"What do you guys want with Naruto?"
Ino tightened her grip around the scroll holding her weapons.
"Tell us where Naruto Uzumaki is and we'll let you go, there's no need for you to die." replied the tall woman.
"Die?" Ino chuckled "I don't know who you think you are lady but you're way over your head."
"We didn't come here for you, we wouldn't be talking if that was the case, again, tell us what we want and we'll spare your life..."
Ino had enough, she opened the scroll and summoned her katana "Sure, I'll tell you what you guys want, assuming you're all alive to listen of course! Why are you after Naruto?!"
"Hey Samui-san, she has no idea of what's happening does she?" said Omoi "I suppose there's no harm in telling her about the reward."
"Reward?!"
"Naruto Uzumaki exposed the existence of shinobi to the world, our leaders have not taken kindly to this act and the hidden villages across the globe have agreed to place a bounty on his head. Luckily we're the first to arrive so we'll make it quick for the boy, he won't suffer I promise you that." Said Karui, the red haired woman.
Ino's eyes narrowed, she was starting to get angry "Typical of the Raikage, he feel threatened by someone else who's not even on his radar... After I'm done with you clowns I'll personally go to Kumo and take the Raikage's head!"
Samui smirked "You?" she let a small chuckle escape her "Now you're the one whose way over your head girl."
"Then why don't you come here and see what this 'girl' can do to you?!" Ino challenged.
"Samui-san, let me handle her, I'm really annoyed by her attitude..." said Karui without taking her eyes off Ino.
"Do what you want, just don't kill her, we need to know where the boy is."
"Oh I won't kill her, just hurt her a little..." she smirked.
Karui stepped forward and pulled out her own katana from her back as she prepared to meet Ino in what she assumed would be a short clash.
"This is gonna hurt little girl!" she finished before dashing towards her target, Ino was prepared for the incoming attack and being the seasoned kenjutsu artist that she was, she took a few steps back and avoided the first slash that was aimed for her legs, Karui was surprised by the move and quickly readjusted herself for a second upward slash that only connected with air, Ino simple stepped aside and realized soon that her opponent would not cause her much of a problem, she felt relaxed enough to even lower her guard as she gained some distance on her opponent.
"Is that the best you can do?" she taunted.
Karui was enraged by her comment and fell into her trap, exactly as Ino predicted. She launched herself again in quick series of slashing attacks that never connected, Ino was already reading her movements like an open book and concluded Karui was not dangerous enough to hurt her, at least in a battle of pure kenjutsu, she was inferior and this was starting to get to the red haired woman by the way she moved and attacked. Karui tried again for a front stab but Ino surprised her by not only dodging the blade but also appearing next to her and hitting her stomach with a strong knee that sent the Kumo ninja a few feet away making her land on her back and roll twice until she was on her knees using her katana to support herself, she coughed for air realizing the force of the impact that had carried her back to square one.
"Hey Karui, she's no pushover, let's team up and end this thing shall we?" said Omoi.
"Don't get involved in this! She's mine!" She angrily spat at her partner.
"Listen to your partner, you might actually stand a chance now." Ino said with confidence.
Omoi's turn came, he pulled out his own sword as well and analyzed his opponent before taking any action, he proceeded to call forth some chakra to enhance himself and then went after Ino full front, before he reached her however he vanished and appeared to her left side ready to strike a blow, to his own astonishment she did not even look at him when she blocked the attack using only the hilt of her own weapon, she had switched her hold on the katana in reverse during his move.
"You're gonna need more than that against me." she said finally setting her eyes on him and pushing him back, Karui took the opportunity to enter the fight once again using her own chakra to enhance her speed as well, still Ino saw her coming and also blocked her strike with the hilt of her sword. The Kumo duo continued to pressure Ino with a flurry of slashing strikes that failed to connect as she dodged every single attempt.
"Kumo-Ryū: Mikazukigiri! (Cloud Style: Crescent Moon Slice)"
Omoi swinged his sword in a single, large crescent moon-shaped arc in a fast move against Ino, for a moment it looked like the attack had connected but he only slashed the air as her image vanished and small trails of her hair floated in front of him, Karui saw the opportunity to strike again.
