Okay, you guys got me. You convinced me to make ONE more chapter. That means that this is it, nothing else. I'm actually really surprised at how popular this became, though I kind of wish that I could have gotten a couple more reviews. But I really hope that this chapter doesn't completely destroy the greatness of this fic that everyone has said it is. Oh well...the people spoke and I replied. So here's the second and final chapter. Oh yeah, and sense no one said there was much romance in the last chapter, expect some this one.

Naruto looked down once again at his clothes for the fifteenth time in ten minutes. Some passer bys ignored him completely, while others, especially the older ones, looked over at him in disgust. Then there was the occasional small child who would point and laugh at him childishly that Naruto would respond with a stuck out tongue. He was not in the mood that day. It wasn't like he didn't feel pressure already as it was.

It really wasn't like him to be feeling this way, but he wasn't really on a normal day after all. He just had to look his best, nothing could look bad. He had tried to walk toward Ichiraku Ramen, but he kept thinking that if he took a step he would look sloppy, like his shoes were untied or something. He just kept telling himself that it was his birthday and that he just had to look his best for everyone.

"Or maybe you're just nervous about being on your first date," Kyuubi mocked inside his mind. "Be a man! You fight the Akatsuki on a weekly basis and you can't go through with a date?"

"Ah, shut it, fox. It's not like you're the one Ino asked out," Naruto replied sharply. "Why the heck did she ask me out anyways? This whole thing makes no sense at all."

"Don't look at me," Kyuubi said. "Everything you know I know, right. I could never understand any of you humans anyways. You're all too sensitive if you ask me. Now we demons, we do what is needed to survive and prosper. We don't let our feelings get in the way of our judgment."

"And look where it got you, inside a sixteen year old boy. And wasn't it just last week you told me to go back to save those three Chunin from that mission. Sounds like to me that you're the one getting a little more sensitive, don't you think?"

"Shut up, kid."

"You started it! Anyways, this isn't getting us anywhere. I'm feeling shaken up enough as it is already without you giving me a hard time, so will you give me a break? I'm not really used to this…"

"It's not that hard after you get a little experience," the demon said back shrugging (Naruto could never figure out how he knew Kyuubi was shrugging, not to mention how he did it). "Just start out with some casual conversation about things you and her enjoy, like missions or something. And don't feel afraid to be a bit grabby. Females love that."

"Like I'm going to take some stinking advice from a demon fox!"

"Kid, I've had more action than you ever will. I'm not the greatest of all demons for nothing you know," Kyuubi said chuckling. "You should have seen me about a thousand years ago, then you would learn a thing or two."

"Alright, too much information," Naruto said shaking his head and pushing the kitsune into the farthest reaches of his mind, which he found surprisingly easy. It usually took a lot more than that to shut the fox up, but today he was surprisingly submissive. It wasn't that the two hadn't come to accept each other. They were almost friends. At least as friendly as a demon and a human who were stuck together could be anyhow.

"Alright then," Naruto said taking a deep breath. "Here goes nothing."

Ino nervously stirred the near empty glass of water that she had ordered at the ramen stand. She had to admit, she was nervous as hell. This of course wasn't her first date. That would be near impossible for someone with her beautiful looks, and that wasn't bragging, that was the truth. Instead, she was nervous because she was planning on telling Naruto about her visit with the Kyuubi.

"That'll be easy," Ino said rolling his eyes. Hey Naruto, how are you? Me? Just fine, thank you. Oh, and by the way, I just want to tell you that I know that you have the strongest and most evil demon in your body. How do I know? I took over your body and decided to take a stroll within your mind to figure out personal information about your past, but then I ended up having a nice chat with the Kyuubi. So after I figured out I thought that I should tell you and then have a bowl of ramen or two while we were at it. You understand, right?

"I'm screwed," Ino moaned, lightly hitting her head on the counter. She didn't even know if Naruto knew about the Kyuubi being held inside of him, a little fact that she had forgotten to ask during her little encounter with the great demon. Is it possible by just telling him, she would be ruining his entire perspective on life? Happy birthday to him.

"Nervous?" Ichiraku asked while refilling Ino's cup. The elder man had been surprisingly kind when Ino explained Naruto's sudden change of attitude. She had expected him to kick her out of his ramen house in a second, but he had instead told her that all her meals for that night were all free of charge. When she asked why, he shrugged and went back to his cooking. He was a nice, probably why Naruto came around so often. A thought just hit her. Was the reason why Naruto liked ramen so much was because this man was the only one who had ever not denied him service?

"A little," Ino said sipping her water and yanking herself out of her thoughts. "You think he'll show and all? I mean, what you overheard me yelling at him yesterday was kind of low key compared to a couple other occasions…"

"Naruto isn't one to hold grudges," Ichiraku said going back to his stove but still looking over to Ino. "He's a good kid. And speak of the devil," he said smiling and looking over Ino's head.

