short, one of the chakra tails wrapping tightly around his forearm and halting his jutsu mere inches from its target. He should have known that wouldn’t work.

His clones were carved through by the second tail as he was whipped around and flung away like a toy. Jiraiya landed heavily and caught his breath, clutching at his arm where the vile chakra had slightly burned his skin. Looking at Naruto now, it was with some annoyance that the only marks on the boy were similar burning patterns, courtesy of the bijuu cloak. Not a single jutsu he had thrown at his student had left a lasting mark, with every physical attack he managed to dish out having been almost immediately shrugged off. Jinchuuriki resilience and healing was so unfair.

“Nothing I will say will make you feel any better about this, Naruto,” Jiraiya said, staring the boy down.

Naruto growled. “Maybe not,” he said. “But you could still try, dammit! Am I not worth that much?”

Jiraiya sunk into the ground to avoid the tails slamming into the ground where he once stood. Burrowing deep, his eyes widened as he felt the ground above him shatter and move out of the way. He didn’t have time to move before a tail, having wormed its way into the earth after him, wrapped around his leg and began dragging him back up to the surface. Thankfully, he was able to keep his technique in play, allowing him to almost harmlessly pass through the earth even against his will. As he breached the surface, Jiraiya was met with the sight of a much larger than normal rasengan aimed straight for him. Likely not powerful enough to cripple or kill him, yet certainly strong enough to inflict some serious pain.

‘Dammit Jiraiya. You really fucked up this time,’ was all he could think before his world went black.

{I}

Naruto was angry. He had been angry at Jiraiya before the man’s surprise return. How could he not be. The self-proclaimed pervert that was meant to be his godfather, his sensei, had proven himself to be an irresponsible fool. He had left Naruto alone, without guidance, without knowledge of his family, with only the coldness of the village that feared and ostracised him. That would have been enough to excuse the events currently unfolding, had the sage not gone that one step further to rub salt in the wound. Before he had been angry, but now he was furious. Not only did Jiraiya reappear surprisingly, but he had also done so at the worst possible time, interrupting what was turning out to be a very good night with Ino no-less. Then came his worst offence of the night…

He kept lying.

Straight to Naruto’s face. With a bold practiced confidence that showed Naruto all he needed to see. Jiraiya could lie with the best of them, as was to be expected of a shinobi of his renown. That wasn’t what bothered Naruto. It was the ease with which he did it to someone who was as good as family. Naruto couldn’t help but wonder what that meant, how that realisation reflected on the relationship he had with his sensei. Did Naruto mean anything to Jiraiya, or was he nothing more than a tool, a jinchuuriki to be trained, another shiny medal to put on his record of powerful past students. Was that all this had been? Jiraiya didn’t even deem Naruto worth the effort to try and make up an excuse, so he was left with only his own thoughts on the matter. Thoughts that were quickly being exaggerated and twisted by the Kyuubi’s influence.

Sadly, there wasn’t enough time to drag the well-deserved ass kicking out for as long as Naruto would like. No matter how good his relationship with the bijuu within him had gotten, there was no getting around the beast’s nature. The more of the Kyuubi’s chakra he used, the more the rage influenced him, and the longer he held it, the more he wanted to give in. He could already feel his rightful anger being poisoned into near actual deathly desire. Naruto was pissed at Jiraiya, but he didn’t want the man dead. Things had to end, and they had to end quickly.

As such, he had been pleasantly surprised when one of his tails had caught the pervert under the ground, dragging Jiraiya up to the surface as Naruto prepared an enlarged rasengan specially for him. Tsunade was waiting close by; the barrier around the field letting him know as much. She would be able to heal her old teammate, if she felt kind enough. Naruto could interrogate his godfather all he wanted in a hospital room. By the time Jiraiya was free from the earth, Naruto was already at his side, a malicious grin spreading across his face as the rasengan collided with his sensei, only to fall suddenly as the man vanished in a plume of smoke.

‘Oh shit.’

He felt the burning pain in his stomach before he saw the hand, five fingertips alight, protruding up from the earth and into his gut. Following the arm, he was met with the smug expression of Jiraiya. The rasengan fizzled out of existence, his connection to the Kyuubi’s chakra disappearing along with his chakra cloak, and an intense burning pain set itself deep inside him. This was the forest of death all over again. Naruto slumped forward in pain, only to reel back as a fist collided with his face. Then one to his stomach. Then a kick to his head. His vision blurred as he tried to bring his arms up, his strength quickly leaving him. This was not how this was supposed to go.

Naruto couldn’t do much as Jiraiya dished out several more precise strikes before sending him flying with a kick to his chest. He crashed to the ground and didn’t bother trying to get back up. With the Kyuubi’s chakra sealed, and his own being well and truly messed up at the same time, Naruto could only marvel at just how strong and effective Jiraiya was without any way to power through it. For an old man, the toad hit like a mountain. He wheezed and coughed as he tried to make himself comfortable on the ground. The fight was over. Without the fox’s chakra cursing through him, and the pain he was starting to feel, it was easy to calm himself back down. Maybe he had gone a little too far there.

“You were holding back too much,” Jiraiya chided as he walked over, standing tall over the boy.

Naruto tried to scoff. “And you weren’t?”

Jiraiya shook his head. “Not the point. This shouldn’t have been a strategy for me to use against you,” he said. “You should have known better, planned better. You knew I could use this technique, yet you did nothing to try and make sure I couldn’t get close enough to apply it. You let your emotions get the better of you, again, and look where it got you. The Kyuubi only works as a benefit when you don’t give it anything to twist and turn against you. We have been over this countless times, Naruto. What if I had been a member of Akatsuki? What if something like this happened out there, out where no one can jump in to help you. What then?”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I was too busy dealing with the revelation of who my parents were, and who you are,” Naruto said with a sneer. “Care to finally acknowledge that or are you going to continue pretending I don’t exist as anything more than another student.”

“Naruto…” Jiraiya sighed deeply and sat down next to Naruto. “You weren’t supposed to find out like this.”

“You don’t say.”

“I should have told you sooner. I know that, and I’m sorry,” Jiraiya said. “Sensei was going to, before he died. He was waiting until after the exams, while I was around. We were going to tell you everything together. Then everything went to hell and-“

“I don’t care about that,” Naruto said, glaring up at the sage. “I understand why the old man kept it a secret. I understand why I couldn’t know of my parents, or who I was. All of that makes at least some sort of sense. But you know what doesn’t make any sense? How I didn’t know who you were until I was thirteen! You, my own godfather, my father’s sensei, the one person I had left. How did I not even know who you were? I never saw you. I never spoke to you. Nothing, Jiraiya. Why?”

Jiraiya winced. Naruto never used his actual name like that. “I…” he went to say something only to stop and take a deep breath. “I have no good reason for that. I have reasons, plenty of them, but none of them are good. I know I failed you. At the time I thought it was for the best. I’m a good shinobi, not a good man, not like your father was. I didn’t want you to have me as an influence like that. I didn’t want to risk you turning out anything like me. But now, as I look back on it, I think I was just afraid to be relied on like that, to have that responsibility. It was easier to stay away, to hunt Orochimaru, to keep tabs on the other villages and Akatsuki. It was just easier, and I was too weak to take anything but the easy way out. I’m still too weak.”

“I would have done anything…” Naruto said softly, tears welling in his eyes. “Anything at all, just to know I had someone out there. Any kind of family. I used to cry myself to sleep sometimes, wondering why I had to be so alone all the time. Do you have any idea how much it hurt to find out who you are to me? You’re my sensei. We were travelling for three years together… did you ever think of telling, even once?”

“I did… several times,” Jiraiya admitted, suddenly looking much older and depressed than normal. “But every time I wanted to, I couldn’t do it. I was afraid of… this. That you would hate me. Not that I blame you. You should hate me, and you can, as much as you need to. But I couldn’t let you do that until after your training. Training you was the one good thing I’ve done these past years. Helping you grow, learn, and become the man you are now. A man I know your parents would be proud of. A man who could face anything the world throws at him… even if that includes my own stupidity.”

Naruto sighed. “I want to hate you,” he said. “But I don’t think I can. Not really. It’s just not in me.” He snorted at his own words, then chuckled, then laughed softly; each movement of his chest only serving to hurt a little more. Somehow, even the pain he was in right now was funny.

Jiraiya looked down at Naruto worriedly. He hadn’t hit the boy that hard. “Something funny?”

Naruto continued to laugh, grinning widely even as tears began streaking down his face. “This… this was my first fight… with family,” he said. “It feels… nice. I always wanted to know what it was like to have a family fight, to butt heads with someone like that. Guess I know now.”

“You’re a strange kid, Naruto,” Jiraiya mumbled quietly. “For what it’s worth, I truly am sorry.”

“I know,” Naruto said.

“So… what now?”

“Now, you two are going to learn not to drag me away from my office without damn good reason,” Tsunade said dangerously, her killing intent washing over the two. “Do either of you understand how much paperwork this little stunt is going to leave me with? Not to mention the cleanup teams for this training ground.” She sighed deeply as both stared up at her in a shared expression of horror and realisation. “Did you at least resolve the issue? Or do I have to start bashing heads in?”

“It’s all good, granny,” Naruto chimed in, turning to smile softly at Jiraiya. “All sorted.”

“Good. Ino, take your idiot to the hospital and give him a check over,” Tsunade ordered to the Yamanaka as she came up to the scene.

Naruto grimaced as Ino walked up to him with an unreadable expression. ‘This isn’t going to go well,’ he thought. Even if Ino had said it was alright back at the restaurant, Naruto highly doubted that what transpired here was going to get a simple pass from the girl.

“Feel better now?” Ino asked in a sickeningly sweet tone, kneeling down next to Naruto.

Naruto narrowed his eyes. “There’s no right answer to that question, is there?”

Ino smiled sweetly. “Nope,” she chirped, grabbing him by what was left of his shirt and lifting him up onto her shoulder effortlessly.

Jiraiya waited until Naruto and Ino were gone before resting his head defeatedly on his hand. “Okay, let me have. I know you want to say it.”

“I fucking told you so,” Tsunade said, frowning afterwards. “Huh, not as satisfying as I hoped it would be. Hope you appreciate how well all this turned out for you. If Naruto wasn’t half as forgiving as he is, you’d probably be a stain smeared across this field right now.”

“I know, I know,” he grumbled. “At least now he knows everything. I can focus on his training without holding anything back, and he has a new motivation to get stronger.”

Tsunade’s expression darkened as she slowly crept closer to her former teammate. “I’m so glad you brought up the topic of training, Jiraiya,” she said sweetly, her voice freezing the man in place. “I do seem to remember telling you not to leave the village, to stay here and focus on training Naruto, and yet you left, without my permission. Where did you go Jiraiya? What were you doing?”

Jiraiya paled as his life flashed before his eyes. Apparently, the true implications of Tsunade being the Hokage hadn’t quite sunk into his thick skull. What a mistake that was. “Now, now, princess. No need to get ahead of ourselves here,” he said nervously, suddenly very aware of his own injuries and knowing damn well he couldn’t outrun Tsunade in his current state.

“Not to worry,” Tsunade said, her sweet and innocent tone never dropping. “You can tell me everything while you’re recovering. All those pesky broken bones. I’ll be stuck tending to you personally for days.”

“What? No. I’m fine, I swear. Nothing’s even broken.” That wasn’t a lie. Sure, his body ached and burned, his pride had taken a good beating, but Jiraiya was far from being out of commission. A few cracks here and there maybe, nothing that he couldn’t sort out himself within a few hours.

Tsunade grinned as she cracked her knuckles, closing in on the pervert. “So many broken bones.”

Jiraiya’s face fell. ‘Not again.’

The screams heard from the training ground that night would serve to remind everyone why Tsunade was so feared as a shinobi. Unlike many of the walking one-man-armies that had been produced by the village, none could truly compare to the fear inducing reality of being taken to the brink of death by someone who could just as easily bring you back from that point. People like Orochimaru could make anyone fear death, but Tsunade could make someone beg for it. And oh boy did Jiraiya learn to beg.

{I}

(Omake: Hyuuga Hospitality.)

(During the time skip period)

The Hyuuga were a proud clan of Konoha. They served their village well, utilising the prowess of their Dojutsu for the betterment of the village and its people. Over the years, they had gained many forms of reputation. Deadly warriors, unreadable diplomats, unflappable, all seeing, uptight assholes, there were no shortage of ways to describe the Hyuuga, you needed only ask around. Hiashi Hyuuga, current clan head and father to two beautiful daughters, was both proud of his clans well deserved reputation, while also feeling restrained by it. A certain level of professionalism was expected of him in all matters he tended to, and it was exhausting.

Dealing with the clan, attending council meetings, those were things Hiashi had no issues with. It was a simple thing to turn off his emotions and simply deal with whatever he had to with a cold calculation. Other situations, however, often left him wishing he could say to hell with his clan’s formalities and expectations. Sadly, he couldn’t do that, not after so many years abiding by the rules. And so, he remained calm, controlled, never uttering a word out of place or letting his tone betray a single ounce of his true feelings. Easier said than done considering his current… situation.

Family dinner.

While normally the tension of this simple activity was negligeable, tonight was noticeably different, and Hiashi knew exactly who to blame for that. His eyes turned to regard his eldest daughter, Hinata, with an emotionless gaze. Perhaps he had been too hard on her, pushed her too far, saddled too much weight and expectation upon the poor girl’s shoulders until she finally snapped. That didn’t give her the right to do this to him. Hiashi had only been worried about how his kind-hearted daughter would fair in such a harsh world. His methods may have been harsh, but his intentions were pure. Hinata needed to be stronger, she needed to be able to stand up for herself, especially if she took the mantle of clan head in the future. Hiashi wouldn’t forgive himself if his beautiful little girl was left destined to be manipulated and pushed around by the elders of their clan.

Those particular fears were now a distant thought, and not for the right reasons.

“Thank you for allowing me to join you for this meal.”

Hiashi’s eye almost twitched. “Think nothing of it, Gaara,” he said politely, offering the redhead a small smile. On the inside he was anything but calm. This mess stunk of the Mitarashi woman. He knew he should have never allowed the student of Orochimaru to take a vested interest in his daughter, but at the time the benefits of Hinata’s extra training could not be ignored. No one could have seen this being a possible outcome. No one.

“Gaara is being considered as a candidate for the next Kazekage,” Hinata chimed in proudly. The girl was either blissfully ignorant of the tension present, or she was merely stoking the flames.

“It is only in talks for the moment,” Gaara clarified quickly. “I do not think my village will be too quick to consider me for the position considering my… past.”

Hiashi nodded in understanding. With Hinata taking an interest in playing the role of go-between for Konoha and Suna, Hiashi himself had taken an interest in the allied village’s internal matters. Gaara’s history was… colourful, to say the least. The boy was troubled, and for a long time was no better than a deranged murderer on a spree. No matter how useful that had been for Suna, it was a massive red flag for Hiashi and anyone else of sound mind. Recent times had proven the boy to be much more stable, much to Hiashi’s relief. Not to say that it made him any less concerned with the apparent infatuation Hinata was displaying towards the boy. Possible Kazekage or not, no one was good enough for his baby girl.

‘Life was so much simpler when she had a crush on the Uzumaki boy,’ he thought to himself, a headache slowly forming. “Do not be surprised. You have proven yourself to be a powerful and loyal shinobi for your village,” he said. “Even with your past, there are many qualities that are taken into account when selecting a new Kage. There is always a chance.” It also helped that Suna often cared very little about the morals of their leaders. Strength was what truly mattered to many of the other ninja villages, and Hiashi doubted there was anyone in Suna who could challenge Gaara in the middle of a desert.

Gaara stared emotionlessly at Hiashi. A natural poker face that threatened to crack the Hyuuga’s own well practiced mask of calm. “Thank you. Such words mean a lot from someone such as yourself,” he said.

 The meal continued on for several awkward minutes of silence until Hiashi spoke up again. “I hope Konoha has been treating you well. With everything that happened during the chunin exams, I could understand if there are still those that hold reservations towards you. Allow me to apologize on their behalf.”

“It has been pleasant,” Gaara said simply. “Konoha’s people are much more forgiving than I could have expected. Though I believe Hinata has had much to do on that front.”

The girl in question blushed as all eyes turned to her, fingers nervously fidgeting in front of her. “I-I may have said some things…” she said meekly. “Only the truth. Gaara is not the same as he was back then. He is kind and caring.”

If Hinata’s words effected Gaara in any way, he didn’t show it.

“I am curious as to what brings you to Konoha,” Hiashi said. “Normally your sister is the one to perform such duties in rotation with Hinata. Is there an occasion?” Perhaps it was part of his candidacy for Kage. While not in any way required, having close relations with an allied village would go a long way to making him the more attractive option for the position. Hiashi couldn’t fault the boy for thinking strategically, he would do the same in Gaara’s shoes.

“My sister was unavailable at this time, so I volunteered to take the responsibility,” Gaara explained. “Though I must admit, there was a more personal matter I wished to tend to while I was here.” His eyes flickered ever so slightly to a now very shy looking Hinata, earning a knowing look from everyone present, except for Hanabi, who was thankfully not at all interested in relationship drama.

“Is that so?” Hiashi asked, his eyes boring into the boy’s head to no affect. “And what might that be?”

Hinata was doing her best to shrink into her jacket by this point. Poor thing. Even with all the progress she had made in the recent years, nothing could truly take away her shyness… not yet anyway.

“I was hoping to get your approval to date your daughter.”

Hiashi stared.

“…”

Hanabi was gobsmacked, staring wide eyed between the redhead and her father.

“…”

Hinata almost fainted.

“…”

Gaara blinked.

“…”

“Right…” Hiashi said slowly, his mind finally catching up. He had not expected the boy to be quite so blunt. There were seasoned shinobi who wouldn’t have the guts to do what Gaara had just done. The Hyuuga were a feared and famous clan dammit! No one just walked in and asked to date a member of the main branch without breaking a sweat.

“It was Hinata’s idea,” Gaara said. “There are still uncertainties, but we both agreed it would be impolite and problematic to try and engage in anything without your blessing. I understand the Hyuuga are very particular in how you run your clan. I would respect your decision.” Hinata fainted with a small ‘eep’ as she was ousted by Gaara, falling from her chair only to be caught by a soft blanket of sand that wrapped itself almost lovingly around her and gently laid her on the ground. “Forgive me. I did not mean for my words to cause that. I have been trying to help her overcome such habits. Progress is… slow.”

Hiashi sighed at his daughter’s antics. This was exactly the kind of behaviour that the elders and many others would use to their advantage against her in the future. Gaara’s words did fill him a sense of hope, however. The young Suna shinobi was the son of a Kage, and as such had to have received some level of training in political professionalism. If Hinata truly did plan on having relations with someone so composed, then surely it would only guarantee improvements for her in the future. Where Hiashi had failed, perhaps Gaara would succeed. God how he hoped the boy would succeed.

“Perhaps this is a matter to be discussed in private,” Hiashi suggested politely, side-eyeing his youngest daughter as she death glared Gaara. He wasn’t sure if that was a good sign. “Please, come with me.”

Hiashi led a silently compliant Gaara away from the meal room and through the Hyuuga estate. While he was certain that the boy’s earlier outburst had definitely been heard by several of his clan, Hiashi would make sure that any of the more intimate details would remain secret. Living amongst those who could see through walls left very little in the way of privacy without putting in some serious effort. There would be many questions tomorrow, that was a given. Opening the door to his private office, Hiashi gestured for Gaara to enter first, closing the door behind them and activating a privacy seal designed specifically for his clan. For obvious reasons, the existence of such a seal was on a need-to-know basis, with its details and design kept secret from even the majority of the clan itself. It wouldn’t bode well for the world to suddenly have the means to render the byakugan useless.

Once he was sure there would be no prying eyes on this little conversation, Hiashi allowed his shoulders to relax as he sauntered over to his desk and sat down lazily, no longer bound to the image of being a perfect representation of the Hyuuga. “So, you want to date my dear little Hinata,” he said casually, regarding the jinchuuriki before him in a bored manner. “And what, pray tell, makes you think that I will allow such a thing to pass?” Hiashi was actually not opposed at all to the idea, but Gaara didn’t need to know that. This could be his one chance to act as a protective father and he’d be damned if he let it slip him by. Now if only Hinata could have picked a more easily intimidated boy… the Inuzuka would have been a lot of fun to mess with.

“I did not think you would approve at all,” Gaara stated. “Hinata insisted I ask. This is not only a courtesy to you, but a show of respect for her wishes. I… I do not wish to upset her.”

“Of course,” Hiashi nodded in understanding. “You think showing care and concern for her is enough to sway my opinion. A valiant effort, though perhaps a touch misguided. The Hyuuga care not for such attachments. Hinata is the clan heiress, and as such any suitors would be judged by the clan as a whole. As the child of a Kage, even deceased as your father may be, your name bears weight. Your history and actions carry just as much weight. I’m sure you understand how that reflects on how you are seen. Should you and Hinata pursue a relationship, such a union will present conflict with one of your respective claims. Hinata being the heiress of the Hyuuga, and you potentially claiming the seat of Kage. One of you would have to make a sacrifice.”

Gaara narrowed his eyes at the clan head. “Titles are meaningless things in the face of what truly matters.”

Hiashi smirked. “And what might that be?”

“The bonds we form. Those we hold dear. Those who we would protect above all else,” Gaara said, his tone gaining a surprising edge to it, as if he was ready defend his words with action at a moment’s notice. “I was taught the importance of such things by one your village’s shinobi. It is the reason I have strived to do better, the reason I sought a friendship with your daughter, and the reason I now stand before you, asking if I might be permitted to explore that bond further. If you have no intention of allowing such a thing, please, say so and I will take my leave.”

Hiashi almost smiled… almost. It wasn’t quite time to give up the jig just yet. “Ah, yes. The Uzumaki boy. He does have a way of influencing people, from what I’ve seen that is,” he said. “Seems he has imparted some very good ideals unto you. I’m glad to hear it. Though to say you would take your leave so easily should I refuse your request, well, that doesn’t fill me with much confidence in your commitment to Hinata. You would walk away from her at the first sign of challenge?”

Gaara crossed his arms. “I said I would take my leave, not leave Hinata.”

‘Bold. I like it,’ Hiashi thought amusedly. “You would disregard my wishes?”

“Yes.”

“You would pursue a relationship with my daughter even without my blessing? You would put that wedge between her and her own family?” Hiashi needled.

Gaara didn’t waver. “So long as she still wished to do the same, and so long as it wasn’t harming her… yes.”

“And if my clan sought to remove such a distraction from their heiress’s life?”

The sound of sand shifting ever so slightly was not lost on the Hyuuga clan head.

“You may try.”

“Hmmm, and what of Hinata? Such an act of rebellion would be seen as a slight to the Hyuuga. She could be punished for such a thing, would be punished,” Hiashi said, making sure to sound as if such an outcome was of no concern to him. He would never let it come to that; clan rules be damned. He just needed to see what Gaara would think, how he would react. Needless to say, he was not disappointed.

The sound of sand shifting got louder as Gaara’s eyes went cold. That same empty gaze he once held returning to him like an old friend as he stared not at, but through the man in front of him, as if he was barely a person, barely an obstacle. “If you harm her…” The temperature of the room seemed to drop as Gaara’s words hung in the air, the sand on his skin thirsting for blood once more. “I will kill you all.”

Hiashi had to admit, were he not the seasoned shinobi he was, he would be sweating right now. Gaara may have been reformed, but one could never truly put the monster back in the cage once it was allowed to roam. There was still a cold-blooded killer in those eyes, waiting for a reason to unleash its fury on the world. The humbling realisation that Hinata was now likely all that was holding back a bloodbath was… a lot to take in.

“Excellent,” Hiashi said happily, finally allowing himself to smile.

Gaara quirked his eye oddly.

“I approve,” the man continued. “You have my blessing to pursue a relationship with my daughter, on the grounds that you two don’t do anything that would bring shame upon the Hyuuga clan. I apologize for the theatrics, but I needed to be sure that you were not merely attempting to use her to gain anything for yourself. I can see your feelings, undeveloped as they are, are real, and strong. There are not many who would so boldly threaten an entire clan for the sake of someone they cared for. Though I suppose you are no ordinary young man, are you.”

“Does my status as a jinchuuriki bother you?” Gaara asked.

Hiashi shook his head. “Not at all,” he said. ‘I am worried that Hinata seems to be developing a type though.’ “I believe I have kept you long enough. Your time within Konoha is short, and I am sure you wish to spend as much of that time with Hinata as you can. She should have come to by now. Might I suggest you ask her to show you the sights. No point in keeping you two couped up in the clan estate.”

Gaara tilted his head curiously at the man but didn’t say anything. A shifting of sand behind him alerted Hiashi to a slowly receding tendril of sand that had somehow gotten into his blind spot. Activating his byakugan, his eyes almost bugged out of his skull as he followed the thin tendril down as it disappeared beneath the floorboards. Under his feet, beneath the floor, was a literal sea of chakra imbued sand, waiting to be commanded. Hiashi held back the urge to gulp as he turned back to Gaara. The boy still didn’t look bothered as he stood and bowed respectfully.

“Thank you,” Gaara said. “I will inform Hinata of your decision. She will be… pleased, to know that her father cares so deeply for her well-being.”

‘Is that a smirk?’ Hiashi wondered, watching the boy leave quickly. As soon as he was beyond ear shot, Hiashi let out a deep breath, never deactivating his Dojutsu even as the sand beneath him moved to follow Gaara from below. What a terrifying young man. If Suna elected him as the next Kazekage, Hiashi knew he wanted to be on good terms with Gaara. ‘Dammit Hinata. What have you gotten yourself into,’ he moped.

“Oh, you son of a bitch!”

The Hyuuga clan would be privileged to several outburst from their clan head as Hiashi realised all too late that his attempt to intimidate one of his daughter’s boyfriends had not only fallen flat but had been turned on him instead. With any luck, Hanabi would choose a softer sort.

Chapter Text

Naruto knew a lot of things. You needed only ask him, and he would be more than happy to list off a great number of things he was sure he knew, whether it was true or otherwise. He knew several jutsu by now, even a good few Fuinjutsu. He was confident he almost had sage mode down, and in time there was no doubt in his mind that his list of skills as a ninja would only grow larger and more extravagant. Naruto also knew a lot stuff not related solely to being a ninja, despite how hard he had tried in his youth to only absorb shinobi-based information. He knew how to cook and clean to a standard he was happy with, live off the land, how to hunt, among other menial things. Much to his annoyance, he was also confident that after the years spent with Jiraiya, with his godfather’s insistence on reading as much ‘learning material’ as possible, among plenty of other things, he knew how to handle himself around women in any scenario that he may find himself in.

That assumption had been wrong. Dead wrong.

Now that wasn’t to say Naruto didn’t know what to say, how to act, and what to do when it came to women. He knew a lot. The fact that many of Jiraiya’s teachings often revolved around the art of escaping the wrath of a woman was neither here nor there. In this particular moment, Naruto was grateful for the knowledge. If only any of it was of any use to him. The perverted sage’s words still echoed deep in his mind as the world around him was frozen in place. ‘Escaping the wrath of a woman is the easy part,’ Jiraiya had said sagely. ‘Unless it’s the mother of the girl you’re trying anything with. If she has it out for you, or if you find yourself in a situation that would earn her anger, you’re pretty much fucked.’

At the time, that hadn’t made a lot of sense to a young and naïve Naruto. Surely, if he was attempting anything with a girl, then he would care deeply for them, and any misunderstanding with the girl’s mother could be explained. He knew better now. From his place, laying down in Ino’s bed, with said blonde cuddled up on top of him peacefully, Naruto could only stare at the bedroom door in silent horror, hoping beyond hope that what he had heard was nothing more than an auditory illusion. A trick of the mind resulting from the concussion he likely suffered the night before. Another rap against the timber door proved he was wrong, deepening his fear.

“Ino, sweetie. Are you up yet?” Himiko called out.

Naruto paled, remembering the last time he had been in Ino’s room. While it was a saving grave that Himiko had decided to respect her daughters room and was knocking this time, that didn’t mean the safety of said boundary would last forever. It was only a matter of time before that door swung open, and Naruto’s predicament was put on full display. Speaking of his predicament, Naruto didn’t quite remember how he even got in this situation to begin with. And where was his shirt?

He froze as Ino stirred in her sleep. Her arms wrapped around him tighter, pulling herself deeper into him as her face nuzzled into his neck. Each breath she took tickled up his jaw and coloured his cheeks a bright red. No, he would not be caught like this. His dignity demanded he not die at the hands of a wrathful mother. With caution and dexterity only a ninja could hope to have, Naruto slowly and carefully wiggled himself free, inch by inch, until he was able to pry himself from Ino’s formidable grasp, his place quickly being replaced by a pillow. He almost felt bad as Ino stirred again, nuzzling into the pillow and seemingly pouting at the sudden loss of warmth she had grown comfortable with. Naruto would definitely be picking on her about this later.

With his freedom, Naruto quickly found his clothes, all clean and neatly folded on Ino’s desk. Okay, maybe she had earnt herself a pass on the teasing this time. Giving himself a quick once over, he was pleased to find all his wounds had been treated and bandaged. With the Kyuubi’s chakra still being cut off, Naruto figured Ino had been forced to put in more effort to heal him. Why she hadn’t taken him to the hospital like she was supposed to was still open for investigation. Regardless, he would need to get his seal sorted soon. The aches and throbbing headache from last night’s ordeal still lingered and he didn’t like that at all. Getting dressed, Naruto snuck over to the door, placing his ear gently against its cold surface and listening out for anything on the other side. He was planning on jumping out the window, but it didn’t hurt to be safe.

Hearing nothing on the other side, Naruto let out a quiet sigh of relief. Turning back to the room, he was caught a little off guard by the sight before him. He had always known Ino was beautiful, there was never any question about that. Even in their youth, she was easily one of the prettiest girls in the village, in Naruto unbiased opinion. In this moment, laid out on her bed, hair messily sprawled out and arms clinging to a pillow like a lifeline, Naruto could do nothing but stare in awe. An uncomfortable warmth burnt its way up his neck, reigniting his face with the realisation that he had just, unknowingly, spent a night in bed with the Ino Yamanaka. Jiraiya could never know about this.

Almost as quickly as he found himself caught in the alluring genjutsu that was Ino’s curves, all deliciously visible even under the thin blanket draped over her, Naruto was pulled away from his less than pure thoughts by a sudden gust of wind and the creaking of wood. He didn’t need to turn around to know the door had been opened. Somehow, Naruto knew that him standing there, fully clothed, watching Ino sleep, was a much worse image than if he had simply been caught in bed with the girl. Oh well. If he were to die today, he could die happy with this being one of the last images he burnt into his mind.

“Good morning, Naruto,” Himiko greeted quietly with a smile.

Naruto grinned nervously as he turned to her. “Morning,” he said weakly, doing his best to banish the blush from his face.

“Should I be worried?” Himiko asked sweetly, now no longer caring to keep her volume down as she looked quizzically between the pair.

Ino didn’t stir at her mother’s voice, leaving Naruto to let out a breath of relief before turning panicked eyes to Himiko. At this point, he might as well just accept death. He had no idea how skilled Himiko was, or if she was even a ninja, but he was cornered, injured, and cut off from his biggest trump card. If there was ever a time to end him, now would be it. Worst of all, Naruto knew that no one would even question his death at the woman’s hands. What mother wouldn’t murder a boy they just found creeping in their daughters room.

Himiko only smiled wider at Naruto’s clear panic. “Don’t worry. Ino is a deep sleeper,” she said casually. “So, I ask again, is there anything I should be worried about?”

Naruto shook his head. “No ma’am.”

The woman hummed suspiciously. “I thought you promised not to go sneaking around my home again.”

“Oh, umm, I did, yes. But I, uh…” Naruto paused and looked down at Ino, her peaceful expression as she slept all but demanding he not place the blame on her. How could he possibly blame her. “I’m sorry.”

Himiko smiled knowingly at Naruto. “Well, at least I don’t have to worry about you having a good poker face,” she said in amusement, much to Naruto’s confusion. “Ino told me you were here after you passed out last night. I did tell her to set you up in the spare room, but it seems she had her own plans.” Himiko shook her head as she laughed softly. “What ever will I do with her.”

 “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be a bother,” Naruto said. “I’ll get out of your hair. Just let Ino know I’m all good and that I’ll catch up with her soon. Also, thank her for healing me.”

“Nonsense,” Himiko said. “You aren’t going anywhere, not until you’ve had something to eat. I’m making breakfast already, so I’ll just whip up some extra for you. You aren’t a picky eater, are you?” Naruto shook his head. “Perfect. Come on down when you’re ready. I’m sure you’re hungry after last night.”

Naruto remained frozen in place as Himiko closed the door as she left. This was nothing like how Jiraiya had explained/warned. There was always the possibility that Jiraiya was flat out wrong, or that Ino’s mother was a unique case. No matter the case, Naruto could sense danger. Turning to leave through the window he stopped short of his goal as his stomach growled, and with its audible protest Naruto had to carefully weigh his options. He could take the risk of Ino’s mother having evil ulterior motives for being so outwardly kind, or he could bail and possibly upset both Himiko and Ino… and be hungry.

Another growl from his stomach made the choice for him, and soon he found himself cautiously venturing down the stairs and into the kitchen, guided by the pleasant smells of food. While he did try to offer to help, Naruto was quick to find that despite not having grown up with a mother, he was still just as easily silenced and seated by a mere look from the older woman. Sometimes instincts just kick in like that. And so, he sat down at the table, patiently and silently waiting for a chance to properly apologise for and explain his intrusion into the home, when a plate of food and a bowl of rice was suddenly placed in front of him. Naruto tried to not come across as rude as he stared at the meal before him with wide eyes, taking his time to memorise this moment.

“Is that okay?” Himiko asked worriedly. “I can make you something else if you prefer.”

“No!” Naruto said a little too loud. Wincing at his outburst, he grinned sheepishly at Ino’s mother. “Sorry. I just… I’ve never had… it smells really good.”

Himiko smiled softly and nodded in understanding. “Growing up as an orphan can be tough,” she said simply. “You aren’t used to anyone making you food, are you?”

“No. At least not until Ino started doing it,” he admitted. “Are you sure it’s okay I’m here? I don’t want to be-“

“Naruto,” Himiko cut him off. “If I didn’t wish for you to be here, I would have asked you to leave already. I certainly wouldn’t be trying to feed you. Ino invited you into our home, or kidnapped you, whichever way you want to look at it. Either way, you are a guest, so please, relax.”

He let his shoulders slump and breathed deeply, inhaling the mouthwatering food waiting to be eaten. A nod from Himiko was all the permission he needed to dig in happily, making sure to restrain his hunger so as to eat in a semi-respectable manner. No sooner was he finished was another serving placed before him by a smiling Himiko, the woman sitting across from him with a cup of coffee. Finishing his second serving, Naruto wasn’t sure what to do from here. He had hoped Ino would have woken up by now, or he’d think of some excuse to leave of his own accord. Sadly, neither had come about, so he was left awkwardly sitting across from Ino’s mother in silence.

“Ino’s told us much about you,” she said suddenly.

Naruto chuckled nervously. “Yeah, you did say that. I hope she left some parts out,” he said. Having certain parts of his history being remembered by more than those who had been present was not something Naruto wanted. Enough people knew too many embarrassing things about him already. Although, Ino’s family, and her clan, were mind readers of a sort, so he supposed them knowing everything was only a matter of time. Still uncomfortable to think about.

“She probably did. And of course, some parts were obviously exaggerated for the sake of storytelling,” Himiko said with a laugh. “That being said, it’s not so much what she told us about you, but how she told us.”

Tilting his head curiously, Naruto could help but ask, “How do you mean?”

“After a certain point, not long after you both became genin, Ino began mentioning you,” Himiko said, remembering that first year of her daughter’s shinobi career fondly. “Honestly, it was such a relief to have her mention anyone other than the Uchiha boy-“ she noted how Naruto seemed to wince at the mention of the other boy “-but when she spoke of you, it was different. Perhaps not at first, but over time, the way Ino used to smile when she told us about your training sessions, or a prank the two of you were planning, the way she used to practically run out the door to go and spend time with you, it all started adding up.”

Naruto couldn’t quite help the blush that was slowly making itself known on his cheeks, but he didn’t dare interrupt as Himiko went to continue.

“To put it simply, Ino has had a crush on you for much longer than even she realises,” Himiko stated, enjoying the sight as Naruto blushed much brighter. “I’m sure you two are well aware of your shared feelings by now. At least, I hope so, or this must be the most confusing conversation of your life so far.”

Naruto laughed along with her. “You’d be surprised with some of the conversations I’ve had,” he said jokingly, trying and failing to distract himself from the main point being brought up. “I do care about Ino… a lot. But…”

“You’re scared,” she surmised, to which he nodded. “That’s normal. Everyone gets a little scared about such things, especially with your line of work. There is a lot of constantly changing factors, risks to be taken into account. A shinobi’s life is not a simple thing when you add love to the mix. Which is why I’m glad we have this little moment together, just the two of us. I’ve wanted to talk to you for some time now.”

“You have?” Naruto asked, his mind already working overtime to find the worst possible outcome. While normally he was treated as an annoyance, or outright disregarded, Naruto wasn’t a stranger to the concept of being let down gently. Perhaps the food and this pleasant conversation was just a way to peacefully tell him that they would rather he not return Ino’s affections. It would make sense.

 Himiko nodded with a gentle smile. “I know your parents aren’t around, and that you’ve been on your own since before you can remember,” she said. “Life is a fickle thing to traverse even with the structure and support of family. Without those things, it’s much harder. I know Ino will go out of her way to help you in any way she can, but she is still young, and it isn’t quite the same. So, I wanted to let you know, if there is ever anything you need, anything you need to talk about, or get advice on, my husband and I are here to support you, regardless of whatever choice you an Ino make in regard to your feelings. Ino cares for you deeply, as a friend, and possibly more, and I want you to know that no matter what, you will always be welcome here.”

Naruto was lost for words. He looked down at the empty plate in front of him as he felt a tightness in his throat, knowing that if he looked up at Himiko’s soft caring expression he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from falling apart. The emotional turmoil of last night still hadn’t fully died down, and this moment was not helping in the slightest. As much as he had dreamed of having a dad to teach and guide him, such a fantasy only came second place to what he felt he truly needed. Between Sarutobi, Iruka, Kakashi, and Jiraiya, Naruto knew he had enough positive male role models in his life to help fill the void his father had left. The void left by his mother though… Tsunade and Ayame were the only real relationships he had with any women, and those were a grandmotherly and sisterly bond. No one had tried to act motherly to him in any capacity, until now.

“Thank you,” he said weakly, counting his blessings that the words weren’t croaked out pathetically. “I appreciate it.”

Himiko smiled wide. “Think nothing of it dear,” she said. “Now, enough of that. A little birdy told me that you are the man to talk to about pranks. I hope that with all your growing up you haven’t given up that particular skillset.” A look of realisation crossed over Naruto face as he caught a glimpse of the mischievous glint in the woman’s eyes. “I could use your help, if you’re interested that is.”

Naruto narrowed his eyes silently for a moment at the unhinged grin starting to tug at Himiko’s face, her eyes glancing sporadically towards the stairs leading up to the bedrooms. Suddenly, Ino’s own interest in pranks, and her twisted sense of humour, was all starting to make sense. It did make Naruto wonder which of his parents he inherited his own tendency for pranks from. “I’m listening,” he said seriously, leaning in close with a smirk of his own.

The evil cackle that Himiko tried to stifle made him second guess for a moment… only a moment.

{I}

When Ino woke up, she was disappointed to find that the bed was noticeably colder than it should have been. Devoid of a certain body of warmth that she knew was supposed to be present. Sighing slightly at the lost chance of stealing morning cuddles under the guise of pretending to still be asleep, Ino got up and stretched. On the plus side, with Naruto already gone, at least she wouldn’t have to deal with her parents asking any annoying questions or accusations. Her mother anyway. Her father seemed happy to be kept out of the loop for most things and Ino intended on keeping it that way.

Making her way to the bathroom, Ino went about her usual morning routine. She spent a few minutes panicking over the possible meaning behind Naruto’s disappearance, wondering if perhaps she had been a little too forward with things. Not that she would apologise. The ‘date’ had gone surprisingly well until Jiraiya showed up and shit on everything, and Ino wanted to keep a close eye on Naruto with his injuries. Putting him into her own bed to rest, and then crawling into said bed alongside him, may have pushed the line. But it wasn’t her fault. Naruto was so warm, and soft, and cuddly, and… ugh. Ino refused to apologise for seizing an opportunity that so boldly placed itself before her. That being said, if it had upset Naruto, and he had run off in frustration or confusion, then Ino swore to make it up to him somehow.

Finally awake, dressed, and with her mind cleared of unsure thoughts, Ino headed towards the stairs. She could smell breakfast and she needed to eat a good meal before starting her hunt for Naruto. Stopping suddenly at the top of the stairs, the hairs on the back of Ino’s neck stood on end and her eyes narrowed dangerously, the sound of laughter reaching her ears. Her mother’s laughter, which was common enough under this roof. Her father’s laughter, while a little rarer, was still not out of place. But there was a third, a more boisterous laugh, a more… Naruto laugh? Ino paled. If Naruto was still here, and was having breakfast with her parents, then that meant… ‘Oh no.’

Ino couldn’t remember if her bedroom door had been open when she woke up. She didn’t know when Naruto might have woken up, when her parents had woken up. Dealing with Naruto waking up to his own compromising position would be an easy problem for Ino to solve, but if either of her parents had caught sight of Naruto in her bed after she promised to set him up in the spare room, well, going missing-nin wasn’t a terrible idea compared to dealing with the embarrassment that was her family. Carefully venturing down the stairs, Ino took a deep breath and composed herself before strolling into the kitchen as if nothing was wrong, making a point to walk straight up to Naruto and place a glowing green hand on his forehead.

“Good to see you’re up,” she said cheerfully. “How do you feel? Any lasting pain? Headache?”

Naruto shook his head and grinned. “Nope. Just a few aches here and there,” he answered. “Once I get that seal Pervy-sage put on me fixed up, I’ll be good in a few hours anyway. Thanks for healing me though. I appreciate it.”

Ino rolled her eyes and pulled her hand back with a nod. He wasn’t lying at least. Almost all of his injuries had healed overnight, the medical freak of nature that he was. “Anytime,” she said, taking a seat next to him and assessing the room. Her mother was smiling at her in a way that made Ino feel uneasy, but her father didn’t seem off in any way, unless you took into account his curious glances between both Naruto and Ino. Obviously, he had questions, even if he wasn’t jumping to any conclusions just yet. It wasn’t until her mother and Naruto shared an almost unnoticeable look, the tiniest hints of matching smirks on their faces, that Ino realised something was terribly wrong. ‘Fuckery is afoot.’

“How did you sleep, sweetie?” Himiko asked Ino, giving her a knowing look. “Warm enough? How are your pillows holding up? Is it time to get you some new ones perhaps?”

Ino struggled not to roll her eyes. Perfect. So, her mother had caught her and Naruto in bed, or at least knew what the sleeping arrangement had been. That was manageable. Looking to her father, Ino was relieved to find him only half paying attention to the conversation, focussed mostly on his morning coffee. “I slept well. My pillows are fine, thank you,” she replied, levelling a stern look at her mother that screamed ‘I will end you’. Sadly, that only proved to provoke the woman further.

“And how about you, Naruto?” Himiko asked. “Did you sleep well? Please, do let us know if any of our hospitality is lacking. We’d hate to know that you didn’t get a good rest under our roof.”

With the power of pranks far outweighing his own embarrassment, Naruto was able to completely abolish the blush that wished to grace his face. “I slept great,” he exclaimed cheerfully, grinning wide at Ino and making the girl blush. “You guys have really warm blankets. Super soft too. You’ll have to tell me where you got them. I need one.”

Ino failed to fight down the glowing redness in her cheeks as the heat of her embarrassment moved up her neck. ‘You two…’ she hissed mentally, glaring at Naruto and Himiko with realisation and the promise of womanly fury. She was ecstatic, in a way, that her mother and hopeful future boyfriend were apparently getting along like old friends. Ino was, however, also enraged at the understanding that the two were working together against her. How dare they. Why would they do this to her. Or, more importantly, what the hell were they playing at. Glancing back at her father, Ino was a little less relieved to find the man looking questioningly at Naruto. Even with his early morning sleep riddled mind, the way his wife and house guest were talking was too strange to ignore.

“They are just the cheap ones from the store,” Inoichi said. “You can get better ones almost anywhere.”

Naruto’s grin grew wider. “Oh, well, it felt expensive last night,” he said, side eyeing Ino. “Special, even.”

Ino accidentally let a growl escape her, earning three worried looks, although two of them were noticeably less worried than they ought to be.

“Everything okay, Ino?” Naruto asked. “You aren’t still upset about last night, are you?”

“What happened last night?” Inoichi asked curiously.

Ino jumped at the opportunity to take control of the situation at hand. “Oh, right. We live far enough away that you wouldn’t have felt anything,” she said quickly. “Naruto found out that Jiraiya is his godfather, and when Jiraiya got back to the village last night, they had a bit of a fight and destroyed a training ground. Made a big scene about it too.” Smirking as her father nodded, accepting her little explanation, she turned smugly to Naruto. “And no, I’m not still mad about that. Even if you did make an idiot of yourself for no reason. I’m just hungry, that’s all.”

Himiko chuckled. “Ino does get rather hangry at times, especially in the mornings,” she said. “Something for you to look forward to, Naruto.”

Naruto snorted. “Just the mornings?” he asked. “I thought that was just her all the time. She used to get so grumpy for no reason in the academy, and even during our first year.” Ino would have yelled had Naruto not immediately turned to her with a tilted head. “And I wasn’t talking about the fight. I was talking about our date. You aren’t mad about that, are you?”

“Date?” Inoichi asked, his eyes suddenly less tired and focused on the two blondes sitting across from him.

“Yeah. Ino took me out to dinner last night,” Naruto explained happily, grinning ear to ear. “I didn’t know it was supposed to be a date until like halfway through. I dunno if I messed anything up, or if it was going well, because Jiraiya sort of interrupted before we could finish. Guess I did kind of ruin it by running off to fight pervy-sage…” Sheepishly, Naruto looked at Ino apologetically. “I’m sorry I did that. If… if I didn’t blow things completely, I’d love to try and make it up to you. Any chances of a second?”

Inoichi cleared his throat. “Yes, Ino. Do tell us, does Naruto get a second date?” he asked dangerously.

Ino ignored her father, looked past Naruto’s beautiful blue puppy-dog-eyes, and glared at her mother who was smiling far too smugly for her liking. ‘This is your doing, you evil woman.’ In that moment, Ino swore revenge. Sweet, savoury, served cold on a silver platter, revenge. Naruto would get what was coming to him as well, all in good time. Not bothering to try and fight her blush, Ino turned to smile weakly at her father. “I’m sorry, daddy. I didn’t want to tell you I was going on a date in case it didn’t work out. If I didn’t click with him, I didn’t want you to worry.”

“And did you?” her father asked.

“Huh?”

“Did you and Naruto click?” Somehow, Ino’s blush got brighter, and Naruto shared in the unwarranted expression beside her. That was all the answer Inoichi needed as he down the remainer of his cup and focused solely on Naruto. “Naruto, come with me please.”

Ino watched in muted horror as her father escorted Naruto outside. What for, she didn’t know, though it couldn’t have been anything good. Choosing to focus on what she could actually do anything about, Ino turned to glare at her mother. “What have you done?” she hissed.

Himiko didn’t react, taking a sip from her cup. “I don’t know what you’re insinuating, dear. I assure you, I’ve done nothing,” she said calmly, smile never leaving her face. “Perhaps I should be the one asking what you’ve been doing. Going on dates, sneaking a boy into our house, not once, but twice. That’s not even mentioning the state that I found you two in this morning.”

“Nothing happened!”

“Obviously,” Himiko said. “But that isn’t the point. The point is, you’re trying to sink your claws into poor Naruto without even properly introducing him to us. I told you to invite him to dinner so we could get to know him a little.”

“I asked him!” Ino exclaimed. “He agreed. Or at least he did last night. Now, after his little chat with dad, who knows if he’ll ever come back.” Speaking of, Ino quickly got up and moved to a spot where she could see where her father had taken Naruto out to the back of the house and was now talking to him. If the scared look on the jinchuuriki’s face was anything to go by, Ino suspected her chances of getting a second date were going to be slim.

“Hmm, I wonder what they are talking about,” Himiko said nonchalantly, earning a grunt from her daughter.

{I}

 “Look scared.”

“Huh?” Naruto looked up at Inoichi questioningly, paling slightly as the man placed a firm grip on his shoulder.

Inoichi leaned in a little and sternly repeated himself. “Look scared.” Naruto followed his instruction, perhaps with a little more legitimacy than was necessary. “Don’t say anything. I’m going to ask you some questions, and you are going to nod or shake, yes or no. Understood?” Naruto nodded. “Good. So, Himiko put you up to this, didn’t she?” Another nod. “Hmm, that woman. I love her, but she can be so frustrating at times. Was the plan to prank me as well?” A shake. “Smart. Although teasing Ino comes with its own risks. I’m sure you already understand that. What to do, what to do. Do you actually intend on trying to date my daughter?” A nod. “You love her? Actually, don’t answer that. I don’t want to know yet. Would you die for her?” A very enthusiastic nod.

During this strange interrogation, Naruto couldn’t help but notice both Ino and Himiko watching on from the window. Inoichi was smart enough to keep his back turned to the house, and by keeping Naruto from talking, there was no way for either woman to read their lips or attempt to figure out what was truly being discussed. ‘Maybe I bit off more than I can chew with this one.’ It had been some time since he had given into his mischievous side. He had jumped at the chance to bond with Ino’s mother with a light-hearted prank, but now he was questioning how smart of an idea that had been. Thinking before acting was not something he was widely known for.

“Look, you’re a good kid, Naruto,” Inoichi said. “I know it, Himiko knows it, and Ino knows it. She cares about you a lot. Has for quite a while now actually. I’ll be honest, when the Hokage called me into his office that night, all those years ago, and I learnt what my daughter had done to you, I never would have expected things to turn out the way they have. You put your trust in Ino, in me and my clan. For that, you earned my trust. The years since have only shown me how well placed that trust is. You’re growing into a fine young man and a shinobi this village can truly be proud of, who your parents would be proud of.”

Naruto’s face softened. “Than-“

“Ah-ah,” the man interrupted. “Still need you to look scared. I have a reputation to uphold. Now, while I trust you, and I know you are a good person, this is my baby girl we are talking about. My little princess. My precious Ino. You understand what I’m getting at?” Naruto shook his head with an unsure expression and Inoichi sighed deeply. “What I’m trying to get at, is if you want to date my daughter, then I need you to promise to do so honourably. No more sneaking into the house, no more secret dates, and certainly no letting that perverted fool Jiraiya anywhere near my baby. If I ever hear about one of his little books having a character even close to resembling Ino… not even the Kyuubi will stop me from doing what I must. Do I make myself clear?”

Naruto smiled fearfully and nodded. “I understand, sir. But… Jiraiya is my godfather. His perverted habits aside, I know he means well, and I did intend on trying to have him around more often,” he said, only to gulp audibly as Inoichi’s glare didn’t lessen in the slightest. “Although… I’ve gone this long without him around all the time. Guess it won’t hurt, so long as it keeps Ino safe, yeah?” 

Inoichi placed his other hand on Naruto’s other shoulder and stared into his soul, seemingly searching for any hint of deception. “Good man. Now…” the Yamanaka clan head’s entire demeanour changed as he grinned mischievously at Naruto. “What say we all work together and get one over Ino? That little brat still hasn’t paid for that time she put hair dye in my shampoo. Do you have any idea how long that stuff lasts? So, whaddaya say? You in?”

“Wait, what?” Naruto quirked his brow at the man in surprise, his eyes jumping between the unnerving smile aimed at him and the prying faces watching them from within the house. ‘A whole family of pranksters? When in the… did I die and go to heaven?’ “Did you have something in mind?”

The glimmer in Inoichi’s eyes was more terrifying than his wife’s.

“Tell me, Naruto…”

Naruto froze at the tone, a little voice in the far recesses of his mind screaming that he should have just kept his mouth shut. His one true weakness was coming to haunt him yet again.

“Just how far have you gone with my innocent little Ino?”

{I}

“Ino, I said I’m sorry. Please stop ignoring me.”

Ino didn’t even acknowledge Naruto with a glare as she sped up her pace and left him behind, leaping through the trees ahead of the team. Naruto hung his head in defeat and allowed his fellow blonde to keep her distance, dropping back to hang with his teammate who in turn looked at him questioningly.

