Author's Note

With chapter five being updated onto the story, I took some time thinking about how I would continue on with the story. As much as I wouldn't want to continue doing time skips, I don't want it to be as if nothing is ever going to happen. So far it's been five chapters of just establishing characters, how things are different, relations between others, and a bit of foreshadowing.

Looking back through the events in the anime, I came to the conclusion that I wouldn't be able to use any events from part one solely because all of them wouldn't make sense for this story except the Land of Waves arc, which I feel is done to death in fanfics due to it being the first arc.

So, even though I said I didn't want to keep doing time skips, but I'll be making sure to only do one if I absolutely believe one is necessary. For example, I did one last chapter to skip through the academy because I feel like it would have been too long and drawn out, and I will be doing one now to skip the Land of Waves arc and go towards the Chunin Exams where I have more things planned.

This may make the last chapter feel useless, but I feel like I put in enough world and character development to warrant putting it in. Anyways, this is too long of an AN.

Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 6: Ninjas Can Still Have Fun, Right?

Three Months Later

"Chunin Exams?" Alex asked, looking around at his friends. They'd all been given the day off from missions and training, something that had gotten maybe once every three weeks. The genin got together and Naruto suggested they have an early lunch at one of the training grounds where they could do whatever they wanted together and bring food for everyone to try.

Everyone had shown up except Naruto. The genin of team Guy were there as well, Hinata telling Neji that he and his teammates were invited as well. Lee even brought his own contribution, but no one was brave enough to even see what it was. However, Naruto, the one who suggested it in the first place, ended up being late, showing up with three extra guests.

Naruto introduced them, being Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari. Naruto explained to Alex and Kina that Gaara was similar to him, having the One-tails inside him, and that part of the peace treaty between Suna and involved Jiraiya and the Hokage fixing Gaara's seal, letting him sleep at night. Since then, the siblings occasionally visited Konoha to make sure the seal was doing its job, leading to Naruto and Gaara to become friends. The reason they hadn't been around was because they were training hard to get ready for the Chunin Exams that they were in Konoha for, leading Alex to ask what they were.

"Yeah! It's the exams you take to go up in rank. This year they're being held here, so Genin from all over are going to come by to take part. In fact, Kakashi-sensei already said we should sign up." Naruto said, a few of them talking to themselves.

"Well, if Sakura's going to be a part of it, then so am I!" Ino shouted, eliciting a groan from Shikamaru.

"You just had to say that, didn't you Naruto? Once Ino has her mind set, she'll make it happen." The Nara heir complained, but smirked to himself, interested in challenge.

"We can't let them show us up, right you two? Let's apply for it too!" Kiba said, Hinata looking a bit nervous but nodding while Shino simply nods as well.

"Yosh! I won't let your youthfulness beat mine! Team Guy will be applying as well!" Lee shouts, Tenten holding her head in one hand and groaning.

"I wouldn't mind. Should be interesting." Neji said, surprisingly agreeing with Lee.

"I guessed it can't be helped… anyways, now that everyone's here, I'll take care of the table!" Alex said, moving over a bit away from where everyone was, using his ability to make a large table for everyone to sit at. Once it was formed, he stood up, taking a moment to admire his work. "Ah, I love the practical uses of that." He says to himself, the group making their way over to take out what they brought to share, several people having used storage scrolls to do so.

Making his way over to the Suna siblings, he extended one hand. "Nice to meet you all. I'm Alex, by the way." Gaara stared at him for a moment be hesitantly shaking his hand.

"Likewise. That's a very… unique ability you have there." Gaara stated, Alex nodding and giving a sheepish grin.

"Gaara can do something like that too, but only with his sand. He even uses it like armor to protect him!" Naruto said, making Gaara shoot him a look, wondering why he would reveal that to someone he hardly knows.

Alex blinks. "Armor…? Huh, that's pretty smart. I might have to see if I can do anything like that." He says, before Naruto motions to the table.

"Well, come on! Let's eat!" He says, Kankuro already moving to the table with Temari a few steps behind him.

"Hope you don't mind that we didn't bring anything." Gaara states, Naruto shaking his head.

"Not at all! Just go right ahead and-" He pauses, tilting his head. "Huh, anyone else hear that? Sounds like music."

While Alex didn't hear anything, everyone knew that Naruto's hearing was better than others due to the Kyubi's chakra being inside him.

"No, but you tell me where it's coming from and I'll check it out. You've got a guest, plus it shouldn't take too long." He says, Naruto nodding before pointing towards one edge of the training ground. Alex took off to check it out while the two others joined the rest at the table.

Entering the wooded part, he could hear the music faintly, but just enough to hear the direction. Running silently towards it, he eventually came upon a girl sitting in a tree, playing a flute. She wore a black shirt beneath a tan tunic, a purple rope tied around her waist, and a black hat, keeping her red hair in place, one bang leading from between her eyes to the side of her mouth, the rest behind her. Her hair almost reminded him of Kina's hair, the difference being that while Kina's was dark and controlled, this girl's own was light and wild.

