Chapter-19

-Flashback (Konoha)

Ino Yamanaka had just closed off her flower-shop after a busy day. Her mom had left the shop early as she had to buy groceries and prepare dinner. She sighed after closing off the doors of the shop and then started walking over to their greenhouse. On her way to the greenhouse, thoughts of what to make for dinner started occurring to her. She had moved out of her parents' house to become more independent. At first Inoichi was against this idea but finally agreed. She still saw them every day but she now had a two bedroom flat not so far away from her parents house.

'Perhaps I could go to the barbecue place or Ichiraku.' She thought, opening the doors of the greenhouse. She had to open the ventilation ducts for the greenhouse so that her flowers would not die. She looked at the clock on the glass wall. Seven o'clock. She sighed again. That day was a bitter-sweet day for her. It was her one year anniversary with Naruto but she could not celebrate it with him. She understood it though but that didn't help brighten her mood up.

'Maybe, I'll just make instant ramen, that's the closest I'll feel to him.' She thought walking over to the last opening. She smiled when she saw the orange and purple tulips planted next to each other. The two had planted the seeds when they were younger. After looking at them closely she saw a silvery white star shaped flower, with its stem wrapped in a piece of paper. 'An Edelweiss?' She thought, picking up the flower. Curiosity got the best of her and she opened the note. It read:

'Between Every Rise

And Every Set Of The Sun,

I Only See The Blue Of Your Eyes

Happy Anniversary, Ino-chan! '

Her lips curved upwards in a placid smile and her eyes lit up. Along with being a goofball, deep down he was a romantic and wasn't afraid to show it. It was just one of the things Ino loved about him. Her eyes focused back on the note.

'You didn't think that I would forget our anniversary, if you did well surprise, I didn't forget it. I'm sorry that I'm not in Konoha but I did arrange a date for us. Meet me a little far away from the gates of Konoha at 7:30. I'll make sure to distract the guards while you sneak away. Don't bother changing into anything, I already have an outfit ready for you.

P.S: I will not be wearing the same disguise as always, just ask me a personal question and if I answer correctly, you can be sure that's it's me. Or you can just find out when we reach there, okay, I'm going to stop before this letter begins to turn into a rambling letter. Can't risk getting caught, ya know! And burn this down or hide this somewhere safe.

Forever yours,

Whiskers.'

Naruto had managed to cheer her up in his own twisted way. The frown that was present on her face since morning had been replaced by a bright smile. She quickly finished all of the work and rushed to her flat. Even though Naruto had told her not to change, she didn't feel right meeting him in her mud stained clothes and apron. She quickly changed into her usual purple attire and put the edelweiss in her hair and decided to leave. She reached the gate at 7:25 and waited for the distraction.

At 7:30 exact, an explosion was heard from the forest facing Suna. A cry was heard right after. Normally Ino would have rushed to the place, but she knew that it was a diversion so she waited for the 'Eternal Guards' to leave and check it out. As soon as the Guards were out of sight, she ran through the gates and into the woods and rushed opposite to where the guards had gone. As soon as she was a far enough, a hooded bulky man with a bear mask appeared.

"Ino-chan?" The figure asked.

"Before I confirm who I am, tell me this. Who makes the worst ramen?" She asked, unsheathing her blade. She wouldn't let her guard down until she was sure that he was her whiskers.

"Your dad. We had it when we were around 6 and I had come over to spend the night with you. Your dad also promised to help us perfect the shuriken jutsu. Because of that, we were the best at it in the academy." He answered, without hesitation.

"Whiskers?" She asked lowering her blade. These were things that only Naruto and Inoichi knew about. She immediately tackled him in a hug.

"Yeah, it's me." He said with a chuckle wrapping his own arms around her and resting his chin on top of her head. "We have to go further up there to a small house where we will change into our outfits and then we are ready to go. And by the way, you look beautiful." He said smiling under his mask. A red blush had started to make its way across Ino's face. "Come on, let's go." She followed him to a wooden house in the middle of several tall trees.

"The second room has your outfit." He said, going into the first one. As soon as Ino entered the room, she was amazed. The room had a bed with a white Kimono with purple flowers connected by green branches all over it. The room also had a mirror and a bathroom. She quickly freshened up a bit and changed into her Kimono, checking herself out in the mirror. As soon as she was satisfied, she switched off the lights and left the room. Naruto was already waiting for her outside the house.

He was dressed in a matching black Kimono with orange flowers. His golden blonde hair was tied back in a man bun and the whiskers on his face were covered by a genjutsu.

"You look really beautiful, Ino-chan. Not that you weren't looking beautiful earlier but- shit, I was supposed to be smooth."

A soft chuckle escaped her lips. She liked it when Naruto got all flustered and nervous, it was just one of the reasons she had fallen in love with him. "You look pretty handsome too. So, what's your plan?"

