章 13: Chapter 13
Day 7
The first thing the next morning saw Ino Yamanaka standing outside the Uzumaki residence. Naruto had checked through the peephole after the wards were triggered. He'd marvelled when his mother explained the concept of it to him. He hoped he would have the opportunity sooner or later to get started on learning the Uzumaki clan fuinjutsu, despite his inability to sit still for long periods of time…as well as learning about other things.
Naruto placed his usual henge on him before he came out to greet her. The old man said to wait until his rank was finalised before his presence can truly be announced–though with what identity, they are yet to further discuss. What would the other nations do if they discovered that the son of the fourth Hokage was still alive? –especially Iwa–even if he's an alternate version of him. He'd have to probably take on a new identity.
"Naru-kun!" Ino said, much to Naruto's discomfort. Whilst he originally picked the name to honour Haku, a person who made an impact on his early career, he still wasn't used to it. Whatever his new identity was, he needed to make sure that he wasn't a Yuki, for he definitely does not have the ability to use ice-jutsu.
"Ah! Ino! Good morning!" Naruto enthusiastically responded. He'd never been so…interactive with his friends before, other than Sakura. He'd either been the black sheep or, after his heroics, been too busy for such occasions. He had been the person holding the world on his shoulders, afterall.
Speaking of Sakura, maybe he should check up on this world's version of her to see how she was doing.
Ino blushed at his casual use of her first name. Initially, she thought he was just extremely bold, then after rewinding their previous conversions, she realised that it really might just be out of habit.
Still…it made her feel…welcomed and closer to him than she actually was, even after only meeting him a few days ago.
"What can I do for ya?" He asked after shutting his door. "Mo–I mean, Miss Kushina wanted to go have yet another meeting with the Hokage today so I'm off looking for breakfast. Want to join me?"
Ino nodded eagerly, almost jumping at the opportunity. "I would love to! It's actually what I'm here for. I tried coming over to invite you for lunch yesterday but you weren't home so I thought I'd have better luck in the morning."
"Ah!" Naruto said, "I was in the training grounds trying to…stretch my limbs a tiny bit."
Ino stared at him, wide eyed, "You didn't tell me you were a ninja!"
Naruto gave an apologetic smile. "The hokage-sama forbade me from sharing any more information than that, I'm afraid. Hopefully, in a few days time, my situation will get sorted and well, I guess I can divulge some of my secrets to you."
Naruto's smile turned playful and mischievous, something that made Ino feel her legs go soft on her. "I–I see."
"Now, do you want to invite Choji and Shikamaru?" Naruto asked.
Ino shook her head, "Shikamaru and Chouji are busy with clan duties."
She was lying on the spot, but Naruto was oblivious to that.
"Oh man…I was hoping to get to know them a little better…"
There was that familiarity again, which confirmed Ino's suspicion that he was just a straightforward person to everyone rather than just her, to her disappointment. She wanted to be considered special…wait…
"Why don't you call me Ino-chan?" She blurted out. Then she blushed. "I–I mean if you want to…"
Naruto looked surprised, but he hesitated. "I…I'm honoured, Ino, but I feel like I'm not familiar with you enough to use that suffix yet…though I can tell that you're an incredibly special person already."
Whilst once again disappointed, Ino lit up when being called special. "R-really?"
Naruto thought of how crucial Ino's innovative long distance mind communication jutsu was during the war.
"Of course!" he responded with confidence.
"I–I see…." Ino responded bashfully, misreading Naruto's intentions. "And as for where we can eat…there's this new cafe that opened up if you'd like to visit it with me…"
"Sure thing!" He said, not even batting an eye. He was somewhat glad he could explore other restaurants without either getting kicked out due to his jinchuriki status, or crowded upon for being a hero.
Ino felt like jumping for joy but had reigned that feeling in. "Alright! Then let's go!"
Ino grabbed Naruto's hand and led him along…
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
"Is…Is this the cafe you were talking about?" Naruto said, "It seems…"
There was something off about it but Naruto couldn't tell what exactly it was.
"Don't think too much of it! Come on, let's go!" Ino hurried him, eager to get her date…her very much non romantically inclined meeting to start.
A waitress greeted them. "Hey there, welcome to MisaMisa Cafe! Are you here as a cou–"
"-yes!" Ino interrupted before she could finish, to Naruto's confusion.
