Through all the Misfortunes Life Throws at You, You Will Gain Experience. Through that Experience, Understanding.

The Chunin Exams' Final Phase was set to begin in less than one day. Shino was prepared, he insisted that he was. But Sakura couldn't help but worry over the match-up that her teammate had been given.

They still had not been able to speak to Team 10. It had actually been almost impossible even finding out a single shred of information about them. But, from what they had been able to get from the unusually tight lipped Genma-sensei, some pretty bad things had happened to Kiba and Team 10 was being kept isolated from the rest of the Village to ensure their own safety.

In the back of her head, at all times of the day, there was a spiteful voice that hissed at her: this is all your team's fault.

She tried to ignore that voice. Oftentimes, while around her friends, she succeeded. She was able to push that voice away until she did not have to listen to it anymore. But when she found herself alone and there was nothing to distract her, the voice came back with a vengeance and just about screamed at her about how guilty and despicable she truly was.

In the past few days, Sakura had found herself thinking a lot about her past actions and her past reasonings. And if there was one thing she could say... It was that she was extremely grateful that she was placed on Team 7 and no other. Chouji and Shino worked with her in a way she highly doubted anyone else ever would. She couldn't explain it in words... But they just clicked. It just seemed as if her two teammates knew what to do, no matter what was happening.

With a soft sigh, Sakura climbed the stairs of Kakashi-sensei's apartment. She was trailing behind both of her teammates, who had been just as silent as she had on their trip to the their teacher's residence.

Tomorrow, Shino would be fighting against Naruto. Tomorrow, a member of the now-distrusted Team 7 would face off against a member of the team that hated them the most, Team 10.

Five whole days had passed since they had decided to try and talk to Team 10 but nothing.

What would Naruto do to Shino? Would he be willing to hurt the Aburame to get some revenge for Team 7's actions? Would dare cross such a line in the biggest spectacle of Konoha?

They all stopped in front of their teacher's door and Shino knocked on the door.

A whole minute passed before Kakashi-sensei opened the door. And Sakura couldn't help but forget everything that was worrying her and instead stare at the man.

"Uh... Kakashi-sensei?"

The man's only visible eye was closed in what Sakura assumed to be a smile. Then he stepped outside, beside them, and corralled them into his apartment. The three genin went in dumbly, a bit too surprised by the apron their teacher was now wearing and the delicious smells wafting from the kitchen to think too much.

"I promised lunch so I had to go all out."

It was three thirty in the afternoon: well past lunch time. But the Copy Cat Nin was renown for being tardy to everything. Apparently, this was a rule that applied to him even when he was the one that had planned a gathering.

When they entered the man's apartment for the second time since they had become genin, Sakura noted Genma standing in the kitchen with an equally pink apron pulled around his body.

"Welcome, chickadees! Hope you brought your appetites!" He called, earning a broad smile from Chouji.

Sakura watched on in amazement as Kakashi-sensei closed his door and rushed back to the kitchen, picking up a kunai that had been embedded into his wall on the way. Then she could hear the sounds of something getting chopped up once he had settled back into his place.

"Is he using a kunai to cook?" She heard Chouji ask with marvel dusting his words.

Then she heard Shino sigh, "The unfortunate side of this is the fact that this is rather tame for him."

That made Sakura chuckle softly.

She had a weird teacher.

… But he was a good teacher.

Even with all his eccentricities, Kakashi-sensei was a man that treated them like equals rather than just students. He also sat them down to talk sternly when he deemed a serious conversation necessary. But he also allowed them to branch out and learn as much as they wished and even aided in this by making their independence very clear.

"Sit down, kids. The food's just about finish- Kakashi! What have I told you about weapons in my kitchen?"

"Technically, Shiranui, this is my kitchen."

As they began to bicker, Sakura found Chouji smiling softly at her. And when she quirked an eyebrow at him to prod him to talk, his smile widened. "We're surrounded by weirdoes, Sakura."

