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Normality	By : Cepheus Category: Naruto > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 1541 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1-Changes
- 2-Teamed
- 3-Reveal
- 4-Precious
- 5-Absurd
- 6-Pain
- 4
- 5
- 6
Thanks to all the people that reviewed me! But please don�t ask me to
update soon. I mean, when you review with only �update soon�, it�s not helpful
to us authors, instead it puts much pressure on us. Especially if one asks me
to update soon ten minutes after I posted the new chapter. And if we authors
work hard on our fics, you could eventually spend a minute doing some good
criticism and comment in a review.

Cepheus: sorry if I told you Sasuke would find out in this
one, but I couldn�t rush with Naruto�s first Chuunin mission, right? Next
chapter, I promise it�ll be in the next chapter.

��

Rating: T

Summary: (SasuNaru,
NejiShika, InoTen, eventually LeeSaku) Naruto is
trying to forget his former team, busy in Chuunin missions. But as his past is
left uncovered and many of his kind start to appear, old bonds are stretched to
the maximum.

Warnings: yaoi, boy x boy relationship, angsty,
torture, and such. Mental as well. Flames will be used
to warm up food. OC warning as well.

Disclaimer: Not own Naruto. Masashi Kishimoto does.

�Talking�
�Thinking�
�Flashbacks,
memories, dreams�

��

�

Normality

Chapter 04: Absurd

Naruto glared hard at Neji, all the while balancing a huge pile of rocks
in both of his hands. He was having hard time keeping steady as he moved.

�Are you sure I need to do this whilst we go back to Konoha?�

Neji let a smirk appear on his face and did not turn around, �of course,
Naruto� I know you don�t think this is a good strategy, but you realize that we
are all trying to help you right?�

Naruto�s reply to this was a huff, but he soon fell into silence again,
focusing his attention on his teammates instead of what he was holding. Neji
had been perfectly clear �he had to get used to multitasking, to make it easier
to fight and still concentrate on their surroundings.

The mission had gone perfectly well, much to Naruto�s disappointment;
there had been no enemy ninja who tried to stop them, and there had been no
fight at all.

The four had reached the shrine, not attracting any unwanted attention
thanks to their camouflage, and had set down a trap for the Kusa�nins, thought
they didn�t need it as the Ame�nins had arrived without complications. Neji had
received the scroll and without further ado they had moved to get back to
Konoha.

They knew that they would not be completely safe until they reached
their village, but as of now the mission was going smoothly enough for Neji to
relax his tense shoulders a bit.

He�d decided he could give Naruto some light training to do during the
trip that would not keep his mind occupied, but had soon realised it took
nothing for Naruto to end up distracted; he needed to pay attention more than
he was used to, and the only way was to teach him to multitask.

Thus the reason why Naruto was jumping from tree to tree with two piles
of rocks precariously balanced in his arms.

Neji and Shikamaru couldn�t but smirk at the amusing show the blond was
doing, knowing that, had it been them, they would have easily complied without
strain the task; unfortunately for Naruto, at least judging by what Lee told
them, he�d not been trained enough by Kakashi.

Neji felt really angered by this. Even though Gai�sensei wasn�t really
what one could call a proper teacher (rambling about youth, flames and doing
strange bets with himself wasn�t exactly normal), he�d
always been serious when training them.

The Hyuuga grudgingly respected his teacher, having realized a long time
ago that Gai had reasons for acting this strange.

Gai�sensei had taught him much about teamwork, how to rely on your
teammates and have them rely on you (though the whole friend business had only
started to appear when Naruto had defeated him during the Chuunin exams).

Neji had studied his clan�s scrolls as much as he could, but many
attacks, Genjutsu and Taijutsu had been taught to him by his sensei,
that looked good at almost everything.

Gai and Kakashi were equally strong, despite their blatant differences,
but the way they worked with their team was completely opposite. Kakashi, by
what he�d gathered, had taught Naruto nothing but tree�walking, and had done it
only after months of D�rank missions.

