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*I don't own Naruto or Naruto Shippuden, it all belongs to Kishimoto. Please R&R, I appreciate any feedback. Now on with the story!
*When there is typing like this it means it is a thought.
*When there is typing like this it means it is a conversation through a telepathic link.
KC = Kakashi Clone
IC = Ino Clone
BI = Blood Clone Ino
I'm sorry it's took me so long to get chapters out, but life really came at me with full force. I didn't expect to get put on chemo in 2017-2018 and while I was on it, I couldn't do much of anything, much less continue my story. But I will keep trying to get them out as soon as I can! I don't know if people are still interested in this story since my reviews have dwindled and only 2 people reviewed my last chapter, but I'll keep it going if just one person tells me they like it! Anyway, happy readings and be safe and courteous of others during these trying times in the world. Also wash your hands and practice distancing. Trust me it helps. Now that I've rambled on back to the story!
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Ugly Truths and Dirty Secrets
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Inside Itachi Uchiha's Mind:
He was six year's old in this memory, she watched as he quickly mastered everything his teachers had to educate. He was able to master any technique they showed him and was able to memorize the whole rubric of the academy, including the laws every shinobi had to adhere too and effectively execute every required ability asked of him. After four months in, at the tender age of 7 he was able to graduate and join a genin squad. Next a second file opened in front of Ino's eyes and before she could digest everything she had just seen; she was thrown into another memory. She wondered if it was his doing or if her ability to receive information had grown to this sickening rapid pace. Unable to dwell on that thought she saw Itachi, still a genin, activate his sharingan for the first time as we watched his teammate die. As soon as the memory disappeared another took its place and it kept going on in that manner. She watched him take the chunin exams on his own, watched the friendship with a man called Shisui deepen into a brotherhood bond and so forth.
The memories slowed down when he had turned 11 and was now an Anbu member. His parents had been so proud of him, always saying that the village couldn't deny their awesome power and worth because of his many achievements. Time went on until finally Fugaku began letting Itachi sit in during the clan's secret meetings. That's when he found out about their plan of a coup d'état. They had chosen a coup because of the clan's growing resentment towards the Hokage and the other clans. They didn't like that everyone blamed them for the nine-tailed beast's attack and moved them to the edges of the village. He learned how Fugaku had been the head conspirator and wanted Itachi to rise in the rank's of Anbu to spy on the village for him. All the while Ino could feel his worry and growing disdain for his family and clan. The only time he felt anything was when he was with Shisui or when he'd watch over Sasuke. She saw how torn he had been but still decided that what his father was doing was wrong and reported everything to the Third Hokage and the Council. By the time he was 12 he and Shisui had both been tasked to betray their clan and try and put a stop to the coup. Unfortunately, when Shisui had failed and had his eye stolen from Danzo Itachi realized his options at resolving this matter diplomatically and safely were dwindling. Ino saw how Shisui had given Itachi his eye and died by suicide, she felt him mourn the death of his only friend and awake his own Mangekyo Sharingan.
Then she watched as everyone in his clan turned on him and blamed him for Shisui's death. When two fellow clans' men accused Itachi of murdering his best friend Ino saw him lose his composure for the first time and attacked them. Soon after at the young age of 13 he became an Anbu captain. "WAIT!" Ino suddenly yelled out stopping the memories from jumping out at her. Itachi had remained emotionless the whole time she had watched all his milestones and losses. "Why did Danzo steal his eye? From what I've seen didn't he want to stop the coup from happening as well? It doesn't make sense." She questioned rubbing her eyes fastidiously. "If you continue watching you'll understand why he did what he did." He murmured in a slightly annoyed tone. He had turned back to the files and was about to begin when she interrupted him for the second time. "No this is taking too long and if you haven't noticed I'm running low on Chakra, I can't keep this up. Not after I just dealt with one of Orochimaru's experiments!" This time her legs buckled under her before she fell on her knees, he had to see that she wasn't lying.
The insane part about all this was that she believed everything he had shown her, she would have been able to sense if he had altered any memories. What she didn't understand was why he was giving her a biography about his life. Lowering down to her level he sighed and grabbed her hands gently and placed them on his temples. Instead of watching his memories he allowed her to transfer them to her mind, to see and live what he'd done all those years ago and why he'd killed his whole clan and abandoned their village. His final mission from the third was too infiltrate the Akatsuki and find out what their main goal was. She saw everything, his memories were now a part of hers and all she could do was cry shamelessly. Everything they had taught her in the academy about him had been a lie, no one in the village knew what he had gone through and why he had to commit such a heinous act. It was all to save his brother and stop his village from breaking into a civil war that would surely grow into another great war. The man was a true pacifist.
