Chapter Four
Ino's Team
Shikamaru stared up at the sky and wondered what she was doing just then. Where she was, if she was thinking of him.
Maybe he was whipped.
But man did he miss her. He could get up off his butt and go see her . . . but she usually showed up on her own if he waited long enough, and he was the legendary Lazy Ass Ninja so . . .
"Knew I'd find you here." A voice said, Shikamaru turned around to see the speaker, and was only slightly disappointed when it was Naruto.
Not that he had anything against Naruto, the man was one of his closest friends, he'd just been hoping it'd be . . . her.
"Well I'd hope you'd be able to find me, I mean you are the legendary Konoha Whirlwind." Shikamaru said.
"And you're the legendary Konoha Laze!" Naruto laughed.
"Yeah, that name's kind of a drag. So . . . what brings you here?" Shikamaru asked.
"Nothin'. Can't find Sakura-chan, thought I'd come see how you were doing with the team. Uh . . . where are they?"
"I dunno." Shikamaru shrugged.
"Yeah . . . I know you weren't too enthusiastic about leading your own Genin team." Naruto said.
"How did you manage it?" Shikamaru demanded, for Naruto had been assigned a team of Genin five years ago and all of them had since become Chuunin, one in fact, was a Jounin.
Naruto shrugged, "I just thought that if I cant lead a three man team, cant keep them safe and protected who was I to become Hokage?"
"You've got a point." Shikamaru admitted, "But I don't know what to teach these kids, my list of Jutsu is pretty short . . . and teaching is just so troublesome."
"Well my team did well. After we got to know each other it was easy, they learned more things on their own than I ever taught them, all we sensei really need to do is teach them the basics and see what kind of characteristics they have. Nurture them into the great ninja they're destined to be and impart any wisdom we can to make them even stronger."
Shikamaru stared at Naruto, and scoffed "You're just quoting what someone else told you, aren't you?"
"Yep, Sakura-chan." Naruto grinned.
Shikamaru grinned back, Sakura might have the right idea. He'd just sit back, give basic guidance and see what kind of abilities these kids developed . . . maybe.
"Are these yours?" Neji demanded. Shikamaru turned to see Neji and Hinata escorting his three students, who all looked rather dejected.
"N-Naruto-kun!" Hinata squeaked.
"Naruto?" Kotaro gapped.
"Uzumaki Naruto!" Yomiko cried.
"The Uzumaki Naruto?" Naomasa gasped.
Naruto frowned and scratched his head, "Uh . . . what's this?"
"These three were arrested for robbery, destruction of property, and assaulting a law enforcement official." Neji said with a slight smirk.
Naruto's jaw dropped, "You're off to a good start with them, Shikamaru!" he laughed.
"They all said they were trying to catch a weasel, summoned by their sensei-that's you by the way-which leaves their sensei equally responsible and guilty of all three counts. Senesi in this case being you, as you know." Neji was trying not to laugh, Shikamaru could tell.
But as if he needed to remind Shikamaru that he was their sensei. "So you're going to try to arrest me, eh? I won't go quietly, now I'll show you why being a sensei gives me the advantage, Hyuuga! Children, attack!" Shikamaru cried dramatically, and all four adults laughed while the three kids just kind of stood there sharing uncomfortable, confused glances.
"Look, Neji, Hinata-chan, whatever they did the Hokage's office will cover it, Shikamaru's training methods are approved by the Hokage herself." Naruto said, wiping a tear from his eye.
"We know, that's why we brought the kids here, we figured we'd find Shikamaru here." Neji said.
"Good. Hey you guys can help me find Sakura-chan then!" Naruto said excitedly, "I mean if you're not doing anything else."
"Uh sure . . . Naruto-kun." Hinata said, slumping a bit. Shikamaru wondered if Naruto really didn't know about Hinata's attraction to him or if he was just ignoring it. Of course it wasn't like he was dating Sakura or anything . . . even though they did spend a lot of time together lately.
Naruto and the Hyuuga cousins left, Shikamaru was left alone with his star struck team.
"Sensei! You never told us you knew the Naruto!" Yomiko cried.
"Never thought it was relevant." Shikamaru grumbled.
"But sensei this changes my whole perspective on you!" Yomiko said.
"Really?" Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at her.
"Yeah! Now your weak laziness is even more pathetic because you're friends with the toughest ninja in the village, aside from the Hokage!"
"Okay listen here you troublesome girl," Shikamaru began but Kotaro spoke up.
