Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Chapter summary: What happens when the boys of the rookie nine and team Gai switch places? Neji ponders the reasoning behind who switched with whom, cursing Shikamaru for pairing him with Naruto. Thanks to Shika, Neji is stuck behind a bush with everyone's favorite pervy sage. And WTF is Jiraya doing checking out his Tenten! Neji x Tenten implied. Kiba x Hinata sort of implied.

NEJI'S DAY

It had been left up to Shikamaru to decide who would impersonate who. Neji, Sasuke, and Shino had been far too uninterested in the matter to attempt it, while Naruto, Kiba and Lee seemed unable to grasp the simple concept that none of the boys was supposed to impersonate their teammates.

Choji, in his unyielding loyalty and admiration of Shikamaru, had suggested that they have Shikamaru choose the pairings, reasoning that Shikamaru was the smartest one there and could thus make the game harder that way.

Though Shikamaru found everything troublesome, he had nonetheless relented to the boys' insistence. Afterwards, Neji suspected that Shikamaru had actually accepted only to make the whole game easier for himself.

Neji surmised that Shikamaru had strategically decided to impersonate Kiba. Choji was not an option as it was against the rules, Lee and Naruto were much too hyperactive for anyone but each of the two buffoons to play, and impersonating Sasuke or Neji required too much running for the lazy shinobi, since they were constantly chased down by fan girls. That only left Kiba and Shino.

Shino would have made a logical choice since Shikamaru could have easily played the part by going bug collecting. But Neji knew why Shikamaru had chosen Kiba instead. He was certain that it was partly to switch Lee and Shino, since that seemed to be the oddest pairing; then again any of them, except maybe Naruto, would have made an odd pairing with Lee. But switching Lee and Shino almost guaranteed that neither of the two would win the bet, making the game easier to win for the lazy genius.

But it wasn't merely a strategy to knock Lee and Shino out of the competition; KIBA was the most strategically sound choice for Shikamaru, as far as Neji was concerned. Everyone knew the dog boy was wild and overly energetic, but it was not uncommon to see the Inuzuka and his dog lazing about in some flower field. Neji was certain that Shikamaru would likely go out and find his cousin Hinata and convince her to go with him to the flower fields, to pick flowers while he slept, thereby keeping to the rule about being in the presence of others and still being able to do nothing, which was no doubt Shikamaru's plan.

Neji was also certain that Hinata would be unable to say no. She was never good at denying anyone anything, much less her wild and reckless teammate, whom Neji suspected she might have developed feelings for.

Realizing what Shikamaru had been up to when he chose the pairings, Neji felt frustrated with himself for not having seen it earlier. If he had known, he would have volunteered to assign the switches himself. He certainly would NOT have chosen to impersonate Naruto. He probably would have chosen to be Shino. Instead, here he was, hiding behind a bush with Naruto's perverted sensei.

At first, Neji had considered it a great opportunity to train with the legendary Sannin, but upon realizing that Jiraya's idea of training at the moment consisted of 'perfecting one's stealth skills', Neji became angered, and even, uncharacteristically yelled at the sannin, calling him a pervert! Then again, he was pretending to be Naruto, and Naruto always called Jiraya a pervert, so Neji rationalized that he was just playing his part.

"Woah! Look at that one!" yelled the aforementioned ero-sennin.

Neji was just about ready to get up and leave, when he noticed out of the corner of his eye the beauty that Jiraya was referring to; who happened to be undressing to get into the river at the moment.

Wow, she is beautiful. She looks familiar… thought 'Naruto' (Neji). Wait…

"TENTEN!" exclaimed 'Naruto' (Neji).

As soon as the name escaped his lips, a barrage of weapons began flying toward the two figures hidden behind the bushes.

Let's just say, it's a good thing Jiraya is a legendary shinobi, and Neji knows how to dodge Tenten's attacks…. Unfortunately the trees weren't so lucky… and one stray shuriken made its way several meters to hit a frantic Shino, running like a maniac and screaming something about bugs.

TBC...

Next up: Naruto

A/N: hehehe… I love the end… lol…

Thanks to everyone who's reviewed… hopefully I'll have Naruto's chapter up soon, and then the bonus one. Thanks for the suggestions; I just might have Naruto spar with Tenten… maybe…