Alright here is another chapter. At the time I'm posting this chapter, I've already completed 6 chapters.

I'm working on chapter 7.

I write a lot for the most part, but I am a college student with college student responsibilities.

Fortunately, writing is my passion so I do it a lot.

Also... this is a combined universe with my buddy AncientSensei and eventually our stories will collide... maybe. Just keep up with the story!

Furthermore... I still have a book I'm writing on my Wattpad account (TheAir5678) so that will take a lot of my attention as well.

Last message I promise. I do not own Naruto or any of the characters besides my own. Enjoy! And share it please!

Kazuma eyes shot open, and he sat up super quickly. Instantly he felt a terrible pain in his chest area. He hissed as he looked down at the bandage wrapped around his chest and his shoulder. He got up and tried to stretch a little, but the pain was almost unbearable.

"You'll reopen your wound if you keep moving like that" Ino said as she stood on the other side of the bars. She had scared him a little and he tried to hide his little jump, but Ino saw it. Kazuma's body instantly went into fight or flight mode, but he felt weaker than usual. After looking around, he noticed he wasn't in a regular room. The room was small, and it smelled like shit in there. The bed was wooden and would definitely be uncomfortable to sleep on. With only one pillow and a blanket that would even be too small for a dog to wear. The young hunter looked up at the platinum-blond kunoichi.

"She's really pretty" Kazuma said, then after realizing what he had just thought, he shook his head to keep similar thoughts away.

"I'm sorry we couldn't heal you any further. We can only stop bleeding when dealing with prisoners. Any further aid could potentially help in your escape. So again, sorry we couldn't heal you anymore than that. Are you ok?" Ino asked. Kazuma could hear the worry in her voice, and it confused him.

He scoffed and faced the wall. It was better if he turned his back towards the enemy when getting questioned. If you're capture, you die in order to keep information from leaking. That is the hunter way. That's how the tavern has been kept secret for so long.

Ino noticed the scoff. "Usually when someone asks if you're ok, you answer. Are you too good to answer a simple question or does this have something to do with you being a bounty hunter?"

Again, no response. Not even a movement.

"Look, my sensei could have killed you in that forest, but he didn't. We don't think you're a bad guy" Ino said as she touched the one of the bars. It was so cold, and she felt uncomfortable touching it.

"I'm not the bad guy, you are" Kazuma said, his voice staying in a calm tone. Kazuma didn't want to talk, but something told him to respond, and he listened to it. He had trained himself to be able to stay calm in certain situations.

Suddenly Ino turned to her side and her body language instantly shifted. "L-l-lady Tsunade!" Ino then bowed down quickly, causing Kazuma to stiffen a little. Whoever was coming towards him must have been of high authority. Still, he couldn't help but think that he'd heard that name before.

Ino wasn't supposed to be down here this long. She just had to make sure the medical ninja weren't attacked by this mysterious boy. Also, Ino just really wanted to look at him. She had found him attractive when she first saw him. Maybe it was because he reminded her of Sasuke. A kid who had a lot of pain in his eyes, someone who has been affected by death and was going into the wrong path. Ino wanted to save him, she wanted to help him. Even though Kazuma was her enemy, she didn't feel like he was her enemy.

"Relax Ino. I'm only here to question this hunter. Would you like to stay? I mean you are my student after all. I don't mind if you want to stay here to learn a thing or two" Tsunade said with a smile on her face.

Ino's face instantly lit up and she nodded her head.

Tsunade's happy face turned serious when she looked towards the young hunter. Her brown eyes looking deep into the young hunter's green eyes. She was looking for something and Kazuma couldn't tell what it was.

"Why are you a bounty hunter?" She asked him. This caused his eyes to shoot open wide. He had heard about many hunters being questioned in the past. They have been asked who hired them, why was the target targeted to begin with, and how much they would get? In all his time being a bounty hunter, he's never heard about someone being asked why they were bounty hunters.

"Out of all the questions you could have asked, you asked that?" Kazuma said as his eyes soften up a bit. He didn't intend to let his guard down at all, but the question caught him so off guard that he couldn't stop it from happening.

