DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO (NEVER OWNED IT IN THE FIRST PLACE AS WELL)

On The Run

Naruto and Ino stayed in their position for a while longer where Naruto was sitting on the bed and Ino was stroking his hair gently, it felt nice for the both of them. To put it simply, things felt right.

Ino continued to brush Naruto's blonde locks until suddenly she heard the bathroom doorknob turn, she then ceased to brush Naruto's hair and sat down beside him instead. Shino was done washing up but he still had some injuries that needed to be treated, and they were still waiting for the innkeeper to treat their wounds.

The door to their room then opened to reveal a young girl who they have never seen before, this made the three of them become a bit skeptical. The girl was their age or was probably a year older than them. The presence of this stranger caused them to be on high alert and they kept their guards up just in case, Ino then performed her clan's jutsu to communicate with her teammates telepathically. "Do you know who she is?" Ino asked both Naruto and Shino.

"I do not know her/Beats me…" Shino and Naruto replied respectively

"Crap… What do we do then?..." she asked once more

"We keep it cool and see how things play out" Naruto answered, this satisfied both Ino and Shino for now as they kept cool and simply remained silent.

"Are you three the students of Sarutobi-san from the other room?" she said to them

"We are, who's asking?" Naruto replied

"I'm Misaki, my grandfather told me to treat you guys. Sarutobi-san's injuries were much worse than he expected so he asked me to take care of the three of you" Misaki retorted

Hearing her answer removed the tension inside the room now that they have identified her, but they decided to still remain vigilant in case things got a bit hairy.

"Which of you wants or needs to be treated first?" Misaki said to them

The three of them then looked to one another to see which of them wanted to be the first to be treated, but none of them took the initiative not until Ino thought of an idea. She suggested that Naruto should be the first one to be treated since he has the most injuries out of the three of them due to fighting Kimimaro the most.

"I think Naruto should be the one to be treated first" Ino suggested

Naruto looked at the platinum blonde in response, "What, Naruto?..." she said as she raised her eyebrow at him. "I'm fine Ino, you and Shino should go ahead. I can wait, I promise" he offered but Ino was not having any of it. She insisted that he should just shut up and get medical attention.

"I'm not the one who has the most injuries, granted Shino has some but you're clearly the most beat up out of the three of us. Now shut up and let Misaki-san treat you" she said

"I agree Naruto, my injuries aren't bad compared to yours. I have also tended to some of my injuries when I was inside the comfort room, so I believe it is best that you go first" Shino told Naruto

Naruto sighed and got up off the bed and approached Misaki so that she could start treating his injuries, "Take off your shirt, uhmmm… I do not know all your names" she said to them.

Ino communicated to both her teammates telepathically to ask whether or not they should give her their name, what if she's just pretending to be Kunio-san's granddaughter? Perhaps Ino was being a bit too paranoid in this situation since Asuma told them to be cautious after all. "S-Should we tell her our names?" she said

"I don't see why not. I'm still anxious about her, I mean how could we prove that she's actually Kunio-san's granddaughter in the first place? This is the first time we saw her at all, okay now I think we should not give her our names. But at the same time, Gato probably knows about us. So… Screw it" Naruto replied

"I'm Naruto, over there is Ino and the other one is Shino" he answered

"Nice to meet you Naruto-san, could you remove your jacket and shirt" she asked him

Naruto blushed since a girl essentially asked him to undress in front of her, her statement has no malice at all but it still embarrassed him to a degree. Another factor was that he found her pretty too, Naruto gulped and removed his upper clothing and placed his clothes on the bed.

Ino noticed Naruto's blush and it somehow bothered her, she did not know why she was it bothered her at all for that matter. Ino quickly got rid of those thoughts as she continued to observe Misaki from her bed.

"What in Kami's name happened to you…" she said to Naruto

"Hehe well… It's a rather long story Misaki-san" Naruto replied

"I see… Well, I'm guessing you might be in a lot of pain right now. We're gonna need to clean your wounds, put some antibiotics on it, and then wrap it up with some gauze" Misaki told Naruto.

Misaki then asked Shino to fill up a bowl she brought with some water, Shino took the bowl from Misaki and went to the comfort room to do as he was told. While Shino was doing that, she quickly took out a mortar and pestle from the bag that she brought along. Misaki also took out some garlic cloves from within her bag, she placed five cloves inside the mortar and began pestling the cloves in order to turn them into a paste.

