Yes, I know that you need a three man squad to enter the chunin exams but this is my story and I can do whatever the hell I want with it. It rains when I wish it, characters die when I'm in a bad mood, and I can fuck with team seven as much as I damn well please so in a way…I AM KAMI! Anyway, my heart swells with pride, 5,000+ hits! Though I kind of wish the lot of you would click the button below and send me some feedback… Even a smilie or flames is okay! …I take it back, please don't be mean. If you don't like then why are you reading chapter 10? O_o
Enjoy my story! ~Abarat Fox
Sasuke had, as usual, arrived early. He knew that the rest of his team mates wouldn't be up for hours and Kakashi would be even later than that but he had fallen into the habit of waking up at dawn a long time ago. He casually leaned back against bridge railing and drummed his fingers. He closed his eyes and lost himself in his thoughts. It wasn't until several hours later that his annoying fan girl showed up.
"Hi, Sasuke-kun." Sakura said very loudly. Sasuke glanced at her out of the corner of his eye then closed them again. "S-Sasuke-kun?" Sakura sounded crestfallen and she looked stung by his lack of response.
"Hi." Sasuke grunted and Sakura immediately perked up. She imitated his position on the railing a few feet away from her love interest and stared at him with fawning eyes. Sasuke felt a little uncomfortable under her stare and when he glanced at her again he noticed that she was blushing. Sasuke felt his hackles rise and he backed away very slowly but she kept on inching closer. It wasn't until they were nearly on the other side of the bridge that Sasuke gave up and let her get close. Silently, he prayed that their other teammate would hurry up so he wouldn't be alone with the pink-haired girl for too long.
Unfortunately, an hour later his prayer had not been answered. It was around this time that Sakura finally noticed that it was just the two of them. She looked around nervously before she shyly turned to Sasuke. "Um, where's…?"
"Not here yet." Sasuke said without looking at her.
"Oh." She grumbled. They waited around until they finally heard the thump of ninja sandals and the scratch of claws coming towards them. Sasuke's head snapped up and he gratefully watched the figure of the last member of team seven running in their direction.
"Hey! Sorry I'm late! I slept in!" He shouted and waved to them. Sakura pushed out her bottom lip and put her hands on her hips. Sasuke inwardly groaned. He didn't want to listen to Sakura's scolding again, even if it wasn't directed to him. Their teammate skidded to a halt in front of them and doubled over, panting.
"Damnit Kiba! Why the hell are you late?" Sakura yelled. Kiba glared at her while Akamaru finally caught up to his master and flopped over in exhaustion.
"Like I said, I slept in." Kiba growled. He straightened up and took of his hood. Then after some hesitation he took of his parka and draped it over the bridge railing.
"You should be more like Sasuke! He's never late! And he's way stronger that you! You'll hold back the whole team if you don't pick up the pace!" Kiba was cut short from a reply by Sasuke.
"You were late too, weren't you Sakura?"
"I-I-I slept in! I didn't even have time to blow dry my hair." Sakura looked away from her teammates as she spluttered out her lame excuse. She had hoped that Sasuke would have backed her up but evidently she had been wrong.
"Well would you rather I had come without washing my face or brushing my teeth?" Kiba grumbled but everyone ignored him. The brown haired boy sat down next to his dog and scratched him between his ears.
"And besides, Kiba's not the one in danger of holding us back." Sasuke said with a smirk. Sakura looked at him in confusion but Sasuke offered no other explanation so she dropped it. The Sasuke sat down near Kiba and rubbed Akamaru's belly. The dog wagged its tail pathetically and whined but that just made Sasuke smile. Kiba and Sasuke made small talk and ignored Sakura while they waited for their sensei.
Kakashi appeared in a puff of smoke on top of a pole. "Morning people!" He said brightly.
"It's past noon," Kiba complained under his breath.
"Today I got lost on the road of life." Kakashi continued as if he had not been interrupted.
