"Know Thy Self, Know Thy Enemy, Know Thy Angel"
by Quick-n-Popular
Disclaimer: "Naruto" and all of its characters are not my property.
A/N: Thank you everyone for your responses to this story and in the last chapter. Pakura's addition to this is a fun challenge and I hope this chapter makes good strides as well.
Now, on with the story.
Chapter Four: Gone with the Wave, Part Two
Back at their hideout, Pakura helped Haku bring in Zabuza and laid him on the couch of the room as the boy pulled out the senbon needles he had used to fake the man's death. Due to Zabuza's injuries at the hands of Kakashi, Naruto's clone, and severe chakra exhaustion; he had yet to awake and would most likely would need some time to recover before they could launch another assault on their target and the Konoha nin protecting him.
Pakura sat in a chair and drank some tea prepared as she watched Haku attend to his master's wounds, immersing herself in her thoughts.
'THAT was a close one.' She sighed, 'If it weren't for Haku-san's quick-thinking, I might have gone in to retrieve him myself. However, with Sharingan Kakashi there…'
Drinking her tea, Pakura thought of the recent message she got from Suna, who she has been updating ever since having made her escape from Kiri's borders before going into hiding.
'They say they'll be sending someone to retrieve me soon, so it's uncertain how much longer I can remain here.' Looking at Zabuza's injured form, Pakura closed her eyes. 'Either Zabuza-san will be successful or he won't be. Either way, I'm not sure how much I should involve myself further into this but I will TRY to make good on the dept I owe him.'
Finishing her tea, she looked to Haku who stood up and stretched before he turned to the Suna Kunoichi, "Zabuza-sama has most of his wounds cared for, but I'm in need of some more herbs to take care of the rest."
Pakura nodded, "Do you have what you need? Or are you going to get some from that bastard Gato?"
Haku lay a blanket over his master before going to another part of the room. "I used up what we have on hand but no, I won't be asking for more favors from our client. I'll instead get what we need from the town as there is an area nearby that is growing with what I need."
Pakura nodded and set down her tea cup. "I can look after him here for you."
Haku smiled, "That's most kind of you. I haven't shown my face but I know that those Konoha nin are going to be on alert. I'll have the Demon Brothers watch from the background while I go collect what I need." With that he left to change into his civilian clothes as Pakura took some writing material to make another message to her home.
The Konoha group counted themselves lucky that their client, Tazuna's daughter Tsunami, had enough room to accommodate such a large group in her home. Upon arrival, Asuma was quick to find a room to situate Kakashi in and to get to work evaluating and treating his injuries as he had been the only one to sustain them with his fight with the Demon of the Bloody Mist.
While he was busy with that, the Genin were allowed to occupy themselves for the time being. Shikamaru took the opportunity to take a nap, Chouji and Sakura decided to help Tsunami with her cooking for their meals, Sasuke went outside to scout around the property, and Naruto and Ino took the time check their groups' things to make sure they hadn't lost anything after their earlier scuffle.
After some time, Sasuke came back inside the house as Asuma came down from upstairs to address everyone.
"How's Kakashi-Sensei?" Naruto asked.
Asuma sat down on the sofa in the living room and sighed, "Well, he's got some chakra exhaustion and his use of the Sharingan put some incredible strain on him and his body, not to mention some minor cuts and some pulled muscles; so, other than those, he's okay."
A collective sigh of relief was given from most of the group at the news.
"So, what happens, now?" Sakura asked.
Asuma fished in his pockets for his pack of cigarettes but a look of reproach from Tsunami stopped him from putting one in his mouth and he sighed, rubbing his eyes tiredly, "Well, we're not out of the woods yet. More than likely that "Hunter Nin" from earlier was a member of Zabuza's crew in disguise."
Sasuke snorted, "So, they came to get him before we could do anything."
Asuma nodded, "And there may be more than just him."
Chouji looked nervous at that while Ino looked and saw Tazuna shifting uncomfortably.
