A few years ago a friend of mine and I were talking and we created many dumb ideas. One of those was what eventually became my long form, now epic length, AU Sakura Litrpg Fanfic. Another was this, a short romance between Naruto and Ino, based around the whole idea of messing with Sakura. It’d quickly forget that plot, like many teeny dares do, in favor of something sweeter.
I’ve decided to twist it a little bit. This is my first actual romance piece, and I also want to train my word choice and consistency. I’ve noticed my text is too flowery as of late, and I want to fix that. This story will be told exclusively in 300-450 (mostly 450) word snippets that I will g…
A few years ago a friend of mine and I were talking and we created many dumb ideas. One of those was what eventually became my long form, now epic length, AU Sakura Litrpg Fanfic. Another was this, a short romance between Naruto and Ino, based around the whole idea of messing with Sakura. It’d quickly forget that plot, like many teeny dares do, in favor of something sweeter.
I’ve decided to twist it a little bit. This is my first actual romance piece, and I also want to train my word choice and consistency. I’ve noticed my text is too flowery as of late, and I want to fix that. This story will be told exclusively in 300-450 (mostly 450) word snippets that I will generate on a daily basis. I’ll not pretend I’m going to update this every single day, my schedule just doesn’t work like that, but it will get the appropriate amount of updates for the time period over an average.
You just flat out aren’t meant to take this that seriously, so please just enjoy.
(All of my work has a Patreon and Ko-fi and Discord), in this particular case, Patrons are about a week ahead since I started this story 11 days ago and this first chapter is Snippet 1, 2, 3, and 4 rolled into one. Future updates should just be one scene at a time, so if you think that sounds annoying, that’s okay. For everyone else? Enjoy.
"Is Sasuke around?" Ino asks as she slips into the tree-filled field that makes up Team Seven’s training grounds. Her bright eyes take in only her pink haired rival, sitting against a tree with her arms squeezing her leg to her chest. She’s always caved in on herself like that when no one’s around, it’s what made her want to be her friend in the first place.
That friendship has gone places, and many of them are bad. "He doesn’t want you; you should give up on Sasuke and go after someone more on your level." Her oldest friend gives her a triumphant grin, snapping out of her shy stupor upon realizing that someone’s here. She’s proud of herself. She’s even prouder of what she says next. "Maybe date Naruto or something, he’d be great for you, Ino Pig."
Ino regrets many things. She regrets how her friendship with Sakura ended. She regrets that her interest in Sasuke caused her to casually sacrifice parts of her ninja development and she went and disappointed daddy by scoring poorly in the final exams. She regrets that even as her affection wanes, she still finds her heart yearning for the stoic and rude boy that can’t even be bothered to remember her name. "Maybe I will." Ino’s response to her bright green-eyed friend stops her in her tracks. Ino’s cocky grin and the way her palm lands on her hip as she leans confidentially on her right leg sends her ex-friend for a mental loop that doesn’t stop. Mostly, Ino regrets that she no longer messes with Sakura every chance she gets, there was a time when that was her favorite hobby.
"I didn’t mean that, I was being mean, you deserve someone like Shikamaru, not Naruto, don’t actually date that idiot." Confusion laces Sakura’s features.
"I’m going to do that." Ino asserts again, digging her heel into the dirt. Her elegantly cared for blonde hair sways a little in the wind as if the world knows she’s making a dramatic stand on a hill she’s prepared to die on. "And when Sasuke keeps ignoring you, you’ll realize even Naruto has a date, but you don’t."
"..." Sakura’s stunned speechless, she raises a finger, only to drop it. "You’re not going to do that." She asserts confidentially, calling Ino’s bluff.
"Watch me." With only one more pitying glance at her very confused and also very concerned rival, Ino makes her retreat to go find a rugged and poorly dressed boy. She doubts he even understands what a date is, so it’s not like it’ll be anything serious, but it’ll mess with Sakura and wow does she want to mess with Sakura again.
While Ino’s always prided herself on being above the delinquents, two of her childhood - and therefore best - friends happen to belong to that category and that means she knows a few things about Naruto. Mostly through Chouji, Shikamaru doesn’t talk much.
Chouji gave her two locations, the first, Ichiraku’s Ramen Stand which she imagines is amazing because Chouji gave her grid coordinates without hesitation, he just had that for her on demand. The second is Naruto’s apartment, but she’s not showing up to a boy’s home unannounced, so Ichiraku’s it is! It doesn’t take long to find it and with it the predictable man of the hour is exactly where she was told he’d be. She likes consistency, it’s comfortable, so this is a plus even if it is ramen.
Ichiraku’s ramen stand is a nice little place with a colorful atmosphere. The owner, a middle-aged man with a welcoming expression, asks her what she wants as she enters and she looks at Naruto expectantly. When he doesn’t immediately answer before she’s sat down, she clues him in. "You pick for me, what’s the best bowl here?" The absolute worst-case scenario is she has one bad meal.
