Dammit, why am I doing this? Ino thought to herself as her hands came together into the ram seal. It was a physical mnemonic, to help her concentrate and connect her tenketsu for easier chakra manipulation. She infused her chakra in her belly, feeling how it flowed and tangled. She could feel where the chakra was hot or sharp, or buzzy. She didn’t want those types of chakra. She was looking for the very tiny strand that felt like her, her spiritual energy. The energy of creation.
Dammit, why can't I be as good as Sakura at this shit? Fuck, I’ll even take Hinata’s abilities. She knew it wasn’t fair to compare herself to Sakura. Sakura, for better or for worse, had no clan duties. She could spend weeks of her time just practicing a particular jutsu or method. She didn’t have clan techniques that she was expected to be the best at. She didn’t need to spend hours every day going over clan history or politics. She wasn't expected to make appearances at dinners or festivals. Sakura, most frustrating of all, could just skim a book and have it not only completely memorized but also have opinions on it.
Ino knew that she wasn't the best at medical ninjutsu. But, she was trained by the best practitioner to have ever lived. She had expectations to live up to, which she met, if only just.
She felt the slippery string of yin chakra. She untangled it from the rest of her chakra and directed it up into her hands. She sat for a second, allowing the almost pure yin chakra to pool. When she felt there was enough to heal the wound, she pulled a small strand from the pool and went through all 15 hand signs of the Magical Suture Technique. She felt the small strand tangle and fold, creating a pattern in her tenketsu. This helped to purify and shape the chakra into her true intent.
When she felt the chakra change ever so subtly, Ino knew the technique activated. Opening her eyes she focused on the stab wound. Ino placed her hand over the still-bleeding wound guiding her chakra into the shinobi’s body. She placed her other hand near the wound, slowly pushing her regular chakra into the shinobi, trying to sense where the tissue was severed. She used her healing technique to join the stomach together, the facia, then the liver. Ino could feel sweat begin to gather at the back of her neck. Thankfully, as the healing came to the surface she could just use her eyes to see what was happening, rather than split her concentration to use a second technique. She joined the fat together, then reattached the muscles. With a final push, she pinched the skin together and closed it with the technique.
She sat back and used an arm to wipe sweat from her brow. She took the wad of cloth from the man’s mouth and wiped away the spilled blood on his abdomen.
“You take a blood pill yet?” Trying not to show her tiredness, she glared at the man. He shook his pale head. She could visibly see the stress leave his face as he relaxed, the pain no more.
Ino huffed, took off a glove, reached into her kit, and got a blood pill. It is just some shinobi bullshit that somehow made your bone marrow spit out red blood cells super quickly. And, a lot of slow-released vitamins and minerals those cells are made of. She popped it into his mouth and he dry swallowed it.
“Alright, your super anemic so no heavy lifting, or activity, and cut back on the drinking, you’ll get smashed much faster than normal.” Ino unsealed a canteen from her back pouch and took a swallow of an energy drink Sakura made. It of course tasted like actual piss. But, Ino choked it down nonetheless.
“OK. Now that we have most of that settled, we can’t have you scarring.” Ino still had the pool of yin in her hands. She went through the 40-symbol-long sequence for Magical Healing Hand, a technique that instead of temporally suturing the wound together, it cleaned the edges of the wound of destroyed cells, and mated the edges together. The mating was so precise it actually healed the wound, with no scar tissue either.
Fuck you, Sakura. I hate you so much. Ino hated how jealous she was of Sakura’s mastery of this technique. Sakura could literally just use this technique, no hand signs, no mnemonics, no struggle. Sakura could have healed this wound while she was wiping blood from the guy's stomach. Utter bullshit. There’s a reason why she is rarely allowed to leave Konoha anymore.
Ino closed her eyes to concentrate once more. The process of creating, selecting, moving, and molding the chakra was difficult. Especially when she needed to hold such an amazingly complex knot in her tenketsu. She felt sweat drip off her nose onto the shinobi’s stomach. With agonizing slowness, she healed the wound. Going from the deepest cut to the surface. It took a few minutes. She was completely unaware of the world. Tusnade would absolutely fail her of her poor situational awareness. Ino was too tired to care.
She looked at her handiwork. What was once an angry red line across the shinobi’s stomach, was gone. The only evidence being the blood and the hole through his gear. Ino stood. She knew that the man would be fine, but she needed to make sure that Naruto wasn’t messing anything up.
She found him surrounded by what had to be everyone from the hamlet. He had two kids, one on each shoulder while others crawled and climbed up his legs. All of the women watched with intensity. The men circled around Naruto as he told some story. His eyes flickered around the crowd, drawing everyone in.
He looked at her. His deep ocean-blue eyes gave her a once-over. She knew he saw her blood-stained hair, knuckles, and knees. He walked over to her, casually taking a cloth from one of the women, merely needing to trade a smile for it.
He came up, and without care wiped her face. Just like her dad used to do when she was a kid. Instead of frosting from some cake they ate at a party, this rag came away with the blood of her enemies.
