Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, if I did, I wouldn't have to go through college. Every character belongs to Kishimoto unless they are my own OCs.
AN: Sorry everybody, this fic hasn't died. I just had a rough time in real life, depression and stuff. Every time I had a tougher time, I came back to the reviews some of you have left. You guys helped me out in my hard moments. Thank you. I reread my fic once or twice and I need to seriously expand my vocabulary because I repeat "strange" too many times.
"Talk"
"Thoughts"
"Bijuu, summons"
Jutsu
Naruto and Ino arrived finally at the training ground 7 in order to find the rest of their team. They took the long road because something was odd to Naruto. Why have the villagers been less oppressive than before? He would have to ask the Hokage about it.
Kakashi was waiting for them at the entrance alone eye smiling at the pair. He had to babysit the Uchiha alone for almost a week and this was getting on his nerves. The kid didn't learn anything by being sent into a prison cell.
"Naruto, Ino you are finally here, thank goodness, I might have killed or maimed Sasuke if I was the only one to watch him." He said elated seeing his two preferred students.
"Hey Kakashi/ Kakashi-sensei." They said in unison with Ino letting Naruto's hand go. "Should you really talk like that about our 'teammate'?" Naruto said while laughing.
"He's not a teammate anymore Naruto, Ino. He became now a mission objective, he's far from being stable enough to be a ninja anymore. The problem is that even if the civilian council was eradicated the civilians still see him as a prince of this village. Hokage-sama said to keep him at least until the end of the chunin exams, his name alone should bring enough customers during the event." Said Kakashi
Naruto and Ino understood the meaning behind the words "Are you sure it's a good idea, we are facing a possible invasion. Is it safe to encourage possible customers?" asked Ino.
Kakashi raised an eyebrow, normally it would have been Naruto who remarked that. Apparently, the month away wasn't in vain for the duo. "Normally it would be, but we can't do anything else but invite them anyway or Orochimaru would be suspicious. We invited the Mizukage as well, she will come knowing the dangers as well."
They both nodded, they only have a short time to train effectively to make themselves as useful as possible. Ino was already accepted as a part time apprentice of Tsunade, she would develop her support skills as well as fighting. She had to pull her weight and more from now on.
Naruto on the other side was having a bad feeling about this invasion. Something felt off "Kakashi, I don't want to be pessimistic, but something bothers me. Suna will be one of the attackers and from what I remember their Jinchuuriki is a genin. If they put him in the exam…"
"…then he will be able to attack the village from inside. We need to contact Hokage-sama about it later." finished Kakashi, this spelled trouble. "Now we should go to Sasuke, he has the seal in place if you ever need to activate it it's this seal. Naruto, he knows about us so no need to hold back anymore during fights." He said showing them a modified tiger seal.
They both nodded and followed Kakashi to the clearing where Sasuke was hitting a tree. He looked worse than before, probably because in the ANBU prison someone played with him. Ino could feel from far away that Sasuke wasn't sane anymore.
"Alright everybody we will have some spars to judge where you are right now. I will take you on to measure your skills then I will pair you up if we have enough time. Sasuke you are up." He would never tell Sasuke about the invasion, but he still had to train him so at least the boy would survive for being a breeding stock.
Sasuke was happy hearing that, a creepy type of happy. He would show them he was still the strongest ninja in all Konoha. This overestimation of himself would kill him one day or at least maybe. For now, his opponent wouldn't destroy him.
Kakashi took out his orange book, Sasuke's muscles were atrophied from being in prison for so long. The duck-butt was furious seeing the act and ran straight at his teacher. He cocked his right hand only to be evaded and kicked away.
He gathered his thoughts; such simple attacks would never hit the jonin. He needed a plan to kill him. He ran at him once again trying to asses any possibility. This time his attacks weren't made to kill but to gauge the strength of his opponent.
He began an exchange with Kakashi trying to hit him at least once. Putting more and more strength behind his attacks when he has seen that his opponent couldn't dodge them. Kakashi on the other side decided to close his favorite orange book to show some power against Sasuke.
Sasuke gritted his teeth. His only possibility was lost now since he was paying attention to him. His attacks were missing and every time it happened, he was punished for overextending by a kick or a punch to the ribs.
Kakashi sent him flying with one of the kicks. Sasuke gracefully flipped in the air making hand seals, he used Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu to make Kakashi evade his attacks not being able to prepare a counter.
He covered Kakashi's vision with the last bullet and took out one kunai. He ran through the fire as an element of surprise. He stabbed at his sensei feeling the taste of victory in his mouth only for his hand to be grabbed and being thrown away.
"That's enough, Ino you are next." He said nonchalantly.
Ino wanted to skip through to the place until Naruto caught her hand. She turned around looking at the blonde. He was showing her the motion for 'come let me tell you something'. He made it look like he was going to whisper something to her. He kissed her cheek and whispered, "Good luck."
Ino was blushing at what happened. Now she could win against any foe receiving such encouragement. For the outsiders it was just a simple kiss on the cheek, but she knew that it was a huge step for Naruto. She ran to Kakashi gradually changing her demeanor. She didn't have the aura of a veteran yet, but she learned how to enter the ninja or battle mode.
