Naruto: Eating A Devil Fruit In The World Of Shinobi

"You! You! You really pissed me off! I'll definitely teach you a lesson, just you wait!"

Ino ran forward, catching Sasuke's disdainful words. Her face twisted in fury as she gritted her teeth and shouted back.

"You don't even realize how strong I am now. Even if Ayanami Kaito was standing here, I could still defeat him easily. And you? You're just a waste, a pretty face! What can you possibly do to teach me a lesson?"

Sasuke's sneer deepened, but his eyes glittered with bloodlust. "Fool. You'll pay for your stupidity, Ino."

He stretched out his left arm, his five fingers curling into a claw as he grabbed for Ino's fist, his other hand clenched, ready to strike. But Ino was far stronger than Sasuke now — easily Jonin level, far surpassing him.

The moment Sasuke moved his right arm, Ino surged forward. Her pale fist connected with his stomach before he could react, his eyes widening in shock.

A huge burst of chakra erupted from her fist. The violent force made Sasuke's expression change instantly as blood sprayed from his mouth.

The impact sent Sasuke flying backwards, crashing through several large trees before his body vanished from sight in a blur.

Gulp.

Not far away, Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba, and Shino, who were watching from the shadows, swallowed nervously, cold sweat forming on their foreheads as they silently mourned for Sasuke.

Judging by the sheer force of the blow, Sasuke would be seriously injured if not dead. He might not even be able to take part in the upcoming Chunin Exams.

All of them secretly vowed never to make Ino angry again.

As for Sakura, she stood rooted to the spot, still in shock.

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"You guys stay here. I'll go bring Sasuke back," Kaito said to Hinata, then stepped forward and vanished in a blink.

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"Ino! Ino! Sasuke isn't dead, is he?" Shikamaru snapped back to his senses and asked anxiously.

"He won't die, I held back," Ino replied nonchalantly, waving a hand.

And it was true. Though she'd initially planned to strike with full power, she softened at the last moment. Partly for Sakura's sake, and partly because of Shikamaru's earlier warning that Sasuke wasn't in his right mind.

She'd withdrawn most of her chakra and strength at the last instant. Otherwise, Sasuke wouldn't have survived.

"Ino, are you alright?" Hinata and the others arrived, and Hinata stepped closer, her voice full of concern.

"I'm fine." Ino smiled. "Where's Kaito? Wasn't he with you?"

"He went to bring Sasuke back."

As they spoke, Sakura finally snapped out of her daze and shouted, "Ino! How could you hit Sasuke like that? We're in the same class! How could you be so cruel? He might die because of you!"

"Sakura," Ino responded calmly, "everyone's responsible for their own words. You said it yourself, we're in the same class. If it wasn't for that, do you really think he'd still be breathing?"

Ino knew their friendship would never be the same after this, but she had no regrets. Compared to Sakura, it was Kaito and Hinata who truly mattered to her now.

In the distance, a large tree lay shattered. Leaves scattered everywhere, and in front of it, a young man in a blue shirt and white pants lay unconscious, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

It was Sasuke, the one sent flying by Ino's punch.

Kaito appeared beside him in an instant. He glanced at the destruction Ino's punch had left behind and winced. He couldn't help but feel a twinge of regret. If he'd known Ino would get this strong with super strength, he might've thought twice about teaching it to her. It looked like the old 'big sister' of Konoha was making a comeback.

He lowered his head, ignoring Sasuke's pain, and slung him over his shoulder before darting back toward the others.

He hadn't seen what started the fight, but it wasn't hard to guess. Sasuke, in his current unstable state, must have mouthed off and said something unforgivable.

Kaito had no fondness for Sasuke — not anymore. If Sasuke weren't the reincarnation of Indra and one of the two destined ones, Kaito would've killed him long ago.

(You had a deal with Itachi though)

Lost in thought, Kaito soon arrived back with Sasuke in tow.

He asked Ino what scrolls their groups had managed to gather.

Thanks to Shikamaru's strategy, Ino's team had secured both the Heaven and Earth scrolls. Sakura's group — or rather, Kaito's group — had one of the Earth scrolls. Combined with the scrolls Kaito collected himself, all three teams now had what they needed to proceed to the central tower.

Kaito carried Sasuke, Kiba carried Naruto, and the nine of them headed toward the central tower together.

A day and a half later, they finally arrived.

During the journey, Sasuke and Naruto both regained consciousness.

Kaito had tended to Sasuke, and it was then that he truly saw the extent of the injuries Ino had inflicted. More than a dozen broken ribs, internal bleeding in the chest, multiple fractures elsewhere… it wasn't life-threatening, but it was agonizing.

Kaito secretly sneered and only used basic healing ninjutsu to stop the internal bleeding. As for the broken bones, well — those would heal on their own.

Later, Ino explained everything to Kaito.

Even though Sasuke was in a strange state, Kaito recognized the mark for what it was — Orochimaru's cursed seal.

The cursed seal was an incomplete, twisted form of Sage Mode. It granted its user a sharp increase in speed, strength, and chakra at the cost of slowly corroding their consciousness, dragging them into darkness.

In other words, the things Sasuke had said and done while under the curse's influence were the suppressed, darkest parts of his heart given voice.

After hearing what Ino described, it was a miracle Kaito had even bothered healing him at all.

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