Neji had been taught tree�walking by Gai�sensei on their second day,
followed by water�walking and basic Taijutsu.

Ok, Team Gai had been together for a year when they had entered the
Chuunin exams, but still comparing Team 7�s strength with Team Gai�s when they
had been starters, the gape holes were enormous.

Besides, even though Gai trained Lee more than he did TenTen and Neji
himself, both teens knew it was because Lee could not use chakra and needed
special training to help him cope without taking down the whole team�s balance.

Gai did not prefer one of them over the other in training, he trained
them all equally.

Kakashi had trained Sasuke for the Chuunin exams, paying more attention
to him and dropping off both the pink haired girl (what was her name again?
something about flowers�) and Naruto, that had needed
more of this attention than Sasuke had.

What for, in the end? Sasuke had the Sharingan, yes,
and Kakashi was the only one still loyal to the village that could use it too,
but relying too much on his bloodline was a mistake �Neji himself had used his
kekkai Genkai too much in the past and now was learning how to fight without
using it as much as before, finding he had no problems even without the
Byakugan.

And Sasuke knew many jutsu from his family scrolls, whilst Naruto and
the girl didn�t have a proper training as shinobi.

Neji sighed. Now Naruto would be trained by them all as much as they
could, and he would get help from Gai too, the moment the Green Beast of Konoha
heard what his �rival� did.

Looking at the brown�dressed Naruto, Neji frowned. What strengths could
he reach now that he had someone to help him out, now that he was seeing his
right path?

Neji shook his head and shared a look with Shikamaru, who shrugged in
response; the two had been getting good at communicating without words, just by
glances, and Neji found he likes this turn of things.

He�d been kind of unsure of how this team would work out, but they were
only at their first mission and they were already cooperating like a team of
friends, instead of a team of strangers.

Naruto jumped over a branch, evading some leaves that were on his way, and
smiled as he started to get used to keep an eye on both the rocks and his
surroundings. It wasn�t as hard as he first thought, and he was having a bit of
fun, too.

Shikamaru sighed. He would have never thought that Naruto would look
this different with a simple change of clothes; he�d thought that it could not
take so little to change him into a more shinobi�looking person, but�

Naruto took it seriously this time; he looked, if possible, even more
determined than before. His eyes were burning with something different than the
usual flame he had, but he had not lost his brightness either.

He was growing up, and Shikamaru was glad of it. His acting before had
been too troublesome, this new Naruto was�

�Naruto, look out for��

Too late, Shikamaru snickered. Naruto had tripped on a small bump on a
branch and had dropped all his rocks on the ground.

� well, this Naruto was growing.

It took a while for him and Neji to get used to Lee and Naruto�s new
appearance, considering they had been the ones to get a hold of some proper
clothes for them to wear and not attract any attention, but eventually they
kind of did.

Without his spandex, that left nothing to imagination, Lee actually
looked a completely different person. He had a brown shirt and a pair of black�ish
pants, and with his green jacket on he didn�t look half as bad as before.

His hair, ruffled and untamed, gave him a more wild appearance, opposite
to his usual good guy look, even though his attitude was still the same as
before, and even his eyebrows didn�t look as big as they had with his
bowl�hairstyle.

Naruto himself was different, even though not hard to recognize (blond
hair and whiskers could not be changed like a shirt); with a brown shirt and
dark grey pants he had lost what made him appear like a giant neon sign to
enemies, without losing his happiness or inner light though.

He was still Naruto, just dressed more like a serious ninja.

Neji was glad that the change of clothes did nothing to tame both of his
friends� attitude.

�Aah, damnit, I
thought I was getting good!� Naruto exclaimed, shaking his fists in the air.

�you were busy thinking you were getting good
to actually concentrate on what you were doing� Neji smarted him out. �Come on,
go down and get the rocks, we have to move�.

Naruto was about to comply, when his ears picked up something.

