AN: Well I'm back again, one day shy of two months since the last time I published a chapter. I'm really happy with how this one came out, and it's my longest one yet at just over 10,000 words! I cant believe I reached five digits! I've been working on this since I finished college about two weeks ago, and let me tell you I am just so excited for you all to read it! So without further ado I present to you all chapter four. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any manga associated with Shonen Jump. I do however own online subscriptions to Shonen Jump Alpha. I'll miss you Shonen Jump Magazine! I'll never forget the fun times we had and the years we spent together!

Chapter 4: Running, Fighting, Yelling, Plotting

"It's Gai!" Naruto cried out causing Ino to turn and look at the now frantic boy.

"What's the big deal? Sure he's eccentric, but I heard Gai-sensei was a nice person. Why are you freaking out?"

Naruto turned to Ino and started waving his arms erratically. "You don't understand! He's too nice! I once asked him if we could train together. I ended up puking to within an inch of my life! On the warm-up! He's tried dragging me to every training session since! We need to go now before he finds me!"

"Naruto don't you think you're overreacting?" Ino said placing her hands on her hips.

Naruto looked at her incredulously. "Overreacting?" He spun around and looked for a Shinobi. Spotting one he yelled towards him. "Hey! You on the roof! Gai-sensei sent me to find you! He wants to train with you!"

The Shinobi immediately shrieked in horror and ran for his life in the opposite direction yelling back at Naruto. "No! Please never again! No! Someone protect me, I can't see that monster again! I don't want to die! MOOOOOOOOOOOOMMY!" Naruto then turned back towards Ino who was slack jawed.

"Now do you think I was overreacting?" Naruto asked and Ino shook her head. "C'mon we need to go before he fi-"

"Aha! There you are!" Gai screamed, shocking the blonds. Naruto and Ino didn't hear the exclamation. They felt it. The blonds made out a dust cloud about ten blocks down (Gai apparently has good eyesight. Though he must be colorblind) before as one they screamed and started running away from it as fast as they could. They rounded every corner the came across, went through every alley they found, and went over every barricade they could in hopes of losing the man.

"Hey." Naruto panted out as he and Ino rounded another corner.

"What?" Ino asked nearly out of breath from running at her top speed for over five minutes.

"Isn't Gai-sensei supposed to be like…really fast?" He asked between breaths.

"What kind of stupid question is that?" Ino yelled, not having any patience left.

"It's just that he's faster than bushy brows right? Neither of us is faster than him, and he would have reached us a long time ago. So how has Gai not caught us?"

Ino blinked and the blonds looked at each other. With a nod they spun around and skid to a stop. No one was chasing them anymore. Ino dropped to her knees in relief and exhaustion.

"Oh thank Kami. I didn't know for how much longer I could have run." She groaned as she rubbed her now sore legs.

Naruto chuckled a bit before sighing and looking towards the sky in relief. "Yeah, I can't believe we actually lost hi-" Naruto cut himself off as a large shadow leaped off a roof and blocked out the sun.

"Naruto!" The shadow—Gai—shouted causing Naruto to nearly shit his new shorts in fear.

Swiftly and in one fluid motion, Naruto leaped towards Ino, grabbed her, rolled them over onto his feet, made sure Ino was secured in his arms (bridal style) and sped off down the street.

This all happened too fast for Ino to process though. "Naruto, what the fu-" She started yelling before hearing the ground cracking behind them. Turning she saw Gai rise onto his feet from his poor landing and takeoff running after them. "Oh shit! Go faster!" She screamed in terror.

Naruto pounded his feet one in front of the other as fast as he could before inspiration struck him. He flipped Ino onto his back and made a hand sign.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" A gigantic cloud of smoke erupted in the crowded street the blonds had fled to, engulfing the masses and hiding the two. Then as the clouds began to fade, dozens upon dozens of Naruto's and Ino's jumped out and started to run around in all types of different directions. The jutsu had the intended effect of Gai stopping dead in confusion.

"Run away!" A Naruto shouted as if a battle cry before all the Ino's hopped onto a Naruto and the duos started to jump off into the streets of Konoha. Gai's stupefied expression went away, replaced by a grin of challenge and a hearty laugh.

"Ha ha ha! Alright! A most youthful chase to find the one who's stolen Tenten's heart. Let us go!"

Suddenly Gai disappeared and three clone teams poofed away. Gai continued to attack the legion of clones with his super speed and miniscule injections of chakra making them explode harmlessly.

Naruto and Ino were long gone by then however. As the blonds were hidden in the cloud of smoke that resulted from the Kage Bunshin, he and Ino had transformed themselves to look like innocent ninja's that were just going on their own way. Once they were at a safe distance (read: the other side of the village) the two slumped down onto the side of a wall on a building in an empty street. There wasn't a soul in sight, meaning wherever they were, Gai was sure to not look for them here.

Out of curiosity Naruto looked up to see just which building they were at and nearly choked. They were right outside Jiraiya's favorite brothel!

"You okay Naruto?" Ino asked obliviously as Naruto began sweating.

"Y-yeah." Naruto said, thinking furiously. How didn't he recognize the streets? He had to move before the old perv happened to come out. Luckily for him though, Jiraiya's favorite brothel (PleasureFull for anyone who's curious) was just two small blocks down from his nee-chan's job. Ino wouldn't like going there but at least they'd be safe from both Gai and Jiraiya. "C'mon, we've got to move, we're sitting ducks out here. I know a place down the street we could hide out in."

Ino whined and slumped how body more against the wall. "I can't do it Naruto. My legs are like jello."

Naruto looked around for any indication of the white haired perv before kneeling in front of Ino. "Fine, I'll carry you then, I just really want to get out of here."

Ino got red in the face and sat back up with a stern look in her eyes. "No way! I'm not letting you hold me like some sort of pervert!"

"Shh! Quiet down!" Naruto hushed out in fear. "Just get on my back and I'll take you to your home okay?"

Ino pouted for a bit before she decided that she'd prefer to be on her soft bed than the hard ground. Besides she didn't want to risk Gai finding her. Ino shuffled closed to Naruto's back and was about to wrap her arms around him when she heard someone laughing.

