Naruto bounced out of the room with a smirk that sent shivers down the spines of everyone but Shino. The headband on his head only made his classmates groan in horror.

Shino, however, grinned.

"Did they flip out?"

"Iruka's mouth dropped. I don't think Mizuki-sensei was very happy about passing me though..."

"He's one of the idiots. Forget about him."

Naruto grinned, and then pulled out a book. Thanks to Shino, he had a real love of just sitting down to read. Sometimes, he would go to the Aburame mansion, find a tree, and just sit down to read. None of the clan ever noticed him during those times.

Naruto ignored the parents that picked up their children. Shino's mom and dad liked him well enough, so why should he care what they thought? They thought Shino was creepy anyway, because of his bugs.

"How does ramen at Ichiraku sound?" asked Shino.

"You bet! Who's buying?"

Shino smirked.

"Mizuki is. I saw that look he shot you when you walked out, so I nicked his wallet."

Naruto grinned evilly. Shino would sometimes steal the wallets of the teachers who treated him badly, and they would eat their fill of ramen in revenge.

Shibi never bothered to correct that behavior, since it was a good way to practice his ninja skills.

Later that night, Mizuki came to Naruto with what he made out to be a relatively harmless prank. Naruto, without Shino to help guide his pranks, fell for the trick.

The moment Shino over heard what Naruto had done, he immediately went to his side.

"You do realize you stirred up an Aburame hive when you stole that."

Naruto looked up from the scroll, and realized Shino happened to be there.

"Check this out. First jutsu on the scroll is the shadow clone."

Shino, who realized this was likely the only chance he would ever get to look at the scroll while a Genin, decided to join in. It wasn't long until Shino had a blank scroll and was copying down all the jutsu he found interesting.

It took Iruka an hour to find Naruto, and Shino had hidden himself. It was unlikely the Chunin would realize he was there...or that they had taken jutsu off the scroll.

(The task of copying was much easier and faster thanks to a strange power Shino had. He merely had to touch the jutsu and a blank spot on the scroll, and the thing was copied. It would have taken hours otherwise.)

Shino was shocked to learn that Naruto was the container for the Kyuubi. Fortunately Naruto didn't believe for a minute that he was alone.

He always had Shino to back him up...or help him get out of trouble.

Naruto bolted, with Shino right behind him. Shino was beyond livid at the way Mizuki treated his friend. It was clear that the man was a traitor, he knew he could sick his entire hive without fearing his father's lecture. The fact that he hated Mizuki was only a bonus.

Naruto finally paused, and the two listened in to the conversation between instructors. Shino was thrilled to hear that the one instructor he didn't actively dislike not only cared about Naruto, he actually viewed him as a fellow shinobi.

Which was why the minute the two finally revealed their presence (Iruka was surprised that Shino had been there the entire time) Shino was more than happy to let loose nearly a hundred thousand bugs on Mizuki.

Iruka was shocked to learn that Shino not only had bugs to steal chakra from his enemies, but he also had a few that healed.

Shino was the only one in the clan with enough chakra to have them though. Those particular bugs ate four times the amount of the regular ones, and most Aburame couldn't handle more than ten of them.

It was why they were relatively unused.

Once Shino drained Mizuki of any chakra he had, Naruto finished him off with a ridiculous amount of clones.

"Are you alright Iruka-sensei?" asked Shino.

"How long have you been here?"

"I arrived fifty minutes before you did. I heard everything."

Iruka didn't look happy about that. Then Shino decided to trust the man as much as Naruto clearly did.

"Then again... If Naruto can make friends with someone who's not an Aburame by blood, then who's to say that I can't make friends with the loudest idiot in the village?"

Iruka and Naruto stared.

"What?"

"I'm adopted," repeated Shino.

And then he did something that had them in complete shock. He took off his famous sunglasses and revealed the clearest emerald eyes they had ever seen.

"No one else in the village has the same clear green eyes. Believe me I've checked. Father told me that someone left me on the doorstep eleven and a half years ago."

"So that's what was bothering you a few years ago!" said Naruto in surprise.

"Besides, Naruto is one of the rare people who have been able to tell whenever I'm upset. I'm not about to drop a friend like that just because of some demon."

Iruka smiled, and told them that he would take them both out to ramen...once someone picked Mizuki up.

The two boys looked at each other, and snickered. Iruka shot them a look.

"What did you do?" he asked.

Shino tossed Iruka a wallet. It looked familiar. Then he realized who it belonged to.

"You two were the ones who stole his wallet?"

"Iruka-sensei, you're the only teacher in that school whose wallet I haven't stolen," said Shino deadpan.

Suddenly all the complaints by his fellow teachers about losing their wallets made absolute sense. And why he was the only person who hadn't suffered the problem of finding it later with no cash left in it.