Slowly gritting his teeth, the blond sniffed in the air, copying Kiba�s
acting �Kyuubi�s presence into him enhanced some of his senses after all� and a
moment later he jumped next to Neji, his face suddenly serious.

�Neji, someone�s following us� he reported.

This stopped both Shikamaru and Lee, who had been moving forwards
already.

�Thanks Naruto� Neji nodded, activating his Byakugan. With the help of
his bloodline, he stared in the direction they were coming from and noticed ten
figures making their way towards them. He didn�t need to be a genius to
understand they were Kusa�nins. �They�re getting near fast,
we need to think of a way to slow them down, if we don�t want to fight against
them�.

There was no way Neji could know if the chasers were Chuunin or Jounin
level, and he knew he could not prejudge the mission by taking a wild guess.
They would not fight if they didn�t have to.

Calculating the speed of the enemies, Neji realized there was no way for
them to be able to run faster. They were bound to prepare for an ambush, or a
trap, if they wanted to survive the chase.

�Shikamaru, your opinion?� Neji turned towards the Nara, unsurprised to see him in his usual
thinking position.

After a moment, the brown haired teen snapped his eyes open.

�Naruto, do you think you�d be able to hide your chakra for a short
while? I know you haven�t been taught how to do it yet, but it�s not as hard as
you think� he asked.

Naruto blinked.

�I can try� he promised.

�Well, then, I want you to form Kage Bunshin and have them henge as us�
Shikamaru continued.

He had been the one with the scroll, since Neji had trusted him with it,
and now he took it out from his pouch and handed it to Naruto.

�Hold onto this, I�ll explain you my plan�.

��

�They�re right in front of us, and they didn�t seem to have noticed
we�re following them� one of the Kusa�nin moved backwards to speak with the
group leader, who nodded lightly to signal he�d been listening.

�By their chakra level, they are Genin, low Chuunin at the most� he
replied curtly. �Strange, what kind of mission did Ame think it was, for them
to send just some Genin to take care of it?�

With a flicker of his hand the man motioned for three of his followers
to split from the main group, signalling them to move to the right to take the
four they thought to be Ame�nin by surprise with a double�sided attack.

He had no intention to fail this mission, since Ame needed to be
reminded of who was the boss �Kusa would soon own Amegakure, and get strong
enough to challenge one of the main countries.

A flicker of chakra in front of them made the leader stop in his tracks.
They had reached the four teens, who were running forwards in the trees, and he
could clearly see they were really young �Genin, most certainly.

�That�s even too easy for us� he thought.

He flared his own chakra, and in a second the four were completely
surrounded by his group; a blond kid took out a kunai and prepared himself for
a reckless attack, but he stepped forwards, motioning for his group to keep
their eyes on the teens.

No need to kill them if they could get the scroll with a bit of
persuasion. They were simply kids, after all.

�If you give up the scroll now, we won�t hurt you� he stated clearly,
moving forwards to stare at what was obviously the leader of the team �a
strange kid with long black hair, a feminine face and white eyes.

Was this one blind?

Or was it some kind of strange bloodline?

�I refuse� the kid replied sternly, looking at him with scornful eyes.
�Let us go before we seriously hurt you�.

�My, my, surely they have guts�
but ego�inflated kids are really a bother� he thought with a smirk.

The blond teen lifted his kunai, �Did you hear what he said? Bug off,
you piece of��

�Naruto, shut up� a brown haired teen hissed.

Aah, Genin. They didn�t even get along with
each other� Ame really didn�t have any good shinobi at all, if their Genin were
trained this badly. Besides, they didn�t even have hitai�ate on them, and were
dressed like villagers.

�But we will never give those stupid weaklings the scroll!� the blond
yelled out.

�I repeat, give us your scroll and we will let you go� the leader of the
Kusa�nin repeated, this time stressing the words.

He was starting to get pissed off.

�And I repeat, we refuse� the black haired teen replied again.

�Then, you die� the man stated calmly.

