CHAPTER 4

Ino unrolled the scroll carefully. It felt fragile. She glanced up again to confirm that her door was closed. Of course it was. She traced her fingertips delicately over the aged paper. The information that she looked at first was the very end- the signatures. There were three signatures on it. All three were Yamanaka, and one of them had an "Ino" prefix. She stared at that for a while, delighted.

"This is my heritage," she marveled. She looked back up to decipher the title. It was kind of a mess. Her clan was sophisticated and well-educated, of course, but it hadn't been many generations at all since people were mostly illiterate. The script had barely any kanji in it. She struggled a bit to get through the phonetic script.

The broad strokes, though, they were clear.

Boar. This was a summoning contract for boars.

Ino put her face on her pillow and screamed into it at full volume. She kicked at her bed.

…Someone knocked on her door frame. "Sweetie?" her Dad called. His chakra was agitated. He'd crossed the house fast. "Are you alright in there?"

If she said anything other than yes, he would bust down the door to kill whatever had inconvenienced her. That had happened to more than one intruding spider.

"I read something really good," she hollered back. She was smiling so wide that it hurt a little. "I'm fine!"

"Alright then." He laughed a little and drew away. She heard his footsteps leave. "Enjoy your book. Or is it a love letter?" His tone turned openly teasing as it drifted away into the distance.

Ino scoffed to herself, but she didn't lose the grin. This was much better than a love letter would have been. This was probably the source of the family symbol, the reason for the 'Ino' naming prefix.

'Why would we ever stop using this? It's incredible! Almost no one has summon contracts.'

The thought that she had decided she would not sign the scroll resurfaced. Ino paused, torn. "...I won't," she said, though she didn't feel that certain anymore. "I'm just reading it." She scowled. "I'm not deciding anything."

She stayed up late reading, despite the nagging sense of guilt that she was ruining her own morning.

Sure enough, Ino felt like hell when her alarm went off at 5 in the morning. She hit it with one finger and contemplated just… not. Just taking a day off. No one would make her do anything. No one would even comment. Would resting today really make a difference in the grand scheme of things?

'I sound like Choji.'

That thought got her up and moving. Ino brushed her teeth, washed her face, had a glass of water and two tuna onigiri, and then she was out the door into the early morning light for her conditioning. She wasn't the only Yamanaka out. Her Dad was already there, along with an assortment of cousins and other weird relatives.

She called out greetings to everyone who greeted her and then she got to work. She did sprints, push ups, lunges, and general muscle-building work before plopping down to work on her flexibility. That was the worst part. Sweat dripped down her face and she gritted her teeth against the pain as she worked to force her torso to lay float on the ground while her legs were spread in a saddle position. Ino wasn't naturally flexible.

After morning conditioning, she rushed back to take a long and luxurious shower. Ino sang in the shower, using her conditioner bottle as a microphone while she waited for the magic potion to do its work making her hair perfectly soft and strong.

By the time breakfast rolled around, she was ravenous. Ino dashed to her chair and bounced in it, eyes wide and eager. "Good morning, Mama," she sang.

"Good morning, my love," Mama answered. She glanced behind her, eyes fond. "Could you serve the rice, please?"

Ino leapt back up to her feet. "Yes, maam." She flipped open the rice cooker and wielded the paddle expertly to make beautiful, even little bowls of rice. Big for Ino, extra big for Daddy, medium for Mama. She put them in their respective places and then started pulling tsukemono out of the fridge without prompting.

"Thank you," Mama said, without looking. "Could you get down miso bowls?"

Ino did that, making sure the bowls made a small clink when she sat them down so that Mama would hear it. Mama was her favorite person in the world. She was so elegant and kind.

'I'm lying to her.'

Ino felt her stomach twist, but she kept it off of her face. The perfection of the morning was marred.

'I betrayed her trust. I stole that scroll out from under her nose.'

She squirmed in her seat. It had made so much sense at the time. She'd been desperate and scared.

