Chapter 17

 

My sweat poured in rivulets down my skin as my heart beat sonorous war drums against my chest, working hard to pump the oh-so-important lifeblood throughout my body. My limbs felt energized as I ran with reckless abandon throughout the sleeping streets of Konoha.

Not many in the village were up at this apparently ungodly hour—Shikamaru's words, not mine— but that would soon change. At this point I'd been running at a measured pace for somewhere between an hour and two—it wasn't quite a sprint, but it also wasn't far off— and the expected burn from exertion was nowhere to be seen.

Just a month ago, I'd have been too exhausted to move by this point. A week ago, I'd still have been completely emptied. But now? Now I felt as if I was still warming up, and there seemed to be no end to the well of energy I'd been drawing from.

I didn't know what was happening with my body, but ever since I'd had that… dream —even after a month had passed, I still shuddered a bit just thinking about it— things had been different. Just slightly, but different still.

One didn't even have to look far to see the evidence.

I'd been feeling more and more, and my muscles thrummed with a tireless vigour. Every time I exercised, it took an increasing amount of time to tire me out; Which of course meant that my exercises grew more and more intense, which of course meant… well, my arms and thighs were just a bit bulkier than before.

Well… at first it was just a bit, but my hopes were dashed as more and more time passed. Luckily for me, my body decided to at least be somewhat moderate. I don't know what I would've done if I were to bulk up like some musclehead bodybuilder. Or worse, my body shuddered as I caught myself mid-trip, a Sumo wrestler.

I'd definitely just quit if it came to that.

Even though it wasn't as bad as it could've been, I couldn't help but feel self conscious about it all.

I dashed by a solitary couple as they walked the empty morning streets, and I couldn't help but speed up as they both tracked me with their eyes. Their eyes both roved over my body with stark interest that wasn't broken until I turned into the first alley that I could find.

After the spell was broken and I was out of sight, the woman slapped her apparent husband on the shoulder in a show of absolute hypocrisy that forced a chuckle out of me.

It wasn't lost on me that most of the stream of envy and lust came from her end.

As I turned another corner, back onto the main street of Konoha, I sighed. It was hard to feel self conscious when I drew eyes to my form constantly. Hell, even I found myself staring at my own reflection sometimes.

I had a nice ass, all things considered.

I knew I was being… silly. I knew that objectively speaking, all this newfound oomph my body had was undeniably a good thing by every conceivable metric. I knew that in the eyes of many—perhaps even most— I was more attractive like this. Every point of argument was smashed and broken resolutely.

I knew all of that and still couldn't help but lament at what once was. My thin, lithe—and almost waifish, honestly— figure was long gone, and was likely never to return. I was still undoubtedly feminine—which was the only reason I hadn't immediately quit— but it was in a different way. Not at all what I'd been used to when thinking of beauty.

With a groan, I ducked back into an alley, away from yet another pair of lingering eyes.

It was a lot, okay?

More and more people woke and left their houses as I ran around the village, which meant it was almost time for me to end my session; Normally, I ran until I got tired, but that hadn't happened yet, and didn't seem to be coming anytime soon.

Eventually I came upon a familiar set of bouncing brown buns which swayed as she ran with her team. Tenten, the girl I'd met some time ago. The girl that I hadn't had much time to hang out with, given both of our busy schedules.

I found myself speeding up; I'd already been gaining on them, but now it was a sure thing.

As I caught up to her, I noticed that a little further ahead of her was a head of long brown hair and feelings rife with indignation, and even further ahead were… oh.

Oh.

There really was another one.

A small part of me hoped that she was joking, but he had a hairstyle that looked undeniably like Guy Sensei's, and an energetic exuberance that teetered along the tripartite line of endearing, annoying and confusing.

I found myself slowing as I thought about just… finding another time to talk to her. It didn't have to be now right? I had all the time in the world to make friends.

However, the one in the center of formation—the Hyuuga: Neji, if I remember correctly— had other plans as he glanced back towards me, which in turn caused Tenten to glance backwards.

Her eyebrows rose in recognition as she took in my flowing blonde ponytail and I realized that I no longer had any choice in the matter. I sped up even more, catching up to her within just a few moments.

"Hey," I gave a two-fingered salute in greeting as her teammate adamantly ignored my presence.

"Hey yourself," she panted out between breaths. They must have been running for quite some time, and I wondered if this was typical for her and her team.

So I glanced at her team and asked, "Do this often?"

"Yeah," she said as the sweat bounced off of her brows, "It apparently builds team unity," her tired expression flowed into a grimace thick with exhaustion, "And youth! Whatever that means."

