Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Closer ❯ Chapter 19

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Kabuto once asked her how she managed to stay so calm and focused when she had to assist him. How did she manage in such a short amount of time to emotionally detach herself from the patients? She told him, locking eyes, that she imagined that it was he on the operating table. She imagined it was he screaming in agony and dying. And she meant it. Kabuto smirked and told her he liked her answer. After that he decided that she was ready for more serious stuff.

“Serious?” She had asked, wiping the blood from her hands on the a white sheet before pulling it over the dead, horror stricken patent Kabuto had just finished with. Don’t look, don’t look, don’t look. She was wary when he asked her to meet him in his office. She defiantly stood by the door when he motioned her to sit in one of his chairs. He just shook his head with a small frustrated hum, not really caring if she obeyed him or not. He turned and scanned the massive book shelf crammed to its brims before pulling out a leather-bound book and a few waxy scrolls.

“Orochimaru gave me these when we first met and he decided to take me on as an apprentice. I never found much use for them at the beginning but once I began reading them, I became a slave to its teachings.” He placed them at the edge of his desk and waited for her to gingerly pick them up. He stopped her from opening them. “No, don’t read them here. Read them when you’re comfy and warm in your bed because you won’t want to put them down. You will crave its power.”

Ino kept her features schooled, though she was mentally scowling inside. “What makes you think that?” She shot at him, shaking back her blond pony tail that was resting over her shoulder.

“You’ll see once you completed reading them. You’ll say to yourself that you would rather die than perform these jutsus, but in the end, you’ll bow to the power.” He said with a dark secret kind of smile that made her skin crawl. He called it a day when he saw the look of dread on her face.

In her room, she sat the book and scrolls on her desk, not willing to open them but knowing she had to sooner or later or else face the consequences. Lately Kabuto was becoming more liberal with his punishments and she didn’t want to see how far he would go in teaching her a lesson.

It was late afternoon and she was bored. Sasuke had said that Kabuto would spend less time with her one they reached West Base but sometimes she found herself so bored that she would go and look for something to do that she usually wouldn’t. Like folding paper flowers or socializing with some of the medics. Mostly she would read, or train but even that would get old over time. Often she found herself in Specimen Room 5 talking with Suigetsu and monitoring the fetus floating in the test tube. Suigetsu was always up for a chat, having to spend most of his time in his tube being tested and prodded sometimes. She could tell Sasuke didn’t really like her talking to him but he was gone most of the day so she ignored his brooding over the matter.

Ino and Suigetsu were interrupted by the door crashing loudly against the wall. Ume entered, eyes narrowed in anger over something Ino was sure she was going to get blamed for.

“Yamanaka I am here to inform you that a week days from now, you will be taking on a new task.” She said in monotone.

“So business like. And here I thought we were friends.” Ino cooed.

“Kabuto has asked me to tell you of the arrival of your ward.” Ume ignored her sarcastic banter. Ino raised a brow, suddenly standing from her chair in alarm.

“Did you say ward? As in someone I’m going to be responsible for?” Even Ino heard the panic in her voice. “No no no no!” She shook her head and grabbed her discarded lab coat from the chair. “Where is Kabuto?” She demanded. Ume pursed her lips, her brown eyes hardening like stone. “Ah forget it. I’ll find him myself!” And she stormed out of the room.

When she did find him, she wasn’t allowed to talk to him because he was busy with Orochimaru. A few medics passing by her outside Orochimaru’s room were muttering something about his time running out. A chill ran down her spine and she left back to her room. Sasuke’s time was running out. She hugged herself, sinking to her bed staring blankly at the vase of paper flowers resting on her dresser.

The paper flowers were more than just a hobby. She sent a couple with Fu when she could and he would in turn, carefully and expertly send them back to Leaf. There was no word on when Naruto and Sakura would finally be good enough to track Sasuke. Ino figured that her prolonged disappearance would have raised adamant questions by now. Shikamaru and Choji were like that and Shikamaru would have probably figured it out by now that I had to do with Sasuke. She wondered how they were doing. Mostly, she wondered how her dad was doing. She missed him so much her heart would ache every time she thought of him. He was told of her mission at the very last minute, after the ANBU had made sure she arrived at the first base. It was a bad way to do it. She hated that part of the plan the most.             &nb sp;     

A soft knock brought her from her thoughts and she crossed the floor and opened it, an instant smile forming on her lips when she saw Sasuke on the other side.

