The day after the survival training, the new team 7 were to start their duties as one of the four new genin teams. Inoni with Shikamaru and Chouji had also passed their survival training easily since they just had to team up and try to use their jutsus against him successfully. With Shikamaru's lazy smarts and Inoni pushing them, they were able to do it. Another team that passed was Kiba's team with Hinata and Shino. Inoni was close friends with Kiba, so she knew about how they succeeded a hunting survival training exercise.

Ino wondered who was the fourth, but she had other manners to attend to such as making her new team work.

"Good luck!" Inoni told her as they were about to separate. They were both going to be at the hokage's office at different appointment times, and knowing the lazy bums, team 10 was definitely later. Before her twin left, she deviously grinned as she said, "You're gonna need it."

"Oh just leave!" Ino waved off her needless warning, and went off to the hokage's office. She was pleasantly surprised to see that both Sasuke and Naruto were present. "Hey guys!" She ran up to them excitedly, and she couldn't help flirtatiously greeting, "Hey Sasuke! It's our first day as genin! Excited?"

"We won't be genin for long." He determined.

Ino couldn't help squealing inside by how cool he was! Then she noticed Naruto who was looking nervous as if he needed to say something. "Hey, Naruto! What's up? Don't tell me you're nervous."

He flinched by those words. "No I'm not! I'm excited! I'm super excited! Just watch me! I'll blow you all away that you'll be eating my dust for days! Just you watch! I'm gonna be hokage! Believe it!"

Ino didn't think much on that, and saw that Naruto was still nervous. She decided to just let him be since he wasn't going to open up to her of all people anyway. She still didn't know why he didn't like her.

"Hey Naruto." She called out to him.

"Hm?"

"I get why you don't like Sasuke, but why don't you like me? I mean you don't have to like me, but I don't think I did anything to you personally to make you dislike me. What's up with that? Or was it Inoni who did something to you, and you thought it was me? We kinda look alike, but Inoni has terrible acting skills. I doubt you're that dumb enough to mistake the two of us."

"How I feel about you has nothing to do with your animal of a sister! It's just..." Naruto looked away with a guilty expression.

Then it clicked with Ino. "Ooh! Don't tell me that you're actually guilty about what you did yesterday. Leaving me all alone with your clones to fight off sensei while you traipsed all the way to eat food without us." She couldn't help saying teasingly, but changed her attitude at the childish guilty expression that the boy pulled off. "Just so you know, I'm over it. I get it that you and Sasuke don't have the team training that I received since I was a kid. But that's why I'm here! So Naruto, if you need any advice or help, you can come to me!" She then flirtatiously smiled over at Sasuke, "I bet you don't have to ask me anything, Sasuke, since you're a genius after all! But if you want to ask me out on a date, I'm free after this!"

Sasuke ignored her, which made Ino believe he was just being shy. Oh, she knew she had it bad.

The appointment was going to start soon. However, their sensei was nowhere to be seen. Ino figured this would happen, but she was still heavily disappointed. She really needed to lecture that man!

However, just at the last minute, the man arrived just in time. It seems that if the hokage is involved, then the weirdo was willing to make it in time. And thus, they were given their first mission of making some deliveries, then they were to babysit some kids for a few hours, search for some lost items, and walk some dogs.

It was a hectic day since Naruto apparently loved to try to show off by trying to deliver everything quickly, but that only led to giving the mail to the wrong persons, entering a war with thee children, breaking the lost item, and then unsuccessfully trying to walk the largest, laziest dog, only to get squashed under it.

These tasks were menial for Ino who did chores, but Naruto made them even more troublesome.

After reporting to the hokage that their tasks were done, they were dismissed. Their sensei left them, and Ino became concerned with the lack of actual training from the man, but she supposed taking baby steps were the way to go. It was still the middle of the afternoon, which still left time to do. She was tired, and just wanted to relax, but she did set a goal for herself to help Naruto reach up to her and Sasuke, so they could pass the chuunin exams since their sensei seem to be not that interested.

But before she could invite her teammates for some training, an surprising and unwanted voice squealed, "Sasuke! Hey!" Sakura ran up to them.

Sasuke just ignored her, but to Ino's surprise, Naruto's face lit up and his cheeks went flushed at the sight of the pink haired intruder. "Oh, hey, Sakura! What brings you here?"

