Hello once again, guys. Due to popular demand, I have decided to expand my two-part story Ino's Secret Admirer into a full length story. I will be doing my absolute best to update regularly, most likely a chapter every two to three days. I hope you guys enjoy this, because I got a lot of positive feedback on the original. It would be preferable for you to read the original story first to fully understand the concept, but I will be writing this to stand on its own. I don't own Naruto, its characters, or any of that stuff.
Naruto stretches and yawns as he awakes early, ready to take on the day of D-rank missions and verbal/physical abuse from Sakura and Sasuke. He lingered for just a moment longer in his bed before going to take a shower and thinking about why he was chosen for his role in this world, to be beaten and provide a fake self for everyone to make fun of and pretend to like only until he was of no further use to them. He sighs in defeat, knowing whether he ponders it or not, his life is his to live and cannot be changed without the world he is a part of changes first.
"I can't believe I have to put up with this day in and day out… Well, at least I have that to keep me from going insane… Just thinking about how I can possibly be changing her day for the better gives me a reason to fight on for another day", he says, smiling as he thinks about the girl of his dreams. The only girl who he is pleased to see, the only one who makes him want to forget his mask and dream and run off with her to some other place where they could never be found. But, that's all irrelevant to his current situation.
He gets ready by doing such things as brushing his teeth and hair and getting dressed in that horrible orange outfit, that even he hates. He sighs and writes a quick note, placing it in the bouquet of roses before he leaves. He puts on an ANBU mask that he bought at another village during a festival and uses a henge on his clothes, making them appear black and loose around the arms and legs, yet tight fitting against the chest. He then sneaks over to his beloved's house, where he leaves the flowers on the window sill of the one and only Yamanaka Ino. 'She'll be reading the card soon. I just hope my hints weren't too subtle or too easy to pick up. I want her to have to think about who I am and who I could possibly be. I want her to think beyond what she already has judged people and give them another look to see all that they could be if given the chance', he thought as he turned and jumped from the window sill toward the training grounds they were supposed to meet at.
He jumps down into an alley and creates a kage buunshin with an unrecognizable face behind the mask, sending it in some random direction, while he returns back to normal and seals up the mask in a scroll hidden in his backpack. He continues to walk toward the training grounds and soon he's there, receiving a punch to the face for being late.
"But… But Kakashi-sensei isn't even here yet, Sakura-chan!", he shouts in a voice more annoying than his usual one. She responds by giving him another punch, which results in him later hitting his head on a tree. He sighs inwardly and mentally checks his mask, are there any cracks, any signs of weakness that need reinforcing? He didn't find anything and slowly gets up to laugh off the hit, only causing Sakura to get even angrier with him. She soon loses interest, though, as Sasuke walks up with the usual greeting.
"Hey, dobe", he says, not even acknowledging Sakura, but she doesn't pay any attention to that as she grabs his arm and hanging onto every word he says, even though most of them are about how annoying she is.
"He got here later than I did, Sakura-chan! Aren't you gonna hit him?", Naruto asked in his usual manner, but he didn't even get a response aside from a hmph from the pinkette. He grumbled about how unfair that was in his head, but soon found himself concentrating on something new, Kakashi had arrived, though the other two had not noticed his presence yet. He found that he would just keep quiet for now, 'better not let them see any more of what I'm capable than I have to, or else they'll start to think something's up', he thought as he sat down, squinting and staring at Sakura/glaring at Sasuke.
Kakashi jumped down from his hiding place and gave his usual greeting of a half hearted wave and some lame excuse of walking some old lady across the street. Naruto, to keep up his act, shouts about how he already used that excuse, and Sakura shouts alongside him, which irritates Sasuke obviously and Naruto on the inside, as he is berated for being loud by her, yet she is just as loud most of the time.
"Gomen, gomen. Today, I want Naruto and Sakura to spar while I work with Sasuke on his Chidori. Once you have done a few matches all the way through, I'd like for you to work with Naruto on chakra control, Sakura", he says, Sakura protesting her assignment, but eventually accepting them and going to get them out of the way, so she could oogle over Sasuke once more. Kakashi and Sasuke walk off to a private location, not wanting any others to figure out his technique, while Naruto and Sakura both took defensive stances and readied themselves to spar.
Just when they're about to start, Ino walks up with the flowers in hand, smelling them with a sweet smile that made Naruto just want to drop everything and confess his feelings. "Hey, forehead, guess who gave me these flowers?", she asked tauntingly, her sweet smile turning into a smirk, but no less beautiful to Naruto.
"Your mom? That's the only person I'd ever expect to give you any flowers, Ino-pig", she retorted, to which Ino glared for a moment, but soon found herself smirking again.
"No, forehead, these are from my secret admirer, and I know who he is", she starts and Naruto begins to panic on the inside slightly, but keeps his calm on the outside. "So, where is Sasuke-kun? I really want to thank him", she asked and Naruto's inner self both shattered and felt intense relief at the revelation that Ino, in fact, didn't know who it was.