"Ho ho ho! Naruto you sly dog! I didn't know you had a girlfriend! And a nice young blond one at that. Oh, I'm so proud of you! It's like you've finally started to take my teachings to heart!" Jiraiya shouted from atop the roof.

"Gah! Ero-sennin!" Naruto cried out falling forward onto his knees.

"Girlfriend? You've got this all wrong mister!" Ino yelled indignantly, red all over her body.

"Oh? Then, pray tell, why are you so red young miss?" Jiraiya asked with a perverted giggle.

"I-I'm tired okay? We just spent ten minutes running away from Gai-sensei!"

This seemed to shock the toad sannin. "Ten minutes? Really? That must be some kind of record. Veteran Shinobi can't usually hide from him for more than three or four minutes. How'd you do it?"

"Kage Bunshin." Naruto supplied, finally recomposing himself.

"Well Gaki, now that you're coherent again, care to introduce me to this fine young woman?"

Naruto immediately glared and threw up his arms in an "X" symbol. "Hell no! You don't need to know a thing about her!" Naruto shouted, barely stopping himself from calling the perverted man a pedophile. Ino was only 12 for kami's sake!

Jiraiya didn't even bat an eye at Naruto's protests. "My, my, well aren't you protective? Maybe you do have a thing for her, hmm?"

Ino and Naruto's face's reddened and Jiraiya fell backwards laughing. Ino finally decided that she had enough. "Hey, whiskers, who is this creep?" She whispered.

"Whiskers!" Jiraiya cried out leaving the blonds to wonder just how acute the old ninja's hearing must be. "You've already given him a pet name! Ha!" His laughter dying down, Jiraiya stood to his full height on the building's roof and looked down towards the two blonds. "As for who I am young lady, I am greatness incarnate. Women want to be with me, men want to be me, my works of literature are known throughout and far beyond the elemental countries, I have been known by many names—most still uttered with fear and awe—I am the brave, gallant, sincere, honorable, humble, amazing ('in bed' Jiraiya mentally added), and all around awesome toad sage of Mt. Myoboku, Jiraiya of the Sannin!"

"More like Ero-baka of the Sannin." Naruto grumbled immediately, not phased in the slightest by the corny introduction. Ino giggled at Naruto's joke, a welcome distraction from the eye burning horribleness of the dance that went along with the introduction. "Nice to see that you got rid of the confetti though Ero-sennin." Naruto said louder causing Jiraiya to frown deeper and Ino to outright laugh.

"Alright then enough playing around I guess. Let's get back on topic shall we? Naruto, why was Gai looking for you?" Jiraiya asked, scratching his nose with his pinky.

"I don't know. He just yelled my name and came running after me. You know how he is; I had no choice but to run."

"Well then, if he's only looking for you, why is she hiding out too?" Jiraiya asked pointing towards Ino.

Ino processed this for a minute before her brain came out with an appropriate answer. "You're right. I just got caught up in everything I guess, the smart thing to do would be to just go." Naruto glanced away, that new feeling of abandonment beginning to creep back in. "But I can't just leave Naruto now while he's in trouble. What kind of a friend would that make me?" Naruto's eyes widened and he turned to look at Ino who was grinning at him with a confident look in her eyes.

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow and gave Ino a deeper look than before. Despite himself, he had to admit that he was impressed by the blond girl. 'It's not as though she knows anything about the fox, but Naruto doesn't have the best reputation. Plus if that pink haired girl is anything to go on he's not a real charmer, which makes this situation very…interesting.' The toad sannin was just about to reach for his note pad when a new voice stopped him cold.

"Finally found you Uzumaki!" The three people turned as one to look down the empty street at Neji Hyuga. "And you're with the Yamanaka! I knew you were just using Tenten!"

"Wait, what?" Naruto shouted, confused by Neji's words while Jiraiya was hastily looking for his good pen. Ino looked back and forth between the two boys before standing and putting herself in between them. Seeing as how Neji was a good twenty feet away this was a fairly easy thing to do.

"Hold on, what the hell is going on here? Who's using who?"

"Stay out of this Yamanaka this doesn't concern you! This is between me and this…this…filth!"

'Whoa now, that's a bit harsh. Wonder what Naruto did. And I really hope Tenten is a girl otherwise many of my plans for the Gaki will be flushed down the toilet.'

"Hey you can't talk to him like that!" Ino shouted at the Hyuga boy and started to advance on him until Naruto somehow got in front of her and blocked her path.

"It's alright Ino; you don't have to defend me. Neji is just pissed off about something, no big."

"But Naruto-"

"Listen its fine, let me handle this okay?"

More emotions than Naruto could count ran across Ino face before she shouted in frustration and backed off. "Boys." She muttered as she leaned against a wall.

"Good, now I can beat you without interference." Neji said coldly.

"Wait, you said something about me using Tenten earlier, what did that mean?"

"Oh don't start playing into stereotypes now blondy, you know exactly what I'm talking about. You pulled Tenten along in your little game and now I'm going to right that wrong."

"Listen I have no idea what you're talking about but you obviously want to fight. I'll just beat you like last time."

By some unspoken signal Neji and Naruto charged forward and met almost instantly in the middle of the street, fists flying. Naruto punched at Neji's head, barely missing as the Hyuga dodged to the outside, throwing the blond off balance for a critical moment. Neji capitalized and swooped in behind Naruto; however he failed to realize that Naruto purposely overshot the punch so he could twist his body around and kick Neji in the head with the back of his foot. Neji stumbled backwards and grasped at his head, his eyes refocusing on Naruto just in time to see him and a clone rushing forward. Groggily he performed a double palm thrust and was lucky enough to catch them in it only for them to poof into white smoke. Realization struck and Neji turned around in time to so Naruto launch a giant shuriken at him. Neji easily duck underneath it only for it to poof and transform into Naruto who crashed his fist into the back of Neji's head bringing him down onto the floor no doubt with a serious concussion.

"Ha! See, I told you I'd beat you again!" Naruto announced victoriously.

"Don't get cocky Gaki!" Jiraiya called from above, enjoying the show immensely. Naruto was actually fighting smarter against the Hyuga this time around and was winning. There was one big reason for that however.

