Anko Mitarashi's Student

by AbientEcho

(AR/Fem!Naruto/OOC-ness) After the fall of Root, Hiruzen Sarutobi is left with some troubles forming teams. When a certain special jounin takes it upon herself to turn the most hated genin in the village into a well-rounded apprentice, she has her work cut out for her. But will she prove capable of making the defiant, kind-hearted brat, into a kickass kunoichi?

10. Chapter 8: Part One

CHAPTER EIGHT:

"...Don't wanna grow up, I wanna get out. Hey, take me away! I want to shout out.."

---

Tenten's Weapon Shop

---

Naruto trotted into Tenten's weapon shop happily, a stupid grin on her face. She'd used her extra money from all those D-ranks to finally buy her friend a gift. A travelling merchant who sold Shinobi gear had stopped by Konoha recently, and the blonde had taken time to make a purchase.

The brunette, who was standing behind the counter, smiled brightly. "Hey Naru-chan! You rarely come in here on Mondays, what's up?"

Naruto could hardly contain her excitement, she'd been waiting all day to give Tenten her gift.

"Oh, just stopping in to see my partner in crime. And deliver something.." She trailed off, intentionally trying to catch her friend's curiosity.

Tenten quirked a brown eyebrow, tilting her head slightly.

"Deliver what?"

"Oh, well you see.. There was this merchant in town the other day, and I know your birthday happened a while ago, but.." She trailed off yet again, causing her friend to tilt her head even further.

"Spit it out, dork." The brunette demanded playfully, a smile still gracing her features.

"Yeesh! So damn pushy, dattebane. I got you something, I think you'll really like it." Following that statement, the younger girl took out an ochre-colored scroll, with a bright red wax seal keeping the aged parchment rolled shut.

It also had a tacky orange bow, which Tenten just knew that Naruto added herself. Hesitantly taking the scroll, she eyed it curiously.

Her blonde friend was practically radiating eagerness, as she began to pull off the bow.

"C'mon, open it already!" N aruto blurted out, Tenten shooting her a look of pure incredulity.

She pulled off the wax seal, and began unrolling the scroll.

The brunette gasped in disbelief. In the scroll, there were instructions on five earth-style techniques.

Tenten just knew that a scroll full of powerful ninjutsu techniques had to be expensive.

Especially considering that only one of them was marked as D-rank techniques, which was the Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu. Written beneath the technique name, there was a chart of hand-signs, and instructions on how to mold the chakra.

Even further below that, in fine print, it said how flexible this technique is, being a derivative of the Earth Style: Underground Moving technique.

Even though the instructions for that weren't listed, Tenten was sure that if she could use the Headhunter Jutsu, she could nail the Underground Moving technique as well.

Following that, there was an offensive technique, called Earth Style: Rupturing Palm. A C-rank used to break apart the earth, with only three hand seals.

As she continued reading the scroll, she didn't even notice the grin on her face getting bigger and bigger.

Listed without any rank, an all range technique called Earth Style: Stone Pistol jutsu. It's listed as being an excellent technique for collaboration, and quite flexible. The technique allows the user to create rocks by focusing chakra to their mouth, and then spitting them at targets. If the user wills it, they can expand the size of the rocks into boulders after they spit them.

The technique requires decent control, but the amount of chakra used can vary, which is probably why it has no rank.

Tenten knew right away that technique would be worth gold to her, considering how flexible it could be.

The fourth technique was actually defensive.

Earth Style:Rock Wall, B-rank. Listed as being somewhat chakra intensive, but not requiring significant control, which made it B-rank.

Once again, hand seals were listed, and then there was the final technique.

Earth Style: Rock Fist technique, one she'd actually heard of before. It once again had no rank, listed as requiring good control to form a sturdy gauntlet of earth around the hands.

Chakra usage was flexible, depending on the size of the gauntlet.

It was perfect, as were all the rest. Due to Naruto's suggestion that she improve her close-combat skills, she had done so.

But even after doing that, she'd realized just how amazing Lee and Neji were in taijutsu.

Neji was fluid and precise, with perfect forms that looked effortless.

Lee was strong, with furious strikes containing plenty of power. When he hit you, he hit hard.

Not only that, but Lee was fast. She couldn't imagine how fast he'd be without those weights.

But unlike either of them, Tenten's taijutsu wasn't anything of note.

She used a modified version of the academy style, and that was it. She wasn't ridiculously flexible and balanced like Naruto, who moved like a water-snake. She wasn't strong and fast like Lee, and she wasn't perfect and precise like Neji.

She was just Tenten, the long-range weaponry specialist. Who had meager skills in close-combat as well.

She'd been considering getting weights herself, to up her combat power and speed.

But now she wouldn't need to, if she could materialize stone gauntlets onto her fists, it would up her striking power substantially. She'd seen Lee crack the earth with a full-powered kick.

It wasn't like Neji, or Lee, or Naruto to use stone gauntlets, it was just like Tenten. It fit her perfectly, and Naruto must've known that when she bought the damn thing.

"Naruto, I- I really don't know what to say. This had to have cost a fortune! I mean, these are techniques which I've never even heard of!" She said with great disbelief.

Naruto chuckled, "Yeah, because the merchant selling this had picked it up from Iwagakure in his travels. It cost a pretty penny, but it was totally worth it, 'ttebayo!" Naruto didn't bother sharing how shady the guy was, or that he'd probably acquired that scroll illegally. That might ruin the mood, after all.

Tenten might have been a little bit teary eyed. Just a bit.

"Ugh, you dork! Get over here and give me a hug!" The brunette said, wrapping the blonde tightly in her arms.

She squeezed the girl with all her might, "C-can't- Breathe-" The blonde rasped out, to which the brunette immediately released her.

"I'm glad you like it, but I've gotta get going, Bunny. Anko will kick my ass if I'm late again!" Naruto said, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly.

"Oh, right! You should come train with me and my team this Wednesday, you'll get to see me use one of these awesome techniques!" She said cheerfully, holding the scroll of jutsu close to her chest.

"Oh hell yeah, I'll be there!" Naruto said, waving goodbye as she ran out the door.

---

The Forest of Death

---

"OH COME ON, KID! PEEL YOURSELF OFF THE GROUND AND TRY HARDER!" Anko cheered, from her place in the trees.

"No matter how hard I try, I just can't hit you!" Naruto shouted in frustration, clutching the senbon in her fist even tighter.

She stood up, dusting the dirt off her clothes. Her knees were scraped up from the fall she'd taken, with blood staining her orange knee-high socks.

Anko looked fairly nonplussed, despite Naruto's childish outburst.

"Damn, are you just going to give up?" Anko asked, putting a hand on her hip nonchalantly. She didn't spare Naruto even a glance of pity, no matter how much she loved the girl. The real world wouldn't spare Naruto, so neither would she.

The blonde growled, grabbing the pigtails on each side of her head. She really hated these new training exercises, chasing Anko through the Forest Of Death was annoying enough.

Chasing her while throwing senbon rapid-fire and hoping to actually get her was even more annoying.

"You need to figure out how to use those, being a whine-ass isn't going to accomplish anything." She furrowed her purple brows, looking down at the growling blonde.

Naruto leapt to her feet, her nose scrunched and eyes narrowed.

"THIS SUCKS!" She screamed again, throwing another volley of weapons.

Anko grinned wildly, noticing that at least when it came to raw determination and guts, Naruto hadn't changed in the least.

"THAT'S THE SPIRIT, BRAT!" Anko declared, barely dodging a well-thrown kunai.

About an hour later, Naruto and Anko took seats in their usual booth, at their usual dango shop.

The nice waitress with the honey-smooth voice, who always tended to their table when they came here, was headed their way in an instant.

"Let me guess, the usual?" She asked, looking amused as she twirled a pen in her hand.

"Yup, a batch of dango for me, and some mitsumane for the doll!" Anko said, thrumming her fingers against the dark-oak table. Naruto snorted at being called a doll, as if she didn't look like a whole mess. Her clothes and skin were dirty, her hair was wild and messy, and she still had blood on her knees and fingers.

Even so..

The pleasant grin on Anko's face never failed to brighten Naruto's day, even after excruciating training which had left her battered and bruised.

"You've got it." The curly-haired waitress said, turning on her heel and strutting away.

Anko wolf-whistled as the woman walked away, watching as her silhouette disappeared into the kitchen.

Naruto rolled her eyes, very used to her surrogate sister's antics by now. Her sensei just loved to flirt, and that was that. Nothing would change that fact, either.

"Anko-nee," Naruto whined, her elbows propped up on the table as her head rested against her palm.

"Yeees?" Two ochre colored eyes crinkled slightly with her pleasant grin, one which hardly fell when Naruto was around.

"Don't you have anything better to do than hit on strangers? Like, I dunno, talk to your darling sister-student?" Naruto asked in the sweetest, most sarcastic voice she could muster.

"Heyy, Mari-chan is not a stranger, she's your future sister-sensei in law." Anko said, rudely pointing her index right at Naruto.

The twin-tailed blonde snorted loudly. "You said that about the last guy."

Anko went to speak, but Naruto wasn't finished.

"And the girl before that. And then the guy before that. Annnnnd, the person before those two-"

"Okay, okay, I get it, damn!" Anko said, chuckling and waving her hand.

Naruto covered her mouth as she giggled, a trait she'd picked up from her dear friend Ino.

"Sooooo, what's up with you and your little girlfriends? Anything cool or traumatic happened recently?" Anko asked, still thrumming her fingers against the table.

Naruto rolled her eyes, "Psh, no! No more trauma yet. It's weird, things have been so fucking good recently, it's starting to make me real suspicious." Naruto said, clasping her hands behind her head.

Anko snorted, but nodded nonetheless. That was something she could certainly relate to, after years as a shinobi, she'd learned to suspect the worst at every corner.

"Well… Aren't you going to ask how I am?" Anko said, placing her hand over her heart dramatically.

The jinchuriki hummed for a minute, before tilting her head.

"No." Naruto replied dryly, closing her eyes.

It was silent for just a moment, as if the purplette had to comprehend what had been said.

"Why you rotten little brat!" Anko was now halfway across the table, an angry twitch in her brow.

Aggressively, the jounin was pinching and pulling Naruto's whiskered cheeks, all while the blonde tried to protest.

"Whatever happened to sweet little Naruto who idolized her sensei, hm? Where'd that cute little girl who cried when I took her shopping go? Was it puberty? Because I'll find a way to rever-"

"Your orders, miss." Mari the waitress interrupted, a plate of delicious deserts in each hand. The waitress, with her golden ringlets that seemed to bounce with every movement she made, looked completely unbothered. She was used to this behavior by now.

Anko slowly turned to meet Mari's gaze, all the malice in her eyes suddenly gone. Mari gave the teary-eyed Naruto a pitying glance, noticing the angry red marks Anko was making on her face.

"Oh, great timing!" Anko said pleasantly, sitting back down in her seat. Naruto scoffed, rubbing her cheeks softly.

"Crazy bitch." Naruto muttered, glaring to the side, at nothing in particular.

Anko looked at her, dangerous eyes promising pain. "You say somethin'?"

Naruto paled, "Course not, my lovely big sister!" She bowed her head, which appeased the demon inside of Anko, apparently.

Mari placed their plates down, turning to leave before the snake summoner could ask for her number again.

(She'd given her the damn thing a hundred times.)

"Great, now eat! You'll never get any taller if you don't feed yourself, short stuff." Anko said, picking up one of her dango.

Knowing there was no point in retorting, Naruto took a bite of her mitsumane. That didn't mean Naruto didn't spare Anko a very sour glower, though.

Not that the older woman even noticed it, anyway.

"You know, I'm considering taking the Elite Jounin Exam soon." Anko informed, mouth full of dango. Naruto leaned in on the table, her cerulean eyes widening.

"Woah! For real? You'd kick ass, I just know it!" Naruto said, mouth equally full.

If Tenten or Ino were here, they'd probably curse her out. Good thing they weren't, because manners totally sucked.

"You think?" Anko asked, a grin on her face which seemed a bit too prideful.

"Of course! Inoichi is a jounin, so is Ibiki, and Hayate, but you could kick their asses, all at the same time! Believe it!" Naruto declared, flexing her bicep and tapping it.

Anko snorted, looking to her own arms. True, she could definitely run Hayate into the ground.. But Inoichi and Ibiki? Maybe Naruto had a little idol worship reserved for her, which made her think such things.

She sucked her teeth, picking up another stick of dango. "Hayate, for sure. All I gotta do is start running, dude would have an asthma attack in no time."

Naruto chortled loudly, feeling a tinge of guilt despite that Anko was right. "Yeesh, Anko-nee! No need to bully the poor guy behind his back!"

The purplette rolled her eyes, "He knows we love him, it's not like the bastard doesn't make jokes about us."

Naruto huffed, remembering all the short jokes Hayate had subjected her to, and suddenly didn't feel bad all.

"True enough. Anyway," Naruto said, clearing her throat before going back to the subject at hand.

"Inoichi is like forty, he doesn't train like you do, you've got way better muscles! You can take him, dattebayo!" The blonde reiterated, taking an enormous bite of her mitsumane.

Anko actually chuckled at that, "Yeah, maybe physically, but he's smarter than you think. He's practically a genius."

"Whateverrr, biceps are way cooler than brains." Naruto waved her hand dismissively.

The woman shook her head in disbelief, but Naruto still wasn't done.

"Ibiki would be tougher, methinks. He's real strong, and real damn smart too. You'd have to pull out all the stops." The blonde nodded and tapped her chin, as if she were saying something beyond wise.

"So you think I could beat Inoichi easier than Ibiki? Wait 'till I tell them that!" She said, followed by a bark of laughter.

"Hey, hey! It's not like that, Inoichi is just more of a support guy!" The blonde amended, imagining the look in Inoichi's face if he knew what she'd said.

A shiver ran up her spine, and Anko snorted.

"Doesn't matter, I know my limits, and I'm not sure I could take either of them." Said the older woman, with a roll of her eyes;

"You talk like they're kages or something." Naruto shrugged at her, still thinking it over in her mind. She knew for a fact Anko was one of the best when it came to thrown weapons, her only notable competitor being a man named Genma Shiranui, who Anko called 'Senbon-Sucker.' Anko also had great taijutsu, summons, and a decent ninjutsu arsenal. Not only that, but Anko was great with stealth, and had more tenacity than most.

She could at least go toe-to-toe with Ibiki and Inoichi, she concluded internally.

Anko gnawed on her dango with a slightly pensive expression. "They're not infamous for nothin', kid. But you know, maybe. Let's just hope a loser administers my exam, easy wins are preferred." She said, sitting back leisurely.

Naruto could tell though, she was a bit nervous. It was intentional, if Anko wanted to be completely guarded, she would. But Anko was comfortable with her, letting down all of her walls without second thought.

It was just another sign of how close they'd become.

"Right, easy wins! You know, maybe I could go prank all the super tough jounin so they have to stay home on the day of your exam, then you'd certainly get some nobody." Naruto said, a magical lightbulb appearing over her head.

"Pretty sure that's cheating, but I can't say I would mind if somehow the top players were all trapped at home." The purple haired jounin twirled a stick of dango around the tip of her finger absently, an advanced chakra exercise that Naruto knew she could never mimic.

"Top players?" The blonde questioned, cocking her head to the side.

"Yup, you know, the big guys. Asuma Sarutobi, Might Guy-"

"Hey, I know him, 'ttebayo! He's great!" Naruto interrupted, causing Anko to snort.

"You mean a lunatic? Anywaaay-"

"Right! Continue!" Naruto interrupted once more, getting a dangerous look in return. She shrunk in her seat, ever so slightly.

"Then there's a friend of mine, Kurenai Yuuhi. And of course, who could forget the top dog himself, Kakashi Hatake." She finished, eyes locked on her student as she said the last name.

Naruto almost flinched at the name. That was the guy who'd been like a son to her father. The one and only, the legendary Copy Ninja Kakashi.

She made a noise of disgust, sticking out her tongue.

"Man, you hate him and you don't even know the guy. Maybe he had a good reason for ditching you." Anko suggested, with an indifferent look on her face as she finally stopped spinning her dango.

Naruto gave her the driest, most deadpan expression she could muster.

