Hi, everyone! Chapter 5 is here and we get to see some of what Ino was doing when Naruto left the Hokage Tower. Enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the Naruto characters, but this story is mine.

Ino:

I was standing completely still, processing what I had learned about Naruto and the nine-tails when Naruto ran out of the room. I blinked.

"We should go after him," I said, shaking my head to leave my thoughts. I started towards the door, but Kakashi grabbed my wrist.

"Let him go. He needs to let off some steam. Take the day off. We'll see him tomorrow."

I nodded, and then turned to Sasuke-kun. He took the news well.

"Sasuke-kun, do you want to spar with me?" I asked.

He didn't even glance at me.

I sighed. What am I going to do today? There's no one to spar with - or no one who wants to spar and I can't go on missions because we don't have the full squad. I guess I'll just go home.

I waved to my remaining two team members and left.

Minutes later, when I walked through the door of my family's flower shop, I heard my mother yell:

"Ino?"

When she saw me she started talking, "Oh, good, it's you. I need someone to work at the counter while I go to the market. Your father is already working at T & I today."

At the last comment I had to do my best not to laugh; the image of my father selling flowers and greeting customers was hilarious. It even distracted me enough for my mother to walk out the door before I could object. I suppose I'm going to be here for a while.

Ten minutes later, no one had walked in and I was bored. On top of that, my thoughts had turned to the fact that I didn't have a sensei who really taught me anything. Lazy old Kakashi. Why does Sasuke get special treatment? We're all on his team. Sure he has glowing eyes and no clan, but Naruto also has no clan, as far as I know. And my father never wants to teach me any new jutsu.

"Hello." a voice startled me from my thoughts. I turned around to see Haku behind me, standing in the doorway to the back of the shop. Honestly, I had forgotten about him living here. For the second time, too.

"What do you want?" I winced; that sounded ruder than I wanted it to.

He didn't seem fazed. "Do you know a spot where I can pick these herbs?"

Haku was holding out a list. I took it and scanned over the names.

"Why?" I asked suspiciously. Many of the plants were commonly used in poisons, and, unlike Naruto, I still held a slight grudge against Haku for fighting on Zabuza's side and hurting my teammates. I don't believe that someone can switch sides just like that.

"To make poison. I was thinking about adding it to my senbon." At least he's straightforward about it.

"Fine," I said. My mom would not be happy if I refused and I was bored, anyways.

I walked out of the door, not waiting to see if Haku followed me.

With my mom running the flower shop, she had made sure that I could identify plants and knew where to find them, as well. It happened that there was an area in the Nara forest where all kinds of plants grew - that is, if they were native to fire country. And because of Ino-Shika-Cho, the Yamanakas were usually allowed to gather herbs there.

I hoped that they wouldn't object to me. I wasn't blind; I knew that many people were upset about the new team arrangements. It would be nice if they realized that none of this was my fault and that I do not make important decisions like those.

There was silence for the entire trip, except for me greeting a few people that bought flowers regularly. Haku trailed behind me. When we reached the Nara compound, I made a beeline for the main compound.

I knocked on the door a few times before it opened to reveal the smiling face of Shikamaru's mother.

"Ino! How nice to see you!"

"Hi, Mrs. Nara!"

"Who is this?" she asked me, looking at Haku.

I thought about how I wanted to answer for a second.

"He's a friend of mine," is what I settled on.

Haku gave his most charming smile and said, "Hello. I'm Haku. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"I'm Shikamaru's mother."

"Mrs. Nara, Haku and I came to pick some herbs from the forest. Is that alright with you?"

"Of course, dear. I'm sure you know where to find everything. Oh, and Shika is on the porch playing Shogi, if you would like to say hi," she replied.

"Thank you," Haku and I said in unison.

"You're welcome," she said. "Feel free to come visit whenever you have time."

