Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Foxhound ❯ It was the one-eyed man! ( Chapter 2 )

Author: Kraken's Ghost

 

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or anything its author owns. I am not making any money off of this. This is a non-profit work of fanfiction.

Story so far: A year and a half after leaving Konoha to train with Jiraiya, Naruto is severely injured during a surprise attack by Akatsuki. Jiraiya rushed him back to the Leaf and his efforts combined with Tsunade and Kakashi were able to save the boy's life. Naruto is still badly crippled, both in body and chakra with an uncertain chance for recovery. Ino followed Jiraiya and Gamabunta to the hospital, where she meets Kakashi.

 

Chap. 2

 

“Alright, now you don't move.”

 

“Hai, hai…”

 

“I'll be back as soon as I tell Sakura and get some flowers. I'll see if I can find another crutch for you while I'm out.”

 

Ino left the strange jounin in a chair next to Naruto's bed as she went to find her rival. She was relieved to note that Naruto wasn't all that bad looking. Well, that was mostly because you couldn't actually see any part of him. The blonde was decked out head to toe in bandages. Only his eyes, mouth, and some of his scalp were exposed. Okay, so he didn't look good but he still didn't look bad. Ino carefully forced the memory of the blonde's mangled body from her mind.

 

`He's alive. He'll be fine. He's alive,' The pretty blonde mentally repeated that to herself as she walked. She glanced up to notice that she'd walked through half the hospital without realizing it.

 

“Where the hell is Sakura?” Ino complained out loud as she stopped at a crossway in the hall, looking left and right for the pink-haired chuunin.

 

“What do you want, Ino-pig?” A feminine voice came from behind her.

 

Ino's eyes took in Sakura as she turned around. Not much had changed about the girl in the last couple years. She still wore her hair short and had the same style of dress she had since the academy. Her rival carried herself with much greater confidence now. It irked Ino to no end that Sakura had grown so much under Tsunade's mentorship. Her own jounin instructor was as lazy as ever, spending more time hanging out and playing games with Shikamaru than he did training her and Chouji. Sakura, on the other hand had passed the first chuunin exam after Naruto left.

 

Something she took great delight in at Ino's expense.

 

Ino hated to lose, but in recent times she found it worst to be left behind. Most of the Rookie 9 plus Gai's team had made chuunin. Kiba, Lee, Naruto, and herself were the only ones who were still genin. Naruto at least had the excuse of being on a training trip the whole time and would likely dominate any exam he took in the future (assuming he recovered.) Kiba demonstrated good skill, but he still had a blustery ego to overcome and that cost him every time. Lee was an odd case. The Hokage had refused to allow him into the exam immediately after his operation to make certain he was fully recovered.

 

The boy was disappointed, but he merely used that as motivation for training. However, he got a nasty surprise in the next two exams when he was beaten by gen-jutsu techniques each time. Lee's tai-jutsu rivaled most jounins', but his weakness to nin-jutsu and gen-jutsu held him back. And worse still, word had gotten out about around amongst the younger Leaf-nins about an incredibly powerful genin who could be dropped like a fly with well placed gen-jutsu. Other genins taking the exams knew what to expect from Lee. He kept doggedly trying, but he had yet to devise a counter-strategy.

 

Ino… She was weak. That was it. She lacked the skill and power to keep up with the others. Of the twelve members of their group (if Sasuke was included), she was at the bottom end of the totem pole. She had one special skill and it had a terrible rate of success in active combat. Like Lee, word had spread about her and everyone that fought her knew to avoid her Shintenshin no Jutsu. She'd been soundly beaten by mediocre opponents in every exam she'd been in. It was really starting to piss her off, but there was little she could do without an instructor who took training seriously.

 

Well, except try to make Sakura prematurely deaf in their arguments.

 

“Finally! Forehead, I've been looking for you everywhere!” Ino exclaimed as she walked up to her friend/rival. Sakura's face reddened in anger at the nickname.

 

“Oh really… What do you want, Pig?” The chuunin asked, one hand on her hip in annoyance.

 

Ino snorted, “Just wanted to let you know your old teammate is here in the hospital.”

 

Sakura's face lit up in unexpected hope.

 

“You… You mean… Sasuke? Where?! What room is he in?!”

 

“What?!” Ino yelled. She's still hung up on him? “No, you pink-haired ditz! I mean Naruto! He's upstairs right now. Didn't the Hokage tell you?”

 

“Oh…” Sakura said, her face noticeably falling. “No, I didn't meet with her today. Naruto's here?”

 

“Yeah…” Ino replied. They stood there for several moments in uncomfortable silence.

 

“Well…?” Ino finally prodded. “Aren't you going to go see him?”

 

“Yeah… I'll see him in awhile. It'll be nice to catch up,” The chuunin replied, glancing down at some of the documents she was holding.

 

She wasn't sure, but Ino took that as a casual dismissal. She had the sudden urge to shake her friend, but she wasn't exactly sure why.

 

“That's it? You'll see him later?” The genin demanded, her voice sharp with disbelief. Sakura gave her a hard look without looking away from the forms.

 

“Yeah, that's it. I'll see him on my rounds anyways. What's your problem, Pig?” The chuunin asked, annoyed with her friend's tone.

 

Ino met her rival's hard look with one that could melt steel or make Shikamaru shudder.

 

“Nothing, really. I just thought you had, you know, loyalty. Guess I was wrong…” She said, crossing her arms over her chest.

 

Sakura stood up straighter, letting her papers hang by her side.

 

“What crawled up your butt? I said I'll see him and I will! I have other duties I have to do… You know, chuunin duties,” She said smirked, making a deliberate dig at the difference in their rank.

 

“Don't give me that shit!” Ino snarled, forcing down her rage at her rival's jab. “A minute ago you were praying Sasuke was back. If it was him, you'd go running to his side in a second like some pathetic groupie. Funny how you're ignoring the friend who's done everything for you, when you'd jump to kiss the traitor's ass in a heartbeat. Nice place to put your loyalties, Sakura!”

 

Sakura's temper boiled. She was three seconds from decking Ino into the wall. What the hell did the Pig know about it anyways?

 

“Why the hell would I go running to see the idiot for some stupid injury he probably did to himself?! Maybe the moron finally pissed off someone better than him and they put the Dead-Last in his place!” The chuunin yelled. She wasn't really thinking about what she was saying and wouldn't have used those words to describe Naruto if she'd been thinking clearly. She did owe him her life after all. Ino's remarks had struck home though. Thinking clearly was the last thing on her mind.

 

Ino's mind flashed to Naruto cheering on Sakura, hearing about his `promise-of-a-lifetime', and finally her conversation with Kakashi and how Naruto might have to give up his dream entirely. That memory was replaced by the one of the blonde's shredded body lying in the sealing room.

 

Dead-Last.

 

A loud crack made both medics and patients alike look over at the two kunoichi. Sakura held a hand to her reddening cheek, as she stared in shock at her friend. Ino was slowly letting her hand slowly drop. Despite the aura of near-violence they'd been radiating, the blonde's slap had taken her completely by surprise. Sakura's mouth hung open as she watched Ino's face shift through a kaleidoscope of emotion. The genin seemed to be struggling to find something foul enough to say to the medic.

 

“…Ungrateful bitch,” Ino finally managed to spat. Her sharp eyes looked downright vicious as she glared at Sakura. Without another word, she turned and stormed away.

 

Two full minutes passed before Sakura finally got her brain working again. She spent a split second pondering Ino's words before the rage hit. She dropped the documents that had been so important moments ago and ran through the halls and out the main lobby after her friend. She caught up to Ino about a block from the hospital, her friend's hair shining in the bright noon sunshine. She grabbed her rival's arm and swung her around, before slamming her into the wall of a nearby building.

 

“What the fuck was that? Do you want a fight, you blonde bimbo? You want a rematch? Answer me, you stupid bitch!” Sakura growled, her grip on Ino's dress tightening. The genin gave her look of icy loathing so venomous that it made Sakura flinch even in her anger. Her hold weakened enough that Ino was able to bring her hands up into the beginnings of her family jutsu.

 

Sakura dropped her rival like she was on fire and flipped backwards a good ten feet, dropping into a stance as she landed. Ino allowed her hands to fall to her sides as soon as Sakura let her go. Somehow, despite their difference in power and rank, Sakura got the distinct feeling she was being looked down on.

 

“I have no respect for someone who doesn't value their comrades,” Ino said. Chouji lying in a hospital bed, smiling at her despite his emancipated form and Shikamaru's bandaged hand briefly passed through her mind. She turned and kept walking away from her rival.

 

“You're not just a dumb little girl anymore, Sakura. You've lost sight of what's really important in life. If I'd known how you'd turn out, I would never have spoken to you back then.”

 

That cut through every bit of Sakura's anger and left her with a cold, stinging sensation in her chest. For all their rivalry and arguments, Ino was the first person ever to befriend her. The blond had given her confidence and companionship during the loneliest part of her life. She knew who was responsible for her growth. If Ino hadn't looked past the snot-nosed cry-baby back then, Sakura would've never made it even to genin. It was a blow to her pride and that was the source of her jabs about their differing strength. But she couldn't deny that even though she was far stronger now, Ino was the one who built the foundation to that strength. The same part of her that treasured their friendship was forever grateful to the girl for acknowledging her back then. That Ino regretted her decision hurt her more than she'd ever allowed herself to believe possible.

 

How like Ino to strip all her anger and pride away with a single sentence…

 

“W-What…? What're you talking about?” Sakura grimaced at the tremor and shock in her voice.

 

“You heard me,” Ino replied, stopping her walk but not turning around.

 

“But… Why? Why're you so mad about all this?” Sakura asked with a little desperation.

 

Ino stayed silent for a long moment, before finally turning to face her friend. Her eyes held a tired coldness to them.

 

“You called him Dead-Last,” She said.

 

“But… I mean, I was ju-“

 

“You called him Dead-Last,” Ino repeated. “Wasn't Sasuke the one who got the idea to call him that? Why the hell would you call him a nickname thought up by a traitor when he's your most loyal comrade?”

 

Sakura didn't say anything. That comment cut deep, but she couldn't make herself react to it. All she cold do was stare.

 

“Dead-Last…” Ino continued. “He's saved both your life and Sasuke's, when neither of you thought he was worth dirt. He proved that he's at least stronger than Neji, who was the number one for his class. He caught the eye of a Legendary Sannin and got the guy to train him. He even tried to bring Sasuke back for you.”

 

Ino crossed the distance between them and stopped a couple feet from the chuunin. Her eyes glittered like pieces of blue-gray crystal in the bright sunlight.

 

“He's been in love with you for years and he'd bring back someone totally unworthy of you, just because you asked him,” She quietly said. “I know all these things about him and I've spoken to him roughly three times since I met him at the academy. You, his teammate and friend, should know that he's better human being than Sasuke will ever be. He'd die for you. For his friends. To protect this village.”

 

Ino leaned her face in till her nose almost brushed Sakura's.

 

“And you call him Dead-Last and say you'll visit later, when you feel like it,” The blonde said in barely a whisper. Sakura flinched at that, guilt welling up despite her confusion at Ino's odd behavior. Hadn't Sasuke himself admitted that Naruto saved them both from Gaara's full power? Hadn't Naruto sworn to bring Sasuke back no matter what? Hadn't he promised her again that he'd keep trying, no matter how long it took, even as he lay in a hospital bed covered in bandages? She only noticed the faint, flowery scent of Ino's perfume when it faded.

 

She looked up. Ino was already walking away again, having decided to let the medic stew in her thoughts. Some part of Sakura couldn't let the girl walk away.

 

“Wait! I don't get it! You don't even know him! Why are you so upset about this? This isn't like you at all!” She yelled. Immediately after she said that, the thought occurred to her that maybe this was exactly like Ino. The girl had a history of finding things other people thought were worthless and staking a personal claim on them. Sakura herself was one of them. Was her rival doing the same thing to Naruto?

 

The memory of Naruto's shredded flesh and the smell of his blood assaulted Ino's mind. The same smell from her dream. She felt her anger replaced by sudden nausea. She wanted a shower.

 

“Sakura…” She said, not turning to face her rival. “Go to back to the hospital. Go to room 451. Look at the person… what's left of the person lying on the bed. Look at him long and hard and think about what you called him. Then remember that you were willing to brush him aside.”

 

Ino disappeared into the crowd of people walking around them without another word.

 

Sakura was left with a sinking feeling of dread.

 

`What's left of him?'

 

***

 

Kakashi awoke from his peaceful doze when he felt a foreign chakra enter the room. With his chakra depleted, it was all he could do to resist finding an empty room and curling up in a bed for a day or two. The thought of what Ino would do to him if she found him like that had sent a shiver of terror up his spine. He'd settled for using the reclining function of the chair next to Naruto's bed. Tsunade had been channeling extra funds to the hospital since her inauguration and it really showed. Naruto's room was large enough for three beds. A large window ran parallel to his bed and there were a couple of these reclining chairs spread across the room. There was even a small couch underneath the window. Yes, Tsunade took her patients seriously, though most of this was probably comfort for anxious visitors.