"Don't care. Bastard has to know I exist. He should at least be paying child support." She flipped her hair over her shoulder dramatically, taking a smile bite of her desert.

Anko choked on her dango, "You know, I could easily make a dirty joke out of that, but I've gotta ask.. Do you even know what child support is?!" Anko questioned with a face-splitting grin.

"Duh. It's when you support a child." Naruto answered nonchalantly, looking at Anko as if she were the stupid one.

Internally, Anko noted that Naruto's deadlast side was showing.

"Close, but no. Child support is giving money to your child or the other parent.. And since you're not his damn child, you totally just insinuated that you had his child." Anko looked so incredibly smug by the end of her statement, watching as Naruto grew both disgusted and flustered.

"Nuh-uh! I totally did not insinuate that! You just have a dirty mind! I'm fourteen, you know! That'd be gross, and super illegal, and like, gross, dattebayo!" Naruto declared, making an expression of pure repulsion.

Anko broke into a fit of maniacal laughter, "Makes what you said even worse! You implied Hatake is some sort of cradle-robber!" She howled, practically exuding self-satisfaction.

"I DID NOT!

---

Training Ground 9

---

Just as she had promised to Tenten, Naruto was there on that wednesday afternoon, albeit slightly late.

"Hellooooo losers!" Naruto greeted loudly, running into Training Field 9 excitedly. The forest around the training field seemed to liven up at her appearance, with birds chirping as winds rustled the trees.

Lee turned to face her instantly, waving vigorously. "Good morning, Naruto!" He said with a smile so bright it could burn away your retinas.

Tenten and Neji turned towards her in a more lackadaisical way, lacking Lee's boundless energy.

"You're late!" Tenten chirped, and Naruto shrugged.

"Fashionably late." Naruto said with a ghost of a smirk on her face.

She swore that Neji rolled his white-eyes.

"What, no greeting, O-Neji-senpai?" Naruto feigned with fake hurt, walking right up to the pair. Lee, who was practicing lifting boulders across the field, dropped his enormous rock abruptly. Then, without even sparing a glance to the crater he'd just created in the ground, started walking in their direction as Naruto waved him over.

"That name is both dreadful and incorrect. Good afternoon, though." Naruto smiled at him brightly, and the boy averted his white eyes immediately.

When Lee finally joined them, Naruto noticed he was completely sweat-soaked- but as lively as ever. He and Naruto gave each other a serious glance, before engaging in their Ritual.

A fist bump, a high-five, then hooking their hands together, a hip bump, then giving a two-handed, crossed arm hand-shake. Following that, a sequence of clapping eachothers hands, snapping, and slapping in an oddly complicated sequence.

Tenten was watching with a deadpan expression, whilst Neji had a look of morbid curiosity.

"Just two shinobi playing some weird version of patty-cake, nothing to see here." The brunette girl said with a sigh. Why must her friends be so… embarassing? She'd really like to know..

"It is not patty-cake, it is much more than a silly game!" Rock Lee corrected, as they continued doing their weird hand ritual.

"It's a secret handshake!" Naruto added, finishing their handshake with a final hip bump.

Neji huffed, and Tenten grimaced. "...How childish…" Neji mumbled, narrowing his eyes at the pair.

"You're just jealous, 'ttebayo!" Lee nodded along to Naruto's proclamation, as if she'd just said something truly profound.

Neji pinched the bridge of his nose, tired of them already.

Don't get him wrong, Neji considered them his friends, his only friends at that. Lee and Tenten were his teammates, and Naruto had opened his eyes to a truth he'd never seen.

She'd been the one to slap the sense into him, the one who made him question everything he thought he knew.

After their fight last month, Neji had followed her advice and asked Hiashi.. What he'd been presented with… It was earth-shattering. His father, Hizashi, had willingly handed his life over for Hiashi.

He'd left Neji with a scroll explaining himself, and for the first time in years, Neji had been moved to tears when he read it.

His father had decided his own fate. Naruto was right. Fate had been nothing but a lie he told himself.

He respected her more than he thought she could ever understand.

Yes, she was wild, and ridiculous, and entirely silly. But she was good-hearted, she'd tolerated his shit and forced him to look underneath it all.

So he would tolerate her shit, too.

Including her incorrect use of prefixes and suffixes, her odd handshakes, and everything else that came with her.

That was friendship, something he was slowly learning to understand. Not like Lee, Tenten or Naruto would let him get by without understanding something so basic.

Or at least, something so basic to them.

Naruto clamped her hand on his and Tenten's shoulders. "Don't look so glum, Neji! We can include you two in on our special handshake, if ya want!"

Tenten's decline was immediate, and stern. "No thanks, Naru."

Naruto rolled her eyes, "Whatever, Bunny. Are we gonna train, or what!?"

Tenten grinned softly, glad to leave the subject of special handshakes behind her.

"Guy-sensei isn't here yet, so we're just gonna have to wing it. Lee, do you wanna practice your evasion with me? I could get some target practice in that way." Tenten suggested brightly.

Naruto eyed her suspiciously…. Did Tenten pick that idea up from Anko? Because she swore that time Anko had "trained" her and Tenten in "evasion" it'd been traumatic for her bunheaded friend..

Apparently, she'd been wrong…?

Pulling her attention away from Tenten, she looked back at Neji, who looked somewhat contemplative. Damn him and his pretty face, because he actually looked cool when lost in thought.

Naruto just looked stupid when she did that. Ibiki had once said she looked like her brain might start smoking.

"That leaves us, then, Neeeeejjiii!" She said, drawing out the syllables in his name. He snapped out of his stupor, looking over at her.

"Right, that will do fine. What should we work on?" He asked, as Tenten and Lee headed towards their own little spot.

Naruto internally gave the boy a moment of silence, knowing the torment that Tenten was about to put him through.

"Hell if I know!" Naruto chirped back, turning her full attention to her training partner for the day.

He clicked his tongue, thinking for a moment. He cast away all of those thoughts about making a handshake with Naruto, and opted to get right down to business.

"Your taijutsu has a few glaring issues, perhaps I could help you correct them." He offered, and the blonde rolled her eyes at his formality.

"What's wrong with it?" She asked, rolling her shoulder before beginning some light stretches.

She felt some sliver of satisfaction as she felt her joints pop, especially when the particular sensation of multiple pops ran up her spine.

"Your style… Isn't exactly suited for your size. Your stance needs work." He was careful with his wording, careful not to offend his friend.

Her left eye twitched, "Are you calling me fat, or short?" She asked, a bit irritated despite finding it a little funny. Only a little though, because she was getting really tired of everyone remarking on her size. First Hayate and Anko calling her short, and now Neji was calling her fat and short?

The feelings of embarrassment, regret, and discomfort rolled off Neji when she asked that.

She almost thought he was flustered, judging by a light pink tint on his cheeks. "No! You are not obese-"

She had to fight back a snort, losing any anger she might've had. Seeing an embarrassed Neji was just priceless, the blonde would admit.

"You're just, well- Short and-"

"Stocky?" She asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

Kami, Naruto loved teasing people. Damn Anko for rubbing off on her, because the way he sputtered for a moment was hilarious.

"Not at all! You're just rather curvilinear and short, that's it! Your style is meant for taller, more willowy types, it's easy to see." He huffed, sticking his nose up to try and feign being aloof. He looked so incredibly embarrassed, but Naruto couldn't let up yet. Mostly because she had no clue what the fuck curvilinear even meant.

"Cur-vill-ahn-ee-r?" She mispronounced the word, cocking a brow up in confusion.

Neji made an odd noise, something between an angry yelp and a humiliated groan. For a Hyuuga, it must've been fairly undignified, because he immediately covered his mouth.

The look on his face made Naruto wonder if this entire conversation was taking years off his lifespan. Hell, he looked like he might have a stroke right then and there.

"Gah! Rubenesque, shapely, voluptuous- Buxom- Curvaceous!" He damn near shouted the words, listing synonyms rapid fire. He even went so far as to move his hands in a very particular, hour-glass shape, before slamming a palm into his forehead.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Lee look at them with confusion, nearly getting hit with a kunai.

It took Naruto a minute, but she finally got what he meant, despite the big, complicated words he used. Really, it was his helpful demonstration with his hands that clued her in.

She let out a loud hoot, before breaking into hysterical laughter.

"Stop laughing this instant!" Neji demanded, jabbing his index finger at the girl. Naruto was folded over, holding her stomach as she wheezed.

"You've gotta be fuckin' kidding me-" She was interrupted by her own giggles. "You should've just said that, 'ttebayo!"

Seriously, he should've, because maybe this situation wouldn't have devolved into this.

Though, she had to admit she was surprised, because she'd never had anyone comment on her…. Er, shape before…

Anko had joked before about her developing early, or about her having a slight baby-face. But that was it, really.

At least it wasn't another damn remark on her height, that was for sure. She might have blown a gasket if he'd pointed out her height.

"You know, you could've just made it easier on yourself and acknowledged my beauty outright!" She said, draping her arm around him.

Almost immediately, he threw her off. Literally. He threw off her arm and shoved her with moderate force.

"I didn't mean it like that, and you know it!" He declared, as Naruto straightened herself eyes darted from her, before he stuck his nose to the side in typical Hyuuga fashion. She hid her giggles behind very fake coughs.

"Yeah, yeah whatever. Let's get to fixin' my taijutsu, please!" He scowled at her momentarily, before shifting into a ready stance.

"Very well, run through your katas." He said begrudgingly, and Naruto grinned.

She ran through her forms as directed, and Neji nodded along the entire time, before stopping her abruptly at her first defensive form.

"Your arms are raised too high, if you were taller, this would be okay. But you're not." He said, almost snidely, making Naruto scowl. Maybe she'd blow a gasket after all, she mused, as she forced her face to stop twitching.

"And second, your gait isn't wide enough for your.. Shape. It will better accommodate your mass, and retain better balance to widen your stance." He explained, pushing her arms down slightly.

She widened her stance, her feet slightly farther apart than her shoulders, and blinked in surprise.

"Isn't that better?" Neji asked, an eyebrow raised quizzically, as if he didn't know the answer.

She tried a few different stances, each with her gait wider, and immediately liked the change. She'd been so absorbed in getting the forms perfect, she hadn't taken the time to adjust them the way she should've.

"Perhaps when blocking, you should also widen the form your arms take up. Though I'm sure that your particular style doesn't integrate very much blocking."

"Ahh, you're right, it doesn't! You're such a smartie, O-Neji-sama!" She teased, trying another defensive form with her widened gait. Neji had been right, it felt much better. She supposed that all the time she'd spent perfecting the exact katas hadn't allowed her much freedom, for small changes like this.

He stuck his nose up yet again, looking away without a refused to walk into her traps ever again. Ever. Again.

"So mean, 'ttebayo! First you call my nicknames dreadful, then you called me fat and short, and now you're giving me the cold shoulder! My poor, weak heart can't handle this!" She said, placing a hand dramatically onto her chest.

Naruto knew inside she probably wouldn't do this if Neji weren't so fun to tease. So, it was his fault, for making it so much fun.

Well, it was always fun, unless it was happening to her. Then it was bullying, and totally wrong.

Like what Anko had done the other day with the child support thing. That was certainly bullying. Very cruel, heartless, senseless bullying.

This was harmless fun!

Neji ignored her dramatics, shaking his head at her in blatant disapproval. Nope, he still isn't walking into her traps. He had dignity to preserve.

"Sheesh, maybe I should've trained with Ino and her team instead. She's so much nicer to me.." She sighed, looking into the distance with fabricated sadness.

There wasn't a chance she'd train with Ino's team, because for one, she had no damn spare time for that. She spent most of her time training already. And two, she didn't think she could deal with constant chip-crunching while she tried to refine her abilities. Nor could she deal with the constant smoking from Ino's sensei, the smell of which clung to Ino after every training session she had to them.

Neji was quick to reply, his eyes on her yet again, this time without scorn. "That won't be necessary." Naruto snorted, "I'm only messing with you!" The Hyuuga's face was as unimpressed with her teasing as ever, beginning to look exhausted with her.

Neji sighed, something which was genuinely dramatic, before they finally continued with their training.

About an hour of this passed, of Naruto running through katas, and Neji correcting them, with her occasional teasing sprinkled in.

"So, have you made any progress in your poison work?" Neji asked, and Naruto wasn't sure if he was desperate for some sort of small-talk to stop her teasing, or if he was actually interested.

"Oh uh, it's kind of embarrassing, but I've put them on standby. I have other things I need to work on for now. I can make some killer itching powder, though!" Her voice went from hesitant, to a delighted chirp at the mentioned itching powder.

"I see.. Well, when you're back on the subject, perhaps you could show me the basics. I've been looking for something new to integrate into my arsenal." He said, hesitantly.

Naruto blinked in surprise, Neji, he Hyuuga prodigy.. Wanted her to teach him something? The hell?

Before she could ask him to elaborate, Tenten shouted from across the field.

"Look, guys!" She said, her voice beyond ecstatic.

Both Naruto and Neji turned their heads, seeing a surprised Lee (who resembled a pin-cushion,) and a Tenten who was radiating joy.

On each of her hands, Tenten had two enormous gauntlets made of rock.

"That's awesome, holy shit! That's one of the jutsu from the scroll, isn't it?" Naruto asked, leaving Neji behind to run to Tenten.

Neji watched her go, sighing before following behind. They hadn't finished correcting her katas yet, nor had he gotten an answer for his question. Damn Naruto and her one-track mind.

"It is! I've been practicing it, but I didn't think I'd get it so quickly!" Tenten chirped excitedly, her eyes flickering from the gauntlets, to her spectating teammates.

"WHAT AN AMAZING SHOW OF YOUTH!" A boisterous voice exclaimed, falling from above.

No one knew how the hell Guy had managed to appear out of nowhere, with no one noticing, but they all internally accepted it as another Cool Jounin Thing. Naruto at least reprimanded herself mentally for not keeping her sensory ability fully active.

"GUY-SENSEI!" Lee exclaimed, stars in his eyes. He didn't even seem to notice the many scrapes, knicks, shuriken, senbon, and kunai on his body.

"Hello, Lee, Neji! Tenten, I must say, I am incredibly proud to see this new jutsu of yours! It makes me so happy to know I have such a hardworking team!" Guy declared, clenching his fist close to his heart. His voice was so loud, it echoed through the field as a single proud tear fell from his right eye.

Right, and here came all the Team 9 supremacy type stuff that always made Naruto feel weird, in the worst way.

Now that Guy had arrived, she decided she'd get going. Not out of any dislike for the man, she thought Guy was cool as hell, but she felt a bit like a fifth wheel.

She didn't need to take up their official training time, so she'd just head home for the evening.

"Welp, I better get going, it's been fun! See you guys later." Naruto said abruptly, walking away backwards as she waved goodbye. Maybe she'd look over her seals, or sharpen her weapons. Maybe she'd even read a book, or she could pick up an extra shift at T&I if she wanted.

As she turned her back to them, she decided she was totally getting Ichiraku ramen, instead of any of those other things.

She could hear them talking, albeit in hushed voices, behind her. Mentally, she wrote it off to some private Team 9 business. Ramen took precedent, so she didn't even bother trying to listen in.

"Young Naruto, wait!" Guy called, making her stop her escape immediately.

"Yeees?" She asked, turning to face him once again. She saw Tenten was running up to her, but clearly that was unrelated to whatever Guy had to say.

"My team and I would be delighted if you would join us for a full day of training this Saturday, what do you say?" He asked, giving her a wide grin and a wink.

She thought it over for a minute, before shrugging. She had nothing to lose, after all. "Sure, I'll see you then!"

Tenten, who was standing at her side by now, turned away from her team.

Naruto did the same, her brunette friend wrapping an arm around her shoulder.

"So, Naruto, I got you somethin!" Tenten said, pulling a black rectangular box out of her weapons pouch.

Naruto stared at it blankly, not recognizing the packaging from anywhere.

Tenten scoffed at Naruto's expression, passing the box to her friend.

Naruto gave her a glance, before gingerly opening the box. The interior was padded with crushed red velvet, and in the center was a lovely accessory.

Slim, rectangular sunglasses with nearly opaque black lenses.

"Woah, Tenten, these look expensive!" Naruto remarked, removing the glasses from their case.

