A/N - Okay, first off, I just want to say I had a REALLY hard time writing this chapter. It took me a while to think of what the hell I wanted to do in this chapter, so there was that. But the main problem is this:
I've been having a really rough time these past couple of days. I've been really sick and on top of that, I was assaulted on my own property by a bunch of assholes while trying to protect my mom from them. I won't go into details about what happened, but let's just say that, in the end, police were called and I wasn't allowed to press charges against the people that assaulted me. So I don't feel like justice was served and I've been kinda pissed ever since. So yeah.
Like I said, I don't want to go into details about what happened, so please, PLEASE don't ask. Just know that I'm okay, my mom's okay, everybody's okay. I'm a little traumatized by the event and I don't really want to live in this fucking neighborhood anymore, but...I'm kinda stuck here. So what can ya do? *sighs*
Anyways, I did the best I could with this chapter. I hope you like it. As usual, I'll have another A/N at the bottom for ya.
Chapter 7 - Ino's Remarkable Change & Therapy for Naruto!
Inoichi sighed as he sat with his wife at home, the two of them thinking hard about what had been done to their daughter by the Sandaime and his student. Eventually, Setsuna Yamanaka, Ino's mother, spoke up. "Honey, I tried to talk sense into her. She just wouldn't listen. We didn't fail her as parents. We did everything we could for her. We showed her the love and care that any parent should their child. More than that, we tried to instill the proper morals into her, the proper values she should try to uphold, what was right from what was wrong, and so much more. However...like so many others, she fell in with the wrong crowd. She joined the Uchiha Fan Club and ended up developing a huge crush on that spoiled child. Ino became lost to us Inoichi, my darling husband. It is neither your fault or mine." Setsuna explained.
The blonde man sighed and nodded his head. "I...I know sweetheart. I know. I just...I can't understand how my little pumpkin could have fallen so...so, so far as to try and incite a riot in her own village! All so she could see a fellow shinobi, an ally be killed by the villagers he's supposed to be able to trust! My little Ino...the Ino I remember...she would never have done that before. All over that bastard Uchiha." he said, shaking his head in disbelief.
Setsuna shook her head sadly and reached across the table, gently grasping her husband's hand. "I know dear. I know. But, as they say, people do crazy things when they're in love. I'm not saying she was in love with that little prick, but she believes she was. She believes it so strongly that she was willing to do whatever it took to see him be avenged, even though he had admitted that he would turn traitor in a heartbeat if it meant he could attain the power needed to 'avenge his clan'. She heard him admit that too, but still, it meant absolutely nothing to her. All she cares about is that Naruto killed her 'beloved Sasuke-kun' and for that, Naruto must pay." she said with a sigh soon following.
Inoichi frowned at this and looked into his wife's eyes. "Naruto...that poor boy. He's had to take the lives of two of his comrades in such a short amount of time. I can't help but wonder how he's holding up. First he has to kill his teammate, who was a traitor to the village. Then, he was ordered to kill Kiba Inuzuka for revealing an S-rank secret that was punishable by death. I'd be amazed if Naruto didn't have a breakdown after something like that. I think I might go and offer my services to the poor boy, see if he needs to sit down and talk for awhile and get everything off his chest. Kami knows it would do the boy a world of good to unload all of his pent up stress and built up emotions onto someone." he said, a small smile on his face.
Setsuna smiled at this and nodded her head. "That sounds like a marvelous idea dear. Though you'll probably want to speak with his caretaker, Miss Rose first. She seems mighty protective of him." she said with a giggle.
They both would have said more, but Ino walked into the house and called out that she was home. Blinking, both parents looked to each other in confusion. "She's been released from the hospital?" Setsuna asked.
Inoichi frowned and replied with, "I assumed that Hokage-sama would have kept her there for a while longer after placing the seals. I guess this is good news then…?" he asked unsurely.
His wife frowned and poked him hard in the shoulder. "You were complaining about not liking the idea of seals being placed on your lovable daughter earlier mister. Have you changed your mind so quickly?" she asked with a grin.
Inoichi frowned at the reminder before he simply sigh and gave a reluctant nod of his head as Ino walked into the room. "So long as I get to keep my baby girl, I'm happy." he said as he looked at his daughter. "Hi sweetie, how are you feeling?" he asked.
Ino blinked in confusion and looked at her parents curiously. "Did I miss something? Is there something going on?" she asked somewhat hesitantly.
Frowning at this, the blond male shook his head and smiled at his baby girl. "No dear. Your mother and I were just talking about some things. It's nothing worth concerning yourself about. Now, tell us, how are you feeling? Did you have a good day?"
Ino frowned and looked at her arm that was in a cast. "Well, the doctors say that my wrist was broken in a few places. They said it will take some time to heal. They're not quite sure how it happened. Neither am I for that matter." she explained, still confused about how her wrist ended up being broken. She didn't remember breaking it during her fight with Shino, so it must have happened sometime when she was in the hospital.
Shrugging her shoulders, she smiled at her parents and continued. "Anyways, I'm a little upset that I lost my match against Shino, but I've still got next time to become a Chunin, right? I just need to train harder and I can do it! I promised Hokage-sama that I would start training hard like a real shinobi and I plan to do it. No more dieting either, I swear. What was I thinking? I can't even remember why I started doing that in the first place." she said, unable to draw up the memory of why she started trying to pretty herself up in the first place. Sure she remembered Sasuke, but she didn't remember anything about her fangirl stage.
Setsuna and Inoichi looked shocked. Just what the hell had Jiraiya done to their daughter?! Before they could question her about it, Ino continued speaking. "And before you ask me about it, no, I'm not doing this for some guy. I'm getting serious finally for myself. I want to become a better kunoichi. I don't want to be held down anymore by whatever the heck I was doing before. Seriously, _ …."
Ino blinked as she found she couldn't talk all of the sudden. When she tried to talk about Sasuke, all that came out was dead silence. Inoichi and Setsuna immediately realized what she had tried to do and frowned as well. "I-Ino-chan…?" Setsuna questioned awkwardly.
