MINUTES EARLIER
"How long will this take?"
"As long as it needs to, rushing things won't help..."
Karin and Shino were already inside the headquarters of their former employee working their magic, hacking the police's database and gathering Naruto's files, along the way also disabling the security cameras to avoid face recognition, even the security guards at late hours were easily avoided once they quickly learned their moving patterns, this was the easy part of their work. Once in their past working stations, hacking required their full attention, especially when the target was likely to retaliate.
"I'm sorry, I'm just concerned, that's all..."
"You shouldn't be, if we both know what we're doing then we'll be fine, here Karin-san..." Shino said "Files are compressed."
"Uploading virus... now." She pressed the Enter key and a loading bar appeared on the screen slowly filling up, she then started to unplug the cables from the computer "That should delay them long enough, let's head to the elevator!"
"On it." Shino unplugged the remaining wires and went to call the elevator, Karin soon followed. For the time being nobody inside the building had noticed their presence, their shinobi skills allowed to move swiftly and silently throughout the building without raising any alarms, only a few guards were placed on duty that night and none of them had made watch by all floors yet.
"It's done! We need to move now! Your turn Ino!" Karin contacted her telepathically.
"Port Diamond Point then?"
"Yes, Jiraiya-sama said we can take one of the boats there."
"Guys, Naruto is here with me!"
"What...?!"
As the elevator continued its way to the rooftop both Karin and Shino looked at each other in confusion, Ino was supposed to be by herself and despite not agreeing with leaving her behind, she assured everyone she would catch up with the group eventually, now Naruto instead of being with Jiraiya and Sakura awaiting their exit decided to join her.
"What do you mean he's with you?! Where's Jiraiya-sama?!" Shino questioned.
"I'm here at the apartment, the brat insisted he wanted to accompany you up there to talk so I figured there was no harm, what's taking him so long?"
"He's not moving until I'm also safe Jiraiya-sensei..."
During the conversation Sakura could not help but feel irritated at the fact Naruto still paid attention to her rival, despite what they had gone through he was actually pushing to make amends.
"What now?" Shino asked Karin.
"We stick to the plan..."
"Really? Just like that?"
"I know my cousin, he's stubborn but he won't leave with us unless it's all of us, I'm just glad he had a change of heart."
"What about your belongings?"
"I got everything I need right here..." She showed him several scrolls inside her backpack "What about yours?"
"Same as you." he said while accommodating his sunglasses like he always did.
The elevator stopped and the doors opened, this was technically the last floor it could get to which was still an office-filled floor, they went directly to the emergency door nearby and followed the stairs that eventually led to the rooftop. As soon as both stepped outside, Karin felt the chakra wave coming from Ino's direction, as a sensor herself she knew time was now of the essence.
"She did it, we better hurry!"
"What's taking you lovebirds so long?!" Jiraiya stormed the rooftop where his students were, Sakura not far behind. Ino was indeed performing her jutsu while Naruto stood there guarding her. "You said it would only take a minute, what's going on?!"
"This... this is bad...!" Ino said with her eyes still closed, the pill had taken effect and as expected her chakra range was picked up by several parties with a sensor on their team as well "There's over a thousand chakra signatures around us, and this is only within a six miles radius!"
"Any particular strong signatures?" Naruto asked.
"A few, but not many..." She did not mention her wave had also caught the attention of Samui and her team, strangely enough they were not moving despite being not far from them.
"FOUND YOU!"
Before she could open her eyes at least three shinobi porting the headband of Iwa jumped out of nowhere ready to attack them, they were out of luck as they were dispatched by Jiraiya alone, making quick work of all three simultaneously with a knee to the stomach, a punch to the head and a karate chop to the neck, Naruto and Sakura did not even have enough time to reach out and help. As the bodies of the shinobi fell, Ino opened her eyes again and went back to her feet, she grunted and felt a painful sensation coursing through her body, it was the effects of the pill she had swallowed earlier which as a result made her feel weak due to the strain it created on her chakra network, something her Akimichi partner had warned her about. She fell to one knee.
