Plot Spoiler: Gullible.

Haku followed Zabuza closely, having given up on trying to get his attention for now. They had arrived in Water Country after taking a boat there straight from Wave.

But the whole time, Zabuza had ignored him.

He had no idea why he was chained to his sword, but that wasn't on his mind for now. He was annoyed and angry. Why wasn't Zabuza-sama listening to him and yet dragging him around still? Was he going to be sold? Was that it?

Haku sighed as he felt the chain tugging at his chest harder. "Zabuza-sama… please… I can be a good tool again. I won't fail again… Please forgive me…"

Zabuza didn't hear him.

"Please, Zabuza-sama!"

…

"Please!"

No response.

"Please! Listen to me!"

The chain fell off.

Fire And Ice

Written by Obsidian Fireheart

Chapter 4 - … And Hollows

When Kenpachi came back, he looked at his group. They all seemed to be in discontent of sorts. Bored, maybe? That was probably it.

"No Hollows then, since I left?"

Ikkaku shook his head. "I think that whatever attracted the Hollows here is gone."

Kenpachi looked around, and, feeling no Hollow signatures at all, nodded. "Alright then. I guess it's time to go back to the mainland and look for Hollows there."

They all nodded, and they began to travel with their Captain, intending on making his way to the new bridge as it was now complete.

"Say, Captain…" Naruto broached. Kenpachi looked at him. "Why do you think the Hollows are popping up around here anyways?"

Kenpachi looked ahead. "I can't say I know. The ninja here have a lot of energy, though. I guess they came here to feed on it."

"That sounds right." Naruto nodded. He looked ahead. "Hey, aren't those the ninja you were watching?"

Kenpachi nodded, "Yeah, they are."

"Oh look, there's Tōshirō too!"

As Naruto charged off to talk to him, Kenpachi grabbed the back of his collar. "No. We don't need to let them know of us any more than when you sparred with him."

"But I…"

"No, Naruto." Kenpachi looked at him sternly.

Ahead they noticed Tōshirō look back at them and stare in wonder. When his friend with the ponytail looked back in confusion, the white haired boy just said to him, "I thought I saw something."

"Eh… Troublesome."

The one in the trench coat remained silent, and their commander didn't even look. "Come on boys, quit slackin' off now."

"Right, Sensei."

Kenpachi looked at Naruto. "See, they didn't even notice us."

"I think Tōshirō definitely saw us. He just doesn't want to tell anyone."

After a while of walking, the group of ninja paused for the night and began to set up camp. Tōshirō set up his tent, meanwhile looking at the sketchbook that lay halfway outside of his backpack.

"Hmm… Haven't drawn in a while. There might be something to see here."

Shikamaru grumbled something about troublesome as he crawled into his tent, intent on not taking first watch for the night.

Asuma came back with some freshly caught fish from the lake through the trees and he set them over the fire. "Alright boys, foods here… Shikamaru, get your ass out here." He said lightly.

As they encircled the small fire they watched their meals cook. Since stealth wasn't of importance anymore, as they were in Fire Country now, they didn't need to cover the flame.

They chatted amicably, but Tōshirō's thought were on other things. Those guys on the bridge. Naruto was with them, but he didn't recognize the others. He had known they were there for a while – they weren't exactly a quiet bunch – and somehow were invisible to everyone but him. Just like those crazy monsters that showed up every now and then.

His sword rested by him as he pondered this, it was gleaming in the firelight. You know something about this, don't you, Hyōrinmaru?

The sword was silent. Did swords sleep?

"Tōshirō? Earth to Tōshirō…? Are you in there?"

"Eh?" Tōshirō shook his head, dismissing the thoughts. "Sorry, I guess I zoned out a bit."

Asuma laughed good naturedly at that, and said, "Well, your fish will be charcoal soon, so you'd better eat it now."

The white-haired boy nodded, grabbing the fish off of over the fire and biting into it.

"Alright… anyone volunteering for watch?"

Tōshirō spoke up. "I'll take first watch."

Asuma nodded. Seeing no more volunteers, he frowned. "Alright. I'll take middle watch, and Shino can take last watch. You can be lazy tonight, Shikamaru."