That they were.

She wouldn't trade them for the world.

"Izumo will have to adopt the Uchiha name so he can become the standing Clan Head... And he'll have to move into the Uchiha Compound rather than me move out of it if we wish to keep ownership of it."

Sasuke was burdened rather heavily after Izumo-san had agreed to officially adopt him. Not because he would be willingly giving control of the Uchiha Clan lands and property over to a civilian. No, he was burdened because of all the changes Izumo would have to commit in his life for the government to accept Sasuke's sudden loss of independence.

Hinata frowned softly as Shikamaru continued to scour through legal document after legal document to see if the ruling Sasuke had been offered could be overturned in some manner.

"Izumo-san a-already agreed to these ch-changes?"

With a frown of his own, the Uchiha nodded stiffly. Then Hinata sighed and bowed her head.

Izumo was a kind soul. Even though he had been caught off guard by Sasuke's sudden question after they had shown him how effectively they could use his technique, he had answered almost immediately.

"I'd love to adopt you, Sasuke... But are you aware of what you're asking?"

They had thought they understood what Sasuke was asking. But when they had gone to find the adoption forms, they had found out that there was a lot more to the officialization process of an adoption of a clan member than what they had thought. The biggest issue had been one that Izumo had solved quickly enough- he would take on the Uchiha name rather than have Sasuke take on his name. He had no family either... And at least Sasuke had a chance at creating a real family.

Hinata's heart had wrenched when she had heard the man's reasoning, but she had remained quiet and allowed the scene to play out before her eyes without interrupting.

Now there were a lot of minute details that they needed to solve before Izumo could legally become Sasuke's guardian... father.

"Konoha created these laws to make choices impossible." Shikamaru growled in frustration, his features drawn into a sharp glare. "Either you lose what you have to improve your life, or you stay in your shitty life. But if you leave, they make regaining your clan privileges just about impossible to get back. This system was created to make everyone lose!"

Hinata had never seen Shikamaru so angry before.

Sasuke huffed softly, "I'm very aware of that."

With a soft sigh, Hinata walked up to both her teammates. Then she laid her hands on both their shoulders and mustered up her bravest smile, "Don't worry. We will beat this system."

For some reason, they were so stunned by her words that they remained silent for a couple of seconds... They just stared at her through wide eyes.

Her face began to warm up and her cheeks reddened, so she pulled away from them both and was prepared to stutter out an apology for having spoken out of turn. But then Sasuke grunted to himself and nodded at both his teammates, "Damn right we will."

She was supposed to fight the puppeteer from the Sand tomorrow.

But that was the least of her worries at the moment.

With everything that had happened with Kiba... Ino had been doing a lot of serious thinking. She had forced herself to contemplate on the life she had been living and the way she had treated the people around her... And she was a horrible friend.

Everything she had done since she had graduated the Academy- even before that, actually- had been bullying the people she was supposed to care the most about. Kiba and Naruto had been victims of her cruelty and there was no way that she could change her past. No matter how much she really wanted to be able to have the power to turn back the sands of time, she needed to live with what she had done; who she had hurt.

With a heavy sigh, the young kunoichi finished packing up the weapons she would be taking with her into the Chunin Exams.

She didn't feel like she deserved even a shot at becoming a chunin… Not when Kiba deserved it so much more than her. He had always been a better team player than her. He had actually worked together with Naruto to fight her.

Honestly speaking, she should have known she was being a shitty person when they had decided to forsake the mission to try and take her down. She should have known that there was something wrong with her rather than them when they had done such a stupid thing. But she had merely attributed the decisions to their own stupidity. She had been too proud to see any errors in her ways.

But this was a mistake she would never commit again. She was now hyperaware of what she had done and what she deserved. From now on, until the day she died, she would earn her teammates' respect. From now on until the end of her time on this world, she would do everything in her power to rectify the mistakes of her youth.

