-Chapter 8 Crime and Punishment-
Yamanaka Ino had been in her fair share of ninja fights since joining the Anbu. Most of them were for missions, yes, but a good number of them had been with ninja's from her own village, mainly female Jounins who believed that Ino was all talk and no action. And if there was one thing that she had taken from any of those fights, it was that even if no one was there to actually see the fight, everyone that either one of the fighters knew would know about it. And considering who her opponent was last night, it didn't surprise her that she was standing in the Hokage's office next to a very rough looking Sakura in front of the Godaime Hokage.
Ino had just sat down at Ichiraku's for breakfast, which she would mentally scold herself for, when she sense the presence of someone other than Naruto behind her. She turned to find herself face to mangled face with Haruno Sakura, and had to try not to laugh. "The Hokage wants to see you."
Ino's face went serious for a while, and although her face may have been damaged, it was obvious that Sakura was happy about her latest announcement. "You told her didn't you?"
Sakura sighed. "If I didn't, she was going to do to my body what you did to my face."
And so here they were, side by side, waiting for the Hokage to acknowledge either one of them. Tsunade looked from one to the other multiple times before she spoke her first words. "Haruno Sakura, I wish to talk with Ino alone for a while, if you don't mind."
"Not at all, Tsunade-sama." There was a hint of glee in that last statement that would have caused Ino to puke if she wasn't a ninja. Sakura turned and said as she took her first step, "Good luck, Ino-pig."
The door closed behind Ino, and she turned her eyes towards those of the Hokage, who kept her iron gaze on Ino. "I will not ask you why you felt the need to turn my apprentice's face into what it is now. Instead I will tell you to do so." She leaned back in her chair, obviously making herself comfortable. "Talk."
Ino restrained herself from sighing. Usually she wouldn't have done so, but she could sense that the Hokage was somewhat angry with her, and it would be best not to extend upon that. "It was a mix of things. I am sure you have heard about our fight during the Chuunin exams."
Tsunade nodded her head. "It ended in a double knockout. I remember hearing that after the fight, you two had seemingly threw aside any and all quarrels you had at that time, the main one being you infatuation with Sasuke, though it would seem that Sakura never really did."
"Yeah well, I deemed him as a lost cause a little bit after that. Anyway, one of the reasons for that fight was because deep down, neither of us could bring ourselves to let that go. We needed to make it official that either she or I was the better fighter."
Tsunade nodded. "But why now? You had 8 years to clear that up and you decided that last night was the best time to do so?"
"Yeah, that is where the other circumstances come in. I had a lot of steam to blow off thanks to her."
"Oh, really? And just what did she do to you?"
"It wasn't what she did to me. It is what she did to my partner."
Tsunade's eyebrows did a microscopic lift at that. "Naruto? I don't suppose this has anything to do with her engagement to Sasuke?"
"Among other things. That was just the final straw." Ino took a deep breath, completely ready to spill whatever she had to say. "You wouldn't have noticed it, but for a good while now, Naruto had been really depressed about something. The whole Sakura thing was just what made it visible to me. It finally came to a head the day of the festival, when Sakura became engaged to Sasuke. I found Naruto sulking on the Hokage monument and was able to get him to brighten up enough to go to the festival. While we were there, we ran into Sakura and Sasuke. She and I started arguing again, and she said something particularly nasty about Naruto while he was standing right next to her. I won't repeat it, so don't ask me to. For a while Naruto seemed devastated, but then he became somewhat happy. It was because He had finally been set free of his infatuation for Sakura." She stopped herself at that for two reasons. One; she was beginning to get a little off subject. Two; if she continued to rant anymore she would give herself and Naruto away, as Tsunade was still completely oblivious towards their prank against Sasuke and Sakura. "I'm sorry, Tsunade-sama, I kinda let my mouth take over for me."
"It's alright, Ino. I'm actually a little glad that you started ranting like that. Means that you really do care for him. Now continue with your explanation."
