Hello readers and welcome to the next chapter of my story. Now I hope all of you have been enjoying what you have read because I promise you I am trying my best to make it as enjoyable as possible. Anyways I plan on working on a plan to get some work on my other stories as well. Now it won't be nearly as fast as this story but at least it's something. After all I am pretty busy in life seeing as I had some medical emergencies and have to work to pay off the new car I got…anyways enough of my bitching. On with the story. (Though to be quite honest I am tempted to go through and work on editing my stories as much as I can soon as well)
Chapter 53
_Last Time_
"Asuma-sesnei!" Ino cried out watching as the man fell to his knees with the life fading from his eyes quickly
_Now_
Ino quickly ran over to Asuma and grabbed him before he fell face first on the ground. "S-Sensei" she mumbled out tearing up as she quickly tried to heal the wound refusing to believe that it was pointless. For before he could even say a final word to the girl he bled out and finally passed away.
"Damn it!" Shikamaru growls out glaring at the two men in from of them. Meanwhile Hidan started laughing manically at the faces the team was making with a large grin on his face.
"And the first sacrifice is made." He tells them with a wide smile pulling his scythe out of his body.
"Good you managed to keep the valuable one in good condition. Now hurry up and get rid of them." Kakuzu orders Hidan.
"Shut the hell up. I need to make sure they are properly sacrificed to Jashin-sama." Hidan tells his partner before beginning to walk over to towards Ino until he was stopped about half way to her by a shadow.
"Damn them. I want to get revenge for sensei so badly but we are all low on chakra right now. Not to mention they are S class ninja…we need to retreat…for now." Shikamaru thought as he quickly sent out his shadow to stop Hidan. "We need to retreat!" Shikamaru orders his shell shocked teammates who quickly snap out of it and try and follow his orders. So, Choji quickly began made his arm bigger and smacked Hidan back trusting Shikamaru to release the shadow control. Meanwhile Ino tried to wrap Asuma's arm around her shoulder but was stopped by Shikamaru quickly grabbing her and jumping back to where Choji stood while thread stabbed into the ground where she was
"Heh, sorry girl but I can't let you take away a paycheck." Kakuzu tells her while retracting his thread. Course Ino tried to go back and try again but Shikamaru held onto her.
"Ino I know it isn't what we want but we have to leave his body…if not they will kill us all. Shikamru tells the still partially shell shocked girl.
"B-but" Ino began only for him to glare at her stopping her from arguing. So, she ended up following his orders and followed her teammates without her sensei's body…much to their displeasure.
"Oh no you assholes don't" Hidan growls ready to chase after them only to be stopped by his partner.
"Leave them, we got the valuable one already." Kakuzu told him.
"Fuck no. Jashin needs his sacrifices."
"Let's take him in and then I'll make sure you can have all the sacrifices you could ever want for a while."
"Che, fine." Hidan mutters before walking away from the body forcing Kakuzu to carry his own 'prize'.
~Konoha Hospital~
"Well, I am happy to tell you that you are pregnant." A doctor tells Kurenai with a smile which made her have a small smile as well. For while she was well known to be a cold women one man did manage to capture her heart and she was happy to finally start the family she always wanted with said man. Suddenly though she felt a dull ache in her heart.
"What was that feeling? It felt like a piece of me just got torn away." Kurenai thought mildly concerned.
"Are you ok Kurenai-san?" the doctor asks her clearly concerned about the sudden change of expression bringing her out of her thoughts.
"Huh? Oh, I'm fine. Just have a lot on my mind." She told the doctor before walking out of the hospital.
~Training ground~
*huff* *huff* "I almost got it." Naruto says determined in-between pants. For after trying to cut the waterfall for hours on end plus the amount of chakra he used on his clones he was finally beginning to run low on chakra.
"I am sure you did Naruto-kun but how about you take a breather for a bit." Kakashi tells him without looking up from his book.
"One more try." Naruto told him determined. "We are giving it all this time!" Naruto yelled over to his clones who quickly agreed.
"Are you sure we should let him do this? I mean he is finally running out of chakra." Yamato asked concerned.
"He's fine." Kakashi tells him waving off the man's fear still not looking up from his book. So, Yamato looked up at the beam Naruto stood on hopping that the blond had enough sense to not to force his body to use too much chakra.
