Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Accidents Can Happen to You Too ❯ Every Avalanche Begins with a Snowball ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Knock. Knock.
Naruto hated knocking. People only knocked when they had bad news, or when Sakura-chan forgot her keys, just before smashing through the door in a fury.
He opened his eyes slowly, only to be blinded by the sun, making his hangover go from four alarm to five alarm in a hurry. (With his demon-reinforced constitution, drunk for him equals death from alcohol poisoning to most others.)His shoulder still ached from the brand they gave to all new members.

'Well Mr. Sun, as of yesterday I'm in ANBU and Hokage to be. My first S-rank mission: Buy curtains.'

Knock knock.

"Fine, fine," he mumbled, as he tumbled out of bed, stumbled to the door, and yanked it open to find his new ANBU commander standing on his doorstep.
"Hey, Shikamaru, what's hangin?" The lazy genius jounin merely looked his hyperactive new teammate up and down, and shook his head.
"You, apparently. You do realize you're buck naked, right?" He drawled. ‘How troublesome. Why would she be here of all places?'
At this Naruto looked down to see it was true.
"Very funny, this coming from a deer rancher. What do you want?"
"Have you seen Ino since last night? She never came home after the party, and Temari noticed you two were getting along for a while, and being that the woman's my best friend left, her mom asked me to look for her." he replied, almost wishing she were here so he could call off

"Nah, why would I know? Ino can't stand me, remember? To her I'm just a scruffy, slightly talented, whisker-faced, ramen-for-brains good-for-nothing perv who drove off Sasuke-kun and set to marry her best friend," Naruto quoted, doing a disturbingly accurate imitation of the troublesome blond woman, “The only reason she even talks to me while sober is so she can gloat that she made ANBU before me, even if she quit after three months, and because I can make Sakura-chan smile again, since that means lots of flowers and more of my hard earned mission money in her pocket."
"Whatever. She didn't make it home, and I'm worried. Don't tell that to her though, or she'll never let me live it down, troublesome girl." he drawled.
"Don't worry Nara, she may the bitchiest creature this side of wind country, but she knows how to take care of herself. Not to mention possessive as hell too, after fighting Temari in the jounin exam..." Naruto said with a sly wink.

Shikamaru winced at the memory. A taijutsu-only match turned catfight over him was rather worth the 150 ryous Naruto insisted he slip to Jiraiya to get the two matched up in the first round as well as to surreptitiously perform a Suiton jutsu to make it rain and turn the arena muddy, though it earned both boys cracked ribs when the girls caught wind of the ploy afterwards and Temari as the victor got to inflict the punishment.

"Alright, I'll keep looking, Temari insists I be a man and look out for the girl. Since Chouji's death, she tends to get depressed at parties until she gets drunk. Damn woman is almost as bad as you when it comes to freakish alcohol tolerance. Well seeya at the briefing tomorrow. Tsunade-sama's no doubt sleeping off a hangover worse than yours, so it was postponed." he said as the lazy genius ambled away.
"I know you care about her, so she'll be ok. Temari may have your ass in a sling, but Ino's precious in her own way too I guess." He whispered to himself as he shut the door, and slunk back to bed, pulling the blonde girl beside him closer as he went back to sleep.

