Let the Music Do the Talking, a Naruto fanfiction
Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto
A/N: Thanks, everyone! We've reached 100 reviews and 250 followers!
Chapter 15: In Due Time
The spotlight followed Ino as she walked through the auditorium. Everyone looked towards her, stunned by her appearance.
She carried on playing bass, walking until she stopped a few feet away from Naruto and the others.
Then what began as a small clap from Sakura, turned into a burst of applause from the whole audience. Ino looked around, noticing all the attention she was receiving.
"Ino?" Naruto began, still stunned by her new look. "Look, whatever happened I-"
She cut him off by placing a finger on his lips.
"I just want to say that I'm sorry for everything that happened. Right now, all I want to know is, are we going to play or what?"
Kiba scoffed. "You have some nerve showing up here after everything that happened. Give me one good reason why we should even consider letting you play?"
"Because dog-boy," she retorted, looking him dead in the eye, "I think my bass sounds better than the mushroom head over there trying to emulate the sound on his decks, wouldn't you agree?"
Lee was taken aback by her comment. "Hey, I will have you know that I've gotten really good at this and-"
"-Lee," Naruto held up his hand, "just relax. I'm not going to kick you out. What I'm going to do is ask you to provide some extra layers to our music."
"Excuse me?" Ino replied, confused by his response, "How's he going to do that? We're meant to be a rock band, so why are we using all this extra stuff?"
"That is correct," the boy commented. "I have always thought of the decks to try and emulate a guitar! Let me show you!" He fiddled with some buttons on his kit, scratching the turntables slightly, emulating a sharp sound that resembled a guitar riff.
"Great." Naruto nodded. "You ready to join us again, Ino?"
Ino was about to answer when the crowd started to chant.
"LET HER PLAY! LET HER PLAY! LET HER PLAY!"
The group all looked at each other and smiled.
"Looks like they have spoken," Naruto said
Ino smirked. "And to start it all off, I've got something here that will be a good opening. Try and guess what I'm going to play."
"What!?" Kiba shouted, annoyed at her actions. "You can't just show up and start asking to play something we might not even know about. Naruto, stand your ground here, man!"
The blonde girl had already begun playing a bass riff that Naruto had heard of a couple of days prior.
"You want me to forget you/I can't forget you too/You tell me you hate me baby/Yeah I bet you do…" she sang into the microphone next to Naruto, which prompted a gasp from the audience.
Seeing this, the blonde boy couldn't help but smirk.
"Challenge accepted." He turned to his friends. "Boys, let's show this school how it's done."
Kiba, however, was still annoyed at the whole situation. "Naruto, you're serious about this, aren't you?"
"Trust me. This'll be a good warm-up. Lee, I need you to layer up here and there and when the chorus hits, I want to you scratch as fast as you can, got it? Kiba, keep up the tempo and join me in on a few of the vocals too."
"You got it, Naruto!" Lee verbally ushered.
Naruto fiddled with his tuning keys, striking a few chords. The audience responded greatly with a large 'hell yeah'.
"Naruto Uzumaki," came the megaphone of Principal Senju, "are you and your group ready to perform?"
All of them nodded.
"Excellent, when you're ready."
Naruto glanced once more at each of his bandmates, each nodding in agreement that this was their time to shine.
"You want me to forget you/I can't forget you too/You tell me you hate me baby/Yeah I bet you do…" Naruto crooned as he played the opening chords to the song.
Kiba kicked in by striking his drums while Lee quickly scratched the turntable of his set producing a guitar-like sound that accompanied Kiba's cymbal and tom hits.
"Damn, I saw you walk in the room, and I tried my best/Not to panic while I'm lookin' for the back door," He carried on, noticing the crowd were bobbing along to the song. "I smell the perfume, and it's obvious, I'm gonna stay and put my key in the bag more, I can't, I can't, I can't pretend to forget you…"
At their seats, Neji and Tenten watched with anticipation and intrigue.
