A/N: Oh look, life got in the way again! Tatu - not gonna get us is stuck in my head right now O.o Along with "gay bar" but ya, work is nuts and homework is on overload. :P Also, I have a bit of a challenge for you all, if you're up to it. I want to hear your ideas for Shinobu couples (post-shippuuden). It doesn't have to be an obvious couple like NarutoxShinobu, it could be ChojixShinobu or SuigetsuxShinobu. Anybody. Even something odd like SasuxShinobu or ItaxShinobu *just provide good reasoning*. All I want is for you to pick what Shinobu couple YOU would like to see in this story. I also want a reason why. The person with the best answer (not the one I prefer but who answered the best) is going to receive a guest appearance in the later chapters :D


It's all over the place - POV

*pov switches indicated by line, along with time jumps*

"So basically everyone is headed to the tower right?" Kiba said, casually petting Akamaru while he wondered how the girls were doing. Shino confirmed with a small nod though his mind set was very similar. They had both changed their appearances so they were decently smaller, it looked like neither had any muscle mass and Akamaru had shrunk into a teacup version of himself.

"Then setting traps near here would be best." Kiba stated. His eyes narrowed as he noticed the presence near them. Shino also noticed the two of them acting as if they didn't know. Part of him was glad that Hinata wasn't here when an ear piercing scream filled the air, one of their traps coming to life. Hinata probably wouldn't have liked that very much. Hopefully this team had the right scroll.

"Leaf village jumping leaches will sense life forms and attack in a group. Five minutes of sucking and you'll be in the next world. Realizing that and setting traps where the enemy might escape to.. ONE DOWN!" Kiba grinned as the three ninja's were pulled into a large net.

"!"


"T-that was a human scream right..? I'm starting to get a little nervous.." Sakura winced as the scream echoed through the trees.

"This.. This is nothing Sakura-chan!" Naruto grinned, trying to keep the spirit up. After a moment of silence he sighed.

"I gotta take a piss." He mumbled, moving towards a near by bush and fiddling with his fly, trying to get it down.

"What are you doing in front of a lady? DO THAT IN THE BUSHES!" Sakura screeched, hammering him over the head. If it was Sasuke-kun that would be ok.. hehe..hehe

"Ouuuuuch!" Naruto cried out, holding the sore skin. Sakura and Sasuke stood in silence while they waited for the loud blond.

"Man, so much came out! I feel great now!" Naruto grinned.

"I said not in front of a lady!" Sakura shouted, lifting her first to hit him over the head again. Before she could though, Sasuke jumped at him, sending him flying into a nearby tree.

"S-sasuke-kun..wasn't that just a little bit too far?" Sakura asked, looking warily in-between the two.

"What the hell are you doing?" Naruto growled, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth.

"Where's the real Naruto?" Sasuke glared.

"What..are you saying all of a sudden?" He asked, looking at Sasuke.

"Your shuriken holster is on your left side, he's right handed. And the main difference, you don't have the scratch on your cheek that the examiner gave him. You're a fake loser who's worse than Naruto at transforming."

"Unlucky! You figured it out.. oh well!" A shinobi said, appearing in a puff of smoke in the place where Naruto had been. "Which one of you has the scroll? I'll just take it by force then!"


"D-did you hear that?" Hinata asked, panting slightly as they darted from tree to tree. Shinobu was grateful for the time they spent with Akamaru in the woods now, their foot steps were silent despite the twigs and leaves.

"Yes.. looks like this has started. It came in the direction of Kiba and Shino.. we should move quick.. they probably have a scroll." Shinobu spoke, keeping her eyes ahead as she bit her lip. She didn't like being seperated, she couldn't protect them if she needed to. She didn't even want to consider the possibility of that scream belonging to one of them.

"Ya.. we should get one too just incase." Hinata mumbled.

"Well, it's only been half an hour, we'll probably be attacked soon. The closer we get to the tower the more teams we'll see." Shinobu grinned and as if one cue they heard a ruffling near them. There was another team traveling near them. "Speak of the devil.." She murmured before indicating with her finger that they should be silent. Hinata nodded and they continued traveling, keeping their senses alert.

"H-"

"Got it." She whispered, cutting Shinobu off. Shinobu smiled and they both immediately hid, Shinobu scaling a tree while Hinata hid under a bush.

"Choji! People are going to here you!" Someone, probably Ino, whispered harshly. It was plain stupidity in Shinobu's eyes. Her whispering was too loud.. it would alert anyone nearby, nevermind the munching. She started fingerspelling towards Hinata, unsure if she should focus on her own team and get a scroll or help out her friends who were obviously having issues. Shikamaru's eyebrow was visibly twitching as he scanned the area.