It was a wonder that I hadn't ever seen her on my runs, but I played it up to coincidence. Konoha was very large, after all.

I held back a chuckle, "I wish I could convince my team to go running with me, the company would be nice sometimes."

"Yeah, they're a handful, but they're nice," it was then that the Hyuuga glanced back again, with eyes so pale that reminded me of Hinata's as we held eye contact for just a moment.

The similarities ended there though, even at just a glance I could tell they weren't even remotely alike. Where Hinata was kind, Neji was… decidedly not. Hinata had a warm inviting shell around a fragile, but malleable interior. Neji was very rigid, both within and outwards.

Even without a peek inside, the chill in his gaze was all I needed to see to know that he'd wanted nothing to do with me. But going further than that, once he'd recognized me, he seemed to lump me into a group in his head. A group he had no good feelings for.

At all.

I guess being a Clan Heir wasn't always a good thing.

Tenten quickly retook the reins of the conversation though, "Ah, let me introduce you to my teammates. This is Neji," he huffed and returned his gaze forward, and I couldn't help but be instantly annoyed by the interaction. Tenten wore a sheepish expression as she shrugged.

She shouted "Hey Lee!" which got the attention of both her other teammate and her Sensei—who had definitely noticed my presence— and gestured in the shorter one's direction, "This is Rock Lee."

He momentarily stumbled over his feet as his round eyes roamed my body. While running at this speed, such a slip should've naturally sent him careening to the floor, but his adept control over his body allowed for a flawless recovery as he converted the tumble into an honestly brilliant cartwheel; The entire thing ended up looking as if it were some over the top act, but I knew better.

He was good. Very good.

His black hair shone with the rising light of the morning sun, and he wore a bright green jumpsuit, with orange leg warmers. He was like a picture perfect clone of the Sensei that he shadowed.

He slowed his pace to match mine and Tenten's, "Is this the friend you spoke about Tenten?" Her eyes squinted as she nodded, and he reached a hand out in greeting, deliberately schooling his gaze to look directly into my eyes and no lower. When I responded with my own hand, he grasped it between both of his completely bandaged arms, "Ah! She is quite beautiful! Hello, I am Rock Lee."

His thoughts were filled with his memories of my musculature as he vigorously shook my hand.

I could feel Tenten's annoyance spike as she shook her head. "Nice to meet you," I said as I deftly slipped my hand out of his strong grasp, much to his slight disappointment.

With an energetic nod, he took out a book, and flipped to a specific page before speed reading the contents, and almost word-for-word, "What brings you on this wonderful day!?"

His voice was loud and clear, and I was momentarily taken aback by the fact that… if it wasn't obvious before, I was now entirely sure he was attempting to hit on me. I looked to Tenten for help, but she only shrugged, "Right… he's like that sometimes."

I gave him a shrug of my own, "I run every day."

Both his interest and curiosity spiked as he continued with his… clearly scripted questions, "The weather is nice, yes?"

I glanced at the morning sky; It was clear, and nice enough by most metrics, but I still hesitated with my reply, "…Sure."

Thankfully, Guy Sensei interrupted with his natural booming voice, "Hello again young Ino! I am as pleased as ever to see your youthful growth!"

I couldn't help but slightly wince from his volume alone, "Ah, but it's all thanks to you, Guy Sensei."

He laughed a loud uproarious laugh, that I'm sure woke up a few civilians that were still sleeping, "Not at all! Your youthful efforts bore the vast majority of the load! I merely offered guidance!"

His legs pumped to a halt, and a plume of dust billowed behind him as he slid across the ground with a wide stance, he gave an overly wide smile with teeth that were somehow just as lustrous as his hair. His apprentice—Son? Clone?— Rock Lee mimicked him and they both gave a gleaming smile alongside an exuberant thumbs up.

While sliding.

I blinked slowly. That was… strange.

"Anyway…" I said slowly as we ran, and I forced myself to not think about friction and the fact that they weren't losing momentum at all just wasn't possible.

My mind warred to find the words needed to escape the situation I found myself in, "I just wanted to say hi to Tenten." I looked around with all my senses for inspiration, but in the end found none, "I uhh, need to get going," the lie lamely slipped from my mouth, which judging by Tenten's look of understanding, did not go unnoticed.

Awkward.

"Farewell beautiful miss Ino!" Rock Lee gave a high energy shout, but what really drew a wince from me were his rampant thoughts of protecting me from some unforseen threat. Like I was some fair maiden.

"Uh… yeah. Bye," I waved them off as I sped off with haste… which somehow only increased Rock Lee's clear infatuation.

