Chapter 32

Hours after the chunin exam tournament came to a close… and everyone wound up at the hospital. By everyone, all of Team 10 and all of the Suna team wound up at the hospital. Ino, to go with her bruised ribs from the other day that had not been done any favors by the day's fighting also had a crushed right hand due to her connection to Kankuro and her failed sneak attack on Gaara in the boy's body. Shikamaru had chakra exhaustion, deep cuts all over his person, a busted eardrum, and torn muscles in both of his calves and thighs from complete overuse. Naruto had chakra exhaustion to an absurd degree due to how difficult it was to actually exhaust him, his broken ribs from earlier in the day were still on the mend, and his overall blood loss from the day was pretty high… not enough to need a transfusion to survive though. Not even close.

On the Suna side of things Kankuro's hand was crushed because of Ino and had burns all over. Temari had a fractured jaw, multiple first and second degree burns, a dislocated shoulder, and a concussion. Gaara had chakra exhaustion, massive burns, internal bleeding that had eventually given way to external bleeding on many areas of his body, and a torn ACL, MCL, and a dislocated patella.

It was kind of hard to tell who won if you had no idea the results of the fight.

"I'm bored…" Ino groaned while laying in a hospital bed, her hair down and dressed in a patient's gown with a few small bandages on her face, "I don't even know why I'm still here. You two are the ones that are messed up." She said, crossing her arms over her chest, her right one in a cast up her forearm.

Naruto was laying flat on his back in his bed, staring at the ceiling, "Ino-chan you can't even stand up without your knees buckling because you hurt so much." He turned his head towards Shikamaru's bed to see that he was asleep with a large protective cover over his ear, "See, Shikamaru has a good idea." He hadn't even tried to make conversation after they shoved him into bed. Shikamaru just went right to sleep and gleefully did so.

Ino rolled her eyes and lay back in her bed against the pillows with a sigh, "At least they stuck you all in here with me. It would suck to be alone right now." She admitted before turning her gaze towards Naruto, "So you kicked his ass like I told you to did you?" She said with a grin on her face.

"Right up until he tried turning into the full-on demon version of what he looked like when he hit you." Naruto said, moving his arms behind his head slowly due to the jelly feeling that they had, "I didn't know we could do that."

"We?" Ino said in a questioning voice as she raised a delicate eyebrow.

"Jinchuuriki." Naruto said, explaining in one word what he meant, "I just thought we got powers or something from the biju, I didn't know we could actually turn into them. How the hell did he do that? I want to do that."

"No you don't."

Ino and Naruto looked at the door to see Fuu standing there leaning against the frame looking at them both before she gave a slight wave, "Hi. I heard people came to visit other people in the hospital and my teammate is here too so I kind of had to show up anyway."

"Fuu!" Naruto said, actually excited to see her as he didn't know if the her helping him to the battlefield was a one-time thing, "I'd get up to hug you or something but I can't feel my legs… or my arms either really."

"What is with you and the hugs?" Fuu responded with a strange look on her face, "If you hug me again I'm still going to squish you just so you know. The last one was your only freebie."

"Freebie?" Naruto said, returning Fuu's look with one of his own, "I had to seal off your chakra to get a 'freebie' so it wasn't really that free… it sucked my chakra like a vacuum."

"Enough about that." Ino said, trying to direct the conversation back to what she was actually interested in, "Why would it be bad for Naruto to be able to turn into the Kyuubi like Gaara can with the Ichibi? He'd be huge and scary, and he'd have all of that chakra to use, and-."

"Because if his demon is anything like mine then it isn't easy." Fuu said, giving her own reasoning, "The Nanabi usually just ignores me until I start trying to pull its chakra out. It's a real piece of work… it insists that the Tekiousei-Tai (Adaptable Body) that it 'gifted' me with to keep me alive is all I need. Even when I use the chakra I feel different, I feel more paranoid than normal, even though I'm supposed to be stronger I feel more jittery and scared it's hard to really focus."

Naruto started getting what Fuu was talking about, "Fuzzbutt gives me chakra when it thinks I'm too weak to do any better… and then it'll tell me that I'm a weakling and that I'm pathetic. Then when I start fighting I get madder and madder and start focusing on nothing but what I'm supposed to be destroying." He stopped thinking when he started using the Kyuubi's chakra, content in trading blows with Gaara until Shikamaru got his head on straight.

A nod came from Fuu as if that was the answer she had expected from him, "The biju overwhelm our emotions over time and turn our personalities into what they want us to be… the people sure don't help either. The Nanabi is a surly bastard or bitch that tunes out the entire world around it until it needs to react to something, only giving me the chakra it feels that I need for my jutsu. I have to wake it up to get anything else from it and when I do all it wants me to do is to get away from anything around me, hence the wings. They're not intended to fight, they're meant to get me away from danger." Well that also explained why Fuu so readily went with her own personality traits.

"So Gaara's a crazy killer because of the Ichibi?" Ino questioned since Fuu was basically saying that some jinchuuriki were influenced by their biju, "What's the point of even doing something like that?"

"Control." Fuu said, "You can either give into the what the biju wants from you if it's not destructive like what mine wants, or you can fight against it and your will can try to exercise control… but they don't like that. So I just take what the Nanabi lets me have. I don't press for more because if I'm not as good as I think I am I can lose all control over myself. What I get is usually enough to win though."

Naruto was getting confused by what Fuu was telling him, he was still new at the whole jinchuuriki thing, "So you're saying that I should fight the way I feel when I use the chakra? That will make me stronger?" He had to admit that it felt more natural when he and Gaara were trying to straight up smack each other around. He had to force himself to deviate from that plan of action.

A look of deliberation came over Fuu as she tried to ponder and come up with a response, "No… you don't seem to be the type to take too well to the whole berserk massacring thing." Shocked expressions came over Naruto and Ino's faces, "What? You said that the emotions you feel when you use the Kyuubi's chakra are anger and destruction. Do you think that the feeling just gets weaker or stays the same when you draw on more of the power? It'll magnify… it's going to get stronger." She gave Naruto a look of disbelief, "Didn't anyone ever tell you this stuff before?"

Ino decided to answer for Naruto as he seemed to be deep in thought, "He didn't really find out he had anything in him in the first place until a month ago I think. Why?"

"Who's teaching you to use your chakra?" Fuu asked them, getting blank looks, "Nobody? Really? What the hell? Who doesn't teach their jinchuuriki how to use their biju? I was at least given a bit of instruction from what others knew." Then again who really taught Gaara how to do anything? Maybe that's why he was so imbalanced, "So what can you do with your biju?"

"Heal quicker… and I get faster and stronger." Naruto said with a serious face… although he tilted his head when Fuu looked as if she were waiting for him to continue, "Uh, that's it." Fuu then proceeded to palm her forehead, "What?"

"Aside from the healing quicker thing we can all do that rookie, weren't you paying attention when I was kicking your ass or when you and Gaara were smacking each other around?" Fuu said with an impatient tint in her voice. Impatient because he was more or less telling her that he didn't know how to do anything that wasn't instinctual and automatic. In the instance of a rematch there was no way she loses to this kid twice in her mind. No way. She wanted to fight him again to prove a point right then.