She would never feel like she had earned their forgiveness... But she knew she needed to work to make herself understand that forgiveness was theirs to give and not just hers to earn.

"Hey, Ino."

With a soft hum that carried over her shoulder, Ino answered her team-no. Not yet. She needed to earn the right to call him that. Naruto, for now, was someone she needed to make proud.

"Asuma-sensei's here and he's wondering if you wanna go for breakfast together." Naruto sounded worried- could it be because he was afraid of her lashing out at him and taking over his mind?

Preposterous as the idea may have seemed to her, it was a legitimate fear he must have had.

Slowly she stood up from the ground of her greenhouse. Once she was fully standing, the blonde made her way towards the workbench to her left and left the pouch filled with weapons on top of it. And finally, once she had finished with these motions, she turned to Naruto.

Should she smile? No. It would look disfigured on her. But she couldn't frown either, that would send Naruto the wrong message.

Then she would opt for no facial expression tied with emotions.

"Yeah. I'd... I'd like that."

Akamaru yipped from the top of Naruto's head and her fellow blonde smiled as soon as he heard her answer.

Those two were so ready to continue living as if everything was normal... But Ino could not allow herself such a luxury. She needed to make herself understand the consequences of her actions. She needed to pay.

Chouji was worried for Ino. He was concerned over Kiba's well being. And he was terrified of finding out just what had happened to Team 10 to leave them so fractured and isolated.

Normally, he would have Shikamaru to turn to for answers. His best friend always had an answer for any question he may have created. But, ever since they had been assigned to their genin teams, Shikamaru had been too busy helping Sasuke and Hinata to try and help his old friends.

Chouji held nothing against his Nara best friend because he knew that if he walked up to Shikamaru right now and asked for his help, the boy would drop whatever it was he was doing to help. Shikamaru had always been a slacker that had hated to work; but he was also one of the most loyal friends anyone could have ever asked for. He would do everything in his power to help fix any of his friend's problems... And that was precisely why Chouji had not gone to him after their first big talk in a while.

Shikamaru was dealing with his own team's issues and he needed to focus on helping Sasuke with the adoption business. His worries were supposed to be on his team and Chouji didn't want to distract him from that. What he was doing for Sasuke was amazing.

And... Chouji needed to learn to stand on his own. He couldn't continue relying on Shikamaru's answers anymore. Just like he couldn't count on Ino's defense of him. Just like he couldn't allow himself to be dragged into Shino and Sakura's ideas just because they were his teammates.

He needed to find his own voice and stand firm by himself.

And he would begin his journey to strengthening himself by going to Team 10 and opening up dialogue between both their teams.

Sakura and Shino had both seemed prepared to speak to Naruto and Ino, but they had not done their best in looking for them. They had talked about meeting with them, just like they had looked for them in the public areas of the village. They had even gotten information out of Genma-sensei and prepared possible plans to try and reach out to the Yamanaka clan.

But they hadn't done more.

Chouji was more than aware that Sakura and Shino were nothing like Ino, Kiba, and Naruto- the loudmouths of their graduating class. He was very aware that his teammates were not the kind to break the rules or go against direct orders. But Chouji understood that there were times when rules needed to be broken... Ino had taught him this, after all.

Right now, he needed to speak with Team 10. And the only way to do that was by going against the supposed order of isolation that had been issued for Naruto and Ino.

It was just his luck that, on his way to the Yamanaka clan compound to infiltrate it and go to Ino's house, he ran into Team 10 as they returned from wherever it was they had gone earlier in the day.

Kiba was not with them.

"Hey, Ino! Naruto!" He called out to them, making both genin stop and turn to look in his direction.

Akamaru was perched on top of Naruto's head. Naruto himself offered Chouji a small smile; but it didn't quite reach his eyes. And both these things were rather weird to Chouji.

But the thing that made him falter for a moment and stare was the look of pure haunting within Ino's eyes.

Oh no.

