The following story is brought to you by Jill's strange and slightly demented mind. The ideas within are all her own, though the characters are owned by Masashi Kishimoto.

I do not know how old Shin really was, but I'm making him seventeen—same age as Hana and Itachi.

Our Students are…Strange

"Is it just me, or our students acting a little…strange?" Mizuki commented once he had walked into the classroom and observed the students for a few minutes.

Iruka nodded numbly.

Hinata was busy talking to Naruto, who was eating brownies she had made for him as if it was something she did every day.

Ino was… flirting. While that in itself was not unusual per se, the fact that she was flirting with Chouji was very odd.

Sasuke was sitting in the back of the class, being ignored completely by one of his biggest fan-girls. He looked rather relieved, to be honest. The rest of his fan-girl/stalker club was too shy to actually talk to him, and this must have been the first peace he had got in a long time.

Kiba was talking to Shino about ninken versus kikaichuu. In other words, Kiba was proclaiming loudly that Akamaru could just pee on or eat Shino's bugs if they ever had to battle.

Shikamaru was sleeping.

Sakura was nowhere to be seen.

"Okay, class, quiet down!" Iruka said. "It is time for the Academy Graduation Test to begin." He glanced over at the door again, wondering where in the world Sakura was, and then back at the clock. He couldn't put the test off any longer.

The class all straightened in their seats, including Shikamaru.

"Did you have to poke me so hard, Ino?!" he yelled.

"Sorry," she said without feeling.

Mizuki and Iruka began passing out the papers. "No talking. No cheating. If you do either of those, you fail and will remain in the academy for another year. Good luck," Mizuki said.

Iruka smiled at the class. "You may begin."

The students turned their papers over and began writing. Mizuki picked up a book, already bored and uninterested in making sure they followed his rules, but Iruka paid rapt attention to his students, and marked zeros down for three people in the first ten minutes because they were cheating.

He noticed Naruto's frown of frustration, and couldn't help but feel sorry for the boy. He really wanted to pass and be a ninja, but, it seemed like this year again, he would not make it.

Hinata glanced over at Naruto, and wondered if she should give him her test. She knew he failed the first time in the original timeline, and that was unlikely to change just because she gave him brownies.

Hmm… well, I tried to give him my test in the Chuunin Exams, but even then, he said no. So I will let him do this alone, she thought. Plus, he needs to fail so that he can beat up Mizuki and learn Kage Bunshin.

She turned back to her paper with a satisfied smile, and checked her answers a third time. She had passed with flying colors originally, and this was a breeze now, but Hinata wanted to make sure. She was cautious by nature anyway.

Ino stared at her paper, wondering how on earth she could ever have thought this was hard. How did I even become a ninja originally, if I thought this was difficult? This is easy as heck!

She turned her paper over, and sat back in her seat, waiting until everyone else was finished.

Sasuke looked up. He had heard two papers flip over, which meant two people were finished.

Before him.

Who the heck finished before him? He was a genius, for crying out loud. This stuff was hard!

He spotted Ino relaxing in her seat between Chouji and Shikamaru, and his eyes widened. Ino had finished before him?! What!?

Then he noticed Hinata also relaxing by Naruto, and he fell out of his chair.

"Sasuke!" Iruka said.

"Sorry!" he apologized, climbing back onto his seat.

A few people looked up from their papers, but quickly went back to work. Sasuke looked down at his page—twenty questions out of fifty left—and wondered how the heck Ino and Hinata were already done. Ino was the best kunoichi, but he had no idea about Hinata. He had always guessed she was smart, but that smart?!

Sakura walked down the hallway cautiously, a genjutsu disguising her presence.

She had no idea where she was.

Correction, she had an idea, but that was it.

And it wasn't very helpful.

Where the heck am I going? Why did I never ask him what number his room was? Why am I so stupid? Why am I asking myself so many questions?

She took a deep, calming breath.

"I guess I'll have to do it the old-fashioned way," she said aloud.

With that, Sakura proceeded to open every door in the hallway, searching for one particular person.

"Arrgh!" she yelled when she reached the end of the hallway and still hadn't found the man—boy—she was looking for. "Where on earth could he be?" she grumbled loudly. "Why does this place have so many freaking hallways, anyway?" she asked herself.

"There are a lot of members to ANBU ROOT, much more than anyone realizes," a voice said.

Sakura jumped and turned around. She gasped. She was pretty sure her eyeballs would have fallen out of their sockets if they weren't connected to her nerves or whatnot. "You—you! I know you!" she screamed.

The boy looked to be a few years older than Sakura, maybe seventeen or eighteen. He had grayish hair that lacked the silvery shine of Kakashi's, but instead had an almost blue quality to it. His face was kind and his eyes were a deep brown color that Sakura had seen in someone else.

"I'm sorry, but I do not know you," the boy said.

Sakura smiled at him. "Of course you don't! But I recognize you from Sai's picture book! You're his brother!"

"Who is Sai?" the boy asked, looking confused and curious.

Sakura's jaw dropped open in shock. How could he not know the name of his brother? she demanded. I know they aren't technically related, but still! Then she remembered that Sai actually had no name while he was in ROOT, so the name Sai was meaningless to this teenager. But then… "Why are you called Shin if Sai has no name?" she blurted out.

The boy looked very confused now. "I really have no clue what you are talking about," he said politely.

"Oh… I must not be making any sense… hmm, where do I begin?" Sakura mused aloud.

Shin watched her carefully, wondering if she was an invader or just a confused new recruit. She didn't seem dangerous, but one had to be careful. On the other hand, it wasn't like ROOT had welcome meetings to every new orphan they took in. "Are you new here?" he asked her.

