A/N: Sorry for the long wait guys. I hope you enjoy this next installment of this joint project.

Disclaimer: We don't own Naruto. Nopers.

Chapter 2

The two shinobi teams arrived in Onagakure, eyes widening at the sight it presented. It was a colorful village, certainly as were its residents. Myriads of hues mixed and swirled before their bedazzled eyes. Many of the homes were not one solid color, like in Konoha. The people, that milled through the streets, in their bright silks reminded the shinobi of the people who marched in city parades, except it was obvious that for these villagers. This was normal.

If the shinobi hadn't been trained to take everything in stride, their faces would have shown that they were rendered in extreme shock. Staring openly at the colorful and un-shinobi like appearance of the citizens, they suddenly all had the feeling that this would be an eventful mission, if not a frightening one.

"My eyes," Neji's cream clad colored arm covered the bridge of his nose, his body twitching at the onslaught on his senses. Tenten, patted him soothingly, murmuring words of encouragement. Gai, Lee, and Naruto on the other hand had vibrant sparkles in their eyes. As the three of them walked amongst the citizenry, they blended amongst the populace the best, with their orange, black, and infamous green attire.

Amid the sea of vibrant colors the other ninja felt out of place. Their clothes that were colored for camouflaging themselves, were failing and in fact making them more conspicuous. Spurred on by their paranoia of being out in the open and surrounded by people, the shinobi hurried to the address on the mission scroll, hoping it would be a place where sanity reigned.

Sai eyed the populous with an artistic eye. He tilted his head to the side, thoughts of the interesting palette of shades and hues that this strange village filled his mind as he ambled along at a slow pace behind the group.

Sakura watched her sensei curiously as he opened the scroll with fumbling fingers, a first ever, as far as her memories of him went. He mumbled the address out loud, and lifting his chin, he searched around, looking for any indication of where they were in the city and where they needed to go. Kakashi, by nature was an outgoing shinobi, if there was such a thing. He was reluctant to ask the strange looking locals were now eyeing them like they were the weirdos, anything.

The pink-haired woman was amused by the brightness of the city and it's warring colors starkly reminded her of when she and Ino Yamanaka tried to outdo each other in a contest of who was the most brightly dressed. Ino at one point had had a fuchsia shirt and a tight deep purple skirt, whereas Sakura had been dressed in her vibrant cherry and emerald attire. This had of course been before Kakashi -sensei informed them that shinobi weren't to be heard or seen. The contest had dissolved itself soon afterward

Rubbing his chin thoughtfully, Kakashi spared Gai a glance making a quick decision. He asked the overly excited male, "Gai..."

Gai didn't hear him the first time. He was too busy pointing at a balloon vendor and Kakashi strode over to him, and hit him over the head with the rolled up parchment, "Gai..."

Finally the older man turned around and rewarded Kakashi with an inquisitive gaze, "Yes my youthful rival?"

Sighing Kakashi asked through gritted teeth doing his best not to lose his temper with the other squad leader, "Would you mind asking that vendor... where this address is located?"

"Yes, my rival! And if I fail to complete this task I will youthfully complete five-hundred push-ups!" The Green Blob of Konoha shouted as the rest of the group ignored him and pretended that they weren't with him. However, the people surrounding them didn't seem to notice it, like it was an everyday occurrence.

Gai walked with a youthful hop over toward the balloon vendor and proceeded to compliment him on his wonderful and youthful stand, before tactless asking where the address they were looking for was located

The vendor glanced at the address on the parchment, and gave their group a piercing stare. The shinobi returned the baleful gaze. Then suddenly the man's face became cheerfully bright, almost blindingly so, causing Kakashi to twitch uncomfortably, "OH – well this address is to the Grand Ol' Opera Hall. You just need to head down the street and take a left and the noodle vendor stand -- it'll be on your right side -- can't miss it."

Sakura laughed, there was no way an opera house hired them. Perhaps they would just be waiting for a contact there, which would be consistent with the minimal amount of writing on the scroll.

The other members of the group exchanged thoughtful glances. That couldn't be right, could it? It just had to be a meeting place. Gai thanked the vendor and rolled up the parchment and smiled brightly at the group, "Well off we go..."