"Kumo-Ryū: Omotegiri! (Cloud-Style: Front Slice)"
To her dismay her attack was also avoided as the slashing motion was a more direct and frontal move that Ino saw coming, before any of the two could react Ino appeared between the two of them and split her legs in mid air hitting them each with a kick to the face that sent both ninja flying back against the concrete. The duo recovered and stood up again to resume their attack.
"That's enough! I'll take care of her."
In all this time Ino's concern was never her opponents, she never had to pull out her katana for the fight, it was rather on Samui, the tall woman who never stopped watching her, as if she was studying her movements intently while her partners simply distracted her, her gut told her she was a different kind of animal.
"Samui-san! We can handle her!"
Karui regretted saying that when Samui's eyes locked with hers, the powerful killing intent she felt made her tremble, she understood the message and stepped aside without second thought, Omoi silently understood the situation and lowered his weapon, he felt pity for Ino who now was about to face someone of true caliber.
"I'll ask you one more time..." She summoned from a scroll a larger katana, ideal for her size perhaps "Where is Naruto Uzumaki?"
Ino's senses sharpened "Go back to Kumo, you'll never get your hands on him while I'm still breathing..."
"Then I guess we'll have to do something about that won't we?"
"You talk too much!"
Ino decided to go to the offensive this time and launched herself at a high speed against Samui, she unsheathed her blade ready for a strike but was shocked when the woman blocked her attack with the hilt of her own weapon, similarly to what she had done earlier against Omoi.
"Now that I've seen how you move, those kind of attacks won't work against me..."
Samui started to slowly release chakra that turned in less than a second into an electric current that surged through her entire body, Ino's eyes widened realizing the danger and quickly tried to move but before she did an electric pulse emitted from Samui sent her flying back and rolling into the ground, small jolts of electricity surrounded her frame, she felt numbness in her right arm, the one she had used for the slash, her grip on the blade never released however, if anything the grip was stronger, her legs responded with some difficulty but were still there, in conclusion the attack had not been life threatening, at least for now. Ino still face down on the floor raised her head and saw an electric current emanating from her opponent's figure.
"What the hell...?!"
"Heh... she's screwed." Karui said with newfound confidence.
"Raiton: Kaminari Manto (Lightning Style: Lightning Cloak)... This is only a taste of what I can do, if you tell me what I need to know I guarantee you will live."
Ino felt her body regain movement and slowly stood up again using her blade as . She studied the woman in front of her and knew frontal attacks would not work as long as the electric cloak surrounding her was active, the battle would require long distance attacks or finding a weak spot for her to enter an appropriate range and deliver the killing blow, she was surprised however when Samui deactivated the cloak completely.
"I don't want to beat you so easily, you specialize in kenjutsu arts so why not test how good you really are in that area?" She proceeded to pull out a kodachi that when seen in the scabbard, looked to be part of a single sheathed sword, the blade appearing to be the hilt gave Ino the impression of a nodachi initially, however a second blade stationed opposite the first and blending in with the saya itself being pulled out made her realize she was wrong.
"Double Kodachi style... I haven't seen any shinobi use it before."
"Oh? So you've heard of this style then, impressive, I'm sure you know how deadly it is also..."
"I do... Still, I can't afford to lose against you, no matter what happens! You'll never get to Naruto!" Ino placed her katana holding the hilt parallel to the ground and up near the shoulder with her right hand while she used her left to hold the tip pointing toward her target.
"I see... then come and show me what the Slayer is capable of!"
Ino wasted no time and launched herself at a high speed with a powerful and extensive thrust intended to impale her opponent, to her dismay and shock Samui stopped the tip of the blade mere inches away from her face using only her fingers.
"I already told you, those kind of attacks won't work with me, you'll have to do better..." She pushed the blade aside without much effort along with Ino who used the rebound momentum to spin and perform a horizontally slash, this time however Samui was gone, Ino quickly felt her presence coming from the left side, she rushed to her crossing the two kodachi and moving them outwards in a scissor-like cut aiming for the throat, Ino reacted out of instinct alone and used a vertical slash to separate the blades before they connected, this move left her torso exposed and Samui quickly readjusted her grip on both weapons holding them backhand, she slashed the lower half of her body in an x pattern that made Ino grunt and back away quickly. Ino suddenly felt sweat starting to pour from her forehead as she gained distance from her attacker, a sharp pain coming from her stomach made her grab her now stained uniform to hold the wound, soon her own hand was also bloody red, even thought the cut was not that deep it would definitely leave a nasty scar, all of a sudden she stated to dimension the predicament she found herself in and started to feel something she hand not felt in a very long time, doubt.