The rest of the Kusa shinobi didn�t need further encouragement, as they
all jumped towards the four teens; the leader sighed, wishing they had relented
when he�d asked them too� he hated killing young shinobi, even if they were as
weak as those four were.

Their chakra was so low�

Suddenly smoke circled the ten Kusa�nins,
followed by four distinct popping sounds, and the four teens disappeared into nothing.

�What� Bunshin?� the shinobi looked around in shock, not understanding
what had happened. Those were not the real�

A sudden flare of chakra coming from behind them made the leader of the
group spin around in shock �they had been fooled?!

Now that the four Bunshin had vanished, the group of Kusa shinobi could
feel distinctly well four retreating chakra signals that were quickly running
away East respect their previous direction, probably knowing they had managed
to blind the followers this way.

�I have to admit, they are better
than I thought� the
leader thought as he signalled his group to start the chase again.

Hiding their presence using four Bunshin injected with a small amount of
chakra, the four teens had escaped, putting more distance between them and the
Kusa�nins, but the man was not afraid of losing them.

�Let�s go!� he ordered, moving first.

This time he would not give them a chance. Whoever had the guts to try
and fool him would not live to see the next day.

The meadow stood quiet after the Kusa�nins disappeared, following the
trail of chakra that was left by the four teens; after a while, when the
presence of the ten shinobi had disappeared, and there was no more rustling of
leaves, one by one three small squirrels exited from their hiding places and
sniffed in the air, twitching their tails.

Deeming the danger finally gone, one of the three re�entered the hole
he�d been hiding into and pushed a scroll out of it.

A second later the squirrels were gone in a puff of smoke, and Naruto
and the other two teens were in their place.

�Jeez, Shikamaru, that was one hell of a plan!� Naruto stretched his
shoulders happily and picked up the scroll from the ground, pocketing it away
with a satisfied smirk.

Shikamaru�s smirk was just as satisfied as Naruto�s, as he too stretched
before slumping down once more.

Shikamaru�s plan had been quite simple, and it required absolutely no
preparation; Naruto had created two sets of clones of himself, making two of
them henge as Neji and Shikamaru and one as Lee, then the three of them had
henged into small squirrels, hiding the scroll with them in the meadow.

Since Lee could not transform himself, he�d followed the fake Neji,
Shikamaru and Naruto, heading East whilst a copy of
each of them flared their chakra a bit to attract the enemies. With this double
back�up, the Kusa�nins had no chance but to fall for their trap.

�For how long are you comfortable with keeping up the Kage Bunshin?�
Neji asked, turning worriedly to Naruto.

No one really thought about it much, but that was a jutsu that took a
lot of chakra from the user, and yet Naruto had no problems using it for long
periods of time.

�Since I have to keep their chakra stable but low, I can do it for at
least a hour, if the Kusa�nin don�t get there first�
the blond replied with a foxy�smirk.

�That�s enough for us to put at least a day between ourselves and them�
Neji commented. �Naruto, proceed with the second part of the plan now�.

�Yosh!� Naruto concentrated and flared a
small amount of chakra to his clones henged as
Shikamaru and Neji.

He�d noticed that when one of his Kage Bunshin poofed out from
existence, he would get all the memories of it, so he would use this at his
advantage.

A second later he could feel a rush of flashes appear in his mind and he
quickly went over it.

�One of my clones used Kage Bunshin to create a copy of Lee and himself
and dispelled the jutsu� he reported. �Lee�s coming back now�.

They had no fear for their friend �since he could not mould any chakra,
the enemies would not be able to sense him and he could join the three of them
without problems by taking a longer detour.

��Let�s go,� Neji ordered his
friends, and the three moved forwards, directed to Konoha.

��

�You accomplished your first mission without a fault, congratulations�
Tsunade allowed herself a proud smile as she complimented the team of Chuunin
she had in front of her desk.