"There's no way Sasuke-kun would send you any flowers. You're lying Ino-pig!", Sakura responds and Naruto sighs on the outside this time by accident. They both turn toward him with irritated faces and glares. "Do you have something to say, Naruto?", Sakura yells/asks, to which Naruto puts up his hands and shakes them defensively.
"Huh? No no no, I was just thinking about the ramen I'm going to eat after training. Do you wanna come with me, Sakura-chan? It doesn't have to be a date. I… I just like spending time with you…", he says, on the outside, but on the inside he's shouting at himself. 'Where the hell did that come from? I didn't say that, nor would I ever. That gives more depth to this idiot character that I've taken great care to develop as nothing more than an idiot. I can't believe that just came out of my mouth', he thinks as both Ino and Sakura's faces hold expressions of great surprise, but Ino's soon turns into one of mischievousness.
"Yeah, Sakura-chan, why don't you spend time with the knucklehead? I mean, he's your perfect match, not Sasuke-kun. You shouldn't set yourself up for failure like that. Just accept that the best you'll ever get is Naruto", she says, and, though meant maliciously, she was right beyond all comprehension.
Sakura's face of surprise turns to one of horror as she glares at Ino. "What do you mean by that? Naruto and I will NEVER do any of that! You'll see eventually, Ino-pig, Sasuke-kun and I will get married and you'll be so jealous of us, while you end up with Naruto", she says and Naruto's face drops and he exhales deeply to show his sadness, which Ino picks up on, but Sakura is too busy shouting and drooling over Sasuke to realize.
'What is going on with me? I don't care if they bash my 's what it was made for! Why am I losing control of myself like this? Am I becoming my mask? No, that can't be it. I spend plenty of time as just me. I hold in depth conversations with myself on things that my mask couldn't even pronounce correctly. How could I start to become that? It can't be possible. I won't let it happen. I have to do something about this now. I know, I already have the mask, I can be me while I do ANBU missions and that will keep me from sinking in this sea of stupidity', Naruto thinks to himself and looks around, noticing that Sakura is gone, but Ino is staring at him.
"U-uh, can I help you, Ino?", he asks nervously, not knowing what to expect. She narrows her eyes and he tries to avoid her gaze or else he might crumble and let go of everything he worked so hard for.
"You're acting weird. Is everything okay? Is Sakura treating you too poorly?", she asks, her voice sweet and sincere, which makes Naruto take a step back.
"W-what? No! Sakura-chan is the best! Hehehe", he finishes off a complete lie with his signature laugh and grin. She gives him one last look and walks off, seemingly convinced by Naruto's fake story. 'She didn't buy that at all. Why did I have to stutter like that? It gave it away that I was lying. My feelings for Ino-chan are going to destroy everything I've worked so hard to build until now. I've always hated this mask of mine, but now I'm beginning to really hate it. It continues to falter in the presence of Ino-chan. She knows I've been acting strangely, and I figure she'll try to follow me to see what's going on that would make me act so strangely. I have to act as normal as I possibly can for this mask, so I don't give it away completely that I'm hiding something. The last thing I want is Ino-chan to be poking around in my head. If her repeated attempts for Sasuke's attention are any indication of her persistence, then I would be completely screwed if that were the case', he thinks as he walks toward Ichiraku's Ramen. 'I usually go to Ichiraku's, right? That's an everyday thing I do. What else? Why can't I remember what I do anymore? Is it because she's onto me? Am I panicking because she's suspicious or because I love her? Calm down, baka. Just keep it cool. Be loud and obnoxious, be annoying and impose on others with your opinion and don't give away your true strength or else everyone will fear you for the monster they hate you for being', he thought as he enters Ichiraku's, quickly making a kage buunshin and using a henge so he could escape, looking like Inuzuka Kiba, someone Naruto knew for sure Ino wouldn't be interested in following.
Naruto walked calmly down the street and hid in an alley when he had an opportunity, transforming into his ANBU form so he can make a quick getaway to his house. No one would question an ANBU moving quickly through the village, especially in the direction of his apartment, which just so happens to be the direction of the Hokage's mansion. He dispels the clone once he is home and he knows the clone got to the training grounds and would be safely hidden by trees, throwing Ino off his trail.
He walks into his apartment and sighs, finally free from prying eyes and he falls face down on his bed. "I can't believe I gave away that much of my secret… What would I have done if I hadn't covered my tracks with that buunshin?... Gah, I'm so reckless…", he says into his pillow and he remembers at that moment, that there was another note meant for today, so he sends a kage buunshin under a henge to go complete the task of the delivery. With that, he decided to end the day by going to sleep a little early. He isn't hungry and is actually quite tired due to the whole being followed panicky thing he had to deal with today. He'd get an even earlier jump on the day tomorrow he decides.
I think this is as good a place as any to end the first chapter. Let me know what you guys think, please. I wasn't exactly sure of when in the story arc I should set it, so I guess it's before chuunin exams. Sorry for the lack of planning, but I will do my best to improve this story in every way I can. Thanks for reading.