"She's faster than I thought... her moves are more fluid than mine with those kodachi and she can see me coming, I need to find a blind spot but... I need to be faster than her... This is going to be tricky."
"Is that all? So I guess what they said about you back home is true then..."
"What?!"
"Your reputation as the Slayer only proceeds you here in your own country, you haven't faced anyone truly capable of testing you yet... I'm disappointed."
"Tch! Don't get ahead of yourself!"
Ino while still holding the katana placed both hands together to gather chakra, she focused only for a second until she had enough built up inside a point of her brain, then she released it all at once removing the mental inhibition she had, the first lock of several placed within her.
"Kaimon! Kai! (Gate of Opening: Open)"
Samui's eyes narrowed, she recognized the technique right away, Ino released an air current from her body that made both Karui and Omoi cover their faces at the sudden burst, their leader remained unfazed.
"W-what the hell is she doing?!" asked a confused Karui.
"That's the Hachimon! The Eight Gates! A technique that allows the user remove the limitations of their own body and increase their speed and power exponentially by opening said gates one by one! Looks like she's removing the first one!" Omoi responded also recognizing the technique.
"Kyūmon! Kai! (Gate of Healing: Open)" Ino opened the second chakra gate within her brain, she knew her rival would require an extra effort if she intended to prevail. More wind currents emanated from her as she felt the surge of power filling every corner of her body.
"Interesting... she can open more than one gate." Thought Samui.
For a moment Ino let the chakra within her settle until she felt she was properly adjusted, then in the blink of an eye she disappeared, Samui was in full alert mode and adjusted herself for the incoming attack than soon came from underneath her, Ino had moved very fast under her and readied her blade for the strike, unfortunately for her Samui was more than ready for the challenge and dodged the attack, Ino did not give her a second to rest and followed with more quick slashes that forced Samui to defend herself using her kodachi this time, she managed to still block every single attempt of the Konoha girl to land a hit. She noticed the loss of blood was taking effect as Ino's attacks started to become slower by the second despite two gates being opened at the moment, Ino knew this as well, she needed to land a killing blow fast before her energy was completely drained, she decided to gamble on a last attack.
Using the remaining chakra she had she went for a frontal stab that Samui saw coming easily, she was prepared to block it but Ino's body once again disappeared from her line of sight, she remained still however as she read what was about to happen, only like an experienced shinobi could. Ino reappeared behind and above her using both hands to land with full force the final blow but to her horror Samui blocked her by crossing the kodachi behind her head without even looking.
"W-What?! That's impossible!" Ino panicked.
"Raiton: Kaminari Manto!"
Before she could react her body went numb as Samui released her chakra in the form of a lightning aura on her again, this time due to Ino being suspended mid air the contact through the blades was more than enough to send her flying hard against a concrete wall making a hole in it, dust and debris covered her now limp figure under the rubble, her katana now lied on the ground far from her reach, she felt the chakra fading from her body.
"I... can't move!"
Samui lowered her blades and turned to face Ino, she approached her beaten opponent slowly and calmly, Karui and Omoi followed smirking all the way, especially Karui.
"Y-you... that wasn't... fair..." Ino could barely speak at the moment.
"Fair? There is no such thing as fair in this world, I saw everything I needed to see, there was no need to prolong the duel any further, despite you using the Hachimon you could never beat me at that level, you're nothing more than a little girl playing to be a shinobi." She raised one of the kodachi and pointed it at the battered Ino who was unable to defend now "Where is Naruto Uzumaki? Last chance..."
Fear filled her to the very soul, Samui was right, she felt like a little girl right there and then facing a pack of wolves, there was nothing she could do to change it, she had not only been bested by the Kumo woman, she had been shown how weak she was compared to her. Beaten, powerless and scared, a horrible combination of feelings, death was knocking on her door and she was not ready for it, despite believing that she was.
