Naruto and Ino watched as the helicopter burned below them, the flames continued to consume the remaining parts of the aircraft and for good measure they all waited for at least one more minute to make sure no one would come out from the flames, at this point, Naruto was more than convinced anything was possible. The other helicopter, a similar looking black hawk but painted dark red approached them, a tall man with brown eyes, olive skin, short black spiky hair, and a beard extended his hand to both blond teenagers. Ino helped Naruto enter first and then she followed.
"We're clear Chōji, take us out of here!" The man told the pilot, he nodded and the helicopter flew away from the scene.
After there was enough distance created, Naruto felt dizziness and finally collapsed, Ino gasped "Naruto!" her reflexes allowed her to catch him before he could touch the metallic surface of the helicopter, she gently turned his body on one side, his wound had reopened, most likely due to the last bump he took courtesy of Ino, now the loss of blood clearly noticeable staining her uniform and hands.
"Damn it! He's loosing a lot of blood!"
"Let me check." one of her teammates approached them, the one with the sniper rifle, a man with shoulder length black hair tied in a spiky ponytail. He was no medic but could make a guess "Did you check for any remaining pieces inside?"
Ino shook her head, how could she have been so dumb? When she removed the original longer blades from his shoulder she was so eager to close the wound fast she forgot to check for remains inside that could possibly tear more blood vessels or worse, she quickly activated her healing palm jutsu on both hands and using her fingers she slightly parted the flesh opening, Naruto winced painfully despite being close to passing out.
"Asuma-sensei! Your lighter!"
The man who had previously helped them get on board pulled from one of his pockets a small silver lighter and tossed it to Ino, she caught it with her free hand and immediately ignited the small flame it produced.
"Shikamaru, keep his wound open!"
Her teammate Shikamaru did as he was told, Ino performed a hand seal to concentrate all the green healing chakra on the tip or her index and middle fingers then dipped them into the lighter's fire creating a temporary green flame, she only had a few minutes to use this jutsu as it was considered a very unorthodox procedure. Without wasting a second she pushed her fingers inside the wound causing Naruto to let out a painful scream. Shikamaru moved closer to minimize his movement.
"What are you doing exactly Ino?"
"Getting rid of any foreign objects inside him, as long as I keep the chakra flow steady then the fire will not burn any tissue..."
"Only inorganic material, smart." he said.
Less than a minute passed before Naruto started feeling a pleasant sensation, he did not know at the moment if it was her jutsu or simply his loss of blood and quite frankly he did not care, whatever she was doing it was working, soon he recovered his voice.
"...So you can heal, you can fight much better than I can, you're smart, know how to drive... Is there anything you can't do?"
"Shh, don't talk..." the praise did not go unnoticed by the rest of the team, Shikamaru gave her a smug look prompting her to silently reply also with her eyes to keep quiet.
"Ino is a very capable Shinobi." it was Asuma speaking as he approached Naruto and knelt to offer his hand "I'm Asuma Sarutobi."
"...Naruto Uzumaki." he weakly shook hands with him.
"This here is Shikamaru Nara and Chōji Akimichi, you already met Ino of course."
"Guys, let him rest, I've put him through a lot tonight. I'll disinfect the wound once we get to our place, Chōji!" She averted her eyes to the cockpit "Call ahead and let them know we need a medical team ready!"
"You got it!" he replied.
To Naruto it was still incredible how her demeanor changed like turning the page of a book, a moment she was fun and carefree, then she turned relentless and serious, he assumed it had something to do with her Shinobi persona, maybe she was simply like that, many women were based on things he read, not that he had met that many but he remembered even his mother flipped the switch the same way. He smiled as he watched the night sky, maybe this would not be so bad as he thought initially, slowly he closed his eyes for the rest of the flight.
As they flied into the distance, they failed to notice someone had indeed come out of the crashed pile or burning scraps that was the black hawk, the former cloaked figure, a tall and fit man with a pale complexion and no hair, as well as a horizontal scar that ran from his right temple to the bridge of his nose, his right arm had been amputated up to the bicep but he summoned scraps of metal from the crashed helicopter, forming them into thin small blades and thus creating an arm with them. He had numerous red eyes inserted all over his body, this included his head, shoulders, pectorals, triceps, the back of his left forearm, and one on the back of his left hand. His right eye was held open by eight stitches, the eye housed within was noticeably bloodshot and had a darkened sclera. He silently watched as the other helicopter disappeared into the distance.
"What now sir?"
