Author's Notes: I'm glad to see the first chapter has been welcomed…To try and increase update speeds, I think chapter lengths will be on average shorter than those in "Out of Sight…"
Still…onward and upward. Let's see how this story progresses shall we?
Thank you to the reviewers…much appreciated as always
Be Strong Konoha
Chapter Two – Warnings
The gates of Konoha came into view as Hinata jumped across a large tree. She saw the road below and jumped down. Without breaking her speed, she continued to run for the gates.
She hadn't seen or heard from Ino and Kurenai since they split ways, but she knew that she had to report to the Hokage as soon as possible. The gates were ajar and she saw the guards. She ran past without stopping to greet them. The guards instantly recognised Hinata and didn't move to stop her. She looked around and there weren't many people on the streets. It reminded her of two years ago with Naruto
'Hinata…time and a place' Hinata shook her nostalgic thoughts and continued to run for the Hokage office.
Hinata ran through the door into the lobby but was stopped by a woman at a desk.
"Where do you think you're going girl?" She asked bluntly
"I need to see Tsunade-sama…it's urgent!" Hinata said
"Well…you'll have to wait, she's asleep" The woman said non-chalantly
"Asleep?" Hinata asked surprised
"It might have something to do with it being five o'clock in the bloody morning!" The women snapped.
"Wake her! Konoha is going to be attacked." Hinata shouted back. The women almost swallowed her tongue in surprise
"Right away!" She got up "…just head up to her office, she'll meet you there"
Hinata made for the stairwell and climbed to the top floor where Tsunade's office was.
Hinata began pacing around the office impatiently, worried about the time they were wasting. She paced around for about ten minutes before the door opened…and Ino walked in
"Yo Hin…where's Tsunade?" Ino asked cheerily.
"She's just coming…she was in bed." Hinata explained "…listen, back at the bar: I used my byakugan to see the scroll but it was only briefly, I cant get the image in my mind. Could you maybe go in and get it? I did see the entire scroll, so the memory's in there" Hinata asked seriously
"Sure thing…just have a seat" Hinata sat down on the ground and relaxed her body. Ino sat across from her and formed a D with her hands
"Mind Entrance No Jutsu" After Ino performed her jutsu her body went limp.
Hinata could fell a cold chill run through her…it was not caused by the jutsu. Ino's Mind-Entrance technique didn't do anything that could alert a person to her intrusion. Hinata's reaction was one of "she knows Ino is in there".
A person's mind is unique. Ino can say this for absolute certain. A person's mind is constantly being affected by different factors, and different people are subjected to different experiences. When Ino enters a person's mind, an environment is created, this environment –Ino says- has never been the same from person to person.
The mind can take on many representations depending on the mind of her target. For an organised, calculated mind like Shikamaru, the mind can take on the appearance of an office with filing cabinets,
for someone who has had a violent life the mind can take on the appearance of a blood-soaked battlefield.
It had been a long time, but with the help of Ibiki she had developed this jutsu. It took a number of attempts to be able to use it to a degree of usefulness. Ino –at first- was unable to interpret the images she saw…but with practise, experience and advice from her sensei and her family: she developed it.
Hinata's mind was one Ino found great comfort in being in. Every time she entered she was filled with a sense of warmth and comfort.
Hinata's mind brought on the appearance of a sunlit field of lavenders.
Ino looked around her, the flowers around her were swaying in the soft breeze. From experience: Ino knew that the flowers embodied Hinata's memories.
She knelt down beside a group of flowers that had recently grown. Carefully and gently she cradled the head of the flower in her hands and concentrated, images flashed in her mind of trees rushing by
'that must be when we were coming back…need to get an earlier memory' Ino thought.
She returned to the flower field and carefully crawled over to some other flowers and did the same as before.
An image of Naruto being fed ramen by Hinata's hand came across. Ino giggled at that memory of Hinata's.
'such a long time ago…wonder if he's changed' Ino thought on the off-hand.
She quickly moved onto a flower next to it and saw what else was in Hinata's memory.
The image that flashed in her mind was one of a bare-backside of Naruto.
Ino almost lost all concentration in shock…she had no idea about that memory. She filed it away for future blackmail.