With promises to see her again soon, the two of us left the front door and circled around to the back of the house. I paused to greet Shikamaru, who was playing that boring board game with a bearded man. The bearded man was smoking, which just made me want to get on with the purpose of our mission instead of making small talk.

I politely ended our conversation and walked into the forest with Haku in tow. There wasn't a path, but I used unusual tree shapes to find one of the clearings I was looking for. I had been to this particular place multiple times because my mother liked to drag me along with her for chores and call it "educational" for me.

I made a sarcastic "ta-dah" gesture at the plants, but Haku ignored me.

"What is it that you're trying to make?" I asked him, irritated.

"Paralysis poisons. Ones I can administer through food or drink and not senbon."

"Well, you're looking at the wrong plants, then!"

At that, he looked up at me. "What do you mean? These ones match the description in the poisons book."

I am so going to get back at him. Wait a minute… has Naruto started to rub off on me? This feels like the type of prank he would pull. Eh, it's fine. Haku deserves it. I'm willing to stoop to Naruto's maturity level this one time.

Realizing that I had been silent for a little too long, I answered Haku:

"Oh, they don't keep the good paralytic poisons in library books where anyone can reach them. I happen to know that that plant," - I pointed to a plain-looking brown mushroom - "works a lot better in paralytic poisons." That's complete bullshit. I have no idea what kind of mushroom that is, or what it does.

"Oh, okay."

Damn. He's way too gullible. Well, it's not my problem.

Haku scooped up a few mushrooms, carefully not touching them with his skin. He put them in a little bag and then collected the rest of the ingredients he had read about.

"Are you ready to go?" I asked innocently.

"Yep!" He seemed to be excited about getting to make a poison.

The walk back to the shop was nice. Now that I knew my revenge was already in place, I could get over the fact that he used to be my enemy. We talked about all sorts of random things, especially me. When I'm angry, I don't talk nearly as much, but I was no longer in a foul mood. It was like someone flipped a switch.

I pushed open the shop door and watched my mother turn towards me with a growing sense of dread.

"Ino Yamanaka! I had to go shopping for a short while and you couldn't even stay in the shop!"

"Short while?" I scoffed under my breath. Both her and I know that she has to greet every person she sees. It takes her forever to shop.

"Would you care to repeat that?" she asked me dangerously.

"Wait, Mom - !"

"I asked her to help me gather herbs in the Nara compound and she graciously agreed," Haku interrupted smoothly.

I shot him a grateful look. I had been reluctant to go with him from the beginning, but I was fine with him ignoring that in favor of saving me. My mother immediately calmed down and began questioning me about how Shikamaru's mother was doing.

Haku left to find the instructions for brewing and I had told my mother that I would work at the counter and in the shop for the next few hours to make up for my ditching. Better safe than sorry, I guess.

"INO!"

I flinched and looked up from watering my flowers. Why did that idiot have to be so loud? My eardrums were close to shattering, and if flowers had ears, I'm sure they would have wilted.

"Ino," Naruto panted, catching his breath. "I've got a question."

"Sorry, I can't hear," I retorted angrily. "Your screeching before deafened me."

"Sorry." (He didn't sound sorry). "Anyway, do you think I'm a monster?"

I froze. It was like I'd been transported back to his subconscious, staring into the eyes of that– that thing. It was overflowing with bloodlust, enough to make me fall over. It walked closer, and if those bars hadn't been there, it would have killed me. That beast, that was inside Naruto.

But it wasn't him. And it wasn't his fault that he contained that thing.

"No," I said.

"Ok, thank you! Bye!" And he turned around and left.

I stood still for a moment, recovering from his abrupt departure. At least he doesn't look upset anymore. I finished watering the plants, and then spent several hours greeting and helping customers. I made small talk with them and listened well when they told me about drama or a new couple.

The next few days dragged by. I was training with my team, but I hadn't found someone to train me specifically yet. I was also waiting impatiently for Haku to try out whatever poison he had made.