 

Kakashi shrugged of thoughts of the room's comfortable decor and focused his eye on the visitor.

 

Umino Iruka stood in front of him, staring at the bandage swathed form of his young friend. The Hokage must've thought to tell him the bad news.

 

The scarred chuunin looked far older than his young years as he slowly crossed the room and set a small card on the table next to the bed. A small drawing of a bowl of ramen decorated the front of the gift. Looking down at the boy, he gently ruffled what little of the blonde's hair that was exposed.

 

“How bad is it?” He asked, not drawing his attention from Naruto.

 

Kakashi sighed and slowly gave the chuunin the list of injuries Naruto had suffered. Through it all, the man's expression never changed. It was only the way his eyes twitched every time Kakashi described an injury that his thoughts were betrayed.

 

“Who did this?” He asked when Kakashi trailed off. There was a boiling rage in the man's eyes that would have made the copy-nin flinch had it been directed at him.

 

“I can't tell you,” Kakashi replied. His voice sounded honestly remorseful, as opposed to their argument before the chuunin exam almost two years ago.

 

“Can't or won't, special jounin?” Iruka coldly replied.

 

“Can't, chuunin, and wouldn't even if I could,” Kakashi answered evenly, giving the chuunin a firm stare. “Hokage-sama ordered this to be kept quiet and even if she hadn't, you wouldn't want to go hunting these people. I think Naruto would want you here with him when he wakes up and not lying dead in the woods somewhere.”

 

Iruka's anger had been growing until the copy-nin mentioned Naruto. No, he wouldn't go and get himself killed over this. Naruto would rip him a new one if he died… Though, mentioning the Hokage made his mind click to something else.

 

“His injuries… The Hokage wasn't able to do anything?” The dark-haired man asked.

 

“No,” Kakashi replied, shaking his head. His visible eye was rather mournful. “Even she was hard pressed just to save his life. We're hoping his… tenant may be able to repair him in the long term, but Godaime-sama said that it'll be a long time before it can even get started. His inner coils are really messed up right now. A Hyuuga would be hard pressed to do worse.”

 

“His ten-… Ah, I see,” Iruka said. The fox. “So, it can do something for him?”

 

“Naruto's healing is normally off the scale. Just one of the abilities he gets from his tenant,” The copy-nin informed. He wasn't surprised Iruka knew nothing about what the Kyuubi's powers did for Naruto. It was likely an uncomfortable subject for both ninjas. “Naruto's injuries are a result of certain individuals tampering with the seal. His guest can't control chakra in Naruto's body, so the healing factor is severely limited. Hokage-sama is still hopeful though. It's doubtful the resident will allow its cage to weaken unless it has no choice.”

 

Iruka nodded, his eyes downcast. That demon was the definition of mixed blessing. A long silence stretched out between them, with Kakashi allowing his mind to wander and the teacher staring at his former student. After a few minutes, the chuunin gave Naruto one last hair ruffle and walked to the door. The copy-nin trailed his movements with surprise.

 

“You're leaving?” Kakashi asked, a slight note of surprise in his voice. Iruka glared at him.

 

“Not by choice,” The chuunin said with gritted teeth. Why did it always feel like the great Copy-Ninja Kakashi was looking down on him in some way? “I have a mission out in Wind Country that I have to leave for in twenty minutes. Unlike you, my name doesn't carry much force with the Hokage and I still have to go on it…Though she was kind enough to delay the mission some so I could visit Naruto.”

 

Kakashi held his hands up in a placating manner.

 

“Easy! I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I just thought you'd have to be dragged away from him,” The tall man said. Some of Iruka's anger deflated, but there were still a few embers burning.

 

“Like I said, I don't have any choice. I shouldn't even be doing it, but there's no jounin available,” He grumbled.

 

“Really? What rank is it?” Kakashi asked, his curiosity growing.

 

“A Rank. I'm going with a team to assassinate a missing-nin who's been making trouble. The Sand's almost as hard up for ninjas as we are and the Kazekage asked this as a personal favor. Seems like this guy's running amuck in the outlying villages killing civilians and such,” Iruka replied. The mission wasn't classified, so it wasn't like he couldn't tell Kakashi.

 

“You have back up?” The copy-nin asked, a slight note of concern in his voice. It wasn't that he doubted Iruka's abilities, but taking on an A-Rank criminal by himself was just foolhardy.

 

The schoolteacher made a half grin.

 

“Two jounins and a Hunter-nin. They're the ones that wanted an extra man in case something went wrong. This guy's supposed to have some bizarre Bloodline, but we should be able to handle it,” There was a hint of pride in Iruka's voice. It wasn't often he went on A Ranks and he usually looked forward to them (although this one couldn't have come at a worse time.) The Hokage had mentioned that of the chuunin available, the ANBU had specifically asked for him. It wasn't in him to disappoint someone's confidence in his abilities, but he was a little curious about why they picked a schoolteacher. Still, it was his duty.

 

“Hmm… Be careful though. Bloodline Limits are unpredictable and who knows what other tricks he may have,” Kakashi said seriously, a lifetime of experience reinforcing his words. “I'd offer to take over for you, but I… err…”

 

“What?” Iruka asked. It'd almost be worth the humiliation of Kakashi replacing him if it meant he'd be able to watch over Naruto.

 

“I sorta can't move,” Kakashi replied with a near visible heart popping up by his head. Iruka nearly face-vaulted at the jounin's sunny expression.

 

“What have you done now?” The chuunin asked sarcastically. Kakashi's cheerful eye smile didn't even twitch at the tone.

 

“I burned all my chakra using the Sharingan and a jutsu I haven't mastered,” The jounin replied.

 

Iruka had the urge to whack the copy-nin over the head like one of his students.

 

“What the hell's wrong with you?! You're a jounin for Kami's sake! You're supposed to know your limits!” Iruka roared, his teacher mentality coming to bear. Kakashi stared at him for a moment, before snapping his fingers.

 

“You were Ino-san's teacher, weren't you?” The copy-nin replied.

 

“Yeah, how could you tell?” Iruka replied blankly.

 

Kakashi sweat-dropped.

 

“Uh… never mind.”

 

Iruka got a downright evil look on his face.

 

“Oh ho! So Ino's been here? And you can't move, huh? Hmmm, the great Copy-Cat Kakashi is totally helpless while Yamanaka Ino is hanging around…” Kakashi felt a shiver of fear at the man's wicked expression. Why, oh why, did he taunt the chuunin before? “I think I'll be going now…Got that mission and all. I'll see you later…Maybe even alive.”

 

With that, Iruka walked out the door. His cheerful whistling was a stark contrast to the psychotic grin on his face. Kakashi was left to wonder why a man was so happy to face an A Rank missing-nin instead of being defenseless near Ino. He promptly shut that thought out of his mind, an image of the blonde girl's rage filled face thoroughly reminding him of why he had never gotten married. Well, it's not like a thin girl like her could do much to a high level jounin like himself, right?

 

Right.

 

He still made sure his copy of Icha Icha was well hidden in his side pouch before going back to sleep.

 

***

 

Ino grumbled something rather foul and shifted the weight in her arms. When she'd gotten home, her parents were waiting and they'd gotten into a long argument (they were understandably pissed off that she had left the door open and disappeared while a gigantic toad was running around the city.) Wanting to hurry back to the hospital, she'd done the typical teenager routine and stormed into her room while yelling at the top of her (considerable) lungs. They'd left her alone long enough for her to take a shower, swipe some flowers, and sneak back out. She really didn't want run into Sakura again today, but if she wanted Naruto to have some flowers in his room, she'd have to risk it.

 

The idiot had better appreciate it.

 

“Stupid parents. Stupid Sakura. Stupid… evil assassins who pick on hyper genins,” Ino muttered, running a little low on things to complain about. “Stupid long walk to the hospital.”

 

“Hello, Ino-san!” A cheerful voice called, breaking through her dark thoughts.

 

“Oh… Hello Lee,” Ino politely said as she looked up. The boy dodged his way through the crowd towards her, smiling quite happily. The Rookie 9 and Gai's Team got along well with each other and they would often stop and chat if they saw each other in the street (well, not really chat in Neji and Shino's case, but even they would at least nod a greeting.)

 

“How are you today, Ino-san?” The tai-jutsu specialist asked. Rock Lee had gotten noticeably taller in the last couple years and his face had grown sharper. His green jumpsuit and haircut remained (sadly) the same. He smiled cheerfully, though he looked a little out of breath. Ino's eyes traced to his feet, where the solid packed dirt of the street was noticeably depressed underneath him.

 

Ah, he must've upped his weights again.

 

“I'm okay Lee-san, though I'm feeling kind of tired. Did you boost your training again?” She asked. Ino might be the queen bitch to people who pissed her off (i.e. Sakura, Shikamaru, Chouji, Asuma-sensei, that idiot Kiba, her parents, that one chuunin who looked at her funny last week… well, you get the idea) but she didn't find Lee annoying. He was a little odd and downright creepy in his obsession with all things Gai-related, but he worked his ass off to overcome his weakness and was genuinely friendly to people.

 

“YOSH!! I added another thirty pounds to each leg and promised to do five thousand push-ups if I can't run around the village seventy times!” Lee declared, with his fist clenched in the air and fire blazing in his eyes.

 

`Okay… So he's really odd…And he needs to take some valium,' Ino thought as she watched the genin hoot and cheer while he jogged/hopped/danced in circles around her.

 

“Lee! Calm down!” She yelled as she grabbed the boy's shoulder with her free hand on his next circuit. He cringed for a moment, before relaxing and smiling sheepishly when he realized his fellow genin wasn't going to wallop him.

 

No… Ino was saving that for Gai.

 

“I'm glad you're happy training, but you don't need to make a spectacle out of it,” The blonde said with a friendly half smile.

 

“Ah… Maybe you're right, Ino-san,” Lee replied, though it was obvious he didn't particularly care how big a fool he made of himself. “Um, those are some… interesting flowers you have there. Are you making a delivery?”

 

Ino looked at the strange bouquet in her arms. Ah, that's right.

 

“No, not really. I'm taking them to a friend in the hospital,” She said.

 

“Really? Who?” Lee asked curiously.

 

“Uzumaki Naruto.”

 

***

 

Hatake Kakashi had exactly 0.3 seconds to sense an incoming chakra before the most terrible wailing imaginable awoke him from a sound slumber. He raised his forehead protector from his normal eye and took in the sight of Gai's student Rock Lee blubbering incoherently over Naruto's comatose body while Ino stood in the doorway watching in semi-stunned bemusement. The girl looked like she'd been dragged halfway to the hospital by a lunatic. Kakashi's eye drifted back to Lee and made the logical connection.

 

`Gai, if you don't want to have children I respect that, but that doesn't give you the right to run around Konoha mutating innocent children into evil clones of yourself.'

 

Ino tried to straighten her messy hair out while glaring at the hysterical boy. She gave up when she realized Lee wouldn't notice her even if she was waving around a neon sign that said, “Kakashi rules; Gai drools,” while screaming at the top of her lungs. The genin sighed and walked towards Kakashi's side of the room. The copy-nin watched curiously as she lugged a large object up and set it on the side table, ignoring the wails echoing in the room. Kakashi stared at the vase and its contents before letting out a choked-off laugh.

 

“Ino-san, that's an interesting selection you made,” The jounin said, his eye nearly watering with the effort to restrain his laughter.

 

“What can I say? A unique present for a unique personality…And fashion sense,” Ino replied with a smug look on her face. “Think he'll like it?”

 

“Like it? He may ask you to marry him,” Kakashi replied, while reaching over to straighten a flower that had come loose.

 

Ino's present was a large vase. It was also a heavy vase, as she'd made the mistake of filling it with water before she left her house. It wasn't the vase though that was the source of the jounin's mirth and the stares she'd received walking to the hospital (though Lee could take part of that credit considering he had half-carried her in a mad run to see Naruto.)

 

Orange. Ino had filled the vase with flowers the same gaudy, tacky orange that Naruto loved so much. She had every kind of flower imaginable in the vase with the only similarity being their color. She had wisely (and correctly) guessed that Naruto didn't know a thing about delicate flower arrangements, so she'd thrown something of everything in. Ino figured he'd only see the color and the thought behind it, so it wasn't like she'd have to waste time carefully choosing and arranging the bouquet like she would with a customer. The only thing that Ino had put in it that wasn't orange was a single, medium sized sunflower which rested at the top of the bunch. The whole thing was a terrible eyesore, with the magnolias, daises, and lilies all clashing with each other and the cheery sunflower. Nobody sane would be caught dead even looking at it.

 

Naruto would love it.

 

“Hmm, he might, but I'm not sure I could marry someone with such an awful taste in clothes,” Ino replied, swatting Kakashi's hand away from the vase as she did some last minute arrangements. She turned to take a look at Naruto and saw Lee still crying into the boy's bandaged chest. Sweat-drops appeared on both genin and jounin's heads.

