The Allied Headquarters was flooded with the returning divisions as countless Naruto clones devastated the enemy forces on all battlefields. Medics began the tall order of getting the wounded found and cared for amongst all the chaos.
So Ino found herself helping Neij into one of the massive tents sent up for a hospital. A triage medic on duty directed her where to take him, and Ino dropped him off. She was about to head out to retrieve more patients when a Jonin stopped her, "Let the genin retrieve the wounded, you can go over there and help."
The senior medic was gone again before she could respond, so she stifled a yawn and headed where ordered, reporting to the charge medic. The haggard man barely spared her a glance and pointed to his left.
She walked up to the first man who was tightly holding a gauze pad to his bleeding side, the sword wound only a few inches deep. She greeted him and smiled, removing the gauze, and thoroughly cleaning and numbing the area. She then measured out enough chakra to close the wound. She sent him off and out of the temporary hospital.
She then turned to the next patient. Hours went by filled with mending, setting, and patching burns, breaks, and cuts in a mindless blur.
"Beautiful," her next patient greeted her, and she looked up in surprise to see Sai, his left arm cradled close to his chest and wrapped sloppily.
Ino carefully unwrapped his arm to avoid jostling the break, wrinkling her nose at the inflamed red skin around the protruding bone. The smell combined with the color signaled an infection.
"How," she asked as she killed the nerves in his arm before setting it.
Sai cocked his head at her, "Does it matter how in regard to healing it, or is this an expression of concern between friends?"
Ino sighed, wondering how on earth Sakura put up with him on her team, "I guess it's the latter."
Sai looked at her without blinking, "Do you guess because you are unsure, or is this an example of avoiding a more complicated explanation by agreeing with what your friend has said?"
"Just tell me," Ino snapped, grinding her teeth to prevent herself from chewing him out. Her patience had long ago been worn thin by fatigue.
Sai did not need to ask about her apparent anger, and he displayed his survival instincts by complying, "I believe I received this particular injury by engaging a formally living Hidden Stone ninja. He had use of the metal-style blood line trait, and I caught his right hook with my arm in order to protect my head from injury."
Ino nodded as she finished cleaning the area. She then focused on closing the open skin where Sai's ulna once protruded. She then poked and prodded with her chakra to assess the progression of the infection. She pulled out a needle and anti-biotic vial, a little concerned, "This should take care of the worst of it but keep an eye on this infection. Find a medic if it gets worse or doesn't improve after four days."
He nodded, and she gave him the shot, using a flicker of chakra to heal the injection site.
"Thank-you, Beautiful," he said, with his best attempt at a genuine smile.
Ino felt a blush coming on and shook it off, "You can just call me Ino, you know. It's not mandatory to have nicknames for all of your friends."
"It's not," he asked, looking at her for an explanation.
"Well, I, uh," Ino faltered, not knowing how to explain it, "I guess it's just something you have to feel. You can't force a nickname on someone. You'll just know when it happens, and it will have a special meaning between the two of you."
He continued looking at her and Ino sighed. Sakura would be much better at this. "Take Sakura and me for instance. We've been friends for a long time, but when we first met, she was being bullied because of the size of her forehead. When I reached out to her, we formed our first bond because of that," she paused, looking back at Sai, hoping he was getting it.
He had a thoughtful look on his face, which she took to be a good sign, "Whenever I call her Forehead, it's a mutual feeling and memory between us that we understand, even if no one else does."
Sai nodded; his face still thoughtful. Ino added as an afterthought, "Until you find a nickname, just call someone by their name. Sometimes, they will even tell you specifically what to call them."
He leaned in close to her and studied her eyes, making her feel embarrassed and wanting to pull back. Just as she was about to question him, he said, "I've heard people call you a female dog on several occasions, and I've recently learned that this is a negative term people call other people who are inferior or are bossy and uncaring."
Ino floundered and bit her lip, her face flushing red as her anger reared up. She was about to correct him on a few points (and interrogate him for names) when he continued, "I don't think that's an accurate description of you."
"What do you mean," Ino asked, feeling her anger fade as it was replaced by curiosity.
"You are a medic for one, saving peoples' lives, and you stood up for a bullied girl at least once. You were busy with your duties here, but you made time to explain something to me. I think you are very kind, and I would like to ask you something."
"What," she asked, her face flushing once more, but for a different reason.
"May I continue to call you 'Beautiful', because I think it describes you, and now we have this memory together," Sai said, a small smile on his face, not looking forced or fake for once.
"S-sure," she nodded, still blushing.
Smiling wider, Sai raised her hand to his lips in good-bye, and disappeared through the door, leaving Ino feeling shaky.
Hinata rushed in only a few moments later, her whole demeanor screaming worried. "I-Ino," she greeted, stopping short to fiddle with her fingers.
"What's wrong," Ino asked, recognizing the girl's extreme nervousness as a sign of bad news or the proximity of Naruto.
She fidgeted a little more before answering. "Naruto was here," she began, and Ino relaxed a little, "The last of the enemy army has been sealed or destroyed."
Ino smiled, but Hinata remained rigid, making Ino feel a creeping sense of dread, "There only remains the capture of Madara and Kabuto, which Naruto departed to take care."
Ino nodded, hoping the girl's concern was over Naruto's safety.
"T-the t-thing is, well, I just h-heard th-that," she had to stop, trying to gain composure.
"The thing is, Sakura, is…she's," Ino felt like she swallowed lead and sank into a chair, "missing."
Ino felt tears prick her eyes as the unfairness of the situation weighed on her. The end of the war and Sakura was dead or captured. She bit her lip to keep from crying.
Hinata fidgeted again, and Ino wondered how it could get worse. 'Don't tempt fate with those words,' she reminded herself.
"It was reported by one witness that she, s-she d-d-defected," Hinata said, struggling to finish the sentence.
Ino first felt like someone hit her with a sledgehammer, and then she felt a keen sense of disbelief, "It was just one witness, right? They could have been confused or mistaken someone else for her, right?"
Hinata nodded grimly, "That's why she's been declared MIA, until it can be determined one way or another."
Ino nodded, the tears pooling in her eyes threatening to spill over in a cascade.
Halfway between HQ and Sasuke and Sakura
Naruto flew through the woods, not using the nine-tails chakra or sage mode, hoping to conserve some chakra after all he had been expending that day.
He had sensed his friends' chakra and knew they weren't too far away from his current location. He could easily reach them before nightfall if he kept his pace and they kept theirs. He had also sensed Madara's dark chakra, and to his worry, Madara was close to his teammates.
Naruto was leaving Kabuto and the ending of the impure world resurrection jutsu to Itachi. Itachi had taught him a thing or two during their encounter, and he now knew that saving Sasuke did not have to be his burden alone. He could share the weight of that burden with someone like Sakura.
He was just itching for the little things of the war to be over. There was so much that he had to do, so much that he had to change. The whole world would never be the same.
He couldn't resist a grin, thinking of how he would break the ninjas' curse, and how Sasuke would get to see that world, Sakura too.
Everyone back at HQ could think all the thoughts of her betrayal that they wanted to, but Naruto knew better.
He just hoped they would name one of their children after him. He also liked the sound of 'Uncle Naruto'; it had a nice ring to it.