Their teacher looked him over for a second before patting both of his students on their back. They turned back to him for a second, as if unsure, then nodded in synchronization and began to walk towards Chouji to meet him halfway.

Physically, they were both the same people Chouji had graduated from the Academy with. But he was more than sure that something had changed within them. Something big.

"Hey, guys." He scratched at the back of his neck awkwardly when he was only a couple of feet away from them, offering a shy smile. "Sorry if I interrupted anything."

"Oh, not at all." Naruto smiled back, lifting his hand to scratch at the top of Akamaru's head. "Asuma-sensei was just going to have us review some stupid books before tomorrow. We haven't been training too hard in the past days- to relax or something, you know."

The Akimichi nodded- Kakashi-sensei had also cut down on Shino's intense training to give him some relaxing time before the Final Phase of the Chunin Exams. Then he lowered his head, remembering why it was that he come to speak with them both.

The boy took a moment to breathe in and steel his nerves.

Then he bowed deeply, "I am deeply sorry over Team 7 betraying you during the Chunin Exams!"

Sasuke was giving Izumo a tour of the Uchiha Compound.

It was around three thirty in the afternoon. Even though tomorrow was the day where he was to fight against that bastard Hyuuga and teach him a lesson in family, Sasuke was not focusing on any further training.

Honestly, he had been nervous to fight Hinata's cousin. He hated the prick. He wanted to beat education into him. And he wanted to humiliate the bastard just like he had done to his cousin. But his pride was not so great that he was blind to the possibility of his wishes being dashed away tomorrow. So there were some nerves. There were even some jitters of excitement for tomorrow. There was even a small pit in his stomach, formed out of worry over becoming a chunin and having to leave his teammates.

But he was more nervous for today. The day that Izumo Kamizuki would walk the Uchiha grounds and decide if Sasuke truly was worth all of the hassle of adopting.

"The grounds are really well-kept." The man murmured softly, and Sasuke nodded stiffly.

"They're maintained by the same groundskeepers that used to take care of them before... you know." He couldn't bring himself to use the name for what had happened. It still hurt. "I think they're paid out of the clan's savings."

"Hmm." Izumo nodded, "We'll have to look in on that, then. We can't be wasting money we don't actually have."

We.

It had been too long since Sasuke had been part of a familial 'we'.

They continued their tour of the rest of the Uchiha compound in relative silence, only ever talking when Izumo had a question that truly pressed on him. Eventually, they had walked through the whole of the compound and returned to the main house, where Sasuke lived, and entered it. Once they were inside, Izumo made a beeline straight for his refrigerator.

When Izumo opened the refrigerator door and was met with only bare bones, a half-empty carton of milk, and a single bowl filled with leftovers, Sasuke couldn't stop himself from blushing just slightly. And when Izumo 'tsk'ed' in disapproval, the red on his cheeks became that much brighter.

"I usually eat out," He explained in a murmur, "I've got enough money to buy breakfast at a nearby bakery... And I usually eat lunch and dinner with Hinata and Shikamaru."

Those two had managed to become the most important people in his life. And Sasuke wanted to do everything in his power to be able to keep them near for the rest of his life.

"Alright, well at least you seem to be eating well enough." Izumo sighed as he closed the refrigerator door, then turned to him with a small smile on his lips. "But, how about you don't leave before I at least feed you breakfast from now on? Just to do my conscience well."

Those words froze Sasuke on the spot.

It had been so long since someone aside from his teammates offered to cook for him... Because they wanted to.

He didn't know exactly how it happened, but now he was hugging Izumo tightly around the shoulders, hanging suspended over the air as the man hugged him back to not let him drop onto the floor.

"Thank you."

Tears stung at his eyes. But that was a line he was not willing to cross.

Instead he closed his eyes and burrowed his face into Izumo's shoulders while the man awkwardly patted at his back.

"It is adorable how you think the Yamanaka is strong enough to help you get rid of me."

