Ino snarled as she ripped another burr the size of an apple out of her hair. At this rate, her hair would never be clean again.
Shikamaru and Choji winced at her frustration, knowing it could be directed at them if they weren't careful. Ino had been in a mood ever since they entered the forest of death.
Ino wasn't really angry, just frustrated, confused, and a bit worried-Okay, she was angry.
Angry because forehead pulled the rug out from under her, again!
She loved Sakura, and Ino valued her friends, she really did. But for the life of her, she could not figure out just what the heck she saw in Sakura's mind!
Top that off with that fact they were stuck in the exams with a red-haired psycho, the exams themselves are most likely being tampered with, and that fact that she started her period a week early made Ino a
Very,
Very,
Unhappy camper.
She was rolling up bandages and sticking them down there for now, but she only had so many, and it's not like Haruhi-sensei was here to tell Ino what to do to make it better.
The elation of passing the first part of the exam had driven the matter of Sakura blocking her clan jutsu to the back of her mind. And then they were swept up when that purple-haired jounin blew in the room and knocked everyone off their feet. Ino just didn't have much time to think about it.
And then, to top it off, Ino finds out the shady background of the exam, that someone probably tampered with it when she had walked over to Sakura to talk to her.
So of course, she had to go and tell her teammates right away. Can you imagine if she didn't? Something this important needed to have at least three of Shikamaru's backup plans.
But, anyway, Sakura.
Sakura.
It may sound like she is making a big deal out of nothing, but let her put it this way.
The Yamanaka clan has existed for centuries. The entire history of Konoha was a blink of the eye to them.
And during that time, her clan has been tediously perfecting, experimenting, and improving their clan jutsus, but none more than the mind-body-transfer.
The great Uchiha clan of the warring states couldn't even block it. The best they could do was mitigate it, even with their sharingan.
Some of the best warriors who ever existed had fallen prey to it. Once you were trapped in a Yamanaka's jutsu, you couldn't escape.
Except for Sakura, apparently.
What.
The.
Hell.
Her scowl deepened, giving her slight frown lines. The boys didn't dare comment.
While there were exceptions to the mind body transfer, like being made of intense, toxic chakra, it still wasn't the same.
When Sakura kicked Ino out of her mind, it was almost like there was another person in Sakura's head.
Ino immediately thought of a multiple personality disorder, but even then, that didn't make sense.
Typically, its only one personality manifested at a time in the head, and certainly not two. And even then, it didn't explain how it ejected her from Sakura's head.
This was entirely new.
That fact that a civilian-born ninja defeated a centuries perfected clan jutsu would make the clan elders have an entire barn.
And that fact that Ino would be committing treason against her clan for not reporting this.
Sakura was her best friend/rival, and they had their differences in the past, but Ino cared for Sakura like a sister, and she needed to protect her.
Because if Ino's suspicions were true- and they almost always were- then Sakura had developed an entirely new bloodline limit.
That was a huge deal. Gigantic, really.
Ever since the villages were founded some one hundred years ago, the number of bloodlines has rapidly decreased. The organization, and the extra man power that the Ninja villages provided made wars extremely destructive. Entire bloodlines were wiped out, some before they even could really develop.
If Sakura really did have a new bloodline- which Ino was sure she did- then it would be beyond priceless.
A new bloodline hasn't appeared in years.
There would be a bounty on Sakura's head. People would force her out of the dangerous shinobi path and try to make her pump out kids. Her clan elders would want Ino to bring her best friend in, and try to figure out a way around it.
And Ino was sure is wouldn't be pleasant.
Ino's father of course, would try to hold them back, but there would be very little he could do against the crotchety clan elders.
But then again, Ino had to tell him. Sakura clearly had no idea about her bloodline, and if she did, didn't understand the implications or the severity behind it. This could rock her world, the bad way. Ino didn't fault Sakura for not understanding, she was, after all, a civilian-borne.
Ino knew telling her dad was the best course of actions, but would Sakura understand?
