This might be the most significant—not to mention the longest—chapter thus far... discounting the latest that is. If you want to see why, you know where to go. Now that the shameless plug is through, what did you guys think?

Did you like Kurama's reveal? Naruto's reaction? Go wild in the comments (within reason! ^^) because nothing would make me happier.

As always, if you want to read up to nine chapters ahead, head over to the Patréon [/eternalyujin]. You can find my discord server here: jzkdR72jTR

Note: Everything on there will be public eventually.

Chapter 3.3 [26]

"Teams 7, 8, and 10… disperse!"

Sakura took one sweeping look at the different teams before they sprinted into the forest. The jonin had limited their options to a specific section of the forest to the memorial stone's right. She could see Choji and Naruto leaping after Hinata in the distance and when she searched around them, their hunters were nowhere to be seen but Team 7 continued straight ahead.

Team 8 could have been right above them or chasing Team 10, but there was nothing they could do about it. Their target was Sasuke, the strongest member of their team—so putting some distance between him and them was a must.

Sasuke ran ahead of herself and Shino, his pace slower than normal. It needed to be if he wanted to last for the entire exercise. With his chakra restrained by the prisoner seal stuck to his back, he couldn't use it to traverse the treetops, forcing them to travel along the ground. They were the ones with the biggest disadvantage out of everyone—Sakura knew that.

Team 8 was going to come after them first and avoid Team 10. The question wasn't whether they would but how long they had before Team 8 arrived. She chewed on her thumb while running behind Sasuke. It wouldn't matter how far they ran, Team 8 didn't have their chakra bound.

She blinked through the rays of sunlight spilling through the forest, drawing her gaze to where the sun met the horizon in a resplendent explosion of orange and red and then lower to the tall shadows dancing along the ground.

"Um… guys?" she called out.

Shino tilted his head to her and Sasuke grunted, doing the same.

"We can't stay in the forest," she said, gesturing at the shadows surrounding them. "Shikamaru's hijutsu are going to be at their strongest when he faces us."

They took her words in silence. Sakura kept her eyes on the two of them despite the urge to look away while she waited for a reply.

"Indeed," said Shino. "Sasuke is also a liability right now."

Sakura's stomach dropped.

Sasuke folded his arms, his dark eyes flickering like embers—but he didn't refute Shino's words. Sighing, he looked at her instead. "You've stated the obvious, Sakura. What's your plan?"

"I think…" She looked away for a split second, fidgeting with her hair. "I think that we should move to the river. It won't eliminate all the shadows, but it's less of a risk than fighting here."

"Why fight at all?" asked Shino.

She shook her head. "We shouldn't fight them if we have the choice, but in case we do, the environment should suit us more than them. If we fight them, we'll lose."

"Because I'm what?" asked Sasuke, the heat returning to his eyes. "Helpless?"

"N-No, that's not what I said!" Sakura waved her hands in front of her face.

"Yes—you are helpless by the very definition of the word, Sasuke. You cannot spearhead the battle because of the prisoner seal," said Shino. "That role now falls to Sakura and I."

Sasuke considered them, his offence retreating in the face of curiosity—as if he hadn't considered that they could do it.

"Our goal is to protect you, not subduing Team 8," said Sakura. "If we have to fight them we will—and when that happens, we'll need your shurikenjutsu. Maybe Kakashi-sensei will give us a good mission if we win the exercise."

His lips tugged down though he wasn't frowning. "You said something about a river?"

"I did!" Sakura beamed at him. "If we keep going northwest, we'll come out onto its banks."

"And then?"

"We continue moving," said Shino. "I've sent a small number of my insects back for reconnaissance purposes. So long as they are not discovered, we should have a steady stream of information on their whereabouts. At the very least, we won't be caught by surprise."

"That's perfect, Shino," said Sakura. "We might not have to fight them at all, right, Sasuke?"

Training with Kakashi-sensei in the morning had made the physical gap between them and Sasuke painfully obvious. It hurt to admit it, but Sasuke ignored their input, choosing to do what he wanted and expecting them to follow. It wasn't like his decisions landed them in trouble, but it made Sakura feel ignored and unimportant—so, seeing Sasuke listening to her was a nice change of pace.

He cleared his throat and started running with renewed purpose; he angled his body to the left, making Sakura smile.

Kurenai frowned at the memorial stone, tracing her finger over her father's name but before her mind could sink any further, she pulled back both mentally and physically. Behind her, Asuma leaned underneath the shade of a tree, leisurely smoking a cigarette. Above him sat Kakashi, reclining on one of the thicker branches, chortling to himself.

"Do you have to read that in public?" asked Kurenai.

Kakashi yawned. "Civilians are barred access from the training grounds, ergo: not a public space."

"You know what I mean."

"Reading them in your presence?" Asuma suggested.

"No." Kurenai began to frown, sensing the by-play between the two. "I meant reading… erotica outside the privacy of your own home."

