"Yamanaka!"

The gruff voice was a familiar one, and Inoichi turned instantly.

"You see my son anytime recently?"

Nara Shikaku was an intimidating man regardless, but he looked particularly threatening when he was angry. Inoichi, however, had to bite back a laugh.

"You mean you've lost him already, Shikaku? He shouldn't be that hard to keep track of. I've never seen that boy go anywhere in a hurry."

Shikaku scowled. "Don't joke with me, old man. You should be just as worried as I am. Do you know where your daughter is?"

That was enough to give Inoichi pause.

"I'll help you look."

Inoichi blinked blearily, and his hand stretched out to find the clock, working on reflex to shut off the alarm.

Only, he realized, there was no alarm going off.

He remembered hearing the chime, faint, like it had been coming from the next room over rather than his own, and heavy as his dreams had been, the sound was easily masked and dismissed as a part of slumber.

Now, however, he was fully aware that it hadn't just been a part of his dream. Sunlight spilled into the room and made the display difficult to see; he had to cup his hands around to it to read the numbers.

6:56.

The clock clattered to the floor and Inoichi sprang to his feet, muttering all manner of curses, his tongue stumbling over the unfamiliar syllables as he staggered toward the closet. He pulled on the first clean uniform he found and ran a hand through his hair, reluctantly deciding that it would just have to stay as it was, mess and all. He tore apart half the room looking for his forehead protector, only to find that he'd managed to tuck it safely away in the top drawer of his bureau before collapsing last night. He tied it as snugly as possible around his forehead, but even then it slipped slightly, obscuring his vision just enough that it was a hindrance. Exasperated, he tore it off and ran out the door with it in his hand.

He grabbed the closest item of food –an apple—off the counter and rushed out the door, breaking into a run as soon as he hit the open road. The fresh air cycling through his lungs fueled his energy, pushing the last vestiges of lethargy out through his pores. By the time he reached the training field, he was fully alert, thoughts running through his head with full logic and clarity. The panic of oversleeping was practically gone. If he had to atone for being late on the first day of training with his teammates, he wanted to do so with a level head.

As he approached, though, his panic dissipated completely, replaced with annoyance.

He was alone on the training field.

Despite his inattention, it seemed that he was, as he should have well predicted, the only remotely punctual member of his team.

Inoichi sank to a sitting position, finishing off the last of his apple as he decided what his next course of action should be. Should he wait for them? What if they never came? Then, not only would it be a loss for the newly formed squad, it would also be a loss to his personal training. He stared at the apple core with dissatisfaction. No, that wouldn't do at all.

Perhaps he should go seek them out? Both were members of prominent clans, so it was not as though it would be difficult to ascertain where they lived…

But that idea didn't particularly sit well with Inoichi either; it was a breach of privacy, invading someone's home and demanding they come to practice. Much as he disliked such negligent behavior, he disliked the idea of such a personal interaction even more. Not only that, but it might give them the idea that such an action was reciprocal if he were ever to be late for practice. And that was simply unacceptable.

Inoichi fiddled with his forehead protector as he weighed a few more useless options. The band simply refused to conform to the shape of his head, and the way it crushed the hairs at the front of his scalp against his forehead was unbearable, as he could feel every one of them scratching against the skin. Eventually, he just gave up on the idea of making it fit and tied it to his arm instead. He had to loop the band twice to make it stay, but it was serviceable.

"Umm…"

Inoichi's head snapped up. He'd been so absorbed in trying to make the band stay that he'd completely missed the fact that someone had walked up behind him.

Careless, he chided himself.

The Akimichi boy attempted a weak smile and stepped around carefully so that he was facing his teammate. Inoichi noted with interest that he kept a wide berth, as though he were frightened, a fact confirmed by his nervous gaze, which flicked all over the place –everywhere, that is, except Inoichi's face. After a few moments of punctuated silence, he ventured to speak.

"Has Shikaku-san showed up yet?"

Inoichi was tempted to give the boy an incredulous look for even asking a question to which the answer was so obvious, but he bit back the forthcoming retort. They were teammates now, and he had to try to act accordingly.

He eventually answered with a succinct shake of his head.

The Akimichi boy let out a sigh, one that said he had known this was going to happen. Inoichi made a mental note of it.

So being late is normal for Nara.

"…sorry about being late, by the way." The Akimichi boy began, as though the conversation had been ongoing. Inoichi glanced over at him; he had taken a seat near to Inoichi, but still maintained a safe distance.

The boy took Inoichi's attention as a sign to keep talking. "I got up on time and everything… I didn't want to be late on the first day." He folded his arms over his stomach and laughed nervously. "I guess I didn't plan well enough. Forgot about breakfast. Kinda stupid of me. I never forget about breakfast. My ma says I have a high metabolism, and that's why I have to eat so much. I think she's just…" He stopped, looking up at Inoichi.

"Sorry. I'm talking too much. My ma says that about me too."