He gave her such a soft smile. Something that just toyed at the corners of his lips. His whisker marks dimpling ever so slightly. His eyes had to of darkened a few shades. Unlike the smile he used just a moment ago, this one was just for her.
“Hay, we need to keep the bandits alive. Can you go and heal them?” His usually gruff voice was extra growly. A secret just between them.
“Uhg. Do I need to? They’re just some bandits. What does it matter if a few die.” She was wiped out. Sure, it was just a simple stab wound, but the difficulty was still high. She knew that many of the doctors at the Konoha hospital still couldn’t use much if any medical ninjutsu. She was way above the curve, but still, it was hard and tiring.
“Because, Ino, they are people.” His stare was hard, intense. Like she’d just failed an extremely important test. She hated that look. Like she was less then. She knew that he thought Sakura wouldn’t have even asked. Sakura would have walked right past the crowd, healing anyone that even hinted an injury. She was always being compared to that pink-haired genius.
“I would like to. Really.” Ino backpedaled, she needed to ace this make-up test. “It’s kinda embarrassing. But, it takes a lot out of me to use those techniques… and I really hurt my opponents.”
She saw his eyes light right up again. “Oh! If it's chakra you need then don’t worry! I’ve got more than enough.” His megawatt smile came back, an afternoon after an eclipse. He turned and passed the villagers, slapping backs, and patting heads. It took only a few minutes and he was already an icon.
Ino followed Naruto through the gates and to the bandits. All the bandits were laying in the shade of the wall. The five bandits that Ino faced were stretched out on the ground groaning in pain. She really did a number on them. The other ten that Naruto fought were casually chitchatting amongst each other, only to go silent when they spotted her.
“Hay fellas!” Naruto greeted with a cheer and a wave. Some of them even returned his greeting. “Ino here’ll go and heal up your friends. Don’t worry, she’s a great medic! She’s gonna heal everyone right back to perfect health!”
He stared at her, probably expecting her to say something. Ino only sniffed. She turned to the man that took her ponytail to the face.
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He was bleeding really badly. A cloth was thrown over his face to soak up the blood. It was already a deep dark red, dripping onto the dirt beneath. She peeled the cloth away. What was once a normal enough face was now ruined. An ear was holding on by only the slimmest bits of skin. The right cheek was more hole than cheek, teeth were loose, and she could see his tongue move around inside. His forehead was shredded, white bone gleaming, and even that had gouges through it. His neck was just as equally eviscerated. His arteries, now that the cloth was no longer blocking it shot blood into the air, splattering her and her hair with his lifeblood.
“Fuck, Naruto, I’m going to need some chakra to heal this guy. I used too much chakra to heal the shinobi, I’m almost wiped out.” She donned a new set of latex gloves. No point in inviting diseases or whatnot. She could buy more at the next town they passed through.
“Ya, no problem Ino. Just do your thing and I’ll give you chakra, OK.” He said, laying down behind her. She felt a hand rest on the center of her back. “Just tell me when you need it, and I’ll give you the juice.” She just knew, without looking, that he nodded.
Ino took another swig of the energy water. Horrible taste in her mouth, she once more pulled off some yin chakra. Felt it move through her body, pool in her hands. She went through the hand signs once more. She knew she needed to push herself to finish all of this. She could do it.
With her hands glowing a pale green she laid them on the bandit's neck. “Ok, Naruto.” She was prepared for some chakra to enter her system. Shikamaru often needed to help supplement her meager reserves when she healed Chogi.
This was utterly different. Shikamaru, while she knew he was utterly competent, his chakra reserves were small. He was much more focused on spiritual matters rather than physical ones. So he had little chakra to give out. Naruto's chakra felt enormous. It felt like he was pumping in entire Inos every second. The chakra felt hot and sharp, warm, and like the first cup of hot chocolate in the winter. It was utterly addicting.
“What the fuck, what are you doing?” she almost lost her grip on the technique. The utter flood of chakra, almost all entirely pure yin, took her by surprise.
“What?” his voice was utterly bored. Like sending over entire peoples worth of chakra was nothing.
“You don’t need to give me this much.” Ino was regretting taking a sip of her drink. Especially if she knew Naruto was going to be giving her this much energy.
“Wha? You said to give you a little, so I’m giving you only a little. Honestly, I don’t think I can go lower than this.”
Ino felt her mind fry just a little. She knew internally Naruto was powerful. She had been on Biju Watch during the war. She went through and evacuated villages in the path of Naruto's fight with all the Biju. She knew, absolutely, that he was the strongest being that has ever lived. But feeling, just the sheer absurdly enormously huge amount of chakra he was pumping through her, and it was the least he could give. She knew he had techniques that allowed him to increase his abilities to astronomical levels. She just assumed that that is where he gained his power.
She snuck a look behind her. Apparently, it wasn’t sneaky enough cause he gave her a cheeky wink, and went back to reading a worn book.
What the fuck. In the ten seconds it took to accommodate the new influx of chakra, Naruto had pumped more into her than she made in literal months. He just spent more chakra than the entire genin corps made in a day. Absolutely absurd.