'Come on Ino…gotta find it these memories are too old. Looking for recent ones' Ino thought.
Ino quickly crawled nearer to where she was when she started and checked a flower.
The image of the fight with Kabuto came across
'nearly there'
Ino checked a couple near-by that flower: using it as a reference.
Images of watching herself, images of being chased, images of wandering into the bar.
'almost got it…just a little more'
Finally she cupped a small lavender flower and she was instantly looking through Hinata's Byakugan…focused on the open scroll in the hands of the Cloud ninja. On it were all the information about the attack that was going to happen. She committed it to memory and cancelled her jutsu.
After a brief nausea felt by being pulled from Hinata's mind back into her own: Ino scrambled to her feet and went over to Tsunade's desk and found a pen and some parchment and wrote down all that was on the scroll from memory…she did it as quickly as possible in case she were to forget any detail.
Her handwriting was not neat but she was certain all the information was there. Hinata peered over her shoulder and she recognised the information on the piece of paper.
"Nice work Ino" Hinata praised "…that's perfect"
Hinata's face began to show signs of concern however
"What else did you see in my mind?" Hinata was almost afraid to ask…but every time Ino went in she always managed to find something worth blackmailing her.
Ino bore a devilish grin at the image she found in the shy-girl's mind
"oh…nothing much" Ino deliberately made it sound suspicious…she was intentionally making Hinata uncomfortable.
"Ino.." Hinata began but was cut off as the door to the office opened and the fifth Hokage walked in still donned in her night attire
"What's all the fuss girls?" Tsunade asked tiredly as she absentmindedly adjusted her dressing gown
"Tsunade-sensei…we spied on the meeting that was taking place, we found out something…disturbing" Hinata explained…she gestured to the note on her desk.
Tsunade saw this and walked over to inspect the note. She scanned it once…then almost on a double-take, scanned it again before taking the time to read it properly
"Are you certain?" Tsunade asked seriously…any fatigue was forgotten in light of the situation
"Yes…I saw it myself…Kabuto and the cloud head-ninja. They were discussing it and that note passed between them." Hinata explained
"Kabuto found out about us but we were able to neutralise him" Hinata continued
"Kabuto's dead?" Tsunade asked in surprise
"No no…we decided it was too much of a risk to kill him. We didn't want to upset the plans in any way…if Orochimaru found out then he may change the plan and we'd be unprepared."
"I removed the memory and we put him back into the bar…if all went well…he shouldn't even have batted an eye-lid when he wakes up" Ino finished
"hmm…Although Kabuto is a threat and should be taken out; I understand your reasoning, killing him wasn't an option"
"Listen girls…I've got a lot of stuff to work out in light of these details. Why don't you go get some rest, I'll give you both a shout if you're needed…alright?" Tsunade said softly as she took her seat at her desk with the note in front of her.
Hinata and Ino looked hesitantly at one-another
"Yes Tsunade-sensei"
"Yes Tsunade-sama"
The girls said before turning around and exiting the office.
Tsunade looked over the note once again
"this does not look good" Tsunade said shaking her head. She calmly took out a bottle of sake out of her desk and poured herself a cup before picking up a pen and a blank piece of parchment and started writing. As she was writing her free hand would search through a pile of scrolls on her desk and open them. She was taking reference notes from these scrolls and putting them down on paper in front of her.
"We need a plan" Tsunade said as she continued writing.
She tapped a button on the surface of he desk and a young Gennin walked into her office
"Orderly…schedule a meeting with the Jounnin in the village have them be here in one hour"
"Yes maim" The Gennin saluted and set about his task naïve of the dire situation that was brewing.
Tsunade raised her sake cup to her mouth…but stopped just before it reached her. She stared at her reflection in the fluid before letting out a deep sigh and putting the cup back down.
Author's Note: Here we go…getting back into the groove
This is coming along nicely I think…but that's just my opinion
I've got a dreaded feeling that I've lost some of the skill for writing since "Out of Sight…"
Still…I'm trying not to live in the past…"Out of sight…" is done…this is a new fic.
There may be mistakes…there maybe grammatical errors. But this is something I take great pride and pleasure in writing
I hope you feel similar in reading it.
Take care everyone.
Thank you for the reviews…they were very much appreciated