'...I still don't think I was wrong.' She stared down at her place setting, eyes glazing over. 'My teammates really aren't on my level and they don't want to be. If Shikamaru actually ran laps with me, he'd throw up. And Choji? Forget it. What's going to happen on our first mission where we need to escape something? Am I going to have to hang back at their pace? Or will I go ahead and leave them?'

Either idea made her feel a little sick. And it wasn't just that- she hadn't even considered combat, which was a pretty important part of shinobi work. Were they ever going to be good enough to cover her back? Would they even get serious enough that they would do it?

Ino repressed a shiver.

"Sweetheart?" Mama put a hand on Ino's hair. Ino leaned into the touch and preened as her mother's deft fingers pulled through her hair. "Is everything alright?"

"Yes," Ino lied. Her heart twisted. "I was thinking about work."

Mama let out a huff of amusement. "I see. My poor girl, all grown up." She kissed the side of Ino's head and Ino let her. "Don't let those boys boss you around."

"Never," Ino vowed. She put her chin up. "I'm emotionally stronger than they could ever be."

"Good morning, sweetheart," Daddy said indulgently. She turned her face up for him to plant a kiss on her forehead on his way to his chair. "Gorgeous flower of my heart, it smells marvelous in here. What magic have you wrought?"

Ino rolled her eyes.

Mama blew an air kiss at Daddy. "Rolled omelets, nikujaga, steamed vegetables, and barley tea this morning from Grandma Iroko."

"A feast," Daddy said reverently. "Why is there a goddess in my home?" He peered up at her through his eyelashes.

She set the final dishes down at the table and then took her seat. "Because you captured my heart and I sipped from your chalice. I am ruined for any other Heaven."

Daddy sighed.

Ino rolled her eyes again. "You two are so gross," she complained, but her heart wasn't in it.

After breakfast, she helped open the flower shop before going off to team training. She munched on an energy bar on the way, enjoying the sweet burst of berry in each bite. When she got to their meeting spot, Choji was waiting with a grim expression and a different outfit than usual.

Ino eyed him. "What's with that?" she gestured at his extra storage. "Are we doing something different?"

He took a deep breath. "We are leaving the village today." Choji made a pretty valiant effort at keeping his tone steady. "You should go and get your kit for overnight, one night at least but up to three. I already told Shikamaru about it." He sniffled. "I don't know why Asuma-sensei came to my house to tell me."

She blinked at him. Already? It seemed so early for them to leave the village for the first time. "No parameters given?" she checked.

He shook his head. "Asuma-sensei didn't tell me anything else." He gave her a morose look. "I think it's some kind of test." He looked a little ill. "I hate sleeping outside. Do you think it's a survivalist thing?"

"I have no idea," Ino said, feeling nervous and excited all at once. She took a deep, steadying breath and nodded at him. "Thanks for letting me know! I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Good luck," Choji said glumly. "Grab snacks? I didn't have much time to prepare before he shoved me out the door and my Mom will laugh at me if I come back. But I'm worried about my calorie intake if we're out of Konoha for too long."

"Of course," Ino agreed generously. She had a hard daily 3500 calorie goal to meet, so she understood the struggle and that his was much worse. Building an Akimichi body was work. "I think we have a bag or two of snacks in the pantry. See you soon!" She gave him a jaunty wave and ran off. She was back home before her father even left for work. He gave her an odd look as she let herself in.

Ino noted how suspiciously distant her parents were sitting on the sofa. Ew.

"I have a mission out of town," she announced as she worked off her shoes. "One to three days, no other information provided. I'm just here to grab my kit."

"Your first mission!" Daddy clapped his hands. "My girl!"

"All grown up," Ino agreed, a grin tugging at her lips. "I have to rush. Get back to being gross." She dodged the throw pillow that her Mama tossed at her and dashed down the hall to her room. Her go bag was waiting on a peg next to her door. She pulled it down and did a quick inventory to double check. She went and added the earth jutsu scroll- she might have time to work on it! And then she paused.

'I don't want anyone to find that other scroll in my room.'

