Ok im SO SO SO sorry i took so long to update DX i kinda got stuck in the middle on this chapter o.o"

it was like writers block x_x but anyway i finally fixed it during school xD

i was struck with an idea ;o i no its been awhile but i didnt forget about this fanfic i would never :O

also at the beginning of this story i did the POV thing with ino and shikamaru and just wanna clarify tht i wont confuse u guys with tht again. i figured out i suck at tht x_x so i'll keep things like this for now

enjoy!

Chapter 17: The Flower of Control

Ino stood in silence waiting for Ri to start the sparring match. It was only them there in an open area in the woods. They stood across from each other not moving a muscle.

"Time for me to see how well you've become. If you're well enough I might show you something else. If you 're well enough." Ri smirked.

"You know not to underestimate me Ri-sensei." Ino said giving a confident look. They both got in ready position and in a flash they came at each other. Ino didn't want to try her jutsu just yet so she decided to compare her strength to Ri's. Of course it would be less, but she wanted to see how well she could hold off. Ino did well at first, but Ri did a back flip to avoid Ino's last kick and made a hand seal while filling her cheeks with air.

"Water Style: Kuma." A large amount of water came out of her mouth. Ino didn't know what to expect so she backed away as fast as she could. The water covered the ground in front of her and a giant bear of water took shape. Ino walked up to it. 'She's able to form water that quickly? And what's up with the size? This things huge.'

"That's a little much for a sparring match!" Ino yelled. Ri stood beside the bear.

"I'm not going easy on you. You never know what to expect from the enemy and if you think he'll go easy on you you'll simply die." Ri said as the bear charged at Ino. It was several times larger than the average bear and judging from the last time Ino fought one of Ri's bear clones, slicing it with a kunai was just gonna form more. After dodging it a couple times Ino backed up and strengthened her stance. The bear charged at Ino like a ram, which was just what she wanted. Right before it slammed into her she gave a solid punch to its temple, causing it to burst into nothing. Ri watched as if it all happened in slow motion. 'Well her strengths definitely up there otherwise it would have simply charged right through her.' Ri watched as Ino began to do a hand seal.

"Fire Style: Fire Dove Jutsu!" Ino quickly filled her cheeks and blew as hard as she could. A medium sized bird formed and came at Ri with a forceful charge. 'She's learned well. That bird's bigger than mine. Ri didn't hesitate and dodged the bird. It flew up in the air and charged down at Ri again. She looked it in the eye and grew worried. 'That bird isn't being controlled. I better stop it before it causes any trouble.' The birded missed Ri again and she took the opportunity to attack. She performed another hand seal and water covered her hands looking almost as if it were chakra. However, before she could strike it, it zoomed towards Ino.

"Wha….what's it doing?" Ino said not moving.

"Ino watch out its trying to attack you now!" Ri called out hoping Ino would move on her own. If she didn't move soon the bird would kill her, but thankfully Ino snapped back to reality and jumped out of the way. The bird was completely out of control and started destroying everything. Ri ran up to Ino and informed her about how it's crucial that they stop the bird before it gets near the village. The bird was currently destroying the forest near them and was probably going to go to a new location next.

"Where's Shin?" Ino asked.

"He's on a mission outside of the village. He probably won't be back until tonight." Ri's hands were still covered in the chakra-like water. Ino had seen her fight before but she never saw her do this. She was anxious to see how this was used in battle. The water swayed slowly from the tip of her fingers to her wrist, but then it disappeared. Ino directed her attention back up to Ri.

"Ino, we need to corner that thing in a direction away from the village. It might not be the biggest beast in the world, but who knows what it can do without someone to control it." Ino understood, but she wondered how they were going to do that. Tenten would have been very useful right now. Her chains could have brought the bird down and it would have been easier to destroy it. Ino hoped that Ri had a legit plan.

"Ok Ino, I want you to punch it." Ri said.

"What? Are you sure?" Ino asked feeling uneasy. Ri just nodded. 'Well so much for a legit plan, but she is the teacher and she knows best.' The sensei and her student quickly ran after the uncontrolled bird hoping that it didn't get any closer to the village.

"Ino, you made this bird. That's why I can't hit it without getting burned." Ri told as they jumped through the trees. Ino was completely lost as to why she lost control of the beast. 'If anyone gets hurt it'll be all my fault…' Ri turned to Ino understanding how she felt.

"Don't blame yourself so much. You just started this so it's not your fault. The only reason you lost control was because you probably figured that after the jutsu was performed you didn't need to worry about it anymore and let it move on its own." Ino thought back to when she performed the jutsu. Ri was right. She didn't think about having to control it. 'I have to stop this thing.'

The bird grew even more uncontrollable. Half of the forest was dangerously on fire and bird grew closer to the village. Smoke could be seen coming from the forest and some of the villagers started to question and worry. Ri and Ino were now dead behind the beast. Ri speeded up so she could get in front of it and Ino stayed behind it. Ri performed a hand seal and filled her cheeks with air. "Water Style: Liquid Wall Jutsu." Ri spit out a large amount of what looked like water that formed a large wall causing the bird to run into it. 'Geez Ri-sensei knows a lot of water jutsu's.' Ino thought as she waited to see what would happen. The bird backed up and tried to fly through the wall, but it was no use. The wall could not be penetrated. The bird realized this and was about to fly around it, but Ino jumped up in the air and punched it to the ground. She then backed up and waited for Ri's further instructions. The bird started to get up again so Ri warned Ino to back a little more. The creature gave Ri a very suspicious look.

