A/N:Yes, this was inspired by the new opening theme of Naruto Shippuuden, NewSong by Tacica.There could be mild OOCness in this oneshot, and several spoilers on the manga so if you don't like spoilers, don't read any further.

This is the first time I've ever written anything like this in the Naruto fandom, and I have to admit it was fun. XD

Omake: Naruto Shippuuden Opening 10

Production was slow, and everyone was starting to wonder if things were ever going to pick up after the Paine Arc. Actually, almost everyone had been hoping that the fillers would stop coming. Well, they weren't all that bad. Not really…

Except that they were… very uninspired.

Sakura had received the call from Kakashi yesterday night about an emergency meeting to be held at the Naruto Shippuuden Studio. Wow, how long has it been since she'd been here to film non-fillers?

Too long, she thought to herself as she took a deep breath and opened the door to the studio. She was welcomed by boisterous laughter, mumbling and over-all complaining by the occupants of the room that had arrived before her. Team Gai and Team Kurenai were gathered at the back of the room where the coffee maker was. Kiba, Lee and Shino were talking animatedly about something that concerned barbecue. Neji was silently listening to them, once in a while nodding his head as if to agree. Hinata was too preoccupied with her cup as she sat on one of the uncomfortable-looking chairs shoved against the tasteless walls of the studio. Much to her surprise, the Sand siblings were on the other side of the room mingling with Shikamaru and Chouji. None of them looked too happy to be there as well.

"Can't they pick a better time for this? It's seven in the morning," Ino Yamanaka complained as she emerged from the back door, carrying a donut in one hand, a cup of coffee in another. The blonde was sporting too-huge sunglasses that took up most of her face. It was obvious she had skipped her up-until-noon beauty sleep. Sakura knew how she was feeling. She would love to have gotten a few extra winks herself.

Ino walked over to Sakura and handed her the coffee. "You're late."

Sakura accepted the drink gratefully. "Sorry. I got held up. Tsunade-sama and I tried to convince Sasuke to come to the meeting. He nearly snapped my head off so I left him in peace."

Ino let out an indignant squawk. "What?And he can get away with that? While we dragged our asses here this early in the morning!" She devoured her donut in two bites and started for the door.

Yamato, who was standing in the middle of the room holding a stack of brown, ugly-looking folders, stopped her. "It's okay. We don't need Sasuke for the meeting. Not this time."

"But – !" Ino tried to protest.

Kakashi was firm when he cut her off. The copy ninja was suddenly by the entrance, blocking it in case anyone decided to escape. "Maybe we should just get this meeting in order. Is everyone here?"

Sakura looked around the room again. "Where's my team?" she asked.

Kakashi cleared his throat. "Ah, they're on the dance floor."

Sakura stared at her sensei a few seconds too long before saying the first thing that popped into her mind. "What?"

"Now, now. Questions later. Everyone gather round," Kakashi said in that bored voice of his. Everyone grumbled their annoyance, but obeyed anyway. Sakura abandoned her coffee on a nearby chair and crowded around Kakashi with the others.

They were handed a folder each. Sakura flipped it to the first page and frowned.

NARUTO SHIPPUUDEN OPENING 10

「NEWSONG」

Song by: Tacica

Choreographer: Maito Gai

Gai sensei, Sakura said to herself, her mood sinking even further. Why did she suddenly feel like this was not going to be a good day?

She looked around the room. Everyone had the same expression she had on her face. Well, except Lee, who was now pumping his fist in the air and saying, "Gai sensei was the choreographer!"

Sakura didn't even know how to take that first page. Choreographed… Dance room. She was not dumb and she could put two and two together. She guessed that was why she didn't even bother turning to page two. She snapped the folder shut and dropped it to the floor. "What is this all about, sensei?"

"Changing the Opening Theme for the show," Kakashi said matter-of-factly. "'He' decided that the last opening was just too angsty, what with you crying and Sasuke and Naruto fighting and all that. So as a change of pace, 'He' wanted a happier, more upbeat opening. So yeah, everyone dances this time."