“Naruto, what did you do?” Sakura asked. Watching her childhood rival give her teammate the cold shoulder and silent treatment all day had been entertaining at first, but now it was just dragging on too much. While Sakura would have understood anyone’s reasoning for ignoring Naruto some years ago, she simply couldn’t wrap her head around Ino doing so, especially knowing how the Yamanaka thought of the blonde jinchuuriki. Whatever Naruto had done to piss Ino off, it must have been really bad to overpower her naturally affectionate personality.

Naruto groaned. “I didn’t do anything,” he protested. “Ino took me back to her place after my fight with Jiraiya, to heal me and stuff. Then I fell asleep in her bed, and her mother walked in in the morning, then we had breakfast, everything was going so well. Then Himiko wanted my help to pull a little joke on Ino, and then her dad wanted the same thing, and you know what I’m like with pranks. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity, Sakura. I couldn’t pass it up. Now Ino won’t talk to me.”

Sakura eyed her teammate sceptically before sighing deeply. “God, Naruto. Even after all these years, you’re still so dense sometimes,” she muttered. “What exactly was the little joke you pulled with her parents? And keep in mind, jokes between family are not usually something you can just insert yourself into. Don’t be surprised if you crossed a line with Ino.”

“But they asked for my help?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Sakura insisted. “If it hurt Ino’s feelings, all that matters is that you chose their side over hers. Now what was it?”

“Okay, okay, so, at first, Himiko just wanted to make a bunch of suggestive comments to pick on Ino for letting me fall asleep in her bed. Once Ino took the bait and tried to defend herself, then she would either deny it and lie, or she would have to admit it, along with sleeping in the bed with me-“

“You two are sleeping together already!”

“-anyway,” Naruto continued, ignoring Sakura’s blushing yet accusatory stare. “All was going well, Ino even seemed a little nervous. Then her dad got involved and pulled me outside for a talk. I was expecting him to yell at me, but he’s a super cool guy. I look forward to talking to him again actually.”

“Naruto.”

“Right. Getting off track again. Basically, once Inoichi caught on to what Himiko was trying to do, and once I found out that I was surrounded by people who could appreciate a good joke, well, it’s only natural that we all tried to team up against Ino and-“

“Don’t you dare tell her what you did!” Ino yelled from up ahead.

Naruto grinned. “You’re talking to me again,” he cheered.

Sakura shook her head. “You really screwed it up this time, you idiot,” she said, looking towards Ino. “What did he do?”

Ino stopped suddenly, the team behind her following her lead as she glared daggers at the object of her affections. “They acted out a whole scene that revolved around my parents approving of our marriage and wanting to know how many grandkids Naruto intended to give them!” she explained, a dangerous edge to her tone. “This idiot had the gall to say he wanted a big family. No less than nine kids! We haven’t even kissed yet!”

“You haven’t?” Sakura asked in disbelief. “But you slept together.”

“Slept!” Ino shouted. “That’s all. We slept in the same bed, clothing on. No funny business. Completely innocent!”

Sakura smirked and gave Ino a knowing look. “Bet your thoughts weren’t innocent,” she said with a wink, causing the blonde to blush brightly and rush off again.

Naruto grumbled under his breath and looked at Sakura pleadingly. “Please don’t make things worse for me.”

Sakura put a hand on his shoulder and nodded solemnly. “Naruto, there is nothing that could possibly make this worse for you. Now let’s go.”

They continued on their way, followed closely by the stand in jonin of their team, a strangely quiet man named Yamato. Naruto wasn’t sure what to think of the guy, but Tsunade and Kakashi both swore by him, so that was good enough for him. The man was learning much more intimate information about Naruto’s personal life than he would have liked on a first meeting. He was, however, keeping respectfully quiet about it all, which was nice. Sakura was bad enough to deal with, not to mention the newest addition to team seven. While technically there was no reason to run a five-man team, Ino’s addition to the mission had been the result of her availability, sensing ability, and assurance that her psychological training could help with the mission at hand.

The mission in question was to track down and meet with Kabuto Yakushi. With the spy’s ties to Orochimaru, among many other notable figures in the criminal and non-criminal world, there was a hope that capturing and interrogating him could lead to the reclaiming of one Sasuke Uchiha. It was too good an opportunity for Konoha, and by extension, Naruto to pass up. And so here they were, racing their way towards Kusagakure’s Tenchi bridge, silent jonin leader and creepy weirdo new teammate included.

Naruto had his reservations on letting the creepy one, Sai, join in on the mission. Aside from attacking him openly in the street, something just didn’t feel right about the pale, ink-wielding boy. Tsunade, while also not without her own doubts, had assured him it would be fine. Team seven did technically need a new member to fill out the team, even if Naruto had argued that his clones more than made up for their lacking third member. Surely, they could make do until they got Sasuke back. Sadly, it was not to be, and now Naruto was stuck dealing with the strange emotionless boy who had made unsavoury comments about his genitals no less than four times. And he thought Pervy-sage had been weird for always talking about boobs. What he wouldn’t give to put up with his godfather’s antics instead.

By the time they reached the bridge, Ino still wasn’t talking to Naruto in any capacity that wasn’t directly mission related. Choosing to do the mature thing and put the issue on the backburner for the moment, Naruto focused solely on the mission at hand. Yamato, unsurprisingly, managed to be even stranger as he revealed his Mokuton abilities, turning himself into a perfect solid copy of the puppet wielding Akatsuki, Sasori. Everything seemed to be going just right, Kabuto even showing up in person, and alone at that. Or so they thought. From their hidden vantage points, overlooking the exchange on the bridge, none of the team were close enough to act when Kabuto attacked and was quickly joined by none other than Orochimaru.

As the team all gathered on the bridge to aid their leader, the idea of retreat crossed all their minds.

“Well, well, what a pleasant surprise,” Orochimaru said, eyeing the team and licking his lips before focusing on Naruto. “If it isn’t little Naruto. I’ve heard so much about you. Sasuke has been nothing if not forthcoming with his opinions on you… and his intentions for your future.”

“Where is Sasuke?” Naruto demanded. “What have you done with him?”

Orochimaru smiled in a way that made everyone uncomfortable. “I have done nothing but guide his rage, mould his natural talents into what they so deeply desired to become. With my help, Sasuke has become the perfect weapon, a true example of what a shinobi should be, both body and mind. Though, seeing you here, still alive after your last bout with my precious apprentice, I do have to wonder, which of you is stronger right now. Kukuku, I’m sure Sasuke would be delighted to find out.”

“Don’t listen to him Naruto,” Yamato said, clutching his wounded arm and glaring at the man who made him the way that he was. “Everything he says, anything he does, is all specifically to get in your head, under your skin. Don’t give him the satisfaction.”

Naruto grit his teeth as he felt the rage inside him begin to boil. It had been enough to stoke his flames when Orochimaru explained his connection to Yamato just before, how he had experimented on the man as a child and twisted his body in an attempt to recreate the first Hokage’s Kekkei genkai, but to have the snake mention Sasuke as well. There was no shortage of twisted things Naruto’s mind could conjure up that Sasuke might have been put through. It wasn’t until Ino silently put a hand on his shoulder that he felt his control truly take hold, the Kyuubi’s power and rage sitting just behind a threshold that Naruto needed only open and let free.

“Your words wound me,” Orochimaru said. “I would never deceive my former teammates own apprentice. Not when his blood is what mine so desperately needs to continue on his path. If you truly wish to find him again, you need only come with me, Naruto. But I cannot promise you will survive the encounter.”

“Naruto…” Ino said softly, her grip on his shoulder tightening slightly.

Naruto didn’t need to look back at her to understand. Ino had made her opinion on Sasuke very vocal, especially to him. While she herself would never go out of her way to try and get the Uchiha back, she had promised to help Naruto and Sakura wherever possible, though she would often try and dissuade them of the idea of hunting down Sasuke after everything he had done. Right now, it didn’t take a genius to know that Ino was not liking where this was going, or the fact that Naruto was reacting so much in this moment. Naruto had promised he wouldn’t risk his life for Sasuke’s, and Ino was making sure he stood by his word.

“I’ll survive just fine,” Naruto growled. “Just point me in the right direction, and make sure you say your goodbyes, because once I kick his ass, he’s coming back with us.”

“Still so confident,” Kabuto muttered. “Too bad you don’t have the skill to back it up.”

“Get over here and I’ll show you just how much skill I do have!”

No sooner had the words left his mouth was Naruto staring straight at the grinning face of Orochimaru, now mere feet in front of him. “Gladly,” the snake Sannin hissed, his mouth opening wide as a snake erupted from his throat, a sword emerging from its own mouth as it sprung forward. Naruto brought his hands up ready when at the last minute the serpent twisted and coiled itself, turning its aim to beside and behind him. Naruto felt the warm spray on his cheek before he could turn his head, smelt the coppery liquid stain the air, heard the pained yelp, all the while staring into Orochimaru’s excited eyes. The sadistic shine in those sickly yellow pools of filth reflected in them the image of what the snake had done. Naruto saw it clear as day, his pupils collapsing into blood red.

For all his training, all his preparations, nothing could have prepared him for the actual feeling associated with seeing someone dear get hurt like that, right in front of him, when he was too slow or powerless to stop it. He hadn’t been able to control himself when he saw Gaara, and he wasn’t faring any better now. Naruto didn’t turn to make sure Ino was okay. He didn’t think to. He didn’t think anything. In his mind, only two knowns swirled around unimpeded. One; Ino had gotten hurt, or worse, and he had let it happen. And Two; Orochimaru needed to die, right here, right now. Before the Sannin’s sword could pull free from its victim, Naruto’s hand was already wrapped around the gleeful man’s throat, fingers tipped with claws, and shrouded in chakra that burnt both of their skin on contact.

Orochimaru’s eyes shone with anticipation as he looked deep into Naruto, no longer faced with the confident jinchuuriki from moments before. “Yes. Show me your strength, Naruto. Show me the Kyuubi’s power. I must see it for myself,” he said hungrily, his foot driving into the boy’s stomach hard enough to send him flying back away from the bridge. His jaw unhinged as a fresh new Orochimaru crawled out, free of the chakra burns and claw marks on his neck, already salivating at the chakra presence in the air and paying no heed to the team around him.

Yamato tried to perform a jutsu but was quickly forced to move back as Kabuto closed on him with chakra scalpels. “Do not interfere with Lord Orochimaru,” the silver haired spy said.

“You bastard!” Sakura roared, charging Orochimaru with a fist reared back.

The snake smirked at the display, bringing his own hand up to catch the brutish and hilarious attack, only to realise his mistake all too late. Pain shot through his arm as the girl’s fist continued unphased, every bone in his extended limb shattering almost instantly and doing nothing to dull the impact as it closed in on his chest. Even as he twisted his bodily inhumanly to avoid the direct hit, Orochimaru couldn’t avoid all of it, instead opting to take a clip to his shoulder that still sent him flying across the bridge with more broken bones. Slithering out of yet another discarded skin, the snake Sannin could only stare at the pink haired girl curiously.

“So, Tsunade finally saw fit to take an apprentice,” he mused in fascination. “Consider me intrigued.”

“Lord Orochimaru!” Kabuto said, jumping to the man side.

Orochimaru paid him no mind, his eyes never leaving the Konoha team as Sakura quickly took to healing both her teammate and leader. This was almost too perfect. One of his old experiments, both of his cursed teammates students, and the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, all standing before him like a gift wrapped present just asking to be claimed or disposed of. The two that seemed out of place were of little concern. From the emotionless face of the pale one, Orochimaru could deduce Danzo was trying to get involved in some way. The old fool’s precious ROOT were often times too easy to pick out of a crowd, not that the war-hawk would believe it if you told him. No matter. Orochimaru knew he could just kill the boy if Danzo’s intentions were anything but beneficial to him.

The snake was quick to turn his eyes to the blonde girl he had stabbed. She was the odd man out it seemed, neither of any significance to Orochimaru himself, nor seemingly of any skill worth his attention. Her only worth it seemed, was in Naruto’s clear attachment, which Orochimaru was all too happy to take advantage of as he saw said jinchuuriki getting back to his feet, the unmistakable chakra shroud already beginning to bubble uncontrollably around him. Without a word, he extended his arm and bit his thumb, smearing the blood across the summing seal.

“Summoning jutsu!” Three large purple serpents burst into existence, their targets in sight as they lunged for the team. Orochimaru looked forward to seeing just what young Naruto was capable of when nothing held him back.

Ino was the first to act, pushing Sakura away from her, feeling more than healed enough to move, and racing through her own hand seals before biting her thumb and slamming her hands down on the bridge. “Summoning jutsu!” The snakes that were charging them were consumed by the much larger plume of smoke that threatened to envelop the bridge entirely. Only the pained hissing of the snakes, and the groaning of the wooden structure beneath them gave any indication as to what was going on. The smoke was quick to clear, revealing a fourth snake, much larger than the three Orochimaru had summoned, and beautifully coloured with diamond like patterns adorning its scales. Its body was coiled around two of the smaller purple serpents, with the third held limp in its jaws. Its eyes were focused on the Sannin, as if challenging him.

Orochimaru allowed a small amount of annoyance to grace his features before he schooled them back and chuckled. “Oh, Anko. How you continue to be a painful thorn in my side,” he said, his eyes watching the new summons with excitement. Suddenly, much to his delight, this was becoming an encounter worth remembering. Now if only he could make sure to leave his mark before he had to leave.

Ino smirked victoriously at her summons efforts. She would definitely remember to treat Anko to some more Dango once she got back to Konoha. Her good mood was short lived, however, as a twisted feeling of hatred and rage began to boil from within her. Turning back to where Naruto was, her eyes widened as she was met with sight of him hunched over on all fours, red chakra pouring out of him. “Yamato!” she yelled, jumping up with the intentions of running to Naruto’s side.

“No,” Yamato said quickly, putting himself between his team and Naruto. “You three handle them. I’ll take care of Naruto.”

Ino wanted to argue. With Orochimaru now in the mix, there was no logical reason to continue the mission. None of them were equipped to deal with a Sannin. Nevertheless, she complied, knowing from her own experience and training that Yamato was likely the only person who could help Naruto right now. It was, after all, part of the reason she had been sent along with him on this mission. Tsunade was a trusting woman, but after Naruto’s incident during the Kazekage’s retrieval, and his little stunt with Jiraiya, there were questions about his mental state and control over the Kyuubi. Ino wanted to stand by Naruto one hundred percent, vouching for him in any way she could. Her family training kept her from doing that. Ino knew Naruto; what he was like, how his life had been, how it still was. There would always be a risk factor with him, no matter how much she wished there wasn’t.

As such, Ino had been allowed to tag along. Partly because she could already work well with Yamato, and also because of her unique status as a pseudo jinchuuriki. She had no idea how that could be of any help just yet, aside from being able to feel how bad Naruto’s control was getting through their apparent connection. As it stood, he was still holding out, though Ino could feel his control slipping for some reason. Maybe her tagging along had been a bad idea, especially considering the pairs recent disagreement. As light-hearted as Ino had intended their squabble to be, she should have known better than to mess with anyone’s emotions while out on the field.

“Yes, please, do try and finish your mission,” Orochimaru said, licking his lips. “I wonder which of your sensei’s will miss you the most. Don’t disappoint me.”

While Sai remained as unreadable as usual, both Ino and Sakura could only gulp as they realised just what was being expected of them. Ino’s summon coiled up defensively in front of the trio, yet even with superior numbers, the sensation of being truly outmatched wouldn’t go away.

{I}

Yamato weaved the necessary hand seals and from the ground around Naruto grew several large pillars of wood, encircling him and trying desperately to suppress the Kyuubi’s chakra. It was a good thing he had gotten so much practice with Ino, though in this moment he was realising just how different it was with the real deal. Suppressing Ino had been a walk in the park once he figured out the how, but Naruto, containing the full bijuu, was proving a challenge. It was like trying to build a dam without diverting the water first, with the weight of the ocean behind it. Yamato wasn’t sure he would have any hope if it weren’t for the first Hokage’s necklace acting as an anchor for his jutsu.

“Come on, Naruto,” Yamato groaned, already straining under the pressure. He was only barely stopping the third tail of the bijuu cloak from forming. If it grew beyond that… “Reel it in. Control it.”

“I’m… trying…” Naruto growled, clawing at his stomach. This was just like the mission to save Gaara all over again. Despite all his training, all his progress with the fox, it was still so easy for him to lose control. Was he really that weak? ‘What the hell are you doing?’ he called out through his mind.

“Nothing,” the fox answered boredly. “My chakra is merely the amplifier for your own shortcomings. You cannot expect to control my power without first learning to control yourself. This is your fault. Resolve it yourself.”

Naruto waited for more, only to realise that the fox was done talking, the connection severed from the beast’s end. ‘Stupid fox.’ That was helpful. Fingers digging into the dirt, Naruto did idly wonder just how it was that Yamato happened to have a technique that was attempting to suppress the Kyuubi. Not that he was complaining, he was just curious, well, as curious as one could be when an ungodly amount of bloodlust soaked through every fibre of their being. He let out a pained sigh as he felt the chakra ease ever so slightly, no longer trying to force itself upon him and take over. As soon as he relaxed into the idea that he wouldn’t lose control again, he wished he hadn’t.

With his relaxation and the initial suppression of the Kyuubi’s chakra, came a clarity to the world around him. With that clarity, Naruto was able to refocus on the battle on the bridge, remembering just what it was that had set him off to begin with. He should have waited. Watching on helplessly, there was nothing he could do as Ino’s summons was effortlessly dispelled, both Sakura and Ino being put on the defensive by Orochimaru himself while Sai was kept at bay by Kabuto. Naruto clawed at one of the wooden pillars, desperate to get back into the fray and keep his friends from getting hurt. With each of his teammate’s efforts being thrown back in their faces by a superior opponent, Naruto felt his control slip more and more, drawing out the suppression and prolonging his absence from the battle. Calming down seemed impossible.

Then, as if watching fates twisted sense of humour play out right in front of him, Naruto watched as the Sannin summoned once again, briefly hidden by the smoke until it cleared to reveal large snakes coiled around both girls, Orochimaru’s sword pressed firmly to Ino’s throat as he faced Naruto eagerly.

From his place still holding the suppression jutsu, Yamato could only curse under his breath. This whole mission was a mistake.

{I}

Ino knew she had fucked up the moment she and Sakura were the ones left to fight Orochimaru. She didn’t blame Sai, he seemed busy dealing with Kabuto, but even if it had been all three of them against the Sannin there was little hope of coming out on top. All she and Sakura could do was keep the man entertained long enough for Yamato to bring himself and Naruto back into play. Other than that, the plan was simple, don’t die. ‘Easier said than done,’ she thought, narrowly ducking under a kick. It was clear that Orochimaru was playing with them, being able to keep up with Ino’s speed and masterfully avoid or redirect Sakura’s heavy hits. Such was to be expected. He had, after all, grown up with Tsunade as a teammate and gone on to train Anko as his apprentice. As far as Ino and Sakura were concerned, Orochimaru was their worst possible opponent.

With Naruto currently fighting back the Kyuubi’s chakra, Ino could feel the power still within her stir in reaction to its origin. She was grateful that she no longer had to worry about holding back, letting the red chakra seep into her freely and feeling its benefits almost immediately. While still no match for the someone like Orochimaru, it did give Ino just enough of a boost to keep her head attached to her shoulders. Side stepping a swipe from his sword, Ino cocked her fist back and launched a punch, focusing as much of her bijuu chakra into her arm as she could, while on the opposite side Sakura did much the same with her own strength technique. The Sannin’s response was to grin, one hand grabbing Ino’s wrist and directing it up and over him, while his other whipped the sword around and drove it down through Sakura’s hand, pushing her down as he pinned her to the bridge. Rolling with Ino’s momentum, driving his knee into her stomach as he went, Orochimaru rolled over Sakura and threw Ino aside before delivering a kick to the medic’s face that sent her sailing in a different direction, tearing her hand painfully from his blade.

Orochimaru shook his head. “Barely worthy of entertainment,” he said amusedly. “Perhaps my expectations were too high. Tsunade never was cut out to be a teacher it seems, and little Anko is too soft even after the gifts I left her with. Neither of you hold a candle to the prowess of my own student.” His eyes turned curiously to Ino, who’s blue eyes were now blood red, and a faint red shimmer was glowing around her. “However, I am nothing if not fascinated.”

Ino bared her slightly sharpened teeth as she charged again, hoping to give Sakura enough time to heal her hand before rejoining the fight. “Fuck you!” she screamed, lashing out with a series of kicks and punches. Each strike was effortlessly dodged or countered. It made sense. Anko had help Ino perfect her taijutsu, but at its core it was still a combination of the generic Konoha style and the snake style Orochimaru had taught to Anko. This may as well have been a game to the Sannin, or perhaps just a gentle stroll down memory lane. With each failed hit she sent, with each painful yet clearly restrained hit she received, Ino couldn’t help but let her anger take over.

Orochimaru had been the cause of so much pain, so much loss. Even before her time, he was a problem that stained Konoha’s history and reputation. Anko had shared enough in their time together for Ino to understand just what kind of man Orochimaru truly was, and the damage he often left in his wake. Ino didn’t care about his past crimes though, no matter how bad they might be. Right now, all she cared about was his part to play in the pain of her life. He was the one that had marked Sasuke, twisting the Uchiha’s own issues against him and offering him power, enough so to cause Sasuke to go rogue. That much was enough to hate the snake summoner. That wasn’t what truly burned her. If Orochimaru hadn’t taken an interest in Sasuke, if he hadn’t led the Uchiha astray the way he had, resulting in the inevitable attempted retrieval mission, then Naruto wouldn’t have nearly died. That, after all these years, was still the one true reason Ino hated Orochimaru with the passion she did, the passion that he was now facing.

“Why won’t you just die!” Ino yelled, the red shroud having now gotten darker and her features further animalistic. She had never drawn on the chakra this heavily before, so it was proving interesting even to her just how much she had to pull from.

Orochimaru caught her next punch, smoothly following with three precise strikes to her stomach, arm, and chest, knocking the wind out of her and stopping her next attempt at a punch. As she reeled back from the attack, he reached out and grabbed her by the throat, two snakes spewing forth from his sleeve and wrapping around her arms. “Simple, my dear,” he said, chuckling softly as he eyed her up like a valuable gemstone. “I have transcended death. I am no longer bound by such pitiful restrains, and in time, all other restrains will learn their place behind me as I claim what is rightfully mine.”

Ino smirked, even as his grip tightened and the snakes wrapped around her threatened to crush her. “Is one of those restraints underestimating people?” she asked cockily. Without waiting for him to respond, Ino channelled her chakra into her long braid, which was thankfully not caught up in the snakes, whipping it around and aiming the poisoned senbon at his throat. He caught it with his free hand, obviously, but Ino hadn’t made a point to comment on his underestimation of her for no reason. As soon as he grabbed her braid, Ino grinned wickedly, her chakra flaring as she activated the series of tiny sealing scrolls hidden in her hair. In several plumes of smoke, her braid was riddled with senbon, all jutting out in different directions, and each just as poisonous. Orochimaru’s hand let go, now sporting a few parting gifts, and with her braid free again Ino thrashed it around, peppering the snakes with senbon, making them dispel and forcing the Sannin to retreat quickly.

Orochimaru sneered at the blond as he withdrew the senbon from his hand. The poison wouldn’t affect him, but the insult to his skill had done enough damage. In all the fun he was having, toying with these children, he had allowed them to get more than one cheap trick over him. Never again. Glancing over to Kabuto, Orochimaru was surprised to see that he had come out victorious in his fight with the pale one, though he was now carrying said boy on his shoulder. Orochimaru didn’t care to take captives from this encounter, but a look from Kabuto was enough to tell him it was worth investigating, once they were safely away from the others that was. Gesturing to his sword, the blade heeded his command, and pulled itself free as it returned to his hand. Wiping more blood down the seal on his arm, he summoned two more snakes, this time not caring to waste time with theatrics.

The summons launched themselves at the two girls immediately, too fast for either to react to properly, and wrapped them up tightly. Orochimaru could barely contain his excitement at what was to come. Walking up to Ino, he kept his eyes focused on Naruto as he pressed his sword to the girl’s throat and smiled at the jinchuuriki. He had not come all this way just to leave without gaining anything. Sure, not being able to kill Sasori was annoying, but he would happily settle for seeing what a properly enraged Kyuubi jinchuuriki was capable of. If the resulting disaster happened to cost the lives of those around them, then that would be a happy accident. He pushed the blade firmer, drawing a small trickle of blood and revelling in the expression he could see on Naruto’s face.

“Little Naruto,” he said, chuckling. “Couldn’t stop Sasuke. Couldn’t stop Akatsuki from taking the Ichibi. And now you can’t even save your comrades. What a failure. Your parents would be so disappointed in you.” With each verbal jab, Orochimaru delighted in the visible effect his words were having on the boy. Even Yamato was struggling more and more with each passing moment. It wasn’t enough. He needed to see what power the boy contained. Turning to Ino, he smiled and began pressing his sword further, more blood flowing down its blade. “Say goodbye, my dear. Make sure to look at him while you do. Show him how much he failed you.”

Ino shut her eyes tight in defiance, only to open them wide as an explosion of power washed over the entire… everything. The sword was removed from her throat, and as she looked over to where Naruto was, Ino’s breath hitched at the sight. Whatever was standing there, four tails furiously flailing around it, was not Naruto.

“Naruto…”

“Yes,” Orochimaru called excitedly. “Show me everything.”

{I}

“Thanks,” Ino said, rubbing her now healed neck as Sakura pulled away.

“Are you two alright?” Yamato asked. The team leader was healed now, the signs of exhaustion from his prior efforts clear on his face. As well as the physical injuries, he was also forced to deal with the knowledge of his own failures. Allowing his team to come into confrontation with the likes of Orochimaru, and also proving incapable of properly suppressing Naruto. Letting Sai get captured was just icing on the cake at this point.

“We’re fine,” Sakura said, finally letting her medical jutsu die down. The ground shook and Sakura turned a worried eye to the direction of a giant explosion. “Naruto’s not. We need to help him.”

Yamato shook his head. “No. If we get involved in that now, we will just die,” he said grimly. “With any luck, Naruto will kill Orochimaru before he burns himself out. But if that isn’t the case-“ he turned curiously to Ino. “-Ino, you’re still channelling the Kyuubi’s chakra?”

Ino frowned and looked down at her hands, noticing her nails were still clawed. Running her tongue across her teeth told her that those were still changed too. “No,” she said unsurely. “I… I’m not trying to. But I can’t push it down right now. It feels like it’s everywhere.”

Sakura placed a glowing hand on the blonde’s chest and her eyes widened. “Your chakra is growing steadily. Just how much of the Kyuubi’s chakra do you have in you?”

“Not this much,” Yamato answered. “There is so much chakra in the air right now, its flowing from Naruto in waves. Your body must be naturally absorbing it.”

Ino’s eyes widened. “Am I going to be stuck like this?”

“Not likely. More importantly, how do you feel?” he asked.

“Uhh, I feel pretty good, you know, aside from getting my ass kicked and having to see… that,” Ino said, pointing to where the battle above them was raging on.

Everyone winced at the memory. The moments after Yamato’s technique had failed were a blur to them still, with only the obvious being clear to all involved. Naruto had lost control… again. In his rage, triggered by seeing Ino’s life in danger, the unleashed jinchuuriki was quick to lay waste to the bridge, not in a state of mind to care about friend or foe. If it hadn’t been for Yamato, the two girls would have plummeted to their deaths. As it were, they were now taking refuge on a platform of wood spawned from the ravine’s wall. Down here, out of sight, they seemed to be safe, though they all knew they couldn’t stay here. Naruto needed their help, and in his current state, they were likely his best chance of returning to normal before he did something he would regret.

Yamato scratched his chin thoughtfully as he looked over Ino. Even as she was absorbing all the stray chakra in the air, her emotions were still in check, and her thinking wasn’t impaired at all. Through the wood beneath them he could sense how much she currently had, and while it still paled in comparison to what he had felt within Naruto, it should have been enough to affect her. “Ino, can you try and draw the chakra in consciously?” he asked.

Ino tilted her head questioningly. “Why would I…? Oh!” Yamato’s intention clicked suddenly and without another word she closed her eyes and focused, willing the chakra within her to grow, to draw on what was around her. Within seconds she could feel her own reserves increasing, the power swelling inside her as the tingling sensation of her faint bijuu cloak covered her skin. It wasn’t until the chakra began to burn slightly and pooled suspiciously at the top of her head and her lower back that she eased off and let the chakra flow out of her harmlessly as she had been trained to do. Opening her eyes, Ino saw her team’s very surprised expressions. “What?”

“You… nearly formed a full bijuu cloak,” Sakura said in astonishment.

Yamato looked on with wide eyes. “That is most unexpected,” he said softly, a smirk slowly forming on his face. “But we can use that. When an opportunity arises, I’ll use my jutsu to contain and try to suppress the Kyuubi. Ino, I wont force you to expose yourself any more than you already-“

“I’ll do it!” Ino shouted, glaring at him with determination. “Whatever it is, if it helps Naruto, I’ll do it.”

“Good. Once I have him pinned, I need you to get close and try and leech as much chakra from him as you can and disperse it out. My jutsu will do the rest,” he explained before turning to the medic. “Sakura, you saw as well as I did what that chakra is doing to him. Stay out of the way, keep safe, and when me and Ino get him under control, be ready to heal whatever damage is left.”

“Understood,” the medic said, offering a firm nod to her team. There was no questioning just how seriously Sakura took her role as a medic-nin.

“Right. Let’s get back up there. If we’re lucky we can…” Yamato trailed off as he and the girls looked up, watching as Naruto was sent sailing across the ravine by Orochimaru’s sword, crashing heavily back on their side of the expanse. “Move!”

They all jumped into action. Running up the wall and back to the surface, all three looked over the ravine, expecting to see Orochimaru following. It came with a small sense of reprieve that the Sannin had seemingly taken his chance to flee. As they felt the vile chakra encroaching on them, they cursed the snake for having childishly unleashed what he couldn’t handle. Yamato was the first to charge, meeting Naruto with a series of large trees with many wooden hands branching out from them. While it drew his attention, the efforts were useless as his claws and tails tore through the forestry and he continued his charge.

Ino stood to the side, waiting for her moment to jump in. When it became clear that Naruto would close the distance to Yamato too quickly, she leapt in, much to the shock of her team. Flaring her chakra, already drawing on that around her, Ino caught Naruto’s full attention almost immediately. It was only after she pulled her stunt that she realised how stupid it was, like waving a red flag in front of a bull. She may as well have gone and challenged the Kyuubi directly, which wasn’t even out of the realms of possibility considering her family jutsu. Rushing in, she rolled under his sweeping tails, Yamato erecting more constructs around her as she went, each one acting as a vital lifeline of defence against the suddenly vicious onslaught of chakra tails.

With every dodge, with each strike blocked by wood, more and more of the Kyuubi’s chakra spewed carelessly into the air. After a certain point, Ino didn’t even need to focus on drawing in the foul chakra. Like gravity, the embers of power that hung in the air were simply drawn in, making her faster, stronger, more powerful by the second. She used this to her advantage, gaining distance quickly and trying to find an opening. Had anyone told Ino that this was something she would have to do in her life, she would have ordered a full psych evaluation on them. Nevertheless, here she was, trying to match a jinchuuriki. When did her life get so messed up? Ino jumped over another tail, smirking as it was stopped and quickly pinned to the ground by a wooden dragon.

“Now!” Yamato called out.

Ino didn’t waste a second. She knew the process, if only because it had been used on her before. Yamato had never needed to go to these extremes with her, obviously, but the opportunity to train and hone his abilities for when and if the time came were there, so it only made sense to seize the opportunity. Ino had helped him plan and practice his techniques, apparently modified from what was known of the first Hokage’s own Jutsu. She moved, faster than she had ever known she could, weaving between the now three remaining tails that hunted for her knowingly, the mind behind them having figured out their intentions already. Pillars of spiked wood encircled the pair, a tendril of chakra extending from Yamato’s hand and connecting to the necklace around Naruto’s neck. Attention suddenly ripped away from her, Ino took her chance, and closed the distance between them, wrapping her arms tightly around Naruto and letting as much of the Kyuubi’s chakra bleed into her as she could take, no matter how much it burned just to breathe this close to him.

She remembered, of course, when it was that her life had begun spiralling so chaotically, allowing for such events to unfold with her caught in the middle. Ino would never forget that night. Tears stung her eyes before being burnt away by the chakra that now enveloped her completely as she recalled that night from years ago. Ino remembered everything about it; her fear and frustration as she sought Naruto out, demanding answers, hoping for something, anything to use to justify her treatment of him in the years before. Instead, she had her eyes opened, her heart squeezed, and her mind changed, all in a simple conversation that ended with her tearfully clinging to the boy and apologizing. Not a scene too dissimilar to right now, minus the raging bijuu shroud that was thankfully already being forced into submission.

It burnt in ways Ino never expected. Her whole body, her thoughts, her chakra, everything may as well have been fire at this point. She couldn’t expel the foul chakra quick enough to combat the ease at which it flowed into her, and every second with it inside of her was agony. Ino would never have known just how much Naruto suffered when he used the Kyuubi’s chakra like this. He had told her of how it made him feel, how much he disliked relying on strength that wasn’t his own, yet he never told her how much it hurt. Was he keeping that from her on purpose? Was it his idea of making sure she wouldn’t worry about him? It would explain why he was so distraught at learning of her own share of the burden.   

Her grip tightened, keeping his arms pinned to his sides even as claws dug into her back. What amounted to only seconds felt more like painfully long minutes with the Kyuubi’s chakra rushing through her mind. Eventually the power faded, leaving only pain and blood in its wake. Ino clung to Naruto, holding him up as the shroud evaporated from both of them and his strength left him. She would never let him go. Even as her own body screamed at her, begging for the relief of unconsciousness, she refused to let him fall.

When Naruto finally blinked away the fog in his mind, his eyes returning to their beautiful blue colour, Ino smiled through the pain and eased up on her tight hold. She watched as Naruto took in the sight around him, fighting through his own pain to process everything and catch up. It didn’t take him long to figure out what had happened. As he looked at her with so much worry, so much concern, tears welling in his eyes, Ino simply continued to smile. She loved his smile, and she knew he wouldn’t be able to smile right now, so she would just have to do it for the both of them.

“Ino…”

Ino almost faltered at the crack in his voice. She had no idea what kind of state she was in right now, not a very appealing one no doubt. Certainly not the way she ever wanted Naruto to see her. “Hey,” she said. The pain far outweighed her desire to chuckle at her own ridiculous attitude in this moment. She raised a hand gently to his cheek, noticing that the skin on her hand was in much the same condition as Naruto’s. Apparently that burning sensation wasn’t just a suggestion. “Welcome back.”

Naruto’s hands went to wrap themselves around her, eliciting a pained wince from her. Brining his hand up to view, the sight of the blood on his fingers was the final straw. Tears ran freely down his face, burning against his raw skin as they went, as he looked deep into Ino’s eyes. He expected to see anger, hatred, fear, something that he could make sense of… anything. He didn’t. Her smile held strong, her touch remained gentle, and her gaze, so warm and full of concern, never left his own. Neither blonde was aware of the world around them, nor their teammates rushing to their sides. In this moment, all that mattered was each other.

Ino smiled a little wider, which only proved to hurt that little bit more. Her face was definitely burnt. That night back then, and every night since; Ino would never change a thing. She would never regret her choice to befriend Naruto, to start hanging out with him, training with him, falling for him. Oh yes, she could never wish to forget the reason for the chaos in her life. Naruto Uzumaki. The dead last. The idiot. The man she loved. Ino hugged Naruto a little tighter, despite Sakura now trying desperately to pry them apart. Healing could wait. Ino had a point to prove. She could see it in his eyes, the way he was waiting for her to step away, to remove herself from him like he was a leper. Ino wasn’t about to give him the dissatisfaction of having his worries proved right.

Naruto needed to know, that no matter what he did, no matter how much others saw him as a monster, or how much he saw himself as one, Ino would never walk away. She wouldn’t walk away, she wouldn’t turn her nose up in disgust, or look at him with fear or anger or anything that could be interpreted as negative. Whether he liked it or not, Naruto was stuck with her now.

And she would never let him go.

“For fuck sakes, have your moment after I’ve healed you!” Sakura yelled in frustration.

Okay, maybe she could let him go just this once.

{I}

Naruto could still feel the burning within him. Even now, hours later, the Kyuubi’s chakra continued to remind him of what had happened, of what he had done. As if he needed the reminder. He could still feel the blood on his hands, no matter how many times he had stopped to wash it off. Ino’s blood. It didn’t matter how many times Ino herself assured him it was fine, how sternly Sakura assured him that there were no permanent injuries, nothing could shake the sickness swirling in his stomach. He had hurt someone, someone close to him, and he didn’t know what to do about it.

‘This is what everyone was afraid of…’ he thought. Memories of his childhood flooded his mind, the hateful stares, the avoidance, the fear. Maybe they were right all along. How could they not be. Who was he compared to the bijuu within him? How could one person possibly hope to hold back such destructive power. Even with his years of training almost solely devoted to harnessing and controlling the bijuu, control was still so easily lost. Four tails was within his realm of management, he knew that, and yet it had taken him over completely, and in the process he had hurt one of the people he held so dear. Perhaps he truly was destined to become the monster everyone saw him as.

“Do not be so naïve,’ the fox grumbled from within its cage. “You will never become me, no matter how much you may aspire for such greatness.”

Naruto rolled his eyes and ignored the beast, opening another door and peering into yet another bland, empty room before closing it and moving on to the next. It was a blessing that Orochimaru had an obsession with making his bases large sprawling mazes of tunnels and rooms, forcing the team to split up and cover more ground. Naruto usually didn’t care for alone time, but right now it was proving to be just what he needed, even if he was never truly alone. The fox had been gratefully silent on the matter, which was strange in and of itself. Usually there was no shortage of verbal jabs and insults thrown his way. Something else must have been going on.

The empty rooms continued as Naruto worked his way silently through the halls. His mind ventured to his teammates, wondering what they thought of him now. Sakura had seen him lose control twice now. How could she trust him again, go on missions with him, train with him; knowing that he was just a bad mood away from possibly killing her. Would team seven even continue after this mission? Naruto figured it wasn’t a coincidence that Yamato, with his surprise ability to suppress the Kyuubi, and Ino, who had apparently been training with Yamato to control her own chakra, had both been sent on this mission with him. He was thankful, however, for their efforts and preparations, as uneasy as it made him feel. Having stopped him from causing too much harm or damage, there was no way he could be mad at them for following orders. Still, the fact remained, it was clear now that he wasn’t trusted to keep his cool alone out on a mission.

As much as that annoyed him, Naruto knew only he was to blame. Tsunade had everyone’s best interests to look out for. Regardless of how much her decisions and secrecy might have left him feeling like the odd man out, he couldn’t argue with them or even blame her for thinking such actions were necessary. His actions had proven just how right Tsunade was to plan for the worst. What an idiot he had been. Slamming another door closed, he marched a little faster to the next. This seemingly endless search for Sasuke was getting on his nerves.

It had been annoying enough to learn all the mess about Sai, now they had to run around in the worst game of hide and seek he’d ever played. Naruto didn’t expect to find the Uchiha anyway. Sasuke had made it clear that he didn’t want to be found or returned to Konoha. As much as Naruto wanted to drag his old teammate kicking and screaming back home, he had other things on his mind right now. Another empty room. He stopped and took a deep breath. He couldn’t afford to lose his temper again, especially not over something so minor.

“You’re afraid.”

Naruto sighed and glared at a wall. ‘What are you on about now?’

“Anger is not your weakness. My power channels through all negative emotions, and I know that which is strongest in you,” the Kyuubi growled. “Your fear is what is making you so weak, so susceptible to my influence. And yet, your fear is so strong as to keep me from full control. Were it not, I’d have been able to avoid us injuring the girl. The fault is yours, and yours alone.”

“You think I don’t know that already!” Naruto yelled, punching the wall and cracking the stone beneath his fist.

He waited for more scolding, another reminder of his failure, but it never came. The fox chose to recede back into its domain and leave him alone with his thoughts, none of which were pleasant. At some point, Naruto began to wish he would run into Orochimaru again, if only to put an end to this maze. Naruto hated mazes. He was about to round another corner when the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, the still air in the underground hallway shifting from behind him. Turning around was a mistake Naruto realised too late, his eyes meeting the red six-pointed star of a strange Sharingan before his body went stiff.

“You should have stayed far away from me…”

Naruto smirked, which only earned him a harsher glare from the eyes that now held him in place. Standing there, arrogant, and smug as could be, was Sasuke, staring him down with the same disgust and superiority complex that he always used to. You could take the Uchiha out of Konoha, but you can’t make them humble it seems. Sasuke scowled at Naruto, slowly drawing his sword from his back as his eyes threatened to burn a hole through the blonde. If only the jinchuuriki knew just how possible such an idea was with the Mangekyo aimed at him.

“I’ll show you how foolish you were,” Sasuke said, sword drawn as he stepped closer. “To dare come for me… to try make a fool of me… to wear his face in my presence.” Anger boiled into every word he said until he was spitting them at Naruto.

Head tipped and eyebrow cocked, Naruto could only offer an indignant “Huh?”

Sasuke smiled. A sadistic and twisted expression on an otherwise handsome face. “You are not Naruto,” he said. “I killed Naruto. With my own hand I felt his life fade from this world. My eyes now a constant reminder of the price I had to pay for the power I need. And you! You come here, wearing his face, with our teammate, and for what? Did you really think I would be fooled by such a thing?” Sasuke clenched his teeth as ‘Naruto’s’ expression only got more confused. The continuation of the act only stoking the flames of his anger. “No. My eyes see the truth. You’re just an imposter. A last-ditch attempt from Konoha to try and get me back.”

“Sasuke I-“

“No!” Sasuke yelled, his sword glowing blue with lightning. “You do not get to make a mockery of his image in my presence! I will kill you, and make sure Konoha knows better than to disgrace their fallen ever again.” He raised his sword, aiming it at Naruto’s heart and smiled. “When you see the real Naruto… tell him… I’m sorry.”

Chapter Text

“Chidori!”

The hallway lit up, a flash of lighting speared forward and closed the distance between them in the blink of an eye. Sasuke smirked. There was no way even the real Naruto would be able to react in time to his new form of the Chidori, the imposter he faced now would fall to it easily… or so he thought. His smirk fell as his Chidori stopped just short of its target; Naruto’s fingers wrapped around the blade of lightning. Sasuke cursed. Wind chakra, of course. Figures Konoha would send someone equipped to deal with his elemental affinities.

“Dammit, Sasuke!” Naruto shouted. “Can’t you just listen for five seconds!” His fingers tingled as they gripped down on the Chidori, memories of that night years ago flashing though his mind. Phantom pain shot through his chest as he remembered the stench of burning flesh… his flesh. There was no way he was going to let that happen again.

“I’m done listening to any lies Konoha has to offer me,” Sasuke seethed. “They only want the Sharingan. My life, my goals, my revenge, it all means nothing to them. Only my bloodline.” Letting the Chidori fade, he rushed in, hacking and slashing at Naruto. He would give them credit, whoever was wearing Naruto’s face was skilled. Almost anyone else would have already fallen to his swordsmanship, and yet here he was, struggling to land a hit. Naruto dodged and weaved his way elegantly around each strike aimed for him, a true accomplishment in this small hallway. It left Sasuke curious. ‘Does he know of my sword’s ability? How?’

Such thoughts were quickly proven wrong as Naruto drew a kunai and attempted to block a strike, Sasuke’s blade phasing through the steel like a ghost. It was all Naruto could do to bring his arm up, hardening it as best he could with chakra and blocking the blade with the back of his forearm. Sasuke smiled, dragging the edge of his sword across the limb, forcing Naruto to jump back, but not before Sasuke whipped the blade up and left a cut across Naruto’s cheek. As the distance between them grew once more, Sasuke remained confident. There was nowhere for the imposter to escape. He had more than enough time to kill this fraud and be on his merry way before he would be forced to face his true teammate.

His thoughts drifted ever so momentarily to Sakura. Did she know of the fake Naruto? Did Ino? Did anyone? How far had Konoha gone to hide Sasuke’s crimes. Sasuke shook his head with a frown. He knew already. There were no depths any of the shinobi villages wouldn’t go to cover their failures. Covering up Naruto’s death would be a simple matter for them. It made far too much sense as well. All these years, he had wondered why his former village hadn’t hunted him down more fervently. Why his name still eluded the Konoha bingo book. Why there was no outcry for the blood of the traitorous Uchiha, killer of his own comrade. It was because no one knew the truth. No one knew what he had done. For fear of losing their grasp of his clan’s famed Dojutsu, Konoha had swept it all away.

Sasuke’s Sharingan spun wildly. He would fix that. The world needed to know the truth of what he had done, what he was reminded of every time he opened his eyes. If he wasn’t allowed to forget, then no one else could. He would show them all what Konoha had done, how they had lied to them all. They deserved the truth. Sasuke deserved it. Naruto deserved it. He tightened his jaw painfully, realising the cruel reality he was being forced to live. It wasn’t enough that he had killed his teammate, his friend. Now he had to do it all over again. His only saving grace was knowing that this time he wouldn’t be killing someone he actually respected about. Just some stranger.

They clashed again, this time Naruto taking extra care to avoid trying to block Sasuke’s sword. No matter. Sasuke didn’t need to rely on cheap gimmicks to get one over an opponent. He was an Uchiha dammit… and yet, his opponent still lived. Seconds dragged on, each blow being seamlessly dodged or matched with a careful block, no ground being given or taken on either side. It was infuriating. Even his Sharingan did little to help. Reading the imposters chakra proved a far greater challenge than it should have been, as if there was a second swirling around inside his body, throwing off Sasuke’s ability to read its intentions. However, this did not deter him. It only proved why no one else had figured out this wasn’t the true Naruto. The illusion was complex, near perfect, right down to the near identical chakra signature. If not for the second source of chakra, concealed deep within the illusion, Sasuke might have been fooled.

Sasuke ducked under a punch, landing a quick strike to Naruto’s side before rolling away from a kick, his sword lightly cutting the offending leg as he retreated. He frowned. That was the third cut he had managed to inflict so far, and yet the illusion was holding. “Drop the henge,” he demanded. “You aren’t Naruto. There’s no point continuing with it.”

Naruto gawked at him. “What the hell, Sasuke? It’s me, you idiot. Maybe if you stopped trying to kill me for a minute, I could explain myself.”

Sasuke paused, tilting his head curiously. That sounded almost too Naruto-like. He pointed at the blonde with his sword. “Prove it.”

“You’re a dick…”

“…”

“Okay, maybe I suck at being put on the spot, but if you just give me a second, I’ll – “

“Just die!” Sasuke yelled, cutting off Naruto’s words with lethal intent.

Naruto rolled his eyes as he once again went on the defensive. This was already getting old. Worst part of it was that his fighting style wasn’t exactly well suited for smaller confined areas. Flooding the hallway with clones would just push Sasuke into using a jutsu big enough to fry everything inside, and summoning the toads was out of the question… unless. Oh, yes, that could work, and what else would prove he was the real Naruto. He clapped Sasuke’s sword between his hands, stopping it dead, and delivered a kick to the Uchiha’s stomach that sent him stumbling back. Naruto raced through his hand seals, a smirk on his face as he bit his thumb and slammed his hand down.

“Summoning Jutsu: Toad mouth bind!”

The hallway shifted around them. Pink, slimy flesh grew from every surface, surrounding them from all sides until there was no traces of the underground base left. Naruto grinned, relishing in Sasuke’s perplexed expression. There was no way Sasuke could deny he was the real Naruto now, and there was no way for him to escape either. Jiraiya had assured him that this jutsu was inescapable for all but the most powerful of shinobi. His smile fell once Sasuke’s eyes turned angrily to him, his Sharingan morphing into six-pointed stars. Naruto immediately regretted his actions, remembering all too late what else Jiraiya had told him of this particular jutsu. The only person the sage had known to escape it had been…

“Amaterasu.”

Naruto jumped out of the way just in time to watch the pink flesh around him burst into black flames. It didn’t stop there; the flames lashed out, expanding and reaching rapidly in Naruto’s direction as if they were alive. With his focus solely on avoiding the strange black fire, Naruto forgot to pay attention to Sasuke. Big mistake. Pain erupted from his left shoulder, Sasuke’s sword protruding out the front his jacket. Naruto quickly grabbed the blade, making sure Sasuke couldn’t twist it, only to fall to his knees as lightning surged through his body. His muscles spasmed painfully and the stench of burning flesh filled the hallway. The toad-mouth-bind slowly faded away as the black fire continued to burn.

Sasuke smirked as he placed his foot on the now kneeling Naruto’s back. “You should have died when I was willing to make it quick,” he said. “Now, I’m going to make it hurt.”

Naruto felt the chakra inside him stir. His fingers gripped the sword tighter, its edge cutting deep into the digits. “That’s it!” With a sharp twist of his torso, he snapped the blade in half, pulling his half out through his shoulder, the wound already sizzling closed as he threw the broken sword away. Spinning around, red eyes met Sharingan, the former alight with rage, and the latter wide with surprise. Naruto caught Sasuke’s wrist before he could pull his hand back, yanking the Uchiha closer to him as his other hand wrapped itself around Sasuke’s throat. With a vicious shove, Naruto pinned Sasuke to the wall by his neck, glaring straight into his Sharingan.

…and then he wasn’t.

Blinking in confusion, Naruto looked around, finding himself standing in his mindscape. The ankle-deep water at his feet, the giant bars of the cage that made up the Kyuubi’s seal, the ever-impending sensation of gloom and doom. Yep, this was definitely his mind. But how?

“This is…”

Naruto faced the voice, frowning at Sasuke. “What did you do? How are you in here?”

Sasuke ignored him, his attention focused solely on the giant form lurking behind the bars. “So… this is what happened to the Kyuubi,” he said. “I had my suspicions, but I never…” He turned to Naruto with a serious expression. “What were the last words Naruto said to me?” he demanded.

Naruto furrowed his brow thoughtfully. “Uh, that was years ago, Sasuke. How am I supposed to remember what I said when I was literally dying from a giant hole in my chest,” he said irritably. “Thanks for that by the way.”

“So, you aren’t the real – “

“Ino,” Naruto interrupted.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. “What?”

Naruto sighed deeply. “Ino,” he said. “I asked you to tell her… I was sorry.”

There was a long pause between the two, Sasuke taking the time to put together the pieces he had in his mind. The second chakra he had seen, the Kyuubi’s chakra, it was exactly like the power Naruto had used in their last battle. The power that had nearly defeated him, no, the power that had defeated him. Sasuke had relived the memory of that night so many times now that he knew without a doubt that Naruto had let him win, at the cost of his own life at that. Or so he had been led to believe. Sasuke stared at Naruto intently for several painfully silent seconds, hoping to find a flaw, a seem in the otherwise indisputable disguise.

There wasn’t any.

With a grunt, Sasuke was gone, leaving a dumbfounded Naruto alone in his mindscape. In the time it took Naruto to come to his senses, Sasuke had already put a safe amount of distance between them. He didn’t leave though, not yet. How could he? The boy, the teammate, the friend he thought he had killed was standing right in front of him. How was it even possible. Sasuke could think of a few possible reasons. He had read of jinchuuriki and knew how difficult it could be to kill them, and Tsunade was in Konoha… those two factors alone could attribute to Naruto’s miraculous survival, and yet…

“I didn’t leave you to die,” Sasuke said softly.

Naruto smiled sombrely. “I know.”

“No,” Sasuke cut in heatedly. “I didn’t leave you to die, Naruto. I stayed. I felt it. I watched you die. Your heart stopped. You…” Sasuke’s Sharingan began to burn, with tears or overuse, it was anyone’s guess. Either way, blood began to slowly trickle down his cheeks. “I killed you, Naruto. These eyes are proof of that. So how… how are you here? How are you alive?”

“I…” Naruto frowned as he thought of an answer. “I nearly died. The Kyuubi, Tsunade, none of it was enough. Ino went into my mind, to say goodbye, and… she nearly died too.” He scrunched his face up in a pained expression. “It doesn’t matter. I’m here now. Deal with it.”

Sasuke glared at Naruto, not happy at not getting the answer he wanted. “I’m not going back.”

“Fine.”

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. “What?”

Naruto shrugged. “I know you won’t go back without a fight. I know if we fight again, I risk almost dying again, so… I’m not going to try.” He scratched the back of his head and grinned sheepishly. “I kinda promised Ino I wouldn’t risk my life trying to bring you back.”

