HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I posted this right as it turned 2011 for me!

sorry for the long wait!

I'll get started on the next chapter right away!

This has been edited because I didn't thoroughly read through it on here.

I had a goal to get it on here before 2011, and I did. Kind of.

Now in 2011 I'm reading through it and fixing it.

Making sure

Chapter art is Obito and Mitsuki having an arm wrestling match with Haru refereeing. Mitsuki is grinning, wearing a dark red crop top tank top and baggy black shorts. Haru is wearing a black wife beater and baggy black shorts, and Haru is dressed like a legit Referee. All have no forehead protectors on, instead Mitsuki is wearing a black beanie, Obito is wearing a black hat worn sideways, and Haru is wearing a black visor worn crooked.

Something was wrong with Mitsuki, Obito could see that as the six shinobi ran through the Land of Wind. She had been off ever since his father had assigned them the mission, and Obito was growing increasingly worried with his female teammate.

It was hot here, sand everywhere with no escape from the sun. In Obito's all black attire, even without the sleeves and long pants legs, it was growing warmer for the silver haired genin. Obito said nothing though, if he couldn't put up with this while he was here, then he wasn't a very good shinobi. What shinobi couldn't undergo a little bit of uncomfortable temperatures for a week?

But heat was building inside Obito's body, his head pounding in the back. He'd deal with it later, probably just thirsty. He grabbed his canteen, fastened onto his pack, and drank a swig of the cool water. He wanted more, so much more, but he didn't know when he'd be able to refill it and he couldn't ask his teammates to share, they had their own supply to worry about. No, a quick gulp would be all for now.

"We're not far from Suna!" Sari said, heading up the group. She and Naruto had taken up the head, with Obito and Chinoke in the back as they kept Haru and Mitsuki in the middle.

"Miki-chan, can you see Sunagakure from here?" Naruto asked the purple haired genin.

"Yeah, I can also see about a kilometer towards the northwest of us, there's a large dust cloud moving towards Suna as well, I think there are shinobi following it," Mitsuki said, her head pivoting around between where Suna was assumed to be and where the dust cloud assumed to be.

"That has to be Condor. Sari-chan, we need to cut them off from Suna by at least 500 meters," Naruto said as the team shifted their direction towards the east.

"Hai, don't worry, I'm sure the team tracking this big bird will keep him from getting too close," Sari said, a smirk could be heard in her voice. The team pushed themselves harder, running faster in attempts to beat the flock of oversized flightless birds.

Mitsuki could feel panic settle into her belly, unsettling it and making it difficult to keep her breathing even. Why was the mission about a stupid bird? She would have asked for anything else, anything. But why birds? She could see them running, they were fast and there were a lot. Mitsuki could count at least four, and the ninja team behind them were struggling to keep up.

Damn it!

She was going to have an anxiety attack on this mission, she just knew it. Damn the Hokage, who cares how nice he was and that he didn't know about her fear of birds when he assigned it, stupid bird mission! Only Michiru knew she held a phobia for birds, especially large ones, but she never expected to have to be put up against them.

"Chinoke! Run ahead to the other genin team, tell them we're on our way," Sari yelled back to her red haired partner. The chuunin woman grunted out an affirmation before running ahead on chakra charged feet.

Now with it only the five of them, they continued on in silence and ran towards their destination. Haru was beginning to feel light headed from the physical exertion, he'd never run so much before in one sitting. They literally been running since they'd left Konoha, and had taken very few, very short breaks. Haru wasn't complaining though, he needed to learn how to get his stamina up. He didn't want to appear to be pathetic when compared to Mitsuki and Obito.

They reached their destination, exactly 500 meters from Sunagakure. Condor and his flock were still a hundred and fifty meters off, allowing the genin a small breather as the prepared to trap the large bird.

"Miki-chan, what kind of jutsu do you use? Any fire type?" Sari asked, her eyes focused on the approaching target. Mitsuki nodded.

"Yeah, I know how to use a grand fireball jutsu. What do you need me to do?" Mitsuki asked.

