(A/N: And Chapter 8 comes up! As usual, review feedback comes first:
Dan Inverse: Yeah, yeah, I'm going back to Team 7. Now you can find out what technique Ino learned, happy?
DarkJackel: Hehehe... yeah, the Marsh kunoichi pretty much consider Naruto as an avatar of their protector god. You'll later find out something else about them, though...
EfrainMan: HEH. Nice omake. Though, due to Maki's nature, kissing her would be lethal, to say the least... but hey, it's all in good fun!
RurouniGochan: Thanks for the review. And also thanks for your pointers over AIM. I'll treasure them!
OK, done... now we return to Team 7. You'll find out what the result of Ino's training was, and get to see some interaction before Zabuza strikes. Hopefully, I'll do a good job... Read on!)
DISCLAIMER:
Naruto and all its characters are property of Kishimoto Masashi, and I don't claim ownership of them, though I sure as hell would LIKE to. The concept of monju comes from Ghost Sweeper Mikami, a manga by Shiina Takashi. The characters of Basara, Onikage, Maki Yamazaki, Kagura Moritsuna, Jun Rando and Rin Watanabe are original creations of mine, along with any other OCs that may pop up later.
CONTRIBUTORS:
Many thanks to:
Hunter Sopko from GameFAQs for suggestions on the story, new jutsu and the OC's personality, as well as proofreading;
TheHomelessGuy and TG Cloud from GameFAQs for feedback on my OCs and suggestions for jutsu;
TheCerebralAssasin from GameFAQs for more suggestions;
The Wretched from GameFAQs for checking the names of my new jutsu;
Tsukinosakura and Gochan from RKDreams for more proofreading;
Ice Dragon XXI for EVEN MORE proofreading;
Several other people who contributed opinions (you know who you are!)
And thanks to YOU for reading this fic, of course!
("This" is speech. Italics indicate thought. Words in bold indicate Basara speaking and/or communicating with Ino. If you encounter a bolded 1234567890, it is a scene change and/or a separator. Thank FanFiction Net for eating my formatting AGAIN.)
Chapter
8: Training Days
Wave Country
Ino lay on the ground, panting. Sweat covered her from head to toe, causing her clothes to stick to her body. One could almost think she had just taken a swim from how drenched in sweat she was - even her hair stuck to her face and neck in the way only wet hair can.
Despite being completely exhausted, Ino was in a state of exhilaration. It had taken four days of back-breaking training, but she had finally managed to learn the jutsu Basara had been trying to teach her. Ino grinned broadly - that jutsu didn't look like much, but its potential was almost limitless.
Pity you can only use it three times before fainting from exertion, Basara interjected, causing Ino's smile to fade slightly. The kitsune had a point: this jutsu required a truly obscene amount of chakra, especially to use its more powerful effects. Even so, three uses were more than enough in most situations. The destruction around her was proof of this.
Ino once again looked at her training site, and again marveled at just how much she had managed to devastate it. Large burn marks were scattered across the field; several trees were charred; some others were frozen solid or shattered; yet more, smaller trees were just plain uprooted. Ino shook her head.
To think something as tiny as that could do this..., she thought to herself incredulously.
Don't underestimate the power of a monju, Ino, Basara cautioned her. And don't try experimenting with strange effects in the middle of a fight either. Keep it simple... you never know what a monju's effect will be.
Ino nodded. She had seen enough during her training to realize that trying fancy stuff could very well get her killed when using this jutsu, and she had no intention of being frozen, charred or worse.
As she got up in a sitting position, she heard a rustling behind her. She turned around to see a very pretty girl emerge from the forest and look around with a shocked look.
Sorry to contradict you, Ino, but that's a male, Basara pointed out. Ino's eyes widened. A guy? He's prettier than even Kurenai-sensei!
Yes, definitely a male. Unless I've grown so senile I can't tell male from female by scent alone... strange, he smells familiar, the kitsune added. Where did I smell his scent before?
While Basara tried to remember where she'd felt that scent before, the boy (?) approached Ino cautiously. He stopped a few feet away and cast a questioning glance her way.
"Uh... do you by any chance know what happened here?" he asked, observing her. Ino scratched the back of her head and let out an embarrassed laugh.
