Author's Notes I: I originally wanted to update this on the 31st, but studies, work, and a lot of procrastination didn't let me…so I published it two days later. The fact that I could finish it in such a short time was nothing less than astounding, which probably means I have improved or written something completely half-assed. As for the pairing, well Ino is definitely there. If there are more girls as love interests (potential) – which is unlikely – they will only be there if the story flows that way. Though I gotta say, Anko has a high possibility of ending up with him; Anko also happens to be younger in this story. As in she's around Itachi's age, who was around 18-19 in Part I.
You'll also notice that I changed my writing style a bit, something prominent ever since I rewrote my DxD/Naruto story. That said, enjoy or be annoyed by this new chapter.
I don't own Naruto. I do however have a lot of other stuff. Sadly, none of them matter.
xXxXx-SKU-xXxXx
Uzumaki Naruto considered himself many things.
A loudmouth. An S Rank Prankster. A shinobi who would make the world embrace the color orange. A lover of ramen. An outspoken individual with the confidence the size of the Hokage Rock, and wielder of an unpredictable mind. A future Hokage who would surpass all his predecessors.
But a coward, he was not.
If he was then he wouldn't have faced two chunnin by himself when the threat of death had been looming over his head coupled with his lack of true combat…it was impossible for him to make it out in one piece. Yet he fought, he persevered, he beat the odds, and broke their bones as he rained upon them a barrage of clones.
He – Uzumaki Naruto – was not a coward.
That is what he kept telling himself as screamed and shrieked like a girly, very girly girl, fresh out of the academy, as snakes hissed and sang, chasing him across the dark and dreary forest of Training Ground 44.
Internally he cursed himself for being naïve, it had been twenty days since he started training under the crazy – and sexy as she liked to point out half the time – snake lady.
It started out in a simple way.
Chakra molding and controlling exercises were small and meager tasks certainly not befitting of a future Hokage like him, as he put it. Despite his words that came off as brash and cocky, he proved his worth as he spammed, abused, and raped the shared memory experience of the clone.
Uzumaki Naruto was so happy when he saw the gleam of pride and joy in the eyes of the purple haired tokubetsu jonin.
That was his conclusion of course. Afterwards, the woman stated that she would be upping his training and conducting survival mission simulations. Now, while he was not the sharpest kunai in the pouch he did not expect Mitarashi Anko to actually try to kill him.
Every day it was the same routine for him, it started with him running laps around, inside and outside the Forest of Death as he had to evade snakebites, shuriken, explosive tags, and a kunoichi who was without a doubt a Log damned sadist.
Did he mention he was wearing chakra weights too?
Of course it didn't end there, that was his warm up exercise as he now using nothing but brute force to jump. Had he not, he would've had a lovely little mark on his heel and poison in his bloodstream. Of course, he didn't expect a kunai to come whizzing out and cut his cheek.
Blood slowly leaked out and fell to the earth where the twin snakes hissed, and glared at him for not letting them bite him.
Why the heck should he?!
Slowly shifting his hand back to his pouch, he chucked a kunai at a tree where he was pretty sure Anko wasn't lurking around, given the trajectory of the previous weapon that tried to disfigure him.
A thin wire was tied behind the handle of the kunai he threw, and using it as a rope he yanked himself forward as he stood on the surface of the tree's bark.
Uzumaki Naruto caught his breath as he looked at the snakes not moving, they slithered there on the ground. Hypnotically gazing at him, their slow movements were subtle and mesmerizing as his danger senses scream at him. He ducked and sure enough, another kunai whizzed past him.
Then he froze.
No, not out of fear.
He felt something that made him shiver.
He felt two very soft 'things' press against his back, digging into him as the inner and newly acknowledged pervert inside him muttered something to him.
Words of indecency, lust, and debauchery rhymed in the dirtiest depth of his mind as he felt two arms wrap around his neck. They pulled him back further into the mushy area, as his entire face became red and steam puffed out of his ears.
"Ah~" a blissful moan reached his ears as he squirmed. A hot, very hot breath brushed his neck as the fragrance of something sweet invaded his nostrils.
"U-Um," he stuttered out, mentally kicking himself for being nervous.
It wasn't the first time this happened.
However, at the end of the day he was a guy. He was teen, a hormonal teen no less, with certain urges that he couldn't release due to the sheer exhaustion his body took after training each day. This followed by his crazy temporary sensei doing these things to him didn't help his situation.
For as far as he could remember, love and affection was something he was not given much – and those were two things he craved for.
This however...this was different.
"You only got one scratch, gaki. Don't you want your sensei to make a few more adjustments?" Anko asked as she tightened her hold on the flustered teen.
Naruto's mind scrambled as a chibi-Naruto with devilish wings and a tail appeared on his left shoulder, giggling lecherously, and give him two thumbs up.
Apparently this actual was real training. Kunoichi specialized in seduction missions, and what Anko was doing to the blond was apparently very lighthearted in terms of what she could actually do. He shuddered to think what else Anko had in store. The main problem was, and it was a guilty pleasure; he liked it when she did that.
Then of course came the blow to his gut and the orange clad teen was plummeting down to the ground.
Cerulean eyes caught sight of the two snakes rushing in at the spot where he would land. With a large thud, his body collided against the dampened, grassy field. As the snakes wrapped themselves around his arm and leg, respectively, the boy smirked. He looked up at the snake summoner whose brown eyes were curiously focused on him, and he mouthed one word.
'Boom'
True to his action, the body of the blond exploded and Mitarashi Anko felt a sharp, cold metal pressed against her neck.
"That was not easy to pull off," Naruto said as he held the kunai with a steady hand. He really didnt want to harm her despite her fatal way of training him. He liked Mitarashi Anko, she was a bit like him. However, in his mind, she was a fool to think dango was the food of the gods.
"So when did you switch out, gaki?" she asked with a sly smile forming on her face.
"Around the same time you took a break for thirty seconds," Naruto cheekily replied. Apparently having a gigantic fox in your gut had its perks.
Naruto's sense of smell and hearing had gone up for the past two weeks. He tried to talk to the fox about it, but the damn fox ignored him vehemently and had the gall to call him a 'simple minded idiot' for thinking that he would cooperate with such a weak jailer. The blond promptly told him that one day he would make said fox eat his words, to which the Bijuu told him that pigs would start flying sooner than that event happening.
"You're getting faster gaki."
"Swifter," he replied a bit cheekily.
Anko had to chuckle at that. It was true, he had been improving. Ridiculously too if she could add. Naruto himself was surprised at how much he could achieve once he put his mind to it, a part of him wondered if he would become Rookie of the Year if he paid attention to Iruka's lectures.
Unfortunately the boy had actually voiced this thought out loud and Anko being Anko, had smacked him on the head. The Snake Mistress, as he learned about her unofficial title later, apparently hated the curriculum with a passion that apparently her friend 'Nai-chan' matched.
Kunoichi were pathetic in her opinion and they were more akin to glass dolls.
Normally, Naruto would've yelled, argued, and pleaded that Sakura wasn't like them. She was Kunoichi of the Year after all. Now that he thought about it, she wasn't that good. Sure she was better than most of the girls, the only reason she sort of won that title was probably due to her large volume of knowledge.
"Swifter, but not that sharp yet," she said and disappeared in a puff of smoke as the real Naruto experienced the same thing his clone felt. Now, if only she wasn't poking his chest with a kunai right now.
"Do you have to do that all the time?" Naruto asked, pink staining his whiskered cheeks as his blue eyes averted the gaze from the playful expression Anko's face. Instead of receiving an answer, he felt something soft and round press against his right cheek.
Yup, Anko was rubbing her cheeks against his and he was not going to complain about it anytime soon.
"Aw, gaki," the Snake Mistress almost purred with a voice that he could only describe as alluring. "You're not screaming and flailing anymore."
It was true.
