Shadows and Fangs - Epilogue Chapter 3

Well, this is the final epilogue. I hope you'll enjoy it, and thank you for sticking with me until the end! :)

According to their parents and their teachers, the Shinobi World was 'at peace'. That meant horrible stuff didn't happen so often anymore. It also meant people didn't have to fight so often anymore, and the Kages didn't leave their villages to fight other villages so much anymore.

Or something.

So of course, when word got around that the Seventh Hokage had left the village and teamed up with the famous Sasuke Uchiha to fight a mysterious enemy, everyone in Konoha knew about it in a matter of minutes.

And as a prime witness in all that, Chocho was all too happy to share the entire, exclusive, and truthful Story of It with her best friends.

Inojin frowned as he looked at her as though she was crazy once her tale was finished. "Why would you even think that your parents aren't your parents? That's just plain stupid!" he declared, clearly shocked by the idea. "And you were even put in danger!" he then added reproachfully.

Chocho sighed as she rolled her eyes at his usual worrying, holding out her potato chips bag in turn as a peace offering. "It doesn't matter why – I went on an adventure!" she insisted, because he'd clearly missed her point. "The Seventh and Sarada's dad are so super strong, it was really impressive!" she then added, completely star-struck.

"So are our parents," Shikadai replied defensively although he did his best to look bored so she didn't think she had the upper hand.

"The Seventh beat your dad with a fart when they were genins," she reminded him matter-of-factly, chuckling at the thought.

"Hey you have no idea what it's like to smell things that strongly! You'd have just fainted on the spot!" Shikadai snapped back, eyes narrowed as no one was allowed to make fun of his dad(s) – that was his privilege after all.

Inojin sighed as he moved to stand between them, ever the peacekeeper. "Come on you two…there's no need to start fighting each other for something that happened way before we were even born," he said patiently before looking up as a shadow fell over them. "Oh, hello Professor Shino!" he greeted easily, relieved that he wouldn't be alone in case his friends once more decided to start bickering more seriously.

"Inojin. Shikadai. Chocho," the Aburame greeted in turn, looking around for their parents but not seeing them. "Are you on your own?"

"We're training alone today," Chocho informed him, feeling torn between doing the polite thing and offering him some chips, and not, because what if a bug fell in the bag? Huh? Then they couldn't eat it anymore! Totally uncool!

Shino raised an eyebrow at them, although it went unnoticed behind his large visor. From where he stood, they only seemed to be chit-chatting around a bag of chips – or several, most likely. But after all, they were at peace, and children were allowed to simply be children at times. Soon, they'd become genin, and then free idle time would be harder to come by, so they were right to enjoy it while they could. And it also implied that soon, he'd start over with a new class at the academy.

It made him feel so old. Proud too, of course, but mostly old.

"Professor, do you know Sarada's dad?" Chocho asked him excitedly, snapping him out of his glum thoughts about being old.

Shikadai rolled his eyes at this – who cared about Sarada's dad? He was never there anyway – and how could a guy who didn't even recognize his own daughter be so cool?

"Hmm. Why do you ask?" Shino wondered with a frown.

"Because he's sooo amazing, but when I asked my parents about him, Dad said he didn't really know him, and Mom just told me to 'stop talking about that asshole'," the Akimichi replied with a scowl. "So I know he once left the village and all, but he's been helping since the war, so why would she still call him an asshole?"

Shino inwardly cringed at her words – although he'd long ago realized that Karui didn't mind her language in front of anyone, so it was logical that her daughter would pick up on that. Poor Chouji. "Well, I cannot recall having ever held a conversation with him, so I cannot say I know him either," he replied truthfully, not commenting on Karui's opinion. "Aside from Sakura, obviously, the ones who know him best are the Sixth, the Seventh, and perhaps your mother, Inojin." After all, she'd carried quite the torch back in the days, even if she now resented him for not remaining by Sakura and Sarada's sides.

"Aww…can't you tell us anything?" Chocho asked with a disappointed pout. "Like a secret mission, or a funny story, or anything at all?"

A funny story involving Sasuke? Was there ever one, Shino wondered. Maybe a D-rank or two that team 7 had undertaken in their early days could qualify, but he had no idea, he'd been a part of team 8 after all. A secret mission however…

Shino frowned as he remembered the bitterness of being left out. "Well…after Sasuke first left, a small unit led by Shikamaru was dispatched to bring him back, but shinobi of the Hidden Sound ran interference. Eventually, even with support from the Hidden Sand, the mission was a failure, with several of Konoha's shinobi returning severely wounded – notably Chouji and Kiba," he informed them.

