Unforeseen Consequences

Chapter 12: Dropping the Bombshell

Sakura took a breath, it had been a day since she, Ino and Naruto decided to try for relationship between the three of them. But now came the really hard part, telling her parents. She knew she could just not tell them until later, but given how fast news traveled they were bound to hear. Then they would be angry with her for not telling them. Not to say that they might not be totally pleased with things. But both she and Ino agreed to tell their parents and then the Hokage, then their friends. Although at the moment she wanted to tell her parents last.

At least her friends she could deal with, the Hokage, well that would be a challenge, but this was the hardest one. So why in the hell was she started off with this? Maybe it was the medic in her to get it over with as quickly as possible, like pulling off a bandaid. So she gathered her courage with a deep breath and walked out of her room into her home to look for her parents. She had a feeling where they would be at this time in the day. Since the home was only one floor, it took her only a minute to find them.

Motosugu and Saki Haruno were looking over some papers on a table in the living room. They were doing the monthly inventory, what they had, what they sold and what they would need to buy. Her father was a very good businessman and great with people. But her mother always was the best when it came to the numbers and what could they get cheaper somewhere and sold it for a profit here. Sometimes her parents joked that the business they ran helped keep their marriage going.

"Uh...can I have a word with you two?" Sakura asked a little nervous, and given her situation could you blame her?

"What is it dear?" Her mother asked looking up from the papers with her father.

"Uh...well, you see, it's about Naruto and myself," She muttered it was mainly about them to herself.

Her mother got a knowing smile seeing how flustered her daughter was. "Oh so you two got together?" She nearly laughed seeing Sakura's surprised look. "Oh please, I knew there was something going on. Like the way you two kept stealing looks when you thought the other wasn't looking for starters. Then there was how comfortable you two were. We both knew it was only a matter of time."

"I was that obvious?" Sakura sighed. At the time she hadn't been sure just how strong her emotions had been. But her parents knew even before she did? If it was so obvious then how come it took all this time for her to see it? Anyway that wasn't the biggest news that she had to pull off.

"Well he was a nice boy," Her father smiled at her. "So if you're worried we might not approve don't worry about it."

"Yes, and please invite him over to dinner again. I enjoyed having him over." Her mother chimed in.

"Well you see there's something else," Sakura said nervously. "You see, Ino fell for him too and well..."

"Oh no, not this again," Her father sighed leaning back in his chair. He remembered how moody she had been the first week of the break up in her friendship with Ino.

"Oh dear please don't tell me you two are no longer friends again," Mrs. Haruno said to her. She remembered how happy Sakura had been the first day she had made her first friend in Ino. Then when the two split apart over a boy, Sakura hadn't been as happy in life. Sure she tried to hide it, but she could see that Sakura had been lonely all that time. Without her best friend, Sakura just seemed incomplete.

"Well no, we kind of learned our lesson over fighting for boys," Sakura said in all honesty. "So we kind of came to a decision."

"What was it?" Her father asked looking slightly confused. He felt something was going on, his daughter said that she was going out with Naruto. So did Ino give up for them? If so he didn't understand why his daughter seemed to be so nervous.

"Well...you see Ino and myself, we came to the conclusion that since we didn't want anyone to get hurt, and that Naruto wouldn't want to hurt someone by rejecting them. We both went to Naruto with an offer. Ino and myself said that he could...date both of us." She cringed saying that last bit. She really had tried to think of a way to make this seem like a good idea. But hearing it come out like that, made her rethink how she went about it.

There was a silence there as her parents just looked at her. Her father just stared at her while her mother stood up quickly. "Sakura Haruno, what in the world are you talking about?"

Sakura nearly whimpered knowing where this was going. This was going to be a very long talk, but she just hoped that things could get them to accept it. It turned out that it wouldn't be easy to say the least. For two hours Sakura talked with her parents, defending her choices and made sure that it was her choice to accept this. She laid out all her reasons out on the table. Her parents did try to understand her reasoning, although it was a bit hard.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Sakura's mother sighed as she saw her daughter was set on this course of action.

"Yes I am, I know it's a strange arrangement but we're willing to at least try it out." Sakura said.

Her father grunted, "As long as Naruto doesn't try to take advantage of this whole thing..."

"Daddy, trust me, Naruto would never take advantage of anyone. I don't think it's in his nature anyway. I just wanted you two to know what is going on. I didn't want any ugly rumors hitting you without knowing the truth. But I am happy with this arrangement."

