Welcome to Gaia! ::

Though I would love to leave it to speculation. xD
This will not be a Inuzuka/Haruno Fanfic. lol

I loved Kiba's & Sakura's fight but your portrayal of shino is a bit different from the anime & manga & I must admit I kinda liked the one from the manga better.

....hey... i was just reading ur fanfic again....o0 wow i need a hobby ><... anywase ummm it says in the part whare naruto's waking up from a coma an it says ...'"Don't elbow me, you b*****d!" Kiba snapped out in a low tone. Shino rolled his eyes.' ... just an observation...not asking u to change anything but....how can Shino roll his eyes if he doesn't have any? confused

he he he i just love making observations like that ^^ it's so fun! xd mrgreen

ya i know I just like making observations and asking questions like that so I can see what peoples answers will be ^^ its quite amusing sometimes mrgreen ....also thnx fer the gold -hugs- much appriciated ^^

at first I thought he was going to have it as a him having compound eyes like flies have, but then it makes it sound like he has no eyes.

P.S. nice avi xd

[continued]

There was a displeased twist to Temari's lips. “Where's my fan, brat?” she asked in a clipped voice. The sharp tone unforgivably scraped on Hinata's throbbing head. She gritted her teeth in annoyance at the way she was addressed by the other genin. I am not a brat.

The Hyuuga stood, a slight shrug of the shoulders revealing the pride of the least prideful Hyuuga. “I dunno.” Hinata said innocently, adopting a look she had seen Naruto pull off time and time again. Her eyes were wide in her mock sincerity as she shrugged again. “Maybe you dropped it?”

Naruto watched with wide eyes. “Tell me, Shino..” he muttered out of the corner of his mouth to his silent companion. “Are my ears still screwed up, or did I hear Hinata just trying to bull s**t Temari?”

Sasuke looked over, surprised to see that Shino was trying desperately to hide a smile. “Well,a shinobi must be experts in the art of.. how you say.. 'bull shitting'. It just surprises and amuses me that, since Hinata herself is not someone who'd lie regularly and must copy the antics of someone else to make it seem more believable, she'd actually copy you.” he said calmly, the corner of his mouth twitching up. “She's not trying to lie. Her temper has been sparked. She's mocking that girl.”

Naruto looked over the small girl carefully, disbelief coloring his voice. He didn't know if it had anything to do with Hinata actually having a temper, or that she'd actually mock him. “How the hell do you get that?” he asked, truly not seeing it.

Sasuke answered. “It's that look. The way she stands. And the way she's mimicking you so perfectly that you can tell that she really is lying.” he shoved Naruto's shoulder with a smirk. “You're a horrible liar.”

Naruto stared at him in shock before immediately going into denial. Not only was there the fact that Kyuubi was bemoaning the fact that he hadn't fully taught Naruto the 'art of bull shitting', but also the fact that he had been lying to them for a long time. He smirked, deciding that it simply was not the case. If he really was such a horrible liar, then they be able to tell that he lied about nearly-

“And you lie all the time.” Kakashi added in helpfully. “If I didn't want to know when you were lying, I'd teach you the best way to lie myself.” Dammit. Naruto cursed to himself. Lying wasn't really such a big deal in ninja society. It was getting caught that was the trouble!

“Ha!” Sasuke smirked, sending a half glare back at his teacher. “This is from the guy who lies so ridiculously with his excuses that Naruto and Sakura call you on it every time!”

Kakashi beamed at him. “It's all about strategy, Sasuke! Underneath the underneath.” He looked back down to his book, whistling lighting under his breath, making everyone else wonder if what he said had any meaning at all. Naruto blinked, then cursed again when it suddenly made sense. Tricky b*****d..

While Naruto had his sudden epiphany about his teacher's questionable habits, Hinata faced down Temari with a determined stare. The other girl was more focused on getting her fan back than fighting with the leaf nin. She squared her shoulder and tried very hard not to get mad.

