Ino-I

Ino tapped her foot impatiently as she waited at the usual spot. Ever since they graduated last week, her individual training had taken a hit. Sure, they did some team training, but it was not the same.

The Ino-Shika-Cho combo was something that was handed down to them. Even though it was famous, the formation did not give her much satisfaction since her role was more towards information gathering than frontline combat. Ironic, considering her father was the head of the Analysis Team in the Intelligence Division. Even though she had the aptitude for it, and was not averse to it, she would not give up on her normal training and fall behind Sakura any more than she already had.

Feeling impatient, she went through familiar motions, closed her eyes, and let her range expand. She sensed nothing beyond what she expected. She let her sensory perception drop and began warming up instead. If Sakura was running late, then she would already be making her way back at top speed. She on the other hand had to warm up, lest the psycho got on her case.

After a few minutes, Sakura jumped into the training ground, looking flustered and annoyed.

"What're you scowling for, you're the one who's late," said Ino.

Before Sakura could respond, a rain of senbon showered on them. They both moved out of the way without any hesitation.

"Had the Tora mission yet?" asked Sakura as she angled her head out of the path of an oncoming kunai.

"How is that relevant? And no," answered Ino as she threw a shuriken to collide with the projectile coming her way.

"You'd understand why I was late if you had the misfortune of doing that mission," said a scowling Sakura as she drew her new wakizashi, "Might as well get some practice with this," she added as she used the sword to turn around and rapidly deflect another cluster of projectiles that came from a different direction.

"Sounds like you're making excuses for your tardiness," Ino responded as she spun a kunai in each hand before reverse gripping them and slashing at her own set of projectiles.

"Oh shut up and get to work," snorted Sakura as they shifted to a back-to-back stance and ran through hand seals at a breakneck pace. It was time to go on the offensive.

Ino slammed her hands on the ground as the earth around them rose and encased them in a protective cocoon. She immediately lit a match and kept it burning with a steady input of chakra. She didn't need to worry about burning out the oxygen since they weren't going to stay inside long enough. It was just a quick way to catch their breath for a few seconds. At the same time, Sakura stomped her foot hard as the land around their spot rippled inwards, feeding more material to the dome.

"G4?" asked Ino.

"Nah, let's go with G6," responded Sakura. Ino paused for a second, thinking about the proposed plan, and nodded.

"Let's do it," she said as she blazed through a set of hand seals, focusing on all the accumulated mass in the dome. By the time she finished the sequence of seals, she was already halfway submerged underground, courtesy of Sakura. Ino finished another set of seals and let herself submerge completely.

They waited for a second before something impacted the dome. Taking the cue, Ino flared a bit of chakra and the dome exploded with a deafening force, sending shrapnel flying everywhere. By design, all of these flying clumps of earth were heavy and sharp. A lethal combination, as it would cleave through most obstacles in every direction.

They both shook their heads in dismay as they picked up on minute vibrations that stated that the target had moved out of range easily. Without wasting time, they followed the rest of the plan and split up, still moving underground.

Ino sighed as she prepared herself for an ambush. It was going to be a long evening.

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She slumped on the ground, out of breath. Sakura was in a similar state, but she tapped her storage seal first, pulling out two bottles of orange juice from the subspace. Ino deftly caught the bottle thrown at her and gulped down the juice with abandon.

"Aww, none for me?" asked the sadistic bitch as she plopped down next to them.

"Fuck off," mumbled Sakura as she rubbed her bruised forearm. Contrary to her words, she brought a box out of the seal and placed it in front of Anko.

The grown woman jumped at it like a kid on a hunt for Rinne Festival gifts. She opened the box and stuck her face into it at once, taking a deep sniff of the contents.

"I knew you cared," she said with a smirk before she picked up a stick of dango from the box and ate it all in one go. Despite being used to her antics for almost a year, the sight still unnerved Ino.

For the past year, Anko had decided to take over their training whenever Ichigo was absent on missions. She apparently owed him for something and decided that she would train Sakura when he was unavailable. Ino knew that Anko meant well, but she had a tendency to overdo it often.

She scowled as she looked at the cuts and bruises that accumulated throughout the impromptu skirmish. The sun had begun to set, and her plans for some jutsu training had gotten derailed. There was some more time left before she had to go home for dinner. Not wanting to waste time, she tapped her storage seal and picked out the scroll that Ichigo had gifted her for her graduation. He had also somehow gotten her mom to give him all her combat attire and had stacked them with seals that made them as sturdy as armor. Speaking of, his absence and Anko's presence in the training ground had been the reason she had even begun warming up before the session. Because, if Anko was there, then that simply meant she would jump right onto a skirmish before anything else.

