Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Mina's rants: Hi there dearly beloved reader!

I'm really sorry about the delay. Our phone got broken and took up some time to fix.

And please please please, after you read could you take just a teeny second of your time and review?

It will be really appreciated!

Summary: It's finally over. The Akatsuki have been dealt with, Orochimaru's gone, Sasuke has succeeded in killing his brother, and peace has finally come to Konoha, but its shinobis were far from attaining it.

Naruto: Repercussions

Chapter Two

At the Ichiraku

Ino sits on the ground motionless as she gazes at the two really confused teammates of hers. She bites her lips and looks away from them wiping her tears away in the process. Her brain was racing. 'I can't face them now. Not like this.' Ino stands up and walks past Chouji and Shikamaru but she was suddenly halted by a callused hand.

"Ino," Shikamaru says now full of concern, "What's wrong?" Ino shakes her head in reply and faces Shikamaru. She forces a smile in her face and answers, "Nothing at all. I'm fine, honestly."

She tries to remove Shikamaru's hands from her arm but to no avail. "Shikamaru-kun!" Ino says as she struggles to remove Shikamaru's grip on her. She glances at Shikamaru and meets his gaze. She stops struggling and tears start forming in her eyes once more. Looking into Shikamaru's eyes made her feel all the guilt and pain inside her come to life once more.

Tears were flowing down her cheeks and her lips shiver as she tries to say something but closes it as she finally felt her defeat. Shikamaru lets Ino's arm go and lets her cry yet again. He looks at Ino still lost in confusion. 'I guess there are a lot of things I still don't know about her.' He glances at Chouji, who smiles at him in return and walks up to them.

"Why don't we go get something to eat? I'm kind'a hungry," Chouji says in order to break the silence. Ino stops crying and smiles all of a sudden, "Chouji, you should try dieting sometimes." She looks up to face Shikamaru and Chouji and smiles, "Thank you."

Meanwhile, Naruto and Kakashi were sitting in one of the corner tables at the Ichiraku. Naruto happiliy ate the last of his ramen and asks, "So, Sir Kakashi, why are we here anyway?" Kakashi replies in a fatherly tone, "I wanted to talk to you about the kyuubi." Naruto suddenly stops drinking and puts down his cup.

"Tsunade told you, didn't she?" Naruto asks wearily.

"Since when did this happen?" Kakashi asks in reply.

"Ever since that incident with Orochimaru, a month ago. He opened all the seals in my stomach and the kyuubi just went berserk. Since then, I haven't been able to control it. It keeps on trying to steal my body."

"Is that why you keep on cutting yourself with a knife, to regain control of yourself?"

Naruto looks at his wrists silently and replies, "It worked at first, but now, it seemed to get a stronger grip on me." He clutches his glass tightly and creates cracks in it. "Please don't tell anyone about this…especially Sakura-chan."

Kakashi nods in reply and stands up, "I'll gather some information about this. Maybe I'll be able to find out about the fourth's seal in his records. For the meantime, try finding a different method to keep yourself inside you. And remember, you can't keep everything to yourself, sooner or later she'll notice it too. "

Naruto stands up and smiles, "Thank you, sensei." He starts walking towards the door when at the same time Ino, Shikamaru and Chouji entered the Ichiraku. Naruto smiles his usual silly smiles at them and leaves the Ichiraku without a word. The three ignores this and starts seating themselves on the nearest table possible.

"I'll go and order us some ramen," Chouji states as the other two got seated. Silence ensued as Chouji left.

Shikamaru stared at Ino, waiting for her to talk, but Ino's mind seemed to be somewhere else. Sighing, Shikamaru took the initiative and started the conversation, "Ino, would you mind telling me what's wrong with you?" Ino looks up at him, then bows down again and wringing her hands in the process. Shikamaru looks away in irritation. Just what the heck was he doing there anyway? He should be resting right at that moment if only Ino made the situation much easier.

"Shi…Shikamaru…" Ino said in order to get her teammates attention. Shikamaru faces Ino. "I…well I…" Ino says in a very Hinata-like way. Just as Ino was about to open her mouth once more, Chouji arrived with the waitress at his back carrying three bowls of ramen. Chouji seats himself to the right of Shikamaru and looks at the two. "You guys okay?" he asks unconsciously.

"We're fine," Shikamaru scowls.

"I'm sorry," Ino suddenly says, "I'm really sorry."

Shikamaru looks at Ino surprised. 'Ino's apologizing? Chouji's right Ino IS not herself.'

"I'm sorry to have dragged you all into this," Ino starts, "I know I should have talked to you guys about this ever since but I thought I could keep it to myself. I've always thought that no problem is big enough for me to fight." Ino smiles sadly and continues her story. "I also thought you already knew, since the whole of the five countries heard about it."

Upon saying that, Shikamaru and Chouji remembered what Ino's last mission was, the infiltration of the Sound borders. She was one of the selected shinobis of Konoha to end the Sound's growing threat. The mission was dubbed as 'the Sound massacre', it was neither a failure nor a success because everyone in the said mission died and that the only survivor of the massacre was not able to neither do nor continue the mission. And that survivor was, Ino. Although when she was found, she was at the brink of death herself. It was Haruno who told them what happened, but they never thought Ino would take what happened too seriously that it would make her get an instant attitude overhaul.

"Don't worry; I don't blame you guys for forgetting. It was an event that needed forgetting anyway." Ino says, "But as they say, it's easier to forget if you share it with someone so here it goes." Ino's lips started to shiver once more as she recalls that fateful day in the borders of the Sound country.

Before Ino could say another word Chouji started to speak, "Ino, you don't have to tell us if you don't want to. We remember it anyway. It's just that…"

"We thought you'd never take it in this much," Shikamaru finished.

An awkward silence followed Shikamaru's statement given that none of them knew what to say next. At a loss for words, Chouji decided to end the earsplitting silence in a not-so-unusual way, "The ramen's getting cold! We need to eat it before it gets really cold and greasy." Chouji takes his chopsticks and starts eating while Shikamaru and Ino looked at him astonishingly. Reluctantly, Ino smiles and grabs her chopsticks, "Itadakimasu!"

At the cemetery; Kiba, Hinata and Shino were standing in front of the gravestone Shino was visiting. It was a memorial stone that belonged to whole lot of people that doesn't even seem to be related to Shino in any way.

"Shino, who are these people?" Kiba asks rather carelessly.

"Kiba-kun!" Hinata said to make Kiba notice his rudeness.

"What? I was just asking who these people are."

"But still…that is very rude!"

"It's okay Hinata, I don't mind." Shino suddenly said that almost made the two jump. "These people…let's say…became friends of mine at a very wrong time…"

"What do you mean Shino-kun? I…I don't understand." Hinata says while looking at the names written at the gravestone once more.

Shino sighs and looks at his teammates, "It's a long story." Hinata looks at the ground a bit disappointed. "A…Oh…Okay…"Hinata trails off as it was pretty obvious that Shino didn't want to talk about it.

"Shino, you still up for that training you promised me?" Kiba asks.

Shino looks at Kiba and answers, "Yeah."

Kiba smiles and says, "ALRIGHT! You better watch out Shino 'coz my new jutsu will definitely kick ass!"

Mina's rants: I'm really sorry about this chapter…I know I said it will be a Sasuke-Ino-Shino-Neji fic but…I thought it would be better to take the story in steps and not in strides so…I made this chappie like so. And I'm also sorry it was short.

Oh! And one more thing, PLEASE REVIEW!

Thanks!