Blinking a few more times in stupefaction, Ino began to experiment with this particular problem. "_ ….. _ ….. _ ….. _" It seemed that no matter how hard she tried to talk about Sasuke or anything relating to Sasuke, all that came out was silence. Perplexed by this, she ran her fingers over her throat and looked pleadingly to her parents for answers. Seeing them looking just as confused as she was, she asked, "Mom, Dad...why can't I talk about _….? I mean, I'm not really interested in the guy or anything, but seriously, I can't even say his name anymore or talk about anything he's done or whatever?! What the heck?!" she shouted out in confusion.
Inoichi looked to his wife for a moment before looking back to his daughter. "Sweetheart...I don't know. This...this might just be something you'll have to learn to live with honey. I wouldn't try to speak about him anymore though, if I was you. It might weird some people out." he advised.
His daughter released a heavy sigh and shook her head. "I'd rather figure out what the heck's going on and fix it, but if you say so Daddy, then whatever. It's better than focusing on _…. and why I can't say anything about him anyways. Now Naruto-kun, he's much more interesting!" she said in a giddy tone of voice. "I mean, he's got that really interesting transformation thing he does and he's powerful too! I wonder if he could teach me how to wield a spear too? Wouldn't that be something Daddy?!" she asked, absolutely giddy at the idea as she looked up into her father's eyes, her eyes practically sparkling with joy.
Setsuna and Inoichi were wide-eyed with shock. Looking at one another, they quickly came to the same realization. Oh shit. Jiraiya's seal had an unintended side effect!
Yep, while Ino was originally just supposed to speak positively about Naruto from now on...Jiraiya had accidentally caused the seal to swap her crush from Sasuke...onto Naruto instead. Boy wouldn't he be in for a surprise when he saw her next?
Setsuna and Inoichi both thought together, I'm going to kill that perverted son-of-a-bitch! How dare he do this to my sweet, baby girl?!
With Kurotsuchi - The Next Day
Kurotsuchi had just finished writing her letter to her grandfather and was looking it over for anything she might need to either correct or add in. Once she was sure it was properly finished, she read over it one last time just to see how it sounded.
"Hey Grandpa,
First, I wanted to let you know that Akatsuchi and I made it into the finals of the Chunin Exams here in Konoha. So, y'know, that's good and all. We've got one month to train for the final exam, so I'm going to use that time wisely to prepare for my match against Gaara from Sunagakure. My new friend, Naruto-kun, has told me that he's the Jinchuriki of the Ichibi, so I want to be fully prepared for when I fight him so I can beat that psychotic bastard!
Now for the real reason why I'm writing you like this. Grandpa, I know this is going to sound absolutely insane, but I'm writing you to request that you let me transfer to Konoha to be a kunoichi in their service. I know, I've always wanted to be Tsuchikage, and I still do! But that dream will just have to be put on the backburner for now! You're probably wondering why I'm asking this of you, so I'll give you the truth. Knowing you, you won't accept anything else but the truth, so I won't give you some half-assed lie or some kind of half-truth. You deserve that much as my Grandfather and my Tsuchikage after all. But you cannot, under any circumstance, tell anyone about this! I cannot stress that enough Grandpa!
Thanks to Naruto-kun, I have become something called a Dragoon. More specifically, I have become the Golden Dragoon, or the Dragoon of Earth. Which is fitting considering I come from Tsuchi no Kuni which is full of Earth Release users. I'm not really the best person to explain what a Dragoon is, but I'll explain what I can.
You see Gramps, Dragoons are special people chosen by these items called Dragoon Spirits that existed over 100,000 years ago. My new friend Rose-san is one of the original Dragoons from that time, but don't call her old because she haaaaates that. I made that mistake and her reaction was scary as Hell! Anyways, Dragoons first came into existence to combat a race known as Winglies that were subjugating Humans. It was a nasty war and things were really bad. The big baddie behind everything though was this really bad Wingly known as Melbu Frahma.
Anyways, skip ahead 11,000 years after that war and Rose, who was still around due to this choker thing she wore, she had been killing something called the Moon Child whenever it would appear because, if the Moon Child were to ever awaken its powers, it could and would be used to help revive Melbu Frahma again or something. I'm not too sure on the specifics. Something about a Virage Embryo and things like that...it's all pretty confusing to me. You'd really have to talk to Rose-san about it Grandpa. But suffice it to say, if Rose-san didn't kill the Moon Child each time it appeared, Melbu Frahma would be able to return and it would be all kinds of bad!
Continuing on...as I said, 11,000 years had passed with Rose-san killing Moon Child after Moon Child, with her becoming known as something called the Black Monster in the process. She ended up meeting new people and these people she traveled with each became new Dragoons. Dart, the Red-Eyed (or Fire) Dragoon. Lavitz, and then when Lavitz died, King Albert, the Jade (or Wind) Dragoons. Shana, the Moon Child herself, and then Miranda, the White-Silver (or Light) Dragoons. Haschel, the Violet (or Thunder/Lightning) Dragoon. Meru, a Wingly, the Blue-Sea (or Water) Dragoon. And Kongol, a Giganto, the Golden (or Earth) Dragoon. Rose-san, herself, is the Dark (naturally Darkness) Dragoon. Later on, Dart became the Divine (or Non-Elemental) Dragoon in place of the Fire Dragoon.
As you can see, there are eight Dragoon Spirits in total, and therefore there are a total of eight elements. Fire and Water combat each other. Wind and Earth. Light and Dark. Thunder is essentially a neutral element. The same could be said about Non-Elemental as well. But that is not important right now. What is important is explaining to you that, as you can see from what I just wrote, Rose-san missed a Moon Child this time around: Shana. Her powers awakened on their journey and Melbu Frahma ended up returning to the land of the living.
It was a long, hard fought battle, but eventually they won and finished him off for good. Rose-san was supposed to be allowed to simply rest after that and finally be allowed to be with her lover, Zieg. But they had this foreboding feeling that all was not over yet. That something was going to happen sometime far off into the future. So, Rose sealed herself away and fell into a deep slumber, not to awaken for almost 90,000 years.
Naruto-kun was the one to find her and awaken her. I don't know if I should be telling you this or not Grandpa, but he's the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi and he was abused something awful growing up here. The villagers tried to kill him and ended up burying him in the cave that led to Rose-san's tomb. When Naruto found her, he found the weapons of the previous Dragoons as well as the eight Dragoon Spirits. Naruto-kun became the new Jade Dragoon, the Dragoon of Wind.