Gaara, who had now finished skimming the pages briskly, crumpled the folder in one hand. "No," he said, deadpanned.

Yamato sighed in frustration and turned to the Kazekage. "What do you mean, no, Gaara-kun?"

Gaara blinked at him, those blank eyes not showing the least bit of emotion. The only thing that gave him away was the involuntary muscle that twitched at his left cheek. He folded his arms over his chest. "It means you cannot make me."

Shino turned to Kakashi. "I am going to ask you nicely, sensei. Please step away from the door and let me out, or the fourth shinobi war starts early here." Sakura could practically hear his kikai buzzing restlessly inside the Aburame.

Neji had stepped up beside him. "Maybe if we work together, we can overpower him." He did not look too hopeful. If anything, the Hyuuga looked pretty much resigned. It was as if he had expected this to happen ever since he saw Gai sensei's name.

Temari was laughing nervously. "This doesn't have to do with us, right?" She gestured at her brothers. "I mean, this is all some Leaf business we don't need to participate in, right?"

Kakashi leaned back against the only means of escape they had from the room and made a point that he was not about to move anytime soon. "Sorry. We need to have you here."

Kankurou, who was looking down at the folder in his hands, looked up and asked, "Why?"

Kakashi's one exposed eye twinkled mischievously, and Sakura knew he was smiling under that goddamn mask of his. "Because dancing, brooding bishies make the fangirls squeal. Got it?"

That was when the room erupted into wild hysterics. Everyone was talking all at once. Sakura clamped her hands to her ears and tried to zone everyone out. Yamato and Kakashi silently watched them patiently, not saying anything, letting them calm down by themselves. It took about two and a half minutes before everyone realized that they weren't making any progress and shut up.

When Kiba had finally stopped snarling, Yamato nodded in approval. "All right? Now let's all move along to the dance floor. The script says we need four teams dancing for the part of the chorus. Of course Team Seven would be automatically included in that. We have Team Gai, Team Asuma, Team Kurenai and the Sand siblings to choose from to get the other three."

Sakura nearly fainted in horror. "You can't decide that! You can't just make me dance because I'm the heroin of the series!" she protested as she pulled at Kakashi's sleeve violently.

Kakashi examined her, amused. "Hmm. You're right. We can always ask Hinata to dance for the part of heroin. Like that time when we used her for the ending with the bicycle theme. Yeah, ratings will really rise with – ow!"

Sakura kicked his shin hard. "I'll do it," she grumbled and turned away from him. "Now where's the goddamn dance room?"

They were all herded to a broad, darkly lit room where Naruto and Sai were. Naruto was flopped onto his belly and was eagerly flipping through his script, seeming to be loving what he was seeing. He looked up and waved when Sakura walked in, then returned to his reading.

Sai was seated a few feet away from him, his script on one knee. When the group half-heartedly filed into the room, each wanting to stick to the wall and will themselves to pass through it by osmosis, the artist looked up and raised his hand. "Captain Yamato. I have a question."

"What is it, Sai?"

"There's this part when Naruto, Sakura and I… er… fly across the ocean to go head on with Madara and Kisame. Don't you think this could be very misleading? Don't you think it would be better if we just, ah, ran over the water, like ninja?"

Yamato cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Ah, no. You have to fly."

Sai tilted his head to the side questioningly. "Why?"

Yamato took out a small notebook from his flak jacket and read from it. It was as if he'd had the argument with 'Him' about the same thing before. "Because flying symbolizes the child-like aspect of fighting against bad guys and foreseeing victory after doing so," he said monotonously.

Sai's face brightened evidently, as if he had just been enlightened. He scribbled a few notes on his script. "I see. It's pretty much like Dragon Ball. Right? So that explains the weird lightning beam the three of us shoot at Madara while flying over the ocean…"

Sakura buried her face in her hand. It sounded so embarrassing when you just read it as it is. This was going to be a very, very long day. It was proven when Sai raised his hand again, obviously for another question.