Breaking her families jutsu they were back near the mountain side with the unconscious children and Kakashi. Ino couldn't stand anymore and only looked up at him from the ground. With her chakra dangerously low and her Ice wolves melted, all she could do was pray this hadn't been some twisted roundabout way of killing her. As he walked towards the ashy blonde girl, he spoke loudly enough for Ino to hear him. "If Danzo or Orochimaru found out this eye existed or survived they'd both come after this child and rip her apart. She cannot have this eye in her possession. I don't know why or how she awaked its power but if she keeps it any longer it would kill her." Ino watched helplessly as he crouched over the child and began extracting her eye. No, no, no she won't survive something like this, Kami what can I do? I need to move! MOVE INO! On sheer brute strength and will power alone she forced her body to stand and with her tanto she dove towards him. But he was much faster and full of chakra and punched her swiftly in the stomach causing her to double over. "She'll die, she won't survive the blood loss from such a crude surgery! If this could even be considered surgery!" she yelled at him furiously. Angry at herself for not being able to stop him or do more.
"This is not the first time I've done this, and I swore to you that I wouldn't kill any one here." He stated now looming over her body, he had moved so quickly she hadn't seen him extract the child's eye. Turning to see the small girl next to her she noticed the amount of blood coming out of her eye, it had been way less than she had anticipated! You have seen what I've lived through and witnessed the Third's final mission assigned to me. Orochimaru already has Sasuke and no one is currently protecting Konoha from Danzo. I can not do it, not when I'm a wanted fugitive but maybe" he said now aiming his left glowing hand to Ino's right eye, "maybe you can keep this safe for me and keep Konoha safe. Kakashi wouldn't be training you if he didn't believe you were levelheaded and had a good loyal heart towards Konoha and its people." It struck her how she felt no pain as he pulled her eye from its socket. There was obvious discomfort and a raging headache but no actual pain. Just as he'd quickly removed her eye, he replaced it with the girl's red eye then turned to place Ino's blue eye into the girl's head.
Once he had finished, he bandaged up both their heads and proceeded to pulled out a small vile with a luminous blue liquid and forced Ino to drink it. Unable to fight him off much less move she drank the cool liquid. "It's medicine, so you don't go into chakra shock and so your body won't reject this eye." He said as he gave both girls half of the medicine. True to his word she felt her body slowly stabilize and after a few moments was able to sit up. "What you choose to do with that eye from here on out is your choice. You know what I know and have seen what I've seen. Use that information wisely." He said as his body slowly fell apart into crows. Before she could ask him anything, he was gone with a kind yet guilty smile. As soon as she was able to stand, she went over to her sensei to make sure he was still alive. Just as she was about to shake his shoulder and call his name his eyes shot open and he looked at her with wild eyes.
Sitting up and grabbing her by the face he inspected her face and body. He was breathing so rapidly she thought he'd go into a panic attack or have a heart attack. "Sensei look, look I'm okay. I'm okay, look two arms, two legs, two hands and feet. I'm okay, you're okay, everyone is okay and safe." She began rambling trying to calm him down the way he had done when she'd woken up after being attacked by the two Root members. She was now hugging this large man and rubbing calming circles on his back hoping he'd be okay. She didn't mention how he was trembling and still breathing irregularly when he gently pulled her away from him and asked her what had happened. For a moment she wondered if he'd believe her or if she should even tell him. No one knew about Itachi's real past and she thought that maybe he would think Itachi had brainwashed her somehow. Sighing she gave him a weak smile before pressing her forehead on his shoulder, "Can I tell you once we finish figuring out what to do with the children and I've gathered my thoughts?" She silently prayed he'd agree and let her collect her thoughts and feelings.
He could feel her also trembling against him and realized she probably needed some time, before she could process everything, they had been through the last 16 to 20 hours? Hell, he wasn't even sure how long he was under that awful jutsu, which was another thing he couldn't explain. How come he hadn't been hurt in it and was able to wake up from it without the help from Tsunade-sama? The sun had already set and the only light they had was coming from the moon. Nodding his head, he got up and began setting up a camp site around all the children, summoning all his nin-dogs he commanded them to stay in a circular radius. Big enough that they couldn't be seen but small enough that if they smelled anything off or dangerous, they could alert him quickly. The dogs dispersed and Kakashi continued creating a small bonfire. Under normal circumstances he wouldn't want to give their location away, but the children wear near death and wouldn't survive the night without a proper heat source.
