Hello, my lovelies. I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that I was planning to take a brief hiatus and do yet another rewrite, in order to work some things in more smoothly and set up future plot points. And also add a certain Aesthetic.

The good news? I... kind of already did it. Over the course of two or three days. So now with this chapter there's about 10k of brand new content.

CW: attempted sexual assault. Starts at "so I didn't exactly want to talk to anyone I knew" and ends at "I ended up running straight into Shino." I'll also be bolding these parts so you can glaze over things as much as possible.

Things were awkward between Sasuke and me at first. He looked guilty and embarrassed, kind of like a puppy who peed on the floor. Naruto seemed blissfully unaware of the awkwardness, which I lowkey envied him for. The pains of being just socially aware enough to know something was wrong, and unaware enough to know how to fix it.

I eventually mentally sat myself down and asked, "how would Ino deal with this?"

Was I upset that he used the Sharingan on me?

A little bit, yeah.

Why?

It felt kind of violating to be put to sleep like that. I didn't have a choice, and I felt uncomfortable that he would do that to one of his teammates.

Was it necessary?

… I hated to admit it, but yeah, it kind of was. I was losing control.

Now look at Sasuke's perspective. How do you think he felt about this?

… Ok, shut up. I'll deal with it.

The mess hall mainly had chūnin and some jōnin watching the exams, though there was a couple genin teams that had passed. I very pointedly ignored Kabuto and stuck close to my team.

While Naruto was getting seconds on lunch, I lightly kicked Sasuke's leg under the table. "Hey."

He didn't meet my eyes. "Yes?"

"Look at me," I said, continuing to kick him. "I mean it, duck butt, look at me."

We met eyes at last. I didn't blink. "Don't worry about it."

"... What?"

"About earlier. Don't worry about it." I closed my eyes and sighed. "It hurts my pride to say this, but I really appreciate what you did back there. I… don't really know what I would have done if you hadn't stopped me." I thought back to how I was practically seeing red, and the guilt pulled me down further. "I lied. I know exactly what I would have done." I swallowed. "It wouldn't have been good. So… thanks."

"... You're welcome," he muttered. I scraped my plate and took another bite.

"Hey, Sasuke?"

He glanced up, actually meeting my eyes now. "Hm?"

"If that happens again, do whatever you did again," I requested, idly tracing a pattern in the wood. "Put me down if you have to."

"Inoko-"

"I mean it." I looked up at him. "I don't want to hurt my friends because of this. If you can't stop me then put me down permanently."

"What is wrong with you?" Sasuke hissed, grabbing my wrist and pulling me halfway over the table. He looked half horrified, half furious. "You're going to an insane extreme."

"A very possible extreme," I whispered back. "I'd rather have my bases covered."

"How could you even ask that of me?" he demanded. "I am nothing like Ita-"

His eyes widened for a moment before he cut himself off and let me go, roughly falling back into his chair. I hesitate, just a second, then sit down myself.

"I'm sorry," I said softly. "I forgot."

It sounded like a lame excuse, but I didn't know what else to say. I felt terrible about it.

"I'm going back to our room," I said, standing abruptly. Everything about Sasuke's body language was closed off and radiating hurt, and I couldn't stand it. "Sorry."

I shoved my hands in my pocket and walked away as Naruto came back, plate piled high. At least he wouldn't be alone.

I didn't go straight back to our rooms. Instead, I just… wandered around the tower. My shoulder ached, and I felt horrible about pretty much all of my life choices leading up to this point, so I didn't exactly want to talk to anyone I knew.

I was somewhere on the third floor when I realized someone was following me. It was barely noticeable, just the faintest echo of my footsteps. At first I thought I was imagining it, but when I switched up my gait, the echo didn't change with it.

My blood ran cold. Is someone looking to take me out of the exams before the third stage? Or… is Orochimaru back to finish the job?

I walked faster, trying to remember how to get back to everyone else. I wished I could still sense.

The steps picked up their pace too. My heart began to hammer in my chest. I grasped one of my kunai, wrappings quickly becoming damp under my palms.

I broke out into a run, and the steps followed me. I bolted as fast as I could, but they were catching up to me. No no no no no!

"Sa-" I tried to scream out, but a hand wrapped around my mouth before I could get it out. Another arm wrapped around my waist, picking me up off my feet. My armed hand was trapped against my chest. All I could do was writhe and kick out.

"Hey, relax," a familiar voice murmured in my ear. Kabuto. I tried harder to give him a solid kick in the nuts. "Chill, Inoko-chan, I just wanted to talk."

I bit his finger, hard enough to hit bone. Blood leaked into my mouth, hot and salty. Kabuto swore under his breath and let me go.

