"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

"Demon/Summon speech"

'Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts'

Jutsu name

(author comment) - not a lot of them

flashback/memory

~locations and transitions~

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Chapter 15: consequences of an action

~Hokage tower During team 7 training~

Inoichi had given his report on what had happened the previous Naruto's apartment. To say that the hokage was worried was an understatement, he wanted to leave the office immediately to see how the boy was doing after hearing that he went through hours of pain, although he didn't know from what, he would be sure to ask the boy later since he couldn't leave his paperwork. "Are you sure that Naruto-kun is alright?"

Inoichi nodded his head "yes from when I saw he was still alive but he was in a lot of pain. You should check on the boy when you can"

Hiruzen agreed, thinking he could meet the boy for dinner later. "I guess I'll have to meet him after I finish doing my paperwork, thank you Inoichi". Hiruzen nodded his head as he watched the Shinobi leave his office. after he was alone in his office he sat in his chair and giving a tired sigh he looked out the window and just thought 'Naruto what exactly is happening with you'

~Konoha streets after team training~

Ino was making her way back home after she had a 3 way sparring match with her team, and based on how she was stomping down the street, she was not happy "ARGH I can't wait till I get home so I can get the dirt off me! My outfit is ruined because of that free for all that Asuma-sensei made us do! I am so going to get him to pay for my next shopping trip!". She would have kept her rant going if it wasn't for the fact that she had bumped into someone, causing both to fall on their ass and due to her mood she was not in an apologetic mood "Hey! Watch where your…..Forehead?". The person she had bumped into was her ex-friend Sakura but she looked miserable

Sakura wasn't looking where she was going, in her depressed state she had been walking aimlessly through Konoha, not even sure if she was going home "oh….hey….Ino…." she would have called Ino by the nickname she usually used but she had other things on her mind

Ino had gotten up and looked down at Sakura. She had never seen Sakura look so depressed and Ino could see the puffy red eyes, which meant that she had been crying and even if they stopped being friends when they both liked Sasuke, she didn't like seeing her like this "ok Sakura, what happened? I haven't seen you like this before."

Sakura just got back up and just started walking again "it's nothing Ino". she would have kept walking but Ino grabbed her by the wrist and started to drag her away

"Oh no you don't! We are going to get you something that I know will cheer you up" Ino said heading off towards the shops. Sakura didn't have the energy to deny or escape from Ino, so she just let herself be dragged away

~1 hour later at an Ice cream parlor~

Ino and Sakura had spent 45 minutes on a clothing shopping spree but Sakura just wouldn't cheer up. Ino had even seen Sakura pick up a beautiful yellow Sundress that would have looked good on her and just put it back without even thinking about getting it. Ino decided that they would cut the spree short and go get a frozen treat, thinking that it would help, but so far it only brought up Sakura's spirits a bit.

Sakura had been staring at her ice cream for 7 minutes without taking a bite and Ino was really wanted to know what was eating at her "ok Sakura what happened that made you this sad?"

Sakura was startled by the question and lifted her head to look at Ino for a few seconds before she gave a heavy sigh and stare at her Ice cream again.

Ino was about to ask again with more force this time but she stopped when she had finally heard Sakura speak "Ino …..am I useless?". Out of many things that might have made Sakura this way, this was not on the list Ino had. She was taken aback from this question and wanted answers "Why would you think that Sakura? You are the smartest girl in our class, you got the title of top Kunoichi and are on a team with Sasuke….and Naruto"

At the name of her teammates, Sakura's eyes started to water a bit with the words from her blonde teammate

"if you haven't realized it yet, he doesn't care about anyone but himself"

"every time I saw you 2 talk he would just push you aside and say no"

"FOR FUCKS SAKE SAKURA! HE! DOESN'T! CARE! ABOUT! YOU!"

"YOU ARE NOTHING MORE THAN DEAD WEIGHT!"

"even if he did care and tried to save you, he could get himself killed in doing so. So get out of your fantasy and get back to the real world"

Sakura started to cry remembering how Naruto had yelled at her.

Ino got up from her chair and went to Sakura's side, gently grabbing hold of her shoulders "Sakura, tell me what happened"

Sakura lifted her head and looked at Ino "well it happened during training….."