"You see Iruka-sensei, whenever one of the teachers had been particularly cruel or mean to Naruto, I stole their wallet. I had hoped they would take the hint to leave Naruto alone, but unfortunately none of them ever got the message."

"Yeah, and I couldn't very well say anything because then they would think I did it," said Naruto.

Shino was rather eager to meet his team. He only hoped he was on one with Naruto...and not Haruno. The pink haired demon was a little too violent to be on the same team as his friend, especially without him to prevent her from giving Naruto a concussion.

(It had happened once, and as far as Shino had anything to say about it, it would never happen again.)

Shibi was rather amused by his son's eagerness. He knew full well that the Hokage was going to put Shino and Naruto on the same team, the only question was who else would be stuck with their insanity.

At least he had comfort in knowing that whichever instructor landed the boys, they wouldn't be biased against Naruto. Kakashi, Asuma and Kuranai were three of the few jounin who didn't hate the kid on sight. And since one of the Noble clans were on the team, there wasn't a chance the Hokage would stick them with sub par teachers.

"Have fun...and remember, whoever you get stuck with is a comrade. You aren't allowed to use the kikai bugs on them."

Shino stared at his father.

"Not even a little chakra leeching?"

"If I hear you drained anyone dry again, I will have your missions restricted to catching that damn cat or cleaning after the Inuzuka dogs."

"Mizuki was a traitor who tried to get Naruto killed. I stand by my actions," said Shino firmly.

"Which is the only reason you're not grounded from your calligraphy class," said Shibi.

Shino winced. Calligraphy was one of his few normal hobbies, and the teacher didn't shirk away from him because of his bugs. Instead he would give Shino talks about bugs that could be used for ink. It was Shino's favorite class.

Shino ran into Naruto, who cheerfully greeted him as if nothing had happened.

"Any idea who we'll get?" he asked.

"Not a clue. Hopefully we'll get the same team. And Haruno will be placed far, far from us," said Shino.'

"I don't get why you hate Sakura-chan so much."

"She's a violent, Uchiha-obsessed stalker, with sociopath tendencies and she hates you. What more do I need? She's more likely to fawn over Sasuke than to actually get a mission done. Frankly I think Yamanaka-san is a better kunoichi than her."

Fate clearly had it in for Shino, because Sakura happened to be passing by and heard his comment. He sensed the impending fist, and without realizing it, the two disappeared with a crack of displaced air.

"What the hell just happened?" asked Naruto, slightly dizzy.

"My Haruno-detector went off. She was about to hit me on the head. You know how I feel about her punches."

It was then that Sakura appeared, having guessed where Shino would go.

"ABURAME!" she shrieked.

There was a reason why Shino was usually quiet unless Naruto was around. Loud noises tended to get his hive worked up. And since he was already trying to avoid Sakura, it wasn't really a surprise to Naruto what happened next.

Shino's hive reacted.

Sakura took one look at the bugs and backed away from the corner so fast that Shino knew if he had blinked he would have missed it.

"Haruno, there is a very good reason, aside from the fact that you two are fan girls of the Uchiha, that I never sit anywhere near you or Ino. Loud noises bother them greatly."

"It's true. I heard your cousin complain about that when one of the genin set off that explosive tag near the mansion," said Naruto.

Iruka walked in, took one look at Sakura hugging the wall and the hive, and guessed what happened.

"Shino, were you being unusually blunt around Sakura again?"

"I was talking to Naruto on the way here, and didn't realize she was walking down the street," he answered blandly.

"Right. Could you recall the hive?"

"Hai."

The insects went back, mostly because the danger had passed.

Shino and Naruto took their usual spot, and waited for the team announcements.

"Team eight, you will be Naruto Uzamaki, Shino Aburame and Hinata Hyuuga. Your jounin instructor is Kurenai."

"Thank kami..." said Shino.

Sasuke looked relieved too, though he was a bit annoyed that Shino had lucked out. It would have been amusing to see how the two reacted to Sakura being on their team.

Then he ran that scenario through his head and winced.

Sakura wouldn't last a week before Shino drove her completely insane. Shino had made it very clear over the years how he felt about the girl.

While he would work with her when forced, he wanted nothing to do with the harpy. The fact that she hated Naruto with a passion, and tended to give him rather large and painful bruises only made his dislike worse.

Hinata also couldn't believe her luck. She had a major crush on Naruto, and Shino was her friend in calligraphy class, sometimes helping her out. Plus Kurenai sometimes let her crash on her couch whenever her father was acting more like a jerk than usual.

So yes, she had definitely lucked out in concerns to her new team.

Naruto was just happy to have Shino on the same team as him.

"Likes, dislikes and dreams. We'll start with blondie." said Kurenai.

"I like ramen, books and pranks! I dislike the time it takes for the ramen to be done, and people who judge you without really getting to know you. My dream is to become Hokage!"