"Now you're going too far Miko!" Kotaro snapped, and Shikamaru folded his arms, glad that one of his students was rising to his defense. "Uzumaki Naruto is easily as strong as the Hokage, if not stronger!"
Okay, so much for that.
"Well maybe, but that only makes our sensei more of a looser!" Yomiko cried.
"Oh no, I agree with you there!" Kotaro scoffed.
Shikamaru could feel his eye twitching, "Okay then . . . this concludes your training for today . . . off you go."
"Hey wait a minute, that's it? That's all our training?" Yomiko demanded, "I don't get to learn a Jutsu or anything?"
"No . . . you don't." Shikamaru said, watching a cloud that looked kind of like a like an hour glass.
Maybe it was an omen?
"Is it because we think you suck?" Kotaro asked.
More eye twitching. "No. It's because I'm tired and bored, go home." Shikamaru said honestly.
The girl stormed off, and Kotaro followed after her, though he was in a much better mood and even said "Excellent! Now we can just hang out like everybody else!"
"I'm not hanging out with you!" Yomiko snapped.
"Well I wasn't asking you to-"
"Shut up!"
But Naomasa remained behind. Shikamaru glowered, he wasn't going to be troublesome too was he?
"I don't think you're weak Sensei . . . lazy, but not weak." Nao said grimfaced and serious.
"Good. Now run along." Shikamaru said, waving him away.
But the kid didn't budge, "Sensei, if you were over here that means you weren't watching us. How do you know whether or not we displayed proper ninja skills during this test?"
Darn it, Shikamaru was hoping none of them would ask him that.
He couldn't tell them he'd just wanted to ditch them for a few hours.
"I didn't have to. Tombugiri would have told me which of you did well and which of you didn't." Shikamaru said, it was relatively truthful, the little weasel was an adequate judge of character. "He's known some powerful ninja and if any of you displayed good qualities he'll tell me. There's no need for me to waste my time shadowing all three of you." Okay, well that wasn't completely true, Tombugiri wouldn't know a Genin from a Jounin if they wore signs on their foreheads, but Shikamaru had intended to hear his telling of their personalities and abilities, and judge from there . . . or something, really he'd just wanted a couple hours of peace.
"Sensei . . . this war," Nao said, "We're going to be fighting it, right?"
"Not right away if I can help it." Shikamaru said, "You don't need to worry, I'll make sure you're ready. But wars between ninja villages don't last very long, this one has been going on for years, it may be over by the time you're all prepared."
"I hope not." Nao said. "Because I want to fight. And I want you to teach me how."
"Why?" Shikamaru asked.
"Because you're my sensei."
"Obviously. I mean why do you want to fight?" Shikamaru scoffed.
"Because . . . I have to become strong." Nao said.
"For what purpose?" Shikamaru asked in a guarded tone. This wasn't going to be another half-crazed kid seeking revenge was it?
Shikamaru knew what happened with guys like that. Sasuke was a prime example of it.
"Because my teammates . . . they're going to be incredible. The daughter of the Sarutobi clan, the son of the Hatake clan, and me . . . a nobody with not a single ninja ancestor to call on. Their blood lines are powerful and if I'm not as good as them I'm only going to hinder them." Naomasa said.
Shikamaru relaxed a bit . . . so this kid wasn't out to murder anyone . . . that was good.
"Listen here . . . some blood line traits, like the eyes of those two Jounin that brought you to me . . . that can be passed down. But talent? That's another thing all together. Sure being raised in a ninja clan gives you a head start on the basics, and I'd be surprised if Yomiko and Kotaro didn't learn at least one Jutsu from their parents, but that doesn't make them geniuses. You might even be a genius and leave them in the dust."
Shikamaru scratched his head, he wasn't good with this whole "big brother" thing Asuma-sensei had managed with him, "Not one of you has what it takes to be a great ninja right now, that's why I was given command of your tutelage."
"But you won't teach us anything!" Nao protested.
"Who said that? I said we were done for today. And we are." Shikamaru shrugged, "There's nothing more for you three to gain today, you failed your task. You can go off and complain like Yomiko, or talk about how much of a drag the test was like Kotaro, these brave young Ninja scions. Or you can sit and think about why you failed, think about what it might take to succeed next time around." Shikamaru said.
Naomasa was silent, he seemed immersed in thought.
"And while you're deciding which of those paths you want to take," Shikamaru added, "do me a favor and go track down your teammates and tell them to meet me in the market place tomorrow at dawn for your next training session."
"Do you a favor? You just want me to go through the trouble of having to hunt them down while you sit up here napping!" Nao complained.
