To Anonymous Reviewer Kk2010, I just wanted to say something about your review.

This Naruto is just like the normal naruto, pretty stupid, foolish and unrealistic

This is very true. However, there is also two other things I'd like to point out. One, I'm working with that Naruto as the base; of course he's going to be that way! If he wasn't, it wouldn't have been the 'normal' Naruto. And second, I didn't think to use a big flashy fight scene at the beginning to grab everyone's attention. (Thought of that halfway through this chapter)

So I hope that you continue reading, and update me on how Naruto is coming along from the 'normal' Naruto. Oh, and I'd like to do this privately next time, so use a profile so I can PM you!

Thank you all of you who have reviewed! Now, let's get on with the show!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. It wouldn't work well with me in charge if my review count were to have any say in it.

Word of Honor

Chapter 4: Interpreting Conversation

Hinata peaked around the post she'd been hiding behind, watching as Naruto and Ino walked into the restaurant. She'd noticed the two of them walking together shortly after Naruto had been hit in the face outside of the flower shop. She had initially thought that Naruto had gone to Ino's to pick up some stuff for the potted plant he had in his apartment. Not that she'd ever been in his apartment to know that, no. She didn't need to be inside to see inside his apartment.

Blushing at the thought as she'd had a few 'accidents' on different occasions, she shook her head to clear it of those particular thoughts. She had much more important things to think about. Like the recent chakra spike Naruto had let off.

She'd seen it by honest, complete accident. Being to far away to hear what Naruto and Ino were saying, she'd activated her Byakugan to read their lips. It was one of the few things she excelled at in using her Byakugan. She figured that if she caught their conversation, it would explain why Naruto was with Ino. He had no previous interest in Ino before hand, and she just didn't buy that Ino was into Naruto.

"Besides, you promised that you would help me get Sasuke-kun." Ino said.

This immediately set Hinata's nerves at ease. 'It's just Ino wanting to get Sasuke-san.' She thought with a sigh.

"What? No I didn't." Naruto said, making Hinata loose her nerves again. Hinata tapped her fingers together, wondering what that meant as once again she had absolutely no idea what was going on.

Listening further into the conversation, confusion soon became the least of her worries. She had to stop herself from shouting as she quickly came to the realization that Ino was leading Naruto on in an attempt to trick him into making a promise that he obviously didn't know he hadn't made. This became even harder to do when Naruto, in obvious distress, asked her not to go. Whether Ino knew it or not, she was hurting Naruto, and it was hurting her to see him like that.

That was about where things had gotten weird. She'd seen Ino's smirk when he'd said that, and knew something bad was going to happen. Making him make a promise like that was underhanded, and if she'd had the confidence she would have gone out and stopped him from being tricked like that. Unfortunately, she wasn't, and what happened next would haunt her waking moments.

As the promise left his mouth, her eyes focused in on a change in his chakra. It built up so quick that if she'd had her Byakugan deactivated. From what she could see, it was just pure chakra that enveloped Naruto's head and then quickly shot through the rest of his body.

Naruto's reaction to the spike was also something that made her eye widen. His entire body tightened, realization crossing his face. Obviously he knew that something had happened, although considering the way he followed after Ino, it was likely that he didn't know what had happened.

Now Hinata was stalking (er, 'retrieving intelligence on') Naruto for a whole other new reason. She knew that Naruto wasn't prone to random chakra spikes from the times she'd watched him, which meant that the spike had to come from somewhere. Or someone. And seeing as Ino was the only other person with chakra in the area, Hinata was certain that she had done something. It didn't help Ino any that her family's techniques specialized around mind related techniques.

Hinata focused her eyes through the wall, watching them as they went through the restaurant. She was not going to let Ino trick Naruto again without knowing exactly what was going on. While she may have been shy, even she knew how to stand up once in a while. That she was doing it from a distance and through a wall meant nothing at all.

In her defense, it was a step in the right direction.