The pineapple-haired boy sighed in relief and crawled into his tent. The others did the same, and soon Tōshirō was the only one left out by the fire. He quelled it with an ice jutsu and picked up Hyōrinmaru and his sketchbook, making his way to the lake that Asuma had obtained the fish from.

He left his haori in his tent, leaving him in his black tank top as he enjoyed the evening breeze on his shoulders. He sat down by the lakeside and placed his sketchbook on his lap, spotting a crane standing on a rock. The trees still contained a hint of green in them, despite the lack of light, and the moon shone brilliantly into the waters. It made a perfect picture.

But before he could put pencil to paper the bird took off. Tōshirō frowned, and scanned the lake for any other things.

And was met with a grinning Naruto. "Boo!"

"Augh!" Tōshirō jumped back. "What are you doing here?"

"Me?" Naruto spoke, pointing his thumb at himself and grinning stupidly. "Nothin'"

Tōshirō raised an eyebrow. "I'm sure you didn't come here to watch me draw a picture or make me jump. I bet you're responsible for scaring the bird away too."

Naruto rubbed his head, "Eh… Well, I guess I'm kind of bored, and I wanted to see what you were up to."

"Hm." The white haired one looked out over the lake. "Just enjoying the view."

"Eh?" Naruto looked in the same direction. "What's there to enjoy about it. It's just water."

Tōshirō looked back at him, but then sighed. "Never mind." He put his pencil on the paper. "I guess I'll draw the rocks. Are you gonna watch?"

"Well, I guess I might as well. I've got nothing better to do."

The duo sat there in silence, Tōshirō looking back and forth between his paper and the rocks and Naruto staring awed at the other's drawing prowess. "So who are the people you're travelling with?"

"Huh?"

"I saw you on the bridge. You know, that huge guy with the spiky hair and the bald guy and stuff. You do know them, right?"

Naruto nodded, "Uh yeah. The big one is Kenpachi-taichou. He's the leader of my division. Then you have Ikkaku – he's the bald one – and he's the third seat. Oh, I forgot Yachiru-chan! She's the lieutenant. She's really little but she can be scary. And there's Yumichika, who's probably gay, and he's the fifth seat. I'm the fourth seat."

Tōshirō blinked. "Okay… what?"

Naruto sighed. "Well, we're dead pretty much. When people die they go to this place called Soul Society. And then there's people who are in the middle of Soul Society, called Seireitei, and they are Shinigami. We're Shinigami of the Eleventh Division!"

Tōshirō frowned. "Shinigami? I remember hearing the tale of our Fourth Hokage… When the Kyuubi no Kitsune attacked our village, he summoned up a Shinigami to seal it into himself, killing himself and the demon in the process."

Naruto looked at his sword. "Does that mean that we're somehow connected? Because my Zanpakuto is Kyuubi, and he's a demon, so…"

"Well, I guess that all Zanpakuto come from somewhere. Hey, you have the same name as the Fourth also… Maybe that has something to do with why Kyuubi's your Zanpakuto."

They heard a rustling in the bushes, and they both turned in that direction. Out from the foliage came a massive shadow, and it lunged at them. Tōshirō was quick to draw Hyōrinmaru and block the beast, as was Naruto with Kyuubi. The monster jumped over them at the sights of their swords and landed behind them.

"A Hollow." Naruto muttered.

"A what?" Tōshirō frowned. "This is one of those crazy monsters…"

"Yeah. They like to eat people's souls. That's why we're here. To kill these things. No one but us can see them."

The hollow clicked its tongue. "Well, well. Two kids with swords. Let's see how that handles."

Tōshirō stood his ground, sword at the ready. The beast, like a chameleon, launched its tongue at the boy. Naruto tried to intercept, but the tongue swerved around him. As it neared Tōshirō, the round end of it exploded before the boy could block it with his sword, spraying him with all sorts of corrosive liquid that began to eat through his clothes and skin.

"Shit!" Tōshirō cursed, dropping his sword and forming hand seals. "Water Style: Cleansing Jutsu!" The air became moist, then a bunch of water appeared over Tōshirō, dropping onto him and removing the acid.

But the liquid had done its damage. His shirt and arms were peppered with bloody holes. That wasn't good.

Naruto growled. "That was a dirty move!"