"Er, I kind of overdid it with training... sorry. Were you looking for herbs?" she asked, noticing a basket full of leaves and roots hanging from the newcomer's arm.
"Yes, but I doubt I'll find any in this mess..." he said with a frown, surveying the carnage. Ino blushed guiltily.
"Sorry..."
"Never mind..." the boy reassured her with a small smile. "I'll just look elsewhere. Training... are you a kunoichi?"
Ino nodded, examining him. He definitely looked feminine, but she could pick up an underlying feeling of resolve. Whoever this boy was, he had strong beliefs and upheld them without fail.
"I see..." the boy murmured. "And... why are you training?"
"Hm? Mostly to get stronger," Ino replied, leaning back on her elbows and letting the sunlight wash over her face. "I'm in a team, but right now I'm only slowing the others down, for the most part. I want to be strong enough to actually be useful to them, instead of just being dead weight."
"Aaah... I understand..." the boy nodded, then smiled. "You must care a great deal for your teammates to exhaust yourself like this with training."
"Of course!" Ino smiled. "They're also my friends, though sometimes I feel the urge to smack them. One of them is loud and obnoxious, while the other broods far too much, and our sensei is a pervert who's always late for training... but I wouldn't exchange them with anyone else. Especially Naruto..."
Ino chuckled in embarrassment. The boy smiled at her again.
"Naruto, eh?" he said. "Is that your precious person?"
Ino blushed violently and frantically shook her head no, then stopped and grinned sheepishly.
"Uh, hehehe... something like that, I suppose... but we're just friends! I swear!"
The boy chuckled, hiding his mouth behind his hand. Ino glared at him.
"It's true, I tell you!" she insisted. The boy held his hands up in surrender.
"I believe you. Say, I'm looking for more of these medicinal herbs. Have you seen any around here?" he asked, holding his basket out. Ino peered at it.
"Medicinal herbs like those, eh?" Ino said. She got on her feet and looked around, then grimaced. "Uh, I think I saw some, but in this mess it'll be hard to find any..."
For the next few minutes, Ino and the pretty boy looked around the devastated glade, scrounging up whatever herbs hadn't been frozen, burned or blown up. The boy pointed Ino to a few herbs with strong medicinal properties, and Ino listened with great interest to his explanation.
"So that's how you make a burn ointment, huh," she murmured, filing the information away for later use. "Thanks for teaching me. I always mess up when cooking, so this could be of some use to me..."
The boy chuckled. Ino smiled and laughed as well. She then glanced behind him and noticed Sasuke at the edge of the glade, staring at the utter devastation around them.
"Ah, my teammate's here. Sorry, I have to go. Good luck with your medical job!" Ino said in an almost apologetic tone. The boy waved his hand in dismissal.
"Don't be sorry. You helped me a lot," he said. "By the way, I am..."
"A boy, I know. You can't fool me," Ino said as she waved and dashed away. The boy stared at her retreating form in confusion. How did she guess? He then smiled, shaking is head, and his gaze shifted to Sasuke, who was now staring at him. He briefly nodded his head, then turned around and left without another word, thinking about what he saw.
The Copy-Ninja might not be the most dangerous opponent after all..., he mused.
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As Ino approached Sasuke, the dark-haired boy focused on her again and lifted an eyebrow.
"Exactly what happened here, Ino? Did Zabuza attack you?" he asked, pointing at the wanton destruction around them. Ino smiled sheepishly.
"Uh, I was experimenting with jutsu and kinda got carried away," she explained. Sasuke just gave her a 'come on, spit it out' look, and Ino shook her head with an evil grin. "I'll show you another time... maybe. Why'd you come here anyway? I brought lunch along with me..."
"Kakashi-sensei says he wants you to come back and train together with us," the dark-haired boy shrugged. "He sent me to fetch you."
"I see... well, why not? I'm done with my own training here anyway," the blonde shrugged. Sasuke gave her a curious look.
"What kind of jutsu WERE you practicing, anyway?"
"Sorry, it's a secret!" Ino taunted him before running off. Sasuke sighed and followed at a more leisurely pace. He could swear Naruto was beginning to rub off on her.