"This is what you were doing all this time?" Neji pondered. "It's different…"
Tenten let out a huff at his reaction. "Lighten up would ya? It's a different kind of music okay?"
"You mean whiny teenage nonsense and- ouch!" the prodigy cried, feeling the pain of his girlfriend's elbow colliding with his ribs.
"Quit being such a buzzkill!"
The first chorus hit, with Ino bobbing her head, striking the strings of her bass at an incredible pace. It was her time to sing.
Now, she was really going to surprise everyone. Stepping up close to Naruto's mic stand, she began her part.
"I've wasted so much time/Waitin' around for your phone calls every night/My bad dreams are silk screens/'Cause I taste blood when you bleed/It's eating me alive/We'd both be better off alone/Still think I'd get you on the phone/With one last breath in me/I'd die before I let you leave…"
Everyone was stunned with silence. Ino's face lit up with optimism as she watched the faces of the crowd, their jaw's dropped.
"Wow, Ino can sing?" Mirai said surprised. "Impressive…"
"Well, she has been practising a lot," Sakura said, remembering the few weeks of being with her.
The final part of the song came with Naruto and Ino singing and playing together. It was like the two had entered a crazy one-on-one battle, with neither of them wanting to lose.
The song came to an end, and the audience of students burst into applause. The two blondes took a breather, looking around at the atmosphere they had created with each other.
"That was great," Naruto chuckled, "didn't know you had that planned."
"Well, I try," Ino said teasingly, "I'm surprised you all got into that one."
"That was most excellent!" Lee said. "I had no idea I could enjoy this kind of music…"
"Neither did I…" Kiba mumbled, running his fingers through his shaggy hair, "...but yeah, I could get used to this."
The group took a few moments and adjusted their equipment to what they needed for the next song. Ino grabbed an additional microphone and stand for her place on the stage, a few feet away from Naruto.
"Are you all ready for another one?" Naruto shouted at the audience, which prompted an immediate response of cheers and whistles.
The blonde turned to his bandmates. "Ino, we'll have to leave you out of this next one due to-"
Ino cut him off abruptly. "-the fact that I didn't know about your song list? That's okay, let's just say I had a little birdie help me out."
Naruto looked confused. "Say what? How did you-!? There's no way you could have-!?"
He turned to Kiba and Lee, shooting them an off-putting glare.
"Don't look at us dude, we didn't say anything," Kiba answered, sitting up to stretch.
"Then who-?" Naruto looked around the rows of seats in front of him. Directly in his vision, he noticed Neji and Tenten sitting together. The girl locked eyes with him, shooting a wink and sticking her tongue out in a teasing manner.
"Gotcha," she mouthed sneakily, prompting a look of furious rage from the blonde.
"So it was her!? She was the one who was messing with my guitar and she stole my setlist!?" He gritted his teeth, his palms clenching his instrument tighter. "Why I oughta-!"
"Settle down, you dolt!" Ino responded with a swift nudge to his arm. "If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't even be here!" Her expression softened, her lips forming a small smile, her eyes radiating sincerity. "It's just… I don't know how else to say it... but I love you."
Naruto felt himself turn red with her remark. "Wait, what?"
"You idiot! I said I love you. I love you because you were the first person in a long while to see me for me. Like I didn't have to pretend to be someone else! You gave me confidence in wanting to be a better person." She took a deep breath, exhaling with a small smile. "Now, are we going to carry on arguing or are we gonna play?"
Naruto remained absolutely gobsmacked at what she had just told him. A smile appeared on his face, knowing for a fact he felt the same way about her.
"Hey, lovebirds!" Kiba called out. "Are we going to carry on this show or are you two gonna kiss already!?"
Both blondes looked at one perplexed and red-faced but decided they couldn't remain annoyed at each other.
"Alright," Naruto muttered, tuning his keys, "fancy doing co-lead vocals on this one? Since, you know, you do have a beautiful voice and all."