Ino quickly spun around and saw that Naruto was indeed walking to the stand. He was dressed in a fancy, elegent suit that didn't seem to fit him. None the less, it still made him look dashing. As soon as Ino had spun around, for only a moment, Naruto seemed to freeze when he and Ino made eye contact. He resumed his walking again so quickly that anybody not paying attention probably wouldn't have noticed it.

"Um…hey, Ino-chan," Naruto said awkwardly as he took a seat beside her.

"Hi, Naruto-kun," Ino said smiling. Both of the teens embarrassedly looked away from each other. Another very uncomfortable minute passed while the two looked from the counter to the other in intervals, though they both seemed to look up at the precisely same time each time, making the situation even more awkward.

"You're definitely going for a second date tonight," the Kyuubi said sarcastically.

"Not helping here, fox," Naruto spat back. "What the heck am I supposed to say anyways?"

"Sheesh, you do need help, don't you? I guess I'm going to have to be the one to break the ice for you. You're welcome by the way. Tell her that her dress looks nice. Females like being told that they look nice."

"Will you stop calling her a 'female'. She's Ino, a living person. Not some object," Naruto snapped.

"A little touchy about this subject, aren't we?"

"Just shut up."

"So, Ino-chan," Naruto finally said looking over. "That's a nice dress you have. Um…no, wait. I mean that you look nice in that dress. Well of coarse that doesn't mean that you don't always look nice or anything when your not wearing that dress. It's just that you look especially nice today in that…um…dress," Naruto stammered. "You know…?"

"Smooth."

"Thanks," Ino said smiling at the other blonde beside her. She had chosen her best dress for the date tonight, a strapless black dress that hugged her entire body to bring out every detail of her figure. The design of a red flame wound around the dress all the way from her shoulder to the bottom, which stopped at her thighs. Her father and mother weren't too keen on the dress for obvious reasons, as it left little to the imagination. But she had eventually convinced them to let her wear it that night.

"No problem," Naruto said while rubbing the back of his head, hoping that he had not just ruined the entire date in one "complement".

"Here you go," Ichiraku said placing two bowls of ramen in front of Ino and Naruto. "Feel free to order as much as you want. It's not like I'm going to get that much business tonight anyhow."

"Why not?" Ino asked tilting her head.

Naruto and Ichiraku both exchanged nervous look toward each other that Ino caught in an instant. "Well, you know how it is," Ichiraku said turning back around to the stove. "People don't usually come to a shack like this on a holiday. I'm just hoping that this place will get at least a little bigger before I'm gone."

Ino understood in a second. Not many people came to the stand because the man was so kind to Naruto. To them, being hospitable with the very thing that nearly destroyed their village was probably despicable. She could only guess how many people came to the ramen stand on purpose nowadays. Ino semiconsciously clenched her fist in anger.

"Yeah, that's why I convince people to buy me lunch and scarf down as many bowls of ramen I can," Naruto said putting a large amount of ramen in his mouth in one bite. "Ichiraku-san and Ayame-chan deserve way better business than qhat people give them. They make the best food in town."

Wait a second, did Naruto scam ME yesterday? Ino asked herself. She looked over at Ichiraku and the man just shrugged with a guilty smile on his face.

"Me and Naruto made a little deal with each other a few years back. Trust me, this place would have been closed down a long time ago if it wasn't for this kid," he said winking at the girl.

"But he still won't give me free ramen," Naruto grumbled while sipping on his noodles.

"That's business kid," Ichiraku said smiling.

Ino couldn't help but laugh. The two seemed to be so close, almost like family. Now that she thought about it, a lot of people seemed to just gravitate toward Naruto. Sasuke, for instance, came back to Konoha after he had betrayed them only after a long battle against Naruto, which ended with the blonde convincing the Uchiha back. Even her teammate Shikamaru liked him. She now wished that she had given Naruto a chance before now…

"Ino-chan?" Naruto asked. Ino looked up slowly toward Naruto. Confusion shone in his eyes, but also something else as well. Worry. The worry that she didn't deserve…

Why couldn't I see this in Naruto before…?

"Hmm?" she asked, acting like nothing had happened. "Sorry. I guess I spaced off there for a little while. Don't worry about me."

"Well, if you say so," Naruto said turning back to his ramen, obviously not convinced. Suddenly, Naruto pushed aside his bowl and looked over at Ino with his trademark fox-like smile.

"Hey! Want to go take a walk for a little while?" he asked bolting to his feet.

"A walk?" Ino asked surprised. She had thought that the two of them were just going to hang out at the ramen stand the entire time. She didn't know that they were going anywhere.