Meanwhile Naruto slammed his hands together and tried closed his eyes in focus he then began to mold his chakra between his palms and pushed out after he felt it was ready. He quickly began to tense up clearly trying his best to get the perfect amount of wind chakra.
"You know maybe we should have gave him something else to try rather than this. I mean I never heard of any of our ninja use this method to train their wind element…is this even possible?" Yamato asks seeing as they spent ages trying this with limited success.
"Hmm…maybe it's not." Kakashi tells him finally closing his book to look at his fellow ninja. "But if there is one thing Naruto is known for; it is doing the impossible." Kakashi tells him with a quick eye smile before looking at the waterfall partially surprised by what he saw. For starting just after the beam that Naruto and his clones stood on the water stopped flowing and settled into the pond below. For Naruto somehow was holding back the still flowing waters with just his chakra even as more of it fell from the source above.
Eventually though Naruto's chakra finally gave out and the water was released to fall normally. Naruto quickly began cheering at his success before his exhaustion overtook his body and made him wobble for a moment before falling from the beam to the ground below, sound asleep.
"Heh I told you. He is the number one most unpredictable ninja." Kakashi says while they both looked over at the blond surprised about what just occurred. "Now, you may want to get ready for the next step…after all if we truly do what Jiraiya suggested this will be training for you as well." Kakashi told the man with an eye smile as Yamato sighed.
~Hokage Tower~
After running all the way back to the village Team 10 was exhausted both mentally and physically. Still they quickly went up to the Hokage's office to report what happened before going to get some rest and deal with the shock they currently with feeling. After all they just watched their beloved sensei die in front of them.
"Enter." Tsunade told the team after they knocked on the door. She then looked over the team and immediately knew something was wrong.
"We made it to the temple and immediately saw that most of the temple monks were killed. After making sure that the survivors were okay we immediately went after the attackers who turned out to be these two who were dressed in black cloaks with red clouds on it." Shikamaru began pulling out the bingo book pages for Kakuzu and Hidan. "We engaged the team and found one of them to be seemingly immortal with strange skills I will explain in the report. Sadly though we had to flee from the fight after they k-killed Asuma-sensei" Shikamaru tells her with tears clearly forming in the corner of his eyes even though he was trying to hold them back.
Tsunade just grit her teeth in frustration. "So, they finally are coming after Naruto…and they already killing my ninja." She thought angrily. Plus it didn't help that the ninja they killed not only was one of the stronger ninja but was also related to her late sensei. "I-I see… all of you go get checked on by the hospital and take some time to recover. I will let Asuma-san's loved ones know the bad news and I will send out recon teams to keep an eye on the enemy for now." Tsunade told them shocking the team.
"W-what but we need to make sure they pay for what they have done. Please let us-" Ino complained wanting to make sure Hidan got what he deserved.
"And he will but I can't lose more of my ninja simply because they were too focused on revenge. Let us gather more information for now." Tsunade told her with a glare.
"But-"
"Understood Hokage-sama" Shikamaru told her cutting off Ino. He then forced his team out of the room and began walking out of the tower with them following soon after.
"Shikamaru-kun why didn't you agree with me. We could have got her to send us after him again." Ino complained.
"Yea we can't let that jerk just leave after killing sensei!" Choji told him as the normally kind 'large' man was for once clearly furious.
"I am just as upset as you two are but Hokage-sama is right. We are all low on chakra and need to rest up after the mission. If we went now not only would we not be able to defat them but we would more than likely end up dying instead. For now let's listen to her and then when she sends out the team that we will be able to join and make sure they get what they deserve." Shikamaru told them clenching his fist in frustration. Thankfully though he was still able to think through the blinding rage he felt.
"..understood." Ino told him quietly. Not completly happy but at least understood why they couldn't go right away.
~Training Ground~
After two hours Naruto finally woke up from his unplanned nap.
"Ugh, my neck." Naruto complained rubbing the back of his neck which currently felt extremely sore for the blond.
"Well falling on your head after using too much chakra will do that." Kakashi told him with an eye smile causing Naruto to glare at him.
"And you couldn't have caught me or at least move me so I am resting somewhere at least a bit more comfortable?" Naruto asked him as both of his sensei's walked over to him.
