AN:
Night-Owl123 workin' on it, thanks for the review.
Dual Rasengan like I said before, scary. Hope you like it so far.
Liliath, KunochiDreamer, Vermillion Wolf I'm glad you like it so far. Thanks for the review.
SGL Genma would most definitely serve the purpose.
Tombadgerlock yeah sorry for the confusion, I posted the first chapter on a whim and forgot to put the notice in it. It should be there in the second chapter, if not see below for more on that.
Azamiko Genma seems to be popular; you're the second person to recommend him.
Jubei Himura I like that suggestion, there'll have to be a vote.
Ravens Quill Genma again eh? We'll see.
Exerci that is a very interesting suggestion, Jiraiya could be very funny.
The Gandhara I hope the intros don't bother you too much. Genma and Ebisu again, it will probably be one of them.
Great Saiyaman um… sorry? I apologize if you don't like gay pairings, if it will make you feel better and still read, pairings won't have a big impact on the story. The only reason I want Kakashi's established is to give Naruto and Sasuke something to tease him about. Sorry if you really don't like them.
Ayuka-chan again I'm sorry you don't like slash pairings. I am considering several other pairings right now (see end note) and most of them are het. so hopefully you won't be too discouraged by Kakashi's pairing.
Lizzenly wow you people really like the idea of Genma which is actually really scary because that was who I was considering and then I got most of the reviews suggesting him.
R e c R a p t o r I like the ideas. Thanks for the review.
Moonlightpath interesting suggestion for Kakashi but I want it to be someone in Konoha. As for the other one I'm considering it.
Hurrahhurrah I'm glad you enjoy it so far! If you do come up with any suggestions for pairings just drop me a line.
Harukakanata I'll definitely consider them, thanks for the suggestions.
crazy-antman oh the shopping will be interesting. Shizune is a very patient person but I think Gai would drive anyone up the wall. Kakashi is another story all together. Hehehehe!
Ly Mizukage ah, screw voting I just got another Genma vote. I'll definitely consider your other suggestion as well.
yes I see Tsunade as bit of ditz however she tends to make the best of situations (wink wink). The shopping will be interesting you might begin to notice that all not all the teams are in heaven at the moment.
Bellashade I hope it remains funny. Glad you like it so far.
starry096 hmmm… another interesting suggestion. Thanks.
Thanks to everyone who reviewed and gave me suggestions.
This story is AU (Sasuke's still there) starting after about chapter 177 of the manga that means there will be spoilers if you haven't gotten that far. Information about the past five years will be told throughout the story.
And after that last review I suppose I should state quite clearly that at least two characters in this story will be gay (Kakashi and whoever I decide). None of the pairings will serve as major plot points so hopefully if it isn't your thing it won't turn you away.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
B regular stuff
B internal thoughts and such.
Picture Day
Nara Shikamaru sat on a bench waiting for his sensei. He didn't really care when the man showed up; after all, whatever Ino had planned for them today would interrupt his cloud watching. Speaking of things that interrupted his cloud watching, he was really in the wrong profession. After he had been promoted to Jounin two years ago he had joined ANBU as one of their lead strategists. That damn job was too troublesome, but taking on a Genin team would be more troublesome so he remained as he was. At least this way he occasionally worked with Neji or one of the other Rookies. He sighed and banished all thoughts from his head as he went back to cloud gazing, thinking is just too troublesome.
Ino rolled her eyes and smirked at her teammate's antics. Shikamaru's constant cloud watching was one of the oddest traits she had ever seen among shinobi. And that includes Gai and Lee's antics, she thought with a smirk gracing her pretty face. She unfortunately did not share her teammate's good luck. It had taken her three years to pass the Chuunin Exam, which meant of course that she had only received that rank two years ago. I probably won't make it to Jounin status for another two or three years at my rate of growth, she thought grudgingly, damn big forehead girl already a Jounin for longer than I've been a Chuunin. Of course she wasn't alone. Kiba, Chouji, and Hinata were also still Chuunin, but it still pissed her off every time her friend 'accidentally' rubbed the fact in her face.
She glanced at her teammates thinking about everything they had been through together. Alright so they hadn't actually gone on a mission together in almost three years. And they only saw each other when she organized these little get-togethers after begging Iruka-sensei to tell her when her former teammates and sensei were off for the day. Not to mention that when they did get together Chouji ate all day, Shikamaru stared at the clouds or played Shogi, and Asuma-sensei smoked and talked about how they should train more. That left her on her own. Surprisingly these days left her with a very nostalgic feeling, it's not like we ever did anything else when we were all Genin.
