Inochi watches from the hammock that his daughter had strung between two trees a few yards away from the climbing wall where she is currently trying to climb a route that her cousin, Santa, had marked with white tape. He winces as she falls from the wall again. "There was a hold by your left knee." he points out as she continues to lay on the ground.

"Thanks, Shikamaru." she replies.

Inochi rolls his eyes. Ever since she Dumped Team Ten, the name Shikamaru had become synonymous for Asshole. He wants to give her the Ino-Shika-Cho lecture again, but at this point he has given up. Ino is as stubborn and unyielding as that wall that she is approaching again.

"Ino." he calls

She turns.

"Last climb before we practice the Earth Release, I can only stay for a couple more hours. Besides if your arms are still sore for the final exams you are going to regret it."

"Thanks Daddy."

"And respect your elders."

He watches her begin to ascend the rock. Her movements graceful and slow as she moves from one hold to the next. She pauses at the spot where she fell last time. Then finds that hold at her left knee. She matches with one slightly above it on her right.

Then she leaps straight up and catches the next move with both hands, her lithe body swaying slightly before she gains control. The rest of the climb is easy for her and when she reaches the top of the wall she cheers.

He can't help but clap himself. He'd been watching her try to get this route for the better part of an hour.

Her smile is contagious as she grabs the bottle of water next to him and takes a generous swig. The two blondes rest for a few more moments, father and daughter. She stands and dusts the chalk from her hands.

"Ready."

Shikamaru groans when he feels more than hears the footfalls approach from behind, he'd been spending the better part of the morning and early afternoon staring up at the clouds. To his relief it is the sound of chips munching; not the aroma of cigarette smoke or Ino's harsh aura that disturbs him.

"Asuma says he wants you to come to the training grounds." his best friend plops heavily beside him.

Shikamaru removes his left arm from behind his head and holds out his hand, palm facing up. There is a reluctant pause before a single potato chip is placed in his hand. The dark-haired boy smirks to himself, quickly eating the snack before his teammate can change his mind.

"Jerk." Chouji mutters.

"You're the one who gave me the chip."

He hears aggressive munching.

"Why does he want me to come train? The exams are the day after tomorrow. What if I get hurt?" Shikamaru muses. Although that might be worth it. I wouldn't have to deal with these troublesome exams.

Chouji scoffs. "We both know that's not going to happen."

Shikamaru rolls his eyes. "I'm not supposed to get the 'No matter what happens, know I'm proud of you' speech until tomorrow. Or the day of the exam if Asuma is feeling dramatic. But that seems more like a Gai thing."

"You sound like Ino."

Shikamaru grinds his teeth at the mention of his pretty blonde teammate.

"Come off it." Chouji demands

"You told her to drop out too."

"Of course I did! I love Ino, she's my teammate! I don't want her to get killed, but I know that she needs support and care just like you do."

Shikamaru slides his eyes from the clouds to his best friend.

"Don't give me that look. I'm here to support you both. Of course I think that she should drop out, but I'm not going to tell her that she can't win. I am fairly certain that she can't. But Ino's kind of like Naruto. She's a wild card."

"The weakest."

"She's been training hard. Much harder than you." another bag of chips pops open.

Shikamaru sighs.

A silence falls between the two boys of Team 10. Both of their thoughts drifting to their third teammate.

"Have you heard from her?" Chouji finally asks, knowing that Shikamaru isn't going to be the one to initiate that conversation.

"Not since we all went to get our dads together." Shukamaru answers, choosing to leave out his most recent interaction with the girl two days prior. There hadn't been anything special or a realization in that interaction, just the same old fighting.

"Do you think that we will ever be a team again?" Chouji asks.

"What do you mean?"

"Is Team 10 over?"

Shikamaru hesitates, there is no way in hell that Ino-Shika-Cho will ever disband; but when all of them get promoted to Chunnin or higher, then yes. Team Ten will become a new set of Genin graduates.

"Team 10 probably, at least the way that we know it. There's a new batch of gennin waiting to take that spot. As for Ino-Shika-Cho, It's been seventeen generations, I highly doubt that it will end with us."

He hears a sigh of relief escape from his friend, "You don't think that Ino put a curse on it?"

Shikamaru chuckles. "I hope not."

"My mom says that all women are witches somehow."

Shikamaru rolls his eyes. "One of your mother's conspiracy theories."

"No it's true. Ino knows so much about damn plants and has that earth affinity that she might as well be a green witch. Hinata is such a good cook and makes cool medicines that she is a hedge witch. Sakura is well…I don't know yet. And TenTen scares me."

"You only named 2." Shikamaru points out.

"Well there are others too. Ayame is a kitchen witch. Then there is Anko she has those snakes. All witches have familiars."

Shikamaru sighs at his best friend's antics, but decides not to reply.

"Anyways." Chouji says pushing himself to his feet. "Asuma wants you to show up, the exams are the day after tomorrow. Maybe he will take it easy on you and play one of your puzzle games."

Shikamaru rolls to his feet as well and dust the grass and dirt off his pants and back. "I hope so. At least that will be slightly more entertaining."