"Alright, Condor is an Ostrich, a really big bird, an animal. As an animal, he'll have animal insticts that he'll want to act on. If you can get that fireball up in the right amount of time we can startle Condor and his flock. It won't matter how much he's trained himself, animals are scared of fire and he and his kids will freak out from the flames. They'll be confused and the rest of your team and I will work on gathering them. Naruto-sama, do you have the bridles and ropes?" Sari asked. Naruto pulled a series or ropes and leather harnesses from his pack, tossing them to the dark haired kunoichi while keeping one set for himself.

"Alright, easy plan yeah? Hopefully nothing will go wrong. Condor has ninja skills right?" she asked, handing a harness and rope each to both Haru and Obito.

"Right, I'll take down Condor. Guys be careful, I don't know what he's told his kids or trained them, so stay on your guard," Naruto said. All three genin nodded. "Alright, he's approaching now, Mitsuki, get ready." Mitsuki nodded, fear bubbling in her stomach as she made her hand signs.

'Horse, tiger, ram, monkey, boar, horse, tiger! Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!'

Mitsuki held her eyes on the ostrich, now merely twenty-five meters from them. The site of it frightened her, it looked so harsh. The mean glint in its tiny eyes, those weird pink ribbons on its neck, its eyes were dead set on her sensei as he ran forward, and he was right beside Mitsuki with his harness. The ostrich was getting closer and closer, but she didn't want to give them time to run off on fear, just a little closer.

"Now Mitsuki," Naruto said, poised to capture. Using the chakra she'd compressed in her belly, churning flames that moved with her fear, Mitsuki exhaled a large ball of fire that was taller than even Naruto. Mitsuki couldn't see around it, but she did hear the sound of a rather….odd yell after Naruto leaped over her fireball. Odd was the only way she could describe it, it was deep, yet sounded like a witches cackle.

-I wish there were shorter little breaks-

Obito realized he hated ostriches. Hated them a lot. Especially this one he was trying to take down. Once Mitsuki had done her jutsu, impressive as it was, Obito took on the ostrich in the back, trying to hook an arm around its neck. His plan was to stop its head first, more worried about his beak than anything, and get the bridle on it. What Obito didn't take into account was the Ostrich kicking him in the stomach.

Pain radiated from Obito's gut, knocking the breath out of the young man. But instead of crumpling down like a weakling, Obito straightened himself and sent a kick at the ostriches knees. The ostrich let out a yelp, shrill and awkward, and bent itself forward, lowering itself to Obito. The silver-haired genin took this as his chance and jumped on top of the ostrich. The ostrich didn't know what to do as Obito held his legs tight around the bird's body, crossing his legs in front of it so that he wouldn't slide off. The ostrich then decided to run.

"Get off me! I am not a stupid horse!" the ostrich yelled, it's bouncy running making it difficult for Obito to stay on. Obito held tight though, using one arm to wrap around the ostrich's neck, forcing it to stop. He figured this could be easy, it reacted like a horse. It wouldn't go anywhere as long as Obito held his head in the air. Now all Obito had to do was get the bridle onto its head. Suddenly a yellow headed person was beside him, standing back away from the ostrich.

"Hey, grab its neck! I need to get the bridle onto it!" Obito said, as the ostrich continued to make jerky movements.

"How dare you attempt to put that on me! I am not your slave! Let me go so that I can see you!" the ostrich wailed, head somewhat flailing as Obito pulled back tighter with his arm. The blonde haired genin nodded towards Obito, coming closer to the large land bird. The genin grabbed at the birds neck, wrapping his hands around it and holding tight as it tried to jerk away. Obito took the lack of movement as an opportunity and slipped the bridle onto its head.

Haru was having a harder time with his Ostrich, who had started kicking at him the minute he was in distance. This one liked to lash out when it was panicked. Haru couldn't get near it without it harming him. He was trying to think of a way to stop it from kicking his legs, but couldn't figure out a way without getting his head kicked in.

