"... And you weren't followed?"

Kiba's suspicions were not unfounded, everything Shino had just shared with him gave an impression of unsafe air, his home was now a potential target and despite Hana agreeing to help them spend the night, he knew they all had to leave as early as they could in a few hours and hopefully before sunrise, the last thing he or his sister needed was having more uninvited guests.

Both former classmates found themselves in Kiba's room talking after at least half an hour had passed, Shino had opted to speak with him and explain properly the situation once he was calm and it worked, younger Inuzuka let him in and listened to everything he had to say, from Naruto's parents to the recent incident in Osaka, he explained their intentions to return to Konoha safely and even starting his own journey for answers as well.

Hana tended to a now fully asleep Ino with warm water cloths over her head making sure her temperature was stable while she rested on the main couch, she suspected the pill she took earlier had caused a strain on her brain and it finally presented itself when she fell to the ground unconscious.

Sakura was also tired, her chakra reserves were not as plentiful as everyone else's and the constant fighting and moving also made her feel like taking a long nap, it was her duty however as much as she disliked it to make sure Ino was fine first, she also helped Kiba's sister by bringing a comfortable pillow and taking off the blonde's boots.

Karin went to the kitchen to prepare some quick snacks for everyone in the house with the rest of the dogs wagging their tail in anticipation and following her all the way, likely because of the smell of the food, as much as she liked dogs, she knew better than to feed someone else's dog, Kiba seemed like a very short tempered guy and she did not want to risk getting into an argument with him at that moment.

Naruto was not faring any better, he did not feel physically tired as his friends but rather emotionally, Jiraiya's sudden departure from the group left him completely unprepared for what was coming ahead and now Ino's condition worried him tremendously, he lacked an understanding on how to continue their journey without putting anyone else in danger, forget finding Sasuke Uchiha or Tsunade Senju, he just wanted to get to Konoha as soon as he could with everyone and hopefully find his master there when they arrived.

Then there was Shino himself, he was actually handling the situation a lot better than the others, bothering Kiba was not part of the plan but given the circumstances called for quick action. He trusted the Inuzuka enough to share with him everything that had transcended in the past couple of hours, the only thing he regretted was putting a target on Kiba's family as well by coming to his house.

"Not that I'm aware of, my bugs are out there sensing for anything usual, you can relax."

The former classmates stood close to the bedroom window with their eyes glued to the streets outside, the curtains were closed so they only peek from the sides.

"Your bugs can sense on the rain now? That's new." Kiba almost chuckled.

"They're not affected as mammals, if someone comes near the house we'll know." He took his eyes off the window to address Kiba "I know this was unexpected but we didn't have a choice, with everything that has happened we can't afford to lose anyone else tonight."

"If that toad sage guy is as strong as you mentioned then I'm sure he'll be fine, and Hana said your blonde friend just fainted from exhaustion, nothing a good night rest can't fix."

"I hope you're right..." Shino was still looking through one side of the window.

"Tell me Shino, who is that guy really? Why is he so important to the Uchiha?"

"From what I could gather he's the bait for bigger fish, it has to do with his parents hiding because they found something the Uchiha want, that's as far as I know."

"So all that commotion he caused in the highway..."

"They were going to abduct him, he fought back, that's nothing compared to what happened tonight though..."

"You think you'll be coming on the news next?"

"Wouldn't be surprised."

"What about the girls downstairs?"

"I'm pretty sure they all know what will happen, Karin at least is fine with it, Sakura and Ino I'm not sure."

"They're both seasoned shinobi, even if they hide in Konoha people will know their faces from now on."

"So you know about Konoha then...?"

"Of course, mom and dad took me and my sis to train there when we were younger, I honestly never asked them why we left, I thought we'd live there forever and become ninja, go on missions, you know..."

"Have you ever thought about going back?"

"No... I like this life Shino, even if I was just a kid I still remember seeing my dad coming home late with blood stained on his vest, I even remember the day Kuromaru lost its eye and mom was in tears... I can't imagine how I'd feel if something happened to Akamaru so no, I don't think about going back there."

Both friends went quiet for a bit, they kept looking outside just in case, the rain continued and would probably remain that way for the entire early morning.