Asuma saw it too and called out to him, "I think its about time for you to come clean with us, Tazuna-san."
"What do you mean?" He asked, sweating visibly.
"Father." His daughter admonished him, "Please tell them the truth."
The Bridge Builder sighed before looking Asuma in the eyes in resignation, "The man who's after my life...is the business tycoon, Gato of the Gato Shipping Industries."
Asuma nodded, "Since Zabuza has been a missing nin for a while, Kakashi and I knew Kiri wasn't after you and somebody was putting a lot of money his way for your head."
Tazuna nodded.
"But why would a businessman want you dead?" Ino asked.
Tazuna sighed, "To squash anything that might upset his money-making. Or rather, to squash any hope."
He went on to explain how Gato and his thugs came to this city to capitalize on the shipping industry and soon created a monopoly on the trade, killing all local businesses and bringing in crime which began to terrorize all who opposed him and his regime. Those who went against him were made examples of. Tazuna, trying to to do something that would alleviate what has happening to his city and family, came together with some of the others and brought forth an idea of building a bridge to the mainland to allow more business to come in to challenge Gato's hold on their city and to inspire some hope by also challenging his terror.
"Naturally, he wasn't going to take that lying down." He said, "So, we all decided to ask a Shinobi village for some protection. However, we don't have the kind of money needed for the kind of protection against what Gato would throw at us, so I lied about what you all were protecting me from. I'm sorry."
Asuma shrugged, "Well, the Village suspected you weren't being completely honest at the start, so it doesn't matter at this point. But we're here now and we're going to have to deal with it. However, if I or Kakashi feel it's too much for our teams to handle, we WILL pull out."
Tazuna nodded, "I wouldn't blame you in the slightest."
Asuma stood up, "For now, we're going to do our damnedest to come out of this."
Naruto then spoke, "If it's okay, I can set up some barriers around the house."
Asuma looked surprised, "I saw what you had made earlier and it looked good. If you can do THAT, that'd be great. The rest of you, I want you to make shifts of patrols around the property. Even though Zabuza might be down for a while, Gato and those with Zabuza won't be resting. We're still unsure of what the number is we're up against."
Everyone nodded. Naruto collected his things and headed back outside.
Ino, watching him go, turned to her Sensei. "I'll go back him up while he setting things up."
Asuma nodded and Ino, then, took off as well.
Haku, dressed in his civilian clothes, was gathering the medicinal herbs that he needed for his master's recovery in the open field that was ironically close to the property of their target. The irony didn't escape the boy but however, he wasn't about to go killing the man while his master was in dire straits. He knew the Demon Brothers, who were with him, were eager to go, especially to avenge their ringleader, but the boy, who was deemed as second in command, ordered them not to take such a reckless action. Now, said men were outside of the area waiting for Haku to be finished so they could escort him back to the base.
Just as he was close to finishing, Haku heard a pair of voices that didn't belong to the brothers. It was a boy and girl and they were getting close. Haku looked up and saw it was the blond haired boy and the platinum blond haired girl of the Konoha nin. The boy was putting seals on the trees surrounding the property, most likely setting up some sort of barrier that Haku saw he used on Zabuza before he came to rescue him. It would seem that the blond had a proficiency for Fuinjutsu.
'I shouldn't idle here any longer.' Haku thought. Haku gathered the remainder of his herbs and was about to take his leave but the blond female seemed to then notice his presence.
"Hey, Naruto, there's somebody here!"
Haku stood up and put on his best disarming-smile as the two Konoha shinobi came over to where he was.
"Hello," he said, "I hope I didn't alarm you two. I'm just here to gather somethings for someone who's sick in the city."
Looking at what he had in his possession, Naruto and Ino nodded.
Ino looked over what he had collected, "Those look like some good herbs. I hope whoever you're treating gets better."
Naruto nodded, "But you shouldn't hang around here, to be honest. It's not exactly the safest area."
