Foxhound Chapter 1: Part 6

Unseen to any of them, the dark cloaked figure of Tsurugi had doubled back to the camp ground in time to see the massive outline of the toad disappearing over the starlit horizon.

“Shit, this plan is totally screwed,” The large man grumbled as he walked over to the bloody ground where the target had lain. He withdrew a kunai and wiped the flat of the blade along the stained dirt. Standing up again, he wrapped the blade in a cloth before tucking it away.

Without another moment’s hesitation, the man jumped into the trees and raced along, following the toad’s general route. It wasn’t exactly hard to track them with the earthquakes Gamabunta was making. He’d get a general idea of where they were going before reporting in. Not once did he glance to his partner’s final resting spot on the side of several pine trees. There’s no love lost between Akatsuki agents.

‘Hopefully the higher ups will come up with a better plan next time,’ Tsurugi grimly thought as he raced through the dark.

Dawn was just breaking over the peaceful Hidden Village of Leaf. The early pink and gray light made a beautiful contrast when seen through the many trees that grew throughout the village. The sun’s earliest rays were just creeping across the Hokage Monument, where five faces carved into the cliff-side stared out over the Leaf. Many residents who were up at this time often took a moment to just stare at the beauty of their home.

Yamanaka Ino was not one of those people.

Ino hadn’t changed much since Sasuke’s defection. She was a bit taller now and she had more meat on her. She had allowed her blonde hair to grow long again, though not to impress anyone this time. She still wore her purple combat dress and bandages. Her face was a little sharper, as some of her baby fat had faded away. She was also becoming healthy in certain areas as well. She was on her way to becoming a very voluptuous woman. That fact mattered little to her though, as there was nobody in the village that she wanted staring at her curves.

The blonde girl slowly stumbled down the stairs of her home into the back room of the first floor flower shop. She didn’t have any missions with Asuma-sensei today, so her parents had told her to open the shop this morning. Ino hated getting up early. Her mood was made worse since she hadn’t slept very well last night. She kept smelling blood in her dream and felt like her legs were off balance the whole time. It had been pretty weird.

Yawning, the genin grabbed a watering can and stuck it in one of the large tubs in the back of the shop. As she watched the water slowly fill up the can, the pretty blonde wondered at her dream. She rarely dreamt much and when she did it was almost always something bad. Her family’s main jutsu worked on the principle of invading someone else’s mind. She had often wondered if her family sometimes had premonitions as a side effect of opening up the mind like that. She always thought to ask her father about it whenever she had the odd dreams, but she also seemed to forget every time before she could talk to him about it.

‘Maybe I’ll remember today,’ Ino thought, too tired to actually speak out loud. She reached over to turn the faucet off and lug the full can out of the tub. A sudden tremor stopped her. She blinked, looked around, and shrugged before reaching for the can again. A greater tremor stopped her hand again. The genin stared as yet another vibration rippled past. This one was great enough to actually form ripples across the water in the can. Slowly, she walked over to the back door and looked out the small window in it. A rumble strong enough to rattle the glass shook the shop. With some apprehension, the blonde reached out and opened the door to look outside.

Her jaw dropped. That was a BIG frog.

The massive red toad had just hopped over the outer walls and was looking for a clear spot to jump to deeper in the village. Even as Ino watched, it seemed to find one and took a massive leap into the air. Ino watched at it landed about half a mile away from her home. The rumble felt like an earthquake and her legs wobbled under her as she grabbed the door frame to keep her balance. A flash of deja-vu hit her. This was the weird feeling she had in her dreams all last night. Then where was the smell of blood?

Too late, Ino realized that not only had the tremors stopped, but the toad was in mid-flight again. The massive frog hit the ground two streets from her house. The ground seemed to turn to jelly as she was knocked onto her butt. Rubbing her shapely posterior, the blonde stared up at the frog in awe. She had been unconscious during the Sound invasion and hadn’t seen any of the snake summons that had attacked their city, so it was a definite first for her as she watched the giant toad.

There seemed to be an odd looking man riding on top of it. His white haired flashed in the morning sunlight and Ino could just barely make out the odd red lines on his face. He was holding a bundle of cloth that was covered in blotchy red marks. A spiky mess of yellow and red…Straw? No…Hair. Yellow and red hair stuck out of the bundle. Something about the man and his cargo seemed familiar to Ino. Why did giant toads, a white haired man, and spiky blonde hair ring such a loud bell in her head?

All in an instant it hit her. Flashes and snippets of conversation between her and her friend/rival Haruno Sakura floated past her. Learning that each genin of Team 7 was being taught by a Sannin. Hearing from Sakura that her teammate Naruto had left with the Toad Hermit Jiraiya on a training mission. Feeling jealously that the blond idiot had such a powerful sensei, while her own spend more time playing games with her lazy teammate, Shikamaru. Naruto’s grinning face as he kicked the crap out of Kiba and, later on, Neji. His blonde, spiky hair shining in the bright light. Spiky…Blonde…

Naruto.

With a sudden queasy feeling, Ino realized who was in that bundle and just what those red stains were. The whole time it had taken her to come to that conclusion had only been a couple seconds. Gamabunta (she now recognized the pipe and sword from the history books at the academy) was just starting his next jump. Without really thinking, Ino was jumping up and running in the direction of the hospital, knowing that was the toad’s destination. She didn’t even pause to close the door behind her. She looked up as the massive toad leapt over her head and further into the village. She wasn’t even sure why she was doing this, but that didn’t slow her run in the least. One of the Rookie 9 was in trouble and she was going to make sure he was alright.

At least, she was pretty sure that was the reason.