There was a hint of sarcasm in his voice, but Ino chuckled loudly in response. "Oh, I'm gonna show you a thing or two about singing..."
The blonde boy turned to Kiba. "Kiba, you set?"
Kiba gave an affirmative nod, as did Lee.
Naruto stepped up towards the front of the stage, playing the opening chords to the next song.
"This is 'In Due Time.'" He spoke into the microphone. Kiba began playing a more aggressive drum fill to match Naruto's tempo, while Lee fiddled with a few controls on his deck. Ino, without hesitation, followed suit with Naruto.
"Pacing aimlessly/With my mind is at unrest/Unsure of what may come," He screamed into the mic, the crowd in front of him getting into the groove of things.
"What have I done to bring this down on me?" came a trio of combined vocals from Ino, Naruto and Kiba all at once, with the latter going for a harsher style.
"Helpless to make this undone," Naruto carried on, shooting Ino a quick wink for her carry on.
"All in due time, See the world through different eyes." Ino sang clear and pristine. "All in due time, The shadows will give way to light."
"Damn, Ino can really sing huh?" Mirai noted, turning to Sakura. "Did you know she had such great range?"
Sakura shook her head. "No, not until recently. I remember when she did choir back in primary school, but I had no idea she did this sort of thing."
The next verse came with Naruto and Kiba clashing with each other on harsher vocals; the latter letting out a growl on the line 'There is nothing to attain.' The ferocity of Kiba's animalistic voice made Hinata jump slightly.
"Wow, your boyfriend is an animal!" Mirai teased nudging her. "I can see why you like him so much."
Hinata turned completely red and felt like she was going to faint. "I… I… I didn't know… I knew he played but…"
"If he's like this now, I'd like to see what he's like when you two-"
"-Mirai!" Sakura cut her off. "I think Hinata has heard enough." The three girls were drawn to the sound of Ino's voice, where she sang solo again on another verse.
"All that we suffer through leads to determination/The trials we all go through gives us the strength to carry on/Something within us burns/Desire feeds the will to live…"
Ino was singing her heart out and she didn't care who noticed. She was loving everything right now; the atmosphere, the people, but more importantly, being with Naruto. It was like this song in particular spoke to her.
As he joined her in singing the last words of the verse, she smiled and winked at him.
I have to admit, he is pretty handsome. But most importantly, he makes me feel like no other person has done before.
The next part of the song had the two blondes walking and playing together across the stage, continuing their little game of teasing one another. Ino couldn't stop smirking, watching Naruto looking to outplay her.
The group were all having a blast; even Lee, who thought he wouldn't have a part in this, bobbed his head along, striking the keys on his set producing a unique sound that seemed to amplify the song tenfold.
"All in due time/The shadows will give way to light/All in due time!" The group sang together, the song ending with Naruto striking the final chords.
Ino, who decided to have a little more fun, carried on playing her bass. However, she started playing the chords of a different song. She played for a couple of seconds, which left Naruto and Kiba with widened eyes of surprise.
"Through the suffering, we fight, no end in sight. Until we see the light, there's no end in sight," Ino sang, playing a few more chords before ending abruptly.
Damn, she's phenomenal! Naruto thought, wondering how long she had practised for.
The audience erupted into applause and screams having enjoyed the performance before them.
"Damn, we really took the roof off this place," Naruto noted, his eyes gleaming with pride at his result.
"Nicely done team!" Lee exclaimed with fire in his eyes. "I must say this has been a truly exceptional performance!"
Kiba grinned remarkably. "Too right." He shot Ino a wink. "Nice work there, blondie."
Ino could only grin at his comment. "No worries, dog-boy."
While this had been going on, Kabuto had been packing his bag ready to head home. He had stayed after school to catch up on some work. Naruto had invited him to the show, but he had respectfully declined his offer, citing personal reasons for not wanting to attend.