Ino licked her lips. She'd been putting her laundry away to keep her Mama from looking in the dresser, but if she was gone, Mama would definitely open it. And then she would know what Ino had done.

Ino packed that scroll, too, and told herself that she wouldn't be studying it. She swallowed, hard.

Was she going too far to hide what she'd done? Maybe she should just confess. The sooner she admitted it, the less the breach in trust would hurt her Mama. Her mouth felt dry.

…She didn't have time now. She owed her parents a conversation and she needed to rush out the door. So Ino lugged her bag to the pantry, shoved snack food into it, and shouted out a greeting on her way out of the house.

Shikamaru still hadn't returned by the time she got back.

Ino sighed heavily and flopped down to the ground to wait. And wait. Asuma-sensei came at his usual time. He didn't seem to be different from usual at all. No pack, no extra pouches. Ino eyed him and wondered at what point in a shinobi career the Academy scriptures about preparation became irrelevant. Was it after jounin promotion?

…Her Daddy still took a pack when he traveled. Ino frowned. There was no way that Asuma-sensei was better than Dad.

'...Is he just sloppy?'

With that unsettling thought, Ino wrapped her arms around herself. Asuma-sensei looked at them and gave them each a nod of approval. "Good work, team," he praised. "As for Shikamaru?"

Choji shrugged both shoulders. "I told him about twenty minutes ago," he said. "I don't know what he's doing." He sounded uncomfortable.

Asuma-sensei let out a sigh, but it was more amused than annoyed. "I'll go get him." He was gone in a flash. Leaves drifted to the ground in his wake.

Ino flung her arms out onto the grass and huffed.

"He probably fell asleep," Choji said wryly. She heard a chip package opening. "I didn't want to say that to Asuma-sensei. But he didn't seem motivated about leaving the village."

She peeled one eye open to look at him. "I think that Asuma-sensei knew," she said dryly. "It's about the most predictable thing that Shikamaru did. Maybe this is a way to start training him to respect mission departure times with low stakes."

Choji snorted and offered her a chip. She took it and popped it in her mouth. Mm, ume. "Thank you," she said, licking her lips. "That's good. Seasonal?"

"Limited time flavor," he confirmed. "There's other brands that do it year round, but this one is special."

"Aww." Ino felt her heart soften. She felt loved.

Asuma-sensei returned then. Ino sat up and let her mouth fall open.

Shikamaru, that dumbass, was hanging from Asuma-sensei's grip like a scruffed kitten. He was messy-haired and confused-looking.

"Are you an actual infant?" Ino sputtered. She jumped to her feet. "I'm not surprised that you fell asleep when you were unsupervised, but you didn't start moving even when sensei came to get you?"

Shikamaru looked at her blearily. "Waaaa," he said sadly, in the most pathetic imitation of a baby's cry that she'd ever heard. "Waaaa."

Choji snorted out a laugh. He hid his face when Ino shot him a pointed look.

Boys.

'I'm glad that it's not my job to corral them.' Ino put her hands on her hips and scowled at Shikamaru's stumbling form. Asuma-sensei had a guiding hand on the boy's head as they started off towards the village gates. 'I have better things to do with my time! Like study-'

"Sensei," Ino interrupted, suddenly frantic. "Can we still train even outside of the village? I really wanted to work on that earth jutsu."

He laughed.

She pouted. "It's serious," Ino protested. "I'm so close!"

"You are," he agreed. "You could just use the hand signs and do it, you know."

Ino threw her head back and let out an ugh. "Yes, but that's lazy!" She blew air out of the side of her mouth, displacing bangs. "You should really understand a jutsu before you use it," she lectured, falling into her Daddy's cadence. "There's a world of difference between what you can do with a jutsu you can do and a jutsu you know in and out. It's much more efficient to do the fundamentals than it is to just throw yourself at something and see what happens!"

Her sensei sighed. "Ino, we won't have time," he said in a tone of finality. "Maybe you have something else that you can work on in your spare time tonight. I'll be busy."

She sulked her way to the gate.