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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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The Gift
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Later That Night:
Ino and Kakashi had been moving in the shadows, making sure to avoid any people she sensed. It had been a smooth trip albeit a slow one considering every few moments they needed to stop and make sure each child went to the bathroom or was fed. They'd wait until each child was back to sleep when they could move again and would only talk through Ino's telepathic link. Luck seemed to be on their side this night since they didn't encounter any people and the only ones that would be near were regular civilians that wouldn't and couldn't see them. In a way it was good stealth training and to build up one's patience, every now and then Kakashi would make small remarks about her breathing or about the way she and her clones needed to stay in sync and move as one to make them even less noticeable and traceable. Ino had missed this type of easy yet essential training and was honestly happy for it, not only was she learning but she was able to rest mentally.
As Soon As morning broke, they found a remote area hidden in the woods and started setting up camp. After that was set, they began the arduous task of looking over each child and tending to whatever wounds or needs each one needed and made sure to feed and change their clothes. Kakashi had explained the significance of a piece of clothes after one had been stripped of everything in their lives and Ino after experiencing being tortured understood the importance of it more than ever. She had still been hiding the fact that her bandages were off but chose to wait to tell him. Her eye really hadn't hurt, and she had felt better the few times she dared to open it during the night. She knew Kakashi had his reasons and experienced what she was going through but their experiences seemed to be drastically different. Once every task had been done Kakashi and Ino sat down to eat breakfast.
"Sensei, can I ask you something? It's a little intrusive but I don't know who else to ask." She said before taking her own mask off and digging in. Sighing Kakashi put his bowl of rice and fish down and looked at her knowingly, "You want to ask about my Sharingan and ask how I was able to master it to the degree I have?" he asked her. She slowly shook her head up and down and he sat in front of her. "Times were different, we were in a war and I didn't have any other option but to use my Sharingan. I had an amazing sensei that helped me as best he could and being in ANBU gave me the experience I needed to keep using it and learning as I went. No one questioned me about it because I stayed in the shadows most of my adolescent and teen years and when I was around people, I kept it hidden. They knew I had it, but I learned people were more comfortable when they couldn't see it. It took time but not as long as you'd think because I was in a different time. When war happens, you grow up quickly and you learn to use everything you have, not to be better but to survive." He shared with her quietly before taking his mask off and tapping the top of her mask. "Just like I know you've been using it while we moved around at night."
At that Ino looked down before taking her mask off, her face completely flustered. "If you knew, why didn't you tell me anything sensei?" She asked now looking up at him with both eyes open though the swelling still hadn't gone down. With a humorless chuckle he murmured, "Because I know the type of person you are. Although I should have said something, I know you wouldn't have done it if you were in pain. Even if I've taught you to grit your teeth and deal with pain, I know you would have informed me if you were hurting. The little girl too, although she hasn't been able to open her eye every time, I've changed her bandages she's never once complained either. Her bandages also seem to have less blood on them, not that they had much, to begin with. Our experiences are different. I still feel you need to get it checked by Tsunade-sama when we get home but other than that who you choose to tell and what you choose to do is up to you." After that he started eating. Slowly she began eating too and thought about what to say or ask next. As soon as they were done and had cleaned everything, they put their masks and hoods back on and sat down. "We'll take turns sleeping and doing guard duty. That way we also rest and are able to move throughout the night." He told her allowing her to rest her head on his shoulder. "You first for a few hours, then I will." He said before she could protest.
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Ino's dream:
She had been glad and let the sandman take her away. It had been a long time since she'd been able to dream but this was no ordinary dream, it was dark all around her and two red eyes stared at her from the middle of the darkness. She couldn't make out the person's face, so she didn't know if it was Itachi or Sasuke's eyes, but she pulled out two kunai and walked towards them with caution. When she was just a few steps away from said eyes, she started making out the person's figure. It was taller than her and looked down into her own blue and red eyes. "And who might you be little one? How did you come to possess that eye?" The figure asked in a calm soothing voice while pointing at her Sharingan eye. Ino seemed hesitant, she knew this was a dream but if it was why did it feel real. Why did this presence feel like it was a part of her? Quietly she answered him, "It was a gift. I was told to keep it safe for someone and to protect Konoha with it."