"Ino! What's wrong?!" Naruto took notice and knelt beside her but dared not to touch her.
"The pill..." With just one eye open and avoiding to look at him directly she responded "It's... taking its toll now, Chōji warned me about this but it'll pass soon..."
"And you expected us to leave you like this on your own kid?" Jiraiya said bothered, the insinuation that his student wanted to throw her life away in such a weakened state was not even funny "I'm glad I let Naruto look after you."
"Look out!"
Another group of ninja, this time at least ten of them, showed up in the same style as the others and acted first by launching a barrage of shuriken towards the group, none of them found their target. Naruto had picked up Ino and dashed to cover as did his teacher and Sakura before looking over to where their new attackers had landed, these were shinobi from Kiri.
"They're not too strong, we can take them!" Sakura whispered to Jiraiya who nodded, he looked over to Naruto who understood the message and awaited for a signal to strike.
"So you wanna play hide and seek eh?! FINE!"
The man who had talked pulled out three exploding tags from his pouch, this caught Jiraiya's attention, he knew they could not allow an explosion to take place in an area with innocent people, Naruto also caught a glimpse of his mentor's look and decided to act first.
"Hey!" He stepped out of his hiding spot, Ino looked at him as if he was crazy "You guys want me right?! I'm here!" He slowly approached the group, who looked at him confused, Jiraiya, seasoned as he was in these circumstances, used his student's distraction to swiftly move within range and grab the man's arm and take away the tags, before he could react his world went black as Jiraiya had buried his knee into his stomach. The rest of the group was momentarily unable to move mainly due to the fear overwhelming them at that moment, Sakura not wanting to leave anything to chance rushed in to capitalize and render unconscious the remaining foes before any of them stood a chance. Once everyone was dealt with Jiraiya crushed the tags still in his hand and dropped them to the floor.
"We're lucky these guys are not the strong ones, let's not linger here to find out shall we?"
Naruto went over to check on Ino again who was now standing on her own, she was thankful the pain caused by the pill was not prolonged, she still had to be careful about pushing herself in their current situation, there was no telling what would happen if she was forced to fight while in that state.
"I'm fine, don't worry about me..." she said as politely as possible making sure he understood she did not need him "Karin and Shino must be on the move, don't make them wait."
"You can't move..." Naruto knew she was bluffing, her body was in no condition to move at a fast pace, let alone fight, no matter how good her poker face was, Naruto could see right through it "Right... I'm not going to argue here Ino."
He approached her and grabbed her from under her legs bridal style taking her by surprise, she felt flustered immediately by his actions yet unconsciously she placed her hands on his chest in the process.
"H-hey!"
"Let's go!" he was now talking to Jiraiya who couldn't help but feel a bit proud of Naruto for sticking to his word of not leaving anyone behind.
"Top speed everyone!" he announced and just like that the trio dashed using their chakra onto another rooftop "If anyone else comes I'll take care of then, Sakura, protect them in case anyone slips past my range."
The pink haired girl couldn't help but feel her blood pressure increase slightly at the insinuation she had to protect Ino also, she had no problem defending Naruto yet even in a dire situation she would not let go of her pride against her former friend.
As the group continued moving from building to building Ino did her best to remain focused on her sensing range in case anyone else came too close, at this point the effects of the pill were mostly gone and she could only trust her limited abilities, the problem was not her range, not even the death stare Sakura was giving her as they continued moving, it was Naruto.
She felt somehow embarrassed of being this close to him, even during their sparring sessions the gap between the two was ample, she had never been in this level of proximity with anyone and the sensation was alien to her. Despite everything that had happened he would not let her be, his change of attitude a few days ago from hostile to team player confused her even more, in all her life as a shinobi trust was a privilege few people got from her, she felt that privilege between them had been damaged beyond repair, yet he was putting his life at risk for her sake.
