Thank you to all who have reviewed, added to their follow list, favorited, or just read the story! Shout-out to Varmint for being an amazing beta and putting up with my craziness. I don't own Naruto or really anything, other than this plot-line.
I wanted to make some things about this story clear: 1. It is not a one-person centric fic. It is based around this entire team, everyone will get their chance to shine. 2. I know that I'm leaving out some significant characteristics right now. I'm leaving them out because I never understood them and morally do not agree with them; for instance, the sexualization of 12-year-old girls or boys. So, there will be no declaration of utter devotion or flirting with everything with a pulse. 3. I will be introducing some of the other characters in this chapter, the rest will come in within the next two chapters, please be patient if you're waiting to see them show up. And I will tell you that at first Sakura is going to seem bitchy, she will change. It's part of her growth.
Any questions, feel free to leave a review or send me a PM!
Merry Christmas everyone!
Hokage Office
"Are you out of your goddamn mind?!" Roared Genma, hands clenched into fist at his side. "You want to send them out again? Their first mission ended with them going up against your fucking psychopath of a student, and they still aren't sleeping properly! And I know that because I see how tired they are when we meet up for training!"
The elder Sarutobi stood up and slammed his hands down onto the desk, effectively shutting the senbon enthusiast up. "First and foremost, I am your Hokage, you will do as I say. Secondly, just because you were a bodyguard for the fourth and myself doesn't mean you can you throw a fit like a child when I give an order. Get your ass in line now. I will not tell you again."
"Yeah, it just means I got to watch one be a self-sacrificing idiot that left his kid alone to be shunned by the village, and no one can tell the kid why, let alone help him... And I get the see the other put my team at risk with a crazy plan. All simply because he heard from someone who heard through the grapevine that Suna is supposed to use the Chunin Exams to invade us!" Genma snarled out, thoroughly pissed off. Spinning on his heel, the man stalked out of the office, not allowing for the Hokage to tell him anything as he did so.
The Hokage, sat back down in his chair and folded his arms, creating a spot on his hands to rest his chin. 'Genma, it's for their own good. They need to learn this now.' He thought to himself, but wisely gave his former bodyguard time to cool down.
Genma was not a man to anger easily; usually he brushed everything off. But the elder man supposed it did have something to do with the life or death experience that had been experienced by his team only a few weeks prior. He had hoped they could have moved on from that point. But it seemed that, even if they had managed to do so, their teacher had not.
Konoha Main Gate
Shikamaru, Shino, Chouji, and Ino were all awaiting the return of their fathers. They were supposed to be back today, hopefully with some answers as to just why they had left so suddenly. Three had fretted over their fathers leaving on the impromptu mission, while the fourth was unclear and confused as to what had been happening.
"So, how's training going for you guys?" Chouji asked to start a conversation, all the while munching on a bag of chips.
"Our sensei is Satan, but he seems to be good enough." Shikamaru drawled as he looked up at the clouds.
"He's not that bad…. anymore." Ino interjected. She had gotten rather fond of the crazed senbon chewing shinobi after some time.
"Ino, that man tried to kill us with his first test." Shino contested in his monotone, while still conveying his disbelief that she would defend the man.
"Yeah, but- "Ino was interrupted by Chouji announcing that he saw their fathers.
The genin all turned to see their fathers walking up the path to the main gate, one man that was undoubtedly a prisoner in tow. Once they were closer, it became apparent who they had with them. Daichi Araki.
Ino unconsciously tensed up, while both of her teammates took steps toward her. They moved themselves, just slightly, so they could easily block her view of the man.
Once she noticed this, Ino snorted at the actions of her teammates. They were protective, even though neither cared to admit it. Especially since that night.
But recently it had become ridiculous. They wouldn't even let her walk home by herself!
The group of kids were suddenly joined by two more people; Ibiki Morino and Anko Mitarashi. They were both there to take the prisoner off their dad's hands to interrogate him.
As the group of Jōnin moved closer to the gate, the children could see that the prisoner with them was a little worse for wear. Bruises decorated his face, neck, and he was walking with a limp. He had a frantic look in his eyes, and kept muttering about how he was sorry and never meant for anything to happen.
The clenched jaws of their fathers alerted the children and the interrogators that they were in a foul mood from dealing with this man. As far as any of them were concerned, he was just as responsible for what had happened as Orochimaru was.
Once they reached the main gate, Daichi saw Ino and made a mad dash to the girl, hands raised to grab her. Seeing the man's face stunned the girl, forcing her to remember a night she would much rather forget. She stood stunned, frozen as memories forced their way into the front of her mind.
Luckily, though, the paralyzed blonde was immediately shoved back behind her two teammates who were already armed. But it was for naught, for Anko flitted in front of them and cut him off.
Catching his hand, she bent it at an unusual angle until a snap was heard. "If you ever try to touch her again, you'll lose more than your hand." The woman threatened, smile on her lips while she glanced down to just below his waist line.
Inoichi was being held back by Shikaku's shadow possession, it was the only thing keeping him from killing the other man right there. Unfortunately, they still needed the man alive to answer a few questions.
Ibiki quickly moved behind the man then grabbed the back of his neck to begin hauling him away to the Torture and Interrogation Department.
"I'm Ibiki Morino, and that is Anko Mitarashi. We will be conducting your interrogation on this lovely day." Ibiki allowed his amusement to show clearly, for once leaving his usual calm and dark façade to instill even more fear on the man. A dark smile graced his lips as he thought of all the great ways to get him singing like a canary, then he grunted, "Anko, let's go."
Turning to the group, she let out a grin and told them, "Run along little chickadees. I know you have training." Then she left, following behind the head of T&I. But before she was gone from their sight, they heard her cackle in a way on she could, letting them know that she was more than eager to get her hands on the man.
The woman's mad cackling broke Ino out of her paralyzed daze. And then she looked at both of her teammates, a small smile finding its way onto her lips. For a moment, the three looked at each other, then the girl broke the silence. "Anyone else think we have two senseis for the price of one?" The blonde shrugged her shoulders, not at all bothered by the turn of events. Having two senseis instead of one? That was amazing!
