"Shit! Who gave the order?!" Mizuki yelled inside the van.

"Looks like someone at HQ sir..." responded the driver.

Mizuki had ordered his men to wait until they had back up, now his authority was being overruled by someone else back at the base who apparently had no idea of what he or she was doing, now everything would probably go to hell for someone's hasty behavior.

"See? This is what happens when you can't have control of an operation, not even our own men!" He slammed one of his fists against the glove compartment "They seem to forget how dangerous this girl is!"

"What should we do sir?"

"What CAN we do?! I just hope that bastard doesn't destroy half the city when he gets here!"

Naruto and Ino had managed to enter one of the buildings nearby and continued to the last floor it offered. The complex was old, despite their best effort to not make noise, the circumstances forced them to move harshly through the stairs causing the inhabitants to walk out of their apartments to see where the noise was coming from. Ino opened the last door leading to the rooftop and Naruto followed.

"Can you walk walls?" Ino asked while they continued moving.

"Walls?! No! I've never done that!"

Ino stopped right there and turned around to face him, a stern look on her face "How good is your chakra usage exactly?!"

"I only use it for fighting! Not for running! If it helps, I can jump longer distances!"

"Good, at least for now that'll help, stay close and do as I say understand?"

"Ino but wha-"

"Naruto! Understand?!" she grabbed him by the shoulders, her eyes told Naruto the urgency of the situation, he nodded and both continued. From one of the corners of the rooftop they could see the van had not moved, the armed men who were in pursuit were nowhere to be seen, Ino figured they were still inside the restaurant or down below in one of the streets looking through the crowd, her bike was still parked where she left it but it would be reckless to just get to it without a plan, she had no idea if the van had someone else waiting for them to show up and shoot or if the goons sent after them would see them immediately after they reached it.

Without warning Ino jumped to the next rooftop using some chakra to provide enough impulse for her legs, the leap was not that long so Naruto could practically do the same based on his previous words. Seconds later he followed and Ino felt relieved he actually managed to pull off the jump. Now both were exactly above Ino's motorcycle but the risk was still high, especially since she was not entirely sure how good Naruto was using his chakra.

Ino opened her trench coat and Naruto noticed the type of belt she had on carried several small satchels, one in particular had some black orbs around the size of an egg, she pulled out one of them "These are smoke bombs, I assume you know what they're for right?" Naruto just nodded again, at this point he realized questioning her would not help.

Before either of them could make the next move, a sound coming from the rooftop's door caught their attention, the door was violently pushed and the eight armed men came out of it with their rifles aimed directly at Ino "Don't move!" both blondes stood still as the men surrounded them "We're here for the boy, give him to us and we won't shoot!" said the leader of the squadron. Of course Ino knew this was not true, years of training helped her see through the lies of people and she was certain the moment they had Naruto they would open fire against her because she theoretically was a threat. Naruto himself was powerless, fighting skills alone would prove useless against their bullets, his fist clenched but then Ino made his temper halt.

"It's fine Naruto..." she stated and she simply pressed one of his hands urging him to go, he realized she had a plan but was not entirely sure what to expect.

"Move!" one of the armed men commanded as Naruto slowly walked away from Ino, he could not help but look at her as he continued to take distance, she showed him her confident smile. One of the masked men grabbed Naruto by one of his arms and pulled him towards them harshly while keeping an eye on Ino all the time, now the remaining soldiers surrounded her, their weapons still aimed.

"Do it!"

"NO!" Naruto screamed as they opened fire, trying to run back to where she was but founding himself restrained by the man who had pulled him away. He watched in horror as her body convulsed while the bullets went through her, then they stopped. Ino's body slowly fell on its knees and tumbled down to the floor with a loud thud. Screams of people on the streets below could be heard.

"BASTARDS!" He screamed.

"We got the target sir, moving back to your position."

"What the fuck?! Do you want to bring the police here?!"

"Orders from the command center sir, we've taken care of the Slayer and...! Wait! Where is she?!"

Seconds before where Ino's body lied a block of wood full of bullet holes had taken its place, she was gone.

"Gah!" One of the men suddenly yelled, then collapsed to the ground dead.

"Ugh!" Then another one, Naruto could barely see what was going on, the his captor also screamed when something from behind pierced right through him, it was a katana.

"Report! What's going on up there?!"

"I don't- Agh!"

"Report!" But Mizuki would not get any response back, the line went static.

Naruto could not move, his body was completely paralyzed even though he was no longer being held, he mustered all his willpower and finally could see Ino, she was moving at a speed he had not seen before and taking out the squadron one by one with a katana sword, each with one methodical and swift thrust to a vital organ, like flies, they all dropped dead in seconds. When the rooftop felt silent she swung the weapon to clean the blood and put it back inside the sheath around her waist.

"W-where did you pull that from?!"