The group made their way down the street, stopping only when Naruto became over-excited at the sight of the noodle shop. In fact he became so excited he began to jump up in down and shouting with glee that he hadn't seen a ramen shop in weeks. Of course it had only been a day and a half since they'd all eaten dinner at Ichiraku. Sai the blunt voice of truth told Naruto that he was being over-dramatic and when Naruto still hadn't stopped blabbering Sakura developed a tick in her forehead and clenched her fist, until she couldn't take it anymore and delivered a solid knock over his head. As the cerulean eyed boy rubbed the sore spot on his head, his female teammate grabbed the back of his brightly colored clothes at the neck and began dragging him past the ramen shop and to their destination.

They stopped outside the supposed correct address. Kakashi checked the contents of the parchment and the corresponding number on the building thrice. His shoulders sagged slightly, "Seems this is the place."

Sakura lifted her chin, her green eyes darting back and forth, looking for anyone who could possibly be their contact, "There's no one here..."

"Well then," Sasuke grumbled and added as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "We should go inside -- and check it out..."

Walking into the, surprising normal colored building the teams were once again shell shocked when they saw the inside of the building. It was painted vibrant shades of scarlet, tangerine, lime green, and grape purple. The walls were covered with a myriad of different pictures, some looked ancient while others looked brand new. Surveying their surroundings and the pictures they were surprised to see full costumes and dramatic scenes acted out in them. Neji felt that he should have known that the interior would be this wild simply because the construction of the outside doors. They had been completely impractical and lined with metals and glimmering gaudy jewels, (probably fake) but he had been hoping against all rational that this building would be normal and most of all sane.

A loud, booming voice drew their attention, "Welcome to my hall children! You must be the people I sent for from Konoha," a man dressed in vivid orange pants that ballooned out ridiculously at the ankles and a violet shirt that said 'viva la opera' in garish gold print, "You are the ones that Tsunade-sama chose to send me -- I see..."

Neji's brows shot up. Well, the hope that there would be some sanity in its rightful place went right down the tubes, along with the sinking feeling in his gut.

Naruto chose at the moment to exclaim that he and his current employer matched. It was blindingly obvious to the other ninja that these two would get along fine as they wore the same awful shade of marmalade orange.

Sakura had the feeling that her sensei had royally screwed the whole lot of them over. She knew her teacher all too well, and she was growing uneasy by the moment.

She cleared her throat loudly, drawing the attention of the occupants in the room to her, "Would you please explain what you mean completely? What exactly were we contracted out for?" She already knew that she probably wasn't emotionally ready for the answer to follow. Even still, she braced herself.

The other ninjas turned inquiring gazes onto their employer. The garishly dressed man lit up, "Of course I'll explain! You see it's all rather simple. My actors and actresses have all disappeared and..."

Kakashi looked around before muttering sarcastically under his breath, "I wonder why?

The man paused thinking something over and then suddenly gave a grand flourish and snap of the wrist, the ruffled cuffs around his wrists fluttering dramatically with the grandiose movement, "All of you shall take their place." He ignored the myriad of shocked gasps of pale faces. He mistook their reactions for something else completely. "Do not worry. I shall be very forgiving of those with the lack of talent. I will make certain to cast all of you accordingly. All of you should do just fine."

"What?" shouted Sakura, who at that moment swore she would kill her sensei, no matter if she was the Hokage or not. None of the ninja could believe that they were going to have to put on a performance and a few were looking around for any means of exit.

Lee who had been silent through the whole exchange suddenly stepped forward, while putting a hand over his chest in what he honestly believed to be a grand gesture. "I understand. If that is your desire -- then I will gladly accept the youthful role of the hero."

The man chuckled, he quite happy with the boy's enthusiasm, "We'll see when I cast all of you. Though I can see you are a very youthful man. I will have to take that into account." He looked over toward the other ninja, all of whom had the most awful looks of pain on their face. He blatantly ignored said looks, before making a sweeping motion toward the stage, "Time for tryouts."

While Gai was looking upon Lee with his usual pride, Tenten's head snapped up at that, her brown eyes rounding into saucers, "We just got here. I think that's a little too much too quickly. Not to mention, we've never done anything like this before in our entire lives. Don't opera singers and actors train for the things like this their entire lives?"

Neji nodded his head, relieved that there was at least another sane person here with him. He asked, "Mr...."

