Ah, the joy that is the productivity of a team meeting. Naruto could only imagine how dull and boring life could be without these wondrous periods of group discussion and conversation. Sakura was fawning over Sasuke, Sasuke was being anal retentive, and he... he was sipping ramen broth while Kakashi was missing.

Oh yes, this was going to be fun...

"Seriously Sasuke, you want to have fun, not bore people out of their minds..." Naruto explained as he lowered his ramen. "Why don't you work with Sakura and Ino to plan out the music and decorations?"

The twitch of Sasuke's eyes gave him a feeling of satisfaction that few others could know. There was just some sort of joy that bubbled up from deep in his chest at the sight of Sasuke contemplating murder on someone other than his older brother. The sparkly, star-struck eyes that Sakura had at the thought of helping Sasuke so intimately only tripled his joy. Now if only he had some... oh wait... he did...

Taking another sip of ramen he savored just how perfect this meeting was going.

At least it was, until Kakashi decided to show up about an hour late for meeting, which meant that he was actually an hour early. An hour and change if Naruto wasn't too mistaken. "Hey Kakashi-sensei! Want some ramen? I can send a clone to get some more if you do..."

"Thank you... no..." Kakashi answered while looking at his cute little students. "Actually I was just talking with the Hokage, and he asked me to pass these application forms and waivers to you guys so you can attend the chuunin exams... all your little friends from the academy should be there."

Okay, this could cause a bit of a wrinkle in his plans, but he could make this work, he just had to play it right. "COOL! Does this mean that you believe in us? Maybe I could become a teaching assistant to Iruka-sensei if I become a chuunin..."

"Maa... such a waste Naruto, you are a natural for a battlefield command position," Kakashi intoned while waving the forms under his student's noses. "In fact, the Hokage seemed particularly interested in you joining..."

Oh the old man was going to pay for that... singling him out like this, getting Sasuke burning with a desire to combat him in the stupid exams. "But if I pass I can sign up to be an instructor at the academy right? Just like Iruka-sensei!"

"Stupid Naruto, if you're going to be an instructor there, someone else will have to teach them right," Sakura shouted at the sudden impact crater that Naruto left in the ground. When he didn't emerge right away, they began wondering what was going on. A closer inspection found wisps of smoke drifting from the bottom of the hole.

"Maybe it's a good thing I had a clone watching me..." Naruto stated from behind them, while they were looking into the crater. After they jumped and whirled around on him, he held up a stack of paper. "So... I fill this out, be at the place they say on here at the time... and we're all good to go, right?"

"Not quite... just show up with these two, try not to kill each other, and I'll meet ya there before you guys go into the exams," Kakashi answered passing over the forms to the other two.

"I'm going to go look int... I mean get some ramen, yeah... not looking into the competition at all..." Naruto covered badly while heading away from the others. Sure enough, that got Sasuke and Sakura's mental gears in motion, now he just had to add in the finishing blow. "Who knows, maybe we'll celebrate all us first years getting into the finals or something..."

The trap was now baited, and he was on his way to find out about the competition, not the people, but the exams themselves. It looked like it was time for clones, henges, and the Joker to come into play.

Oh, and he had to get Haku to play Ms. Freeze too. Couldn't forget that. She would be a big part to play eventually.

My, my, my the life of a ninja was never dull was it?

Speaking of dull lives, let's check in on Naruto's two teammates, shall we?

Well Naruto was working out how to build Arkham, his two teammates were reading through their waivers. "He was acting odd..." Sasuke grunted, while flipping a page.

"What do you mean Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked, trying to figure out why her waiver seemed to be written in semaphore. Not that she was having a difficult time understanding it, but it was a bit odd. "He was being weird like normal..."

"He didn't resist a chance for advancement, like he did for graduation, most missions, filing reports, eating vegetables, training as a group, or even showing up for team meetings in general..." Sasuke clarified, wondering if that powdery film on the front page might not have been the best of things to ignore.

"You're probably thinking too much about it, remember he wants to work in the academy..." Sakura offered with a shrug, trying to figure out what pink with purple polka dot flags meant. "Or he's just trying to get us over thinking it..."

Now, it was said that the two of them were the best of their class. And if they were truly the best that their class had to offer, which mercifully they weren't since the true bests of class had hidden their true talents like good ninjas should, then it would seem that even the idiot of the class would be a better teacher than the current staff.

But we're digressing here, it appeared that these two weren't going to do anything entertaining any time this decade. So let's go check in on the missing member of Team Seven. Their wonderful instructor, and dedicated teacher, who always fought for the preferential treatment of his entire team was currently... reading his orange backed porn novel right outside of Iruka's classroom.

Backing away slowly now, slowly... Oh, there's the reaction... an entire wall safe impacted Kakashi square in the chest, sending him flying away. There was something to be said for the classics I suppose.

Maybe Kakashi should learn to read his pornographic novels in the comfort of his own home like most decent, upstanding citizens.

But where's the fun in that?