Twenty days ago when she hugged him for the first time he was yelling 'child molester' and whatnot. Apparently being a shinobi made you of legal age, but he would maintain some decorum dattebayo. Plus there were the Three Prohibitions to follow, which nowadays most people never did.
Women, money, and alcohol often times broke a shinobi. He was sure that a legendary shinobi would never mess with all three.
In some village where an onsen was, a white haired man sneezed.
"You said it yourself. I have to improve or a kunoichi will kill me sooner than I can think," Naruto said with small grumble. Not that he was complaining about this situation, but apparently the weaker sex's manipulation was one of his greatest weaknesses. Or as the Kyuubi told him, his ass was grass against women.
"What about me? Won't I kill you, gaki?" she asked as she pressed even further into him.
Naruto quickly used a substitution as he didn't want his pants to be a bit tighter from the nice warmth he was receiving from her sinfully, sweet body.
Pouting, the Snake Mistress let go of the log and crossed her arms under her chest.
"Don't worry about that, Anko-san," Naruto said as the pink was finally leaving his cheeks. Stretching a bit, he was sure that the warm-up run was over by now. He then smiled like the idiot he was and spoke, "Besides, I don't think you'd try to kill me."
"Oh really," Anko said with amusement in her eyes. "Why the fuck not, gaki?"
"Well firstly you're a kunoichi of the Leaf. Two, you're a pretty nice person," he said with a normal tone as he slowly began to descend down the tree, his feet walking across the dark wood.
"Hmph," she muttered quite haughtily. "As if, don't you know who I am?"
"Yeah, I do," Naruto said as he turned around and looked at her. His cerulean eyes intensely looking at her, "You're Mitarashi Anko."
"Come again?" she asked. While Anko didn't reveal her entire past to the teen, due to her obvious hatred of the past man who was in her life…she did not expect to hear an answer so blunt from him. She was however sure that he noticed that she would often get a few glares, hushed mentions and had a general lone nature with the exception of a few friends.
"Why? I said it once already, dattebayo," Naruto said as his eyes squinted.
Why were women like this sometimes? His Jiji told him that it was answer that even the Shodai Hokage didn't even know. Apparently he was quite afraid of his wife, who was an Uzumaki and from what the Sandaime told the blond, she was very, very dangerous.
"Forget it, gaki," she said as she walked with him now and both remained silent. It was only a matter of time, before one would speak.
Any minute now. The silence would break. Both of them were energetic, loud, and stubborn. Anko believed she was more stubborn than him and she would win. Unfortunately the whiskered blond teen's mind was elsewhere. Soon enough they had both made it down to the ground and were walking towards their usual training spot.
…
"Okay, gaki," Anko spoke a bit impatiently. The teen looked at her with a confused manner.
'I don't remember dissing on dango today,' Naruto thought as he feared for a kunai being aimed at his special place. That was apparently the golden rule with Anko. You never, ever, ever place any food over dango.
"I'm going to ask you straight," she spoke as her brown pupils locked onto his blue ones. "Don't you see how some of the people glare at me? Don't you see how they talk about me or you when we're in the village together?"
"I kinda did notice," Naruto said as he shrugged his shoulders. He was used to it, well not completely but his day felt incomplete with the usual glare and hushed whispers of 'him', 'brat' and many other derogative terms.
He did notice that Anko too received similar glares, lighter ones to be exact, but they were there. Frankly speaking it wasn't his business and a part of him did want to pry into it, but some things were better left unsaid. He had an idea of how she felt about the whole thing, that was exactly the reason why didn't ask her or pressure her.
Uzumaki Naruto never judged anyone for who they were…Okay, except Sasuke but he was exceptionally gifted in the Art of Being an Asshole.
"And? I thought you'd be playing Twenty Questions about it now," Anko said with a bit of disappointment in her. She wasn't that close to the brat, but she had to admit that he was exceptionally cheerful and his attitude was one of a kind. That said, she was more or less getting used to interacting with the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi more.
The fact that he didn't seem to care about the similar slighted views she got made her feel a bit strange.
"Honestly, it's not my business to ask you about it. We all have matters we want to keep to ourselves," Naruto spoke with a shrug and then smiled a bit. His hand slowly rose and scratched the back of his head, an action he often did while speaking, "Besides it doesn't change anything."
"What do you mean?"
"It's just what I meant dattebayo!" the orange wearing genin loudly proclaimed while throwing his arms up in frustration. Why couldn't she just drop the issue? Troublesome, indeed. How could he fix this? He needed to be smart about it, he needed to be careful and….FUCK IT! He would say it just like he meant it.
Releasing a sigh, he spoke as he looked her dead in the eye and spoke with all the
"I mean that no matter what happens or any of the villagers say, you're still going to be Anko-san to me," Naruto said as he said it like it was the most obvious thing to the world. As if by Kami's will, winds blew in the forest and instead of creating a dramatic effect that one could hope for, dust flew in his eyes as he mentally cursed all that was not ramen and furiously rubbed his eyes.
Had he stopped and registered the Snake Mistress' reaction, he would've seen a pink hue caressing her cheeks as her brown eyes widened, and heard the soft, hushed gasp escaped her throat.
This was a new experience for Mitarashi Anko. She had friends, not many of them but she did have them. This was the first time a person she barely knew giving her such an odd sense of comfort and acceptance that she didn't think was possible. As she watched him childishly curse the dust particles, she couldn't help but laugh at his actions and the thing he had just said to her.
Now this was something the blond registered as her small act of happiness made him feel bewildered. He had seen her smirk, heard her laugh, and even threatened to carve away what made him a man but this….this was different. This was nice, the way her face relaxed and morphed into something that made him blush was amazing. Her laughter was like music and for the first time in his life, Uzumaki Naruto was speechless.
"Come on, let's go then," she said as the teen in front of her suddenly gazing at her with such an intense stare. It was weird for her as well, thankfully her words seemed to have broken his state of daze and confusion. As they walked along, Anko decided to mess with him a bit more, and by the Log she knew exactly what to do make this experience a memorable one.
"You know, Naruto-kun," she said, emphasizing on the suffix with a purr. Just as she wanted the blond teen, slowly craned his neck towards her and stiffened.
Uzumaki Naruto was a bit nervous. In the span of training and spending twenty days with the Snake Mistress she always – ALWAYS – called him 'gaki', 'blondie', 'Uzumaki', or 'ramen's greatest ass kisser', but never had she once called by his first name, that too with a suffix.
This was officially weird, this was dangerous and this was…her trench coat was on the ground?
Why were her hands slowly crossing and moving towards her hips?
Why was she smiling like that?
Why did her eyes have that glint?
Why was he internally liking how her arms were slowly tucking at her fishnet shirt?
Slowly, gently, cruelly she lifted her shirt as Naruto's blue eyes refused to move away from the sight before him.
"For saying something like that you get a reward, but you better not tell anyone," Anko said with a honey-like voice that entranced him, and all his efforts to not look at her got crushed mercilessly when she finally lifted her top off.
Praising the Log, the teen flew back.
Blood rushed out of his nose as he thanked the Gods of Ramen for letting him see something like that.
xXxXx-SKU-xXxXx
"This is unusual," Sarutobi Hiruzen said with an annoyed tone as he lighted his pipe. The familiar taste of nicotine settled on his tongue, as he looked at the Council. The entire council consisting of both civilians and shinobi clans.
Normally he wouldn't have been in a sour mood, but a lot work was left today and the accursed volume of processed wood pulp resting on his office desk wasn't going away anytime soon.
He wanted to go home a bit early now and then. More so because his son, Asuma, had returned a few days ago.
Their relationship was strained to say the best and Sarutobi Hiruzen, not the Sandaime Hokage, felt that it was time he started mending that bridge.
Hearing a cough, he saw Kawagami Yusei was looking for permission to speak.
Giving a slight nod, the man began to speak.
