Chapter 9: Genin

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Kishimoto's. It's why I live in a VAN down by the RIVER!

The two blondes and their pineapple haired friend slowly made their way towards the large oval building nestled below the Hokage monuments. The tension was palpable in the air around them and silence hung around the blondes as they tried to understand their actions in the hospital. Before long, and much too soon for the troubled pair of blondes they were before the doors to the Hokage's chambers. Shikamaru knocked and called out. After a moment they were allowed in. Tsunade sat before them, fingers crossed before her face as she impassively watched them approach. The light from the windows around her darkened every other part of the room and illuminated her form before them in a sinister way. Ino and Naruto swallowed their nervousness and strode forward.

"Thank you Shikamaru, that will be all." Shikamaru looked uneasy in the direction of his friends then turned and walked out. Tsunade remained silent and allowed their unease to filter into the air before she spoke. "Yamanaka Ino, due to your actions against a fellow Konoha Nin that attributed to the near destruction of our village I herby punish you with the following--." Tsunade was cut off by an indignant squawk from Ino and a outraged cry from Naruto.

"Punishment!?"

"Baa-chan!?"

"Settle down you two. NOW." There was no argument in her voice forcing the two younger blondes into another tense silence. She turned her back to them taking in the sights offered by her seat. "Using a ninjutsu against an ally without permission outside any sort of training scenario is stressfully forbidden." Tsunade turned slightly and gave the male a stare. "You, Naruto, should be familiar with this." He looked down, his face troubled but nodded. Ino blinked as a grainy memory surged forth.

"Funny? No. I'm happy actually. To think… I can finally beat you." Naruto smiled grimly. Sasuke's face flinched into an angry grimace as if the words brought him pain.

"What did you say? Stop spouting stupidity, Dobe." Sasuke spat back with surprising hatred.

"Dobe… I'm not dobe anymore, Sasuke. I've changed!"

"Once a dobe, always, what makes you so full of yourself, huh?" There was something… different in Sasuke. His attitude, his face, his eyes. Something that brought worry into Naruto's mind.

"Eh, why are you loosing your cool for? That's not like you." He put his hand on his hip, smirking all the while his mind tried to place the off feeling from his best friend. "What? Are you afraid now that you challenged me,--" 'What's wrong--' "Sasuke?"

"Shut up and fight!" Growled the raven haired teen.

"Before we start, put on your hitai-ate."

"I don't need something like that…" It angered him. How many years had he tried, how much blood and sweat and tears had he fought to gain the right to be a proud ninja of the leaf!

"Just do it!" For the first time since Ino began watching this memory Naruto sounded angry. Sasuke's wide manic filled Sharingan spun slowly as he smiled insanely.

"You won't even lay a finger on me, let alone my forehead."

"NO!" Naruto shouted, his rasp in full force. The power of his shout spooked Sakura who Ino could see out of the corner of Naruto's eye. "I'm saying this is a symbol that we fight as equal Konoha nin!" The word equal seemed to twist the Uchiha further into a spitting rage.

"That's why your full of yourself!" Sasuke panted. "You think your on par… with ME!?"

"OF COURSE I DO!" Naruto didn't hesitate one moment. "In fact, I never once thought of myself as your inferior, not even once!" And it was true. He may have thought Sasuke was better at certain things, and that perhaps the Uchiha was more liked than the blonde too, both by the villagers, and by Sakura, the shorter boy considered everyone his equal so long as they wore a hitai-ate or were a part of the leaf village.

"YOUR'RE PISSING ME OFF!" Sasuke shouted, Naruto was furious. THIS wasn't his friend, this wasn't the Sasuke he called, Ino gasped, …his brother. The person before him was an imposter.

"It's because your still weak…" If it Sasuke had the Mangekyo Sharingan at that time Naruto would have been burned into a cinder from that look. Naruto didn't care, he just wanted to beat this thing down and bring back his family member, by any means. "SASUKE-CHAN!" The Uchiha snapped.

"NARUTO!!!" Sasuke Charged. Naruto was off a moment later, the two unheeding of the surroundings, Sakura's frightened and anguished face thrown to the back of the blonde's head.

"SASUKE!!!" The two grappled, their strength equal until Naruto was thrown with a sweeping leg kick. Naruto landed low and as he rose his hands were in a all too familiar handsign. Sasuke's eyes widened in shock and Naruto ignored the gasp of surprise from the doorway behind him.