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That evening everyone ate together. Naruto was deadly tired from his own training, but was grinning happily nonetheless. On the other side of the table Tazuna's grandson Inari was staring at him with a barely concealed expression of hostility. Naruto noticed that and cast a curious glance at the kid.
"What is it?" he asked. Inari kept staring at him a while longer, then got up and slammed his hands on the table, tears streaming down his cheeks.
"Why do you bother? Even if you train a lot, you have no chance against Gatoo's men!" he shouted. "What you say or do doesn't matter! The weak are always defeated by the strong!"
All the presents stared at Inari in shock. That is, all of them except Naruto (who frowned at him) and Ino (who snorted derisively).
"Shut up, kid," Naruto retorted. "I'm not like you."
"You piss me off! You keep running your mouth even though you know nothing of this country!" Inari shouted even louder. "What do you know of me? You always laugh like a moron because you have no idea of what suffering is like!"
CRACK
Everyone suddenly stared at Ino, who had just splintered her end of the table by ramming her fist into it. An extremely displeased expression was on her face, and she was staring directly at Inari. The boy shrank back, suddenly afraid, and for a brief instant Kakashi tensed, fearing that she was about to assault the boy. Why is she reacting like this, the copy-nin wondered. She's taking this so personally, you'd think the kid insulted her and not Naruto.
"Shut up, you whining brat," Ino hissed in a tone of voice so venomous, it made even Kakashi flinch. "What do you know about suffering? You, at least, have a family. Naruto has none. Nor does Sasuke... his entire clan, including his parents, was murdered in one night, in case you want to know."
Inari's eyes widened and Sasuke's breath caught in his throat as Ino continued, her voice switching to a deathly cold tone.
"For his entire life, Naruto has been shunned by his own village," Ino murmured. "Without friends, without a family, hated and despised because of something he had absolutely no responsibility for, nor choice about. Do people call you monster? Do they spit on the very ground you walk on? Do they refuse to even acknowledge your existence? Do they wish... no, pray... for your death?"
The whole room was silent as Ino's voice slowly increased in volume with every question, never losing its icy tone. The Leaf kunoichi got up to her feet and stalked out of the room. Before slamming the door, she cast one last glance at a stunned Inari.
"Until you've been through everything Naruto or Sasuke have experienced," she finished, giving the now-silent boy a look of pure contempt, "do not bother claming that you know what true suffering is. You know nothing."
With those words, she violently slammed the door, nearly tearing it off its hinges, and stalked out of the house, seething with anger.
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Inside the house, everyone looked at the half-broken door in stunned silence. Sasuke was confused: Ino had reacted as if Inari had insulted her personally, and how did she know so much about Naruto anyway?
Naruto and Kakashi, however, had the same thought in their minds: Does she know? And how? Both the genin and the jounin had noticed Ino's mention of 'something he had no choice about'. Neither had any idea where Ino could have picked that piece of information up, but both were now determined to find out.
If someone in Konoha let something slip before a genin, Kakashi darkly thought, heads are going to roll... literally, not figuratively.
"...what's gotten into her?" Sasuke muttered, looking at Naruto. "She acted as if they had just killed her beloved pet. You know anything, Dead Last?"
"...no idea. I'm wondering too... HEY! What did you call me?" Naruto glared at Sasuke, shaking his fist at him. Sasuke sighed.
"Forget it, moron. I'm more concerned about Ino. That reaction is not like her..." Sasuke muttered, still confused by the kunoichi's outburst.
"I'll go talk to her," Kakashi nodded at the two boys. "Stay here and try not to kill each other, all right?"
As the jounin left, he heard Naruto yell at Sasuke again. He sighed. So much for peace and quiet...
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Ino punched the huge tree before her again with all her strength. Her knuckles were bloodied and scraped due to the impact with the tree's bark, but she didn't care. She kept venting her anger on the tree's trunk, hitting it with enough force to crack the wood and send splinters flying in all directions.
She was angry. Very, very angry. She was angrier than she had been in a very long time.
