Ch.3

Author's Note: First off I want to apologize for not updating before now. I started my senior year of high school back in August and was sick for 2 weeks then had to get caught up. Ugh Senior year's kicking my butt I've been up every night studying. The story as a result has taken a back seat. And in my house School is the most important thing. And thanks for being patient. BTW from this point on any money reference will still be yen but think USD in terms of cost. It's easier that way. On with the story...

Naruto quickly tapped into the power of Kurama in order to sense Kakashi. "You guys this test is most likely testing our teamwork" he said to his comrades that looked a little bit lost. "Sasuke send a Katon at the tree located approximatly 90 degrees to the left when I give the signal. I'll make a couple Bunshins to fight him. Ino-chan you and Sakura grab a bell for yourselves. Sasuke and I will decide who gets the last bell" he explained with a look of determination on his face. Everyone nodded. "Now Sasuke!" he instructed, Sasuke quickly ran through a short series of hand seals before shooting a fireball towards the tree that Naruto instructed him to aim at. 'Kind of expected that' Kakashi thought to himself as he jumped down into the clearing to avoid the raging fireball.

Sudden he sensed a presence all around him just as he landed. He looked up to see 20 clones with kunai drawn. "Interesting" he said with a small smile he easily fought off the clones much to Naruto's plan. Just as the last clone dispelled the real one drew a kunai and held it against the throat of his sensei. "Ino-chan, Sakura get the bells" he ordered. After the two kunochi grabbed the bells the Jounin disappeared and reappeared behind Sasuke. "Good job guys lets take a break, only three of you can have lunch, one of you has to go without. Do not feed the one that can't eat" he informed. "Kakashi-sensei. Ino-chan, Sasuke and Sakura can eat I'll go without" Naruto said rubbing the back of his head. Ino smiled at her crush and teamates selflessness. "If you insist" Kakashi said tying the young man against the log. After he finished "We will resume in an hour I'll be back shortly" he said disappearing in a puff of smoke. The three teens began to eat. "Naruto-kun thanks for letting us eat and you go without. You didn't have to" she said bowing her head with a blush. "No biggie, I wouldn't let either of you girls go hungry and I ate before I left this morn..." before he could finish his stomach growled. A light blush graced his cheeks. "Here dobe your hunger will be a set back" Sasuke said offering his box lunch to his long time friend.

"What the fuck did I tell you!" Kakashi said scaring everyone or at least causing them to jump slightly. "Anyway you pass!" he said with his signature eye smile. "Remember this well, those who don't follow the rules are trash but those who abandon their comrades are worse that trash" he informed them remembering the way he used to be before the incident at Kannabi Bridge many, many years ago. Shaking those thoughts from his head he dismissed them informing them they could take the rest of the day off along with the next two days before they would start taking missions as Team 7. Considering the festival starts tonight.

"Ino-chan?" Naruto said softly. "Yes Naruto-kun?" she replied just as timidly. "Since we passed the survival exercise and the Konoha Festival starts tonight. I was wondering if you'd like to go with me tonight?" he asked with a blush, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "Yeah, I'd love to" she said with a small giggle. "Great I'll pick you up at seven; in the mean time we should get some rest. It's 12:30pm right now so rest up for later tonight." He said with a wink causing Ino's face to turn bright red.

The team said their goodbyes to one another and departed, going their separate ways.

With Naruto...

He rushed home to inform his parents of his 'date' with Ino. Both of which wanted to give him the talk. But he was in no mood to hear that. Rushing upstairs to his room he set his alarm to get him up at 5pm so that gave him roughly two hours to prepare. 'Kurama could you wake me up if my alarm doesn't go off' he asked his friend/Bijuu. 'Yeah kit I will' he responded with a small grin. "Thanks" he said aloud while getting comfortable in his bed and soon after drifted off into a peaceful slumber.

With Ino...

'Oh Kami what will I wear tonight' Ino asked herself as she opened the front door of her house. Soon as she entered she was interrogated by her father Inochi. "So how did it go? Did you pass?" he asked quizically. "It went fine. Yes daddy we passed the test thanks to Naruto-kun's teamwork idea!" She said overly enthusiastically. "From what I hear he is something else. I mean he's a genin with at least 3 Jounin level Jutsu" he said shuddering slightly at how strong the young jinchuuriki was. "Daddy?" "Yes hun?" "Naruto-kun invited me to go to the festival with him later tonight. Can I go?" Ino asked with puppy dog eyes. "Ah, a date with the Namikaze boy huh? Yeah, why not" he said earning himself a hug from his daughter. "He'll be here around 7:00pm" she said softly.

(Advance Time to 6:45)

With Naruto...

"Okay ma I will!" Naruto said in response to Kushina as he walked out the door. As he gradually approached the Yamanaka houshold his nerves began to get the best of him 'hey kit calm down Ino really likes you so you'd have to do something really stupid to mess this up' Kurama said. 'That doesn't really make me feel any better but thanks for trying Kurama' Naruto replied politly to the bijuu. 'Any time kit'. As he was talking with the Kyuubi he barely had time to register where he was; the front steps of Ino's house to be exact. Naruto gently knocked on the door. Inochi anwsered it. "Hello, Naruto" Inochi said with a smile extending his hand. Naruto smiled back "Nice to meet you Mr. Yamanaka" he said shaking his hand with a firm grip. "Come in Ino will be down in a few" Inochi offered widening the door.