"Yeah right, liar! Apologize!" Sakura shrieked and all three males had to rub their ears. Kakashi jumped down from his pole and stood in front of his students.
"Well, anyway…" Kakashi said, "I know this is sudden but I nominated you guys for the chunin exams."
"You think that makes up for-!" Kakashi shut Sakura up by handing each of his students a slip of paper covered in writing.
"Here are your applications. Although all I did was nominate you, whether or not you take the exams is up to each of you. Those who wish to take it should sign those papers and turn them in at room 301 a week from tomorrow at four PM." Sasuke and Sakura stared at their applications while Kiba stared at Kakashi in awe. Kakashi smiled at his students, their reactions where all so cute! "That's all." He said and then vanished.
The trio studied their applications in silence until Kiba burst into rambunctious laughter. "Hahahahah! The Chunin Exams! There'll be a bunch of strong guys there! Right, Akamaru?" Kiba's dog barked a few times then chased his tail in excitement. Kiba grinned as he thought of a Suna ninja he had met a few days ago; a weird clown dude with purple face makeup and a bad attitude. Kiba had seen him abusing a little kid and the clown had acted high and mighty when Kiba told him to knock it off. Alright! I won't loss to some stupid clown! He thought. He glanced at Sasuke who glared back at him. And I can't loss to Sasuke either.
Sasuke, meanwhile, was thinking about a red haired ninja he had met at the same time. I might be able to fight him… Sasuke quivered with excitement as he thought about that. Sasuke smirked and turned his head so he was looking at a random building. The chunin exams certainly would be interesting. He looked back at his teammates and noticed, much to his surprise, that Sakura looked unhappy. I wonder what's wrong with her? Eh, whatever.
They each waved their goodbyes and took off in different directions, each in their own little fantasies. Kiba dreamed of triumphing over all his appoints, Sasuke dreamt of becoming stronger, and Sakura wondered if she was even good enough to try.
Deidara was furious. He and Sasori had reached Suna the previous night and Sasori had told Deidara that he would wait outside the village while he captured the one-tail. Deidara had stowed away his robe and headband and walked into Suna under the guise of a civilian. It had taken Deidara until the next day's (today's) noon to find out that the so called 'Sand Siblings', a group comprising of two ninja he didn't care about and the one-tail, had left for Konoha some time ago so that they could participate in the chunin exams. He had exited Suna with the intentions of informing his partner only to discover that Sasori was long gone. The only trace of him Deidara could find was a small sheet of paper that said;
Brat,
I've gone to Konoha to get the one-tail. Don't bother to show up.
Sasori
Deidara had got a lot of pleasure out of shredding the note and the blowing up the tiny pieces until nothing was left. Deidara couldn't believe that Sasori would just ditch him! What kind of crazy bastard left a fourteen year old kid alone in a strange country? Although, Deidara had traveled to Wind country several times with Naruto he'd never gone as far as Suna. He was so angry that he had spent the last hour sulking. He had started to wonder if he should return to the Akatsuki base or follow the crazy puppet. Neither sounded appealing but he was rapidly coming to the conclusion that if he went back to the base he would meet up with Naruto more quickly. Deidara sighed and drew his knees up to his chest and sighed. Why was there never an easy answer?
The part of Wind country around Suna was completely flat and Deidara could see for miles no matter what direction he looked in. He had already scanned the area for Sasori but when he couldn't find him he had settled for watching the one road that led into Suna. Deidara rested his chin on his knees and pouted a bit more. He had nothing to stir him out of his self pity and Deidara was too caught up in being unhappy to think of much else. That is, until Deidara spotted a small dust cloud in the corner of his eye.
Deidara turned his head so he could better see the tiny cloud of sand. It was on the ground and moving at a moderate speed along the road to Suna. It occurred to Deidara that the cloud was actually just sand that was being kicked up by some high-speed runner but why anyone would need to run that fast was beyond him. Deidara watched the tiny figure in front of the cloud and felt something sink in the pit of his stomach. Damn, looks like he really is a faster runner than me. Deidara stood up and watched the figure of Naruto charge closer.