The waitress looked taken aback but as if having the ability to silently communicate through eye contact with Ino, the waitress's surprise became an expression of quiet understanding. "I see! Right this way, please…"
Naruto just watched the interaction silently.
'Girls are so incredibly confusing…'
Naruto sat down with Ino at a table that was next to a window, giving them a view of the district. Naruto smiled, finding it rather cosy and well…frankly this was his first experience in a restaurant other than Ichiraku ramen and the Yakiniku restaurant that team 10 goes to.
"If you don't mind, may I order for us both?" Ino asked.
Naruto didn't really mind at all. "Sure!"
Then calling the waitress and almost whispering to her so that Naruto didn't catch what she was saying, the waitress nodded and gave them both a humorous smile.
Naruto scratched the back of his head, completely lost once again, though he didn't say anything.
After Ino was done, she went back to looking like the cat that caught the canary. "Sorry about that Naru-kun, I wanted breakfast to be a surprise."
Naruto shook his head, amused at his friend's antics. "I don't really mind…but you're certainly putting a lot of effort over this over just breakfast."
Ino blushed at this and pretended to not hear his unasked question.
Naruto chuckled and the sound sent chills down Ino's spine.
'Why am I so into this person?'
She hadn't a clue. Whatever it was, she needed to hear more of that laugh.
"So what've you been up to lately?" She asked, trying to make conversation.
Naruto leaned back on his chair to relax, "Oh you know, just training a little bit for a physical exam coming up."
Ino tilted her head. "For medical purposes?"
Naruto snickered. "No, for competency purposes. I just hope I don't get my ass kicked."
Ino's eyebrows raised. "Who's going to be testing you?"
Naruto gave her an apologetic smile. "That's a bit too much information to divulge, I think…"
"...Oh" Ino sulked a bit.
Changing the topic, Naruto asked: "Why don't we talk about what's going on in your life instead?"
Ino brightened up at this. "Sure! Well, as you know, I've recently finished my second year of the academy, and in a year's time, I'll be considered a genin!"
Naruto still couldn't get over the fact that people in this world only made genin at 18 instead of earlier but it must've been a great milestone for someone like Ino. Despite what he's been through, he still very much considered himself as a youngling trying to learn more about the world. "I see…say, does everyone in your class make it to third year, or are some held back?"
Ino shook her head. "Yes, we have proficiency tests for knowledge, taijutsu and a basic academy ninjutsu each year. This year, we learnt the clone jutsu and only about half passed. The other half gets sent back to do an extra year of schooling."
Naruto nodded. "Mind if I ask who else passed with you?"
Ino hadn't minded at all. In fact, she enjoyed being questioned by him. "Not at all! Lets see…It's Me, Shikamaru, Chouji, as you already know, then there's Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuga Hinata, Hyuuga Hanabi, some others whose name I don't really remember then…then Haruno Sakura and…Uchiha Sasuke."
At the last two names, Ino couldn't help but leak bitterness in her tone as she almost spat at their names.
Naruto raised an eyebrow. "What's with your reaction to the last two?"
He was glad that his class hadn't changed much from his previous world's…though he was absent and was replaced by Hanabi, which made him wonder how the teams would be formed.
"Had an argument with them around a year ago…" Ino muttered.
"You seem disappointed, what happened? If again, you don't mind me prying," Naruto enquired.
Ino sighed. "Well, Sakura and I used to be really good friends since our childhood. Then after reaching middle school, we found out that we liked the same guy and that led us to have this massive fight…We split after that. As for that asshole Sasuke…"
Naruto almost spat out the water that had been drinking. Never before had he heard Sasuke's name said with such contempt…especially from who Naruto thought was one of his fangirls…
"That asshole told me that I was a 'bleached-haired-waste-of-space and said that I should fuck off! Right after I worked up the courage to confess to him!" Ino sneered. "I'm one hundred percent natural and very much not useless, thank you very much."
'Good lord…Sasuke's patience must've run out after all these extra years. He's harsher than I remember him being.'
Naruto gulped. "So then this Sakura and Sasuke…they're dating then?"
Ino took a minute to catch what Naruto was implying. "Oh no, if you thought what he said to me was bad, she had it even worse! I almost feel bad for her, in fact."
Then, catching the sight of someone walking by the window, Ino almost gaped as she tried to duck down and hide herself. "Speak of the devil…"
Too bad for her, Sakura had already caught a glimpse of her former friend. She stared for a second from outside the window, pausing in her step, then she looked towards Naruto.