Ino walks to the T&I department to Anko's office and knocks loudly. "What!" Anko's voice answers.

"It's Ino!"

"Damn it Ino. I told you to take it easy today." Anko screams from behind the door.

"I've been climbing and reading all day. I need you to help me."

"Help you with what?" the door swings open revealing what can only be described as an exhausted Anko. The slender woman is not dressed in her usual attire; instead she is wearing a t-shirt that is falling off one shoulder, a pair of shinobi capris, and flip flops.

Ino does her best to hide the shock on her face. The powerful kunochi before her looks almost broken.

"Yes Ino, contrary to popular belief, I am capable of looking like shit. Not all of us are blessed with the unfair genetics that Kurenai has."

"What happened?" the blonde asks.

Anko rubs her temples slowly. "Just a long night."

Ino suddenly recognizes that look; it is the one that her father would get when he had to deal with an exceptionally difficult round of T&I. Typically it would be a round where one of Konoha's own had betrayed the Fire Nation. Sometimes it was because of enemy ninjas, sometimes it was for something completely different. Regardless, her anger slowly dissipates.

"I'm sorry, Anko."

The woman waves away the girl's empathetic apology.

"Go for a run and and meet me at the barbecue place. You need to eat tonight and tomorrow. Last thing I need is for you to pass out due to lack of calories. The rumor around town is that I am your new jounin teacher. Besides I know for a fact that the day of the match you aren't going to be able to eat. I know that I couldn't."

Ino opens her mouth to argue, but instead decides to add two more miles to her already ten mile run. That's at least 200 calories.

"I'll see you there." the blonde bows. "And Anko-sensai. Take a shower and put on something cute, I can't be seen with my teacher looking like shit."

"Get out of here, Yamanaka."

She sees her 'teacher' already sitting in a booth, her cheeks flushed with what she can only assume is the sake bottle sitting in front of her. To her relief, Anko had decided to take her advice and clean herself up. Her hair is still in it's traditional ponytail, but she is wearing civilian clothes. A simple but flattering burnt orange sundress.

"Yamanaka." she greets.

Ino gives the woman a smile. Despite her obviously en-route to intoxicated state, at least the basic need for hygiene was met. And her teacher looks pretty.

Ino sits down and a waiter suddenly appears to take her order. She is about to open her mouth before Anko makes the order for her.

"We will have the pork belly, vegetable, and soondoboo." the amount of food almost makes Ino blanch.

"You're eating a real meal, Yamanaka."

"Only if you give me some sake." Ino compromises.

"Deal." a second glass is instantly poured.

"You know I'm 12, right?"

"Yup."

"You really are crazy, you know that?" Ino asks as she takes a tentative sip of the sparkling sake that Anko is sipping. She makes a face, but is surprised to find that she doesn't hate it.

"You'll like it a lot more when you get older."

Ino slides the small glass back to her mentor. "What happened?" she finds herself asking.

"What do you mean, what happened?" Anko asks as she takes a sip of the glass that Ino had slid to her. Obviously not embarrassed at the the fact that there are two half full glasses before her.

"You were well…Not yourself earlier." Ino says.

"Classified."

"Oh come on!" Ino says bluntly.

"Nope. These lips are sealed."

"Then why are you dressed up?" Ino asks changing the subject.

"Because I have a date after our little dinner." Anko answers bluntly.

"With who?"

"Also classified."

"Is it Kakashi-sensai?"

Anko's face remains stoic. But because of how much Ino had been studying her clan's technique, she feels more than sees the spike of Anko's brain neurons confirming her question.

But all of a sudden she realizes that Anko knows that she knows.

"You need to work on your poker face, Yamanaka." is all the older woman says. She finishes Ino's glass.

"So we have to make a plan. We know that the plan is for you to do your mind transfer, something similar to what you did with the pink haired brat?"

Ino nods, secretly liking that her mentor is calling Sakura a Brat. "Dosu prefers long range attacks with that freaky arm-trick of his. My best bet is the hypnosis technique and when his guard is down, do the mind transfer."

"You know that you only have one shot, right? If you miss, then it's game over. You don't have anymore hair to cut off." Anko says more than asks, bridging her fingers and resting her chin atop them.

At this Ino pours herself a glass of sake and downs it in one go. When Anko says it out loud, the plan sounds like a suicide mission.

"It's the best plan we've got. And I love it." Anko replies, suddenly grabbing Ino's empty glass and hiding it as the waiter returns with their orders.

"Daddy's been helping me with an earth release technique to try to create a barrier but so far it's been only knee high at best."

"Then duck." Anko answers smoothly.

Ino rolls her eyes, but realizes that is probably going to be her best bet. Anko takes her plate and loads it with the food she ordered.

This time Ino does blanch.

Anko rolls her eyes. "Eat half of it."

"But Anko-" the girl begins but is instantly cut off.

"You need to keep your strength up. Tomorrow is your last day before the match; you aren't going to be able to eat the night before anyway. So eat."

Ino rips apart her chopsticks and begins to pick at her food obediently.

Anko fills her own plate and the two eat in silence, Anko watching the Yamanaka girl like a hawk.