Kabuto zipped up his bag, hoisted it over his shoulder and left the classroom he was in.
Maybe it's time to try and talk to her again. He thought back to everything that had happened.
Making his way down the hallway, he was stopped by the unlikeliest of people.
"Thought I might find you moping here."
Kabuto turned round to see Wasabi Izuno leaning by his locker.
"Wasabi?" he questioned her sudden appearance. "What brings you here? Thought you'd be at the talent show."
Wasabi brushed some of the hair out of her eyes. "Yeah, been there, done that," she droned, unamused. "I'm actually here to see you."
"What?" Kabuto asked inquisitively. "If this is about the whole Karin thing I-"
"Relax," she replied, "I heard your story, mister big-shot. And as for how she found out about us? I figure she must've either hacked my phone or read my journal. Either way, I can't believe she held on to that information for so long."
She folded her arms across her chest. "Regardless, I'm glad to hear the bitch is taken care of. Nicely done though, Yakushi. Didn't think you had it in ya."
Kabuto bit his lip. "So, what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" He really wanted to get out of here.
"It's about Namida," Wasabi said bluntly. "She's waiting for you."
The boy frowned upon hearing her name. Surely she must be joking? Does Namida really want to see me after everything that's happened?
"But what about-"
"-But nothing!" Wasabi snapped. "She's been missing you like crazy these last few weeks, the least you could do is go and tell her how you feel! Right now, you need her! Especially after all this crap you've had to deal with."
Kabuto was stunned, "She's missed me?"
"Damn right she has!" Wasabi took a breather. "Look, Naruto and his friends are on stage right now. If you hang around the back of the stage, I'll let her know where you are."
The boy nodded. "Thanks, Wasabi, for everything."
"Ah don't mention it," she replied half-heartedly. "Just wait there and leave the rest to me."
Kabuto headed towards the auditorium with a newfound feeling of joy in his heart.
Back on the stage, Naruto and the others were about to prepare for their next song. However, he decided first to let Kiba have his own time to shine.
"Ladies and Gentleman, Kiba Inuzuka on the drums!" he called out into the microphone.
Kiba, positioned at his kit, tapped his sticks in the air and began what could only be described as an archaic rhythm on the drums. A mixture of cymbal crashes and snare rides, coupled with a machine-gun-like sound on his double bass pedals.
He began at a medium tempo, before getting progressively faster. Moving onto more complex hits, which merged the use of his high and low toms, ride cymbals, and back to the snare, Kiba was having the time of his life. Between the different hits, he even twirled his sticks in his hand to which caught the attention of his girlfriend in the audience.
"Damn, he is more than good, he's phenomenal!" Mirai's eyes widened. "Wow Hinata, you definitely have one of the best guys here that's for sure!"
Hinata, still blushing from her previous remark, had her jaw parted watching her boyfriend's handiwork while playing.
Wow, Kiba is really something else! This talent is just truly amazing!"
Sakura could only silently agree with what she was witnessing.
Now that's what I call impressive. Kiba has some skill alright. Hmm?
Out of the corner of her eye in the dark, she noticed what looked like a shadowy figure heading towards the back of the stage. The person in question crawled up the side of the stage and behind the curtain.
"Guys, did you see that?" Sakura tapped Mirai on the shoulder, pointing to where the figure had disappeared too. Mirai blinked, narrowing her eyes to determine who it might be.
"No, don't tell me that's…" The red-eyed girl had a moment of realisation. "Sakura, we have to get down there! Hinata, we'll be right back okay?"
Hinata nodded as her two friends got out of their seats, headed down the aisle towards the stage.
Meanwhile, Naruto and Ino were sat together on the side of the stage watching Kiba perform.
"So when you said you had family stuff tonight, you lied?" he questioned, wondering what had driven her to come to the show.
