A/N: Okay, so is doing a very strange thing and it's telling me I didn't update yesterday. I clearly remember updating yesterday afternoon. In case you're wondering how my day is going in-between sniffles. :))


Early in the morning, before the dawn, Tsunade and Hinoki stood in their shared room in one of the standing buildings. The lamp on the desk burned lowly as its oil supply approached empty, the flickering light casting shadows across the walls and onto the floor. The ragged sheet hanging over the empty window frame blew gently with the twilight breeze.

Tsunade was pacing back and forth across the room, the soft thudding of her footsteps accentuating the silence.

Hinoki glanced up for a moment, a disturbed expression forming on her face. "We can't leave."

"No," Tsunade agreed with a tense sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose. "We can't afford to leave them here while they're defenseless."

She made a sharp turn and continued to pace. "I don't care what the council says, we aren't going. It was apparently hard enough for Akiyama to persuade them, given her age; the poor kid deserves at least one person in her corner."

Hinoki remained quiet, her frown deepening as she dipped her gaze to the floor.

"Only sixteen and the leader of a whole village… haa." She exhaled, shaking her head. "She's only still a child."

"Not in the eyes of the law, she's not," Tsunade reminded. "But I guess it makes no difference either way. The majority seems to respect her enough; her father was a good man as well."

"What will we do with the young?" Hinoki asked, looking up with a pained expression. "We've got so many that couldn't even legally work, much less help out. Not to mention the infants…"

Tsunade paused in her pacing to give her a sympathetic frown. "I know that's…" she hesitated, "... a sore topic for you."

"We need to tell them that we just can't leave until the children have homes," she insisted.

"We aren't leaving if I have any say," the blonde declared with a fierce countenance. "And I damn well should, considering I'm the leader."

"Not even if Konoha is combusting from the inside," she thought to herself as she crossed the room to the window. The sun was barely peeking over the horizon, though the vast forest obscured it from view. "Sorry, Gramps, but I think even you would choose this over our home."


"Are you sure this is safe?" Lee whispered to him as they huddled in the same alleyway in the chilly morning twilight.

"It'll have to be, considering this might be my only shot." Shikamaru whispered back, ducking his head further into the collar of his coat. "There's no chance in hell that I'm going to be war fodder. Not when I still have so much to find. Not when the one who killed that guy is still out there, likely already planning something on the inside."

His friend simply nodded, grasping his shoulder in solidarity.

After a moment more alone, the man from before appeared, his dark eyes gazing down at them, completely unreadable. From his sheer presence alone Shikamaru was cowed by his chakra, and he bowed his head in deference to the stranger.

The taller man closed his eyes with a secretive quirking upward of his lips, raising his hand. "Do not bow to me, young man. I have no need for such shows of respect."

"I've thought about it all night," Shikamaru said, raising his head to look him in the eye. "And I've come to the conclusion that it would be the best course of action for me to leave Konoha with you."

The stranger nodded. "You've made a good choice. As I've warned before, once you leave, you cannot turn back. If you were to defect from the group, I'd have to take you to have your memory wiped, and you would need to be dropped off in Konoha again as if nothing ever took place."

Shikamaru hummed in thought, his eyes narrowing. "Never before have I heard of a memory-wipe technique… at least, not one that wasn't forbidden. The level of knowledge and power of the one with that technique…"

"Adding to this, you may bring one person with you." The stranger continued. "It must be someone you trust wholly, one you are certain would not betray you nor the organization."

The one person…

At first he thought of his friends. He thought of Chouji, of Lee, Tenten, Ino… but Chouji had already claimed that he was content in Konoha, and Tenten was pregnant and would not leave without either Neji or Hanabi, and both were needed to continue to keep peace in the Hyuuga clan. Lee would have been a good candidate, but he had Tenten to keep an eye on and he did not want to leave his adoptive father... not to mention he was the only one of the duo who could continue investigating that corpse.

That left only Ino, but Shikamaru wasn't certain that she'd be so ready to leave. She loved it in Konoha, and even though her heart was still healing from all of the tragedy their friend group had faced, she likely would not want to leave without good cause.

Sensing Shikamaru's hesitance, the man stepped back. "I can give you twenty minutes to clear your head and find a person."

The brunet's shoulders sagged a bit with relief, and he bowed. "Thank you, sir. If you'll excuse me."

He glanced over at Lee. "Go ahead and check on your friends, if you want. I feel this will take a while."

"I got it. Good luck, Shikamaru." Lee nodded, giving him a smile and a thumbs-up.

Shikamaru walked out of the alley, turning to head into the heart of the city. His hands were stuffed into his pockets, his eyes downcast as he walked and thought.