"That's not a funny story!" Chocho accused him with a horrified expression.

Inojin winced as he looked at his two friends worriedly, frowning at their shocked faces. "You're not a very good storyteller, Professor…" he told their teacher reproachfully.

"So it would seem," Shino admitted with a sigh. Indeed, there were likely better ways to tell a story to some children than telling them their parents had almost died.

"So were you on that mission too?" Chocho asked him with a frown. "Can you tell us what happened?"

"I was not included in that mission," Shino replied succinctly, frowning severely.

"Dai, let's go ask your parents!" the Akimichi promptly declared as she grabbed their hands and pulled them along towards the Nara clan grounds without waiting for an answer.

"Bye Professor Shino!" Inojin called back dutifully.

Shino just sighed deeply.

That mission would always throw him back into solitude, wouldn't it?

Shikamaru sighed contentedly as he tightened his hold on Kiba, smiling lazily as his lover nuzzled his neck. "Please don't let me wait that long before taking a day off again," he muttered as he kissed the side of his head.

"Hey, I try, but sometimes you've got a one-track mind about work!" Kiba reminded him good-naturedly. "I remember the good old days, back when we were young and you could barely keep your hands off of me…!" he added in a fake wistful tone, grin widening as he felt him laugh.

"Nostalgia really doesn't suit you, Kiba," the shadow-nin informed him as he turned them over so he'd be on top of him. "Besides, it was easier when we didn't need to worry about our kid catching us in the act…" he noted against his lips.

Kiba naturally couldn't contradict him on that one, and so simply responded to his kiss, enjoying their free time. Of course Akamaru barked at this point, and he pulled back with a frown as he sniffed the air a few times.

"He's already coming back?" Shikamaru sighed at the other's look.

"Yup. With Inojin and Chocho in tow!" the tracker told him before regretfully pushing him off of him. "Akamaru will stall them long enough for us to take a shower," he noted, really grateful for his canine companion – and feeling really compassionate for their friends who didn't have the added help.

Thanks to Akamaru, by the time the children let themselves in Shikamaru and Kiba were innocently seated on the patio. Of course, because of his nose Shikadai knew why the nin-dog had held them up, but he didn't comment on it, just blushed and resolutely avoided their eyes as he headed towards the kitchen.

"Good afternoon," Inojin said politely as usual. "Sorry for intruding."

"Aww, you know you're always welcome," Kiba reminded him sincerely as he reached to ruffle his hair, grinning as the boy instantly brightened up happily but moved to put his hair back into place.

"Uncle Kiba, Uncle Shikamaru! We want you to tell us about that mission where you went to get Sarada's dad!" Chocho asked them without preamble as she sat down in front of them, a girl on a mission. "Pretty please?"

"Where'd you even hear about that?" Kiba wondered with a frown, sharing a surprised look with his husband.

"From Uncle Shino," Shikadai replied summarily as he returned from the fridge with juice boxes for his friends.

Kiba fondly rolled his eyes despite himself, figuring his best friend had likely also commented on how he'd been left out – never mind that he'd been reminding him for years that he wasn't even in the damned village when that happened, so it's not like they didn't think of him, he just. Wasn't. Freaking. THERE!

"Why were you talking about this?" he asked instead of following and voicing his trail of thoughts.

Shikadai rolled his eyes as he sat back against Akamaru, noisily slurping his juice. "Chocho has a crush on Sarada's awesome-super-dad," he deadpanned.

"Hey!" Chocho protested with a blush as she mentally decided not to offer him any chips for at least two days in retaliation. (At least.) "I do not!"

"Ah, a result of your little adventure from the other day, I take it?" Shikamaru asked knowingly, amused at the situation despite how much hearing someone refer to Sasuke as 'awesome-super-dad' made him wince – call him old-fashioned, but he felt 'awesome-super-dads' should stay with their kids, or at the very least just know them.

"Mom says he's an asshole and I shouldn't care about him," Chocho relayed with a pout as she opened her juice, not noticing their shared exasperated looks. "But he's Sarada's dad so…if you can tell me more about him, I can tell her once he's gone, it'll cheer her up!" she then said energetically.

Kiba grinned fondly at her at this – clearly, despite having inherited her mother's foul mouth, she also had her father's kind heart. "Chocho, I'd love to tell you a nice tale to share with Sarada, but the truth is I personally don't have any fun stories about Sasuke," he admitted. It was rather the opposite, honestly.

