Chapter 2: The Mission
Ino awoke earlier than was planned but she couldn't go back to sleep and just got ready for her mission.
She couldn't help but remember the feeling of being watched she felt last night. Something wasn't right. Unless it was Jiraiya-sama peeking in on her, but he probably was watching the women's hot springs instead.
"I'm leaving,"Ino said into her parent's room. She gave them a hug and a kiss before slinging her bag over her shoulder and hopping down the stairs.
She grabbed a green apple and silently opened and closed the door. She ran to the Hokage's office to get there earlier.
She waved to Shizune, Tsunade's neice before knocking on the door.
"Enter."replied a sleepily Tsunade. She absently scratched an itch that appeared on her nose.
"Yamanaka Ino. You're early, aren't you."Tsunade smiled.
"Yeah...I couldn't go back to sleep."Ino said before taking a seat near the window,"What's the mission?"
"We've received a mission requesting you, specifically. but I appointed one of your squads to go with you. It seems someone spotted two Akatsuki members. They asked for you to go check it out since they knew of your family's espionage jutsus."Tsunade said with her head in her hands.
"I see...so I'm only to check it out right now?"Ino asked.
"Hai. Here are the mission spects. Onegai have your squad ready to go at the gates in an hour."Tsunade said,"Dismissed."
"Hai!"Ino said before leaving the room.
"Good luck, Ino-san,"Shizune said before going back to organizing Tsunade's medical books.
"Thanks,"Ino waved before heading over to her department.
"Morning, Ibiki-sempai,"Ino waved to the scar ridden man. He waved back and said,"Mission?"
"Hai, Tsunade-hime has me checking out some trails."Ino said, promptly before sitting at her desk.
"Did Squad 2 get here yet?"Ino asked, looking over the report.
"Only Sayuri and Isumi. Yune isn't here yet."Anko called walking into to the room.
"Anko-san."Ino said. Anko hated being told "Good Morning,." She wasn't a morning person and didn't like the concept of the morning being good unless something good did happen.
"How's the crop of kids this time, Anko-san?"Ino asked, looking at the purple haired kunoichi, who she had first met in the chuunin exams years ago when Ino was a genin.
They're not like they used to be. So innocent these days, you'd think they'd be sarcastic and snarky, but they're too innocent. I would hand them over to you Ino but I heard you've got a mission."Anko chattered.
"Hai...I gotta check some stuff out."Ino said.
"Sensei, Yune has finally showed up."Sayuri said, walking into the room.
"Does everyone got What they need?"Ino asked, standing up and stretching.
"Yup."All 3 ANBU said.
"To the gate. I'll explain the mission on the way."Ino ordered. In a second, all 4 ANBU membes vanished into thin air.
--
All 4 ANBU members were running through the tree tops at a high speed. Everyone wore the standard ANBU uniform. The only difference was Ino wore the dog mask, Sayuri the mouse mask, Yune the duck mask, and Isumi the cat mask.
"So What's the mission about, Dog?"Yune lazily asked. Yune was the man of the squad. He was the secondary leader when Ino wasn't there to give charge. Yune always had knack for ninjutsu. He was handsome boy that all the girls his age craved for. With the white short cropped hair, green eyes, and a lazily expression, every girl had him in their hearts.
"Tsunade-hime wanted us to check out a recent report saying Akatsuki members were nearby. I have to check it out with my jutsus. She appointed you guys as my back up."Ino explained.
"Hai!"Sayuri quietly said. She was the soft spoken girl who had a crush on Isumi. She was a very pretty girl, with red eyes and black hair. She had a resemblence to Kurenai, who was her aunt. She was the genjutsu user of the squad.
"Okay..."Isumi said. He was the rival of Yune. They almost fought at everything, but when it came to teamwork, no one could do better. He was the cutie Sayuri had in her mind. With his firey red hair, and blue eyes. He was a Rock Lee protege with his supreme taijutsu skills. Except he could use Genjutsu and Ninjutsu while Lee couldn't.
"Where exactly did they spot the Akatsuki members?"Isumi asked. He always had to know the details of something.
"Near Takigakure."Ino answered.
"Alright,"Sayuri said.
--
"When will we get her, sempai?"Tobi asked, from his tree branch.
"Will you stop asking questions, un!? You're getting on my nerves, again!"Deidara angrily said to Tobi.
"Gomen, Deidara-sempai,"Tobi said holding his hands up in his defense.
"We'll get her, soon enough...Leader-sama said we have to get her fast though, yeah,"Deidara said and Tobi nodded.
"We gotta get some stuff ready first though, un,"Deidara said and vanished.
"Hai sempai."Tobi said and disappeared as well.
--
Ino could have sworn she heard voices, but she didn't say anything or she'd look crazy. Ino vanished out of her sleeping bag and only Yune noticed.
'She probably can't sleep,'Yune thought. He also thought back to the days when he noticed Ino was fidgety, and jerky. She always seemed scared or vulnerable at night.
He felt a sudden spike in Ino's chakra and 7 new, unfamiliar chakras added to What he felt.
"Mouse! Cat! Intruders! I think they are engaging in a battle with Dog! Let's go help!"Yune yelled and both his teammates jumped up and they hopped in their battle stances next to Ino.
Ino was panting and was bruised on her face alittle. but her squad could see she was putting up a pretty good fight.
"Bout time,"Ino smirked to them.
Yune hopped into battle and blocked a kunai that was meant to be for Ino. Yune was fighting this insanely buff dude and was winning. He threw an uppercut at him and knocked him out that fast.
Sayuri's opponent snatched up Sayuri's small little frame and jumped into the darkness of the forest.
Ino finshed her opponents and hopped after him. She left Yune and Isumi the rest of the attackers and went to save Sayuri. Ino caught up to him in a minute. She threw a giant shuriken at him and he landed on the ground, with Sayuri in his arms.
"Fast aren't ya."He remarked. He set Sayuri on the ground and got into his battle stance. He charged at Ino and kicked at her, she dodged all his kicks and sent a roundhouse kick at his face. It connected and he stumbled back in pain.
"You clever b-!"Was all he could say before having to dodge Ino's attacks. After a few minutes of strictly taijutsu, they both panted heavily.
"My last attack..."The random dude panted before starting some hand signs.
'I can't let him finish those signs.'Ino thought as she charged at him. The guy smirked when his hands glowed gold and he shot out at Ino with punches. None made contact until the last one where he caught Ino off guard and hit her collarbone.
'Paralysis!'Ino thought when her body went limp and wouldn't respond to her brain's waves to move. After a few minutes of trying to move, her mind went blank and she fell into a deep sleep.
--
"There she is, sempai!"Tobi squealed when he saw Ino's body on the ground.
Deidara slung her over his shoulder and hopped into the forest back to base.
"That was easy, right sempai?"Tobi said, hopping through the trees after Deidara.
"You didn't do anything, yeah."Deidara said, as he looked over his shoulder at Tobi. He rolled his eyes and kept running.
--
"Did you see where Dog and Mouse went?"Isumi asked, turning to Yune after looking at all the attackers on the ground.
"Dog went that way after Mouse got snatched up,"Yune answered, pointing right.
They hopped in that direction and came upon Sayuri's unconscious body on the ground. She sat up quickly after Isumi picked her up.
She crouched into an offensive position but eased up seeing it was only her teammates.
"Are you okay?"Isumi asked.
"Yeah, but where is Dog? I saw her following the guy who got me, but then he knocked me out."Sayuri said, recalling the memories of What happened.
"Search around for her."Yune said. Both Isumi and Sayuri nodded before all three vanished into thin air.
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