Part 3: Missed

Hinata was walking to Ichiraku Ramen to see if Naruto was eating there again. To her surprise Hinata found a large old man with Naruto, so she quickly go into her stalker mode and stay out of sight.

"Who is that man?" Hinata asked herself. Unable to hear her crush and the stranger, Hinata snuck by closer to eavesdrop on them.

After an hour, Ino was walking to the Ichiraku place to see if Naruto is there, again. Little did she know by the time she got there, Naruto already went and go elsewhere. Ino noticed Hinata is hiding behind a pole. Unable to resist a little scare, Ino snuck up on Hinata and did the most childish scare not even Naruto would do. "BOO!" Ino yelled behind Hinata, scaring her and get a strong punch in the face. Ino winched and held on to her nose in case of a nosebleed, but she knew she deserved that punch, though the pain made her poison ivy itches worse.

"Ino! I'm so sorry! I got scared and thought someone would ambush me." Hinata got to bowing a lot as she apologized faster than a speed of light.

Ino rubbed her face a bit with a mild moan. "It's okay, I decided to scare you for the fun of it. Where's Naruto this time?"

Hinata: "He left with this old man named Pervy Sage, sometimes he calls him Master Pervert."

Ino: "What? Who is this Pervy Sage?" She said while covering her nose with a tissue.

Hinata: "I don't know. Although I recognized him as that peeping tom caught at the hot springs trying to spy on naked women."

Ino: "Makes sense to call him Pervy Sage. But why is Naruto hanging out with him? Knowing Naruto, this Pervert must be strong or know some fancy jutsu."

Hinata: "He seems to know some, yeah. Just now, Naruto and that stranger left the village for a secret mission."

Ino: "Secret Mission?"

Hinata: "I don't know what it is. Sounds like they'll be gone for some time. And… Ino? What happened to you? You have bandages all over you."

Ino took notice what Hinata meant. Ino chuckled nervously after she looked at her bandages. She took a moment to inhale and then say: "Ive gone into poison ivy bushes to dry off after taking a dip in a river and fell asleep in there. Naruto helped me though."

Hinata smiled and giggled at Ino. "He can be like that. I remember the first time I met him. And you walked into a poison ivy bush? Why?"

Ino blushed and looked away with a pouty look on her face. "I tried to make Naruto look at me when my clothes are wet so he may get a small peak. But, he was focused on eating some damn ramen. I was so tired I neglected to check the bushes to make sure. I can recognize many plants and flowers, and that was embarrassing. Naruto must've known I would die of embarrassment if my parents knew what actually happened."

Hinata nodded and turned back around to fidget with her fingers. While Ino could not see, she can tell that Hinata gotten more nervous about this plan she and Ino agreed to. "So… how was lunch with Naruto?" Hinata managed to speak it out to Ino.

Ino chuckled at Hinata's question because she understood the implications behind that question. Ino closed her eyes, crossed her arms, and smirked when she spoke with great confidence: "Trust me, Hinata. I'm not falling in love with him. His idiocy and bravado might be adorable, but I'd sooner kiss Sakura than kiss Naruto. Besides, Naruto's your man, not mine. I'm going for Sasuke, but my rival is Sakura. I'm just buttering up Naruto so he may latch to you. Some people say a good way to be in a relationship is the heal a broken heart."

Ino was right, or at least she and many others would think so. Ino relaxed herself and had to fight off the urge to itch her recovering rashes, she sighed and her confident smirk became a frown after answering Hinata's question. Hinata was surprised to hear Ino wasn't beating round the bush, instead she gave her a straight answer. Confident, but the tone was rather slightly unsure. Hinata still had her back at Ino so her face of shock would not give Ino a bad idea. Hinata finally responded to Ino with a nod and bid her farewell before going off to her teammates Kida and Shino right as they called for her. Ino could do the same, but she needed the time to rest and heal her scratches and rashes. Instead, Ino went off to a store to purchase some pudding and cherry tomatoes.

(Why do I feel weird about it? Naruto is just a friend. Hinata loves Naruto. Maybe I'm just feeling guilty that I will break Naruto's heart. Wait, Naruto and I aren't dating yet. We haven't even asked each other out. Damn it! I knew I was missing something! I should've just asked Naruto if he wants to date me. It's not like I'll be THE one for him. Lately I've become stupider and stupider! OKAY! Ino! Step up your game! When Naruto comes back to town, you go for the kill. Be the hunter. Be active. Don't let anything else distract you!)

Ino was so lost in her thoughts she was not paying any attention to her surroundings, like so she tripped over a large spiky sword wrapped in bandages, scraping her ankle. She winced and dropped her goodies, she grumbled due the new pain added to her itching and scratches, called out to the man holding the spiky club. He wore a black coat with red clouds and a bamboo hat with curtains to hide his face.

"Watch where you're going with that thing! As if I haven't had enough pain and discomfort on me with the damn rashes and scratches! Now I have a scrape on my ankle! Don't get anyone in the hospital with that thing would you please!?" Ino grunted after finishing her rant, going to the grocery bag she dropped containing her goodies.

Behind Ino, the black-cloaked man reached for his weapon that gave Ino a scrape. Gripping his weapon and pulled it out from behind his back, it was clear he intended to attack the girl for yelling at him despite it was her fault for not paying attention. The Swordsman was stopped by another black-coat man with the same bamboo hat on him, but he had visible red eyes.

"Stop. She's not worth our trouble. You'll only make more for us." Said the man with red eyes.

"She made contact with us. She needs to be brought out of the picture." The Swordman said to his friend.

The two cloaked strangers were whispering and Ino was too much in pain and very annoyed to notice what the Swordsman was doing. Ino left without another word to the Swordsman and forget he existed.

