Hidden Meaning.

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Chapter Three: Rules of the Competition: Ino and Sakura Face Off Once Again



Naruto also had a wife, Sakura soon discovered, after he invited her to stay with his family until she had a place of her own once more. His wife’s face was yet another familiar one.



“Hinata!” she cried out, hugging the other woman. She smiled, her blank gray eyes twinkling with wisdom, as they always had. “How are you, Sakura?”



“Not so good, I’m afraid,” the other ninja admitted sheepishly.



Naruto leaned over to his wife, embarrassed, and whispered, “I accidentally told her about Sasuke and Ino.”



Hinata only sighed. As usual, she did not hold it against her husband. “You really shouldn’t drink sake like you do,” was all she told him, and she left the room to tend to their child. The boy was only six years old, and he had Naruto’s blond hair and Hinata’s mystical, gray eyes. He smiled at Sakura and handed her a flower. It was a small daisy, its beauty quiet and peaceful. It reminded Sakura of her old friendship with Ino, which died the day she became a ninja.



Suddenly, Sakura felt like crying all over again.



“Why did he marry Ino?” she asked Naruto and Hinata. The couple looked at each other, not sure what to say.



“I don’t know, Sakura,” Naruto started. “I mean, he sorta had a thing for you. But then you just up and left, without a word to anyone where you were going, or why. Ino pretty much moved in for the kill shortly after that.”



“So I did this to myself?” she asked her old friend, shooting him a deadly look. He reeled back, surprised by her anger.



Hinata stood. “Sakura, really! All this negative energy consuming my home, wrapping itself around my child…” She shook her head. “I don’t know why you get so worked up over Sasuke. He made his decision long ago; it’s not like he can just drop his wife and all the years of marriage he’s spent with her, not to mention the fact that they have two children together. Do not worry over this now. You and my irresponsible husband must rest, for the two of you have drunk too much sake to stay awake for much longer.” She gathered the boy up and left the room.



Naruto sighed, shaking his head. “She’ll be okay,” he told Sakura, leaning back in his chair and staring into the roaring fire. “She just sort of sees you as a little competition.”



Sakura started, surprised by Naruto’s words. “Competition?”



He grinned. “Relax, Sakura. I’ll bet Ino feels a thousand times worse right about now. She knows that you and Sasuke once cared for each other; you never cared much for me.”



Sakura smiled. “Oh, you were cute, Naruto,” she told him slyly. He raised his brow in question. She stood, still smiling. “You just weren’t my type.” And she left the room to find Hinata. The other female ninja was tucking her son in bed when Sakura found her.



“You know,” Hinata started, smiling down at her son, who was looking up at his mother in silence. “I may not be as accomplished a ninja as you are, dear Sakura, but I still have my own set of basic instincts.”



Sakura leaned in the doorway, her arms crossed over her chest. She gave Hinata her old half-smile. “And what does that mean?”



“I know you never had a thing for Naruto,” she told the other woman. “But I know that you and Sasuke were once dangerously close to getting together. I know that that will probably happen again, especially now that we’re older.” She laughed. “And the people we had in our group were always ones to stir up trouble.” She sighed. “Especially Naruto.”



“Naruto and Sasuke,” Sakura corrected. Hinata stepped out of the room quietly, closing the door behind her and walking down the hallway. Sakura followed closely.



“What is your son’s name?”



Hinata barely glanced back at Sakura, not at all surprised by her sudden change of subject. “His name is Yume.”



Sakura stopped. “Well, that’s different.”



“What do you mean?”



Sakura gave Hinata a smug look. “You know exactly what I mean. Your son’s name means ‘dream.’ I doubt that’s a coincidence.”



“What on Earth could possibly have led you to believe his name would be coincidental?” Hinata asked with a small, sly smile.



“With my powers and Hinata’s combined,” Naruto started as he came into the room, “our children are pretty much guaranteed to have some much weirder ones.”



“Like telling the future through dreams?” Sakura asked.



“Lookee there,” Naruto said, grinning. “She figured it out.”



“I can figure a lot of things out now,” she pointed out. “Things I couldn’t figure out a long time ago.”