"They'll complete your badass look! Though, I think they're pretty functional, too! They'll hide your eyes, so no one will now if you're using your sensory ability! And they also protect you from the sun, and explosive tags, and whatnot." The brunette explained excitedly, before looking a bit guilty.

"I know it's not as cool as that scroll you got me, nowhere near that. But I thought you might like them anyway.." She finished, voice full of uncertainty. She nervously picked at the hem of her shirt, hoping that Naruto would be at least a little happy with her gift.

"Bunny, these are hella cool! I'll never take 'em off, 'ttebayo!" Naruto exclaimed, putting the glasses on.

They sat low on her nose, but could easily be adjusted upwards.

Tenten smiled, her eyes looking truly relieved.

"Great! Oh, and Ino and I are going to swing by your house this Thursday, so cancel your training with Anko!" Tenten said, turning away to regroup with her team.

"Yeah, okay!"

---

Naruto's Apartment

---

The next day, Naruto woke up to very loud pounding on her apartment door. Groggily, she threw her blanket away and stood up.

She looked down at the orange and green frog-patterned shorts she'd worn to bed, which clashed horrendously with the black tank-top she had on. She shrugged. Presentable enough, she supposed.

Shuffling to the door, she yanked it open to see two familiar faces.

Tenten and Ino both were incredibly dressed up, for reasons Naruto didn't know. She squinted at them, taking note of their outfits.

Ino was wearing an amethyst crop top with matching wide-legged purple pants, that cut off halfway down her calf. The pants had orchids on the bottom, looking as if they were growing up Ino's leg. Under her cropped shirt, she was wearing fishnet armor, which improved the overall practicality, she supposed.

She noticed that the girl was even wearing heels, though they were the expensive kind of platform heels which were easy for shinobi to run in.

Naruto briefly wondered if Ino's obsession with purple was like her obsession with orange.

Ino's arms were folded over her chest, with a blonde braid over her shoulder and touching her arms."C'mon loser, we're going shopping."

"Ino-chan!" Tenten whispered harshly, "It's a movie quote." The blonde defended, both of them smiling.

The other blonde, who looked positively a mess, studied the brunette next. Her hair was in braided buns, rather than the usual ones.

She wore a long-sleeve pinkish red cheongsam style top, with burgundy hemming and details. It had wine colored and dark green vines camellias embroidered in the silk, making a beautiful blouse.

She had hakama pants, similar to her usual ones. Except, these had the same embroidered camellias as her top, and were tied down at the ends with matching red bandages.

The color of the pants was slightly more muted than that of the hem of her shirt, making it all match excellently.

She had ruby earrings in each ear, dangling. It was the most dressed up she'd ever seen the brunette.

"Why're you all dressed up for a simple shopping trip?" Naruto asked, regretting it the moment it came out of her mouth. Mostly because the words were ridiculously slurred. She was tired, not drunk, damn it!

Ino clicked her tongue. "We work our asses off, we deserve to look pretty and have a day off!" Ino defended, looking at her perfectly manicured nails. Tenten nodded emphatically, and Naruto almost regretted introducing the pair.

When she had, she was worried they might not get along. Ino was younger, and leagues more feminine than either of them. Tenten and Naruto had bonded over being tomboyish, training-lovers. She was worried they'd have little in common, but the two hit it off great.

Though it seemed that they did have something in common. Tenten enjoyed dressing up as much as Ino, apparently.

She'd done as Tenten had asked the day prior, and told Anko she'd be taking the day off. It worked out well, because apparently the purple haired jounin was taking her Elite Jounin exam today.

That being said, she hadn't exactly expected to be woken up hours before noon to go shopping, But she knew better than to just throw away the opportunity.

"Fine, fine. I'll go get dressed, you guys wait in here." She said, shuffling away from the door.

"Oh no you don't! We're picking your outfit, matter of fact, we brought some items for you!"

That was exactly when Naruto took notice of the white bag Ino had on her arm.

She couldn't fight back a grimace.

"Don't make that face! You'll totally love it!" Ino said, taking a seat on Naruto's followed after, seating herself on the very same orange couch. Naruto shut her front door, internally noting that she'd never officially invited them in. Damn harpies, coming over at this hour..

Ino opened her bag, pulling out a shirt without sleeves or any collar, the same as Ino's. Well, except that it was black. And Ino's was cropped. That blonde really did love her midriff tops, almost as much as Naruto loved showing her biceps.

She worked hard for those muscles!

"Okay, go get dressed, make sure it's casual, but pretty! And I'll do your makeup!" Ino chirped, and Tenten decided to add on, "She did mine!"

Naruto hadn't even noticed Tenten was wearing makeup, probably because it was so perfect and natural.

She groaned, despite knowing that Ino would hear no ifs or buts.

"Go on, get a move on, Naru!" Tenten said, making a shooing motion with her hands.

Said girl sluggishly dragged her feet into another room to get dressed.

She of course decided to wear the top Ino handed her, actually finding that she liked it a lot. When it came to choosing a bottom, she went with her typical orange shorts.

Though, despite how oddly uncomfortable she felt without them… She left her tactical leg garters in the drawer, meaning she'd have no pouches or scrolls.

Naruto examined her appearance in the mirror. Even despite that she put on a confident face- Despite that others said she was pretty..

Naruto really didn't see it.

Neji fit the beauty standard for women more than she did, actually, which made her grin something evil.

Dark, smooth hair, thin and lithe bodies, and sharp eyes were considered most desirable in Konoha. Blame that on all those Uchiha and Hyuuga who set the standard, years upon years ago.

Though, she had long ago decided that beauty standards were bullshit. They changed from person to person, country to country, yadda yadda. People were beautiful no matter hair-color or type, hair, face, or body. Naruto thought beauty was defined in other ways.

Like kindness, or lovely behavior in general, or in the way your eyes sparkled, those were true beauty. She furrowed her brows, amending her thoughts by adding, beauty can be a physical thing, but there shouldn't be a standard for it.

And the longer she thought about it, the more Naruto decided she didn't want to think about it at all. She shook her head with an irritated huff.

Naruto took time to wrap her knuckles and forearms with bandages. If something went down, she'd at least have protected hands to pummel someone with.

"I don't need weapons when I've got these guns!" She said, flexing in the mirror, in that silly pose. It was enough to make her giggle, cheering herself up.

"Stop talking to yourself and get dressed!" A voice shouted, and she nearly jumped out of her skin.

Damn, they'd heard that?!

She cleared her throat, fighting back the blush on her cheeks.

She put on a thick pair of fishnet-armor knee highs, and a pair of worn-out orange and black sneakers. She'd purchased them with her first ever D-rank check, and they certainly came in handy. They didn't provide ankle support like shinobi sandals, and they weren't light-weight enough to be suitable for any shinobi jobs.

Still super comfy, though!

Lastly, she picked up her sunglasses from her nightstand. She kept them in their fancy little box whenever she wasn't wearing them, ensuring they'd be safe. She walked out of her bedroom, right back into the living room, giving her girls a theatrical twirl.

Tenten clapped her hands, "Oo, so pretty!" She said with a genuine smile.

"Now come here, we've got to put that hair of yours up. Actually, Tenten can do that. I'll be doing your makeup!" Ino declared, clasping her hands together. Naruto rolled her eyes, but walked over to Tenten, grabbing her brush out of the wall on her way over.

(Yes, she'd thrown the brush and it got stuck there again. What can ya do?!)

She sat cross-legged on the wood floors in front of Tenten, who happily accepted the brush.

"I've always wanted to play with your hair!" The doe-eyed brunette cheered, a certain twinkle in those eyes.

Naruto nearly did a double take, "Really?!" She questioned incredulously.

Back in the academy, the other kids had always pointed out how her hair was so spiky- claiming she didn't brush it. She did, but her hair was just naturally… Untamable, she supposed.

"Of course! It's so fluffy!"

Fluffy. Huh. Well, when you put it like that, she could understand. Her hair was definitely on the thick side.

"Why didn't you just ask?" Naruto inquired, as Ino sat in front of her. "That's rude! Most people are uncomfortable with random people touching their hair." Tenten declared, gently brushing through Naruto's thick hair.

"Yeah? Well, you're not a random person, so."

She thought Ino might've rolled her eyes, but her own eyes were closed while Ino gently applied eyeshadow.

"Obviouuusssly." Tenten replied intelligently, drawing out the word. Things were silent for the next few minutes, comfortably so. Ino was applying her makeup, and Tenten was making excuses to just keep restyling her hair over and over.

"Stay still, Naruto, I'm gonna apply your eyeliner and mascara." The flaxen-blonde told the Uzumaki girl, with an expression that almost dared her to do otherwise. Her face alone clearly hinted at painful consequences if she did.

Naruto nodded, before closing her eyelids. Even Tenten stopped playing with the pigtails she'd finished putting Naruto's hair in. The air was tense as Ino slowly took the eyeliner pen, drawing a deliberate stroke along the ends of Naruto's eye.

Even though she was aiming for something more cat-like, the result ended being something much more vulpine. Carefully, with her meticulous hand, she repeated the perfect liner on the girl's other eye.

"There, all done!" The Yamanaka said, passing a mirror-compact to Naruto.

Naruto opened it slowly, staring herself in the eye, "Woah!" She blinked, examining her own face incredulously.

"Oh, wait, I got this for you!" Ino reached into her bag, pulling out a tube of shimmering lip gloss. Across the container, in fancy italic lettering, the package read, "Poppin' Peach."

Naruto eyed the lip gloss with curiosity as Ino opened the packaging, withdrawing a lip-gloss coated applicator, "I saw this in a boutique, and the orange color made me think of you!" Ino said, applying it to Naruto's bottom lip.

She popped her lips as an example, and Naruto repeated her.

"Great, all done! Get your shoes on, and let's go!"

---

Today, Naruto was learning just how fun shopping could be, alongside her two best friends.

They'd taken themselves to the higher end shopping district, where all the indoor stores blared songs from the radio.

Where the streets were paved with cobblestone and there were multicolor lanterns to light up the district when the evening came.

Where vendors handed out free samples of delicious food, where artists painted faces for a small fee.

Where people performed on streetsides, juggling, singing, or doing magic tricks, or anything of the sort. The entire scene looked more like a festival than a shopping district, despite the fact there were dozens of interconnected stores.

Currently, the trio of troublemaking girls were in one of these many stores.

Ino and Tenten were the most entertaining pair she'd met yet, that was certain, especially when up to no good. Ino giggled, scrawling on the face of the plaster mannequin with the sharpie Naruto had handed her.

"Okay, okay, let's go before someone catches us!" Tenten said, taking both Naruto and Ino's hand and running off. She made a beeline towards the doors, looking to take the halls that connected every store and find another shop to commit mischief in.

They ran into the halls, laughing the entire time.

Tenten looked around, surveying the area. People sat on benches inside, with ANBU stationed sporadically to prevent any major crimes from happening. There were several booths selling things in the halls, be it food or accessories, or any other number of things.

A large fountain was dead in the center, full of ryo that children had used to make wishes.

"Oo, boba tea!" Ino exclaimed, pointing at a booth and instantly taking off towards it.

"Boba?" Naruto asked, and Tenten just dragged her along to follow Ino.

"I'd like a large Taro milk tea, with popping boba, please!" Ino requested, just as her two friends caught up to her.

"I'd like a large passion-fruit boba tea, and Naruto here will have a large mango." Tenten ordered, pulling out the ryo to pay for her friends drinks.

"Bunny-chan, you don't have to buy-"

"Nope, don't wanna hear it!" Tenten declared, paying for the three drinks, each of which matched their outfits.

Each girl took their respective teas, stabbing their straws through the lids and taking simultaneous sips.

"Mm!" Naruto hummed, clearly delighted by her drink.

Her friends only smiled, "C'mon!" Tenten said, taking the lead and walking them towards another nearby shop. They maneuvered through the crowds of bustling shoppers with ease, walking into a girly boutique. The wallpaper was magenta, striped with a pastel shade of bubblegum pink.

Naruto surveyed the place, feeling a bit lost, though she shrugged the feeling away. Right before the girl's split apart, Naruto glanced at Tenten, who looked over-eager.. Whereas, when she looked to Ino, she could only see a very odd expression as she stared at all the pink in the room.

Remembering the promise she'd made to Anko, that she wouldn't tap into a friend's emotions without first asking, Naruto shook off the urge.

The girls separated, with Ino heading towards the clothing, Tenten headed for accessories, and Naruto to look at all the novelty items. They buzzed around the store, like bees to flowers, surveying everything the boutique had to offer.

"Guys, check it out!" Tenten called, causing her blonde friends to turn the corner and look at her.

A feathery burgundy boa scarf, with large pink rhinestone encrusted sunglasses. She snapped her fingers, proceeding to wink and make finger-guns at her two friends. Naruto snorted, a grin stretching across her face. Ino, on the other hand, had stars in her eyes.

"Are you gonna buy those glasses?" Ino asked, moving closer to inspect the expensive pink shades.

Tenten chuckled, "No way, not my style at all."

Ino smiled, pulling the glasses off her friend. "Great, because they're totally my style!" She immediately turned away to find the cashier and make her purchase.

Tenten rolled her eyes, yet seemed completely unbothered by their diva friend.

"We should get matching fluffy scarf things." Naruto suggested, grabbing a lilac boa for Ino, and an orange one for herself.

"They're called boa scarfs!" Ino chirped from across the store, somehow overhearing their conversation.

"Feh!" Naruto made a dramatic sour expression, waving her hand, and Tenten only tittered.

The girls made their purchases, the three of them walking out with silly feather scarfs and Ino with her luxurious sunglasses. Tenten had even gotten herself a pair of cherry-red heart shaped-glasses, just so she wouldn't be the only friend without a pair of glasses on.

"Where to next, ladies?" Ino asked, looking around the shopping area.

"In there! I'd just like to look around!" Tenten said, pointing to what looked like a kitchen supply store.

It was no surprise, considering both Naruto and Ino had known for a while that Tenten loved to cook.

They'd had her steamed dumplings more times than they could count on both hands.

As they entered, Ino silently split away from their group to get Tenten a recipe book. She'd be doing all of them a favor, no matter how much they loved Tenten's dumplings… Variety was a necessity.

As Tenten perused the aisles, Naruto too decided to wander off on her own.

Right into an aisle full of oven timers.

A dastardly idea sprouted to life within her.

She looked left, and then right, assuring there was no one around.

Her mischievous spirit simply couldn't allow her to just walk away from this.

This was too perfect, too great! How could anyone expect her to just leave behind such an excellent opportunity.

And so, as quick as she could, Naruto grabbed a display timer.

A typical looking oven timer, twisting the knob to the twenty-two minute mark.

The tell-tale ticking of the timer began, and Naruto moved down the line, setting the timers to go off all around the same time.

By the time she was finished, she'd burned through five minutes and it was time to go find her friends.

The store suddenly seemed a lot bigger, as she weaved through aisles in search of Ino and Tenten. She of course didn't use her sensory ability to find them, as that would've made it too easy. Too easy, meant less fun, after all.

Oddly enough, Ino was the first one found. It was the sound of the Yamanaka popping her bubblegum which had led Naruto to her.

Where, she was leaning against a wall with a bag from this very store, looking rather bored.

"Hey!" Naruto greeted, running right up to her fellow blonde. Internally, she made note that it had likely been about ten minutes since she'd set off the timers.

"We should find Tenten and go. I'm feeling absolutely starved, yanno?" Naruto tried to play it cool, but Ino easily picked up on the fact she was nervous about something.

"Naru, what did you do?" Ino asked slowly, a grin slowly forming on her face.

The blue-eyed jinchuriki tried to be nonchalant, she really did. Alas, there was no fooling a Yamanaka.

"I may or may not have set about.. Twenty kitchen timers to go off in, maybe ten minutes from now?"

Ino stared at her, and Naruto stared back, sweating pinballs.

The Yamanaka laughed incredulously, relieving any of Naruto's fear that Ino might disapprove. "We gotta find Tenten!" Said Ino, taking Naruto's hand to lead her around the store. Naruto didn't say a word as they took off to search the store for their bun-headed friend. Her mind was already running wild.

She'd only been hanging out with Ino a little longer than a month, but she felt like she'd been friends with her forever. They'd begun training together, hanging out together, having sleepovers.

