Ino and the X-men

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto nor the X-men. If I did, things would be different. (I haven't liked X-Men since the events of House of M and the de-powering of so many of my favorites.) And Kishimoto is a Sasuke fan it seems.

"(Japanese)" – formerly used to mean English, but moving out of Konoha means language change, hence now this means the opposite.

Chapter 1

Ino stood there, her gaze locked on the blast zone where less than an hour ago Naruto Uzumaki Lebeau had stood over the remains of the defeated Orochimaru who he had blown to kingdom come with his power, when out of nowhere a mutant that the X-Men identified as Apocalypse appeared and took Naruto down and vanished with him.

"Come on."

Ino turned to see Laura at the stadium entrance. "It's time."

Ino nodded and turned, a silent vow in her mind. We will find you Naruto. And then we'll find Shino and Hinata.

X-23 stood for a moment as Ino passed, she wasn't happy either. She had been fighting a group of Oto ninja in the sewers when Naruto was taken. Marrow was in a coma, as one of her two hearts had been pierced when she attacked Apocalypse when he appeared, it was uncertain if the former Morlock would live. The plan was to drop her off at Muir Island with the Wagners.

We'll find you lover and when we do, you won't be leaving our bed until a week later. The cloned mutant vowed unaware of the blush Jean Grey was sporting from the images and wondering if she should warn Logan, but thought against it.

Ino arrived at the shattered village gates, ignoring the dead Oto nin being stacked up. Kurenai had her arm in a sling stood with Anko who sported some bandages around her waist and forearms.

"(Are you sure you want to do this Ino?)" her father asked.

"(I need to daddy. Naruto and the others were taken from us.)" She said looking at her father who stood by. He had been elected as Hokage moments ago as Jiraiya had scoffed at the offer and told the council where to stick it and refused to look for his former teammate for them as well.

"(Tell Naruto…tell him when you find him you all are welcome back at any time." Inoichi said. He was elbowed by his wife in the ribs none to gently. "(And your mother wants me to remind you we better be invited to any wedding you have.)"

Ino smiled sadly. She stepped forward and hugged her loving parents who had put up with a lot in the last year alone.

"Get the led out." Logan called as even now Beast and Storm were prepping the Blackbird for launch.

Ino hugged both her parents and promised to keep in touch.

She hurried up the ramp after Laura who was strapping in and bitching about how she hated to fly.

"(Kurenai?)" Inoichi asked as both her and Anko surrendered their leaf headbands. "(We vowed to follow Naruto to the world above. The Third was aware of this and this is our clean brake, he filled out our discharge papers when we told him, they just need to be filed.)"

"(Like the gaki we've been looking over our shoulders too long in our birth village.)" Anko said. "(I'm tired of bleeding for people who don't appreciate me.)" She said looking at the council that over the years had sent her on numerous missions that she should have died on. They looked back blankly, not many of them sorry to see Anko go.

Inoichi took the headbands and bowed his head. "(Konoha will not be the same without either of you, and that itself diminishes the fires the Third spoke often about.)"

He looked on as the women boarded the strange craft that had been brought to the spot outside the gate after the battle.

Inoichi watched the warriors that helped turn the battle and keep the destruction to around the stadium and the gates rather than the areas that could have been affected.

"(Godspeed and I hope you find them.)" He said softly as the ship lifted off and to the shock of many vanished as those piloting activated the cloaking device.

The gust of air staggered some as the X-Jet rocketed away. Inoichi Yamanaka the Godaime Hokage sighed as he turned back to the village and wondered if he would ever see his daughter again. He ignored the muttering from some of the council "(Good riddance to bad rubbish.)" he heard a couple say. he made a note to have Ibiki visit them and find out if any of the council had to do with Orochimaru gaining access to the village so easily. I also need to get both Jiraiya and Tsunade to comeback to the village somehow. Inoichi looked once more where the X-Men had been and sighed knowing that his best way of getting them had probably been taken from the village already.

But that isn't this story.

XX

Ino grit her teeth as her hands held onto the armrests of her flight seat. Across from her Laura was grinning. "Now you see why I hate flying."