Naruto and Ino looked at each other blankly before looking back at Fuu and speaking simultaneously, "Well what else can I/he do?"

"How should I know?" Fuu said throwing her arms in the air wantonly, "I'm the Nanabi jinchuuriki not the Kyuubi jinchuuriki!"

Naruto wanted to jump out of bed and go after her if his body would have allowed it. Instead he simply fell out of bed on his attempt and landed on his head, "Gah! Well what am I supposed to do?"

"I don't freaking know, different demons in different bodies Uzumaki!" Fuu said again before opening the door to the room back up and exiting, "You figure it out! As far as I know friends don't give each other advice or anything so get off my back!" And with that she shut the door with authority, showing that she didn't necessarily have control over her powers at the moment when the glass shattered and the wood of the door cracked from the force.

The entire room was quiet with the exception of Shikamaru mumbling about how people needed to shut the hell up and let him sleep. Naruto blinked from his place on the ground before grinning, "Bye Fuu! Don't be a stranger!"

Ino just stared at the mostly broken door with a deadpan look on her face, "Well that wasn't really a pleasant visit. What was all of that talk about friends? That was kind of weird."

"Oh." Naruto said as if he had forgotten to lock his door or something, still stuck on the ground, "We're friends now I think. She still needs some work on the whole idea about it though. So can you help me up?"

Ino just looked over the side of her bed at him, "I would, but I can't pick you up on my own. If I got up to try it'd just end with both of us down there in a big mess. Sorry Goldie-kun." She said before laying back down properly on her pillow, "You can stay like that until a nurse checks in can't you? Does it hurt?"

"Just my pride… and my head, and neck, and ribs." Naruto said with a sigh as he slid down into a straight and more natural position on the ground.

At that moment the door opened and Asuma walked in followed by Kurenai and Team 8, "Good work you guys." Asuma said walking in first before stopping once he saw Naruto on the floor, "I want to ask how you got down there, but whatever you say is just going to make me second guess you so don't tell me how you fell." With that he walked over and picked up Naruto with much discomfort due to his injuries, "But anyway you did great out there."

Kiba jogged up to Naruto's bed and rapped him lightly on the shoulder, ignoring the glare from the blonde, "That was some scary shi-… stuff." He said, modifying his language once he saw Kurenai giving him a stern glance, getting a few mocking barks from Akamaru, "I would have made it look cooler than you, but good work anyway." He looked back at his team with a grin and pointed something out, "Whoa, who broke the door dude?"

Naruto accepted the praise from the usually brash dog-user until he thought about something, "Wait, how would you have made it look cooler than me? Did you see that explosion? It was huge!"

Shino adjusted his sunglasses on his face before responding, "How would it have been more astounding you ask? I believe that you were looking at the explosion when it went off." He saw Naruto's expression drop and saw Kiba nod in agreement with his statement, "Yes… I'm afraid you shouldn't have been looking at your explosion."

"That's day one stuff Naruto." Kiba said decisively.

"It's not my fault I keep forgetting…" Naruto disputed lamely, "I just know how awesome my explosions are so I have to look at them." It was more of a need really. Apparently Shikamaru didn't have the same need to look at his own explosions to feel the satisfaction of a job well done. That guy was weird... or maybe it was just him? Hinata walked up to Naruto's bed, getting his attention of her presence as she seemed scared to even be there. She couldn't even look him in the eyes, "What's the matter Hinata?" He asked her.

Finally looking up to meet Naruto's curious gaze her already reddening face turned even redder as she couldn't bring out what she wanted to say. Kiba blocked snickers at her odd actions while Naruto's eyes just squinted at her trying to decipher what she needed.

Deciding to save the poor girl from passing out from anxiety, Kurenai rolled her red eyes and put a hand on Hinata's shoulder, getting her to take a few steps back. Apparently this was enough to get her to calm down. However instead of addressing merely Naruto as she looked like she was going to do at first, she spoke to everyone, "T-That was great! I can't believe that you all won!"

Naruto just rubbed the back of his head bashfully while Ino looked proud despite looking beaten up. Shikamaru just mumbled and turned over onto his side in his bed, scratching his bandaged ear irritably.

"So why are you guys still all not able to walk and stuff?" Kiba asked, "Didn't the blonde lady with the huge-?" Once again, Kurenai kept Kiba from uttering some blue comment with a stern look, "-The blonde lady with the pet pig… yeah. Anyway didn't she come heal you guys yet? Because she fixed my head right up hours ago." The two disgruntled looks from Naruto and Ino basically said that they hadn't been 'fixed up' the way he was saying.

A knock came on the wall at the doorway and everyone looked to see Shizune standing there with a clipboard in her hand and a smile on her face, "Sorry. Tsunade-sama and myself had to deal with injuries that were either worse than you all had suffered or were far simpler to handle. She should be here in a moment." She walked into the room and stood with everyone, waiting on Tsunade and deciding to talk about something, "Congratulations. I've never seen rookie teams get so far in the exams before let alone win, so all of you did wonderfully."

"Promotion wonderfully?" Kiba said hopefully. First round loss or not he still wanted to believe that he had a chance, slim though it may have been, "When are we supposed to know what happened?"

Kurenai personally didn't think she had the heart to tell him that he probably wasn't getting promoted at all from the experience, so she just decided to postpone the disappointment, "You'll find out when we head home Kiba. Just be patient." Be patient so that his griping could be dealt with by his mother or sister instead of her.

Shizune had moved over to Shikamaru and had begun to heal his ear due to how readily available it was in his sleep as the long day began dragging to a close outside.

XxX

Elsewhere in the hospital, Gaara's eyes snapped open abruptly to see Sekka standing over him healing his wounds. Upon noticing that Gaara was awake, the medic-nin backed away in case Gaara was offended to the point of trying to kill him. Even though he wouldn't be in any condition to do so even with the treatment given there was always some sort of possibility with him for violence.

Instead of trying to attack the insignificant medic, Gaara thought better of it. He had done his job and had actually made it so that he could get up and go finish off Uzumaki Naruto who was probably just as hurt as he was. He found that his complete lack of chakra made it hard to even sense where his sand was in the room, but even so if he could get up then it wouldn't matter.

"Stand down Gaara." The Kazekage had been sitting silently in a chair the entire time at the end of the room watching. As he said that, Temari and Kankuro popped up from their own beds to look towards the brother they thought had been unconscious, "You're not leaving this room without me and you're not being left alone after the little stunt you pulled in the arena." There were actually samurai guards outside to ensure that the very conflict-prone Gaara would not try to hunt down the team he had lost to, "A full possession? What on earth were you thinking? You had been expressing more control than that over the years."

"Let me go…" Gaara said, at that point noticing that he was surrounded by the Kazekage's Gold Dust, probably meant to hold him down if he tried to leave and continue where he left off, "It isn't over yet… I haven't killed Uzumaki, I haven't proven my existence."

