I put this fic up on Gaia first as a test run. Got a lot of good results.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and neither do you. Unless your name happens to be Masashi Kishimoto. In which case, you rock. Also, to those of you who have Gaia, DelinquentDuo BackwardsMan. So there.

Chapter 1 – Ghostly White Eyes

Konohagakure. The Village Hidden in the Leaves. Beautiful? Yes. Peaceful?

"HUMAN BOULDER!"

"SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!"

You wish.

Over on Asuma-sensei's training ground, Asuma, Shikamaru, and Ino look on as their teammate, Choji, has just bashed through a wall of Naruto clones ("STEE-RIKE!"). From a certain angle, it looks more like a glorified bowling game. Why are they doing this? Because it's training! It doesn't need to make sense!

"I don't get why he's doing this, Asuma," Shikamaru said.

"It's actually simpler than you think," Asuma responded, lighting a cigarette. "Naruto's training his body to withstand massive attacks. And I tell you, there aren't many things more massive than an Akimichi."

"I HEARD THAT!"

After the clones disappeared, leaving the real Naruto behind, Choji immediately turned around and started barreling after Asuma, who, with Shikamaru, immediately ran into the woods, with Choji bashing down the trees. Ino, of course, had already backed away from the whole mess.

"Aw man, this is such a drag!" Shikamaru groaned.

"This is the exact reason I started smoking!" Asuma yelled.

Naruto stared at the three of them (or just Choji since he's blocked out the other two) before charging in after them. "Get back here you big baby! We're not done training yet!"

Ino's eye twitched as she watched Naruto charge into the woods after the giant meatball. But it wasn't until now that she noticed a pair of eyes was watching them. A pair of ghostly white eyes.

"Hinata?"

That's right. Hinata Hyuga had just been caught spying from behind one of the trees. She looked like she was scared stiff. Her lip trembled before she muttered something incomprehensible and ran away.

"Wait a minute!" Ino called to her, but she was already gone. Ino put her hand to her chin. What was she doing here?

Ten minutes later…

"Sakura, there's a friend of yours here to see you!"

Sakura made her way downstairs at the sound of her mother's voice. Needless to say, she was a little more than shocked when she saw Ino Yamanaka at her door.

"Hi there, Forehead-chan!"

"Ino…" A vein pulsed in Sakura's oversized forehead. "Unless you're here to make fun of me…"

"Actually," Ino interrupted, "I need to talk to you about something important. May I come in?"

Sakura blinked. A few minutes later, they were back in Sakura's room, as though they were friends again. Ino looked out Sakura's window at the village as she spoke to her.

"Sakura…do you remember that time you came to my flower shop? And you told me you saw a pair of white eyes watching you?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Not long ago, while we were training with Naruto, or I guess training was over by then, I caught Hinata spying on us."

Sakura looked up at her friendly rival. "Hinata?"

"Yeah," Ino said, as she chewed on her thumbnail. "This doesn't make sense. Hinata isn't one to spy on people."

"That's not exactly true," Sakura said as Ino turned back to her. "I've noticed that Hinata's been watching Naruto for quite some time."

Ino raised an eyebrow at this comment. "Don't tell me…" And then the other. "You think Hinata has a crush on Naruto??"

"It's pretty obvious," Sakura said, putting her fingers together in a Shikamaru-esque manner. "Not only has she been watching him, but she always blushes whenever she gets really close to him."

Ino folded her arms. "Poor girl…I mean, falling in love with that maniac?"

Sakura privately agreed and stood up. "That's that! We're going to have to have a little girl-to-girl-to-girl chat with her."

Ino's eyes were as wide as dinner plates. "Girl-to-girl-to…wait. Why do I have to get involved in this?!"

"We are Konoha's genin kunoichi," Sakura explained. "And as such, we always have to look out for each other. Like…when you tried to protect me from those Sound Ninja in the Forest of Death."

Ino closed her eyes as she remembered that time. "Well, that is true…even though I did kinda drag my teammates into the whole mess."

"Ino…"

Ino scratched her head. "Well…I don't know what you have in mind, but…I'll do what I can to help."

Sakura smiled. "Good. The first thing we need to do is…"

"Hinata?"

"Yes, Father?" Hinata asked. She was currently in her room, reading a book called Only in London.

"Some friends of yours are here to see you," Hiashi's voice replied.

Hinata's eyes widened. She has plenty of nice friends, sure, but only rarely do they actually come to visit. She didn't know what to say. She was anxiously thinking to herself, while putting her index fingers together as she walked downstairs. I wonder if it's Naruto-kun. No, I doubt it. Maybe it's just Kiba and Shino. Maybe they want to talk about the mission we just completed.

"Hi!"

Ino: I gotta say, this sucks!

Author: Who asked you?!

Ino: YOU DID!

Sakura: I heard there's going to be a huge tickle fest in the next chapter.

Hinata:gulp: T-tickle??

Author: The next chapter is called Girl Talk.

Hinata: I'm not so sure about this.