And yet, Ino had wormed her way right into Naruto's chest. They were alike, both of them were rebellious girls with plenty of energy.

But they were different, too.

Where Ino was more bossy, Naruto was laid-back. Where Ino was a fashionista, Naruto was a reformed tomboy.

Just like Tenten, Ino had wormed her way right into Naruto's heart. And even though Naruto didn't know it, Ino considered her just as great as a friend.

"There she is!" Ino proclaimed, skirting to a halt behind the brunette. Who, just so happened to be standing right in front of the cashier. Who was a middle aged, portly Akimichi, judging by the symbols on his cheeks.

Tenten turned, smiling at the sight of her friends. "Oh, hey guys! I'm just paying, then we can leave." She said, fishing her wallet out of her purse.

Both Ino and Naruto stood behind their bunheaded friend the entire time, trying to rush her with their eyes alone.

Just as the brunette passed the money to the cashier, Ino took one of Tenten's arms and Naruto took the other, dragging out the weapon's mistress.

Just as they made it out the door, Tenten put her feet down, forcing both girls to a stop.

"Geez, what's up with you two?" She asked, her nose wrinkling in confusion.

Just as the two blondes opened their mouths to explain, a discordant array of overlapping timers broke out. Despite being just outside the store, the cacophony of beeping, ringing, and peals rang in their ears, and Naruto laughed mischievously.

"Damn it! That's the fifth time this week!" The Akimichi cashier griped, leaving behind his register to turn off the oven-timers.

Tenten shook her head, sighing in displeasure. "Idiots, the both of you." Ino gave a bright smile, showcasing a dimple that was rarely seen.

Loudly, a rumbling noise came from Naruto's stomach, who was dramatically draping an arm over her head. "Yes, yes, we're idiots! And one of those idiots is starving, Bunny!" Naruto whined, and Tenten shook her head yet again.

This time however, there was no brow furrowing or disbelieving eyes. Instead, all that could be seen was a fond expression shown through a gentle smile and relaxed posture.

"Alright then, let's find a place!" Tenten agreed, the trio of girls leaving the section of the shopping center they were in, entering the outdoor shopping area. At a lackadaisical pace, they walked right into the sector where all the restaurants and food vendors congregated.

Smells of various types of food wafted through the open air, chattering of happy customers and energetic vendors, they filled the senses of the girls. Naruto's eyes wandered, from booths selling cheap deep fried snacks, to actual restaurants.

"Over there! It looks fancy, we should try it." Ino said, taking the lead amongst the girls. She led them slowly, right up to a restaurant which managed to look both plain and fancy as hell. It was built from brick-and-mortar, which was probably why it stood out so much in Konoha, where most buildings were made from wood.

Right by the door, a middle-aged man stood in front of a gray lectern, to check guests in and out. Naruto wasn't worried about things like price, considering she had plenty of money on her from all the missions she took. Not only that, but both of her friends had plenty on them as well.. Which was what made it so hard for Naruto to understand the pit growing on her stomach as they approached him.

The man's eyes seemed to scrutinize her and her friends before they even spoke, but looking at both of her friends, Naruto knew she was the only one who noticed.

"Hello, do you have any tables open?" Ino asked politely, turning on her sweetest voice.

The man narrowed his ochre eyes, accentuating the crow's feet on his face. His onyx hair was combed over and gelled down, clearly in an attempt to hide a growing bald spot.

"For you and the brunette, maybe. But there's no way I'm letting a monster into my restaurant." He said, folding his arms over his chest.

Tenten's eyes widened in surprise, connecting the dots immediately. She took Naruto's hand in her own, squeezing it reassuringly. She looked to Naruto, then to him.

"What?" Ino questioned, her body language becoming so rigid there was no hiding her displeasure.

"I'm talking about the demon that's wedged between you and your pretty little friend." He said, and both the pretty little friend and Ino herself froze.

"Seriously, aren't you the Yamanaka heiress? You shouldn't hang around such trash." He added, and Ino looked so angry she might light aflame.

"How dare you talk about my friend like that! What did she ever do to you?!" Ino bared her teeth, clenching her fists at her side.

Tenten took a step back, putting an arm around her to comfort the pig-tailed girl.

The man scoffed, sticking his nose up at her as if she were a lesser being.

"I know what that thing is, and it's not welcomed in my restaurant. It doesn't have to do anything, it's existence alone is wrong." He snarled, stepping towards the enraged Yamanaka.

"Ex-fucking-cuse me?! Who the hell do you think you are? You're nothing but a washed up, greasy old geezer taking his insecurity out on my friend! Naruto is not a monster, and not a fucking It! You know, it's no wonder you're not married, who would ever want a man as pathetic and mean spirited as you!" Ino spat, pointing to the lack of a ring on his finger.

Ino's chakra, which was always so vibrant, so lively, was usually only comparable to a sunflower, thriving in the brilliant rays cast by the summer sun.

But now, her chakra was so full of emotion, an intensity the likes of which Naruto had never felt from her. It was almost startling, if it weren't for the fact that Naruto found it to be so touching.

Her chakra was suddenly like a caged beast, like a leopard trapped between steel bars, knowing it's limits but so desperately wishing to claw apart it's captor. It was rebellious, it was angry, and it was all born from a desire to defend Naruto.

"Listen here young lady-"

Ino let out an incredulous bark of laughter, which almost sounded evil.

"No, no! You listen here, you heartless old bastard! How can you say something like that about someone, especially someone you don't even know?" She scoffed in disbelief, "You know, you're actually living, breathing proof that a human can survive without a heart, and a brain!" She was shouting at this point, and Naruto was getting antsy with all the nearby people staring. Civilians loved scenes like this, they loved the drama, the gossip that came with Shinobi and Civilian spats.

Not only that, but witnessing the Yamanka heiress cast aside all manners, all formalities, and all kindness for the sake of the village pariah.. That had to be an eye-catcher.

Clan children were supposed to stay away from trash like her, they were supposed to be prim and proper and perfectly behaved. And yet, here was Ino Yamanaka, clearly throwing aside her image for a friend's honor.

The old man walked out from behind his lectern, pushing the Yamanaka backwards roughly.

"We should go.." Naruto suggested quietly, just before Ino was shoved.

A brave move, considering he was a civilian, and she was obviously a kunoichi, given the headband tied around her waist.

Naruto could feel his chakra, as meager and pathetic as it was, raging like a rabid dog. And next to her, Tenten's own, perfectly behaved chakra pulsed, wavered, and thrashed, all the result of an a growing anger.

Tenten was always the level-headed one, and yet, she too was growing beyond her limits. The offending man's face was bright red, as a vein pulsed in his forehead and rigid cords showed in his neck. As far as anyone could tell, the man looked positively murderous.

To a civilian, he might've looked frightening, or at the least disconcerting. But considering he was engaging this way with three very obvious shinobi, no one was surprised that the girls hardly flinched.

Especially considering that he wasn't even an important civilian, like Tenten's father. This man was wearing a clearly fake golden chain around his neck, and a white cotton tee shirt with a slight sweat stain forming now.

He was entirely nonthreatening, despite being both a massive asshole and resembling a rabies-infected coyote.

"You're just as much of a no-good demon whore as your little friends! Yamanaka or not, you're not welcome anywhere near my restaurant, you hear! If I catch you close to my restaurant, I'll have my bouncers beat a lesson into you! Go, get the hell out of here, now!" He screamed, spittle flying from his lips.

Tenten went to speak, but Ino was already back on his case, not missing a single beat.

"A whore, huh? You know you just put your hands on a teenage girl, and threatened her? Both of which are illegal and immoral, but let's not forget! Under Number 17 of the Konoha Legal Code, It's strictly prohibited for a civilian to refuse service to any Shinobi or Kunoichi without due reason! Due reason is as follows," She continued after a sharp intake of breath.

"Past harm to business, physically, or harm to any innocent civilians working there, or purchasing services. That's it, and since we've done none of those things, you've committed three crimes! One of which, you committed thrice over, by denying service to three kunoichi! I'm sure the Civilian Business Council will be happy to shut you down after such blatant violations!"

"C'mon, Ino, lets go." Naruto interrupted, taking hold of her blonde friend's arm.

Ino's head whipped around, but her eyes immediately softened. Her chakra almost felt confused, but it stopped fighting, just long enough to take in the complicated expression on Naruto's face.

"Naruto, you can't just let him get away with saying that stuff about you!" Ino said, her voice raised, yet somehow managing to be gentle at the same time.

Naruto looked at the man, who looked like a rabid chihuahua ready to bite, and then to Ino. Tenten squeezed her shoulder reassuringly, and the pig-tailed jinchuuriki exhaled softly. "This has happened plenty before, I'm used to it. You've defended my honor enough for one day, let's just go find another place to eat."
Ino grimaced, her eyebrows kneading together, but reluctantly agreed. There was no arguing, not when those cerulean eyes seemed to plead so hard. And even if Naruto hadn't seemed so desperate to leave, Ino was running out of things to say.

Naruto took her hand, just as Tenten had taken hers earlier. The blondes walked a few steps, noticing Tenten was hatefully staring down the old restaurant owner.

The girls looked back at Tenten, just as she threw up both of her middle-fingers, "Eat shit and die!" The brunette screamed, before stamping off to rejoin her girls.

Both of which, utterly frozen by Tenten's vulgar language. "What?" She huffed, folding her arms. They knew the moment was emotional beyond the point of just being heated, but… Tenten? Saying that? It was so far out of expectation, they'd have sooner imagined her decking the guy.. (Well, that wasn't true, Tenten wasn't a huge fan of unnecessary physical violence.)

"Uh, nothin'.. C'mon, I know a nice ramen stand! The owner's are great, we can have lunch there." Naruto said hesitantly, deciding to forget Tenten's choice of phrase.

Ino swallowed, nodding as they followed the pig-tailed blonde. There was still a burn in her chest, which was telling her to run back and start yelling at that man again. Unsurprisingly, Tenten felt the same, making that clear as they walked towards the ramen shop Naruto mentioned.

"When that guy touched you, I was so close to getting out my stabbin' knife. Only thing stopping me was a trip to T&I." She said sourly, her arms still folded. Ah, so maybe Tenten didn't hate physical violence as much as they thought. Or maybe she just deemed violence against assholes as acceptable? That was a question for another time, because there was a much more important question looming overhead.

Both blondes exchanged a glance, then stared at the brunette. "Your what?" Ino asked slowly, incredulously.

"My stabbin' knife." Tenten repeated, completely nonchalantly.

The blondes exchanged yet another glance, still walking along, much more slowly now that they'd left that discriminatory bastard and his restaurant behind. "You don't even have your weapons pouch on you.." Naruto stated, quite obviously.

"Yeah, and?" Tenten waved for her to continue. Another set of exchanged glances, just as they were approaching Ichiraku Ramen Shop.

"Then.. Where are you keeping the knife?" Ino inquired, looking a bit suspicious. She knew damn well Tenten's outfit had no pockets, and unless she'd managed to fit a knife in her itty-bitty wallet...

"Oh! That's easy, why didn't you just ask that?" Tenten chirped, and the blondes gave each other another, incredibly deadpan, glance. That was like the hundredth, at this point.

Tenten reached into the collar of her cheongsam top, her hand digging around for a minute or so, before finally finding what she was looking for.

With a single fluid motion, Tenten pulled out a kitchen knife, which was wrapped in gauze.

Both blondes stopped abruptly, not only out of surprise, but also because they'd reached their destination.

"Ta-da~! The stabbin' knife!" Tenten presented, holding out the plain kitchen knife pridefully. There was silence, a silence which was so incredibly loud that no one even seemed to notice.

What the hell could they even say to that? Ask why? Ino wasn't sure if she even wanted to know, though Naruto was definitely curious as to why she'd decided to hide in that particular area.. Almost telepathically, it was like Naruto and Ino decided not to ask. One question would just lead to another, it would be a whole can of worms, and there was no way they were going to explain to a weapon's mistress how weird her weapon was.

Surely, there was some reason for the peculiarity they'd been presented with, but frankly… Neither blonde wanted to know.

"There are no words for this. None." Ino shook her head, walking past the curtain into the ramen stand. "Yeah.. Sorry, Bunny, I gotta agree with Ino on this one." Naruto said, following behind the Yamanaka heiress.

The brunette huffed, rolling her eyes as she tucked the knife back inside her shirt. "Fine then, be that way." She said, slowly following behind them.

Naruto chatted happily with the woman behind the counter, while Ino and Tenten made their orders.

"I've been training hard, so one bowl of Shio ramen won't interfere with my diet!" Ino decided, getting odd looks from her two partners.

Tenten's eyebrows drew together in confusion, "But, Shio ramen is only like, 600 calories? That's practically nothing for a shinobi." Naruto nodded, knowing full well that she could put down like 10 bowls of Shio ramen.

Shio ramen was salt-based, made with chicken stock, containing kombu and potentially other toppings as well.

It was easily one of the lowest calorie ramen.

Ino blinked, and the bun-headed girl continued. "An active shinobi who trains often should consume from 3000-5000 calories a day." She said, nodding to herself.

"But! I have to watch my figure, you know!" Ino retorted, ignoring the frowning Naruto sitting on her other side.

Tenten however, was fairly knowledgeable about health, due to her time spent training under Guy.

She knew calories, exercise, dieting, etc, all the way into her bones.

This was one topic she wouldn't let her friends be uneducated on. Mostly out of care for their wellbeing, but also because she wanted to instill her wisdom.

"Well, that's what specific exercises are for.. There are plenty of training manuals out there, which can help you with your figure, all while you can eat a healthy amount. We all work-out daily, we train hard weekly, and we all do other things on top of that. It's important we eat enough to fuel our bodies!" Tenten explained, wagging her finger at Ino.

Despite having been a victim of Tenten's lectures before, Naruto felt no sympathy. They cared for Ino, therefore, it was time she dropped those stupid fad diets.

"Tenten's right! Besides, you're beautiful already, and you'd be just as pretty if you gained some weight. Hell, you could become a buff body-builder, and you'd still be one of the prettiest girls in all of Konohagakure!" Naruto declared cheerfully, giving Ino a forceful side-hug.

"You know, I think us three are the prettiest girls in Konoha." Naruto added, tapping her chin. Momentarily, her mind strayed back to Neji, who would probably beat all three of them if he were a girl. At least by Konoha's standards. She decided not to voice that.

Ino, who was looking a little flushed, laughed in surprise. She realized there, being dragged into Naruto, with Tenten laughing at them, that she finally belonged.

There was no being in constant, exhausting competition. There was no standing out like a sore thumb, like she did with her team.

There was no need to water herself down, there was no need to diet or obsess over her appearance.

Because just as she accepted them, they accepted her, too.

"You better stop laughing, Bunny, before I drag you in too." Naruto threatened, and Tenten abruptly stopped laughing.

"Here are your ramens, one miso, one shio, and one pork!" The tan-skinned man behind the counter said, placing each gigantic ceramic bowl one after the other.

Tenten cracked her chopsticks apart, but just before Naruto could devour her ramen in one bite, Tenten shot her a glare.

"Manners." She stated, dangerous and succinct.

Ino nearly choked on her own laughter, while the Ichiraku owners did too.

"Right…." Naruto agreed, sweat-dropping. She started her ramen slowly, while Tenten slowly turned to her own food.

Ino, who'd just taken her first bite, chirped in approval.

"Good, right? Nothing can ever top Ichiraku's!" Naruto said, grinning brightly.

"You're damn right!" The man behind the counter agreed, with a hearty laugh.

"Way better than whatever that bastard in the shopping district could ever make." Tenten said sourly, taking a bite of her noodles.

Naruto inhaled softly, taking in the scent of spices and various flavored broths and meats.

"Yeah! What the hell was his problem, anyway!" Demanded the Yamanaka heiress, not really expecting an answer.

"I guess it's time I tell you then, huh?" Naruto said, staring down at her steaming noodles, stirring them around with her chopsticks.

Both other girls turned to her suddenly, whilst Tenten winced slightly.

She knew where this was going, and frankly, she wasn't certain how this would go. She believed Ino would accept her, but what if she needed time to come to that conclusion? Could Naruto handle that?

She bit the inside of her lip, squashing down her thoughts, instead deciding to focus on Naruto's words.