Sakura had told Ino everything that happened when the team met from Naruto walking to them in his injured state to the spar and then to the conversation that they both had. After Ino had heard everything she was furious "HOW CAN HE SAY THAT TO YOU! He has no right to say that to anyone!"

Sakura wanted to calm Ino down a bit since she was thinking about what he said and was little by little seeing some truth in it, but it still hurt her "Ino….it's alright…." Sakura said in a quiet voice which Ino did not hear

"I am not going to stand here and let this slide!" Ino said as she started to leave the Parlor

Sakura reached out to stop Ino but she didn't move from her seat "Ino wait! Don't …." but Ino had already started running down the street to find Naruto 'I think he was right' Sakura thought as more tears rolled down her cheeks

~Meanwhile with Naruto~

Naruto was making his way to Ichiraku's to get some of his favorite ramen, thinking he would feel better after a few bowls….or 20 'why did I say that to Sakura, I mean it was kinda true but I feel like a jerk for yelling at her….I should apologize tomorrow before we start our mission". He was pulled out of his thoughts when he felt someone tap his shoulder, and turning he saw that it was Iruka looking at him with worry in his eyes "Naruto-kun, I was hoping to catch you" Iruka then noticed that Naruto was holding his ribs and became even more worried "you ok after….last night?"

Naruto nodded his head "yeah I'm fine, well I will be after I eat" he said after he winced

Iruka saw it and decided to treat the boy "I'll treat you a few bowls of Ramen. Come on"

They had made it to the stand and both were shocked to see the Hokage standing just outside waiting for them "hello Naruto-kun, I was hoping to speak with you over lunch about what exactly happened yesterday". Naruto didn't want to think about what happened yesterday since it hurt to think about it, not to mention that he was still in pain from it but he just agreed to it and entered the Ramen stand

Ayame had seen Naruto enter the stand and was immediately worried seeing him in pain and in the blink of an eye she was past the counter and by his side looking him over and asking questions about why he was hurt "Ayame-nee-chan it's ok, I just trained too much last night, really".

Unfortunately Ayame didn't believe any of what he had just said "Naruto! Don't lie to me! What really happened to you?! Were you attacked again?" she said in a stern voice, not liking how Naruto lied to her, when she was worried about the boys health

Teuchi had walked out to see the 2 and had heard some of the conversation but he also saw how the boy seemed to struggle to stand "Naruto you should really trust us enough to tell us the truth about what happened to you. We care about what happens to you"

Hiruzen and Iruka just stood back looking at the concern from the young woman and her father. Hiruzen began to think about the situation with the boy 'sometimes secrets can hurt more than the truth….*sigh* the boy has too many secrets in his life, maybe telling this one to those who won't care about it will help him and these 2 deserve to know about Naruto's problem but not the full details'. He looked to the boy who looked like he was trying to think of something to say "Naruto maybe you should tell them about your…. condition"

Naruto looked back to the Hokage with wide eyes "but Jiji….!"

Hiruzen lifted his hand "it is ok Naruto.I don't believe that these 2" he started while gesture to the Father and Daughter "will change their opinion on you, no matter what has happened to you, just leave out some of the more ….gruesome details, but I would like the entire truth about you and your friend"

Naruto was starting to think that he should have stayed home today with how the day seems to be going. He is in pain, he had yelled at his teammate after sparing with the teme and now he has to tell 2 people he cares about the truth as well as the Hokage his relationship with Rama-tou-sama 'how could this get any worse?'

~18 bowls of Ramen later or 20 minutes later~

Naruto had started feeling better after his 5th bowl and just kept eating till he was satisfied. As he was eating he had told Ayame and Teuchi about what happened on his 8th birthday and when he graduated but left out some of the heavier details. The 2 ramen stand owners were stunned silent when they heard what happened, with Teuchi clenching his fist in anger about how a people would do that to the boy and Ayame was in tears about how Naruto had died on his birthday.

Ayame moved away from the stove that had the pot of Ramen she was cooking and walked to the boy and gently hugged the boy trying not to hurt him "you shouldn't have to hide this from us, we wouldn't have changed our thoughts about you, otouto"

Naruto just enjoyed the hug, happy that they didn't change their thought about him. After they separated from the hug Naruto turned to the Hokage and Iruka who were sitting next to him. It was Iruka that broke the silence first "well Naruto, would you mind telling us what happened to you last night? What exactly did you go through that caused so much …..noise?"