When I got to my team's meet-up spot - a bridge - all three of the other members of Team 7 were already there. Naruto, Sasuke-kun, and I had learned to completely disregard the original meeting times in favor of arriving a few hours late due to Kakashi's eccentric habit. Sometimes, we even arrived later than him which earned us a talk about responsibility.

None of us listened to that lecture, for obvious reasons. Anyways, it's not like we were late when the Hokage summoned us or anything. It's reserved for annoying our sensei.

As I walked up, Naruto greeted me with a cheery "Hi, Ino!" and Sasuke-kun nodded at me.

"We have a mission!" Naruto announced loudly.

I looked over to Kakashi for confirmation and saw a "this-was-a-mistake" expression on his face. Well, his single visible eye looked tired. If he wasn't going to show us his face, I would just imagine random features and expressions. And also possibly tell Sasuke-kun and Naruto about them, too. Just for laughs.

"Before I tell y'all the mission details, you should know that this mission will be completed with the help of Haku," Kakashi paused when Naruto jumped up and down, yelling, and I quietly groaned.

"This temporary addition to our team was approved for many reasons, many of which lead back to Haku's skills and things that you little genin -" Sasuke-kun scoffed. "- don't have to worry about. This also means that we are going on a slightly higher ranked mission than usual, a C-rank."

There were more cheers from Naruto at that.

"It is an escort mission for some merchants that are traveling through areas that have many bandits and thieves. We're taking them to a small village next to Earth."

That got Naruto to shut up…for all of five seconds.

"But…that's booooring. I thought we were going to get something cool and action-packed."

"I second that," I said, looking pointedly at Sasuke-kun. He refused to say anything to help our case.

"I could always tell the Hokage that it would be best for Haku to complete this mission with another group, and then go ask the mission desk for chores," the silver-haired man suggested - somewhat smugly, in my opinion.

I froze. This is exactly what I want. Well, not exactly, but I'll do a few chores to get out of a mission with Haku.

"Fine by me," I said casually.

"Traitor!" Naruto yelled before turning to Kakashi. "I promise I'll stop complaining… for now," he added under his breath.

"Pack up your things and meet me at the gates in thirty minutes. Ino, get Haku and explain the mission to him. I expect to see you both at the gates, and on time."

"...like you're ever on time," I muttered.

"Hmm?"

Damn him and his enhanced hearing!

"Nothing," I replied and then ran home.

"Haku! HAKU!" I yelled as I opened the door.

"What?" I heard him ask calmly.

I looked up and saw him at the counter, observing some plants.

"You have a mission with my team. It's an escort mission." I decided to save my questions for him for later, when Kakashi and a bunch of clients weren't timing me.

"Why am I going? I have no experience in this area."

"I don't know," I lied. "I don't understand how the Hokage thinks most of the time."

"Okay…"

"So, hurry up and get packed! We have to be there in half an hour."

"Ino, that's way longer than you need to pack. I already have my things in a bag."

"Well, I also have to make myself look presentable to the clients. Look at me! I look terrible."

"No… you look like you normally do."

I was already up the stairs. "I'll be back down in a bit! I just have to fix my hair! Be ready by the time I'm done!"

I threw everything I needed into the mission pack haphazardly before sitting in front of the mirror and making sure that my hair was perfect. Fifteen minutes later - I looked for my extra bandages for a while - I was ready to go, and with nice hair this time. Haku was waiting outside and we walked to the gates. Sasuke-kun was already there and looked bored. Naruto came bouncing up to us soon after. The clients had yet to arrive and Kakashi was predictably later.

"Haku!" Naruto yelled annoyingly.

He is way too close to us to yell that loud. Haku didn't protest at all, despite Naruto slinging an arm over his shoulder and rambling about how cool the mission was going to be. He only stopped when the clients came up with Kakashi.

"Ino briefed you on the mission, correct, Haku?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes, sir. It's an escort mission."

