chapter 13

Peace?, asked the confused Hoshiro

"War is something that no one should have to experience, That's why I seek the true Peace between villages", said the White hair Jiraiya writing something on his book.

"But Uncle Jiraiya... how will you seek it?"

Jiraiya grinned at that, "I don't know Kiddo, I have absolutely no idea"

"But You will Achieve it some day right?"

"Yes, One day, I will achieve it no matter the cost, I will find that child and fulfill the prophecy"

"Child? Are you searching for someone Uncle Jiraiya"

HAHAHA... "Why don't we go and eat something Kiddo", laughed Jiraiya

-------

Tsunade ticks up one finger. "First off how do you even know what laid means?"

"I heard it in the village when someone was referring to going to the prostitutes to get laid. I believe it is just another word for sex." She's rubbing her forehead now.

"That still doesn't explain why you know about sex."

'Sorry old man you're going to take the rap for this'

"Oh." He reached into his pocket and pulled out an orange colored book. "Uncle Jiraiya gave me this. He said all male shinobi should carry one around at all times and hide it from females."

He blinked at the sudden loss of weight in his hand.

Tsunade had thrown the book up in the air and her hands blurring too fast for Hoshiro to see, she shot a huge flaming snake from her mouth. The intense heat made Hoshiro step back and blink repeatedly to get the moisture back in his eyes.

"Hoshiro where was Shizune when you got this?" She was pissed.

"Um, she suddenly had heart in her eyes for some weird reason, and she ran to chase after some boy"

'Wow I'm just throwing people under the bus right now', thought Hoshiro

"And you didn't think this was strange at all?" he shrug helplessly and back up slightly.

"She's done it before. I thought it was a quirk."

She stops her slow advance and considers that.

"She has done that before... Mmmm... well I guess that's normal, she is at that age already, where she would be interested in those things"

She resumes her advance towards Hoshiro.

"Then why didn't you tell me, I believe I told you to tell and show me everything he gives you"

"Because every male civilian and shinobi in hearing range turned, gave me a huge smile, and a thumbs up. Then they pulled out their own copies of the book. And I was specifically warned not to let any female find out about it", Hoshiro blurted out.

'Get under the damn bus all of you. Let me live'

My back hit the wall of the room. "I thought it was like those stories you told me about not tempting fate."

Her hands slowly settled on his shoulders. It felt like he was being crushed by a mountain.

"Now my dear Hoshiro I'm not mad."

'Bullshit.'

"But I have to know if you've received any other inappropriate literature. You would tell me if you had more of those books wouldn't you hohiro?" She made it sound so innocent like butter wouldn't even melt in her mouth.

"Two of them might have given me other books." She smiled, a smile of the devil

"Good, could you tell me about those two people? I need to go have a chat with them later. After I chat with Jiraiya"

I'm so sorry nameless people. I'll pray for you. He told her everything he could remember about them. Age, height, physical description everything but a name.

"Excellent work Hoshiro. Now could you please hand me those inappropriate books they gave you for… disposal?" he wordlessly handed them over and watched as they were turned to ash by another flame snake.

"Now, go and meditate in the Library"

"yes", he immediately ran and hid inside the library.

As expected, Aunt Tsunade went out, " Hope you live old man"

-------

Ino leaned over her balcony and stared out into the dying light of the sun; the signal of the day's end. Another day's end in the endless string that seemed to be her life, or at least since she had met him.

The prodigy.. or as they call him second coming of Hashirama sama

His face and abilities resembles first Hokage so so much, that it nearly looks like Hashirama sama himself reincarnated through him.

She wanted to forget him. He wanted her to forget him. Circumstance and logic dictated that it would be for the best if she were to forget him. Yet she didn't forget him. It was like she couldn't.

But maybe, once again, she was lying to herself. Maybe she didn't want to forget him. Maybe he didn't want her to forget him. Maybe circumstance and logic didn't dictate that it would be for the best if she were to forget him.

That was the truth, plain and simple. She didn't want to forget him. After all that had happened, how could she?

-------

(Flashback)

It was all just another day in the playground during the midday break from class for Yamanaka Ino. Or at least it started that way.

Sakura was making another challenge to her then-current supremacy in the Uchiha's Fan Club, and that was something she simply couldn't allow.