Slowly the darkness started dissipating and she was able to see the man talking to her. He looked younger than Itachi did now, maybe a year or two older than she was? He had black spiky hair and was the same pale color as Sasuke, two years ago she might have even called him handsome. That's when it hit her, she knew this man from Itachi's memories! But why was he in her dreams now? The young man had a very kind smile on his face when he heard her reply. "Itachi gave it to me. He asked me to hold on to it since he had your other eye Shisui-san." Ino said with less caution. She couldn't feel any malice from this presence and knew that if anything it was a dream; she couldn't be physically hurt in her dream. Shisui's smile turned to slight confusion but he quickly recovered and just kept watching her.
"I won't lie and say I'm curious about my friend, but I won't ask any further. What I do want to know is why we can see each other. Judging by your other eye you must be a Yamanaka, yes?" he asked curiously as he sat down on the white room's floor. Ino following his stead sat across from him and nodded her head. "Well that's quite an interesting combination to be. I take it you're able to see me because part of my consciousness was or is trapped in my eyes?" he asked again and this time Ino took her time before answering. She didn't know why she could see him or talk to him. If it was a dream would he be able to ask her all these questions? "I don't really know; I just got his eye two days ago. I didn't think this sort of thing would be possible. It has never been done or tried in my clan so I wouldn't know." She answered slightly sorry she couldn't give him an answer.
Reaching over he patted her head affectionately like he had known who she was her whole life. "So, you don't know how to use it?" he asked and this time Ino blushed wildly. "No and I don't really know who to ask about it. I'm limited to who I can speak to right now. I want to be able to protect my sensei and everyone back home, but I'm stuck. When I get home, I won't be able to ask anyone there, I think ill have to keep it a secret." She answered him woefully. At this Shisui's smile grew and he put both hands on her shoulders in a reassuring manner. "Why don't I teach you or answer any questions you may have. If anything, you can try to see if you can see my memories and understand how I came to use my Sharingan and how I learned to use it. You could try anyway especially if you're short on time." Ino's smile grew too and immediately got up. "Okay let's try!" Ino began asking as many questions as she could and once, she had her fill tried to stretch her mind into his. Her dream went on like that for what seemed like hours until everything around her started crumbling and Shisui began to disappear.
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On the Campground:
Ino's eyes fluttered open slowly as the sunlight bothered her left eye. Once she was acclimated to the sun, she turned to see what had happened. It was Kakashi gently waking her telling her that it was around 9 in the morning and that it was her turn to keep guard. Without speaking she sat up and allowed him to lean on her as well and help his body go heavy after a few minutes. She could see his chest rising and falling slowly and knew he was out. The second she knew he was completely out she spread out her sensory abilities to a 10-mile radius, something she knew she couldn't have done without the help of her new eye and her training with Kakashi. She prayed nothing would come their way so her sensei and the children could keep resting. It had been a long time since she'd be able to relax and enjoy the nature all around her and she wanted to revel in it as long as she could.
During that time, she tried remembering everything Shisui had taught her and showed her and wanted to try certain things about but didn't want to risk waking Kakashi up. So, she memorized everything like she did her family's jutsus and practiced them in her mind repeatedly. Time went by surprisingly fast and before she knew it noon was creeping up and she knew she'd have to wake her Sensei. When she was about to shake his shoulder, she felt a few chakra signatures coming in fast. Four of them and they felt mildly strong, nothing like what she'd faced the last two years but still it was a group and that could be dangerous considering they had children to protect. Waking up her sensei rather roughly she began making four blood clones while explaining the situation they were about to face. Kakashi didn't hesitate and told her he'd go ahead and see what was going on. Ino wanted to protest but knew she couldn't leave the children alone and nodded then running around the children and forming a protective circle around them.