Skipping over to her father, she placed a kiss on his cheek and told him, "Bye daddy, I'll see you later!" Then she turned on her heel and began walking down the path that would lead to the training grounds.
The two boys shared a look of disbelief at their female teammate. It was like she could flip a switch and go from one emotion to the next in seconds! Shaking their heads at her perceived odd logic, they nonetheless agreed silently with her observation, and after a wave to each of their fathers respectively, followed their hellion of a teammate.
Chouji watched them leave, confused about what had just transpired. Turning to his father, he asked, "Dad, what's going on?"
"Don't worry about it son. How about we get some barbecue?" Chouza offered to distract the boy, knowing that food would get his son's mind off the inner workings of Team 3.
Chouji let out a whoop and left with his father, regaling him with the stories of what had been going on while they were gone. Which left the heads of the Nara, Aburame, and Yamanaka clans standing by the main gate.
"Can I release you from this now?" Shikaku asked with a sigh after a few seconds of silence, hoping by now his old friend had calmed down.
"Yeah. I need to go to T&I anyway." Inoichi growled out, he wanted to be there to see that man suffer. With that, the blonde man was let go of the shadow possession, only to stalk off and head in the direction that Ibiki and Anko had disappeared to.
"Twenty thousand ryo, he tries to barge in on the interrogation." Shikaku smirked, looking towards the only man left with him.
"Nara, I know better than bet against you." Shibi shook his head, a hint of amusement hidden beneath the monotone of his voice. It had been good to get out and stretch his legs, and working with the original Ino-Shika-Cho formation had been an interesting experience to say the least. "You go ahead and go home. I'll file the mission report." The Aburame turning his body so he was facing the direction of the Jōnin headquarters, knowing fully well the other's wife was worried about her husband.
Nodding his head in thanks, the Nara began the trek back home; eager about seeing his wife. He couldn't wait to tell her about what he had just witnessed.
Aburame Compound (Next Morning)
Shino was greeted by the sight of his father sitting at the kitchen table when he came down from his room after a rather fitful night's sleep. Grabbing a glass, he filled it with water, then sat down at the table across from his father, watching the man curiously.
"Shino, we need to talk." The elder Aburame started, voice heavy and serious.
The truth was that he had been hoping to avoid this conversation and leave it for as late as possible. But Inoichi and Shikaku had both made their opinions rather clear. They wanted to have this talk with their children now. And seeing had been dragged into the insanity that was once the Ino-Shika-Cho formation, Shibi would also have to deal with these rather odd individuals.
"What's wrong dad?" Shino questioned immediately, brows furrowed. He didn't think he had done anything wrong, but one could never be too sure.
"We need to have the talk." Shibi said, then elaborated; "The sex talk."
Before he could even begin, his son had rushed out of the house. It actually took him a few seconds to truly make sure that his son had left so quickly. But once the man was sure that his son wasn't with him anymore, he let out a long-suffered sigh and shook his head.
If this was how Shino had reacted, there was no doubt in his mind that Ino and Shikamaru would giving their own fathers the same problem.
Yamanaka Compound
"Princess come downstairs, I need to talk to you." Inoichi called from the bottom of the stairs. He could hear his daughter moving around upstairs, and, even though he truly didn't want to, the need to have this talk was much too great to leave it for later.
She appeared at the top of the steps, and skipped down them, unaware of the conversation her dad wanted to have. "What's up daddy?" She asked, not completely oblivious to the tension in his shoulders, or how he was scratching the back of his head. He only did that when he was nervous, or when it was a subject, he didn't want to talk about it.
"Let's sit down in the living room." He told his daughter, placing his arm around her shoulders to steer the girl into the room. But once he made contact, the girl flinched, even though it was minutely.
Neither Yamanaka commented on this.
Once they were both seated, the girl looked confused at her father, for she was curious as to what had him in a tiff.
"It's time we had the talk." He started, but was soon interrupted by her.
"We already went over that in school!" This was embarrassing, she didn't want to hear her father try and give her the sex talk!
"We need to talk a bit more in depth, and it's also about the fact that you will be going on missions with boys. Overnight." He stressed both words at the end, making a large blush appear on the girl's face.
"Oh, my god dad!" The girl screeched, horrified at the line of thinking her dad was on.
Faster than he thought his daughter could react, Ino released a smoke bomb in the house. Then she successfully made a quick escape from her home, leaving her stunned father behind.
Inoichi began rubbing his temples after a few seconds. He had known his daughter would not react too well to this talk. But he hadn't expected her to be able to get away so quickly... He would now need to track her down. Although, first, he needed to get this smoke out of the house before it set off the fire alarms.
Though that was for naught, a few seconds later a screeching sound in his kitchen alerted him to the fact that yes, the smoke detectors worked. And rather well, at that.
Nara Compound
Shikamaru was surprised to wake up on his own. Usually his mother had yelled at him to get up by now. Realizing something was going on, the boy silently creeped out of his room, and towards the place his parents' voices were coming from.
"Are you sure about this dear?" Shikaku asked his wife, making Shikamaru note how... Well... Not okay he sounded.
This immediately made the young Nara worry. But he stayed hidden, wishing to hear more before he did anything.
"Yes, and you know Inoichi will pitch a fit if we don't talk to him." Yoshino replied, with a shake of her head. Really, if her husband thought she could be troublesome, then he clearly he hadn't spent enough time around Inoichi.
"But this is Shikamaru we're talking about. I doubt he's even interested in girls. Let alone Inoichi's princess." The man drawled, for he knew how truly lazy his son was.
Eyes widening, Shikamaru couldn't help the slight feeling of displeasure that rose up in him.
"We are having the talk with him and that's final." Yoshino told her husband, raising an eyebrow, daring him to tell her no.
One didn't have to be a Nara to put two and two together. And this equation's answer was that his parents wanted to have the sex talk with him. A talk that Shikamaru wasn't all that eager to hear.
