Yay! All my reviews are showing up. Cookies to all!!! *Starts randomly throwing cookies*

SaphireWhiteWolf: Marshmallow people!! *pats on head* It's ok, I'm stupid too. Thanks! that was one of my favorite scenes..

Rizember: Are you feeling better? *gasps* Me? Subtle? Cool! I could never make him NOT a jinchuuriki. Naruto isn't 'mute' he just refuses to talk. So if kyuubi or someone else took control..^^

Dragon77: thanks! here ya go!

uchihabrat: hehe..nice name! hopefully this keeps you addicted. I hope this is a good fix for you. :D

Houkakyou: thanks, it's hard to pin down how they're supposed to act/react sometimes.

---Chapter 3: ANBU screwing with genin..awesome!

It was still dark out, the moon still visible, faintly. Most of the stars had fled; it was nearing sunrise. This resulting in an mystical twilight. A majority of people never witnessed this event; the guards didn't care as it wasn't an enemy, and most were tired. Travellers waited 'til daybreak when the sun would be at their back chasing away nighttime monsters, horrors.

Naruto was up to see it though.

In fact, most days he did.

It was rare if he was too exhausted to wake for it.

The blond was already dressed; dark green cargo-esque pants that stopped at his ankles, a brown shirt with a black pawprint on it. It wasn't a hard task as he slept in his clothes.

Silence was golden. He loved it when some part of him wasn't griping and making rude comments about others, sometimes directed at himself. Nor the overly cheerful voice, either. Naruto could do without. Over the years, their presence had grown stronger;the occasional headaches, worse.

The tile was hard under his his palms; he sat, legs straight out in front of him, shoulder with apart, leaning back on his hands. He was quiet and absolutely still as he watched the town from his vantage point of the roof. No point in waking the owners.

"I'm gonna get that masked guy!" Voice 1 snarled.

Naruto frowned. 'Why?'

"'Cause he has a mask! They had masks!!"

A pang flashed in his head, between and just behind his eyes. Like someone was driving a dagger through his temple, right through the skull to his brain.

"Hey, hey hey! I don't like Mask either, 'ttebayo!" the cheery-one chimed in. He pictured a little kid amped up on sugar, jumping up and down, arms waving wildly.

The blond scowled, and mentally growled. You woke him up! Whenever there was quiet he had the impression that they were sleeping.

His headache only increased.

A small breeze ruffled his hair.

Naruto stood, and starting leaping toward's the meeting place.

---

Sasuke made it onto the roof, in his typical garb; a blue shirt with the clan symbal on the back, and baggy white shorts. His hands were in his pockets and he slunk over to the rail, with a devil may care attitude. He noticed Naruto was already there, arms crossed, a frown on his face. He was reading a scroll and obviously wasn't happy with what it said. That made the Uchiha curious of it's contents. What could be bothering the blond, who was rumored to have had his soul sucked out? Devoid of any human reactions.

He heard footsteps behind him, coming closer, from the stairs. Sakura. They were lighter than his, naturally, as she weighed less.

All three were now here, gathered together.

"Ano..Good morning, Sasuke..Naruto." Her eyes slid to each of them in turn, lingering on Sasuke, and flicking nervously over to Naruto, then away.

She gave a weak attempt at a smile.

"What is that?" Sasuke asked, pointing at the scroll. He brushed off the greeting rather rudely. Sakura's face flushed. Not that they could tell, it was still dark.

Naruto ignored him.

Sasuke frowned.

Sakura looked back at the enigma nervously. "Did s..sensei leave us that?" She couldn't help but stutter over the word. It was hard to imagine such an intimidating figure working with kids.

Apparently finished reading, he half-rolled it back up and tossed it. Sasuke's arm whipped out like a snake, and he caught it mid-air.

"Well, what does it say?"Sakura prompted, a bit hesitant.

"We have to climb the Hokage Monument. And dig in the fourth's nose." Sasuke deadpanned.

"What, quit fooling around!!" She had never heard Sasuke mess around like this, and to insinuate doing something so disrespectful..!

Sasuke glowered. "Read it yourself." He shoved it in her face.

"What the hell is wrong with this man?!"