"Your 'existence' isn't to kill some single Konoha brat!" The Kazekage snapped at Gaara, never understanding just what his son's issue happened to be with killing to prove anything about himself, "Your existence is supposed to be as Suna's trump, the example of the skill of our shinobi, not as some petty random killer! You're meant to be better than that!"

Gaara glared at the man, wishing he was strong enough to put him through what he had been put through by the Kazekage in the past, "Don't give me a useless lecture. The things that you say to me have very little meaning. I honestly couldn't care less of your opinion in me since it was clear from the start that I have no true value to any of you."

Temari and Kankuro looked at each other before the girl spoke up, "That's not true Gaara. Even if you hate us you're still our brother. We're on your side no matter what, we're your family." It was clear from the fact that he wasn't even looking at her that he wasn't listening, "That's why when I thought that you had been hurt so badly by that kid that he was about to finish you I just… I lost it. I almost killed him right then and there if it hadn't been for his team."

With that, Gaara's eye flickered over to hers, whether because she had admitted to trying to take his fight or because she had said she had attempted to strike someone down in vengeance for his own wounds she wasn't sure.

"You were about to kill Uzumaki?" Gaara said, his voice lifting in a disbelieving fashion as he couldn't think that someone that was deathly afraid of him could stand up to Naruto, "You're actually capable of killing someone that powerful?"

Temari's face darkened as she remembered how she felt when she got a look at Gaara's blood-covered form, "If I had another second or two we wouldn't be having this conversation because he'd be dead and you'd know for certain." Her features softened again with an uncharacteristically worried look, "I don't care if you said he was your target Gaara, if he was going to do that to you and I had the power to stop him I would have done it. I'd try it again if I had to."

Gaara didn't know what he felt about hearing that. Temari had basically just said that his need to prove himself meant nothing as long as he was in danger, but in the same vein she had also said that she was willing to protect him, even against someone that had proven to be superior strength-wise. The angry red mark on her face, clearly the most blatant place where she had paid the price for attempting to do so spoke volumes to him.

"Why?" Gaara asked, narrowing his eyes at her suspiciously, "Why would you possibly subject yourself to something like that? You do not have the power inside of you that I have, that mother has given me to crush my enemies. You are far weaker than me, so why would you ever try to involve yourself in any battle of mine?"

Temari didn't know how to say it to him other than the blunt way, so Kankuro expressed it for her, "Because you're her brother Gaara." He said plainly, "Temari might be a frigid bitch-." This elicited a harsh glare from said frigid bitch, "-But we're still her brothers. We're supposed to look out for each other even if the other doesn't want us to."

Gaara's mind flashed back to how Shikamaru interjected himself into his fight with Naruto even when it was clear that he would more or less be useless and Naruto just wanted to get him out of the way. Still, Shikamaru did not leave. He stayed close until the end and even seemed to be helping the exhausted Naruto afterwards despite the fact that in Gaara's mind Naruto could have crushed Shikamaru for being insolent when it was clear that his presence kept Naruto from doing what he wanted to in the fight.

But he didn't. Naruto was supposed to be like him and there was someone that even at the risk of personal peril seemed to stand by him when it was clear he was under his demon's influence. He could also take things another way; for instance as long as Naruto had his team he would never get to battle against him without the fools interfering.

In response to Kankuro and Temari, Gaara still didn't say a thing. But if they were serious they would know that they would never get close enough to betray him, Kankuro's injuries were evidence of that. If they were earnest then at least in the occurrence of proving his existence against the one he needed to kill they would be useful, an extension of his 'absolute defense'. Was that what they were saying, about how a family was supposed to be? Even when he didn't desire his sand to come to his defense it did regardless. Was this something like that?

He would see. In his mind if they weren't true then there would be no real consequence. They all knew they couldn't lay a hand on him. They would be picked off sooner or later even if he didn't choose to do it himself. If they were useful then there was a far greater chance of him showing the world that he was there and that he existed. If they were fool enough to believe that he needed or wanted them around then that was their mistake.

So why did it feel so scary yet so good to hear Temari say what she did?

What was he thinking about it so hard for? It didn't matter in the end.

XxX

Night had fallen and Naruto lay in his bed with Tsunade standing over him healing his injuries. He swore she waited to work on him last just to get on his nerves. Maybe because he proved her wrong in the end and won the exams? He just wished he could see her face to see if his smirk was irking her. He couldn't see her face because of the fact that her bountiful chest was looming over his point of view. So in that case he couldn't necessarily say that his situation was bad at all.

Meanwhile from her bed, Ino was staring at him with an annoyed frown on her face because the mean lady from the other day with the massive boobs stood hovering over Naruto, and she figured his smirk was from him thoroughly enjoying it. It was kind of something that made her feel a little self-conscious until she realized she was just twelve years old, 'Wait, why the hell do I care about my chest size? What's wrong with me?'

Tsunade backed away from Naruto, deactivating her healing jutsu in order to give him a once over in case she missed anything and finally noticed his smirk, "What's with that look brat?"

If anything the smirk grew more pronounced at that, "You mean you don't have anything to say? You really don't have anything that you want to tell us, something about how we didn't have a chance in hell of winning or something like that."

Tsunade scoffed, "That was before I knew you were a jinchuuriki, that shouldn't count… and you made me lose so much money during this exam brat!" She said, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him furiously before letting the dizzy blonde go peacefully, leaving him with a pat him on the head, "But also thanks to you and your friends I'm back in the black due to the long-shot bet for the last two rounds. Thanks a lot for that."

Recovering from being lifted up and shaken like a burlap sack by the deceptively strong lady, Naruto swatted her hand away irritably, "Yeah? Well why are you even here healing us right now anyway? Shizune did it because she's nice, I don't know why you're doing it."

"I'm getting paid, that's why." Tsunade said, in a chipper mood for some reason. She seemed way happier than he had figured she would be after meeting her once, "You and a bunch of others just like you got beaten up pretty badly if you weren't paying attention. Instead of just relying on the samurai treatments to have them sitting around here for weeks before being able to leave with them safely Sarutobi-sensei hired me to patch you lot up enough to move out in a day or two." Oh, well that explained it. She was getting money for healing them.

"So everyone's okay now?" Shikamaru asked, showing some interest in what she had to say. Chouji had taken it kind of hard the day before. It was difficult to watch if Shikamaru were to tell the truth, "They're all fine right?"

"Yeah, yeah." Tsunade said, finishing her final check-through of Naruto, "The Lee kid's muscles were shredded like cheese but he'll be fine. Sore as hell for the next two weeks but he'll be able to walk with crutches tomorrow… probably without if he really wanted to. The Akimichi boy had some serious impact damage done to his back and spine, he'll be stiff for a week and won't be able to throw a punch that could even bust a grape for two. And the Uchiha kid was the worst off. He had to be kept sedated just to keep him from being in pain all the time. Way too many injuries for me to say here without the chart, but now he just needs rest. He's going to be one big ugly bruise for the time being though."

