#that sasuke wannabe just shows up and wins for her

[themostop]

I just started Digimon Frontiers recently. Question: does it get better? This is the worst season so far. I mean, I’m still gonna watch it cause I’m stubborn. I’m mostly just asking this to complain about the bad writing right now.

[fiction-queen-blog]

Uchiha Revolution

A/N:”Cleaning up my Drive and I found this” Genre: Thriller, alternative Naruto-verse, romance Main Pairing:  Itachi x Sasuke Additional information: Separated since birth, not aware of being relatives Also read: “Chapter 1″  “chapter 2″

Chapter 3

“I know you got just back from your mission, but do it for your best friend, which is me,” Shisui pleaded as he had his hands together in a praying way, “come on!”

“No, I am not going. If I go there I will get constantly challenged and asked about strategies and techniques.”

“But so do I! At least when you stand next to me people don’t bother that much.”

“Why would I do you a favor?”  Itachi tied his hair in its usual ponytail before  putting his necklace on.

“Because I do favors for you all the time. It is called friendship, it works like this!”

“Fine, but only because it would make my father happy too when I show up for once.” Itachi turned himself to Shisui, “You owe me one again.”  

“Big time!” Shisui smiled and looked at the clock on the wall, “We better get going, we are an hour late.”

“I don’t think dad would like that his second in command is so late.”

“His second in command is trying to get his son’s ass there.”  Shisui walked towards the door and quickly put his sandals. Itachi did too as he walked next to his friends to the trainings field owned by the Uchihas.

“Look at them all sweating in this heat...I can’t believe I am one of them,” Shisui sighed. Suddenly a rather angry voice called out his name, causing Shisui to straighten his back and have this serious look on his face.

“How can my second in command be so sloppy. You are late!” Fugaku’s voice caused some people to look up.

“It took me a while to find Itachi-kun,” Shisui pushed the blame to his friend.

“That is true, I was-”

“He was in the toilet,” Shisui whispered, “some bad food.”

“Are you alright Itachi?” Fugaku rested his hand on his hip. Itachi glared at his friend before nodding.

“Everything is fine,father.”

“I too found yesterday's chicken a little undercooked.” Fugaku shook his head. Itachi scratched his cheek as he turned his head slightly away from his dad. He couldn’t believe his father still fell for Shisui’s excuses. His eyes widened slightly as they were met with Sasuke’s. The younger Uchiha looked away, not even attempting to communicate with Itachi. No wave, no smile, not even a little nod. Maybe the young boy was just daydreaming, and didn’t even see the well-known Uchiha stand there.

“It is good that both of you made it. I think a lot of them would like some feedback, especially from you, son.”

“Yeah, yeah..” Itachi woke up from his thoughts.

“Come, let’s throw some shurikens and show them how it is done.” Shisui said as he seemed slightly excited to lecture some.

“Yeah, you go ahead. I will catch up to you,”  Itachi said as he pushed his friend ahead while his hand grabbed a kunai from Shisui’s weapon bag. He threw the kunai towards the female member of Hiraku’s team. She immediately looked up and dodged the kunai with her blade, causing it to drop a meter away from her position.

“I-Itachi!” Her cheeks turned  a pink colour  before  she bowed her head.

“Yue, right?” Itachi asked as he approached the woman. He grabbed the kunai from the ground. “Next time you block a kunai, it is wiser to hold your blade a little more like-” He walked behind her and put her sword in a certain angle,”this. The kunai will be shot back at the location it came from without having to put too much strength into it.”  Itachi  took a step back.  

“Ah I see,”  her voice was soft, “Is this in case of explosive tags on the kunais?” She asked. Itachi made a justifying sound.

“Thank you so much for your teachings.” The woman’s eyes seemed to shape into two little hearts while other female clan members gave her a small glare. Itachi turned himself around to look at Sasuke, who was sitting in front of a tree, holding a bottle of water.  The young Uchiha looked up, meeting Itachi’s eyes. A small silence emerged.

“Hey,”  Itachi said as he approached the younger one.

“Hey,”  Sasuke said, blocking the sun with his left hand so he could look at Itachi.

“So, you are resting?”

“I can’t believe you noticed that with your powerful eyes,” Sasuke said teasingly.

“Itachi! Are you coming or what!” Shisui shouted from the other side of the field. Itachi looked up at his friend before looking back at Sasuke.