"S-she's going to kill me...!"
"Fine...!" Samui went for the kill.
Ino's heart almost stopped, her life passed by in an instant before she closed her eyes and waited for her impending doom, the God of death however had different plans that did not include her, instead a strong presence landed right between her and Samui making the trio of Kumo ninja back away a few meters immediately, she slowly opened her eyes again to see the back of a tall white long haired man standing between her and the attackers.
"J-Jiraiya-sensei...?!"
"It seems you three are a long way from home, may I ask what are Kumo shinobi doing in Japan?" Said the old hermit with his arms crossed and smirking.
"Why do you care old man?! Leave before you get hurt!" Karui said defiantly, however Omoi knew who this man was and kept silent, a drop of sweat ran down his forehead.
"It is you who should leave now! Ino is my pupil and she's under my protection as well, whatever problem you have with her is also mine so now you'll have to deal with me for what you did to her!"
"Who the hell is this old geezer?! Omoi! Let's get him!"
Omoi put his hand on Karui's shoulder and stopped her from pulling out her sword again to the woman's confusion, Samui also looked visibly concerned due to the presence of the old man, Karui was completely oblivious to his identity. Jiraiya swung his hair and extended his arms striking a flashy and over the top kabuki pose.
"I am Myouboku Mountain's Monk of the Frog Spirits, also known as the Frog Hermit, Jiraiya-sama!"
"Huh?!" Karui was still not impressed, Jiraiya lowered his arms and his head in embarrassment at his own failed display.
"Damn it, that usually works..." He muttered before composing himself.
"Jiraiya-sama... you're described back in my home to be as strong a the Raikage himself." said Samui stepping forward after a brief silence, she then raised one of the kodachi pointing it at Jiraiya "You're in my way, it' would be an honor to take the life of the legendary Toad Sage, however I'm in the middle of something right now so I ask you once, step aside!"
"Oh my dear girl..." Jiraiya crossed his arms again and closed his eyes "You may think highly of yourself for beating my pupil here, and perhaps you do not realize how angry I am at the moment so I'll counter your proposal..." The air around him suddenly changed as he opened his eyes again, this time displaying murderous intent "Go back to Kumo or die here...!"
The exuding of intent made the calm and stoic Samui to actually tremble and reconsider what she was about to do, facing Jiraiya meant a certain death for the whole team considering both Karui and Omoi where shaking in fear as well due to the effects of Jiraiya's powerful intent, this was a battle they could not win, she composed herself quickly and lowered her kodachi, it was better to live and fight another day, perhaps a day she would not let the fear control her.
"Karui! Omoi! We retreat now!" She commanded, her teammates snapped out of the trance thanks to her voice, they both knew there was no space for a discussion on this matter and simply nodded before taking a few steps back and jumping away to safety, Samui turned her back to follow.
"This ins't over!" She said before leaping into the night, Jiraiya stood still, he waited for a few seconds until he was certain they were no longer around, then he turned to face Ino, he knelt down to check on the battered young girl.
"Can you move?"
"I... think so..." The numbness on her body was certainly going away although it was taking longer than expected, the attack had been direct after all.
"Here, this should help." he pulled out a small bag containing several brown pills, he took one and placed it close to Ino's mouth waiting for her to open it.
"H-Hyōrōgan?" She asked weakly to which the older man nodded, she accepted the pill and chewed on it a few times slowly before swallowing the pill, seconds later she felt how her chakra started to replenish, using this chance and now able to move she joined her palms together to summon her healing powers, both hands glowed with light green chakra and she placed them on her stomach where she had been hit earlier, it took a few seconds but the wound eventually closed, her uniform was now ruined but at least the blood had been stopped the rest of the healing was distributed to the rest of her body, mostly her brain, the use of the Eight Gates even if she only opened two had given her a severe headache mainly because both required the brain to do the major part in releasing all the power stored there for her. Jiraiya waited for her to be recovered before putting the pills away and extending his hand to help her stand up, the effects of the last attack where still there but at least she could walk on her own, Ino dusted off her outfit and stretched her extremities to make sure the numbness would keep disappearing. She went to pick up her katana from the ground and placed it back on its sheath before also sealing it back on her weapon scroll.
