Chapter 26: We Are Not A Lie!
Ino raised an eyebrow, "Elemental goddesses?"
Gaara nodded, "These forbidden jutsus are said to be powerful and many are trying to gain it. So you three must find it, and then destroy it."
"Destroy?" Chouji asked.
"Yes, many would even kill for the powers of the jutsus. Which would be a threat to the many villages said to have acquired them. That, and those so called jutsus do not even work. But no one would believe it."
The blonde frowned, "They why would they kill for it if they don't even work?"
"Because they say only powerful shinobi can make it work. And you know how proud some ninjas are."
"Was any Kage able to do it?"
"Not one."
"So then, why don't they be the one to destroy it if the scrolls are under their care?" Ino asked.
"Because they believe in myths."
Shikamaru became more interested once that was brought up. "Myth?"
"These elemental goddesses are said to be the creators of the world, and the other Kages do not wish to 'anger' them by destroying their fake jutsus. I would gladly get rid of the one under Suna, but no one knows where my father has placed the scroll."
Ino clenched her fists in rage.
"These goddesses do not exist. They are simply made up as some sort of heresy. They are a lie-"
"They are not!" Ino exclaimed.
Gaara faced her, and then her teammates. "It seems you have one of their believers as a teammate."
"What makes you so sure that they do not exist?" Shikamaru asked as Chouji was trying to calm down their female teammate. "How do you know that they really are a myth?"
The Kazekage got out another scroll, then handed it to Shikamaru. "The elders of the village were able to show me that, once they found out about your mission."
After reading it, Shikamaru sighed, then faced Ino and handed it to her. The girl grabbed it and read it over, her face paled. It was a page of what looked like a diary, and it looked centuries old.
Year 652 - Erugih Imuzak
They are all looking up to me. Every one of them. And I can practically feel the power coursing through my veins! A history is what they are searching for! They think of me as a god that knows all. But I'll give them this much, they are a loyal bunch of fools. A history... My imagination can always run wild. I remember finding some sort of shiny rock, perhaps that could be a symbol for them... a Heart. But now the people. Heart, they usually always deal with females. Perhaps a goddess, yes, five goddesses. The elemental ones. A history they would all believe to be true. These fools believe anything I say. And if I could tell them I was probably their messenger... yes, they really will treat me like a god!
Ino faced Gaara, "But the village."
"And how did you know of Asahi?"
"Who wouldn't know? Its a new village, isn't it?"
"Yes. A new village that practically idolizes these so called elemental goddesses. Because they are the people Imuzak mentioned in his journal entry. The fools who believe every word he said."
Ino boiled with rage. She knew they were real. She was even the incarnation of one! And they go about saying things like they were a lie?! But what kind of excuse could she give? She was forbidden to tell anybody that she, along with her sisters, were goddess vessels. So she did the only thing she could do.
Ino crossed her arms. "All I know is that they are real, a scrap of paper isn't proof enough that they aren't."
Be the stubborn girl she is.
"But do you have anything to prove that they are real?" Gaara asked.
"Do you know how the new village was made?"
"A jutsu was placed on it that caused it to float on air and was to be dispelled after a thousand years."
"And what makes you so sure that it wasn't because of the prophecy?"
"The prophecy is just another heresy. A follower of Imuzak put chakra into five baby girls, who are still unknown, to make it seem like they are goddesses. They are said to place that chakra into the stone so it could dispel the jutsu, and make it appear that the prophecy is true."
What if chakra really was placed in them when they were infants?
The lightning sister froze.
What if he was right?
Ino cast her eyes downward, away from his piercing jade ones.
What if they really were a lie?
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
The three walked out of the Kazekage tower with a sulking female teammate.
Chouji faced her, "How did you know about them anyway? We were taught a different history at the academy."
"Screw me for being a feminist to look for another history, why don't you?!" she replied angrily.
"I'd gladly do that!" said some drunk man that appeared in front of them and faced Ino with a hungry look.
Ino just scowled and slapped him, causing him to crash into an alley, and then the three left. But if they stayed long enough, Shikamaru and Chouji could've seen the electrical sparks around the man's body after Ino's seemingly only physical hit.
But two other ninjas saw it and one could only smirk.
"Just what we're looking for."
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
Ino faced Temari, they were on a rooftop, away from seeing eyes. "You knew about it too?"
"Yeah."
"What if... what if its true?"
