AN: Hey everybody! Just me again, brining for your viewing pleasure another chapter.

Not really a whole lot to say here other than a word of thanks to Lamson, and ixt000, and all of those of you who offer constructive criticism and point out where I made a grammatical error or something like that. I love interacting with the audience and hope I'm doing a good job of being entertaining. On with the Fic!


When Left With Little

Early morning hours in Konoha are so peaceful. Before the sun rises, before the birds begin to chirp, and it's still cold from the night before; everything seems so at rest and serene. So one could imagine just how annoyed Nara Shikamaru was to be up and about at this hour rather than lazing in bed. In all actuality, it had taken numerous threats from his father to get the broom-headed boy out of bed.

So damn troublesome… he thought to himself as he meandered towards the Hokage's office. Why did dad have to sign me up for this stupid test thing anyway? It's not like I have less important things to be doing today.

"Shikamaru!" called his father from up ahead, "If you don't step to we'll be late and won't get anything out of this."

"Coming father," responded Shikamaru, walking only quickly enough to meet his father's demands, and absolutely no faster. As the moments rolled by, he wondered exactly what kind of hoops he would have to jump through for the Hokage in order to finish this 'test.' According to the senior Nara this was some event sponsored by ANBU, which made Shikamaru think he may very well in the running for a future post in the village guard which was sure to open up.

Just great… Shikamaru mentally carped, even if it's not for a post, it'll at least involve a lot of paperwork, and maybe even some obstacle courses and the like. There goes the day and the worst part is, he swallowed hard at the thought, I'm missing out on so much sleep.

After another few minutes of a quiet walk, the two Naras found themselves in front of the Ziggurat like offices of the Konoha officials, and began their ascent up the stairs.

"Shikamaru," said the boy's father in a much more cooled voice, "I don't expect much of you, and I don't expect you to like this, however you will go through with it or neither of will get any peace from the rest of the family for as long as we live."

"What exactly will I be doing?" asked Shikamaru, pausing and putting his arms behind his head.

"You'll see," said Mr. Nara, "Just don't be surprised if even you have to really push yourself."

Great… thought Shikamaru.

SC

In the great black void of Kyuubi's realm, the usual peace and quiet had been replaced with the harsh shouts and cries of combat. No less than five figures robed in black and flickering in and out of sight had completely surrounded Naruto and were relentlessly hurling kunai at him. The blonde genin however, neither fled nor retaliated but instead had drawn both of the wakizashi from Maibu, and was spinning and twirling around in a small red circle carved in the black earth around him. Despite sweating profusely he nimbly flicked the swords around, knocking the knives out of the air or dodging them all together.

"Better," remarked the giant fox from his cage, many yards away, "Much more effective than those rampant flailing movements you were making some hours ago. Now at least you're not being reduced to a pin cushion."

Naruto smirked, and in a single spin, deflected two of the knives back at their owners, who subsequently fell backwards into nonexistence as the kunai thudded into their chests. The genin then flung the swords at two of the others, dispatching them before they could react to the attack. But prior to the second set of two falling, the fifth had already been struck down by one of Naruto's own Kunai.

"Not bad wouldn't you say?" asked Naruto, stepping out of the circle.

Kyuubi's eyes narrowed just a bit, and instantly thousands upon thousands of kunai, needles, and ninja stars were flung from the nothingness all around and shot towards Naruto like bullets.

"Hey," he shouted, ducking and covering his head, "What are you-" he was cut off by a deafening roar as the missiles split the air all around him and thumped into the ground all around. For nearly a minute he hunkered there frozen in place by the rain of metal.

"By the fourth," he said as the last missile fell and he stood slowly up, "what was that for? You could've killed me!"

"The exercise," growled Kyuubi, "Was merely to fend off the enemy ninja by deflecting their attacks. But you had to try and show off. When will you learn kit: don't rush in recklessly. That nearly cost you your life the other day and you still seem to forget just how easy it is to walk into a trap."