It was not fair. No one besides herself and maybe Kakashi gave Naruto any credit at all, or even treated him as a human being. Even she, blind sheep that she was, had done what everyone else did and ignored him, or worse, until a short time ago. Why? Why did everyone treat him that way? What fault could possibly be placed on a kid for the actions of a now-harmless monster forcibly sealed inside his body when he was still a baby and had no say on the matter?
She had been angry at this situation ever since Basara had told her about the Kyuubi and the village's treatment of Naruto, but she had managed to keep her rage to a low simmer. Then Inari had poured verbal fuel on the fire... and she had blown up. She didn't regret her harsh words in the least. Every single one was wholly deserved. How dare that brat assume he had it worse than anybody else?
She gritted her teeth in frustration and punched the tree again, putting every single drop of fury and contempt she had in the blow. The tree's trunk shattered with a loud crack, and she jumped out of the way as it fell to the ground with a thud, shaking the ground.
Ino panted, staring at her handiwork, then stomped her foot repeatedly. This wasn't right! It simply wasn't!
Life isn't fair to begin with, Ino, Basara interjected, a displeased feeling radiating from her. But I agree with you. This situation is particularly unfair on Naruto. He has no fault for the Kyuubi's actions, yet the villagers treat him as if he was the Kyuubi. Which makes no sense but, with all due respect for you, humans rarely make sense at all.
I won't argue with you about THAT, Ino replied acidly, her anger slowly returning to acceptable levels. I don't have to like it, either.
As well you shouldn't. I'm sure Naruto appreciated your standing up for him, Basara agreed. But don't you think maybe you said too much? Kakashi looked at you in a suspicious way.
Do I look like I care, Ino snorted. It had to be said, and I said it, and I'll be damned if I take back my words because some nosy perverted jounin might read too much in it. I'll have to tell him about you eventually anyway.
Probably right now, Basara commented. He's behind us.
Ino groaned inwardly and turned to stare at the silver-haired jounin as he emerged from the bushes. Kakashi raised his hand in greeting.
"Yo," he said. "Did you hear me coming?"
"I didn't," Ino sighed, too tired to bother making up excuses he'd see right through with ease anyway. "Basara did."
"Basara...?" Kakashi repeated, blinking at her with a confused look in his visible eye. "You mean the Shikigami Basara?"
Ino let out a short, mirthless laugh, then shook her head negatively and motioned for him to come closer. Kakashi complied without a word.
"Sit down, get comfortable, shut the hell up and listen carefully, pervert-sensei," she commanded without even looking at him. "This is going to take a while to explain, and I'm not in the mood to repeat it twice, so you'd better get all of it in one try. Otherwise, tough luck."
Kakashi merely nodded. Whatever it was, he had a feeling he wasn't going to like it.
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He didn't like it.
"You mean you've had an unsealed demon inside you for the last two or so months and you never told me anything?" Kakashi muttered in a disbelieving tone. The story the girl told him in the last two hours was rather unbelievable, but she didn't feel like she was lying, and eventually Kakashi had to admit it made sense. All that sudden strength and speed, the violent mood swings, the apparent change in her base personality... it all fit together now. The jounin eyed his pupil apprehensively.
"Is it... dangerous?" he cautiously asked. He immediately grimaced as Ino shot him a killer look.
"She," Ino corrected him. "Not 'it', not 'creature'. She."
Kakashi gave her a curious look. "So... is she friendly?"
"Yes," Ino nodded. "In fact, she's been doing an excellent job of keeping me alive and making me stronger."
"Stronger, huh? How?" Kakashi asked, his interest piqued.
"Watch."
Ino started doing a rapid series of hand seals. Kakashi whistled inwardly: her seal-making speed had considerably improved in just four days. He observed the succession of seals. Donkey, tiger, donkey, donkey, horse, tiger... huh?
Kakashi blinked. Ino had done a seal he'd never seen before. He lost track of the seals she made next, trying to identify it, when Ino completed the sequence and held her hand out.
"Seikyuu: Monju no Jutsu!" she said. Kakashi stared in amazement as chakra began to pool in her palm, concentrating itself until it became a tiny bead-sized pale blue sphere that shone ominously in the night.
"...what is this? I never saw this jutsu before," Kakashi murmured, staring at the sphere. He then looked at Ino again. "And what was that seal you made?"