 

“Lee. Lee! LEE!” Ino yelled trying to get his attention. She glanced at Kakashi. The tall man shrugged.

 

“I've been dealing with Gai for years. This really isn't that bad,” The copy-nin replied.

 

Ino grumbled something and walked over to the boy to drag him off their fellow genin. Unfortunately, Lee was a hell of a lot stronger than her and his jumpsuit made it hard to get a grip on him. She finally put him in a full-nelson from behind, all the while listening to his wailing.

 

“Don't worry Naruto! Youth power will save you! Your fires of youth shall never be vanquished! Your spring shall never wane!!”

 

“Dammit Lee! Get off him before you make it worse!”

 

Ino had just managed to pull Lee a few feet form the bed (as Kakashi watched with visible amusement) when a booming voice interrupted them.

 

“Eternal Rival!! How can you sit by idly when your wonderful student has been cut low in the prime of his youth?!”

 

Lee spun like a top towards the newcomer, accidentally throwing Ino across the room.

 

“Oh Gai-sensei!”

 

“Oh Lee!”

 

“Oh God…” Kakashi muttered as he pulled his forehead protector down over his exposed eye again. He would avoid watching the beautiful beasts hug if it killed him. Besides, if he leaned back and acted like he was asleep, maybe they'd leave him alone.

 

Sensei and student were too busy embracing to a sunset background to notice the jounin. Ino wobbly got to her feet and stared at the spectacle in front of her. Was that some sort of gen-jutsu behind them?

 

“Gai-sensei!”

 

“Lee!”

 

“Gai-sensei!”

 

“Le-!”

 

“If you say that one more time, the ANBU will never find your bodies,” Ino growled, the malevolent fire in her eyes not related to youth power in any way. The sunset background shattered with the sound of a record being scratched. Lee and Gai separated and coughed nervously, while avoiding eye contact with the sharp-tongued blond in front of them.

 

“I wish I could copy that,” Kakashi commented as he raised his protector long enough to look at the rare phenomenon of Gai being quiet.

 

Ino only `humphed' and crossed her arms.

 

***

 

“So he's really that bad, huh?” Lee quietly said. Ino nodded, as Kakashi was involved in a low voiced conversation with Gai. Both genins were sitting on the couch, occasionally glancing at the subject of their conversation.

 

“It seems like he won't be able to fight or do anything again. Not even the Hokage can heal him,” She replied sadly.

 

“Oh…” Lee muttered, his head downcast. He felt for Naruto, he really did. The cold despair he'd experienced when Tsunade-sama had told him he'd have to give up being a shinobi wasn't something he'd wish on anyone, let alone the hyper blond who'd cheered for him. Well, if Naruto believed in him when his future was uncertain, then he'd do the same in return. Besides, he'd never known anyone who could get up after being beaten down so often like the fuzzy-haired genin. It was just a matter of time.

 

Ino didn't look too convinced when he voiced his opinion to her.

 

“Yeah, but he doesn't have any muscles left. Even if he does get better, he's set back years. You think he can really recover from that?” She asked.

 

“Of course! You should have seen him after his fight with Sasuke. He bounced back from that and he'll bounce back from this! He's at least as tough as me and I made a full recovery, so don't worry too much about it Ino-san,” Lee replied, giving a more subdued version of his nice guy pose. Ino smiled without any sarcasm at the boy. Maybe she'd take back most of the nasty mental comments she'd made about him earlier.

 

Of course, then he had to go and ruin the mood.

 

“And if Naruto doesn't make a full recovery, then I'll do ten thousand push-ups on my hands! Five for me and an extra five for him!” Lee declared.

 

“Yosh! And if Lee can't do ten thousand hand-stand push-ups, then I'll run to the Hidden Sand and back in two days!” Gai said, jumping to his feet. A large sweat-drop appeared at the side of Kakashi's head as he tried to convince himself that he didn't know this man.

 

“And if Gai-sensei can't make the run in time, I'll carve Naruto's face on the Hokage Monument!” Lee yelled, jumping to his feet and clenching his fist in triumph. Ino covered her face with her hands.

 

“And if Lee is arrested by the ANBU before he can finish, I'll break him out of jail with a boulder tied to my back!” Gai announced.

 

“Gai-sensei!”

 

“Lee!”

 

“Kami-sama…” Ino muttered.

 

***

 

Ino stretched out on the couch in Naruto's hospital room, idly reading a scroll she had picked up from her house earlier. It wasn't very late in the day, still only around three or four, so she didn't feel like going home yet. Gai had mentioned that Tsunade would drop by again early in the evening to do a check-up and Ino wanted to be present and ask the Legendary medic some questions. She glanced up at the clock, to Naruto's still form, and Kakashi silently snoozing in his chair. The only sound was the rustle of paper and the light beeping of the heart monitor.

 

`Ahhhh…' Ino thought, savoring the absence of the bowl-cuts. Lee had wanted to stay, but Kakashi had suggested that he go and alert the rest of their circle to Naruto's present condition. The boy had taken that as a mission and rushed from the room in search of the assorted genin and chuunin. Some of them were probably on missions right now, so it would be awhile before he returned. Gai also had a mission (that he'd held up because he'd taken off when he heard the news) and he'd vacated soon after his prize student left. In the blessed silence that followed their absence, Kakashi had dozed off again. He did wake up long enough to thank Ino when she scrounged up another crutch for him, but he was out again before she even sat back down on the couch.

 

`Chakra depletion is nothing to laugh at,' The blonde thought. She really didn't know, having never totally burned herself out of chakra. Then again, she was usually cautious about it since she lacked the large reserves that people like Kakashi and Naruto seem to have in spades. Well, had in the case of Naruto. Who knew what long term damage had been done to him? Anyway, after seeing Kakashi's exhaustion and the effects it had on him, Ino had been curious enough to dig up a couple of her old scrolls from her academy days. She had done well on the exams, but some of the basic knowledge had slipped over the years as an active genin. She figured refreshing her memory might help her find her niche. Her near-fight earlier with her rival had rubbed at least one point in. She was weaker than everyone else and it was damn time she did something about.

 

Ino envied Sakura and the other chuunins not only for their superior strength and rank, but also because each of them seemed to have something that felt right. Each had a certain style or a combination of abilities and knowledge that fit them perfectly. Sakura had her medical skills and a good talent in gen-jutsu, Neji had the Byakugan and all the Hyuuga techniques, Hinata also bore the Hyuuga Bloodline and had medical skills as well, Ten-ten had her weapons, that Shino guy could do all sorts of things with his bugs, hell her own teammate Shikamaru had his family's jutsu and his powerful mind, and her other teammate Chouji had all of his family skills to work with.

 

Even among those still genin everyone had something that they did well and suited them. Kiba had his dual style of fighting with his dog, Lee knew more advanced tai-jutsu than 9 out of 10 jounins, and even the traitor Sasuke had the Sharingan. The only person who didn't have a specialization besides Ino was Naruto. He didn't excel in tai-jutsu or gen-jutsu, nor did he know many nin-jutsu (though what nin-jutsu he did know were very powerful.) Then again, that also seemed to suit him. Naruto held no specialization, so he played the wild card role very well. His main skill, the Kage Bunshin, granted him high amounts of adaptability and let him go where he was needed in a fight. He had his niche. Ino still didn't have hers.

 

Looking over her scroll and the generalized paths to take as a shinobi, Ino still couldn't find something to suit her. Her family's jutsu was only useful in conjunction with the Nara and Akimichi techniques. Not only did that limit her in a one-on-one fight or a solo mission, but she had never worked well with Shikamaru and Chouji to begin with. Even those two, despite being best friends, didn't work seamlessly together. Part of the problem was that their team had been forced together by their parents, who had all been on the same team in their genin days. Though the InoShikaCho formation had been exceptional for them, it hadn't served their children very well. So her family's skill was a bust. Well…the Shintenshin was out, though there might be more that she'd yet to learn.

 

Ino had a strange feeling there was far more to her family than just that one ability, but her father had never mentioned it nor had he demonstrated any other mental skill. Part of her curiosity was the strange, foreboding dreams she had occasionally. Though she hadn't realized it at the time, the reason she had run to the hospital earlier that morning was the dream she had the night before. Both the wobbly feeling and the smell of blood had actually happened to her. Perhaps it was foresight of some sort. Or maybe not. She could have been seeing the events as they were happening. Naruto would have been attacked sometime while she was asleep after all. What if she could develop her family skill into a full-blown Bloodline Limit?

 

But what could Ino use it with? It's all well and good to be able to brag you have a Bloodline, but unless you had other skills to back it up, the Limit would be useless. The Byakugan was just a built in telescope without the Hyuuga fighting style to back it. Hell, even the Sharingan couldn't actually teach you how to fight, no matter how many skills you copied. So what could she merge with a potential psychic ability?

 

Well, using the Limit with nin-jutsu wouldn't really be helpful unless you were countering your opponent. Tai-jutsu… Well, on the surface it didn't seem like it would mesh well, but if you could somehow read your opponent's mind and anticipate their next move, you could dominate an enemy, even if they were stronger than you. Although tai-jutsu wasn't much good if your body lacked the talent for it. Ino ruefully looked at her thin arms and legs. What good was sensing your opponent's next move if you couldn't move fast enough to dodge it? Even if she was psychic, it wouldn't do a thing against someone like Lee. That left either ninja tools or gen-jutsu. Ino was uncomfortable relying too heavily on a weapon or a tool of some sort. Kiba was an example of over-depending on a tool. He relied on the soldier pills to pull off his best maneuvers with Akimaru and that hadn't gotten him far against Naruto or that Sound-nin he fought. So that left gen-jutsu.

 

Ino stared long and hard at the kanji for `gen' on the scroll in front of her. Perhaps… Gen-jutsu was deadly even to experienced jounins, but usually it was only if someone was caught by the illusion. A psychic ability might be able to entrap an opponent with ease and make the illusion itself far more intense. It would also be a total bitch to break out of. Yes, that felt… right.

 

Ino stood and quietly walked to the cabinets on the far side of the room. It took a little while, but she managed to find a thin brush and an inkwell to use. The genin glanced at Kakashi, who apparently slept with both eyes covered. The jounin hadn't even flinched when passed him. He slept like most ninja, deeply and quickly, but able to rouse themselves at a moment's notice when a threat was detected. Her movements wouldn't disturb him unless she was standing above him with a scalpel or something. Watching the dozing copy-nin, Ino's resolve only increased. Remaining aware of the surrounding environment while sleeping was a little thing to a ninja of Kakashi's caliber, but it was something Ino had yet to even brush. Even if he did have over a decade more experience than her, it was still a reminder that she wasn't at the level she wanted or needed to be at.

 

Ino sat on the couch with her legs out in front of her. She carefully propped the inkwell on the armrest next to her and spread the scroll out on her lap. She found a large blank space after the gen-jutsu section and dunked the brush in the ink. Carefully, she drew out a pentagon and added five lines that ran from each point to the center. She leaned back and blew on the ink to dry it. It wasn't perfect, but it was a reasonable rendition of the cards that gray-haired guy with the glasses had shown them at their first chuunin exam. She frowned slightly. Come to think of it, she hadn't seen him at any of the other exams, even though she knew he had failed again. Ino shrugged, brushing the thought off. It wasn't her business if Four-Eyes quit being a ninja (she hadn't even bothered to learn his name.)

 

Like Four-Eye's cards, she put a careful kanji mark outside each point: nin, gen, tai, tool, and blood. First of course was the gen-jutsu specialty she wanted to develop. She shaded the gen point all the way. Even if she never became a gen-jutsu master, it was good to have a high goal to work towards. Naruto wanted to be Hokage, but even if he never did he could still end up as high as ANBU Commander or something (though she doubted Naruto would ever settle and he'd likely make life hell for whoever got the Hokage title over him.) Even if she never did, it would be good to at least train like she intended to be a master. Ino skipped over tools entirely, and marked about a quarter of the way up on tai and halfway up on nin. As far as she knew, even the best gen-jutsu couldn't totally defeat an opponent, so she would need to have other skills to rely on. She'd never be able to compare even to the other genins of their group in those fields, but they were necessary skills to have if she wanted to survive in the shinobi world. Eyeing the diagram, her attention fell to the point marked `blood.'

 

Ino sighed and drew a small question mark there. Of course, all of this assumed that she even had a Bloodline Limit to awaken. Even if she did, the odds weren't exactly in her favor that it would be what she wanted. Her weird dreams could be just that: weird dreams. They seemed real enough, but did she know for sure? They could just be a side-effect of the Shintenshin, like she originally thought. And of course, if she did have a Bloodline Limit and it was a useful psychic ability, she didn't know any way of awakening it. It was unlikely that she'd get up one day and just have it.