Okay, so, fairly, Sasuke did majorly help them win the war – but the kids already knew that one! They were asking for a 'funny' or 'nice' story, and he was stumped on that.

Back when they were kids, Sasuke usually played with the other children of the Uchiha clan, they'd never seen him at the park. And then at the Academy, the Uchiha had kept to himself, focusing on acing every test. Of course, looking back on it now they could also clearly see the change that had happened after his clan had been decimated. It was even worse once he'd graduated, and by that time the only people they ever saw were their own teams anyway. And then he left. That really didn't give them many opportunities to have fun together…

"Nothing? Not even one?" Inojin asked with a frown, figuring it would be too sad otherwise – in more ways than one.

Shikamaru chuckled at his dismayed look, thinking back real hard. "Well, I suppose there was that time when Naruto accidentally kissed him," he remembered.

"Hey, that was pretty funny!" Kiba admitted as he'd forgotten all about it.

"They kissed?" Chocho repeated with round eyes. "Like you two?"

"No, of course not!" Kiba replied with a frown. "We love each other! It's different when we kiss!" he insisted as he reached to pinch her nose, grinning as she giggled and pushed his hand away.

"The way I remember it, they were goofing around, and someone pushed Naruto, who then fell on Sasuke lips first," Shikamaru relayed as he stroked his chin – he'd mostly heard the commotion afterwards, he'd been napping after all.

Shikadai snorted at this, sharing the last of his juice with Akamaru. The two greatest shinobi of the village hadn't even been able to avoid a surprise kiss? Not really impressive…

Inojin, for his part, silently finished his drink as he thought about this new information. "I think it is a pretty funny story. Sarada should like it – she can even use it to embarrass the Seventh and Boruto!" he finally declared as he was done thinking it over.

The adults exchanged weary looks at this – Sai's calmness combined with Ino's mastermind planning made for an explosively dangerous mix at times.

Chocho grinned and clapped her friend's shoulder conspiringly. "Definitely, you genius, you!" she agreed before thinking about something else with a frown. "But so…what about that mission? Professor Shino said you and my dad were really hurt…" she asked Kiba worriedly.

Shikamaru tsked at this – despite being a teacher, sometimes Shino really had no notion of what kind of information to give children.

And well…he'd never liked thinking about that mission. For starters, it reminded him of Neji and they'd always miss him. Then, he still blamed himself for being the least injured of the group despite being the leader. Finally, they'd risked their lives to bring a fellow Konoha shinobi back when he ran away to join their enemy and clearly did not want their help.

"Well, we survived, it's all that matters!" Kiba insisted with a comforting grin. Personally he didn't mind telling the story, but perhaps their parents wouldn't want him to. "The other important part is that your dad absolutely kicked butt!" he assured Chocho. "He literally flattened this total monster from the Sound! And you have a lot to look forward to in terms of training, because the Akimichi clan is full of surprises!" he added with a wink.

"I know!" she replied proudly, completely pepped up.

"Were my parents on this mission with you?" Inojin asked curiously.

"No, we didn't even know your father yet at the time," Shikamaru replied, smiling as he looked disappointed. Ino hadn't been strong enough back then, not to mention that like Sakura, she'd been too attached to Sasuke. "I led the unit, which included Kiba, Chouji, Naruto, Hinata's cousin Neji, and eventually Lee as well – and Akamaru of course!" he added as the dog barked in response.

"Did you absolutely kick butt too?" Chocho asked excitedly.

The two shared a look at this before sighing. "Not really. Our opponents were exceptionally strong," Shikamaru admitted.

Shikadai frowned at this, not liking to think his parents had lost – sure, he realized it had probably happened (once or twice, tops), but that didn't mean he liked to think about it.

"My opponent was a long-distance fighter, and her chakra reserves were enormous – eventually I wasn't able to bind her anymore," Shikamaru explained with a sigh.

"And mine was actually two brothers who could fuse together, or fuse into other people's bodies. I almost died expelling him," Kiba informed them as he pulled up his shirt slightly to show the old faded scar on his right side, grinning slightly as it seemed to ground home the fact that shinobi really risked their lives in their minds.

On his side, Shikadai absently tightened his hand in Akamaru's fur. He'd already seen that scar, but he hadn't known which mission it was from. "So what happened then?" he asked quietly.

Kiba sighed with a helpless shrug. "The Sand Siblings came to the rescue! They protected us, killed the bad guys, saved the day, shone with their superiority, and still remind us of it to this day!" he said mock-dramatically. "I mean, not Gaara, of course – but Temari and Kankuro have gloated enough for three over the years!"

