"Sam, what the hell are you?" asked a woman of 22 with short blonde hair, "You're…blue."
The blue-faced girl looked to her twin sister, "I'm Kisame; why else would I be blue?" She pulled the large piece of cardboard off her back and poked her sister with it, "And this is Samehada." As she was about to poke her sister with it again, the "sword" was taken from her hands by another girl with long black hair wearing a small black tube top under a fishnet top. Her red eyes stared at the blue girl with annoyance.
"What are you, 12?" she asked, "I'm taking this until further notice."
"You look creepy with those contacts Keers," said the blonde, "Itachi has come to life and is going to kill me." Kira ignored them and went to her bedroom, going to hide the "sword" from Sam.
Tonight was the celebration of Kira's 21st birthday. Her actual birthday had been a few days ago but the celebration was being held tonight and was anime themed. It had taken 3 years since the idea was brought up to actually put into practice, but they had finally done it. Kira, the birthday girl, was dressed as Itachi; Sam was Kisame as she like being pairs with Kira and Jess was Momiji.
"I can't believe we're actually doing the dress up thing," said Sam, "You think we're too old Jess?"
"Not on your life sis," Jess answered, "I just wish the others'd hurry up and get here. I wanna get this party started." A small girl of nine years old ran into the room, she was Kira's younger sister that was staying over for the weekend. She too was joining in on the dress-up game as she called it. She had short dark blue hair that was spiked in the back and wore a blue shirt and white shorts. She was dressed up as Sasuke as she too liked to be a match with her sister. Her crystal blue eyes looked to the twins with a questioning glance.
"Where'd Kira go?" she asked, "The TV broke and I need her to fix it."
"Aww, Zoey," cooed Jess, "You make a cute little Sasuke, doesn't she Sam?"
"Sure," said Sam bitterly, "But I wanted to be Sasuke…" Zoey stuck her tongue out at Sam who pulled a face in return.
"Break it up you two," said Kira returning to the room, now wearing an Akatsuki cloak, "It's 8:30 anyway Zo-zo, your bedtime soon. I'll fix the TV in the morning." Zoey pouted at her sister before crossing her arms over her chest and stomping back to her room with a 'hmph'. "I'll bring you some warm chocolate milk in a minute."
"I want it extra chocolaty!" called Zoey from the end of the hall.
"You got it sweet," replied Kira. There was a knock at the door, Sam going over to answer it. Upon opening the door, an unforgettable and almost disturbing sight greeted the three girls. A man of 21 threw off his black cloak revealing a skin-tight green bodysuit and bright orange leg warmers. He stood with his hip jutted out to the side and his index and thumbs making goggles around his eyes, a wide grin plastered on his face.
"How's everybody doin'? Life treatin' you good?" he said with great energy.
The room stood silent before a tanned girl in red standing to the side of the green man started to snigger. Her snigger infected all that stood and soon erupted into thunderous laughter from all people present.
"My god Jake! Wh-what possessed you to do that?!" laughed Jess, holding onto the arm of the couch. Jake and the red-clad girl entered the apartment, large Cheshire smiles on their faces.
"I thought it'd be funny," said Jake, "It was sorta Shan's idea though." He motioned to the girl behind him, "Are Aaron and Steve here yet?"
"We're right behind you," came a new voice. Two more males came into the apartment, one with green hair and the other in a deep purple robe.
"Did you come all the way here like that?" asked Shanay, staring at the purple robe.
"Pfft, no," said the man, "I put it on in the elevator. Dude… what happened to you?"
"I went to the camp of Youth and was transformed into the ultimate figure of YOUTH!!" replied Jake, flashing the Guy smile with the thumbs up. The laughter that had just subsided once more roared to life, echoing through the room.
"Well now that everyone's here," began Jess, wiping the tears from her eyes, "Let's begin the celebrations shall we! Happy Birthday Keers!"
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"Is everything prepared?"
"Yes Lady Hokage."
"Good, bring them in."
A pair of large doors opened and team 7 was led into the arena where the preliminary battles of the chuunin exams had been held. Naruto and Sakura were both looking rather creeped out, neither liking being back in the forest of death.
