Next Contestant

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, but I do own the original characters!

~0~0~0~

There were whispers all along the streets, as shoppers gathered on the corners and watched the two young girls walking towards the Hokage tower. One of them had hair that went to the base of her neck, and was held back by a black headband tied around her head. She wore a black, long-sleeved, cotton shirt, held together by three simple silver rings. Her pants were also black, but had a great deal of the sides cut out, and if she hadn't been wearing bandages tied around her hips, her underwear would have been visible. Her shoes were also black.

The other wore the exact same outfit, except all of her clothes were blue. The rings on her shirt were golden. Her hair was long, tied together at the bottom by some leftover bandages. Both girls' hair was a dark, crimson red and their eyes were a light, grassy green.

"Ne, Moriko?" The one with the shorter hair asked. "Do you remember the map?"

"Yes I do, Yukiko." Moriko replied, her voice slightly softer than her sister's. "We go straight, until we reach that building there."

"Oh, don't tease me." Yukiko smiled softly, and then glared at a shopper who tried to approach the two girls. The passerby then decided to leave the two girls alone, and continue on with his business. The walk went fine from that point on, until a certain blonde ninja ran into Yukiko.

"Oh, sorry!" He said, standing up. He offered a hand towards Yukiko, to help her up, but she denied it and stood up on her own.

"Watch where you're going! I could have been seriously injured!" Yukiko yelled. She dramatically pointed her finger towards the blonde. "For that you must take us to the Hokage!"

"Okay." The blonde ninja replied, an odd look on his face, as he began to lead the way. "So I'm Uzumaki Naruto! Who are you two?"

"I'm Natsumi Yukiko, and this is my twin sister, Natsumi Moriko." Yukiko said cheerfully. "We're here to become ninja of your village, because Iwagakure isn't such a great village…"

"If the Hokage allows you to stay, I'm sure you'll find our explanation quite interesting." Moriko interrupted. "We're here, thank you Naruto."

"No problem…" He mumbled, as the two girls walked into the building, leaving him behind. He turned to go towards his training grounds, but decided against it. So he used his chakra to climb the side of the building until he was right by the open window of the Hokage's office.

"Welcome, please, come in." The elderly Hokage said, motioning towards two seats in front of his desk. Yukiko sat in the left chair, pulling her right leg up. Moriko sat in the opposite chair, and pulled up her left leg. "You two are Natsumi Yukiko and Moriko, correct?"

"Yes sir." Moriko said, quite blandly.

"I heard that you were coming, but I also heard from your letter, that there was a third with you. Where is he?"

"Oh, Matsu? He decided to go hunting for squirrels. He'll be here." Yukiko said. Naruto lost all of his concentration when someone blew on the back of his neck. He let out a yell, and almost fell, before someone caught his ankle.

"Oh Yukiko-chan, Moriko-chan! Guess what I caught! A little eavesdropper!" the male voice said, as it climbed through the window and dropped Naruto on the floor.

The male had black hair, with some barely noticeable highlights of green. He also had tan skin, and rather bland brown eyes. He was wearing black cargo pants, and a bright green shirt with a Kunai imprinted on it. His headband was a lime green color, and tied around his neck.

"Hokage-sama, this is Kaemon Matsu. He'll be staying with us, as well as the final member on our team." Moriko explained, raising one eyebrow at Matsu as he stood behind the two girls.

"That's right sir." He saluted the Hokage with one hand. The Hokage was a bit surprised by this, but smiled warmly all the same. "Naruto, I'm sure you have other things to do." He motioned towards the door, and Naruto grumbled the entire way there. After the doors shut behind him, he bent in and listened at the crack.

"Alright. So I suppose you want to know why we want to trade villages." Yukiko said. The Hokage nodded. "You see, the Yochikage (1) ordered for all of the genin of our village to go to Otogakure, to help the leader. His name is Orochimaru, and most of the other genin went to him willingly. Matsu, Moriko and I didn't want to go, and after arguing, we all ran away from home. We know it's a lot to ask, and we only have our ninja skills to offer, but please let us stay here!" Yukiko pleaded. The Hokage, stroked his chin, and looked over at the genin.