"Uh-huh," Ino replied meekly. "I...I wanted to surprise you." She lowered her eyes, biting the nail on her thumb. "I mean, I have to give credit to Tenten for this. It was thanks to her I was able to pull this off… and well…" She looked up at him again. "I'm sorry for what happened, for slapping you and saying what I said. I was… frustrated. I really thought I had been responsible for what happened to your friend and my emotions were running high. I wasn't thinking clearly."
Naruto silently understood her words. "I'm sorry too. I didn't know what to expect after you walked out that day." He gently placed his hand over hers, lightly gripping it. "I didn't know what to think either. All I know is that I missed you, Ino. I missed you a lot. I didn't know what the right words to say were or anything."
Ino chuckled a little. "I guess we both had a lot to learn about each other huh? I missed you too, Naruto."
"By the way, I'm loving the new look." Naruto gestured, his eyes trailing up and down her outfit. "Orianthi Panagaris? You look exactly like her!"
Ino's cheeks tinged pink. "Well, I had a little help from Sakura with that, and as for Tenten-"
"Aww, how adorable. The runt of the litter and the blonde slut are making up. Makes me sick to my fucking stomach!"
The two blondes turned around to see none other than Karin Tatsumaki with bloodshot eyes, messy hair and a disgusted look on her face that screamed cold bloody murder.
"What are you doing here Karin?" Naruto demanded. "Haven't you done enough damage?"
"Oh, I'm not done with you or these losers," Karin spat venomously, "I own this school!"
Sakura and Mirai appeared behind them, the former clenching her first when she saw her old friend.
"Karin!"
"Well, it looks like the cherry blossoms here too..." Karin turned around smirking, noticing Sakura wasn't alone, "oh, and the teacher's pet still hasn't learned her lesson huh? Tch, typical." Addressing Sakura with a fiery glare, she carried on taunting, "I really thought you and Ino were different. The pair of you, who were nothing before you met me, all of a sudden decide to turn against me!?" She scrunched up her face. "I gave you everything you had. Who exactly do you think you are to just throw it all away like this!?"
"People, that's who we are," Ino responded proudly. "And we got sick of you bossing us around! Why couldn't you have been happy for me? You almost killed someone out of petty anger, jealousy and spite all because you couldn't handle something that someone else had! All because you felt your 'perfect world' was being ruined!"
"Jealous of you!?" Karin laughed. "I could get any guy I want, why would I be jealous of someone like you? You're a dumb blonde! A walking stereotype, and frankly nothing more than-!"
"YOU SHUT YOUR GODDAMN MOUTH!" Naruto shouted, defending Ino. "Ino has more intelligence, more courage and more personality than you could ever have! You'll never be half the girl Ino is!" He stepped forward to confront her.
"Leave, Karin, you're nothing but toxic. All you ever do is cause trouble and misery wherever you go. How anyone can be so sadistic and downright pathetic is beyond me. Whatever you think our families did to each other, whatever you think my family has done to upset yours… it's in the past. I don't hang on to grudges like this. It's a waste of energy."
Kiba, noticing all the commotion, stopped playing immediately, looking over to his right. The crowd stopped and cheered, but their praise and admiration were instantly turned to shock and dismay when they noticed the confrontation between Karin and Naruto.
"For real?" he muttered angrily. "What's she doing back here?"
"I have no idea," Lee stood up from sitting on a box he was on, "but we should be prepared for anything."
Sakura kept her gaze focused on Karin. "Naruto is right. How can you keep acting like this? Why keep up this persona? I made my mistake by not stepping in and now I'm making up for it." Her gaze saddened a little. "Karin, please, if you have any bit of dignity left in you, you'll get help. You need to see past all this rage and bitterness; learn to move on."
Karin gritted her teeth. She had come so far, so why stop now?
"Naruto and Ino are happy together, why can't you see that?"
Hearing that comment made Ino's heart flutter. Sakura really was a great friend to her.
