The atmosphere on the board of the Star ship Enterprise was one of distinct boredom as the gigantic ship hung in the vast expanse of space, unable to move as the crew had to wait on further orders in order to continue on their mission which had been suspended until further notice while two senior Federation officials fought over which planet the ship would be sent to in order to best complete the mission. No one was sure what the mission was, or why it was so important, all they knew was that they had been given one and then told to wait- and wait- and wait.

"Spock!" Kirk called to the Vulcan who stood by a row of flashing lights on the bridge," anything to report?"

"No, Captain," Spock replied in his usual emotionless voice.

" There has been no further orders?"

"No, Captain."

Kirk scowled. In the near month of hanging in space, the crew of the Enterprise had become distinctively lethargic and slow to react and even the daily routine emergency drills were becoming considerably slower. There most recent drill had taken a whole five minutes longer than their usual time to complete.

Kirk looked around at the Bridge for something to complain about, but he found nothing. This just made his temper all the worse.

"Is everything else in order?" He barked to Spock.

"Yes, Captain."

"All the computers? The engines?"

"Yes, Captain?"

"The Vending Machines?"

"Yes, Captain."

At that moment, a noise from the nearest computer could be heard in the bridge and Uhura sat forward, listening intently.

"Captain," she said," I'm getting something. It's from the Federation."

"What is it?" Kirk asked, barely managing to keep the hopefulness out of his voice," A mission?"

"I think so, Captain," Uhura frowned, listening intently," the signal is poor. I think I hear something about an order for us to transport several men to the gold mining planet of Aurum."

"I suppose this would be about the miner's rebellion," Kirk said, mostly to himself," very well. Who are these men and when do we pick them up?"

Suddenly, there come the sound of angry shouting and yelling from the Transporter room and then came the sound of an explosion. Fire alarms began ringing throughout the ship and the sound of panicked shouts filled the corridors.

" I believe they were to beam down now, Captain," Uhura replied in a deadpan voice.

Captain Kirk ran to the Transporter room, closely followed by Spock, but what he saw in the room was not merely several men, but rather a small crowd.

A young man with long, blonde hair tied up in a pony tail was laughing while a boy lay on the floor near him. He was wearing a long robe with pictures of what Kirk assumed were either clouds or flowers. The boy's his eyes filled with hate. The boy , too, was blonde, with untidy hair and wide blue eyes. He wore an orange jacket and there were three marks on each cheek that put Captain Kirk in mind of whiskers. The boy's face was blackened with soot and his clothes were smoking slightly. Kirk supposed that he had just been caught in the earlier explosion, although he could not see how the boy had come through it in one piece. The nearby console had been blown to pieces.

Standing over the boy was a man with spiky white hair, whose face was concealed by a black mask and next to the blonde man was a creature that Kirk could not call human.

The creature was short and made of wood and seemed to even have a tail. It was wearing the same robes as the blonde man.

"What's going on here?" Captain Kirk snapped in his most authoritative voice, while the nearby console continued to smoulder gently," Are you the people I'm supposed to be transporting?"

" I take it you are Captain Kirk," the creature who looked as if he was made of wood spoke in a cold, harsh voice," I am Sasori of the Red Sands and this is my partner, Deidara of the village of Iwagakure. You are to transport us to a planet I believe is called Aurum."

"And who are you people?" Kirk snarled to the boy and the masked man.

"Uzumaki, Naruto!" The boy leapt to his feet remarkably quickly for someone who had nearly been blown up," And those guys killed my friend!"

He made to charge at Sasori and Deidara, but the masked man held him back.

"I don't think now's the time," the masked man said quietly. Several members of the crew of the ship, who had taken cover under machines and behind consoles, nodded vigorously in agreement.

"You're right now's not the time!" Kirk glared at the man," Who are you? Why are you here?"

" I'm Hatake, Kakashi," the masked man said," and we were trying to capture these men when we found ourselves here. Captain, do you know that these men are wanted criminals in our country?"

How would I know that? Kirk thought angrily to himself, but he did not want to appear ignorant of anything, so he said," That does not concern me. My orders are to transport them to the planet Aurum and that is what I intend to do."