"Hokage-sama, we requested for a meeting since it regards the future generation of Konoha's shinobi," Kawagami spoke and one Yamanaka Inoichi almost chuckled at the man's words.
A civilian trying to interfere in shinobi matters? The Mind Walker knew that the Sandaime himself must've been found this interesting. It was true.
The Hokage looked seemed amused at the words Kawagami said, but for boredom's sake he let the man continue instead of cutting him off. Shinobi matters outside the Academy didn't have any loopholes that the civilian class consisting of merchants, traders, other businessmen and women could exploit. The Old Monkey had a pretty good idea what the man was going to say, and true to his assumptions, the man's next words sealed the deal.
"- so it is with concern for the greater good we, the Civilian Council, respectfully request that the recession process of this current batch be brought to an end," Kawagami ended after making a lot of points.
The representatives of the Civilian Council seemed to nod their heads at his words, and to them the idea seemed alright. Their children had been studying hard for years, only to have their dreams at becoming a great shinobi taken away from them seemed cruel and inhumane.
"I see," the Sandaime Hokage said with a raised eyebrow. The man, Kawagami, had been talking for quite some time and his old, trusted pipe served as proof as the final puff of smoke was exhaled.
He looked at the clan heads and saw that they were not impressed.
Not one bit.
Personally speaking he was quite tired of the meetings that the Civilian Council often held. If it weren't for the fact that Konoha still needed a year or two before they finally recovered from the debt caused by one very orange and large fox, then there wouldn't be a Civilian Council in the first place.
His old friends, Koharu and Homura, supporting them was something he found distasteful and ever since the Uchiha Massacre incident his relationship with them was kept to nothing more than strictly professional.
"Inuzuka-san," the Sandaime spoke as he looked at the current clan head of the Inuzuka Clan. Inuzuka Tsume was a hothead by nature, but was composed when not provoked, and judging by the nearly annoyed look she had maybe it was best to let her loose on them.
No pun intended.
"What do you think of that?"
"Completely unnecessary," Tsume replied as her slitted eyes narrowed at Kawagami. She spoke, a tongue of steel forming sharpened words, "The overall skills that most genin now have is pathetic compared to the ones from the previous generation. I remember 10 year olds being more athletic than these kids, my own pup included."
Just like he expected, Tsume kept it short, crisp, and to the point. She didn't say anything wrong and it was true. Unfortunately the other half of the council didn't seem to agree with her opinion.
"They're only children, Inuzuka-san," another member of the Civilian side spoke. Sakazaki Tenchi, one of the more prominent rich men in Konoha, looked at her with a flabbergasted expression. "The reason why we agree to this is because we don't want another Uchiha Itachi to emerge."
"Uchiha Itachi was an exception," Yamanaka Inoichi spoke this time. The man looked at the Hokage and understood he was allowed to continue. "Even by bizarre standards, Itachi was different from most shinobi. I've studied his file at least a hundred times by now. He had PTSD before he was even admitted into the Academy after witnessing a great battle in the Third Great War. The reason why we, the Shinobi Council, agreed to the mutual agreement for the Academy was because this is peace time."
"Wait," Kawagami spoke again this time. He looked at the Yamanaka head and continued, "Yamanaka-san, are you suggesting that you would've agreed to let your daughter go out in the field when she was ten."
"Yes," Inoichi replied without a single hesitation. "If things had gone smoothly without the Kyuubi's attack, the overall conflict free period, and of course Uchiha Itachi's one man genocide…then yes. I would've let her go and become a kunoichi."
"But she's a child. Ten is not an age for children to enter a shinobi's world," another member exclaimed.
"I was nine when I graduated," the Sandaime said as everyone looked at him. "Back then, if you didn't graduate at nine you would be dropped out of the system."
"With all due respect, Hokage-sama," Sakazaki said, "things were different back then."
"Our class' graduating age was nine too, and all of us finished at the same time," Akimichi Chōza said as he looked at them. His mouth, apparently free of food at the moment, his mind however was not. He then sported a thoughtful expression before speaking again, "Except Minato of course. He graduated when he was seven."
"Troublesome blond," a lazy Nara muttered very softly as his head rested against his fist.
"Yondaime-sama, was exceptional. He was a special one and a prodigy in every sense," one of them said, praising the Yondaime. This man was none other than Riokade Kunio, owner of a chain of supply stores in Konoha. The Hokage's attention was fixated on him and the man idly wondered if he knew whose son he often overcharged on nearly every occasion.
"No, he wasn't'," the voice of the usually quite Aburame Shibi made itself known as the civilians looked at him as if he spoke heresy.
"Aburame-san, surely you jest," Kawagami said with an incredulous look. "Yondaime-sama single handedly destroyed the entirety of Iwa's forces. How could you undermine him like that?"
"Undermining him? No, that's not what I meant, councilman. Namikaze-san was an exceptional shinobi, from day one since all us knew him," the kikaichu user said, the lower half of his concealed.
"But you just said-"
"I meant in the regards of what you said by special," the Aburame clan head cut off the needless argument. "Namikaze-san did not come from any clan, he was an orphan like so many others. He was however, highly driven and had a tenacious dedication that none of us possessed. Hard work and brutal effort is the reason why Namikaze Minato became the legend he is today."
Sarutobi would've clapped if he had not been at this meeting right now. How perfectly he described Minato, except due to recent events surfacing he might be wrong about not coming from any clan. It may be an assumption, but the Hokage was willing to bet his hat that it the Swift Release unlocked by Naruto came from his father's side. Even before the Yondaime re-invented the Hiraishin, he was abnormally fast.
"Excellent point, Aburame-san," the Sandaime spoke with a bit of authority in his voice, which left very little room for argument. The Civilian Council knew that they wouldn't be able to interfere and while he was no Morino Ibiki, he did enjoy their deflated and lost expressions.
"The recession and selection program will continue as it is. Now if that is all then the meeting is adjourned," the Hokage said. However, Kawagami spoke again.
"Hokage-sama, there is another issue we wanted to speak about," the man spoke, and Sarutobi was almost tempted to flare his killing intent. This constant game of cat and mouse was becoming annoying.
"I see. Regarding what exactly?"
"Uzumaki Naruto," the man said and almost instantly every clan head looked at him, the Nara head opening both of his eyes as he observed the man. Kawagami continued, "We heard reports of the boy roaming around with a Leaf headband, and since he's a civilian masquerading as a shinobi we demand he be punished-"
"He's not a civilian anymore," Sarutobi spoke. His voice, almost icy right now. He should've seen this coming from the beginning.
"Pardon, Hokage-sama? I think I misheard you," Kawagami said once more with his eyes threatening to bulge out as the Hokage gave his reply.
"You didn't hear me wrong. Uzumaki Naruto is officially a genin, and as such he has to wear the hitai-ate," Sarutobi spoke as he let the revelation sink in. It was something he kept from the general public because frankly it wasn't any of their damn business.
"But how? He failed the exams as he couldn't form the bunshin. To become a shinobi he needs to know the Academy Three," Sakazaki would've continued but Inuzuka Tsume's laughter didn't give him that space.
"Sorry, Hokage-sama. That was priceless," the Inuzuka clan head laughed a bit more and soon after the Akimichi head started laughing. Followed by other clan heads and the Hokage himself was holding back his mirth.
"Is this funny?" Kawagami said with a stupefied expression. "That…brat gets to become a genin but civilian children, normal people will get drafted?"
"Are you implying something, Kawagami-san?" Nara Shikaku said as he stood up straight and looked at the man with a serious expression. Something that was very rare, and highly unusual for any Nara in general.
"Apologies, Nara-san. But I don't understand your question?"
"Normal," the Jounin Commander repeated the keyword the civilian representative used. "You said that regarding the other graduates, yet you're singling out Uzumaki."
"Nara-san, surely you know what the boy is?"