-xxxxx-

Naruto leaned back, trying to see all of the man in front of him. He had heard of people like this; large, intimidating, and worked in bars to keep the riff raff out. His large, bulky frame seemed quite out of place, seeing all of the other, smaller workers attending to the customers. At least, if you didn't count the overly flowery apron he was wearing. Naruto didn't really notice, as he wasn't used to seeing people who were so…broad.

In an Akimichi sense, this wouldn't be difficult to believe. This man though, had no markings that indicated he was an Akimichi, and rather than a broad stomach, he was broad shouldered, and skinny waist. Comically so. His short, dark hair was covered in a tight fishnet hairnet, signifying he worked in the kitchen. He had a white vest, and dark brown hakama styled pants. The entire getup seemed mismatched, and out of place; at least it did to Naruto. Ino seemed to brighten upon seeing him.

"Welcome to our establishment, how may I help you?" He asked in a bright, and very chipper manner. He paused as he looked them over, spending an extra second on Naruto, before throwing his arms into the air. "Ino-chan! It's been to long!"
"Hello Yasuhiro-san." Ino replied. "How have things been since I was last here?"
Yasuhiro chuckled. "Hohoho, business is booming! Sometimes I have to wonder if you Yamanaka are spreading good gossip about this place to make sure we stay in business!"

Ino gestured to herself, looking innocent. "Me? Spread rumors of how business here is beyond exceptional? Yasuhiro-san, you flatter yourself."

Yasuhiro laughed rather loudly, getting a glare from some of the nearby customers. "Too true!" Switching to a more business-like attitude, he motioned them forward. "We have a private booth set up upstairs for you, just like you asked. Just make sure you don't do anything…uncouth."

Naruto blinked at the word, 'uncouth', wondering what it meant and why it seemed to be aimed at him. Ino understood, and quickly swatted Yasuhiro's arm. "We're just going to have a little talk. Naruto here promised he'd help me get some information on something, and wanted to buy me lunch while we talked. Isn't that right Naruto?"

Naruto's head nodded mechanically. He found it difficult to swallow as his eyes looked over some of the customers and employees walking about. While Ino's back was turned, several people seemed to give him a once over, like they were trying to remember who he was. A few people gave his a glare out of the corner of their eyes, causing Naruto to shiver. Kami, his luck couldn't get any worse today, could it?

"Naruto, can I talk to you for a second?" Yasuhiro said, placing his extremely large hand on Naruto's shoulder, nearly knocking Naruto to his knees.

Ino looked between Yasuhiro and Naruto, realization of some sort crossing her face. "I'll head upstairs and order us something to drink. Don't be to rough on Naruto while I'm gone."

Naruto grimaced, "Please don't leave me alone with him."

Ino ignored him, waving to the other employees as she walked past them on her way out. "Hi everyone!"

Naruto watched her walk away, several of the employee's fiddling with knives and different other cooking appliances that made Naruto nervous. As soon as Ino had gone enough upstairs to be out of earshot, all eyes focused on Naruto. Naruto swallowed nervously, wondering if he was going to get out of this alive.

One of the cooks leaned over the counter, his knife hanging loosely from his hand. "What are your intentions with Ino-san?"

Naruto tilted his head to the side, forgetting about the knife as he thought over the question. "What do you mean? We're just here to talk."

"Really? That's all?" Yasuhiro said, his hand still on Naruto's shoulder. Seeing Naruto nod, he released him and gave him a light shove towards the stairs. "Best not keep her waiting then."

"Be on your best behavior!" One of the waiters said, giving him a halfhearted glare. "If you don't, we'll know."

"She'll be easy to buy for since she always seems to be on one of those damned diets, so I'd recommend the tonkatsu* for yourself. The cabbage topping it's quite excellent if I do say so myself." The first cook said with a chuckle as he spun the knife in his hand, going back to the food he had to prepare.

"…I'm confused." Naruto muttered. One second, they seemed to be ready to skewer him, and the next they were…giving him advice.

