The Plan

By Alden Hawke

 

Chapter 4: Training Match - Slip of the tongue

 Naruto sighed. Ino'd finally beaten him to the shower...

 "Ino... You really... annoy me sometimes..." he muttered, and fell asleep on his bed waiting.

 ~~~

 "WAKE UP NARUTO!!!" Ino's annoyingly loud voice broke through his quiet nap.

 "What d'ya want, Ino-chan..." he mumbled.

 "I need to TRAIN! And since my team's doing a MISSION, and I'm stuck with YOU, we might as well TRAIN TOGETHER!" she screamed.

 'She makes it seem like my fault...' he whined mentally.

 Then she practically yanked him out the door, and (pretty much) dragged him to the training area.

 ~~~

 After a small rest, the two got into fighting positions.

 "Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" he yelled, making a flurry of hand signs. Suddenly, Naruto was backed by four more. Ino readied her kunai.

 "Come on, Naruto!" she yelled, then shot her kunai towards him.

 ~~~

 Ino limped towards the house, supported by Naruto. 'Damn clones...' she thought bitterly. She had lost - badly. She hurt all over, and her head ached. She felt like she'd been attacked by a Jounin carrying a sledgehammer.

 "Why is it that everyone else has useful jutsu, and my main one is, well..."

 "Useless?" Naruto interjected helpfully. Ino whacked him with her hand lightly.

 "You could be a little more blunt, couldn't you?" she asked with biting sarcasm dripping from every syllable.

 "Well... Ino, couldn't you learn something new, or get a sword or something?" he asked nervously.

 "But-" she sputtered. He was telling her to put aside her family's traditional jutsu-

 "I mean, you should keep your weird mind control thing for secret missions and stuff, but you need to be able to fight!" he said before she could get angry.

 "Hmmm... A possibility..." she murmured, then drifted to pleasent nothingness.

 'Oi, Ino... Stayed up again last night, didn't you..." Naruto, sighed. The gentle 'flick' of Ino's pages kept him up too...

 "Well, whatever..." he muttered, stepping up to the door and heading in.

 ~~~

 Ino awoke with a splitting headache, and a sore back... "Stupid Naruto..." she muttered, pulling the pillow from under her back. She sat up and sighed. "What am I gonna do? All the others have their jutsu's, and I can't master an awesome jutsu in a little while... Besides, everyone else's taken all the good ones..." She smilind wryly, then snapped her fingers. "PERFECT! Thanks, Naruto!" she headed out the door, grabbing a coat and heading for downtown.

 ~~~

 At training the next day, Naruto complained. "Ino, why are you so excited? Yesterday you got beat up, and today won't be much diff-"

 "Today," she interjected, "We are trying something different. I am trying something, and your going to help me. No kunai, shuriken, or jutsu today. We're going to use these..." she pulled out a pair of-

 "TRAINING SWORDS!?!?"

 "That's right, Naruto. We'll be sparring. Since neither of us know anything about sword wielding, we have wooden swords, you see?" she smiled. "Now pick up your sword, and face me like a man!"

 "Okay, Ino!" He grinned, and shot at her, hitting her square on the forehead. "Ino! You're supposed to block!"

 "Oh... heh." she grined weakly, and altered her stance. She jumped and swung at him. He danced behind her and tapped her on the back. "The art of the blade is grace and fluid motion, not brute strength. That's left for axes." Naruto said, grining wider. Ino jumped backwards, flipping over him. He twisted around managing to hold his blade horizontally, holding her blade away from him as he landed. spinning, he stoped behind her yet again.

 This time, she was ready. She swung backwards, on one foot, her sword flying towards his face. He ducked under, bumping her slightly so that she fell. When she landed, he held his sword at her throat, and grinned. "Win," he said simply. He silently thanked himself for dedicating so much time to sword studies, which were (to him) much simpler than jutsu and kunai, etc.

 Ino was dumbfounded. How had screwup Naruto, who didn't have a skilled bone in his body, had time amidst his scurried training schedule to deal in swords?

 "I watched the samurai, when they came to the village for the festivals, and sometimes I asked them questions. I watched them train, too. One of them, the great Hotenmaru*, taught me sometimes. The thing I said before, too... They were nice, I guess," Naruto shrugged,. " I stopped watching them the year we had to graduate, had to train for the finals... I managed to pass somehow. Now, Ino, can we go home and sleep? We can train tomorrow..."

 "Sure, Naruto..." she muttered.

 ~~~

 Over the next two days they struggled, and finally...

 "That was awesome, Ino! You hit me three times, and you lasted a lot longer! I still hit you more and won, but you're doing great!" Naruto praised, but pouting anyways. How did she get so good so quickly? 'Well, probably 'cause she has soemone to practice with...' he thought to himself silently.

 "Thanks, Naruto!" she said grudgingly. Even if he was an idiot, he'd still been able to help her...

 "Hey, Sakura-chan!" Naruto suddenly focused his attention on another girl, and Ino sighed. At this rate, nothing would happen...

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