Guy Sensei took that as an impetus to laugh and yell, "Ha! We won't be outdone by my occasional-pupil! Right team!?"

His feet pumped against the dirt as he vigorously sped after me, overtaking me quickly.

Tenten and the Hyuuga were both annoyed, but Rock Lee, of course, had enough enthusiasm to cover both his teammates, "Yes Sensei! I promise to run at least twice—no, three times as fast as her or I'll do three hundred pushups as punishment!"

"That's the spirit Lee!" came Guy Sensei's booming shout from up ahead.

Inside, I hoped Tenten would forgive me for the extra work she'd have to put in, because that sounded like a challenge.

And I didn't feel like losing.

In the end, I was roped into their pace, and he had to do pushups—as he obviously set the bar far too high. Also, I found out that I could still get tired, all I had to do was sprint with everything I had for half an hour.

At least I had fun.

Yay.

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The air shuddered, and wind whipped against the back of my head as I ducked under a heavy enlarged fist. The ground rumbled and cracked as I rolled away from the followup blow. I bound up from my position on the ground, and slammed a knee into Chouza Sensei's rigid, powerful chin. He grinned through the blow, and I immediately pushed myself off and away, just barely slipping away from the grasp of his Nikudan Bunshin.

"You're improving so quickly," he clicked his tongue in annoyance as he redoubled his efforts in stonewalling me from his thoughts, "You're going to put me out of a job at this rate, Ino."

I raised an eyebrow as I felt his feelings of mischief clearly, "I'm nowhere close to you yet, Sensei," I said and immediately leapt away from where I once stood, only to see a large fist break through the ground with a crackle.

He chased after me, a large hand grabbing at my airborn form, and I forcefully nudged myself downwards. He missed, and I slammed into the ground feet first, only to flip backwards as another pair of hands came crashing through the ground intent on grasping onto my feet.

As my hands touched the ground, I grimaced and twisted my body with a spinning kick. I felt myself make contact, the distinct hard feeling of flesh on flesh, but as I tried to launch myself away I realized that… I couldn't move.

I was stuck.

I glanced back, and saw my leg, up to my shin, stuck inside of a Bunshin's cheek. My leg was ensnared by a soft, greasy embrace that made goosebumps appear all over my skin.

Ew.

I exhaled, and with it came a flow of flame that immediately made the very air hazy. The clone smiled, and yanked me outwards and into the ground. Right into multiple strong hands that squeezed my throat and arms rigidly.

I sighed. Yet another loss, then.

Before long a shadow overcame my prone form, "What did I tell you about using your flames?"

I grumbled in defiance, which caused him to jab me in the small of my back with a finger that poked itself through the concrete under me, "That I shouldn't wait until I want to use them to spawn them?"

At least until I could spontaneously spawn them from the air itself.

"So why did you do just that?" He glared at me questioningly from above my prone form, "If you had your flames surrounding you, my strategy wouldn't have worked at all."

"But Sensei," I remembered the first time I used my flames against Sensei, and I don't think I'd ever forget his pained expression, combined with the potent smell of cooked flesh, "I'm not trying to hurt you."

It was… unpleasant.

He grimaced, "I told you to let me handle the risks. I'm your Sensei, Ino," I looked away as much as I could with my neck held solidly in place, "I don't want you pulling your punches when it matters."

"Fine," I said with a sigh that lingered on my tongue, "Don't blame me if you get hurt again, Sensei."

I didn't need his blame added to my own, I did enough of that myself.

He stared at me with obvious irritation, and I groaned as he released his hold. He waited for me to stand before saying, "Now, again. Don't hold back this time."

This time, and soon as he gave the word, I breathed out a steady, constant stream of white flames that encircled me. The flames crackled and roared like a coiling serpent, primed to strike.

Sensei's expression immediately became wary as soon as he felt the superheated wave of air crash against his form. Once I'd had a capable amount of flames surrounding me, I separated a few globs in a mock Housenka Jutsu and shot them out towards Sensei as I dashed towards him.

As I approached, he evaded every single wick of flame while keeping his eyes solidly on me. It was incredibly surprising to see someone so big be so nimble—

"—Pay attention!"

I blinked, and before I could register the movement his fist was solidly in my gut before he quickly leapt away, the place where he once stood filled with flames.

As I coughed and sputtered, I wrapped my exposed torso with my flames, which surprisingly aided my recovery.

I intensified my focus, and warily watched Sensei as he just stood there, menacingly.

"Those are expensive, you know?"

His eyes gazed directly at my feet, at the flames that sat upon the melted tiles that prevented his clones from traversing the ground directly under me.

