Ino's Terror

Seeing Ino's reaction now, it seemed she had remembered what Naruto had done to her.

Naruto remembered it vividly as well.

Not long after arriving in this world, Naruto had needed an opportunity to "change" his attitude toward the village. Ino Yamanaka had unfortunately walked right into the line of fire.

The conflict between Naruto and Ino had also started because of Sakura.

Back then, Sakura had confessed to Sasuke again. Naturally, the result had been the same as her first confession when she was seven or eight: failure.

Naruto had unfortunately become a witness—again.

And this time, there had been one more witness: Ino Yamanaka.

But Ino Yamanaka had not known the full story and had only assumed Naruto had made Sakura cry.

Although the two girls had long become romantic rivals because they both liked Sasuke and had not spoken to each other for a long time.

Both Ino Yamanaka and Sakura knew that their friendship was not something so easily discarded.

So Ino Yamanaka had angrily confronted Naruto and hurled insults at him.

At the time, Naruto had racked his brains but found no reasonable way to change the higher-ups' view of him.

Ino Yamanaka's emotional behavior toward Naruto had been a tremendous help.

Because of her, Naruto had been able to turn his terrible attitude toward the village into "indifference" and "confusion"—then gradually become who he was now.

As for what Naruto had done to her...

He had not done much. He had merely slapped the then-unreasonable Ino.

The slap mark on her face had brought Inoichi Yamanaka to the school the next day.

As her homeroom teacher, Mizuki had specifically sought out Sakura and let everyone learn the truth.

Perhaps unwilling to take that slap for nothing, with her father beside her to back her up, Ino had started pestering Naruto again...

Then Naruto had slapped Ino again right in front of Inoichi Yamanaka.

Of course, the second slap had been intentional too.

Naruto had not expected Inoichi Yamanaka to come to the school, so he had simply slapped Ino again in front of him—

—It was rare for Naruto to encounter a Konoha higher-up so "coincidentally." He had to reveal his desire to "turn over a new leaf" through emotions of "seeing through it all" and "letting go."

Naruto's unexpected encounter with Inoichi Yamanaka had happened because his daughter had been "bullied" by Naruto, and Naruto had even done it again right in front of Inoichi Yamanaka—

—Yet Inoichi Yamanaka had shown remarkable tolerance. It was through that conversation with him that Naruto had made the Third begin to change his opinion of him.

Thinking about it carefully, Ino Yamanaka had contributed greatly to Naruto receiving the Third's subtle support in the beginning, which had restrained Danzo from making another move against him.

Ino Yamanaka could be said to deserve much of the credit.

Looking at it that way, he should have thanked Ino Yamanaka.

Naruto came back to his senses and looked at Ino's current expression.

Frightening her was enough.

Naruto had just been about to let the matter drop and call Sakura away with him.

But Ino still forced herself to endure her fear of Naruto and spat out a threat.

With the Chunin Ninja Exams imminent, Naruto had little interest in dealing with Ino any further.

A little girl's threats meant nothing to Naruto.

Naruto needed to avoid every possible complication. Just as he had considered before, every possible unexpected circumstance had to be eliminated before the Chunin Ninja Exams officially began.

But Ino's threat happened to be something Naruto could not ignore now.

—"I really don't understand how someone who couldn't even properly use the Three-Body Technique suddenly became a Genin. Someone like you, becoming a ninja, will only end up as a rogue ninja someday!"

Ino's words did not mean she had put much thought into saying them, nor did she truly believe them.

She simply felt that a threat had to be ruthless enough.

So she said whatever would make things sound the most serious.

And there was the unexpected circumstance.

Naruto, who had already started to leave, walked straight up to Ino with that expressionless face.

Looking at Naruto's face so close to her own, along with that expression she had seen before and would never forget for the rest of her life.

The courage Ino had forced herself to summon collapsed in an instant.

Her whole body trembled. Rarely dropping her domineering manner, she stood there helplessly in a vulnerable state.

"Naruto!"

Shikamaru Nara spoke up then, frowning at Naruto.

Naruto ignored Shikamaru. He raised a hand toward Ino.

Noticing that Naruto's movement was exactly the same as before, Ino forgot that even if she did not dare resist Naruto, she could still run away...

...Ino immediately shut her eyes in fear, instinctively choosing to endure whatever Naruto was about to do to her.

Yet the pain she had expected did not strike her face.

Naruto's hand rested on Ino's left cheek. Her body had gone cold from fear, making the heat radiating from the palm against her already chilled cheek feel even more intense.

Only then did Ino cautiously open her eyes. The moment she did, her gaze collided with Naruto's.

Naruto still wore that indifferent expression.

Ino did not even dare move her face away, allowing Naruto to continue touching her.

"Hey, Ino. I have a question, and I hope you'll answer honestly. What is Team 10 planning to do now?"

There was neither threat nor plea in Naruto's question.

Only a calm tone, yet it made Ino answer without holding anything back. "Asuma-sensei was originally going to take us out for barbecue, but he suddenly said he had something urgent to do and left. We're about to go get barbecue ourselves."

"What a coincidence. Sakura and I were just discussing what to eat for lunch."

Naruto looked toward Choji, who was still eating potato chips beside them. "Could you take Sakura and me along? I'll pay for the barbecue, and Choji can eat as much as he wants."

"Really?! That's great!"

With food as bait, there was no way Choji could refuse.

"What do you say, Shikamaru?"

Naruto asked for Shikamaru's opinion as well.

"Hey, hey, Choji, can't you see what's going on here...?"

Shikamaru first expressed his dissatisfaction with how easily Choji had been bought over.

But perhaps because it was too troublesome, Choji probably had not noticed the tension between Ino and Naruto at all.

In the end, Shikamaru did not voice his displeasure.

Then, with those listless eyes, Shikamaru glanced at Ino, who was completely at Naruto's mercy, before looking at Naruto. "Naruto, Ino didn't mean any harm."

"Neither did I."

Just as Naruto had said, he bore Ino no ill will. Everything he was doing now was merely meant to frighten her.

As for kindly treating Team 10 to barbecue, that was also so he could spend more time intimidating Ino and keep her from mentioning what she had just said—that "Naruto equals a rogue ninja"—to anyone else.

At the very least, she could not say it again before the Chunin Ninja Exams began.

"...What a pain. If I'd known it would be this troublesome, I shouldn't have been too lazy to stop Ino from talking nonsense earlier."

"So, Shikamaru, your opinion..."

"I have no objection. Ino was the one talking nonsense this time, and she was in the wrong first. It wouldn't hurt to make her remember why you made her cry before. We're all Genin now. We're no longer little brats at the Ninja Academy who can say whatever they want."

Shikamaru chose to agree as well.

Finally, Naruto fixed his attention on Ino.