Chapter 3: Mission Brief

Casually skimming through mission files of the village, the Interrogation Leader of the ANBU Spy Unit was focused on a certain task he had placed for himself. Recently, he had agreed to take one Yamanaka Ino 'under his wing' as most would say. The reason why was simple. It would be a lie to say that during the Chunnin Exam that he wasn't keeping a keen eye out for any shinobi that possessed any spying tactics. Who knows, maybe one to succeed himself if they proved worthy.

Now, for him to excel at his profession, he needed to observe any mannerisms a person gave off. That was the first step to gain information on affecting them. Prior knowledge wasn't necessary, if anything, it could throw you off. Focus on the here and now because a shinobi always adapts; a fool keeps the same tactic.

As a result of this, he was the best candidate for conducting the first part of the Exam because his eyes were keener than several of the guard shinobi there. This also helped him scout out new talent because this exercise was all about gathering information from your opponents without 'getting caught'.

He came across a labeled folder titled 'Team Seven' on it. Looking through it, he chuckled when he came across the kunoichi's picture.

Haruno Sakura. Throughout most of the time the Exam was held, she had a focused expression, the cogs in her mind working toward the goal of the answers needed. Then her eyes grew wide, her expression blank. This raised Ibiki's interest for two reasons.

One, this jutsu had taken control of Sakura's body.

Two, with that type of control, the person who enacted the jutsu could've just as easily made Haruno Sakura raise her hand and fail the Exam, along with her teammates Uzamaki Naruto, who would've failed without the final question, and Uchiha Sasuke, who used his kekki genkai to cheat.

The thing was this person chose to focus on the task at hand, which was to get the information and sneak it to their teammates. Finding out who the person was wouldn't be difficult, just finding out what their jutsu really was in this situation would prove to be more difficult.

Since majority of the rookies there were failures that couldn't hack it last time, this had to be some new talent, or a new trick an old dog learned. This couldn't be a new trick though, how would they be able to pull off controlling someone's body?

Uchiha Sasuke was one of the Genins present at this particular Exam. Even as one of the remaining two that were of the Uchiha Clan, he could only mimic someone else's movements…

Sabaku no Kankuro, one the oldest Genins there, was a puppeteer, who was capable of doing this. However, I doubt the person they did this too would be willing and even so, from his position, he would not be able to see Sakura's answers. This marked him out.

Nara Shikamaru, whose father was widely known for being a user of the shadow technique, could've taken over Haruno Sakura's body and have her raise her test high enough for him to see. Then use his shadow possession to take over his teammate's body and write the answers for them. This was convincing and what he thought occurred for a while.

But Sakura looked at the test front and back, studying it and that same empty look reappeared in her eyes for a moment before finally looking around, bewildered. This completely made him rethink his theory.

If it wasn't one of the shinobi he originally thought of, who was it? His mind concentrated on memories of anyone possessing those types of abilities before coming to the answer. Yamanaka. Of course it would have to be a Yamanaka, but he didn't recall Inoichi having a son…

He skimmed through the roster of Genin taking the Exam only to come across 'Ino Yamanaka' in bold print. So he did have a child, must be a girl.

As soon as he came to that conclusion, he looked up only to see a kunoichi wearing purple with trademark Yamanaka blond hair.

A possible candidate…

Continuing his search, he finally found the 'Team Ten' folder. Looking through the file, he came across his soon-to-be prodigy, if she agreed. According to her mission file, she was adequate during missions, however, was better suited for espionage work. Her skills included her kekki genkai, some ninjutsu and genjutsu and a fair amount of taijutsu, meaning she could fight if it was needed, but she could only go up against so many ninja.

"Yamanakas are also impulsive and brash."

His previous words spoken to Lady Hokage herself came into mind. Even though it was said to give his superior a bit of a hard time, this statement was also true. However, from what he knew of her and her father, maybe she could prove this statement false…

"Shikamaru…."

Silence…CRUNCH!

"Shikamaru…" The flaxen haired kunoichi said in a singsong tone as prodded her team leader as he rested at his desk.

Silence…CRUNCH!

"Shikamaru!"

"Ino, cut it out." Her other teammate said, wanting his friend to get as much rest as possible. His statement was followed by a familiar CRUNCH! before speaking again. "I bet Tsunade-sama wore him out."

"Well, obviously," she retorted as she flippantly regarded him. "He didn't even go to the hill today to look at clouds!"

"Yeah, I think the only thing he wants to look at is the back of his eyelids." Chouji replied warily, finding her statement true. He dug through his bag of chips and another CRUNCH! resounded throughout the room once more.

"You know Chouji," another familiar voice stated, muffled by his arms before looking up and giving a weak glare to his comrades, "I was thinking the exact same thing. But between Ino's whining and you eating, I guess my eyelids will have to wait."

"Sorry Shikamaru." Chouji looked slightly embarrassed and he put away his bag of chips.

"No problem buddy." Shikamaru said as he stood.

"I do not have a whiny voice!" Ino said indignantly as she stood with her arms crossed.

"Says you," Shikamaru started slyly, not wanting to start a fight with her after waking up. Ino wins, she always wins.

"Hey, I heard that!" She slammed her hand down on his desk, almost in the same fashion Tsunade would have.