“What are you doing here anyway? This isn’t mandatory for you, is it?”  Sasuke asked.

“A favor for a friend,” Itachi said. Sasuke looked at Shisui before nodding understandingly.

“You are a good friend,” Sasuke stated as he took a sip of water before putting it down next to him, “Well, I should continue.”

“Me too,”  Itachi naturally offered a hand which Sasuke took with a cocky smile. The older Uchiha looked at Sasuke’s hand in his. It felt warm, it was heating his natural cold hands up. The tingling feeling came back, followed by another weird feeling in his chest. As if it was getting lighter.  

“Thanks.” Sasuke pulled his hand back. Itachi gave him a small nod before heading towards Shisui.

“What took you so long?” Shisui muttered as he looked at Hiraku’s squad.

“I figured to share some of my knowledge with  Yue”

“Really, it seemed you were more busy talking to Sasuke.” Shisui raised an eyebrow as he looked at his friend who had his eyes fixated on Hiraku’s team.

“Was I?  I guess I got too engaged with the conversation.”

Training continued for another hour before Fugaku made a couple of announcements in advance. He wanted to end with the last part of the training that included a friendly fight between two teams.  

Fugaku looked around the teams before making his decision.

“Team Hiraku and Team Senbon. You both are up in 2 minutes.”  Fugaku said as the people created space to not get in the way of the two groups.

Itachi sat on a tree branch next to Shisui.

“Wanna bet?” Shisui asked as he folded his arms.

“I don’t gamble,” Itachi said, seeing Hiraku said something to his teammates. Something about how they better win and not embarrass him.  Itachi narrowed his eyes slightly. After all the complaining coming from Hiraku, he did wonder how ‘useless’ his team really was. Itachi leaned his chin on his knee.

“It almost seems like you want to see this. Weren’t you the one always bored?” Shisui asked.

“I wonder...I have never seen Hiraku’s team in action.”

“Correction, you have never seen Sasuke in action.”

It felt useless to lie to Shisui at this moment, he nodded.

“He is complaining about his team all the time.I want to see for myself. Besides…” Itachi bit his thumb, “Sasuke doesn’t have the Sharingan..”  

“Hmph...Hiraku’s team has a disadvantage with, having the only side branch member in the entire force in their team.”

“But father has still accepted him in the force. Even without Sharingan. I wonder why.”

Fugaku stood on the side as both teams seemed ready.

“You may start...Now!” He said, giving a sigh, causing the Sharingan users to automatically activate their Sharingan.

It seemed to go fast, with the advantage on Senbon’s  team. In a couple of minutes all Sharingan users of Hiraku’s team were on the ground, leaving Sasuke who managed to dodge an attack and ended up in the back while the four men’s team of Senbon stood on the other side of the field.  Sasuke shook his head, looking at his unconscious captain.

“Fucker…” He muttered. Of course they were getting their ass beaten if they used the oldest strategy in the book. He did try to convince his captain, but he didn’t seem to want to listen to a side brancher.

“We left the easy one for last.”

“You can stop if you want, we don’t have to hurt you.”

“Don’t think about your pride. Do what is the wises,”  Senbon said as he let his guard down.  Sasuke shook his head as he started making hand seals.

“Your interference in my decision making is inconvenience.” Sasuke finished the last seals. Lighting appeared around his fist that turned into blue chakra that then disappeared into nothing.  “Of course, I don’t mind that you are voicing your mind. Remember, you can quit anytime..”

Two of Senbon’s the teammates ran straight towards Sasuke. One jumped in the air as the other made hand seals, blowing fire. Sasuke slit to the side and ran towards the man blowing fire. The man moved his face, to change the direction of his flames. Sasuke slit under the ground, sliding between the man’s leg as he quickly got back on his feet. He hit the man three times in random spots, causing the man’s chakra to fade and his body to hit the ground.

“I..Can’t move!” The man shouted. The one who jumped ran towards Sasuke, appeared behind him,forcing the Uchiha to create a distance,or else the sharp blade would have cut him. The man swung his blade, causing Sasuke to make a summersault and slide his leg over the ground. The man jumped,giving Sasuke the opportunity the strike from below. He hit the man four times in the stomach, before grabbing his blade. The man fell, unable to move his body. It was a good thing Sasuke grabbed the sword, or else the man would have been a wannabe kabab. Sasuke stuck the blade in the soil as he looked at the two remaining ones. Both ran towards him from different directions. Sasuke made a handstand backwards as he moved his foot over the dust, causing it to get straight into both Shinobis eyes. He moved fast, kicking one in the side of his face. The man fell on the ground, moaning in pain because of his neck.

