AN (as all good fanfics must start with an author note) - Just two things to note:
This takes place right before the Tea Country arc, but after Lee's treatment by Tsunade, so that I may use both the Sand Siblings and Sasuke. Take at sort of a filler arc, but more like an omake with no reaching effects on the plot.
As that should note, this is going to follow canon as best I can, so no shipping unless it at least seems canonical. Therefore, no yaoi.
With that out of my way, let's begin.
The First Annual Kohona Karaoke Contest
Chapter 1:
Contest Announced: Everyone Get Your Act Together!
A mysterious ninja flew through the streets of the moonlit Kohona streets. He was carrying a bundle of paper, and with every stop, he placed one piece of paper on whatever was close; walls, other signs, mailboxes, anything near by.
"We should probably be worrying about more serious things, but any chance we can use to rest is one worth taking."
With that said, the poster carrying ninja leaped onward. The he had a lot more hidden village to cover, and being late to his "mission" certainly didn't help.
A buzzing noise rang out. A rustling come from the covers of a very unkempt room followed after, accompanied by an unidentified grumbling. A small emanation of blue chakra glowed from underneath the blanket and a familiar pop sound signaled the appearance of a shadow clone. The room was that of none other than "Leaf Village's No. 1 Knucklehead Ninja," Naruto Uzumaki. The shadow clone, clad only in light blue boxers, with hair more frayed than Naruto's normal hairstyle, turned the alarm off and was dissipated. A content sound, followed by snoring came from under the now still covers.
However, Naruto's bout of sleeping in was not to be. A sudden knock came to his door. He rustled and thought about creating a shadow clone, but it was too early for chakra, so he rolled out of bed and put on pants.
"Cooming!" he yelled to the door. He zipped his pants up and made for the door, still wobbling from having just woken. He opened the door to see his pink-haired kunoichi teammate.
"You know, if I hadn't expected you to come to the door in only your underwear, I might slap you for not putting on a shirt," she said in a short tone.
"Oh, good morning Sakura," Naruto said with a resounding energy, his sleepiness having disappeared when it had been Sakura that had come to wake him. He proceeded to dress in his trademark black shirt and orange spiral jacket. "So what's up? Do we have a mission?"
Sakura chose not to enter Naruto's home. There were a few things strewn about the floor that she couldn't identify, and a few things she, unfortunately, could, and decided she'd rather not be in the same room as. "No, it's something else. Here, take a look," she said, holding out a small flyer. Naruto closed and locked his door, then took the paper from her hands, reading over it, despite his eyes being closed.
"Huh? What in the world?"
Change scene to the town square located right outside the Ichiraku Ramen shop. Tsunade, wearing the official hat of the Hokage, stood before a group of people holding the same flyer that had been tossed about the town. The notable members of the group standing before her were The Kohona 11 and their Jonin leaders, save, of course, the members of Team 7, Iruka Umino, and the Sand Siblings, who had been given a mission in Fire Country, but upon finishing it, requested a short vacation in Kohona, which, to the surprise of Temari and Kankuro, came at the behest of Gaara.
Tsunade continued to delay the announcement, waiting for the arrival of Team 7. She was well aware of Kakashi's trait of being constantly late, a trait he unfortunately had passed to Sasuke, but had expected Sakura to be prompt as always, and had especially expected Naruto to jump at the chance to get out in the public eye. She sighed softly as the crowed became more and more restless.
"Damn it, I didn't become the Hokage to do crowd control…"
Out in the forest, the sound of many birds rang through the air, though all the actual birds had been scared away hours ago. Kakashi had taken Sasuke out, at his request, to train his chakra skills so that he would be able to use Chidori additional times over the course of one day. He had just used it his third time, sans the curse mark.
"All right, Sasuke. You've reached and surpassed the limit I set for you before. How is your stamina doing?" This was, more or less, a rhetorical question. Sasuke lay sprawled out on the grass, the hand he had just used to form his attack smoking profusely. He panted heavily and sweat beaded across his whole body. Sasuke obviously didn't have the energy to speak, much less form another Chidori. "That's about what I thought. While I'll say that surpassing your daily limit in such a short amount of time is impressive, it obviously leaves you in… well, let's just say you aren't really at your fighting peak right now. Don't use it more than twice unless you absolutely must."
"Hn…" muttered Sasuke, though only because he didn't have the energy to groan over how frustrated he felt. He'd managed to use Chidori a third time without his curse mark, but Kakashi still restricted him to a two per day limit. He hadn't made any actual progress. Maybe Orochimaru was the only one that could truly make him stronger…
"Well, as much as any Jonin loves seeing one of his students in such a pathetic state, we need to get back to the village. Tsunade-sama has called a meeting in the town square. We need to get going." Kakashi lifted Sasuke onto his back and ran towards the village.