I instinctively wanted to physically look down, but I willed myself to abort the action, knowing full well that Sensei wouldn't hesitate to take advantage of it.

Instead of looking down like an idiot, I retorted, "Is that why you've been breaking through them constantly?" He looked around with an underlying feeling of whimsy at the ruined training ground littered with rubble, and smirked.

"Point."

Broken tiles littered the field, and in some patches there remained no tilework at all, and the deep brown soil was left bare to the world. It helped simulate how messy combat often was, apparently.

"I said pay attention!" His voice came from behind me, and I smirked as I both lowered my body and spun with a rotating hook kick. His palm whizzed over my head, as my heel that was ensconced with my flames made contact with his chin. He immediately tried to knee me in my torso, but I caught it with my palms.

Which of course did nothing as I was sent flying regardless.

His hands blurred into motion, "—Doton: Ganchuurou no Jutsu!"

As my feet touched the ground, I bounced backwards and narrowly evaded a pillar of rock that shot up from where I once stood. More and more pillars shot up in an attempt to surround me as I moved, often using Telekinesis to shove myself from side to side when I needed the extra kick.

I ducked under a fist that shattered through the forest of earthy pillars, and rolled away from a pillar that spawned underneath my feet. During my roll I realized that I couldn't escape the myriad of attacks that were incoming, so I immediately put into action something I'd only briefly thought about.

I… well. I exploded.

My skin grew hot as bright flames flowed unimpeded from every single Tenketsu in my body. It lacked any sense of finesse, and it was barely able to be considered a Jutsu.

In the following instant, all sound disappeared and made way for a raging inferno.

All the incoming soil, the numerous Nikudan Bunshin, everything.

It all disappeared in a blazing flash of white.

I was surrounded by a warm white pillar of flame that reached high into the sky, and all around me I felt it as the very soil seemed to crystallize. For a full minute, I laid within my flames. For a full minute, all was right with the world. For a full minute, I was in bliss. Nothing else mattered.

But as all things do, the minute ended, and I dispersed the flames with a forlorn sigh, "Ah, that felt good."

I felt Sensei before I saw him as he approached rapidly. When he arrived, he instantly averted his eyes, "We need to get you some fireproof— or at least fire resistant clothing," I blinked, and looked down expecting to see the purple crop-top sweater combo I'd been wearing, but ended up seeing… nothing instead. I was completely bare. A red tint stained my flawless skin as I flushed from head to toe, "And a new forehead protector."

I covered up as best I could, using… well, fire.

I was surrounded by remnants of green tinted glass—which glinted as it reflected the sun— and copious amounts of dark black slag—at least some of which once made up my forehead protector.

Sensei disappeared, and quickly returned with a full body robe, which I quickly—

"—Wait," he pointed behind me as he continued, "You're still leaking a bit of flames there. Don't burn the robes." I didn't notice, but I did indeed have two constant gouts of pristine white flames that flowed out of my upper back.

Particularly, my shoulders.

"Huh," I murmured absent-mindedly. They were shaped loosely like wings, and they just felt… somehow right. It didn't hurt that they looked nice as well.

I moved them, and they moved just as I'd expected a pair of wings to move, and as I found myself wrapping my body with them, Sensei cleared his throat.

It took effort to get myself to extinguish them, but eventually I did, and I quickly wore the robes as Sensei grimaced, "I'll have to tell people we were testing a new Jutsu."

Sensei's professional attitude helped me get over the whole being-completely-naked thing, just barely. I was very glad that he didn't bring it up at all.

"So, when did you come up with that?"

I shrugged, which was as good an answer as any, and he chuckled as he eyed my surroundings.

"Well, it had damn good results," the complement was unexpected, as was the sudden bout of embarassment that ensued from me. He continued inspecting the field, and I expected him to be at least a tiny bit bitter at the fact that I seemed to have melted a decent portion of his training grounds, but I found nothing of the sort. Just wonder, interest, and intrigue.

"You know, I thought it'd be a while before any of my students invented a new Jutsu," he stated with an emotion that I couldn't immediately place, alongside an inkling of pride, "What are you going to name it?"

I suddenly found myself at a loss. Not once had I thought up a name for any of my ideas, "Ino explosion?" I proffered the first thing that came to mind with a careless shrug, which resulted in a deadpan look from Sensei, "Why not? it's not like anyone else can even do it."

"Fair point…" he begrudgingly nodded, "But still, absolutely not."

It was then that an idea for the name just came to me, "How about… Bakuhou?" Much like the idea itself, it seemed to spawn from nothing, but felt oddly fitting.