"Ooh, erotica," whispered Kakashi, leaning down towards Asuma while cupping a hand over his mouth. "That one's a dirty word."

Asuma chuckled. "Cut her some slack. She gets that enough from Anko."

"That's another thing," said Kakashi, his single grey glimmering with unabashed amusement. "How do you regularly hang out with the most provocative, sexually liberal kunoichi in the village, but blush whenever anyone throws out innuendo."

Asuma stifled his laughter. "And whenever she says something that little kiddies shouldn't be hearing, she starts looking about as if the ANBU's onto her."

The two men snickered at her expense and she huffed, unwilling to feed their relentless teasing. It all started after Gai treated the three of them to a meal following the genin draft meeting. Kurenai was expecting the two to be polite at best, but once they found a common goal in making fun of her right-mindedness, it was curtains for her.

So, she waited until they finished laughing to change the topic. "Don't take this the wrong way, Kakashi, but I'm surprised you didn't fail this batch."

"So am I," he replied. "But they show promise. Sakura… has a lot of room to grow, but her chakra control is second to none. While Shino and Sasuke aren't the most vocal of people, their ability speaks for itself and Sakura's willing to do almost anything Sasuke says, so their teamwork isn't half bad."

"I thought my old man forced them onto you," said Asuma.

"He did. He's been forcing brats onto me for years," Kakashi replied. "I want to go back to the ANBU but his condition is that at least one of my students makes jonin to replace the loss."

"And since you have the Sharingan and can teach him the most, Sasuke Uchiha is your ticket back," said Kurenai.

"Exactly."

There was something in Kakashi's response that didn't sell the reasoning to her, but she let it go—because in the end, it wasn't her business.

"I feel sorry for all the brats you flunked before," said Asuma as he finished the last of his cigarette. "We all know the Genin Corps has nothing on receiving consistent training from a jonin. It'll take them double the time to become chunin."

Kakashi grunted. "Trust me, they weren't fit to be shinobi and it's not like they all went to the Genin Corps. They repeated the Academy's final year first—the Genin Corps was for the ones who failed the genin test a second time."

"What, you're telling me you flunking them was a good thing?"

"Yes, actually." Kakashi hopped down from the tree and pulled out a notebook from the pouch at his back. "I've kept a list of every single team Lord Third has thrown at me. Most of them passed their next genin tests with flying colours and then around a quarter became chunin within two years—a couple have even become tokubetsu jonin."

"Look at that," Kurenai put her hands on her hips and smirked at Asuma, "even Kakashi is more responsible than you."

"...I don't know what you're talking about," he muttered, looking away.

"Please," She grinned, tasting blood in the water, and stepped closer to him, "tell us how your genin didn't get a test."

"Really?" asked Kakashi, sounding vaguely impressed. "You passed them right off the bat?"

"In my defence, I've been training Naruto for years."

"And the other two?" Suddenly, he jumped back and clutched the sides of his face in horror. "...No. Don't tell me you're going to come out and reveal you've been training your genin team years before us."

Kurenai laughed.

"No, just Naruto, and to be honest, I didn't think they needed a test," said Asuma, a nostalgic look in his eye. "With a bond like that, I won't have to worry and their capabilities speak for themselves."

Kakashi did his strange eye smile thing and Kurenai hid her satisfaction behind a disappointed shake of her head and an off-hand remark.

Truth be told, she was glad that Asuma had found meaning in something after his time out of the village. Not to mention it helped knock off the last vestiges of immaturity off of him—though the beard helped a lot with that.

…Of course, he ruined the moment the minute he opened his mouth.

"Bets, anyone?"

She huffed and folded her arms.

"I'm in," said Kakashi. "What are we betting on?"

"Who's going to win the training exercise, of course. Who are you betting on, Kakashi? My lot?"

He stroked his chin. "That's a tough one. Sasuke is by far the strongest member of Team 7 but right now, he's little more than a skilled civilian. We didn't say Team 10 were to be treated by Team 7 as hostile shinobi in our instructions, so their best move would have been to link up with them. Oh well, that will be my first lesson for them after this is over. Don't forget to look underneath the underneath."

"My team should have thought of that as well. Five and a half against three is good odds no matter how you cut it, especially since no one on my team has their chakra sealed and, no offence Kurenai, they'll win a pitched three vs. three against your kids."

Kurenai smiled. "Hinata Hyuuga has no clue that she's a target, though. Why did you pick her?"

"Naruto tends to put a lot onto himself and that's true both in life and in battle. Whether he's the target won't matter because he's fighting under the assumption that he is. Meanwhile, Choji's role won't change regardless of him being the target." Asuma began to smile. "No, it's Hinata who'll learn the most from being a target."

"How about you, Kakashi?" asked Kurenai.

His mask stretched over his face as he yawned. "Shino's good, but not enough to carry an entire team on his back and Sakura's no frontline fighter. Their teamwork is alright, but it needs a lot of work. Essentially, it boils down to doing whatever Sasuke says and backing him up. Sasuke is literally Team 7's greatest strength. I need Shino and Sakura to appreciate their abilities and more importantly, I need Sasuke to respect them."