"TAJYUU KAGE BUSHIN NO JUTSU!" At once Sasuke was surrounded and in the heat of battle, his Sharingan spun insanely fast trying to keep track of all of the clones around him as his legs and arms wind milled about, it was too easy and Sasuke soon got cocky, doing a handstand mule kick where a simple punch would have sufficed. It was his downfall as three revised Konoha Senpuus launched the raven haired boy above the sea of yellow and orange.

"U! ZU! MA! KI!" The legion of Naruto's chanted as several took to the air around Sasuke's stunned form. A shadow loomed over him and in a amazing display of acrobatics blocked the finishing drop kick of "--NARUTO RENDAN!" It was then Sasuke finished his final seal.

'TORA NO-IN!!!' The tiger seal. Sasuke's cheeks filled with flame. The clone lost his footing from the surprise and fell into the path of the jutsu.

"GOUKAKYU NO JUTSU!" The flames from the fireball enveloped the entire roof of the hospital, vaporizing clone and bed sheets alike. To Sasuke's surprise the very core of the fire exploded out leaving two Naruto's, both horribly singed, holding a radiant crystal blue orb of chakra.

'Bastard could have killed me with that if it weren't for the rasengan blowing the flames away!" Naruto's body was still in the fight but his mind was terrified beyond belief. It was no longer just a spar, Sasuke was out for his blood. Naruto hesitated, knowing he should end the jutsu but that manic look of Sasuke's hadn't faded away, if anything--!!!

"DAMMIT! CHIDORI!" The crackle of electricity filled the air as the horrifying jutsu appeared before him once again. The same that ended his very first friend's life. If it connected he knew the damage it would do… no choice. He swung forward, his Rasengan aiming for the Chidori. It was then Pink filled his vision.

"STOOOOOOP!" SAKURA-CHAN! No! 'I can't stop it. Even if I did the Chidori… I hafta stop him!' Naruto, his face terrified beyond belief could only watch his rasengan heading for Sasuke's chakra covered hand just past Sakura's face. Sasuke's face remained as it was, as if she wasn't even there. "Stand down both of you!" She cried but both were committed.

A jolt, a grip upon his arm then he felt weightless again, his eyes locked now with a water tower. 'Kakashi-sensei…' Relief filled Naruto just as he slammed into the tower, his rasengan already dissipating to lower the damage. The slam of metal met bone and the while the chakra cushioned most his wrist broke in the landing.

"Ino-chan?" A hand was on her shoulder and she blinked her eyes focusing on a worried Naruto. She waved his worry off and straightened to see a slightly alarmed Hokage.

"Are you still receiving his memories?" The older woman asked. Ino nodded, holding her head.

"Yes, but the images and sounds are loosing their clarity now that the fox has been resealed. It's chakra cannot reach the link." Tsunade seemed to think on this for a moment before turning fully to the others.

"Very well, keep me informed of any change." Ino nodded. "Now as I was saying. You will be demoted to Genin." Ino blinked. "As Nara and Akamichi are Jounin and Chunin respectively you shall be reassigned to a genin team requiring a replacement member." Ino's face paled with dread. She was getting a pay cut and having to deal with little brats… who'd probably stare at her boobs all day! "You can come in." The door opened. Ino slumped further but when Naruto perked up beside her, she looked, instantly peering into a pair of creepy owl like eyes that were way too close for comfort.

"GAH!" She backpedaled.

"Yamato-taishou!" Naruto called out happily. Yamato patted the younger man on his head fondly and looked to Ino. Sai and Sakura stood off to one side. Sai, however, was once again dressed in full Anbu garb minus the mask.

"Welcome to team 7." The older man remarked. "You'll be taking the place of Sai. He will be returning to Anbu duty since the seal is whole again. There isn't a need for two Anbu to protect Naruto anymore."

"Sai…" Naruto looked stunned. The pale Anbu smiled softly in his usual way.

"Don't worry, we'll see each other around Naruto, Sakura, Ino. If you never need a hand just ask." He donned a nezumi mask and with a wave was gone in a swirl of ink.

"Welcome to the team Ino-pig." Sakura smirked. "I hear your as bad a Naruto about getting in trouble these days."

"Shut it forehead." This was an honest surprise to Ino, she was surrounded by people she knew. "But… It's nice to be here." A warm feeling grew. She would never replace Sasuke or even Sai. But it felt right to be here.

"Welcome Ino-chan." Naruto said warmly, causing her to blush again.

