The window slid open, and Kenji climbed into the smaller hospital conference room.
Tsunade, Kakashi, Asuma, Shizune, Team 10, and Sakura were already gathered around the central table.
Tsunade stopped reading a report and stared at him. "There is a door."
Kenji straightened his jacket and checked the corridor through the small glass pane in the wall. "There is also a Tenten."
Shikamaru nodded without looking up from his notes. "The window was safer."
Sakura sighed, ignoring the interruption, and placed her field notes and the hardened web fragments removed from Naruto's shoulder on the table.
Beside them, Asuma laid out the physical evidence Team 10 had secured on the western road: the wooden Sound token, a damaged route packet, and a set of coded delivery instructions.
Asuma kept the report short. Team 10 had captured the courier before he reached Konoha's perimeter, but several pages had already been torn from the packet.
Ino stepped forward.
"He forced me out quickly, but I saw medical crates, restraint-seal materials, heavy transport equipment, and a red snake painted beneath a loading platform. Whenever I tried pushing deeper, he started repeating the same route numbers."
Shizune pulled Ino's rough sketches of the crates and compared them directly to the ANBU tracings recovered from Sasuke's barrel.
Sakura checked the chemical suppressant listed in the courier's manifest against Sasuke's fresh treatment records. "The drug listed here matches what we found in Sasuke's blood."
Shizune studied the copied markings. "Same supply network. Maybe the exact same transport team."
Tsunade assigned Kakashi and Asuma to verify the recovered routes. ANBU trackers would scout the eastern location without engaging, while Ibiki continued questioning the courier. Tayuya would remain isolated until the medical division ruled out any hidden trigger in her Curse Mark and cleared her for interrogation. Ino would record everything she remembered, while Sakura and Shizune finished the medical comparison.
Kenji's name never came up.
"You've done enough today," Tsunade said, looking directly at him.
Kenji touched his side. "Sakura said the damage to my ribs was minor."
"I was talking about my chair."
Outside the conference room, Asuma officially dismissed Team 10 until the following morning.
Choji immediately turned down the corridor in search of the hospital cafeteria. Shikamaru took two steps before he noticed that Ino was not following them.
"You coming?" Shikamaru asked, glancing back.
"I have something to finish," Ino replied smoothly.
Shikamaru looked toward the closed conference-room door, then back at her. He sighed. "Troublesome."
"Nobody asked you."
"That has never stopped any of you." Shikamaru shook his head and shoved his hands into his pockets, walking away down the hall.
Ino waited until the others had left. Sakura carried the evidence tray toward the medical wing, while Ino took an empty side office and began writing her report.
Ino wrote down the crates, the loading platform, the red snake marking, and every route number she could remember.
When she finished, she sat back and tapped the end of the pen against the folder. She had stayed behind because Kenji's punishment was nearly over, but another unfinished matter returned to her mind.
The black box. Crimson lace resting on dark paper. Kenji telling her he expected to see her wearing it. His mouth against hers. Naruto dropping the plant.
Ino snapped the folder shut.
She had left that challenge unanswered long enough.
Later that evening, Kenji left the hospital with only seconds remaining on his penalty.
Ino was waiting at the bottom of the steps.
Kenji stopped on the bottom step. "Did you stay behind to apologize for attacking my face while I was helpless?"
"No," Ino replied.
She stepped close and placed her palm against his chest.
The penalty activated instantly.
"Mmh—Ino…"
She kept her hand there.
"I wanted to be the last one," she said simply.
Kenji checked the countdown only he could see.
[Duration Remaining: 00:00:03]
Ino tapped his chest a second time.
"Ah—"
The feminine voice cut off sharply, right in the middle of the syllable.
A sequence of blue windows chimed into existence.
[Penalty Complete]
[Touch-Sensitive Maiden's Voice has ended.]
[Normal vocal response restored.]
No reward followed.
[Current Balance: 46,990 SP]
Kenji waited. Nothing else appeared.
Twenty-four hours of humiliation and not even a consolation box.
Doom was sprawled beside the hospital steps, his massive head resting between his paws. Kenji reached down and scratched beneath one curved horn.
No moan escaped him.
Doom lifted his head, gave him a suspicious sniff, and finally allowed Kenji to continue scratching his jaw.
"Even my own summon doubted me," Kenji complained.
Doom snorted in his face.
Ino touched his chest again.
Nothing happened.
She slid her hand from his chest to his collar.
Still nothing.
"Fixed?" Ino asked.
"Unfortunately," Kenji sighed, dropping his shoulders. "I was beginning to understand the female experience."
"No, you weren't."
Ino hooked her fingers into the fabric of his collar and pulled him slightly closer.
"I was getting tired of everyone else making you moan," she murmured.
Kenji raised an eyebrow. "Jealous?"
"Possessive about my entertainment," Ino corrected smoothly.
He looked down at her. "Why did you wait outside?"
Ino held his gaze. "You remember the gift you brought to my shop?"
"The crimson lace?"
"Be home in an hour."
Kenji's expression changed instantly, all traces of the previous joke vanishing. "You're finally going to wear it?"
"Be home in an hour," she repeated, her voice dropping lower. "And lock the door."
She released his collar, stepped back, and walked away toward the commercial district without another word.
Ino returned to the flower shop, carried the remaining displays inside, locked the shutters, and balanced the cash drawer.
Her mother appeared from the back hallway, wiping her hands on her apron. "Late mission?"
"Personal appointment."
Her mother raised an eyebrow. "With the boy who broke my plant?"
Ino paused. "Naruto broke the plant."
"The other one caused it."
"Good night, Mother."
Ino slipped into the rear room and pulled the black box from beneath her folded clothes. The crimson set rested inside.
She changed, adjusted the thin straps once in the mirror, and covered everything with a long coat.
At the riverside villa, Kenji had already bathed and changed. He had also checked the clock often enough to know Ino was five minutes late.
A knock came.
Ino stood outside in a long coat, her blonde hair loose around her shoulders. She walked in and closed the door.
"Locked?"
Kenji reached past her and turned the deadbolt with a solid click. "Now it is."
Ino loosened the belt. Crimson lace appeared beneath the coat—the same set he had given her at the flower shop.
"You said you expected to see me wearing it."
She opened the coat.
"Look properly."
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