She couldn't help but smile at their reasoning. The two of them cared a lot about their students and that was easy to forget amongst their aversion to hard work. That said, Kurenai was confident in her team's ability to successfully capture both targets and she'd make that known.

"Since direct confrontation is a hunting squad's natural weakness, I think my team will have the most trouble with Team 10. Luckily, they don't have to beat Team 10." Kurenai looked at Kakashi. "If I'm right, Team 7 will be the first to go, swiftly followed by your team, Asuma."

"Is that you throwing your bet in?" asked Asuma.

Kurenai rolled her eyes. "Oh, alright—consider that me putting my money with Team 8. Kakashi?"

"Naturally, I'm going with my cute genin," replied the silver-haired man. "How much are we betting?"

Asuma scratched at his beard. "How about 2,500 ryo? It's enough for a decent meal—or some drinks, I guess. Just to be clear, winning means evading capture, right?"

She nodded.

"Then, if my team evades capture but Kakashi's doesn't, he pays the both of us 2,500 ryo?"

"He would," she replied.

The masked jonin raised his hands and gasped. "Woah, why me?"

"You just admitted that your team is screwed six ways to Sunday without Sasuke Uchiha," said Asuma.

Kurenai giggled. "Don't worry, Kakashi. There's plenty of time to fix your team's power balance. For now, just accept the hit to your wallet because it's not like you're running short on money. Anyway, what were you saying, Asuma?"

"I'm going with Team 10 but I've got some specifics: my team evades capture but Kakashi's doesn't."

She raised an eyebrow and folded her arms. "...You know that won't net you any extra money, right?"

"Too late." Kakashi shook Asuma's hand immediately, sealing the deal. "It's the principle of the thing. Just imagine if the opposite happens, Kurenai."

"And if it doesn't?"

This time, it was Asuma who replied, "Think of it like a sub-bet between Kakashi and I. So, what are you offering me if I win? It can't be money since our evil overlord has spoken."

Kurenai sighed, resigning herself to the two of them doing whatever the hell they wanted.

"Hmm…" He paced through the grass, moving in and out of the shade. "One unbound favour."

Asuma's stare was intense. "Favours are serious things, Kakashi. I've got no say where or when you might call it in."

"Can't you just trust me?" asked Kakashi.

"No," said Asuma with a snort. "For all I know you might ask me to grab a limited edition of the Icha Icha series. There are a lot of things I'm willing to do but I have my limits."

"Okay, fine." Kakashi pulled out his notebook and handed it to Asuma. "Jot down your terms so my favour won't break them. Do we have a deal?" Asuma returned the notebook after a few minutes and they shook hands.

"I guess so."

"Here's what I want you to do."

He didn't like the tone in the lazy bastard's voice, but he listened anyway.

Shikamaru might've been lazy, but he was a pretty smart guy when he wanted to be. Kiba wouldn't lose much by listening to him and if he didn't like what he heard, doing his own thing was always an option. Besides, his team needed him. Their fancy jutsu were useful on a hunting team, but his ability to get stuff done was more important when it came down to it.

Kiba smirked to himself; he could do that and then some. "I'm all ears."

They kneeled around an overgrowth beside the memorial stone where the jonin had ordered the start of the exercise.

"Last I checked, the range on Hinata's Byakugan is about fifty metres, give or take, but it might be more than that, so make sure to stay out of its range."

"Do you still have their scent?" asked Ino.

"Who d'ya think I am?" Kiba rolled his eyes. "Of course, I've got their scents."

She frowned. "Well, how was I supposed to know? It's not like I keep up to date on your weird—"

"Hey." Shikamaru snapped his fingers. "We don't have time for this. Knowing Naruto, he's going to erase their scents pretty quickly if you don't go now."

Kiba's smirk nearly slipped off his face. His other senses were good and following tracks was second nature to him, but he relied on his sense of smell more than he liked to admit. Akamaru yipped excitedly from on top of his head and he smiled. "That's right, Akamaru. We'll get to 'em before they can do that."

He clambered up a tree trunk, using some chakra alongside his stronger-than-average nails to quickly ascend its length.

"Kiba!"

Pausing before he could take off, Kiba looked down at his teammates.

"Remember what I told you," said Shikamaru, a serious light to his usually uncaring brown eyes. "Don't go wild and try to take them out. You'll… what I'm trying to say is that we don't need you to subdue them. Track them, see if you can figure out their plans and stuff."

"Yeah, yeah, go on." He waved his hand lazily but stopped for a moment to give them a confident thumbs up. "Go wrap this thing up. Kurenai-sensei said she'll treat us to something good if we win."

Ino and Shikamaru returned his gesture and darted out of the shrub, taking to the treetops and following Team 7's quickly cooling trail. Kiba swaddled Akamaru into the front of his tracksuit, zipping it up about halfway.