His answer came right away when she pulled from one of her satchels a small paper scroll, she opened it and by making a hand sign the weapon vanished into a puff of smoke, then she rolled the scroll and put it away "Scrolls are handy to carry anything, now let's see..." She walked past the still shocked Naruto casually as if nothing had happened and crouched to take a closer look at one of the bodies, she noticed they did not have any sort of emblem or tag to identify them, she pulled the mask away from the corpse but could not recognize the face. "These men were hired mercenaries, no tags, no IDs, no trail to follow them back to the source, whoever sent them must want the job done discretely."

"W-what's going on Ino?! What did I get myself into?!" His voice clearly shaken.

"I don't know but this is a race against time now, we need to get out of here before more guys like these come..." She walked to the edge of the building "The same principle for jumping applies here, just channel chakra to your feet but not for the jump itself, only the fall, that is if you don't want to break your legs..." Naruto just gulped, he had never tried such a stunt, despite the fact that the building had only a few floors, Ino noticed he was hesitant about the next part and sighed in defeat "Don't tell me that you haven't done this before..."

"No, not really..."

"Take my hand then, I'll help you."

Naruto did as he was instructed and took the hand she offered, immediately he felt her chakra signature again, only this time somehow she had managed to channel it as if she had control of his body "She can do that too?" he thought. The next part would not be much of his liking as inadvertently Ino pulled him to jump with her to his horror, she used in mid air the smoke bomb from earlier and it landed directly in front of the van creating a cloud of smoke than grew by the second while both landed safely on the ground, Naruto still felt his heart was about to come out of his mouth as he landed, Ino simply stroked his cheek.

"You're fine, you made it, now let's get out of here!"

"Shit! They're escaping!" Mizuki grabbed his radio frantically while the smoke blocked their view "Squadron leader! They're in front of the restaurant, repeat! They're in front of the restaurant! Start the van!" he said the last part to the driver, he obliged, still they were at a disadvantage already. Not only the crowd of people running from the scene blocked their path, Ino was already speeding away from them, Naruto holding on to her for his life. While they moved further and further away from the scene, he could not help but notice the color of the smoke.

"WHAT IS IT WITH YOU AND PURPLE?!"

"WHAT? I LIKE IT!" she responded smiling.

"I GUESS THIS IS A BAD TIME TO ASK WHAT'S GOING ON HUH?!"

"VERY BAD TIME! YOU'LL HAVE YOUR ANSWERS SOON THOUGH, JUST BE PATIENT UNTIL THEN!"

"CAN YOU AT LEAST TELL ME WHAT IS A HOKAGE?!"

"THE LEADER OF THE SHINOBI HERE IN JAPAN! YOU'LL MEET HIM WHEN WE GET THERE!"

Ino knew a chase would start soon so she prepared, she turned on a small red button on the left handle of the bike and then a green led went on intermittently.

"WHAT IS THAT?!"

"I'M LETTING MY TEAM KNOW OUR LOCATION!"

"They're heading east sir, we're in pursuit!" Mizuki said through his radio. Miles away from the action inside a dark room with a large monitor three shadows watched everything unfold through the team's cameras on their helmets, the order to capture Naruto had come from this place.

"Was it necessary for you to send it?" one of the shadows said in a calmed manner "We can send a more organized team with some of our own."

"Ino Yamanaka has killed more of our men than any other Shinobi in the last months, if we want to capture the Uzumaki kid we need to handle her first, as you noticed, she can dismantle regular people with ease." said the leader of the three sitting in the middle of the room, never looking away from the screen.

"But project is unbalanced..." said a female voice, the last of the three shadows "Who knows if it'll be capable of defeating her."

"We don't need it to defeat her, just to get her away from the boy, he's our target currently." said the leader.

The three gathered were alerted when a cell phone on the table vibrated, it was a text message, the woman in the room grabbed it.

"The police has been alerted, they're sending several units to the area."

"Can we trust your source?"

"My contact there is reliable, feel free to check with your own people if you doubt my word."

"Tch..."

"So the police wants a piece of the action..."

"What should we do about them sir? What about the bodies?" asked the other man.

"Let Mizuki handle that, it won't matter."

His eyes were red as blood, three tomoe surrounding each pupil as he continued watching the large monitor in the room.

Ino and Naruto continued their hasty escaped, dodging cars and trucks alike, Naruto was feeling a bit nauseous due to Ino's driving skills, while he had to admit she was very good at it, he reminded himself never to eat that much again if she ever gave him another ride. It would have been the worst time to barf but he thanked the heavens Ino slowed down once they noticed nobody was following them.

They resumed their escape through a light traffic due to the hour, Naruto took the opportunity to get out of the way some of his thoughts now in a less loud tone since they were no longer being chased

"So... you seem to have killed before..."