"Eh? What do you mean Ero-sennin?" Just as Naruto asked though, Neji began to stir on the floor. Groaning the Hyuga shook his head and turned towards Naruto, his Byakugan now active. "Oh."

Neji pushed himself onto his feet, growling towards the blond idiot. As soon as he was completely on his feet, he was gone in a blur. He raced forward and struck all over Naruto's arms and torso. Naruto felt his tenketsu close and several of his muscles tear at Neji's fingertips. Finally he was able to maneuver himself away from the mad Hyuga only to crumple down onto his knees from the extra weight of his now useless upper body. Having no other choice he let out the smallest bit of fox chakra he could to painfully reopen his tenketsu and get him back in the fight. Neji, having recognized the red glow Naruto was beginning to be surrounded by from their last fight didn't give Naruto the time he needed. He closed the gap in a second and smiled as he began to spin.

"Kaiten!" Neji cried out as his chakra rotated and struck Naruto sending him crashing against a wall. Neji came forward for another shot but Naruto quickly got his bearings back and flipped onto the wall he was pressed up against. He backpedaled up the wall to the building's roof and stared down at Neji who didn't want to risk a vertical encounter. Ino was just staring curiously at Naruto's glowing body while Jiraiya was ready to jump in if Naruto lost control.

Seeing Naruto's attempt to buy time Neji decided to rile up the blond idiot. "Fate smiled upon you one time Uzumaki, and it was a false smile. Did you think you beat me with skill? No. It was luck and trickery. Fate knew that me winning then would not have broken your spirit as much as showing you how pathetic you really are by taking that win back. No matter what, you are a loser and will always be a loser that is why I will win this."

"I'm tired of your bullshit!" Naruto shouted as he pumped himself up with more of the fox's chakra giving him a blazing red aura as opposed to the soft glow of before. He shimmered out of existence too fast for Ino or Neji to see, however Jiraiya's eye's tracked the blonds hectic movements as Naruto leaped and bound all around the Hyuga. Neji was a bit confused at first as small dents in the buildings walls were appearing all around him, his Byakugan unable to track Naruto until the last moment when the blond appeared directly behind him, Neji's hair in one hand and a kunai in the other, and a triumphant look in Naruto's eyes. Neji blanched.

"Kai-" Naruto sliced with one swift motion and more than half of Neji's long hair was sliced off, leaving it barely shoulder length. "-ten!" Neji finished too late and Naruto gladly let the force of the blow send him from Neji's immediate strike zone. Almost disbelievingly Neji felt for his hair before he nearly broke down. His wonderful hair, traditionally worn long, was gone. Cut off by Naruto Uzumaki.

"That. Is. It!" Neji seethed, the excess chakra he was putting into his hands making them glow white. Naruto stopped waving the piece of hair he had in his hand mockingly and took a step back.

Neji began to slow spin forward, switching from one foot to the other almost like a ballerina. Suddenly, when he reached halfway to Naruto his spinning increased dramatically and what appeared to be a twister made of chakra was advancing straight towards Naruto.

Naruto and Ino were slightly shocked by the move, but Jiraiya was incredibly impressed. 'The major flaw that the Kaiten has always had was that it's a defensive move. It has the power for a devastating offensive move but lacks the mobility. Neji truly is a genius to have broken off the set path for the Kaiten and mobilize it like this, however I doubt he realizes that there is a reason the Kaiten is taught as a stationary defensive move only. But kids always think they're the first to try something, so he probably doesn't even know how this will blow up in his face. Literally.'

Naruto glared at Neji's incoming attack before breaking into a small mischievous smile. He cracked his fingers and created a clone, his hand extending.

"You want to spin Neji? That's fine with me. I just hope you don't mind when you see my spin on things." A low whirring sound started up as Naruto and his clone focused their chakra. A small rotating ball of death appeared in Naruto's right hand and he smiled as Neji was almost upon him. "C'mon you ass, come get some! Rasengan!"

Jiraiya groaned as he knew what was going to happen. Just as the Rasengan touched Neji's outmost layer of spinning chakra Neji's attack exploded. With Neji's movement, the chakra construct was unstable and exploded at the slightest connection to opposing force. Without the stability of a solid, orb like shape, the rotation of the Kaiten, while powerful is suited for nothing more than Kamikaze warfare. Luckily for Neji his chakra is not yet potent enough to kill, even if detonated.

When both boys were caught in the explosion, their bodies failed them and they went unconscious. Naruto's body got sent high into the air while Neji's body was blasted backwards where he hit the ground making his body bounce down the street before rolling to a stop. As Naruto's body began to arc back down Ino ran forward, hoping to catch the boy before he hit the ground, but just as he was passing the roof of the building a long tongue lashed out and wrapped itself around his body. Ino was shocked and looked right at Jiraiya who was now standing on the toad that had Naruto.

"Hey! Don't eat him!" Ino shouted as she began running up the building.

"Eat him!" Jiraiya shouted indignantly. "I just saved him! The Gaki passed out, and no offense but I doubt even if you braced yourself with chakra that you wouldn't be crushed when you caught him."

Ino stopped and bit her bottom lip before deciding that the old man was right. She then looked over to where Neji was sprawled out on the street. "What should we do with him?" She asked.

"Well we can't just leave him there. We should probably take them over to the hospital. Here, hop on." Jiraiya patted the back of the toad and Ino grudgingly got on. They hopped down to the street and Jiraiya was retrieving Neji just as Gai rounded the street corner.

"Gah! Neji! And Naruto! How could this have happened? Of course! You must be an imposter, the real Master Jiraiya would never harm his or mine own pupil! And what's this? A young Kunoichi obviously on that toad against her will! Villain, I shall show you the wrath of Konoha!" Gai charged at Jiraiya with a "SUPREME YOUTHFUL VENGEANCE OF OVER POWERING YOUTH!" tattoo magically appearing on his forehead. Jiraiya quickly turned and ran back to the toad, barely able to throw Neji on before Gai grabbed Jiraiya's shoulder, pulling him back. Jiraiya kicked Gai away into the other street and turned back to the toad.

