Chapter Two

Naruto was practically jumping in his seat waiting for the rest of the students taking the exam to finish the written test. He was nervous, oh goodness he really hoped he passed, but he knew that if he didn't Kakashi-nii wouldn't be mad.

Of course, there was no reason why he shouldn't pass. He'd been ready to graduate for two years now! It was just . . . Kakashi-nii had said that he would let Naruto sign his dog contract if he became a genin. Now, he wanted to sign the toad contract like his father but he loved the dogs, they would stay with him whenever Kakashi-nii had to go on some top secret ANBU mission. The only way Kakashi-nii had gotten him to agree was through a bribery that Kakashi-nii had worked out with the Gama-sennin and his toads.

Naruto would sign the dog contract upon his graduation from the academy and the toad contract when he became a chunin.

So, yes, he was nervous. He was desperate to start his official path to Hokage. These past few years had been great, but he was ready to get serious and become a real ninja like his parents and big brother!

He sighed and stared at the clock. Would the test never end?

ooOoo

Scratch that. Was this test a joke? Naruto had passed the projectiles test with flying colors and his taijutsu confused the instructors, but really? Just make three clones and automatically it's a pass?

He rolled his eyes, made his favorite seal for his favorite kinjutsu (besides the one he'd created last year to get away from the ANBU that one time . . .), channeled his chakra, and made three perfect kage bunshin.

He loved the looks on their faces. It took them a moment to recover but they did.

"Congra-" the one with a scar across his nose began but was cut off by his long haired partner. Naruto wasn't sure if it was a guy or not. . .

"You didn't do the bunshin."

Naruto scratched the back of his head with a smile on his face, "Yeah, well Kakashi-nii said that no matter how many chakra control exercises I try my chakra just acts funny on that jutsu. So, he talked to Hokage-oji and they told me I could learn kage bunshin! It's great for inflit-, no that's not right . . . infiltract . . . inflation? No. . . . Infiltration! Yeah, that's right!" He nodded his head to himself determinedly and proud that he'd remembered the big word.

The other chuunin examiner nodded and replied, "Well, if it's a medical condition, and considering you're capable of creating a bunshin, you pass! Congratulations! "

Naruto took his hitai-ate reverently and stared at it for a moment. He was now, according to the law, and adult. His five year old mind nearly exploded in excitement.

"Thanks! Bye! I've got to show Kakashi-nii!"

"Hey, wait a minute, we still have the cerem . . ." the kid had already disappeared. ". . . ony."

"Ah, he'll figure it out." The other examiner replied dismissively while opening the door for the next genin hopeful.

ooOoo

Naruto sped past the villagers with high genin level speed, that he and Kakashi-nii were still working on improving, searching for said brother. His hitai-ate was clutched in his hands tightly and he wanted to show his brother.

"Kakashi-nii! Kakashi-nii!" he shouted as soon as he got to the ANBU headquarters.

"Why hello Uzumaki-kun." Naruto looked toward the voice, "Did you pass?" and found a jounin with his hitai-ate used as a bandana, tied in the front, and a senbon in his mouth.

Naruto's face broke out in a fierce smile, "I did dattebayo! With flying colors, whatever that means. Kakashi-nii is always saying weird stuff like that! Ooh" his face scrunched up in his excitement, "I can't wait to show Kakashi-nii, do you know where he is? I have to find him!"

"Whoa, whoa, hold on. You need to slow down a bit."

His head cocked to the side and he scratched his head, "But Kakashi-nii and I are working on our speed . . ."

The jounin chuckled and shook his head, "That's great in training and fighting, but sometimes it's best to just relax a bit. Now, I don't know where Kakashi is, but I'm sure he'll be here soon." The jounin smiled and Naruto, finally remembering his manners scratched his head, yet again, and smiled up at the juonin.

"Eh, you kind of have me, you see you know my name but I don't know yours dattebayo!"

One eyebrow lifted, "My name is Shiranui Genma."

"Genma-san, Genma-san . . . Where have I heard that name before?" The blonde's face scrunched up in concentration, "Oh I remember! You were Yondaime's bodyguard or something! Though I don't see why a Hokage really needs a bodyguard . . . yeah! Kakashi-nii told me all about Yondaime dattebayo!"

"Well," Genma paused, the kid looked familiar, and not just from the glimpses he'd gotten around the village or from the gossip of off-duty ANBU. Minato-sama surely didn't . . . he needed to talk to the Hokage, "don't push yourself too hard! I'll tell Kakashi to go to the graduation ceremony if I see him!" Genma waved and prepared to have a talk with the Hokage but the comical widening of the blonde's eyes made him stop.