Sakura looked faintly disappointed at being greeted by Naruto instead. But she kept her smile to appear cute, "Oh, I just finished my duties as a new genin today! I figured I'd see you guys here!"

At the word 'genin', Ino was astounded. "You passed?"

Sakura grinned towards Ino's way, "Of course! I was the one who passed with the highest score in the written exam! Passing the survival training was a breeze for beautiful intellectual like myself!"

A part of Ino was proud, but a part of her believed that the major reason must be her teammates since Ino recognized them to be pretty good back at the academy.

"Wow! That's amazing, Sakura! So that means we're both genin!" Naruto couldn't be any happier. Ino couldn't help feeling sorry for that hopeless boy since Sakura obviously only had eyes for Sasuke.

"Yeah," Sakura was intently looking toward Sasuke's way.

Ino felt annoyed by that, so she decided to be the sneaky bitch she was. She slyly snaked her arms around Sasuke's own, and flirtatiously said, "Genin, you say! Well then that means you should be serious about training with your team like we are! We were about to go train, weren't we, Sasuke?"

Sasuke looked at her, and he could tell that Ino was just trying to make Sakura jealous, but he played along since training was next on his schedule. "Sure."

Sakura was enraged by this form of affection.

Ino went on to ring in a confused Naruto's arm as she announced, "So we're gonna go now! Bye!" She pulled the boys away, and gave a triumphant grin back at Sakura who was definitely burning hot inside.

When they got out of sight, she let them go.

Naruto was just weird out, but he got the definite feeling that Sakura wasn't pleased, so he wasn't either. "Hey! What was that about? Are we actually training?!"

Ino answered, "I'm honestly worn out from watching you today, but since it looks like our sensei isn't serious about training us, we have to make our own team training schedule. We should at least do this once every two days with day offs being an exception since I'd like to have a break from seeing you." That comment made the whisker faced boy growl, but the Yamanaka carried on speaking, "This way we can incorporate my Yamanaka skills with your guys' own. Today, we're going to show each other what our strengths and weaknesses are. Not that I think you have any weaknesses, Sasuke." She complimented the boy who just ignored her again. "So let's go!"

"What? But I'm starving! Can't we at least have lunch first!"

"Good point." Ino completely forgot about lunch since she was on a diet. "Any good places in mind?"

"Ooh! Ooh! Ichiraku's!"

"That place?" Ino looked at him unimpressed.

"What?" The boy crossed his arms, feeling insulted that Ino referred to it as some disappointing place. "What's better than Ichiraku's?"

"I can name plenty, but I guess it is both delicious and cheap. It wouldn't hurt to just have one bowl. Want to eat ramen, Sasuke?"

The boy just shrugged. Naruto gave him the stink eye, and told him in a shoo away tone, "You don't have to come."

Ino scolded him, "Don't talk to Sasuke that way! We're going to train after this, so we're eating together! Got that!"

Naruto was really getting annoyed with this girl. He just childishly whipped his head away, stuffed his hands in his pockets, and walked off towards the ramen shop. Ino sighed and followed with Sasuke walking beside her. The three of them ate ramen for lunch before heading to the training grounds.

There, Ino figured they should start with displaying their techniques. "Naruto, you don't belong to a clan with a special jutsu as far as I'm aware, and you also graduated dead last."

"Do you have to really say it!" Naruto yelled at her.

"I'm saying it, so you would take this training, and no goofing off like you did back at the academy! We're depending on you to be there for us during a mission, so start showing us some loyalty." Ino clarified to him without noticing Naruto's dejected expression.

This didn't go unnoticed by Sasuke. Though her words were true, it wouldn't do good for the team if she ran her mouth and made Naruto feel bad. "Hey Ino, can I talk with you in private for a second?"

"Hm? Okay?" She followed him after ordering Naruto to not go anywhere. "So what is it?"

The Uchiha answered, "I just wanted to let you know that what you said to Naruto was true, and I can't believe I'm saying this, but you have to cut him some slack. Despite how he looks and how he acts, he is trying in his own way. But even a confident guy like him can be cut down, so if you really want this team to work, it's best that you watch what you say."

