Hey guys, this chapter will begin the Pain arc-chapters. It should really be only three chapters long and still mainly focus on Hinata and Ino. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. I decided to add two chapters tonight because I feel like the next chapter after this one really brings everything together. It's kind of sickly depressing, but I like it lol. Anyways, enjoy the chapter!

It was widespread news Shikamaru noted, Uchiha Sasuke has defeated his brother Itachi. The rumor around the village was Uchiha Sasuke randomly disappeared into the night and avenged his Uchiha clan's honor. Oh, joy to the day! Shikamaru scuffed at this, in reality Sasuke was informed by the ever growing dangerous Hyuga Hinata that his brother was ready to fight with him to the death. She told him of the location, and he went in the middle of the night to fight him, not too far was Naruto and the rest of team seven. They all agreed to never interfere with the fight, even if Sasuke lost. Thank the heavens that was not the case and Sasuke came back to them victorious, badly beaten and near death, but victorious.

This did not end in a happy ending like the rumors pushed out either. Sasuke had learned of things that Shikamaru was sure scarred him for the rest of his life. The dark secrets of the Uchiha clan and of the Hidden Leaf Village. The young Uchiha went mad, anger seeping out of him. Thank the stars his curse mark was removed by his brother in the mist of there battle. Maybe it was the fact that Sasuke had spent his travels with Naruto and Jiraiya, instead of being in the hands of the dark sannin Orochimaru, that he was able to see the light and crawl out of his maddening state with the help of team seven. They were there for him and protected what was left of the Uchiha's sanity. Shikamaru was sure there was very little left considering what was gained and learned from the battle with his brother.

Another positive of the Uchiha not being cloaked in more darkness than he already had, was the fact that he communicated with people now. He still struggled with giving them short answers and smart remarks, but he still gave them useful information, so Shikamaru could care less with the fact Sasuke was still a walking asshole as long as he was useful. The information of there still being another Uchiha alive and how he attempted to recruit Sasuke was a shock to everyone, the man had appeared before Sasuke when he was sure Itachi was dead and Sasuke was on his last leg. Shikamaru guessed the other Uchiha was not counting on Sasuke to have his team watching his back.

Aside from the upcoming conflict with Akatsuki, the bounty on Naruto's head and other team seven/village conflict, Shikamaru was able to get a positive out of all of this. Ino had her curse mark removed. Before Naruto disappeared in the night with his team to meet with Sasuke, he made it his mission to find Shikamaru and tell him about Ino. Shikamaru was definitely shocked by the news especially finding out the more dangerous Uchiha was the one to remove it. He felt bad for the fact that Hinata was still with hers and Naruto even stated that her condition is getting worse. He may not exactly like the girl, but he didn't wish for her to be in such a bad condition, especially knowing Ino was with her.

"Shikamaru, I thought I'd find you here. I'm guessing this is the usual spot for you to watch clouds." Shikamaru glanced over and saw Naruto looking down on him, his signature smile plastered on his face. Shikamaru knows that the smile is fake, hidden behind it is worry for his sensei Jiraiya, he wouldn't dare bring up the matter though. "Tsk, was supposed to be a place I could get away from people. I don't mind seeing you every once in a while though, what's up?" He noted how the blond seemed to be in deep thought, maybe he needed to be in this spot more than him at the moment.

"Something is wrong Shikamaru. More than the usual now." Shikamaru sat up and stared at Naruto, "With your sensei or with the girls?" Naruto sat on the ground next to Shikamaru with concern now written all over his face, "Both. I can sense it, I can sense Hinata. Plus, she hasn't reached out to me in a while, which is not like her. Something is wrong." Shikamaru felt suddenly nauseous, that adrenaline he felt for the first time when he thought he was going to lose Asuma came back up and he realized that something was indeed wrong.

"We have to go talk to the Hokage."

4 days prior

Hinata wasn't a fan of what they currently got themselves into, of course Ino being the ever so adventurous at the wrong times convinced her this was a good idea. Hinata had been on edge lately and was having meltdowns more frequently due to her curse mark, Ino tells her it isn't anything she cannot handle, but Hinata begs to differ when she almost hurts her friend. Along their travels they 'miraculously' stumble upon the toad sannin who in return offered for them to travel with him. Hinata immediately declined, but he went on how this could be a helpful journey for her to control the curse mark. How he could help her like he did Sasuke. She wanted to point out how Sasuke had the opportunity of not getting in too deep with Lord Orochimaru like her but declined when she realized that Ino more than likely needed a break from her spasms. So, she agreed to travel with the Toad Sannin.

Little did she fucking know she would be infiltrating a place called Amegakure to find out about some weird ass civil war which she has come to find out is due to a man that is the face of the Akatsuki. An organization her and Ino were actively trying to avoid. An organization trying to destroy the world and people that she cared about. Now judging by the preparations, the toad sannin was making she was sure that he was going to go up against the man, who was the leader.