"They're following us."
"How many?"
"At least ten, maybe more... I can't focus right now."
"And you really thought we would leave you behind in this state? Not while I have something to say about it."
"Naruto-"
"I don't wanna hear it Ino!" he finished.
"Here they come!" Jiraiya warned as he noticed from the corner of his eye a new wave of ninja approaching them from one side "I'll handle them! Sakura! Stay with them!"
She reluctantly nodded while the Frog Sage released what seemed like oil from his mouth bathing the incoming attackers while mid air, none of them had time to react as soon found themselves lit on fire.
"Katon: Endan! (Fire Release: Flame Bullet)"
The screams of the ignited men filled the air as their bodies fell to the streets below.
"More coming from the right! Three of them!" Ino warned.
Sakura shrugged, Jiraiya was not in range to deal with the new trio directly so it was up to her to handle them, she used the impulse from a building's wall to launch herself against the shinobi ready to use hand to hand combat, the first shinobi tried to stab her with a kunai, she dodged the blade while landing a hard punch in the man's gut taking his air out completely, as he fell she used his body as a trampoline to keep her momentum going, the next pair attacked at the same time with katanas but again she dodged them effortlessly and executed a spinning kick mid air to both their faces sending them crashing against a window, she regained altitude once they were dealt with using another nearby wall.
"Good job Sakura!" Jiraiya complimented, he rejoined the group a second later.
"We better pick up the pace, more are coming!" Ino resumed.
"Shouldn't we be following them?"
Unknown to everyone involved in the action, Samui's team watched from afar the avalanche of hungry shinobi wanting to get a piece of the bounty. The tall shinobi of Kumo had anticipated sooner than later her target would leave the city, the same way word of the bounty reached a large number of people eager to hunt down Naruto.
"No point, the Sage is still with them."
"Is that dude really so dangerous Samui?"
"Are you trying to annoy me?" she shot an angry look at Omoi who got the message "He's on par, if not, above the Hokage's level of power, perhaps even Raikage-sama..."
"No way he's stronger than Raikage-sama!"
"His chakra gave me a sensation I haven't felt in years, if we go now, there's no guarantee we'll come out alive... We need to keep our distance."
"If only we could lure him away from them..."
Samui had the same thought, perhaps if they could find a way to separate Jiraiya from the others then the rest would not pose a threat to them, she could tell he was the only truly dangerous combatant in the group, everyone else would fall easily to her blade once she reached them.
"Let's move, stay out of their range."
People started screaming as more bodies kept falling seemingly out of nowhere, some crashing on the cars or to the ground already dead, when most looked up they could only take a glimpse of shadows that moved too fast for them to make what they were, soon after police sirens could be heard from the distance as they started to arrive on the different locations where the bodies fell, a few of their own vehicles suffering the impact of the fallen ninja and causing them to crash onto one another creating even more chaos.
Naruto and the others knew well civilians were watching them, perhaps even recording them like before and likely being affected by their actions but there was nothing they could do to prevent it, technically speaking, the world was already aware of their presence so this was just the second of what he predicted, would be several incidents involving shinobi, the only new risk at hand would be Naruto's identity no longer being the only one uncovered.
More shinobi kept coming and soon Ino started to have difficulties tracking them all at once, despite the effects of the pill slowing down, the numbers were too many for her to focus properly, she could still sense everyone within their proximity but the task was starting to become harder as more and more kept showing up from all directions without signs of stopping. Jiraiya and Sakura were doing a fine job in keeping all of their attackers away from Naruto and herself, in a way she was thankful her former friend was cooperating with their safety, she knew even someone as strong as her sensei Jiraiya could still get his hands full, perhaps in the end her presence in Osaka was not all that bad as she initially thought.