Ino was seething with anger from Sakura's unexpected outburst. How dare Sakura think she can undermine my position! "There's no way he will ever want someone like you, forehead girl. Not with that billboard-sized piece of skull hanging over you face."

"Yeah, well, why would Sasuke-kun ever fall for a loud-mouthed blond bimbo like you, Ino-pig?" Sakura, retorted.

"Simple, forehead girl, as you put it, it is better being with me than being with some bubblegum-haired little girl with a forehead the size of the Hokage Monument."

Sakura glared daggers at her best friend turned rival, juvenile rage oozing out of her. "Yeah, well-"

Ino was suddenly replaced by a cloud of smoke and a loud popping noise, cutting Sakura's undelivered wrath short. When the smoke cleared, a small piece of wood shot up from the dirt ground where the Yamanaka had just stood. And with her the wood Disappeared.

The pink-haired Academy student looked around her wildly, but Ino was nowhere to be found. "Seriously, what the hell?"

Unbeknownst to Sakura as to the whereabouts of her friend, Ino suddenly found herself upside down in a tree, a firm hold gripping her left leg tightly. Her purple apron skirt was hanging down slightly, but not enough to expose her more delicate areas beneath, the hand gripping her manoeuvred to prevent such an occurrence.

"Ino, why do you waste so much of your time arguing with Sakura when you could be doing something productive?" A deep and noticeably male voice asked her.

"Are you suggesting that deciding who is better suited for Sasuke-kun is a waste of time, Hoshiro?" She questioned venomously.

"Well," he paused for a second, "I would probably say it was more like who could bitch at each other the most than actually deciding something, but, yeah, that's exactly what I'm saying."

Ino shook her head from her inverted position, upside-down pony tail sliding against the back of her head as she moved it side to side. "You're just jealous that Sasuke-kun is so much better than you."

Hoshiro smirked and shook his head in turn. "No, I'm not jealous of the guy. Actually, I pity him. Getting swamped by fan girls on a daily basis can't possibly be good for your long-term health."

The platinum blond stuck him with a look that could turn a man's insides to stone. "There is no way you are better than my Sasuke-kun. And why the hell are you holding onto me like that?!"

The boy still grabbing onto her leg and looking down to face her didn't remove the infuriating smirk from his face. "Well, since you asked, Ino, how exactly do you think you got up in this tree?" He didn't wait for her response; instead he hauled her up onto the branch next to him in a single quick movement. The secondary inversion and the sudden rush of blood leaving her head left her slightly woozy and a little off balance.

"Wait a second, I'm in a tree?"

She didn't see its source as she regained her senses over the next few seconds, but she heard someone nearby slap their palm solidly against their face.

"Yes, Ino, you are in a tree. Now I'll ask you again, how do you think you got up here when you were last arguing with Sakura down in the courtyard just there?" Hoshiro asked while pointing down to the bewildered form of a pink-haired girl scratching her head and wondering where her fan girl rival had just disappeared to.

Ino rubbed the back of her neck for a second in thought. "Wait, you used your wood Release to get me up here?"

Hoshiro nodded. "Yeah, I did."

"Why?"

"Another good question. I got you up here because I have a question to ask you: why do you waste your time with Sasuke?"

"Sasuke-kun is not a waste of time!"

"I didn't say that. What I asked, is why do you waste your time with Sasuke?" Hoshiro asked again, changing the emphasis in the process.

"Why do I waste my time with Sasuke?" She echoed in question. "You think I'm wasting my time going after the one thing I know can make me happy in life?"

"Yeah, I do think that, because out of all the possible kunoichi in our class, you arguably have the second highest potential. well, after Hinata anyway. So why do you not bother to improve your skills and abilities, and instead waste what time you do have with pointless pursuits like the same crush every girl except one seems to have on that pasty pretty boy?"

"I don't have to sit here and take this from you of all people, Senju. What makes you think that your argument has any credibility... wait, did you just say I have the second highest potential out of the girls in our class?"

Hoshiro nodded again. "Yes, Ino, I did. I hate to see an excellent shinobi-in-training, no matter what the gender, waste their potential with something so trivial."

"Sasuke-kun is not trivial!" she shrieked at him.