"There's a reason I joined them." Shino said, Kiba looked at him curiously "Ever since my step brother's disappearance, the Haneda Airport attack, I've been meaning to look for answers, Karin might be able to help me find him and clear the Aburame clan's name once and for all."

"What are you talking about Shino?"

"The attack two years ago, he was responsible of that."

Kiba was shocked by this revelation, he knew about Torune's existence because back in high school he was the person who picked him up after class, Shino referred to him as 'brother', but it never crossed his mind he would have become a criminal.

"Torune-san did that?!"

"I'm more inclined to believe someone else was involved and used him instead."

Kiba knew where he was going "So you suspect someone forced him..."

"I knew Torune, he was not a malicious person and that attack had no purpose for him, someone or something else must have used him for that, if I can find the truth of what caused it, my clan's name will be clean and we'll be able to return."

"I see... speaking of that, where are they? Your family?"

"Scattered and in hiding."

Just at that moment someone knocked on the door.

"Come in!"

The door was slowly opened revealing Karin, she brought with her a bowl with gyoza (dumplings) followed closely by the dogs who kept trying to jump in an attempt to grab some themselves.

"I don't know if you guys are hungry but I brought these, I hope you don't mind I used the kitchen Kiba, I'll leave it as good as new in a minute."

"No sweat, and thanks uh... Karin is it?"

"Yes." She handed Shino the bowl "I made some more for everyone downstairs so you two can share this one."

"What about you? Aren't you hungry?" Shino asked.

"I already had some, don't worry about me." She assured him, the dogs continued to sniff and look at her as the smell of the gyoza remained impregnated on her, Kiba noticed this and gave them an order and they quickly obeyed, all five lay on the floor seconds later.

"Wow, that's impressive! How did you do that?"

"Just like Shino's clan works with bugs, we handle dogs, Akamaru here is the one I'm responsible for..." they all looked over to the floor where Akamaru now slept soundly on his own bed, next to Kiba's "But they usually obey any of us in the house, sorry if they bothered you."

"No it's fine, I like dogs although I admit, being with five of them at the same time while making something to eat is not easy, I didn't feed any of them by the way, I promise!" she chuckled.

"Don't worry, I believe you, I can tell with my nose if they ate recently, you haven't met them yet right?" Karin shook her head, Kiba walked over next to her and leaned next to the dogs "This one's Kuromaru." he ruffled the fur of the dark haired elder wolf first, then switched to the bigger shepherd dog "This one here is Taromaru, and these three..." he proceeded to pet the triplets "Are Hoshi, Tsuki and Taiyo."

Karin leaned next to them and hesitated to touch them due to the smell she carrier but Kiba nodded reassuring her it was fine, she stroked the head of the bigger dogs first who seemed comfortable with her touch, the triplets egged her to do the same with them, soon they gained her attention as well, she smiled at their response as she scratched their heads.

"They're adorable."

"Don't let the looks fool you, they're formidable Ninken as well, Kuromaru and Taromaru belong to mom and dad respectively and have seen plenty of action, these three here belong to my sister, they're still young but know how to work as a team and defend themselves."

Kiba, seeing she had gotten comfortable with the dogs, stood up again and let her get their attention, of course they wanted more petting from her and when she paid attention to one of them, another would butt in its head demanding the same treatment. She looked up at Kiba and smiled.

"Thank you so much for your hospitality, I'm sorry we started on the wrong foot."

Kiba was caught off guard by her expression and blushed, he looked away and scratched the back of his head, looking away in embarrassment, Karin giggled at his expression, even Shino noticed this and smiled a little.

"N-not a problem! By the way, how's everyone downstairs?" He said changing the subject.

"Well... Your sister said Ino is stable, her temperature is normalizing and she should wake up feeling much better in a few hours, Naruto and Sakura are still awake tho, I don't know why..."

"Are you sure? Hana said there's more comfortable beds upstairs..."

"I'm sure Sakura, I'll stay here tonight."

Naruto and Sakura rested on a couch opposite of Ino's, he would not get his rest unless he could keep an eye on Ino that night, after everything that had happened, a wave of guilt washed over him for behaving the way he did with her and he felt the least he could do now was to be there when she was feeling better the next morning, even though Hana herself had volunteered to watch over her that night he still refused to go anywhere else, after witnessing her state deteriorate the way it did he felt worried tremendously. Sakura herself was worried about Naruto's own state, although he physically did not show any weariness, she was more concerned with his mental state at the moment so she figured it was a good time keep him company as well.