"There's a graduation ceremony?"

Genma nodded, "Yeah, it should be starting in five minutes."

"Why didn't anyone tell me?" Naruto's rapid exit left the dust turned up and Genma found himself coughing almost as badly as Hayate usually did.

ooOoo

Naruto made it back to the Academy just as the ceremony began. He couldn't help but feel slightly out of place, though because all the new genin ranged from ages ten to twelve. Nevertheless, he went around looking for Kakashi-nii and trying to ignore the glares of the civilian parents.

"Where is that lazy, late jounin?" he whispered to himself under his breath.

A hand came down on his head, "Where's that hitai-ate?" a cold voice rang out from behind him.

Naruto grinned and turned around holding up the blue cloth to his big brother, "Kakashi-nii! I did it!" The sinister look on Kakashi's face disappeared as if it had never been there at all and Kakashi's smile of pride, somehow visible through his mask almost meant more to Naruto than all the respect in the village. Kakashi's opinion was important to Naruto, but Naruto had always asked why he couldn't make his cake and eat it too . . .

"Oi, Kakashi-nii, can we have ramen today? We haven't had it all week!"

"Sure!"

ooOoo

Shiranui Genma had always been calm and collected, and this was no exception. So when he entered the Hokage's office, through the door thank you very much, he had a schooled expression of pure indifference on his face.

"Ah, Genma-san," Sandaime exclaimed at his entrance, "what can I do for you today?"

Now, Genma was not one to beat around the bush before nor was he willing to do that now. "Minato's choice was not by chance, was it?"

The Hokage's eyebrows lifted in surprise. "This is a bit abrupt, is it not?" Genma shrugged.

"I met the kid today. He looks a lot like his father, especially with his hair done like that, although I guess you already knew that."

The old man nodded, "Yes, he has many of his father's attributes, as well as his mother's. However he is very much his own person, which I believe helped Kakashi come to terms with their deaths. What was your point in coming all this way? I know it can't have been just to confirm the child's lineage."

Genma nodded, "Raido, Katsuo, and I are the only ones in the village capable of using Hiraishin. It's, technically, a family jutsu. I request to be his jounin sensei."

The Hokage remained silent for a moment, "Kakashi won't be overly happy, but I guess I can promise Naruto to him once Naruto's a chuunin . . ."

The two men shared a smirk, "I'm not going to steal him from Kakashi, they're free to spend as much time together as possible, I just want to teach him Hiraishin and the only legal way I can do that is to be his jounin sensei."

"Yes, the village needs to remember the will of fire. What better way to for that than to have the one that they blame to protect them and care even though they might not . . . Yes, I'll set up a team under you Genma-san. Thank you!"

ooOoo

Naruto and Kakashi-nii had been at Ichiraku and Naruto, after five bowls, still showed no signs of stopping. However, knowing his wallet was not endless Kakashi brought up his hand, "Now, now, I think you've had enough for the night, you're going to have your team assignments next week and you still need to sign the dog contract. Come on, I'm sure they'll be ecstatic to hear you passed!"

"Eh . . . what does ecstatic mean?"

"It means excited."

"Oh . . . oi Kakashi-nii, do you think my teammates will like me?"

"If they don't, you can always bug them until they do." He sighed, "I'm sorry I was slightly late to your graduation, Naruto. It's just Gai was going on about how he'd finally found an apprentice worthy enough to study under him and he wouldn't let me leave. I think he's still sore over the fact that you graduated . . ."

"Gai . . . the freak with caterpillars for eyebrows?"

Kakashi snorted, "yeah, but don't tell that to either of their faces. They may look like freaks, but their personalities are more so. Come on, next week we begin operation 'Doppelganger!'"

"That's the one where I dress up like dad and freak out the villagers, right?"

"Yep!"

The two shared deranged smiles before they continued on to the ANBU headquarters."

ooOoo

The week seemed to be teasing Naruto with how slow it was going. No matter what Naruto tried, he couldn't seem to make time go by any faster. He couldn't pull any more pranks on the ANBU or jounin, because he was a ninja now and had to grow up, (whatever that meant) and Hinata-chan was training with her dad and spending time with her little sister Hanabi-chan.

Hinata-chan, he didn't know how much time he'd have left over to spend with her, but she was his best friend and he was determined to make some time, no matter what it took. I mean really! Who knew how Hanabi-chan would turn out without his attitude sometimes! She lived with people that were colder than marble! MARBLE! That's a stone and they didn't get really hot, at least they didn't when you placed a hot pan on them . . .