The pressure on his jaw was excruciating, just like the burning that ran along the left side of his body. He was trembling and his whole body was soaked in sweat- the nurses would be annoyed with him again tonight.

"How many more times do you think he'll be willing to visit you and try and talk to you to help before he notices how truly worthless you are and completely gives up on you?"

"S-shut. Up." Speaking through tensed teeth was difficult, but not impossible. And it was the only way he was capable of speaking- he was barely ever able to keep himself from screwing his jaw shut anymore.

"I wonder how easy it must be for Konoha to lock you up and erase all memory of you. How long has it been since you last saw the outside world? Almost a week, I presume. And you have yet to see your teammates or your family. Not even that mangy pup has come to visit you."

Orochimaru never left him alone. The snake-nin was the only constant visitor in his life- aside from Inoichi Yamanaka. The nurses always changed faces and no one else had been allowed to see him since he had been placed under lock-down in the hospital.

"They must have already forgotten all about you."

The door to his room swung open and Inoichi Yamanaka slowly entered, carrying two trays filled with food. One of them seemed to have a simple meal- unassuming and a bit uninteresting. But the other tray held a juicy steak, and a bowl filled with what looked like barbeque sauce rested beside it.

"I hope you don't mind me interrupting on your lunch. But I needed a break from T&I and decided to come and visit you early."

Kiba stared at the man, unblinking, and with unsubstantiated fear radiating in the back of his head.

Inoichi had been spending most nights with him. At the beginning, he had explained the steps they would be taking to help repair his fractured mental state. After he had finished with all of the explanations, the man had begun to implement his plan by bringing challenging puzzles and verbal problems to force Kiba's mind into motion. With every correct answer, Kiba was supposed to gain confidence in his own abilities. With every wrong answer, he was given breathing space to think about his mistakes and rectify them.

He had refused to allow the man to enter his mind. Inoichi had respected this decision, but warned him that pushing Orochimaru out of his mind would be infinitely harder with Kiba fighting him alone.

"The nurses wanted to bring you some of the usual hospital food, but I thought you deserved a reward for all of the good work you've been doing recently." The man spoke as if he wasn't bothered by the one-sided conversation. If Kiba had been able to make sense of the smells filling his nose, he may have been capable of figuring out if he was bothered or not. But his nose, just like his mind, betrayed him. "They weren't too happy with the deviation in your diet, but agreed to let me do this."

"Isn't it his brats fault you're stuck in here, with me dominating your every thought? Could it be because he's just bidding his time until he decides to officially call you a lost cause, throw you into the smallest cell within the mental asylum he can find, and never think of you again? I wonder how long he'll toy with your cowardly heart."

Kiba couldn't stop himself from keening in pain at the idea.

Inoichi's bright blue eyes widened upon hearing him and asked, "Are you alright, Kiba? Would you like me to bring you anything?"

Kiba shook his head.

He forced his jaw to move.

"Adorable. You're actually trying to speak! You're such a cute pup, Inuzuka. I could just eat you up."

"W..." He winced at the sharp jab that shot through his neck, "W-why h-h-help?"

The wide eyes narrowed slightly... Then the man's face softened. He placed both trays on the table beside Kiba's bedside and sat down to his right, clasping his hands in front of his chest as he lay his elbows on his knees.

"The Yamanaka clan was once an incredibly ruthless band of warriors that relished in the control they had over others' minds. Only the strongest of clan members were allowed to become shinobi. And the strong were separated from the weak by..." Inoichi sighed now, his forehead dropping onto his hands. "Torturing the children. Yamanaka clan techniques were used on kids younger than yourself to shatter their minds... After they were thoroughly broken, they were to piece themselves back together. Alone."

"Ooh, I smell a tragic backstory. It's a shame it's undoubtedly a lie to convince you to let him finish destroying your worthless existence."

Kiba forced himself to ignore Orochimaru and instead focused on the blonde shinobi.