5 minutes later...

Naruto quietly stood up as he heard footsteps on the wood of the stairs. Naruto's eyes widened slightly at the sight of his date. Ino was wearing a lavender dress with white flowers on it "Wow Ino-chan you look so beautiful, more so than usual" this comment earned him a small smile from Inochi and Ino blushed furiously and looking away. "You look nice also Naruto-kun" she replied softly noticing that he wore a black coat(unzipped), white button-down shirt, and black dress pants and black dress shoes.

"Well y'all better get going if y'all want to do anything. Also Ino you can spend the night with him if you like I trust him enough not to try anything." He said seriously yet chuckling slightly at the end, causing the two teens to be confused and embarrassed considering he just yelled the last part of the sentence as they walked into the distance.

"My dad always tries to embarrass me" Ino said; face bright red. "Nah its fine he seems pretty cool to me" said Naruto with a reassuring smile. "So Ino-chan what do you want to do first?" he asked. "Can we get something to eat?" she questioned as her stomach lightly growled. "Yeah, sure I'm kinda hungry myself" he said as they arrived at the festival. Naruto glanced over the many food vendors, and asked "See anything you like?" "Uh yeah those Yakitori(Grilled Chicken on a stick) over there look good" she said pointed to the stall a few steps away. "Okay that sounds good to me" he said grasping her hand with his own. "How many you want?" he asked with a bright smile. She couldn't help but smile, Kami how she loved his smile. "Uh just two" she said. "Okay, we'll take four of them" he said to the young vendor. Naruto proceed to hand the man 10 yen. After bowing slightly and thanking the man he returned his attention to Ino handing her the Yakitori.

3 hours later...

"Ino-chan the fireworks are about to start in about 5 min; so I want us to have the best view" he said confidently. He grabbed her hand and began to channel chakra. Using his father's signature jutsu that earned him the nickname 'Yellow Flash' the 'Hiraishin no Jutsu'. They teleported to a large field of flowers and cherry blossom trees. Naruto began to whince in slight pain. "Naruto-kun are you okay?" Ino questioned with concern. "Yeah I'm fine the technique puts some strain on my body but yeah don't worry" he said grinning.

"Well if you say so" she said not wanting to push the issue. "Anyway it's beautiful out here" she complimented as she took in her surroundings. "Yeah but not as beautiful as you" Naruto said with a smile. The comment caused Ino to blush heavily; she turned away not wanting him to see her blush. She shivered as the cold night air began to affect her. Naruto seeing this quickly removed his coat and draped it over her. She shivered once more as the warmth of his coat engulfed her. "Thanks Naruto-kun" she said softly. He grinned. "No prob-" before he could finish he was cut off by a pair of lips. His eyes widened slightly out of surprise, but just as quickly as it started the kiss was over. "Ino-chan?" he asked dumbfounded, his mind going a mile a minute. She shook her head "sorry I-I just...wanted to kiss you" she turned away embarrassed and began to walk off.

Naruto gently grabbed her hand as she was walking off and spun her around pulling her into a loving embrace. Ino was unsure of the situation but she felt safe in his arms. She hugged him back; tightly. Tears began to stream down her cheeks. Words couldn't describe the amount of emotions she was feeling right now. Naruto rested his head atop hers and began to speak. "Ino-chan I...I think I'm in love with you, and I'm sorry that I ignored you the way I did this past year, I never want you to feel the way you felt yesterday ever again.I'll always make sure your happy. That's a promise that'll last a lifetime" he said pulling away from her just enough to look her in her teary eyes; he gently wiped away the tears with his thumb.

He then pressed his lips against her forehead. "For as long as I live I promise to give you one hundred and ten percent" he said looking deep into her eyes, trying to reinforce his earlier statement .

*BANG!*

The two teenagers jumped as the fireworks began. They both looked up into the sky. "Naruto-kun this spot really is perfect for watching fireworks!" she said with the same amount of enthusiasm as a five year old, causing Naruto to chuckle lightly. After seemingly short 10 minutes the fireworks stopped.

"Ino-chan? Are you ready to go? It's getting pretty late" he said looking at his watch, and noticing it was almost 11:30pm. "Yeah I'm pretty tired" she replied softly. "Okay, do you wanna spend the night with me or just go home?" he questioned. "Home" she answered a little to quickly. Naruto then proceeded to pout, pretending to be offended. "Well lets get going" Ino insisted ingnoring the obviously fake pout. He gently grabbed her hand 'Hiraishin no Jutsu' he whispered. They disappeared in a flash of yellow light.

They instantly reappeared at her doorstep. "How did you do that?" "oh yeah I can either use kunai to teleport or I can mark the destination ahead of time with a simple seal" he explained. She suddenly hugged him, "tonight was the best night of my life so far" she said planting a kiss on his cheek. "Well as your boyfriend I can promise there will be even better nights to come, Goodnight Ino-chan" he said. "Love you Naruto-kun!" Love you too Ino-chan" he said turning, and walking away. Ino quickly raced upstairs to her room and went to sleep, dreaming peacefully of 'her Naruto-kun'.

'I would say that the date was successful' Kurama commented...

Author's Note: Sorry for the long ass wait, almost 6 months I think. I'm going to try harder to update at least once a month. Again thanks for being patient and thanks to those who have reviewed the story so far. Love you guys stay tuned...

Jutsu mentioned:

Hiraishin no Jutsu-Flying Thunder God Technique