The Hollow clicked its tongue. "Not everyone fights honorably, boy."

"I noticed," Tōshirō growled, he charged at the Hollow with his sword drawn and stabbed at its mask. the Hollow dodged to the side and opened its mouth, preparing more acid. Tōshirō pressed his heels against the ground and muttered, "Flash Step." He appeared at the other end of the field and fell over, feeling a little lightheaded. But he wasn't needed in the rest of the battle, for it was already over.

"Ravage, Kyuubi no Kitsune!" The Hollow developed horizontal slashes in its mask, like claw marks, before dispersing. Naruto had crossed the distance between the Hollow and himself in no time at all, and was now standing there, with swords extended from each of his fingers.

"Whoa…" Tōshirō spoke. "That was pretty good. What was that?"

Naruto looked back at him, the swords on his fingers merging back into the twin swords they were before. "That was my Shikai."

"A Shikai?"

Naruto grinned. "Yeah! Captain says that you've used yours too, when he was watching your battle against that ice girl slash boy. Some dragon thingy."

Tōshirō inwardly laughed at the ice girl comment, but he remembered. "Oh. That… I just wanted Haku to die… After I thought he killed Shino."

Naruto walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, man. That's how we all activate our Shikai. Except we do it facing Hollows instead of transgender ninjas."

Tōshirō smiled at the humor, and looked to the moon. "Well, I guess my section of the watch is over. I'd better get back now."

"Eh?" Naruto spoke. "Well, okay. I guess I'll go see what the others are doing."

"Mmhm…" Tōshirō picked up his sketchbook, which thankfully, wasn't damaged. "Well, it was nice seeing you, Naruto."

Naruto grinned. "And you too, Tōshirō."

They both walked their separate ways. A breeze rustled the area between them.

As Tōshirō put his haori on, he noted wryly that the blotches on his arm looked terrible. He would have to get them looked at when they made it back to Konoha. But until then, he couldn't let his team know about the Hollows.

If they couldn't see them, it wasn't their responsibility to know.

But as they kept walking, it itched terribly, and he had to resist the urge to scratch at it. They had packed up the tents quickly and silently, the conversation coming after they started walking. They spoke about various topics as the wall of Konoha came closer.

"Oh, Asuma-san! Welcome back!" The two people at the gate, Izumo and Kotetsu said cheerily. Asuma grinned back at them and led the team through the gates.

"Alright. I'll report to the Hokage. You guys can go back home. You need it." They nodded and went their separate ways.

The air in his apartment was a welcome scent as Tōshirō sighed happily and flopped down onto his bed, gazing at the ceiling. He placed Hyōrinmaru against the wall by his nightstand.

He remembered the scroll that Haku gave him and pulled it out of the pocket in his haori, looking inside. He had been meaning to look in here for a while now. Perhaps he could get some good reading in.

He frowned as he scanned through it and saw no quick solution to strengthening up his ice. He remembered the moment when his ice spike crumbled against the mirror clear as day. He looked at the first jutsu and quirked an eyebrow.

Ice Style: Crystal Ice Mirrors Jutsu

Tōshirō supposed now would be a good of a time as any to put Haku's legacy into use.

They managed to get some time off of missions for the next couple of weeks, instead, preferring to train and get their hands on more useful techniques.

Upon discovering Tōshirō's inclination towards ice, which Shino had graciously not mentioned until then, Asuma had them all tested for elemental affinities. The results were interesting.

Tōshirō's paper ended up as four incredibly soggy pieces. Asuma noted the strong wind piece in his affinity, and the water looked quite strong also. It wasn't a wonder then as how he could use ice.

Shino's was also to be expected. His paper dissolved and became a heap of dust. It figured that an earth user would support bugs in his body.

Shikamaru's, however, was interesting. Instead of the paper doing anything Asuma expected, the paper simply fell through Shikamaru's hands and into the earth, never to be found again.

Asuma quirked an eyebrow. "Well that was interesting. It simply fazed through your hands. I'm not sure what that represents, but… that was certainly interesting."

Shikamaru looked at the ground and just sighed. "Troublesome. Another thing to figure out."

Tōshirō smiled awkwardly. Shino said nothing.

