Title: Fighting All Odds

By: Kaara

Disclaimer: I don't own them. Don't think I'll ever own them.

Summary so far: Increased training had set Naruto and his team mates apart, though he obviously didn't care about that. Ino, meanwhile, found the Yamanaka Scroll and decided to learn some new jutsus, perfecting her Shintenshin as well.

Say, I'm very happy to know that you're still reading this. Arigato for your tremendous support and reviews. I received a review from an unknown person that stated that I've been asking too much for reviews. Yeah, well, it is my fault and I promise I won't pester you guys for reviews anymore. It's just that when I read those nice and encouraging things that you wrote, I felt... contented. And very, very, very happy.

...

Okay, enough with all this! On with the fic!

Notes:

"speech"

Kyuubi's speech

-!-

Chapter Seven: A New Face

It had been two weeks since Naruto and Ino started training together. The weights, that started off as one metal plate of twenty pound were gradually replaced with heavier ones as they slowly, but surely became accustomed to the excessive load. These metal weights were by then strapped not only to their backs, but also to their wrists and legs as the needs to strengthen those parts of their bodies arose. Naruto, being the one with more stamina, had advanced several plates ahead of the kunoichi, much to her outspoken annoyance whenever the genin beat her in one of their sparring matches. But Ino knew that her strong point lay not with her physical strength, but with her control over both chakra and mind. And that was why she concentrated hard on the Yamanaka Scroll.

The Yamanaka Scroll, as Shikamaru would've put it, was awfully tiresome as it consisted of many long paragraphs that could take ages to finish reading. But, instead of watching clouds all day, like the pony-tailed lad would've done, Ino spent her free times poring over the scroll, making small notes and practicing hand seals at intervals. That surprised most of the people around her, especially her Academy friends as the blonde kunoichi appeared to prefer bending over some old, worn scroll than strolling in the park with them. Ino took no heed of what they were probably thinking about her as she faithfully devoted herself to understand the true power of Shintenshin, which was a very complicated yet interesting subject to further experiment upon.

Ino was, as those who have known her, simple minded.

Therefore, she followed her single-tracked mind with passion and determination.

Her goal was to pass the Chuunin Exam through her own hands and effort.

And of course, kick Sakura's butt and impress dear Sasuke-kun at the same time.

Naruto wiped away the dirt that smeared his sweaty forehead, panting heavily as he flopped onto the ground. The blonde immediately regretted that particular action as the metal plates dug uncomfortably into his back, forcing him to roll onto a side. He winced and stared bleary-eyed at Ino, who was still resolutely trying to perfect a new jutsu that she had discovered within the Yamanaka Scroll. After blinking a couple of times, Naruto forced himself up, propping a hand for support at a nearby tree. He swayed, dangerously close to collapsing again and grudgingly admitted that running twenty laps around the clearings with a new set of weights was not a very good idea. The genin made his way wearily towards the frowning kunoichi.

"What's wrong?" Naruto asked, looking at the frustrated look on Ino's face as her eyes continued to skim through the scroll before her. "You look like you're going to kill someone."

Ino shook her head and the frown darkened. "That will certainly be a good way to vent out my anger but as you're the only one here and I don't wanna lose a sparring partner, so there's nothing wrong."

Raising an eyebrow, Naruto craned his neck and looked over her shoulder at the scroll. All he saw was yet another long paragraph. "Want my help with anything?"

"Not really," Ino sighed and smiled at the genin. She placed her index finger at the top of the said paragraph. "This is a jutsu that I wanted to learn. The Hoshi Heki (Star Barrier). I can understand the theory, it's just the practical stuff that I failed to do."

"What's this Hoshi Heki thingy, anyway?"

The kunoichi grinned and began explaining with enthusiasm, as if she was eager to show off the incredible jutsu of her family line. "It's a jutsu that can be used as a defence and offence at the same time, though it's more towards a defensive move. See this, the five points of the star painted underneath the paragraph? Well, that's what the outcome of this jutsu supposed to be. It can create some sort of an invisible shield by concentrating a small amount of chakra to any five points on the ground, which will develop and defend the user from external assault. The smaller the area is, the stronger the shield will be. And it also depends on the amount of chakra used."

Naruto nodded slightly, digesting the bits of information that Ino had explained. "You said that the jutsu can be defensive and offensive. What's the offensive part?"

"Because the shield can't last longer than five minutes, the jutsu will eventually have to be released," Ino continued in a supposedly wise tone that made the genin snicker loudly. "Then, it will be a waste of chakra and energy. But, this shield can be forced to dissipate as a kind of wind wall, where the user released the chakra that binds this shield to the five points and literally pushed it towards the enemy using the freed chakra."