Kakashi went the way Ino had told him the four shinobi were coming from and braced himself for a fight. He wanted to catch them by surprise and ran faster to try and attack them before they did him. Just as he was getting closer and could smell them he heard someone whisper to the side of him, "Hey there's someone on our left, Neji what do you see?" slightly confused Kakashi stepped out of the shadows before they could start anything and appeared before the group of shinobi. Why are they here? How did they find us? Looking at all the boys Kakashi held his hands up in a placating manner before turning to Shikamaru and cocking his head to the side. Shikamaru took this as a question, why were they here? "Hokage-sama asked us to deliver this to you Dog-san" Shikamaru said slowly handing over the missive with the trademark Hokage's seal on it. Swiftly taking it out of his hands he began to read the missive. She wants them to help us bring the children in to make our trip shorter. I guess they make sense, they're able to track people and work well together. But why Shikamaru and Choji? Well whatever I'm sure Ino will connect to me once she notices everyone's not moving. Deepening his voice, he looked back at Shikamaru and said, "I see. We have fourteen children altogether. Six dead and 8 alive but in critical condition. When handling them be gentle. We'll head out as soon as they are fed again and looked over. Roger?" he said looking at all the boys for confirmation.
Just as they all gave their okay, he felt Ino's familiar chakra link set up and before she could ask what was going on, he informed her of the situation. She had wanted to freak out and ask him if they would be okay, what would they do if they figured out who she was but Kakashi reminded her of all her training and made it a point to tell her to destroy her blood cones and keep her ANBU disguise on at all times. Then he instructed her to break the connection and to not use it unless it was completely necessary just to be careful so they wouldn't give her identity away. After that he felt her turn the link off and he turned to lead the group of boys back to the campsite. By the time they got there Ino had started waking and feeding the children and pretended to ignore them. She heard Kakashi introduce her as Wolf before assigning each boy a child to tend to. Once they began working on feeding the children Kakashi started taking everything down and sealing it all back up in their scrolls. They worked in silence like that for the next hour and a half and when all the children were asleep Kakashi instructed them to pick up a child. He then asked 'Wolf' to make three blood clones to help carry the children as he mounted the larger scrolls on his back. Making the clones in record time they each picked up a child and stood by, ready for further instructions.
"We will move quickly and quietly since we're in a large group we can move more freely and have less to worry about if we are ambushed. We have numbers on our side and the children are our priority. We will move day and night only stopping to feel the children and tend to them. If we keep a good pace, we might be able to make it back in a day and a half. That is ideal considering how badly these children need medical attention. Everyone ready?" Kakashi asked. When everyone gave their approval, he took to the trees and set a fast pace. Ino had no trouble keeping up but noticed the rest of the group having some difficulty. She assumed it was because she had trained with both Kurou and Kakashi and they had made it a point to build up her stamina and speed. Kami how she hated those days of climbing up and down the Yamanaka Mountains at ungodly speeds, dodging traps and weapons thrown at her. But they had obviously helped so she wasn't complaining. Instead she chose to stay behind everyone and use her sensory abilities in secret.
They stayed in that formation until around four when they had to stop to care for the children. During that time Shikamaru would ask 'Dog' questions quietly, most of which were left unanswered. Kiba had tried to strike up a conversation when he noticed she was in fact a female but Ino ignored him completely. Finally, Neji told Kiba to be quiet and Choji could only give her an apologetic smile. Ino's heart jumped when she saw that smile and had wanted to say something, anything to him but merely nodded at him. She had been fighting her urges all day to speak to both he and Shikamaru, to hug them and tell them how much she missed them but couldn't. Not when she had worked so hard to be where she was now. She was incredibly glad her long hair was still dyed grey and had put on a black contact on her right eye. She felt those extra measures helped her deceive them. She was also glad Shikamaru hadn't spoken to her, she didn't know if she'd be able to stay quiet around him. After they were done and had finally put the children back to sleep, they went on with their pace. Everything was finally going smoothly for them.