Hearing that made everyone in the room calm down. Even if they were on other teams in what was a competition they were still comrades, classmates, friends even in some cases. There was nothing good about watching them all get carted away at one point or another.

With that, Tsunade kept talking, "No one else really took any kind of injury that was too threatening... except for the older genin that was found dead this morning that seemed to just stop breathing during the night… now there was a team that took a beating. Kind of ironic that the only one of them to survive was a medic-nin." She mused off-handedly.

So Kabuto's team bit the dust. Naruto and Shikamaru really didn't like the older ninja for some reason that they didn't understand. Something about him just rubbed them the wrong way even if they had no logical reason to believe so. He didn't seem strong enough to be a threat and even early in the exams when he seemed to be playing some sort of angle nothing ever came of it.

It was still weird to hear, and more evidence that they were lucky to get out of their own battle with the Suna team all in one piece.

"So…" Naruto said, trying to change away from the morbid subject, "You're Hokage-jiji's student? Does that mean you worked with Ero-sensei before?" A questioning look from Tsunade made Naruto remember that his nickname for the pervert wasn't exactly worldly known, "I mean Jiraiya."

Tsunade's eyes widened in recognition, "You train with that goat of a pervert? Of course you do… you were staring at my chest for the entire time I was healing you." She said, placing a hand at her temple at having to deal with possibly the student of that lecher.

"That wasn't what I was doing!" Naruto snapped with red on his cheeks, "And yeah, I do train with him. He's kind of the whole reason I even know about the-." He stopped himself realizing that he wasn't talking to someone close to him.

"The Kyuubi." Tsunade finished for him, giving him a look that said 'I'm not blind kid', "I didn't think the container would grow up to be such a runt though, but the orange chakra is a dead giveaway for anyone that's even a little knowledgeable about it." She then noticed him and all of the genin in the room staring at her suspiciously, "*sigh* And I don't care that he has the damn thing… seriously. Or do you think I wasn't paying attention to the crazy jinchuuriki that was about to try and squash the entire arena just to keep fighting you for an exam? That one was seriously screwed in the head."

A dry look came over the face of Shikamaru, "I think I should start asking at this point; who didn't know that he had the Kyuubi sealed in him? People we've never even met know without even being told."

Naruto ignored that, not really caring at that moment, "So if you're Ero-sensei's teammate then why don't you stay in the village? You don't even wear the headband."

"Because Sarutobi-sensei let me leave." Tsunade said as a method of explaining, "What does he need me around for? There are tons of medics in Konoha these days and there's nothing that requires a ninja as powerful as me around. Jiraiya's never really there either. He left for years at a time, even back when he was your age. Hell when we were in the middle of a war he stayed back in Amegakure to watch over some orphans. I haven't even seen him in years… and don't even get me started on the other teammate of ours. You don't want to hear about any of that."

Ino blinked as she started putting things together, "So… you don't do anything? You just go from place to place just doing what? Do you get sent missions? Do you even stay in contact with the village?"

"Hell no." Tsunade said derisively, "If Sarutobi-sensei needs me… really needs my help then I'll come back for a little while and that's it. I'm not going back for anyone or anything. I don't have any reasons to stay there anymore. All I have is Shizune and she's with me all the time anyway."

Something about the way she said that made Naruto feel for her a bit, "So you're never going back to Konoha?"

"I kind of have to now." Tsunade said with a shrug, "Otherwise I can't get paid the necessary amount that it would take for the services greatest medic-ninja in the entire world. That old man really must think the world of you brats to hire me to kiss your boo-boos like this."

"Hey…" Naruto said defensively, "Hokage-jiji is totally awesome. How do you get off talking about him like that?"

Ino sighed and palmed her face, "Naruto you called Hokage-sama old man to his face forty-five times on the way up here from Konoha… why can't Tsunade-sama do it too?"

Tsunade looked at Ino, impressed at the girl referring to her in such a manner before turning back to Naruto with a haughty look, "It's nothing personal kid. It's just I think it was kind of dumb for him to take the seat back up at his age twelve years ago. He had already passed it off to the Yondaime Hokage, that Minato. It's not his responsibility to take back over once Minato went and got himself offed sealing the Kyuubi in you." Ino and Shikamaru saw Naruto visibly bristle at the remark, "And Jiraiya might be a few cards short of a deck, but at least he was never fool enough to take that job. What a waste of effort."

"And why's that?" Naruto suddenly said cantankerously, getting her attention, "Being Hokage is awesome! Being Hokage lets you protect the village! It means that you're the strongest, and people are supposed to look up to you and believe in you. Why's it stupid to want to do that with yourself?"

"Because every Hokage has died early." Tsunade said grimly, "Sarutobi-sensei is the only one that's made it to be as old as he is. He must be some kind of lucky. But all of the others wound up dying in the end. You might as well jump into a ditch and throw dirt on yourself now if that's what you really want to do because that's all it'll get you in the end."

That seemed to sober Naruto up before he shook his head, not willing to accept what Tsunade was saying, "That's what they all knew could happen. They're supposed to put the village and the villagers first. What was the Yondaime supposed to do, just run away and let the Kyuubi attack the village and kill everyone? No, he was the Hokage, he knew no one else could stop it and he did it himself… even if he did end up just sticking it in me. I'll bet all of the others died like that too; saving people and keeping the village safe."

A laugh came from Tsunade, "So you think you would be okay with that? You think you could just go and get yourself killed, knowing that you aren't going to survive just so that others won't die?"

Naruto looked at Ino and Shikamaru before turning back to Tsunade with a serious look, "I thought I'd watched them die in front of me before when I couldn't do anything about it. I thought I'd seen my old sensei die in front of me before and I thought there was nothing I could do about it. That feeling of being weak and useless… I can't live with it. So I told myself I'd get strong enough to make sure that would never happen for real, and that I'd die before letting it. If I'll do that for a handful of people then why wouldn't I do it for the whole village too? Being Hokage is my dream, even if I know what it really means."

Tsunade just stared at him and fought the urge to rub her eyes as if she were seeing someone else right in front of her. Shaking her head she turned her eyes down to the clipboard and started to walk out of the room, opening the door to leave, "Well you should all be able to get up and move around tomorrow just fine. I don't want you getting out of bed for anything until sunup… and who broke this door?" She asked no one in particular before shutting it behind her.

XxX

(Late Night Streets of the Village)

A pair of figures walked through the streets dressed in black robes emblazoned with red clouds, large straw hats sitting on the top of their heads, "So…" One of the figures started in a hard voice, "That was some crazy exam huh? Makes me wish they had international ones like this back when I was a genin. So many victims… you know what I'm saying Itachi-san?" Underneath the hat a grin with shark-like teeth could be seen.

"No names Kisame." Itachi said calmly, "You know that we are not to be discovered yet. This is too much of a hornet's nest to be caught up in. It is of great importance that we are not revealed as anything other than travelers at the moment. There are already eyes on our attire in the Five Nations, Luckily Tetsu no Kuni has little concern over shinobi affairs."