"Yes, Sai?" Yamato asked.

"Was 'He' aware that he'd given several spoilers from the manga? Like Dark Naruto, and Kisame being alive?"

This time, Yamato was really uncomfortable. He scanned his notes again. "It's to give the readers something to think about as the anime progresses."

Sai was not done yet. "There's this part when Kisame and I have a fight. This doesn't happen in the manga, though. Maybe we shouldn't include that because it's a lie."

Yamato consulted his notes again. "It's to emphasize that you're actually a very important character in the series. 'He' had to add this because it seems like your existence still pales to Sasuke in comparison."

Sai took a moment before he completely digested what Yamato had just said. When it looked like he finally did understand, he smiled. "If I weren't in Root, you could have hurt my feelings with that. But thank you for your blunt honesty. It makes it easier to understand the purpose of this opening aside from the fact that it promises a whole arc of fillers that would leave everyone uninspired enough to just read the manga." And he happily closed his folder and started to practice several hand signs that Sakura had never seen before.

Kakashi, who was standing behind a flabbergasted Yamato, was fighting to keep his laughter at bay. The copy ninja clapped his hands twice. "All right. Now everyone, I want you to line yourself up into teams. Team Seven, you stay at the middle. That's right."

Naruto abandoned his script on the floor and excitedly made his way to the front of the group. "Man, I can't wait! I mean, we haven't had anything this senselessly adorable since the Bacchikoi ending. And that had been really fun, too." He was eager. It was dripping out of his very pores.

Sakura positioned herself behind Naruto. "If you're so excited, then why don't you just do it yourself? Then that would save everyone the trouble."

Naruto grinned over his shoulder. "Because I won't be able to shoot lightning beams without you guys."

Sai, who was right behind Sakura, nodded seriously. "I suppose that symbolizes beating the enemy by working as a team."

Sakura could only groan.

Team Asuma stood to Sakura's left, and the Sand Siblings beside them. Team Kurenai and Team Gai stood to her right. All of them looked pale and very, very disturbed when Gai sensei joined Kakashi and Yamato in a blur of green clothes and sparkly teeth.

He was always the eccentric teacher, but Sakura knew he always meant well. Well, sure there had been times when he was just plain weird, but she could always overlook that fact.

Except for today.

With the exception of Lee, whose wide eyes were shining happily when Gai started slowly showing them the moves for this said dance he had proudly choreographed. Most of the moves were plain arm raises and positioning. There were no fancy foot work involved and there they weren't required to move from their place.

But still…

"All right, young people! Now that I've shown you the basics, let's try to do it slowly. All right? Kakashi and Yamato may have already told you this, but we only have four team slots available for this dance." Gai bent closer and stage whispered to them, "You know if it were up to me, I'd have you all dancing."

There was an evident shiver that ran over the entire group.

Gai nodded. "Anyway, aside from Team Seven, I'm going to pick out the worst dancing group from the lot, so you better do your best if you don't want to miss out on the fun opportunity to dance something I've put my heart into. Now, let's start on three. One, two, three!"

Everyone broke out into uncoordinated jigs. The moves Gai sensei taught were so easy to remember that it was obvious everyone was just trying to look bad on purpose. Shino, Neji and Gaara didn't even bother to move. The three of them were resigned to standing in place, and the looks on their faces said that there was absolutely NOTHING in this world that could make them move. Aside from Sakura (because she knew that she'd end up dancing in the end even if she didn't do well) the only ones who were doing it properly were Naruto, Lee and Sai.

Gai shook his head, disappointed. "No! No! No! You have to – "

Kakashi stepped forward. "Gai, if we keep this up we won't be able to make the cut. Anyone can see that they all suck at it, so why don't we try my method of deciding who dances and who doesn't?"

Gai looked at Kakashi expectantly. "You have a method?"

Kakashi stuffed his pinky finger in one ear uncaringly. "Rock, paper, scissors. The one who wins is out."

