Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any of the characters within. Except the RL characters, I own their souls...

Chapter '2': And so they meet.

There was great unrest in the great villiage of Konohagakure, or the Village Hidden in the leaves, as all of the rookie 9, along with the jonin team leaders and Team Gai, were gathered in the great Godaime's office for a 'secret' meeting. In fact, because of a certain knucklehead ninja, almost the entire village knew about it.

"Hey, what do we all have to be here for, anyway? Isn't this kind of overkill?" The aforementioned knucklehead cried in his oddly whiny voice. In truth, though, his cry was met with murmurs of agreement, since the entire office was filled with elite and powerful ninja, so filled that they were even a bit cramped. Then, the Hokage looked up from the paperwork she had been filling out, thankfully for her, the last pile of the day. "Well, since I know that you are all probably wondering why I called you here today, I have a mission for you." Glancing at the twin looks on Naruto and Lee's faces, she repeated, "Yes, ALL of you. Our sources tell us that the organization Akatsuki is on the move. What I want all of you to do is to send scouting parties from your number into the forest, and leave the rest of you guarding the gate during the daytime. What is important about this is, I want you to stop anybody that you think may be strange."

Naruto was agast. "WHAT?! You want me to stand guard at the village gates instead of training? I HAVE to train!" Lee's eyes said the same, but he did not voice his opinions. Sasuke's face looked like he was on the verge of mutiny. In fact, in his mind, the only thing that kept him from doing just that was the knowledge that the part of Akatsuki that was after Naruto, and thus the leaf village, contained his brother, Uchiha Itachi.

Tsunade, the Hokage, just sat there with here eyes closed, twitching. Eventually, she stated, "Well, you can train at the village gates, just stand guard! Your mission begins immediately, Dismissed!" The crowd of people chorused a "Hai!" And shambled out of the room, with assorted mumbles commenting how troublesome and boring this mission would prove to be. But go to the village gates they did, anyway.

Once they all arrived, Kakashi and Gai both took charge of the group, both giving off completely different commands. They then turned towards each other, and with looks of pure fury on their faces, brought their hands forward, in seal-forming positions. Everyone stood in various states of terror, as truly a clash between these two jonin could rearrange the entrance to the village. The Jonin glared at each other for a full three seconds, then yelled at each other, "Paper, Rock, Scissors!" Kakashi made a scissors sign, and Gai made a paper sign. "AUUUUAGH!!! Kakashi!!! That's the last time I'll lose to you!" Gai bellowed.

Kakashi merely blinked and stated, "Nonetheless, I won this round. So, I am the one who will issue the commands for this mission. And thus, I command that the Jonin will do the scouting, and the rookies will do the guarding, until further notice. Now, everyone, go!" Everyone chorused another "Hai!" and the Jonin jumped off towards the forest.

Once in the forest and among the branches Asuma asked Kakashi, "Alright, Hatake, what's up? Why are we the ones who are doing the scouting?" Kakashi looked at him, and everyone could tell that under his mask, he was grinning.

"Because we're going on vacation in Tanzaku Town. The kids can handle this assignment without our help, besides, this'll teach them how to lead and cooperate with each other. Or maybe we'll come back and find ourselves a few genin short."

Grins and laughs were had all around, and then the Jonin were off for vacation.

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His brown hair waved just a little bit in the wind as he took what seemed like the millionth step today. Tom was just flat-out drained of all his energy. He felt about ready to drop, but he knew that the second he did, everyone else would, and they wouldn't get back up until tomorrow. To him, that was unacceptable. So, onward he must go, regardless.

Jill caught up with him as he had that thought, and kept his pace. She turned her head to him and said, in a quiet voice, "Hey, I've been thinking, and do you think that perhaps we aren't home anymore?"

Tom gave her an incredulous look, and replied with, "Gee, not home anymore, I wonder..."

Jill rolled her eyes, and hissed, "You know what I mean, Tom." Then, she looked around, and added, "I mean, what if this is like some sort of Wizard of Oz thing, but the house didn't come with us, and we got Ninja headbands."

Tom frowned, and chuckled before remarking, "You forgot that we didn't get a munchkin welcome." Jill punched him in the arm, and he added, "Just jokin' around, jeez. But yeah, I see your point. Maybe we're in the Naruto world?"

Jill laughed loudly, and everyone looked at her. She sweatdropped, and lowered her voice. "What the heck would make you say that?"

Tom pointed forward, at the huge wall and entrance gates to the Village Hidden in the Leaves. "That." He extended his right arm without even looking in that direction, to catch Jill as she fainted.

Tom turned around, and stopped, motioning for everyone to do the same. "Alright guys, if you haven't noticed yet, we're actually in the Naruto world. I can tell because there's Konohakagure right behind me. Now, we have to decide what we're going to do. Not that I don't think it'll be unanimous we go in, but a few things need to be decided. Should we stay together, if not, where and when should we meet, etc. So, what should we do?"

He looked around. Everyone had disappeared. He turned to find them, as expected, running towards the gates. "Ugh, too eager as always..." But he still walked after them, after all, what else could he do?

Once he arrived, Tom noticed that nobody had actually entered the village yet. He walked up to the front of the crowd. "Hey guys, why haven't you run inside yet..." He trailed off as he saw a line of ninja guarding the entrance. Possibly the worst 12 people to guard the village from these 10 people. The rookie 9 and Team Gai.

Tom's eyes widened as Naruto stepped forward and pointed at all of them in the horribly cliched way he always does. "And what do you guys think you're doing? We're guarding then entrance to the village, and you won't get in unless you go through us, dattebayo!"

Tom glanced to each side quickly, and realized the inevitable. He ran forward, straight towards the village. Naruto's eyes bugged out, and he yelled, "What are you doing?"

Tom kept running, and when he was about 5 feet away, he yelled out, "Run, Naruto! ALL OF YOU, RUN AWAY!!!"

Naruto laughed, and said, "From what? You guys?"

The slightly taller boy stopped, pointed behind him, and yelled, "No, from THEM!" Naruto turned his head slightly to look beyond Tom, and saw the oncoming mob of fangirls. "Dattebayo! RUN AWAY!"

The rookie 9 and Team Gai scattered, and Tom ran as fast as he could. There was no stopping them now. No force on earth could stop a mob of fangirls.

Nothing at all.

Guys, I am SO SORRY I haven't been able to update in so very long. I'll let you know though, this is the story I'm going to be working on for quite a while, since my other computer broke, and I'm using my dad's laptop from work. The next chapter for my other two stories are on the old computer, and it will be fixed in January. I'll try to keep updates for this one regular though. Once a week, and it should peak at about 20 chapters or so.

Thanks for waiting if you decided to. Please review for who you want to end up with whose powers. I have a few already decided, but others I do not.