An Ally is not Just Some Person from your Village; an Ally is a Life Line

The days after Kakashi-sensei's rather harsh scolding were spent with Shino getting a lot of alone time with the man to prepare for the Chunin Exams, all the while she and Chouji were handed over to some of his friends for extra lessons.

First Genma-sensei had expanded on their poisons lessons. He had taught them how one could create a few specific poisons with rather simple ingredients, although they had to be careful about how they went about it unless they wanted to be poisoned. Then he had explained simple infiltration techniques to them so they could begin to really begin to prepare for a possible career in T&I.

After that, Iruka-sensei had taken them for one day to teach them about traps and how to set them up as quickly as possible. He was also very insistent on showing them the best places to put them- where the enemy would most probably set foot, near streams of water, and other special locations where they would be the most useful to those that had set them. Those lessons had been particularly interesting because Iruka-sensei had never shown this enthusiastic side of his trapping knowledge in the Academy- Sakura even found it kind of cute how passionate he was about the topic.

And, finally, at one point they were even taught about medical and sealing ninjutsu by a woman called Yūgao Uzuki. Sakura had particularly enjoyed learning from her because she had been rather hands-off about teaching them, just like Kakashi-sensei. She had explained to them the basics of some theories, then let them mull over that information and then apply what they saw fit to practice problems. After that, she had then given them a demonstration of how deadly she could be with a katana.

Sakura may have wanted to learn kenjutsu after that demonstration. But she would ask Kakashi-sensei about possibilities with kenjutsu later on, once the Finals had passed and they were back to normal life.

During their time with different teachers, Sakura had been able to come to understand just why it was that Kakashi-sensei was so insistent on respecting allies.

Genma considered Kakashi-sensei a great friend. He let Chouji and Sakura in on this secret while they had coated and dried a couple of senbon in poison. He had said that he didn't necessarily agree with everything the man did, but he was still a good friend.

Iruka-senei, though, didn't see their teacher as a friend. Their old Academy teacher saw Kakashi-sensei as his ally and a higher-up, someone that was respected, but not necessarily liked. But he had agreed to help him teach his students because that's what allies did.

And Yugao had let them know from the beginning that she was not Kakashi-sensei's biggest fan. She wasn't a fan of how he broke into people's homes when he was comfortable around them, nor how he was so lazy and tardy all the time. He was a fellow Konoha shinobi and respected him as a great warrior, but was flat out disgusted by him at times.

"Why are you teaching us if you don't like him?" She had asked after Yugao had let them know of her disdain for their teacher, all the while Shino and Kakashi-sensei trained in the background.

"Because he asked for my help and today's a pretty calm day. Genin tend to be amusing and the other thing I've got to do is be bored at my house. It's a pretty easy decision, don't you think?"

Sakura was not dumb enough to think that their different teachers talking to them about their relations to Kakashi-senei were mere coincidences. She knew that these conversations were set up so that she and Chouji could understand why allies were important. And she understood now that an ally was an ally- as long as they were good people.

Iruka-sensei and Genma were both great people. Her old teacher was one of the best in Konoha and Genma cared a lot about Team 7. Yugao was also clearly a good person because she had taken the time out of her day- no matter how free she might have said it was- to teach the students of a guy she didn't like. These three were good people that would help an ally.

But Ino wasn't like that. Ino was mean and abusive and rude. She wouldn't drop everything to help out an ally. She had helped Chouji out because Chouji was her friend. But if they had sent Shino in to infiltrate, she would have ignored him. And if they had sent her in, Ino would have been too busy laughing and bullying her to even tell her to leave.

Allies were important. But Ino was a jerk.

Sakura sighed as she weighed the senbon in her hand. It was extremely light, even with the poison that now coated it.

They should have just fought another non-Konoha team. Then they would have saved themselves from having to bear so much judgement.

… Maybe Kiba and Naruto hadn't deserved to get betrayed. But Ino sure did.


"Good m-morning, father."

