Part 2: Warm Up

"Hey, this ramen is not so bad. It has vegetables, but they don't ruin the broth and noodles." Naruto praised Ino.

"Yeah. It's the herbs and seasoning that does the trick. My parents taught me a good cook knows how to use what nature provides." Ino replied with a smile.

They're eating at the training grounds where Naruto trained with his teammates and their teacher. After exchanging some funny tales, Ino decided to try a move to make Naruto like her more.

"Oh my. It's so hot… I need to be in the water." Ino said with a forced sorrow, going into the nearby river to rinse.

Ino purposely wet her clothes and her hair to try to see if Naruto likes that. Even trying out some moves such as doing The Mermaid Arc, rubbing her arms, and the "Don't look at me" pose to have Naruto like it. By the time Ino turned around to Naruto, he was already training with Shadow Clones. Much to her annoyance, Ino thought about other methods, but this was out in the open where many, many well-hidden eyes may lurk. Ino shuttered at the thought and headed back to Naruto to ask him a question she never thought to ask.

"So… Naruto, how did you ever come up with Centerfold Jutsu? Like you caught the Third Hokage off guard with that when you went and stole that Forbidden Scroll." Ino asked Naruto, this question was sincere and it did never occur to Ino's mind to ask. She assumed because Naruto is a prankster and a boy, he'd just come up with it out of the blue.

Naruto choked on his ramen, not expecting that question from a girl his age. He took the time to think hard about it, and then just answered with this: "Because it's easy to come up and I'm a guy?" That answer gave Ino quite a laugh, she knew this would be the case, she just hoped Naruto would've given a lame excuse such as in case a deity came in to destroy the world or something like that.

"Okay, okay." Ino barely managed to get those words out with her laugher showing no signs of ending soon. "Just because. That's all? Nothing deep or even try to justify it? Just because?"

Naruto was a little flustered about it. He turned his head away and crossed his arms. "What else do I have to show for my abilities? I haven't even made Chunin yet. I managed to win against Kida and Neji just barely, nearly died fighting Gaara, and I don't have so much fancy tricks like your Mind Transfer Jutsu, or Shikamaru's Shadow Possession Jutsu, or even Shino's bug stuff. Sure Sakura is like me, but she's crazy strong. Two times I even get a concussion from her. Remember the last days before our graduation? I can't make a clone for shit!" Naruto ranted a little about his long inability to be an impressive ninja despite having Shadow Clone Jutsu, Nine-Tails sealed inside of him, and a Summoning Jutsu.

Ino was taken back by Naruto, not realizing he had those insecurities for a long time. Then again, what does she know about a boy who was bullied, harassed, verbally abused, and overall treated like a plague to avoid at all costs? She only seen Naruto at the Academy most of the time and rarely out in the village unless he did another prank to get attention. At the same time, Ino sympathized with Naruto. She has good Jutsu, but often she needs help from her teammates, who were headstrong boys with one being a smart yet lazy guy while the other can only think of food and will fight if he was called a fatty. If anything, Ino has it much easier than Naruto, even though Naruto did more impressive things than she did. Naruto literally fought a giant sand monster with help of a giant toad. Ino sighed and apologized to Naruto for her insensitive reply. Naruto was not mad about the reply, he apologized back for lashing out on her since lately it has been invasions and surviving situations that would have killed a mere mortal. Ino did think if she had been in Naruto's situations as of late, then she would have lashed out to someone laughing at her too. Just remembering she was soaking wet, Ino stood up and headed over to the bushes to try and dry off. Naruto kept on eating and watched Ino head into a few bushes until she start to remove some of her clothes to hang them to dry. While Naruto can be a bit of a pervert, he would not invade a woman's privacy if she's getting changed. Speaking of pervert, Naruto thought about training with Jiraiya, but knowing him? He's likely spying on women in the hot springs again.

Ino hummed a tune as she hanged her clothes and remained in her underclothes that covered a good amount of her body. Ino yawned while humming when she sat down and shook her head to dry her hair at least.