 

Ino set the brush and inkwell on the floor and leaned back further on the couch. What on earth could she do to awaken a Bloodline? If she was honest with herself, any Limit would be welcome, even if it wasn't one she expected. Who could she ask? The Nara and Akimichi clans had family styles of fighting, but they weren't Bloodlines, so she couldn't ask Shikamaru and Chouji's dads for help. Her own father was the same scenario. The Aburame clan had a Bloodline, but it was more like a permanent summoning contract than a Limit. The Hyuuga clan was a good choice, except none of the members had to actually awaken the Byakugan. They all had it, at least to a certain degree. Now the Uchiha clan might have been helpful as the Sharingan needed to be activated (she knew that much from her Sasuke fan-girl days), except the whole lot of them were dead or traitors. …But, speaking of the Sharingan…

 

Ino looked up at the snoozing Kakashi. She weighed the pros and cons of bothering him about this. Despite his lazy attitude, the copy-nin was a busy man normally. Their shared concern over Naruto was the only real connection they had to each other. Ino already had a sensei (even if he sucked at teaching) and Kakashi had other things to attend to. It really wasn't her place to impose on the man. Although… As long as he was down with chakra depletion, he probably wouldn't mind answering a few questions about Bloodlines. Maybe she could even weasel out how he got the Sharingan without being an Uchiha. Well, she'd save that for after he answered her questions, in case it was a sensitive subject (which it probably was considering he'd never told anyone about it.) For now the genin would let him sleep though. The man was exhausted after all and it would be pretty rude of her to wake him up (read: she didn't want to piss him off and never get her questions answered.) Nah, she'd bug Kakashi about it later.

 

Setting her scroll to one side, Ino stood and stretched her back. Looking around the spacey room, the genin idly noted that Tsunade was doing something nice with Konoha's medical program. The room was large, at least twenty by fifteen feet and was well stocked with the usual set of counters, cupboards, sink, and large bathroom (for a hospital anyways.) A large window ran the length of Naruto's bed and he would have great view of the trees outside if he was awake. Naruto's actual bed was one of those fancy mechanical things that could raise, lower, and change shape with the push of a button. It was currently in a slightly raised position, so the boy looked like he was reclining. There was the couch she'd been sitting on (which she discovered was actually a small foldout bed when she dropped her scroll in between the cushions earlier) and also several light-weight, reclining chairs that looked cheap, but seemed to be pretty comfortable.

 

Kakashi's steady slumber implied a moderate level of comfort, at least.

 

There were even a few tasteful modern lamps scattered about that could be used instead of the harsher fluorescent lights. All in all, pretty nice for an ICU. Although, she had yet to see a single nurse come in. Didn't someone so heavily injured need to have constant supervision? The boy had nearly died less than twelve hours ago. If she was on the nursing staff, she'd be pretty damn worried.

 

A frown marred her pretty features as Ino walked to the side of Naruto's bed closest to the window. Damn… What little she could see of his face was white as his hospital sheet. The boy was pale and sweaty, as though suffering a fever. Naruto's face twitched slightly, a faint grimace of pain apparent even through his bandages. Without realizing what she was doing, Ino reached out and brushed at the tufts of hair that stuck out from the gauze strips. The texture surprised her as her fingers ran through the blonde mess. Fuzz-ball indeed. The golden blonde strands felt fuzzy and soft, yet had a subtle coarseness to them. It was oddly familiar, yet weird like it shouldn't be on a human.

 

What the heck did it remind her of?

 

A memory came to her, one of a young cat that she'd brought home once. The kitten's fur had been soft and coarse at the same time, similar to Naruto's (though the boy's felt far less downy.) Fur…Naruto's hair felt like soft animal fur. How strange. The genin gently rubbed a tuft between her thumb and forefinger, liking the feel of it. Though, it did annoy her that a boy had better hair than hers naturally. It suddenly occurred to Ino that she was standing over a near-stranger's bed playing with his hair and anyone could walk in the door.

 

Or worse, Kakashi could wake up.

 

Ino withdrew her hand with a sigh. Not really wanting to sit back down, the genin settled for leaning against the plastic rail on the side of the bed. What the hell was she doing? Why was she even here?

 

`I don't even know you…' The genin thought, staring at the unconscious boy's face. `Why the hell do I even care? I made a fool of myself running around today, fought with my parents and my best friend, and had to deal with the creepy bowl-cut squad all because you decided to come back to town.'

 

The dream had spurred Ino into chasing after Naruto the first time. She'd waited three hours because she had to know if he'd live after seeing how terrible his injuries were. She could have left after leaving Kakashi here as his former-sensei/current-guard, but why didn't she? Why did she get him flowers that she knew he would love? Why did she even come back at all?

 

Dead-Last.

 

Damn, that might be it. Sakura had managed to set that part of Ino's personality off. It burned like hell to see the medic brush off a teammate like he was a mere acquaintance rather than a comrade that had always stood by her. Ino had her problems with Shikamaru and Chouji, but one thing they always did was stick with each other. They might not work well together and they might argue all the time, but they always cared about each other. Even when she thought Shikamaru was a useless bum and Chouji a fat idiot, she never turned her back on them if they were in trouble. To see Sakura act like that… Well, it made her furious to see her dismiss a comrade. It just wasn't right to blow off someone who'd saved your life. Sakura would have run people over in her rush to see Sasuke, even after all the shit he put the Rookie 9 through. And people thought Ino was the shallow one. The genin sighed out loud, relaxing her suddenly clenched hands.

 

…Sakura.

 

Perhaps Sakura herself was part of this little riddle. All her life Ino found things other people ignored or dismissed as useless, cleaned them up, and showed them off. Maybe it was a rebellion from being her parents' little girl or maybe she just liked showing people up. Whatever the reason, every now and then she'd bring home another piece of junk (as her mother called it) and spend weeks fiddling with it. Broken toys, ripped up old scrolls, rusty kunai, stray cats and dogs (though her parents always took those to the Inuzuka vet office/pound after she brought them home)…You name it, she found it and fixed it. Strangely, almost everything thing that caught her eye turned out to be a diamond in the rough.

 

One dog she brought home turned out to be a rare pedigree after she'd given it a bath. Kiba's mother had even paid her a decent fee for the animal when her parents made her give it up. A scroll she cleaned and patched up turned out to have part of a forgotten tai-jutsu style on it. It wasn't useful to her, but she'd shown it to Iruka-sensei and he'd been delighted. He had taken her to show it to the Sandaime and the kind old man had been so impressed with the repair job that he asked her to seriously consider restoration as a side job in the future. The only part of her hobby that she disliked was that almost everything she'd ever fixed up wound up with someone else, either through her parents or because someone else would make better use of it. She wasn't allowed to keep the stray animals, the kunai and scrolls went to other ninja, and the other odds and ends were usually given to her friends. She had finally tried to break this cycle when she met Sakura.

 

Sakura… She'd been Ino's gamble. Just once she had wanted something for herself. The skills she learned at school and from her parents were nice, but they were given to her. Birthday presents, odd gifts, love letters and Valentines… All stuff was just handed to her. Ino had kept looking for something she could play a part in making and keep that for herself. She had hoped it would be Sakura. When Ino first laid eyes on her, she didn't see tears, dirt, and snot… She saw beautiful pale skin, bright green eyes, and sugary-pink hair that she half expected to smell like cotton candy or bubblegum. Sakura was the prettiest flower Ino had ever seen in her life, even when the girl was bawling her eyes out.

 

So Ino had given her a ribbon and became her friend, while spending most of her academy days building the girl's confidence. She wanted Sakura to become even more beautiful and she'd figured getting the girl to believe in herself and become a strong kunoichi would help. Part of her was jubilant that she'd cleaned off Sakura's crusty exterior and revealed just how beautiful she really was for the world to see. Part of Ino wanted to keep the pale girl locked up forever, so nobody would ever steal her away. And another part of her was just happy to have someone close to her. Then Ino got a crush on Sasuke and warbled on about him to his other fan-girls, forgetting that she had someone far more beautiful already. Then Sakura got a crush on Sasuke too. That made Ino nervous, but she didn't really think much of it because she figured only an idiot wouldn't like Sasuke. And then came one of the most painful days in her life. Sakura gave back the ribbon and walked away.

 

Ino hadn't stopped her.

 

It was Sakura's choice after all. Even though it hurt like hell, Ino didn't fight it. Sakura was just one more thing that would never belong to her. The pain from that day still burned her though. Their early rivalry had sprung from Ino's resentment and Sakura's urge to prove herself to Sasuke. The blonde girl had accepted over time that not only was Sakura not hers, but she was never going to be. Unfortunately, Ino's feelings hadn't gone away over the years. They had merely changed from a child's admiration to a teenager's desire. It didn't help that Sakura's beauty grew almost daily. In the end though, it didn't really matter. Sakura had walked away from her and she seriously doubted the girl would suddenly drop to her knees in front of her and declare her undying love. And if Ino was honest with herself, she could admit that it was probably for the best. Sakura could be a real bitch sometimes and having two in the same relationship was just asking for trouble.

 

Ino had stopped her hobby after Sakura, not wanting to go through that pain again ever. But when Sakura had called Naruto `Dead-last' and dismissed him, Ino had felt the urge come back. She could see how the boy would set it off. The fuzz-ball fit her mold almost perfectly.

 

Naruto was the poster boy for diamond in the rough. On the surface he was a near worthless idiot, who made stupid boasts and dumb mistakes. He was rude, ignorant, and had a sense of fashion that would make a clothing designer commit suicide. But that was just the surface. Underneath was a ninja who was insanely dedicated, had raw potential out the ass, and cared a lot about other people. The last part sounded corny, but it was true. Ino hadn't lied when she said Naruto would die for his friends. The boy wouldn't even hesitate. Ino barely knew him, but the hyper genin just seemed like the person to fight for other people and not budge an inch. Underneath his idiotic exterior, Naruto was the embodiment of every major trait a Hokage should have. More than that, he was a good person and would grow into a good man. Very, very few people saw that. Naruto fit the profile for every single thing that Ino had ever claimed. It was perfect.

 

…Except for one detail.

 

Naruto didn't need Ino. Everything else that she had ever fixed up (Sakura especially) would have withered away without her. Each trinket, animal, and person had needed Ino, even if only for a little while. Naruto didn't. The hyper boy was growing just fine without her. Hell, he grew just fine without anyone. He grew better with other people and he treasured them above everything else, but in the end he'd survive and flourish by himself. He was like a tree seedling slowly forcing its way up through pavement. Ino didn't want to interfere with that. She couldn't clean off Naruto's exterior like she had with Sakura and there was nothing about him that she could improve that wouldn't change naturally with age and experience.

 

Something about him still called to her, though. He didn't need her, but if she were brutally honest then maybe that's what she needed. Someone who could be an equal. Neither given to her nor made by her, but still near her. Not necessarily as a boyfriend or a comrade (though she wasn't really adverse to either possibility), but just someone to be around. A friend. Was that why she was here? Did she want that? Did Naruto offer something Shikamaru, Chouji, and Sakura didn't? Ino honestly didn't know.

 

She did want to find out though.

 

Perhaps that was why. Naruto was a possibility, of what she wasn't sure. Maybe she wanted to change this part of her life as much as she wanted to change her fighting style. Maybe…Maybe she wanted to take another gamble. For all she knew, Naruto could wake up the next day, thank her for the flowers, and forget all about her. But maybe he wouldn't. Ino still didn't know much about him, but one thing she did know for certain was that Naruto had a way of surprising the hell out of people.

 

She doubted she'd be an exception.

 

Ino shook her head out of her daze. Glancing up at the clock, she was surprised to note that she had been standing beside the boy for almost forty minutes. It was getting late and she was getting hungry. Not to mention the Hokage would be here soon and she'd better wake Kakashi up.

 

The genin walked around the bed and towards the still sleeping copy-nin. Not surprisingly, the jounin moved almost the instant Ino touched his shoulder. Kakashi lazily stretched for a long moment, before sliding his forehead protector up from his right eye.

 

“Ah… Ino-san. What's the problem?” He drawled out in a relaxed voice.

 

“Nothing. I just thought you might want to be awake when the Hokage shows up,” Ino replied, standing up straight. The jounin nodded.

 

“Yes, I would. Thanks, you probably saved me from getting my head pounded,” Kakashi said with a cheerful, upturned eye.

 

Ino snorted at the sight and walked over towards the bathroom door.

 

“You better not fall asleep again,” She growled.

 

“Hai, hai,” The copy-nin replied, looking around the room to find something to do while he waited for Tsunade to show up.

 

Ino shrugged and closed the door to take care of business. She closed it moments before Kakashi's eye fell on the opened scroll on the couch.

 

A few minutes later, Ino stepped out of the bathroom still drying her hands with a paper towel. She nearly dropped it in surprise when she saw the Copy-Ninja calmly reading through her scroll in his chair. The genin's lip curled in annoyance. Stupid curious jounins.

 

“Hey, you mind not reading that? That happens to be mine, you know,” She snapped, tossing her crumpled paper towel in the garbage can.

 

“Hmm… You say something Ino-san?” Kakashi replied as he glanced up at her.