Three hours later, once the sake's effects had partially fled and his mind began chugging once more, and he felt a weight on his chest did that simple fact present itself.
Blonde girl. Beside him.
Not pink, which ruled out his Sakura-chan, since she was out on a mission to grass country with her genin team for another two days.
Not blue, so certainly not Hinata, though she had truly blossomed in the nine years since they were genin together, and despite their two year courtship which ended amicably a year ago, having her would be almost worth Kiba breaking his jaw again, engaged or not.
Not brown, so definitely not Tenten. As Lee's deadly new wife, she was the only one who can shut him up when he goes off on his rants about 'Youth Power,' not to mention every time they fight he downs a Sake bottle and trashes downtown Konoha; something Naruto would rather not be the cause of again; Tsunade always made sure he got stuck with the bill.
Not black, so it can't be Kurenai or Shizune, no matter how many fantasies involved the crimson-eyed woman or Tsunade's annoyingly cute assistant.
Tsunade? Nope, he could distinctly feel that whoever this girl is, she possessed nowhere near the Hokage's 'bountiful' attributes, not to mention it was plain wrong on so many levels, being his big sister/surrogate mother after all. Whew.
Temari, maybe? Since Akatsuki had been almost completely wiped out last year, she had been shuttling back and forth as Gaara's delegate on the Konoha village council, along with Neji her counterpart, as part of the Sand-Leaf alliance, and she certainly had the highest opinion of him next to Sakura herself for bringing her family back together, and Gaara would approve of his older sister in a relationship with precious few others than Shikamaru and Naruto himself.
He opened his eyes once more to see a shapely head resting on his bare chest, sporting a single cornflower yellow ponytail, as opposed to Temari's sandy quartered locks, willowy pale arms encircling him, one shoulder sporting the red swirl mark denoting a current or former leaf Anbu member (Temari was neither of those), the arm it was attached to crisscrossed with thin white scars.
Damn. And he had been hoping it was Temari if it couldn't be Sakura-chan. She was spunky.
Wait, she couldn’t be here anyways, she had been the one to insist that the lazyass Shika search for...no. Oh no. Not her, certainly not her, not the troublesome, flower-obsessed, former Sasuke-groupie, can't-stay-in-a-relationship-worth-beans, ramen hater of the year!
He tapped her lightly on the head, and was rewarded by a contented moan. Scowling, he poked again. This time, the head angled upwards, as beautiful aquamarine eyes, foggy with sleep, met his own.

"Hey, Ino. Fun night, huh?"
"Oh, Kami-sama." She whispered before...
"Gahhhhhh...!" she shrieked, pulling herself off him, then realizing they were both naked as the day they were born, she shrieked again, louder until his ears rang. He certainly had time to take in detail all the 'changes' she had gone through since their preteens, not the least of which was that she had filled out rather nicely. Her face had lost much of her baby fat to be certainly angular enough to be considered beautiful, a lithe gorgeous body, deceptively skinny arms, (she was a veritable demon with that ninjato of hers), and shapely toned legs which went on forever down below.
In parallel, she noticed he had indeed matured as well, even if she certainly didn't want to. Muscular toned chest and arms, oddly free from the scars their profession should inflict, except, she noticed with a cringe, five-lined scratch marks crisscrossed his abs, which could have only inflicted by herself, while his hair was untamable as ever, and his whisker-like birthmarks stood out as always.
Once she was out of breath, or realized she had made herself partially deaf, she sat down on the bed as far away from him as she could, wrapped herself up in his bedspread, looked at him with scandalous eyes and asked as a simple question.

"Did we?"
"I think we did. Did you enjoy it?" He asked bluntly. He had matured much in his years as a shinobi; however his tactfulness only functioned in Sakura's presence.
"How should I know? I must've been stone drunk out of my mind to sleep with you of all people! What have I done?" She began to hyperventilate as all the ramifications began to sink in at this realization, as she rocked back and forth whimpering, her legs folded up against her.

Well aware of his duties as a man at that point, Naruto scooted over, put his arm around her shoulders and tried his best to calm her down. She initially tensed at his touch, but figuring they were past keeping up barriers now, being naked and all that implied, she slowly leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder. She may officially hate him, but he was good in a pinch nonetheless.
"Shh...We just made a mistake. It's not the end of the world," he whispered.
"Is it?" She looked back at him with a look of anger and self-loathing, tears welling up in her eyes, "We just cheated on Sakura for Kami's sake! Remember? My best friend, your fiancé?"

Naruto went wide-eyed at that. He hadn't even begun to realize how much this was going to ruin his pink-haired sweetheart, not to mention one of his most trusted friends. He'd worked his ass off for the last nine years to win people's respect, and it had paid off yesterday at the ANBU party when Tsunade announced that he was her chosen successor when she retired. This could only turn out to hurt so many people if it ever came out, so it had to stay secret

"Then we keep it a secret," he suggested, "W-we get cleaned up, I take you home, and we never speak of it again."
"We're just gonna sweep it under the rug, is that it? We got drunk and screwed each other, and just pretend it never happened?"
"I don't hear you coming up with any better ideas. You want to be the one to tell Sakura-chan, or should I? I can just picture it now: the two people she trusts to never hurt her just up and hurt her by doing each other. There goes the last shred of trust she has in anyone."
"Fine, I get the shower first. You just get dressed and think up a good excuse to tell my folks."


Ten minutes later, the great mind-boggling genius that was Uzumaki Naruto came up with a brilliant solution: smile and nod.