"Well...as long as your happy," Her father sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He swore this whole thing would give him a few grey ones later tonight. His young daughter was growing up, but certainly not in the way he thought she would. Well she was pretty much a grown woman at this point and he would trust her judgement. Besides he did get a good feeling when he met Naruto, he just hoped his trust wouldn't be misplaced.

For Ino, she was wishing that things had gone over more smoothly. Things started off well enough, she told her parents she got herself a boyfriend. Her mother was understandably giddy at it, this was her only daughter's first boyfriend. Boy would she be in for a surprise later about the circumstances around it. Then her father seemed interested, asking who it was. When she said it was Naruto Uzumaki, she hadn't known what to expect. She honestly had no idea what her parents thought of him, sure things had changed since Naruto was a kid. A lot of his achievements had changed the views of a lot of people.

Thankfully her parents actually seemed pleased with it. Her mother had gone on about how nice it would be to meet him, she heard a lot about the boy lately. Her father just smiled at her, saying that she at least picked a decent boy. Of course before anything else she had to explain the major issue with it, mainly that she wasn't the only girlfriend Naruto had at the moment.

The silence that followed was one that Ino never wanted to sit through again, just waiting for the blow up was hard enough. When it happened it had been her mother at first who asked the most important thing.

Why?

It was kind of funny in a way, when her mother said that. So she went into a very lengthy explanation. How she had tried to go into Naruto's mind for a pay back prank. She caught the worried look in her father's face. She had a feeling he would know about the Nine Tails but her mother didn't seem to know. Most likely because of the secret was to be kept, her father never told her mother the truth. That was a good thing for Naruto that some people could actually keep their mouths shut. Anyways she didn't go into much detail. Only that she got stuck and somehow when he fell asleep he helped her to get out.

She could see her father was reading between the lines, thankfully her mother didn't know about the mind jutsus that came from his side of the family. So her mother just accepted it, although she did berate Ino for trying something like that, then to her surprise turned on her husband for not teaching their daughter better. So she went into how she had started to fall for him, and about how Sakura had come to accept her own feelings for Naruto as well at that time.

She could just by telling on the faces of her parents they were thinking the same thing. 'Oh no, not this again.'

So then she got into how she and Sakura were starting to compete but then how they decided that neither one wanted to hurt the other. When she had to explain that part in depth, it was her father's turn to get mad. He had told her not to use that jutsu yet, in fact he went into a long lecture on the dangers of their mind abilities once again. He also said that he was going to personally see to it that she train better so that something like this wouldn't happen again.

It was a lot like with Sakura's parents, in the end they agreed that they would accept it. Although they did demand that they at least meet Naruto at some point as they wanted to see him for themselves. Ino had to agree to this, hopefully she could put it off until they were calm enough for it. At least that was her hope.

-Hokage's Office-

Tsunade was having a stressful day, there was just so much work to do. Thankfully she had someone that was helping her to get through it, well besides Shizune that is. Currently she felt the strong hands of her teammate and now lover rubbing the tension out of her shoulders. It really did help keep things calm and it felt great. Especially when Jiraiya added a little chakra into his hands, this made them warm while also easing the muscles in her body.

"I should look into putting this technique of yours into physical therapy," Tsunade smiled feeling him.

"Well I'm certain I can give you enough lessons, in fact I got a few more tricks with this I can show you." He leaned down and whispered into her ear. "Although I doubt hearing the Hokage cry out in passion would let us be alone for long. So we might want to wait for tonight."

She blushed remembering a few things he had shown her, apparently those dirty books of his must have been inventive. If only they were twenty or thirty years younger, back in her prime she was sure that the two of them could have had some amazing times. Well not that it wasn't bad to say the least, she shook her head seeing where her thoughts were going.

'God, his perverted nature is already rubbing off me.' She thought slightly irritated at that notion.

Outside Naruto was being pushed by a certain long haired blonde and short haired pinkette. "Do we really have to tell her now?" Naruto whined, he really wasn't looking forward to explaining this.

"Yes!" Both girls said at the same time.

"After what we had to go through with our parents this is the least you can do," Ino told him shoving him along.

"And do you honestly think I want to go through with this?" Sakura asked knowing full well just how scary her master could be. She shuddered remembering how sometimes when Tsunade was either hung over or cranky from lack of sleep, the training she gave Sakura had been a nightmare. Ino had been lucky she couldn't get through past the basic medical training and not into the combat classes.