"To the hospital! Take the kids there and listen to whatever miss…("Yamanaka.") Yamanaka tells you~!" Jiraiya cried before Gai tackled him to the ground.

Ino watched the bizarre sight for only a few moments before she snapped back to reality and slapped the toad. "Go frog! You heard him, to the hospital!" And with a leap the three were off.

A tall, breathtaking woman rushed out of her job and ran as fast as she could over towards PleasureFull. She had heard from a coworker that there had been some fights going on there, and someone swore they saw him there. When she got onto the scene, whatever fights that might have happened there were already long over. Still she looked around for any sign of the boy, worried out of her mind.

'Dammit. Dammit, dammit, dammit!' She wailed internally as she spotted some blood on the ground as well as scorch marks from an obvious explosion. 'Why were you fighting here, what could have happened, did you get hurt, where are you now?'

"Hey! Why did you run out so quickly girl? You've barely been working two hours and you can't risk anything right now you know that. Do you want to get fired?" A voice said behind her. Turning around she saw her friend Akari in her work uniform, nearly transparent lingerie. She didn't bat an eye at her friend's lack of concern for being half naked in the open streets, it was still early and these streets didn't start to get busy until night fell.

Sighing she cast one more glance towards the scene of the fight before walking back towards work, Akari right next to her. "It's my Otouto. I heard he was fighting over here and I just had to check. I was worried alright?"

Akari grimaced and shrugged her shoulders. "Listen, I know you worry a lot and never wanted him to be a ninja, but you have to understand that he can take care of himself. Remember when Oto attacked during the Chunin Exams? You couldn't get the day off even though you begged so that you could go support him so you didn't see him fight, but I did. That boy is strong. And I know you'll never stop worrying, but how do you think you'd make him feel if his big sister lost his job because she ran out of work to look for him. You know the boss wants to fire you just because you treat him like a person."

"That damn bastard, if it wasn't so hard to get work I would quit just so I could beat him upside his head." She fumed as they neared their building. "But you are right, despite what I would say he would just blame himself." She slowed down and stopped walking, just staring down at the ground, Akari staring at her. "I just…I barely see him at all anymore. My hours keep me from being the support he needs and he's always going off on missions now. He's started using my first name too whenever he sees me, he's growing up and I'm still stuck in the red light district."

"But you can't blame yourself for that!" Akari exclaimed, gripping her friends shoulder. "Yes, you've missed out on some parts, but he's still growing and you're still there for him more than anyone else! Who's worked away on double shifts for years so that he would have a decent place to live? You! Who has been by his bedside whenever he's been taken to the hospital? You! Who has filled in for every meeting he's ever had with a teacher who was just out to get him? You! Who has taken him away and protected him for every one of his birthdays since he was six? Who the hell changed their own name and even got tattoo's so that you two could feel more like a real brother and sister? You!"

The woman began to cry, rubbing at her eyes and barely controlling her breathing. "Did you know that he's started to call that man his big brother figure?" She asked, barely holding in her sudden contempt she was feeling at the mere thought of that man.

"Did you know that ever since he became a ninja, he's been putting aside the same amount of money you pay for his bills so that he could give it all back to you? I talked to him, not two months ago. He says he wants to help you now that he's making money too. Says that combined, you could stop having to work here. He misses you, a lot, and tries to lessen the pain by adding more nee-chan's. But it isn't the same. He's never stopped loving you, never stopped hoping and wishing, and he's never once blamed you."

The woman began shaking, tears streaming down her face at this revelation. Akari gently moved forward and hugged her friend as the younger woman practically wailed. After a few minutes she patted her back and started leading her back towards work. "C'mon Naru, we have to hurry back. The girls are covering for us but that doesn't mean we should take too long. Then after work you can go and visit him and have a nice long talk about all this. Does that sound good?"

Gently smiling at the thought of being able to visit her little brother, Naru wiped at her eyes one last time revealing their clear blueness. She nodded vigorously, her sun blond hair that was done in two pigtails waving with the motion. The soft smile turned into a toothy grin, reminiscent of her Otouto's foxy one, causing her whiskered cheeks to puff out a bit. Naru Kamon, big sister to Naruto Uzumaki, could not wait for work to end.

"By the way, I heard some interesting rumors about your brother from the other girls. Wanna hear them?"

Sakura was exhausted. Not physically, she had hardly done anything at all that day. No she was exhausted emotionally. After having to explain herself to the new Hokage she waited for her new sensei to wake up, and once she did she was immediately thrust into a wild gauntlet of mental exercises and performance reviews to see if she would pass Shizune's sudden standards for an apprentice. After a while Sakura thought she had gotten a reprieve with their break for dinner, but that was interrupted when Shizune was summoned to check on Naruto as she was his primary doctor. Sakura was forced to go along so she can get an in depth look at the work she would be doing soon. Once there however Sakura was surprised to find Ino waiting in Naruto's room. What followed was the chewing out of the lifetime as Ino just blew up in lectures and scoldings and "How dare you!" 's. Honestly, Tsunade was nothing compared to Ino in this rare instance, and Sakura couldn't really handle it. So she fainted.

After waking up, she and Ino had a much calmer talk and the blond girl apologized for wrongfully accusing the girl of something she actually didn't do. She did however say that Sakura was going to have to talk to Naruto and sort things out amongst themselves, that they needed to work it out for their friendship. Sakura hesitantly agreed and before she knew it she was out and on the streets of Konoha, heading to the Yamanaka flower shop to deliver a message for Ino before heading home. She turned a corner and saw across the street from her, a bun haired girl in a pink shirt come out of a convenience store with some groceries.

'Oh no!' Sakura thought worriedly as she tried to blend in with the other night life on the street (impossible to do unless she was at a magical girl convention. Those chicks have some weird hair colors. Rainbow? And I guess a rave isn't out of the question either) and avoid the girl. 'Please, please, I don't want to be yelled at again today. I can't take much more. Please don't see me. Please don't see me. Please don't see me. Please don't see me!'

