This one sets up a lot of storylines in Konoha, focusing on Ino, Team 7 and Orochimaru's angles.
InsaneIsBestSane: You wanted shovel guy? Huehuehue.
"That was… fun," the man drawled, returning to his workstation, only to find himself… discontent. It was a queer sensation for a man who got by charming and smooth-talking his way through the majority of his career; feeling like he's missing something terribly important.
It was strange, him sitting there, overviewing the documents about the sound kunoichi Ino's friend turned over to T&I. She was sitting in interrogation room 2, prepped and ready for his patented good cop routine, one that worked a surprising amount of times, considering how often rogue elements were brought to those very offices.
So he stood up from his comfortable chair, and walked out of his hard earned office. He had something he needed to do.
"Leaving again, sir?" questioned one of the interns, an ash-haired chunin girl from the Sarutobi clan.
"Yep. Got to go buy some flowers for the missus," he replied with a smile, swiping his identification card past the scanner and stepping through the deadbolt 3-inch steel doors that separated T&I from the civilized world.
Inoichi Yamanaka was a local celebrity in the hidden leaf, and with good reason. Being the handsome rogue he was, it often came to him to be the village's face when problems were of a local nature.
These past few weeks were busy in that regard, having to reassure the common populace that the mayhem wrought by Orochimaru was an unforeseen circumstance, and that they need not worry about a security breach of that caliber ever again. Of course, he was lying through his smile most of the time, but the public was better off not knowing that.
He strolled down the street, waving hi to the few that recognized him, and pondering his situation. Sakura Haruno, a girl he heard his daughter talk about with no small amount of disdain over the past year, a former friend with whom she had an intensely emotional battle during the exams, turned in a C-Rank enemy of the village, and casually walked away to deliver her report to the Hokage, who, if the rumor mill was to be believed, was the girl's new teacher.
This, Inoichi concluded, was unacceptable. As a father, he had a duty to give his daughter the tools she needs to survive in the shinobi world, let alone thrive. The world was a vastly different place from the one he grew up in, with a set of dangers all its' own – Ino would need the Yamanaka legacy if she was to make her way in such a world.
It wasn't long before he was knocking on the door of his own shop.
"Welcome to the Yamanaka Flower… dad?"
"Ino, you're done here for the day, but I'll need you to come with me," he spoke, curtly and swiftly, nodding at one of the interns to close up shop as soon as the two of them left.
"Uh…. Sure… what's wrong?" she questioned, following after the man as he made his way out of the shop.
"I'm afraid that I have to put you in a very difficult position… One that you may all too easily see as my disapproval."
"Ok, now you're scaring me, dad."
"As I have a right to. You're unaware of the fact, but this may as well be one of the most important moments of your shinobi career."
"Yep, still scared…" she trailed off, looking more worried with every second, "what's this about?"
"Your training, Ino. You've shown remarkable aptitude for our clan techniques, and your mission reports speak to your capability at subterfuge, but it's not enough… I want you…I need you to do more."
"Not enough?" the girl frowned, annoyed, "I work harder than both Shikamaru and Choji, and it's not enough?"
Inoichi sighed, coming to a stop in front of an unassuming building.
"Honey, I need you understand something…" he began, pointing towards the glass door of the building, "the Yamanaka have a rich tradition, more profound than most of the clan is aware of. The things we are capable of once we truly open our minds are almost incomprehensible."
"So… you want me to open my mind?" she tried, carefully, still confused with her father's sudden concern.
"Exactly. However, what I want and what you want may be very different things. If you want me to, I can teach you, but it has to be of your own choice. It will be difficult, and I will be, by necessity, a cruel teacher… however, I can also promise that if you do go through with this, you will have all the tools you'd ever need at your disposal."
"But aren't you teaching me already?"
"Barely…" he drawled, shaking his head, "I too was only doing the bare minimum required…"
He looked at the building, giving a small smile, "That building over there? It's the village intelligence division's headquarters. If you want to truly bloom as a kunoichi of the Yamanaka, you may follow me in. Otherwise, take the rest of the day off."