Hastily retreating, he went back into his room and closed the door quietly. After putting on his clothes, he leaped out of his window, and snuck out of his house.
Most of the times, he would weather whatever talk his parents wanted to have because he was too lazy to get away. But for this one... Well, he didn't mind being active for once.
Konoha Shopping District
As Ino was walking up the path that led to the shopping district, she noticed two very familiar males already there. Her teammates. Picking up the pace, she jogged over to them. And once she was in front of them, the girl, "Why are you two here?"
"Because our parents wanted to give us the talk." Shikamaru sighed. Really it was just so troublesome. Parents were much too difficult sometimes.
"Seriously? My dad wanted to give me the talk too." Ino gasped, looking between both her teammates. That was just way too weird. "Do you think they're up to something?"
Both boys nodded, but Shino interjected before she could ask them what they thought their fathers were up to. "By my estimation, we have maybe 30 minutes before our fathers find us."
"Anyone else up for a game of hide and don't find?" The blonde asked, seriously not wanting to have that conversation with her dad.
"Where do you suggest we hide?" Shikamaru asked, "My dad knows all the places I would hide."
"As would mine." Shino agreed, which made the blonde huff with a nod of her own.
"Mine too..." But then her eyes lit up slightly, "What about sensei's apartment?" she offered, head tilted to the side as she thought about it, "It would be the last place our dads would think to look for us."
"Do we know where he lives?" Shino asked, eyebrow raised at the girl.
"We can find him. We're shinobi, right?" She asked rhetorically. Grabbing both of their arms, she pulled them behind her as she set off to find where their sensei's apartment was. The boys just shared the twin looks of exasperation at their female compatriot.
Genma's Apartment
Genma could feel a shift in the air in his humble abode. Groggily blinking his eyes open, he wondered what felt off. Then he realized that there were three other chakra signatures in his home.
Grumbling to himself, he pulled the covers off and let his feet hit the wooden floor. Once he got up from his sitting position, he pulled on a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt so he wasn't caught in a state of undress by the three familiar people. Padding out of his room, he walked down the short hallway to the kitchen.
Glancing to the side, he saw on his couch a mass of blankets that had most assuredly not been there last night when he went to sleep. Shaking his head at the antics of his little minions, the senbon enthusiast turned on his coffee pot. He was going to need something to deal with this so early in the morning.
Once he made a cup of coffee, he turned fully, eyes peering into the living. "I teach you how to pick locks and this is how you use that skill? Is there any particular reason why you three are hiding under blankets in my living room?" Genma asked, with an eyebrow arched as he raised the coffee cup to his lips.
A tuft of blonde hair slowly made its way upward, followed by a single blue eye. "Our parents wanted to give us the talk." The girl mumbled out before she disappeared back into the mass of blankets that were housing her and her teammates.
Genma let out a chuckle at the theatrics of his team. Really, he expected it from her, but not the other two. It was good that they were all rubbing off on each other in a way. Though, he supposed, she could have always just dragged them here.
Pushing off the counter he was leaning against, he walked into the living room. Sitting on the coffee table, he placed his coffee cup next to him. Then he pulled the top of the blankets down to see three sets of eyes looking at him.
"First, we don't break into houses unless it's a mission. Second, you all have a choice. Either have the talk with your fathers, or spend the next week doing Guy's challenges." Genma told the group, smirk ever present on his lips.
These kids.
"Sensei, it was a mission. Our mission to get away from our fathers." Shikamaru contested, immediately seeing the loophole that was presented in the older man's logic.
"Nice try kid." Genma chuckled, really these kids. As he drained the rest of his coffee cup, he popped a senbon in his mouth. Rolling it around, he waited for the kids to answer him.
The three genin shared a look, which equated to, they did not want to train with Guy-sensei, even more so than they did not want to have that conversation with their parents.
Shino speaking up for the group, informed their instructor; "Yes, we will have the talk with our parents."
"Great, now you all stay there, I'm going to make us some breakfast while we wait for your parents to show up." He told the group as he stood up and grabbed his coffee cup.
The senbon enthusiast made his way back into his kitchen, and placed his cup back down on the counter. He rifled through his fridge to find a few ingredients for a simple breakfast; eggs, sausage, and toast. He went about making the food, while occasionally glancing back to make sure the kids were still in their spots on his couch.
Once the food was made, he grabbed some plates from the cupboard above the coffee maker. Once he heard the patter of footsteps, he looked behind him to see his minions had helped to set the table and grabbed the orange juice from the fridge.
The food was served, and everyone was sitting around the table. Genma hid a smirk at the fact that all three of them had a thankfully healthy appetite and were gorging down his food. He knew he wasn't that good of cook, but these kids made it seem like it was gourmet.
Once everyone had their fill of the food, Ino shooed their sensei into the living room. Something about how they were going to clean up. The boys begrudgingly helped her out, under threat of her making them believe they were five-year-old girls obsessed with pink. Apparently, they did not want to find out if she could really do this.
A knock on the door alerted him to the fact the fathers were standing on the other side of the door. Getting up from the couch, he rounded the corner and opened his front door. Moving aside, he let the three clan leaders enter his house.
The three fathers nodded their heads in thanks to Genma, before turning to look disapprovingly at their children.
"Well I'll leave you guys to it. Lock up when you leave!" Genma chuckled softly, making a quick escape out the open door. He did not want to be there for that lecture.
And as he walked away from his apartment, Genma heard the shrill shout that undoubtedly came from Ino, all the while something thudded against his door. With a shake of his head, the man just continued walking off, glad that he wasn't the one that was to speak to the hellions about such a delicate matter.
Training Ground 2 (Next Morning)
The three genin of team 3 stood by a sturdy tree while they waited for Genma to show up. Ino had her arms crossed over her chest and busied herself by tapping her foot impatiently. Shikamaru laid down in the grass to cloud watch perfectly comfortable with waiting. And Shino leaned back against the tree as he wondered where their sensei was. It wasn't like the man to be late.