Hoshiro put his free hand up in mock defence. "Yeah, I get that you think that. Just hear me out for a second. The mid year taijutsu tournament for our class is on tomorrow. If I win against Sasuke, we train together every weekend for the next three months. If I lose, you won't ever hear me badmouth your beloved Uchiha ever again."

To Ino, that sounded like an absolute bargain. Not only would she get to see Sasuke beat some sense into Senju and show him who was the top of their class with ease, but she wouldn't hear the smug bastard say anything derogatory against her long-time crush for the rest of their time in the Academy. There was no way this Hashirama twin would win against the handsome Uchiha genius anyway, so what did she have to lose? "Alright, Hoshiro, you're on. I look forward to hardly ever hearing your voice again."

Hoshiro smirked again. "And I look forward to watching you spend every weekend for the next three months actually doing something useful with your time." Then he simply slipped from the tree branch and dropped to the ground without waiting for her response.

Damn it! Every time he gave her some witty retort, he managed to slither his way out of her line of fire before she could mount a counterattack. It was infuriating. But at least she was getting something good out of that deal. That self-righteous ass wouldn't know what hit him.

-------

"Alright everyone it's that time of year again. The boys division is first up as usual, so all males please proceed to the mat if you hear your name called," Iruka called out to the class as they gathered in the gym for the mid year taijutsu competition. It had never been so much a competition as it had been an overall grading examination for the class. It was a relatively simple prospect: Iruka called out two predetermined and randomised names from the schedule; they then fought until Iruka declared a victor or one was knocked unconscious or incapacitated. That process continued until they had found a winner.

"Hoshiro versus Daichi," Iruka called out.

"Hajime!" Iruka called to begin the match.

Daichi moved first, making a somewhat clumsy charge to deliver a heavy right cross to Hoshiro's chest. Hoshiro merely watched and waited for the right moment. He saw Daichi's feet move awkwardly, unsuited to the fighting stance he took up. The boy's other arm was tucked against his side, just below where the correct guarding position for the regular Academy stance, leaving him wide open to an attack from his left which Hoshiro didn't bother exploiting. A more direct approach would be fitting enough for the initial bout of the competition.

Just as Daichi's fist was about to impact his chest, Hoshiro sidestepped quickly, grabbing onto Daichi's arm and pulling the boy's lower torso into his raised and waiting knee. The winding knee to the gut was quickly superseded by a strong right hook to Daichi's face, knocking him to the side where Hoshiro brought the finishing move around. Instead of his usual combo of knee, hook, elbow, Hoshiro decided to mix it up a little with something that was more spur of the moment than anything else: instead of bringing a sharp elbow to the back of Daichi's head as he stumbled backwards, Hoshiro dive-rolled past him, unfurling quickly to bring his left arm into the back of the boy's knees with a dull thwack. The resulting knockdown was ended with a crushing elbow drop to the solar plexus, knocking Daichi out from the pain as blood shot out of his mouth.

'Alright', Hoshiro thought happily. Three point one seconds, new record for a knockout. Hoshiro grinned as he walked off the mat, winking at Hinata.

The Hyuga girl smiled and cheered happily for her best friend.

At the time of going off, he winked at Ino as well.

The girl on the receiving end of Hoshiro's prick-like attitude crossed her arms and huffed, screwing her usual demure expression into a deep lopsided face of irritation.

"Don't sulk, Ino. It's not becoming of you," Hoshiro said as he walked past, smug smile still in place.

Hoshiro: 1, Ino: 0.

The first stage of rounds passed in just the way Iruka Sensei expected.

The civilian kids with the exception of Sakura were all knocked out in quick succession. The matches were pitifully boring in regards to actual content, but the finales were somewhat humorous, especially when Kiba nearly lost at the last second because he thought he knocked out his opponent without actually checking. The ones left were those who actually had a decent amount of potential as prospective shinobi: Naruto, Sasuke, Kiba, Shino, Shikamaru and Chouji. The real portion of the taijutsu comp was nearly upon them.

Ino knew Hoshiro would make it past the first section easily. He was more than good enough to take care of the rabble, so to speak, but she didn't know quite where he would place when the real fighting began.

She wiped the back of her hand against her forehead to clear a few drops of sweat she hadn't known had formed a moment prior.

