Chapter One: Why Did You Become A Ninja?

The rain battered down in torrents upon the muddy ground. Not a single sound rose above the rainfall. It had been like this for almost half an hour, and the dark figure standing by the war memorial was beginning to wonder if he'd been abandoned. He kept his senses sharp however, as he remained unmoving in the storm.

Suddenly, he spun around, blocking two kunai and a senbon, the sound ringing through the evening air. He kept his guard up for a moment before spotting the glow at his feet. Just barely reacting swiftly enough he leapt into the air as the dirt exploded where he had previously been standing. Well, at least they were getting a little more creative.

Just as he landed he froze. This wasn't unexpected, but it was certainly problematic. He kept his eyes open, expecting an attack at any moment. Unable to move, he was completely at their mercy. So where were they? This question was answered by a startled cry not far to his left. He found himself able to control hi own body again. Evidently something had gone wrong for them again.

Deciding he'd had enough of this he disappeared in a puff of smoke and reappeared next to two downtrodden looking boys. Dodging a punch from the opposite direction he flipped a young girl ito the group.

"To borrow a phrase of yours, Shikamaru, This is getting troublesome"

Asuma and his student's took shelter in the lobby of the Academy. The halls were unusually empty due to the recent storm. Shikamaru and Choji gumbled as they dried off. Ino was vigorously brushing her hair, looking absolutely livid.

"Why do we have to train today of all days?" she complained loudly. "I don't even think Lee and Gai are insane enough to-"

She shut up as she spotted two pairs of green clothed legs pass by the window, upside down and at an incredible speed. Shikamaru sighed and mumbled his agreement. Choji had distracted himself with the large candy bar he'd packed. Asuma groaned as he sat opposite his pupils. Not for the first time, he wondered why his uncle had saddled him with the least motivated in this years crop of genin.

"I suppose you think that all your missions will take place on wonderful days full of sunshine, Ino?"

The blond huffed and turned away indignantly as she started tying her hair back. The other two exchanged a glance which quite plainly expressed their displeasure at being there. Shaking his head, Asuma took out and lit a cigarette. The deal had been that they would train until one of them landed a solid hit on him. Evidently Choji had struggled to take advantage of Shikamaru's Shadow Possession. The three of them were now sitting opposite him, still recovering.

"Alright guys, there's something that's been bothering me for a while now. I was going to ask this when you were first assigned me as your squad leader, but at the time I thought it better that I didn't know, that it was too early for me to judge" he started, looking at each of them in turn. "I want each of you to tell me; why did you become ninja?"

They all stared at him in surprise. It wasn't the question they had been expecting. If anything they had mostly expected it to be about Kurenai. Eventually Shikamaru spoke up.

"Why this all of a sudden, sensei?" he asked, drawing his teacher's attention.

"I've tried my best to motivate you three, but nothing seems to work. You do the bare minimum to get by with your missions, complaining all the way, you all hate training and in general seem to dislike the entirety of ninja lifestyle" h explained, "So I'm curious: Why do it?"

The three genin each reacted differently, but hardly unpredictably; Choji looked slightly depressed, Shikamaru looked annoyed. Ino opened her mouth as if to answer but clearly thought better of it and returned to looking sullen and put out. Asuma exhaled tiredly, he had thought at least one of them would say that they were a ninja because it was what their parents wanted, but none of them seemed to know, or at least willing to answer.

After a few minutes though, he was surprised to hear Choji mumble quietly.

"I always looked up to my Dad, and wanted to be just like him, and make him proud..." he admitted, "... I knew it wouldn't be easy, but I didn't think it would be this difficult..."

Asuma nodded. That made sense enough, a lot of genin felt overwhelmed with the change in training regime. He'd have to try and help Choji find a way to turn training into something positive in his mind, something more effective, and less costly, than bribing him with food. He looked across at Ino. She had looked like she was giving the question some serious consideration. Eventually she spoke up.

"My reason for wanting to be a ninja now is different from when I started. Before it was for silly, childish things... but now I want to help protect the village, my friends, our allies, I guess"

Asuma raised an eyebrow in surprise. He had half expected Sasuke to be mentioned. But it seemed that she had grown up quite a lot since her early days. Clearly Shikamaru was just as surprised, judging from teh look he was now giving her. Asuma cleared his throat to get his attention. The young genius turned to his teacher.

"I'm not a good liar, so I'm simply not going to explain myself"

Ino's head snapped around to glare at him. What on earth made him so damn special? She and Choji both explained their decision, and now he was just refusing to answer? She was about to say something when Asuma raised his hand.

"That's fine," the Jonin said calmly, "I'd have liked to know, but as long as there is a valid reason i don't mind."

Ino turned to her sensei with some sort of demonic fury in hewr eyes. He hadn't made that clear when he asked them. She wasn't satisfied though. Now she was determined to know why that lazy, good for nothing slob had decided to become a ninja. He was smart enough to do anything he put his mind to, why not choose something that requires less effort? Looking across at Choji she noticed that he seemed completely unfazed by Shikamaru's refusal. Perhaps he knew?

Just as they were leaving Ino tapped Choji's shoulder and motioned for him to follow her into an empty classroom. He looked confused but went without questioning, still munching on the food he'd brought. She shut the door behind them and turned around, arms folded to confront the chubby ninja.

"So what's the deal with Shikamaru? Do you have any idea why he became a ninja?"

His reaction was definitely not what Ino had been expecting, He simply looked at her with a hint of bemusement lining his face. Evidently he found something quite humorous in Ino's curiosity. After a moment or two he chuckled slightly.

"Isn't it obvious?" he said, looking at his dumbfounded team-mate. When she looked back at him with a mixture of confusion and irritation he decided it would be best to excuse himself. "Look, it's not important, and nothing you should worry about. We better get going, Asuma will be wondering where we are".

Ino fumed as she spent the rest of the rainy day taking shelter under a tree (The three of them had silently agreed to let Asuma stand out in the rain all he wanted. She glared across at Choji. He knew, but he wasn't telling. "Fine" she thought, "I'll find out another way, if it's the last thing I do!"

Author Notes: Hi all, well here's the first chapter of (hopefully) another ShikaIno fic. Let's be honest, this entire plotline is so transparent and predictable that I doubt you'd have trouble finding similar fics with very little effort. But nuts to you I'm writing it anyway!

Doubt this will turn out very good, if at all, I haven't much of an idea of what I'm going to do with it.

As readers of Rose Tinted Clouds will already know, I end chapters with a small teaser of the next chapter. So here it is:

She gulpd before continuing
"Um... excuse me... I don't want to be nosy but... why are you standing out here disguised as a bush?"