She took the stance Naruto taught her, it was the basic-intermediate stance, but it was enough for her level; she still had time to train and become stronger. Kakashi has seen it from the beginning, he cast a glance at Naruto who only smiled from the distance.
Kakashi didn't dare taking his book out now, this style was too dangerous, she would exploit any hole he had in defense.
"Kakashi-sensei what are the limits of the spar?" she asked
"Try to kill me, I need to see what you learned during this time away." He answered
She grinned a smile that he didn't like. It was the same smile Naruto had when he wanted to torture someone. She used Chakra no Mesu from each finger, making it look like she now had twenty-centimeter nails ready to cut through steel.
She didn't wait for the sign to begin, he told her to try and kill him after all. She threw a smoke bomb at his location and followed suit when the screen was dense enough. He still had his hitai-ate on his left eye. His field of view was narrower at this side.
She could probably use this trick only once and she had to make it count. The stealth lessons from Naruto and Jiraiya paid off now. She closed the distance in the smoke without any sounds and attacked.
Kakashi didn't like what was happening, if he guessed right, he couldn't block her claws, or his hands would fall. He would have to evade it. Looking around he felt something. She improved by a lot; he could sense her KI just now. It was at that exact moment that she struck at him trying to end it in one hit.
He evaded it but still a claw grazed his arm. He jumped out of the smoke trying to assess the surroundings and the damage done. Luckily it was just a skin graze, she couldn't cut him deeper.
Ino was frustrated in the smoke, her ambush didn't work and now she would have to go into an open fight. She was fighting a jonin after all. She ran to the place where he jumped out. He was waiting for her in a battle stance.
She ran at him trying to stay as much as possible on his left side. This was a good tactic, but he had this weakness for longer that his students were alive. He learned to get around this without the use of his Sharingan.
He decided to use her claws against her. From what he has seen she could only use them from her fingers and the length was set all the time. Her reach was too long for someone of her stature. He closed the distance between them making it harder for her trying to use her oversized claws.
It was this moment that Ino was waiting for. Naruto has taught her some advanced moves from his taijutsu to cover these weaknesses. They were special break off moves that used knees and elbows to create some distance. She swung her right elbow in an uppercut like motion barely missing Kakashi's chin.
The grey-haired man was stunned when he has seen her do that. He was glad that she missed or that would hurt a lot. That was until he saw his vest open and a trickle of blood escaping his chest to which Ino smirked still in her stance. He noticed that her elbows were now faintly glowing blue.
He relaxed and said "Enough, I've seen enough of that. Now can you explain how you managed that with only your elbows?" he asked pointing to his chest.
"It's quite easy sensei. You see the elbow is already a hard point and I can use Chakra no Mesu already from fingers. Naruto and Tsunade-sama told me about the weakness that you tried to exploit. So, we found that the next step would be to be able to do this jutsu from other parts of the body. It's still far from perfect but it's at least usable." She explained.
Kakashi could only stare at the girl. She has grown so much from the beginning of this team. She would surely become a role model for many young girls in the future. He smiled at her and told her to go to the sidelines.
At the same time Sasuke was fuming, Kakashi was acknowledging her by fighting her without the book in his hand. And even then, she managed to hit him. How could he kill his brother if she was already stronger than himself?
"Naruto you are up, I want to see what you have learned this month. Try not to destroy this area please." Pleaded Kakashi with an eye smile knowing Naruto's destructive tendencies.
Naruto was on his way to his ANBU brethren when he crossed a very happy Ino on her way back to the side. She gave him her own kiss on the cheek with a good luck. She was blushing madly at what she has done. It was peculiar to her that it was flustering her more than sleeping in the same bed as him.
Naruto stood in front of Kakashi. "Intent to kill?" he asked
"Intent to kill. But I will respond with my own and we will limit the fight to two minutes." Kakashi said showing his red eye from the start.
Naruto didn't waste any time and decided to play a psychological game. He summoned his Bijuu Arms as well as a swarm of chakra balls over his head. They began spinning and Naruto started shooting them at Kakashi one by one.
Kakashi on the other side was feeling that ordering him to fight with the intent to kill was too much. He was running everywhere possible trying to evade the shots. He was thanking Obito right now for leaving him the Sharingan or he would be dead by now.
The onslaught finally ended when Naruto had only five balls left over his head. He took his preferred stance and ran at Kakashi who took out two kunais.
A huge taijutsu battle was going on between the two. Naruto was trying to annihilate his friend's head with the extreme powered punches while Kakashi was weaving jutsus trying to outsmart the blonde.
After two minutes the timer rang making the two stop mid strike with Naruto's hand millimeters from Kakashi's face and Kakashi's Chidori so close to Naruto's shoulder that he could feel his hair standing from the electricity in the air.
"You've improved Naruto, finally resolving some of your issues about your close quarters potential. How much were you holding back?"
"You've improved as well Kakashi, you made me keep up almost at the same level that Ero-sennin does. And well I have some techniques that I preferred keeping to myself for the time being." He said.