Ino was surprised by the scolding she received by her crush, but she also felt glad to hear it despite how it hurt her pride a bit. Sasuke was in the right place. "Oh, I'm doing it again aren't I. Everyone always tell me that I have a loose tongue, so I end up hurting people even though I only meant well. I guess I am being a bit too harsh on Naruto. I guess should apologize. But I'm really surprised that you noticed, Sasuke. I always thought you were really aloof to others, but you actually do watch over your teammates. I think I fell for you even more!" She blushed lightly from her confession.

"Whatever. Let's go back to see if the idiot didn't run off scared."

"Naruto running off scared?" Ino giggled, "Knowing what I know of him, he'd run into trouble."

"Hn." Sasuke held back a chuckle, and Ino got a glimpse of his smile. She felt her face become bright pink at the sight of the smile. She guessed Naruto's idiocy was quite funny.

They soon reached back to the spot, and saw that Naruto was still sitting where he was earlier. Ino caught a glimpse of a sad expression, and guilt overtook her. Knowing that apologizing right now would seem superficial, she decided to just move on with the lesson. "We're back!" She let him know first.

"Huh?" Naruto snapped out of his thoughts, and reverted back to his hot-blooded self. "Hey, what did you guys have to go talk all secretly about?"

"It was grownup talk. Something you'll understand once you stop being such a trickster." She teased him, yet she added, "But I guess it isn't so bad that you act like a child because you won't be as deviously clever as you are now anymore."

Naruto noticed the compliment, and as someone weak to compliments, he blushed a bit, and gloated about how clever he was. It looked like he was cheered up thankfully.

Ino then started the training, "Okay, I guess we can start now. Well first off, we're a team that don't really know each other, so we have to figure out our strengths and weaknesses to make up for it." She went on to inform Naruto about her how her clan specializes in jutsus that involve the mind. A beginner in the Yamanaka clan would first learn to sense other people's chakra to have a better lock on them. Ino was able to sense people at least in a five mile radius for now. She was also able to telepathically communicate with the people within the five mile radius. Although with her twin sister, she can sense and talk to Inoni anywhere.

Sasuke commented that those two talents would prove useful during a mission when searching for a target and if their communication devices don't work. He asked for Ino to demonstrate her abilities, and she was able to accurately tell where certain squirrels, bugs, and even plants were. She relayed this information to them telepathically, which really weird Naruto out. Although she also informed them that doing telepathic communication while moving rapidly is still difficult for her since she hadn't mastered that level of focus and control.

She then went on to show them her clan's mind transfer jutsu, and demonstrated it by having Naruto catch a squirrel, and hold it in place. She did it successfully much to the boys' amazement.

"There's other jutsus where I can disrupt a person's movement and make them turn on their teammates without having to possess them." She let them know.

Naruto was starry eyed by it. "Whoa! Noway! Your clan's techniques are so cool! I want to do that!"

"You could if you were in my clan, but you aren't." She gloated, and the boy groaned at the fact. "Okay. So that's all the special jutsus that I can actually do so far. It's your turn Sasuke."

"Alright. I guess I could tell you a thing or two about the Uchiha clan's abilities. Let's start with what made the Uchiha clan the most feared and powerful in Konoha. Do any of you know about the sharingan?" He questioned.

Naruto didn't have a clue, but Ino did, "Oh yeah, my dad told me about it since he used to work along side your clan when they ran their police force."

"Police force?" Naruto questioned.

"You honestly don't know? Five years ago, Konoha had a police force that handled the crime here, and they were mostly run by the Uchiha clan. The reason they were was because of their sharingan, which is a form of doujutsu. You know what doujutsu and kekkei genkai is right?"

"Uhm, sure?"

Ino sighed exasperatedly. "Okay, here's the short lesson. First off, my clan specialize in jutsus that can be learned by anyone if they were taught. However, there are other clans that have kekkei genkai. They are basically special abilities that is only passed through a specific clan by blood, and in some clans, those special abilities are used through their eyes, which is otherwise known as doujutsu. In Sasuke's case, he is able to have the sharingan."

"And what's that?"

Sasuke explained, "The sharingan gives the user the ability to read their opponent's movements and copy them. However, they cannot copy all of their movements like how I can't copy Ino's mind transfer jutsu."

"Oh...That sounds lame."