"Smile and nod. Smile. And. Nod. How the hell did you even make jounin, let alone Hokage candidate?" Ino shrieked, fixing her wraps and tugging on her purple blouse.
"By saving your beautiful bitchy tushy in the mission completion section of the exam, and being an all around good guy." he countered with a foxy grin. Arguing with Ino was strangely like arguing with Kyuubi, he thought with a shudder.
'Because we both must deal with your idiocy. This time however, I must congratulate you on your choice of mates, kit. She's feistier than the pink one, she will yield strong pups. Loud, yet strong.'
'Quiet you!'
"Whatever, I'm going. I figure if I just show up alone at the flower shop looking presentable, no one's the wiser. When's she getting back?"
"Sakura? Day after tomorrow."
"Fine. By then, we better have completely forgotten about this and NOT A WORD TO SAKURA." she ordered as she slipped out the door with as much grace as she could muster in her fowl mood.
"I'm a better liar than you think" 'I've kept quiet about you all these years, after all.'
'You should have gone missing-nin long ago, if you still think your comrades cannot handle after all this time the simple fact that your tenant is a great Youkai.'
'What did I say? For that, you miss out on Gaara's next demon therapy trip.'
'Hmph. Just because you don’t like to kill means I have to wait until you go hunting with the vessel of that pathetic tanuki. Bastard.'
'I'll reconsider if you tell me what went on in the time I can't remember.'
'My pleasure.' At which point Kyuubi displayed to him every detail of his night of passion with Ino.
I didn't mean that part-hey, six no, seven times in one night? I am a machine!'
'You are known among the females for your impressive stamina, are you not?'
'Oh yeah...hey! Back to the party. Ok, so after the announcement, she downed a bottle, I guess to avoid thinking about Chouji, then matched me shot for shot, challenged one of my Kage Bunshins to arm wrestling, darts...hey; she's really fun when she's not all antagonistic. Pity she's not like that all the time.'
'She has unexpected complexity, this female. I sense the antagonism to be a ruse, her aura is too intense to be such a simplistic creature, she holds undeniable pain in her soul.'
'Well, she can take care of herself. I'm going back to bed and try to forget I'm a cheater. If you like the girl so much, I'll set you two up on a date, how about that?'


"Why did I do it?" Ino scolded herself once again.

It had now been three weeks since that night, and she couldn’t push it out of her mind. Since quitting the ANBU after that disastrous first mission, and taking over Iruka's class at the academy, now that he finally made the jump to Jounin, her new students were noticing that she was often distracted, not to mention she kept throwing up every morning. Was she allergic to her own flowers? She kept wondering to herself as she now tended the store on weekends for her mother to pay for rent.

Ever since turning eighteen, her relationship with her parents had steadily worsened, until her parents could no longer stand her whiney tantrums and insisted she now pay rent, since she was the only one remaining of the rookie of her year who still lived at home. Ino shuddered to think of her fate if her parents ever got wind of the party's aftermath. Dammit, thinking of the party got her thinking about Naruto again!

Ever since they had pulled off possibly the greatest secret (in her mind) in Konoha history, she couldn't help but wonder if Naruto wasn't really as bad as she made him out to be. Sure he can be sweet at times, but she made sure he never got a chance to hit on her, so he got more venom pitched his way than he probably deserved; even Sakura had come up to her once to ask her to be nicer. But of course her mind ended up right back at that night. She still couldn't remember much of the details of the party, or afterwards...but the fact that she couldn't even remember her first time bothered her greatly. Chouji had been dead barely a year since that mission, and the formerly rotund boy had been her support through everything, much like Naruto must be for Sakura, she mused. Ever since his death she didn't dare let anyone close, not Shikamaru, (she still blamed Temari for her failing to make Jounin her first time through, and for taking her oldest friend away from her), not Neji, the gorgeous bishonen cared for her even less than Sasuke-kun ever did, nor bug boy Shino for all his mystery, and especially not that damned Naruto. The painful fact that all her relationships prior to now failed due to her own prickly personality was something she was still in denial about.

"Bah, men. Who needs them? I'm a kick-ass kunoichi, and former Anbu. I've been trained to fight and kill since before I had my period and woe betide anyone who thinks I need anyone." she announced to her empty shop, right before her breakfast ended up all over the counter.

