Right, so this is a Deidara/Naruto NON-YAOI fanfic.

If Naruto belonged to me
Sakura would never have existed and the Akatsuki would be alive and the good
guys. Sense this is clearly not the case Naruto still belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

Translations for dummies;

Konohagakure- konoha (I think ¬_¬)

Clay Fox is sadly not my creation but Abarat

Fox’s the original can be found at;

Naruto awoke in a dark alleyway. He stared up at the starry sky as best he could through
his swollen eyes. The drunken villager's beating had been particularly bad this time, if
Naruto had been a human it would have taken him days to be able to even move.
However, Naruto was not a human. He rolled onto his stomach and slowly got to all fours.
The only reason he could still move was the same reason he had been so mercilessly
beaten. Uzumaki Naruto was the son of the Kyuubi no Yoko, destroyer of Konohagakure.

Naruto hauled himself to his feet with the aid of one of the alley walls. He leaned heavily
on it as he made his pained way towards a side street where he hoped no one would be. It
must be 2-3 o'clock in the morning; most of the drunks passed out before midnight.
Naruto was dimly aware of the streaks of blood he had smeared on the wall and that the
shredded clothes that he clad himself in where now unusable. All he wanted was to go
home and sleep in his own bed. Too bad he would never get to.

Deidara was incredibly board. There was not a single worthwhile art museum/gallery
in all of Konoha. Not only was there nothing to do but he was here with the
Iwagakure academy group. A bunch of shallow, stuck up pricks with absolutely no
interest in art. No interest what so ever. Hello Deidara, welcome to living hell. Ugh,
why hadn't he stayed home?

His roommates had started a wrestling match in the middle of the hotel floor. Deidara
promptly lost all interest in the little sculpture in his hands. He put on his thick gloves,
stood up from his bed, and leapt easily over the buffoons that were trying to smother each
other with pillows. He exited the room as quietly as possible; with any luck he would his
roommates wouldn't have noticed him leave. They didn't. Freedom at last! Deidara snuck
down a flight of stairs and out the front door without a single chaperone being any wiser.

Deidara grinned and broke into a run. He was positive that he would be able to find
something artistic without all the dunderheads he had the misfortune of travelling with.
Deidara rounded a corner and almost trampled a small, blonde child.

Naruto couldn't believe it. He stared at the ruins of the place that had once been his
home from across the street. Shattered windows, the door ripped off its hinges, his
worldly belonging a small pile of ash in the middle of the street. Naruto bit back tears.
GET OUT DEMON! Had been painted in black across the front of his house. Naruto
didn't even notice as a much larger boy charged around the corner and almost
bulldozed into him.

"Whoa, kid! What are you doing out of bed at this hour, un?" Naruto whipped his head
around and at the same time leaped back. He did not want to be beaten again. Then his
jaw dropped. The person he was staring at looked as if he could have been Naruto's
brother. His hair, eyes, and skin tone was almost identical to the fox child's. Only his hair
was a bit long and he had no whisker marks. Deidara, on the other hand, was wondering
how this child had managed to get himself so mangled.
"A-are you lost kid? Do you need help, un?" Naruto stared, mystified, into Deidara's kind
eyes. Why was someone being nice to him? Deidara thought that he had frightened the
child. "What's your name?"

"U-u-uz-u-Uzumaki!"

"Hello Uzu-kun. I'm Deidara, un." Uzu Uzumaki? Now that was an unusual name. Deidara
crouched down so he could look Naruto in the eyes. "Are you lost Uzu-kun?" He said as
kindly as he could. He didn't want to deal with a sobbing child and he could not in good
conscience leave him either.

Naruto shook his head and blushed. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto." Deidara's cheeks flushed
slightly as he realized his mistake.

"Are you lost, un?" Deidara pressed. Naruto shook his head. "Do you need help getting
home?"

"I can't go back home. I'm not wanted." Deidara started slightly. This kid-Naruto-couldn't
be much older than five, was he a run away? That might explain the wounds.

"Did you run away, un? I can help you if you need it." Deidara knew perfectly well what
abusive parents were like. "Where do you live, un?" Naruto pointed, slowly and reluctantly,
to his house. Deidara was horrified. Who would treat a child like that? He looked back to
Naruto for an explication,

"My father he-um-well, h-he was-"

"It's okay, Uzumaki-kun, you don't have to tell me, un." Deidara smiled. Outwardly he was
completely calm but inwardly he was seething. They where tormenting Naruto based on
what his father had done? Well it was clear that Konoha was unsuitable for children.
Deidaras next words came unbidden and surprised even Deidara himself, "Uzumaki-kun,
would you like to come stay with me at Iwagakure, un? No one would treat you like that."
He gestured at Naruto's ruined home.

Naruto's eyes where brimming with tears of joy. "I-if it is okay Deidara-sama."

"Of corse." Deidara straightened up and held out his hand. "Let's go, Uzumaki-kun, un."
Naruto took his hand and together they walked back to the hotel Deidara had fled from
only minutes earlier. They walked in silence. One was to overcome with joy to speak, the
other wondering just how he would manage a five year old kid when he himself was only
seven.

"Deidara-sama?"

"Un?"

"Can you call me Naruto?"

That had been way more painful than it needed to be. Deidara shut the door to his (and
Naruto's) new hotel room then sank to the floor. He rested his head against the door and
groaned loudly. What had he gotten himself into? Who knew that Naruto was- where was
Naruto? Oh, there he was, asleep on one of the beds. Deidara sat back down though he
couldn't remember standing.

Deidara was planning on leaving for Iwagakure first thing in the morning, before anyone in
Konaha had a chance to wake up and stop them. He needed to pack all his things, find
clothes that would fit Naruto, find supplies for the journey back (he was not going to stick
around for the rest of the academy group.) but before he did anything he needed a break
and some time to think.
 Flashback starts now

Deidara had to practically drag Naruto back to the hotel. It seemed that the kid had been
barely standing when Deidara had found him. He was also way lighter than he looked; did
he ever eat? Didn't anyone ever bother to make sure Naruto wasn't starving? How could
anyone expect such a young child to fend for himself? Deidara put one of Naruto's arms
over his shoulders to help the kid stand.

"Do you need me to carry you, un?"

"I'm okay Deidara-sama!" Naruto grinned. Then his knees buckled and he started to fall
forward. Deidara only just managed to save him from face planting the sidewalk. Both
Deidara and Naruto sank to the ground.

"Grab my neck, will you, un?"

"B-but I'm fi-"

"I know, Naruto-kun, but this way we can move more quickly and more sneakily. Like
grown-up ninja, un." Naruto's eyes glazed over as he fantasized about being a big ninja
that could defeat even that jerk Sasuke. Without anymore protest he wrapped his arms
around Deidara's neck and locked his knees around the older blonde's waist so he was
riding piggybacked.

Deidara stood and began a slow jog towards the hotel, careful not to jostle Naruto too
much. For someone so light this kid was really heavy. He stumbled a few times but
managed to stay upright. For some reason Deidara didn't want Naruto to know that he was
having trouble carrying him.

Naruto was having the time of his life. No one had ever been as nice to him as Deidara-
sama was. Not even gramps! And not only was Deidara nice but he would let Naruto live
with him! But where did Deidara live? His accent was so strange and comforting… Naruto
wondered if Deidara-sama would be angry if Naruto started saying 'un' too. Oh well,
Naruto buried his head into the other's hair and began to doze.

Deidara glanced around the lobby and was relieved to see no one he knew. As quickly as
he could he moved across the lobby and up the flight of stairs that led to his room,
pausing only to readjust Naruto. The kid had apparently fallen asleep. 'I'm okay' he had
said. Yeah, right.

Deidara nearly sighed with relief when he got to the room. He could put Naruto to bed and
get back to work on his sculptures. He reached out a hand to open the door when
suddenly- THUNK THUMP DUM-BUM "CHEATER!" THUMP "LIAR!" CRASH TU-TUMP "GO TO
HELL YOU-"Deidara turned and ran back to the lobby. He had forgotten about his idiot
roommates, apparently their wrestling match had escalated.

Luckily Naruto was still asleep. Deidara didn't want to explain what all the curse words he
had overheard meant. Well, nothing for it. Deidara would have to check out a new room.
He started to walk towards the front desk; wondering if he could afford a room.

"Deidara-kun? Why are you up?" Oh, crap.

"Um, hi Bovra-sensei, un. I was just… ah… well." Deidara faltered slightly. Although he
would never admit it, the huge, blue haired Bovra had always scared him a little.
"Is that a child?" Deidara gulped. What would happen? It's not like Deidara could just put
Naruto back like a lost puppy. But to his surprise Bovra just stroked his chin thoughtfully.
"He looks a bit like you. Is he your brother?" SCORE! Bovra was a bit like a burnt
marshmallow; scary looking on the outside but warm and gooey on the inside. Not to
mention completely brainless.

"Yes, actually. This is my younger brother, un. He was sent here when we where little and
so I came to get him back. I'm down here because our roommates where keeping him up
so I thought I would get us a new room, un."

"Jolly good! But how will you pay for it?" Bovra's eyes twinkled as he looked at the
'brothers'. "Tell you what; I'll pay for your room." Bovra smiled warmly and steered the
boys to the front desk, chatting excitedly all the way. Deidara didn't know if he should feel
relived or irritated, so he settled for confused.

The woman at the front desk was writing in some sort of memo and Bovra was perfectly
delighted to continue his ramblings. Something about growing chickpeas and ivory
(Deidara had no idea how the two correlated). As politely as he could, Deidara rang the
little bell. Both adults, however, ignored it. With mounting irritation, Deidara rang it again
and again and again.

The little red-head woman glowered at him and said, "Can I help you?" In a tone that
would freeze lava. Bovra didn't seem to notice the 'I'll kill you' aura radiating off her.

"Hello! I wanted to check out a room for two, please." The woman began to angrily jot
something in her memo. Bovra went back to his ramblings, "…Wonderful? I had no idea
that Deidara-kun had a brother…magical…they just look so happy." Was all Deidara heard.

The angry woman dropped a white card onto the counter. "You're in 2-0-Oh!" She shrieked
and stood up.

"200? Okay Deida-"

"The yoko brat! They said they killed him!" Naruto shifted slightly and murmured
something in his sleep. Wait, yoko? As in a fox demon? What was this lady talking about?
Deidara glanced over his shoulder at the sleeping Naruto. Was she calling Naruto a yoko?

Bovra looked concerned. "Err, Miss? Are you alright?" The woman screeched slightly and
keeled over in a dead faint. "Miss? Are you alright?" He vaulted over the counter and
began to fan the lady.

Deidara dropped his old card, grabbed the new one, read the little room number printed on
it, and ran up the stairs as quickly as he could. That front-desk lady was crazy. But what if
there had been some truth in what she had said? Deidara unlocked and kicked open the
door then deposited Naruto on the nearest bed.

"Mmm, what?" He glanced around blearily and yawned. Deidara sat down next to him and
smiled.

"Hello, Naruto-kun." He needed to know now. "Can I ask you a question, un?"

"H-hai, Deidara-Sempai!"

Don't be frank, do not be frank, "Are you a yoko?" Damn. Naruto's eyes stretched wide
and his lower lip started to tremble slightly. "Um, uh, I mean, un" Say something
Deidara! He berated himself mentally. Naruto was staring at the floor, his face pained.
Without thinking about it, Deidara put an arm over Naruto's shoulders. Then he hugged
the child. "I'm not angry, Naruto-Kun, un. I just need to know." Naruto nodded as best he
could.

"Yes." He whispered. "T-that's why everyone hates me."

"Well I don't hate you." Naruto's head shot up. "And you can still live with me if that's
what you want."

"I do!"

"Good." Deidara let go of Naruto and hopped off the bed. "Well I'm going to go get some
food. You wanna come, un?" Naruto shook his head. "Do you want me to bring you
something back? " Naruto shook his head again. Regardless of what Naruto said, Deidara
would bring something back. "Alright, try to get some sleep now."

Flashback Ends Now

Naruto twitched into wakefulness. He didn't want to wake up; the bed was so warm and
soft. He had such a good dream… Reluctantly he opened his eyes to see a ceiling that
wasn't his. Naruto sat up as if he had received an electrical shock. The window to his right
was too large to be his and the furniture was far to lavishing to belong to him. "What's
going on?" he wondered out loud.

"Shut up, un." Someone to his right grumbled. "I'm sleeping." Naruto shook his head to
clear it, was he still dreaming? No, he was defiantly awake and that was defiantly Deidara
leaning against the door with an enormous Thanks' for Coming! take-out bag next to him.
Naruto lay back down and tried to keep tears of joy from falling.

BAM! Someone slammed into the door and startled Deidara into awareness. "What the hel-
un, heck was that?" BAM, BAM, BAM the knocking continued.

"Deidara-kun? Naruto-Kun?" Bovra called. Deidara got to his feet to open the door. That
was when he noticed the window letting in the late morning sunlight. Late
afternoon? Deidara groaned inwardly to himself as he let his sensei in. He had meant for
Naruto and Himself to be well away by now; what kind of worthless ninja was he? Ninjas
where never late!

Bovra threw the door open and walked in. Naruto shied away from the massive man, until
he noticed the friendly smile and deep laughter lines on his face. "Good! I thought the two
of you had left already! The girl at the front won't talk to me." He looked slightly
downtrodden at he said the last part but he perked up right away as he continued. "And I
don't want to keep you so here-"He handed Deidara his backpack, "Now then, I have a
tour to run. See you at home m' boys!"

Bovra turned on his heel and left, leaving both boys feeling very confused. Deidara's bag
seemed to have grown dramatically so he set it on a bed and began to rifle trough it.
Clothes for both of them, Deidara's clay, food, money, ninja weapons, Bovra had thought
of everything! He pulled out a small set of clothes and handed then to Naruto.

"Um, Deidara-sama, what's going on?"

"Well, Naruto-kun, as soon as you're ready we can leave for home." Naruto looked
stunned. Then he grinned at Deidara.

"Hai!"
This was disconcerting. Apparently Bovra had decided that as 'brothers' Deidara and
Naruto needed to look alike. And on that note he had somehow managed to get all of
Naruto's clothes to match Deidara's so that now both boys where dressed in black pants
ninja-fish net shirts (with Iwa's symbols embroidered on the back). Naruto had even
attempted to flatten his hair so that he would look a bit more like the older boy. The only
difference between their outfits was that Deidara still had his gloves on. To Deidara, it was
like having a tiny clone following him and it was starting to creep him out a little.

"Alright so," Deidara laid a map on one of the beds and gestured for Naruto to come over.
"Here we are in Konohagakure. The fastest way to Iwagakure is to head straight across
Grass Country and into Stone Country, un." Deidara traced the route with a finger.

"You're from Iwa?"

"Um, yeah, un." Had Naruto been planning to follow him anywhere? "It takes about two
days at a full out run so if we include breaks for food and rest I'd say about four days, un.
You ready to go?"

"Hai!"

"Any last goodbyes, un?" Naruto shook his head. "Then let's go." Deidara would be
carrying his backpack which contained most of their supplies but he let Naruto carry the
take out bag; more to help boost Naruto's miniscule ego than because it was heavy. Sure
enough, Naruto was practically bursting with pride to be given such an important task.

Under the pretence of acting like ninja, Deidara and Naruto snuck out through their
window and down a pine tree so that they could avoid the psychopath at the front desk.
Deidara still had the cardkey but he didn't really feel like giving it back. It was sort of like
a mini act of spite for the trouble she had given them the night before… and for the
cockroaches in the bathroom.

Naruto was nervous to be walking out in public with all the villagers glowering at him
so he kept close to Deidara. Fortunately, none of the ones that had beaten Naruto
seemed to be out; they were most likely in bed with hangovers. Naruto did see some
of his friends. He waved at Sakura and Ino and they smiled back before their parents
hurried them off. Hinata was out with her cousin (Neji wasn't it?) and uncle and the
two younger Hyugas said 'hi' to him. Choji and Shino were having an argument but
managed to nod at him before continuing their debate. Naruto kept up with Deidara
until they passed a group of his closest friends.

"Naruto!" Kiba shouted.

"Hi." Shikumaru grumbled.

"Sup, Dobe?"

"Sasuke" Itachi warned. "Hello, Naruto, how are you?" Deidara stopped and stood to one
side as Naruto greeted his friends.

"Dobe, why are you wearing Iwa's symbol?"

"Sasuke! Be polite!"

"That's actually a good question."

"Yeah! What the heck are you doin' that for?" The tree of them had made a semi-circle
around him. Itachi had somehow ended up standing next to Deidara but both of them
where paying more attention to the younger boys than to each other.

"Um, actually I am leaving for Iwagakure."

"EH? What? When? Why?" All three of them said it but Kiba's voice drowned out the
others. After all, Kiba was his best friend.

"Now."

"Y-you can't leave! People here care about you!" Deidara snorted and Itachi shot him a
sideways glance. "You don't know anyone in Iwa!" Kiba was almost in tears.

"Sorry, Kiba! I'm leaving now with Deidara-sama!"

"Who?" Sasuke and Shikumaru said at the same time. Itachi shot another glance at
Deidara.

"Y-you need to pack right? I could help!"

"I'm all packed. I'm leaving now. For good." Kiba bit his lower lip to stop it from trembling.
"You could visit me sometimes! All of you could! And we could write!"

"Dobe-"

"Sasuke!"

"None of us can read or write." Shikumaru grumbled, sounding more abysmal than ever.

"They can." Naruto pointed at Itachi and Deidara. "We could have them write for us then
read the letters."

"She is Deidara?"

"Um, Dei-"

"I'M A MAN GODDAM-DARN IT, UN!" Pedestrians glowered at Deidara for his outburst.
Itachi frowned at him. Naruto had to promise several times to write as soon as he got to
Iwa and hug everyone multiple times before they would let him leave. At that point Kiba
was bawling openly and Shikumaru and Sasuke suddenly got sand in their eyes. Deidara
pretended to not notice Naruto wiping his eyes as they walked away.

Naruto continued to cling to Deidara as they neared the entrance/exit of Konoha. They
were getting a lot of attention. People whispered loudly as they passed, Deidara only
caught fragments.

"Does he know?" "Yoko brat." "How dare he show his face here?" "In broad daylight." "Is
the older one a demon too?" "must be" "The nerve!" "Stupid Kitsune." "deserves to die" "I
wish he would leave." Don't worry Deidara thought, if I have a say in it none of you will
ever be able to hurt him again.

Naruto flinched as they insulted him and he cringed under their glares. Deidara walked
protectively in front of Naruto and glared back at the villagers in the way that only children
and cats can do properly. Just let them try anything; Deidara would kick their asses.
Slowly the crowds began to thin and after a while they were alone and at the gates.
Without a word or backwards glance, Naruto and Deidara left Konohagakure.

Kitsune is an animal supposed to be mysterious, fascinating, and mischevious. And he is

believed to be very grateful for the kindness done to him, as seen in many tales, and is
also affectionate as revealed in some dramas. He is enshrined as a god because of his
supernatural power. He is endowed with the subtle art of metamorphosis, and he is able to
bewitch men in the guise of a charming girl. An exceedingly interesting and entertaining
beast Kitsune is.'

It was the third day since they had left Konoha and they were now in a bed and
breakfast a little ways into the Rock Country. If they kept up their pace they should be
in Iwagakure by sometime tomorrow afternoon. Although, Deidara reflected, the pace
he had set might be a little too harsh. The past few nights it was all Naruto could do to
just kick off his shoes before collapsing in bed. Deidara did feel a little guilty about
that. But he had told Naruto it would take only four days…

The woman who owned their bed and breakfast had been kind and very old, and was
apparently a retired Iwa ninja too if her headband was anything to go by. She had
somehow become convinced that Deidara and Naruto were her great-grandchildren. Or,
more specifically that Deidara was.

"My Husband, your great-grandfather, and our son both died so long ago." She had told
him, "His oldest daughter was a bad egg, but I'm sure you knew that being raised by her.
The younger one ran away after her parents died, poor thing, I don't know what happened
to her. Anyway, your Mother, she married a man worse than she was. He called her his
'little whore' and sometimes he had her go sell herself when he was short on booze
money." She made a disgusted face. "You would have liked your grandfather; it's so
strange to call my son that, he looked just like you. Ha! But it was my husband that said
'un' after everything. Though you get the bloodline from me!" Deidara didn't know what to
say, her story of his parents where disturbingly close to how they actually where.

She had made them a huge meal of roasted potatoes, corn chowder, pulled pork, deviled
eggs, and chocolate pie. Naruto had loved the attention she gave him and she was
constantly dotting on him. She taught him how to get a spoon to stick to his nose and in
returned he untangled a basket of yarn a kitten had discovered ages ago. She showed
Deidara her collection of art books and he spent dinner with his nose buried in a copy of
Pictorial Press.

After dinner the trio settled down in her cluttered living room. She gave Naruto a plushy
fox and a glass of milk and then read him a bedtime story while he curled up in front of
her hearth; as soon as she finished he dozed off and had to be carried to his bed (by
Deidara). When he returned she was flipping through an old photo album.

"It's remarkable." She said without glancing up, "How young people always feel as if they
were so old but it's not until you are very old that you realize how short people's lives are."
Deidara watched her flip through her cracking book until she said, "Call me Granny."

"Um, I'm going to bed now Granny, un."

"Take off your gloves once in a while. Your hands would thank you for it." She smiled at
him "Goodnight Deidara-chan."

Naruto had found heaven on earth. He felt, for the first time in his life, loved. There
was Deidara who would beat up anyone that tried to hurt him and there was Granny
who had read him a story and given him a fox toy. As far as he was concerned, he had
everything he would ever need to be happy. Naruto snuggled into his blankets and
was soon sound asleep.
Deidara woke up when he rolled out of his bed and smacked his head against the
bedside table. He grabbed his head and swore loudly. Who the hell had thought it was
a good idea to put a wooden corner monster deathtrap next to a bed? When his eyes
stopped flashing colors, Deidara stood and slung his backpack over his shoulder. Oh
what a wonderful way to start the day.

"Hey, Naruto-kun! Wake up, un!" he called to the door to Naruto's room. No response. "Oi!
Naruto-kun!" he knocked on the door and it swung open. Inside there was a neatly done
bed and a nightstand with a lamp; Naruto was now where in sight.

"Deidara-sama! We're down here!" The comment was followed by loud giggling. Deidara
found them in the kitchen, covered from head to foot in flour with raw eggs in their hair
and syrup on their fingers. It looked like the entire kitchen had been mauled by the great
pancake monster.

"Deidara-sama!" Naruto locked him in a floury hug. "We made pancakes!"

"Yes, I can see that, un." Granny handed him a plate of the syrup-sodden mess. "It-err-it
looks delicious, un!" Deidara managed to force down a few bites while Naruto beamed at
him. "Um, Naruto-kun. Why don't you get cleaned up so we can leave for Iwa?"

"Hai!" Naruto ran up the stairs to the bathroom.

"So, how much do I owe you, un?"

"Nothing, of course!" She looked offended. "What kind of woman would I be if I made
family pay for staying at my house?" She handed Deidara a plate of sausage links which he
dutifully began to munch.

Naruto scrubbed out his hair under the sink and got most of the flour off his clothes
with a damp towel. That should be good enough. He grinned at himself in the mirror;
Konoha already felt like a distant memory. Even the marks from the villagers' last
beating had faded into small, discolored marks. By tomorrow they would be
completely gone. Somewhere in the back off his mind, Naruto knew the villagers had
meant to kill him. He also knew that if he had stayed they would have made positive
that they did next time. But now he had Deidara and Deidara would keep him safe.

Naruto ran back downstairs only to find that Deidara had gone outside.

"Come on Naruto-chan, I'll walk out with you." Granny rasped and held out her hand.
Happily, Naruto took it and together they walked outside where Deidara was waiting.
Granny patted Naruto's shoulder and he ran over to Deidara. "Come again sometimes!"
Granny waved.

Naruto waved one of King's (the toy fox) paws back and Deidara waved a hand over his
shoulder. Naruto continued to watch Granny wave as they walked away.

"Deidara-sama." He tugged on the older boy's shirt.

"Un?"
"Granny's hand is smiling." Deidara looked back and saw that a wrinkle on the old
woman's hand had split and grinning like a Cheshire cat. 'Take off your gloves once in
a while. Your hands would thank you for it' Deidara turned around and continued to
walk.

"That's Iwagakure." Deidara pointed down the bowl-shaped valley to a city of round
buildings and swirling streets. The mid-afternoon light made it gleam golden.

Naruto stared down at the village that was so different from his own in every way.
"Where's your house?"

"You can't see it from here, but it's over there." Deidara pointed towards an indefinable
point in the midst of the sprawl. "And it's our house now. Come on, Naruto-kun." Deidara
smiled and started the walk down into Iwagakure with Naruto trotting after him.

"Itachi! Kisame! Sasori! Leader-sama wants to talk with you!" Tobi pounded on each of
their turns then scampered off to avoid any irritation from his senpais. "And come ready to
leave to! You guys have a mission!" he half sang as he skipped down the hall, waking up
most of the other members in the process.

"GODDAMN IT TOBI, SHUT THE FUCK UP! DO YOU HAVE AND FUCKING IDEA WHAT TIME
IT IS YOU SHITHEAD?"

"CAN IT, HIDAN!"

"DO YOU FUCKING WANNA DIE YOU DUMBASS, KAKUZU?"

"LIKE YOU COULD!"

"BRING IT, BITCH!" Kakuzu and Hidan (both of them had actually been up for hours and
had just been returning from a mission when Tobi passed them) began a full out battle in
the middle of the hallway.

"Stop it, both of you." Itachi ordered. Both paused and scooted of to one side so Sasori,
Itachi, and Kisame could walk by. However, as soon they went around a corner and Hidan
stopped giving them the finger; the immortal duo went back to trying to kill each other.
The other members rolled over in their beds and covered their ears with pillows. Why did
this transaction need to happen at 3AM?

"What is it Leader-sama?" Sasori said in the scratchy voice he always got when in his
scorpion puppet.

"It has come to my attention that since Orochimaru left," his eye flickered momentarily to
Itachi. "That you are now without a partner. Doubtless you are fine without one but I'm
giving you a new one any way."

Please don't say Tobi, please don't say Tobi, Sasori prayed. "His name is Deidara." Thank
God. "He is an Iwa missing-nin and an S-rank criminal for his terrorist bombings."

Itachi was raking his brain. Where had he heard Deidara before? Suddenly he remembered
a scene from long ago; a little blonde boy that had once been a friend of Sasuke and had
suddenly left with a kid from Iwa. He also remembered reading letters, out loud,
addressed to Shikumaru, Kiba, and Sasuke for several years after. He remembered
Deidara; and his perfect, tiny, impossible to read handwriting.

Pain handed Sasori a sheet of paper with Deidara's information. "Says here he's only
fourteen."
"Age is irrelevant, his strength-"

"I better not have to baby-sit the brat."

"As I was saying, you won't have to. He has shown himself to be extraordinarily skilled on
his own; I highly doubt he will rely much on you." Sasori handed off the sheet to Itachi
and continued to protest about getting a brat for a partner.

Itachi glanced down the paper and was slightly disappointed that it didn't mention
Uzumaki Naruto. There was only general information such as age, rank, gender…

"Would you rather I partnered you with Tobi?" Sasori said nothing and Pain smirked
slightly. "Right, Deidara is somewhere in Rock Country! Find him and bring him back! Alive
and with all limbs attached." He glowered at Kisame as he said the last part. "Now GO!"

So you turned out to be a terrorist bomber? Itachi thought, I wonder what happened to
Naruto?

One year earlier

"Are you sure you want to do this, un?"

"Why do you keep asking that? I already said that I-"

"You'll become a missing-min, you know. You'll have to leave Iwa, un. Are you sure-"

"Deidara! Yes! Positive! There is not a single doubt in my mind that this is what I want!"
The two of them where sitting in their shared studio, at the work table. However, they
where not discussing art and all their sketches and projects had been pushed to one side
and maps and plans had been laid across the table in their place.

Deidara fiddled with his headband. "I'm being selfish, un. This isn't fair to you."

"Of course you're being selfish and unfair." Deidara looked crestfallen. "Look, I don't care
about that. I want to help you. We both know that you would do the same for me. Alright,
operation; Steal Kinjutsu, Art of a single moment commence!"

"…Whoa, Naruto, you're such a kid, un."

"Shut up! I'm only eleven! What the hell do you expect?" Deidara snickered and Naruto
tried (and failed) to look angry. "I'll head out now. Meet you at the Maple." To most
people, that comment would have made no since as the forests surrounding Iwa's valleys
where chalk full of all sorts of trees. But the Maple had been a secret meeting spot for the
two of them for years. Coincidentally, the Maple was also an oak tree.

"Okay, un. If all goes well-"

"It will."

"I'll see you shortly after midnight, un." Naruto stood up and hugged Deidara. Then he
turned around and walked out of their house for the last time, both of their backpacks
slung over his shoulder.

"Bye-bye, Dei-chan!"
"Will you please stop calling me that, un?"

Naruto's laughter echoed around the now strangely empty house for a long time after he
had gone.

Deidara stared at the maps and plans he had memorized weeks ago. Then he stared out
the studio window until he thought he would die from anticipation. He had to steal it now.
If he didn't something would go wrong… what if Naruto was discovered leaving packed
with all the supplies two people would need prior to going rouge? No, Naruto was too
clever for that. What if they changed the guards today and their careful plans went to
ruins? No, the plans took that into account; even elite ninja would be woefully unprepared
for what Deidara had in store. What if…

Deidara stood up and began to pace around. It must be time to leave soon. He thought.
He took a deep breath and turned to look at the decrative clock hanging on a tiny patch of
free space on the wall.

"N…no way, un." Deidara was stunned. "IT'S ONLY BEEN TEN MINUTES?"

"Naruto, Naruto." Naruto groaned and shifted to a more comfortable position. "Naruto."

"g…o…a…wa…y" he mumbled.

"Naruto! WAKE UP, UN!" Naruto jolted awake and stared down from the perch he had been
sleeping on.

"Deidara!" he cried out delightedly when he saw the slightly tussled older boy holding a
large yellow and red scroll. Naruto leapt down from the Maple's low branch and scrambled
over to Deidara to lock him in a bear hug.

"You act like you're surprised to see me, un." Deidara said when Naruto let go.

"I was worried!"

"And you showed that by sleeping?" Naruto stuck out his tongue and handed Deidara his
bag.

"So…"

"Now we go to Granny's house and lie low for a bit. We covered this already, un."

"I knew that! It's just…" Naruto stared in the direction of the village with sad eyes. Deidara
almost regretted stealing the scroll.

"You can still go back. You didn't steal the scroll."