Despite having no plans to die that night, she had failed to calculate the effects of the pill being too strong for her to handle, he initial plan was to draw as many attackers as she could to her and then lead them away to a more open area where she could let her strength shine and go all out, then eventually catch up with the group once she made sure their path was free, she could not have been more wrong. Naruto's bounty had to be incredibly lucrative in order for so many shinobi to show up all at once, such large number or opponents would have been impossible for her to handle. Looking back and her plan, it was very naive.
The group would soon start seeing the lights of the bay area meaning they were close to completing their escape, grab the boat Jiraiya had already acquired for them in advance and leave for good, but as they got closer it was clear something had happened, several boats were on fire creating a large wall of flames, the bay had been turned into a battlefield. Two figures soon came into viewing distance, Karin and Shino, who were guarding each others' back as several shinobi approached them.
"What's happening?!" Sakura's voice rang across the wind.
Karin used her chakra chains to subdue four of her attackers before throwing them into the water, Shino on the other hand launched a silent swarm of bugs that quickly enveloped and drained of energy any other shinobi who tried to get too close to them. Right at that second Jiraiya landed hard on the ground creating a small tremor, enough to take the remaining ninja off balance and giving Sakura the opening she needed to take them out with hard blows, in less than a minute the battle had ended.
"What happened here?!" Jiraiya asked clearly concerned.
"Jiraiya-sama!" Karin said startled.
"An ambush... They were waiting for us." Shino responded.
"What?!"
"Someone must've known we were coming here, they placed tags all over the place and destroyed the boats..."
"Damn... what now?" Naruto looked over to his mentor hoping he had a different plan, Ino took the opportunity to get herself off from Naruto to his confusion, she was certain her body had recovered enough to keep moving on her own.
"I'm fine, I'll w- ghh!"
She felt the stinging pain making her kneel and grab her abdomen to endure the sensation, the pill's side effects were still present even if she did not want to admit it.
"Ino!" Naruto did not hesitate a second to check on her, much to Sakura's dismay.
"What's wrong with her?" Karin asked.
"The chakra enhancing pill she took, it's taking a toll on her." Naruto responded now completely certain she would not have survived on her own, let alone pose a threat "You'd be dead if you had stayed."
"Naruto... the last thing I want right now is pity." Ino looked away wishing he would not be questioning her right now.
"Don't mistake concern for pity, that's not me..." he reached out to carry her again but this time the blonde girl stopped him, he got confused by her stubbornness.
"Stop playing the strong card Ino!"
"It's not that, just... I'd be easier if you carry me on your back..."
"Oh... like a piggyback?" he insinuated, completely unaware of how childish he had sounded.
"Yeah..." she resumed ashamed, at least she would feel less vulnerable this way.
"Be that as it may, it's clear she can't move on her own yet..." Jiraiya looked over the blazing waters hoping to see at least one boat still intact with no luck "Naruto, you'll take care of Ino until we reach a safe location, I need everyone else's hands free in case we need to fight again."
"Yes Jiraiya-sama!" he responded much to Ino's discomfort, truth being told, she did not want to be babysitted by him of all people, Naruto noticed her discontent and honestly he could not blame her.
"What about the people after us?" she asked.
"We're going keep the fighting now to a minimum, I was hoping we could save our chakra by using the speedboat but now we'll have to run along the coast as fast as we can, Karin, I need you to take over Ino as our radar until I tell you otherwise, our priority right now is to leave the city..." He gave everyone a serious look "Are we good on this?!"
"Yes Jiraiya-sama!" The group responded in unison save for Ino who kept her eyes away.
Soon enough more sirens could be heard from a distance, the area would also be crawling with more shinobi so they had but seconds to leave before another battle would start.
"Can you stand?"
Ino nodded as Naruto assisted her offering a hand, she took it and slowly got up, wincing slightly while doing so, he then turned around without letting go of her hand and pulled her close onto his back, once she was firmly pressed he let go of her hand so she could wrap both her arms around his neck while he grabbed her beneath her thighs lifting her from the ground once more, her head finally rested over one of his shoulders.