"Alright, boy." He perched on his hands and feet, mixing his chakra. "Here we go."

Tracking a target in a forest was difficult for most people, but it was second nature for a natural-born tracker like Kiba. The dense foliage and uneven terrain was just another playground for him to explore. He breathed in deeply, drawing the forest's myriad scents, filtering out the familiar ones until he pinpointed Naruto's unique smell.

His scent was faint, masked by the damp earth and the heavy canopy above, but it was there, a thread for him to follow—the faint but distinctive blend of miso broth and soy sauce, mixed with the sweat from long hours of work. It was an unusual combination, but it made Naruto easier to track, even in the forest's complex environment.

The smell of freshly cooked noodles and the occasional hint of garlic and ginger were embedded in his clothing, mixing with his body's natural musk and allowing Kiba to follow Naruto with confidence. He sprang from branch to branch with Akamaru snug against his chest.

His ninja hound's ears twitched, picking up subtle sounds Kiba might've missed, but together, they were an unbeatable tracking duo. His strong nails, enhanced by chakra, dug into the bark of the trees, providing an extra grip as he swung and leapt effortlessly.

Kiba paused, crouching low to the ground as they reached a small clearing. He closed his eyes and focused on his sense of smell. The air currents carried Naruto's scent, faint but undeniable, mixed in with two others that he found equally familiar.

They really thought they could hide from him.

"Akamaru, let's move," he whispered and darted forward, weaving through the trees with silent grace.

He picked up the sound of distant footsteps and shifted his path, angling his path to avoid them. Naruto was clever, always unpredictable, but Shikamaru had known him long enough to anticipate his tricks. He knew Naruto would try to throw off their scent and soon enough, his ears picked up the sounds of a nearby stream.

"I've finally gotcha," he murmured, his movements swift but cautious.

The forest was alive with the sounds of birds and small animals. Kiba's senses filtered through the noise, focusing on the sounds of his quarry. Naruto was going to cross a stream to lose his scent so Kiba adjusted his path, moving parallel to the water and using the trees as cover.

The sudden silence around him made his instincts prickle. He listened intently, twitching at a faint rustling above, but before he could react, a massive shadow loomed overhead.

He'd realised he was being ambushed all too late.

With a thunderous roar, Choji descended from the treetops, his right arm expanded by the Multi-Size Jutsu. He crashed down like a living boulder, cratering the ground. Kiba dived to the side, narrowly avoiding being crushed, but the force of Choji's landing sent shockwaves through the earth that threw him off balance.

"I didn't get him!" Choji bellowed, his voice echoing through the trees.

Kiba rolled and sprang to his feet, his eyes wide with shock. "You're pretty fast!" he shouted, adrenaline pumping through his veins.

Choji didn't give him a chance to recover. With surprising agility, he swung a massive arm, aiming to sweep Kiba off his feet with a growl. "Are you calling me fat, dog breath?"

"That's right, tubby." Kiba jumped back, but the sheer force of the wind from Choji's strike almost knocked him over. "Glad you figured it out."

The Akimichi bull-rushed him, his right arm once again ballooning in size. Faint blue wisps coated the limb and Kiba realised that being anywhere near it was a bad idea.

"This isn't good," Kiba muttered, his mind racing. He needed to fall back and come up with a new strategy. Akamaru barked urgently from within his windbreaker, sensing danger. Kiba put as much distance between them as possible, throwing two smoke bombs at Choji and tossing another behind him.

With the added cover, he had the advantage for now.

"He's three metres to your right, Choji," came Hinata's voice from somewhere above.

He cursed, blitzing through his hand seals with a greater sense of urgency. They were meant to be the hunting team yet here he was, being hunted by his own quarry. Finishing his hand seals with determined finality, he fed Akamaru a food pill and popped another into his mouth.

The consequences would suck but he needed every advantage he could get.

His eyes rolled into the back of his head at the pleasant strength surging through his body. Kiba clenched his hands into fists, mindful of his longer claws and smirked at the visible chakra trails wafting off his body. Akamaru growled from beside him in human form, vibrating with bloodthirsty tension.

They roared in unison, launching themselves into twin spinning drills, aiming directly for Choji, who braced himself for impact. Hinata gave an alarmed cry but it was too late—she'd never make it in time.

Just as they were about to make contact, a powerful gust slammed into them. It wasn't enough to stop the jutsu, but it knocked Kiba off course. They crashed to the ground, rolling to a stop. Akamaru returned to his dog form, knocked out cold. Kiba was in a slightly better state; he shook his head and stumbled to his feet.

Another gust of wind surged forward, kicking up debris and forcing Kiba to shield his eyes. He barely had time to react as Naruto descended from the treetops.

"Fucking hell!" Kiba growled.

He jumped to the side, avoiding another blast of wind, but Naruto was relentless. He leaned back, clapping his hands together to gather a vast amount of chakra, and threw his upper body forward, spewing an even more powerful gust out of his mouth.