"One at a time, sensei," Ino said with a proud smile. She had surprised even the infamous copycat-nin, Kakashi. "First, the seal I made is called Kirin. Basara tells me it is related to a mythological animal of some sort, but it kind of went a little over my head, hehehe."
She laughed in embarrassment, then pointed at the sphere in her hand. "This is called a monju. It is a sphere made of compressed and solidified chakra. By itself, it has no effect, but if I do this..."
Ino's brows furrowed as she concentrated, staring intensely at the sphere. Suddenly, it glowed, and a word appeared over it. Kakashi blinked.
"...'Kaen'?" he asked, looking at Ino. She merely smiled.
"Watch, now." she said, and threw the sphere at the fallen trunk of the tree she had demolished. The monju sailed in the air and struck the tree.
And then it burst into flames.
Kakashi jumped to his feet, crouching low in a fighting pose and looking around, but Ino lightly put her hand on his arm and shook her head.
"Don't worry, sensei, we're not under attack," she explained. "That monju, it had 'kaen' on it, did it not?"
Kakashi nodded, and Ino smiled, pointing at the tree. The jounin's eye shot open in sudden understanding. Of course! Why didn't he think of it before?
"Those monju... they can take on elemental properties?" he asked Ino. She nodded.
"Not just elemental properties, sensei," she added. "They only work when a single word is inscribed in them, but as long as there's only one word, you can obtain an effect related to it. You can conjure fire, or freeze something, or blow it up, or even heal wounds..." She grinned sheepishly. "But, uh, Basara forbid me from experimenting with weird words. She said I'm liable to kill myself if I mess up, as even she has no idea what most words will do when inscribed on a monju."
"She's damn right, you shouldn't," Kakashi said, nodding. "In fact, I explicitly forbid you from trying new words on your monju unless you're under my direct supervision. Stick with what Basara taught you. For now, I'm willing to trust her judgment, since she's been obviously greatly helping us." Kakashi's eye narrowed. "You do realize I'll have to report this to the Hokage, right?"
Ino nodded. "As long as you don't attempt something stupid like trying to seal her, I'm fine. But Basara's my friend, and you'll lock her up or otherwise harm her over my dead body." She glared defiantly at the copy-nin.
Kakashi didn't answer immediately, instead carefully examining Ino's posture. He liked what he saw. Ino was tense, but displayed no fear. She was serious about that: she'd have rather died than allow any kind of harm to come over her new, albeit inhuman, friend.
Furthermore, Kakashi was impressed by Basara's honesty. Ino had told him of what choices were available to her friend, and Kakashi had to admit he respected the female demon for actually mentioning solutions that would've freed Ino at the cost of the kitsune's own existence. Malevolent demons wouldn't even have considered mentioning such things.
"Very well," he nodded after a while. "I'm still concerned about that whole 'merge souls together' business, but I'll trust the two of you for the time being. But if Basara goes out of control and becomes a threat to us all, the deal is off. Understood?"
Ino remained silent for a few seconds, looking as if she was listening to a distant sound. She then refocused, looked at Kakashi and nodded.
"Basara says it's a fair request, and agrees to your terms, swearing upon her honor as kitsune to uphold her end of the bargain." the Genin informed him. Kakashi raised an eyebrow at that. Ino smirked. "What? You thought demons have no honor? Maybe some, but both Basara and the Kyuubi, strangely enough, are demons of their word. They just never give it under normal circumstances, thus not having to worry about keeping their promises."
Kakashi blinked several times at the blonde girl before him, then started laughing. That sounded just like what a ninja would do! Perhaps this kitsune isn't too different from us..., he smirked, still laughing hard enough to make his sides hurt.
Ino shook her head with a sigh. Truth be told, she found the concept amusing as well, not to mention logical. Don't want to deal with the hassle of keeping a promise? Just don't promise at all. Heh.
As the two walked back to the house, Ino felt slightly better. At least, she could see that Kakashi understood, though Naruto's situation still left a sour taste in her mouth. Kakashi advised her to concentrate on the problem at hand. There'd be plenty of time to deal with the rest once they made it back to Konoha, but that would be problematic if they came back in a bunch of nailed coffins, now wouldn't it? Ino couldn't help but laugh and agree.
