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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 had wanted to get this chapter out way sooner, but I was hospitalized and put on a ventilator and intubated because I had gotten sick and had a seizure that stopped by heart and put me in cardiac arrest. It was a long 5 days but I'm home recuperating and having to quarantine for the next 7 weeks because my lungs and heart are weak and susceptible to illnesses. But I will keep trying to get them out as soon as I can. 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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Changes
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In Ino's mindscape:
Shisui had been explaining to Ino how the Sharingan worked, why it evolved after traumatic events and why she was probably still able to see him. He went on in great detail about his experience with Danzo and about the night he had cut out his eye and, in the end, caused his death. "I had worked under Danzo and an ANBU member, he had recruited me at a young age and trained me for war, he believed there would never be true peace in the world. Especially after the nine-tailed beast's attack on the village. Tensions grew between all the clans and the Uchiha. They believed one of us had caused him to break free and wreak havoc on the village. Those were difficult times but Danzo seemed to be on my side, he would treat me well and listen when I had problems. I didn't think the person I worked for and respected would ever hurt me. The day he stole my eye I found out why he had wanted Itachi to kill everyone. I had found paperwork deep in ROOTs underground tunnels of missives between him and Orochimaru. They wanted to harvest the eyes and implant them in themselves and other test subjects to create the perfect shinobis. That night when he took my eye I made sure to try and ruin it as much as possible but I supposed Orochimaru succeeded in regenerating it but must have thought it defected since it didn't work for any of his test subjects. He must have forgotten about it long ago when he abandoned that hideout. I couldn't tell Itachi since Danzo placed a seal in my mouth that forbid me from talking about it. If I tried, I would get shocked or even my head was blown off so I chose to give Itachi my eye in hopes he could fix everything. But from what I've seen that's not what happened." Shisui said pulling out the grass sadly too guilty to look Ino in the eyes. Ino had quickly realized this man no, this boy almost the same age as she had gone through more than any kid should. Aside from Kakashi and Itachi and look at how they turned out.
Ino gave him one of her best smiles and patted his head, "I believe you did the best you could with the time and resources you were given. You only had yourself and Itachi to deal with everything, you were young boys trying to stop a civil war and great war from happening and in a way you did. It's not the best way it could have happened but you all saved thousands maybe even millions of lives. I'm proud to know my true village heritage." Ino couldn't explain why it pained her to see the boy so sad, she didn't know him all that well or for so long, but she knew he had been a kind person through and through. She could feel it and wanted him to stop blaming himself. Shisui shook her hand off with a laugh and stood up, "Hey now I'm your sensei kid, don't go feeling sorry for me. I've accepted my demons. But seriously thanks. Its good to know someone else knows the truth. Today we will be trying to awaken your second level of the Sharingan." So Ino got ready in a fighting stance and activated her Sharingan. Shisui was incredibly fast, maybe as fast as Kakashi-sensei and went straight for her head with a roundhouse kick, Ino managed to dodge it but was hit with a backhand to the side of her temple. "Read my body, get angry, try and hurt me. What's the worst that'll happen? I'm already dead." He yelled before going in for another punch to her head.
This time Ino had let her emotions go and began seeing his body movements before he could make a move, she pulled out a kunai and commenced fighting back. Shisui was faster and had pulled out his tanto pushing her back into a corner. He managed to slice her left arm and some of her hair and that enraged her. Anything that hurt you in your mind could manifest and hurt you in real life. He was being serious. With an almost feral look to her eyes she did the hand signs for her blood clone and started throwing barrages of shuriken which he easily dodged thanks to an earth wall she created. Shisui swiftly climbed over the wall and slashed the clone's throat in a single movement then he went for the real Ino, not sure if what she was going to try would work she did the hand signs for the lightning release jutsu and aimed it towards him and he dove his tanto towards her neck. Lighting sparked and both missed each other, Shisui with his tanto next to her neck and Ino with her lightning release next to his left temple. She had felt strange when she released the jutsu she could see more and had better chakra control. Shisui smiled and looked into her eyes, "Congratulations, you've unlocked the second level of your Sharingan." With that he slowly started to disappear again then Ino found herself still in her basement drenched in sweat. She looked down at her outfit and frowned, she'd have to wash it before going out. It had been 3 and she could hear her father upstairs moving around.