“Feel like going out?”

He wondered if she knew what she did to him, standing knee deep in the secluded lake with the light reflecting on the calm surface. Orochimaru let him have some rare free time. He told Sasuke that it was to reflect on what he had been learning and what he had mastered. That before the Snake Sannin’s face crumpled into body racking, bloody coughs. Kabuto was there in an instant and took Orochimaru to his room to treat him.

He was sitting under a tree, sharpening his sword looking uninterested. But he was far from that. He was aware of everything around him. Especially her.

“So this is your special place?” Ino asked, splashing her way to the rocky bank of glistening rocks.

“Special?” He inquired, not looking up from his sharpening but keenly listening to her nice sounding voice.

“Yeah. Your own little place away from everything.”

His lips quirked at her playful tone. “It’s a place to train on my own.” He corrected, looking up finally.

The blonde wrinkled her nose. “Train. You train everyday!”

He sighed and gave her a look that said ‘so?’. “Do you ever go swimming here for fun? The water is pretty cool.” She said in a suggestive tone. It was a pretty tempting tone, one that made his eyes darken a little. The air stilled like it suddenly thinned. “Let’s not use this place for boring training today.” She said in a perky voice and began unbuttoning her form fitting purple skirt. He knew he was staring, but Ino didn’t seem to notice. Her head was turned to the sparkling lake.

Sasuke’s blood roared to life, making him sweat a little. Her thin fingers plucked free the buttons of her blouse. The soft purple cloth slid down her arms, falling to a neat heap on the floor. His teenage hormones kicked into over drive when she sauntered to the lake in nothing but her tight black shorts and fishnet bra. The sunlight lit her pale skin like butter cream. Her hips had a natural seductive sway to them, enticing him to follow her into the water a singing siren.

“Sasuke how deep is it? Can I dive safely from that rock over there?” She turned to him, balancing herself on the surface of the water with her chakra.

“It’s deep enough.” He said roughly. He quietly cleared his throat, trying to calm the skip in his chest.

She smiled lifting a perfectly arched brow. “Are you coming in?”

Yes. “I don’t feel like swimming.” He was glad his voice was back to normal.

Ino pouted. “Please?” Her long lashes fluttered prettily. “Just this one time?”

Okay. He pretended to debate it before standing. “Just this one time.” He reluctantly agreed and placed his sword against the tree, kicking off his shoes and undoing his belt.

He had to admit once they settled on a big rock to rest, that he had fun. He was glad he agreed to go swimming with her. They played tag with water jutsus. She was good because water was one of her elements but he made up for that lack of skill by being fast. And even though she didn’t want to train, he found himself helping her with her water clones. It reminded him of the time they first did elemental training. It was one of those times that he found himself comfortable with someone other than his team. At that time, he knew the only reason she acted that way was because of Sakura. One day they were the best of friends, the next they were sworn enemies. He never really found out why that was, but word through the academy grapevine filtered to him somehow and he found out it was because of him.

At first, he thought that that was the stupidest reason. They were fighting over him? Why? Ino never showed any crush like tendencies toward him. Not like the obvious Sakura. Matter of face, sometimes he though she hated him. He stood at the top of the class with ease, only rivaled by Ino’s academic prowess. He would catch her scowl time to time when Iruka would post the term grades and he was listed as top student. The girls would fawn over him, telling him how smart he was and that they would love it if he would work with them so that they could have good grades too. Ino would only mutter that he was lucky or something and then call the girls back to her side as she left the room or took her seat. She had the power to do that and then one day her power had diminished and it was all out war with himself as the rope she and Sakura were tugging on. He had to admit (even if he was an unwilling participant with this girl’s war) that Ino usually won. But it was a win based in principle because she would drop her all-hail-Sasuke act as soon as Sakura was out of sight.