"I'm not going back." He said it so passionately that Deidara half thought he had imagined
the sorrow in Naruto's eyes. Then he grinned, "Let's go to Granny's. I need to give King
back to her anyway." Naruto turned and walked away, deeper into the forests he now
knew by heart. Deidara hesitated as he was almost overcome by a wave of regret. Then he
sighed and followed the Kitsune whose life he had saved six years ago.

It was dangerous to be in Iwa. In truth, it was dangerous to be anywhere in Rock Country.

But no matter where Naruto and Deidara had traveled in the past year, they always
missed the great forests and twirling rock formations of Rock Country as well as the
artistic design of Iwagakaru. Deidara missed it more so than Naruto. He missed their three
story house and its too-small-for-training-backyard, he missed living a short day's walk
from Granny, and more than anything else he missed the feeling that Naruto (and to some
extent, himself) was safe. Naruto felt none of Deidara's private desires; he was happy that
he had chosen to leave Iwa and any longing he felt for Rock Country came only from
missing his childhood home.

So, without really planning on it, the two of them had wandered into a small village a little
ways into Rock Country border from the Waterfall Country. They had halfheartedly argued
to each other about who had misread the map and what they would do if they were caught
but both could barely keep themselves from running off to explore. Neither were terribly
worried about being caught either, the last years had changed their appearance enough to
make it hard to recognize them on site; or so they told themselves.

"I'm going to-"

"Look at the art museum, I know, I know. I'm going to-"

"Get more food, un. I know. I'll meet you in an hour at, um…."

"That pavilion?" Naruto pointed to a green and white building perched on a seemingly
random hill overlooking the village.

"Sure." Naruto grinned and took off toward the delicious smells of frying foods and Raman
noodles. Deidara sighed; no matter what he did Naruto point blank refused to switch to a
healthier diet. Deidara wasn't even sure how Naruto managed to pay for all the food he ate
because he had never once asked Deidara if he could borrow some money. Oh well, it's
not like Deidara had exactly set him a good example, whatever he did. Deidara sighed
again then headed off to the museum.

Itachi, Kisame, and Sasori had been searching for at least a month, maybe two. Sasori
was impatient, Kisame was board, and Itachi was getting sick of dealing with them both.
This Deidara kid was almost impossible to track. He seemed to wander around completely
at random and every time Itachi found a pattern in his movements he would break the
pattern with seemingly no rhyme or reason. Not to mention all the false trails and chakra
activated traps everywhere. If what Itachi remembered of Uzumaki Naruto was correct,
and of course it was, the child had loved pulling pranks and most of the traps seemed like
they were dreamed up by an experienced prankster.

Itachi doubted that they knew the Akatsuki was after them, they probably had been
setting up these precautions since they had first left Iwa. Although Itachi doubted that any
tracker, no matter how devoted, would keep up this ludicrous pursuit for an entire year. Of
course he used the word 'they' assuming Naruto was still with Deidara.

Anyway, the trail of the missing-nin had lead them in a huge circle from their base in
Waterfall to Fire then Tea, Wind, Bird, Fire, Sound, Lightning, Fire, Rain, Grass, and finally
back into Rock barely 20 miles away from Waterfall and in a tiny, practically no-name
town. The three Akatsuki members had managed to scrounge up varying degrees of
respect for the young Deidara. Sasori had even stopped complaining about having to baby-
sit his partner; no it was just his 'Damn too troublesome little brat for a partner.' Itachi
assumed this meant he had warmed up slightly to Deidara without actually meeting him.

The three of them walked through town in hopes of spotting some clue as to their quarry's
location.

"Woo-hoo! Won again!" someone shouted from the interior of a dimly lit store called the
Gilded Casino. Sasori and Kisame continued to walk but Itachi slowed down slightly; that
voice had been familiar. He gave a sidewise glance at the store and saw a young Iwa-ninja
holding a frog wallet under the money dispenser of a slot machine and laughing like a
lunatic. The boy was around twelve with close-cut blonde hair and huge blue eyes. He had
his forehead protector in standard position and he wore a black muscle shirt, black ninja
shoes, black fingerless gloves, and bright orange pants like a fireman's or an astronaut's.
But the feature Itachi paid the most attention too was the three whisker marks on either
cheek.

Uzumaki Naruto was here. Itachi sped up again and didn't glance at the casino again. After
a short while he said. "He's here." Kisame believed him instantly and Sasori seemed
content to listen to him. "We should get to an advantage point then survey the area."

"How about that pavilion, Itachi-san?" Kisame pointed to a green and white building
overlooking the village. The same one Naruto had pointed to not long before. Wordlessly,
the trio started the trek to the building, unaware that their prey would soon be walking
straight into their hands.

Naruto and Deidara met at the base of the hill by accident. They surveyed each other in
silence then they both turned to the pavilion. After a few seconds pause they bolted up the
hill.

"You're going down!" One of them (or both) shouted as they sped up into a full sprint. The
two of them got along well and where rarely competitive; except when they were racing.
Running was the only thing they were equally good at and they honestly wanted to know
who was faster. No dirty tricks or exploding clay was ever used.

About halfway up the hill, Deidara stumbled on a rock and Naruto zoomed ahead and
made it to the top in record time. He stood in front of the door less pavilion entrance and
shouted, "Ha! I beat you!" down to Deidara.

"Shut up, un! I tripped!"

"So not only am I faster but I'm a better ninja too?" Deidara was now standing by Naruto
and shot him his beast glare.

"Hello, Deidara-san." A deep voice said from inside the building. The blondes whipped
around to stare into the gloom at the three figures. Naruto grabbed a kunai and Deidara
stuck his hands into the pre-made clay bags at his sides. If someone in Rock Country
recognized Deidara then they could be in serious trouble.

"Who are you?" Naruto challenged. He could see fairly well in the dark and he didn't like
what he saw. One figure was bulky and hunched over; as if under a heavy burden, another
was tall with a massive sword slung over his shoulder like it was a sack of potatoes, and
the third (the middle one and the speaker) was small and weaker looking but his eyes
were glowing red. All of them had ninja forehead protectors but Naruto couldn't make out
the village symbol. "Ninja" he hissed to Deidara.

"Hiya!" Said the big sword dude, "I'm Kisame! That guy is Sasori-san," he gestured at the
slouching man, "And this guy is-"

"I am Uchiha Itachi." Said the middle figure. The name stirred up a distant memory for
Naruto; a dark blur of pain and hatred that had been his life before he met Deidara. But he
could not place the name. However, Deidara remembered Itachi. He had been the brother
of one of Naruto's best friends in Konoha. Itachi of the sloppy, jagged, impossible-to-read
handwriting. Why was he here?
"We want to recruit you to the Akatsuki." Itachi said as if he had read Deidara's mind.

"What?" Deidara and Naruto asked.

"Feh, do I really get this brat for a partner?" Sasori grumbled but everyone ignored him.

"The Akatsuki is an organization of S-rank criminals from around the world. A member
recently left and we want you to replace him." Itachi explained.

"No way."

"You don't get a choice." Kisame grinned and raised his sword. "We could cut off his legs
and-"

"No, we can't. We were explicitly ordered not to do that." Sasori grumbled.

"How about this? We fight; if I win you come with us but if you win we never bother you
again?" Deidara and Itachi stared at each other in silence for a short while.

"Fine. Naruto, stay out of this." Naruto nodded reluctantly and moved out of the way.
Deidara was as stubborn as he himself when it came to fighting.

Deidara removed his hands from the clay at his sides and the mouths spat out twin
centipedes. The little animals launched themselves to the ground and Deidara expanded
them. Itachi's eyes whirled, literally. Naruto had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach;
he knew who would win this fight and he could to nothing. Deidara didn't seem to notice
Kisame's smirk or Naruto's worried face. He sent his insects at Itachi but they stopped feet
away from him. Deidadra's eyes widened as he stared into Itachi's sharingun. Then his
knees buckled and he sank to the ground as the genjutsu broke.

"I win. You will leave with us now, Deidara-san." Naruto ran to Deidara's side and helped
him get to his feet.

"Are we going to run?" He whispered.

Deidara shook his head. "I made a deal and I won't break it" He hissed back. Naruto felt
deflated. They had been captured and the enemy hadn't even broken a sweat.

"What about the littler one? Can I kill him?" Neither of the two blondes had heard them
approach but now both Sasori and Kisame stood over the two of them. Kisame had his big-
ass sword in one hand and was waving it dangerously close to Naruto.

"Try it and I will-"

"What? Fail epically, again?" Kisame smirked.

"Kisame. Do not kill or maim either of them. We will take both of them to the base.
Perhaps Naruto-kun can be Tobi's partner?" Sasori and Kisame both chuckled slightly and
Naruto felt a small stab of fear. What kind of terrifying person was Tobi that the thought of
Naruto being his partner was amusing?

Itachi's eyes were now black but they still seemed to be staring straight into Naruto's soul
when he looked at him. "We will leave now. Try to run and you will die."

Deidara sat on the other side of the campfire with his head hung. Itachi had wisely decided
to stay the night just inside the Waterfall Country border. Presently, it was just him and
the defeated looking Deidara in camp; Sasori was off doing god knows what and Naruto
and Kisame had somehow managed to become friends and were currently 'gathering more
firewood' aka planning elaborate pranks on the other Akatsuki members.

"So…" Itachi attempted to start a conversation rather lamely. Seeing the younger child like
that was starting to creep him out a little.

"How are Sasuke-kun, Kiba-kun, and Shikumaru-kun, un?" Deidara's voice was flat and
hollow.

"Fine, last I saw."

"And Konoha in general, un?"

"Fine…?"

"So now you're part of an organization that wants to bring down Konoha, un. I bet your
clan loved that one when you told them. Oh, right, you killed them all to test your
strength." Deidara snarled slightly and glowered at Itachi. Itachi was slightly relived to see
some light in the blonde's eyes, even if it was rage.

"I had my reasons and the Akatsuki's goals differ from what you think. It's really not so
bad." Deidara snorted at this comment and Itachi arched an eyebrow.

"Is that why you have to force your members to join, un?" Itachi couldn't think of anything
to say to that so the two sat in silence for a while.

"It's safer, you know. We are easier to pick off alone and there are plenty of people eager
to do it. Even S-rank criminals need protection in numbers. Akatsuki is like a mini village.
We all joined for different reasons but we all are glad to have done so in the end."

"Yeah? Well I had a companion and we were fine together, un. We didn't need Akatsuki for
protection. But thanks a lot for forcing us to join your crazy-ass cult and separating us, un.
We are eternally grateful."

"You speak for both Naruto and yourself?" Deidara snorted and turned away, successfully
ending any more conversation.

"Right, then there's Zetsu and he's just a walking plant with split personalities. Any good
ideas for him?"

"Umm…. Ah! How about when he's on a mission we fill his room with dirt and plant flowers
and grass?"

"I think he might enjoy that." Kisame rubbed his chin in thought. "We could chase him
around base with watering cans."

"Nah, that's too boring. Help me out with this, will you?" Naruto struggled to pull a dead
limb off a tree. The two of them where indeed gathering firewood; currently they had a
small truckload of dry, burnable wood but they were having way too much fun to just go
back. Kisame freed the limb with one swipe of Samehada. "Um, how about this Tobi
fellow?"

"What about him?" Naruto had to word this carefully; he needed information about the
man they thought would be a good partner for him.
"How do you think we should prank him?"

"I don't think we need to."

"W-what do you mean?" Naruto was getting nervous. This Tobi must be absolutely
terrifying if even Kisame didn't want to prank him!

Kisame grinned at him like a Cheshire Cat. "I'll let you figure that one out for yourself." He
turned away from the blonde so he wouldn't see him trying not to laugh. "I think we have
plenty of wood now." He said after the urge to laugh had died down. "Let's head back to
camp."

"The Akatsuki base is a cave?" Deidara asked doubtfully. The five of them where standing
before the sealed entrance to the infamous organizations' lair. The two newcomers were
kind of disappointed in what they saw; if the Akatsuki was so wonderful why did the
members live in a cave?

"Stop whining, brat."

"Whatever you say, Sasori-danna." Deidara said 'Danna' as if he couldn't think of anything
more disgusting than the word in existence. Kisame and Naruto, on the other hand, were
speaking excitedly in hushed tones.

"Every member gets their own room and they're pretty big too! We work in two cell groups
and partners have rooms that are either side by side or across from each other."

"Is Tobi-san's room close to Deidara and Sasori-sama's?"

"I dunno were Tobi's room is. But we only have an open room for Deidara; we weren't
planning on getting you too. Maybe Deidara will have to blast you a room somewhere?"
Itachi ignored them all. He stared at the seal on the boulder and waited patiently for
someone to open the door. While he waited he thought about the new members.

Deidara hated him. He had made it perfectly clear that he would love nothing more than a
chance to get back at Itachi for the humiliating recruitment. Itachi would need to keep an
eye on him. As for Naruto, Itachi was a little disappointed that the boy hadn't recognized
him yet; Uchiha wasn't exactly a common name. Although Naruto had been five when they
had last met and was probably suppressing the painful memories about his former village.
Besides, if he did remember he might ask Itachi difficult questions.

"We have a huge kitchen! Everyone likes different foods and we keep it well stalked so no
one goes insane and tries to eat someone else." Kisame continued, positively delighted to
have a captivated audience and he found Naruto's wide-eyed expression hilarious. Even
Deidara and Sasori had stopped sulking and were paying attention to the fox child.

"Eat someone else?"

"Oh, yes. Zetsu loves nothing more than eating people for fun." Kisame sounded positively
gleeful.

"Let's not forget that he could also be sacrificed to Jashin, maimed, have his internal
organs sold on the black market, poisoned, be turned into a puppet…" Sasori listed all the
'death-by's' he could think off. Although normally completely void of all emotions, Sasori
was enjoying Naruto's terror way too much. Even Deidara smirked slightly as Naruto tried
to formulate a good comeback. "Anyone that's too weak to ward off an attack isn't needed
in Akatsuki." Sasori finished.
"B-but I-"

"Door's opening." Itachi brought all of their attention back to the lair. The great bolder
trembled slightly, and then rolled aside as the seal was deactivated from the inside. Itachi
was relieved to see that it was Konan standing in the entrance as she rarely asked
questions. "Hello Konan-san." He greeted her and she smiled in return. She waved one
hand at them to beacon them forward then turned around and walked into the dark
interior of the cave. Naruto and Kisame followed immediately after her but the other three
paused. Deidara was reluctant to enter the cave because it seemed to him that the second
he did so his freedom would end and the other two wanted to make sure he didn't try
anything.

In the end, Deidara entered because Naruto was getting out of his sight. Deidara had
reluctantly come to the conclusion that the Akatsuki wasn't bad for Naruto and by
extension, himself. Hadn't he wished that Naruto could have some friends and training
since they left Iwa? And now that wish had come true in a twisted and bizarre way. Itachi
and Sasori still followed Deidara closely even though he no longer had an opportunity to
escape.

Naruto and Deidara both stumbled slightly on the unfamiliar terrain of the cave when the
sealed door slammed back into place and cast the cave into total darkness. Kisame
grabbed Naruto's upper arm to prevent him from falling but neither Sasori nor Itachi even
attempted to stop Deidara from walking into a wall. Konan giggled as the five scuffled and
protested amongst each other in a very childish manner. Naruto was suddenly glad of the
dark because it masked his blush wonderfully.

"The lights will come on in a second." Her voice sounded like church bells to Naruto's ears
but the others didn't seem to notice anything. "If it helps, you can hold still until they do."
Just as she finished speaking a line of torches along either wall flared into life. They must
have been created using some kind of jutsu because they all burned without an apparent
fuel source and they produced no smoke.

Konan lead them deeper and deeper into the cave; up and down twisting tunnels and
trough doors with seemingly no proposes. "Who made this?" Naruto wondered out loud.

"Dunno, good question though." Kisame stroked his chin while he thought.

"I know." Konan glanced back and smiled again. "This place was once a great ninja village
back before even the current countries existed. It was the first ninja village ever; before
this place existed ninjas existed as roughs and assassins-for-hire."

"Well that's what ninja are now only we're the roughs and the villages are for hire, un."
Deidara grumbled.

"While this village was alive…. It was the most peaceful era of the world" Konan sounded
dreamy.

"What happened then?" Naruto asked.

"Hmm?"

"The village, I mean. What happened?"

"That's one of the answers we're searching for. But it seems likely that there was a word
war and the village was torn in two. The opposing sides abandoned this village and went
around the world. As they moved smaller parties broke off and formed our current ninja
villages."
"And the ones that didn't settle, un?" This time it was Deidara who spoke.

"They faded away and with them the history of this place. The current villages all have this
story but they have become so distorted by region that we don't know what exactly
happened." Naruto and Deidara raked their brains for the ninja origin story they had been
taught in the Iwa academy. Sure enough they both recalled a story very similar to the one
Konan had just told. Only they had heard it as a golden palace in the clouds that had been
torn apart by corrupt demons pretending to be ninja. Konan's version was more believable
and besides, as a kitsune Naruto (and Deidara for different reasons) hadn't been fond of
the whole demon bashing thing.

Konan smiled at them once more then stopped in front of a perfectly ordinary door. She
knocked once then pushed the door and walked in without waiting for a reply. The others
waited for a few seconds before following her; none of them had the privileges that Konan
had. Naruto and Deidara didn't know what to expect the office of an S-rank criminal
organization leader to look like but whatever it was neither had expected what Pein's room
was like.

Loose papers lay randomly around the floor with little origami creatures hiding in and
amongst them, books and scrolls had been cast randomly onto tables or stuffed onto
overflowing shelves, wilted and fresh garlands of daisies were hanging off of coat pegs,
and a woebegone green parrot sat in a corner cage. Deidara half sneered at the man
sitting behind the desk at the far end of the room. So this was the most dangerous
organization in the world? Pathetic!

Naruto was watching the two people standing behind his new leader. On the right, Konan
smiled reassuringly at him and put a hand on Pein's shoulder; the person standing on the
left was tall and dressed in funeral black. Naruto wondered what he was thinking behind
his orange, spiral-mask.

"Ahem." Pein glared at them and the blondes were disconcerted by his pale blue, ripple-
patterned eyes. He shot Itachi, Kisame, and Sasori a look that clearly said Finally! What
the hell took you so long? "I believe I told you to bring Deidara, who is the other one?"

"Uzumaki Naruto." Kisame said.

"And why, pray tell, is he here?"

"He and Deidara-san grew up together and it would have been difficult to bring one
without the other. If we would have killed him Deidara would never had agreed to come
here." Itachi said, "Perhaps he could be Tobi's partner?" The masked man jumped slightly
and looked swiftly to Pein.

"Perhaps…" Pein stared at Naruto briefly before turning his attention to Deidara. "Welcome
to the Akatsuki, Deidara-kun. Here," Pein held out a teal ring and beckoned for Deidara to
take it. "Put this on your right index finger." Naruto noticed that all of the people in the
room, aside from himself and the masked-man, had rings of various colors positioned
somewhere on one of their hands.

"Aoi…?" Deidara read the character on the ring before he slid it onto its designated place.

"You will be given a uniform by Konan then Sasori, as your new partner, will show you
around." Sasori grumbled something unhappily. "But first, please put a scratch through the
Iwa symbol in your headband."

"What? Why, un?" Deidara took a step back from Pein in alarm.
"To show that although your past was in Iwa, you are now loyal to us." Konan looked at
Naruto as well as Deidara as she spoke. Deidara frowned and reluctantly removed his
forehead protector and took out a kunai. He shot a side Naruto a sideways glance before
he slashed through the symbol of his former village.

"Good." Pein leaned back in his chair. "Itachi, Kisame, Sasori, Deidara, Konan; you are
dismissed." Konan smiled at Naruto as she left and Kisame gave him a quick thumbs-up.
Deidara showed no intentions of leaving without Naruto until Sasori threatened to stab him
with his tail. Deidara threw Naruto a desperate glance and then was gone. Naruto was
alone with Pein and the masked-man in an unfamiliar place.

"So, Uzumaki Naruto, I am impressed that you managed to remain unknown to the
Akatsuki… even though the company you keep is rather well known." Naruto said nothing.
"You will excuse me when I say that you cannot join the Akatsuki. We had only one open
seat and your…Aniki?" Naruto shook his head. "Deidara has just filled it. However, you
could become an unofficial member and partner with Tobi." The masked man fidgeted a
little and knitted his fingers together.

"Um… Leader-sama? Who is Tobi?"

"Me, silly." The masked-man said. Naruto felt like the sky had fallen. Where was the
terrifying ninja? Why was this fool claiming to be the great and mysterious Tobi? "You
seem surprised!" Tobi giggled and Naruto quickly shut his mouth.

"I, um, thought…well, I expected… I didn't…."

"You will have plenty of time to discuss things later. For now-"

"Leader-sama!"

"-I think that-"

"LLLEEEAAADDDEEERRRRRR-SAAAAAAAAAAMMAAAAAA!"

"What is it Tobi?"

"Do we get rings and cloaks?"

"No, now may I continue?"

"But Leader-sama! How can we be members-"

"Unofficial members." Naruto interjected helpfully.

"-Without rings and cloaks? Think of poor Naruto-chan!" Tobi hugged Naruto and the
kitsune stiffened. When had Tobi walked over to him? Could he be a better ninja than he
seemed?

"Ask Konan later! Do you mind if I speak now?"

"HAI, LEADER-SAMA! TOBI WON'T MAKE ANOTHER PEEP!" Tobi yelled into Naruto's ear. I
take it back thought Naruto; he's a useless fool and a worse ninja!

"Naruto-san, as you are still young you will be trained here. You will report to me and you
will follow direct orders; but as you are not a complete member you will be given small
leeway. Only you and Tobi may leave base without a mission until I say otherwise.
Understood?"
"Hai, Leader-sama."

"Good. Welcome to the Akatsuki, Naruto-san." Pein and Tobi stared at Naruto as he
withdrew a kunai and, with none of the reluctance Deidara had shown, slashed through the
symbol of Iwa.

Naruto sat down heavily on his bed and rubbed his right shoulder. Tobi had literally
dragged all over the Akatsuki's massive lair in his 'Ultra Super Awesome Tour of
Epicenes!' Good, he didn't dislocate it, Naruto thought. Does he think I can't walk or
something? Why would he drag me everywhere? Naruto rested his head and his hands to
try to clear his thoughts.

Tobi had shown him the kitchen, dining hall, library, training area (an empty, and until this
point unused, cavern), meeting area, and how the front door worked. Then, completely
randomly, he had decided that Naruto needed to see his sketches for what their 'unofficial
member member's uniform' should look like and had dragged him to their accommodations
which were hidden away deep within the maze like village.

Naruto's room had been painted a shocking, almost painful yellow with orange, dark
green, and hot pink polka-dots. There were animal-shaped pillows and brightly colored
blankets everywhere; from the little floor he could see, Naruto believed that it was covered
in a pastel purple plush carpet. There were bookshelves stuffed with random jutsu scrolls
and books ranging from the wonders of Zen Gardening to Common heart disease in the
late 1580's against one wall. There was also a decent sized work bench in the middle of
the room with a very lonely bamboo (Tobi had introduced as Kenji-kun) sitting in a vase
on the center. The bed Naruto was sitting on had a black iron frame and an icy blue
bedspread. Apparently, Tobi had designed it for a future partner a few years back. The
room was the most visually offensive place Naruto had ever seen and he loved it.

"Naruto-chaaaaannnnn!" Tobi barged into Naruto's room without bothering to knock and
plopped down on Naruto's bed. "Looky! I found them!" He produced a comically oversized
binder and wiggled it under Naruto's nose. Then he proceeded to show Naruto every single
one of his 7,659 drawings and explain the pros and cons of each. Much to his surprise,
Naruto greatly enjoyed helping Tobi pick the best ones to talk to Konan about later. Tobi
was an excellent artist and he had clearly put a great amount of effort, more than Naruto
would have ever credited him for, into the assembly of his binder.

They kept at it for a few hours until Tobi bothered to look at the clock (a black disk with a
couple of live lizards instead of hour and minute hands). He leapt from the bed, grabbed
Naruto by his wrist, and charged out the door.

"Ah! Tobi what the, ow, hell?" Naruto stumbled and tried to keep up with Tobi who was,
once again, dragging him.

"We're almost late for dinner!"

"So? Kisame said-ow!- people ate whenever they felt like it!"

"Konan likes throwing Akatsuki-welcome-dinners when we get new members!"

"That's- damn it Tobi, I can walk! - stupid!"

"Do you wanna be the one to tell her that?" Naruto fell silent and continued to try to regain
his footing. "Besides, Konan's such a good cook that no one minds too much." Tobi
snickered and Naruto had a funny feeling Tobi was referencing something else. The two
rounded a sharp corner and entered the dining hall just as Konan hauled in an irate albino
in from the other entrance.
"Oh good, we're all here then." She smiled at Naruto and he looked away before he could
blush. By doing so he noticed Deidara, dressed in Akatsuki robes and sulking, sitting next
to a short red head Naruto hadn't met yet. Tobi steered him into the seat on the other side
of Deidara and then sat himself down next to Naruto.

"Hi Naruto, un."

"Hi Deidara!" Deidara frowned at him and Naruto wondered if he had done something
wrong.

"Why are you so cheery, un? What have you been doing all day?" Naruto shrugged and
started to answer until a hyper active Tobi cut him off.

"Ooh! How about- Maybe he's happy because I'm rubbing off on him!" Naruto and Deidara
suppressed shudders.

"Oh, yeah, 'cause the first thing we need around here is another Tobi." Kisame sat down
across from Naruto and Itachi took the free space across from Deidara (who was still
radiating a pretty powerful 'kill Itachi' aura).

"What's wrong with Tobi?" "Yes, Tobi is a good boy." "Might be tasty too." A giant plant in
Akatsuki robes grumbled from further down the table. From the earlier description Kisame
had given, Naruto guessed that this was Zetsu.

That suspicion was confirmed when Tobi said, "Waah! Please don't eat me Zetsu-san!"
Kisame snickered and the plant muttered something to itself.

"What the fuck is this? I thought we were getting only one goddamn new member!" The
irate albino had been forced into a seat next to Tobi by Konan.

"Introduce yourself, its rude not to." Naruto had a feeling that if anyone but Konan had
suggested that to the albino they would be in major trouble. As it was, he simply glowered
at Konan then began to viciously prod at some spare ribs.

"How much do they eat on average? The cost of food is really high right now… maybe they
could starve for a little bit…" Said a tan man, only slightly smaller than Kisame, from his
seat across from Tobi.

"We aren't starving anyone, Kakuzu." Konan scolded as she took her seat next to Pein and
started to pile food onto his plate.

"Those are the zombie brothers." Kisame explained to the new comers.

"WHOSE A ZOMBIE, BASTARD?" Hidan made and series of rude hand gestures and Kakuzu
waved a fork with liver on the end in halfhearted protest.

"The bad mouth is Hidan and the big one is Kakuzu." Kisame continued as he loaded his
plate with shrimp and crab. With a start, Naruto realized that he himself was being
impolite by not having introduced himself and that Konan might disapprove. He quickly
stood up and bowed.

"I am Uzumaki Naruto, former Iwa ninja and current partner of Tobi." He sunk a quick
glance at Konan and was delighted to see that she was beaming at him.

"Good. Now you introduce yourself, brat." The red head said to Deidara. Naruto stared at
him. The short red head was Sasori? Why was he suddenly so tiny and human looking?
"Go to hell." Deidara started on the bowl of bakudan in front of him and seemed to lose
interest on anyone else. Sasori made a disgusted noise in the back of his throat and
glowered at a plate of roasted peppers.

"You can sit down now, Naruto." Tobi tugged on Naruto's sleeve and he sat back down.
Naruto noticed that, with the exception of Sasori, he was the only one with an empty
plate. Even Tobi had loaded his own plate with dango and cakes. No wonder he's always
so hyper. Naruto and Deidara thought.

"I didn't know what you liked so I made a little of everything." Konan said to both of the
blondes. Deidara shrugged and Naruto waved his hands and assured Konan that anything
she cooked would taste fine. By the time he looked back at his plate, it had been piled high
with assorted meats, pastries, and tarts curtsey of Tobi. Naruto raised an eyebrow at his
partner but Tobi merely giggled.

"Deidara, where is your room, anyway?" Naruto said after a while.

Deidara frowned, "In the hallway with everyone else's rooms, un. Why? Where's yours,
un?" Before Naruto could answer he felt a gentle poke on his shoulder. He glanced at Tobi
out of the corner of his eye. He had his mask tilted so that it covered the upper half of his
face but Naruto (and the rest of the Akatsuki) could see the lower half of his very pale
face. Somewhere in the back of Naruto's mind, Tobi reminded him of someone, or perhaps
a clan of someone's that he had known a long time ago. All this Naruto registered in a
second.

Tobi shook his head and Naruto repeated to Deidara the words Tobi's lips formed. "I
dunno. Konan found me a room somewhere but I'm not familiar enough with this place to
find it without help." Deidara lifted his eyebrows but made no protest. Naruto felt a little
bad for lying but he also knew that Tobi must have a good reason for wanting him too. He
just needed to figure out just what that reason was.

Deidara's fuck off attitude had diminished in the last month but he was still was as snarky
as ever. He still 'accidently' left clay animals wander around the base and detonate
randomly but he had found it difficult to continue hating everything Akatsuki when Naruto
loved it all so much. In fact, Deidara was now a little jealous of Naruto just because of how
well he fit in with the Akatsuki.

Having befriended Konan, Tobi, Kisame, and Itachi (?); Naruto had been working at
becoming friends with everyone and it seemed to be working. Sasori was teaching Naruto
how to make poisons and hide weapons, Kakuzu had shown him how bounty-hunting
worked, Hidan had made sure that Naruto was well versed in the wonders of Jashin-sama
and immortality, Naruto was now helping Zetsu with his garden on a daily basis, Konan
had helped him make his fist paper crane a few days ago, and Tobi had been training
Naruto at almost every opportunity. Deidara was amazed by how quickly Naruto had
drawn everyone to him without even trying. Although something had changed about
Naruto and Deidara wasn't sure he liked the difference. Naruto could now pop out of
anywhere and he often disappeared for long periods of time. That alone would not have
bothered Deidara, it was the changed in Naruto's personality that bothered him.

Naruto had become more secretive and cunning. He would not tell anyone where his room
was and he refused to talk about what Tobi was training him to do. Also all his pranks (so
far he had painted the cloud's on Pein's coat blue, put green tinted contacts on Itachi while
he was sleeping, and convinced Kakuzu that he was being haunted) had been almost
impossible to trace and he had managed to avoid getting into too much trouble. And
Naruto's eyes now had a strange glint to them as if he always knew something that no one
else did.
Deidara sighed and fiddled with the lump of clay in his hands. He was sitting in the corner
of his liver-colored bedroom, behind his bed so that if someone entered his bedroom they
wouldn't see him. The room was cramped and smelled of snakes but it had a balcony
window (it even opened to the actual outside) and for some reason it had a closet about
half the size of the bedroom and Deidara was using it as a work place. There were worse
situations to be in… but even then he wouldn't be trapped in a creepy room, alone. I miss
sleeping outside and I miss not having to wear a uniform and I miss spending time with
Naruto. He complained in his head. He grit his teeth and tore rather viciously at his half-
finished sculpture. And I miss having things to do! I think I'm going to die of boredom!