Quietly going to her room, she changed into the normal black chunin attire Kakashi had given her and went to wash her clothes. When she went to see her father, he had been surprised to see her attire, it was so unlike her usual purple outfits, but he chose not to comment on that. "Ah princess a bird came and dropped a message for you, it's on the kitchen countertop." Ino looked at her father confused for a moment but went to check the missive. Ah. "Daddy it seems I'm needed at the training grounds with my team for the exams. I'll probably be home late." She said as she went to kiss his cheek goodbye. As she was putting on her sandals she yelled over her shoulder, "Oh daddy uncle Shikaku wants to meet you up at the bar later, I said you could go but he better bring you back at a decent time. I love you." And out she went like a whirlwind. Inoichi could only smile at her daughter's antics, yes, she had changed a great deal, but he was grateful she was able to act more like herself around him. His daughter had grown quite a lot and he was excited to see how far she'd make it. He just didn't want her to lose herself and become an emotionless shinobi like so many before she had become.
She hadn't realized how much she missed freely going around her village people she grew up watching and knew her from their family's flower shop all greeted her kindly. Some would even tell her she'd grown into a beautiful young lady and that her father would have to be careful. Ino missed the regular everyday banter she had with people, but she knew she shouldn't get too used to it. She could possibly end up in the same situation as Itachi or Shisui and become very hated and she'd have to accept that as her reality. So even if she greeted everyone back and smiled warmly at everyone that approached her it wasn't real. It was all shallow. She swore she wouldn't allow this to hurt her because she asked for such a mission and had already gone through too much to throw it all away for a few fleeting moments of regular life. By the time she reached her old training grounds she was tired of faking a smile and wanted to act like her usual self. The one that could show nothing at all but still be understood just by the look in her eyes by Kakashi-sensei and Kurou-nii. Maybe it was a side effect of all the distancing and special training she had received so far, she couldn't be too sure but she did know she just wanted to finish her training her and go home to continue her real training.
Everyone had already been there by the time she showed up and Asuma was the first to notice her, she had her sensory abilities activated and knew Kakashi was hidden somewhere probably watching over her. She wanted to send a link to him but knew that would seem odd to the three people in front of her. She wanted to ask her sensei how much she should show them and how much she should hold back, obviously, she wouldn't show her Sharingan but was she also not allowed to use her ice jutsus? "Ino now that you're here we can start talking about a game plan for the three of you. Today I want to see how far everyone's progressed and see how we can combine all your abilities to give you three the best chance at passing the exams." Asuma had said in his usual deep voice as he looked at the three genin in front of him. It was odd to see his boisterous student so quiet and dressed so differently but he knew everyone had to grow up. It just saddened him a bit that she hadn't called to him or referred to him as her sensei, but he did feel she had a right to do that. Ignoring his growing thoughts, he clapped his hands and brought their attention to him, "Now then we will hold sparing matches. Choji you will go up against Sakura and the winner will go up against Ino. Then the three of you will go up against me. Sound good?" He had gotten a loud yes from Choji and a courteous yes sir from the pink-haired kunoichi but only a nod from Ino.
"Now the rules are, once you have the other person pinned that's it, this is a friendly spar and we aren't aiming to hurt one another. Just gauging your levels." With that Choji and Sakura stood a few feet apart looking intensely at one another waiting for Asuma to give them the sign to start. The moment he stopped his hand both genins were off, Choji used his expansion jutsu on his hand and was swatting at Sakura while she dodged, as she dodged she'd throw a few shurikens his way to try and slow him down but Choji was relentless. It was nice to see Choji not crying about how he didn't want to fight because he didn't want to hurt people, he was a kind shinobi and that was dangerous for him. She knew he could be great, and it seemed the training he received had been paying off nicely. Sakura had also grown a great deal in agility compared to their academy days, but it seemed she was holding back. Like she couldn't do as much as she should have. Ino had been standing there watching the fight and let her link open up trying to reach her sensei. Ino you can't just do this as you please anymore, people will be watching. She could hear Kakashi-sensei reprimand her, but her face didn't betray the conversation she was having.I swear this is important sensei. I need to know how much I should hold back. I know I can't show them my Sharingan, that's a given. But can I show my ice jutsus or should I just rely on my family's techniques and all the taijutsu and genjutsu you taught me? He was quiet for a moment and she continued watching the fight unfold before her when she sensed a large amount of chakra flow into Sakura's hand.
