Here's the tenth chapter of The Clash of Time!

So sorry about lates updates (though this one ain't so late... don't expect it to happen again, though!) and edits once again! Getting back on track's way harder than you'd think, and I'm not outta writer's block yet.

Disclaimer: Do you seriously think that I own Naruto or ever might? Fine! I don't own nothin'!

Warnings: Yaoi, SasuNaru, plot laggyness, a teensy bit of plot-no-jutsu, etc. etc.

Please review! Constructive criticism is, as always, coveted! Criticism, ideas, suggestions, just saying I did a good job will help me get back on track (biggest problem… speaking of being on track I should probably be working on my English project now…) and the ideas, suggestions, and criticism will help get rid of writer's block and therefore make me write faster! Feel free to flame. Adds to my review count. :P

My other stories probably aren't going to be updated for a bit. The only inspiration I'm getting on them is for PotNSRW, nd that's a random thing that my brain keeps dong where it has two fanfic worlds collide and the chars from the different fanfic worlds start hunting each other… Not exactly something I can do in that fanfic. :P Would make a cool fanfic on its own, though…

Too bad I don't have time to write a fanfic like that! That'd be cool to read…

Well, anyways, back to what I was going to say before I went of on a tangent. (That's a cool word, tangent. I wonder what its etymology is… Okay, now I'm off on another tangent about tangents!)

I'm feeling really hyper today and I don't know why! I haven't slept more than five hours a night, normally less, in the past two weeks, so I should be like, really really reallyreally tired! But I ain't! No clue why though!

ARGH! I keep hitting the wrong keys and having to backspace and retype what I was saying! Stupid fingers, stop typing so fast!

I'm feeling like being really random right now… Prolly not best time to be writing a non random story then! But I should be able to generate some ideas even if they are random so… YAH!

Still editting in stages! All the edits that are getting done any time soon though are posted, so if ya wanna read them please feel free to do so!

What was I gonna say next? Oh, yah…

Key:

"Blah"- regular speech

Blah- regular text/ emphasis within a flashback or dream or thoughts

'Blah'- thoughts

Blah- dream text/ emphasis on a word or statement/ flashback text

"Blah"- dream speech

"Blah"- demon/ dragon (or just something really really big) speech

'Blah'- demon/ dragon (or just something really really big) thoughts

"Blah"- demon/ dragon (or just something really really big) speech within a dream/ flashback

'Blah'- speech over a communication device of some sort.

"Blah"- speech in a language other than whichever one the shinobi normally speak in (Japanese or English, or some other language)

WOOT! 500 word AN! Uh, wait, are ANs supposed to be that long?...

Oh, yeah, before I forget, we actually get more backstory on Stella in this chappie! I actually didn't reveal a ton, just explained some things from earlier background revealing scenes. And I have lengthy explanations. I couldn't get past writer's block so I went with what I already had concrete: back story! Some parts are laggy and boring-ish, though… Stella has this particularly long explanation. The explanation of her explanation's in the AN for those of you who can't muster then attention span to read/remember it.

Just ta warn you: don't expect any subsequent updates to be so fast. Updates will be happening sporadically depending on my mood and inspiration.

Enjoy!

"Break it up! No fighting in my classroom!" Ibiki shouted at the Sound shinobi. The following orders went pretty much as they did the last time, the genin all taking their assigned seats.

Naruto immediately took notes of everyone's positions. He'd managed to get a seat at the very back of the class, in a corner, so he could watch everyone without easily being watched. (Well, they wouldn't be able to watch him without his knowledge unless they had some fancy jutsu going, but even then he could probably sense their chakra signatures.) This time, none of the Rookie Nine were seated together.

Sasuke'd managed to get unlucky, and was seated in the first row, so he couldn't use his Sharingan to copy anything without beng completely obvious. Gaara was seated directly in front of Naruto. Everyone else was scattered haphazardly in the middle of the room.

Ibiki started explaining the exam. Sakura, just like last time, questioned him about it. They began just as they originally had.

'Any of you guys get this?' Naruto asked the other members of the Rookie Nine. 'My math isn't this high of a level yet.'