"But how come you were on that mission together?" Inojin asked curiously, tilting his head to the side. "I thought it was routine in Konoha to keep married couples or family members from being assigned to the same unit?"

Shikamaru and Kiba couldn't help but chuckle fondly at this. "We weren't married back then – we weren't even together," the shadow-nin replied in amusement. "This was a long time ago; I'd barely been promoted to chuunin, while Kiba and the others were still genin."

"But after that I first started feeling attracted to him," Kiba informed them with a grin.

"You did?" Shikamaru and Chocho asked at the same time, the first in surprise and the second in eagerness.

Shikadai frowned from his spot – they'd always told him they fell in love in Suna, so where did this come from?

"You never told me," Shikamaru noted with a raised eyebrow.

"You never asked," Kiba replied easily before turning back to Chocho. "Anyway. That wasn't my first mission with Shikamaru, but it was the first under his leadership; it showed me how reliable he could really be. I was impressed! And I actually told you that – that I think you're a good leader and looked forward to working under you again," he reminded his husband as he turned to him. "When you visited me at the hospital?"

"Right…" Shikamaru remembered with a small smile. If only he'd paid more attention back then…!

"So you actually got together thanks to Sarada's dad running away!" Chocho summarized.

"What? No!" Kiba let out in a strangled squeak as Shikamaru grimaced next to him. "Absolutely not! We got together because we spent time together in Suna – that was years later, after the war!" he insisted as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Aww," the Akimichi pouted in disappointment. "So there's really nothing good about Sarada's dad in this story…" she noted dejectedly.

"You know, if you ask the Sixth, and tell him why you're asking, I'm sure he'll be willing to share nicer stories with you," Shikamaru encouraged her gently. He had no doubts that Kakashi would even be happy to – he often lamented that retirement was boring and claimed that if it weren't for the unmissable giant carving of his face up the side of the cliff, people would all but forget about him.

Chocho seemed satisfied with this suggestion, while Inojin was already mentally planning to ask his father how they could meet the Sixth. Shikadai for his part wasn't really interested, even if he had to admit that it was nice of Chocho to want to cheer up Sarada – and if this turned into a team-thing, then of course he'd tag along.

But he'd always felt the slightest bit self-conscious around Sarada, because she was always so desperately chasing after her father, while he himself had two.

And not to brag, but it really wasn't hard to find a happy or funny story about either of them.

When the time finally came for their children to graduate from the academy, everyone found themselves falling prey to nerves – even those who knew for a fact that their kids had the necessary skills to pass the graduation test! Which, that year, had apparently been a permutation exercise, as Chocho excitedly informed them as she stormed out of the academy with a forehead protector proudly displayed in her hand, not resisting as Chouji pulled her into his arms.

"Why is it always alphabetical? Couldn't they go in reverse for once in their lives?" Ino lamented as she glared at the door – as a Yamanaka, she'd suffered being among the last on roll-call her whole life after all. "I'm going to hurt Shino!" she then vowed seriously.

"No you won't," Shikamaru noted good-naturedly as he pat her shoulder while Kiba cheerfully praised Chocho.

"Sure, you don't care, Nara's in the middle no matter the order…" she muttered, leaning into Sai's side as he discreetly tried to soothe her.

Not far off, Naruto and Sakura shared a pained look – yeah, Uzumaki and Uchiha were pretty far down on the list, too. Hinata didn't seem overly fazed however as she watched Himawari happily cling to Akamaru's back as he moved around the playground. (Still, she was discreetly using her byakugan to make sure her son wasn't busy getting himself into trouble.)

More children came out, some shouting happily, some on the verge of tears, some angry, until finally Kiba perked up and grabbed Shikamaru's arm nervously. "It's him!"

True to himself, the young Nara leisurely strolled out, hands stuffed in his pockets, and clearly insensitive to his parents' anticipation. Shikamaru opened his mouth to ask him but Chocho beat him to it.

"You got it, right?" she asked with a smug grin.

Shikadai frowned at her, pulling a hand out of his pocket with a forehead protector in it. "Of course! You'd have been way too annoying otherwise!" he teased her with a smirk before protesting as Kiba crushed him to his chest happily. "Dad! Let go!" he complained, beet-red, until Kiba finally relented. Akamaru then trotted over to lick his face and he used the nin-dog as an additional shield.

Shikamaru chuckled at their antics as he reached to fondly smooth down his hair. "We're proud of you, Dai," he said simply, grin widening as the child looked away self-consciously, pleased by the praise despite himself.

