I don't own Naruto.
Summary: Twenty truths about the Rookie Nine.
1. Naruto knew about the Nine Tails for a long time before Mizuki told him. Well, he had an inkling about the Nine Tails. He often heard the insult "fox-brat" and even he wasn't that dense (although most of the other Rookie Nine would argue that point). He hoped that it wasn't true, that the village just called him fox-brat because he'd been born on the day the Nine Tails attacked and was sealed. Mizuki just confirmed what Naruto had only guessed at and hoped wasn't true. He honestly hadn't expected Iruka to care about him.
2. Sasuke is actually afraid of pitch darkness. If its pitch black then he can't see, and if he can't see he's useless, and if he's useless, well, he wouldn't know what he'd do. It was part of why he didn't like Shikamaru much. The Nara could manipulate shadows which meant that he could blind the Uchiha and make him useless. And he hated feeling useless.
3. Sakura is terrified of being alone. That's why she does whatever she can to get Sasuke's attention, acts the way she does around Naruto, can't completely close herself off to Ino. She's terrified that they'll realize she's weak or petty or any other negative trait and leave her alone.
4. Hinata always thought she wasn't good enough. She took her inspiration from Naruto. What she never told anyone else was that all the other rookies inspired. Naruto was determined. Sasuke was strong. Sakura was smart. Kiba was fast. Shino was logical. Ino was pretty. Shikamaru was calm. Choji was confident. Hinata envied all of them and in turn, they inspired her.
5. Kiba used to be scared that Akamaru would be hurt or would die. When Akamaru was a puppy, he was delicate and easily injured. Kiba was scared that the dog would be injured or die and that he would be alone. The Inuzuka was never going to allow that to happen.
6. Shino actually didn't care for bugs. But his clan expected him to like insects, so he did as they wished. He lived with having insects nested in his body. He dealt with using insects in his jutsus. He lived and dealt, but couldn't wait for the day when it wouldn't matter if he cared about insects. He was slightly nervous that that day would never come.
7. Ino loved flowers, this was common knowledge. Some not so common knowledge was that she collected leaves and pressed them, creating a scrapbook. She associated leaves with the people she met. Naruto's leaf was a cypress leaf. Sasuke's was a fir. Shikamaru was a lime. Choji was an oak. As more and more people entered her life, Ino's book grew thicker and thicker.
8. Shikamaru is smart, everybody knows that. But what not many know is that Shikamaru remembers everything he sees and hears. When he's cloud-watching, he's thinking over all the information in his mind, figuring out the best ways around them. Even as a little kid, he did this. His father was the only one to ever figure it out.
9. Choji was always the gentlest. Where the others were concerned with getting stronger, Choji was concerned about hurting others. He didn't really care what happened to him, as long as his friends were safe. That was just the way he was.
10. Naruto needed his team because they kept him from turning into the blood obsessed killer Gaara used to be. If Iruka and Kakashi and Sasuke and Sakura and everyone else hadn't accepted him, he would have snapped and killed and killed. So he needs them, he needs them like he needs air, because without them, he would be a killer.
11. Sasuke never said it, but he needs Team Seven as much as Naruto. Even if he wouldn't admit it, they were like his second family. That's why he fought Gaara for them. That's why he left he needed power to kill Itachi, yes for revenge, but also to protect Naruto and Sakura, to make sure Itachi never hurt them.
12. Sakura needed Team Seven in her own way, because they made her strong and together, they were at their strongest. The pink haired girl never wanted to be weak after what happened in the Forest of Death. She became stronger that day and now she was just as strong as they were.
13. Hinata needed her team because they encouraged her and pushed her. They made her into the strong, confident girl she was meant to be. They didn't belittle her or ignore her. When she was with them, she wasn't bound by ceremony or tradition. She was just Hinata, their teammate. For that, she is forever grateful.
14. Kiba needed Team Eight too. They were his Pack. He would never turn his back on them and never expected them to turn their backs on him. It was that simple.
15. Shino needed Team Eight in his own way. They kept from becoming a person who was completely made of logic. They gave him emotions and kept him from becoming cold.
16. Ino needed Team Ten because the two boys, however crazy they drove her, kept her from getting lost in her own mind, getting lost in other people's minds. Choji was her protector and Shikamaru was the one who called her back when she stayed too long.
17. Shikamaru needed Team Ten too. Ino and Choji were his lights, they kept him from falling into the shadows, from losing himself. If he couldn't be on a team with them, he would have lost himself to the blackness, the void, growing inside him.
18. Choji needed Ino and Shikamaru as much as they needed him. They encouraged him, they were his rock. He knew they would always be there for him. He also knew he would die if they weren't.
19. They were so different, yet so much alike. They needed their teams and they needed each other in ways the people of the Leaf couldn't understand. The villagers wondered why the Last Uchiha needed the 'deadlast' and the 'fan girl', they wondered why a Hyuuga would need a 'mutt' and the 'bug boy', and they wondered why the Ino-Shika-Cho trio persisted year after year. The villagers would never understand, because the villagers could never fathom how much it hurt to be alone.
20. Everyone mistakenly assumed that they were separate teams. For all intents and purposes, they were one large team. They were one large family, the family that many of them had lost or never had in the first place. No one in the village could understand why. They didn't care. They were happy.