The Mission

“How did the chat with Sasuke go?” 

Leave it to her sensei to be right there when she exits the room, “Like you said it would.” 

If she’s a bit defeated in expression and tone, it’s only because she is! 

She only came here to see Sasuke after Kakashi had overheard her complaining about what happened with Ino to her innocent mother who had made the mistake of asking why she was in a bad mood when they were in a place too public for such a talk to be had in a civil manner. Kakashi’s advice was to talk to Sasuke about it because he went through something similar with Naruto recently and well…that didn’t work out the way she wanted it to, that’s for certain! 

“I told you that being interested in an omega ninja would never be easy.” he is smooth enough when reminding her of what was said in the past, “Especially one as independent and strong willed as Ino—you really ought to expect that she will do things on impulse from time to time without telling you anything of it beforehand. Look at who her brother is; it’s safe to say that she’s not going to be much different from him on that end.” 

“It couldn’t have killed her to at least try to find me before doing anything that stupid!” 

“It couldn’t have, you’re right, but she wasn’t thinking about herself in that moment. She was only thinking of her brother and how to bring him back.”

Which is annoying because in her eyes, Deidara wasn’t ever worth such consideration to begin with. 

When she says nothing to this, all Kakashi can do is remind her, “She won’t be able to tell you all the time whenever she is about to do something dangerous or stupid. All you can do is trust her enough not to do it or if she does, then have enough in her strength and intelligence to come out of it okay.” 

She doesn’t say much to this either leading him to try another tactic all together, “After I got to know Iruka better, I would always worry whenever he did take on a mission or a job that involved doing anything out of the village. I tried to get myself involved, tried to control the outcome to the best of my ability, and it never worked because Iruka was usually able to handle things just fine on his own or I wasn’t able to be around him because that’s the life of a ninja: you cannot choose when and how you will get to be by someone you like and want to keep safe. You have to learn to accept that if you do want to make this girl your mate. If you don’t then that won’t ever happen.” 

“How did you get over it then?” 

“I got over it by having more confidence in Iruka and his capabilities as a ninja." 

She thinks he could be onto something, though she is uncertain, “I know what Ino did was stupid and reckless, but at least she told you what happened instead of hiding it or trying to downplay the situation. If I were you, I’d be happy she’s safe and sound instead of trapped in some sort of Sharingan trick like Sasuke has been.” 

“…I guess you’re right. I have to go, sensei. Keep an eye on Sasuke for Naruto, okay? I don’t want to deal with any drama involving them.” 

He thinks he’s gotten through to her, but he can never be too certain, “I will. Have a nice day, Sakura.” 

She will…after she takes some more time to cool off and think over everything she’s been told. 

When Naruto and Lee are alone on a wooded trail, he tells him it bluntly, “The day you left the village…the morning hours before you left, I should say, Ino was on her way to see Hinata and when she got close, she smelled Itachi’s scent in the air. She went after him alone, unarmed, with only Hinata by her side.” 

“What! Is she alive even? Stupid old sage, why didn’t he tell me—”

“She’s alive, there’s no need to worry about that.” Lee is quick to reassure him with raised hands, “She just did something very stupid, that’s all.” 

“What did she do?” 

“…She used her jutsu to take over his body and he forced her out of it. Had it not been for Guy sensei coming over to them in time, Itachi could have done something horrible to her and Hinata.” 

Now Naruto is a bit confused, “Did he do something to actually hurt her or something? Because you’re acting like she’s severely injured and it doesn’t sound like she was.” 

He shakes his head, his eyes on the ground with his brows furrowed, “She wasn’t—what she did with trying to fight him alone, unarmed, was incredibly stupid and reckless. She keeps trying to tell me that Itachi forced her brother to leave the village, but I don’t know if I believe that.” 

The orange clad omega is going to have to disagree with him on this, “If Sasuke believes his brother took him by force, then I have to agree with him on it. There’s no way anyone who hated Itachi that much would leave with him willingly.” 

He can tell Lee is not sold on this idea and his eyes are full of the doubt his words convey, “I don’t believe that though—Itachi is a ruthless criminal who got his own brother hospitalized and tried to kidnap you. If he did kidnap Deidara and force him to mate him, then why bother to keep any promise to not harm or use his Sharingan on Ino? I’m sure he’s had to have made those same promises to his family and yet he still killed them anyway, he still hurt Sasuke. Why keep a promise to someone he supposedly kidnapped when he wouldn’t do the same with his own brother?” 

