Summary: The day Yamanaka Ino discovered her first wrinkle would go down in infamy for Konohagakure and its residents.

Disclaimer: Naruto is (c) Masashi Kishimoto and Shueisha, Inc.

AGING (DIS)GRACEFULLY

Inojin Outtake

Yamanaka Inojin paused at the entryway and carefully removed his mud-encrusted sandals. He was happy to have just gotten home from a weeklong mission with his teammates, Nara Shikadai and Akimichi Chōchō. While members of the Ino-Shika-Chō trio were close friends, there were only so many conversations Inojin could handle that involved the word "annoying" or pertained to various foodstuffs. He was looking forward to the respite.

"Tadaima!" the youth hailed, walking in the direction of the living room.

"Okaerinasai!" his okaasan returned.

His otōsan peered up from a scroll that he had been reading to acknowledge Inojin's presence with a smile.

Inojin was too distracted by his okaasan to pay any real attention to his otōsan, however. He could not remember one instance of his okaasan being less than exquisite, yet here she now sat with a blackening eye, woefully swollen lip and abundance of scratches. She was an undeniable mess.

"Okaasan, what happened to your face?!" he asked in a panic.

A vein suddenly protruded from Yamanaka Ino's left temple. "It's a wrinkle," she snapped. "Part of the human condition, called aging! How insensitive of the kodomo I raised to point out such a horrible thing!"

Startled at the reprimand, Inojin began to slowly backtrack from the room. Previous experience had taught him that the most fitting way to deal with his okaasan's explosive temperament was to stay hidden until her ire had passed. Defense tended to be the best offense.

Sai, meanwhile, took it upon himself to try and placate his distraught tsuma. "I believe Inojin was merely referring to your injuries, Ino."

This caused his okaasan to go on another tangent. "Naruto, that baka, not letting us heal ourselves as punishment! Telling us to contemplate how our actions reflected on our stations! Bah! Behaving like the Hokage after he got his jollies-"

Making it to the safety of his bedroom, Inojin apprehensively wondered how soon the Ino-Shika-Chō trio would be able to depart for their next mission. The sooner, the better... because his okaasan's rampage did not seem as though it was going to end for quite some time.

THE END

Terms to Know:

Baka: Idiot, fool, stupid.

Hokage: Leader of Konohagakure, generally regarded as the strongest person in the village.

Kodomo: Child.

Okaasan: Mother.

Okaerinasai: Welcome back, welcome home.

Otōsan: Father.

Tadaima: I'm home.

Tsuma: Wife.