Her eyes could not look away from Naruto and Lee throughout her speech
though, as she was not used in seeing them dressed like normal people at all;
both Naruto and Lee looked� looked� she could not find a word for her thoughts.

Strange, maybe.

Too normal to be really them.

�Thanks Tsunade�sama,� Neji bowed a bit to her. �We had no trouble
whatsoever during our trip�.

�Fine, you�re dismissed now� she replied, stomping their mission report.
�Take this to the mission centre and get your pay� ah, Naruto, could you please
stay for a moment? Your friends can go if they want to�.

�With all respect due, Hokage�sama, we would like to stay if it concerns
Naruto�s secret� Shikamaru replied blinking in boredom.

Naruto stared at them with a shocked face, but Tsunade simply smiled at
them. she had planned to ask the blond when he would
tell his team about Kyuubi, and she had her answer already.

�Indeed, it�s about it, yes� she admitted. She was glad to see they had
been taking it pretty well. �So I take he�s told you everything?�

Neji nodded quietly.

�I think you are aware that there is a reason why no one of your
generation knows, right?� Tsunade leaned on her hands, elbows on the desk. Her
eyes were serious.

�Of course, Tsunade�sama!� Lee replied candidly. �But we�d
never betray Naruto�kun�s trust!�

Neji shook his head slightly, amused by this Lee that didn�t look like
Lee at all.

�Well then, I trust you will use as much reserve as any other adult that
knows of it� only Naruto has the right to tell someone about Kyuubi,� she
pointed towards Naruto, who was grimacing and looking away.

�I am glad he decided to tell us� Neji replied steadily, making the
others in the room look at him. �It means he trusts us enough to share
something this painful with us�.

Naruto smiled slightly, feeling warm inside in hearing Neji speak this
way.

�It�s too troublesome anyway� Shikamaru glared at nothing in particular
and was smacked in the back by Lee.

�Shikamaru�kun, stop being this
apathetic! Life
needs to be lived youthfully and happily!�

Shikamaru groaned.

�Well then, we�ll be going� Naruto smiled at the Hokage. �Bye, Tsunade
obaa�chan!�

�Disrespectful�� she sighed in defeat, Naruto was already gone. The
other three bowed lightly and followed him out, with not well�hidden smirks on
their lips.

After the door closed behind them, Tsunade sighed and turned towards the
window. �Do you think he�s doing well?� she asked.

The figure that had been hiding outside of the office�s window did not
reply, white hair swinging into the wind as he watched the four teens race down
the street. He�d been present to the short conversation, but had been following
the newly�formed team ever since they reached Konoha after their first mission
together.

Naruto had looked� peaceful. There was a new light in his eyes that he�d
been missing in the last few weeks, and it put his heart at ease.

�Yes�� he muttered, scratching his chin with one hand. �But I can�t
predict what his future will be right now�.

�Jiraiya, you�re always the same� Tsunade sighed again. Every time she
saw Naruto, she had the sudden need to drown herself with sake.

��

�What are you guys going to do now?� Naruto pocketed his money with a
very satisfied expression and turned to his friends. He�d earned a lot for a
relatively easy mission and was quite proud.

�If you�re thinking about ramen, forget it� Shikamaru commented. �After
four days out of the village, I need a long bath, a change of clothes and some
real food� like barbecued meat� troublesome, I�ll
invite Chouji if he�s free from the academy�.

�I need a bath too� Neji wrinkled his nose in delicate distaste. �I
can�t stand missions� food cans either�.

Lee nodded happily, �I want to tell everything to Gai�sensei!� and
Naruto sighed. He�d hoped that maybe they�d like to spend some time with him.
But after all, they had their own lives, and he�

�Fine then, we will meet in front of the barbecue restaurant in a hour, is that ok for you Naruto?�

Naruto blinked and snapped out from his thoughts. �What?�

�I said we�re not getting ramen, but is barbecue ok?� Shikamaru asked
again. �What a troublesome guy� we will also need to get you and Lee some
decent clothes afterwards�.