It ripped through the forest, tearing at the ground, and sent Kiba crashing into a tree. He was seeing stars and by the time he managed to react, Choji was already closing in, using two massive arms to barrel through the forest. He swung one enlarged arm with incredible force, aiming to finish him off.

Kiba struggled to his feet but his entire body screamed in protest. He knew he couldn't afford to take another hit, especially from Choji, so he slipped his fingers into the pouch at his back and removed two smoke bombs.

"Choji, duck!" Naruto's blue eyes were alight with fierce determination.

Reacting a second too late, Kiba grunted as a concentrated blast of wind landed square on his chest. He sailed across the ground, each collision rattling his very bones until his efforts to stop sent him tumbling. He tried to push himself up, but his limbs weren't responding.

Akamaru was barking desperately, but the sound was faded, muffled by the ringing in his ears.

"Sorry, Kiba," said Naruto, his voice echoing in the haze. "We don't have any time to waste here."

Choji loomed over him, his shadow casting a dark silhouette. Kiba's mind and heart raced but his body refused to respond, so he was forced to watch Choji's fist descend.

He didn't feel its impact.

The world opened up before her eyes. She flew under the canopy, weaving between trees and drinking in the sights of nature with perfect clarity despite her speed. The steady beat of her wings filled her with unparalleled joy with each flap and she stuck out her chest to release a joyful cry.

That said, Ino hadn't forgotten her purpose.

She continued her flight, retracing her steps to see what had become of Kiba. The signs of a fight grew clearer—cratered ground, damaged trees tottering on their roots, and deep grooves where jutsu had dug up the earth.

Kiba lay at the site of the damage, out cold.

After the initial shock had run its course, Ino immediately cycled back at a slower pace, cautious. Team 10 was certainly nearby, otherwise, she would've been dragged back into her body ages ago. Everything pointed towards her being right; after a few minutes, she noticed footprints branded into the bark because of rough tree-hopping technique.

However, there were only two pairs of footprints, suggesting they'd split up. Ino continued, taking advantage of the woodpecker's acute sense of hearing to make out abnormal sounds, not that there were any.

The footprints alone allowed her to catch up to Team 10 easily enough, but without any sounds to go off, she had to circle back a few times to avoid getting lost. When the trail of footprints ended, Ino continued moving forward, confident she'd find Team 10 because it was the same direction she and Shikamaru had travelled in—and find them she did.

They ran in an arrowhead formation with Hinata taking the point and Choji and Naruto following behind her. Ino kept her range, inching closer. The three hadn't noticed her yet so she dared to close the distance ever so slightly.

The attack came without warning.

Hinata spun so fast that her long hair whipped around, masking the kunai in her hand. It struck Ino—the bird—directly in the chest, ending her flight. She felt her grip over the bird slackening as its consciousness began to dwindle.

"Why'd you kill the bird," she heard Choji ask.

Hinata walked over to her dying body, a spiderweb of veins protruding against the sides of her eyes. "Its chakra network was slightly off, which is one of the effects of the Mind Transfer Jutsu."

"What about insects?" asked Choji. "There might be bugs nearby."

Naruto walked over to the dying bird. "There's no point in following us around—we're not the ones tracking him."

With no host consciousness to piggyback off, her own exited the now-dead animal, closing the distance to her body. Ino opened her eyes with a deep gasp, jerking upwards at dizzying speeds. She looked around slowly. Her entire body ached in ways that it hadn't before and her mind felt like it was moving through sludge.

She debated eating a food pill before ultimately deciding against it. Sure, it would double her chakra reserves and give her the energy to fight for three days and three nights, but she had maybe two more jutsu in her before she ran the risk of serious chakra exhaustion.

Her life wasn't on the line so putting it there without the need to was absolutely nuts.

Groaning, she refreshed her mind on her surroundings—the difference in vision between a bird and a human was slightly startling but she shook it off. The next thing she did was look for Shikamaru; he sat cross-legged nearby with a slight frown and his eyes closed.

"What kind of guy doesn't let a girl lean on him?" she asked.

Not that she particularly cared, but she liked to wind him up with stupid questions every once in a while—it also t helped her forget about the cold steel plunging deep into her chest and the agonisingly slow process of asphyxiation as she choked on her blood.

Or rather, the bird's.

Ino rubbed her chest, grimacing at how sweaty she was.

"The kind of guy that knows when you're trying to play him." He snorted but quickly cut himself off when he opened his eyes and saw her. "You look like death. Are you sure you don't want to tap out here?"

"No way," she said with a glare. "Not after what I saw—and not after what happened to me." His silent question filled the space between them and she frowned, looking away. "I'll be fine."

"Still, I'll have to adjust my plans. We can't have you in battle like this."

"And you can't fight without me."

"...I can buy you some time to recover, though," he said with a sigh, muttering something under his breath. "So, what did you see?"