"What of it?" Ino said bluntly.

"Nothing! I mean... you didn't seem bothered by it is all..." He paused when he noticed she would not respond back, the girl who was laughing with him minutes earlier was no longer present "I use chakra only for fighting, you are apparently much more knowledgeable about it."

"I have to be, I've trained almost all my life as a Shinobi so I need to know these things."

"Aside from that and your name, you haven't really told me much about you..."

"No I haven't..."

"...I see." His head lowered a bit obviously feeling disappointment due to her response but didn't press his luck, the spike haired blond figured sooner or later she would tell him more about herself if she felt comfortable enough. "Were are we going exactly?"

"Mount Tanzawa."

"Mount Tanzawa?! Isn't that like, outside of Tokyo?!"

"Yes it is."

"That's a long trip on motorcycle don't you think?!"

"Don't worry about that, my team will pick us up by helicopter."

"Your team sounds like the military type you know..." he raised an eyebrow.

"That's one way of looking at it, they're well trained Shinobi."

"But what about my stuff here?! If I'm traveling with you at least let me get some clothes from my apartment, it won't take long I swear!"

"Can't do that, I already told you if we go to your place we'll attract more of those guys and if I'm right, that is the first place they'll go looking for you so I can't risk going there."

Naruto knew she was right, his personal belongings would have to sit there for the time being, if he was lucky his place would not be raided while he was gone, which begged the question.

"For how long will I need to be away?"

"For as long as needed, that depends on the Hokage, not me."

"I want to find my parents, what they told me-"

"Whatever they told you it was for you and you alone, you don't need to tell me..."

"Wait, so you didn't see them?... I thought..."

"It doesn't work that way, I receive the message but I don't look at the content, it's none of my business anyway."

"But that is one of your abilities right? I mean you could've seen it if you wanted to..."

"... Yes I could have."

"So what is your role as a Shinobi?..."

"I'm a mind walker, I can see people's thoughts, amongst others things."

Naruto slowly grinned "Thanks."

"For what?"

"For telling me something else about yourself!" his tone was almost triumphant, on the other hand Ino had not realized she had unintentionally released that information to him but she was fine with letting him have it, no harm in that, she couldn't resist herself saying her next words just to tease him.

"I can also erase people's memories if I want to so don't get ahead of yourself mister!"

Naruto went wide eyes and started sweating bullets at her statement, she had to admit his expressions were priceless and started laughing, deep down he was glad she had let some of her nicer side return but as soon as she heard the sound of a helicopter she stopped and looked through one of her rear view mirrors.

"Looks like they found us!"

Naruto turned around and felt the air leave his lungs when he spotted a Black Hawk helicopter getting closer, Ino picked up the speed. The plan was simple, get to the rendezvous point and wait for extraction, except now they were being chased by air. Naruto's heart was pounding hard against his chest, he had not felt this level of adrenaline before, at any point during their escape a lot of things could go wrong for them, he tried his best not to think about it but Ino's dangerous turns had him on the edge of his seat, barely holding on to her.

Ino continued to monitor the advance of the helicopter when she noticed someone leaned out from one side, a person garbed in a dark, hooded cloak. Said person created apparently out of thin air a shuriken the size of a truck wheel and prepared to launch it, Ino's eyes went wide, she quickly darted in front of a large bus to avoid the line of sight but this did little to avoid the next part. Both blondes could literally hear the metal behind them being shredded and some screams as the shuriken went through the bus, the vehicle lost control and crashed onto other smaller vehicles creating a chain reaction, due to the size of the highway Ino the opportunity to increase her speed some more and get away from the chaos, some drivers were not so lucky and eventually lost control of their own cars ending up being part of the carnage.

"FUCK! DID YOU SEE THAT?!"

Ino ignored his voice and focused on the task at hand, the helicopter was getting close again.

"INO! THAT GUY IS A SHINOBI!

"NO SHIT!"

Ino checked again through one of the mirrors, the cloaked person's right arm was gone, yet parts of metal, mostly what appeared to be blades, former where the limb once was "So he's using some sort of magnetic jutsu..." she thought. The mysterious person prepared again for another attack but the sound of sirens and then gunfire interrupted. Several police vehicles had arrived and were attempting to shoot down the helicopter.

"I'VE NEVER BEEN MORE GLAD TO SEE THE POLICE BEFORE!" Said Naruto.

"THIS IS OUR CHANCE, WE'LL LOSE THEM INSIDE THE TUNNELS!"

"WHAT TUNNELS?"

Naruto looked ahead and saw they were already pretty close to a mountain with a tunneling system running through it. He immediately knew the helicopter would not be able to follow them once they entered, only the police could, at the moment however they seemed pretty busy themselves. The shuriken was now being aimed at the police cars. Several vehicles went flying through the air with passengers still inside, One sweep was all it took to take down at least half of the force, the ones that remained started shooting at the helicopter.

