"I didn't even know that you could read, Ino-pig." Sakura taunted.
The blonde heiress didn't even bother looking up, to engrossed in a rather familiar looking green and purple accented book. Hell, the Yamanaka girl barely committed to the dismissive wave aimed her way.
"Busy," Said Ino shortly, then muttered to herself. "These marginal notes that Naruto-kun made are really good."
'Did she say Naruto-kun?' she wondered, then aloud said. "Ah, I see you're finally realizing the Sasuke-kun isn't interested in you. Good job, Pig."
If the other genin could hear her taunts, she wasn't making it known. It was pissing Sakura off to no end. Looking over the other girl's shoulder, she noticed that Ino was reading something titled Beginner's Book of Poison, if the name at the top of the page was anything to go by. Was that Naruto's book? Why was Ino-pig reading her teammate's book? She may not be interested in him romantically (nor would she ever admit that she was ever so slightly curious), but she was still slightly possessive over her teammates. He tanked a blade for her, after all. He deserved her kindness.
"Why do you have Naruto's book, Pig?" she snatched the volume away and was met instantly with a blood chilling glare.
Ino glared at her former best friend and rival like she never glared at anyone before. "Give. It. Back."
Though she shivered, the mild killing intent that Ino was giving off sending her mind into flashbacks of her encounters with Zabuza, the pinkette stood her ground. Even though she was fairly certain that by further taunting the Yamanaka heiress, she was nominating herself to be target practice for her clan's Hidden Jutsu that would literally melt her mind.
"Why do you have Naruto's book?" she asked again.
The blonde kunoichi stood and snatched the volume back, still glaring at the other genin. She snarled at her former friend. "Naruto-kun gave it to me, since he's going to start training me. Besides, why do you care?"
A foreign sense of jealousy crawled thickly through her veins; foreign because it was in no way related to her beloved Sasuke-kun. She knew it was most likely because the blonde had offered to help her train as well. Hold up…
"Naruto-kun?"
Ino slipped a bookmark to save the page she was on as she stood and turned her back on her former friend. "Yes. Naruto-kun. Go ahead and pursue Sasuke to your heart's content."
To say that Ino Yamanaka was thoroughly pissed off would be an understatement. The conversation between herself and her former friend from the day prior weighed heavily on her mind.
'Leave it to that damn billboard brow to ruin my good mood.' The blonde thought bitterly.
It happened roughly an hour after she left Naruto's house. She made her way to the Dango restaurant to grab herself some dinner and dessert while she went ahead and read through Chapter Six: Introduction to Hallucinogens but the pinkette showed up and ruined her mood. When Ino returned home after that conversation, her parents found her room torn asunder while she stared rather longingly at the book.
Needless to say, she sat her parents down and had a long conversation with them. Her mother was proud that she was finally getting serious about her studies and had found someone to help advance the young blonde. Her father, on the other hand, was just glad she was over this obsessive devotion to Sasuke Uchiha; he could scarcely have a conversation with his precious dandelion without that damn brat being brought up. His relief was brief, however, as she regaled them with the tale of Naruto Senju. Inoichi Yamanaka had a single thought.
'Well fuck,'
Her mother told the blonde to invite the young man over for dinner, but to the rising panic of her father. Inoichi could do nothing more than bluster and stutter as his wife pulled him rather happily from their daughter's room.
Ino couldn't help but think about how fast she'd gotten over her obsession; it was distracting, when she actually paid attention to it. One day she was praying her heart out to Kami-sama above, hoping against hope that she would be on a team with the Last Uchiha. Then all of a sudden this boy comes in with hair like the sun and managed to tear her attention away from who she believed to be her soulmate at the time. Now he was sharing her knowledge with her. She grinned slightly before cleaning her room; it was more than Sasuke did.
The rest of the week was rather uneventful; when Naruto had time which was more often than not, Ino was with him. If they weren't having a lesson, then they were training. If they weren't training, then they were just enjoying each other's company. Sometimes, they would not train until much later and just enjoy being around each other. As much as Ino loathed sweating, she could already feel the results of her physical training; she had more energy, she could focus more, and her skin -when not drenched in sweat- had more of a glow to it. With the help of the younger of the blonde Senju, Ino mastered water walking; Asuma-sensei was good for something, seeing as how she had already mastered tree-walking.
As good and relatively uneventful as the week was, it wasn't without its low points. Fortunately, or unfortunately from Ino's perspective, those low points came in the form of her rival. Sakura Haruno seemed to be splitting her time between fawning over Sasuke and trying to get in between Ino and Naruto. Naruto, of course, didn't notice; or if he did, he didn't care. Neither option was really outside of the realm of possibility. By Saturday, however, Ino had enough.
"You're doing great, Ino." Naruto praised with a smile. "Just maintain the chakra flow."