"Well, last night we all somehow ended up at the Oasis together. Both Naruto and I were still curious as to what she saw in Sasuke, what could possibly motivate her to marry someone who turned his back on our village. So he cast a genjutsu on my body so that it looked like I was awake still, and I used Shintenshin no Jutsu on Sakura. I found, aside from what I had actually went there for, an entire section reserved for Naruto alone. And it was basically all of the times her had done something for her and she refused him, saying that he was annoying her. Even when he saved her life, she never gave him anything resembling thanks. It didn't seem right to me."
"So you publicly embarrassed her, and then secretly humiliated her. All because of things that she did to Naruto. Things that, from what I can tell, he has decided to put behind him" Tsunade closed her eyes.
"Yes, Tsunade-sama. She was one of the things caused him to feel depressed, which in turn caused our mission performance to suffer."
Tsunade looked back up at her. "One of the reasons?"
Ino looked away from her for a second. She suddenly found it impossible to look the Hokage in the eyes, probably out of fear of what she was going to do when she dropped this on her. "I know about it Tsunade-sama. I know what really happened 20 years ago when the Kyuubi attacked."
Ino waited and waited for whatever was to come, but when nothing happened, she turned back to the Hokage, only to find that there was a slight furrowing of her brow, an even slighter clenching of her fists, and a little tensing of her muscles. "Who told you?"
Ino spoke in a low voice, suddenly getting a feeling of déjà-vu. "Naruto told me what happened, but that wasn't how I found out about it."
The Hokage sat back in her chair, and Ino didn't even need to wonder what she was waiting for. "A little while ago, Naruto was telling me about the Chuunin exams that we were in. He told me about the fight that he had with the Kazekage and how even after that, they became friends. Of course, I couldn't believe that, and when I asked him how that was possible, he told me that they were more alike than most people really knew. That was what got me interested. I also noticed that when I asked about certain topics, like how he was able to beat Neji, or how he was able to use Kage Bunshin as much as he did, he would become vague and try to change the subject, or if he wasn't in a good mood, tell me to drop it completely. I started to ask around for info, but no one could tell me anything. Finally reaching the end of my rope, I decided to use Shintenshin no Jutsu on him.
"You would have to see it for yourself to believe it. Not even in the most sick, twisted, demented minds that I have jumped into have I ever seen anything like what I saw in his mind. It was depressing just being in there. Let's not even get started on the memories that I found there. Not a single one was a good one. I thought I was going to go crazy in there."
Tsunade nodded her head once Ino finished speaking. "I see. Yamanaka Ino, listen well. You shouldn't have found out what you did the way that you did. As a ninja of Konoha, I would have expected you to respect your partner's privacy a little better than you did. However, I will let that part slide this time. You were simply looking to help him. And, from what I have heard, you seemed to have taken a somewhat violent reaction towards the way Naruto has been treated, and while I commend you for realizing your own mistake and fault in his treatment, I will ask that you please not go around beating each and every person that has contributed to that."
"Yes, Hokage-sama." Ino almost released a sigh of relief. She was sure that the Hokage wouldn't let her off that easily.
"Nevertheless, even if it was in the defense of his feelings, you still provoked a fight with another Konoha ninja, and as you are well aware fighting amongst allies is strictly forbidden outside the exams. Therefore, I shall suspend you Anbu status for one month. You will still be able to go out on C and B class missions, and I will allow you to do them on your own if you wish."
In the back of her mind, Ino cringed at the Hokage's words. The Hokage was fully aware of how much she truly enjoyed doing assassination missions, so the fact that she was allowing Ino to go out on regular mission was a huge blow to the woman. 'Bad enough I can't just go out and kill everyone in sight. It would have been better if I had been confined to the village' However, when she thought about the commitment she had already made prior to this meeting a small, almost nonexistent smile appeared on her face. 'Then again, this just means that I won't have to excuse myself if an important mission comes up.' She nodded her head to the Hokage.
"OK then, now to personal indulgence. Sakura was terribly vague with her description of last night's events, so if you don't mind, and I'm sure you won't, tell me just what you did to Sakura that caused her to not only completely blow her top, but get permanently evicted from a restaurant that had just opened that very day?"
Ino couldn't have stopped the smile on her face if she wanted to. "Before I left her body I decided to have a little bit of fun, so I took control and made her strip. Almost got her bra off before I decided to let it be."
