Chapter 36   - Ino Yamanaka

The academy just finished and Naruto, Hinata, and Yuna were currently on their way home. While Yuna had a rather casual smile on her face, Hinata and Naruto seemed to be rather awkward about something. They were constantly exchanging glances and then looked at Yuna, seemingly waiting for her to say something. Unfortunately, she never did say anything. After another few minutes of awkward walking, Hinata finally decided to say something.

"Err… Yuna, it seems someone is following us."

Yuna thought about it for a moment and then nodded her head. Truth be told, a total of four people were following them. The usual three and a new person. That person was Ino Yamanaka, who clearly wanted to talk to the trio, but didn't know how to start the conversation.

"I know, don't worry about it too much. After she manages to gather her courage, she will naturally come and talk with us."

"Gather her courage?"

Naruto and Hinata were naturally confused by that. If Hinata wanted, she could just activate her Byakugan and take a look at who is following them, but Yuna told her to not overly rely on it, since that would dull her skills.

"Yep, the person who is following us is actually…"

"Yuna, please wait a moment. I want to talk with you."

The trio turned around and Naruto's and Hinata's eyes widened in shock after seeing Ino Yamanaka appearing behind them. They both couldn't understand why she still wanted to talk with Yuna despite what happened yesterday. Yuna, on the other hand, wasn't that surprised. Despite how she acted during class she wasn't totally retarded. Now that her hero worship for Sasuke is gone, she should be able to think about her situation and realize how dangerous her behavior was. Skipping training to fawn over boys isn't really a good way to survive on a battlefield.

Yuna still had a casual smile as she answered Ino's request.

"Sure, I don't mind. I don't think you want to talk in the middle of the street, do you? Let's go to our house and we can talk after dinner."

Although Ino wasn't sure about the situation, for now, she only nodded her head in agreement. It took the four a few more minutes to reach their home and enter.

As soon as they reached their home, Yuna and Hinata went off to the kitchen to cook something, while Naruto sat down in the living room and started to meditate. Seeing that everyone was doing their own thing, Ino felt even more awkward.

"Err… Naruto, why aren't you helping with cooking."

A frown appeared on his face and he decided to just keep quiet. Unfortunately, for him, Yuna had heard Ino's question.

"It is because every time he cooks something, that isn't instant ramen, it turns out horrible."

Ino couldn't help but chuckle a little when she heard that and chuckled some more when she saw how Naruto's face turned slightly red after he heard Yuna's teasing.

Ino couldn't stifle her curiosity, so she directly asked the next question.

"Why did you start meditating?"

"Because that damn old man is especially grumpy today."

Ino didn't notice, but when Naruto said old man, he winced for a split second as if someone had just shouted into his ear.

"What???"

"Err… I mean err… don't worry about it."

Ino gave him a suspicion-filled glare, but Naruto already went back to meditating in an attempt to prevent further questioning. Unfortunately for him, he managed to awaken Ino's curiosity.

"Why do you look so different from Yuna, despite being twins?"

"Why wouldn't I? We just met on the streets someday and decided to become twins."

"Why is Hinata living here?"

"She is our daughter."

"Why does everyone hate you?"

"I am too good-looking, so people get envious and my sister is the reincarnation of a demon."

"Why do you two have whiskers?"

"It is the physical representation of the demon inside us."

"Didn't you say only your sister is the demon?"

"I said people are envious of how handsome I am and didn't say that there are no demons sealed inside me."

"Is anything of what you have just told me true?"

"No idea. If you could re-read my answers to me, I might be able to cherry-pick a truth or two out of it."

Ino couldn't help but pout angrily at Naruto since she received no information at all from her interrogation.

"Why aren't you telling me anything?"

A smirk appeared on Naruto's face, as he was prepared for that question. His face became solemn, as he pretended to be a wise man.

"A shinobi's greatest weapon is their secrets."

Ino got even angrier when Naruto acted like an old man teaching a child a life lesson. Naruto, however, thought that her angry face was rather cute. After all, when Yuna is angry at him, she just keeps smiling at him. An angry Yuna smiling at him is something that could appear in his nightmares. He has learned by now, that making Yuna angry is not a good idea.

While the two people were quarreling, Yuna reentered the living room and saw the spectacle before her. She couldn't help but smirk a little at such a good opportunity.

"Ohh, good job, Naruto. When is the wedding?"

Both of them started to blush, while their heads turned towards Yuna and glared at her.

"Haha, just look at you two, you are already completely in sync."

"Nee-san is that really necessary."

Seeing the despair in Naruto's eyes, Yuna chuckled a little and then shook her head.

"Fine, I will let you off easy this time, but it is not really my fault, that you try to seduce every woman that enters the house."

"N-NEE-SAN!!!"

"BWAHAHA, okay, okay I'm sorry, but did you see Ino's face when I said that? Absolutely priceless. Anyway Ino, there is no need to worry about Naruto. He wouldn't hurt a fly."

Naruto gave a sagely nod and decided to at least return some fire.

"That's right. Who you really should worry about is nee-san, who wants a harem of women for herself."

This information is actually something Naruto got from Kurama. Naruto was annoying the hell out of him and Kurama wanted something to distract Naruto. Gossip like this is just perfect for such a moment.

After hearing Naruto's words, her head immediately snapped towards Yuna. Ino expected her to deny it immediately, but Yuna didn't say anything since she was deep in thought.

'Is Naruto trying to counter my teasing? He sure has grown up, hasn't he? Oh well, he is a few million years too early to attempt teasing me.'

A perverted smile appeared on Yuna's face. She lifted both of her hands and started to wiggle her fingers like worms.

"Hehe, that's right, little girl. Why don't you come with aunt Yuna and I will show you something amazing, guhehe."

Ino couldn't help but recoil away from Yuna when she saw that display, while Naruto was completely dumbfounded as well.

'Who is this person and what did she do to my aloof nee-san?'

Seeing the shocked faces of the people in front of her, Yuna started laughing yet again.

"Hahaha, that sure got you good, didn't it?"

Ino was visibly relieved that Yuna was just playing a prank.

"I see, so you were actually acting and don't actually want an all-female harem, right?"

"Nono, that part was true, you know."

Ino could only look dumbfounded at the person, who boldly made such a statement, while Naruto felt that the aloof image of his nee-san was slowly crumbling.