All Deidara could make out of Naruto was a black smudge for his shirt and an orange smudge for his pants. Even though he knew that Naruto could not see him, Deidara waved and grinned, all self pity forgotten.
As Naruto grew closer Deidara felt a wave of dread sweep over him. Something was very wrong. Naruto's hair and skin had been stained dark from dirt and grime and he had dark stains on his pants that seemed an awful lot like blood. Deidara's grin faded and he lowered his hand. What was happening? Why would Naruto look so terrible? And for that matter, why had he come to Suna?
Before Deidara realized it, he was running to intercept Naruto and shouting his name. "Naruto! Naruto! Stop! Hey!" He heard himself shout. Naruto noticed Deidara running towards him and a look of pure shock crossed his face.
"Ani-Deidara?" He asked just barely loud enough for Deidara to hear him. In the back of his head, Deidara wondered what Naruto had been about to call him but he had more important things to worry about. Like why they were both still running. The two of them realized this at the same time, a mere millisecond before they crashed into each other. Naruto felt his bones reverberate painfully and his muscles scream in protest as he came to a sudden stop. Naruto stumbled backwards but managed to stay on both feet. Deidara, however, was not so lucky.
Naruto watched in stunned silence as Deidara picked himself out of a small impact crater. Deidara gingerly felt his ribs and was relieved to find that none of them had broken and only one had been cracked. Deidara's hair had come out of its ponytail and was obscuring his vision so he had to tuck it behind his ears.
"Deidara?" Naruto said the word as if it was the most unbelievable thing in the world.
"Naruto?"
"You totally look like a chick with your hair down." Deidara grit his teeth and glowered at Naruto and the kitsune snickered. "Sorry but you do."
Deidara shook his head and sighed. "Naruto what happened to you? You look terrible."
"So I've heard." Naruto said with a smirk.
"What happened to you?" Naruto's smirk suddenly looked melancholy and he avoided Deidara's eyes. "Naruto?" Deidara was very concerned. This was not normal behavior at all. Naruto's eyes flickered back to Deidara's and his lips started to form words but before any sound could come out Naruto's eyes rolled back in his head and his knees buckled. It was only Deidara's quick action that saved Naruto from face planting the sand. Deidara had a strange feeling of Déjà vu as he put one of Naruto's arms around his neck and half carried, half dragged the unconscious ninja to Suna.
Deidara went to the first hotel he spotted and hauled Naruto inside. He struggled over to the front desk and gasped, "Room for two please," To the young brown-haired woman at the front desk. The woman popped her gum once before replying.
"I spect yul wanna be on thu furs fluur"
"Yeah." Deidara gasped. When had Naruto become so heavy?
"Iz 'e yur bruthur?"
"Uh huh."
"I see thu resemblance. Roum fiftan. Go roun thu corner thur 'n itz da furs door on yur lef, unersand? Pu 'em down an comun bac ta pay, kay?"
"Okay." The woman popped her gum a few more times then handed Deidara a tarnished key. Deidara hauled Naruto in the direction he believed the woman had indicated. He quickly found the room and dragged the kitsune in. He flicked on the lights and curled his lip slightly at the peeling purple wallpaper. He dumped Naruto onto the near bed and pushed him into what seemed to be a comfortable position. He spent a little more time than necessary adjusting the covers so that he would be as comfortable as possible. Eventually he left the room and returned to the front desk.
He paid the woman 'trwee unuered an sevenda faive' for one night and found out that there was a 'restarant' on the other side of the hotel and a complementary 'breckfist' in the morning. But before he got any food he should take his 'bruthur' to the 'artafital ot-springs' in the back of the hotel. Deidara nodded and smiled politely while he tried to place the woman's accent. In the end he was unsuccessful. The woman, or Leanne as her name tag said, waved Deidara off so she could talk to another customer. Deidara trudged back to the room with his hands in his pockets.
