The Influence.

A little one-shot dedicated to my other story Of Stranger Magic. As I was writing Chapter 6 I was inspired and decided to delve into what chaos Konoha remained with when Sakura and Shikamaru left for their mission. I figure as Of Stranger Magic progresses so will The Influence as a drabble story focusing on other couples, I might write another story focusing on the Harry Potter couples stemming from Of Stranger Magic at a later date. I don't suppose you have to read Of Stranger Magic to read this story but I would really love it if you would do so anyway.

Summary: Ino wasn't mad per se' but damn it if Naruto's mouth didn't get her into the weirdest situations.

Chapter Excerpt: "Don't worry Ino-chan, I swear I won't let that damn cat get to you, I'll kill it before it even gets a chance. Kill it good. Like with a rock or something." Naruto was almost sweet looking, Ino noticed, when he was planning on slowly maiming and killing that cat in his head for her honor. It was adorable, she decided.

Pairing: Ino Yamanaka x Naruto Uzumaki.

Rated: T

Warnings: Naruto's mouth will get a lot of younger children punished and that poor boy already has enough lawsuits on his hands, he doesn't need anymore. So if bad language and good humor will upset you, don't let the digital book give you an imaginary paper cut as you slam it shut. ( ; .

…

Ino sighed dramatically as that damned cat once again managed to escape her grasp at the last second but not before leaving a deep gash in her arm. She swore that thing must have demon blood in it. She swore quietly as she stopped to take a break in catching the damn thing as she pulled her hair from its ribbon and use to stem the blood flow from her arm. As she did so she thought back to how they even winded up in this situation in the first place.

…

"What did you tell me?" demanded the Hokage as Naruto glared at the busty age-disguised woman un-frightened moving to where the ANBU clad warrior was almost in her face yet still separated by some invisible force.

"Give us a more challenging mission." demanded Naruto as his teammate merely looked on with an amused expression under her white lioness mask.

"Naruto-kun perhaps you should back off before you do something you'll regret." asked of Ino as her boyfriend of two weeks cocked his head towards her smugly moving his own mask which resembled a fox to hide half of his face.

"Hell no. We deserve a more challenging mission. All these guarding ones of Daimyos and princesses and actors is beginning to get too boring." he replied at the end of his little speech moving to where he once more face Tsunade, before she could speak however there was a flash of two more ANBU entering the room much like the previous two already there, a man and a woman.

The traditional ANBU guards were dressed in the normal attire required of them and the only real difference telling them apart were their genders and of course their just as obvious masks.

"You summoned us Tsunade-sama." stated the ANBU wearing the owl mask.

"Yes. Shikamaru. Sakura you can take your masks off and make yourselves comfortable. I was going to send Naruto and Ino on this mission but since he's tired of being an escort and body guard I'm thinking a retrieval mission would be more closer to his standards."

"Yes! Finally, dattebayo!" screamed Naruto happily as Tsunade joined in revealing a more malicious yet happy smirk of her own

"Yes you Naruto are to complete it on your own though. Ino will just be there to supervise." stated Tsunade looking like she got the strongest bottle of sake straight from Kaminari no Kuni.

"What! Are you sure that's a good idea Tsunade-sama?" asked Ino worried for her boyfriend's sake considering he was just looking on twice as smug as he previously was.

"Absolutely you see you two won't be leaving the village." started Tsunade as Sakura and Shikamaru also began to smirk knowing where this was going. Sakura at least was trying to hide hers though for her best friends as she absentmindedly tapped her fingers on her mask most representing of a jaguar as she waited for the scene to no doubt play out.

"What the hell do you mean 'won't be leaving the village'?" demanded Naruto getting more agitated and confused by the second.

"I mean you will be retrieving Tora. You remember him don't you? The Daimyo's wife's cat." started Tsunade. "I daresay he's missed you and since you're too good for this mission I've decided to give it to Shikamaru and Sakura instead."

"B-but obaa-san!" whined Naruto as he realized what kind of a mess he got into, "That's not fair."

"But Naruto," mimicked Tsunade in a reprimanding tone, "I don't care. You'd better hurry up and catch that cat too if anything but for your own safety, Ino-chan doesn't look too thrilled right now. Besides the sooner you catch him the sooner I decide if you're ready for a better mission or not." smiled Tsunade like she didn't just open the gates of Hell in front of Naruto before pushing him right in. "Good luck now. You kids have fun. Oh and don't forget this might be a D-rank mission but I put two ANBU on it for a reason. We don't want you to forget your masks now do we?" asked Tsunade-sama sweetly yet before Naruto could open his mouth Ino jumped him from behind and clamped her hand over his mouth.

"We understand Hokage-sama. And Naruto-kun will have that cat caught faster than anyone has caught it before." Ino promised

"Well in that case he has 5 ½ hours left to catch the thing. Like I said good luck." Tsunade said happily dismissing the two who merely nodded and shunshin away, not before everyone in the room heard.

"You so did not just lick my hand!"

…

It was with great pleasure that she took full credit for the lovely black eye her boyfriend now wore.

'Speak of the devil.' she thought with a soft smile as the blond headed boy appeared on the side of her instantly. Taking her injured arm into his hand, he examined the injury thoroughly. Despite having his mask covering his face Ino could clearly see the fire of determination in his eyes.

"Alright you son of a bitch. No one hurts my girl and get away with it!" Naruto yelled out tackling the surprised cat to the ground, thus commencing the most ridiculous wrestling match Ino had ever seen.

"Well at least he's never boring." she mused silently watching as Tora bit him the same place he scratched her causing Naruto to back up slightly more towards her.

"Well … he has a nice ass too." she giggled enjoying the view.

Naruto might have had a slight influence on Ino, but some things never change.

…

I absolutely love the ending. I thought exactly that in my head and spent most of the past hour coming up with how to get there. Let me know what you guys think.

I think the next chapter will dive into Sasuke and Hinata's relationship before writing another with Ino and Naruto one-shot. If you have any suggestions based off of the pairings in Of Stranger Magic let me know.

Dark Lunar Love