Chapter 2: The Buzz Around Town

"World Cup?"

Naruto stared with a blank look at the World Cup announcement. He remembered Jiriaya telling him about his days as a soccer stud. Many other read the announcement and chatter began to flow.

"What's this, Naruto?" asked Sai. Sai blanked out after reading the first line of the announcement.

"Sai.. WE HAVE TO TRY OUT! I HAVE ALWAYS DREAMED OF BECOMING CHAMPION!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Err… uhhh… I don't really know what this is, Naruto," said Sai with a chuckle

"What? YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME! Everyone knows what the World Cup is! It's a soccer tournament, duh!" shouted Naruto.

"But… I've never played soccer before." Sai said with a discouraged face. "Err.. Umm… I guess I can join… but I must be getting home now. Bye, Naruto."

Sai walked off, leaving Naruto by his self.

Kiba and Shino strolled along to the square.

"What's this, Naruto?" questioned Kiba. He had a strange look on his face, but that cleared immediately after he read the first two words on the announcement.

"WORLD CUP! YES!" exclaimed Kiba. "Akamaru and I have always had a passion for soccer! When are tryouts!"

"It says right there," responded Shino. Shino pointed to the very bottom which read: tryouts, a week from today. Sign up at the Hokage's office.

"Eh, Shino? Are you going to tryout?" asked Kiba.

"Meh, most likely. It's not like I want to, but my dad was on the team 20 years ago and I want to make him proud," replied Shino.

"HOII! KIBA!" shouted Naruto. "I bet I'm going to be the star captain and YOUR NOT!" Naruto laughed as he pointed to Kiba's face.

"Oh yeah? Just wait! After tryouts, Hinata- err… JUST WAIT!" exclaimed Kiba. He clenched his fists tightly, ready to strike Naruto.

Naruto laughed hysterically. And you could hear a small chuckle from Shino.

"What!"

"Oh really, Kiba? It seems like yesterday when you beat your ass in the chuunin exam!" Naruto laughed away.

Shino chuckled quietly.

"What's your problem, Shino! I thought you were my friend!" said Kiba.

"I am… I just find this situation pretty funny…" replied Shino with a dirty smirk still on his face. "Don't get so startled, Kiba. We're just joking around…"

"I'm not!" said Naruto. Naruto was dying of laughter at the sight of Kiba.

"I'm going to kick your ass, Naruto you whore!" shouted Kiba, charging at him with his fist ready.

Kiba's fist stood still infront of Naruto's face as Naruto froze of shock. A shadow appeared from the left of Kiba.

"What's this, eh? Don't start anything troublesome… I've had a bad day at the academy," said the voice coming closer.

"Shika-Shikamaru? Is that you?" asked Kiba.

"Yeah, yeah… Chouji's here too, what's with all this ruckus?"

"Naruto pissed me off!" exclaimed Kiba as he tried to get out of Shikamaru's Kagemane No Jutsu.

"I'm really not in the mood to solve any problems, but please, don't fight. You'll cause troublesome things to happen…" explained Shikamaru.

"SHIKAMARU! YOU PROMISED ME BARBEQUE! I DON'T SEE BARBEQUE!" exclaimed Chouji, walking towards Shikamaru. "YOU PROMISED ME!"

"Chouji, you had barbeque 30 minutes ago… If I was you, my stomach would've exploded already. How the hell do you hold all of it?" said Shikamaru.

"I'm hungry!" exclaimed Chouji. He pulled out barbeque potato chips and ate it rapidly.

Shikamaru finally let go of Kiba. Kiba lowered his fist and unclenched it.

"CHOUJI! I want some!" shouted Naruto.

"NO! I WILL NOT LET YOU HAVE!" said Chouji seriously.

"Give me some, fatty!" shouted Naruto as saliva flew out of his mouth.

Chouji dropped the bag of chips. His face turned blood red and his fists clenched tightly.

"No one.." started Chouji. "NO ONE CALLS ME FATTY!" Chouji bullrushed Naruto with the intent to destroy.

"Oh shit!" said Naruto. Naruto speeded down the road as Chouji chased him.

"Well… that's over with. What's here, anyways? Why is there so many people here? It's so troublesome…" said Shikamaru.

"Konoha is holding tryouts for their World Cup team," said Shino, informingly.

"Eh, Shikamaru! Me, Shino, Naruto, and Sai are definitely signing up for tryouts… how bout you?

"Meh… I'll pass, man. I have better things to do," explained Shikamaru. The expression on his face revealed his opinion on the topic: TROUBLESOME.

" Why not! It's going to be lots of fun! We're getting older everyday and we're not going to be able to do stuff like this again," said Kiba, as he tried to convince him. "Who knows? Maybe Temari will be in the stands when we face the Sand Village… I know you would want to impress her!"

"Meh... I don't need to impress Temari. It's too troublesome…"

"Come on, man! Just join! You look like the type of guy who like soccer!"

"Nah… I actually hate it. I'd rather play Shogi under some clouds or something… I'm outta of here." Shikamaru raised his hand and walked off.

"What a shame… Hey look! It's Neji and Lee!" shouted Kiba. "HOII! NEJI! LEE! OVER HERE!"

"Maybe they will join..." said Shino.

"Kiba-san! Shino-san! What's up with the crowds?" said Lee as everyone greeted each other.

"The World Cup is-"

Lee interrupted.

"WORLD CUP! GAI-SENSEI WAS IN THE WORLD CUP!" exclaimed Lee. "I must join! Gai-sensei will be proud of me for sure!"

"Go ahead, interrupt me as you please…" said Shino.

"Lee… you haven't played soccer once in your life," said a serious Neji.

"So! If I work hard, I can become the best at it! And plus, my speed will give me an advantage!"

"You can't even dribble a ball…"

"Then I will work hard enough until I can do it crisply! Gai-sensei can help me out too! And when It comes to World Cup time, the Springtime of Youth will rise again!" said a psycho Lee.

"Well, I guess I'll join. There's nothing to lose… besides, soccer was my father's favorite hobby. We played almost every day." said Neji with a smile on his face. His bright white teeth glistened.

"Hey… only my teeth glisten like that! You stole my look!" exclaimed Lee, doing his "nice guy" pose.

"At least I don't look like a little girl when I do it…" said Neji.

Kiba chuckled. "Man… good times, good times…" he said, with a smirk.

At the same time, at Shikamaru's house.

Shikamaru entered his house after a longwalk from the town square.

"Mom! I'm home!" shouted Shikamaru.

He went into his room to get his shogi set. When he went to pick it up, he noticed his beaten up soccer ball beside his desk. He suddenly changed his plans from picking up his Shogi set and picked up the rugged ball. He fiddled around with the ball and smiled .

"Heh... How troublesome," he thought.

He let the ball drop from his hands as he picked up his Shogi set and walked out of his room.

"Dad! Shogi time!"