Sakura was from a civilian family, with a retired father who only made it to genin, and an electrician mother. They had very little political power in the village. They wouldn't be able to protect Sakura.
So Ino had to.
With new found resolve, Ino stood up from her squat and made sure the bandages were in place.
Only to curse when she hit her head on a tree branch.
Could you blame a girl for being in a bad mood?
As Ino turned towards her teammates and headed out to hunt down another team, she couldn't help but wonder if Sakura knew the danger she was in.
"Kakashi...I feel weird."
Kakashi, who had been reading his book, immediately snapped his eye to Haruhi who was splayed out on her back on Kakashi's thigh.
"How?"
Well, for one, Haruhi could feel a migraine coming on. Her face and hands were beginning to tingle and her vision was blurry. And it's not like she could take medicine for it either, since any amount would likely be an overdose for her.
Two, she could feel her chakra bubbling and rolling under her skin. It was extremely uncomfortable.
And three, she was anxious about the kids to the point of throwing up.
"There's something off with my Chakra," She admitted, "It feels like its alive or something." Haruhi didn't want to tell Kakashi at first, since he was such a mother hen, but it was gettin to the point where she couldn't ignore it anymore.
Kakashi didn't relax, his eye creasing in worry, and look, she was back at it again, upsetting other people.
"I did notice it felt differently, but I'm no sensor. It's probably stress. Let me know if there's anything I can do."
Haruhi nodded. She didn't tell him, but the only thing he could do to make her feel better was sending her back to her world so she could pretend like none of this ever happened.
And yes, that was an incredibly selfish thing to think, but Haruhi was sick of this place and its giant corrupt shinobi system. She'd take America's flawed democracy any day over this bullshit. At least the real world had WiFi.
When Sasuke went missing, they worried. Not too much, granted, as he was extremely talented. But when he appeared hours later, with a mysterious girl on his back, they freaked out.
Sakura tried valiantly to squash down her jealousy.
It wasn't working.
Sakura knew that this girl was most likely all alone. Sasuke wouldn't bring her with him if he thought that her teammates would follow. A part of Sakura knew they were dead, but just didn't want to admit it.
Sakura felt bad for her. She remembered the feeling when they were fighting Zabuza and she thought he was going to kill Sasuke, and it was something she didn't want to repeat.
But at the same time, Sakura worked hard to get to where she was, and this girl made her feel like she was being replaced. It had been a huge blow to her confidence to realize that despite being the number one kunoichi, Sakura would never get above genin if she didn't step it up.
Being in a shinobi village wasn't the easiest for civilians, and civilian born ninja. They were often treated as less that clan people. Her father was the first ninja in his family, and despite having enormous potential, he was shunted sideways into the genin corps when his sensei failed his team because he wanted clan kids. So her dad, another boy, and a purple haired girl had to fend for themselves.
Her mother had a permanent scar on her back from a work accident. She had gone to the hospital straight away, but since she was a civilian and not a shinobi, her injury had been deemed as a non priority. Her mom was forced to fill out papers and sit in the waiting room for hours while blood dripped down her back and into her buttocks and onto the chair.
Sakura and her dad were near hysterical with worry when they finally thought to get to the hospital, where they found her in tears in soiled clothes.
Her mom did eventually get healed, but that was only because her father was able to prove he was a genin. Or else they would have sent her home with bandages and painkillers.
Even today, Sakura couldn't understand why a medic couldn't spend a few minutes to heal the gash. The third shinobi war was was long over by then, so it wasn't like they didn't have any medics to spare.
Well, that was a lie. She did know. It was because they were civilians.
It was part of the reason Sakura felt more comfortable around Haruhi-sensei than Kakashi-sense, because she was a civilian too. Sakura saw it in Haruhi's face sometimes, the feeling of not fitting into the shinobi world, and her heart went out for her. It really did. Being raised in a civilian family meant they had little power throughout the village, but it also meant that Sakura was raised in a healthy environment, with loving parents.
Not to say that shinobi made terrible families, just look at Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji. But those three were the exceptions.
