The leaves were turning into beautiful shades of brown and red, and were slowly, but gracefully, falling from their branches. The weather was finally getting cooler, which was a nice change from the intense warmth of the summer. Inside the Shinobi Academy there was a lot of tension though. It was time for the annual graduations, and this year Kisame and Zetsu were attending. They both felt ready for it, more or less, so they had decided to graduate. The students had been divided into two groups, since there were quite a lot of students in the graduating class. The second team of pupils was still completing their practical exams, and the first team was waiting outside the teacher's office, to be told if they passed and how it went. Kisame was part of the first group, and was slowly going crazy from waiting. He felt as though he had done well, but he was still nervous – he was trying his very best to make his legs quit shaking. Someone else was in the office, and he was next. To keep his mind off of the exam, he thought of the things to come. Three-man teams would be formed, and assigned to a jōnin sensei. The three (four) friends had decided to throw a party that evening, to celebrate the end of their academy days, at a local bar. They had managed to encourage people to come, so there would probably be a lot of people at the club. Katsumi was invited as well, and Kisame was really looking forward to spending time with her. She was such a lovely girl, and she really seemed to care about him. He liked her humour and she liked his, she was always nice towards him, she was damn pretty and they got along really well. Honestly he'd like to place a big, long kiss on her-

"Hoshigaki Kisame, come on in." He was kicked out of his fantasy, as one of the proctors called him to the office. Immediately his legs resumed their shaking.

/

The calm transition season autumn was the very best one of all, according to Kakuzu. It was very soothing, and had just the right temperature. Not too warm, not too cold. For once he didn't mind waiting, as he was sitting underneath an old, shedding, beautiful oak, and Hidan was resting his head on his lap. Since nobody was allowed to touch his perfectly slicked-back hair, he was nuzzling his cheek instead. The younger male had passed the genin exam a couple of days earlier and was now resting on his laurels. Soon they heard fast-paced footsteps coming towards them. Looking in their general direction, they spotted Kisame running towards them, sporting a huge, sharky smile on his face. As soon as he got close to them, he yelled;

"Guess what!" while trying to catch his breath.

"You failed?" Hidan shrieked with a sarcastic look on his face; he received a slap on the back of his head from his lover.

"Do tell how it really went," Kakuzu asked, albeit knowing the answer. Kisame jumped a little in place, as though gathering enough strength to tell him.

"I passed! With flying colours, they said!" he shouted, and jumped again. Hidan clapped excitedly, and Kakuzu flung all kinds of congratulatory remarks at him. As soon as he had settled down, he took a seat on the ground next to the couple. All that was left to do now was wait for Zetsu, since he was in the last group to graduate that day. It could take up to two hours still. Soon Hidan had fallen asleep and was snoring lightly, causing Kisame to feel drowsy as well. He didn't want to fall asleep though, since he wanted to be the first to graduate Zetsu on passing his exam. Kakuzu was wondering how many people would actually show up to their party. He and Hidan had been the ones to pass around the invitations, and they had used a pretty excellent strategy. If someone didn't want to join, the stitched genin would merely threaten them, and they'd comply. He'd already gotten quite the reputation for his temper tantrums, so it was no wonder that most people didn't dare defy him. Mostly the girls just needed to take one look at Hidan, and they decided to attend. Having a sexy boyfriend sure was handy sometimes. Soon he spotted Zetsu shuffling across the school yard towards them – he looked a bit down. The stitched senior elbowed Kisame, and, before he complained, pointed to his black and white friend. Kisame immediately noticed that his best friend wasn't as giddy as he had been, and got up and walked towards him, ready to handle an emotional emergency the best he could. Soon they were standing face to face – except that Zetsu wouldn't look at him. His eyes were pinned to the ground. Kisame put a hand on his shoulder…

"Are you okay…?" he asked gently. After taking a deep breath, his friend finally looked up at him; he was grinning widely. Kisame grinned back, realizing that he'd been had. He pulled his best friend into a tight hug, only letting go when he felt him squirming in his grasp. They turned back towards the couple, and Kisame was quick to flash a thumbs-up and yell;

"It's okay! We're all genin!"

/

It had just turned dark, and the small rented bar was alight with life and lights. The newly fledged genin were enjoying their last night as students, before having to carry out missions and take responsibilities. For now though, it was pushed to the back of their minds. Kisame and Katsumi were sitting next to each other in front of the bar, sipping their drinks. They had been talking very well that night, and their friendship had really moved forward since they met. The shark was very excited – she was the first girl who had ever paid any positive attention to him! He had just ordered another drink when one of Katsumi's friends dragged her away from the bar, to dance to a particular song. Moments later Zetsu had taken her place.

"You two really like each other, don't you?" he inquired with a smile. The blue boy grinned widely.

"Well yeah! At least as friends… for now." He winked at his plant-like friend. Kisame's drink finally arrived, but Zetsu was quick to snatch it from the counter.