Ino had been feeling off the past few weeks. It seemed as if she was always hyper-aware of her surroundings. Every nerve in her body always firing, telling her it was not time to relax, like she had to keep moving or something bad would happen.
"What's wrong with you?" Shikamaru grumbled from the ground. It hadn't escaped his notice that the blonde seemed unlike herself for the past few weeks. She was more jittery than normal, and to tell the truth, both he and Shino had been getting worried about her.
Sure, she could try and act normal. But she wasn't always acting normal. And that was enough to worry her teammates.
"I'm just anxious to get started." She lied to them. It was hard to explain what she was feeling and she didn't want the boys to feel sorry for her. Or worse, think she was weak because she couldn't control her emotions.
Shino stood quietly for a moment and Ino believed he would call her out. But what he said next had her frowning for a very different reason than what she though. "I thought Genma Sensei said we wouldn't have train with Guy-sensei if we had the talk with our parents." The Aburame's eyebrows furrowed at the perceived betrayal of trust and Ino began to feel betrayed as well.
The blonde and brunet looked to where their teammate was looking, and sure enough, there was their sensei along with Team Guy walking towards the training ground.
Ino let out a huff and rolled her eyes, really the nerve of the guy!
Shikamaru let out a grunt as he ambled up to his feet. This was going to be troublesome.
"Good morning, chickadees!"
"We had the talk with our parents." Shikamaru didn't even bother to greet the man back before he was calling him out on his betrayal. "I thought our deal was clear."
"Deal?" Guy questioned, which made Genma wave him off and glare at the Nara.
"That's not what Guy and his team are here for, deer boy. I stand by my word." Genma shook his head softly, but soon sighed and explained. "They're here for taijutsu training. Guy and I were teammates back in our genin day and we both thought it would be good for both teams to mix things up."
All three of the kids blinked at him, actually caught off guard by what he said.
"So... You didn't stab us in the back?"
"Geez, Ino. Thank you for all the trust in me." Genma deadpanned, then motioned for Guy's team to step forward. "Get to work."
The Hyuga and the girl both stepped forward without too much trouble. But Guy's clone seemed to be frozen in place, eyes wide as he looked at...
"You've got to be kidding me." The senbon enthusiast hissed under his breath. When he followed the kid's line of sight, he found none other than Ino.
Just what he needed. For mini-Guy to have a crush on the Yamanaka princess.
"Shikamaru, you're going to be training with Neji." Genma called, which made the clone turn to him with wide eyes. Undoubtedly, he wanted to be paired up with the blonde girl. But Genma wasn't really feeling up for running away from an enraged Inoichi because the kid did something that was considered insulting by the girl. So, instead, he paired both girls together and had the clone fight with Shino.
Ino didn't really seem to mind to spend some time sparring against a girl. Shikamaru, though, glared at Genma with more hate than Genma thought the lazy kid was capable of. Shino merely nodded respectfully and stepped towards his opponent, whose shoulders had sagged for a second before he'd jumped up and began prattling about youthful nonsense.
The kids split off and began to fight slowly, all becoming accustomed to their new partners fighting style. And once enough time had passed and the kids were all enthralled in their respective matches, Genma deemed it safe enough to speak to his old teammate.
Both men stood at the edge of the clearing, Genma leaning against a tree with Guy next to him. "The Hokage wants to send us out on another mission. But I don't know if I want to accept it, these kids got pretty fucked up with the last one." Genma told his companion honestly.
One of the good things about Guy was that he didn't need anything to be sugar coated. He took everything at face value, just like he gave everything at face value.
In a rare moment of seriousness, Guy looked over at Genma with a stern frown "Well they are going to have to go out again eventually. Why don't you see if you can get someone else to go with you? Either a tokubetsu jōnin or a normal one?"
"You really think the Hokage would go for that?" Genma asked, wondering idly if he could convince the old man that it really would be for the best.
"I don't see why not. Besides it would give the kids an extra amount of security and you extra eyes. I would suggest someone that they trust." Guy answered, before turning to bellow at the kids that they were going to do a three-on-three match.
Once the kids acknowledged what they were told, the two adults turned back to their conversation. "I'll meet with him tomorrow and see if he'll go for it." Genma told the man. Then he allowed a moment of silence to pass before he asked, "Hey would you mind if I told my team about our run-in with the seven Swordsmen of the Mist?"
"Thank you for your thoughtfulness; go ahead and tell them. I think it might do them some good." Guy answered proudly, striking up his normal pose.
With their conversation over, the two jōnin then turned to watch the kids engaging in an all-out fight with each other.
Ino and Tenten were currently locked in on each other, neither giving up or gaining any ground in their fight. Though it was clear that the older girl had more experience, the younger one was too stubborn to give up that easily.
Shikamaru was trying and failing miserably against Neji. The byakugen wielder was faster, stronger, and ruthless against his opponent. Shikamaru could feel his tenketsu points being shut down with each hit of the gentle fist.
Shino was not faring much better against Lee. He was barely able to keep up his guard against the taijutsu user. As he leapt forward to try and catch Lee off guard, he realized too late that he had made a mistake. The bushy brow kid dropped to the ground, and came back up a second later behind Shino. He executed a round-house kick to his back and knocked the Aburame into a tree.
That was when all hell broke loose.
"SHINO!" Ino screamed, Orochimaru's face all she could see. He was smirking at her as she stalked towards her, grotesque and terrifying. The sunlight that was once lighting the field became pale moonlight. And if she looked to the side, all Ino could see were the mangled bodies of her teammates and sensei in front of her.
She needed to act fast to save them.
The blonde could feel the chakra ripping from her body as a dim voice fading into the background told her that it wasn't real. But it had to be! She could see the face of that mad-man laughing manically as he came towards her.
Throwing her arm up, she lashed out with her chakra. But it was doing nothing to the crazed man. He just crept closer and closer!
"INO!" Genma shouted at her as soon as he realized what was happening and why she was using her chakra as a weapon to attack Team Guy.
Tenten was on the ground holding her head as tears fell from her eyes. It was like her head was being constantly barraged by sledge hammers. As her teammates ran over to help her, they unknowingly entered the small attack range that Ino had created and were assaulted in the same manner as their teammate.