'What the hell? It's been like this every morning, and I’m still late...oh no, I am not pregnant. I can't be I just can’t!' She repeated to herself as she cleaned up the mess, and then on her lunch break took off like a shot to the pharmacy to settle this once and for all.


Hinata was surprised, to say the least, to see Ino walk into the Akimichi's pharmacy. She had doubtless been here before when they were kids, since Chouji-san's mother owned the place, so maybe she had come to reminisce with her employer, or perhaps Ino's rumored fainting spell the other day at the academy was more serious than the blue haired girl considered.
"Good day, Ino-san." she uttered in greeting, spooking the blond girl, who stared at her with abject horror for some reason. "May I help you?"
"Uh, n-no, Hinata-chan, I'm just looking around. W-what are you doing here?" Ino asked, with uncharacteristic nervousness.
'Damn, that Byakugan can see everything, maybe she knows already! Get a grip, Yamanaka...she's a friend.'
"Ano, I work here. Tsunade-sama suggested it since I have a talent for medicine preparation and could stand some experience working for Akimichi-san when I'm not on missions or teaching. Are you alright? You seem rather unsettled."
"I'm fine! I'm not pregnant!" she shrieked, immediately clamping her hand tightly over her mouth as she turned bright red.
Hinata was too shocked for words.
'Ino's not even married, this can not end well. Oh dear.'
"P-pregnancy tests are in the b-back. If you need anything or someone to t-talk to, I w-won't tell a soul."
"Thank you, Hinata-chan, but it's probably just the flu," Ino replied as she quickly grabbed the nearest kit and shoved it in the other girl’s direction to have it rung up, before zipping out again, as it began to rain.
'I hope its good news, Ino-san.'


"Let it just be my diet, let it just be my diet," she kept repeating to herself as was her habit when faced with inevitable truth she’d rather hide from, sitting on the bathroom floor, instructions in one hand, test stick in another.
"I'm...pregnant." she uttered to herself as the test answered positive. In the back of her mind it had been an ever present possibility. Naruto was always the careless type when it came to little details and, truth be told, it had been her idea to use him at the time, in her own twisted brand of escapism.
She had planned her life out from the beginning: get into the Anbu, use her heritage to become the best infiltrator she could, work her way up to commander, marry Sasuke (after his betrayal she had fallen for Chouji, and fallen hard), and start a family, but the brutal death of her sweetheart right in front of her shattered all her childish notions that she could be an assassin like that, and she turned in her mask the day she got out of the hospital.
On the suggestion of her grief counselor, which happened to be Sakura, she had thrown herself into teaching, to get some meaning back into her life, and avoid cutting herself off any further. Tenten had to positively drag her to this year's Anbu party. Said party had come on the first anniversary of his death, and despite her self-promise to save herself for marriage, it seemed rather obvious in her mind she'd be alone forever, so she had rashly decided to give away the last thing she that she still cared about and ever could before she gave up on her dreams, which led to being in bed with her own best friend's fiancé, and this moment of truth. She could at least accomplish one last dream, and be a mother, if she can possibly raise the kid.
Right at that moment her own mother came in to change the towels.

"What was that dear? Oh! What are you doing with that, Yamanaka Ino?" No good ever came from her mom using her full name.
"I was curious?" Very Narutoish answer, Ino. He must’ve rubbed off on you, dammit'
"Who's the father?" her mother asked sternly, turning scarlet as she saw the result.
“…”
“Answer me!”
"Uzumaki Naruto...and I'm keeping it." she whispered, her eyes to the floor, unable to meet her mother's gaze.
At this her mother went livid, as she usually did whenever Naruto was ever mentioned.
"Inoshi!"
"Yes dear," Ino's father had a similar reaction when he too noticed what the girl was holding in her hands.
"Who's the father?" her father asked with quiet fury.
"Uzumaki Naruto knocked your daughter up, Inoshi! That demon has tainted your own daughter and she's keeping it!"
‘Demon?’ the ‘tainted’ daughter wondered.
"You are cut off, young lady," her father decreed, "pack your things and leave this house at once."
"But daddy-"
"Don't 'but daddy' me, Ino. You're always spouting off how we should treat you as an adult. It's time you learned some responsibility and made your own way. You are no longer welcome here."
"But I've got nowhere to go!" she argued.
"That's no longer our problem. I'm sorry, honey," he said, before turning and walking out on his daughter. His wife glared at Ino, before turning tail and walking out also.