Shinobi kids were expected from birth to do one thing, and there was constant pressure. Just look at Hinata, now a stuttering mess, Sasuke with no parents, and Naruto had no parents either. And with chakra reserves like that, there is no way his parents were civilians.
Same thing goes for Kakashi-sensei, TenTen, and Rock Lee.
Its that familiar faint look of disbelief on Haruhi-sensei's face whenever she sees something otherwise considered horrific that shinobi just brush off. Like the honeypot missions aka, the seduction missions that Sakura would no doubt have been shunted into if it wasn't for her academic rankings.
But still, even regarding all that, being a shinobi meant you had power. It meant you could defend yourself, and go outside of Konoha without waiting for days at a time to get it cleared.
It meant getting treated right away.
Being a civilian would have been an easy choice to make, but Sakura was sick of being considered weak.
Sakura knew she had excellent chakra control, partially due to her small reserves. She had received her evaluation in the mail marking her as a budding genjutsu mistress, and a medic nin.
That last part was weird.
Walking into the hospital to register for medic training and tests after the Wave mission had also been weird, since she could see the exact chair her normally smiling mother had sat on while she cried and bled and filled out tedious paperwork instead of being treated.
Sakura breathed deeply, trying to calm herself at the memory.
Tree bark cracked under her grip.
Sakura promised herself that she would be a better medic than the one that "treated" her mother. It was her dream now, to open clinics where everyone could be treated, and not have to sit in their own pool of blood because they weren't deemed important enough.
Whatever that meant.
It was why Sakura worked so hard in the academy, and poured over books. But her book smarts would do no good if she didn't have the physically capabilities to react to a threat. Or else all she'd be was a desk nin.
It was why she had idolized Ino, and then Sasuke. Because they were clan kids, and they had things that she just didn't. And they didn't even realize it!
When Sakura went with Haku to help Ino sign up, it had been so different from when Sakura had signed up! They questioned Sakura, regarded her with doubt and skepticism, And it was all she could do to keep inner restrained.
"Sharanno! Jerks!" Inner shouted.
They grilled her for answers, and then held off on giving her an internship-despite being number one academically in her class- and instead waited three whole weeks to grant her access to minor parts of the hospital. And it would have been longer, had it not been for Haruhi-sensei and Kakashi-sensei helping her.
But when Ino went to register for an internship, she had been greeted with warm smiles. They accepted her right away, and only gave her one week of wait time instead of three, and immediately granted her access to minor parts of the hospital. It was like all of Sakura's hard work was nothing in the face of being born into a clan.
But training every morning with Lee and Gai-sensei, and then genjutsu training with Sasuke and Kurenai-Sensei finally made her feel like she was making progress. That she was a real ninja, and that she wasn't less for being the daughter of a first generation shinobi and a civilian. Sakura finally felt like she belonged in this world.
And then this girl shows up out of nowhere. A girl who is a natural sensor with a crazy amount of chakra and apparently held off a bear bigger than a house.
A girl that gained Sasuke's respect in minutes when it took Sakura years.
Maybe the new girl could hear her teeth grinding because she looked at Sakura and flinched when she caught her eye, looking away just as quickly.
Good.
Maybe Sakura was being mean, but whatever. Sakura was here first.
And then she told them her name.
Karin Uzumaki.
Uzumaki.
"You...Uzumaki? That's your name?" Naruto spoke with disbelief, shouting toned down to words just barely above a whisper.
The girl nodded, looking confused and nervous.
Sakura was frozen with disbelief. Sasuke didn't look surprised, he just sat there and continued to rub his bruised forehead. Sakura wanted to ask how he got that bruise, but her mouth refused to form words.
"She's lying!" Inner screeched in fury.
"My last name is Uzumaki to." Naruto spoke. It was quiet and soft and careful, like a parent tucking in their child, and for a moment, Sakura forgot to be angry at this new girl.
She had seen Naruto speechless before, but never like this.
His eyes were filled with a desperate hope, his shoulders were drawn in on themselves, making him seem even shorter.