"Good morning, Hinata. What are you to do this day?"

Hinata sifted through the papers Izumo-san had given her to look over, only to find the paper Shikamaru had slipped into the small stack. She pulled it out and read it over, then smiled nervously at her father.

He hadn't told them that what they were doing was wrong, nor had he put a stop to it. But he certainly had not told them how they could increase their chances of success either.

"Izumo-san allowed Sasuke-kun to sleep over last night. O-our plan today is to ask Izumo-san to let Sasuke-kun eat dinner with him... M-maybe even sleep over a-again."

Her father's face didn't give any emotions away. It was a blank slate of harshness with no true disappointment or annoyance to be seen. Instead of saying anything, the man nodded and took a sip of his tea. Then he turned to Hanabi and asked her the same question, to which she answered, "Academy, father. I've got to go to the Academy today."

Hinata swore she was able to see her father's left eyebrow twitch for a second, but his face was just as emotionless after Hanabi's answer as it had been after her own.

"I wish you both a good day, then."

"Thank you, father. May you have a good day too." Both sisters chorused as their father stood up and left the dining room table, leaving them alone.

After the man had closed the door behind him, Hanabi cleared her throat and made Hinata look at her in curiosity.

"I think it's hilarious you're trying to get that civilian to adopt the Uchiha. I don't think it's going to work." Hanabi smiled and Hinata frowned at her sister, certainly annoyed by such a cruel way of thinking. "But it's pretty funny how you're tricking him into liking the brat."

Hanabi didn't like Sasuke. Sasuke didn't like Hanabi. But they were at least cordial around each other, Hinata admitted.

"Sasuke-kun deserves a family..." Hinata muttered softly as she rearranged her papers, "Izumo-san is helping us and Shikamaru-kun thinks he's the most logical option."

Hanabi clicked her tongue in amusement, stood up from the table, and shrugged her shoulders, "Who knows? Maybe this'll all work out and Sasuke-brat gets some kind of family back. Maybe then he'll stop frowning all the time."

Hinata sighed at her sister's words... But giggled softly, "H-He does frown a lot."

Hanabi rolled her eyes with a small smile on her lips, "All the time. Hinata, you should really tell him he should learn how to smile before his face gets stuck forever in a scowl."

With this final petition, Hanabi offered her a small wave and made her way outside of the dining room so she could grab her things and head out to the Academy. Hinata finished up her breakfast and picked up her own papers, then began to make her way towards Shikamaru's home.


Finding Kiba wasn't difficult. Akamaru was able to sniff him out in less than a minute and Naruto and her were able to follow him to where he swore his partner's smell was coming from.

The place they found where Kiba was being kept… It made no sense.

"The hospital?"

Ino frowned while Naruto voiced out their shared confusion. Akamaru then barked and nodded, as if he was telling them that he was very sure that the hospital was where Kiba was.

"Visiting hours are over. We're going to have to sneak in." Ino murmured, a sinking feeling deep in her stomach.

Just why was Kiba being kept in the hospital? Could it have to do with how off he had been acting recently?

The psychiatric ward immediately popped up in her mind and fear struck her. The psych ward was deep inside the hospital, a dirty gaping wound in the otherwise cleanliness of the rest of the building. Many broken shinobi were first kept there before they were transferred to the Asylum, which was a dirty little secret Konohagakure did everything to keep under wraps.

Kiba hadn't suffered enough physical wounds to land him in the hospital. The only real explanation would be that he was being kept in the Psych Ward... If this was reality, then Ino didn't know what to do with herself.

Her father had told her on various occasions that she should be more sparing with her use of the Mind Body Switch Technique on her friends. He had warned her that the mind was a fragile thing that shouldn't have been toyed with. He had never told her to not use it on her teammates... But she also had never really told him how frequently she used it on Naruto and Kiba.

She was sure that if she told her father the truth, he wouldn't be happy with him at all...

"Is there a back door? It should be easier to sneak in through there than through the front." Naruto mumbled, already moving with Akamaru inside of his pocket to go to the back of the large building.