Rose-san awakened after this happened and together, they collected all the remaining weapons and Dragoon Spirits and left the tomb. Together with the Sandaime Hokage, they have deduced that a new Moon Child has been born, but they don't know the purpose of this new Moon Child as Melbu Frahma is gone for good. The previous incarnations of the Dragoons saw to that. On top of that, there has to be some reason that the Dragoons are being called forth again. But again, we are unaware of what our purpose actually is. So until that time comes, we are training together and getting used to these weapons that the previous incarnations of the Dragoons used. We want to honor their memories and use these weapons as they once did. Though, trying to use a Giganto's mighty axe is kind of hard, I have to admit.
Anyways, my point is, I want to stay here and live with my fellow Dragoons Grandpa. They need me and I need them. We can't be split up. We have an important mission to carry out, even if we don't yet know what it is. I hope you can understand that. And, regardless of what you decide, you should know me well enough by now to know that I'll just do this anyways, regardless of what you want. So you might as well just sign off on this.
~Love you Grandpa, Kurotsuchi"
Satisfied with her letter, Kurotsuchi nodded and rolled it up nice and neatly. She'd show Rose, but she had a feeling Rose would disapprove of all the information she had included. Rose could be waaay too uptight sometimes. Besides, she knew she could trust her grandpa not to go blabbing this information to anyone.
Leaving her room, she walked downstairs and waved to everyone. "I'm off. I'm going to send this letter off to Grandpa and then I'll be back. I want to continue training with that axe and my new powers. Gotta get used to being a Dragoon now after all." she said with a grin.
Naruto smiled at her and waved. "Alright. Take care Kuro-chan. See you when you get back." he said before watching her leave through the front door. When he turned back around, he saw Rose staring at him with a quirked brow. "What?"
Rose sighed and shook her head. "Why do you call her 'Kuro-chan' Naruto?"
Naruto shrugged and replied with, "I dunno. Kurotsuchi's kind of a long name, so I just shortened it to Kuro-chan. It's just easier I guess?" he said.
Rose chuckled and nodded her head. "That's so like you Naruto. Come, we should continue your training." and with that, she led Naruto outside. She wanted to see if she could help Naruto learn some more Additions before the finals. That and she wanted to see if he could use that unique mind of his to create any new magic spells.
Hokage's Office - Same Time
Asuma looked at his father, barely able to force himself to look him in the eyes. He was ashamed of himself for failing his team so horribly. Sure they had made it to through the first two stages of the Chunin Exams, and that was something to be proud of, but not one of his students had made it through the preliminary rounds. To be perfectly honest, Asuma felt like he had failed his team spectacularly, especially when it came to Ino. Sakura was a wonderful student and Genin and has taken to her training splendidly, while Choji was a bit harder to motivate, but he trained well enough. However, Ino...well...she was another story altogether.
Hiruzen took a drag of his pipe and motioned for his son to have a seat. Watching as Asuma did so, the Sandaime Hokage released a heavy sigh and shook his head. "Son, I want to first say that your team did well on making it through the first two stages of the Chunin Exams. However...their performance in the preliminaries concerns me. More than that, Ino was a loose cannon and acted completely irrationally and without any control of herself! I had hoped that you would have been able to curb the fangirl in her and turn her into a real kunoichi, someone worth respecting, but you failed to do so. But you are not solely to blame for this. Ino's parents were unable to correct that behavior in her either and they had been trying for years." The Sandaime Hokage said with a heavy sigh.
"Sakura has turned into a competent kunoichi under your guidance, however, and I must commend you for that. You've done a good job with her, so I am looking forward to seeing how things progress from here on with you as her sensei." Hiruzen complimented. "However, Choji was a bit of a disappointment. He is unmotivated unless you dangle food in front of his face, and even then his current skill set will only take him so far. I need you to impress upon him the importance of training hard and taking his ninja career seriously! You need to stop taking it easy on your students Asuma and get serious in your training of them! I should not have had to get involved and dealt with the Ino situation myself! That should have been your responsibility!" Hiruzen shouted out furiously.
When Asuma looked about ready to say something in response, the Hokage slammed his fist on the desk and leveled such a ferocious glare upon his son that it froze Asuma Sarutobi cold. "Ino is no longer a threat to this village because of what I've done. As the Hokage, I've done what needed to be done. You were too lax in both your training of her and in your handling of her. If she is to remain on your team, you will begin training her, Choji, and Sakura seriously from this point forward. You will instill the values all shinobi should uphold into them. You will make them sweat. You will make them bleed. You will make them regret ever thinking they could take it easy once they became ninja. Is. This. Understood?" the Sandaime Hokage asked, continuing to glare into his son's eyes.
The bearded Jonin quivered in his seat. He had never seen his father like this before! And the look that was on his face right now? It had never been directed at him before now. To be perfectly honest, he was scared shitless and he didn't like this feeling one fucking bit! After a few brief, silent moments however, Asuma realized he had to give some form of response and slowly nodded his head. "I...I understand Pops...I mean Hokage-sama!" he quickly corrected himself. The man before him was most certainly not his father in this moment. No, this man was his Hokage, a man that you should show your respect to and, most importantly, obey. "I promise that I'll turn things around and become a proper sensei to my team. But...may I please ask what you did regarding Ino? She seemed dead set on slandering Naruto's name even further than it already has been due to his status. I thought for sure she was going to incite a riot."
Hiruzen sighed and shook his head, rubbing at the bridge of his nose. "I suppose as her sensei, it is your right to know. Very well then Asuma, I shall tell you. I had Jiraiya-kun place seals on Ino to prevent her from speaking about Sasuke and to alter her memories of certain things and events in the past. Just as well, she can no longer speak about Naruto in a negative light."
Asuma blinked and nodded his head in stupefaction. It sounded simple enough, but in reality the seals behind such a thing had to be complex as Hell. "Damn Hokage-sama, I can't even imagine how long it would have taken to come up with the seals required for something like that."