"What the shit do you want?" I snarled, brandishing my kunai at him. I had one hand in my pocket, because this was a perfect time to use that acid if he kept creeping on me.

Kabuto holds his hands out in a peaceful gesture. "Sorry if I startled you," he said in that mockingly nice tone. "I promise, Inoko-chan, all I want is to talk, ok?"

"That's Yamanaka-sama to you," I said. Teeechnically that was my sister, as clan heir, but if you wanted to get traditionally technical, then as the daughter of the clan head I could also be called sama. I wanted to distance myself as far as possible from this motherfu-

He laughed, pushing his glasses up his nose. "As you wish, Yamanaka-sama."

Aaand instant regret. He made my name sound like a delicacy on the tip of his tongue. I shivered, refusing to break eye contact. His gaze was almost predatory, even as his tone remained friendly.

"You were so rude back before the first stage of the exams," he said in a sing-song tone. He took a step forward. I took a step back. "I thought I might have done something to offend you, Yamanaka-sama. So I figured, I'll just apologize and see if we can talk things out and be friends! Maybe over a cup of coffee?"

I wasn't sure if my utter disgust at the very thought of coffee with Kabuto must have shown on my face, because his eyes gleamed. He took another step forward. I took another step back.

"You're very pretty, Yamanaka-sama," he murmured. "Such long, pretty hair."

I threw my kunai at him, grazing his cheek. I had two more out before he touched his cheek. "Not a snowball's chance in hell," I snapped. I took another step back. He took two steps forward.

"My my, so testy. It's just a compliment, Yamanaka-sama. What's the problem? Why don't we get to know each other a bit? I see you have a lovely pair of earrings there; where did you get them?"

"What part of this situation says I'm comfortable with this?!" I demanded, giving a vague gesture to the area. My heel hit the wall. "Go away!"

Faster than my eyes could see, Kabuto was right up in my personal space, pinning my hand against the wall. "Come on now, don't play hard to get," he whispered. "I'm sure we could have a lot of fun."

Terror blossomed in my stomach. I was defenseless against this nutjob, who couldn't take no for an answer and was probably going to…

His hand caressed my side and I realized, no, I wasn't defenseless.

I smashed the vial of acid in his face, ignoring the burning sensation against my hand. He cried out in pain, clutching against the wounds.

I booked it out of there. He didn't follow me. I ran until I could hear sounds of other people, then made a beeline for them.

I ended up running straight into Shino. "Thank the Three," I blurted, clutching at his jacket.

He grabbed my shoulders, and I could hear his kikaichū buzzing louder. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

I looked over my shoulder, terrified of catching a glimpse of white hair and glasses. Nothing.

"Can you walk me back to my team?" I whispered. My hands were shaking. "I'd really rather not be -"

"Of course," Shino said, inclining his head. "Do not feel pressured to confide in me if you do not wish to."

Something in my gut relaxed a little bit. "Thanks, Shino."

I could hear our room being turned into a miniature war zone. I restrained a sigh. These boys.

"Thank you, Shino," I said, rubbing my arm. "I really appreciate it."

"Of course. We may not be allies right now, but I would rather not let you come to harm if I can help it." He hesitated. "Is there… anything I should know?"

I thought about Hinata being cornered by Kabuto and shuddered. "Do not leave Hinata alone, even for a second."

The corner of Shino's mouth turned down. "Of course. Thank you."

I was right in thinking our room had been demolished. My jaw dropped the moment I stepped through the doorway. Wallpaper was peeling off, one bed had been tossed across the room, another was bent beyond all recognition, and the third had been flipped. Feathers floated across the room. Naruto and Sasuke were still rolling around on the floor, either wrestling or attempting murder. It was hard to tell.

"How?" I demanded, gesturing at the room. They both froze. Naruto spit out Sasuke's arm. "How?!"

"I can explain?" Naruto offered.

My eye twitched.

"Fix it. Now."

Naruto bolted for the door. I could hear his footsteps multiply as shadow clones burst into existence. I gingerly sat on the destroyed bed. RIP bed. You will be missed.

"You too, Sasuke. Get going. Chop chop." He had the grace to look embarrassed. "I'm not going to ask why you guys did this, just fix it before we get in trouble."

The week passed quickly and before I knew it, the end of the second exam had ended. I had very pointedly stuck close to one or the other of my team, and thankfully hadn't seen hide or hair of Kabuto.

My shoulder still hurt, but not as badly anymore.

We filed down to a massive room with a statue of two hands forming a seal I didn't recognize. Gaara was just three people away from me, and I… couldn't feel him at all.