Ino just nodded, afraid if she opened her mouth she would throw up all over the place. For the past month Ino, Shino, Hinata, Anko and Kurenai had worked hard on learning English, she spoke it better than Shino who kept sounding like a nest of angry insects, despite speaking some English, some words didn't translate well for the bug user.

Steve Rogers unbuckled and moved to the front of the craft passing Logan who like Ino and Laura were holding onto their seats tightly. "Still hate flying old friend?"

Logan answered by popping his middle claw. Captain America chuckled and continued up to speak with Storm and Beast about dropping him and Wasp off once they made the transition between the Hidden Elemental Nations and the real world.

Kurenai came forward from her place and sat next to Ino. "(Exciting?)"

Ino grit her teeth and muttered through clenched teeth. "(If this is exciting, I'll take walking everywhere.)"

Laura laughed across from her, despite not liking flying herself. She was using Ino's discomfort as her distraction.

Ino looked towards the aft of the craft where Jean was working on trying to keep Marrow alive.

"How is she still alive?" Ino asked.

Laura sighed. "Sara's got two hearts, the other one is working overtime to keep her alive, but even with her healing it's going to be close." Both teens prayed she lived, neither wanted to tell Naruto that she died.

It's going to be bad enough we have to tell him Hinata and Shino were taken.

"We're coming up on Muir Island." Storm called back.

Ino watched silently as Kurt, Kitty, Wanda and TJ were getting ready to disembark.

"We're leaving Marrow here?" Ino asked.

Jean looked back and nodded. "The Institute was destroyed and stripped of its technology. Right now Muir Island is the best place for her. Moira will take care of her and keep us informed of her condition."

Ino knew there was so much she didn't know, and she was scared. I thought I'd be with Naruto as he explained this new world to me. She thought as the Blackbird touched down. She remained seated while the other X-men bid farewell to the Wagner's and Shadowcat. She saw Laura looking on as a young man came in lifted the stretcher with clone of himself.

"He can make Kage Bunshin?" Ino said.

Laura laughed. "That's one way to put it. Jamie's power is he can make multiple copies of himself." She laughed as she remembered something. "When he was sixteen he wanted to prove himself and robbed six banks all at the same time." She shook her head. "Naruto and a friend and ally stopped him, returned the money and brought Jamie back to the Institute."

Ino looked on as Jean spoke with a woman wearing a doctor's coat. "That's Moira MacTaggert." Laura said.

"Doc's a good woman."

Both teens turned to see Logan stretching. Like Laura he hated to fly and usually sat with his head resting nearly on his knees. Ino thought the man was either praying or was about to be sick all over the cabin.

"Why is everyone breaking up?" Ino asked. "Won't we need them to get Naruto and the others back?"

Logan sighed. "Truth is girlie, the X-Men are broken. The elf and his family run Excalibur based here and work around Europe. We're dropping Cap and Wasp in New York, they have to work on rebuilding their team the Avengers.

"But we will come when called." Janet said from her place near the blond, blue eyed Steve Rogers.

Logan looked on as Jean and Moira spoke at the bottom of the ramp. "We need to get back to the Institute. Storm's acting headmistress of the school, while I'll run the team. We need to get a couple of people now that we know Apocalypse is back in the picture."

Ino looked to where Naruto's parents had been sitting, they were both lost in their grief and concern and had been quiet, perhaps blaming themselves.

"What can you tell me about this Apocalypse, I mean it sounds like you've fought him before."

Logan snorted. "He's had his hand in many things over the years." Logan looked up when Jean and Beast returned.

"Moira's going to perform surgery." Jean said as the boarding ramp closed. "She'll let us know once she's done."

Storm and Beast flew once more and Ino saw both her sensei's were asleep and while she was tired, she was more worried about a certain blond than anything else.

XX

(Apocalypse's Flying Fortress)

"Status." The immortal mutant commanded.

"Squadron's one thru ten have secured New York airspace." An infinite soldier reported.

"Begin the landing." Apocalypse intoned. "Send out the shock troops, crush all resistance." He commanded clenching his fist.

"My lord, Sinister requests to speak with you in the lab complex…"

"Inform Sinister I want no excuses with this mutant." Apocalypse said. "He can speak with me once we've secured the island."

