Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

…..

It was a boring day for little nine year old Ino Yamanaka. Sakura Haruno, her best friend, was off with her parents on a vacation to the northern coast of the Land of Fire, to a famous resort town. Her other friends weren't available either. Her older cousin, Ginjiro, didn't want to be bothered. He needed to study for the Academy. Ino didn't know why, it was really easy! Her father had already taught her a lot of what they had learned. The twin girls who lived on her street that she played with sometimes weren't home either. They were civilians, and had a different school schedule than future shinobi did. So she was alone.

She debated about hanging around her mother in the flower shop, but she decided to ignore that idea. She loved flowers, but she didn't like being around them 24/7. She had to help her mother put out stock the day before, as her father was still out on mission. That had been enough flowers for a few days for her.

She then thought about going to the Uchiha compound and trying to hang out with Sasuke. For the last month or so, she found herself thinking about the raven-haired boy more and more. Thoughts of him being handsome and cool. She wasn't really sure where those thoughts were coming from, but she liked them. It made her face heat up slightly thinking about it, and she always smiled slightly whenever she saw him now. She had wanted to be around him, but he wasn't being that forthcoming in letting her. He ignored her, but that just made her more interested in him. However, she decided against that too. It didn't really interest her at the moment.

Sighing to herself as she continually rejected ideas for things for her to do, she decided that it would be even more boring than hanging around in her room, staring at the ceiling, the things she had been doing as she had been thinking. The ceiling…

Ino's eyes went wide. The attic! Of course! She could go up there, and look at her baby pictures, or pictures of her parents when they were younger and even back in the academy. She could find some of mom's old clothes, and see if any were orange and purple. She liked both colors, even if orange was considered bright and obnoxious to some. It was weird, it contrasted with her love of stylish, cutting edge clothing. Maybe even find some of her family jutsu scrolls… She wanted to learn them, she thought she was ready, but her father wanted to make her wait to learn them. Sure of what she wanted to do, she got off the floor of her room and made headed into the attic.

When she got up there, she realized it was really dusty. She ignored it for the most part, and headed to the boxes where she knew her baby stuff was. That was her first order of business. Pulling the box from underneath a pile of her old clothes, she opened it and began to go through the photo album she had of her baby years. She was adorable, as usual, but she realized something. She saw there were no pictures of when she was just born, still in the hospital. Frowning at the thought, and knowing her mother loved to take pictures and to get pictures taken, Ino was sure that those photos existed. She began to dig through the two other albums in the box, but those pictures showed how she got progressively older, not when she was a baby. Annoyed by this development, she put back the albums and looked at the less touched back half of the attic, the part behind the staircase. It wasn't that it was full of things, but it was really dusty and stuff. Ino looked down at what she was wearing and shrugged. The shirt was okay, but it was an older one and orange, and she was just wearing some athletic shorts. A little dust never killed anybody, so she decided it was okay to get down and dirty to find her newborn pictures.

Forty minutes of labor later, she realized she was getting a lot dirty, and it was a lot more effort than she thought. She had to move things off of things to look at them, and then move everything back so she could move on to the next thing, so it was tedious work. She had just moved a box of old scrolls off of a bigger box, and was digging through it and it looked promising. It was filled with baby clothes, girl baby clothes, so it seemed it might be the box she was looking for. She had found her way to the bottom of it and grinned. There, at the bottom, was a red photo album book. She noticed a few papers were in the back of the book, but she was more focused on making sure this was the book she was looking for. She smiled when it was.