"Yeah, yeah I know." Kisame said dismissively, "I can't believe the Ichibi jinchuuriki tried to go off in the middle of the arena. That would have made my day for sure. Your brother didn't do too badly for being the baby Uchiha against a trained jinchuuriki either. Did you enjoy seeing him again?" He received no response from the quiet Itachi, "Well, I'm just glad that by now I don't need you to speak in order to have a conversation with you. Otherwise I'd be bored as hell all the time."

Itachi finally spoke up, but not about what Kisame had addressed him over, "We report back to Leader-sama over what we've seen from the capabilities of the jinchuuriki of the Ichibi, Nanabi, and Kyuubi. Let's go."

A chuckle came from Kisame, "So you're not going to stop by your brother's place in the hospital to say hello?" He said teasingly.

"…Who says that I didn't already?"

Hearing Itachi say that so calmly got Kisame to stop in his tracks as the cool, collected Itachi kept walking on ahead without missing a beat. Another grin slowly popped up on Kisame's face as he started walking again to catch up, "You're a sly devil Itachi-san… a real, bonafide scary person. I'm glad you're on my side."

XxX

(Nearby Hospital – Team 7's Room)

Kakashi peeked his head into the room to check over Sasuke and Chouji as the two slept. Once Tsunade had fixed them up Kakashi had finally been able to convince Sakura to head back to the hotel room to get some sleep now that they were assured to be fine so he was alone as he popped in on his two students.

Once he looked at the very calmly sleeping boys he found something sitting on Sasuke's chest while he slumbered. Walking into the room without a sound, Kakashi made his way to Sasuke and picked up a note off of his chest with a pen drawing of the Uchiha crest on it. Opening it up Kakashi simply read a small message.

"Still not good enough little brother. Even after all of these years I am still waiting on you to obtain my eyes, my power. Until that point in time you will never finish me. Don't forget what you have to do, or choose to remain weak like the rest of our former clan."

Kakashi immediately crushed the note in his hand and turned to leave the room, 'Itachi? He was in this country and he got to Sasuke without anyone being alerted…' All just to send the boy a message to taunt him, 'Why won't he just leave him alone?' Sasuke didn't need to see that. He was finally doing well without being solely driven by the need to butcher Itachi in cold blood. There was no need to take one step forward and then two right back.

As he left the room, if Kakashi had seen Sasuke's face he might have noticed the subtle twitches of a face experiencing something they had seen a thousand times before… but something that still got them to the bone every time.

Later that night Sasuke would wake up after experiencing the slaughter of his entire clan through his older brother's eyes again.

XxX

(Days Later – Ta no Kuni)

"Welcome back Orochimaru-sama." A young man with a dull look in his pale green eyes said. He had shoulder-length white hair, two red clan dots on his forehead, and wore a loose lavender shirt, black pants, and a purple belt tied similarly to his master around the back of his waist. A tattoo of three curved lines sat on his collarbone, "Things have been running well in your absence. I hope your trip was beneficial."

"Quite Kimimaro-kun." Orochimaru said as they both walked through the rather dimly lit hallways of one of Orochimaru's hideouts, "The exams were quite a rush to see in person, I really wish you could have come, you would have enjoyed it. So much prime talent. What was done with our representatives by the way?"

"They were given the proper punishment for the failure in the important mission requested by your partner Gato-san." Kimimaro said calmly, though it didn't sound like it was a mere slap on the wrist… unless simply being killed was a slap on the wrist in Otogakure, "Trash cannot be allowed to pollute the ranks."

Well, Orochimaru was going to let them live simply because he honestly had expected them to fail the entire time… it was actually intended for them to fail, hence why he signed off on the mission to kill Uchiha Sasuke in the first place. But it was of no consequence in the end. Kin and Zaku could be easily replaced just as Dosu could. They were just bodies in the grand scheme of things.

There were more important and fruitful endeavors to be had at the moment. That cockroach Gato was if nothing else useful for the things he picked up with his disgusting antennae, and he had actually given Orochimaru something good… aside from the steady funding of course, "Kimimaro I see a chance for great opportunity and gain. I believe I should contact the Mizukage about his problem with kekkei genkai. It's a problem that he can do without and that I can't get enough of. I don't think sending you for a meeting would be a good idea though."

"Orochimaru-sama?" Kimimaro said in confusion as to why he wouldn't be sent as the first choice to accomplish a mission seen as important for the man. He then remembered that the civil war raging in Kiri was over the 'taint' of those with bloodline limits. This made Kimimaro feel wanted as he was not to be sent and cast into the lands of those that would possibly kill him without a second thought. He was too valuable to be cast aside.

"I'll send a simple messenger in case Yagura's response is less than accepting of my gracious offer." Orochimaru said, "Maybe once the actual operation begins you can have your little homecoming."

XxX

(Days Later – Konohagakure no Sato)

The outgoing Konoha teams that were sent out to compete in the chunin exams walked back through the front gates to be applauded by tons of villagers that had been there specifically to wait for their return and for the return of their Hokage. They even got an extra treat in the rare sighting of Tsunade as well.

Most of the genin after being given a moment to soak up the accolades for a bit were immediately escorted to the hospital for a second look at their injuries to make sure they were alright.

Surprise was frozen on the face of Naruto as he was among the group walking through the village. He was unnerved at the cheering at first, thinking that he was just in the middle of what was mostly for the other genin on jobs well done until he noticed that many of the villagers were looking at him as well. Some actually calling out for him to look at them so he could specifically see them cheering him.

It was quite the 180 from what he had experienced before he ever even became a genin. The whole experience was overwhelming, and when he felt a hand on his shoulder and looked over to see the Hokage looking down at him with a smile it had to be the best feeling of his life, and he soaked it all up, waving right back and putting on a show. Getting the accolades from actual Konoha villagers was something way better than getting it from the people that didn't know who he had been at first. If he had Jiraiya's stupid grandiose poses down then it would have been a good time for them.

Eventually the route wound up with the genin and their respective jounin sensei standing in front of Hiruzen's desk with the elders Koharu and Homura at his sides. The genin were arranged to stand in lines directly in front of their jounin as Hiruzen sat down and lit up his pipe before choosing to speak, "You all performed admirably during the exams to make it as far as you did. Even more impressive by the fact that most of you are so young. So now I will share with you the judges' ruling on your performances. On-site judges and the opinions of observing judges from Konoha are taken into account for the decisions and they are final, understood?"

"Yes Hokage-sama." All of the genin in attendance said as one.

A nod came from the old man as Homura handed him the rulings for the first team, "Due to the loss of his team in the exams will Yakushi Kabuto step forward first." Kabuto demurely did as asked and still looked rather shell-shocked from being the only one on his team that was left alive in the end. Hiruzen's face softened at the sight of the unfortunate young man, "How many times has it been Kabuto?" He asked, though not in a mocking fashion.

"Well this time would make it eight Hokage-sama." Kabuto said trying to make it sound funny, but failing due to apparent nerves.

