Hmm… let's see where these two go now.

(Finding Love)

Naruto opens his eyes to the dawn of a new day. He looks to his bed where Ino slept the night before and shrugs it off when he didn't see her there. He goes to the kitchen, prepares breakfast, and goes to get a shower. After finishing his morning routine, Naruto goes to his garden. It was there that he paused. "Ino?"

Ino turns and looks at him with a bright smile on her face. "Oh! Ohayo, Naruto!"

"O-Ohayo." He says, not sure if he should be happy about someone snooping around his home. He did live part of his life as an ANBU after all. "Uh… don't you have to have your shop ready?"

Ino shakes her head. "Nope!" She said with a smile before bending down to one of the roses. It was the orange rose. "You really took care of them, huh?"

"Sort of." Naruto says as he summons his Jounin flak Jacket. "I use the Kyuubi's chakra to keep them alive when I'm not here." He chuckles when Ino looks at him with horror written all over her face. "Relax, I'm on good terms with him." He then looks at her curiously. "So, why aren't you going to your shop today?"

"I wanted to ask if you could train me."

Silence.

"What?" Naruto asks in shock. "Me? Why me?"

Ino raises a brow at that. "Why not you? You're practically still ANBU, you're free to do what you want, and you seem to know what you're doing."

Naruto sighs before rubbing his temples. "Uh…" He raises a hand showing he needed some time to think. "Let me ask Tsunade-sama about this. In the meantime, why don't you get a shower and get dressed. I'll pick you up—"

"I actually have some clothes right here!" Ino says as she unseals a scroll, and then unseals a change of clothes from her scroll.

Naruto stood there in surprise. What the hell was this?! He sure as hell did not see THIS coming. Giving a defeated sigh, Naruto hangs his head in defeat. "Fine, go use my shower." He ignores the victorious laugh Ino gave him as he goes to write a formal letter addressed to Tsunade stating that he'd be taking Ino as a part-time apprentice. He couldn't just skip missions without reason, now could he?

Once he finished, he sent it using a toad. He goes over to his kitchen to prepare breakfast for his childhood friend, although he was considering calling her a parasite if this continued. Now, he didn't exactly mind, but he wasn't used to this either. He finished that too and set it on the table just as Ino walks in the dining room. "Some breakfast is on the table." He says as he walks to a window by the kitchen were a messenger pigeon waits.

"Woah! This is amazing! You should teach me how to make this!" Ino shouts with her mouth full.

Naruto seems like he ignored it although he was mentally wondering if this was why Sakura always called Ino… "Ino-pig". Shaking those thoughts away, he reads the letter and shrugs. What's done is done, after all. "Ino, we have the go signal from Tsunade." He says before making sure to check his supplies.

This time, Ino speaks having finished her meal. "You don't know how to hold a conversation, huh?"

"I haven't had a problem with it before, so I don't see why I need to now." Naruto says as he goes to his room.

"It is a problem now! You lecture me about cutting you off and now YOU seem to have problem?" Ino asks laughing. "You're a hypocrite."

"Aren't we all?" Naruto asks as he steps out of his room to show him wearing a black elastic forehead protector. Over his orange pants and black sandals, he wears a black uniform jacket with an orange zipper and buttons on his waist and sleeves, which can be folded up at times. He has a red armband with the Uzumaki crest on his left arm. His right arm was bandaged though.

"Woah…" Ino says with a blush. "I hate to say this, but the Jounin attire made you look a little fat."

Naruto chuckles. He goes over to clean the plates and table. "I've heard that from my ANBU team when they first saw me wearing the Jounin attire. I always did prefer this or the ANBU attire because of that, but I got used to it. Never thought you'd bring it up though." He says and then a silence settles between the two until Naruto finishes cleaning. "Now, let's go." He says before placing a hand on Ino's shoulder.

"Huh? Wait, wha—"

The next thing Ino knew, she was in the middle of a forest. Naruto speaks as he lets go. "I'll give you an hour to find out where the clearing is. Also, none of your family's jutsu. This is to test your speed and mental capability."

"Wait! One hour?"

Naruto raises a brow at that. "Uh, yeah. Oh, and if you break the rules, no dinner for you."

"But the next meal is still lunch."

Naruto shrugs. "I said dinner. Also, we're staying her for two days if you don't pass."

"You're evil!"

"Aww, but you love me for it!" Naruto says with a hearty laugh before he vanishes leaving Ino to fend for herself.

"Damn you, Naruto!" Ino screams before trying her best to find the clearing within the time limit.

An hour passes and Naruto stands in the clearing by a river. He ducks to dodge a hail of Kunai aimed for his head. He gets up, dusts himself, and turns to face Ino with a smile. "Told you that you could do it."

Ino pants as sweat covers her. "I… don't recall… ever hearing that." She says in between pants as she walks over to him. She hears him chuckle before falling forward. She didn't care anymore. She was done.