"HOW GOOD IS YOUR AIM?"

"I'VE NEVER FIRED A GUN BEFORE!"

"NOT A GUN, HERE!" She gave him a odd knife with a scrap of paper wrapped around the handle "THAT'S A KUNAI WITH AN EXPLOSIVE TAG! I NEED YOU TO THROW IT WHEN I TELL YOU, CAN YOU DO THAT?!" Naruto nodded.

As they approached the tunnel's entrance the helicopter once again tried to cut the distance gap before they could enter, one more time the cloaked person recalled the huge shuriken and threw it at them.

"NOW!"

Naruto countered with the kunai, as both weapons clashed the tag immediately exploded, the entrance collapsed with tons of rocks and debris behind them effectively blocking the path for anyone to follow them, Ino was hoping the scattered parts of the shuriken had at least managed to hit the helicopter and bring it down but now there was no way of knowing it, at least they had managed to get away unharmed, or so she thought.

"Ino..."

She noticed Naruto had stopped grabbing her by the waist and turned realizing a blade had found a way into one of his shoulders, he felt somewhat dizzy and was about to fall from the motorcycle but she caught him before that could happen. Her motorcycle stopped on one side of the road and immediately she went to check his wound. Fortunately the blade did not manage to cut deep enough but he was still bleeding a lot, yet again, Ino was prepared for such scenario and was about to surprise Naruto one more time when one of her hands started glowing with a green aura.

"What are you-"

"Shh... I need to stop the bleeding, keep still..." Naruto did his best not to move while still sitting on the motorcycle, he did not say anything but noticed the concern on her face, this caused him to smile weakly.

"You're full of surprises you know..."

"I'd like to think that." She smiled back but kept her focus on the wound, as soon as she could feel the bleeding had stopped she pulled the blade without warning him, he yelped and a small trickle of blood came out from his shoulder but Ino continued using her healing palm to suppress further bleeding while disposing of the piece of metal.

"You could've warned me you were going to do that!"

"Oh stop complaining so much about everything, I thought you were tougher, you know, since you fight and all that..."

He knew she was only trying to keep his optimism up despite the situation they both were in and even if she sounded mean but her smile gave her away, it was a strange way of making him feel better, anyone else would have pissed him off at this point with the same level of sarcasm, she, however, did not.

"Can you move?" Naruto nodded, slowly he got up from the motorcycle "Good, keep your hand pressed there." She started looking around "Now if I remember right these tunnels have emergency exits that lead to the surface, we need to find one and alert my team, they were supposed to pick us up just outside of this mountain anyway. We'll ditch the bike here, by now that copter must be on the other side of this tunnel waiting for us. Here." She removed the device that was bleeping on her bike earlier and handed it to him "Let's go."

Ino offered herself to support Naruto while they crossed the road but he refused and opted to follow her only, he didn't want to become a burden for her, especially now. Both continued moving through the tunnel until eventually they noticed a green door to their left, this was the exit Ino was looking for, it took at least six floors for them to reach the hatch, Naruto was starting to feel weak again, the bleeding had stopped but going up the stairs trying to keep up with Ino was proving to be difficult in his state. Ino opened the hatch and both found themselves once again outside looking at the night sky, this time much clearer and away from the city lights that clouded the firmament, she thought if they were not in such a predicament currently they could actually enjoy the view for a moment, it was a great sight but instead she ignored the thought and helped Naruto out of the passage.

Both could hear a propeller behind them, Ino noticed Naruto's expression of worry and turned around to see the reason, she could not believe it, the black hawk had managed to predict somehow where they would show up, the cloaked person clearly smirking at them despite the lack of visibility.

"Got you."

A sniper bullet was fired from another helicopter and found it's mark, it hit just behind the main rotor, where the engine was, surprisingly the bullet did not cause an immediate explosion but it served its purpose, to destabilize the enemy's own helicopter and cause gasoline to leak out.

"All yours Asuma-sensei."

"Katon: Haisekishō! (Fire Release: Ash Pile Burning)"

A cloud of ash surrounded the black hawk, Ino immediately recognized the jutsu "GET DOWN!" she yelled taking down Naruto and covering him as best she could, what followed next was huge explosion.

-0-

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Second chapter done, might go back and review some of the things I wrote to see if everything was well written, while English is not my native tongue I'd like to think I have little to no grammatical errors when I write this, Translate and spellcheck are a huge help, especially since I'm writing most of this stuff from my cellphone instead of a computer at the moment :)

I know I said in the previous chapter this would be a weekly chapter upload but due to some personal stuff I couldn't upload earlier, already working on more chapters, hopefully I'll have enough time to deliver at least one more in the following days to close the gap, leave a review if you wanna ask something or give me feedback, enjoy!