Ginchuriki Series 1/2 (C1)
Kakashi, Hidden Leaf Kage, summoned Ino for setting her on a mission.
"Ino,I am going to assign you to A rank mission" Kakashi ordered.
"I am ready for any, Kakashi" Ino signed that she is ready for anything.
"The Kishi are approaching the Leaf, and I want you to investigate the area that surrounds the Leaf, I thought of sending team units but they are too weak after the Fourth Great Ninja War, my eyes caught on you and noticed your fast recovery, there is no time to waste, we have to move" Kakashi explained.
"The Kishi?! Never heard of them, who are they? What are they seeking?" Ino didn't understand.
"We don't know what they are seeking nor their goals, we actually don't if it is bad or good, but we can't take risks especially after the war" Shizune, Kakashi's assistant, cleared things for her.
"I understand and under your sign!" Ino obeyed.
"I knew that you won't let me down, your mission starts tomorrow morning" Kakashi spoke.
Ino nods her head accepting.
The time came, and Ino was prepared to set off, she wore her robe, and covered her head with a hood, and took her steps outside the gate in that cold snowy weather.
The snow was thick and deep, she was struggling to walk, so she took the risk and picked up her pace by jumping from a tree branch to another despite the slippery branches.
She fell few times on that sponge snow that absorbed the fall, but she kept going.
Pausing for eating and resting then resuming after filling the thirst, until she decided to walk, because her heavy breaths and the slippery branches were too much to her to keep going.
She reached an aisle, trees both sides, she felt strange, the silence was weird and doubtful, but she kept moving in deeper and deeper.
Suddenly, heavy delayed steps were heard from the rear, the character was covered within the shadows, noticeable lurks, and a walk of king not hesitating in any step he takes, walking when a sword's pommel appearing from his right shoulder and the top of the blade was sneaking behind his left knee, when the sun revealed more details, he was a bald man, probably thirties, muscle peaks were noticeable from distances, wearing unbuckled black coat revealing his abs, sleeveless, a sign of Hagoromo clan was printed in black on his back.
When he was meters away from the poor Ino, he pulls his sword out not intending good.
Suddenly, a shinobi appeared from the trees, and seconds before the bald guy caught her, the shinobi held her and escaped, no one could match his fast moving speed, looked like a wolf that was used to these condition and this fast mobility under this hard weather, when that bald guy chased after them not letting it go easily.
He jumped from branch to another, trying to confuse the enemy, and once the enemy's face disappeared, and the sound of his speeding steps faded, the shinobi headed to his wooden house, that was near a frozen waterfall, once he felt safe, he slowed down his pace, and went inside his home.
Ino was freezing, so he brought some logs that he chopped and ordered and sat a fire in the fireplace that he had there, he brought mattresses that he stored in his wardrobe closet, and covered her, after she collapsed on that huge chair.
After she woke up, and felt the nice and warm, she saw him sitting near the fire place, playing the coal with a stick from a distance, she signed to him that she woke up:
He turned around to face her, struggling not to make eye contact, tried to make her fear him but she was already in fear, so he decided to just ignore.
She turned her face away trying to gather back the fragments of her memory and how she ended up here, she sat straight pushing away the mattresses that covered her, then he spoke:
"He is too far" He said trying to ease on her
"Did he lose our trace?!" She looked like taking insurance.
He turned his head again to the fire and stood up "I doubt that, he is too skilled to be fooled by us"
Ino got controlled by her fear again "So he will reach us soon!"
He ignored and offered her a cup of tea that he was making on the coal,"Who are you? How you reach this area?"
Ino explained "My name is Ino, shinobi of the Hidden Leaf, and also a member of Team 10, I have been ordered by my Hokage to search for any evidence about the Kishi in the area, and I might found something" She ended the sentence knowing that they are seeking bad, even after the war has ended.
He took a sip "so they call themselves the Kishi, Huh?" Bit his bottom lip revealing anger.
She gained courage out of nowhere and asked "What about you?"
He glimpsed her with a sharp eye and answered" Not your business, you are my visitor you should be thankful that I rescued you there"
She felt embarrassed and politely said "I am thankful...but it..."
Her savior just walked to the door to reach outside ignoring her.
While she was struggling to analyze what happened to her, A picture that she found laying near the fire place, it showed a kid in the middle, looked like the shinobi that she met, guy and a woman on his side, probably his parents, when she took deeper glimpses she found that on the kid's shoulders two headbands each on the side, one was the Hidden Leaf's and the other she wasn't able to recognize, "Open the door and come" He said, she was so frightened because his tone reflected serious orders, but she did what he ordered her, she opened the door, facing his back.
She was approaching him too careful as she walking through an ambush, and once her head passed the expanded wooden roof and reached the daylight, she saw the bald guy that was chasing after them recently:
"Here she is!" That big guy said, "So you escaped with her to here...I admit you are fast, but come on, did you really think you could escape?!"
She looked so concerned, standing under the mercy of one that she doesn't know, and the other guy she barely knows.
"We all know, that you are too fast for me to reach, so I won't drop a sweat looking for you..." Then he looked at her "But she looks unskilled to escape in this weather, and she looks too scared to survive and it will be so easy to capture, so decide now, flee or die!" he pointed his speech to the stranger shinobi.
Her heartbeats increased rapidly, almost sure of the answer that he will come up with, closing her eyes hoping for a miracle, and it came, "I will flee..."He said, it was temporary relief for that big evil guy, and a stun for Ino,"...With her" he continued with a grin, then he lifted her, and ran towards him, when a barely seen black aura surrounded his legs, it was a sign of suicide for Ino, but that shinobi somehow managed to flee under all these swords hits that he faced from the Kishi guy.
They thought they escaped, but that guy didn't give up fast, so the chase began, he threw Kunai, the shinobi managed to dodge some but his repeated throws were a serious trouble considering the weight of Ino that limited his movements and speed, Ino saw him battling, so she pulled a kunai from his pant's pouch and helped him dodging while he resumed focusing on his running, and escaping, she managed to dodge a lot, and the gap between him was growing bigger, the chaser knew that there is no hope to reach them, so he unleashed one final attack of shuriken and kunai, Ino didn't expect that attack nor was able to dodge it, because her right hand was clinging in that shinobi's neck, she succeeded in blocking the Kunai but the shuriken were too fast and smaller so she could barely see them, so her only divide was to predict their position, then placing her hand to absorb all the damage, which caused her pain and bleed.
The chase stopped, few kilometers away from Konoha, the barely seen aura on his legs disappeared due to the end of the chase, the shinobi knew that she got injured, he acted like he didn't know but her right hand tighten so hard reflecting the pain she suffered, so he continued escaping, didn't ask her about her condition, avoiding emotions and feels, and after couple minutes of branch hopping, they reached an open area, above the mountain were the Hokages faces were carved, Kakashi was informed about the strangers that sudden appearance of them, because of the invisible dome that circled the village which gives information about any attack or stranger passing, he headed to the top floor with Sakura and Shizune, it was covered with that thick snow, waiting for the "enemy" to come, then above these crafted legendries, Ino appeared with some random guy, that he doesn't remember that he allowed company with Ino, he slid upon the faces, and passing every detail, he knew he couldn't absorb all that force when colliding with the ground with that weight and his tired bones, so once he saw the backup that came he decided to push Ino meters away, leaving her falling alone:
"Ino!" Sakura shouted, revealing concern.
Yamato was there too once he heard about the breakthrough, so he contained her with his Wood Style and safely getting her back to the ground, while her holder landed by himself, far away from Ino and the others after he made sure that she is in safe hands.