Author's Note:

Wassup again amigos? Shit, ya'll should know at this point that I'm unreliable. For those who're still reading despite infrequent updates, love ya'll! Anyways, we already know why you're here, so I won't keep ya. Enjoy number 7!

Cuz it's been a while:

"...''=talking

'...'=thinking

Bold=Sasuke

Italics=Naruto

Both=Both

Songs:

Saints of Los Angeles by Motley Crue (Now that they guys've got a full band)

The Good Life by Three Days Grace (been listening to this song quite a bit lately)

The Shack:

The Shack was what the guys called Kakashi's home recording studio. The name was fitting, it was small enough to keep on-site in a small building behind his house, but had enough room to comfortably house a state-of-the-art recording setup, complete with a full soundboard, top-of-the-line recording mics and more than enough space for each of the five members of Strike Package to set up and get to work.

"Yo Kiba, you got something to show me for the bass on Saints?" Naruto shouted to the Inuzuka from his position in the corner, where he and Sasuke were hard at work on another song.

"You know it man," Kiba said as he cranked his amp up, "and I got one better too, check this out." With that, Kiba began playing a bass groove, which then flowed into the bass line for Saints of Los Angeles he'd be working on.

Naruto grinned and picked up his guitar, "Let's see how it sounds with the guitar."

Sasuke joined in, "Hold on dobe, you two got your parts?" He said to Shikamaru and Neji.

"Yes, I think so," Neji said, looking up from his seat behind his drums.

"You know, there's not much for me to do with effects here. Saints is pretty straightforward. Besides, don't you need to write some rhythm parts?" Shikamaru asked, opening one eye as he reclined behind the soundboard. He found that the assignment Sasuke had given him, create effects for the song so far, was entirely unnecessary.

Sasuke found himself agreeing, "Yeah I suppose I do..."

"Tell ya what," Kakashi said as he mysteriously entered the room without any noise or disturbance, "Shikamaru may have tried out for effects, but I've been thinking that he may have a better place in this band. Shikamaru, you've got guitar experience correct?"

Shikamaru sighed at Naruto and Kiba, who yelped loudly as they noticed Kakashi directly behind them, "Yeah, what of it?"

"Sasuke, let's face it," Kakashi said, "you're gonna have enough to do only singing, plus you still need to learn guitar before you can write parts. Shikamaru on the other hand, has guitar experience and if the paper beneath his chair is anything to go by, he's already wrote a rhythm for this song."

Neji looked over at Shikamaru, an amused look on his face, "You failed to mention you had skills on the guitar Shikamaru."

"Troublesome," Shikamaru responed, scratching the back of his head, "guitar was always too much effort for me. But if it's the best shot we've got for the song, I'll do it. You good with that Sasuke?"

"Hn," replied Sasuke, an equally amused smirk on his face, "if you insist Shikamaru."

Shikamaru chuckled lightly and picked up a spare guitar, "Gotta warm up a sec..." he proceeded to strum the opening to Master of Puppets by Metallica, and stopped once he noticed the general shock from his bandmates.

"What?" Shikamaru said, "I didn't say I couldn't play, I just said it was too troublesome to continue."

"Damn Shik, you've definitely gone up about 10 notches on the coolness meter!" Naruto shouted as he stopped headbanging along.

Shikamaru just smirked and joked, "Now that that's cleared up, can we get to playing, I'm already missing my chair."

"You heard the man," Kiba said as he adjusted the levels on his amp, "let's go!"

"Hell yeah!" Naruto said, banging out a loud power chord.

The other two just smirked and took their positions as Kakashi flipped on the mics and set up the recording equipment. Kiba began playing the opening bass line, smirking as he did so. Naruto, Shikamaru, and Neji soon joined in, followed by Sasuke's vocals.

Tonight, there's gonna be a fight,

So if you need a place to go,

Got a two room slum, a mattress and a gun,

And the cops don't never show!

So come right in, 'cause everybody sins,

Welcome to the scene of the crime.

You want it? Believe it? We got it if you need it,

The devil is a friend of mine.

If you think it's crazy, you ain't seen a thing.