"What are you looking at?" Ri said under her breath doing a fast hand seal, but the bird got u even faster and happed for Ino. Its motion was so lightning fast Ino didn't even have time to run. "INO!" Ri yelled out. The bird ran into, knocking her unconscious and since she made the bird in the first place she didn't burn to death.

When Ino woke up she was still in the same spot she got knocked out. Ri was kneeling beside her looking relieved. "Good you're awake. You had me worried for a sec." Ri said helping Ino up. Ino looked around saw that the entire half of the forest was destroyed and the fire was put out.

"You…you stopped it?" Ino asked.

"Yea. Thankfully it wasn't that hard. The real challenge was putting all the flames out in the forest." Ino didn't say anything and brushed off the ashes and dirt off her skirt. "Geez this place is in bad shape and it looks like you're gonna need more training." Ri said helping Ino up.

"Ugh! I'm so pathetic! What's wrong with me?" Ino said dropping her head in anger and sorrow. Ri sighed and hit Ino on the head. "There's absolutely nothing wrong with you!" At that second Ri reminded Ino of her mom. She would always hit her whenever she became discouraged. Ri even had the same annoyed snarl as her. It made Ino miss her parents, but it also made her happy to know she had Ri as a sensei. "Now come on, do it again." Ri said.

"Wait what? You want me to do the jutsu again?"

"Ino, you came to me saying that you wanted me to train you to get stronger and I promise I will. If you can't do this right then what's the point in moving on in training? You already can make the dove bigger than mine; now you must solve the other side of the problem, which is controlling it. Then once you've done that we're going to go into something I think you'll find even more useful." Ri said giving Ino a confident glare. Ino grew anxious.

"Really? What is it?"

"And what makes you think I'm going to tell y-"

"INO! RI-SENSEI!" Shin called out from across the forest. "What happened?" He ran up to them with a worried expression, hoping they weren't hurt.

"It's ok Shin….just a little sparring match. That's all." Ino said sweatdropping. Shin sighed in relief. "Good thing its over now. The villagers were about to get suspicious."

"Really? Hmph, that's a shock. When I use to train all the time, I would always give off explosions by accident or start fires and nobody seemed to worry." Shin gave a glare to Ri as if she had just said something significant. He began to slowly walk up to her and stood at her side and began to whisper something into her ear. Ino watched in curiosity. 'What's so important that I can't hear about? We tell each other everything.' After the secret conversation, Ri gave a look of concern and looked at Ino.

"Ino come with me. Looks like we're gonna have to put this on hold for a sec. We have to get you away from here." Ri said walking towards her house. Shin may know why Ri's worried, but he had no clue what she was about to do. He and Ino looked at each other and then followed.

"Ino I know your wondering what's going on…. Ri will explain everything." Shin assured Ino. She began to enter deep thought; trying to guess what was up. 'Are the villagers mad? Is someone coming to take me back to Konoha? I really hope not. I like it here.'

The three of them entering the house and Ri raised her hand as a gesture for them to stay where they were and then she walked to the back of the house. Ino and Shin waited patiently until Ri returned. When she did she was holding a large scroll.

"Ok I'm going to take you two to a special location where no one will be able to find us." Ri sighed. "I was going to wait to take you here, but considering Shin's report we'll have to be alert and stay hidden for awhile."

"What? Why?" Ino asked.

"Because…someone is after you." Ri said. Ino's eyes widened. "I'm not quite sure who's after you, but I think I have a clue. I'll search day and night until I can be one hundred percent sure, but until then I wanna keep you somewhere safe so they can't find you."

Ino's heart pounded. Why would someone be after her? She couldn't figure it out. "Ok then, where are we going?"

"Remember when I told you earlier I would teach you something that you will find very useful?" Ino nodded. "Well that 'something' is a summoning animal. Your summoning animal."

"My summoning animal? Really? That's awesome, but what's that have to do with hiding me?" Ino asked. Ri kneeled down and opened the scroll.

"Let me explain. You already know what a summoning animal is. Where you will be staying is the same place your summoning animal is." Ino was completely lost. Shin knew what Ri was talking about because of his studies. "Some summoning animals have certain locations they are summoned from. The locations are normally unreachable unless given a secret path or a reverse summoning jutsu is performed. Ino I'm not sure what your summoning animal is or if it will even take use to its land, but I know someone who can help. She's someone who specializes at summoning animals. I found her during one of my missions in the mountains outside of the Cloud Village. She can help you with this." Ino followed what Ri was saying, but still didn't know what the scroll was for.

"So what's…" Ino pointed at the open scroll.

"This scroll is the fastest way to get to her. I'm you guys wouldn't mind walking there, but its not like its close by and with people after you its not safe to travel. Plus this place is secret and if you walk there you'll need to know a secret path across the ocean. Its located on a small peaceful island."

Ino and Shin nodded in understanding. "You guys will need to pack a bag. You guys shouldn't stay there long. It's the summoning animals land that you'll be staying for awhile. Most likely for two years."

"TWO YEARS? It'll be that long?"

"Listen Ino, I know this is sudden and two years is along time, but trust me when the two years are over you will be much stronger. I'll go with you, but I wont be there all the time. I have to find out who's exactly after you."

Ino wasn't entirely sure if she was ok with this, but she trusts Ri and if she says its safe then it must be. "Ok I'll go."

A/N: i was gonna wait until maybe chapter 20 to sent here there but i thought now would be a good time

dont u think?

thanks and leave a review!