Deidara was roused from his thoughts by a knock at the door. He had only made it half
way to the door when Sasori opened it. Deidara noted that he was in his puppet-form and
was wearing traveling gear. "Move it, brat," he growled, "We have a mission."

Deidara ran through an unfamiliar part of the Akatsuki lair. He had seen Naruto
disappearing into the area a few times after dinner and he had no other ideas as to where
else the kitsune might be. Deidara rounded a corner and kicked open another door but still
no luck. The blonde chewed on his bottom lip to stop the panic he felt from showing on his
face. He had less than 15 minutes to find Naruto before he had to leave on his mission
with Sasori.

Deidara rounded another corner and came face to face with a bright orange spiral mask.
Deidara yelped and leaped backward, smashing the back of his head painfully against the
wall then slumping onto the floor. "Shit, un!" He yelled and Tobi started laughing. "Tobi!
What the hell's your problem! Do you just hide behind and corners and scare people, un?"

"Yep, but you're the first person to ever fall for it." Tobi managed to say between snickers.
Deidara took a few deep breaths to slow his pounding heart. He stood up on shaky feet
and glowered at Tobi who was still laughing.

"Tobi, where is Naruto, un?"

"Why?" Tobi asked innocently but Deidara felt cold dread wash over him. There was no
way Tobi knew! Naruto was too smart for Tobi to have found out! But Naruto was only a
twelve year old kid and he was pretty naïve at that. Deidara shrugged off his doubts and
took a nonchalant pose.

"I'm leaving soon and I wanted to say goodbye, un."

"Naruto left the base last night." Deidara glared at Tobi until he started to squirm. "Naruto
said he was bored and took off! That's all that happened, I swear!" Tobi shifted from one
foot to the other in mock agitation and Deidara sighed inwardly with relief. He must have
gone to see Granny again. Deidara thought. Naruto had already done that several times
since joining the Akatsuki.

"Well, tell him when he gets back then, un." Deidara instructed and Tobi nodded earnestly.

"Tobi will!"

"Yeah, yeah, un. That's great, Tobi, un." Deidara turned on his heel and started to walk
back the way he had come. Wordlessly Tobi followed him, herding the younger ninja to the
main part of the base. Deidara tugged uncomfortably at the sleeve of his Akatsuki robe. He
was not looking forward to working for this organization.

Flashback
Deidara stood next to Sasori in Pein's office. It had taken him only a few seconds to get
ready and he was antsy to find out what the mission was. Pein was sitting behind his desk
and Konan was at his shoulder. Deidara glowered at his leader but avoided looking at
Konan. She was too nice for him to dislike.

Pein cleared his thought even though he already had everyone's undivided attention. "Your
mission will be to go to Sunagakure in wind country. You will capture the Sand's
jinchūriki." Deidara stared at Pein blankly. What the hell's a Ginger-Wicky? He wondered.
"Doubtless you don't know about the jinchūriki so Konan will be briefing you. Sasori, a
word."

Pein stood up and motioned for Sasori to follow him out the back door. Konan waited for
the two to leave before she smiled at Deidara. "Sit, please, Deidara-kun."

Deidara wordlessly sat into one of the uncomfortable chairs littering the room and Konan
took a seat across from him. "You know what a jinchūriki is?" She asked without the
condescending tone that Deidara had half expected.

"No." He admitted reluctantly.

"Do you know what a bijū is?"

"No, un."

Konan smiled again but Deidara noticed another emotion flicker in her eyes. Anger or
sorrow? "A bijū is one of nine demon-tailed beasts with huge amounts of chakra and a
jinchūriki is a human host of one of the tailed beasts. Your mission is to capture the host of
one-tailed raccoon of Suna. He's a red-haired ninja about Naruto's age. His name is Gaara
of the Sand. You and Sasori must capture him alive and bring him back here so we can
extract the demon."

"Why?"Deidara asked but Konan smiled and shook her head. Deidara frowned. "What are
the other bijū, un?"

Konan listed all the bijū and what their current village was but it wasn't until she got to the
nine-tailed fox that Deidara felt a surge of confusion. "The nine-tailed fox is dead, un.
Konaha's yellow flash killed it." Konan's eyes danced with laughter and Deidara felt a surge
of cold panic grip his heart.

"Yes but we got lucky. Not many people know this but the nine-tailed demon fox had a
son. And better yet the kit was never put into a host! We think we can use the demon's kit
in place of the original demon."

"For what?" Deidara pressed again but Konan just shook her head. Deidara's face was the
perfect mask of curiosity but his insides squirmed uncomfortably. Naruto was the nine-
tailed demon fox's son! They had both unwittingly joined the organization that was after
Naruto! "What happens to the hosts, un?" Deidara forced himself to ask the first question
that popped into his head however his lips felt numb.

"That depends on the host. The weaker ones die and what we do with the survivors is
dependent upon their personalities. We either kill them or erase their memories and have
them join the Akatsuki." Deidara nodded and Konan beamed.

"Would it be alright if I said goodbye to Naruto?" Deidara asked, his mind whirling with
plans for an escape.
"Yes. You have half an hour." Konan had a sympathetic look in her eyes as she stood up
and left. Deidara sat in his chair for a few moments before he stood up stiffly and bolted
for the door.

End Flashback.

Naruto sat in Granny's kitchen and fiddled with King. It had always surprised him that the
old woman had kept his first toy and secretly he was kind of glad of it. Naruto sighed and
leaned back in his chair until his head bumped against the wall behind him.

"What the hell am I supposed to do, King?" He groaned. Naruto peered at King and was
half amused by the innocent look of the toy's face.

"I'm going insane. Why the hell am I talking to a toy about this?" He tossed the toy onto
the table then flopped down next to it, resting his chin on his folded arms. He frowned and
furrowed his brow as he debated with himself.

The entire house was dark and unnaturally quiet and this disturbed Naruto to no end. This
house had always been a permanent thing for him, it was his only real home since he and
Deidara had left Iwa and now it seemed like it too would soon be gone. Naruto flinched as
a loud, raspy cough boomed down from the upper floors. He grabbed King and hugged him
to his chest like he had once done as a small child but even that could not block out the
noise.

Naruto squeezed his eyes shut and buried his nose in King's fur. He was at a loss for what
he should do. He had known that Granny's health had been deteriorating but for her to
bedying… Naruto bit his bottom lip and quietly waited for the old woman's coughing to
stop.

Naruto had arrived in the early hours of morning, before even the sun had risen and had
immediately felt uneasy. The house had looked abandoned and there had been a strange
odor about it; a strange mix of sickness and decay. He had run into the house and found
Granny slumped in one of her overstuffed armchairs and looking skeletal. She was too
weak to even lift a finger.

Naruto had scooped her up and carried her to her room. She was awake and she had told
him that yes, she was dying. No, there was nothing he could do. No, he couldn't take her
somewhere. No, he couldn't bring someone here. There was really nothing to do! Many
years ago she had been in a fight and the enemy had used a technique on her and she was
finally feeling the results. Yes, she was sure it was incurable. She knew because she was
the bloody best damn healer nin Iwa had ever seen! Now look, it was her wish to die in her
own home.

Eventually Naruto relented so Granny could get some sleep. She had told him that she
wanted to die alone but Naruto was reluctant to leave. He had spent the rest of the
morning disposing of the rotting food and cleaning up the gardens while he tried to figure
out what he should do but he was still at a loss. Naruto knew that he could force Granny to
seek attention but he didn't have the heart to go against her wishes. In the end, he had
simply grabbed King and settled down in her kitchen.

Slowly Granny's coughing fit ended and Naruto blinked open his eyes. He wiped his eyes
with his sleeves and sniffled discreetly. He was way too old to be crying! Throwing off his
doubts, Naruto left the kitchen and marched up to his Granny's room.

He paused in front of her door and prepared himself for the discussion he would soon be
having. He shuffled his feet and hugged King tighter before he knocked once then strode
confidently into the room. His heart skipped a beat when he saw how frail and withered he
looked but he pulled up a chair regardless and sat down. The two ex-Iwa ninja stared at
each other in silence for a few minutes before it became unbearably uncomfortable.

"You know, Naruto-chan, you really do look so much like Deidara. I can scarcely believe
that you aren't biological brothers." Naruto was torn between the urge to frown and the
urge to smile so remained silent.

"In fact I think everyone but the two of you think of you as brothers," The old woman
licked her lips and continued with a raspy chuckle. "What are you just embarrassed to
show affection for one another? Honestly, Naruto-chan! Call him aniki once in a while! I'm
an old woman and I'd like to see the last two members of my family act like bloody
family."

"Granny." Naruto cut her off and she gave him a sad smile. Naruto's face looked like it had
been carved out of stone and he was very dry-eyed. "I don't care what you say we have to
get you to a hospital!"

"Oh, not this again!"

"Yes, Granny. I don't want you to die!" Naruto fiddled with King in his hands and stared
hard at the old woman. Granny simple sighed and looked at the ceiling.

"My dear child, I am going to die whether you want me to or not. Even a human could
smell the death on me. You must find it unbearable. I won't last the night no matter where
I go so can't you let an old woman fade away peacefully in her own home? My great-great-
grandfather built this house and I am the last of our family to ever be born in it. I should
get to die in it as well." This time when she looked at Naruto he had to look away. He
chose to study his knees and strangle King.

Granny reached over and put a hand on his cheek and it surprised her that it was dry.
"You and Deidara are missing nin; you can never live here. This house will never be used
after my death. Naruto-chan, you know that. Eventually someone will come to check on
me and find me dead and they will give me an honorably burial in Iwa. Someone I've
never met will give a speech about my services to the ninja world and there won't be a
tear in sight because you and Deidara will not come." Naruto's head snapped up and he
started to protest but Granny cut him off.

"You will not be captured because you went to Iwa to mourn for me." Naruto looked
crestfallen but the old woman didn't attempt to comfort him. "Leave me here. Go find
Deidara and tell him I'm dead. Mourn together. Grieve, pick a fight, or just cope. Just do it
together like brothers should. Please."

Naruto had looked away again but he took Granny's hand and squeezed it. "Just go. I want
to die alone." Naruto stood up on shaky legs and stared at the floor. Wordlessly he bent
down and kissed her on her cheek. Granny just stared blankly at the ceiling. She felt
herself growing weaker as the old jutsu took effect. She wanted to be alone more than
anything in the world. She wanted to join her husband and children privately. Even if that
meant Naruto had to leave.

Naruto walked to the door and stopped with one hand on the door handle. "Goodbye
then." He said.

"Goodbye."

"I-I love you Granny."

"I love you too, Naruto-chan." Without looking back, Naruto left the room. He paused for a
few seconds and clutched King. Then he ran. Naruto ran down the stairs and out of the
house but even then he didn't stop. In her room, Granny exhaled for the last time as soon
as the front door slammed shut.

Naruto didn't know how long he ran; he just knew that if he stopped running his emotions
would catch up with him and he didn't want to deal with them just yet. Eventually he
skirted to a halt in front of the giant rock that blocked the Akatsuki base from the world.
He wasn't sure how long he had been running but his clothes were soaked with sweat.

He kicked the rock and waited for someone to open the door for him. Naruto knew he
must look terrible. He hadn't slept since god only knows when and he had several cuts on
his arms and face even though he couldn't remember when he had gotten them. He ran
his fingers through his hair and pulled out several leaves and twigs but the action was
more to give him something to do than out of vanity.

After a few moments the door opened but it had felt like eons to Naruto. He eagerly
pushed forward as soon as there was room and walked past the person that had let him in.
He didn't care who it was, he just needed to get to Deidara but the person had other ideas.

"I didn't have to open the door you know." Naruto turned and glared at Hidan. "Holy fuck!
What happened to you?" Hidan gapped. Naruto just turned and started to walk away. As
soon as the albino got over his shock at seeing Naruto look so terrible he walked after him.

"Damn it, Shorty, were you attacked or something?" Naruto just ignored him and marched
down the hallway that led to the dining room. Deidara was always hungry. But Hidan
wasn't used to people ignoring him. He grabbed Naruto's upper arm and spun him around
so they were eye to eye. "Naruto, what happened to you?"

Although he heard the concern in the older boy's voice Naruto simply glared at Hidan and
ripped his arm out of his grip. Hidan was stunned. No one had ever acted like that to him
before! But there was something in Naruto's glare that made him almost reluctant to push
it. He was sure that the younger boy's pupils had become slits and that his eyes had
flashed crimson but they were back to normal before Hidan could get a good look at them.
Hidan realized that he had grabbed his scythe without meaning too and he slowly lowered
it. Naruto turned again and walked away but still Hidan trailed after him.

Naruto walked into the dining room but Deidara wasn't there. Naruto felt void of all
emotions as he realized this and he marched out of the room and down a twisting hallway.
Hidan trailed after him and waited for the opportunity to get Naruto to talk. They reached
Deidara's room and Naruto kicked open the door without bothering to knock but Deidara
wasn't in his room either. Naruto shut the door and turned to face Hidan. He didn't even
acknowledge Kisame as he walked around the corner.

"Oh, Hi Naruto-"Kisame grinned at the blonde child without registering how bad he looked.

"Where is Deidara?" Hidan and Kisame stared at Naruto is surprise. His voice was hollow
and monotonous. Kisame's eyes widened in surprise as he took in Naruto's appearance
and Hidan adopted his regular smirk to hide his mounting concern.

"I don't know but if-" Naruto narrowed his eyes and Hidan felt his skin crawl.

"He went on a mission yesterday." Kisame provided, "He was looking for you but you-"
Kisame stopped talking as Naruto pushed past him. He stared after him in shock. When
Naruto was gone he turned back to Hidan.

"What's wrong with him?"

"How the fuck should I know, dumbass?" Hidan grumbled and turned his back on Kisame.
He bit his lip and wondered why the normally happy boy was acting so strangely. Kisame
frowned and walked after Naruto, determined to find out what the problem was. After a
while Hidan followed all the while making up excuses for himself that made him seem like
a heartless bastard.

Naruto walked into Pein's room without bothering to knock. The occupants all starred at
him in surprise. Pein was sitting behind his desk with Konan and Tobi at either shoulder.
Itachi was standing in front of the trio. Naruto felt the air behind him stir as Hidan and
Kisame came and stood in the doorway. Without looking at anyone but Pein, Naruto
marched into the room until he was next to Itachi but still he had eyes only for the
Akatsuki leader.

"Naruto?" Konan asked but Naruto ignored her.

"Where is Deidara?" Naruto asked. Pein blinked in surprise.

"He went on a mission yesterday morning."

"Where?"

"That's classified information."

"Where. Is. My. Brother." Naruto said in the same hollow voice.

"I believe I already told you that he is on a mission." Pein said with barely disguised
irritation. Naruto grit his teeth and his eyes flashed crimson.

"Suna." Konan said. Naruto glanced at her and nodded in thanks before turning around
and marching out. He pushed past Hidan and Kisame and was gone before any of them
had time to react. It wasn't until he had long since left the organization's base that Naruto
noticed that he was still holding King.

Sasori was growing weary of Deidara's sulking. He was pretty sure that the brat had plenty
of time to get used to the idea of working for the Akatsuki but apparently he had been
wrong. Sasori wished that Deidara was complaining so that he had an excuse for stabbing
him with his tail.

As much as he hated to admit it, Deidara was a way better partner than he could have
ever expected even if he had some weird delusions as to what art was. But it was nice to
have a partner that liked art at all. Orochimaru had zero interest in art of any kind so it
had been hard for Sasori to find a reason to explain why his art was better than any other
in the world. Sasori made a strange puppet noise and Deidara lifted an eyebrow but made
no comment.

The two of them had recently entered the Wind country and would not reach Suna until
evening. They were walking side by side on the sand, looking straight forward and not
speaking a word to each other. So it had been since they had left the Akatsuki base.
Deidara was too caught up in his own private thoughts of escape to start a conversation
and Sasori was just thinking his normal things.

After walking a few more miles Sasori decided he might as well bring up a few points.
"Look, brat, this is your first mission but I want it done quickly. Got it?"

"Hai, Danna." Sasori glowered ahead of him. Deidara had a talent for making perfectly
respectful words and making them sound very insulting.
"I want you to infiltrate Suna and find the one tail as quickly as possible. Capture it
without making a huge fuss and meet me at the village gate with it."

"Hai,hai, Danna." Deidara sounded exasperated. He would take as much time as he

needed and Sasori could rot for all he cared. He had more important things on his mind
than his impatient sensei. The two walked in silence the rest of the way to Suna.

Sasuke had, as usual, arrived early. He knew that the rest of his team mates wouldn't be
up for hours and Kakashi would be even later than that but he had fallen into the habit of
waking up at dawn a long time ago. He casually leaned back against bridge railing and
drummed his fingers. He closed his eyes and lost himself in his thoughts. It wasn't until
several hours later that his annoying fan girl showed up.

"Hi, Sasuke-kun." Sakura said very loudly. Sasuke glanced at her out of the corner of his
eye then closed them again. "S-Sasuke-kun?" Sakura sounded crestfallen and she looked
stung by his lack of response.

"Hi." Sasuke grunted and Sakura immediately perked up. She imitated his position on the
railing a few feet away from her love interest and stared at him with fawning eyes. Sasuke
felt a little uncomfortable under her stare and when he glanced at her again he noticed
that she was blushing. Sasuke felt his hackles rise and he backed away very slowly but she
kept on inching closer. It wasn't until they were nearly on the other side of the bridge that
Sasuke gave up and let her get close. Silently, he prayed that their other teammate would
hurry up so he wouldn't be alone with the pink-haired girl for too long.

Unfortunately, an hour later his prayer had not been answered. It was around this time
that Sakura finally noticed that it was just the two of them. She looked around nervously
before she shyly turned to Sasuke. "Um, where's…?"

"Not here yet." Sasuke said without looking at her.

"Oh." She grumbled. They waited around until they finally heard the thump of ninja
sandals and the scratch of claws coming towards them. Sasuke's head snapped up and he
gratefully watched the figure of the last member of team seven running in their direction.

"Hey! Sorry I'm late! I slept in!" He shouted and waved to them. Sakura pushed out her
bottom lip and put her hands on her hips. Sasuke inwardly groaned. He didn't want to
listen to Sakura's scolding again, even if it wasn't directed to him. Their teammate skidded
to a halt in front of them and doubled over, panting.

"Damnit Kiba! Why the hell are you late?" Sakura yelled. Kiba glared at her while Akamaru
finally caught up to his master and flopped over in exhaustion.

"Like I said, I slept in." Kiba growled. He straightened up and took of his hood. Then after
some hesitation he took of his parka and draped it over the bridge railing.

"You should be more like Sasuke! He's never late! And he's way stronger that you! You'll
hold back the whole team if you don't pick up the pace!" Kiba was cut short from a reply
by Sasuke.

"You were late too, weren't you Sakura?"

"I-I-I slept in! I didn't even have time to blow dry my hair." Sakura looked away from her
teammates as she spluttered out her lame excuse. She had hoped that Sasuke would have
backed her up but evidently she had been wrong.
"Well would you rather I had come without washing my face or brushing my teeth?" Kiba
grumbled but everyone ignored him. The brown haired boy sat down next to his dog and
scratched him between his ears.

"And besides, Kiba's not the one in danger of holding us back." Sasuke said with a smirk.
Sakura looked at him in confusion but Sasuke offered no other explanation so she dropped
it. The Sasuke sat down near Kiba and rubbed Akamaru's belly. The dog wagged its tail
pathetically and whined but that just made Sasuke smile. Kiba and Sasuke made small talk
and ignored Sakura while they waited for their sensei.

Kakashi appeared in a puff of smoke on top of a pole. "Morning people!" He said brightly.

"It's past noon," Kiba complained under his breath.

"Today I got lost on the road of life." Kakashi continued as if he had not been interrupted.

"Yeah right, liar! Apologize!" Sakura shrieked and all three males had to rub their ears.
Kakashi jumped down from his pole and stood in front of his students.

"Well, anyway…" Kakashi said, "I know this is sudden but I nominated you guys for the
chunin exams."

"You think that makes up for-!" Kakashi shut Sakura up by handing each of his students a
slip of paper covered in writing.

"Here are your applications. Although all I did was nominate you, whether or not you take
the exams is up to each of you. Those who wish to take it should sign those papers and
turn them in at room 301 a week from tomorrow at four PM." Sasuke and Sakura stared at
their applications while Kiba stared at Kakashi in awe. Kakashi smiled at his students, their
reactions where all so cute! "That's all." He said and then vanished.

The trio studied their applications in silence until Kiba burst into rambunctious laughter.
"Hahahahah! The Chunin Exams! There'll be a bunch of strong guys there! Right,
Akamaru?" Kiba's dog barked a few times then chased his tail in excitement. Kiba grinned
as he thought of a Suna ninja he had met a few days ago; a weird clown dude with purple
face makeup and a bad attitude. Kiba had seen him abusing a little kid and the clown had
acted high and mighty when Kiba told him to knock it off. Alright! I won't loss to some
stupid clown! He thought. He glanced at Sasuke who glared back at him. And I can't loss
to Sasuke either.

Sasuke, meanwhile, was thinking about a red haired ninja he had met at the same time. I
might be able to fight him… Sasuke quivered with excitement as he thought about that.
Sasuke smirked and turned his head so he was looking at a random building. The chunin
exams certainly would be interesting. He looked back at his teammates and noticed, much
to his surprise, that Sakura looked unhappy. I wonder what's wrong with her? Eh,
whatever.

They each waved their goodbyes and took off in different directions, each in their own little
fantasies. Kiba dreamed of triumphing over all his appoints, Sasuke dreamt of becoming
stronger, and Sakura wondered if she was even good enough to try.

Deidara was furious. He and Sasori had reached Suna the previous night and Sasori had
told Deidara that he would wait outside the village while he captured the one-tail. Deidara
had stowed away his robe and headband and walked into Suna under the guise of a
civilian. It had taken Deidara until the next day's (today's) noon to find out that the so
called 'Sand Siblings', a group comprising of two ninja he didn't care about and the one-
tail, had left for Konoha some time ago so that they could participate in the chunin exams.
He had exited Suna with the intentions of informing his partner only to discover that Sasori
was long gone. The only trace of him Deidara could find was a small sheet of paper that
said;

Brat,

I've gone to Konoha to get the one-tail. Don't bother to show up.

Sasori

Deidara had got a lot of pleasure out of shredding the note and the blowing up the tiny
pieces until nothing was left. Deidara couldn't believe that Sasori would just ditch him!
What kind of crazy bastard left a fourteen year old kid alone in a strange country?
Although, Deidara had traveled to Wind country several times with Naruto he'd never gone
as far as Suna. He was so angry that he had spent the last hour sulking. He had started to
wonder if he should return to the Akatsuki base or follow the crazy puppet. Neither
sounded appealing but he was rapidly coming to the conclusion that if he went back to the
base he would meet up with Naruto more quickly. Deidara sighed and drew his knees up to
his chest and sighed. Why was there never an easy answer?

The part of Wind country around Suna was completely flat and Deidara could see for miles
no matter what direction he looked in. He had already scanned the area for Sasori but
when he couldn't find him he had settled for watching the one road that led into Suna.
Deidara rested his chin on his knees and pouted a bit more. He had nothing to stir him out
of his self pity and Deidara was too caught up in being unhappy to think of much else. That
is, until Deidara spotted a small dust cloud in the corner of his eye.

Deidara turned his head so he could better see the tiny cloud of sand. It was on the
ground and moving at a moderate speed along the road to Suna. It occurred to Deidara
that the cloud was actually just sand that was being kicked up by some high-speed runner
but why anyone would need to run that fast was beyond him. Deidara watched the tiny
figure in front of the cloud and felt something sink in the pit of his stomach. Damn, looks
like he really is a faster runner than me. Deidara stood up and watched the figure of
Naruto charge closer.

All Deidara could make out of Naruto was a black smudge for his shirt and an orange
smudge for his pants. Even though he knew that Naruto could not see him, Deidara waved
and grinned, all self pity forgotten.

As Naruto grew closer Deidara felt a wave of dread sweep over him. Something was very
wrong. Naruto's hair and skin had been stained dark from dirt and grime and he had dark
stains on his pants that seemed an awful lot like blood. Deidara's grin faded and he
lowered his hand. What was happening? Why would Naruto look so terrible? And for that
matter, why had he come to Suna?

Before Deidara realized it, he was running to intercept Naruto and shouting his name.
"Naruto! Naruto! Stop! Hey!" He heard himself shout. Naruto noticed Deidara running
towards him and a look of pure shock crossed his face.

"Ani-Deidara?" He asked just barely loud enough for Deidara to hear him. In the back of
his head, Deidara wondered what Naruto had been about to call him but he had more
important things to worry about. Like why they were both still running. The two of them
realized this at the same time, a mere millisecond before they crashed into each other.
Naruto felt his bones reverberate painfully and his muscles scream in protest as he came
to a sudden stop. Naruto stumbled backwards but managed to stay on both feet. Deidara,
however, was not so lucky.
Naruto watched in stunned silence as Deidara picked himself out of a small impact crater.
Deidara gingerly felt his ribs and was relieved to find that none of them had broken and
only one had been cracked. Deidara's hair had come out of its ponytail and was obscuring
his vision so he had to tuck it behind his ears.

"Deidara?" Naruto said the word as if it was the most unbelievable thing in the world.

"Naruto?"

"You totally look like a chick with your hair down." Deidara grit his teeth and glowered at
Naruto and the kitsune snickered. "Sorry but you do."

Deidara shook his head and sighed. "Naruto what happened to you? You look terrible."

"So I've heard." Naruto said with a smirk.

"What happened to you?" Naruto's smirk suddenly looked melancholy and he avoided
Deidara's eyes. "Naruto?" Deidara was very concerned. This was not normal behavior at
all. Naruto's eyes flickered back to Deidara's and his lips started to form words but before
any sound could come out Naruto's eyes rolled back in his head and his knees buckled. It
was only Deidara's quick action that saved Naruto from face planting the sand. Deidara
had a strange feeling of Déjà vu as he put one of Naruto's arms around his neck and half
carried, half dragged the unconscious ninja to Suna.

Deidara went to the first hotel he spotted and hauled Naruto inside. He struggled over to
the front desk and gasped, "Room for two please," To the young brown-haired woman at
the front desk. The woman popped her gum once before replying.

"I spect yul wanna be on thu furs fluur"

"Yeah." Deidara gasped. When had Naruto become so heavy?

"Iz 'e yur bruthur?"

"Uh huh."

"I see thu resemblance. Roum fiftan. Go roun thu corner thur 'n itz da furs door on yur lef,
unersand? Pu 'em down an comun bac ta pay, kay?"

"Okay." The woman popped her gum a few more times then handed Deidara a tarnished
key. Deidara hauled Naruto in the direction he believed the woman had indicated. He
quickly found the room and dragged the kitsune in. He flicked on the lights and curled his
lip slightly at the peeling purple wallpaper. He dumped Naruto onto the near bed and
pushed him into what seemed to be a comfortable position. He spent a little more time
than necessary adjusting the covers so that he would be as comfortable as possible.
Eventually he left the room and returned to the front desk.

He paid the woman 'trwee unuered an sevenda faive' for one night and found out that
there was a 'restarant' on the other side of the hotel and a complementary 'breckfist' in
the morning. But before he got any food he should take his 'bruthur' to the 'artafital ot-
springs' in the back of the hotel. Deidara nodded and smiled politely while he tried to place
the woman's accent. In the end he was unsuccessful. The woman, or Leanne as her name
tag said, waved Deidara off so she could talk to another customer. Deidara trudged back
to the room with his hands in his pockets.

Naruto was still asleep when Deidara got back to the room. Deidara half smiled and
dropped his backpack in the middle of the floor. He hadn't even noticed that it had been on
his back since he had originally left Suna. Deidara took a knee and rifled through his pack
until he found a spare hair tie.

"I look nothing like a girl" He grumbled to the still unconscious Naruto as he tied up his
hair. He looked at his reflection in the glass cover of a painting of a wheat field. Reluctantly
satisfied, Deidara turned his attention to Naruto. Tobi wasn't with him so that meant that
the Akatsuki probably didn't know that Naruto was the nine-tail's son. Deidara supposed
he should feel grateful about that but in truth he was still worried.

Deidara sat down on Naruto's bed and studied the younger boy's face. Very slowly,
Deidara reached out a hand and shook Naruto by the shoulder. Naruto's eyes fluttered and
he sat bolt upright so fast that Deidara fell off the bed in surprise. Naruto turned his head
in the direction of the sound but his eyes remained out of focus as Deidara, for the second
time that day, hauled himself ungracefully to his feet.

"Never one for subtlety, are you?" Deidara said as he rubbed the beginning of a burse on
his temple. Naruto's eyes came into focus and he stared blandly at the older blond.
Deidara griped a bit more as he plopped himself down on the foot of the bed. "So,
Naruto, now will you tell me what happened?"

"Granny's dead." Naruto said without emotion. Deidara's expression didn't change for a
few seconds while the words sunk in.

"Oh fuck."

"Yeah." Naruto studied his toes under the blankets while Deidara tried to gather his
thoughts. He hadn't been as close to the old woman as Naruto and most of the times she
made him uncomfortable. Her death didn't really upset him that much but he was
concerned for Naruto's health. Deidara knew from experience that Naruto didn't handle
grief well.

When they were younger Deidara had bought the kitsune three hermit crabs as pets but
the little animals hadn't survived the harsh Iwa winter. Naruto had distracted himself by
training until he collapsed every day for several weeks after their death until he was able
to deal with his emotions. But those were just three pets he'd had for only a few months,
how would he get over the death of a human that was one of his only two family
members? Naruto would train himself to death!

Deidara immediately thought of ways to distract Naruto but none of them seemed likely.
He decided that he would try to get the full story out of Naruto. "How?" Deidara asked but
all Naruto did was shrug. "When?"

"I don't know. I went to visit her and she just sort of died. Then I went to find you."
Deidara eyed the scratches and grime all over Naruto and frowned. He grabbed Naruto's
shoulders and forced him to look into his eyes.

"Naruto," Deidara said very carefully. "What happened to you?"

"I went looking for you." Naruto said simply. Deidara grit his teeth and stared at Naruto
until the younger boy had to look away.