Iruka looked over the schedule once again. He knew he had chosen correctly in the way he structured the initial fights. It was a much better idea to place the less-hopeful students against the better skilled ones to make sure the tournament progressed quickly, rather than let it dawdle on in the preliminary bouts. All in all, it was about to get a whole lot more intense.

"Okay, the next round is going to begin. First match: Hoshiro versus Kiba," Iruka called out.

Hoshiro forwarded quickly to the mat, followed a second later by the inuzuka.

"Ready to get your ass kicked, Hoshiro?" Kiba verbally jabbed, cocky grin plastered on his face.

Hoshiro returned it with a smirk of his own. "I don't know kiba... but I am here for a blowout victory tonight"

Seeing the end of the verbal jousting between opponents, Iruka announced, "Hajime!"

Kiba moved first, rushing past Hoshiro with a wide and fast right hook. The fist flying towards him was too fast to intercept... Hoshiro was good at dodging, but to clan heirs he is not fast enough, in fact he is quite slow.

But what he lacks in terms of speed, he makes it up in defense and incredible Vitality

A jab from Kiba... not even a single scratch

A gut with elbow... no pain for what could have easily been considered a KO move. As Hoshiro rotated the hips slightly, bringing a hard uppercut to bear on the dog-partnered warrior. Kiba teetered clumsily out of the way at the last possible second, feeling the wind of Hoshiro's, missed finisher rush past his temple by mere centimetres.

Now he knew why Senju had finished his previous match in just above three seconds: the sheer force behind his blows was more than enough to knock someone out with a single direct hit if they weren't careful.

The Inuzuka rushed again, turning to bring a speedy snap kick to Hoshiro's side from a previous failed attempt to bring a hard elbow against Hoshiro's momentarily exposed neck.

Pity Kiba underestimated the vitality of Senju, Hoshiro took the kick and went for a punch himself.

Ino, watching on intently, winced when she heard the dully resounding crunch of bone meeting bone.

The Inuzuka collapsed to his knees, spewing out his stomach contents in a very sickening fashion, issuing a series of very audible ewwwww's from the girls watching from the sidelines.

Iruka quickly declared Hoshiro the victor of the match as the nurse on standby ushered Kiba away to the sick bay while Iruka in turn dragged out another mat to replace the now vomit-stained one the Inuzuka had just soiled with the contents of his digestive tract.

The next series of matches passed quickly.

When it was Naruto's turn, Hoshiro cheered for him, even Hinata shyly and with a red face said the good luck.

Ino was staring at Hoshiro for quite some time now... as she wondered, what these two friends see in Naruto.

Naruto's brawling tactics was preyed upon by the very precise and mechanical fighting style of Shino, well befitting his Aburame heritage.

Sasuke managed to beat Chouji with some difficulty, the tank-like structure of the Akimichi forcing the Uchiha to put more effort behind his strikes to deal reasonable amounts of damage to his opponent.

Shikamaru was given a bye, which Hoshiro thought apt given the usual disposition of the Nara Clan males which Shikamaru did not rush to dispute.

'Lazy bastard', Hoshiro thought absently.

Ino was beginning to get a little nervous. Sasuke was doing as well as she expected, winning both his matches with ease, as far as she was concerned.

What bothered her was how well Hoshiro was doing. The first kid he had beaten was weak by the standards of the upper echelon of their class, but beating Kiba with as little difficulty as he did was an achievement. Inuzuka taijutsu techniques were heralded as some of the most broadly effective in the Konoha shinobi force's arsenal, and Kiba was as proficient as could be expected of an Inuzuka his age. But Hoshiro had beaten him, badly.

'As expected of a Senju', she thought

The semi-final matches were about to begin, and as before, Hoshiro was going to go first.

"Hoshiro versus Shino," Iruka announced.

Unlike the brash and cocky attitude displayed by Kiba, Shino's Aburame upbringing dictated an entirely logic-based approach to a fight. The Aburame would analyse an opponent's strengths and weaknesses before enacting a plan of action as how to defeat them.

Senju Hoshiro was not perfect, He has very big Holes... The only thing that's covering those holes is his remarkable Defense. The bigger the gap in their defence, or the smaller the attacking range they were capable, was a tool Shino could use for his own purposes.

