Author's Note: I don't own anything from Naruto, but Taiga is my original character.

Also, this story doesn't strictly follow the events in the manga, though it contains certain elements of it. And no, I don't hate Ino, she was just the most suitable character for Taiga to disturb.

Thank you for last time's reviews, they were all appreciated!

"Sakura, what's up with you? Have you forgotten about Sasuke?" Naruto whispered to his teammate. The two were walking far behind Kakashi and Taiga as the team made their way to the ramen stall. It had been a long day for them so far; they met Taiga in the late morning and her spar with Kakashi took up the afternoon. It was now almost time for dinner.

"No, I haven't, Naruto," Sakura's voice was barely audible. "It's because I decided that it was time for me to move on. No, I'm definitely not going to forget about going after him or give up on bringing him back to us. I'm just not going to accept defeat and keep moping about. I think it'll be better for everyone, especially the both of us, if we can handle this in a mature way like real shinobi should. For all we know, something good may come out of this whole thing. You never know."

Naruto let Sakura's words sink in. He decided that what she said had some truth to it. However, he knew that it would take time before he could get accustomed to having Taiga around instead of Sasuke. The two of them were quite different.

"Fine," Naruto said. "I'll give her a chance, but I'm not guaranteeing anything. I just hope she doesn't do anything to get on my nerves..."

Sakura smiled at her close friend. "Thank you for understanding, Naruto."

Meanwhile, Kakashi and Taiga were discussing the contents of the Icha Icha book that was currently in the girl's hands.

"So the perv Jiraya gets all this from his peeking?" Taiga sounded unimpressed as she flipped through the orange book, skimming through the story.

Kakashi look offended. "It's the best book ever! Pure genius if you ask me."

"I wasn't asking."

Before the silver-haired man could retort, Taiga continued. "I mean, it's not that great. Okay sure he has a really active imagination if he comes up with all of this only by spying on girls, but it draws me to the conclusion that he didn't get any of this by experiencing it for himself first-hand. I kind of pity him, don't you? He seems rather deprived."

Kakashi decided that he needed to consider that thought. However, he was thankful that he was saved from giving Taiga a response when Naruto and Sakura caught up with them.

"There it is!" Naruto screamed as he dash towards the ramen stall. "Ichiraku Ramen!"

"Naruto has a bit of an obssession with ramen," Sakura explained to Taiga.

Taiga found out later that 'a bit' was an understatement with 34 bowls of ramen gone and Naruto still going strong. Kakashi had already left long ago after eating his fill. Now, Naruto was sitting in the middle of Sakura and Taiga who were watching him devour his food, the later with her eyes wide.

"Hey! Forehead-girl!"

The new team seven turned around simulaneously to see Ino, Shikamaru and Chouji join them. Sakura scrowled at Ino for the nickname.

"Who's this?" Shikamaru asked, indicating to Taiga.

"I'm Taiga," she introduced herself. Her eyes took in the images of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio. According to what Sasuke had told her before, the fatass was Chouji, pineapple head Shikamaru and Ino was the vain girl. She put on a smile and decided to humour them a little. "And you three are?"

Ino immediately took the lead. "I'm Yamanaka Ino, and that's Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji. The three of us are a team." She seized Taiga up and was not exactly happy with what she saw. The girl seemed to look a whole lot like her. In fact, she was sure that Taiga was copying her style.

"You know," Ino said, her tone rather acidic, "I'm slightly flattered, but I think you should have a little originality."

"What?"

"I mean that you have obviously copied my style."

If the rest of the ninja there weren't scared of what the two girls might do, they would have found the situation funny. Taiga and Ino did look slightly similar. Their long, blonde hair was tied up in a high ponytail with part of their fringe coming down their face. The only thing was that Ino's hair was a lighter shade of blonde while Taiga's was slightly darker.

Taiga narrowed her eyes. She surprised everyone by keeping silent and dragging a dumbfounded Naruto out of his seat, leaving his ramen half-eaten. Without warning, the ramen bowl exploded, the noodles and soup suspiciously missing everyone except for Ino. There was a stunned silence until Ino let out a frustrated grunt and shook with fury.

"Troublesome..." Shikamaru muttered.

Sakura and Chouji watched, admiring Taiga for her boldness.

"My ramen!" Naruto exclaimed, more upset over his unfinished meal.

"Don't worry, dickless, I'll buy you a new bowl if it consoles you."