Temari just sighed and laid back, "If its true, its true. What else can we do about it?"
"So everything we did was for nothing?!"
"We all became friends, didn't we?"
Ino smiled a little, "True. Even if we do bicker like children."
"But I don't think its true," Temari answered shortly.
"What?"
"We went through too much to believe that it was just some joke. We met a sannin, fought with ninja ten times more better than we are, faced death more times than we can count, and... we saved an entire village."
"But, how are you so sure that it wasn't all a hoax? That the world was created from the elemental goddesses? Because, if that's the case, who created them?"
Temari just stood up and prepared to leave, "No one can answer that, Ino. Its a mystery to us all."
Ino faced her retreating back and sighed, "A mystery no one really tries to solve."
"Its called philosophy, Ino. No one will ever know. Because somehow, something must have come from nothing, and people are too stubborn to believe it," Temari said, then jumped to another roof and headed to the Kazekage tower.
The blonde then faced the sky again, then looked downward and saw her two teammates eating at some ramen shop similar to Ichiraku. She jumped down and sat next to Shikamaru, and ordered a bowl of ramen.
She faced Shikamaru, "Hey, Shika-kun."
"I told you not to call me that," he replied.
Ino looked down at her noddles, then at his, then at Chouji's, or well, he already finished 3 bowls. "You notice something?"
"What?"
"The teams seem to be all alike."
He faced her and raised an eyebrow, "You only found out now?"
She pouted, "Don't blame me for thinking everyone is unique in his or her own way!... But, its kinda weird isn't it? There's the quiet one, the loud one, then the neutral."
Loud. Quiet. Neutral.
Naruto. Sasuke. Sakura.
Ino. Shikamaru (barely). Chouji.
Kiba. Shino. Hinata.
Lee. Neji. Tenten.
Kankuro. Gaara. Temari.
"Its so weird!"
"Mmm hmm."
"And...?"
"Mmm hmm."
"Then...?"
"Mmm hmm."
Ino bonked him on the head, "You're not even listening!"
He just rubbed his newly formed wound, "Troublesome woman." She was about to retort but then stopped short and looked at him. He felt her gaze and looked at her, "What?"
She smiled then grabbed his hand and examined it.
Shikamaru faced her, "What are you doing?"
"Just get back eating, you're right handed right?" She grazed the many callouses on his hands, and some scars, gained from throwing kunai and shuriken. She looked at hers, soft.
It was almost like the opposite.
Even their personalities were completely different, Ino thought as she stroked his hand absentmindly.
Opposites attract.
Sasuke and Sakura are too stubborn to admit they love each other.
Naruto is too dense to realize Hinata's affection.
Tenten and... Tenten is more of a sister to Neji than Hinata is.
Opposites don't always attract, sometimes similar things have to be there.
Like how neither Shikamaru or Temari would admit that their opposite sex were better. They were both calm and strategic. But they were also different too.
Opposites and similarites are better when they're combined.
Ino faced her seatmate, who looked like he was uncomfortable by the way she stroked his hand. People you love aren't supposed to be tense by your touch, unless they don't love you back.
She let go of his hand and sighed, Don't be such a drama queen, Ino! But then she faced him again, and this time, he didn't look up once he noticed her staring.
The blonde could only mentally groan at how... strange it was.
They were both considered a love team when they were genin.
But once they all became Jounin, it was he and Temari who were always paired up in conversations.
She was jealous, that she could admit.
Her eyes slightly widened, and then she looked at Chouji.
He was just eating.
But she could have swore... he was looking at her...
Guess the third wheel isn't that oblivious as to what was happening between his two teammates. But he didn't butt in, he minded his own business. And that not only gained Shikamaru's respect, but Ino's as well.
But then his eyes met Ino's.
He smirked.
She let out a silent gasp.
He was laughing at her!
Her fists clenched, she would show him! She grabbed Shikamaru's hand again, this time shocking him fully.
Ino grinned. "I won't lose!"
Shikamaru mentally groaned.
Chouji just found all this very, very amusing.
"Lose-"
"You got that right! You may be lazy, but you aren't dumb! You know what I'm fighting for!"
"Troublesome-"
"But you wouldn't have it any other way!"
...
A smirk. "True."
A/N:
I'm sorry (like always) if most of this things here are sooo random. Like the philosophy stuff and team theory! But, I just couldn't think of anything else to put to make this chapter as long as a chapter!
You know the drill. You've read, so now you review.