"We all know Ino personally, and want to see the best for her." Yasuhiro said, seeming to read Naruto's thoughts. "Think of us as one big, overprotective family."

Naruto nodded, immediately able to picture that from his own desire to have something similar. Heading to the stairs, he glanced back once to see several of the other waiters giving him a thumbs up. Grinning despite himself, he quickly walked up the stairs.

Seeing Ino in the corner of the room brought back the reality of what was going on back to him. He had agreed to tell Ino what she wanted to know about Sasuke, and was then tricked into promising to help her chase Sasuke. Thanks to his inability to break his promises, he knew that he was going to be stuck until…she got Sasuke.

He was eternally screwed.

Sliding into the booth on the opposite side of her, he took a small breath to steady himself. All he had to do was survive this, then avoid Ino as much as possible so that she wouldn't get the chance to figure out that he couldn't break his promise. He silently asked Kami to have mercy on him.

He had no idea what he was in for.

"So, where should we start?" Ino asked, trying to seem conversational.

Naruto looked at his menu, noticing the prices, and weighed them against his wallet, Gama-chan. "Uh, I don't know. What did you want to get to eat?"

Ino shrugged. "I'll just get a bowl of rice."

"And then?" Naruto asked innocently.

"Just the rice."

"Really?" For Naruto, that was strange. When Iruka took him out, he took advantage of his hospitality as much as possible. After all, he usually wasn't paying for the food, and he needed the energy for later. "Wouldn't it be good to –"

Ino leveled a dirty look on him. "Just the rice."

Catching the hint, Naruto shut his mouth. Hiding behind his menu, he looked at the tonkatsu and figured how much it cost verse how much he had on him. After taking a moment to slowly to the math in his head, he figured he had more than enough to spend on it. Especially if Ino was only getting rice, and he paid for her meal.

When their waiter arrived, they gave him their orders. Naruto noticed that as he ordered the tonkatsu with cabbage, the waiter gave him an approving nod, which made him brighten. Ino, on the other hand, got a rather disappointed look that went completely missed as Ino was already staring across the table at him. The waiter took their menu's, and walked away hastily. Naruto briefly wondered if he could to a replacement with him. He did not want to be interrogated while he ate; good food or not.

Not a moment after he'd left, Ino jumped right back into their previous conversation. "Alright, so what exactly do you know about Sasuke?"

Naruto, caught flatfooted as he'd still been thinking of escape, took a moment to think up an answer to that. "Not a lot. He leaves before we can do any kind of teamwork activity that will reveal anything about what he does."

Ino sighed, shaking her head. She'd known that Naruto would be a very, very bad person to interrogate on matters like this, but she had to make the most of it before someone else thought to. "Okay, how about we start small? What does he like?"

"Training, I guess. Oh, and tomatoes." Naruto said quickly.

Ino brightened at this. That was definitely information that she hadn't heard before. "Really? That's good to know. What about dislikes?"

Naruto's face scrunched up, trying to think of something that Sasuke didn't like…specifically. "Uh, a lot of things?"
Ino sighed. "I see. What about his tastes in girls? Has he tried to make any advances on Forehead?"

"Who?"

Ino blinked, realizing her mistake. "Sakura. Has he tried hitting on Sakura?"

"Oh, nope." Naruto shook his head. "Sakura's tried, but Sasuke doesn't…"

Naruto trailed off, remembering the strange look Sasuke had given Sakura as he'd left. Ino leaned forward worriedly, having never seen Naruto with a look of thoughtfulness before. "What? Sasuke doesn't what?"

Naruto shook his head. "I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know? You knew a second ago."

"No, that was what I thought. I don't know what Sasuke thinks." Naruto said, nodding to himself.

"Oh come on!" Ino hissed. "This is to help me get closer to Sasuke-kun. Don't hold back anything."