"Of course I do," the shadow manipulator replied, each word slowly becoming louder. Most unusual for a Nara indeed and from the looks of it he wasn't done as he started to speak once more.
"He's jailing a certain fox. A fox so powerful that it would've trampled the entire village if the Yondaime, who was a sealing master, hadn't sealed the beast into a boy – who to this day unknowingly holds the beast at bay. So yes, Kawagami-san, I know exactly what the boy is. A normal boy with horrible chakra control, like so many of the other normal people of this village."
Once more Sarutobi Hiruzen was astounded today. It seems that the clans were finally taking the matters into their own hands. Now that Naruto was a shinobi, things would change for him and from the looks of it Shikaku was already moving one of the pieces.
"Thirteen years ago, I made a rule," the Hokage spoke as everyone looked at him, the Nara's chilly words still affecting the civilian side. "No one was to tell the boy about the burden he bore, the beast he held back. That the Yondaime wanted the child to be seen as a hero. Instead he was treated like a pariah, avoided by elders and young ones alike. I tried every now and then to give the boy company, I couldn't due to my role. However, I did not expect people to treat him like that, to overcharge him for the basest of needs and finally to outright deny his existence as a normal person. A sad affair. Sad and stupid."
"That will be all for this meeting. Next time someone decides to call for a meeting for baseless discussions make sure to discuss it somewhere behind a dumpster," Sarutobi said and using a Shunshin, disappeared from the room. Slowly the civilian members left with annoyed and deflated looks. The shinobi was side was leaving except the Ino-Shika-Cho trio.
"Something wrong, Shika?" Chōza asked as he saw his friend still sitting and adopting his iconic look that reeked of sloth.
"Nothing, just annoyed. That little rant made me drained," he said as he looked up at the ceiling.
"You know," Inoichi spoke, a small smile tugging at his lips. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that was probably the most enthusiastic you've ever been at these meetings."
"Troublesome blond," Shikaku muttered as he saw said blond chuckling in mirth.
xXxXx-SKU-xXxXx
"Troublesome blonde," Shikamaru muttered as he saw said blonde gritting her teeth.
Her platinum blue eyes stared at the lazy excuse of a human being whose current pace was slower than a dying snail's, his back facing her as his walk only ridiculed her pride further.
She was not someone who would be treated like this.
The clans Yamanaka, Nara, and Akimichi had been close allies traced all the way back to the Era of the Warring States. When Konohagakure was established, the trio were among the first ten clans that joined.
She – Yamanaka Ino – was not someone who needed her hand to be held. The fact that her father had been trying to make her eat more and gain a bit more weight came off as annoying.
She had stated, with confidence, that she was better than half of the students that graduated. Her father, her Daddy who she remembered spoiling her for nearly all her life, sighed at her behavior and for the first time was disappointed in her. Disappointed at her proclamation apparently and the head of the I & T Department had asked for a friendly spar between her and Shikamaru, of course he wasn't there as he had to go to damned meeting.
In her mind it was frustrating that she would not be able to prove him wrong regarding her strength.
Now she was grateful that he wasn't around.
The girl who was so vehemently in love with Sasuke-kun had been beaten soundly by the lazy sloth of a human being. When her spar began, she had the upper hand and was making Shikamaru stay on the defensive at all times. Of course that all changed when Yoshino-san had appeared with a frying pan that the Nara matriarch carried with her, reasons unknown, and the lazy-ass who barely ever showed interest in doing a task was re-energized.
Shikamaru, while staying on the defensive, didn't let Ino use her clan's secret technique. He kept molding shadows and kept subtly attacking her, whenever the distance increased he switched to projectiles.
However it wasn't a physical blow that made her lose the match. No, that honor belonged to Shikamaru's mind which intricately formed a web of nasty plots as she kept running and dodging the strikes.
Before she knew it, she was exhausted and was pouring out sweat.
Her body no longer had the fragrance of flowers and her special perfume she bought to impress a certain someone; she reeked of dirt, dust, grass, mud, and the natural odor a human body released when overworked. She couldn't even properly dodge by the time the shadows sneaked up and caught her, a bed of kunai and shuriken behind her as Shikamaru stated that he was going to lie down and watch the clouds. That ended the match right then and there.
That's what made her feel so frustrated, and the look that her mother was giving her did not help. Her mother, Mira, was from their clan too.
While she was not as famous or physically strong as her husband Inoichi, tokubetsu jounin was her highest rank before Yamanaka Mira retired. However, she was a master of mind games and was known to keep her husband in line. Ino often heard that her spunky and confident oozing nature came from her mother, she also knew that her mother was at odds with her.
Those issues would be her overall lack of physical training, her diet which Mira deemed as "unnecessary", her rivalry with Haruno Sakura she didn't even want to talk about, and finally about her love life.
"Let's go, Ino-chan," Mira said who had come behind her daughter. Ino was surprised, she didn't feel or hear her mother sneaking up on her like that. Her mind must've been entirely focused on the lazy-ass.
"No," she replied as she looked at the shadow user who was still walking away, his pace however increased when Yoshino yanked him forward via pulling his ear with a painful amount of force.
While she did enjoy the dilemma he was in right now, she felt angry at him too. She had never seen Shikamaru fight with so much fervor, she never knew he could do that in a spar.
Yamanaka Ino liked to think she was a good at deduction, it must've been a genetic trait given who her parents were.
That said, the fact that she was completely unaware of the Nara's combat aesthetics was frustrating her to no end. She had a guilty pleasure for unraveling mysteries, and Uchiha Sasuke's dark, mysterious aura only attracted her more in addition to his ridiculously good looks for someone his age.
A sigh broke her train of thought, as her mother spoke once more.
"There's no point in staying here anymore, Ino-chan. Come on, let's go home," Mira said. There was no room for any sort rebellion. Countering with a sigh of her own, Ino followed her mother as her mind began recounting the fight over and over and over again.
She had been outclassed by someone who she didn't consider strong at all. Sasuke-kun was the only person who could've beaten her in such a one sided fashion, is what she kept telling herself and the replaying images in her head told her otherwise.
Had she made a brutal error?
The boy she so vehemently loved made it look so easy when he would spar with others from the Academy as he would seamlessly counter all of their moves and make them look like children, as she, Sakura, and the countless, nameless girls would cheer him on.
Sure, he didn't voice his appreciation, but he would one of these days.
"Penny for your thoughts, dear?" Mira asked as her daughter looked at her with an expression bordering on almost annoyance and further questions that seemingly had no answers.
"Did you know?" Ino asked her mother as she turned around, her hair fluttering in the breeze. Again, she felt jealous of her own mother.
Physically, her mother was beautiful. No, scratch that. Her mother was drop dead gorgeous. Her mother didn't look a day over 28, her near silver-blonde hair came all the way down to her back, her figure was what she was aiming for and by dieting she would achieve it. In fact a lot of people thought they were sisters due to their resemblances.
"Know what, dear?" Mira asked, a small smile tugging at her lips.
Oh, she was playing that game.
"You knew," Ino almost hissed. Her mother, her own mother knew that she would lose against Shikamaru and didn't help her in preparing. This was treason, betrayal of the highest order and something she voiced. "You set me up to fail, didn't you? Along with Tou-chan."
"Set you up to fail? What parent would want that for their child?" Mira retorted and the small smile disappeared as she looked at her daughter, lips pressed and walking with an air of indifference with her. Ino was about to speak again, but it seemed her mother had more to say.
"Didn't you say that you could beat Shikamaru with minimal effort?" Mira asked, using the exact same words that Ino had used whilst predicting the outcome of their match. "When you so confidently said it, I thought you knew all about his abilities. Clearly, your father and I were wrong."
"That wouldn't have happened if he didn't use cheap methods. If he let me use the Shin-"
"Let you?" Mira said with a surprised tone, cutting off Ino. "Let you use your jutsu to control his actions? To let you win the match? To let you walk away with a clean and one-sided victory?"