"You have the chakra of an Uzumaki." Kar-the girl, whispered.
Haku watched the two of them interact intensely.
"You are a sensor." Haku stated.
The girl jumped like a scared rabbit, before nervously pushing up her glasses, and Sakura hated how it reminded her of Haruhi-sensei.
"Yes."
"She is." Sasuke finally spoke, still nursing his throbbing head. "She was how I was able to find my way back. She also has another earth scroll that we can use as leverage."
Naruto blinked.
"Are we related?" He whispered. What Sasuke and Haku said didn't seem to register.
"Well, was one of your parents an Uzumaki?" the girl couldn't seem to tear her eyes away from Naruto, and Sakura was pleased, because it meant she wasn't staring at Sasuke.
"Well, if Karin is to be staying with us, we can help her back to the tower. But right now we need to set up camp."
Haku flicked quick hand signs at Sakura. He had checked out her field, and she apparently had no hostile intent towards them.
Sakura and Sasuke moved to follow Haku's orders, but Karin and Naruto stayed still, in shock that there was still family out there.
She didn't sign up for this.
Ino was between a rock and a hard place.
"Take the scroll and run!" Shikamaru shouted. His voice sounded nasally, due to the fact that he was being held upside down from the ankle by a hulking genin from Kiri.
The two others- a girl with long blue hair and another girl with sharp teeth, had Choji pressed into the dirt. The girl with seaweed colored hair and sharp teeth bared her mouth into a grin, pressing her kunai into Choji's throat, and Ino felt a rush of anger.
Game on, bitch.
Ino's eyes narrowed, flickered back and forth between the two of them and the Genin. The male had bound Shikamaru's fingers, so he couldn't do his shadow possession jutsu.
The two girls had trapped a Human Boulder Choji in a hidden swamp, destroying his momentum and then tying him up.
Ugh, Ino wasn't a frontline fighter!
Ino grit her teeth and ran, vines ripping past her face.
"Wait, come back, Shikamaru was jokin-"Choji's scared, desperate shout was cut off as Ino jumped into the ravine she had seen earlier. She bit back as scream as she hurtled to the bottom. Her arm lashed out, kunai digging into the mossy rock and slowing her fall.
She landed on the damp bottom, mossy bits getting into her sandals. It was at least ten degrees cooler, very shady and dark, and very, very, narrow.
Seaweed green hair flashed out from the corner of her eyes at the very top of the ravine before Ino ducked into a cave, nail catching on a craggily rock, loosening pebbles that crackled to the ground.
It echoed across the ravine as Ino retreated into the cave. She could feel her breath crystallizing in the coolness of the cave, and she reached her arms out in front of her, scroll buried in her sports bra, and she tried to ignore the gush of blood she felt in her underwear.
That seaweed head was going to pay.
She hissed in pain when her fingers cracked against a stone wall.
"Nowhere to run~" A voice cooed behind her.
Ino whirled around, hair brushing against the wall as she turned to face the Kiri Genin. There was a twisted sort of smile on her face, like a piece of rope tied in a figure eight. Her eyes gleamed in the darkness, and her seaweed green hair was blocking out most of the light from the cave entrance..
Ino got into position, eyes glinting like metal knives.
"You're going to fight? Cute~" Seaweed girl's eyes widened in manic delight, and she lunged.
They tussled in close combat for a bit, seaweed girl biting Ino's arm with her sharp teeth. Ino screamed, and headbutted her, her forehead-protector bashing the girls nose.
She let out a garbled scream, blood rushing down her broken nose, and Ino took the opportunity to grab the girl and throw her over her hip into the back of the cave.
Ino caught her breath, but before she could get into position, she was choking on water. Ino tried to close her mouth, but water flooded her nostrils and into her lungs.
There had been a puddle at the bottom of the cave.
Seaweed girl snarled in rage, hands out and manipulating the water bubble around Inos head as Ino fell to her knees, drowning on land. She wished Sakura was here, because her element was water too, and last time Ino checked, she had the basics down.