Sasuke on the side was ready to blow a gasket. He was just shown how much he had to get stronger. He has just seen how true ninja fight and he wasn't even a speck of dust in this world. He would never say it himself because of his god complex though. The next thing that he was mad about was that he couldn't steal anything from his teammates since all their jutsus were seal less and Kakashi was too fast.
Kakashi motioned everybody to come to him and began talking. "I'm really proud of you, in this short time you have grown a lot. Especially you Ino, you've come such a long way. Now we are about two months away from the next Chunin Exams in which you will be participating. Normally it would've been your own decision but because of the higher ups you guys need to join them." He told them making Ino smile from the praise and Naruto patted her head as if she was a kid.
"Now I know that it will be unusual but, our training regimen will change. Some of you became apprentices to some people- he said eying Ino and Naruto-. We will see each other every three days and you are to train in whatever you want on the other days. After all, if you compare the team to a chain, the teamwork would be the welding of the links but, even if the welding is perfect the chain is weak if each link is weak. That's why I need you to improve as much as you can when training alone. You are dismissed until in three days." He finished and took out his orange book leaving them alone as a new ANBU took Sasuke back to his home arrest.
That only left Naruto and Ino in the training ground. They decided to go home as they haven't been there in ages. First though Naruto accompanied Ino home as he was taught to do by his sisters. Before she left him, she gave him once again a kiss on his cheek. Naruto would've been happy, but he promptly felt a shiver down his spine. Looking around he found Inoichi looking at him from behind the blinds in one of the windows.
He decided he had enough sightseeing for today and Shunshinned home. He felt many presences inside. Opening the door, he screamed "Anko-nee I'm home!" and took off his boots and walked to the place from which he heard some people talking, namely the kitchen.
All his sisters were around the table in the kitchen talking with a cup of coffee in their hands. When he went inside the three women turned to face him.
"Hello Naruto/Naruto-kun/Naru-chan." Said Anko, Kurenai and Yugao in this particular order. She always tried to embarrass him calling him that.
"Hey Anko-nee, Nai-nee, Yugao-nee."
"Finally back from the mission, huh?" asked Anko even if Naruto could see a dangerous glint in her eyes.
"Yeah I will finally be able to sleep in my own bed…" he said
"Alone?" asked Kurenai with a grin. Apparently, the kissing during earlier training has spread like fire.
"Probably not. The true question is clothed or not?" he asked making Kurenai a bit red by being outpaced by her little brother.
"Naruto you are too young to do such things!" she blurted out
"I'm kidding Kurenai-nee. We barely kiss each other on the cheek and are red like tomatoes. It will take a lot of time before we get any further." He assured his sister.
"Now how was the mission, Naruto?" asked Anko
"Oh, you know, found the new Hokage, beat some sense into her. Destroying an army, ripping an arm of a certain snake and forcing our cartographers to make changes to the maps. Like usual." He said, pouring himself some coffee into a cup.
The ladies could only laugh at the way he told about it. This kid was such a handful. He can't manage a simple relationship between two teenagers with a budding love for each other. Yet at the same time he could destroy whatever he wanted with almost no sweat. That was until the information about a certain snake clicked in their brains.
Anko came closer to Naruto and bent a little bit to be at his eye level. She noticed how much less she had to do it now since he has grown up so much from the scrawny kid she met a few years ago. "Care to explain exactly what you mean by ripping an arm of a certain snake?"
"Heh, sit down Anko-nee. It will take some time." He sat down as well with the ladies intently watching him. "It all began when we met Tsunade-sama…" he continued his tale
Meanwhile with Tsunade
Tsunade finished telling her tale about what has happened during her absence and what happened with Orochimaru. Many bottles of sake and grams of tobacco were drunk and smoked by the occupants of the room.
"And here we are sitting in this room, that would conclude this entire story." She said taking another sip.
Hiruzen took a puff of smoke trying to get his head around what he heard about his grandson's and students' deeds during this trip. He would have to change all of the maps of Hi no Kuni because of that. He was glad that someone was going to replace him soon.
"I really should get Naruto in control or else he will do something stupid like that once again. Anyway, I'm glad you are back Tsunade. The village was in a need of a new era and a woman's touch for a long time. Have you decided what will be your first decree when you take the hat?"
It was a tradition for every newly appointed Hokage to declare a new decree during their inauguration ceremony to the village. Tsunade didn't have the time to think about it during this entire month since it was either training with Naruto and Jiraiya or training Ino. Even though she always had a certain dream.
"From what Naruto has told me the level at the academy has been lowered because of the not existing civilian council anymore. I will review the classes, so we produce quality shinobi that won't die on their first mission while still being able to let civilians pass. Of course, that will include basic medicine. It would have saved a lot of people during the war."
Hiruzen was happy hearing about it. She would begin the transition for the new era of the leaf.
"I see, let's not fret anymore about it. We still have a lot of sake to drink and many years to recall." Hiruzen said changing the mood in his office. They wouldn't have gone home until very late at night.
Back to Naruto
"And then we came back to the village. Sorry I couldn't kill him Nee-chan." Naruto said a bit down.