Ino's hands were forming the snake hand seal and she was flowing earth chakra throughout her skin. Her normally fair skin was noticeably darker, a deeper brown than the earth below. Deep in concentration, her entire body was soon that earthy brown color. It was only Ino's platinum blonde hair that retained its original color. After about an hour, the female genin was starting to tremble, and after a few more minutes, she dropped the jutsu.
"That was excellent, Ino!" Naruto jumped in excitement. "You've come a long way in a week. Kind of making me jealous."
Ino blushed at the praise. "Only because I had an awesome teacher."
The other blonde smiled, but soon found that they were no longer alone. Pink and black sauntered onto the field; one looking bored, while the other look instantly annoyed. Ino looked to the sky and by Kami, she could swear that she saw her good mood take off like a damn bird. Naruto noticed his friend tense up, and followed her glare to his teammate. The pinkette was also sending her own glare to the other blonde. Now Naruto was the furthest thing from an idiot as possible, but he did have his airheaded moments, and for the life of him, he couldn't figure out the source of the problem. As far as he could tell, Ino was over Sasuke, so it couldn't be that… could it?
"What are you doing here, Ino-pig?" Sakura snarled.
Had the pinkette possessed any manner of strength or ability, that snarl might've given Naruto pause. But given who his mother and sister were, it was more like a kitten trying to be a tiger, or a puppy trying to be a wolf.
"Didn't know I needed your permission to do anything in this village, Forehead." Ino snapped. "Unless I should start calling you Hokage-sama."
Naruto expertly stifled his laugh by disguising it as a cough. He looked away in the direction of the brooding Uchiha and was instantly reminded of how much he wanted to bury him. He was almost done with his 'special project' and was waiting on the slightest cue to break the boy. For now, however, the boy was practicing his shurikenjutsu. The repetitive dull thunk of his shuriken and kunai hitting the tree was kind of hypnotic. Turning his attention back to the other blonde and the pinkette, he found himself looking into a pair of viridescent eyes and another pair of pupiless cornflower blue eyes.
"I'm sorry, what?" he asked sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.
Ino's eyes, once hard from glaring at her former friend, soften instantly when they met his cerulean whirlpools. "When are you going to take me out on a date, Naruto-kun?"
Okay, that settled it; she was over Sasuke. Sakura glared harsher still at the blonde female, which Naruto had no idea was possible. If looks could kill, his friend would have been dead several hundred times over. It was quite intimidating. Ino caught the look and turned her own glare to the pinkette.
"Hey Forehead, do you mind? Sasuke is over there." she said dismissively.
"A date?" said Naruto thoughtfully. "Um, what did you have in mind?"
"Dinner with my family," said Ino. "Tonight. Bring your mom and sister."
She ran off mere seconds before Kakashi-sensei made his presence known. The rest of the day was spent training, though Sakura was in a noticeably worse mood than when her crush rejected her. Naruto had a single thought that reverberated throughout his mind for the entirety of the day.
'Would that even count as a date?'
"It's very nice to meet the young man responsible for kicking my daughter's training into gear." said Akemi with a dazzling smile.
Ino's mother, a brunette that held an air of regality about her, chewed her rice thoughtfully as she and Inoichi scrutinized the sunny blonde boy that looked as though nothing in the world could touch him. In truth, given his two family members and his own strength, attested to by Ino herself, nothing probably could touch him. Given his status as heir to the Senju clan, only a fool would dare lay a hand on the boy within the walls of Konohagakure. Still, the older of the blonde males didn't take too kindly to boys getting too close to his baby girl. Said 'baby girl' was eyeing the boy intently, hanging on to his every word when he spoke, and making sure Inoichi himself didn't say anything untoward.
"Ino is incredibly intelligent," said Naruto. "I'm surprised she didn't make 'Kunoichi of the Year'."
The genin blushed furiously at his praise and continued to eat in silence. Of course, he knew why she didn't make Kunoichi of the Year. Sakura is such a bookworm that only she had the ability to continuously fawn over Sasuke and still have maintained top marks in class. He wouldn't hold that over her head, however.
Akemi chuckled at the praise her daughter received. "Nevertheless, we thank you for getting her in gear. I, personally, was afraid her little… crush would hamper her potential."
"Kaa-san!" the blonde girl hissed.
Naruto chuckled as well. "I'm only glad I can help."
Inoichi continued to scrutinize the youngest of the Senju, something that didn't escape the notice of Tsunade. The matriarch of the Senju clan had spent the entire trip to the Yamanaka compound in a state of irritability, grumbling the entire time about floozies trying to steal her Naru-chan. Naruto of course promised her that he wouldn't be going anywhere, and that even if he and Ino ended up in a...more intimate relationship, that he would still be her little Naru-chan. That managed to cheer the buxom blonde up to a degree, but look the other blonde adult was giving her beloved Sochi was riling her up.
"Anata," Akemi said dangerously.
Inoichi turned his gaze to his wife, and the pair seemed to be having a heated, yet silent debate. A debate that end when Akemi's right brow twitched. The Yamanaka clan head blushed furiously and cleared his throat. He looked back to Naruto.