That said, he began walking, entering the building without a word, and disappearing behind the door's stained glass. Thus Ino was left alone, with a choice to make.
Truth be told, she didn't understand why her father got all wound-up all of a sudden; even when she was stuck in a forest with an S-Ranked criminal, he wasn't this concerned. Something's changed, and that bothered her greatly.
He just entered the store, said that he was willing to give her everything the Yamanaka ever came up, and then basically told her to choose between that and continuing on with the same routine she's been stuck in for the past six months, since the exam.
And in essence, it was an easy choice – when offered the opportunity to make your clan proud, you take it.
Yet, giving up on the life she's been leading so far wouldn't come easy to her; she saw the dark, sullen looks the adults of her clan, especially the ones with ties to the intelligence division, wore when they thought no one was looking, and she knew that such a look simply wouldn't do on someone as beautiful as herself…
So when given the choice between getting dangerous and old, or staying naïve and pretty, she really didn't have to think all that hard.
Taking a deep breath and settling back to her winning smile, Ino Yamanaka took her first step into the murky waters of the Intelligence world of the ninja continents.
"…"
"Hold up, dad!" she shouted, watching as her father made his way through a massive steel door she'd never guess was hidden in the building's supply closet.
"Ino…" he turned around, giving a small smile, "this is a hard road you've chosen."
"Yeah, yeah. There's gonna be time enough for me to whine about it," she replied, with a smile of her own, "just tell me what you need me to do."
"Alright…" he began, swiping his keycard, "let's go meet your new friend."
"Dead, is he?"
"I'm afraid so. He failed to report in for the last three check-ins."
Orochimaru, still wearing the face of Genyumaru, frowned. Losing Kimimaro was a setback, especially after all the trouble the mysterious benefactor went through, and someone needed to pay for that.
"And to make matters worse, I've received word from Guren."
"Already?"
"Yes. She's on her way back, with a message meant for your eyes only, Lord Orochimaru."
The sannin nodded, then slowly got up from his chair. This outcome of events was turning out to be quite troublesome, what with all the disruptions to his carefully-laid plans, divergences just potent enough to cost him his well-deserved prize.
No, not quite as troublesome as infuriating. The Uchiha wasn't convinced to come to him, and that meant that his precious eyes were now that much harder to acquire – that gnat Hatake would surely double up on the boy's protection, and as weak as he was right now, Orochimaru couldn't go after him himself.
His village is thriving under the merciless regime he had imposed, but even so, it was hard times; aside from some powerful individuals like Kabuto, Guren and subject Zero, and the minor clan of the Fuma, he had no pieces to put on the board, no remarkable moves to make.
Perhaps, if trained properly, the Hozuki and the Uzumaki might be forged into useful tools, but such a project would take time, and was ultimately inconsequential.
So what was his next move? All he had were enemies… or threats. Between the Leaf, the Akatsuki and this mysterious benefactor, way too many separate entities were on the hunt for him and his, which is a problem requiring swift resolution.
To build up his forces was the obvious idea, but even something as simple as that couldn't be accomplished with the Leaf snapping at his neck, as bruised and beaten as it was; Tsunade was considerably better at running a ninja village than he'd ever give her credit for.
There was also the minor issue of Sarutobi-sensei's locking away of a quarter of his chakra, which required a very specialized solution…
He walked out of his 'office', through the dank hallways of the building, and out into the open air of his village. The villagers, both civilian and shinobi, all gave him a wide berth, a habit built up by the presence of the sound four… a presence that was, unfortunately, terminated.
However, what the sannin wanted in the village built with his own hands, he got:
"You there, step forward," he commanded, watching with some amusement as the chunin went from merely distant to completely pale, stepping forward nonetheless.
"Lord Orochimaru, is everything alright? Those bandages…" the man began stammering, only to be interrupted.
"Trifles. Not even worth your time. But I will ask that you walk with me," the sannin continued, smirking.