The man slapped his palm to his forehead in a dramatic gesture, "Where are my manners? I didn't even give you my name! I must just have been too excited by your arrival to remember. You may call me..." He paused, "The Don."

Naruto caught up in the moment shifted his eyes to the Don and then sent Lee a disgruntled look, "What do you mean you take the spot of the hero? Everyone knows that I'm perfect for the role of the hero."

Lee didn't even pause, "To prove my worth I-" Tenten clapped a hand over her teammates babbling mouth. Naruto continued to argue with Lee, though the later couldn't speak. "Dobe," Sasuke glared at Naruto tired of his antics.

Sakura's fingers twitched. The longing to smack her rambunctious teammate in the back of the head blossomed in the young woman. Naruto caught the gleam in Sakura's green eyes and ducked his head, too cowed to say anything else.

Neji, keeping up his stoic appearances, continued, "Don.."

He was cut off by his employer, "No, it's THE Don."

Tenten could have sworn she saw her teammate twitch, before he settled and once again addressed the man, making sure to put the correct amount of emphasis on his title, "THE Don, Tenten is right. We have traveled a long time and require a respite."

The Don furrowed his brow, "Alright if you insist I'll give you ten minutes."

Tenten frowned at the Don, but didn't say anything. His bright gray eyes met hers with a sparkle she didn't quite like, "As for your previous question 'little panda' you are correct. However you can just use that chakra thingy you ninjas use to complete that sort of task easily enough." He waved them away dismissively after that announcement. Tenten nearly took out her weapons scroll there. She hated that nickname.

Sakura stared at the man confused, there was no application of chakra that could make you a good singer or actor. She would know as Tsunade had made sure she memorized the extensive list of known chakra applications. Sakura knew then and there that they were royally screwed.

Everyone took that moment to step away and huddle together. The urge to discuss the situation was eating at them all. The majority of both teams were planning escape routes, while three of the party was already mentally casting themselves in their dream roles.

Ten minutes passed way too soon for the ninja, particularly the ones plotting escape as they still hadn't found a plausible way to leave. The Don came back and once again gestured to the stage. With the exception of three ninja, who were happy to go to the stage, the rest glared first at the owner and then at the stage itself before grudgingly moving toward the set.

In his haste to beat Lee and Gai up the set of stairs leading to the dais, Naruto tripped on the stairs. Lee pranced past him victoriously, and once ahead of the blond, he slowed down into a proud walk.

"Dickless –" Sai muttered under his breath. Sasuke was the only one who caught the jab at Naruto's idiocy, and might have laughed if he had actually possessed a sense of humor.

Sakura, exasperated, pulled Naruto by the neck of his jacket up the stairs with his body dragging. "Baka," she said loudly having no qualms about the rest hearing her. She felt it was the truth and what you could you say if not the truth.

Kakashi was doing his best to seem nonchalant about the whole thing, but the triumphant look on Gai's face was beginning to bother him. He chalked it down to stress. He itched to reach into his back pocket and considered using his precious orange book to clobber the irritating man over his ridiculous bowl shaped haircut head. He let out a soft sigh, before rubbing the bridge of his nose above his mask. He must be losing it. It wasn't like the action would actually smack sense into the older man anyway. Besides he couldn't let his precious book be marred by his self-proclaimed rival.

The Don swept an appraising glance over the assembled ninja and decided to let the most eager of the bunch go first. The Don lifted his hand, directing the groups' attention to him. "Line up please. Right there is perfect. Excellent darlings! All I want you to do is to pick a song you like, any at all -- and sing it until I tell you to stop. Little green man, and oh yes -- give me your names as we go down the line." He gestured for Lee to begin.

Gai was proud of his student. He was youthful enough to be chosen to go first, surely that would count in his favor. Gai beamed brightly at his student, he would surely do his sensei proud.

Lee nodded enthusiastically, before giving a blindingly dazzling smile, "Yes. I am Rock Lee"

"Wonderful Lee," the Don nodded, "You may begin."

Everyone's eyes zeroed in on the enthusiastic nin, wondering what the miniature green beast would choose to sing. Suddenly, Lee's chest puffed up and out, and without shame he began to belt out Konoha's anthem. Neji felt disappointed by his teammate's choice, he had already picked the somber and serious song to sing. At least it would have served to make him look less ridiculous.