Ayame, the daughter of Teuchi, grabbed her father and whisked him into another room, to give the girls a semblance of privacy. She and her father had known Naruto for years, so they knew where this was going. Though, she was careful to leave the door cracked just enough for her and her father to be able to eavesdrop.

"Naruto, what-"

"I understand if you don't wanna talk to me anymore after this, but.. I can't keep it a secret, and Tenten already knows.. So it's only a matter of time." Naruto said, tracing fingers against the wooden countertops.

"Is it that you like girls? Because I already know that, it doesn't bother me at all, if it bothers anyone else they can ea-" Ino was interrupted by Tenten's face-palming, and Naruto's sputtering.

"N-no, 'ttebayo! That's not it!" She shook her head, taking a minute to collect herself. The blonde Yamanaka only blinked in surprise, and Tenten forced herself not to snort.

"It's serious, Ino. I'm glad you support that part of me, too, but.. Ugh, let me just say it. I'm a jinchuriki." She exhaled, putting her hands up placatingly, hushing Ino before she could ask any questions.

"A jinchuriki, means human sacrifice. Well, the power of human sacrifice." Ino's eyes widened, but Naruto could feel the confusion rolling off of her.

"A jinchuriki is a person, sacrificed to contain a bijuu. Basically, what i'm saying is.. There's a demon sealed inside me."

And suddenly, a lot of things made sense to Ino. In textbooks, it said that the fourth Hokage defeated the Kyuubi, not that he killed it. The Kyuubi, who attacked fourteen years ago, on the very same day Naruto was born.

It explained why everyone treated her badly, it explained why the man refused them service and why bullies always picked on Naruto.

Ino came back to reality when she saw tears starting to glaze over Naruto's eyes.

She didn't even notice that her jaw had fallen, and she didn't even notice that Tenten had gotten up to stand behind Naruto.

Tenten's hand was clamped on her shoulder reassuringly, making eye contact with Ino.

"Naruto," Ino said, straightening herself up, clearing the shock away from her face.

Cerulean eyes met baby blue, and Ino smiled.

"I'd never hate you, or ditch you for that. You guys are my best friends, I'm not going to ditch you over something that wasn't even your fault. Have a little more faith in me!" She said, brightening the mood substantially.

"Really!?" Naruto asked, wiping her eyes harshly.

"Duh!" She said, flipping her hair. Tenten sighed in relief, wrapping an arm around the necks of her favorite blondes.

"You two!" She grumbled fondly, tussling both of their hair like a big sister, before moving back to her seat.
It didn't take much longer after that heartfelt moment, for the girls to have finished their lunch, and decide to go their separate ways. Both of the Ichiraku owners stepped back behind the counter, looking vaguely pleased for some odd reason.

"Well, it's about time I head home. I need a shower and a nap." Naruto said, sliding money on the counter to pay for their lunch.

"Already?" Ino whined, "Do you want us to walk you home?" Tenten inquired, finishing the last few bites of her ramen. "Nah, I'm alright. It's been fun, guys." She said, "Later, everyone!" she waved on her way out.

"Wait, Naruto you didn't have to pay for my-" Tenten stopped abruptly, noticing that Naruto had apparently disappeared into thin air.

She sighed, "Brat. I'll get her for that!" Ducking back under the curtain, she turned her attention to Ino.

"You look pensive." She stated, noticing how Ino's finely plucked brows were pulled together, a ghost of a frown on her lips.

She sighed, "More like angry and calculating." Tenten blinked, her brows raising. "Over what?"

"I've decided i'm not going to let that asshole from the shopping district get away with what he did." Momentarily, Tenten was surprised. Ino didn't seem like the vengeful type, but Tenten wasn't going to complain.

Because she too, did not want to let that asshole get away with treating them, Naruto especially, that way.

Her lips settled into a hard line, her face becoming severe. "Whatever you're planning, I want in." She said sternly, folding her arms.

Ino stood up from the counter, "Your ramen was great, thanks for serving us! We'll be going now!" The Yamanaka said, suddenly turning cheerful as she took Tenten's hand and left.

Just as they walked out, Teuchi Ichiraku whistled. "Little Naruto is finally growin' up, and she's got some good friends grown' up with her." He said warmly.

"You're right, dad. She's come a long way from when I dragged her in here the first time." His daughter said with a laugh.

"You know, I think I like her new friends for another reason, too! Extra revenue!" He said, chuckling loudly.

"Dad!" Ayame reprimanded, hitting him on the shoulder with a wooden spoon.

"So, run the plan by me again?" Tenten asked in a hushed voice.

"I'm going to file a report saying I was harassed verbally and physically by the restaurant owner. I'm going to include everything he said to me, and saying he refused service to my two friends. The point is, we are going to artfully exclude that he refused Naruto service specifically. They'll take an heiress more seriously than a jinchuriki." Ino explained, her hands moving as she spoke, and Tenten waved for her to continue.

"And you are going to corroborate my story, also artfully excluding Naruto's name. Our third kunoichi will remain unnamed, because she asked. Unless the Hokage himself asks, we won't tell."

Tenten bit her lip, "Right, and what's this going to do? Will it actually affect him?"

Ino smirked, something that didn't fit her features at all.

"The Civilian Council will have a meeting, and they'll discuss our report. Since it'll look terrible for every business in the district to let that fly, that guy will be shut down in only a few weeks." She said, putting her hand on her hip.

"And you're sure it'll work?" Tenten asked finally, meeting her eyes. There was a lingering sense of disbelief, one Ino soon dispelled.

"Of course. Not only will Shinobi stop shopping in that district, but civilians will too as a show of solidarity. The people of Konoha admire their ninja, especially their clan ninja, and they wouldn't want anyone to think otherwise." Ino said confidently, finally getting Tenten's full support.

The brunette nodded eagerly, "Great, then let's go file the reports."

"Hell yeah!" Ino said, raising her hand for a fist bump, in a very Naruto-like gesture.

Tenten met her fist, and the girls set off towards the Hokage's Tower to file their report.

---

"Excuse me, Sir." Ino said, tapping the bell on the man's desk, within the Incident Report office of the Hokage Tower.

The desk-nin, a nondescript young chuunin, looked up immediately.'"A-ah, Yamanaka-san, how can I be of assistance?"

Ino gave him a charming smile, "I need two report applications, please."

"Right away, can I ask what incident file you'll be needing?" He began shuffling through the many stacks of papers, Ino could spot various templates for various reports.

"Oh, whichever one is suited for civilians harassing and discriminating against shinobi." She stated simply, allowing her eyes to wander across his desk.

The desk-nin gave her a look of surprise, but said nothing as he found and passed her the incident report forms.

She took two pens from a cup on his desk, walking over to where Tenten was sitting on the office couch.

Neither of the two said a word as they filled in the information required, writing their reports in silence.

"Alright, I'm done." Tenten said, whilst Ino was writing the last few sentences of her report.

Tenten looked down, sourly noticing how impeccable Ino's handwriting was, especially in comparison to her much more plain handwriting. Who gave Ino the right to have such elegant penmanship?

"Aaaand, done." Ino said, ending the report with perfect punctuation.

The girls walked back to the desk, and the desk-nin behind it took their reports with no further words.

Once again the pair of girls found themselves weaving past lingering shinobi, on their way through the Hokage Tower.

They were mostly quiet on their way through, each of them stewing in their own thoughts.

Until they made it outside, out of the busy building, when Tenten spoke.

"So uh, should we tell Naruto?" She asked, her hands entwined behind her back as she walked.

Ino clicked her tongue, "Nope."

"She'll think we overreacted and it wasn't necessary. But you know if that happened to us, she'd be doing everything she could to ruin his life." She muttered, as an afterthought.

Tenten laughed, "You're right. What she doesn't know won't hurt her." Looking up to the periwinkle colored sky, the weapon's mistress sighed.

Before long, they'd made it to Tenten's house.

"I'll see you soon, okay? Have a good evening!" Tenten said, giving her friend a tight hug before scurrying off into the house.

Ino giggled and waved her goodbye, barely seeing Tenten's grandmother open the door for her. The blonde Yamanaka could tell it would be hours before it was dark, but for some reason, the sky felt rather dim anyway. It must've been the slowly traveling gray clouds, which almost resembled plumes of smoke painted on a baby blue canvas, Ino decided.

The breeze blew through her, sending her blonde braid swaying for a mere moment, filling her chest with a certain warmness.

It was only Konohagakure that could make her feel so homely, with just a slight wind.

But despite that, there was a lingering sense of melancholy, resting deep in her bones. The events of today should've been nothing but fun, and yet, that old bastard had ruined it.

Would Naruto cry over it? Had she cried over moments like those, people like him, before?

Was she crying now? Ino had paid close attention to the body language of her blonde friend, and she hadn't noticed any tension or discomfort when she'd left.

She could see two reasons for this.

One, Naruto looked so unbothered, because she was. She would only be able to shake off an experience like that so easily, after experiencing it many times before.

Which raised the question, how many times had it happened? And how many times would it take, before it would stop hurting? Five? Ten? A dozen? She didn't know.

Or, two. Naruto was bothered, but she concealed it well enough that even a Yamanaka couldn't see through it. This was unlikely, because Ino knew Naruto hadn't started formal lessons on concealing her body-language. And also, it was a universal fact that it was damn hard to fool a Yamanaka in a craft they practically created. But on the assumption she did, did that mean Naruto was home crying right now? Or that, Ino could've provided comfort, and was too foolish to see it was needed? But that would also suggest that if Naruto had been hurt by it, maybe it hadn't happened so often?!

Ino clenched her fist tightly, hissing in aggravation. Her mind was an utter mess, and anyone with half a brain could probably see it.

She didn't know which of those two possibilities was preferable, but she did know that she likely wouldn't be able to come to a conclusion on that.

But she decided then, she needed to step up her training. She needed to be the best of the Yamanaka, so that way she'd be able to tell if her friends were hurting in the future, without a doubt in her mind. There was more than that, too, but honestly, that reason took prominence.

The heiress slowly exhaled, blowing the breath from her lungs and clearing the fog from her mind. She was going to go home, and she'd get up to scratch on all of the body language textbooks she had.

She also noted, maybe it was time for her to start working towards joining the family profession. The Intelligence Unit was the Yamanaka domain, and maybe, it was hers, too.

Rolling her shoulder, Ino felt the tension ease from her muscles, the tightness melting away as she forced herself into a state of calm.

After the time she'd spent meditating with Naruto, she'd picked up the ability to calm herself down with enough effort. Most of their training sessions spent to hone her sensory abilities were just glorified meditation, but Ino was happy for the skill it gave her.

Idly, Ino continued her walk home at an even slower pace.

She thought about her future as she watched children run through the streets, and she thought about her past as she saw a familiar head of bubblegum-pink hair amongst the people.

And, then, when her mind processed who that bubblegum hair belonged to, her jaw dropped. A face she hadn't seen in months was passing her by.

That state of calm she'd reached was ruptured in an instant.

Her arm outstretched towards the passing girl without even thinking, her legs moving to carry her through the crowd, towards a friend who's face she hadn't seen in so long.

For a moment, the word seemed to stop. Everything froze, the breeze stopped, the crowds of wandering folk seemed to silence, and the world stopped turning.

Ino wanted to shout out, to call for her, but those emerald eyes were locked onto another.

With that ridiculous love-struck expression, Sakura Haruno was in her own little Sasuke and Sakura-centric world.

And where did Ino fit into any of that? Where was she, when Ino had no one? Sakura was with Sasuke.

Sasuke, that stupid, handsome Uchiha, who'd ruined their friendship. He'd taken Sakura, and he didn't even mean to. She couldn't even hate him.

She stared, a feeling of bitter sickness in her throat nearly choking her up.

She saw those stupid white arm warmers Sasuke wore, the style she'd copied right from him. The style she thought would catch Sakura's attention.

But it hadn't. Nothing had, no faked arguments, no pestering, no rivalry, none of it captured Sakura like Sasuke did. Sakura didn't even see her anymore, literally and metaphorically.

As her arm fell limp at her side, she added another thing to her to-do list.

Re-read her body-language books.

Burn all of those stupid high-collared shirts, and all of those ridiculous arm-warmers.

Maybe she'd do them both at the same time.

Sakura giggled, at some snarky comment that Uchiha made, and the world seemed to resume. The silence was filled with the sounds of Konoha yet again, of chirping birds and polite conversation. The breeze continued to flow, shaking trees and knocking leaves to the ground.

And life went on.

Life went on, Ino realized. Life would always go on.

Her life had gone on. She didn't need to chase Sakura, to comfort her, to protect her. Sakura didn't even want her to.

But Ino had other friends now, Tenten and Naruto, and they wanted her. They needed her, and there was no Sasuke coming between them. Ino turned away, and though her feet felt like they were tied to cinder blocks, she forced herself to walk away. She had thought she was over Sakura, she was over whatever they'd had, but as she felt the claws Sakura had left in her heart finally ripping away….

She felt the weight slip away, the cinder blocks disintegrating. And even as she felt a pain tear through her chest, she kept going.

Because life would go on, and she would be forced to keep going.

The world was almost a blur, as the realization set in, and she arrived back at the Yamanaka compound.

Today was supposed to be fun, Ino sulked internally. But for her, it was apparently not meant to be.

She made her way through the compound, smiling and waving at every clan member she passed, hiding her turmoil. She made it all the way up to her bedroom, before she finally let it out.

She justified her loud scream of anger with the fact that no one was home to hear it. Roughly tugging away her blouse, she threw her outfit to the ground, changing into something suitable for the bonfire she'd be having.

Throwing on an old tank top and a pair of baggy shorts, she began wildly pulling out all of her old outfits from her closet.

The high-collared dresses, shirts, and arm-warmers were tossed into a pile, which she gathered up into her arms.

Thunderously marching down the stairs, Ino didn't have a single thought in her mind as she made her way to the backyard.

Thankfully, her backyard was fenced in, so no one would be seeing her meltdown.

Somewhere along the way, Ino had grabbed a bottle of fire-starter, which she doused what was essentially most of her wardrobe in the odorous fluid.

Her clothes, which she'd dropped into her family's fire-pit, had all been chosen with the desire to impress Sakura.

To catch her attention. To keep those beautiful emerald eyes on her, not on Sasuke. She felt sick as the memories came back. Specifically, the memory of Sakura admitting her crush on that Uchiha. The very day that Ino had lied, the day that Ino had said he was her crush, too.

All in some foolish effort of staying by Sakura's side, even if it was through rivalry. All for her attention.

But it hadn't worked, it would never work. It had been pathetic to attempt in the first place, Ino concluded.

As she emptied the flammable liquid onto all of her garments, feeling a tinge of distaste for ruining all that pretty purple fabric.

But she continued, without even a drop of regret in her system.

Ino was done, with foolish rivalries and desperate cries for Sakura's attention. She was moving on.

She was breaking up with Sakura, ending a romance which had never even existed in the first place.

Before she started the fire, Ino went back inside to grab a book.

"The Thoughts of A Human, Reflected Throughout The Body: Volume IV." This series was a classic in the Yamanaka family, every child read it at least once. This would be Ino's third time traversing the pages of the textbook, but she couldn't find it in herself to care about that.

Sakura could've memorized the damn thing in one read, but she wasn't Sakura. Ino plopped down into the grass, not caring for how it could stain the shorts she wore.
With her matchbook in one hand, Ino withdrew a singular red-tipped match.

She swiped it across the striker with a feeling of numbness, baby-blue eyes half-lidded as the match ignited.

Without a second thought, Ino flicked the match into the fire pit, and watched with grim satisfaction as the pile of clothing ignited into a ball of flames.

The heat from the blaze cast an orange light as it warmed her skin, and Ino opened her book to it's first page.

Her dad had always said that there was nothing in the world as relaxing as reading a good book next to a campfire. The Yamanaka heiress came to the conclusion he was right, even if she'd normally consider such a thing to be on the boring side.

Well, it certainly wasn't the first time her dad was right about something. She wasn't sure it was possible he could ever be wrong.

If he ever was, she'd ignore it. She liked to think her kids would one day look at her the same way, that they'd do the same for her.

---

The Yamanaka Household

---

"Hey, sweetheart. Open up." Inoichi said, knocking on the door loudly. Ino got up from her bed, where she'd been tossing and turning for hours.

