Ino decided that she really should stop waking up angry. She talked to her mom about how to get rid of frown lines before, and apparently, it took a lot of gizmos and creams. Her mom said it was easier to just be happy. Which was hard. Especially, when the subordinate that you thought had a good heart-to-heart with the day before ignores the plans you made together.

She was waking up angry because she could see the sunlight through her closed eyelids. They, together, made a plan to split the night shift into two parts. He would take the first four hours of watch, and Ino would take the remaining four. Which, apparently he ignored since it was now past sunrise.

Ino threw off the bedsheets. The room was so muggy from the hot springs, that the blankets were too hot, the rating is back to five out of ten. Ino needed to talk to Naruto. This was an unacceptable risk, they both needed rest. Ino couldn’t remember the last time he actually took a nap, much less sleep. She knew that having loads of chakra made you super energetic. But it's been almost a week since their journey started, and he hasn’t slept at all.

She got up and started to untangle her hair from her sleeping braid. Long hair took too much maintenance, alas beauty is pain. Ino trudged into the main room, drawn by the smell of wake-up juice. Thankfully, Naruto took the liberty of keeping the coffee pot full. At least he’s considerate. Ino poured herself a cup and added her customary 5 spoons of sugar and half a cup of cream. She went on the lookout for Naruto.

Which was really easy. All you needed to do was look outside.

The blond man was sitting on top of the still hot-spring water. His yukata robes were loose and gently moving in the wind. A red cardinal was settled in his hair, and blue jays were hopping around on his crossed legs. Now that she was paying attention, his robes were not blowing in the wind, the pond was utterly still, so there was no wind. A squirrel was actually making itself comfy in there. Ino was kinda jealous, Naruto's chest always seemed like a good place to rest.

She stepped out onto the veranda to sit and wait for Naruto to finish his meditation. The ivy crawled up the back privacy wall rippling from the wind. She idly sipped on her coffee while perusing the communal breakfast menu. Seemed like traditional stuff, miso soup, fish, rice, and a nice fruit salad. Not much meat. She noticed that Naruto only ate proteins and carbs. She hoped that the fish would be enough.

She felt a cool gentle breeze across her body, it felt nice. A gentle reprieve from the hot humidity the hot springs created. She looked up. Naruto was staring at her from his place in the middle of the pool. His stare was intense. His eyes were that gold color, with a red eye shadow. It had to be some type of chakra transformation, she would figure it out eventually.

He appeared before her. One moment he was in the pool, legs crossed, animals enjoying his stillness. Then he was standing on the veranda with her. Ino knew she didn’t blink, she knew she didn’t look away. She also knew it wasn’t a clone. Naruto really moved faster than she could see.

“Ino, it’s important.” he knelt before her. His hair was bright from the morning sun. His normally joyful cheer was replaced with solemnity. “Something happened in the town. We need to go and check it out.”

Ino could feel a blush come to her cheeks. He was handsome when he was serious. She nodded. If he was serious, then it was serious.

Ino drained her coffee, sloppily layering some chakra over her tongue and throat to prevent burns. She got to her feet and quickly changed into her combat uniform. She turned to see Naruto readying his own uniform. Combat mesh, black shirt, necklace, armored jacket. She was trying to untangle her hair and re-install her wire and needles.

“Do you really need that?” Naruto was already done. Pacing by the front door. His eyes were a deep dark blue.

Ino thought back to her one and only chunin exam. Sakura was being held by her long pink hair, kuni to her throat. She was only able to escape that due to her combatant not knowing how to properly hold an opponent by their hair. She remembered Kuruni talking to Hinata and her about the dangers of being women in combat environments. The teacher told them what advantages and dangers having long hair provided. After that, all the girls went and shopped for the hair traps.

She finally was able to brush out enough of her hair to matter. “Yes. It's very important.” It was easy enough to slip in. She just needed to do a plait near the base of her skull and make a small braid down the length of her tail. The wire and the needles would intertwine with the braid and be hidden by her silky and shiny hair that she left unbraided in the ponytail. She had taken the time to wash and reapply the poison before she went to sleep yesterday.

It only took her five minutes to get ready. Unacceptable. She needed to practice getting her hair ready. It needs to be done faster. She should see about getting a tangle-free conditioner.

“Naruto, can you make some Shadow clones and have them transform into us?” It would be easy to create an alibi if they were seen around the hotel for the day. It may cause complications if they were seen elsewhere, but if this was serious like he said. They needed to take the risk.

“No. For regular shadow clones, I can’t get too far away…” He closed his eyes, thinking. “Kurama doesn’t care, and won't help out. So we're on our own.”

Ino was surprised. Naruto was talking to the Kyuubi. This was that serious. Was the town under attack. They needed to leave now.

When they were ready Naruto was about to walk out their hotel door. She stopped him and led him to the private hot springs. Naruto, the clever man that he was, understood that this was to be a stealth mission and no one should know that they left the room. Ino went and put a sock on the doorknob and a do not disturb sign, then wedged the door shut from the inside. Hopefully, that would suffice for the couple of hours it would take to go to town and back.