'Maybe we should help them.. it's up to you.. but it might be useful to keep Konoha ninja's as allies through this. Like in real missions.' Hinata signaled earning a slight nod from Shinobu before they both revealed themselves silently, the disfuntional team not noticing. Shinobu held up her hand to Hinata to get her stop as a small grin spread across her face. This would be the perfect chance to get them to realize their error.

Within moments both Ino and Shikamaru were standing frigid with kunai to their necks. Choji staring in awe with a chip hanging from his lip. Shinobu could practically hear Shikamaru's brain reeling, trying to think of ways to get them out of their current predicament.

"You know.. you really shouldn't make yourselves so obvious. You'll lure predators." Shinobu growled, making the pitch of her voice go up an octive so they hopefully wouldn't recognize her.

"Troublesome.." Shikamaru whispered just loud enough for Shinobu to hear him.

"W-wait.. you're wearing Konoha headbands! We're on the same team!" Ino tried, obviously nervous herself as her right knee was trembling slightly.

"Anko never mentioned a thing about village teams in the rules. Simply; don't die and get to the tower with two scrolls. It's every trio for themselves." Hinata grinned, Shinobu could tell she was trying extremely hard not to stutter because of how she clenched her empty hand. Shikamaru noticed too, but didn't show it. Shinobu grinned slightly at her teammate, shocked at her acting abilities.

"B-but.." Ino faded out.

"Luckily for you.." Shinobu grinned slightly letting her voice return to normal, "..t-they've never mentioned a rule about friends, n-nor do we n-need one." Hinata smiled.

"Wait.. what?" Choji asked, his expression changing from afraid and guilty to confused and thoughtful.

"Shinobu.. Hinata?" Shikamaru asked after a moment. Ino and Choji looked dead confused.

"Shinobu-kun is a boy! And Hinata has white eyes? Have you gone stupid Shika-kun?" Ino looked at her teammate. Shikamaru shook his head slightly before going to explain.

"Tell me now.. how many ninja are normally on a team?" Shikamaru asked slowly.

"Three.. What's the point of this?" Ino asked, obviously annoyed.

"Just listen, now how many two people teams do we know?" He asked again.

"No one.. well.. team eight got split-.. oooooooh..!" She grinned before looking confused again.

"We're under a genjutsu Ino-chan.." Shinobu finally supplied.

"Ooh.. but.. why are you a girl?" Ino asked.

"G-girls tend to be under-estimated." Hinata spoke before Shinobu could slip up, earning a grateful smile.

"Hey! I'm strong!" Ino protested.

"Yes, but if you were attacked people would most likely attack Shikamaru first." Shinobu replied simply.

"He, or in this case she, has a point. Stronger male shinobi won't attack girls, some out of respect and how they were raised, others simply because they want a strong opponent. A truly smart shinobi won't under-estimate any ninja though, especially based on appearance." Shikamaru explained, his stance not relaxing even though he knew who they were, unlike his teammates.

"But uh.. why did you add boobs?" Ino asked, tilting her head slightly as she poked Shinobu in the chest. Shinobu's face immediately burst into flame as she staggered backwards slightly.

"U-uh.. it w-wouldn't be realistic if I didn't? Most girls have.. u-uh.. boobs.." Shinobu stuttered, obviously flustered.

"Oh.. that makes sense... are you ok?" Ino asked, reaching a hand to her forehead.

"Ya.. just.. we should probably be moving. We've been loud and not moving, for all we know we're being watched." Shinobu explained quickly, thankful her excuse sounded realistic.

"Should we move together..?" Choji asked, putting away his chips now that he had recovered.

"Well.. it would give us an advantage in numbers but it will also be harder to hide. We'll also need to get another scroll." Shinobu reasoned.

"Well it's only been an hour, we'll see if we can meet up with Shino and Kiba. If we do then we'll split up, until then it will be good to have the extra guards, more sleep. If we're lucky we'll be fine when it comes to scrolls." Shikamaru said, he was definitely going to try to stay with this team, they seemed to have a better grasp on what they were doing.

"A-alright. If we can't get the scrolls we can always set traps a-at the tower. All t-the teams head that w-way with both their s-scrolls anyway, right?" Hinata repeated their teams earlier suggestions and after a quick minute of covering tracks they were off. Shikamaru's team was a bit louder than they were but it wasn't anything to bad. They were ninja after all.


Kiba and Shino stopped, panting slightly. Akamaru sniffing the air around them.

"This doesn't make sense.. unless they got delayed by something they should be here by now. This is roughly where we would end up meeting right? I can't smell them at all." Kiba growled, messing with his hair.

"They'll be fine, if anything they're resting, gathering supplies or getting a scroll. Just believe in them. We'll keep moving and-" Shino paused, quickly falling to the ground silently behind a bush. Kiba quickly followed with Akamaru.