The Sandaime chuckled and shook his head. "For Jiraiya it didn't take all that long, believe it or not. Then again, I did impress upon him the need to hurry. Seeing as he had only a matter of days to create the seals, I'd say he did a remarkable job."
Asuma nodded his head in agreement. "Let's just hope that they work as they're supposed to and don't have any unintended side effects." he said, unaware that the seals did, in fact, have one unfortunate side effect that Ino's parents had found out firsthand just recently.
Hiruzen sighed and nodded his head. "Let us hope indeed."
It was at this point that Jiraiya popped in through the window and looked at his sensei. "Umm...sensei? Ino's parents are on the warpath. They've been hunting for me since this morning. I think something happened with the seals."
At hearing this, the Hokage facepalmed before letting out an agonized groan. "Any idea what could have gone wrong Jiraiya-kun?"
Jiraiya frowned at this and shook his head. "Not a clue. Whatever's wrong, I'm sure we'll find out soon though." he said as the door was flung open and both Inoichi and Setsuna stomped into the room, pointing their fingers at Jiraiya angrily.
"You! What have you done to our daughter?!" Setsuna exclaimed angrily.
Jiraiya frowned at this and quirked a brow in curiosity. "You know what I did Setsuna. You gave me the go ahead to put the seals on her. But I'm assuming something unexpected happen. So...what went wrong?" he asked, genuinely curious about what could have happened.
Hiruzen and Asuma were wondering exactly what went wrong as well. Before the two parents could explode on Jiraiya, Hiruzen released some of his killing intent and looked at them. "Before you explode on Jiraiya, I want the two of you to calm down and take a seat. You need to think rationally here and blowing up in my office will do no one any good. Is this understood?"
Shivering in fright from this act, Inoichi and his wife nodded slowly and quietly took a seat on the nearby couch. When the Hokage lifted his killing intent, Inoichi decided to explain. "The seals worked. But unfortunately, they had the unintended side effect of switching Ino's crush on Sasuke over to Naruto. She's fawning over Naruto now and is talking about how cool he is and how she wants him to teach her how to use a spear and...well...it's strange. She wants to start taking her ninja career seriously, but she also wants to impress Naruto. Ino wants Naruto now. As in really wants him." he said, a bit disturbed by what he was saying.
The other three men's eyebrows shot up damn near into their hairlines from the shock they were feeling. Asuma was the one to speak up. "But how is something like that possible?! The seal used was just supposed to make her speak positively about Naruto from now on instead of negatively. It wasn't supposed to cause...well...that!"
Jiraiya sighed and shook his head. "That's the problem with seals Asuma. They're tricky things and even the smallest mistake can cause unintended side effects. What I don't understand is how this happened. I quadruple-checked the seals before I applied them. I made sure that everything was right." Reaching up to stroke at his chin, Jiraiya began to pace throughout the room, trying to figure out this mystery.
"Hmmm...since the seal prevents her from speaking about Sasuke, and we altered some of her memories...what if her feelings for Sasuke were so strong that they couldn't just go away? What if they just had to go somewhere? So...they transferred to the other person connected to the seal? Sasuke and Naruto were the two key people designated by the seals after all, so that's the best I can think of." Jiraiya surmised.
Blinking at this, Setsuna looked at Jiraiya with a disbelieving look on her face. "Can seals really change how a person feels about people though? That sounds a little far-fetched to me Jiraiya-sama."
Jiraiya sighed at this and shook his head. "Believe me, you'd be surprised at what all seals can do to people Setsuna. They've got so many uses and purposes it's insane. So trust me when I say that this is entirely possible. The big problem now is the fact that I have no idea how to fix this without removing the seals completely, and I'm not going to do that. That would put the village and my godson at risk. I hope you can forgive me for this." he said, giving them a stern look that told him he wasn't going to change his mind on this matter.
Inoichi looked pleadingly at Jiraiya before turning to the Hokage. "Then what are we supposed to do? This isn't right Hokage-sama! Ino-chan should be free to choose who she loves, shouldn't she? This seal is making her have false feelings for a boy she felt nothing for! It's not right!"
Hiruzen sighed and shook his head. "Inoichi, Setsuna, these feelings are nothing more than a crush right now. Ino is still free to fall in love with whomever she wants. If these feelings she has for Naruto do turn to love, then she is free to pursue that love all she wants. That is her choice. She doesn't have to act on these feelings, nor should you try to stop her if she chooses to. It's entirely up to her. She is her own person and should be allowed to make up her own mind about what she wants to do with her life. I would recommend giving it time and seeing where things lead. Naruto is a good person, and I know he would treat her right if things led down that road. But I don't think it will come to that. However, I could be wrong. You never know." he said with a casual shrug of his shoulders.
The blond Yamanaka clan head stared at his leader in disbelief, unable to comprehend what he had just been told. While he wanted to protest, he knew doing so would just end badly for him. So he just sighed and reluctantly nodded his head. If nothing else, he could at least give Naruto the 'talk' that all fathers gave to any would-be suitors that tried to date their daughters. Scaring him might make him feel a little better at the very least.
Setsuna sighed to herself and shrunk into the couch, unable to comprehend what had just transpired. They had come here in the hopes of helping their baby girl, only to find out that nothing could be done. Now, they either had to wait and hope that she grew out of this ridiculous crush on Naruto...or they'd soon be seeing him as their new son-in-law. Sure they could do worse, but…
As if sensing her thoughts, Hiruzen quirked a brow and looked at her. "Is there something you want to say about Naruto-kun, Setsuna?"
Setsuna blinked and looked at the Hokage. "What? Oh, no Hokage-sama. It's just...he's already with two women. I just don't want to see my baby girl end up in a polygamous relationship like that. It's not like he can marry more than one of them unless...wait…"
Hiruzen nodded once and said, "Yes, Naruto-kun qualifies for the CRA. I have yet to enact it on him yet because I didn't feel it was necessary at the time, but seeing as he seems to be attracting a plethora of young women to his side, and seeing as he seems to have fallen in love with more than one woman...I might need to pull him in soon and explain to him that, as the last of the Uzumaki clan, he is required to take more than one wife. I think young Haku will be quite happy with this, but I am unsure as to how Rose-san will take this news." he said with a chuckle. "But yes, as you can see, he is more than able to take Ino as his wife if that day were to come."