Deidara stuck out his tongue at Kakashi, clearly wanting to say," So there!"

" Well, my orders are to capture or kill them," Kakashi said, calmly," so, it appears we have a bit of a problem."

"No, it means you have a bit of a problem," Kirk replied," I, on the other hand, will carry on with my duties without interference from you." He nodded to the security team that had only just arrived," put them in the brig," he said.

Deidara smirked broadly as he and Sasori were shown to their quarters and Kirk, Doctor McCoy and Spock met to discuss the situation.

"I don't like it, Jim," McCoy said at once," who knows what these people are wanted for?"

" Whatever it is, it does not change our orders," Spock alone seemed unaffected by the incident," we take them to Aurum. The question is, what should we do with the other two?"

"It's dangerous having any of them on board," McCoy said," I just know it!"

Spock raised his eyebrows." Over time, we have transported a great deal of dangerous beings and entities on this ship," he said," may I ask what makes this group so different?"

"There are four of them," McCoy said at once," and one them can create explosions from nothing!"

"What do you mean?" Kirk asked, alarmed.

Spock spoke up before McCoy could answer," we all heard an explosion in the Transporter room, but there was no evidence of wires or bombs or even of a fire being lit," he explained," there was no clue as to how the explosion happened."

Kirk sighed to himself. Somehow, inactivity no longer seemed so bad.

Kirk had not expected the rest of the journey to pass without incident, but even he was surprised when an alarm rang through the ship barely an hour later.

Kirk hurried to the scene, where he found one of the men who had been guarding the Uzumaki boy looking rather dazed and not able to stand properly. It looked as if he had just been knocked out.

"There were so many of him," the man muttered," I came in to give him food and he rushed the door. Only, it was not only him. There were hundreds of him! I fired my phaser at the nearest one, but it went right through him!"

Only just outside the door, Kirk spotted the boy trying to break down a door. He drew his phaser, set it on stun and fired, but the boy simply vanished in a puff of white smoke, while another shape of the boy appeared at the end of the corridor. This one, too, vanished when the ray of red light hit him in the chest.

All usual activities were suspended as the crew searched for the real Uzumaki boy, but he was not found until yet another explosion sounded through the ship.

Running to the sound of alarms and shouts for the second time in one day, Kirk saw Deidara and Sasori facing Naruto and Kakashi each other at opposite ends of a corridor.

"Want some more?" Deidara taunted and raised his hands slightly. Looking at him, Kirk saw with some disgust that Deidara had mouths in his hands and that the mouths were chewing on and spitting out what appeared to be some sort of clay like substance.

"Idiot," Sasori growled from behind Deidara," if you blow up this ship, there won't be anything to transport us to the planet."

"This won't blow up the whole ship," Deidara replied," it'll just blow up the irritating kid in front of me!"

"No, it won't!" Naruto snarled," 'Cause I'll get you first!"

"Enough!" Kirk yelled," if you cause one more explosion on my ship..."
"Captain, I may have a suggestion," Spock had watched the scene calmly, as he always seemed to watch anything," our orders were to take Sasori and Deidara to Aurum, but what happens from there is not our concern. These people can simply finish their..." he hesitated..." argument on the planet."

"Good idea," Kirk said, then muttered to himself," if we ever get to the planet."

Fortunately for the Enterprise and its crew, the journey to Aurum was not a long one and the journey was made shorter by a crew who were highly motivated to get the strangers off their ship as quickly as possible. Even with Deidara and Sasori housed on one side of the enormous ship and Kakashi and Naruto on the other, the atmosphere was tense.

"I've seen a lot of strange things," Kirk muttered to Spock and McCoy as the ship took off from the surface of Aurum after dropping off all four of the strangers," a lot of strange things." He watched as Kakashi fought what appeared to be some sort of puppet, while Deidara soared into the air on a white dragon laughing at the hundred forms of Naruto that had appeared on the ground," but this was undoubtedly the strangest lot I've ever seen in my life!"

McCoy and Spock nodded in agreement.