Apocalypse stood over the holographic display as his troops landed in Manhattan and even as his fortress landed, digging into the ground, destroying building and killing thousands in an instant, Apocalypse cared not for the flatscans.

"Send the hunter teams out. Retrieve the mutants and prepare the camps."

In less than half an hour Apocalypse and his army of genetically created soldiers captured New York city and his shock troops were marching the streets, taking prisoners. His rule had begun.

"Milord, Sinister has arrived. He insists on speaking with you." One of the infinite soldiers said.

Apocalypse paid him no heed and strode from the bridge. He was met at the boarding ramp by a kneeling Sinister.

"Report." He ordered as he kept walking, the white skinned mutant fell into step. "Uzumaki is an impressive specimen. Are you certain you wish me to make the alterations? Once lost…"

"I did not ask for your advice or your opinion." Apocalypse said as they left the ship and stood atop the wreckage of what had been Upper Manhattan. "Do as I commanded."

Sinister gave a slight bow. "As you wish Lord Apocalypse…what of the other Horsemen?"

Apocalypse said nothing, his gaze landed on the city that would be his base. He'd already seen to Genosha and the Xavier School. He nearly chuckled at the thought of what those foolish X-Men would think when they returned to their hole in the ground.

"The time for Homo Sapiens is past. Now the world will realize that it is survival of the fittest and they aren't fit to be ash beneath my boots."

He chuckled while around him a major city burned.

XX

(Blackbird)

"We're coming up on the West Coast…getting all kinds of radio messages." Beast said.

"Put it on speaker." Logan said from his seat.

"Repeat, New York has fallen to an invader calling himself Apocalypse. His forces decimated all resistance. All flights are to re-route to…"

"It repeats over and over." Hank said.

"How is this possible?" Ino asked from her seat. "He was there in Konoha, shouldn't it take…I don't know a long time to conquer a city?"

"Apocalypse isn't your average warlord chere." Gambit spoke up. "An' he never fights fair."

"The report mentioned forces…you don't think…" Storm hesitated.

Jean was at the communications station. "I've been trying to reach the Institute…so far I'm getting nothing but static. Either it's being jammed…"

"Or big lips busted the place down again." Logan said thinking of the repairs that were taking place when they left for Konoha, and all those left behind.

"Aw, we just can't have nice things." Cain said from his place in the back.

"Steve, your call?" Logan offered.

Captain America pulled out a radio and tried several frequencies.

"Nothing on any of the Avengers emergency lines, nor are we getting anything from S.H.I.E.L.D."

Logan made a choice. "Ro take us low, Hank get the stealth unit up."

Wolverine swallowed the lump in his throat. "Jean, get a message to Muir…there might be a change in plans."

Ino looked on her gut twisting at hearing this. It looked like the hunt for Naruto might be sidetracked with this.

XX

(Unknown Location)

"General."

"I see it." William Stryker said as he looked at the screens. "As it stands the UN is in chaos." His aide said.

Stryker ignored him. "Bring up the camera's from the pens."

A tech did as he was told and William Stryker looked at the children, teens and adults he'd captured at the Xavier Institute. He had used the technology there to send troops to Konoha to capture even more specimens and then had them return. He'd managed to evacuate his forces from New York before Apocalypse's arrival.

He looked at one of the screens. "Keep them sedated for now." Stryker ordered. "I'll be in a video conference, we need to move carefully."

"Sir, Trask wishes to know if he should activate Project Sentinel?"

"Not just yet." Strkyer said looking at the screen where the female mutant that they had captured in Konoha was. "Let's see what Fury and his heroes will do first. Remember corporal in a game of chess, the pawns go first." Stryker said before leaving the room.

A tech swallowed. "I didn't tell him about the reports from Genosha yet."

Another tech spoke up. "Do it when he comes back, make it sound like you just got it. It will save you from being shot."

On the bank of screens over forty mutants were being held, between the cells walked people in lab coats making notes, soon the experiments would begin.

AN: A start on this story. It won't be worked on until the fall as I want to get some of the others worked on more or done if they are close. I just wanted to let you know this is on the list.