A particularly violent bump almost shook Naruto out of his seat. He tried to glare at Iruka, then realized that he wouldn't be able to see it through his goggles. He settled for reaching over and poking him in the shoulder.

Iruka just laughed and pushed the pedal down. Naruto gripped his seat. He hadn't actually heard Iruka laughing over the sound of the radio. Michael Jackson's "Speed Demon" was playing, and Iruka seemed to be taking a little too literally.

They both sang along in high pitched falsettos.

Speed Demon you're the very same one

Who said the future's in your hands

the life you save could be your own

Iruka abruptly slammed on the brakes. Naruto flew out of his seat and landed in front of the gator with a thump. He looked back, taking off his goggles.

"What the hell was that?" he yelled. Iruka reached over and turned the radio off.

"I forgot about your training!" he yelled back. Naruto quickly checked his watch.

"Crap. Kakashi's just getting to the bridge now…" He swallowed nervously. Iruka pondered deeply for a long moment.

"You have the flu." He said, finally.

-…-

Kakashi had arrived at the bridge just a moment earlier to discover no Naruto. His temper didn't have a chance to fully boil over, however, before a small beep came from his communicator.

"I warned him about frivolous calls." He growled. He flicked it on. "Gai, I swear on my mother's grave if this is you calling to talk to me about pickles—"

"What?" squawked the communicator. Kakashi paused. Then frowned. Sasuke and Sakura shuddered in fear.

"Is this Naruto?" he said, in a quiet, deadly voice.

"Er, yeah. Um, I'm, uh, sick." He gave a series of very fake-sounding coughs.

Then another voice, faint but still audible, came over the communicator.

"Like he'll ever believe that. Make it sound more real!"

Naruto coughed some more.

"You're hopeless."

Kakashi blinked rapidly. He could feel his blood pressure rising.

"Do they realize how good that communicator is at picking up sound?" asked Sakura quietly.

A long pause came from the other end. Then the communicator flicked off. Kakashi shook it furiously.

"Naruto!" he screamed at it. "You better be able to hear me! When I catch you, it's gonna be the Million Years of Pain!"

Sasuke twitched. "What's that?"

Kakashi's eye narrowed.

"That's when I take a stick and shove it straight up his

TBC