"Well you found me. Now come on, you need to go bathe. I'll find you some new cloths,
okay?" Naruto nodded and climbed out of his bed. Deidara led him to the door and then to
the door to the men's locker room. As soon as Naruto was out of sight he set off at a
leisurely pace. He had set Naruto quite a challenge, that grime looked like it would take
hours to scrub out.
"He's, um, about a foot shorter than me but he has broader shoulders and, uh…" Deidara
hated shopping. He was in the middle of explaining what Naruto looked like to the amused
assistant so that she could help him find clothes in Naruto's size. Finding the shoes had
been easy since Naruto and Deidara had identical foot sizes but he had no idea what size
anything else should be. "With lots of orange and black…. He likes dark blue too so…I,
ummm…"

"I think you might want to take a look at the rack back here." The assistant led Deidara to
a small rack in the back of the store and Deidara started examining the articles.
Occasionally the assistant would make helpful suggestions until Deidara had found some
clothes he was satisfied with. An orange muscle shirt with a dark blue spiral on the front
and back, orange pants, black fingerless gloves, and a dark blue jacket with a fuzzy white
collar.

Deidara returned to the hotel and went into the men's locker room. He was pleased that
no one was in it and he quickly replaced Naruto's old clothes with his purchase, excluding
his headband. Deidara curled his lip as he stuffed Naruto's grimy old clothes into a plastic
bag and left the hotel again. Deidara considered throwing away the rags but in the end he
took them to the laundry matt.

Naruto was in the room the next time Deidara entered. The boys studied each other for a
few moments before Deidara burst out laughing. "Yeah, yeah. It's so fucking hilarious."
Naruto said as he blushed. The problem was that all the clothes Deidara had got were way
too big; Naruto looked like he was swimming in his jacket and he had taken the cord for
the curtain to use as a belt.

"Here!" Deidara gasped as he threw the bag holding Naruto's old clothing to its owner.
"We'll just shrink those in the wash after we eat okay?"

"Humph." Naruto caught the bag in mid air and stalked off to the bathroom to change.
Deidara snickered as Naruto stumbled over the baggy legs of his pants. Half an hour later
they were in the restaurant wolfing down as much food as they had managed to fit on
their plates from the buffet.

"So why did you come to Suna anyway?" Naruto said around a mouthful of Raman
noodles.

"Oh, Sasori and I got sent on a mission. He's not here, stop looking for him."

"Then where is he?" Deidara sighed and explained what had happened, although he left
out the parts about the akatsuki being after the nine-tail's son. Naruto had too much on
his mind to think about as well.

Naruto seemed to find the whole thing very amusing. "Nice! Sasori's way better at
practical jokes than I would have guessed!"

"Well I'm glad you enjoy it." Deidara viciously prodded several dumplings.

"Oh, relax. Sasori's really slow. I bet if you made a bird tomorrow and if you
flew really fast you could catch him before he even entered Konoha!" Deidara gave Naruto
a funny look.

"You really think that I should? I mean…"

"Of course! And I'll come with you!"

"Why?" Deidara asked before he could stop himself. "I-I mean it's not as if I wouldn't want
you to come with i-it's just that uh… never mind." Deidara mentally kicked himself for
being so stupid. He needed to keep an eye on Naruto while he was grieving! And now he's
looking all thoughtful. Why am I so stupid? Deidara thought but unknown to him, Naruto
was thinking about something completely different. Naruto remembered the last time he
had been in the Akatsuki base, he had been very aggressive and the people that he
considered to be his friends were probably very angry with him. Naruto bit his bottom lip
and the two boys finished eating in silence.

Deidara pressed a button and the washing machine whirled into action. Naruto's clothing
only needed to go down a few sizes and then it would be wearable. Deidara pressed his
forehead against the cool glass of the machine and moaned loudly enough for several old
people to send him disapproving glances but Deidara just ignored them. He just had so
much to deal with!

Deidara dragged himself to a row of chairs in the back of the store and sat down next to
Naruto who was still absorbed in thought. Suddenly Naruto stood up and shouted, "I've got
it!"

"Got what?" Deidara asked, ignoring the disapproving glares from the old people.

"I know why you need me to come with you!" Naruto looked like his head was about to
explode with excitement.

"Why?" Naruto leaned closer to Deidara and whispered in his ear.

"You said this guy was my age and he was entering the Chunin exams right?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Well what if I entered the chunin exams and became friends with him? That way I can
trick him into coming to our base!" Deidara blinked several times in surprise.

"That's actually not a bad idea." And it would distract Naruto wonderfully.

"Well then it's settled. We catch up to Sasori and convince him tomorrow!" Naruto looked
so determined that Deidara couldn't help but believe him.

He grinned at Naruto like a half crazed monkey and said, "Then it's settled!"

Deidara sat on top of a giant clay hawk looking extraordinarily pleased with himself. It was
a lovely creation, if it wasn't for the coloration and size it would be unrecognizable from a
true hawk. Deidara patted it's head affectionately and hummed a cheery little tune. There
were no clouds in the sky there where even a couple early-morning thermals that would
make flight easier. The conditions were better than any Deidara could have hoped for!
Well, except one….

Said 'condition' stumbled out of the gates of Suna carrying a large backpack and wearing
brand new-machine shrunken clothes. "Oh, stop looking so damn pleased with yourself."
Naruto said groggily. Deidara simply gave him a winning smile and waved serenely. "Stop
the cheap shit."Naruto growled.

"My, aren't we a morning person?"

"3AM isn't fucking morning. It's still night." Deidara laughed and Naruto gave him another
sour look. He clambered up the hawk's back and curled into a ball. "Drop me and I'll kill
you." He grunted.

"I'm sure you would." Deidara snorted. At his command the bird spread its wings and took
off, flying at high speed to Konoha. Deidara glanced over his shoulder at the snoozing
Naruto and the hawk's tail curled protectively around the kitsune. Deidara really didn't
want to drop Naruto.

It was past noon by the time they caught up with Sasori just inside the land of fire border.
From the back of the hawk, Naruto had noticed a large boar that Sasori had stabbed with
his tail and the two had tracked him on foot after that. Deidara signaled for Naruto to be
silent as soon as they heard Sasori shuffling around ahead. They needed to be careful
when approaching the puppet master, Sasori had a bit of a stab first ask questions later
mentality.

The two ninja separated and moved quickly to either side of Sasori, who was still trudging
on ahead as if nothing was amiss but the two ninja knew he was aware of their presence.
They tailed him for the better part of an hour before Naruto felt like his head would
explode if this went on any longer. Why were they stalking Sasori? The longer this went on
the more suspicious the puppet master would become!

"Oh, screw this!" Naruto complained loudly and walked boldly out from the cover of the
greenery. "Hi Sasori." He said to the surprised puppet. Sasori had suspected that he was
being tailed by enemies and seeing his partner's younger brother was quite a shock.
Deidara was having a similar reaction in his hiding place. Why hadn't he taken Naruto's
impatient into consideration? It wasn't as if he had a plan but he was positive that Sasori
would shish-ka-bob Naruto! Much to Deidara's surprise, that was not what happened.

"Naruto, why are you here?" Sasori asked.

"I met up with Deidara in Suna and we came up with a better plan to capture the one-tail
than just attacking Konoha."

"Oh, really?"

"Yep!" Naruto put one hand behind his hair and gave Sasori a wide grin.

"So where's the brat?" Deidara sighed and emerged from his hiding place. There was no
point in staying there since Naruto had blown their cover.

"Hi." He said. Sasori stared at Deidara with an unreadable expression before speaking.

"So, what's your plan?"

"Oh no. First we have to get lunch! There must be a Raman stand somewhere around
here!" Naruto drew Sasori's attention back to him and even Deidara felt a little
exasperated with the young ninja. Food? Again? Really? But much to the blonde's surprise,
Sasori relented. Naruto grinned and ran a few circles in excitement before he took off.
There was a few seconds lull before Deidara realized that Naruto had run off and he
charged after him, leaving Sasori behind. The puppet master watched them disappear into
the foliage before he began his slow walk after them.

Sasori found the two of them in a curry house a few miles away. Naruto was deep into his
fifth bowl and Deidara was chugging water to get the taste of his first bite out of his
mouth. Sasori just loomed over the table and watched them while he waited for them to
finish. Deidara found this behavior disturbing and he shifted uncomfortably while Naruto
started on Deidara's own bowl of curry. Deidara cleared his throat a few times before he
said, "Aren't you going to eat anything, Danna?"

"I don't need food." Sasori said blandly as Naruto continued his noisy slurping. Deidara
lifted one of his eyebrows in disbelief. It was true that he had never seen Sasori eat but
surely he needed food! Sasori saw Deidara's skeptical look and elaborated, "I don't need to
eat or sleep often. Once a month is all that is necessary." Deidara was stopped from
commenting because Naruto slammed his bowl onto the table.

"Thanks for the meal!" He said loudly. He turned to look at the two older ninja and said,
"Okay so, let's explain the plan!" Sasori grunted approvingly and Deidara leaned back in
his chair.

"Sasori, the major flaw with obtaining the one-tails with force is that it would draw a lot of
attention to the Akatsuki and obtaining the other demons would be much more difficult
because they would all know about us." Naruto explained, "We know that the one-tail's
host is entering the chunin exams and will be remaining in Konoha for several months so
what if I infiltrated Konoha under the guise of entering the chunin exams and befriended
the host? That way I can lure him away from Konoha and we can capture him easily."
Deidara was impressed with Naruto's explanation, he had made it seem like the most
logical option there was! Sasori, however, was ever the skeptic.

"That would take too long and a lot of things could go wrong."

"Like what? No one knows that I'm with the Akatsuki and the worst possible outcome is
that I can't become his friend! And anyway, isn't it worth the wait if we don't get found
out?" Sasori grudgingly agreed with Naruto's logic.

"We'll have to send a message to Leader-sama and the brat and I will remain stationed
around Konoha in case of an emergency." Naruto nodded in agreement with Sasori and the
puppet master continued, "You are far beyond the level of a mere Genin already and even
normal chunin are weaker than you. I am confident that you will do well."

"Thanks Sasori!" Naruto said, delighted to have been complemented by the normally
disapproving ninja.

"The exams start in six days, Naruto and I will go ahead and arrive at Konoha tonight and
get an application. Naruto can use the time before the exams to study the one-tail."
Deidara interjected and the others agreed. Naruto and Deidara stood up in unison and put
money on the table. "See you later." They said in unison and then they left Sasori alone in
the middle of an empty curry house.

"Goddamnit!" Naruto snarled as he barged into the hotel room. Deidara and Sasori didn't
even look up at him.

"Still no luck?" Deidara asked as he worked his chakra into a large chunk of clay.

"It's like he doesn't exist! The exams start tomorrow and I still don't have any information
on this bastard! Or his siblings!" Naruto kicked the room's stand up wardrobe hard enough
for his foot to get stuck in the wood. He sat down and started trying to tear his foot out.

"Well, maybe it'll be fine. You befriended almost everyone in the Akatsuki in less than a
month, remember." Deidara said and Naruto grunted in reply. He finally managed to yank
out his foot and he glowered at the wardrobe as if he blamed it for all his problems.

"Have you acquired an application yet?" Sasori, who was in his 'human' form, asked as he
ground up herbs to be used for poison.

"Yeah." Naruto said glumly as he held up a small sheet of paper. "I stole it from the
Konoha records building."

"Good. Hurry up and sigh it."

"Fine, fine." Naruto shuffled over to the one desk in the room and rummaged around for a
pen. "So…what should I expect for the chunin exams?" Naruto hazarded the question that
had been bothering him for the past five days.

"Do you know how long it's been since I took those exams?" Sasori snorted. "They change
it every year." Naruto looked hopefully at Deidara but the older blond just gave him a
sheepish look.

"Sorry Naruto. All I know is that there will be and information gathering test, a survival
test, and a fighting test. That's how it always is." Naruto found a pen under pile of
discarded take-out boxes. He curled his lip in disgust and whipped the pen on his pants
before he scribbled down his signature. Naruto knocked the empty boxes off the desk and
into the overflowing trash can before he sat down on the desk chair. He gave Deidara a
frustrated look and ran his fingers through his hair.

"I know, Naruto! But there isn't anything we can do about it!" Deidara was apologetic but
on the verge of exasperation. There had been nothing for him to do the past few days but
speculate and wait for something to happen and it was starting to wear on his nerves.
Naruto looked at the floor and pursed his lips. He felt useless for having been unable to
find out anything about the one-tail. He didn't even know the host's name! Deidra started
kneading his clay viciously and Naruto squeezed the pen until the ink exploded out.

Sasori looked up from his poisonous concoction and watched the two younger ninja
carefully. They were both way too cocky and this recent inactivity was bothering them like
a thorn. Sasori cared because if either of them did something rash he'd be stuck with clean
up duty. Naruto stood up and smeared the ink on his hand across the wall.

"I'm going to get food, I want an early night." Sasori nodded approvingly and went back to
grinding the herbs. Deidara, on the other hand, watch Naruto leave miserably. He would
have given almost anything to be leaving too!

Kiba, Sasuke, and Sakura walked boldly into room 301 and were all shocked by the sheer
number of people inside. They stared into the room for a few seconds before Kiba and
Sakura started to stutter things like 'wow' and 'holy hell'. So many people! Are they all
here for the exam? Sakura thought to herself. The trio all heard a delighted squeal and
they whirled around in time to see Ino envelope Sasuke in a hug.

"Sasuke-kun! You're almost late!" She purred, "I haven't seen you in such a long time, I
was just sooooo excited!"

"Ino-pig!" Sakura yelled. "Get your hooves off Sasuke!"

"Oh, hi Forehead Girl. Hi Kiba."

"Um, hi?" Kiba had been looking from girl to girl during the exchange and he had been
nervous that saying anything might instigate more high pitched wails. Akamaru barked a
couple times from his perch on Kiba's head but other than that he didn't move.

"What did you call me?" Sakura challenged and Ino stuck her tongue out.

"Hey guys." Shikamaru sighed as he walked up behind team ten's only female member
with Choji trailing closely behind him. "So you guys have to take this stupid test too? Don't
die…."

"Hi Shikumaru, Choji." Sasuke and Kiba said in disharmonious unison. Sakura was too
busy glowering at Ino to great either boy.
"Man…this sucks." Shikamaru griped to no one in particular. Kiba noticed Choji eyeing
Akamaru hungrily and he shifted further away from the chubby ninja.

"Well I guess this makes all of Konoha's nine rookie ninja." Said a new voice from behind
Kiba. The dog ninja glanced over his shoulder and grinned at team eight.

"Geez…You guys too? How troublesome…"

"S-sorry" Hinata stuttered as she pushed her index fingers together. Shino remained as
impassive as ever, he didn't even move his head to indicate a greeting.

"Well I'm glad that we're all together!" Said the final member of tram eight stubbornly,
"We were all in the academy together and we should become chunin together as well!"

"Didn't you only join the academy a few months before we all graduated, Haku?" Kiba
challenged.

"Yes but I was still there." The ice-ninja said brightly and Kiba just smirked. Nothing in the
world could dampen Haku's spirits.

At a nearby table, Naruto rubbed his temples in irritation. Why were all the Konoha rookies
so damn loud? Naruto was almost grateful when a white-haired Konoha ninja told them all
to be quite but his happiness was short lived as said white haired ninja struck up a
conversation. He didn't really feel like moving but the Konoha nin were really getting on
his nerves.

"Who do you think you are?" Ino challenged.

"I'm Kabuto but that's not important. Why don't you look behind you?" Naruto's hackles
raised as all nine rookies turned their gaze on him. Naruto noticed that some of them had
perspiration on their faces after they looked at him and he wondered if he was really that
scary. "He's an Iwa ninja without a team and he's clearly annoyed. Everyone's nervous
about the exam so why don't you shut up before you cause a scene?"

What am I, a zoo animal? Naruto wondered as the nine rookies continued to stare. Just to
spook them, Naruto let his eyes glow crimson and he grinned at them. Very slowly, he
licked his lips and was pleased to see some of them look terrified.

"Well I can't blame you rookies for being completely clueless," Kabuto continued in his
annoyingly imperious voice. "You remind me of how I used to act."

"Kabuto-san, was it?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah."

"Is this your second time taking the exam?"

"No, it's my seventh." Naruto's eyebrows vanished under his hair. Whoa, he must suck!
Anik-Deidara passed on his first try! And that was before we stole the art of a single
moment scroll!"The exam is twice a year and this is my fourth year." Kabuto explained.

"So you know a lot about the exam then?" Sakura asked but Kabuto didn't answer.

"I think I'll share some information with you cute rookies. With these nin-info cards"
Naruto stifled a snicker. He's kidding, right? Naruto listened to Kabuto's explanation of his
nin-cards with growing amusement. Oh my god, he's serious! I have to tell Deidara about
this dude! Although, Naruto reflected, Deidara had probably met him already if this was his
seventh time.

Naruto's intrest in the conversation returned when Sasuke asked about card information
on individuals and Kabuto said yes. "Can you give me information on Rock Lee of Leaf and
Gaara of the Sand?" Sasuke asked.

Kabuto waved his hands over a couple cards and the nine clustered around to look. Naruto
couldn't make out Kabuto's hushed explanation but he was intrigued to say the least. He
wondered if the Kabuto-fellow had a card for the one-tail.

Kiba grinned as he looked at the cards. Kabuto was amazing! "Hey hey!" he said, "Do you
have any information on…" He glanced back at the one man team Iwa nin. He had felt a
powerful déjà vu when he looked at him but he couldn't place the familiarity and it was
bothering him. The Iwa ninja looked made eye contact with Kiba and the dog-ninja was
surprised that his eyes were blue. Had the red been a trick of the light? He tore his eyes
away and looked back at Kabuto only to see he had a blank look on his face.

Sasuke, who had followed Kiba's gaze elaborated. "That Iwa ninja with blond hair and a
scratch in his forehead protector; do you have a card on him?" Before Kabuto could speak
Kiba and Sasuke both felt an iron grip on their shoulders. They turned their heads and say
the face of the Iwa ninja only inches away from theirs. Sakura shrieked and fell backwards
and the other rookies looked shocked and afraid. He had one hand on each of their
shoulders and they felt the power in his fingers.

He could tear through my flesh like tissue paper Kiba thought the same time Sasuke
thought; He could shatter my shoulder he wanted to! The two boys felt a shameful fear
boil in the pits of their stomach. In a trance they took in every inch of the Iwa nin's
features. They saw his lips twisted into a demonic smirk and the three scratches on each
cheek seem to become darker. His eyebrows were low and his slanted eyes were
calculating and obviously blue. "Yes, Kabuto-san, don't you have information on me?"The
ninja said without emotion and all the rookies (except Haku) felt their skin crawl.

Kabuto gave the blonde a calculating look but shook his head. The Iwa ninja's grin
widened. "Very well then. You two, Kabuto doesn't appear to have any information on me
at all! So why don't you go ahead and ask me what it is you want to know?" Kiba gulped
and Sasuke glared but both held their tongues. Neither believed that they could ask any
questions without being killed.

"We didn't mean to disturb you, I am truly sorry." Haku was the only one bold enough to
speak and Naruto looked at him with interest. "My name is Haku, you are…?"

"Naruto." The Iwa ninja spoke only to Haku and he took his hands off Kiba and Sasuke.
Haku smiled nervously but Naruto's attention had been captured by one of the cards lying
on the ground. Gaara of the Sand, he thought. Looks like I might have found the one-tail.

"Take care now." Naruto said to the group at large and he strode back to his seat. He
noticed that the room was deathly quiet; everyone had been watching their little
transaction. He scanned the area for Gaara and found him sitting with a couple of other
Suna ninja. They made eye contact but Gaara diverted his gaze before Naruto could read
any emotions in them.

Kiba rubbed his shoulder and watched Naruto sit back down. "Anyone else got the feeling
that they've met him before?" He whispered and the other rookies, except Haku, nodded.
Slowly the chatter in the room started up again but the Konoha genin continued to
whisper.

"That kind of behavior is normal here. Everyone here is an elite genin from their own
village." Kabuto told them.
"Makes you lose confidence." Hinata muttered.

"Do you really not have information on Naruto?" Sasuke asked and Kabuto smiled.

"I don't have a card on him but I can tell you what I think I know." The nine rookies
leaned in as Kabuto again dropped his voice. "He's stronger than you can probably
imagine. I think he could beat Gaara without breaking a sweat. You saw all the scars he
had and the scratch in his headband, right? He must have been in a lot of battles and he
can back his cockiness. This exam won't be easy with people like him, you're out of you
league."

Kiba started to quiver slightly and Sakura gave him a worried look. Even Kiba seems
nervous and I don't blame him. Every one here's a genin but we're at the bottom of the
bottom… But it's weird to see Kiba like this. I'll cheer him up a bit. She thought and she
reached out and gently touched his back. "H-Hey Kiba, don't be down okay? We all…"

She was stopped midsentence when Kiba straightened up and bellowed, "Listen up! My
name's Inuzuka Kiba and I won't loss to any of you bastards! You got that?"

"What does he think he is?" Ino complained to Sakura but the pink ninja was equally
exasperated.

"Ahh, that felt great." Kiba said. Sasuke, Haku, and Kabuto smirked at his words. Naruto
covered his mouth to keep his laughter down. I think we might get along well. He's like me
before…Although he didn't admit it, leaving Iwa had drastically changed Naruto. He had
become less interested in people he would only know for a short while and the constant
fear of being hunted had made him more powerful than he would have been otherwise.
But he kind of missed the person he had once been, naïve and foolish but he was also
pleased with who he had become it was just... Kiba was exactly like looking back in time at
himself. Naruto forced those thoughts down. What good would it do him? He was who he
was and he could never go back.

Haku glanced around the room at all the smirking ninja. Kiba seemed to have made
himself a lot of enemies. He hazarded a glance at Naruto and was unsurprised to see the
Iwa ninja barely containing his laughter. Hake diverted his gaze quickly and continued to
scan the room but he saw no other immediate threat. Slowly the chatter started up again
but everyone kept an eye on the Konoha rookies. They were turning rapidly into a prime
source of entertainment.

"What a moron…you know that you just turned everyone in here into your enemy?"
Shikamaru snorted, "You're just so troublesome…"

Suddenly there was a huge poof of smoke in the front of the room. A deep voice made the
window panes reverberate when it bellowed, "Quiet down you worthless bastards!"
Everyone in the room stared as the smoke cleared to revile a huge man with a scared face
and many ninjas dressed in white. The scarred man gave them a ghastly smile and said in
his deep voice, "Thanks for waiting. I am Morino Ibiki, the examiner for the first chunin
exam section."

Several people gulped as Ibiki looked around the room. His eyes rested on Naruto and he
pointed at him. "One-man-team-san, please refrain from instigating any fights. Fighting is
not tolerated during my exam and even if you get permission killing is strictly prohibited. If
you disobey you will be disqualified." Naruto made an apologetic gesture.

"We shall now start the first exam. Instead of your current seating arrangements, please
come forward and select a tile and sit at the seat with the same number as the tile. Then
we will hand out the tests."
All the ninjas filed into some kind of line and picked up their numbers. Hinata's number
was fifty-two and she shuffled nervously to her seat. Haku gave her an encouraging smile
as he walked past her and Hinata's insides stopped squirming so furiously. Haku could
calm Hinata better than anyone else which was why she was in the same team as him.
She took a few breaths and looked confidently forward until the person number fifty-three
sat down next to her.

She quailed at the mere thought of the Iwa ninja but having Naruto so close to her made
her feel faint. She scooted nervously away from him and shivered. Hinata had never seen
a more terrifying person in the world, not even Neji could make her quake in her boots the
way Naruto could. The blond glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes and she flinched.

"Oh for the love of god! I'm not going to eat you, girl!" Naruto said. Why was everyone so
afraid of him? The Konoha rookies were scared of him even before he nearly crushed the
two annoying brat's shoulders. And now freaky-eyes-girl was acting like he was some kind
of demon! Well, I am a demon… but it's not like they know that!

"U-u-um, s-sorry, N-Naruto-samma." Hinata was nearly in the lap of the very
uncomfortable ninja next to her but her fear overcame her embarrassment. Naruto rubbed
his temples and ignored her.

"Get off me." Grumbled the ninja in seat fifty-one though truth be told he didn't mind over
much having such a cute girl so close to him. Hinata reluctantly slid back into her part of
the bench but she kept one eye on Naruto. A couple examiners handed out the tests
facedown and Ibiki started talking as they did so.

"Do not turn your tests over," He instructed. "Listen carefully as I explain the rules. They
are important so I'll write them on the board as I explain but questions are not allowed."
Naruto lifted an eyebrow and folded his arms over his chest. Ibiki was really a no-
nonsense type person.

"First, the test is worth ten points. Each question you get right gives you a point and each
one you get wrong will lose you a point. Second, this is a team test. Whether or not you
pass is determined by your team's combined points. So each team, except one, can get a
total of thirty points." Ibiki glanced at Naruto when he mentioned the exception but other
than that he addressed the class.

There was a loud thump behind Naruto and he turned his head to see the Konoha rookie
he had dubbed 'pinky' had slammed her head against the table. Pinky's a.k.a. Sakura's
hand shot up and she blurted out, "Wait a second! I get the point thing but why is this a
team test?"

"Shut up. I said no questions." Ibiki said and Naruto was amused to se Pinky deflate
slightly. "The third rule is that for every time you are caught cheating you will lose two
points. If anyone loses all their points during the test they and the rest of their team will
be asked to leave."

"First up is information gathering." Naruto murmured under his breath as he remembered

Deidara's words from the night before. This test was so easy to see through! Ibiki was
testing everyone's skills at information gathering. Hinata looked at Naruto out of the
corner of her eye. She was the only person close enough to hear his whisper and it
intrigued her.

"And the final rule is that if any one member fails, the rest of their team will fail as well.
The exam will last for one hour. Begin!" Everyone flipped over their tests and began to
read the questions. Naruto began to scrawl down answers. The test was all information he
knew and he'd be done in ten minutes, tops. Throughout the room, people stared at the
paper in horror and confusion. Only a few people had realized that the test was a test of
their spying skills and had started cheating the way ninja should.
Naruto finished question nine and turned his paper over. He would have to wait until the
rest of the time was up before he got to here the tenth question. He doodled on the back
of his paper and watched Gaara out of the corner of his eye. He needed to find out
everything about the one-tail's host that he possibly could.

There was another loud noise and Naruto looked back and watched a random ninja stand
up. "I'd just like to know something," he said. "How many teams do you plan will pass this
test?" Naruto's turned back to the front of the room so he could see Ibiki's reaction.

Ibiki chuckled slightly and then his gaze hardened. "It's not like knowing will help you, or
do you want to be disqualified?"

"Sorry." The random genin said and he sat back down. Naruto smirked and turned his
attention back to Gaara. The Suna ninja reached his hand forward and Naruto was
unsurprised to see partials of sand gathering around his limb. There's no doubt now. He is
the one-tail's host. He watched as Gaara quickly created an eye out of sand and sent it to
look at other tests. So that's how he does it he thought to himself. He turned back to the
front of the room and planned out his next move.

Naruto was greatly amused whenever a team was kicked out, especially when the cheater
got up in arms about it and the examiner and had to get physical. Damn. When did I
become such a cynic? He wondered but he shrugged it off. I guess Deidara's personality
really has rubbed off on me. He glanced at the clock again and was happy to see that it
was time for the tenth question. Right on time Ibiki cleared his throat and everyone gave
him their undivided attention.

"Before we begin I'd like to go over an added rule." Ibiki ignored the groans and continued
on talking, "First, I want you all to choose whether or not to answer the tenth question."

"Choose?" A girl Naruto believed was one of the sand siblings said, "Why on earth would
we choose not to?"

"If you choose not to answer your points will be automatically reduced to zero and you fail.
However if you choose to take it and you get it wrong you will never be allowed to take the
chunin exam for the rest of your life."

"What kind of stupid rule is that?" Kiba challenged, "There are plenty of people who've
taken the exam loads of times!"

"You all are unlucky to have me as an examiner. I have a higher standard than most
people." I think Sasori would like this guy. He's got the same sadistic tendencies. Naruto
mused. He wasn't worried about the question; he didn't care if he became a chunin! But if
Gaara dropped out he would too. Then the Akatsuki would capture him by force. However,
Gaara of the sand remained as impassive as ever and neither he nor his siblings dropped
out.

However more ninjas than Naruto expected to dropped out. When the group had been
dwindled into a small group of seventy-nine very determined looking ninjas, Ibiki smiled.

"To the seventy-nine that remain…congratulations on passing the first test!"

Naruto stared at Ibiki in confusion. How had they passed? They hadn't done anything! And
he was not the only person to think that. Pinky's hand shot up and she blurted out, "What
do you mean? How can we have passed? You didn't ask us the tenth question!"

Ibiki smiled and Naruto's confusion increased. What happened to the hard-ass instructor?
"There never was a tenth question," Ibiki said. "Or you could say that the choice was the
tenth question."
"Hey! Then what was the point of the first nine questions!" The female sand-sibling, who
Naruto had nicknamed pineapple-head, demanded. Naruto watched her in approval. This
test was total bull-shit, a person could pass without answering any of the first nine
questions! What was the point? Did Ibiki want to teach everyone that skills didn't matter?

"They were not pointless. They were designed to test your information gathering skills."
Ibiki said with another smile. No shit! Naruto thought. He leaned forward in his seat until
he was almost lying on the table. He's acting like an ugly Konan!

Apparently many people hadn't realized that they were being tested on information
gathering, a.k.a. they didn't know that they were supposed to cheat. Naruto sighed in
exasperation and rubbed his temples. "The test was designed so that a mere genin could
never answer the questions. Most of you would have to cheat to pass. Those ninja that
were spotted cheating lost points and were kicked out because at times information is
more important than life and on missions way worse things can happen to you than failing
the chunin exams."

As he spoke, Ibiki untied his head covering and reveled the scarred over burns, cuts, and
screw holes that covered the top of his head. Naruto was unmoved. He had seen far worse
things done to people. But he had to admit that the giant man got his point through to the
young ninja in the testing room. Most of the genin looked sick or scared. Naruto reluctantly
felt some of his respect for the scarred ninja return. Ibiki recovered his head. "This is one
of the most important skills for a ninja to have," he finished.

"But I still don't understand the point of the tenth question." Haku said politely. Ibiki
smiled and Naruto suppressed a shudder. I wish he'd stop that. It's fucking creepy.

"Question number ten was the most important part." Even Naruto was surprised by that.
He found himself suddenly interested in what Ibiki was saying.

"What do you mean?" Pinky asked.

"Let me explain, the tenth question was designed to be the ultimate leap of faith. It is a
classical 'take it' or 'don't take it' decision. Say you become chunin and you are given an
assignment; you don't know anything about the enemy ninja. If you fail you and your
teammates will die and if you refuse you and your teammates will not be put in harm's
way. But even so you should not refuse. No matter the danger, do not back away from the
unknown. Those who are not courageous and those who can't survive hardship do not
deserve to call themselves ninja! All of you accepted the tenth question even though you
knew that if you failed you would not become chunin are the ones that are worthy of
becoming chunin. If you keep that kind of strength you will make it through any hardship
the ninja world has to offer. You have all passed the first exam and I wish you all luck."