"I was part of the last generation of children subjected to this method. I know the horror of your mindscape being invaded; I know the fear that consumes you when you do not even know who you are or what is happening to you. And I know how daunting and terrifying it is to try and force yourself back together... The pieces never fit quite the same again; no matter how hard you try to complete the puzzle."

Now the man lifted his gaze and looked directly into Kiba's own eyes. There were tears brimming his pupil-less eyes. There was pain radiating off of him. There was raw honesty.

"I promised myself that I would never allow any of my clansmen to go as far as our forefathers had gone. I told myself that I would never see another child's mind destroyed by our jutsu... And I failed you, Kiba."

"It's adorable that you think he's actually being honest."

Kiba glowered, looking away from Inoichi to hopefully let the man know the expression wasn't because of him.

"I want to try and help you be yourself again. You'll never be the same, unfortunately... But I don't want to give up on you. I don't want to be like my ancestors."

Ino's touch on his mind was freezing and hot at the same time; it was unpleasant and violent and horrible.

… But he'd never had Inoichi's touch on his mind.

"Are you going to allow that blundering oaf to meddle within your already fragile mindscape? Do you not understand that he could just as easily finish destroying you- leave you catatonic and immobile for the rest of your meaningless life?"

It hurt to speak.

But Kiba forced himself to voice out his hopes.

"P-please. Help."

Night had fallen and Shino's insects were buzzing in anticipation for the coming day.

He couldn't sleep because of his own excitement.

Tomorrow would the day that he taught Team 10 a lesson. Tomorrow he would face off against Naruto and defeat him. Tomorrow would be the day he snatched victory from the hands of Team 10 and earned it for Team 7.

He was aware that he was the only member of his team that still thought in such a manner. Neither Chouji nor Sakura seemed to want him to obliterate Naruto in their fight. And Shino believed it was because they began to see their actions in the Chunin Exams as erroneous. He also understood that they had a right to think in such a manner.

But he just couldn't share in that mindset.

With a sigh, the Aburame stood up from his bed and made his way towards the window of his bedroom.

There was no moon in the sky tonight. And the stars were barely visible thanks to the thick clouds that consumed the sky.

It was already rather late at night, but he was so energetic that he felt like he could fight ten Narutos and win.

Now the Aburame squinted his eyes and looked over his clan's compound, taking note that there was no one walking around at this time. Which made sense, it was extremely late. Most people were either asleep at such a time, or already within their late-shift jobs.

It was a shame he was not able to stargaze because of the weather.

But it gave him an excuse to return to his bed and try and force himself to sleep once again.

"No, mom, we didn't bribe Izumo into adopting Sasuke." Shikamaru sighed in exasperation as his mother continued to 'interrogate' him over what Team 8 had done to have Izumo agree to such a ludicrous idea.

In all honesty, Shikamaru was more bothered by his mother having minimized the importance of Sasuke having a stable familial figure in his life than by her questioning their actions or motives.

"Are you kids aware of how much you're asking of this civilian? Taking on the Uchiha name-"

"Will force him to learn all about his new clan. Yes, woman, we are aware." Shikamaru rolled his eyes at his mother's scoff of annoyance. Then he crossed his arms over the kitchen table and laid his chin down on his forearms. "We read up all the documents that existed in the library about clan adoption. And then all of the ones about adoption. And we're helping Sasuke find all of the clan documents inside of the compound so they both can begin learning about the clan for the test they'll have to take."

"There's a test to take?" His father piped up finally, setting down his chopsticks as he picked up his glass of water. "I thought that wasn't necessary anymore."

Shikamaru groaned and closed his eyes.

He just wanted to have a relaxing evening before he was forced to fight that blonde girl from the Hidden Sand Village. But his parents insisted that they should have a family meal ever day- and today's meal was dinner.

"It's not necessary anymore if you're a civilian marrying into the clan. The law changed twenty years ago- before it was necessary to make sure that people weren't getting married just for protection or inheritance possibilities. But when you want to be adopted into a clan, for some stupid reason, you've got to pass a naturalization test to make sure you're up to par."