She'd been trying to take a nap, after finishing her book, and writing her daily entry for her diary. She'd even done some physical training beforehand, to hopefully tire herself out physically.

And yet, she'd gotten not a wink of sleep.

It was nearing the evening now, she'd spent all of her morning with Tenten and Naruto.

She pulled open the door, and there was her father, standing as tall as ever.

He paid no heed to his daughter's sudden change of outfit, nor to the charcoal staining on the fingers of the bandages she'd wrapped up to her elbow. Not a word about her messy room, or the hair she'd pulled into a ragged bun.

"Shikamaru and Choji are downstairs, apparently, they're pretty worried for you. According to them, you've only been going to team training, not hanging out like you used to." Inoichi explained, and Ino's heart jumped in her chest.

It was true, she hadn't been hanging out with them. She'd been spending all her free time with Naruto and Tenten. They all did their training with their sensei's at the same time, so when they were done, they met up together most afternoons.

Aside from the days where Anko worked Naruto into the ground, or when Tenten had to run the shop.

Those days, Ino spent training by herself.

It was then that Ino realized she spent almost everyday with her friends.

Truly, she'd thought it was obvious to her teammates where she'd been, since she'd always been the only one on their team who always wanted to do social things or train.

She'd figured Shikamaru would've worked out that she was hanging out with Naruto and training. She'd mentioned it at least once. Ino certainly hadn't been hanging out with Sakura all this time.

(Sakura would soon be referred to as She Who Shall Not Be Named, once Naruto and Tenten discovered their blonde friend's breakdown.)

But that wasn't what was making Ino nervous. She'd never told her dad that she'd stopped spending every evening with her team.

He'd seen her train in the backyard on the days where Naruto and Tenten were busy. He also knew she was rarely running the shop nowadays, since her mother began doing it for her.

So what exactly did her dad think she was up to?!

Judging by the look in his eye, he wasn't mad, merely curious. Her dad was nearly impossible to anger, at least when it came to her. He could be stern, but he would never lash out at her.

Ino never feared that, though, she did fear disappointing him. He had been her hero growing up, no one ever wanted to disappoint their hero.

Ino sighed in acceptance, knowing there'd be no point in lying. Her dad probably knew everything she did, before she'd even done it.

He was just great like that.

"That's true. I've been hanging out with Naruto Uzumaki and my other friend Tenten most days." She admitted, and Inoichi looked momentarily surprised, likely from her honesty.

"Right, well, they're worried. I know your girl-friends are probably a lot more fun, but you can't forget your teammates. They wanted to know why you cancelled your team-training today." Inoichi explained, being as fatherly as always. He didn't even miss a beat in his reply, there was no questioning or hesitance. Merely acceptance, and for that, Ino was grateful.

Not only because she was too emotionally-exhausted to deal with any of that… But.. She knew that her father knew what Naruto was…

She felt silly for even thinking for a moment that her dad would be so prejudiced. Inoichi Yamanaka was many things, and a judgemental bastard wasn't one of them.

As for her own teammates, and their pondering over what she'd been doing with her time..

Ino snorted, internally thinking of a dozen different answers for that. Well, maybe she'd skipped because team-training was hardly training at all. Or maybe because she'd gotten tired of their laziness and griping, or Choji's constant, obnoxious, chewing.

Okay, maybe she wasn't exactly being charitable in her description of them. But in her defense, Ino was feeling pretty crabby.

She rolled her eyes, "I'll go talk to them." She said. Ever the fashionista, Ino eyed her outfit critically. She grabbed a mauve cardigan she'd hung on her door, which matched with her white tank top and bandages, as well as her beige cargo shorts well enough.

She might not look perfect, but perfection was for suckers anyway, she decided. Though, part of her thought she was already natural perfection, so… That might be a contradiction…

Shaking the thoughts from her head, Ino stepped out of her room, closing the birch door behind her.

Her dad smiled at her, warm and proud, instilling a bit of energy back into her. Inoichi followed a few steps behind as she went down the stairs that lead into the Yamanaka living room.

Just as her father had said, Shikamaru and Choji were both waiting for her. They looked surprisingly nervous as she entered the room, with Shikamaru unable to meet her gaze, and Choji fidgeting with his hands.

"I take it you fellas are wondering where I've been." She said, not giving any sort of greeting. Inoichi merely chuckled, walking into another room to give the kids some privacy.

"Yeah! You never hang out with us anymore!" Choji exclaimed, cutting straight to the chase.

"Yeah, I've been busy hanging with my girls." She said, sounding every bit of the mean girl she was back in the academy. In the back of her mind, she was grateful she'd put on bandages when training earlier.

Otherwise, she'd have messed up her perfect manicure. If only she could get Naruto to care for her nails… At least Tenten painted hers from time to time.

Well, she had gotten Naruto a lip-gloss, which was a giant leap forward. She just needed a little more time, and she'd have Naruto girlier than ever before.

Shikamaru gave her a deadpan stare, brown eyes surveying her. "Your girls?" He asked incredulously, knowing that she and Sakura weren't friends anymore.

"That's right." Ino replied, knowing her lack of explanation would frustrate the Nara boy. A perk of knowing someone since childhood, was knowing exactly how to press their buttons. Or maybe that was a perk of being a Yamanaka, it could be either one. Maybe both, Ino mused.

Before he could prod any further, Choji asked for him.

"Oh, cool! We thought maybe you were going through a phase or something! So who're your girls?" Choji asked, looking relieved.

Ino smiled, and Shikamaru narrowed his brown eyes. A phase? Now that was interesting, because Ino was certainly going through a phase of sorts. Though, she would consider it more of a metamorphosis.

"Oh you know, just two other genin. Tenten, and Naruto."

Shikamaru choked in surprise, he and Choji spoke simultaneously.

"You mean Naruto Uzumaki?"

She rolled her eyes, because, what other Naruto did they know? Duh. And also, she'd told them about their meeting in the flower shop a while ago! Had they not been listening when she explained their reconcile?

Biting back the urge to bonk them both over the head, Ino nodded. Bad listeners, the both of them! Lazy, terrible listeners!

"Damn right." She confirmed, making both boys share a surprised glance.

Choji was the first to recover from that shocking revelation.

"You know, we came here to make you come to dinner at my family's restaurant, Team 8 is gonna be there!" He blurted suddenly, bringing Shikamaru out of his own state of stupor.

"You mean the Naruto Uzumaki? The one who would destroy your flawless reputation?" Shikamaru asked again, unable to imagine the Naruto and Ino he knew getting along for even half a second.

Ino considered telling him that worrying about reputation was for boring people, but figured that might show just how much Naruto had rubbed off on her.

Instead, she'd prefer for him to find out just how much she'd changed on his own.

"That sounds fun, actually. I'm not hungry, since I had lunch with Naruto earlier, but I am dressed already, so I might as well. Let's go." She said, walking to the front. door where she'd left her sandals.

Both boys were momentarily frozen, completely dumbfounded yet again.

"Are you coming, or not?" She asked, one hand resting on her hip.

---

Training Ground 9

---

"I think, maybe.. If you put a stroke right from the first quadrant, through the second quadrant of the larger array… It should, in theory, make the seal more controlled." Tenten said, showing Naruto what she meant by demonstrating with her finger.

Naruto hummed, "Right, but, it's a flashbang, does it need to be controlled? It'll just weaken it, right?" She asked incredulously, her fingers covered in black ink from not using her calligraphy brushes.

A strong wind blew through the field, and Naruto defensively threw down her hands to hold the scroll against the grass terrain. Her ponytails whipped in front of her, and she scowled as her messy hair got even messier.

When she withdrew her hands, four fingerprints rested in each of the quadrants, and Tenten gasped. Naruto grimaced, fearing she'd ruined their perfect seal.

"Wait, Naruto, that's it!" Blue eyes met with warm brown, and Tenten smiled ecstatically.

"Look, a tomoe functions as a boost, so if we connect them.."

"And then draw a stroke up, out of the array, it'll lead the blast skyward.." Naruto continued, starting to grin herself, literally connecting the dots of the array with an inked pinky finger.

The parchment held a complicated seal, one they'd been working on since the previous week. On the paper, the kanji for blast, flare, and flash functioned as a label. It also helped in channeling the intent of chakra.

Below the kanji, a large oval with thick, wavy lines was divided into four sections- called quadrants. Each quadrant contained a dot, which Naruto smeared into four nearly identical tomoe. And with her pinky, she connected each tomoe with a thin line.

She went all the way around, meeting the vertical line that divided the quadrants, and drawing upwards outside of the array, ending with a triangular point.

Tenten laughed in disbelief at their creation, it was completely defiling the standard teachings of fuinjutsu, which basically said to never go against the Sealing Alphabet. You weren't supposed to connect lines like this, at least according to the books she'd read.

This thing would be unstable or dangerous, but.. The divided quadrants would retain balance, and the upward stroke would direct the blast. How could it go wrong?!

"And if we add two minor containment seals to each side, we could use colored dye to give the blast a color! Naruto, we've just invented a flare-bomb, but in a se-"

"Greetings, Naruto, Tenten." A voice lacking any inflection called, causing both girls to nearly jump out of their skin in surprise. Tenten squeaked, nearly messing up the perfect line she'd been using to create the minor containment seals she'd mentioned.

Both girls checked the seal for any single flaw, any drops of misplaced ink, anything at all, before sighing in relief when they saw the surprise greeting from Neji had caused no errors.

"Hey, Neji!" Tenten greeted, giving a polite wave, whilst Naruto gave him a cheeky wink and a nod of the head, "Yo, O-Neji-sama."

He eyed both girls scrutinizingly, their project being the least of his concern. On Tenten's cheeks, three black whiskers had been drawn in onyx ink, clearly to mimic Naruto's own.

A strand of brunette hair hung loose on each side of her head, but it was not nearly as messy as the blonde jinchuriki's hair.

Two blonde pigtails had streaks of black, she'd even gotten streaks of the inky substance on her forehead and in her hairline. Her hitai-ate was tying back her bangs, to prevent the mess, but it clearly hadn't helped.

Naruto's hands were also covered in ink, and Neji's eye twitched at such flagrant disregard for messiness.

Flagrant disregard for how much he hated that nickname, too.

Like the wonderful, patient friend he was, he ignored it.

"Where is Guy-sensei? And Lee?" He asked curiously.

"Oh," Tenten said, looking to the side as Naruto was blowing on the drying seal they'd drawn on the scroll of parchment. Distantly, Neji thought Naruto looked like she was doing an unimpressive impression of some sort of fire-breathing dragon.

"They took off on some sort of youthful morning jog, in our honor, or something." Naruto said, after sucking in a loud breath of air.

"They were pretty touched by how hard we've been working on this seal." Tenten said, eyeing the roll of parchment as if it was her child. Seriously, the love in those brown eyes belonged to someone staring at their soulmate…. Not a piece of paper...

"It's the fourth rendition!" Naruto chirped happily, checking to ensure the ink was entirely dry, before rolling up the scroll.

"DO NOT FEAR, THE TWO BEAUTIFUL GREEN BEASTS OF KONOHAGAKURE HAVE RETURNED!" A loud voice hollered, speeding into the training field as if hell was on his heels.

It was just Guy, his footsteps as loud as a stampede as he and Lee arrived in front of them.

"THIS LOVELY SATURDAY MORNING IS BEST SPENT TRAINING WITH MY PRECIOUS STUDENTS, INCLUDING YOU, YOUNG NARUTO!" He changed his pose, doing some odd sort of salute-mixed-with-downward-dog towards the sun.

Before Naruto had the chance to reply, Guy continued.

"BUT NOW THAT WE HAVE ALL ASSEMBLED,THERE IS SOMETHING IMPORTANT MY TEAM WOULD LIKE TO SHARE!" He shouted bombastically, and Naruto almost thought her eardrums might burst as he addressed her directly.

Tenten tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, fighting back a knowing smile to the best of her ability. Naruto looked around the group, noticing how Neji had decided to start staring at a tree instead of making eye contact.

Lee, however, had enormous stars in his glistening eyes.

She grimaced, entirely confused on whatever the hell was happening. Did Guy get married? Was someone pregnant? Her eyes narrowed, examining their group for anyone showing signs of pregnancy.

Guy struck a pose, and Lee followed suit. "As you may know…. The Chuunin Exams are biannual, and there is another exam approaching in just over a month and a half…" He trailed off, smiling wildly.

And yes, Naruto knew that, because she and Anko had been discussing what she'd do to participate. They'd been thinking about seeking out a team from the Genin Corps, then she'd be able to find an experienced team, at least. Even if most Genin Corps were talentless hacks.

"Yeah..?" She waved for him to continue, feelingly painfully dense. She was no genius, did they really expect her to connect the dots like that?

Neji cleared his throat, "Well, seeing as our team competed last year, and I'm the only one who passed…" He trailed off, too, just as Guy had.

Naruto pursed her lips. Everyone here already knew Neji was already a chuunin. Where was he going with this?

"And considering that you defeated me in a spar, I believe it is only sensible to enter you amongst Team 9 as a substitute. For me. Because I cannot serve as Team Captain in an exam I cannot take part in. Do you understand?" Neji said, glaring at that tree as if it had kicked his puppy.

Naruto focused on his words. He obviously could not be a part of his team, as captain, so they need a substitute. And because she had "beaten," Neji in a spar, she could fill his space.

Oh.

Oh.

Noticing the dawning look of realization on the blonde's face, Lee's eyes overflowed with happy tears, and Guy laughed heartily. Tenten seemed too absorbed in watching the cogs turn in her best friend's mind, ignoring her sensei and teammate.

"You mean..? Naruto blinked twice, a sort of dazed look across her face.

"THAT IS RIGHT! WE WOULD LIKE YOU TO JOIN TENTEN AND I FOR THE CHUUNIN EXAMS!" Lee shouted, clenching his fists in visible joy.

Oh.

Naruto didn't even notice she said that outloud, her head cocked to the side.

Tenten giggled, "Is it really that hard to believe?" and Neji sighed, fearing the blonde may have gone into some kind of shock.

"Is that a yes, or a no?" He asked reluctantly.

The girl shook her head wildly like a wet dog shaking off water, nearly dizzying herself in the process. "Are you kidding me?" She questioned finally, the apples of her cheeks tinting pink as a wide grin stretched across her features.

"Of course I'll join your team! Why the hell wouldn't I, this is perfect! Seriously!" She said, wrapping an arm around Tenten's neck to pull her in for a hug.

"Get over here, Lee, Neji! Group hug!" Tenten said, signaling for the boys to join them. It was probably the only time Tenten would endorse a public group-hug.

With zero hesitance, Lee bounded right into the small space between the blonde and Tenten, while Neji just looked at them with a judging stare.

Guy, however, wasn't going to let Neji get away without a celebratory hug. With a rough shove, he knocked the Hyuuga boy right into Naruto's empty arm. Naruto quickly wrapped her arm around him, but to further prevent any chance of escape, Guy joined the group embrace.

His arms stretched around Neji and Lee, and with his ridiculous upper-body strength, he lifted. Yes, he lifted the four teenagers, and suddenly Tenten was clinging to Lee and Naruto to avoid falling.

Lee's eyes were streaming with thick, cartoonish tears as he loudly proclaimed, "THIS HAS BEEN A TRULY MEMORABLE DAY! NEVER HAS OUR YOUTH BEEN SO ENTWINED, SO POWERFUL!" He cried, his voice wavering.

"This is getting embarrassing.." Tenten muttered, as Lee's salty tears dripped onto her clothes. "Hahaha! What Lee said, 'ttebayo!" Naruto encouraged, whilst Neji grimaced. "Please put us down.." He said, and thankfully, Guy heeded his request.

By dropping them all, right onto the hard ground. The pile of teenagers quickly un-entwined their limbs, especially the Hyuuga boy, who was desperately trying to straighten himself.

"Fools," He huffed, blowing a strand of dark brown hair out of his face.

Naruto finally decided to fix her own hair, pulling the thick gray scrunchies which held up her pigtails out. Golden hair fell into a wild mess, causing her brunette friend to snicker.

"We should have a celebration!" Lee proposed, fist pumping the air. Tenten was at least happy he'd wiped away the tears and snot that had been on his face moments ago. That didn't make the tears disappear from her blouse, though.

