"So then I said 'No, but I bet I can find the rest of him!'" Laughter echoed down the street as two old friends drunkenly regaled each other with tales of their former glory. It had become something of a tradition for the two since their respective retirements.

"You know, I still don't get how we survived any of those wars in the first place." slurred Kawaguchi Arata. An unassuming man of average hight and more than average girth. He was being supported by his oldest friend and former teammate Sato Shinobu.

Unlike his friend, Shinobu had kept in shape since being taken off the active roster. Shinobu had often been described as a bear by his friends. An apt analogy with his hulking frame and abnormal amount of body hair. The man was rarely seen without his wakizashi at his side.

Shinobu understood that no one truly retires from being a shinobi. Anything can happen and anyone can be called back into service at any time. But that didn't stop him from plastered with Arata every Friday night.

"It's 'cause we got lucky Arata, simple as that." Shinobu replied, "We were always in the wrong place at the right time. You and I are probably the only two guys in the world to have their asses saved by two different Hokages."

Arata let out a bark of laughter "Yeah and you pissed your pants both times!"

"Shut the hell up!" Shinobu snapped back, a scowl on his face. "We were still genin when the Nidaime saved us and we where facing down a thousand Iwa nin when the Yondaime showed up. Don't act like you weren't scared shitless either."

"Maybe I was but at least I wasn't literally scared shitless" Arata called back, howling with laughter.

Shinobu was about to reply when a large shadow blocked out the light of the full moon.

"The hell?"

All over the village everything stopped. Frozen in terror at the sight of the behemoth that had appeared within the walls of Konohagakure no Sato. The silence was broken by the word nobody wanted to hear, desperately hoping and praying that what they were simply imaging what was before their eyes.

"KYUUBI!"

As the chaos erupted around him, Shinobu slowly turned around, still supporting Arata on his shoulders.

"You did it again" Arata remarked dryly.

After surviving two shinobi world wars, Sato Shinobu thought he had seen hell. Yet as he beheld the kyuubi in all its fury, he realised he was wrong.

This was hell.

"So I did."

It was the last thing he ever saw.

So here is my first ever attempt at fanfiction. It's my first real attempt at fiction in general to be honest. Please review and let me know what you think. Give me lots of criticism. Don't hold back, I'm a big boy, I can handle it and it's the only way I'll learn. That said, this was originally meant to the first bit of a much larger story but after writing this I felt it would work better as a one-shot. I actually like the idea of exploring the Naruto universe from the point of view of the average cannon fodder ninja or civilian. Maybe I'll turn it into a series, maybe not. I'll see if the urge to write ever hits me again.