OHMIYGAWD A fanfic based on Ino that DOESN'T have any InoShika or InoSasu pairings! So who is she paired with?! Well, no one, as of yet. It may come eventually, though. Hold tight, people!

This fanfic takes place when Ino is 18, so she's not as annoying as she is when she's 12. Harrharr. I won't lie to you guys; I don't like Ino. At like, all. But I figured she'd be cool once she stopped Sasuke-fangirling and being all... ... ... infected with teenaged girl syndrome. So yeah.

As for her teeny tiny run-in with Sakura in this chapter; she DOES call her forehead-girl, but more out of habit than meanness... and she says it in her head. A demonstration of how much she - and Sakura - have grown.

Alright, now for the legal stuff; I obviously don't own Naruto, because... well, it isn't all senseless gore. Hurrhurr.

"Ano sa, Ino!" A familiar voice called. Ino spun, and saw that familiar face that belonged to that familiar voice.

"Eh? Oh, hey there, Shikamaru! What's up?" She smirked at him, and bit back a witty remark. Behind him stood three gennin. One was pulling the other's hair, while they, in turn, were clawing at the offender's face. A third hung in the back, yelling just as loudly as the first two, trying to get them to stop. The funniest part was, though, that they were arguing over something that Shikamaru had obviously done – and the jounin didn't seem to even care, let alone notice.

"I was just talkin' to Hokage-sama, she's been looking for you all day. You better get over there quick, she's getting antsy." He sighed. Ino stood, her blue eyes staring blankly for a moment. She was in a bit of shock… she was surprised that he hadn't said… "How troublesome." He muttered, as he turned to wander off. Well, there goes the shock she had suffered.

Ino stared at him as he wandered off, a spark of her admiration for him within. The eighteen-year-old boy – no, man – had been a jounin for a few years now, and had recently been assigned to teach a three-man gennin cell. He was the second youngest jounin in Konohagakure's history to be the teacher of a gennin team. This was mostly due to his sheer intelligence and strategic nature, but his kekkai genkai – the Nara clan's infamous shadow manipulation techniques – gave him that extra edge he needed to excel.

"Arigatou Shikamaru-kun!" She called after the retreating jounin with a wave and a smile. "See you later!" She didn't notice if he returned the good bye or not, for she was gone in the blink of an eye. She took off running down the street. She jumped up, and landed firmly – yet silently and gracefully – upon a shop's roof top. She brushed her long, golden-blonde bangs out of her peicing blue eyes, and continued her run towards the Hokage's tower off in the distance. The rooftops were much more convenient than the streets, and they weren't clogged with people.

When she jumped down back to the ground below, for the sole purpose of crossing a large gap that was un-jumpable (it was Konohagakure's main road), she noticed a friendly face. A friendly face, that is, that was framed with light pink hair.

Ino entered the impatient Hokage's office. Tsunade-sama was just opening her mouth to greet her, when another shinobi came in after the Yamanaka girl. It was none other than her previous apprentice, Haruno Sakura. "Ah, good morning, Ino-san, Sakura-san. I'm glad your both here, I needed to speak with you both."

Sakura looked surprised. She pointed to herself, her green eyes wide with curiosity. "Me too, Tsunade-sensei?"

The Hokage looked much younger than she actually was. When Ino had first met her, she looked to be about the same age as her assistant, Shizune. Speaking of Shizune… she greeted them heartily, with her usual wide smile. Ino nodded back respectfully. Shizune was gaining wrinkles around her eyes, and her once raven-coloured locks were beginning to grey. Ino held back a smirk – those greys were probably Tsunade's fault. Now, Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage, was my older than Shizune – much, much older. However, the beautiful sannin still seemed to look about twenty.

"Hai, you too, Sakura-san." She responded with a nod. She folded her hands, and put them on her desk. "I was going to wait until tomorrow, but now that you're here…" she trailed off. "Shizune, Ino, could you both please wait out side?"

Ino's eyes widened curiously. What could the Hokage possibly have to tell Forehead-girl that Ino couldn't get in on? Hell, was it so bad that even the Hokage's best friend and assistant couldn't witness it? Either way, Ino merely bowed, and turned towards the door. She pulled the door open and waited for Shizune, who was hauling along, in her arms, a sleeping Tonton. Once the medical-nin was out the door, Ino followed. The elaborate office door clicked shut behind her, and she sighed. She wandered across the hall to sit on some chairs that were specifically meant for the two purposes that Ino intended to fill – sitting, and waiting.