Her eyes stung and she felt like her nostrils and throat were on fire as the sandy water forced its way into her lungs and stomach.
"Just take deep breaths~" Seaweed taunted, shark teeth glinting in the back of the cave.
If Ino didn't do something, and fast, she would die, and so would her teammates.
But Ino is trapped, And she's scared, and her vomit and tears mix with the already dirty water, obstructing her vision.
In a sweeping kick she had learned from Rock Lee from cross team training, Ino sent a rock hurtling towards Seaweed's face.
Seaweed screamed as the rock connected with her already broken nose, and let go of the jutsu, hunching over in pain.
Ino needed to make her move.
Hands moving so fast they were a blur, Ino performed the mind transfer jutsu at the girl just standing up at the back of the cave.
A familiar rush, and suddenly Ino was howling in pain, clutching her face. A dull thunk rang out as her original body fell to the cave floor.
Ino quickly deadened the nerves in her-seaweed girls face, and quickly cracked the nose into place. Ino didn't quite have the healing jutsu down yet, but she new jutsus to get rid of the swelling, and she scoops some of the silty water to wash away the blood.
All the while, seaweed girl rages in the background, trapped in her own mind, and unable to control her body.
Ino smirked.
Her trap had been successful. Since Shikamaru was tied up, Ino knew she couldn't rely on him to keep a target steady for her to take over. So she had purposefully led the girl into the ravine, and into a cramped space where she couldn't move or dodge.
Ino walked over and quickly checked her still body for signs of damage. It looked alright, as she landed in the wet sand. Ino checked to make sure the scroll was still in her bra, the quickly lifted the body over her shoulders.
Was it weird, to be carrying herself?
Yes, yes it was.
Ino looked to her left and noticed a tiny red-but quickly growing-stain on her shorts and scowled something fierce.
Those two owed her for this.
The exited the cave back into the mossy ravine, and looked upwards.
Channeling chakra to the bottoms of her feet, Ino cautiously stuck her foot to the ravine wall, and then the other. A couple more pebbles clattered down, but her feet stuck, and Ino shuffled upwards.
She had to squat where it became particularly thin, but she made it to the sandy forest floor, and shifted her pliable body across her shoulders.
She then marched straight towards the clearing.
"Nice! You got the runaway!" The hulking genin gloated.
Shikamaru and Choji gasped in horror, looking at her limp body being held over her borrowed shoulders. They were both tied on the ground with chakra restricting rope.
Ino let the same twisted smile crossed her face, and hoped it looked convincing enough. Ino giggled, and god, that felt weird in this body, and took out a kunai. Riffling through the girls mind, Ino then spoke what she thought the girl might have said.
"Gonna search her now."
"You do that." Said the girl with the blue hair shortly.
"How did you catch her?" The hulking genin asked.
"Dumb girl trapped in a cave." Ino giggled again, fingers twitching over her leg.
"Alright!" The hulking boy laughed uproariously before speaking again, "I guess we can kill them now," And to Ino's horror, they drew out two kunai and pressed them to Shikamaru's and Choji's throats.
She hisses.
They pause, and stare up at her in confusion.
"Use them as leverage. They know things about Konoha genin."
The two looked at each other and shrugged. Ino's heart beat rapidly in her chest as she squashed down her sigh of relief.
"I will scout ahead. We could camp overnight in the cave system." The blue-haired girl said curtly, then left the two of them in the clearing.
One down.
As much as it pained her, Ino dumped her body across the ground and almost winced when some dirt got on her face, ruining her complexion. And her eyeliner was smudged too.
Just great.
"You search her, I watch them." Ino said in seaweed girls normal singsong voice.
The hulking genin grunted, walking past her and kneeling down. He then proceeded to take his time checking her over for traps, and emptying her pockets.
"You won't get away with this," And it hurts to hear Choji, normally so kind, spit words like that at her, but she can't focus on that now. She needs to pay attention.
While her medic training had been progressing smoothly, Ino was no Haku.
Mmn, Haku…
Ino tried not to let the dreamy smile slide across her face.