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Later that night:
Neither of them could sleep but were sitting next to one another once again wearing their masks and with the children all piled around them. Ino had been leaning on her sensei when she finally spoke up in a low whisper, "What are we going to do about these kids? They're too weak and mentally unstable to try and find out where they're each from and keep them alive." For a minute Kakashi stayed quiet and Ino thought he had fallen asleep when he put a protective arm around her. "We have to report to Tsunade-sama and go from there. Our mission was to find them and help them, but the circumstances are much worse than we expected and too many different variables affect us from going any further without reaching out to Tsunade-sama. I sent Pakkun with a missive explaining most of what happened and what she plans for us to do. Until he comes back, we hold down the fort and wait. We can only take this as it comes." Ino smiled softly under her mask. She was more thankful than ever to have such an amazing sensei with her.
"Now do you want to fill me in on what happened with Itachi?" he asked. Ino stiffened slightly but forced herself to relax. "Before I tell you sensei, can you answer one questions?" She kept her head forward trying not to betray her anxious emotions. "Depends." He answered. With that she turned her head so her one good eye could look at him, "Did you mention my 'injuries' to Tsunade-sama?" she asked pointing at her black eye holed mask. "I just told her about the children and that we had yet another encounter with Itachi Uchiha." He sighed and patted her head. "You said you'd tell me once you had gathered all your thoughts. So, I held off on that piece of information. I had a feeling you didn't want whatever this is known." What she was going to tell him was going to make things one hundred times worse for herself and maybe their village, but he trusted her enough to wait and listen to her. This was one of the first times in her life she felt truly listened too and valued. She couldn't believe how much things had changed in the last almost two years.
"Sensei, he didn't hurt you because he wanted to speak to me and show me the truth. The truth about everything. I can still see all his memories before my eyes, all of them. None of them were lies, I would have been able to tell if he had been lying or altered any memory, but he didn't. Sensei he didn't slaughter his whole clan on a mere petty whim. He had no choice. Danzo had made sure of it and the Third Hokage knew about it all. He gave him one final mission and a promise before Itachi left the village." She said quickly, each word stumbling after the next. "Ino what are you talking about, what do you mean the Third Hokage knew? What mission could he possibly have given him and promised him?" Kakashi asked a little louder than intended. "He promised Itachi that he would do everything he could to keep Sasuke safe from Danzo and the mission was to infiltrate the Akatsuki and find out what they were and are planning to do." She answered somberly and before he could argue with her that it could all be lies, she pointed to her bandaged eye and with a slight tremble in her voice she whispered, "He gave me this eye. The sharingan eye that the little girl had, he traded my eye with hers. He told me to keep it safe and to use it wisely." Although Ino couldn't see his face she knew he was shocked and at a loss for words. "Sensei, I can show you, that way you'll believe me. Please, please you need to believe me because I don't know what else to do." I'm scared. She pleaded this time, her whole-body trembling. "Okay." Was all he could say as she lowered his mask just enough so that she could put her hand over his forehead. Soon he was witnessing everything she had seen.
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9 in the morning in Konoha:
Tsunade had been drinking the night before and had a massive headache and could hear what sounded like scratches. She thought she may have still been drunk from the night before and it was Tonton coming to wake her so it could go to the bathroom. But Tonton knew how she was when she drank and had trained itself to go out through the window and would wait outside until she finally woke up to let it in again. Something felt off when suddenly she heard a gruffy voice call out to her, "Hokage-sama I have urgent news from Kakashi." That instantly woke her up and she pulled her robe on before opening her window and letting the dog in. Dropping the missive at her feet he stood at attention, ready do go back to his master with a reply. Picking up the missive she quickly read its contents and almost shrieked. She would have too if only Shizune wasn't asleep in the room next to hers. Why? Why wasn't she surprised in the least that this mission had gone so out of hand. Not only did they have to deal with Orochimaru's experiments but Itachi Uchiha had also shown up. The odds of those things happening had to be a billion to one. She would bet her whole life's savings on it.