At about this exact time, Ino decided that her life had officially gone to hell, and began to weep inwardly as outwardly she picked herself up along with the tattered remains of her pride and headed to the suitcase closet. She may not be able to live at home, but there really was someplace else if she thought about it and the academy was first on her list.


"Yum, home-made pork ramen!" Naruto announced with gusto, as he sidled up to the dinner table. His latest mission had been a spectacular success: take out Tsunade's stalker, who out to be an Akatsuki flunky. Even without the nine in charge, their legions of cannon fodder and hired psychos drifted back to other ways to spread chaos, and this one ended up being his first solo assassination. ‘And it’s about damn time, too.’
'Now you see why murder never bothered me?'
"But this was a baddie, you damn furball, it doesn't bug me when the baddies die." Naruto countered, his mouth full of noodles, “And didn't you always eat your opponents?"

He talked to Kyuubi out loud when he was alone; it seemed like he was really talking to someone that way and even after winning over his childhood crush, he still fell back on his old habits when she wasn't around. Over time the vicious demon had grown to begrudgingly respect the boy, who during the Akatsuki mission had weaseled the demon into promising never to attempt escape even if the seal had been broken, knowing that it was bound to its word for eternity. Kyuubi accepted, once Gaara invited Naruto along to take part in annually hunting down large and fearsome game to satisfy their demons' pent up bloodlust.

'Double standards? I never guessed you to be such a closet sophist. Perhaps we can debate sometime?'
"Doesn't that just mean I'm a hair-splitter?" Jiraiya's teachings included a smattering of philosophy, trying to broaden his apprentices view on the world. The funny words stuck at least.
'This from a man who lies to his betrothed about copulating with the village tramp.'
"I didn't lie, because Sakura-chan didn't ask. And Ino is not the village tramp! She just has shitty luck with men. And we’re a tight bunch, so word gets around between us too easily. Hell, even Sakura thinks she’s still a virgin for all her gloating, and who would know her better than her best friend?"
'You would. Every inch of her.' countered the demon with a vulpine smirk.
"You're just smirky because you like her and she can't even know you exist."
'That's simply because she has fire and would make an excellent mother for your brood...'
"What's that supposed to mean? D-Did I knock her up?"
He dared not consider that before, and it showed now as alarm. The thought of making anyone's life worse through his own carelessness scared him more often as his responsibilities increased and more people became affected by his choices.

'I can certainly hope. All of your offspring will be affected by my presence in you, so your pups are in a way mine as well. Therefore, being inside you, I made some changes to your seed giving them better than normal chances of survival. They will all be human, of course, but they will have my some of my blood running through their veins. Isn't it your dearest wish to be part of a clan, to have a family of your own? In this manner, your offspring will inherit my power and yours, an awe-inspiring birthright to rival most of your puerile bloodline limits and fill you with pride. She should be honored if she's carrying your firstborn, even if she does not yet know its potential.'

Naruto was dizzy, to say the least.
"You could've asked me first! Tsunade's gonna kill me if I give her demonic grandchildren. And what about Ino, what if her parents find out she's pregnant? With me the father, who knows how they'll react, they could throw her out or something! And what about Sakura-chan, I haven't a clue how to tell her I knocked up the closest she's ever had to a sister."

'Do not worry, other than inheriting your whiskers, and carrying a demon child of mine one a generation or so, they would not show any outward sign of their gifts, and the first time is rarely successful, correct?'

"I hope for our sakes you're right.” And with that, the thought was banished from his mind, as he read the note he had taken off the fridge.
Need to talk after your poker game. - Sakura.
"Uh oh, please let it be good news"


"I take it the test was positive?" Hinata whispered as she turned on the lights in the darkened classroom to find an exhausted looking Ino sleeping at her desk.
"Wha-?" Ino replied as she bolted upright with an audible crack, "Hey, Hinata-chan."
"What are you doing here?"
"I forgot some papers that needed grading. Why are you sleeping in your own classroom, and why are there suitcases in the janitor's closet? Your parents threw you out, didn't they? I'm sorry."
"Good guess. Neji taught you all about reading people, hmm?"
"Indeed. I would invite you to stay with me, but I only have a tiny apartment, barely big enough for me as it is." she explained sadly, "Ano, if you're pregnant, you should sleep in a real bed, that can't be good for the baby."
"You might be right, I've been here for a week, but even I can't sleep like this forever. Please don't tell anyone, Ok? I've got a reputation to protect."
"My honor as a Hyuuga, Ino-san, but you really should consider staying with the father."
"Really? We don't get really along and-"
"Are you keeping the baby?"
"Of course!"
"Would the father support it and you if the need arose?"
"He's not the type to shirk a duty, but-"
"Then learn to get along, because that baby will need both of you."
"Why couldn't she still stutter and shy away?" Ino grumbled as she picked up her things and followed the blue haired girl out.
"Because when we were together, Naruto-kun taught me the value of being otherwise."
"Damn Hyugas and their sharp ears!"