"It's not lame!" Ino punched his noggin. "Of course you wouldn't understand how great an ability like that is because you don't bother to learn anything except be a pervert!"

"Hey! I learn! I just don't see what's so impressive about copying people."

Sasuke smirked, "Then let me show you. Ino, help me demonstrate to this idiot the power of the Uchiha."

"Who'dya think you're calling an idiot, bastard! How about you use that sharingan to copy how to be a decent person!"

"Quiet, Naruto!" Ino ordered, which he reluctantly followed.

The boy watched as the first and second top graduate students face each other. The first thing they did was the do was hold up their two fingers to symbolize that they were going to fight, but there would be no death. Naruto remembered that he had to do such a thing, but that never exactly went well for him.

Sasuke ordered for Ino to not hold back or he won't be able to show his sharingan. The number one graduate nodded. They paused for five seconds before charging at each other like they would back at the academy. Naruto's eyes widen when he saw how fast and skilled they moved. He could see that Sasuke's moves were quick and full of force. He looked like he was bound to one-up her, but Ino's own style was graceful. The kunoichi was careful and cautious of Sasuke's movements since he was better at taijutsu. Ino felt fear, but she knew that she had to overlook that, and focus on the goal like a real ninja would.

Sasuke saw Ino's strength in going on the defensive more than the offensive. When he saw a clever move to dodge his attack, and go for the offensive, he thought this moment wasn't that special, but it was enough to give him a reason to activate the sharingan. Ino saw it, and quickly moved back.

Naruto was surprised by the red appearance with the strange commas added to it.

Sasuke commented, "It looks like there was a reason that you came second to me when it came to taijutsu."

Ino smirked. "It's only expected of the queen of the academy. But we aren't in the academy anymore, are we, Sasuke." Her voice became deceptively flirtatiously. "Here, it's not the adults who are going to determine who comes out on top. Just don't hurt me too bad, alright Sasuke-kun." She winked.

Naruto got the shivers. Sasuke just smirked back, and the two engaged. The whiskered boy was caught off guard by the level of intensity that added now that Ino was not holding back. The girl appeared to be very capable of handling kunais and was able to use the illusion trick that Kakashi pulled on Naruto more times than he liked. Sasuke appeared to be equipped with even more skills up his sleeve, but was obviously holding back just to demonstrate to Naruto of his ability.

And at just the right time, Sasuke copied a very distinct move from Ino to dodge her attack, and then used it to initiate his own. Ino was knocked down onto the ground, and that was the signal for the fighting to stop. Both her and Sasuke were out of breath while Naruto just stared at this dumbfounded.

Ino got up and appeared to be fine. A little bruised, but that was good health by ninja standards. The two ninjas faced each other and sealed their two fingers together. The girl then looked over to Naruto, "Did you see it, Naruto? What we've shown you is not even scratching the surface of the power of the sharingan."

Naruto quickly snapped out of his amazement to turn back into his snotty self. "Hmph. I still don't think it's anything to brag about."

Ino sighed at his stubborn attitude. "Well, whether its great or not doesn't really matter since you'll be working with Sasuke's sharingan and my clan's abilities, and your special shadow clone jutsu."

"My shadow clone jutsu?" Naruto didn't see how that was special.

Ino explained, "Well, you may not belong to a clan or have a kekkei genkai, but your shadow clone jutsu is very useful. Maybe with you, I'll be able to use my mind transfer jutsu if you can make a bunch of you appear and hold down our target. And you're sneaky enough to do it, too. But you need to learn how to actually capture the real enemy and not be tricked the same way Kakashi-sensei did yesterday."

Naruto was feeling pretty proud of himself by all of Ino's compliments, but then he groaned when he remembered how he embarrassed himself yesterday.

"So Naruto, we showed you our special abilities, how about you whip up some clones and Sasuke and I will fight them!" Ino punched her palm to show that she was still ready for combat.

"Eh? Seriously?"

"Yeah. You suck at taijutsu, and Sasuke and I trained ourselves to take on multiple opponents. Since your clones have the same brain as you, you can watch your clones go against us, and then try a one-on-one fight." Ino figured.