“Seriously?” Sasuke huffed. “Then why are you here?”

“Hey, this is Orochimaru’s fault!” Naruto said. “We were just trying to catch Kabuto and get info on if you were okay or not. Nobody knew we’d actually run into you.”

“…”

“So… how’ve you been?”

Sasuke took a deep breath to calm himself. The years he had spent regretting, moping, cursing himself for his actions. All of it had been a waste. Well, perhaps not a waste. His guilt over killing Naruto had allowed him to progress his Sharingan to the next level and had acted as a powerful motivator for his goals. In a way, he was grateful that Naruto’s sacrifice had put him that one step closer to avenging his clan, but not nearly as grateful as he was to know that the Uzumaki had miraculously survived. He fought back a small smirk, realising with no small amount of amusement that he had done what had been thought impossible by his clan; he had cheated the Mangekyo.

He chuckled softly, sheathing the broken half of his sword. Hopefully Orochimaru could fix that before Sasuke killed him. Perhaps Sasuke would claim the Sannin’s sword in its place. His Sharingan faded away, no longer searching for deceit. There was no questioning it now, the blonde standing in front of him was the real Naruto. Only the real Naruto would be stupid enough to make a promise that directly stopped him from fighting. ‘What an idiot.’

Sasuke wanted to turn and leave. There was nothing to be gained by staying here with Naruto. Every second he wasted here was a second closer the rest of the team got to converging on him. Naruto might not be willing to risk his life to drag Sasuke back to Konoha, but the others would not be so restrained. And yet, the seconds dragged on, the two of them trapped in an awkward silence. Sasuke knew it was silly, weak even, to spend what little time he could enjoying Naruto’s presence. The presence of a friend he thought he would never see again. And yes, Sasuke was more than aware that he considered Naruto a friend. He had more than enough time to go over every memory he had with the Uzumaki. Regardless of how often Sasuke may have claimed so, Naruto never once tried to hold him back. In fact, Naruto was one of the only people who, perhaps inadvertently, pushed Sasuke to improve for no ulterior benefit.

What else could you ask for from a friend.

“It’s… good to see you, Naruto.” Sasuke smiled ever so slightly. It went without saying that these past few years had done very little to improve his social skills.

Naruto grinned. That same stupid carefree grin that had always managed to get right under Sasuke’s skin. How anyone could dare be so thoughtlessly happy in the world they lived in; a younger Sasuke could never figure it out. He had since come to understand the truth behind such a smile. Sasuke knew well some of the pain Naruto lived with, even in their youth. Now, however, with that same smile aimed right at him, after everything Sasuke had done, after how close to death Sasuke had pushed him, he could see exactly what it meant. Despite the pain Sasuke knew that smile hid from the world, it was a sight for sore eyes… literally.

And then it was gone, replaced by a miserable expression Sasuke would have sooner seen in his own reflection.

“You should get going,” Naruto said. “Ino and Sakura are close by now.”

“You’re letting me go?”

“I only wanted to make sure you were still alright,” Naruto said, eyeing Sasuke up and down. “Choice of wardrobe aside, you look pretty okay to me. Now please, leave before Ino sees you wearing that. If I have to hear another one of her rants about how people dress, I’m going to tear my hair out.”

Sasuke paled slightly. Ino had been bad enough before he left Konoha. If she had somehow gotten worse, combined with her apparent growing relationship with Naruto… yeah, nope. He had to put some distance between himself and this place. Without another word, Sasuke turned to leave. He kept himself poised in preparation, not fully convinced that Naruto would let him leave so easily. As he got to the next turn in the tunnel, he was stopped by Naruto’s voice calling out to him.

“I’ll be waiting, Sasuke. As soon as you are ready to come back, I’ll be there to kick your ass!”

‘Idiot.’ As Sasuke disappeared around the bend, he allowed himself a small smile. The first in a long time. Maybe, just maybe, there would be something for him to return to after he accomplished his mission. Maybe… he still had a home and a friend to call his own. His smile quickly dropped into a frown as he quickened his pace. That settled it then. He had to work harder and faster towards his revenge. Itachi needed to die, and soon. But that required Sasuke to have a bit more freedom to work. Naruto hadn’t been lying when he said Orochimaru had led them here, that much was obvious. If the snake Sannin was being so reckless about things, then the fool had officially run the course of his usefulness.

It was time to move on.

{I}

“You let them go?” Tsunade asked, her voice calm and unreadable to her true feelings on the matter.

The members of the new team seven, plus Ino, stood before their Hokage with a mix of emotions clearly readable on their faces. Yamato was as uniform as one could expect, though it was still obvious that the details of the mission they had just returned from were still freshly circling his mind. ‘Never mind’ Tsunade had thought, knowing she would get the clearest and most unbiased report from the former Anbu in due course. One of the most notable reasons she had assigned Yamato to the team was because of his professionalism. No matter what had occurred, she was confident he would never curve the details to her.

Sai was… Sai. There was no reading the boy. Though he was seemingly as curious to find out what the others had to say about their actions. Sakura and Ino were the easiest of the lot to decipher, not that either tried to hide their feelings very well. Sakura was clearly annoyed, if also a little upset, about having come to close to her former teammate only to have him slip away. Ino was too busy glaring a hole in the back of Naruto’s head. Tsunade knew enough about what had happened on the mission to think of a couple of reasons why the Yamanaka might be angry with the target of her affections, and Tsunade knew she would be dead wrong on whichever one she guessed was the culprit. Damn teenagers.

“Yes, Lady Hokage.” Naruto answering in a serious and respectful manner? What had the world come to? “It was my decision. My actions were my own. If there is to be any penalty for not fulfilling the mission, I will take full responsibility. My team couldn’t have done any more than they did to change the outcome.”

Tsunade rested her chin on her hands, ignoring the gobsmacked expressions of everyone else, and stared the boy down. These were strange times indeed. After a few tense moments, it became clear the idiot wasn’t going to crack under the pressure of her scrutinizing gaze alone. If anyone knew anything about the boy, it was his unfaltering loyalty to those close to him. Even if one of his teammates had done something to jeopardise the mission, Tsunade was fully aware he would take the blame for them… especially Ino.

She smiled, an action that immediately broke Naruto’s confidence. ‘Still got it’ “Good job,” she said cheerfully. “A successful mission with no losses. You may all report to the hospital at your leisure and get tended to. Payments will be provided once I have a full report from each of you.”

“Huh?”

“Lady Tsunade?” Sakura looked the most confused out of them all somehow.

Tsunade reclined comfortably into her chair. “This was an intelligence gathering mission. You were supposed to capture Kabuto for interrogation to gain information on the wellbeing of one Sasuke Uchiha,” she explained. “While there was no capture, due to unforeseen complications, you all handled the mission well even after it went far beyond the original parameters. You have confirmed Orochimaru’s general whereabouts, gotten visual confirmation on Sasuke’s wellbeing, as well as a very basic assessment of his current skill level. All in all, mission accomplished.”

“But we didn’t bring him back?” Sakura said, side eyeing Naruto.

“And?” Tsunade asked. “I didn’t send you out to drag him back. Not this time. You all said it yourselves, Orochimaru nearly killed you. Had Naruto not provided a suitable distraction, I would be down several skilled shinobi. As it stands, I’m not happy about you choosing to push forward despite the known threat of my former teammate, but I will overlook that and count my blessings at the present. With Orochimaru there, it would have taken no less than a small army to pry Sasuke from his clutches. Naruto made the right call. Letting Sasuke go likely kept you all alive.”

Tsunade sighed. It would have been easy to go off at them all. No good would come from that, however. They all needed to know, especially Yamato and Naruto, that coming home alive was often the preferred outcome when on a mission. Under her reign as Hokage there would be no thoughtless or meaningless losses of life. Not if she could help it. Whether they wanted to admit it not, Konoha didn’t need Sasuke. Reclaiming the Uchiha bloodline would be nice, and likely go a long way towards rebuilding the village’s reputation, but it wasn’t worth throwing bodies at. Unless, of course, you were Danzo; then every issue was solved by throwing bodies at it. She glanced at Sai. God, she hated that man and his never-ending meddling. She would deal with that at a later date.

“You are all dismissed,” Tsunade said. “Take a few days to recover. Yamato, Naruto, if you two could stay back a moment.”

The team did as they were told. Sai, Sakura, and Ino all trailed out of the office quickly, leaving only Naruto and Yamato to awkwardly await whatever tongue lashing they were expecting to receive.

“So…” Tsunade began, her expression darkening. “You lost control again?”

Naruto looked down in shame. “Yes.”

“We were able to suppress the Kyuubi before –“ Yamato tried to come to the boy’s defence but was silenced by a look from Tsunade.

“I understand the outcome. That isn’t what bothers me,” she said. “What bothers me, is that this is the third time you have lost control of the Kyuubi’s power. Twice while out on a mission and once within the village. Now, I don’t mean to doubt whatever progress you’ve been making, or question Jiraiya’s methods of teaching you, but you need to understand the position I am in, Naruto. How am I supposed to send you with a team if you might be the one to end up killing them?”

“I…” Naruto hung his head miserably.

Clearly the events of the mission were still weighing heavily on him. Tsunade had taken special note of the mission briefing’s mention of Ino’s part to play in what went down. Being hit with some of Orochimaru’s poison, and then directly channelling the Kyuubi’s chakra in the suppression efforts, it was a wonder the girl was still walking around. Tsunade would be doing a thorough medical examination of that one as soon as this meeting was concluded. Still, it didn’t take a genius to figure out that Naruto was blaming himself. If not for the whole situation, then at the very least for the injuries his team had received. The loveable fool. Always so quick to saddle himself with more guilt.

“Yamato, starting today Naruto is under your direct tutelage. You have proven invaluable in restraining the Kyuubi, so I have complete faith that you will continue to do so while helping to guide him. Consider this your priority. Anything you need will be provided, no questions. Am I understood?” Tsunade turned to the man and received a curt nod of understanding.

“Miss Yamanaka was crucial to the success of restraining the Kyuubi,” Yamato stated firmly. “With your permission, I would like to enlist her aid in the matter. Her insight into the unique nature of Naruto’s condition will be most helpful.”

Tsunade smirked. A bunch of alone time for the two blonde idiots might do them some good. Ino was proving herself in all the most unexpected ways. “Consider it done,” she said, turning her attention to a very confused Naruto. “You are going to train, Naruto. Night and day, as long and as hard as necessary, until you have control of yourself and the bijuu inside you. Please let Yamato know everything that you learnt and studied while under Jiraiya. While training to use the Kyuubi’s power is important, it should not be the focus of your time. If you ever want to take this hat off me, then you need to be more than just a good jinchuuriki. You need to be the best shinobi you can be. Am I understood?”

Naruto blinked in surprise before bowing slightly. “Of course, lady Hokage.”

“Don’t call me that,” Tsunade said, snorting at the absurdity of her own request. Somehow, Naruto referring to her as Hokage made her feel older than when he called her ‘granny’. How ever that worked. “Just promise me you’ll do the best you can. Konoha doesn’t need a jinchuuriki, Naruto. It needs shinobi just like you. Never forget that.”

The grin on his face was unbearably wide. “Thanks, granny.”

“Now get out of here,” Tsunade said, waving at him dismissively. “Ino has been lingering at the door waiting for you this whole time. I don’t need to hear any cheek from her about keeping you too long.”

Naruto looked at the door apprehensively for a moment before slowly walking past Tsunade’s desk and calmly climbing out the window, much to both Tsunade and Yamato’s growing intrigue. He flashed an awkward smile and thumbs-up at them before leaping away and disappearing into Konoha. Tsunade quirked an eye and spun her chair to look expectantly at Yamato.

“Anything I should know?” she asked.

Yamato crossed his arms and frowned. “He was abnormally silent the whole trip back,” he admitted. “I figured it was perhaps a side effect of the Kyuubi episode. But if he is avoiding Ino…”

Tsunade sighed deeply. “He’s ashamed for hurting her.”

“I would say so.”

“Well, in that case, it may be wise to begin his training without Ino present. Don’t worry, with how Ino is, it won’t be long before she confronts him.” Tsunade looked over Yamato’s shoulder towards the door, smirking as she sensed Ino was already gone. “Any guesses on how long he can hold out?”

Yamato gave her a flat stare. “Are you asking me to partake in yet another bet with you?” he asked carefully.

Tsunade shrugged. “A friendly wager. C’mon, it’s been a little while since our last. You won last time, didn’t you? What are you afraid of?”

“Yes. I won. And then you placed me on a string of deadly missions, some of them accompanied by Mitarashi,” Yamato said with no small amount of accusation in his tone.

“Pfft, pure coincidence. I promise.”

Yamato eyed her carefully, a nervous sweat building on his brow as Tsunade’s smile slowly grew to full force. “No more than a week.”

“Hah! You don’t know how stubborn that brat can be,” Tsunade said. “I say two weeks, minimum.”

“You’re on,” Yamato said, reaching out and shaking her hand. “But I wouldn’t count Ino out. She is much more… persistent than she might appear.”

Tsunade wasn’t even listening to him anymore, an evil glimmer in her eyes. “Easy money.”

{I}

A week. That was how long Naruto had been avoiding Ino. How did Shikamaru know this? Well, a week also happened to be the exact amount of time that Ino, his dear childhood friend and teammate, had been tracking him down and interrupting his precious free time to do the unthinkable… complain. If anyone knew anything about the art of complaining, it was the Nara clan, and none more so than Shikamaru. And after what felt like an eternity, he had had enough. Funnily enough, this led to him becoming the one avoiding Ino, which he knew he would never hear the end of if she ever found out. Such was the risk he needed to take for the sake of his sanity.

Thankfully, despite no one being willing to give up Naruto’s whereabouts to Ino herself, Sakura had been rather forthcoming to Shikamaru. And so, as he casually made his way through the woods towards one of the more distant training grounds on the borders of Konoha, he couldn’t help but smirk at the knowledge that the girl who could literally read minds hadn’t discovered where Naruto had been running off to. The lazy-ass Nara knew though, and he would never let her forget it.

Shikamaru breached the tree line and wasn’t at all surprised at what he found. When it came to Naruto, he had learnt that expecting anything normal was a lesson in futility. The boy always, always exceeded any expectation that could be made. Right now was no different. Naruto, along with hundreds of clones, all filled the training ground. There were three distinct groups from what Shikamaru could tell. One group was sitting off to the side, a leaf held in each of their hands and looks of extreme concentration on their faces. The second group was sitting in much the same way, only with no leaf, and a barely visible red shimmer enveloping them; this group was being personally overseen by Yamato who had pre-emptively erected multiple wooden pillars around the group. The last group seemed to be practicing a strange form of Taijutsu Kata… one that apparently required no physical contact.

‘Strange.’ If it weren’t for the fact that Shikamaru was adamant about not doing more than absolutely necessary here, he’d be curious enough to ask about… well, everything really.

Finding the real Naruto was easy enough. He was sitting by himself, on a slab of stone balanced precariously atop a pinpointed spike of stone. The feat was impressive, if not entirely unnecessary in Shikamaru’s opinion. What could possibly require that level of balance training? A shudder ran up his spine at the mere concept of exerting oneself during what otherwise appeared to be meditation. Clearly such a thing was the creation of a demon, or a madman… perhaps Might Guy.

“Hey Shika,” Naruto said, not opening his eyes. “You think really loud, you know?”

The Nara scoffed. He expected that kind of comment from Ino, not Naruto. The two were beginning to blend together. Shikamaru didn’t like that. “Hey Naruto. Keeping busy I see. I’m not interrupting, am I?”

At that Naruto did open his eyes, letting out a deep sigh before dismounting the stone slab and taking the moment to stretch. “Nah, I needed a break anyway,” he said, looking around curiously to his groups of clones. “So, what’s up?”

Shikamaru held back a groan. How could Naruto not know what was up? Why else would Shikamaru be out here, this far away from his bed, if not for Ino. It was possible that the Uzumaki was actually that dense and didn’t know what he was doing, but he doubted it. Anyone with half a mind could see that Naruto had returned from his training trip with a sharper mind than he let on. Sure, he was still a bit socially awkward at times, but Naruto wasn’t an idiot… mostly.

“You’ve been avoiding Ino,” he said, cutting straight to the point. The quicker this was over with, the sooner he could go and watch clouds. Oh, how he sorely missed his clouds.

Naruto frowned. “I’m not – “

“Naruto,” Shikamaru cut him off. “Don’t. I know something’s going on. If you don’t want to tell me, that’s fine, but you need to talk to Ino. She’s worried about you.”

“I know, I know,” Naruto groaned, hanging his head. “But I mean… what if she doesn’t understand. Or worse, what if she gets mad at me?”

“Avoiding Ino is the one surefire way to make her mad, idiot.” Shikamaru internally groaned, already knowing deep in his soul that he was going to regret what he was about to do. “Do you… want to talk about it… with me?” The words were as uncomfortable to say as he was sure he appeared saying them. The last thing he wanted was to sit here and play therapist for Naruto, or anyone for that matter. People’s problems were their own, and unless it directly involved him, Shikamaru wanted nothing to do with anything of the sort. But this was Naruto, and if anyone deserved a break, it was him. No matter how much Shikamaru would regret getting himself involved in his friend’s issues, he knew he would regret it so much more if he didn’t at least try to help.

Plus, if this blew up, he would be stuck with Ino for who knows how long.

“Eh? Seriously, you want to talk with me about it?”

The Nara rolled his eyes. “No, I don’t,” he admitted. “But I will if it helps. So come on, let’s hear it before I realise how much of a mistake I’m making.”

Shikamaru didn’t care if he was being too crass about his approach. He didn’t need people thinking they could just come to him with their problems whenever. He would help Naruto and Ino, and that was it. Even if they told anyone else, they wouldn’t be able to sugarcoat his demeanour, which would hopefully turn off any potential interested parties. The lazy arrogance of the Nara clan was the foolproof defence of the clan. If it weren’t for that, then the whole village would know how big their hearts could truly be, and that meant more work, which would lead to less cloud watching, and less sleep, and… Shikamaru could only give a silent thanks to his ancestors who had so carefully laid the foundations to ensure their descendants never had to work hard. True forward thinkers those ones were.

Naruto wasted little time pouring his heart out to Shikamaru, a fact that both annoyed and surprised the Nara. They were never that close, and yet Naruto trusted him so readily. He was open about things that Shikamaru would never have expected, although what could one expect when Naruto was involved. And then, after about ten minutes of rambling and failing to get to the point, the subject of Ino finally came about. Sadly, for Shikamaru, that was exactly when the stupidity of the whole situation became glaringly clear.

Maybe it was true what all those jokes said about blondes…

{I}

Ino had no idea what was going on. She was sure she hadn’t said anything wrong, or done anything to upset Naruto, and yet here she was, being avoided like she was some regretful one-night stand. Even the trip back from their mission had been done in relative silence, with Naruto maintaining a steady distance and an uncharacteristically professional silence. To be fair, he was being silent with the whole team, not just her, so it was possible she was overreacting. But that didn’t excuse his behaviour once back in Konoha. Ino knew he was still in touch with Sakura and Yamato. Sai was an understandable avoidance; even if Ino did think the strange boy was cute, and he had called her beautiful, it didn’t change the fact that Sai was hilariously unsocialised. With everything else going on, she wouldn’t blame anyone for avoiding that headache unless they were mentally prepared to tackle it.

She sighed deeply, softly banging her head on the countertop of her parents’ flower shop. Where had she gone wrong? What had she done to upset Naruto? Where the hell was Shikamaru when you needed an answer for something? These were all valid questions. For now, however, Ino had resigned herself to a day of menial labour. It had been long enough since she had helped her parents out, and they so desperately deserved a day out together. Her own issues could take the backburner for the moment if it meant her parents got a good day off. If only there were enough customers to keep her mind preoccupied. There were only so many times she could try bashing the thoughts of Naruto out of her head before she started causing some serious… ‘Huh?’

Ino lifted her head and listened. It was faint, but she could definitely hear someone yelling out in the street, and it was getting closer. With a sinister smirk, she leapt from her chair and hurried to the front of the shop. Whatever scene was unfolding outside was sure to keep her busy for a few minutes, and with any luck she could busy herself with spreading a bit of harmless gossip after work. Hiding behind the rack of plants positioned at the storefront window, she made sure to grab a small watering can so as to ensure she didn’t look like she was snooping.

“Dammit, let me go!”

The voice was getting closer and was unmistakably recognisable. ‘Naruto?’

“Shikamaru, I swear, if you don’t let me go…”  

‘Shika? What?’ Ino’s brow furrowed as she stood perfectly still, straining to hear what the commotion was about. Running outside to confront Naruto did cross her mind, but was quickly fought down by the prospect of finding out what was going on. Maybe Naruto’s avoidance of her was part of a separate issue involving Shikamaru.

Ino was so caught up in her inner musings, wondering just how the laziest ninja in the village could manage to get himself mixed up in a mess with Naruto, that she had actually lost track of the commotion outside. She jumped slightly, startled from her thoughts as the shop door was barged open, the small bell attached violently slapping the wood as Shikamaru strode in like a man on a mission, a visibly distraught Naruto following in toe. The two young men, joined at their shadows, walked in perfect unison until they were standing in front of the now extremely confused Ino.

“Uhh, hey guys?” Ino said gawkily. There wasn’t much she could read from the scowl on Shikamaru’s face, even if it was the most expressive he had been in public since forever. Naruto’s expression, nervous and avoiding eye contact with her completely, was much easier to read. Ino look down slightly, an uncomfortable weight settling in her stomach. ‘So, it is a problem with me then,’ she concluded.

Shikamaru glared at Naruto for a moment before sighing loudly. “Ino, use your jutsu on Naruto,” he commanded firmly. “The one that makes them unable to use their body properly.”

Ino tilted her head, ignoring Naruto’s look of panic. “Why?”

“Because -” Shikamaru rubbed his temples as he groaned. “- you two need to talk. Today. And I know that as soon as I drop my jutsu, Naruto will make a run for it. So, if you would be so kind, I’ve already used so much chakra dragging him here.”

“What a drag, huh?” Ino chirped, a smug smile plastered on her face.

“Don’t make me regret helping you,” Shikamaru warned.

Naruto pouted. “Do I get a say in this at all?”

Shikamaru glared again. “Idiots don’t get a say. As soon as you stop being stupid, then you get the privilege back.” He turned back to Ino while Naruto pouted childishly. “I’m not going to stay here and hold him down while you two talk, so let’s move this along.”

Ino frowned. She didn’t like being ordered around, or asked to do something against a friend that wasn’t light-hearted. That being said, it was so rare for Shikamaru to be this worked up about something, so curiosity, sadly, got the better of her. Stepping up to Naruto, she smiled apologetically at him before poking his forehead gently, his eyes rolling into the back of his head before they closed completely. Without further prompting, Shikamaru released his jutsu, causing Naruto’s body to fall limply to the ground.

“I didn’t tell you to knock him out, but I guess this works for me either way,” Shikamaru said, shrugging as he nudged Naruto with his foot. “Now I have to plan on how to deal with him when he comes looking for revenge.”

Ino crossed her arms. “Mind telling me what this is all about, Shika?” she asked. “I don’t appreciate having to do that sort of stuff to my friends, and you know that.”

Shikamaru sighed. “Sorry, Ino. I couldn’t listen to him anymore,” he said. “Serves me right for trying to be a good friend. I know Naruto can be dumb sometimes, but this is a lot even for him.”

“You still aren’t explaining.”

“Wait until I’m gone. Wake him up and ask him why he’s been avoiding you. I recommend you tie him down before you wake him up. Knowing him, he will run first chance he gets,” Shikamaru explained, making a beeline for the door, and waving goodbye. “My good deed for the day is done. I’ll catch you later, Ino.”

Ino waited patiently for Shikamaru to leave the shop and disappear down the street. Mentally counting in her head, taking into consideration the painstakingly slow pace of her teammates walk, Ino estimated how long it would take him to turn the first corner towards his clan estate. Turning her attention to the unconscious blonde on her floor… or at least what appeared to be an unconscious blonde, she frowned.

“He’s far enough away. You can get up now.”

Cautiously, Naruto’s eyes cracked open ever so slightly, scanning the area before he let out a deep breath. Slowly, he got to his feet, rubbing the back of his head where he had landed on the floor a little hard. Ino would give him credit, she hadn’t expected him to commit so hard to the act… or to let himself fall away from her. Had he been a little smarter and fallen forward she would have caught him, but oh well. Just another way for him to avoid her she supposed.

“…Hey,” Naruto said sheepishly, still not looking Ino in the eyes.

“Hey yourself,” she replied, eyeing him up and down before shaking her head and returning to watering some plants. Never before would she have thought she would be thankful to have a watering can so readily in her hand.

“You didn’t use a jutsu on me.”

Ino shrugged. “I don’t mess with my friend’s minds like that. The Yamanaka clan take our jutsu very seriously,” she said. “You remember what happened the last time I used one without thinking.”

Naruto flinched. He definitely remembered. Despite all the times they talked about that night, it was still a sore spot for him. Ino knew that of course, and she often tried to avoid bringing it up, but Naruto was being childish, so she allowed herself some of the same freedom. Pettiness was an art she was quite familiar with anyway, so why not use it.

Silence filled the flower shop, disturbed only by the occasional footsteps of Ino as she moved between plants, and the gentle shower of water that poured down on the colourful flowers. In that time, Naruto stayed put, watching as Ino worked. Ino didn’t mind the audience, especially since a few quick glances assured her that he wasn’t being a perv about it. If anything, he looked contemplative, as if he couldn’t figure out what to say or do in this moment. Poor guy. It was likely so rare for someone to force him into a social situation, considering how often people actively pushed him away from socialising most of the time. Ino idly wondered if she would be able to listen in on the maelstrom of thoughts his mind currently must have been.

“You… didn’t want to talk?” he asked softly.

Ino stopped and put the watering can down. She leant back against a table as she turned to him, arms crossed and features stern. “I do want to talk with you, Naruto,” she said. “But I’m not going to force you to talk to me. I don’t know what’s going on with you, or what I might have done to make you want to keep your distance. If you aren’t ready to talk to me about it, that’s fine, I’ll understand. That doesn’t mean you have to cut me off.”

“You haven’t done anything,” Naruto blurted out quickly. “It’s not you, I promise. You’re still… well, amazing. But I…” Naruto’s words died in his throat. “I hurt you, Ino. I lost control, again, and I hurt you. You. The one person I never ever want to hurt, and I did it.”

Ino closed the distance in the blink of an eye, her expression softened as she ducked to look under Naruto’s hanging fringe to meet his eyes. Reaching out, she grasped one of his hands between both of hers and pulled it close to her. “Naruto…” she started softly, her forehead resting gently against his. “That wasn’t your fault. That was just the Kyuubi’s chakra. You can’t blame yourself for that. And besides, Sakura healed me straight after. See?” Ino guided his hand to her exposed stomach, smirking at his slight blush at the contact. “Like it never happened.”

Naruto looked down, his thumb gently stroking against Ino’s soft skin. “But it did happen… and it was my fault,” he whispered.

“How?”

“I was scared,” he answered. “The Kyuubi… his chakra only acts as an amplifier unless he is trying to do something. All this time, me losing control, it’s been my fault all along. All because I was too scared of…” Naruto took a step back. The look on his face told Ino all she needed to know. He was torn between wanting to run back to his training and not wanting to leave her right now. “I should get back to it. The sooner I can learn to control the fox’s chakra, the sooner everyone will be safe.”

Ino held his hand firmly, not letting him leave. “What are you too scared of?” she asked.

She did not need to ask. It was clear on his face with the way he looked at her; all those guilt-ridden glances during the trip home, and now with the shameful expression he held. Ino knew what was eating away at him. The true cause of it all. Naruto had nearly seen her die, right in front of him, all the while he was too busy trying to control the effects of the Kyuubi’s chakra. It made sense in her mind. The sensations of fear she had gotten at the time through their link had been suspiciously powerful, all things considered.

Ino, like any sane person, feared death, and that clash with Orochimaru had been the closest she had been. But it had been more than that. She had been trained and prepared to die in battle, so it hadn’t made a lot of sense as to why she was so terrified in that moment. It did now. She wasn’t just feeling her own fear of dying, she was also feeling Naruto’s fear of seeing her die, and it was so much more intense than she would have imagined. Disturbingly, Ino figured this was why the other villages all adopted the same practice of keeping a jinchuuriki ostracised and isolated. Being allowed to form bonds would lead to inevitable loss, and the pain from that loss would result in… catastrophe.

‘Not this time,’ she assured herself.

“When you were brought back from the retrieval mission… I thought you were going to die,” Ino explained, placing her hand on Naruto’s chest where she so vividly remembered the bloody hole that had once been carved into it. “I was terrified. Of not getting to say goodbye, of not seeing you again… of losing you. So… when the thought of doing something stupid came up, to get that one chance, that hope of getting just one more moment with you, I didn’t hesitate. For a while afterwards, I didn’t fully understand why I did what I did, why I risked so much without thinking. I tried to excuse it, said it was the sort of thing you would do for me, so why shouldn’t I do it for you. But that was just me fooling myself. I knew why I did it, why I would happily do it again. I was going to tell you, but then you had to go off for training, and I didn’t want you to be distracted. I should have told you when you got back, but I…”

Ino swallowed hard. Throughout her little speech, Naruto had barely blinked. His gaze was so focused, so fixated on her. He was listening to everything she said so carefully. This wasn’t how she wanted things to play out. The little girl in her still held out hope that such a moment would be just like all the fairytales or sappy romance novels she had read over the years. But this wasn’t just about her. She looked deep into Naruto’s eyes. Ino could see how he felt about her, how deeply her own feelings for him were reflected back at her. It was right there, just below the surface, hidden away by the carefree façade he always wore. It would be a fool’s game to wait and expect Naruto to come out and admit his feelings. There were too many years’ worth of walls in his mind, carefully built to protect him from anything that might backfire and hurt him.

So much fear of rejection, of heartbreak and loss.

Naruto said the Kyuubi’s chakra was exacerbating these negative emotions. It stood to reason that no amount of training would help him get true control of the fox’s power until he had full control of himself. Ino understood that much from personal experience. During her own training, it had been apparent that any strong negative emotions at the time would drastically affect her training with the Kyuubi’s chakra. The difference was that as a Yamanaka, Ino had a much better understanding of her own emotions and thoughts, as well as a clan’s worth of knowledge and guidance to help her overcome it. Naruto had no one and nothing to help, save for those willing to go out of their way, which now thankfully included her. No amount of childish ideals would get in the way of her helping Naruto. However, thinking it and actually saying it were two very different things, as Ino so uncomfortably found out all too late. She knew what she wanted to say, yet as Naruto looked at her so hopefully, the words wouldn’t form. The butterflies in her stomach weren’t helping much. To think a kunoichi of her quality was so quickly reduced to this. How humiliating.

“I…” she cleared her throat and straightened her back. She was better than this, dammit! ‘Get a grip, woman,’ she told herself sternly, refocussing her attention on the now very confused boy in front of her. “I love you, Naruto.” Ino took a small step, getting as close to him as physically possible. Not just to emphasize her point, but also in case all the blood rushing to her head resulted in her fainting. The least he could do was catch her. “I love you. I don’t know when, I don’t know how, but I do. I have for a long time. I should have told you sooner. It just never felt like the right time, or something else came up that was more important, and there was that whole mess with the letters, and… I’m sorry. I love you, and I’m sorry. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you as soon as you got back, I’m sorry that it took me nearly dying to make me get my head straight, and I’m… Naruto?”

He was crying, or near enough to. His eyes were shining, his face split in the biggest grin Ino had ever seen, and he was crying. Not full-blown crying, but there was definitely a tear or two making their escape down his whisker-marked cheeks.

“Ino…” Naruto said, almost too quietly for her to hear.

His arms moved forward, gently snaking their way around her exposed middle. Ino shuddered as his fingers raked delicately across the skin of her lower back before she was pulled into him. She followed his lead, wrapping her own arms around him and tightening the embrace, burrowing her face into the crook of his neck in a desperate attempt to hide her blush from the world. She wasn’t sure if the sensation of heat spreading through her was from her embarrassment or from the very warm body she was clinging too. Naruto’s breath running down the side of her neck was doing her no favours, that was for sure.

“I love you too,” he whispered in her ear, arms squeezing her that little bit more as he did so.

Ino giggled into his neck. “I know.”

Naruto grimaced. “Am I that bad at hiding it?”

“Yes.”

“I guess I should be the one saying sorry then,” he said. He gently rubbed her back, taking the time to enjoy the moment. After a little while, Ino pulled back, blush having faded to an acceptable level as she smiled up at Naruto. Being here, with him, in his arms, it all just felt so right. Nothing could ruin this moment for her. “Must have been painful for you to say it first, huh?”

Okay, almost nothing.

“Very,” Ino groaned, glowering at him before smirking mischievously. “But you can always make it up to me.”

Naruto tilted his head curiously, a fake look of innocence on his face. “How so?”

Ino reached up and gripped the front of his jacket, locking him in place as she smiled sweetly. She felt a small victory in watching the blush creep up his face. “Oh, I can think of a few things,” she started, slowly pulling him down. “But I’ll settle for this.” With that, she gave his jacket one final tug, pulling him down just enough. Her heart was beating so hard she was sure Naruto could feel her pulse in her lips as they kissed, the heat in her cheeks returning full force. She found herself pleasantly surprised when Naruto didn’t freeze in shock. Instead, he deepened the kiss, and Ino was all too happy to follow his lead. If it were up to her, Ino would have stayed in this blissful moment forever. So engrossed in each other were they, that neither noticed the faint clicking sound from outside the shop window. Eventually they had to break apart, their breathing slightly heavier and their faces equally flushed. Perhaps not the most romantic of first kisses, but hot damn was it good enough for Ino’s books.

The second clicking noise didn’t go unnoticed, causing the blondes to look around quickly, only to find nothing out of the ordinary. Sharing a confused look, they shrugged it off. They didn’t return to kissing, much to Ino’s disappointment, but they didn’t pull away from each other either. Naruto seemed all too happy to stand there holding onto her, and Ino had no plans of putting an end to it just yet. Maybe once a customer came in, she might pry herself from his arms, but until then, she was savouring every second. As she felt herself melting into his warmth, Ino wondered if even a customer would be enough to get her away from Naruto right now. All her waiting and worrying had paid off in this perfect moment; would anyone blame her for wanting to make the most of it while it lasted. Sadly, with a deep sigh, Ino pulled away, pouting miserably at the sudden chill of the air. She still had a job to tend to, and the shop would need to be locked up soon enough.  

Any uncertainties Ino may have had before about confessing her feelings here and now were completely washed away. One look at the grin on Naruto’s face was enough to know she had made the right choice. She could interrogate him later as to how he knew how to kiss so well.

“So, what now?”

Ino laughed. “Gods you are dense,” she said, reaching up to softly bonk him on his head with her fist. Her fingers quickly found themselves raking through his suspiciously soft hair, tucking strands of his fringe out of the way. He was an idiot, but he was her idiot, and she loved him just the way he was. Even if he was a shampoo thief. “There’s still a lot for us to talk through, but that can wait. For now, all that matters is that we are a team. Whatever happens, whatever we have to face from here on, we do it together, okay? No more trying to tough it out on your own,” she said, getting an eager nod in response. “Good. Now, you need to run back to your training. I’m sure Yamato is wondering where Shikamaru dragged you off to. I know you’re still scared, so, if it’s okay with you, I’d like to help with your training. It may not be exactly the same, but I can guide you through what helped me get control of the chakra within me. The sooner you get control, the better, right?”

Naruto looked apprehensive at the idea. “I don’t want to hurt you again.”

Ino cupped his face with her hands, she stroked his whisker marks and smiled. “You won’t,” she said confidently. “I trust you completely. Do you trust me?”

“Yes.”

“Then I’ll see you at training tomorrow. Make sure to let Yamato know I’ll be coming.” Naruto didn’t get much of a chance to argue as Ino rushed him out the door. As soon as he was out, the door was promptly locked behind him and the sign flipped to the ‘closed’ position. Ino waited until she was sure Naruto had gotten far enough away before she rushed into the back and let out a very loud squeal of delight. She felt a little bad about pushing him out the door so quickly, but there was only so much her poor little heart could handle in one day. Having everything happen so unexpectedly had her promising herself to be more prepared for such things in the future.

With her chest still pounding, and the memory of her first kiss still fresh in her mind, Ino hurriedly locked the shop up. She left an apology not on the counter explaining that she would make it up to her parents later before she left. All that was left now was to find Sakura and tell her everything.

{I}

       From atop the flower shop rooftop, Yamato watched Naruto leave, followed not too far behind by Ino. He had come looking for Naruto, not quite sure what to expect of his newly acquired student. Good thing his curiosity had gotten the better of him. Had he still been so locked into his former ways of ROOT, Yamato would never have strayed away from his duty at the training grounds. He was glad he had. Glancing down at the small camera in his hand, he pocketed the device carefully, as though it were the most valuable object on his person. To him, it may as well have been. A few photos would be more than enough to win his bet with Tsunade, earning him more than a pretty sum as reward. More so than that even, was the potential pranking material he now possessed. Yamato wasn’t ignorant enough to think that the budding new relationship between the two blondes would be a quiet affair. The whole village would soon know. But there came value in being the first to know such things, or anything really, when within a shinobi village. A shinobi’s life could get rather boring and grim at times, so little distractions were eagerly sought after, even if said distraction was nothing more than gossip and rumour spreading.

Did it help that Yamato needed revenge on a certain Yamanaka clan head? Absolutely it did. Inoichi would think twice before using his mind tricks on a comrade in the future. If he didn’t learn from it… well, it would be interesting to see how the man’s reputation would fair once the whole T&I department knew of his daughter’s relationship developments with the village jinchuuriki before he himself did. Poor, poor Inoichi.

{I}

To say Naruto made progress in the coming weeks would be an understatement. With Ino helping him wherever possible, Naruto managed to do what many had assumed impossible. While still a long shot off being a perfect jinchuuriki by any description, no one could claim the young Uzumaki didn’t have an impressive grasp of control over the Kyuubi’s chakra. Since none of the fox’s prior hosts had attempted to harness his power, and according to the beast’s own words, the achievements of the other bijuu’s jinchuuriki could hold no comparison to harnessing his power, Naruto took it as a compliment that Kurama was begrudgingly content with the level of control so far.

His control over the Kyuubi’s chakra was only the tip of the iceberg. Over the course of many personal sessions with Ino, Naruto had come to terms with a lot of baggage, some of which he wasn’t aware he was carrying. This, in turn, had helped him better control his own emotions to help with harnessing the Kyuubi’s chakra, but also came with the added benefit of aiding his meditation for Sage chakra. The elder toads said he still had a lot of refinement to do with the technique, though with his current rate of progress, they were both confident he would perfect it soon enough. He couldn’t wait to rub that fact in Jiraiya’s face once the toad sage got back.

The truly impressive progress came in the form of his nature manipulation training. And imagine Naruto’s disappointment at learning that already knowing and being able to perform several elemental jutsu didn’t mean much when it came to pure elemental manipulation. Shadow clones helped, as Kakashi had said they would. With each day there was visible progress that would have taken a normal shinobi months, if not years, to attain. The leaf cutting technique had been simple enough to perfect, having already started that stage while with Jiraiya. Naruto couldn’t believe it when he had been asked to cut a waterfall in half. A whole waterfall! But he had done it, without complaint, and in record time at that. In the end, it had taken just over three weeks for him to master pure wind chakra manipulation. Not to mention, with the help of his shadow clones, Naruto also managed to get himself up to snuff with the frog-kata training that Ma and Pa had lumped on him. All in all, Naruto felt great about the progress he was making.

Now if only he hadn’t hit the wall with the Rasengan…

“Dammit!” Naruto cursed as his Rasengan fizzled out of existence. A much better result than the early attempts. Having a ball of condensed chakra explode in your face, while also being laced with blades of wind, was an experience Naruto could have gone without in his lifetime. Thank the Kyuubi and Uzumaki genetics for quick healing… and Sakura too, even if she made her disappointment known.

“Perhaps you should try and use your clones, hmm?” Kakashi suggested, pulling his headband back down to cover his Sharingan. “Splitting the load may be just what you need to overcome this particular hurdle.”

Naruto pouted. “Wouldn’t that be cheating?” he asked. “I put in so much effort to be able to pull the normal Rasengan off with one hand and no clones, to need a clone for this just feels like a step backwards.”

Kakashi shrugged. “What is and isn’t cheating is entirely up to you. When creating a new jutsu like this, you have complete say in what the rules are. Well, you and the natural order of things. Though I don’t think either of your parents would have minded if you took a shortcut while figuring things out. You still have plenty of time to refine the jutsu and make it work how you want it to. For now, why don’t you focus on seeing if it’s actually possible.”

Naruto sighed. Kakashi was right, of course. How could he not be. Ever since the Third Hokage passed, Kakashi became the foremost expert on chakra nature manipulation. Having been trained by the fourth, having learnt the Rasengan himself, and having attempted this exact same task once before with varied results, it stood to reason that Kakashi knew what he was on about. Didn’t mean it didn’t annoy Naruto to no end. “Fine.” Naruto made a clone and held his hand out once more. “I’ll make it, you just add the wind nature chakra. And no funny business, got it?” The clone saluted and the two got to work.

It was almost funny, how easy the Rasengan had become for him to create. Naruto wasn’t sure if it was because he used it so much, or if perhaps there was something else at play. Either way, whenever the spinning ball of death popped into existence over his hand, he couldn’t help but feel that little bit closer to his father. And now he was working on completing the jutsu his father had created. To think that of all the things his parents could have left him, homework was what ended up finding its way into Naruto’s hands… literally. His smile dropped into a look of concentration as he felt his clone begin imbuing the jutsu with wind chakra. The difference was immediately noticeable. Not having to split his concentration, the Rasengan’s form held strong, power not waning in the slightest as it started to take on the additional chakra. While initially the shape stayed the same, the feel to it changed a lot. Obviously, it felt like wind, yet also not quite. Wind chakra, in its natural state, felt light and gentle while also quick and sharp. There was a hum to wind that just felt soft yet deadly.

This was not that.

Whatever it was Naruto was holding in his hand, it could barely be called wind chakra anymore. It felt more like a natural disaster compressed down into a single chaotic mess. A living storm waiting to explode upon the world. A tornado in the palm of his hand, and it wanted out, desperately. The spherical shape of the Rasengan began to warp under the pressure, bulging and contorting itself all the while he and his clone battled to keep it contained. It was a losing battle, and soon enough a slip of the hand resulted in the clone dispelling itself on a blade of wind trying to escape the confines of the jutsu. Naruto, suddenly left on his own to deal with the spiralling out of control Rasengan, began to panic. He did not want to get sent to the hospital again. Sakura would murder him if he ended up back there so soon. Just when he was about to cut his losses and attempt to throw the jutsu away, it collapsed in on itself and vanished.

“Huh?”

Kakashi let out a breath, whipping a small trickle of blood from his Sharingan eye before hiding it once more. “That was good. Very good.”

Naruto blinked. “But it didn’t work?”

“Perhaps not this time,” Kakashi said. “But we have learnt a lot from that one attempt. You felt it, yes? The jutsu adopted the wind nature fully. So, the result we are after is entirely possible. The hard part is over. Now we move onto perfeting it.”

“Uh-huh, and how do we go about that?” Naruto asked. “You can’t just keep using your fancy eye jutsu to save me every time it goes wrong.”

Kakashi chuckled. “True. Though I wont need to. I saw enough of what was going on to figure out how to move forward. You’ve clearly mastered the shape manipulation side, and the chakra nature side too, but what you are lacking here is the balance of it all.”

Naruto let out a loud groan. “Not you too. I get enough lectures about balance from the toads.”

“It is important, Naruto. Creating a jutsu, or completing one, is not as simple as having the building blocks and trying to force them to fit together. You have to find the balance to make it work. Not every shape will work with every nature in any amount,” Kakashi explained. “That attempt failed because you put too much wind chakra into a shape it didn’t want to stay in. With that in mind, you can do two things. You can either reduce the amount of elemental chakra to make it compatible with the shape, or alter the shape to better contain the extra volatile nature of the wind chakra.”

“Can’t I do both?”

Kakashi eye smiled at him. “Of course you can. Just not while I’m here,” he said cheerfully. “This training of yours is really cutting into my precious reading time, so what say we focus on one of those two options and you can figure out the other one in your own time at a later date.”

Naruto rolled his eyes. Reading time. Yeah right. It would almost be worth the effort to track down Jiraiya and steal his notes for the next instalment of that accursed series just to get one over Kakashi. That would require he actually read some of it, which he simply would not do. No amount of childhood loneliness could make him that desperate. Besides, he already had something way better. Speaking of which…

“I’m not interrupting, am I?” Ino asked, strolling into the training ground.

“Not at all. I think Naruto and I could use a break actually,” Kakashi said, already eyeing off a particularly shady spot beneath a nearby tree, small colourful book held firmly in hand.

Naruto ignored his perverted sensei and smiled at Ino. She closed the distance quickly and pulled him into a hug. “Hey,” he greeted, returning the hug. “I thought you were training with your team today?”

Ino rested her chin on his shoulder and sighed contently. “I was,” she said. “Something came up. One of Asuma’s old guardian friends is in trouble, so we are going to go help him out. I’ll be heading out soon. Just wanted to let you know so you didn’t worry yourself or run around looking for me later.”

“It happened one time!”

Ino laughed, giving him a quick peck on the cheek before pulling away. “It was cute,” she teased.

Naruto’s pout would be his normal expression at this rate. “How long will you be gone?”

“Not sure. Shouldn’t be too long. Don’t worry, I’ll make it up to you when I get back,” she said, winking suggestively.

“Don’t be gross.”

Ino smirked. “I’m allowed to be gross,” she said, pulling him by the collar of his shirt for a quick kiss. “And you like it, so shut up.”

“Uh-huh,” Naruto grumbled, trying, and failing, to come off as cool and collected while also possessing the complexion of a tomato. It was still the early days, and no matter how comfortable the two of them had gotten with their now confirmed relationship, the butterflies continued to haunt them. Naruto more so than Ino, even if he refused to accept that fact.

Ino continued to laugh as she walked away, waving goodbye as she went. “And stop being so hard on Iruka!”

Naruto huffed and crossed his arms. “You aren’t the boss of me.”

“Yes I am.”

“In your dreams.”

“Yours too!”

“That’s not… argh, go torment someone else!” Naruto shouted with a grin. Even as Ino disappeared into the trees, her laugh could still be heard for a little while after she left. Who would have thought the key to love was finding someone equally annoying as yourself.

Realising that with Ino going on a mission, there was no reason to cut his training short today, so he returned to it eagerly. Several clones popped into existence and took positions around the grounds, forming pairs with each other. Now was as good a time as any to test if Kakashi was really as smart as he made himself out to be. With any luck, he would have a fancy new jutsu to show off to Ino by the time she got back.

{I}

Omake One: Sasuke’s Room.

“It’s so…”

“Creepy?” Ino offered.

Sakura scrunched her face up in thought. “I was trying to think of something nice to say, but…”

“Sakura, no. It’s creepy. We both know its creepy. Just call it like it is.” Ino neither knew, nor cared, what sort of divine fuckery had led the two of them here of all places. They were looking for Sasuke, not Sasuke’s private quarters. Though she supposed there was a connection, so she couldn’t be entirely disappointed. Still, she could have gone without the insight into Sasuke’s personal life. For someone so secretive and drive, he sure laid his inner self for the world to see in weird ways.

“It’s sort of… sweet. In a creepy kind of way,” Sakura said.

Ino eyed her friend warily. “For someone so smart, you say the strangest things.”

“You have to admit there is something positive to take away from this. I mean, at least now we know for sure he regrets what he did.”

Ino crossed her arms and turned her nose up. Sasuke regretting his actions wasn’t nearly as important to her as him paying for said actions. If it wasn’t for the fact that it would upset Naruto, Ino would be out for blood. With that being said… “I think it’s best we don’t tell Naruto about this.”

Sakura hummed. “Good thinking,” she said, eyeing the focus of their discussion curiously. “Should we leave it be, or…”

“We are burning it,” Ino declared with finality. No one else needed to see this. Sasuke would understand, not that she cared if he did or not.

The focal point in question was a small wooden table sat in the corner of the otherwise bare room. It was noticeably the most well looked after part of the room, and the table itself was of much higher quality than the room’s other furniture. Atop this table sat a small incense burner and a picture frame containing a photo of Naruto back from before Sasuke had left Konoha. Ino had no idea where Sasuke could have gotten such a picture. Next to the photo was an unopened cup of instant ramen; pork, Naruto’s favourite. It was a sweet gesture, in a morbid kinda way. The only other photo in the room was a print out of Itachi’s bingo book entry stuck to the wall, complete with several precise stab marks. These two points of interest alone spoke volumes as to Sasuke’s mental state. Ino was already dreading the psychological work the young Uchiha would need should he ever actually return to Konoha.

The ground shook slightly and Ino and Sakura shared a knowing look.

“Guess that’s our cue,” Sakura said.

Ino nodded. She quickly pulled an exploding tag from her pouch and dropped it on the floor before leaving and closing the door. Not too big so as to drop the ceiling on them, but enough to make sure nothing in that room survived. Sasuke would appreciate her efforts in making sure his softer side remained a secret from the world. He better. It was more of a kindness than he deserved. With that, the two rushed off in the direction they had sensed the commotion. Knowing Naruto and Sasuke, there was really no telling what they were heading into.

{I}

Omake Two: Iruka and who?.

It had been two days since he had returned to Konoha. Two days of carefully avoiding Ino, of focusing on his training, and of feeling absolutely miserable the whole time. Naruto hated himself for what he was doing. Avoiding Ino was the absolute last thing he wanted to do, but with everything that had happened, how could he risk being close to her. Ino herself seemed all too eager to act as if nothing had happened, as if she hadn’t nearly died because of his inability to control himself, as if he hadn’t hurt her. Naruto couldn’t do it. He couldn’t forget or forgive himself for what he had done. At the same time, he couldn’t go on the way he was. He knew Ino was worried, no doubt wondering what was going on for him to be keeping his distance. Sakura had told him as much.

Sadly, neither Sakura or Yamato had much advice to give to him in how to deal with the situation. He could have gone to Kakashi, then again Naruto figured a man that openly walked around reading erotic literature was perhaps not well versed in the art of delicately handling the emotions of women. Shikamaru was out because… well, Naruto had annoyed the Nara in the past, and he was Ino’s teammate. While he had no doubt that Shikamaru would know what to do, it didn’t feel right bothering him any time he had a problem. Jiraiya, thankfully, was out of the village, having healed enough from Tsunade’s beating to go galivanting once again around the lands. Naruto shuddered at the thought of having to ask the perverted sage anything about women, let alone how to confront his fears regarding the one he had feelings for.

Naruto stopped mid step, a light blush on his face. Feelings. Real feelings. Love. Not just the childhood crush that he once held for Sakura, or the fleeting moments of curiosity he had had for some passing, albeit undeniably beautiful, individuals. There was no doubt about it, he had fallen for Ino. That was what made it all the more terrifying, all the more important that he obtain good solid advice on how to venture forth in this unknown territory. He had even considered going to Tsunade, only to quickly cast that thought aside. If he knew the woman better, Shizune would have even been a better option than Tsunade. The grumpy old hag would just laugh in his face and then drag him to Ino just to watch the ensuing chaos for entertainment.

No, Naruto knew exactly who he needed to go and see. The only problem was that they had apparently moved while he was on his training trip. Guess that served him right for not being dutiful and failing to check in with his old sensei before now. Actually, now that Naruto thought about it, he was beginning to feel bad for only seeking Iruka out to get his help. The man deserved better than that. Just another mistake to make up for. Rounding a corner, Naruto counted down the numbers of the houses as he made his way along the road. He was surprised when the landlord of Iruka’s previous apartment had given him directions to this part of the village. It was a pleasant and quiet neighbourhood, not usually suited to shinobi. The constant coming and going nature of the work often didn’t mesh well with the local civilian populace. Naruto supposed that Iruka being an academy instructor, confined to the village for the most part and working standardised hours, made things easier. It didn’t explain how the man managed to afford a whole house to himself on a teacher’s salary.

Finding the correct house number, he sauntered up to the door and knocked loudly. There was a deathly silence that followed, making him think that perhaps he had missed Iruka entirely. It was too early for him to already be at the academy; maybe he was out training. Naruto was about to turn to leave when he heard a loud thud, followed by a pained groan and a roaring of laughter.

“Iruka-sensei? Are you in there? Is everything okay?” Naruto called out.