'Naruto! He said we shouldn't cheat!' Sakura replyed, not aiming her thoughts at only the Rookie Nine, but instead broadcasting to everyone. Luckily Naruto had warned Kin, Haku, Zabuza, and Gaara that this might happen, so they didn't react.

Gaara, Kin, and Haku had all decided to use the communication devices to answer the questions. If the Rookie Nine didn't broadcast, they'd just ask Naruto. The reasoning behind their tactics was that their own ways of gathering information might be noticed and points might be deducted. It was especially important for Haku to keep his abilities secret, since they were so exclussive.

'Sakura, the point of this exam is to test our ability to gather information without being noticed,' Sasuke replied. He, despite not knowing that others had communication devices, limited his words to the Rookie Nine. His reasoning, though, was that if he could listen to private thoughts that weren't blocked, who knew who was listening in to broadcasted thoughts that weren't even remotely protected from detection or disguised so as to not be able to be read? Sasuke had enough healthy paranoia to not take the risk.

'…Oops,' Sakura replied sheepishly. Damn! She'd wanted to not look like a useless ditz! Not be the definition of one!

'I don't get this, either. Any of you mind sharing?' Ino asked. She, being psychic, also knew the dangers of broadcasting thoughts, so she also kept hers to the Rookie Nine. 'Oh, and Sakura, please stop broadcasting your thoughts. We don't want someone who could be an enemy or who could just get us in trouble for having these hear them!'

'Ino's right, Sakura,' Naruto said before the bubble gum haired kunoichi could reply. 'Anyone with any sensitivity to chakra can probably tell you're doing something weird, and anyone with a similar communication device would be able to pick up on your side of the conversation.'

Sakura resisted the urge to visibly hag her head, not wanting to make the situation any worse. 'I'm sorry,' she said, this time specifically keeping her thoughts to the Rookie Nine.

'Don't worry about it,' Sasuke actually replied. Sakura's temporary elation that he was trying to comfort her was completely crushed when he continued. 'Just tell us the answers. You're smart enough to figure these out, right?'

'Well, at the least he thinks I actually have a use. An improvement I guess…' Sakura thought to herself, before launching into an explanation of the problems, their answers, and what the other Rookies should put down as their work.

Naruto opened a second channel with Gaara, Haku, and Kin, relaying the information given to him by Sakura.

Ibiki surveyed the room, picking out how everyone was cheating. The Hyuuga boy, Neji, was being extremely obvious. Did he seriously think that no one would notice the veins bulging around his eyes? He was still cheating above low chunin level, though, so Ibiki had to let it pass. His two teammates were also being obvious. Those large mirrors that had randomly appeared on the ceiling were, like, so hard to notice… Not. And that Suna guy with the puppet. Did he really think that Ibiki wouldn't notice that one of his proctors had been replaced? And so it went.

Wait a second… What the hell? He couldn't even tell how the Rookie Nine were cheating! Not only them, but that Oto girl, one of the kids from the Mist, and that creepy Suna red head were also undetectable in their cheating other than the occasional odd chakra flare.

He'd expected one, maybe two or even three or four of the genin to be able to figure out the test without help, but the entire Rookie Nine definetely wasn't this intelligent! He couldn't say about the other three, not having their stats as far as intelligence went.

The only two of the Rookie Nine who should've been able to figure this out on their own were Shikamaru and maybe Sakura. No way was the dead last that intelligent, and Sasuke had never been shown to be good at math. Same thing with Ino, Chouji, Kiba, and Hinata. He didn't know about Shino, but the Aburame clan weren't know for having brains good at solving mathmatical equations. And there was no way any of them were cheating so well that he wouldn't notice.

Unless those stories about how much the Kyuubi no Gaki had been hiding his power and intelligence were true. He'd even heard that the brat figured out that the Wave mission he and his team had been assigned was actually an A-rank mission, not a C-rank, almost as soon as he got it. He'd discreditted the story, though, not thinking that the blonde could actually be that intelligent and have hid it for so long.