Just wait until we're goin' down in flames.

We are, we are the saints, we signed our life away.

Doesn't matter what you think, we're gonna do it anyway.

We are, we are the saints, one day you will confess.

And pray to the saints, of Los Angeles!

Red line, trippin' on a land mine, sippin' at the Troubadour!

Girls passed out naked in the back lounge, everybody's gonna score!

She's all jacked up, she's down on her luck,

You want it? You need it? The devil's gonna feed it!

Don't you say it's crazy, you don't know a thing!

Just wait until we're goin' down in flames.

We are, we are the saints, we signed our life away!

Doesn't matter what you think, we're gonna do it anyway!

We are, we are the saints, one day you will confess.

And pray to the saints, of Los Angeles!

As the first solo he'd ever wrote approached, Naruto smirked and started headbanging, never missing a note. The rest were left in awe, sure the solo sounded great alone, but accompanied by the bass and drums, it was a whole different sound. Sasuke soon resumed the vocals with equal intensity.

Give it up, give it up.

Give it up, give it up.

Give it up, give it up.

Give it up, give it up.

We are, we are the saints, we signed our life away!

Doesn't matter what you think, we're gonna do it anyway!

We are, we are the saints, one day you will confess!

And pray to the saints, of Los Angeles!

We are, we are the saints, we signed our life away!

Doesn't matter what you think, we're gonna do it anyway!

We are, we are the saints, one day you will confess!

And pray to the saints, of Los Angeles!

And with that, the studio became silent. The five guys simply stared at each other in awe, they'd just recorded their first professional song. They'd just taken their first steps down the golden-paved road of stardom.

Kakashi was grinning to himself behind the glass, 'Take it in guys, you five've got a bright future ahead of you, that's obvious.'

He had just enough time to shut off the equipment before the building nearly shook from the combined shouts of victory coming from the booth.

Kakashi sweatdropped, 'How is it that their victory celebration is louder than their music?'

"FUCK YEAH!" Naruto yelled as he threw a fist into the air, "ONE DOWN!"

He was soon accompanied by the other four, even Shikamaru joined in on the celebration.

After about five minutes the guys calmed down and returned to their positions.

Sasuke spoke first, "You get what you needed old man?"

"Fuck you, and yes." Kakashi said in an amused tone.

"Well guys, " Neji spoke up, "what's next?"

"I got one!" Naruto yelled excitedly, "I figured S.o.L.A. is a high energy song right? So I figured this'd be a good follow up."

"Alright dobe, let's hear that shit," Sasuke said, amused at his friends eagerness.

"Alright, it's called The Good Life."

With that, Naruto began playing a hard edged intro.

The good life is what I need

Too many people stepping over me

The only thing that's been on my mind

The one thing I need before I die!

All I want is a little of the good life!

All I need is to have a good time!

The good life.

All I want is a little of the good life!

All I need is to have a good time!

The good life.

(The good life.)

As Naruto continued, the other four stared in shock. He was right, this was a great follow up to Saints.

Sasuke smirked, 'Not bad dobe.'

Kiba was thinking along the same lines, and (already envisioning the perfect bassline for Naruto's song) decided to pick up his bass and try it out, while Neji made his way to his kit, eyes closed and a focused and serene look on his face. Shikamaru noticed and, with a playful sigh, started trying out a few ideas for rythmn guitar before picking the one he thought best.

Naruto heard this and smirked, 'We definitely picked the right team for this, Kiba's already got a killer bassline going, Neji's in the land of the drum gods, and somehow lazy-ass gathered enough energy to start along too.'

Sasuke saw his other bandmates start their parts, and deciding he wasn't going to be outdone, found the lyrics sheet Naruto had written on, and picked up the lyrics, allowing Naruto to focus on his guitar work.

I don't really know who I am.

It's time for me to take a stand.

I need a change and I need it fast.

I know that any day could be the last!

All I want is a little of the good life!

All I need is to have a good time!
Oooohhhh The good life.

All I want is a little of the good life!

All I need is to have a good time!
Oooohhhh The good life!

Hold on, hold on. I always wanted it this way!