"Don't worry about it Gaki. It's already a beginning of something and the fact that you sent him cowering brought me a smile. Now I just need to interrogate this prisoner that you took until she spills all the secrets." She said to which Naruto gulped.
"About the prisoner…"
"Yeah what about her?"
"She was given amnesty by the Jiji for already spilling all the secrets and…"
"And?" Anko felt she wasn't going to be happy about the answer she was going to get.
"JijisetmeasherANBUwatcherandshewillbelivingwithus." He said it as fast as he could.
"Want to repeat that much slower Gaki." She said daring him to confirm what she understood.
"Jiji set me as her ANBU watch and she will be living with us until after the invasion. Please Anko-nee try not to harm her, she hates Orochimaru as much as you do or even more for what he did to her. She was the one to tell us about the invasion. She's not an enemy anymore." He pleaded with her.
At the exact moment that Anko wanted to argue about this the doorbell rang. She left the table to open the door with Naruto in tow. Opening it she has seen Asuma and team 10 with a new girl with red hair. She immediately scowled guessing she would be the new addition to their house.
"Hey Anko, we are here to deliver your new charge. She's rough around the edges but she's a good girl. See ya later. Tell Kurenai that she looks as beautiful as always." He said and went off with the two boys walking behind him.
"Shithead. Who's the lady? Don't tell me you are two timing Ino?" she said visibly still angry about the comment that Asuma said about her.
"Tayuya we have already been over this. I'm not a shithead, it's Naruto. And this is Anko-nee and I'm not two timing Ino." He said pinching his nose bridge.
Tayuya has heard already about the snake mistress from Naruto and Asuma, she decided to play it safe and not to insult her in case she held a grudge about Orochimaru. "Hello, my name is Tayuya, no last name." she said.
Anko could only scowl at her but Hokage's orders were law and she couldn't fault Naruto for obeying them. Still she was weary of the new arrival. "Anko Mitarashi, brat. Come in."
Tayuya grew a tick mark but decided to keep calm or the woman might torture her in the bathroom later. She walked inside with Naruto in front and Anko behind her. It was normal that she didn't want to show her her back. It was like asking to be killed in this world. They entered the kitchen and the beauties were anxious about what might happen in the next five minutes.
"Kurenai-nee, Yugao-nee let me present our new addition to the village, Tayuya. She has a sharp tongue so please give her the benefit of the doubt. She may call you a bad name but that's how she shows that she's comfortable around you." Said Naruto and showed the girl to a seat and poured her some coffee as well.
The older women tried to make the situation less tense by offering a handshake which the younger one accepted after verifying for any sign of deception. A whole life under Orochimaru would have done that to anyone.
"Hello I'm Tayuya." She was clearly afraid being in this room. She felt that she was encircled by four high rank ninjas who could kill her at any moment. That's why she tried to keep on her best behavior.
"I'm Kurenai."
"Hi Tayuya-chan. I'm Yugao."
Anko couldn't handle it anymore. Why was everyone accepting her that easily? "Enough, I won't act all friendly with her! She was under Orochimaru. How do we know that she isn't a spy?!"
"Because I tested her with my sensing. She really hates Orochimaru. Tayuya can you please tell her your story. Maybe you both will be even able to relate to each other." Said Naruto getting tired of these charades.
Tayuya began her story when the bell rang once again. Naruto lifted his butt and went to the door. Before leaving the kitchen, he spoke "Yugao-nee, Kurenai-nee, can you keep Anko from harming Tayuya please?" to which he got two nods and a mock glare from Anko.
"Naruto, you act like you are the adult in this house." She said to which Naruto only sent her a knowing look causing the two women to snicker and Anko to deflate. She then sat down and decided to at least to listen to the girl, she trusted her little brother to at least do this.
Meanwhile Naruto opened the door to see a smiling Ino in the doorway.
"Ino-chan what are you doing here? I though you would have liked to spend some time with your family after such a long time."
"I will have plenty of time to do that in the coming two months. I wanted to speak to Anko about training. Tsunade-sama told me that she will teach me only two days a week. So, I have plenty of time for some more training." She said at which Naruto smiled and told her to enter.
When they arrived in the kitchen Anko was hugging Tayuya. It was a peculiar sight, seeing that just a few moments before she was ready to kill the girl and bury her in the garden. Tayuya herself was tense in the embrace. How long was it since someone hugged her like that?
"I'm sorry Tayuya, I was doing the same to you that the villagers did to me. I hated you for your association with Orochimaru." She said leaving the girl.
"Apologies accepted."
"Yuya-chan what are you doing here?" said Ino gathering the attention of everyone in the room.
"I live here. And I told you to stop calling me that!"
"When you stop calling Naruto a shithead." Ino said blowing a raspberry.
"Ino what are you doing here?" asked Kurenai.
"I came here to ask Anko help in training. I decided to become an assassin like her. While Naruto is our tank and a one-person assault squad his techniques aren't the best suited for precision work." She said emphasizing her point by invoking her chakra claws.
