Dysfunctional - 1

"You three will be training without me this morning," Jiraiya muttered, lighting his pipe, "And most likely the morning after that...and the one after that and so on."

"How long does your probation last, sensei?" Haku was the only one of the genin present to offer sympathy to their instructor that morning, and he shot an irritated look to both Naruto and Gaara who stood next to him, looking half-asleep.

"I already told you, four months...quit rubbing it in..." The toad hermit took a drag, depression written all over his face.

"Yeah, well, you have fun Ero-sensei, we'll be seeing you." Naruto turned and wandered away down the sidewalk. Gaara followed suit.

Jiraiya snorted as his less enthusiastic students walked off, yawning and grumbling. He looked down at Haku who stood silently in front of him waiting to be properly dismissed.

"Get going Haku, and make sure they actually do something productive today." The sennin sighed as the dark haired boy nodded obediently.

"Is there anything I can do for you sensei?"

Haku's unfailing politeness was beginning to get on his nerves, but Jiraiya decided it was better than listening to Naruto whine, or Gaara not say anything.

"Not unless you can convince Hokage-sama to get me off the hook," Haku looked sheepish and Jiraiya smiled, "Just go kid. I'll tough it out."

Haku nodded again looking a bit torn and followed after the rest of Team 2.

With a heartfelt sigh, Jiraiya turned on his heal and walked in the opposite direction, wishing he had something a bit stronger to smoke.

Something in his gut told him this day would be odd.

*

The first piece of evidence supporting Jiraiya's prediction appeared when Naruto, Haku and Gaara arrived at the fourth training ground, only to find that it was already occupied. Apparently another team had gotten there first.

He wondered what Haku and Gaara's reactions had been to the intrusion, so he glanced over to them to check. Haku was smiling beside him, predictably. It seemed as if he already knew who had taken over their field and he didn't look the least bit upset. Gaara was silent and folded his arms mechanically. Unlike Haku, he seemed slightly more irritated; but then again, Gaara was always irritated by something.

"Hey!" Still, Naruto was dismayed by the intrusion, "We were early today! Who got here before us?"

A black haired woman turned to him, frowning, "We did. These training areas are for all Leaf shinobi to use, I am sure you are aware."

He was intimidated enough to fail to come up with one of his smart-ass retorts. Thankfully, he didn't have to, because two familiar faces appeared from behind the formidable young woman.

"N-Naruto-kun?"

The blonde brightened considerably. The shy Hyuga girl gave him a questioning look and beside her stood Shino, who was gently holding a small Kikai insect up to his face, murmuring orders to it.

"Hinata-chan, what are you doing here? I thought you and your team would practice somewhere..." Naruto looked around at the beaten, sparsely grass-covered ground and battered training posts that screamed abuse, "Somewhere...nicer."

Gaara snorted from behind his blonde friend. He'd be impressed if there was any place nice to train in Konoha. Shinobi tended to be destructive, at least, from his point of view.

"Our usual location is under construction," Kurenai said matter-of-factly, "Homes are being built there for citizens of Konoha. I'm sure you'll forgive us for imposing on your space."

"Certainly." Haku fell silent as his teammates gave him warning looks. Not as if sharing a spot of land with Hinata and her team would be a terribly bad thing, but they'd rather not expose their techniques to other ninja. Furthermore, this vulnerability would be exploited by Shino and Sato beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Hinata was trustworthy enough for them to relax.

'Then again,' Naruto viewed it from a different perspective, 'We'd be watching them fight too! So I guess this is a good thing for both of us...unless that red-eyed lady kicks us off our own field!'

It was quiet for a long moment. Kurenai's ruby stare was fixed on Naruto who tolerated it. Both teams stood facing each other, getting absolutely nothing done.

'Did they come here just to stand around?' Haku pondered as Shino had finished briefing his insect servants and looked up at them impassively.

"What exactly are you doing here?" Gaara's question was directed at Shino, though it was meant for the entirety of Team 8.

"Waiting." Shino's response was terse and disapproving, which reminded Gaara much of his own voice, he noted in wonderment.

Kurenai frowned again. Her eyes narrowed, but her gaze was still inconspicuously set on Naruto, who was still oblivious to his being watched. Haku was the first to speak up about the missing individual.

"Does Sato-kun usually keep you waiting this long?" The dark haired boy asked and watched curiously as both Shino and Kurenai's brows furrowed in annoyance.

"Oh right! He's on your team now!" Naruto remembered, quite vocally.

"This is about the average amount of time," The jounin muttered darkly, "Every minute he is late adds to the amount of discipline he will be rewarded with."

"Rewarded?" Gaara pressed the subject further.

"Hinata and I attack him and he is restricted from defending himself." Shino explained. Hinata cringed a little. It wasn't a punishment she liked engaging in.

"Harsh..." Naruto folded his arms behind his head casually, "But he probably deserves it, wherever he is..."

Hinata and Haku gave him a look of slight disapproval before silently agreeing with his reasoning.

"The only issue is that Sato does not learn from his mistakes," Kurenai's tone was icy, "He does not understand that his lateness only grants him pain. It is his most flawed characteristic as a shinobi."

Shino nodded in agreement.

"I think Sato-kun is a wonderful shinobi." Hinata's protest was soft, "Even if he d-does need some improvement..."

"Sure he is," Naruto shrugged, "He's kinda like us I guess," He gestured to his teammates who didn't bother to disagree, "We're not perfect, but we still kick ass!"

Kurenai raised a fine eyebrow at him.

Haku began to feel the pressure of Jiraiya's request of 'actually doing something productive,' and noted how not much was getting done so far.

"We can go find another place to train then, it's the least we can do," Haku offered, looking to his teammates who once again, didn't care either way, "Consider this your new training ground."

"Thank you, Haku," Kurenai brandished a small smile, "You certainly do have more manners than your sensei." Her students gave her confused looks, but Haku and his teammates understood.

"We try." Gaara muttered, nodding to them before walking away. Haku gave the other team a short farewell before also moving to leave.

He turned back to the Kyuubi container, "Naruto-kun, aren't you coming?"

The blonde shook his head, "Not yet. I'll catch up with you guys later."

Haku nodded before turning to find another suitable training area with Gaara. Naruto was seemingly still hung up on their previous subject.

"So uh, where does he go every morning anyway?"

"We're not quite sure," Hinata admitted, "Sato-kun is...difficult to track. If we knew where he was, we'd go find him ourselves."

"It's not right for him to just keep you all waiting. I mean, even Gaara-kun sleeps in, but not this late..." Haku's gentlemanly-ways were beginning to rub off on him, Naruto suspected, "I'll go find him for you and then you can beat the snot out of him!"

"If you find him." Shino pointed out.

"Naruto, it isn't as if we're asking you to take time out of your training with your team." Kurenai added, wondering if he'd be swayed from his offer.

"Hey, if I'm going to be Hokage I can't let bums like him hold people up all the time," Naruto smiled, "No sweat! I'll get him for you!"