It was her, in a pink blanket, in her mother's arms. In her father's arms. In the Fourth Hokage's arms. Wait, what? She looked at the photo she had passed, and realized that it was in fact the Fourth Hokage, beaming proudly, holding her as a baby. Ino was surprised by this. Was her dad and him friends? Or her mom and him? She had no idea, it was just weird, seeing him hold her. As she began to look through the entirety of the album, she realized it wasn't the only instance of him being there. Repeatedly, in the background or in the forefront, the famed Hokage showed up in her baby pictures. Also in the background, besides her dad's buddies Chouza and Shikaku, was a very pregnant redhead, looking equal mixes of happy and angry. She wasn't sure what to think of that. She reached the end of the book, and saw the papers she had noted earlier. It was actually a letter, with a seal on it. What really caught her attention was that, in big letters on the front, were the words FOR INO. Surprised by that, she thought of the ways to safely open a seal. She first tried just removing it, but that gave her a nasty little shock. She then tried pumping small amounts of chakra into it, but that really didn't do anything. She wasn't sure what else to do until she remembered a seal her father opened once with his blood. Figuring that it was her best lead, she bit her thumb hard enough for her to bleed, the same thing her father had done, and put it on the seal.

To her surprise, it worked. The letter was now readable. Quickly she unfolded the paper to do so, and a picture fell out when she did. It fell to the floor, so she reached down and grabbed it. The picture confused her. It looked like a happy family picture, but it made no sense. It was her mother, on the hospital bed; herself, in the pink blanket looking at the camera; and the fourth Hokage, looking down on her and smiling warmly. Hoping the letter would explain, she began to read:

Dear Ino,

If you are reading this, I have no doubt passed away before the age you could understand and this letter is being given to you to hear my perspective.

I hope you do apologize that Nikko and Inoichi kept this from you, but do understand it was in your best interest. Nikko's and I mistake should not ruin your life.

You have no doubt heard from your mother the account of that fateful night, but it is time for you to hear my side of the story. Your mother told you of the rough patch she and Inoichi were in at the time, and it was the same for me and Kushina. She had been having thoughts of leaving Konoha to find fellow members of the Uzumaki clan, which I could understand, but I wished for her to stay with me in Konoha. This argument caused a split between us, the same night as your mother's and Inoichi.

It was mere fate we went to the same bar to drown our sorrows, and we would meet up to talk about how our spouses were being troublesome. We both knew they were in the right, but human nature has a tendency to make us stubborn. I began to feel comfort in your mother's presence, more comfort than I had been getting from Kushina in the few weeks before, which led me to a foolish action. I could blame the influence of my perverted sensei Jiraiya, but that would be unfair to him. It was my own actions, my own painful flaws that led me to kiss her. I had expected rejection, but was surprised to find her reciprocating. Our drunken states clouded our judgement, and led to actions that would create you. I was terrified about what I had done, due to the betrayals I had done to both my wife and Inoichi, and guilt ate at me until we confessed our sins. It was only because your father truly loved your mother, and Kushina loved me, that they accepted us back afterwards.

I hope you can forgive us all, and feel no ill will to your half-brother, Naruto. He had no involvement in our sins, so do not blame him. But remember, he is family. Even though his last name is Uzumaki, and yours Yamanaka, the same blood runs through your veins.

Know that, though I never got the chance to say it in life, that I do love you, my little Ino. You are my precious daughter and nothing would ever change that. May you live a great life and find someone you truly love, and never make the mistakes of your mother and father.

Signed,

Your father

Minato Namikaze

Ino was crying. Crying. Not because she hated her mother, or the man she called her father, or even her real father. She was crying because she would never get to meet her real father, a hero of the village, a legend, but still a man with his flaws. She also cried because she never knew that Naruto could have possibly been her brother. They were nothing alike, except maybe loud, but they were still brother and sister. And she had, for most of her life, ignored him and listened the bad rumors that circulated around him. But he was actually the son of the village hero, what would those rumor makers think now. She heard footsteps, and her mother's voice. Apparently she had heard the crying. Her mother bound up the stairs and immediately looked around to where her daughter was hurt, when she saw it and her face froze in fear. Ino wiped away her tears.

"I know, mom. I know."

…..

The first chapter of another idea that I loved and wanted to reveal to the world.