"I already told you, ANBU."

---

"How are we going to get up there?" Sakura wondered, a bit worried and anxious. More than that, apprehensive. She'd never done something like this before. Sakura always kept her toes in line.

Naruto was more experienced in these feats, it seemed. He pulled out some rope. Where did that come from? The pinkette shook her head.

"That's only enough for two people." Sasuke pointed out.

Stubbornly the blond held it out. Impatience getting the best of him, he dropped it at their feet and began feeling for hand holds.

Sasuke and Sakura stared as he began scaling the monument. They glanced at each other, than the rope. The kunoichi fidgeted. "Well, lets get going then, ne."

Being on this team was so awkward

"Arrogant! Thinking we need rope!" His headache spiked.

"No..no! I like Duck!!"

Naruto wanted to bash his head against the cliff side.

He used the tried and true 3-4 method as he was in no hurry. The blond planted his feet, making sure the rock under his feet wouldn't give out on him, gripped the stone a bit tighter,and pushed down while lifting his other hand up, searching for a crevice or any other hand-hold of some sort that was solid and wouldn't crumble from the pressure. Finally he found a crack that had been worn by the wind, and enlarged bit by bit over time. Just enough room for his hand.

Hands locked onto the cliff, he lifted his left foot up, and pulled some with his arms, muscles taut. He was still scrambling for a hold, when the earth collapsed benaeath his feet. Gone! His legs swung wildly. His shoulders burned, and he struggled to lift himself up. With a burst of stamina, he pulled himself over the ledge. He scrambled up, and lay down, panting.

"Are you okay?!"

Naruto poked his head down to see a surprised Sasuke and concerned (shocked) Sakura staring back at him. "We're fine Duck, Cherry!!"

Sakura's face fell and she flinched when he suddenly scowled. What was he so annoyed about? They were (or SHE was) just worried about him.

Naruto shook his head, pushing back the pain. shut. the. fuck. up. Each word was laced with loving delibrate care. Everytime they spoke, they were louder.

And that scared him.

---

Sasuke and Sakura were on their backs, panting. Naruto was leaning against a bouder, nonplussed. Only a tightness around his eyes would suggest that he was perturbed at all.

Five minutes past. He stood still, letting them rest, not particularly caring. The blond could see they were tired, and needed rest.

But it got him antsy. Why had she shouted "Are you okay?!". He was unused to that. Even the Uchiha seemed relieved when it turned out that he didn't got splat on top of the village.

He was the Kyuubi jinchuuriki, and meant to be hated.

He could understand that.

Naruto was faced with nothing but loathing, or as if he were a ghost no one wanted haunting the village.

The blond glanced at his two teammates.

Haruno Sakura. She had pink hair, and it went down to her shoulders when she let it down. But most of the time she kept it up. Her eyes were a unique shade of coral green, and she always wore red and white in her outfit, someway, somehow. She did well in class, her only friend being Yamanaka Ino; she lived with her mother, just the two of them, after her father died two years ago.

Uchiha Sasuke-from the clan of traitors. His whole life was filled with shame, and somehow Naruto felt he could relate to that. His clan had plotted against the village, and on top of that he was the younger brother of Itachi; the Uchiha Retard who was said to have unlimited potential but had been stunted, damaged in some way. All round in appearance he was like a night creature-black hair that in the right light took on a bluish tinge, inky eyes, and pale skin.

He concluded they were tolerable.

But he would never turn his back to them.

"Okay." Sakura said. It seemed she would be the conversation starter. "We climbed to the top. Now what?"

"We get the scroll from the nose." His own nose wrinkled. It reminded him to much of picking boogers.

She nodded. "Right. But how will we do it?"

Unconscriously, they glanced at Naruto, to make sure he hadn't disappeared, or was gonna sneak up on them or something.

He held up a kunai, and then his gaze slid to the rope.

Sakura made the connection first. "We can use the kunai as a base, and tie a rope to it, then just climb down to the nose. Good idea." Naruto was..different (read: odd, creepy), but obviosuly he had a bit of a brain somewhere.

Sasuke grunted his approval. "Hn. Let's get going then."

Naruto stabbed the kunai into the stone, only getting the tip in. He frowned.