Then her eyebrows twitched, and made a motion with her mouth that if it wasn't for the window separating them, Naruto would have imagined she said: "Tch…"
…something that Sakura would have never done in his world. 'Ladies need elegance' and all…
She was…as beautiful as Naruto remembered her being. She had bright pink hair, clear teal eyes that were like gems, and unblemished pale skin. The only difference was that she had long hair as she did during her childhood, and wore a hoodie and baggy pants instead of her usual sleeveless dress.
Just as Sakura began to turn away and leave, seeming pissed off, Naruto knocked on the window, catching her attention. He then gestured for her to come in.
"Wh-what are you doing?" Ino said from under the table. "She'll see us!"
Naruto laughed. "She already saw us. I wanted to invite her in to talk to her. The more the merrier right?"
"What?! No!" Ino retorted but it was too late as the cafe bell above the door rang, alerting the waitress to welcome her.
Sakura only said a few words to the waitress and pointed to the two of them before making her way here, much to the waitress' confusion.
She approached our table, which thankfully sat four instead of two and Ino avoided looking into Sakura's eyes the entire time.
"What do you want?" Sakura said, and Naruto was surprised at how…curt she sounded. With the way she was postured, and held her expression unimpressively at him, she almost seemed like a…like a…
…a delinquent…a 'gyaru' type of girl so to speak from cultural stereotypes.
'No, it can't be…' Naruto thought.
"Hi!" Naruto greeted, his heart almost skipping a beat. He still held a flame for his old crush and teammate, no matter how different she seemed. Seeing her alive and well…he was happy to have been able to meet her again. "Well, Ino was just talking about her classmates and your name came up. I just wanted to meet you in person considering it was such a coincidence!"
Naruto tried to play it cool but he couldn't keep the eagerness out of his tone at talking to her again. He gestured to the spare seat beside Ino, who was sitting opposite him. "You want to have a seat?"
"Naru-kun, what are you doing?" Ino whispered frantically, but before she could protest further, Sakura took a seat.
…The seat that was right beside Naruto, not where Naruto gestured to.
Naruto almost jumped out of his skin when his teammate sat next to him. His Sakura had always been conscious of setting boundaries between them, aware of Naruto's feelings for her.
Though Naruto realised that the reason why this world's Sakura sat where she did wasn't because she wanted to sit next to him but…because she didn't want to sit next to Ino.
"So," Sakura said nonchalantly, thinking nothing of the whole thing, addressing him. "Who do I owe the pleasure of speaking to?"
Ino was gritting her teeth like she just witnessed someone stealing her lunch.
"Yuki Naru, from the land of hot springs," Naruto said, though feeling guilty about keeping up with his persona. "Nice to meet you."
Sakura didn't respond but rather rudely continued. "So what made you decide to go on a date with a pig like Ino?"
'Oh Kami, she is a delinquent gyaru type!'
Then what she said registered in Naruto's mind.
"Date?" he said, "Oh no, you misunderstand! I'm just here for a breakfast meet-up with her. It's nothing like that."
Sakura arched her delicate eyebrow. Good kami, was she pretty. Naruto shuddered. She had these delicate exotic features that made her look like an untouchable flower.
…good thing the seal of lust–as his mother so aptly named–was working its magic just fine.
"You're telling me you came to a couple's–"Sakura started.
"Shush!" Ino interpreted. "Stop talking or I'll punch you, forehead!"
Sakura looked taken aback, her eyes bouncing between the two of them. Then, as if realising what was happening, she began cracking up. She clutched her stomach as she tried to stop the giggles from turning into outright laughter. "Y–Y–You're telling me that you tricked him into coming to a couple's cafe, Ino-pig?"
Ino was getting up from her seat, rearing to punch her former friend, before Naruto gestured her down, panicking at the turn of events. "Calm down Ino, you too sakura–chan–I mean, Sakura."
Now Ino wanted to hit Naruto, though only slightly. "What did you just call her?"
Sakura actually froze up in the middle of her laughter at the slip of his tongue.
"Ah–I uh," Naruto said, trying to think of a lie on the spot, "I have a close friend back in hot springs who happened to also go by the name of Sakura. Apologies."
That seemed to calm Ino down, but still perplexed Sakura.
"You're…kind of a weird one," Sakura said to Naruto. Then she turned towards her nemesis. "Figures that the only way for you to get a date is by tricking them into it, Ino-pig."