Once the garlic has turned into a paste-like substance, she took out a jar of honey and started to drizzle some of it into the mortar. Misaki then began to incorporate the honey into the paste by mixing it thoroughly, this would serve as a topical treatment for Naruto's wounds since both garlic and honey possess antibacterial properties.

Shino then returned with a bowl full of water, "Thank you Shino-san" she replied as she took out a clean towel from her bag and dipped it in the bowl. "I apologize Naruto-san for resorting to using homemade remedies, my grandfather had to use the actual medicine to treat your sensei" she explained.

Naruto told her that it was alright and that he was grateful that he was being treated nonetheless, he then gave her a thumbs up and a foxy grin which Misaki found amusing. She then began to clean Naruto's wounds with a wet rag by gentling wiping off the blood and some foreign debris inside his wounds, Naruto winced in pain due to the stinging sensation he was feeling.

"Tell me if it hurts, okay?" Misaki said to Naruto

"I'm fine, it doesn't even hurt at- OWWWW!, all…" Naruto said in an embarrassed tone

"Just bear the pain for a little while, this won't take long" she said to him as she resumed cleaning his wounds. Once she finished that, Misaki then began to add the topical treatment she just made earlier, she dipped her finger into the mortar and began applying the paste onto Naruto's wounds, it still stung but not as much. She applied the garlic-honey paste all throughout his body where it was cut, Naruto then realized that his clothes must have a ton of cuts after their battle with Kimimaro. Naruto was bummed out due to the fact that he already ruined one pair of the new clothes he and Ino got the other day.

After applying the antibiotics, Misaki then took out some gauze from her bag and started to wrap up his wounds tightly so that it would prevent them from further bleeding and being exposed to their surroundings. The dressing would serve as a layer of protection that would prevent it from being infected and thus worsen it, now she had to take care of the bruises.

For that, Misaki used a salve that utilized a herb called arnica. It seemed like she already had this in hand, Naruto did not know much about it but he was certain that a lot of time was put into preparing it. Misaki applied the salve on his bruises. Naturally, Naruto felt pain when Misaki's hands came into contact with his bruise due to how tender they were at the moment. As a response, Misaki adjusted the amount of force she was applying so that she could be gentler.

Naruto was fascinated with how skilled Misaki was when it came to treating injuries, he thought to himself that having this skill would be really neat. Naruto admits that he was kind of a klutz, Ino would beg to disagree for she thinks that Naruto is more than a klutz. Naruto then decided to learn more about this specific field once they get back to Konoha, that is IF he comes out of this mission alive.

Once Misaki finished treating Naruto, it was now Shino's turn. Misaki didn't do anything different since Shino pretty much has the same injuries as Naruto where he had scratches instead of cuts. Misaki finished treating Shino, now it was Ino's turn.

Ino suffered the least injuries, all she had was a scraped knee. During their battle, she had to get away from Kimimaro quickly. But in the process, Ino scraped her knee against the ground. Misaki began treating it by washing the wound with a wet rag, she wiped off the blood and dirt on it to prevent it from having an infection. Misaki noticed that Ino winced in pain because her wound stung, "I apologize for the pain I'm causing you, this will only take a while" Misaki told her.

"It's alright, I appreciate you treating my teammates. Thank you for that Misaki-san" Ino replied

"It is my pleasure, I'm just glad I could help out when I can. Your friend over there, the blonde one. Handled it like a champ haha" Misaki giggled.

"Yeah… That's Naruto for you. He confronts hurdles head-on, though he can be careless and a bit of an idiot sometimes. Shino knows how to handle himself, it's Naruto I worry about" she said to Misaki

"How so?" Misaki asked

"I have no doubts about Naruto's abilities, I just fear that maybe a day comes where he couldn't overcome something y'know? He's a bit too brash and impulsive for his own good I suppose" Ino explained

"I see… It seems like you really care about Naruto-san"

"I do… He's important to me after all" she returned

Ino and Misaki remained silent for a while Misaki continued treating Ino's wounds, "Well, looks like we're done" Misaki said but they suddenly heard someone bang on the door downstairs.