A series of hushed words and frantic scampering emanated from within the home. Naruto couldn’t help but smirk at the realisation that he was definitely hearing more than one pair of feet running around inside. That would explain a lot. Someone finally managed to sink their claws into the respectable bachelor that was Iruka. That just made Naruto more confident that his sensei would have the right advice for him. There was a ruffling at the door before it cracked open slightly, revealing a very dishevelled, and shirtless, Iruka, looking a little more nervous than he ought to.

“Naruto… what a pleasant surprise. I wasn’t expecting you,” Iruka said, eyes darting back inside every few moments.

Naruto chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah, sorry about that. I should have come by a lot sooner to catch up. I’ll make it up to you. Next trip to Ichiraku’s is on me, how does that sound?”

Iruka laughed nervously. “That sounds great. How about right now? I’ll get dressed and meet you there.”

“Actually, I was hoping to talk to you about some stuff. Mind if I wait for you? We can talk as we walk there,” Naruto said.

“Uhhh,” Iruka stared at Naruto blankly.

“Um, Iruka, I do need to get going. My father will start to worry if I’m too late for work.”

Naruto grinned wide at the new voice, the owner of which was still hidden behind the door. It sounded oddly familiar, and yet he couldn’t quite pick it. Perhaps it was someone he knew. One thing was for sure, it wasn’t the crazy snake lady that trained Ino. That was a relief. Who knew what kind of horrors a woman like that would put a sweet innocent man like Iruka through. Nope, whoever this mystery woman was, they were an infinitely better choice. Not that he would ever voice that opinion aloud, or in front of Ino.

Iruka sighed deeply in defeat, letting go of the door and taking a step back. A delicate pale hand grasped the wood of the door, pulling it open and simultaneously making Naruto’s eyes widen to near comical size. Ayame smiled sheepishly at Naruto, clutching a bundle of clothes in her free arm, along with her work hat and apron. “Good morning, Naruto. It’s nice to see you,” she said quickly, her face slowly but surely turning red. “I suppose I will see you later today.” With that, she hurried past him, taking off up the road in the direction of Ichiraku’s.

A tense silence blanketed the area as Naruto stood there, eyes wide, mouth hanging open dumbly. Slowly, the gears of his mind caught up to what he had witnessed and he was able to school his features back into a blank stare, which he then directed at a justifiably embarrassed Iruka. This was most certainly an unexpected ‘surprise’. That wasn’t to say Naruto was upset by the discovery. Far from it in fact. He was happy for Iruka, and for Ayame. Iruka didn’t need to know that just yet though. Ayame had been more than just Naruto’s favourite ramen chef growing up. The older girl, now woman, was the closest thing to a big sister he had. As such, there were certain responsibilities that Naruto had saddled himself with regarding dear Ayame and her safety.

Responsibilities that Iruka needed to understand, and understand quick.

“Was she wearing your shirt?” Naruto asked carefully, eyeing the man with an unreadable expression.

Iruka averted his gaze in a desperate attempt to hide his own blush. “Yes,” he answered meekly.

“How long?”

“Huh? Oh. Ohhh, no, no. It’s not like that. It sort of just… it’s nothing serious,” Iruka said, paling as he realised his words were only digging the hole deeper. Better perhaps to just die quietly in a situation like this.

Naruto considered the answer, taking a deep breath before nodding in acceptance and gesturing for his sensei to go back inside. “Get dressed. I’ll wait,” he said, though with the speed that Iruka disappeared back into the home you would think he had been commanded by his Kage. ‘Is that what it feels like? That’s so cool. I could get used to that.’

Within moments, Iruka was back, still a little messy, but now fully dressed and apparently desperate to get going. “Don’t worry, Naruto. I’ll buy the ramen this time. For old times sake,” he said.

Naruto didn’t say anything, walking calmly up to Iruka and firmly grasping the man by his chunin vest. Without any show of effort, he hoisted the man off his feet and stared up at him with the most serious expression he could muster. Unknown to Naruto, his older age, and more pronounced features courtesy of the Kyuubi, left him looking rather terrifying when he needed to be, especially in the right light and when the victim in question had good reason to be afraid. “Sensei… I know you’re a good man. I trust you. So, I know that you’ll listen to me when I say… if you ever hurt Ayame, I will make you regret it. Are we clear?”

Iruka was quick to nod, far too afraid that his voice would fail him if he tried to answer with words.

“Good,” Naruto cheered, dropping his sensei back to the ground and patting the man on the shoulder. “Let’s go eat… maybe not at Ichiraku’s though. I don’t need my food spoiled by you two making things awkward.”

“I told you it isn’t like that, Naruto,” Iruka grumbled.

“Oi, Iruka! Be a dear and grab me some Dango while you’re out.”

Naruto froze, eye twitching at the all too familiar voice coming from within Iruka’s home. The man in question doing his best impression of a ghost with how white he was turning. Peering into the doorway, Naruto was met with the sight of a grinning, and mostly undressed, Anko.

“Hey brat. Long time no see,” Anko said cheerfully, shrugging her coat on as she came outside.

Naruto gave the woman a blank stare. It didn’t help that her wearing her coat was completely redundant since she kept it wide open. At least she was wearing underwear. He gave himself a few seconds to think, trying to wrap his mind around a reasonable excuse for what he was seeing. Ayame he could understand; she was a sweet girl, and Iruka was a nice guy. But Anko!? And Ayame!? At the same time!? Was he cursed to be surrounded by nothing but perverts his whole life? Were the gods testing him in some sick and twisted way?

“Naruto… I can explain…” Iruka looked about as terrified as a man could be while also managing to look embarrassed and shameful.

Anko looked curiously between the two men. “What are we explaining?”

Naruto smiled. The kind of smile that immediately put both Iruka and Anko on edge. “Thirty-second head start,” he said. “Go.”

Iruka chuckled nervously. “Come now, Naruto. You aren’t serious, are you?”

“Me or him?” Anko asked, aiming a thumb at Iruka. She, at least, had caught on and was taking the situation seriously enough.

“Whoever I catch first,” Naruto answered, smile widening and eyes slowly bleeding into red. “Twenty-six seconds.”

Anko was gone before Naruto finished speaking. The crazy bitch didn’t even take the time to get dressed before she legged it down the road. To be fair, her current state of dress wasn’t much of a downgrade from her usual appearance. It was surprising to see just how much the mesh bodysuit did manage to cover. How she was allowed to parade herself around the village the way she did, Naruto would never know. Although with what he was discovering right here and now, he had a feeling he would find out eventually. After all, he wasn’t going to kill Iruka, or Anko. Gods no. His dear sensei would survive. Anko he would sick Ino onto and let fate decide.

… that reminded him of his reason for being here.

“Twenty-two seconds, Sensei,” he counted down.

He could interrogate Iruka for the answers he needed after he had put the fear of the Shinigami in him. Naruto knew that there was a good explanation for what he had accidentally stumbled upon. Iruka was too good a man to be anything like the kinds of men Jiraiya often wrote about in his filthy novels. That wouldn’t save him though. Ayame was a special case as far as Naruto was concerned. Three more seconds passed before Iruka got the hint and realised how much time he had wasted. With a speed that surprised Naruto, the man was gone, racing off in the opposite direction of Anko. What a gentleman. Surely he knew Naruto would prioritise chasing him. Always the self-sacrificing type, putting the wellbeing of others before himself. That was what made Naruto look up to Iruka in the first place.

Naruto waited, taking the time to shut the door to Iruka’s home and make sure it was locked. As soon as he finished counting down, he took a deep breath and rocketed off from where he stood.

The hunt was on.

Chapter Text

Ino was starting to get truly sick of seeing the inside of Konoha's hospital. The chaos caused by their arrival had died down by now, leaving Ino with far too much time and silence for her liking. There was nothing to do, nothing to keep her mind preoccupied and distracted from… everything. Shikamaru and Choji had already been cleared, probably stuck giving their mission reports twice over to make sure nothing was missed. Ino wasn’t looking forward to having to do the same, but at least it would get her out of here. Or rather, it would as soon as Tsunade had the time to come and clear her personally. Until then, Ino was stuck staring at the walls.

Did they have to use such bland colours?

She let out a soft groan, returning to counting every piece of equipment in the room with her, right down to the syringes and scalpels. With each recounting, Ino found a new way to break up and categorise things so as to stretch it out again. It wasn’t much, but it was just enough mental gymnastics to keep her going. Anything to not think straight, to not remember.

Silent tears rolled down her cheeks yet again. Counting items from across the room suddenly became much more difficult as they blurred together, and every breath felt like it would push her over the edge. She fought it, tooth and nail, fingers digging into the bedding with a white-knuckled grip. It was only a matter of time before she couldn’t fight it any longer, but Ino would be damned if she broke down before being fully relieved of her duties. She was a kunoichi, first and foremost, and that demanded a level of professionalism. Emotions could wait until after she had reported and been dismissed.

Ino glanced at the clock. Nearly two hours already. What was taking Tsunade so long?

Her mind wandered. There had to be a good reason for why Tsunade wasn’t here yet. Maybe she was too busy. No doubt there would be a lot for the Hokage to deal with after such a disastrous mission. Head counts, mission reports, damage assessments, retaliation propositions, the list was likely longer than Ino could imagine. Still, it wasn’t that bad, all things considered. They had only lost one pers-

Seven scalpels. Twenty-two syringes on hand. Three bottles of sterilising agent. Enough fluids to keep three people alive for a short time. Seven pieces of machinery that Ino couldn’t bring herself to remember the names of right now, all neatly positioned around the room. Did her hands hurt this much before?

Ino let out a shaky breath, her bottom lip betraying the image of the strong and fearless woman she had spent years crafting. At the end of the day, she was still young, still barely an adult. No one would blame her for letting her emotions out. No one but herself, and possibly a handful of pretentious old fools that had long since outlived their time. Ino knew better than most that she had every right to break down, to let it all out and get it over with. This was just another aspect of being a shinobi, a cold and cruel reality that everyone had to come to terms with eventually.

So many had already assured her that it gets easier, that the first few times are the worst, and somehow that only made Ino feel sick. Was that something to be proud of? Was the world really so plagued with senseless death that it could become just another everyday event in their lives?

A humourless chuckled escaped her as she realised the hypocrisy of her thoughts. Ino knew what she was getting herself into, all those years ago when she joined the academy. Many kids may have been blinded by the propaganda of it all, the glory of the shinobi life. Not Ino. Her father hadn’t allowed her to go in blind. Even as a little girl, Ino had known and understood what her life could entail with the path she had chosen. Too bad understanding something didn’t make it any easier.

Sure, Ino had been exposed to death before. Several lives had already been claimed through her own actions, or by her own hands. It had been a struggle, but nothing so jarring as to make her rethink her choices. She didn’t enjoy taking a life, but Ino would be lying if she said it didn’t get easier with each soul she sent to the pure world. Easy didn’t make it right though, and that was often the biggest obstacle most shinobi struggled with during a lengthy career.

The Yamanaka clan were vulnerable to this way of thinking especially. Being able to peer into one’s mind, into their memories, their souls, to be temporarily connected and bound to each other’s fates; it left a lasting impact. No matter how dark and cruel a person could end up, there was always a part of them that remained pure, memories that would make most hesitate. It was all too easy to become overwhelmed by that insight, that connection. Hesitation could be a deadly mistake, for yourself or your allies, yet to shut down and compartmentalise it all, to separate the actions from the consequences, was a slippery slope far too many shinobi had fallen.

Sometimes it was easy to forget just how thin the line between man and monster truly was.

Ino absentmindedly rubbed her shoulder, picking away at the dried blood that stained her skin. Remnants of wounds that had already healed without help, the Kyuubi’s chakra mending her flesh to the point that not even a scar was left. Nothing physical to remember what had happened, what she had lost, how her own failures had led to such an outcome. Somehow that hurt more than the wounds had. To know that she would be the only one left unmarred by the events, forced to only carry the memory of it all in her mind.

Monsters. That’s what they were. Not men. Ino didn’t need to delve into either of their minds to know that much, though she wouldn’t deny that the chance to rip apart either of their minds like it was wet rice paper wasn’t very enticing. Killing wasn’t the right course of action, but damn if it wasn’t necessary sometimes.

Heat bubbled up inside Ino’s chest. She quickly schooled her emotions back into order, taking deep controlled breaths in an attempt to push her rage back down. All of her training with Yamato was not about to be wasted. Sadly, something had to give eventually. Ino stood up, pacing back and forth as the chakra refused to budge. It was an interesting sensation, having your own buttons pushed from within, your own worst traits goaded into rearing their ugly heads at the worst times. Ino didn’t know how Naruto handled it.

The dam broke, and with a cry of frustration Ino sent the bed crashing into the wall across from her. Medical equipment littered the floor as cupboards and shelves were shaken and broken from the impact. Needless destruction that would no doubt be a point of embarrassment for her once she calmed down, but gods did it feel good.

“You need a moment?”

Whatever storm of emotions Ino was struggling with dissipated almost immediately. She looked to the door, meeting Tsunade’s strangely amused expression with her own owlish stare. She spluttered for a second, head snapping between the damage and the Hokage before she simply bowed deeply. “Lady Tsunade. I am so sorry. I promise I will pay for all of this.” Ino kept her head down and her eyes firmly planted on the woman’s feet. Her mother was going to murder her once word of this got out. What was she thinking?

Tsunade laughed. “Oh please. One roughed up hospital room is the least of my concerns,” she said, closing the door behind her and wasting little time in beginning her medical inspection of Ino. As her hands slowly hovered over Ino’s body, shrouded by glowing green chakra, she offered the girl a comforting smile. “Is everything okay?”

Ino nodded. “I was almost completely healed before we arrived back at the village.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about.” Her hand hovered over one of the dried patches of blood. “You of all people know that the physical wounds are only half the battle. Just because you can heal from them so quickly now doesn’t take away from the damage they can do.” Ino didn’t respond, though it was clear she didn’t need to. Tsunade wasn’t just stating the obvious, she was reminding Ino of the facts. It was far too common for common sense and logical thought to slip by after trauma. Even Ino, with all her training, was not immune to the tricks of her own mind.

“I’m… angry,” Ino finally said, letting out a breath that made her painfully aware of how exhausted she actually was. “I’m sad, and I’m angry. Mostly angry. So fucking angry.” She blinked. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be rude in your presence. The Kyuubi’s chakra is-“

“-It’s fine, Ino. I’m not above a little crassness once in a while,” Tsunade interrupted. “Besides, you are allowed to be angry right now. You’re allowed to feel however you need to feel. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise, especially me.” Ino nodded silently in acknowledgement while Tsunade finished up her examination. “Right, everything appears to be in order. Nothing physical to report for the moment. Don’t worry too much about the mission report. Your teammates have done the brunt of it, so when you’re ready we will just ask you to fill in the blanks. Take as much time as you need to recover, in all the ways you need to. Dismissed.”

Tsunade made to leave, scribbling some notes down on a clipboard as she went.

“Lady Tsunade…” Ino called out quietly, stopping the woman in her tracks. She froze under the woman’s gaze, swallowing hard. “How did you manage?”

It was a bold question. Tsunade’s past was no secret, and anyone smart enough knew better than to bring it up, for good reason. The loss she had experienced had been enough to drive Tsunade away from the village, away from her life as a shinobi, as a medic. It was widely known that many aspiring kunoichi looked up to the last Senju, made a role model out of her; the world's strongest kunoichi. That title carried a lot of weight. Right now, Ino couldn’t imagine how much strength it must have taken to overcome so much loss. She hadn’t lost nearly as much as Tsunade had, and yet she had never felt weaker in her life. She was lost. It was bold, and maybe a bit insensitive, but if Tsunade could offer anything in this moment, Ino knew she would appreciate what little strength it might give her.

Tsunade smiled sadly. “I tried to drink myself into a coma for a few years. Developed a fear of blood. Ostracised my friends. Gambled my life away into debt. If you wanted advice on what not to do when dealing with grief, then you came to the right person,” she said, only to sigh deeply as Ino only started to look more miserable. “But then I met a certain pain in the ass kid. Somehow- and I still don’t understand how -that little shit made me see things straight. It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows straight away. There’s a process, and it's long and painful. But it works best when you have someone who believes in you, who helps drag you through the mud. I had the misfortune of meeting him too late. But you… well, you got lucky by being stuck with him so early on.”

Ino smiled, even as her eyes threatened more tears. It was hard not to smile when thinking about Naruto, even when the worst was happening around her. “Thank you, lady Tsunade.”

“Don’t mention it. Seriously. If he hears that I said anything nice about him, I’ll know it was you.”

Ino couldn’t stop herself from asking one more question before the woman left her. “Will you send a team after them?”

Tsunade frowned. “That’s not for you to worry about.”

“Please. If you do, I would like to be considered as a member.” It was unlikely, all things considered, but Ino would hate herself if she didn’t at least ask.

There was a tense moment of silence as Tsunade looked Ino up and down, her face unreadable. “Revenge won’t help how you feel.”

“I know.”

“Kids,” Tsunade muttered, shaking her head with a hollow laugh. She looked at Ino once more, her eyes finally betraying her age. Her history as a kunoichi, as the greatest medic of the third great war; the eyes of a woman who had seen far too many lives lost to the cycle of hatred and death. Ino had to wonder just how many people ever got to see such a glimpse of the woman under the otherwise impenetrable façade of strength and beauty. “Write up your report. I’ll think on it while you rest. And you will rest. Doctor’s orders, and Kage’s orders.”

Ino bowed deeply, offering a quiet ‘thankyou’ before she was left alone. She couldn’t get out of there fast enough. Naruto would be proud. Home had been her first thought, to rush back and wash away the blood and the shame of it all, to find privacy to drown in her sorrows. The closer she got, the slower her pace became, until she eventually found herself standing in the middle of the street. Her parents were likely waiting for her, or at least her mother would be. Would she really have the privacy she sought? Was she even ready to face her parents right now?

No.

Spinning on her heels, Ino went to march towards a different destination. She didn’t want to face anyone she knew right now. The world could wait. Too bad the world had different plans. Ino yelped in surprise as she collided with someone, two arms wrapping around her forcefully and lifting her off her feet in a much too strong hug. She gasped as the air was squeezed from her, but the face-full of pink hair stopped her from lashing out.

“Sakura… can’t… breath…”

Her feet found the ground again, the hug loosened enough for her to take a deep breath. Ino’s tired eyes met Sakura’s fierce green gaze and it became clear that peace and quiet were no longer an option for today.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt? Is this your blood? Why aren’t you still in the hospital?” Sakura bombarded Ino with questions, glowing hands quickly scanning over every inch within reach. It would have been a sweet gesture of concern had it not been done in the middle of the street for everyone to watch with varying levels of disturbance.

As normalised as the shinobi lifestyle may have been, it still wasn’t seen as polite or orderly to openly discuss certain things in public. Walking around still covered in blood was also not very pleasant for the civilian populace to witness.

“I’m fine,” Ino said. “Lady Tsunade cleared me herself.”

Sakura let out a relieved sigh. “Good. Good.” Without warning, Ino was pulled in for a much gentler hug. “What happened?”

With that one question, Ino felt it all come crashing down on her once more. This was exactly why she wanted to be alone right now. “Akatsuki. They… and Asuma… he…” She swallowed the growing lump in her throat, her voice already beginning to fail her. In spite of her inability to explain, Sakura seemed to understand all too quickly.

“I’ll get Naruto,” Sakura said quickly.

“No.” Sakura froze at Ino’s protest. “I’m fine. It’s fine. I just need to go home.”

Sakura nodded. “Okay. Let’s get you home then,” she said softly, taking Ino by the arm and trying to turn her back in the direction of the Yamanaka’s home. Ino, however, didn’t budge. “Ino?”

Ino gave Sakura an awkward and pleading look. Thankfully there were no reflective surfaces nearby. Ino didn’t need to know how miserable she looked right now. “Not that home,” she said, almost too quietly.

Understanding spread across her friend’s face, and had the situation not been so disastrous, Ino knew Sakura would have teased her about it. Silently, Sakura turned to face the correct ‘home’, her arm linking with Inos. “Come on.”

Ino soon found herself grateful for Sakura’s company for the short journey. With her friend guiding the way, Ino was allowed to let her focus fade, her body and mind going numb as she walked. Anyone that saw her and thought to try and interrupt their walk to satiate their curiosity was quickly silenced and turn away by a stern glare courtesy of Sakura. The silence remained, all the way to Naruto’s apartment, and even beyond that threshold. Ino didn’t protest when Sakura had followed her in, nor when the girl had helped her disarm and undress before pushing her towards the bathroom with the promise of hot tea when she was finished cleaning up.

There was no real way of knowing how long she sat under the stream of water, but her fingers had long since pruned before she found the strength to get out. Ino considered not getting dressed at all, knowing that she would probably have another shower before the night was over. She could still smell the blood, feel it on her skin. It stuck to her even after washing away. Another frustrating trick of the mind.

The tea was hot, as promised, and so soothing. Ino held the cup like a precious gift, curled up on a chair while Sakura busied herself combing the blonde’s hair, carefully picking out all the dirt and grime that Ino hadn’t had the energy to deal with in the shower. Somehow, Sakura just knew that words weren’t what Ino needed right now, and she was beyond grateful for that. At least now she could distract herself a little with trying to think of how to return the favour.

She briefly wondered how Shikamaru and Choji were doing. Hopefully someone was checking in on them as thoroughly as Sakura was for her. Or maybe they were dealing with it together. She would check on them tomorrow.

“You should get some rest,” Sakura said. “Need anything before I go?”

Ino was torn. On the one hand, she desperately wanted some alone time, to be away from everyone and anything, but on the other hand she knew she needed the company. It was getting late though, and Sakura had already gone above and beyond for her. “I’ll be okay,” she said. “Thank you.”

Sakura hugged Ino once more. “Want me to go find Naruto now?” Ino mumbled a response into Sakura’s shoulder. “Hang tight. He won’t be long.”

It hadn’t been long at all. It felt like almost no time passed between Sakura leaving and Naruto arriving. Ino didn’t know if Sakura had taken the time to find out what had happened or warn Naruto of the situation. Either way, Naruto surprised her with his approach. So quiet and cautious, each movement slow and purposeful. He came to her, lowering himself to his knees to meet her downcast stare, gently taking her hands in his own with a smile that promised to lighten the load weighing down on her.

That was just how he was. So strong, so ready to help. That stupid smile always there like a shining beacon of light regardless of how dark things seemed. Ino loved that. She loved him. And it was that love that she needed right now. Leaning forward, Ino rest her forehead against his, the cold steel of his forehead protecter helping sooth her tired mind.

“Can I stay here tonight?”

Naruto didn’t answer her, not with words anyway. For as much as he could talk with the best of them, Naruto was much more a man of actions. Ino didn’t put up a fight when Naruto carried her to his bed, just as he didn’t argue when she wordlessly pulled him into the bed with her. Sleep never came for Ino, no matter how comfortable she managed to get wrapped up in Naruto’s arms, his warm breath on the back of her neck doing wonders to ease her restless mind. With the exception of taking the time to make several clones, Naruto stayed with her the whole time, seemingly refusing to let himself sleep so long as Ino was awake. Ino had half a mind to use a jutsu to knock him out. One of them should get some sleep at least.

Just as Ino feared, it was only a matter of time before her strength waned too much. Everything she had been fighting all day to hold in, to keep buried deep down, came rushing out. This time there was no hope in regaining her control. She cried. Harder than she ever had before. She rolled over, burying her face into Naruto’s chest, finding herself unable to care that she was making a mess of his shirt. He didn’t seem to mind either. His arms wrapped themselves firmly around her, gently fighting each pain filled sob that dared to pull them apart.

The sun had nearly lit up the room by the time Ino slipped into a deep sleep. She was so far gone that she didn’t so much as stir when Naruto’s arms disappeared, or when his warmth against her finally faded away.

{I}

“I know where they are.”

Shikamaru was so stuck in his own thoughts he almost didn’t hear the words or notice the body that had climbed in through his window in the early hours of the morning. Had it been an enemy, he would be dead already. Just another mistake to add to the growing list of failures in his short career. As if things couldn’t get any worse.

He turned his head lazily to the window. His eyes were sore, body more sluggish than usual. He hadn’t slept at all. How could he? He didn’t deserve sleep. He didn’t deserve that bliss, that luxury, that escape from his thoughts. What he needed was to suffer. Suffer for his mistakes, for his failures, for his inability to learn from them and improve. Judging by the expression on Naruto’s face, so serious and full of repressed rage, Shikamaru had a feeling suffering was exactly what he was in store for. Ino had gotten hurt on the mission after all. Not brutally so, but still enough. An avoidable outcome. Surely Naruto was here to make Shikamaru pay for letting harm come to her. Would he even fight back if that were the case?

Probably not.

“I’m sorry.” A meaningless apology. It was all he could offer right now.

Naruto cleared the distance between them in a blink, grabbing Shikamaru by the collar of his shirt and lifting him up into the air like a ragdoll. If looks could kill, Naruto would be a cold-blooded murderer right now. “I know where they are,” he repeated, voice barely more than a growl. “Are you coming or not?”

Tired he might have been, but a genius he still was. The realisation forced his exhaustion into the depth of his mind, eyes widening. “How?”

“Clones.” It was always clones. What a cheat.

Shikamaru scoffed. That was a partial answer at best. Naruto hadn’t spent all those years travelling the world with Konoha’s greatest spy master without learning a trick or two. No amount of goofiness could hide the true cunning contained within the Uzumaki. All Naruto needed to be the scariest person Shikamaru knew of was a push, and fuck if he hadn’t been pushed hard by this.

“I know you already have a plan for them,” Naruto said, still holding Shikamaru off his feet. “Don’t even try to say you don’t. You’ve had a whole day to think. Now, are you coming?”

Unpredictable as always. Or rather, just too chaotic and headstrong. At some point Shikamaru knew he was going to have to sit down and put some actual brainpower into figuring out how to deal with Naruto, or at least predict his actions with a reasonable rate of success. The boy was simply too troublesome for his own good. No one had any right having that much raw power combined with that much drive and good morals. Just starting to think about it was giving him a headache.

“The Hokage hasn’t cleared anyone to go after them yet.” Shikamaru knew that wouldn’t stop Naruto. Actually, how many shinobi did they have that could stop Naruto now. Damn, that was a good question. “You aren’t suggesting that we take matters into our own hands, are you? Because if you are, then I’m afraid I would have to inform a very specific group of people.”

Naruto grinned, a vicious expression full of teeth too sharp and too long. Visual proof of just how enraged he truly was. Shikamaru had to suppress a shudder at the sight. Naruto dropped him back to his feet. “Bring who you want,” Naruto said. “Just make sure they are ready to do what needs to be done.”

“That won’t be a problem,” Shikamaru assured him. “How long?”

“Two hours, at most. We need to be gone before anyone knows what we’re up to, and quick enough to catch up to them while I still know where they are.” It was a little scary to see Naruto so focused. “And Shika… the one that hurt Ino… he’s mine. Understand?”

Shikamaru could have argued. It wasn’t as if there were any rights when it came to revenge, but Ino was his teammate, and Asuma was his sensei. Surely, he should have first dibs. Part of him wanted to point that out, but a different part of him, the smart part, could see that he wasn’t dealing with the Naruto that he considered a friend. This wasn’t Naruto Uzumaki, the goofy Konoha ninja, standing before him. This was Naruto Uzumaki, jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, student of Jiraiya, son of the fourth Hokage, and arguably the most dangerous ticking time bomb in the world currently. Everything, from Naruto’s body language, his tone, to the way his eyes were scanning every minute movement Shikamaru made, told the Nara that now was not the time to grow a backbone.

Getting so caught up on revenge sounded exhausting anyway. Naruto could have it.

“See you in an hour,” Shikamaru said.

It felt a little wrong, almost like betrayal, to be diving straight back into the fray that Asuma had sacrificed himself to get them out of. Not that it slowed him down. As soon as Naruto was gone, Shikamaru moved quicker than he ever had. Scrolls, weapons, equipment, anything and everything that had crossed his mind throughout any of the now dozens of plans he had concocted over his sleepless night; it all got sealed away and packed into his pouch. Akatsuki had taken something they had no right to, and he wasn’t about to let them get away with it.

Shikamaru was so focused on his packing and planning that he never noticed his bedroom door opening until he met his father’s eyes. The two watched each other silently, one curiously and the other defiantly. Shikamaru cursed his luck. There was no way his father would let this slide.

“You have a plan?” Shikaku asked.

“More than one.”

The man smirked. “I look forward to hearing which one you go with.”

Shikamaru frowned. “You’re letting me go?”

“I’m letting you learn,” Shikaku corrected. “A man has to learn how to handle his mistakes. Will you try to make up for them, learn from them, or let them consume you. If I stopped you now, I’d be making the choice for you, and you’d learn nothing.”

“You won’t tell anyone?”

Shikaku glanced over his shoulder and down the hall. Shikamaru’s mother was out for the morning, thankfully. “It was a real shame I didn’t notice you were gone in time,” he said with a shrug. “Your mother will be home in a couple of hours. It’s out of my hands after that.”

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. “Thanks.”

“Alive is better than successful,” Shikaku said. “I know it may not seem like it at times, but plans can be remade, and losses regained. Lives aren’t so easy to replace. Keep that in mind with whoever you drag into this.”

“I will,” Shikamaru said, strapping his pouch around his waist.

His dad didn’t hold him up any longer, closing the door as he left and began pretending that the conversation had never happened. Shikamaru was just as quick to hit the streets. He had made so many plans, incorporating all manner of team combinations. There had been a hope that this would play out similarly to the retrieval mission, wherein Shikamaru would be free to recruit whoever he wanted from the available shinobi. Now that he had to do it covertly, he was glad that his planning had also taken into consideration the chance of running a team who would be willing to do it without orders.

It was time to see just how well he knew some of his friends.

{I}

“Naruto’s gone!”

Tsunade felt her headache grow significantly. She glared at Ino, the newest addition to the list of those who thought it would be a good idea to come barging into her office today with bad news. Her attention returned to Shikaku, who at least had the decency to deliver his side of the bad news in a calm- perhaps too calm now that she thought about it -manner. Joining him were none other than Shibi Aburame, and Hiashi Hyuuga. Out of everything that could be hassling her right now, Tsunade was pleased that Ino would be the loudest one here.

Tsume would have been a nightmare to deal-

“Kiba’s run off!”

Oh, for fuck sakes.

“Lady Tsunade, do you know where Sakura is?” Shizune asked, stopping and blinking at the amassed shinobi present.

Tsunade’s eye twitched. “Oh, I think I can hazard a guess as to where they all are right now,” she said.

Those kids better hope they died on this self-assigned mission of theirs. Gods help them if they all returned in one piece, because if their parents didn’t kill them, then Tsunade would make sure they wished they had. Where did the youth of today even get the balls to pull a stunt like this? Brilliant. Now she was even becoming dangerously aware of her age.

That settled it, today was officially the worst.

{I}

As it turned out, far too many of the Konoha twelve were all too willing to run headfirst into danger at the drop of a hat. Sure, they were shinobi, and it sort of was part of the job description, but still, when Shikamaru had gone out to put together a team to hunt down and kill the Akatsuki duo, he hadn’t expected such a turnout. No one even asked that many questions after he laid down the initial idea. It was disturbing. Not to say he was ungrateful, because he was beyond happy to have so many of his friends fighting by his side, it was just something that maybe needed to be looked into at a later date.

Shikamaru dodged another claw made of black threads. These strange, masked creatures were powerful, and deadly, but they weren’t exactly smart. Unless their master directed them, they were rather limited in the tactics department. Movements were simple, attacks transparent, and abilities restricted to but a single element. Combined, Kakuzu might have made for a truly terrifying opponent to attempt to take on solo, but torn between so many, he was a much simpler enemy to manage. Shikamaru honestly expected better from someone so old as to boast having fought the first Hokage.

A stream of water shot passed him, cutting through several trees beyond the battlefield. This creature, one of only three left, was limited to water jutsu only, and not very many at that. Another, which was currently having a hard time trying to keep up with Kiba and Akamaru, was using fire jutsu. Speaking of the Inuzuka, Shikamaru was surprised by his tenacity in battle. All Inuzuka were ferocious fighters, on par with their canine companions, but Kiba was putting his furry friend to shame with how unrelenting he was with his onslaught. The fact that the pair were able to keep a creature at bay all by themselves spoke volumes of their skill and teamwork.

Somewhere off to the side, Sakura and Neji were battling it out with Kakuzu himself, who Shikamaru suspected to still contain a heart best aligned with earth. A good tactical move, keeping the defensive jutsu to his original body. Too bad that did little against the gentle fist and the pure brute strength of Tsunade’s apprentice. Shikamaru almost felt sorry for the immortal. If it weren’t for that lust for money, he might have spared Asuma, and then he in turn might have been let off easy.

He dodged another bullet of water, internally counting his blessings that Naruto had managed to obliterate the lightning-based heart almost as soon as the fighting had begun. The creature that used wind had split away to follow Naruto when the jinchuuriki had dragged the scythe wielder off to who knows where. Shikamaru hoped the blonde idiot hadn’t bitten off more than he could chew. He knew Naruto was still alive at least, for now anyway. So long as they could provide him backup soon, he'd be fine.

The beast faltered in its next attack, its chakra failing to form properly and its body stumbling. The threads that formed it writhed, littering the ground with now dead insects. That was all the opening Shikamaru needed. His shadow shot out like a spear, rising from the ground, and taking deadly shape. The creature had a heart, a source of chakra, but it’s body, its movements, its jutsu, all drew from that well greedily. These beasts were not a sustainable method of combat, and the battle had already drawn out long enough. His shadow pierced the mask, continuing through into the heart beneath. It was almost a relief to know that he was putting someone’s stolen heart to rest after who knew how many years. The threads collapsed, mask falling to the ground in pieces. Shikamaru breathed hard as he released his jutsu.

“Forgive me. Their chakra is not quite as easy to consume as I had hoped.” Shino didn’t look at all concerned, but something told Shikamaru the Aburame was somewhat upset at losing so many of his hive to a single enemy. “Thank you for distracting the creature.”

“Don’t worry. It was perfect,” Shikamaru assured him. “Think you can help Kiba?”

Shino looked over to where there was currently a giant storm of fire and tornados. His whole body buzzed uncomfortably. “I’d prefer a different opponent.”

That was fair. “Okay, you go help Sakura and Neji then. If we can wrap this up, then maybe we can find Naruto before something bad happens.”

“Agreed.”

They went their separate ways, and Shikamaru hoped that things kept going smoothly.

{I}

His eyes were blue.

A grin, vicious and cruel, formed on Naruto’s face as knuckles met flesh once more. He weaved around Hidan’s strikes, delivering several more hits in quick succession. Each successful hit, and each attack Naruto blocked and dodged, only drew crazed laughter from the man. He was having fun. Was this the kind of sick game he played with Ino? He ducked out of the path of the scythe, catching Hidan’s wrist as it went before punching the man’s elbow into the wrong direction with a sickening crunch.

Hidan only smiled.

Punches, kicks, stabs, and slashes. More and more Naruto pushed, each attack more deadly than the last, and each one accomplishing nothing at all. Broken bones, punctured organs, bludgeoned limbs, none of it seemed to do anything. Sure, Hidan bled, and his body wasn’t invulnerable, but it was becoming apparent that the man’s claims of immortality were not just insane ramblings. It was just like Shikamaru had said; and just as he had been warned, Naruto was taking extra care to ensure not even a single drop of his blood was spilled.

Naruto smirked. Grabbing the scythe handle mid swing, he lifted himself into a spinning kick that slammed straight into Hidan’s face and sent him flying. He took a deep breath and waited for Hidan to get back up. He always got back up. Normally that would get under Naruto’s skin, but today was a special occasion. He was angry. No, he was furious. This was the man that had tried to take Ino, the man who had hurt her. Hidan had tormented and tortured her, all with a smile on his face. This was the man that had threatened to take the most important thing in Naruto’s life, without so much as a care for what that meant. This was the man who had killed Asuma. The man who had made Ino cry.

It was a good thing he kept getting back up, because Naruto was far from done with him.

Hands clenched painfully, Naruto rushed Hidan again, refusing to give him a chance to talk. His voice only made him angrier. As they fought, Hidan continued to laugh and scream in delight, and Naruto grew more ruthless in his onslaught. Rage boiled within him and gave him a strength he didn’t realise he possessed. Naruto was faster than Hidan, stronger too. Whatever skill difference between them there may have been was being steadily overcome by pure unrivalled determination.

A rasengan spun to life in his hand and Naruto aimed it for Hidan’s head. Chakra met steal, and two blades of the scythe were torn apart like wet paper, shrapnel bursting out and peppering Hidan. Naruto grabbed a piece of broken metal, using the moment of surprise to drive it into Hidan’s eye. Hidan screamed, this time not in joy. Finally, a reaction. A kick pushed Naruto back, and it took a fair amount of control to not set upon his opponent without rest.

Don’t bleed.

He glanced down at the piece of metal still clutched in his hand, the messy remnants of the immortal’s eye dripping from its edge. Stupid. Naruto dropped it and focused back on Hidan. With any luck, if he didn’t take notice of it, then Hidan wouldn’t notice the small cuts along his fingers burning themselves closed.

“You motherfucker!” Hidan cried, blood pouring freely between the fingers cupped over his destroyed eye. “Do you have any idea how long that is going to take to heal?”

Naruto didn’t answer. He drew a kunai from his pouch and charged it with wind chakra. Dismemberment was the only real thing that Shikamaru knew could affect Hidan. The anger growing within him was now messing with his judgement. He would need to end things quicker than he would have like if he wanted to keep his cool. Speaking of, he was surprised the Kyuubi wasn’t being more vocal right about now. He shook his head and filed it away as a small blessing. He didn’t need the fox whispering in his ear, making things worse, fuelling his anger. He was already too angry.

They clashed again, the sudden loss of weight on Hidan’s weapon providing the immortal with a much-needed speed boost. He was keeping up better now, blocking every strike intended to part limb from body. Naruto cursed as he realised his chance to end things quickly had likely passed. Even still, part of him was glad about that. Hidan took pleasure in his tormenting of his opponent, drawing it out for as long as he could, so Naruto was more than happy to give him a taste of what that felt like.

Never before had Naruto been so consumed by the desire to hurt someone, to kill them as painfully as possible. Not when the Kyuubi influenced him, and not even when he had come close to death. But now… now that was all that he could think about. Hidan needed to suffer. He deserved it. He needed to die, and Naruto was all too happy to make that happen. He roared as Hidan laughed. The rage within him continued to grow, the need for blood, for death. Each cut into flesh gave him relief, every bone broken under fist made his grin wider.

Naruto would have his pound of flesh. He would get his revenge. He would make sure Ino never had to suffer seeing this monster again, even if that meant he had to become a monster to make that happen.

Laughter filled the air, and blood stained the ground.

And through it all, his eyes remained blue.

{I}

Kakuzu’s block barely held firm under Sakura’s fist, his feet leaving two long trenches in the dirt as he skidded back. Sakura was tempted to tease him about how the infamous missing-nin had been stuck on the defence the entire fight; she thought better of it. Getting under an enemy’s skin was really more Naruto’s thing, and besides, Sakura had a feeling that her stoic silence was doing a good enough job of that anyway.

The man raced through hand signs, a giant spear of earth shooting up at Sakura. Too slow. Her arm was cocked back, and fist driven down into the ground before it could reach her, the earth around her shattering and the earth jutsu crumbling into nothing before its target. Sakura smirked, even as she looked up and saw Kakuzu charging her. How cute; he thought she had left herself open. She brought her arms up blocked his first strike, smiling as he growled angrily at her. Kakuzu had figured out early on that Sakura was the true threat he had to deal with in this fight. Her brute strength and ability to heal the others was simply too dangerous to let live. Too bad Sakura wasn’t playing the support role.

Kakuzu leapt back, barely avoiding a precision strike to his heart before he was locked into a fierce bout of taijutsu courtesy of Neji. Sakura took the brief break to take a breath. She waited patiently, knowing that jumping in too early would leave Neji vulnerable. As his sequence came near to its end, Sakura rushed in, coming up from behind the Hyuuga and jumping over his head. No sooner did Kakuzu redirect Neji’s final strike, was he forced to jump out of the way of an earth-shattering punch from above.

Sakura shook some rubble from her hair and frowned. “Remind me again why I agreed to tag along instead of dobbing you lot into to Lady Tsunade?”

Neji didn’t react. Just as serious as ever. “Because you knew we would all certainly die without your particular set of skills to aid us.”

Sakura blinked. “I didn’t know the Hyuuga knew how to flatter a lady,” she said in surprise. “Not that I’m complaining about it.”

“It is a… newer skill in my repertoire, I must admit,” Neji said without shame. “Perhaps you should debate your decision making at a later date. We still have a fight ahead of us.”

“Right,” Sakura said sheepishly.

And right Neji was. As the dust settled, the pair were met with the hateful glare of their opponent. Kakuzu looked pissed. Sakura schooled her emotions and set back into a ready stance. They weren’t making any real headway with this fight. At best, they were just buying time for the others to finish their own fights. Out of all the opponents they had to take care of, Kakuzu was arguably the most dangerous. His mind, age, and skill made him such. There was no question that if they had been fighting the man at his full potential, instead of spread so frustratingly thin across so many fights, then they would be dead. Sakura’s strength and taijutsu was a match for him, but it only just scratched the surface of the man’s defensive techniques. Neji’s speed and precision was enough to put Kakuzu on his toes, but not powerful enough to do any real damage. Between the both of them, they were holding their own, but if this became a battle of attrition, then Kakuzu would win. The man had somehow survived attempting an assassination attempt of the freaking first Hokage. How was that even possible?

Then there was his body.

Sakura pursed her lips at the thought. Those black threads. They had taken the place of everything beneath Kakuzu’s skin. Muscle, blood, bone, organs, everything, save for his hearts and sensory organs. There was nothing for Sakura’s medical knowledge to take advantage of, and nothing for the gentle fist to properly attack. The heart was the obvious target, but Neji was quick to see that the man could move the vital organ around his body at will, always keeping it perfectly out of reach. Who was to say getting to the bloody thing would work anyway; the guy did have five of them. Did that mean they had to kill him five separate times? Were they sure that would work?

“You insufferable pests have wasted enough of my time,” Kakuzu growled, his hand speeding through more hand signs.

Sakura and Neji braced themselves for another earth jutsu. Despite the clear benefits of Kakuzu’s kinjutsu, it became quite the handicap when he wasn’t working with multiple hearts at once. Instead, nothing happened, and their moment of pause was all the mistake that was needed.

“Beneath!” Neji called out as he jumped as high and as far back as he could.  

Black threads shot up from beneath the ground, having wormed their way through the now broken earth that made up the battlefield. Sakura’s destruction had given Kakuzu all the cover he needed. Neji managed to escape the reaching threads in time, but Sakura wasn’t so lucky. She cartwheeled out of the way of most of them, but a single clump of threads reached her. Disconnected from Kakuzu, the threads acted as their own creature, disturbingly snake like in nature as it sprung forward so fast in its strike. It stabbed into her middle, wriggling and writhing in its attempt to fully dive deep inside of its victim. Sakura fell to the ground in a heap, barely managing to grab the threads tightly before they disappeared under her skin. Sadly, the damage was done.

She held back the urge to throw up. From the pain, the discomfort, it didn’t matter. All that matter was that there was something inside of her that didn’t belong, and it fucking hurt. She got to her knees and glared at Kakuzu, the two sharing a look of understanding. Sakura could only curse her luck. She just had to go and make herself priority number one for the murderous, heart thieving asshole.

Kakuzu chuckled. “Go ahead. Pull it out. I’m sure you’re just dying to rid yourself of that sensation. The way it’s wrapped around your insides.” He laughed. “Of course, doing so will kill you. No amount of medical jutsu is going to save you from disembowelling yourself. Can you tell by feel which organs it has clung to? Could you part with them, for what little time you have left?”

Neji made to charge, only to stop as Kakuzu held up a hand seal. The threads writhed and Sakura keeled over in pain, biting her lip hard enough to fill her mouth with blood in an attempt to hold back her scream. “Sakura!”

“Don’t!” Sakura shouted. Her grip on the threads tightened, refusing to let them go deeper. It was true, she could feel how they had wrapped around some of her organs, threatening to drag them out alongside themselves should she try forceful removal. But they weren’t deep enough to reach her lungs, or her heart, which she figured was the ideal target here. It was a cruel choice. Kill yourself painfully or remain stuck in agony while being used as a hostage. “Don’t worry about me. Do what you have to do.”

“Brave,” Kakuzu said. “But foolish. As much as I am annoyed to admit it, my colleague does have a point when it comes to inflicting pain on an enemy. It is a useful tool. Everyone has their breaking point. With enough pain, you can make anyone do almost anything. It doesn’t even have to be their own pain.”

The threads squeezed, and Sakura emptied her stomach on the ground. Still, she refused to scream.

“I wonder… just how much pain will you let her suffer before she ends it herself,” Kakuzu asked Neji coldly. “Or will you do her the mercy of putting her out of her misery yourself?”

Neji dropped into his gentle fist stance. “The more of my friends you hurt, the more certain I become of your fate.”

“And what fate would that be?”

“Death.”

Kakuzu sneered. “You know nothing of death, boy. Still so young, so untouched by it.” If he noticed the way Neji’s face darkened, he didn’t show it. “How about I give you a firsthand lesson in death. Say goodbye to your little friend.”

Sakura’s jaw clenched. The pain was almost unbearable, but not nearly as unbearable as realising she had become the weak link in the team yet again. All those years training, all that time devoted to getting strong enough to never be a burden again, to never get caught in a situation where she needed to be saved. She was meant to be doing the saving now dammit. That’s what medics were for. She felt the chakra inside the threads flare, their grip on what little they had access to tightened. Her vision blurred, and her own grip tightened more out of reflex than a need to keep the threads out. This was not how it was supposed to go.

“Sakura!”

A memory flashed across Sakura’s mind, of her on her knees in a forest, just a scared little girl pretending to be a shinobi. At the time, Sakura had thought it a true display of her devotion to being a kunoichi, cutting her hair off to gain the upper hand. A sacrifice for the cause. Her hair. Just hair. What a joke that was. She knew now, of course, what true sacrifice was. What it meant to bleed for your comrades and put your life on the line for the sake of others. It was just a shame that it had taken her so long to learn such a valuable lesson.

She looked up at Neji. He was looking at her with fear. Afraid for her life. Her face went blank. Above all things, Sakura had promised herself that she would never be on the receiving end of that look again. Never again. Not in the future, and certainly not now.

Her breathe hitched. The bones of her hand ached from the strength of her grip.

The gem on her forehead glowed dimly.

Fuck this was going to hurt.

Sakura didn’t let Kakuzu have the satisfaction of finishing whatever he had planned. In one sharp motion, she pulled with all of her strength. Her eyes squeezed shut, teeth clamped tight, and her body went numb. Warmth spread throughout her. Was it the blood? Was it her chakra? She honestly couldn’t tell the difference at the moment. Gods she hoped Tsunade didn’t get too pissed at her for having to use the seal so soon.

It was a weird sensation, ripping one’s own insides out as if you were gutting a fish. Though it paled in comparison to the sensation of having those same insides rapidly regenerate and piece themselves back together within you. Sakura could understand why the seal was not something Tsunade had passed on to her lightly. Possible side effects aside, it just felt wrong.

Opening her eyes, Sakura took a deep breath, her free hand gently patting at the now freshly healed skin of her stomach. She didn’t dare look down at the pool of blood at her feet, or the state of her clothes, or the still wriggling mass of black threads still in her grip, pieces of her flesh still caught in its vines. Instead, she locked her gaze straight onto Kakuzu, who was actually looking at her with a hint of fear. Neji was no doubt horrified as well, but his Hyuuga honour required he not react. Sakura wouldn’t hold it against him.

“Sakura… are you… alright?” Neji asked carefully.

Sakura smiled, an act that at the time she didn’t realise was likely horrifying considering how the rest of her looked. “Never better,” she said cheerfully. Grabbing the thread in both hands, she tore them apart and dropped the lifeless clumps to the ground. “I just remembered why I came with you guys.” The gem on her forehead was now glowing much brighter, the black markings of the seal clearly visible. She punched her fist into her open hand, creating a small shockwave from the force. Her eyes never left Kakuzu as she grinned wide.

“Because I’m done being the one always relying on everyone else to come save her,” Sakura said. “It’s my turn to be the one you can all turn to. And I’ll be damned if I let this overdue corpse take that away from me.” She glanced sideways at Neji. “Sound good to you?”

Neji smirked and dropped back into his stance. “Fine by me.”

Sakura adjusted her gloves. “Patient in sight. Cause of death: Me.”

Shit. Sakura grimaced. That had sounded way cooler in her head. Maybe Ino was right. She really was lame.

{I}

“Yes!”

“More! More!”

“Give me everything! All the pain. All the rage. Yes. Feel it all with me.”

Naruto slammed a rasengan straight into Hidan’s stomach. The man took it in stride, even as the jutsu drilled a hole deep into him. He had to drop the attack early, deftly retreating away from a short collapsable spear. Despite Hidan’s immortality and clear arrogance, he was a skilled fighter when it came down to it. It wasn’t as frustrating as trying to fight Jiraiya, but that was for different reasons. Either way, it was still annoying. Or maybe it was something else entirely. The longer the fight dragged on, the angrier Naruto became. With that anger came a lack of focus, and that led to far too many sloppy moves on his part. Worst of all, Naruto could tell that Hidan was fully aware of his slipping control. Hidan had seen all of his slips, all of his openings, and had let them pass him by with a smile.

He was enjoying the fight too much.

“Aww, what’s the matter? Getting too upset?” Hidan taunted. “What are you so mad about? That I hurt the girl? That I killed that idiot that stayed back to cover their retreat? Or is it that you thought you would come out here and make me pay for it, only to find you don’t have what it takes? That’s it, isn’t it? Can’t stand that you won’t get to go home with your head held high. I could have killed you four times already, and you aren’t any closer to even slowing me down.”

He laughed. “Don’t let that stop you from trying. This is the most fun I’ve had in years. Your suffering is the perfect sacrifice to lord Jashin, and you haven’t even bled a drop yet. Would you like to know how the bitch screamed? How she begged him to let her stay behind? Or how I made him choke on his own blood before the end of it. All that bravery got him nothing but a slow and painful death. As is fitting for such a heathen. Spewing his nonsense about some will of fire. I’ve never heard such crap.”

That was stepping over a line.

Naruto rushed in, only one thing on his mind. Hidan needed to be silenced. If that required his tongue being ripped out, then so be it. His vision and focus tunnelled. A mistake Naruto realised all too late, and Hidan was apparently counting on. His eyes widened as the immortal smiled with a far too confident glint in his one remaining eye. It happened quick. Hidan met him, scythe clashing against kunai and hand grabbing spear. They were locked in place, only for a second. A second was all that was needed. The air shifted and Naruto swore. Wind tore through the earth, ripping apart trees and earth as it went. Naruto tried to leap away, but Hidan discarded his scythe in favour of grabbing hold of his jacket. The jutsu collided with them both, sending them sailing through the air. They crashed through trees, bounced off rock, all the while the wind nipped and cut at their flesh.

Hidan laughed the whole time.

When they finally came to a stop, tumbling to the ground in a heap, Naruto took the chance to pull himself from Hidan’s grip and kick him away as hard as he could. He got to his feet and scanned the area, only just catching a glimpse of the masked creature fleeing back to its master. Its job was done. He wiped a hand across his face, staring at the blood with an uneasy expression. Don’t bleed. If only it was that simple. Cuts littered his skin, blood staining his clothing, both his own and Hidan’s. He had fucked up.

“Should have stayed home, kid.”

Hidan was back on his feet, standing within a crude symbol painted on the ground in his own blood. Just like the report said. He held his hand up towards Naruto and smiled. Blood dripped from his fingers, likely not all his own. At this point, it wasn’t a gamble for Hidan; he had nothing to lose if it failed. He licked his fingers and swallowed. His skin changed, going black with white markings. He looked so much like the death that his jutsu promised to inflict. Naruto guessed that was the point.

“I’ll be sure to send all your shitty little friends along with you, after I’ve had some fun of course.” He raised his spear and turned it back on himself. “Now… just fucking die already!”

Naruto choked out a gasp. His heart twisted in agony inside his chest, forcing him to keel over. Blood poured through his fingers as he clutched uselessly at the wound. He fell to his knees. The world blurred around him, and Naruto fought for every second of consciousness he had left. Where the fuck was the Kyuubi?

“Naruto!”