When she aimed it towards Choji and he barely managed to dodge it, it shook the ground all around them and left a large creator in the ground. Ino was impressed but she was also able to see how she pulled all her chakra to create such a powerful attack, it must have taken a great deal of control to be able to execute it but it had its flaws. If one could learn just how much chakra she was pulling into her fists they'd be able to neutralize it if they could exert the same amount of chakra blocking. You can show them everything but the Sharingan. No sense in trying to hide your training, especially since this is what I've trained you for. Just hold back when you feel the need to. She heard Kakashi say in a low whisper before cutting of the link. Back at the fight she noticed Sakura looked rather off now and was a bit more sluggish after that punch. Because of that Choji was able to use his Human Bullet Tank jutsu and knock Sakura out. The match had been over within 10 minutes, but she had been able to asses them better than she ever would've been able to had she not trained with her sensei's.
Choji helped Sakura off and asked her if she was okay, she laughed it off and told him she'd get him next time and walked her next to Asuma-sensei where he checked over any wounds. Ino made her way to the same area Sakura had been standing before the fight began and lowered herself into a fighting stance, one that looked far too much like Kakashi's for Asuma's taste. Choji, understanding went over to his place and yelled over at her, "No holding back and no hard feeling Ino!" Ino wanted to smile at his attempt at machismo but he was too kind, but she would take him seriously as she hoped he would do the same. With that they waited for Asuma to lower his hand as well. The moment he dropped his hand Choji began using his expansion jutsu and Ino quickly created a blood clone, something that none of the other three people there had ever seen. She was able to easily block his attacks since he still hadn't been able to move as fast as she knew he could sometime soon in the future. He was easy to dodge and Ino sent her clone after him throwing kunai his way, this made Choji distracted as he tried swatting at both the clone and real Ino.
But he did have incredible strength and when her clone miss stepped he squashed it and it burst into blood, that momentarily freaked Choji out and Ino was able to come up behind him the same way Kakashi had done countless times to her and brought her tanto up to his neck. She had it close enough that if he made any slight movement, he'd get cut so Asuma called the spar to an end. Putting away her tanto and sheathing it back into the holster on her back in a swift movement she waited for Choji to regain his composure. Asuma hadn't believed what he had seen, he knew Kakashi had been training her, but she mimicked a lot of his moves from when they were younger. It was a bit jarring to see how exactly their movements and techniques were. Sakura had also watched in anticipation and rushed over to make sure neither of them was hurt. Ino had come out uninjured save for the but to her hand, she needed to make to summon her clone, but she was used to that type of wound and Choji had a few scrapes here and there but nothing major. Sakura was able to heal up Choji's scrapes easily and offered to do the same for Ino, but she declined. Insisting it was a shallow wound and nothing more and just wrapping her hand up in new bandages.
"Well done Ino, you are the winner of this mock sparing tournament. I'd like to know about that clone you made, I've never seen anything like it." Asuma said clearly excited and patted her head. Ino didn't mean to but she flinched away from his slightly and she could see the hurt in his eyes, but he composed himself quickly. She didn't do it because she was opposed to him, but she still hadn't fully forgiven him, and she didn't want to just pretend like everything was back to normal because it hadn't been. She had changed, they all had. "I'm sorry sensei but it's a clan secrete technique; I can't talk about it. You know clan confidential rules." She stated giving him a slight shrug. Choji and Sakura had noticed the interaction and gave each other worried looks. Ino noticed but chose to ignore their prying eyes and continued explaining her strategy to them and thought process. Once she was done Asuma congratulated her once more before turning to look at the three. "Now you will go up against me, I will give you all 10 minutes to talk about how you all can work together as a team and try and take these bells away from me. The match will end once you all have the bells or you've been beat. Understood." When he saw them, all agree he left in a puff of smoke.