"What..?" Kiba mouthed but before Shino could reply a voice echoed around them.

"You kids shouldn't be wandering around in the open. You're being to cocky for first timers." A tall boy spoke calmly, his team just a step behind him. Several feet to their left was another team, a small boy with shaggy red hair, a taller boy with an oddly shaped hood and purple face paint, and a girl with four blond spikey pigtails. A large fan strapped to her back.

Kiba looked down from the scene as Akamaru whimpered, shaking slightly under his hood. That smaller team was stupid, they were going to get seriously hurt or worse.

Shino looked questioningly at the dog but knew better than to say anything, there was obviously some sort of a threat nearby as the dog had continued to silently shake now. Somehow he doubted it was the tall boy, maybe it was the aura that small boy was giving off.. but he doubted the red-haired boy was as helpless as Kiba was probably assuming.

"Look here.. we'll make a deal. Give us your scroll and we won't kill you." The boy continued, obviously baffled by the silence. After a little longer he was starting to get nervous.

"Seriously, do you want to die or not? Hand over the scroll! It'll be bad for you if you don't." The boy shouted. Still the red-head said nothing, his arms remaining crossed over his chest and his eyes remained unblinking, watching the team. It was kind of creepy really.

"Fine.. but you asked for it." The guy growled, pulling what appeared to be an umbrella from his back and throwing it into the air. His hands formed a quick seal before he muttered something neither of the boys from team eight could hear. As quick as a flash it was raining needles, but that wasn't what caused Kiba to gasp. While the two taller of the sand trio were out of range of the needles. The red-haired boy didn't even flinch, when the needles rained down sand engulfed him in what looked like a sheild. The sand kept extending to block every needle, covering, eventually, all but his left eye.

"W-what?" The boy shouted in alarm, not expecting the defense. The suna ninja hadn't even made a handseal! The boy didn't say anything though, just watched in silence. After no other attacks the boy lifted his arm, sand rushing forward and eating at the ankles of the taller ninja. He immediately struggled, crying out as the sand covered everything excluding his face. Kiba watched in awed silence as the red-haired ninja lifted him up into the air before clenching his fist. Blood splattered across the ground, hitting the umbrella that the boy had picked up and held above his head instead of his skin. It soaked through the sand which was now creeping slowly towards the two remaining ninja.

"P-please! S-spare us we'll give you our scroll." One of them begged, running forward with a slight bow and placing the scroll down.

"G-gaara.. that's enough.. we don't even need any more scrolls.. we could just let them go." The blond girl finally spoke looking shaky at the sight of her teammate. She was ignored however as the screaming shinobi were raised into the air and promptly crushed. Kiba watched in horror, wishing more than anything for a chance to run. He couldn't face that. He pet Akamaru in silence, his hearing fading in and out as the red-head talked to his teammates.

He would kill his own teammates? He thought, wide eyed as he threatened the taller boy of his team. They started walking away and just as he thought he would finally be free of this aura he froze. That boy was looking right where they were hiding. Shit.. we need to get out of here.. before he could think anything else however, the red-head and his team were gone.


"We still haven't seen them.. or any other teams..." Shinobu groaned slightly, it had to be at least supper time and they had made no progress. They backtracked slightly to see if they had missed Kiba and Shino but there was nothing.

"Maybe we should rest? Most teams will rest closer to night time.. it'll be a good chance to get a scroll, where as it will be easier to hide flames in the daylight." Shikamaru suggested earning a nod. They continued looking for what felt like thirty minutes before finding a big tree with thick concealing branches. They were big enough that they could sleep in the tree without worrying about falling or being seen.

"This is perfect.. Hinata and I will go hunting. Alright?" Shinobu spoke adjusting her hair which had fallen out of it's ponytail.

"Alright, we'll make sure that everything is set up to rest. We'll each get eight hours of sleep if everyone has a two hour shift." Shikamaru nodded before dragging his team up the tree.

"The r-river is only five minutes this way." Hinata smiled, the veins around her eyes melting back into her skin.

"Ok, we can get some fish then. Hopefully Shikamaru will get some wood." Shinobu grinned, starting into a sprint with Hinata right at her heels.

"How many fish d-do you think we'll be able to catch?" Hinata asked.

"Hopefully five. It shouldn't be too hard. I used to fish down at the lake. Though I guess moving water would be a bit more tedious." Shinobu said, thinking back to the days when she wasn't with Naruto. She fished by hand then though, and it took her a long time. Hopefully they'd be quicker with two people.

"Are we just going to l-lure them out and throw k-kunai?" Hinata asked

"Ya, and if that doesn't work I'll just swim." She grinned, stripping down to just her shorts and her tanktop when they got there.

"H-how are we going to lure them?"

"Lure who... us?" A voice chuckled from behind them.