Naruto felt his gut clench and it took everything he had to stop himself from doubling over. Not wanting to be in pain for the rest of the meal, he thought faster than he'd ever thought before. Putting it together that the pain was coming from his promise, he thought of something that would sate Ino's interest. Within seconds, he had something. "Sasuke doesn't really like long hair."

There was a blissful silence, Naruto sighing in relief as his gut stopped hurting, and Ino struck dumb by Naruto's declaration. Slowly dragging herself from her stunned state, she spoke slowly. "How…how do you know?"

Naruto chewed on his lip. He knew that Ino would not be happy with what he was going to tell her, and that there was no way around telling her without him being in pain. Sighing in resignation, he answered slowly. "Because I made it up."

"Made what up?" Ino asked. She'd never felt so confused, and Naruto's vague answers were making it sound like he knew more than he was telling.

"I was the one who started the rumor that Sasuke liked girls with long hair."

Ino's world collapsed in that moment. She was a smart girl, second only to Sakura in terms of 'smartness'. However, this was foreign to her. That Naruto had started a rumor that had caused all of the girls (excluding Hinata) attending the Academy to grow out their hair in an attempt to impress him seemed outrageous.

She was so wrapped up in her thoughts, she missed the waiter's return with their dishes. Naruto did not. "Itadakimasu!" He shouted, digging in with no lack of gusto, Naruto nearly cried as the taste seemed to embrace his mouth. "Oh man, this is so good! Ramen is still better, but man! I'd eat here another time, any time."

Ino blinked, looking down at her abysmal excuse for a meal. She didn't bother sighing, knowing that if she ate too much, she would loss the figure she'd worked so hard to get. Besides that she'd eaten lunch with her teammates, which meant she'd gotten more than full enough on the barbeque Choji enjoyed so much.

Biting her lip, Ino pressed for answers to her previous question. "How do you make the rumor that Sasuke liked long hair? I mean, it's you! Who did you talk to that would spread the story?"

Naruto paused in his veracious eating, a small bit of cabbage sticking to his face. Picking it off and tossing it into his mouth, he recounted the experience that had eventually shaped many of the Academy girls lives.

FLASHBACK

Naruto had just gotten done playing with some of the other boys his age, watching them go as their parents quickly herded them away. He felt empty without anyone around, and found himself sitting in the sandbox. While he didn't have the tools to make a sandcastle or anything like that, he was doing his best to make a sand recreation of a mountain. It helped pass the time, and seemed to help numb the pain left from the loss of the other boys departure.

"What are you doing?" A small, timid voice from behind him asked.

Naruto jumped, crushing his sand mountain underfoot as he turned to see the person behind him. His eyes widened in confusion at this new person, before quickly relaxing. It was a young girl, with unusual pink hair, a red and white dress, and a red ribbon that held her hair back. From what he knew of girls, they were usually less likely to hit him than guys were.

If only he knew.

"I'm building a…" Naruto looked at his now inverted mountain, groaning in exasperation. "It was supposed to be the Hokage Mountain with my face on it."

"Oh." The girl said, looking at ground sheepishly. She hadn't meant to startle him, she'd just been curious. "Um, my name is Sakura."

Naruto smiled widely. "My name's Uzumaki Naruto!"

Sakura gave a small smile, looking at the remains of his mountain. "Would you like some help?"

Naruto nodded vigorously. "Yeah sure!" His smile seemed to grow brighter. "Thanks!"

The two of them played for another hour or so before they had a crude likeness of Naruto's face imprinted into the dirt mountain. They played a bit more on the adjoining playground before Sakura became tired and had to sit down and catch her breath. Naruto hung upside-down nearby, still playing while he waited for Sakura to come play again.

Sakura watched Naruto keep playing, his stamina amazing her all the while. As she watched, she got the feeling she'd met him somewhere before. Or at least, seen him. "Hey Naruto-san? Do you go to the Academy?"

Naruto stopped swinging, still handing from the bars. "Eh? Academy?"