But if Naruto was behind the strange behaviors of the Rookie Nine, that meant that he'd somehow figured out a way for them to communicate or to cheat without getting caught.

Ibiki started focusing on their chakra flares. He couldn't detect any from Naruto, which was strange. Even the calmest of genin would likely be experiencing flares due to stress, and Naruto was known for being emotional and over reactive. The chakra flares of the others seemed to be following a pattern, though, almost as if they were speaking.

Something nagged at him about Naruto's chakra signature. It was perfectly normal, and the lack of chakra flares could simply be explained as the blonde finally growing up and learning to center himself, which a few genin had been able to do over the years. But…

Naruto's signature was too normal. He was a jinchuuriki, not a human.

So why did he have the chakra signature of a normal human?

'There's no way he's successfully masking his chakra signature. Even completely erasing your chakra signature's a hard skill to learn, and being able to change its appearance, and to such a level, is even harder,' Ibiki though, mildly puzzled and worried. If the blonde could hide his chakra signature so well, then he might be more in contact with the demon than any of them had thought possible.

It was only a theory, though, driven and arrived at by instinct, but if there's one thing Ibiki had learned, it was to trust his instincts.

This would have to be looked into.

He knew, as most jounin knew, that Kakashi had been assigned specifically to watch his student. Kakashi had reported nothing amiss other than the occasional show of intelligence from Naruto. But had the jounin been fooled by his own student?

Ibiki decided that he'd have to find out.

Naruto flipped his test over, grinning at his success. The communication devices, and his plan, had worked perfectly! He hadn't even needed to beg Stella for help!

'Kit, you're still going to have to learn how to do those problems,'the kitsune replied, knowing that Naruto thought he'd be able to skip the almost immpossible problems since he ended up not having to do them this time.

'Why in all the hells are you calling me Kit?' Naruto asked. Wasn't that the word for a fox child?

'You see, in the fox dialect of Daemonic, there are two words that would likely be translated as 'brat'. One, the one that I would translate as brat, refers to annyong who is rude, uncouch, gross, and a complete spoiled brat in a masculine sense of the term. The other, which much more closely translates to 'kit', refers to anyone who is bratty in a stereotypical, feminine sense of the word. Kit is also a girl's nickname, though generally only amoung preps, and people who like to mock preps. So that's why I call you Kit,' Stella replied.

It took a few seconds for Naruto to proccess the information, due partially to the sheer absurdity of the whole thing. He had to fight himself to not show any visible signs of being very, very mad.

'I am NOT a girl, and there's no fucking way in all the hells that I even remotely resemble a prep!' Naruto mentally yelled. (Btw: No insult intended to any preps or people who are friends with preps who happen to be reading this. The views of Stella and Naruto do not entirely reflect my own. I'm actually great friends with several preps, though they're completely in denial about being preps, so it might not entirely count...)

'I never said that you're a girl, or that you're a prep. In all the demon societies, except for about a little over two thirds of the New Bloods, it's perfectly exceptable to be feminine or masculine despite your gender. The pure Old Bloods, some Half Bloods, and a few New Bloods actually don't even have genders, just prefered genders. I don't have the ability to have an extra fully human-like and humanoid with ears, tails, etcetera that's of a different gender, though, even though the Old Blood beats just as strongly in my veins as the New Blood, if not stronger,' she informed him.

'You're a Half Blood?' Naruto asked, surprised. 'Then how are you the Crown Princess? Wouldn't a fully New Blood fox or a fully Old Blood fox be the first choice?'