So that was how he found himself in the library looking for fuuton jutsu and anything about fuuinjutsu, his Uzumaki heritage.

He found quite a few scrolls on fuuinjutsu, which he sent a clone to check out and begin studying and only one fuuton jutsu with a reference to some guy named Sarutobi Asuma who was, apparently, not in the village at the moment.

So much for that . . . Naruto was bored! Maybe the dogs were too . . . Nah, too much work. He was bored but the dogs weren't the best of company when in the village. He'd let his clone study fuuinjutsu while he went to the park. Maybe Hinata-chan would be let out earlier than usual.

ooOoo

The week took a while to pass, but it eventually did and so when he went back to the academy, faces turned and stared at the Yondaime's mini clone, rubbed their eyes to make sure they were awake, used any and all genjutsu releasing techniques they knew, and some even fainted.

For there was Naruto in his Yondaime get up sans the chuunin/jounin flak jacket but complete with the cape. And Kakashi-nii was at his side.

He couldn't help it, he was excited. He was going to get a team and hopefully they'd be like Hinata-chan and be his friends. He certainly hoped so.

Once at the academy he found that he couldn't sit still in the hard wood and was practically bouncing and trying to avoid the disbelieving stares of his fellow genin. They all seemed to have a hard time believing that a genin could be five for some strange reason.

The door opened and out stepped that chunin with the scar on his face. "Hello! This is the day that you go out and serve the village. These teams that you have today will be like a second family! Teams will come and go, but the most memorable teams are usually your first. Now the teams are as follows . . ." Naruto zoned out.

"And Team Nine will be Uzumaki Naruto," he perked up, "Inuzuka Hana and Haruno Ichirou. Please go have lunch; your jonin senseis will be here when you're done!"

Naruto looked around to the two kids that had been called and smiled brightly at the girl with red triangles on her cheeks and the boy with Uzumaki red hair before he walked over and scratched the back of his head.

"You want to go get something to eat at Ichiraku Ramen?" he asked and they both grimaced.

"You're what five? That's my little sister's age." Haruno sneered and Naruto paused in his happiness at getting a team.

His eyes turned steely and he faced them, "I've been ready to graduate for two years now, so don't underestimate me." Then his whole face transformed, "I'm going to be Hokage dattebayo!" The two preteens stared at one another and then at the five year old in front of them.

"Alright then, what can you do?" the Inuzuka asked cautiously and Naruto glad that the ice was almost broken.

"Well, I can do a solid henge, which Kakashi-nii says no one else can really do because it uses so much chakra and I can do kawarimi pretty good too! And I can't really do bunshin because it only needs a little bit of chakra-"

"Wait, you can't even do a simple bunshin? How did you even graduate?"

Naruto smiled slightly, "Medical condition. And I did the kage bunshin – a kinjutsu that Kakashi-nii had to ask the Hokage-ojii permission for! Anyway I can throw kunai pretty straight . . . and Kakashi-nii has me trying to figure out shougi . . . but that's just really weird and I'm not too good at it. . . uh . . . why are you staring?"

For, indeed, they were. The blond was an enigma to them. He was so unlike how they thought he would be. He wasn't too cocky, like one would expect of child prodigies. Rather, he was desperate for friends and seemed to try almost too hard to make friends of them.

He reminded Hana of her own little brother, if not a little less if only because he wasn't her brother and so she said, "Why don't we all go get some Ramen like you said, then maybe we can get to know one another a bit more."

The smile she got from the little child was more than enough to confirm her thoughts of the blond. "Yeah, that's a great idea! Kakashi-nii is always saying that teamwork is important. That's something Obito-nii taught him!"

"Jeez, how many big brothers do you have?" Ichirou commented a little annoyed, and immediately regretted it when the blonde's face fell.

"Well . . . Kakashi-nii and Obito-nii aren't really my brothers . . . I'm an only child and my parents are dead. So is Obito-nii. But . . . Kakashi-nii knew them all and he's been telling me all sorts of stories about them from the last war! They're pretty much family to me! Hey, Hana-chan?"

"Hm?"

"Will you be my nee-san?"

The shock on their faces was priceless and yet Naruto was being completely honest and waiting for her answer.

Hana slightly smiled. Maybe having a five year old on the team wouldn't be so bad . . . as long as he pulled his own weight. "Sure."