"Huh?" she said, stopping her mutterings for the moment.

"Are you a new recruit for ANBU ROOT?"

Her expression turned to one of disgust and horror. "God, no! I am actually here to rescue Sai. And you. Since you're still alive. I definitely thought you would be dead by now, but I guess you died later on. Sai never said," she told him.

"That's… nice," he said.

She smiled. "Yes, that means I have time to prevent your illness and—Oh my god! Quick, let me examine you!" Sakura gathered green chakra into her hands and prepared to give Shin a medical examination.

Shin backed quickly away. "No, thank you. I am not sure if you are trying to infiltrate our base or not, but I do not trust you and I am not so stupid as to fall for a trick like this."

"Trick?"

He nodded. "Yes, while you 'examine' me, you are really destroying the cells of my body and killing me! Now, leave before I have to attack you."

Sakura stared at him. "Why would I try to kill you?"

"Come on, Lazy, let's get a move on!"

Kakashi groaned. The woman from hell was now dragging him out of his apartment and towards the dango stand. Why on earth she wanted to eat dango this early in the morning was beyond him but protesting was futile.

Anko smiled as she pulled Kakashi through the streets of Konoha. She was pleased at how far their relationship had progressed in just half an hour!

The dango stand came into view, and she sped up, forcing Kakashi to half run, half walk to keep up with her.

Pushing him into a stool at the counter, she ordered two plates of dango and smiled happily at Kakashi.

He grimaced in return.

Good enough, she thought. For now.

"Who is Naruto?" Gaara asked his sister.

"Oh, um. A friend. He'll be able to help you!" Temari replied.

"Help me with what?" Gaara questioned.

"You know… Your fuzzball, as he calls them. Or in your case, Sand-Butt," she said.

"Where did the name 'Sand-Butt' come from again?" Baki asked.

"Naruto. He calls Shukaku that because Shukaku is made up of sand. And Naruto once stabbed him in the butt with a kunai."

The three men stared at her.

"This Naruto fellow sounds very…odd," Gaara said slowly, looking as if he was contemplating whether or not to kill her.

"Don't worry, you'll like him a lot. He's a jinchuuriki, just like you," Temari informed him. "Except he doesn't actually know it yet…" she said.

"I see," Gaara said.

"Ooh, this is great!" Temari squealed, realizing something else. "We can have that seal guy look at your seal and fix it! You'll be really safe then! Yay!" she cried joyfully.

"Gaara," Baki began slowly. "Would you excuse your sister and me for a moment? I need to talk to her about her sanity," he said.

Temari stopped dancing. "I'm perfectly sane," she said. "I think it would be more insane if I wasn't happy about the prospect of my younger brother being saved from the sandy-thingy inside him than if I was quiet about it," she pointed out logically.

"While that's true, I am slightly worried about the fact that overnight, you have gone from being deathly scared of Gaara-sama, to wanting to hug him and take him to a park," Baki stated.

"Well, it's a really fun park!" Temari defended.

Gaara's eyebrows disappeared. Literally. One second, they lay innocently on his face, over his eyes, the next second, Temari came along, and the eyebrows went 'poof!'

"Temari," he started, "you do realize I am twelve, right? I don't go to parks anymore." He paused. "In fact, I don't think I have ever been to a park."

Temari looked triumphant. "Exactly! That is why we must go, as soon as you meet Naruto!" She turned to Baki. "So, let's finish up breakfast, and get moving!"

Baki stared. "I don't think your father would approve…" he said lamely.

"Pft," Temari replied. "Like that matters. He'll be dead soon anyway."

Gaara and Baki stared at her in shock.

"I can't believe you said that!" Kankurou yelled, coming back into the room.

"Um," Temari began, trying to think of an explanation. "I know about the alliance with Otogakure!" she shouted, eyes closed.

Tenten paused for a second to gather her weapons and regroup them. "Neji," she started. "Perhaps we should try to perfect your Hyuuga techniques. Jumping out of the way of my weapons does not seem to be doing the trick," she said, frowning at the number of kunai sticking out of her teammate. Good thing she hadn't brought out her nunchaku yet…

Neji nodded, too worn out to say anything.

Tenten put her scrolls away, and assumed a taijutsu stance.

Neji moved, ready to block her chakra points, but she fought him back.

"Tenten, you are doing most youthfully!" Gai called over as he flipped Lee over his back.

"Gaah!" Lee shouted when he landed.

"Thanks, Gai-sensei!" Tenten beamed, blocking Neji's two fingers with her own kick. Neji went sprawling backwards and crashed into a tree.

"Tenten," Gai said seriously.

Uh-oh. I hope he isn't going to yell at me for that… she thought.

"How would you like a Youthful Jumpsuit? And a Youthful Set of Weights?"

Tenten nearly face-palmed, but stopped herself just in time. "I don't know, Gai-sensei. I don't think a jumpsuit would be very flattering to the complexion of my weapons." She hoped he would buy that one.

"I think you are supposed to say 'flattering to MY complexion,' Tenten," Lee said.

Tenten shrugged. "I'll take the weights, though. It would be nice to be light and speedy."

Lee's eyes widened. "Then I must increase the size of my weights! It would not be youthful if my speed slowed! And Tenten already kept up with me while running today! Make them heavier, Gai-sensei!" Lee shouted.

Neji fell to the ground.

"Oh, Neji," Tenten said. "Do you want some weights, too?"

Gai beamed at his students. "Today has been so youthful!" he cried. "My three students are all training hard and strengthening their Fiery Wills!"