"How's Inojin? Is he okay? Not too stressed?" Ino asked him worriedly after having congratulated him.

"Of course he's okay," Shikadai replied with a frown. "He could do this in his sleep!" he added matter-of-factly, barely resisting the urge to roll his eyes.

Sai nodded his approval at this, once more reaching for Ino to calm her down – and keep her from walking in to demand that the alphabetical order be shuffled.

When Sarada walked out and jumped into her mother's arms proudly, Naruto and Ino's patience was running thin. It wasn't long before they heard a loud banging sound coming from the inside and Ino narrowed her eyes at the blond shinobi. "If your kid causes my kid's exam to be delayed, I will end you, Naruto, Hokage or not," she warned him very seriously.

Naruto could only gulp and nod, and when Boruto rushed out barely a minute later, it was all but forgotten. Himawari was by her brother's side in an instant, asking to see his forehead protector and teasing that it would look better on her.

"Come on – Yamanaka, Yamanaka, Yamanaka!" Ino chanted, keeping her eyes glued to the door, letting out a very loud 'YES!' as Inojin finally stepped out, looking visibly pleased, docilely letting her pull him and hold on tight. Sai was only marginally more reserved.

"Why are we celebrating, it's not even final yet…" Shikadai reminded everyone with a sigh, hating to be a center of attention like this.

"First rule of life when you grow up, kid: celebrations aren't for you even when they're about you; they're for the people around you," Karui imparted with much wisdom – and she should know: she hated festivities herself, but damned if she wasn't going to celebrate her daughter graduating!

He looked up at her with a frown, trying to determine if she was being serious, and finally gave up. Looking at their parents' happy faces though, he had to admit that maybe she was on to something.

"Please behave for a moment longer," Shino demanded of his class as he held up a clipboard. "Before you can continue your training, I must inform you of your new teams, as well as the name of the jounin teacher who will be in charge of you from this day onward."

Most students either immediately quieted down anxiously or continued talking with their best friends, hoping they'd get to join the same team, keeping their fingers crossed or holding hands – as if such gestures could in any way sway their teacher into shuffling the teams he'd taken a long time to painstakingly arrange as evenly as possible.

"What's with the suspense, we already know who we're teaming up with," Shikadai muttered as he crossed his arms on the desk and leaned his chin on them.

"The others don't; this is for their benefit," Inojin reminded him quietly.

"Team 3," Shino called clearly, looking up at them, "Inojin Yamanaka, Shikadai Nara, and Chocho Akimichi, under Moegi Nishino."

"Wow, big surprise," the Nara added around a yawn. "Team Ino-Shika-Cho – never saw it coming!"

Inojin chuckled but didn't chastise him this time.

"Moegi…Moegi…Mo-e-gi…" Chocho tested as she looked up. "That's a girl's name, isn't it?"

"Does it matter?" Shikadai asked with a shrug.

"I don't think it does," Inojin replied as he thought about it.

Chocho eyed them both critically before sighing in disappointment. "Sure, the two of wouldn't know how a lady feels – but I'd like to have company! Someone who'll understand me!"

Inojin blinked in confusion at this. "I always got the feeling we understand each other rather well though," he reasoned matter-of-factly.

Shikadai chuckled and reached to punch his shoulder fondly at this – even Chocho couldn't deny that as she tried to hide a smile. To be honest, neither of them was looking forward to having their team's dynamics intruded upon and inevitably changed. But it wasn't like it could be helped, right?

Shino continued with his list, and then a few jounin started showing up.

When Moegi Nishino stopped in front of them, the boys shared a look and Chocho grinned happily as the kunoichi introduced herself.

Well, at least the team would be balanced.

"This is annoying," Shikadai complained for the umpteenth time as they waited for his jounin commander to show up. Really, so far, mostly everything in regards to graduating from the academy had been annoying.

"Don't you agree it's important for us to at least meet the person who's going to be in charge of you from now on?" Shikamaru asked him with a raised eyebrow, thinking back on his own lack of enthusiasm the first time he'd met Asuma.

"You already know her…" the kid muttered as he leaned back against Akamaru – his only true supporter in this house, really! The nin-dog promptly wagged his tail loyally at this.

"Only in passing, so stop whining, pup!" Kiba said good-naturedly before looking up as his nose twitched. "Well, there's a new scent coming up, so I guess she's here," he noted as he stood a few minutes later to meet their guest at the door, coming back with the pigtail-haired kunoichi in tow.

"Good afternoon, Shikadai," Moegi greeted her future student with a grin.