"Hell yeah! You can wish us luck but I don't need it!" The ever cocky Kiba declared. Naruto
glance at the dog-ninja and half-smiled. Inuzuka Kiba… what an interesting guy. I wonder
if I've met him before?

Suddenly a window shattered and a blur of black shot into the room. Naruto tensed for a
second until he noticed that Ibiki wasn't reacting in a negative way. Naruto folded his arms
over his chest and watched the strange occurrence unfold. Two kunai shot out of the blur
and the black unfurled into a huge banner with the words 'Second examiner Mitarashi
Anko' painted on it in white. The two kunai shot into separate points of the celing and the
banner obscured the front half of the room (including Ibiki) from the genin. A purple-
haired young woman wearing mostly all ninja-netting and an overcoat skidded to a halt
and stood up.

"You guys! This is no time to be celebrating!" She announced to the stunned genin, "I am
the second test examiner, Mitarashi Anko! Now let's go! Follow me!" Dead silence greeted
her words.
Ibiki moved the banner so he could stage-whisper, "Can't you sense the mood in here?"
Anko's face colored slightly as she realized that no one had been celebrating. She quickly
scanned all the students and blinked a couple times in surprise.

"What's this Ibiki! How are there seventy-nine people?" She turned her head and
whispered so none of the genin could hear.

"The blond Iwa kid with the three scratch marks on each cheek is a one man team." Ibiki
whispered back. Anko glanced at the ninja out of the corner of her eye. A one man team?
Those where exceptionally rare and there never were one man teams for lower class
ninja! He must really be something; I bet he'll be a lot of fun. Kukukukuku…

"So there's still twenty-seven teams? I think you're going soft!" She said in her normal
voice, "Eh, whatever. My test is guaranteed to cut them in half, Kukukuku! Everyone! I'll
explain the rules once we change location so follow me!"

Anko led them through the streets of Konoha, randomly bursting out in laughter and
ignoring the looks civilians were giving her. The nine Konoha rookies had wisely placed
themselves far behind both Anko and Naruto and were having a quiet conference.

"Look, I know that we know him! …I just don't know from where!"

"Oh give it a rest, Kiba!" Ino snapped. Kiba had really been pushing the issue and it was
getting on her nerves.

"Arf!"

"Maybe you met him on a mission?"

"No way Haku. I would remember someone like that." Sasuke said and Haku frowned.

"Besides, Akamaru would have remembered his sent." Kiba added.

"Arf!"

"Unless we met him before you had Akamaru." Shikamaru said.

"I got him when I was nine and I didn't know anyone outside of Konoha until I was
eleven!"

"Ino, Choji, Shino, Haku, Hinata, and I don't recognize him! I think it's all in your heads."

"U-um, actually I think he seems kind of familiar too, Sakura-san." Kiba grinned and threw
an arm around Hinata so he could hug her while he made a rude gesture at Sakura with
the other hand.

"See! Sasuke, Shikamaru, Hinata and I remember him!" Shino cocked his head to one side
as he considered the evidence and Haku bit his lower lip as he thought. There was very
little evidence for anything but if even Hinata agreed... "Arrrrgh! Why can't I fucking
remember him?" Kiba bellowed and he rubbed his hair franticly as if he thought that would
help him think. Naruto, who was a few yards ahead of them turned a looked back at Kiba.
The nine of them shut up and held their collective breaths until he turned away.

Kiba and Sakura began their argument again but in much lower voices so that their subject
wouldn't hear them. Sasuke, on the other hand, continued to watch Naruto. The blonde
was walking next to Gaara of the Sand and talking animatedly. Gaara was ignoring him
and the two other sand siblings were a few feet behind and looking nervous. No one had
ever dared to get that close to Gaara before and no one had ever talked to him like that
before.

Sasuke strained his ears but he still couldn't hear what Naruto was saying. But it was
interesting enough to watch the conversation. Naruto threw his arms up and waved them
like he was animating an explosion and then he brought them close and drew tiny swirls in
the air with his fingers. Gaara glanced at him and Temari and Kankuro cringed but the red
head made no violent action and no sand gathered. In fact, Gaara seemed vaguely
amused although Sasuke couldn't see any reason as to why he thought that. Gaara's face
remained blank while he watched Naruto draw a couple of domes, spires, and circles in the
air.

Sasuke's attention was brought back to the conversation of the people he was with when
Sakura shirked, "Look! Even if we ever did know him at one point he's a dangerous
monster now! We should stay far away from him!" Sasuke wondered about that. It was
true that Naruto had nearly broken his and Kiba's shoulder but Sasuke doubted that
Naruto had actually wanted to cause them lasting harm because if he had they'd probably
be dead now. And the way Naruto was acting now…

"I don't buy that! We need to find out who he was and how we knew him!" Kiba retorted.

"If you want to know so badly then you should talk to him." Haku said evenly. Sasuke
looked at him in surprise and Kiba looked nervous. Then he cracked a grin.

"Fine, I will and I'll…"

"Welcome to the second stage of the exams, practice arena forty-four, also known as the
forest of death." Most people had already stopped before Anko had started talking and so
the nine of them stumbled to a halt. They stared up at the massive trees being held back
by a flimsy-looking chain link fence and a few of them shifted nervously.

"It's so creepy." Sakura said softly but evidently Anko heard her.

"Bah, creepy doesn't cover half of it," The cocky purple haired ninja said. "You'll soon find
out why it's called the forest of death. I can see that we have a few blood thirsty people
with us so…" Anko stuck her had into her overcoat and pulled out a hefty stack of papers.

"Everyone who wants to participate in the second exams must sign a waiver. There will be
deaths and I don't want to be responsible!" She shoved the stack of papers into a random
ninja's hands and continued to talk. "Pass those around and before you sign them I will
explain the rules. Then you will turn them in at the booth behind me one team at a time.
Alright! So this test is the ultimate survival test! Arena forty-four is a large area
surrounded by a circular fence with forty-four gates. Inside is a forest, a river, and at the
dead center there is a tower. The distance from the gates to the tower is roughly ten
kilometers. Inside anything goes. Each team will be given one of two scrolls." Anko held up
a white and black scroll as she spoke. One had the kanji for heaven and the other said
earth.

"Your goal will be to obtain one of each scroll and make it to the tower with all of your
teammates alive and within the time span. The number of scrolls among you will be
roughly half and half of each type. The time limit is five days exactly."

"But what about food!" Choji asked in alarm.

"The forest if full of food, figure something out or go hungry. But be sure to avoid all the
poisonous plants and dangerous animals. The rules are; no one will be allowed to leave the
forest for five days no matter what the reason and no one may look inside the scroll until
they are inside of the tower."
"Why? What happens if you do?" Kiba asked.

"That's for those who look to find out." Anko said with a slight purr. An uncomfortable
murmur swept through the gathered genin but Anko silenced them when she opened her
mouth again. "This is to test your trustworthiness as Chunin are often asked to handle
classified information. That is all for the explanation! Come to the booth one team at a
time, turn in your waivers, and receive your scroll!" Anko turned on her heel and marched
to the booth. As soon as she was inside another ninja drew up a curtain and then
disappeared inside himself.

Sasuke was close enough to hear Naruto say, "Well then! I guess I'll be seeing you at the
tower. I bet I can make it there first." to Gaara. Gaara just watched in silence as Naruto
walked off and did not rise to the challenge. To be honest, Gaara didn't know how to react.
There was someone who wasn't afraid of him, who wanted to be his friend. But his face
showed none of his inner conflict.

"Let's go." He instructed his siblings and they followed him to the booth.

"Well, now's your chance." Ino told Kiba and the brunette ninja grinned. Naruto was
walking away from the large group and Kiba ran after him, determined to find out who
exactly he was.

Naruto was very pleased with himself. Contact with the one-tail had been easy and Naruto
was positive that they would become 'friends' before the exams ended. He might not even
have to complete the exams! Naruto rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. He wanted to
be back at the Akatsuki base among his real friends! Though he was a little worried about
what he should do, the last time he had seen them he had been really unpleasant. Naruto
sat down with his back against a random tree and signed his name without bothering to
read the paper, when was he not risking his life?

He closed his eyes and rested his head against the tree trunk. He was jerked at of his
tranquility by the sound of rapid footsteps coming towards him. He kept his eyes shut until
the footsteps had stopped. He cracked open an eye and looked critically at the person
before him. "Isn't it a little hot for a parka, Inuzuka?" Naruto said as he closed his eyes
again.

Naruto was surprised to hear Kiba sit down with a thud and he opened his eyes completely
and watched the brunette pull his dog off his head and drop is in his lap. They sat in
silence for a while as Kiba tried to figure out what he wanted to say and Naruto waited to
hear it. Eventually Kiba said, "Who are you?"

"Naruto," Naruto answered.

"Well what's your full name?"

"Why does that matter?" Kiba grit his teeth and glared at Naruto.

"Just tell me-"

"No. Now stop bothering me."

"Auurgh! Goddamnit! Who are you? Why do I feel like I've met you before?"

"I'm Naruto. I don't have any idea why you think you've met you because I don't know
you. Now would you please go away?" Naruto said calmly. On the inside he knew that he
also felt like he had met Kiba and co before but he didn't care. Kiba took a few seconds to
compose himself before he tried again.
"Have you been to Konoha before?"

"Yes." Kiba waited but Naruto left it at that so Kiba prompted him again.

"Care to elaborate?"

"No."

"When?"

"A long time ago."

"Well why were you here?"

"I was born here." A thought stirred in the back of Kiba's head but it was gone before he
could capture it.

"Why did you leave?"

"My aniki came and took me away."

"What's your brother's name?" Naruto shook his head and Kiba considered all the
information Naruto had given him. The Iwa ninja had been born in Konoha but had left
when his older brother had come and got him. Kiba knew that he should remember who
Naruto was but he couldn't pinpoint why. If only I had his full name, then I know that I
would remember him!

"Why didn't your brother come live here?"

"Konoha sucks. Iwa is a much nicer place. And we had other family there."

"Well why where you born here?" Naruto mulled that question around his head but in the
end he shook his head. Why was he answering these questions? He could be hazarding his
mission! Kiba sensed that Naruto was starting to clam up and he tried to keep him talking,
"Did you live here with your parents?"

"No."

"Why?"

"They died a long time ago." Kiba paused as he realized for the first time that although
Naruto was scary and could snap his neck like a toothpick, he was still only a twelve year
old kid. Hell, he was shorter than all of the Konoha rookies! But he also had a haunted look
about his eyes and Kiba wondered what kind of life a person would have to have to look
like that. He took a deep breath before he continued.

"Why did your family leave you alone in Konoha?"

"They didn't know about me."

"How did they find out?"

"Aniki found me."

"And if he hadn't?"
"I would be dead." Naruto's eyes flashed with pure loathing and Kiba's skin crawled. Even
Akamaru whimpered and wriggled his way into Kiba's parka to get away from the Iwa
ninja.

"W-why?" Naruto curled his lips and glared at Kiba.

"The people of Konoha would have killed me." He spat and Kiba gulped. He didn't want
Naruto to become any angrier but he needed to know who Naruto was.

"Why?" Kiba's voice sounded faint and weak even to his own ears and he was relieved to
see Naruto forcibly calm himself.

"My father was an enemy of them." Naruto wondered why he didn't stop talking. The weird
feeling of familiarity was making him talk, but he knew but he wanted Kiba to go away.

"No! Konoha's not like that! They would never try to kill someone because of…" Kiba
stopped talking as a hand grabbed him by the throat. Kiba gasped in pain as Naruto stood
up and lifted his feet off the ground. Akamaru bravely sought to bite the hand around his
master's neck but Naruto just knocked the hound unconscious with his other hand. Kiba
reached for the weapon pouch at his side but Naruto swung him around and slammed him
against the tree. Kiba's vision swam and he let out a strangled cough.

Kiba's eyes locked with Naruto's and he was confused to see that the blonde's eyes were
crimson once again. Kiba reached desperately for his pouch of weapons once more but
Naruto dragged Kiba forward until their noses almost touched. Then Kiba was slammed
against the tree again and again and again. Naruto didn't say a single word but Kiba could
feel Naruto's hatred radiating in waves. Little white dots danced in his vision and he had
almost passed out before Naruto let him go.

Kiba collapsed in a heap at Naruto's feet; coughing and rubbing his throat. He looked up
and saw Naruto, eyes still blazing red, with two kunai digging into his neck. Kiba's eyes
slowly came into focus and he saw that it was Sasuke and Shikamaru that held the
weapons. A few feet away, Haku, Shino, and Ino were standing with weapons out. Hinata
was crouched over Akamaru and Choji was still running to get over to them with Sakura
tailing after him.

"Kiba, you okay?" Sasuke asked without taking his eyes off the back of the blonde's head.

"Yeah," Kiba croaked. As suddenly as he had attacked Kiba, Naruto grabbed Sasuke and
Shikamaru by the wrists and flipped both of them over his shoulders and slammed both of
them to the ground on either side of Kiba. Haku lunged forward but Naruto ducked under
his arms and delivered a right hook to his chin. As Haku fell backwards, Naruto kicked him
in the stomach; hard enough for the ice ninja to spew blood. Before any of the others had
a chance to attack Naruto retreated several steps.

He blinked hard when he opened his eyes they were blue once more. He glared at Kiba
and Kiba stared right back. "You had better all hurry up and sign your waivers. The exam
will be starting soon." Naruto said evenly but anger bubbled under his words and his gaze
was spiteful. Naruto whirled around and stalked off to the booth.

"I know who you are!" Kiba called after him but Naruto kept right on walking. He didn't
even turn his head in the slightest. Haku groaned and got to all fours before shakily
getting to his feet. Sasuke and Shikamaru were doing likewise and Kiba put his hand on
the tree to steady himself as he hauled himself to his feet. Hinata hurried to his side with
Akamaru in her arms.

"H-he's okay, just stunned." She told him as he took his dog.
"Thanks Hinata."

"So I give up. Who is he?" Sasuke said as he rubbed feeling back into his wrist. Kiba gently
cradled his dog and he shook his head to clear it. The idea had popped into his head while
Naruto was strangling him and even while he was getting oxygen in his brain it made
since.

"Who was my best friend when I was a little kid?"

"The little runty kid that was always covered in bruise?" Ino asked as she racked her brain.

"Yeah, his name was Spiral." Shikamaru added.

"Uzumaki. His name was Uzumaki Naruto." Kiba corrected. There was a long pause while
the information sunk in.

"No fucking way." Sasuke said.

"B-but Uzumaki-kun was a-always so nice."

"Yeah! You're saying that the kid who used to give his lunch to stray cats became that
demon?"

"That kid was really weak!"

"I guess he grew up." Kiba said quietly and everyone fell silent as they considered it.

"I don't understand." Haku panted. He still had a hand on his stomach and he was clearly
in a lot of pain.

"Uzumaki Naruto was a kid we knew when we were really young. One day he left with
some girly-dude, Deidre, I think his name was. He went to Iwa to live with him. We kept in
contact for a little under a year."

"The people of Konoha would have killed me." Naruto had said. Kiba shook his head and
wondered what that meant. It was true that Naruto always seemed to be hurt but Kiba
didn't think that people wanted him dead! And who had Naruto's father been?

"Deidre?" Haku repeated the name and frowned, "Are you sure that it wasn't Deidara?"

"Could have been, why?" Kiba said.

"Deidara is an S-rank criminal in the bingo books. A little over a year ago he stole a
forbidden scroll from Iwa and he became a terrorist bomber."

"I think that it was Deidre." Sasuke sounded like he was trying to convince himself more
than anyone else.

"Yeah. That was what it was." Shikamaru said. The three of them had been very close to
Naruto and only Kiba was willing to believe that he had changed so radically. Akamaru
stirred and whimpered slightly and Kiba scratched him between the ears to try to calm him
down.

"Well now we know who he is so what do we do now?" Ino asked.

"Nothing," Kiba said. "We do nothing."

"B-But Kiba, he was o-our f-fr-friend!"

"Yeah, was being the key word. I think he just made it pretty clear that he wants nothing
to do with us so we leave him alone." Kiba felt a little empty as he said that. He would
have never expected to see him old best friend before but Naruto disliked him enough to
want to kill him and Kiba didn't know how he should feel.

"Do you think he remembers any of you?" Haku wondered and all of them balked slightly
as they considered that. Kiba watched Naruto walk into the booth and then emerge a few
seconds later.

"I don't think it matters. Let's go get our scrolls," Kiba said and his friends all exchanged
glances. Kiba took off without saying goodbye and his teammates scurried after him.

Chapter 13

Sasori had been expecting Deidara to snap sooner or later. The blond ninja was worried
sick about how his brother was doing and on top of that he had run out of things to occupy
himself about three seconds after Naruto had left to take the exams. Sasori sat in his own
room, diligently tinkering with several wooden limbs and waiting for Deidara to start
screaming or talking to himself. Deidara was in the next room over and Sasori could hear
him pacing already, trying to get rid of all his nervous energy.

Sasori listened as Deidara started to jog in place, then do sit-ups, pushups, and finally
pull-ups. Then there was no sound from the young ninja's room. Sasori imagined that
Deidara was sitting on his bed with his head in his hands. There was no sound other than
the steady clicking of the puppet limb for a long time. Then the moment Sasori had been
waiting for arrived.

"Gaaaaah! I CAN'T FUCKING TAKE IT ANYMORE!" Sasori smiled to himself as Deidara's

door slammed shut and then said ninja kicked open Sasori's door without bothering to
knock. Sasori was sitting with his back to the door, hunched over the hotel desk so
Deidara couldn't see his wide grin. "I'm leaving, un." Deidara informed him.

He spun around and had already left the hotel by the time Sasori said, "Don't get caught,
brat."

Naruto had the scroll of heaven. He was sitting at gate three, waiting for the exam to start
and was entertaining himself by trying to get the scroll to spin in the dirt. The Konoha dirt.
Naruto curled his lip and squeezed the scroll hard enough for it to crumple slightly. He
hated everything about Konoha. The longer he stayed the angrier he became. Faded
memories were swirling to the surface and he couldn't think of a single redeeming quality
about the village. I'm here, surrounded by the people that tried to kill me when I was
defenseless. In a different world we would have been comrades or maybe even
friends! Naruto bit back the powerful urge to follow in his father's footsteps and lay siege
to Konoha. He had a mission to befriend the one-tail and help his brother. He would not
cause trouble by reducing a ninja village to ruble.

He stood up and brushed the dust off his pants and spotted an examiner walking towards
him, presumably to unlock the gate. The examiner was a tall, shaggy looking man with a
mane of spiked black hair and a permanent frown. He ignored Naruto and quickly unlocked
the gate but held the door shut while he held up his wristwatch and waited for the second
hand to make its way to the tiny twelve.

"Good luck." The man grunted a second to twelve. He jumped away from the door and
Naruto charged through it. He had made a bet with Gaara and he wanted to win. That part
of him would never change. Who should I go after? I want to do this quickly so I had
better go after a rookie team. Without consciously making a decision, Naruto moved off to
where team seven's gate was.

Team seven had just walked in. They had no plan and therefore they felt no reason to
rush. Kiba was still cradling Akamaru even though the dog had already recovered
completely and Sasuke and Sakura didn't know what they should do. Never before had
they seen their rowdy teammate look so completely crushed.

After only a few minutes there was a shrill scream from a long ways away. The three ninja
turned quickly in the direction the sound had come but made no move to investigate.
"That was…a human Scream, right?" Sakura asked. The sound had been unearthly and
haunting and even Sasuke felt uneasy after hearing it. The pink ninja looked at both of her
teammate's backs. "I'm getting kind of nervous," she muttered.

"That was nothing, Sakura!" Kiba reassured her. Both boys had looked back at her while
she had been speaking and were looking worried. The three of them stood in silence for a
while until the tension was too much for Sakura to bear.

She turned around and started walking deeper into the woods. She had only moved a few
feet, though, before Sasuke and Kiba started to follow her. "Um," She said as she looked
over her shoulder. "I need to go to the bathroom."

"Oh." Both boys said in unison and both of them had scarlet creeping onto their cheeks.
She turned around and walked into the woods. She moved far enough away that she could
not see or hear either boys but they could hear her if she screamed.

Sakura sighed. She didn't know what to do; she was so far in over her head! Sakura had a
hard time keeping up with the other Konoha rookies but the genin from other countries
even blew Haku and Sasuke out of the water! Especially Naruto. Sakura shuttered at the
thought of her former friend. But what could she do? Sakura sighed again slipped her
thumbs into her waistband.

Suddenly a kunai was being pressed to Sakura's throat and a hand had clamped over her
mouth. Before she could even blink a voice hissed in her ear, "If I so much as think you
might scream I drive this Kunai into your jugular, understand?" Sakura nodded as best she
could and stayed frozen in position. She felt hot breath against the back of her neck and
she slowly turned her head until she could look into one of the cerulean eyes of her
attacker but Naruto roughly jerked her head forward again with the hand he had on her
mouth.

"Do not move." He hissed again and Sakura nodded. She had tears in her eyes but she
refused to let them fall. How could she have let him sneak up on her so easily? He's
stronger then I am and it looks like he's better at stealth than me too. Sakura thought as
she squeezed her eyes shut.

Naruto looked hard at the back of Sakura's head and slowly removed his hand from her
mouth. The strange feeling of familiarity was back and now it was strong enough to make
his head ach but he still pushed it aside. With his spare hand he opened the pouch on her
hip and dug through it. She had only a basic arsenal and beginner tools. "Who has you
scroll?" He asked her but she shook her head.
Naruto pressed his kunai into Sakura's throat until tiny beads of blood gathered against
the metal. Sakura whimpered in fear and pain and whispered, "Kiba." Before she could
stop herself.

"What scroll?"

"Heaven. We have the heaven scroll." Naruto grinned at Sakura's muttered words. He
could wait for them to be attacked by someone with an earth scroll and then he could reap
the benefits and see Kiba suffer! He put his hand on her hip and she flinched away from
his touch. Naruto ignored her reaction and spun her around so they were eye to eye but
his kunai remained pressed to her neck.

Sakura had to angle her head down so that she could look Naruto in the eye but that did
nothing to lessen her fear. "N-Naruto-san?" she whispered but his face remained
impassive. Sakura gulped before continuing, "Are you going to kill me?"

Much to her horror, Naruto smirked. "Yes."

Naruto caught Sakura as she fainted and quickly set her on the ground. He pulled out a
sheet of paper and scribbled down a seal that would keep her asleep until the exam was
over. Unless, of course it was removed but Naruto set up a ward around her so that any
wild animals or ninja would not be able to go near her unless they knew what they were
looking for. He then preformed a jutsu so that he was a perfect double of the pink-haired
ninja, down to her sent. The last thing Naruto did was remove her headband and use it to
hold back his long hair.

Naruto hurried to where Kiba and Sasuke were waiting. He waved at the two of them as
they came into view and he was pleased to see that Sasuke, Kiba, and Akamaru didn't
sense anything amiss. Naruto gave them the smile he had seen on Pinky's face a couple of
times and he spoke in a perfect imitation, "I think we should have a plan of action."

Much to his delight, Sasuke nodded in agreement. "She's right, Kiba." The ninja Naruto
had nicknamed 'Stick-up-the-ass' said. Kiba pursed his lips then just sat down where he
stood. Naruto breathed out as if in relief and even Sasuke seemed pleased by Kiba's
compliance.

Sasuke sat down in front of Kiba and then Naruto sat down as girlishly as he could to form
a sort of triangle. "Well I've got nothing." Kiba said simple as he looked between Sasuke
and 'Sakura'.

"Figures." Sasuke said with a smirk.

"What was that?"

"I think I have an idea." The boys looked at Naruto expectantly and he twirled with his
pink hair uncomfortably. How can she deal with so much fucking pink? "How about we
start with narrowing down who we can go after? It's clear to me that we can't take out the
more experienced teams and I don't really want to go after anyone from Konoha. That
leaves only a few junior teams from other villages. I think that we should go to the tower
and set traps around there so we can catch the cockier rookies."

Sasuke grunted in agreement and Kiba looked slightly awed. Feigning gained confidence,
Naruto continued, "There will also be a lot of teams that will want to separate us so I think
we should come up with a codeword." Naruto was unsurprised to see Stick-up-the-ass take
over the conversation.

"Alright. So how about the password is…" Sasuke stopped talking as Akamaru suddenly
stiffened and jumped out of Kiba's arms and bristled. Naruto's ears pricked slightly out of
habit but the others where to distracted by the dog to notice. In the distance they heard a
slight crackling and then a whipping noise and even Naruto didn't know what it was.

"What is it?" Kiba muttered to his dog a second before a massive wall of air slammed into
them.

"Enemies already?" Sasuke gasped as he lifted up his arms to keep the flying sticks and
rocks away from his face.

"k-Kyaa!" 'Sakura' screamed as the wind intensified and they were blown backwards.
Sasuke slammed into Naruto before the two of them were hurtled at a tree. Naruto hit the
back of his head and right shoulder against the trunk and spotted Kiba catching Akamaru
as he skidded backwards before Sasuke was battered against him.

The wind quickly died down and Naruto elbowed Sasuke off him and cringed inwardly.
Pinky was obsessed with Stick-up-the-ass! But Sasuke didn't point out this odd behavior.
"Sorry" He grumbled before dusting himself off and Naruto barely suppressed the urge to
smirk. Really? You were just attacked and you're worried about how you look?

There was a small sound in the bushes to their right and a disheveled Kiba emerged
holding and equally ragged dog. Naruto noticed that in the gust Kiba had somehow shed
his parka and the jacket was nowhere to be seen. Sasuke moved Naruto and Kiba and
raised a kunai to protect his pink teammate. "Prove that you're Kiba," he growled.

"Our first mission was to catch a cat named Tiger. The little bastard had a blue bow and it
clawed me when I snagged it." Kiba said and Sasuke lowered his knife. Naruto sensed a
present behind him but forced himself to wait for Akamaru to growl before he turned
around.

A tall she-man emerged from the trees and smirked at the genin trio. He…She…it?
Whatever the fuck it is, it's way above genin level. He feels like he could be on par with
Sasori! Naruto thought as he narrowed his green eyes. I'll just call it Snakey. He thought
as the ninja stuck at its freakishly long tongue.

"You want my Earth Scroll, right?" Snakey asked, "Since you guys have a heaven scroll
already…" Snakey took out his black scroll and then put it in its mouth. Naruto took half a
step back in alarm as the ninja swallowed the scroll whole.

"Now then, how about we start the search for each other's scroll?" Sakey purred. The ninja
reached up and touched his bottom left eyelid. Almost too late, Naruto realized what was
about to happen and he just managed to stick his tongue between his teeth before the
illusion hit. The gen-jutsu was more powerful than any he had ever experienced before. He
watched in horrified fascination as Sakura's body was ripped to shreds. It ended when a
kunai drove into his forehead and he almost fell backwards from the impact. Next to him,
Sasuke collapsed and vomited and Naruto doubted Kiba was fairing much better.

Without dropping his act, Naruto bit down as hard as he could on his tongue and the sharp
pain made the paralysis vanish. None the less, Naruto sank to his knees and started
shivering like a wimp. He even forced tears to stream down his cheeks to compete the
image. So, what will happen now?

"Sakura," Kiba muttered behind him and Sasuke managed to turn his head so that he
could see his 'female teammate' on 'her' knees and completely useless.

"Kukukuku, you can no longer move," Purred Snakey and Naruto forced back a grin. Out of
the corner of his eye, Naruto saw Sasuke struggle to lift up a Kunai and Snakey smirked.
Naruto tensed himself to move incase Sasuke didn't make it but he was impressed to see
that Stick-up-the-ass drove the kunai into his own leg just as Snakey threw his own blade.
Sasuke's eyes turned red and he tackled Kiba and Naruto out of the way of the next
barrage of weaponry.

The black-haired ninja took both of his teammates around the waist and darted up a
nearby tree with both of them in tow. He dropped the two of them on a large, high branch
and pulled the kunai out of his leg. The sight of Sasuke's blood jerked Kiba and Akamaru
out of their frozen state and they both started to pant heavily and look around.

"Sasuke-kun, are you alr-!" Naruto was cut short when Sasuke pressed his hand over
Naruto's mouth. Good choice, Pinky would probably give away your location in a
heartbeat. Sasuke turned his head to look back the direction that they had come and
Naruto silently analyzed the panicked look on his face.

Suddenly there was a sliding noise below them and the three of them looked down and
saw a massive snake climbing the tree after them. Kiba and Naruto leaped off the tree and
landed side by side on a branch of a nearby tree, both breathing heavily. Sasuke, on the
other hand, ran further up the tree and the snake pursued him. The snake opened its maw
and lunged at Sasuke in attempt to devour the genin.

"Uwaaaah!" Sasuke screamed as he threw a handful of ninja stars at the serpent, "Get
away from me!" The snake went limp and fell, landing on the forest floor far below. Kiba
breathed a sigh of relief but Naruto fell to his knees and squinted at the animal, something
was not right and he was interested to see what would happen next.

Naruto was only a little surprised to see the snake's molten green and brown scales peel
back and Snakey climb out. "Kukukukuku, prey should know better than to relax with a
predator so close by." Snakey then proceeded to twist his way up the tree after Sasuke
once more. Sasuke stumbled backwards in wild fear as the ninja approached.

Snakey came to a sudden stop when a handful of ninja stars lodged into the tree right in
front of his/her nose. Naruto looked up and saw Kiba with his hand still outstretched.
"Well, well." Snakey mused under his breath. Looks like Inuzaku had some balls. Naruto
thought.

"If we give you the scroll will you leave us alone?" Sasuke's voice was small and meek but
it rang out in the silent forest. Looks like Stick-up-the-ass has none Naruto continued with
his previous thought.

"WHAT? Sasuke what the hell are you talking about?" Kiba bellowed and Akamaru barked
in unison.

"Just give him the scroll, Kiba."

"NO!"

"It's the only way that he'll leave us alone! Just shut up and do what I say!"

"Damn it, Sasuke! Why would he let us go after he got the scroll? Think about it!" Naruto
and Snakey had been watching the conversation with amusement and they both smirked
at Kiba's last comeback.

"Kukukukuku, Kiba-kun, wasn't it?" Sankey said, "You are correct. I would much rather kill
you and take your scroll. Kukukukukuku." Snakey started to roll up one of his sleeves and
when Naruto saw the summoning patter he chose to act.

Still in Sakura's form, Naruto charged Snakey. He pulled out some Kunai with tiny
amounts of exploding clay attached around the handle. Snakey predictably dodged them
by jumping up and they lodged into the tree branch. Naruto had never been able to create
art the way Deidara could but he could infuse chakra into clay and make it explode. Naruto
grinned and made a seal as Snakey landed and the kunai exploded.