Was she so small, so insignificant in that girl's eyes that she was ignored in favor of a broken fan? The smart remark lingering on her tongue was out before she could think about the consequences. “No need to look at yourself in the reflection of the metal. I can tell you right now that the view isn't pretty.” She winced slightly, deciding to take a course in proper insults from Kiba or Naruto. Or Neji. Heck, even Shino knew how to piss off a ninja better than she did.

Temari wasn't mad, but strangely amused. That's it. She thought to herself. I've lost it. Fighting the urge to smile when someone's insulted me.. damn, someone toss me in an asylum now. She put a hand on her hip and looked at Hinata with an incredulous expression. “Are you talking to me, chibi?”

Now, what would Naruto say? “Damn straight.” It came out slower than she could have hoped and she had to resist the urge to wince when the curse came out of her mouth. “You're in the middle of a battle with a Hyuuga and you care more about materialistic things than the battle in front of you?” she sighed heavily, mockingly shaking her head. “You give a bad name to us kunoichis.” This is actually.. kind of fun. Despite the fact that it went against everything she was, she still did it, knowing that it would make the other kunoichi off guard, either in anger or disbelief. And, to a ninja, every advantage counted, even one won in such a petty way.

Startled, Tenten started to laugh. “Oh man, that's a knee slapper!” she said, nudging a shocked Neji in the ribs. “Look, Neji-kun! Sweet little Hinata-chan bites!”

“This is hardly amusing.” he said imperviously, drawing himself together and pretending that he hadn't been shocked to see his cousin use such low tactics. “Stop laughing.” His team mate ignored him in favor of cheering Hinata on heartily, a call that was just as enthusiastically echoed by a chuckling Naruto.

Temari took out a kunai, annoyed to see that the one she had before had also gone missing. Either I have butter fingers or that girl has exceptionally nimble ones. Without saying a word, either in her defense or to shut up those two laughing fools in the balconies, giggling helplessly over some inside joke, but ran up to the still girl and thrusted the kunai into her chest.

The kunai scraped harshly against metal, explaining why the girl hadn't move. With a poof of smoke, the still genin suddenly became Temari's beloved fan. A replacement..! The ground was loose underneath her feet as alert eyes tried to pick out where the smaller girl had hid, revealing that she was standing near the area where Hinata first threw her tagged kunai. She nearly slipped on the loose bits of concrete as she pivoted. Not left, not right.. Suddenly remembering the fight between a different leaf genin and a certain Uchiha, she looked up, almost expecting for Hinata to be hanging off the rafters like an over grown bird. As it turned out, the sand nin looked up at a critical time, one that lead to the end of the match and what could have been avoided if she had forgot about Tenten and Sasuke's fight.

Hinata burst from the ground from behind Temari, glowing fingers gently pressing into the taller girl's neck. Too slow, Temari attempted to turn around and attack her, but found herself falling into the smaller girl's arms when unconsciousness hit her.

Feeling no attempts at resisting from the girl, Hinata took her fingers away, white eyes carefully looking the girl up and down to make sure she hadn't done any lasting damage. By blocking the flow of blood to the girl's brain for a few seconds, she had been able to knock the girl out. It was a risky move. What if she had severed a vein instead of just blocking it? Then she'd be holding a very dead Temari, not just a very sleepy one.

Biting her lip, Hinata looked over the girl again to make sure that there was no damage, oblivious that the examiner announced her victory until people started cheering. She started, wide and surprised eyes watching as Naruto, a feeble and newly arrived Kiba practically hanging off his shoulder, and a smiling Shino jumped over the railing to meet her.

“Don't go so fast, you worthless b*****d!” Kiba growled out when Naruto immediately started towards Hinata. With a snort, Naruto ducked out from under Kiba's arm. The dog user lost his balance and, if it wasn't for Shino pushing him the other way and away from him, would have fallen flat on his face. “Yeah, you better walk away, you damn sadist!” Naruto turned just long enough to flash Kiba a rude gesture and a less than savory invitation.