Shikadai only grumbled a response and Shikamaru sighed as he shrugged his head to side with a pointed look. "Hello Professor Moegi," he grudgingly replied properly.

She visibly wasn't fazed by his lack of enthusiasm as she shook Shikamaru's hand and sat down. "Naturally, the Academy has already given me his file, but I do think it's best to discuss his abilities with you as well, since you were mainly the one to train him until now," she started, looking at them both but then turning to Shikamaru.

"Kiba handles mostly anything that isn't Nara clan shadow techniques," Shikamaru informed her casually before she could start interrogating him.

Moegi hummed as she looked down at his grades. "Ah, that would explain the higher than average taijutsu marks for a long-distance fighter," she noted.

"He's also been training me to smell things," Shikadai added, not liking it when people overlooked his Inuzuka roots.

"Really?" she asked, surprised as this wasn't mentioned in his file.

"Well he can't track someone down over great distances if you give him a sample," Kiba tempered as he placed a hand on his shoulder fondly. "But I've taught him to keep track of his surroundings for surprise attacks or traps, and he can actually find Chocho and Inojin if they get separated."

"How far?" she inquired interestedly.

"We've played hide and seek all over the village – and even the surrounding forest!" Kiba replied proudly.

"That's easy when I know what the different places smell like," Shikadai argued with a frown before looking up at him as he thought about something else. "Will I have to learn Professor Moegi's scent as well?"

"At the very least, you'll have to be able to recognize her as friendly," Kiba replied seriously.

Moegi noted something down at this, finding this information very useful – and, she had to admit, impressive. "What about Nara clan techniques?" she then asked Shikamaru.

"He's close to mastering the basic hold, and we've loosely started working on the shadow hand's theoretical aspect," Shikamaru replied. "As far as teamwork goes, I'm sure you'll find he's already quite comfortable working with Chocho and Inojin."

"Yes, her parents told me as much, although I do plan on running them through a little test to see that for myself – assuming you don't have any objections, naturally," Moegi added, looking at them in turn.

"Of course not! Kurenai ran us ragged until we didn't have a drop of chakra left and couldn't feel our limbs anymore – remember that, Akamaru?" Kiba asked his nin-dog with a grin, to which he replied with a whine.

"Can I skip it?" Shikadai muttered, not looking forward to the prospect.

"No," Shikamaru simply replied without even looking at him.

Akamaru, as always his most loyal companion, reached to lick his cheek encouragingly and Shikadai grinned slightly.

"Alright then – anything else I should know?" the kunoichi wondered curiously.

The parents shared a look at this. "He's not…the most enthusiastic of kids – give him a choice and he'll go for a nap every time," Shikamaru forewarned.

Shikadai simply rolled his eyes at them. Wasn't it obvious that given a choice, anyone would rather take a nap?

Grown-ups…

Akamaru nudged him and he cocked his head to the side at this, sniffing the air a few times. "Dad, can I go now?" he asked Kiba.

Shikamaru sighed but Kiba chuckled as he used his nose and understood his sudden urge to leave. "Okay – be back in time for dinner though."

"Yeah, yeah…" the boy muttered as he stood, pausing as his name was called expectantly. "Bye, Professor Moegi," he said with a long-suffering sigh before leaving.

"Chocho's on her way, probably to talk about your visit," Kiba informed them with a grin. "I wouldn't be surprised if you later found the two of them hovering around the Yamanaka grounds," he added fondly.

"Chocho seems to be the group leader, am I wrong?" Moegi wondered as she raised a hand to stroke her chin in thoughts.

Shikamaru nodded at this. "As you've just seen, Shikadai isn't easily motivated, and while Inojin usually does as instructed, he's not forceful enough to draw the other two in. Chocho on the other hand has never had any problems dragging them into her little schemes," he explained with a grin – she was Karui's daughter alright!

The jounin smirked as this was very valuable information indeed. If getting the young Akimichi pepped up was the secret to successfully directing this cell, then it would be easier than she'd thought.

She had a feeling she'd have a lot of fun with this team – and, likely, some headaches as well, but that was to be expected, right?

Shikadai grumbled under his breath about Kiba's words all the way to clan grounds entrance, nodding at Chocho and Inojin as they stood waiting. "'Have fun', my father said – he actually told me to have fun when we're going to get our butts handed to us!" he informed them sourly, kicking a pebble for the principle.

Chocho huffed and crossed her arms over her chest at this. "My mom told me to kick the professor's ass!"

"We can't realistically expect to defeat a jounin – even if it's three versus one," Inojin pointed out with a frown.