Tsunade shook her head from side to side. "Remind me to stay off of you Yamanakas' bad sides. Last thing I need is for one of you to find some of the skeletons in my closet. And the fight. From what I can tell, she never even got a decent hit on you."
"Of course. I am way faster than she is, and considering that we were basically only fighting hand to hand, that meant that she wouldn't have hit me unless I wanted her. The fact that she was fighting while she was pissed off didn't hurt either. Though she did decide to inherit a couple of things from her former teammates. Naruto's knack for coming up with on the fly strategies, which on paper look like a 2 year old thought of it, but when executed work to perfection, and Sasuke's Gokakyu no Jutsu."
Tsunade's eyes perked up at that. "She actually tried to use that. No wonder she lost. She probably blew out all of her chakra trying to hit you with that."
"Exactly. She almost caught me off guard the first time she tried it, but once I knew she could do it, the rest was cake."
It was at that time that they heard a knock on the door. "Tsunade-sama." Shizune's voice could be heard from the other side of the door.
"What is it, Shizune?"
Shizune opened the door and walked in. "I apologize for interrupting, but the Jounins are hear and ready for the meeting."
Tsunade nodded and stood. "Thank you for coming, Ino. Your story has been truly enlightening."
"You are welcome, Tsunade-sama. Ja ne" And with that Ino teleported out of the office.
-Konoha Training Ground-
Naruto remembered his fight with Gaara back during the Chuunin exams, and the thing that stood out the most to him about that fight at this very moment was the simple fact that Gaara didn't even have anything against Naruto at that time. He was just looking for someone strong to fight and kill. At first, Naruto was kinda put off that Gaara had only seen him as a strong Konoha nin and not Uzumaki Naruto. But after the thrashing that he had received during their "training" session this afternoon, Naruto was supremely glad that Gaara didn't have any personal animosity towards him back then, because when Gaara was actually mad at you for something you did, mercy was completely thrown out of the window. Because This Gaara wasn't looking to kill, No, he was looking to torture.
Before he had met up with Naruto that day, Gaara had come to Konoha to see how his restaurant's first day went. When the manager told him about what had happened, Gaara immediately smelled a rat, one that smelled like ramen. He set out to find the blonde haired ninja, and wasted little time getting right down to business. "My manager has told me some rather interesting things about the Oasis' Grand Opening. Would you care to explain?"
Gaara sat quietly while Naruto explain the details of his and Ino's latest prank of Sakura, and before Naruto was even fully done, Gaara had captured him in his Sabaku Kyuu, once again faster that the eye could see. "Listen, I don't really care whether or not you play sick pranks on the entire population of Konoha, Suna, Iwa, Oto, Mizu, or any other hidden village. Just do it on your own time. My manager is actually threatening to up and leave this village because of you and your girlfriend's actions. I was just barely able to calm her down enough to stay and I promised her that the one responsible for this would come to her by the end of the day with an apology. And guess who that somebody is going to be?"
Naruto just had to push another button, just to see just how serious Gaara really was. "Ino? I mean, she was the one that performed the jutsu."
Gaara was clearly not amused. "You think that I am kidding about this? Fine, then let me show you just how angry I am." He dispelled his sands, though he left enough up to wrap around Naruto's crotch area. "Tell me Naruto, which one do you want to keep? Your left one or your right?" He made a slight flick of his hand, and the pressure began to build up where the sands were.
Naruto, of course, recognized a dangerous situation when he saw one and quickly aimed to please. "Oh God, no Garra! Please, anything but that. At least wait until I lose my virginity." Naruto immediately covered his mouth, but he had already supplied Gaara with more than enough ammunition. He had to face the truth. Gaara now owned him.
"Is that so Naruto? Maybe I should leave the onigiri (rice ball, not to be confused with Zoro's Oni Giri [demon slash from One Piece) alone and go straight for the sausage."
"Noooooooo! Please, I'll do anything, Gaara. Anything!"
"Glad to hear it. Then the first chance that you get, you will walk into the Oasis, ask for the manager, and apologize to her for your actions. I have already told her to expect someone to come, so all you should have to do is ask someone that works there where she is."