"As you wish…"
The two of them kept walking, coming to what was essentially the village square, a mere opening covered with orange-covered tiles. This was where he'd appear, in those rare occasions that the four, Kimimaro or even Kabuto couldn't spread the word quickly enough… he had no intention of speaking today, though.
"We have work to do…"
"Damn, you would've been so useful out there, Shino!" Naruto kept explaining between slurps of delicious, nutritious ramen.
"I am truly sorry for my inability to assist you, Naruto. I was already deployed elsewhere."
"Yeah, but it would've been a cakewalk for you and your Kickachoo."
"Kikachu."
"That's what I said."
"Stop bugging him, Naruto," Sakura cut in, then cracked a smirk at her unintentional pun, "you did good on your own…"
"Maybe…" the blonde drawled, giving his noodles an idle stir."
"You're upset Kiba got hurt," Sasuke observed, from the far end of the table, slowly draining a bowl of his own, then paused, frowning.
Technically, it was his fault that the Inuzuka took a bone blade to the gut… and he wasn't sure on which side of Kakashi's moral value chart that fell. Did Kiba take that wound due to his heroism, or due to Sasuke's own lack of concern for the wellbeing of others, others that would volunteer to assist in the execution of his own personal vendettas?
This troubled Sasuke greatly.
"So… now that you're on Team 10…" Sakura tried to pick up the pieces of the suddenly broken conversation, sending her best friendly smile to the Aburame, "Watch over Ino for me, okay?"
"Why? It's my assessment that the two of you are no longer friends. Your reconciliation, if you don't mind my observation, seemed to be spurred on by the moment, rather than general resolution of conflict," he spoke, not pulling his punches in the least.
That… hurt.
She wanted to say something to defend her side of the story, but the truth observed by the Aburame was the perfectly objective one – her reconciliation with Ino was nothing more than a truce, not the recovery of a valuable friendship.
This… this troubled Sakura.
"So, Naruto, how's things been for you lately?" the question came from Ayame, the sole heir of the Ichiraku business empire, currently busy cooking up the next batch of dishes for the ravenous squad of genin to consume.
"You know how it is, classified ninja stuff," he replied with a slightly slack smile, slurping up another fifth of the bowl in one go, "our usual fare."
"I asked about you, not the ninja stuff. I do all my ninja stuff myself, you know?"
"What?" he flinched, surprised, "you got into the program?"
Sasuke leered at the blonde, giving him a look that all bur screamed 'are you kidding me?', only to notice that both Shino and Sakura were doing the exact same thing, albeit almost unnoticeably in Shino's case.
The girl just gave a short laugh, shaking her head, "no silly! I'm just asking about how you're doing."
"Oh…" he gave a sheepish grin, scratching his head, "I guess I'm doing ok… I'm worried about Kiba though…" he finished, losing the grin.
The truth was, Naruto was keeping a strong face, much stronger than he actually felt…
In truth, Naruto was troubled.
"Uhm… could I get a refill?" Hinata, who was seated between the blonde and his dark-haired teammate, spoke up, giving a soft smile to the standkeeper, the venerable man known as Teuchi.
"But of course little lady – would you like the seaweed, or the steamed fish paste?" he asked, motioning to the two canisters containing said toppings.
The girl blushed, stealing a glance at her new teammate, "I'll take the steamed paste, please."
"Not a common choice, but a favorite of one of our regulars," the man replied with a smile, glancing at the exact same orange-clad genin, worsening the girl's blush.
Although she was sitting next to him, a situation that would usually have her heart slow to a crawl and have her passing out, this time was different.
Hinata wasn't troubled.
"So… what's the plan anyway?" Sakura suddenly spoke up, moving her chair backwards a bit, "Kakashi-sensei was a no show ever since Hinata joined up, and while I have my training with Lady Tsunade, you guys must be getting bored."
"Yeah… I'm kinda finished with my books…" Naruto drawled, finishing the last bowl he could afford with what money he brought, then proceeding to order another one.
"How?" the pinkette questioned, the math obvious in her head – he needed at least another week of work to merely read the books, let alone study them thoroughly.