"We are going to the Hidden Hot Water Village. There's an annual festival that I am sure you will enjoy!" He said, a huge grin spreading across his face. He had been thinking for almost a month when he received an invitation from the village to join the festival. The festival was supposed to be celebrated for three days and by chance, their anniversary was on the first day. As soon as he realized that, he sent a letter back to the village stating that the trio will be attending the festival on the last day, so he could take Ino out on their anniversary and not upset the village head by declining.

"But what about people not finding about your identity and why are your whiskers covered up?" She asked, she already had a rough idea but she still wanted to know if she was right or not.

"The people in the village think that I'm a fisherman named Menma, so my cover will not be blown. I started going as Menma to the village as the villagers got intimidated by us if we went with our masks on and they would often offer stuff that we wanted to buy for free. And the whiskers are still there but they aren't a part of the disguise." He said, intertwining his fingers with her, and giving her one of his genuine smiles which Ino returned with her own smile. "Now, let's hurry up. We can't miss the festival."

The two went on enjoying the night. They went from trying weird snacks and Naruto using the cheesy 'You're a snack!' pickup line to playing silly games some of which ended with Ino brutally defeating Naruto and Naruto pouting like a child when Ino was teasing him. The two also talked about their recent missions and Naruto caught up on changes happening in the Hidden Leaf over dinner. Once their dinner was over, Naruto took her to the top of a small hill.

Once they were at the top of the hill, Naruto wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer to him. At the same time, Ino wrapped her arms around his neck staring into his pools or blue.

"Happy Anniversary, Ino-chan." He said, bringing his lips just centimetres away from hers. His warm breath sent shivers down Ino's spine making her heart beat faster.

"Happy Anniversary, Whiskers." She said, closing the gap between them and capturing his lips in a kiss full of passion. Weeks and months of longing and huger for each other were poured into that kiss setting off a warm fluttering feeling in their chests. Pulling each other as close as possible, hungry for the other's touch, Ino's hand removed his man bun and her and started going through his messy golden locks while one of Naruto's hand was caressing her back and the other was behind her neck. They kissed like it was the last time they could as they didn't know when they would see each other again. The fireworks ending the first day of the festival were set off in the background but nothing mattered to them except each other.

-Flashback end.

It had been two days since the capture of Sumaru. Kitsune had found out that the second thief was actually Akahoshi and that he had kept Sumaru hidden in one of the heavily guarded rooms in the Hoshikage tower. The two could easily rescue Sumaru but according to their intel, he was the weakness of the actual thief that had stolen the star.

The two had been living in a small house that Kitsune created using his wood style as the place that they were supposed to live in was chosen such that Akahoshi would have a huge chance of finding out about their true identity.

It was currently evening and Kitsune was hidden near the room that Sumaru was kept in. Suzume was hiding in the training room. They had sensed the strong chakra of the star and knew that the thief was returning with the star and was probably going to trade the star for Sumaru's safety. Now all they had to do was wait for the thief to arrive.

After waiting for a few hours, the guards guarding Sumaru's room left. As soon as the coast was clear, Kitsune sneaked into the room. He had expected another guard to be inside and he was right but Kitsune got a bit too lucky when the guard turned out to be one of Akahoshi's henchmen. Without making a single sound, he knocked out the guy with the butt of his kunai.

He then went to Sumaru and removed the machines that he was hooked up to. The boy was still unconscious. He made a wood clone who carried the knocked out guy while he carried Sumaru to his house. He would first make sure that Sumaru's life isn't in danger and once that's done, he would go on to torture the guy.

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Suzume was patiently waiting for the thief to enter the room. She had been waiting for about half an hour. The genins were away practicing Taijutsu and increasing their stamina outdoors so no one else was in the room except herself. At once the door of the room opened to reveal the masked thief. She was waiting for the thief to reveal the star so that she would know that this one was the real thief.

As soon as the thief's hand moved towards her kunai pouch, four kunai and five shuriken hit her in the back causing her to fall on her face. Surprisingly, Suzume wasn't the one to throw them. Akahoshi and one of his lackeys entered the room using the same door that the thief had used. Suzume kept on hiding just in case she could find some clues.

Akahoshi walked towards the bleeding thief with an evil smirk on his face, satisfied that he had managed to trick her. He ripped the mask off her face to reveal a woman with long black hair and eyes just like Sumaru.

"You're so naive, Lady Natsuhi." He said, reaching for his kunai pouch to retrieve the star. "If only you had been somewhat smart enough to understand that the star training was the only way that we could match the strength of the five great nations. Imagine if we have a hundred ninjas who have completed the star training, we could easily overpower the five great nations and take over not just the five great nations but also the entire world." He took the star and turned around to leave. "But sadly, I will have to leave you here to die."