Naruto was still asleep when Deidara got back to the room. Deidara half smiled and dropped his backpack in the middle of the floor. He hadn't even noticed that it had been on his back since he had originally left Suna. Deidara took a knee and rifled through his pack until he found a spare hair tie.
"I look nothing like a girl" He grumbled to the still unconscious Naruto as he tied up his hair. He looked at his reflection in the glass cover of a painting of a wheat field. Reluctantly satisfied, Deidara turned his attention to Naruto. Tobi wasn't with him so that meant that the Akatsuki probably didn't know that Naruto was the nine-tail's son. Deidara supposed he should feel grateful about that but in truth he was still worried.
Deidara sat down on Naruto's bed and studied the younger boy's face. Very slowly, Deidara reached out a hand and shook Naruto by the shoulder. Naruto's eyes fluttered and he sat bolt upright so fast that Deidara fell off the bed in surprise. Naruto turned his head in the direction of the sound but his eyes remained out of focus as Deidara, for the second time that day, hauled himself ungracefully to his feet.
"Never one for subtlety, are you?" Deidara said as he rubbed the beginning of a burse on his temple. Naruto's eyes came into focus and he stared blandly at the older blond. Deidara griped a bit more as he plopped himself down on the foot of the bed. "So, Naruto, now will you tell me what happened?"
"Granny's dead." Naruto said without emotion. Deidara's expression didn't change for a few seconds while the words sunk in.
"Oh fuck."
"Yeah." Naruto studied his toes under the blankets while Deidara tried to gather his thoughts. He hadn't been as close to the old woman as Naruto and most of the times she made him uncomfortable. Her death didn't really upset him that much but he was concerned for Naruto's health. Deidara knew from experience that Naruto didn't handle grief well.
When they were younger Deidara had bought the kitsune three hermit crabs as pets but the little animals hadn't survived the harsh Iwa winter. Naruto had distracted himself by training until he collapsed every day for several weeks after their death until he was able to deal with his emotions. But those were just three pets he'd had for only a few months, how would he get over the death of a human that was one of his only two family members? Naruto would train himself to death!
Deidara immediately thought of ways to distract Naruto but none of them seemed likely. He decided that he would try to get the full story out of Naruto. "How?" Deidara asked but all Naruto did was shrug. "When?"
"I don't know. I went to visit her and she just sort of died. Then I went to find you." Deidara eyed the scratches and grime all over Naruto and frowned. He grabbed Naruto's shoulders and forced him to look into his eyes.
"Naruto," Deidara said very carefully. "What happened to you?"
"I went looking for you." Naruto said simply. Deidara grit his teeth and stared at Naruto until the younger boy had to look away.
"Well you found me. Now come on, you need to go bathe. I'll find you some new cloths, okay?" Naruto nodded and climbed out of his bed. Deidara led him to the door and then to the door to the men's locker room. As soon as Naruto was out of sight he set off at a leisurely pace. He had set Naruto quite a challenge, that grime looked like it would take hours to scrub out.
"He's, um, about a foot shorter than me but he has broader shoulders and, uh…" Deidara hated shopping. He was in the middle of explaining what Naruto looked like to the amused assistant so that she could help him find clothes in Naruto's size. Finding the shoes had been easy since Naruto and Deidara had identical foot sizes but he had no idea what size anything else should be. "With lots of orange and black…. He likes dark blue too so…I, ummm…"
"I think you might want to take a look at the rack back here." The assistant led Deidara to a small rack in the back of the store and Deidara started examining the articles. Occasionally the assistant would make helpful suggestions until Deidara had found some clothes he was satisfied with. An orange muscle shirt with a dark blue spiral on the front and back, orange pants, black fingerless gloves, and a dark blue jacket with a fuzzy white collar.
