When Naruto and Hinata walked in the busy classroom the next day, everyone became silent and slack jawed. Naruto had changed his normal kill me orange jumpsuit for a nice ensemble consisting of black Anbu pants with lots of pockets, a red-brown short sleeved T-shirt, over which he wore an black Anbu vest with lots and lots of spaces for the scrolls with an orange spiral on the back with nine bushy Kyuubi-orange tails sprouting out of it. Hinata had finally shed her jacket, instead she wore a tight fitting lavender pants, over this she wore a tight fitting sleeveless white shirt with lavender lining on the sides and some lavender fingerless gloves. Around her waist she had draped her white and lavender tight fitting jacket to complete her ensemble should it get too cold. Both wore their black headbands around their necks, it would only be after hey completed their sage training that they would add their extra headbands.
They had both decided not to wear their sage cloaks or even their weapons, though they did have them sealed up cause after all they still weren't back up to speed, and they still hadn't resigned their toad and Panther summoning scrolls, they did already have signed their kitsune scroll and were still not even ready yet to try going into sage mode, after all their bodies wouldn't be able to handle it yet.
Seeing everyone staring, Naruto put his goofy smile back up and said," So what's up?"
At this everyone face planted.
"Hinata, why don't you lose the dobe and come sit next to me." leered Kiba while advancing on her. Hinata froze but not for the reasons Kiba guessed, she had to use all her strength to keep Naruto from stepping forward. He gave her a questioning look which she returned with a look telling him to leave it to her. Luckily for Kiba, it never came to that cause at this point Mr Moody entered the room, seeing both Hinata and Naruto, he looked twice. But then he just went past them and started brooding again, all the while thinking about the new looks of the losers. But seeing as they were both losers still and a new look wouldn't change that. So coming to that conclusion he went back to his usual brooding about how much his life sucked.
After this normally Kiba would go back to annoying our duo but then Sakura and Ino entered the door only to stop directly and stare at Naruto and Hinata, doing a double take just to make sure
As a normal girl Sakura would ask questions about their wardrobe change but Sakura being the fan girl she is instead immediately screamed: "Naruto-bakka no matter how you dress, you're still not as cool as Sasuke-kunnnnn." Swooping away at the end cause she spotted Sasuke and flocked to him, though Ino, while smarter as Sakura and as such didn't believe the first, also didn't want to be outdone by Sakura so also flocked to Sasuke.
During this commotion caused by their fan-girlish ways, Naruto and Hinata had moved to the back of the class and were already seated. So when Kiba finally looked back from the catfight that had ensued, he was shocked to find that his object of affection was no longer where he last saw her. He started looking around and finally spotted them at the back of the class leisurely chatting. He was gonna go over again but luckily at this point Iruka finally entered, he of course also did a double take when he saw both Hinata and Naruto, but being a chuunin with some experience, he disguised his shock better than the rest.
Quickly resuming with what he had planned, hadn't he been surprised by the wardrobe change, Iruka cleared his throat. Before then starting a long speech about the responsibilities that they now all had as a shinobi and … Of course at this point Naruto just went back to sleep, even Hinata laid her head down not caring to hear it a second time, cause she now had the experience to instinctively knew just what he was warning them for, after all you don't survive a war without knowing the basics. When he was finally done Hinata poked Naruto to wake him up but him being Naruto, a Naruto who hadn't had much sleep thanks to the scroll incident, he just wouldn't wake. So she added a little chakra to her next poke, this of course made Naruto shoot up and away from the perceived danger, but seeing as he was in a classroom underneath a bench, this response just made him fall over. At this everyone chuckled even Iruka smirked but not even for a second, you had to look real close to even notice it.
"Now Naruto if you would get back to your seat, we could start with the team assignments."
"Hai Iruka-sensei" said Naruto again with his big goofy smile on his face.
"Okay now that all the interruptions are over. let's start team 1 consist of …" after this Hinata nor Naruto didn't really listen after all the only pertinent info he could get would be whether or not he was with Hinata or not, then to see if he had to steal the icha icha gold editions from the old man, after all he did warn him. And who was Naruto to say no to a gold edition of Icha Icha after all it was worth quite a lot, but then again it had to be if it contained the encrypted info from Jiraya's spy network, luckily for him he knew the code and as such now already had the gold editions and the normal editions all locked safely away in the Namikaze safe. Tough he still had to get his hands on the original platinum version of the last one which he knew only the Hokage and the fire lord had, but the copy in his safe was just as good for the info after all he didn't really like the books, no Naruto wanted more than just smut, he needed a plot line so he was more into adventure ero novels, just like Hinata. It was actually her who got him interested especially once she started to ask if he wanted to rehearse the scenes with her and now with Kyu-chan also joining in nearly all of his fantasies could come true.