Haku acted surprised, "My, really? You shinobi do live dangerous lives. Though with what Gato's doing to the city, I agree that the place isn't exactly safe either." He then paused and thought of something. "Tell me, why do you all fight?"
Ino thought that was a strange question but considering a shinobi's profession there were multitude of reasons and there were probably people who didn't understand why they did what they did.
Naruto, just as befuddled, drew a blank. "What do you mean?"
Haku smiled, "It's my belief that the strongest of people fight for something that is precious to them. Do either of you two have something precious to you that you would fight for?"
Neither of the Konoha teens were able to give an answer. To Ino, she thought of her family and of the village. For Naruto, his thoughts drifted toward the Sandaime, Iruka, the ramen stand owners and, like Ino, he thought of the Villlage.
Haku, seeing the uncertainty on the Konoha teens' faces smiled, "Well, if you ever find the answer, then you'll know what I mean."
However, the discussion was interrupted when two men wearing slashed Kiri headbands, armed with clawed gauntlets suddenly appeared, springing up from the undergrowth. A bladed chain connected their gauntlets and the two men charged at Naruto and Ino.
"Whoever you are, run! Get out of here!" Naruto shouted to Haku as he and Ino took out their kunai and parried the chain before slipping underneath it and Naruto threw his kunai at the chain which then pinned it to a tree.
Haku wasted no time leaving, giving a look of resignation at the Demon Brothers before disappearing as soon as he was out of sight.
As soon as he was gone, Ino, used her family's jutsu as the Demon Brothers unattached themselves from the chain, and she went limp as she took control of one of the brothers, Gozu, and had him attacking his brother.
"Gozu! What are you doing! Snap out of it!" Meizu shouted before one of Gozu's attacks grazed his arm with their poisoned gauntlets. "Damn it!" He yelled, before looking at Ino's slumped form and realizing what what has happened to his brother. Dodging an attack from Naruto, he then took out a kunai and threw it at the Yamanaka Kunoichi just as his mind was growing hazy from the poison.
"Ino!" Naruto ran and tackled her prone body and the two rolled as the kunai was buried into the ground. Ino soon released herself from her jutsu just as Meizu died.
Gozu, having recovered from the Yamanka jutsu, looked in shock at his brother's dead body before taking a kunai out of his holster and rushing at Naruto and Ino in a blind rage, shouting, "I'll kill you damn Konoha nin!"
Naruto met the Chunin with his own kunai and blocked it before aiming a roundhouse kick at him. Gozu dodged it and lashed out with his clawed gauntlet, grazing Naruto on the ankle. Naruto winced and then threw his kunai at the man as Ino threw two shuriken at Gozu's legs which hit home, causing him to fall to his knees as Naruto's kunai ended up piercing into Gozu's throat. The man gurgled and choked on his blood before falling down dead like his brother.
Ino watching, changed gears as she heard Naruto grunt in pain as he clutched at his ankle which had been poisoned by Gozu's poisoned gauntlet. The Yamanaka teen ran to him and helped him pull up the cuff of his pant leg.
"How bad is it? Are you-" She was cut off as red sinister chakra started healing the wound as Naruto's face scrunched up in agony. Ino stared in disbelief as the wound bubbled as the poison was being pushed out forcibly. Soon the wound was fully healed leaving only a small scar. Naruto lay on his back panting in exhaustion.
Seeing that color had came to his face and that he didn't seem to be in immediate danger, Ino sighed in relief. She had questions about what she just saw, but knowing there may be more enemies about, she bit down her curiosity and helped her fellow blond to his feet.
"Can you walk?" She asked.
"I think so." Naruto said as he grimaced. He then made a couple of Shadow Clones to carry the dead Chunins back with them as he and Ino left the area.
Haku had returned alone and by the look on his face, something had obviously happened. With the Demon Brothers continued absence, Pakura could draw the conclusion that either they got captured or were in fact dead. However, before she could discuss anything further with Zabuza's last support, a message from Suna arrived by a messenger bird and she isolated herself to read it.