"Oh no..." Shinobu groaned slightly. She and Hinata immediately grabbing kunai.


A/N: Mwehehe. So I'm in a happy mood :D I've booked my hotel with some friends to Anime North (an anime convention in Toronto, Ontario, Canada) and though it's a long way away I'm really excited. I'm going to be cosplaying as Sora from Kingdom Hearts while my girlfriend is going as Riku. We'll be doing a skit if all goes well :D So my random questions of the chapter, have you ever been to an anime convention? Did you cosplay or do a skit? And are you going to the 2012 Anime North :P (O.o.. I'm not a creep? Just curious haha :D It's all I've been thinking about)


Alli ate Sora-Sorry Roxas: YA! EVIL DUDE! I'm glad you liked the plan XD Now I have a random epic thing I felt the need to tell you *now realizes it's a/n but doesn't care* I'M COSPLAYING AS SORA XD mwehehehe. It's in your name so ya XD I'm getting the keyblade and everything, 40 inches. LOL. Merci pour la review :D I have everything planned ;D haha but ya, it would be priceless.


Neko Morie: I was originally working for my dance at first, now I'm working to go to an anime convention *so much repetition of this lol* and I need hotel costs, train ticket costs, the weekend past and a cosplay PLUS spending money, so the hours in my mind are TOTALLY worth it XDNobu-chan will HOPEFULLY realize this.. eventually :P thanks for the review :D


Mi-chan1991: HAHA XD ya, I can't imagine two duck butts, the world would probably implode XD Hopefully tons XD Thanks for the review! :D


DutchyPuppy: FOREST OF HAPPINESS AND SQUIRRELS.. well.. there are squirrels xD Dragon ball z reference LOOOOOL. Gaara the baby panda *omake ideas MWAHAHAHAHA* lol :D thanks for the review.


XxInuzukaxX: Awwww, well I hope you get better :P I'm definitely better now. I feel like uber happiness is trying to make up for everything. Kiba is awesome like that and Anko is creepy XD Haha, I dislike him too, I can't take the credit for the everyone's teams idea though. That part was done in the manga as well. I love how Hinata can actually be more confident in this, I always wanted her to be like this.. and now she can! :D


ThePhoenixOfTears: It's ok :P Tired and depressed is a familiar feeling XD Naruto definitely helps XD aww :( I don't really know either so I'm just making sure to get all my maths and science :P I figure if all else fails I'll go to med school. But performing would be my number one bet XD Aah.. I remember mentioning trying to stop procrastinating, I'm actually worse than non-existant with improvement.. it's gotten worse! lol. Aah the joy of ADD and OCD. Makes everything tenX harder lol. Random is fun XD haha. Hedley is definitely a good band, not my favourite but they have so many catchy songs XD Aaah, I relate well with Shika, cloud watching sleeping and lazy are my hobbies XD mwahahaha. The contest is above :P A little creativity. Not all that much grammar and well.. humour maybe? Who knows XD I don't really know what type of answers to expect lol. I can't wait to see your answer then XD

She's kind of, but she's herself as well :P They're just similar. Ya.. no slaughter from Shinobu *cough* yet *cough. JK! XD Sexist Pedo, I didn't really think of that because he had Anko for some time. Hurm.. Shinobu hasn't activated.. huuuurm. You're actually very close to what I was thinking. If the people of Konoha don't realize she exists, neither will he. Of course, if he does notice, *SPOILER* then it would be a smart move on his part to take him to try and lure her. Then he gets both right? That might not be a spoiler Idk yet :P Still deciding some details *SPOILER OVER* Gotta love Hitami XD Lol finding nemo, well I think Itachi was because it explains how he already knew Naruto's name in canon, if it did happen in this story then chances are that Itachi knew about Shinobu already. Ya, Shikamaru :P Good ol' assistant, troublesome for him of course XD Go anko! XD Shinobu seems to have a slight hatred for Sakura, mainly out of slight jealous. Sakura gets to hang out with her brothers every day when she barely gets to talk to them most of the time. That and she doesn't believe Sakura is strong enough to protect them if need be, instead they're injuring themselves protecting her. Orochi is confusing XD The grass nin was a guy O.o Team Asuma does clash but they learn to care for each other. Team Kakashi clashed too. So did Team Kurenai a bit if you think about it. Kinda like Team Sarutobi (Jiraiya, Tsunade, Orochi). They all do XD but it normally works for the better. Oh it's ok :P I hope your mood improves though! Team Kurenai has the heaven scroll :P Orochi and two Uchihas.. huuuuuuurm O.o I will update, I'm always working on it but sometimes i have to re-write or don't get more than 10 minutes to write. Lol. It takes me hours to write a chapter, at least 3 on average :P unless it's short. Thanks for the review! :D