The three members of team Guy were on the ground at her feet, holding their heads hoping the pain would stop soon. But Ino didn't know this. In her mind, all she could see was Orochimaru.
Shino upon noticing what was happening his blonde teammate, froze. His kikaichū began buzzing around agitatedly in his body, noticing his emotional response. He knew exactly where she was, because he was there too. He didn't move from his spot. He wanted to help. But he couldn't. How could he when he had failed the first time?
Shikamaru, unlike his teammates, was not caught in his own mind. Instead, he was held back by Might Guy from going near his teammate. "Let me go! She needs help!" He screamed at the teacher. But it did no good, he couldn't break out of the hold.
As soon as Genma entered the attack range, he was surprised he wasn't assaulted with her chakra. He didn't have time to think about that though, for he needed to get the girl to stop. Grabbing her by the shoulders, he tried to shake her, but that did nothing.
"Ino, stop now!" He yelled at the girl, trying in vain to get her to understand that they weren't in Miura anymore. "You're safe! You're in Konoha!"
Realizing that yelling and shaking her weren't doing anything, he knew he had one last shot before he would have to knock her out. The senbon user raised his right hand and slapped her across the face. Hard.
Oh, her dad was going to pissed about that.
But it seemed as if it had worked. The girl blinked her eyes and he could see her eyes getting clearer. "Sensei?" She seemed unsure as to what had happened, as she looked into his eyes, she had tears welling in her own.
"It's alright kid. You had a panic attack." He explained to the girl before moving her away from the rest of Team Guy who were picking themselves up off the ground. He met Guy's gaze and with a quick nod of his head, the other let go of Shikamaru.
Shikamaru stumbled forward and over to his friend. He immediately put his hand on her shoulder, and only furrowed his eyebrow when she flinched slightly before relaxing once she saw it was him.
Ino felt her legs give way, and that was the only warning before she was a boneless pile of sobbing mess. Shikamaru cursed under his breath, and sat down next to the girl. Wrapping his arm around her shoulders, he pulled her into a one armed hug while she cried onto his shoulder.
-*()*-
"What the hell was that?" Neji questioned, as he brushed the dust off his clothes. He couldn't believe that frail looking girl was the cause of that.
"Neji that's very un-youthful of you;" Guy admonished his student. Gathering his students, he began directing them off the field, knowing that training was effectively over for the day.
"Some shinobi, she can't even keep her emotions under control." The Hyuga hissed under his breath, angered glare on his face.
"Stop it! She had a panic attack, it wasn't like she meant to harm us." Tenten snapped at the boy. She felt bad for the blonde, and she wasn't so sure she wouldn't do the same if she were in Ino's shoes.
"Neji, their first mission led to her being kidnapped by Orochimaru. And them all being in the hospital for a few days afterwards." Guy explained as he and his students walked away.
Neji let out a snort, he would never be so weak as that. The incident only proved his theory about the girl, she was destined to be useless.
-*()*-
Genma looked over to where Shino stood frozen. A yell of his name broke the boy out of his trance and he trotted over to his two teammates. But he moved stiffly, as if unsure of his movements.
"Sit down Shino," The senbon user told the boy. The boy sat down on the other side of Ino so she was in-between the two. Genma sat down in front of the group and patiently waited for Ino to calm down. The once lively group kids were now a quiet broken bunch.
"I'm going to tell you all a story. You see back when I was a genin and on a team with Might and Ebisu we had an unfortunate run in with the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist." Genma then began telling the story. One he hoped would help his minions through their problems.
Yamanaka Compound
Ino was curled up in a ball as she gripped her pillow against her chest. Her thoughts were solely focused on what had happened earlier at the training grounds. She hadn't meant to attack them, or to hurt anyone. She berated herself for being so weak as to succumb to her emotions like that. Neither Shino nor Shikamaru had been so reckless!
Blue pupil-less eyes flickered up to her door when she heard it open. In the doorway stood Inoichi and Fū. Her eyes dropped back down; she didn't want their pity.
"Princess, what happened today wasn't your fault." Inoichi tried to reason with his daughter, knowing fully well she was blaming herself for it.
Ino let out a snort full of self-loathing and told her dad, "Yes it was. If I hadn't been so stupid and weak then I wouldn't have done that."
"Ino, you are not stupid. Or weak. You had a panic attack, and quite frankly it's surprising it didn't happen before now;" Fū told the girl, before mentioning; "Most Anbu members have some form of them, or of PTSD. It's not a weakness. I still have nightmares, so does Torune."
"Really? How do you deal with it?" Ino asked, a small part of her hoping for some miracle, like perhaps they would go away soon.
"One day at a time. It also helps to know that there are people who you can talk to." Fū told his younger cousin. It wasn't an easy journey, but it did help having other people there to talk to about it.
"How about we all go downstairs, drink some hot chocolate and play cards." Inoichi offered, knowing that would get his daughter out of bed and hopefully out of the depressive state she was in.
Ino nodded her head and began to uncurl her body from around the pillow and blankets. Once her feet touched the ground, the girl all but launched herself at her dad. Wrapping her arms around his waist, she buried her head into his chest.
Inoichi wrapped one arm around her shoulders to hold her, and used his other hand to run it over her hair, smoothing it back into place. Seeing that Fū didn't seem like joining in on his own, Inoichi used the hand that had been smoothing down Ino's hair to grab his nephew, and pulled him into the family hug.
Hokage Office (Next Morning)
Genma stood in front of the Hokage's desk as they went the metaphorical round 2 in the argument. "I'm saying the only way I will accept this mission is if you let Anko go with us."
"Why do you want her to go with you?" Hiruzen asked exasperatedly. Really, he was missing the times when Genma wouldn't question him or his methods. But those days seemed so far away now...
"Because it will be perfect for the undercover mission. Not to mention, you said that she is the best at infiltration other than me. And those kids are still not okay, I need someone else there to help me keep an eye on them."
