The Yamanaka training ground had a rock wall that took up the entire left side of the training grounds. It was the "boarder" between the Yamanaka and the Nara properties. Ino approached the wall and looked at it with her hands on her narrow hips. It wasn't tall- at the most twelve feet, but upon closer inspection she realized that it was marked by different colored pieces of tape, indicating the "route" she needed to take to reach the top of that particular section. The tape was numbered 100-1,000 in multiples of 50, she looked and realized that the lower numbers were what appeared to be easier routes while the higher numbers were harder with the rock jutting out at strange angles."I guess I'll just start at the beginning." she muttered to herself as she walked to the route marked 100 before beginning to climb.
She thought about the words Hinata had shared with her back when they were training. Ino had revealed to her friend her troubles with the Earth jutzu despite her affinity with earth based techniques. Hinata then told Ino that she had a water affinity and the whenever she had difficulty she would swim. The thought of the giant wall at the Yamanaka Training grounds seemed like the perfect way to become one with her affinity.
The first route was simple, she climbed it almost instantly, quickly followed by routes 200, 250, and 300. However 350 began to give her some trouble, causing her to fall off the rock face multiple times before finally managing to reach the top. Route 400 she found she could not do.
She winced when she fell again, she had made it about 3 feet high before falling. Again. She stepped back and glared at the wall trying to figure out where to place her hands and feet. She crossed her arms and began calculating a plan to get up the wall. That bastard Shikamaru would probably have at least ten different ways for me to get up this thing. He probably would have figured out all of the routes by now she thought to herself bitterly.
She stepped forward and tried again, pressing her body against the wall, she reached her left foot out as far as she could and reached out with her right hand, her left hand was bracing her at about waist height. She felt her fingertips just brush the tip of the rock as she fought to keep her balance and shift her weight to her left side. Her right hand gripped a pretty sturdy piece of rock and she tried to calculate different ways that she could move.
"Put your left foot where your left hand is." a voice said from below. She looked down to see Shikamaru and Chouji standing below her.
"I got it." she said curtly.
"You're going to fall." Shikamaru pointed out. As if predicting the future, Ino's left foot slipped and she had to quickly shift her weight to keep from falling. Frantically she looked around for some other route, any route other then the one that Shikamaru had pointed out. But she didn't see anything. She groaned and did the move that way that Shikamaru had told her to. She made the move but fell again when she couldn't find the hand-hold above. Shikamaru steadied her when she fell.
"Damn it, Shika! I don't need your help." she groaned slapping his helping hands away from her.
"Looks like you do. Come on, Asuma wants us to come to the training grounds."
Ino sighed, realizing that she didn't want to leave the wall. This was a great work out and an even better way to try to figure out puzzles. She patted the wall before following her teammates out of the training ground.
She stood behind the counter of the Yamanaka flower shop and listened to Sakura droll on and on about how both Naruto and Sasuke were now missing. "They are just training." Ino pointed out.
"Yeah. But everyone else is training with their teammates, why am I not included?" she demanded.
Ino looked at her friend and shook her head "I don't know. Maybe because they need something different?" she tried.
Sakura sighed. "Kakashi-sensai has taken Sasuke somewhere and Naruto works with some perv with white hair. I am just stuck doing nothing but routines and seeing Lee at the hospital."
Ino looked at her friend sympathetically. She didn't know what to say. Ino had never been good a comforting people. "How is Lee?" she asked changing the topic.
"He is the same as always. If the idiot would stop working out he would heal a lot faster." Sakura said with a sigh.
Ino smiled slightly despite the seriousness of the situation. Rock Lee was a hell of a guy.
Sakura opened her mouth to talk to the blonde before her but was cut off when the bells above the doorway chimed. The two girls looked up and saw Neji Hyuuga enter the shop.
"Damn." Ino muttered before pasting on a smile and moving from behind the counter. "Welcome, Hyuuga-sama. What can I assist you with?" she inquired.
"I need white lilies." the Hyuuga boy stated simply.
Ino exchanged a quick glance with Sakura before she grabbed a piece of brown paper and began to collect the flowers from their buckets. She worked quickly and silently, wanting the Hyuuga boy out of her father's shop as quickly as possible. If any other guy who looked like that came in I would be flirting my ass off she thought to herself as she rolled the paper around the flowers.
Neji watched through white eyes as the Yamanaka girl's long slender fingers collected flower after flower and placed them gently in the paper. She didn't look as flawless as she usually did, there were scrapes and bruises on her body, what looked like road rash all along her left leg and thigh. He noticed that her purple painted fingernails were torn and that instead of her usual purple outfit she was instead dressed in a pair of athletic shorts and a tanktop. She turned to walk towards him and paused only to move the strap back up onto her shoulder. He could feel the dislike radiating off of her thin body, and the daggers she was glaring at him through those sapphire blue eyes.
She rang him up and told him the price. Neji glared at the girl with how rude she was being. Didn't she know how to keep everything else not work related away from work? Although she did manage to greet him as Hyuuga-sama, something that he was taken aback by.
Neji handed her the money and after receiving the correct change turned and walked out of the store without another glance.
"Damn." Sakura said when the door swung shut.