Naruto heaved the biggest sigh of relief ever. "Thanks, Gaara. For a moment there I was actually getting worried……." His voice trailed off when he saw the look on Gaara's face. At first, he thought it was that same cocky smile that Gaara usually had. Then Naruto noticed that both corners of his mouth were raised. "Uh, Gaara? What are you smiling at?"
"You didn't really think that the apology was going to make up for everything, did you? Now, we are going to get started with the training session. We will be doing the exact same thing we have been doing, the endurance exercise. Only this time, instead of dodging, you will have to stand there and take my attacks as they come."
"WHAAAAAAAAT? You can't be serious."
Gaara sighed. "You're right, I'm not. I suppose I can always tell one of your friends your little secret. And I think I know just the one. Oh, what was his name again? I… Inuz…."
Naruto started jumping around like a monkey on speed. "No! Ok, whatever you want. I'll do it, just please don't tell Kiba. Please!" Naruto knew that Kiba had already had his first share of action, recently finding out that Kiba and Tenten had been dating since a little bit after Naruto returned with Sasuke. At first, he thought it was nothing serious, and that the two of them would probably break it off long before anything really intimate happened. So you can imagine Naruto's surprise when Kiba came to him a few weeks ago and told him about his first delve into human biology 101. Naruto, of course, just had to come up with a suitable lie so that Kiba wouldn't kid him about getting some first, and came up with a rather believable tale about how he had to do one of his target's handmaidens in order to keep her silent about his assassination. If Kiba found out that Naruto had not only lied, but was still a virgin, Naruto would probably have to isolate himself once again just to escape the endless amounts of taunts that would inevitably come his way.
Gaara looked back up at Naruto and smiled. "Very well. Then let's begin."
By the end of the training session Naruto was sprawled out on the ground, every single muscle of his body sore to the bone. Never in his entire life had Naruto ever been as beaten down as he was today. And the worse part about it was that he fully deserved each and every minute of it. "Oh man, that sucked."
Gaara brushed his shoulder off rather nonchalantly. "What are you talking about? That is probably the most fun I have ever had."He walked over to Naruto and stood directly over his head. "In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I decided that we are going to do this once a day, every day for a month."
Naruto's eyes, which were already slightly bulging at Gaara's admission that he thought today's activities were fun, looked like they were about pop right out of their sockets. "You can't be serious. Besides I can't do it every day. I already volunteered to pull security for the upcoming Chuunin exams, so I won't be able to make the trip from Konoha to Suna."
Even as the words left his mouth, Naruto noticed the small smile that formed on the Kazekage's face. "Oh, I suppose I didn't tell you. I am going to be staying in Konoha for the Chuunin exams. I decided that the best way to connect with the people of an allied village was directly, to make myself visible to them. And since most every village will be present in some way, shape, or form, this would be the best time to try this out."
Naruto looked up at Gaara in absolute fear. Not because Gaara had actually thought up an excuse to stay in Konoha for the month that he promised, but because his reason actually made sense to him. "You know that mixed business with pleasure always leads to disaster."
"Yes, but I am sure that disaster will only strike for one blonde hair, blue eyed, loud mouthed ninja. And I suppose we can start out early so that we don't interfere with your schedule." Gaara then let loose the most wicked smile that Naruto had ever seen him use."I'll see ya bright an early tomorrow morning, Uzumaki Naruto." And with that, Gaara sand teleported away,
Naruto rested his head on the ground and closed his eyes. "I hope Choji got back. I need to see if I can get a couple hundred food pills off of him."
"What could you possibly need a couple hundred food pills for?" Naruto opened his eyes back up, and found that he was face to face with Yamanaka Inoria.
"Oh, hey there, Inoria. Don't worry about it. You probably wouldn't believe me."
"Does this have anything to do with the Kazekage?" Inoria laughed at the face Naruto made when she mentioned Gaara. "Ino-onee-san told me about your little adventure to Suna, and the fact that your clothes are all covered in sand makes it pretty obvious which ninja just ran all over you."
Naruto giggled slightly. "Well, when you put it that way…… Hey, what you doing all the way out here anyway?"