- With Asuma Earlier -

Asuma was waiting inside his room for the innkeeper to arrive, he decided to light a cigarette while he waited. Before lighting one, he tried to remember if smoking was prohibited inside the inn. Asuma couldn't recall such a thing so he continued to light one nonetheless, he opened the window so that the room wouldn't be filled with smoke as a result. Though the room might smell like tobacco afterward, Asuma had a solution for that. He would simply use a low-level wind-style jutsu to flush out the scent from within the room, he also does this whenever he smokes inside his apartment before Kurenai comes over. If he failed to do so, he would be in a heap of trouble.

The door then opened, thus revealing the innkeeper. He had with him a bag that must be filled with all sorts of medical equipment to treat wounds or illnesses. "I apologize for making you wait Sarutobi-san, I had to call my granddaughter so that she could treat your students while I handle your wounds. I do hope that is alright with you" Kunio asked.

"Of course, I don't mind at all. Thank you for your kindness Kunio-san, it's greatly appreciated" Asuma thanked the man

"Do you mind if I ask how the mission went?" he asked Asuma

"It did not go so well, heck it did not go as planned either. We got into a bit of a scuffle as you can see. Apparently, Gato hired one of the Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shu (Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist)"

Kunio paused for a while after hearing Asuma mention that group, it took a while for him to digest that thought and then he continued their conversation. Kunio has heard of that group since Mori no Kuni (Land of Forests) wasn't that far off from Mizu no Kuni (Land of Water) itself "I see… Does that mean you're going to abort your mission?" Kunio asked.

"Abort? Absolutely not, my team and I will definitely finish this mission. Gato hired a dangerous individual, all the more reason to deal with him" Asuma retorted

"Thank you Sarutobi-san, I'm counting on you on this one. If Gato continues to stay here, most people here would be forced to go elsewhere since his presence is affecting business around here. I'm not even sure if Gato would even let us leave in the first place. This inn is all I have, I don't know what I'll do without it" he told Asuma

"How so?"

"I am old Sarutobi-san, I couldn't possibly work as a doctor anymore. I also have a granddaughter to take care of, her parents died in an accident in the past which leaves her in my care. I also do not want to force her to work at such an early age, I'd rather work in her place instead so that she could at least enjoy her childhood" Kunio explained.

Asuma understood where Kunio was coming from, this was another reason why he and his team needed to accomplish their mission here in Mori no Kuni (Land of Forests). People were counting on them, people with families who they have to support on a daily basis. Gato was essentially taking food out of their children's and wives' mouths.

Kunio began to treat Asuma's wounds, the cuts weren't too deep to require stitches but the amount of them was double the number of cuts Naruto sustained, Kunio did the same procedure as his granddaughter did to his students. Only this time, he used actual medicine instead of herbs and improvised stuff. Kunio also treated Asuma's bruises in the process too, it took a while before he completed treating Asuma's wounds as well. "I believe that is the last bruise that needed to be treated Sarutobi-san" Kunio told him.

"Thank you Kunio-san, I really appreciate thi-" Asuma was cut-off when he suddenly heard someone banging on the door downstairs.

"OPEN UP!... WE'D LIKE TO HAVE A MOMENT TO SPEAK WITH THE OWNER OF THIS ESTABLISHMENT" a voice yelled from down below.

Asuma immediately knew that it must be Gato's men that were looking for him and his team, but Asuma wasn't that worried about himself since he could easily take care of himself when things get hairy. He was a bit worried for his students but he trusted that they could carry out their plan in case things go south. The thing that actually worried him was the well-being of both Kunio and his granddaughter.

"Listen to me Kunio-san, you never saw us alright? We'll take things from here and get out of here, like right now" Asuma explained to the innkeeper, he then dug in his pocket and grabbed out his wallet. He took out a roll of Ryo and placed it in the man's hand in exchange for treating him and his students.

"I see, it can't be helped I suppose. I wish you guys all the best in accomplishing your mission here, may Kami keep all of you safe always" he retorted. Asuma nodded in response and quickly took his stuff and met up with his students in the hall.

As Asuma left the room, he saw his three students as well. They were all packed and ready to go, he was glad that he wasn't the only one to hear the banging from downstairs. Granted, the banging was pretty loud but props to the three of them for being observant.

"You guys ready to go?"