The blond nodded and continued to his favorite ramen shop.

"Hey, what about me? Am I too good to be your big brother?" Ichirou shouted annoyed yet again and Hana smiled before playfully punching his arm.

"Oh get over it. You're just jealous because he likes me better!"

ooOoo

"Genma-san? Is it Genma-san? It is Genma-san! Hi Genma-san!" Naruto shouted as soon as Genma walked into the academy room.

"So this is Team Nine? I'm not impressed. And that's Genma-sensei to you from now on." He smirked through his senbon as the boy's face twisted into a grimace. "Alright, come on! We're going to go take a test."

"Another test?" Ichirou asked with very little excitement.

"Yes, all jounin give a test to each team. There is a sixty-six percent fail rate." He loved freaking out newbies, "And so what you have to do is get past me and steal the key to my apartment. There are only two though, and the one that fails to get a key will be sent back to the academy. Except Naruto. You'll go back to train with Kakashi a bit more."

They all wore identical looks of shock on their faces, yet strangely enough Naruto had a contemplative look on his face.

"But . . . we're a team." They all turned to look at him. "and that math doesn't make sense. I'm not too good at book work but I do know that if only one person a team failed then it would be the other way around in the percentages. And Kaakshi-nii's always saying that we have to put ourselves above the team," he was getting nervous now from all their stares, "and that chuunin said that the team would become family . . . I'm getting it all wrong right? Well, I waited for two years to become a genin; I can wait another . . . so you don't have to fail them." He had shut his eyes tight and awaited the judgment of his jounin-sensei when Hana's arms wrapped around him.

"If he fails then I fail. That's what big sisters do!"

Naruto looked up at her with a new expression on his face. She was willing to fail with him? He heard Ichirou suck his teeth.

"Damn, and I thought the team dynamics were so great. Look buddy you're not going to get a better team. I'm with them."

Genma found himself smiling through his senbon. "That was the easiest test ever administered. Congratulations, you are now all officially genin of Konoha. Be ready early tomorrow morning for our first mission." And then he was gone.

Naruto clung to Hana-nee and looked around to his teammates. "What just happened?"

ooOoo

Naruto decided he hated D-rank missions. They were chores, really. And at least he got paid to do it. But he found that it was very annoying. He'd asked once if his clones could help and Genma-sensei said no! That these missions were to build character and teamwork.

He'd show them character!

Not really, he was just getting really sick of it. That was why he sent a clone to study fuuinjutsu and fuuton jutsu while he had his missions.

Genma-sensei had them doing D-ranks from seven in the morning until seven at night. And then they'd run around Konoha for two more hours with periodic breaks consisting of push-ups, sit-ups, and kata exercises.

Yes, it was beneficial, but Naruto was beyond tired by the time the week was up and Genma-sensei said it was time to learn clan jutsu or whatever it is that they wanted to learn.

Naruto found out that Ichirou liked kenjutsu, which sounded, at least to Naruto, suspiciously like kinjutsu, and genjutsu. Hana-nee wanted to be a medic, but mostly a vet for her nin dogs, and so had run off to do that.

But what really shocked Naruto was that when he proclaimed he wanted to learn fuuton jutsu and fuuinjutsu Genma-sensei smiled and had given him a book on even more advanced seals than he'd been studying.

"Eh, why is this so advanced?"

"I think you'll be able to handle it." He said it with a smile . . . so he knew, did he? Well, Naruto would just have to work harder on his stealth.

ooOoo

It was just another typical day of D-ranks, but this one was taking ridiculously long! They were looking for that cat again, and apparently they were the best at finding her, never mind the fact that Hana had three dogs that were very good at scaring the cat away.

No, they had the best success rate for this mission and so were perfect for the job. What a bunch of morons . . .

"Hey! Get back here you devil's spawn. Come here so I can skin you and make you into a coat that I can give my sister for her next birthday!" Ichirou shouted in the midst of the chase.

"You know, I don't think the cat wants to be skinned . . ." Naruto began in an offhand manner.

"Ugh! Let's just get this mission over with! It's not like we have all day!"

"Why do we even have to do these stupid chores so much?" Naruto sighed, "Alright, how about we do that third formation that Genma-sensei talked about?" The other two nodded and they set about laying the trap for the kitten with very little enthusiasm. Once this mission was done they'd probably go weed a garden.

ooOoo

Kurotsuchi was tired of all the politics her grandfather had to organize. Why couldn't they just kill off all the offending nations? It didn't make sense. When there's a tree in the road, you don't ask it to kindly move; you chop it up and roll it away. So why was her grandfather playing diplomat and why was her father so readily agreeing to it?