Of course, Kakashi should have known nothing ever goes smoothly for him because soon Ino had linked up to him and informed him of the 3 chakra signatures she felt following them. Kakashi told her to keep tracking them and only tell him again if they followed them for a while longer. Kakashi made it a point to go the long way and make certain turns to really see if they were being followed and after an hour Ino linked back up to him and confirmed their suspicions. Stopping and taking refuge under some trees 'Dog' began explaining the situation in a low whisper. Immediately Neji activated him Byakugan and searched for the shinobi while Akamaru and Kiba tried to sniff them out. Once both had found them, they confirmed that it had been 3 people. 'Dog' quickly told the four boys to stay hidden and to protect the children while he and 'Wolf' would check out the situation. Kiba began to protest but was shut down by 'Dog', "We don't know if they are after the children or how strong they are. You are all genin and a chunin. Your mission was to deliver the missive and help us transfer the children. That means keeping them safe. 'Wolf's' clones will stay here with you as an extra safety precaution. As the highest-ranking shinobi here, it is my and my partner's duty to keep you all safe. You WILL stay here, and you WILL protect these children."
With that said Kiba stood down and 'Dog' and 'Wolf' left at high speeds before anyone else could say anything. Ino's blood cloned stood a few feet away from the boys and children creating a protective formation around them. "Good job Kiba, like we could be any help to them," Choji said rolling his eyes then kneeling and making sure the children were comfortable. "So, I want to see two ANBU in action can you blame me!" he retorted back while Akamaru let out a soft whine. Neji only stood there with his Byakugan activated and watched the two ANBU members ran towards the other 3 people he had seen coming. Shikamaru let out a sigh and looked up at the sky, "Well that 'Dog' ANBU is right. Compared to ANBU members we're severely lacking." Hearing that Ino's blood clones smiled slightly. Neji had wanted to tell them how he noticed the smaller ANBU's chakra seemed a lot weaker than 'Dogs' but he knew what underestimating someone could do and chose to keep it to himself and just watch. He had also noticed the clones 'Wolf' had created were nothing like ones he'd seen. They had chakra points as well and by all accounts according to his Byakugan looked like real people. But that was something he would ask about later if he could.
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Kakashi and Ino:
They had been running for about 20 minutes when the came face to face with their pursuers. 3 older looking Oto shinobi, one was a tall lanky man with light purple hair and bandages all over his body, the second was a smaller stubbier man with black hair and black eyes and the third was a woman in a short kimono with bright blue hair and green eyes. All of them had manic smiles on their faces and looked ready to attack. The tall lanky man looked at Kakashi and yelled out, "You took some of our master's toys and he'd really like them back!" Ino could feel the loathing in their eyes and readied herself, waiting for someone to make the first move. Still linked to Kakashi she heard him talking out a plan, "Ino you remember our game of tactical hide and tag?" saying yes to him he continued on, "Remember the pond we passed a few minutes ago? Let's lead them there and make our moves. You can use your water and ice jutsus and I can use my Chidori." He said. Ah we're going to electrocute them. She thought to herself but only nodded.
As soon as the woman jumped towards Ino she backflipped away from her and continued to jump up in the treetops. As they were being chased by the 3 Oto nin they had to dodge countless shuriken and kunai thrown their way. Quickly Ino summoned her Ice wolves and sent one of them back to attack. Kakashi was able to throw kunai with bomb tags attached to them and that gave them enough time to make it to the clearing with the pond. Once there Ino told the other wolf to follow Kakashi's orders then proceeded to submerged herself in the water and made water clones of herself. She could sense Kakashi above her on top of the water waiting for the enemy nin to arrive. Seconds later they were there and Ino could feel their chakras spike in aggression. Kakashi stayed still and waited for any of them to come at him, he hoped they all would and Ino could trap them in her water or ice prisons.
The stubby man flung himself at Kakashi and Ino's wolf went for the woman. As soon as the stubby man stepped exactly where Kakashi was Ino created her water prison jutsu and had him trapped, with the other two were distracted by Ino's clones and her ice wolf Kakashi used his lightning release on the water prison. Within seconds the man's body began convulsing while his skin started burning and peeling off. The second Ino released her jutsu the man sank into the pond completely fried and electrocuted. The other two quickly caught on to their plan and moved away from the water. The woman had managed to dodge the wolf's lunges and was able to stick an explosive tag on the side of its head blowing it up to crystals. Now it was two against one, Kakashi was against the man and Ino the woman.