Akemi smiled at Naruto and said. "Well, Naruto-san, what do you specialize in?"
"Medical Ninjutsu and Taijutsu." he answered easily.
"Taijutsu, you say?" Inochi asked with intrigue.
Naruto went into the details of the usage of his Boil Release kekkei genkai and what it did. The questions and answers went back and forth for the remainder of dinner, some aimed at Tsunade and other at Shizune, while the majority stayed with the younger blonde male. Somewhere towards the end of the dinner, however, Naruto made a rather important discovery.
'There are way too many blondes in this house.' he thought, then paled. 'By Kami, if Ino and I have kids there's a good chance they'll all be blonde.'
While after dinner tea was being served by Akemi, the question that Naruto was waiting on finally showed up. Shizune and Tsunade had to admit that they were having a relatively good time, at least until Inoichi opened his mouth again.
"What are your intentions for my daughter?" he asked.
Naruto just stared at the man, questing and more than a little curious. All eyes were on him; he could feel it. "To make her happy and keep her that way, I suppose."
In truth, while he could see himself dating Ino a little more clearly than previous, he still didn't really have any particular intentions. Unless he was in an operating theater or on a mission, he lived by a 'whatever happens will happen' kind of creed. If he and Ino did end up together, then he would cherish her and do his damndest to keep her happy. If they didn't, then there would be no point in him feeling negatively about it.
Inoichi nodded approvingly. As the Senju trio rose, the Yamanaka trio walked them to the door. Sharing a firm handshake with Naruto, and a still firmer handshake with Tsunade, he saw them off. Akemi hugged the trio. Ino conversed rather shortly with Naruto about a mission that was coming up for Team Ten. He nodded and told her that he would drop by in the morning to hand her off some supplies. She thanked him and, with a blush, pressed light kiss to his cheek. Shizune kept a firm grip on her master and mother figure to ensure that she didn't thrash the poor girl for showing their ball of sunshine some affection. His face went blank before he smiled and pulled her into a warm hug.
"What the hell do you mean Shikamaru's sick?" Ino shouted to her sensei.
Asuma sighed as he took a long drag of his premium cigarette, much to Ino's annoyance. Choji shifted uncomfortably in his spot. They needed another genin in order to take this C-ranked mission. The son of the Sandaime wondered briefly is Kurenai would let him borrow one of her genin, but Ino interrupted him at once.
"We could take Naruto-kun." she offered.
Both Asuma and Choji looked at her as though she'd grown another head. For the past two months, Ino had said little to nothing about Sasuke (which all male members of Team Ten were thankful to Kami above for) and spent more time reading books on poisons. In truth, it made them all more than a little uneasy, since they were all convinced that she would poison one or all of them. She'd even taken to asking Asuma for tougher train, most of which included him striking her with his full power while she kept up B-rank earth release jutsu.
So for her to add the '-kun' honorific to another boy's name meant something serious. Either way, Asuma heard about the boy's time in the Land of Wave and was beyond impressed. Medical Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, Ninjutsu; he was a wild card that would make anyone think twice. With a shrug, he smiled and they headed towards the Hokage Tower. When they got there, however, Naruto was in the Hokage's office with a tall man that had to have been Zabuza.
"He and Haku can live in the Senju compound with us, Jiji." the boy clapped the taller man on the shoulder, much to the former Kiri-Nin's annoyance. "There's more than enough houses and no one is dumb enough to set foot in there."
The Sandaime took a long, thoughtful drag from his pipe, and blew the smoke from his nose. After a moment's thought, he nodded. "Be back here tomorrow at nine o'clock sharp with Haku for your respective tests."
Zabuza nodded respectfully before turning to find three members of Team Ten. He nudged the blonde beside him and jerked his head in their direction. The moment he saw Ino, a bright smile lit up his face, but he held his silence. For now, anyway.
"Morning, Tou-san." Asuma grinned. "We're here for a C-rank mission."
Hiruzen nodded sagely. "Ah, and where is Shikamaru-kun?"
"Sick."
"Do you have a temporary replacement?"
All eyes went to Ino, who was staring with a blush at Naruto. No one spoke, but all in attendance connected the dots rather quickly. Still realizing that they needed to give verbal confirmation, Asuma nodded and nominated Naruto. Hiruzen asked if it was okay with the blonde in question, which he answered with an emphatic 'yes'. After receiving the mission scroll, which detailed the delivering of a scroll to Mifune-dono of the Land of Iron, Team Ten, Naruto, and Zabuza left to pack for a month long trip. Asuma stayed back to talk to his father, however, curious about the second blonde he managed to pick up.
"Anything I should know about him, Tou-san?"
Hiruzen hummed thoughtfully. "According to Kakashi, he's powerful and despite initially freezing up, he quickly handled it. If there is a hospital, he will more than likely stray to it. Other than that? No."
Asuma nodded. 'Wild card, indeed.'