The kitsune nodded in Naruto's mind. 'Actually, until the start of the Second Great War of Many Species, I was the middle daughter of the second youngest son of the reigning New Blood Queen and King of the Kitsune. I was, to further remove me from the throne, an illegimate child taken in due to the kitsune honor code rule that pretty much states that if it's you're biological brat, you're responsible for its raising. We actually had ways to prove parentship, so my father would've been disgraced if he'd left me with my low rank Old Blood mother, who was coincidentally the daughter of the previous Warrior Princess, the littermate and identical twin sister of the Crown Princess, and who was also her assigned bodyguard. From what I gathered she was his prize for a job well done in the rebellions that rose as a result of the fall out of his grandfather's take over. I'm now the Crown Princess because all the kitsune with Old Blood within the last three generations other than me was killed in the Fall of Omorfia, along with all the New Blood kitsune who were anywhere close to the throne. I don't think that I'm the only one still alive out of that group, but everyone else was either killed or sold into slavery. Also I got regonition later in the war for pretty much winning it for our side, so no one disputes my claim. And me being of mixed blood shut up most of the people who were complaining that a leader of one Blood or the other would show favortism.'

Wow, Stella sure was talkative recently. Her explanations were getting lengthier and lengthier as time went on. Poor Naruto was having trouble processing the now fairly constant waves of information.

'Wow, that's sure ain't the easiest way to win the throne. Hey, if no one has any better claim than you, then why aren't you the Queen or Emperess or whatever?' Naruto asked. He already knew that Queens and Kings were more of a New Blood thing, while the Old Blood ruled huge swaths of land that rose and fell gradually when compared to the swiftly changing kingdoms of the New Blood. The New Blood way of government hadn't even managed to last more than about fifteen millenia, which was the blink of an eye compared to the millions of years the individual Old Blood empires had lasted, let alone the way of life and form of government. Most demons apparently thought that this was so because the New Blood weren't desended from the Supreme Deities like the great Old Blood clans had been, instead tracing their lineage back to minor goddesses and gods.

'Cause I don't want to be. The Emperesses and Emperors are remnants of an ancient past, just as the Queens and Kings soon will be. Things changed with the Second Great War, years being measured in centuries rather than millenia, technology advancing and humans taking their place in the world as the fastest adapting species. Monarchies run by those who were descended from their previous rulers were replaced by councils, a remant from the way the enitre world had operated during the long centuries the war lasted. I had had enough of politics and of fighting. I desired only to settle down with my mate and the charges who I took in as a favor to an old friend, and who became like sisters to me. Even now I would not become Queen, though my surrogate family has been scattered to all the corners of the Earth. Things changed yet again, though the change was marked not by a single Great War but by many, small upheavels.

'It was during this time that ages were measure in decades, and the shinobi way of life way truly established. It was only six decades ago, an eternity in this time's way of measuring things, the blink of an eye in another's.That period was rife with peaceful protests against the civilian governments turning violent, with many small wars and skirmishes, one blending into another, no way to tell between a war in this country and a war in that. The Three Great Shinobi Wars were caused by the fallout of this, just as the overthrowing of the old government, driven by the ninja who had arrisen amoung the people to defend them and to fight for them and to be their voices, their hands, their weapons and shields. That was the true, original purpose of the shinobi, lost now over six of the current world's ages. And, as time speeds up, so does the wait between changes decrease. Another upheaval is on the way. Time will once again shorten, and governments will once again change. Ages will no longer be measured by ten years, they will be measured by one. Technology will improve, as it always has previously, and a newer, faster adapting race will likely begin to replace the old. The traditional ways will fade, often violently, to be replaced by emptiness and then the dawn of a new day.

'And now that I have gotten most of my memories back, now that I know this much, I think that the reason the future me sent you back is to make sure that this next change doesn't lead to another Great War. This world, this new, ever changing, flexible, unstable world will not survive another such conflict. The changes have gotten too close together, and the people and the deities and the Universe itself has not yet had time to heal…'

Naruto was silent after the Kyuubi's explanation. It was confusing… and yet it made perfect sense. Everytime they had modernized, every time they had started refering to things in ever shorter blocks of time, there had been a great war, or a period of many small wars.

'What does this have to do with me?' he finally asked, curious as to why he of all people had to be saddled with this job of bringing about change.

'I'd started to unravel a pattern before I lost my memories. I'd been trying to predict the next upheaval. I've come to believe that I had actually found the key to the mystery, and that was why I was silenced by the enemy, my memories erased and most of my notes destroyed. I've only managed to recover bits and pieces, but the basic and most obvious common qualities of each event are already clear to me.'