"I've gotten a lot better," said Naruto, "I did your silly drill for hours without getting hurt after I got the technique down…"

"But all it takes is one mistake kit. Just look at ME." Kyuubi's voice was rank with condescension, but also something else… almost like self-pity. "I am a Demon Lord, a god among insects. Yet I stepped into a single trap and suddenly I'm a prisoner…"

"That sounded awfully contrite for a Demon Lord," Naruto said playfully.

Kyuubi snapped his massive jaws with enough force to shake the floor and send tremors through the air. "Choose your words carefully," rumbled the Demon.

"Ok, ok," said Naruto, leaning back against the bars. "What time is it out there anyway?"

Kyuubi looked up, then shook himself like a dog would if it was bitten by a flea. "Eight am on the dot," he growled, "So we'll have to call this lesson done for today. You need to wake up and get going."

Naruto quickly obliged and stood up, suddenly entering the flight like trance as he had in the hospital just before he came to. He opened his eyes and saw that everything was just the way he'd left it; the door was barricaded with the blackened remains of some planks of wood, and the charred walls were still threatening to collapse into piles of ash.

Naruto stood up from the pile of sheets he had been sleeping on and stretched widely. "Home sweet home," he muttered almost bitterly.

"Reminds me of some of the nicer sections of Hell," said Kyuubi from the back of Naruto's mind.

"Would you stay out of my thoughts unless I'm in trouble?" asked Naruto, surprisingly politely, "If I just go around talking to some voice in my head then people are going to know you're active which wouldn't be good for either of us."

"Good point," said Kyuubi, "Fine then, I'll refrain from interfering with your thoughts."

"Thanks." Naruto walked to what was left of his old closet and pulled out the only suit he hadn't left at the Yamanaka's. Grimacing at the memories of the day before, Naruto threw the suit on over his boxers and decided to go out for breakfast since the explosion some time before had destroyed all the food in his apartment.

"And what makes a better breakfast than Ramen?" he asked himself as he trotted out the door. The blonde genin bounded down the stairs and out into the open street, running towards Ichiraku since he didn't want to be late for the mission.

By the time he arrived it was only five after eight, leaving him plenty of time to eat in the nearly abandoned ramen stand. He walked in and sat at the far right stool as Ayame called from the back that she'd be out in just a second. Almost five minutes later, she walked in and greeted him cheerily.

"Good morning Naruto," she said warmly, "You're here awfully early for lunch."

"Actually I wasn't here for lunch," said Naruto, "I was hoping to get breakfast."

Ayame stammered for just a second then put her hand behind her head and tried to sound as cordial as possible. "Um… we don't exactly offer a breakfast menu. We're a lunch and dinner stand."

"Oh," said Naruto, disappointed and hungry, "I guess I'll be going then. Thanks anyway."

He got up and turned to leave without saying another word, but Ayame could hear his stomach growling from where she stood, and she put a finger to her lip.

"Naruto," she called after him. He stopped and looked around at her. "If you want to give me a few minutes to get everything set up around here, I'll whip you up anything on the menu you'd like."

"Really?!" asked Naruto joyously, "Anything I want?"

"Yep," said Ayame beaming, "and I'll pick up the tab."

"You're the best!" Naruto yelled as he jumped back onto the stool. "I really mean it. You guys really are the best."

"Only for our favorite customer," she laughed.

SC

By the time Naruto reached the courtyard in front of the gate, it was only ten till nine, but the whole area was a buzz of activity. This was one of the busier sides of town, accounting for nearly a third of the total businesses in the village, with the more residential sections being just to the north. So it was no surprise that Naruto had trouble picking out anyone in particular from the bustling crowd of people, and that his search for the other members of team seven ended with him sitting on the edge of the fountain in the center of the courtyard.

The fountain itself was a beautiful work, depicting the first Hokage standing tall and looking out over the city, and Naruto found himself starring wide eyed at the marble image. One day, I'll be a hero, he thought, and everyone in this village will love me.

It wasn't until a passerby bumped him, nearly knocking him into the water that Naruto snapped out of his daydreaming, and noticed a familiar pink haired girl on the other side of the fountain.

"Sakura," he shouted, standing up and walking around to her, "Sakura."