But Naruto was annoyed by how much she looked down on his own taijutsu skills. "Hey! I don't suck at anything! I'll show you that I don't need some stickin' clones to go against the likes of you two! I'm Naruto Uzumaki, and I'm going to be hokage someday! Believe it!" Sasuke huffed out a laughter he restrained, but the blonde heard it, "Oi! What are you laughing about bastard! You wanna go!"

"Heh. I bet I can beat ten of you at once."

Naruto growled like an animal before cooking up nine clones so the ten could charge at him. Ino yelled at him to stop, but seeing as this could be some form of training, she just let the boys have their fun. While she watched them battle it out against each other, she couldn't help admiring how cool Sasuke looked and also pitying at how Naruto looked losing. But she had to admit that they both seemed to be having fun with each other.

Unknown to her as she was watching, Kakashi was watching, too from a tree branch while reading his Icha Icha paradise. And Sakura was watching as well from behind a tree.

When it was becoming sun down, both Sasuke and Naruto were drained of energy from all the fighting they were doing. Ino approached them with drinks and food to help them replenish. They didn't notice at all when she left to get these.

"Boy, you guys sure know how to duke it out. I don't remember watching something this passionate since Inoni trained with my dad." She let them know. She also appeared to have a medical kit with her, and knelled down to inspect Sasuke to see some minor cuts and bruises which she helped patched up. She then looked over Naruto who needed it even more by how beaten up he looked. But it appeared to be no cuts and the bruises and burns look like they were shrinking away. She thought it was weird, but it wasn't unnatural for some ninjas to heal faster than others.

She helped patched him up, and as she did, she told him, "You're a moron to go up against a genius like Sasuke, but you do have guts, I'll give you that."

"Hmph! Don't patronize me." He grumbled.

"I'm not patronizing you." Ino let him know, "You are an idiot through and through, but you do have determination. I'll give you that. I think I can rely on you a little more when we're on more serious missions together." At those words, Naruto appeared to look dispirited, which Sasuke noticed. Ino was more focus on patching him up.

After that, the three separated.

._._._.

The next day after going through genin ranked missions throughout the village, Ino was called out by one of Sakura's teammates to go meet with her.

Ino had a feeling she knew what this was about, but she went anyway to the field where they once hung out together as kids.

Sakura appeared determined, and Ino faced her the same way.

"Ino..." She started. "I know that you're the one of Sasuke's team, but I have no plans on losing to you. I won't lose to you, Ino."

"Same here, Sakura. I won't lose to you no matter what." Ino made that promise, despite knowing the fact that she had a reason to not win.

Sakura then held out a ribbon that Ino remembered being the one she gave to her, but her ex-best friend told her that she was returning it. Ino told her that it was something that she was supposed to use, and that her forehead protect was supposed to be put on her forehead. Though that's a lot saying from her who uses it as a belt. Yet, Sakura gave her reason that she her forehead protector and her giving back the ribbon was a symbol of no longer being in Ino's shadow, and that she now stood as kunoichi who will surpass her.

A part of Ino was hurt by how much Sakura was willing to throw away their friendship, but she understood that these sort of things happen for the sake of growing up and being a ninja. It came with sacrifice, and despite how much resentment Ino held against her former best friend, she still cared deeply for her. She wanted Sakura to blossom, and if this is what she had to do, then she would do it for her sake.

"Good idea, then." She said as she held the hand that held the ribbon. "Until that time..." She took the ribbon in her hand, and then walked away since nothing else had to be said.

._._._.

It was a day off, but Ino was stuck watching over the flower shop while her mother took the chance to go off and do what she wanted. Surprisingly, her twin who also had the day off, stuck around to chat since it was a slow day. Shikamaru and Choji were also present.

"So things been good?" Inoni questioned. She took a sip of her drink.

Ino sighed, "It's tiresome. But yeah. We're actually making great progress. Naruto is a brat, and Sasuke surprisingly likes playing around with him."

"What? Seriously?" Shikamaru was surprised to hear that about the how-dare-you-talk-to-me emo prince.

"Yeah. Those two get along surprisingly well like Inoni and Kiba, but Sasuke still keeps his cool. He's really a nice guy once you get to know him."

"Sounds like too much of a drag." The lazy deer spoke lazily like usual, but there seemed to be a hint of distaste of getting to know the guy.