In the meantime, Sakura and Naruto had showed up to the gathering. The crowd was still restless. All of the non-nin citizens, as well as a good deal of the random chunin and genin, had left in favor of the ramen shop. Tsunade was on her last nerve. Kakashi and Sasuke or not, this meeting had been stalled long enough. As if on cue from that thought of hers, Kakashi landed right in front of her, Sasuke still riding piggy-back.
"Sorry we're late," said Kakashi, hand behind his head, looking apologetic. He looked around and saw that the remnants of the crowd seemed to be very frustrated. "You didn't whole up the whole meeting just for us, did you?" Tsunade looked at Kakashi, her brow furrowed and a very obvious pulsing vein on her forehead. "I'll take that as a yes." Taking the hint, he moved back to join Sakura and Naruto. "Ah, well, she probably won't do anything too damaging to me if I stand together with these three," he thought to himself, relieved.
Tsunade was still staring Kakashi down as images of her fist, some well stored chakra, and his Icha Icha Paradise collection came into her head, but, for the time being, there were well overdue announcements to be made.
"All right, now, you've undoubtedly come because either you or someone who knows you found one of these flyers across Kohona." She held up a copy of the flyer that Sakura had shown Naruto. "This year, we will start a tradition by holding the first annual Hidden Leaf Village Karaoke Contest!" She closed her eyes. A part of her had expected some applause from this, but it didn't really surprise her all that much that she was met with blank stares. "Listen, I know that we're dealing with some threats bearing down on us, and that you're all worried, but that's just why we need this. We all need something to lift our spirits, and this contest will do just that for the whole village." All of the remaining in the crowd, meaning all the ninja, started to become a little more into the idea.
"What a drag, and right when we should be running missions against Orochimaru," said someone with a sarcastic tone, walking to the front. "All right, I'm in."
"I'll go, but you'd better have a banquet at the beginning," said Choji Akimichi as he joined his friend up front with Tsunade, eating from his seemingly endless supply of chips.
"Ah, well, if these two are in, I guess all of Team 10 might as well be," said Ino Yamanaka, making the Ino-Shika-Cho full force.
"Oh man, this looks like it could be a whole lot of fun. Come on guys, let's compete!" Just as Tsunade had predicted, Naruto was more than willing to be part of this, and as she'd hoped, she was able to pull all of his team into it, including the all important Sasuke. All of Team 7 was now at the front. The remaining teams soon followed, as well as Kurenai Yuhi and Asuma Sarutobi stepping up to compete. Naruto tried to persuade Kakashi into joining Sakura, Sasuke, and him, or at least forming an act of his own, but he, of course, declined, claiming to have a horrible singing voice and took a place as one of the judges.
Once all of those who chose to step forward had done so, Tsunade continued with her speech.
"Ok, so here's how it will proceed. The contest will officially begin in one week. This will give us time to build the stage as well as give all the competitors time to form official teams and create acts. Each act is limited to one song, but you may have as many team mates as you like or feel necessary. Your performances can include anything you think will make them more interesting. There are no limits on nin, gen, or taijutsu so long as you don't cause harm to the audience or panel. The categories you'll be rated on are: musical, visual, and general effect. There is very little set as far as how points are given, and you are, more or less at the mercy of the judges' opinions. However, this isn't really a contest you should be concerned with winning. The whole purpose of this is for all of us to kick back and take our minds off of recent events, so try and make your acts fun. Everyone understand? Good, then off with ya!" she yelled as she sent them off. All the ninja, save Kakashi, the now sleeping Sasuke, and Tsunade, all ran off in random directions, some teams conversing and brain storming. Tsunade and Kakashi exchanged a looks of pleasure at how well it had gone.
"So, do you think this will actually work?" asked Tsunade, eyeing Sasuke.
"We can only hope. Losing Sasuke to Orochimaru is not an option. We have to do everything we can to help him regain the confidence he has in his comrades. At this point, though, I think they are the only ones that can reach him, so we have to do whatever we can to help that message along."
"Yes, you're right. Now then, about the building of the stage…"
"Oh, well, I'm obviously not going to be able to help you. I have to get Sasuke home so he can rest and meet up with Naruto and Sakura later on. Goodbye!" he yelled, running away. Tsunade looked around her and saw that there was no one to actually help build the stage anymore.
"Damn it, I knew this would happen. I wonder where Jiraiya is…"