"How are you feeling now?"
Ino did not say anything, the only feeling she could describe at that moment was impotence, she hated that feeling inside of her, it made her heart feel weak and empty, she was still shaken by the experience of almost dying that night.
"Ino?"
"I... I almost died, I couldn't do anything and I was... scared." she finally responded only looking at the ground in shame.
"Death comes for all of us at some point, a shinobi knows that better than anyone."
"Its not that... I was scared of not getting a chance to see Naruto again."
"Well, you have a chance now, tonight was not your time young lady so cheer up will ya?" Jiraiya smiled.
"You... know where he is Jiraiya-sensei?" her eyes suddenly had a spark of hope.
"Yes, I'll take you to him, still, I wonder why those Kumo ninja are here, did they tell you anything?"
"Its Naruto, there's a bounty on him."
"Hmm..." He pondered for a minute evaluating the situation. "Tell me everything."
"That's impossible!"
At least an hour had passed since Naruto's arrival and Karin was digesting all the information they shared with her that night, his arrival to Konoha, the pursuit by Fugaku Uchiha, his return to Tokyo and currently the discovery of the tailed beasts, specifically the fact that her uncle and aunt had found the nine tailed fox.
"It's not, they each sealed half within them, who knows to what end."
"I thought the legend of the Tailed Beasts was just that, a legend!" Karin paced around the living room, both Naruto and Sakura just watched from the couch.
"It's not apparently, we know that's why Uchiha corp is after me, they want to use me to lure them out of hiding..."
"Because parents are supposed to protect their children... it makes sense." Karin concluded "If I knew better a corporate mind only seeks one thing, control, they want to control the beast."
"But how? Sealing it also within someone in that organization? How does that even work?" Sakura asked.
"I don't know much about that but according to the legends, a person capable to harnessing the power of a tailed beast can destroy anyone in their path, if they want to use them to become jinchuuriki themselves nobody would oppose them, maybe this Fugaku guy is the 'control the world' type of person?"
"Hey, how come you know all this stuff if you've never been to Konoha?" Naruto asked.
"Because of this..." Karin went to her room for a minute and returned with a small wooden coffer, she took a seat next to her guests and opened it to reveal several scrolls inside, shinobi scrolls. She took one and opened it to show the content to her cousin.
"These... these are ninja scrolls, how'd you get them?" Naruto examined what was written on it.
"Honestly I don't know, one day a lawyer came to the foster home I was in when I was a child, he asked for me specifically and said that mom and dad had left me with a bunch of stuff I didn't know anything about back then, including this coffer, I started reading into them and they pretty much match what you've been telling me about the history of shinobi, some of them are also about chakra control and all that."
"That explains why you could use it back then when we were kids..." he continued looking through the scroll "Is there anything here about tailed beasts?"
"Yes, this one..." she went to take the scroll Naruto was looking for but an unexpected knock on the door froze them as the all looked with concern in the same direction "Uh... didn't your sensei say he was staying at a hotel? Or are we expecting someone else?"
"I'll go, stay here." Sakura stood up from the couch and walked cautiously to the door, it could definitely not be the police as they would have bought the door down given the case, Naruto was a fugitive after all and they would not be gentle about it if they knew he was there, the only reasonable explanation was that Jiraiya was not able to find a room anywhere and he decided to return. She approached the door went for the handle.
"Who is it?"
"It's Ino, open the door Sakura..."
Sakura's eyes widened, how did Ino of all people find their location? And most importantly, why was she in Osaka? She turned to see Naruto's expression immediately change as soon as he heard her voice, she opened the slowly and there she stood, her former friend with her usual purple shinobi uniform all tattered and covered in dried stains of blood, a sad expression on her face as she met her green eyes.
"Ino?... What brings you here? What happened to you? You look..." Sakura looked up and down at her "Like you've seen better days..."
"Is Naruto with you? I really need to speak with him, it's important."
"I-uh..."
At that moment Naruto approached the door and Ino's heart almost skipped a beat when their eyes met again, he looked stoic as usual considering the fact that she was there and it was no surprise, but regardless she was glad to see him still in one piece.