He turned to the scream, eyes widening as he spotted a familiar blotch of pink. Sakura. Dammit. Was he really about to make her see something like this? Was he really going to deprive her of her one remaining teammate, and for what, for revenge? Gods he was stupid. None of them should have been out here in the first place. Not that it mattered much now. He was so tired. Everything was going black. The last thing he heard before he lost consciousness was Sakura screaming about something. He couldn’t make it out properly.

Damn… he had really fucked up this time, hadn’t he.

{I}

(Earlier)

The tables had turned drastically. Anyone with half a brain could see that. Shikamaru wasn’t about to complain. It was about time they got a break anyway. The fire based masked creature had done a decent job of fending off Kiba and Akamaru on its own up until now, but three opponents was proving far too much for it to handle. Not that Shikamaru was offering much support. The occasional shadow bind here, an errant exploding tag there; it was really all he could do to keep the thing unbalanced and split its attention. Kiba and Akamaru had more than enough raw strength and speed to take it from there. It was working too. Slowly but surely, they were wearing it down. It’s physical size and chakra presence had already been reduced significantly. They just had to keep on it.

Speaking of…

He slipped out from behind a tree, his shadow shooting across the field and connecting to the creature’s. The beast froze, if only for a second.

“Fang over Fang!”

Two spinning tornados of death and claws hurled themselves towards the beast from either side, pinching it in the middle. It attempted to spew fire at them to defend itself, but the flames were simply whisked away by the air being displaced by the spinning force of Kiba’s jutsu. They collided with so much force, ripping and tearing the black threads of its body apart until it could no longer hold itself together. It collapsed into a heap of threads, mask dropping to the ground.

Now.

Shikamaru rushed in. Kiba was still regaining his bearings from his attack, so even if the Inuzuka was closer, and the faster of the two of them, there wouldn’t be enough time. He readied a kunai with an exploding tag tied to its end. They had to end this quickly. The others might still need help with Kakuzu’s original body. And then there was Naruto to worry about as well.

The threads were still alive, the heart controlling them still beating. They moved sluggishly in an attempt to stop him, lunging at him with every step. Shikamaru got as close as he could before there was nowhere to stand that didn’t mean getting caught. The kunai sailed through the air, perfectly aimed; there was no way he could miss from this distance. The mask was still struggling to reform, having diverted its efforts into trying to attack Shikamaru. There wouldn’t be another opportunity like this.

Black threads whipped up and snatched the kunai out of the air.

Close enough.

The tag sizzled, and the black threads engulfed it quickly in an attempt to smother it. The rest of the mass split away, dragging the mask with it. The explosion blew the threads apart, burning many of them into ash. Funny, considering this creature possessed the fire affinity. It wasn’t over though. As the dust settled, a small mass of threads continued crawl across the ground. There wasn’t much left of the creature. Enough to carry the mask, but not enough to construct a body much larger than a cat. The mask was cracked and burnt, and the chakra source hidden underneath was weak. Annoyingly, small and injured only made it more difficult.

“Don’t let it get back to Kakuzu,” Shikamaru called out, readying another exploding kunai. Dealing with these things one element at a time had been bad enough. Screw dealing with the host with more than one heart and elemental affinity.

The creature took off in the direction of Kakuzu, but it didn’t get far. From above, with a vicious growl, Akamaru leapt upon it. His claws easily tore the fragile mask apart, revealing the still beating heart which the nin-dog didn’t hesitate to chow down on. Shikamaru grimaced as the threads fell lifelessly to the ground and Akamaru seemed to enjoy his new meal a little too much.

“Akamaru! What did I tell you about eating gross things,” Kiba whined, only to start petting the dog. “I’m not helping you out if you get an upset tummy, okay. You’re gonna learn from this. Eating old creepy hearts is bad. Now, who’s a good boy? Is it you? Are you my vicious little killer? You’re damn right you are.”

Shikamaru shook his head. The earth shook and the three of them shared a look. “Let’s go.”

{I}

Sakura was having the time of her life. She wouldn’t tell anyone that, mostly because of how insane it probably sounded, but that was fine as long as she told herself. Her fist tore through a tree like it was air. They had Kakuzu backpedalling, finally. With Shino in the mix, constantly draining the chakra from Kakuzu’s skin, both her and Neji’s techniques were now back to being very much deadly. The old bastard could still move though, and fast too.

Kakuzu had given up on trying to come across as human by now. What little patchwork of skin he had left was only barely being carried along by the mass of threads. Not having a skeleton, or any human physical limitations, also made him incredibly hard to hit, along with being way too creepy to let live. Sakura was sure she would be having nightmares of black threads and messily put together body pieces. Why did the strong ones always have to be so… gross?

She kept up her assault, weaving in and out seamlessly with Neji in an attempt to break through Kakuzu’s defence. Shino kept his distance, his insects draining chakra from their opponent and carefully dispersing it between the three of them. It was a huge help in this drawn-out battle. Neji lashed out with a strike that Kakuzu blocked easily, and Sakura weaved around the Hyuuga aiming her fist low. Threads unfurled from the man’s stomach to grab at her, and Sakura smirked. She opened her fist, flattening her hand out and channelling chakra carefully through the appendage. Her hand sliced through the threads like a hot knife through butter, clumps of black dropping lifeless to the ground.

It was no lightning blade, but it did the job nicely.

Kakuzu growled and kicked Sakura back. Neji broke her fall, and they were quick to recover, readying themselves to jump in again. They were both breathing hard, and even Shino was showing signs of tiring out. Just how much chakra did this guy have? Were his hearts really his only weakness? Sakura had so many questions and more than enough morbid curiosity for the whole team. Her medical mind was hitting a wall when it came to this kind of enemy. His body didn’t follow any natural process, and the threads barely worked like any living tissue. It simulated muscle, and that was as close as it got. Cutting it away piece by piece seemed to do something at least.

“We can’t keep this up,” Neji said. “Any ideas?”

Sakura cracked her knuckles. “Keep punching him until he breaks,” she said, a little more seriously than she intended.

Neji smirked. “You are definitely Naruto’s teammate.” His expression dropped suddenly as he fell into a stance. “Follow my lead. When you see the opening, take it.”

Sakura nodded, and the Hyuuga rocketed towards Kakuzu. She had to wonder if Neji had been holding back the whole fight because the ferocity and speed with which he engaged the Akatsuki member was more reminiscent of Lee than any style the Hyuuga would adopt. Still, it was doing something. The gentle fist wasn’t designed to work against an opponent that didn’t have a proper chakra network, but each precise strike still interfered with the chakra flowing through Kakuzu’s threaded structures. Short lived blips of disconnect that were just as quickly corrected and compensated for, albeit still extremely annoying for Kakuzu.

She held back, letting Shino bleed a little more chakra into her as she waited. Then she saw it. Neji was slowing down, and fast. Whatever he had done to gain the burst of speed and power had burnt out, and he was following. Sakura rushed in, not caring if that was the right move or not. Kakuzu wouldn’t be kind enough to wait, so why should she be? Sakura had nearly closed the distance, charging chakra into her fist, when the ground went black. Her shadow deformed itself, shooting forward to connect to Neji’s and then Kakuzu’s, until the missing-nin suddenly froze in place.

Neji ducked and spun around Kakuzu’s frozen form, getting in place behind the man before focusing his eyes and slamming both palms into his back, one high and one low. “Dead centre, now!”

Sakura didn’t need to be told twice. She sprung off on her next step hard enough to crack the ground and swung her fist as hard as she could. What little threads Kakuzu could manipulate bunched up around his chest. Her fist collided with the force of a mountain behind it.

“Kaiten!”

Kakuzu’s chest imploded, pinned between the unstoppable force that was Sakura’s punch and the immovable wall that Neji had become. Sakura’s momentum carried her forward, forcing the heart beneath her fist deeper and deeper into the grinding wall of the Kaiten until her knuckles touched the barrier. The resulting explosion of techniques colliding sent the two of them flying in opposite directions. Sakura came to a quick stop as she landed on something soft… something that barked at her.

“You good?” Shikamaru asked, his shadow receding back to him.

Sakura cradled her hand, blood dripping freely from where there was no longer any skin. The Kaiten was no joke. “Yeah, just need a sec,” she said, already working on healing herself. “You guys?”

Shikamaru shrugged and Akamaru barked cheerfully enough. Sakura got to her feet and the three of them cautiously made their way towards the centre of destruction.

“Who’s not dead? Sound off.”

Sakura snorted. “Shut up, Kiba.” They all regrouped around the lifeless heap that was Kakuzu’s body, a giant hole in the middle of his chest. Kiba kicked it curiously, and Sakura had to put her hand up to silence a clearly worried Neji. “I’m fine. Don’t worry. Good plan by the way.”

“You’re welcome,” Shikamaru muttered, making his own way over to Kakuzu’s body. “Is that it? All hearts accounted for?”

Sakura hummed thoughtfully as she counted on her fingers. “You and Shino had one. Kiba and Akamaru had one. Naruto killed one straight away, and me and Neji held him here with another one. That only makes four,” she said, looking to Neji questioningly. “There were five, weren’t there? Where’s the fifth?”

“It split off when the fight started,” he said, looking off into the distance.

“Any chances that it died when we killed this one?” Kiba asked hopefully, getting a collective look from the group- Akamaru included -that screamed ‘did you have to tempt fate?’. “Damn. So that’s a no then.”

“We must hurry. Naruto will need assistance,” Shino said.

“No,” Shikamaru said quickly. “If we rush off without making sure this is finished, then we will leave ourselves open. We need to make absolutely sure that this guy is dead. If even one of his hearts survived, he still has the potential to kill any of us.”

“How right you are.”

Everyone jumped back at Kakuzu’s voice. The air around them erupted into life, tearing through the area and throwing them around like ragdolls. When the jutsu finally ended, they were scattered across the battlefield in varying states of health. Sakura grimaced as she healed a deep gash on her leg. Wind. Of course, the last heart had to be wind. Easily the most annoying element to have to deal with. She got to her feet just in time to watch the masked creature land atop Kakuzu’s corpse and meld back into it. The man got up groggily and glared straight at her.

“You little shits,” Kakuzu growled. “I will enjoy hunting you all down and carving the still-beating hearts right out of your chests. Compensation for the ones you have taken from me today.”

“Fang over Fang!”

Kakuzu’s body twisted unnaturally, two blades of wind forming in each hand as he deflected both incoming attacks away from himself. With two splashes of blood, Kiba and Akamaru hit the ground hard, a deep gash cut into each of their sides. “Air bullet.” Kakuzu aimed an open hand at Shikamaru, his arm shaping into a hollow cannon before shooting the jutsu directly at the Nara.

“Kaiten!” Neji jumped in front of the jutsu, but he was low on chakra. The explosion ended the Hyuuga’s jutsu and sent him crashing into Shikamaru.

“Wind style: Devastation.”

Kakuzu’s mouth split open as he breathed out a deadly blast of wind straight at Shino, the jutsu destroying the swarm of bugs that were closing in. He chuckled darkly. “Does this chakra feel familiar?” he asked, turning to look at Shikamaru. “Such a strong affinity. I was surprised when I took it. Much better than my previous one. I wonder what your dear sensei would think if he knew it was his heart that would be the one to kill all of you.”

Sakura’s eyes widened as she covered her mouth. “No.”

Kakuzu laughed as everyone looked at him in horror. “Oh yes. I made sure to take that fool's heart for my own,” he said. “Easily one of my strongest now. Though with its help, I’ll be sure to change that in time.” The threads shifted, opening up to reveal the still-beating heart held within them. “Now I wonder… can any of you do it, now that you know? Can you kill the last piece of your precious comrade? Could you live with yourselves?”

Everyone glanced at Shikamaru, the horror on his face telling them all they needed to know. This fight, which should have been so close to over, had just gotten that much harder. Sakura breathed and steeled her emotions. She was a medic goddammit. Her hands bore the blood of countless allies and comrades over her short career, and not all of them had made it. She had learnt to deal with that, to overcome the grief and doubt. The chances of someone you knew, someone you cared about, dying in your arms, either through no fault of your own or by some mistake, were too high in her profession. The others she could understand having a hard time with this, but Sakura didn’t have that luxury.

She could do it. She needed to do it.

Sakura took off without warning, sprinting straight at Kakuzu with fury blazing in her eyes. He grinned wide at her, hands blurring through seals. She spun around an air bullet, channelling chakra into her fist once more as she reared it back. The cocky look on what was left of his face disappeared when he went to leap back, finding himself held in place. Sakura was surprised to see Shikamaru so quick to react after such a revelation, though it was perfect timing. She watched on, each step bringing her closer, all the while Kakuzu forced his body to shift. Threads encircled his one remaining heart, layering and weaving themselves around it protectively. Layer after layer, knot after knot. At least he was taking her attack seriously this time.

At the last moment, Sakura dug her feet in and came to a skidding halt just short of the man. She roared, bringing her fist down on the ground right at his feet. The earth beneath them shattered in a greater area than any of her attacks thus far. Kakuzu had put so much effort into weaving his threads around his heart that he hadn’t left anything to reinforce his legs. The ground under him shot up and buckled him, launching him into the air. Dust and debris were everywhere, making visibility almost zero. Thankfully, not all of them needed to see right now. An explosion ripped through the air, accompanied by a grunt from Kakuzu. Several more went off in short order, each eliciting a more aggravated sound from the man.

“Get ready.”

Sakura turned to find Shikamaru standing behind her, several kunai held between all of his fingers. She gave him a nod. Whatever he was planning, it was their best bet.

“Wind style: Dance of turbulence.”

The air moved, non-violently for once, and the dust cloud was cast away, leaving everyone visible again.

“Kiba!” Shikamaru sent his kunai flying out to either side of himself.

“Fang over fang!”

Kiba and Akamaru went soaring past them, the kunai Shikamaru had thrown getting caught up in their technique. They charged straight at Kakuzu, and he prepared two more blades of wind in each hand. Sakura almost cried out, remembering how the duo had been so easily deflected and injured earlier. She hadn’t even had the chance to heal either of them. Why would they get involved so quickly again? The beginning of her vocal outburst died in her throat as the two whirlwinds whirred around the man instead of hitting him head-on. They circled behind him only to drop the technique as they passed each other. Kiba, and Akamaru in his man-beast clone form, landed on either side of Kakuzu’s flank, each holding the kunai from Shikamaru. Kunai that had ninja wire strung between them. Ninja wire that was now wrapped around Kakuzu. With a harsh pull, the wire went taught, and Kakuzu was ensnared.

“Go!” Kiba yelled.

An angry buzz emanated from below as a swarm of insects scuttled from the cracks in the ground, crawling up Kakuzu’s body and burrowing deep into the threads. As much as he tried to twist himself and crush the bugs, they were too many, and they were pissed. The bugs were consuming chakra at an alarming rate. Sakura glanced at Shino and saw that for the first time since she had known him, he was clenching his fists in anger.

“Sakura…”

She turned to Shikamaru. His attention locked on Kakuzu, kunai held in a shaky hand. Sakura understood quickly.

“Please. End it.”

Sakura was running before he finished speaking. She was channelling chakra before she knew what she intended to do with it. The glow of her hands flickered between green and blue, between deadly and safe. Sakura didn’t want to kill anyone, not really, but she would. Shikamaru didn’t need to live with the knowledge of being the one to actually stop Asuma’s heart, so Sakura would do it. Once it was over, she would heal all of her friends. She would be the one they could rely on, the one they could turn to.

It was about time.

Her hand flattened. Chakra moulded around it so precisely, so sharp. Fingers glided effortlessly through the knots of threads, deep into their depths, until they wrapped around the treasure hiding inside. The heart of a man who had given his life to ensure the safety of his students. The heart of a true shinobi of Konoha. A heart that didn’t deserve to be tainted by this monster. A heart that… she had to stop.

She twisted her hand. Ignoring how threads burrowed into her flesh in a desperate attempt to save himself. “I’m taking this back.”

She clenched her hand, so hard that it hurt.

Kakuzu’s eyes were wide and full of so much rage. Sakura expected him to have one more trick up his sleeve. Instead, he chuckled, though it came out as more of a pained wheeze. “Heh… kids these days.”

Sakura pulled her hand back, quick to heal herself and wipe the blood off while she had the chance. Kiba and Akamaru released the wire, letting Kakuzu drop to the ground, finally dead.

“Is that it?” Kiba asked. Both he and Akamaru were panting and trying to tend to their wounds.

Sakura and Shikamaru shared a look. “I think so,” she said.

They took a moment to catch their breath and seal the body away. Sakura did her best to touch up the groups wounds without leaving herself short. It went without saying that they were all very glad to have brought the numbers they had for this mission. There was no telling what could have happened otherwise.

When they were all in decent enough condition to keep going, Shikamaru turned to Neji. “Where’s Naruto?”

Neji activated his byakugan and scanned the area. He went to speak, only to give up on words entirely and break out into a full sprint. No one questioned him, they all simply followed. Against her better judgement, Sakura’s thoughts drifted to darker things. Was Naruto okay? Had they made a massive mistake by letting him run off to deal with an Akatsuki member all on his own? Naruto was a jinchuuriki, and the student of one of the Sannin just like her. He’d be fine, right? It wasn’t until they got the top of a crest that she realised she wasn’t thinking dark enough.

Her sights locked onto Naruto first, his blonde hair making it too easy to spot him. He looked a little worse for wear, but otherwise alright. She mentally sighed in relief at that. Then the gears in her mind kicked in. He was bleeding. Bleeding. The one thing Shikamaru had told him strictly not to let happen. She glanced across from her teammate, seeing the now changed Hidan standing in the middle of his ritualistic circle, spear turned back on himself. Her mouth went dry. Hidan plunged his weapon right into his own chest with a look of euphoria on his face, and instead of him reacting to the wound, it was Naruto who crumpled in reaction.

Naruto fell to his knees, and Sakura was already running to him. “Naruto!” she screamed as she ran, already readying a healing jutsu. She’d burn up her entire seal if she had to, just so long as she didn’t lose him. He turned to her, but it was clear he was fading. “Don’t you fucking dare!” Sakura reached him just in time to catch him from falling face first into the dirt. Her hand was on his chest just as fast. “No, no, no. Open your eyes.” She had contained the bleeding, but healing the damage that had been done was trickier. His heart had been skewered and for whatever reason the hole just wouldn’t close. “You don’t get to die on me, Naruto. You are not leaving me to face Ino alone after this.”

He smiled. What an idiot.

The others had gathered around her protectively, all facing down Hidan.

“I’m gonna tear your head off,” Kiba growled, lowing himself to all fours.

“Stop,” Shikamaru said. “Don’t touch him.”

Kiba looked at him weirdly. “Eh?”

Shikamaru pointed to the symbol underneath Hidan. “So long as he is in that circle, anything we do to him will hurt Naruto as well,” he explained. “That includes anything we try to do to get him out of the circle.”

“So non-lethal force is all we can do?” Neji asked. Out of those present, he was likely the most capable of delivering the most impactful non-lethal force. But he was worn out. They all were. Hidan barely looked tired or concerned at all despite having a skewer through his own heart. Fighting someone who couldn’t die would be hard enough without such a handicap. There was also the much more glaring issue…

Hidan twisted the spike in his chest and pushed it deeper, undoing whatever healing Sakura had managed up until now. He was grinning like a madman as he did so. “So, you little bastards managed to kill Kakuzu, huh?” he asked. “Good riddance. That heathen didn’t understand the first thing about true faith. Still, he was my partner, so now I’ll have to kill all of you assholes myself.”

“Guys,” Sakura said, getting everyone’s attention. She was still not letting up on her healing jutsu, even if all it was doing was holding back the inevitable right now. “As long as that spear is in his chest, I can’t heal Naruto. You need to get him out of that circle, and I can’t step away from Naruto.”

They all shared looks, glancing between Naruto and Hidan. “Consider it done,” Shino said.

As they all took a step towards Hidan, the madman laughed. “Careful now,” he said, grabbing hold of his weapon and making everyone hesitate. “Do you really think any one of you can reach me before I rip his heart to pieces?”

In their current state… no. None of them were delusional enough to think that.

Hidan made a ‘bring it’ gesture with his free hand. “Tell me, what’s more important to you? Your friend’s life, or your revenge?” No one moved, and he cackled. “I’m going to enjoy this.”

Chapter Text

Ino was going to murder him. No, she was going make him beg for death and then keep him from it until he realised the gravity of his mistake. Not just Naruto either. All of her friends that he had somehow roped into this suicide mission were on her shit list now too, and all of them would feel her wrath before the day was over. With that in mind, she increased her speed, tearing through the trees like an arrow shot from the most powerful bow. Ino partially registered the voices behind her, calling out for her to slow down, but they went ignored.

The team could either match her pace or catch up in their own time. For Ino, moving at the pace of a team wasn’t an option. How could it be with what she was sensing from within her. The Kyuubi's chakra, which was normally docile without any input from Ino herself, had become a storm inside her. It wasn’t painful, nor too difficult to control, but the sensations that accompanied the sudden activity was disturbing. A mix of fear and rage the likes of which Ino hadn’t experienced before. It filled her, fought with her, and most importantly, pulled at her.

At first, Ino had assumed it was a lack of control on her own part. A subconscious slip of her own emotions that had somehow influenced the power trapped within her. That had changed quickly as she attempted to remedy it, finding the sensations to be growing more intense of their own accord no matter what she tried. The feelings grew, and with them the pull became stronger. It felt wrong, yet so familiar, like a bastardised version of her clans own unique mind jutsu. That was when she realised what it was. She had discussed it enough with Naruto to recognise it as how he had described the sensation when the Kyuubi pulled him into the seal, and it was only getting stronger.

From there, it had been simple. Regardless of whether the fox was trying to communicate with Ino through the portion of chakra within her, or if it was simply trying to reclaim what was its own, Ino had now become an unwilling compass towards the beast, and by extension, Naruto. A team had been slapped together hastily with only one goal in mind, retrieving their comrades, or, as Ino liked to phrase it, hunting the idiots. Sadly, following the invisible pull of an age-old creature wasn’t an exact science, so there was no telling how close they were or the precise direction to head in. All they had to rely on was the sensation getting stronger.

The pull faded ever so slightly and Ino came to a halt. Her hands formed a seal, and she closed her eyes in concentration. It was similar to her clans jutsu, yet dissimilar enough that she couldn’t tap into it easily. The closer she got to Naruto, the more it seemed to form clearly in her own mind. It was slowly becoming more than just simple emotions being projected across space, more than just a mindless pull on her psyche and the chakra inside her. There was a consciousness on the other end of the connection, intention behind the actions, she just wasn’t close enough to figure out what it was trying to tell her.

"Anything?"

Ino let her arms fall beside her as she breathed heavily. She opened her eyes and turned to Kakashi. "What's in that direction?" she asked, pointing off into the distance to where the pull was directing her.

Kakashi peered off through the trees and hummed. "Not much for some distance. A couple of smaller towns."

"Any bounty hubs?" Ino asked. That was the best and only lead they had on the Akatsuki pair for the moment. Kakuzu was a notorious bounty hunter, and he still had Asuma's body. There were only so many places someone could go to cash in a bounty that large, and fewer still that wouldn’t immediately sell you out to the highest bidder. One of the biggest risks in collecting bounties was proving yourself to be better than your catch, and then being hunted for that fact, usually by the same villages that were forced to pay up.

"There was one, but it hasn’t been in operation for years," Kakashi said.

Anko landed next to them with a deep frown. "There's another one," she said with a small hint of shame. "It's not too far. Real underground type place. Orochimaru used to use it… probably still does when the need arises."

Ino furrowed her brow. "Why didn’t you mention this before?"

"It's on a need-to-know basis, brat," Anko quipped. "These sorts of places only stay where they are so long as it remains discrete enough to keep running. As soon as a big fish, like Konoha for example, catches wind of them, they pack up and move and we have to start the search all over again. If I remember correctly, Jiraiya is meant to be keeping tabs on this one in hopes of getting info on Orochimaru."

Ino groaned. That explained how Naruto was able to hunt down the Akatsuki duo then. At this point, it was safe to assume Naruto had access to as much information as Jiraiya, if not more. His blatantly disrespectful use of shadow clones made him an information gathering machine. "Lead the way. I'll let you know if we're heading in the wrong direction."

With that, the three of them took off. As they went, Ino felt the pull grow stronger, and with it her anger resurfaced. The moment she found her friends, as soon as they were safe and out of harm's way, she was going to make them regret leaving her behind.

{I}

They were in a stalemate. Any move they made wouldn't be quick enough or surprising enough to catch Hidan off guard, and he was all too prepared to finish Naruto off with his jutsu at the slightest provocation. Shikamaru could only glare as he knelt down, his hands coming together carefully as his mind went into overdrive.

His shadow possession was not quick enough to cover the distance required, and Hidan knew about it from their last run in. Neji would be perfect to disable the immortal without dealing a lethal blow but getting him close enough in time wasn’t going to happen without a miracle. Sakura was stuck trying to hold Naruto's heart together, and if the expression on her face was anything to go by, the duration of time she could maintain that was running out and fast. They had to do something soon.

Shikamaru glanced around. Kiba and Akamaru were out until they could get Hidan out of the circle. The Inuzuka's techniques were simply too violent to risk it, though they would be handy at tearing their opponent limb from limb as soon as the opportunity arose. That was when Shikamaru's eyes locked onto Shino. Out of them all, Shino was the one remaining the calmest right now, though that came as no surprise. Even at the best of times, the Aburame was not one to show outward expressions, but something about this seemed off somehow.

He was standing there, eyes set on Hidan from behind his sunglasses, hands tucked firmly in his pockets. If you didn’t know Shino personally, it would appear as though he was completely unconcerned about the outcome of this fight. Surprisingly, it was the insects that often gave away their host. Shikamaru had managed to figure out, at least in part, a way of reading what kind of mood Shino was in depending on how the boy's hive acted. It was this insight that let Shikamaru know that something wasn’t right, or rather, there was something missing. Shino's bugs were disturbingly silent.

Shikamaru sighed. He wished Ino was here. With her abilities, the team could all communicate and plan accordingly. Without her, they were forced to act individually, and hope things worked together, adapting their moves on the fly. At least Shino had taken the initiative and done something, though now Shikamaru had to try and figure out what the Aburame was planning to try and work into his own plans.

"Come on, don’t make this boring for me. Which one of you little pricks want to die first?" Hidan asked. "Keep me waiting too long and I'll kill your stupid friend before you can finish trying to save him."

Everyone tensed. They didn’t have time to just stand around and hope for a miracle. Shikamaru cursed under his breath. They shouldn’t have let Naruto try and take Hidan on by himself. They should have taken him out first, and quickly at that. The element of surprise was the only thing anyone could use against someone with literal immortality.

"Would you not simply kill him before we could accomplish anything?" Shino asked.

Hidan grinned. "Who's to say. This is the most fun I've had in a long time. I'm not supposed to kill the jinchuuriki, but I don’t care if I have to. The more you all suffer, the greater the sacrifice. So come on, who's first?"

There was a flicker of movement, Neji and Kiba both rushing in together. Shikamaru wanted to yell at them to stop, no matter how pointless it might have been. Acting was better than sitting still and watching Naruto die slowly. With that in mind, his shadow shot out, connecting to Neji's first, then to Kiba's, using the two as anchors to extend his range. The tendril of darkness overtook them, aimed straight at Hidan. If he could just lock him in place, if he could just stop him from making any moves, then they could push him out of the circle without worry.

Ten feet. Five feet. So damn close. Just another second and he would…

"Passing fang!"

What? Was Kiba insane? Had he not been paying attention when they said non-lethal only? As if to make things worse, Hidan laughed and held his arms wide. He was an open target, just like he wanted to be. Shikamaru's shadow stopped dead, lifting from the ground into a physical shape before coiling up and wrapping around Kiba mid-air. The Inuzuka's attack was too wild and powerful to be stopped at such a range, leaving redirection as the best option. Shikamaru strained for a moment, twisting his shadow just enough to throw Kiba off course without doing any damage. Now was not the time to risk making anyone else an easy target.

Kiba crashed into the ground, tearing through the earth off to the side of Hidan's circle. Shikamaru breathed a sigh of relief, short lived as it was. Even if Kiba was dealt with, there was still someone else to worry about. Neji used the distraction Kiba and Shikamaru created, along with the small cloud of dust produced, to close the distance between himself and Hidan, open palms already aimed with deadly precision.

To an extent, the Hyuuga could be considered the true counter to Hidan's little trick. The byakugan offered the ability to keep an eye on the crazed immortal well enough to avoid any of his attacks intending to draw blood. Their gentle fist style also put a lot of focus on speed and evasion. Even though the gentle fist could be extremely deadly if the need required, it was the physical incapacitation aspects that truly shone against someone who couldn’t die. Asuma, had proven that Hidan wasn’t invulnerable, so if Neji could act quick enough, then they had a chance.

And quick he was. In what seemed to be the blink of an eye, Neji's hands blurred back and forth, thirty-two strikes, all delivered with an accuracy and rage that only someone of Neji's calibre could produce. Once he was done, he placed an open palm over the middle of Hidan's chest, eyes glaring into the crazed look of the immortal. Hidan's arms fell lifelessly at his sides, a series of small red welts forming across his skin.

"Immortal or not, this is where your story ends," Neji said.

"Go ahead." Hidan laughed. "Try it. Kill your little friend. You're already hurting him. Why not put him out of his misery."

Neji smiled. "You haven’t noticed yet, have you?"

Noticed? Shikamaru narrowed his eyes and turned back to Naruto and Sakura. Sakura was smirking, her hands still glowing over Naruto's chest, but Naruto himself looked… fine? No, he was asleep. Peacefully at that. Shikamaru blinked. Was he missing something?

"Every jutsu relies on chakra to function," Shino stated. "Even yours. A crude combination of blood and chakra, both of which my insects have no problem consuming."

Hidan growled as he turned around, finally seeing the small collection of bugs silently eating away at his ritual circle. Shikamaru understood immediately. Of everyone here, Shino and Kiba were the only ones from the same team. Their teamwork and ability to silently communicate and trust each other was unparalleled. Being able to use Neji as a replacement for Hinata was a testament to how perfect their normal team dynamic worked.

"You should have let Naruto kill you," Neji said. He grabbed the spike in Hidan's chest, pulling at it while pushing against the immortal's chest with his other hand. As the man stumbled back, the spike was yanked free, ridding him of his last weapon.

"Passing fang!"

Hidan made to stop Kiba's attack, only to find himself rooted to the spot. Shikamaru may not have come up with the plan, but he could see its promise. His shadow possession held Hidan just long enough for Kiba to land his attack, both the Inuzuka and the immortal disappearing in a cloud of dust and debris. Sharing a glance with Shino, Shikamaru got the nonverbal okay to leave the rest to them. He took his chance to retreat back to Sakura's side, thankful to find Naruto fully healed. Sadly, he was still unconscious, and Sakura didn’t look too pleased at that fact.

"Is he alright?" he asked.

Sakura frowned. "Physically, yes," she answered. "I've healed everything, but he passed out not long after we got here. I've tried waking him, but…"

Shikamaru hummed to himself. Yet another time where Ino would be an invaluable asset. Actually, maybe not. Considering how things turned out the last time Ino delved into Naruto's mind, Shikamaru wouldn’t be confident asking her to jump in again, especially given the circumstances. "Is this… normal? For him I mean?" he asked.

"No. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not either," Sakura said, a hand hovering over Naruto's stomach curiously. "Normally, we'd be dealing with a rampaging jinchuuriki right now, but I can't sense any of the fox's chakra outside of what's normal."

"Should we be worried about that?"

"Not until it becomes a problem."

Yeah, that was probably for the best. Shikamaru turned back to the battle. Kiba and Neji were keeping an enraged Hidan on his toes, meanwhile Shino watched on from a safe distance. It was kind of nice to watch such seamless teamwork from the outside. Too bad it was under such dire circumstances. Even without his weapons, Hidan was proving a decent opponent. His body's unnatural durability, and his apparent ability to shrug off the effects of the gentle fist faster than any normal person were giving him an edge. Shikamaru could only chide himself silently. He should have planned for this, set up contingencies even. This was well on its way to becoming as much of a mess as their first run with Akatsuki.

"Shikamaru…"

He turned to Shino, who had somehow appeared next to them. "Yeah?"

Shino adjusted his glasses. "May I have this one?"

Shikamaru felt a shiver run up his spine. Shino had always been strange, even in their younger years, but this… Shikamaru was suddenly quite happy that the Aburame was on their side. "He's all yours." What else was he supposed to say? It wasn’t as if anyone was calling dibs. Shikamaru didn’t care if he delivered the final blow, only that Hidan paid for what he had done to Asuma. If Shino was confident that he could take the immortal, then there was no point in stopping him.

Shino silently made his way back into the fray, leaving Shikamaru and Sakura to return to worrying about Naruto. "Any thoughts?" Shikamaru asked.

"Aren't you meant to the be the genius here?" Sakura argued.

"Not medically. That's your department."

Sakura scoffed. "Yeah, for normal people. Naruto is the furthest thing from normal. Without a seal master on hand, I'm not game enough to mess with anything I don’t understand. If he's unconscious, it's probably for a good reason. He's healed and stable, for now that will have to be good enough."

Shikamaru grumbled but didn’t argue. Anything was a better outcome than Naruto being dead or the Kyuubi going on another rampage. He looked back towards the fight. Hidan looked like he was still having fun, the sick bastard. Whatever Shino was planning on doing, he truly hoped it worked. If not, well… Shikamaru was already planning on how to buy them enough time to escape. They had taken out one Akatsuki member, and even though Hidan was the one Shikamaru was truly after, he didn’t mind postponing his revenge if it meant keeping his friends safe.

So long as everyone got out alive, he'd be content.

"Hey, where's Akamaru?" Sakura asked.

Shikamaru looked around curiously. That was a good question.

{I}

"I warned you."

Naruto hung his head and sighed deeply. "I know."

Kurama rolled his eyes. "And yet, here we are."

"Am I dead?"

"Far from it. Your friends are handling things quite well in your stead," Kurama said. "For the moment, I am keeping you here."

Naruto grunted. He didn’t know the fox could actually do something like that, and if he could, why hadn’t he done so before now? There was no point in thinking too hard about it. Being stuck in here just meant that he wasn’t out there making a mess of things. Probably for the best.

"There are many things I am now capable of. With the seal weakened, my influence grows, and it shall continue to do so," the fox said. "Ever since that night, when that girl saved your life, the seal has been slowly breaking down. It is only a matter of time before it becomes irrelevant."

"What?"

How? Was that even possible? If it was true, then wouldn’t Jiraiya have noticed something? Naruto supposed he should have noticed something himself. The way his body and chakra had been changing in recent years, the way Ino got concerned when he finally returned. He had thought it was all just a result of his near-death experience, a delayed response to the immense amount of bijuu chakra used to bring both Ino and himself back from their injuries. Was that not the case?

"When the girl weakened the seal enough for me to save your life, she inadvertently set in motion a course of events that even I could not have foreseen." Kurama reached out and tapped on the bars of the cage with a single claw. "No doubt it was the reason your training has become of such importance to everyone. They wish for you to become strong enough to subdue me even after the seal fades completely. Not that such efforts will be necessary."

Naruto looked at the piece of paper hanging on the cage. A small piece of one corner was missing, as it always had been since Ino tore it off. At a glance, that was all that was wrong with it, but as he looked closer, he noticed other changes. The paper was discoloured, old and worn in appearance, with the kanji printed upon it visibly faded. If that were not bad enough, the bars of the cage itself were showing signs of age. Spots of rust that oozed faint traces of the beast's chakra, hairline cracks in the steel that did the same. Little imperfections that would have otherwise been harmless on their own, were all adding up.

Naruto swallowed the lump in his throat. "Why didn’t anyone say anything?" Why didn’t Jiraiya say something? Tsunade. Sakura. Someone. Clearly his body was changing due to the chakra, so it wasn't as if there weren’t signs of something being wrong.

"Telling you would amount to nothing but fear, of which you already possess far too much," Kurama said snidely. "If the sage has not rectified the issue already, then there is nothing to be done. The outcome is inevitable. Nothing you or I can do will change anything."

If that were true, then… "So what? The seal is just going to fail and release you?" Naruto asked. No way. There had to be something he could do. His father had entrusted him to keeping the Kyuubi contained. He couldn’t fail that, not so early in his life.

Kurama snorted. "Calm yourself. The process is slow. It will still take years before the seal is completely gone. However, incidents such as this will only cost us precious time. The more of my chakra I am forced to use to keep you alive, the faster the decay."

"But it will fade," Naruto said. "What happens then?"

"Without the seal in place, there will be nothing to limit your access to my chakra. My power will be free to flow through you unimpeded, and should you prove incapable of controlling it, you will die."

Naruto stood there for a minute, silently digesting the information. It was a lot to take in, even for him. Just when he thought the worst of it was behind him, when he thought being hunted down like an animal for what was inside of him was the worst that could possibly come of this burden, suddenly he's proven wrong. Couldn’t the gods let him be right about something, for once? "And if I can control it?" he asked.

Kurama growled softly. "You won't. Despite the alterations to your body, and regardless of how strong you may become, my power is not something any normal human can control. Without my help, it will burn you up until it has consumed you completely."

"Then what the hell am I supposed to do?" Naruto yelled. If he couldn’t do anything to stop the seal from breaking down, and if he had no hope of controlling the fox's chakra, then what was the point in standing here wasting time? He could be out there, fighting to help his friends survive, or at least doing something other than being a burden.

"You will listen, just as I was forced to do when your cursed father explained this to me."

"My dad?"

Naruto of course knew about his father sealing a piece of himself within the seal. Ino had been very sure of what she had seen, and he had no reason to doubt her. What did come as a surprise was that the Kyuubi and his father actually spoke during that time. Not once had Kurama mentioned it. Fair enough, they weren’t exactly friends, but a heads up might have been nice.

"Yes, your father. The only person who actually understands the inner workings of this seal," Kurama spat. "It was he who warned me of the seals condition, the outcome it would lead to, and it was he who dared to ask me to spare your life." The fox scoffed. "Only a human would think a bijuu would willingly kill a child."

"Uhh, wouldn’t you?" Come to think of it, Naruto hadn’t taken the chance to ask much about the fox during any of their previous interactions. He had managed to learn the beast's name, but getting anything else out of him seemed impossible, if not unnecessary. He was starting to realise the error in his lack of foresight. Until now, the fox's cooperation seemed good enough, so he hadn’t bothered pushing his luck.

Kurama stared down at him. "You're still alive, are you not? It would have been a simple matter to let you die many times, but here you still stand."

Naruto crossed his arms and scowled. Kurama made a good point, but there was something else bothering him about this conversation. "Why did you choose right now to tell me anything about this? Couldn’t this have waited until my friends weren’t in danger?"

"Because you are a fool. Tell me, were I not able to hold you here against your will, would you have stayed to hear me out in full?" There was an uncomfortable silence that was louder than any answer Naruto might have given. "I promised your father I would not take advantage of the seals condition to gain my freedom at the cost of your life. I cooperated, allowed you time, permitted you access to my power freely, all of which you have taken for granted. And now, you run to what could have been your death without a care for the consequences."

"I do care!" Naruto yelled. "I knew I could have died coming out here. The moment I became a shinobi, I knew any day could be my last, and I'm fine with that. But those assholes think Ino is your jinchuuriki, or at the very least know she's somehow connected. If they get away now, regardless of what happens to me, they'll hunt her down. Call me an idiot all you like, I don’t care, but I couldn’t just sit at home and wait for them to come after her."

Kurama rolled his eyes. "You are an idiot. But you are not wrong. If Akatsuki intend to do what I believe, then they will seek out any traces of myself and the other bijuu. So long as they are active, the girl will never be safe."

There was something unsettling about having the Kyuubi actually agree with him on something, but Naruto was quick to get over it. Stranger things had happened, so it wasn’t worth getting caught up over. "Exactly. So let me get back and help my friends."

"No. There is still much for us to discuss. My hold on you is fading, so you will regain control in time. However, I will not let this opportunity slip by me," the fox lowered his head and peered through the bars at Naruto. "If you truly wish to keep that girl safe, if you wish to keep me contained within you and not have your parents' deaths be in vain, then you will listen to what I have to say."

For what it was worth, no one could blame Naruto for not wanting to trust the Kyuubi's words at face value. It wasn't as if he and the fox had gotten close over the years, nor had the beast ever attempted to explain itself. Still, it wasn’t as if he was able to go anywhere at the moment. Annoying as it may be, it wouldn’t hurt to hear Kurama out.

"Fine then. Let's hear it."

Kurama smirked. "Let me begin with the deal I made with your father… and then we can discuss the matter of your mother."

That made Naruto's stern demeanour falter. His mother? He knew she was the Kyuubi's vessel before him, but assuming the fox's attitude had been the same back then, Naruto couldn’t imagine Kurama knowing much about Kushina. A trick?

"Not a trick of mine," Kurama said amusedly. "You didn’t think your father was the only one to seal a piece of themselves away within you, did you?"

No…

"She has been waiting for you… what say we don’t keep her waiting much longer."

{I}

Shino was, for the most part, a person of few words. That wasn’t to say he didn’t have much to say at any given moment but growing up among his clan had resulted in a respect for the less obvious forms of communication. The Aburame were not an overly famous clan, a fact that they were very content with. Subtlety was the name of the game for a shinobi, and few embodied that idea more than the Aburame. Over the course of generations, they had perfected the art of communicating and developing a symbiotic relationship with various species of insects, all of which communicated in a variety of ways. As such, to say Shino, or anyone else from his clan, were oddly quiet, would be both correct and also hilariously incorrect.

In truth, the Aburame were arguably worse chatterboxes than any other clan within Konoha; they simply preferred to communicate in ways few ever noticed. Some were in on it, to an extent. The Yamanaka knew about these alternative forms of communication, though thankfully had no way of reliably eavesdropping on any of it. The Uchiha were probably a little more aware of it back in the day, but they weren’t an issue anymore, not that they would have bothered to try and mingle with the Aburame. Surprisingly, it was the Inuzuka and the Hyuuga who proved most amicable with the Aburame's peculiarities, which Shino supposed was part of the reason for his team's formation.

The Hyuuga, despite their uptight nature, and the Inuzuka, with their aloof demeanours, were both far more perceptive than they often let on. In the cases of Hinata and Kiba, both were exceptional, not only in their talent for their respective clans' skills, but also in their willingness to accept Shino and his oddities. Over the years, the three of them had developed a strong friendship and method of teamwork. Sadly, Hinata was missing in this particular moment, but Neji was the perfect stand in for her, and together they were proving just as capable.

From the moment the situation had become apparent, Shino had been hard at work to undo any efforts made by Hidan to further harm any of his friends. His hive had been significantly reduced in the fight with Kakuzu, so his actions were limited. Destroying the ritualistic circle was a simple enough task that required very few insects, but it was the next part that required some precision. Using his bugs to communicate with Neji wasn’t quite as easy as it would have been with Hinata, but the Hyuuga was a quick learner and trusting enough to go with the flow. Kiba was all too simple to impart his plan with.

The main goal was rather ordinary; Keep Hidan away from Naruto and Sakura, while also refusing to let him make another circle. Neji and Kiba had been succeeding in this part of the plan for some minutes now, leaving Shino to patiently wait on the sidelines. He wasn’t stagnant however, utilizing what insects he had available to continue draining chakra from Hidan and disperse it between his teammates to keep them going. If this were a normal fight, that would have been enough. No one could compete in a battle of attrition against the well-oiled machine that the three shinobi were. That was, unfortunately, unless you put an immortal into the equation.

"You little bastards are so annoying," Hidan yelled, aiming a punch for Neji's face.

Kiba was quick to intercept the strike with a kick, following it up with another kick. Neji whirled around and continued his own onslaught of precise strikes that, while not as effective as they should have been, were still slowing the immortal down. The two boys were formidable in taijutsu on their own, but paired together it was an amusingly one-sided fight. Without his weapons to draw blood, or the time and space to make another circle, Hidan was left with no other option than to rely on his immortality and hope his opponents wore themselves out. A respectable strategy, and one that might have even worked. Too bad Shino didn’t intend for it to last that long.

A rustling sound at his side caught Shino's attention and he smiled from behind his raised collar. The ground gave way and from a small hole in the earth crawled a very dirty Akamaru who cheerfully yipped before trying to shake himself clean. Shino knelt down and patted the dog on the head. "All set?" he asked, receiving an excited bark and nod of the head. "Good boy."

Reaching into his pouch, Shino pulled out a small vial that was quickly taken from his hand by some of his bugs and flown straight down into the hole Akamaru had come from. The dog in question wasted little time in rejoining his master, adding his own teeth and claws into the fight, much to Hidan's dismay. Wordlessly, Shino's intentions were relayed to his teammates, and they acted accordingly. Without letting up on their vicious attacks, Neji, Kiba, and Akamaru began slowly pushing and baiting Hidan into position. Everything fell right into place when the three finally got Hidan right where they needed him, immediately backing off and circling the Akatsuki member as they breathed heavily.

Hidan took a deep breath and cracked his neck. "Is that it?" he asked.

Aside from a few claw and bite marks, and the quickly fading bruises of the gentle fist, Hidan looked little worse than he had when the fight had begun. Even the injuries Naruto had caused were showing some signs of mending. Shino wasn’t worried, however. His friends had done their part, and now he could finally do what needed to be done.

You see, of all shinobi, Shino liked to think the Aburame were the most comfortable with the concept of death. Their symbiotic relationship with their respective hives required them to be so. While technically an Aburame wouldn’t outright die if they were to lose their hive, and their hives could potentially find a home in a new host after they passed, the two shared an inseparable bond through the process of life and death. Due to the life span of insects, an Aburame's hive was always in a constant cycle of life and death. The nature of the relationship between host and tenant meant that the Aburame were keenly aware of this from a young age. In a way, it was a comfort for them, taking away much of the fear many other shinobi had to overcome in other ways.

An immortal, who so blatantly spat in the face of the concept of death was something that particularly irked Shino. It was for that reason that he felt it was his duty to remind such an individual of their place within the natural world. No one, and nothing, was exempt from the rules of nature.

"I will offer you a chance to pray to your god… while you still can," Shino said.

Hidan looked at him strangely. "The fuck? What's that supposed to mean? You useless brats aren’t even close to getting one over me yet."

Shino adjusted his glasses. Hidan hadn’t even noticed what had been going on outside of the battle. Perhaps he had given the immortal too much credit. "All things die. It is the natural order. You are no exception."

"That's what you heathens think. But I alone have been gifted the right to transcend mortality. Lord Jashin has blessed me, and for that I promise to send all of your miserable souls straight to him." Hidan laughed, a mad and unsettling cackle. Whether or not this god, Jashin, actually existed, Hidan's devotion to it was disturbingly real, and the insanity that seemed to accompany said devotion was just as worrying. "I'm going to kill all of you. Every last one. And then I'll hunt down your friends, your families, your entire bloodlines. Jashin will have everything. So long as I live, I will enact Jashin's will, and I can never die. You might as well roll over and give up. My victory is just a matter of time."

Neji hung his head. "Please tell me I never sounded this bad."

Kiba snickered. "Umm, maybe a little bit."

Shino kept his opinion to himself, but yes, Neji was rather bad back in their youth. All that talk of fate could certainly get on people's nerves. He raced through some hand seals. The chance to pray to his god had been given and wasted. There was no point in prolonging what was to come. "Earth style: Fissure." Shino placed his hands on the ground and his preparations proved just as effective as he had hoped. The earth beneath Hidan cracked and crumbled, giving way as he fell into the surprisingly large hollow underneath. Even Shino was surprised by the size of the hole. He knew Akamaru was a good digger, but this exceeded expectations.

At the bottom of the hole, Hidan shrugged off the pieces of earth that had fallen on top of him. "Very funny. Bury me alive. No one has ever thought of that one before," he muttered sarcastically. "Stupid fucking heathen bastards. Nothing but time-wasting cheap tricks. Fuck it stinks down here."

Shino stood at the edge of the hole and peered down into it. Kiba and Akamaru recoiled and moved away, with the former holding his nose. Neji's eyes widened as he too slowly backed away from the hole. The stench Hidan was referring to was none other than the result of years of careful testing and pheromone engineering conducted by the Aburame clan. Admittedly, Shino may have gone overboard by using an entire vial, but considering the circumstances he figured that it was better to overdo it than fall short. To an extent, he was pleased at having the opportunity to try this strategy out. Shino had discussed it with his team before, but they had all deemed it too extreme to put someone through. No one would question him on using it this time.

It took a surprising amount of effort to keep his own insects from reacting to the pheromones released, a testament to the intensity. Unlike most creatures, insects were surprisingly developed when it came to communication through pheromones, often able to mark things for various purposes with them. Nothing too complex, of course, but the messages were clear and unmistakable. Currently, the message Shino had marked the hole with, the message that was all over Hidan, was one that few insects would ignore. Food.

"Kill or be killed. Your god seems awfully human in its desires. Spilling blood and causing pain without reason or thought," Shino said. "Murder and war are human constructs. Always changing and evolving until eventually it fades away. In nature, there are only two certainties. Life and death. One fuelling the other in an endless cycle." As he spoke, the ground beneath Hidan began to hum. The walls lining the hole shifted and vibrated with unseen movement, and the nearby trees came alive with the sounds of all manner of creatures.

Hidan stomped the ground. "What the fuck would you know? You don’t know anything of death."

Shino continued, unbothered by Hidan's words. "You and your god have forgotten the most important truth of life and death. One that existed long before us humans tried to put reason and meaning to everything we do. It isn't a kill or be killed world… it's eat or be eaten."

Whatever Hidan might have wanted to say was drowned out by a deep rumbling. Shino chose that moment to put some distance between himself and the pit. The rumbling got louder, the earth around the hole gave way to a sea of black that spewed in and swept Hidan away. His would be screams died as the black mass filled his mouth. Wings fluttered against his skin, thousands of legs crawled across and under his clothes. Pincers and beaks nipped at his open wounds, and despite how hard he flailed about, Hidan couldn’t get away.

From all around, above, and below, every insect within range of the pheromones responded in droves. Again, Shino would be the first to consider it overkill. But as the hole in the earth filled with a writhing mass of gluttonous hunger, he couldn’t help but feel proud of his work. His clan would also be very pleased to learn how effective the results of their experiments could prove to be. Insects of all kinds and species, happily forgoing any previous issues or incompatibilities, all for the sake of a common goal. It was an overwhelming force, and maybe a bit cruel by most standards, but most notably… it was beautiful.

Shino was grateful for his collar and hood that concealed most of his face. He didn’t need his friends seeing the smile he was wearing right now.

{I}

Ino had no idea what they would be stumbling upon when they finally caught up to the group. Everyone could have been dead, or maybe the Akatsuki duo were dead, perhaps the battle was still dragging on and backup would be appreciated. In the end, she decided it was better to not let her imagination run wild. The only thing Ino could be sure of was that Naruto was still alive. The ever growing pull on the Kyuubi's chakra told her that much, even if it failed to give her a good idea of what to expect of his condition. If Naruto was lucky, he'd be well enough to survive the ass-kicking he so rightfully deserved.

The scene she and the team walked into was interesting to say the least. There was a giant hole in the ground, filled to the brim with a squirming mass of every kind of creepy, crawling, and buzzing creature that made Ino's skin crawl in all the worst ways. Shino was standing not too far from said hole, a notebook in hand as he furiously scribbled away. Kiba, Akamaru, and Neji weren’t far behind, all watching on with varying degrees of horror. Ino would have joined them had it not been for the next thing she saw.

Sakura and Shikamaru… kneeling beside an unconscious Naruto. The strength of the chakra pull was stronger than ever, and yet it was completely overpowered by Ino's inability to move. Her body was frozen in place, mouth dry, and eyes fixated on Naruto's chest. He was still breathing, that was good. But then why was Sakura wearing such an unsure expression? Why was Shikamaru doing his nerd pose? Where the hell were the Akatsuki?

"Well, shit. Looks like we walked into a mess. Least the brats are still alive," Anko said, looking around boredly. "I'll take the creepy bug pit."

Anko barely got finished talking before Ino sprinted in Naruto's direction. Sakura and Shikamaru were shocked at her sudden appearance, though not enough to keep them from moving out of Ino's way. She found herself kneeling beside him, one hand on his chest and another on his forehead. Sakura had been treating him, so there wasn’t any doubt as to the quality of care Naruto had received. Ino herself couldn't dream of holding a candle to Sakura's skill with medical jutsu. Still, she was no slacker, and if Naruto wasn’t awake yet it meant something was wrong.