Yamanaka Ino for the first time in her life had no retort to such a response. How could she? Her mother had broken down whatever argument she was going to build up. Long before they knew it, they were back in the Yamanaka Flower Shop, and her mother was busy setting up the shop.
Ino stood still in the center of the room as she watched her mother, working as if nothing had happened. Was she overreacting? Maybe…Okay it was more than a maybe, but this was Shikamaru she had lost to and her mother's limited verbal lashing was not helping.
"Kaa-chan," Ino spoke and her mother stopped watering the lilies who were craving for more. "I get that you're angry at me for not being as strong as I thought I am-"
"That's the problem, Ino-chan," Mira said as she put the watering can down on the desk, making a bit of a thud noise. "It seems like you still don't get it."
"Get what?" Ino asked, obviously confused by her mother's statement.
"You know, the girl I raised was much smarter than the Academy graduate in front of me," Mira said with a smallest of bit of disappointment in her voice, something Ino caught on to immediately.
It made her flinch, yet the blonde teen hid it well. No, she wouldn't appear to be weak. She was not weak.
"You always said that you were better than most of the graduates, and you quite clearly told me that barring the Uchiha no one could beat you from your class," Mira said without a hint of amusement or teasing. Her mother used to tease her about the Uchiha when she was younger, something she stopped for two years now.
"Well it's true. If Shikamaru fought fairly-" Ino tried to continue, but her mother was apparently not holding back.
"Fairly? Ino-chan, shinobi don't fight fairly. They never do, and if you're going to be a kunoichi then you'll probably face something worse than death," Mira said and her daughter unconsciously gulped. Ino knew what her mother was talking about, the constant talks of how recently kunoichi were being caught and treated as sex slaves.
She despised the action and would prove she was different but her mother clearly didn't think that way.
"I know. It's just I didn't expect Shikamaru of all people to fight like that," Ino said in a weak tone, and her mother sighed softly at her words. She didn't dare to go closer, she was disappointed. She had let her mother, her father, but most of all she let herself down.
"That just goes to show that nearly anyone in your class could beat you," Mira said and this triggered something in Ino.
Okay, that was bullshit.
"Kaa-chan, I love you and I may have lost but no," Ino said with a stern voice, confidence once more taking its rightful place. "Not everyone can beat me. Maybe Sasuke-kun and Shikmaru but none of the rest."
"Okay, what about Choji?" Mira asked and before Ino could point out why exactly she would win, her mother raised her hand. "Once he becomes angry after you call him fat."
…That was different. Choji did not like being called fat, he once crushed a chunnin by sitting on him. The entire weight of the Akimichi heir focused on the man's spine. It was a cruel action.
"Moving on. What about the Inuzuka boy? From what you've told me, the only one he has never won against was the Uchiha boy. That counts for something, right?" Mira said and once more Ino could not deny the logic in her words.
"The same can be said for the Aburame heir too. Their clan rarely uses taijutsu, they rely on their kikaichu to do their work for them," Mira said and Ino groaned as she remembered the bugs that constantly buzzed around the creepy dude who hid his face. She did not want to fight against him.
Gross. Then she remembered something.
"What about Hinata? I've beaten her several times before," Ino said as she remembered how the Hyuga heiress would often forfeit the matches against her.
"Oh yes. I forgot about her. Hitomi's daughter," Mira said with a sad look in her eyes before she smiled, Ino had no doubts that her mother was thinking about Hinata's dead parent. "She looks a lot like her, and is perhaps even kinder than she used to be."
"Pardon?" Ino had to ask.
"Well, Hitomi also used to throw matches like that. In her own words, she could never harm her friends or people she cared about – mock spar or not," the silver-blonde haired woman replied as Ino looked a bit shocked at her words. "Don't be so surprised, Ino-chan. I'm pretty sure that Hinata has no doubt forfeited a lot of matches, and not just against you."
The words hit her like a sledgehammer. It was true, Hyuga Hinata did not have a single mean bone in her. She always wore those baggy clothes, stuttered nervously, and had a crush on of the biggest, thickheaded idiot in the world.
xXxXx-SKU-xXxXx
"AHCHOO!"
"Found you!"
"Oh crap baskets!" Naruto yelled before he avoided a volley of shuriken, poisoned shuriken no less, as he jumped forward trying to live another day.
xXxXx-SKU-xXxXx
"Also you really don't get to talk about Sakura," Mira said as Ino looked at her mother with the slightest of anger.
Why couldn't she talk about Sakura? Hell both of them were nearly as strong as each other and….
Oh.
"See? Not one person, Ino-chan," Mira said with a wistful expression, disappointment and sadness clearly evident in her pale blue eyes. Ino didn't like how her mother had that expression, but she felt much more worse.
'Damn it!' Ino internally yelled and turned around at her recent revelation. Every word her mother had said was right, she was only better than the civilians and…
Should she count him? He really didn't have any great skills to mention, he couldn't even do the simple Bunshin?
Who failed at such a task like that?
He was loud, obnoxious, brash, wore orange and most of all tried to prove that he was as good as Sasuke. Pfft. As if. Their skills, personality, and pretty much EVERYTHING were on the opposite ends of the spectrum.
Uzumaki Naruto had no great or good qualities.
Okay, maybe she was being a bit harsh. Unknowingly her hand came up to rest on her chin as she thought about the blond haired boy. Okay, maybe she praised his guts for even thinking about putting Sasuke in the dust. Also, he never, never quit. His tenacity was unrivaled.
Except the last day of the Academy. He had failed again and she had seen the hopeless despair in his blue eyes. She was there with Shikamaru and Choji when they saw Naruto's face twist into a shape they had never seen.
It was almost like-
"Ino-chan," her mother's voice broke the young blonde out of her small thought and Mira noted how Ino stood. There was a look in her daughter's eyes, and Ino knew for a fact that her mother caught on to it. "Is something wrong?"
"Um, no," she tried to lie. Maybe her mother would buy it and-
"You're lying."
Well…shit.
"I was thinking about someone."
"Is it a boy?"
"Yes."
"Ino-chan, honey…look. I get that you like the Uchiha boy, but," this time it was Mira who was cut off.
"Actually it's about another boy," Ino said and her mother sighed. A frustrated sigh no less.
"Look if it's another one of those civilian merchant's sons then-"
"No! It was about that Naruto-baka!" Ino said a bit too loudly, and far too quickly. Damn it. Stupid Naruto making her speak loudly cause he looked depressed on the last day. However, the look on her mother's face distracted her more.
"Oh," Yamanaka Mira said as she lifted her index finger to tap her lips. "I haven't seen him in a while."
"Haven't seen him? Wait…you met him?" Ino asked a bit surprised at this discovery(?).
"A couple of times. He actually buys flowers from us sometimes. Though he always comes in once a month," the Yamanaka Matriarch said as she adopted an even more thoughtful expression on her face.
Okay, this was officially getting weird for Ino. Her mother apparently knew Naruto, NARUTO of all people and was concerned about him not showing up. But an even larger issue was that Naruto bought flowers. Was this Narnia?
"Kaa-chan, this is Naruto we're talking about. Why would he buy flowers?" Ino said with a bit of huff. Damn blond always annoyed her.
Okay maybe not her, but she was glad that he had a crush on Sakura. Every day he would ask her out and the result was the same as usual: a loud scream of 'Naruto-baka' followed by one punch from Sakura. Still she had to hand it to him, after asking out Forehead that many times, he didn't give up.
"Actually he's been buying flowers ever since he was nine. It was right after the Uchiha incident," Mira said and stopped for a moment as her eyes widened. Ino caught this and decided not ask about whatever it was regarding the Uchiha issue. That was part of the reason why her fascination for Sasuke increased.