As she read over the message, she was intruded upon by an unwelcome presence.
"News from home, Pakura-san?" Said a smug voice.
The Suna Kunoichi looked up and glowered as she saw Gato standing in the doorway, smirking at her as he flicked some of the ash off of his cigar.
Pakura chose to ignore him for the moment and went back to reread the message she received.
Gato ventured on in and continued as if to pretend she wasn't giving him the cold treatment.
"I hear that Suna is actually in a tough spot. Your Wind Daimyou is sending work away from the Sand Village and to other places." He then grinned, "I've actually received requests from him as well."
Pakura continued to ignore him as she began writing a reply message.
"You really should stop being so stubborn, Pakura-san. I could be a great patron to you and Suna if you would just agree to what I can offer you." Gato said. Then after seeing that he still couldn't get a reaction out of her, said one more thing, "That waste of money, Zabuza and his crew, haven't gotten anything done and I will start looking for a more guarantee of success elsewhere. I wouldn't back that man anymore, if I were you." He then turned and left the room.
Pakura closed her eyes and sighed. Her retrieval team will be here in just the next day. Her time here was about over. Even though she was irked by him, the annoyance that was just here had a point, though she had already came to her conclusion before the imp had squawked at her.
'I will give my aid to Zabuza-san for the last time. Whatever the outcome, it won't concern me.' Her thoughts then pondered something, 'They haven't seen me yet but should the Konoha nin find out I'm from Suna, it could cause some problems later, considering our villages' pact.'
Pakura rolled up her response and began to leave the room. 'There are ways, though...'
Asuma and Kakashi, who was now using a cane that Tazuna had on hand from a previous injury, met Naruto and Ino outside upon being alerted by Chouji who had seen them come back with the dead bodies of the men they had faced, alerted the Jounin Senseis.
Asuma inspected the bodies while Kakashi listened to the two blonds report as to what had occurred.
When they finished, he sighed as he closed his eye, "I'm sure I don't need to tell you two, that the person you met with who was collecting those herbs was probably working for Zabuza."
Ino nodded as did Naruto.
"This pretty much guarantees Zabuza's recovering." He then turned to Asuma who came back to them having thoroughly investigated the corpses. "Do we know who they were?"
Asuma nodded as he lit a cigarette. "The Demon Brothers, Gozu and Meizu. I recognize them from their entry in the Bingo Book." He looked to Naruto and Ino, "Well done, you two, for taking them on and beating them. How're you both doing?"
Ino was clutching her shoulder in thought, "I'm okay, I guess. I mean…" Her voice drifted off a bit as she contemplated that she had in fact killed someone but she didn't dwell on it for too much.
Naruto, similarly, gave it a thought and also had some regret of having to take a life, however he sighed. "They were trying hard to kill us so, so I'm glad Ino and I are okay."
Kakashi nodded, "This won't be the last time the two of you will doing this, so keep that in mind." He then looked at Asuma, "Now, going forward…"
Asuma nodded, "The two of you take a break for the time being. Tazuna-san is going to be gathering his workers and begin working on the bridge he's building tomorrow, so we'll resume our body guarding work soon."
Zabuza was now awake and he silently considered things as he listened to his tool, Haku, make a report on what had occurred as he had been incapacitated. He and his team have already incurred some losses, namely the Demon Brothers. That hurt, but was manageable with what Zabuza had in Haku's bloodline ability and his own talents.
Being arrogant as he was, he felt no worries, not even when Haku told him that Gato was losing faith in their promise to complete the job.
"It doesn't matter." He remarked, sitting up and testing out his injuries. "As long as we deliver and get what's owed to us, that's all that really matters."
Haku nodded in agreement.
He then looked around for a moment. "Is Pakura-san still with us?"
"She says her retrieval team is coming to get her tomorrow and that she'll help us one last time before she leaves." Haku said.
Zabuza sighed, "Looks like tomorrow is when we'll decide everything, then. Tell her, we'll strike in the morning."