He was just... so...cool. Literally.
Ino still though Sasuke was all well and fine, but he could never talk medical terms to her like Haku did. And honestly, what a sense of style to. A perfect gentleman. And sure, while his hair was terribly damaged, he could do amazing up-doo's with it-
She shook her head.
Focus.
The point was, Haku was older and more experienced and accurate than her. She could never take the hulking genin in a one-on-one fight, much less with two teammate to protect. She needed to wait for him to shift into the perfect position. She needed to go for the points in his neck, and she needed to do it quick.
Hulky shifted, reaching into one of Ino's pockets-he didn't think to check her bra.
Ino sprang forward, and with a chop of her hand, slammed it into the back of his neck.
He went down like a cut tree, and for one hysterical second, she was tempted to shout timber.
She grunted when she caught his body, keeping him from crushing hers, and ignored the gasps of surprise from the boys behind her.
She laid it down on the sandy ground, and then turned to the flabbergasted boys behind her.
"Missed me?" She grinned cockily, putting her hands on her hips.
Shikamaru figured it out first.
"Ino?" He gasped, before breaking out into a grin when Ino nodded her borrowed head.
Ino quickly untied the ropes around their wrists.
They searched hulky's body, and were extremely gratified to find an earth scroll and another heaven scroll, and they quickly pocketed both. One of the other Konoha teams might need one.
"Heres they plan, boys. We wait for her to get back, and hide hulky over here in the bushes. When she comes back we ambush her."
They nodded, rubbing their sore wrists before loosely putting the ropes back on.
She set up traps around the clearing, and waited.
It wasn't long before the blue-haired genin came back, face as impassive as ever. She paused, looking at Ino's still body, and Ino started to become nervous.
"Wheres Kubo?"
Ino panicked, before realizing it was hulky.
She hummed, staying in character and jerked her neck towards the bushes, and mimed unzipping her fly and pulling something out.
"You're guarding?" Blue asked again, and Ino nodded again. Blue gave her yet another unreadable expression, before leaning over Ino's body to continue looking for the scroll.
Just a little more…
"Shadow Possession complete!"
The girl screamed as she was paralyzed in place by Shikamaru. It was loud and horrendous, and echoed across the sandy clearing.
Ino ran forward, and quickly knocked her out.
They cheered and applauded, relieved to be alive, and quickly got up. Saying a quick goodbye to seaweed, Ino knocked her out and felt herself rush back to her original body.
Seaweed fell back to the floor, nose re-creaking on impact and blood flooding into the sand, and Ino almost winced.
Almost.
She stretched, and winced at another rush of blood leaked past the bandages.
She was leaning over to pick up all the things hulky had dropped, when a chill went up her spine. One of her senbon disappeared into the sand, and Ino screamed, quickly jumping up into the trees, Choji and Shikamaru not far behind.
And then the ground exploded.
Sand rushed past her like a hurricane, and she screamed again, unable to jump away because it was everywhere, and through the whistling of swirling sand, Ino could only make out one thing;
"Mother is hungry for you."
Who is this bloodthirsty stranger? Will Sakura accept Karin? And will they all make it out alive?! Find out next time on DragonBall Z!
Hahaha finals and A.P is in a few days, literally my own forest of death, so I'm so kin with Ino and Sakura right now.
To all my readers in the middle of testing season, I wish you the best of luck. And I'm giving arcs to the female characters because, apparently, Kishimoto can't be bothered.
IMPORTANT!
From here on out,(much like the original Naruto anime) the story will be taking on a darker tone. Heavier themes such as discrimination will be talked about, and there will be character injury. Perhaps that is not your cup of tea, and to that, I say, thank you for reading and goodbye!
But don't let this scare you off. Haruhi is still Haruhi, and I have plenty of character growth, world building, and amazing surprise twists in-store for you. I will have breather moments interspersed in between chapters, and trigger warnings at the top if something really dark is discussed. Also, let me know if you think a chapter needs a trigger warning and I will get back to you.
Question of the chapter:What do you think of Ino's growth?