Anko never wanted to train anybody before, but then Naruto was half forced on her and now someone was coming to ask her for that. "Swear to me that you won't whine however I train you and you will do what I tell you to do."
"I swear as long as it doesn't interfere with my other teacher."
"Other teacher? You mean Kakashi?"
"No, I mean Tsunade-sama." She said dropping a huge bomb on everybody.
"I guess that she outclasses me in this sense. Oh well, as long as you don't whine, and you do everything without asking as long as it doesn't interfere with Tsunade-Sama's orders." She said sighing a bit "But now isn't the time to think about it we have an all-girl plus Naruto evening today. Want to stay?"
Ino happily nodded to the proposition and sat down with everybody and started chatting until the older ladies took out some alcohol. Naruto knew already that there was a huge storm coming his way.
He went to the bathroom for a little "thinking". When he came down something was odd. He couldn't put his finger on it when a clearly drunk Ino who stumbled to him.
"Nee-san how much did she have? I was out for only 10 minutes." Naruto asked. He really was the adult in this room seeing as everyone else had a blast watching the drunk girl.
"She only had a sip; she really can't handle alcohol." Said Tayuya even if she herself wasn't drinking.
"She's fucking thirteen it's normal she can't handle it. Even if we are theoretically are allowed to drink, ethically, we shouldn't do it until we are much older." He said scolding the "adults" in the room.
Ino wasn't getting why he was so mad and began slurring "Naruto-kun why are you mad? You don't like me anymore?" she began tearing up and was coming closer and closer to him.
"Of course, I do Ino-chan, but you are drunk you should-" he didn't have the time to finish when Ino barfed on his shirt causing a huge outburst in the room. Naruto was going to have a really long night if she continued like that.
He took off his shirt and threw it on the floor and grabbed Ino to the bathroom to clean her up and put her to bed. After she was asleep Naruto went to the kitchen to give the girls inside a glare and went to bed himself.
He wanted to get in bed with Ino, but he didn't feel like doing it right now. It didn't sit right with him that maybe she would think that while asleep he took advantage of her. He sighed and took another blanket and sat next to the wall. He wouldn't be able to sleep in his bed tonight.
Next morning
Naruto was woken by something poking at his side. He groggily opened his eyes and with a yawn looked around himself seeing a crouching Ino in front of him. She had this cute pout on her face.
"Hello Ino-chan."
"Good morning Naruto-kun. Why are you sleeping here and why do you smell like puke? I can't remember anything from yesterday." She said flinching a bit from a growing headache.
Naruto eyed her with a mocking smile and said "You got drunk yesterday. You've bean crying thinking I don't like you and before you could finish you vomited on me. Then I put you to sleep." Ino was getting a sheepish look on her face as well as a blush. "And I sleep here because I didn't want you to think that I maybe took advantage of you in your drunken state."
Ino looked at him with big eyes and hugged her favorite blonde. "Silly Teddy bear. I know you wouldn't take advantage of me during sleep. You are too much of a gentleman to do it. Still thank you for being so considerate of me." She finished giving him a small peck on his right cheek.
He smiled at the act and played with her hair. After a few minutes of silent cuddles, they got up and went downstairs for breakfast with a small warning from Naruto "I'll give you a small advice. The breakfast on hangover is like a transplant. Your body might reject it."
Thankfully this time she did not puke her guts out. Checking the clock, they said goodbyes to each other and to a silent Anko curing her own hangover with some beer. It always helped for the withdrawal syndrome.
Ino sprinted to her house to take a shower and get ready for the training day with Tsunade and Naruto decided it was time to look for his perverted teacher. He didn't have much trouble finding him. There were only two possibilities, an onsen or the Hokage office. Thankfully for the white-haired man it was the office or Naruto might have blasted him straight into hell.
Knocking on the door and entering this time the normal way Naruto could see that not only his house was having a speak-quietly-or-better-don't-if you want-to-live day. The kage level ninjas were better at hiding it but a flinch here and there at loud noises was noticeable.
"Hey everybody, Ero-sennin you ready to train like there is no tomorrow?" he asked
"Sorry brat, I can't help you today. With the incoming inauguration we need to prepare everything for Tsunade-hime. Come tomorrow to this place, we will train there." He handed Naruto a slip of paper with the location's coordinates and continued discussing politics with the non-arguably strongest shinobi of the village.
Naruto didn't have any idea about what to do until a voice in his head gave him what he wanted
"Naru-chan, let's go to your hideout. I will train with you today." Said the fox woman residing in his gut. Naruto gulped the normally lazy woman could demolish him in mere seconds if she wanted to, such training would most likely bring big results and even more pain to his body. He quickly Shunshinned to the place.
Our protagonist was almost thankful to Orochimaru for creating this underground lab. The training ground was sealed off from the outside world. He could summon Kurama without causing a mass panic in the village. He did the ritual and the woman stood before him.
She wasn't wearing her regal clothes but a battle kimono with her hair tied in a loose bun with two bangs going on the side. Even if he didn't have any kind of romantic feelings for her he had to admit that it suited her. He would need to ask Ino to try this hair style later.