Setsuna sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "That both relieves me and worries me at the same time Hokage-sama. I want her to find a nice man to settle down with, but I dearly hoped she'd be his only love at the same time. I never expected her to have to share." she said before giggling a bit. "But...she could do worse. Naruto is a nice young man."
Inoichi on the other hand looked as if his soul was leaving his body. He was envisioning his sweet baby girl getting married to Naruto alongside at least twenty other women and each one of them was pregnant with a multitude of babies growing inside of them. Let it be known that the man had a wild imagination.
After a moment of waiting for a response from her husband, Setsuna stomped on his foot and watched with satisfaction as he screamed in pain before looking around the room frantically, trying to remember where he was and what was happening. When he remembered what they had been talking about, he began to weep. "My sweet baby girl! Growing up and getting married! I don't want it!" he cried.
The rest of the men in the room sweatdropped at this and watched as his wife tried to console him. They really had no idea what the hell to say to the man to soothe his worries. So, instead, they turned back to each other and nodded once. "So, I'll just go ahead and get to training my team then, huh Pops?" Asuma said with a smile as he rose from his chair. "Good meeting. I'll just leave you to it." he said before leaving the office with a wave.
Jiraiya looked at his sensei and then at the weeping Inoichi and his wife. Turning back to his sensei, he offered an awkward smile before leaping out the window and shouting, "Got some research to do! Have fun!" and like that, he was out of sight.
Hiruzen, cursing in his head about the betrayal of both his son and his student, looked towards Inoichi and his wife and sighed. Asuma, Jiraiya, I will get you both back for this, mark my words.
With a sigh, the aged Hokage pointed towards his door and said, somewhat coldly, "Setsuna, I really need to get back to work. Can you please take your husband out of my office? His crying will only serve as a distraction that I really don't need right now."
Setsuna looked at her Hokage to see him staring at her with a deadpan expression. Sweatdropping at this, the kindhearted woman nodded once before helping her husband up from the couch and guiding him out of the office. Before she left, she looked to the Hokage with a smile. "Thank you Hokage-sama. Have a nice day." and with that, she and her husband left, leaving Hiruzen to his work.
Once they were gone, the Sandaime Hokage sighed and got back to work, sighing as he did. I swear this job never gets any easier. He thought to himself as he let his mind drift away to happier times for him.
One Week Later - Sakura
Sakura groaned as she rolled herself over onto her back, panting and heaving as she tried to regain her breath. Asuma had been pushing her, Ino, and Choji so much harder lately and the three of them were completely wiped. Right now she couldn't so much as stand. She was lucky she could so much as roll over, she was in that much agony.
For some reason she couldn't understand, Asuma had started pushing them so much harder than he used to. He was stricter, he was meaner, and he was tougher on them than ever before. Poor Choji...when he had complained about it on the first day, he had his snacks all taken away from him and was forced to watch as Asuma burned them all to cinders right in front of him. Ever since then, Choji had learned to just suck it up and do as he was told. Occasionally though, if he didn't understand something, he would ask a question, and Asuma was still kind enough to respond with an appropriate answer, so he wasn't being too much of a hardass on them.
Ino though, she was the biggest surprise. She took to all this training like a damn sponge to water. She relished in it. She was happy she was receiving all this harsh training and wanted more of it! The perky blonde wanted to get as strong as possible as fast as possible! It was peculiar and she was acting very strange lately. Just the other day she was talking about how she was going to tell the whole village about how Naruto had killed her precious 'Sasuke-kun', and now here she was, chipper as could be, wanting to train her ass off to become a Grade A kunoichi?! What the hell had gotten into her?!
Eventually, Sakura was able to stand up and, when she did, she saw Asuma walking over to the three of them. "Alright team, that's enough for the day. Why don't you go get something to eat and then head on home or something? You've more than earned it." he said with a smile on his face.
Sakura smiled thankfully at him and started walking away, albeit a little slower than she would have liked. Her legs felt like jelly at the moment after all.
After reaching the village, she heard Ino calling her name. Turning around, she watched as Ino caught up to her and placed her hand on her shoulder. "Hey Sakura-chan, mind if we go and get something to eat together? Like old times? I want to try and rekindle our friendship." she said.
Sakura blinked at this and nodded slowly. "Um...okay, sure." she said, unsure what brought this on, but she was more than willing to do this if it meant finding out more about what the bloody Hell had gotten into Ino lately!
The place Ino led them to really set off warning bells in Sakura's head that something really strange was going on. Ino had led them to Ramen Ichiraku, Naruto's favorite place to eat in the village! Stepping inside with her blond teammate and friend, Sakura took a seat and turned to her. "Okay Ino, what's going on? Why did you bring me here of all places?"
Ino frowned at her friend and looked her square in the eyes. "Why not? Like I said, I want to rekindle our friendship and I'm hungry. I'm sure you are too, aren't you? So let's eat up. Besides, I heard this is Naruto-kun's favorite place to eat. I want to see what's so great about this place. I've been wanting to try it for a while now!" she said giddily.
Sakura's eyes widened epically at this and her mouth hung open. Had Ino really just called Naruto 'Naruto-kun'?! And the way she talked about him just now! It sounded like she was talking about her crush! Oh dear God! Ino had really lost it! Her friend had gone so far off the deep end that she'd finally snapped! "Oh Kami Ino, I'm so sorry! I didn't realize it had gotten so bad for you. I know Naruto-kun killing Sasuke hit you hard, but this...to force your feelings for Sasuke onto Naruto-kun like this…"
Covering her mouth and quivering in horror, Sakura shook her head back and forth repeatedly for a time before wrapping Ino up in a tight hug. "Poor, poor Ino-chan. You're projecting your feelings for Sasuke onto Naruto-kun now because of what happened, aren't you? You've really lost all sense of reality, haven't you? You're taking your training seriously now, you've snapped out of your fangirl state, you're...you're eating healthily again, you've changed so much and it's all because Naruto was forced to kill Sasuke like that. You're so traumatized by what happened that it's changed who you are!"