She looked at Shino.

"I enjoy miso ramen, books, calligraphy, pranks, and collecting new bugs. I dislike abuse, people who try to hurt Naruto without really knowing him, and loud sounds. My dream is to one day find a one of a kind insect."

Interesting choices, thought Kurenai. She looked at Hinata.

"I like calligraphy, practicing my jutsu and... (she blushed, but decided to go straight to the second part). I dislike people who judge you on sight, and violence without a good reason. My dream is to... be a kunoichi like my mother and... (she blushed even heavier and couldn't get it out)."

Shino was well aware of Hinata's crush on Naruto. Being observant had it's perks. Fortunately, he liked Hinata enough not to mention that attraction to the blond.

"We'll meet at training ground ten. Be on time."

"Yes ma'am," said Shino.

He liked their instructor already. She didn't glare at Naruto for no reason, but was more indifferent than anything. Shino knew Asuma liked Naruto, after all he was related to the Third. And Kakashi... Shino once saw him protect Naruto from a civilian.

Shino arrived early, to scout the area. He ended up finding a few snakes around, and chatted with them a bit. They weren't surprised he could talk, since the ones in the Forest of Death liked to chat with their smaller cousins.

According to the snakes in the forest, they liked his scent. He smelled of nature, instead of humanity.

Hinata arrived next, and she blushed when she saw Shino.

"Morning, Hinata-chan."

"Morning, Shino-kun. Looking for new bugs?"

"Any bug here is probably already in my hive. I was talking to the snakes."

"Snakes?" she asked.

"Yeah, they're surprisingly rather chatty. The only real downside is that they're mostly perverts."

She decided not to comment. Chances were pretty good that Shino was speaking to a summon, though there were very few people in the village who bothered with snake summons after Orochimaru.

Naruto showed up, yawning. Shino paused, and looked at him.

"Naruto, did you drink from expired milk again?"

"Hmm? I didn't check," said Naruto.

"My kikai bugs tell me you will be on the toilet for the next few hours. You may need to get rid of your breakfast unless you want to get into trouble," said Shino.

"I didn't get much sleep last night. Some idiot was partying below my house."

"Need any help?"

"Nah... I'll be back in a bit," said Naruto.

Hinata looked at Shino with wide eyes.

"Expired milk?"

"For reasons only Naruto may explain, the majority of the civilians that live in the village hate him. They take it out on him by forcing him to buy expired foods. Thankfully he has enough common sense to come to the mansion and eat with us, otherwise he would be living solely on ramen and whatever fruits he is currently growing in the apartment next door."

Kurenai arrived five minutes later, and she didn't seem happy.

"Where's Naruto?"

"He didn't realize he had drank expired milk this morning, and is getting rid of it before it becomes a problem," said Shino.

Kurenai paused, and heard the sound.

"Right. Once he's done we'll start."

Ten minutes later Naruto was annoyed to learn they had one more test to pass before becoming an official team. When he learned it didn't involve a paper exam, he was all for it.

"Right...If it comes down to it, I could probably blackmail Kurenai to stay on the team. First we have to find her though."

Naruto grinned. And held up the kunai Kurenai had thrown at him earlier. Apparently she had issues with loud people. (Then again this was the woman who lived with one of the craziest people in the village.)

"Alright, Naruto, get her scent. Hinata, you'll help me by being the early warning system. Once I get close enough I can place a tracker on her."

They vanished.

Kurenai was rather impressed. She was well aware of Naruto's nose, which was why she had stayed downwind of the team. Shino was clearly the leader, and knew each of their basic abilities well.

Then again, she wasn't surprised to see the boy lead the others. The two boys were infamous in the ANBU headquarters, especially when Shino was leading the loud blond one.

The cursing they inspired in the ANBU lounge were legendary.

Strangely enough, Anko absolutely adored the boys, particularly Shino.

She stopped musing when she heard Naruto crash nearby. Unnoticed by the kunoichi, a small bug attached itself on her back.

For the next two hours, she had to duck, dodge and avoid the genin.

Things really took a turn for the worse when Shino caught her with his genjutsu.

She really hadn't expected the kid to know anything nearly as disturbing as the vision he hit her with. From what she knew, the Aburame clan weren't that good with illusions.

Shino was rather talented with them. And his intricate knowledge about insects only made his illusions much more realistic.

She would have nightmares for a week after that though.

(If you're wondering what he did, he placed Kurenai under the illusion of flesh eating beetles with her being in the pit with them. Think The Mummy Returns, in the scene where Ankh-Se-Namen falls into the pit with the scarabs.)

She heard the alarm go off, and felt relieved beyond belief.

Shino and Hinata had the two bells, and Naruto was grinning like the fox container he was.

"Alright team, you've passed!"