"...First, Kiba's out cold," she said, squirming a little. "I mean, what did you think would happen? He's strong, but fighting Hinata, Naruto, and Choji? He was never going to win…" Ino blinked, exclaiming, "He was never going to win and you knew it!"

"Yes, I knew it. We needed a diversion because Team 10 would have immediately gone after us." Shikamaru stuck a finger in his ear. "And you're being too loud."

Ino glared at him. "Stop deflecting. I know there's no one nearby. That was scummy of you, Shikamaru. You said we'd back him up without ever planning to."

He looked away. "But it'll be worth it. Where's Team 7?"

"How the heck am I supposed to know?" she asked, rolling her eyes. He didn't speak, so she huffed out an answer: "I can't tell since they're out of my sensory range now, but based on their travel speed and general direction when we were chasing them? About ten minutes west of here. You were right—they're headed to the river."

"And Team 10?"

Ino grimaced. "They're about fifteen minutes south from us and are closing in."

"Then we need to hurry—come on."

Ino took the lead, taking them through the quickest path possible to reach Team 7. There was a quiet tension between them—she still hadn't let go of how easily Shikamaru had thrown away Kiba and he knew it. However, she couldn't fault the strategy either; with the way things were going, they'd win the training exercise.

And even if she had something to say, just moving required a higher degree of focus and Ino's overburdened mind was struggling to cope. Because of how low she was running, she had to pay attention to how much chakra she used to propel herself through the forest.

"Are we close enough that you can sense their chakra signatures?" Shikamaru pulled up beside her as they jumped from tree to tree.

She nodded.

"Good."

Without another word, she dropped behind a bush, minimising her presence as much as possible as he went ahead to engage them. Shikamaru's plan was brilliant, but the downside was that it required flawless timing and precision.

Ino watched as four clones descended upon Team 7 along the river bank. Sasuke sprung back, barking out orders as he covered his retreat with a volley of shuriken, destroying half of the clones. Sakura stood in front of him protectively, leaving Shino to face the clones.

Hidden from view, Ino closed her eyes briefly, mentally preparing herself for the delicate technique. She had to be fast and accurate—because there would be no second chance. In the event of failure, Shino's chakra-consuming bugs would immediately give up her position.

Sakura's eyes darted around, her instincts on high alert. "Stay close to me, Sasuke!" she called out, frequently shifting her stance around him. "Kiba and Ino are hiding somewhere around here. Otherwise, Shikamaru wouldn't try anything like this."

"You seem pretty sure about that," said Shikamaru with a small smile.

He was down to one clone that soon puffed out of existence, pierced by one of Sasuke's wire-guided shuriken. While the prisoner seal prevented him from moulding chakra, he wasn't someone they could just ignore.

Frustrated, Ino chewed her lip.

Sakura was too perceptive. She was beginning to see Shikamaru's misdirection tactics for what they were and, sooner or later, Ino would be forced to reveal her position to prevent him from losing. Soon enough, Team 10 would reach their location, destroying all hopes of her and Shikamaru winning the training exercise.

Sakura's movements were precise and defensive, ready to intercept any attempt to breach their position. Ino watched as Shikamaru's shadows lashed out, trying to bind Sasuke. Sakura stepped back, allowing Shino to counter with his insects. They siphoned the jutsu's chakra and the shadows dwindled, forcing Shikamaru to either abandon his jutsu or pump even more chakra into it to overcome the rate of chakra absorption.

He chose the former, summoning another half a dozen clones. A certain degree of chaos returned to the battlefield thanks to the clones, taking a load off both himself and Ino. Sakura's focus was on Shikamaru with her back to her hiding spot.

Ino steadied herself.

"They say no plan survives contact with the enemy. Sorry, Sakura," she whispered, feeling the familiar surge of chakra as she initiated her jutsu.

After this, she'd probably only have one more good jutsu left in her.

Her consciousness shot out of her body through the gap between her hands fast enough that the world blurred. She entered Sakura's mind, quickly overpowering her before the disorientation that always accompanied the transfer kicked in. Renewing her grip over the kunai, Ino-as-Sakura turned to Sasuke.

"Stay calm," she said. "If they're not backing up Shikamaru, it means they're planning something."

Sasuke nodded.

Ino internally sighed in relief; deception was half the battle won. She felt the rush of her heartbeat, the tension in her muscles, fearful that something would give her away. Sakura's consciousness fought her all the while but Ino redoubled her efforts, stifling the irritating resistance in the back of her mind.

She looked around, assessing the situation from a new vantage point.

Shikamaru's clones swarmed Shino, keeping him occupied, if only for a few seconds. Ino moved, guiding Sakura's body with careful precision, slowly shifting behind Sasuke. Sensing the shift, Shikamaru redirected his efforts subtly. He repositioned himself to keep Sasuke in his line of sight, now unobstructed by Sakura thanks to her.

"Now, Ino!" he signalled, his voice carrying a note of urgency.