 

Ino's vision turned red and she cracked her knuckles. She was two seconds from demonstrating just what happened to rude ninjas who snooped through her things, when the door opened.

 

“-be sure to keep the wall patrols alert,” Tsunade was saying to an ANBU behind her. The ANBU replied something inaudible, to which the Hokage nodded, before the ninja walked away. The Godaime opened the door further and walked in with Shizune. She glanced at Kakashi and Ino a moment before moving to Naruto to check him over.

 

“How's he been?” Tsunade asked. Kakashi ignored the question, still glancing over the pilfered scroll.

 

“The same, I guess. I don't really know,” Ino answered when she saw that the copy-nin wasn't going to reply. Tsunade's hands glowed as she ran a diagnostic jutsu over Naruto's prone form.

 

“Did the nurses mention anything?” She asked, not really expecting a change in the boy's condition so soon.

 

“Uh, what nurses?” The genin asked, not really sure how to answer.

 

“The ones that came in every twenty minutes,” Tsunade said, looking up at the girl with a hint of annoyance on her face.

 

Ino glanced over to Kakashi a moment, before looking back at the Godaime. She cautiously answered, “Hokage-sama, no one's come in here all day except for Lee and Gai-san.”

 

“What?” The Sannin asked, rather incredulously. She gave Kakashi a sharp look, “Is this true?”

 

“No one's been in here aside from myself, Ino-san, and those two,” The copy-nin lazily answered. He had taken out a small brush and was writing something on the scroll. He had yet to look up at anyone in the room.

 

Tsunade stared at him for a moment, before storming over to the foot of the bed. It moved a couple feet to the side as she ripped the chart off of it. She glared at it and flipped through several pages. Finally she tore the pages off the metal backing and shoved them into one of her robe's large pockets.

 

“I'll be dealing with this soon,” The Godaime growled, looking every bit the Legendary Sannin infamous for her temper. Shizune gave a little shudder at the thought of what was in store for the nurses who'd deliberately ignored the Kyuubi vessel. Despite the cold shiver crawling up her spine, the dark-haired medic found very little sympathy for such unprofessional conduct. That crap had no place in a hospital, especially in an IC ward.

 

“Uh, Hokage-sama…?” Ino asked hesitantly. Now she knew why Sakura looked like a nervous wreck after some training sessions.

 

“Yes?” Tsunade said, looking over at the slim blonde girl. A hint of familiarity flickered through her eyes. “You're the Yamanakas' girl, right?”

 

“Yeah,” Ino replied, the flare of annoyance at being the daughter of a famous clan killing her nervousness.

 

“What is it?” The Hokage asked, moving over to the monitoring machines next to the bed.

 

“Naruto… Is he going to be…?” The genin asked.

 

Tsunade sighed and glanced over at the smaller blonde.

 

“I assume Kakashi gave you the details?” She said.

 

“Just in general. He couldn't give me the specifics,” Ino replied. The copy-nin in question didn't even blink when his name was mentioned. He was still scribbling something down on the scroll he'd swiped.

 

“I see…” Tsunade stared at the girl, as if sizing her up. Ino shifted a little, but otherwise didn't break eye contact (which took all her willpower considering she was facing a Sannin.) “Alright, I guess you want the full diagnosis, huh? I'll tell you, but only on the condition that you don't let it get out to any of your friends aside from Sakura. She'll find out from reading his chart anyways, so it doesn't really matter.”

 

When Ino nodded, Tsunade gave her the full list of Naruto's injuries, being careful to exclude any direct mention of the Kyuubi. After the medic finished, the genin was silent for several moments in shock over the damage Naruto had taken. She forced her stupor away in favor of asking, “But, Hokage-sama, isn't there anything you can do? I mean, you're a Legendary! You even helped Lee and no one could do anything for him!”

 

A dark look crossed Tsunade's face, but it wasn't one of anger. The tall woman moved to sit on the edge of Naruto's bed, as she pondered what to say.

 

“Naruto's injuries are both better and worse than Lee's were. Lee's life was constantly at risk with the damage to his spine, while Naruto's life isn't in danger from his muscular destruction. On the other hand, Lee could at least walk around. Naruto will be lucky if he can ever lift a pair of chopsticks again. Even more than that, with Lee all I had to do was remove the bone fragments. With Naruto I'd have to rebuild his entire muscle network. That would mean regenerating from scratch. There isn't a known jutsu on the continent that can do that. There is very little I can do for him,” The Legendary medic lectured.

 

Ino frowned a little in thought.

 

“What you can do for him? What's that mean? Somebody else can help him?”

 

“In a sense,” Tsunade muttered, looking towards Naruto's abdomen. Louder, she replied, “Naruto has a certain… ability. His body has an accelerated healing factor that normally repairs virtually all damage to him.”

 

“Really?” Ino said, surprise and hope coming over her face. “A Bloodline Limit? How powerful is it?”

 

Tsunade shook her head as she said, “Not an actual Limit. His body is just… different from other peoples'. As for how powerful it is, when I debriefed and checked him over after Sasuke's defection he mentioned that the Uchiha-brat had rammed his entire hand through his chest with a Chidori. It punctured and burned through his right lung, but he was able to regenerate it entirely in a couple minutes. When I checked the spot, he didn't have scar or any sort of internal damage to that area at all. Even his cells had no traces of wear like normal fast-healing would leave. Not only that, but he didn't have a scar anywhere on his body, even though he'd been on active duty for half a year.”

 

That got not only Ino's attention, but Kakashi's as well. When he'd brought back Naruto, all he had seen were chakra burns all over the boy's body. There wasn't any trace of being directly hit with a Chidori, so he'd assumed that Sasuke had just beaten the crap out of him. That meant he'd vastly under estimated both his students. The Kyuubi's influence on Naruto's body was far greater than he'd originally thought and Sasuke was far worse than he'd dared to think. Kakashi had originally thought that Sasuke was merely being foolish in his blind pursuit of power and had been seduced by Orochimaru's offers, but to use an assassination technique on his closest friend and comrade changed that perspective.

 

`The Chidori can't be used to merely stun or injure an opponent.It can only do criticallevels of damage.'

 

Hadn't that been part of his own lesson to the dark-haired boy when he'd taught him the technique? If Sasuke had used that jutsu on Naruto, it could only be a deliberate attempt to kill. He should've read the goddamn reports instead of foolishly assuming he knew what had happened. Being a genius was good in combat, but it also led to arrogance that led to very foolish mistakes.

 

`You fucked up big time, Hatake,' Kakashi angrily thought to himself. `Not only did you get on the `Poor Little Uchiha' bandwagon, but you also taught him a B Rank assassination technique that he tried to kill his best friend with! And since you assumed Sasuke would never use it against a friend, you never taught Naruto a counter and he nearly got killed because of it. Nice, genius, nice…'

 

While Kakashi was berating himself, Ino was staring at Tsunade with a hopeful expression.

 

“So he'll be up in no time right? If he can regrow a lung, than his muscles should…” The genin trailed off as the Hokage shook her head.

 

“It's not that easy. This is much worse than just a lung. The Chidori wound was externally inflicted damage. Naruto's muscles have atrophied as a side-effect of his healing factor overcompensating for blood production. That changes things,” The Sannin replied.

 

Ino stared at her blankly. She wasn't dumb, but medical talk tended to go over her head. Fortunately, Shizune was listening in right behind her.

 

“What she means is when he was hit with the Chidori, Naruto-kun's body recognized and dealt with the outside threat. Atrophy, on the other hand, is the body strip-mining itself to keep from dying. Naruto-kun's healing factor might not repair the damage if it came from the inside,” The dark-haired medic explained as she put a comforting hand on Ino's shoulder.

 

“Oh…” The genin voice sounded very small and disappointed.

 

“This is assuming his healing factor even works,” Tsunade grumbled. “He seems to heal faster when actively using chakra, so I would normally try outside chakra stimulation with a jutsu or acupuncture, but with his inner coils screwed up he can barely keep enough energy to stay alive let alone regenerate.”

 

“I see,” Ino quietly said. There was long silence that stretched uncomfortably. Tsunade looked towards Naruto again to distract herself when something occurred to her.

 

“Where's his necklace?” She asked (though it came out more like a demand.) Ino watched in confusion as Shizune suddenly moved passed her. Necklace?

 

“Oh, I'm sorry Tsunade-sama. Here it is,” The dark-haired medic said as she pulled out a leather string with a pretty green stone on the end of it. “I took it when Jiraiya-sama brought him in. It was… dirty so I wanted to clean it off before he wore it again.”

 

“Oh… Thank you, Shizune,” Tsunade replied, her anger noticeably calming. Both Ino and Kakashi watched curiously as the medic handed the necklace to the Hokage. Tsunade carefully leaned Naruto's head forward and put the leather string around his neck, before she eased his head back again. Ino tried to picture the boy without the bandages and had to admit the necklace would look good on him. A slight gasp to the side made her look over at the copy-nin.

 

“Hokage-sama, isn't that…?” Kakashi asked, his eye noticeably wider. It had taken him several moments before he recognized the jewelry.

 

“Yes. My grandfather's necklace,” Tsunade answered, still leaning over the boy. Her hand gently stroked the tuft of hair exposed.

 

“Huh? Who's your grandfather?” Ino asked in confusion. It was really annoying to be the only ignorant one here.

 

“The Shodaime. The First Hokage of the Leaf. That stone is rumored to be worth enough to buy several mountains,” Kakashi answered. He gave the Fifth a hard look. “For you to give that to a genin…”

 

“I made a bet with Naruto and I lost,” Tsunade answered in a stiff voice. Her glare would have made Kakashi flinched if his body wasn't moving so sluggishly. “Besides that… It has absolutely nothing to do with you, Hatake-san. Mind your own business.”

 

After a tense moment of silence, Ino asked, “Uh, what was the bet? It must have been something big.”

 

Tsunade turned away from the copy-nin and back to Naruto. For a long moment it seemed like she wouldn't answer. Ino was just about to apologize for being so forward, when the Sannin spoke.

 

“When Jiraiya and Naruto found us on their trip, Naruto was a few days into learning a powerful move called Rasengan. We got into a fight and he tried to use an imperfect version on me. Obviously it failed. I made a bet with him that he couldn't master it in a week. On the seventh day after that, we fought Orochimaru and one of his flunkies. Not only did Naruto pull off a perfect version of the move, but he also did it while saving my life and defeated a special jounin level ninja. I gave the necklace to him afterwards,” Tsunade said. A painful, dark look grew in her eyes. “He certainly earned it.”

 

“A week?!” Kakashi exclaimed, his voice choked with disbelief. “Are you serious?! How were you sure it was a perfect Rasengan?!”

 

Tsunade gave the Copy-Ninja a wicked grin that made the jounin's insides squirm unpleasantly.

 

“It worked on Kabuto just fine,” She smirked, knowing Kakashi himself had a couple rough encounters with the Sound-nin before.

 

“Kabuto…?” The jounin's eye widened even further. Naruto had beaten Kabuto!

 

“Yes, though I'm sorry to say he survived… Barely,” The Hokage answered. “He was able to use chakra to buffer some of the initial impact. It still threw him forty feet into a boulder and even his medical jutsu couldn't entirely heal the damage the Rasengan did to his body. I figured nearly killing a ninja of your caliber meant the move was mastered. Looks like you made the same mistake as old Sarutobi.”

 

Kakashi's head lowered and he stared into his scroll covered lap. He mastered the Rasengan in a week? Damn… He didn't even think to ask Jiraiya about it. Then again, he seemed to have done a lot of not thinking since Team 7 formed. For a genius, he was sloppy. He'd assumed Sasuke was just like him, with the Sharingan and being brilliant at combat. It had taken Sasuke only a day to learn the Chidori, but that wasn't really an accurate measurement. Kakashi has made the seals, powered up the jutsu, and shattered a boulder while Sasuke copied his every move with the Sharingan. Naruto couldn't copy jutsu. Even if he could, the Rasengan itself couldn't be copied. It had no seals and there was specific training that had to be done before it could be used. One had to work hard to learn it. Even Jiraiya-sama had needed several weeks to learn it from his own student. For Naruto to have mastered such a powerful and difficult technique in a week and to have beaten a ninja arguably as strong as the Copy-Ninja himself spoke volumes about the boy's potential.

 

Potential Kakashi had ignored in favor of his other student.

 

Tsunade's words hit home, though the Copy-Ninja gave no external reaction. He had blatantly favored Sasuke over Naruto, even if he did try to get him a different tutor. What's worse, he had the gall to criticize Jiraiya because he had taught the boy a move that was stronger than Sasuke's. Sarutobi had made a similar line of mistakes when he'd favored Orochimaru over Jiraiya, just because the Snake Sannin had better natural talent than the Frog Sannin. Kakashi had repeated that error, even after Sasuke was infected with a seal designed to make someone even more power hungry.