Naruto knew he couldn't escape as they seemed to be keeping an eye on him just in case he tried anyway. When he came to the door he sighed. Normally he'd just bust in loudly but for the first time he actually knocked. He heard some kind of muffled sounds, and smoothing that sounded like Tsunade snapping at someone. It kind of sounded like 'stop it already' or something like that. She called out to enter and Naruto came walking in with the two girls.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow at this, since when did Naruto actually bother to knock on her door? Had the boy finally started to learn some manners? She made a mental note to check her lottery ticket number for the day. She noticed Ino and Sakura there with him. Uh oh, them together with Naruto, already the dots were being connected in her mind. She cast a quick glance to Jiraiya and she could tell he was doing the same connections.

"So what can I do for you three?" Tsunade asked them masking her thoughts. She honestly didn't know what would happen now. Were the three of them going to ask for advice, or for a referee? She could see that all three of them were nervous although there was no hostility in the girls. That was odd, last time she saw them, they were all but trying to kill themselves trying to prove who was better. Now she could see a total difference in them. Something had happened, that much she could tell but what had happened, that was the real question.

"Well, as you know there was something going on between Sakura-chan, Ino-chan and myself," Naruto said.

"Yes I remember," Tsunade said with a nod. "I take it that you three finally came to a conclusion." It wasn't a question as it was more a statement. She was very interested to know what they came up with. And she could sense that much in Jiraiya as well.

"Yeah," Naruto scratched the back of his head. "It's like this, Sakura-chan and Ino-chan said that if I wanted to...I could date both of them. So, we kind of are doing that."

Pure silence was in the room as what Naruto said registered into the minds of the two adults. Tsunade managed to get over the shock first this was not what she expected to happen. "Jiraiya, take Naruto out into the hall while I talk with the girls." She said in a controlled manner. Jiraiya cast a look but he could tell this was a time to shut up and do what the boss said. He walked to the door, managing to grab Naruto by the arm and drag him out. Now that she was alone with the two girls she got into a more serious mode. She gave the girls a long hard and very silent look, she could see them fidget a bit which was good. She wanted them nervous.

"Okay you two better explain things and I better like the answer." She said simply.

"Well mainly we didn't want to ruin our friendship over a boy," Ino said not liking the look she was getting. It was like if she said the wrong thing the Hokage would come at her. And that was enough to scare anyone that knew what Tsunade could do.

"Well ruin it again," Sakura said seeing Ino pause knowing that dragging this out wouldn't be any good to either of them. "We both came to the conclusion that we both care for Naruto. We both want to be with him but we also knew that Naruto wouldn't pick one over the other. He's just too nice a guy to hurt anyone in this kind of situation. He likes us both but wasn't sure who he liked more."

"So we kind of made the choice easier," Ino said trying to smile but seeing Tsunade's serious expression she just couldn't muster one. "We already told our parents this, and we got a very long talk."

"No kidding," Sakura sighed remembering this. She made a point to make sure her parents got used to the idea before inviting Naruto over anytime soon. Ino had to nod her own head remembering her own talks with her parents. She still would have to go for extra training with her father because of what she did with Sakura.

"Basically we both really like him and we didn't want to live without trying to have a relationship," Sakura said to her master seriously. "Ino is the closest thing to a sister I have in this world and, and I just don't want to ruin that again. Plus I really like Naruto, we both do and so we both felt that the only way out would be to share him with the other. I know this is weird-"

"I'll say it is," Tsunade said breaking into the conversation for the first time. "So instead you both felt this was the only choice huh?"

"The only one where no one gets hurt," Ino offered. "Plus I trust Sakura and Naruto, and they trust me."

Ino looked to Sakura and saw her friend nod her head in agreement. Ino looked back to the Hokage getting a bit more steel in her belly. "We both want him and he wants us, we're adults and we can have a relationship with him, as unorthodox as it is, if we choose to. We know it won't be easy but it just feels….right to us."

Tsunade sighed as she rubbed the bridge of her nose, this younger generation was going to be the death of her. She just knew it. But in the end she just wanted Naruto to be happy, the boy meant a lot to her. He was like a surrogate son/little brother to her, must in the way he was with Jiraiya as well. During that talk with Sakura on the bridge on that one day, she had never expected this outcome.

"So you two are serious about all of this?" Tsunade she asked seeing them both nod. "I hope you all take responsibilities with this. And I don't want this to affect your ninja duties. I don't want to hear or see that this will put any of you in danger. Having normal relationships between ninja can be tough enough, this I can't even think of all the things that could come up."

"We know and we also know that we have no idea what we can expect," Ino said honestly. "But we want to at least try this out. Naruto makes us happy and we want to make him happy. If that means I have to share him with Sakura, well I can live with that. Naruto already promised not to put one of us ahead of the other which is fair."

