Hey guys! I am back. I am myself surprised that I managed to submit 3 chapters in 3 days. That's really marvelous. This chapter is dedicated to all the readers. This chapter is a bit out of the genre and Naruto too is out of the character I was planning, but still it's worth writing. Moving to the acknowledgements:

I would like to sincerely thank:

MewRose

Lord-sessy012

Ghaun Knifeblade

Primo4

maddy madhatter

Chischi

tablo23

for following and favorite me and this story. And special thanks to:

ewaa

Kunoichi of the Moonlit Night

LadyEudave05

.92754397 for their reviews. I am glad you liked the story so far.

Now without any further adieu, here is the third chapter of the story. Ignore any grammatical errors. Enjoy!

Chapter 3: Sneaking out

A month quickly passed by and Naruto had almost recovered. Unexpectedly, Naruto, after recovery, was different than the Naruto everyone knew. Other than becoming much more mature, Naruto had also changed physically. His new hairs were a darker shade of blonde and further his trademark whiskers were gone. As for attitude, Naruto looked calm and composite as contrary to his carefree and prankster attitude and most surprisingly he had developed love for books. Iruka gave him some academy books so that Naruto stays in touch with academy when he returns there. Other than that, Naruto used to sneak out quietly to train when hospital staff was not present.

It was morning time in Konoha. He took his medicines and was having his breakfast which contained cereals and milk. It was then he heard sounds in the gallery. Naruto looked at the clock and understood that the visiting hours had begun.

Kiba, Choji or Shikamaru were the usual guys who visited Naruto during this month. Each one of them had different reasons. Kiba came just to irritate Naruto and play pranks on him though he failed miserably since he took Naruto to be some sick guy who can't even stand properly; Shikamaru came just because he found the Academy a big boring thing and spent hours talking about various things from 'the games they used to play when Naruto was still around' to 'how big jerk their classmates are', Choji was the most regular one since Naruto shared food, chocolates, fruits and other edibles which Iruka sensei or other peoples brought for him when they visited him. Choji was the one who informed him about whatever happened in the village and helped Naruto recover most of his memory. Hinata too visited sometimes but most of the time she would stand there nervously and play with her fingers. Naruto guessed her to be a kind-heart but extremely shy girl. She brought him hand-made foods from her house, which usually was consumed by Choji the next time he visited.

Apart from them, Iruka and Hokage too paid visits at evening and would take updates on his memory recovery. By the end of the month, Naruto had recovered most of his memory but still some parts were missing. But it wasn't a concern as he might remember those parts when he would be out of hospital.

Naruto snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a knock on the door. A nurse peeped out of the door.

"Naruto, you have a visitor. Are you decent?" the nurse asked

Naruto nodded and prepared himself for whoever showed up to meet him. The nurse exited the room and seconds later, the visitor came in.

To Naruto's surprise, with a bouquet in hands and scowl on face, Ino entered the room.

"Well good morning Naruto" Ino grunted as she put the bouquet on the table along with a greeting card. "You look fine."

"A very good morning to you too Ino-san and yeah, I am fine now" calmly stated Naruto as he finished his breakfast. "I never expected that you would be visiting."

"I never wanted to come but that Shikamaru just showed up today morning and told me to deliver a bouquet for you since you will be out soon and he never brought you anything. They are too troublesome." Ino said mostly blabbering to herself.

"I apologize on the behalf of them and appreciate your visit. But honestly, I didn't knew that you even do home deliveries" Naruto said and stood up to wash his hands as a nurse came to pick his plate.

"Hey, this is not home delivery and I didn't have any choice." Ino shot back.

"I see. Anyways, it was nice of you to drop by." Thanked Naruto.

"Oh…Umm…sure, Alright, Have a good day" Ino was clearly flustered with such talks full of gratitude from someone who was the loudest mouth in making fun of others.