Red blotches crept into his pale cheeks, and Inoichi felt he should say something, tell the boy to keep talking or that he didn't really mind the chatter, but he didn't, and soon enough the silence filled the space between them again, and it was too late to offer any consolation.

It was another few minutes before a shadow fell across the far edge of the field, slowly giving way to a figure that ambled with no apparent hurry toward the two boys. The Akimichi boy immediately jumped to his feet, but Inoichi remained seated, his gaze appraising. Nara didn't look at him.

"Good morning, Shikaku-san!" The Akimichi boy looked visibly relieved to see their other teammate, and he turned to Inoichi, obviously hoping to see a similar reaction. Inoichi just waited.

"Mornin'." Nara stuck a hand up in greeting, a gesture which quickly turned into a feline stretch. He yawned widely, then slumped back into posture that was so extraordinarily bad, Inoichi wondered how he was standing at all. "Well, looks like we're here, fearless leader and all. Let's get started."

Inoichi didn't miss the sarcasm in his voice. He still didn't move.

The inaction was enough to catch Nara's attention. His head revolved lazily to look at Inoichi.

"Well?"

Inoichi shrugged.

Nara raised an eyebrow, looked over at the Akimichi boy and gestured back at Inoichi.

"What's his problem?"

Their other teammate gave a helpless shrug and, as if on cue, started chewing his lip.

"Well, Yamanaka, care to explain, or are we mere mortals too far beneath you to be privy to what's going on in that spacious head of yours?" Inoichi could practically see the anger as it rose in the Nara boy, spilling over into his gaze. If looks could scorch, Inoichi would have had two nice, even circles singed into his forehead.

"Well, Nara, I assumed since you cannot find it within your capacity to be on time, that time was not an issue of much concern." He kept his expression perfectly controlled, which only proved to infuriate Nara further.

"Ha," He sneered, "aren't you just hilarious. Regardless of how late I was, genius, sitting here waiting for you to get off your ass is not a productive use of our training time."

"Neither is waiting on someone who is so unthinking that schedules mean nothing to him." Inoichi quipped back. "Is this how you plan to conduct missions as well? Consistently showing up fifteen minutes late? It's a good way to get your comrades killed you know."

The Akimichi boy's eyes went wide.

"Inoichi-san, Shikaku-san, perhaps we should just agree to be more prompt in the future and begin our training…"

"No." Nara cut him off sharply. "No, this pompous bastard needs to become aware right now that he does not have absolute authority in this squad. We will train, but I don't want to hear anything else out of him about being late."

"Threatening your teammates. Another excellent way to conduct a mission." Inoichi remarked.

That was the last straw. Inoichi saw it, saw whatever it was that snapped in Nara, but it happened too quickly for him to react. Before he knew what was happening, the hand seals had already been formed and he was being forcibly jerked off the ground.

"You will get up, dammit." Nara folded the final seal, crossing his hands over his chest. "You wanted something to show our teacher, well there you go."

Inoichi panicked, but his body refused to struggle, refused to go anywhere. It was as though someone had stuck needles in every single one of his pores and was using them to hold him completely rigid. The pain was excruciating, but he couldn't scream. It was only when his arms crossed over his chest—a mirror to Nara—that he truly understood what was going on.

That only infuriated him more, and he wanted to scream at the boy to release him. Only, he found that his mouth refused to move as well.

"Now, you ready to train, Yamanaka?" Nara raised an eyebrow.

The muscles in his jaw had relaxed back to their normal state, but Inoichi still refused to speak. He just stared coolly at the Nara boy.

"Well?"

As Inoichi suspected, after a few moments the grip slowly faded; the longer Nara tried to keep him stationary, the more difficult it was for him to maintain whatever the technique was.

Finally, it slipped enough that a brief burst of chakra was enough for Inoichi to break free. Unfortunately, he wasn't prepared for full control of his body again, and his knees gave way underneath him, forcing him to the ground heavily.

"Inoichi-san!" The Akimichi boy rushed to his side; Nara, unsurprisingly, remained completely still.

Inoichi allowed himself to be helped up, and he brushed his clothes off as best he could.

"Inoichi-san, are you okay?" The Akimichi boy's pale face had gone even whiter with worry as he looked between his two teammates.

"I am fine." Inoichi directed the comment at Nara, though he seemed to be doing his best to ignore the other two entirely. "And I will be perfectly willing to train…"

Inoichi picked up his things and nodded respectfully to the Akimichi boy before turning back toward Nara. "…when all of my teammates decide to act like shinobi."

With that, he left the training ground.

A/N: ... and thus Team Ino-Shika-Cho has its inauspicious beginning.

Sorry for the dearth of updates recently. Lots of school stuff: I'm actually in the middle of exams right at the moment, but I needed a break from studying - this is much more enjoyable than Chemistry - so the new chapter was born! I really appreciate everyone who has read and/or reviewed so far. I have big plans for this story, and once summer hits I intend to start with regular updates, so bear with me, please.

Anywho, hope you enjoyed the chapter, and any feedback would be lovely!

- Senka