To say Iniochi was surprised to find Naruto pacing in front of the doorway to his home was an understatement. He was so shocked that he legitimately wondered if he had come to the wrong house.
"Naruto? What's up?"
Startled, the younger blonde stops and turns, his face reddening slightly. Iniochi frowned at the never-before-seen expression on his face, and his frown deepened even more as the boy stuttered.
"Iniochi-san, c-could we talk?"
The former head of TI found Naruto's demeanour confusing but invited him inside his home regardless. The curiosity of it all got to him. He wondered what worried the young teenager and what made him come to him for help.
Later, when Rina returned home for dinner, she found her two wards in the living room, speaking quietly.
"What's the matter?"
"Naru's being dramatic, Onee-sama."
Rina removes her shawl to hang on the coat rack, raising an eyebrow at Karin's jerked thumb toward her cousin. "Care to elaborate?"
Naruto sighs deeply, "Ino told me she likes me."
"About damn time."
Karin and Naruto turn to look at their guardian, surprised.
"Jiraiya mentioned he noticed seeing Ino, who, in his words, is completely smitten with Naruto these days. With you wearing less orange than last time, you are easier on the eyes."
Karin snorted, unable to help herself, while Naruto pouted. "She didn't mention liking me for my looks."
Rina smiles as she sits beside him, "I know, sweetheart, I'm only joking."
Karin looks up with a smirk, "What else did Uncle Jiraiya say?"
"He mentioned Ino practically brightens when you open the door for her or help her carry the pots at the shop or even when you smile at her."
Naruto flushes in embarrassment and turns even redder when his cousin laughs hysterically over his shyness. He turns his head and buries his face in his guardian's shoulder, who only grins at his cuteness. He mumbles something, but his family can't hear, so he reluctantly lifts his head and repeats.
"I used to do all those things for Sakura, but she didn't like me like that."
"Sakura is an idiot, Naru. I thought you knew that by now."
"She's not an idiot, Rin. She's just a one-track mind."
"That's putting it mildly."
Rina puts her hand on Naruto's head, silencing her wards, "Look, you two, whatever it is - Ino likes Naruto, and that's great, right? You seem happy, too, Naru. What's the problem?"
If Rina hadn't found a stammering Naruto so adorable, she would have giggled at his cuteness. Naruto blurted out that he did like Ino and found her pretty. She was rather opinionated, but she was still kind and sincere. At first, Naruto mentioned all the times he thought how her bluntness was refreshing because it was similar to him in a way and how gentle she got around flowers even though she acted tough around other ninjas, but soon Naruto got around to explaining the root of his fears, her finding out about the Kyuubi and what that would do to their friendship. Then, Rina understood why Naruto looked so troubled; he didn't want Ino to be scared of him, especially when he liked her too.
Well, this was going to get complicated.
Karin had to admit it was a little extreme to invite Uncle Jiraiya and the Hokage to their home to talk about Naruto's new social life development. But Karin became more understanding after explaining that revealing an S-class secret about his demon vessel status was no small matter. Rina took Konoha's laws seriously but wanted to address Naruto's concerns.
Tsunade marvelled at the Western-style home she had stepped into with Jiraiya. When Jiraiya arrived to pick her up from Hokage Tower to accompany her to the Mashiro Estate, she was surprised to see Jiraiya out of his usual ninja garb and face paint. Instead, he wore a deep red yukata with a black obi. Feeling underdressed, she got Shizune to help her put on a set of clothes gifted to her a long while ago. She never found an occasion to wear them, but now she did. Jiraiya grinned at seeing Tsunade in a knee-length, dark green kimono wrap dress with a white obi. The colour stood out against her skin, making her look more breathtaking and youthful than usual. But when he complimented her, he got the as-expected bone-crushing punch to the arm.
Rina led the two Saanin to the dining room, only for Tsunade to be awestruck watching Naruto serve homemade food and set the table himself. The large spread of traditional adegashi tofu, beef stir-fried soba, miso soup, shrimp tempura, and daigaku imo for dessert made her mouth water. She eagerly sat at the table as Karin poured the drinks for everyone. Jiraya just grinned at seeing his godchild smiling genuinely.
Eventually, during the dinner, when Tsunade was not blatantly shoving mouthfuls of food in her mouth to swallow, Naruto explained what had happened with Ino. Of course, Tsunade and Jiraiya teased him about his new love interest in good-natured fun. Still, when he explained that he went to Iniochi to ask his permission to date his daughter and tell her the truth about his 'tenant', the worried looks were obvious. Naruto shared that Iniochi was kind, attentive, and even receptive to Naruto dating Ino, but he felt that it would be too soon to share 'that' secret with her. However, if Naruto thought he would instead tell her earlier rather than later, then it would be up to Naruto.