The poor boy must've been broken, and she wanted to comfort him. Then one day, at this Ino blushed, maybe they would get married. She raised her hands to her flared cheeks.
"Ino-chan, are you thinking Naruto?" Mira asked seeing the flushed expression of her daughter, her mother also had a wry smile on her face.
Her blushing and gushing over Naruto? Suuuure.
"Yeah, right. Me ever caring about that orange wearing loudmouth," she added with a bit of anger as she crossed her arms. "The day that happens, I'll gladly give up my feelings for Sasuke-kun."
"Oh yes, I forgot. What about him? Could you beat him?" Mira asked, a bit too zealous to her daughter's taste.
"Beat him? Hah! I could probably beat him with one arm tied behind my back. His skills as a shinobi are horrible. He can't aim like Sasuke-kun, or fight like him. Plus Naruto thinks he can be cooler than him," Ino said, her voice slowly becoming louder as she saw her mother shake her head.
"True, but he's not Uchiha Sasuke now, is he?"
"Of course he's not. He's Uzumaki Naruto. Loudmouth, dobe, and perhaps the greatest idiot in the world who can't even perform Bunshin, claims that he'll be Hokage one day," Ino finished, no mercy present in her statement as she brutally described an orange wearing teen.
"Uzumaki Naruto couldn't do the normal Bunshin? Well," her mother spoke and Ino nodded her head. Yup, even her mother had to agree with what she said. "That's not surprising."
"Yeah and….wait, what?"
"Hm, what do you mean, Ino-chan?"
"No, no, no. What you mean by 'That's not surprising'," Ino asked as her mother adopted a thinking pose before speaking.
"Well when we were kids at the Academy, there was this one girl who was a bit like Naruto. She also couldn't perform the Bunshin and failed at it every time. Always making a dead, washed out excuse of a clone," Mira said and her daughter giggled at her mother's words.
"Yup, that's pretty much the same with Naruto. Who was this classmate of yours? A civilian?" Ino asked mildly interested in seeing the person.
"Actually as far as I remember she became an ANBU before retiring," Mira said and kept the tone neutral so that her daughter would be experience shock and awe.
"WHAT?" Ino asked, not believing what her mother had just said. A person who like Naruto failing at the Bunshin became an ANBU? How? In what way did that make sense? Maybe her wizened mother could answer the question. "How did that person became an ANBU? Let alone a shinobi?"
"Ino-chan, you must already know that the Academy Three is pathetic," Mira said not bothering to sugarcoat her words, and her daughter flinched slightly at that. She continued, "The main reason this person in our class couldn't perform the simple Bunshin was because her chakra reserves were very, very large."
"Large? How large?"
"Hmm, how do I put this?" Mira wondered before she snapped her fingers. "Let me put it like this. If your father and I pool our chakra, it still wouldn't be half as much as she had. I suspect that Naruto has the same problem. His chakra reserves must be massive, so he has horrible control and not being able to perform a Bunshin because of the tiny amount it requires. If he's horrible at the Leaf exercise too, than that just proves my point."
Ino's jaw dropped and her eyes widened. Uzumaki Naruto couldn't do the Bunshin because he had insane amounts of chakra in him? But that would mean he had more chakra than Sasuke-kun and…This didn't make any sense. Yet it didn't change anything. Uzumaki Naruto had failed, for the last time no less.
"Oh, look at the time," Mira said as she looked at the clock. "Time to get ready."
"Okay, I'll-"
"No you won't," Mira said surprising her daughter. This time her mother had a serious expression on her face. "Today's match with Shikamaru showed how much you've been slacking off, Ino-chan."
"I wasn't slacking off, I was-"
"I don't want to hear it young lady. If you're going to be a kunoichi, then you'll be a proper one," Mira said in a tone that made Ino fume a bit.
"But, Kaa-chan, I-"
"Look, Ino-chan," Mira said with a much more tired expression this time. "The only reason why we didn't pressure you all throughout your Academy years was because honestly we wanted you to enjoy your childhood. This era of peace that you kids got was very rare compared to what we had. We grew up during the time of the Second War and fought in the Third. I pray to Kami that there will never be a Fourth."
Ino had feel a little guilty at her mother's words. It was true, they never really pressured her into anything. She chose to become a kunoichi in the footsteps of her parents and live up to the Yamanaka Clan's name, while becoming head one day.
"However, you have a hitai-ate now. You're not a child anymore, and believe me when I tell you you're not ready for the world outside," Mira said is a grave tone and Ino said nothing, she merely stood, listening to the words her mother said. "Being a shinobi, a kunoichi, is no small matter and simply daydreaming that a prince in brooding armor will come to save you is nothing less than pathetic."
That hurt, those words hurt her as she felt her chest constricting. Her mother was calling her dream, her passion pathetic. Being a teenage girl, she made the only decision that felt rational to her in the heat of the moment.
She ran, her mother's yell resonating behind her. Ino bit her lower lip and held back the tears that were threatening to form at her eyes.
She was not pathetic, damn it! She was Yamanaka Ino, daughter of Inoichi and Mira. She was a kunoichi, and she would prove her parents wrong. But how?
Then an idea clicked in her mind as she raced over to the Academy. She knew it was closed because apparently there was some work going over determining the amount of students, the issue was regarding an influx of graduates if she didn't hear it wrong. Just like she wished, it was empty and there stood a tall towering tree.
Well not towering per se, but for someone of her height it was pretty tall and to be honest, it was much more taller than most of the trees here. Apparently the Shodaime planted it here when he..'Uh,' Ino thought as she cringed. 'I'm remembering one of Iruka sensei's lessons. I really am hopeless'
Moving forward and focusing her attention on the tree, she had seen her parents often walking on the wall, and remembers them telling her it was a chakra control exercise that genin learned nowadays after they join their teams. Surface clinging, or rather wall walking. In this case it was tree walking.
What she did a few moments back was no doubt childish, and very fan-girlish.
Yeah, the Yamanaka heiress was not proud, but she was stubborn and would prove her parents wrong. She would prove them wrong, by climbing the entire tree using nothing but her feet.
xXxXx-SKU-xXxXx
"Oh ramen, what would I do without you?" Naruto said loudly as he walked by himself. Six bowls of miso ramen, he was allowed to go an extra bowl up today because Anko thought he deserved a treat.
Oh boy, that woman was driving him crazy. Crazier, if that was even possible. Still he had to admit that not only was she beautiful, but had a body that made his mind go numb. The fact that she teased him with a kiss on the cheek, saying that there would be more in the future if he improved only made him shiver more.
Unknowingly he giggled a bit, then he slapped himself. He was not a pervert.
Nope.
He was not a pervert.
He was not a-
"Shut up, you closeted pervert," the Fox inside his mind spoke and the blond lost his bearings. His mood soured at the words his prisoner said. Yeah, that sounded good. His prisoner. His captive. His bitc- "I highly suggest you don't finish that word, ningen. Otherwise becoming the Hokage will become the least of your worries."
'Ah, I love you too,' Naruto thought and heard the kitsune snarl at the words. Ah, yes. This was a new thing the warden and the prisoner started. Simply put, they would insult each other. It wasn't a game, and Naruto wouldn't have done it if the Fox didn't start it.
He was innocent.
"Innocent. Yes and I'm a plushy toy," the Kyuubi spoke, sarcasm lacing his words.
'Wait how do you know what a plushy toy is?' Naruto asked curiously.
"…."
'….'
"….Go fuck yourself, assclown."
"And they call me childish," Naruto said a bit out loud as people stared at him with a confused stare. Well some of them glared at him, and right now he didn't feel like taking shit from them. So he looked at them before putting on an annoyed expression on his face and speaking in a cold – badass as he called it – voice, "Are you lookin' at me?"
They said nothing but continued to stare at him, this time with a little bit of worry. Time to capitalize.
"Huh? What? I got something on my face, dattebayo?" Naruto asked, his volume growing louder and him taking a step forward. They stepped back.