Tenten, the newly arrived duo, Lee and Sakura, Sasuke and Neji calmly came after them. Team Ten stayed in the infirmary, either because Shikamaru didn't want Ino to get out of bed yet, or because Chouji was discovering the wonders of hospital food which, though vile tasting, came in great quantities.

With a grin, Naruto ran up to her and hugged her close, almost lifting her off of her feet. Temari, as she fell out of Hinata's lap, was quickly picked up a dark blur and carried back up the balcony. The others caught up to Naruto quickly. “Yay!” he said to her, eyes twinkling brightly. “You do realize that you're the only girl to get past the prelims, right?”

“Great job Hinata-chan!” Kiba said, not to be outdone. “You totally kicked a**!” Shino just nodded, but elbowed Kiba, muttering something about how the other hadn't been to the match until the very last second and how he should keep his big mouth shut. Blushing in embarrassment and annoyance, he offered Shino the very rejected invitation that had been given to him by Naruto.

Hinata was tugged away from Naruto to be pulled into a hug from the affectionate Tenten. She was patted on the back from Lee and Sasuke, both saying their own versions of congratulations while Naruto tugged her lightly back. Hinata never felt more ready to pass out from her embarrassment. Never had so much attention been paid to her before. But it was the good kind of embarrassment, she decided proudly when she overheard Kiba threatening to 'sic' Hinata on Shino.

The Hyuuga felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see the stoic face of her cousin. “She is a Hyuuga.” Neji mentioned loftily. He shot a blank glance in Naruto's direction. “And don't embarrass me by doing something as immature as a victory dance.” Naruto, who was about to break out and do that very thing, pouted immaturely and pretended to sniff in sorrow.

“He takes the fun out of everything.” he told Hinata almost seriously, pitching his voice just loud enough so Neji could hear his every word. “He's so dull.. He needs a girlfriend!”

Neji ignored with with all of the air of a prince, but to his discomfort, he realized that Lee thought Naruto was being serious. “Yes, that's exactly what Gai-sensei and I were saying!” he said, bouncing from one foot to the other. “There's no better way to spend youth than with another!” With teary eyes, he gave Hinata and Naruto a thumbs up, his silent approval. Then his eyes sharpened. “As a matter of fact..” he started to turn to Sakura but found him faced with an impassive Uchiha who had moved between them.

“No.” he said with something that resembled a grimace. “You can't have her.” Sakura scowled at the back of Sasuke's head. What am I, a damsel being fought over by two warriors in a cheesy romance? Sasuke, you're such a jealous b*****d, I swear.. She hadn't entertained thoughts of them being together for quite a while and thought she was over her childish crush, but the strange way he worded his next statement, while making her annoyed again, also made her heart quicken and Inner Sakura to sigh dreamily. “While she's on Team Seven, she's mine.”

Narutostarted laughing so hard that he was nearly howling with glee. Damn, that couldn't have gone any better even if I had a hand in it! He thought, watching as Sasuke's face flushed slightly when he realized what he just said. Before he could tease Sasuke about his runaway mouth, someone cleared their throat loudly, a not so subtle gesture for them to be quiet.

“Yes, we all are happy that Hinata is okay.” Sarutobi was amused as he smiled down at the blushing girl. “But may we continue on?” The other ninjas jumped down to the ring with the enthusiastic leaf nins.

Kankurou was upset. He wasn't upset at the fact that Temari(who he had darted around excited leaf nins to grab before she was trampled to death) lost, but at the fact that, because Temari lost, Gaara might kill her. His mind moved quickly, trying to figure out a good excuse or some reason why Temari lost(besides underestimating a Hyuuga). If I ran.. he thought, shifting Temari's weight in his arms. Would he be able to catch up to me? His blood ran cold at the thought, knowing that Gaara would be faster and stronger, and also without the need to sleep, he would be caught up to so quickly that he'd barely hear the call of the attack before he died. Trying to calm himself down enough to be somewhat diplomatic, he turned to his younger brother, mouth opening to defend his sister's life, only to see that Gaara had his eyes on the leaf nins.