"Alright, aces and eights are wild this round. Meatball, you deal." Naruto declared as his anbu unit and fiance prepared for another nightlong round of poker in his living room.
"Right, Fox." the dark-haired weapons mistress replied as she tossed cards to Naruto, Shikamaru, and Sakura. It was a compromise ever since Sakura came home one time and threatened to tell Tsunade-sama about the game if they didn't let her play too.(Tsunade never gave up when it came to trying to trounce Naruto, Konoha's infamous Cardsharp, no matter how many people ended up getting IOUs from the Hokage in the process.)
"Hey Pineapple, how's Ino doing? I hear she's been out of sorts since the party." Tenten asked Shikamaru, using his anbu codename.
"I don't quite know, but I'm worried anyways She's not the most open person these days, and doesn't like to talk about her problems, but I sense her life is turning truly troublesome ever since the ANBU party.
"Hinata mentioned in passing the other day that she knows something potentially distressing about Ino, but she'd sworn to tell no details. She works at the Akimichi Pharmacy, so it could possibly be medical related. Illness or pregnancy perhaps?" Sakura offered.
"Ino? Pregnant? Who would the father be?" inquired Tenten, laughing incredulously at anyone hanging around the loud and scary girl long enough to knock her up.
"That reminds me Naruto, I've got something to tell you later." Sakura purred.
At this, Naruto's ears perked up as a vague chilly dread surrounded his heart while his tenant chuckled at the irony.


Ino felt more alone then she'd ever been, as she trudged through the pouring rain, echoing her misery. There was no place she could go, her 'winning' personality garnered her few friends willing to take in a disowned unwed mother-to-be, and no hotel she could afford had any vacancies.
And the rain was cold. Depressingly cold. She hated rain at night.
She could rant and scream as best she could in this downpour, but in the end it came down to her being alone. She played with the idea of asking the Hokage for an advance on her teaching salary or her mission pay, even though now as a mere chuunin since her voluntary demotion and an academy teacher to boot, she wasn't assigned many these days, but that would have to wait till morning anyways, and with Sakura as Tsunade's former apprentice, she was hesitant about talking to any medical staff for fear word would leak back to the pink-haired girl.
"Damn rain, damn parents, and damn you Naruto!"
Naruto. What little she remembered from the party centered on him like flies to syrup. She wasn't proud about using him to silence her own ghosts and forget the ache of loneliness for awhile, but he was the willing sort when someone needed him, and he didn't bear grudges unless you were Sasuke-kun.
Sasuke...She still blamed Naruto a bit for the death of her former crush, even if the blond boy had merely helped to pin the dreaded Itachi long enough for Sasuke to use that murder-suicide jutsu he stole from Orochimaru to take his brother to hell with him.
Thinking about Itachi inevitably led to thinking of his partner, the infamous shark like Hoshigaki Kisame, her dear Chouji's killer. The former team 10 had all joined the Anbu at the same time, even Shikamaru, at Ino's own urging even though as new jounins that was not recommended. Their first mission had been to hunt down the Hidden Mist missing-nin who for years had survived Konoha's defeat of the Akatsuki, and who even while outnumbered still managed to shred her arm with his fearsome Samehade, nearly tear Shikamaru's leg off, and forced Chouji to resort to his family's weapon of last resort, the three pills, to finish him off, even if he died in the process from both the toxic effect of the pills and being impaled by the shark man's fearsome blade in a particularly gruesome display of bloodshed, which permanently traumatized the poor girl, who never took a mission above B rank again.
That led to her of having to endure weeks of counseling from Sakura, who was too cheerful for her own damn good, on account of getting engaged to a certain blond jounin.
It always came back to Naruto.
Like it or not, he'd never refuse a cry for help, though she loathed the thought of asking him, even if that little voice in her head urged her to seek his shelter.
He's a sucker for people down on their luck anyways, most of his life was spent living in a shithole after all, so of course he could empathize, and this was his baby too, so of course he'd never shirk responsibility if he wanted to live. She mentally kicked herself for not thinking of it earlier, as she ran through the storm, a lone figure with two small suitcases holding all she had in this world, other than what was growing inside her.
'If he doesn't take me in, I'm castrating him with the dullest kunai I can find!'
In her singled-minded task, she never noticed a cloaked figure following silently behind, sporting a white ponytail and owlish spectacles.
Kabuto had been keeping tabs on Naruto ever since Uchiha’s death crushed his master’s plans. Since taking over Naruto’s body was rendered impossible while he carried a demon, Orochimaru’s backup plan had been to possess one of the Kyuubi brat’s children once word of his engagement became known, and now that he had impregnated a girl with a bloodline, this would be an added bonus to the snake sennin’s plans. The traitorous medic smiled evilly into the darkness.
“Orochimaru-sama. Your vengeance is once again possible…”


