"As you children probably know by now, Konoha is playing host to the Kazekage of Suna and his little entourage. He has 3 children, all of whom are genin such as yourselves. They are staying in Konoha's VIP suite with the Suna ambassador for an indefinite amount of time. Due to the cirumstances the Sand Siblings will be split up and added to three separate genin teams. Unfortunately, Team 7 has been chosen by the Hokage to have an additional member. Sakura, Naruto, Sasuke, meet Sabaku no Gaara."

Gaara stepped out from behind a nearby tree and merely stared at his new teammates.

Naruto's face lit up at the sight of his new poker buddy.

"Oi, hey Gaara! I can't believe our luck! Now I get to see you everyday and we can spar together too! It'll make training much more fun with you around. That Sasuke-teme is such a bore."

Sasuke gave at snort at the blonde's blunt comment, but otherwise did nothing to acknowledge the fact that Naruto had even opened his mouth. He merely gave a smug glance in Gaara's general direction and stalked off on his own.

Why should I waste precious time making a new friend when I could use that time to train and gain more power? After all, he was the strongest one on Team 7 and of course he had to work hard to keep things that way. That new red head didn't scare him, and if Gaara ever got in his way he'd just have to kick his ass and show him who was the alpha-male around here. Well, not including Kakashi, but Sasuke figured at the rate he was training he might even surpass Kakashi in power and genjutsu soon.

The only member of Team 7 that had yet to say anything was the pink haired girl standing by Kakashi. Gaara quirked a nonexistent eyebrow.

Pink hair?

Yep, and she says it's her natural hair color too!

Gaara glanced briefly at the giddy blonde and set his gaze back on the girl. He locked eyes with her for a split second and she immediately blushed and looked away quickly.

Hmm, it seems this girl is extremely shy. She refuses to talk to me.

Oh, Sakura? Shy? No way! She's one of the loudest girls I know! You better watch out for her fist, she gets violent pretty easily..

Gaara smirked as Naruto sent a mental shudder through their link.

Sakura's heart beat rapidly as she watched a smirk pass through the red head's handsome features. Her breath caught in her throat as she stared hungrily at him and when Gaara locked his emerald eyes with hers, her brain promptly refused to function and she fainted on the spot. Kakashi glanced at the scene before him, sweat dropped, and walked sideways up a nearby tree to read his 'Icha Icha: Golden Edition' in peace.

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"Well team, I'd like everyone to welcome Sabaku no Temari to our ranks. She is a genin from Suna and will be staying at Konoha with the rest of the Sand Siblings for god knows how long. Please get along, no fighting or killing while I'm gone."

And with that, Asuma lit a cigarette and walked away leisurely.

Temari smirked as she looked around at her new team mates. She was going to have fun messing with them.

Shikamaru sighed and began walking away too, but stopped in mid-stride because it took too much energy to walk away, so he opted to just lie on the ground next to his team mates. His arms were crossed behind his pineapple hair-do and his form was relaxed and unguarded. To any untrained eye, the lazy genius would have appeared to be in a deep peaceful sleep, but Temari knew better. She stalked over to his still body and without a warning whipped out a kunai and brought it to Shikamaru's neck.

Chouji's bag of shrimp crackers he was snacking on just moments ago slipped out of his hands and fell to the ground in his shock.

"Shikamaru!" Ino gasped as her slow reflexes finally caught on to what was happening.

The ninja under assault slowly cracked one eye open and glanced at Temari, who was grinning down at him devilishly.

"How troublesome." He groaned.

Temari smirked and replied in a haughty voice, "As a ninja you should always keep your senses highly alert. Never let your guard down, no matter what you're doing. That's what my sensei back in Suna taught me. Looks like I'm going to have to save your scrawny ass whenever we battle enemy nin, pineapple-head."

Shikamaru made a half-assed effort to roll his eyes at her and resumed his sleeping.

From a distance, Ino glared icily at the new girl who was in the act of tugging on Shikamaru's hair while he slept. Chouji stood next to Ino, munching away on his shrimp crackers, oblivious to the world around him.

"Ugh, freakin' blonde bitch! What the hell does she think she's doing? Shikamaru was supposed to be mine. I bet she doesn't even know his name, and she's playing with his hair. What a slut!," Ino hissed. She whipped around angrily and stormed off to alert Sakura about this new development.

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"Yosh! What a beautiful morning, the flowers are glistening in their youthful beauty and the air is fresh and sweet! A perfect day to run 100 laps around Konoha or to climb the Hokage Mountain all morning! But before we warm up, I must introduce our team to our newest member!" Gai exclaimed delightedly.

"Newest member? More like newest victim." TenTen muttered under her breath to Neji.

Neji nodded in response, a grim expression set on his face.

"Why the long faces, Neji? TenTen? Where is your youthful exuberance!" Gai asked.

"I'M ALWAYS YOUTHFUL AND EXUBERANT, GAI-SENSEI!" Lee cried out dramatically.

"OH, LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

The two green beasts of Konoha proceeded to bear hug each other enthusiastically.

"Uh, are they always like this?" Kankuro, who had been watching silently in shock the whole time, asked as he eyed the spandex ninjas warily.

"Unfortunately, yes. I'm TenTen and this guy is Neji. Join the club." TenTen replied sarcastically.

"TenTen, what a sexy name. I'm Sabaku no Kankuro, a Suna nin. I'm staying over at the VIP suite in the Hokage tower. Wanna come over sometime?" Kankuro suggested with a waggle of his eyebrows.

TenTen merely laughed off Kankuro's invitation while Neji stood by her possessively and glared at the new ninja with the makeup.

"…"

"OH, LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

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Any character pairing requests? Let me know, I'll consider all requests :)