Was he fucking nuts?

"I don't think I need to say to you how crazy this idea of yours is Jiraiya-sama. You cannot possibly beat this man. His power is so strong I can feel it from the distance I'm at right now." As Jiraiya still prepared himself he gave Hinata a big grin, "So you do have the ability to be concerned for someone other then yourself." Hinata gave him a pointed look and looked over at Ino, "Please tell me I am not the only one that thinks this is ridiculous." Ino looked at Hinata grinning as well, "I mean the man wants to die a hero, he will go down in history as the biggest heroic pervert ever known." The sannin's face dropped at the statement.

"I am guessing you ladies won't be joining me." He meant it as a joke but Ino's face broke out into fascination, "Well, how could I pass up on the chance of seeing the Akatsuki lair. This is history in the making! I want a front row seat!" His looked at the strange girl and forgot that she wasn't all there in the head, "I was just kidding, I would rather you two stay right here until everything is over."

"Say no more sir, because that is exactly what I had planned." He sweat dropped at the Hyuga's blunt statement as she crossed her arms and made herself comfortable on a nearby rock.

It had not been too long of Jiraiya's departure before Hinata and Ino observed a female dressed in Akatsuki clothing come out of the lair. It was too late for Hinata and Ino to find better coverage and the woman already laid eyes on them. "Well, this can be fun." Hinata looked over and saw the grin planted on Ino's flawless face, "You can't be serious Ino." The blond shot her with a smirk, "Oi, go find that hermit and see what the hell is he doing to let this beauty get away. I'll be fine. I studied your book Hinata, I am well aware who this woman is. She's deadly and I want some of that."

Hinata wanted to protest, this was the definition of a bad, not thought out idea, and even though the man who usually said this moto annoyed her beyond belief she felt like saying, this was 'a drag'. Ino had left her side to confront the woman and Hinata found herself groaning, she felt she had to go investigate what the toad sannin was doing now. If anything, she was doing it for a certain male comrade.

The young Hyuga found herself tracking the sannin and the monster of chakra he was battling against. She continued to scold herself for agreeing to even venture out with the sannin. She was deathly silent when finding the two men going at it, she found a small dark corner to seclude herself in. She was sure the man could sense her being there, she had hoped that Jiraiya distracted the man enough that he wouldn't see her.

As fate had its way of messing with her the man that went by Pain, or was it Yahiko, she thought she heard Jiraiya say Yahiko while fighting him, it didn't matter, he looked straight at her. Hinata didn't show fear at this, looking back directly at the man.

"Another has come with you Jiraiya?" The sannin turned and alarms went off across his face as he saw Hinata in the dark shadows, "Get out of here!" Hinata had to stop herself from rolling her eyes, get out of there and do what exactly. The man knew what she looked like and probably could track her now within a second of killing Jiraiya. "You're the Hyuga that killed Kakuzu, not an easy task, I will acknowledge you for that. So, you are Jiraiya's reinforcement? I don't know why you even bothered to come."

She wanted to agree to that.

Somewhere in her subconscious she knew why she was there; she knew why she agreed to venture off with the sannin in the first place. The thought of seeing a sad male blond companion of hers was something she didn't want to face. She couldn't stomach telling Naruto that she just let the man viewed as his God father be dominated and killed by Pain without even attempting to help. Her mind was going through so many scenarios she cursed the fact she wasn't a walk genius like the Nara. She opted for the good old fashion observing, she was of no use to just blindly rush into the fight.

After a while she observed Jiraiya stab three Pains with his stone sword and she can't help but feel like something is off. The sannin turns to her and for some reason she cannot hear him, everything is ringing in her ears now, he begins to walk towards her and just like that Pains asura path comes up behind the sannin and with so much force rips his arm from him. She moves fast, her feet are on auto pilot and she is moving, she doesn't really have an idea what she was thinking, but she moved fast. A Jutsu that she had been studying and little to no people were able to actually do it successfully with a human body.

"Tensō no Jutsu!"

Her hands touched the sannin and while she wasn't sure if he could endure the Jutsu she felt it would be a better option than dying in this dark place. She felt the sannin deserved better than a death like that. Dying alone, without your loved ones, without finding out if you could finally have a life with your old female teammate. No, a legend like Jiraiya didn't deserve to die like that, if she died as a result of saving him, her death, dying alone, would have been fine with her.

With the sannin nowhere to be seen now Hinata stood alone in the battle zone surrounded by the six paths of Pain. "Oh Shoot." Was her only reply.