"I'll have to place you under village arrest. You wouldn't be able to do any missions outside of the village for a certain amount of time, and your beginning rank would be genin. To become a chunin, you would have to take the chunin exams, which are scheduled to happen a little less than three months from now. Are you all comfortable with this information?" Three nods told him everything. "Then you may stay."

"Yay!" Yukiko yelled, jumping out of the chair. She ran around the desk and hugged the Hokage, before running back and hugging Matsu. Then, giggling, she sat by her sister in the same chair. The Hokage chuckled.

"Your Jonin instructor is Yoshiko Koto." The Hokage said, before motioning towards the door. A tall woman with wild, long brown hair entered the room. Her red shirt was low cut, and had sleeves attached at the exact side, leaving her shoulders bare and uncovered. She had a red headband tied around her waist, and a red skirt that hung like a curtain around only half of her covered up black shorts. She stuck out her tongue, her sky-blue eyed dancing humorously, and she held out a certain blonde boy by the scruff of his neck.

"I found a little eavesdropper." She said, grinning. Matsu almost did a double take.

"I said that fifteen minutes ago!" He said, dancing around like an idiot. Koto chuckled.

"Then we'll get right along!" she said, before tossing Naruto out the door. Needless to say, Naruto wasted no time in gathering the rest of the rookie nine and telling them everything.

"Koto-san, this is your new genin team. They are foreign to Konoha, so show them around and get to know them." The Hokage said. Koto bowed.

"Alright team, let's go! You are now Team 27!" Koto announced, as they made their way to a lake. "This is my training ground. We'll learn about each other here." She plopped down, and patted the grass next to her. "Don't be shy, grab some grass. Alright, so the first thing that needs to go from your outfit is those Iwagakure headbands. I'll send some over to your new apartment first thing in the morning. Now, we need to introduce ourselves. I'll go first to show you how it is done. My name is Yoshiko Koto. I'm 24 and single. My interests are swimming, and exercise. I like cake, exercise, and dango. I dislike bland foods, board games, and cats. Your turn!" She announced, pointing over at Matsu.

"Well, I'm Kaemon Matsu. I'm 13 and a half, and I like to poke things with sticks. My interests are poking things with sticks, and trying to create my own manga. I like spicy things and sharp, pointy objects. I dislike spoons. My dream is to….um….sell my own manga." Matsu said quickly, before pointing over at Moriko.

"I'm Natsumi Moriko. My interests are colors and reading people's minds." This was said with a straight face. "I like animals, especially slimy things like snails and frogs. I dislike rocks. My dream is to perfect my jutsu. Your turn, sister dear."

"Hi! I'm Natsumi Yukiko! I like to draw, and I really like it when I can keep people out of my mind! I really, really don't like animals. I'm scared of snails and frogs. The only animals I like are ponies and horses. I like sushi. My dreams are to get married, have a kid, and to protect my loved ones!" Yukiko exclaimed.

"Well then, I certainly have an interesting team," Koto said, smiling. "We'll start training next week. You have to meet here at exactly seven o'clock in the morning. If you're late, you have to do extra work. We occasionally work with Teams Seven, Eight, and Ten. If you don't get along with them, well, that's just too darn bad. I have five rules. Rule number one is 'No cussing'. I'll keep the cussing to a minimum, so unless you're bleeding from the ear, or a limb just got cut off, don't cuss. Rule number two is to never attack another, unless it's a silly spar. Rule number three is to always come to training in the appropriate attire. If you come in a skirt, that's too bad. Get to work. Rule number four is to not date anyone one the team. I'm not so worried about you two dating…" Koto motioned with her head towards the twins, but quickly settled her gaze onto Matsu. "You, however, need to keep your hands to yourself. Rule four is to always look out for each other on a mission. I realize we probably won't have to for a little while, but when we get out of the village; we need to watch each other's back. Finally, rule five is that this is a family. You will treat each other as a family. Alright?"