After figuring out their abilities, they began to train on them. Asuma had told his teams that the Chūnin exams were coming up, and that if they were ready, he would nominate them. And whatever Shikamaru's affinity was, he learned that he could channel it into a kunai rather easily, and a kunai was something that was supposed to resist chakra.

So Asuma had taken the liberty of having trench knives forged for Shikamaru, as it could prove to be a very powerful ability. Once the deer boy noticed that Asuma had made him a pair of knives, he thanked him but inwardly dreaded the training that would come with it.

Meanwhile, Shino had taken time off of team training to train with his father, promising to come back stronger than ever. The two could every now and then be seen collecting new bugs, for what purpose the others never figured out, and his hive seemed to be expanding.

Tōshirō also was training away from the team, but he had no teacher, just himself and Hyōrinmaru. The sword would provide very helpful advice for the molding of his freezing chakra, and even helped him correct his Flash Step so it was more usable in battle.

But at the moment, his ice was still as brittle as ever and would fall to a strike from Hyōrinmaru like paper.

He had tried meditating, and making walls of ice repeatedly, but nothing seemed to work. It wasn't until a somewhat familiar man came by that he figured out the solution.

Tōshirō put his hands together and pulled them apart, constructing a block of ice in the shape of a sword. He gripped it tightly and sliced the tree in front of him, watching his blade shatter.

That was not what was supposed to happen, he thought.

He tried again several more times until he saw someone walk by. The man seemed to look at him with his lone eye and walked toward him.

"Ice style, eh? That's interesting." The silver haired man said, starting conversation. "I never knew anyone here had that affinity." He looked at Tōshirō calculatingly and said. "You're one of Asuma's, aren't you? I'm Kakashi."

He nodded. "My name is Tōshirō. And yeah, I've been doing some extra training to work on the integrity of my jutsu. None of them seem to hold up."

Kakashi tilted his head as Tōshirō demonstrated again, watching the sword shatter. "Well, that seemed fine. There can't be something that wrong with it. Let me see the hand seals."

Tōshirō did them, and then created the sword. Kakashi nodded.

"Ah, that may be it. I didn't see a hybrid seal there."

"What?" The swordsman tilted his head. "Hybrid Seals?"

"Yes. They are used to merge two chakras together and keep them stable. Since you aren't using a hybrid seal, the wind will naturally try to become wind and the water will try to stay as water, which makes for a bad jutsu… for wind and water I think the seal would be something like this…" Kakashi put his hands together, a half bird seal on the left and a half serpent one on the right. "Yeah. That should do that. Stick one of those at the end of your sealing and see what happens."

It took him a while to get his hands used to the positioning, but once he had, he attempted his jutsu again. "Ice Style: Ice Molding Jutsu!" He created the sword and slashed at the tree.

And it went straight through. The tree fell down. Tōshirō gaped.

"And that's it." Kakashi grinned beneath his mask. "Well, if you'll excuse me, Tōshirō-kun, I've got a team to train. Ja."

And he walked away, dodging trees while reading that book of his.

Tōshirō looked at the fallen tree, and then Kakashi's retreating form.

What a strange man.

While he was walking home from that training, he couldn't help but walk with a hop to his step as he made his way back to his apartment, content with the progress he had made today. He whistled happily to himself and felt that perhaps today, nothing could go wrong.

He bumped into Haruno Sakura.

She fell to the ground, and Tōshirō offered to help her up. Gratefully taking his hand, she stood, and started conversation.

"Oh, Tōshirō-kun! I haven't seen you in a while."

She must have gotten lucky with Sasuke to be this happy. He filtered that information into the back of his mind.

"I just got back from a mission to wave actually."

"Oh?" She asked, eyeing him, "Is that where you got that sword? What's with the chain?"

"The chain's helpful sometimes." He commented, remembering the incident with the two rogue samurai.

"I see how, yeah."

He turned the conversation. "How's it going for you, then? You're with Kiba and Sasuke, right? How are they?"

She huffed. "Kiba's an annoying jerk who won't leave Sasuke-kun alone. He says that he can take him but every day at sparring Sasuke-kun just wipes the floor with him. You know, Sasuke's gotten really strong now. He says he wants to fight you."