"Oooo, lunch?" Naruto asked, wiggling her brows excitedly.

It was the first time all of them, (Excluding Tenten) had seen her without pigtails. It was at least as long as Nejis, and maybe if it weren't so wavy, it might be longer.

Tenten would never admit feeling a bit of sourness about that, she could never get her hair to grow so long.

"I will gladly provide you with lunch, dear students of mine!" Guy struck another dramatic pose, a sparkle glinting from his teeth.

"I was thinking more like an extreme contest to test both our bodies and our spirits to their very limits!" Lee said, getting progressively more pumped as he went on.

"No way in hell am I running some celebratory race with either of you." Tenten stated plainly, knowing she hadn't a chance of competing in speed with Lee or Guy. Speed was not a skill she prized herself on.

"But-"

"No, thanks." Tenten interrupted, before Lee could even start pleading.

"I second her decision." Neji agreed, and Guy nodded as the entire group turned their eyes to Naruto, who could break the tie.

"What?" She asked slowly, looking around at her peers with blatant discomfort. She was really feeling dumb this week, maybe it was time she started working on her book studies again.

"Your decision will decide whether or not we have an invigorating competition, to test every aspect of our minds, bo-" Naruto began tuning him out once she'd gotten the gist of what he was trying to say.

Mentally, she began weighing her options.

Well, Naruto loved competing, but judging by the dangerous stare Tenten was directing her way… She didn't have much of a choice.

But, then again, just having lunch was getting old at this point. Couldn't they do something cool, like put trip-wires all over the village, or paint the Hokage Monument again?

She sighed, knowing there wasn't a chance they'd do either of those. Maybe some other time, though...

"Lunch is fine. No competition needed." Naruto decided, noticing how pleased Neji seemed.

"Great choice, Naru!" Tenten cheered, patting the girl's head approvingly. Which somehow managed to make her hair look worse, and Naruto knew that Tenten had done that intentionally.

The shorter blonde hissed like a feral animal, making Neji blink in surprise, whilst Tenten looked completely unperturbed. Naruto began haggardly brushing her fingers through her hair, as if Tenten had been the one to make her hair so messy.

No one saw the need to tell her it'd been a wreck the entire time.

As the Uzumaki began pulling her hair into a singular bun, she looked over at the two Green Beasts. Naruto had to immediately close her eyes to avoid seeing the look of pure, utter betrayal on Lee's face.

"Very well, then! The team consensus has been made, where shall we go my dearest students?" Guy said, resting both hands on his hips. Never once did that massive grin leave his face, and it could be asked whether his face hurt from constantly smiling.

Before Naruto had the chance to say ramen, or Lee had the chance to say curry, Tenten was excitedly raising her arm up, as if in a classroom.

"A bakery just opened up, I heard they serve some really good stuff!" Piped the brunette, clearly fantasizing about having some sesame buns. Naruto snorted, knowing she'd heard about the place from Anko.

"As long as they sell tea, I am willing." Neji agreed with an elegant sigh, making Tenten pump her fist in silent victory, whereas Naruto just rolled her eyes. "Tea? Really? You're so laaaame." She drawled, leaning against him suddenly.

Instead of letting her drag him into another bout of teasing, he merely flicked her temple. She scowled, rubbing the side of her head childishly.

Lee, who was visibly sulking the entire time, kicked a pebble across the ground. The boy looked so limp in posture, he could be easily mistaken for a soggy noodle.

"LEE! Pull yourself from the depths of your self-pity, this is no time for you to let your youth be snuffed out!" Guy reprimanded, raising his fist threateningly.

Naruto wasn't sure if the grin on the green-clad man's face made it more or less scary.

Straightening to attention, Lee saluted his sensei with a ridiculous stiffness, "Yes, Guy-sensei!"

Noddin vehemently, Guy patted Lee with approval. "Now then, Tenten, lead the way to this bakery!"

"Riiight.. This way.." She said, taking the lead of the group with visible hesitance.

It didn't take very long for them to reach a nondescript little bakery, walking inside to a moderately full restaurant. Tenten quickly found a big enough booth for her team, the seats a shade of pastel purple.

The entire place was painted in a muted, cutesy color scheme, with lilac walls and blue and pink accents throughout the building.

Naruto's eyes strayed curiously, as Tenten passed them the menus that'd already been resting on the table.

Tenten sat between Neji and Naruto, with Neji at the "head" of the table, and Naruto at the outer seat. And across from Naruto, Guy sat next to Lee.

"Their tea selection is satisfactory." The Hyuuga prodigy said, white eyes examining his menu with a vaguely pleased expression. Whereas, Tenten was assisting Rock Lee in finding what to order, explaining the various sweets and appetizers on the menu.

The blonde sunk into her seat, sitting undignified as she lifted her menu and obscured her face. "Oh, this pie is orange! I want it!" Naruto chirped to herself.

She hadn't exactly expected Neji to reply, "Are you referring to pumpkin pie? Don't order it, pumpkin is disgusting, I assure you." Though his tone was lighthearted, he said 'pumpkin' with an undertone of hatred.

Naruto snorted, "Have you tried it before?" She asked, turning her menu and pointing at the picture of Pumpkin Pie on her menu. "Unfortunately, I have. I'm going to order the ginseng tea." He concluded, closing his menu and placing it back on the table.

"You're seriously only ordering tea? Not even a bun, or daifuku?" Naruto inquired in disbelief, and he nodded.

She sighed, feeling a little sick of Neji's total boring-ness.

"Well I'm gettin' cupcakes. A lot of 'em. I'll share with you." She determined, nodding to herself in satisfaction. "Sharing, what an excellent way to showcase your youthful bonds! Lee, we shall also share something!" He spoke as if saying something profound, as the waitress made her way to their table.

She pulled the notepad from the apron she wore over her frilly dress, preparing to write down their order. "I'll have two sesame buns, and Lee here will have a single taiyaki." Tenten said with a pleasant smile, as Guy piped in, "And a large batch of dango for me and the boy to share, Miss!"

The woman nodded slowly, writing down their orders before directing her attention to Naruto. "A dozen cupcakes, pretty please! Oh, and make 'em all different kinds. But no pumpkin, because pumpkin is against Neji's morals." She ordered, adding the last bit just to confuse the poor woman. It was only a bonus that Neji scoffed at her.

"A-ah, okay.. We don't serve pumpkin cupcakes, so that shouldn't be an issue… Is that all?" The redheaded waitress asked with a questioning expression.

"Nope, that'll be all!" Tenten said politely, causing the woman to nod and walk away quickly. Neji swore she muttered something about strange ninjas under her breath.

Naruto detached the bag on her hip, pulling it onto the table to pilfer through. The bag, which was nearly the size of a satchel, held more than just weapons and seals. It also held her paint-pens, notepads, stickers (how had those gotten there?) and hair-ties. And also her frog-wallet. And somehow, her camera, as well, along with a few pictures.

Naruto smiled at her notepad, grabbing a pen, and doodling on the first clean page with childish fervor.

Tenten, who was considering lecturing Naruto on essentially dumping her bag on the table, opted not to. Mostly because of the random items included in the mess, which caught her attention.

Fishing out a few of the pictures Naruto had taken, she smiled as she saw a picture of her and Naruto smiling in front of a giant flame. She remembered that day, it was when they'd trained with Anko, and decided to test their first explosion seal. It was a horrendous idea to make a flare seal with four supplementary explosions.

She flipped to the next picture, one of Anko smiling, and flipped to the next. Ino, with a camellia blossom tucked behind her ear, and then a random photo of a bull-frog.

A photo of some graffiti, and a picture of she, Ino, and Naruto dressed in their cowboy suits made her giggle aloud, causing Neji to look over at her with curiosity. She scooted closer to him to show him the images, his eyes widening at the photo of them in front of the exploding seal.

Lee, who'd been happily chatting with Guy, reached into Naruto's pile of miscellaneous items, taking a green smiley face sticker, and then immediately peeling it off. He stuck it to his face with a bright grin, getting a silent thumbs up from Guy.

Tenten saw his face-sticker, getting a bit jealous, and decided to steal another of Naruto's stickers. Plucking away a yellow star, she stuck it to her cheek, and even found one for Neji. He looked at her with an unimpressed expression, and she rolled her eyes, adding the heart sticker to Lee's face instead.

It was then that Naruto peeked up from her notepad, gasping in surprise. "Hey! Who told you vultures you could just pilfer through my stuff!"

Neji pointed at Tenten blandly, "She started it."

Tenten swerved to look at him, her hand over her heart dramatically. "Neji!" She rebuked, looking at him as if he were a traitor.

"Now, now, children! No need to fight, our food is here!" Guy interrupted, raising his hands placatingly, as the waitress stood at the end of their table with a large platter with all of their plates on it.

Naruto and Tenten immediately began trying to clean up the mess on the table, shoveling the many items back into Naruto's bag. Lee, who'd been examining the camera in his hands, sat it down in the seat next to him.

Naruto's cupcakes were served in a large box, which she stared at happily as the rest of their table received their orders.

Tenten practically buzzed at the sight of her sesame buns, whereas Lee poked at his taiyaki with curiosity. Most of the time, he had curry or health-foods, so baked goods weren't something he was very familiar with.

Neji, always the princess, delicately lifted his tea-cup to his mouth and took a sip. Then immediately nodded his head in approval, and placed back on the table.

Naruto stared at him with a perturbed expression, already having decimated two of her cupcakes. She huffed, looking away to pass a cupcake to Guy and Lee.

As she passed a cupcake to Tenten, she looked back to the box with a tense expression, trying to find one that he would like. She decided on a very decorated cupcake, with white icing and chocolate sprinkles, a small bar of chocolate wedged in the cupcake itself.

He happened to look up just then, noticing she was staring at him, the cupcake silently offered, like some precious token of friendship.

He blinked, suddenly feeling strange about the exchange, because the entire table was staring to see if he would accept it. It hadn't been this weird when the others accepted a cupcake!

Though, Neji certainly would not accept it. Sweets were childish, ill-fitting for a Hyuuga shinobi to enjoy.

"Your cupcake." She said, sliding the cupcake towards him slowly, her eyes wide and curious.

The sparkle in her blue eyes was almost enough to convince him. Almost.

He shoved the cupcake back towards her, Tenten chewing on her bun like a movie-goer with popcorn.

"No, thank you." He said, taking another sip of his tea. He intook the flowery scent, enjoying the notes of honey and earth. There was only one cube of sugar added, making it utterly perfect- "I insist, O-Neji-senpai." Naruto said, interrupting his internal review of his tea.

He looked down, seeing that the cupcake was pushed right next to his tea-cup, narrowing his eyes in distaste. "I said, No Thank You." He repeated.

"Pleeaase?" She tried the puppy-eyes, even sticking out her bottom lip and clasping her hands together. "No." He stated, firm and simple, causing the blonde's face to immediately change.

The entire table was still watching, slowly eating their desserts, eyes darting back and forth as if they were watching a tennis match.

"C'mon, Neji, pretty please? It has sprinkles." She tried again, much more sternly this time.

"No, Naruto. Cupcakes are for children." He sniffed haughtily, looking down at his tea. Tenten gasped, "Children?" She may have been purposely egging them on, but due to the fact her mouth was full of cake, she may have been truly offended.

Naruto, however, was very offended. "Children, huh? Do I look like a child, to you?" She asked standing up at their booth. She folded her arms and eyes narrowed at him.

Neji thought that over, and while his answer was a certain no, there was certainly something childish about the pig-tails she always wore and the orange in every outfit. But, well, a No was a No, even though part of him wanted to get her back for all that teasing and say Yes.

"You don't want me to answer that." He said, slightly smug as his lip curled upwards in a faint smile.

Naruto grumbled, scrunching her nose, "Oh just eat the damn cupcake, dattebayo!" She said, a vein pulsing in her forehead as she pointed at the chocolate treat.

"No." He said, and that was the straw that broke the camel's back. Naruto's face ignited with fury and determination, her yanking the cupcake up.

She pulled her arm back, and with a great amount of intuition, Lee looked down at the camera, sensing a photo-worthy moment ahead.

He took the camera in his hands, examining it momentarily before positioning his finger over the button.

"Just! Eat it!" Commanded the blonde, holding the cupcake with the full intent of shoving it in his mouth.

She swung forward, and Neji tried to dodge, but it was far too late.

The chocolate cupcake smashed against his face.

There was silence.

Until a loud click, followed by a shutter sound effect and a flash, interrupted.

Then all hell broke loose.

Guy broke into raucous laughter, hooting and hollering at the sight of his poor student's face covered in icing and cake. Tenten joined him with her own laughter, covering her mouth with her hands. Guy even started banging his fist on the table, growing a bit red in the face.

Lee himself felt incredibly victorious, staring at the photograph with unmitigated glee, up until Naruto and Neji both turned their attention to him.

He shrunk into his seat, his eyes the size of planets as the two angered teens looked down at him.

---

As Naruto was walking home that very evening, she happened to sense a very familiar presence lurking behind her. Opening her eyes, Naruto snorted. She tilted her head back, bending as far back as she could to stare at the very tree she hid in.

Just then, Anko realized she'd lost, deciding to drop from the towering tree.

"Hey there, Peach!" Anko greeted cheerfully, waving both hands. Immediately, Naruto wondered what the hell had gotten her so chipper. Discount on dango? Did a sexy someone compliment her? Or maybe she'd gotten the promotion?

Her final suspicion was confirmed when Anko said, "Guess who's a full-fledged jounin now!" Before Naruto could ask, Anko continued. "Me! Anko Mitarashi, the one and only! Your sensei! Epic and powerful as ever!" She said, flexing her arms in a way that reminded Naruto of Might Guy himself.

"Hell yeah! I knew you could do it!" Her arms flying into the air with joy.

"You were right! But you won't believe who my administrator was." Anko said, reeling in the blonde girl's curiosity.

"Who? Was it Inoichi? Or Ibiki? Couldn't have been Guy." She tapped her chin in thought, and Anko made a derisive noise at the obvious guesses.

"Nope. Kakashi Hatake, the one who you had a child with. Yanno, the very one who pays child support every month." The purplette replied coolly, causing the blonde to make a noise which sounded like the combination of a growl and squeal. Her face practically glowed red, grabbing at her hair in fury.

Though it went entirely unnoticed by them, a civilian woman, who'd been eavesdropping, fainted.

"Shut up! Gah! Now I don't even want you to tell me about the test, I'm leaving!" Screamed the frustrated blonde, stomping away before Anko could go into a detailed and laborious explanation of every little aspect about her test.

"Naruto-chaaan! Wait, I didn't get to gloat yet!" Called the woman, outstretching her arm to the rapidly distancing blonde.

(A few days later, Kakashi Hatake would panic about rumors of him impregnating some young blonde.)

---

Missions Office, Hokage Tower…

---

In the mission's office, Naruto fought back a groan at the utter familiarity of it all. Four chuunin, shuffling through papers, accepting mission reports, asking for mission reports, assigning missions.. It was all so boring, she couldn't help but notice. Anko, for all of her impatience, looked as unbothered as ever.

This was by far the most dreadful part of her schedule; D-Ranks were easily her least favorite task of all time.

From having to play delivery girl, to capturing that stupid feline Tora, it was something Naruto truly despised. Or even worse, those hellish missions where she had to clean public restrooms, or onsens, or that one mission where she'd had to clean the sewers with Team 9 all those weeks ago- A shiver ran up her spine.

Yes, Naruto was absolutely certain, D-Rank missions were the most miserable, dreadful wretched missions one could take.

Of course, she wasn't the only genin who felt this way. Behind her in line, she heard a familiar voice, griping loudly.

"C'mon Kurenai-sensei! Me and Akamaru just can't handle these stupid D-Ranks anymore!"

"K-Kiba!" Another familiar voice squeaked, catching Naruto's attention. She turned to look behind her, spotting three familiar faces.

The griping voice belonged to Kiba Inuzuka, one of her semi-friends from the academy.

To his left, Hinata Hyuuga stood, twiddling with her fingers, a nervous tic she'd always exhibited, as far as Naruto could remember.

Naruto of course recognized the mousey girl, having saved her from bullies a few times back in the academy. Though she didn't know Hinata well, they were always amicable, and Naruto thought she was quite sweet.