Ino looked positively venomous and really, really wanted to smack her former friend. Right in the forehead. But before she could exact her vengeance, the waitress came by with their food.
"Here's the extra large, couple's pancake that you ordered, dear customer!" She said, placing the plate down.
And the size of the thing made the three forget about the rising tension for a moment to look down at it in wonder. It was tall and truly large, with its diameter almost the length of Naruto's elbow to the tip of his hand.
Then, snapping back into attention, Ino pointed at Sakura, "You're ruining my and Naru-kun's one on one time together, forehead, so why don't you politely leave?"
"No I don't think I will," Sakura responded, "It's not like this is a date, is it?"
Ino oh so really wanted to punch that stupid smirk off of Sakura's face.
Naruto looked between the two, trying to figure out a way to put out the fire. Then he decided to just jump in. "Alright! Time-out! Time-out!" He said. "Why don't we all just calm down and talk this out before the cafe owner gets us thrown out?"
Ino once again gritted her teeth before reluctantly sitting back down. Sakura looked almost triumphant.
Naruto sighed. "Why are you two so…at each other's throats?"
"She's a bitch, that's why!" They both said at once. Then both were surprised that the other said the exact same thing they did, before they glared at each other.
"You shouldn't be allured into this girl's trap, Yuki-san," Sakura said. "She's a bad one."
Ino snarled. "And you shouldn't listen to this harlot's lies, Naru-kun."
"–And you two should just try to bury the hatchet," Naruto muttered.
They both looked at him as if he'd just said something completely ridiculous.
"Hell no/Absolutely not," Sakura and Ino said respectively. Once again speaking over each other. They proceeded to go back to glaring.
Naruto promptly decided that he was terrible at this…mediating thing. It was like trying to mix oil and water. He could see now why his mother had suggested that 'ladies' training.
"Why don't we eat this giant pancake first before it gets all soggy?" Naruto suggested, choosing to bide his time.
Ino harrumphed but picked up her utensils, cut off a piece of the pancake, and proceeded to try and feed it to Naruto. "Here, Naru-kun! Aahh~"
"E-eh?" Naruto said, taken aback, "I can eat by myself just fine, dattebayo!"
"Mou~ Naru-kun, don't make me wait for so long! My arm is getting sore–"
Sakura jumped in and snatched the piece of pancake from the fork with her mouth before going back to sitting where she was, chewing as if she hadn't done what she just did.
Ino's eyebrows twitched.
Oh, she didn't want to punch Sakura anymore.
She wanted to murder her.
Naruto raised his hand to call the waitress over before the antics escalated any further.
"Would you mind getting us an extra pair of cutleries, please? For Sakura over here…"
***
The three finished their breakfast in silence. The two girls stared daggers into each other whilst Naruto tried his best to be cordial to both.
Thankfully they all managed to finish the absurdly large thing before leaving. They were now walking out of the store, for some reason choosing to stay together. Naruto just wanted them all to head to the training grounds, perhaps to do some training together, Ino wanted to stick with Naruto for the day, and Sakura wanted to spoil Ino's fun.
Then, coming to a realisation, Naruto thought of something that he and his other male friends did when they needed to sort things out between each other.
"You know, the best way to settle disputes, in my experience, is to have a friendly spar!" Naruto offered.
The two girls looked at him like he just said the dumbest thing each of them heard in their lives.
"I don't think that's a good idea," Ino said, "They don't even pair us up in the academy. Everyone knows that I'd kill her given the chance."
"Like you can!" Sakura retorted, anger blazing in her eyes. "You aren't even in my league, pig!"
"Yeah? Wanna bet, bitch?" Ino scowled.
Sakura glared at her, then as if thinking of the most brilliant idea ever, she gave a condescending smirk. "Fine! How about a wager for it, then?"
Ino accepted the challenge. "Fine! If I win, you go back to wherever you came from and never bother me and my Naru-kun again!"
"And if I win, which I will," Sakura responded, "I'll be the one taking Yuki-san here, away from you!"
Ino almost exploded in her anger. This bitch dares to come intrude on my date and take my man away from me!? Oh I am so looking forward to busting her teeth in.
Naruto wanted some friendly competition that could get sorted out during the fight but even to him this seemed to be a bit…much. There was always an understanding that came from clashing kunai's against another.
He just hoped that it worked out in the end…
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