"There should be. There's usually always a backdoor and an emergency exit in these kids of buildings." Ino followed after a couple of seconds of contemplating the severity of her past actions on her Inuzuka teammate.

Getting into the hospital wasn't a very difficult endeavor. They were able to sneak in without getting sighted and Akamaru directed them through the halls that were deserted. Luckily enough for them, Akamaru didn't lead them towards the Psych Ward of the hospital. Unfortunately enough for them, they were led towards the Intensive Care Unit.

Carefully and quietly, they entered the I.C.U., sticking close to the ground to keep from getting caught. Eventually, Akamaru jumped out of Naruto's pocket and pawed at the door that he believed held Kiba.

Ino's chest was tight; her hands were sweating; everything was just wrong.

She didn't want to see Kiba.

She knew that she needed to see him, though.


He was supposed to have been studying some more on poisons because Genma had told them that he was going to give them a small sort-of test in a little while to make sure that their education on poisons was being digested properly.

At the moment, he didn't really feel like learning about the different effects of such substances and how deadly or violent they could be in large or small doses. He wasn't a fan of destruction and death... If anything, he really wanted to use this free time to learn some more on that medical ninjutsu the kunoichi that didn't like Kakashi-sensei all that much had told them about.

But, because he wasn't sure just how or who he should ask about that subject, he was in a small sort of lunch date with Team 8. He and Shikamaru had not been able to spend much time together since they had been placed on their genin teams, but his Nara friend had reached out and invited him out today. Chouji would have been a fool to stay inside his home and try to study about something that he liked, but wasn't really passionate about, instead of going out with his best friend.

Right now they were out on a picnic. Apparently, it was Team 8 tradition to get together at least once a week and eat homemade food out in one of the unoccupied training grounds. When Chouji had asked if he and Shikamaru could hang out, the Nara had informed him of this. So Chouji had offered to bring some food himself to contribute.

Hinata was nice, even though she really didn't speak much. Shikamaru didn't speak much either, but Chouji was accustomed to this and could tell that his friend wasn't uncomfortable or annoying.

"I see. That's actually interesting."

The member of Team 8 that really surprised him was Sasuke Uchiha. He remembered that Sasuke wasn't much of a talker back in the Academy, nor did he enjoy speaking to those he deemed unworthy of his time. Right now, though, Chouji was having the most interesting conversation with him about their respective teacher's methods and Sasuke wasn't scowling at him, nor reminding him about how he was the best in the class.

"M-maybe we should ask Kurenai-sensei t-to officially b-bring us some teachers." Hinata murmured after she had finished packing up the plates and utensils they had used during their meal. "M-maybe Izumo-san can offer us some h-help."

"Izumo-san?"

"Ah, right..." Shikamaru sighed, "Izumo Kamizuki's a civilian we're trying to groom to get him to adopt Sasuke."

Chouji blinked at the short explanation, truly taken aback by everything he had just heard.

"Tch. You don't have to make it sound so devious."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes at Sasuke, "We're employing infiltration and manipulation tactics, Sasuke. We're being just as devious as it sounds like."

Infiltration and manipulation tactics...

"Hey, guys, I've got a question for you."

Chouji looked down at his hands, away from their curious gazes. He began to pick at his left thumb, more than aware that the question he was about to ask would not receive the nicest of answers.

"What Team 7 did during the Chunin Exams- how we used Ino and I's friendship to steal their scroll... What do you think about it?"

The silence that reigned after he had voiced out his question did not surprise him. What did surprise him, though, was to hear Sasuke answer him first. "You did what you had to. They had to get two scrolls instead of one- so what? They still passed. You did too. No harm done."

Chouji didn't think it was that simple. Ino had screamed about how they had been hurt after Chouji had taken their scroll... He had been meaning to go and talk to her; apologize for having abused of her trust; but he had been too much of a coward to do so.

"B-but there was some harm done, Sasuke-kun." Hinata whispered, which made the Uchiha sigh and cross his arms over his chest.