Immediately Sakura began asking both Ino and Choji about any of Asuma's weaknesses and strengths. "He's really strong and fast and if he lefts out his smoke mist run. He blows it up, he's good at taijutsu and really good at wind and fire release jutsus." Choji said. Ino looked between them and motioned for them to be quiet. Before either could ask her anything, she set a link between the three. If you keep talking like this, he'll hear us. Just because you can't see him doesn't mean he's not watching us or listening in on us. Ino informed them in a serious tone to which both were surprised. When did you learn to use your family's telepathic link Ino? That's amazing! Choji yelled in an excited voice and a huge smile on his face, clearly beaming with pride, that was the first time Ino gave him a genuine smile. But it didn't last long because they needed a plan and fast. Okay, so Choji you've gotten better at your clan jutsus, anything else? What about you Sakura? Aside from that monstrous strength that you can only seem to use once or twice what else? She asked them seriously. I can heal either of you guys if it's not something life-threatening, I'm limited to using my chakra because of a special training regiment Tsunade-shisho has me on. So, if I overuse whatever chakra I do have I will most likely be out for a while. I have maybe two good punches in me? Ino had been surprised at her honesty but nodded before looking to Choji. Well I have used my expansion jutsus and my earth jutsus have gotten a lot better and stronger. I can also use some fire release, but I don't think that'll help us with sensei that much. Then they both turned to Ino expectantly waiting. Okay my affinity turns out to be water so we have some luck there, Kakashi-sensei would some time's use Asuma's techniques on me, so I've learned to deal with it better. I'm a sensor shinobi so I can pinpoint him if he's not too far away. I can use my blood clones and some earth and lighting release jutsus. But they aren't anywhere as strong as Kakashi-sensei.
With that they looked at each other trying to think of a plan, Choji looked to Ino then Sakura before speaking up, Ino you and I know how we fight, we know our styles, we can work well together, why don't we corner him and keep Sakura as our last resort? Sakura visibly didn't seem to enjoy the idea and was about to say something when Ino cut her off, Choji, he wants us to work as a team. Listen there's a lake not too far from here, let's go there and wait for him to come to us. I can hide some of my clones under the water and all three of us can go at him and push him towards the lake. Once he's close enough you and Sakura can punch the ground near his feet to make him stand on the water. Once there I can trap him in my water prison jutsu long enough for you to grab him Choji and for any of us to snatch the bells. Deal? She asked them, laying out her plan, she knew the whole point was to work together. If she could, she would have loved to try it alone, but she couldn't get greedy. It wasn't the time. They all looked between each other and agreed and so they set off towards the lake. Ino could sense Asuma had been watching them and followed them so she told them to attach bomb tags to the trees as they passed them by. They needed the element of surprise and he'd know their plan if he saw their set up.
A few moments before reaching the lake Ino told them to release the bombs and a third of the forest went up in flames. Once at the lake Ino quickly made a blood clone and a water clone. She and the water clone submerged themselves into the lake and told the other two to wait until Asuma showed himself. He had too after their attack. Asuma had been thrown off by the bombs but laughed it off and when he got to the clearing by the lake, he saw the three kids in fighting positions. So, they want to just tray and brawl it out? Alright. Lighting up a new smoke he jumped down from the treetop he was at and pulled out his trench knives. All three genin went at him the way they had planned but were obviously a lot weaker than him, but they relented on him, Choji had gotten his arm caught midway through a punch and Asuma used his momentum against him and swung him around and threw him at Sakura. Both hit a tree a few feet away from him, when Ino tried to call them out through the link she realized they were out. Choji had been using his jutsu too long and had knocked out when his body contacted with the tree and Sakura was knocked out by being slammed against Choji's heavy body and her back hit the tree next to him.
Ino knew her blood clone was in a pinch and told it to move to protect the other two. Her training with Kakashi had kicked in and for a moment she forgot it was just a training exercise. Asuma stalked towards the two when Ino's clone pulled out its tanto and charged at him, he had been preoccupied with the sudden charge that he hadn't noticed Ino had surfaced from the water and summoned her Ice wolves and ordered them to get her two fallen teammates. Ino's blood clone had gone for his neck and was slashed with the trench knives on her back. Asuma stopped for a split-second, thinking he had hurt his student but was surprised when he looked up and couldn't find the other two genins. The clone in front of him burst in a gush of blood and he looked around for the kids. But he only saw Ino above the water in the same fighting stance she used against Choji, "This is over." He yelled out to her. "No sensei, you said until we were all beat or we had the bells. I'm still here." She yelled back. He wanted to stop but he was curious to see the extent of her training. Had Kakashi been a better influence on her and done more for her? He knew it was a petty way of thinking, but it irked him to know that one of his students had been taken from him.