Sakura hurried down the way she came deciding to take the long way back home. Once she was off of that street she practically bolted away and ran down other streets until she was sure she wouldn't run into Tenten. Sighing at her cowardice, she remembered that she had to deliver Ino's message. With a groan she turned around and screamed as Tenten's face was centimeters away from her own, an angry glare pointed right at her.

"You! You're that girl that left Naruto and alone out there! You pathetic little bitch! How could you do something like that to him?" Sakura took step back from Tenten who looked like she was gearing up for an attack. Then something in her snapped. She was tired of being yelled at. Tired of being in the wrong. Tired of the thought that she hurt Naruto so much. She was tired of running, being weak, and not standing up for herself.

So it came as a great surprise to Tenten when Sakura gained a glint in her eyes and moved forward to meet her glare. "Well What the hell do you know? Nothing! I didn't want to leave him out there alone! I didn't abandon him for Sasuke! Fuck what Sasuke said or what you think or even what Naruto saw! I wanted to help him, I did, but I couldn't! So I went to find someone who could. And yes, I fucked up too because I didn't follow through on that but dammit I'm getting help on that so something like that never happens again! So shut the fuck up, go away, and let me make things right! Got it?"

Tenten was rendered speechless from the pinkettes proclamation and wasn't even able to get another word out before Sakura moved right on past her, raising a finger into the air behind her. "And by the way bitch, I guess I should let you know. Naruto and your teammate are in the hospital right now. Apparently your friend Neji blew the both of them up. Have a fucking great night!"

Naruto gasped awake and looked around himself wildly. He was able to see another bed and a window along with some chairs. He was able to see the night sky but little else; though from the smell and arrangement of the room he could tell he was back in the hospital. With a sigh, Naruto turned from the window and nearly screamed as he saw a female figure in one of the chairs close to his bed. Eyes wide and a hand clasped over his mouth, Naruto checked over the figure for a moment before visibly relaxing. It was only Ino, knocked out cold on the chair.

Naruto let out breath he didn't even know he was holding before he was struck by a thought. Why had he acted like that at the thought of some girl sleeping close to him? Shaking his head Naruto decided to close his eyes and go back to sleep, thoughts of waking up with his sister waiting by his hospital bed, heading out to Ichiraku's and talking with Ayame again, and maybe when the day was over he'd get to see one of her flowers float down to his window. Then he'd jump on out his window and climb the fire escape up to his rooftop, and he'd say hi, and she'd say hey, then they would both plop onto their backs and look at the stars and talk until they were fighting to stay awake.

Then she would yawn and tell him to close his eyes, and even though he knew what she would do he would close them anyways, an eager smile on his lips. The she'd shuffle around and tell him to look and he'd smile as he saw some left over cake, or some slightly melted ice cream, or any number of sweet treats that she was able to sneak out of her home to share with him.

And they'd spend the rest of their time together in a happy silence before they said their good byes. Then she would sneak down to her third floor bedroom window, and he'd watch to make sure her mom hadn't been waiting up for her drunk as hell. Then when he was sure she was safe in bed he'd climb down back into his own room and sleep whatever was left of the night away.

And with those comforting thoughts he fell asleep to pleasant dreams.

Naruto was swinging alone after class at the ninja academy, goggles covering his eyes to hide the tears the nine year old was shedding. He had nothing going for him at the moment. Sakura hadn't paid any attention to him, Ayame was on a field trip with her civilian school, Naru didn't have a day off until Saturday (something he was grateful for on said day but whined about when it wasn't) and even the Hokage would be swamped with paper work at this time. There was just no one who he could stave off the loneliness with.

Suddenly he heard some wild shuffling and a girl around his age burst out from the bushes directly behind his tree. Naruto blinked at her, confused as to why she looked so scared and out of breath. Then he heard it, that sickly sweet tone of voice that just dripped with hidden intentions. Except this time it wasn't him the voice was calling out for.

"Oh Kusari…come out come out wherever you are. C'mon, we just want to play. How about we play doctor? I have the scalpels." The girl grew even paler than she was and she started to cry as she looked for somewhere to go.

Unable to stand by and do nothing, Naruto hopped off of the swing and grabbed the girls arm, dragging her towards the tree swing. The girl was hyperventilating at this point but Naruto ignored that and began climbing the swings rope one handed, dragging the girl up and onto the tree. They hid in the relative safety of the trees leaves while three mean looking girls came around and looked for the girl sitting next to Naruto. After a while the girls left and the girl began to fidget wildly again, that scared look coming back into her eyes.

"Hey, are you okay?" Naruto asked the girl, a little freaked out. The girl only looked at him with a frightened expression, and it was then that Naruto actually paid attention to how she looked.

She was a petite girl, just barely shorter than him, with a pretty face and big purple eyes. She had pink hair, but not the bright pink that his crush had. It was more like a soft, pale pink than anything else, and unlike his crushes straight hair hers was wavy as it framed her face and went a little past her neck. She was wearing a white school uniform like those other three girls showing that she was a student at Konoha's illustrious (and expensive) private academy. Finally she had on a blue neckerchief that she wore around her neck rather than under her collar, which Naruto was surprised to notice, hid several red splotchy bruises.

"Who did that to you?" Naruto asked softly, careful to not try and sound accusing. If she had suffered like he thought she had then he knew exactly how being hounded for answers would feel.

The girl only gasped and whimpered drawing more into herself in an attempt to hide her bruises. Unfortunately doing this caused her to lose her balance and she slipped off of the tree branch with a scream. Before she even fell completely off the branch Naruto was in motion, throwing himself towards the girl. He reached out and grabbed one of her hands with his left hand and the swing rope with his right, breaking their fall. Grunting he swung his left arm around and let go, making the girl land firmly on the swing. At that moment though the rope snapped from the impact and the girl fell onto her butt as Naruto fell onto his face from about six feet up.

It took the girl a moment to realize that she was safe on the ground before she looked over towards the boy that saved her. Gasping at the sight of him the girl crawled over on her hands and knees to see if he was still alive. As she reached a hand out, Naruto sprung up off the ground and gripped his nose in pain.