"The Shinobi Academy." Sakura replied.

Naruto brightened. "Oh yeah! That place is awesome. We're learning how to be real shinobi like Hokage-jiji!"

"Hokage…jiji?" Sakura said, not sure she heard him right. After all, her parents had taught her to respect people like the Hokage, saying he was a very powerful person. Yet here was a kid who was unafraid of calling the elderly man his grandfather. Her budding mind put it to the side, another big question coming to mind. "So, you know the other kids in class?"

Naruto nodded, more coherent than he was used to as he was experiencing a new level of thought processing due to the amount of blood now in his head. "Yeah I know some of the guys." He rubbed his chin in thought. "There's Kiba, and Shikamaru, and Sasuke – "

"You know Sasuke?" Sakura asked, her mind racing with the possibilities. She had recently seen him at the Academy, and was quickly smitten. There was so much that she didn't know, it worried her. After all one couldn't just go find out more about a person in a book.

Naruto scowled at the name. He didn't like Sasuke, not one bit. To him, Sasuke was cool and got all the girls attention and was a show off. Just because the teachers liked him, he was special. Well Naruto was special to! He was just special in that no one helped him, and he was still able to keep pace with everyone.

Unknowing of Naruto's thoughts, Sakura prodded for more information. "Do you know what Sasuke likes?"

Naruto shook his head. "No, we don't talk to much."

Sakura pouted. "Aw, not even a little? Now I'll never know what he likes in girls."

Normally, Naruto wouldn't have thought of this, or thought of it so quickly. However, being upside-down and having more blood in your head than you can remember does help your thought process. "Oh! I heard him say something once!"

Sakura brightened. "Really? What did he say?"

"He said, 'Guys like girls with long hair 'cause they're really pretty'. That's what he said." Naruto lied. He didn't know what Sasuke liked, but he did know what he liked.

Sakura nodded. "Long hair." Sakura pushed herself to her feet, suddenly running off. "Bye!"

Naruto blinked owlishly, watching her go. "Uh…bye Sakura-chan." Watching her go, he wondered if she actually listened to what he'd said.

Later, Sakura told Ino and their friends that Sasuke like girls with long hair. Their friends were even less tight lipped about the subject, and were quickly telling others what she'd been told. Within the next year, the hair length at the Academy grew out, and somehow a poor Sasuke was none the wiser.

FLASHBACK END

Ino listened to the story intently, unable to comprehend the full depth of what had just been said. Of all the girls in the Academy, she and Sakura had been the most devoted to Sasuke. If he wanted something, they did everything they could to impress him. Hair, smarts, and dresses, Ino had been certain that she'd been losing to Sakura. And all this time, she and Sakura had devotedly grown out their hair in an attempt to impress Sasuke.

Ino frowned at that thought. "Wait, why did you tell Sakura that Sasuke likes long hair?"

"I didn't. I said, 'Guys like girls with long hair'. Sakura just told people that Sasuke like it." Naruto said, shrugging as he tried to eat some of his food.

"But why?"

Naruto sighed exasperatedly. "Because I thought all guys liked girls with long hair. I didn't know other guys had 'preferences' back then."

Ino nodded, "Okay, that makes sense. That doesn't explain - "

She cut herself off as her mind went into overdrive. Naruto had thought that all guys liked girls with long hair. Why? What would make him think that all guys thought that way? It didn't take long to come to a reasonable conclusion.

Naruto liked girls with long hair…and Sakura had gotten every girl in the Academy to grow their hair long by accidentally creating that rumor.

That thought made her freeze. Slowly, an impish grin crossed her face. "So that's why you like Forehead!"

Naruto nodded, trying to shove some more food into his mouth before Ino asked him any more questions. By this time, he didn't know what Ino was thinking, and he didn't care. He didn't want to miss out on the meal and have it go cold because he was talking the entire time. That would be rude to the cooks.