This was fun.
"Well?!" he asked bit too loudly, and before long they looked away. One of them was going to say something, but Naruto promptly flipped him the bird.
'Man, I've been hanging out with Anko-chan too much,' Naruto thought in his mind. Apparently he was to call her Anko-chan now as she insisted on it, if he didn't he'd lose his manhood which would fed to her snakes. He liked his penis where it was thank you very much.
Before long he stood in front of the Academy, and looked at the building. It was a tough, and biased, time there but he was glad that this phase of his life was over. He'd miss the Academy, well not that much but in a way he would. Except Iruka sensei's arduously long and boring lectures.
Oh Kami, even now he shook in fear. His mind screamed like a girl at times when the lectures would seemingly last forever. In fact, he could hear the girlish scream. Too loudly.
'Kyuubi, are you screaming like a girl?'
"Why the fuck would I do that you idiot?"
'Well where's that scream coming from?'
"From outside you intellectually, inferior low-life."
Oh boy.
Snapping his head at the origin of the scream he saw something purple falling out of his hangout tree. It was a person and without a second thought he ran.
If he wasn't fast enough, that person would fall and hit the ground pretty hard.
Putting his good training to use, he molded the chakra inside him and it spread like adrenaline in his body. His eyes sharpened as everything around him became a tad bit slower, his eyes wandering and observing everything around him.
"Jinton: Shoki Bāsuto (Swift Release: Initial Burst)", Naruto muttered as he felt the rush in his body escalate.
This was the most basic technique in the scroll his Jiji had given him, the first technique any Jinton user needed to know. The same move he had instinctually pulled off against Mizuki and his partner in crime. Only this time it was a calculated step.
Oh how proud he felt.
Moving at high speeds that only seemed like a yellow blur to the general populace the Jinchuuriki moved at high speeds and took four steps on the bark of the tree before jumping into the air. His target was close and he caught the person who was falling.
He was pretty glad it was a girl, he saved it would've been severely weird to catch a dude in a bridal carry. Now that he noticed it, the girl in his arms was cute. She had pale blond hair, not as awesome his sun-kissed hair with red streaks, but it was pretty cute. He liked it when girls had long hair, suited them well and then when her blue eyes opened to look at him, he realized who it was.
"Oh," he said almost disappointed, "it's you."
xXxXx-SKU-xXxXx
Yamanaka Ino was not sure how she felt about this.
She had somehow managed to get up to the top of the tree. No, not entirely by walking up.
She had climbed up and tied a rope to one of the higher branches, just in case she fell. Being prepared was a good thing, however walking down the tree was much more harder than getting up. She managed to get a few steps before she would fail at the task.
Honestly, it was tiring too.
In fact when she thought about it, it was a stupid decision.
She was already exhausted from her fight with sloth incarnate, and tree walking was not a good idea. As if karma had been personally listening to her, her rope tore under the pressure and she fell. Her body achieved terminal velocity and she would plummet down to be hurt…badly. She wished that Sasuke or anyone showed up and caught her.
Bending forward and curling up like a child in a bed, she simply decided to wait for the pain to tear away at her.
However the crash never came. She felt someone catch her and move away at a rapid speed that messed with her senses. For a moment all she could see was the world blurring past her, a kaleidoscope of colors exploding as her eyes animatedly got lost in this accelerated view of the world. She quickly realized that she was in someone's arms, said someone was also emitting a large amount of warmth which she subconsciously liked.
Then she opened her eyes and looked at the person as the world came back to the normal view she was accustomed to.
He had tanned skin. Cerulean eyes that pierced into her own blue, and wild, shaggy hair shooting out in every direction with streaks of red in them. His face was cute too, especially the whisker marks-
"Oh," her savior spoke. His voice so…annoyed? "it's you."
Wait, wait, wait.
Whisker marks, blond hair with red streaks, and blue eyes.
The guy who saved her was Naruto.
"Well," he spoke with a slightly annoyed voice. "Are you going to get down or what?"
"W-what?" she stuttered and mentally kicked herself. He sighed and put her down on the ground, small patches of grass strewn here and there.
She then looked up at him and was a bit surprised.
He was still wearing orange, but not his thrice damned jumpsuit and it was only just the pants, which also had black tapes around his shins. He wore a black, short sleeved shirt with red running down on the shoulders and both sides. He also wore his goggles around his neck, letting a fringe of his hair rest on his forehead.
She had to admit, he looked different without that usual jumpsuit of his. Also? Had he thinned out a bit? His hair was also slightly wilder?
"Ino, you're staring," Naruto said making her stop inspecting him with her curious gaze. He looked up at the tree with squinted eyes and looked back at her. "What were you doing up there anyway?
"I was," she spoke in a much more composed manner now. "Tree walking."
"Tree walking?" he asked and naturally her mind remembered the idiot from the class.
She almost forgot who he was.
"Yeah, idiot. Tree walking. Not that you'd know what it is," she said as she crossed her arms and waited for the loud retort to come. Instead she heard a sigh and saw him shaking his head.
"Well, good luck with that," he said and began to walk away.
Uzumaki Naruto didn't retort.
He was walking away.
"Wait!" Yamanaka Ino uncharacteristically yelled and stood up. She then got down on one knee as she let out a yelp of pain. Her left leg ached like hell and she guessed that the yank of the rope before her fall must've put the entire pressure on the limb.
"Oi, you okay?" she heard and saw the resident prankster of Konoha looking down at her with a raised eyebrow.
"I fell out of a tree, and my leg is bruised. How the hell am I okay, dobe?" she said and this time she noticed his cerulean twin orbs sharpening at her frame. Yamanaka Ino felt nervous under such a gaze.
In all her life at the Academy, she never saw the loudmouth look at anyone like that. True they weren't the best of friends, hell she doubted if they were friends but that didn't mean he should look at her like that. It must've been the way she called him dobe.
"Sorry. I was trying to be nice, but clearly you missed it," he said and spoke again. "Goodbye then."
"Wait," once more the clan heiress spoke and the boy shook his head again, clearly not amused.
Okay this was becoming officially weird for Yamanaka Ino.
Since when did Naruto act so…normal?
It was eating away at her brain.
"What?" he asked as he crossed his arms, not even bothering to spare her a glance. Now that made her nearly snap at him.
Who the hell did he think he was? Just because he saved her from falling down into a lot hurt didn't mean he had to treat her like that. She'd rip him a new one for that later, but needs came first when the devil drove.
"I need help," she said with a stern tone. He snorted.
How dare he?
"Why should I help you? I already saved your ass once."
"Don't you see how I'm limping?!"
"I still don't see how that's my concern, dattebayo."
"Damn it, you idiot. You're going to leave a maiden like this?"
"Maiden?" he asked with an amused tone. "Suure."
"I can't believe someone like you actually buys flowers from our shop." Ino almost hissed out at the way the blond was treating her.
No boy ever treated her like she was…normal. Boys would mostly swoon at her, however Uzumaki Naruto did not. Perhaps he was too stupid to function sexually. Yeah, that explained it.
No, he had a pervy jutsu that proved otherwise. Nope, he was just plain stupid. Other boys would've relished at the opportunity to escort Yamanaka Ino back to her home.
"Well last I check it's a free village, I can buy anything I want," he replied and was going to continue, but preemptively stopped. He then smacked his forehead against his palm, quite loudly no less.
She was starting to wonder if he was mentally challenged too.
"Stupid Naruto, how could you forget?" he muttered to himself, but she heard the words and the tone he used. It was almost remorseful and as if he were kicking himself. The cerulean eyed teen then looked at her before speaking, "Fine. Get on."
He then turned around and got down one knee.
Naturally not one to let this go, she had to ask.
"Why the sudden change in heart?"
"I…" he stopped and his voice seemed a bit heavy, guilty almost. "I need to buy some flowers."