As soon as Akahoshi left, Suzume went to check up on the lady who was unconscious due to excessive loss of blood. Sadly, she didn't know any medical Ninjutsu so she couldn't heal her. She carefully took out the kunai and shuriken and disinfected the wounds. She then bandaged the woman up and put a tag on her to change her appearance to a child. As soon as that was done, she carried the thief to her house. She had a feeling that the thief actually stole the star because she knew about the side effects of it. None the less, she would know the whole story as soon as the woman was conscious again.

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With a groan, the man opened his eyes. His hands and legs were tied to the chair he was sitting on and he had a seal tag on his forehead. In front of him, Kitsune was present but this time he was wearing his fox mask and Kurama had taken over for interrogation. He noticed the man and strode towards him.

"So, you are finally awake."

"YOU! If Lord Hoshikage finds about this, you are dead meat." He said, struggling. As soon as he tried to use chakra, his forehead felt as if it was going to burn to a crisp. Due to the pain, the man started shouting.

"Calm the fuck down. If you try to use chakra, the seal tag will burn your forehead. And your Hoshikage can't do shit so don't even try to scare me with that." He said, placing a chair opposite the man and sitting on it. "Now let's get down to business. How did the Third Hoshikage die?"

"I don't know."

"Don't try to act all innocent, mortal. I know you had a hand in it. Tell me before I get pissed off."

"I will not tell you. Kill me if you want to."

Kurama smirked under his mask as soon as he heard this. He took out a kunai and pierced through the man's quad as soon as the blade reached the femur; it stopped while the man cried out in agony.

"Not so tough now. Think again, I have just started. By the time I am done with you, no one would be able to recognise your corpse." He said taking another kunai and piercing his other quad. "I can do this all day, so stop fucking around and tell me!"

"Please stop this, I'll tell you everything." The man said trembling with fear. He could sense the killing intent coming from his interrogator. "Akahoshi killed him because he stopped the star training. We helped him, I am telling the truth. Now please spare- " He was knocked out mid-sentence as Kurama had already gotten the information that he wanted.

After leaving the room, Kurama gave full access to Kitsune before falling asleep again.

'With great power comes a great need to take a nap. Don't wake me up anytime soon.'

'But Kurama that was nothing. You're lazier than a Nara, ya know!' Kitsune thought exiting his mindscape.

He then headed over to Suzume's room to create a plan to expose Akahoshi.

XXXXXXXXXXX

"How could you be so careless?" Akahoshi said, his eyes were filled with rage. The guards present before him were trembling with fear.

"W-We are so-sorry Lord H-Hoshikage. I-It was the other s-set of guards shift s-so we left." The two guards stationed outside Sumaru's room said in unison.

"Now get out of my sight before I banish you from the village!" The guards ran away from the room as soon as the words left Akahoshi's mouth.

"Boss, do you think that it was Kitsune and Suzume?" His remaining follower asked. He had wanted to tell the truth about Akahoshi but he couldn't. Akahoshi had his only weakness, a task that he regretted doing till that day, helping Akahoshi kill the Third Hoshikage.

"It might be them but we cannot think about that now. Sumaru could wake up any second. We need to hurry up and announce my title as the Fourth Hoshikage to the village before that happens. Come on now; gather everyone before I reach there."

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Natsuhi had just woken up. She had thought that she was going to die but someone saved her. She looked across the room to see a boy sleeping on another bed. At first, she was frightened and thought that Akahoshi had imprisoned her along with Sumaru but she sighed of relief when she realised that the architecture wasn't from The Hidden Star. Feeling some joy, she slowly walked over to see her son, careful not to make noise. As soon as she saw him, tears of joy flowed down her cheek and landed on Sumaru's face, which woke him up.

Sumaru woke up with his head aching a bit due to the anaesthetics given to him. Groaning, he opened his eyes to see a woman crying. The face felt familiar but Sumaru just couldn't put a finger on it.

"S-Sumaru?" She whispered, breaking the silence and caressing his chin in a motherly way. As soon as he heard her voice, all the memories came back. It was the same voice that had sung a lullaby for him when he was younger, suddenly every memory of his childhood started coming back to him. His eyes widened in realization.

"Mom?" Hearing these words, she pulled her son into a hug. "But, you were supposed to be dead." He said, trying to stop the tears.

"The Third Hoshikage had given your dad and me a mission that required us to leave the village and keep an eye on it from afar and steal the star if the star training was going on. Sadly, your father died due to the side effects of using the Star's chakra." She said, waiting for another question from him but before he could ask one, Kitsune rushed into the room with Suzume just behind them.