Inoria stood back up. "I need some advice for the Chuunin exams. Shika-baka and Ino-onee-san have already given me all of the technical and strategic advice that I need, but from what I hear, you were one of the only ninjas everyone remembered being the center of attention from start to finish. So I just want you to give me a few tips on what to do so that I can do the same."
In the back of his mind, Naruto just had to be proud of himself. 'Finally, my exploits have been appreciated by someone.' "Ok I guess I can give you a few pointers. Take a seat."
Inoria leaned her back against a tree trunk and sat down, waiting on Naruto's instruction.
"Ok then, the first, and most importantly; the first impression is most important. When I first entered the examination room, I yelled out at the top of my lungs that I was gonna kick each and every ninja's ass. And I meant each and every word of it. Not only do you have to make a big impression on every one there, but you have to mean whatever you say. Don't just walk up to someone, tell them you are going to beat them, and not have the will to back up your words. That only get's you remembered as the biggest chump of the exam." He wasn't sure as he was still laid out on the ground, but he could have sworn that he saw Inoria with a pad and pencil in her hand.
"Secondly, question authority. If there is something, no matter how small, that you think should be changed, raise your hand. Or better yet, raise your voice. Then they have no choice but to pay attention to you. Now, I'm not telling you to go crazy with it. After all, too much and you could possibly get kicked straight out of the exams." He quieted down just enough to hear the faint sounds of lead scribbling onto paper. 'So she does have one.' "Have you been hanging around Lee?"
"So you noticed?" Inoria smiled slightly and finished the rest of her current line of notes. "Ok, make a good first impression and question authority. Anything else?"
"Yeah, one more thing. Be as loud, annoying, and rebellious as you want, but make sure you kick major ass when you do. If you are loud and annoying all the time, then people won't expect too much from you. However, once you win a match that statistically you have no chance of winning, then you have completely caught the attention of everyone present. Look at me. I was the class dropout, bottom of the barrel. Some say I was lucky to have even made it as far as the prelims. And not only did I beat Kiba in the prelims, but I even went on to beat Neji in the main matches."
"Wow, that's so cool. Though considering that I am already the number one rookie of my class, then there won't be too many other ninjas above me." Inoria looked away from Naruto, seemingly lost in thought.
"That's more power to you. Means that you will already have eyes on you. And if they see Konoha's number one rookie acting like that and kick major ass, then that will only put more eyes on you. It's a win-win for you."
Inoria's face lit up like a Christmas tree. "Hot damn, you're right." She ran over to where Naruto was lying and gave him as good a hug as she could give him. "Thanks, Naruto-nii-san. I'll go ahead and start practicing for the exams right now." She stood back up and darted off towards the village.
Once again, Naruto was left alone in the woods, waiting until he could regain enough movement in his limbs to make his way back to his apartment.
It was about an hour later, when he was finally back on his feet and steadily walking out of the woods, that he noticed Ino walking through the woods s well. She must have noticed him as well, because she had already changed her direction and was walking straight for him. Almost as soon as they were within talking distance, they both said at the same time, "You'll never believe what happened to me today."
They both then proceeded to tell each other about their respective days.
-5:45am Naruto's apartment-
Naruto slept like a rock. A rock that could snore like there was no tomorrow. His body had been trained to be able to wake up at a certain time of day, so even if the apartment started coming down on top of him, the most he would probably do was change his sleeping position. So it should come as no surprise that he slept well through his body floating out of the window of his apartment.
He began to take notice of how cold it was starting to get and tried to pull the covers over him a little tighter, only to find that there were no covers. He immediately went on the alert, jumped up, a kunai in both hands, and looked around. He was shocked, to say the least, when he saw that he was looking at Konoha from outside his apartment. Better yet, from above his apartment. "What the hell is this? And what the hell am I standing on?"
He would receive an answer to both of his questions, though he would soon wish that he had never asked. "Uzumaki Naruto," Naruto's spine froze at the sound of the voice, and it all became clear. Getting a better feel of the substance that he was currently standing on, he realized that he was standing on…… "Sand." He turned around once again to face his executioner, playing the role of training partner. "It's time for my training."
-End-
Ok Chapter 8 done.
Next chapter; the start of the Chuunin exams. Can't wait to see how that goes
As always, R&R&have a nice day.