Tsunade sighed as she leaned back into her chair, at least they weren't asking for something like being put onto the same team. She knew that some couples tried that out but thankfully they weren't doing it. It was at least one thing she didn't have to deal with. This whole thing was just odd but if this was what Naruto and the girls wanted she would allow it. She did want Naruto to be happy, she just hoped that he knew what he was getting into. Then again, it might be fun to see him deal with these two when things got rough.

"Fine, well I'm glad at least this whole issue has been settled," Tsunade said as she leaned forward on her desk. "You both know how important Naruto is to me, so I don't think I need to go into that you two better treat him well. Because I know he will do everything he can for you two. So be sure you don't take advantage of his good nature, are we clear ladies?"

"Yes, ma'am." Both girls said straightening up a bit. The look and feel coming off the village leader told them that this was no idle threat. If they hurt Naruto, they could expect divine punishment from the Hokage. Tsunade smiled at them and leaned back into her chair with a smile. "Good to know."

Both girls let out a breath, as Sakura took a moment to look at Tsunade. "So...I see that Ero-Sen-I mean-Master Jiraiya was already in here. You two looked to have been very comfortable with each other."

Ino smirked as she saw Tsunade starting to blush a bit. "Oh yeah, so I take it things between you two are going well then?"

Tsunade wished things hadn't been turned around on her like this. She wasn't the one to be put on the spot.

Out in the hallway master and apprentice were both standing in silence. That is until Jiraiya spoke up. "You know this won't be easy right?"

"Yeah, I kind of got that idea already," Naruto told him honestly.

"Well trust me since you three only just started there is a lot more to it." Jiraiya said in a very rare case of being serious. It was odd for Naruto to see his master this serious about the subject. "If you three are on a mission and both the girls are in danger, what would you do? What if you could only save one, would you pick one over the other or freeze up not sure who to pick."

Naruto was shocked by his words. He hadn't thought about that, could he pick one over the other like that? He knew that he couldn't do that, both were precious to him, he would rather sacrifice himself rather than one of them. But what if something like that happened? Plus it wasn't like he could protect them if one was sent on another mission while he was elsewhere. He and Sakura were on the same team, so they would most likely be paired up most of the time. But Ino would go out on a lot of missions without him if things stayed like this. He looked down as he thought about this, he couldn't be there for them all the time. Sometimes he might be placed on different teams than either girl, what would he do if one of them didn't come back?

Jiraiya could see that his charge was thinking about this but he needed to be sure that Naruto was making the right choice. "And what about down the line? What if the girls want to get married or start a family? Will you pick one over the other?"

"That's a little soon isn't it?" Naruto asked him. "We don't know if this will last, I mean this is my first time in a relationship! Now I got two girlfriends and I still don't know what that will mean. Even if it was just one of them, I wouldn't know what to do." He sighed as he really thought about the situation.

He knew that this was very unfamiliar territory for all three of them. But in his heart he wanted to be with both of them. They made him feel complete and loved, they helped to fill a hole in him that he hadn't really known had been there. They were his most precious and he would fight for them, that much he knew. He looked up at his teacher with determination.

"I know that things won't be easy, I know that we don't know what we're really doing. But I care for Sakura-chan and Ino-chan and I don't care what anyone else things! We're together and I want to make them as happy as they make me."

Jiraiya looked at Naruto for a moment before grinning, it seemed that he was becoming a man this day. That was something that he could respect. He clasped a hand onto his shoulder. "Well at any rate, good luck with this. Just one girl can be a handful so I know that this will be hard. But you've never been one to do things the easy way."

Naruto grinned up at the taller man at that.

"So then...out of curiosity," Jiraiya said leaning in a bit. "Just how far have you three gone? I mean two girls at once is a man's dream. Please tell me that you've at least got to feel the difference. I bet that blonde girl is nice and full but maybe you're pink haired girl is pretty firm."

Naruto blinked not sure what he was getting at, at least at first. Then he blushed as he thought about it and took a step back from him. "Damn it, don't talk about them like that Ero-sennin!"

"Ah too bad, not at that level huh?" He sighed and then giggled. "Tell me if I'm right kid, this could be a nice little idea for a book."

"I'm not telling you anything!"

"Come on, if you can't tell me that who will you tell?"

"Not you!"

Jiraiya suddenly got anime style waterfall tears as he looked happy at that moment. "To think that my apprentice managed to get two girls who were okay with him dating both at the same time. You are a true genius, you are my pride as a master. You got to at least tell me how you pulled this one off."