A plan formed in Ino's head, taking in everything that Naruto said and using it to her current advantage. "Don't tell Sakura what you told me."
Naruto rolled his eyes. "If I did that, she'd pound me into the ground. She's grown out her hair for Sasuke for something I said."

"She probably didn't remember that you said it. She just heard what Sasuke liked and went on." Ino said dismissively. Rounding on Naruto she jabbed a finger at him. "You're going to keep your mouth shut about it."

Naruto nodded, already knowing that he couldn't say anything about it to Sakura. "Okay."

"And you need to distract Sakura from Sasuke when she tries to ask him out. He may not like her now, but if she keeps it up she might actually get close to him." Ino said, thinking over how close Sakura had gotten to Sasuke since they'd been on a team. "Hey, why don't you ask Sakura on a – "

"No!" Naruto shouted, eyes widening in fear. He'd already promised Sakura that he wouldn't ask her out. After the pain in his gut from when Ino had wanted to know everything about Sasuke that he knew, he didn't want to find out what would happen if two promises overlapped like Ino was about to do.

Ino was surprised at his reaction. She'd figured that Naruto would be only to willing to ask Sakura out, especially since he had a track record for asking her out. "Okay, geez." Ino muttered. "It was only a suggestion."

'To you.' Naruto thought, not wanting to think about what would have happened if Ino had finished what she'd been about to say.

"Alright then," Ino said, leaning on her elbows. "What do you know about Sasuke-kun's training schedule?"

The rest of the meal was spent with Ino asking for specifics on the times of their missions and training exercises to get between Sasuke and Sakura. She told Naruto that she planned on coming to him for his help on getting some other things, seeing as he had a guys opinion, and she was going to need that soon. Naruto wanted to yell that he wasn't her servant but couldn't say anything, his mouth latched shut once she'd mentioned that it was to help her look good for Sasuke. Instead, he shook in silent rage, his mouth betraying him by agreeing that he'd be there to help. He'd been unable to finish his meal after that, asking the waiter for a box the next time he came around so that the food wouldn't go to waste. Ino hadn't seemed to notice his distress, only looking rather despondent about not being able to talk more.

After paying for the bill and walking Ino home, Naruto began his trek home. He was now under Ino's thumb so long as she told him that what she wanted him to do would help her get Sasuke. Having only been manipulated like that with Mizuki, he found a budding resentment for Ino. He'd just been trying to be nice after she'd helped him find a gift for the Sandaime, and then she'd turned around and made him make a promise that he hadn't made.

Sure, she didn't know that Naruto couldn't break his promises, but the point remained that she had tricked him. In a sense, it was a betrayal. The only real differences between hers and Mizuki's were their gender, what they wanted Naruto to help steal, and Mizuki knew the secret he used to hurt Naruto while Ino was doing so blindly.

Scowling, he shoved his hands into his pockets. The day had been good at certain points; the nice civilians, seeing the loyalty of the employee's at the restaurant, and the food. However, the trick Ino had pulled on him had put a black mark on the day that seemed to blot out most of the good. It was amazing what that one thing could do to his day.

Not only that, but it was Naruto's first date and it had completely sucked. He'd done everything right as far as he knew, and it was still a flop. He knew it wasn't his fault; he'd watched a lot of other people's dates, how girls reacted to what the guys did or said, and made sure not to make the same mistakes. Ino just wasn't the sort of girl he wanted to go out with a second time.

"Wait…" Naruto mulled over that thought. Ino and Sakura had been best friends in the Academy, and were more alike than anyone he knew. Slowly, he thought of how the date might have been if Sakura had been the one in Ino's shoes. After several moments thought, he realized that he couldn't find much of a difference in how the dates would go besides him getting punched when he told the story.

Arriving at his apartment, he quickly unlocked the door and stepped in. Draping his jacket onto the back of one of his chairs, he walked into his bedroom and sat down on the bed. For the first time in his life, Naruto was going to look for deep, thought out reasons why he liked Sakura.