"Fine. Anko can go with you on this mission. But you do understand that you need to move past this." The Hokage warned his former bodyguard, ready for this meeting to be over.
"Tell me something I don't know already." Genma snapped, barely keeping his tone civil. He knew he was toeing the line of insolence and his former position would only offer so much protection.
"That's a dangerous statement, for there are many things you do not know, and there are even more things which should be kept secret." The Sarutobi said monotonously, leveling the senbon enthusiast with a disinterested look.
"You're annoyingly cryptic, old man." Genma grumbled out, doing the customary bow; he turned on his heel and began to walk out of the office.
"I try." Was the response the brunet heard as the door closed behind him.
Training Grounds 2
The three genins were already waiting by the tree when Genma got there. He could see the tension in their shoulders and quickly realized they thought they were going to get in trouble for yesterday.
Once he was close enough, he motioned for them to sit down and plopped down in front of them.
"So, kiddies we have another mission." Genma said without preamble. He could see the shock in their eyes, apparently, they didn't think they weren't getting another one anytime soon.
"Sensei are you sure that's a good idea?" Questioned Shino as he glanced at the blonde.
"Yeah, we need to get back out in the field. Having one bad experience on a mission shouldn't stop you from being shinobi." Genma told the group.
"So where are we going?" The Nara heir asked, head tilted the side as he studied their sensei.
"Oh, it will be great! We're going to Suna and its supposed to be a month-long mission." The senbon user told his group of minions. He wasn't that excited about it, but maybe it would do them some good. Deciding it was best to give them the good news, he added; "And Anko is coming with us."
The group immediately lit up at the thought of having the snake nin with them. Maybe she could show them some more tricks.
Genma just laughed lightly at the look on their faces, even Shino looked happy at that announcement. "Blondie, you are going to have to wear contacts and dye your hair for this." He told the girl, knowing fully well to expect a fight from her.
"But why?" She asked incredulously, her hair and eyes were some of her best features. She was always complimented on them by either the elders of her clan or people in the market.
"Because platinum blonde hair and bright blue pupil-less eyes stick out. Not to mention your dad is in the bingo books over there so it wouldn't take a genius to figure out you're his daughter." He explained to Ino.
"What about a henge?"
"Too risky. They have sensors there, and I haven't taught you all how to hide your chakra while using a henge yet." He shot down that argument.
Pouting the girl knew she couldn't disobey her sensei. But she had never dyed her hair before, and very much doubted either of the males at her home knew how to either.
"So why wouldn't they know we are shinobi if they have sensors there?" Shikamaru questioned, wondering how they were supposed to pull off the mission if they didn't know how to hide their chakra.
"All of your chakra levels are pretty much at a civilian level right now, so it won't set off any red flags. But using a henge requires chakra and they would notice." Genma answered easily, although with slight annoyance. It seemed they were getting better at asking the right questions.
"Wait, what is a bingo book?" Shino questioned, realizing that while he had heard his dad and Torune talk about it a few times, they never explained what it was.
"Bingo books are books in each shinobi village that list the enemies of that particular village and the amount they are worth. Some books have overlapping shinobi so some are worth more in different villages." The senbon user told the group, tapping a finger against his chin he added; "I'll get you the book for this village, and I expect you to have it memorized by the time we are finished with the Suna mission."
The children nodded their heads in unison, understanding it was best to know who their enemies were.
Changing the subject, Ino questioned; "Sensei what are we doing for training today?"
"Oh, I am so glad you asked that pumpkin! Here everyone take a piece of paper." He handed each one a small piece of paper. He began explaining, "These papers will let me know what your natural elemental chakras are. All you need to do is push some chakra onto the papers. Here watch me."
He held up his piece of paper, and a few moments later it ignited and turned to ash. "You see mine is Fire. Now each of you push a little bit of chakra onto the papers."
The three genin held up their papers and pushed their chakras onto them. Ino's wrinkled up in her hand, while Shino's split in two and Shikamaru's turned into dirt and crumbled. The three looked at their sensei and saw the absolute glee on his face.
"Do you all know how wonderfully ironic this is?" He questioned rhetorically before continuing, "All of your elemental natures match your clan arts. It's a very rare thing to have happen. Princess you have a lightning affinity. Shades you have wind. And deer boy you have earth."
"Sensei, I'm not sure I'm understanding how our elemental natures match up with our clan arts." Ino murmured, sure she could kind of understand Shino's but not how her's or Shikamaru's matched to theirs.
"Alright let me break it down for you. Princess you have a lightning affinity. With your mind jutsus you could theoretically shut down specific parts of a person's body or just fry their brain." He told her, as he pointed a finger in her direction.
"Pineapple head you have an earth affinity. With that you can create holes in the ground to elongate your shadow and capture more people when you have the chakra for it." Genma said as he moved his finger that was pointing at Ino to Shikamaru.
"Bug boy you have a wind affinity. With your bugs, you can either disperse them more easily or compress them in on someone." The finger moved from Shikamaru to Shino.
"Now we aren't going to start training on your elemental natures yet. We'll start on that when we get back from Suna. Today, my little gremlins, you will be working on chakra control. Each of you take out a kunai. Now you see those three trees behind you, you are going to practice chakra control by climbing up them only using your feet." The senbon enthusiast told his group.
Once he demonstrated how to do it, he stepped back and watched as they attempted it.
"You'll want a running start." He informed the group after the first few failed attempts of just walking up the tree.
As he watched them, he was proud that they seemed to understand how to do it and could easily do it. The man supposed it could have something to do with them all being clan heirs and had started their ninja training before the academy.
While Ino possessed the most amount of control, it was easy to see that Shino had the most amount of chakra out the group. The team continued training for the next several hours, only taking small breaks throughout the rest of the training session.
Hokage Tower (Later that night)
The room was buzzing with all kinds of conversations. After Danzō's death, the Hokage implemented a new policy: Every month the clans would have a get-together. So, every month, the clans: Aburame, Akimichi, Hatake, Hyūga, Inuzuka, Nara, Sarutobi, Uchiha, and Yamanaka would have their leaders and families get together for a party.