"Team 7 Inuzaka Kiba, Haruno Sakura," at this Sakura groaned, Iruka deciding to ignore her, just continued onwards," and Uchiha Sasuke; your team sensei will be the jounin Kakashi."
"Yata! take that Ino-pig, true love conquers all!" shouted Sakura while Kiba groaned and Sasuke just grunted like always and went back to brooding;
"Poor Kiba I almost feel sorry for him"
"Watch what you say Hinata-chan. It isn't that bad."
"I did say nearly Naruto-kun." all the while smirking slightly, knowing that if Kiba was with team 7 that Naruto would most likely be in team 8.
"Then team 8 will consist of Uzumaki Naruto, Aburame Shino and Hyuuga Hinata"
"Sorry Iruka-sensei but since this morning it's just Hinata, I'm no longer Hyuuga and quite proud of it. So just Hinata"
"Okay ,carrying on, so Team 8 will be Uzumaki Naruto, Aburame Shino and Hinata, your jounin sensei will be Yuhi Kurenai and tokubetsu jonin Anko Mitarashi."
"Euhm Iruka sensei why do they get two sensei's and we only one?" asked Kiba.
"Well, you see this year thanks to recent events, the Hokage has decided to give all the jounin sensei's an extra hand in the form of a tokubetsu jonin. This way, the tokubetsu jonin can get extra training from an higher rank but also receive more experience outside their area of expertise seeing as they normally only keep to their specialty, plus they can also teach the genin the finer points of their specialisation while the jonin, goes on other missions or do other jobs. Wich is another benefit that keeps the village running better."
"But then why don't we have one Iruka-sensei?" asked Sakura.
"He he, your sensei didn't want one, he didn't want the trouble of having to teach a special jounin." at this both Sakura and Kiba face faulted, Sasuke just grunted.
"Oh boy" thought/said Kyu.
But all the while Naruto wasn't really paying attention to this, he was trying to think back why he was getting shivers, and then it hit him, "AH WE GET THE CRAZY SNAKE LADY!" shouted Naruto and then began sobbing.
"Naruto, why are you crying?" asked a now concerned Hinata.
"I sob, stole sob her dango three weeks ago, and you know how she gets about dango."
"Shit!"
"That was you!" said a now pissed of Anko,
"Double shit"
"Anko, calm down, we were just going to watch"
"But Nai-chan, DANGO!"
"No Anko, don't forget tomorrow we get to test them." said Kurenai with a smile, after hearing this she began to cackle evilly while Kurenai lead her away. At this Naruto began to whimper, Hinata looked paler and even Shino showed signs of distress. And Kyu, well she was laughing her ass of inside of the seal.
"All punishment give to me by her, will be felt by you too should I will it you know." thought Naruto, this quickly shut Kyu up and you could even here a quiet whine, like from a wounded animal.
"Now that the interruption is over," recommenced Iruka," Team 9 will be skipped since it is still in commission, team 10 will consist of Yamanaka Ino, Akimichi Choji and Nara Shikamaru, your jonin sensei will be Sarutobi Asuma and your tokubetsu jonin will be Inuzaka Hana"
"Hey, why didn't my sister get my team?"
"Does Iruka have to repeat himself?" said Sakura
'I think It would be best to repeat everything a few times for mutt boy, really isn't the smartest of the crop." thought/said Kyu.
"QuietKyu-chan, you shouldn't be so mean even if it is the truth." thought Hinata over the bond. Apparently thanks to the bond they were now also mentally linked when they wanted to be and could send messages to the other, they hadn't really checked the distance but didn't think it would matter. Though at the moment it was still stabilising making it only work 7 out of 10 times though that was a real improvement to the 3 out of 10 times from when they just got back. It seemed to need some more time to stabilize.
"Yes dear." thought a now snickering Kyu. And after this brief interruption that didn't last more than a second Sakura continued:
"Our sensei didn't want any extra help, of course he heard that he had Sasuke on his team and so any extra help would not be needed."
After hearing this, Kiba, being smart for once, decided to shut up before she started spouting even worse fan girl speech again.
'Best not mention that Hana demanded that she not get assigned to Kiba's team ever.' thought Iruka.
"That's all; your sensei's will come and pick you up this afternoon around half past 1."
"So shall we go and get lunch, Hinata-chan?"
"Sure, best invite Shino though."
"Of course, dear after all this will be the first step for good teamwork and with Anko on our team, a surprise I didn't expect, we'll need it."
"Indeed but a nice surprise none the less, I could really learn some things from Anko, and she even from us, especially with your torture scroll she might even give you more ideas."