"What are you doing here?" he asked in a lower and almost hostile tone of voice, Ino knew she had no right to reproach, he did not even seem to care about how she looked at the moment.
"The Raikage of Kumo has placed a bounty on your head, other hidden villages apparently are in on this as well although at the moment Kumo is the only one who has stated their intentions..."
"A bounty?" Sakura's voice interrupted.
"The exposure Naruto had last night to the media has caused a lot of panic in several sectors of the shinobi world, they look at it as if he exposed them to society and thus they wish to kill him now... I just fought with three ninja from Kumo who were looking for you."
"Are you hurt?!" Sakura asked now visibly concerned.
"I'm fine, Jiraiya-sensei was there, he saved me and brought me here, said you were visiting a family relative..."
Karin approached the door to see who the visitor was and saw Ino standing there talking with them.
"Who's your friend? Hi, I'm Karin!" She went to extend her hand but Naruto to her shock blocked it without even blinking, his eyes never looked away from the girl who had hurt his trust.
"And you came here out of concern for me? Is that your excuse?" Naruto asked more sternly this time.
"Naruto, we should let her in and explain what happened." Karin was the one making the suggestion.
"She's fine where she is..." he stated matter-of-factly surprising the two girls inside the apartment, Ino knew better and stayed quiet, deep down she knew his hatred was justified.
"I know you don't want to see me and that's completely fine with me but I came here to warn you, the guys who attacked me are very dangerous and even if Jiraiya-sensei is here who knows how many other ninja have been sent after you, all of us need to return to Konoha where it's safe."
"I'm not leaving Osaka, not until I'm done with what I came here to do, you can go back to the old man and tell him that yourself, now leave." he walked away from the door.
"Naruto!" Karin was really surprised by her cousin's out of nowhere cold attitude, even Sakura, who had no love lost for Ino, was baffled at how he responded to her, whatever had happened between them really affected him.
"I understand... Then I won't go back either, you're gonna need help, whatever it is you're planning, I'm in."
"I didn't ask for your help, leave!" Naruto was getting frustrated at that point. Ino's stubbornness got the best of her, she pushed the door along with Sakura aside and entered the apartment, she was also getting into an altered state, Karin only watched the exchange between the two in awe.
"Hey Ino! What the hell?!" Sakura protested but the blonde girl ignored her.
"Look at me! See this?!" She pointed at her lower abdomen, specifically at the new x shaped scar she had gotten courtesy of Samui "I just got this tonight thanks to you! I put my life on the line out there to defend YOU! And had Jiraiya-sensei not been there then I wouldn't be standing here right now!"
"Thanks to ME?!" Naruto had enough, he walked over to meet Ino face to face, she was startled by his demeanor "I didn't ask you to come here in the first place! That-" He pointed at her scar "is your own doing, not mine! Stop blaming others for your own actions!"
"Then what?! Would've you preferred I talked and betray you?! Is that is?!"
"I WOULD'VE PREFERRED IF YOU DIED!" He spat.
The room went silent, Ino's ray of hope disappeared in that instant, she literally felt her heart sink harder than ever before, it was unbelievable he could not muster even a little compassion for her and instead just plain out wish her dead without remorse. Reality had hit her twice that night in the face, she learned what it was like to feel in the verge of death and now she realized she had lost someone she cared about, this time for good.
"Naruto that's enough!" Karin suddenly shouted.
"No, it's fine..." Ino's voice was softer now, she had a depressed look on her face, Karin was puzzled "He's right, I should be dead right now and not here, at least he would be safe, I'm sorry for interrupting..." She lowered her head and stepped back before fully turning around to head for the door, Karin kept looking between her and her cousin hoping he would do something even if she did not fully understand what the story was but Naruto just stood there still defiant and not caring at all. She could not stand what she had witnessed and went out after the girl she had just met.
Nobody ever noticed Sakura had a smile adorn her face for a second.
-0-
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
Hey there, advancing on this story as almost three months have passed since the last update, thought releasing these chapters in a row would at least buy me some time while I keep making new ones, but now that I'm working from home thanks to that stupid coronavirus at least I can concentrate more time on the story and hopefully get two more chapters out soon, stay safe y'all!