Okay that is a good point…that does nothing to stop the shock coursing through him when he focuses on a small detail he had learned when he had first been approached by the elder Uchiha, “So it’s true then? Him and Deidara are mated like he says they are? Did he tell her it was consensual?” 

“He didn’t just say that,” Lee looks around before whispering in his ear, “He showed her a mark from him on his neck that Ino recognized as his right away.” 

“He had a mark from Deidara and he showed it to her?” 

His friend nods and it leaves Naruto in a whirlwind of confusion, “He did. Ino told me she saw it and she knows it’s a mark from her brother, but she still thinks he was forced into it somehow.” 

“You don’t think that way, do you?” 

Lee shook his head, “I have no real reason to. All of it is too strange to me…like, he can break his word to so many people, but to Deidara, the person she’s convinced he kidnapped and forced into a mating, he can? I’m sorry, but people who do that are not likely to respect their victim’s wishes. That’s why I can’t believe he was forced into it.” 

Naruto has to argue with him here because, “You have to be wrong—there’s no way there was an actual on his neck from Itachi that wasn’t brought about by Sharingan or manipulation!” 

“How do we know it would’ve been one of those two things? Deidara is a criminal and he’s had plenty of chances to be away from Itachi—” 

“It sounds like you’re trying to blame Deidara for what he did.” 

Lee is left stammering after this because he cannot believe what he’s hearing now, “Me…trying to blame him for this? Pointing out that he’s a criminal who’s had many chances to run away and get help isn’t blaming him.” 

Naruto doesn’t back down from his position, “It is, though! How do you know he could’ve ran away? How do you know Deidara isn’t being manipulated or forced into anything? Just admit it—you feel comfortable criticizing and blaming him for everything because that’s what your clan has done ever since he left!” 

He knows he has a lot of internalized sexism to deal with. Anyone growing up in his home would, but with Guy sensei’s help, he’s deal with a lot of it and let it go. He knows he has a lot more to go through—he’d like to think he has done enough to set it aside that internalized sexism and come to a clear, rational conclusion on Deidara. 

Maybe he hasn’t, though it doesn’t change his plans regardless, “You’re right, maybe I am. I have a lot of sexist views to unpack and I know that despite my best efforts, it won’t go away overnight…but Deidara’s case doesn’t add up to me. Maybe if I heard things from his point of view, I could come to a better conclusion…until then, I can’t say anything I’ve seen or heard about him has done much to make me not believe he’s complicit in this somehow.” 

Naruto can admit to being impressed with this…though he does wonder how they could make such a thing happen, “Do you wanna try to find him or something? Because Ino would wanna kill you if you tried to do that without telling her.” 

“Actually…” he sighs and runs a hand through his shiny black hair, “Naruto, I think Ino could be planning something without telling anyone.” 

“What do you mean?” Naruto is now concerned because he has a feeling this could go badly, “What proof do you have of it?” 

“She’s been a lot more introverted lately. I hardly ever see her and Hinata has said that she’s never at the flower shop anymore. Then Neji told me that he’s seen her going to areas further away from the village, trying to be sneaky about it, and he thinks she could be trying to carve out a path to run away from the village in general to try to find Deidara.” 

Naruto’s eyes widen to this, “Have you asked her about that?” 

He shook his head, admitting in a saddened tone, “I haven’t spoken to her ever since she told me about the incident with Itachi. I think she didn’t like it when I couldn’t say I thought her brother was completely innocent.” 

Ah…well…that would do it for her. Anyone in the village would know this, but he supposes maybe Lee thought she wouldn’t.

Oh well, nothing they can do about it now!

He would approach her himself, but he knows he will mess things up. So he won't push their luck: all they can do is try to talk to Sasuke about it and see whether he'd be able to come up with a good idea for them regarding her, "Gee...I didn't know things got so bad. I know I shouldn't say anything to her because she will get mad at me when I do say something that will make things worse. Maybe Sasuke could help us with this: he would know how to better handle this situation than anyone else I know...and I did tell him I wouldn't do stuff like this without telling him first ever again so let's do something that allows me to keep my promise instead of breaking it." 

“Yeah, I think Sasuke would be the one to go to…I’d like to go to Guy sensei about this, but I don’t want Ino to hate me either. I’d rather not lose one of my only omega friends, you know?” 