She had to read the missive a couple times before coming up with a new plan. First and foremost, they had to keep the remaining children alive and although she wanted Ino to stay away their lives mattered too. By the time Pakkun would get to them it'd be around 7 or 8 at night and since they were bringing children with them, they were going to have to walk from there. Normally it took 30 hours to get from Oto to Konoha and that was if a shinobi was running at full speed and little to no breaks. Walking and with children meant they were going to have to take more breaks. It would probably take them four or five days. That was a long time, but it gave her enough time to prepare rooms for them in the hospital and have all the medics needed to treat and care for the children. This will work. Quickly she wrote down her orders and about how to treat the malnourished children, gave the missive to Pakkun and told him to make haste. Time was certainly not on their sides. She was going to have a lot of explaining to do when they arrived and right now, she needed to see a certain someone and ask for his advice. This is going to be a long week.
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Ino and Kakashi's location:
By the time Kakashi had finished seeing all the memories it had been early morning and he held his head, trying to handle so much information all at once. The only way he knew Ino could handle it was because she was a Yamanaka, but he knew she showed him everything at a much slower rate than when she received them. His head was reeling, and he felt any movement would cause him to throw up the water and bile in his stomach. She had left him in his position and gone to check on the now waking children. They were all still far too weak to lift their heads, so she went to each one and gave them water to drink. Once everyone had drank enough water, she pulled out a scroll with her food rations and splayed it all out. Most of it consisted of rice balls and fish since they had been in the cabin before this mission.
Ino remembered from her academy days that if you were ever starved to the brink of death the one thing you couldn't do was eat heavy and large amounts of food even if your body craved it. If you did that it would send a shock to your system and could kill you. She pulled out two medium bowls from her scroll and began mashing up the rice even more and only added bits of fish. Once the food has reached a porridge like consistency, she added water to it to make it even easier to eat and swallow. It wasn't the best tasting food in the world, but it would have to do. So, she went to each child again and this time fed them small portions of the rice mixture. She had to sit them up on her lap and feed them so the food could go down and wait a few moments before laying them back down. This process took two hours and by the time she had finished feeding the last boy the other children had fallen back to sleep. This time small smiles spread across their faces. It was the little moments like this that she lived for and gave her more reason to pursue her career as a shinobi. Kakashi had gotten up and eaten what little mush was left over and watched as Ino held the last boy, making sure his food went down before being able to lay him back down.
Looking around he jumped up into a tree high enough that he could see his surroundings and whistled. In seconds one of his nin dog appeared and looked up at him, waiting for whatever order his master would give him. "Look for the closest village or town near here then come back and tell me how far it is." With that the dog nodded its head and was off. He had tried to make sense of everything Ino had told him, but this was something he never expected to happen. She had received a Sharingan eye just like he did all those years ago, but he didn't know what to expect from this. Was it going to be like it was for him and she'd have to learn to harness its power? Would her body accept the eye? He remembered suffering from massive headaches the first few months he had the eye and remembered the excruciating pain he experienced when he activated it for the first time. Could she handle it? He wanted to ask her so many things, but he'd wait until he managed to get enough food and supplies for the children depending on whatever they were asked to do with them and Pakkun came back.
Once the last boy was laid down and was sleeping Ino stood up to stretch her aching body. She had bruises everywhere including a massive black one on her stomach where Itachi had punched her. Grimacing at its ugly hue she sighed and took off her mask. Pulling out a compact mirror from her weapons pouch she examined the bandages. The eye hadn't hurt her one bit and she wondered if something was wrong. She was no medic or doctor, but she knew that when you had something amputated or reattached the pain was severe, and it took weeks or months to heal with the medics healing techniques. She was curious to see 'her' eye but was scared, what if her body didn't take to it and it was rotting or dying? She could get and infection and die from sepsis! Itachi didn't really tell her how long something like this took to heal or how to care for it afterwards. Worry began to set in, and it quickly turned into anxiety. Fuck it, I'll look at it and if its infected I'll have sensei cut it out! The thought of having her eye cut off again but this time without the help of medicine and whatever Itachi did to spare her of any pain terrified her.
Steeling herself she slowly began to unravel the bandages covering her left eye and head. As the bandages came off, she noticed the small amount of blood that covered them. He must not have been lying when he said he'd done this a few times. When all the bandages were off, she kept her eye closed but noticed there was considerable swelling around it. A large green bruise was forming a ring around her eye as well. Well that's attractive. Before opening her eye, she sat down in case whatever she saw shocked her enough to make her fall. Once on the ground and her back to a tree she opened her eye. It wasn't red like it had been in the girl's mindscape, it was a normal onyx eye. It looked okay as far as she could see that's when she realized she could SEE out of it. Did that mean her body accepted the eye?! She was about to call Kakashi-sensei over when he came down from the tree.