"I know that you did what you thought was right." Shikamaru began slowly and Chouji looked at him in confusion. There was more to his friend's words. He just knew it. "And I know that your decision had some unintended consequences on Team 10's overall experience."

The Nara paused for a moment, closed his eyes, and breathed in. Then he sighed heavily and opened his eyes to look Chouji directly in the eyes. "I'm not going to lie to you. After that stunt you pulled, I wouldn't want to be put on a mission with any of your team- even you, Chouji. I thought I knew you. I thought I knew Shino and Sakura. And I thought that the lives of your allies were important. But I clearly don't know you as well as I thought I did. Holding the mission above your allies' lives makes sense. But... Listen, if you're willing to betray your childhood friend to pass a test, then you're capable of leaving an ally behind in the field to complete the mission. And I don't want that kind of person on my team."

The more Shikamaru spoke, the bigger the pit in Chouji's became. He had known that it wasn't right to betray his friend when they had proposed it... But he had also thought that it wasn't completely wrong. Their circumstances were the kind in which turning on allies made sense.

"What do you mean, Nara?" Sasuke groaned with a roll of his eyes, "It was just an Exam. None of us were out in the field."

"It was an exam that put us under simulated mission circumstances, Sasuke." Shikamaru sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "That means that the duress we felt we were under could, in essence, count as an actual circumstance. How we react in this simulated exercise is very close to how we would react in the field. And the fact of the matter is that Team 7 is willing to throw allies to the wolves to complete an objective."

Chouji felt like shit. He hadn't seen it that way before.

"They did what they thought was right and I can't tell Chouji that they were completely, objectively wrong. But I can tell him that not many other shinobi will take their actions lightly. Betraying an ally is betraying an ally- on a test or in the field."

Hinata blinked at this, then added, "Y-you're not bad people o-or a bad team, Chouji-kun… You just made a m-mistake."

Chouji hung his head, "Yeah. A pretty big one."


Sasuke didn't wholly agree with Shikamaru about the whole Team 7 thing. Not because he agreed with Team 7, but he could see that the Chunin Exams were just that- a series of tests; not reality. Still, he could understand what he was going about when it came to not wanting to have that kind of teammate with him. He was already the closest Team 8 got to having a mission-oriented jerk that was willing to give allies away and he wasn't particularly happy when he sometimes thought it was easier to lose the dead weight. He would hate being with someone worse than him.

After that rather heavy conversation, Chouji excused himself. Shikamaru didn't let him go immediately. Instead, he asked to have a private word with him. So both boys went away, leaving Sasuke with Hinata and a picnic basket.

Sighing softly, Sasuke looked at Hinata. She wasn't much of a talker around those that weren't Team 8. Hell, she barely talked around them at times.

"So you think Team 7 was wrong?"

She nodded quickly, keeping her gaze on the picnic basket rather than looking at him. Sasuke wasn't surprised by this, seeing how he had slightly sided with Team 7.

"Allies are important..."

"Yeah. But it was just an exam."

Hinata pursed her lips, clenched her hands, and closed her eyes, "But someone's true colors are revealed when they're desperate. Team 7 isn't trustworthy!"

Whoa. He wasn't expecting that outburst.

Hinata huffed out a heavy puff of air, then hung her head. Silence hung over them after that, until she finally looked up at him with a small smile. "B-but we worked together r-really well."

Maybe that true colors load of bull had some sense behind it...

Honestly, he didn't care about Team 7. Just like he didn't care about Team 10. But he trusted his teammates. And if they thought that Team 7 had shown that they weren't to be trusted, then he guessed that he could just repeat what they said.

He wouldn't want to be teamed up with anyone other than his team. They were worthy of his trust and friendship. They had proved to be competent and useful. The other teams from their year had just shown that they were wholly dysfunctional and unprepared to deal with the harshness of shinobi life.

When Shikamaru returned, it was with a frown marring his lips.