The room went silent, they had been watching the entire situation through the monitor, even their 'project' as they called it, had failed in its mission.
"Senior President, if I may-"
"You may not. Your incompetence costed us eight of our men tonight, I told you that Ino Yamanaka was dangerous, she's nicknamed the Slayer for a reason..."
"F-forgive Senior President!"
"Leave, make arrangement for my transport, we're done here!" The leader of the trio stood up from his chair, his presence commanded authority without question, both figures next to him bowed and went to make their exit.
"Not you Naori, I need to discuss something first."
"Yes sir?" the woman known as Naori closed the door after the other man left.
"Have you located Sasuke? Tomorrow we have a press conference scheduled and he knows he cannot miss it."
"I have sir, he's at the Grand Nikko Tokyo Daiba in the bay area, his bodyguards reported his presence there."
"Tell them to bring him home at once."
"Yes sir, what about the project sir? And the Uzumaki kid?"
"Bring him back to the base for diagnosis, there is nothing we can do now about that kid, we had our chance and we missed it, now we must be patient and work on other solutions, he's not the only key to get to them…"
"As you wish sir, would that be all?"
"It is."
Naori bowed and proceeded to open the door to take her leave, the only man left in the room was the Senior President, he continued staring at the monitor a few more seconds.
"You win this round Minato…" he smirked.
Sasuke Uchiha had everything, the family name, the money, the cars, the looks, the women, a lifestyle anyone would kill for literally, yet he was not satisfied with it. He desperately tried to find something else outside of his boring life, his father had controlled every aspect of his life up until that point, his education, they way he would dress, even his social life had been affected, due to these circumstances he opted to play the rebellious card from time to time just to annoy his dad, it was entertaining to watch his reaction when Sasuke, as the public figure he was yet never asked to become, embarrassed the name of the Uchiha in front of everyone.
He was enjoying himself at the moment, rolling some dice at the hotel's casino, surrounded by women and of course with a lot of attention going his way. This was a temporary escape, spending the family's fortune with strangers and overall getting as far from his father's claws as he could to experience a taste of freedom every now and then.
"Blow them for me honey." Sasuke asked one of the many girls that surrounded him while he played Craps, the girl happily did as requested, he then threw the dice and to everyone's surprise and excitement, the raven haired boy won, he hugged and kissed the girl responsible for his lucky throw.
A moment later someone passed through the crowd surrounding him and tapped his shoulder to get his attention, in the middle of all the laughter Sasuke turned to realize it was one of his bodyguards, someone he considered a friend.
"Your dad just got word you're here, he wants you back at the mansion." the man said while getting close enough to Sasuke's ear.
"Did he now?" He smirked "Did he say why?"
"Sasuke, there's no need to provoke him, you know how he gets, I think we're in enough trouble just being here."
"You mean I'M in trouble Suigetsu, let me handle my father, you guys are just doing your job and there is nothing wrong with that."
"I'd rather not risk finding out, I know you don't like him but these stunts you pull sometimes make me take his side."
Sasuke raised an eyebrow at his last sentence "What are you so scared of? Tomorrow he will name me his successor at that stupid conference he set up and everything will be good, Uchiha Corporation will eventually pass to me and you can rest assured you won't need to find another job after that."
"Be that as it may, your dad is still the boss now Sasuke, can we just go please?"
"'Sigh' Fine fine…" Sasuke was annoyed but opted to follow Suigetsu's advice and leave the place, his other nine bodyguards helped him make way across the crowd who was still cheering him they reached the front of the casino three black SUVs waited for them, Sasuke took the one in the middle along with Suigetsu and two more guard, a woman with red hair as the driver and a large and imposing young man with an orange haired mohawk, then they all took off. On their way to the destination Sasuke's curiosity got the better of him.
"Did my father tell you what he wanted?"
"It was that woman Naori who called, just said to bring you home, nothing else..."
"Tch... so that woman does his bidding now... While we're at it, let's go get some food, all that gambling made me hungry."
Suigetsu hated dealing with Sasuke's rebellious attitude most of the times because he knew he could lose his job at any moment. Even when Sasuke assured him he had nothing to fear from his father, he knew very well which Uchiha paid his salary.
"We shouldn't keep him waiting..."
"My father didn't have the decency to call me himself, he tells his lapdogs to do it for him so yes, he can wait, and I already told you I'm hungry. Tayuya, can you take us somewhere where they sell good Onigiri?"
"Yes Sasuke-sama." She replied.
Suigetsu internally cursed his luck.