Just when she was about to exit the room she noticed Naruto was not in his bed. She looked around but saw him missing. She then noticed the open window. She looked down and noticed Naruto making his way down through a tree.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Ino shouted from above as she too jumped down.

Naruto looked surprised as Ino too followed him down.

"You were still there? I thought you were going home" Naruto asked.

"I was… but then you were foolish enough to jump from first floor and I had to make sure that you are alright." Ino crossed her arms.

"Thanks for the concern. Now as you can see I am fine, so how about going home?" Naruto replied with slight anger.

"What about you? Aren't you supposed to be in bed? You would be in trouble if someone checks up and find you missing."

"Nobody is going to check out till lunch time. I know their timings well enough. Now please excuse me and leave" Naruto pointed her to leave.

"Where are you going?" Ino stopped Naruto by shouting to him.

"Market, I need some clothes to leave the hospital and I have none." Naruto turned around to answer Ino.

"Clothes! Where are your old ones?"

"Too short to wear outside"

"Then why didn't you tell me?" Ino shouted.

"I suppose you are the one who told that you never wanted to come and found it troublesome" Naruto raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah but… that was different…I thought I am a delivery girl…and…ugh you are changing the topic" Ino put an accusing finger towards Naruto.

"Whatever, I don't need your help. I can do this on my own." Naruto turned again and rushed towards the market.

"So I suppose you know the shops belonging to gent's clothes." Ino smirked when Naruto stopped in his tracks. "You don't have whole day to figure out shops. Am I right?"

When Naruto didn't replied, Ino took that as Yes.

Ino sighed "Alright, I will help you this time. Come on follow me, we have to make this quick."

-X-

"Hello Miss Yamanaka, how may I help you?" the owner of the shop asked Ino.

"Actually I am here to buy some clothes for my…cousin" Ino points at Naruto.

"That's fine but…why is he covered completely in a blanket?" The owner pointed out.

Naruto was standing completely draped in a red blanket. He was standing out and caught everyone's eyes which made Naruto grumble and uneasy for most of the walk to shop.

"Oh well…" Ino scratched her head in search of a good excuse "You see…he is feeling a bit cold and therefore he covered himself with a blanket."

Naruto grumbled still covered with blanket "Great! That's the best excuse she can think of. Now she had raised the doubts of this person. I could have been better without this girl."

"Oh! Will he be OK? Should I assist you in your shopping?" The owner asked clearly showing his concern.

"This man actually believed her! What a moron!"

"Thank you but I will manage. Thanks for offering help though" Ino said as she went inside the shop with Naruto following her.

Ino picked lots of dresses and returned to Naruto.

"What the hell! I didn't ask for so many clothes." Naruto silently cursed.

"Shut up! Not all these dresses are for you. We need to select only few of them. Now be a good boy and try these dresses one by one so that I can choose which clothes suits you"

Naruto wanted to protest but Ino's statement left no place for argument.

"Whatever! Fine" Naruto stood up and picked a random shirt and pant to try.

"Hey, what are you doing? Don't you have any fashion sense?"

Naruto merely raised his eyebrows.

"OK. Since this can't be helped, so I will pair up the dresses for you. Now…take this T-shirt and pant. Hurry up"

Ino turned Naruto into her testing doll, trying all sorts of dresses and pairings on him.

After more than an hour, Ino was finally satisfied much to Naruto's relief. Her choice was dark brown pants, Grey T-shirt and a black hooded jacket with 2 dark blue lines running across each sleeve.

"Now that looks better. This will suit you perfectly…and don't you think about paying for it." Ino glared as Naruto tried finding his purse.

"These are my clothes and it's not like I am short on money or something like…CRAP!" Naruto immediately turned panic.

Ino turned behind to see Iruka entering the store.

"If he saw me here, I am in big trouble. They might extend my hospital stay if Iruka sensei saw me and complained to hospital staff." Naruto was sweating now due to tension.

"Don't worry…we can quietly sneak out. Just follow me smoothly." Ino too was worried for herself since she would obviously be blamed for assisting Naruto if he was caught.