Deidara returned to the hotel and went into the men's locker room. He was pleased that no one was in it and he quickly replaced Naruto's old clothes with his purchase, excluding his headband. Deidara curled his lip as he stuffed Naruto's grimy old clothes into a plastic bag and left the hotel again. Deidara considered throwing away the rags but in the end he took them to the laundry matt.
Naruto was in the room the next time Deidara entered. The boys studied each other for a few moments before Deidara burst out laughing. "Yeah, yeah. It's so fucking hilarious." Naruto said as he blushed. The problem was that all the clothes Deidara had got were way too big; Naruto looked like he was swimming in his jacket and he had taken the cord for the curtain to use as a belt.
"Here!" Deidara gasped as he threw the bag holding Naruto's old clothing to its owner. "We'll just shrink those in the wash after we eat okay?"
"Humph." Naruto caught the bag in mid air and stalked off to the bathroom to change. Deidara snickered as Naruto stumbled over the baggy legs of his pants. Half an hour later they were in the restaurant wolfing down as much food as they had managed to fit on their plates from the buffet.
"So why did you come to Suna anyway?" Naruto said around a mouthful of Raman noodles.
"Oh, Sasori and I got sent on a mission. He's not here, stop looking for him."
"Then where is he?" Deidara sighed and explained what had happened, although he left out the parts about the akatsuki being after the nine-tail's son. Naruto had too much on his mind to think about as well.
Naruto seemed to find the whole thing very amusing. "Nice! Sasori's way better at practical jokes than I would have guessed!"
"Well I'm glad you enjoy it." Deidara viciously prodded several dumplings.
"Oh, relax. Sasori's really slow. I bet if you made a bird tomorrow and if you flew really fast you could catch him before he even entered Konoha!" Deidara gave Naruto a funny look.
"You really think that I should? I mean…"
"Of course! And I'll come with you!"
"Why?" Deidara asked before he could stop himself. "I-I mean it's not as if I wouldn't want you to come with i-it's just that uh… never mind." Deidara mentally kicked himself for being so stupid. He needed to keep an eye on Naruto while he was grieving! And now he's looking all thoughtful. Why am I so stupid? Deidara thought but unknown to him, Naruto was thinking about something completely different. Naruto remembered the last time he had been in the Akatsuki base, he had been very aggressive and the people that he considered to be his friends were probably very angry with him. Naruto bit his bottom lip and the two boys finished eating in silence.
Deidara pressed a button and the washing machine whirled into action. Naruto's clothing only needed to go down a few sizes and then it would be wearable. Deidara pressed his forehead against the cool glass of the machine and moaned loudly enough for several old people to send him disapproving glances but Deidara just ignored them. He just had so much to deal with!
Deidara dragged himself to a row of chairs in the back of the store and sat down next to Naruto who was still absorbed in thought. Suddenly Naruto stood up and shouted, "I've got it!"
"Got what?" Deidara asked, ignoring the disapproving glares from the old people.
"I know why you need me to come with you!" Naruto looked like his head was about to explode with excitement.
"Why?" Naruto leaned closer to Deidara and whispered in his ear.
"You said this guy was my age and he was entering the Chunin exams right?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
"Well what if I entered the chunin exams and became friends with him? That way I can trick him into coming to our base!" Deidara blinked several times in surprise.
"That's actually not a bad idea." And it would distract Naruto wonderfully.
"Well then it's settled. We catch up to Sasori and convince him tomorrow!" Naruto looked so determined that Deidara couldn't help but believe him.
He grinned at Naruto like a half crazed monkey and said, "Then it's settled!"
*Cough* REVIEW! *Cough* This was my longest chapter yet! I'm so pleased! I had the choice to get some sleep or crank this out and you can see what I chose to do. I'm sorry if there were more errors than normal, I haven't slept in a while… -_-; So what did you think of Kiba on team seven? I figured that Naruto was put on the team because he was at the bottom of the class and without Naruto around Kiba would have been the failure. Poor Kiba. As you can tell I don't like Sakura. I told you I'ld be Sakura-bashing~! XD