"Yep, but now first to break through Shino's aura." said a smiling Naruto.
"Oi Shino, me and Hinata are going to get something to eat want to come too?"
Shino, being a man of so many words, just nodded and joined them.
"So where do you want to go?" asked Naruto to Hinata and Shino.
"It doesn't matter to me, so you choose Shino." said Hinata, knowing full well that this would make Shino talk more than normal. Shino did not know what to do with Naruto and Hinata being so close to him and not freaking out. He just could not wrap his head around it.
Naruto and Hinata seeing the confused look on Shino's face and knowing that throughout the academy, he always had people freaking out because of his bugs and now he doesn't know how to handle people who didn't freak out because of his bugs.
"Just cause' you have bugs in you, doesn't mean you are the thing inside you."
This left Shino even more speechless, here were two people who just accepted him, bugs and all. But was snapped out of his thoughts when Naruto then said: "Well since you both can't decide I'll just have to, so Ichiraku's it is." said a now smiling Naruto.
"Yay yummy ramen!" shouted Kyu trough the bond.
Hearing this Hinata just groaned, no matter how hard she had tried to change his food habits, she could not have him stop eating ramen and Kyu certainly didn't help, she had also gotten the taste from Naruto. So in the future she just compromised, she gave Teuchi ingredients she wanted in Naruto's meal and then they both came together to make new ramen dishes. Plus it was always handy to have some extra income.
Shino just followed silently, still slightly shocked that they would just accept him. But then he started contemplating their recent behaviour and quickly came to the conclusion that he wasn't the only one who kept secrets. And his seemed smaller than theirs.
Arriving at the ramen stand, Naruto entered, "Hey old man, the usual for me."
Looking up, Teuchi, like everybody today, did a double take but seeing the big smile on Naruto's face meaning he was still the same old Naruto, however there was something different about his eyes. "Coming right up. So Naruto who are these two, your friends?"
"Yeah old man, these are my teammates and friends, Shino and Hinata-chan, who is even my girlfriend." said Naruto now with a blush.
"Whohoho good for you, you young fox." at this both Naruto and Hinata sucked in a small breath. Shino noticed but just noted it for later, Teuchi also noticed, he knew that Naruto now knew from Mizuki but Hinata knowing did surprise him.
"Friends of Naruto are always welcome here, so what will you be having?"
"I'll have a chicken ramen please" answered Hinata
"Miso, please" answered Shino
"Okay, got it 6 Miso, 1 chicken and 5 beef coming up. Ayame come help set up;"
"Sure otou-san." called Ayame before coming from the back, when she entered and saw Naruto her mouth just dropped and Naruto wasn't sure but he even thought he saw some drool forming, before it could get worse her father snapped her out of her reverie," Ayame!"
"Sorry otuo-san. Wow Naruto-ototo you look, just…" all the time just moving her hands up and down towards him.
"Ruggedly handsome, manly, drop dead gorgeous?" asked a now laughing Naruto, he was sure that he also heard Kyu snicker in the back of his head.
"Shouldn't you introduce us Naruto" said an equally amused Hinata, however she didn't show it but instead just slapped Naruto on the head.
"Oh right, this is my girlfriend and teammate Hinata, and this is my new teammate and hopefully friend, Shino."
"Hi nice to meet you, my name is Ayame." she then leaned over and whispered too low for a normal person to hear, however Naruto was no ordinary person, "you lucky girl, he's just WOW."
"I know" giggled Hinata back.
"Why thank you ladies, it's always nice to know I'm appreciated." Hearing this response Hinata just giggled harder and Ayame turned an interesting shade of red, all the while Shino had not taken his eyes off of Ayame.
"Orders up. Thank you so much for the help Ayame." said Teuchi adding the last part sarcastically.
At this everyone turned towards the now steaming bowl and shouted "ITADAKIMASU"
After this any attempt to make conversation with Naruto was halted, Hinata however used this opportunity to signal Teuchi, once he came over she explained her dilemma, Teuchi not wanting to lose his number one customer and also interested in the idea quickly agreed. Al the while Naruto was speeding through his 10 bowls, he even almost finished before the talk was over between Teuchi and Hinata. Shino just sat quietly and contemplated just what he felt about the girl Ayame; after all he didn't know her so why did his body temperature start to rise whenever he looked at her.
Once they were all finished, Ayame came to pick up the bowls. However she noticed that her father was about to squash one of the few bugs that could resist the hot temperature and fire on which they cooked their noodles, "Don't even think about it dad, or do you want me to hit you with the frying pan again."
Seeing this Shino was really surprised, not only was she beautiful, she also cared about bugs, he had never met a girl like her before. His contemplations about Ayame however were interrupted when she yelled again. "Damn bug, why won't you move, AUcH, it bit me."