Of course, it's different with the trees... but this is taijutsu Competition

Besides, Aburame bodies contains the parasite

Means if Shino hit hoshiro, there wouldn't be a way to defend

Like it's said, it's far better to dodge aburame's attacks, than to block it, since you can't block them

That was what made his matchup far more difficult than with Kiba. Shino employed a similar means of intelligence and insight to his own.

"Hajime!"

The two opponents stood opposite each other on the mat, both remaining unmoving for a split-second after Iruka made the call, staring each other down. Shino's dark sunglasses made it hard to determine where exactly he was looking; it gave the Aburame a slight analytical advantage by disguising which individual aspect of the opponent was being examined.

Hoshiro stared back in that instant, watching Shino's rather indiscriminate body language carefully. A few subtle shifts in Shino's weight distribution gave him a vague notion as to where to expect an attack first. But it wasn't like Senju was going to allow the Aburame to show his hand first in this scenario.

Stepping forward, Hoshiro made to slam a fist into Shino's jaw right off the bat. Shino sidestepped around the fast strike while leaning as Hoshiro whirled one-eighty degrees and brought around his left arm in a backhanded sweep across Shino's midsection.

Not expecting the sudden momentum shift, Shino was forced to directly block the attack while back-stepping, the force behind it too much to take on directly. His opponent moved in close again, striking with an open palm to Shino's chest, again forcing Shino back. It was becoming clear to the Aburame what Hoshiro was intending to do.

Shino, blocking and dodging another series of fast attacks, from Hoshiro, speedily looped the circumference of Hoshiro's raised front guard, aiming a sweeping kick from Hoshiro's left for the hollows of his knees. Shino's opponent jumped over the kick, but instead of landing on his feet, Hoshiro landed on his hands and suddenly spun and delivered a reverse roundhouse kick directly to Shino's chin, pushing himself upwards by way of his one hand planted beneath him.

Not waiting for his opponent to recover, Hoshiro flipped up from his lower position and moved to strike at Shino's half-raised form. Shino slipped away from Hoshiro's now overextended arm, rising and launching his elbow down onto Hoshiro's shoulder. Hoshiro weakened slightly underneath the force of Shino's blow but recovered quickly by pushing himself up from the mat just as he fell forwards in a one-handed push-up.

Another few seconds of blow exchanging left Shino gasping for breath, winded by a sudden shift in Hoshiro's combat focus; instead of aiming for Shino's chest exclusively, Hoshiro began an assault moving from corner to corner of Shino's body and slowly guiding his striking appendages inwards.

As an alternative to simply pounding away at one point exclusively and giving Shino a way to avoid taking heavy damage of any sort

Hoshiro was able to inflict a great deal of damage by simply occupying Shino's defensive capacity with an almost ridiculous amount of punches and kicks to the four separate corners of Shino's torso.

It was then that hoshiro was able to finish the fight. After negating Shino's troublesome agility, Hoshiro released a spinning right hook in a very violent manner, fist impacting heavily with the Aburame's cheek. A light spray of blood from Shino's mouth splattered over his and hoshiro's faces.

"Hoshiro is the winner," Iruka declared, seeing Shino's sudden lack of movement capacity.

As Shino was escorted to the onsite medical staff to be healed, Hoshiro rubbed the shoulder Shino had managed to hit.

It was a surprisingly harsh blow for someone whose vitality and defense is such strong. Testing the flexing range of his shoulder, Hoshiro found that the total distance he could pull his arm back was half of his regular span. Shino had managed to reduce his overall combat potential by greatly limiting the mobility of his left arm. Damn it...

hoshiro sighed. At least he didn't have to fear the Uchiha boy. Sasuke is not Itachi, while Itachi could get past his defenses, Sasuke is not a genius as that of his brother.

Hoshiro grin at Hinata, as she nodded nodded shyly

"Alright, the final match is here. Hoshiro versus Sasuke," Iruka declared.

Rising while still rubbing his injured left shoulder, Hoshiro proceeded to the mat opposite his Pretty opponent with a light smirk on his face. It would be simple as hell.

Ino was almost sweating bullets at that point. She had seen. Sasuke had had more trouble with Chouji in the previous round, catching several sharp impacts in his torso. Only now that she is looking carefully did she finds the pretty Uchiha is not as perfect as he seems to be

"Hope you don't mind spending a week in the hospital, loser," Sasuke taunted.

Iruka stepped off the wide mat with a shout of "Hajime!"