"Oh really, for what?" she asked with a confident smirk on her face.
"I need to go to the cemetery. Haven't been there in a while," he replied and this caught her by surprise.
This was something not expected from Uzumaki Naruto. She wasn't sure how to reply to something like that. Still…
"Who is it for?" she asked with a much lighter tone. As if appreciating her gesture, she saw his shoulders slacken a bit.
"Someone who used to care about me," was all he said and motioned for her to get on. Not pressing the issue further, she put her hand on his shoulders and almost gasped. Almost.
Uzumaki Naruto had very, very broad shoulders for someone his age.
How come she hadn't noticed before?
Oh right, the jumpsuit. Dismissing the thought, she got up on his back and fragrance of fresh leaves hit her like a storm. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she breathed in the dew and relished in the warmth he was emitting.
It was so peaceful, so…nice.
She felt him shake a bit, and realized why as her cheeks reddened. Her chest was pressed against his back, and like any natural teen both of them felt a bit awkward about this.
"Right," he said with a cough and got up.
Unconsciously she tightened her grip around his neck.
His calloused hands slowly reached for her legs, and instead of tracing his hand across her smooth legs even under the guise of an excuse, he rather held her heels. They said nothing, as they walked along the road earning the glances of many a person.
For Yamanaka Ino, this was a strange experience.
Sure, it was Naruto who was carrying her and that fact alone almost made her want to get down. On the other hand, she could feel his muscled, toned back and the warmth. The warmth was so different from anything she felt.
"So why were you tree walking in the first place, Ino?" he asked, deciding to break the ice.
"You know what tree walking is?" she asked, she couldn't even try to hide her surprised.
"Yes, I know," Naruto replied with a small pout. He then sighed, telling him that he was just helping her like he would any other person in need. Still the fact that she called him dobe didn't put in any positive points in his book.
And besides, she was Yamanaka Ino. One of the most popular girls of his batch and an heiress to a clan, what would she care of what he thought about her? She was just his classmate. Nothing more, nothing less.
"That's weird. You knowing things about actual shinobi arts," she said and heard him chuckle.
"I'm slow, Ino. Slow, not stupid. Though you and Sakura-ch…Sakura seem to think otherwise," Naruto stopped himself from adding the suffix to the pink haired girl's name. Something that he would need to get used to at one point.
"Wait…not, 'Sakura-chan'?" she asked incredulously.
This was different.
She was definitely in Narnia.
"Things change, Ino. People change too," he said and then stopped. His head looked up at the Hokage Monument, his eyes focused on the Fourth Hokage. Sure he now had a bone to pick with the guy, but at the very least it showed that the Yellow Flash trusted him enough to make him the jailer of the most powerful Bijuu.
Uzumaki Naruto would become Hokage, or he'd die trying.
Ino curious about his sudden stop, raised her face and saw he was intensely looking at the Hokage Monument. She rested her face on his shoulders and for the first time she let out a small gasp. His face looked so different when he was serious. Almost….like-
"Ino-chan," she heard her mother's voice and looked at the direction from where it came. Oh, she was standing outside their flower shop. The trip ended quicker than she thought. Well that was a bummer…wait what?
"Kaa-chan," Ino said, looking a bit downtrodden. Her mother was right, she was path-
"Wait…'Kaa-chan'?" Both Yamanaka females looked at the ramen loving teen as he had a surprised expression on his face.
Disbelief entered his mind as he looked at Ino's face on his shoulder and the woman before him. He sort of knew the woman.
He used to buy flowers for his own little pots at home, but more importantly he used to buy white lilies from that silver-blonde haired woman to lay it on his Miko-oba-chan's headstone. Admittedly and shamefully he hadn't visited her grave ever since he became a genin and that felt very hypocritical to him. However he did not know that this woman, very beautiful woman he added in his mind, was actually Ino's mother.
Now that he thought about it, they did look a bit similar except the woman's hair almost gave her an ethereal look.
Though Ino looked a lot scrawnier by comparison. Okay maybe he was being a bit harsh on her for the dobe term and the fact that she used to be one of those girls who yelled at him whenever he fought against their 'Sasuke-kun!'.
"Yes," both females replied. One of them curious, and the other one smiling at the question. He would've scratched the back of his head, but he'd probably end up ruffling Ino's hair so he decided to smile instead. "Wow, I always thought you were her older sister or cousin."
"My, what a kind young man," Mira replied with a smile. It wasn't the first time someone said that, and honestly she liked being told she was young. Back to the matter at hand, she certainly did not see this coming. The son of an old friend of Mira's, who passed away unfortunately, had her dear daughter on his back.
It was a cute sight too. She then spoke, "You haven't come here in a while."
"Ah, sorry about that," Naruto instinctively said it upon seeing her face taking on a thoughtful expression. "I uh, had some things to take care of."
"No need to apologize, Naruto," the matriarch replied and looked at the boy. "We all need our personal time."
"That's true, dattebayo," he said with a smile of his own. Yeah, this woman was another one of the few people who treated him normally. Not to the point where Uchiha Mikoto cared about him, but she was a nice lady too.
"Other than that, may I ask why you have my daughter on your back? You two weren't planning to run away, were you?" she asked. Her voice teased, as Mira's lip twitched upwards.
"Me?" both of them said at the same time. "With him/her?"
Then both blond and blonde proceeded to look at each other with annoyed stares before Naruto looked away as Mira giggled at their interaction.
"Anyways, Yamanaka-san, I-"
"Call me by first name, Naruto," Mira said as she crossed her arms. She then had an expression of mocked despair on her face as she spoke, "Calling me 'Yamanaka-san' makes me feel old."
"Um, right. I uh never knew your name," the Jinchuuriki honestly replied.
"How could you? After all those flowers I gave you," Mira said and Ino snorted at her mother's acting abilities. "It's Mira."
"Right, Mira-san," he said and then continued, "I need some flowers and also, to drop off your daughter."
"Speaking of which, why is my daughter on your back? Well other than eloping I don't see any reason why," Mira continued.
"Don't worry about that, Mira-san. Nothing like that will ever happen between us. I'm pretty sure of that," Naruto replied coolly and both females had to stare at him with wide eyes at that statement.
Ino Yamanaka didn't say anything, but those words affected her. She wanted to ask why, as her fist almost prepared to hit him straight on the jaw.
"That's bizarre. Anyway, come in then," she beckoned as she opened the door and moved inside.
Naruto sighed and was going to walk forward, but Ino's voice stopped him.
"Naruto," she said with a bit of confusion in her voice. Said boy looked at her as she started again, "Do you have a problem with me?"
"No. Why would I?" Naruto asked, he was getting annoyed now. He had to go home, cook dinner and then read up on more fūinjutsu.
"Then why are you treating me like this?"
"Like what?"
"Like I'm not your friend?" she asked and Naruto chuckled.
However, she couldn't find anything funny in that action. He then looked her straight in the eye as her head leaned in more.
"Since when did you consider me a friend?" he asked and received no reply. He walked forward and stepped into the shop, closing the door with his foot.
xXxXx-SKU-xXxXx
Author's Notes II: Okay done with the second chapter. First of all, Anko flashing Naruto was something I felt like she would've done to wrack his nerves. I'm not calling her a slut, hell no. She just likes to mess with people's minds and given who her tutor is, I wouldn't be surprised. Moving on, what you saw today with Naruto and Ino was just the beginning. No, I don't plan to make this an angst (IDK how to write angst) fic, but some elements will show up every now and then as I plan to make this story a bit different from all my other ones. There will be more Naruto and Ino interactions in the next chapter and from there on a tone will be set. No, Naruto is not an emo in this one. He's just a bit more expressive than his normal restrained self. Oops, there I was ranting again. Make sure to review this chapter and tell me what you thought of it. PS: Eid Mubarak to everyone who's reading this chapter :D