Yellow Roses were the most disgusting and loathsome flower they kept in stock. They meant jealousy, infidelity, a broken heart, extreme betrayal, sure they also meant friendship, apology, and undying love. But those were minor things.

Ino growled and ran a hand through her hair, or at least she tried to as it was now barely long enough to make a pony-tail. She just had to cut it to prove to Billboard brow that she was a ninja too. She glared at the thorny flower as she slowly trimmed it from its bush. "Just a few more and I get to go cheer Naruto on at the stadium."

It had been over a month since she had seen the bonehead, he kept drifting in and out of her life at random. She missed seeing his dopey smile every day as they came in for work. If only she could go back in time and properly enjoy those days.

And prevent herself from literally giving Naruto away on a silver platter, and to Forehead of all people. What on earth had she even been thinking? Probably something about Sasuke. Not that she wouldn't say no to a date with the boy, but if Naruto asked to hang out the same time that Sasuke asked her out.

Naruto would win hands down.

Just like today, Naruto was going to meet Sasuke in the finals. And she was going to cheer for Naruto as loud as she could. She should sit next to Sakura to rub it in her face and to make it apparent to Naruto that while Sakura wasn't willing to cheer him on against Sasuke, she would.

The bell rang, and Ino spun on her heel.

"Welcome to Yamanaka Flower Sh-" She realized who it was, it was Sakura with her hair cut short like it made her a better ninja or something.

"Oh, it's you." Ino turned back her work as she plucked another thorn off the rose. "What do you want?"

Sakura had the audacity to take a step forward like they were old friends or something. "Well, it's just that the Chunin exams are going to start soon, and I was hoping you'd like to sit next to me."

Ino discovered that she could glare and smile at the same time. "Now why would I do that?"

"So we could cheer Sasuke and Naruto on." Sakura held her ground against Ino's glare. It sucked that the shy little bud she had found and nurtured all those years ago had turned into such a rotten thorny flower.

Ino examined her flower for a moment before she placed it in a small vase. "Give me a second."

Moments later Ino emerged from the flower shop, and walked past Sakura, forcing the girl to play catch up.

"So," Ino said without even looking towards Sakura. Just seeing her was enough to make her stomach turn and bile creep up into her throat. "Have you heard from either of them?"

She spared a glance towards Sakura, it was almost enough to make her want to hug the girl. Sakura looked torn, with a single hand over her heart, her eyes watching the ground in front of her. "I haven't, Sasuke went off to train with Kakashi-sensei and Naruto… well you know how he is, he gets so excited about training that he forgets to eat."

Sounded like a halfway decent diet.

"So you haven't heard from either of them all month?" That didn't sound like… well, it sounded like Sasuke but Naruto not so much.

Sakura shrugged. "I went out for ramen once with Naruto, said he was being trained out to summon frogs by a pervert."

"Yea but Naruto calls everybody a pervert even if he is a little perv himself." At Least his sexual orientation wasn't in question.

"What about you? How's Shikamaru doing for the chunin exams? And should we cheer for him too?" Sakura asked once again holding her head up high. The stadium was in view now and a crowd was filtering in.

Ino snorted. "If I cheered for Shikamaru he'd be laying on his back thinking 'Troublesome woman' or something like that while he slowly maneuvered the sand chick to where he wanted her."

"But what if he fights Sasuke or Naruto down the line."

"He'd give up."

"He'd give up?"

"Yea, he told Asuma he's only going to do the first fight and then after that, he was going to forfeit and go eat BBQ with Choji." Ino smiled at the memory, she felt like she should be on Asuma's side when it came to motivating Shikamaru, but on the other hand getting him to agree to do that was a feat in itself. "Besides Shikamaru's the kind of guy that it doesn't matter if you're cheering for him or not, he's going to do what he thinks he needs to, glory and stuff like that just isn't important to him."

"Wow," Sakura said with a soft smile, a pink brow raised suggestively into her massive forehead. "It sounds like you know a lot about Shikamaru."

She knew more about Naruto. "Yea, well he's my teammate and I've been inside his head one too many times not to understand how he thinks. I even know a bit about what goes inside your fat head."

Sakura huffed turning her chin up slightly. "It's not like I wanted you to be inside my head."

"Yea that was made clear, that really hurt by the way, do you have any idea what it feels like to have your mind get punched in the face?" she turned to Sakura and gestured at her jawline. "I felt phantom pains for days! My dad says I'm lucky that it's just pained, he's been knocked out of his body before."

"I'm sorry?"

"You better be."

They slipped inside the front gates and made their way up to viewing deck. The stadium was packed, filled to the brim with ninjas and civilians alike. She could see a few of the genin already standing in line, Shikamaru looked like he was dragged out of bed and was ready to fall back asleep at a moment's notice.

"Who do you think will win?" Sakura asked as they took their seat next to the stairs. From here they could see nearly all of the arena.

"Naruto," Ino smiled as she sat down, folding her legs in victory like that statement that slipped from her lips was the end all be all of the discussion. "He's going to be our Hokage one day."

"Do you actually believe in him?"

"You mean you don't?"

Sakura gasped and looked down at her hands. "It's not that I don't…. It's just that I… well I think it's a dream that should be protected. And well…"

"I get it," Ino sighed leaning back into her seat. "Well at least I kind of do, you're trying to say that you want him to be able to follow his dream you just don't know if it's possible right?"