The Uchiha arrogantly rushed in head long. The shooting right cross was an easy blow to counter, particularly when Sasuke left his left side open like a door, arm clenched tightly by his side and not in a guarding position.

Hoshiro's response was to deal blow to blow, his defenses Sasuke can never ever beat it.

Sasuke weaved his head out of the way of Hoshiro's fist with a smirk almost at the last second.

That smirk quickly faded when Hoshiro's elbow suddenly shot out to the side, delivering a glancing but solid blow to Sasuke's forehead.

The Uchiha stumbled back but remained in solid footing while Hoshiro trailed along with an uppercut, which Sasuke deflected with his right arm while lancing forward with a left jab to Hoshiro's torso to setup for a fast right hook. Simultaneously, Hoshiro's guarding left arm came down with him, slapping Sasuke's jab out of the way and over balancing the Uchiha in one fell swoop.

This Fight is pointless, Hoshiro's defenses can't be broken by the likes of Sasuke.

Hoshiro wasn't even feeling anything from Sasuke punches.

Sasuke's guided stumble gave Hoshiro slightly more room to manoeuvre and a few precious seconds to formulate a plan. Happy with his coalesced thoughts after a moment of consideration, Hoshiro stepped forward with intent, slamming an open palm strike towards his opponent's chest

All Sasuke could really do was endure the beating as best he could while attempting to return strikes when the opportunity presented itself. A dodged straight from Hoshiro snapped into a reaching elbow strike that Sasuke barely managed to sweep his head underneath while he delivered an uppercut to Hoshiro armpit. Hoshiro didn't even bother and Hit Sasuke. The Uchiha pushed his body hard, sweat pouring down his torso and staining his clothing. And the Senju was just like before with no changes what so ever.

Dark eyes locking onto one another...

As the fight dragged on, Ino was growing more and more nervous by the second. It was quite clear at that point that Sasuke was going to lose. It wasn't really a matter of speed or strength, but pure defense.

Senju Hoshiro beated Sasuke to this level because of his excellent defenses.

And that was what scared her. It really did seem like he was going to win.

And with that, he stepped away, leaving Sasuke barely conscious on the ground. "And Senju Hoshiro wins the male division," Iruka announced finally.

Overarching silence gathered from the fan girls while a majority of the boys clapped politely. Hoshiro made no real acknowledgement of their applause, instead training his gaze firmly on Ino with a faint smirk on his face.

Ino gulped in response.

-------

(Present)

In the secret Library of Senju... hoshiro was meditating, purity was exploding from him, 3 faint images of lotus was floating above his head, as he remembers the past...

At that time, when he took part in taijutsu competition of academy, he was not strong enough, his Vitality was not that high as well, now he wonders if he could ever be hurt again.

Suddenly, the holy aura surrounding him exploded, there were holy and auspicious chants all over the compound, making the Senju household, a temple, there was an a Buddhist wheel behind his head as the three lotus above his head, blossomed giving a faint image of Buddha.

He clapped his hands and started praying

Buddhahood is the highest of the Ten Worlds, a condition of pure, indestructible happiness.

-------

(4 Years ago)

"Where are you off to at this time of morning, hime?" Inoichi asked, looking up from his breakfast as he watched his darling little shinobi-in-training approach the entry way.

Ino looked momentarily admonished, but quickly faded back to her usual smiling self.

"I'm just going to go train with a friend from class, Otou-san. I'll be back in a few hours, so bye." Ino ran through the door before he could say another word.

Inoichi was at a slight loss for words before he muttered, "Since when does Ino train without me telling her to?"

The Yamanaka jounin shook his head, disregarding his thoughts and returning his focus to his breakfast.

-------

She saw him in the senju compound, his big sister Let her in.

When she went to his house, he was sitting crossed Legs Meditating

She was lost in thoughts...

His voice shook her back to reality. "Glad you decided to uphold the agreement, Ino."

"Yeah, yeah, sure, whatever," Ino answered absentmindedly, continuing to look over Hoshiro's appearance.

She didn't noticed it but He is quite Good Looking himself.

"Hey, Ino, are you in there?" he asked playfully.

Ino snapped out of her sudden daze. "Hmm?"