The captain of the team rubbed the sand away from his eyes.

“You..” he seemed annoyed.

Senbon made a few hand seals and blew fire. Sasuke duck, his back hit the ground as he had to roll away from the fist that hit the ground so hard, the hand got stuck in the soil.

The earth suddenly moved up, creating dry sand below the young Uchiha.

Sasuke jumped away and stood on top of the sword, but the sword moved due the soft soil, causing the young Uchiha to fall on his back, but quickly get up again.There was a little awkward look in his eyes, considering he just fell. He quickly moved his head as weapons were thrown at him.  Sasuke dodged while he made a few hand seals, pushing his palm on the ground causing a stream of lightning to go to Senbon.

He jumped away throwing a kunai with an explosion tag on it. Sasuke slipped his finger in the round part, spun it around his finger and threw it back. The man eye’s widened as quickly threw another Kunai so misdirect the first one.

“I underestimated you.” He panted, “You deserve acknowledgement, but you are still just a side brancher.” The man stood up as an evil smirk appeared on his face, he suddenly pulled on two see through threads to capture the side brancher.  Sasuke grabbed a kunai and threw it - what people assumed was- a random direction, right at the same time the man pulled the threads. It caused four lines to break and the trap was now set around the man himself.

“WHAT?!” He exclaimed as Sasuke spun another kunai around his finger, lighting appeared around it as he threw it at one of the threats, breaking it and giving it some kind of shock which caused Senbon to get electrocuted. The man fell on the ground, getting on his knees as his hands were pulling the grass.

“No..NO! HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE!”He exclaimed, he looked up, seeing the young Uchiha walk towards him, extending left arm, holding it with his right as lightning appeared around it.

“Don’t let your pride get in the way.” Sasuke said as he stood in front of kneeling man, with a deadly jutsu literally in his hand. Senbon looked up, before lowering his head again, not saying a word. Sasuke narrowed his eyes as the chidori disappeared.

“Whatever,” Sasuke turned himself around to Fugaku, “I take it as my team’s win?” He asked. Fugaku remained quiet for a moment before nodding.

“Is it permanent, what you have done to my teammates?” Senbon asked, looking at the paralyzed teammates.

“No, but it takes an hour for them to recover.”

Senbon seemed relieved.

“Of course I could fasten the process. If you ask this side brancher’s help.” Sasuke said as he looked at Senbon from the corner of his eye. The man remained silence, causing Sasuke to shake his head.

“Yue?” Sasuke shook the woman a little before she reacted.

“Did we lose?” She asked raising her head, getting up on her knees to look around her.

“Hiraku-san is unconscious?”  She didn’t seem surprised.

“Good thing I didn’t bet, I would have lost big time,” Shisui looked at Itachi whose eyes were fixated on Sasuke.

“Funny, how he fell off the blade,” Itachi commented.

“I wouldn’t have expected his movements to be so unpredictable.Moving the muscles to indicate he was going to kick, but then suddenly moving his fist. He had me almost fooled twice,” Shisui said.

“He doesn’t seem particularly strong..Physically. “

“Neither do you, but you beat my ass too.”Shisui laughed at his own comment.

“I have never seen such technique.”

“Hitting the muscles and weakening them-”

“No...He hits the muscles, and then implants small bits of lightning. Messing up the nerve system. It is impressive.”  

“For you to be amazed by something, this is a shock.”

“But I wonder how he didn’t fall victim for the genjutsus. It is as if he never looks at anybody's eyes,” Itachi folded his arms.

“Can’t blame him.” Shisui put his hands behind his neck.

“I wish to see it up close one time.”

“I can arrange that,” Shisui had this dumb smirk on his face. He grabbed Itachi’s arm, raising it in the air, “ITACHI WISHES TO FIGHT AGAINST THE VICTOR!”

“Shisui!” Itachi hissed, pulling his arm back.

“You have been sitting on your ass the entire day. Come on, get some action.” Shisui jumped off the tree. Itachi sighed and did so too.  