Ino sat on the ground tattered, gasping for air, sore all over, but feeling well, the woman had barely made it out of her grasps. She was definitely a worthy opponent; she was a slick one, a woman full of tricks. She managed to slip out before Ino decided to end the fight, she was able to break the woman's arm, so maybe that was the reason for her leaving in such a hurry. That wasn't to say the woman wasn't a strong opponent, she left Ino with a lot of injuries she was sure she had to get addressed soon. The young Yamanaka definitely was not up to another fight, and she wasn't even sure if that was everything the woman, she remembered named in the book as 'Konan', had to offer. This Akatsuki organization was turning out to be very intriguing to her.

Ino turned her attention to the bolt of lightning that randomly flashed a few feet from her. Soon Jiraiya appeared and the man looked like hell, "Shit." Ino ran over to the man and immediately pulled out a tourniquet from her side pouch, "What in the fuck happened to you?!" She applied the tourniquet as fast as she could and when she finished a thought finally came to her, "Where is Hinata?!"

Jiraiya forced his bloody body up and struggled to gain his balance, concerned-anxiety for the Hyuga rising, "She's still down there! We have to get up and go back!" He noticed the pale look that over took Ino, watching as she sank to her knees, "I don't sense her, she's not down there anymore." The sannin wanted to hear none of this and stood up to seek out the Hyuga. He couldn't let Naruto down.

The pair made their way back to where Jiraiya and Pain fought, "I told you she wasn't down here anymore! We're wasting time!" Ino grabbed the injured man and made him face her, "We need your people's help! We need to go back to Konoha!"

Current day

Naruto and Shikamaru made their way to the Hokage office, the blond growing more and more antsy, something really wasn't sitting right with him. When they arrived Tsunade door was shut and Shizune was on the other side of it giving Naruto an apologetic smile. The blond wouldn't accept it and made his way through, Shizune wouldn't stop them. Inside the Hokage's office was Ino with an Anbu and Asuma holding her back from Tsunade, the two jonin struggled with this as Ino's temper became unmanageable. "I bring you back that fucking hermit and you can't help me get Hinata back?! She's the one that saved that fucking old man!"

Tsunade scowled at this, it was like déjà vu all over again, she wouldn't even know where to start to look for Hinata. "Ino, we are on the verge of a war. What part of that are you not understanding, I cannot simply send out forces to go after Hinata when everyone is in preparation for a fucking war with the very people that took her!"

The Yamanaka grounded her teeth at this, "Let me go, get the fuck off of me before I rip everyone's head off in here!" To show how serious she was she was able to lift the Anbu up that was holding onto her arm and with the perfect amount of force she swung him to the other side of the room. She than looked at Asuma with the same deadly eyes.

"Ino!" The blond stopped and turned to look in the direction on Shikamaru and Naruto, "This doesn't concern you." Naruto walked up to her and spoke in a low voice, "What happened to Hinata?" Ino meeting his gaze, looked at him baring her teeth in a snarl, "Your stupid sensei, he got himself in a fight with that Pain guy of Akatsuki, Hinata got involved and saved his ass. He's in your hospital right now and Hinata was fucking taken by that freak! Now your precious Hokage is telling me she can't send out help to find her, talk about history repeating itself!" Catching Asuma by surprise Ino was able to gain the upper hand, sending chakra in her hand she knocked the man on the ground making him slide across the room, at the same time she grabbed a chair and threw it across the room in frustration.

"I FUCKING HATE THIS PLACE!"

She screamed this at the top of her lungs. The young Yamanaka was in her unstable state and frenzy, she wanted to hit something and hurt it and her hands were itching for that woman sitting in the Hokage chair. "Why don't you care about us?! Why did you never care about us?!" Tsunade eyes widened at this, finally hearing the words that she only heard in her dreams.

"You left us to rot! No one came to save us! Why did you hate us so fucking much!" The Yamanaka was recoiling into herself as she finally cried, feeling lost without her comrade with her. Shikamaru cautiously came up to her and hugged the weeping woman from the front, she viciously attempts to push him off and it takes all his might to hang on through her assault. She was strong, but at this moment she was weak and broken. She cried her sorrows in his arms and he could do nothing more but hold her and give her comforting words.

"I'm going to find her."

Tsunade looked at Naruto, she knew she was putting him in a difficult situation by making him choose. "Look! I get it! Everyone just calm down! Ino…I GET IT. I take personal responsibility about what happened four years ago. I personally and royally fucked UP. Please do not think, please do not ever fucking think that every day I didn't think about you. That you and Hinata didn't cross my mind! Don't ever think that I hate you! I…I would never! Naruto, kid, I'm sorry but, you can't go in pursuit of Hinata! The village needs you! Your people NEED you. You have to prepare yourself for Akatsuki." She couldn't stress the importance of this hard enough to him, she was almost pleading with him.

She could see in his eyes that her words meant nothing to him, just as he was about to answer there was a loud crashing sound and Shizune came running in, "Lady Tsunade! We're being attacked!"

So, this ends this chapter. See you next chapter!