"Are… are you kidding, Godaime-sama?! I'm… I'm just a chuunin, you know that?" Sakura gasped, her green eyes wide in surprise.

Tsunade gave her a crooked grin. "Hai, I'm serious. I'm having enough trouble managing things here, let alone at the hospital. Obviously, you'll be promoted to a jounin just for this… besides, a trust-worthy source recommended you."

Sakura's brow furrowed in thought. "Trustworthy… source?" who would recommend her for something so huge? It had to be someone close to Tsuande, for the Hokage to even consider it.

Tsuande grinned again, then leaned back in her big chair. "I agreed with him readily, too. After all, I didn't spend all that time training you for nothing. Your skills as a medical-nin are of about the same calibre of mine, or so I've heard." Tsunade, of course, was way too busy to have been able to train Sakura in the last two years, and in turn too busy to see how Sakura had been progressing over this time. In fact, she only knew of Sakura's skill from the fact that the kunoichi had just returned from a high-ranked mission, with all her team-mates nearly scratch-less. Another point was the source himself… if Tsunade didn't accept his request to promote Sakura to such a high rank, he'd never let her hear the end of it.

"Who was it?" Sakura asked, her brow furrowed. She was determined to find out.

Tsunade seemed taken aback by the question, but only for a moment. She hadn't seen Sakura be so direct since the pink-haired girl had asked her for training. Her expression melted into a soft smile. "Naruto-kun, of course."

"N-Naruto-kun?" Sakura asked, barely believing it.

Tsunade merely nodded. "So do you want the job or not? If you take it, you will be the head of Konohagakure's medical teams. It will be up to you to run the hospital, and assign other medical-nin to teams and sometimes you even get to give them rescue missions. You'll be working directly under me…"

Before she could finish, Sakura's gloved hands came down hard on the oak-wood desk. "I'll do it!" Determination had hardened the teenaged girl's voice. Ah, so it was decided then.

"Good," Tsunade smiled that crooked, scheming smile of hers. "Come see me tomorrow, and I'll show you how to do it. Now, go get the Yamanaka girl."

Sakura bowed. "Arigatou, Tsuande-sensei!" she turned and fled to the door, and heaved it open with ease. She vanished into the hall, and a mild "Ano sa, Ino, Hokage-sama wants to see you now…" echoing into Tsunade's office just before the door clicked shut.

Tsunade watched her over-decorated office door swing open again. A blonde-haired, blue-eyed, purple-clad woman entered. Yamanaka Ino, was her name, and her Konoha hitai-ate was strapped proudly around her middle, hanging below her exposed belly button.

"Tsunade-sama," she greeted, with a bow.

Tsunade smiled softly. "Don't worry about being formal, Ino-san." Ino nodded, and visibly relaxed.

"You were looking for me?"

Tsunade sorted. "Yeah, for a good half a day. You're hard to track down, Ino." This was true – while Ino moved around a lot, and was pretty hard to find, whenever she was found she seemed to come to wherever she was bid to go with only the speed of a Konoha shinobi.

Ino grinned a wide, goofy grin, and rubbed the back of her head, causing her rather low ponytail to flop somewhat. "Heheh, yeah, sorry about that."

The blonde Hokage sighed. "That's alright. Now, down to business. I've been told… by my… "sources"… that you've been developing a new technique. A variation of the Mind Transfer, correct?"

"Eh?" Ino blinked. How did she find out…? "Chouji told, didn't he?" She asked, somewhat glumly. Her eyebrows lowered, and an ominous look came into her eye. It was supposed to be a secret, and he had told! Even Shikamaru didn't know about it! Hell, her own mother didn't know about it! Chouji only knew in the first place because she had actually tested it out on him. And she only did that because she thought he wouldn't tattle on her….

"Don't get mad," Tsunade calmed her, waving her hand in a dismissive manner. "There had been a rumour you were doing more training than usual, even more than before, when you had the chuunin exams to look forward to."

Ino winced. Crap, she never thought any one would catch on to that. The sannin continued. "When I found that out, all it took was a free all-you-can-eat buffet for that Akimichi boy, and he told me everything."

Suddenly, her humour dropped. She leaned forwards onto her desk, and rested her mouth against her folded hands. Her voice became muffled, but her next question was clear as Ino's eyes. "However, he wouldn't spill what the technique was meant to do... all Chouji-kun would reveal was that it was a variation of the Mind Transfer… is this true?"

Ino nodded.

"So basically, you and only you would be able to do this technique, correct?"