The woman quickly did hand signs Ino had never seen and when she opened her mouth a sonic wave hit her sending her flying across the pond. Ino's ears were bleeding and she could feel her head pounding loudly in her head but before she could recover the woman was making her way towards her readying herself for another scream. Not wanting to get hit with that strange attack again she dove into the water for protection. A clone came out and started throwing shuriken at the woman but she was able to easily dodge them, once she was able to destroy the clone she landed on the other side of the pond then slammed her hands down on the edge of the water. This time high pitched sonar waves hit Ino and her pocket of air burst forcing her to resurface. The woman was fast and on her before Ino could even get out of the water landing punches all over her body. Still dizzy and nauseous from the sound/sonar waves she had trouble pushing her off.
Kakashi had been on the other side of the pond fighting the talk lanky man and every time Kakashi went in for an attack the man sank into the Earth. An earth user. Kakashi activated his Sharingan and began observing the man's patterns while dodging multiple earth jutsus thrown at him. He just needed to get him at the perfect time with his Chidori and no matter how strong his Earth Shields were they would not be able to hold up. Earth was weak against lightning after all. Had Ino been fighting the man she'd have a harder time. Thinking of Ino, Kakashi turned to see how she was faring and didn't like what he was seeing. The woman seemed to be a sound user and had already managed to land a few attacks. But he didn't have time to worry about her because the man didn't give him a chance. He kept coming at him and it seemed they wanted to keep them separated.
Once Ino was able to shake some of the dizziness and blurriness away her own Sharingan activated and kicked the woman away as hard as she could with a heel kick. As she was flying mid-air Ino jumped and rapidly did the hand signs for a fireball jutsu, just like Shisui had taught her. It wasn't as big as his or as Kakashi's, but she was able to burn the woman's left hand. Not giving her time to recover and returning the favor Ino quickly did the hand signs for her water wave jutsu and slammed her hands on the waters' surface hard. The woman tried to use her sonar jutsu to disperse the wave but was unable too because of its magnitude. Ino had been able to get it as big as when she fought Kakashi and Kurou. Seconds after she created the wave, she along with her clones moved underwater to locate the woman. She had been a lot easier to find with her sensory skills and they managed to trap her in an Ice prison. Coming up out of the water Ino and her clones held the prison up and turned to see how Kakashi was doing.
Kakashi had managed to dodge every single attack and was able to counter any earth jutsus with his own lightning release justsu. Anytime a piece of Earth would come flying at him no matter the size he was able to destroy them with swift punches. If Ino hadn't activated her Sharingan she would not have been able to properly see the fight. She wondered if that's how her fight went but doubted it. She was faster than she used to be and was able to see more but she still didn't have the incredible speed Kakashi or Kurou had. Then as the man came up out of the earth and pierced Kakashi through the heart with a kunai Ino's heart stopped. But it had been a clone and when the clone burst Kakashi had managed to sneak up on the man and put his Chidori through his heart. Yanking his hand out of the man's chest he looked over to Ino and was pleased to see the woman completely frozen in the Ice prison. Making his way towards her she called out to him, "What do we do with her? If I interrogate her Neji will notice. He's been watching the fight this whole time." When Kakashi was standing in front of her he sighed, "Well you can't do that then. We'll just have to kill her too and bury them using and earth jutsu." But Ino couldn't hear what Kakashi was saying then she remembered the sound attacks and linked them up so he could tell her again. He told her to hold the Ice Prison in place so he could break it. So, Ino and her clones held the Ice Prison tightly in place as Kakashi punched it using his lightning release. The prison shattered just like her wolf had into small ice crystals and fell into the water. One less person to bury.
Kakashi looked back at Ino once her clones had disappeared and lifted her mask gently to look over any injuries she had. Her eye was still rather swollen but what worried him was her hearing/ears. They had small amounts of blood coming out of them and all he could do was bandage them up. Still linked up he pointed to her left eye and ask, "When did this happen? How were you able to use that fireball jutsu?" Not wanting to waste time explaining things she told him she had always watched him do it and now with the help of the Sharingan was able to perform it. It's not like it was a total lie. Sheepishly smiling at him he asked him, "How'd I do sensei?" Kakashi remembering to put a pin on the previous conversation patted her head softly and replied with, "It was alright. But you could do better. Now can you deactivate your Sharingan?" Ino focused the way Shisui had told her too and after a few seconds of keeping her eyes closed it faded back to black.