Meanwhile, Iruka was busy looking for a gift to give to Naruto.

"Naruto loved ramen over everything else, but he won't be able to eat ramen until his medications are over. So…what could I bring for Naruto?"

Just when he was about to go to next shelf, he saw a glimpse of Ino and a certain boy covered in blanket quietly sneaking out of store.

"Ino" Iruka called the blonde girl who was nervously standing as soon as she saw him.

"Iruka sensei" Now the girl was clearly sweating and shaking as he came near her.

"Hello Ino, what are you doing here? Did you come here to buy gifts?" Iruka asked.

"No…I just came…to buy some clothes for…my cousin" Ino said eager to run as soon as she gets an opening.

"Oh! I see, is this boy also with you?" Iruka pointed towards Naruto.

Ino saw Naruto flinched and quickly covered for him.

"Yes…he's the cousin I am talking about." Ino said nervously laughing.

"But why does he have his body covered in blanket?" Iruka asked.

"Because he was feeling cold and he didn't brought any jackets or sweaters from his home." Ino said.

"Please accept this excuse" Naruto silently prayed inside the blanket.

"That explains it…" Iruka said.

Both of them sighed in relief.

"…But why is he covering his face?" Iruka asked and both of them went in panic mode once again.

"Because…he…he has developed weird spots on his face." Ino said as she couldn't think of anything immediately.

"Still that makes him kind of suspicious. Let me take a look"

Naruto gulped as Iruka was about to remove the cover, Just then…

"Hey Iruka…what are you doing here?" Another fellow academy teacher called Iruka.

"Oh…nothing I was just talking to…Huh! Where did they disappear…? I guess they were in a hurry." Iruka said as he went back to greet his co-worker and buy gift for Naruto.

-X-

In the next lane, the two teens were panting hard as they ran as soon as Iruka turned behind to greet the other person.

"That was close" Naruto said "I thought I am going to get caught."

"Yeah, that was close. You were almost caught and then I too would have been punished for helping you. I am never going to help you next time. This will be a lesson for me" Ino glared at Naruto.

"Hold on. You were the one who was so persistent in accompanying me. I never wanted you to tag along" Naruto shot back.

"I would never have come with you if you had any idea about the market. You would have roamed around recklessly and would have returned without any success." Ino continued to shout at Naruto.

"That was my problem and maybe I would have succeeded in buying clothes and returning without anyone noticing me, if it weren't your petty excuses and lies" Naruto too matched her in shouting.

"How is it my fault?" Ino crossed her arms.

"Which idiot person makes girly excuses like 'weird marks on face' to answer why someone had his face covered?" Naruto said "Is that the best excuse you can think of?"

"Sorry for not being a smartass like you, but I suppose we could have sneaked out without Iruka sensei noticing us if you wouldn't have been such a slowpoke" Ino said.

"Me? Slowpoke? You are the one who was slowpoke. You were glancing nervously around each second before taking the next step." Naruto was now literary on fire.

"Screw you Naruto" Ino shouted to Naruto.

"Right back to you Ino" Naruto returned the favor.

-X-

After roaming a bit around the village, Naruto decided that it was time for him to return to hospital. Ino simply nodded. Both of them made their way to the hospital in complete silence, neither saying anything to other person. Naruto finally broke the silence.

"Thank You"

Ino gave him no reaction, just continuing to listen.

"I guess I wouldn't have found good clothes without someone assisting me. I guess I spoke too much during argument and I too couldn't have found better excuse instantly…So Thank you for helping me with clothes and covering up for me." Naruto thanked her.

Ino sighed before nodding. "Same here, I think I went overboard during our argument and you were doing your best to avoid the troubles. So…sorry for anything that happened a bit too much."

"That's alright. Now I guess the trouble is over for today. So let's just…"

"I FOUND THOSE KIDS. THEY ARE HERE"

Both teens turned behind to see a group of civilians rushing towards them.