He looked at me with a raised eyebrow before asking, "Bakuhou? Phoenix Burst?" I nodded with an expectant gaze, "It's… thematic enough, I guess."

To say I was relieved would be an understatement, because I had nothing else if that didn't stick.

"Anyway, that's enough for today's session," he said with a mischievous smirk, "Wouldn't want you to burn through those as well."

I couldn't help but groan as my fingers rubbed at my temples.

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"Alright," Chouza Sensei stood above us as we huddled together, "You're all ready for your first actual mission," he paused to let that sink in, and I couldn't help but let out an exasperated 'finally'—a sentiment that both my teammates shared, given their minute nods and barely restrained grins.

"We'll be headed to a village near the western border of the Land of Fire, where we're to rendezvous with a merchant by the name of Nagai Norio," he fingered through multiple pages of documents as he spoke, "He will be our client, and from there, we will provide escort to a village in the Land of Iron."

"Why this mission in particular, Sensei?" I asked the question that was on all of our minds.

Sensei allowed a small smile to appear on his face, "Your Sensei has his reasons," and told us absolutely nothing.

Shikamaru grumbled before asking, "When do we leave?"

"Tomorrow," I didn't have much time to be shocked before Sensei continued, "Now, you three have the rest of the day off to do what needs to be done. Dismissed."

He disappeared with an immediate finality that brooked no argument.

We sat in a huddle as we stewed with a mix of anxiety and anticipation, before Chouji asked, "You guys think we're ready?"

Shikamaru shrugged, "We must be, Sensei believes we are."

I nodded with thinly veiled excitement, "I finally get to see outside the walls."

"Yeah," Chouji nodded along with me, "Think of all the food local to Iron that we'll get to sample," Shikamaru and I shared a look before he groaned, "Oh and all the villages we'll pass through!"

"I think you might be disappointed, Chouji," Shikamaru said with an exasperated hint to his drawl, "The village imports a lot in general, so you're unlikely to see much in the way of new stuff."

Chouji didn't lose hope in front of Shikamaru's calm rationale though, "There's a chance."

I giggled, "Yep, you never know."

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I found myself kneeling on the grass, illuminated by the soft light of the moon. Even in darkness, life still buzzed all around me.

"Hey mom," I said in a whisper as I kneeled facing a tombstone, Yamanaka Noriko chiseled deeply into the stone that mimicked my then childish scribble. Someone more skilled copied my penmanship at the time, and chiseled it into the thick stone slab, "I'm sorry for not visiting as much as I should have recently. Training is hell, you know."

I sat in silence for a bit, mulling over all that I wanted to say, "We're having our first real mission tomorrow, I'm a bit nervous, but I'm sure it'll work out."

"Shikamaru's fine. Uncle Shikaku has him working on FuinJutsu stuff," I gave a withered giggle in remembrance, "He tried explaining it to me, but it went right over my head."

"Chouji's doing well too. He's finally losing some of the baby fat. I know I used to give him a hard time about it, which didn't really help," I couldn't fight off the grimace that overcame my face, "Still, he's working on it, begrudgingly."

"Hinata's great by the way, I really wish you could've met her," I gave a forlorn smile, "She's grown so much in the past year, in so many ways. I'm really proud of her."

"I just wish…"

I tapered off into silence, deciding not to put a voice to that thought. I wished she was here. I knew that, she knew that, there was no point digging up old wounds. I went over all my worries, my fears, with a heavy heart.

The sounds of leaves being crunched under soft footfalls landed on my ears as dad approached, "I thought I'd find you here."

I nodded, and I leaned into him as he took a place beside me on the soft grass, "She'd be proud of you, you know."

I felt my Chakra roil beneath my skin as a sizzling tear fell down my face before dissipating off of my chin, "I miss her so much, dad."

"I do too, my little flower," he wrapped me in a hug as he spoke with a tone that was barely a whisper.

I chuckled through blurry eyes, "I'm not little anymore, dad."

"You'll always be my little flower, even after you surpass me," he chastized me as he rubbed the side of my head with light fingertips.

We reminisced over mom, how she always had a smile on her face. How much she loved the flower shop. How she always smelled like lilies in the spring. How much she insisted on everything smelling of flowers. How energetic she was as she bounced from room to room. How serious she could be when she scolded us both.

Dad's embrace deepened over the course of the night, and as I drifted off into sleep, I could've sworn that I felt another pair of arms embrace me from my other side. They felt so nostalgic, so warm and familiar, so kind and loving, that I couldn't help but look through drowsy eyes.

But there was nothing but the wind.