"Ow! Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow! It hurts!" He groaned out. The girl who had fallen backwards onto her bottom when Naruto sprung up was now just staring at him in amazement. "Ow~" Naruto moaned before he turned and noticed her. "Oh! Hey you're okay! Awesome, I was worried I wouldn't make it to you in time."

The girl gasped, covering her mouth with her hand. "You…you were worried about me?" She asked.

Naruto tilted his head a bit confused. "Well…yeah. I mean, I didn't want you to fall and get hurt."

The girl gasped again before and started shaking a bit. She lowered her gaze onto her hands which were wringing the bottom of her long uniform skirt. "You didn't…didn't want me to get hurt?"

Naruto was beginning to think that the girl was weird before he remembered seeing those bruises on her neck. He suddenly understood, that like him, this girl must not have been treated very well. Not very well at all. And the way she was shaking, the nervousness of her hands…he had seen it all in himself before. She was scared. She was scared, and alone, and she probably didn't think that anyone even understood what she was going through.

But Naruto knew what she was going through. He knew, and he knew what she needed more than anything else in the world at that moment, the thing that his sister always did when he was scared to make him feel better. So without another word Naruto shuffled over and gave the girl a hug.

She was stiff, unused to this kind of contact and wss first afraid that this was some new kind of way to hurt someone. But then a warmth started to come over her, and she welcomed the hug before crashing her whole body into Naruto's desperate for more contact. She had never felt something so good before, and even though it freaked Naruto out a bit he didn't let go until she pulled away. A huge smile now on her face.

"Heh, glad to see you're finally smiling." Naruto said happily. "And you probably don't wanna talk, but I just wanna let you know that I get hurt too. And that you're not alone, cause now you've got me, and no matter what I'll be there whenever you need a hug or something since that always makes me feel better. Oh! My name's Naruto by the way, Uzumaki Naruto." He finished with a wide smile and waited for the girl to introduce herself.

She seemed hesitant at first, very shy and unsure of herself. But then she stood up and bowed. "H-hi Uzumaki-kun. I'm Hana, Yukari Hana." She rose back up and smiled sweetly at him and so a brilliant friendship was created.

But…wait. The dream was still going. Repressed memories resurfacing about that day and what happened immediately after she introduced herself. Memories that Naruto had long ago consciously forgotten, so as to save his friendship and sanity.

A blush began to cover Hana face as she clasped her hands together and placed them infront of her, waiting patiently for Naruto to stand up too. Once he was up he blinked a bit at the look of happiness on her face and it was then that he first noticed the bags under her big, now sparkling eyes.

"How…how many children would you like to have?" She asked him, lost in bliss. Naruto only stared at her, although a small tingle went down his spine as she took in a deep breath.

"I want to have three children, two girls and one boy. Uzumaki-kun, you can name them because I don't have a good naming sense. Ehehe, who do you think they will look more like? They are our children so they'll definitely be cute right? Then we will live in a white house with a garden and keep a big doggy. At least let me decide on the doggy's name. Uzumaki-kun do you like cats or dogs? I like dogs but if you insist we can keep a cat instead. I love dogs but if it's an animal I'll love it regardless. But after all I love Uzumaki-kun the best. I hope Uzumaki-kun loves me the best too."

"Oh, what kind of food do you like? Why did I ask that Question? Oh, come one Uzumaki-kun, it's 'cause I will be the one cooking your lunch for you starting tomorrow morning, right? Speaking of which starting from tomorrow ('till death) everything you eat will be cooked by me, so I must know your taste. Being picky isn't good but I want you to be happy so I want to cook for you all your favorite foods from the beginning. You don't need to be appreciative because it's obvious for a girl to cook for her boyfriend. But promise me one thing. I've always wanted to try saying "Aaah" while feeding someone, so during tomorrows lunch let me say "Aaah" okay? Please don't be shy and run away okay? If you do so I will feel depressed, seriously. I might end up killing Uzumaki-kun. Just kidding."

"And Uzumaki-kun, please don't get mad. I've fallen for a boy at school. No, of course I'm not going to cheat on you 'cause there is no other boy I could love like Uzumaki-kun. I just want to tell you that before you guys meet each other, so that you know there was nothing between us. Now that I think about it, that guy was a jerk. I haven't talked with him and I really feel glad that I didn't. But I thought I should talk about this from the beginning in order to prevent any misunderstandings, right? Misunderstandings are very sorrowful, right? Two people might love each other but if they have misunderstandings and then quarrel and then part ways then it'd be lust like a books drama, and book dramas are already heartbreaking enough, right? Uzumaki-kun and I can definitely make up afterward, right? Ah, then…"

"Till now have you loved any other girl? There's no other way you could love other girls, right? But there must have been at least one girl you were interested in, right? Don't worry I won't blame you for that. Actually I won't really like it but I will endure it because that was from before we met each other, right? Now that Uzumaki-kun has met me, for you other girls are obviously just akin to rocks, right? I feel sorry for them that I'm taking Uzumaki-kun for myself but there is no choice love is like that. It's destiny that Uzumaki-kun chose me over them. I must become happy in there stead as well. But once in a while, you can go play with them because I'll be sorry if I'm to only one who is happy. You think so too, don't you?"

Naruto stared at Hana for a few moments, extremely weirded out by the girl. His mind was blank, he couldn't fathom the depth of everything he had just been told. Or rather he just didn't know how to react to such a thing. Finally six words left his mouth that basically saved him. "Aren't we too young for that?"

Hana stared at Naruto, her smile and blush still consuming her face. She didn't seem to have reacted physically to the question at all. "Really? Oh. Well since I love Uzumaki-kun so much and I'm sure Uzumaki-kun loves me as much too then I can wait until Uzumaki-kun decides to propose to me. You will propose to me Uzumaki-kun, right? After all Uzumaki-kun was born to love me and take me away from all the pain and knives and shouting and—well Uzumaki-kun doesn't want to hear about that. Besides we can always spend time together and do fun things 'cause Uzumaki-kun is kind like that. But you promised to propose Uzumaki-kun so don't forget, but you won't forget, right?"

Naruto couldn't do anything but gulp and nod for a while but he was eventually able to talk again. "…Yeah. That's right."