I both enjoyed and hated that.

Sensei and Maito Gai were gossiping in low tones - rather, Gai was; Sensei was completely spacing out by all appearances. He… probably wasn't, right?

"Congratulations for making it this far," the Hokage declared. "Before we begin the third exam, let me make one thing clear…"

And now I was spacing out. After seeing the Hokage make countless speeches, both to our class and during multiple festivals, I could tell when he was gearing up to make a speech. They were usually boring.

I kind of snapped back into general awareness when Naruto nudged me. Someone else was talking now, and good grief his eye bags were almost as bad as mine.

"Ah… before we start the exams, there's one thing we need to do," he said, coughing a bit. "Um… since too many of you passed, we have to do some preliminaries. Basically, uh… if you don't feel up for competing in the preliminaries, then just go ahead and leave. It won't affect your um… your teammates if you choose to step out."

Huh. That… might not be a bad idea. I was tired. I wanted to get this stupid curse mark sealed away.

"Well, I'm out," Kabuto said cheerfully, and I shivered once I heard his voice. May the Three damn you to hell, I thought.

He walked away, and I couldn't have felt more relieved as his footsteps receded.

"Anyone else?" the proctor asked. I… did not remember his name. My shoulder was throbbing again, worse than it had in days. I grabbed it tightly and grit my teeth. I would not back down. I would not show weakness.

Silence echoed in the chamber. The proctor coughed again and scratched something out on a clipboard.

"Alright then. Let's ah… let's begin. It will consist of individual combat, much like the third exam. Since there are seventeen of you right now, one of you will get a free pass. Um… we'll have eight matches, randomly selected. The victors of these matches will uh… proceed to the third exam. It will be no holds barred, until your opponent is dead, unconscious, or admits defeat. There may be some cases where we decide there's a clear victor to the match, but don't count on that happening." He scratched his head with his pencil, glancing down at his clipboard. "Not to throw you into the slaughter, but uh… let's go ahead and get started."

Two screens on the wall began flickering. I closed my eyes and prayed. Don't put us against Gaara. Please don't put any of us against Gaara.

There was a faint ding, and I opened a single eye.

Uchiha Sasuke vs Tenten

I sighed in relief. Sasuke looked vaguely annoyed, but resigned. "Hey, duck butt, don't underestimate her," I said, lightly punching his shoulder. "She's a year older than us, you know."

"Yeah, yeah, owl, whatever."

Everyone else made their way upstairs. I leaned against the railing, trying to massage the pain away. The pain was getting worse.

"You should really get that taken care of, Inoko," a voice said by my side.

For a split second, I thought it was Kabuto, somehow next to me. I spun around with a kunai, determined to disembowel him this time. Sensei caught my hand before it could make contact, and stared down at me. I tried to swallow my fear down.

"Sorry, Sensei," I said. "I… thought you were someone else."

He continued to stare down at me for a few more moments before letting me go and nodding. I tried to go back to my position on the railing, but my hands were shaking. I gripped the metal as tightly as I could.

"You should have dropped out when Hayate gave you the option," Sensei said, leaning on the railing beside me. I stared down at Sasuke, refusing to take my eyes off him. I would not let anything happen to my team, because they were mine mine mine mine. "Inoko. Breath. Now."

I sucked in air and forced the possessive rage down. Naruto drifted closer to me, concern written across his fingers. I grabbed his hand and squeezed, telling myself over and over that they were here, no one was taking them from me, there were plenty of jōnin here to protect us.

Sensei set a hand on my shoulder. "Inoko, we're leaving. Now."

"No," I said through gritted teeth. "I'm fine. It's just a misstep."

"You're not fine," he hissed next to my ear. "If you let that mark run rampant then there's going to be a lot of problems."

I resisted the urge to shudder and forced it all down until only the pain was left. "I. Am. Fine. I'll be more careful."

I looked up and glared at Sensei. I would last this long at least.

Sensei finally relented and snapped out his book. "The moment you're done with your match, we're leaving."

"I want to stay for my sister and her team's matches," I protested. I had to be sure they would be ok.

"Absolutely not. Be thankful I'm being this lenient."

I snarled wordlessly and went back to staring at Sasuke.

It was a good fight. Tenten had an ungodly amount of weapons, but unfortunately, in the end, it worked against her. When unleashing several dozen kunai and shuriken against someone with the highest marksmanship of our year, someone determined to catch up to the raw genius of his brother… well. Throwing constant ammo at someone was just begging to have it thrown back at you.

"Uchiha Sasuke wins," Hayate said, waving at him. He scribbled something on his board. "He advances to the third exam."

