Sakura sighed as she glared at Kiba, who was trying to convince Shikamaru that dogs were better than cats. She didn't even understand half of what her brother was saying, and she knew that Shikamaru wasn't even listening. He was half-asleep.

"Sorry I'm late," a tall shinobi said, a cigarette hanging out of his mouth as he approached the three Genin. He smiled. "I'm Asuma Sarutobi."

"Hello, Sensei," Sakura said. Shikamaru cracked open an eye to stare up at the ninja then shrugged and closed them again. Sakura rolled her eyes.

"I assume you're Shikamaru," Asuma said, sitting down on a stool. Teuchi nodded to him and started preparing a bowl of ramen without being asked.

Shikamaru grunted but otherwise said nothing. Kiba leaned over Sakura to stare at Asuma.

"You smell like smoke," he stated bluntly. Asuma chuckled.

"Well, I do smoke."

"I don't like it." Kiba frowned and sat back on his stool. Sakura sighed again.

She was surrounded by idiots.

"Well, why don't we get to know each other a little bit?" Asuma said, taking the bowl Teuchi offered him. "You," he pointed to Sakura. "You start. Name, family, anything you would like to share."

"Uh, my name is Sakura Hatake, I am unfortunately related to that idiot over there," she gestured to Kiba. "And my dog, Coco, is one of my best friends."

"That's great." Asuma nodded. "I'll be sure to remember that. Shikamaru, you next."

Shikamaru groaned and sat up, propping his head on his palm. "Shikamaru Nara. I like sleeping. That's all you need to know."

"Okay, then…" Asuma shook his head as he tried to process that. "Kiba."

"Kiba Inuzuka, and my sister is a liar!" Kiba stood up and pointed to Sakura. "I am not an idiot!"

"Are you sure?" Sakura countered. "Because the last time I checked Naruto got a better score on our last Academy test than you did."

"He did not! That test was fixed! It was not fair!"

"I don't think so," Sakura muttered. Shikamaru groaned again.

"Both of you shut up," he muttered.

"No!" they both shouted at him. Asuma sighed and tilted his head back to stare at the sky.

"God, please lend me your patience," he muttered under his breath. "I'm gonna need it for this group."

/\/\

Tsume had just trudged through the door with Kuromaru trailing behind when the sound of shouting filled her ears. She whined and dropped her bag on the ground, following the shouts to the backyard, where the kids where all screaming as they tried to train.

Kakashi was sitting on a nearby tree, alternating between reading and filling out his latest mission report. Every now and then he would glance down at the kids to make sure that they hadn't killed each other yet.

Tsume growled and marched to the tree, her hands on her hips. "Hey, Kakashi!"

Kakashi looked down at her. "Hello, Tsume."

"Are you deaf?" Tsume shouted up at him. "Can you not hear the fighting going on down here?"

"No, I can." Kakashi shook his head. "I just choose to ignore it."

Sakura had stopped her training to stare at her parents, cocking her head to the side. She grinned and turned to Sasuke, who was crouching in front of Rusty, trying to get dried mud out of the dog's fur.

"Hey, Sasuke," she whispered. "Want to see something cool?"

"I don't know," Sasuke answered, not looking up from his dog. "Kinda busy here, Sakura."

"Whatever."

Sakura sighed and strode over to her sister, who was standing next to her three dogs and smirking at her siblings.

"Hey, Hana, can you do something for me?"

Hana blinked at her and nodded. "Sure, what do you need?"

"Can you get Ino for me? I'm afraid to leave Naruto alone."

"Technically, he wouldn't be alone, but sure." Hana nodded. "I can do that."

She walked away. Sakura grinned, staring at Sasuke as her brother finally gave up on cleaning his dog. The raven shuddered and glanced at her, as if he knew what she was planning.

/\/\

That night at dinner, Ino was there. Sakura felt like she had accomplished something; her best friend was talking to Sasuke, and he was actually smiling. If she didn't know any better, she would say that the world was ending.

"How is your sensei, Sakura?" Tsume asked, taking a bite of her steak.

"Asuma-sensei likes to smoke," Kiba said. Kakashi glanced up.

"You have Asuma?"

"Yes," Sakura said. "He's actually pretty nice."

"I know he's nice." Kakashi frowned. "It's his sanity I'm worried about."

"Why?" Kiba asked.

"Because he has you two on his team."

Sakura snorted. "We're not that bad. Are we, Kiba?"

Kiba nodded in agreement. "We can be nice to each other when we want to."

"Exactly." Sakura nodded to herself. Kakashi shook his head and sighed.

"Fine, but when he snaps don't come crying to me," he muttered.

Naruto was glaring at his father from across the table. He had still not forgiven him. Tsume noticed.

"Naruto, what's wrong?"

"Dad is mean." Naruto pouted.

"What do you mean?"

"He's still testing us," Sasuke explained when Naruto didn't answer. Tsume laughed.

"That's it?"

"Yeah, pretty much," Kakashi said. "Hey, Naruto, wanna go out for some ramen tomorrow for dinner?"

"Heck yeah!" Naruto shouted, throwing a fist in the air. Kakashi smiled; Naruto was so forgiving.

Itachi was strangely quiet tonight—not that he was normally very talkative. Hana frowned at her friend and nudged him, tilting her head towards the front yard.

"Hey, Itachi," she said suddenly, getting up and dropping her plate in the sink. "Can you help me brush the Haimaru brothers?"

Itachi stared up at her for a second before nodding, setting his plate in the sink also. They walked outside where the rest of the family couldn't hear.

"Spill," Hana demanded by the tree she used to climb to escape Tsume's and Isamu's fights. Before Itachi could answer, a man striding towards the front door caught Hana's attention. She bit back a gasp.

"Dad," she breathed. Isamu turned his head to the side and saw her, breaking out into a grin.

"Hana, dear! How are you?"

A/N: Cliffhanger! I love cliffhangers…if I'm the one writing them. Haha. Anyways, I decided that I would do another reviewer request thing. So whoever is the 42nd reviewer—because I like the number—will be able to request a story. So review!