 

The copy-nin let his head droop some more. He hadn't even apologized for it either. Hell, he'd barely talked to Naruto since the chuunin exams. He should've taught both of them equally. Actually, to be fair he should have taught the three of them equally. He had foisted Naruto off on someone else and he'd ignored Sakura entirely. No wonder the two of them had gone off and found other teachers. And Sasuke… Sasuke had taken everything he thought would be useful from the Copy-Ninja, then left to find someone else to give him power.

 

Looking back on it, Kakashi wondered how he'd missed the fact that Sasuke was a selfish brat. Or (more accurately) why he'd ignored that fact.

 

“-of move is it?” Ino's voice dragged Kakashi from his thoughts.

 

“Well, you'd have to ask Jiraiya if you want to know the exact details, but I can tell you it's deadly. Very deadly,” Tsunade answered. “The Yondaime spent three years perfecting it and the effort shows. The Rasengan can be used in several different ways, but its main function is to rip through anyone and anything. It does little surface damage, but internally it shreds and twists like no other jutsu. Only three people have ever learned it and one of them is dead.”

 

“Wow…” Ino said. She'd been right before when she'd assessed the other genin's caliber. Naruto didn't know many moves, but the ones he did know were jaw-dropping. Maybe he could show it to her when he woke up. “What rank is it?”

 

“A Rank,” Tsunade and Kakashi responded at the same time. Both Ino raised her eyebrow, both at the Rank and the stereo effect.

 

“So… Why did Jiraiya-sama teach him the Fourth's technique?” The genin asked. Tsunade's expression darkened again.

 

“I don't know, but probably because Naruto looks like him. Jiraiya taught the Yondaime, so seeing someone with a strong resemblance to him might have inspired him to do it,” The Hokage answered. There was another reason, but not even Jiraiya was certain about it. The records around the time of the Kyuubi's assault were sketchy and it would take a great deal of investigation to know for sure. That was time and effort neither of them had to spare. Still, if it was true…

 

“Well… It's a nice necklace,” Ino said, running out of stuff to say. She didn't know Tsunade on any level, so it was hard to come up with something talk about.

 

“It is,” The Godaime's tone was little more than a whisper. “I'm just glad it serves him like it does me, instead of…”

 

Shizune flinched at that. No one said anything for a long minute as Tsunade shifted her position further up on the bed so she could look at Naruto's face. Her expression held the look of old pain that had never healed. She slowly reached a hand out and rested it on the boy's bandaged forehead.

 

“I… Could you leave us alone for awhile?” Tsunade quietly asked. There was a hint of command in her voice though. Ino blinked. What was going on?

 

“Sure, Hokage-sama,” Kakashi said as he grabbed his crutches and limped out the door. Shizune gently ushered Ino out of the room and closed the door behind her. The last thing the genin saw before it shut was Tsunade leaning over to press her lips to Naruto's bandaged forehead as tears streaked down her face.

 

“…What's that all about?” Ino asked. Shizune sighed and motioned her to move away from the door. They found Kakashi seated on one of the wall-benches a few rooms down. As the genin sat down next to him, she noticed he was looking over the scroll again. How he got it out of the room unrolled and with both hands occupied without crumpling it was a mystery. Shizune glanced up and down the hall to make sure there were no eavesdroppers before she began speaking.

 

“That stone has a dark history to it,” The medic began. Ino and Kakashi looked up, both curious about Tsunade's odd reaction. “You see, it's only served Tsunade-sama. Everyone else who has worn it has died soon afterwards. Supposedly, even the First and the Second were wearing it when they were killed. Tsunade-sama gave it to her little brother and he was brutally murdered by an enemy nin the next day. Later she gave it to her first love and he died days later on a mission. The only other person the stone hasn't harmed is Naruto-kun.”

 

“Oh…” Ino said. What the hell do you say to that? Even Kakashi's eye drifted to the floor. Then again, he used to be an ANBU Captain, so he knew first hand what it was like to lose someone close to him. Speaking of closeness…

 

“Um, not to pry or anything, but what was with…?” Ino trailed off, not really sure how to voice her question.

 

“You mean why Tsunade-sama is so close to Naruto-kun?” Shizune replied, a bit of life coming back to her face. “Well, I've never seen any pictures, but she told me once that Naruto-kun looks almost exactly like her brother. Even more than that, both her brother and her boyfriend dreamed of becoming a Hokage and I'm sure you know Naruto-kun has the same goal. It gives Tsunade something to hold onto, I think. She's been much happier since meeting him.”

 

“Oh, I see,” Ino said. “And Naruto? Sakura told me once he called the Fifth a hag.”

 

Shizune laughed a little, “That's just the way the two of them are. They yell and fight constantly, but I think that's how they like it. Naruto-kun has never had any family his whole life. Tsunade-sama fills the role for him like he does for her. They were both very lonely people and having a family means a great deal to them, even if it isn't one of blood. Besides, after saving each other's lives it would be kind of hard not to grow closer.”

 

“I've seen the Hokage punch Naruto through the floor before. Literally. If they're family, then they're constantly attempting fratricide on each other,” Kakashi commented dryly. Shizune just shrugged, a small smile on her face. Even if the two nearly gave her a heart attack every time they fought, it was still kind of cute to watch.

 

“Well, we should probably leave her alone for awhile. When she gets like this… It's just best not to disturb her. Naruto-kun's close call probably drug up a bunch of old memories on top of scaring her to death,” The medic said, her face losing its cheer. The other two nodded, Kakashi going back to the scroll immediately. His interest finally caught Shizune's attention and she curiously asked, “Hatake-san? What's that you have?”

 

Ino nearly choked. It was bad enough the stinking Copy-Ninja was vandalizing her stuff, she didn't want the Hokage's assistant poking through it too! Who knew if there was some sort of law about Bloodlines or something? Kakashi might not give a shit, but Shizune looked like she took rules seriously.

 

“Oh, just something naughty,” Kakashi cheerfully said, his eye smiling and a little heart floating above his head. Ino nearly fell to the floor. Why did she even bother?

 

Shizune sweat-dropped and said, “Hatake-san! Don't read your smut in a hospital, for Kami's sake! I'll have to tell the Hokage if you keep it up.”

 

Kakashi laughed nervously and rolled the scroll up.

 

“That's not necessary, Shizune-san. I'll be good,” He said with another heart floating up.

 

The medic glared at him, before shaking her head. She looked over to Ino and said, “I'm sorry to leave you with this excuse for a man, but I have to go and check on some other patients. I'll see you two later.”

 

“Okay. Bye Shizune-san!” Ino replied, waving as the medic walked off down the hall. As soon as Shizune was out of sight, the genin gave Kakashi one of her death glares.

 

“If you were writing some sort of porno crap in my scroll…” She trailed off, making a fist. The copy-nin started sweating a bit.

 

“No, no! I was just making a couple notes,” Kakashi said, holding his hands up in defense.

 

“Hmm, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt for now, but if I find out you're lying…” Ino held her hand under the jounin's face and loudly cracked one of fingers.

 

“Hai, hai… I understand,” Kakashi said. Kami-sama, that girl was frightening when she wanted to be. His thoughts were interrupted by his stomach loudly reminding him that not only had he drained all his chakra, but he also hadn't eaten all day.

 

Ino sighed, feeling her stomach grumble in agreement.

 

“Let's go to the cafeteria,” The genin said. She stood and helped the unsteady copy-nin to his feet. “You can answer a couple questions while we eat.”

 

As the genin and jounin made their way down the hall, neither noticed the flash that ducked further into one of the rooms they passed.

 

***

 

“Alright, your setup isn't that bad. I would suggest more nin-jutsu and some tool skills though. I am curious… What's with the question mark on the blood point?”

 

Ino glanced up at Kakashi, amazed that his pork buns were already gone. She herself was only halfway through her miso soup. She'd been idly curious if the man would remove his mask to eat, but it seemed he could ingest food at the speed of sound or something. The two ninjas were sitting at one of the many restaurant styled booths in the large, well lit hospital cafeteria. The place seemed less like an actual cafeteria and more like a large food-court to a mall. It was spacey, clean, and had assorted plants all over the place. There was even a semi-transparent skylight in the ceiling and a large fountain set into one wall. Tsunade was deadly serious when it came to medical funding, it seemed.

 

They had picked a seat in the less crowded area in the middle of the court, where they could watch the fountain or the different food vendors easily. Ino currently had the scroll spread out in front of her on the table, with her soup and a dango sitting off to the side. Kakashi's notes had turned out to be little tidbits of advice that he'd written in the margin all throughout the scroll. They were actually pretty helpful, with advice on what info was good and what parts were faulty or plain bad. He had even jotted down the titles of a couple books with good training techniques, the address to a good second-hand scroll/bookstore that specialized in texts on the ninja arts, and the names of a few chuunin and jounin who might train her in their spare time. For a genin with poor experience, it was a gold mine.

 

“Well… I was thinking about my family's jutsu. You know, the Shintenshin?” Ino said. When Kakashi nodded that he knew of the technique, the genin continued, “So I've been thinking that it's just a family technique but what if it's part of something more? I've had strange dreams ever since I learned the jutsu and they always seem be…I don't know. Not prophetic or anything, but I see things in them that I later experience in real life. Well, usually anyways.”

 

Kakashi's rested his chin on his steepled hands and narrowed his eye a little in thought.

 

“So today? With Naruto?”

 

Ino nodded, her gray eyes darkening in memory.

 

“I… Last night I had a dream. I still can't remember much of it, but I do remember the ground wobbling and the smell of blood,” She said.

 

“Gamabunta's jumping and Naruto's injuries,” Kakashi said, filling in the blanks.

 

Ino continued, “That's what I figured too. Anyways, I was thinking there's a chance I might have some sort of psychic Bloodline Limit. At least, that's what I hope. In all honesty, I'd settle for a Bloodline period, whatever it might be. I was wondering if you knew how to awaken a Limit, seeing as you have a Sharingan and all. If you don't, or if I don't have one, I was wondering if it's possible to create one.”

 

Kakashi allowed his eye to close as he thought out an appropriate response. Not sensing the silence to be uncomfortable, Ino grabbed her dango and took a bite out of it while looking over the notes in her scroll again. There was a comfortable buzz of conversation in the air as assorted medics, patients, and visitors walked about the cafeteria, looking an early dinner. Kakashi's eye finally opened and focused on the girl in front of him. He took in the sight of a slim, pretty blond who looked more like someone who spent their days at the mall than someone who spent their days figuring out how to kill more efficiently. Ino was calmly munching away, nodding her head in agreement to something she was reading. She didn't seem like the type to take being a ninja seriously, but at the same time he'd seen the traces of her determination and fury up close. She was very much like a quieter, smarter Naruto in that respect. If she really did want to do this…

 

“Why do you want a Bloodline Limit so badly? For that matter, why all this?” The Copy-Ninja asked as he gestured to the scroll on the table. “Is it to pass the chuunin exam? To beat Sakura? To prove yourself to a boy? Why?”

 

Ino set what was left of her dango aside and narrowed her eyes at the jounin.

 

“The long and short of it? I'm weak. I'm at the bottom of the pole compared to the rest of the ninjas my age and while I graduated near the top, everyone else has exceeded me. I've got one special move and that barely works unless it's use with the Nara family jutsu. Teamwork is important, but so is being able to stand on your own two feet. I want to get better and stronger. More than that, I want my own niche and place to fit in. This,” She said, pointing at the scroll, “will hopefully be a start to that. A Bloodline would be a powerful asset and would give me a specialty that could be useful. Even without a Limit, maybe with some advanced training I'll be able to at least catch up while I'm looking for a unique style to make my own.”

 

Ino trailed off and watched Kakashi for his reaction. For a long moment he didn't even blink, but a pleased glint seemed to appear in his eye after awhile.

 

“Not a bad argument. Could be better,” The copy-nin casually dodged as Ino chucked a wadded up napkin at him, “but a good start, either way. I do have some knowledge on Bloodline Limits that'll help you, but more than that, I think you need to spend some time researching exactly what you want in a fighting style.”

 

Kakashi reached out and tapped the pentagon on the scroll and said, “Like I said earlier, this is not a bad idea. It needs fine tuning and you shouldn't force yourself to stick to it if you aren't going anywhere, but it's got potential. You understand enough about gen-jutsu to know that you can't over-depend on it. You do need some tai-jutsu training, but with your build it would probably be better to learn more nin-jutsu. I'd say the tai is fine, but mark the nin point up a little more and fill a quarter of the tools point. You'll still need to know how to throw a kunai and what the odd object your opponent just pulled out is.”

 

“I left it blank because I didn't want to over-depend on it like-” Ino started, but was cut off when Kakashi interrupted, “-Like Kiba does. Yes, I'm surprised Kurenai allowed him to do that. A tool is supposed to play a supporting role, not a necessary part of the fighting style. Anyways, you should still have some knowledge in that field. I suggest getting a few weapon and tool books to study. A few scrolls on traps would be helpful too, so you can at least identify them. For tai-jutsu, try to get one of your friends to tutor you in it. I suggest that Lee kid. He's almost as weird as his teacher, but he's powerful as hell. No one knows more tai-jutsu in Konoha than Maito Gai and that shows in his student. Lee's been training under him for only two and a half years and he went from drop-out to near jounin levels in that time. Just don't let them talk you into wearing one of those god-awful spandex suits, okay?”