“I hear ya on that one!” Naruto does feel as though he’s doing something right with this, though he does feel a bit more comfortable with another suggestion, “I think we should tell Sakura too. She does want to date her and she’d kill me if I didn’t say a word about this to her.” 

“Are you sure she won’t do something that would make Ino mad?” 

“I can’t guarantee anything…all I can guarantee is that she’d have my head if she knew we did this without telling her and trust me, I do not want to be on the receiving end of her wrath!” 

He can agree to this…though he is wondering, “Should I involve Neji in this? She is going through than an area he is familiar with and I think he’d be of great help to us.” 

Naruto rejects this notion for a simple reason: “Why Neji? You know I don’t like the guy after what he did to you. How can you want to work with him?” 

Lee insists on something he never thought he would ever see him do, “Neji is a changed person, though! He’s apologized to me and he treats me the same way he does with Tenten, which is all I ever wanted from him. I know you may not agree with it, but I think he’d be of great help to us in devising a strategy to help us stop Ino from doing stupid!” 

The blonde omega is stubborn on his rejection, not wanting to have a thing to do with him if he can avoid it, “Nope. Nu-uh. No way. I’d rather work with Hinata, Kiba, and Shikamaru before him.” 

“Oh, Hinata and Shikamaru would be wonderful for this!” 

He is allowed to feel especially intelligent over this, right? Well, he thinks he should be, “You really think so?” 

His friend nods, beaming when thinking about it, “Neji would be a bit too divisive to bring along…he thinks Deidara left willingly and when Ino told me about it, he happened to be in the same tea house we were at when he made it known to her. They got into a big fight; it wasn’t pretty—but Hinata likes Deidara and Shikamaru would be great at devising a plan for stopping her from doing something stupid! This works perfectly, Naruto!” 

Lee then begins to walk away from him, catching his fellow omega off guard, “Let’s go find Shikamaru and see what he thinks is going on! If Neji, Hinata, and I noticed something off about her lately, then I’m positive he has and I know he will know what’s actually bothering her thanks to their fathers being friends.” 

To Naruto, this makes a lot of sense and though he would love to tell Sasuke right away, he knows it’d be best to see Shikamaru first for the same reason his friend has given, “Alright, let’s go find the lazy bastard and see what all he has to say!” 

It took them a little while, but thanks to Naruto’s having been to Shikamaru’s place in the past, they were to go to his home and ask for the lazy alpha.

Naturally, his father was a bit proud when grinning at the two omegas, “Lemme guess: you guys are here to see my son, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, know where he is?” Naruto speaks up before Lee can, leading the man to point up the stairs, “He’s in his room. You can go in if you want—but I gotta say, I didn’t think he’d have so many omegas interested in him!”

Lee blinks to this, finding it be a bit of a leap, “Wait…you…think we’re here because we’re interested in him…like as in, mating him?”

“No way!” Naruto huffs, “Sasuke is the only one for me! No other alpha or beta will ever take his place!”

The older man looks to Lee, wondering, “You have someone special to you?”

The taller omega thinks it over briefly, ultimately coming back with, “I’d like to think I do, but I don’t believe he’s interested in me back.”

It’s depressing enough to make him step aside and clear his throat, “Sorry for assuming anything then…please, come in. I’m sure he’ll be willing to see you.”

They enter the home and with Naruto’s guidance, go up to his bedroom with Lee being the one to knock on it politely, “Excuse, Shikamaru? I was wanting to talk to you about something pretty important…do you mind if we come in?”

Shikamaru answers the door shortly after this, his hair a bit of a mess since well…it appears as though he had been asleep for a while before he saw them, “What is it? Did something with Gaara come up?”

Lee shakes his head, being crystal clear on the issue at hand, “No, I can promise you that nothing with Gaara has come up!”

Naruto is the one to say it: “It has something to do with Ino and that recent run in she had with Itachi. Can we talk about it in your room?”

“Sure, come in. Don’t be shocked if it’s a bit messy now.”

A bit messy had been an understatement. He had just woken up, so his bed was a mess and there was some laundry on the floor that reeked of his pheromones, making the omegas want to gag upon first smell. However, they managed well enough for Lee to voice his concern, “Have you noticed anything different with Ino lately?”