Unfortunately, this version of Konoha's anthem was anything but somber. Lee's voice hit several notes that shouldn't have been physically possible, but that was to be expected as Lee had always strove to do the impossible. The Don stopped him after the first five words.

The Don smiled politely, though it looked more like a grimace. He removed his hands from their position over his ears cautiously, fearful of any echoes or reverberations. For the first time in his life he was appalled that the room was built to carry and amplify the vibrato sound of the singers. "Thank you, Lee. Next please." There was a faintly pleading sound to his last statement that none of the other ninjas missed.

Lee tilted his head to the side, "Are you certain Don-san, I mean the Don --" he took a step forward, "There are sixty two more verses to that splendid song."

The Don shook his head hard, "No, no that was enough Lee. Thank you."

Naruto shouldered Lee back, "Yeah you had your turn Lee." He turned to face the Don, "I'm Naruto."

The Don was a bit leery of what would possibly come out of the rambunctious blond's mouth whose enthusiasm matched Lee's. "Very good Naruto. You may begin."

His fears were unfounded though. Naruto despite his whiny normal voice, had a beautiful low baritone. The Don was amazed at such a transformation that he failed to realize what the song was. A few times throughout his selection Naruto's voice went a hair out of tune, but it was nothing major. Naruto finished his selection and for a second there was no sound until the Don stood and clapped enthusiastically while the others stared in shock. Who knew Naruto was actually talented at something?

The girls couldn't help themselves, they gave Naruto a small round of applause which caused the blond to blush to his roots. Kakashi couldn't help himself. He sent Gai a smirk through the black mask. However Gai didn't notice it, he was focused instead on the Don. It was his turn.

The girls couldn't help themselves, they gave Naruto a small round of applause which caused the blond to blush to his roots. Kakashi couldn't help himself. He sent Gai a smirk through the black mask. However Gai didn't notice it, he was focused instead on the Don. It was his turn.

Gai stepped forward, giving the Don a military salute, "Hello I am Maito Gai and I will now for your listening pleasure continue where my student left off."

It didn't take the Don too long to figure out who he meant by his student. The two were practically a matching set. He cleared his throat nervously, knowing this was going to be probably just as interesting as Lee's performance, especially when Gai gifted him with the same dazzling smile. Did that man's teeth just sparkle? The Don gaped up at him and braced himself all at the same time.

Relief flooded the Don when instead of a belting, near yelling rendition of the song, what came out instead was a pleasant, almost guttural and yet smooth baritone that was nearly bass. However after four verses into the song, he held up his hand and halted him, "Thank you Gai. That's more than enough." The Don made a mental note to send Tsunade-sama a letter to admonish her for allowing her prestigious Konoha to have such a boring anthem. But what could he expect? It was a ninja village? However if he heard, a spirit infused with fire one more time, he would yank his hair out by the roots.

Sighing as this was turning out to be more troublesome than he'd originally thought, the Don motioned for Kakashi to step up.

"Kakashi," he said putting away his orange book that he'd taken out to prevent the nightmares he was sure he would have from Lee's earlier singing. Kakashi took a breath and easily let out his smooth tenor in a song choice that painted the younger ninjas' faces red in embarrassment. It was the theme song to the movie version of Icha Icha Paradise. Sakura was horrified at her Sensei's choice. Red faced from more than just embarrassment, Sakura snuck up behind her Sensei and tapped his shoulder before promptly knocking him out. She caught him and dragged him back into line before bowing deeply and apologizing sincerely for her sempai's behavior.

The Don waved away Sakura's sincere apology. It wasn't a song he would have himself picked, however, that was neither here nor there. He gestured towards the still blushing young brunette who kept her hair in two prim buns over the tops of her ears.

Tenten stepped forward and offered her name, while wringing her hands in front of her, "Tenten." Pausing to calm her nerves she sucked in a deep breath, and in a mellow alto, she sang the first thing that came to her mind. A simple tune she'd learned in her pre-academy days, filled the grand hall. Her voice was pleasant and even. It didn't stand out in any way as anything special. The Don let her finish the simple song, before giving her a small word of praise for her efforts that made her flush with embarrassment, "Excellent my dear. Thank you."