Something warm and wet pressed between his knees and he looked down to see Ino reclining in his lap, resting her arms on his thighs and her head against his naked chest. “This was a good day.” She said, looking out over the trees to the setting sun. He didn’t even pay attention to how long they played and was surprised by how late they managed to stay out. Orochimaru didn’t even send anyone out to get them. Of course it ended all too soon because after a while, a lone Sound nin came to get them.

“Have fun kids?” Yasuo folded his arms in front of him and waited for them to gather their stuff.

“Babysitting duty again? What trouble did you get into this time?” Ino sneered, quickly buttoning her shirt and skirt.

Yasuo sighed dramatically. “Killed a Heaven Seal survivor on accident. It’s not my fault that the guy didn’t know how to use his demonic looking horns the right way. I told him that he couldn’t use them like a battery ram but did he listen?”

Ino smirked. “Poor Yasuo.” She said in mock concern and they left back to the base.

Loud crashing could be heard from just outside the door to the lab. Ino shot an annoyed glare at the crack of the door at the person making all that racket. She was getting used to the daily temper tantrums Ume threw but it still exasperated her to no ends. The girl was becoming more and more unstable. Kabuto’s mind tricks were wearing down on the last bit of delicate sanity Ume still possessed. Even Ino was backing off. Messing with a psychotic woman wasn’t very fun. Not anymore at least. She saw the way Ume’s brown eyes would widen in sheer fear and panic when Kabuto would close the door on her, or they would take lunch together. Ino didn’t have much of a choice on that but it didn’t stop Ume from thinking that there was something going on between them. She didn’t know how many times she told the frizzy haired girl that she absolutely despised him.  Ino tapped her manicured nail against her clipboard, looking at Kabuto. But he was blissfully ignoring the sounds, concentrating on his computer screen. More glass shattered and Ino slammed down her hand with a loud sigh.

“Are you going to do anything about her Kabuto-sensei?” She bit out, standing from her chair. He shrugged making Ino grit her teeth and clench her fist at her side to keep herself from smacking him. Ino huffed and stalked out of the office to the lab room where Ume was just about to throw another test tube in sink where glass shards already shimmered in an impressive pile.

“What are you doing?” Ino bellowed a traditional hand on her hip. A test tube came flying at her and Ino dodged it with a startled gasp. Bitch actually threw it at her! Ume never did that before.

“I hate you! I know you did it on purpose!” She shrieked, her shoulders visibly rising and falling with her harsh breathing.

“And what did I do this time?” She asked in a bored tone, trying to keep her temper at bay.

“You were the last one to have the prisoner rotation schedule! Where did you put it?”

Ino glared at her and stalked to one of the many file cabinets and yanked the drawer open to get the fat folder from there. “This? In the cabinet labeled ‘Prisoner Rotation’?” She shot at her, slapping the folder down on the shiny lab counter.

Ume didn’t even glance at the folder before she flew across the room with a loud banshee screech. Ino caught Ume’s wrists with a startled gasp, keeping her claws at bay and away from her neck. “I hate you Yamanaka! You can’t have him! He’s mine! Mine!” Ume wasn’t a ninja in any kind of way, but even Ino could feel dark, keen killer intent roll off of the enraged woman. She was even having a hard time keeping Ume from overpowering her. The sounds of the fight finally had Kabuto coming out of the office and into the lab.

“What the hell is going on?!” He yelled. Ino swore at him and his stupid question. The white haired young man wrapped his arms around Ume’s waist and tore her away from Ino. In Ume’s rage, she didn’t even register that it was Kabuto pulling her away. She was screaming like a tormented demon, scratching and kicking to be free. Kabuto managed to place a chakra glowing hand on Ume’s shoulder. Ume stopped all of the sudden like her power switched had been flipped off. Ino watched cautiously as blood began seeping through Ume’s pristine white lab coat. Kabuto let her go and Ume stood in place in mute shock. Her dark red blood was beginning to drip to the floor. Ino’s stomach churned. She knew where Kabuto’s chakra cut Ume. It had to be a small cut, but still, a small cut to that area was very serious if it wasn’t treated right away.