Tōshirō rolled his eyes. "I guess he's still sore when I beat him that first time. I hope I've gotten stronger as well from training. I don't think I would have gotten back from the mission otherwise, mind."

Sakura tilted her head. "What did you have to do?"

"Well…" He began. "In a nutshell, we had to escort a bridge builder to his home. But we encountered trouble on the way because he lied." Sakura gasped. "And we had to take down an A-Rank missing ninja. I'll admit, Sensei did most of the work, but we pulled through."

He proceeded to tell her the rest of the mission, leaving out the unsavory details of the things relating to the Shinigami and Hyōrinmaru and eventually made it to the end of his story.

"Wow. That's a pretty tough sounding thing. Good thing you're okay." She said sympathetically. "But with Sasuke on your side, I don't think Shino would have gotten knocked out like that."

Tōshirō blinked. Did she just say that? He ignored it. "Well, It's good to see you." He said somewhat honestly. She wasn't really a banshee anymore actually. "But I have to run home and get some stuff done. Perhaps we'll meet again."

She nodded, and then they heard a yell. "Oi! Lemme go!"

They both made their way to the scene of the fight. A much taller boy was holding onto – was that the Hokage's grandson? – by his scarf and picking on him. There was an older girl behind him seemingly ignoring the situation. But the most disturbing thing was that they were Sand ninja, or so said their headbands.

"Good grief." Tōshirō said, walking up to the boys. "Do I need to remind you that you're in Konoha, Suna nin? Are you here for the Chūnin Exams or what?"

"Heh. As if I'll tell you. You're just another brat like he is." The boy said confidently. At that moment, a rock chose to pelt him alongside the head. The boy looked to see none other than Sasuke Uchiha standing there in a tree.

"Put the boy down." He spoke levelly. In an attempted show of intimidation he gripped another rock and crushed it into powder. Tōshirō rolled his eyes. Any ninja worth his salt could do that.

The sand ninja growled. "You wanna make that a fight, pretty boy?" He fingered the wrapped up object on his back.

The girl spoke. "Kankurō, are you really going to use the Crow?"

"These guys deserve it." He said smugly. Sasuke jumped down from the tree, pulling a kunai. Kankurō also obtained one. They jumped to the side and began to charge…

Only to be intercepted. Tōshirō, with Hyōrinmaru down, stood between them, blocking both kunai with his sword. "Put your kunai away. We are in a public road. You aren't allowed to fight here."

Sasuke pulled up his kunai. "Heh. Talking big, huh? You couldn't stand a chance against me, Hitsugaya."

"Uchiha. You graduated from the Academy in second place. Should I remind you who is the Rookie of the Year and has beaten you in a fight once already?" He looked at Kankurō. "And you. A Sand nin attacking a Konoha nin on their own turf. If you carry this mentality throughout the exams you will definitely fail."

"Rrgh! I don't need a little albino rat telling me what I should do!"

They heard another voice. "Kankurō. Stop this." All eyes turned to the same tree that Sasuke had come out of. There stood another boy. He had red hair and no eyebrows. His eyes were a murky cyan. But what really intimidated Tōshirō was the look on his face.

This boy wasn't messing around.

He landed on the road softly, despite the huge peanut-shaped gourd and growled. "If you act like this again, I'll kill you."

Frightening.

"You." Sasuke spoke. "What's your name?"

"Me?" The girl blushed.

"No, him." He said, indicating the redhead.

"Sabaku no Gaara." He turned to Tōshirō. "What is your name?"

"Hitsugaya Tōshirō."

Gaara nodded. "I already know your name, Uchiha." He then smirked. "I'll have a good fight at the exams. Come Temari, Kankurō." The trio made their exit down the road.

Sasuke looked at Tōshirō. "In the exams… I'll prove to you who's the strongest now."

"You'll get your fight, Sasuke." Tōshirō said. "Excuse me Sakura, I have to go now. Have a good day."

He began to walk toward his apartment, hearing a "You too."

Shino listened with rapt attention as his father explained about the nature of the bug they were studying.

Over the course until the exams, they would breed Shino's hive into a more offensive type but at the same time keep the chakra drain abilities intact. This was a tall order, as the Aburame Clan had never attempted this before, but Shino had requested an honest effort in the making of them. His father understood, and allowed Shino to conduct his own experiments, under his supervision of course.