Hoshiro got up from the Floor. "Well, now that we're both present, let's get the training started. Since I've seen you fight before, I won't need to spar with you to get an idea of what you can do. Let's go." Hoshiro started jogging away from where Ino stood, who quickly followed after, unsure of what was next.

"Where exactly are we going?" Ino asked a few minutes into the run alongside him. Though she was keeping pace easily enough, Ino was to some extent concerned that she would soon be gasping for breath knowing Senju's infamous sheer capacity for endurance.

"For a small warm-up run before we start the real training," Hoshiro answered, turning his head back to the path in front of him.

Making Ino's concerns a very physical reality, she collapsed back on the ground as they finally reached the park they had begun at, and breathing heavily as her muscles ached from the three runs they had just taken around the entire western district of Konoha.

She could barely bring herself to stand let alone run after they had covered nearly ten kilometres nonstop on foot without using a scrap of chakra enhancement as per Hoshiro orders.

"Don't pass out yet, Ino. We're not done yet," Hoshiro said, smiling down at Ino teasingly.

Ino looked up at him from the ground incredulously. "What do you mean 'not done yet'?!"

The boy standing above her with barely a drop of sweat on his body just chuckled. "Hey, usually I run that four times for a warm-up. Be glad I'm not totally heartless."

Ino couldn't keep herself from staring even more intensely at him. He runs this four times? And for a warm-up? What kind of training has he been doing all this time? Ino's thoughts were somewhat scattered considering her physical exertion.

"I can see you're a little confused about that all, but I've been training like this almost every day since I was six. I know my way around a good training routine," Hoshiro said, smiling

"Well, come on, let's keep going."

He stuck his hand out for her to take. Ino considered her options, or the therein lack of them and gingerly accepted. Hoshiro hauled her to her feet in a single motion before he dropped to the ground and started doing push-ups at an incredible pace.

Ino fell into place beside him, though at a significantly slower rate than what she saw in that moment as a superhuman feat after the run they had just taken. But, yet again, it wasn't so incredible considering he had been doing this for solidly for the past two years.

"Keep going, Ino," Hoshiro advised upon seeing her slight lapse in consistency. "Stop when you get to a hundred, alright?"

Ino nodded absentmindedly and concentrated on the task at hand. It was easier than she thought to go at her own pace despite her state of exertion. The trick she found to coping was just to focus on each one at a time and not drift to how many more she had to do. If she could stay focussed on just the present moment, not the ones to come, it didn't seem so daunting when she watched Hoshiro hammer his way through them. Before she even knew it, ninety of the hundred were done.

"I started to focus that way the first time I did this, too. If you just keep thinking about what you're doing just in that second, it doesn't seem so bad," Hoshiro said, piercing the ambience of birds chirping in the trees and insects buzzing through the flower beds.

Ino looked over to hoshiro as her head bobbed up and down with rising and falling of her body. "How did you-?"

"I don't have many friends since, I was a kid Ino, and thus, I spent some times with birds, insects... Let's not talk about it, and focus on our Training shall we?

Ino said nothing as she finished her round of push-ups and waited for the Senju to stop. A few seconds later, Hoshiro shot up to his feet in a flash, clapping his hands together and rubbing them together slightly.

"Alright, the next one is for you to start dodging," he said, flicking out a few shuriken in one hand and a kunai in the other.

"Wait, isn't that dangerous?" Ino asked; the concern for her safety was blatantly obvious on her face.

"Not at all, at least you don't have to dodge the Giant flying stones"

Finishing his explanation, he flung his kunai towards Ino's shoulder from barely three metres away.

She narrowly avoided the dull blade by diving to the side, getting up just in time for a handful of less-than-lethal shuriken to come from behind her. Ino sprang away, flipping backwards and landing lightly before Hoshiro appeared again with another kunai to throw at her.

The Yamanaka once again scarcely avoided the blade, relying totally on reflex to save her.

It progressed in a similar fashion for almost an hour; Hoshiro appeared almost out of nowhere as Ino tried to escape him by running throughout the park haphazardly, narrowly avoiding taking heavily blunted kunai and shuriken to her body.

At the end of it, and much to her great chagrin, Ino's dark purple tank top and track pants were riddled with glancing dirt, and they were torn up.

"Thanks a lot, Idiot," Ino said, voice dripping with sarcasm. "Now I can't wear these again."