"Would it be a good idea to ask her?" He thought to himself, his frown deepening. "That troublesome woman… if the idea was too horrible for her, she might just tell on me. I don't want to risk getting into trouble with the guards should I attempt to leave, but…"

He glanced up, watching birds fly past buildings and through the brightening sky. "No, Ino trusts me. We've grown up together, for Kami's sake. I know she would keep a secret if I asked her to. She wouldn't out me if the matter was important enough."

He sighed, and waved to a nearby shop owner as they shook the dust from the doormat. They waved back, giving him a friendly grin.

"Perhaps I'm thinking too hard about this… dammit, if only I could ask her myself-"

"Shikamaru!" Ino's voice rang out, speak of the devil herself, and he turned to see her running towards him.

He was caught off-balance as she thrust forward and wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in his jacket. He could feel the fabric dampen slightly as he hugged back, shooting her a confused look.

"Ino, what's going on?" He asked. "What are you crying for so early in the morning?"

"My mom… she wants me to join the army! She wants me to be a kunoichi!" She blubbered, peeking up at him to give him a miserable look. Her watery eyes blinked, and more crystalline tears trailed down her apple-red cheeks. "But I don't want to! I made it clear from the beginning that I wanted to stay home and continue my studies!"

Instantly he felt empathy welling up, and he hugged back harder. The war hadn't been kind to any of them, especially not when you had to sit back and watch your friends and colleagues go off to tour the countryside and never return. It was harder still to watch your family join the fray because of their skills, only to be told later that they'd fallen in battle.

For Ino, the matter was especially hard, especially since Hinata's passing was still so new. He should have known she'd fight like hell to keep from going if she was ever ordered to duty.

"I'd do anything to get outta here so I don't have to, I can't- I just can't go out and kill innocent people!" She sniffled.

All at once, his mind was made up.

He patted her back and sighed. "I get it, I really do. My parents said the same thing."

"What do we do? We can't stay here!" She exclaimed.

His lips turned upwards in a secretive smile. "About that… I had a certain plan in mind that I think you'd like. Fair warning though, what I'm about to tell you cannot be repeated."

Ino nodded rapidly. "I'm listening."

"Okay. Now don't freak out because of what I'm going to tell you, but I've already thought everything out, and I believe that it's the best decision to make at this moment. Shikamaru took a deep breath and then released it. "I'm going to join Mimei."

Ino's eyes widened. "Y- you mean the rebels?"

He nodded. "I've met a man around here, a visitor from one of the factions. He told me that he can get myself and one person out of here by tomorrow."

"By tomorrow, but…" she paused for a moment in thought. "But that's when we're supposed to show up for military duty!"

"Exactly." His smile was catlike.

Ino gave him another baffled look before she giggled, playfully slugging his shoulder. "You sneak, I can't believe you found an opportunity like this! I didn't know you were such a rulebreaker!"

A moment later, she frowned. "But wait. Leaving Konoha sounds great, but… but joining the rebels? Are you sure about this?"

"Like I said, I've weighed all the pros and cons." He explained. "I thought about it all night last night. It's my- our - only option."

Ino bit her lip. "Joining the rebels… I can't deny, what I've heard from Dad and from Hinata sounds frightening, but… but is it really the truth? Sasuke's family certainly isn't a basket of peaches, surely they can't be as bad as they say."

For a moment, a question popped into her mind. "What would Sakura and Hinata do?"

To that, she didn't have an answer for a few seconds. But then their faces appeared, and she nodded to herself firmly.

"Sakura and Hinata wouldn't have thought twice about it, if it meant fighting for a good cause," she told herself. "And if I'm gonna continue to fight for them, then I shouldn't either."

She looked up at Shikamaru with determination. "I'm in."


"So you've decided?" The stranger asked as soon as he reappeared, Ino in tow.

"Yeah. This is Ino, my childhood friend." He gestured to the blonde, who made a shaky bow. "She's in the same boat as me, I guess."

"Very well." The dark-haired man nodded. "As I've stated to your friend before, once you leave, you cannot go back. If you do decide to defect, we'll have no choice but to erase your memories. Do you understand?"

Sniffling, she wiped her eyes and nodded firmly. "Yes."

"Good." A hint of a smile appeared on his face again. "My partner and I will set out with you at midnight tonight. Make sure to pack lightly, but thoroughly. You will not have access to many amenities once we leave for Morino."

Beside her, Shikamaru's face momentarily shifted to something of puzzlement, but he said nothing.

"Morino?" Ino thought, confused. "Why on earth would they take us to the village that the troops just burnt down?"


A/N: Please tell me what you thought.