Blinking at this, Ino shook her head and gently wrapped her arms around Sakura and patted her back. "Sakura-chan, I don't care about _…. . What makes you think I ever liked him like that anyways? Now Naruto-kun on the other hand…" Giggling to herself, Ino squealed before reaching up and putting her hands on her cheeks and squirming on her stool. "He's so cool! He's also got those cute whisker marks on his face that I just want to touch so badly! And the way he wields that spear of his…" Giggling some more, Ino looked into Sakura's eyes, her own sparkling just like they did with her father. "I want to see if he'll teach me how to wield a spear too Sakura-chan! I want to get closer to Naruto-kun."
Sakura was flabbergasted. Here Ino was, rambling on and on about Naruto-kun this and Naruto-kun that. But there was also something that stuck out to her. When Ino went to say Sasuke's name, no sound came out. Curious about this, she decided to ask her friend about it. "Ino-chan, how come you didn't say Sasuke's name? Is there something wrong?"
Ino frowned and shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I just can't talk about him for some reason. I think something might have happened while I was in the hospital. Some kind of head trauma or something. Whatever it is, I can't say _…. or talk about specific things regarding him at all. Things like the _….._….._…._…._ and _…._…._…._ for instance." Ino tried to explain.
Sakura blinked at this and tried to think of why this could be. It was then, at this point, that realization struck her. Seals! Someone must have put seals on Ino-chan! That would explain the fact that she can't speak about Sasuke at all! But what about everything else? Seals are a huge unknown by many people, so I suppose they could cause a drastic change in someone like this, but the question is...who would put seals on Ino-chan and why?
Thinking on it for a short time, Sakura came to a realization and nearly facepalmed at her stupidity. Of course! Hokage-sama must have put them on her himself or had Jiraiya-sama put them on. That's the only likely situation I can come up with. It was either that or risk her starting a riot, and he wouldn't allow that to happen. I can't tell her the truth. It wouldn't be good to start a panic. I just...have to deal with it I guess. This is going to be so weird. She thought to herself.
It was at this point that Sakura came to a realization. Wait, Ino's interested in Naruto-kun now! Does this mean she's my rival for Naruto-kun's affections now as well?! Where the hell's the fairness in that?! I've been interested in him for far longer than she has! Damn you Ino-chan! She thought angrily.
"Hello, earth to Sakura-chan!" Ino exclaimed, waving her hand in front of Sakura's face. "Ayame's been trying to ask what you want to eat for a while now. You've been spacing out for quite a while now. Is everything okay?"
Sakura blinked and looked around at everyone before slowly nodding. "Huh? Oh...y-yeah...I'm fine. Just...thinking is all." she said before placing her order and turning back to Ino. "Just so you know, if you want Naruto-kun, you're going to have to share him, you realize that, don't you?"
Ino frowned at this, but nodded reluctantly and released a soft sigh. "Right. He's got both Rose-san and Haku-san after all. It's not like he'd just up and leave them for the likes of us, right?" she asked.
Sakura blinked at this and asked, "Us?"
Ino smirked at her friend and poked her in her forehead. "Yes, us. Don't think I haven't seen how you look at him Sakura-chan. Naruto-kun's a great guy and I think I'd rather share him with you than compete with you for him. I don't want to lose our friendship over a guy."
Sakura continued to blink before a smile formed on her face. Okay, maybe these seals really are a good thing after all. She thought before nodding her head in agreement. "Agreed. I guess we'll just have to go after him together then." she agreed before smiling when their orders arrived. "How does after the Chunin Exams are over sound? 'Cause I don't think we want to bother him while he's busy training." she suggested.
Ino smirked and looked at Sakura. "Awww, you don't want to see if you can get him to take us on a date before then? You're no fun." she said teasingly. "Alright, I agree. We'll wait until after the finals are over before we strike." she said conspiratorially.
Sakura giggled at this and shook her head. "You make it sound like we're vipers getting ready to swallow our prey or something Ino-chan."
Ino simply smirked a little wider at her friend and nodded her head. "Aren't we though? Naruto-kun will be ours after all. It's only a matter of time. I guarantee it."
Two Days Later - Naruto
Naruto arrived at Inoichi's home as the older gentleman had requested of him earlier in the week precisely at the time he was supposed to meet him. It was 2:00 in the afternoon and he had taken the afternoon off from training so he could meet with the man. Naruto sincerely hoped that this would be worth the trip, otherwise he would be sorely disappointed. He had no idea what Inoichi wanted with him, but he was about to find out.
Knocking on the front door, Naruto waited patiently for someone to let him in. When the door opened, Naruto was surprised to see Ino standing there with a bright smile on her face. He was even more surprised when she leaped at him and threw her arms around him in a hug. "Naruto-kun! You came to see me?! I'm so happy right now I could die! How have you been? Have you been doing well?! Ooooh! How's training going? Do you think you're ready to take on Neji yet? I bet you could probably kick his butt right now, right?"
She would have said more, but Naruto had put his finger to her lips and silenced her. Staring into her eyes, he couldn't help but lean his head back to get a better look at her. "Um...Ino? Are you okay? Didn't you want to, I dunno...get revenge on me for killing Sasuke?"
Blinking, Ino tilted her head cutely to the side, making Naruto want to shout out 'kawaii!', but he refrained from doing so. Staring hard into Naruto's eyes, Ino put her fists against her hips and said in a lecturing tone, "Naruto-kun, you listen to me right now. _…._…._…._ You did what you had to do. You did the right thing. We all understand that. I mean, duh, _…._…._ you know? So buck up Naruto-kun!" she said cheerfully.
Naruto blinked once and then blinked twice more. Ino was talking, he could see that and hear it just fine, but there were definitely long periods where her lips would be moving and no sound would come out. He wasn't seeing and/or hearing things here, of that he was sure of. So, something strange had definitely happened to Ino since he had last seen her in the preliminaries and it had caused a drastic change in her personality.
"Umm...Ino?" Naruto started, unsure how to phrase what he wanted to ask next. So, deciding to just say 'screw it', he went with it. "Do you have a crush on me?"
Ino turned an atomic shade of red and you could practically see steam shooting out of her ears. Glancing away, Naruto could see her starting to fidget nervously. She seemed the vision of a shy schoolgirl standing before her first, big crush. When Ino finally looked Naruto in the eyes again, she nodded slowly and spoke up in a shy tone of voice. "Y-Y-Yes Naruto-kun. I do. I-Is that a problem?"