Spirit's regenerating themselves after a few passing performances, the Don motioned one of the black-haired boys to begin. Expressionless, the boy took a small step forward and though he knew that the performance was supposed to be some sort of Art, he just couldn't care enough to think up a song. In Root he'd never been taught any music besides the instrumental music from those who had used it as their technique. However, he didn't think that music that caused death was very fitting for the moment and besides that was instrumental music; he was supposed to sing. So, he did the only thing logical. He stated his name, "Sai." Then he stayed silent.

Everyone looked at Sai expectantly and curiously. After a minute of awkward silence the Don suddenly clasped his hands against his chest excitedly startling the others, "I have just the role for you! Thank you, Sai. Next."

Sasuke moved forward although with the scowl he was wearing, it was obvious he was none too pleased with the ordeal. He shoved his hands into his pocket, slouching slightly, attitude apparent in the set of his shoulders. He cleared his throat before finally speaking, "Sasuke."

The Don smiled, while giving the boy an encouraging nod to continue. Then to the horror of almost everyone, and they had thought Kakashi's was bad, instead of singing a song, Sasuke began to recite a poem he'd written one rainy afternoon about his idealistic rendition of planning his older brother's demise.

After about half a page in, the Don stopped the bloody, and grotesque poetry with a quick interjection, "Thank you. That will be enough."

Sasuke just nodded with a blank look on his face and stepped back into place. Naruto gave Sakura a look, arching his brow that said, "Why did you have a crush on this guy again?" Her response was to send him a glare that promised pain.

Neji stepped up without being asked. He somewhat figured the Don was going to call on him next anyway. The Don raised a brow at this, finally someone who he didn't have to prod to step up, excluding that first kid, but he didn't want to think about that right now. "Neji," he announced before he sighed and sucked in a drag of air. His voice came out in a pure, light tenor. His selection was a song his father had sung when he put him to bed in the evenings. Hearing the lyrics again after so many years, Neji suspected that the song was actually a tribute to his mother that his father had written. It wasn't a long song and Neji was thankful for that, because it was sort of, kind of a love song and he couldn't just go around ruining his reputation for extended periods of time.

Neji opened his eyes when he was finished and was a little frightened at the look on the Don's face.

The two girls were standing in awe of his performance. Rather shocked since Neji didn't seem the type to even know a love song. Gai was attempting to shoot Kakashi a smug look, however, said copy-nin was still unconscious, so the emotion behind the look lost quite a bit of effect.

Sakura squared her shoulders and presented herself as she took a small step forward, breaking from the line, "I'm Sakura." She felt nervous trembles dance up the length of her spine when the Don gestured for her to start. She drew in a tremulous breath, and shut her eyes.

She'd only ever sung in the shower, just like any other normal person. At least she figured it to be normal. At first her voice was low and barely audible, but with her eyes closed and the surprisingly comforting silence surrounding her, it rose in decibels and finally the sound of her voice echoed around them.

The medic tomboy kunoichi surprised them all. Her normally gruff tone had smoothed out into an angelic soprano that belied the strong persona that was Sakura. Everyone was rather stunned by the sudden, hidden talent that presented itself. She didn't have the strength of an opera diva's voice, however, it was beautiful just the same.

When she opened her eyes, she found herself subject to the scrutiny of everyone. Blushing fiercely, she did what Sakura normally did. She lifted a hand and curled it into a warning fist. Everyone except the Don looked pointedly away, understanding the true weight of that unspoken threat.

Sakura gave a curt nod to the director and went to wake up her still knocked out Sensei. Once he was awake, and complaining of a migraine which the medic quickly took immediate care of, they left the opera house still stunned by the events of the day.

The warm sunlight bathed them, and most all of them were more relieved that, that was over then they'd like to admit. Neji stepped out in front of them all, and pinned them with a look that spoke volumes. Once he was certain he had everyones' attention he announced, "While I admit that I am most -- displeased with the finer points of this mission."

The entire group sent him a sharp glare. That didn't even cover half of what many of them felt. However they waited for him to continue with what he had to say.

"When this is all said and done. I would hope that the mission report pertaining to this -- is something that we can all agree on. The less that is said -- the better."

En masse they all exchanged knowing glances and in unison, minus a confused Gai, Naruto, and Lee, they nodded.


Reviews are appreciated. Thanks for reading!