"Heey, sensei... why are we back in this place?" asked Naruto, looking around the room cautiously, "This place is creepy…" Kakashi sighed, keeping his attention in front of him.
"You have been selected to go on a retrieval mission," came Tsunade's voice.
"Hey, it's Granny Tsunade, when'd she get here?" asked Naruto. Tsunade's eyebrow twitched but she did nothing.
"An object has been recently located, an object of tremendous power that if in the wrong hands can bring about great devastation," she continued, "This is an A-rank mission, many lives have been lost in the retrieval of this object, including some of Konoha's best Shinobi. So I advise that you proceed with caution."
"Excuse me, Lady Hokage," said Sakura, "But if this is A-rank, then why are we being sent? Shouldn't it be Jounin or something?"
"Sakura, don't question Granny Tsunade," said Naruto in a hushed voice, "She knows what she's doing even if she is old." In the blink of an eye, Naruto was smashed in the centre of a newly formed smoking crater in the wall.
"To answer your question, ordinarily yes it is," said Tsunade, rubbing her fist, "But our chuunin, Jounin and even ANBU are somewhat out of commission at the moment, busy on other missions or injured. As a consequence, the mission was given to those of lower ranks; you guys. That good enough for you?"
"I see," said Sakura, "Just one other thing, if we're on a retrieval mission, what are we doing in this place?"
Snapping her fingers, the lights came on and revealed a large circular pattern engraved in the stone floor. Team 7 looked down at the floor with curiosity, Naruto mainly with confusion.
"There are special circumstances on this mission. Shizune!" Shizune appeared beside Tsunade, holding 4 scrolls.
"This is a portal summon," she began, "You each need to take one of these scrolls and then stand at one of the 4 cardinal points on the outside of the circle. The scrolls will automatically take your chakra, when the scrolls turn blue, unravel them towards the centre of the circle. The scrolls will take most of your chakra and it may take some time before you get it all back. Good luck." Shizune placed the scrolls down and left with Tsunade. Naruto went to the pile and began studying the scrolls before picking up the largest one with a triumphant sound.
"This one looks the coolest," he announced, "Sasuke can have this one." He picked up a small pink one with a laugh. Kakashi sighed in exasperation, taking the pink scroll from Naruto.
"That's enough Naruto, just get in position." Naruto made a face but went over to the north point. Sakura stood on the south point, Sasuke on the east and Kakashi on the west. Naruto scowled, looking at Sasuke who was a good 20 metres, away "Does Sasuke have to stand next to me?"
Kakashi ignored him and concentrated on his scroll, hoping to speed up the process. He could still hear Naruto's grumblings, though they were slowly lessening in volume. One by one, the scrolls began to turn blue, each being unravelled in turn in to the centre. At first nothing happened, but then a swirling wind picked up, spiralling into the centre of the circle.
"What the hell's going on?" shouted Naruto, trying to maintain a standing position. Cracks began appearing in the floor, starting from the centre then making their ways to each of the ninja. Deep purple gas spurted from the crevices, engulfing them in darkness. When it disappeared a moment later, the four were nowhere to be seen.
"So where are we?" asked Sakura, looking around at the blue that now surrounded every available space. She looked around at the rest of the team who were amazingly still with her. None of them answered.
'The gateway between realms,' echoed a voice, 'Follow the light and you shall find what you seek.' A neon green light shot out of the abyss.
"Let's go," said Kakashi, motioning for the team to follow the light.
After running for what seemed like hours, the light stopped and turned into a large white door. The echo returned, 'This is where we leave you, but beware.' With that, the echo left, leaving the team on their own. Sasuke reached out to open the door, carefully turning the handle. Before them materialised a hallway with 12 white doors; 4 on the left, 7 on the right and one in the centre at the end of them all.
"So… which door do we take?" asked Sakura, eyeing each of the doors.
"There's only one way to decide," said Kakashi, pausing. The genin stared at him. His visible eye went happy, "Eeni, meeni, miini moh!" The genin stood in silence, amazed at how childish their teacher could be.
'What a moron,' thought Sasuke.
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