"Come on Sakura." Yamato called out. The pink haired woman nodded and made for the door with her commander. "Ino, Naruto. Meet us at Training ground 7 at noon. We'll be working on the basics for you two along with some team exorcises to get Ino up to our speed." Ino and Naruto groaned and the man with the eerie smiles was gone.

Apparently the seals had a lot to do with their general chakra control. Both Naruto and Ino's control had changed considerably, Ino the worse by far. With her average reserves and excellent control she had never had a problem before. With the introduction of the fox's chakra her reserves had already grown by leaps and bounds leaving her unable to even use bunshin her control had slipped so far. It was just like she remembered from Naruto's memories of his time as a academy student. Speaking of which…

"We also need to work on closing off your mind, baka." Naruto winced.

"Gomen, Ino-chan."

_-_-_-_

"Sakura must mean a lot to you." Ino remarked as they walked to training ground seven. She wasn't even certain why it bothered her, but it always seemed like her dweeb of a friend was a part of the major memories Naruto had, and mostly in a fond light.

"She does." He didn't pause, it surprised her how much his unhesitant reply made her feel. "Because like you, she was one of the first to acknowledge me." Ino paused. Like herself? He continued. "You guys might not have said anything nice… and you might have hit me," Ino winced but his words weren't bitter. "but you saw me. I wasn't invisible to you. Every day you said or did something to me and it made me so happy. Because other than Jiji or Ayame-chan and Techui-san someone could see me. It meant I wasn't alone." The third's law, she had looked it up after her father told her why she wasn't allowed to know. At age six, after a horrible attack, all knowledge of Naruto's status as a Jinchūriki was forbidden to be spoken on penalty of death. The law, while it saved his life, came at the cost of the child becoming virtually a ghost to the village. If they couldn't kill him or belittle the child they ignored him. Crowds would part every face stoic and unseeing of Naruto. No matter what words he spoke he remained aloof. Alone no matter how many around him.

It was only at the start of Ninja academy, when they were 8 ears old, that a downtrodden blonde boy ran headlong into two girls knocking them over. Ino remembered now. She and Sakura stood up and hit him, yelling at him to watch his way and not to get them dirty. Despite his treatment from them the boy smiled so brightly they were stunned. He hugged them and Ino smacked him again. Sakura was so unaccustomed to the action, from a boy no less, she remained startled in his arms a few seconds longer before she smacked him down calling him a pervert. Ino idly wondered if his affection for her friend stemmed all the way back to that… He just grinned in response. They had written him off as weird right then and there.

Everyday the encountered each other in a similar fashion. It was always Naruto-baka, Ino-chan, Sakura-chan, their little school hall drama that the girls despite their actions, secretly enjoyed. Like any girl their age, any attention, even from the dobe was nice. Till one day Ino refused to be called chan by him. She didn't like it because her parents did it, and her parents didn't like her standing in the academy and had threatened to remove her from it. His Smile appeared, the first time mask was shown to them.

"So you don't want to be my friend anymore?" He asked, his voice strained.

"Baka, when was I EVER your friend?!" Ino shouted, her hands on her hips. Ino remembered the look of hurt she had caused. The Smile fell away and a wounded look remained upon his face the rest of the day. But Ino was deep in her own mask. She refused to look weak, others were looking at her, judging her. No weakness, not even for Naruto-baka.

"I'll see you then, Sakura-chan, Ino." The next day he greeted Sakura the same way, but Ino was ignored. His words to her were always just shy of familiarity than what they once where.

"I'm the baka." Ino sighed. "I don't know how you can stand me… Naruto-baka." Naruto's eyes widened at the use of his old nickname, and then he smiled radiantly at her. It was so real and content Ino couldn't hold the blush on her cheeks back, idiot was too handsome for his own good.

"You didn't know, besides. If I hated everyone for what they did, I couldn't be Hokage." he blushed and looked out over the small stream that flowed through training field 7's grounds. "It's alright to keep calling you Ino-chan… right?" She smirked and popped him softly on the head as she leaned into him.

"You better never stop."

"Hai, Ino-chan." With that their friendship, though never truly lost, was mended.

_-_-_

Well crap It took forever (writers block like you wouldn't believe.) and I still didn't write any training. Of well next chapter will be a little while as with the change in the original chapter nine, this nine makes my plot of the following chapter 10 change. I can add another chapter 10 that will bring more of Sakura's responses to Ino's more active role in Naruto's life. And chapter 10 becomes 11.

Next Chapter: Strained