She had just become a genin the day before - at the tender age of eight - and now she was heading to her grandfather's office, so she was pretty sure it was important.

"Ah, Kurotsuchi. Just who we wanted to see!" she looked around to find the Raikage, Tsuchikage, and her father in the office.

"What?" she asked slightly intimidated but not willing to show it. She crossed her arms across her chest.

"You and your team are going to go to the chuunin exams in Sunagakure." Kurotsuchi grinned widely at that. "After the third stage of the exams we will be invading Suna and hopefully destroy any allies Konoha may have. Then we will take Konoha and make them pay for what the Kirroi Senkou (Yellow Flash) did to our village. It's revenge."

Kurotsuchi smiled, "So we're going to make them pay for killing mom?" They all smiled. She was definitely for this. "Is Deidara-nii going to be there with us?"

"Absolutely," She smiled and bowed. "Your team will take a C-rank next week. That will get you the experience you need for the mission. You're dismissed."

She couldn't get out fast enough to go tell Deidara-nii.

ooOoo

Kirabi (Killer B) was waiting in the inn where the group of Kumo nin were spending the night and could not help but worry for his brother. He knew that A was a great shinobi on his own, he was Raikage, but Kirabi didn't want to lose his brother.

He sighed. Why more war? He knew that it was to make Kumo stronger, but he still felt bad for the poor Konoha-nin. They wouldn't know what was coming to them, and now that they didn't have the Kiiroi Senko they'd have no chance at winning any war anytime soon. He sighed and lay back in the bed. How was Yugito handling it back home? She was probably training some more - that hell cat.

Sometimes he hated being a jinchuuriki, but when he thought of his cousin and the Hachibi itself, he couldn't fault them. He faulted those around him that thought what they thought. They were the ones in the wrong, not him.

And besides, A was important to him, just as he was to A. Even if he had to stay in the village most of the time.

ooOoo

Naruto grumbled as he carried the cat to the Hokage tower. Making the cat face its worst nightmare always brought a smile to his face, as did all the faces of the villagers every time they saw him nowadays.

He really had to thank Kakshi-nii for getting him the outfit.

Thankfully Genma-san had had enough of the 'D-ranks on coffee' and decided to have them all train with a few of his friends. "Alright team nine, meet Raido and Hayate."

"Hello Raido-san, Hayate-san!"

"Alright! Raido will be working with Hana, Hayate will be teaching Haruno kenjutsu, and I will be working on Naruto's fuuinjutsu!"

Thus began the long tiring days of yet more training of which Naruto and his team were tired.

"Oi, Genma-sensei can we stop with all these boring missions? They're really getting on my nerves!"

His teammates froze. They agreed with the kid but weren't exactly keen on upsetting their sensei.

"Ichirou, you agree with me, right?" Naruto turned to the red-headed Haruno that sighed in annoyance.

"Yeah, yeah, they're annoying."

Genma-sensei raised his eyebrow and looked expectantly at Hana. She shuffled her feet a bit but finally caved, "Oh, please, the D-ranks are a joke and you know that too, sensei!"

Genma-sensei sighed and turned around. "Come on. Let's see what C-ranks are available today."

ooOoo

"Okay, what do we have . . . There's a caravan needing basic protection from bandits. . . Let's start you off with that!"

"Eh! A real mission? We'll actually get out of the village for once? This is going to be so epic! I gotta get those scrolls Kakashi-nii gave me!"

"Hold on! You need to meet the client first." Naruto scratched the back of his head.

"Okay . . . but then can I go see Kakashi-nii and get all those storage scrolls?"

The old man sighed but nodded and Genma sighed too, this was going to be a long mission.

ooOoo

The night was black, there was no moon, and the Uchiha district seemed deserted. The streets of the district were so empty that when a little five year old ran through it seemed to almost have the same effect as a mouse trying to run for cover from the broom that was after its head.

Little Sasuke was scared. He'd never been so before, but for some strange reason the compound seemed scary for once. He knew where they all were, they were in one of the clan meetings and as soon as they were done Sasuke's nii-san was going to teach Sasuke how to throw Kunai. He loved his brother, the newly promoted chuunin, and couldn't wait for his brother to come and help him learn how to use the kunai.

He entered his house through the sliding paper door and dropped his bag at his bedside table. Every day he came home and waited for his brother. He really hoped his brother wouldn't poke his forehead again and tell him 'next time.'