With that Asuma took in a deep breath and blew out his famous ashy smoke, knowing what was coming Ino dunked her body into the water before he could set it ablaze. Asuma looked around and moved closer to the lake when he didn't find her body. Panic set in when it had taken too long for her to be underwater and he made his way on top of the lake and searched for her body. That was all she needed, panic and fear were powerful tools on their own and if she could use them to manipulate her opponents the better. Once he was above her water clone, it grabbed on to his ankles and tried to bring him down, but it only made him lose his balance before he kicked it away and it burst. Now he was more careful about where he stepped and Ino knew she wouldn't get him with that move again. Then she thought of the fight she had with Kurou and Kakashi and how the wave jutsu had been enough to submerge them underwater and he wouldn't expect it. Coming up a few feet away from him on the water she quickly did the hand signs for the jutsu as did he to create a fireball jutsu. The moment she slammed her hands on the waters surface the lake shook uncontrollably and before he could get out a proper fireball the wave was coming at him. She quickly dove under to avoid its shock and swam to where she sensed his chakra, she had managed to swim up behind him and stealthily taken the bells and replaced them with fake bells.
Asuma believed he caught her just as she was reaching for the bells and punched her out of the water, he hadn't meant to hit her with such force and as he broke the surface and saw her stagger up on her feet clutching her stomach. The same fucking spot Itachi hit me. Kami I need to learn to dodge those types of attacks. He wanted to end the spar there but Ino began doing her lightning release jutsu, Asuma shocked by her sudden charge and attack difference and went at her with his trench knives but both were grabbed by their wrists and thrown off across the pond. Kakashi stood between them and Asuma was about to question what the hell he was doing when he saw the look in Ino's eyes. He knew that look, it was one that had seen too much and believed this was real, she was fighting for her life and wasn't going to stop. Kakashi was at her side instantly restraining her and grabbing her face, forcing her to look at him. It got to the point that he had to take his mask off and let her see his full face to know it was all over and not real. Asuma just watched in horror from behind until she relaxed and slowly opened her eyes and that far off look was gone and Kakashi covered his face again. Slowly helping her up they walked towards Asuma.
"What the hell did you do to my student?!" Asuma asked grabbing ahold of Kakashi's flank jacket collar making him drop Ino. Ino quickly regained her balanced and pushed Asuma away as hard as she could. "He trained me. He actually trained me for the real world." Ino said defending her sensei. She didn't like choosing sides, but she also wasn't going to allow anyone to badmouth her sensei when he'd been misunderstood most of his life. "Besides I made sure to keep Sakura and Choji safe!" she yelled as her ice wolves came out with the two injured genin on their backs. Asuma had been surprised to finally see Ino react or show strong emotions that he finally stopped to look at the state of his other two students. "Besides, we won as a team. They held you off and distracted you long enough for me to get the bells." She said showing him the real bells as the ones on his belt loop disappeared in a puff of smoke. Kakashi had to do everything in his power to hide the smile of pride he felt coming on. Asuma was still visibly angry and told Kakashi that they'd need to have a talk about everything later to which Kakashi ignored and turned to his student and patted her on the shoulder. Good job kid but you could've finished it in way less time and we gotta deal with that fight or flight mode you go into when you see people injured. With that he was gone in a puff of smoke and left Asuma and Ino with the two other unconscious people of their team in the middle of the lake.
"Let's go Ino," Asuma ordered her as he started making his way back to the main field of the training grounds. When they got to the center, they pulled the other two off the wolf's backs and laid them down. Ino let the wolves disappeared into tiny shards of ice before checking Sakura over. Asuma did the same for Choji and both concluded that they had some major bruising but nothing that couldn't wait until they woke up to take them to the hospital. As they sat down in front of each other Asuma looked at Ino again, this time long and hard. This was not the Ino he knew and remembered, she was completely different, and he didn't know if it was a good thing or if he approved of it. He was cursing himself for not taking her under his wing the way he had done with Shikamaru and Choji when Shikamaru showed up. He was extremely confused as to why Choji and Sakura were splayed out on the ground and why Asuma was giving Ino such a hard look. It bothered him that Ino seemed indifferent to his gaze and was about to say something when Shikamaru spoke up, "What happened here?"