"Really sorry to interrupt your reunion but if we do not hurry; Akahoshi will become the Fourth Hoshikage. I can kick his butt but because I am not from this village, no one will believe me so I need your help, Lady Natsuhi." He said, quickly. The mother and son quickly nodded to each other before Sumaru ran off to meet up with his friends so that he could show the people the negative effects happening to Mizura's body due to the star training. Lady Natsuhi on the other hand was listening to Suzume's plan to trick the Hoshikage.

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"From this day forth, I am no longer the deputy Hoshikage but The Fourth Hoshikage!" Akahoshi announced and the villagers started cheering for him mindlessly.

"Wait!" A woman said before appearing in front of the Hoshikage, she was made up of only purple chakra so her face was not visible but as she got closer and closer, the purple chakra disappeared to reveal Lady Natsuhi. A number of gasps were heard from the crowd while Akahoshi just grunted. "This man is a fraud; the star training only harms the body periodically which is why the Third Hoshikage stopped it."

The crowd broke into discussions about who to believe, Lord Hoshikage or Lady Natsuhi.

"No, only those people who don't love the village enough are not able to handle the star training!" The Hoshikage said, getting everyone's attention. Just in time, Sumaru appeared with Mizura and Hokuto.

"Lord Hoshikage, you are wrong. For years I have endured the star training and my body has had a lot of negative side-effects but I still endured the training, how can you say that I don't love the village enough? See for yourself what the star training has done to me!" Mizura said, opening his robe for people to see the purple markings on his chests. As soon as the people saw this, they all were against the star training.

"No! I will not lose so easily!" Akahoshi said, taking the star and shoving it into his chest. Soon after, his eyes turned purple, hair became longer, a beard started to grow on his face and his muscles were becoming bigger. The chakra formed a dragon above him which blew away all the villagers including Sumaru, Natsuhi, Hokuto and Mizura. Suzume rushed to shield Mizura and Natsuhi as she knew that their body could not take a lot of harm. Kitsune on the other hand rushed to the frontlines to fight against Akahoshi.

"Wood Style: Wood Dragon Jutsu!" Kitsune yelled jumping onto a massive wooden dragon that was way taller than Akahoshi's. He thought why not defeat a dragon with a dragon. Seeing this, Akahoshi put more chakra into his dragon to match Kitsune's height. The two dragons clashed till Kitsune's wooden dragon wrapped itself around the other dragon, sinking its teeth into the purple chakra dragon like a vampire and started sucking the chakra out from it.

Kitsune then formed a Rasenshuriken and aimed it right at Akahoshi's chest. As soon as the Rasenshuriken came in contact with the star, the star burst into pieces tearing away Akahoshi and killing him instantly.

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It had been two days since the death of Akahoshi. Lady Natsuhi was made the Fourth Hoshikage and Akahoshi's lackeys were sent to prison. Neko had also arrived a while after Akahoshi's death after receiving the letter from Suzume about the effects of the star's chakra. He had come up with a treatment that would heal them overtime. After talking with the local medics, he explained the procedure to them, leaving them in awe. Something that had been killing off a number of their shinobi was discovered very quickly by a sixteen year old.

Currently, the trio was at the gates of The Hidden Star, ready to leave. Both Sumaru and Lady Natsuhi decided to send them off.

"We would love to sign your treaty." Lady Natsuhi said, shaking Kitsune's hand.

"I will send the scrolls needed to sign the treaty with one of Neko's cats." He said, continuing on about the other villages that had signed the treaty.

"I almost forgot to thank you for saving my mom." Sumaru said with a nervous smile.

"Don't worry about it." Suzume said, smiling back. "You look a bit nervous."

"Yeah, I actually wanted to ask you if you wanted to go out with me." Sumaru said, blushing. As soon as these words were heard by Neko, who was petting Kara, he felt a pang of jealousy. It was a good thing that he was wearing a mask unlike the other two who were just wearing the solid transformation seal tag or else it would be harder to hide his emotion. Acting like nothing happened; he went back to petting Kara.

"Um, you are a really great guy but I just don't feel that way about you." She said nervously, this was her first attempt at turning down a guy and she wanted to do it as gently as possible. "Plus I don't think it would ever work out between us with all of my travelling. But I am sure that there is someone out there for you, maybe they have been right in front of you but that someone is not me." She said letting him down.

Neko and Kitsune were relieved as soon as she said that for completely different reasons, as soon as they said their goodbyes, the left for their home opposite the coast of the island of Uzushio.

A/N:

I am sorry for not posting lately but I've just been very busy. Anyway, because I made y'all wait I decided to finish the star arc in this chapter. Please let me know how it was. Anyway, I am thinking that the three should return to Konoha and I would love to read your thoughts on it. Also now the Kakazu and Hidan arc is next so what do y'all think about killing Asuma? Please let me know!

See y'all as soon as possible!

Peace!