Next Kakashi turned to face where the other two men had died, "You take care of making the whole we're doing to bury them in, I'll swim down to fetch the one we electrocuted." With that said he jumped in the water and Ino quickly made her way to the other side of the pond where Kakashi had been fighting. When she got there, she did the hand signs for the earth burial jutsu Kurou had taught her a year and a half ago and hauled the man into the hole. Minutes later Kakashi surfaced with the electrocuted man and threw him in the hole too then Ino quickly buried them. After that he secured her mask back on her and pulled her hood over her head. "We'll have to communicate through the link like before but only in emergencies like this one. Understand? The good thing is you didn't speak with any of them so even if they try, I'll tell them to leave you alone. Ready?" Breaking the link, she nodded her head and followed him. She had been in a lot of pain in her abdomen but didn't want to tell him, she had still been sore from Itachi's punch earlier but figured once she got back to Konoha Tsunade or some other medic would heal her.
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Back in the hiding area:
Neji had watched the whole fight and had been filling the other guys in on what was going on. When he saw 'Wolf' use what looked like to be an Ice jutsu he was speechless. He'd only ever heard of a hand full of people around the world that could do that. He told them everything and what they heard had them at the edge of their seats. Kiba was silently cursing at the fact he couldn't be there to see everything and kept trying to force the clones to tell him something. Each time he tried Choji had to hold him back and remind him the clones were doing a job and couldn't be distracted. Shikamaru had listened in on what Neji was saying but acted as if he was watching the sky daydreaming. He wasn't going to admit to them that he had wanted to also see that fight, but the children were their priority. By the time the ANBU members got back the sun had fallen, and the moon was slowly rising. They thought they were going to take a break but when they got there, 'Dog' instructed them to pick up the children again and they were off again. The boys wondered how they were able to just keep going after such a fight, but all chose to listen and do as they were told.
They kept moving at that ungodly pace they had started off at and didn't stop until morning the next day to tend to the children. 'Dog' and 'Wolf' had moved away from the group and seemed to be checking their wounds over. After they were done feeding the children Neji walked over to the pair of ANBU and asked if they required any assistance. Politely 'Dog' said no and continued applying an ointment on his scrapes and cuts while 'Wolf' seemed to adjust something under her hood and mask. Understanding they wanted their privacy Neji walked away and joined the three boys and large dog and began eating his breakfast along with them. When Kakashi finished he used sign language to ask her if she was okay, he knew teaching her the basics would come in handy and was grateful he chose to do so. Ino had signed that she was fine, but he noticed she kept touching or holding her stomach. He asked her to take off her best and lifted her shirt for her. When he saw the huge discolored bruise on her abdomen, he asked her when she got it but all she could sign to let him know was pointed at her left eye. Itachi must have done it. As gently as he could he applied a different ointment on her bruise then wrapped bandages over the affected area. Before letting her go eat.
Kakashi knew he needed to tell her not to hide injuries like that from him again, but they were so close to Konoha. If they continued at the same pace and had no more interruptions, they could make it by night fall. After everyone had eaten, he wrote down a missive explaining how they might arrive at the village around midnight and summoned a crow to send it to Tsunade-sama. When he finished and sent the crow on its way he turned to the group and told them they were heading out again. Choji and Kiba had wanted to complain but couldn't bring themselves to do it when the children desperately needed to go to the hospital and when the ANBU member had just had an encounter the day before so they sucked it up and kept going. The only one that seemed unphased by the pace they were going was Neji but Ino attributed that to having Guy-sensei as his teacher.
They went on the whole day that way and only stopped at noon to feed the children. By the time the sun was going down everyone could recognize their surroundings and knew Konoha was about 30 minutes away. So, in true Kakashi fashion he upped the pace making ever Choji, Kiba, Shikamaru and Akamaru groan. She had found it funny how even thought she was injured this didn't bother her. She didn't know if it was because she had faced off against Itachi or one of Orochimaru's experiments, but she didn't mind any of the pain she felt because she knew how close to home she was. The minutes seemed to stretch for her, she had been so excited yet anxious to return. Of course, she had been there before, but she was unable to interact with anyone, this time she was at least able to see her boys. It pained her not to be able to talk to them, but she was grateful just to see how much they'd grown.