Asuma turned to look at Ino again and in a demanding voice said, "That's what I'd like to know." Shikamaru again was thrown off by Asuma's demeanor especially when they had all been waiting for Ino for so long. Calmly, too calmly, Ino explained the team's plan and how they all agreed to it and executed it. Shikamaru had been intrigued and was going to ask more when Asuma cut him off, "No I mean about the whole lightning attack? What was that? If you had the bells you could have told me!" he said reprimanding her. "Sensei, you're the one that punched me out of the water, was that also part of our light exercise? I only retaliated. It's what I was taught to do and encouraged to do by my sensei's." she said stoically, devoid of any emotions. "I never taught you that!" With that Ino got up and with her hands balled up into fists she whispered, "Exactly, you didn't teach me any of it." She turned away from both the men in front of her and wanted to so badly leave but couldn't. Her team was there, and she was going to make sure they would get checked in the hospital.
When he heard that Asuma's anger left and was replaced with guilt. He knew he had gone too far but he was mad that his bubbly energetic student had left and been replaced with a younger version of what Kakashi used to be and he didn't like it. But he also couldn't be mad at her, he knew he had neglected her the most and was ultimately why she left. Shikamaru had wanted to reach out to her and ask her why she was being this way but couldn't bring himself to do it. He was afraid of the answer she'd give him. After another moment she took a deep breath in and slowly turned to bow towards Asuma, "I apologize sensei I was out of line, I'll take any punishment you deem fit to give me." Asuma was speechless he didn't want to punish her; he had been just as out of line as she had been and just wanted to have a normal conversation with his student. "Ino, I'm not going to punish you, we were both too hot-headed about this and took it too far. Just talk to me. What happened? Why are you like this?" He asked his student desperately. Ino's heart did go out to her sensei but she knew things would be difficult when she came back, and they were only going to grow worse once she officially got into ANBU.
"Nothing happened sensei, I just grew up. We all did. My training was just a little more different because of my clan's jutsus. My father is a stoic man, if I want to become my clan's heir and hopefully follow in his footsteps I needed to change. I'm a woman so things are a lot more difficult for me than they are for you all. I have big shoes to fill and I'll do everything I have to in order to fulfill those goals." She said earnestly, it wasn't a total lie and she knew she could guilt them both into believing that excuse. It didn't feel right but she needed to do it. They needed to realize that the young kid they knew was no more, she had grown up into a damn fine kunoichi and was only planning on getting better. Shikamaru stepped forward and Ino quickly pulled her hands behind her back not wanting to have any physical contact with him. It was dangerous, he made her feel like the old her and she couldn't afford to regress. Just as he was going to say something Choji and Sakura stirred awake. Helping Sakura sit up she told her they should head to the hospital to get checked to which she agreed.
All five of them made their way to the hospital and asked questions about how it went and were delighted when they heard they won the challenge even if they felt they didn't do enough but Ino kept reassuring them that they did. Asuma and Shikamaru shared worried looks but chose to let the genin talk amongst themselves. Once in the hospital everyone got checked out and were cleared within an hour. By now it was around 6 and the sun was beginning to set Sakura had to excuse herself saying she still had training with Tsunade-sama and left the original team 10 standing at the hospital's entrance. Choji didn't like the depressing silence that loomed over them and broke the silence, "Why don't we go get BBQ, like old times sakes." That seemed to ease the tension and before Ino could make up an excuse to get out of it Choji had wrapped his arm around her shoulders and was pulling her along. "For me?" he asked unashamed and Ino sighed again showing a true smile, "Of course Cho, anything for you." That also eased the other two members of the team and they set off to Yakiniku Q BBQ.
Choji had been talking most of the way there telling Ino about the mission's he'd been on and about how his training with his father was going. They arrived when he finished telling her just about everything. They settled down in their usual booth and the owner happily received them and took their orders. That's when it hit Ino, she had no money, she began explaining but Choji wouldn't have it he had told her he had saved all his money from his missions and was going to treat her. He made it clear though that he was only going to treat her, and the other two members had to pay for themselves since they made more money which got a laugh out of them. Ino could only smile kindly and thank Choji telling him she'd get him next time. Once the food had arrived the conversation steered towards Shikamaru's constant diplomatic missions to Sauna and how he was helping build relations with them and helping them rebuild after the previous chunin exams. Asuma talked briefly about how he had just been doing regular boring missions to which none of his students believed since he was a Jonin.