With the sheer influx of chakra flowing through her, the little string of yin became a thick braided ship's rope. She stopped focusing on creating her own chakra, she stopped focusing on maintaining a pool in her hands. She pried a single strand from the rope. Even that was purer than anything she could make. She allowed that dense strand to go through her jutsu knot. Her pastel green hands changed into a deep emerald green. Her hands glowed like they were on fire. She passed her hand over the almost forgotten gotten bandit's neck. The wound sealing closed almost immediately. It was astonishing just how easy it was to saturate the cells with her chakra. How easy it was to pull the tissue together.
Slack-jawed she passed her hand over the ear. It reattached itself. His face, the holes closed, not even a scar. His forehead, mincemeat no more.
It felt like the first time she ever used the jutsu. Tsunade made her heal a fish. To close a cut in its belly. When she finally successfully saved the fish, it was amazing. Her dad took her out to see a movie, it was a romance and she got to have an entire large popcorn bucket to herself. She shared it with her dad, of course (grudgingly).
She moved to the man whose chest she first pulverized. Reconnecting bone is always difficult. Making sure that every little bone fragment is in its correct place is extremely difficult. Often requiring invasive surgery to get the all the little shards out. Then even more surgery to put them back together. But, after Tsunade fixed Lee’s arm and leg from that first chunin exam, she created a new way of stitching bones back together. The method was utterly taxing, both mentally and physically. Needing to reconstruct what is essentially a 3-D puzzle, while still keeping the patient alive. Aside from Tsunade and Sakura, only Hinata in their group could use the technique. Mostly because her Byockugon allowed Hinata to actually see all of the bone pieces, and how they fit together.
But with Naruto giving her such an astronomically stupid amount of chakra, Ino felt she could succeed with the technique.
“You comfy back there Naruto? Cause this could take a while.” Ino cast a look behind her, Naruto was sprawled on the ground, his large warm hand still stuck to her back. He held his book, legs crossed feet idly tapping.
“Hm. Oh, cool. Just make sure they are healed. The bounty stations pay less for injured prisoners. Something about paying for medicine or whatever.” He just went right back to reading dogeared book.
Ino pressed her hand against the crushed chest. The bandit wheezed in pain, still unconscious. She let Magical Sutures unravel and went through the 25 signs for Magical Alignment. The small thread looping, combining, splitting as she willed.
She pushed the chakra through the bandit's chest, finding all of the little shards. Each one fitting into the other like a jigsaw puzzle... An incredibly difficult and annoying jigsaw puzzle. She went to work.
Thankfully, somehow, Naruto’s chakra was able to help almost magazine the bone fragments together. Many of the pieces would almost snap into the correct place before she could think to do it. A procedure that would normally take eight or twelve hours only took two. Literally a miracle.
“Alright. Two down, three to go.” During her time fixing the chest, Ino took some breaks to staunch the bleeding in the other bandits. Something that would be an absolute chore turned into a breeze with Naruto helping her. Really, it just wasn’t fair.
After another three hours, Ino finally finished healing all of the damage she inflicted in under 30 seconds. She stood, stretched her back, and heard a series of pops and clicks. She felt good.
Actually, she should feel drained. Holding that level of concentration for almost 5 hours is draining. The hospital only allowed for 8 hours of Jutsu use daily. And usually by four hours, she needed to quit for the day. But, at the moment Ino felt like she could run all the way to Konoha and back, on her hands, singing. Is this how Naruto always feels? Is that why he can’t stop talking? With that food for thought Ino turned to her unending battery bank.
He was reclined on the ground. The little old book was held above his head. Legs crossed, one foot in the air, foot jiggling, while the foot on the ground tapped to a rhythm only he heard.
“Ok, all the bandits are healed. So what’re we going to do with them?” Ino asked. If Ino was the only one on the job, she would have left the bandits to the hamlet. Let them figure out what to do with the men. But, she was allowing Naruto to take point on this side mission of his. Mainly to see how he would naturally lead a mission. So far it was ok, a couple of things that could do better, but generally pretty good.
“Hu, oh. I was going to take them to a bounty station, and get some cash.” He stood, putting his book away. Readjusting his clothes and brushing off some dirt.
“Sounds good. But, tell me. Where is the nearest station? How are we going to move all of these guys there? And, why do you want money? You know we could just leave these guys here and be done with it right?” Ino asked.
Naruto nodded he looked to the sky. “Well, I’m sure a local town has a jail. Usually, town jails have bounty offices inside. So we bring them to the nearest town. We find that town by asking the villagers, they have to sell their stuff somewhere. And, I want the cash 'cause I don’t get any.” Again he nodded. “And, I was just gonna carry them.”
At this point, as much as ino wanted to continue with the conversation, she really needed to do something. Every single inch of her body felt like it was vibrating. She needed to do something, anything to bleed off the excess energy.
“I’m going to go and bathe now. Cool.” Ino turned away from the blond man. “Also, talk to the people to see if we can get a room or two to stay in tonight. And make sure to secure the bandits. No need to let them run away after we put in so much effort to take them down.”
With that ino walked into the village to see if they had a washroom or anything.
They did.
There was no hot water.