It would be a long, sleepless night for Naruto, that would only bring more questions than answers.

-xxxxx-

If anyone had walked past one of the benches on the far side of the Akimichi Restaurant, they would have come across a very interesting sight. Hyuuga Hinata, clan heiress and one of the newest rookie's of Konohagakure no Sato, had a bright smile on her face. She was known quite well for being introverted and shy, but now looked happier than she ever had before.

She gently ran her fingers through her hair, sighing at the strange new knowledge she had gotten from Naruto and Ino's conversation. While she was grateful that Ino had gotten Naruto's team meeting and mission information, she didn't care about that. She already knew that stuff from previous experiences. No, what she was pleased with was some of the new insight into Naruto that she'd never known.

Naruto liked girls with long hair. He hadn't outright said it, but he implied it both during his story and afterwards. And to think, all of this time Hinata had kept her hair short as her own way of rebelling against the Uchiha fan girls who grew out their hair. It was strange to other Hyuuga's who traditionally grew out their hair, but none of them questioned it.

It was a sacrifice in a way, as Hinata loved having her hair long. At one point, before she'd heard the rumor of Sasuke liking long hair, she'd grown it out slightly so that it reached her shoulders, and had enough length that she could style her hair more than simply letting it lay as it was. After hearing the rumor, she'd only left her bangs long as a reminder of her commitment.

Now though, it was different. It wouldn't matter if people thought she was an Uchiha fan girl, or rejoining her family's traditional ways; she was doing it for herself and Naruto. And maybe, just maybe, that would help get Naruto's attention.

Sighing contently, she went over some of the other information in her head. Due to the spike from earlier, she'd kept a careful eye on Naruto's chakra coils when she wasn't reading his lips. At several moments during their conversation, his chakra glowed brighter from every tenketsu (chakra pressure point). Normally, she couldn't see the points as she had learned to focus her eyes in a different way. However, Naruto was apparently different, as his tenketsu glowed enough to distinguish them without having to focus on them during those moments. Then they'd die out, and she was left wondering what was going on with Naruto.

Chewing lightly on her lip, she slowly formed a plan. She knew nothing about how tenketsu responded to certain stimuli, or even how to see them clearly without them showing themselves like Naruto's had. So all she had to do was learn how to see them as though they were showing themselves. Then, once she found the ability to talk to him, she would confront him and see if he knew. If he didn't, then they'd be able to throw theories around and get closer. If he did know, then she would know something that possibly only he and she would know. It was a perfect plan.

Now all she needed was someone who could teach her to see tenketsu better, and the backbone to talk to Naruto. This was going to take a while.

AN: And that's a wrap! Okay, first things first; this is tonkatsu.

Tonkatsu -Tonkatsu are deep fried pork cutlets. Tonkatsu is usually served with shredded cabbage or on top of cooked rice or with Japanese style curry rice.

Now that that's out of the way, I can continue.

The scene with Naruto and Ino in the restaurant felt a bit rushed, but I'll be honest…this is starting to feel way to shoujo for my tastes. I want action! Which is why next chapter will be jumping into the first test of the Chunin Exams (finally).

The 'long hair' idea doesn't feel mine, but unless someone knows if someone else has done it, I'm calling it. I like it because it seems odd, but it would make perfect sense. Sasuke is never shown caring if someone had long or short hair at any point in time in the manga or anime. And who and why would someone tell Sakura that Sasuke liked girls with long hair if he never said anything about girls anyways? It sounds like something Naruto would do if you ask me.

This chapter also brought in some much needed Hinata time. The reasoning of her following the conversation is two fold. One, the chakra thing. 'Cause it'll be easier to point out when the next part is explained. And two…while I like Hinata with short hair, she looks great with long hair, and deserved to be pointed in the right direction sooner rather than later.

Next chapter; Keep Your Change. Where Naruto's team notices something different about the hyperactive blonde, and the Chunin Exams start!