"Need a help?" a feminine voice asked. Haru turned his head slightly, finding a brunette kunoichi standing at the ready, her eyes focused on the kick happy ostrich.

"It would be greatly appreciated," Haru said, handing the girl one end of the rope he was carrying. "We need to get his legs bound, or at least trip it so that I can fasten the bridle on." The girl nodded.

"Sounds simple enough. On your count?"

"Three, two, one." Once the number was out of Haru's mouth, both genin rushed forward with the rope taut between them. Haru thought it would work, the ostrich however, thought otherwise. It leaped up over the rope, kicking both the girl and Haru in a spinning kick.

"I won't be taken down so easily by children, even if they are Naruto's chicks," the ostrich stated in a raspy, oddly deep voice. Haru was taken aback, he'd never seen or heard a bird talk to him before. It was weird.

"Shut up! Gah you guys are so freaking annoying! Give it a rest already!" the girl said, racing towards the ostrich again. She still held the rope tightly in her fist as she raced towards the bird. She seemed to be a tad temperamental to Haru, foolhardy as she rushed in without looking towards the ostrich's leg that was ready to kick.

Thinking quickly Haru ran and jumped in front of the girl, forcing her back before he ducked the ostrich's kick. Before it could get a chance to kick again, Haru motioned for the girl to run around the Ostrich, wrapping the rope around its legs.

The kunoichi did so, while the ostrich was still turning back towards the duo, and the rope made it's way around the legs. Haru waited for the right moment and pulled hard on the rope, bringing the giant bird's knees together and making it lose its balance as he pulled again, knocking it over. Once on the ground, the girl climbed on top of the bird, holding it's neck down while preventing it from standing. Haru used the opportunity to slip the bridle around the ostrich's head.

"How dare you! I will not be treated like an animal!" the ostrich yelled, struggling to get up.

"I hate to break it to you, Ostrich-san, but you are an animal," Haru said, grinning down at the bird as it glared up at him.

Mitsuki stood back, watching everything. Her teammates had needed help from the sand genin, only two helped out. She did nothing to help them, she was a coward. Why didn't she help? She could see they needed help, yet she stood there like an idiot. She was pathetic, a horrible kunoichi.

Her sensei had gotten his ostrich, Condor, down with a few shadow clones. It wasn't much of a fight, the ostrich looked pretty old. But it had a certain gleam in its eyes, like it truly hated Naruto.

Meanwhile Sari looked like she was toying with her Ostrich, fighting it and letting it think it won before coming down on it. Chinoke had to yell at her partner to hurry up before Sari actually did anything.

Once the ostriches were all gathered, all four of them, the lead one spoke, addressing Naruto.

"Naruto-kun, why do you keep getting in the way of my freedom. I'm old, let me be free," Condor said, pulling against Naruto's rope. Mitsuki stood close by her sensei, her eyes cast down on the sand below her. If she didn't look at it, she wouldn't have to be scared. It was just a parson talking.

"You don't belong here Condor, you could get yourself hurt. Besides, you need to return home. With your family," Naruto said.

"My family deserves freedom, they were born free," Condor said angrily. Obito watched the exchange. Though Condor was very mean looking and pretty angry, he didn't seem up for the fight. His three children on the other hand, were a different story. They pulled and fought with them, though let Condor do the talking.

Obito barely had the strength to keep holding on. The pounding in the back of his head was growing stronger, louder, harsher. He could barely focus. With a free hand, Obito rubbed his face, trying to regain some of his focus.

"Condor-san, please, you need to go home. If you're out here, it won't be long before some non ninja town discovers you and tries to put you and your family into some sort of circus show," Haru said, pleading with the ostrich.

"Father, what's a circus?" queried one ostrich, a girl, being held in place by Sari.

"A circus is a place for human to view animals doing tricks for their own amusement. A flock of talking Ostriches is sure to be a big money maker for humans," Haru explained. A silence fell over the birds as they shuffled about.

"If what you say is true, then we'd always be running, never be free?" Condor asked. Naruto shook his head.