 

“I'd rather melt my eyes out than be seen in something like that,” Ino deadpanned in a perfectly serious voice. Kakashi replied in an equally serious tone, “Good.”

 

“Anyways,” The jounin continued, “as far as gen-jutsu goes, I'd say buy a bunch of scrolls and books on it and mark all the jutsu you want to learn. Then take them to a gen-jutsu specialist and have them train you in it or tell you if you're looking at the wrong skills. On top of that, regularly do exercises that build stamina and chakra control. Don't expect miracles for your chakra reserves, but definitely plan on perfecting your control. Gen-jutsu doesn't rely on control as heavily as medical jutsu do, but it's far more important than having a lot of raw chakra.”

 

Ino had pulled out a normal pen and was scribbling down additional notes as Kakashi talked. Most of what he was telling her he had already written on the scroll, but it was still helpful to have it in her own words.

 

“Got it. So what about nin-jutsu?” She asked. At that, Kakashi frowned and scratched his chin.

 

“Ironically, the best person to tutor your nin-jutsu would be Naruto,” He said. Ino dropped her pen in surprise.

 

“Really? You're serious?” She asked.

 

Kakashi nodded and continued, “You see, I'm setting this up so your trainers match how far you want to go in a particular field. You want to specialize in gen-jutsu so you'll need a jounin to teach you, while you comrades will be able to improve your nin-jutsu and tai-jutsu, and tools you only need to review. Now of your comrades, the people with the best pure nin-jutsu would either be Naruto or Sasuke, if he hadn't left. Everyone else is specialized in some other area or has their nin-jutsu tied up to their Bloodline. Naruto doesn't know many nin-jutsu, but he learns them fast and is a complete stamina freak. If you wanted someone to help you learn a nin-jutsu skill, those are the best qualities in a tutor. Besides, who knows what kind of skills Jiraiya-sama has taught him since they left?”

 

Ino nodded slowly.

 

“I get it. But he's totally laid up right now. Who'll teach me in the meantime?”

 

Kakashi's eye turned into an upside down “U”. Ino shook her head in disbelief.

 

“You?”

 

“Well, I can't spare too much time since the Hokage always has me on missions, but I have more free time now that I don't have a team anymore. Most weekends I'm here in Konoha so we can go over some jutsu and training exercises if you want. Although, you might want to get Asuma's OK first,” The Copy-ninja said, leaning back in his seat.

 

“Pfft,” Ino rolled her eyes at that one. “Asuma-sensei's a good fighter, but he barely trains us at all. He spends most of his time playing old man games with Shikamaru and tells us to train on our own. I've been yelling at him for years to take us more seriously. He'll be glad just to get away from my nagging.”

 

Kakashi nodded, “Good. We can meet up this Saturday at the training ground near the memorial and I can look over your progress so far.”

 

Ino put a finger to her chin in thought and asked, “Why are you willing to train me? We've met like three times before. Not that I don't appreciate the gesture, but I'm curious.”

 

Kakashi stared down at the genin's unfinished soup for several long moments before saying, “I fucked up.”

 

Ino blinked. That wasn't what she was expecting.

 

“Excuse me?”

 

The copy-nin met her gray eyes with his obsidian gaze.

 

“With my team. I screwed up.”

 

The girl thought about it for a long moment before realizing, “Sasuke.”

 

To her surprise, Kakashi shook his head.

 

“Not just him. I messed up as bad with Naruto. And Sakura to a lesser degree.”

 

Ino asked, “How so? I mean Sasuke turned traitor, but none of us really saw it coming. And both Naruto and Sakura turned out great.”

 

“Under other sensei,” Kakashi replied. He crossed his arms and looked down at the table. “While I gave general training to them all, I focused much more on Sasuke. I made the mistake of just looking at who they were on the outside. Externally, Sasuke was a genius, Sakura was weak, and Naruto a fool. But I didn't follow my own teachings. My first lesson to them was `look underneath the underneath.' If I had bothered to look, I would have seen that Sasuke was power-obsessed and riding a vengeance kick, Sakura had excellent chakra control and medical potential, and Naruto…”

 

As Kakashi's eye closed, Ino filled in the blank.

 

“Naruto is potential incarnate.”

 

The Copy-Ninja gave a painful nod and continued, “At the time all I could see was a genius and two extras, despite Naruto and Sakura's great progress. I actually bragged once that Sasuke was just like me. I even told off that Sand kid for assuming he knew what Sasuke was really like even as I was making the same mistake. It figures I'd be proven wrong by a lunatic. But I didn't realize it then, so I kept training him and teaching him as much advanced jutsu as I knew. I even taught him the only technique I created.”

 

Ino looked a little confused as she asked, “That's it? I mean that bad considering he turned traitor but…”

 

Kakashi shook his head and said, “No, I don't mean I just trained him. I favored him over Naruto… Blatantly.”

 

The blonde's eyes narrowed as she said, “Define blatant.”

 

The jounin sighed and rubbed his eye.

 

“As in he asked me immediately after the chuunin preliminaries for help in the upcoming tournament and I flat out told him `no', that I was going to train Sasuke instead.”

 

Ino raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms as she said, “I have to say Hatake, when you fuck up you do it big.”

 

Kakashi winced a little at the sharp tone. It sucked being in a guilt trip, but it sucked even worse when someone else agreed with your reasoning.

 

“Yeah… I tried to get him another tutor, but-”

 

“He wanted his own sensei to teach him. He saw it as being tossed aside for the umpteenth time for the great Uchiha Sasuke, this time by his own teacher who he'd worked hard to impress. Then he went off on his own and by luck stumbled across a better, stronger teacher. And now it burns you that not only did you basically tell him that he wasn't worth the time to train because Sasuke was better than him and would beat him anyways, but he bounced back and now he's someone else's star pupil and you can't take any credit for it. Am I right?” Ino calmly stated in her calm, yet razor-sharp voice.

 

“Disturbingly correct. Are you sure you're not psychic yet?” Kakashi jested, trying to cover his guilt with a bit of humor. The pain in his eye gave him away though.

 

“And now you want to make that up a little bit by properly teaching someone else?” The sharp blonde continued. Kakashi could only nod.

 

“Hmph. And everyone said he was the idiot of Team 7… Did you even apologize to him about it or congratulate him on beating Neji and that Sand freak and this Kabuuko guy or whatever his name is?” Ino asked. The copy-nin grimaced under his mask and shook his head `no' to all the above.

 

“I think, more than tutoring me, you owe him an apology when he wakes up,” Ino calmly said, the venom in her disappearing. Kakashi blinked and stared at her, surprise evident on his face. She was suddenly letting him off the hook? The girl shrugged at his look and took a sip of her lukewarm soup. “What? It was him you screwed over, not me. It's not like you aren't sorry about it, but I think he'd appreciate it more if you actually told him rather than beat yourself up for it. This whole time he's probably been thinking you've missed your protege more than you missed him.”

 

“And they said Sakura was the smartest of your class,” Kakashi said, chuckling and shaking is head.

 

Ino snorted and replied, “Flattery only gets you so far, Hatake. I'd rather you tell me what you know about Bloodline Limits, since that's the only thing we haven't covered. We can go over the rest on Saturday.”

 

Kakashi looked at her a little surprised and said, “You still want to meet up for training?”

 

“Well duh,” The genin replied, “You may play favorites, but at least you train your students. Asuma-sensei can't even claim that much. Now tell me about the Limits.”

 

The copy-nin nodded, eager to get of the subject of his failure, and began, “Alright. First off, while you may have a hidden Limit that's been forgotten by your family or was added by an external marriage, the odds of it are very low. In this village, only one person in thirty has a Bloodline and we have the largest collection of Limits on the continent. Hidden Bloodlines are even rarer than that. Next, assuming you do have a Limit, it's harder than hell to awaken it. I know the Sharingan awakens during times of battle and great stress, but that might not be the case for yours. There's a range of difficulty when it comes to awakening different Limits.

 

“For instance, every Hyuuga who can use chakra can also use the Byakugan. That's just the way their Bloodline is. In your case, I think some sort of mental disturbance, like an outside force trying to enter your mind, would be your best chance to awaken the Limit. This is, of course, assuming you have one and assuming it's a psychic ability. And the Byakugan brings up another point. Even if you do awaken a Limit, it might not be very powerful, especially if your family hasn't been selectively breeding to strengthen the Bloodline. Every Hyuuga can use the Byakugan, but not every Hyuuga can use it to see chakra opening points, you see? Only a few have the Bloodline that strong. So, you've got quite the crapshoot to work through. Your Bloodline might be weak, you might not be able to awaken it, and you may not have one at all.”

 

Ino sighed. She had known it would be a gamble, but she hadn't known just how bad the odds were. Still, there was one other route.

 

“What about making a Bloodline?” She asked, having no idea if it was safe or even possible, but figuring it wouldn't hurt to ask.

 

Kakashi shook his head as he said, “Not a good idea for two major reasons. One, creating a Limit is a very long process. It takes mastery of seals, rituals, and extensive knowledge on the workings of the human body. Not to mention you need to be about as powerful as a Sannin. The seals have to be balanced properly and need to be thoroughly tested to avoid nasty side effects. The rituals themselves are deadly and even masters get themselves and everyone involved killed half the time because of a tiny error. You also pay a high price for making the Limit. The Bloodline wouldn't go to you, but to your children. In return for your descendants bearing the Limit, your ability to use chakra is virtually destroyed. To get a Limit you either have to be born with it or have it sealed into you the day you are born. That's the first reason.”

 

“And the second?” Ino asked, her hopes at creating a Bloodline already destroyed.

 

“The second reason is no one knows how to make them anymore,” Kakashi said with a cheerful eye smile. The genin rolled her eyes at the man's mood swings. The jounin ignored the not-so-subtle jibe and kept talking. “The only place that information is kept would be in an old clan's scroll vault or in the Scroll of Forbidden Seals that only the Hokage is allowed to access. Either way, the knowledge is pretty much gone in the Leaf. There may be other Hidden Villages that still actively practice Bloodline creation, but not here anymore.”

 

“Shit,” Ino hissed. Well, that sucked. One way had terrible odds and the other way would just destroy her abilities, which was exactly what she didn't want. “Looks like I'll take my chances on unlocking a Bloodline. Even without a Limit to back it up, what do you think of the training plan I've got?”

 

“It's still good,” Kakashi replied. “A Bloodline would only enhance an already sturdy setup. I say you stick to this and try it out for a decent period of time, say a year or so. While you're doing that, keep an eye out for anything that sets off those dreams of yours. They might be the key to unlocking a Limit. Keep the stuff I've written down in mind and you should be fine. Oh, one thing I'd say you need to be careful about is forcing yourself too heavily to match that graph.”

 

“Huh?” Ino said, confusion obvious on her pretty features. “Isn't that the point?”

 

The copy-nin shook his head and replied, “Use that as a guideline, yes, but don't force yourself to fit it if you're unable to. You may not fit the mold at all. Who knows? You might find out that your gen-jutsu talent sucks and you're actually quite skilled at tai-jutsu. If you try to force yourself to fit into something you aren't made for, then you'll only wind up hurting and weakening yourself in the long run. My point being, it's good to have a goal as long as you don't let that limit you.”

 

Ino thought about it for a moment, before nodding her head.

 

“Sounds good, Hatake. I'll keep it in mind.”

 

Kakashi smiled at her, but there was a look of faint disappointment in his eyes. The girl scowled at that.

 

“What's wrong now, you bum? Did I forget to read underneath the underneath?” The genin asked sarcastically, but with little venom in her voice.

 

The Copy-Ninja shook his head and answered, “No, you got exactly what I was saying. I only wish I'd been able to teach my students that lesson.”

 

“Well, Naruto seems to have gotten it pretty solidly. And I hate to burst your little I'm-a-genius-everything-relies-on-me bubble, but Sasuke turning out to be a traitorous asshole instead of a loyal asshole isn't your fault, so whatever he didn't learn from you is on his head. Don't know about Sakura, but who knows what she's thinking?” Ino said with a raised eyebrow as she forced herself to finish the rest of her cool soup before eating what was left of her dango.

 

The jounin in front of her let out a tired sigh and said, “You're right, Ino-san, but I still feel that I could have taught Sasuke better. It seems that all he chose to learn from me were tricks to kill people with. His goal is to become an `Avenger' and he's sacrificed everything to realize that. Ironically, he's only destroyed his growth in the process and he'll never be able to fulfill his ambition. As for Naruto…”

 

Kakashi looked down at the table his arms rested on. He painfully said, “I could never teach that lesson to Naruto because he's known it all along. He could teach me a thing or two about allowing a dream or a goal to hold you down. Part of being the Hokage is being the best at damn near everything, including being a good human being. I have little doubt that he'll succeed in his dream. Well, I had little doubt. With his injuries…”

 

Ino looked up as she swallowed the last bite of her dango.