Naruto remembers some sort of barrier, to his surprise they never crashed, they landed somewhere on top of a large building, his last thoughts before he finally succumbed to deep sleep was Ino's voice.
"He needs a transfusion quick!"
"Gosh Ino-pig, what did you do to him?" the voice came from a girl with short pink hair dressed in a white nurse uniform.
"Sakura I have no time for your petty insults, his blood type is B.
Sakura Haruno, of all the medics they could send it had to be her, a rude girl with egotistical attitude and with the ability to get under anyone's skin, especially Ino's. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending which side you took, she was also the best medic ninja they had and she was more than qualified to save Naruto's life at the moment, Ino had already done everything she could, though deep inside she knew she could have taken Sakura's place any day. Four more medics were already prepared to receive Naruto, they placed him on a stretcher and took him past a large emergency door leading to the hospital's facilities.
Ino tried to hide the look of concern printed on her face, she felt a hand touching one of her shoulders.
"Relax Ino, he'll be fine." it was Shikamaru, her teammate, someone who happened to be very good a reading people's faces.
"I know..."
"You don't sound so sure."
"I just hate it when people get hurt on my watch Shika..."
Asuma intervened "For someone who just met him, you sound awfully concerned Ino, something happened?"
"I.. feel guilt, he told me he wanted to find his parents badly and here I come and ruin his night, he could've died-"
"But he didn't, you saved him and you brought him here, there's no need for you to feel guilt about anything." Ino just looked at her sensei surprised while he pulled out a cigar "Can I have that lighter back please?"
"Oh, sure..." She had not noticed she still had the lighter with her and handed it back to Asuma, he lit the cigar calmly and put the lighter away.
"You did a good job Ino, all of us did, Chōji, put that chopper away, I'll go file the report with the Hokage, you guys go home and get some rest." Without saying another word Asuma walked into edge of the building and disappeared.
Chōji opened a scroll and with a hand seal made the helicopter disappear in a huge puff of smoke, then he put it away much like Ino had done with her sword before.
"Man I don't know about you guys but I'm hungry after a mission, wanna get something to eat?"
"I already had dinner..." Ino said in a low tone, Shikamaru noticed she was still distraught.
"Looks like it's just us Chōji, come, let's give her some space." Shikamaru said and started to walk away
"He's in good hand Ino, go home." said Chōji with a smile before following his other teammate, much like Asuma, they also disappeared as soon as they reached the edge of the hospital's rooftop.
Ino was left by herself there, with her own thoughts, she had tried to not make a habit of worrying about a person she did not know, Naruto was her mission, that was all she was supposed to be concerned about at the beginning, he was her target and she had accomplished her goal, somehow internally she was struggling to make herself believe that the boy was only that, a name and not someone she should concern herself with, she had enough things to deal with herself to be worrying about someone else's life, even if said life was currently unconscious in part thanks to her.
"He's in good hands... sure." she repeated Chōji's last words "Of course he is..."
At least a dozen police patrols had arrived on the scene, forensic inspectors and investigators were on top of the roof where apparently a massacre had taken place, several people ran from one side to the other asking questions, handing instructions and taking photos and samples of the surroundings, it was a very strange sight, the National Police Agency rarely had to deal with these scenarios and today they were taken by surprise when the call happened, eight unidentified bodies of suspected mercenaries, all stabbed, several bullet rounds fired into a wood stump with no apparent human target, indeed it was a bizarre scene.
Not for Anko Mitarashi, her instinct told her what the rest of her coworkers did not even begin to suspect, this was the work of someone with special abilities, the biggest giveaway made it easy for her to confirm she was actually on the right path, the wood stump. She carefully eyed the remains of the item, how often did anyone see a wood stump filled with bullet holes on a rooftop?
"Shinobi work..." She thought.
"Anko-senpai, did you notice?" a man approached her from behind, he had black hair kept in a ponytail, dark eyes and a scar that ran across the bridge of his nose
"We're missing one body Iruka." She stated "8 bodies, no bullet wounds, just one stab each..."
"A long blade perhaps... and that stump, the missing body."
"Or missing person, probably got away, you thinking what I'm thinking?"
Iruka nodded "Shinobi..." he said in a low tone of voice.
"Whoever did this is no rookie, these men were after something or someone and they got stopped in their tracks."
"Speaking of someone, we found two different strays of hair, it was already collected and will be tested for a DNA match soon, maybe then we'll know who did this..."
"Good, I'm eager myself to meet our suspects." Anko smirked.