One blonde eyebrow raised in appreciation. "That sounds cool. So, what's your problem?"

"I'm used to concentrating in using the Shintenshin, so I had no problem in that area. But this jutsu is harder to control as I have to make sure that the chakra is evenly distributed to the five points. If not, the shield that resulted from the unbalanced chakra will be weaker and chakra- consuming as well. Don't get me started about the releasing part," Ino replied in an exasperated tone, shaking her head.

"It never did you good if you give up before you even try it," Naruto stated calmly. "If you keep telling yourself you can't do something, you'll never move forward. I know you can do this, so you better do. I ain't wasting my time with some cowardy chicken-head."

Despite the name-calling, Ino smiled at the blonde genin, rolled the scroll and tucked it safely inside her backpack. "Yeah, I'll try it after this. But now, I'm starving! Let's get something to eat first."

"Ichiraku!" Naruto immediately cheered out the name of his favourite ramen stand.

The kunoichi glared in evident displease at him. "Not ramen again. I've had enough of that thing to last a whole eternity."

"Please. Pretty please...," large dewy eyes stared up at Ino as Naruto pouted in his cutest foxy way, forcing the kunoichi to take one step back and grimaced at the effect of the invincible Puppy Eyes no Jutsu, that was taught to the blonde genin by none other than the most powerful wielder of it; Moegi of the Konohamaru Corps.

As of the instant result of the jutsu, Ino subsequently surrendered, muttering under her breath about forbidden techniques and a certain cursed blonde running amok with unusual ramen addiction along their way to the infamous ramen stand. Naruto was already ahead, humming happily to himself a self-taught song that worshipped the creator of ramen and the owner of Ichiraku, inserting himself as a lonely hero in search of the true flavour of ramen somewhere between the lines. Clearly annoyed by the sound that emitted continuously from that fox boy, the kunoichi sped up and smacked her own set of weight against Naruto's head and ran swiftly away, laughing. Naruto, who was still worn out from the laps reacted with several well- chosen curses and shuriken.

-!-

"Are you ready?"

Ino nodded, focusing her undivided attention in completing the hand seal for the Hoshi Heki as Naruto stood twenty metres away, silently watching the kunoichi's slender fingers moved to and fro with resolute determination and confidence. After the short break at Ichiraku, Naruto and Ino had gone straight back to the clearing, as the kunoichi finally deciding that she didn't give a damn about failing anymore and decided to strive headlong into the unknown future, even with an annoying dead-last besides her. Naruto had taken that one as a downright insult and they spent another hour sparring against each other, to which Naruto was announced the undisputed winner. He slipped out four newly-sharpened kunai from the pouch strapped to his leg and waited for Ino's signal.

Finishing the last of the hand seal, Ino shouted, "Ninpou: Hoshi Heki no Jutsu!"

It was as if nothing had happened; she had both her palms slammed flat onto the ground; beads of perspiration started rolling down her face as she struggled to hold on to whatever unseen shield that she had formed to make it last longer. Out of the corner of his eyes, Naruto could make out a flicker of something poking out from the ground, like sprouting seeds breaking through the surface. Shrugging off his doubt and curiosity, Naruto wasted no time and flicked the kunai towards Ino, afraid that the longer he lagged behind; the kunoichi would eventually wear her chakra off. To his surprise, the first kunai was deflected a few inches away from Ino, and dropped soundlessly onto the ground. Though the other three zoomed their way straight towards the blonde kunoichi.

Ino jumped aside just in time to dodge the speeding kunai, one of them succeeded in grazing her left cheek and crimson liquid leaked lazily from the small cut. Wiping the blood hastily away in pure excitement, the kunoichi bounded towards Naruto and beamed at him, a radiant smile painted onto her shining face. "Did you see that? Did you see that? The jutsu worked!"

"Yeah," the blonde genin grinned, amused at the display of childish antic in front of him. He smothered down a fit of laughter just so Ino wouldn't feel offended. "But I couldn't see the shield just now, so you have to tell me what happened."

"I did explain to you before that the shield is supposed to be invisible," she began, "When I felt the chakra flowing through my palms and into the ground, it was the weirdest chill that had ever run inside my veins. I managed to pinpoint the exact five points but maybe I distributed the chakra not evenly enough so it couldn't stay up for long. What d'you think?"

Naruto cocked his head to one side and gave the kunoichi a lopsided grin. "Well, it certainly looked like you've got the right thing going. I guess you needed a lot of practice to perfect that one, and don't forget bout your hand-on-hand combat skill. You're way behind me on that."