Shikaku and Fugaku were playing shoji while discussing cold cases that the police force couldn't solve. The method had helped solve several cases, and even connected a few together.
Chouza was near the buffet table, while Inoichi had been flitting around from group to group talking to everyone. The matriarch of the Inuzuka clan was loudly telling stories about her missions to anyone who was within hearing range.
Hiashi and Shibi stood back away from most people, making polite conversation with each other.
"I heard you went on a mission with the Ino-Shika-Chou formation." Hiashi said, disdain lacing his voice. He didn't like any of them; Shikaku was too lazy, Inoichi talked too much, and Chouza always ate. He would have never stooped to going on a mission with them.
"Our kids were almost murdered; did you think we would do nothing?" Shibi questioned, head titled slightly to the side, his monotone hiding the underlying irritation at the man.
Hiashi made a minuscule movement with his shoulders, almost like he was shrugging. Shibi politely excused himself from Hiashi and slowly let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding as he walked away from the Hyūga.
"Now Tsume, you know it did not happen like that." Shibi said as he walked towards the woman who was retelling a story about a mission they had during their genin time.
The woman let out a bark of laughter and her mouth curved upward as she looked towards her former teammate. He was a reliable person and an even better shinobi. Though perhaps the best thing to her was the fact that he never seemed terrified of her. And when even her own husband had run away from her, it was quite the treat.
-*()*-
Shikamaru was lazing against the wall furthest from the festivities when he was approached by Chouji.
"Hey man." The Akimichi greeted while chomping down on a bag of chips.
Shikamaru gave a short wave to his friend and asked, "How's your team doing?"
"Oh, they're okay I guess. Hinata is nice, Sasuke not so much." Answered Chouji before he asked, "How's your team?"
"They're good. Ino is Ino and Shino is pretty cool." Drawled the Nara as his eyes searched the room to find his teammates.
Making a sound of acknowledgement, Chouji asked a question that had been bugging him; "Shikamaru why did our dads and Shino's dad go on that mission?"
Knowing he couldn't lie to his friend, he decided on a half-truth; "Oh we had a mission and ran into some trouble. They just went to go clean it up."
"Then who was that man that they brought back and why did he try to reach for Ino?"
Shikamaru forgot that Chouji could be extremely perceptive when it came down to the really important things. As his mind raced through different answers he could give him, he was saved by the arrival of Ino. That girl could talk her way out of anything.
Well... At least that was what the Nara had expected. He had been wrong.
"He drugged me, tied me up, and then gave me over to Orochimaru to experiment on." The Yamanaka answered simply, which left Shikamaru having to resist the urge to face-palm.
After a few moments of silence, Chouji said the only thing he could think of; "Oh."
The three were interrupted when Hinata brushed past them with tears in her eyes. As Chouji went to follow his teammate to find out why she was upset, Ino held up her hand to stop him.
"Let me talk to her. Girls usually understand each other better." Was all the blonde said before she followed the other out to the hallway.
-*()*-
Out in the hall, Hinata sank down to the ground and pulled her knees up to her chest. She knew her father thought that she was weak; but she never thought he would go as far as to point it out during the party to a member of the Sarutobi clan, and a sensei at that.
"Hey Hinata, are you alright?" Ino asked as she neared the girl. Squatting down in front of her, she balanced herself on the balls of her feet
"I-I-I'm okay." The blue haired girl stuttered out. Ino had always intimidated her by always being so sure of who she was.
"I'm going to call bullshit on that answer. What happened?" The blonde pressed, knowing fully well it wouldn't do the other girl any good to let an emotional wound fester.
"M-my dad. He t-told Sarutobi-san that I w-wasn't f-f-fit to be a h-heiress." Hinata mumbled and then added, "H-he thinks I am weak."
"What?! I mean sure you lack confidence, and you stutter over every word you say. But that doesn't mean that you're weak." Ino snapped, angry at the girl's father for saying something like that.
"But I am weak. I bet you never had to deal with that." Hinata mumbled into her knees once she dropped her head back down.
"You're right." Ino said, watching as the other girl flinched, "My dad never said I was weak. That was all the clan elders. They still make snide comments about how I shouldn't be the heir, it should be my cousin Fū. But it doesn't make me doubt myself, if anything it makes me train harder. Not for them, but for me. To prove that I can be the next Yamanaka clan leader."
Ino stood up and thrust her hand into Hinata's face. The short haired girl took the offered hand, and was pulled onto her feet.
"Hinata the choice is yours. You can either go through your life letting what other people think of you weigh you down and torture yourself trying to become that person, or you can get off your ass and do something about it!" Ino told the girl and pulled her into a hug.
Hinata smiled shyly into Ino's shoulder as she considered the words. They were harsh, but necessary. "Thank you," she told the blonde sincerely.
"Come on, let's get back to the party!" Ino giggled as she grabbed onto the ex-heiress's hand and pulled her back into the room.
Shushuya
The Jōnin were sitting at their normal table and laughing about the antics of the genin teams.
"I swear those two are a handful!" Asuma exclaimed, cigarette dangling from the side of his mouth. "Naruto and Kiba keep trying to steal my cigarettes and smoke them!" He had just gotten to the bar a few minutes ago since the mandatory get-together with the clans was over. The bearded man still couldn't believe the nerve of Hiashi Hyūga.
Even though Hinata wasn't on his team, he felt bad for her. But she was with Kurenai. Hopefully the woman could do something to help her.
"Better than my team, Hinata is so painful shy, Chouji doesn't want to fight at all, and Sasuke thinks both are holding him back." Kurenai spoke, glancing at her not-so secret boyfriend. It wasn't an advertised relationship, but it wasn't hidden either.
"I've got both of you beat." Genma said, rolling the senbon around in his mouth. "The day after mine were released from the hospital, they broke into Anbu headquarters to drop off cookies for the rescue team."
Kurenai's eyes widened almost comically and Asuma's cigarette actually fell out of his mouth. A quick string of muttered curses left the man's mouth as the Sarutobi patted down his pants where the cigarette had landed.