"Where's he? Didn't he return yesterday?" asked Ino.

"Yeah, but there was an urgent mission it seems. He left with his team today," said Sakura.

"You ungrateful brats, am I not enough for you?" asked Anko with a playful tone.

"Ask us when we're not bruised all over due to your tender mercies," said Ino without much heat. They appreciated Anko's help deep down, but telling that to her face would lead to them being dragged into that accursed forest for extra training. Ino was fine with what they already had, thank you very much.

"Bah, it's nothing and you know it. Anyway, strawberry told me that you might have some specific things I can help you both with. Out with it then," said Anko.

"Umm, before that, can you both check if nobody's around?" asked Sakura with a conflicted expression on her face.

"We're alone as far as I know. Why?" asked Ino after a few seconds of sensing for any chakra signatures within her range.

"Yeah, I've got some snakes running the perimeter. I'd know if someone breached it," stated Anko confidently.

"It's just something Ichigo said," Sakura said, still that constipated expression on her face.

"That's why I'm here you brat. Don't worry about the old coots," said Anko, indicating the issue at hand.

"It's not necessarily a secret, but I don't like the idea of random idiots monitoring us... any more than usual in a hidden village anyway. I checked beforehand, but just wanted to make sure," said Sakura

Ino pondered for a second and understood what the problem was. She'd known that they had applied for clan status, which came with its own set of politics, especially people trying to gather intel. By the comment Anko meant, it could only mean the Hokage's advisors who, according to her father, were too nosy for their own good. For a second, she thought about informing him, but she knew that her father and uncle Shikaku would already be on top of things.

"So what exactly did you get?" asked Ino.

"Let me show you," said Sakura as she wiped her palm over a bleeding cut and ran through a set of one-handed seals before slamming that palm on the ground.

With a puff of smoke, a white bear cub, clad in a green kimono appeared in front of her. Going by the green ribbon tied on her head, Ino guessed the cub was female. The bear looked alert for a second before she caught sight of the juice bottles and the box of dango. She dropped her guard at once and pounced at Sakura.

"Sakura! Are we having a picnic? Where is the fish though?" the cute cub squeaked out. At once, Ino had an uncontrollable urge to squeal and glomp the bear, but she held onto a thin mask of professionalism.

"Kiyo, let me introduce you to my friends first," Sakura groaned as she adjusted the polar bear sitting on her lap.

"Kiyo, meet Ino and Anko. Girls, meet Ki-"

"Hello! I am Kiyokuma. My friends call me Kiyo. Are you new friends?" interrupted the excited cub.

"Yes Kiyo," Ino said as her hand twitched, eager to pet the fluffy creature.

"Yay!" Kiyo shouted as she jumped from Sakura's lap and launched herself towards Ino. Seeing no reason to hold back, a beaming Ino caught the bear cub and started petting her eagerly.

Sakura shook her head at the antics of her summon and pulled a box out of her storage seal. She wordlessly handed it to Ino. A part of Ino was really jealous about the summoning contract that Sakura now had, but another part of her relished the challenge. She'd find cute summons of her own and cuddle them whenever she wanted! And also fight together with them of course.

The moment Ino opened the box, Kiyo turned towards it and started munching on what appeared to be fish sticks.

"Looks like you got an excitable summon, brat," said Anko as she snorted at the antics of Kiyo. She was nonchalantly petting the cub as well but was putting on false airs for no apparent reason.

"Anyway, I can help you with the summons. We'll be working on how to work in tandem with the beasties… after we finish our meal of course," she said as she devoured another stick of dago. Right next to her, Kiyo polished off a fish stick in sync. Ino snorted in amusement and finished the rest of her portion of juice.

"What about you, blondie? What've you got over there?" asked Anko after she stopped munching her food.

"Rock Armor jutsu. It's better than the Earth Release Hardening that I know, and not as ugly too. Ichigo said that it'll give me a passive boost towards offense and defense," she said, waving the scroll that she was gifted.

"Hmm, yeah that's a tough one to pull. Not many people outside of Iwa know that jutsu. What problems are you having?" asked Anko.

"It's consuming more chakra than I thought. The ratio of the earth vs chakra consumed is pretty steeper than mentioned in the scroll," said Ino, thinking about the few times she tried and failed to perform the technique.

"That's simple. You need to work more on earth-natured chakra flow. Get better control over your element, and get a better understanding of the chakra flow technique. It'll help a lot with the issue you're having. I'll keep an eye on you while you practice," said Anko as she propped her chin on her hand.