Actually Ino stole a blanket (borrowed according to Ino's POV) to hide Naruto when they were going to buy clothes. But she was seen 'borrowing' the blanket by one of the family members and Ino and Naruto had to run a long way to escape them. This time, the group was even bigger.

"CRAP! They found us." Ino panicked.

"Don't just stand there you fool. Run" Naruto dragged Ino with him.

"The group is even bigger this time." Ino complained

"All thanks to you who couldn't even take a blanket quietly without making a scene." Naruto chided her.

"I am not some professional thief and it was your idea to cover yourself with blanket. You could have gone yourself to take the blanket if you are so sure of yourself." Ino taunted right back.

"Shut up and run" Naruto shouted tossing the blanket right towards the crowd.

-X-

An hour later, both of them were standing behind the hospital building after successfully escaping the crowd.

"Finally" Ino said panting hard "I am sure I am not going out of my house for few days"

"Don't worry. We maintained our distance from the crowd and the only reason they identified us was because of that blanket." Naruto said stretching his hands to prepare for climbing on tree to reach his room's window.

"Hey, how come I am tired after all this running and you are still standing completely fine?" Ino asked Naruto.

"That's because I have been training" Naruto said.

"WHAT" Ino shouted not believing what she heard just now

"What! Did you expect me to lie in the bed while doing nothing? I don't about my old self but I can't stay in bed for all day lying uselessly." Naruto twitted.

"So since how many days were you sneaking out?" Ino asked.

"10 days, and don't you tell that to anyone" Naruto said as he climbed the tree.

As he entered his room through window, he saw Ino doing the same.

"Hey, why are you too coming through tree?" Naruto asked.

"Are you a fool? Every visitor has to sign their name in the record book at the reception. They have record of my arrival but not departure. So it would be suspicious if I disappeared without any departure records. Get it?" Ino asked.

"Yeah," Naruto said as he went back to his bed and pulled sheets over his chest to imply that he has just woke up from the sleep.

Ino wanted to tell him that she had enjoyed helping him in sneaking out. She decided to at least acknowledge to him that all the parts…arguments, escaping from Iruka sensei and mob, selecting clothes and bringing bouquet was fun to her. She too wanted to see Naruto as Choji and Shikamaru used to tell her that new Naruto is somewhat different, and better, than the old Naruto and she was a bit glad when Shikamaru told her this morning that Iruka sensei complained to his father about him skipping classes and so he, Choji or Kiba won't be able to visit Naruto today so she should pay him a visit as he will be discharged from hospital tomorrow and who knows he would be put under some ANBU so that he won't be seen much. Still, she decided to act all ignorant and angry towards Naruto.

"Naruto I..." Ino began but was interrupted by soft snores from Naruto who actually fell asleep while Ino was lost in her all thoughts.

Ino sighed "I guess some things about him never change."

Ino stood up and carefully locked the door before going out putting his clothes besides his pillow.

-X-

"Ino…where have you been? We were looking for you in the village."

Ino was greeted by Shikamaru and Choji as soon as she entered her family flower shop. They looked like they had been waiting for a while.

"Nothing, I was just having fun" Ino smiled.

"Fun! Were you playing with other girls?" Shikamaru asked.

"No, he was my particular cousin." Ino said as she went to working on watering the flowers.

Both boys looked towards each other with confused faces.

"Shikamaru, since when did she had a cousin?" Choji asked.

Shikamaru just shrugged "I don't know. Girls are such a 'drag'.

Ino could only smile as the boys were completely clueless to whatever she is talking about.

-X-

That brings an end to Chapter 3 of this story. I was planning on using any girl to accompany Naruto. Sakura was much into Sasuke and Hinata was too shy to argue with Naruto and other girls still had to make their debuts, so Ino was the last resort.

In the next 4-5 chapters, the story will follow the original storyline though obviously with changes.

So I will return soon with a new chapter. Until then, it's a goodbye from NBD. See ya!

PLEASE REVIEW!