Hiraku got up, supporting the other male rookie.

“You wish to fight against me?”

“I think you should sit this one out. You don’t look too good,” Shisui had an awkward look.The man literally made a big fool out of himself, “Sasuke, are you up for a quick spar?” Shisui asked. Itachi didn’t protested.

“Fine, I am not the one to back down on such a gentle offer,” Sasuke said as he fastened the bandage around his arm.

“Don’t worry, he won’t hurt you. He just want to see things up close,” Shisui said, causing Itachi to sigh.

“He isn’t as good of a friend as you are?” Sasuke asked.

“I am not the one to judge,”  Itachi said, extracting two fingers. Sasuke looked at them before locking them with his own.

“Traditional,” The young Uchiha said as he moves his bangs away from his eyes.

His eyes widened as he quickly ducked to dodge Itachi’s fist. Sasuke quickly moved to attack back, but Itachi blocked his arm with his own. Sasuke moved his other arm,but that got blocked too. That continued for a short while, until both their backs were pressed against one another. Sasuke moved  his elbow to hit Itachi side, but the older Uchiha turned and kicked Sasuke in the side, causing Sasuke to fall on the right. Sasuke managed to make a handstand and get back on his feet.

“How could you guess..” Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

“Logic,” Itachi said as he jumped away, throwing shurikens as he made them more powerful by adding fire. Sasuke dodged them. One slit right next to him, cutting the binders of the tank top. Sasuke narrowed his eyes looking at Itachi.

“It is like you are not even trying,” Sasuke said as he grabbed his left hand with his right as lightning appeared around his left hand.

“Twice already?” Itachi asked as he covered his face with one arm as Sasuke aimed his attack on the ground, causing the earth to collapse and boulders to fly around and dust to cover the sight. The older Uchiha suddenly felt a thumb and index finger pressed against his shoulder followed by the weight that equaled a boy Sasuke’s height and posture. Itachi quickly turned around as he kicked the person behind him.

Sasuke’s back hit a tree, causing him to yelp in pain. The dust disappeared, making Itachi visible again. The Uchiha was looking at his arm that had no feeling whatsoever in it.

“Impressive…” He said as he looked at Sasuke who got up, forming a few hand seals before moving his fingers apart from each other. Lighting appeared between them. He aimed his finger to itachi before releasing the lightning. Itachi slit under the rays if lightning through Sasuke’s legs as he made this salto backwards  over the boy, using his hand the same way he felt Sasuke’s do with his shoulder. He jumped back, to look if it worked

The young Uchiha’s eyes widened as he looked at his right arm before looking at Itachi.

“Judging from your expression, I would say I did well copying your moves.”

Sasuke looked at his arm before looking back at Itachi with almost hateful eyes.

“If you think you can master a technique I dedicated my whole life on mastering, you are dead wrong.” The boy seemed moody as he hit his arm in several places, making him able to move again.

“I didn’t mean to strike a nerve,” Itachi said. “No pun intended”

The fight continued for a little longer,just until Itachi had cornered the younger one. Sasuke hissed glaring at the Itachi. A few kunai’s pinned him against the tree trunk, and moving would mean the explosive tags to go off.Sasuke gritted his teeth before letting his head hang.

“Fine...You win.” Sasuke said through gritted teeth. There was some cheering, even though most people had predicted the outcome correctly.  

The people started leaving as Shisui  jumped in front of Sasuke.

“Nice move, Itachi,” Shisui said as he looked at the kunais.

“Don’t touch it, Shisui.” Itachi quickly stopped Shisui’s hand, “Before we all explode.” Itachi pulled the kunais away, causing Sasuke to let himself sink through his knees from exhaustion.

“You must be so used to winning, victory must taste like butter.” Sasuke sighed.

“Like butter?” Itachi looked at Shisui.

“Because most people put butter on their toast in the morning. It is so normal that is tastes like butter,” Shisui explained .

“I eat oatmeal in the morning,” Itachi commented before extending two fingers. Sasuke looked up, still glaring at Itachi as he then embraced Itachi’s fingers with his own. He got up,massaging his wrists that hurt.

“How long before the feeling in my arm returns?” Itachi asked.

“Why? Do you need it for tonight?” Sasuke had this cocky smile back on his face and Shisui chuckled.