Naruto blushed lightly, feeling quite bad he�d doubted his friends� but
really, for them to want to spend some time with him�

Team 7 rarely spent times together outside of their training sessions
and the missions� Sakura would go off cooing over Sasuke, and the Uchiha would
either go to train alone or ask for Naruto to train with him, leaving
afterwards without a word.

Naruto smiled brightly at his friends.

�Ah, of course! But let�s get ramen tomorrow,
ok?�

Shikamaru smirked at him.

Naruto watched his friends disappear in three different directions with
a small smile, before deciding to head to his house as well; he needed a bath
too now that he thought about it, and then he wanted to go and tell
Iruka�sensei everything about his first real mission.

Half an hour later Naruto left his apartment again. Unfortunately the
clothes he�d been wearing during the missions were not for ninja, so they were
all ruined and dirty, and he had to resort to search through his own to see if
he had anything less eye�blinding.

After a bit he was surprised but satisfied to find a pair of black pants
and a white shirt. They were not exactly the most comfortable thing he had,
since he�d never used them before (he didn�t even know he owned them until now)
but they would suit him until he burned his orange clothes for something more
ninja�like.

Who said he couldn�t keep his bright attitude with less bright clothes?
They would only make a better ninja out of him.

He didn�t want to change who he was, because it was his nindo, but he
also wanted to grow. He could resort to being serious during missions, but in
his own life, he was still Naruto. No one could change this, not even� not
even�

Shaking his head to banish dark thoughts that he didn�t like having,
Naruto decided to get to the barbecue restaurant and wait there for his
friends; he would probably bug them for a bit so they would come with him to
eat ramen the next day�

Smiling brightly thinking about ramen, Naruto skipped down the street,
ignoring some glares coming from the villagers.

�Naruto?�

He stopped in his tracks and turned around, his smile dimming slightly
as he noticed who it was�

�Ino?�

He felt something pull at his chest and faltered a bit. He didn�t like
the feeling.

�Hey, Naruto!� Ino was standing there with a
smile on her face, and after a second she approached him.

The two had never been friends, so it confused him a bit as to what she
would want from him now, smiling like this�

�Naruto, listen, I wanted to speak to you for a moment, are you free
now?� her smile faltered a bit and he nodded. He still had some time before meeting
with Shikamaru and the others, so�

It was only then that he realized something. Ino had been in team with
Shikamaru and Chouji, but because Naruto had wanted to leave Team 7, now she
was in his place. He had ruined the balance of not just one, but three teams
for his own needs, and suddenly he felt bad for this.

What if Ino didn�t want to stay in the same team as Sakura was? What if�

�I�m�� he opened his mouth to tell Ino he was sorry for having forced
her to move from one team to another, but he couldn�t finish his thought
because Ino turned towards him too and spoke before he could.

�Naruto, I am sorry that you had to leave your team� she said.

Naruto blinked in shock and stared at her, not understanding. Why was
Ino saying she was sorry? She had no reason to�

�You don�t have to�� he tried again, but she stopped him.

�No, really. I don�t know what has happened
that forced you to leave them, but� I am sure of one thing�. Ino shrugged
lightly, trying to lift his mood. �If it was bad enough for you to ask to be
placed with Shikamaru, then you had to be desperate�.

Smiling lightly at the joke, Naruto walked down the street with Ino at
his side. For a moment both of them were silent, then Ino sighed.

�Naruto, I don�t blame you for making me switch
teams. I spoke with Kakashi�sensei, and I am ok with it� she stated, her voice
sounding steady to his ears.

�Really? Because� I caused so much confusion and��

�No, really. Besides, you did nothing wrong, and I should pity you
instead. You got placed with Shikamaru and I know how lazy he can be� he gets
so boooooring� really, I do pity you� she smiled
brightly at him, and he felt his lips tug forwards as well. �He surely won�t
move an inch during missions� and what about a stuck up guy
like the Hyuuga, and Lee? Yeah, I pity you so much�.