"Hold on, we'll be out of here soon."
"Okay." she nodded.
"What's the plan now?" Shino asked.
"A contact of mine is waiting for us at Shin-Osaka station, one of the wagons is reserved for us but we'll use Henge to board it without alerting anyone, even if Naruto's records are erased from the terminals people might recognize his face so we need to disguise ourselves once we're there."
"Is your contact reliable sensei?"
"Don't worry about that brat... I was hoping we could get there sooner with the boat but the route is still the same, follow me, we're heading there through Yodo river."
"Jiraiya-sama..." Karin suddenly spoke looking over the area where the group came from.
"Hmm?"
"They're getting close!" Karin warned sensing a much larger group of shinobi heading their way.
Jiraiya took the lead and jumped over the wall of fire and onto the water's surface landing as if it was a regular surface despite the ripples and waves crashing against the bay, Naruto soon followed, Shino Karin and Sakura went last to cover them. They all managed to advance a few meters before shuriken started to rain around them, thankfully none of them finding their mark.
"Keep moving!" Jiraiya bellowed.
They ran as fast as they could without looking back as more shuriken and kunai kept being thrown at them from a distance, Naruto wanted nothing more than to fight back but he had someone's life to protect at the moment, being reckless again was not something he could afford.
"They will keep coming no matter how far we get!" Ino said.
"Then we'll have to make time! Naruto! get over here and give me your hand!"
The boy did not question his master and reached over to him extending his left hand while keeping Ino in place with his right one.
"Focus your chakra in it!"
"What are you gonna do sensei?!"
Naruto did as he was told and Jiraiya's own right hand went over his to blend their chakra, both blondes watched in amazement as a spiraling ball of chakra started to form surrounded by white traces of energy that kept vibrating faster around it.
""W-whoa!"
"Everyone get behind me!"
The group complied with the Sage as he took the ball of energy from Naruto's hand and turned around before slamming his hand into the water, what follow was an abnormally large water vortex elevating itself into the night sky creating a natural barrier. Jiraiya was not done, following a series of quick hand seals he shot a stream of fire from his mouth just like before that colliding with the vortex would soon create a large steam cloud in front of them.
"That's awesome Jiraiya-sensei! What kind of jutsu is that?!"
"I'll teach you once we're not being hunted, now go! We don't have time to waste!"
The steam did its work as expected preventing the bounty hunters to set sights on their targets as it spread quickly all over the area making their task more difficult already, unless they had a sensor on their team, the few who dared to advance hesitated to a degree, the risk of being taken out by the Toad Sage was latent since nobody was strong enough to counter him yet.
Naruto and the group kept their pace and continued onward to distance themselves enough from the bay, soon the fire still burning over the water was overtaken by the mist, Karin could still sense the chakra of many shinobi but at least for now they were not following them, the group had a moment to finally take a break as they reached the corner of a dock dark enough to conceal themselves.
"I don't mean to be a pessimist here, but if people knew about the boat, what makes you think this isn't another ambush Jiraiya-sama?" Karin suddenly asked.
Jiraiya remained silent, she was right, whatever happened back at the bay clearly meant someone within his spy network had been compromised and he had no way of knowing if said person was already dead or had been turned and was providing information to the opposite factions, he had several contacts in Osaka and at that moment narrowing down the list of names would be hard.
"We'll handle it when the time comes, let's move!"
The group had successfully sneaked their way into the streets again without alerting anyone so far, their disguises simply consisted of a change of hair color and more casual clothing instead of their tactical gear, Naruto had a hood over his head just for safe measure. Sirens were still wailing over the distance and some but not all civilians walked a lot faster as if almost knowing they should not be there, they barely glanced at the group arriving at the station which definitely played in their favor, the less attention they got, the better.
