Of Flowers and Shinobi

Chapter 1

A/N: This is a NaruIno fic. I will have other pairings in the story, but this will mainly focus on Naruto and Ino. If you don't like this pairing, don't read this, and don't flame me for not having another pairing. Honestly, all authors can't have every single pairing in a story. This takes place after the Pein arc. Enjoy! :)

Disclaimer- I don't own Naruto. If I did, Tobi would be a GREAT boy! (And then if Deidara read this, he would unleash a sweatdrop so large the Pacific Ocean would be jealous.)

Naruto was at Ichiraku's, staring at the biggest bowl of miso ramen he has ever seen. He then felt himself being forced away from the ramen and turned to see a figure dressed in all black, staring at him.

"Naruto" The deep voice called from the black mass. "Don't eat the ramen; you will be killed by the Empire."

"Who the fuck are you?" Naruto asks intelligently.

"I am your father, and my name is Darth Vader."

RIIIIIINNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG! RIIIIIINNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGG!

A hand seeks out a button on top of the alarm clock, and slams it down. The alarm clock immediately shuts up. It reads 5:30.

'I really shouldn't have gone over to Kiba's place to watch those weird movies his sister collects.' Naruto thinks to himself. 'If they can invade my dreams that quickly, there's no telling what would happen if he showed me those "Saw" movies.' Naruto shivered at the thought of the pasty white doll with the swirls on its cheeks. 'Better get ready, otherwise Baa-chan is going to kick my ass.'

1 hour later

"Are you serious?" Naruto whines.

"Shut up brat, and keep your voice down. Momma's got her sake, and you have your mission" Tsunade growls. 'And with the paperwork coming through here, I'm going to need it.'

Tsunade mentally groaned at the thought.

10 minutes later

After meeting with the drowsy (and unsurprisingly hung-over) Hokage, he had his mission. Fishing the official mission request out of his pocket, he reads over the info.

Client: Inoichi Yamanaka

Mission Parameters: Repair and Reconstruction

Mission Details: Major damage to Yamanaka Flower Shop and Yamanaka residence needs to be repaired. Client requests help with rebuilding greenhouse adjacent to house as well.

Mission Rank: D

Shinobi Requested: Any available

Mission pay: 1500 ryo

Shinobi Assigned: Uzumaki Naruto

Sighing, Naruto tucked the request back into his pocket. The sun was beginning to rise, and it was already quite warm outside. It was going to be hot.

5 minutes later

Meanwhile, Inoichi was working on getting the greenhouse back up. And boy, were those panels heavy. He was in the process of grabbing another one to put up, when he spotted Konoha's most knuckleheaded ninja walking towards him.

"Hey Naruto, did you get the mission request to help rebuild?" Inoichi asks.

"Yeah, baa-chan gave it to me this morning. You look like you need help." Naruto replies.

"Yea, I do. I need help rebuilding the greenhouse, and I already took care of the preparation for the interior of the shop. It just needs dry walled and painted."

"I can take care of that easily." Naruto says. 'You don't grow up hated by a village and not fix up your place after your birthday' he thought.

"Really?" Inoichi mused. "How do you know how to do that?" he asks. He had witnessed several beatings and riots thrown at and about Naruto when he was young. He had already "dealt" with the ninja who were involved. They were currently on the "MIA" list in ANBU headquarters.

Naruto laughs nervously. "Well, before I learned how to cook, I had a few accidents, and well, it burned up once…or twice." Naruto added his large grin and scratched the back of his head.

Inoichi laughs, on the outside at least. 'All these years, and he is still affected by the abuse and hatred the villagers took out on him. His father would be beyond enraged if he were alive! He would have leveled half the village for god's sake!' Inoichi grinned at that thought. He had been friends with Minato ever since they were in the Academy. Minato, being the prodigy he was, had all sorts of friends, but Inoichi and Minato were almost like brothers. They told each other everything, including later on when Minato told Inoichi about his plans to seal the Kyuubi into Naruto. Inoichi had given his promise not to tell Naruto about what his father left him until he was at least a Jounin. With all of the rebuilding going on, the loss of shinobi was significant enough for the village to consider recruiting more ninja. With that thought in mind, he couldn't wait for Naruto to get promoted to Jounin. He deserved it more than anyone. And, even though he wouldn't admit it out loud, he wanted to tell Naruto of his inheritance.

"So, where do you want to start?" Naruto asks, snapping Inoichi out of his thoughts.

"Um, we'll start on the East side." Inoichi explains. "I have all of the materials needed, and all that is left to do is find my 'interior designer'."

"Who's the desi-" Naruto gets cut off as one blonde kunoichi walks towards them, wearing a purple halter top, and a purple skirt with a slit that ran up one leg.

"That would be me, Naruto." Ino says gleefully.

Naruto spots Inoichi's left eyebrow slightly twitching. 'Ah, she probably pounced on the opportunity when she realized we would be painting.'

"Well, then are you going to order us around or do something?" Naruto asks bluntly.

"I am going to paint, since I can't help you guys too much with the dry walling. I'm clueless when it comes to that stuff."

"Alright, let's get started. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Half-yelled Naruto.

50 clones pop up into existence.

"Alright, I need 10 of you to measure and cut the drywall, another ten to put up the drywall, and the rest of you to smooth over the nails." Naruto directed. Immediately, they went to work.

He then turned to the other 20. "Alright" Naruto points at the greenhouse (a quarter of the way complete) "Put this damn thing together, and don't come whining to me that the panels are heavy!",Naruto shouts. Needless to say, he didn't give a flying fuck about the greenhouse.