Another chapter, in the same day? *Cheers*

Remember, this is a (sort of) combined story with me and my close friend AncientSensei. Our story's will collide one day in the future. Go support him so you don't miss out on any information that isn't provided in my story.

Again, I do not own Naruto or any of the characters besides my own.

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"Th-these scores!" Iruka said, while staring at a test he had just graded. He looked back at Kazuma who was standing impatiently in front of the desk.

"Can you just pass me already. I'm clearly above Chunin level and you've had me studying for a month now. Just give me the headband and I'll be on my way" Kazuma said, he leaned up against the desk to get off his feet a little.

Tsunade and the council had finally come to an agreement. They were impressed with Kazuma's abilities and thought that he'd be useful to the village. They agreed to let him be a ninja for the village as long as he took an oath. If he ever broke the oath, he'd be killed without any further questions. Of course, Kazuma took the oath, not wanting to die. Tsunade was happy for him and was glad that he could be a leaf ninja. Truthfully, she wanted to ask him how he learned that technique. Kakashi also has been itching to know the truth.

()()()()()()()()()

Ino walked into the Hokage's office with only one plan in mind. Getting closer to Kazuma. She was getting tired of not seeing him. She had passed him a few times in the streets of Konoha, but they never spoke. In fact, since that day in the arena, she had only seen him 4 or 5 times. It had been a month since the day in the arena and she wanted to know how he was doing.

"Lady Tsunade…" Ino said as she looked at her sensei. Her medical ninjutsu training had been going well and she was closer than ever to beating Sakura at being the better medical ninja.

"Hello Ino, how are you today? What can I do for you?" Tsunade asked, while signing more papers at once. She wasn't even reading what she was signing. Just putting her name on the paper and putting into onto the mountain of papers beside her.

"It's about Kazuma…" Ino said. This seemed to peak Tsunade's interest, so she put the pen down and looked Ino in the eyes. "I was just wonder… how has he been?" Ino questioned. That's not what Ino wanted to ask at all, but something was better than nothing.

Tsunade laughed. "Kazuma is doing well. I just got his test scores back from the academy today. He has some of the highest scores in our history. He's even performed better than Sasuke. I've been trying to soften the council up a bit so that he can move onto special Jonin without going through the chunin exams and so forth."

Ino looked down at her feet and nodded her head. Hearing that Kazuma was doing good had made her happy, but she still wanted to see him for herself.

"Is there any other reason you decided to ask me about Kazuma? I can tell that something is on your mind" Tsunade said while smirking behind her hands. She already knew what it was that had Ino so flustered.

There was a bit of silence before Ino finally spoke up. "I was wondering, since I'm the princess of the Yamanaka clan, I think I should get a bodyguard" Ino said. Tsunade almost started laughing right there. Ino was a ninja who was skilled enough to not need a bodyguard. There was only one reason why Ino would request a bodyguard and it was clear as day.

"If you ask him then I'm sure he will say yes. The council are preventing him from being able to join a team. So he won't be able to take missions unless I request them from him specifically. I won't be able to aid in his housing arrangement after he graduates so this should work out. You'll have to talk to your father about it though because funding him will be on your family's responsibility. I'm sure Kazuma would say yes to your job request though. He should be at his apartment right now. Here is his address" Tsunade said then handed Ino a piece of paper. As soon as Ino touched the paper, she brightened up and ran out of the hokage's office. Tsunade didn't even bother to yell.

()()()()()()()()

Kazuma sat in his room, studying the formula further. He no longer wanted the backlash from using flying Raijin and was thinking about how he could improve it. He had a lot of chakra reserves but using the flying Raijin took a lot of it. His master had told him that the only way ninjas could use this move was to focus hard and have multiple other ninjas with them. He had heard that a certain ninja was able to perfect this technique. The fourth Hokage. Minato Namikaze also known as the Yellow Flash of the leaf. The young ninja was proud to be able to use such a famed jutsu.

A knock on his door was heard, but Kazuma was used to it. Kazuma pulled out a kunai and crept slowly to the door. He swung the door open and pressed the tip of his kunai against the intruder's neck. He looked up at the person who knocked on his door and instantly regretted what he had done.

"Uh- uh- hey" Kazuma said with a nervous smile on his face. He removed the kunai from her neck and began scratching the back of his beck.

"You see me for the first time in weeks and this is the first thing you do!" Ino shouted.