Naruto had spent another few minutes telling them what he went through. He got the same reactions from the 4 listening as he did from Anko and Hana "YOU ARE NOT DOING THAT AGAIN!" all 4 yelled at him making the people passing by outside the bar to stop and stare at them, but when they saw Naruto they just scoffed and kept walking.

Naruto jumped in the air from the yell, hitting his head on the ceiling and fell on his ass, while he clutched his ears "ow….can you guys not yell please, I still have my hearing and my body is still sore!"

"Sorry" they all said looking sheepish

Hiruzen cleared his throat to get the attention from everyone "Naruto I would like it if you would not use that….method again. I will try and find a way for you….when I can"

Naruto nodded his head "I hope so, even I don't want to do that again" he said getting a few chuckles from the shinobi

After a few more bowls everyone had to go back to their duties and Naruto wanted to get some rest because although the ramen helped him he still felt sore and still held his ribs.

Walking towards his home with the thought of heading straight to bed 'almost home just a few miles'

As he was walking he stopped when he saw Ino walking in his direction and he could feel the anger coming off her 'wonder what's up with her'

As Ino came closer Naruto stood a bit straighter but still kept his holding his rib "Hey Ino-chan, is something wrong?" he said a little strained not only from the pain but from the negative emotions from not only Ino but the surrounding villagers

Ino got right into his face "you jerk! How could you say stuff like that to Sakura!" she said while poking him in the chest. So angry that she didn't even notice that she was hurting him

Naruto stood there for second after hearing what she said "Ino-chan wha…."

Ino kept poking Naruto's chest as she kept going, pushing him back a bit "and saying that Sasuke only cares about himself! How can you say something like that!"

Naruto gritted his teeth feeling his anger rising from the emotions and the words "I only said what was true! Sakura lacks training and only fawns over Sasuke but all Sasuke-teme cares about is himself and his revenge! He doesn't care about the Village, his team, Sakura or YOU"

*SLAP*

Naruto's head was turned harshly with eyes wide open. He slowly puts his hand on his left cheek and slowly turned his head to see Ino who still had her right hand swung to the side "You don't know anything! your nothing but the Dobe of the class!"

Naruto stood there, eyes still wide and hand on his cheek as he stares at Ino, but as he stood he could still hear the whispers

"Serves that demon right"

"Yeah put that monster in its place"

"How dare that monster bad mouth Sasuke-sama"

"Demon"

"Monster"

"Demon"

"Monster"

"Monster"

"Monster"

Naruto felt his anger rise with every word he heard and balling his fist, which caused them to bleed from his elongate nails, he got into her face "FINE! Believe what you want! See if I care!"

Naruto turned around to leave but stopped when he heard Ino say one more thing as she threw her arms down in anger "don't ever speak to me again!"

Naruto didn't turn to face her, he just turned his head slightly, still not looking at her and said in a softer tone "ok I promise" and he jumped to the rooftops to make it home faster ignoring the protests of his body

Ino just turned around and headed home, and everyone in her way just let her pass seeing the angry look in her eyes

~Naruto's apartment~

Naruto just barged into his apartment making the door swing hard, and he slammed the door shut. Ripping off his sandals, undoing his sash and throwing away his jacket he went to his sleeping corner in his bedroom corner and laid down on the pillow and blankets. He wished he was a fox right now, wanting to at least be comfortable with his tails but he was stuck as a human for a few days but he knew one way to be a fox again, so he closed his eyes wishing for sleep

~Naruto's mindscape~

Entering his mindscape and a bit happier he was a fox again he just ran towards where he knew Rama-touchan would be. Making it to where Rama-touchan was he just sat in front of the hollow tree waiting for him to come out. He didn't wait long as the second he got there Rama was making his way out.

Once out Kurama looked down at Naruto "hey kit, your a little earlier than usual" Kurama paused when he looked into the smaller foxes eyes and saw tears starting to form "Kit….?"