Ino sighed and rested her head on the counter. "I hate him." she muttered into her arms.
Sakura chuckled. "I never would have guessed. Is this about him turning you down when you were in the forest?" she asked.
Ino glanced up at Sakura with a You have got to be kidding me type of look before resting her head back down on the counter. "No. Let's just say that he and I do not exactly see eye to eye with a lot of things." she explained.
Sakura's emerald gaze fell onto Ino. It was true that Ino was brash and could be a straight up bitch. But she had a good heart beneath all that tough girl attitude. Sakura knew that towards the beginning of their match that Ino had been holding back. Sure she was still pissed that Ino had beaten her, but she also knew deep down that the better kunochi had won. She also knew that it was due to the match that the two of them managed to rekindle their friendship and move on.
"So Pig, dinner?" Sakura asked as she glanced at the clock and saw that it was time for Ino to close the shop.
"It's 6:00 already?" Ino asked.
"Yep." Sakura replied simply.
"I wish I could, but I promised Yoshino Nara that I would come over for dinner." Ino explained.
Sakura rolled her eyes and flipped her cherry blossom hair. "Because you and Shikamaru are on such good terms." she teased.
Ino chuckled. "Yeah… But Yoshino has done a lot for my dad and me since mom died. I really do think of her as another mom. If she wants me to come over I have no right to say no." Ino explained as she untied the apron from around her waist and wandered to the back to hang it up.
"Alright, well I will see you around, Pig." Sakura yelled into the back.
"See you, Forehead! Will you flip the sign to closed for me on your way out?" Ino asked.
Her response was the sound of bells jingling, signaling that Sakura had left the flowershop. Ino smiled to herself before doing an inventory check.
She locked the door to the flower shop behind her, if she hadn't been looking at her reflection in the mirror she would have missed the sillohette of her attacker. Ino swung around and blocked the assailant's attack with her own kunai before shoving them away. She quickly shifted to the side, effectively giving herself an escape route before facing her attacker.
"Well, looks like the little flower girl is learning a thing or two." Dosu said mockingly.
"What do you want?" Ino growled.
"That little trick you pulled on me the other day…that wasn't too nice." Dosu said simply as he twiddled with his kunai.
"What are you talking about?" Ino asked feigning innocence.
"You really think that I would kill my own teammate?" Dosu asked.
"It certainly appeared that you would in the forest of death." Ino spat back.
Dosu tapped his kunai to his chin in thought before looking at Ino. "Killing Kin after she lost to your teammate would be a waste of time."
Damn this guy, what the hell? Ino mentally fumed.
"Tell me Yamanaka, why is it that the two of us are paired? I am obviously stronger than you. You are nothing but a waste of my time, a waste of chakara that I need to defeat Sasuke." Dosu stated.
"Just the luck of the draw I guess. If you think I am so easy to defeat, then why bother using chakara. Just fight me like a man." Ino mocked.
"If you insist." Dosu replied before lunging towards her.
Ino blocked his attack and quickly countered with one of her own. He blocked it easily and was immediately back on the offensive. Ino ducked beneath a punch and swung her leg out, hoping to trip Dosu. He jumped up into the air, avoiding her attack before attempting to kick her. She rolled out of the way and quickly climbed to her feet. She reached for where her weapons pouch would be, but froze when she felt her bare thigh. Shit. I left my weapons pouch at home. The only reason I had this one was because I forgot it last night at the shop.
"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. You forgot your weapons. What kind of kunochi are you?" Dosu asked drawing a handful of kunai.
Ino gulped. And Dosu threw three kunai at her.
Ino knew this move, this was the same move that Sakura used on her. Ino stepped to the side, caught one of the kunai and with one swift motion, threw it back at Dosu. That caught him by surprise, he still managed to dodge but not gracefully, giving Ino enough time to leap onto the rooftop of the flower shop.
Luck was on her side because two other Konoha nin were also traveling along the rooftops. Ino knew that Dosu didn't want to draw attention to the fact that he wanted to kill her. He remained on the ground and glared at her. "This isn't over, Yamanaka." he said simply.
Ino quickly started running along the rooftops desperate to get away from the man who was trying to kill her. She didn't stop until she reached the sanctuary of the Nara Compound. She knocked frantically on the door, terrified that Dosu was lurking in the shadows, despite the fact that she masked her chakara and couldn't feel him behind her. Asuma said that she was most likely a sensory type kunochi because during their games of hide and seek, Ino could always find both her teammates and Jounin teacher the fastest.
The door opened and Ino quickly shoved in past Shikamaru. She was breathing hard and covered in sweat. She didn't use her chakara, instead was running on pure adrenaline. She slammed the door behind her and leaned heavily against the sturdy wooden frame.
"Ino? What happened?" he asked.
"Nothing. Just freaked myself out." Ino replied.
"You are covered in sweat and you don't just 'freak yourself out.'" Shikamaru pointed out simply.
Ino sighed. "I was running late and wanted to see what I could do without my chakara. I took the long way along the rooftops here from the flower shop." Ino explained.
Shiakmaru looked at her skeptically and was about to retort but was interrupted by Yoshino.
"Ino it's good to see you sweetie." the woman said with a gentle smile on her face.
Ino smiled back. "It's good to be here."