"Hurray – it's a test we can't pass!" Shikadai replied sarcastically.

"It's a test we can't really fail, either, though – isn't it?" Inojin asked back, cocking his head to the side. "We just have to give it our best!"

Chocho grinned slowly as she looked at them both. "We're gonna do more than that – team Ino-Shika-Cho will wow her! Right?" she asked rhetorically as she held out her hand palm down.

Inojin smiled as he immediately placed his own hand on top of hers. "Right!" he agreed brightly.

"Right," Shikadai repeated with a sigh as he placed his hand atop theirs, a slight grin pulling at his lips.

Spirits significantly higher than a few minutes before, they made their way to the training grounds, where their professor was already waiting for them with an ominous smile on her face.

"Okay! So let me just set the rules. I want you to try to catch me – shadow bind, mind possession, or physical immobilization, it doesn't matter which," she started cheerfully, making a wide circular sweep around the area with her arm. "We'll stay within the training zone, and you have two hours to reach that goal. If you do, lunch is on me – all you can eat!" she promised, noticing the Akimichi's piqued interest at this.

"And if we fail?" Inojin asked despite himself with a frown.

"Then I'll just train you twice as hard until tonight – and only an apple each for lunch!" Moegi replied with a shrug, holding three apples up ominously.

Chocho's eyes widened in pure shock and she immediately got into position, every ounce of her being now taking this test with the utmost seriousness. "Inojin, Shikadai – get ready to fight as though your lives depend on it!"

"It's only our lunch that's in the balance," Shikadai muttered although he took a few steps back so she'd be on the front while Inojin's hand hovered above his paper scroll, reading to use his ink summoning techniques at any time.

Moegi observed them carefully, turning more serious as well, raising a hand up in the air. "Disperse!" she ordered as she brought it down, signifying the start of the trial. They immediately spread out, and she smiled to herself as they seemed to be taking it seriously, seeing as their camouflage wasn't half-bad – as she'd rightly been told, motivating Chocho in turn ensured her teammates' full commitment.

Ink animals assaulted her and she easily evaded them, inwardly trying to figure out what kind of beasts they were supposed to be – baby lions? They were more cute than scary, but she didn't have much time to dwell on artistic touches as Chocho charged at her, the boulder she formed rotating at full-speed.

So they used the ink creatures for distraction to create an opening, it was a simple but efficient strategy – but she knew she also had to keep an eye on her feet, Chocho might herself be another distraction so Shikadai could grab her shadow.

Leaning to the side to avoid the Akimichi, she held out a foot to make her trip and then rapidly did a few seals to disappear with a doton technique. Out of the corner of her eyes, she noted that Shikadai had succeeded in capturing Chocho's shadow to stop her in her tracks and help her avoid a painful collision with a tree – this obviously wasn't the first time it had happened and their contingency was well in place, so their teamwork was really up to par with what she'd come to expect.

From her hiding spot underground, Moegi's plan was to surprise the Yamanaka, but she was surprised herself as Shikadai hit the ground where she planned to come out with a kunai attached to explosive tags.

So with Shikadai's nose, plain hiding was obviously out of the question, was it? Smiling to herself, she dropped a smoke bomb and jumped out of the way right as Chocho's gigantic arm reached out for her.

Inojin and Chocho promptly regrouped to continue the fight, but Shikadai frowned as he buried his nose in his forehead protector where it rested loosely against his neck, focusing on his own scent to get his bearings after the bomb she'd just dropped – it was scented, she'd obviously planned on using it against him. Letting out a slow breath, he focused on his surroundings as he kept his eyes on his teammates.

How long had they been fighting now? Half an hour? An hour? More? Less? He really couldn't tell. He started as he concentrated on Moegi, and his eyes widened as he couldn't smell the faintest trace of her scent – but she was obviously there, his eyes were telling him as much so…she had to be using genjutsu. "Inojin! Dispel!" he called loudly.

The Yamanaka seemed to get his message immediately, because he closed his eyes and concentrated while Chocho stepped in front of him to cover him. A second later, their eyes snapped open and they found themselves back where the jounin had initially thrown her smoke bomb.

Very good, Moegi thought to herself, satisfied that Shikadai had realized they were in an illusion, and impressed that Inojin had been able to break all three of them out of it. She could take this a level higher then.

"Okay, you two, she asked for it!" Chocho said as she reached in her pouch for a snack, eating the chocolate bar quickly to restock some energy. "This will go on forever unless we step up our game! Formation Cloud!"

Shikadai smirked and Inojin nodded from behind her, rapidly drawing a multitude of creatures to assist her in the assault. Chocho once more grew to large proportions and started her rotation, heading for the jounin.