"Ooh I love this drink," he chimed and drank it in big gulps. Kisame rolled his eyes at him, before spotting a strange light outside the bar windows. The small bar was at the edge of the village, its façade facing out against the big forest that surrounded the entire village. Seconds later they all heard screams in the distance. His vision became blurry, as the windows exploded, and fire came crawling in the bar. Soon screams were surrounding him, and he was dragged into a side-room by an unseen person – it turned out to be Zetsu, and he shut the door just as the flames reached the doorway. It took them both a few seconds before they dared look around. They exchanged looks with the others that had made it to the room. Katsumi and her friend were there, alongside Kakuzu and Hidan. What a piece of luck.

"Wh-what the hell happened?" Kisame whispered.

"We're under attack, dimwit. You don't know that! It's very likely though," Zetsu stated bluntly, and Katsumi's blonde friend nodded.

"I agree. Which is why we shouldn't hide, but help the others." Yells and screams were still heard from the other side of the door, alongside many panicked footsteps and the sounds of metal weapons clashing. Hidan stared at the young girl.

"Who the fuck are you?" he asked, and promptly received a death-glare from her that could rival those of Kakuzu. Katsumi sighed.

"This is Shinju. She's one of my best friends," she explained and patted her blonde friend on the head. They were silent for a few seconds, before another scream ripped through the night.

"Okay let's get the hell to it then! We can't just hide here like cowards; we're shinobi for fuck sake!" Kakuzu yelled, and everyone nodded. They couldn't afford to let everybody else suffer.

"Okay then. Kisame and Shinju, you two focus on putting the fires out," – Shinju gave Kisame a thumbs-up – "Kakuzu and I will attempt to take down whoever's attacking us. If you see a chance to help us, do so!" – everyone nodded – "And Hidan you'll get everyone away from here, survivors and those in need of medical attention!" Katsumi ordered.

"Zetsu you go find medical-nins! You're the fastest one of us," Kisame stated and the black and white boy grinned.

"Indeed. You can count on us!" With Katsumi's orders they opened the door back up. Kisame and Shinju immediately formed hand seals, and Zetsu melted into the ground.

"Suiton: Suikōdan no Jutsu!"

"Suiton: Mizurappa!"

With their combined effort all fire in their close vicinity had been extinguished. Katsumi ran through the room, and grabbed the big iron fan that she had stashed behind the bar. In the meantime a shinobi from another village had quickly snuck up behind her, and was just about to strike her down with a kunai, before Kakuzu intervened with a hard punch that sent the ninja flying across the bar; he landed on his feet, and was quickly forming hand seals – Katsumi swung her fan out in front of her, which caused a powerful gust of wind to knock the shinobi off his feet. Hidan was dragging all the hurt genin outside, as fast as he could. Although he wasn't exactly sensitive, it staggered him to see how many were already dead. He attempted CPR, but only managed to save two. With blood all over him he went back into the bar to get the rest out. The team work of the blue boy and blonde girl had managed to put out almost all the fire – only the roof was still in flames. As they moved on to rescuing people, another shinobi was inches from hitting Shinju, and she barely managed to dodge in time. Thankfully Kisame's jutsu was still at full power, since he had a pretty decent chakra amount for a newbie genin, and he quickly performed a water jutsu at the unknown shinobi. He managed to dodge the attack, and came straight at the shark – just as he began to panic the ninja stopped dead in his tracks, to withstand the forces of a powerful gale. Katsumi and Kakuzu had just knocked out the first attacker, and now came to the rescue of the two fire fighters. The young brunette was tired out however, and she barely managed to deflect the kunai thrown at her. Kakuzu was just about to counter-attack with a lightning technique, but was interrupted when there was a strange spin in the air, and moments after a man with a swirly, orange mask had appeared and silently slit the throat of the opponent. The newbie genin all stared in awe. Katsumi sighed in relief, and everyone seemed to relax a little, as Zetsu appeared in the ground next to the masked man. Sensing that the atmosphere was pressured, he decided to try to lighten the mood.

"Hello there children!" – he waved at them – "How awesome was that? Just in time, huh? You're lucky to have a shinobi like me around here, or you'd all be dead!" he chimed, and smiled underneath the mask. The youths were uninterested, and continued outside to take care of the injured. With slumped shoulders the joyful man joined them.

/

Soon all the fire had been put out, and the medical-nins were focused on the injured. Unfortunately they had lost many young genin, and the number of new shinobi and kunoichi had dropped drastically.

"Why the hell aren't we taught basic medical jutsu…?" Shinju complained, and Katsumi wrapped her arms around her in a comforting hug. Kisame was sitting against a wall, resting. Even with his chakra something like this was tiring. Even though he had helped extinguish the fires, he felt awfully useless. If he had been just a little better, a little faster, maybe fewer lives would've been lost. Suddenly the strange, teleporting man clapped his hands loudly and yelled;

"Well then! Looks like the rest of you will have to work even harder!" He was promptly silenced by one of the medics.

"Shut the hell up Tobi!"

/

Heeeere's Tobi!

And the first fight scene! Was it any good?

And Shinju is the kunoichi version of me. So now we have OCs of me and my friend. I promise I won't make any more anytime soon.

Finally another chapter though. Again, sorry about the wait, I've been busy.

I hope to see you again soon!

(Note: the original title of this chapter was The Beginning of the End of the Beginning. Apparently it's too long. So now, Nightmare Night! Unfortunately it doesn't involve any ponies)