“They're so.. united.” Gaara murmured to himself, watching as Kiba and Naruto grinned at one another after the former made a comment that had the Uchiha seething in anger. Kankurou blinked. Sakura slung her arm over Naruto and Hinata's shoulders after smacking the kitsune host in the back of the head and said something to Tenten that had them all laughing. Naruto and Hinata blushed. “Why, when he's a..”

“Um..” Kankurou wasn't sure where Gaara's line of thinking, or even if it was going anywhere. Gaara suddenly snapped out of his thoughts and leveled a glare at him. The puppet user straightened and swallowed harshly.

“It is better this way. She can be back up.” he said coldly, walking towards the group so he could hear what the Hokage was going to say. He lingered to the left of Naruto, amused that everyone but the blond gave him ten feet wide bubble space. Kankurou breathed a sigh of relief, glad that his sister still had her life.

Sarutobi looked over them all warmly. “Congratulations on your fights! Whether you won or lost, you part today leaving with something you did not have before, knowledge of and friendship with ninjas outside your village.” Gaara snorted. Defending the Hokage, Naruto elbowed the sand nin in such a natural and uncaring movement that, instead of killing the blond for touching his perfect person, Gaara stared at him in shock. He must.. not know that it is I who stands next to him. He decided, covering up his surprise with a glare, about to threaten to kill the other demon host when the blond spoke.

“I know you're just rearing to go and kill someone, but show some self control, you uptight a*****e.” Naruto muttered, not looking at Gaara directly. He did know! That made Gaara even angrier, besides the jab at his iron clad control. Sand started to pour out of his gourd.

Naruto, still without looking directly at Gaara, shot out his hand and poked Gaara in the shoulder. To anyone but Gaara, it seemed to be nothing more than a harmless tap. But the truth was that, in that specific area and with the right amount of chakra, Naruto's poke was almost as deadly as a Hyuuga's.

The sand coming up behind Gaara suddenly twisted as if in agony and fell to the floor. Gaara flinched, shuddering at the feel of Shukaku twisting away from the touch. How the hell did he know where my seal is? He thought to himself in pain. Shukaku had not an answer, nor a sarcastic comment, merely whining in pain. Naruto finally looked at the other demon, his eyes stained red.

“There's a time and a place for that sorta thing.” he said in a low growl. “The time isn't now, nor is the place when my Hokage is trying to talk to us or while we're standing in the midst of other people. If you do wanna fight me, oh and I know you do, we'll fight a month from now in the final exam, and I will show you why we foxes are superior to you raccoons.” He twisted his fingers in the seal, ignoring the way that Gaara flinched as he increased the amount of chakra he had in his fingers. “Oh, and if you feel the urge to kill anyone in this period of time, I'll seal your a** along with that ugly a** raccoon to the toilet of the Fire Lord.” He tilted his head to the side, his smirk nothing but sadistic and wicked. “And, judging by the look on your face, you're very aware of the lord's.. how you say.. irregular bowel movements.” He glared once more before removing the painful sensation from a suddenly passive Gaara. “Behave.”

And then the future Rokudaime left, having missed the last of Sarutobi's speech because of his main concern of making sure Gaara didn't do anything stupid, but completely privy to the gleeful and proud laughter of the fox within him. Gaara stared at his back, a hand gently massaging his shoulder as his two siblings stared at him, wondering just who the hell that little blond was and how nuts he was to have enough balls to push around the sand's strongest shinobi.


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No matter how someone looked at it, or tried to dress it up pretty, the truth of the matter was that Konohamaru was really annoyed at Naruto. No, it hadn't been the glamor of the Uchiha genius rookie, or the brute strength of the dog user rookie that had caught his eye, but the loud and clanless dead last.

And, no matter how Konohamaru tried to approach the blond, he'd just nod distractedly and pat him on the head, saying something along the lines of 'Not now, Konohamaru.'

It was frustrating as hell! Konohamaru sat down heavily in the part of the training area that he had claimed for his own, tossed his back pack roughly on the ground, and opening it quickly as he sat down.