He heard his father hum in what sounded like disdain, then his mother scoffed, "Wait, does that apply only to the major clans or-"

"Nope. All clans." Now Shikamaru moved his head so he was able to peek at his parents with his right eye, "Why do you think our orphanage is overrun with children while some clans are suffering from lack of children? Nobody wants to put a kid through the test necessary to prove you belong in a clan."

"Damn." His father breathed out.

"Someone should change that." His mother growled.

And Shikamaru quietly agreed with the harpy as he lay his head back down and closed his eyes.

He didn't know Ino anymore.

This person may have looked just like his teammate, but she was nothing like her. She was quiet and sad. She didn't shout at him to get him to not do anything stupid anymore. She didn't tell Akamaru to not get dirt on her clothes. And the compliments she gave them now felt so forced and hollow that Naruto didn't know if he should be encouraged or hurt by them.

Kiba wasn't with them anymore. And he wasn't supposed to be well for a long time, either.

Chouji had come up to them to ask for them to forgive Team 7... But Naruto couldn't give that to him. Because he had never blamed the team for what had happened to them.

It could be because he was kind of slow for some things, or because he didn't actually blame others for what happened in his life, but he had never shared Ino's rage for Team 7's betrayal. He hadn't like it, at all, and kind of didn't like them for a while because they had been forced to stay even longer within the Forest of Death to pass the Second Phase. But the fact of the matter was that they had been in a test and Team 7 had come up with a plan and executed it flawlessly.

Apparently, a lot of people now saw Team 7 as dysfunctional and kind of evil... Which was unfair. Weren't they all kids? Weren't they supposed to be learning from their mistakes? Or were they going to be branded by a single mistake for the rest of their lives?

He really hoped people weren't branded because of one mistake... He'd committed many of those in his life... And he didn't want to be forever known as the loudmouthed dead last that never passed a single test with a score higher than average.

"How do you think Kiba's doing?"

Ino speaking up broke him out of his reverie.

The blonde boy blinked for a moment as he returned to reality. His fingers were grazing over Akamaru's fur while the a cold breeze bit at any exposed skin.

They were seated on the roof of Ino's house, trying to enjoy the stars in the sky. But there wasn't much to see- apparently, the sky was roiling with unease.

"I like to think he's getting better with each passing day." He answered with a small huff, patting Akamaru's head as the dog lifted his head and began to howl in loneliness at the sky.

It had been forever since they had last seen Kiba. If this was hurting Naruto, then there was no telling in how much pain Akamaru must have been in. He and Kiba had been pretty good friends... But Akamaru and Kiba were supposed to be partners.

"I don't think he'll ever get better." Ino whispered, bringing her legs up to her chest as she wrapped her arms above her knees. "I... I did something really bad, Naruto."

The blonde frowned as he looked back down at Akamaru. The dog was looking at Ino with sadness on his features. Not anger.

Not even Akamaru blamed Ino for what had happened.

The fact of the matter was that a bunch of bad things had mounted on each other and ended up in one huge catastrophe. But... Well, no one could say with one hundred percent certainty that changing one event would have completely erased this conclusion. At least, that's what Naruto told himself.

"Then we should do everything we can to help him."

Akamaru yipped in agreement and padded out of Naruto's lap and towards Ino. Once he was beside her, he pawed at her right thigh before sitting down and pressing his body beside her.

They didn't say anything else after that.

~..~..~

I hope you all enjoyed reading this chapter!

I am super sorry that it has taken me so long to update, but university has been kicking my ass with all of the tests and work I've got to do.

Good news is that there are only two more chapters left to this story!

Also, if you're interested in my writing a Boku no Hero Academia story, check out my profile so you can vote on a poll I've got up about the first fanfic of that fandom I should publish!

Please review and tell me what you liked! Or, hell, tell me what you didn't to see if I can do better next time!