"If we're a family, though, wouldn't that mean we couldn't date each other; because it would be like dating a brother or a sister?" Yukiko asked. Koto laughed.

"That's right! Alright, that's all for today. Go do….whatever it is you need to do." Koto said, before she disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"Alright. C'mon you guys, we need to go apartment shopping and then go get some food." Yukiko said, standing up and dragging Moriko and Matsu along behind her.

~0~0~0~

It was a few hours later when the three teenagers stood in the entrance of a slightly dusty apartment. The kitchen was empty, only some cupboards, a counter, a fridge and a stove in it. The living room had a dusty old couch in the middle of it. The first room had one futon (2) in it, along with a ratty old blanket. There was a bathroom with shampoo, conditioner, and body wash, along with hand soap. The second room had two futons, and a large blanket.

Resting on the counter in the kitchen was a small sushi package just big enough to feed three, young hungry ninjas. They all gathered around on the floor, picking out the sushi with their hands.

"So, mental list time. We found when we got here: One ratty old blanket, one dusty sofa, three futons, one refrigerator, and one stove. We brought with us: One big blanket, clothes, personal items, weapons, and money. We bought: One 'Super Kounichi' shampoo and conditioner special, one 'Ultimate Ninja' body wash, one 'Shin obi (3) rough hands hand soap', one package of sushi, three towels, and one apartment for one month. We need to buy: More clothes, hangers for the closet, food, two more blankets, a phone, more towels, and scrolls. Anything else?" Moriko asked aloud, eating slowly.

"Well…not that I can think of." Yukiko grinned, eating fast. Matsu was eating normally. "I'm full, I'm going to go take a shower, and then it's off to bed! We've got to explore Konoha tomorrow." She said, standing up and stretching. She walked off to the bathroom, and a few minutes later the water started.

"…."

"…."

"….?"

"……."

"….." This silent conversation lasted the entire time Yukiko was in the shower. The water went off. Another two silent minutes later, she walked back into the living room, her short hair falling in wet ringlets on her shoulder, in a pair of plaid, lavender shorts and a gray tank-top with a penguin on it. Moriko stood up without another word and headed off towards the bathroom.

"No more for you, Matsu-kun!" Yukiko said, grinning, picking up what remained of the sushi and putting it in the fridge. "That's for breakfast tomorrow. The Hokage said that he would be nice enough to pay for use for a few weeks, so we need to use the money wisely. We'll buy a few more clothes tomorrow, along with some more food." She said, sitting on the dusty couch. Matsu sat next to her.

"Alright, alright. I can't buy anything ridiculously expensive and blame you or Moriko-chan then, can I?"

"You most certainly may not! What would your mother think, Matsu-kun, if she heard you?"

"She would call me a genius! Gosh, Yukiko-tan (4)." Matsu laughed. Moriko came out of the bathroom, towel around her shoulders, in a pair of dark blue plaid shorts and a plain black tank-top.

"Your turn, Matsu." She said simply, before going into the second room. Yukiko laughed as Matsu stood up quickly and ran into the bathroom, shouting 'CLEANLINESS!' Then she stood up and went to the second bedroom. She crawled under the large blanket onto the empty futon on the left – Moriko had already taken up the futon on the right. Then, as she fell asleep, her hand reached out and took Moriko's. The two girls could have been mirror images of each other, if only Moriko had short hair, or if Yukiko had long hair. Matsu noticed this when he checked in on the girls, and let out a light chuckle.

The door was slowly closed, except for a crack. Matsu went to his own bedroom, in a pair of lime green boxer shorts, and crawled under the blanket. He quickly fell asleep.

~0~0~0~

That was the beginning of their journey. What will happen next? Only time will tell!

(1) The Yochikage is the leader of Iwagakure, like the Hokage is the leader of Konoha.

(2) A futon is kind of like a bed, only it is simply the mattress part. It is very comfortable.

(3) Shin Obi is close to Shinobi which is a male ninja. A very bad pun, is it not?

(4) Tan is a more affectionate suffix to a friend that is a girl, than 'chan' is.