"You didn't seriously think I only did that for my own amusement, did you?"

Ino's eyes shoot open as she finds herself in Naruto's arms. She didn't have the strength to push him away, so she could just blush at his gentle touch. As if just realizing what Naruto said, Ino replies. "For once, I actually did."

Naruto smiles before letting her down on the grass, gently. "Tell me when you think you're ready to go for phase two." He only had to wait for an hour.

"Ready."

Naruto walks over to Ino, who was already standing. "Alright." Naruto says before sending a punch to her for her to either block, dodge, or counter.

Ino dodges by doing a few backflips making Naruto sigh in disappointment. "What did I do now?"

Naruto shakes his head before motioning her over. "I wanted to see if you would dodge, block, or counter. I do this to see if you really were ready."

"Explain, please." Ino says as she walks over.

"If you dodged, you weren't ready. It would mean you wouldn't risk your remaining energy. If you blocked, it meant you were ready, but then I'd test out how long you'd be able to hold out. If you countered, then I'd take it as you'd have enough energy for the next thing I was about to teach you."

Ino sighs. "So you're gonna stop teaching me, is that it?"

"Nope!" Naruto says with a smile before walking over to her and placing a hand on her shoulder. "We'll continue tomorrow. For now, let's grab a bite to eat." He didn't warn her that he'd use the Shunshin, and so Ino stumbled on him when they arrived back at his apartment.

Both crashed onto the floor with both groaning. Once they opened their eyes, Ino was trapped, entranced by the cerulean eyes of her fellow blonde.

Naruto on the other hand had a small tinge of pink on his cheeks. "Uh… Ino?"

The Yamanaka blinks owlishly before following his eyes' line of sight. She blushes a deep red as she sees her top was unbuttoned. "H-How… Naruto no Hentai!"

"Woah!" Naruto shouts as he ducks under a fist. "I swear I didn't do anything!"

"Then how did this happen?!" Ino asks as she grabs a pillow and throws it to the man.

The Uzumaki dodges as he tries to come up with an answer. "Uh… you fell on me! Yeah! And then your… uh… uh… breast! Yeah! Your breast must have opened them!"

"That makes no sense!" Ino shouts as she tries to hit him with a shuriken.

"It might if you think! Woah!" Naruto shouts as he catches the shuriken with his bandaged arm. "You're crazy!"

"ME?! Oh that's it, Uzumaki! I'm gonna beat you to a bloody pulp!" Ino yells as she pounces on Naruto making both of them fall on the bed.

Naruto's eyes widen in horror as he sees a fist close in on his face. He manages to roll out the way but since Ino was straddling him, Ino nearly fell onto the floor if he didn't catch her and pin her on the bed. "Calm down!"

Ino didn't. She kept struggling and even tried to hit Naruto in the crotch. "Make me!" She dared him. Oh yes, she DARED him.

With a sigh, Naruto did. He calmed her down. By kissing her.

Ino's eyes widen in shock before wrapping her arms around Naruto's neck and her legs around his waist. She moans in disappointment when Naruto pulled back, no effort in even trying to go tongue-to-tongue.

"You calm now?"

Ino nods with a small blush.

Naruto gives a slow nod before getting off her. "You can stay the night if you want. I heard from my contacts while waiting for you that your dad will take a week to get back." He says as he goes to the living area, not even bothering to look back.

"Hai." Ino says meekly.

And so the day passed, with silence filling the gap between the two. When it was time for dinner, the silence remained. It went on, as if what happened was a curse. And so it went on until Ino went to the bed, and Naruto on the window sill.

"Ino, I'm sorry." Naruto says when he notices Ino about to sleep. He feels a little guilty when Ino doesn't say anything. With a silent sigh, he moves to go out the window, but a hand stops him.

"It's alright… I'm sorry too." Ino says. She didn't know why, but when Naruto moved away, she felt like something was being pulled away from her. Something dear. "Can you stay here a little?" She asks meekly.

Naruto complicated on it before deciding to sit on the bed, his back facing Ino. "Get some sleep." He says. Minutes pass and once he hears Ino's soft snores, he leaves a clone behind as he uses the Shunshin to get to a training field. "DAMMIT!" He shouts as he punches a boulder through five trees. "What the hell is happening to me?!" He shouts to the heavenly night sky with tears coming down from his eyes. "Why?! My walls… they're falling…" He mutters before he wipes the tears away.

He never noticed a shadowy figure standing in the forest as he left to return to his apartment.

(TBC)

Alright, this is my last for the time being. School's gonna be a pain so I just had to get as much out as soon as possible.

Still, how'd you guys like it?

Till next time.

And yes, the servers still aren't good. I'll reply as soon as they'll show me the reviews on this site. Emails give me a headache, but I just bear with them for now.

Finished on November 4, 2016| Philippines| 18:01 hours