"You were free back home, you could do what you wanted. They must be pretty lenient if you keep being able to get out," Naruto said. Mitsuki took a chance and looked up at the ostrich her sensei was talking too, but needed to look away immediately because he still looked so menacing. Mitsuki chose instead to look to her teammates, Haru and Obito. Maybe they could keep her from freaking out over these giant monstrosities.

Unfortunately, upon looking towards the two boys, Mitsuki found that they weren't looking so hot. Well, actually, that was quite the opposite for Obito. He looked insanely hot, as if someone had lit a fire inside him. He was sweating, he looked tired and in pain, and his skin had a faint pinkish tinge. Dehydrated? But she'd seen him drinking from his canteen a few times, maybe he didn't get enough. Haru wasn't overheated though, he just looked completely worn out. In the back of Mitsuki's mind she remembered that Haru didn't have a very high level of stamina. She bit her lip, how could she do that to her partner? Letting him run all that way and just stand back and watch while he tried to take down an ostrich.

Mitsuki's black eyes were locked on her teammates, watching for any signs of weakness that could cause them to pass out. Obito was trying to cover his up, attempting to keep his face neutral even though Mitsuki could see he was breathing deep through his nose, and his left eye was twitching with pain that probably indicated a headache. Mitsuki frowned slightly, her obsidian focused on the silver haired boy. He was going to pass out, she could feel it in her gut.

Looking over to Haru, she saw that he was no worse than Obito, just extremely exhausted and trying to play tough. He would pass out too. What would they do if they both passed out? Suna was only 200 meters from here, she could easily carry one of them there. Good thing about her training as hard as she did, she could shoulder a lot of weight and still run, but she couldn't shoulder two. One of those Suna genin would have to get one.

The pounding in Obito's head was drowning out all sound and focus from Obito. He tried to pay attention to Naruto and Condor, but he just couldn't hear them. What was going on? Obito held onto the rope holding his twitching ostrich, refusing to let go in his semi-weakened state. His hand was sweating though,, making the thick rope seem slippery in his tight grip.

Was it always so fuzzy around the edges of his vision? A genjutsu? What was that way to release a genjutsu? Obito's head seemed to be made of rocks, rocks pounding and colliding against each other inside his mind, making it impossible for him to hear or focus on anything. His breathing was coming in short takes, he was forcing himself to breathe through his nose, so it wouldn't be obvious that he wasn't appearing to be weak.

The fuzziness was growing, and his vision was more fuzzy than clear now. His knees were weak, his hands were slipping down the rope slowly. In the back of his mind, it registered that something had landed against his legs, and now something was moving behind him. Fuzziness was overtaking his vision, he could only see large blobs of color. It was so hot. Something black and white was moving towards him, he guessed Mitsuki when he saw the small flash of her brilliant purple hair. Who was she going to? What was she doing?

Obito was trying to turn around when his legs gave out on him, and he fell onto a small, strong body. The only thing reaching his mind was one thing:

"Obito! ?"

THAT'S IT!

Now it's been edited for 2011.

Review to let me know how you feel!

Oh, and for the ones that did review, thank you so much!

Hypnotic flames - I hope you liked Condor, it didn't showcase him too much though. :/

HelpMeI'mInvisible - Thank you for all your reviews! They made me smile. I'm glad my OC's caught your eye

Doiti Etok - Thanks, I like my characters defined too. :) And as for those characters, we shall see. -strokes imaginary beard sneakily- It's going to focus a lot on the OC's, and they are pretty curious. It'll go to their curiosity whenever they feel bored or something. I want to establish them as their own people... who are naturally curious about their sensei.

Kaname Kuran is my drug xo - Okay, one, love your name, too bad I'm a Zero girl ;) And we might see more of Kakashi in the future, but he is a pretty busy guy with, you know, the whole Hokage thing. :P And also, I feel accomplished that my story is Coyote Ugly, it gives it character. :D

I'll get started on the next one now!

LOVE YOU LOVEBUCKETS!