章 89: Chapter 89:- Mission - Find a Mysterious Flower
Splash!!!
Splash!!!
Ino repeatedly splashed water on her face. She felt her face was heating up.
"What's wrong with me?" Ino stared at her own reflection in the mirror. She could see that her cheeks were slightly flushed red.
lup-dup!! lup-dup!!!
Her heart was beating very fast.
Ino put her right palm on her heart and listened to her heartbeat. 'There is no mistaking this feeling. I am really in love with Naruto.'
'I want him. I want to be his wife.' Her head was filled with thoughts of him. He was the only one that she could think of right now.
Around a few minutes later, Ino returned looking normal. She had washed her face. A few strands of her wet hair were sticking to her face. She looked breathtakingly beautiful. Naruto could not stop staring at her.
Resting his right elbow on the counter and his right cheek on his right palm, he stared at Ino without blinking. There was a small smile on his face. His eyes were pure. He did not look anywhere but her face. At this moment, Naruto was captivated by her beauty.
After sitting next to Naruto, Ino looked at him.
"Is something wrong?" She asked, noticing that he had been staring at her.
Naruto shook his head and said. "It's nothing. I was just admiring your beauty." Naruto honestly replied.
"What....!!!" Ino blushed hearing his words.
"Your order has arrived." Teuchi placed two bowls of Ramen on the counter.
"Ino-chan, I ordered for you as well. I hope you won't mind."
"It's alright, Naruto-kun." Ino did not mind at all.
Naruto picked up his chopsticks.
Itadakimasu!!!
He then began eating.
'Naruto always looks so happy whenever he is eating ramen. I should begin as well.' Ino did not want to fall behind.
But as she picked up her chopsticks and looked at her bowl, she realized a problem.
'The bowl of Ramen contains 500 to 700 calories. I indulged in sugary treats today, and if I were to tally up the calories from the Ramen and the sugary foods, it would total over 2000 excess calories. I doubt I'll be able to burn off all those extra calories today.' Ino and Sakura counted their daily calorie consumption very seriously. Both girls wanted to maintain their appearance to impress Naruto.
Sakura might have stopped counting her calories but Ino was still the same. She really cared about her figure.
Even their walk to the forest after this meal wouldn't be enough to burn all the excess calories. Not to mention, Ino would need to have dinner. Dinner was the only meal that she wasn't allowed to skip in her house.
Ino hesitantly started eating for Naruto's sake. But Compared to Naruto, her eating pace was very slow.
"You know, even the last time that we were alone, we had Ramen," Naruto said as he continued eating.
"Yeah.....!!!" Ino smiled fondly hearing his words. That was the time when Naruto made her fall for him.
After finishing about 1/3rd of the Ramen, Ino stopped eating. Rather, she could not bring herself to eat anymore. She was full. She could not say anything since she did not want to make Naruto and Teuchi think that she did not like Ramen. She liked having Ramen once in a while. But right now, it wasn't possible for her to continue.
Naruto noticed this and asked. "What's the matter, Ino-chan?"
"I am full.....!! Can you please help me finish.....?" While asking this, Ino sounded very embarrassed.
"Of course!!" Naruto did not mind. He always had space to eat Ramen.
Ino was surprised as she saw Naruto take her Ramen bowl and begin eating. Naruto did not care about calories. Even if he did consume a few thousand extra calories, he could just burn them at night with his mother. Besides, Naruto was very active. Counting calories was the last thing that Naruto thought of while growing up.
Within a few minutes, Naruto emptied her Ramen bowl. After paying, both of them left.
While walking towards the Hokage Mountain, Naruto looked at the four faces of the Hokage and thought.
'Very soon, the flames of chaos will spread all over the world. I hope at that time, I will be able to protect this village and my loved ones.' Naruto thought to himself. This is the reason why he has been training so much, even though he is already this strong.
"Ino-chan, I am planning on becoming a Chunin during this Chunin exam." Ino could only listen to what Naruto wanted to tell her.
"After becoming a Chunin, I won't be a part of team 7 anymore. I will be allowed to take missions with other teams." Naruto then looked at Ino with a small smile and continued. "I want to take a few missions with you. I want to spend time with you outside of the village." Naruto silently held her hand while walking.
Suddenly, Ino began to think of this future. She could see herself and Naruto holding hands and walking outside of the village. Just thinking of this future, Ino almost squealed in excitement. Fortunately, she somehow controlled herself. But there was still a massive silly smile on her face as she was lost in her fantasy.
Naruto smiled, noticing this. "But that will only happen if you become strong enough and earn the promotion of Chunin during this upcoming Chunin exam," Naruto said while giving a firm squeeze to her palm.
Naruto hoped that this would be enough to motivate Ino to train even harder. The stronger she and the rest of his classmates were, the better they could protect themselves and this village from the upcoming Invasion.