Eventually, she stopped playing, having noticed someone. "Who the hell are you?" She shouted to him, Alex raising one hand to her.

"Sorry to bother you, we were just out having lunch when we heard music, so I just wanted to check it out. I haven't seen you around before, are you here for the exams?" He asked. The girl furrowed her eyebrows, obviously irritated. After a moment, she jumped down in front of him.

"And why the fuck should I tell you anything?" was her response. While Alex wasn't a stranger to swearing, her way of speaking was just a little off-putting for him.

"I'm sorry if I offended you. Oh! I haven't even given you my name. I'm Alex." He says, extending one hand to her. Looking down at the offered hand she narrowed her eyes and turned around, beginning to walk away.

"Hey, wait!" He called out before hearing the sound on a stomach rumbling. "Um, if you're hungry, we have plenty of food. You should come join us." He offers. For a while, she stood there silently. Eventually she turned around, not looking at him, her face a shade of red almost similar to her hair.

"Shittier than going back there for now…" She mutters to herself before speaking up. "Alright, fine."

"Right this way, then!" He says, leading her towards his friends. She took care not to get too close, but still staying behind him.

"… Tayuya." She said, making him pause and turn around.

"What was that?" He asks, making her push him forward to keep going.

"I said my name is Tayuya, shithead. Learn to listen!" While she did act extremely rude, there was just something about her that told Alex that she was just a bit lonely.

After a short walk, they arrived where everyone was enjoying themselves by talking and eating. Noticing Alex return, a few of them paused to see who was with him.

"Sorry for disappearing like that. This is Tayuya. She was by herself in the woods, so I invited her to come join us, if that was alright. Hope there something left!" Alex said, Tayuya glaring daggers at his back. She wasn't expecting so many people. Could this be a trap of some kind?

"Of course! Come on over! Just be quick before Choji eats all the barbeque!" Kiba shouted back, making a few of them laugh. Alex found himself a spot at one end next to Shikamaru with Tayuya sitting beside him.

At first Tayuya was quiet at first, accepting food from Alex as he offered it to her from what was passed around. Everyone seemed to be having fun, talking about things that they've done and occasionally throwing a friendly insult. Slowly it began to become a contest of who could come up with the best insult for someone else there or bring up the most embarrassing thing they did. As time went on, Tayuya began to enjoy herself, especially enjoying when Ino called Sakura 'billboard brow' and when Kiba pointed out how much Sasuke's hair looks like a duck's ass.

The tipping point happened when someone, no one would be able to hear who, said the word 'fat'. Everyone froze and looked to Choji, noticeably shaking in anger.

"I'm… Big… BONED!" He yelled, hit the table hard enough that it caused all the food on the table to fly up a few feet into the air before landing on everyone there.

"You...!" Everyone turned to see Tayuya covered in what looked to be gravy and meatballs. "You… motherFUCKER!" She yelled, grabbing a handful of food to chuck at Choji, who managed to duck it but causing it to hit Naruto.

"Food fight!" Kiba yelled, grabbing his own handful of food to throw randomly. It didn't take long for everyone else to get into it, grabbing whatever was left as ammunition. Alex, deciding it would help things last longer, turned the area around them into a small arena with barriers to hide behind, even putting a 'safe zone' in case there was anything that they might not want to get damaged, like Temari's fan, Kankuro's puppet, and Tayuya's flute.

The next thirty minutes were of practically pure chaos, food being thrown around. There were no sides, it was everyone for themselves. At one point Alex found himself next to Tayuya who was laughing like she was having the time of her life, only stop and turn bright red, hitting him in the shoulder hard before running away to another hiding spot.

Eventually the food available to throw slowly ran out, everyone covered in food but still full of energy. As the firing stopped, people got up and looked around at each other, everyone smiling wide until they noticed a ball of sand in the center. Gaara was apparently using it to shield himself from getting anything on him.

At last, the real plan of the day came to action, Naruto and Alex locking eyes and nodding. Immediately getting to work. Alex knelt down, channeling his chakra through the arena he made, making it bigger and adding a few extra details to it. Naruto got to work taking out several storage scrolls and placing them around the outer rim of the arena where Alex had formed what was best described as a moat. Everyone else looked on in confusion until after a few handsigns from Naruto, the outer rim was filled with water balloons. While the food fight hadn't been on purpose, it certainly was a great way to lead into this part.

Immediately everyone understood what was going on, running to the edge to gather as many as they could before hiding again. Naruto started it off by throwing some at Gaara's sand, making him unable to use it properly. Looking around confused, he was soon hit again in multiple directions from everyone as a sort of punishment for trying to sit out last time.

The water balloon fight started off simple, everyone throwing the balloons around normally. That is, until Lee decided to kick things up a notch, taking off his weights and tossing them outside the arena. The loud noise they made when they hit the ground was warning enough that it was time to take things to the next level. No longer had it become just a fight, it became a war. Now, all that had a technique or ability that would help them in this situation would be using it, and those that didn't would team up with someone who did.