“Yes,I have another mission tonight.”

“How can you ruin everything so fast?” Sasuke shook his head as he grabbed Itachi’s wrist and pushed three different spots in his arm.

“Hey, what happened there?” Itachi looked at Sasuke’s shoulder blade.

“Nothing.” Sasuke pushed his hand in front of it since the stap got cut off the top was sinking on the right side.

“Are those scars?” Itachi didn’t seem to drop the topic.

“Everyone has scars,” Sasuke said,but Itachi wasn’t satisfied by those words.

“Can I see?” It was more a warning than a question.

“No,stop it, Itachi!” Sasuke hissed as he got pushed on the ground. Itachi lifted the tank top. His eyes widened a little, seeing the scars on Sasuke’s back

“Damn, what happened to you?” Shisui asked as he looked over Itachi’s shoulder.

“Let go of me!” Sasuke shouted as he got himself loose from Itachi’s grip.”What even gives you the fucking right?! You have no right!”

Shisui exchanged a look with Itachi.

“He is only concerned-”

“My ass concerned! Fuck you and fucking Mr privileged!” Sasuke shouted as he got up from the ground, running away from the two.

“I know I am your best friend and all...And I am always a 100% behind you with every decision you make, but I do give him a point. You shouldn’t have done that.”

“Like I could predict such over-emotional reaction. We all have scars.”

“True, but we all have scars we wished we hadn’t. He seemed embarrassed about it,”

“I wonder how he got them…”

read chapter 4

[ywhiterain]

Even more beautiful than a cosmos

For @ cypsiman2, who asked for meta on Ino and Sakura. 

Even more beautiful than a cosmos: Ino and Sakura's Relationship in Naruto.

One of the things that I dislike about the Ted Structure is how it postulates that only the Ted matters. Everything, including the Robin, is only there the prop up the Ted. Sometimes, this is true. Sort of. But not really.

Look, yes. Stories that have a clear central character tend to be populated by characters who inform them and/or the development of the main character in one way or another. However, there is a really key component that's being missed when you look at characters in such a binary way.

The main character also affects the characters around them.

Naruto's main supporting characters are Sakura, Sasuke, and Kakashi. Later on, characters such as Jiraiya, Sai, Gaara, Shikamaru, and Hinata play important part in the story as additions to Naruto's life and the story as a whole that his team couldn't play. For instance, Gaara and Jiraiya are mirrors of who he could have become - in effect, he makes choices that they don't, and ends up going in a more positive path. But it doesn't stop there.

Gaara in Jiraiya, in part because of their relationships with Naruto, change for the better. Jiraiya spends most of his adulthood running from who he could have because of what he'd lost, but ends up dying a hero. After being terrorized and dehumanized his entire life, the moment someone shows him truth empathy and compassion Gaara starts on a path to creating a world where children aren't terrorized into becoming monsters.

Naruto's ensemble cast is arguably its strongest asset. The very fact I can say that is exactly why the Ted Theory isn't universal. I think good long form stories tend to have main characters the audience connects with - but great long form stories contain large number of characters that connect with the audience. That connection comes from something that minor or supporting character brings to the narrative, not how they prop the main character.

Which bring me to Ino. She has no significant interaction with Naruto. She is a character who was created support Sakura's character and add to the themes of the true meaning of strength. Ino's part of the InoShikaChou legacy - three clans who have ninja magic bloodlines of little use - unless they are combined together. These clans don't generally create legends, but that's because their legacy is teamwork. Unity. Collaboration. Intelligence. Heart. InoShikaChou can win battles against people ten times their strength by combining their unique abilities and strengths.

Ino was born into the world knowing she's be a big power player in her generation. She was the best female ninja in her class. She was popular, pretty, and good at both her ninja bloodline and the female arts in general. When she was little, she befriended a young wannabe ninja from a family of no real importance when it comes to ninja culture.

This is who Ino is at her best: comfortable in her power and willing and able to reach out to those who can't see the potential in themselves. Then, after Ino and Sakura fall for the same boy, their friendship dissolves. They were no longer best friends - they were rivals. Everyone around them thinks that it was because of Sasuke, but no. It wasn't. Not really.

