“Ino was diving inside darkness. Deeper and deeper still.
She still hadn’t find Sai.
No matter how much she dived and dived, all that surrounded Ino was a deep, inky blackness.
This was Sai, after all. He wasn’t fully aware of who his true self was on a daily basis. He wasn’t going to be found easily.
But she was going to save him no matter what…
Because if Ino couldn’t save Sai, then her coming here would be meaningless.
She desperately continued floundering through the layers of Sai’s heart.
The shintenshin no jutsu could make you move someone else’s body according to your own will, and the method to it was exerting your influence from the insides of those peoples’ hearts. During the chuunin exams, Ino had clearly realised this when she and Sakura had fought for control of the latter’s heart.
Back in Konoha, she had read Sai’s letter, seen his handwriting turned messy and chaotic with a grief she couldn’t hope to grasp. In that moment, Ino had felt Sai’s suffering so keenly that it hurt.
At that moment, Ino hadn’t yet known about Gengo or the genjutsu or anything else, but she had clearly thought to herself that she had to go. Of course, she wanted to save Shikamaru as well, but the trigger for Ino to start moving was Sai’s distressed letter.
Sai, who was constantly worried about the blankness of his own heart, was suffering more than anyone else under Gengo’s genjutsu. There was no one who could save Sai from that other than Ino.
And that was why she was determined to keep diving, no matter how deep she had to go.
When you dived too deep into other people’s hearts, the first thing that would happen was your own existence starting to blur at the edges.
The last thing that would happen was your consciousness disappearing completely in those depths. Once that happened, there was no turning back.
There was a reason Ino was taking such a big risk to save Sai.
…She wanted to talk to him more.
Sai who always gave such lonely smiles, she wanted to get to know him more and more.
There was no way she could leave him in a dark place like this.
Soon, Ino started to feel some faint warmth coming from the darkness. A faint light…
She’d come across a large gathering of chakra. A mix of people’s chakra…
Naruto.
Sakura.
Yamato.
Kakashi.
All of Konoha’s shinobi were there.
It was like a lone fire burning in the middle of a blizzard.
Ino dived a little, eyes peering into the giant tangle, searching amidst everyone’s chakra.
There he was…
Cocooned in the middle of everyone’s warmth was Sai.
“Sai!” Ino desperately reached out for him. “Over here!”
Sai looked up at the sound of her voice. Both his eyes were red and swollen from crying.
“Come on.” Ino said. “Let’s get out of here together.”
“You’re…”
Ino reached out, her hand finally landing on Sai’s shoulder, firm and reassuring.
“Let’s go, alright?” She said.
In that moment, Sai smiled.
Ino had never seen him smile so naturally before.
*
Ino was breathing deeply and heavily, as if she’d just broken through the surface of a very deep ocean. She took in great lungfuls of air, her body desperate for oxygen.
The darkness had been left behind, and now the background was brimming with light.
Sakura and Chouji were standing guard over them. Ino was sitting across the sleeping Sai.
“How’d it go, Ino?”
Although she heard Chouji’s question, Ino was too drained to answer.
Sai’s head was close to Ino’s knee. Slowly, his eyes opened.
Before she noticed who had reached out first, they had clasped their hands together.
“Sai.”
“You…” Sai dazedly murmured, tightening his hold. “You were…”
“You can stop worrying already.” Tears had started leaking out of Ino’s eyes.
“Thank you, miss beautiful.”
“Idiot…”
The two gently smiled at each other.”