Ino winced. Previously, her father would have been included in that count, but a year and a half ago he had met a somewhat unfortunate end. He died on a mission, and by sheer accident. Shikamaru and Chouji's fathers had seen to it, though, that their comrade did not go un-avenged. He went the way he had always wanted to go. She stood there for a moment in silence. Tsunade had forgotten that this was a soft spot with the girl, a soft spot that caused her to mature rapidly… so she only sat in silence and waiting, not wanting to take that point any further. Slowly, Ino nodded. Her eyes still seemed so far off… but the Hokage continued.

"What does this technique do… or rather, as it's still a work in progress, what is it's implied purpose?"

Ino thought for a moment on whether or not she should tell the sannin. Secrecy gave way to the powers of logic and the issue of rank, and Ino revealed to her leader.

"It's kind of like the Mind Transfer technique… only…" she wriggled for a moment, considering how to put it into words. "Only, when I go into my target's body, I don't take the place of their mind. I… I kind of… meld with it, I guess."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. She wasn't following. Ino sighed. "You see, with this technique, the way it's supposed to work is… well, it has the same properties of the Mind Transfer. However, when I enter my opponent's body my mind doesn't block theirs out. They can't move their body, but their mind still has mental function, just like the Mind Transfer. This time though, my mind… well… I guess I could say I intrude their minds as well as their bodies. I haven't perfected it yet, but I can read emotions and memories, but as it stands, only traces. Once I have it all worked out, I plan on being able to read memories clearly, along with current thoughts."

"Basically…" Tsunade said, apparently deep in thought, "It's a jutsu used to measure your opponent, to learn their motives and their skills, and even possibly predict what actions they may take in the near future?" She asked. Her question was rhetorical – after all, she was Tsunade! The drop-dead gorgeous sannin, Hokage, and medical-nin extrodinare!

"… … …" Ino stood silently for a moment. "…No." Her head shook. "That's not it at all, but that is an added bonus.

Had this been in the anime, there would have been that moment when the one who just became so dastardly wrong would turn to concrete, their face embedded with a permanent jaw-drop, and then they would have done the anime-crumble – complete with blue gloom lines and a dark blue background. However, this is not the anime.

So instead, Tsunade just seemed to be very taken aback. "N… n-no?" She stammered.

Ino looked down, and placed a hand to her chin in thought. "It's for information, more than anything. As long as the target knows or remembers something, I'd have complete access to it."

Tsunade was still irked she had been wrong, but she nodded. "Sounds…"

"Dangerous?" Ino asked.

Tsunade grinned. "That's another word for it, yes. My intended word was "fun", however."

Ino's smile slowly grew. Having the Hokage's approval to invent – or rather, complete the invention of a new technique was a good thing, a very good thing.

"Tell me," the Hokage sighed after a minute, as she rose to her feet. She leaned on her desk and looked Ino in the eye. "What's the purpose in creating such a jutsu?"

Ino thought about it for a moment, then shrugged. Her answer didn't lie – she had no idea how she thought of it, or even why. "I suppose it would make life easier and save time on interrogation. Also, chances are the information would be much more correct."

"Isn't it a dangerous technique, though, like you had said?" Tsunade questioned. Ino could tell she was being tested, but persisted to come up with the best answers she could, anyway.

"I would assume so… but you forget, Tsunade-sama…" Ino grinned, and mimicked the Hokage's lean on the table. She was face to face with Tsunade now, staring the Hokage down. Her grin only widened. "I'm the only one that can do it."

They stood for a moment more, and imaginary dramatic music played in the background… 'cause it's a dramatic moment. Yeah. Finally, Tsunade grinned, then pulled back and crossed her arms. She sighed. "Yamanaka Ino, I approve of your new technique. Also…" her face faded to an unreadable expression. "Please stop by tomorrow morning. You might as well come when Sakura does. I think I have an idea for you, Yamanaka-san. An idea you might like…" the Hokage trailed off, then wandered over to the window. "You're dismissed."

Ino backed away from the desk and bowed stiffly. Curiosity gnawed at her mind. She wasn't even at the door yet, and she already felt maddened by wondering just what it was the Fifth Hokage had in store for her.

Alright people! I'm not gonna force you to review, but don't be afraid to drop me a line and tell me what you think of it. I didn't spend three hours writing this, then accidentally kick the plug out of my comupter (without saving... errr...) and then re-write it all again (the first version was better, but meh, this works too.) within a span of five hours.

So, for the love of GOD (or Naruto... or... Shino... or whichever character you idolize) PLEASE at least let me know if it's worth the pains of continuing!