Her senses delved deep from her fingertips as her friends watched on silently. There was a noticeable look of shame on both of their faces. Ino didn’t care about shame and regret right now. The safety of her friends was all that mattered. The diagnostic jutsu returned the same result the three times she used it. Naruto's body was physically fine, but that was only part of it. Ino had her own unique twist on the diagnosis jutsu, what with her Yamanaka training, and that led her to a rather discomforting discovery. His mind, his consciousness, was locked off. It was still there, along with the Kyuubi's presence, that much Ino could tell, but both were buried so deep. Ino had only sensed something similar in coma patience.

"What happened?" she asked, voice sharp and to the point. Rage was still bubbling away within her, and despite the love she had for her friends, they couldn’t be allowed the comfort of thinking she wasn’t pissed about all of this.

"Hidan used that blood technique on him," Sakura answered. "It would have been a fatal wound, but the Kyuubi is keeping him alive."

Ino tsk'd. That damned fox rearing its head again to save Naruto's life. She wondered what the price would be this time. They still didn’t fully understand the consequences of last time, and now there was no telling what could happen. On a positive note, at least Naruto wasn’t rampaging around like he usually did when something like this happened. She sighed deeply. It could have been a lot worse she supposed. Her hands came together in a rapid series of seals and she reached her hand back to Naruto's forehead.

"Don't," Shikamaru said, grabbing Ino's wrist before she could touch Naruto. "Remember what happened last time. We don’t know what is going on here, or how Hidan's technique has affected him. Diving into his mind could end bad for everyone."

"Then what do you suggest, genius?" Ino asked. "We have to do something."

Sakura placed her hand reassuringly on Ino's shoulder. "He's stable. That's more than we could have hoped for, all things considered. Once we get him back to the village, we can focus on figuring out what's wrong with him."

Ino shrugged Sakura's hand off of her and stood up. "There wouldn’t be anything wrong with him at all if you idiots hadn’t run out here by yourselves. Naruto I can understand being an impulsive moron sometimes, but the rest of you…" Ino took a deep breath to hold back her need to scream at them. "What were you even thinking? Do you know how lucky it was that we could even find you?"

They each had the decency to avert their eyes in shame. That was about as much as Ino could expect for now. Here wasn’t the place or time for serious apologies or regrets. Her gaze lingered on Naruto for a time, and she found herself feeling that similar sensation of dread that she had when she and her team had left Asuma to cover their escape. That pain of losing her sensei was still so fresh, so clear in her mind. How did any of her friends think that doing this would be okay? How did Naruto? It was a miracle that all of them were still alive, but what if that hadn’t been the case? Whether or not shinobi had to be prepared for death at any turn was irrelevant. Their recklessness and thoughtlessness had nearly caused her and many others immense pain, for which they would certainly pay.

"We can discuss this more once we are back in the village," Kakashi said, appearing at Ino's side. "I will carry Naruto. Are you two right to travel?"

The two nodded, and without another word Ino helped Kakashi pull Naruto onto his back. Travelling like this would be a little slower, but at least they didn’t have the Akatsuki to worry about anymore. Ino gave Naruto, Shikamaru, and Sakura another quick once over before they headed off, during which Anko and the others made their way towards them. Much to Ino's surprise, Anko looked pale and kept making not so subtle glances at Shino.

"Something wrong?" she asked.

Anko gave a strained chuckle. "Technically, no."

"Hidan is dealt with," Shino said, clearing his throat. "By the time the pheromones wear off, there will be nothing left in that pit, not even bones."

Everyone shuddered at the Aburame's words. The brutality of his actions was justifiable, but the relaxed and uncaring way he spoke about it was… concerning. Sometimes it was jarring to realise that some of their friends and allies could be considered monsters by others. With a few small preparations, the group readied to leave. Aside from some scrapes and bruises, along with a couple of cases of near chakra exhaustion, the whole group were in pretty good condition. The mission reports would be easy enough at least. Just as they were about to leave, the constant churn of buzzing, crunching, and skittering emanating from the pit came to a sudden stop. Shino froze as his own hive began audibly buzzing from beneath his coat.  

 "Shino?" Kakashi asked.

Neji turned his byakugan on and looked over towards the pit. "We should leave."

"Leave?"

Hidan's voice was raspy and strained, barely heard from beneath the now unmoving mass of insects. A hand was the first thing to protrude from the hole, skin half eaten, two fingers missing and the bones of the forearm clearly visible in some spots. It clutched at the edge of the pit as Hidan dragged himself out. The rest of his body wasn’t fairing too well. Any wounds he had from before had been opened up and cleaned out with surgical precision. Flesh and skin had been stripped away in droves; it was a miracle the man was even able to move at all. As he crawled out of the pit, spitting out a mouthful of dead bugs, his one remaining eye glared furiously at the group.

"You can't leave when things have only just started getting fun," he said, smiling at them. Clutched in his right hand, ripped from the gaping hole in his side, was one of his own ribs, jagged and sharp, and more than effective as a makeshift weapon.

"You killed them," Shino said, looking down at the bugs at Hidan's feet.

Hidan stomped down and twisted his foot into the ground, squishing the dead insects under his heel. "Hardly consider it killing. These soulless vermin aren’t even worth sacrificing to lord Jashin. Vile little creatures." He shook the rest of the dead bugs from his person, making sure to stomp some more into the ground for extra measure. "The rest of you though… I'll make sure Jashin gets every drop of pain and suffering out of you before I take your worthless lives."

It was a sickening sight, to watch a living corpse threaten and insult you. Ino wasn't sure what to make of it really. Part of her was enraged, furious that this asshole was still breathing in spite of everything, but another part of her was horrified. Just what would it take to kill someone like this? Seeing him standing there like this, it really put everything into perspective. Her team, Asuma, none of them stood a chance on their first encounter. And this was who Naruto had been trying to fight by himself?

"Anything we should know?" Kakashi asked, shifting Naruto on his back.

"Well, he's survived everything we've thrown at him so far. Not much else to know," Sakura said.

Shikamaru pulled another set of kunai out. "If he can ingest your blood, he can make you suffer any wound he inflicts on himself," he explained. "Only thing that might work is cutting off his head, but I can't make any guarantees. Whatever we do, I don't think killing him should be our goal. Just stopping him will have to be good enough."

"We can still make it hurt the whole time, right?" Anko asked.

"Yes."

The world burst into motion. Anko went first, summoning a large snake that lunged at Hidan. Shikamaru's shadow followed, using the snake to extend his range as it closed in on his target. Kakashi palmed Naruto off to Neji and Kiba who retreated to a safe distance, meanwhile Shino and Sakura joined Anko in charging headfirst into the fray.

Hidan reacted, quicker than he should have been able to. He thrust his makeshift weapon into the snakes gaping mouth, piercing up into its skull and dispelling it. As it vanished, so too did its shadow, and Shikamaru's tendril of darkness fell a few feet short. Bone met steel as Hidan deflected Anko's kunai away from his neck and shoved her aside. Sakura's fist collided with his jaw, broken teeth spilling from his mouth as his head spun around with a sickening crunch. Hidan was unbothered, letting his body follow his heads momentum and spin around into a kick to Sakura's stomach that pushed her back.

As Hidan's head twisted itself back into place, Shino was upon him. Despite his more reserved nature, Shino was no slouch when it came to taijutsu. The two traded blows on equal standing, and Shino managed to keep himself clear of the crazed man's weapon, all the while his hive did what they did best. With each block and passing glance Shino passed along more and more of his tiny army. Draining chakra seemed to be doing nothing against Hidan, but at least it kept his hive fed and could prove useful if any of the team needed a pick me up.

"You think those are going to help?" Hidan asked, slashing at Shino with his rib and forcing him to back off just enough to give him the space. "I'm not just a one trick pony, ya know." With that, he turned the weapon on himself, plunging it straight into his chest. What bugs were on him dropped to the ground, dead. The grass around his feet shrivelled and the very air seemed to go stale within his presence. Hidan took a deep breath and smiled. "This brings me back. Sometimes I forget that Jashin is the end of all things, that he can enjoy the final moments of any life. I'll make sure you and your little bugs die last. Repayment for reminding me to enjoy the simple things that led me to the glory of my god."

As this went on, Ino watched from a distance. She knew better than to rush in against Hidan, and unlike the others, she had seen him in action the most. Between her and Shikamaru, there had to be some plan that could be formulated to take him out. They owed that much to their friends, to themselves… to Asuma. If their sensei's sacrifice was going to mean anything, it would be making sure that his life was the last one taken by this maniac.

"Anything?" she asked in a hushed voice.

Shikamaru had his hands together, eyes locked onto Hidan as the others continued to keep him preoccupied. "He's carved that symbol into his skin."

Ino found it quickly. A triangle set within a circle, carved into what patches of fresh skin he had left, more than once. How he found the time, let alone the concentration, to do so amidst everything that was going on… if Ino wasn’t so disgusted by the man's existence she would be hell bent on studying the no doubt record long list of mental illnesses that could lead to this level of deluded devotion.

"Whatever technique he's using now, it's not as strong as his main one," Shikamaru said. "If it was, he would have used it to kill someone by now. I don’t think it works on people, but look" -he gestured to Hidan, who was now moving fast enough to keep up with all three opponents with little challenge, as well as being able to take hits from Sakura with growing resistance- "Something else is going on."

That was an understatement. With every hit Hidan took from Sakura, every lethal stab from Anko, the grass where he stood would die, and any of Shino's insects that were within a certain perimeter would fall lifelessly to the ground. Injuries that should have killed him, or at least slowed him down, were instead empowering him. The more they fought him, the stronger he would get, and the more certain their deaths would be. Ino didn’t know if his god actually existed, but whatever powers he was being blessed with sure weren’t natural.

"We need to get away from him," she said.

If only it were that simple. Killing Hidan would be preferable, but if it cost them more friends in the process… cutting their losses and getting home was better than nothing.

"Agreed," Shikamaru said. "You have anything that could buy some time to make a break for it?"

Ino frowned. There were plenty of techniques that the Yamanaka had that could have been perfect for situations like this, but Ino didn’t know them, or wasn’t proficient enough to pull off without some serious prep time. Shikamaru probably already knew all about those techniques, just as he knew that there was no guarantee of which ones Ino could use. Suddenly all those times her dad complained about her not delving deeper into the clan's library were replaying themselves in the back of her mind. She hated when he was right.

"If you can hold him down for a few seconds, there's something I can try," she said. Annoyingly, her tone didn’t convey much confidence. How could it? There was no guarantee anything she threw at Hidan would work.

Shikamaru nodded. "I'll see what I can do."

{I}

Something was wrong. That much was obvious. Neji didn’t need the powers of the byakugan to see how deep in shit they had managed to dig themselves. It was a good thing he had agreed to tag along, as stupid of a decision as it might have seemed at the time. Sure, he could have run off and alerted the higher ups, but that wouldn’t have stopped anything. Putting pressure on the team would only force them to act quicker, make more mistakes, and likely lead to someone he cared about dying. Tagging along, helping them out, and keeping an eye on things was Neji's way of making sure nothing bad happened.

It wasn’t going too well.

His eyes were burning. A combination of overusing his Dojutsu and trying to focus on too many things at once. From a safe distance he was watching the battle unfold with a growing level of concern. Hidan wasn't wearing out, he wasn't slowing down; in fact, he was rapidly becoming a much greater threat. His chakra was growing, strength increasing, and wounds were slowly healing, all directly connected to whatever technique he was using to kill Shino's insects and everything around him. Perhaps killing wasn’t the right word. Absorbing their life force, maybe. Only it wasn’t that simple. If it was merely absorbing chakra and life force, Neji might have been able to see the transfer.

Hidan was only part of the problem, and not the subject of the majority of Neji's attention. Naruto was where the real problems laid. Ever since the chunin exams, Neji had taken extra care to observe Naruto whenever possible. Figuring out the source of that demonic chakra that resided within Naruto had been the easy part, especially after the mission to save the Kazekage. When Naruto finally came clean to everyone, Neji had been relieved. Now, instead of keeping an eye on Naruto out of concern for what he could do, he had been doing it out of concern for his friend's wellbeing.

This was how, with everything going on, Neji could see that something wasn't right. Naruto was still unconscious, suspended by his arms between both Kiba and himself. Inside him though, beneath the seal on his stomach, the power of the Kyuubi stirred strangely. Neji was wary from the last time Naruto had lost control, and so he devoted as much attention to the Uzumaki as he could afford. It didn’t appear as though the fox was at risk of rampaging again, so for now he was remaining calm. But with everything happening, Neji had no idea what any of them could do should the worst come to pass.

"We should be in there helping," Kiba said.

"No," Neji said. "Keeping Naruto safe takes priority. If Akatsuki get their hands on him then all of this will be for nothing."

Rather ironic since it was technically Naruto who had led them all out here in the first place. Regardless of whatever growth the boy had achieved in recent years, Neji was still of the opinion that Naruto was a fool at his core. An earnest and trustworthy fool, but a fool, nonetheless. Who else in their right mind would lead a team to hunt down the very people who were actively hunting you. The argument could be made that making the first move was better than sitting and waiting to be tracked down, though Neji would have much preferred some time and effort be put into planning such a strategy.

Sadly, Naruto was still Naruto, and charging headfirst into any problem had yet to fail him. Neji's eyes focused on the unconscious Uzumaki as he frowned. It would be unfortunate if today was the day for the boy's luck to finally run out.

"Do we start heading back without them?" Kiba asked. A bold question, and one that the Inuzuka was very much at war with based on his tone. Loyalty ran deep within his clan, so it made sense that the idea of retreating while their comrades put their lives on the line was at the bottom of his list of desires. Still, it was a good question.

Neji shook his head. "No. There is still time. We only leave if it looks hopeless."

By all rights, they should have left before they began. They didn’t have the right to be out here on an unsanctioned, self-imposed ninja hunt. Hopefully, whatever punishment they returned to wouldn’t be too extreme.

"Neji…"

The two froze at the weak voice as the weight on their shoulders lessened ever so slightly. Naruto shifted in their grasp, trying to find his own feet underneath him before Neji and Kiba helped him sit down on the ground.

"Easy, man," Kiba said. "Don't push yourself."

"Need… to go…"

Neji placed a firm hand on Naruto's shoulder. "You aren’t going anywhere."

Naruto pushed back weakly. "Not me… you," he said. "Everyone… you all need to go."

Neji was about to protest but stopped himself. Naruto's eyes were red. Beneath the surface, red chakra spewed from the seal and began filling Naruto's body. There was something different about it this time. Unlike the other time Neji witnessed the Kyuubi's power, the demonic chakra wasn’t consuming Naruto in a raging flood; this time it was slowly flowing through him in a controlled state, growing by the second.

"Please," Naruto pleaded through gritted teeth. His nails extended into claws, teeth sharpening. "I don't want anyone getting hurt."

"What's going on, Naruto?" Kiba asked.

Naruto grinned nervously. "Oh, you know, just a deal with the devil."

Whatever that meant, whatever Neji hoped it didn’t mean, he knew better than to stick around and find out. He trusted Naruto completely, so no matter what, he knew nothing would happen to any of their comrades, not on purpose anyway. Without another word, he grabbed Kiba and began running, Akamaru following close behind. As they ran, the aura of what was happening behind them only became stronger. It was more than the last time, or rather, it felt far more potent, less restrained, so controlled. Neji didn’t like it.

"Neji…"

He frowned. "I know."

They needed to make sure the others got away too.

{I}

Naruto got to his feet and let out an uneasy breath. It felt so much different this time, and yet, he couldn’t stop the voice in the back of his head from screaming about how bad of idea this was. Or maybe that was just the fox as well, trying its hand at reverse psychology to goad him into following along with its plan. Smart. Or maybe Naruto was just dumb. Probably both. Naruto was dreading the consequences of this already. Too bad Ino wasn’t with him right now to talk him out of it or punch him into a better direction. Who would have thought there would come a day when he would actually wish for one of Ino's not so gentle love taps.

"I am more than willing to strike you on her behalf."

He snorted. "You would enjoy it too much," he said. It was strange, talking to the fox in such a relaxed way. Somehow, the lack of rage behind its chakra, the absence of burning agony that usually accompanied it, made it so much easier to remain calm. "I'm putting a lot of trust in you here. Promise I won't regret it?"

"I gave you my word, did I not," the fox said. "There is still much we have to discuss. My life will not be given up so easily, even if that means keeping yours safe… for now."

Naruto closed his eyes, opening them to the sight of the fox grinning from behind bars. "And my friends? Ino?"

The Kyuubi rolled his eyes. "I won't harm them."

It wasn’t a promise, not even close. Sadly, it was as good as Naruto could hope for. He nodded his head. The gate didn’t open, and the seal continued to hold strong. Nothing had changed, and everything had. As it turned out, his father was far more forward thinking than anyone gave him credit for, in some ways at least. The seal was designed to do many things, not all of which were obvious until it became relevant. Like right now for instance, where Naruto discovered that the seal was designed to allow cooperation between the tenant and vessel. How it was able to do that, or how the fox knew of said function to begin with, would have to be looked into later.

In the real world, Naruto opened his eyes again, only it wasn’t Naruto. He stretched, wiggling his fingers experimentally and breathing deeply. Not his own body, and certainly not true freedom, but even a moment of freedom was worth savouring. There was no telling how long the seal would allow this state of affairs to hold, and if either of them so much as thought of breaking the terms of the agreement then that time could be severely reduced. It loathed the fox to admit it, but he was truly bound to his word in this moment. If he wanted to ensure his own survival, he would have to do everything in his power- which was admittedly rather limited at the moment -to ensure the survival of his host… and the others if possible.

"How you humans accomplish anything with these less than adequate bodies," he grumbled. "So bland and without tasteful design."

'You're wasting time.'

Kurama clicked his tongue and turned back in the direction of the battle. Had he access to his full power, his true form, this would be a simple obstacle to overcome. Oh well. It was time to see just what the limits of the seal, and Naruto's body, was capable of.

Who knew… it might even be fun.

{I}

Thing were going poorly. Oh, who was she kidding? Everything had gone to shit. Ino ducked under a kick from Hidan, making sure to leave a few poison senbon in his leg as it passed her by. Some good it did. Even her most lethal poison wasn’t doing anything to the immortal. Anko's efforts were much the same. The only ones able to do anything were Shikamaru and Sakura, and that only got them so far. Shikamaru was nearing the end of his rope, both physically and chakra wise. His shadow jutsu was currently reserved for running momentary interference, providing small openings and halting Hidan's attempts at acting on any of their own openings.

Speaking of which, Hidan froze in place, his makeshift weapon stopping just shy of Shino's throat. Sakura blurred into existence right next to him, her fist slamming into the side of his face. A hit that should have sent him souring through the air instead did nothing more than force him to stumble back, his jaw noticeably broken. With a sharp jerk, his jaw snapped back into place.

"What's the matter? Getting weak on me, bitch?" he spat.

Sakura smirked. "Not even close."

A terrible bluff. Ino knew, just as everyone else did, probably even Hidan. Sakura was burning out, they all were. Hidan wasn’t just an opponent, he was an insurmountable pain in the ass. At least with Kakuzu there had been a clear end in sight to the battle. Sakura had already tried exploding Hidan's heart inside his chest, which sadly hadn’t done anything. They were running out of options, out of steam, out of chakra, out of time.

"Chidori."

Hidan let out a gurgled sigh of annoyance as Kakashi's hand pierced through his back and out his front. Ino scrunched her face up at the sight. No one should be able to look so unbothered by such an attack. "Is this all you morons can manage?" Hidan asked. "You think you can do anything I haven’t done to myself already? This is getting boring."

Kakashi pulled his hand back as Hidan thrust his foot back at him. Anko swept his other leg out from under him, a kunai slicing through his throat as he fell. The snake summoner cartwheeled out of the way of a wild slash and Hidan rolled back onto his feet. Ino closed the gap, engaging Hidan as fast and viscously as she could. While nowhere near as strong as Sakura, her hits were easily the most effective of the others present.

Then, she froze, a disturbing weight finding itself at home in her stomach. The Kyuubi's chakra within her flared uncomfortable. It was unexpected enough to catch her off guard. Shikamaru was a genius, but he wasn’t omniscient, and he definitely wasn’t the fastest shinobi going. It was quick, almost painless, over before Ino could begin to start berating herself for her slip up. Her shoulder stung for a second before Hidan kicked her in the stomach and sent her tumbling back. Shino was by her side immediately, Anko and Kakashi putting themselves between them and Hidan. It was no use; the damage was done. Ino rolled her shoulder, the cut burned as he healed itself. Hidan's tongue was already wiping across his weapon.

"Shit," she hissed, mostly to herself.

"Don't let him make a circle!" Shikamaru yelled, charging in to keep Hidan busy.

Hidan laughed. "You think I need that? With all the preparations I've made already?" Shikamaru stopped dead in his tracks at his words and Hidan grinned. "You heathens are all the same. Thinking you know everything just by seeing it once. You take everything for what it is, never bothering to rely on faith. That is why your useless gods don’t care about you, why they ignore your prayers. Jashin is different. He is everything a god should be, and so much more. Here… let me show the power of a real god."

He plunged the piece of bone into his opposite arm, relishing in the pain. Ino's breath caught in her throat as she waited to experience the same pain, only it never came. The chakra stirring away inside her stopped abruptly. Everyone looked at her questioningly, and Ino could do nothing but blink owlishly in confusion, an expression matched by Hidan.

Anko's head snapped back and forth between the two. "Was something meant to happen?"

"What the fuck?" Hidan cursed, stabbing himself in the stomach and watching Ino once more intently. Nothing. "This doesn’t normally happen."

Anko snorted. "I've heard that one before."

"Guess your god isn’t as powerful as you thought," Shikamaru said.

Hidan growled angrily and stabbed himself again, this time in the leg, his eyes never leaving Ino. Again, nothing happened. Ino was at a loss. She turned her attention to her comrades, only to find that none of them were looking at her anymore. She felt Shino practically buzz next to her as his insects reacted to something. Ino didn’t have to wait long to find out what it was.

"You think this is what real pain feels like?"

Ino's eyes widened as she spun around to the voice, a voice she hoped she would never have to hear again. Standing there, behind them, was Naruto, or what should have been Naruto. His eyes were red, and he exuded an aura of power that didn’t feel quite right. Wounds mirroring Hidan's self-inflicted injuries were already bubbling away to nothing beneath a carefully controlled sheen of red chakra. Of all the worst-case scenarios that any of them could have run through their minds, this wasn't one of them.

"Kurama?" Ino whispered, earning the amused attention of the beast wearing Naruto's skin.

As if to make things more uncomfortable, he smiled at her before returning his attention to Hidan. "You talk of god, but what would you know of him? You were not there when he graced this world with his presence, when he protected your miserable kind from powers beyond your understanding, when he took humanity under his guidance and taught them the skills necessary to become more than mindless monkeys toiling away in the mud."

He was ignoring them all, his words coated with a clear distaste for humanity as a whole as he slowly made his way toward Hidan.

"What are you babbling about?" Hidan asked. "You think changing your eyes is going to make a difference? I don’t know how you're still alive, and I don’t care. Jashin is the only true god. You'll see as soon as I send you to him."

Hidan's bone blade pierced his chest, straight into his own heart, and the wound appeared immediately on Naruto's body.

Kurama didn’t so much as flinch, the wound being burnt away within seconds of appearing. That only seemed to piss Hidan off. The fox continued to speak, unimpeded by the interruption. "Whatever you worship, it is no god. Just some other delusion your kind has created. This technique, this ritual of yours, it works on chakra stolen through the blood of your victims. How foolish you were to not consider what other chakra that would leave you open to."

"Eh?" Hidan peered over to Ino. "Two jinchuuriki?"

"If only it were that simple," Kurama muttered. "You have taken something of mine, and no matter how small and insignificant it may be, you do have the luxury of my blessing to hold onto it. I want it back. Now."

As if on command, Hidan keeled over and threw up a concerning amount of blood. Unlike every other time that he received an injury, this one didn’t elicit an expression of pleasure from the immortal. He still didn’t look hurt, only confused and a little shocked.

"What… the fuck?"

Ino had much the same question running through her own mind. She would have loved to take this opportunity to dive straight into Naruto's head, if not only to make sure that he was still okay somewhere in there, but also to get the answers to some hotly burning questions she now had. Sadly, it would have to wait. Neji and Kiba landed nearby, both just as unnerved by what was going on as the rest of them. They said something about Naruto making a deal, but Ino wasn’t paying attention. Her focus was on the two staring each other down like two wild animals fighting over their prey.

Hidan was a monster of the highest order, as far as humans went that was. The question now was how that type of monster compared to the real article. The Kyuubi was so much more than a monster, any idiot could tell that much. No man, nor any mortal creature, could hope to compare to any of the bijuu. Naruto's instances of lapse in control had given some of them a brief glimpse into the horror of what something like the Kyuubi could unleash, a glimpse into what their parents had faced all those years ago before any of them could remember.

This wasn’t anything like that. It was nothing like the previous outbursts, nothing like the stories the civilians of Konoha still clung to after all this time, nothing like the memories Ino had the honour of reliving from those who had been there that night. There was no rage, no bloodlust, no oppressive blanket of power pressing down on them. Ino knew what that meant. Naruto wasn’t fighting to regain control, and the Kyuubi wasn’t where he was out of force. It was… strange. The idea of a perfect jinchuuriki had always intrigued her, but was this what that meant? Was this Naruto and Kurama finally coming to an agreement?

"Ino…"

She was shaken from her thoughts by a hand on her shoulder.

"We need to go," Neji said.

Normally, Ino would argue. Leaving Naruto here by himself, even with his current condition, was not something that should have been considered. And yet, Ino knew it was the right move. They regrouped quickly, paying careful attention to Naruto and Hidan. Ino cast one more worried look towards the two before they began putting some distance between them and whatever was about to happen.

'I hope you know what you're doing, Naruto.'

{I}

Kurama was disgusted. Not in his current physical limitations, though that too was an uncomfortable thing to get used to. The hands were similar enough, albeit lacking the useful addition of claws. The mouth was all wrong, and don’t even get him started on the lack of so much as a single tail. How his father was able to live in this kind of form was beyond him. Still, it wasn’t all bad. Feeling the world through a living, breathing body was… interesting. Even the pain the fool before him was attempting to inflict on him was a new experience.

He felt Naruto's comrade's retreat. Good. They were smart enough to know when they were not needed somewhere. Not that they were in any real danger. A thousand years was enough time for anyone, or anything, to learn how to avoid collateral damage. Humans were the only ones who struggled with restraint in that regard. This human in particular. So messy, so careless, and frustratingly delusional.

"I can smell her chakra… still lingering in your filth of a body," he said. He had known that some of his kin had been captured already, but now that he was facing someone directly responsible for the loss of one of his own… Matatabi may have been weak, but she didn’t deserve that fate. Kurama was going to enjoy this.

Hidan gave a blood-filled smile. "Oh yeah. That other bitch. You know, even though I didn’t get to kill the bijuu myself, it still felt good hearing it scream when we sealed it away. You seem like a real tough type. Wonder what your screams will sound like."

Kurama smirked. "Only one of us will be screaming today."

"You're right about that!"

Hidan rushed him. He reared his arm back to stab at Kurama, and the fox was almost tempted to let him succeed. A few lingering pains for Naruto to return to would be a good start to his payback on the insufferable boy. He thought better of it. The perfectly controlled shimmer of chakra surrounding him burst into action. A tendril of chakra formed out of his back and shot forward, piercing straight though Hidan and stopping him dead. The immortal struggled to push forward to no avail. He was strong, but it was useless. Kurama had to wonder how someone like this able to take down any of the bijuu, no matter if they were sealed or not. Not by himself, that much was clear.

"Go ahead, rip me apart. Lord Jashin won't allow me to die until I've completed his mission."

Kurama rolled his eyes. "Tell me, where is your god right now? Can you hear him? Feel him? Do you even know what he looks like?" All such pointless questions, the answers of which Kurama honestly couldn’t care less about. The man's delusions were of no consequence, though the actions said delusions evoked were problematic. "There is only one god for you pathetic humans. Only one you need to revere so highly. He gifted you the power and knowledge to become more than animals and look at what you have accomplished with it. Nothing but death and destruction wherever you roam. And you have the gall to call us monsters."

Why the sage of six paths deemed humanity worthy of his knowledge and guidance was still something Kurama could not understand. Of the few of their kind that were pure enough of heart to be worth paying attention to, fewer still possessed the strength or willingness to try and make the world a better place. More often than not, it was the twisted and cruel, like the man facing him, that rose to the top, poisoning the world around them with every breath. It would have been easier to rid the world of them altogether, and yet his father has chosen not to. Kurama wasn’t convinced it was the right move, but he would agree that doubting the actions of the sage didn’t sit right with him. There was still time to see what became of humanity before they ultimately destroyed themselves.

"You done blabbering your blasphemy, heathen?" Hidan spat. The tail of chakra skewering him was visibly burning his flesh, the skin around the gaping wound turning black and flaking away into dust, though not nearly at a rate that it should have been. "Jashin is the only true god. Death is the only real truth of this existence. I don’t care what you are, even you will be claimed in time."

That was probably the only half sane thing this fool was capable of saying. "Perhaps you are right. But it will not be today, and it will not be by your hand, that I can assure you," Kurama said. His tail twisted and coiled around Hidan, pinning his arms to his sides and bringing him within arms reach of the fox. He grinned at the mad immortal in a way that sent a shiver up the man's spine. "You said she screamed as you sealed her away…" His eyes flashed with rage at the implications of such a statement. The bijuu were no strangers to pain and suffering, so the sealing must have been worse than anyone could imagine. For that alone this man would pay. Kurama would ensure to do all he could to protect the others of his kind from the same fate, even if meant working with the humans.

"I promise you, no matter how loud you may be, no one will remember your screams," Kurama said, his tongue gliding playfully over his sharp teeth. "Do try to make it fun for me. It's been so long since I've had the pleasure of playing with my food."

For the first time in a long time, Hidan felt a pang of fear flash through him.

Chapter Text

The world had turned to ash. Where there had once been trees and grass, a forest full of life, now there was nothing for a few hundred feet in all directions. The smell hit Naruto first; a noxious combination of smoke and burnt flesh. Then came the pain. Not the pain he had long since associated with his previous instances losing control of the Kyuubi's chakra, yet not anything Naruto would consider to be an improvement. His head pounded, each beat of his heart pulsing a new sensation of pain through his eyes and ears.

He groaned as he struggled to sit up, his body aching in weird ways. Just what had the Kyuubi been doing with him? After a few seconds, he managed to regain some of his focus, enough to make sense of where he was. Sitting in the middle of a small crater, Naruto could only sigh in resignation. There was no way he could talk his way out of this one. Granny-Tsunade was going to beat him to death for this, assuming Ino didn’t kill him first. Shit. His friends. Was everybody still—

"They are fine," the Kyuubi said sharply, sounding slightly offended.

The fox's usually booming voice might as well have been an exploding tag going off inside of Naruto's head with the way it made him keel over and fight to keep hold of his stomach contents. "Please don’t talk in my head," he whined. He laid back on the ground to stop the world spinning. "Why do I feel like this?" It was odd to have such intense backlash from using the Kyuubi's chakra. If anything, the effects should have been easier to deal with. He was no perfect jinchuuriki, but he was growing more proficient in controlling the bijuu's power as the years went by. Had he messed something up somehow?

"Your body might be developing to handle my power, but your mind is still far too weak to contain my own for even a short period of time," Kurama explained smugly. "The seal allowed for it to work this time, luckily for you. Consider it a kindness that I did not draw it out and cause you serious harm."

Naruto rolled his eyes. It hurt to do so, but it couldn’t be helped. "Gee, thanks. Remind me to get you a bag of puppy treats from Kiba once I can move again."

Kurma growled. "Do not patronize me. You are alive right now by my efforts. You would do well to show some gratitude. Any other being would have stopped saving your life after the first time you stupidly threw it away."

Unfortunately, the fox made a good point with that. How did Naruto know it was a good point? Easy. It sounded suspiciously like the kind of thing Ino would say during one of her lectures. Gods help him if the two of them both became his voices of reason. He wasn’t sure he could live with a voice inside and outside of his own head that delighted in pointing out all of his idiocy. Naruto wondered how the previous jinchuuriki dealt with the fox in moments like this.

"My previous hosts were not nearly as self-destructive as you. They were also strong enough to not need my help outside of the direst of circumstances. There was no need to talk, and the silence is a peace I am sorely beginning to miss."

"Hey, you're the one who keeps talking to me. If you want quiet, just say so."

"I would, if you would only stop putting my existence at risk with your actions," the Kyuubi said. "This will be the last time I aid you in such a way. My agreement with your father be damned. If you refuse to take responsibility for your own safety, then I will not exhaust myself to keep you alive."

Naruto took a deep breath. That was fair. He couldn’t reasonably keep relying on the fox to always pull him out of a tight spot. It was easy to become complacent, and sadly the years spent with Jiraiya hadn’t helped. The worlds preconceptions of what a jinchuuriki was meant to be made things challenging. He couldn’t blame the perverted sage for being focused on training him to try and control the fox though. The other villages had been harnessing their own jinchuuriki in very specific ways, so it made sense to match that if only as a precaution.

This little shit show proved just how shortsighted that thinking was. While this time Naruto had only lost access to the Kyuubi's chakra due to the bijuu's own meddling, it had been proven several times now that there were many ways for a jinchuuriki to lose access to their bijuu. The Akatsuki were made up of people specifically capable of dealing with bijuu level opponents, so if Naruto wanted to do any better against those that remained, he needed to be more than just a jinchuuriki, more than just a shinobi.

He grumbled quietly to himself. It was time to finally confront some of his issues, and it was going to suck.

{I}

The separation of shinobi and general village affairs was never so glaringly clear than when someone of some importance died in the line of duty. Shikamaru had known this since his academy days. His father had explained it all to him rather casually, which was understandable given the man's own extensive career. Still, Shikamaru had hoped that it wasn’t quite so disheartening. Asuma had been his sensei, so obviously his death meant more to him than most, but he had also been the son of the third Hokage, one of the guardians of the Daimyo, a man known throughout the nations.

As he walked through the busy streets of the village, it was almost as if nothing had changed. Sure, some were moved by Asuma's passing, but many of them were shinobi themselves, and therefor had been prepared and conditioned for such things. Outside of some courteous and brief condolences, the world simply moved on. That was fine, Shikamaru supposed. He wasn’t big on drawn out displays of emotion anyway, so he was grateful that no one had dragged him into anything like that just yet. Then again, he hadn’t exactly been around for anyone to target.

The journey back from their little mission had been an interesting one. Quiet, surprisingly. Naruto had seemed… off, though he assured everyone he was fine between his extended lapses of silence. Ino was furious, as anyone who looked at her twice could tell, but she was holding it in very well. Shikamaru pitied whoever was unlucky enough to be around when she finally felt it was safe to unbottle everything racing through her mind. He would endeavour to be as far away from that event as he could be. The others were as good as could be expected.

There had been a sense of pride in the group at having completed what they set out to do, however it was laced with the shame of how they had taken it upon themselves to do so. Going against the village, even for seemingly righteous reasons, had gotten more than a few promising shinobi of the past scorned, labelled as deserters, or just flat out dead. They all expected to return to some serious degree of punishment. So, imagine their combined surprise when Naruto all but threw himself at the Hokage's feet and claimed full responsibility.

Shikamaru shook his head at the memory. Naruto was an idiot. A good friend, a loyal comrade, but a complete idiot. If he had planned to lie about everything and take the full blame when they got back, then he should have at least confided in the group so they could prepare a straight story. As it stood, no one had been prepared, and there wasn’t a doubt in Shikamaru's mind that the individual mission reports everyone had been forced to fill out would be hilariously inconsistent. He had opted to simply write the truth and answer all questions honestly. Digging the hole any deeper would end poorly for all of them.

If the others were smart, they'd follow the same approach, but there was no telling what they were doing right now. Shikamaru had been released in short order, thanks mostly to not wanting to waste his own time. Suspended from duty until the Hokage came to a decision on what to do with them, of course. Better than being locked up. At least no one was under the assumption that anyone involved in the unsanctioned mission was a risk of going rogue. Prison just didn’t suit Shikamaru, not unless his cell had a skylight, which was extremely unlikely.

Shikamaru wasn’t sure how things would turn out. The Hokage was understandably upset, so he expected a harsh punishment for his direct involvement. That just made his next move more important. He had to make use of what little time he had. If only he had walked slower, he might have put some time aside to work up the nerve to do what he needed to do. Instead, he had reached his destination all too soon and wasted his thinking time worrying about the team and the ramifications of their actions. And so, there he stood, at the front door of a modest house— well, modest for a famous shinobi that was —frozen in place. What would he even say? Were words necessary? Did she even want to see him right now?

He sighed deeply. Now wasn’t the time to shirk his responsibilities. His knuckles rapped against the door and the next few seconds of his existence were spent in apprehensive silence. When the door finally opened, he was met with a sight that validated his fears. Kurenai was usually an incredibly beautiful woman with soft features and a caring expression no matter the situation; always well put together in a way that seemed effortless and yet somewhat unobtainable. That was not the case in this moment. She was still beautiful, no one would dare say otherwise, but she looked haggard. Her hair was messy and unkempt, eyes red and tired, clothes thrown on with no attention paid to appearance. Not at all how the woman would normally present herself, but given the circumstances…

Shikamaru looked down, not wanting to look her in the eyes, but that only made things worse for him. Kurenai was well along the way in her pregnancy and seeing that only reminded Shikamaru of what else had been lost. A shinobi, a sensei, a son… and a father.

"You're back," Kurenai said flatly, eyeing him up and down. "All in one piece I see. The others?"

"Fine," he answered. "No one got seriously hurt." Okay, that might have been a lie, but Naruto had regenerated, so it was almost as if no one got hurt. Kurenai didn’t need to know the gritty details.

Kurenai nodded. "Good."

Shikamaru's head jerked to the side as his cheek burned with a fresh handprint. Damn she could slap hard. He turned back to her, wincing at the tears welling in her eyes and awaiting more hits to follow. They never came.

"You are smarter than that," she hissed, her words somehow hurting more than the slap. "Asuma would never shut up about how proud he was of you, how you were destined for great things. Risking your life, the lives of others, risking the hopes he had for you, all for the sake of revenge. It does nothing but insult his memory, his sacrifice. How could someone so smart be so stupid?”

He wasn’t sure if she was about to cry or beat him to a pulp, or both at the same time. Either way, he wasn’t going to stop her assault, verbal or otherwise. Shikamaru knew he deserved it.

Kurenai didn’t seem to appreciate his defeated disposition. "What would you have done had you lost anyone to this foolish cause? What if you had died? Do you think throwing away your life would make up for not being able to save Asuma? Do you think he would want that?"

"No," he said quietly. Actually, now that everything was over, Shikamaru got the feeling that his first moments in the afterlife would be spent suffering his sensei's wrath for doing so. It was a few decades off, if he was lucky, so hopefully Asuma wasn’t the type to hold onto things like that. "I'm sorry." He knew saying it was pointless. Before Kurenai could continue, he slipped his hand into his pouch and held something out towards her. "I just couldn’t live with myself if we lost everything that day."

Not the whole truth, yet not too far from it. Retrieving Asuma's body had been a priority of the mission, even if they had been willing to give up on it for the sake of survival. The dark reality of the bounty collecting underworld of the shinobi world was that once a body was cashed in, there was no guarantee that the individual's village would be able to claim them again. They could have, were they willing to pay, but more often than not the bodies of reputable shinobi went to the highest bidder, usually for the sake of study or pettiness. Asuma dying was difficult to come to terms with, even if death in the line of duty was something everyone had to become accustomed to. Not being able to give the man a proper burial, however, was unacceptable.

Kurenai took the cloth wrapped object from him gently, unfurling it to reveal the engraved metal plate sewn to the fabric. Shikamaru had made sure to clean and polish Asuma's headband before bringing it here. His only regret was not having been able to bring it back on the same day that he had brought back the news of their loss. It wasn’t much, but something was better than nothing.

"Sorry," he muttered once more, turning to leave.

He was stopped as Kurenai grabbed him harshly by the wrist and pulled him back. Shikamaru gave in easily, resigning himself to whatever was about to happen. Instead of another slap, or harsh words, he felt her arms wrap around him as he was pulled into an uncomfortably tight hug.

"Thank you," she said softly, pulling back with a pained smile. "But don’t ever do anything like that again. You kids are some of the only things I have left of him now, so I better not lose any of you either. Here—" she took the headband and tied it around Shikamaru's arm, just below his own. "—I have enough reminders. You hold onto this one. A reminder to never let him down, even in death. Asuma gave his life to make sure his team made it back safe, so now it's your job to make sure his sacrifice was worth it."

"That's a big job," he said, shoulders sagging a little more than usual. It wasn’t to say that he didn’t think Asuma's sacrifice wasn’t worth it, far from it in fact. It was just that Shikamaru understood that in the eyes of many, the loss of a formidable jonin for the sake of three chunin, while noble, was likely not worth it. To change those views, to prove that Asuma had been right to choose them over himself, would take a whole lot of effort. Effort which, given any other circumstances, Shikamaru would have been loath to exert.

Kurenai smiled at him. "Then you better get to work."

Shikamaru smirked. He always was the one being hounded to work harder. Guess now he didn’t have a good enough excuse to fight it anymore. "What a drag."

Before he could react, Kurenai's hand shot forward and delivered a surprisingly hard flick to his forehead. "None of that."

He rubbed his head, painfully remembering why forehead protectors were called as such. "Do you need anything before I go?" he asked.

"I'm pregnant, Shika, not crippled," she chided lightly. "I was about to go and visit him again. Care to join?"

Shikamaru nodded and created two clones that quickly rushed off. "They'll tell Ino and Choji where to find us," he said, holding his hand out to Kurenai. "We can all go together."

He had a lot of making up to do for his stupidity. This was only the beginning.

{I}

"You know, when you asked me to help you train, this is not what I expected," Shikamaru said.

Naruto ignored the subtle undertone of that statement. Just because he had enormous chakra reserves and seemingly endless stamina did not mean that all of his efforts were devoted to excessive physical and jutsu based training. Sure, it made up a vast majority of his time, but he was older now, refined, capable of enjoying the more delicate aspects of shinobi life.

"You are fooling no one."

He ignored that too. "Are you complaining?" he asked.

Shikamaru hummed. "No. Just pleasantly surprised is all."

That tracked. To be fair, Naruto had been purposefully vague about why he wanted Shikamaru's help with training until they actually got out here. Here being a small hill located on the edge of one of Konoha's public parks. One of Shikamaru's favourite spots for cloud watching, and unsurprisingly, a very quiet place where few shinobi ever bothered to venture.

In his youth, Naruto had never seen the point in places like this. Sections of land that were almost indistinguishable from a standard training ground, left for the civilian side of the village to tend to and make use of. It had seemed a little wasteful back then, but now he could understand the value in having space like this. The peace was unparalleled, and the lack of any significant chakra traces or shinobi in general made it all the easier to do what he needed to do.

It had been just over a week now since their near disastrous mission to take down the Akatsuki duo, during which time every member of the group that had participated had come to the conclusion that they were ill equipped for what was coming. None more so than Naruto himself. The Kyuubi insisted on being a constant reminder of this fact, and one that Naruto could neither silence nor hide from. In the end, he had no choice but to concede and start putting some serious thoughts in how to overcome his fatal flaws for the sake of his friends and the village. Tsunade had made a good point when she had told him that the village needed a good shinobi more than a good jinchuuriki.

As great as the fox's power was, the circumstances of the bijuu being sealed made it all too easy for that power to be made irrelevant by those with the knowledge and skill. If he was going to keep his friends safe, keep the village safe, and somehow survive everything at the same time, then he was going to need a lot more than what he had at his disposal. Thankfully, the toads had already given him a path to follow with the potential to solve at least part of his problem.

"So, this Senjutsu… can anyone learn it?" Shikamaru asked. Whether his curiosity was sincere or merely born of boredom was up for some debate, but so long as the lazy Nara didn’t doze off and lose focus on Naruto then questions were a fair trade. At least Shikamaru wasn’t quite as harsh with the elder toads sage training rod as Fukasaku was, or Ino.

Naruto shrugged. "Not sure," he answered honestly. "I guess technically, yes, anyone could learn it, but I think the price of getting it wrong might dissuade most people from trying."

Shikamaru stared at the rod in his hand. "You mean partially turning into a toad?"

"Nah, that's just getting the balance wrong. If you really mess it up, you go full toad, then you turn to stone." Naruto still got unnerved every time he got a glimpse at the sage training area at Mt Myoboku. Even knowing the risks and having a pretty surefire way of avoiding that fatal outcome, he'd be lying if he said he was completely confident in pulling it off. There wasn’t the option of failing anymore though. He had to succeed. He needed to get stronger. Everyone was counting on him, whether they knew it or not, not that they would admit as much.

"Hmm, I see why Ino was so annoyed with you when you first got back to the village," Shikamaru said. "If you were a smarter man, you might have held off on jumping straight into a form of training that could kill you. You know, all things considered."

If only the world would give him enough of a break to do exactly that. Some time off would be awesome. Now that Shikamaru mentioned it though… "How is she?" Naruto asked, cracking an eye open to peer at his friend.

Shikamaru laughed softly to himself. "Ino is Ino. Grumpy and bossy on her best days," he said. "She isn’t alone this time. Choji is upset with me too. They are both hurt that I didn’t think to include them on the revenge. It's not so bad really, and not nearly as bad as you've got it." He lazily met Naruto's eyes with a sympathetic look. "She still not talking to you?"

Naruto let himself fall out of his meditative position with a loud sigh. "More or less."

He couldn’t blame her, honestly. He had messed up big time, and crying about the consequences of his actions wouldn't get him anywhere. No matter how much the silent treatment from Ino might hurt, Naruto knew it was only temporary, and so long as he waited patiently then there was hope of salvaging things. At least, that was the advice he had gotten from Iruka… and Tsunade… and Sakura, and almost every other person he had gone to in his desperate quest to find a way to make it up to Ino. “Wait for her”. That was all the advice he could get, so that’s exactly what he was doing. Shizune said that having space was important to some people when they were upset, that it was nothing personal and that he shouldn’t think of it as such. Still, a whole week of Ino keeping her distance despite being so close may as well have been an eternity.

“You should probably go and talk to her,” Shikamaru suggested.

“But everyone else said that I should—”

Shikamaru butted in quickly. “Give her space, yes, you’ve done that. Normally I’d say take the advice of other women when it came to girl problems, but Ino is… troublesome.” He rubbed his temple and sighed, as though just thinking about any of this was too much for him. It most likely was. “You two have had enough space. Ino is probably waiting for you to do the right thing, which is to go to her, fall to your knees, and beg for forgiveness.”

Naruto pinched his chin sagely. “Will that work?”

“Not a chance.” Shikamaru met Naruto’s downtrodden expression with a smirk. “But… I do think it’s what you should do, and what she is expecting of you. If I know Ino as well as I think I do, then trust me when I say that if this comes down to a battle between who is more stubborn, you will lose, badly.”

Naruto nodded in agreement. Ino was fast gaining a reputation of being the village’s most stubborn kunoichi, and that was saying a lot considering Konoha had Sakura and Tsunade running in the competition for that title. “When should I do it?”

Shikamaru shrugged. “No time like the present.”

“Like, right now?”

“Yes, Naruto. Now.”

“Oh. Okay, well, I’ll just, uh, get to it then,” Naruto said, getting to his feet with an unsure feeling settling in his gut.

Shikamaru laid back on the grass and gave him a lazy thumbs up. “You do that. Don’t bother letting me know how it turns out. I’ll find out soon enough.”

Naruto laughed sheepishly and spun around awkwardly, trying to think of where the best place was to find Ino at this time of day. Eventually, he settled on just heading to her house. If she wasn’t there then perhaps her parents might know where to find her. As he took the first step, he froze, the feeling in his gut getting more intense. He wasn’t scared of Ino, of that he was sure… mostly. What he was scared of was making things worse, of having no one but himself to blame should things fall apart any more than they already had.

If he was going to do this, then he had to do it right, which meant he had to be prepared going in. A difficult requirement considering his penchant for running into situations headfirst and worrying about a plan later. And so, turning back to Shikamaru, he asked…

“What exactly am I apologizing for?”

{I}

Tsunade’s fingers drummed irritably against the cold steel of the operating table. Never before had she been so puzzled by a body placed before her, but this ‘corpse’ had her truly stumped. She hesitated to call it a proper corpse… yet. It was just bits and pieces of a body, brought back to her by the team that had taken down the Akatsuki duo, but showing no clear signs of decay despite having been left sitting for the better part of a week. Actually, there were signs of the pieces trying to regenerate to some extent. Tsunade wasn’t quite game enough to stick the pieces back together, if only to sate her curiosity, but she could hazard a guess that the supposed immortal was exactly what he boasted to be.

In other words, that one was best left in cold storage until she could devote some actual time to assuring safety protocols. In the meantime, her attention switched over to the other body, one that was notably more intact than the other, if you could call this ‘intact’. Flesh and organs replaced by strange tendrils of fabric and tendons. Some parts still maintained the typical structure of muscle fibres, but a vast majority had fallen limp with the host dead. Tsunade would have loved to dissect this one while he still had all five hearts. Seeing how a forbidden jutsu of this calibre worked, being able to deconstruct its nature and functions, it would have been a medics dream, possibly resulting in a textbook or two being written on the subject. Sadly, it wasn’t to be.

“Lady Tsunade?”

“Yes?” Tsunade kept her back to Sakura as the girl entered the morgue.

“You summoned me?” Sakura said uncertainly.

Tsunade hummed. “I summoned my apprentice. Whether or not you are still fit to hold that title is yet to be seen,” she said, glancing back to see the girl hang her head in shame. “You’ve been taking your punishment at the hospital well. Everyone there is still singing your praises since you got back. Not that I expected anything less of you.”

Sakura bowed. “Thank you, lady Tsunade.”

It wasn’t meant to be a compliment, but oh well. Tsunade wasn’t in the mood to yell and scream at anyone today. All the members of the team that had chosen to run off on their little self-imposed mission of revenge had been dealing with the consequences of their actions silently and without complaint. Well, except for the Nara boy, but Tsunade was fairly convinced that complaining was his natural state of being. They had all been confined to the village walls, condemned to do only the worst of D-rank missions available, and loaded up with any and all extra duties that could be found. Sakura, for example, was currently at the mercy of the nurses and medical staff of Konoha hospital. Outside of her usual duties, she was required to do anything and everything requested of her, right down to scrubbing bed pans if need be.

“So, I’ve read the reports, all of them. I’ve heard you all out, in an official sense that is. But now I want to hear what you actually have to say for yourself.” As she spoke, Tsunade didn’t stop fiddling with the corpses and taking notes. After a few seconds of silence, she stopped and looked up at Sakura expectantly. “Well?”

Sakura looked terribly confused. “What I actually have to say?”

Tsunade nodded. “Yes. Tell me why you thought it was a good idea to accompany your friends in their unsanctioned mission. Tell me why you betrayed my trust and chose not to bring the matter to me immediately."

She smirked at the way Sakura tensed at the request. The conflict between one’s duty as a shinobi and the desire to aid their comrades was a difficult one. Many strong men and women had fallen at the hands of the wrong choice in the moment. The white fang came to mind, though Tsunade didn’t bother bringing it up. Sakura was Kakashi’s student, so if anyone knew of that history, understood the importance behind it, it was her.

“Forgive me, lady Tsunade,” Sakura said, bowing lower in shame. “I know I should have come to you and warned you of what my friends were planning to do, but…”

“But?” Tsunade coaxed.

Sakura stood back up straight, emotions schooled and eyes hard. “But they are my friends. I knew nothing would have stopped them from leaving, and had I taken the time to warn you, it would have only pushed them to move faster and take further risk,” she explained. “I chose to go with them, to keep an eye on them and keep them safe, to use the skills you taught me to make sure I didn’t lose any of them. I am ashamed of my actions, but I do not regret them in the slightest. Given the choice again, I’d do it all over.”

There was something to be said about Sakura’s growth, as both a kunoichi and a woman. Tsunade still remembered the incompetent wimp that had come begging for her tutelage only a few years ago. The girl that stood before her was a far cry from that Sakura Haruno, and Tsunade couldn’t be prouder. Not that she would say that aloud. Sakura’s head was big enough, both literally and figuratively, without her ego being fed.

Tsunade took a step forward and matched Sakura’s hardened stare, eyes flickering up to the Konoha headband adorning her forehead. Sakura had taken to wearing it properly this week, as if to remind herself of her place within the village.

“Remove your headband,” Tsunade commanded.