Kiba and Sasuke were slack jawed at Sakura's sudden competence. When had she learned
how to do that? "Kukukukuku." Naruto groaned as the voice sounded from the fire. How
the hell is he still fine? That hit him head on! "The fire cleared and Naruto took a few steps
back when he saw that Sakey's face was peeling. The tan skin fell away and revealed a
golden eye with a weird purple around it.

Naruto leaped back to the branch that Kiba was on the same time Sasuke did. Sasuke
ended up between the two of them and he hissed to Naruto, "Sakura, how did you do
that?"

Naruto ignored him and focused on Snakey. "Who are you?" He challenged.

"I am Orochimaru. You are more impressive than I thought, Sakura-chan. But I am still
only interested in Sasuke. If you want to see me again then make sure you pass the
exams." Naruto stuck his tongue between his teeth a second before the paralysis hit. He
immediately sank his teeth into his own flesh and was freed but he remained still.
Orochimaru formed a hand seal Naruto had never seen before and his neck extended.

His head shot towards Sasuke, long fangs sprouting as he went. Right before he could
reach his target, Naruto saw his chance. He stuck out his right arm in front of Sasuke's
neck just before Orochimaru's fangs could sink in. Pain lanced up Naruto's arm as the
fangs sank into his elbow but he grinned regardless.

"Gotcha." He said to he stunned and horrified Orochimaru. He spoke in his own voice this
time and he heard the gasps of Kiba and Sasuke. He let his Sakura disguise evaporate and
he grabbed Orochimaru by the neck with his free arm. Before the snake-ninja could even
take his fangs out of Naruto's arm the boy had swung him by the head so that his body
slammed into a tree like a whip.

Orochimaru retracted his neck and Naruto came with him, the blonde was forcing
Orochimaru to keep his fangs locked on his arm even though it was already slick with
blood. As he was pulled along, Naruto took a kunai in his hand and when he was close
enough he slashed deep into Orochimaru's midsection. Naruto took the butt of the Kunai
and struck the older ninja between the eyes and in the same liquid movement he drove his
bitten arm into the slash he had made. He quickly located and ripped open the stomach,
pulling out the scroll of earth and stabbing Orochimaru in the neck at the same time.

The pain in Naruto's arm had intensified so that he now felt like screaming but he still
managed a cheeky grin at Orochimaru but the snake ninja had an unexpected reaction.
Orochimaru put a hand up to the gash and his intestines wriggled back inside him. With
another movement he sealed up the cut and aside from the tear in his clothes, there was
no evidence of what Naruto had just done.

"Well well. So you've been Naruto-kun all this time…Kukukukuku. I think you might work
nicely. Come and seek me out if you desire power." Orochimaru smiled at Naruto but his
eyes were calculating and hungry.

"Oh, I think I can get more than enough power without you. Thanks for the offer, though."
Naruto said. Orochimaru simply sank into the tree bark without another word and as he
did so the paralyses vanished. Naruto didn't bother to turn around as Kiba, Akamaru, and
Sasuke leapt to their feet and bared their collective weapons at him. Instead, Naruto
stared at the bite mark in his elbow and watched in a mixture of disgust, horror, and
fascination as three commas appeared on his wrist and twisted into a sort of seal.

Of all the things Naruto had picked up from Deidara, the grin and bear it one was coming
in handy the most. The kitsune felt like his body was on fire and he wanted to do nothing
more than curl up and writhe in agony but at the moment he had two furious ninja and a
dog behind him and he needed to act like he was fine. He grit his teeth as another wave of
pain crashed over him but he quickly composed himself and jammed his new scroll into his
leg pouch.

"What did you do with Sakura?" Kiba growled behind him.

"She's fine. I just knocked her out." Naruto said evenly but he did not turn around to look
at Kiba.

"Take us to her." Sasuke instructed. Naruto nodded and took off at a quick pace to where
he had hidden the pink haired ninja.

Sasuke was the only one with a clear head. Kiba was almost in a blind rage at Naruto and
Sasuke suspected that some of it was aimed at Kiba himself for not noticing that Sakura
was gone. The two ninja and Akamaru had been following Naruto for only a couple minutes
with their weapons ready to strike.

The raven haired genin narrowed his eyes at Naruto's back. Was it a trick of the light or
was Naruto starting to wobble? Sasuke glanced at the ground and noticed that the ground
was littered with drops of blood from the bite on Naruto's arm. Was he feeling woozy
because of blood loss?

He pushed aside the pity he felt for his old friend and focused on the task at hand. Naruto
stopped walking in front of a tree and Kiba growled at him. Naruto fumbled at the trunk
with his left hand as if he was searching for something and Sasuke lifted his ninja stars a
little higher in case Naruto was planning something.

"What are you doing?" Kiba snapped.

"I…I sealed off the area that Pinky is so nothing would get her while she was unconscious."
Naruto spoke clearly but he was having a hard time forming words. The seal Orochimaru
had left on him was warping something deep within him but he didn't know what and that
scared him. Hell, he couldn't even find the seal he had left on the damn tree!

The seals were a miniature of what was guarding the Akatsuki base only using a single
seal; the technique was one of the first that Tobi had taught him and Naruto wanted to
deactivate it and destroy the seals before the Konoha ninja could see them. If only he
could find the seal! Finally his fingers brushed paper and he tore the seal off the tree.

Sakura appeared for the entire world to see, laying on her back with her arms and legs
neatly laid out and a slip of paper on her chest. Kiba forgot about guarding Naruto and ran
to her side with tears in the corners of his eyes. He glared at Naruto and the blonde
muttered, "Take the slip of paper off her chest." As he let the tiny shreds of the
concealment seal fall to the ground. Naruto had leaned himself against a tree and he
looked nonchalant but in truth he could no longer support his own weight.

Kiba removed the seal on Sakura and her eyes opened immediately. She sat straight up
and grabbed Kiba by the shoulders. "Kiba! We have to hurry, it's Naruto! He's going to…
oh!" Her eyes widened as she spotted Naruto looking perfectly fine, aside from the right
sleeve of his jacket being torn and bloody, and even a little smug.

"Yo!" Naruto said and he waved at her. She gasped fearfully and clung to Kiba. "Good!
Now that we've had this lovely little reunion, all of you, get."

"What?" Sasuke asked.

"You heard me. Get. Shoo. Go away. I would like to get going and you losers are in my
way so skedaddle before I kill you all." Naruto was bluffing and he knew that he was
playing a dangerous game but he was about to collapse and he could not do that in front
of an enemy! He had to ride on the fear they felt for him and hope that it led them far
away. Sakura, Akamaru, and even Kiba looked ready to turn tail and flee as Naruto's eyes
glowed crimson and he grinned like he would love to rip into them.

Naruto's eyes flickered to Sasuke and his heart sank as he smirked. "You're bluffing."
Sasuke said.

Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fucking, Fuck, Fucked! "Oh? Wanna test out that theory?" I'm
boned! What should I do?

"You can barely stand; much less hurt any of us." Sasuke walked casually up to Naruto
until they were almost touching. "If you want to prove me wrong than why not take a step
away from that tree?"

Naruto growled and Sasuke's blood ran cold. "Um, Sasuke, maybe we should just do what
he says." Sakura said quietly.

"No. He can't do anything to us so why should I?" Sasuke said but even Sakura could
detect the nervousness in his voice.

"A lot braver when there isn't any danger around?" Naruto half spat and half cooed.
Sasuke opened his mouth to protest but before he could get a word in edgewise Naruto
continued, "But you know, they say that cornered beasts are stronger than anything else."
With those sentiments Naruto acted on his instincts mostly because he could no longer
formulate coherent thoughts. He lunged at Sasuke and managed to get a good punch to
Sasuke's gut. The raven haired ninja winched and almost doubled over but Naruto must
have been weaker than he thought because Sasuke didn't falter or react much at all.

Naruto fell back against the tree and barely kept himself from collapsing. He groaned as
another surge of pain hit and he squeezed his cursed wrist with the other hand until his
knuckles went white. The jig was up; Naruto could no longer pretend to be fine. Sasuke
smirked at him and Naruto wished he was strong enough to get in a real hit but he had to
settle for baring his teeth and growling.

Kiba and Sakura were stunned and they stared at Naruto who was in such obvious pain
they almost wanted to help him. Almost. Naruto had sabotaged them! Or he had tried to at
the very least. Sasuke smiled at the pathetic form of Naruto and decided to get back at the
kitsune for insulting him. Sakura had to look away and Kiba felt almost sick when Sasuke
kicked Naruto in the knee and the blonde collapsed.

Naruto curled into a ball to put pressure on his wrist but he still groaned again. Sasuke
kicked him again, this time in the middle of the back but Naruto didn't feel it. When the
Konoha genin raised his foot again Kiba called out to stop him, "Sasuke, stop! He can't
hurt us!"

"He tried to kill you. He hurt Sakura and then pretended to be her. He deserves it."

"That doesn't make it right!" Kiba stood up and Sasuke lowered his foot and stepped away
from Naruto but he still looked like he would love to hurt him some more. Kiba pushed
past his teammate and sat down a safe distance away from Naruto. There was sweat on
the Kitsune's face and his breath was ragged. Kiba guessed that his heartbeat was starting
to become irregular too.

"Um, Naruto...?" Kiba started but Naruto looked past him. His mind was ebbing away and
he could barely see straight, Naruto glared at Sasuke.
"Th...That may be, uuuhh…That may be true but the hit I t…took was meant for…you.
What…do you think would have happened…If…urrh…If I hadn't been…there?" Naruto
panted. Then he couldn't take it anymore, his eyes rolled back in his head and he had a
couple of spasms before he finally, gratefully drifted into unconsciousness. But now
completely at the mercy of team seven and they were not too happy with him at the time
being.

Chapter 14
Naruto woke up in an unknown location. He felt annoyingly weak and tired but he knew
that he would be unable to sleep until he found out what had happened while he was out.
He was lying on his back and he noticed that his weapons and pouches had been removed,
and he noted that there was a wet washcloth on his forehead as if he had had a fever and
someone had been trying to bring it down. Naruto stared up at the mass above him and
determined that he was in some sort of cave and that it had to be either sunset or sunrise
because there was a bright light on the right side of him; he hoped it was the latter. He
still had his bet with Gaara and although he knew that Gaara had made it to the tower
already Naruto wanted to arrive shortly after him.

Naruto experimentally twitched his fingers and toes and was pleased to see that aside
from a dull ache he could move then easily. He turned his head as carefully as he could to
the right and he squinted into the sunlight. He could barely make out a figure sitting with
their back to Naruto not too far away from him. Deidara? Naruto squinted even more and
realized that this figure had spiky hair and couldn't be his brother. Why would Sasori be
here? Naruto thought wearily.

It was unlikely but it made more since than anything else he could think of. Deidara must
have been worried about him and had dragged Sasori with him to the forest of death to
see if Naruto was alright and had found him collapsed at the base of the tree. Oh man,
he'll never let me live this one down! He opened his mouth to speak but his throat was dry
and sore and the only noise he could make wand a tiny 'nnngh'.

Naruto swallowed his saliva and licked his lips so that he'd be able to peak but he doubted
that he would be very loud. To compensate, Naruto reached out and grabbed the back of
Sasori's shirt and gave it a small tug. "Sasori," he murmured. "What…?"

The sun drifted behind a cloud and Naruto knew immediately that something was very
wrong. 'Sasori' turned his head around and Naruto leapt to all fours. Ignoring the
throbbing pains in his muscles he scrambled backwards until he was pressed against the
back of the shallow cave and glared at the ninja at the cave entrance. "Inuzuka!" Naruto
spat. Why was he here? What had happened while he was unconscious?

"Just Kiba's fine." Kiba said and he smiled to try to calm down Naruto. Naruto however,
just bristled even more and growled.

"What's going on?"

"Well you collapsed and so…"

Flashback

Naruto had finally drifted into unconsciousness but it was evident that he was still in a
great amount of pain. He was still gripping his wrist so hard that his hand was shaking and
he was gritting his teeth. Akamaru carefully approached the fallen ninja and tentatively
sniffed his face. Akamaru sat down and turned back to look at team seven before
whimpering.

"He's not faking it." Kiba translated and Sakura exhaled in relief.

"What do we do?" She asked and her eyes were focused on Sasuke in adoration.

"We take his earth scroll and go to the tower." Sasuke said and he made to approach
Naruto but Akamaru growled at his so he stopped. "Kiba, what's wrong with Akamaru?" He
asked as he crossed his arms and glowered at the dog.

Kiba took a while to respond. He kept his back turned to Sasuke and said, "Nothing is
wrong with him but apparently there's something wrong with you."

"What? Kiba, how dare you speak like that to Sasuke!"

"What are you talking about, Kiba?" Sasuke's face had hardened and he looked like he
wouldn't mind hurting the dog ninja as well as Naruto. Kiba turned his head and glared up
at Sasuke.

"Well for starters you want to steal from him when he's completely defenseless and after
he saved all of us."

"He knocked Sakura out and posed as her to take advantage of us! We should have taken
that scroll from Orochimaru, not him!" Kiba stood up and the two of them glared at each
other.

"In case you forgot, we were paralyzed! Orochimaru would have done that to you," Kiba
pointed at Naruto with one hand and made a fist with the other. "And then he would have
killed Sakura and me! Naruto saved us and you can't argue that!"

Sasuke looked angrier than Kiba had ever seen him and he almost regretted saying
anything but he was on a roll and he didn't want to stop now, "You sure were brave to kick
him while he was on the ground! What was up with that, huh? I always thought that you
were gloomy but I thought you had some honor!"Before Sasuke could respond Naruto
shifted and groaned. The three ninjas stared at Naruto fearfully. "At the very least we need
to watch him until he wakes up. He protected Sakura from harm after he knocked her out
and we should return that favor." Kiba didn't really want to protect Naruto, more than
anything else Kiba wanted to uphold his honor as a ninja.

"Look, we aren't going to. I won't take the scroll but we can't afford to help him. Let's go."

"Just who put you in charge? I'm staying and you can't make me do anything. And if you
leave without me you fail because we need the whole team together to pass."

Sasuke and Kiba glared at each other for a while until Sasuke looked away and
relinquished. Kiba exhaled in relief and sat down next to Akamaru so he could study
Naruto a bit more. The fallen ninja was clearly getting worse and Kiba wasn't sure what he
should do. In the background he heard Sakura screeching at him like a harpy but he tried
to ignore her. Sasuke had agreed and the second he assured her that she wouldn't be hurt
she shut up and Kiba could think again.

Kiba brushed his fingers against Naruto's forehead and was unsurprised to find that he was
radiating heat like an oven. Kiba looked around warily, he had no idea if they were being
watched and he wanted to get to a more secure location as quickly as possible. He looked
back at Naruto and after a couple minutes of careful scrutinizing he tugged the pouch off
Naruto's belt. Kiba then took of the ninja star holder and then, after some thought he
started to rifle through the blonds' pockets. He found more weapons than he had
previously seen in his entire life on Naruto.

Even Sasuke had reluctantly walked over to where Naruto lay to watch in amazement as
Kiba removed no less than ten throwing needles from his sole of his left shoe. Sakura,
however, was still too afraid of Naruto to come any closer. By the time Kiba removed the
last ninja knife from its strap on Naruto's upper right arm it was noon. He rocked back on
his heels and then fell backwards so that he was laying on his back.

"How the hell is he carrying all of this? He's like the size of a bean and the total mass of all
his weapons must weigh more than me!" Kiba gripped. Sasuke privately agreed with his
teammate but he was still too angry to say it out loud. Kiba stayed on his back for a while
as he wondered how he would transport all the weapons along with Naruto to a different
location. Maybe I should have waited until we were somewhere else to disarm him. Kiba
thought but he knew that Naruto could wake at any time and he didn't want the blonde to
have access to his weapons.

Naruto was still twitching and gripping his right wrist like it was on fire but it wasn't until
he groaned again that Kiba sat up and looked at him. "I wonder what's wrong with him."
Sasuke said reluctantly. "He was wobbling earlier, maybe it's because of blood loss?" Kiba
realized with a jolt that Naruto had lost a lot of blood and Sasuke almost laughed at his
horrified expression.

"Here," Sasuke tossed Kiba a roll of bandages that he had dug out of his pocket and
watched Kiba struggle to take of Naruto's large blue jacket and then bandage his shaky
arm. Once Kiba was done with that he peered at Naruto's wrist. The blonde hadn't let go of
it the entire time and Kiba wondered what was there. I can find out later. Now we need to
get moving. Kiba set Naruto's jacket on the ground and started putting all the weapons in
a pile in the middle. Kiba was careful to make sure that none of the blades would be
digging into the cloth as he carried it. After all the weapons were in place, Kiba took the
sleeves and edges and tied them together so that the jacket was a bag of sorts. Kiba stood
up and experimentally swung the 'bag' a few time and was pleased that the fabric didn't
give.

"Hey, Sasuke?" Sasuke blinked a couple times but didn't drop his nonchalant pose or say
anything as he waited for Kiba to continue. "Can you carry this, please?" Kiba asked as he
held out Naruto's jacket. Sasuke and Kiba stared at each other for a few seconds and a
look of understanding flashed between them. Sasuke took the jacket and slung it over his
shoulder and nodded at Kiba.

Sakura had been inching nervously closer the whole time and was now petting Akamaru
while she watched the boy's transaction. She didn't want to help Naruto but Sasuke had
agreed and she couldn't just go against him, could she? Sakura made a small, agitated
noise and looked at her hands. Akamaru looked up at her and whimpered. "You're scared
of him too right?" She murmured to the dog but Akamaru just wagged his tail and licked
her hand.

"Okay! Sakura, are you ready?" Sakura's head snapped up and she looked at Kiba. "You
went to the bathroom already?" Kiba explained.

"Oh, um, yeah."

"Great!" Kiba bent over and slipped one arm under Naruto's knees and the other behind
his shoulders. Kiba took a deep breath and then hefted Naruto up. Kiba shoot up and then
stumbled back a few steps with a comically surprised expression on his face.

"What's wrong?" Sasuke asked as Kiba righted himself and shifted the unconscious ninja in
his arms.
"I wasn't expecting him to be so light," Kiba grumbled and was infuriated by the blood
rushing to his cheeks. Naruto was about a whole head shorter than him and he had a small
build but Kiba found it hard to believe that such a powerful ninja was lighter than a sack of
feathers. He shifted Naruto to a more comfortable position and said, "Okay, now let's go."

End Flashback

"And then Akamaru sniffed out this cave and you've been resting ever since." Kiba
finished. Naruto frowned at him and wondered if the dog ninja was mentally deficient.

"You do know that I could easily kill you with or without my weapons."

"Yep."

"And you also realize that I don't like you?"

"I figured that one out after the whole attempted killing me thing." Naruto grit his teeth
and growled. Kiba was just brushing off everything he said!

"And you helped me because…?"

"It was the right thing to do."

"So you are a moron then."

"HEY!"

"Where is the rest of your team?"

"Oh, um, Sasuke and Sakura are keeping watch a ways away and Akamaru is scared of
you."

"Well at least the dog is smart." Naruto grumbled. Then in a louder voice he said, "Where
are my weapons?" Kiba shot Naruto a wary look before pointing outside the cave.

"Just outside."

"Good." Naruto stood up and glanced at his right wrist. The weird seal mark seemed to
shift slightly but Naruto passed it off as a trick of the light. I'll have Sasori look at it later.
Aniki is lousy with this kind of thing. "What time is it?"

"Sunset." Kiba said lightly but there was something about the way he said it that made
Naruto hesitate.

"Sunset of which day?"

"It's the end of the third day." Kiba looked away from Naruto, he knew that the blonde was
in a hurry and would not like the amount of time that had passed. Naruto let that sink in. I
lost! God damn it!

"Well, I guess I'd better get going." Naruto said and he walked across the cave and past
Kiba who was attempting to formulate a sentence. Naruto quickly located his jacket and
started to put them all into their hiding places with Kiba trailing behind him. Sasori had
been teaching him how to hide weapons and even the puppet master was impressed by
how many weapons Naruto could carry all at once. Naruto flipped open his pouch and
noted that he still had both his scrolls and smirked as he fastened it to his belt. The last
thing to go on was Naruto's jacket and the kitsune took a few minutes to examine his torn
sleeve but in the end he was satisfied.

Naruto left Kiba's bandages in place but he added his own bandages to his wrist to cover
the seal and he heard Kiba grunt in disappointment at having lost his chance to see what
was causing Naruto pain but he made no verbal protest. Naruto dud into a hidden pocket
inside his jacket and pulled out a pair a black fingerless gloves that would, unlike the
gloves he was wearing now, cover his wrists completely. As he changed gloves he spoke to
Kiba, "So, well, bye."

"B-Hey! Wait!"

"What?"

"We still need an earth Scroll!"

"Well you lost your chance to take mine. Later." Naruto turned away from Kiba and tensed
himself to jump but Kiba stopped him by skidding in front of him.

"That's not what I meant!" Naruto chewed on the inside of his cheek to try to relive his
irritation.

"Oh?"

"Well, I was thinking that you would help us get one." Kiba said it so plainly that Naruto
was at a loss for what to say. After a few seconds of staring at Kiba with his mouth agape,
Naruto recomposed himself and smirked.

"Why would I do that?"

"Because-!"

"More to the point, why would you want me to help you?"

"That's"

"I think I've made it clear that I would love to see the lot of you Konoha brats suffer and
you thought it would be a good idea to get help from me? Tell me, did Pinky and Stick-up-
his-ass agree to this or was this all you? And anyway, even if I did want to help you I'm in
a hurry and you failures will just hold me back." Naruto snarled but Kiba didn't back down.
Behind Kiba, Sasuke, Sakura, and Akamaru peered warily at him from behind some bushes
but Naruto was too pissed at Kiba to give a damn.

"Why?"

"I think I just explained that."

"No, I mean why do you hate everyone from Konoha?" Kiba honestly wanted to know.
Naruto had been their friend and even if they hadn't spoken in years so why did Naruto
hate them all with such a burning passion? Naruto frowned at him and Kiba wasn't sure if
the blonde was confused or debating how best to take him out.

"Iwa and Konoha have always been at odds."

"Not everyone from Iwa that comes here acts like you and you ignore everyone else from
Konoha, you just try to hurt us rookies! Why?"
"None of your business. Now, if you don't mind, I will be leaving." Naruto turned around
and stalked off but he didn't make it far before Kiba caught up with him.

"You have to help us!" Naruto stopped walking and whirled around to face Kiba again. He
noticed that the rest of team seven had been inching closer and that Sasuke had a kunai in
hand.

"Okay Inuzuka, I'll humor you. Why do I have help you?"

"We helped you!"

"I didn't ask for your help. In fact, I believe I told the lot of you to go away. I. Don't. Like.
You. People."

"Then why did you save us from Orochimaru?" Kiba shot back, refusing to believe that
Naruto disliked them as much as he claimed. Naruto studied Kiba's expression and then
pinched the bridge of his nose. The dog ninja just didn't get it, did he?

"I didn't save you from anything. Orochimaru had what I wanted and I just saved you in
the process. There was nothing more to that."

"Then why did you take the hit for Sasuke?"

"I saw an opening and I took advantage of that."

"But before you passed out, you said-!"

"I was delirious." Naruto crushed Kiba's hopes with that simple statement. Naruto grinned
at Kiba's expression and turned around and started to walk away. Once again, Naruto was
stopped but this time it was by Sasuke.

Sasuke and Sakura were now standing a little behind and on either side of Kiba. Akamaru
had jumped up onto his master's head and seemed undisturbed by the lack of Kiba's
parka. "Regardless of what you said, we helped you! Don't you think you owe us
something for that?" Sasuke challenged.

"No." Naruto said without turning around.

"Don't talk to Sasuke like that!"

"Can it, Pinky."

"Look, we might have lost our chance to pass because of you." Sasuke said.

"Good, less competition for me."

"Don't you have any honor?" Sasuke snarled. "Or do they not teach you about the will of
fire in Iwa?"

The kitsune turned around and glared at team seven. "Never heard of it." Naruto said
calmly but he was privately at war with himself. Sasuke had struck a chord with the jab at
his honor. My ninja way… If it was anyone else I would help! Just…Not these people. I feel
sick just being around them and I can't think straight. I'll endanger my mission if I help
them!
Sasuke looked crestfallen. "So, this is who you became." He muttered under his breath but
Naruto still heard him. The statement confused Naruto and he cocked his head to one side
in confusion.

"You make it sound as if we used to know each other." Naruto said to Sasuke. Kiba gasped
and Sasuke looked a little surprised by the comment.

"You don't remember?" Kiba asked and Naruto lifted an eyebrow. Before either Sasuke or
Kiba could explain there was a small noise above them. Naruto's head jerked up and team
seven followed his gaze. Far above them, was the team from Oto.

"Hey, Naruto-chan!" The male sound ninja with spiky hair jeered, "I'm amazed that you
could hear us over those plodding Konoha rookies! Why are you hanging out with
weaklings?" Naruto's gaze flickered from one sound ninja to the other as he analyzed their
skills. He nicknamed the spiky haired loud mouth Spiky, the female ninja became Sound-
girl for lack of any other distinguishable feature, and the final ninja became Mummy-san
because of all the bandages on his face.

"Naruto-kun. We want to fight you." Mummy-san said bluntly.

Naruto stared up at them in silence but Kiba shouted, "Why? Are you here 'cause of what
Orochimaru did?" The sound ninja all looked surprised and Naruto figured that they hadn't
expected that kind of reaction.

"What did Orochimaru do to me?" Naruto asked coolly. "What does the mark mean?"

"Heh, we ain't got to tell you nothing," Spiky snorted.

"Fine. I'll just beat the answer out of you then." The three sound ninja dropped down the
second Naruto stopped speaking. Sasuke tackled Sakura and hauled her out of the way
and Kiba darted in another direction with his dog in tow. However Naruto just simply stood
and allowed himself to be surrounded.

"Here Zaku," Mummy-san said as he tossed an Earth Scroll to Spiky. "Keep that safe. I
should be more than enough to take out this cocky brat." Naruto's eyes followed the scroll
and he watched Spiky, now Zaku, tuck it away. Good. Now I can repay my debt without
spending too much time with the Konoha brats.

Mummy-san charged forward and took a swipe at Naruto with one arm. Without really
trying, Naruto stepped back and dodged the attack but he immediately knew that he had
done something wrong. His vision swam like he was looking at a disturbed reflection in
water. Suddenly there was no up, down, right, or left.

Naruto fell to his knees and vomited. Naruto closed his eyes and shook his head like a dog
in an attempt to rid himself of whatever the problem was. Something oozed out of
Naruto's right ear and realized that his eardrum had been ruptured. Sound He realized, He
used sound vibrations to break my eardrum. My sense of balance will be shot for a while.

Mummy-san laughed, "You must be wondering what happened, eh? Well-!" Before the
Mummy had a chance to finish, Naruto attacked. The kitsune kept his eyes tightly shut so
he wouldn't be distracted the swirling images and relied on sent and sound.

Naruto punched Mummy-san in the throat by sheer dumb luck and then jumped into the
air while the sound ninja was still winded. Naruto kicked Mummy-san in the chest with
both feet and he used the momentum to do a flip before landing on the ground several
yards away. Naruto turned and faced were Mummy-san lay on the ground. Naruto's eyes
still eyes shut.
"You know, three on one really isn't fair. Come back with a small army when you want a
rematch." Naruto jeered. He felt the air above his head move and he ducked just before
Spiky kicked the air where his head had been seconds before. Naruto grabbed Spiky's leg
and used it like a pendulum to launch the sound ninja into a tree. "What, no jutsu?" Naruto
taunted.

A second later, Naruto felt a wall of air slammed into him. At first, Naruto thought he had
just fallen over again but he had never landed on ground that forced him backwards.
Naruto was plastered against a tree and he spat out blood. Naruto collapsed onto the
ground and struggled to his feet. Damn eardrum… he complained to himself. What did
Spiky do? That wasn't any jutsu I've ever seen. Might involve sound but I don't see how…
Air pressure! He used the pipes in his palms to shot a wall of air at me! Naruto heard the
clanging of metal to his right and he cracked open and eye and saw what he assumed was
Kiba and Sasuke fighting Sound-girl. Naruto had to squeeze his eyes shut before he was
overwhelmed by nausea.

Two on one then. Naruto grinned at the two sound ninja males. "Think you can handle me
all alone?" Naruto dove behind another tree as another wall of air pressure blasted the first
tree to bits.

"Big talk for a coward!" Spiky shouted as he shot blast after blast at Naruto. All the blonde
did was move from tree to tree and try to work out a plan.Okay, so I know that I can take
them in a physical fight but I can't get close enough to him to land a punch. I need some
kind of distraction… Naruto dove behind a sturdy looking rock and sat panting while Spiky
shot blast after blast at him.

Naruto dug his fingers into his clay pouch and was delighted that there was still plenty of
clay left. He pulled out a wad of the brown earth and started to work it with his fingers.
Suddenly, Naruto hissed in pain and dropped the clay as Orochimaru's seal twinged.
Naruto opened his eyes and watched blearily as steam billowed up from under the
bandages. Shit! I need to finish this quickly and get to Sasori!

"When do you plan on coming out, Coward-kun?" Spiky challenged but Naruto didn't rise
to the bait. Instead he honed his hearing and took a bearing of where everything was. He
was at the edge of the clearing, close to one of the rivers. To his left was the cave with
Sakura hiding inside. Sasuke, Akamaru, and Kiba were fighting in front of the cave against
Sound-girl. Spiky was almost in the exact center of the clearing and Mummy-san was
behind him and to his right. Naruto sank his teeth into his lower lip as the seal twinged
again.

There was now a lull in the blasts. Naruto listened as Mummy-san said something he
couldn't quite catch and Spiky reply. Suddenly the blasts started up again but now they
were much louder. They're planning something and they're using this noise as a
cover. Naruto thought as he attempted to mold the clay into something that vaguely
resembled a bird without opening his eyes. The kitsune felt pressure building in his sinuses
and he felt his chakra gathering around the seal against his will but he continued to work
of his bird none the less.

Naruto heard a tiny scratching noise on his side of the rock. Naruto turned his head to the
right were the sound was coming from and tensed as the noise grew closer. He cracked
open his eyes and was surprised to see that the world looked normal. Naruto blinked his
eyes open wide but the world around him still seemed perfectly normal. The blonde
touched his bleeding ear tentatively but found that there was no pain and that the
eardrum had already healed. The seal, it's moving my chakra at high speed through my
body! My healing ability must have been heightened!