Ino stuck out her tongue in a severely matured way and huffed loudly. "Arrogant urchin-head. Just wait until I learn all those jutsus; you can never beat me again."

"Until that time comes, which I doubt will be soon, you better make sure you're up to the challenge, loudmouthed chicken-head," teased Naruto, laughing at the annoyed look on Ino's face as she pouted at him. He shook his head and smiled. "Wanna have another round of this shield jutsu of yours?"

"Sure thing!"

The blonde genin lazily took out another bunch of kunai and stared thoughtfully at them, before grinning at Ino. "You're lucky you had me for sparring partner, you know. If I'm Kakashi-sensei instead, you're probably going to be pelted with all sort of heavy stuff, maybe even that boulder over there. He's such a sadistic bastard sometimes."

The only answer he got for that was a wave of resounding chuckle.

-!-

It was late in the evening that they bid goodbye to each other. Ino sauntered towards her house with a very satisfied expression on her tired face, as the barrier of her Hoshi Heki improved a tad more each time she performed the jutsu. It stayed up for a mere two seconds for the first time and by the end of the day, the kunoichi had managed to hold it up for a whole fifteen seconds; a slow improvement but an improvement nonetheless as she had grasped the basis needed to learn these Yamanaka jutsus. It was a useful exercise because it helped the blonde kunoichi to slowly increase her chakra control and also the supply of it, due to the continuous strain in the practice of this said jutsu shield. Ino hadn't known that of course, but she didn't care.

Finally, she was doing something appropriate for training.

Naruto watched the retreating figure with a mix of fatigue and amusement. Fatigue as he was thoroughly spent from all those matches and movement; amusement as he recalled each and every one of Ino's thrilled outburst every time the shield lasted longer. One look at the blonde kunoichi and people wouldn't have thought that she could be so... impulsive. Naruto was used to think of Ino as this bossy, ignorant big sister kinda girl but once he started spending some time with her, he found out many uncanny things about the kunoichi. Uncanny, as they were not usual at all. Collecting the used kunai and shuriken from their last match, Naruto looked up at the darkening sky, where early stars were winking down at him.

That was when he felt the presence of another person in the clearing.

Casually reaching down for a kunai, Naruto said, in a cool tone, "I know you're there. Show yourself."

A rustle of leaves followed that statement. The blonde genin turned to face the direction where that cackling sound came from, expecting a foe or someone equally threatening. What he didn't expect was for a timid, pale purple-eyed kunoichi to step forward, her two index fingers twiddled nervously around each other. "It's... it's just me, Naruto-kun."

"Hinata-chan?" he looked in pleasant surprise at the girl, who instantly blushed when he had mentioned her name. Naruto slipped back the kunai into his pouch and placed both hands behind his head, laughing. "I thought you were an enemy or something. Good thing I didn't attack you."

"Gomen if, uh... I disturb, um, you," the Hyuuga ex-heiress stammered out, the shade of red that coloured her cheeks turned darker. Her bowed head looked up for a brief second, flushed even redder and the pupil-less eyes blinked. "I was, uhm... practicing, uh, when I... I heard you, um, talking to... Ino-san."

The blonde genin smiled and headed towards the kunoichi, whose eyes widened and immediately snapped down, looking at her pair of shuffling feet. Naruto stopped in front of Hinata, measured her up and said, "It's been quite a while since I saw you."

"Ha... hai. I did, uh, see you with, um... Ino-san," she clamped her mouth quickly, afraid that Naruto would thought that she had spied on him and Ino. Truth to be told, she had spied on them, only not so conspicuously obvious before. She had used the Byakugan back then, staring through brick walls and apartments towards the figures sparring in the clearing. It was only that day that Hinata had managed to pick up the courage to go closer, and that earned her a private conversation with Naruto. Thinking about that brought fresh magenta patches invading her already-flushed cheeks. "Um, gomen ne, Naruto-kun?"

"No need to be sorry," a sudden idea crossed his mind and being a straight forward person, Naruto carefully asked the blushing Hinata. "Have you been watching us earlier, when Ino did her jutsu?"

The Hyuuga blinked again and nodded in embarrassment. "Hai."

"Were you using those weird eyes of yours?"

Hinata winced, but nodded nonetheless. She was looking through the tree where she hid herself anyway. "Is... is there, um, something wrong, Naruto- kun?"

"No," Naruto scratched the back of his head and grinned sheepishly at the girl. "I was just wondering if you can give your opinion on her chakra control level."

Hinata's head shot upward like a startled doe, the already-wide eyes if possible had grown wider. "Oh no! I can't possibly... I'm not that good. Dear Leaf, I can't, uh, judge Ino-san... like that!"