She turned side to side while looking down her back to examine the extent of the damage to her training gear.

Senju just chuckled. "Well, it's not like you ended up with any serious cuts on your actual body."

Ino glared. "Well, unlike you, I actually care about my clothing. And why don't I get to throw blunted weapons at you, anyway?"

"Well, I'd let you if you could even come close to hitting me."

"You-"

"I'm not saying it to be mean or cruel, Ino; it's just a fact right now. In one month's time you should be able to keep up with me a little better. Oh, and now for the next exercise," Hoshiro said, smirking deviously.

"Wait, I thought we were done."

Hoshiro shook his head still with the same wily grin on his face. "Nope we still have another four hours left of training to go."

Ino dispared.

-------

"Where have you been, hime?" Inoichi asked as his beloved daughter walked in, literally covered in dirt, sweat and cut up clothing with a few stains of blood in the purple of her tank top.

"It's five in the afternoon, and why are you so dirty?"

Ino looked calmly over at her father as she began climbing the stairs to the bathroom. "I don't want to talk about it."

Inoichi chuckled, how could he not know where his precious daughter was... he is an elite for a reason.

-------

The more she thought about how she had really first met him, the more she understood what he had truly meant.

Senju had never been the sort of person to do things by halves, which made her initially wonder why he had forced her into training with him anyway. It just hadn't made sense at the time. But later on, it had made perfect sense.

Preparation was the key to everything a shinobi did, or could ever do. Without it, the lives of clients were at risk. Without it, the lives of the village's civilians were at risk. Without it, the lives of the village's ninja were at risk. To be prepared was to save lives. And she was certain Hoshiro had been saving hers.

But the question is why?

Few days later, the presented in the foform of her mother, who asked Sannin Tsunade for help

She would have been nowhere as strong or capable if he had not stepped in when he did, changing her when it was needed most. While she knew it could have been called manipulative, what he did was for the best. Her transformation from weak little girl to proficient kunoichi was in no small part thanks to his involvement.

She knew she should have thanked him for that, but she couldn't. Not when he had all but broken her heart.

Her hand slipped to her chest, heart brimming with pain. It hurt to think about him in such detail, but it needed to be done. She had to get over him. But she didn't want to.

Ino watched the sun slip out of sight, trailing a faint orange light on its way below the horizon. Another sunset, another night spent thinking about him.

-------

On the front of the Senju Compound, Hoshiro watched the sunset

He remembered that day

-------

(1 Years ago)

"I-I Like you", Confessed the shy Ino

But Hoshiro rejected her at that time he was thinking she would forget about it. After all it was just a crush, and even if it hurts, you can always move on.

But few months later she asked again, this time he told her.

"That's because I am a monster Ino, and you don't fall in love with monsters

"W-what, what are you saying"

He chuckled and said nothing, but took out the kunai and slashed his hand

AAAGHH

She screamed and immediately began to use the very little Medical Jutsu she knows.

But to her surprise, the wound healed in a matter of seconds, there was not even a scar and even a drop of blood didn't fall.

Seeing her wide eyes he chuckled...

"Because I was so physically strong, that I managed to create a cut in the first place, no one can even do that in the first place"

"..."

"My Vitality is reaching the extreme Levels Ino, even if I fall in love... I will remain a youthful person nearly forever, while my partner will grow old and die... I don't wanna Love anyone only to see them growing old and die right before my eyes"

"..."

"If I was in Kiri, the entire Village would have come after me to kill me as the monster, the only reason, I was not approached by anyone here, is because I am a Senju... I am a monster Ino, and you don't love monsters"

He remember that she went to being Sasuke Fan girl, just to spite him... but if he knows something is that she still look only at him.

-------

He sigh, few months Later after that he walks into the path of Bodhidharma, the path of purity and holiness.

But he still couldn't forget that night of graduation, she came in tears and forcefully kissed him before going back, without even hearing or saying anything.

With that he went Inside the Compound, back to meditation... only through endless meditation can one achieve the teaching of Buddha,and get enlightenment.

-------

It was the morning and the day of their teams first C-Rank mission.

[Wow, this Chapter is 7 chapter Long... enjoy the longest Chapter]

[Also, it crossed the 10 Chapter Mark, IF ANYONE LIKE MY WORK PLEASE GIVE REVIEWS]