The laidback teen in front of them ties his hair up in his signature ponytail as he thought about his answer, when he did say it, it did nothing to ease their concern, “Yeah…she’s been more distant out of nowhere lately. I’ve heard from Hinata that Neji’s seen her by this one area that would lead to the border of the village. I’ve been by her place at least once after she confronted Itachi but it didn’t go well.”

“Did she get snappy with you when you acted like you didn’t think Deidara was completely innocent?”

“Acted like? Pfft, I straight up told her he wasn’t completely innocent and she got mad at me enough to fight me on it before kicking me out.” he notices the distraught look in Lee’s eyes and takes some mercy on him, “I shouldn’t have ever done that, but it’s Ino. She thinks Deidara is basically perfect when he’s a human being just like the rest with us with flaws like everyone else. Give it time, I’m sure she’ll come around…but we should probably do something before she tries to leave the village to take Itachi on by herself again.”

Naruto now finds this interesting, “You really think she’s gonna try to run the border to find Itachi and fight him?”

He is confident when giving them his honest opinion on the situation, “Yeah, because why else would be she acting like this? Isolating herself, not working at the flower shop, and going down strange paths she never went on before confronting Itachi…I think she’s going to try to chase him down and kill him because she thinks it will ‘save’ Deidara somehow, which is delusional because there’s no way he’d ever come back if she did that. If of anything, it’d only make him angry and strike at the village for all we know.”

As much as he’d love to debate him on this, he realizes he can’t, not when there’s a chance this could ruin their chances at stopping Ino from doing something completely reckless like running away to fight Itachi. So he keeps his mouth shut on the issue whereas Lee brings up a helpful idea, “Naruto was saying we should tell Sasuke and Sakura about our plan to keep an eye on Ino. Do you think it’d be wise to involve them as well?”

“Sasuke would be a good one to tell because with his Sharingan, we could stop her from doing something really stupid should she actually best us. Sakura would be one of the best to tell, actually: since she spent so much time with the Yamanaka family growing up, she would know how to spot out Ino’s scent from the herbal baggie she keeps with her kunais to hide her scent when it’s needed. That and she could probably answer some questions for me that I would want answered before we do anything else.” he didn’t hesitate to speak up on the manner, but he did have yet another suggestion, “Don’t hate me for this Lee, but I think we should get Neji involved.”

Naruto was about to rip into him when Lee asked, “Why not Hinata instead?”

“Because she did nothing to stop Ino from confronting Itachi in the first place. If we brought her along, there’s a greater chance she’d sabotage our plan to stop Ino and run away with her in the process. Neji is the only neutral Hyuuga we’ve got; we’re best off using him instead.”

He had the perfect argument prepared for this when his friend suddenly spoke up for himself on the idea, “Okay, I see nothing wrong with that.”

Shikamaru raises a brow to this, “You really have no problem with it? Aren’t you still upset after everything he did to you?”

“I’m not anymore. I’m not one to hold grudges and besides, he’s been a lot nicer to me ever since he apologized. I am willing to give him another chance; he’s not a bad guy anymore, I know he’s not.”

Naruto is stunned by this turn of events, but then Shikamaru lets out a sigh of relief, “Great; we should try to find Sakura first then. Since she’s the one who’s known the family very well and has been trying to get in Ino’s good graces as of late, she’d be the most useful one to turn to for information as well as how to deal with Ino in her current mental state. Then we’ll get Neji on our side to help us out in keeping an eye on her, and eventually following her should she actually be dumb enough to try to leave to get Deidara back. We still don’t know if Sasuke will be in good enough condition to come along with us for that, but if he is, then he can—”

“Wait, you wanna spy on Ino?”

Naruto just has to be sure he’s getting this right.

To his own dismay, Shikamaru’s not denying it, “What else are we supposed to do? She’s acting strange after a confrontation with Itachi, the guy she blames for everything that happened with her brother. She was already crazy enough to take him on alone and unarmed; who’s to say she’s not plotting to leave the village to go after him for the sole reason of killing him?”

Naruto doesn’t feel right about spying on his friend. Something about it makes him feel gross inside, “We don’t know she’s planning to do that yet either! Can’t we talk to Sakura before jumping to conclusions? Who else would be better to ask than her?”

“…Okay, we’ll ask her about that when we do find her. Then we’ll plan out a strategy from there.”

He is relieved to know Shikamaru had listened to him. He knows if they had gone in, making these accusations about Ino to Sakura without asking her more questions, it would lead to problems with his teammate and that’s the last thing they need for this mission they are taking upon themselves.