"Why did she have to take that damn pill?" he cursed "She's like this because of me..."

"No, don't say that, she made the choice, there's no need to blame yourself for this one Naruto."

"Why? Everything that's happening is basically my fault, first the shinobi world hates me for what I did, then Jiraiya-sensei and now Ino... How can I not blame myself for this?!"

"You do realize we're here because we chose to right? Like the night we met and I said I'd come here?" Naruto looked at her trying to remember that night, it was right after his stunt in Tokyo "I chose to be here because I wanted to help you, nobody forced me to do this, I wanted to be here, and I'm sure everyone else wanted to be here as well, Ino came on her own all the way here as well, don't you forget that so there's nothing to feel guilty about."

"I don't know..." He looked at the couch where Ino rested "I treated her harshly after Tokyo, those things I said to her back at Karin's place, about... I never should've said that to her!"

"So you overreacted, that's not a crime, that's just human emotion, we all feel anger in different levels and right now you're showing those feelings only existed because of that anger, tell me something..." She grabbed his hand, Naruto looked at her "Did you mean what you said to her?"

"No! Of course not! I..." He paused, looking at the floor "Ever since mom and dad disappeared I've just wanted to distract my head with other thoughts to not feel so miserable, when I started to fight on the streets to make a living I realized some of those thoughts were mostly negative, I never wanted to maliciously hurt anyone, that's just not who I am..."

"Then?"

"I wanted to vent, for my opponents to experience what I was feeling, being alone and with nobody to have your back, that's what went through my head every time I stepped into that cage..." He stopped again and looked at Ino's sleeping face "When I met her, when went to Konoha, I thought those feelings were being washed away as I met this new group of people, of shinobi, I never knew existed, then after Tokyo, after her words... I felt like I was in that cage again..."

"What did she say to you exactly?"

Sakura still had no idea what the incident between them was and she felt there was enough trust between her and Naruto to pondered for a moment without looking at her, remembering that night still bothered him to a degree.

"She said that we were not friends..."

"Oh..." Sakura looked at the sleeping frame of Ino, she then remembered a similar event, as if almost understanding how he felt "Now I get it." Naruto looked at her puzzled "She gave you the same treatment."

"Huh? You mean she said that to you as well?"

Sakura nodded. It had been years since she thought about their friendship, much like with Naruto, their bond was cut one day and from that moment all she could do was distance herself.

"Why do you guys hate each other so much?"

"Did she say something about that already?"

"She mentioned you're inheriting a fortune and your parents didn't want you near her, or something like that."

"I see..." She paused "She still thinks I stopped talking to her because of them, how typical..."

"What do you mean Sakura?"

"You don't know Ino like I do Naruto, we were friends since childhood, we trained together and learned the shinobi ways together, we were like a team, yes, there was some rivalry but always watched each other's back at the end of the day..."

"What happened then?" Naruto now had his full attention on the story.

"One day she said she was leaving the village because she was about to start kenjutsu training, I was surprised but thrilled for her so we bid farewell for a while, I focused on medicine and healing for my own training since my chakra control is well suited for it, then one day she returned wielding her katana, I remember she was so excited when she showed it to me and wanted to tell me all about her journey, I was so happy for her..."

Sakura smiled with the memory, Naruto never took his eyes off her, she continued.

"I failed to see that day something had changed, she... we started to get more undercover missions, I was assigned to Asuma's team as a medic back then and always came back successful, until one time..." She paused, the memory was dreadful for her to remember "We went to the docks, we were supposed to free a group of refugees who had been brought by sea into the country, one of them was shot by a mercenary, a boy, probably 10 or so... Ino lost it, she killed every one of those men in a manner I've never witnessed..."

Her eyes saddened, Naruto's widened at the revelation.

"I was the only team member who saw what she did, we returned without speaking a single word, only to deliver the report to Hokage-sama... As the days passed, she started to become, distant, just cold and indifferent, the Ino I knew was not there, every time I looked in her eyes I just saw a different person, she even snapped at me once, just for asking if she was okay, she didn't know how worried I was for her, I never told her that..."