Choji used his Body Expansion to shield Ino and Shikamaru, Sasuke used his Sharingan he had unlocked a couple months prior to help him dodge, Hinata and Neji used their Byakugan to find where others would be hiding, Shino would… Kiba had Akamaru use his human mimicry so they could both throw more, Lee was practically a blur as he ran around, hitting people with the balloons before they had much time to react, Naruto was somehow using clones to both throw more balloons and shield himself, and Alex was joined by Kina and Tayuya where he would mess with the arena to make it easier for them to hit others and avoid getting hit.

Not only was this just them having fun, but they were able to do a bit of training while doing so. They kept it up for what felt like hours until they had ran out of water balloons. By now, everyone was exhausted and soaked, but no one seemed to be able to wipe the smile off their face. Luckily for everyone, Naruto had this part planned out as well, unsealing another scroll that had swimsuits for them all, even extra for the Suna siblings and Tayuya.

With Alex taking care of some make-shift changing rooms, soon everyone was redressed with their wet clothing drying on a rack, also taken care of by Alex. Cleaning up the make-shift battle area was easy with Naruto's clones, who explained that he had sneaked a look at the forbidden scroll. While his mother was very cross with him for it, his dad had thought of teaching Naruto that technique anyways.

With a bit more help from Alex and a storage scroll holding water from the hot springs, everyone was able to relax and enjoy their own hot springs. Out of everyone, Alex was among the most tired from using his ability so much today, but didn't mind it at all as he saw the looks on everyone's faces.

"So, is this how Konoha trains? Because if it is, I don't think I would enjoy training every day" Gaara asked Naruto, getting a laugh from the blonde. Since Gaara wasn't that much of a fun of water due to him using sand all the time, it took a bit of persuasion to get him to join the others.

Alex made a bit of small talk with everyone as he went around the makeshift hot springs, eventually making his way to where Tayuya was sitting alone.

"You have fun?" He asks her, getting her attention. She looks at him for a moment before looking away, her face turning red again.

"So what if I did?" She asks, making him smile. It seemed part way through all this, she no longer used a swear word in every sentence.

"I was just curious." He replied, taking a seat next to her, having made a small lip around the edge for people to sit on instead of just floating around. "Where are you from?" He asks, her giving him a glance before letting out a sigh, not seeing him just leaving her alone.

"The Land of Rice Patties." She said, not lying, just not telling the whole truth.

"What brings you here then?" She wasn't really enjoying being questioned, but she didn't want to seem suspicious.

"I'm here to cheer a friend of mine on for the exams." She says, this time completely lying. She was here on a mission, but there was no way she was going to tell him that.

"Ah, that's nice! So if you're going to be around for a bit, would you want me to show you around the village sometime?" That question had Tayuya at a loss for words. How was she supposed to answer that? Was he trying to trick her? Or was he just being nice?

"I'll…. Think about it." She says, Alex smiling and telling her where she would be able to find him.

On the other side of the springs, Ino lightly nudged Kina with her elbow. "Hey Kina, looks like you've gotta rival~" She says in a teasing voice, pointing towards where Alex and Tayuya were talking, making Sakura, Hinata Tenten, and Temari who joined them, giggle. Kina looked over and scoffed.

"Oh, please. He can do whatever he likes, I'm not in charge of him." She says, although she still glanced over occasionally at the two while she talked with the other girls

Eventually the sun began to set and the group began to disperse one by one to go home, changing out of the swimsuits and into their dried clothing. Alex told Kina to go on ahead without him since he would he to stay behind and do a bit of clean up and empty the faux hot-springs.

As he saw most everyone had left, he dried off and changed quickly before moving the water over to the nearby river and emptying out into it, then reabsorbing the chakra-construct he made. Once he was done, he felt fairly winded from the effort, but still with enough energy to get home. Before he was able to walk off, though, he noticed someone was still there.

"Oh, didn't see you still here, Tayuya. I guess I'll see you around?" He asked, one hand rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. She didn't give him verbal response. Instead, she gave him a kiss on his cheek before running off as fast as she could.

Alex was very stunned by that, but he couldn't say anything to her because she was already gone. After taking a minute or two to process what happened, he eventually began making his way back.

When he arrived home, he saw that Kina wasn't anywhere to be seen in the main room and her door was closed. She was probably just as tired as him and already went to bed. Not wanting to disturb her, he made his way to his own bed before collapsing on it, closing his eyes and letting sleep take him.

Author's Note

And so the sixth chapter comes to a close. I thought I would just make this chapter a fun one. I've got a fairly vivid imagination, so thinking it up was a lot of fun for me, and I hope it's just as fun reading it. Now some people might question my reasoning for including Tayuya out of nowhere. Well, I personally like her and wished to see more of her in the actual series, and I had to think of someway of advancing the plot a bit more, so I thought of something that makes her more relevant.

So really, she's in it now because I wanted her to be. Simple as that. Or for another explanation, it's so that they can have someone who's actually focused on genjutsu because that shit can be really effective against certain enemies.

But yeah, I'm uploading this sometime early on Halloween, so hopefully this is a bit of a treat to someone. And because the site is messing up and my newest chapter isn't showing up properly. But that's just technicalities.

Until next time!