“Are you okay?” Kabuto turned to Ino looking overly concerned. Ino’s sensors spiked in chaotic warning and she screamed when she felt something pierce her arm. She didn’t even know how it happened really. She didn’t even see Ume move, nor did Kabuto. They should have been more vigilant when dealing with her Ino though fuzzily. Her hand shook as she pulled the empty needle from her throbbing hot arm. Her fingers shook so much that it fell to the ground with a soft ping, but she had a good look at what kind if syringe it was before her breath began growing haggard. Kabuto never really told her what those special black syringes were. She had only known that it was some kind of venom that was extracted from Orochimaru’s snakes.

The world around her shook, and the room began spinning like a lopsided top. Her blood began roaring with heat. Tainted heat that made her throat bleed with a scream. What was happening? Her fingers clutched at her arm, trying to calm the searing pain to no avail. Someone, maybe Kabuto had tried to touch her but he was violently pushed away by a white stream of chakra. It drained her coils in an instant and made her sink to her knees. Her insides shuddered; her chakra felt like it was boiling away.

“What did you do?” She faint heard Kabuto yell at Ume through the ringing in her ears. Then there was silence. Dark heaven sent silence.

Sasuke…

Sasuke felt cold and numb the moment Ino’s thought entered his head. It happened so suddenly and softly that he even wondered if he had just imagined it. His cursed seal wasn’t even active. Quickly, he sheathed his sword and pivoted on his heel.

“Sasuke? What are you doing?” Orochimaru stood from his chair in the training area with a frown. He ignored him and activated his seal to get a definite point of where she was. Her mind was frighteningly quiet but didn’t have to follow her thoughts. As soon as he entered the base he felt familiar dark chakra flowing through the narrow passage ways. Alarmed, Sasuke flew down the halls with chakra induced speed arriving seconds later at one of Kabuto’s labs. There was a bleeding girl on the floor, still alive. Kabuto was staring in shock at a huge black flower bud that had established itself through the cracked concrete floors. Sasuke had never seen anything like it but its very presence most defiantly had something to do with Ino.

“What happened?” He boomed at Kabuto. The medic nin didn’t even turn around to acknowledge him. Instead he put a hand to one of the huge black petals in amazement. Sasuke activated his Sharingan, critically looking over the flower bulb. Earth chakra was feeding it but it was also sucking in tainted charka from him and Kabuto. Orochimaru joined them, simply staring quietly at the scene in front of him with a scientific gleam in his eye.

“Where is Ino?” Sasuke demanded.

Orochimaru looked at him. “I would assume you would see with those eyes of yours. She’s in that flower.”

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the Snake Sannin. “Why would be a better question.” He looked at Kabuto.

“Yes Kabuto. Why is she in there?” Orochimaru asked.

Kabuto flushed a little, scratching his head. “Oh well. It was sort of an accident.” He motioned to the bleeding girl on the floor. “Ume had a terrible bout of jealously and Ino was the unfortunate bystander.” He looked to the flower. “What do we do? I’ve never seen anything like this. Have you Lord Orochimaru?”

Orochimaru slowly walked forward, his steps soft and graceful. “I’ve never seen it but I’ve heard of it. The Yamanaka Clan has a very intimate affinity with the Earth. Flowers especially. The main branch had always been women. Unfortunately, Ino’s father, Inoichi broke tradition. Although he wasn’t gifted with the same kind of power his female ancestors, he managed to gain a very strong talent for their mind jutsus.” He slowly began circling the flower. “Women in the Yamanaka Clan enter into a kind of contract with the Earth Spirits when they reach a certain age. Ten I think. They have this special kind of tattoo branded on them made from the ink of a certain kind of secret flower. Under extreme stress and life threatening matters, does the contract come into play. In exchange for protection, the female Yamanaka must give up something.”

“So this flower thing is keeping her alive and protected.” Kabuto nodded. Sasuke didn’t understand but he didn’t say anything. He only stared at the big black flower with a mild trickle of unease. This chakra, he thought walking closer to the flower prison, this chakra feels strange, but familiar. Why would it feel like this? His thoughts rapidly flew through some explanations, finally settling on one that made his blood run chill. He turned his angry glare at Kabuto.

“What kind of cursed seal is this? It doesn’t feel like the others.” He demanded.