Naruto just grumbled, he hoped the girls would be out soon.

-Later-

Naruto, Ino and Sakura were at the ramen stand. After everything they needed a break from everyone. Plus Naruto needed something to eat to calm his nerves and nothing did that like ramen from his favourite place. Although when Ino and Sakura started acting close to him, this meant that they had to tell Ayame and her father what was going on. You'd think that after today seeing the reactions would get old but it wasn't. Ayame had grabbed Naruto's ear and demanded why he was becoming a playboy and toying with the hearts of young women. Thankfully Sakura and Ino could convince her that it had actually been their idea and that it was okay.

Her father hadn't known what to make of it, but if his best costumer was happy then nothing else mattered. Although in his heart he wished the boy luck, he'd need it.

So here they were just eating trying to forget all the trouble they had gone through and it was only the first day of their relationship too. They hoped things would get easier from this point on.

"Are you girls sure about this?" Ayame asked as she refilled Naruto's bowl. "I can't imagine this will be easy. And what about you Naruto? You sure you can keep these girls happy?"

"Well I'll try my best," Naruto told her. "I may not know much about relationships but I do know that I like Sakura-chan and Ino-chan and I'll do everything in my power to make them happy."

That caused both girls to smile at him, because they knew that he meant every word that he said.

Ino snuggled up to him at that point, "And don't forget it works both ways Naruto-kun. Sakura and myself will do our best to make you happy too, isn't that right?" Ino asked Sakura.

Sakura nodded as she mirrored Ino, although blushing slightly, she still wasn't as forward as Ino was but she could do it. "Yes, and remember Naruto, we're all in this together."

"That's right," Ino nodded, "We share everything. Pain, pleasure, joy, sadness, everything."

Naruto felt his cheeks heat up at this, feeling them both like this was very nice plus he felt a warmth in his chest at Ino's words. It was nice to think that he had not one, but two people that would be there for him. It felt like they filled him as he knew that he would have them in his life. It was kind of like when he was first put into Team 7. He felt like he was a part of something for the first time in his life, only now it seemed even bigger and better than that. He was part of something special of that he had no doubt. Although he had no idea how long this might last, he hoped it would be for a very long time.

Sakura relaxed as she got used to it, slipping her arm in his as she rested her head on his should looking up at him. He really had matured over the years, sure he was still a kid at heart but that was part of his charm. She had seen the bravery he had, always pushing himself to be accepted and never letting others tell him who or what he was. She envied that, she had wished she had his spirit when she was younger. Plus he had become handsome over the years, all the baby fat was gone something she had noticed when he first got back. But she did feel comfortable with Naruto here, even with Ino on the other side there was no real jealously. Because she knew that Naruto's heart was big enough for them both.

Ino liked the feel of his arm and shoulder as she was mirroring Sakura on his other side. Naruto was a good man. She had never seen him other than the loud mouth ninja who claimed would become Hokage. She now saw the real Naruto, the one on the inside and she liked what she saw.

"Hey guys what's going on?" A new voice called to them as they looked over their shoulder as Kakashi and Yamato walked in. Both men looked at the scene, they had been looking for Naruto hoping to see how things had gone. By the looks of each girl on an arm, and neither of them fighting said it all to them. Kakashi wasn't sure if he should laugh or not, somehow Naruto once again surprised him by coming up with a very unexpected way to resolve his problem. One of these days he was going to learn not to be surprised by his student.

"I don't believe it," Yamato said looking at the scene, turning to Kakashi. "How does he do it?"

Kakashi only smiled with a chuckle, "No idea. Well looks like things are going well. We were a little worried yesterday but I'm glad to see that things are working out between you three."

The three teens blushed a bit and nodded.

Kakashi chuckled at the sight. "Well, we'll leave you three alone for now." Kakashi knew that the three would want some alone time so he and Yamato left the stand. They walked down the road as Kakashi couldn't stop the smile behind his mask. "You know I think we're going to gain some interesting times."

"I'm more worried when the fights and arguments start. Hopefully he'll be able to get through that, how long do you think this will last, sempai?"

Kakashi thought about it as they wondered the road. "You know, I honestly don't know. I wouldn't be surprised if he can find a way for this to last to be honest. Only time will tell."

Next up Chapter 13: Out in the Open

Well the next chapter will either be the last or second last of the story. Next up I'll deal with the Hinata issue as well as their friends, with them actually trying to date and then wrap things up.