Shino and Sasuke looked about cautiously, expecting her to burst out of a thicket or descend from a tree. She smirked and grabbed Sasuke's arm. "Hold still," she whispered, her voice low and commanding.

Sasuke, confused but compliant, didn't resist.

"Do it, now!" Ino yelled through Sakura's lips, and Shikamaru's shadow raced forward, spearing through Shino's to extend further.

Sasuke tried to break out of her grip but Ino snaked her other arm around him, pressing him close to her and sticking herself to the ground to stop him from breaking free. Violent winds slammed into them from above, destroying Ino's balance—and therefore the chakra flowing to her feet—and her hold over Sasuke.

Before she could gather her bearings, a second wave finished the job and the four of them tumbled away from each other.

Sasuke scrambled to his feet, pointing a kunai in her direction with a small frown. "...Yamanaka."

"Sorry, Ino," said Naruto, dropping between them. "It was a good plan, but we're here to ruin it."

She looked at him with a guilty smile. Naruto cocked his arm back and swung but before it could land and transfer the damage back to her, Ino pulled the plug on the Mind Transfer Jutsu, her consciousness returning to her body. The short journey ate away at her already meagre chakra reserves.

Her eyes snapped open and she gasped.

"She's in a bush," said Hinata, her voice coming from above.

Ino's stomach sank and she darted to safety right before Choji destroyed it with his thunderous descent from the canopy. She emerged in front of Shikamaru, taking stock of the current situation. Hinata was perched on a treetop above them, Naruto stood guard in front of Sasuke and Sakura.

Shino threw a shuriken between them just as Choji rushed at her and Shikamaru. "Why are you here, Team 10?"

"Hey!" Choji's eyes were wide with disbelief. "We're here to help you, man."

"That said, if you throw another weapon at my teammate, we'll leave," said Hinata.

Naruto laughed. "Alright, calm down everyone. We're here to help Team 7."

"But our second target's on your team," said Ino. "How about you let us capture Team 7 and go put some distance between us."

"Why should he?" said Sakura, smirking over Naruto's shoulder. "He's got more to gain taking you out here and now—assault team, remember?"

"...Shit," she grunted.

"Do you know what time it is right now?" asked Shikamaru.

"Not exactly, but it's sunset," Sakura replied. "Why?"

Sasuke was the one to answer, "That's when the shadows are the longest—and when Shikamaru's jutsu is at its most dangerous. He can rely on the length of the shadows, leaving him with more chakra to use for other ninjutsu."

"Bingo. So, here's what's going to happen. First, I'm going to capture our target on Team 10 and then?" He looked straight at Sasuke. "Then, it's your turn."

Without another word, his shadow shorts out before swerving towards Choji. Ino stifled her laugh and jumped headfirst into battle, engaging Shino rather than Naruto. Their blades met in a shower of sparks before she pushed off the edge to put some distance between them. She looked back to see Hinata switching positions with Naruto, who went to help Choji.

Ino fingered a smoke bomb, pivoting and aiming at Sasuke.

"She's going to use the Mind Transfer Jutsu on Sasuke!" Hinata cried.

Naruto yelled out, punching Shikamaru so hard he bounced his head off a tree and crumpled to the ground. When he stumbled to his feet, Choji pressed a kunai to his throat, leaving Ino alone against several opponents.

His sunny-blond hair swayed in the wind as he bolted towards Sasuke. "Get out of the way—I've got Sasuke!"

Ino watched Hinata flit back onto a tree branch with her peripheral vision, her hands still aimed at Sasuke. She quickly switched her aim to her, but she dodged sideways to escape. Naruto came sprinting from the thicket up ahead and Ino switched her aim a final time, summoning the last dregs of chakra she had left.

Naruto's eyes widened in horror, terrified words forming on his tongue.

She smirked, readying herself to send her consciousness into his mind. "Sorry, honey, but you're out."

Her consciousness clashed with his for a moment, but then it touched something else and Ino found herself in an unfamiliar darkness.

She couldn't see much of anything but knew she was falling, which was weird. Usually, she entered an opponent's mind, dominated their consciousness and controlled their body. There wasn't anything… material about that human mind—not with the Mind Transfer Jutsu, anyway.

She touched down and took in her surroundings, warm drafts tousling her long hair. Her surroundings were dark, but not so dark that she couldn't see. Ino stood still, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the darkness before continuing. Ahead of her was a single, narrow path that seemed to only narrow even further as it went on. With nowhere else to go, she followed it until it gathered into a small gap that she forced herself into.

Ino squeezed until she was through, emerging out of it and walking across a wide, windowless room. The walls were carved with intricate symbols that spanned the entire room, including the ceiling and floor. However, the most striking thing in the room was the massive prison cell straight ahead. It was easily more than forty metres tall and just as wide, with a two-metre-long tag plastered on top of the lock.