"Of course not. If I did how will you learn your lesson?" Kakashi told him simply and mentally laughed at the glare the blond gave him.
"Ass" Naruto muttered out. "Anyways now that I finally managed to cut the waterfall what is the next step?" Naruto asked looking at Kakashi who simply shrugged his shoulders.
"Even I don't know Naruto. Your father wasn't able to add an element to his rasengan so we have no idea how to go about it. I tried myself but wasn't able to so for this step you are on your own." Kakashi told him. "We are only hear to observe so you don't go overboard with training or get to frustrated and let…it out." Kakashi told him seriously.
Course when Kakashi mentioned the fox Naruto instantly had a flash back to where he hurt Jiraiya and felt the wave of emotions all over again.
"…thank you." Naruto told them seriously only getting a nod from the two men.
"Ok Yamato, do it." Kakashi ordered and said man quickly went through several hand sings before slamming his hands onto the dirt creating four pillars around them in a rectangular shape.
"All ready." Yamato tells them getting a nod from Kakashi.
"Okay Naruto summon some clones and get to work." Kakashi told the blond who created several hundred clones that all spread out over the entire area of the box. Meanwhile Kakashi and Yamato quickly got out of the area and got comfortable under the shade of a tree. Soon after Yamato got down on one knee and held an arm out braced with the other. The palm on his outstretched hand quickly developed a mark as he began to pump chakra into his technique.
"In a way this will be training for both of you. After all you always needed to work on expanding your chakra reserves more." Kakashi told his old teammate teasingly making the man send a glare his way.
"I just hope we can get Naruto to take breaks before I get chakra exhaustion myself…and unlike him I would be out for at least a day probably…these Uzumaki really are walking metahumans." Yamato thought knowing that no Anbu would ever be able to have spent so long using a crazy amount of chakra on training only to take a few hour nap and be ready to go for an even MORE chakra intensive training. He was well aware that if Naruto put his mind to it; he could easily become one of the most dangerous ninja alive…without even including if he used the Kyuubi's power.
Several hours pass and Naruto's clones were still going strong with training. Though he now had a few standing to the side for the sole purpose of taking out clones that drew on the fox's chakra before they could cause too much damage to let Yamato use less chakra worrying about them. Course they still missed some seeing as there were so many but it helped the man's technique last a bit longer. And thanks to this efficiency Naruto was making what they thought was good progress with his practice.
"Ok Naruto it's time for a break!" Kakashi called out to Naruto as the sun was beginning to set.
"Huh? But I can go on." Naruto told his sensei confused only to hear a chuckle.
"You might be able to but he can't" Kakashi told him pointing over at Yamato who was currently panting clearly exhausted.
"Just…give…me…a…minute." Yamato told them making Naruto sweat drop at the man's determination to try and hide how tired he was.
"Ok…I guess I will set up some tents for us. Unless you guys plan on going back into the village." Naruto told Kakashi who eye smiled at him.
"Go right ahead Naruto. Like I said we won't leave till you get it." Kakashi told him. So, Naruto calmly went a ways away from his training rectangle and began to set up a rather large tent. Though he only got about half way done before his eyes widened a bit and he quickly took off.
"Wait where are you going?" Yamato called out after the blond who gave no response and simply kept running.
*+A little while before+*
While Naruto was busy training with his other clones the ones on the side were left little to do but think while they watched their fellow blonds train till they died. From their chakra being used up or from them having to kill a Kyuubified clone.
*sigh* "I really wish I was created just a little bit sooner. Then maybe I would be one of the trainees instead of guard. I mean even if their lives are short at least they are dying doing something instead of standing around all day…" The clone thought looking at the training blonds with slight jealously. "Hmm…I wonder what the girls are up to right now. I mean the real me kind of left them in the dust while he left to train...I…We should probably check on them." Clone Naruto thought with a smile as he created another clone that he quickly trades places with the clone that flipped him off before accepting his fate.
"Now let's get started." Clone Naruto mumbled out running away from the training ground with Kakashi, Yamanto and the rest of the Naruto's ignoring his leaving. Soon after clone Naruto reached the village again he quickly created several more clones. One to go to each girl minus Ino who he decided to visit himself. So, he quickly scanned the village for her chakra and quickly sped off.