"I just don't see you as an enemy of mine. What is driving you to become a bounty hunter? You're a child. A talented one from what Asuma told me. You could become a great ninja here in Konoha if you wanted to. Yet you become a lowly bounty hunter with nothing to fight for" Tsunade said.

Kazuma scoffed. "You think I have nothing to fight for? You don't know anything about me! You want to know why I'm a bounty hunter? It's because I need to get stronger. I need to defeat the person who caused me so much pain. This is the only path I can take. You can treat me as an enemy, I don't care. At the end of the day, I'll kill Orochimaru!"

Now it was Tsunade's turn to get shocked. "Did you just say… Orochimaru?" Tsunade began looking down at her feet. She had no idea that Orochimaru's reign of terror had affected so many others. She thought it might have stopped at just her and the leaf village, but clearly, he had other stuff going on.

"You know him? Where is he? He must die by my hands!" Kazuma yelled. Some of the guards around the Hokage had put up their kunai just in case Kazuma tried to attack.

"Orochimaru has disappeared. It's a long story, but he's taken one ours as well" Tsunade said, her voice had softened up quite a bit. Gone was the scary and intimidating Hokage, now was the caring hokage that was angry about Sasuke leaving the village. She thinks about him and Naruto a lot. She knew that Naruto would be ok with Jiraiya, but she worried for Sasuke.

There was pain in Kazuma's eyes. He dropped with tears running down his face. "He's gone? I was so close this time. I swear he was in this village… I was going to destroy him right here in this village… I was going to avenge her!"

Ino's heart was beginning to ache. She could feel all of his pain. She wanted to reach out and touch him. The thing was she didn't know why. Why was she connecting so much with this stranger? Why did she feel like she wanted to hold him? Ino wanted to grab onto his pain and throw it away. "What is it with this guy? I don't even know this guy's name. I know I'm a kindhearted person, but isn't this taking it to far?" Ino thought to herself.

"Avenge who?" Tsunade questioned.

There was a silence that fell into the room. One that made Ino feel a bit uncomfortable until Kazuma finally spoke up.

"It doesn't matter. You're going to kill me anyway… might as well get it done. I don't know who wants that merchant dead. All I know is that someone wants him dead, and they were willing to pay a lot of ryō to make it happen. Anyways I'm ready for whatever you decide to do with me."

Tsunade looked at the young hunter. "Do you even realize why you're not dead already?" Tsunade had her eyes closed and her hand on her hip. The way Tsunade was speaking to him, wasn't the way she spoke to strangers. There was just a woman trying to help out someone younger. "You should be thanking this young kunoichi right here" Tsunade said, then gestured towards Ino.

Kazuma's eyes shot open wide as he began looking at Ino. "Her? Why did she decide to keep me alive?" Kazuma thought to himself. As he looked at her, he still couldn't help but notice her beauty. He tried to remember anyone who was more beautiful, but no one came to mind. She was by far one of the beautiful girls he'd ever seen. Well, any girls that was his age. During his travels he'd seen a plethora of beautiful older women. Something about Ino was different though. He wasn't old enough for those women, nor did he like any of them.

The young hunter then went back to looking at the ground. "Well I thank you for delaying my death" Kazuma said as he took a deep breath. When he got up off the ground, he looked at Tsunade with strength in his eyes. Kazuma had accepted his eventual death.

"What is your name" Tsunade finally asked. This was a question that Ino had wanted to ask for a while but hadn't got the chance to ask.

"My name is Kazuma Tagami."

"Tagami huh? I haven't heard about that clan in a long time. Well Kazuma, you'll find out what the leaf wants to do with you soon. Until then, this cell will be your home" Tsunade said, then turned around and walked away. Ino hesitated for a second, then began walking behind her sensei.

"Better than where I've been sleeping…" Kazuma said. When those words reached Ino's ears, her heart nearly sank. How could one guy make her feel like this? Now she really wanted to reach out and hold him.

"I can't wait to tell forehead about this guy!" Ino said, with a smug look on her face. Her heart still ached for him though.

Authors Message:

So is it so far? If you're waiting for some KazuIno you'll get it eventually I promise. I just want their relationship to grow naturally and not make it to forced so be patient please.

Share this with anyone who will read it and I appreciate all the support so far!