He was shocked to see her able to open her eye and quickly went to cover it. "You shouldn't take off the bandages! It's too soon, it takes days before you should be able to open it and weeks for it to heal. We don't know what could happen if you do it too early!" He reprimanded her, Ino wanted to tell him that it felt fine and that it didn't hurt. More importantly that she could see from it, but he wasn't having it and securely put the bandages back on her. When he finally seemed to settle down, she was going to ask him about his experience with his sharingan eye but a nin dog came down from another tree and started taping its paw on the ground. After the twelfth tap Kakashi nodded and told him to go back on guard duty. Turning to face Ino he pats her on the head and murmured in his usual bored tone, "I'm doing to go to a town near here and pick up supplies we may need and more food. We don't know what's going to happen so its best to prepare foe every situation. Understand? You stay here and guard the children; my dogs will stay around and if they sense anything out of the ordinary, they'll alert you. Got it?" Ino nodded and before she could wish him well or tell him goodbye, he was off in a flash. All she could do now was wait.
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Back in Konoha:
Tsunade had finally managed to inform her hospital staff of the patients that would soon be coming and was able to get many to help her set up rooms. Certain medicines had to be set aside in case they had infections or any other diseases. She had put Sakura in charge, much to a lot of the other medic's dismay. They were going to have to suck it up she was her student and knew the young kunoichi could handle it. She had to learn how to run things eventually and now seemed like a good time. Once she was sure Sakura had her list and everything under control Tsunade went back to her office in the tower. She didn't want to keep him waiting much longer. When she arrived in her office, he greeted her in his usual stoic manner.
"Shikaku there are a lot of things we need to discuss. You might want to sit down as you read this." She said as she handed him the missive Kakashi had sent. True to his genius he set the report down after a mere two minutes and sighed. "You can see why I called you here, she needs to come back to report everything Kakashi was unable to see and learn." She replied pinching the bridge of her nose. "So, they'll arrive in about 4 days, give of take?" he asked monotoned and her only response was a nod. "Kakashi stated that they wore ANBU masks the whole time correct? It should be fine for her to return if they stayed under that guise. No one would suspect her. Who would believe that Ino was an ANBU member? She was much taller than when she left so no one would question it since they haven't seen her since. On top of that no one would question two ANBU members. I see no problem here Tsunade-hime." He stated in a more serious tone while his face kept that same bored expression and even though she wanted to punch him sometimes during times like these she was incredibly grateful he was her right-hand man. "All that's left is to send word to them that they should stay dressed that way. The only problem being that I don't know their exact location. Kakashi has been the one to send messages to me and he always uses his nin dog." She groaned out
"We need to send some one that can track them and relay the message, maybe a team that can help them with all the children." Shikaku answered slowly getting up to excuse himself. "I'll set up the parameters and requirements of the mission and you can choose a team to go." With that he was out of the room. Someone who could track them. I can get something from Kakashi's homes and have a team follow their scents. But scent alone won't be good enough… Ah, I know the perfect team. With her mind made up she sent out bird messengers to each person. All she had to do know was wait for them to report to her.
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Ino's location:
It had been around 3 in the afternoon when Kakashi came back with his backpack full of scrolls. Ino had secretly taken off her bandages and was wearing her mask, hood and kept her eye closed so he wouldn't notice. When Ino went to greet him but he silently handed her the scrolls marked for food and water. She had fed the children not too long before he had arrived, so they were all asleep again. Taking advantage of the situation Kakashi moved over to where they had placed the deceased children and started sealing their bodies in bigger scrolls. Ino watched as he did the hand signs for the sealing jutsu and realized she could see them instead of blurs. Usually when they trained and sparred together, she could never make out any of the hand signs for any of his jutsus because he moved so fast. She stood to the side and out of his visual field but kept watching. When he finished, she closed her left eye and walked over to his side. "Sensei will we get to give them proper burials when we go back home?" Kakashi kept looking down at the scrolls on the floor and softly wrapped his arm around her before sighing and murmuring, "I hope so."