For all her strengths, Sakura was too quick to crack. Her face immediately fell as realisation flashed in her eyes. Hesitantly, she reached up and untied the symbol of the village, letting it fall delicately into her hands before she folded up the fabric and gave it one last longing stare before holding it out to Tsunade.

“I accept whatever punishment you deem fitting, lady Hokage,” she said, closing her eyes in resignation.

Tsunade didn’t hesitate, her hand shooting forward as her middle finger tensed against her thumb. Then, like a spring, her finger shot out, smacking Sakura right in the middle of her forehead with enough power to make the girl stumble back and fall to the ground. Tsunade had to hold back a laugh as Sakura looked up at her with the most dumbfounded look.

“That is for making me worry. Next time, leave a note at least, or send Katsuya with an explanation,” Tsunade said crossly, holding out a hand and helping Sakura back to her feet. “Pull another stunt like that, and the next one will put you through the wall.”

Sakura rubbed the quickly reddening spot on her forehead and winced. “Of course. I promise it won’t happen again.” She looked at the headband in her hand. “So does this mean…?”

Tsunade waved her off dismissively. “Yes, yes, you’re still a shinobi. I’d have to be stupid to get rid of one of my best medics, especially after what you just showed me.” Seeing that Sakura’s confusion only grew, Tsunade continued. “A medic is much more than just a shinobi. When I began, I vowed to do everything in my power to heal anyone I could, no matter the circumstances. Orders, the mission, my reputation, none of those were more vital than making sure I could save any life that I could.”

“When you began your tutelage under me, I made you swear to follow that belief. You agreed, of course, but I could see that you weren’t quite committed to it. That was, until now,” Tsunade said. “You chose the lives of your friends over your duty to the village. You came back knowing you might face all manner of consequences, and you stood here and proudly stood by your decision.”

The more Tsunade spoke, the more Sakura seemed to be catching on to what she meant. Good. Tsunade didn’t want to have to spell it all the way out for the girl. As soon as it looked like everything had clicked into place in Sakura’s head, Tsunade patted her on the head approvingly.

“You did well,” she said. “I’m proud to call you my student, and I look forward to seeing you perform just as well in the future. Just, don’t make me worry again. Like I said, a note will suffice.”

Sakura let out a breath and relaxed, smiling at her sensei. “Does that mean I can return to just doing my normal duties now?” she asked hopefully.

Tsunade returned the smile. “No.” And just like that she shattered her dear students hopes. Her smile widened. This must have been the joy Sarutobi had felt when he tormented Jiraiya back in the day. She could see the appeal. “No matter how proud I am of what you did, the how is what truly matters. Punishment is still in order. Let’s say another, oh, I don’t know, three weeks of your current service, then you may return to normal.”

There was a flash of horror in Sakura’s eyes, followed quickly by a build up of anger that threatened to burst out. A stern look from Tsunade stopped that in its tracks, and Sakura hung her head with a loud sigh.

“Of course, lady Tsunade. I understand, and I accept. Thank you for your kindness.”

Tsunade rolled her eyes. Gods how she hated suck ups, but it was what Sakura needed to do. Clapping her hands together, she brought Sakura’s attention back to her. “Alright, now that that’s over, how’s the idiot?” Tsunade asked. “Has he grown a set yet and gone to face the consequences of his actions?”

Sakura chuckled nervously. “I’m not sure. I’ve been a bit busy to keep an eye on either of them like I normally would,” she admitted. “Naruto is still alive, so I’m willing to bet that he has still been giving Ino her space.”

Tsunade was upon Sakura in an instant. “Willing to bet, you say?” she asked with far too much excitement. “Think he will overdo it and give her way too much space, or do you think our little heartbreaker is mature enough to realise the next step on his own?”

“I’d rather not get involved, if you don’t mind. They are both my friends. Wagering on the outcome of their relationship issues seems in poor taste,” Sakura said, doing her best not to cast a disapproving look in her sensei’s direction.

Tsunade pouted. “I knew I should have taken a more hands on approach to teaching you. Shizune has tainted you.”

Sakura shook her head. “If you say so, sensei.” She bowed. “I need to get going. If there is nothing else?”

Tsunade dismissed her student and returned back to her tinkering with the admittedly very fascinating corpses that were now her playthings. Sadly, no matter how interesting they may be, it was nothing compared to the lure of the drama produced by young love. It didn’t help that it involved Naruto, who she had taken a vested interest in.

After a few minutes of getting nowhere, Tsunade realised she needed to satiate her curiosity before she could focus. Now, who else in this damn village would be ready to put some real money on the line?

{I}

When Naruto found himself nearing the Yamanaka home, he was surprised to feel his heart rate increase with every step closer he took. Being nervous was nothing new to him, nor was being afraid, but this time was different. Being afraid of dying was natural, being nervous about failure was to be expected; being absolutely terrified of finding out if he had royally screwed things up with the woman he loved? Well, it went without saying that Naruto had a new respect for what true fear felt like.

He fought through it, forcing himself to calm down as he marched to the front door and rapped his knuckles against the wooden frame. Naruto almost expected it not to open at all. Ino could likely sense it was him, as could her parents. She was pissed, and if she had told them of what he had done, then they would be pissed too. They might just leave him here to wallow for all he knew.

Then, the sound of a lock unlatching made his ears twitch. The door opened, and while Naruto sorely hoped to be greeted by Ino, angry or otherwise, he wasn’t exactly disappointed to see Himiko standing in the doorway.

“Oh, Naruto. Hello dear,” Himiko greeted happily. “We hadn’t seen you in a while. I was beginning to worry. Did you just get back from a mission?”

Naruto scratched his head sheepishly and grinned. “Eh, not exactly,” he answered. Great, so Ino hadn’t explained everything to them. He didn’t know if that was a good or bad sign. Maybe both. “Is Ino around?”

Himiko shook her head. “She’s just out on a little errand for me. Won’t be long. You’re welcome to wait here for her if you’d like.”

“No, that’s alright. I don’t think Ino would appreciate—”

“Nonsense,” Himiko interrupted, grabbing Naruto by the wrist and pulling him inside with little effort. It wasn’t until she had sat him down at the dining table and taken a seat across from him that the look on her face became much more knowing. “Besides, this gives me a chance to give you some advice on how to handle your little… situation.”

Naruto paled. “My situation?” Ah, so her friendliness and obliviousness at the door had been a ruse to get his guard down. Ino’s mom was just as scary as Ino sometimes, perhaps even more so.

She nodded. “Ino told us everything. Not that she had to. Inoichi has full access to the reports and has read over them more than once by now,” she said, ignoring Naruto’s growing horror. She clicked her tongue at him. “Dear, oh dear. I knew Ino liked the troublemakers, but this… You should have known better.”

He most certainly should have. Naruto hung his head and nodded in agreement. “I know. And I know you and Inoichi are probably pissed at me. No amount of apologising is going to fix any of this, but I promise you it will never happen again.”

Himiko peered at him with a keen sharpness to her gaze. “Hmm, well, you aren’t a liar, that much I can take comfort in.” A soft smile broke the tension as she reached over and held his hand reassuringly. “I take it you’ve been giving Ino some space after it all? Advice from those wiser than you I bet?”

Naruto nodded.

“Smart move. But I think you two have had enough space now. You obviously think the same if you finally came here, though I have to wonder what your strategy for the next part is.” Himiko pursed her lips together. “Ino can be a little difficult when emotions come into play, so if you’d like, I would like to help.”

Naruto tilted his head a little, not detecting the faintest hint of lie or deceit from her. It begged the question. “Why?”

Himiko laughed. “Oh, sweetie. I’m no fool. Of all the boys my little Ino could have gotten herself caught up with, you are by far the best choice,” she said. “I’ve seen the way you look at her, the love you feel for her, even if you don’t quite know how to express it just yet. It is exactly what I want for my daughter, and I’ll be damned if she loses that. So, are you ready to admit that you love her enough to accept my help?”

He gulped. Somehow, nothing had ever felt like more of a trap than this very moment. Surely his instincts were wrong, they had to be. “I do, and I am. Please, I’ll do anything.”

“Perfect. Just the words I wanted to hear,” Himiko chirped, standing up suddenly and walking over to the bottom of the stairs. “’Ichi-sweetie, can you come down here for a minute.”

Naruto made a point of forgetting he heard the way Himiko referred to Inoichi. The last thing he needed was to accidentally blurt it out or make a bad joke about it. Being tortured by a Yamanaka sounded like a painful way to suddenly develop debilitating shame and embarrassment. Some memories deserved to stay locked away for a reason dammit.

Before Naruto knew it, Inoichi was sitting at the dining table with him, an unreadable expression on his face. Silence held them until Himiko returned with some tea and joined them.

“So,” Inoichi began, his tone failing to give any hints as to his feelings on the matter. “You’ve come to mend things with my sweet, darling little angel? Are you sure this is what you want? Are you prepared to do whatever it takes to make it up to her?”

Naruto tried to smile. Konoha was experiencing a warmer than usual summer, so why had he worn his jacket today? How did he explain that was the reason he was sweating without it sounding like a cover up? Hmm, nope. An impossible task. Ino’s parents could see straight through him, so why even try.

“Yes sir.”

Inoichi stared at him with narrowed eyes for a moment before smirking. “You may live to regret that,” he said ominously. “If you really wish to earn Ino’s forgiveness, you will need to make use of a Yamanaka secret technique normally passed down from father to son. You may be no Yamanaka, but I see this as a worthy cause, so I am willing to teach you.”

Now that caught Naruto’s full attention. A secret technique? A clan’s secret technique? Inoichi was just going to teach it to him? What in the world was happening. Was Ino’s anger that serious that he needed to learn a jutsu just to get back in her good graces?

As Naruto raced through possibilities in his head, he failed to notice Inoichi’s expression grow ever so slightly evil. “First things first,” he started, regaining Naruto’s attention. “Tell me, Naruto. How good are you at begging?”

Naruto blinked. “Huh?”

{I}

Ino sighed as she opened the door and let herself in. Her little day of running errands for her mother had proved to be just as uneventful as she had expected, though some part of her was disappointed that she hadn’t run into a familiar face; one in particular that was. While having her space to process everything had been nice, Ino would be lying if she said she hadn’t been somewhat disappointed in not seeing Naruto around.

She was still mad of course, though it was nothing now compared to how she had felt on the day. Just lingering embers that occasionally sparked an irate thought or two throughout her day. As could be expected, Ino was far too upset to hold onto her anger with Naruto. Asuma’s passing had affected her more than she had first thought, and so most of her days had been spent processing that pain and working her way through the grief in her own way. Which reminded her, she really ought to check in with the boys at some point, make sure they were alright after everything.

Ino was on autopilot as she kicked off her sandals and moseyed on into the kitchen. She didn’t even blink twice at her parents sitting and having tea, nor at Naruto sitting with them. “Hey,” she greeted, dropping a few small shopping bags onto the counter. Her mother could worry about unpacking and sorting through it all; Ino had already done her part in fetching it all. “I’m going to lay down for a bit. Let me know if you need me.”

She left them to it, managing to reach the bottom of the stairs before her mind finally shifted into action. With a predatory caution to her movements, Ino backtracked slowly until she was standing in the kitchen doorway, staring at the three with narrowed eyes. Her parents, check. Naruto, also check. Were it not for the obvious aura of barely concealed fear emanating from Naruto, Ino would have thought the three were conspiring against her. Still, it paid to be safe.

“Something going on I should know about?” she asked, watching her parents suspiciously.

It was no secret that her parents liked Naruto. Ino was actually happy about that. But if they thought they could step into her relationship and try to fix things that had nothing to do with them, then they had another thing coming.

Himiko disarmed her with a knowing smirk. “Nothing nefarious. Don’t worry.”

“Uh-huh.” Ino was unconvinced. Crossing her arms, she pinned Naruto with her gaze. “You finally showed up. I imagine you have something you want to say?”

Naruto nodded dumbly and opened his mouth to speak, only to snap it shut as Ino made a pinching gesture with her fingers.

“Not here. Follow me,” she said. Naruto was up and at her side in an instant, meanwhile Ino gave her parents one final glance. They each looked far too calm, too pleased with themselves. It didn’t sit right with her. “I’ll be back to talk to you two later.”

“Of course, dear,” they chorused in unison.

Ino marched to her room with Naruto in tow, closing the door behind them and making sure to activate the privacy seal she had finally managed to convince her father to allow be placed on her room. She loved her parents, but they were nosey enough without being able to eavesdrop on whatever went on in her personal space.

Taking a seat on her bed, Ino crossed one leg over the other and placed her hands on her knee, looking up at Naruto with a flat expression. “Well?”

She reminded herself that she wasn’t actually all that mad at him anymore, but he didn’t know that, and he certainly didn’t need to be let off the hook just yet. Ino wanted him to squirm a little more. With that in mind, Ino was completely unprepared for when Naruto got down to his knees and dropped his forehead to the ground at her feet.

“I am sorry,” he said into the floor. “What I did was selfish and stupid. I didn’t consider how it might hurt you, and I fully understand if you choose not to forgive me for it. But just know that I am sincerely sorry, and I promise never to do it again.”

Ino’s brow nearly met her hairline. It was a small blessing that Naruto, in his current position, couldn’t see the look on her face. She had been prepared for all sorts of things to come of this inevitable moment; yelling, screaming, crying, deep and meaningful conversation that led to a fairytale-esque resolution to their troubles. You name it, and Ino had probably daydreamed that exact scenario at least once in the past few days. This, however, caught her completely off guard.

As the silent seconds dragged on, Naruto remained with his face to the ground. Ino didn’t know what to do. What could she even say right now? Naruto Uzumaki, the most hardheaded and stubborn boy she had ever met, who never once showed a lick of respect to any reigning Hokage, and who likely would refuse to bow to the Daimyo if he didn’t feel like it, was submitting to her completely. It was flattering, concerning, heartwarming, and… suspiciously familiar for some reason.

She pouted and hummed in annoyance as it finally clicked. Ino had seen this type of pathetic display before.

“Ino?”

“Dad set you up to this, didn’t he?” she asked.

“…No?”

Ino sighed. “You’re an idiot.”

Naruto chuckled sheepishly. “Does that mean I can get back up?”

“Nope.” Ino popped the word with such amusement that almost forgot she wasn’t supposed to have fun with this. Crossing her arms, she schooled herself and continued. “You made me worry and panic for hours, so you can stay like that for a little longer.”

She was surprised when he didn’t argue. With how well he was pulling this off, Naruto would have made an excellent Yamanaka. Ino still remembered the day she learnt about the age-old, foolproof apology technique of the Yamanaka clan, passed down from father to son over the years. Ino was no son, but she was clever enough to have seen it firsthand once when her dad had accidentally upset her mother once during her childhood. Pure humiliating submission, usually accompanied by no small amount of begging and gift giving, sometimes requiring a date to seal the deal.

It was just as embarrassing to be on the receiving end as it had been to witness her father stoop so low. But hey, people did really dumb things when in love. Meaning Naruto was either really dumb, or really in love with her. Ino preferred the latter.

“Did he tell you to beg while you were down there?” Ino asked.

“Yes.”

“Are you going to?”

He shook his head slightly, still keeping his forehead to the floor. “I deserve this. I won’t ask you to forgive me if that’s something you don’t want to do.”

Ino frowned. She was starting to understand how this technique worked. It was getting very difficult not to feel sorry for someone being so… pathetic. If she let it drag on any longer, she had a feeling she would lose her conviction to not let him get away with his actions. “Okay, this is weird now,” she said, getting to her feet and pulling Narto up to his as she went.

Somehow, being face to face with him only made things worse. Those big blue eyes bearing down on her may as well have been the ocean itself, and her conviction nothing more than rocks on the shore. The rocks never won that battle, even if it took years for them to wear down.

“You know why I was upset, don’t you?” she asked softly.

Naruto nodded shamefully. “I could have died. We all could have died,” he said. “I went on what could have been a suicide mission and dragged people close to you along with me. In a time when you had just lost so much, I risked taking more from you.”

Ino took a deep breath. It was one thing to know something, but an entirely different thing to hear it said out loud. At least he was smart enough to realise the gravity of his mistakes. “That much is true, but not nearly all of it,” she said, receiving a curious look. She clarified. “You didn’t say goodbye.”

Naruto blinked at her, clearly not understanding.

“Naruto, we are shinobi. Dying is a part of our lives. Any day could be our last. I did not go into this without realising that at any moment you may be called away on a mission that you may never return from. I know the risks of our line of work, and I have come to terms with it.” She took a shuddering breath and calmed herself, reaching out with her hand to cup Naruto’s cheek, thumb caressing the whisker marks. “We could each lose one another in the blink of an eye, and there is nothing either of us can do to stop that.”

“I can forgive you for acting out and doing what you did. It was stupid and idiotic, but forgivable. I can forgive you for not including me in a mission for revenge that I had every right to be a part of. I can forgive you for nearly dying, even if it killed me to see you like that. But Naruto… if you ever leave me like that again, without a fond farewell to remember you by in case of the worst, and nothing but fearful thoughts, then I will never forgive you if you fail to come back to me.”

Naruto went to say something and Ino silenced him with a finger to his lips.

“No,” she said. “No more apologies. Promise me. Promise you will never leave me worrying like that again. Promise me that if this world cuts our time together short, that I will not have to live with the regret of not being able to say goodbye.”

Her voice was cracking now, fighting to get the words out clearly past the lump in her throat as her eyes fought valiantly to keep her cheeks dry. It was a losing battle. This whole week had been nothing but an act of delaying the inevitable. Emotions could not just be processed mentally and filed away like paperwork. They needed to be experienced and worked through properly. Ino knew this, and yet she had tried to maintain this façade for all this time.

Naruto’s arms pulling her into his chest was the final straw, and just like that, she fell apart. It was a rather quiet affair, consisting of silent tears and the occasional sniffle. Ino had long since grown out of making a spectacle of her emotions when she could help it. Still, she knew she needed to let this happen, and she also knew that subconsciously, she had been waiting for Naruto so she could do just that. Picking up where they left off, so to speak.

As she cried, Naruto held her gently, whispering sweet nothings of reassurance in her ear the whole time. I’m here. Let it all out. I’m not going anywhere. I promise. I love you. Over and over, he repeated them to her, gently stroking her hair and rubbing her back, even planting a kiss atop her head between some of his words. As far as comfort went, it was more than enough.

Eventually, Ino ran out of steam. She had been tired even before this, and now she was exhausted. Peeling herself from Naruto, she pouted at the wet patch she had left on his jacket. Now he was open to being asked questions about it. If he was as honest as he usually was, that could ruin her reputation. It was settled then; he could not be allowed to leave.

She had hold of his hand quickly, weakly tugging him toward the bed. “Stay with me?”

Naruto was hesitant. “Are you sure you want me to stay?”

Ino paused. What kind of stupid question was that? Of course she wanted him to stay with her. Then again, they had just spent the better part of a week not talking to each other, so it made sense that there might be some lingering tension and uncertainty. Too bad she was too tired to care about that right now.

“Please?”

Naruto chuckled. “I thought I was the one who was meant to beg.” A swift jab to his ribs had him changing his tune. “Okay, okay. I give.”

Settling in on her bed, Ino made the most of her new human sized heater, snuggling as close to Naruto as she physically could. She had been wanting nothing more than to fall asleep in his arms again ever since she had woken up alone in his apartment, and now nothing would stop her from getting precisely what she wanted.

As Naruto’s arms wrapped around her and she felt herself fast relaxing into her slumber, Ino couldn’t help but feel as though a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Things were still not yet back to normal, and there was plenty more to work through, but at least now she wasn’t going to be working through it all alone. So long as she had Naruto, and he had her, then nothing would slow them down for long. Ino fully believed that in this moment. The world just needed to realise it.

{I}

Back down at the table, Inoichi sipped at a fresh cup of tea as he read through a small stack of paperwork he had brought home from work. Nothing of great importance, though there were a few supposed mentions of missing-nin wearing black cloaks with red clouds being sighted near the other ninja villages. Nothing that could be proven or corroborated, of course, but still, something worth bringing up with the Hokage in tomorrow’s meeting.

He took another sip and glanced at the clock on the wall. It had been over an hour now since Ino and Naruto had vanished upstairs and locked themselves away. Inoichi had initially held some concern over the advice he had imparted unto young Naruto, but as time dragged on, he felt confident that it hadn’t led the boy astray.

Just as his mind began to wander and worry, Himiko came quietly down the stairs and sauntered up behind him to plant a kiss on his cheek. “Is all of that important, or can I steal you away for a while?” she asked.

Inoichi smiled and closed the folder. “Nothing is as important you as, my dear.”

“You sweet talker. You know that flattery will get you everywhere,” Himiko giggled.

Getting to his feet, Inoichi spared a glance towards the stairs. “How are they?”

Himiko shrugged. “Fast asleep. It’s quite a cute sight, all snuggled up together as they are. Took a lot of willpower not to get a photo. I guess Naruto is quite the natural. Broke your record by two hours at least.”

“A skill no doubt attributable to his father.” Inoichi’s eyes narrowed. “Were they decent?”

He knew he shouldn’t have asked. There was no right answer to such a question. Still, he needed to know if he had to dial back the friendliness he was extending towards Naruto. He liked the boy, trusted him even, but a father’s duty was sacred. Fear was a necessity.

Himiko swatted him lightly on the chest. “Oh, stop it. They are young, but they are plenty old enough to make their own decisions and mistakes. I seem to recall you being far livelier when we were their age,” she teased.

A cough did nothing to cover up his reaction to the verbal jab. His eyes still lingering in the direction of his concern.

“Let me put it to you this way,” Himiko said. “You can either keep worrying about whether or not your daughter is decent in the privacy of her own room, or you can be assured that I will remain decent in the privacy of our room for the next month. Choice is yours.”

With that, his wife slipped away towards their bedroom, leaving Inoichi to fight his own internal battle in solitude. A heavy sigh was the only declaration of a winning side. His sympathies went out to Naruto. The poor boy didn’t know what he had roped himself into. Women were not something a man could simply win against. Naruto would learn, just as Inoichi had over the years, and he too would come to understand the struggles that came with loving a beautiful woman.

As he followed after his wife, he spared one last thought for his future son in law. ‘You should have run when you had a chance, Naruto.’

{I}

Today was the day. Sasuke knew it was coming, as he had for the past few years. His tutelage under Orochimaru had apparently reached an acceptable level for the snake Sannin, despite Sasuke’s caution to ensure that his more advanced skills and training remain secret. It might have been naïve to assume he could have kept anything from Orochimaru, but he had done well enough to extend the time frame that he had initially been given. He would find a way to thank Kabuto for making his masters body last as long as it had.

Unfortunately, that would have to wait. Sasuke had been summoned, and he knew better than to keep his sensei waiting. Even in his weakened state, Orochimaru was leagues beyond a normal opponent, and allowing the man a chance to get the upper hand was not wise.

As he rounded a corner, Sasuke wasn’t at all surprised to find Kabuto waiting for him. In all his time here, Sasuke still hadn’t gotten a good read on the spectacled man. All he knew was that Kabuto was just as— if not more —slippery than his master. His motives and reasonings behind his actions were a mystery outside of supposedly serving Orochimaru, and that didn’t sit right with Sasuke. Kabuto always seemed to know more than he should, understand things better than he let on, and yet simultaneously did his best to present himself as nobody important.

“Prompt as always,” Kabuto greeted with a smile that was as hollow as the man himself.

Sasuke grunted. “What’s this about?”

He already knew. Orochimaru might have considered himself above everyone, but the snake’s arrogance had failed him in this. Sasuke had been prepared for this eventuality for weeks now.

Kabuto adjusted his glasses. “Not for me to say. Best not to keep lord Orochimaru waiting.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes and marched on. He had to hold back a smirk as the door closed behind him and the unmistakable sound of a lock latching echoed through the room. Did they honestly believe they had him trapped?

“Ah, Sasuke. You seem to be in good health,” Orochimaru said, voice dripping with that same false sincerity that it always did. “Your training has gone better than even I could have expected.”

Oh, how Sasuke wished these pointless pleasantries could be over with before they began. Orochimaru prided himself on being able to lower the guard of those he dealt with, and now was no different. He wanted Sasuke unprepared, unassuming, unguarded. It was quite pathetic actually. Someone of Orochimaru’s renown shouldn’t have to hide behind such tactics. A testament to how far the Sannin had fallen as a result of his experimentations. In the desperate search for immortality, the snake had only clawed his way closer to death.  

“You summoned me?”

Orochimaru chuckled. “Indeed, I did.”

From the far side of the room Orochimaru’s yellow eyes peered at Sasuke with a ravenous hunger that would have better suited a starving beast. The smirk on his face was one of pre-emptive celebration as he licked his lips in anticipation, as though he was already assured victory. Only the bandages that covered much of his body and the entirety of his arms were a sign of the man’s current condition. Sasuke had seen enough of Orochimaru’s injuries to glean a fair idea of what the third Hokage had done to his former student. Whatever the jutsu was, it left Orochimaru unable to mould chakra into his arms, and the stench of rotting flesh that followed Orochimaru was becoming too much to ignore at the best of times. Even if he were to shed his skin and transfer into a new body, Sasuke couldn’t be sure the damage would not pass over to the next host. If Orochimaru got his way, that new host would be Sasuke, and Sasuke wasn’t about to let that fate befall him, not when he was so close.

Sasuke sighed softly. This was already a bore. “Let’s skip the pleasantries. I know why you asked me here.”

“Then you know that there is no escape,” Orochimaru said. “A prodigy you may be, but even you have sorely disappointed me in your progress under my instruction. I had hoped you would grow to rival Itachi when he was your age. But no matter. Your body will present a suitable host for the time being, and if it puts your mind at ease, I promise that I will use those marvellous eyes of yours to kill your brother in your stead.”

That was almost enough to earn an amused snort from Sasuke. Orochimaru seriously believed himself strong enough to take on Itachi? What a joke. The snake was already taking such precautions with only Sasuke. Even if he were to claim Sasuke’s body and somehow unlock the secrets of the Sharingan, there was no way it would help him reach that level.

Sasuke went to place his hand on the hilt of his sword. That was enough of a trigger apparently. Orochimaru was upon him in an instant, shedding the skin of his current body and slithering across the room with surprising speed. What had once been passable as a man was now anything but. Hundreds of white snakes woven and twisted together formed one giant serpentine body, at the head of which rested an almost human like face. Sasuke had seen some horrors in his time, but the form Orochimaru now took was easily at the top of his list.

The beast coiled around him, pinning his arms to his sides. It lowered its face down to his own, smiling ear to ear at its current position. “Poor little Sasuke. So confident, so driven; so much potential that could never be realised,” the snake taunted. “Your body deserves a better master. One that is able to see it reach its true potential.”

“You don’t know anything of my true potential,” Sasuke said calmly. “If you did, you never would have tried to face me alone.”

Orochimaru chuckled. “Such arrogance.”

Sasuke watched as the snake unhinged its jaw, positioning itself to consume him whole. Of all the places to be, the belly of a monster like this was not a desirable one. With his arms pinned, Sasuke was limited. Most of his jutsu were no longer a viable option. Thankfully, of everything he had managed to keep secret from Orochimaru, his Mangekyo was one of them. So caught up in his assured victory was Orochimaru, he didn’t notice when Sasuke’s eyes shifted into six-pointed stars.

Purple flames enveloped Sasuke, the ribcage of his Susanoo forming around him and prying Orochimaru off his body. The snake hissed in fury as its body was burnt on contact with the jutsu, but before he could slither away to a safe distance, a giant skeletal hand grasped him and slammed him into the ground. Its tail whipped around, wrapping around the offending appendage and attempting to break it with brute force. Black flames ignited across the limb’s surface, setting Orochimaru alight and forcing him to uncoil. Another arm materialised, pinning down the other half of his body with little effort. Once all was said and done, the great white snake, a monster that could have fuelled nightmares in the fiercest of men, could do nothing but look up at its captor in fear and pain.

“What is this?!” Orochimaru yelled.

“This is what someone like you can never hope to attain,” Sasuke said. “This is the true potential of the Sharingan, and you, sensei, have outlived your usefulness.” He drew his sword, lightning surging through the steel as he stepped towards the snake. It squirmed and thrashed uselessly in his grasp. “Be sure to say hello to Itachi when I send him after you.”

It was a quick and ruthless affair. What wasn’t sliced into chunks was ultimately crushed in the vice grips of his Susanoo, until all that remained of Orochimaru was the clumps of seared snakes and the pools of blood slowly spreading across the floor. Sasuke had to admit, of all those that had fallen by his hand, Orochimaru was the most conflicting. A strange mix of relief and disappointment. He had honestly expected more of a fight from the Sannin, yet at the same time Sasuke was thankful that such a stain on the world was so easily cut down.

With a flick of his wrist, the door was cut from its hinges. Sasuke stepped out, not a drop of blood marring his appearance despite the mess he was leaving behind. Kabuto was still there, watching him warily and with no small amount of disbelief.

“Which one are you?” Kabuto asked.

Sasuke might have ignored him completely at one point in his life. Kabuto did such a good job of making himself seem spineless and worthless without a master to guide him that it had almost been convincing. But the Mangekyo had opened Sasuke’s eyes to so much more than he could have hoped. As soon as Kabuto’s eyes locked with the six-pointed star of his Sharingan, Sasuke could see the shift in the young man’s demeanour.

Kabuto moved first, throwing a kunai at Sasuke. Sasuke deflected it easily, rushing in and engaging the medic without hesitation. Kabuto was good, much more so than he had ever alluded to before, but it wasn’t enough. He clearly expected Sasuke to fight more like Orochimaru, and that was his downfall. Sasuke’s sword found an opening, slicing Kabuto from shoulder to hip, a deep and fatal wound to almost any other opponent. Kabuto only smirked, his body already regenerating as he closed the gap.

His hits were strong and precise, infused with chakra in a way similar to the gentle fist, yet so much worse. Each strike severed muscle and sliced through deep tissue, with one or two even rupturing organs. In the span of seconds, Sasuke’s body was rendered useless, until he was finally grabbed by the throat and pinned to the wall. A syringe plunged into his neck and Kabuto smiled down at him.

“You were foolish to think we were not prepared for this,” Kabuto gloated. “No need to worry. The damage I have done is reparable, and Orochimaru is far from dead. As soon as you have recovered, you will become his new vessel. Your fate was sealed the moment he marked you.”

Sasuke’s eyes glazed over, a small smile tugging at his lips.

Kabuto quirked his brow. “Something amusing?”

“Yeah,” Sasuke wheezed out. “I finally understand why Itachi does this.”

Kabuto’s next question died in his throat as a blade pierced through his heart from behind. The Sasuke in his grasp fizzled away into nothing as lightning flowed through his body and pinned him in place. His regeneration would not let him die to such a simple wound, but even his perfect control over his body couldn’t fight against the effects of such powerful electric current.

From behind him, Sasuke looked on boredly. “I’m glad I didn’t let you live. Who knows how much trouble you might have caused,” he said. He slowly twisted his blade, finding no enjoyment in the suffering it inflicted. “You said Orochimaru isn’t dead. I’m inclined to believe you. But I get the feeling that you play an important part in his miraculous revival, and I don’t like taking chances.”

His eyes shifted, and Kabuto wasn’t granted so much as a final scream before his body was consumed in black fire. A death far to quick for someone who deserved so much worse. Regrettably, Sasuke didn’t have the time, nor was he in the mood to deliver justice. Now that he had moved against Orochimaru, he needed to put as much distance between here and himself as possible before the world found out. Not out of fear of Otogakure’s retaliation, or of fear of any of the other ninja villages coming after him, though he supposed that was also a likely outcome. No, it was Naruto that worried him.

That insufferable moron would take this news far too optimistically and come running at a moments notice. Sasuke couldn’t have that. He didn’t need his past catching up with him yet, not when he still had so much to do. He was so close now; he could practically feel his revenge within his grasp. Itachi’s days were numbered. Then, and only then, would he allow himself to slow. Only then could Konoha be allowed to catch up to him, and only then would he be able to face Naruto and try to deserve even a sliver of the friendship the Uzumaki tried to extend to him.

He paused as he passed the doorway to the room containing the butchered pieces of Orochimaru’s true form. Kabuto seemed far too convinced that the Sannin was far from dead, and that simply wouldn’t do. When he had the time, he would need to look into that, and he knew exactly who was likely to have more information. For now, he would settle with the simple option.

“Amaterasu.”

With that annoyance taken care of, Sasuke left. The panic of Orochimaru’s loyal servants would provide him enough time to slip away. By the time anyone caught wind of what had happened, he would be too far gone.

His eyes shifted back to their natural colour, and he wiped the blood from his cheeks. The world had grown a little blurrier, but his goal was that much clearer. Nothing would get in the way of his revenge now.

Chapter Text

He had realised it far too late. Sasuke was usually the first to proudly consider himself rather observant. With his Sharingan, there should have been nothing that slipped his notice or went over his head. That was his initial belief of course, until he remembered that for all their strengths and prowess, the Uchiha held but one weakness. A weakness shared by all Uchiha, Sharingan or not. An unavoidable and hilariously ironic weakness that no one could know about, and one that Sasuke would never admit so long as he lived. An Uchiha’s greatest weakness was… their own obliviousness.

“I already told to back off, idiot! It’s my water. Get your own.”

Sasuke grit his teeth at Karin’s screeching voice. In truth, it wasn’t her voice that was the problem. He could just as easily block her out if he so chose. The problem laid in the way she yelled and berated anyone who dared to annoy her, or worse, voice an opinion that opposed Sasuke’s. It reminded him of someone, of a particular set of scenarios that the young Uchiha had gone to great lengths to push into the recesses of his mind.

“Come on Karin. I’m dying here. You know how important it is for me to stay hydrated. Besides, what’s a little shared water between friends? We are friends, aren’t we?”

His eye twitched. Another memory crawled its way from the depths of his mind, superimposing an image over the scene before him. Blotches of orange and red, yellow and pink. All the things he didn’t need to be thinking about right now. Distractions. Had he known that it would be this easy for his past to haunt him, Sasuke would have thought twice about gathering any help at all. Then again, maybe this was the universes twisted idea of karma. In his efforts to distance himself from what he saw as a weakness, he had inadvertently run straight into a near identical complication. Only difference was that this time it was all his fault, and now he couldn’t get rid of them.

“I swear Suigetsu, if your lips so much as touch my canteen, I will find ways to cut water that hurt,” Karin said warningly.

Suigetsu grinned. “Yeah, yeah. You sciency types are always so tightly wound. Maybe you should learn to be a bit more relaxed, more fluid. I’d be happy to give you a lesson or two, in private of course.”

Sasuke tuned out the ensuing chaos. At this point, Karin attacking Suigetsu was a daily ritual. He didn’t mind. It kept Suigetsu entertained and gave Karin a way to wear herself out. If only the whole scene didn’t remind him of something he didn’t want to remember, at least not yet.

“Would this be what some might consider ‘young love’?”

Sasuke’s eyes narrowed as he turned to Jugo. The large boy was easily the most palatable of the group, but his strange questions left much to be desired. Reading the room was not a skillset one developed from being locked in a prison for most of their life. Who would have guessed. “I hope not,” Sasuke muttered in response, trying to return to his own world. With a practiced precision, he slid stone across steel, slowly but surely bringing his sword back to a perfect edge. It didn’t need the attention, but doing this offered a meditative comfort and let the others know not to bother him.

They stayed like this for a while, Karin and Suigetsu keeping at each other’s throats, Jugo happily observing them while feeding an odd assortment of forest creatures, and Sasuke dutifully doing his best to keep a hold of what sanity he had left. Weren’t things supposed to get easier once he killed Orochimaru and set out on his own? Oh well, it wasn’t as if they had any real leads on where to go next. The hunt for Itachi had not turned out to be as simple as Sasuke had first thought.

Just when the squabbling of his team was starting to break through his peace, Sasuke’s eye’s snapped open and in a flash of metal and feathers a crow fell dead at his feet. Getting up, Sasuke watched the dead bird curiously, carefully sliding the tip of his sword under its body and lifting it up for inspection. Was it one of Itachi’s? Perhaps just a particularly brave and unconnected creature. Either way, it was better to be safe. There was no telling where his brother had his spies lurking around.

“I see you’ve improved.”

Sasuke’s blood went cold as the crow’s lifeless eye shifted to an all too familiar shade of red, the shape of the Sharingan within bringing back painful memories. The crow’s body melted away as dozens more shot out of the trees around him. They all converged, crashing and melting together until Sasuke was left staring at the one person he had been looking for.

Without hesitation, Sasuke’s own Sharingan flared to life. He stared challengingly into his brothers own, daring him to make the first move.

Itachi didn’t react. “Improved, but failed to grow up,” he said. “Do you believe that merely possessing the Mangekyo Sharingan makes you ready to face me, foolish little brother?”

Sasuke smirked. “Only one way to find out.” His hands were shaking with anticipation. All these years, all the training and choices he had been forced to make, all of it led to this moment. He was ready.

“Perhaps,” Itachi said, glancing around curiously. “New friends?”

It was only at this moment that Sasuke realised time had apparently frozen around them. His team were motionless, trapped in the second just before the crow had appeared. It was a strange feeling. No matter how this played out, Sasuke had no intentions of letting any of his team interfere in his showdown with Itachi, and yet, having their aid stripped from him so effortlessly felt… concerning. Even as he looked around, Sasuke couldn’t see the illusion he was under. The Tsukuyomi? No, it didn’t feel right. His anger bubbled away in his chest. There was still this much of a gap between them. How? How far above him was Itachi that all these years and the Mangekyo Sharingan couldn’t put him on a level playing ground.

Itachi shook his head at Sasuke’s obvious panic. “Just a means to an end then. How disappointing. Though I suppose I should have expected this, what with you discovering the secrets to the Mangekyo.” In a blink Itachi was standing beside Karin, sword in hand. “I wonder, are these ones just as expendable as whoever it was you killed for those eyes? Is everything justified in the pursuit of power, little brother? Will your revenge justify all you have had to do to get it? How committed are you, Sasuke?”

Itachi’s sword went for Karin’s throat. Sasuke moved before he knew what he was doing. He crossed the distance in an instant, his sword meeting Itachi’s in a brilliant clash of steel. The fact that this was all an illusion hadn’t even processed in his mind as Karin’s form shimmered away to nothing. It didn’t matter. Itachi didn’t deserve the right to harm anyone in Sasuke’s presence ever again, even if it was only an illusion.

Itachi stared at Sasuke. “Oh? You would protect them? How strange. I thought you wished to be just like me. You would allow yourself to be held back by others?”

Sasuke growled and pushed Itachi’s blade back and delivered a kick to his stomach. “I will never be anything like you.”

Where the hell was the seems to this damned genjutsu? He should have been able to break out of this easily by now.

“You abandoned the village. You associated with a criminal. Some might call that following in my footsteps,” Itachi said.

“And some might call it hunting,” Sasuke retorted. Who was Itachi to judge anyone’s actions? “I did what I had to. You did what you wanted to. We are not the same, and we never will be. As soon as I take your head back to Konoha, the Uchiha can finally know peace.”

Itachi smiled. Somehow that was more unsettling than it should have been. “You would return to Konoha?”

Sasuke froze. Would he? Was that part of the plan? Well, no, not really. He was a traitor, scum that had abandoned his village and comrades. There was no way they would let him back. Still, Naruto hadn’t put up much of a fight last time they had crossed paths. Whether Sasuke wanted to acknowledge it or not, that run in with his old teammate had given him the slightest flake of hope. Maybe, just maybe, after all of this was over, there might be a way.

“That’s none of your concern.”

Itachi didn’t need to know anything about what would happen after his death.

His brother’s smile grew tired. “I see.”

Sasuke was at his wits end. “Stop hiding behind your tricks. Come and face me. I’m ready.”

Itachi stood there, unmoving. “Ready? To face me, perhaps, but to learn the truth…” Itachi’s words trailed off. “No. You are far from ready. Maybe that is my fault. I have failed to truly motivate you, to prepare you. I shall not make that mistake again.”

“What are you talking about?” Sasuke demanded. “Motivate me? Is that what you call everything you’ve done to me, to our family?”

“I know how you gained those eyes, Sasuke,” Itachi said, Sasuke’s eyes widening in horrified realisation. “I know what you did, and I know that your former teammate is still alive. Maybe that is the issue. The sacrifice needed for you to truly see what you must is incomplete.” Itachi smirked. “Worry not, foolish brother. I shall help you see.”

Sasuke’s blade sliced through Itachi’s head without resistance, not that it did anything to wipe the smirk off his face. Itachi’s body dispersed in a murder of crows, leaving Sasuke to look around frantically. He was here, so close, so in reach. Sasuke couldn’t let this chance slip away. He couldn’t let Itachi go after…

The world shifted unnaturally, and as quickly as Sasuke had found himself trapped in the genjutsu world he found himself back in reality. He jumped to his feet, ignoring the sweat dripping down his face and the sharpness of his breath as he scanned the area. It was as if no time at all had passed. Karin and Suigetsu’s argument died suddenly as they noticed Sasuke’s change, and Jugo was by the Uchiha’s side just as quickly.

“Sasuke? Is everything alright?” Karin asked, tone notably softer and polite than when she ever spoke to the other boys.

Sasuke calmed himself but didn’t answer. Itachi had been here, and none of them had known it. How long had they been followed? How close could his brother have gotten before they realised the threat? Sasuke didn’t know, and that disturbed him. He was meant to be gaining on his brother, not falling further behind. But none of that mattered right now. All that truly mattered was what Itachi had said. Learn the truth? What truth? More importantly, how did Itachi know what Sasuke had done to gain the Mangekyo. How did Itachi know about Naruto.

“We are leaving. Now.”

The three jumped at the harshness of his command, not daring to ask questions until they were already jumping through the trees at a breakneck pace.

“Hey, Sasuke, where exactly are we off to in such a hurry?” Suigetsu asked.

Sasuke didn’t answer him. They didn’t need to know where they were going. They needed only to be prepared to back him up when they got there. All that mattered was getting there before Itachi and finding his target before it was too late. It was irrelevant that doing so could be a suicide mission on its own, or that venturing too close to Konoha might very well put an unfortunate stop to his mission. Stopping Itachi from doing what he pleased was just as important as killing the man.

Sure, Sasuke could have sent a hawk with a message. An anonymous tip. He couldn’t trust that though. Konoha were too lax. They would just as quickly disregard the warning as they would react to it with minimal effort. Itachi could not afford to be underestimated. And so, Sasuke ran, as fast as his legs could take him, straight in the direction of his old home.

He would not let Itachi get what he wanted. He would not let his brother kill anyone else in his life, friend or otherwise. Sasuke would not allow Naruto to die when he had only just learnt the Uzumaki was still alive.

‘Damn you… Naruto.’

{I}

Naruto’s face went green as he idly stirred the noodles in his bowl. Even the smell of ramen wasn’t enough to spark his appetite. Some might consider that a bad omen, what with his penchant for being able to inhale the godly creation that was ramen without fail. Were the circumstances any different, Naruto himself may have bought into such superstitions, but he knew better. He had good reason for not wanting to eat right now.

“Are you seriously going to turn your nose up at free ramen?” Ino asked. “If you aren’t going to eat it, at least give it to someone who will. I’m not throwing money away ya know.”

Naruto pouted. “No need to be so mean about it.”

“And there’s no need for you to be such a baby,” Ino countered. “So come on, eat up.”

He glared softly at her. “You try having an appetite after having something forced down your throat,” he said. “I feel so violated.”

Naruto regretted saying anything as Ino leaned towards him with a mischievous smile. “Oh? Perhaps you can show me what it felt like. If you’re feeling adventurous that is,” she cooed, winking at him playfully.

And just like that, Naruto’s three remaining braincells crashed together and stopped working completely. His eyes glazed over as a trickle of blood leaked from his nose. You would think after having travelled with Jiraiya for a few years he would be immune to such things. Sadly, while it was all too easy to block out the mental images some words evoked when they came from strangers or irresponsible sensei, ignoring the words coming from Ino was quite impossible these days. What made it worse was that she had figured out all too quickly the reactions she could get out of him. Cursed woman.

“Ino, please stop corrupting him. It’s bad enough that he has probably been tainted for life from lord Jiraiya, we don’t need you making him worse,” Sakura said, poking Naruto’s head to no response.

Ino laughed. “But it’s so easy,” she said, giggling as she gently patted Naruto on the head. “I don’t even have to touch him to make him short circuit like this. It’s perfect.”

Sakura rolled her eyes. “Gods’ help him when you finally do touch him.”

“Oh, don’t worry, he’s quite capable whenever we get the time.”

Sakura put a finger in each ear and shook her head, failing to hide the growing blush on her face. “I don’t want to know what you two get up to,” she said.

“Please. As if you aren’t full of secrets of your own.”

“What’s that supposed to mean, huh?” Sakura asked, raising a clenched fist towards the blonde.

Ino feigned innocence. “Well, I mean, you are the student of a woman known far and wide as ‘the legendary sucker’. Can’t imagine you didn’t pick up a trick or two over the years.”

“That’s not what that nickname means!” Sakura shouted. “And like you can talk. Being trained by Mitarashi of all people. No wonder you don’t care how people see you.”

Ino pouted. “Such a prude. At least Hinata is fun.” She pinched Naruto’s cheek and shook his head gently. “Come on you big perv, let’s hit the road before you get too caught up in your own thoughts.”

Naruto groaned as he let himself be torn from the pleasant daydream he was having. He was just in time to watch Sakura storm off with a huff. Sighing deeply, he and Ino followed after her. “You really need to stop pushing her buttons like that. I thought you two were over all the rivalry stuff,” he said.

Ino shrugged. “Sakura needs to loosen up. All those years of intense study and worrying about Sasuke has got her all kinds of twisted up,” she said. “Trust me, if I don’t force her to let off a little steam here and there, she will bottle it all away and blow up. I do it out of love.”

“And yet you enjoy every moment of it.”

“A girl can love her job,” Ino quipped.

After a quick glance around, Ino’s expression dropped, and she moved a little closer to Naruto as they walked. They had just left the boundaries of the small town they had stopped at on their journey back home. With Sakura having a head-start, and no one else being around, Naruto figured Ino had specifically waited for— if not outright orchestrated —this private moment between them.

Ino leaned and spoke quietly, voice warm and full of concern. “Everything okay?”

Naruto smiled half-heartedly. “I think so,” he said, rubbing his stomach. “I… I don’t know what happened. Itachi was trying to say something, but between me not wanting to listen and Kurama wanting me to just kill him, well, I missed a lot of what he was saying.”

That, and Naruto had no idea what had been real and what had been genjutsu. When they had set out with the intention of hunting down the rogue Uchiha, they had all been well aware of Itachi’s prowess with visual genjutsu, but nothing could have prepared them for just how outclassed they were. By the time Sakura and Ino had realised Naruto was trapped, it was over. In the blink of an eye, Naruto had been caught off guard and forced to interact with the Uchiha against his will.

Somewhere in that moment of time, Naruto had lived through the most uncomfortable experience of his life. Needless to say, he wouldn’t be eating anything even remotely associated with birds for a long time. He could still feel the sensation of feathers on his tongue, and it made him queasy every time he remembered it.

Ino frowned and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t feel bad. We achieved what we set out to do. We confirmed that Itachi is still active, and lurking closer than we thought. Maybe that means Sasuke won’t be far off either.”

Right, Sasuke. Naruto had almost forgotten that Konoha was still set on retrieving Sasuke, dead or alive. While Tsunade was happy to make excuses when possible and pretend that the Uchiha were not at the top of the village’s shit list, other minds were not so quick to ignore such a glaring problem. As soon as they got back with the info of Itachi being in the area, numerous tracking teams would be mobilized in order to track down at least one of the wayward brothers. That wasn’t what had Naruto concerned. No, what worried him was why Itachi had revealed himself at all.

“He seemed… happy,” Naruto said. “Sounds crazy, but I swear that he was smiling the whole time I was threatening to kick his ass.”

“Of course you threatened the psychopathic clan murderer,” Ino said, shaking her head in disbelief. “I’ll let Tsunade handle telling you why that makes you an idiot.”

Naruto sulked. “I’m getting better.”

Ino patted him on the head. “Sure, you are, sweetie. Sure, you are.”

She planted a quick kiss on his cheek before taking off to catch up to Sakura. Naruto watched her vanish, taking the time to go over everything in his head once more for good measure. Itachi really had seemed happy, and that confused him, though not nearly as much as what little of the man’s words Naruto had managed to remember. One phrase in particular kept repeating itself over and over in his head, doing nothing to clarify the events that had played out.

‘I entrust Sasuke to you, Naruto Uzumaki. Please take care of him.’

Naruto had no idea what that meant, or why Itachi felt the need to say it at all. Maybe if he had paid more attention to what else the Uchiha had rambled on about, then he might have a better idea. Alas he had not, and now Naruto only had a confusing and conflicting statement to go off. Regardless, he knew enough to know what his next step needed to be.

He needed to find Sasuke before Itachi did.

{I}

Tsunade’s eye twitched, the pen in her hand snapping in half at the sudden pressure of her grip. As calmly as she could, she slid open one of the bottom drawers of her desk and retrieved a bottle and a cup before pouring herself a serve. While she did this, Shizune watched on with no small amount of judgement and bewilderment.

“Lady Tsunade, it isn’t even midday yet. Surely your habits can wait,” Shizune chided.

“I felt it,” Tsunade said quietly, downing the full contents of her cup in a single gulp before pouring another.

Shizune quirked her brow in confusion. “Felt what exactly?”

Tsunade downed her second cup. “That feeling I get when one of the idiots in my life is about to do something truly, monumentally stupid,” she said, eyes narrowed in thought. “Where are Jiraiya and Naruto right now?”

Shizune cast a disapproving gaze on her sensei. “Naruto is on a mission to try and track down Itachi. He has both Ino and Sakura with him, so I dare say we won’t have to worry about him. As for Jiraiya, you instructed him to keep tabs with his spy network to try and find out where Akatsuki might head next.”

Tsunade hummed. “One of them is going to do something to make my life hell, I can sense it,” she muttered. “Where’s Kakashi and Yamato?”

“Still in the village I believe. Why?”

“Send for them,” Tsunade said. “Something tells me Naruto is going to need some backup.”

Shizune nodded and moved to comply but paused mid step. “Just the two of them? Are you sure that is enough?”

Tsunade waved her off. “Yes, yes, just the two. This isn’t a sensation of dread or anything. I just want to make sure that the brat gets home with the least number of complications as possible.”

Some might call her paranoid, but if Tsunade had learnt anything over these past few years, it was that Naruto had a gift for attracting chaos. Headache inducing chaos at that; the kind that forced her to hide more and more wrinkles by the week. Now that she thought about it, it had been silly of her to send Naruto off without having considered this possibility. She could only hope that whatever was making her feel off wasn’t of the sort that couldn’t be handled quickly and quietly.

{I}

“I should have known something like this would happen,” Ino droned.

Of all the ways this mission could have gone wrong, this was the worst possible outcome.

“Does this make me lucky or unlucky?” Naruto asked to no one in particular.

“This is your old team? Wow, I see why you left,” Suigetsu said, eye’s lingering on Sakura and Ino a little too much. “Though I suppose they aren’t all bad.”

Ino sighed deeply. She would hurt that one later. For now, she would focus on getting out of this mess alive and somehow making sure the others didn’t get themselves killed along the way. Easier said than done. Sakura was so caught up in having a death staring contest with the redhead clinging to Sasuke that she hadn’t even noticed the creepy one eyeing her up. Naruto was too busy grinning at Sasuke like an idiot, which left poor Ino to be the only mind of reason.

They hadn’t made it halfway back to Konoha before being cut off by Sasuke and his rag-tag group of stragglers. Normally, this might be an advantageous occurrence, but Ino knew better than to think there was anything normal about this. Sasuke had been under Orochimaru’s tutelage for years and had managed to evade Konoha for that entire time. There was no way that the Uchiha would suddenly pop up without good reason. His being here demanded an answer to the question on everyone’s mind right now.

Why was he here?

Ino glanced at Naruto and pursed her lips. Akatsuki were after Naruto for the Kyuubi for the power it possessed, and Sasuke had always been chasing after more power, so maybe there was a connection there. Had Sasuke found out about the fox and was now coming for Naruto? Her hands tightened into fists. If that was the case, then Sasuke was about to get a rude shock. No one was taking Naruto so long as Ino was alive.

“So, you’re still alive,” Sasuke said boredly.

Naruto gave a thumbs up. “Sure am. Does this mean you’re ready to come back home?”

Sasuke rolled his eyes and turned to leave. Ino was almost happy to see him go. After everything Sasuke had done, especially regarding his actions toward Naruto, Ino would have been content for him to never come back to Konoha. But, as Sasuke went to leave, Ino saw the flash of hurt pass over Naruto’s face, the internal struggle he fought to keep himself from chasing after the Uchiha. Ino might come to regret her following actions, but she knew that if she didn’t do anything she would regret that more.