"At least it sounds like you're doing great, Ino." Choji commented as he munched his chips. "How has your training with your clan's abilities doing? Inoni is surprisingly doing well."

"WHAT WAS THAT FATSO?!"

"WHO YOU CALLING A FATSO, DIKE!"

The two slammed their foreheads against each other, growling for a match, but it was all just playful, and they wouldn't do anything to hurt the shop.

"What a drag." Shikamaru groaned. He then faced Ino to repeat Choji's question, "So how has your training been going?"

"I actually haven't gone around to doing it much. I've only been training in using my sensory skills. Naruto doesn't like it when I link our minds, but he has to just suck it up. And I think my range in sensing chakra have been improving since sensei likes to waste my time, and the boys play too much. We only started being genin, and I have to focus on getting Naruto to catch up, so we can make better team strategies."

"Don't you think you're working too hard? Where's your sensei in all this. Inoni told me that you were even preparing lessons for dead last."

"It can't be helped. Kakashi-sensei just wants us to do the mission, and when it's over, he's gone just like that. I told him about our extra training lessons, but he says that he thinks we have the handle on things by ourselves."

"Geeze, he sounds way worse than Asuma-sensei."

"I know right! And that's not even the least of my problems. Na-Huh? Naruto? Sasuke?" Ino was surprised to see Sasuke push in a nervous Naruto into the shop.

Sasuke explained, "I found this guy loitering around the shop looking suspicious, so I bought him inside."

"I wasn't!"

Ino found that confusing. "Eh? Naruto, you know you're allowed in here unless you're here to start trouble. You're not, are you?"

"No! Of course not! It's just..." The boy looked down, feeling embarrassed for a second before brashly yelling, "I just need to talk to you in private, okay!"

"Don't tell me it's a love confession!" Inoni cried out in an over dramatic disturbed way.

"No, it isn't, you dike!"

"Good because my sister can do better than Mr. Rejected McWhiskers here."

"You wanna fight! I'll-OW!"

"No fights in the shop!" Ino pinched Naruto's ear and pulled him out of the shop to the back of the house. She had her chakra sensing on, so Inoni or anyone else wouldn't be able to hear a thing if they came closer. And the others knew that. "So, what was it that you wanted to talk about?"

"Well..." Naruto fidgeted a bit which only weird out the pre-teen girl.

"Well? Out with it!"

"I'm sorry about what happened the other day!" Naruto finally said it, and it looked like it took a lot of energy by how he gasped for air.

"The other day? Oh, you mean the survival training? I already said that it was okay."

"I know that! It's just-It's just that I never actually got around to apologizing for that. Look, I don't want to be the type of guy who leave his comrades behind. I just did what I did because I was an idiot who thought that you were like everyone else who just looked down on me."

"Well to be fair, I do look down on you, Naruto." Ino confessed. "So I get why you wouldn't have trusted me, especially when our status as ninjas were threatened. Look, just wait here. I'll be right back!" The girl went off to get something. It just took a minute before she was back with a morning glory flower in hand. "Here. You should know that my favorite phrase is 'The many meanings of flowers', and this one represents willful promises as in I promise to keep my promises to try to be a better teammate and friend from now on. And I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings, Naruto. I know I talk too much, and I act hard on you, but that's only because I care. I know you can do this, Naruto. I just need you to be willing to do it."

"I am!" The boy declared as he placed his hand by Ino's to take the flower.

The girl smiled at the answer, "Good. Now, let's get back. I'll hand you some instructions to help keep that flower in good condition."

Naruto nodded, and the two returned back to see that team 10 was telling Sasuke something that peaked his interest.

"What're you guys talking about?" Ino inquired.

Inoni answered, "We're telling your future not-husband on how to strategize with our clan's jutsus."

Shikamaru explained, "It's to lighten the load on you. But this is such a drag. Hey Naruto, you better listen up because I'm not repeating myself twice."

Inoni snorted, "Don't bother. The only way this guy gonna learn is if we beat it into him."

"A dike like you would know, huh!"

"Got something to say, dead last!"

"Yeah, I got something to say with my fists, you boar!"

The two looked ready to make a mess, and Ino got in between them, and scolded their ears out.

Shikamaru muttered, "We have some troublesome people."

Sasuke silently agreed. He owned two of them.

Choji just munched away.