'This Invasion will be an excellent opportunity to expose Danzo's dark connections with Orochimaru. I will be able to kill multiple birds with one stone.' This is the reason why Naruto didn't put any effort into stopping the invasion. Rather, he was silently making preparations to trap Orochimaru and Danzo.
Ino snapped out of her thoughts as she realized what Naruto was implying. "Don't worry!! From now on, I will train extra harder. I won't disappoint you, Naruto-kun." Ino was already taking her training seriously. But his words have given her more motivation.
"I will guide you to the very best of my abilities," Naruto said with a smile. This was the least he could do for this silly girl who was willing to do so much for him.
While talking, without even realizing it, they came to the forest behind Hokage Mountain.
"Ino-chan, can you describe the appearance of this flower? I can use my shadow clones to decrease our searching time significantly."
"I am sorry, Naruto-kun. But I have never seen this flower either. The only thing I know about this flower is that it has a really strong and sweet honey fragrance."
"This means we will need to check the fragrance of each flower one by one." This was going to take too much time.
"No, we won't need to." Ino giggled, seeing Naruto's worried look.
"Actually, if we are around within several meters of this flower, we will know it since its fragrance is so potent and alluring." Hearing this, Naruto was relieved. Otherwise, given how big this forest was, their search would go on for weeks, if not months, even with his shadow clones.
"You're really passionate about flowers, aren't you?"
"My family owned a flower shop. So as I grew, I took more interest in flowers than any other thing."
Naruto was still holding her hand. Ino did not mind. She loved it.
"Someday, when I will eventually get married, I will retire from being a Shinobi, and I plan to work on my flower shop full time." Ino did not want to waste her entire life being a Shinobi. Life had many other things to offer aside from being a Shinobi.
If she continues to be a Shinobi even after being married, she won't be able to focus on her family. To Ino, her family came first, and whatever time she had, she planned to invest in her flower shop.
"What about you, Naruto-kun? What do you plan to become?" Ino asked with a small smile.
"My dream is very bold. I want to become the next Hokage." Naruto replied with a small smile. Before, he wanted to become the Hokage because he wanted to be respected and recognized by everyone in the village. Since he has come to this world, a ton of things have changed. Naruto was respected, and everyone recognized him. But he still wanted to become the Hokage.
Being the Hokage, Naruto hoped to bring peace to this world. 'After all, I have made a promise to my master.' Naruto may have come to another world, but the people from his original world still hold a place in his heart. He hadn't forgotten them.
"Hehe!! Knowing you, I am sure you will become the Hokage. But I doubt you will become the 5th-Hokage." Ino said while giggling.
"That's true. I am sure Lady Tsunade will become the next Hokage." In fact, Naruto planned to push Tsunade to take the role of the Hokage once she returned to the village. This was going to be a long process, but the first step was achieved when Tsunade agreed to work as his maid.
"No way. The last I heard of Lady Tsunade was when she was traveling the world with her students. Now, I am not even sure where she is. I don't think she would return to the village to become the Hokage." In Ino's opinion, if Tsunade really wanted to become the Hokage, then she would have returned to the village a few years after the 4th Hokage had died. But she didn't. She had 15 years in her hand, but she never once returned to the village.
Hearing this, Naruto shook his head and said nothing. When the time comes, Ino will see Naruto's words becoming a reality.
Eventually, they weren't able to find this mysterious flower. But they did come across many small fields of wildflowers that Naruto helped Ino to gather.
To Ino, this was their second date. She has enjoyed every single second of their time together. Originally, she planned to return to the village within hours if she wasn't able to find the flower. But they were so lost in their own little world that when they returned to the village, it was already dark outside.
"Sorry for taking so much of your time." Ino realized that Naruto must have been tired after returning from his mission, yet she selfishly took him to the forest and wasted so much of his time. She knew that Naruto wasn't a flower enthusiastic, but he kept accompanying her without being impatient.
"What are you saying? There is no need for you to apologize." Naruto gave another firm squeeze to her palm as if to show his seriousness.
"I had a ton of fun. I was able to learn so many new things about flowers that I never knew before." Hearing this, Ino was happy. She slightly blushed. But due to dim lights on the street, Naruto wasn't able to see her blushing face.
"Moreover, you make everything very intriguing to me." Hearing this, Ino shyly lowered her head. She felt really sweet.
Eventually, they were in front of Ino's house. Naruto insisted on accompanying Ino to her house to prevent her from walking in the darkness. It was dangerous for a girl to be outside in the darkness. Besides, he also wanted to spend a little bit more time with her.
"We are here....!!!" Naruto stopped in front of Ino's house.
"Thank you for coming with me."
Naruto was about to respond when a man with long blond hair stepped out of the house.
"Dad.....!!" Seeing her dad, Ino became nervous.
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