"Well that was a youthful activity for them!" Guy boomed, making several heads swivel in their direction.
"Yeah it was great. They also found out that the two 'guards' from their first test were Anbu." The senbon enthusiast told them as he eyed Kakashi and Tenzō. The two just shook their heads remembering the antics of the team.
"How exactly did they break in?" Kurenai asked, curious since the Anbu headquarters was hidden and the only ones who knew where it was were either Anbu or the Hokage.
"Two of them have cousins in Anbu, so they knew sort of where it was and then some dumbass newbie left the door open." Genma answered, while his eyes darted to the door that had just opened to reveal Anko.
Waving the woman over, she slid into the booth. "Genma my love, you are amazing!" She told the man as she stole his next shot of sake.
"Stop stealing my drinks. And why am I amazing today?" He asked warily, vaguely wondering if he needed to become a missing nin or not.
"Because I got briefed on the mission! I can't wait to take the kiddies out!" The snake nin answered easily.
"Thank Guy for that. It was his idea." Genma told the woman pressed into his side. He really wished she understood the meaning of personal boundaries.
Anko's eyes lit up as she swiveled her head to look at Guy. Konoha's green beast gave the woman a thumb's up and a thousand-watt smile. She unpeeled herself from Genma's side and before anyone could realize what was happening, she threw her arms around Guy's neck and kissed him soundly on the cheek.
The redness of his face was the only proof as to what had just happened since the woman disappeared right after.
Civilian Apartments
Ino had been pacing outside of the apartment door for the past five minutes. She was nervous because she wasn't sure how the older woman would react to having a teenager show up on her doorstep. Taking a breath to steady herself, she raised her hand to knock and the door opened before her.
"I thought you were going to continue pacing for another five minutes." Yukina smiled softly as she looked down at the petite girl in front of her door. "Do you need something?"
Yukina was a beautiful woman, with her light brown hair piled into a bun on top of her head with a red ribbon holding it in place, brownish-red pupil-less eyes, a small mouth with wrinkles near it that showed she aged well. The woman was wearing a dark teal high-collared dress with an aquamarine colored gem just below the collar.
"Umm, if you're busy I can leave." Ino mumbled while looking at the ground and hiding a bag behind her back.
"Nonsense, come inside and tell me what's on your mind." Yukina told the younger girl, her door was opened a little wider to invite the other in.
Ino walked in through the door and toed of her sandals in the entry way. She then followed Yukina into the living room.
"Now what's going on?" The older woman questioned softly again.
"Well you see I'm going on another mission tomorrow, except I have to dye my hair for it. And my dad and cousin don't know how to dye hair. And I don't know how to do it. But my sensei said I had to have it done before the mission because I can't just cover it up. And I really, really need help." The girl rambled while she paced back and forth in the living room.
Yukina blinked a few times as she processed what she had just been told. She smiled softly at the girl and told her, "Of course I help you. Come on, first thing you need to know about dying hair; you do it in the bathroom. It's easier to clean up."
The woman wrapped her right arm around the young blonde and led her back to the bathroom. "Let's see what you have here."
Ino set the bag that was filled with hair dyes down, she had grabbed several bottles in different brands and colors, unsure as to what to get.
"Alright, when dying your hair, it's best to keep to one brand." Yukina said as she browsed through the selection that was now sitting on her counter. "Also with the length of your hair, you'll need to use at least two bottles if not three of hair dye."
Grabbing a brand, she knew wouldn't be horrible on the girl's hair, she began to show her how to dye hair.
Front Gate (Next Morning)
Ino was the first to arrive at the gate, fifteen minutes before the actual meeting time, and found a wagon with Genma's name written on a small paper tied to the side. It was odd, but she guessed it was for the mission.
As she waited, the girl busied herself with playing with her now honey brown hair. She was self-conscious about her newly dyed hair. But Yukina and her father had assured her that it looked fine on her.
The girl watched as her senseis approached, talking in low voices so she couldn't make out what was being said.
"Nice hair princess." Genma said by way of greeting. He handed the girl a bingo book that he picked up last night from mission control. "Remember I'll be testing you on that when we get back from Suna. Also, make sure to hide it while we are there."
Anko smiled at the girl as she plucked the small paper off of the wagon, "Brown's not a bad eye color for you, kid." She smirked at the small frown sent her way, then asked, "Are the contacts bothering your eyes?"
Ino nodded her head, it felt like her eyes were dried out and itched. She was just happy that her father had made sure she packed a few bottles of eye drops.
"It will be like that until your eyes adjust to it. Should take about a week." The woman informed the girl, remembering her first time when she had to wear contacts for a mission.
Shikamaru and Shino sauntered up to the group, arriving right on time. They both did a double-take when they saw Ino.
Genma was just thankful that none of them had worn their normal ninja outfits. He had meant to say something, but it had slipped his mind.
Ino was in dark blue capris with a light blue short-sleeved shirt and black sandals. Shikamaru wore a green t-shirt with black cargo pants and black sandals. While Shino was covered in black head to toe, black sunglasses, black turtleneck sweater, black pants, black sandals.
'The kid looks like he's going to a funeral.' Genma thought wryly. Once he handed the two bingo books to the boys, he told the gremlins; "Alright, get on the back of the wagon. We are doing this fully civilian way, that includes traveling."
The wagon was attached to two oxen, and contained a multitude of boxes varying in size. The kids clambered into the back while Genma and Anko sat up front to drive the oxen.
"Sensei what's our cover while we are there?" Ino asked, curious as to what could be in all the boxes.
"You'll love it! We are an adoring family that is opening up a clothing store in Suna." Anko answered as Genma got the cart moving.
The three shared a look, and a single thought crossed their minds; 'How on Earth were they going to pull that off?'
Next Time:
"Who are you?" Shino questioned as he watched the sand move back into the gourd like it had a mind of its own.
"Gaara," was the one-word reply from the boy with red hair and the kanji word for love tattooed on his forehead.