"Well, the beef is amazing, but so is the egg top. Actually the naruto here is pretty good, you should get some of that-" She tones him out quickly, in part because she’s trying to get her flaming cheeks under control. She knows he means fish cakes, but he can’t just say it like that! Since she’s already toning him out and letting him pick for her, she takes the chance to observe her new boyfriend. The first thing she notices is that there’s like twenty bowls in front of him, which has to be very expensive, but is also a symptom of some kind of parasite. Is he so poor he can’t afford some kind of parasite medicine? Actually, is he so poor he can’t afford parasite medicine because he’s patching the issue by buying so much ramen?
She shouldn’t kiss him until she looks into that, not that she’s thinking of kissing him. His accidental double entendre has her struggling to focus. His clothes are dirty, but they don’t smell bad. There’s a faint mildew touch to the undertone which implies he hand washes his own clothes and does it badly. She puts that on her task list; her boyfriend needs to be clean. She appreciates the effort though, and the fact that he’s still talking about ramen for her benefit right now is absolutely adorable. It’s pretty childish, but then he’s happy and she could do a little work in that department so who’s she to judge him?
"So, do you ever cook at home?" She asks him, and from the way he cringes she instantly knows that’s a bad question. There are not many reasons a question that simple could be bad, and they’re all pretty severe which means she just tripped over a landmine.
"I like it here." He evades her, and she chooses not to pry into that one. Maybe he just doesn’t know how? It’s not like she knows a lot herself, being pampered most of her life and only just recently having to make small meals on shortish missions. Maybe they can learn together? It could be a fun date activity. It’s a good idea for a third or fourth date, though maybe she should stop at three dates and call it a job well done? She’s already playing with his heart a little, too long and she’s just become the world’s biggest jerk.
First though, she needs to get to the ‘date’ part. "What’s your favorite food?"
"Anything old man Ichiraku makes." It’s snappy, on the spot, and comes off like a planned answer. From the way the man making her current meal laughs, it’s also likely very honest. She’s surprised the man - who really isn’t that old, middle aged at most - doesn’t respond poorly to being called old but if Naruto is here that often, it’s likely a pet name of sorts.
"Well, I’m sure I’ll find out why here in a minute." She laughs while giving him another once-over. His hair isn’t very well taken care of. It’s not so bad that it’s like he isn’t putting in effort, it’s just a little greasy, implying whatever shampoo he’s using might not be great. Or, no one taught him how to scrub it in. That’s one she’s not sure how to teach him if true, but she can get him better shampoo as a gift a couple of dates in. "What’s your favorite type of girl?"
"Pretty girls." He answers immediately, "like Sakura." Ino avoids grimacing at that, it looks like he’s totally obsessed if he’s even mentioning her in conversation with another girl. He totally missed the chance to compliment her! "Ooh, I also like nice girls."
"So, not like Sakura." She teases him with a grin, already expecting the same kind of retort she’d give about Sasuke.
"She’s nice! Sometimes... every once in a while. I think." His lack of conviction makes her blink in surprise. She expected him to freak out on her or maybe shout loudly enough her ears hurt. He’s well known for shouting, at least he was in the academy, and it’s the default response in her experience to someone blatantly dissing your love interest.
She’s done being surprised pretty quickly and moves into being hurt that she’s surprised. There was a time when Sakura was her best friend. They did everything together, and she’d seen just how kind and pure Sakura can be when she’s given a hand to pull her along. She’s awkward, a little forceful, and she doesn’t understand the social game as well as she should when she’s wrapped up in the middle of it; but she’s a kind and free spirit.
Ino misses her. She wants her friendship back and the best way to get it back is to move on from Sasuke while baiting Sakura. "I haven’t seen her be nice in years," Ino admits just as her bowl hits the counter in front of her, "maybe you have a few stories you could tell me?" She leans into a shining smile sent his way while reaching up to brush a few stray strands of golden blonde hair out of her eyes and behind her ear. The slight tinge of red on her cheeks isn’t faked at all, the request is just sincere enough to make her feel something inside and that’s a lot more embarrassing than she thought it would be.
"I would love to, as soon as I can think of some. Tomorrow?" He prompts her, offering a second date plan without even realizing it. He’s earnest and sincere and she respects the confidence. They’ve been practically enemies for years due to his rivalry with Sasuke, and yet just a few moments alone and he’s beaming at her like the sunrise.
That’s when she breathes and she’s hit with the potent, savory, salty aroma that Naruto ordered for her. She hadn’t paid attention to what it was because in the worst case, she wasted a few Ryo on something she didn’t like while still validating him, and in the best case she got an awesome bowl of ramen from two experts conspiring together. She can tell how juicy it is well before she scoops up a bite of red meat with some glazed noodles. It’s so tender that some of its fat melts off of it tantalizingly before it even gets to her mouth and she gasps in surprise. The broth looks thick and looking at the ingredients expertly cut and portioned throughout the dish to provide a balanced and coordinated experience, love and dedication were ingredients. "You took this seriously." That smile she sent him a moment ago feels dim compared to what she’s giving them both now, "thank you."
Chouji’s right, this is worth keeping grid coordinates for.
"It wasn’t that hard, Ichiraku can’t make a bad bowl." Naruto gives her a sly and toothy grin.