Ino knew she could be a real bitch sometimes, sometimes it was a need, and she was good at it too. She was, however feeling guilty for being such an ass towards her. Back when Sakura didn't have enough Chakra to save him, and Sai had died in her arms. Ino had put all her anger and sadness on Sakura and blamed her for his death.

It hadn't been fair of her, to do that to her, when she had lost a teammate too, they hadn't talked with one another since then. That had mostly been because the Hokage had made Sakura babysit the… older men and Ino had been busy running the clan after her father's death, Ino grumpily admitted to herself that she might have been avoiding her too. She would NEVER say it out loud, though, it would shatter her pride.

There are many words that could describe Ino such as, amazing, beautiful, kind, strong and so on. Some people might also call her selfish, rude and mean. There was one thing that not many knew, but she was loyal to her friends no matter what, even when she was in the middle of a fight. She had after all saved Sakura back when they were 12, and her teammates were out cold.

So here she was walking by the rest of team 7 when they were talking about Sakura. Naruto that idiot was telling the others about 'how worried he was for Sakura-Chan', right like Sakura needed anyone to protect her.

She sat down a bit away with her own teammates, Shikamaru was already laying on the table most likely sleeping. Choji was looking through the menu, Ino held an ear out on the other team's conversation while acting like she was looking through the menu.

"Neh, do you really think that Sakura-Chan is alright?" The fox-host said with a concerned voice for the 100-time, Ino gave a not so feminine snort like Sakura couldn't take care of herself. She heard them talking about it for a little longer, forehead-girl was once weak and needed to be protected, yes, but now she could take care of herself.

Sakura's teammates were still underestimating her, and it made Ino look at her own team, they knew what her weakness and strengths were. Ino never had to worry that her team left her behind, underestimate her, never regains her worth, choose another more skilled ninja over her or try and kill her for that sake.

This was the first time she had ever thought about this, how much Sakura had to fight for her rights as a ninja without support from anyone other than their Hokage, not even her parents. Did her team even know anything about her?

"Karin is now taking Sakura's place on the team permanently" She heard the famous copycat ninja say like it was the most common thing like he wasn't throwing Sakura off his team. To her great disappointment, the rest didn't say anything and just kept quiet like they didn't care about Sakura.

After she had waited a bit in hope of the boys coming to Sakura's rescue, but none came. She looked shocked at her own teammates, Shikamaru opened one eye and raised an eyebrow at her, he had been listening too and asking her what to do about it just like that time.

Making up her mind, Ino slammed her hands down on the table, got up and walked towards the other team. The team that had just so coldly abandoned their teammate without blinking, replaced her with something else. As she made the way over there she stumbles the ground as hard as she could and when she got over to the other team's table she slammed her hands down on their table too. Ino glanced at every single one of them, before taking her hands off the table and crossing them over her chest.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?!" hissed Ino out at them, her body shaking in anger. She felt the most betrayed by Naruto. He was the one going on and on about teamwork and friends and all that bullshit that apparently meant nothing in the end. She looked at him.

"You go on and on and on about how we shouldn't kill the Uchiha, no matter what, you wouldn't shut up about it. But the moment that Sakura is cast aside like yesterday's news you don't even blink about." She was yelling at the end, but she didn't care if people were looking, this was her friend and she cared. Naruto looked guilty at the ground before looking up once more, "I know Sakur-"

"You know nothing about Sakura," Ino said, the blond male was about to say something when she slapped him across the face in anger. Her whole face turned red in anger, how dare he claim to know anything about her?

"You don't know that she lived on her own her since she was 6 because he parents hated ninjas! You don't know about those disapproving looks she got when you all left her behind! You had Jiraiya to help you get over the pain! Kakashi ran off the next fucking day and did nothing to help Sakura! She didn't even see him before you got back! No one has ever stood up for her before!" She took a big into of air before she began once more. Sasuke was about to say something and Ino slapped him quite too.

"And apparently you are not going to be the first either! Ever since Sasuke came back it has been all Sasuke this and Sasuke that! B Did you ever visit her? not to see your father but just to see how she was doing?! So friend you are!" Tears were coming down now, and her voice broke once or twice. Sakura lost her most important people, those she trusted with her life, those people she would die for, those people she would live for. This was the cold truth about team 7 and that was if one were weak you would be left behind.

Ino ran off after that not looking back, her teammates were hot on her heel because they care like a team should.


Sakura looked shocked at the other people one second later and she was Kami knows where. She looked over at the sand raccoon, not scared in the least, just surprised. Looking around she could only see sand anywhere and she felt no Chakra other than Shukaku and hers. He had taken them somewhere else far away from unwanted eyes.

"What is really going on here," Sakura asked the beast before her, in a casual tone like she was talking to a friend, which she had none of anymore. The demon picks up on it too since he just gave a sinners smiled and waved his tail from side to side slowly.

"Remember your fight with Kaguya?" asked the raccoon after a bit of time, like he was thinking of how to say this right. She nodded her head, how could she ever forget that? How could she even think of comparing herself with the recantation of Ashura and Indra? It had been a big eye-opening for Sakura that no matter what she would always be in the shadow of her teammates and sensei. She voiced what that had to do with anything and the sand beast simply smiled.

"Remember when all three of you touched her at the same time? Just before she was defeated" He asked before taking a deep breath, a nod from her, and he continued "You were the only one who touched her at that time without some sort of power except your own."

"And because of that, some of her powers have gone over to you" He waited for a minute to let it all sink in. He watched as her eyes grew singlet bigger when she realized that he was indeed right about it. "Kaguya and the tree are the 10 tailed beast, which means she is one of us, you are now by us tail beast consider you family"

"As for Kurama and marking you, the fox contract allows you to summon him without killing his host, for us that is the same thing as marking since you are now under his protection" The first tail explained to the young woman that looked at him before blinking a couple of times looking deep into her thoughts.

Sakura stood there taking in what the raccoon had just told her, she would have a long talk with Kurama when she got back. She was more worried on what she should tell her companions when she got back. Letting out a deep sign Sakura told the beast to take them back, she would just have to make something up.