"The loss of your team was a tragedy." Hiruzen said to the bespectacled medic, "But I still cannot pass you and promote you to chunin Kabuto, I'm sorry." Kabuto looked down at the ground in a dejected fashion, "Do not give up, a medic-nin is always a valuable commodity to any squad, a critical form of support. You're a smart boy. If your combat capabilities can be improved you will advance next time, of that I am sure. Your father should be proud of you."

Kabuto bowed slightly before stepping back, "Thank you Hokage-sama." He said as he fell back in line standing in front of his sensei. The consensus thought around the room was 'poor guy' as far as Kabuto was concerned. Lost his team and didn't even get promoted for the trouble. What a week for him.

"Maito Gai's Team Nine of the previous year's graduation class will you step forward next?"

Tenten, Neji, and Lee did as instructed and waited for the Hokage to read through the judging on them before he spoke again, "I'll begin with Neji. You show incredible talent in battle, clearly on par with a chunin's capabilities. On this merit alone you could be warranted promotion. However you showed that you are willing to settle with an aggressive reactionary pace in battle. You are willing to let an opponent dictate the pace of the battle due to a belief in your own superiority. I'm sure you realized how well that works for you when your enemy is able to match you." Neji frowned and flicked his eyes toward Naruto before frowning but nodded nonetheless, "You can be ruled by having emotion cloud your mindset in combat. We cannot promote you I am sorry."

Neji nodded and stepped back.

"Rock Lee."

Lee looked excited to see if he had gotten promoted or not until Hiruzen began to speak, "A ninja specializing in nothing more than taijutsu excelling as you have is remarkable, truly inspirational my boy." Lee was beaming by this point, "However despite your skill you are impulsive and too willing to show your hand unnecessarily. You informed an opponent that knew nothing about you of your deficiencies in nin and genjutsu, this led to your downfall against that opponent's teammate in the next fight. In the following round you activated multiple variations of the forbidden Eight Gates when there was no need to activate that many to defeat your opponent, this left you unable to put up a fight against your next enemy, and for nothing really. I am sorry but you cannot be promoted at this time."

Hearing how Neji and Lee weren't getting promoted didn't fill Tenten with much confidence of her own chances, but she stood ready for his critique regardless.

"Tenten."

"You only had one fight to comment on. Your battle was contested solely on your terms. From the outset the entire fight was done by way of how you chose to operate. Your opponent was forced to adapt to how you fought repeatedly, and when he did for most of it you were still able to impose your will and turn things to your favor. However you found yourself trapped at the end when you thought you had your opponent boxed in. It was not a flawless performance by any means… but there is still enough here to promote you." Tenten's eyes lit up, putting a smile on the old man's face as he added something else, "Your style is technically support though, so if you can manage to find a way to acclimate yourself more to direct battle as a leader you have incredible potential for further growth. Can you do this?"

Tenten nodded rapidly and almost teleported forward once the Konoha flak jacket was held up for her to accept. She had to bite back an excited squeal as she stepped back to her teammates and received applause from the Hokage, the jounin sensei, and the other genin there.

Seeing someone actually get promoted got the others still to be reviewed excited. That meant that there was always a chance, Tenten only fought once and lost in the end.

"Team 8, the genin squad under Yuhi Kurenai please step forward."

Hinata and Shino looked rather grim while Kiba still had a light of optimism in regards to their chances, until Hiruzen spoke, "In life sometimes there are just unlucky events. You were all forced to fight a team with an aspect that no normal genin should have had to face. Even though there were questionable actions taken by someone in that match to prevent much from being seen of you, I cannot judge the performance that I have to deem incomplete. I cannot promote any of you I'm afraid."

Shino and Hinata nodded, expecting as much since they didn't get to really show any skills that would warrant such, but Kiba just stood frozen until Kurenai grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back, "There's always next time Kiba. You can try again in the next one. I can guarantee you that it won't be as difficult as this one was."

"Team 7 under Hatake Kakashi, step forward please."

Sasuke, Sakura, and Chouji all did as requested and waited patiently for him to speak.

Hiruzen had been informed by Kakashi of what had occurred with the message left the other night, but had told him he would handle it and that there was nothing to fear of the sort from Itachi. Still, this was about something completely different so that wasn't an issue at the time even though he was certain Kakashi would bring it up at the next opportunity.

"This team has a good mixture of someone with a good head on her shoulders in Sakura and a considerable amount of battle force in Chouji." He started, getting sad smiles from the two he mentioned because they could tell what was next, "But I cannot promote either of you due to what you both lack at the moment. Sakura you are very perceptive and intelligent, however you simply lack the overall combat prowess to lead a squad, against effective opposition you showed yourself to be something of a liability when left alone. On the opposite hand Chouji, you simply are not ready on the basis of maturity, motivation, and stratagem."

It hadn't escaped anyone's notice that he hadn't dismissed Sasuke at all yet.

"Out of the three of you I can see that one of you in fact has a firm grasp on what is required." Hiruzen looked towards Sasuke who tried to seem uninterested while failing miserably, "Sasuke you have the combat skill as has been expected of you by way of the gifts of your clan, but you also showed a way to manipulate the elements of a battlefield to your advantage right under an enemy's nose. You also showed natural leadership qualities taking charge of your team combat strategy in the quarterfinal round and something of a protective streak for a teammate in need. That is important as well as a leader, as well as showing that even when your comrade fell, instead of falling apart you continued forward with the battle. Sometimes that will be the result in a mission. When your friends are losing their heads around you, you still find a way to keep your own." He finished grimly before holding up a flak vest, "You are promoted to chunin my boy. Be proud of yourself."

Sasuke couldn't help but put on a smile as he walked forward to receive his prize for his performance. He couldn't even feel his nagging sore injuries at the moment. The feeling was euphoric when he walked back and got a pat on the shoulder and back from Kakashi and Chouji. He even let Sakura give him a hug… and he sincerely hoped that she didn't believe that gave her the right to do it again whenever she wanted. It was a one-time deal.

"Team 10 under Sarutobi Asuma please come forward."

Ino and Naruto almost tripped in their haste to step forward and get the whole thing over with. Shikamaru didn't seem to care one way or the other and in his head kind of hoped that they would fail… or at least he would fail. He wouldn't hold Ino and Naruto back just for him.

Hiruzen let out a chuckle at the fidgeting Ino and Naruto and the yawning Shikamaru, "This is the team that ran the gauntlet I see." He looked towards Asuma who just shrugged with a grin on his face, "Well Naruto I'll start with you."

Naruto snapped to immediate attention and could swear he was sweating bullets, 'Please be good news… come on…'

"It is quite clear, even to one that is blind that you have the combat skill needed without question." Hiruzen started as he stared down the young jinchuuriki, "But your judgment though… is based mostly on your own determination to not lose instead of what is appropriate to win with the least amount of loss." That didn't sound good, "Every strategy you wound up creating was done under duress with the exception of what was executed in your duel with Hyuuga Neji… however what you did come up with more than often worked and allowed you to overcome an opponent that otherwise would have defeated you based off of her experience and ability to match and outdo your power. Also you never endangered anyone other than yourself with any of your more impulsive plans of action. And I believe that Jiraiya and my son would attempt to kill me if I held you back."