"I…. yea… That's about right." Sakura looked so much like that shy little girl that was so unsure about everything. "So does that mean if Sasuke and Naruto fought you'd cheer for Naruto?"

"And you wouldn't?" She could see Naruto running into the arena to line up next to Shikamaru, only Sasuke was missing now.

"I... " Sakura trailed off. "I don't know, they're both really important to me."

Ino glared at Sakura. "Naruto's your boyfriend."

Those words felt like acid as they came out of her mouth, but the effect on Sakura was worth it. Sakura shrunk away and looked all the small before Ino. This was what she was mad at? This pathetic little girl that was so afraid of what people thought of her that she would lead on the only boy nice enough to call her petty.

"Yea," Sakura trailed off looking down at the field. "I know that. It's just… I kind of wish that I saw what you see in Naruto. And I am trying, I don't want to lead him on. I don't want to…"

Were those tears? Sakura was crying about this! Great now she felt bad for making her cry.

The proctor announced that they would give Sasuke until his match before they disqualified him. That meant that Naruto would be fighting soon.

"It's not that hard, you just need to give him a bit of attention and watch what he'll bloom into." Ino smiled as Naruto took his spot on the field opposite of Hinata's stuck up cousin or whatever he was. She couldn't hold back her excitement and stood up. "Go Naruto! Show that moody prick what you can do!"

Sakura stood with her. "Cha! Kick his ass Naruto!"

Ino stared at Sakura and felt a smiling coming onto her face, Sakura mirrored her and began to smile as well. They plopped back down into their seats oblivious to the stares of the crowd that that troublemaker Naruto brat had two of the loudest cheerleaders in the village.

"You know, I really do miss you." Sakura smiled, her body relaxed as though cheering for Naruto had restored her own confidence. "I want to be friends again."

Her blood boiled at the thought of it. Of being friends with the person that was dating Naruto. That'd be like giving up. Submitting defeat and saying that Sakura won. The fight started, and Naruto charged in, producing several of his shadow clones.

From fighting with Shikamaru Ino knew when an opponent was doing something on purpose, when they were leading or baiting somebody into a trap. Naruto was to do trying the same to Neji. It looked to be working as one of the clones didn't disappear. It was the real one! Naruto had snuck in with his clones to distract Neji and create an opening.

Then things went sour just as Naruto was about to land a solid hit, Neji spun deflecting Naruto and eliminating his clones. The force was enough that Naruto got sent to the ground.

"Come on Naruto! Get up! You can do it!" Ino cheered, it was easier to ignore Sakura when she was cheering for Naruto. Naruto made a lot of things easier.

"Don't give up! Naruto!" Sakura joined in just a loudly.

As though powered by their command Naruto got up and charged at Neji, with more clones this time.

Neji deflected them again and again, without so much as breaking a sweat. Then he attacked the real Naruto with a series of blows, knocking him down on to the ground.

"Naruto! Get up! You can beat him! I believe in you!" Ino screamed at the top of her lungs. Her heart was pounding, her face felt flush and her fists were clenched.

"Go Naruto!" Sakura joined in. "Show him what you can do!"

Again Naruto stood up. But something was different this time. He charged at Neji with no clones, faster than before and zoomed around him almost faster than Neji could react. The fight kept shifting from one side to the next, Naruto was always on the attack, but Neji didn't need to attack to win.

With a final assault, Naruto charged in with several clones and Neji deflected them all, but not before Naruto managed to get a single power-packed punch that sent them both to the ground.

When the dust settled, Neji stood. And Naruto lay on the ground unmoving. The crowd was silent as Neji's words echoed up from the arena floor as nothing more than inaudible whispers.

"No," Ino whispered, clutching her heart. What would Naruto do now? Would he be upset that he didn't make chunin? Would he lose motivation? This was Naruto. He had to do something. She had to do something. "Naruto! Get up!"

The ground from beneath Neji cracked, and the Naruto that laid in the crater vanished like a clone. And Naruto gave Neji one hell of an uppercut that laid the boy flat on his ass.

The crowd went wild. And nobody cheered louder than Ino as she jumped screamed and hugged Sakura.

Wait. She was hugging Sakura. How could she let this happen?

"Hey Ino, you really like Naruto huh?" Sakura had a confident know it all smirk that she wanted to slap off her face.

Ino pushed Sakura away and huffed. "What do you think?"

"Ino, please I want to hear it from you."

"Fine, I like Naruto, I like him a lot, more than I like Sasuke." That felt really good to say. Even if it was to someone like Sakura.

Sakura smiled brightly and took a step back. "I can't say the same," she smiled down at Naruto who was relishing the cheers of the crowd as he was ushered out of the arena.

"And why do you sound so happy about that?" she should be happy that Naruto won the fight instead she was wanting to start round two with Sakura here and now.

"Because I've decided." She smiled looking up at the sky like she was staring at some bright future. "I'm going to break up with Naruto."

Ino wasn't certain why she punched Sakura in the face, or why she felt guilty a moment later. But she understood why she felt so happy. "Sorry! That was reflex I swear!"

"Liar," Sakura laughed, rubbing her jaw. "But I think I deserved that just a bit."

AN: Hey look a chapter with no Naruto in it. Anyway hope you like'd it! now that the needless drama bit is done with I can start setting up for the time skip. I only need about 10k more words for Nano, and I might be taking a bit of break in december. Just giving you a fair warning.

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