Kabuto turned and kneeled next to the bleeding girl, picking up the empty glass syringe with careful fingers, turning it over. Orochimaru was so engrossed with the flower that he failed to see the alarm rise in Kabuto’s eyes. But Sasuke saw and his insides grew cold with dread. “Lord Orochimaru, let me handle this.” Kabuto smoothly suggested. Orochimaru was bracing himself on the wall, in some kind of debilitating pain. “I’ll come and administer your medication in a little while.” Kabuto yelled for a medic outside the door and then it was just the two of them in the room with the flower.

“He’s gone. Now tell me what kind of cursed seal this is.” Sasuke demanded. Kabuto let out a troubled sigh.

“It’s an experimental seal I was working on. It would be just as powerful as the Earth Seal but with a higher rate of survival. All the people I’ve tested it on died not long after the seal settled. I don’t know Ino’s fate just yet.” He gave the slightest wince at Sasuke death glare. “But I’ll do everything in my power to ensure her survival.”

Sasuke eyes flashed red with anger. “You better.” He hissed. “If anything happens to her I will kill you.” Kabuto visibly paled and he nodded in understanding.

A light breeze from the village brought so many smells to his nose. Standing atop a tall poll over looking his home village brought so many memories, both happy and sad. Has it really been three years? Almost. Naruto thought, scanning the scene below him of busy people, both common and ninja alike. He looked up at the Hokage mountain, a grin tugging his lips. So they finally added Old Lady Tsunade’s face to the wall? He was home, he thought, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes. He lifted his chin and spread his arms out to the side, letting the breeze caress him in welcome.

“Naruto? Naruto is that really you?” He smiled at the familiar tone of his teammate. Taking one last breath, the blonde looked down and saw his pink haired teammate, looking at him with shining jade eyes so full of wonder and excitement. “When did you get back?”

He jumped down with learned grace, landing next to his sensei, Jiraiya. “Just now.” He told her standing still until she came closer. “It’s been awhile Sakura.” He chuckled, finding himself giddy with his homecoming.

Sakura’s face softened. “You’re taller than me now aren’t you?” She said, tilting her head back to meet his warm blue eyes. Naruto judged the height difference and smiled.

“Look like it.”

Sakura smiled a bit shyly. “What about me? Do I look more womanly now?” She asked.

Naruto looked her over. “You haven’t change al all.” He finally declared, feeling the answer safe enough. But Sakura’s face drooped and she folded her arms with a pout. Before he could even ask her if she was alright, Konohamaru stepped in. He has grown, Naruto thought. He’s the same age I was when I first met him.

“Naruto!” In a poof of smoke, the young teen turned into one naked, hot looking young woman. Around him, the girls all looked at the sight with open mouths, incredulous, while his leecher teacher drooled in pure male appreciation with a thin line of blood running down his nose. Then it was gone and Konohamaru looked expectantly at Naruto. “How was that? Had some real oomph to it huh?”

Naruto smiled patiently at his minion. “I’m not a kid anymore so don’t use a technique like that.” The boy looked dejected for a second before Naruto fisted his hand. “That jutsu was too weak! Behold, my new and improved sexy jutsu!” He declared hotly and got ready to deliver before he felt the world slap him across the cheek and he went flying to the ground with rocks flying every which way.

“Idiot!” Sakura roared to life, huffing loudly and holding her fist out to him. Behind her, the kids all clung to his perverted teacher in horror and fear. He lay, almost broken in the rut he landed in and Sakura grabbed him by the ankle and lifted him out of his self made ditch. “On the inside you haven’t changed at all!” She yelled, shaking him by the front of his orange and black jacket. “Don’t make me beat you senseless when I’ve only seen you for two minutes after not seeing you at all for two years!” She threatened, still shaking him effortlessly like a rag doll. Naruto was in too much pain and shock to really register what she was saying. All he could think was that Sakura had gotten way way way stronger. “What about my sparkling admiration of you?” As I thought Naruto’ mind buzzed dizzily, Sakura hasn’t changed at all. Actually, he thought that she had become more violent than before.

After Sakura finished mauling him with her newly acquired strength, they left to the Hokage Tower where Granny Tsunade welcomed him and allowed him to tell her about how awesome he had become.

“Well then let’s see those results.” She grinned.

“See them?” Naruto asked in confusion. Like put on a show for her?