Naruto's eyes widened, "You mean…"

"Yes my boy." Hiruzen said, holding up a vest, "Come and get your vest, you've been promoted. Keep up the good work."

Naruto refrained from jumping over the desk and tackling Hiruzen in a hug… he would do that later when he wouldn't get in trouble for it. In the meantime he ran forward and grabbed his flak jacket happily, immediately taking off his windbreaker and putting the well padded piece of tactical gear on in its place. It was a little rigid and needed to be broken in, but other than that it was great.

"Miss Yamanaka Ino." Hiruzen got her attention before any congratulations could be given, "You've taken a different development of your skill-set than most Yamanaka ninja would have taken." At that she pouted. It wasn't her fault if this would end up with her not getting promoted, her dad didn't want to teach her anything else, "The way you fought was a welcome surprise that your enemies didn't agree with. Even in defeat and with deep injuries you were able to effectively make your presence felt in your quarterfinal and final round matches to help your team succeed. Even without counting your poison skill you showed a tactical mastery with your Shintenshin no Jutsu (Mind Body Switch Jutsu) that any Yamanaka would have been fooled by. Unforeseen circumstances kept that from ending the entire final round altogether. In all honesty it was a narrow decision, but you have been promoted as well my dear."

Ino let out a whoop before realizing that she had been the only one to have an outburst. Even Naruto didn't do anything embarrassing. When Hiruzen began to laugh and held up her vest she quickly walked forward and received it with a red face, mumbling a 'thank you Hokage-sama' before keeping her head down to avoid anyone looking at her.

"Nara Shikamaru." Shikamaru met Hiruzen's business-like look with a lazy one, just short of looking like his eyes were about to shut before the man began to speak, "While some would call it cowardice, the major sticking point of your result is what you did in the quarterfinal round against Rock Lee. It was the single most underhanded, conniving, abhorrent action many of the judges had ever seen done in an exam meant to test genin." Everyone figured he was about to be shut down by the Hokage at that point, but it was not to be, "It was a magnificent move. Fighting that battle would have done absolutely nothing for you but put you in a wheelchair, not only that but you turned the tables with merely surrendering by forcing your opponent to thoroughly exhaust himself without ever losing a thing other than a fight that you couldn't win in the first place."

'Number one team at hiding, running away, and stalling.' Asuma, Shikamaru, Ino, and Naruto all thought at the same time with deadpan looks on their faces.

"Aside from that one instance that more or less secured the decision for you…" Hiruzen continued, "Your ability to con any opponent into falling prey to your shadow, even when they had already seen it, had already been caught by it in some cases, and knew full well what was coming, is incredible. Each round you found a new way to use the same jutsu without fail. It simply cannot be ignored and overlooked. You are promoted."

Seeing the vest appear over the top of Hiruzen's desk, Shikamaru looked at it long and hard without walking forward, finally choosing to speak, "…Do I have to?" Asuma, Ino, and Naruto all slapped him across the back of the head, urging him forward, "Troublesome… ugh, fine. Thank you Hokage-sama."

Team 10 moved back into the original lineup all marveling at their flak jackets… with the exception of Shikamaru who looked at his and merely sighed in resignation to his fate. Asuma merely walked over to the door of the office and held out his hand with a satisfied look on his face, "Please pay on the way out if you don't mind." He said to Kurenai, Gai, and Kakashi.

XxX

"Oh man." Naruto said with a huge grin on his face as all of the genin walked down the street away from the Hokage Mansion. He was feeling on his flak jacket as if it were made of some miracle material that was made from dreams, "This thing can probably stop a kunai to the belly… quick someone punch me in the stomac-! Oof!" Naruto was doubled over with Kiba's fist buried in his stomach. Lee, Chouji, even Sasuke and Neji looked dejected that they didn't beat him to it since they all had their fists raised as well, "…Thanks." Naruto wheezed.

"You're welcome." Kiba said, getting some dark satisfaction out of that. Hey, he didn't get promoted. It wasn't like he had to be the bigger man or anything when he was still a genin… and Naruto asked him to do it, "Did that hurt?"

"Nah…" Naruto said, sucking in a deep breath to keep his knees from shaking, "Not even a little."

Sakura shook her head and looked at the flak jacket that Sasuke was carrying, "I can't believe you guys got promotions. That's so cool! When was the last time anyone our age got promoted?" She wondered how cool Sasuke would look once he put his flak jacket on. Naruto necessarily didn't make it look bad at all so Sasuke would probably wear it like the devil himself once he chose to.

"It's not really that rare…" Tenten said wryly with a grin on her face as she too much like Naruto was taking the moment to break her flak jacket in early, "People younger than us got promoted before… but it's still so cool!" She spared a look towards her teammates, suddenly feeling like a jerk for being the only one of them to get promoted. She still couldn't believe it, "Sorry you guys."

Lee noticed the shift in her mood and gave her a thumbs up, "There is nothing to apologize for Tenten. I will simply have to work twice as hard next time to ensure my own success. And Neji as well! I'm certain that he feels the same."

A tense nod only came from Neji, nothing more nothing less, "Do you expect me to resent you for doing your best Tenten? I am not nearly that petty. Like Lee says, there is always the next time." He then decided to break off from the group and head home, "I believe I'll go and get some rest now. If I see Hiashi-sama I will inform him that you are still out Hinata-sama." Neji said, still not sparing the girl he was just speaking to a glance as he walked away.

The others were slightly put off by how he just left like that when it was a time to talk amongst themselves about the crazy stuff that had just happened to them over the past month or so. It was standard procedure that everyone that somehow shared a ridiculous life experience would then proceed to talk about said experience with those they had experienced it with, complete with gratuitous embellishments everyone knew were lies that would eventually be forgotten as false and would just become a part of the actual story as the annals of time erode the tale that would then be told hundreds of times for the rest of their lives. Neji obviously had no desire to partake in standard procedure.

The wind momentarily taken out of their sails by Neji's abrupt departure, Chouji tried picking things back up, "I can't believe Ino, Shikamaru, and Naruto all got promoted though. All three of you? That's crazy."

"Yes Chouji it's crazy." Shikamaru said, not seeming too stoked at all to be in his current situation, "It's crazy terrible. Now the safety net that is Asuma-sensei is gone. He doesn't have to be our jounin leader anymore. We're not his genin anymore, we're chunin now." That thought gave Ino and Naruto pause. They had never even thought about that, "And we could be split up and stuck on other teams now so we might not even get to have each other anymore. We're supposed to be able to lead teams now."

"It's not really going to be that easy to split us up, right?" Ino asked, actually expecting an answer from someone. And no one really had the answer, "Come on, they can't do that. We all got promoted at the same time, why can't we still be a team? It's the only reason we got this far."