Ino's eyes glazed slightly as she thought about her teammates; both Chouji and Shikamaru had grown nicely. They were both tall, Chouji was almost six foot three; they were both quite handsome as well she thought with a grin. If she had had an Inner Ino she would be leering at the two young men. As it was, she exercised self restraint and managed to remain aloof. All three were quite powerful and good at what they did. Chouji would probably become Jounin within the next year or so, he had mentioned taking a Genin team when the time came. Shikamaru was one of the most sought after minds in his field. She was talented in her own right. She had perfected many of her family jutsu and was one of the best definitions of a Kunoichi. Her infiltration and seduction skills were better than any other Chuunin and she liked to believe better than many Jounin as well. For the time being, as jealous as she was of her friends' ranks she was happy where she was.
Chouji munched happily on his snack completely oblivious to the workings of his teammates' minds.
Finally Ino came out of her thoughts and glanced down at her watch only to realize that Asuma-sensei was almost half an hour late. "Where is that lazy-ass?" she shouted to no one in particular.
"Hmmm… what lazy-ass?" Asuma drawled as he walked up to his students.
"Finally," Ino shouted as she threw up her hands in exasperation.
"So what are we doing today?" Chouji asked through a mouthful of chips.
Ino sighed and turned to look at the men who were her team. "I don't know maybe go out to eat and catch up. After that we can all train together or something," she said trailing off.
"Sounds troublesome," Shikamaru remarked, trailing off when he felt the killer intent rolling off his blond teammate in waves.
"Then you think of something to do you lazy bastard. I didn't know I was wasting my time trying to make sure I at least had a bit of time with my friends once a month," Ino shouted before huffing and turning away.
"Can we get barbeque?" Chouji asked still stuffing his face.
"It's not lunchtime yet," Asuma drawled.
"It's never a bad time for barbeque," Chouji said back with a grin. Shikamaru smirked at his friend's antics before turning back to gaze at the sky. Ino watched the three with growing depression. She hated them sometimes. When ever the four of them got together Asuma-sensei, Chouji, and Shikamaru would joke around and piss her off as they constantly pointed out that she was the third wheel – well fourth if she wanted to be literal. They didn't want her around and every time she tried to get them to all do something that fact became painfully obvious.
"You know what, you three go enjoy yourselves I'm going home," she said. As she turned to go her teammates and sensei looked at her in concern. Shikamaru was about to apologize but someone spoke before him. "And here I was thinking Kakashi's brats were screwed up."
Asuma rolled his eyes and turned to face the intruder. "Go away Anko, we still have a week and today was for the four of us to spend together.
"Yeah well from the looks of it you're about to lose your fourth member, so I figured I'd step in," Anko quipped back, grinning maniacally at Asuma.
"What do you want Anko-san?" Shikamaru asked not bothering to take overly concerned eyes off Ino.
"What, you mean he hasn't told you yet?" she asked grinning.
"Told us what?" Ino growled out looking at her ex-sensei.
"Tsunade needs to update her files so she's decided that all of you need new I.D. photos," Asuma said.
"Pictures!" Ino's entire demeanor changed when she realized this meant she could go shopping for a new outfit.
"What do you mean 'update her files'" Shikamaru asked warily.
Anko grinned evilly as she looked at the team in front of her. I'd rather be torturing Gai or Kakashi's teams but I'll have to make do with what I've been given, she thought. "Tsunade gives higher paying clients files on the shinobi that they hire, the files include I.D. photos. Unfortunately Tsunade-sama has been so busy that she's forgotten to update the photos in about five years," she said, turning from Shikamaru to Ino.
Ino stared at the Jounin in shock; how could someone who became Hokage be so irresponsible as to give clients outdated information? "How did she ever become Hokage?" Ino whispered just loud enough for Anko to hear. "That brat Naruto convinced her," Anko replied still grinning.
Shikamaru rolled his eyes and decided to ignore the entire scene. This was all going to be very troublesome. New pictures meant his mother would nag; Ino would nag; and the Hokage would nag. Women are troublesome, he thought as he continued to gaze at the clouds.
AN: So I got two suggestions for Ebisu as Kakashi's boyfriend, one for Jiraiya, one for Baki (Gaara's sensei), and six for Genma. This won't come up for about three more chapters so I'd like to hear what the rest of you think. Just remember that isn't serious romance or anything, the couple is there so I can write jokes about them. Secondly, remember no Gai, Asuma or any of the younger chaps. I get the impression that people are disappointed with the whole no Iruka thing, don't get me wrong Kakashi/Iruka is one of my favorite pairings I just wanted something a little less mainstream for that particular match.
Any suggestions on other pairings are welcome. I've gotten a lot of requests for Neji/TenTen and will definitely consider it among others to put in later. Just two quick notes; you can ask for NaruHina and SasuSaku but they probably won't happen, I'm not a big fan of the first and I'm not really in the mood to write the second. Just a warning.