(Guess Dad was right, this is good in case I have this situation. Although I didn't bring extra clothes with me. Maybe Naruto is trying to sneak up to look at me? No, why would he? I'm not Sakura. He has eyes for that billboard head. What does he see in her? Then again I like Sasuke, but I don't know much about him. I'm knowing more of Naruto than of Sasuke. Hinata doesn't even bat an eye at Sasuke. I think she was a little disappointed that she didn't get to be on Naruto's team. With Byakugan, Hinata would be a great help for Naruto and Sasuke, although Kakashi Sensei has a Sharingan. Maybe if Hinata is on Naruto's team, then with those missions, they'd be closer, and they would have those moments. Like if Hinata got kidnapped, Naruto would go nuts and go to the deepest ocean or the highest sky to save her.) Ino thought to herself, then gotten pretty tired and fell asleep to the ground despite still wet from jumping into just to give Naruto some eye candy.

Ino groaned and began to wake up. She found herself in her bedroom with the window opened revealing it is becoming sunset. Ino jumped out of bed when she realized she fell asleep back at the training grounds, little did she know her foot itches and there was a creamy substance she can feel on her as she walked a bit.

"Ino, you're finally awake." Ino's father said when he walked in with clean clothes for Ino.

Ino tripped over her itchy foot and fell back to her soft lavender bed thankfully enough. She sat right up and sees her foot and her body have bandages and noticed something is on her that should not be on her, which is Naruto's jacket. Ino processed the fact Naruto's jacket is on her. It's on her. She immediately took it right off and tossed it to her father and hid under her blanket. "It's not what you think! We were training and—!"

"Naruto already explained to me. You got injured by accident and fell into the bushes of poison ivy after you exhausted yourself. You need to be more careful and get a good night sleep. You've stayed awake for too long for many nights since the Chunin Exams. Naruto was very worried he could've hurt you. He brought you over to the Hospital, but they had no room for you. Thankfully I happened to be there and taken you home. He covered you with his jacket since you were also cold and wet. I'm glad you're expanding your horizons with different tactics, weapons, and other things. But, you need to take it easy, Ino." Ino's father said as he put down the fresh clothes on Ino's bed.

Ino was quite shocked to hear that Naruto lied to her father about what happened. While it was true Ino fell asleep, Her and Naruto were not sparring or training. The worst was Ino jumping into a river to get Naruto to look at her and then went into the bushes to dry off, the same bushes with poison ivy.

"You will not go training or anything active activities for a week. I'll let Asuna and your teammates know about that. You need the rest. Speaking of active activities, I'll be out of town for a while. I have to report to intel, so you help out your mother with the flower shop and try not to get in trouble, okay? Right, before I forget," Ino's father grabbed a letter out of his pocket and hand it over to Ino. "This is from Naruto." He left after that.

Ino opened the letter and read Naruto's letter. It is sloppy some of the Hiragana have Katagana, and some of the words were spelled wrong.

[HEY Ino sorry yur were stuck in dos bushs. I notised yur in their four ah while so I toke yu bak to de fillage to gett bitter. Hen I toke yu owt of da bushs I assadentallie yu gett skrages and rageses. I dried to mak shur yur dad dinx yu wernt bein' stupit. Hoop yu ar ok. From Naruto.]

Letter Translation:

[Hey Ino, sorry you're stuck in those bushes. I noticed you're in there for awhile, so I took you back to the village to get better. When I took you out of the bushes, I accidentally got you scratches and rashes. I tried to make sure your dad thinks you weren't being stupid. Hope you are okay. From Naruto.]

Reading this awfully made letter made Ino smile. She giggled a bit when she noticed how the "toke" was written knowing what it could mean. She even said: "Naruto, you just seem to make a person laugh when you are not trying." Ino puts down the letter and stretched before putting on her clothes.

"Ino! Dinner's ready!" Ino's mother called for her.

"Be right there! I'm changing!" Ino called back and finished dressing up back in her usual clothes. Ino felt Naruto's jacket on the floor still and picked it up, she took a moment to look at it and scoffed at how loud and bright it is. "Seriously, it's comfy but looks awful." Ino put down the jacket on a chair and headed for dinner.