Naruto's expression changed, his eyes now with sadness as he continued listening.

"I saw a killer from that point forward and with time she proved me right, she became a hired assassin for Konoha, anyone who requested for someone to be dealt with, she was there, she was selected by name even, because she became that good. She gained a reputation as a result of that, the 'Slayer'..." Sakura chuckled "I don't know if she was proud of that or not, but it made me realize I wanted to take a different path so I made a request to be shifted to the hospital after that, I became a nurse, I also kept training myself, not to surpass her, but to remind myself never to let myself become like that."

"I... she never said any of that to me..."

"Nor you needed to know... She tried talking with me again but it was all the same, we had grown past the need of being friends, I didn't want to listen to her and she only wanted to blame me for not being there for her anymore, mom and dad suggested that I'd stay away from her, that I should learn more about their business so I could one day run it..."

She stood up, walked over to the window and looked at the rain fall.

"I know someday I'll leave the shinobi life behind me and follow their footsteps, they didn't need to tell me to stay away from Ino though, I made that choice myself." She looked over at her, then at Naruto "Every person holds a secret Naruto, she's not who you think she is."

Naruto sat there without anything to say, he just looked between the two women while processing the story, he realized how little he actually knew his peers, not only because of the information Sakura had shared with him, but because during all this time he never stopped to ask any of them about who they were, although he was not so sure Ino would share that particular piece of her life. Just at that moment Hana came from upstairs bringing pillows and a couple of blankets, she had offered to give Karin and Sakura her room while Naruto took the guest room with Shino, both refused the gesture.

"Are you guys sure you don't want to sleep upstairs? I don't mind staying here with her..."

"I appreciate it Hana-san but I'll sleep better if I'm here." Naruto said smiling as best he could at that moment, he walked over to her and helped her with the blankets.

"As will I." Sakura added, she also assisted Hana, Naruto gave her a look to see if she was sure, she nodded "Just in case."

"*sigh* Okay, as you guys insist." Hana said in defeat.

A second later Kiba also walked down the stairs, Naruto's eyes locked with his, both Hana and Sakura felt the tension but to their surprise Kiba decided to not engage in an argument. He looked over to where Ino rested, Naruto went over to the couch, despite the conversation he had with Sakura a minute earlier, he remembered there was a time and a place for everything.

"Hey, how is she?"

"She's fine, we'll see how she feels in the morning."

"Oh, okay... Listen, um..." Kiba walked closer to them, he approached Naruto first as he stretched the blankets over another couch "Sorry about earlier, I know that wasn't appropriate so I wanted to apologize."

Naruto sensed there was no ill intent coming from him this time so he relaxed "I understand, this is your home and we came uninvited, if anything I should be the one to say sorry."

"I'll be upstairs in my parent's bedroom, if you need anything feel free to knock, good night guys." Hana said, she did not speak anything but by the look she gave Kiba it was sufficient to let him know she would not tolerate another incident in her home, Kiba gulped, he would not make a scene again. After she left both Naruto and Sakura finished setting up the blankets, Kiba continued.

"Listen, your cousin, Karin, she's worried about you, I just came here to check."

"I'm fine, just been a long night is all..." He tried not to sound rude but right now he did not feel like talking to him, he also needed to rest.

"Right..." Kiba said, then an awkward silence followed "I guess I'll head to my room then, good night..." and he proceeded to slowly walk back upstairs.

"Kiba..." Naruto suddenly said, the Inuzuka boy stopped midway "Thank you, for everything."

Kiba chuckled, he scratched his nose a little "You're the second person who said that to me today, see ya in the morning." He waved and they both returned the gesture before he disappeared upstairs again. After he was gone Sakura looked at Naruto who kept his eyes on the stair for a brief moment before going back to making his improvised bed.

"Will you be alright?"

"... I don't know Sakura, I'm worried about a lot of things right now..."

"One thing at a time Naruto, we'll figure something out in the morning, we should get some rest."

"Yeah..." He nodded.

"How far are we Chōji?!" Shikamaru asked with a loud voice.

"Pretty sure all the smoke down there is a trail, we must be close!" his friend responded in the same manner.