"Nonsense." Shikamaru scoffed, "I hardly ever nap up here . . . and I don't recommend it. It gets really cold up here at night."
"I'll try to keep that in mind." Nao grumbled and went off, presumably to find his teammates.
"They're all lame. Girl's a loud mouth, the boy with white hair barely tries and the other kid is gullible." Tombugiri said, appearing on Shikamaru's shouder all of a sudden.
"Well we'll just have to fix that." Shikamaru scoffed.
"Wha'chu want em for tomorrow? Another chase? More fun?" Tombugiri asked.
"I haven't decided yet. But I'd better teach them something." Shikamaru said.
"The sooner they make Chuunin the sooner you can ditch them." Tombugiri pointed out.
Shikamaru said nothing, that thought had already occurred to him, he was a genius after all and that was common sense.
Yamanaka Ino stared at the ruins of the town she had left her team in just a day ago.
Just a day ago it had been a thriving village with easily two hundred residents, all of them charming. She'd left her team behind because one of her Genin had twisted her ankle.
Ino knew enough medical Jutsu to remedy that, but she could tell the kids wanted to use their teammate's injury as an excuse to take a little time off. She had allowed it, after all she trusted them to behave themselves.
Sure she'd had reservations about leaving three young girls alone in a strange town, but she'd trained them for two years, she'd had a good measure of their personalities, and their capabilities. Not one of them would have put herself in a position to be taken advantage of, or forced upon, since they were all Shinobi nearly ready for the Chuunin exams anyone trying to force himself on them would be asking for a great deal of pain anyway.
They were careful with their money and they wouldn't spend their life savings on knickknacks that'd never be of any use to them, and they were well behaved, they wouldn't destroy the whole place.
They wouldn't destroy the whole place.
So she'd go to Konoha herself and report that their mission was complete, a two day long journey, then come back for them, giving them, more or less, the entire weekend to themselves.
She fell to her knees, she'd forgotten her makeup bag that morning and refused to let herself be seen in Konoha without a proper "face" so at about noon she'd headed back to retrieve the bag and her students.
She'd accepted, even looked forward to the fact that the girls would tease her, make jokes and all that, accuse their sensei of trying to look good for her man, and generally act like a group of . . . well, girls.
She'd been looking forward to seeing their faces again, hearing their voices, they were a part of her, like sisters, she couldn't have cared more deeply for them if they were her own daughters.
But the entire town was shattered, bodies lay everywhere, some ripped in half, some crushed.
Closer inspection revealed hoof prints from horses obviously carrying ridiculously heavy riders, Ino felt tears welling up in her eyes, the loss of life here was incredible . . . and if she'd been in the village it was very likely that she'd have died too.
But she might have prevented it as well.
Animals ate at the bodies, some dogs, some birds, more than a few rats. She saw one of her girls, Akiko lying face down in the center of a large bloody stain on the ground, and she rushed over, even though she knew it was through, there was nothing she could do.
Akiko's forehead protector was split down the middle . . . so was her once beautiful face. It was as if an impossibly sharp sword had simply cut her head down the middle. Ino wondered if Akiko had even had a chance to fight back, to prepare herself for her opponent . . . to prepare herself for death.
Ino wept for Akiko while searching for any of the other two, if she could find them . . . maybe they were still alive! Maybe she could save them!
As Ino searched through the bodies her hope began to build. These girls were capable Shinobi, maybe Akiko had been taken off her guard, but Omi and Natsume . . . surely they had fought back, killed some of the invaders and fled into the woods with some of the village's survivors. Ino was almost certain she'd find her other two students alive and well as she searched and found no trace of them.
Until she found Natsume. Natsume who'd always had a joke up her sleeve, always brought a smile to the team's faces. Natsume who now lay impaled on a stalagmite that had erupted out of the dirt road.
Ino fell to her knees and screamed with such pain that one might have assumed she too had been impaled. The slim chance that she'd find Omi was the only thing that gave her the strength to continue her search. A part of her didn't want to know what these monsters had done to Omi, just wanted to chase after them, kill them all, viciously murder them the way they'd viciously murdered her Genin and all the people in this village.
But she owed it to Omi, loved Omi enough to find her first. If there was any chance that Ino could save her she'd do it.
She'd have done anything for these Genin . . . including going against regulations and letting them have a weekend off. Why couldn't she have been more strict this one time? The girls would still be alive if Ino hadn't spoiled them . . . it was all her fault.
No.
Well yes it was her fault, but she refused to believe that they were all dead. Omi might still be alive, she wouldn't give up hope until she found the body.
To Be Continued . . .