The station was not built underground like most but on the surface instead, Karin had a personal dislike for underground structures due to the large clusters of people that gathered during peak hours to either go to work or to their homes, she could not remember the last time she actually had to take a train somewhere, she walked most of the time and when nobody else was around, she jumped between rooftops, the events of this particular night made moving around easier since civilians were already aware of them.
Jiraiya kept looking around for any sign of his contact, they eventually reached the platform and still this person was nowhere to be seen, only he knew what train would take them to safety.
"Damn it, where is he?!"
The group was not sure what to do now, they had relied on Jiraiya's plan to leave undetected but now they felt more exposed while they waited for an answer from their team leader.
"The trains departing east are supposed to be here, why is this place empty?!" Sakura asked.
"I don't know kid, we should have a transport ready but something must've happened if my contact isn't here..."
"No trains on sight even..." Naruto said while looking over the edge of the platform hoping to notice something but his eyes could only see so far.
Jiraiya knew they could not stay there long, if any of the tracking shinobi sensed them they would have to defend themselves there with little hope of escaping, had the numbers not been too large this would be a reasonable option. Running would only make it worse for as long as they kept going so would their enemy and their bodies could only take them so far before reaching their limit, even if they took Hyōrōgan, plus Ino was already exhausted and needed a rest, everyone did.
He could not afford to lose any of them here, not now after everything they had gone through already, being so close to their objective, Jiraiya's determination to see their escape through was unwavered, even if it meant improvising.
"I'll lead them away, you kids go on and get out of here..." his statement obviously got everyone's attention.
"Jiraiya-sensei no! It's way too dangerous!" Naruto protested.
"I agree Jiraiya-sama, there's too many of them for you alone!" Karin concluded.
"While I appreciate your concern, you children are taking me too lightly, remember I have the title of Sannin for a reason." Jiraiya smirked "Besides, I'm not engaging them, I'll only lead them away from your scent so you kids can escape..." He slightly turned his head "There's a colleague of mine I want you to look for, her name is Tsunade, she'll know what to do."
"Sensei! Wha-" Naruto was interrupted.
Jiraiya formed a hand seal using the Henge once again, this time turning into an exact copy of Naruto.
"They're only after you brat so as long as I keep this disguise they'll follow me wherever I go... Find Tsunade and tell her everything, she'll help you!"
Before another word could be said, Jiraiya started to run to the opposite edge of the platform directly from where they came and jumped away from the station and into the city lights once again, soon disappearing out of sight from the group. They remained silent, still processing what their leader and mentor had just done, even knowing time was not on their side they refused to react for a few seconds.
"Damn it!" Naruto clenched his fist in anger, he wanted to scream but despite his rage he knew better, Ino could understand his despair all too well.
"We shouldn't worry about him Naruto, he's the strongest shinobi we know besides Hokage-sama, I'm sure he'll be fine and he'll return to us soon." Sakura tried to look on the bright side, Shino decided to back her up.
"He just bought us a window, I say we better take it while we can and leave..."
"I won't leave him!"
"Naruto... " His eyes widened when he heard Ino's voice "Please, we need to go."
The calmness of her tone helped him find his grip once again, he refused to leave his mentor behind to take all the heat but deep down he knew he had no choice, for some reason Ino helped him see that when the rest of his group couldn't get to him, he could not have guessed she would have such an effect on him. His uncertainty went away and he focused on what had to be done, she was right, they all were, standing there wasting time would not remedy anything and no matter how badly he wanted to join his master, he would not have wanted that anyway.
He jumped with Ino still on his back to the train tracks and silently urged the rest to follow him which they did, they all moved close to the stone walls covered by undergrowth to avoid being seen as they ran further away from the station.
They were on their own.
-0-
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto as usual.
Hello again, sorry for the long delay again, there's no excuse other than I've simply been away from the page but I'm sure nobody wants to hear it or cares :), anyway, enjoy the new chapter, the story moves forward!