It was always 'next time.' Either Itachi-nii-san was too busy with his shinobi duties or he had to train with Shisui-san. And so Sasuke waited. He'd be waiting the whole night.

ooOoo

The Uchiha had spent the entire night arguing in that dimly lit room under the family shrine. As things stood it would take a war to bring the Uchiha back into favor and a war to unite the clan. The elderly didn't want to plan a coup d'état, but the younger ones were sick and tired of their treatment at the hands of the rest of the village.

It wasn't until Uchiha Mikoto stood up that the arguing stopped, "Let's all just calm down. It is the Kyuubi's fault that we have this treatment. Why not let the jinchuuriki raise our own status." She paused; she had all their attention, "On the night of the Kumo incident the Hyuuga stood behind him, and . . . they were not ridiculed. The salvation of our clan may very well lie with the boy that proclaims from the Hokage mountain that he will be Hokage. He's is currently a genin. Please, put off the coup until the boy is completely accepted, because he seems to be headed that way. We are not the only one's suffering."

Silence reigned in the chamber for five minutes straight, but her clansmen nodded and silently left; only her son Itachi remained.

"Have you met him?" Itachi asked his mother with a curious look in his face.

"I saw him from afar while at the park. He acts so much like his mother. Should he prove to have the talent of his parents, he may very well be the next Hokage. And I did once say that I hoped he and Sasuke would be good friends . . ."

The two remained silent for a moment before Itachi spoke up, "I know one of his teammates in passing, her name is Inuzuka Hana. Her brother and Sasuke are the same age. Should her team happen to meet up with Sasuke and me, I am sure the three would get along nicely."

Mikoto smiled at her eldest son. It seemed he too did not want war. "That would be nice, hypothetically." Itachi smirked and then bowed before heading back to their home to find his younger brother asleep on his bed and daylight coming over the horizon.

ooOoo

Naruto smiled as he followed Genma-sensei out of the village. His first C-rank . . . he was so excited and Ichirou and Hana seemed to be feeling the same way.

"Oi, Nee-san! Wait up!" a voice called out and Hana paused and turned back. She smiled and Naruto decided he liked her smile and that whoever made her smile like that had to be worthy of being his friend.

"Kiba-kun, I have to go!" she ruffled his hair like Kakashi-nii did to Naruto so many times.

He buried his face in his big sister's shirt and said something that only came out as a mumble.

"Oh, and what's that supposed to mean?" she asked teasingly and Kiba lifted his head and pet the small pups that Hana had at her side, the three Haimaru brothers.

"You be careful," he muttered.

"I will, it's only a C-rank!" he nodded and ran off waving goodbye.

"Hey, Ichirou, why didn't your sister come to see us off?" Naruto asked completely serious.

Ichirou scoffed, "I left them a note saying I was going off on a C-rank. My parents are pretty laid back, they get it- and won't really care all that much of a measly C-rank."

"Well, it's your first C-rank. That's pretty special. You should have told them . . ."

"Yeah, well you haven't met my mother. She'd fuss all over me if I let her."

Naruto nodded, "Yeah . . . I haven't met mine either . . . But, I'm sure I'd like the fussing" The trek toward the village where the caravan would stop and trade was awkward silent from that moment on.

ooOoo

"Hey, fatso, hurry up!" Kurotsuchi was not having a good day. Her team that consisted of Deidara-nii and Akatsuchi had been deployed on that C-rank and Akatsuchi and Deidara-nii were being as annoying as always.

They had been traveling for two days toward Fire Country and no matter what she tried she just couldn't make the time pass faster. And Akatsuchi's slow going wasn't helping any.

"No need to be so mean!" Akatsuchi grumbled as he continued, "Watch one day I'll be fast despite my weight and then you'll have to watch out."

Deidara smirked, "I bet you can't do it by the chuunin exams in Suna!" And Akatsuchi growled.

"Watch, I'll be a great shinobi and an important part of the invasion!"

"We'll see." Kurotsuchi drawled. And they continued along with a grumpy Kurotsuchi, an insulted Akatsuchi, and a smirking Deidara.

ooOoo

So yeah, that's chapter two . . . and I have a cold that started yesterday.

Thank you for all the reviews and alerts and favorites. I went to bed Saturday night and woke up with twenty one emails . . .

So yes, thank you very much for your support! The next chapter will be up sometime next week.

Review!

-GlidingOne

P.S. I edited it again . . . I'll try not to do that too much.

P.S. I rewrote this, and . . . yeah.