Stella paused for a few seconds, sorting through her patchwork of memories and theories, half remembered facts and opinions. She wanted to explain it as best she could, which was the reason for the pause.

'There always seems to be only two 'sides' in these conflicts, one fighting for change in a certain general direction and one resisting. There's also four 'main players' total, they being the one's with the most influence, a pair per side. The pair on the 'resisting' side are the most traditional and powerful members of their side. The pair on the 'rebeling' side are more different from each other. One is always a representation in physical form of what-is-to come, and is almost always charismatic. She or he generally tends to be a member of the next ruling species or subspecies or lineage. The other is actually typically related to one of the 'resisting' pair, and has the same traditional roots. She or he is, figuratively speaking, the black sheep, and is more forward thinking and modern. Also I've noticed that she or he is generally concerned more with power, pride, and revenge, reflecting older styles of thinking that focused on these things. Also, while the first member of the pair changes a lot from upheaval to upheavel, the second tends to retain fairly the same looks and personality. The 'resisting' side may or may not fight together. Some of the time they'll even fight against each other either before the 'rebeling' pair starts to change things or while they're actually in action.

'Now, as to what this has to do with you, I can't say for sure since I'm not a deity, but you're likely one of the 'rebeling' pair. Before you say anything, there's a reason for this. You adapt scarily fast, even for this day and age. Your body suffers no majorly inhibiting side effects from such fast and drastic changes, unlike demons and hanyous who only grow at the rate of humans or anywhere close to it when they're in extreme peril, and then it tends to take it's toll on them. I, luckily, was resistant to this, probably because I was one of the 'rebeling' pair. You are also resistant. Even though you might argue that it's the seal, the fact that you are able at all to adapt to demon yoki so potent it can even kill other demons with ease is beyond amazing. I burned my yoki pathways the first time I started using my mixed yoki in more than tiny amounts, and every time I increased my power by any significant amount, despite my extreme ability to adapt to it.

'Your mind is also always adapting, absorbing information and taking note of minor things. Your entire thought process shifts to be able to better fight against new threats. You can be given the shock of your life and then just except it and start to account for it in your plans without the amount of angst, moodiness, drama, and wasted time and energy that's normally required. Your plans are fluid, always counting on there being x amount of x factors, instead of ignoring x factors enitrely or only counting for a specific, limited number of discrepancies with how you expected things to go.

'Even you yourself, you're the embodiment of 'adaptation'. Never before has anything more powerful than a eight tailed New Blood been sealed away, let alone a Nine Tail with yoki poisonous to even herself with Old Blood been sealed away. Hell, I was the third demon with a full Old Blood ancestor within the last three generations that has ever been sealed, and the other two were one tails who had no clue what the fuck they were doing.

'You even have formed a bond with someone who, other than specific goals, species, power level, and gender, is practically a carbon copy of the last second member of the rebeling pair. Even your bond with him mimicks my bond with her. He's even descended from a girl blessed with the power of my mate, the scond member of the rebeling pair! And he's related to one of the resisting pair.'

Stella finished what was officially her lengthiest explanation to date since she'd been sealed into Naruto. The blonde could easily guess who she was talking about. Sasuke. The last official member of the very old fashioned Uchiha clan. The guy that Naruto practically lived for.

Were they really the ones destined to decide the fate of the new world that was to be born from the ashes of the old, like the pheonix of legend?

'Stella, you said it like you know who the resisting pair is.'

'It's already been decided beyond a shadow of a doubt who the first one is, Kit. Nobody's certain about the second, though. The first member of the resisting pair is none other than Uchiha Madara, over lord and master mind of the Akatsuki, and the official founder of the Uchiha clan as it is today.'

It was another ten minutes of silence, tension so thick in the air that you wouldn't even be able to cut through it with a knife. The weapon would merely end up stuck in the chakra and stress signals infused air.

"Okay! Time's up! If your pencil's still in your hand five seconds from now you are cheating!" Ibiki announced. Everyone's pencils clattered to the desks.