“Like how to finally win over Sasuke once and for all?” Hinata asked.



Sakura paused. “Exactly.”



“Cause, you know, it’s not too late,” Naruto told her, one brow raised. Sakura was instantly intrigued.



“Does that mean you two are in?” she asked.



Naruto and Hinata looked at each other. They looked back at Sakura. “We’re in,” Naruto agreed.

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They glared at each other. The fight was on, and neither wanted to give up. They had been in this exact same place more than ten years ago, and here they were again. The fight was over before it started; it had been over for eight years, as far as they were concerned. But Sakura wasn’t ready to give up fighting.



She came running, but she wasn’t quick enough; her opponent socked her in the face, knocking her down. The pink-haired ninja of five villages looked down on her.



“Payback,” she started, spitting on the ground, “thy name is Sakura.”



Ino spat blood on the ground. “So you’ve learned a few new moves in the past ten years. So what?” She glared up at the other woman. “Show me what you’ve really got.”



Sakura wound back to hit her again. Ino dodged, backflipping away. She took her stance once again, preparing to kick Sakura’s ass.



Sakura made a face. “Oh, please, Ino. I didn’t come all this way just to fight you over some stupid adolescent differences that involved identity and a boy,” she told her old friend. She snuck a peek at Sasuke out of the corner of her eye. She was pretty sure Ino had seen; if she hadn’t, the old girl was blind.



Suddenly, Sakura held out a hand to her opponent. “Come on,” she called out to her old friend. “Let’s put our old differences to rest.”



Ino stared at her outstretched hand. Should I trust her? she asked herself. She sighed, then vigorously shook her head. She glared at Sakura, her head bowed slightly. “No, Sakura,” she replied. “I am afraid I cannot let you try to get close to me. I would rather have you as my enemy and see your attacks than let you become my friend once more and allow you to stab me in the back.”



Sakura nodded her head, watching Ino. “I understand.” She bowed politely to her nemesis, and she left the small practice arena.



Ino, out of sheer politeness, bowed back and turned to join her husband at the sidelines.



“Basically,” a young woman overlooking them announced. She was small, yet thin, and she wore a white shinobi uniform that was made of silk. It had golden trim, and she also wore broad, golden hoop earrings, and her nose was pierced with a tiny, glimmering stud on the right side. Her eyes were big and amber-colored, and she had long, sleek, extremely straight silver hair.



“Basically, this competition will be just like the third part of the Chunin Exams,” she told them all. “I’m sure you all remember that one.”



Sakura and Ino glared at each other. Sasuke and Naruto grinned at each other and bumped fists. Hinata blushed as she looked across the crowd to see her cousin, Neji. He looked back over at her. Startled, she returned her gaze to the woman in charge of the competition.



“The competition will take place in exactly three weeks,” she announced. “That should give all of you coming in from other villages enough time to settle and cause a little mayhem, shouldn’t it?” There was murmuring in the crowd. “You know what?” she called out, waving her hands. “Just never mind that last part, ‘kay? It’s in three weeks!! Remember that!!”

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Okay, I’m done with this one. Whoo-boy, that was a long one!! Anywho, remember!! CONSTRUCTIVE criticism!! CONSTRUCTIVE!!

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Sneak Peek:



Chapter Four: Double Whammy: Hinata and Sakura Attack!



“We have to keep this all very simple,” Hinata told Sakura, sitting down at the island bar in her kitchen. “Just start wooing him.”



“What about Ino?” Sakura asked. “I mean, she’s sure to notice that I’m hitting on her husband 24/7!”



“Of course she is,” Hinata agreed, “but that’s exactly what she asked for the other day, at the practice run. Attack her from the front. That’s what she’ll be expecting the least.”



“Why do you say that?”



“Because most women are sneaky,” Hinata answered. “Most women will backstab. All you have to do is catch her off guard, and you’ll do that by stabbing her in the front, not the back.”



“Haha,” Sakura laughed. “Hinata when did you get so ruthless?”



“All I’ll say is that payback’s a bitch,” the mother replied, taking a drink of water.



“Yea,” the other ninja agreed, “a bitch named Sakura.”