Completely forgetting about the noise, Naruto tugged the bandages on his wrist and
watched crimson chakra gather around his wrist in agitation. That can't be good. Naruto
thought. The scratching noise started up again and Naruto glanced in the direction it came
from, perfectly ready to throw his clay at the enemy and the enemy was…a squirrel?
Naruto almost burst out laughing.

"Shoo, Squirrel-chan." Naruto snickered but the tiny animal just kept scuffling towards
him. Naruto narrowed his eyes as the animal squeaked in panic and smoke wafted from its
back. In an instant, Naruto and dove out from behind the rock and grabbed the mammal
with one hand. With the other, he tore the exploding paper seal off it's back.

Naruto hurled the squirrel into the forest and slapped the smoking seal onto the rock. The
kitsune turned tail and ran, making sure to stay undercover so that the sound ninja would
be unable to tell that he'd moved. Naruto ran hard and he had reached the river before the
seal had a chance to explode. Naruto doubled over, panting and he pressed his hand to
the stitch in his side.

BOOM!

"Yahoo! We got him!" Naruto heard Spiky yell a second before he was hit by the
shockwave. He stumbled backwards and tripped over a protruding rock and fell into the
river with a yelp. Fortunately, the river was deep so Naruto didn't hit any more rocks but
unfortunately the water was swift and it sucked Naruto under.

He struggled vainly against the current as he was pulled downstream but it wasn't until the
stream broadened and became shallow a minute or two later that Naruto could escape. He
grabbed the slick river grass and hauled himself onto the bank. Naruto sat there for a few
seconds and coughed up murky river water and considered just leaving and going to the
tower and letting team seven try to defeat the sound ninja on their own but in the end he
decided to go back. My ninja way is really starting to bite me in the ass; maybe I should
stop trying to be so damn honorable. But I would like to teach those cocky sound bastards
a lesson…

Naruto wiped the trail of river mud off his chin with his wet sleeve and got to his feet. He
quickly took his bearings and then crept towards where he knew the clearing to be.

XXX

"I think that they're losing."

"Shut up! Sasuke-kun could never lose!"

"Ino, look. They are defiantly losing." Naruto stood behind Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji
without bothering to hide. He was leaned against a tree and grinning at the back of their
heads and wondering when they would notice him. He had found the three of them hiding
behind a bush, watching team seven fight the sound trio. Naruto figured that they must
have come over after hearing the explosion because they had defiantly not been there
when he left.

"This is way above our level! We should get out of here…" Choji whined but the other two
ignored him.

"Ino, either we leave or we fight. What do you think we should do?"

"Why are you asking me?"

"Sakura used to be, like your best friend or something right? Do you want to watch her get
beaten to a pulp?"

"I…What about you, huh? Kiba is your friend, right?" Shikamaru grunted and Ino cuffed
him. "Don't 'ugh' me! Why don't you decide?" Naruto was almost doubled over with
laughter. They were just as incompetent as team seven! There little rescue mission was
more like a suicide mission.

Choji was shifting nervously and edging back ever so slowly. Naruto lifted an eyebrow as
he watched the fat boy squirm and he wondered how long it would be before he turned
around. Naruto felt the cursed seal pulsate again and it almost felt as if something was
searching him, looking for a weakness or fear to grab hold of and control him with. Naruto
shrugged off the feeling and concentrated on the hiding team.

"Ow!" Kiba yelped from the clearing and Sakura desperately called out his name but
Naruto was completely uninterested in their fight.

"Choji get back here." Shikamaru instructed and Choji reluctantly crawled forward.

"So why don't you decide?" Ino repeated.

"Because Kiba's not the one who is most likely to be killed." Shikamaru murmured.
Naruto's eyes flickered to the clearing and he spotted Sakura on her knees with Sound-girl
holding a fistful of her pink hair. Naruto watched for a while as the Sound-girl pulled
Sakura's hair harder and harder until the girl finally took a kunai to it and cut her hair off.

Naruto heard Ino gasp and he wondered what the problem was. It was just hair. He kept
his short because he didn't the inconvenience of dealing with it…And he didn't want people
to mistake him for a girl like they always did for Deidara. But apparently it had some
significant to Ino because she seemed to find her resolve. "Let's-!" She started but she
was quickly interrupted by a sequel from Choji.

"Naruto-san!" Naruto looked down in surprise at the fat boy. Apparently he had decided to
escape again but this time he had looked over his shoulder before moving and had seen
the blonde casually leaning against the tree. Shikamaru and Ino spun around and pulled
out there weapons as they moved.

"What do you want?" Ino snarled, "Our scroll?"

"Naw, I already have both."

"Then what?" Shikamaru raised his weapon threateningly while he talked but that didn't
faze Naruto in the slightest.

"I owe them a favor. So I'm helping them fight." Naruto explained as he gestured past the
trio to where, at that exact moment, Kiba was hurled across the clearing and bounced off
the ground a couple of times.

"Fine job you're doing." Shikamaru muttered.

"What? None of them are dead yet."

"Look never mind that," Ino snapped. "Why aren't you fighting then? And why are you
soaked?"

"I was thrown into the river a while ago by that explosion. I was coming back but I saw
you three and I wanted to see what you were doing."

"That's what that was?" Choji muttered and he exchanged a glance with Shikamaru. Ino,
however, continued to whisper-scream at Naruto.

"Well then go help them!"

"Why? Do it yourself! I might if one of them are about to die but I don't want to take
another freezing bath for no reason, un." Shikamaru lifted an eyebrow at Naruto and Ino
cocked her head to one side.

"What does 'un' mean?" Choji asked. Naruto gave him a hard look before he answered.

"It doesn't mean anything, why do you ask?"

"Well, because you just said it." Naruto frowned at Choji and took a while to respond.

"Um, No. I didn't." I don't miss Deidara! I have not picked up his weird-ass habit of saying
nonsense words at the end of my sentences! That would be pathetic.

"Yes you did! Just now, you said-!"

"Look, that's not really important right now!" Ino interrupted. "What about them?" She
pointed back to where team seven was still being beaten. Naruto shrugged.

"Well, I'm just going to sit back and enjoy the show. I might intervene if one of them is
about to die but otherwise… What will you three do? You're all pretty useless. I think you'd
just get in the way but feel free to join in if you want. That'll make it way more
entertaining for me." Naruto said as he watched Spiky kick the fallen form of Kiba. He
glanced back and saw that Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji were all staring at him with shocked
and horrified expressions.

"What?"

"How can you be so cruel?" Shikamaru looked stung personally and his voice had a bitter
tone to it.

"I don't get why this is so hard for everyone to understand but please, listen
very, very carefully." Naruto stuffed his right hand into his jacket pocket as he talked, he
had spotted steam starting to gush out of it again and he didn't feel like trying to answer
questions he wondered about himself. "I. Do. Not. Like. Any. Of. You. People. At. All. I
have zero affection for you. Zip. Zero. Nada."

"But-!" Ino started but Shikamaru waved his hands to stop her. Shikamaru gave Naruto a
look of mixed sorrow and irritation before he signaled his team off. The three of them
scrambled a little ways away and ducked their heads together in conversation. Naruto
wondered if thought that he couldn't hear them and quickly decided not to alert them to
the fact that they were so close that he could hear the fabric on their clothes rustle.

"I can't believe that he could be so…so…augh! I can't stand him!"

"I know Ino but we need to decide what to do about team seven. Naruto might save them
from dying but I think he would happily sit by and watch them get maimed." Right you are
Lazy-bones. Naruto thought and he chuckled.

Choji gave him a nervous look before franticly whispering to his teammates, "We can't do
anything! We really are pretty weak so…"

"We can't just abandon them! We have to fight!"

"But Ino-" Naruto hissed in pain as the seal tweaked again and he stopped paying
attention to the rookie's conversation. Naruto withdrew his hand and had clamped his
other hand over the wrist. He felt pressure building up in his sinuses again and Naruto
shook his head but this time the pain wouldn't go away.
Suddenly, Naruto was no longer in the forest of death. The kitsune was in a large, messy
room that was painfully familiar. There was a work table in roughly the center of the room
with several maps and plans on them had been set carefully out and many sketches and
projects had been randomly thrown about the room and piled onto numerous chairs of all
shapes and sizes.

Naruto recognized the scene, and aside from the lack of Deidara, it was his and Deidara's
art room from their old home as he had last seen it. Naruto moved to the work table as if
he was in a trance and he ran his fingers along the route he had traced in green ink a little
over a year ago. "What the fuck just happened?" He muttered under his breath.

"If only I had been stronger…" A small voice said from behind him. Naruto whirled around
and saw in the doorway…himself? Naruto rubbed his eyes and blinked until tears beaded in
the corners of his eyes but he was still looking at himself. The other-Naruto was only five
years old and he was covered in cuts and bruises.

"If only I was stronger," The little Naruto repeated. "…then I could have stopped the
villagers from hurting me…then no one would have ever hurt me again. I wouldn't have
needed Deidara-sama to protect me…"

The real Naruto felt weak-kneed. Why was there a young version of him? Why was
he here?

"Come and seek me out if you desire power" The young Naruto whispered and the older
Naruto stumbled backwards. It had been weird to see himself look so beaten down, it had
been weird to hear himself call Deidara '-sama', and it had been weird to hear himself say
that he wouldn't have needed Deidara to protect him. It was terrifying when the young
Naruto spoke in Orochimaru's voice.

The young Naruto's eyes turned gold he grinned at his older counterpart. "After all, I can't
rely on Dei-chan for everything now can I?" The young Naruto morphed as it spoke until it
was the Naruto of only a year ago. "After all, he couldn't even land a hit on Itachi! What
kind of useless guardian is that?"

"You're wrong." The real Naruto spat.

"And then he wasn't even around when Granny died! If only he had been there…she
wouldn't have…"

"SHUT UP!" Naruto screamed and he clamped his hands over his ears and he shut his
eyes. He knew that whatever he was seeing was just a projection from Orochimaru's seal
designed to convince him to turn to Snakey's powers but still he couldn't hear himself
blame Deidara for Granny's death. Then how could Naruto ever know that deep down, if he
really did blame his Aniki for her death? "SHUT UP! SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP
SHUT UP!" the real Naruto repeated so that he could drown out any other words his double
might say.

Naruto didn't know how long he was there, screaming. He didn't even register that he now
had tears streaming down each cheek and that he was sitting down. He just couldn't let
himself hear those words. There was no way he would be able to handle that.

A hand, too delicate to be his own, brushed Naruto's shoulder as if it was trying to awaken
him out of a dream. Naruto assumed it was just some new trickery of the seal and he let
his instincts take over. Naruto kicked the new figurer's calf and he heard a feminine gasp
of pain. As 'she' fell, Naruto lunged forward and wrapped both hands around 'her' throat.
Within a second, Naruto was had the new person flat on her back with him sitting on her
upper stomach and both hands at her neck. Only then did he open his eyes.

"No-pupils?" Naruto said in surprise and Ino gargled at him. "Why are you here?"
Naruto let go of her neck but remained seated on her stomach. "Y-you suddenly collapsed
a-and started t-tw- Will you get off!" Ino gasped. Naruto was crushing her diaphragm and
breathing was difficult enough, let alone talking.

Naruto slid off her so that he was sitting beside her and he quickly wiped the tears off his
face. Naruto wondered how much of the exchange she had overheard and he gave her a
calculating stare. Ino coughed a couple times and then sat up. Naruto glanced over to the
doorway and was relieved to see that the seal version of him was gone.

"So, Miss No-pupils. Where are we?" Naruto asked.

"I have a name you know, it's Ino!"

"Don't care. Where are we?" Naruto repeated. Ino swallowed her skittishness and met
Naruto's stare.

"We're in your mindscape."

"Oh?" Naruto scratched his cheek absent mindedly. So this is what the inside of my mind
looks like? The studio from our old house? "Why, pray tell are we in my mindscape?"

Ino caught the threatening edge to his voice and scooted away from him. "You suddenly
collapsed and started to twitch and talk. You didn't have a fever but you were holding the
wrist really hard and it started bleeding!"

Naruto bristled and growled at Ino and she looked taken aback. "What exactly did I talk
about?"

"U-um, you said, 'where the fuck am I?' then you started saying 'Not his fault' and 'shut
up' a lot." Naruto relaxed and Ino sighed in relief. She didn't think that Naruto would have
hurt her over something so trivial but after what he had done to Kiba…

"How long have I been out for?"

"About two minutes."

"Hmm." Naruto rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "So, how is it that you're in my mindscape?"

"Oh, I uh, I just, ah, um…"

"Spit it out!" Naruto finally snapped and Ino cringed.

"I used a jutsu to enter your mind. It's supposed to be used for possession but I didn't
complete it so I ended up in your mindscape. You're pretty weird; your mind was built like
a maze! And there were all these random rooms that didn't go anywhere and some of
them were just completely empty! I only found you because I heard you shouting." Ino
was rambling and she was starting to wish that she could just stop talking but Naruto had
a steely expression and she really didn't want to die.

"So, I passed out and after only a couple minutes you decided to intrude into my mind?"
Naruto said without emotion. Ino started talking but Naruto cut her off. "I don't really care
about why you did it. I want you out."

Ino didn't know if she should feel hurt or relieved. She had intruded on his very soul and
there could be secrets that he kept locked away that she could have very easily stumbled
upon. "Okay." She said. Ino lifted up her hands and formed the release seal but before she
could leave Naruto grabbed her wrist.
"When you got here…was there someone else in the room with me?" Ino cocked her head
at Naruto and wondered if she had heard him properly.

"No. It was just you. I don't think that it's possible for anyone but you to come in here.
Aside from me, of course."

"Huh." Naruto said and he smiled. Not a smirk or an insane grin but a true smile. I'm in his
mindscape…he can't hide his emotions in here. But…he's not smiling at me. The Konoha
nin rationalized. Ino stared at him with her jaw agape until Naruto glared at her. "Why are
you still here?"

Ino made the release seal again and Naruto watched her vanish from the studio. Naruto
rubbed his temples again. Damn, that was close. She could have found out about Deidara,
the Akatsuki, the one-tail… Huaagh! Since when do I know so many secrets? I liked it
better when life was simple!

Naruto blinked his eyes open and stared up at the foliage far above. His sinuses were
throbbing and he felt like he had been trampled by a heard of horses but other than that
he was okay. Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji were off to his left and hadn't noticed that Naruto
had woken up yet. Naruto shut his eyes to try to ward off the encroaching migraine and
listened to what the rookies said.

"Ino!" Choji whispered as the girl stirred in Shikamaru's arms. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." She rasped.

"So what happened to Naruto?" Shikamaru asked as he helped Ino sit up.

"I don't know. He was really deep in his mindscape and he kicked me out almost as soon
as I found him."

"So what was his mindscape like?" Shikamaru said.

"It was basically a maze. All the hallways were flooded and looked kind of like a sewer and
there were doors everywhere. But the rooms seemed nice enough."

"So…What does that mean?" Choji asked.

"I don't know. The fact that his mind was a maze could mean that he's either attempting
to keep people out of his head or that he has some kind of inner turmoil. Or it could mean
nothing at all."

"Well that was helpful," Shikamaru grumbled. "I think we should move before Naruto
wakes up."

"Too late." Naruto said as he sat up. He had felt a weird surge of power radiating from the
cursed seal and he didn't like it. Naruto ignored the Konoha rookies and instead took off
his jacket.

A swirling black pattern covered Naruto's right arm and it was slowly crawling under his
shirt. Naruto felt a spike of fear and confusion and the pattern sped up in its movement
across his chest and up to his neck. What the fuck is this? What did Orochimaru do to me?

Naruto forced back his fear and recalled Sasori mentioning something about how the seals
in puppets worked. Seals…the principle might be the same for this…just lock it away. Bend
it to your will and force it back. Naruto took a deep breath before he concentrated
completely on the seal on his wrist but it didn't work. The pattern was starting to appear
on his right cheek and it was showing no sign of slowing.
I don't even want this power! I rejected you! So why won't you just go away? He thought
in desperation but the mark still spread. Just go away! Get off me! Naruto squeezed his
eyes shut and grit his teeth. In a last ditch attempt, Naruto forced his chakra to attack the
pattern and, much to his surprise, the seal stopped moving.

The kitsune opened his eyes in shock and then grinned. Naruto concentrated more and
more chakra to fighting the seal until he was radiating crimson as if he was on fire and the
seal on his belly started to ache. Orochimaru's seal retreated slowly but it was soon once
again three black comma marks on his wrist. Naruto sighed and slumped forward. The
sudden lack of the power surge on top of his recent chakra depletion had taken quite a lot
after him.

Yeah. I'm going to need to get Sasori's help with this. Naruto thought.

"Um…What was that?" Choji asked nervously. He and his teammates had come closer and
the three of them were baffled by Naruto's display but Naruto just ignored the question.

"I'm tired of you weaklings! Hurry up and die!" Spikey shouted from the clearing and
Naruto stood up. He pulled his jacket back on and adjusted it so that it was comfortable.

"Well, guess that's my queue." He announced to no one in particular. Naruto gave his
jacket one more tug before he marched into the clearing.

Chapter 15

Apparently, everyone had been under the impression that Naruto had died. So when said
ninja emerged from the forest, dripping wet but quite animated, the people fighting in the
clearing stopped what they were doing and stared. Naruto took this opportunity to wave
and grin at the very battered Konoha rookies.

"Well hello, I can see that the big bad sound ninja have been bullying you so how about
you three just sit back and let a real ninja handle everything?" Sasuke and Kiba bristled at
the insult but they knew they were beat.

Kiba looked around and saw Akamaru lying on his side a ways away. He took the
opportunity to wriggle away from Dosu and run to his dog's side. At the same time Sasuke
scooted over to Sakura and checked her pulse, she had been knocked unconscious about
five seconds after she had cut her hair but she had looked heroic before that. Sasuke
waved at Kiba and pointed to the cave and Kiba gave him a thumbs up. Naruto was about
to fight and it would be huge and messy and none of the rookies wanted to get in the way.

The three sound nin had grouped together in the center of the clearing and were glaring at
Naruto but all Naruto did was smile cheekily. "Miss me?" He said sweetly and the sound
nin let out a discord of angry growls.

"How did you survive?" Sound-girl demanded.

"Well, see, I noticed suicide bomber squirrel coming at me and I, being the intelligent sort,
ran in the opposite direction. If it's any consolation the squirrel survived as well." Naruto
said. He found this entire situation immensely entertaining but clearly the sound ninja
didn't feel the same way.
"Now," Naruto's voice was now sickly sweet but his eyes were burning with rage. "Tell me
what Orochimaru did to me." Naruto had pulled off his gloves and he raised his hand so
that the sound ninja could see the tiny seal on his wrist.

Mummy-san's eye widened and he whispered something to Sound-girl. She gasped and
shot Naruto a terrified look. That's not good Naruto thought but he kept the friendly grin
on his face as he waited for a reply. He sensed Kiba and Sasuke squinting at his wrist from
the safety of the cave and he heard Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji moving behind him but he
didn't bother to guess what they might be up to.

"Hell if I know!" Unsurprisingly, it was the cocky Spiky that replied. "What Orochimaru-
sama does doesn't concern me! All I care about is taking you down, Coward-kun!"

Spiky charged but Naruto just pursed his lips at the sound ninja. It was clear he knew
nothing and was therefore useless to him but the other two… Naruto grabbed the clay bird
he had been working on earlier out of the pouch at his side and sidestepped Spiky as the
sound ninja charged.

As he passed, Naruto grabbed one of his arms and used the sound nin's momentum to
swing him around so they both went in a full circle before ending up both facing the other
two sound ninja. Naruto had twisted Spiky's left arm so it was pressed to his back and
couldn't be moved without dislocating it. With his free hand he rolled the bird into a clay
ball and then jammed it into the pipe in Spiky's captured arm.

Naruto let go of Spiky and let the ninja retreat back to where his teammates. The cocky
ninja held up his hand and looked into the blocked pipe before he grinned at Naruto. "Did
you really think that jabbing some dirt into my hand you could stop my air pressure?"
Spiky pointed the palm of his left hand at Naruto and prepared to blast the blonde away
without bothering to take the clay out first.

"Hey," Naruto said and Zaku held off the blast so he could hear what his soon to be victim
was about to say. "Bombs aren't art." Dead silence greeted Naruto's words as everyone in
the area pondered the kitsune's sanity.

"Um…what?" Spiky finally said but all Naruto did was grin like a lunatic and make a hand
seal. Spiky felt strange warmth spread up his arm a second before his arm exploded. He
stumbled backwards and fell, staring in horror at the bloody stump that had been his left
arm. In the background, Ino screamed but everyone was too wrapped up in what had
happened to care.

Naruto was equally horrified but his face didn't show it. I didn't put that much chakra into
the clay! It should have only broken his arm without permanent damage! What…? Nauto's
face hardened and he growled. Everyone in the area thought he was threatening the sound
ninja but in truth it was because he had realized what had happened. The seal started to
fuck with my chakra right when I was molding that clay! I put too much chakra into it
without knowing!

Naruto didn't know what to do. Spiky was screaming and waving his stump arm to and fro
like he thought that would make it grow back. His face and torso had also been burned
and he was missing half of his hair but Naruto could not tear his eyes from the bleeding
limb. I did that. I might have killed him. The first person that I've ever…ever killed… Was
all he could think. Naruto's face was twisted in a look of pure fury at Orochimaru for what
had happened to him.

"What did Orochimaru do to me?" He asked again as he looked at Mummy-san.

"Orochimaru-sama gave you the cursed seal. He gives it to all his chosen ones. It makes a
person stronger, that's all I know, I swear!" Mummy-san's voice had an edge of panic to it
at the end as Naruto took a step forward.
"Here." Spiky tossed his Earth Scroll to Naruto with his remaining hand. It landed at
Naruto's feet but the blonde didn't even acknowledge it. Sound-girl helped Spiky get to his
feet and she put his arm over her shoulder. She shot a fearful look at Naruto before she
disappeared with Spiky in tow. Mummy-san stayed and watched Naruto in silence as his
teammates made their retreat. Then, without a word, the last sound ninja vanished too.

Naruto was alone in the clearing. Behind him, he could hear Ino crying and her teammates
comforting her and he could also see Kiba and Sasuke watching him from the cave out of
the corner of his eye. Even with those people around him, Naruto was alone. He had just
possibly killed someone by accident and the one person that could understand him was in
Konoha.

The blonde picked up the scroll at his feet and walked to the cave. Sasuke shuffled back
and stood protectively over Sakura and Akamaru but Kiba just stayed where he was.
Naruto stopped a few feet away from Kiba and wordlessly held out the scroll. The dog
ninja stared down into Naruto's face without moving for a few seconds but in the end he
took the scroll and looked away.

Naruto's eyes flickered to Sasuke and Sakura once before he turned around and 'vanished'
by jumping to a high tree branch. Naruto ran as fast as he could through the branches
towards the tower.

He felt no remorse for what he had just done, it had ended what could have been a large
and difficult battle in a matter of minutes, but there was a flickering doubt eating away at
the back of his mind. Naruto had been given a tiny taste of what Orochimaru's power could
do and he feared it, the unnatural seal had invaded his mind and prodded him at his most
venerable points. Naruto's glove was back on so he wouldn't have to see the mark but he
could still feel it eating at the chakra he wrapped it up with. Naruto was tempted to tear
the flesh from his wrist but he knew that the curse would remain. The only person who
could help him now was Sasori.

Naruto felt strangely calm even with the knowledge that he would have to live two more
days until he got to the puppet master. Naruto avoided thinking about what would happen
if Sasori couldn't help him, what good would getting depressed do?

The blonde shook his head and concentrated on the looming tower. There could be
enemies anywhere and Naruto was itching for a fight to release his stress. It wasn't as if
any of the genins could provide him with a good fight but Naruto needed to hit something.

Naruto opened the door to the tower. He was disappointed that he had met no opposition;
all the genin teams had fled before he could attack. Well, that just meant that the next
person Naruto would fight would get beaten twice as bad. Naruto stared into the gloom
until he was sure that there was nothing waiting for him on the inside before he stepped
inside and let the door slam shut behind him.

The room was fairly large and quite dirty but Naruto's eyes were drawn to the enormous
poster on the back wall. It said, "If qualities of heaven are your desire, acquire wisdom
and knowledge to take your mind higher. If earthly qualities are what you lack, train your
body in the fields and prepare to attack. When both heaven and earth are opened
together, the path of peril will revert to the righteous path forever. This " " is the secret
way…that guides us on from this place today."

Naruto's eyes lingered on the name at the bottom of the page for a few seconds. The third
Hokage… Naruto frowned at the poster and rubbed his chin. What was he high? The fuck
does that mean? And what's up with the blank space? Naruto shook his head and reread
one segment of the poster.
"When both Heaven and Earth are opened together…" He repeated out loud. The scrolls!
So I guess it's time to open them. Naruto pulled out both scrolls and held one in each
hand. He had to open them at the same time, which was difficult considering there was
only him and scrolls generally needed two hands to open. Naruto grabbed the end of each
and threw them away so the weight of the paper unrolled itself.

Naruto glanced at the pattern on each sheet and dropped the ends as if they had scalded
him. He leapt a few feet backwards as smoke poured out of the center totem of each
scroll. Naruto wasn't positive what would happen but he knew that the scroll contained a
summoning jutsu. Naruto was prepared for some kind of monster so it came as a huge
surprise when the smoke cleared and a man stood with one foot on each scroll.

He was a Konoha ninja, most likely a chunin, with tan skin and dark brown hair pulled
back into a tight knot. Naruto wondered if the scratch across his nose was a birthmark or if
he had got it from a battle but he said nothing. Instead he crouched low and raised a kunai
in preparation for a fight. The ninja didn't look like he wanted to fight but Naruto wasn't
just about to throw caution to the wind based on his opponents nonthreatening stance.

"Whoa!" The Konoha ninja raised his hands up and smiled, "I'm not here to fight. My
Name's Iruka."

"Naruto." The blonde said simply and Iruka nodded. Naruto had dropped the defensive
stance but he still kept the kunai out as a precaution.

"Congratulations on passing the second exam, Naruto-kun." Iruka seemed to expect

Naruto it start jumping for joy but the blonde just stood and watched. Iwa kids have
always been a bit off. The one-man-team kid was bound to be strange. Iruka reasoned.
"Before you go on I have to explain what that means." Iruka pointed over his shoulder at
the poster and Naruto lifted an eyebrow.

"Those are words from the Hokage that have become a motto for all Konoha chunins. It
means that if you lack heaven, or in your mind, you have to gain knowledge and
strengthen your mind. If you lack in earth, or physical strength then you must train
harder. A person with both heaven and earth can succeed in any mission."

Naruto reluctantly admitted to himself that there was some logic in those words and he
finally spoke, "And the blank spots?"

Iruka positively beamed at Naruto, "The first word is 'person' and the missing sentence is
'These rules will guide a person's extremes'. We would like all genin to keep these words in
mind as they work to become chunin and even as they continue in life as a ninja. Okay?"

"Okay." Naruto mumbled. "So what happens next?"

Iruka put his hands back in his pockets and said, "Well you passed early so you have to
spend the next two days in the tower. We want contact with other contestants outside of
teams to remain minimal but you can go almost anywhere in the tower that you want. We
have a small kitchen and supply room on the third floor and there are rooms on the second
if you can find an empty one. We ask that you avoid the first floor until the second exam is
over. At the end of the fifth day we want you to all gather in the middle room on the first
floor so we can inform you about the next exams. That is all."

Naruto stayed in place and stared at Iruka until the Konoha ninja started to fidget. "Very
well, thank you Iruka-san." Naruto said as he looked away. He looked up at the balconies
on either side of the hall and noticed that both had doors that led deeper into the tower.
"May I go?"

"Yes." Naruto glanced back at Iruka before he turned away. Naruto chose to take the stairs
rather than jump up to the balcony. He felt Iruka's eyes on him the whole way up but he
didn't acknowledge the chunin. Naruto quietly opened the door and vanished into the
tower. Iruka rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. Out of all the people I could have
gotten I get the weirdo. Well, one of the weirdoes anyway. I wish I had one of my former
students I haven't seen any of them in ages. Eh, guess there's nothing to be done about
it.

Naruto quickly realized that the whole of the tower was very dingy and dimly lit but it
smelled clean enough. Naruto had a suspicion that the tower had received a quick
scrubbing just before the exam had started because the job was choppy and he could see
mold lurking in the vents. Naruto wasn't hungry and he didn't need any more supplies so
he was on the second floor scoping out a room and hoping that he didn't run into anyone.

Each time Naruto came to a new room he would stop at the door and listen; if he heard no
one inside he would open the door and look inside. So far, only a couple of rooms had
been occupied but the rest had been too disgusting for Naruto to consider. Naruto just
wanted a nice room with a clean bed that he could stay in for the next two days and not be
bothered byanyone. He had all the things he needed to survive for another month at least
and he wanted to practice with the clay. His chakra still wouldn't mesh quite right…

Naruto came to yet another door and he paused in front of it. Not even so much as a
heartbeat. The blonde opened the door slowly and was relived to finally find a suitable
room. It had three beds, same as all the others (because they had been intended for
three-man squads) but these had crisp white sheets, even if there was a fine layer of dust
covering them. The back wall was basically a giant window looking out at the forest of
death but the forest looked strangely peaceful in the twilight.

Naruto slipped inside and shut the door behind him. He flicked on the light switch and was
pleased that the overhead light still worked. Naruto walked to the window and tapped it to
test its strength and it didn't even make a 'thunk' noise. Still unsatisfied, Naruto hit it with
some force and then with a little more force. The ninja was unsatisfied with the security of
the window until it had literally survived multiple blasts of exploding clay without as much
as a dent.

"Okay." Naruto panted, "That glass is indestructible. I think I'm safe." With those
sentiments, Naruto turned his attention to the rest of the room. After some thought,
Naruto jumped on each bed and then dragged the two less desirable ones in front of the
door. Naruto tugged his choice bed up to the window so that the middle of the room was
just an expanse of empty floorboards. Well, time to get to work.

The room was a mess. Naruto had spent the past two days working on the last jutsu Tobi
had been teaching him but so far he was having no luck and whenever Naruto got too
frustrated he would make himself feel better by blowing stuff up. "Stupid Whack a mole no
jutsu." Naruto grumbled after yet another failed attempt.

Yet another technique that Naruto couldn't do; Tobi had told him that he might be unable
to perform the jutsu but at the time Naruto had merely dismissed it. Now it seemed like
Tobi might have been right. Why would he teach me something he knew I wouldn't be able
to do? Unless he wanted me to learn something else…Naruto felt a pang of regret for not
listening to Tobi.

Well I'll finish my lesson as soon as these stupid exams are over. Naruto glanced out the
window and saw that the sun had finally dipped behind the trees. He grinned and pushed
him little blockade out of the way of the door. It was finally time for the exams to end.
Naruto cracked open the door and perked his ears but there was no one in the hall.