She got into a loose stance not really having a taijutsu style. She didn't need it she was that strong. She was on the top of the food chain for the moment. Naruto on the other side summoned all the power he could and all the big guns.
The battle that ensued would rock the foundations of Konoha. And it wasn't a metaphor. He tried to hit her once, but she just upped her tempo every time that he was too close. He was like a ragdoll in her hands. He was feeling like a defenseless child fighting her. The worst thing was that she would do it with this small smirk all the time.
He lamented "Why do I have to attract such sadistic ladies in my life." Taking his body from the wall that she has thrown him into.
"That won't do Naru-chan. You need to think as if I were trying to kill Ino-chan if you want to land a blow on me." She taunted him and she wasn't disappointed when she has seen him snarl. He got into a sprinter position ready to run. Rings started appearing on his legs and powerful jets of Yang started to push him.
When enough thrust was produced, he launched himself at the Kyuubi. It was the first time that she blocked his strike instead of evading. Catching the offending foot, she has thrown him away and stood straight. "Enough for today, you might not know it, but we were going straight for five hours now. Come sit here and let us talk a bit." When he did as ordered, she continued "What have you learned today?"
"That you are a sadistic Onee-chan." This earned him a swat to the head. "That I need to improve my speed."
"Exactly, since you earned your Bijuu Arms you forgot about the basics of your father's style. You began fighting like Tsunade. I'm not saying it's bad, you have certainly more body and muscle mass than your father at your age but not enough to just throw punches almost blindly trying to annihilate people. You need to develop your speed to make sure that you can catch your opponent without charging the thrust. I let you do it because it's training but in real fight it would be a death sentence. We will continue this every night when you are sleeping." She said and waved him a goodbye coming back to her housing.
Naruto groaned at the lingering pain in his body. He wasn't even sure if it was real pain or his receptors were just saturated and produced these signals because of the beating. He would need to think of a way to enhance his speed without sacrificing precious time. This brought him to a new revelation, he couldn't let himself charge attacks when in battle. That was his second priority now.
Going back to his house for a well-deserved shower and a meal he has seen that Ino was already there in the same state as he was.
She looked at him and seen his clothes in tatters "Tough day I guess?"
"Don't remind me. Kura-nee was throwing me around the training ground like a child. You don't seem to be better than me though."
"First Tsunade-sama told me to study with Shizune-san and later she came to train me herself. How does this woman as so much strength is beyond me." He said nursing her sore shoulder. Naruto came to her and with a quick Yang infusion eased her pain and forced her system to reconstruct her muscle tissue.
The duo chatted until late at night when Ino went home and came back straight into Naruto's bed to hug her radiator.
Next Day
Naruto was standing in front of Jiraiya who was thinking for a second until he opened his mouth "I will be frank with you Gaki. You are very strong for your age, but you have two glaring weaknesses that someone will use against you. It's your-"
"Speed and the time required to charge my attacks. I was let know yesterday. Albeit very painfully." He finished Jiraiya's sentence for him. It was a huge respect boost in the eyes of the older man. Most people sat on their current level when they got strong enough, not accepting that they had problems somewhere.
"Exactly that is what we are going to work on for the next two months. That's why today we will spar with a small handicap. We will spar only using our legs, it will make you rethink your whole fighting experience. Arms are allowed for blocking or else one of us might lose his family jewels."
They both assumed their stances and launched. Naruto wasn't able to generate such high speeds without the use of Yang. His frame was still that of a thirteen-year-old. So, every kick he did a small jet of Yang was sent to enhance the strength and speed of his attacks.
Time skip 1 month and almost 4 weeks.
Naruto and Ino were seriously asking their sanities at this point in life. What dumbass would train like in the hell week of ANBU for almost two months. Dumbasses that were preparing for war of course.
Let's begin with Ino. When she wasn't training with Tsunade or learning under Shizune, she was training under Anko. If any of them couldn't she was training with her beloved blond. Iryo ninjutsu, assassination, interrogation, escaping, torture, fighting was what she would say when you asked her for what she was doing. The only time of peace was when Kakashi brought Sasuke to train with the others to make sure that they could still work at least together.
She couldn't complain though, her skills have broken any limits that she earlier set for herself. She was spending time with Anko, Kurenai and Yugao and they accepted her as a new member of their club, without drinking of course. Everybody was sure that after the invasion she would sport a chunin vest without any problem.
Her chakra control went high enough for her to be able to manifest her scalpels or more like blades from any part of her body; fingers, hands, feet, elbows. Whatever you could imagine. With Naruto showing her more advanced forms of the Hummingbird.
She was developing as fast as anyone could imagine when being trained to the bone by three high ranking ninja and the current Hokage. Or even faster. Tsunade was seeing a bit of herself within the girl. A future blonde femme fatale.
Naruto was growing as well, not as fast since his power levels were much higher and you had to work much more to add a few points to that. He was still much stronger than two months ago.
He gained some natural speed by doing his leg only spars with Jiraiya. Add to that his newer manifestation of the Kyuubi chakra on his feet. It looked as if he had fox like feet with the gold going up to around mid-calf. He was sure that his Golden Demon nickname wasn't for naught.