Wanting to help her, even though it wasn't logical, Shino quickly used his own bugs to produce pheromones, and lure the bug to him. Surprisingly two bugs came instead of just one.
"Thank you Shino-kun. It usually takes forever to get them of, the only real way is to splash them of but I don't really want to hurt them."
"No problem Ayame-chan, it is I who should be thanking you, if it wasn't for you I would've probably never discovered these fire resistant bugs. If you let me look at that bite I'll make sure it's not infected." said Shino desperately fighting the blush, luckily hidden by his high collar so she couldn't see his face, Naruto and Hinata however did see his ear tips redden and instantly smirked at each other who knew, Shino, the cold emotionless bug user, had feelings for Ayame-chan.
"Oh boy, look at both of them, if they aren't together within the year I'm eating my hat" thought/said Kyu.
"You don't have a hat Kyu-chan, though maybe you should invest in one and then buy one for me as well, I've always wanted a hat. Yeah if I now only had a cool hat then my day would be perfect. " answered Naruto.
Mock scowling in his head, Kyu just replied "You know what I mean."
"Yeah we see it too." thought answered Hinata. Ayame seeing how Shino wasn't yet moving decided to reach out her hand first, normally if she had been bitten it would sting for a few hours, but for some reason unknown to her she could also feel a blush rise, the closer her hand got. And she knew that it wasn't because of the bite.
After what seemed an eternity for Ayame and Shino, but was actually only a few seconds, she had extended her arm and Shino had leaned in to observe the bite.
"I-i-if you want I could use some of my kikkai bugs to clean the poison out of it, it's only a very mild irritating factor but otherwise this would sting for a few hours."
"Sure, and thank you Shino-kun." said Ayame still desperately fighting her blush.
Shino let out only a few of his kikkai bugs, his normal kind not wanting all his secrets known even if they would be teammates. Seeing it was just his normal one, Naruto nearly felt offended and Hinata saddened a little knowing he didn't fully trust them yet, but she knew that for him to let them in on his secrets, they would need more time. So she understood the need to keep at least a few things secret, she had them herself.
After Shino retreated his bugs, Ayame stared in wonder, the cut that would normally sting like crazy now felt completely normal, like the bug hadn't bitten her at all. "Thank you again Shino-kun, I don't feel anything."
"You're welcome Ayame-chan. I even added some antibodies for the venom they use so that the next time even if they do bite you, it still won't sting too much."
Now for any other person this wouldn't be much but for Shino to actually use multiple sentences in one conversation, just astonished Naruto and Hinata, Teuchi was more concerned with the slight blush he could detect on his daughters face. And from the looks of it, it seemed the feeling were mutual. It wasn't that he had anything against Shino but it was still his daughter here.
"We should get going don't want to make Kurenai and Anko-sensei waiting." said Shino quickly, finally feeling the awkwardness of the moment.
"Forget a year these two will be together within 6 months"
"Yeah you're right( answering both Shino and Kyu) , see you old man, Ayame-nee-chan."
"Bye Teuchi-san, it was nice meeting you Ayame-chan." said Hinata who was also leaving after paying.
"Bye Teuchi-san, goodbye Ayame-chan." said a now definitely blushing Shino however that was nothing compared to his response to what came next.
"Bye Naruto, Hinata. Hope to see you soon again Shino-kun." giving Naruto and Hinata a hug and Shino a hug and even a little kiss on the cheek before they even knew what came over them.
Seeing the look on Shino's face, Naruto couldn't help but snicker at which point Hinata hit his head again. "woohoo, go girl!" thought/shouted Kyu which in turn got her a mental slap from Hinata.
Hearing the snicker, snapped Shino out of it and his face quickly returned to his normal neutral face, though a slight blush was still present. It really had been an already strange day, he had first been paired with the class' number one loudmouth, who now seemed to be nothing of the sorts, the shyest girl he had ever seen who now seemed to suddenly have gained confidence and lost his stutter. He had found a fire resistant bug that his clan hadn't known about that did however have a slight problem in that it, did drown very quickly. Then add to this already very impressive list that he had met a girl who his body not only reacted to, was even kind to other bugs, and to top it off this girl didn't even flinch or retreat in the slightest when he used his bugs on her. 'Yeah it had been one hell of a day' thought Shino, ' and we've not even met our senseis yet.' it felt weird for Shino to use the plural, after all it's not every day that one gets multiple jonin sensei, even if one was only tokubetsu. And he felt that all of this was the effect of one centered couple, his teammates, Hinata and Naruto. 'Oh well, let's get this day over with, it can't possibly get any weirder than this.' Oh how wrong he was …