“Ok, let's go.” Ino ran onto the water so she wouldn’t make footprints from her jump. Once she was on the red-tiled roof she spotted Naruto running in her 5 oclock. He was following the proper formation procedure. Good.

They made it to the trees. This was an emergency. Which dictated that even with speed being a priority, actually making it to the site was paramount. This meant proper counter-ambush protocol, so they used tree jumping, even if it was slower than the road.

Ino was going into the fray blind. Thankfully, she apparently had an amazing sensor to tell her what was happening. “What’s Happening. Why are we rushing?” She planned out a series of jumps between the huge trees. Each tree was twice as wide as she was tall.

“I felt a large mass of people like a festival or something. Then one of them was tortured and died. There's a killer in the town. We need to go and get them before they kill again.” Ino sped up. Assassins like that tend to not be too picky in such an environment. Naruto screamed in frustration. “They killed someone again! How is the crowd not reacting! It’s like they’re watching a play or something!” He started to pull ahead of her. He was acting like a windbreak. They continued on for another ten minutes. They were going as fast as her legs could take her.

Naruto stopped on a branch. “We're going too slow. Another died.” He crouched and presented his back to her. “Hop on, I can get us there super quickly.” Not wanting to waste too much time, Ino jumped on his back. She wrapped her legs around his waist, one arm going over one shoulder, the other going under. His large warm hands grabbed her thighs.

A Naruto clone appeared on the tree branch and sat down in meditation. Holding Ino, Naruto leaped from the branch. The wind pressure blew Ino’s cheeks back. She felt like they were running across the tree branches instead of jumping. Naruto was going so fast, that her eyelids were peeled back from the wind. Ino tucked her head into the crook of Naruto's neck. He smelled like her shampoo. She must have left it out when he showered

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“Fuck, another one.” He got faster. The gentle footfalls became thunderous. A quick peak behind and she saw branches thicker then her legs snap and explode into splinters. The air currents were so strong leaves were being sucked into his passing, leaving entire branches bare.

He stopped. They were on top of a wall watchtower. Sliding down from his back she scanned the city. No buildings were on fire, no riots, or encamping armies. The rush seemed unnecessary.

“Ok, where did the murders happen.” Ino knew this wasn’t really a part of their mission. But Naruto was very serious about it, another opportunity to teach about priorities and leadership.

“Over this way” Both of them jumped from the watch tower, and she followed him over the rooftops. She was careful to not leave evidence, misaligned shingles, footprints, or broken gutters. They landed on the roof of the courthouse that overlooked the central market. People were mopping up a stage and moving red tarps into boxes. The crowd was dispersing to the various stalls lining the edges.

Ino tried to look out for any suspect behavior. A person that was constantly on the lookout, hiding in the shadows, that looked nervous. Except, that to her eyes, everybody seemed perfectly fine, happy even. Ino turned to look at Naruto, his head and eyes rapidly scanning across the entire square. He chewed on his thumbnail.

“Do you see anything?” The murderer must have escaped. Even more than that, Ino didn’t see where the evidence of a murder took place. “Where is the body? If we can get that, I can get some evidence from there.”

Naruto looked at her. He looked really confused. Blond eyebrows drawn down, forehead wrinkled, biting his thumb. He wore his emotions on his sleeve, she needed to help him change that.

“I don’t know. I just know four people died here.” He seemed to have an epiphany, ”They had to be in the square. Maybe they were killed in the sewers! We could check there?” he was yelling again. They needed help. Sewers are often labyrinthian and dangerous.

“Ok, we can check the sewers. But we’ll need a guide or map.” Ino jumped off of the roof. She knew that the Magistrate should have access to a map of the underground. They also should have enough goodwill to bargain for it.

She entered the jail through the side entrance just like yesterday. And just like yesterday, the Magistrate was already in the room, giggling over a sack he clipped to his sash as they came in. His completely black kimono was perfectly pressed, a black fan with the Nara clan symbol painted on gently cooling him down.

“If it is not the wonderful Lady Yamanaka! And, the amazing Jonin Uzumaki! For what do I owe the pleasure today?” His ruddy face split into an ear-to-ear smile. He turned to a man he was obviously talking to before they entered. “ See Muranaka, your saviors are back.” the magistrate clapped his companion on the back who stumbled forward slightly. Muranaka was a pale man, with brown hair reaching his shoulders, an ordinary face with only some pox scars, high cheekbones, and a five-o'clock shadow.

Ino recognized him. He was the shinobi she healed in the hamlet. He was a chunin, but he may have access to the appropriate maps Naruto wanted. “How are you doing today? I hope you didn't scar.” Ino put on her nicest smile. She practiced it in the mirror all the time. She tilted her head exactly 15 degrees to the right and dimpled her left cheek. It was a killer move, got her free drinks at bars all the time.

Muranaka blushed and looked away. Only for him to stare directly at Naruto. A very serious Naruto. A Naruto that every shinobi in the world would recognize and fear. His flush immediately went into a bloodless frown. Ino agreed Naruto’s emotions were contagious.

