Chapter 2, Decision Time
"Why do I even bother, they think that I'm still a fan girl of Sasuke's." cried Ino, not even noticing someone coming up to her.
"What happened to you Ino?" Sakura said as she came into view, Ino looked up to see who was disturbing her. Only one person knew of her hiding spot, noticing who it was Ino tried to stop her tears from falling in front of her enemy but failed terribly.
"NOTHING BILLBOARD... (Sob) ...WHY ARE YOU (sob) EVEN HERE" Ino yelled trying to stop the tears again but again failing miserably. Sakura walked up to the bench that her old friend sat on and looked over Konoha, the sun was now setting. Thinking on what to say, looking up from the town and turned to face Ino.
"This is the only place that not only holds great memories but it's a place where I can think on what I'm going to do" Sakura gazed up to the now dimming evening sky, with a small smile she continued. "I came to think about what I did and what I'm going to do after I explain to the Hokage what happened to Sasuke, you see... Sasuke said that I-I'm annoying...and w-w-weak...(Sob)...t-t-then h-h-he s-s-said that m-m-my...(Sob)...m-m-mas-s-ster...is either c-c-crazy or weak to t-t-teach me (Sob)." Sakura managed to calm herself down before she continued; while Sakura was pouring her heart out Ino rubbed her old friend's back.
"And then... (Sob)... he said I can't do a-a-anything... (Sob)... because I-I-I was weak" Sakura started to cry as she finished, Ino had decided long ago that chasing Sasuke was the biggest mistake she had made.
"Don't listen to him Sakura; he doesn't know the progress you have made in those four years, from what we know his has been with snake boy doing who knows what. Whereas you have been here surpassing your teacher, a sannin! What does he know hmm? Nothing, that's what." Ino jumped off the bench and made funny hand gestures, which made Sakura giggle at Ino trying to cheer her up.
"Thanks Ino, but why are you here?" Sakura said gesturing Ino to sit next to her on the bench again, which she took and began to tell Sakura what happened that afternoon.
"Well... the reason why I'm here is because of something similar to your problem, my team. You see we meet at Ichiraku ramen before training but I was late, I had to stay at my family's flower store longer than normal and this is the third time this week. So I was running to Ichiraku's, once I got in view of the store I slowed down. But as I was about to turn the corner I heard them talking about me." Ino looked up at the evening's sky before turning to Sakura.
"Asuma asked where I was and Shikamaru said I was out chasing and I quote, 'red eyed wonder' end quote. He was referring to Sasuke; they should know that I gave up on Sasuke long ago. Then Chouji said it does not matter anymore, it's not their fault if I get killed on a mission because I didn't train." Ino let her tears flow as she told Sakura that her team didn't care about her, Sakura looked at the blonde ninja while rubbing her back as she had done to her.
Then Sakura got an idea and jumped off the bench and turned to face Ino who looked back looking confused, Sakura gave a wide smile to Ino before she started speaking.
"Well this should make you feel better; I punched Sasuke through 8 trees. It probably the best thing I've done in all the years I've known Sasuke. But it's not only him I'm sick of, I'm sick of everyone; they all think I'm weak." Sakura said while showing how she bashed up Sasuke, making Ino laugh at how Sasuke got beaten up by a girl and by a former fan girl of all things.
"Hey! You know what we should do?" Ino spoke up after a minute of laughing. "We should leave Konoha and join this cool group that live in Lighting Country."
"What become missing-nins?" Sakura listened carefully.
"Yeah, the group is called Kurohasu or Black Lotus; they look for those people who have demons inside them and extract them, they are sorta like the Akatsuki I guess" Ino said scratching her chin.
"I'm not killing innocent people." Sakura said fiercely.
"No, no apparently this group have found a way to do it without killing the vessel." Ino explained.
"Well if you put it that way, they sound okay." Sakura said feeling better after hearing this. "Meet you at the training grounds at midnight, okay?" Sakura said as she got off the bench, turning to Ino.
"Okay see you tonight then Sakura" Ino jumped off the benched and waved to Sakura as she headed for her house to start packing.
"See ya Ino" Sakura waved to her old enemy now friend as she left; after she could not see Ino anymore she left to start packing.
At the same time in Suna
'I don't need them; I'll go and become a missing-nin. That'll show them' Temari thought as she packed her bag. "If Gaara thinks that I'm going to do his job while he has fun then he thought wrong, he's the Kazekage not me" she thought out loud, shoving a couple of exploding tags in her bag as well.
"Well that's it; all I need to do now is to drop this letter off to Gaara's office and leave." Temari said as she grabbed her bag, the letter and her fan then left for Gaara's office. Once she was at his office, she knocked at the door.
'No answer, good this is going to be easier than I thought' Temari then opened the door and headed for the desk which was tidy. Which is a good thing; 'Least he'll find it quicker' she left the letter in the middle of the desk then turned and left the office.
'What's the name of that group, the... the... Oh what was it? It's like the Akatsuki, but it's all female and they don't kill the vessels... Kurohasu! That's it' She thought as she flew awayfrom Suna.
Konoha, Training grounds 12:10pm
"Hey, what took you so long Sakura?" Ino asked her pink haired friend, who was walking up to her.
Sakura made a weak smile. "Mother wanted to know why I had hit 'poor Sasuke-kun' and didn't apologise." Sakura looked her friend in the eye. "You can still back out you know, but if you do can't tell anyone where I'm going."
"That's okay, and there is no way I'm backing out. You think I'll let you have all the fun? Um... since you've been on higher missions and stronger than me how about you be the leader? I don't mind it's just that you have more leadership skills then I have, that and you had Kakashi, Naruto and Sasuke on your team." Ino said as they began to jump to their destination, Sakura turned her head and gave Ino a friendly smile.
"Thank-you Ino, I really like that. Now let's go." with that they head for the land of lightning, where the Black Lotus were supposedly located.