“'Oh, Konohamaru-sama!'” he murmured to himself in a high pitched voice, making the makeshift doll in his hand shake a little. It had scraps of black and green as clothes, a scrap of metal glued to its forehead with a leaf scratched on it, and short yellow yarn for hair. “'I'm so lame.. I wanna be just like you!'”

“Are we playing with dolls again, Konohamaru-chan?” Konohamaru started, almost throwing the doll away from him in his haste to hide it when he recognized the voice.

Carefully loosing his grip on the cheerfully smiling doll, he shot a glare at the two standing behind him. “How many times do I hafta tell you?” he snapped out crankily. “We're not playing, we're strategising!” he sighed at their behavior and pushed himself to his feet. “Report!”

During his regime against Naruto, Konohamaru had realized that in every fight he got into, every argument he posed against Iruka, there were always two others standing behind him, Udon and Moegi. He mostly ignored them, even though they nearly always were the ones pulling him out of trouble. The use he saw for them was for them to spy on Team Seven, or more importantly, his arch nemesis Uzumaki Naruto.

The two straightened and saluted him, quickly lining up. “Weakness number one: Ramen!” Udon called out, sniffling slightly. Konohamaru nodded seriously, glad to see that they had taken the mission that he sent them on seriously.

“Weakness number two: Frogs!” Moegi called out in a singsong voice.

“Weakness number three: Haruno- Ack!” Udon started to say before he was pulled into a head lock.

“I'm telling you, it's not that pink girl! It's the blue one!” she insisted angrily, obviously a topic that they had discussed before.

Coughing weakly and turning blue, Udon defended his claim. “But t-they're on the same- Ack!”

“It's the blue one!” Moegi shouted, tightening her grip on the other boy.

“Err..” A little nervous of his tom boy subordinate, Konohamaru backed up a little before posing his question. “What are you talking about?”

Moegi, with a heavy sigh and a mumbled 'men' under her breath, dropped Udon, who fell on the ground and gasped for breath. “Naruto-kun has a-” she wiggled her pinky and grinned. Then promptly, she planted her foot in the middle of Udon's back, her temper flaring almost visibly. “And it is not the pink one!” Somehow, Udon could have sworn Moegi had muttered something under her breath like how much better the blue doll came out than the pink one.

Squeaking, Konohamaru backed up some more. “I believe you!” he cried, bringing his arms up to protect his head. Oblivious to his fear, Moegi beamed at him, and pulled some thing out of her bag.

“Look!” she said with a shy smile, extending the wrapped bundle to him. Suspiciously, Konohamaru took it from her, unwrapping it to reveal a doll much like the one he had made of Naruto. It had white buttons for eyes, blue yarn for hair, and pieces of tan material to make up the clothing. “You can play with this doll too!”

It took Konohamaru a few seconds to realize that she said. “We're not playing!” he said for the hundredth time. “And they're not dolls, they're.. t-they're action figures!” Yet, he didn't give the doll back, merely rested it by the other one. Looking serious, Moegi nodded, screwing her face up in concentration as she tried to make sure she didn't forget her leader's true purpose for playing with his dolls.. er.. actions figures,again.

“Er.. Can you get off of me please? I'm allergic to grass.” Udon muttered thickly.

“Wimp!” Moegi declared, crossing her arms over her chest. “I'm not allergic to anything!”

“Get off of him, we must strategise!” Konohamaru said with flourish, sitting down promptly on the ground. The other two nodded, one with his nose in the grass, and made preparations to sit across from their leader.

“Hey..” Moegi mumbled out of the corner of her mouth to Udon. “What does strategise mean?” Udon coughed, lying his jacket on the ground before he sat on it.

“I think it means we're gonna be playing with his dolls.” he muttered back after he made sure he was sitting in the exact middle of his jacket.

“Oh, okay.”

And so, the troublesome trio strategised(or played) much throughout the day, coming up with schemes and plans to foil Konohamaru's evil arch nemesis Uzumaki Naruto. Naruto, well into his first day of the month period in which he needed to train for the Chuunin Final Exam, had no idea what sort of troubles would find him in those few weeks