Dinner came around at Tsunami's house and the Konoha contingent ate the delicious stew that she had provided. While her father discussed the planned schedule of the construction tomorrow, she turned to look at the end where her son, Inari sat quietly, not touching his food as he regarded everyone at the table but looked pointedly at one particular person.
When the group that her father hired, first arrived with their injured Sensei, her son told them that they were being stupid thinking they could take on Gato and mocked them for getting one of their own injured. While Tsunami reprimanded him for his comments, Naruto-san, the blond male of the Konoha shinobi, asked her son if he was fine with the way things were.
Inari's reply was: "No! Of course not! You never had a hard day in your life, I'll bet!"
Looking at Naruto-san, Tsunami recalled what he had said in return:
"Yes, I have. More than you could possibly know. So don't act all high and mighty."
Tsunami looked at both her son and Naruto in thought as she saw to the night's dinner.
As the morning rolled in, Team Seven and Team Ten got to work as they traveled with Tazuna to the site where he and his construction team were to start work on the bridge that everyone pegged their hopes and dreams on.
However, the Konoha teams were two people short.
Naruto cursed at himself as he had slept in, unintentionally, and, after dressing himself, made his way downstairs to the kitchen where he was surprised to see someone else who was still in the house.
"Ino? Why are you here?"
The platinum blond teen girl smirked at him, "Well, since someone refused to wake up, I was told to make sure he actually got up by a certain point; otherwise, I was allowed to do what ever I wanted to get said person up."
Naruto paled and he rushed to collect his things as she nodded in satisfaction.
Tsunami, seeing the last of the group getting ready to head out, gave each of them some fruit to take with them.
"Here you go, you two. Thank you both for looking after my fa-" She was stopped by some voices of a pair of men's voices coming close to the house.
"So, all we have to do is capture the Bridge Builder's Daughter and her brat?" Said one.
"Yeah, that's what Gato-dono said. But he didn't say anything about not touching the woman, though." Said the other, giving a lecherous chuckle.
Ino held a finger to her lips as Tsunami looked like she wanted to cry out in alarm at wbat she heard from the two abductors, who were close to arriving.
Naruto, in the meantime, was seething in anger at what he had heard and soon, took out the scroll he had made used on Zabuza and applied some chakra to it before he placed it at the entrance before arming himself with a kunai and waited.
The two thugs that arrived, armed with swords, stepped into the entrance without warning and before they could make a sound gasped in a panicked breath before falling into an unconscious heap on the floor.
Naruto and Ino dragged the men inside and after takign their weapons, bound both men together with shinobi wire. Once they were done, Naruto sighed.
"I wish Kakashi-Sensei had put the barrier back up after they had left, so these two couldn't have gotten in."
Ino shrugged, "He and Asuma-Sensei probably assumed you and I would have put it back up after we left to join them."
Naruto nodded but then sighed, "Yeah, speaking of which, should we leave Tsunami and Inari here unprotected?"
Ino sighed, "Worried your barrier might not be enough?"
Naruto nodded, "Seeing as how Gato-teme is making a move already, makes me think there might be more coming."
The Yamanaka teen girl nodded in understanding. "You might be right. I'll tell you what, I'll stay here while you meet up with the others."
Naruto nodded and then made a single Shadow Clone, he then turned to Ino again, "If something happens and you want us to come back immediately, tell this clone and it'll alert me once it's dispelled."
Ino nodded before turning to Tsunami who was still hiding in the kitchen.
"Let's get you and Inari upstairs, Tsunami-san."
As soon as Tazuna and the Konoha group arrived at the construction scene, trouble began.
The construction workers were knocked out on the bridge and then a rolling fog came in obscuring everything.
However, Asuma cast a wind jutsu that blew away the fog which then revealed three persons on the bridge: Zabuza, the fake Hunter Nin, and an unknown person hiding in a cloak that hid their face.
"Shikamaru, Sakura, guard the client!" Asuma shouted as Zabuza and his group sprung into action.