“I’d like you to fight against a certain someone. I haven’t given him any missions the past few days so that he could rest up.” She explained her fingers in a steeple with a suspicious smile. He and Sakura exchange looks. Someone knocked at the door and Naruto turned expectantly. In came two tall people whom Sakura recognized instantly.

“Shikamaru, Temari! Look!” Sakura waved them in excitedly. “Who do you think this is?” Naruto turned fully and saw Shikamaru’s calculating gaze run right through him.

“Naruto…hey! If it isn’t Naruto!” Shikamaru exclaimed, lifting his eyebrows in delight.

“Shikamaru!” Naruto ignored the shocked expression on Temari’s face and he and Shikamaru did a long awaited knuckled bump. The chatted with the others watching them in pleasure.

“So you came back!”

“Yeah, this morning.” He said, lacing his fingers behind his head with a grin.

“You don’t look like such an idiot anymore or…how to say it. You’ve changed.” He said, his expression relaxing into the old Shikamaru Naruto remembered. Excitement took too much energy for the Nara. Naruto remembered what they had been talking about and lifted his brows.

“So, my opponent is supposed to be Shikamaru?” He asked. Some challenge, he started to sulk but then Tsunade said it was someone else. Later he and Sakura found out it was Kakashi and that he would be waiting for them in training ground three later on. He sulked after that to. Stupid book is more important than his training results? How insulting.

He and Sakura walked around the village with Shikamaru and Temari and if Kakashi’s insult did t rile him up and make him feel even worse; he found out that he was the only one in the Rookie Nine who was still a Genin. Neji was a freaking Jonin and Gaara…Naruto smiled, his bitter feelings eclipsed by the warm feeling of finding out that Gaara was the new Kazekage. He looked up to the mountain, more determined than ever. He would be Hokage some day! The first step to that at the moment was beating Kakashi. And they did, he and Sakura used Kakashi’s Icha Icha weakness against him and they managed to get the bells easily enough. He was kind of surprised that it was the bell test again, but it was fitting. He and Sakura were new, stronger ninjas now. They were competent enough to be Kakashi’s equal, thus team Kakashi began.

Later that week, after catching up with most of his friends he sat at his favorite ramen haunt with a blushing Hinata. He ran into her a few days ago while meeting up with Kiba and Shino. Her hair had grown longer, and the clothes she wore complemented her short, thin frame.

“Shino made a big fuss about me not recognizing him, but who could with that coat covering his whole face?” Naruto complained, slurping some noodles down with a hearty smack of lips. Hinata stirred her miso ramen delicately, her cheeks still kinda flushed. Maybe she’s sick again, Naruto wondered absently.

“H-He’ll get over it.” She assured him gently, her little foot swinging idly as she ate her noodles. “How are you readjusting? You’ve been gone for a long time.” She asked softly, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. Naruto’s eyes lingered on her profile for some reason.

“It feels like I’ve never left.” He finally said. “Everything is still the same. Almost.” He sighed after gulping down his warm ramen broth. “I’ve seen everyone but one person.” He looked at Hinata, who had a sad little expression on her pale face. “Where is Ino?”

Hinata shrugged one of her small shoulders. “That is a good question Naruto. She’s been gone for almost four months. Shikamaru told me it was a mission, but to be gone for so long…” She trailed off.

Naruto felt his stomach pitch in concern. “Do you think she’s in danger? What does her dad say? What about Shikamaru and Choji? Do they know anything?” He thought back to the last time he saw her. It was only three days before he had to leave and she was sitting on a grassy hill in Team 10’s training grounds. She looked so lost in thought, so sad and tired.

“They don’t really know. No one does except Lady Tsunade.” He heard the hinting tone in her soft, refined voice. He nodded and waited for her to finish her food before walking her to the Hyuga compound gate where three guards eyed him suspiciously. It was not very late, but late none the less and he remembered how strict the paled eyed Hyuga were and he didn’t want Hinata to get in trouble for hanging out with him. She said a quiet goodbye and he walked home alone, his thoughts still on Ino. The moon weakly lit the dark streets. It was too late to talk to the Hokage now, Naruto thought with a little yawn. He had a big day ahead of him so he would just have to wait until morning…