Up and Out

Puppet's Strings

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The sharp warning look from Hinata made Shino shut up and get back to the task of changing places with his puppet. Moments later three more ninjas were headed towards Wave ...

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"Ino, you can complain all you want, but we're going to team up with Team 8 not Team 7." The puppet Asuma said with a groan. Naruto was not used to dealing with the very real fan girl and he had to admit his patience was draining fast. (There has to be a way to snap her out of this fan girl thing ... my head can't handle much more of this shrieking.) Naruto thought from inside his puppet.

"But Sasuke might need me!" Ino exclaimed with an actual toddler style stomp of the foot.

"He's actually able to get out of trouble whereas you had trouble with a trash can so how helpful can you be?" Naruto commented through the puppet, sounding more annoyed than he intended.

Choji, sweet guy that he was, winced at the sad look on Ino's face, "That's a bit mean, sensei."

"Perhaps it was harsh," The puppet Asuma admitted, making Ino perk up, "but then I think about the statistics of genin who are raped and murdered on their first mission and compare their skills to yours." He looked down at Ino, who looked shocked that he was even bringing up such things. "What? Being a ninja is a bloody job that is full of heartache and betrayal."

"Stuff like that is only in the movies or demon attacks." Ino said, but started to look very hesitant when she saw the dumbfounded looks on the three males' faces.

Choji looked nervous, "Ino, my dad has told me of his old missions and they were dangerous."

Shikamaru saw a chance to start looking for an answer that Hinata wanted, "Mine too. Your father also has a mind warping bloodline so he must've mentioned having to help people after something traumatic happened. My dad mentioned that your dad actually usd his bloodline to remove a nightmare from you so he has been in peoples' heads."

"That was a one time thing!" Ino snapped, proving that she was more naive than they expected.

Choji blinked, "ummm ... Ino, we're on the same team to mimic our fathers' team and one of the main attacks required your father to throw his mind into the enemy. Obviously he has done that before, right?"

"And you will too, right? Or do you really have no clue how to use your own bloodline? I highly doubt Sasuke will go for a girl without any skills at all even if you have a bloodline in your DNA." Shikamaru asked, trying to provoke the fan girl.

Ino's cheeks flushed with anger, "I can use it! Dad hasn't had the time to train me personally, but I made a copy of my dad's Jutsu one time and I know the first steps -"

Asuma sighed, "There's Team 8. We'll talk about training after a short mission, ok?" He said thankful that he wouldn't be the only Naruto clone dealing with this fan girl insanity.

The Kurenai puppet came towards them with Hinata, Kiba and Shino, but she suddenly stopped and her eyes widened, "Did Ino just fall over for a reason?" She asked as she rushed forward.

The Asuma puppet blinked, "Huh?" The Naruto clone turned. He first saw a Shikamaru and Choji, who looked confused, but they all turned to look at the ground several paces behind them. There they saw an unconscious Ino on the ground. "I said to wait for training!" He exclaimed as he rushed over to pick up Ino so she wasn't in the weeds.

Kiba gaped in shock, "What happened?! She looks dead!" He exclaimed, but couldn't help but notice that Shino pulled out a blanket that they could place Ino on as if he understood that it was needed. How'd he know what to do without the senseis saying anything?