“Muranaka.” Naruto’s voice was deadly serious, it had just enough of a delicious growl that it made her chest vibrate. “There have been murders. I need access to maps of the sewers.”

The chunin showed his loyalty and turned to the magistrate. “Lord Masa, do you give me permission to display the maps.” It seemed that the shinobi garrison doesn’t have informational security authority here, she would need to tell Shika about that. Having civilians lead without Shinobi oversite always led to bad things.

“Jonin Naruto, for what reasons do we need to give you this information?”

“I sensed murders happening this morning. I believe that they happened in the sewers.” Naruto stepped forward, almost like he was going to threaten the magistrate.

“It must have been the bandits. Muranaka, here just finished a mission to find the bandit enclave.” The magistrate dismissively waved his fan at the chunin. “He returned this morning, just in time to enjoy the festivities. It would be better to nip this bandit problem in the bud.” He waggled his eyes at Naruto. His deflection was very apt, changing Naruto’s target from a random killer to a known bandit problem. His aim was to obviously get Naruto to volunteer his services. That way he wouldn't need to pay the rates her team would charge, which would be more than the entire town was worth.

“Give me the location. I’m gonna go and figure out why they would murder people in town.” Naruto stepped towards the chunin. Muranaka flinched eyes glancing at the Magistrate. The magistrate nodded his head. Muranaka reached into his pouch and produced a well-worn topographical map.

“The bandits are located here. In between two mines. I noticed that the bandits use slaves to mine the ore. I was compromised and fled before any more information could be gotten. That was why I was injured in the village. I stopped there after sustaining a wound from a missing-nin they kept on retainer.” His report finished, Muranaka, stepped into the shadows to hide. Like any good lapdog.

Naruto, map in hand stared at it. “Alright, we’ll get there. Is there any way to talk to the bandits we captured the other day? Ino… I would like to talk to them about stuff…” Good catch blondie. Trying to keep her ability secrets. At least one thing was learned from yesterday.

The magistrate nodded. “I would allow you to talk to the prisoners. But, they have been disposed of.” The magistrate laughed and slapped his fan closed on his hand. “That was what the festival was about this morning. You helped us to end a bandit patrol, so I set up a festival to celebrate their demise. It was very well received.” He patted a sack that hung from his black sash, it clinked with coins.

“Oh, that's unfortunate.” Her blond turned away. And walked out the door. Undoubtedly wanting to do even more charity work. Ino followed.

As the duo walked through the market square ino spotted peasants cleaning the stage from earlier. Taking iron tools off the stage, long boxes being wheeled away.

“How far is the encampment? Can’t be too far right?” Ino took the map away from her subordinate. It looked like the encampment was close to four hours away by road. They would need to get their stuff from the hotel and make a show of leaving.

“It’ll take a while to run there.” Ino tried to make some idle chatter. She was feeling much better after a good soak. “ I wonder who they executed this morning?”

Naruto whipped his head around to her. “What!” The evidence was all over the place, a random festival directly after a prisoner transferred to a town in the middle of nowhere. A stage was made in the middle of the market square, coffins being wheeled away. The Magistrate hefting a large bag of coins from the sponsors or ticket sales. His black clothes.

“Ya, they had a good ol’ execution in the square this morning…” She could see the exact moment when he broke. ”That was your emergency wasn't it.” His eyes, those deep blue, lost their focus. He was remembering things. His left hand went to his mouth to chew on his thumb again.

Ino continued to educate him, “You do know that when you bring someone into a bounty office alive, they torture and execute them right? Or, if they aren’t a high risk, they get sold into slavery, right?” It seemed like Naruto didn’t hear her. She wouldn’t repeat herself unprompted. If he wanted to know he needed to ask.

“But…” She thought he was going to cry. “I've brought hundreds of people, thousands, to the bounty office. I thought they went to court or something. Ya know, like, when we get in trouble, Gramps or Granny would just give a punishment, and that's the end. I didn’t know they would die.”

“How… How, didn’t you know about this?” Ino could see the hurt and anguish on his face. How didn’t he know about this?

“Be… Because, I would bring the guys in, get the money, and Jiraiya would make us leave the next day. Back then I was constantly hounded by the Akatsuki or other assassins. So we… We would never stay in the same place more than a day or so.” He wiped his eyes with his arm. The tears were flowing.

Ino went closer to her big lug. She wrapped her arms around his waist, it was all she could comfortably reach on the tall man. “Were shinobi. We have different rules than the peasants. You are a Konoha shinobi. Your hitai-ate means that any person you apprehend is immediately considered guilty. Peasants are not allowed to amend their wrongdoings.” Ino’s voice was soft. How would she feel if she thought her actions were helping people, but instead were killing them. She would need to think about that.

Ino felt his arms wrap around her shoulders. She felt him cry into her hair.

They stood in the crowded marketplace. Trained killers surrounded by morbid voyeurs.

Killers mourned the deaths of those they killed. The innocent rejoiced.