"Karin Tatsumaki," Mirai stated, "as head of the student council, I am ordering you to leave this place at once. There is nothing for you here."
"Oh, little Sakura…" Karin muttered darkly, lowering her eyes, "always the voice of reason, always the one to make sense of things when they don't work out..." She looked up, staring off the pink-haired girl with daggers, "it makes me sick! I'm going to show you all…"
She fumbled inside her pocket and pulled out what looked like a small rock, "I'm going to show you all that I own every last one of you losers!"
In less than a second, Karin ran towards a small power box on the wall of the theatre and began smashing it with the rock. Using all her strength, she slammed into the object, denting the panel door, then carried on into the exposed circuits. When Sakura tried to rush and stop her, she was met with an elbow to the gut, knocking her to the floor. Mirai tried jumping to her aid, but Karin quickly slammed her hand into the girl's neck, knocking her back.
Looking on in horror, Naruto jumped up as fast as he could and grabbed both her wrists. Not wanting to lose, Karin aggressively spat and headbutted Naruto, throwing him straight into the already broken box.
"Naruto!" Ino shouted.
The lights began flickering, then suddenly, the whole row of lights shut off, enveloping the stage into complete blackness, only a small emergency light flickered red in response.
"Karin what the fuck!?" Naruto screamed, his lower body in pain as he stood up to fight back
"Back off, you fucking asshole!" Karin responded, walking over and kicking him in the shins. "You and everyone can go to hell!"
The commotion had attracted the attention of Tsunade, Asuma and Shizune. The former two grabbed the girl by her arms, forcing her off Naruto.
"Karin Tatsumaki! You are hereby suspended from Konoha High until further notice for this reckless behaviour and damage to school property!
Karin was met with nothing but stares of hatred and anger. Her anxiety grew, her heart sinking further and further down her body until it felt like it was falling into a pit of infinite nothingness.
"Face it, Karin, you've lost," Ino addressed her. "We've had enough of your bullshit. Leave. Get help."
Tsunade and Asuma marched her out of the auditorium through the backdoor. An audience of cheers greeted Naruto and his friends on stage. However, the celebration was short-lived, when they realised their disappointment.
"Naruto, are you okay?" Lee asked, getting his friend to his feet.
"Yeah," he said quietly, "think I got some bruises, but I'm alright."
Ino couldn't believe what just happened. She held back tears as she ran over and hugged the boy tightly.
"Naruto, I'm so sorry, you had to get hurt like that…"
"Don't sweat it," he chuckled sheepishly, "I've been through worse…"
Shizune and Iruka took a look at the damage that Karin had done to the electrical equipment.
"Iruka, what's the damage?" Shizune asked her colleague.
"It's pretty shot up," he mumbled disappointingly. "This is going to take a while to fix; the backup generator is going to take some time to kick in though."
"Great, now what do we do?" Kiba said angrily. "The whole show's ruined!"
"Not exactly," Naruto added calmly with a smile. "I've got an idea."
"Say what?" Kiba said confused
"And that is?" Lee asked, who was just as puzzled as his friend.
"Simple. We do the rest of the show acoustically."
To be continued...
Song Title: In Due Time - Killswitch Engage - Disarm the Descent (2013)
A/N: Well, that was a lot of fun wouldn't you agree?
Again, apologies for the delay in getting this one out. Work is getting busy again for me.
I thought it was about time for Karin to finally, finally get some comeuppance for her attitude, and that's why I left her fate open in the previous two chapters. I originally wasn't going to, but I thought it was a fitting final act for her character.
Kiba's drum solo was inspired by ex-Dream Theater drummer, Mike Portnoy. I even imagined Kiba's drum kit to be similar to Portnoy's own (though not as massive) YouTube any of his stuff and you'll see what I mean.
A big thank you to IcyQueenWriter for helping beta and fixing spelling & grammar too! Much appreciated.
Part 2 of the performance continues next time, leading into the big finale! See you all in a few weeks time!