Ino had to admit that waiting for Pakkun felt like an eternity but when he finally showed up at 7 pm, he plopped the missive with the hokage's seal in front of Kakashi and laid down on his side. Crouching down, he picked up the missive and pat his dog affectionately, "Good work, go rest." And with that he was gone in a puff of smoke. Quickly opening the missive Kakashi began to read it, once he was done, he instructed Ino to help him put everything away in their back packs as he began taking down the camp sight. As soon as everything was backed and no traces of them being there were left Kakashi called his nin dogs and let them go back and rest. In a huge puff of spoke they were all gone. "Ino make three of your blood clones and carry all of the sleeping children." nodding she quickly created her clones and gently picked up the children until each clone had two in their arms. Making three clones of himself they each picked up two of the bigger scrollers that contained the deceased children and mounted them on their backs. The real Kakashi had his hands free but was carrying all the supplies including Ino's backpack. "From here on out we stay close together, stick off any main roads and stay in the shadows as much as possible. We will move the whole night or until early morning. Then we will feed the children inspect their wounds or aches and try to make them comfortable before moving out again. If we continue like this maybe, we can cut a whole day from our trip." He said to Ino as he walked in front of her and all the clones.
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Earlier around noon in Konoha:
Tsunade had been waiting for the arrival of the team she had put together earlier that morning and was working on a pill of papers. A low knock on the door signaled her that the team was here and in a booming voice asked them to enter. All four people came in and lined up in front of her at attention. Excited for the opportunity to partake in a mission the Hokage specially chose them for. "As you all know or have gathered, you are here because I need you to take on a very special and discreet mission. The mission consists of locating two ANBU members coming back home, intercepting them and helping them carry precious patients back here. This mission, with your help should last about 3 days. You were chosen because of your tracking skills, abilities to work well together under pressure and smarts. This is a B rank mission and will be treated with the utmost importance and care. Once you meet up with them, I will need you to hand over this missive to them. You will not open it or read it but just in case I'm entrusting it to you." She said handing it over to a bored looking Shikamaru.
"You will lead this mission and execute it perfectly. Don't question the ANBU members and only speak to them when necessary, they will not talk about their mission or give any of you any information so don't try it. You all leave as soon as you're packed. Oh, this is around the location they were supposed to be. They will try and stick to the shadows and off any main roads. Remember that when you're tracking them. Kiba, have Akamaru smell this, it should help you all locate them." She said handing over a blue long sleeve top. Once Akamaru had taken a deep long whiff he barked signaling he was done. "Dismissed." Tsunade said motioning them to leave. On their way out Shikamaru, Kiba, Choji and Neji all looked to one another for a moment before leaving their separate ways to quickly pack and get a move on.
At one they met up at the village gates all packed and ready, before moving out Shikamaru turned to them, "Listen, even if we are just there to help them, we will need to be alert and ready for anything. We are assisting ANBU members so let's keep it as professional as we can he said turning to Kiba and Choji giving them a knowing look. Pointing at Kiba he said, "Don't talk too much and try and ask unnecessary questions. Make sure not to say anything that can be taken the wrong way and remember they are of higher ranks than us." Kiba rolled his eyes before exasperating a, "Yes MOM." Next he turned to Choji and gently took the chips out of his hands and gently patting his shoulder, "No extra snacking, we can't be making any needless noise and I know Azuma has talked to you about how unprofessional it looks." Choji looked dejected for a moment but turned serious and only nodded his head.
"Alright these are the routes I think they may be taking so well start with the one closest to us and keep our eyes, ears and noses peeled, understood." With every guy nodding at him with understanding Shikamaru looked up one last time up at the sky and sighed, "Troublesome." After that they were off. He hoped they'd get too meet up with the team by noon the following day. Besides after this annoying mission he had two more months before heading out to Sauna and helping them prepare for the Chunin Exams. Why couldn't he seem to catch a break?
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InoFan: Thank you for asking if I'm okay. Yes, I am I just can't go out right now that the pandemic has spread so fast. Because of my compromised immune system, I'm stuck in my house but its not all bad because it gives me a lot of time to think about the story and type it out. I hope you keep looking forward to it and enjoy the next few chapters. ^-^
MindBlossom: Thank you so much for the kind reviews and I'm so happy you like how I'm writing Ino. I always thought she could do way more watching and reading the manga. Kakashi too yes, he's super strong and cool in both but I wanted to see him teach students or a student all the way. Not just when it seemed convenient for Naruto. The Chunin Exams are probably going to happen in the second chapter I post after this one. I hope you like it when it comes out! And always thank you for the reviews they really do help motivate me. ^o^
LeahMfkn'Clearwater: Itachi has given her something very precious. I wonder how she'll use this new gift o_O
Guest: You're welcome and thank you for the reviews, I am doing much better. I will keep trying to get a chapter or two once a week if not one every week. Happy readings! :D