Instead of saying anything else about the Team 7/Team 10 fiasco, he instead told them, "Kotetsu Hagane said he would be getting off of Gate Duty around 5 p.m. We should get moving if we want to meet with him before Izumo gets to him."

So he didn't want to talk about the whole betraying thing anymore. Sasuke was fine with that.


Pain was a constant.

He wanted to die.

The dark chakra surrounded him, enveloping his whole periphery with screams and insults. It told him to give in, to just accept the gift Orochimaru was trying to bestow upon him. But Kiba refused... It wouldn't leave him, though. It refused to go away, no matter how much he told it he wanted nothing to do with it.

He couldn't properly think. So he couldn't ponder about the reason why it never budged, no matter how much he screamed at it to leave him alone.

He wanted to die.

Then he heard that terrifying voice; the voice that he knew as the one that pulled his consciousness from his body and left him a mass of floating feelings that could do nothing other than feel. It was the voice that promised nothing but cold and nothing and he was so scared of it that he collapsed to the dark chakra. In a moment of cowardly weakness, he asked Orochimaru to give the strength to not have his mind taken away from his body yet again.

Then he awoke to Ino and Naruto's horrified faces as a fire ripped through his body, lighting him up in a blazing inferno. They were held suspended over the shoulders of a large man that was trying to force them out of the room.

Ino had been screaming. He didn't know about what. But he knew that he had messed up.

"Kiba! What's wrong? Put me down, Ibiki! Something's wrong with Kiba!"

Terror gripped his heart.

The fire began to subside, leaving mere embers on his left side. From his neck down to the tip of his foot, he could feel himself changing.

"Kiba!"

He ran away. Like the coward he was, he turned away from his team and broke through the nearest window, barely even noticing how little the impacts against the window and ground were. He was too busy freaking out over what was going to happen to him now that he had accepted Orochimaru's chakra... Now that he had a traitor's chakra flowing through him.

In the back of his head, he could hear dark chuckling.

"We're going to have a lot of fun, pup."


Shino sat down with his father and Kakashi-sensei to ask them about why betraying an ally in the Chunin Exams had been wrong. Both men went through precise explanations as to why they believed it had been wrong and tried to help him see that turning on an ally was never justified.

Shino couldn't say he completely understood and comprehended why it was wrong to have taken advantage of a team that allowed themselves to be vulnerable. But he could understand that this ally business was important to both his father and the rest of the shinobi in Konohagakure. So he could safely say he would not betray an ally again... Unless he believed it was completely warranted.

"The Chunin Exams are two weeks away, kid. How are you feeling?" Kakashi-sensei asked him as they took a break from their sparring.

The Aburame's taijutsu skills had improved greatly in the past few days of training, mostly because Kakashi had not used any kind of restraint on him. Punches were not pulled and Shino had to learn the hard way to dodge unless he wanted to get hurt. And his understanding in strategizing against his teacher was much more fine tuned that he would have thought possible before.

"Prepared to win."

Kakashi-sensei chuckled and ruffled his hair, then glanced up at the sky.

"How long have we been going at this?"

Shino hummed in thought, not wholly sure on the true answer, and relented, "A while."

The Hatake clicked his tongue against the root of his mouth, then murmured, "I think I'm gonna have you three get together again tomorrow. Run a practice exercise with the shinobi I've asked to help out- see how far you've all come in your time."

His bugs began to buzz in approval at the proposition. It had been a while since Team 7 had been able to be together for more than just a couple of minutes. Ever since Kakashi-sensei had become serious about teaching him how to win, they had been separated.

"That would be enjoyable."

Kakashi-sensei nodded, then picked himself up and offered Shino his hand. "C'mon. I'll show you the basics of one of my favorite ninjutsu so you can practice the simple steps. Sound good?"

It did.

Naruto would not be prepared for him. Kakashi-sensei was too great a teacher.