(You never wanted it this way!)

Hold on, hold on. I always wanted it this way!

(You didn't ask for it this way!)

I always wanted it this way.

As Naruto played the breakdown, Sasuke couldn't help but smirk, 'Dobe's always surprising me somehow. The others are one helluva shock too, they picked up a brand new song that quickly." He noticed his part coming up and resumed paying attention.

The good life!

All I want is a little of the good life!

All I need is to have a good time!
Oooohhhh The good life.

All I want is a little of the good life!

All I need is to have a good time!
Oooohhhh The good life!

The Good Life!

As he said the last three words, Naruto, along with Shikamaru and Kiba, banged out the last few notes while Neji crashed his cymbals roughly. Silence hung over the group for a few more seconds as they all exchanged smirks.

"Good job guys," Kakashi said, breaking the silence, "All we gotta do is record the first part with you all and that's another track done."

"Wait," Naruto began, "you recorded that? When?"

"Right as you all started playing together. I figured it was too good an opportunity to pass up."

"Holy shit!" Naruto shouted in surprise, "Fuck Shika, Kakashi's the real ninja here!"

"Troublesome..." Shikamaru muttered as he listened to his blonde friend, "At least we don't have to redo the whole song. Good work Kakashi."

"Back at ya lazy-ass."

The rest chuckled as Shikamaru mumbled under his breath. Naruto checked his watch.

"Dudes, its midnight-thirty, we gotta get out."

"What in the hell did you just say?" Kiba asked with a weird look on his face.

"Midnight-thirty dipshit."

"You just said midnight-thirty and I'M the dipshit?"

"Shut up. Hey, what's the deal guys? Wanna call it a night?"

"Sure," Neji replied.

"Why not, I'm tired anyways." Shikamaru said, having sat next to Kakashi while the rest of the guys had leaned on the soundboard outside the recording area.

"Lazy-ass," Naruto and Kiba snickered.

"Fuck off, been a long day man. Plus we gotta be here again tomorrow. We're nowhere near prepared enough to play Friday. We have two songs. Kakashi, you been in touch with MTV?"

"You know it," Kakashi answered, "from what I hear, they want a five song setlist. So you need at least three more. I figure you could throw a cover in there at some point, but that still leaves you needing two songs."

"Alright, so we've got about three days to write, learn, and record two songs?" Neji summed up.

"That's no problem!" Naruto shouted, "We could have that done by tomorrow night if we wanted!"

"Slow down dobe," Sasuke said, grabbing six beers out of Kakashi's mini-fridge, "no need to rush yet. We've got plenty of time. Not to mention I doubt you could pull out another fluke like The Good Life in a day."

The group laughed as Naruto flipped Sasuke off and took a beer, opening it on the counter. Sasuke threw the rest their beers. Suddenly, Kakashi lifted his in a toast. The rest followed suit.

"What can I say kiddies," Kakashi started, "you surprised me today. I have a feeling Strike Package could bigger than anyone can imagine. So this one's to you."

"TO STRIKE PACKAGE!" they all yelled.

The band and manager clinked their glasses together and drank, each thinking about what they had just accomplished. They'd recored their first two song, nailed em, and were set to record two more before playing on MTV on Friday. There was no turning back for them anymore. They'd started down the path of rockstars, and found they were naturals.

'It's only gonna get tougher from here guys,' Kakashi thought after a moment's silence, 'but knowing you five, you'll come out stronger than anyone could predict.'

Author's Note:

That's it for ya, chapter 7 is finally up. Took a shitload of time but it's up and ready for your reading pleasure. To everyone who has stayed onboard with me, thanks for the support. I'm an inconsistent guy, what can I say? :p

By the way, since I hate it, I decided to say, "Fuck the 'real' drinking age, in my world, it's 18." So all the guys are 18, cept Neji, who's 19. I think Neji's only like a year older than the others anyways. If not, then I also decided, "Fuck canon, Neji's 19."

Got an idea what I want for 8, so now ya'll just gotta wait for that one. So until next time, good fight, and good night.

"Ass kickers unite!"

-Eddie Riggs