But she was laughing whilst saying this, obviously joking. She liked
both Neji and Lee, even though she�d never really spoke to them, but she�d seen
them fight and speak and they were both good persons.

Ino tried to change the subject. �Say, have you spoken to Sakura
recently?�

Naruto shook his head, not really understanding where the conversation
was going.

�Er� no, not really� we never saw when I was at the hospital,
and right after I had my first mission with my� team�.

He felt suddenly very uncomfortable, and looked away.

Sakura was Ino�s friend, had always been, but she was stupid, blinded by
her own foolishness. Naruto was a great person, and Sakura had never realized
this. Ino either, at least until now.

Ino could now clearly see that she had been stupid. She had always
thought Naruto was a stupid and clueless guy, by how he�d acted at the academy,
his pranks, his obvious lack of knowledge in ninja matters, but she�d been
proved wrong many times since his promotion to Genin.

He was a strong person and very determined, and he would do anything to
protect his friends. Ino felt stupid, because she�d never wanted to be his
friend. She�d never cared to learn about him more.

At first she�d thought Shikamaru and Chouji to be useless gits as well,
in her blindly following the Uchiha around, but being in the same team with
them for so much had made her change idea quickly enough. On
both them and herself, too.

Shikamaru and Chouji were her friends, and Ino would do anything for
them, if needed.

Now she could only agree with herself� she wanted to change. She wanted
to become Naruto�s friend as well, as she had realized Naruto was not so
different from her.

�Say, Naruto�� she brushed the hair away from her face and met Naruto�s
curious stare.

She wanted to tell Naruto that she knew she had never paid attention to
him, and that they couldn�t be considered friends� she had been a real bitch to
Naruto all this time. But she could not tell him this. She felt too bad for her
attitude to voice it out her mistakes to him.

�I was wondering if� if there is still a chance for us to be friends� she
decided to say instead, looking at him. �I am sorry, I was so conditioned about
what others thought of you that I allowed myself to act like them�� she sighed,
but them smiled at him. �I would really like to be
your friend, Naruto�.

Naruto blinked again.

�You do?�

Ino nodded eagerly. �Yeah�.

He smiled brightly, his cheeks turning a bit pink.

�I�ll be glad to be your friend too, Ino�chan!� he looked at his wrist
watch and closed his eyes deep in thought. �Say, I was going to eat at the
barbecue with Shikamaru, Lee, Neji and probably Chouji, what about coming with
me?�

Ino smiled at him.

�Sure! Lead the way, I want to make sure
Shika�s not getting too lazy!�

He shook his head.

He was new to this sort of things, people actually admitting they wanted
to be his friends, and he didn�t know what to do, especially if it was a girl.
He�d never really being a friend with a girl, apart
Hinata, but she was quite strange, always blushing when he was around.

�So, did you see Sakura?� he
asked, walking towards the restaurant. He had wanted to speak of something, but
he didn�t realize what he�d uttered until the words were out of his lips.

He didn�t really want to know. Not really. It would be better for him
not to ask, either, but� he still couldn�t bring himself to forget his old
team.

�Ah� yes� Ino knew this wasn�t exactly the best thing to speak about,
but she couldn�t deny him an answer. �She doesn�t know you�re not in her team
anymore, she�s been seeing Sasuke every day and�� �shit!�

This was not what she wanted to say, and she bit her tongue.

�Ah, sou ka�� Naruto coughed and looked away.

So Sakura didn�t know yet. She didn�t even care to know why he hadn�t
been around all this time.

He had to expect this, it was one of the
reasons why he�d moved away.

�Naruto, she�s been stupid, I know� Ino tried to remedy her mistake, but
the blond Chuunin simply shrugged.

�Well, it�s better this way� he murmured. He quickly tried to direct the
conversation away from ex�Team 7. �Say, tomorrow I was thinking about training
with Lee, if you want, you can join us!� he smiled at her, but Ino could see
the hurt still present in his eyes.