After a little while, Hana realized that she had to hurry home or her mom would start to get scary, so she practically begged Naruto to walk her home. As they walked, Naruto began to notice how the streets looked familiar and started to get worried. Then when they reached her home Naruto's eyes widened. They lived in the same apartment complex. After some rushed goodbyes all Naruto could do was walk into his home, plop onto his bed, and try to forget the crazy girl. He was only half successful. He felt a need to do good for her, so his mind only repressed the memories of her crazy acts, leaving in place Naruto's rescue of the girl and his promise to be there for her. The rest, as they say is history. Still, his presumed promise to propose to her never came up again, and with a girl that crazy it definitely would, wouldn't it? Plus she had mellowed out a lot since they started their friendship. She wasn't that girl anymore…right?

Tenten slumped into her apartment, walked into her room, and crashed onto her bed completely exhausted.

*Flashback*

After her run in with Sakura she had rushed home to put away her groceries before rushing right back out towards the hospital. Once she was there she was—of course—denied entrance because visiting hours were over. Still, two of her friends were in that hospital, and she would be damned before she made every effort she could to see them. Besides she was a ninja, how hard would sneaking into a hospital be?

Tenten got her answer after three intense hours of trying to sneak in, getting caught, fighting off forceful ejection from the premises, then starting the cycle again. It was a hospital that catered specifically to ninja, and they had to have some intense security incase whatever or whoever put them in there decided they wanted to finish the job.

So, physically and mentally exhausted, Tenten somehow found herself lucky enough to sneak into the correct hallway that Naruto and Neji's room was in. However, she soon discovered that she wasn't alone in the hallway.

"-Saw some real potential there today, plus the kid needs an attitude adjustment. He's too dark right now for what I have planned." Tenten heard a man's voice say. She couldn't quite place it but its owner sounded familiar.

She then heard a woman's sigh and a shuffling that could have been her leaning against a door or wall. Then Tenten gasped as she recognized the voice of her idol. "I know, your right Jiraiya, but I still don't exactly like your idea much. Naruto's been hurt so badly that—"

"Oh I know that, but you can't treat him like a helpless baby. Besides this most recent case of him in the hospital was just a simple fight over a girl. Or at least a misunderstanding involving aforementioned girl." Tenten raised an eyebrow and scooted closer to the voices to try and listen in more.

"What do you mean? The Hyuga likes the blondie Naruto was with?" Tsunade asked.

"No, no. Naruto—it think—likes the blond and—one again I think—she likes him too, but, and here's the best part, Naruto was with this other girl named—"

"Tenten, yes I know. I met her yesterday and have been hearing all the rumors about the two. I think it's really sweet." Tsunade said with a smile and proud look in her eyes.

"Rumors shmumers, I know what I saw. No heard, but saw." Jiraiya emphasized.

Tenten blinked in surprise. There were rumors about her and Naruto? Just…great. Now neji would never—

"The Hyuga was so totally jealous anyways. He stormed up to Naruto and started ranting about how Naruto was using that Tenten girl and that he was there to make him pay. It was all pretty good actually, I even took so notes. Wanna see?"

Immediately after Jiraiya let out a yelp of pain and Tsunade growled in annoyance. "Please don't tell me that you're planning on using them to get good material for those perverted books of yours."

"Of course not!" Jiraiya exclaimed trying his best to look insulted. It wasn't very convincing. "Though if that happens to be an amusing side effect who am I to deny potential readers an interesting story?"

Tsunade's growling became much more audible and Jiraiya seemed to start whimpering is terror. Tenten's curiosity got the better of her and she scooted even more down the hall. As soon as she moved however Tsunade and Jiraiya stopped making noise. Tenten waited in a tense silence for about twenty seconds, fearing that she had been caught only to suppress a sigh of relief when Tsunade started talking again.

"Alright, I guess I can see how this could help Naruto, but why do it now? Why can't we just wait for—"

"No, it has to be now, while everything is still raw and fresh. If we wait too long there's no telling what could happen to them."

"Fine, have it your way, like always. Don't even think about how I or anyone else will feel about this. I guess all that really does matter to you…the only thing that's ever really mattered to you is finding that damn kid."

There was a tense moment of silence before Jiraiya spoke up again. "Hime you know that's not—"

"Now is not the time for this. I'll get the paperwork all drawn up and make the announcement tomorrow. Be there for that. Good night Jiraiya."

As the sound of footsteps began to get closer Tenten rushed away as sneakily as possible, not exactly sure what to think of all this.

*Flashback end*

'What should I do~? There's so much I can do with that information, I just need to think what.'

Tenten rolled over in her bed to stare at the ceiling. There seemed to rumors going around about her and Naruto. Tenten scowled a bit, those rumors must have started after that brief run in with Hinata. There were a lot of people around them at that time; she was actually surprised that she didn't expect rumors to pop up. They did however provide her with a unique bit of information.

Neji was jealous of Naruto for "being" with her. She couldn't believe that all it took to get Neji's attention was to seem like she was dating another boy. Tenten nearly squealed in joy but sat up in her bed instead, pondering how best to go about this.

'Neji's recent behavior towards Naruto all stems from him not wanting to date me. He doesn't want Naruto to date me because he secretly likes me, he just won't admit it. So I need to put him in a tougher position to get Neji to finally spill his guts. After all, if he was trying to cook lunch for me after one day, imagine what he would do if I were "dating" Naruto for a week!' Tenten's fist pumped into the air halfheartedly as she thought of something.

'Date Naruto…I'm not dating Naruto. I can't believe I overlooked that…but Neji will only…if I maybe…dammit! I don't want to do that! I can't do that to Naruto, that would make me such a heartless bitch. And Naruto doesn't deserve something like that.' Tenten flopped back down onto her bed and buried her face in her pillow.

'Besides, I don't even know if Naruto is going to be here for much longer. From the sound of it, Jiraiya of the Sannin had something planned for him, and that probably meant some kind of intense, far away training or something. And we just became friends too…well all I can do is wish the best for him.'

Tenten smiled to herself, glad to have taken the high road and not use Naruto like some tool to get Neji. As she drifted off to sleep though, she couldn't help but wonder…just what would it be like if she were to date Naruto?