"Hmm she seems to be close to the tower. So, I guess her and her team either just came back from a mission or are heading out to one." Clone Naruto thought as he looked at the tower where he could feel his girlfriend was. Though he chose not to enter himself and instead decided to wait on a nearby rooftop for her to come out…even if it was exactly what he wanted to avoid by doing this in the first place. His peaceful waiting soon became concern when Ino walked out of the tower clearly depressed for some reason. "Uh oh. One of the himes is having some serious problems…I think I should let boss handle this." He thought before quickly dispersing into a cloud of smoke
*+Current time, Real Naruto+*
As soon as Naruto left the training ground he rushed towards the village as fast as he could while going over the clone's memories in more detail.
"What is going with her…and her team for that matter. They look so upset that it clearly has to be something bad. I mean I haven't seen people so depressed since…well me." Naruto thought with a frown on his face. He knew he would have to explain to his senseis later but for right now that was the least of his concerns. Instead he focused in on making sure he caught up to Ino's team to see if he would be able to make them feel better and more importantly his girlfriend. Luckily enough for him though they were walking away from the tower making it easy enough for him to find them.
"Hey guys what's wrong?" Naruto asked the group as soon as he found them.
"…we just had some bad news." Shikamaru told him not wanting to explain it.
"yea...some real bad new news" Choji agreed sadly.
"Oh…well how about I treat you guys with some calming tea?" Naruto offered feeling a bit awkward seeing as he hasn't had much experience in comforting people.
"No thanks." Choji and Shikamaru told him almost instantly. Though Ino seemed hesitant before finally giving her answer.
"S-sure Naru-kun. Let's get some tea." Ino told him with a small smile that even Naruto could tell was fake.
"Ok let's go." Naruto told her with a small smile on his face. "And hopefully I will figure out a way to make you feel better." He thought as he began to walk away only for Shikamaru to grab onto his arm.
"Naruto I know you are only doing this to make her feel better right now…but if you plan on using her broken mindset for your advantage I will make sure you regret it." Shikamaru told him completely serious with Choji nodding behind him. After all he knew that it was possible for someone to take advantage of Ino in her weakened mind set if they truly tried. Something that her 'brothers' wouldn't stand to let happen.
"I wouldn't think of it." Naruto told them completely serious looking directly into Shikamaru's eyes until said man sighed and nodded. He then let go of Naruto and let him walk away.
"I hope that Naruto is able to help her feel even a little bit better. She always has been the most emotional of the three of this…well most the time." Shikamaru thought before briefly remembering all the times Choji showed just how much of a softy he was. "So, while I know both me and Choji have our own ideas to try and cope I don't think Ino ever thought of one while she was in her fangirl stage." Shikamaru thought with a frown. After all they were told about having to possibly face losing close friends and family while in class only those of them that were serious about their careers actually took their tips to heart.
_Naruto + Ino_
After they left the team Naruto quickly brought Ino to the closest tea stand he knew was good and got both of them cups of tea to go. He then continued to walk much to Ino's confusion though she still followed. Naruto only stopped when they reached a bench in the park that was far away from anyone else currently there.
They then sat down on a bench and simply enjoyed their tea while Naruto tried to figure out the best way to bring up her problems.
"Um. So what happened to get you so upset?" Naruto asked Ino who just looks down at her cup for a moment.
"W-we were on a mission to figure out what happened to the temple where we found out that they were attacked. Thankfully the remaining monks were able to give us enough information for us to find the enemies. So, we left the temple to hunt them down and soon found to weird looking missing nin who were mainly hidden in black cloaks that had red cloud like prints on them. So, we faced these weirdos and everything was going good until one of them somehow managed to stay alive after we decapitated him. That monster then showed some weird jutsu that turned his skin a blackish color and started to give other people injuries he got. H-he then used it on Asuma-sensei and-and" Ino explained before starting to cry. "A-asuma-sensei d-di-died!" She forced out louder than she meant to before crying even more than before. Course Naruto instantly put an arm around her shoulder for support.
"I'm sorry to hear that Ino-chan. He was a good man…but I am sure he would want you to live on." Naruto told her making her glare at him through the tears.
"So you want me just to forget about him and move on!?" She growled out.