"What does the jutsu do exactly?" asked Sakura. Ino had no compunctions about sharing the jutsu with Sakura. Another proof of them being best friends was their shared affinity for earth. They often took turns learning different jutsu and teaching it to the other. This time, Sakura would be learning iryojutsu and would teach Ino later, while Ino did the same with this jutsu.

"You know the Earth Release Hardening jutsu. It is somewhat similar," said Ino.

"So, gather rock, and surround ourselves in it like it's an armor? How is it different though?" she asked.

"As I said, it's not as ugly, for starters. The armor is a thin, transparent layer, but does not lack in the defense portion at all. It's basically circulating earth nature chakra throughout the body and absorbing the properties of the earth beneath us. Finally, we use all that to form the layer of armor. It's almost crystalline in appearance when it reflects light. Tanks blunt force like nobody's business, and gives a strength boost. The best part is, we don't need to keep pumping chakra to maintain it. Once you form it, it stays until it gets destroyed."

"Ah, that last bit would serve you well," said Sakura, referencing the Mind-Body techniques that left her vulnerable to attack.

"Yeah, since the team is going that way, it's better if I practice this more," said Ino as she scowled about her role in the team.

"What do you mean?" asked Anko.

"It's just the Ino-Shika-Cho thing. I know that it's a tradition at this point and that it's effective, but I'm just not a big fan of it, is all," she said. Ino knew that if she hadn't trained individually, she would have had no issues with the formation, but now, it just didn't seem balanced, especially when she knew more offensive techniques than Choji.

"You're in Asuma's team right?" asked a thoughtful Anko.

"Yeah."

"And he knows what you can do?"

"Yup."

"Then don't worry about it. Real-life situations are not always geared towards a specific plan. No plan survives first contact. You'd have to improvise based on what you have at that moment. Just practice well with your team and make it known that you can do more than what the formation assumes you can do. Also, ask that teacher of yours about chakra flow. He is an expert when it comes to that," advised Anko.

"Got it. Thanks, Anko," Ino said before freezing up, praying that she had not inadvertently volunteered for a training session in that infernal forest.

"What about you pinkie? How's your team?" she asked as Ino let out a breath of relief.

"Ugh. It's a mess. We're being taught all kinds of teamwork drills and formations. One would think that the idiot who can spam unlimited clones would understand the importance of formations, but nope. On the other hand, the other idiot is too high and mighty for these lowly drills. Can you believe that they were both complaining over the tree walking exercise?"

"They didn't know it? What are they teaching in the academy these days?" asked a baffled Anko.

"Not only did they not know it. They were pants at it. At least Naruto listens to the tips I give. Considering his nature, and his connection with the Hokage, I genuinely thought that he was downplaying his skill in the academy. Turns out I was wrong. Nonetheless, he'll get better sooner than later. The Uchiha princess just scowls whenever I try to give any advice. Seems like he can't get over the fact that I one-upped him during graduation," she finished her tirade as she picked up Kiyo with effort and hugged the bear.

"Who cares about the prissy moron? I'm pretty sure he's just waiting for his Sharingan to awaken, then he'd coast on its merits, the jutsu thief. I'm glad that I'm not on that team though. You have my sympathies," Ino said solemnly and got cuffed on the head for her efforts.

"Ah, the Sharingan…" Sakura said with a sinister smirk that Ino did not like at all. She knew that expression very well. It was the same one Sakura had when she goaded Ino into performing the Mind-Body Switch jutsu and stood still as the jutsu bounced off her due to some bullshit seal. It had almost driven her father into a panic before Ichigo promised that the specific seal was only for the Haruno clan and that it was protected by some nasty encryption. Such a seal if widespread would make the Yamanaka clan obsolete, but thankfully, clan secrets held immense weight in the shinobi culture. Sakura most definitely had something up her sleeve, and when the jutsu thief tried to copy anything from her, he would get a nasty surprise.

"Alright, enough dawdling, let's get to work," commanded Anko as she made two clones who got ready to supervise her training, as the original got ready to finish the rest of her snack.

Ino stood up with effort, looking forward to the hot bath and the warm food that was waiting for her after this torture session.

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A.N: Hope you liked the first iteration of the Shinobi Files in the auxiliary chapters. Now onto this chapter, not much is going on. I just wanted to emphasize some important changes in a couple of characters, and also let out a few tidbits. There would be more Ino and Sakura chapters in the future, that would shine more light on a few events in their childhood that shaped much of what they are now.

I wanted to get this out before I start the mission arc, which wouldn't be conducive to such chapters in between. Also, I am traveling next week, so there will be a slight delay before the next release.

For those of you who missed it, the Rinne Festival is the Narutoverse equivalent of Christmas.

If you want to talk to me on discord, please find the invite in the auxiliary chapter.