"Yep" Naruto answered

"Good, quick follow me" Asuma said as they went to the end of the hall and opened the window, and exited from there. Ino went first, then Shino, and lastly Naruto. Once all his students were able to get out of the inn, he quickly followed them and immediately retreated to the woods. Now that their injuries were taken care of, all they needed to do was think of a new strategy to beat their opponents from earlier. Once Kushimaru and Kimimaro were dealt with, Gato and his men would be relatively easy-pickings for them.

- With Kunio -

Kunio took a deep breath and went downstairs to open the door so that the banging would cease once and for all, Kunio arrived at the door only to see two men waiting at the front door.

"Yes?..." he said

"What the fuck took you so long old man?!... Your hearing must be shit if you can't hear us from downstairs…" the man stated.

The first guy was of average height, he wore a bonnet and sported vertical slits as markings under his eyes. He also had a sword strapped to his side, implying that he knew how to use it.

The other one was a bit taller than the first, he wasn't wearing a shirt for that matter. The man had an intricate tattoo on his body, he was also wearing an eyepatch over his right eye. He had brown hair and wore an elaborate topknot. The man also carried a sword with him which was strapped onto his back.

"The name's Zori and this is Waraji, we have some questions for you old man" Zori said to Kunio.

Kunio knew these two worked for Gato and loathed them for it, he understands having a job is necessary but working for such a vile man is a different topic altogether. Both men also seemed to enjoy doing their jobs as well, which added to the list of why Kunio seemed to dislike talking to them.

"And what would those questions be?..." he replied

"Have you seen some Konoha shinobi come by around the area? One was an adult male with a beard, he also had some Genin with him. Two of which were blonde and the last one had dark brown hair, do those descriptions ring any bells?" Zori explained.

"No, I don't think I have. If that is all, I have to go now for there are things I need to do" Kunio said as he was about to close the door but Waraji stopped him from doing so. He slipped his foot inside to prevent Kunio from closing the door, he was rather shocked that these guys were persistent.

"Not so fast old man, I think me and Zori would like to take a look inside each room inside your establishment. I suppose that won't be a problem… Right?" he said as he placed his hand on his sword's handle to intimidate Kunio.

Kunio sighed and reluctantly agreed as he allowed both of them to enter the inn, the two then made their way upstairs to check inside each and every room. Zori and Waraji believed that Kunio was hiding something from them, so they decided to further investigate the premises.

They checked the first room to see that it was empty and the room looked untouched for a while, the same applies to the other rooms they checked. They then made their way to the rooms that Asuma and his students were in just moments ago.

But Kunio planned ahead as he told his granddaughter to tidy up the two rooms while he dealt with Gato's henchmen. That was good thinking on Kunio's side, he also explained the situation to his granddaughter to prevent her from slipping up.

Zori and Waraji continued to snoop around the room only to find nothing notable, they then went to the room where Asuma stayed and found nothing as well. They then left the inn and went back into the hall, Waraji then noticed that the window at the end of the hall was open which made him a bit skeptical.

"Oi, old man. Why is the window there open?"

"To let in some fresh air of course, why?"

"Nothing… Come on Zori, there's nothing here and we're just wasting our time here" he said as both of them went back downstairs and left the building altogether.

Kunio sighed in relief for he was able to deceive those two, he then remembered Asuma and his students. "Good luck, the people of Mori no Kuni are counting on you" he thought to himself.

(A/N: Hey there, been a while yet again. I do apologize for it, this time I have no valid reason for that (I renovated my room a bit but I don't think that's a valid excuse). Inspiration was lacking lately for me which was why it took so long to update. I did receive an anonymous message, and boy it was fascinating, to say the least. Someone told me that I was one of the slowest authors they have ever seen, I do not deny that but I did clarify at the beginning that I might upload irregularly. I feel guilty for not uploading as much as I can. But the thing is, there is no rhythm to writing if you get what I mean. Sure I can stick to an upload schedule but that kinda pressures me. I suppose I can force myself to upload more but I feel like I'll just be uploading shit (I don't even know if my writing is good enough but you guys seem to enjoy it for what it is). And another thing, I am doing this as a hobby, I am not being paid for doing this haha and that's okay. I enjoy writing but I don't want it to be an obligation cause that ruins the fun for me so I hope you guys understand). Also, YBorn thanks for the review, I also got a question if I write gender-bent. I haven't tried but I think I can whip one up in due time. That's all, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, cheers! ^^)