"No! No. That's not what I meant Ino-chan. I meant that he would want you to live on without him and not wallow in depression for too long. Of course you are going to mourn him and you will feel an empty spot in your heart; but the depression will get better just give it time…trust me…you just need to be the strong woman I know you are" Naruto told her gently.
"B-but it hurts so much."
"I know it does but all pain gets better with time. Trust me I would know." Naruto told her.
"How could you know? You never lost someone like this." She growled at him thinking he was just lying to her to try and get her to feel better. Something that in her opinion was one of the WORST possible things a person could do.
"Ino-chan…I lost someone I thought of as my grandfather" Naruto told her feeling a bit of sadness creep up from remembering the event. Course Ino just looked at his small frown and felt worse seeing as she knew he was trying his best to help her.
"N-naruto-kun I am so-" Ino began to tell him only for him to put a finger on her lips silencing her.
"Shh, I know you are just taking out the emotions that you are wallowing through right now…it's alright. You will feel at least a bit better after using them up…just let it all out." Naruto told her after turning her to look her right in the eyes. He then hugged her and waited for whatever she needed to do to let the emotion out.
Ino meanwhile just was looking past the blond with wide teary eyes. "N-naru-kun" She mumbled before pulling back a little bit only to wrap her arms around his chest and press her head onto his chest. She then cried into his shirt loudly not even caring if anyone heard her. Meanwhile Naruto was just holding her while gently rubbing her back trying to comfort the girl. They had no idea how long they stayed there but eventually Ino cried herself to sleep and was now dead weight in his arms as she slept peacefully.
"Well at least she is sleeping peacefully but what to do now." Naruto thought realizing that it was now late and he was alone with a sleeping girl that had tear stains visible on her cheeks. Eventually Naruto decided to carry her home and hope that he doesn't encounter too many people who would ask questions he really didn't want to answer. So, he quickly moved away from her and gently allowed her to fall down so that she was now laying on the bench. He then pushed his arms underneath her legs and neck and picked her up. He then blushed as he felt her cuddle up to him and he couldn't help but notice how her breast shook each time she breathed. "Stay focused." Naruto thought trying to shake his head to get rid of the perverted thoughts. Finally after partially succeeding he began his trip to her where he knew her house was trying his hardest to avoid as many people as possible.
~Ino's House~
"Finally." Naruto thought in relief as he made it to Ino's house and thankfully didn't have to explain why he was carrying a sleeping girl. So, he quickly opened her door which thankfully was unlocked and walked into the house. Naruto then quickly glanced around until he found what he assumed was the living room and walked over towards the couch with a smile on his face. When he reached the couch he gently put her down on the couch and looked at her as she continued to sleep.
"Good night Ino-chan. I hope you feel better." Naruto whispered to her before giving her a gentle kiss on the forehead.
"eh hem" A voice fake coughed behind him. So, he quickly froze in fear feeling killing intent directed at him. So, he slowly looked behind himself and saw Inoichi and his wife glaring at him.
"Umm, I can explain.." Naruto began to say only to noticed Inoichi's hand begin to head towards his kunai pouch. He then quickly decided to cut his losses and ran out of the house.
"Oh no you don't!" Inoichi mumbled and quickly chased after the blond. Meanwhile his wife left the chase to him and instead walked over to her daughter and placed a hand on her head. She then did a quick scan of her memories and couldn't help but smile a little bit.
"Aww he actually was trying to help her deal with her sadness rather than being the one to have caused it. Maybe the fact he has a harem doesn't make him a complete perverted slob." She thought before hearing the chase that was still going on. "Maybe I should stop the chase seeing as he really hasn't done anything wrong…meh, it is better if he has a fear of upsetting us in the future." She thought with a mental chuckle before finally picking Ino up and brought her to her room and tucked the tired girl in.
And that is where I think I am gonna end this chapter. Now I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and the small scene I put in the end. I actually enjoyed typing it up and I think it came out pretty good…course that will be decided after you readers get a chance to sink your teeth into the chapter. Anyways I tried to make it a sweetish moment between Ino and Naruto while still pushing the story along a bit. After all while I am happy that this story has lasted so long I do need to make it progress and not just lose it in random tangents. After all even I get bored of a story pretty fast if they only have fluff for more than a few chapters (note I am hoping you have felt I haven't felt that way about this story at any point either). Anyways Ja Ne.