Yamato was scandalized. "You're going to decide this with luck and not skill?"

Kakashi retrieved his pinky finger and examined the contents he had unearthed from his ear. "What skill? They all can't dance. They all don't want to dance."

Yamato, still looking hesitant, nodded and said, "Fine. I guess this is the fastest way we can settle this. All right. I want a representative from each of your teams. Once you've decided on your representative, come here to me and we'll start the game."

It was taking so long before each team had decided on their representative that in the end, Kakashi got impatient and picked for them; Shikamaru for Team Asuma, Kiba for Team Kurenai, Lee for Team Gai (because Neji just wouldn't want to have anything to do with it), and Gaara for the Sand (and he did it out of respect for Kakashi).

Yamato gathered the representatives into a tight circle that Sakura couldn't see what was going on between them.

Hinata appeared beside Sakura. "Hi," the Hyuuga said.

Sakura turned to her and smiled. "Hey there. This is pretty lame, isn't it?"

Hinata's face reddened. "I hope we win. I'm not into this kind of thing really… "

Ino pushed her way towards them. "But you have to admit, I'm interested in seeing Shino dance. Can he even bend at the waist? He looks so stiff."

Hinata ducked her head lower. "He starches his coats. I think it could be a guy thing."

Tenten appeared behind Sakura, and the pink-haired kunoichi turned to her. "Can Neji dance?"

"It's not a question of can or can't. He just won't," Tenten said darkly. Her face blanked over for a second, then she shivered. "Come to think of it, I don't think I want to see him doing that move where we have to crisscross our legs."

Sakura laughed out loud. "Or how about that final head toss?"

Hinata giggled silently. Ino just burst out laughing altogether. The girl's conversation was broken by Kiba suddenly howling in victory.

"OH! MY! GOD! YES!" Kiba screamed, pumping his fist in the air and doing a little victory jig that proved him to be anything but a lousy dancer. He dashed over to Shino. "I won, man! We're soooo out of here!"

Shino, in a rare display of facial expression, smiled a half-smile, and then he sighed in relief. "Good job."

While Kiba was celebrating for winning, Lee was celebrating for losing.

"GAI SENSEI! I DID IT! I'M IN THE OPENING!"

Tenten scratched her head ruefully. "I have to stop Neji before he kills Lee…" she said, though Neji didn't look like he was about to kill anyone. If anything, he wasn't moving. He didn't even look like he was breathing. Yeah, it looked like he had died on the spot.

"We lost? Shikamaru, how could you!" Ino cried as she hurried off to her team mate.

Shikamaru shrugged. "You win some, you lose some I guess. Right, Chouji?"

Chouji nodded indifferently. "I guess we can just get this over with as fast as we can. Maybe they'll throw in a free meal after the taping?"

Gaara, who still did not move from his place, was looking down at his hand which was still in a scissors position. Temari and Kankurou approached their youngest brother.

"That's okay, Gaara. It's just a six second dance part," Temari said, laughing mirthlessly.

"Yeah," Kankurou seconded. "It's not like it's gonna hurt our image or something." He pondered on what he just said before shuddering. "Yeah, well at least it wouldn't hurt it much. I hope not… "

Gaara looked up at them. He didn't say anything.

Naruto was now ecstatic. "Yay! Now we have the group formed! I can't wait to contact Bee! The script says he has a part in this too."

Kiba and Shino, looking really satisfied with themselves, started for the door, a forlorn-looking Hinata trailing after them.

"Good luck, Naruto-kun," Hinata said.

"I'll do my best!" Naruto said.

"Haha! I guess I'll see you guys around, losers! You can't beat my prowess in rock, paper, scissors," Kiba boasted as he waved at Neji, Gaara and Shikamaru before disappearing through the door.

A small trickle of sand escaped from the gourd on Gaara's back. "Just let me crush a finger. Just a finger…"

Kakashi let out a sharp breath and said, "Okay. Now that we have that out of the way, Gai, why don't you show them again those – "

There was a sharp knock.