Chōji kept a moderate height just above the clouds to avoid getting the attention from the other police choppers flying nearby, Osaka had been turned into a chaos zone and several police sirens could be heard all over in the city, the streets below were full of people, both civilians and policemen, some of the fires had already been contained minutes earlier but the columns of smoke could still be seen from miles away, just like the news had shown earlier, the trail had been paved for them to follow and hopefully, find their peers before anyone else did.

"She's still not answering Inoichi-san?!" This was Asuma's voice.

"Nothing yet!"

"We gotta keep trying! Can't pick em up if we don't know where to land!"

"I'm pretty sure they went to the outskirts!" Shikamaru added.

"How are you so sure Shika?!"

"Even if they lost them, hiding in crowded areas like this one for too long isn't smart! Especially if they got sensors after them!"

"What do you suggest then?!" Inoichi asked this time.

"We follow the path north!" He pointed below to show them what he saw "The chase started near the downtown area! All the places where there's police are heading in one way!"

The others saw what he meant, the trail of bodies were all pointing to one direction and that was north of there, by logic he deduced further along the way perhaps they found refuge from their pursuers. Asuma signaled Chōji to start moving and he did, the helicopter went past the rest as swiftly as possible without raising an alert, as they were passing one of the tallest buildings in the area, something outside made a clanking sound, instinctively Asuma poked his head to see in horror a kunai with an explosive tag had been nailed near the tail rotor.

"!"

The kunai exploded making the helicopter to start spinning out of control and lose altitude by the second. Chōji frantically did his best effort to maintain the machine steady but he knew it was too late, everyone grabbed a hold of the security belts dangling over the seats and prepared for the worst as they kept going down.

"BRACE FOR IMPACT!"

From a distance, a figure saw from the top of one building as the helicopter crashed over the water, there was too much noise down in the metropolis for anyone else to notice what had happened, the wind blew away the person's hooded face revealing the scarred pale head full of Sharingan. Shin remained there, quietly looking over to make sure there were no survivors coming out of the water, even at that distance and with dim light he could see if a person rose above water level. After a minute passed he concluded the task was done and disappeared.

Asuma and the others came out gasping for air after what seemed like an eternity underwater.

"Are you guys okay?!"

"Yeah, I'm good..." Shikamaru responded.

"Same here..." this was Chōji's voice.

"Yes, I'm fine also..." Inoichi replied "What was that?"

Asuma's eyes narrowed as he looked back a the city.

"Someone knew we were coming, we better be our guard, whoever can throw an explosive kunai from that distance has very sharp accuracy, we're sitting ducks here so let's move to shore..."

"Dammit! The helicopter is trashed... How are we gonna get the others?!"

"One thing at a time Chōji, first, let's get to land and work a plan from there, c'mon..."

Three figures moved silently through the mountainous terrain without as much as making a single noise, two men and a woman, all wearing a black combat uniform and an animal white mask over their faces, another group of ANBU had arrived to their hideout that night safely, another successful mission accomplished.

"Izumi, do you still have any pills left on you?" One of the men asked, the second in command.

"Yes, why? Was the battle too hard for you Shisui?" Izumi smirked.

"Don't be silly, the battle with those guys was easy, although we did take longer than expected with those numbers, besides, using the Sharingan for too long is never a good idea."

Izumi nodded "Yeah, those were more men than I thought, hey Itachi, do you need a pill also?" She was talking the the man leading the group.

"I'm fine." He replied "Just need a good sleep tonight."

Izumi tossed a soldier pill to Shisui and took one for herself "Why would they try to ambush us like that? They knew what they were up against."

"That's a Mobster's mentality Izumi, they all believe having a private army will make them untouchable." Itachi replied.

"Unnecessary struggle on their part, there was no need for all of those men to die." Izumi said almost with a tone of regret in her voice.

"Nothing we can do for them now." said Shisui "They all chose to a paycheck over their lives, necessity makes people prioritize more important things, we can't dwell on that.

"Heads up, we're here." Itachi said as the trio approached the entrance of the hideout.

-0-

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Merry Christmas everyone! Thanks for the support and patience you've shown with this little story, this was a very slow year for me in general terms so getting adjusted again to this pace has not been easy, nonetheless I appreciate the follows and I'm glad more people are starting to read this as I continue to push ideas for each chapter and hopefully not make it a boring and generic fic. Thanks again and I hope you all have happy holidays!