Moegi moved to avoid her but this time the Akimichi stopped on her own to attack her directly with taijutsu, managing to surprise her when she expanded her hand and reached for her arm.

"Now, Inojin!" she called loudly.

Moegi looked back just in time to use a permutation to get out of Chocho's clutches, tsking as Inojin fell back into Shikadai's arms, obviously victim of the drawbacks of a failed mind possession attempt – he'd be out for a little moment.

After setting him down, Shikadai had quickly taken his pose once more as he tried to get her back towards Chocho by snaking his shadow on the ground, and looking over her shoulder, she realized there was a second Shikadai on her other side, further blocking her in – a shadow clone, not a regular one, she remarked, although it likely wouldn't last very long. Noting she was safely out of his reach, she turned back to block the Akimichi's attack, and as their skin made contact, she felt her mind black-out for a second.

When Moegi next opened her eyes, Chocho proudly held up Inojin's paper scroll where the words 'Ino-Shika-Cho won – Moegi Ni' were written in wobbly hurried letters. Looking down at her hand, the jounin saw the brush was still in her fingers with some ink coating her skin. "You possessed me?" she asked Inojin with a frown, not remembering the event. "But your technique failed, I saw you fall!"

"You assumed he was trying to possess you," Shikadai noted with a shrug.

"When he was aiming for me all along!" Chocho added smugly.

Inojin sighed as he looked at the unfinished phrase. "You're strong though, I didn't have time to finish signing your name before you pushed me out," he lamented – he'd really looked forward to showing it to their parents.

"But how did you possess me?" the jounin insisted as she cocked her head to the side.

"Like this – bam!" the Akimichi illustrated as she lightly slapped her palm on Shikadai's face.

"You…transferred your consciousness from Chocho's body to mine when we touched?" Moegi clarified, blinking at his nod.

"It was my mom's idea to train on that, hence the name – Formation Cloud," Chocho informed her proudly, frowning at Shikadai as he snapped his teeth at her hand to make her move it away.

"It's weaker than possessing the person directly, but for a few seconds it works," Inojin replied, holding a hand out for his brush.

Moegi slowly grinned at them and handed him his brush back. More than that, this technique of theirs was impressive, because Inojin had managed to mimic Chocho's movements while in her body, the jounin honestly hadn't noticed a difference in the way she fought.

"Tell you what: when you'll all have made chuunin, I'll complete the signature myself!" she promised with a wink.

Shikadai only frowned at her, not liking her offer. "Chuunin? That's even more annoying!" he complained for the principle, sighing as he pat himself to get rid of the dirt caked over his clothes.

"Hey, first things first now!" Chocho hurriedly interrupted seriously. "Lunch! All you can eat! You promised!"

So team Ino-Shika-Cho did get their butts kicked, but then again, they also did 'wow' their professor, and as she made good on her word and treated them to a plentiful lunch afterwards, they figured maybe she wouldn't be so bad.

Maybe.

Moegi for her part learned the hard way that the notion of 'all you can eat' should be forgotten around an Akimichi – for her finances' sake.

When they split up outside of the restaurant, Chocho was the most cheerful as always, and after all, a good meal never failed to make her happy to the core. She was in such a good mood that she was even willing to be nice to their teacher and started to accept her, taking her up on her offer to walk together part of the way. Their excited chatter could still be heard even after they'd rounded a corner and Inojin and Shikadai shared a look and a sigh as they figured maybe an unholy alliance was underway after all.

"I think we'll be okay though," the Yamanaka noted, ever the optimist.

Shikadai huffed as he raised an eyebrow at him. "This is us you're talking about – of course we'll be okay!" he reminded him needlessly.

Inojin chuckled and nodded, bouncing back on his heels as he looked at the time. "I'm going to stop by the art store to get more supplies. Wanna tag along?" he offered him easily.

"Gonna drop by the clinic – see if my aunt has a moment to show me a thing or two," Shikadai replied after a moment's pause. Wordlessly, they clapped hands and each went on their way.

Their phones rang with a message shortly after and they chuckled as it was a victory smiling face from Chocho.

They were team Ino-Shika-Cho – of course they'd be okay! Today, tomorrow, and all the days to come.

That was what their nindo was all about, after all.

THE END

I had so much with this chapter! I had a lot of fun with the entire fic, but writing the kids was awesome in a different way! I hope you liked my take on them...

I couldn't find a family name for Moegi - I'll be happy to make the changes if anyone knows! :)