Zabuza, once again engaged into combat against Kakashi, while the fake Hunter Nin partner of his made a one-handed handsign before disappearing and reappeared between Sasuke and Chouji, engaging in a fight soon after. Asuma had to dodge as Zabuza's third participant sent those scorching balls of flames his way before turning tail and running away. Asuma made the decision and went after them.
An hour later, Naruto cursed as when he finally arrived at the location where everyone else were at, as things were already well underway.
Kakashi was fighting against Zabuza, Asuma was further away fighting against someone who was heavily disguised, and while two were busy protecting Tazuna, between them and Kakashi's fight, there was a strange array of mirror's surrounding an area.
Naruto immediately went up to Sakua and Shikamaru.
"What's been happening?"
Sakura, Shikamarua, and Tazuna all jumped having not sensed him and being on edge.
"Kakashi-Sensei and Asuma-Sensei are out there fighting and Chouji and Sasuke-kun are fighting with that fake Hunter Nin, who's probably a "Bloodline User", as he just put those mirrors around them." Sakura said nodding towards the scenes.
Shikamaru, then looked behind Naruto, "Where's Ino?" he asked.
Naruto told them of the visitors that came to the house and that she was standing guard.
Tazuna nodded, "You have my thanks for saving my family."
Naruto nodded back. He then looked at the mirrors that the Hunter Nin made and he then made a decision.
"I'm gonna go back up Sasuke and Chouji. I'll leave some Shadow Clones here to support you all, okay?" Seeing them nod, Naruto made the clones before creating a forth one that he made to run on ahead of him as he followed.
The clone then jumped at the mirror and Naruto detonated it causing the mirror to shatter and allow him to enter and see how the two boys were. However, upon entering, another mirror replaced the one he broke.
"Took...you...long enough…" Sasuke gasped.
Naruto winced as he saw his teammate was riddled with senbon needles but was barely managed to stay standing. Chouji...was lying on the ground completely covered in needles and bleeding heavily.
"Is he-?" Naruto was about to inquire as to if the Akamichi was still alive but was interrupted as a figure darted between the mirrors while showering him and Sasuke with more senbon needles.
Naruto cried out as he was now sporting a number in his legs and arms. Turning to his teammate, he watched as the Uchiha teen fell to the ground bleeding as much as Chouji.
Naruto looked on in horror as he called out to Sauske and then Chouji but got not reply back from either of them.
"Is this the first time you've watched someone you know die?" Asked a soft voice, which would have sounded familiar if Naruto was of the frame of mind to listen and think on it. However, the Uzumaki Teen's anger and despair were reaching feverish heights.
The fake Hunter Nin paused from going to another mirror to finish this fight, when he felt a ghastly, evil, chakra emerge from the blond haired boy whose appearance changed dramatically. The needles that had punctured him were popping out and his injuries healed at an alarming rate. That wasn't the most shocking to him. The boy's eyes became slit like a demon's, his canines became sharp, and it looked as though his strength had increased.
The fake Hunter Nin, Haku, grew alarmed and he quickly set about attacking this unknown danger and to continue to try and achieve their objective. However, he was in for a rude awakening. As soon as he left his mirror the changed Konoha Genin rushed at him and landed a devastating punch to his gut. Feeling the air come forced violently from his lungs, Haku was made a poweless punching bag as the boy continued his possessed assault on him.
Haku lost control of his jutsu and the mirrors shattered as they fell to the ground. Like the mirrors, Haku's Hunter Nin mask broke as well, which became a saving grace as Naruto seemed to snap out of his delirious rage as soon as he saw Haku's face.
"It...It was you?" He questioned as his thoughts went to the person he and Ino met who, while being the enemy, had actually given him something to consider when Haku asked if he had something precious worth fighting for.
Haku, despite the pain he was in, smiled sadly. "Yes." He answered.
As his features were returning to normal amidst his turmoil, Naruto was snapped out of his stupor as he heard Sakura shouting his name.