"I know she will give us away." The Swordman said.

The Swordman's parter nodded and said: "She will tell, but it would be pointless by then. Besides, we are ninja. We master the shadows, silence, and camouflage, even live by is. Speaking of which, your sword will indeed draw attention to us. Use it if battle becomes unavoidable."

"Ironically many ninja stick out like a sore thumb. Half the time I think some are purposely obvious to distract their enemies while the real threats are better hidden due to the distractions." The Swordsman replied to his partner.

"Perhaps so. No matter the generation, time and norms will change and it may be more unpleasant than the last, or more agreeable than before. Enough with this. We need to find the Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails. I have no doubt someone here already picked up our scent. For all we know, we may've missed him."

After some time, Ino got her scrape patched up. For the last few days she kept finding herself hurt in silly ways. Ino walked into bushes of poison ivy, got punched in the face, now she gotten a scrape from a stranger carrying a huge weapon. Ino bumped into her teammates Shikamaru and Choji at a training field next to a restaurant and a library. Choji was eating a bag of BBQ potato chips as usual while Shikamaru carried some paperwork.

"Woah! What happened to you?" Choji screamed when he saw Ino.

Ino was not at all amused when Choji asked. He should know by now she is currently not in a good condition to train or do missions. Ino would have yelled at Choji, but she was in too much pain and resisting itches to even care.

"She got herself collapsed in a few poison ivy bushes and Naruto had to take her back to the village for medical treatment. Also she was wet and wore Naruto's jacket to dry off." Shikamaru explained.

"Oh yeah. That's right..." Ino forgotten how Naruto lied to her father to make sure Ino didn't come off stupid thanks to her going into a river and poison ivy bushes instead of being an accidental during training. Shikamaru reminding her was a wake up call she needed.

"Oh really? How does one fall into poison ivy as well as getting wet? Naruto wasn't being rough on you, right? After showing off that red chakra, I'm starting to worry if Naruto may be a danger to others as well as himself." Choji said with quite a concern, then popped his empty potato chip bag.

Shikamaru: "Yeah. But this is Naruto we're talking about. The guy couldn't pull better tricks out of his ass than what actually came from it when he defeated Kiba."

Choji: "Says the guy who did a handful of stealthy tricks and laze about for majority of his battle against that Sand Village girl. Then you forfeit the match. You could've won and rested until it is your match again."

Shikamaru: "I wasn't going to waste energy all over again. I thought up different strategies for each fighter and would've adapted, but I wasn't going to drag it out. The only reason I came next to fight because Sasuke was elsewhere, probably learning that new jutsu."

The name Sasuke doesn't seem to flinch Ino anymore as much as it used to. Ino felt indifferent about it actually. She even commented as if Sasuke isn't that important. Perhaps it was due to Ino trying to cheer Sakura up that time when Choji asked why Sasuke's match was delayed. Ino remembered Sakura's face and tried to cheer her up, but Ino took notice she made it worse for Sakura.

(What could've happened with Sasuke? What did happen with Team 7?) Ino thought.

"Ino, you okay? You're staring into space here." Choji waved at Ino to get her attention.

Ino snapped back to reality and quickly ensured Choji she is okay. Thought she asked where is their teacher, Asuma Sarutobi. Shikamaru told Ino that Asuma met up with Kakashi and Kurenai. They were not sure why or what was going on, but it sounded serious. Ino nodded and stretched.

"Okay. Well, how about we train for now? I know, I'm not in a good condition, but I can still kick some—ow!" Ino tried to demonstrate some Taijutsu, but it made the injuries more painful, especially her scrape from before. "On second thought. I'll wait and get healed until I get to be reckless again. I'll watch you two."

Ino already got lost in thought as Choji was practicing his endurance by inflating his body to become a human boulder, as the technique is named, and rolled around against large rocks and trees. While Shikamaru was working on his paperwork.

(Of course. Back to these two favorite morons of mine. Speaking of moron, where did Naruto go? Why? What kind of mission is he on with that big pervert? I wonder if Sakura knew anything. I'll go ask her later today. I bet she's trying to cuddle with Sasuke… cuddle with the boy we both have a massive crush on…) Ino was doodling in her journal, drawing Sasuke and Sakura and then made a large X over the two doodles. Then Ino drew herself and before she even realize it, she also drew Naruto. Blushing at that, Ino immediately scribbled over her new doodle.

(What the heck? Why did I draw Naruto for? Weird, I was trying to draw Sasuke. Okay, I just need to relax. Right, while Naruto is out of town for now I will make better plans of attack to get Naruto to love me and I break his heart. Operation Heart Break-n-Fix will be perfect, foolproof, and so romantic! It will make married couples jealous!) Ino thought while she made evil plans in her journal, smiling like an imp plotting its next prank, and finally her plans are made and set in stone. Nothing will go wrong.

(Now. I'll wait for Naruto, and our first date will be so amazing that Hinata will envy us. Wait, that might be bad, but whatever she can make her first date with Naruto be much more than I would.) Ino closed and put her journal back into her bag and sighed of relief.

Author's Note: I want to give a shout out to the 500+ Visitors and their 800+ views. It warms my heart to know my story is being enjoyed by many, and a few even voicing their pleasure about this story. I even fell more in love with this story in the making than I expected I would. Aside from my appreciation, I wanted to point out to those who may not be realizing this. I snuck in a small appearance of Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki. While they wouldn't be important to this story here, I wanted to incorporate references from canon as well as taking advantage of what can be snuck in. As some of you may tell, Naruto and Jiraiya went to search for Tsunade, Kakashi fought Itachi, and soon Sasuke will go find Naruto before Itachi gets to him. I hope you guys enjoyed this and looking forward for more of Ino's plan.