"Here, do this, loudmouth." Sasuke stepped on the hilt, lifted his foot up, and slammed down.

Two inches deeper.

Sakura tugged at it. Seemed sturdy enough. "Do you think it will hold?" She didn't want to risk her life over one crazy ANBU's twisted sense of fun.

Naruto gave no indication of wanting to answer or contribute, just staring at the kunai like it held the secret to life with an intensity that made her worried for his sanity.

It seriously couldn't be healthy! Not talking for twelve years..she could barely go three hours.

Sasuke got tired of just standing around. Honestly, they had gone ten consecutive minutes, just standing still like statues

Like they were trying to win a "who could be the most useless?" contest.

"Are we ninja or not?" He asked exasperated. Either the kunai would hold, or it wouldn't.

And if it didn't, they were an epic fail.

Dying because of a loose kunai was just a sorry way to go.

"Let's make sure it's secure first." She insisted. It seems she mirrored his thoughts.

No one desire to be the newest "Guess who died" gossip.

Naruto crouched down and shook it. Or tried to. It didn't budge.

That much.

"It won't get any better." Sasuke said, tying the rope around the hilt.

"Who goes down?" Sakura asked nervously.

Naruto stared at her.

Sasuke starred at her.

"Oh, why me?! It's because my hair's pink, isn't it? Well I'll have you know it's natural!! Huh, huh? What do you got to say about that?!" She screamed.

"it's cause your a girl, and you've got no tits."

They swore Naruto almost snorted.

"Your a girl," Sasuke pointed out, a matter-of-factly, "And you weigh less."

She blushed. "Oh. Okay. That makes sense I guess."

Shoulders back, chest out, head held high, she went forward. Moving toward the kunai bravely.

Biting her cheek, Sakura lowered herself, gripping the rope for dear life.

Literally.

Oh why did i let them talk me into this?! A sharp wind blew, making her sway. "Eep!" Even worse, the sun was only now starting to rise, leaving her in a shroud. Damn them and their "superior" logic!!

Did she forget to mention she had a fear of heights?

Yeah.

"Hold it steady!" Sakura shouted. She was on the bridge of the Yondaime's nose, and had about seven feet to go.

Finally, shen she thought her nerves would go (either that or the rope would snap) she made it to his nostril. Swayng below it, she steadied herself. "Deep breaths, Sakura." She told herself.

Bravely, she plunged in, sticking her arm up his nose, all the way to the elbow. Sakura snatched the first thing that felt like a scroll and then yanked her arm out. "I got it! Pull me up!"

The roped jerked around her waist, where they had tied it. "Ouch! Could you be a bit gentler?!" Normally, she wasn't this irrate, but in stressful situations her temper steadily disentegrated.

Being hauled up the mountain side by a rope that may or may not support her rope, and throwing all her faith into two boys that no one trusted, was just a bit above her level.

Just, ya know, for some reason.

Sakura was visibly relieved when she was on top of the monument once again.

"It's another scroll?" Sasuke questioned, a bit annoyed.

Sakura huffed. "Yes, it is." What, no thank-you for my brave heroics? I was risking my life over there, hello! She soured a bit from their lack of appreciation.

Sasuke read the scroll aloud. "Good job..chipmunks..?"

Sasuke visibly twitched.

Naruto looked like he was gonna kill someone.

Sakura..was pissed.

"Stay up for 72 hours, or you fail. Have fun!"

They didn't have practice reading people, but Naruto clearly had a "what the fuck was that about?" expression on his face.

"Hey, there's a P.S.," Sakura pointed out.

You can't leave your location during those 72 hours.

And then, their world started spinning, and they were going head over heels. Like they were being squeezed through a very small tube; the wind was batting at their faces. A whining sound was in their ears.

And then it stopped.

---

Words: 2,510..or something like that.

Bwahahaha! Whoever recognizes the game he's making them play, feel free to make suggestions. Also, where do you think they've been taken too?

Sorry, HKNB fans. I'm just having so much fun with this, but I'll try to get another chapter in before the month is out.

Hm. Kudos to those that catch the obscure Ranger's Apprentice reference. It's from the first book.

8/16/09