"...Sai," Muttered Naruto as the ANBU Root agent walked up to the group of teenagers.

"Sai!" Ino wailed, going from agressive to helpless in a split second as she launched herself at Sai. "Look what that girl did to me!"

Taiga raised an eyebrow, as if daring the boy to jump to Ino's defense. She knew he was Sai, from ANBU Root. "I'm Taiga," she said casually, extending a hand for him to shake.

Hesitating a little bit, Sai completed the handshake. "I'm Sai," he said before giving his customary smile, making no move that indicated any intention of harming Taiga, who shot Ino a triumphant look.

Ino growled and stomped off as Sakura grinned. "Thanks, Taiga," she said. "I think you may have gotten Ino off my back for good. Well, the problem is that she'll be onto yours now."

Taiga waved it away like it was no big deal. Shikamaru and Chouji tried not to smile. This was turning out to be an amusing night for them. Naruto ordered another bowl of ramen, insisting that Sai was paying.

"Well, Shikamaru and I better be going off now," Chouji said. "We don't want Ino doing anything too drastic or - "

"Troublesome." Shikamaru finished for him. The two best friends then headed towards the direction Ino had run off in.

Sai looked questioningly at Taiga. "You did that to Ino?"

"Not directly," Taiga reasoned.

Later on in the middle of the night

Taiga stared out of the window at her new apartment offered to her for free by the Hokage. It was nearly midnight, and the sky was a beautiful shade of dark blue with numerous stars shining down over Konoha. It was a relatively cloudless night, just the way she liked it.

Suddenly, a bird appeared outside the window, which Taiga quickly opened, allowing it to fly inside. Upon closer inspection, one could tell the bird was made of clay.

"Just on time, in fact..." Taiga mused to herself. She formed a simple handseal. "Kai!"

The clay bird exploded, though the sound wasn't loud enough to alert anyone who might be awake next door. As the smoke from the explosion cleared up, Taiga could see a piece of origami paper lying exactly where the bird used to be. She picked it up and read the letter addressed to her.

Hey, Taiga-chan!

So how was your first day, un? We're all waiting back here for your report to come in. Keep on filling us in on everything that goes on around there. We'll be sending you our messages using my clay art and Konan's paper from now on since it doesn't burn up when my clay explodes, un. When you write to us, give your letters to Danzou of ANBU's Root division, he's on our side and has a way to send messages to us without arousing suspicion. He has this boy called Sai working under him that can use his ninjutsu to send out letters, un.

Sasuke and Itachi want me to remind you to keep your cool and not blow anyone up. Zetsu will be coming by from time to time for spying purposes. Konan says that you can and must destroy this paper with your explosions after you wet it. Also, Hidan wants me to tell you to stay tough and "don't take shit from anyone". We miss you, un.

Deidara

Taiga smiled as she read through her brother's letter. It was good to hear from him and her other friends. She went to the toilet to wet the origami paper before blowing it up, leaving no traces or eivdence of her communication with Akatsuki or Sasuke. When Taiga was in her room again, she took out some paper and a pen.

Hi Deidara and everyone else,

My first day was cool. Bumped into team Kakashi and they brought me to Konoha to meet Tsunade. The retards fell for the story so easily it was almost scary. I'm an official Konoha shinobi now, but I'm a genin (don't any of you dare to laugh at me, I was seriously insulted). They made me a replacement for Sasuke. Surprisingly, Sakura was really accepting, and Naruto's alright too, he'll start to trust me soon enough. I met Ino, Shikamaru, Chouji and Sai already. Speaking of Sai, I'll hand this letter to him directly, it'll be easier than looking for Danzou all the time.

Hidan will be pleased to know that I blew up a half-eaten bowl of ramen in Ino's face for trying to insult me. And no Sasuke, Itachi, I haven't blown anyone up yet, though I was tempted to blow Tsunade up for placing me as a lowly genin and Naruto for laughing about it. Also, I've already destroyed the previous letter and will keep an eye out for Zetsu.

I haven't found out much yet since it's still my first day here. But I'll definitely have more and more things to leak when the dimwits here start trusting me in due time.

Love, Taiga

Taiga re-read her letter again to check if she'd missed anything out. The mission she was sent on by Akatsuki and Sasuke was a long-term one and she wasn't even sure when it would end. After all, her mission would only finish at the same time as Konoha would, as well as Naruto's jinchuriki career.