Tsunade waited until he finished to gulp down her food. She cleaned her mouth with a napkin and looked the younger blonde in the eye, "Naru, we told you that secret about your parents and the fox should not be told to anyone easily-"
"-right! But I'm not going to tell her about my parents. I agree with Pervy Sage that I should not tell anyone about my parents till I'm 18. I mean, my father did serious damage to Iwa in the last war. We should keep that under wraps, but me being the Kyuubi's vessel-"
Tsunade cuts him off, "-the details of which are still unknown to your age group and below. Naruto, I know you had it rough as a kid, so I don't want you to be too honest about this, especially with your first girlfriend."
Naruto closed his mouth. He didn't like that when Rina adopted Naruto, Tsunade learned about what he had been through. Jiraiya knew a little about it, but he didn't know the exact details until Tsunade told him, which got him into a heart-to-heart talk with Jiraiya about no more secrets between him and his mentor.
The Godaime sighs deeply at the teen's troubled expression, "Naru, I am only looking out for your well-being."
The smaller blonde lowers his face, and Tsunade shakes her head; she knows the blonde only wants to be sincere with Ino, but still, the Kyuubi secret isn't a tiny thing. It forced Naruto to be alone for the majority of his years as an adolescent and bullied by the older people of his village. It was awful and tear-jerking when she got around to reading the more brutal reports of his abuse after hearing Rina's story of how they met.
Karin clears her throat, getting the family's attention. "Maybe we can try telling Naruto's vessel status to the other members of Team 7 and see how they react? Then, based on their reaction, we can gauge if we could revisit the idea of Naruto telling Ino about the Kyuubi."
Jiraiya looked thoughtful, but Tsunade and Rina unitedly disagreed before the man could say anything. Tsunade admitted that Sakura was bright but too immature to handle that information. Rina disagreed because she felt the team still had a long way to go with each other regarding trust and camaraderie.
"They both bring up fair points, brat; what do you think?"
Jiraiya looks at Naruto carefully. The short blonde groans before admitting he was uncertain what Team 7's reactions would be. Deep down, he felt he liked Ino and didn't want him to hear the truth from anyone else.
"You are a sweet kid, brat."
Naruto flushed as Tsunade leaned forward and ruffled his spiky hair. "Look, as Hokage. I am officially ordering you not to tell the Kyuubi secret to anyone below Chuunin level."
Naruto tries to protest, but Tsunade doesn't hear it, "If Ino likes you as earnestly as Jiraiya has been telling me when she finally hears it from you, she will not react too negatively. If she does care about you, she won't hate you as much as you're worrying. You'll both be fine."
"You promise?"
"I promise I'll kick her out of the village if she reacts badly?"
"BAA-CHAN!"
The table erupts in laughter as Tsunada retaliates by rubbing her knuckles on the brat's head, causing the younger blonde to whine in pain.
Sasuke woke up the next day to hear Rina giggling. Typically, he would get into his usual routine first as Rina being around was normal to him by now, but sometimes he felt this warmth when he locked eyes with her, which made him eager to see her almost constantly. Sasuke gets up, puts on one of his shirts, and heads out the door to find Rina sitting on Kakashi's lap with his face in her neck. Sasuke rushes over when he thinks he sees the bare skin of Kakashi's face, determined to finally catch a glimpse, only to find he had pulled up his mask.
Sasuke curses aloud, startling Rina, while her boyfriend laughs at the comical face his ward is making.
"Tell me what this asshole looks like! For fucking sake!"
Rina hid her smirk with her hand; Sasuke's irritated expression was just too damn funny, even more, so that he blatantly asked what Kakashi looked like. "He's just a man, sweetheart."
Sasuke groans loudly, a headache coming on, while Kakashi openly mocks him. Rina sits up from her place on Kakashi's lap and hugs Sasuke, saying, "Don't fret, Sasuke. It's not a big deal."
The words spoken triggered the Uchiha with another memory.
Sasuke was playing frisbee with Rina in his backyard while Itachi and his father argued in the house. Sasuke couldn't hear them since Rina strategically moved their playing area as far away from the house as she could, but Sasuke had good eyesight. As usual, Sasuke's mother, Mikoto, tried calming the two, but Fugaku had enough of Itachi's stoic personality. He exited the house's back door in a huff, ignoring Sasuke when he called out.
Sasuke slumped his shoulders, disheartened, but Rina came over and ruffled his hair to lighten the mood. Itachi comes over not long after and moves his hand on the small of Rina's back before poking his brother on the forehead.
"Is everything all right?"
Sasuke thought he was seeing things when he saw his brother quickly kissing Rina-nee on the corner of her pretty lips and saying something under his breath.
Sasuke points at the two older kids, unable to keep quiet. "You kissed Nee-chan! You kissed her!"
Itachi smirked and ruffled his brother's hair while Rina shyly covered her mouth with her long fingers, a noticeable tint of blush on her cheeks.
"Don't fret, Sasuke, it's not a big deal. It wasn't even on her mouth."
Sasuke snaps out of it when Rina starts shaking him; she looks at him concerned - crouching on the floor but is startled when Sasuke suddenly hugs her.
Kakashi frowns, standing up determined to see if the perverted brat is going to cop a feel of his girlfriend's chest with his face again. Instead, he feels concerned when he notices his ward trembling like a leaf.
"What's the matter, Sasuke?"