�Sakura, Sasuke, what have you
done to him? Why did it come to this?� Ino felt helpless right now. She had
the sudden urge to comfort Naruto, and this feeling was foreign to her. No one
of her friends had looked this hopelessly sad and weak, and at the same time
strong.

Naruto was strong, but he was hurt as well.

Ino was determined in becoming his friend even more now. How come she
had never realized how good of a person Naruto was until now? Had she been so
blind in her former crush over Sasuke to see anything that was around her?

�Come on, fox�boy!� she slapped his shoulder and placed her hands on her
hips. �You�re going to help me train, I�m getting lazy
without a good partner to spar with!�

Naruto brightened up again.

�Of course! Maybe we can ask Neji to train
with us too!� Naruto started rambling and Ino smiled. This was good.

The two teens had finally reached the barbecue restaurant, and were
surprised to see not only Shikamaru, Chouji, Lee and Neji, but also the
latter�s ex�teammate, TenTen.

�Ah, Naruto!� Lee smiled at him. �We�re going
to buy some new clothes afterwards!�

�Hey, that�s right, how come you�re not wearing orange?� Ino asked,
finally looking over the blond teen at her right. She didn�t notice because
she�d been more focused on speaking with him, but now she could see he was
dressed very differently than normal.

�Ino? Ah, so troublesome� Shikamaru murmured,
not sure how to take the girl�s presence here.

�Ah, sorry guys, I met Ino�chan and thought it�d be cool to ask her to
come here� Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly. He turned to Ino.
�Well, I think a good Chuunin can�t wear orange, right? Besides, Neji will kill
me if I put my green Chuunin vest on at the same time�.

He�d seen his disgusted face and didn�t really want to see it again.
Neji with expressions on his face was scary.

�Well then, Naruto, Lee�san, I�m going to help you find something good!�
Ino smirked, cracking her knuckles. Ah, the wonders of shopping and how it was
able to cheer her up considerably.

She hadn�t been able to do some in a long time, and she really needed
some new shuriken, a book or two and some new clothes.

�Ah, then I won�t bother to come� Shikamaru said, eyes widened. He�d
been forced to go with Ino and Chouji for a shopping trip and still couldn�t
forget the pain in his back, legs and arms.

�Don�t you dare ditch us!� Ino growled in his
direction. �You�re going to come, and you�re going to like it!�

Shikamaru groaned and slammed his head against the nearest wall under
the pained gaze of one Chouji and the slightly shocked one of Neji, Lee and
TenTen.

�TenTen, hello!� Naruto greeted her. �Neji asked
you to come along?�

The older teen was swinging a kunai in her fingers, and when Naruto
turned to speak at her she launched it in the air and caught it with her palm
open. �Ah, yeah, I wanted a break from my father� she smiled. �I think I can
help too, later on��

�Ah, by the way, I am Ino, Shikamaru�s former teammate!� Ino moved
forwards and grabbed TenTen�s hand, shaking it fiercely. �You�re the weapon
expert right? I am not a weapon user, but I�d like to learn about it a bit!�

TenTen blinked at the blonde�s actions then smiled at her. �No problem,
maybe we can train together!�

Naruto laughed at the two girls as they started speaking about various
weapons, and pushed the group in the restaurant, grabbing Chouji�s arm and
preventing him to go inside. Maybe to Ino everything was ok, but he wanted to
be sure for the chubby teen it was fine too.

�Chouji��

�Naruto, I don�t blame anything on you� Chouji turned towards him, and
closed his eyes threateningly. �But if you keep me from getting my meat, I will
have something to hold as a grudge on you alright�.

He then smiled, and Naruto smiled back.

�Let�s go eat then! We can have it on Neji�s too!� Naruto smirked
devilishly.

Chouji mimicked his smirk, and a second later they were gone inside.

��

Cepheus: dull
chapter, but it was needed. Please drop me a review!
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