"Yeah," Naruto said, still smiling as much as ever. "It's my special spot. No one goes there, surprisingly enough. Plus it's the perfect place for this day."

Ino looked up at Naruto and shook her head with a smile, just not able to contain a smile toward Naruto's innocent nature…almost like a small child.

"Sure, Naruto," Ino said standing up. "Let's go."

"Great!" Naruto yelled grabbing Ino's hand and running off down the road, leaving Ichiraku all by himself.

"That kid," Ichiraku said going to the door to the kitchen and opening it. As soon as he did his only daughter, Ayame, came falling forward flat on her face at his feet.

"Uh, Father…how's business?" Ayame asked rubbing the back of her red haired head in embarrassment.

"Ayame-san…" Ichiraku said scowling at his daughter on the ground. Ayame cringed at the honorific. Whenever he used that, it usually meant that her pay was about to go way down for the next two weeks. "Have you been eavesdropping again?"

"Me?" the red haired waitress said placing a hand on her heart as if insulted. "Never! I was…just bringing out some extra bowls! You know how much Naruto eats and you can never have too many bowls!"

"Which are where?" Ichiraku asked raising an eyebrow.

Ayame could have slapped herself for that one. Great lie, you big idiot. Now it will be a month until you get paid.

"Okay you got me…but can you at least tell me how the date is going?!" she pleaded, still on her knees. "It's just so cute that Naruto finally has a girlfriend and I just need to know what's happening."

"Well," Ichiraku said stroking his chin. "You know that one woman that came around a couple days ago?"

"You mean the one that you kept flirting with?" Ayame asked giggling.

"That's the one. Let's just say that compared to Naruto, I'm the smoothest guy in Konohakagure."

"Ouch," Ayame said wincing.

When Ino had agreed that she would take a walk with Naruto, she had expected two things. One, that there would be some…walking. But instead, Naruto ran full sprint away from the ramen stand. Even with her shinobi skills, she had found it pretty hard to keep up. The second thing that she expected was that they were going to go some place romantic that no one else besides Naruto had ever discovered. But instead, she was at a place that she saw, but not actually been to, everyday for her whole life. She saw it so much that she hardly even gave it a second thought on a normal day. And now here she was with Naruto, completely out of breath.

"Naruto," Ino asked after she finally was able to breathe easily again, "why did you bring me to the top of the Hokage monument?" She was actually partially mad at the other blonde. It was a miracle that her dress had not been completely ruined on the way there. She was pretty sure that she had turned a couple heads on her way with such a nice and expensive dress on. Not to mention that her hair, which she had spent an hour and a half preparing for her date, was now completely frazzled and dropped into her eyes, making her constantly push her hair back so that she could see.

"Look down there," Naruto said pointing to the ground from where they stood, on top of the Yondaime's head.

Ino looked down and found that the monument overlooked the entire village. She could see people running from place to place because of the festival. In the southern part of the village, a large parade was taking place with the first float being a giant version of the Yondaime. The eastern section, mostly residential, seemed almost a barren wasteland with the exception of a few couples strolling down the street with barely any space between the two. Ino looked over to see if Naruto had noticed, but the other blonde was busy smiling at the village in its entirety below them.

"This is the place that I first decided that I wanted to be Hokage," Naruto said taking a seat. "It was on my fifth birthday and the old man had brought me up here."

"Old man?" Ino asked in confusion.

"I mean the Sandaime," Naruto said looking to his right at the other face that was placed right beside the one he was sitting on. "He was a nice old coot, kind of crabby sometimes, but still cool. He told me about what it meant to be Hokage, to protect all of those in the village and to dedicate your heart and soul to them. He said that even though people may treat me badly, they will eventually one day look at me differently, that someday I'd be a hero to them."

Because of the Kyuubi, Ino thought sitting next to Naruto.

"I asked him if someday I could be Hokage and be as strong as he was," Naruto said still smiling. "The old man laughed at me, and I'll tell you that really pissed me off. He then told me that the path to Hokage was hard and tasking and that only the best of the best are eligible. From that day on, I dedicated myself to getting stronger so I could become Hokage. I asked the teachers before Iruka-sensei to teach me, but no one would help me for some reason. I tried to get help from the old man, but I could never get to him. Eventually, I decided to use my pranks to train me."

"How the heck did your pranks train you?" Ino asked, completely lost.

"It was really simple actually. Usually I would pull off a huge one and try not to get caught," Naruto said, this time crossing his arms behind his head and lying back onto the monument. "Or I would do a quick one, get caught doing it, and run like hell to try and get away. That tested my speed and stealth. Then when I wanted to get away, I needed to be sneaky to get away. I had to deceive them to escape. Most of the jutsus I use now are spoofs of my old pranks as a kid."