"I dunno. He told me to read, I did, and it just stuck, I guess," Naruto shrugged, only to wonder how exactly he managed to perform a feat impossible even for their kind.
"Professional tip? Reading goes faster with some shadow clones."
"I don't get it, Kakashi-sensei, what difference does it make?"
"Oh will you stop being such a worrywart and trust your teacher? Just make sure you don't read the same books."
Huh… Kakashi-sensei always knew the best shortcuts…
"Whatever…" Sasuke cut in, impatient, "he's just as lazy and ineffective as he was before the pep-talk. The man's a hoax."
"Sasuke, wait up."
"You? What now?"
"Time to begin your new, revised training program. Hold this."
No one else could tell, but the majority of the boy's arms and legs were covered with miniscule cuts, painful and annoying, but each one a permanent reminder of a mistake best avoided. Unsurprisingly, maintaining a grouchy mood didn't come too hard to him.
"Jeez… that man… ugh!" Sakura threw her hands up, annoyed.
She instinctively pressed her palm against the cool glass, watching the prisoner sitting behind it.
Konoha, Ino was surprised to notice, found a middle ground to be redundant when it came to the lodgings of their shinobi prisoners – 'bad' boys and girls got Ibiki's accommodations, while those that played nice got nice, padded cells sponsored by Inoichi. Effectively, what would be considered the middle-tier were the hallways, where the unfortunate were preyed upon by Anko and the occasional grumpy jonin passing through.
And this cell, one of the more luxurious padded ones with a mat that kind of looked like a bed if you squinted at it… from across the village… in the dark.
The more fascinating thing, however, was the cell's occupant.
They've stripped her of all her original clothing, giving her the modest white wraps of a prisoner. Her burnt auburn hair looked freshly-washed and dried, and her eyes, dark points of faded amber, were locked to where the door was.
Ino saw no bindings, but she was certain they were there.
"Fiery temperament, colorful vocabulary," Inoichi began listing, appearing at his daughter's side, "a curse mark, like the one given your friend Sasuke, now neutralized…"
"That over there, on her shoulder? That's the curse mark?"
"Indeed. Dangerous work of a dangerous man – one of the many reasons I'm glad you've decided to take up my offer."
"Yeah… still not sure why you went all serious all of a sudden, dad."
He chuckled, taking a step to the side and beginning the opening sequence of the three-section process required to open a door such as that one. He could open it alone, of course, but it took a while longer.
"I took the precaution of flooding the room with a sedating gas, of course."
"She looks awake."
"That's about the only thing she is - Complete bodily paralysis."
"So, you want me to ask her questions?"
"Amongst other things. You know what's expected of you as a Yamanaka."
"An open mind," she repeated, nodding her head with a vigorous determination.
The door hissed as it slowly swung open, granting access to the cell. The girl inside moved her head awful slow, meeting the Yamanakas' gazes only once they were comfortably standing on the opposite side of the room.
"Tayuya, allow me to introduce you to Ino, a fellow Yamanaka," he began, hands held behind his back, yet still ready to strike should the impossible occur and the prisoner present herself as a threat to his daughter.
"She your cousin?" the redhead replied, baring her teeth, "cause you could do better, old man, even with that ugly fucking face of yours…"
"Charming," Ino observed.
"Yes… I'd appreciate it if you refrain from embracing the vocabulary."
"Alright…" the younger blonde sighed, re-tying her ponytail, "you gave us your name easy enough… what else are you willing to give up before the real tools are brought in?"
The redhead cracked a smirk, turning her head, "Dunno… My virginity? To him, though. Not you."
"Ew," Ino frowned, shooting a glance at her father, who looked beyond disgusted.
"…"
"What's the matter? Don't like what you see?"
"Umm… we should step outside," Inoichi began, trying to keep a straight face.
"Sure…" his daughter agreed, not as successful at keeping her countenance unchanged.
The door hissed again, placing a very secure barrier between them and the redhead. They were hidden now, and that was very necessary for what was about to transpire:
"Dad, this needs to stop."
"Already, Ino?"