"Father, so I must introduce the hornets later in the experiment?"

Shibi nodded almost invisibly. "Yes. That will produce the best results. I understand that you wish to take this as quickly as possible, but these projects must be done with great caution. Do you realize this?"

"Yes Father. I know."

"Good. You may introduce the more poisonous types now, but be careful to make sure that they are trained to not bite you."

"Of course."

Shibi nodded, then stood up. "I must attend clan matters right now. Good day, Shino."

"Good day, Father."

Shino was left by himself in the room.

Tōshirō made sure a towel was folded and ready before he took his shower for tonight. He stepped into the bathroom, and, after removing his haori and shirt, looked at his arm.

The scars from that Hollow's acid were already healing nicely. He smiled at that. They were still there, and probably always would be, but they weren't an angry red like before. Of course, they were still sensitive, so he would have to watch out for that.

He thought about those Sand ninja as he stepped into the shower. Temari and Kankurō were good and all, but the one he was most concerned with was Gaara. They all seemed to fear him. And rightfully so, considering the boy had a chakra presence larger than the Hokage Monument.

He just seemed… off… There was no way to better describe it. He had an evil aura surrounding him. It was unreal.

Tōshirō then thought about Sasuke. That boy needed help. Sasuke was a problematic person, and seemed very bitter over the loss of the Rookie of the Year title. Of course, Tōshirō himself hadn't thought about it until he brought it up against him in order to cow him. Tōshirō knew that he would help the boy in any way if he needed it, but his pride was too great for him to let that happen.

And then there was Sakura. She was one of the most interesting of them all. At first, Tōshirō was almost convinced that she had let go of her infatuation with Sasuke after being with him on a team for a while. That didn't happen.

He stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around himself, turning the water off. He dried himself off, and then, instead of wearing his normal outfit, wore instead, a pair of black slacks and, not caring who would see his arms any more, a sleeveless shirt with a dragon stitched onto the back.

Tōshirō found the irony of that hilarious.

He went out to take a walk in the night air and made sure that he had Hyōrinmaru strapped to his back before going out. Just in case another foreign nin attacked.

Shikamaru sighed. And groaned. And spoke the word "troublesome."

Many times in a row.

He was being trained into the ground here instead of watching clouds.

What an injustice.

Asuma put his hands on his hips. "Alright Shikamaru. Look here." The boy did a good "kill me now" look. "You can't get stronger if you don't put any effort into it. You're a smart lad, but you still need to have some power to back it up."

Shikamaru sighed and got into a ready stance with his trench knives again.

"Perfect. Show me your skills now." Shikamaru channeled his mysterious chakra element into his blades and went for Asuma, who dodged. "I'm gonna go hard on you. Don't get your blades chopped up." He channeled wind in his knives and sliced at Shikamaru. The boy, reflexively blocking, put his knife up, and…

Asuma's blade went right through the knife.

They stopped. "Well…" Shikamaru began… "That was strange."

Asuma frowned. "Okay, Shika. Here, slice my arm. I want to see if your knives go through me.

He did so, and watched as Asuma now had a nice hole in his arm.

Shikamaru suddenly realized it. "This may be it," He said, "My chakra element must be Shadow. My clan is famous for its shadow jutsu. Maybe that must be it."

Asuma shook his head. "There isn't an element called Shadow. Your father is an Earth element. There is just now way."

Shikamaru grinned. "Maybe I'm the first."

Tōshirō took in a breath at the air. It tasted quite nice, and it was getting kind of dark, so he decided to go eat something. He didn't want to go back to his apartment, instead, preferring to stay out, and so he made his way to the first source of food he could think of.

The Ichiraku's ice cream stand.

He sat on one of the stools and smiled as Ayame noticed him. "Oh, Shiro-chan! Father, Tōshirō is back!"

"Really?" Could be heard behind the wall.

Ayame yelled back, "Yes!" She then spoke to him. "So, Shiro-chan. What'll it be?"

He smirked. "The usual. Mint Chocolate-chip, please."

She nodded. "And for you, sir?"

Tōshirō hadn't noticed someone sit next to him, so when he did see him, he jumped.