The Bijuu Arms were changing as well. Because of the new mastery over Yang they started manifesting much more tangible resembling armor like gauntlets with some shapes that looked as if made of jade. He wasn't sure why they didn't look like foxes, but it still looked cool in his mind.
That was until Kurama showed him what it was supposed to look like that caused him a great amount of salivating. It looked like an incomplete armor that encompassed her arms and legs. With Chinese guardian lion sculptures embellishing them. It was to show the long-forgotten summons that once were friends with her.
The only problem that they found was the charging time of his attacks. They couldn't do much, maybe shortening the time by one or two seconds but it still wasn't instantaneous. It was a simple law, the more power you wanted to add the more you had to sacrifice.
That's why Naruto decided to fiddle with an idea of really low powered Yang Bolts. The power wouldn't be too high but the possibility of super rapid barrage of small bullets would surely help him. That's what gave him the Yang Pistols inspired by the Mizudeppo: Nicho. They were just miniscule Yang Bolts that didn't have any penetrating power put it could still knock out a weak opponent or force a stronger one into evading.
Something else happened during these two months. Naruto would have almost forgotten about a certain date because of his endless training with his teachers during the day and Kurama while asleep.
Flashback
It was already one month since Naruto has thrown himself into hardcore training. Days didn't have any names anymore in his mind. It wasn't Monday, Tuesday etc. it was Sparing, Getting beaten into pulp, Mild chakra exhaustion.
For the last week he noticed that everyone was acting strange around him. Whenever he would get close, his friends would abruptly stop talking and when asked what was going on, he wouldn't get a clear answer. Yugao even took his sword for what she called "An inspection". She never did it before.
That was until one day he got up, strangely Ino was already out of bed before him. Her scent has faded away. Thinking she was having some early training, he didn't ask any more questions. Ending his morning rituals, he went to the kitchen where he sleepily greeted everyone present.
Wait something wasn't right. At most there should've been five people if the girls had a drinking night. The kitchen was almost full. Anko, Kurenai, Yugao, Tayuya, Ino, Asuma, Kakashi, Hayate, team 10, Shizune, Tsunade, Jiraiya and even the Sandaime were here.
"Happy Birthday Naruto!" they all said in unison.
Naruto's eyes widened to the point that some of the guests thought they would pop out of the orbits. He forgot his own birthday. He checked his right cheek and a stray tear has escaped it. It was the first time that so many people gave him a birthday party.
"Thank you everyone!" he said wiping the tear away.
Hugs, chatting, teasing about relationships was what ensued. Until Yugao came forward with the box that was used for storing his sword. She was the sword mistress of Konoha. That's why she was chosen to give him the gift.
"Everybody pitched in to make some changes to it. You have already outgrown your last sword and it wasn't perfect for your mother's style. But we knew how much you loved it that's why we decided to accommodate it."
Gifts weren't even his priority. So many people thinking of him highly enough to make him a small birthday party at 5AM was a huge gift in itself already. He took the gift slightly bowing to the group showing his gratitude.
Opening it he saw that it wasn't normal. It was on the short spectrum for a katana but still counted as one. The biggest change was the blade. Or the blades to be specific. Instead of one it had two parallel blades coming from the hilt. Just like what he has seen his mother use in his mindscape all these years ago.
"Thank you" he said not trusting his voice to do the talking.
Flashback End
Today was the last day before the chunin exams. Ino and Naruto were waiting for their Sensei and Sasuke. Exactly at 8AM sharp they both came in a Shunshin with Kakashi having some forms in his hand.
"Yo, we will keep it short today. Here are your forms to take the chunin exams. You need to sign them and come tomorrow to the academy, class 303." He said giving them their forms and taking Sasuke back for another ANBU to watch over him in his house.
The blondes decided to take a stroll through the village. They didn't have any time during these two months to just spend some quiet quality time together. The destination was the Yakiniku Q. After the meal they chose to try a new ice cream stand in the center of the village.
That was until a suspicious square rock moved when they turned around. They sensed it much before, but they silently agreed to let the kids inside play a bit.
"Kono, it's enough. Take off that stupid box, rocks aren't square, with holes for eyes and they don't move." Said Naruto
There was a small explosion and a whole lot of smoke was produced. They could hear three kids coughing inside. When the smoke disappeared, they were making a pose.
"I'm Moegi, the cutest kunoichi." Said the girl
"I'm Udon and I like math." Said a boy while wiping some snot from his nose.
"And I am Konohamaru and we are the Konohamaru Corps." They said not exactly synchronized.
Naruto had a good laugh at that and spawned three clones that were holding signs showing six, seven and another seven. They argued a bit between themselves, settled on the scores showing and popped in small clouds of smoke.
"What's up Kono and friends? Why aren't you in the academy?" Naruto asked
"Iruka-sensei let us go early today because of some preparation that he needed to do."
Konohamaru came closer to Ino watching her with a scrutinizing eye. Ino thought it was cute seeing an eight-year-old do it.
