A wonderful review touched on something that I hadn’t really considered before. Kiba’s mom was one of the jonin pursuing the kidnappers.
“Glad that Naruto is being more perceptive and considerate of Team 7’s feelings. Though, I’m sure they’ll eventually find out. Either by Kakashi’s conversation with Kurenai, or from Kiba’s mom when Kiba mentions about encountering two jonin and two chuunin during his mission. She could mention that that’s pretty impressive, and that maybe some day her little ‘scruffy’ or something can do as well as that Uzumaki kid on some the next missions Kiba does. Needless to say, Kiba would be quite offended and asking what his mom meant by that. Who knows where such a convo could lead to, eh?^_^ “
Now, who would like to take a stab at writing up that conversation? You don’t have to characterize them in that fashion, but here are some interaction notes, courtesy of the personality constructs inhabiting my frontal lobes. Inuzuka Tsume liked Hinata, especially after watching her struggle to prepare a meal for them on short notice. Not sure why her dad was such a jerk, but the kid seemed alright. (That’s why she mussed Hinata’s hair when she was looking so crestfallen as they left.) She makes good food, too. She also noticed how Gai and Lee couldn’t stop talking about how Naruto. Kiba actually fits onto Team 7 better than he thought he would. Sakura’s temper is no worse than his big sisters, so he annoys her and offends her as needed. But nobody else better. Sasuke is the top genin in his class, true. But he’s also kind of scrawny. Kiba is the biggest or one of the biggest of the Rookie 9, so he delights in calling Sasuke ‘chibi’ at times. Kiba only had sisters (at least one) and no brothers, so he kind of likes treating Sasuke like that, no matter how much it annoys him. (Sasuke himself just looks off into the distance and gets broody when Kiba is annoying. But on some level, it’s punching some of his buttons – he liked it when Itachi did the whole ‘big brother’ thing. But every time he feels himself thawing a little, he’s reminded of Itachi and starts angsting again.) Kiba’s good-natured teasing and not-so-fragile ego mean there is a bit less friction within Team 7. The fact that he will tease Sakura mercilessly when she goes all fan-girl on Sasuke (and he’s learned from his big sister Hana which buttons to push) has curbed some of her worse tendencies in that regard. At the same time, when Kiba and Sasuke get to wrangling too much, she finds herself snapping at BOTH of them (Naruto kissed her butt so much in canon that she tended to focus on him), which actually won her a little more respect from both of them. Thus, she is able to persuade Sasuke a little better than in canon. Anyway, that’s the roles I see their personalities settling into after the team achieves some equilibrium. Kakashi is fairly happy with their teamwork. During the fight with Haku, Sasuke used Kiba for cover from flying Senbon while he used a wired Fuuma Shuriken to temporarily snare Haku. Sasuke started a Taijutsu grapple (like the fight in canon where he threw the kunai to set him up for a kick) and Kiba took advantage of Haku’s temporary halt to ‘put a lick on him’ that knocked him through an ice mirror and broke his mask. Sasuke was slightly annoyed at the interruption, but even more so when Kiba unconsciously patted the top of the Uchiha’s head – same as he’d do with Akamaru when he pulled a similar maneuver. So… if anyone wants to take a stab at writing up ‘a conversation at the Inuzuka Kennel’, I’ll take the best one and include it as an Omake at the end of chapter 11. (I do reserve the right to edit as necessary, but the writer will get credit.)
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Since you were talking about ideas, I was rereading Team 8 and I got to the point in Ch. 1 where Naruto is thinking about the people on his team and the following section kept putting images in my mind :p
“Shino was a little odd. He didn’t talk much, just the opposite of Naruto, but the other kids avoided him because of the bugs, which was something they had in common. Naruto didn’t mind bugs, as long as they didn’t try to get into his food. His live-and-let-live attitude ended where his ramen began.”
I couldn’t help but think of a time months or years down the road when the three members of Team 8 are relaxing somewhere eating a meal and naruto feeding some of Shino’s bugs some ramen.