Naruto didn't say anything he just quickly walked passed Kurama to his tails, somewhat thankful Kurama lowered them, and jumped on one as he grabbed another with his paw and pulled it, forcing Kurama to move it to follow where Naruto wanted it. Naruto had completely covered himself with the second tail and didn't do anything else

Kurama would have asked what happened since he knows that the only time the kit does this is if he is sad but he stopped when he heard sobs coming from his kit. Kurama looked up to see the night sky of the kits mindscape was becoming cloudy with dark clouds and felt drops of rain starting to fall. He laid his head down to the side so he had an eye on where the kit was in his tails as just stayed that was as the sobs of the boy echoed through the forest that comprised his mindscape.

Kurama focused a bit to see Naruto's memories of the day and saw what caused this 'oh kit. I'm sorry' he thought as he laid there

~Ino's house/flower shop~

Ino stomped into the flower shop walking past the counter, ignoring her mother who had a look of worry, heading to the back which leads to the Yamanaka compound, heading up a set of stairs and into her room. Once in her room and slamming the door she just jumped onto her bed that was on the straight ahead from the door against the wall and buried her face in her one of her 6 pillows. Lifting her head to look at her room, which was decent size room, a few feet away from her bed was a desk that had her makeup set, hairbrushes and mirror, across from it was a large walk in closet that held many different outfits, dresses and shoes that she bought when on her shopping sprees, the left of the closet 7 feet away from the foot of her bed was her shinobi gear that had some kunai, shuriken and a folded windmill shuriken hanging on a weapons rack hanging on the wall, below it was a chest that held some storage scrolls and pouches of different color if she ever chose to spice up her Shinobi look, in the corners of the wall where the door was were a coupe of plants that gave the room some more color. The walls were a light violet color with flower patterns at the base. Looking at the window that was next to her bed she saw a small flower vase that held that held a purple tiger lily: a gift from Naruto after he picked it on one of his forest trips.

In anger she picked up the vase and lifted it over her head ready to throw it to the wall. 'Stupid Naruto, stupid blonde haired idiot, stupid dobe!' she thought pulling back her arm to throw….but she couldn't. Bringing the vase in front of her she began to think about what had happened. She had just yelled at Naruto for what he said to Sakura and about Sasuke not caring about her….and when she thought about how Naruto reacted she realized that Naruto was holding his ribs which reminded her of what Sakura said: that Naruto was in a lot of pain when he arrived at their training grounds. She kept poking him in the chest and she remembered him wincing everytime she did it and then there was the slap 'why did I slap him?'. She remembered the hurt look in his eyes and the shock when she called him the dobe of the class.

She brought the vase with the flower closer to her chest "who cares about the idiot! Why should I care about him when all he does is make trouble for everyone and bad mouth other people"

"When did you get the earring?"

"It suits you"

Ino felt something wet on her cheeks and lifted her free hand to it to see it was water "...Wha...?". She then realized they were tears "w-why am I-I cr-crying?" her tried to hold in her tears, causing her shoulders to shiver and she then remembered the last thing they said to each other

"Don't ever speak to me again!"

"Ok, I promise"

Ino slipped off the bed and sat on the floor holding the flower tightly against her chest and cried "why did I say that? Why did he have to promise th-that?". One thing she found admirable about her fellow blonde was that whenever he made a promise it seems he would go to the ends of the earth to make sure it happens and now because of this argument she might have lost her closest friend. Ino sat there hunched over the flower and just let the sobs come out as they echoed through her room

~the next day team 7 training ground~

Naruto was sitting on at the edge of the river with his feet in the water,leaning back on his hands and with his eyes looking at the mountains in the distance but his eyes were unfocused. The world around him felt quiet, his ears could pick up the slow flowing water, the wind blowing through the trees and the birds chirping as they woke up but none of it registered in his mind. He just sat there, waiting for his team to arrive.

After while Sakura and Sasuke made it to the training grounds and they noticed Naruto sitting at the riverbank. Both of them walked over to the blonde with Sasuke being the one to try and get his attention "Hey dobe, what are you doing here so early?". Naruto didn't react to the question and still sat there. Sakura bent down to look at Naruto's face but her eyes widened a bit when she saw the blank look on his face "hey Naruto are you ok?" she asked as she waved her hand in front of his face

Naruto didn't even hear the questions asked him. He was startled when a hand on his shoulder shook him "huh? Wha?" he turned his head to see his teammates looking down on him "what is it?" he asked them in a subdued voice

Sakura was somewhat concerned about him now, yesterday he came looking like he was beaten down and now he seems like all the life was drained from him

Sasuke just scowled "tch, how long were you sitting there dobe?"