Naruto sighed and rubbed at the back of his head. "Umm...it's not really a problem. It's just...confusing. That's all. Look, can we talk about this later Ino? I'm kinda here to see your dad actually. He called me over here for some reason and it sounded pretty important. Do you have any idea what it could be about?"
Ino frowned and shook her head. "I don't have any idea Naruto-kun. And...I'm sorry if I'm bothering you any Naruto-kun. I know you're in love with Rose-san and Haku already, so it might be awkward to think about my feelings and all, but…" Fidgeting awkwardly again, Ino placed her hand gently upon Naruto's cheek and leaned in, placing her lips tenderly upon Naruto's cheek before pulling away again. "Just know that I'm here waiting for you. Okay?"
Naruto blushed and nodded his head slowly. "I...um...understood Ino. Thank you." he said before Ino led him inside. Following her to her dad's study, he watched as she knocked on the door. When Inoichi gave them permission to enter, Naruto opened the door and walked in with Ino beside him. "Hello Inoichi-san. I'm here, as you requested."
Inoichi smiled and nodded his head in greeting before putting down some papers he was looking over. "Hello Naruto-kun. It's good to see you. Ino, honey, would you mind giving us some privacy? Naruto-kun and I need to speak about private matters."
Ino nodded once and gave Naruto another kiss on the cheek goodbye, causing him to blush just a tad more. "Bye Naruto-kun! Have fun talking with Daddy!" she said before skipping out of the room, closing the door behind her.
Once it was closed, Naruto turned to Inoichi and asked, "Okay, what the hell has happened to Ino?"
Inoichi sighed and facepalmed. Before saying anything, he formed a quick hand seal before slapping his palms on his desk and activated the silencing seals around the room. Once that was done, he looked at Naruto and groaned out, "Jiraiya happened, Naruto. Jiraiya happened. Hokage-sama had Jiraiya-sama put seals on my daughter to prevent her from speaking about Sasuke and to keep her from slandering your name any further. It also altered her memories somewhat. However, as an unintended side effect, her crush on Sasuke became a crush on you instead. Now I have nothing against you Naruto-kun. In fact, I like you a lot, you're a good kid. You're smart, you're well-raised, you're kind, you're everything I'd like for a son-in-law someday, but this is my Ino-chan we're talking about here. As a father, I want to see her be able to choose for herself who she wants to be with, you know? I don't want some seal making the decision for her. But...it is what it is. It's up to you to decide what you will do about this Naruto-kun. If you decide to give my Ino-chan a chance...then it's up to you. If you want to break my baby girl's heart...that is also your choice. I won't be happy about it, but I won't fault you for it, considering all she's done to you in the past." the father explained.
Sighing, the older blonde shook his head and looked calmly at the younger man before him. "But, that is not why I called you here today Naruto-kun. Yes, it was important that I get that off my chest, and yes, I wanted you to hear me out about my feelings regarding Ino and your relationship with her, but no, that was not the focus of this particular meeting."
Leaning back in his chair, Inoichi motioned for Naruto to take a seat. When Naruto had done so, the Yamanaka clan head continued on. "Naruto-kun, I called you here today because I am concerned about you as a psychologist. You've been through a lot recently and you haven't really been given the time to come down from it all in a healthy way just yet. Do you know what I'm referencing?"
Naruto nodded his head and released a heavy sigh. "Yes, I do. You're talking about when I killed Sasuke and Kiba. And when I had to fight off Orochimaru. And killing those Oto nin as well. Kami, none of it has been easy." Naruto replied.
Inoichi nodded as a frown appeared on his face. "I would imagine so. Let's begin with the first exam Naruto-kun. When you arrived at the academy, how were you feeling?"
Naruto sighed and looked down at his hands which were folded in his lap. "Well...I was excited. I was also a little nervous. Just the previous night, I had just confessed to Rose-chan how I felt about her and she told me that if I did well in the Exams, she'd have an answer for me about how she felt for me. So...yeah, I guess I was excited and eager to begin." he explained.
The Yamanaka clan head nodded in thought at this and began to jot down notes in a notepad he had lying before him on his desk. "Alright. Now, what I want you to do is walk me through everything that happened up until you encountered Orochimaru in the Forest of Death. I want to know what you felt, what you sensed around you, how you reacted to others, how others reacted to you, don't leave anything out, okay Naruto-kun?"
Naruto nodded and began to tell Inoichi everything he could about what he remembered. How Sasuke, being the moron he was, spilled the beans about the very first test in the exams being a genjutsu on the second floor of the academy meant to wean out the weaker teams. How he, Naruto, used one of his original spells to cheat and how it exhausted him so badly he had to rest afterwards. How the entire time, Kurotsuchi kept glaring at him because of how much he looked like his father, the Yondaime Hokage, though at the time he wasn't aware that that is why she kept glaring at him. Then finally how his team was given the rule of having to collect three scrolls instead of just the two that others were given because of having an extra member on their team.
By the time he had finished, Inoichi hummed to himself and nodded. "Alright Naruto-kun, that's good. Now, what do you remember about your fight with Orochimaru? In specific, I want you to remember the interactions he had with Sasuke and yourself. As hard as it may be, I want you to forget about your teammates in this situation and focus entirely on yourself and Sasuke. What did Orochimaru do?"
Naruto frowned at this and rubbed at his chin in thought. "Well...I fought him with everything I had. I unleashed my Leaf Hurricane Addition on him a number of times, but it didn't stop him. Sasuke tried to fight him too, but he didn't exactly help much. When Orochimaru struck, he inflicted Sasuke with his curse mark first and whispered something in his ear...that's when I saw him slip something into Sasuke's pocket. That must have been when he gave Sasuke the Red-Eyed Dragoon Spirit!" Naruto shouted out in realization. Calming down, he coughed awkwardly and looked Inoichi in the eyes again. "Sorry. Anyways, I transformed into a Dragoon and attempted to fight Orochimaru on even footing, but no matter what I did...it didn't work. Orochimaru then got me with the curse mark as well before he fled. I forced myself to stay awake long enough to get my team to safety and proceeded to put up a series of complex traps all around the clearing we were in to keep us safe from harm while I slept." he explained.