The explanation of the tenth question went pretty much the same, except this time Naruto warned the Rookie Nine to not give up and he himself didn't interrupt. Consequentially, many of the shinobi who had stayed on before dropped out. Instead of seventy eight passing, only forty eight did. Sixteen teams instead of twenty six.

"To the forty eight who remain," Ibiki announced, seeing that no one else was going to drop out. "Congradulations on passing the first test!"

"WTF!?" Naruto had one of his clones, who was disguised as the kunoichi on Haku's 'team' shout. "Then, like, what was the point of this whole thing? Just to screw with us?" He didn't want Sakura drawing attention to their team by shouting, after all. "And what in all the hells happened to the tenth question, huh?"

"There never was a tenth question, unless you count those two choices," Ibiki said.

"Then what the hell for the first nine for? Were they just pointless?!" Temari shouted.

'Your cue to show off, Sasuke,' Naruto sent to the Uchiha. He had sensed that the various jounin and chunin were getting suspicious, and thought it best to downplay his own skills. Who knew. He might even be able to get all of his successes contributed to Sasuke.

'Funny how things have changed,' Naruto thought bemusedly. 'In the original timeline I would've been horified to think of Sasuke getting all the glory, and would've fought it tooth and nail.'

'Careful not to let his ego get too inflated, Kit.'

'Yah, I know.'

"They were supposed to test our information gathering skills and to set the stage for the tenth question, making us more apprehensive of actually taking it, weren't they?" Sasuke asked/ confirmed, smirking. He knew that Naruto wanted to draw attention away from himself. It was kind of obvious, with how paranoid Naruto had been earlier about being found out and having skills revealed. It only added to the mystery that was the blonde. "The questions were also designed to put pressure on a team as a whole, especially the slower members of a group, making us more likely to freak out and mess up. The questions were designed so that a genin wouldn't be able to answer them most times, having to cheat to pass."

Ibiki grinned slightly. "Good observation, Uchiha. There were two chunin placed in the crowd who already knew the answers, to help you guys out. Of course, any that cheated below a low chunin level were out." He paused then, taking his headband off to reveal scars and burns. "Because in many situations, information of more important than life, and on missions and the battlefield, people risk their lives and sanity to get it." He continued to explain it, his speech going the same as it had originally.

"I still don't get the tenth question!" Temari said.

His explanation, once again, followed the original timeline. The 'to be or not to be' question, as Stella called it. Naruto didn't get the reference.

'Brat, you seriously need to brush up on your intergalactic education. That's the next thing we're going to start on! Literature, history, culture, demography, and geography of some of the more notable other worlds!'

'Why the HELL do I have to know jackshit about a world on the other side of the Universe?'

'Cause I said so, and it'll be important to know if we want to seek help from other worlds or their demons and deities, at least. Although there are many powerful beings focused here, there are others who might help us elsewhere. It's called diplomacy.'

'Great… And how are we supposed to contact these other worlds? It isn't like we can poof to a world we don't know the exact location of, even using the Highway!'

'Yah… I'm still working on that one…'

Naruto internally rolled his eyes. He knew that despite millions of years of effort, the people of this world had never managed to actually maintain contact with another world long enough to secure their help in any of their worlds. Though technology was improving as the world changed, so they might actually be able to get help this time around.

'Hey, by the way, has the rebeling side ever lost to the resisting side?'

'All the time. The rebeling side actually starts showing up five ages into a new set of ages, and after that pair's beaten they show up at random, as far as I can tell, until the resisting side is beaten. If you and Sasuke are the rebeling side, then you're the second pair. The previous pair was killed, though only one of them is known to us.'

Naruto was unable to ask why and who as Anko poofed into the room, derailing all trains of thought.

"You're early, Anko," Ibiki said.

She sweatdropped, but covered her embarrasment by blowing up at Ibiki for the number of teams left.

"Forty eight?! You left sixteen teams? What the hell! This test's way to easy!" she yelled.

"This time, there are a lot of outstanding ones," he replied.

She snorted. "Whatever. Less than half of them will be left by the time I'm done."