"I don't know. I think 2 hours…..maybe"

Sakura's eyes grew wide as she stood up straight "but it's 6 AM right now!"

"...yeah…."

They both just stood until Sasuke gave a response "hn" and walked away

Sakura stood there for a few seconds thinking about what to say but she couldn't think of anything since Naruto and her weren't really friends and she didn't know what made the blonde this way so she just left to follow Sasuke

Naruto sat there, unmoving and waited

~team 10 training grounds 9 AM~

Ino was dodging Choji's heavy strikes, trying to make sure she wasn't hit because although Choji's punches were slower they had strength. Shikamaru was on the side playing shogi with Asuma who was trying to think of the next move.

As she dodged and threw a punch to Choji's chest causing the pudgy boy to flinch, the memory of the argument she had with Naruto popped into her head which distracted her enough to not see the punch aimed for her head. She was sent a few feet away skidding on the ground which cause her to yelp in pain a bit and got the attention from her teammates.

Choji was the first to walk up "hey Ino, you ok? Sorry didn't think I hit you that hard"

"It's fine Choji. I was….distracted, that's all" Ino said as she got up and dusted herself off a bit

Shikamaru looked at the girl and noticed a few things about her: she looked tired, her eyes were red which would show that she had recently cried, her hair, even though it was in the usual ponytail style, looked like it was done quickly without the usual care she gave and she didn't put on her arms warmers (not sure what they are called). "Troublesome blonde, if you have some issue that distracts you, you should get rid of the problem, otherwise it becomes troublesome" was all he said as he went back to the shogi board

Asuma heard what Shikamaru said and looked at Ino and noticed the red eyes "Ino whats wrong"

Ino just shook her head "nothing Asuma-sensei"

Asuma took a drag from his cigarette "Ino. if something is bugging you, you should at least talk about it"

Ino huffed and went to the side since her spar was done and was now Shikamaru's turn to spar with Choji. She sat down and spaced out trying to get rid of the haunting thoughts in her head.

~3 hours later~

Ino was making her way home since today her team weren't doing missions this day. Ino had walked into the Yamanaka flower shop and would have kept going to her room but was stopped by her mother Noriko "oh Ino, how was your training today?"

Ino turned to her mother "it was fine….I'm just tired"

Noriko nodded her head, understanding that her daughters Shinobi training would tire her out. She remembered how her husband would come back from his training and missions "well you can rest up a bit but we I will need your help in the shop later"

Ino nodded her head thinking that working at the shop would get her mind off things. As she started to walk again her mother got her attention again "Oh Ino when you see Naruto again, please tell him that his order is ready for pickup when he can. With all the orders he makes, I'm starting to think he was to make a forest of flowers and plants in his home". Ino stopped and looked back to see that her mother was holding a potted flower that had a tag on the pot with Naruto's name on it. Ino walked up to her mother and gently grabbed the pot and looked into her mother's eyes and gave a sad smile "I'll give it to him the next time I see him" and walked away to her room.

Ino made it to her room and placed the flower next to the Tiger lili on her window sill. Sitting on her knees on her bed she looked at the 2 flowers, the purple Tiger lily and the orange Begonia, and she felt more tears going down her face.

"I'm sorry"

End of the chapter

This chapter went through 3 revisions before I felt it was right

The talk with Sakura and Ino…..I'm not sure how I did on it, part of me thought it was good but another part thought to slap me across the face, screaming "what were you thinking"

The fight between Ino and Naruto were the last idea I had and I went with it. Personally I think that Ino went overboard but I remembered that in essence they are still kids so they could overreact to small things and for Naruto, since he is in pain for hours, his mood would be foul, think of having a pebble in your shoe that you have to deal with but 100 times worse, and anyone would react badly after something annoying was brought up

I kinda feel bad that Naruto and Ino had to go through this but I have a reason for it. Also the flower bit came to me along with the fight

Also next chapter will be time skip whether to another point or straight to the wave ark because I think that I have been putting to much filler chapters, unless you readers like them but I have thoughts for the wave ark that I am excited to get to but man these filler chapters just keep coming out

Please read and Review