Kakashi turned to the door. "What is it this time?"

The door opened and admitted a flustered Shizune. In her hands was a crumpled piece of paper which was hurriedly straightened out to rid of the wrinkles. She had a disapproving look on her face. "Kakashi-san, how could you," she started.

Kakashi, his one eye traveling down onto the paper in the Hokage's assistant's hand, made a double turn before letting out a nervous laugh. "Oh, man."

Sakura's ears perked up when Shizune started scolding Kakashi.

"You shouldn't have torn this page from the scripts. They're essential," Shizune said, waving the paper in front of Kakashi's face.

Sakura turned to Sai and Naruto. "What do you think this is about?"

Naruto shrugged. "I dunno. I think Kakashi sensei tried to hide something from us. Could it be something embarrassing?"

And, in a first show of interest since they got there, Neji had activated his Byakugan. After a few seconds, he burst out laughing.

Tenten, at the sudden mood change of his team mate, looked up eagerly at Shizune and Kakashi. "I wanna see! What's written on that paper?"

Ino hopped up and down excitedly. "Shizune! What is that?"

Shizune shook her head, disgusted. "This is the part where Kakashi and the rest of the adults of the Leaf and some other Hidden Village representatives gracefully leap in unison during the chorus. I can't believe you had the courage to even try this stunt, Kakashi."

Kakashi raised his hands in front of him protectively. "It wasn't just me! I swear! Inoichi, Ibiki and Shikaku had something to do with this as well."

Shizune handed the paper back to Kakashi, which he accepted reluctantly. "Excuses. Make sure you practice the unified leap. It symbolizes the togetherness of Konoha as well as the other Hidden Villages in the next happenings for the series. You'd better not try this again, because Tsunade-sama is watching you."

And she was gone fuming, slamming the door behind her.

Everyone inside the room was silent.

Gai coughed into his hand. The sound echoed through the silence.

Yamato was now staring at Kakashi with narrowed eyes. "I told you not to do it."

Kakashi crumpled the paper and stuffed it into his pocket. "It's just a leap. We get to leap twice in the chorus. That's all. With our toes all pointy and stuff. I didn't even think it would matter much – "

"Shizune-san said that it symbolizes the togetherness of Konoha as well as the other Hidden Villages in the next happenings for the series. Seems crucial to me. Something like Sailor Moon or something of the like," Sai interrupted.

Kakashi shook a finger at Sai. "No, no. You don't get it, Sai. No one wants to see old men like us leaping in the air like dainty little ballerinas."

"I don't think anyone would want to see us shuffling our feet to a fast paced acoustic song just as much," Gaara suddenly said.

Kakashi feigned a gasp. "So not true! Fangirls would pay a lot to see you guys do the jig!"

Sakura groaned inwardly as they continued to bicker. She pulled Naruto and Sai away with each hand. "Let's get out of here, guys. What say we try practicing those weird hand signs the three of us have to do together while flying over the ocean." She grimaced. It just sounded so weird to say out loud.

"Okay, sure," Sai said as the three walked away from the commotion where Gaara was now threatening Kakashi with his sand.

Naruto nodded eagerly. "Have you read that final part when I get to burst into a human fireball? How cool is that?"

Sakura could only close her eyes and pray this would all end painlessly and bloodlessly.

For Kakashi sensei's sake, at least.

Lately Naruto episodes have been giving me ZERO inspiration for my fanfics. The next chapter of Protected is three-fourths done, but I have to tell you that it took me three re-writes to get that far. Most of it was written through Sai's POV, and there are fight scenes needed to be included in the end of the chapter that I just can't get right. And since Idon't want to update for the sake of updating, I'd rather take my time writing it than publishing a half-baked work. Please bear with me. I really am trying my best.

Anyway, review if you like!

EDIT: Fanfiction removed the spaces between the words in italics. I corrected the the authors notes, and there may still be some that remain joined together, so feel free to point them out lol!