"Great! Let's get going, kids," our jonin sensei said with too much cheer in his voice.

Naruto yelled what sounded like a war cry and tried to leap into the trees.

Kakashi grabbed him by his collar and whispered to him: "Naruto, we're walking. Escort mission, remember?"

Naruto nodded and went to walk with Haku. Sasuke-kun made a sound that I swore sounded like a laugh. The clients, who were holding different sizes of boxes and bags, were conversing with each other, and didn't notice anything unusual.

Kakashi nudged me with his elbow and said, "Ino, since you don't appear to be doing anything right now, how about you go ask our clients if they need help with their boxes?"

I walked over and ended up carrying three boxes. I didn't want to move too far away from the clients while holding their possessions, so I joined the conversation and asked a few questions about the bandits.

"Do you know if they are ninja?" I questioned

"We don't really know. Wouldn't Earth Country get rid of them if they were?" a man wearing a green shirt asked.

"Not if they're not a problem for Earth ninja." Kakashi said next to me, making me jump.

"What do you mean?"

"Ninja villages don't usually bother with the smaller surrounding towns and villages. If the problem isn't directly bothering the Hidden Stone Village, they wouldn't waste manpower on it. That village in particular is known for being a great hide-out for missing-nin."

I frowned a little.

"For this mission's rank, though, I wouldn't expect the ninja to be above chunin, if there are any ninja at all," Kakashi said.

A while later, I wandered over to where Haku and Naruto were walking to listen in on their conversation. Haku was explaining the different spots he aimed and what they did to his target when hit with his senbon. It was pretty interesting, especially with Naruto on Haku's other side inventing situations where each pressure point could be used to win a fight.

Sasuke-kun was ahead of us, talking quietly to Kakashi. The merchants were behind them, but in front of us for their protection.

As the sun was beginning to set, we stopped to sleep and set up camp. This took longer than it should've because Kakashi assigned himself to guard duty, Naruto and Sasuke-kun to put out the sleeping bags, and Haku and I to get water.

Haku and I's part went smoothly - even though he couldn't just use his ice jutsu and melt it for water. It would've taken a strong fire jutsu to melt it that I'm not sure Sasuke-kun was capable of. We heard the noise before we saw the fire.

"Honestly, how are they shinobi and still make that much noise?" I asked rhetorically, as we entered the small clearing to see Sasuke-kun and Naruto bickering.

Haku wisely kept his mouth shut. I was considering going over to grab a sleeping bag and then hitting them both on the head with it, but, before I could, Haku walked over. He completely ignored them and instead began to unroll the neglected sleeping bags around the fire. When he had finished adding more wood to the fire and getting the food cooking, he tapped Naruto on the shoulder.

Naruto turned towards him, his face red from all of the shouting, and said:

"Haku, tell him -" He abruptly stopped as he saw everything already done and the merchants talking near the fire.

A smile appeared on his face.

"Thanks, Haku! You're the best!"

Sasuke-kun snorted and I caught something about "not needing any help" and "if Naruto hadn't…".

Haku seemed to be at a loss as to how he was supposed to respond to Naruto, but it didn't matter; Naruto had already walked over to the fire and sat down. He pulled instant ramen out of his travel pack and started to boil some water. (How did he sneak that past Kakashi? Kakashi had taken to doing a quick search of our bags before we left to make sure we had everything we needed and didn't have anything unnecessary.)

Everyone except Kakashi came to the fire for dinner, including Sasuke-kun, who sat as far away as he could without leaving the warmth of the fire.

We had a relaxed dinner; no one was on high alert because we were still in Fire Country. Kakashi told us to go to bed and nearly had to drag Naruto away from a merchant because he wanted to tell the man "more tales of my awesomeness!" When he quieted down, I fell asleep quickly, confident in my team's ability to do well on our first official C-rank.

Hopefully, I'll have the next chapter out sooner than this one. Bye.