By the time the meal was coming to an end they turned to Ino expectantly waiting for her to regale them about her adventures. She just told them about how she went back to her ancestral family's training grounds up in the mountains but didn't disclose the location. She told them she got a few missions as well but were all C and D ranked and nothing too exciting. She emphasized that most of her time was done training with Kakashi and although he was weird and had his moment's he was a reliable teacher and made it a point to teach her enough so that she wouldn't feel defenseless again. She also spoke about her father had planned it all and the Hokage had agreed so they wouldn't try and question her more about the situation. But Asuma wasn't buying it, the way she fought, the way she acted when she believed things got too real weren't things you learned or developed through normal training and low ranked missions. He had tried to get information the two years she was gone but her father and Tsunade were vaults and he never got anything from them aside the fact that she trained with her cousin and Kakashi.
When the meal was over, they all got up to leave, Asuma told Ino and Choji that they had the day off the next day. Shikamaru was going to ask Ino if he could walk her home since they went the same way but was stopped by Kakashi, who happened to stroll by. "Did you get checked at the hospital? Let me see." They heard Kakashi ask her sternly. Ino rolled her eyes and lifted her shirt enough to show the bruise was no longer there and showed him her hand that had been cut to make the clones. "Happy now mom?" Ino asked sarcastically and Kakashi hooked her neck into a side hug. "Proud of ya kid." It had completely shocked the three men standing around Ino it was the most animated she'd been since she arrived aside from the few smiles, she gave Choji. It made Shikamaru and Asuma uncomfortable at how easily they were able to speak to one another and how she showed him her body. That part didn't sit well with Shikamaru and he couldn't fight the slight blush that appeared when he saw her abdomen. "I'm sorry to say but I promised Inoichi I'd train with Ino some more so if you'll excuse us?" and before any of the guys could stop them, they were gone in a puff of smoke. "What the fuck?" Shikamaru whispered which earned shocked but understanding looks from Asuma and Choji. Everything was different, there was too many changes. And they didn't like any of them. Fuck changes.
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MinakoTrickster: Yeah, she's going to have to play the part to catch Danzo's attention. I have plans with Ibiki I always felt he was like her godfather or something I don't know why. I have plans for her interactions with Temari, but I've never been a huge fan, maybe it's because I'm a Shikaino shipper until I die. I do feel Kakashi will apologize at one point, but he didn't really leave her she chose to go train with someone else. So, I feel it'd different than say Ino since she literally got the short end of the stick yet still managed to be a badass by the time the 4th shinobi war came around. Ah sorry for doing that to you with Kakashi and Ino but their relationship will purely stay teacher/student/familial. I feel that's what they both needed and will continue to need as the story progresses, but I hope you keep enjoying my story and keep commenting. Your comments and feedback are always fun to receive and read.
Guest: Yeah, I've been super inspired to keep this story going and alive. It's going to be hard for her to keep parts of herself hidden so they don't realize who she is. Not yet anyway but I have an idea with Neji I'm playing with but I'm not 100% with it yet. So, we'll see. Yeah, Ino isn't fully aware of the relationship between the two villages since she's been away but don't worry. There will be another Temari/Ino moment soon. I feel Shisui would make anyone feel super comfortable and normal. Maybe that's why I write her that way around him.
InoFan: I'm happy you liked their interactions. Trust me I want to write more ShikaIno parts, but my girl needs to stay focused! She can't be sidetracked rn.
LeahMfkn'Clearwater: I'm glad you like it, I feel sometimes I add too much but it's a lot to get through and I want everything I envision in it so it's hard to try and keep the chapters short. I always wanted to see more of Shisui and Itachi, so this is my way of making it happen. Lol even if it's a little selfish of me. I wanted Kakashi and Ino's relationship to be one of total trust and love(familial). I feel like Kakashi needed something like that and I mean yeah, he had it with Naruto but not to the point I felt he needed it. I always felt he'd be able to teach her a lot and would be one of the best people aside from Anko or Ibiki to be her actual teachers. I also wanted Asuma to realize he did in a huge way deprive her of being a better kunoichi and that goes for most of the females in the anime. Yeah Temari doesn't remember her and Ino doesn't really care right now. Way bigger problems at hand ;3
