Another D rank, Another conflict

Naruto sighed quietly as he worked on the mission Kurenai had been given for them that day: Fixing the wall to a fence.

True enough, he was getting it done and would no doubt be paid for it, but it seemed harder, seeing as whenever he looked at Ino she would give him a short glare before returning to her own job.

It didn’t feel the same with the way his blond teammate was ignoring him everytime he tried to get her to talk to him, not to mention Sakura, who was as confused as Naruto was over Ino’s attitude today.

Naruto had little doubt that, if Sakura was taking note of Ino's behavior, Kurenai was probably as well.

Finally, Kurenai had moved Sakura to another art of the fence they were working on that Naruto felt safe enough to talk to Ino. “Ino-chan?”, Naruto whispered, making the girl growl at him warningly. “I have nothing to say to you Naruto!”, Ino whispered back as she kept working.

“But Ino-chan. I don’t understand why you are so angry?!”, Naruto asked as Ino huffed before looking at him with a glare. “Of course you don’t! I wouldn’t think you would! Why do you care anyway! You have a girlfriend to keep up with, don’t you? don’t let ME give you any reason to keep away from her!”, Ino growled through her teeth as she turned back around to keep hammering a stubborn nail.

“Ino-chan, I’m asking because I do care why are you so… wait, are you angry about Tenten-chan and me dating?”, Naruto asked slowly, unsure if he was right or wrong. Why would Ino be angry about such a thing anyway? It wasn’t like she actually liked him more then what she had said in the hotspring anyway.

In response, Ino turned and glared at him like when she first saw him that morning. “Me? Why would I care if you chose some bun-haired girl over me?! You can fuck her for all I care! In fact, fuck you, Naruto!”, Ino yelled barely low enough for no one else to hear as she hit the nail so hard it almost shattered the wood. She grabbed her things and stormed off to another part of the wall to work.

‘Man, why is Ino-chan so angry all of a sudden?’, Naruto thought to himself as he rubed the back of his head. ‘This isn't good for the team, let alone me. I better talk to Kurenai-sensei, she knows us better then anyone… and maybe Tenten-chan, too.’, Naruto decided as he worked on his part of the wall resumed.

A hour later, Naruto and the team stood before their sensei as she nodded to each of them. “Good work team, now: Ino, Sakura, you two are excused. Naruto, I need to speak to you about something, so hang back, got it?”, she instructed as each of her charges nodded affirmatively.

Ino looked to Naruto before saying “I’ll be over at nine, to drop what I borrowed off.”, she said as she gave one last angry look to him and stomped off, leaving the rest of her team to stare at her. “Well, I’m off too Naruto... I’ll see you at five, I guess...”, Sakura said before walking off for home herself.

Kurenai shook her head a bit as she looked at him. “Come on Naruto, follow me.”, Kurenai ordered as Naruto followed after her, quickly falling in beside her. The two walked silently, not a word passing between them as the walked to Kurenai’s apartment.

After they walked into the cozy looking living room and Kurenai shut the door, Naruto turned to his teacher and said “Um… Kurenai-sensei there's something I have to talk to you about.”, Naruto said, sounding a bit serious as his teacher stared at him. “Tenten-chan from Gai-sensei’s team told us the Chunin exam is coming up soon, are you going to put us in it?”, Naruto asked.

Kurenai shrugged before saying “I have to admit Naruto, I have mixed feelings about that. You guys have been suprisingly well in working together, but to be honest todays work between you and Ino was less then encouraging.”, Kurenai said honestly, making Naruto nod.

“That’s the other thing I want to talk to you about, Kurenai-sensei. I think Ino-chan's angry with me.”, Naruto told his teacher, who raised an eye at that. “Naruto, why would Ino be mad with you? I have never seen you do anything to make them angry or upset on purpose, by most standards, you’re a real gentlemen,”, Kurenai commented.

Naruto felt he had to come clean with Kurenai here. “It might be because me and Tenten-chan started dating, Ino-chan found out and started getting colder since last night when I said something along those lines.”. Naruto looked at his Teacher questioningly. She had to know what was going on, after all, she was a girl, no, a woman too. “What's going on, sensei?”, Naruto asked as Kurenai gave him a thoughtful look.