When the village gates came into view, she almost shed a tear but held it in. She could see Tsunade-sama along with a few medic ninjas waiting for them. The moment they reached the gates the medics quickly took each child on a stretcher and made their ways to the hospital as fast as they could. Tsunade had been counting the children when she couldn't account for the deceased ones. Before she could ask Kakashi handed the scrolls over to the remaining medics and turned to his Hokage, "The rest of them are in there." The rest of the medics left with the scrolls but Tsunade stayed looking over the 4 boys. "Any of you injured Shikamaru?" When he shook his head Tsunade smiled and patted his shoulder, "Good work, have your mission report ready for me tomorrow. The rest of you go home and rest." With that she dismissed them and turned to the 'ANBU' members, the two of you will follow me.
Just like that they were off following her back to her office, when they arrived, they found Shikaku already waiting inside. Shutting the door behind them he made a soundproof barrier before anything could be said. Turning to them Tsunade told them to take off their masks and asked if they were hurt, she noticed Ino struggled to lift her arms and take her hood off and before she could ask Kakashi helped her take her cloak off and her mask. The second Tsunade saw the state she was in she rushed to her side and quickly applied her healing palm technique on her eye. "We were followed by 3 Oto ninjas, we weren't able to interrogate them under the circumstances and had to kill them to make sure they didn't report anything back. Check her ears too, she hasn't been able to hear anything from both ears since she took two direct sound hits."
Tsunade looked at Kakashi exasperated, "They followed you that far?! What did they want with a bunch of kids?" Once she was done with Ino's eye she noticed she kept it shut and was about to tell her she could open it when she remembered she couldn't hear her so she set to repair whatever damage her ears had. "They were Orochimaru's experiments, one boy was able to activate a cursed mark, that's what started everything. Before you worry about him being in the hospital Ino did something, I'm not entirely sure how but she managed to deactivate it. He only has the mark left but she said he shouldn't be able to use it anymore." Shikaku seemed interested at that but waited to ask any questions until Ino could hear him. "What happened with Itachi? How were you able to wake from his jutsu and how are any of you alive?" she asked concentrating on repairing Ino's ear drums. "All I can tell you is that he let me go out of it and didn't hurt the children. The rest only Ino can answer. She faced him not me." When he said that Tsunade wanted to bang her head against a wall. Why did this child attract so much bad luck?! Was it her fault for betting on her?
Kakashi waited until Ino could hear again when he mentioned the bruise on Ino's abdomen. "Kami Ino how injured are you, what was this injury for anyway Kakashi already told me about your ears what about your eye and stomach? Oh, you can open your eye by the way" Tsunade asked and informed her as she pressed her glowing green hands on the young kunoichi's stomach. By now Ino was able to relax her tense body and let the cooling effect of the Hokage's hand radiate throughout her body. "They were both curtesy of Itachi Uchiha." She answered stoically before opening her left eye. Tsunade had been concentrating on healing her stomach that she didn't notice the drastic change of eye color. That's when Shikaku spoke up, "Ino what did he do? You can take off those contacts here. I'm sure they're bothering you." Ino reached up to take her right contact then let her arms fall to her side, "He told me the truth. He gave me this." She said pointing to her eye.
Now Tsunade was paying attention and looked up to see Ino's eyes, "Gave you what?" Looking to Kakashi for support he but his hand on her shoulder and she closed her eye for a moment before opening it again revealing the gift. "Oh." Was all that came out of both Tsunade and Shikaku in unison.
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Guest: thank you so much for leaving a review again. Did you see that coming? I didn't want them to be able to realize it was her. That would've been too easy and cheesy. Drama is about to go down in the next chapter and maybe even the beginning of the chunin exams. Like I've said they're really what motivate me to keep the story going. I'll keep trying to dish them out. Happy readings.