"But I know you can," the blonde genin insisted softly. "You might even see that Hoshi Heki shield. Please, Hinata-chan. Do this for me, please?"

"I... I can't," her weak attempt of a denial was cut short by a firm hand placing itself on her shoulder. Mauve orbs met sky-blue ones, and the kunoichi surrendered to her heart weakly. She nodded ever so lightly and stared up at Naruto with a small smile adorning her feature. "Okay, but I... can't, um, promise you that... that I'm entirely right."

Naruto smiled brightly. "That's good enough for me. So, how was it?"

"Well, Ino-san did have, uh, a fine control over... a fine control over her, um, her chakra and that... shield can be, um, stronger," she hesitated, before continuing, "But there's a, uh, mistake... yes, mistake that occurred at, um, times."

"Mistake?" the genin arched an eyebrow, curiosity gnawing him from the inside. "Like what, Hinata-chan?"

"She concentrated too... much on, um, fine-tuning her... her chakra to the five... five points that the jutsu, uh, the jutsu itself cannot develop to... its peak. The shield wavered... um, and disappeared without fully, uh, fully maturing. That's... all that I... I know, Naruto-kun."

Nodding his head thoughtfully, Naruto noted mentally everything that Hinata had told him, so that he could provide Ino with the information. The blonde genin removed his hand from Hinata's shoulder (much to her disappointment, as she had begun to like the warm feeling) and grinned foxily at the girl. "See, it's not that bad. I honestly think that you're a really good genin, Hinata-chan."

"Arigato, Naruto-kun," the said Hyuuga blushed deep red and began twiddling her fingers again. She cast the darkening sky a worried glance and hastily bowed at Naruto. "I have to, um, go. It is inappropriate for me... for a Hyuuga to walk, uh, around during nightfall."

Naruto scoffed. "Who give a damn about that anyway?"

"We do," Hinata smiled gently and before the genin could say a thing, she had already disappeared from sight, leaving Naruto alone in the clearing with an incredulous expression etched onto his face.

"No wonder you're ALL a bunch of weirdos."

-!-

Naruto had wanted to just go home, get a warm bath, eat some instant ramen and go to bed. His every limb was demanding the same thing, extremely exhausted from that day's events. He walked past a group of old ladies, who automatically scrunched up their withered faces into a look of pure resentment as their beady little eyes narrowed when he stuck out his tongue at them. The old ladies could be seen whispering savagely to one another, casting sickly glances at Naruto at intervals. Completely ignoring the unwanted attention, the blonde genin silently made his way towards the comfort of his small apartment, murmuring out his promise to the demon within as to calm himself. He arrived there, only to be greeted by the sight of a tired-looking Iruka.

"Yo, sensei," the genin cheerfully hailed the Chuunin sensei. "What're you doing here?"

The brown-haired man smiled and ruffled Naruto's spiky locks. "Just checking on you. Where were you, Naruto?"

"Training. Do you wanna come in, Iruka-sensei?"

"No, I had some more papers to grade before tomorrow," the hollow reply was followed with a sigh. "Look, I'm sorry if I didn't spend much time with you nowadays, Naruto. I'm quite busy now and I know you're preparing for the Chuunin exam. Do your best, ne?"

Unlocking the door, Naruto turned to face his all-time favourite sensei and grinned widely. "You don't have to worry about me, Iruka-sensei! I'll be a Chuunin in no time and you're gonna treat me to ramen after that. Deal?"

"Deal," Iruka smiled in ease at his ex-student. "I have to go now. Be careful and don't overdo yourself."

The Chuunin sensei ruffled Naruto's hair for the last time before slowly walked down the corridor, the darkness outside swallowed his body until what was left was only Naruto, standing at his doorstep. The blonde genin gave his head a shake and sauntered inside; securing the door with the heavy bolts set for that very purpose. It was a very tiring, yet satisfactory day for Naruto. He took quite some time to take off the weights, dumping them into a bucket and shoved it under his bed for safekeeping. Naruto flexed his worn-out muscles, hearing the joints crackled as he moved about, preparing his dinner. Placing the kettle of water on top of the lit stove, the genin made his way towards the bathroom, yearning for warm water to wash over his weariness.

Before long, he found himself back inside his dreamscape.

And Kyuubi was waiting faithfully for him.

Child, it seems that you have an admirer.

Naruto snorted at the tease, wrapping his arms around the fox's neck. "Yeah, whatever."

The youkai laughed. You did not care for that? Is not admiration what you dream of?

"I've got through that stage of my life," the blonde snapped. "All I want now is to become stronger."