The next match was Temari versus Shino. He was barely ruffled by the amount of wind being thrown around, but he didn't seem to be making any progress either. I don't think he's going to win this, I thought absently. A draw, maybe, or a win on her side.

He eventually conceded, citing the rather obvious fact that she just kept blowing all his tiny kikaichū away.

And then a match up that I hadn't even really considered, but dreaded down to the depths of my soul.

Yamanaka Ino vs Yamanaka Inoko.

I stood there, frozen for several seconds. My fingers couldn't be pried off the railing with a crowbar. I couldn't let her use the mind transfer jutsu. I couldn't let her be exposed to the curse mark.

"Yamanaka-san?" Hayate said, coughing a bit. "Are you going to come down?"

I sank down into a crouch, still not letting go of the railing. "Yeah," I whispered.

Somehow, I managed to make my fingers relax enough to allow movement. My shoulder throbbed. Like a mirror, Ino and I both rubbed our shoulder, grimacing. Every step brought me closer to whatever the hell this was going to be, and sent a jolt of pain down my arm.

We stood apart from each other. I couldn't meet her eyes. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it.

"Begin," Hayate said, and we didn't move. He coughed. "Um… Begin. Now."

We still didn't move. I didn't know why she was hesitating, but I came to a decision.

I sat down, then sprawled onto my back. "I think I'm done with these exams," I said, tossing an arm over my eyes.

There was silence for a beat.

"What?!" Naruto shrieked. "Come on, Inoko! We've come so far!"

"Nope. I'm done with this. Chūnin exams can eat my entire ass."

"Inoko!" Ino said sharply, more out of habit than anything else.

"Eff this," I sighed, flipping the bird to anyone who cared to look in my general direction.

"... Yamanaka Ino moves on to the third exam," Hayate said after a long pause. He coughed. "Would you perhaps mind relocating somewhere else?"

"Mh." I made no effort to get up. At least until someone grabbed my ankle and lifted me up. "Oh."

"Mah, Inoko-chan~" Sensei said. "You really should listen to your elders."

I held one hand onto the hem of my shirt to keep myself from flashing my training bra to the world. "But elders are boring," I complained. He lightly shook me.

"Come on, brat. We're going."

Sensei set me on my feet once we left the arena, and I trailed after him, one hand on his flak jacket and the other clutching my shoulder. I wanted to go home.

"There was an ancient temple discovered below the tower while they were laying the foundation," Sensei said, unlocking and opening a partially hidden door. "It wasn't torn down, because it was rather useful for this exact reason."

Something tickled at the edge of my senses, and I felt a wave of relief. I wasn't broken. I wouldn't have to relearn everything, just… some parts of it.

"Go ahead and take off your shirt," Sensei said absently. He drew an ink pad out of his pouch and cut his palm open on a kunai. "I'll need to put the seal on your skin for this to work.

I reluctantly pulled off my shirt, shivering in the damp air. The July heat didn't reach down here, it seemed. We remained in silence for several minutes as Sensei worked around in a circle, creating trailing lines on the ground and pillar.

"Sit still," he warned, carefully working on my skin. It was. Slightly awkward. On my part, anyway; Sensei didn't seem bothered by it at all. I'm sure he'd dealt with worse than prepubescent boobs. "And… that's the last of it. Just a little bit longer and then we'll be done, and you can take a nice long nap."

"That sounds ni-" I started to say before his hand came down on my shoulder. I gasped in pain, tried to bite back the scream, but it slipped out of my throat anyway.

It hurt. It hurt so bad. It felt like the seal and the curse mark were battling for dominance with no regard for the battleground of my body.

And then finally, all at once, it stopped. And I could feel again. It was incredibly overwhelming, and I couldn't parse through all the information overloading my senses, the heavy pressure of the temple. I fell to my hands and knees, panting.

Gaara and Shukaku one and two and two and one all at once burning and raging and craving death blood gore Sister fear worry concern pride Naruto Kyuubi one and one is two with half of two within Orochimaru approaching Kabuto upper room lust pleasure relief Sasuke pain tired Orochimaru approaching Gates are opening Orochimaru approaching approaching closer closer closer

R̡̡̥̮͚͎̳̺̘̠̜͇̝ͣ̈́͊́̑̇ͤ́͟u̷̵̧͕̤̯̹͓͒ͫͣ͐̀ͅň̡̳͎̖̘̬͇͕̞̪̭̤̼͍͉̠̳̂́̿͒ͪ̇͛͟͡

.

Sensei was saying something about the seal being attached to my will, but the room was spinning. I slumped to the ground and chased the darkness.