She edged closer to the prison, wary of what could be inside, but more curious than cautious. It almost proved to be her undoing because when its inhabitant tried to stab her, she didn't see it coming. A gargantuan claw scraped at the stone floor, wedging between the thick bars, and missing her by a mere inch.

Ino screamed, scrambling away and falling onto her back, her heart racing. She stopped, suddenly very aware of the slitted crimson pupils—the very massive slitted pupils—looming overhead.

"Tch… almost."

"...He-Hello?"

"Look at what's crawled into the seal," said a deep, gravelly voice from beyond the barrier. "You are not my captor, little trespasser, merely a child—lost and terrified—cowering… from me."

She buckled to her knees under a wave of pure… hatred so thick it solidified the air. Clawing at her throat, she gagged, trying to breathe, but her lungs refused to obey her. The monster—because there was no other word for it—laughed at her suffering and increased the pressure of its hatred.

Its inhuman crimson eyes gleamed with unbridled, sadistic glee at her suffering. "Your suffering is exquisite, little trespasser. Only, it's a shame this damnable seal prevents me from spearing you and swallowing you whole." It chuckled, sighing as the laughter came to an end. "But it's no matter. Watching your will break will have to suffice until the day this accursed prison weakens."

The overwhelming hatred somehow doubled in intensity and Ino heard the cries of a thousand tortured souls in her ears. Her throat was so raw that she might've been screaming alongside them. Her heartbeat stopped and started, dancing to the whims of the terrible presence dwelling deeper in the cave.

Her own cries reached a feverish pitch, and she was re-energised with the desperation to live.

Ino screamed, flailing away from him only to go flying so far that her bare shoulder smashed into the leftmost wall. Her mind must have been broken beyond repair because she watched Naruto throw himself towards her, pulling her into his embrace as they made contact with the ground.

"What the hell did you do?" Naruto hissed, his voice teetering on the edge of hysteria. "Why!"

"I-I don't know," she stammered, too out of it to notice Naruto had practically smashed her against his body and still hadn't let go. "C-Can… c-can you put me down, please?"

His eyes cleared and he put her down, aghast, straightening his clothes as he inspected every inch of her. He twisted his neck and growled at the monster inside the prison. "...You bastard."

"Naruto," it spoke with a deep, gravelly voice. "You do not understand the good it does me to speak with you at last."

"I can't say the same, monster," Naruto replied, his voice more intense than Ino had ever heard. "You don't understand how desperately I want to bury you with my own hands."

"Believe me, the feeling is mutual."

There was something in its voice that made Naruto turn on his heel immediately, looking stricken.

"W-What?" Ino stuttered as he took her by the hand, squeezing until it hurt, and dragged her away. "What is it?"

"What's wrong, boy? Are you afraid of me?"

To Ino's relief, Naruto didn't look back, so neither did she.

They walked hand in hand out of the cave through a path that wasn't there when she first entered the prison room. Outside of the cavern, the two of them stood under grey skies and a cold sun, overlooking a barren wasteland. He placed a calming hand on her shoulder and when she looked up, she nearly gasped at how gentle Naruto's vivid blue eyes were.

The tears fell from her own eyes without any say on her part.

"N-Naruto?" Ino choked and sniffled her way back to coherence. "Wha-Wha-What is that thing and why is it in your mi-mind?"

He jutted his chin towards the cave. "It's a mutt that can't be put down. Don't worry about it for now. Let's get out of here" He offered his hand and Ino took it.

The monster began to laugh—its voice somehow reaching them from outside the cave. It started with a slow burr and built up to thunderous, booming laughter that shook the ground beneath them. This time, it was Ino who was clinging onto Naruto with a vice-like grip.

He was her only lifeline back to safety.

"Ino?" Naruto closed his eyes and sighed. "I know you've been through a lot today, but I'm going to need you to release your jutsu."

She looked back at the cave and then at his face with wide, terrified eyes. "B-But what if the mo-monster. What if… what if it kills me?"

"It won't," said Naruto, squeezing her shoulder again. "I promise. The sooner you do it, the sooner we can get out of here, understand?"

"...Okay." She wiped the tears from her face. "Okay, I'll do it."

Ino's consciousness returned to her body at an excruciatingly slow pace and with each passing second, she feared that the monster would burst out of the cave so much that she didn't know when exactly she exited Naruto's mind. The green of the forestry around her was muted and everyone's voices were coming from so far away.

She tried to respond, but her mouth wouldn't move—and when she tried to move anything, the same thing happened. All she could was look blankly at the sky, her vision darkening bit by bit. Then, she was back in the cave, surrounded by the pervasive darkness and the monster's hatred.

All at once, Ino opened her eyes wide and screamed until she couldn't scream anymore, surrendering herself to blissful unconsciousness. Before everything went dark, she saw Naruto's face, concern etched into every crevice of his skin. His blue eyes were heavy with guilt and while she could see her hand captured in his, she couldn't feel it.

Her vision continued to dim, and Ino realised it was a shame that she couldn't feel his warmth anymore.