The chunin hopefuls didn't like the sound of that…

"I'll explain everything once the second exam begins. Your jounin sensei will be given the location and time of the actual exam. Don't be late!" So saying, she poofed out, though not nearly as dramatically as she'd entered.

Ibiki sighed at her… pepiness, as the genin filled out of the room to go back to doing whatever the hell it was they did in their spare time.

Why the hell was Anko a jounin again?

How many of you had to read Stella expanation at least twice? Be truthful now… Denial isn't good for you :P

Pretty much Stella remembers most of her memories, or has had them filled in by someone else (namely Yosei). She still doesn't know most of the stuff that happened within fifty years before her memory loss, only bits and pieces. The only reason why she remembers most of the whole finding paterns stuff is because her research was spread over centuries, so the enitre thing isn't lost due to one or two holes. Just the insanely important stuff.

Now for the explanation of what she was actually saying: In the first part she explains that she wasn't originally the Crown Princess or anything close to it. She only became Crown Princess because everyone else who was even remotely related to royalty got killed off, vanished, or was sold into slavery. She also is a half blood, her mother of the Old Blood and her father of the New Blood.

The second part is about how their world evolves in a predictable patern, and how she'd started to unravel this when she had her memories wiped. She discovered that there's always a massive upheaval of some kind, either a massive war or a bunch of 'little' wars and rebellions. Everytime the world finishes changing there's a huge leap in technology, and ages shorten along with the time between upheavals. Time's also measured in smaller amounts. Also there's always a pair of 'main characters' that decide the fate of the world on the old side (resisting) and on the new side (rebeling). She and Luna were on the rebeling side when the last upheaval came. One thing to note is that the rebeling pair starts showing up five ages (each age is a decade long at this point in the story) after the last upheaval. The rebeling side can be beaten, and if they are then more rebeling pairs show up at seemingly random intervals until they win. After the current upheaval finishes ages will last only a year, and it's noted that humans will prolly start to be replaced by a faster adapting species, like they originally started to replace demons.

The third part is about how she thinks that Sasuke and Naruto are a rebeling pair, and the evidence for this and the types of personalities and patterns amoung the resisting and rebeling pairs. Also it's noted that they would be the second pair, and that the identity of the first pair is known. It's also revealed that Stella knows one of the two resisting pair, Madara. (it was noted earlier that one of the rebeling pair's almost always related to the pattern slot of the resisting pair that Madara occupies, furthering the evidence that Sasuke and Naruto are a rebeling pair.)

The explanation of the explanation hopefully wasn't too long... I suggest you read the real explanation if you can, since there were a bunch of hints in there that would end up taking the same amount of space to summarize as they did to write.

This chappie's actual wording (minus ANs, basically) is also shorter than previous ones, though only by a few hundred or so words. It's still something, though… And it's building up over time. :(

I don't think that there's any tranlations to be done in this chappie, but I'm not certain. If there's a word/ phrase that you don't understand, please notify me.

PLEASE REVIEW! It's SO simple! Just click that little blue button at the bottom of the screen and type a letter or two, or maybe even a whole word! Full reviews are preffered, but I'll take what I can get. Constructive criticism is coveted! Suggestions/ ideas are welcome, and will help me get over my writer's block.

Sorry if this chappie seems a bit forced or rushed or non flowy. I was having major writer's block so I pretty much dedicated it to back story, explanations, and just getting it over with.

If any of ya are itching for further SasuNaru development, do I have a surprise in store for you… hehehe XD. It'll come shortly after the major plot twist and the temporary picking back up of the plot.

I'll say it again: plot will only last in major like it'll start being soon until the end of the chunin exams. I've got a concrete backstory, but other than that only a few possible half-formed plans that may or may not work/ flow. Then ideas and suggestions will be necessary, and I might even end up having a vote as to general direction (if I do I'll make sure not to spoil the actual plot events! I'll just give a theme/ mood that the story will turn towards if I take that path). Currently I'm deciding between three choices, though due to lack of drama on one of them it might drop to two…

That's all for now! Review please!

Ja ne!

Posted: 5/2/08, or Friday, March 2nd, 2008