Ayame was a bit disheartened. That was the best way to describe her feelings at the moment. After the dinner rush was over and Naruto still hadn't shown up, Ayame begged her dad to let her have the rest of the night off. Teuchi agreed, not realizing that his daughter had other motives than just not having to work. Once she was done packing up a delivery bag full of her special love potion ramen she hustled over to Naruto's home, hoping to surprise him. It was still relatively early, it only being nine at night, so he wouldn't have a problem eating this late. Not that he would have a problem eating ramen at all, but Ayame didn't want to cause any problems with night time trips to the restroom. She really did care that much.

She arrived maybe ten minutes after leaving work, and stayed there. For two hours. It looked like Naruto wasn't coming home anytime soon, and her love potion ramen was now dreadfully cold, the noodles no doubt soggy and crumbling. She felt like crying, she really did. After all this time, after finally telling herself to make a move, it felt like nothing was going right for her.

Her father was going to close up the shop soon, and if he went home and didn't find her there then she would be in a LOT of trouble. So she decided to start heading back home, and just as she was standing up the door at the end of the hallway opened up and someone came toward her, causing her to gasp.

"Hello? What are you doing here this late?" A very feminine voice asked Ayame. Unfortunately Ayame's voice was caught in her throat, so the woman just continued talking. "Hmm, brown hair, nice big eyes, maybe a little older, has ramen and is wearing that uniform. You must be Ayame Ichiraku."

The fact that the woman had a check list that determined her identity didn't register with Ayame. All that she could focus on right now was the brilliant sunny blond hair so like his, her blue eyes, and those whisker marks on her cheeks. "You-you-you…who are you? How do you know me? You can't be Naruto-kun, he would have greeted me then barraged me with questions about the ramen."

The older woman smiled and patted Ayame's head, peering to her side to look at the dark windows. "I'm guessing he's not home huh? And here you came and with his favorite food too. It's a shame, but this means he's probably in the hospital. But what are you doing here Ayame-chan? Shouldn't you be home? It's kinda late after all."

Ayame gripped the bag in front of her tighter and looked down, a red tint barely noticeable on her cheeks. "W-well, Naruto-kun didn't come in for lunch today. And I know he was here in the village because he usually tells me that he'll be leaving and because I've heard the…rumors about him. Then when he didn't come in for dinner either I figured that maybe he was just tired at home, so I came over with some ramen that he might like and…he isn't here."

The woman nodded her head in understanding. She looked Ayame over a bit and smiled. Naruto talked about Ayame a lot, after all she was his first…everything really. She had heard all the stories, heard of all their adventures, and all the things that the two had done with each other (her favorite was when Naruto and Ayame had ditched school (something she scolded Naruto for hours about) and went to the small park on top of the Hokage monument. The two had seen a couple kiss up there, and not seeing why not they decided to share a kiss too. They were only eight and nine, but she always gushed at the story) and she had secretly always wanted Ayame and Naruto to get together. Ayame was perfect in her eyes. She was a humble civilian and Naruto's friend. She was smart, had a good work ethic, was always there for him with a listening ear or ready advice, she could cook Naruto's favorite food, and she was a proud little firecracker when she needed to be.

Nodding to herself, Naru made a decision. From this point forward, she would give it her all to help Ayame win Naruto's heart. Those rumors she was hearing about that Tenten girl just wouldn't do at all, and she would be damned if that Hyuga girl got her evil hands on her precious little brother. She was done hiding in the shadows and out of sight from the village just because Naruto was afraid she'd get hurt if people knew about her. She wanted to proudly proclaim herself Naruto's older sister with her words, not just her actions. (Her decision to tattoo whisker marks on her cheeks tended to be ignored by a great deal of the public for some reason. As if they were in denial about something)

So she leaned down a bit and looked Ayame right in the eyes. "Well Ayame, since he's not here, that means he's probably in the hospital. So I'm sorry about you spending so much time waiting for him. As for whom I am, my name is Naru and Naruto is my Otouto. Not by blood." She quickly said as Ayame opened her mouth to interrupt. "But despite that I love him as if he were my real brother. I've even tattooed these things onto my cheeks so we could be accepted as brother and sister more easily. And I know he hasn't mentioned me before, but that's because he was scared that if too many people found out about me…well let me just say that some people would very likely try to keep us apart."

Naru looked down at that statement and a frown passed over her face before she looked up again a brilliant smile there now. "Listen, I know you're in love with my dense little bother. You don't need to hide it, ha ha. And don't be embarrassed, he doesn't know a thing though it's not like I haven't dropped enough hints or anything. Listen, the point is, I know how Naruto thinks, acts, and who he listens to. I'm the foremost expert on all things Naruto. And I want to help you get him."

Ayame just stared at this strange woman who was claiming to be Naruto's adoptive older sister and was offering her help on how to get Naruto to fall in love with her. A part of her couldn't believe it, and tried to convince her that this was a trick. But then, another part of her believed the woman's words. And she began to think of all the things she could accomplish if Naruto's older sister was backing her personally.

Ayame could imagine a lot. And she smiled at the woman. "Well what are we waiting for then Nee-chan?"

And that's the show! I really hope you all liked the chapter, I worked really hard on it! And now that I'm out of college I can spend more time writing this out! (unless i get a summer job. And I really need to get a summer job. Or maybe summer classes would be better?) But the point! I'm going to try and writ more frequently. Anyways, I'm sure all of you have some questions about the new girl Hana and Naruto's sister Naru. All will be explained eventually in the story. BUT. If anyone can tell me where I got Hana's rant from (preferably through a PM since I dont want to seem like I'm asking for reviews) I will be so happy that the first two people that get it right will be able to become characters in the story! (I actually planned for something like this to happen later on in the story with two of the people I beta'd for but they both decided they wanted to focus on their writing.) So if you want just PM me your guess and a small bio. I'll be happy to include you (but it wont be until chapter 12) If you review with your guess it will be ignored. But please review to tell me what you thinkof the chapter, I put a lot into it. Again I hope you all had a great read and enjoy your summer! Suna OUT!