Italics - Thoughts.

"Shi-no!" A voice whispered very loudly. "Shi-no!" It whispered again. "Shino! Wake up!" It yelled. Shino suddenly sat up rigidly. Kiba hadn't snuck up on him, his bugs made sure of that. Something seems off.

"Shino! It's not today! Or, what I mean is... It's not yesterday and you said, 'Not today,' yesterday, but now it's today which is yesterday's tomorrow!" Kiba stopped to think about that for a moment.

"So?"

"So... Tell me what you've been up to! You seemed less talkative yesterday than usual, but I don't know what usual is anymore since it's been a few years. Have you gotten a girlfriend yet? I would be surprised if you did if you're still wearing those clothes."

"I've been on missions. People are starting to bother me. No."

"Come on Shino! Where's that 'man beneath the coat' that should be there? Get yourself a woman! Oh yeah... That reminds me! I've gotta tell you about this hot babe I could hook you up with! I met her while..."

Shino tuned him out. The bugs feel...dead in that area. No, more like nonexistant."

"Hey! Are you listening to me?"

"Not really."

"This is what I'm talking about. This is why you can't pick up chicks. You just go into your own little bug world."

I'm not a big fan of being nagged is all... Shino thought, giving Kiba a raised eyebrow in response. Shino stood up and started putting on his usual clothes: green jacket, sunglasses, forehead protector, shorts, sandals... "I'm sure I have somewhere to go." Shino said while putting his clothes on.

The crouching Kiba seemed unconvinced. "Why do you always flake out like this? Why do you hate everyone so much?"

This stopped Shino from his current task of putting on his sandals. "I never found a purpose to idle chatter and I don't hate people."

And with that, Shino slipped on his sandals and left Kiba with a frustrated look on his face.

Walking on a pathway with absolutely nowhere to go was a man named Shino. Maybe he's right. Maybe if I waste some time chatting, more people will like me. When did I care what they think?

A kunai whizzed out from a tree and flew through Shino's head, and a hole in his head opened to reveal that it was only a bug clone created by Shino. The real Shino was standing a mere 2 feet in front of the clone. "Now is not a good time. If you value your lives, you might not want to attack." He said, pointing to the spot where the kunai came from without looking at it.

All four of them came out at once. Kakashi's new genins? Hmm... At least they're brave. Shino waited until the perfect moment when one of them got close enough for taijutsu. "Since you're all genins," he started while grabbing the fist of the closest one which was behind him, "I'll teach you a lesson on," he continued while kicking the next closest one in front of him, "some basic taijutsu," he grabbed another fist of the other one behind him, "that can be used on multiple enemies." He finished as he brought the two boys he had closer together at his front to block the girl coming for his opening. The boys colided as Shino released them for the girl to run into. Shino casually moved to the side as they collapsed in a heap and started walking away.

"We're not done here! You shouldn't think that one kick can keep me down!" Foolish child. The remaining boy, that he had kicked, came charging at him. Reminds me of a stupid Kiba. Shino sidestepped the punch from his back and brought his elbow down into the boy's spine. That should stop him for awhile. The boy fell to the ground, apparently unconcious. "I hope you all learned the valuable lesson for taijutsu today: Sometimes you're just outclassed."

Stupid kids could have gotten themselves killed. Shino was thinking as he was still wandering. They shouldn't try to surprise people so much stronger than them, it's an easy way to die. With a frown, Shino realized it was about time to get to Naruto's place. I sure hope he hasn't decided to assign me to some genins or anything. Shino looked over at the bench he was coming upon, and noticed Choji sleeping on it. He decided the neighborly thing to do would be to kick him, call him a bum, and yell at him for sleeping in a public place. Then Shino realized that was the sarcasm talking. "Choji?" Choji just snorted and rolled over. "Wake up Choji." Shino said as he started to shake him gently.

"Biggest steak I've ever seen...bring on the beef..." Choji grinned as he muttered to himself and rolled over. He'll wake up eventually. Sounds like he's at the best part of his dream. Shino thought with a smile. Ah well, time to get to Naruto's. With that thought, Shino started running.

Finally, I've arrived. Shino scanned his surroundings out of habit, and, finding nothing was amiss, walked inside.

Sasuke's here? What for? Shino paused, then nodded and Sasuke nodded in response. Shino proceeded to the opposite corner of the room. "Looks as if Shino is the second one here," said Naruto as he walked in through another doorway. "What do you mean by 'second?' Are there supposed to be more?" Shino inquired. A grunt was heard from Sasuke as Naruto grinned. "Just wait for the others. It's kind of a surprise." Just then, Neji walked in. I'm sure the Seeing Ninja didn't see this one coming. Neji seemed caught off guard for a moment. He just had to ask, "What's going on?"

"You'll see as soon as the last person gets here." Naruto said with a wide smile and a chuckle. Neji looked terrified at what the Hokage might have in mind, but then went back to his usual, expressionless face. "I'm sure we will," muttered Neji as he took his place in a corner.'

About an hour had passed, Naruto had left the room, and the three dark-haired shinobi were standing patiently in their respective corners. Neji, who usually kept his eyes closed, suddenly opened them. With a slight grunt, he uttered, "It can't be...Naruto can't be serious..."

A thin figure walked through the door with a confident air about it, and shouted, "I'm here Hokage!" I understand Neji's surprise now. I'm sure there is some reasoning behind this... "What are you all doing here?" The latest of the four asked, seeming to finally realize they were there. Ah, I see now. Shino thought with a slight nod. Choji is an expert with pills, so he should be somewhat familiar with medicine. He also has the ability to hold his own with his taijutsu.

"Well, I'll tell you Choji," said Naruto coming back through the doorway he had exited through. "You see, there are some...intelligence reports I have recieved about the Sound village making preparations for war. So if worse comes to worse, we're going to need to have some of our own leverage." Naruto paused to let this all sink in. Not even Choji reacted, he merely had a bag of chips he was munching on. "I'm going to put you all on a team. For the time being, your only mission is to work as a team. Learn each other's strengths, weaknesses, interests, anything that you don't know already. Our goal here is to get an elite team functioning. There's no point in teaming you up if you can't be effective as a team." Naruto concluded.

Everyone could feel the discomfort, even Choji had stopped eating. Sasuke, I can get used to him, I've been on his team before. Neji, he probably won't give me any trouble as long as I do likewise. Choji, I'm not sure what to think about him. "I don't suppose you've decided on a leader for us yet, have you?" Neji inquired. Naruto just turned to Shino and said, "Shino, I'm assinging you as leader. You're the best at group tactics here. I'm counting on you." Shino gave a grunt and nodded. "If he dies?" Sasuke asked. "Then Neji is second, you're third, and Choji would be on his own after that."

As long as Choji doesn't bother me, I shouldn't have too much trouble with the other two. "Choji, you're officially medic," Choji let out a victorious yell. "Have fun guys. I have a date tonight, so if you don't mind, I'm just gonna go home and get ready." Naruto said with obvious pleasure in his voice. Is he enjoying our discomfort, or the fact that he has a date? That was obviously the conclusion of the meeting. "Let's go." Shino said, walking out the door. I know exactly where to go. They might not be too happy about it though.