 

“Speaking of Naruto, I wonder if the Hokage is feeling better? I was going to head back up for awhile before I went home. You coming?” She asked casually, seeming to dismiss the man's guilty air.

 

“No, I'll hang around here for a bit. I'll be spending the night on the couch in his room anyways. I figured I might as well pull guard duty while I'm stuck here,” Kakashi answered.

 

“Alright, I'll head on up then,” Ino said, getting to her feet and grabbing her tray. “We still on for training Saturday?”

 

The Copy-Ninja nodded, his eye still downcast. He jumped in surprise when the blonde punched his arm.

 

“Knock of the gloomy act, will you? Rather than wallow in self-pity, you should be thinking up a decent apology. I hear Iruka-sensei takes Naruto out to a ramen bar all the time, so bribe him with food or something,” Ino said. As she walked off, she gave a flippant, “Later, Hatake”, over her shoulder.

 

Kakashi sighed, though it was less guilt ridden than before. The bitchy blonde had a point, dammit. As he sat there watching the fountain across the room, the copy-nin idly wondered if a jounin's pay would be enough to satisfy Naruto's ramen lust. Then he winced, remembering that Iruka's wallet was always empty whenever the boy was in town.

 

`And I was sooo looking forward to next Icha Icha volume.”

 

***

 

Ino opened the door quietly, just in case the Hokage was still in the room. Peeking her head in, she was surprised to see a dark figure turned away from her. The sun had set while she was getting dinner and no one had bothered to turn the lights on in the room yet. Because of the shadow, she couldn't make out who it was, but the person was definitely smaller than Tsunade. Whoever it was, they were standing next to the bed muttering something over and over.

 

Remembering what Kakashi had said about people being after Naruto, Ino eased her way into the room and shut door behind her. The well oiled hinges and latch didn't make a sound and the person appeared to be too distracted to have noticed the brief glare of light from the hall. The genin inched her way forward as her hand went to the slim kunai she kept hidden in the bandages on her right thigh. You never could be too prepared in a ninja village, after all…

 

As Ino got closer, the figure's muttering became clearer and clearer. It was still hard to make out though and for all she knew it was some sort of bizarre jutsu. She was leaning up to grab the slim figure in a chokehold from behind when she finally caught part of what they were saying.

 

“…Stupid dobe… Stupid dumb-ass… Can't believe you… What'll you do now…? Dumb moron…”

 

Ino blinked. Her eyes were adjusting enough that she could finally make out the circle on the back of the figure's outfit.

 

“Sakura?” There was a sharp gasp as the person whirled around.

 

“Ino?” The genin in question frowned. Something was funny about the way Sakura was speaking. The chuunin's voice was lower and scratchier than normal. Her hand tightened on the kunai, still not sure if it was really her friend standing there. It could be an assassin using a henge to sneak in here. If that was the case, then what the hell did they do to the real Sakura? Even if the two kunoichi fought like alley-cats half the time, if someone hurt her pale friend…

 

“Yeah, it's me. Why the hell are you standing in the dark? And why is your voi- OOF!!”

 

The kunai skittered across the floor as a forceful impact knocked Ino onto her ass. In the twilight dark of the room, it was hard to make out her attacker. Ino tried to get to her feet, only to realize an odd weight was pinning her to the floor. Panic swept through her, the cold adrenaline heightening her senses even as her nerves screamed at her to run.

 

`Nin-jutsu? Gen-jutsu? What the hell did they do to me?' The genin frantically thought.

 

A hitching sound, halfway between a sob and a sniffle broke through Ino's haze of fear. As she took better stock of her surroundings, she realized the weight on her was warm, soft, and smelled of cherry blossoms. Carefully, she moved her arms and wrapped them around what turned out to be a near-hysterical Sakura who was lying most of the way on top of her and sobbing into her chest.

 

`Dammit, you ditz. I nearly cut your throat open and you almost gave me a heart attack. If you weren't so upset I'd whack you on the head.'

 

Ino allowed herself to relax and forced her heart rate down. Slowly, she managed to tug the crying medic up and over to the more comfortable couch, so her ass wasn't resting on the cold floor. She grimly noted that she'd have quite the colorful bruise there tomorrow from all the trauma her posterior had received that day (`Stupid giant toads and stupid crying kunoichi who stand around in the dark.') Sakura hadn't released her hold once and only burrowed deeper into her friend's chest when Ino got them on the couch. It took the genin almost fifteen minutes, but she was able to calm Sakura down enough for her to tell her what happened.

 

Sakura had avoided visiting Naruto's room until the end of her shift just to spite Ino. When she'd finally walked up to the room, she'd paused with her hand on the door handle when she heard the Hokage speaking from inside. She'd used her excellent chakra control to hide her aura and listen in undetected. Fortunately, the ninjas inside the room were too occupied to notice the brief flicker. She'd listened with growing horror as Tsunade listed Naruto's injuries and described his crippled healing factor. She'd been quite impressed when they talked about Naruto's mastery of an A Rank jutsu, but that didn't surprise her much as he was always off learning something new. When the Godaime asked the other ninjas to leave, she'd moved quickly down the hall and into a nearby room to avoid being caught in the act of eavesdropping.

 

As fate would have it, she'd picked a room that was nearby the bench Kakashi picked to sit on. She'd listened in on their conversation with Shizune as the older medic described Naruto and Tsunade's relationship. It hadn't really occurred to her until then, but she'd noticed before that Tsunade kept a framed picture of herself, Jiraiya, Shizune, and Naruto on her desk, presumably from the trip to bring the Sannin back to the Leaf. Sakura had spent the next hour waiting for the Hokage to leave Naruto's room and berating herself on her earlier actions. When Tsunade finally left the room to terrorize the entire nursing staff of the floor about their conduct, Sakura had snuck in and checked Naruto out for herself. She'd managed to ignore the sight of him covered in bandages, but she'd only gotten halfway through a diagnostic jutsu before the results caused her to breakdown. She had no idea how long she'd been standing there until Ino came in.

 

Sakura finished her story and trailed off, relieved that her friend was there to listen to her and wasn't as angry as she's been earlier. She'd loosened her hold a bit, but she refused to let go completely. Ino sighed and ran her hands through Sakura's hair, internally grumbling about pink-haired teases who innocently flaunted how good their hair smelled to girls who used to have a crush on them. She wasn't really upset though. In all honesty, just about all her anger towards Sakura from earlier that day had disappeared when she saw how upset the medic was over her former comrade.

 

“Silly… If you'd listened to me before, you wouldn't be so upset now. Now look at how much you've gotten yourself worked up,” The blonde gently said. Sakura leaned back to stare up at her for a full five seconds before her face crumpled and she started crying again, while burying her face in her rival's shoulder. Ino smacked her forehead with her free hand and sighed, before trying to calm Sakura down again.

 

`Smooth, Yamanaka, smooth.'

 

It was going to be a long night.

 

***

 

Author's Notes:

 

-General:

 

Anyways, as people have likely guessed, I really like odd or rare pairings and my stories reflect that. I've decided on the pairings for Naruto, Ino, and a couple others, but I'm still open for suggestions as far as the other secondary characters go. If you have an idea, please mention it in your review. I'll listen to any opinions, but all the pairings will still be odd or rare (I'm sooo sick of every epic length story being NaruHina SasuSaku ShikaIno NejiTen. Come on! Variety people! Near canon pairings are so dull…) As a further note, the pairings can be anyone, so girl/girl and guy/guy are not out of the question as long as they are unusual (meaning Kakashi/Ebisu or Tsunade/Temari has a chance, while KakaIru and Itachi/Anybody does not.) If you have any suggestions, please mention them!

 

Oh and the action will pick up about two chapters for anyone who's bored brainless with character interactions. I think it will anyways. I may toss in Iruka fighting the missing-nin in the next chapter. Haven't decided yet. Eh…

 

And Gai will be a comic relief throughout this story (hey, he's the canon comic relief, so why not?) Don't worry, he won't be a weakling or anything and I'll try to keep it in character. That kind leads to…

 

OOCness! I'm trying to keep them in character, but hey this is AU and I'm still new, so what can I say? I hope Ino's mad-run to the hospital is explained sufficiently in this chapter (just like I hope I don't need to explain Lee's man-run.) And before anyone rails at me about it, yes Ino used to be in love with Sakura in this story. By this point it's like an old crush; she's still attracted to her, but she's given up on it. I don't know where exactly I'll go with this (but if it does happen, it won't be for another ten-fifteen chapters or so which equals roughly 450-675 pages of story at my current writing rate, so it'll be awhile even if I decide to make something of it), but I will warn you there will be at least one other major shoujo-ai pairing. My profile warns that I like that genre after all, right?

 

-New Jutsu:

 

No new jutsu this time, but a brief interpretation on the Chidori and Rasengan (to further clarify from the conversation between Kakashi/Ino/Tsunade/Shizune in the above chapter.) Most of this is supported by the canon, but my views might be slightly different as Kishimoto doesn't go into detailed description of each jutsu. This is just from the effects I've seen and the dialogue the characters use to describe them.

 

-Chidori (Thousand Bird Chirpings) (B Rank Jutsu) A powerful Lightning Elemental assassination skill designed by Hatake Kakashi (his sole original technique.) Nin-jutsu. Three seals long.

 

The Chidori is a simple, but powerful jutsu that Kakashi developed roughly fifteen years ago. The seals are formed and chakra is gathered into one hand. The chakra is concentrated to the point that it's visible and makes an audible sound. Once formed, the Chidori can be maintained until it impacts the target, allowing the user high levels of maneuverability while performing the jutsu. The chakra makes the hand blade-like and it when the move impacts, the energy is released so it does piercing/slashing damaged as well as causing large scale chakra burns. This move can punch a hole clean through a human, several feet of rock, and at least several inches of steel.

 

This skill is B Ranked because the jutsu has two flaws, one major and one minor. The major flaw is that this move is incomplete. To use the Chidori effectively, the user has to be moving at high speeds and a near straight line… The speed is too fast to see an opponent's counter-attack making it near-suicidal. Having the Sharingan conveniently negates that problem (though using both the Sharingan and Chidori at the same time is draining on the wielder.) The minor flaw is that the Chidori makes a `chi-chi-chi' (bird-chirping) sound while active. Obviously, stealth is impossible. This makes the actual `assassination' part rather difficult if your opponent can hear you coming. Thus, the Chidori is limited to open combat.

 

As a side note: Chidori is also called Raikiri or `Lightning Edge' as Kakashi supposedly cut a lightning bolt in half with it once (how or why he did this is not explained. Neither is how he avoided being fried.)

 

-Rasengan (Spiral Shot) (A Rank Jutsu) A very powerful Wind Elemental combat move designed by the Yondaime (took him three years to develop it.) Nin-jutsu. No seals used.

 

The Rasengan is a move designed to totally obliterate the unlucky soul who finds himself on the receiving end. Chakra is gathered into the palm of one hand and molded so it's spinning and slashing. The chakra is then encased in a double layer of additional chakra. Stable, it looks like a vibrating blue-white sphere of energy about 6 to 9 inches long. Unstable, it's a swirling mass of wind that's about the size of a softball and has loose tendrils of wind flying off of it (and it loses a lot of power when it's unstable.) The Rasengan can be used to stun/moderately injure an opponent (this depends on chakra control) or to destroy them from the inside-out. A stable Rasengan is basically the `dum-dum' bullet from hell. The initial impact area takes only moderate damage, but the gathered wind energy spreads out inside the target, twisting, slashing, and drilling throughout the body all in a spiral formation. It's very painful and quite fatal unless the initial blow is buffered/blocked by chakra somehow. Even so, there's so much energy in the move that it takes a lot of chakra and a very good healing jutsu to recover from it. This move has been proven to be powerful enough to throw a man roughly ten meters into a boulder hard enough to crack it and leave a foot deep trench the whole way (this is in addition to the internal damage caused by the move.) It can also tear out the entire side of a water tower roughly twenty-thirty feet tall. It will also only scratch the forehead of an opponent if it directly impacts a Chidori (cough continuity error cough.)

 

This skill is A Rank, as there is no real weakness to this move except for the difficulty in learning how to perform it right. It takes a lot of chakra control to perform the jutsu properly as there are no seals to mold chakra for you, but having a kage bunshin help you makes it a lot easier. Fortunately, it seems like the Sharingan can't copy this skill (probably due to the chaotic nature of the move and the lack of seals.) There are only three people who have ever learned this skill: The Yondaime, Jiraiya, and Naruto. There may be a connection to being born an innate Wind Element and being able to learn this skill, but it may also be that Jiraiya wouldn't trust it to anyone but the Yondaime's Legacy.

 

As a side note: I think this move would look really cool if it was hammered into the side of a cliff, just to see what would happen. In fact, I'll write that into a later chapter.