She paused for a moment, then frowned, "No, not that. You need to stop. Stop interacting with the prisoner."
"You can't work her alone," he said, making it sound like a statement of fact, rather than a challenge of opinion.
"The only way this works is if I work her alone," Ino sighed, slightly frustrated, "you're so stuck in your head with this whole training gig that you messed up your approach – pain and fear are the only things this miserable girl has ever known, they'd never get her to talk."
Inoichi… well, Inoichi facepalmed.
"I'm actually getting lectured by my daughter… and she's right…" he muttered, then shook his head:
"Very well – until such a time that you declare yourself to be finished with this girl's interrogation, she will not see me."
"Oh no, I'm not going to be interrogating her," Ino corrected, giving her best brilliant Yamanaka smile.
"What then?" he asked, though in hindsight, he should've seen it coming.
"You know…" Orochimaru began, ignoring the pain all this walking was inflicting on his still-adapting new body, "I'm genuinely surprised with what you've managed to accomplish; To come out of nowhere, give me what I need to help Kimimaro, and then turn heel and convince young Sasuke to stay with the Leaf…"
The shinobi following him, his face showing obvious fear up until that point, smirked, dropping his henge; the note on his headband revealing itself to be a crossed-through series of stones.
Orochimaru was, although it disturbed him to admit so, impressed. This shinobi was the perfect everyman, a face, body and attitude so perfectly forgettable, as if he was bred for the role of the silent participant… engineered for it.
"You are a man deserving of your reputation, Sannin," the shinobi spoke, revealing his voice to be that of a much younger man, "but not even I would make the mistake of coming to speak to you personally."
"Shadow clone, hm? Somewhat of a rarity outside the Leaf…"
"I could see how you got in… the Leaf is sleepy, a mere shadow of its' former self, the self that could shatter stone and cloud…"
"We all have bouts of nostalgia…" Orochimaru drawled, turning his gaze to the sky for a while, " I doubt that's the why of this visit, however."
"Abandon your pursuit of the Sharingan, and hand over your Akatsuki ring; In return, I will bring your Kayuga minion back from the dead, and ensure that you are given the opportunity to exact vengeance on Itachi Uchiha," the clone spoke, his voice intentionally even and emotionless.
"You ask much of me…" the Sannin intentionally trailed off, waiting for the man to provide his name.
"…" after this long, however, there was no purpose to it, even as a symbolic gesture. His name had died with the last man that knew it.
"Kimimaro is a useful pawn… and I've no use for the ring… however, I have no intention of letting the Uchiha off the hook that easily. He and, I will assume young Naruto, cost me four of my best."
"And I will give you one immediately, and one more as time passes."
The Sannin paused, considering his options. Taking the deal would be a reckless gambit, seeing as he knew not what the mysterious benefactor was capable of, but it would get him closer to the threat, making it easier to deal with down the line, and something told him that the man who wore a shovel in a sword's holster was bound by his word.
On the other hand, refusing the deal would certainly antagonize this entity, adding another enemy to his already saturated list. Still, giving up the Akatsuki's ring would cost him his only remaining leverage he had on the organization, the threat of its' destruction being the only thing keeping the red dawn from collapsing onto him like their leader's own wrath. As he was now, Orochimaru simply couldn't afford a skirmish with a force such as the Akatsuki.
"Well, in that case…"
"What about that man, Sakura?" responded the copy-nin, stepping out from the shadows.
"Kakashi-sensei!" came a reply from multiple voices, Naruto's loudest of all.
"Well? What are we waiting for? We got our first mission!" he declared, eye-smiling.
"I'm going to turn this girl,"Ino declared, and the mischievous twinkle in her eye made Inoichi believe, just for a moment, that she might just pull it off.
"I will take your deal, man from the stone. But know that by forcing my hand you've made as powerful an adversary as you did a partner…" Orochimaru finished, stopping their walk and turning back towards the main building.
"Let us go fetch the ring, then."
Hope you enjoyed the chapter!
This is the last update this year, however. I wish you all the best for the holidays!