Twenty Truths: Team Asuma

One. Nara Shikamaru really is as lazy as people say he is. Of course, with his ridiculous intelligence, such a trait was forgiven.

Two. Because it was for the benefit of his jutsu, Chouji's gluttony was excused as well.

Three. No one forgave Ino's loudmouth. It never helped anything except to get her team in gear.

Four. The Ino-Shika-Chou Second Squad Rendan could only be beaten by luck or circumstances beyond the trio's immediate control. They were the embodiment of Kakashi's ideal of teamwork.

Five. Ino never let her team fall behind. They always stood together, even if on their knees. Ino planned for them to either grow old together or die young together.

Six. Ino-Shika-Chou was more than just a winning hand to her: they were everything.

Seven. Though Chouji and Shikamaru were closer to each other than Ino was to either of them, they never let her feel left out.

Eight. Chouji never felt, even once, that his teammates didn't believe in him. His father told him he'd make great friends and he had no greater friends than Shikamaru and Ino.

Nine. It was Ino who discovered that their Ino-Shika-Chou Rendan was the second generation after retrieving her father from a bar at her mother's request. She didn't figure it out really until Shikamaru and Chouji showed up as well.

Ten. Each member of Asuma's team had a taboo word. Chouji's was fat-ass. Ino's was ugly. Shikamaru's was unfaithful.

Eleven. Unlike Ino and Chouji, Shikamaru didn't think there was anything wrong with dating more than one person at the same time, as long as they are different sexes.

Twelve. It was how he justified his simultaneous relationships with Temari and Hyuuga Neji.

Thirteen. Chouji would be the first in his squad to marry. He married a chuunin from an older graduating class whose family ran a local outdoor restaurant.

Fourteen. He gave his teammates free meals, but wasn't allowed to extend that invitation to his immediate family: his in-laws only needed to learn that lesson once.

Fifteen. Shikamaru was the godfather of Ino's first born son with Inuzuka Kiba and witnessed first hand the ordeal that came with naming the boy. Ino wanted her name in her son's name and Kiba wanted his child named after an animal's body part.

Sixteen. Shikamaru had tried to suggest naming the kid Inogan, but neither Chuunin was keen on having their kid named 'pig eye'.

Seventeen. Shikamaru's daughter with Temari was Shikachi. His son was Getsuei. The children were both blessed with their father's intellect and their mother's pension for violence and cheekiness.

Eighteen. Nara Shikachi and Nara Gestuei never heard themselves referred to as troublesome.

Nineteen. Ino-Shika-Chou was the first team of that famous rookie nine squad to have all its members become Jounin.

Twenty. Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Chouji had a saying that they shared between them from the time of Genin to retirement: We are Konoha's Legacy. Ino-Shika-Chou. We're never weak when we stand together.