Inoichi nodded as he jotted down this information as well. "Now comes the hard part Naruto-kun. Did your curse mark influence you to kill Sasuke? Or had the Kyuubi already purged you of the curse mark before you chose to kill him?"
Naruto sighed at this and nodded his head slowly. "The curse mark influenced me to torture Sasuke. Killing him on the other hand was a fully conscious decision on my part. I questioned Sasuke on a number of things and, upon determining that he was going to betray the village to go and join Orochimaru, I ended his life as is my duty as a Konohagakure shinobi. I do not regret my decision. But it hurts to have to have done something like that."
Inoichi sighed and nodded his head. "I see. Might I ask how you came to this determination?"
Naruto shrugged his shoulders and said, "I asked Sasuke a few simple questions based on what Orochimaru said to me when he gave me the curse mark. I asked Sasuke if Orochimaru gave him the same offer. Go to him and get power enough to kill his brother. And when Sasuke confirmed that yes, he was given said offer, I asked if Sasuke would accept the offer, and when he confirmed that he would, that is when I chose to kill him. It was as simple as that."
Nodding in acceptance of this, Inoichi jotted this down in his notepad and smiled kindly at the young man before him. "Then it's a job well done Naruto-kun. However, that brings us to your match in the preliminaries against Kiba. I hear that he released the information of what you hold to everyone present. Do you have any idea how he came to possess such knowledge?"
Naruto sighed and shook his head. "I'm afraid I am unaware of how Kiba found out. Whoever told him likely knows that he's dead now and is probably hiding away somewhere in the hopes that they won't be found out." he said sadly.
Inoichi sighed as well and shook his head. "A shame then. I'm truly sorry you had to take the life of another one of your graduating classmates Naruto-kun. I also heard that you hesitated to kill him, despite being given orders to do so by your Hokage, no less. Why is that Naruto-kun?"
Twitching at this, Naruto clenched his fists against his legs and unclenched them a few times as he tried to calm his nerves. Eventually, he released a sigh and stared into Inoichi's eyes with a dead look on his face. "I...didn't want to have to take the life of another comrade ever again. I had just killed Sasuke and I felt guilty enough for doing so. Having to kill Kiba too would weigh too heavily on my conscience. Sasuke had nobody waiting for him, but Kiba had family. Kiba has a mother and a sister, Kiba had Akamaru, Kiba….Kiba had friends! Kiba had a life! What I did was wrong!" Naruto cried out as tears streamed down his face.
Inoichi dropped his pencil and quickly rushed around his desk, pulling Naruto into a tight hug. "No Naruto! No! You did what you had to do. You did your duty! You did the right thing in both situations and you should be proud of yourself for it! Kiba's family will understand! They already do! I promise you that they will not and do not hate you for what happened! They are grieving, but they do not blame you for what happened!" he exclaimed, trying to calm the boy down.
Naruto's eyes widened at this and he slowly began to calm down. Looking into Inoichi's eyes, he asked, "T-They don't? But...but…"
"But nothing Naruto-kun. Tsume and Hana Inuzuka are shinobi of this village and understand its laws just as we do Naruto-kun. They are in mourning, as well they should be, but they have no reason to bear a grudge against you for doing your duty to the village Naruto-kun. In fact, I think it would do you some good to go and talk with the both of them soon. It would help with your healing process." Inoichi suggested. "If it helps, Rose-san and I will both go with you when you speak to them. Does that sound good to you Naruto-kun?" Inoichi suggested with a smile on his face.
Naruto allowed a smile to creep onto his face as tears continued to fall. "I...I think I'd like that very much. Thank you Inoichi-san. When? When should we do this?"
Inoichi smiled at his young friend and rose to his feet once again, patting the younger man on the head. "As soon as possible Naruto-kun. Preferably within the next week or so. We can't hold off on doing something like this, or else these negative feelings of yours will only eat away at you and cause you to suffer more for something that was beyond your control. Things in life are never easy Naruto-kun. We may wish them to be, and sometimes things may seem easy, but oftentimes, harsh times are just around the corner. We just need to be able to weather the hard times when they come and survive. Does that make sense?"
Naruto nodded and smiled at Inoichi. "Yeah, it does. Thank you again, Inoichi-san. I'll talk to Rose-chan and we'll see about setting up a meeting with the Inuzuka's as soon as possible, okay? I'll let you know when it's ready so you can be there as well." he said as he wiped at his eyes, trying to wipe away all the tears.
Grinning down at the younger boy, Inoichi nodded and waved towards his door. "Alright then Naruto-kun. Run along home now. I've kept you from your training long enough. Try to have a good day now, okay?" Receiving a nod and a 'Yes, sir!' in return, the tall blond chuckled and watched as his young friend left in a rush.
Sitting back down behind his desk, Inoichi looked over his notes and jotted down a few more things in the notepad before sighing. Early warning signs for PTSD. I should not be seeing such a thing in a child so young. He thought sadly to himself as he ripped the pages out of his notepad and slipped them away into a file that he marked 'Naruto Uzumaki' and slipped it away into his desk. I may need to speak with Hokage-sama and Rose-san about becoming Naruto's full-time therapist. Kami, that boy has been through far, far too much in his life already, and now this on top of it? How has he not broken sooner?! He thought to himself in wonderment. Naruto Uzumaki, you will never cease to amaze me. Inoichi thought in a sense of dry humor.
A/N - Well, that's the chapter for ya. Hopefully you liked it. I think it turned out rather well, all things considered. Like I said up above, I wrote it under some pretty shitty circumstances. Like I said, I've been sick and pissed off, so I was having a REALLY hard time thinking straight half the time. lol. But yeah, I think the chapter turned out pretty well!
Anyways, I'm not really sure what else to say right now. As you can see, Ino's gone kinda crazy. Jiraiya's seal had a VERY unintended side effect. Seals can do many, many interesting things, so who's to say it can't happen, huh? lol. Everyone's learning just how 'interesting' Ino's become now because of it.
Hopefully you enjoyed the chapter and enjoyed what I did with it. Lemme know what you think in comments and reviews. Catch ya later!