"Thank you, Sakura; he was getting to be quite troublesome. Damn sore winner." Shikamaru commended as Sakura won the last round with a four of a kind to Naruto's full house.
"Hey, Sakura-chan! Why'd you go and pull that stunt?"
"Because you were betting with Ichiraku Ramen coupons, and as your future wife, I'm committed to have you eating healthier, therefore you simply have to lose, and I warned you I'm greedy," The pink-haired woman explained as she leaned over and kissed him.
Naruto's grumbles in response were drowned out by knocking at the door.
"Get the door Fox, it's your house." Shikamaru drawled at the sound of the knocking, which sounded rather insistent.
Naruto opened the door to find a soaking wet, very bedraggled Ino dripping on his door step, a tattered suitcase in each hand and wearing not much more than a light jacket over her clothes, her old ANBU ninjato strapped to her back. Her makeup had run and her hair had come out of its ponytail, her light blond hair matted against her face, which was flushed as she swayed back and forth on her feet.
"Hi everyone. Naruto, can I stay with you?" Naruto, Sakura, and Shikamaru were both taken aback to see the usually fearless, forceful girl whisper in desperation in her voice, and maybe even a little fear. Even Tenten, who didn't know her as well, was surprised by the blond girl's demeanor.
"Uh...sure." He had expected as much from the suitcases, but decided now was not a good time to argue.
"Thank you," and with that she fainted, right into the fox man’s arms.
"Dammit, she must be burning up," Sakura remarked as she and Tenten sprang up from the table as Naruto picked the girl up and made his way to his spare bedroom, while Shikamaru quickly retrieved the baggage and followed.


"Will she be ok Sakura-chan?"
Ino looked so pale and weak; it almost scared him to see such a strong girl so completely vulnerable, while Shikamaru couldn't stop pacing.
'Snap out of it, Naruto! She's not your girl, but whatever happened to her is your fault,' he scolded himself.
"Just keep her warm, its just mild hypothermia and exhaustion. I'm surprised she came here though. It looks like she moved out in a hurry." she guessed, sitting on the bed next to the sleeping blonde, while Tenten laid a warm compress on the girl's forehead.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. I think her parents must've kicked her out or something, if she brought even her sword along. It's ok if she stays, right?"
Sakura nodded in agreement, as she noticed something in Ino's pocket, and pulled it out.
"Probably because of this," she wondered out loud. The three anbu looked at what she held in her hand, and Naruto paled. It was a home pregnancy test stick.

It was positive.

"Huh. Someone knocked her up after all." Tenten remarked.
"And of course they will be slaughtered in short order once I find them." Shikamaru added, his rarely seen protective streak showing. Sakura was grinning evilly at this point.
"What a conincidence...That's what I wanted to talk to you about, Naruto. Remember that night before my mission to grass country...? We're going to be parents too, isn't that great? Naruto-kun?"
Too late, he had already fainted.

Here's my next contribution to the great het triangle InoNaruSaku. It'll be completed as I can get to it over summer semester, so please R&R. If anyone's OOC, its been almost a decade, and alot of things have happened to change some people's worldviews, not to mention life is dropping bombshells.

Next chapter: Is Naruto and Ino's secret blown?
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