Kazuma sighed. He had no idea this beautiful woman was so loud. "Can you relax a bit. It's been a rough few weeks" Kazuma said as he allowed her into his apartment. Kazuma sat down on his couch and continued to study his kunai. There were other scrolls placed along the table in front of him. "Ino… right?" Kazuma said, making sure that was her name. He'd heard it a few times before, but they never had a proper introduction.

Ino sat there confused for a minute before it finally hit her. "Oh! Yeah. My name is Ino Yamanaka, and you are?"

The speedster smiled at her. "Kazuma Tagami. Thank you for not killing me during our battle." There was a softness in his eyes that Ino liked. She was drawn to it like a bug to a light. She wanted to see it more and more. "Ino, I don't mean to be rude but, why are you here?"

The princess tilted her head in confusion.

"Trust me, I like the company and all, but we don't even talk to each other. I find it hard to believe you're just here to see me. Is everything ok?" Kazuma asked. He didn't know why he was so worried about her. He didn't even know her, but yet he didn't want anything bad to happen to her. When he was fighting her, it was hard on him, but he needed to survive.

Ino didn't want to outright tell him that she wanted to be near him. She had to come up with a great excuse and she knew just the right one.

"Kazuma Tagami, I'm offering you a job. Will you take it?" Ino said, in a professional way that showed her strength.

"A job? Sure, I need the money. It's been getting hard lately. Lady Tsunade only pays for the housing, so getting food is up to me. I've been doing a few jobs around the village so sure. What's the job?" Kazuma said as he got up and placed his kunai back down on the table.

There was a silence in the room and Kazuma didn't know why. "The job offer is… being my personal bodyguard!" Ino screamed out for seemingly no reason. Kazuma was confused as to why she was screaming to begin with. Then he started laughing and that caused into to now be confused. It seemed like they were starting to be confused a lot lately.

"Ino, why do you need a bodyguard? You're strong enough to protect yourself. Plus you're a kunoichi" Kazuma said.

A tick mark appeared ono Ino's face. "Do you want the job or not?" Ino screamed. Kazuma backed up a little from fear of getting hit.

"Yeah sure. When do I start?" Kazuma said, as a single bead of sweat dripped down his forehead.

"Great. Let's go" Ino said as she began walking towards the door. Kazuma picked up all of his scrolls and threw them into a bag. He took one last look at his former apartment and smiled. He didn't know why he was smiling. After he left his apartment today, he'd be homeless. He didn't own anything important. The only thing he'd miss was his sensei's anbu mask.

()()()()()()

"So you just go around shopping all day?" Kazuma asked as he followed behind Ino into another store. This was the 3rd one they had went to since they left his apartment. He was beginning to get tired out it and know had a hate for shopping. Usually he bought a t-shirt and underwear, but she buying all of the above and more.

"Trust me, I'm not going to be shopping all day" Ino said, then rolled her eyes. "This is the last store I'm going to before I go train with Lady Tsunade. You'll be accompanying me while I'm there."

Kazuma bent down and everyone could see the depression dripping off of him. Suddenly someone came and kicked Kazuma in the back of his knee. Kazuma wasn't expecting it and fell onto one knee. He heard laughing behind him. "You shouldn't be here" a man said, then he spit on Kazuma's back.

Ino was surprised by what she'd just seen. Why were they treating him this way? What did Kazuma do to deserve this? She didn't like it at all. Just as she was about to say something, Kazuma stood up with a smile on his face. "I guess you got me this time" Kazuma laughed. The man just scoffed and continued walking. Kazuma than began taking off his hoodie. Ino began to blush as he took it off, but she quickly turned her head so they Kazuma wouldn't catch her staring. Good thing Kazuma had a white t-shirt underneath because Ino was beginning to feel hot, and she didn't want to burn up.

"Why did you let them do that to you? You could have easily stopped that from happening" Ino said while looking at him with worry in her eyes.

"Stuff like that happens often. I usually stay on guard, but you've distracted me today. Are you going to be done shopping soon? I need to put my hoodie somewhere" Kazuma said as he folded it carefully so that he wouldn't touch any of the nasty contents on his hoodie. Ino felt bad and decided to stop her shopping spree early.