“You’re looking for Itachi, aren’t you?” she asked.

The way a single name could change the mood never ceased to amaze. Sasuke was turned back to them in an instant, Sharingan boring a hole directly into Ino’s soul. She shivered. Had there really been a time where she had wanted Sasuke to stare at her with such intensity? Gross.

“You’ve seen him. Where?” Sasuke demanded.

Naruto laughed and scratched the back of his head. “Well, we don’t actually know. He didn’t stick around long enough for us to figure out where he was heading. Actually, we thought he was looking for you.”

Ino bit her tongue to stop herself from giving Naruto a lecture about why it was a bad idea to tell a traitor anything. She would drill that lesson home in private. Thankfully, Naruto hadn’t given much away, not that they had much information to give on the subject anyway. And yet, from the way Sasuke was reacting, it appeared to be more than good enough of a hook. Now, did they really want to walk into this fight and reel him in, or was it better to play it safe and cut the line to come back another time when they were more prepared.

“We can tell you everything we know if you come with us,” Sakura said, finally deciding to break free from her silent battle with the redhead.

Sasuke’s group tensed up, and Ino resigned herself to their fate. She should have known that this would be the only outcome. With Naruto and Sakura involved, there was no escaping it. With her teammates attention fixated on Sasuke himself, Ino took the initiative and kept an eye on the others, her hand seamlessly slipping into her pouch in preparation.

Sasuke took a step forward, hand resting on the hilt of his sword. “You can tell me what you know, and I’ll let you go home.”

Naruto didn’t stop smiling as he put his hands up placatingly. “There’s no need for this to end in a fight.”

“Not unless you try to stop me again,” Sasuke said.

By now Sasuke’s team had all taken up positions ready for a fight to break out. Ino cursed in her own head at the misfortune of it all. They were outnumbered, and outside of a vague idea of what Sasuke might be capable of, they had no working knowledge on the others. Meanwhile, there was a good chance Sasuke had already shed some light on how those from his former home might fight to his new allies. It didn’t bode well for them, and Ino didn’t like their chances of coming out on top without a lot of struggle. That was assuming they got away at all.

‘Hey, Ino. Can you hear me?’

Ino blinked. ‘Naruto?’ She glanced at Naruto, who was still trying to talk down the situation. He had established a psychic link with her. How?

‘Yeah, I mean, sort of. I’m a clone,’ he said. ‘You can call me paranoid after all this is over, but for now, just listen.’

She so desperately wanted to get answers to a few questions suddenly whirring through her mind, but Ino was willing to set those aside for the moment. Naruto seemed to have a plan, and she would be the first to admit that he had a knack for thinking on his feet. Anything that could give them an upper hand was good in Ino’s books.

‘I’m listening.’

“Enough!” Sasuke snapped. “I’m not here to come back to Konoha. Just tell me where you saw Itachi.”

“Not unless you come back with us,” Sakura said sternly. “We can help you, Sasuke. Come with us, and together we can bring Itachi to justice.”

Oh Sakura. Poor optimistic Sakura. Ino felt sorry for her friend, still holding out so much hope for someone who probably didn’t deserve it. Sasuke was too far gone to reason with, and even if he weren’t, there was no way he was stupid enough to believe that Konoha would aid him in the quest that led him to betray the village. Sakura’s insistence on standing her ground here was more likely to push Sasuke further away than it was to convince him of anything.

Surprisingly, Sasuke didn’t immediately lash out. His eyes scanned the three of them carefully before settling on Naruto. “He spoke with you,” he said. “What did he say?”

Naruto finally dropped the pleasant demeanour. “I don’t think hearing it will help you.”

Sasuke grunted. “Fine. I’ll find out one way or another.”

Sasuke drew his sword. Naruto was the first to move, taking off into the forest with Sasuke following close behind. The largest of Sasuke’s allies attempted to follow, but was stopped by Sakura, who, with a single punch, launched the large boy through the air and crashing through a nearby tree. Ino sent a barrage of senbon at the other two, the toxin coated needles hitting their targets without fail but to no effect. The senbon merely passed through the boy’s body harmlessly, and the redheaded girl plucked them from the rapidly regenerating wounds on her arm.

“Need help?” Sakura asked.

Ino dropped into a ready stance. “I’m good. Go help Naruto once you’re done with the big one,” she said.

Sakura didn’t stick around, leaving Ino to face down her two opponents. She smirked and pulled a single kunai into one hand and prepared several more senbon in the other.

“Wipe that look off your face,” Karin said. “Don’t think for a second that you’ll be able to take on the both of us by yourself.”

 Suigetsu grinned as he brandished his giant cleaver. “Aww, come on. Let the girl have her confidence. It’s cute.”

Ino stuck her tongue out at the pair. “My boyfriend is obsessed with making clones, so this isn’t the first time I’ve been tag teamed.”

The two took the bait, faces quickly turning red at the implications. Ino laughed. Now she understood why Anko enjoyed toying with people like this so much. She was upon them before they noticed they had left themselves open. Suigetsu tried to intercept her with his sword, but Ino slid under it and planted some senbon in his arm as she moved past him and closed in on Karin.

The redhead was, hilariously enough, not at all ready for a close fight. Her defence was sloppy and didn’t pack nearly enough strength behind it to do any good. Ino had been pushing her limits against much older and stronger shinobi for years now, so within seconds she dismantled Karin. With a final kick, Ino sent Karin crashing to the ground, now sporting several new bruises and cuts across her arms that wept with the slightest traces of purple ooze. Nothing lethal, not yet, but Ino would be impressed if the girl could move her fingers for at least the next few hours.

She narrowly rolled out of the way of the giant sword slamming into the ground where she had been. Suigetsu placed himself between her and Karin, the senbon Ino had left in his arm being pushed out of his bodily and falling to the ground without leaving so much as a wound. As if to make a point, Suigetsu smirked and swished something around in his mouth before spitting out a glob of purple slime.

“Poison. Strong stuff too. Has a familiar taste to it,” he said, tilting his head at Ino and pinching his chin curiously. “You don’t strike me as the type for Orochimaru to take interest in. Did you raid one of his labs?”

Ino smiled sweetly. “Nope. I get it straight from the source.”

She didn’t give him a chance to figure out what that meant, racing through hand seals and biting her thumb. Two large plumes of smoke filled the spaces on either side of her, and together she and two of her summoned snakes lunged at Suigetsu. The panic on his face was worth it as he managed to swat away one of the snakes with his sword, only for the second to wrap around him and pin his arms. Ino didn’t know what jutsu Suigetsu was using to avoid injury and poisoning, so she went for a more direct approach.

Her fist slammed into his face with all the strength she could muster. A solid hit that unfortunately did nothing. On impact, Suigetsu’s head exploded into water, the rest of his body doing the same as Ino’s summons fell to the ground. Her snakes were back by her side quickly, three sets of eyes scanning the immediate area for the real Suigetsu. Ino was internally chiding herself for being deceived by a water clone of all things when she felt a hand wrap around her leg. On instinct, her braid whipped around and plunged a senbon straight into the hand as she jumped away. The hand that had grabbed her— which appeared to have formed out of the puddle of water Suigetsu had become —collapsed back into liquid.

The puddle stirred, a tendril of water forming out of the puddle and hefting the giant sword to action. It cleaved through one of her summons’ and dispelled it before a carefully aimed shuriken cut the tendril in two and let the sword fall back to the ground. Ino distanced herself from the water and watched it curiously, her remaining summon putting itself protectively between her and the water.

A disembodied laugh rung out through the trees. “The snakes were a surprise,” Suigetsu said. The puddle of water slowly converged into a single mass, forcing itself up and shaping back into the young man. There still wasn’t a scratch on him. “Can’t say I’m too impressed though. You should have taken pinkie’s offer for help.”

“You think I can’t handle you by myself?” Ino asked.

Suigetsu shrugged. “Maybe you could, but not when you’re outnumbered.”

Just as the words left his mouth, a powerful torrent of water shot at Ino from behind. She was quick enough to dodge it, but her snake got caught in the blast, the water sending the serpent crashing straight into Suigetsu. Ino was a little confused as to why Suigetsu hadn’t made to dodge as well, but as she watched, she realised why he hadn’t. The water from the jutsu gained a mind of its own upon contact with him, wrapping around and engulfing the snake in a giant orb of water. Suigetsu seemed to draw from this new body of liquid with the arm he had held within it, his spare arm growing in size and allowing him to effortlessly plunge his oversized weapon into the snake’s head. Once dispelled, he let the water fall into a long serpent-like shape extending from his arm.

Ino readied herself, but not before watching Karin strut back into view no worse for wear. The cuts on her arms had vanished, and the redhead clearly been the one to use the water jutsu, but how. The only person Ino knew that could shrug off poisons like that was…

She narrowed her eyes at Karin. “You aren’t a jinchuuriki, are you?” she asked, getting and odd look from the pair.

Karin adjusted her glasses with a huff. “No way. The only thing I would ever allow inside my body is my precious Sasuke.”

Ino blinked owlishly, turning a questioning stare to Suigetsu. Did she really just hear what she thought she heard?

Suigetsu deadpanned. “For the record, I didn’t choose to be affiliated with her.” A kunai passed harmlessly through his head.

“Well fuck,” Ino cursed, dropping back into a stance brandishing two kunai that dripped with now fully lethal toxins.

She couldn’t take any chances with these two. One was apparently made of water, and the other could just heal from, well, Ino wasn’t sure of the upper limits of that ability, but she was sure as hell going to find out before the end of this. She watched as Suigetsu and Karin slowly circled her and she frowned. Why did Sakura have to get the big one?

{I}

Sakura grunted as she blocked a rocket propelled punch. The throbbing pain in her forearms was almost drowned out by the way the muscles in her legs screamed in protest under the weight of the load. Her feet carved two clean trenches in the ground as she was forced several feet back before she managed to stop the attack dead. Her victorious smirk faltered as she saw the crazed grin of her opponent.

“You’re stronger than you look,” Jugo said gleefully. He had changed, both in physical form and mental state. Now he was a hulking monster with an enraged bloodlust to match. The rocket like protrusion from his arm continued to burn away as he tried to push his fist against Sakura’s arms. “Get out of my way.”

Sakura clenched her jaw and held her ground even as the earth under her feet cracked. Whatever this guy was, it wasn’t natural. The fact that he had survived her first punch, let alone stayed conscious through it, was a testament to that. Now though, with his new form and strange shapeshifting abilities, Sakura wasn’t sure brute strength was going to help her in this fight. Sadly, neither was her medical knowledge. She had already tried disabling him, but nothing she did lasted more than a few seconds. Jugo either healed or simply morphed in a way that fixed the problem. All of that aside, how was Sakura supposed to fight someone who could make rockets with their body? There had not been a single book, medical or otherwise, in the history of shinobi that dealt with this utter nonsense.

She took a deep breath and refocussed herself. It wouldn’t do anyone any good to lose her cool now. Sasuke was within their grasp, so close that she could practically picture him back in Konoha. Sure, that mental image did include him being bound to a hospital bed, but hey, progress was progress.

With a push, Sakura shoved Jugo back. Rolling under his follow up attack, she swiped at his legs with her hand, severing muscle and tendons alike with her chakra scalpel like they were butter under a hot knife. Sakura was back on her feet by the time Jugo fell to his knees. She knew he would just regenerate and come at her again if she left him alone for a moment, but that meant she only had precious seconds to work with. Her fist cocked back, and Sakura put everything she could into a single punch that connected with Jugo’s jaw perfectly. Sakura didn’t know if she heard his jaw shatter or his neck snap, all she knew was that by the way Jugo’s body skipped across the earth and through several tree trunks— like a ragdoll on the world’s worst one-way trip to the pure lands —there was no way he was getting back up from it any time soon, if ever.

Sakura took a moment to recompose herself, glancing around for any sign of which direction Naruto and Sasuke had gone. She wasn’t too worried about Ino. If anyone could handle themselves, it was Ino. Actually, based on some of their more recent training sessions together, Sakura had come to pity any who had to face the blonde in an actual fight. Whatever kind of training that crazy snake lady had put Ino and Hinata through ought to be forbidden, though Sakura would never let that opinion slip in certain company. No, she much preferred her every waking moment not be plagued by unusually cruel pranks.

Picking a direction, Sakura leapt for the trees intending to track down her idiot teammates and play her part in dragging Sasuke home, kicking and screaming if need be. Unfortunately, it was not to be. The sound of something flying towards her, snapping tree branches as it tore through the foliage, forced her to twist midair, only she wasn’t quite quick enough. A large hand seized her by her leg and ripped from the air, sending her crashing into the ground hard enough to knock the wind from her. Sakura managed a gasp before a foot slammed down on her stomach, the ground beneath her breaking under the force. She fought to inhale a breath of air, clutching at Jugo’s leg as he smiled down at her. In response he merely leant down on her with more weight.

“You should have let me go,” Jugo said.

Sakura felt her ribs crack under the pressure. Typical. All that work she put in for the sake of not being a burden, and now instead of being the one captured all the time she was going to be the one who got stuck fighting the freaks. Was Sasori not enough? What about Kakuzu? Was her future as a shinobi going to be a collage of random weirdos with unexplainable abilities? Gods she hoped not. Just once, Sakura sorely wished to walk into a fight that she could handle easily.

Jugo grinned at her. “What’s the matter? Giving up already?”

Sakura gripped his leg tightly with both hands. She took his weight enough to draw in a shallow breath; not much, but more than enough for her to stay conscious. As soon as her lungs were slightly filled, she smirked up at him. “Not even close.” Her arms crossed, and Jugo’s leg snapped in her grip like a toothpick. A kick swept his other leg out from under him and Sakura broke his fall with her feet planted firmly into his chest. Pushing with both of her legs, she threw him away. Sakura rolled back onto her feet, a glowing hand already resting her on her chest and mending the damage Jugo had done.

Across from her, Jugo too was back on his feet, broken bones mending just as quickly as Sakura would be able to heal her own. She furrowed her brow and controlled her breathing. However Jugo was regenerating himself, it was easily the biggest hurdle to overcome. Unless she tapped into her seal, Sakura was limited to medical jutsu to recover from her own injuries. Jugo clearly didn’t have that drawback. If it was only a question of who could survive and heal the longest then Sakura would be confident, but it wasn’t that simple. There were other enemies, her team to worry about, let alone the journey home. All of that left her with scant options open.

Sakura was just going to need to pummel him into submission before he got the better of her.

She raised her fist. “I am not going back without Sasuke!”

Jugo charged and Sakura brought her fist down. The ground shattered, uprooting large sections of rock and more than a few of the surrounding trees in the destruction. Jugo and Sakura were engulfed in a dust cloud, forcing Jugo to halt his charge and focus on regaining a good footing. The sound of roots snapping was all the warning he got before he was swatted through the air like a fly courtesy of a now shattered tree that had been brandished as a bat. As the dust cleared, Sakura discarded the remnants of the tree, and watched on with indifference as Jugo once more rebuilt his broken body. She slammed her fist into her open palm, hard enough to create a small shockwave. A smirk tugged at her lips at the sight of Jugo’s eyes widening ever so slightly.

This would be fun.

{I}

Sasuke wasn’t angry. No, he was beyond angry. Mostly at himself for running into this situation, but still. He growled through clenched teeth as his sword cleaved through yet another clone, popping it into a useless plume of smoke. He couldn’t even keep track of how many clones he had cut down in his pursuit. The moment he got too close, or tried to do anything other than simply follow, he was set upon by the infuriating doppelgangers. If that had been all, then it might not have bothered Sasuke so much, but Naruto had managed to add insult to the act. The real Naruto hadn’t so much as glanced back at him this entire chase, instead leaving his clones to handle the situation.

Was that how Naruto viewed him now, as not even being worth his personal time and effort? The mere idea made Sasuke’s blood boil. He had come all this way, well off the path of his own personal mission, for nothing more than the sake of ensuring that Itachi didn’t get his hands on Naruto. And this was the thanks he got. It was bad enough that Itachi’s words had obviously been nothing more than a ploy, likely to lead Sasuke off his brother’s trail, but for Naruto and Sakura to deny him the information they had on Itachi was too far. Did they still not understand? Did they think this was all some game?

Whether they knew it or not, Sasuke was trying to help, and they were getting in the way of everything. Why? Why did they have to be so infuriatingly stubborn and hard-headed? Could he not have had a normal team? Now he had no choice. Sasuke needed to know what Naruto knew about Itachi, he needed to know what his brother had said. If Naruto wouldn’t tell him, then he would make him. All he had to do was catch the surprisingly slippery blonde.

The chase came to an abrupt end when they finally broke through the tree line and landed atop a river. Sasuke kept his distance, unsure of why Naruto had suddenly stopped. Naruto turned back to him, wearing an odd expression that looked like he was reminiscing over something.

“Brings back memories, doesn’t it?” Naruto asked, looking down at the water flowing beneath their feet before following it with his eyes. “A few miles off, but it’s the same river.”

Sasuke didn’t react outwardly despite understanding. This was the river that eventually led to the valley of the end. Ironic that they would come to the same location once more, only with the roles reversed. “What did he say to you, Naruto. Tell me,” Sasuke said.

Naruto chuckled. “I didn’t pay much attention. Got a little carried away calling him a bastard and all that.”

A smile almost made itself to Sasuke’s face. Something about the mental image of Naruto cussing his brother out was enough to break through his frustration, if only for a second.

“I thought he was looking for you,” Naruto said. “Guess I had that wrong.”

Sasuke frowned. Nothing was making sense. He was sure Itachi intended to kill Naruto, and even if that was wrong, Akatsuki were meant to be after the bijuu, so there was no reason for Itachi to not act upon finding Naruto. Skilled though they may be, Ino, Sakura, and Naruto were not on Itachi’s level, which left Sasuke with one question: Why had Itachi let them go?

“I think you should come back with us.”

“No.” The word escaped Sasuke before he had taken the time to truly comprehend Naruto’s statement. Still, he stood by his response. He couldn’t go back. Not now. Not yet. It didn’t matter what Sakura said, what Naruto said, what anyone claimed or promised him, Sasuke knew how the villages worked. If he went back, he would never get to avenge his clan.

“Just tell me what he said. This doesn’t have to get messy,” Sasuke said. He meant it too. Of all the things he had been forced to do in his quest for strength, there was nothing he regretted more than killing Naruto. Learning of his teammates miraculous survival had done nothing to dull the pain of years of guilt, and that pain was not something he wished to experience again. If he could avoid fighting Naruto, he would. But if he had no choice…

Naruto fell into form, poised for a fight. “I’ll tell you when you’re safely back in Konoha.”

Sasuke had heard enough. He refused to go back to Konoha, but he knew Itachi would need to come after Naruto at some point, be it for the Kyuubi or otherwise. If Sasuke had Naruto, then he would get Itachi soon enough. Besides, the village wasn’t safe, not from someone like Itachi. At least if Sasuke took Naruto, he could ensure Akatsuki never got a hold of their prize. It was a win-win.

There was a flash of movement as the river’s surface was torn apart. Two barely visible blurs clashed over and over again, faster and stronger with each strike. Sasuke pressed on, silently impressed that Naruto was not only matching him blow for blow, but that the Uzumaki was keeping up as things got more heated.

He wasn’t surprised when clones entered the equation, his eyes quickly shifting into the Sharingan allowing him to distinguish between real and fake. One… Two… Three… Four… Sasuke cut them all down without mercy, only slightly annoyed as more seamlessly took their place. Numbers meant little in this exchange, and Naruto had to know this. With every swing of his sword, every kick, every punch, he struck down another clone, and without so much as a single hand seal, Naruto would conjure another. This continued for several frustrating seconds until Sasuke dispelled several with a single swipe of his blade, then, at the last second, he twisted his sword causing the flat of its blade to slap against the real Naruto forearm.

Naruto merely grinned at him… like a complete idiot. “Aww, I knew you cared.”

Sasuke growled and kicked him in the stomach. “Stop treating everything like a joke.”

He blazed through hand seals, his arm coating itself in chirping lightning. Plunging the Chidori into the water at his feet, Sasuke electrified the river, forcing Naruto and his clones— those that were quick enough that is —to jump in the air to avoid it. Several clones vanished, and Sasuke sent a hail of shuriken at those that had survived, popping all of them swiftly. The real Naruto twisted himself out of the way of several shuriken, barely managing to bring up his guard as Sasuke met him in the air with a kick.

Biting his thumb, Sasuke smirked as the two were enveloped in a plume of smoke. The wind howled under powerful wings, and Sasuke found his footing atop a giant hawk that snatched Naruto out of the air. With speed that made the rushing wind sound like a train flying past, the hawk soared higher and higher before letting Naruto go. There was a brief moment of weightlessness the two experienced as momentum carried Naruto a little bit higher, passing Sasuke on the way. Sasuke expected Naruto to look terrified, or at least in awe of his new summons; instead, Naruto looked like he was going to be sick. Was he scared of heights?

Changing course, the hawk hooked Naruto’s jacket with its claws and began its decent. In a straight dive, they picked up even greater speed, the bird opening its wings at the last moment and launching Naruto straight into the river below. Waves from the impact reached the trees lining the banks. Sasuke scanned the surface as it calmed, eyes searching for any sign of the blonde. There was no way that was enough to kill Naruto.

His hawk threw itself to the side, narrowly avoiding a jet of water that erupted from the river. Three giant water dragons formed and lashed out at Sasuke as dozens of clones emerged from the river and ran up the lengths of the serpents to reach the battle in the sky. It was a delicate process, weaving in and out of the snapping jaws of the dragons and their coiling bodies that threated to crush anything caught in them. His summon took care of keeping them out of harm’s way, all the while Sasuke dealt with the onslaught of clones that attempted to pull him from his perch on the birds back. It wasn’t until he noticed he hadn’t seen the original that he realised something was wrong.

Out of the corner of his eye, Sasuke spotted a flicker of movement, but it was already too late. He locked eyes with the real Naruto, who had let himself be tossed into the air by his clones some short distance away. Sasuke didn’t hear the name of the jutsu Naruto used, but he breathed out a powerful torrent of wind that the hawk was powerless to avoid. Sasuke leapt from his summon as it was pushed straight into the open jaws of a water dragon, dispelling the bird with a single bite.

Left in the air, Sasuke only managed to take out one clone before a second seized his sword arm in a vice grip. Then another seized his other arm, and a third grabbed him around the middle. As they fell, a final clone followed them down, a rasengan already formed in its hand and aimed straight for Sasuke. The Uchiha smirked. For the first time in quite a while he was having fun with a fight.

‘You’ve gotten better… Naruto.’

“Rasengan!”

The water broke against his back and the jutsu came down on him like a mighty hammer, squishing him between the two. Amongst the cracked ribs, the circular friction burns on his chest, and the deep bruises to his pride, Sasuke wasn’t sure what hurt the most. How could he let Naruto of all people get one over him like that. It was humiliating. At least no one else was around to witness it. Once today was over, no one would ever know what happened here.

When he broke the water’s surface, gasping for air and getting up on shaky legs, Sasuke expected Naruto to jump him and be done with it. He didn’t. Naruto just stood there, waiting, albeit looking a little offended. Sasuke scoffed. What did that idiot have any right to be offended about?

“So, like, are all Uchiha obsessed with birds, or is it just you and your brother?” Naruto asked, his expression souring as if he had a bad taste in his mouth. “You aren’t going to make me eat one too, are you?”

“Shut up,” Sasuke muttered.

He caught his breath and took stock of the situation. It wasn’t looking good. Naruto didn’t look so much as out of breath, meanwhile, if Sasuke didn’t get Karin or Jugo at his side soon then he was going to need to rely on his curse mark or the Mangekyo. He liked to think Naruto didn’t warrant either of those options, but he wasn’t confident anymore. The Uzumaki had clearly been upping his game as of late.

“We can stop this, Sasuke,” Naruto said. “Right here, right now. No more fighting, no more running. Just come back with me. We can help you. I can help you. If that means helping you take down Itachi, then so be it. Just please, let’s put an end to this. I don’t want to fight you.”

There was something to be said about Naruto’s ways with words. Maybe it was the moments he chose to speak with clarity, or perhaps it was the earnestness he was able to project with his voice. Either way, Sasuke was beginning to understand how so many had been swayed by the blonde. Naruto truly did want to help him and would probably go to ridiculous lengths to do so. Unfortunately, it wasn’t Naruto that would stand in the way of his revenge. As much as Sasuke might want to trust his old teammate, as much as he recognised that Naruto believed what he was saying, Sasuke wasn’t naïve enough to think it would actually happen. Konoha had its rules, and he had broken too many of them. There was no aid to be found from that village, and that included Naruto.

“I can’t stop. Not now. I’m so close. If I go with you, everything I’ve done would be for nothing,” Sasuke said, taking a deep, painful breath as he raised his sword to the ready. “You said you promised Ino that you wouldn’t risk your life to bring me back again. What about her life? If you surrender and come with me, I promise she won’t get hurt.”

Amusement danced across Naruto’s face before his eyes widened. “Oh, you’re serious?” He laughed. “That’s a good one. Oh, man, and here I was worried that you’d never have a sense of humour.”

Sasuke’s eye twitched. “I’m serious, Naruto. Come with me, and I promise my team won’t kill Ino.”

“I notice that you haven’t threatened Sakura,” Naruto said with a pointed look. “Something you want to share with the group?”

“Can you for once not treat everything like a joke?”

Naruto put his hands up in mock surrender. “You started it. I don’t know who your new friends are, but if you think they can take Ino and Sakura on, then you’ve got another thing coming. I should be the one asking you what condition you want your friends back in, assuming they live.” 

Whatever Sasuke was going to say died in his throat as a hand broke through the water and grabbed his leg. Locked in place, Sasuke couldn’t do anything as Naruto appeared in front of him in a blink. In a panic, Sasuke thrust his sword forward, driving the blade through one of Naruto’s hands and cutting his cheek as it passed his face. Five fingertips, alight with burning chakra, slammed into Sasuke’s stomach and sent him skipping across the river until he came to a rolling stop on the bank.

He felt it immediately. The change in his chakra. Its natural flow was distorted, twisted and blocked in a way that made him feel weak. It was a sensation that reminded him of when Orochimaru had branded him with the curse mark, albeit without the added gross factor of having been bitten by a grown man. Sasuke got back on his feet, clutching at his stomach that now burned. He didn’t need to look to know the cause.

“You weren’t the only one training under a Sannin,” Naruto said. There was a dryness to his voice, as though he wasn’t entirely pleased with that fact. “For what it’s worth, this is not how I wanted this to play out.”

Sasuke glared at him. The wounds on Naruto’s hand and cheek had already healed. He reached for the curse mark, trying to call upon its powers to at least mend his own injuries, but he received nothing. “What did you do?”

Naruto frowned. “Jiraiya has been researching a way to undo Orochimaru’s work for years now. Not quite there yet, but he had enough of it worked out for me to develop a way to stop someone from using it. After our fight, well, you can’t blame me for being cautious,” he explained. “It’s not permanent, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

That hadn’t been what Sasuke was worried about, but it eased his mind to know that it could be undone. He still needed that power. That being said, what good was it if it was so easy for someone to take from him. It served him right, he supposed, for trusting something that came from someone like Orochimaru. There really were no shortcuts to strength.

He laughed softly to himself. Had everything been pointless this whole time? If he couldn’t even defeat Naruto, then how was he supposed to take on Itachi. Was this it? Was this where it all came to an end? At the hands of the dead last. How the gods must have truly enjoyed his torment.

“Let me go,” he said.

“You know I can’t do that. Not again.”

Sasuke’s jaw tightened. What the hell was taking his team so long? “So, what now? You going to drag me back to Konoha?”

“I’d rather you walk yourself.”

Sasuke gripped his sword tighter. “Too bad.”

Naruto sighed. “Suit yourself.”

There was no way he was going quietly.

{I}

“Hold still, you bitch.”

Ino ducked under the giant sword, swiping at Suigetsu’s stomach with her kunai as she went before cartwheeling out of the path of a few shuriken sent her way courtesy of Karin. The pair were not what Ino would consider to be parts of a well-oiled machine. For one, their teamwork sucked, and the two seemed to hold more anger for each other than they did their current target. Not that Ino was complaining. So long as they kept messing up each other’s flow of battle then they wouldn’t prove to be much of a threat.

“Can’t you hit anything with those?” Suigetsu asked, glaring at Karin.

The redhead huffed and fixed her glasses. “Better than you can hit anything with that ridiculous thing,” she countered.

Ino snickered at them. She had been toying with them for a while now, taking a fair amount of enjoyment out of their bickering. Ino had still been fighting; admittedly not as hard as she could have been, but the pair showed obvious signs of being worn down. Suigetsu’s clothes had a lot of holes in them, and whenever he was in a solid state his skin appeared to be dryer than when they had begun. Karin had barely contributed to the fight outside of some projectile based support that, hilariously, hadn’t done anything but get in Suigetsu’s way. She was visibly tiring, though that was likely due to how much Ino had been forcing her to heal herself, what with the excessive amount of poison she had managed to use on the redhead. Speaking of, Ino now had a good reason to make stronger poisons. This whole fight had been complete bullshit.

“Are you two going to make out or keep fighting?” she asked, earning glares from the both of them. “What? You argue like an old married couple. Even my parents aren’t this hot for each other.” The expressions of pure outrage were icing on the cake. Ino once again reminded herself of why she needed to start bringing a camera on missions. She had no one to blame but herself. Even Anko had tried to tell her.

Suigetsu snarled and turned to Karin. “Truce until we kill her?”

“Deal,” Karin said.

In the first true display of teamwork, the pair rushed at Ino. Ino laughed as she ducked and weaved around their combined assault. It wasn’t half bad. Were Ino not intimately familiar with being outnumbered, she might have even slipped up a time or two. Regrettably for Suigetsu and Karin, Ino was very well versed in dealing with multiple opponents simultaneously, and often far more than just two at a time. Channelling the training that Anko had drilled into her, Ino was able to remain untouched, using every possible opening to stab and slice at her opponents. There was a feeling of unfairness, as Ino realised that her fighting style was probably too similar to Orochimaru’s for the pair to fight effectively. Outside of Anko and Sasuke, there were probably only a handful of people trained in the snake Sannin’s fighting style, making it a strange weakness for so many of the man’s followers.

Ino’s braid whipped around, dragging the point of a senbon through Suigetsu’s eyes and forcing him to liquify his face. Slipping around his blind slash, she planted an open palm into Karin’s chest and sent her tumbling back before delivering a spinning heel kick to Suigetsu’s head. Not giving him a chance to reform, Ino weaved several hand signs. She didn’t know if this would work on someone who could turn into water, but it was worth a try.

“Mind body disruption.” She placed a hand on Suigetsu’s chest, pulsing her chakra into him.

It seemed to work, his body collapsing into a formless puddle and his sword clattering to the ground. Turning her attention back to Karin, Ino smirked. The redhead was watching her with a worried look in her eyes. Not a frontline fighter, that much was painfully obvious. If she couldn’t fight well, then Ino figured there was another good reason that Sasuke had the girl tagging along, other than the infatuation she held for the Uchiha.

She took a small step toward Karin, causing the redhead to take a cautionary step back. “You can come peacefully and answer our questions back at the village, or I can knock you out and peel what I need to know from your mind,” she said. “I’m not quite as good as my dad, so trust me when I say it will not be a comfortable experience for you if you choose the latter.”

Karin paled at the vague threat and held up her hands shakily. “I’ll comply, but tell me… what are you going to do with Sasuke?”

Ino paused. That was a good question. What were they going to do with Sasuke once they got back? She hadn’t given it much thought before. Her focus had been entirely on trying to make sure Naruto didn’t accidentally kill himself in trying to retrieve the Uchiha, which had gone pretty well so far if she did say so herself. Did she care what happened to Sasuke? Not really, no, but part of her knew she would be thinking about it the whole journey home. ‘I wonder if dad will let me interrogate him once or twice. Hmm, probably not.’

She shrugged. “Don’t know, don’t care. Now, hold out your hands. I don’t need you stabbing me in the back.”

Now, Ino may not have been the perfect student of her clan’s famed specialty, but she was still pretty damn good. Reading people’s micro expressions and body language was second nature by this point; a skill that was more annoying than useful for someone who wasn’t stationed in interrogation. Being able to effortlessly read her friends and acquaintances only tended to complicate things in her social life. Out here though, in the field, facing unknown enemies for the first time, it was incredibly handy. So, while Karin followed along with Ino’s demands, it was clear that she was merely playing decoy. Wearing glasses was also an unfortunate disadvantage. You couldn’t sneak up on someone if they could see a reflection of what was behind them.

The light flickered in Karin’s glasses, and Ino dropped low, sweeping Karin’s legs out from under her and dodging the wide arc of Suigetsu’s sword aimed for her neck. Kunai in hand, she closed in on Suigetsu and disarmed him, literally. She loosed her kunai back towards Karin, deflecting the one the redhead had thrown. Snatching Kubikiri up as it fell, Ino swung the giant sword, cleaving through the boy’s liquid body before turning it on Karin. Making use of the large circular cutout in the blade, Ino manoeuvred it over Karin’s head and forced the girl against a nearby tree, digging the tip of the sword just deep enough into the wood to create a partial stockade.

Victory was short lived as a large ball of water slammed into her. Ino just managed to take a deep breath before the water formed around her head. Trying to claw it off of her did nothing, and Ino was sure she could hear laughter through the suffocating liquid. A face formed in front of her own, wearing a wide, sharp toothed grin.

“Nice try, blondie,” Suigetsu said. “Just take a deep breath and it’ll all be over.”

Ino stopped struggling and glared at him. She could hold her breath for some time, but it wouldn’t be enough. Her mind jutsu had barely affected him, and even if she knew a lighting jutsu, she couldn’t use one without hitting herself. Closing her eyes, she swore that next time they ran into a group of enemies, she was taking the big one. Ino reached down into herself, the Kyuubi’s chakra jumping to life at her call. It flooded her, coating her body in a thin chakra cloak. The chakra made short work of Suigetsu, creating a barrier between Ino and his liquid form.

Chakra coated claws hooked into the ball of water and Suigetsu yelped in pain as he was forcefully removed from Ino’s body. Regaining his physical form, Suigetsu tried to face Ino without his sword, to disastrous results. The bijuu chakra imbued with each of her strikes forced Suigetsu to either block or dodge, lest he accidentally absorb any of the toxic chakra. He was no taijutsu expert, so it was a short affair.

With the Kyuubi’s chakra flowing through her, Ino moved fast and efficiently, ruthlessly breaking through Suigetsu’s defence and turning him into her personal punching bag. He never stood a chance, and Ino finished him off with a spinning heel kick to the face. He hit the ground hard, and Ino drew a kunai that was quickly enveloped in red chakra.

“Wanna see how far that trick of yours can go, or are we done playing around?” Ino asked.

Suigetsu was rippling strangely, his body struggling to find a comfortable middle ground between solid and liquid. With a groan he rolled onto his back and eyed Ino warily. “Yeah, no. I’m done.”

Ino smirked and turned to Karin, who was still stuck in the sword stockade. The fear in her eyes as she watched Ino was… something. Ino knew the effect the Kyuubi’s chakra had on people, but there was legitimate fear in Karin’s eyes. “We going to have any more problems?”

Karin shook her head. Ino took a minute to catch her breath and make sure nothing was amiss before freeing the redhead and instructing her to carry Suigetsu on her back. There was no way Ino was going to let the water freak close enough to try drowning her again. She was about to seal up the giant sword when she stopped at the sound of something crashing through the trees.

“Heads!”

Ino dropped the sword and jumped back to avoid a large body hitting the ground and leaving a deep trench in the earth as it came to a painful stop. Sakura landed close by, snatching up Suigetsu’s sword without hesitation and swinging it around experimentally as if it were weightless.

“This’ll do,” she said, her focus never leaving the body she had just laid out.

Ino held back a laugh. Sakura looked much worse off than normal. Her hair was pulled up into a ponytail— a style the medic only reserved for when she was serious —and there was a noticeable trail of blood coming from her nose. The backs of her gloves had been worn away, leaving only bloodied knuckles; combined with the now massive sword in her grip, it was an interesting picture. Off to the side, Jugo struggled to get back on his feet. Half of his body was transformed, but the half that appeared normal looked exhausted and battered. Ino didn’t need her clan training to see that there was an abnormal rage burning behind the boy’s eyes.

“Having fun?” Ino asked.

Sakura spared the blonde a passing look of annoyance. “Yep. All the fun,” she said. “Feel free to pitch in whenever you want.”

Ino glanced over at Karin and Suigetsu, both of whom were watching Sakura with varying levels of fear and wonder. “Hmm, I’m good. I already dealt with my two. I’ll cheer for you from over here.”

Sakura growled; her would be retort cut off as Jugo rushed her. Ino watched on, keeping the other two in her sights. The show was worth it, though it was more of a brawl than an actual fight. For every hit Jugo scored, Sakura repaid him with two, each packed with enough power to fold a normal person in half. Much to everyone’s surprise, Sakura did not use Suigetsu’s sword as a blade, instead making use of it as a shield against Jugo’s more weaponised transformations. When she did manage to attack with it, she used the flat or back edge of the blade. Her intentions were obviously not to kill.

“That’s the chick who was obsessed with Sasuke?” Suigetsu asked in horror.

The three of them winced as Jugo was punted into a nearby rock that turned into a bunch of much smaller rocks on impact. The large boy had been visibly slowing down, and the extent of his transformations had reduced significantly. Ino figured he was burning himself out by trying to keep up with healing the damage Sakura could dish out. A brutish strategy that only Sakura could effectively utilise. In the end, the result was inevitable. Sakura ended it with an uppercut that sent Jugo soaring into the air only to crash back down like a limp fish, completely void of his transformations.

Sakura stabbed Kubikiri into the ground and sighed deeply. “What is up with these guys,” she muttered, glancing at the terrified faces of Karin and Suigetsu. “Don’t tell me you two are freaks like him too.” Her eyes narrowed when they both chose to look away from her. “Yeesh. What is Sasuke trying to pull with you lot.”

“World domination,” Ino offered. “Either that or he was feeling home sick and decided to find new freaks to make up for the freaky teammates he had.”

“Who are you calling a freak, Ino-pig?”

“Oh please, you and Naruto are the biggest freaks of our generation,” Ino said. “That’s not even mentioning your sensei. When all four of you were together, it was like the ultimate fruit basket of crazy and weird. The circus squad.”

Sakura hefted Kubikiri onto her shoulder. “Big words for someone not holding the big sword.”

Ino smirked. “Finally found something big enough to draw attention away from your forehead?”

“Oh, that is it!” Sakura turned to the pair watching them bicker. “Which one of you can I cut into pieces without you dying on me?”

“Don’t take it out on them.”

“Zip it!”

Ino smiled. Just like old times.

{I}  

“This isn’t how I wanted to do this.”

Naruto waited for the snarky or hateful response, but it never came. The fight had been… short. Too short actually. With his curse seal out of play, Sasuke only had so much he could throw at Naruto. Then there was his restraint to consider. This time, Sasuke wasn’t trying to kill him, not even close. Hell, he hadn’t even put his Sharingan to effective use during the battle.

That in mind, Naruto was still hurting. Sasuke really had given his all to try and disable him non-lethally. Naruto hoped Sakura was alright and not too far away because he had it on good authority that the Kyuubi was not in the mood to boost his healing any time soon. Turns out refusing to kill an Uchiha in the fox’s presence was a big no-no.

“… shut up.”

He smirked. As they sat back-to-back, it was a good thing that Sasuke couldn’t see his expression. They both knew things would never go back to the way they had been. Never. But for now, it was nice to live in the moment, remembering fonder times of their youth.

Naruto chuckled. “Guess I finally beat you.”

“You cheated.”

“You let me.”

Naruto felt Sasuke slump more against his back. It went unspoken that they each knew the fight was over before it began. Sasuke’s heart hadn’t been in it. In a sense, he had surrendered himself willing, albeit with a struggle for the sake of appearances. Naruto would keep that to himself, for both of their sakes.

“He won’t stop,” Sasuke said quietly. “Naruto… Itachi will come for you. Nowhere is safe.”

“I know.” Naruto still didn’t know how to feel about being hunted down by Sasuke’s brother of all people. Akatsuki he could deal with, being mostly comprised of people he had no connections to, but Itachi— Itachi was a whole different situation.

“He will kill you.”

Naruto smirked. “Not if we stop him,” he said. “Together.”

Sasuke snorted. “Idiot.”

“You two need some more alone time?” Ino asked.

Naruto was pleased to see Ino and Sakura. He never doubted that they would be victorious. The disheartened expressions on Sasuke’s teammates faces were also rather amusing. How badly had the girls beaten them down?

Sakura pursed her lips as she surveyed the scene. “Did you have to tear the place up this bad?”

“Would you believe me if I said it was mostly him?” Naruto said. Everyone stared at him and Naruto hung his head. No one ever believed him.

The journey home would be a slow and silent one. They would need to take extra precautions to ensure no one saw them travelling with prisoners, sending a few summons’ ahead of time to inform the village about what they were returning with.

Before even setting out, Naruto could not ignore the growing sensation of dread settling in his stomach. Bringing Sasuke back was supposed to be a good thing, so why did he feel so bad about it? Sure, it was against Sasuke’s wishes, but that couldn’t be it, could it? Did he just feel bad about basically betraying a friend, or was it something else entirely?

Naruto didn’t know what he was feeling or why; all he knew was that once they got back to Konoha, things were going to get messy for everyone. He just hoped he wasn’t making a mistake.

{I}

(Omake: Seals are Creepy.)

It had never occurred to Naruto that taking a cautious approach to certain things was a necessity more than a simple blanket guideline. In his eyes, any problem requiring a delicate touch could just as easily be solved with a direct approach. So long as he was open about trying to help, then ideally no one had reason to get mad at him, especially when the results spoke for themselves.

That was, of course, until the problem involved one Anko Mitarashi. Naruto was rapidly understanding why Ino had warned him against his usual antics when it came to the snake summoner. Why did he continue to not listen to her the first time? He had no idea.

“You got five seconds to apologise and promise never to make another stupid joke like that again or I end your bloodline here and now,” Anko said.

Naruto gulped. The tone of her voice and the deranged look in her eyes was more than enough to make him regret his actions; the kunai and shuriken currently pinning him to the wall by his clothes, along with the blade being pressed against his most sacred of parts, went a long way to driving the point home. The fact that no one else in the entire bar was even looking at them or reacting in any way to what Anko was doing, spoke volumes of the fear this one woman somehow evoked in people. How Iruka let a woman like this anywhere near him was beyond Naruto’s understanding, but hey, each to their own, right.

Doubling down, Naruto met Anko’s stare with a stern look. “I wasn’t joking,” he said.

Anko’s eyes narrowed as she got uncomfortably close to his face. “You think you’re the first person to promise me a solution? What makes you so sure you’ll be the one to actually fix it?”

“I’m not promising anything,” Naruto said. “I just want to have a look and see if there is anything I can do. I don’t claim to be a master in the art, but this could be the only opportunity I have to learn about the curse mark, and if it helps you in the process, then all the better.”

Seconds dragged on for an eternity as Anko studied his face. Naruto’s only saving grace here was that he was notoriously bad at lying. Then, just as quickly as he had ended up in this compromising position, it was over. Anko stepped back, removing her kunai from between Naruto’s legs and glaring lightly at him.

“This isn’t some weird trick to try and get me shirtless, is it?” she asked. “Last idiot that tried that one needed an eyepatch after I was done.”

Naruto deadpanned at her. “You really think Ino would let me live if I was out here trying to perv on other women?”

“Touche.”

“Look, I just want to study it. Maybe try a few things out and see how it responds. Nothing that will put you at risk, I promise,” he said. “You can say no, and even stop at any point should you agree. I just want to be as prepared as I can be.”

Anko twirled her kunai around her finger, pacing back and forth in front of him as she contemplated. “Why? What are you getting out of this?”

“Sasuke,” Naruto answered simply, continuing as Anko gestured for him to elaborate. “Orochimaru put the mark on him too. It is… powerful. When we fought, it kept him on my level even with the Kyuubi’s power, and that was years ago. If it comes down to it, I’d rather not have to push things so far again. If I can figure the seal out, maybe develop a way to cancel it out, then that’ll make it that much easier to bring Sasuke back safely.”

Naruto knew better than to try and play to Anko’s sympathetic side. She didn’t have one, especially when it regarded someone who chose to leave the village to go after Orochimaru. As far as Anko was concerned, Sasuke was a dead man walking. Should the day ever come that Konoha captured the Uchiha, she would proudly be first in line to interrogate him to the point of breaking. Naruto wasn’t keen to find out how much dango he would need to buy to ensure Sasuke’s survival.

“You really aren’t going to give up on him, are you?” Anko asked, getting only a firm shake of Naruto’s head in response. She groaned. “Ugh, fine, fine. You can have a look. But no funny business. And Iruka needs to be there for every session. I’m not saying I don’t trust you… but I don’t. Still don’t see what little miss piggy sees in you, but I’ll give you a chance for her sake.”

Naruto was all smiles. “Awesome. When can I start?”

Anko plucked the last stick of dango from her plate and winked at him. “You know where I live. Tonight should be fine. Just… don’t get there too early. Iruka gets off work early today and I’m getting some well-deserved me-time.”

Naruto shivered, as did several of the other patrons at the establishment. With a maniacal laughter that would haunt Naruto’s nightmares for some time, Anko left, not bothering to retrieve the weapons that still had Naruto pinned to the wall. He let out a sigh of relief, considering this a success what with no actual harm having been done to him. Time would tell how well he survived tinkering with the seal.

“So… anyone wanna help a guy out?” he asked, looking around hopefully and wriggling his arms as best as he could.

The bartender chuckled. “Sorry, kid. No one here is stupid enough to help you against her. If she left you like that, it was for a reason.”

Naruto pouted. That sucked. He hated repairing his clothes or buying new ones. Trying to sneak to the shops without Ino finding out about it was an impossible task these days. Naruto did eventually regain his freedom, at the cost of his jacket that he spent the rest of the afternoon fixing. Eventually, after the sun had set and he had given what he assumed was ample time, Naruto made his way to Iruka’s house. The door swung open when he knocked, and Naruto was met with Anko’s wide grin.

He maintained direct eye contact with her for a silent moment before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. Regret was already growing within him. “Anko, why are you naked?” he asked in the calmest voice he could muster. He knew the woman had no shame, but this was ridiculous. She was dating his sensei for gods’ sakes. He did not need to be seeing this much of her. ‘Fuck. What if Ino finds out about this? Can I get in trouble for this? Double fuck.’

“Don’t I need to be naked for this?” Anko asked in return, voice dripping with an all too knowing false innocence.

“No.”

“But this is how Orochimaru—”

“I am not Orochimaru,” Naruto interrupted quickly, wiping a hand down his face. “Just… get dressed. I only need access to the seal. A loose shirt will be fine.”

Even with his eyes closed he could feel the smugness radiating off of her. “Suit yourself. Iruka will be out soon, so make yourself comfortable.”

Naruto didn’t know if comfort was possible anymore. Waiting until he heard Anko’s footsteps fade back into the house, he shuffled inside and sat down in the middle of the lounge room. He unsealed a small ink pot and a brush just in case and waited. When Iruka ventured out to greet him with an apologetic smile, Naruto could only cast a haunted look of understanding at the man before returning to his waiting. He knew he should have brought Ino along for this as a human shield.

“Alright!” Anko exclaimed, leaping over the lounge and landing in Naruto’s lap with her arms wrapping around his neck. At least she was dressed now. “How does this work? What do I need to do?”

Naruto mentally groaned and shoved her off, pulling her into place sitting in front of him. “Sit still, for one,” he said, ignoring the way Anko giggled at being forced into position. He glanced at Iruka and only got a half-hearted shrug in response. His sensei was not the man he thought he was, and that broke something inside of Naruto. The world had too many perverts.

His attention homed in on the seal printed clearly on her skin where her shoulder met her neck. Three tamoe in a circular orientation, each segment designed for an individual purpose with the unification of their functions being a secondary development that appeared to be missing. All in all, it was a simple and crude design, which only made it that much harder to meddle with. A secondary seal was present over the top, being one that Naruto was more familiar with. One of Jiraiya’s designs that acted as a containment, it’s strength dependant upon the will of the one it was used on. There was a similar function in Naruto’s own seal, albeit of a far superior quality and complexity.

“Any thoughts?” Anko asked.

There was a barely noticeable crack to her voice as she asked that, which was not lost on Naruto. He was aware of enough of Anko’s history to understand the sensitivity surrounding the seal Orochimaru had left her with. Unlike his own experience, she did not have the luxury of taking solace in her condition being a result of the greater good. It was merely a constant reminder of betrayal, failure, and weakness.

“The containment seal has held up extremely well considering the length of time it’s been in place,” he noted, tracing it with a chakra imbued finger. The ring expanded slightly across Anko’s shoulder and allowed him access to the real seal underneath. “Your willpower is impressive. Part of the function of this thing is to literally break down your mental state and inhibitions.” He felt her tense up under his hand. “Don’t worry. Your seal isn’t complete. Any damage it might have caused has been avoided.” That seemed to do little to ease her, so Naruto just continued on silently.

“So, does this newfound interest in Fuinjutsu mean you’ve chosen to take after your father?” Iruka asked from the sidelines.

Naruto scoffed. “I’m not that good,” he said. “No, just a morbid curiosity for now, but who knows. Maybe I’ll get into it more later.”

Anko twisted her head to side eye him. “So, I’m just a morbid curiosity, am I?”

“Yes,” Naruto said without hesitation. “And also no. You’re Ino’s sensei, and… whatever this is with Iruka. That makes you important to them, which makes you important to me. As valuable as this could be for me to help figuring out how to help Sasuke, I would still do it regardless, if only to help you.”

“Oh. Cool, I guess.”

He continued to dig around in the inner workings of the seal, referring to some notes he had from Jiraiya as he went. Again, it was simple, crude, and lacked any design qualities as far as comfort or efficiency went. Orochimaru was a genius with sealing in the same way that Naruto was a masterful artist. Just because the paint stuck to the wall, dried, and somehow passed as a picture, did not mean it was good craft. His face scrunched up as he came upon the final segment of the seal, a faint hiss escaping through clenched teeth. Now he understood why no one had tried to take it off before.

Anko chuckled. “That sounds reassuring.”

“It’s not,” Naruto said dryly. “How much of this seal has already been explained to you?”

“Not much,” Anko admitted. “I didn’t want to risk making it any worse, so once Jiraiya sorted out the containment, I haven’t let anyone look at it.”

Naruto’s eyes widened slightly. “And you’re letting me look at it, why?”

“Ino and Iruka trust you. That’s good enough for me.”

Great. More pressure. Well, it wasn’t as if this was going to be easy anyway. With a newfound motivation, Naruto got to work. He started out by copying the seal down in detail, being sure to note down all the functions and failsafe’s that Orochimaru had tried to hide throughout it. Something about the design told Naruto that Orochimaru relied heavily on people’s hesitance to tinker with his work rather than putting any real effort into making the seal more than it was. Throughout the entire process, Anko remained perfectly still, and managed to restrain herself to only making two sexual jokes for the duration. When Naruto was done, he sealed away his ink and brush and snapped closed his notebook before setting it all aside.

“I have good news and bad news. Which would you like first?” Naruto asked, helping Anko to her feet as they both stretched themselves out.

“Uhh, bad?”

Naruto nodded understandably. “This is going to take some time, and with your permission, I would like to run some tests. If I can figure out a way to disable the seal in a fight, then it could help Konoha a lot in dealing with anyone Orochimaru sends our way.”

Anko pursed her lips anxiously, sharing an unsure look with Iruka before nodding at Naruto. “Okay. If it helps take that bastard off the map, then I’m down.” She glanced at the notebook sitting off to the side. “And the good news?” she asked hopefully.

Naruto smiled. “I can definitely remove it once I’m done. I’ll need to make a lot of preparations, and I can’t promise that it won’t hurt like a—”

Anko had her arms wrapped so tightly around Naruto’s neck that she was choking him. “Brat, I could kiss you right now.”

“Please don’t,” Naruto pleaded. He tried to pry her off to no avail. What was with the women in this village being so strong? “Sensei… help me.”

Iruka just smiled and shook his head. “Sorry, Naruto. You brought this on yourself.”

Anko’s grip didn’t relent, and as Naruto slowly turned blue, he glared at his sensei. Certainly not the man he thought he was. This was the price he paid for trying to be nice.