"Naruto, watch out!"
However, it came too late as Naruto couldn't react as three swirling balls of scorching flame assaulted him. One hit his arm, the other his leg, while the third missed his head by a thin margin. However, his horror at seeing his arm and leg scorched to the point where he nearly seen his bone before the red sinister chakra came to his desperate rescue caused him to shut down and he passed out just as Tazuna, Sakura, and Shikamaru rushed to his aid.
It was starting to reach nighttime. Ino watched the sun setting as her thoughts felt all over the place. Though, considering what they had faced since this morning, reaching the end of the day was a blessing.
Ino, Tsunami, and Inari were relieved to see everyone coming back after the tension of waiting to be attacked and not knowing how the others were. For Ino, the fact she never had to have to ask Naruto's clone to dispell itself and the fact absolutely nothing had happened after those two thugs came, felt like a let down. However, that changed when she saw the state Chouji, Sasuke, and...Naruto were in when they were carried in by their Senseis and Sakura and Tazuna.
While Chouji and Sasuke looked like bloody pincushions, Naruto was badly burned where some of the bone was exposed on his arm and leg as that nasty, red charkra, was desperately trying to heal the poor teen boy's injuries,
Hours later, Sasuke and Chouji had awakened and were bandaged heavily but had managed to scrape by. Naruto was still out and that chakra had managed to heal him to the point where he now had some serious scarring on his arm and leg but was also covered in angry red blisters. Ino had shuddered at the site of it.
She found out that after the three boys injuries, a series of things had happened. Kakashi had killed the fake Hunter Nin, Zabuza had died after he had killed Gato who had betrayed him when he arrived on the scene with hired mercenaries to kill all of them, (all of these men Zabuza also killed before successfully before he had slaughtered his client). Finally, the strange third person had escaped and whose whereabouts were currently an unknown.
Asuma had said he had been fighting a clone and the real person was the one who had attacked Naruto before disappearing entirely.
Right now, Ino sat by the boy's bed, peeling fruit to give to him to eat once he woke. Sakura and Shikamaru were currently attending to Sasuke and Chouji as well. Ino volunteered herself to help her fellow blond as she felt a great indescribable need to see him come back with her own eyes.
'So get back to us, you baka.' She thought as she watched him breath softly as his eyes were closed.
Hearing someone approaching the door of the room, Ino looked as Kakashi came in nodded to her. "How's he doing?" He asked her.
Ino shrugged, "Still out of it but at least his color's coming back."
Kakashi nodded.
Ino took a moment before she turned to the man, "Kakashi-Sensei, what is this weird chakra that seems to heal him?"
Kakashi closed his eye, "I'm sorry but I can't tell you. Naruto is the only one who can tell you anything about it."
Ino sighed, "Will he?"
Kakashi shrugged, "If you're patient with him, he might. Just don't try to force him to."
Ino nodded.
The two of them heard some mumbling and then Ino noticed Naruto's mouth was moving, though his eyes were still closed.
"Naruto! Naruto can you hear me?" She asked as she drew near.
Naruto voice drifted in and out as he spoke deliriously, "…..Your...Vanilla and Honey...smells...nice…"
Ino's face erupted into a deep blush, knowing what he was referring to, and was tempted to throttle him as Kakashi sighed, "He's still out of it. Well, continue keeping an eye on him, Ino-san. I'll check back later." As soon as he left, Ino slumped back into her seat grumbling as her blush still remain.
However, Naruto's first outburst seemed to be the key as his eyelids shifted as he now finally opened his eyes.
Ino watched as he looked around before he looked at her, "Ino?"
Ino sighed in relief before putting a hand on his and smiled warmly, "Welcome back, you idiot."
To be continued...
A/N II: And that is chapter four, ladies and gentlemen. I'm going to probably make an aftermath chapter for chapter five before delving into the Chuunin Exams but, otherwise, I've done all I wanted to do with the Wave Arc.
Until the next update,
Q-n-P