Perhaps this evening hadn't been totally negative.
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For the next three days, Team 7 kept training. Naruto and Sasuke redoubled their effort in climbing trees, while Kakashi got himself back in shape and Ino guarded Tazuna and his crew at the bridge.
The two boys typically returned from their training looking like rag dolls that had been just assaulted by rabid wolves. Which was predictable enough, as neither of them was willing to even consider being beaten by the other, and as a result both kept going until they could barely move.
Ino just sighed in resignation when the boys came home in shambles. She would never understand men, she was fairly sure of that. Basara said nothing, but was privately amused by Ino's thoughts. The blonde kunoichi had done the exact same thing for four days straight, to an even more extreme level, but conveniently ignored that little detail, much to the kitsune's amusement.
Inari carefully avoided Ino for that time, but not out of fear. Rather, Kakashi had quietly talked to him about the situation and Ino's currently unstable temper, and the boy was advised to stay out of her sight until she had calmed down. While Ino had been brutal in talking to him, she wasn't a bad girl. She just had a scary temper. Kakashi made sure to get Inari to promise not to tell Ino that little tidbit. He had a pretty good idea of how she'd react, and he wasn't overly fond of abject pain.
As the bridge's completion drew near, Kakashi became more vigilant and began to join Ino in her guard duty over the bridge. He had talked to Ino about Basara, and while he was fairly sure the kitsune could have wiped the floor with Zabuza and whoever else he brought along, the fact Ino couldn't consciously relinquish control of her body to the other made relying on her overly dangerous and potentially lethal.
Nothing particular happened for three days. On the third day's evening, Tazuna commented that the bridge was almost done and would be completed by the end of the week. Naruto grinned and gave him the thumbs-up. The old bridge maker smiled. Kakashi added that from the next day, Sasuke and Naruto would do guard duty on the bridge as well. Both genin nodded.
Then, on the morning of the fourth day...
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"See you later. Take care of Naruto for us, will you? He overexerted himself yesterday, and I doubt he can move today." Kakashi said with a smile. Tazuna's daughter Tsunami nodded, smiling back.
"All right, let's go," Tazuna urged the group. Ino and Sasuke nodded. They waved to Tsunami and then took off for the bridge.
As they approached the working site, however, Ino became aware of an unnerving aura nearby. It was very faint, but she could still pick it up, although only barely. Just then a gasp came from in front of her, and she immediately refocused on her surroundings. Her eyes narrowed as she took in the sight before her.
Four of Tazuna's workers were lying face down in pools of blood. Three of them were obviously dead, while the last one was barely alive.
Tazuna rushed to his men's side. "What happened?" he asked to the lone survivor. The man groaned and coughed blood, before answering in a weak whisper.
"M...monster..." he croaked. "A m...monster..." Then he expired.
Kakashi glanced at his side and noticed Ino's expression. While he was worried, he couldn't help but smile. Ino was showing great potential under Basara's coaching. If this kept up, he could tell she would do great things in the future.
Ino dropped in a guarded stance, her eyes narrowing even further. This was it... no more training, but a life or death fight. She felt strangely excited.
"It is time..." she murmured, and both Kakashi and Sasuke simply nodded. "Let the dance begin."
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(A/N: Okay, another chapter done! And another cliffhanger! MUAHAHAHAHA! Since in this chapter there's a new jutsu and a few japanese words, let me post a description of the jutsu and a mini-dictionary:
Seikyuu: Monju no Jutsu (Spiritual Sphere: Monju Technique)
A high level technique with wild effects taught by Basara to Yamanaka Ino. The technique concentrates a large amount of chakra in a tiny, bead-sized sphere. Subsequently, a single word can be inscribed in it. Depending on the word, the sphere can have various effects, such as invoking winds, exploding or even curing ailments.
Kaen: Flame. Simple enough, no?
Now, I have an important question. I'm undecided on whether I should allow Haku to survive or not. What is your vote? I have ideas for the story in both cases, so I'll let you, the readers decide: SHOULD HAKU SURVIVE? Review and vote!
As always, R&R! Constructive criticism is welcome. GH out!)