()()()()()()()()

Kazuma watched as Tsunade and Ino were practicing using medical ninjutsu. It was interesting to watch, but he found it to be quite boring to watch after a while. So he pulled out his scrolls and began studying. He was really trying to improve the jutsu to perfection. There was so much that he needed to know. These scrolls given to him by his sensei were the best way to improve on them. Then he saw something. "Summoning jutsu." This piqued his interest, and he began to read more intently.

Ino found that she loved when Kazuma watched her. It made her want to do better in her training so that she could impress him. She also wanted to do better than Sakura so that 'forehead' wouldn't try to take her man like she had been trying to take Sasuke. Ino looked back at Kazuma only to see that he had now put his head in the scrolls that he was reading.

After Ino's training with Tsunade, the Hokage wanted to speak to Kazuma. So that older kunoichi walked over to Kazuma. "Hello Kazuma, how have you been?" Tsunade asked with her hand on her hip.

"I've been alright. How are you?" He asked, with his eyes still skimming over every word in the scroll. He didn't want his focus to be broken, but he felt like this conversation would be longer than what he wanted it to be. So he read a little slower so that he wouldn't miss a single word while still listening to the Hokage.

"Could be better. The council has been giving me a hard time" Tsunade answered.

Kazuma just made a sound of agreement, but his eyes didn't leave the scrolls that were in his hand.

"What are you going to do about your housing situation? I can no longer support you because the village will call favoritism." Tsunade wanted to keep helping him, but there wasn't much she could do. If she weren't careful, she could lose her position has the Hokage and Kazuma could be killed. She has already been notified about Kazuma's home being broken into at night and people being sent to the hospital late at night.

"Oh. I was just thinking about staying in one of the alleys for a while until I've made enough money being Ino's bodyguard. I figured a couple weeks under the stars won't hurt that much" Kazuma said with a smile on his face. But in his eyes, she saw that he wasn't happy about his new circumstances. She felt bad for him and it showed on her face.

"What?" Ino said, she then walked over to them. "Why are you sleeping outside when you have a nice apartment to stay in?" Ino didn't know why these things were happening to Kazuma. First, he was attacked and spat on, now he was homeless. She just didn't know why the village would be so hard on him. Tsunade explained the situation in as much detail as she could. She explain that Kazuma wouldn't have any aid from her after he graduates, she explained that Kazuma wasn't allowed to join a team, and she explained that Kazuma jobs would be limited.

"That's my situation. It's crazy, but I've been in worse situations before" Kazuma said while thinking about the countless nights he had to sleep outside while traveling with his sensei. Then he thought about the prison cells Tsunade had him in a month ago. He really has been in worse situations before.

"No way!" Ino yelled out causing Kazuma to drop his scroll onto the ground. It rolled over to Tsunade's feet and she took a look at what was on the scrolls. Her eyes went wide when she saw the contents on the page. "A summoning jutsu? Who is he trying to make a contract with?" Tsunade thought to herself.

"What do you mean no way? Is it so surprising that I'm living outside?" Kazuma yelled back, feeling a little offended.

"That's not what I'm saying at all idiot! I'm saying that there's no way a bodyguard of mine will be sleeping outside!" Ino yelled back, having no need to continue screaming, but she did it anyway. This caused Kazuma to want to continue screaming, and he did.

"Why the hell not?" Kazuma screamed back. At this point they were face-to-face. Foreheads touching and all.

Ino couldn't believe Kazuma was fighting her on this. "Because you'll stink around me! Just… stay… with me" Ino said, in sort of a whisper. She had such a deep blush on her face that Kazuma couldn't help but notice it.

Kazuma heard what she had just said, but he didn't know if he had heard her correctly. Tsunade backed away with a smile on her face. In this shinobi world, young shinobi are considered adults because out there, enemies will treat them like adults. So since that was the case, Ino was capable of making her own decisions. Ino stayed in a mansion anyway so she had the room to house a guest. Tsunade just didn't expect Ino to move this fast.

"Stay… with you?" Kazuma questioned. He was clearly stunned and didn't know how to react. Out of all the things she could have said, that wasn't one of them. What was next?

Authors note: Kind of a long chapter. I'm sorry once again (even though Jaegerbomb1527 told me not to apologize). At this point I'm really trying to develop the relationship between Ino and Kazuma.

I'm currently writing chapter 10 and will be done with it soon. It'll be a busy few days for me, but I promise I'll still be writing.

Anyway, leave a review and share it with some friends! Let me know what you think and help a brother out.