After The Last

Chapter 16.2

The Colors of Emotions

"Stay away from her, you jerks!" A blonde-haired young girl defended a pink-haired girl who was bullied by a group of boys and girls.

"Why are you getting in the way, Ino? That girl's big forehead looks creepy." A fat boy commented.

"You really are a jerk for bullying a helpless girl like her," Ino answered.

"Stay away from this mess already." A girl said. She was friends with the bullies.

"Like I care. You should go home now jerks! Stay away from her. I won't let you lay a hand on her again." Ino said still defending the girl.

"Okay, okay! Let's quit it for now. Ino is someone we can't mess around." The fat boy said and left with his friends.

"Are you okay?" Ino asked the girl.

"Ye-Yeah. Thank you for saving me, Ino." The girl replied.

"Oh, so you know my name?" Ino was surprised.

"Yes. You are popular with the kids. You are strong, confident, and beautiful." The girl said.

"What a surprise!" Ino exclaimed. The girl smiled at her.

"By the way, what's your name?" Ino asked her.

"I'm Sakura. Sakura Haruno." The girl replied.

"What a beautiful name," Ino commented. Sakura blushed and smiled.

"Wait, let me tie you up with this ribbon," Ino said and grabbed a red ribbon from her pocket. Ino tied the ribbon on Sakura's head revealing her forehead.

"Look at yourself in the mirror," Ino said. Sakura smiled. She looked so happy.

"Thank you so much, Ino." Sakura was so grateful to her and from then on they became friends.

Their friendship did not turn out so well when Ino realized that Sakura has a crush on Sasuke whom she had a crush on with too.

Upon each other's knowledge about their crush on Sasuke, they became rivals and cut the tie that binds their friendship.

Ino remained a strong, confident, and beautiful lady when she grew up. She was one of the top students in the academy and soon when she graduated she became a splendid genin with Shikamaru and Choji in her team led by Asuma Sarutobi, the Third Hokage's son.

She was trained by her father with their clan's unique technique, the mind transfer technique. Ino was born from the Yamanaka Clan which specializes in Sensory Type techniques and mind transfer techniques. The clan also runs a flower shop and for everybody's knowledge, Ino loves flowers.

She also trained in medical ninjutsu together with Sakura under the supervision of the Fifth Hokage, Tsunade. She did not go further training with her because she had her own specializations to focus on.

Ino likes Sasuke ever since. She kept her hair long because she had heard Sasuke likes long-haired girls but still, Sasuke ignores her feelings. Sasuke was something you can not talk about crushes and stuff.

Sasuke's disappearance in the village and later on credited to have deserted the village made Ino sad. It was only Sasuke who made her happy and made her feel alive but he was gone.

She became 16 and nothing had changed. She was still the Ino back then but with lots of experience from their missions and newly developed and acquired techniques she had learned from training.

One day she met a guy who had a resemblance with Sasuke and to her surprise, he was actually a replacement for Sasuke in Team Seven, his name was Sai.