"Really?" Ino said playfully punching Naruto in the shoulder. "I just thought that you liked to annoy the hell out of people."

"Well I did it because…" Naruto said turning his head. Ino looked back at him, waiting for Naruto to go on.

"Yeah?" she eventually asked. Naruto had suddenly put on a very serious face.

"…No one noticed me when I was kid," he said, his eyes becoming sad. "No matter how much I tried to get noticed, people would just look past me and not even give me a second thought. The ones who didn't ignore me…"

Ino looked down at her feet in grief. Why couldn't she had been there for him? Why did he, of all people, be alone?

"Why did you set this up?" Naruto suddenly asked sitting up and facing Ino. "I haven't even seen you in at least a week, let alone talk to you. Last time I checked, you hated my guts. The only reason that you even put up with me is because I'm friends with Sasuke and Sakura. So why the sudden change?"

It was Ino's turn now to look away from Naruto. This was the perfect time to tell him that she knew…but she couldn't bring herself to do it.

It's because that I know what has happened to you and I hate knowing how people had treated you… No, that's not right.

Because I took a stroll through your mind and… No, not that either.

"It's because you deserve better," Ino said wrapping her arms around her knees and pulling them up to her chest. "You never chose to be what you turned out to be, and because of that the other villagers hate you when they should actually thank you. Adore you. And the worst part about it is that I allowed them to make me think the same way they did."

Naruto and Ino sat there for a minute in silence, neither of them looking at the other. Finally Naruto leaned leaned forward with his legs crossed.

"So you found out, huh," Naruto stated, not as much as a question as it was a statement. Ino didn't want to respond. She just turned her head even more away from Naruto, too ashamed of herself to face him.

"Is that why you asked me out?" he asked, but not in anger. "Is it because you feel sorry for me?"

"No!" Ino said jumping in surprise. "I mean yes…I mean…" Ino rubbed her head in confusion. She had no idea why she was doing this. It just felt like the right thing to do. She had thought that Naruto would thank her for her kindness, not this. Now she felt horrible.

"I'm sorry," Ino said finally. "I just that I never knew what you had to go through. I took you for granted and I just feel…so sorry about it. My heart aches by just thinking about it. You know, the kind where you wish that you could just rip it out just to make the pain go away."

"Yeah," Naruto said sadly. "I do know. Too well."

Ino didn't know what to say. Here she was, just sitting there like an idiot. She just didn't know what to do.

"Do you hate him for what he did to you?" Ino asked looking down at the enormous rock head that they were sitting on.

"Nah," Naruto said shaking his head. "He wasn't being selfish, he was doing what he had to do to protect his village. He sacrificed his own life just so that we can live. Neither of us would probably be alive if it wasn't for him."

"I guess your right," the kunoichi beside him said nodding. She looked up to the sky, suddenly amazed that she had not noticed so many stars there were that night, away from the lights of the city.

"I want to be like him," Naruto said, now not in sadness, but in determination. "I've always looked up to him for the sacrifice that he had to make for us. I think the old man did a good job of choosing his successor. And someday," Naruto said, pointing past Tsunade's rock face, "my face is going to be up here. Right there, by Obba-chan. Then I'll always be able to watch the village, and people will finally look at me without hatred in their eyes."

Ino could feel her eyes burning from the threat of tears beginning to flow. She hurriedly wiped her eyes and finally looked straight at Naruto again, right into his clear, cerulean eyes.

"You'll be Hokage," Ino said punching the air between her and Naruto. "And I'll make sure to help you. If you need anything, or just need someone to talk to, you know where I am. We can meet here from now on if we need to talk."

"Then I guess this isn't my spot anymore," Naruto said also turning toward Ino and smiling softly toward her. "I suppose that it's ours."

"If you'll let me," Ino said blushing.

"Wouldn't have it any other way," Naruto said wrapping his arm around her shoulder. At first Ino was surprised, but then she steadily calmed down and rested her head on Naruto's shoulder.

Suddenly, the fireworks went off, lighting the sky with bright flashes of all the colors possible. Ino looked once at Naruto, whom was looking at the firecrackers in content, and then toward the spot that Naruto had pointed out was where his face was going to be. Naruto had always told her, told everybody, that he was going to be Hokage. She had never believed him, and neither did anybody else for that matter. But now after tonight, she had no doubt in her mind.

"Thanks for bringing here, Naruto," Ino said snuggling closer to Naruto and wrapping her arms around him.

"No problem, Ino," Naruto replied, feeling stronger than he had ever felt in his entire life.

"Not bad, kid," Kyuubi's voice echoed within his mind. "Not bad at all."

End

And there you go, my chapter. Thank you once again for reading and I really hope you enjoyed it. Check out my other Naruto fic if you haven't yet. Trust me, it's going to be big. So until next time fellow readers.