"Just a vanilla please."

Ayame nodded and went into the back to fetch some ice cream. The man looked at Tōshirō and smiled. "Nice sword you got there, kid. What's your name?"

"Hitsugaya Tōshirō." He said. "And you?"

The man coughed a little, then said, "I'm Gekkō Hayate. The only Jōnin in this village who focuses primarily in swordplay."

Tōshirō's eyes widened. "You use swords too? That's pretty cool."

"Mmhm." Hayate smiled. "Tell you what. After we're done here, show me what you can do with the sword. You're one of Sarutobi's students, right? I think I could help you a bit before you go into the Chūnin exams."

Tōshirō nodded, and ate his ice cream as it came. Swordplay was important to him, and it was nice to see that someone was willing to teach him more things.

Indeed, Tōshirō did prove his worth to Hayate, and the two had begun to train with each other. Although the Jōnin wasn't so keen on letting his Shadow Leaf dance get out, he did show Tōshirō some other moves, such as Midnight Tornado and Avalanche. But Hayate was getting stressed, because Tōshirō was learning these things incredibly fast. Soon, the Shadow Leaf dance would be all that there was to show him.

The boy made good use of incorporating that chain on his blade to its fullest effect. Many times while sparring Hayate found himself caught and would lose his balance. The crescent moon blade on the chain didn't help either.

But he had said that blood was allowed in their spars, just not too much.

Meanwhile, Shino had finally finished his experiments with his hive, and had introduced the new insects to his body to no ill effect. They were known as the Chakra Hornets, and were quite poisonous. A few stings and an opponent would be out like a light.

Shikamaru grinned as he stared down Asuma. The bearded Jōnin knew of his other students' progress by what the Jōnin were telling him, but Shikamaru had made some leaps and bounds.

He wore a black duster coat and had many knives hidden in there. True, he still was a lazy bum but he was a competent lazy bum now.

Once they had discovered his shadow element, they made sure to find out everything that could be done with it. Unfortunately, for now, Shikamaru's blades were the only things that would remain intangible, but he himself could actually walk into shadows and merge with them. It was a deadly technique, and made him the perfect assassin.

So that was what Asuma dealt with, and said Jōnin was currently looking around warily for his student. He made sure to keep his body facing away from the sun, so his own shadow was in front of him, and to keep his knives out at all times. But Shikamaru would soon strike, and in such a forested area, any direction was possible. He parried a sudden attack from Shikamaru's trench knives as the boy came. He tipped him over and stood on his back, grabbing his wrists. "Yield."

"I yield, Sensei."

Asuma let go of him and Shikamaru walked toward the log where his teammates sat, impressed. "Alright, so you now know all of your teammates' moves. That's integral when it comes to working in a team. I'm very impressed.

Shino buzzed. "So, sensei, what is the verdict?" He wore his standard white trench coat, and the only significant differences to his attire were the goggles on his face instead of sunglasses and the fact that his coat was slightly open, revealing his mouth.

"Yeah." Tōshirō joined in, "Chūnin exams?" He had dropped the haori entirely at Hayate's suggestion and instead wore a custom tailored sleeveless trench coat with the dragon stitched onto the back. They all had also gotten their ears pierced as a show of team bonding.

"Well," Asuma said. "You're in! Just fill out these papers and we're good." He handed them the yellow slips, and each Genin was excited in their own way at the chance to promote.

Super blazing ultra fast writing jutsu GO!

Since I am a sucker for reviews, I guess that I had more motivation to write the story. That and the entire plot attacked me this morning.

I still have the marks.

Well, other than that, I feel that this chapter turned out better than the last. A little blank between the Chūnin exams and Wave was just what the doctor ordered.

But wait! What about Haku?

Well, folks you'll figure that out yourself sometime later.

I chose not to include the scene where they leave Wave because, really, there was nothing important at all about that. In the canon series, they never see Tazuna and co. ever again despite saying so. That was sort of like a filler to be honest.

Oh, and before I forget, you guys will have to thank me for the super plot spoiler at the top of the chapter. What, you didn't read it? Go read it!

Groundbreaking, huh?

...hee hee.

Well, that's all I guess. So until chapter five, see ya!

(Chapter five? It happens?)