"Boss is she your girlfriend?" he asked making the teens blush
"Not yet…" they both said blushing even harder
"Huuuuh? Why? She's really cute and you two seem to like each other. See you even took the same ice cream flavors." He said backing up with a huge smile and his hands behind his head not looking behind him until he bumped into someone.
"Sorry sir" said the young Sarutobi, but the teenager wanted to scare him a bit. He lifted Konohamaru from his feet.
"I need to teach you some manners kid." He chuckled lifting his hand ready to strike. He felt someone catch his hand in midair and turned around.
Naruto gave a glance to the group, they were around his age. The boy was wearing a black cat suit with makeup on his face. The girl was the oldest of the two with sandy blond hair and teal eyes.
"You Suna ninja should calm down a bit if you don't want to cause any political problems. This kid didn't do anything to mandate striking him down, and you may want to let him go. He's the Hokage's grandson." Naruto said with a chilly smile which made the kabuki release the boy with a small amount of fear. "And tell your third teammate to come down from this tree. His killing intent is making the villagers weary."
A red-haired boy fell down from the tree, he had the most emotionless face that Naruto has ever seen. There were black markings around his eyes and a tattoo of kanji for love over his left eye. There was an eerie feeling around him. He couldn't dwell on it much longer because Kurama spoke from the inside.
"Naruto he's a huge problem. He's Suna's jinchuuriki, I can feel Shukaku inside of him. See these black markings? He can't sleep or the Tanuki would take control." She warned him which made Naruto squint his eyes.
The red-haired boy decided to open his face "I'm sorry for my teammates. We will surely see each other tomorrow." He said taking his teammates which were fearful of the youngest member in tow and while passing Naruto he whispered, "You will prove my existence."
Ino felt a chill running through her spine overhearing the redhead's words. She turned to check on Naruto who had an unusual face for him while in the village. He wasn't that serious even during his training with the Sannins.
"Ino-chan, if we have to fight against them during the exams, if you can't kill him in less than three minutes you must run. Trust me you don't want to fight him; he smells of blood." Seeing the look Ino was giving him he developed "He's like me." He said pointing at his belly.
Ino gulped down some saliva she didn't even know she had in her mouth and nodded. He grabbed her hand and Shunshinned them to the Hokage office. They would need to confirm it with the Godaime.
"Yo baa-chan something has just happened that we need to address." He exclaimed and received a paper weight to the head.
"That was for calling me baa-chan and barging here without even asking permission. Especially since I have some important guests." Tsunade said with a vein popping on her forehead.
Looking around Naruto and Ino have seen some old faces. It was Haku, Zabuza, a blue-haired teen around sixteen and a gorgeous woman with auburn hair that went almost to her feet, hiding one of her eyes with the bangs.
"Long time no see, Zabuza, Haku, Chojuro and Mei. Or should I say Mizukage-sama? Or would you prefer Commander for the sake of old times?" Naruto greeted cheekily. To which the Mizukage bodyguards smiled at the new blondes in the room.
"I think you earned the right to call me by name eh Golden?" she answered as cheekily as he did "And who is that lovely young lady that you brought?"
"Her name is Ino Yamanaka, Ino meet Mei Terumi, the Godaime Mizukage." He presented his soon to be girlfriend even if he didn't know how soon. To which Ino bowed and greeted the Mizukage as well.
Tsunade decided to break the pleasantries between the two groups with a small cough. "Now Naruto I bet you didn't barge here just to say hello. What do you want?"
Naruto's face hardened gaining a serious aura around himself. "My and Kakashi's predictions were right. Suna sent their jinchuuriki here to compete. Trust me, he isn't any bit stable. He could lose control at any moment given the right circumstances."
"That's worrying, Mizukage-dono I need to excuse myself for a few minutes. I need to call someone back to the village and this must be done as fast as possible. I hope Naruto can entertain you long enough." She said running outside to write to Jiraiya to come back immediately. They needed a seal master in case something happened.
"So, Mei how's it going with Zabuza?" Zabuza wanted to scream at the boy. Mei on the other hand lifted her left hand with a ring.
"We haven't set a date yet. We will make sure to send you an invite. I still dream of the day when Zabu-kun proposed, he was so cute." She giggled. That made Ino step forward and speak with the older woman, leaving the group to speak between themselves.
"Who would've thought… hmmm Zabu-kun." Naruto has thrown a jab at the brow less swordsman. "Have you brought any genins with you?"
The Kiri ninja shook their heads "Not this time. We are still recovering from the civil war and knowing about the invasion we didn't want to lose any newbies with some potential. We will be serving as judges this time only."
The chatting continued for a few more minutes. Ino and Mei have hit it off too good for the taste of the males in the room. It was something about help with the wedding and being auntie Ino. Tsunade came back from the mail room and sent the blondes out with a "good luck for tomorrow".
Next Day
Ino and Naruto were waiting for their third teammate until he came with Kakashi. They changed into their ninja mode and went to the entrance.
"Let's rock these exams." Naruto said stretching his arms and sending an aura of seriousness around the team.
End chapter 7
AN: I know it took long. Still thank you for reading and cya next time.