"There is already another team on the road east looking for more evidence, there were several accidents involving a helicopter according to witnesses, nothing specific yet."
"I see... We should move it, there's nothing else for us to do here!" and with that she turned to leave, Iruka following close. Anko had met Iruka Umino, her partner, several months back, he displayed great knowledge in certain cases nobody else would or could look into, cases involving Shinobi, that for the rest of the department were looked at as unsolved mysteries. Anko did try several times to request to the chief of the police department access to the evidence found and stored to solve the cases, with Iruka's help she was certain her suspicions would no longer stay as such, they were denied at every turn however. On their way to the second scene Anko decided to make a call, it was a long shot but if her gut was right, then possibly she could be getting a huge lead on this new case.
"Everything your mother and I taught you about chakra was for a reason Naruto, your heritage as a Shinobi will make you a target for people with hidden agendas-"
"Everything you know will change, the time I have feared the most has come, the time for you to become a full fledged Shinobi..."
Their words kept resonating through his head like a recording, he could still see them both clearly, they looked worried, troubled perhaps, his mother with her long red hair loose and beautiful as always, she had a high-collared sleeveless blouse under a long, loose-fitting green dress. His father from whom he inherited his spiky blond hair, a green flat jacket, black pants and blue forehead protector, he was holding his mother as she almost felt to her knees in distress trying to reach her son.
Naruto slowly opened his eyes, it took him a moment to adjust to his new surroundings, he noticed a window, outside the sky was clear and blue as it had always been, then eyes shifted to the room he was in, his bed, not a regular bed, he was wearing a white gown, a peripheral line had been attached to his hand, he followed the line all the way to his left side where a metal pole held a plastic bag half emptied with what he thought was blood, a machine monitoring his heartbeat and finally what he most found odd, a flower vase filled with purple Petunia flowers.
"Good morning, how are you feeling?"
The voice in the room caught his attention and he looked to where it came from, a girl with short pink hair and the nurse outfit had entered the room silently, he took a moment to take a good look at her, she casually walked next to the machine monitoring his vital signs.
"...Morning."
"The blood transfusion was quick and as expected, you recovered in just one night." She said happily while taking a few notes at the same time.
"...Where am I? ...Who are you again?"
"Oh I'm sorry, I'm Sakura Haruno, I work here at the hospital, you're now in Konoha, our sanctuary for Shinobi, and before you ask, today is Monday the 5th, month is March and it's 9:47 am." She happily replied.
Naruto was still dazed but managed to keep up with her words and slowly remembered the events that had transpired before he lost consciousness, he tried to move but felt a slight pain on one of his shoulders that kept him still, his memories again processed more details about last night, Sakura noticed his expression of pain and leaned closed to help him adjust, her chest dangerously close to his face.
"Try not to move too much, the wound is closed but it might reopen if you're not careful, that is your first battle scar right?"
"Uh, I guess..." Naruto tried to look away and hide his blush, she noticed and found his reaction amusing but decided it was best not to provoke him, after all the blond had lost a fair amount of blood and needed to recover his strength first.
"I'm sure you'll be out today, for now lay back and rest, I'll send someone with your breakfast, the Hokage is coming to visit you also, I'm sure you have a lot of questions."
"Where's Ino?"
Sakura's expression changed at the mention of her name, quickly she moved away from Naruto ignoring his question and continued taking more notes while looking again at the machine.
"Where is Ino Yamanaka?" Naruto asked again.
"She's not here." Sakura replied with an unusual serious tone in her voice that Naruto did not miss, before he could ask anything else however the door opened again and two men wearing strange animal masks and white cloaks entered the room followed by an old man in a white garb, a gaunt face full of wrinkles and liver spots due to his age, grey hair and a small goatee, he had a single line running vertically under the outer corners of each eye, which stretched down into his face until they reached his cheeks. The old man was shorter in stature than the other two who initially came in but Naruto felt the sensation of a potent chakra emanating from all three, especially the old man.
"Thank you for taking care of him Sakura, you may leave now."
"Yes Hokage-sama!" Without even a glance back at Naruto, the pink haired girl left the room, the old man turned his attention to Naruto once she left but noticed his wary look, he chuckled.
"Good morning Naruto, welcome to Konoha."
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
Thank you for your patience with this week's chapter, I'm already working on the next part as I finish publishing this one, it's been a rough week personally for me, I'm not gonna tell you the shit I've been through but if you can imagine, it took me a lot of time to continue writing, at least I'm doing it from my PC now so it'll be a lot faster to work on each chapter :), enjoy!