Sakura tells us as much in her internal dialog when fighting in her exam. Sakura has always doubted herself and her abilities. She had a bad habit of stepping aside when things got hard. It wasn't until her teammates were both down in the forest of death that she comes to really see that weakness in herself. There was no way she could beat three Sound Nins on her own, but she had no choice but to try because Naruto and Sasuke's lives were at stake.

But Sakura holding back and letting her insecurities define her limits weren't born from being teammates with the two strongest ninjas to come around in generations. It came from her being in a world that defined strength by bloodlines and death count. Sakura didn't have the same advantages of the other Leaf 12, save Tenten and Lee, but that didn't stop her from wanting to achieve great things.

Ino helped her by validating her. But Sakura feared Ino would hold her back, so she stepped away as Ino's dear friend and made a choice to become her rival. To win Sasuke is how they both packaged it, likely because of gendered expectations of girls (who only really want to please boys, right?).

The loss shook Ino. She became more notably bossier and meaner, or at least the gentleness and care she showed for bullied and sweet Sakura was something that was only reserved for Sakura before she begins to show it more broadly. Watching Sakura fight for her life in the forest of death begins to change their antagonistic relationship - because she realized that Sakura wasn't just fighting for the sake of it. Becoming a strong ninja wasn't her goal - saving the lives of her team was.

Ino grew up in an environment that preached the importance of teamwork. She doesn't fight for herself, she fights for those she loves. That's literally her legacy. But it's one thing to hear that, it's another to know it. She learns this lesson from Sakura and puts it into action right away by getting her teammates to help Sakura against the Sound, and somehow they all come back alive.

Ino and Sakura's internal development was growing understanding of the importance of fighting for the people we love happened mostly in the forest of death (and, yes, was important to the text - Naruto was about gaining strength through helping others and Kishimoto drove that point home by making everything tie back to that theme - and the power of his story came from his understanding that it wasn't something he just added in the big life changing battles, but the smaller and lower stakes moments). Their relationship as friends and rivals cements in their fight in the chuunin exam.

Ino and Sakura fight with all they have. They constantly surprise everyone around them with their skill and determination. Passing the exam stop being a priority - it's all about them one upping each other. They really both give it all they've got and Ino shows some real thoughtful creativity and Sakura's control is highlighted.

It ends in a draw and Ino and Sakura end the fight on good terms. They don't ever say anything about their past friendship or the troubles that came between them. Because in the world of Naruto, when true ninjas fight honestly on a one one to one battle, words are pointless. Everything that needs to be said and done is done on the battlefield. It's extremely silly, but Naruto is an extremely silly series.

For the rest of the series, Ino and Sakura are best friends again. They are also rivals. In fact, their fight is something of a foreshadowing of the one between Naruto and Sasuke. Naruto and Sasuke's relationship is a lot more complicated and it takes them forever to get to a place where they can be best friends and rivals at the same time. But Ino and Sakura working through their issues, fighting for each other, and getting stronger through competition through one another is exactly where Naruto and Sasuke finally end becoming as well.

I don't bring up Naruto and Sasuke's friendship because Ino and Sakura's props it - it doesn't. Ino and Sakura's relationship builds on Naruto and Sasuke's, and the other way around. Kishimoto is a master at building narrative and connecting pieces. With few exceptions, everything scene feels like part of a bigger whole.

While it's true, because of systematic sexism, Ino and Sakura's friendship and individual characters were neglected in comparison to male characters and relationships, that doesn't mean that there wasn't value in their story. Ino and Sakura's relationship, while not as intense as Naruto and Sasuke's, is one that more people can probably relate to. The smaller stakes and more grounded friendship between Ino and Sakura resonates with some people in the way that Naruto and Sasuke's don't.

This isn't to dismiss the epic nature of Naruto and Sasuke's relationship - the intensity between them is some of my favorite stuff. Ever. The larger than life symbolism that surrounds them (yin and yang and the sun and the moon, most prominently) juxtaposed to two very damaged children who forged a connected based on the very human need to belonged was great stuff. Naruto and Sasuke's rivalry and friendship is going to be a benchmark for artists to capture in their own work for generations to come.

But individual stories can have room for more than one type of relationship. Ino and Sakura's friendship adds to Naruto as its own entity. It's power is not simply in propping Naruto or Naruto and Sasuke's friendship. Naruto and Sasuke's story is more important to Naruto's story than Ino and Sakura's, but that doesn't mean it's more important to the audience.