The kitsune slipped out of his room and quickly located the room Iruka had mentioned.
The sand siblings and a couple other groups were already inside and as Naruto watched
team seven entered through a different door. Naruto was pleased to see that they were
looking very ragged and worn down. All the teams inside were lined up and facing a set of
giant stone hands.

Naruto watched for a few seconds more before he threw open the door and marched in.
Team seven all stared at him warily and The Sand Siblings observed him as well. Naruto
grinned at Gaara but ignored all the other observers. The blond took up a free space next
to team seven and the wall. Kiba, who was at the front of his team's line gaped at him and
Akamaru whimpered a bit.

"The fuck do you want?" Naruto snarled under his breath and Kiba quickly looked to the
front of the room. Naruto glared a bit more then he turned to the front of the room, never
noticing that Sasuke was also watching him. There! He did it again! Why is he so friendly
with Gaara but he can't stand it with Kiba looking at him? Sasuke frowned and chewed on
the side of his tongue as he thought. More teams filed in and Sasuke noticed that all the
Konoha rookies had made it and even the sound trio had arrived, despite Zaku looking
sickly and faint.

"Ah!" Sakura gasped in front of him and he turned his eyes to the front. The Hokage had
appeared out of nowhere and with him a whole bunch of junin, one of which was Kakashi.

"So that's his Sensei?" Haku, who was right beside Sasuke, wondered out loud. Sasuke
shot his friend a quizzical glance before he turned his eyes to the group of adults at the
front of the room and saw her.

She had very pale skin and features as sharp as a hawk's but despite the harshness she
looked beautiful and she couldn't have been any older than twenty. Half of her hair was
close cropped and pale blue and the other half was long with alternating strips of red and
black. Her eyebrows looked like thick silver lines because of all the piercings and the color
intensified her stormy eyes. She was wearing tall black boots under a very baggy pair of
cameo-shorts. And she was wearing, quite literally, nothing on her top half except her
ninja headband as a bra. Sasuke only glanced quickly before diverting his eyes but he had
seen the symbol on her band. The woman was the only Iwa ninja in the group and
therefore she was Naruto's teacher.

The Iwa ninja was standing between Gai and Kakashi and both men looked unsure as to
how to deal with her. Gai was staring intently at his team as he leaned away from her and
Kakashi was just ignoring her but he seemed to have a faint blush. Sasuke smirked at his
teacher's awkwardness, the man was always so calm and collected but apparently the
woman was enough to distract him.

Naruto didn't know if he should feel scared or angry. Who was this woman? He had never
seen her before and he certainly would have remembered someone like that from his stay
in Iwa! But she hadn't blown his cover so she was most likely an ally…one of Sasori's spies
perhaps?

Naruto didn't pay any attention to the Hokage as the old man rambled about the reason of
the Chunin exams or when some coughing ninja took over and started to explain the
preliminaries and then ask if anyone wanted to drop out. Kabuto and Spiky both choose to
withdraw but Naruto barely noticed, he kept his eyes fixed on his 'Sensei'.

His eye's never left her even when Sick-Duckie ordered everyone but a couple of Konoha
ninjas, Sasuke and someone else, up to the balcony. Naruto jumped up and landed on all
fours on top of the railing. With the practiced skill of a prankster, Naruto swiveled around
and kicked out his feet so that he was now standing on the balcony but his hands had not
left the rail. Naruto peered back down to the floor only to find that all the Jonin, the Iwa
woman included, had vanished.
"Hey." Said a voice behind him and Naruto whirled around and saw the woman leaning
against the wall as content as can be.

"Who are you?" He demanded but the woman just shrugged.

"Thirsty?" She asked and she tossed Naruto a can of strawberry juice that had been in one
of her shorts pockets. Naruto caught it but he made no move to open it and he continued
to glare at the woman.

"Who. Are. You." He snarled. The woman sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose the
same way Naruto always did.

"Has your nose gone dull Naruto? I would have thought that he would have recognized me
some time ago, un." The 'woman' glanced at Naruto and grinned at his stunned
expression. "Didn't you miss me, un?" Deidara said in his own voice.

Whatever reaction Deidara had expected, Naruto hugging him was not it. Deidara stared
down at Naruto in surprise but then smiled. Deidara put a hand behind Naruto's head and
the other on his shoulders and hugged him back. They stayed like that for a few minutes
until Naruto said, "Deidara, your boobs are smothering me."

"Sorry." Deidara was using a woman's voice again but Naruto wasn't too bothered by it.
They both let their arms fall and Naruto took a step back. He popped open the can of juice
and chugged half of it in one go. Deidara leaned on the rail and watched the fight below.

"So why are you here?" Naruto gasped.

"Stop drinking so quickly, un." Deidara chided. "I got board of hanging around with Sasori
so I left to explore. I decided to, uh… do some research on this year's exams and I, um,
found some information that said that junin teachers had to be present at this tower at the
end of the second exam so I came here, un."

Naruto slumped onto the rail next to Deidara and grinned, "So you snuck into the Hokage's
tower and stole classified information?"

"Just a bit, yeah." Deidara admitted.

"So what's the third exam?"

"They just explained that to you, un! It's just some stupid tournament a month from now."

"Oh." The two of them watched in silence as the fight below wrapped up and Sasuke was
declared the winner. "Hey, Deidara?"

"Yeah?" Naruto tugged on the end of his glove nervously and Deidara narrowed his eyes.
There was something bothering the younger boy but Deidara couldn't put his finger on
what it could be.

"Never mind, it's nothing." Naruto shook his head and grinned at his brother but Deidara
didn't buy it.

"Look, Naruto…"

"Next match; Inuzuka Kiba vs. Aburame Shino." Naruto grinned cruelly and Deidara felt a
shiver run up his spine.

"I'll tell you what, Deidara, suddenly I feel a hell of a lot better."
Chapter 16
Deidara was almost stunned at the animosity Naruto had toward his ex-best friend. He
know that Naruto hated all things about the village, and quite honestly so did he, but
Naruto was positively gleeful at the prospect of Kiba getting hurt. Deidara had never
before seen Naruto look so…much like a demon as he did now, leaning over the rail and
grinning.

"You shouldn't hate people so much." Deidara grumbled and Naruto tilted his head at him.

"Why?" Naruto asked and Deidara felt his skin crawl at the red gleam in his eyes. Deidara
opened his mouth but he couldn't think of anything to say so he said the first thing that
popped into his head.

"It's bad for your liver, un." Naruto blinked a couple times and the evil gleam vanished
from his eyes.

"My liver?" He said as if he just wanted to clarify that was truly what Deidara had said.

"Yep, un."

"Righhhhhht. What the fuck does my liver have to do with anything? Anger doesn't do
anything to my liver! That's alcohol Sensei." Most of the people turned to look at the
arguing pair in surprise but neither boy cared. Deidara grabbed Naruto and put him in a
headlock.

"Look, you little brat, anger causes stress and stress is bad for all your organs, un. That
includes your liver! And anyway, when did you start cursing so much? Stop mimicking
Hidan, un!" Deidara snarled back as he viciously ground his fist on the top of Naruto's
head.

"Argh! Let me go you psychopath!" Naruto struggled to escape from his brother's grip but
Deidara only tightened his hold.

"No way! Not until you calm down and stop acting like a child, un!"

"Look who's talking! You're older, why aren't you mature?"

"I'm older and stronger so I don't have to be mature, un!"

"Choking! I'm choking!" Naruto's voice sounded slightly strangled so Deidara marginally
loosened his hold and Naruto took a deep breath before launching into another rant. "Do
you know how fucked up that sounds? Be mature damn it! I need a role model and you
suck! You haven't taught me squat, Sensei!"

"Well why don't you go and-!"

"Begin!" Deidara let go of Naruto and both of them slumped over onto the rail but neither
rookie had made a move yet. The demonic aura that had encased Naruto moments ago
had vanished after his little spat with Deidara but he was still shooting daggers at Kiba.
Well that was better than nothing.

Deidara glanced at Naruto's wrist. There was something wrong, he could tell that even if
Naruto hadn't been acting strangely. Living with a person for seven years made you able
to pick up on the tiniest emotion and Naruto was clearly worried about something. This
really was just like Naruto, refusing to tell Deidara anything to keep him from worrying but
in the end making it worse.

Oh well. Deidara would just force the answer out of him later. That was, after all, what
brothers did, wasn't it?

"Heh! If you think we're the same as from when we were in the academy you'll lose!" Kiba
challenged but Shino didn't rise to the bait.

"The same goes for me, Inuzaku-san." He said. Kiba growled but Shino was still
indifferent. They studied each other for a few seconds wondering how best to go about this
battle.

Kiba made the first move. He pulled out a handful of smoke bombs with one hand and
kunai with the other. He threw the bombs first then the Kunai as soon as smoke filled the
arena. Kiba grinned as he felt Akamaru jump off his head and scamper off towards Shino
but his confidence turned to horror as soon as he heard the dog yelp.

The smoke cleared and he saw that Shino hadn't moved an inch. There were kunai
scattered about him and at his feet was… Akamaru! Kiba stared at the limp body of his dog
in shock before snarling at Shino.

"The flavor was bitter…but my bugs thank Akamaru for the meal." Shino said and fury
radiated off Kiba in waves. How dare he hurt Akamaru?

Shino suddenly vanished and a fist slammed into the back of Kiba's head. Kiba was
knocked to the ground and he skidded until he was next to Akamaru. The dog whimpered
and blinked weakly at his master and Kiba glared back to where Shino was standing. He's
faster than before and that was one hell of a punch.

Kiba didn't stand a chance like this and Shino knew it. He was waiting to see if Kiba would
give up or not and Kiba was almost tempted to do so.

"Go Kiba! You can do it!" Sakura screeched and all around the room people clamped their
hands over their ears and glared at the pink ninja. Kiba looked up to where his teammates
were gathered and felt confidence bloom in his heart. They wanted him to win! Even
Kakashi was watching him intently, despite having paid little attention to him previously.

"Come on, Akamaru." Kiba muttered to his dog and he tossed it a solider pill before taking
one himself.

Naruto and Deidara both tilted their heads to the right, at the same time without really
meaning to, as Akamaru turned bright red. "D-Sensei? What happened to the dog?"
Naruto asked.

"Dunno, un. That was a solider pill but I've never seen one do that before."

"Are you ready Shino?" Kiba snarled and the red-Akamaru jumped onto his back. Kiba
made a strange hand sign and there was a massive poof of smoke. When it cleared, there
were two Kibas, side by side and smirking.

The boy and his dog each took a step away from each other. The two became spiraling
walls of air that blasted around the arena and hit Shino multiple times. Naruto's eyes went
wide and as he watched. Why didn't he do that back in the forest? He thought.

Shino collapsed and the instructor gave the win to Kiba. Naruto pouted. That was anti-
climactic. He had wanted to see Kiba get destroyed! The dog boy climbed the stairs shakily
with his dog in hand and collapsed next to his teammates.
"Nice job, Kiba-kun." Kakashi said with a smile. Sasuke 'humped' and Sakura started
dotting on him. Kiba had just used up too much chakra, he would be fine after a couple
day's rest. Naruto watched the next few matches without really caring what happened. He
wasn't involved and neither was his target so what was the point?

Gaara's brother took out some wuss, Ms. No-pupils tied a loss with Pinky and cut her hair
for some reason Naruto couldn't fathom, Cinnamon Buns lost to Gaara's sister, and Lazy-
bones beat Sound-girl. Naruto was bored to tears by the time his name finally appeared on
the computer.

Naruto was dozing off and Deidara prodded him awake. "Wake up, you're next, un." He
muttered. Naruto glanced up at the board and grinned. 'Uzumaki Naruto vs. Haku'. There
couldn't have been a better match up! Naruto jumped off from the rail and landed neatly
on the ground. Haku had already entered the arena and the two glared at each other for a
few seconds.

The instructor coughed a couple of times before he said, "Begin!"

XXX

"Leader-sama! We got a damn letter from Sasori!" Hidan burst into Pein's office without
knocking and waved a scroll in the air. Tobi jumped back from the desk and scampered off
to irritate Konan's parrot but no one paid any attention to him.

Hidan threw the letter at Pein before he folded his arms and leaned against a wall. Pein
stared at Hidan for a few seconds before he unrolled the scroll and read Sasori's scrawl.
Konan leaned over his shoulder and skimmed the letter as well. Once they were both
done, Pein set the letter on fire.

"Hidan, leave." He said curtly.

"Fuck no! I want to know what happened to that god damn puppet!" Hidan shouted but
after one look at his Leaders' face he turned on his heel and stalked off. The three of them
waited for the albino to disappear before they started talking.

"What did it say?" Madara asked.

"Sasori, Deidara, and Naruto are currently in Konoha." Pein said and Madara made a
strange noise in the back of his throat. So that's where Naruto had gone off to then?
"Apparently the one tail has entered the chunin exams and Naruto entered as well in
attempt to befriend it and convince it to come to us on it's on. The idea is that our
organization will remain a secret."

Madara touched his chin thoughtfully and contemplated the latest development. Could
work, and even if it didn't they could always just take the one-tail by force. What was one
month setback compared to the Akatsuki remaining secret?

"I will allow this."

XXX

"You're quite the beauty." A voice behind Deidara said. Shivers ran up Deidara's spine and
he whirled around to inform the bastard that he was male before he remembered that he
actually was a girl. The silver-haired man smiled with his only exposed eye and went on,
"I'd like to ask you about your pupil, do you mind?"

"Make it quick, un." Deidara snapped. He didn't want to miss Naruto's match but Kakashi
ignored his curtness and his smile widened.
"Uzumaki…that's not a normal name for Iwa now is it?"

"Suppose not." Deidara said unhelpfully.

"Did he come from a different country?"

"It's possible." Kakashi had opened his eye and Deidara could see anger burning in their
depths.

"Was he stolen by Iwa?" Deidara bristled. They where accusing him of stealing his own
brother! From the place full of people that wanted to kill him! A blazing anger made
Deidara's tongue looser than it normally was.

"No, un." Deidara snarled "He came of his own free will to escape the mistreatment he
suffered at the hands of Konoha."

"So you admit that he came from Konoha?" Kakashi demanded and Deidara counted to ten
in his head before responding.

"Where he came from is irrelevant, un. He is a loyal Iwa ninja and there is nothing you can
do to change that." Deidara growled. Kakashi cocked his head to one side and smiled.

"We'll see about that." The silver-haired said. Deidara glowered at him before he slumped
back onto the rail to watch the match. What the fuck did that mean? 'We'll see about
that…' Bloody bastard. Deidara relaxed as soon as he saw Kakashi appear behind his
oblivious students and lean back against the wall.

Naruto moved the second he heard the word 'begin'. He jumped several feet back and tore
a sizable wad of clay out of his pouch but Haku attacked before he could make a bomb.
Naruto deflected the needle in Haku's hand with his own kunai and kicked Haku's knee as
he did so.

"So you can keep up?" Haku hissed and Naruto grinned. He kneaded the clay as quickly as
he could while they were locked together and soon it was ready. Naruto palmed the clay
and swung a punch at Haku's face. The girly-boy grabbed Naruto by the wrist and Naruto's
grin widened.

Naruto opened his fist and the clay hit the side of Haku's face and Naruto tore himself
away. Haku managed to cut his left cheek but Naruto was gone before he could do any
more. Haku reached up and pulled the clump off his face and was about to toss it away
when it detonated.

There was a loud scream from the audience as Sakura saw the explosion engulf her friend
but the result was not as it had been with Zaku. Naruto had carefully determined the
amount of chakra and so Haku's arm was only burned. Naruto was almost positive that it
was rendered useless and it was confirmed when the smoke cleared and Haku's right arm
was raw and limp.

Haku glared at him made a series of hand signals with his good hand mirrors appeared out
of thin air and surrounded Naruto. Ice…He pulled moister out of the air and made ice
mirrors.Naruto realized as he looked from mirror to mirror. Haku calmly walked up to
where one mirror was and stepped inside the panel. A reflection of Haku appeared on
every mirror and Naruto pulled out another wad of clay. Ice would not stand up to an
explosion.

He threw the lump of clay at a nearby mirror and detonated it but the ice was
unaffected. So he's holding it with chakra and not cold…So I either need to stall him until
he runs out of chakra or blast him with my own chakra until I wear him down. Naruto
reasoned.
A needle entered Naruto's forearm and the blond stared at it is surprise. Then twenty
needles blossomed from his back and he stumbled forward only to be punched in the jaw
by Haku. The ice ninja vanished and three needles embedded into his left knee. Speed!
Haku was way faster than Naruto and he was jumping from mirror to mirror to deliver
attacks!

With that realization came another rain of needles to his legs and back. Naruto panted and
tried to collect his thoughts through the haze of pain. He needed to distract Haku…but
how? Naruto knew he didn't have the concentration to gather his own chakra in these
conditions so he needed to stop Haku for a little bit…Naruto gasped in pain as a hand
pushed the needles deeper into his back. Naruto snapped his head to where Haku had
been moments before but the boy was already gone.

Naruto took a deep breath and shouted "Hey, can I ask you something?" during a lull in
the attacks.

"What?" All of Haku's reflections narrowed their eyes at Naruto and raised their needles
threateningly. The blond was up to something, his demeanor had changed from pain and
anger to superiority in the blink of an eye and Haku didn't like it at all.

"Why do you live in Konoha?"

"Huh?" Was all Haku could say. He was a Konoha ninja, why wouldn't he live in Konoha?

"You use Ice…Unusual for the Fire Country, no? And your sent is wrong." Naruto said with
a smirk. He folded his arms over his chest and took up a nonchalant pose but secretly he
was pulling as much chakra as he could out of his seal. It was almost painful for Naruto to
hold it all in but he had to be careful with this. He couldn't even let his eyes turn red or his
wounds heal so Haku wouldn't notice.

Only exceptionally strong ninja in the audience noticed. Deidara, a silver haired Konoha
ninja, the Hokage, the Sand sibling's teacher, a red-eyed Konoha ninja, and a couple kids
with white eyes were the only ones to react to Naruto's mounting chakra levels.

"Well what about you?" Haku retorted, "Why did you leave Konoha?"

If Naruto was at all surprised by the question he didn't show it. He shrugged and said,
"Konoha is a terrible place. That's why I want to know why you chose to join."

"It's not terrible!" Haku said defensively. "They are perfectly accepting of everyone, even
those with bloodline limits!"

Naruto closed his eyes momentarily as the power he held inside pulsated and begged to be
unleashed. "So you came from the land of water?" Was all he could say and his voice
sounded airy and light. Haku frowned at him; Naruto seemed to be in a world of his own.
He had a sublime expression on his face and he seemed to barely be paying attention to
Haku at all. He was just standing in the middle of a puddle of his own blood and
completely at Haku's mercy. So why was he so…blissful?

"Yes…but I was chased out by my own father after he killed my mother…all because of our
bloodline limit. I spent years wandering around and I finally found a place to belong and
that place is Konoha!" Haku said.

Naruto suddenly doubled over as if he had been punched in the stomach. So he had
reached the limit… the seal on his belly wouldn't let him draw out any more chakra. Haku
took a step forward and almost left the sanctuary of his ice.

"Give up." He said, "You can barely stand as it is" Naruto ginned but His mane of blond
hair hid it from Haku. The kitsune stood up slowly and deliberately before he burst out into
maddened laughter. Naruto let his bottled chakra realize and almost the entire arena was
covered in a flame-like crimson chakra.

Ice shards were embedded into the walls and all the Konoha ninja felt pure hatred directed
their way. All of the Konoha genin observing fell to their knees and their teachers looked
like they might be sick. The sand ninja stared in stunned silence. He's a monster! Kankuro
thought as he raised a hand to protect his face from a shard of ice.

He's the same as Gaara so how is he so…sane? Temari wondered as she recalled how
easily he had talked to her youngest brother. Is that why he wasn't afraid of Gaara?

Deidara was the only one that the chakra had a positive effect on. He felt as if there was a
shield surrounding and protecting him and scars, old and new, vanished. He glared across
the arena to where Kakashi stood and gave him the finger. Naruto would never be loyal to
Konoha!

The Chakra enveloped Naruto and the entire audience could see Haku struggling to his
feet. The mirrors had all been vaporized by Naruto's chakra and the ice ninja had been left
drained but Naruto wasn't just about to let him get away with the beating. Naruto's excess
chakra burned away and had disappeared into his body but the kitsune still looked terribly
demonic.

Naruto's eyes were crimson and the pupils had become slits, his teeth and nails had
elongated into lethal blades, his hair had become shaggier, and the whisker marks on his
cheeks had become darker. The hokage was the only person whose expression was
completely neutral. He had leaned forward in his seat and was observing Naruto silently;
he wasn't angry or scared he was just…sad. The third Hokage felt nothing but regret for
what had happened to Naruto because he knew that it was his fault. He should have had
ANBU guards placed around the boy, he should have found a good foster parent, and he
should have spent more time with Naruto. A thousand of those kinds of thoughts swam in
the Hokage's head but he knew that it was too late to do anything. He had failed Minato's
son.

"What are you?" Haku asked and Naruto was delighted to notice that he had gone pale and
his hands were shaking. Naruto cleared the distance between the two of them in a matter
of seconds and grabbed the collar of Haku's jacket with one hand and drew him close.

"I'm a demon." Naruto whispered before he made a jabbing motion with his hand and ran
Haku through the stomach. In an instant, the silver haired ninja had grabbed a handful of
his hair, the red eyed ninja had a kunai to his neck, Mr. Green Jumpsuit grabbed him by
the shoulder, and the instructor had his wrist.

"Uzumaki Naruto is the winner of the match."

Chapter 17
Naruto withdrew his hand from Haku's gut the same second his demonic aura vanished
and the ice ninja collapsed. The red-eyed Konoha ninja caught him and shouted for a
medic before Naruto even noticed that she had taken the Kunai away from his neck. The
instructor dropped his wrist and Naruto shook off the blood and digestive fluids from his
hand.

"Oi!" Deidara shouted as he jumped down from balcony. "Let go of my student!" Mr. Green
Jumpsuit let go of Naruto and backed away from the angry 'woman' but the Silver-haired
ninja tightened his grip on Naruto until it was painful.

"Fuck off." Naruto snarled as he tore out of the Konoha ninja's grip. He marched up to
Deidara and the two of them jumped back up to the balcony, uncomfortably aware of all
the eyes on them.

The instructor called attention to himself once more by announcing the next fight, Hyuuga
Neji vs Hyuuga Hinata, much to the relief of the ex-Iwa ninja. "Help me take out these
needles." Naruto muttered before his knees buckled and he had to catch himself on the
railing.

"You really didn't need to use that much chakra, un" Deidara said as he started to pull out
needles from his brother's back. He cauterized each wound with a tiny explosion. Naruto
hissed in pain but he didn't flinch once so it wasn't long before he was free of needles.
Deidara would have preferred that Naruto went to a medic but he also knew that the
younger boy would reject the idea. Naruto slumped down and leaned his back against the
railing.

Deidara noticed that Kakashi was looking there way once again so he glared back. "Who is
he, anyway?" Naruto mumbled.

"Who's who?" Deidara didn't break eye contact with Kakashi but he still knew that Naruto
was staring up at him.

"Ol' One Eye over there, who is he? He seems familiar." Naruto yawned and Deidara
glanced down at him in time to see the kitsune's chin rest on his chest. As much as he
would have liked to continue his staring contest with Kakashi, Deidara knew that Naruto
was way more important. Deidara sat down next to him and Naruto's head fell onto his
shoulder.

"That's Hayate Kakashi, Konoha's copycat ninja. He killed hundreds of Iwa ninja in the last
shinobi war." Deidara said. "They talked about him in the academy, 'member?"

"I guess." Naruto said around a yawn. He had used way too much chakra. The seal on his
stomach was leaking a tiny amount of chakra back into his system and that was the only
reason he hadn't died of chakra exhaustion. Orochimaru's cursed seal throbbed as the
chakra Naruto was suppressing it with started to ebb away and he drew a sharp breath.
Deidara put an arm around his shoulder and enveloped him in an awkward hug.

Naruto pushed buck the chakra and sealed it there as best he could. It wouldn't hold very
well but Naruto hoped that it would last until he could get to Sasori. Naruto didn't realize
that he was falling asleep until he slumped over onto Deidara but by then it was too late to
do anything.
"The winner is Hyuuga Neji. Next round; Gaara of the Sand vs. Rock Lee." The instructor
announced.

"SAFE!" Fat-boy screamed and Naruto jerked awake.

"I gotta watch this one!" Naruto had an edge of panic to his voice and he attempted to
stand bout his legs would not support him.

"Why?" Deidara's eyebrows shot up and he applied a little force so Naruto had to stay
seated. The kid would hurt himself soon if he didn't get some rest. Naruto eventually
settled down but he frowned at the wall.

"The one tail host's Gaara," He grumbled. Deidara stiffened slightly and he twisted his
head so he could see the host appear in the arena with a whirl of sand. "I have to watch…"
Naruto fell asleep once more and Deidara didn't disturb him.

XXX

Naruto felt a hand shaking him out of his deep slumber and he groaned in protest. There
was a heat next to him and he snuggled into it, unconcerned with anything else. "Wake
up." A female voice muttered and Naruto's eyes opened in a heartbeat. He jerked his head
up and was satisfied to hear the strange female yelp as his skull came in contact with her
lower jaw.

"Ow! Damn it!" Naruto was punched, lightly, on the shoulder and the woman stood up and
took a step away from him. "What was that for, un?" She snarled and she rubbed a rapidly
rising lump on her jaw.

Naruto blinked for a couple seconds before he remembered that the strange woman was
Deidara. Oops.

"Ehhehe, sorry Sensei," Naruto said as he rubbed the back of his head ruefully. Deidara
glared daggers at him before he thumbed in a direction off to Naruto's left. Naruto glanced
over and saw Gaara, arms folded and expressionless although Naruto could have sworn
the corner of his lip was twitching.

"Oh hi Gaara!" Naruto said with all traces of exhaustion gone from his face. He hauled
himself to his feet but still had to lean on the railing for support.

"I won." Gaara said.

"You're match? Nice! I kinda expected that though…" Naruto trailed off as Gaara shook his
head.

"I won our bet." Gaara said. Naruto stared at him blankly before he cracked into a wide
grin.

"So you did! As loser I guess I have to treat you to Raman." Naruto rubbed his chin
thoughtfully. "Meet me in front of the building we had the first exam in at noon-ish
tomorrow, okay? Drag your siblings too, I've got a brother who's bored out of his mind at
the moment and a social extrusion would do some good for him."

Gaara was silent for so long that Naruto thought he had overstepped some kind of invisible
boundary.

"Okay." He said. Gaara studied Naruto for a few seconds before walking back to where his
team was. Naruto sighed in relief before he sat back down, exhausted once more. Deidara
settled next to him and the two sat in silence until the last match was over; the fat boy
lost to Mummy-san by a landslide.

"All winners please come down!" The third hokage announced and Naruto wearily trudged
down the stairs. He stood in the front with Gaara and Kiba on either side. Much to Naruto's
delight, Kiba seemed to be leaning away from him and all the other Konoha genin, aside
from Neji, pointedly avoided looking at him. Good.

"This is the matchup for the third round," The instructor held up a sheet of paper and
started explaining how the bracket system worked. Naruto only noticed that he was
fighting Neji before he put all his effort into looking alert. He really had used too much
chakra but it had felt so good. Part of him wondered if he would always feel like that if it
wasn't for the accursed seal on his belly.

Naruto stood in place and zoned out until the instructor dismissed them. Deidara came out
beside him and silently led him through the tower and into the forest of death. At some
point during the walk back to the hotel Naruto had to use Deidara for support and
eventually the older boy ended up caring him. Before they even entered Konoha, Naruto
was fast asleep.

XXX

Naruto's eyes fluttered open and he stared at the whitewash ceiling as he tried to gather
his thoughts. His arm and legs felt leaden, his head throbbed, and his intestates felt like
some giant had twirled them on a fork like spaghetti the hastily shoved them back into
place. All were common signs of chakra exhaustion. He groaned and rolled onto his side.
Well, that's what he got for overdoing it.

There was a tiny knock at the door and Naruto squinted at it. "Come in," He grumbled and
Sasori, in his human form, entered. Deidara, in his normal form, followed closely behind.
"What time is it? Did I miss-?"

"Naw, you've been asleep for a couple hours, un. It's still night." Deidara said as he skirted
around Sasori and sat down next to Naruto on the bed. Deidara looked worried and
Naruto's insides squirmed when he noticed him glance at Naruto's wrist.

"Gloves off," Sasori said. Naruto just blinked a couple times in surprise.

"What?"

"Now." Although Sasori's tone didn't change Naruto was sure that if he resisted he would
get hurt. With a strange feeling of guilt and dread, Naruto pulled off his right glove and
displayed Orochimaru's mark for the entire world to see. Deidara made a strangled noise
in the back of his throat and Sasori's eyes flickered from the seal to the kitsune's face.

"How did you know?" Naruto muttered. Sasori didn't answer immediately; he still seemed
lost in thought. Naruto was about to repeat himself when the short red head finally spoke.

"I once worked with Orochimaru when he was still a member of akatsuki. I felt his chakra
flare up not too long ago and I assumed he had left his seal on some poor soul." Naruto
gulped when Sasori called him a 'poor soul'. That was never good to hear and Sasori
saying it made it so many times worse. "When Deidara returned I noticed that your wrist
was emanating a signature similar to Orochimaru's. I tried to look earlier but you bit me."
Sasori held up his hand and Naruto felt resentment radiating off him. There were tiny prick
points all along Sasori's palm where Naruto's fangs must have latched on. There was a
short pause while Sasori glared at him until Deidara couldn't deal with it anymore.
"Look, Danna," Deidara grit his teeth as he forced himself to say the respectful term
without any sarcasm. "What will this seal do, un?"

"Do? It transforms the victim into a loyal servant of Orochimaru. What happens after is up
to him."

Spectacular Naruto thought just fan-fucking-tastic. I save Stick up his ass and now I get to
be Snaky's man-slave. He looked at Deidara but his brother was staring at the floor,
completely devoid of all emotion. For some reason, that reaction scared Naruto. He would
have preferred it if Deidara had started yelling or even been a little scared of him.
Anything but nothing.

"So," Deidara said without looking up. "What can we do next, un?"

"I could seal it," Sasori said and both blonds stared at him as if he was the messiah. "But
that would only last for a short while before it started to wear down and Orochimaru would
have you. What I suggest is we do something to get rid of the seal completely. Orochimaru
wouldn't try to reapply it, which would be dangerous for him and deadly to you."

"How do we remove it?" Naruto asked.

"We chop off your hand." Dead silence followed Sasori's words. Naruto looked at Deidara
then Deidara looked at Naruto then they both looked at Sasori.

"WHAT(,un)?”

And then arabat fox decided

she would re write the entire
thing… grrrr….