"Look, Chouji, I think you need to talk to Team 10 about what happened. We both know that Sakura won't do it. And Shino's... Well... Shino. There's something off with them and dad won't tell me what's going on. So, if I were you, go to her and be honest. You made a mistake- Ino can understand that. Don't throw away a years long friendship with her just because you've found new friends."

He didn't like meddling.

But it seemed that was all he was doing nowadays.

"Yeah, Izumo's a softy. He's also an orphan, like me and you, Sasuke. So he's all big on family and friends and shit." Kotetsu Hagane informed them as they walked down the streets of Konoha, heading towards the apartment the man shared with Izumo. "He's also a pretty big germophobe."

So Sasuke would have to keep clean. Didn't seem too difficult.

"Anything he doesn't like?"

Kotetsu stopped as he pondered the question, shrugged, and began to walk yet again. Shikamaru continued standing still for a moment after he began to walk away and looked at Sasuke, only to find the Uchiha glaring daggers at the carefree chunin.

Oh, Sasuke... Temper, temper.

"People prying into his private life. He hates it."

Shikamaru quirked an eyebrow at this as he began to follow after Kotetsu yet again. "He hates it... But you're telling us a lot of private details on his life."

"Yup. I'm his best friend. And you three are adorable."

Izumo Kamizuki deserved a better best friend.

"If you really wanna get close to him, you should ask him to teach you our Starchy Syrup jutsu. It's one of our most effective attacks and he loves getting to use it outside of the field." Kotetsu glanced over the three members of Team 8 and smiled as he nodded to himself, "Besides, your team's perfect to use it. One throw the syrup, the other two attack. You're perfect."

Alright. They had a lot of personal information on Izumo now. That was good.

"Anything on his record as a shinobi?"

Shikamaru wanted to find out a bit more before they sprung their final trap.


"What do you three think you're doing here?" Ibiki Morino growled down at them, his face marred with anger and scars.

Naruto glared back at him, Akamaru growled in his face, and Ino... Well, Ino didn't say anything like Naruto would have expected her to.

"Trying to find our teammate! You were keeping him from us! What's wrong with him?"

Ibiki frowned and released a small growling noise before he straightened up and looked at the window that Kiba had broken in his sudden escape. It was shattered beyond repair and Naruto believed they had a right to be worried about the friend that had done that.

"These are matters beyond your comprehension, Naruto. But, if you really want to know something, I'll tell you: your teammate has just escaped from a secure facility and run away into possibly dangerous areas- all because you decided to sneak into an area you had no right to come into."

"Ibiki..." Ino whispered, "Please. What's wrong with him?"

The scarred man frowned down at her and crossed his arms over his chest... Then sighed and relented, "Orochimaru put a cursed seal on him. We had him in here to keep him safe; alive. Something activated the seal and now he's in danger of harming himself. We need to find him immediately."

When Naruto turned to look at Ino, it was to find her as pale as a hospital blanket.

"Ino?"

She closed her eyes, shook her head, and waved him off.

His team was falling apart before his eyes. And he had no idea what to do.

Akamaru barking from the top of his head had him glancing up at the puppy. The dog was glaring in the direction of the broken window, growling and barking as he pawed at Naruto's head.

"We should go after him, boy?"

Of course that's what Akamaru wanted.

"Not going to happen." Ibiki stopped him before he could even take a step forward, "I don't know what you did, but it set him off. You going after him may be the worst thing we could allow happen."

"We're his teammates!"

"And I'm your superior, Uzumaki!" Morino yelled back, "Remember the chain of command, young man. Now you are going to return to the Yamanaka Compound. I am going to call on the Tracking Corps and we're going to find your teammate."

Naruto was prepared to fight this stupid course of action.

Ino whispering had the fight leaving him, "Alright, Ibiki... Just... Let us know when you find him."

Ibiki frowned down at her, his eyes narrowed in a harsh glare. Then he nodded stiffly. "Alright. If you go home."

"We will. Don't worry."

"Ino!"

"Let's go, Naruto."

The Yamanaka left without even letting him try and argue.

~..~..~

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