To the right of Kiba, Shino Aburame stood as impassively as ever. And behind the trio, a gorgeous woman with choppy black hair and breath-taking burgundy eyes stood. Putting the pieces together quickly, that woman must've been the "Kurenai-Sensei,'' that Kiba had referred to in his whining.

Throwing up one of her infamous, all-star grins, Naruto approached them without any hesitance. It had been ages since she'd actually seen them, so she'd take her chance to make conversation, especially when there was nothing better to do than wait in line.

"Oi! Kiba, Shino, Hinata!" She said, practically running at them. Hinata raised her head quickly to identify the familiar voice calling for her, a smile falling on her delicate features upon seeing Naruto. Both boys also looked up, though a bit slower than the Hyuuga heiress had.

"Woah, Naruto! Look at you!" Kiba said gleefully, taking notice of her outfit. The two shared exuberant smiles, exchanging a fist bump as greeting. Kiba considered himself too cool for handshakes, and hugs were too sappy for him. Hence, the fist bump. It was a simple gesture, one that Naruto hadn't forgotten.

"Sup, Dog-boy! Been a while, eh?" She asked, not yet greeting the other two.

"Damn right it has!" He quipped. She opened her arms towards Hinata, clearly offering a hug, which the girl happily took. Maybe even a bit too happily, but Naruto didn't judge!

The blue-haired girl had always looked up to Naruto Uzumaki, so such a show of affection was readily expected by those who knew her. (Even if Naruto herself hadn't known." "Good to see you, Hinata." The blonde said kindly, giving the shorter heiress a head-pat.

As for the third member of Team 8, he hadn't even expected a greeting from the exuberant blonde.

He'd grown quite used to being ignored, and it would've been illogical to expect some warm greeting from a stranger. Imagine Shino's surprise, when the genin outstretched her hand to him, a much more sheepish gesture of greeting.

Naruto had specifically toned herself down for Shino, having remembered how much of a loner he was back in the academy days. That didn't mean she'd just ignore him, though. That simply wasn't her style.

She smiled as she saw his eyebrows raise above his glasses, which were circular, much unlike her own.

Her own glasses didn't even hide her eyes fully, unless she constantly pushed them up. (Which, she rarely did. The slim rectangular glasses always sat lower on her nose, unless her eyes were closed.)

"Hey, I remember you. You're Shino. Aburame Shino, right?" She said, her hand still outstretched. Snapping out of his surprise, he hesitantly took her hand into his own. Giving a light squeeze and slight shake, the girl disconnected.

All Shino could think was how odd this person in front of him was. Most did not engage in physical contact with Aburame clansmen.

An illogical, yet common reaction to the hives within them.

"Yes, that is me. You are Naruto Uzumaki, correct?" He asked, readjusting his glasses. He already knew the answer to that, of course… But he was trying to become better at socializing…

She smiled yet again, blindingly bright. "Cool, you remembered! I know we didn't talk, but that's still a nice surprise." Her eyes lingered away from him, clearly showing her mind was wandering elsewhere.

"It would be hard to forget an outlier like yourself." The boy replied, as stoic and mysterious as she had remembered.

Her hand rested on the nape of her neck, tilting her head ever so slightly. Was that a compliment? Or an insult? Maybe both? Or what if-

Thankfully, Naruto didn't have time to reply, as the Jounin-sensei of Team 8 interrupted. "Are you a friend of my students, Uzumaki-san?" The dark haired beauty asked politely, catching the attention of the entire group. Kurenai was vaguely approving of this girl already, just by how she tweaked every greeting for the maximum comfort of each individual.

"Of course she is, Naruto and I were rivals back at the academy!" Kiba supplied, nearly making Naruto choke. She'd nearly forgotten about their silly rivalry, which was mostly just them exchanging insults and beating each other up. And then being cool with each other again three minutes later, of course.

That was when they'd band together to talk about arrogant guys like Sasuke, or bullies like Ami. No, they certainly weren't gossiping! They were too cool for gossip, gossiping was for prissy types. They weren't prissy, they were rough-and-tumble badasses.

Naruto was even more surprised when Hinata agreed with Kiba, replying to her sensei.

"Y-yes! Naruto-chan was always very kind to me in the academy. She stopped bullies for my sake several times.." The Hyuuga heiress said, almost pridefully.

Naruto's jaw nearly fell. She'd never thought her rivalry with Kiba or protection of Hinata had meant so much to them. It was a shock for them to jump and defend- No, claim her as a friend- like this. Especially considering how wary most people were of the blonde, even now.

"I see." The woman said, her expressionless face turning into something much warmer- much kinder. "Y-yeah, I'd like to think your team and I are friends." Naruto said, softly. It was odd, how subdued she suddenly felt. Thankfully, it wouldn't last long.

"Well, I am Kurenai Yuuhi, their jounin-sensei. It's a pleasure to meet you, Naruto-san." The crimson-eyed woman said, her eyes wrinkling with a polite smile.

"So, Naruto, what the hell happened to the jumpsuit? And why the glasses? And the trench coat?" Kiba asked, making an exaggerated thinking pose as he looked her up and down with scrutinizing eyes.

"Eh, shit happens, people change. The trench is pretty important though, you know." Naruto flipped one of her golden-blonde pigtails over her shoulder.

Kurenai, who knew the significance of Shinobi who wore coats like that, merely smiled.

A friend of hers worked in T&I, so she knew that the coats were that department's 'thing.' Almost like how the Chakra-sensing unit seemed to wear boots, instead of sandals, or how the Archive's Department always wore their hair up.

"Whaddya mean?" Kiba asked impatiently, while Hinata and Shino both seemed quite interested.

"Oh you know. I'm just an official shinobi of the Torture and Interrogation Unit. The coat signifies that, obviously." She said, attempting to sound nonchalant. It was quite obvious, though, that she was rather proud of this.

Kurenai wasn't sure how to feel about a child in T&I, but considering that children were easily killing, surely the girl was no worse off. And T&I members undergo psych evals quite often, so surely she was fine.. Right?

As for the other three, they also didn't know how to feel. Hinata felt a surge of squeamishness at the mere thought of torturing others, while Kiba seemed both impressed and disgusted.

Shino, well, he was Shino... "Of course a freak like you would work in a place like that!" Kiba taunted, obviously joking. She punched him in his arm, not even noticing the purplette walking up behind her. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding! Damn, that hurt, I was just about to congratulate you!" He said, wincing as he rubbed his arm.

Naruto stuck her nose up, a self-satisfied smirk on her face.

She really must be getting stronger, because Kiba never bitched like that when she hit him back in the academy.

Kurenai's prior thoughts of Naruto being fine in T&I quickly disintegrated, seeing the girl's sensei behind her.

Anko Mitarashi may be a good friend of hers, but there was no way in hell that woman could be a good teacher. Said woman proceeded to grab Naruto by her face, squishing the girl's cheeks together. The blonde, whose face was squished into a fish-like expression, attempted to glare up at the purplette.

"Oi, brat. You think you can just walk off like that?" the purplette asked, still smooshing the blonde's face.

"Shut it, Anko-nee." The blonde retorted, causing the jounin to roll her eyes in irritation. "I oughta make you do five D-Ranks today, teach you disrespectful kids a lesson." Anko replied, genuinely trying to sound stern and angry.

Needless to say, she was failing miserably, because she was fighting off a smile as she said it. Naruto huffed, "I'd rather do a hundred years worth of your evasion training than take another D-Rank!" She replied petulantly.

"Ugh, same with us. Kurenai-sensei won't let us take anything but D-ranks either." Kiba said, trying to ignore the newest addition to their conversation. Pushing Anko's hand away, the blonde nodded vehemently.

"I wish I could take a real mission, outside the village or something." Without realizing, Team 8 and their company were next in line.

Kurenai lightly pushed Kiba ahead, which Naruto followed beside him as they talked. "Right? D-Ranks are the worst. I wanna take an actual mission!" Naruto declared. She didn't include torturing and interrogating as missions, because that was merely work for her. Grueling, emotionally exhausting work, but work nonetheless.

"A real mission, eh?" A familiar, grandfatherly voice asked. Kiba snapped to attention, while Naruto flinched. She wasn't happy to see the Hokage, not at all. She'd tried to avoid him ever since the truth of her parentage came out, and that was months ago.

Of course she'd felt his presence when she'd entered, but his chiming in was so abrupt, the flinch was something she couldn't hide in time. Despite her training, which spanned from taijutsu, to fuinjutsu, to poisons, Naruto wasn't well-trained in masking her emotions. Especially not on the fly, and especially not when it came to people she had some bad feelings for.

She simply didn't feel like speaking to someone who could lie to her the way he did.

"Yes!" Kiba agreed passionately, getting an amused smile from the old man. Naruto simply stared at him impassively, her face suddenly going blank. That was a new trick of hers, though it was rather hard for her to maintain.

"Well, I believe it can be arranged to send Naruto and Team 8 on a C-Rank mission, as long as Yuuhi-san here does not disagree?" The Hokage turned all attention to Kurenai with that question, whom had three sets of puppy eyes trained on her. One set of which literally belonged to a puppy.

She sighed in defeat, "I believe Team 8 is ready." She said, not bothering to argue.

Anko, who'd been standing to the side, smiled. "Naruto is overqualified at this point. Though, I gotta ask, will Naruto be accompanying Team 8 on her own?" Anko asked, slyly avoiding what she really wanted to ask.

"Yes, I see no need to send two jounin on a simple C-rank. You will be staying behind in Konoha." The elderly man replied amicably, and Naruto's lips screwed to the side. She was uneasy about the idea of being away from Anko for a while, but it would probably be good for them, right?

When she got back, they'd have missed each other so much, they'd hang out all day, and all night! It'd be great!

Anko, on the other hand, was overjoyed. "That means I get a break from teaching! Konoha bars, here I come!" The woman practically cheered, causing Naruto to deadpan.

The scantily-clad jounin nearly ran off, but stopped suddenly. "Oh, and Naruto, don't forget to pack your weapons just in case. And extra snacks, we both know you'll be pissed if you don't. Come find me when you get back, kiddo." She said, giving her student a head pat before sprinting off.

Naruto, who was kind of stunned by how that went down, blinked owlishly.

Did Anko ditch her that easily?

"Wait, so, does that mean I'm taking a C-Rank with you guys?" The blonde asked, suddenly looking excited. Whatever, she saw Anko everyday. She could go without seeing her favorite jounin for a LITTLE while.

"U-Um, I suppose so.." The Hyuuga heiress replied, poking her index fingers together. "Hell yeah!" Proclaimed the blonde, swinging an arm around the bluette. Kiba only snickered in response, while Hinata squeaked in surprise. The Hokage, along with Iruka, had watched the entire scene with curious eyes.

Giving the Hyuuga girl a glance of sympathy, Iruka begrudgingly began to sort through papers.

"Oi, Iruka-sensei, what're you doing here?" Kiba asked, taking notice of the tan-skinned chuunin.

Naruto snorted, "He's been here since the academy let out." Iruka smiled, "Naruto is right, Kiba. I don't have to go back to teaching at the academy until the fall." The Inuzuka grumbled, shooting her a half-hearted glare.

She tittered, completely unbothered.

It was then that Kiba realized may Naruto have actually changed.

Back in the academy, Naruto would've reacted to such a thing. She'd have put him in a headlock until he begged for mercy, or something.

"Here, this is a guard mission which the five of you should be able to handle. Iruka, bring in Tazuna." The elderly man directed, to which Iruka complied. Guiding in the short man, Tazuna, Iruka sat back down. Both Kiba and Naruto grimaced at the odor of alcohol emanating from the short man.

Giving a single hiccup, the man began a pathetic attempt at a drunken rant. "Oh this is just lovely, these half-pints are supposed to protect me? Some mutt and his dog, a weirdo, a wallflower, and.. whatever the hell she's supposed to be. Some sorta gothic prostitute?" The man pointed his index at each of them as he trailed off, his finger ending on Naruto.

Adjusting her glasses, a gesture reminiscent of Shino, she took a step forward. Kiba was internally cheering her on, while Kurenai didn't get the chance to interrupt. Or maybe she did have the chance, and preferred just to let things escalate.

With her hands on her hips confidently, the girl leaned forward, staring the elderly man straight in the eye.

"You've got a lot of nerve, geezer. I know quite a few poisons which can go entirely unnoticed when slipped into sake, and I've been dying to try em out, 'ttebane..." The old man gulped, backing up nervously.

Naruto was only partially bluffing.

(Seriously, the nerve of that bastard! She was wearing shorts, damn you, not a bikini! Even if she was, none of this old traditionalist bastard's business! And goth? SHE'S LITERALLY WEARING ORANGE-)

Iruka, who was entirely stunned by her attitude, gathered himself enough to reprimand the blonde.

"Naruto! You can't threaten clients!" He shouted, catching the girl's attention. Instead of the blonde giving him a startled or apologetic look, her gaze was entirely cold. Even when she gave him a grin.

"Ha, it wasn't a threat! I was just giving him a little FYI." The blonde said with jazz hands near the end, taking a step back from the drunkard.

As far as Naruto was concerned, that old bastard deserved it. She hoped they'd encounter some real goth prostitutes while guarding him, maybe he'd burst a blood vessel. Or a stroke, maybe? Then again, that might be bad… It'd be mission failure, and wait a minute, did she just wish a stroke on a random old man? Sheesh, maybe she needed another psych evaluation...

"Team 8, Naruto... This is Tazuna, a bridge builder belonging to Wave Country. He needs to be brought to Wave and guarded from thieves and thugs until he is finished with the bridge. You will be placed in charge of guarding him." The Hokage directed, getting a silent sigh from Kurenai.

Naruto was listening, despite that she was eyeing her outfit. Maybe she shouldn't have tied her trench around her waist? It looked badass that way, and totally showed off her killer biceps….

You know what, maybe she'd show up tomorrow in one of those things Anko wears, the fishnet bodysuits… That'd show the old man!

Fuck him, her outfit looked cool, she'd keep it like this! If this was what a goth prostitute looked like, they were cool too! Damn geezer!

Her internal fuming didn't end for the rest of the day, which anyone could've guessed by her sour expression.

"Okay, team, Tazuna. We will meet outside the eastern-most gate at noon, bring everything you'd need for a long journey which could take weeks." She said, her voice like silk. It was almost enchanting, but it still snapped Naruto out of her thoughts temporarily.

Getting affirmative nods, the group separated at the door, each of them heading him to prep for their mission.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Hinata, Kiba, Shino! You too Yuuhi-san!" She said, waving frantically as she practically ran away.

"Later, Naruto!" Kiba said, Akamaru yipping from atop his head.

"S-see you tomorrow, everyone." Hinata said sweetly, leaving the group to chase after Kurenai.

Shino merely nodded, and left, going towards the Auburame district to pack.

---

AUTHOR'S NOTE: KINDA IMPORTANT!

---

Well, here is the first part of Chapter Eight.

First, I'll say that I tried to humanize everyone in this chapter very much. There are no tough battle scenes or constant training, it's almsot slice-of-lifey. This is intentional. This will be the last chapter of it's kind, for a long, long time. Shit goes down, and just keeps going down after this. This story will get dark in the future, possibly even gorey at points. That being said, there will still be aspects of this in the future. Also, the scene with Ino was entirely improvised on a whim, do you like it?

Second, I want to say that I'd really love some feedback on this chapter. I hate it more than any of the others honestly, and Ican't explain why, it just makes me cringe. I've edited it several times now, but I doubt it's helped much. I've worked hard though, so there's that.

Third, This took FOREVER. More than an entire month. Horrendous wait time honestly, especially since it's been nearly done for eons. Mostly because I broke my phone and lost dozens of drafts as a result. Entire chapters, fight scenes, sappy scenes, planning, etc, it's all gone. My heart is so so so broken, honestly, and it's killed my motivation a little. That being said, this story is not dropped. We've actually reached 100k words now I think, which is insane!I've put so much time into this story, it's like my baby.

Finally, I'd like to thank you all for your kind (and the single mean one) reviews. Originally, I was going to address them in this chapter, but my computer is about to die! Next chapter, I promise, I will reply to every long-form review in-depth.

So then, that's all! Much love to you all, kisses and high-fives! Thank you for reading!