She honestly loved being on that team. She wouldn't have traded it for anything. If she wasn't on that team would she have learned the techniques that she did? Would she have even learned what she did about Naruto, the thing with his clan and the more important thing about the Kyuubi within him? Would she have accepted it so readily? Would she even have gotten promoted if she hadn't been with them?

"There's no way they can just cut us apart like that!" Ino said, getting angrier at the thought of it, "Doesn't any of that crap we did mean anything? What was the point of doing all of that stuff for each other, just to say goodbye?" She wasn't going to accept that lying down if that was indeed the case, "Fuck that!" And with that, Ino stomped off on her own, trying not to wipe her eyes at the thought of it. It may have been impulsive, but she didn't care, even if it was paranoia on the cynical one Shikamaru's part that formed the theory. It was upsetting enough to bring tears to her eyes and no one was going to see her cry.

They all watched Ino stomp away before Naruto spoke up, "Hey… they really can't do that can they?" Asuma not being their sensei anymore he understood. He damn sure didn't like it and he would fight that, but he understood that they couldn't have a jounin locked down to them forever. He had to get on with his own career eventually and couldn't stick around until they were jounin too. But splitting the team up? That was terrible, he just got them and he'd have to lose them like that?

And all of a sudden thinking about that didn't make Naruto feel so ecstatic to be a chunin anymore.

"I don't know what they can do dobe but I don't think they'll do that." Sasuke said, contemplating something similar. Were they going to yank him from Team 7 because they were still genin? Even Tenten was thinking about it at that point. As much as Sasuke would never admit it out loud he had grown accustomed to seeing them every day. It was something he could count on for better or worse, it was a sense of normality, something comfortable, "I just don't know… I guess we'll see." They might pick him off of Team 7 and he doubted they would even do that, but there was no feasible reason to break up Team 10 whatsoever.

The reassurance of the safety of the team brought his hope up a bit, but the mood was thoroughly killed. Naruto shoved his hands into his pants pockets and started to wander home, "I'll see you guys later alright? I need to go home and get my head bitten off by my landlord for not having the rent for so long. Maybe I can work something out."

Shikamaru palmed his face and sighed, "Great… me and my big mouth. Way to kill the feel-good Shikamaru."

"I don't think teams get broken up like that."

They all turned to see Kabuto standing there with a small smile on his face, "I mean your entire cell advanced. There's no way a combination like that will get broken up. I think your team is fine Shikamaru. And I believe they'll keep the ones of you that got promoted on your teams as well so that you can get some experience leading a team you know something about. They might make it so that you have to do missions with others so you get more experience, but you should be fine really."

Sakura felt relief at hearing that Sasuke wouldn't be plucked off of the team just like that. Not now when she was actually starting to improve herself, "Thank you for that Kabuto-san… but what are you doing here?" What would a 19 year old genin want to do hanging out with them?

"Well…" Kabuto seemed rather embarrassed at first before looking down sadly, "Aside from my team I don't really have any close friends. They either got promoted or quit or just fell out of contact. I like you guys… and if it's not too lame I was just wondering if I wouldn't be a third wheel or anything, well technically a tenth wheel in this case."

The guy had just watched his team die. Even if it was rather weird hearing that he didn't have a problem with twelve and thirteen year olds, there was still something rather sad about the lack of promotion for him and the loss of his entire squad. Pity was what they felt for the long-standing genin.

"We do not have a problem at all Kabuto-san." Lee said, giving him an exuberant pat on the back, "Feel free to join our most youthful tales of the chunin exam!"

Kabuto's face seemed to light up, brightening his previously dour mood, "Thank you. And I've got a few on that front… I've done I eight times after all." He said as he fell in step with the group, looking for a place to eat at Chouji's behest and their agreement. Eventually Kabuto made his way close enough to Sasuke to speak, "So chunin as a rookie huh? It's supposed to get more dangerous from here on out you know."

Sasuke spared him a glance before looking at his flak jacket and shrugging almost unnoticeably, "I know. But I'm sure I can handle it."

"I'm sure you can too Sasuke-kun." Kabuto said with a satisfied feeling in the back of his mind, "Everyone's watching you now."

XxX

Naruto wound up walking home after fifteen minutes of being greeted by almost everyone that got close to him on the street. Even the people that didn't talk to him were looking at him, something they had gone out of their way to not do before then. When they did look at him before then it was just to glare or sneer at him. His stomach fluttered all the way home. The people on the street had never seemed so nice before.

As he arrived to his home though he saw Jiraiya standing in front of his door speaking to a man dressed in a very ornate and well-to-do looking kimono, "So you will inform him of what I told you will you not Jiraiya-sama?"

"Yeah of course." Jiraiya said, waving off the concern of the high-class looking man, "When I see the kid he'll know right then and there. The message is secure with me. Now didn't you have somewhere else to be before sundown.

"Oh yes!" The noble-looking man said before hurriedly walking away, "I still have to deliver this message as well to someone else. The boy's teammate as a matter of fact." The man finished with a foppish laugh, "Thank you for the assistance Jiraiya-sama." As he left and went down the stairs he passed a large potted plant that he didn't remember being there, but he was too busy to really pay attention or care.

Once he left though, the plant turned into Naruto in a puff of smoke as he walked his way to his apartment door where Jiraiya was, "What are you doing here Ero-sensei, and what was that weird guy here to say to me?"

Jiraiya planted a hand on Naruto's shoulder as he looked down at him, "We'll get to that later, but for now how about you and I celebrate your new promotion kid? You definitely did me proud out there for certain. How about I take you to grab some ramen before the sun goes down?"

Naruto still wanted to know what the strange man had come to his house for, but for now he hadn't partaken in any ramen for over a week and a half and he was ready for the biggest bowl they had… or three, "Yeah, sure. Absolutely Ero-sensei, let's go."

Hey You're Not a Genius. Who Cares? Read This and You Won't Suck at Fuunjutsu (by Jiraiya)

Mind without borders

Stimulate your mind. Expand your horizons. Half of sealing is using your imagination to think of something new you can bind away just for kicks. There's nothing wrong with trying new things… do whatever you'd like as long as it doesn't hurt anyone, and even if it does it's easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission so grow some stones and jump in the deep end once in a while. You might be pleasantly surprised by what the world can bring you.

Or then maybe you might not be, and you might see that the world is an ugly place where terrible things happen to undeserving people for no relatively proper reason at all. Either way, you need to see and realize that too. Just reading about it won't do a thing for you so don't sit there and expect me to put it into legible words for you to attempt to grasp. The world is bigger than what you see every day at the edge of your village. You know that, but if you're young then you really don't know that. You think you know, but you don't really know.

Get yourself some experience and a promotion and you'll see soon. Trust me. And if there's a war going on where you are when you read this you probably already know this and you don't need me to tell you a thing.

Either way the more you see and do, the further you'll grow. There's a joke in there somewhere but damn it I don't feel like going there today…

…And yes, that's what she said.

I couldn't help myself. I'm very disappointed with my endurance.

And that's also what she said.