Well said, child. That human female had proved herself to be more worthy than she looks like, now it is your turn to train further under my instruction.

A groan from Naruto invited another sharp gale of laughter from the fox. "Training again? But I'm tired."

Your body is tired, yes, but your mind is relatively fresh. Do not chide me for such thing, for I will teach you how to manipulate your chakra like none other mortal can ever do. Consider it a gift that I'm teaching this to you.

"And I'm supposed to feel extreme gratitude because of this?"

The Kyuubi delicately stood up onto his four legs, with Naruto lying on his back. Golden eyes narrowed to slits in evident delight. That is the general idea, child. Now, only use what you learn here in dangerous situations. Do not show it off for the other mortals are bound to be suspicious. Understand?

"Whatever you say, Kyuubi-chan."

Indeed, you are correct. Follow my words, and I will give you the world.

Burying his face to the crook of the youkai's neck, Naruto said something that made the fox laughed again, the echoes of mirth resounding around them as they disappeared in a compliment of a golden and brown blur, sifting through memories after memories in search for a perfect mind training ground for the practice. These memories were sometimes clear, though sometimes too clouded with emotions that they were forced to move to another part. The words that the blonde said hung heavily in the air, as Kyuubi devoured what was left as a fragment of anger and chagrin that had kept him company and well fed throughout the years he had been kept locked inside Naruto. The words itself revealed nothing but deep hatred and malice.

"No, thanks. I'll just have Konohagakure."

TBC

A/N:

-wipes her forehead- Whew! Glad that's finished. Yep, I definitely make Kyuubi and Naruto's relationship sounds like a father-and-son relationship or something. Dunno if it appropriate though but I do like to think that Kyuubi had gotten in term with Naruto. And that fox's going to teach Naruto something very useful for future fight, count on it.

The Hoshi Heki no Jutsu is a typically one of the many original jutsus that will eventually unfold themselves as the story goes along. I created this one specifically for Ino, as I have a fighting scene planned already for the future. Yes, she does not control this jutsu well for the time being but she will get better. Definitely better.

Hinata's first appearance in my story! -squeals- She's actually very funny, though very hard to write coz she stammer a lot. There's a challenge for me, that is. I do hope I didn't make her OOC, I really like her.

Just for your information, I'm not particularly fond of Sakura. And Sasuke too. So these two will play important but small role in this story such as unconsciously helping our hero to become stronger or just being there as the team. Now, now, don't kill me for this. If you have any suggestion on how to further use these characters, leave me a review, ne?

Arigato for the lovely, lovely reviews!! You guys are amazing!

Cevgar: Wow, that was long! -blinks- No, I'm not going to make dear Naru into another Itachi, though I really like that Uchiha guy. In the first chapter, I think I did mention that it was after Sakura had ticked Naru off, so literally, he was quite angry and depressed. Poor Shika... I'll think about the whole Ino-dying-for-Naru thingy but honestly, the story just kinda write itself, ya know. She is strong-willed, independent and all that stuff and I like her for that. I'll try to emphasize more on her personality development too. Arigato!

Licht Sieger: Yes, I do hope that you have managed to understand the reason behind Naruto's odd angsty attitude. Sorry bout your story but I promise I'll read them once I have time to. I'm kinda busy nowadays. -grins-

TheGreatAnimeFan: Why, thank you for your review! This cookies goes to you!

Stizzo: -gasps- WHAT?! You don't like cookies?! But... but EVERYBODY love cookies! I mean... cookies are good. -horror struck expression-

ErikKoekKoek: -giggles- What a funny name you have... And thanks for reviewing! Well, it's not really I've 'envisioned' the story; it's more towards the story envisioning itself. So, -embarrassed grin- I'm here just for typing it down. Uh, slave of the words...

A Reviewer: Thanks for reviewing but I didn't fairly use kunai and shuriken because I'm a fangirl. Okay, I am a fangirl, literally, but I'm honestly into this anime (Naruto) because the anime itself is superb. Besides, kunai and shuriken are the easiest weapons to wield for a ninja so I'm sticking to it for now. I don't like a certain anime just because I like some cool guys in there, but I consider its plotlines as well. I'm truly sorry about the 'Review kudasai' thingy but I really love reviews. More than I love cookies or potato chips. I'd love to update the story as fast as I can but you see, I'm still a student, so my time goes for studying first. So this is all that I can offer. Gomen ne! I really appreciate your review, though. It's a really eye-opener.

Okay, those who read but don't review, it's okay. I just hope that you enjoy the story as well. So this is goodbye for now. I'm looking forward for next time.

Until then; Read, Enjoy and Review, minna!

Kaara