"Your point?" He carelessly waved back, not wanting to deal with the age-old situation. Shikamaru says she's annoying, Ino disagrees, Chouji plays peacemaker to avoid Ino's tirade…Yes, far too much to have to deal with after just waking up.

"Anyways, Tsunade-sama wants us both for a mission." Chouji cut in, right on schedule.

Shikamaru rubbed his temple with his hand before replying, "Alright, then why are you here Ino?"

She sighed before starting, "Because I don't know how to go about asking Morino-san to be my sensei. I mean he's a sadist." She held a thoughtful look on her face as she spoke.

"Which is why he should be your sensei, what's the problem?"

She sighed again and didn't reply.

"Don't tell me Yamanaka Ino is scared?" Shikamaru wanted to get a rise out of her now.

"No," she exclaimed, as it was her defiant nature, "Just anxious…"

But Ino knew when to follow the rules.

"Then resign from the Infirmary."

"I already did…" Ino said, thoughtfully at the memory.

Two kunoichi were parallel to each other across a medical table, their chakra infused hands side by side as they worked to revive a doe from the Nara Woods.

"Sakura, I've gotta tell you something…"Ino broke the silence.

"Oh, I think I figured out what's wrong with the doe…did you say something Ino?" Sakura inquired, too preoccupied with the task in front of her.

"I was about to say," Ino began again, slightly irritated, "that I'm considering resigning from being a medical nin, Sakura-sempai."

Sakura finished pumping chakra through her hands and looked up at her best friend, who she still considered her best rival. Over Ino's dead, withered body would she ever refer to Sakura as 'sempai', even though she technically was. Sakura was the one that brought it up occasionally, just to anger Ino. And resigning, where did that come from…?

"Ino, what's going on? What do you mean 'resign'?"

"As in, 'not work here anymore'." Ino stated bluntly answering the second question, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Why?" was the only thing Sakura could ask.

"Because, I think you are a pretty good medical nin Sakura," Ino said with a thoughtful smile on her face as she continued to pump chakra into the doe, as more as a soothing massage than a healing surge. "And, I need to focus on something that will help me grow as a kunoichi and stop competing with you in everything." She chuckled, not really meaning her last statement.

"Besides, since you're obviously not mature enough to stop this little competition we've got going on, I guess I'm going to have to do it for you, billboard brow…"

Sakura felt tears developing in her eyes. Not enough to cry, but she couldn't help the grin forming on her face.

Ino always had a distinct way of speaking and unless you knew her for an extended period of time, you wouldn't know what she meant.

Ino didn't want to stop this 'competition' between Sakura, because they were both mature enough to know that this 'competition' was a bond, strengthening their friendship. Referring to it as 'little' meant it was precious to her. And as contradicting as it is, she was a person to raise you up with a compliment, but deflate your ego with an insult.

Sakura knew her friend wanted to grow and many would say her 'resignation' was a way of quitting. But Ino never quits, only grows. And it didn't take a genius to figure out that by her leaving to grow on her own, it would help Sakura grow too…

That didn't mean Sakura wouldn't want her to stay.

"But you like debating too much, Ino-pig." Sakura said, giving it one last try.

"Yeah, I know…" Ino said, a smirk tugging her lips, "But maybe we could find a new topic to debate about."

"Sounds good." Sakura finally said with a nod, accepting her friend's decision.

"So, are you going to go see him?" Chouji brought Ino out of her thoughts.

"Yeah, but I need you guys to keep it a secret, for a while."

"Why? Ino, what are you-"

"Nothing Shikamaru; I just want to make it a surprise, until I tell my dad." She said over Shikamaru's lecturing question.

With a sigh, Shikamaru agreed and Chouji nodded with understanding, both not really knowing why they should keep this as a secret. Then the answer came in the form of a genuine, but rare smile from Yamanaka Ino.

Walking away from Hokage Tower, after saying goodbye to Chouji and Shikamaru before their mission, Ino couldn't help that anxious, yet light feeling she had. She quit being a medical nin, something she had her eye set on to prevent situations, like losing your sensei on the battlefield…

Nevertheless, she couldn't keep downing herself on that; she doubted that even Sakura could've been able to do anything. But Sakura was obviously the better medical nin and now was the time for Ino to do something that specialized in her field, even if her new sensei would be a bit daunting…

Approaching the Yamanaka residence, she saw a kunai, lodged in her door, with a paper attached and another being pinned with the blade.

It was a file, about her apparently, listed with every mission she had been on, her stats, family history, everything laid out for anyone to see! She quickly took it off the door and looked at the note attached to the end of the kunai.

Yamanaka Ino, report to the western training grounds, on the outskirts of the village at 0600 hours tomorrow. Do NOT be late. -Morino Ibiki

Looking from the note to the door, the first thought in her mind was:

'How do I explain the dent in the door?'

Alright, another chapter coming up really soon, some wanted Ibiki/Ino action. Until then, I thank anyone who's stopped by and read the story thus far.

funky-squirrel: Lol, that's funny. It's BAM! You just see your name at the end of the chapter, thanks for the comment on Chapter 2, Team Ten love.

Hasta luego!

DAC