She turned around and looked for who was calling her name, and looked away when she saw that Naruto was approaching. He sat down a couple of feet away from her, and glanced over. Sakura tried mightily to pretend she was just lost in crowd-watching, but gave up and looked over.

"Where are the others?" asked Naruto, "It's almost nine, shouldn't they be here by now?"

Sakura shrugged and cocked her head off to one side. "You'd think," she groaned, "but then you never can tell about Kakashi-Sensei. He always has some weird little thing on his agenda."

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, remember that excuse he made the other day when he was late to our lunch at Ichiraku?"

Sakura stifled a giggle, and then looked down. "I remember," she said, "I just about slapped him. It's so irritating that he's always late and always has some stupid line to try and get out of it."

Now it was Naruto's turn to shrug. "It's not really that big of a deal. I mean he's a Jounin after all and I'm sure he has his reasons. Security issues probably tie him up and he tries to make it funny by coming up with something to make us laugh. You know you chuckle about it later," he said turning to her and grinning.

She smiled and nodded. "It is kinda funny once you think about it."

"Sasuke though," said Naruto, "doesn't seem like he'd be the type to be late, or right on time for that matter. At the academy he was always the first one to class, and when er left for Aerin he was ready to go before any of us."

Sakura wavered, then gulped. "I've been meaning to talk to you about that," she said sheepishly.

"About Sasuke?" asked Naruto. A bitter edge crept into his voice as he remembered how all she wanted to talk about in the academy was Sasuke.

Sakura shook her head and clutched her hands to her chest. "About Aerin," she mumbled, barely loud enough to be heard over the crowd. I just wanted to-"

Naruto listened intently, but suddenly looked up as she stopped. Kakashi, Sasuke, and an old man dressed in shabby clothes with a straw hat were walking up from within the cluster of people. Kakashi called out to them, and Naruto leapt up. Sakura hesitated but slowly stood up and followed the blonde over to the rest of the squad and the old man.

"Glad to see someone could make it on time," mumbled Sasuke, turning to look at their guest.

"Naruto, Sakura," said Kakashi before Sasuke could say anything else, "This is Tazuna-san. We'll be escorting him to the Wave in the next few days, so I hope you've all packed the essentials."

The three genin all nodded, and Naruto ran a mental checklist of everything he kept in his sack, and rummaged through it with his left hand to make sure he actually had it. Soldier pills, shuriken, kunai, wire, tags, emergency ration… It was all there.

"Wonderful," said Tazuna scowling off towards the distance behind the open gate. "When do we leave?"

"Right now," said Kakashi, motioning for the group to move out.

"This guy is so annoying," whispered Sasuke, leaning over to Naruto.

SC

"Well congratulations," Sarutobi said smiling brightly. "Shikamaru, I'm thoroughly impressed with your performance today."

Shikamaru stood opposite the Hokage on the other side of the large mahogany desk in the well lit and welcoming office. "Cool," the boy said unaffected, "What exactly do we do now? With all respect, I've been taking tests and running an obstacle course for the last four hours, and I'm beat."

"Yes, you have every reason to be a little tired. That test was Jounin level, yet you finished in less than a fifth of the average completion time, with a perfect score might I add. And you emerged unscathed from the course ANBU runs. Your performance was exceptional for anyone, and unheard of for a genin. There's not a doubt in my mind you'll be accepted."

Shikamaru shifted uneasily. "Wait, accepted to what?" he asked, "I never got any info on why exactly I was doing of this anyway. What's going on?"

Sarutobi grinned. "You mean your father didn't tell you?" asked the old man coyly. Shikamaru shook his head and the old man laughed. "That's just like him; never divulge any information at all. But what can I expect from a family of such high caliber?"

"Listen," said Shikamaru trying to sound respectful, "Thanks for complimenting my family and all, but seriously… what was all this about?"

Sarutobi got up and walked over to a small cabinet and opened it up. He took out a small tin, opened the lid, and pulled out a bit of brown mush between his fingers. Shikamaru watched impatiently as the Hokage took out his pipe and patted the mush into the bowl and stuck the stem in his mouth.

"Do you know how ANBU works?" asked the Hokage.

The genin was taken back by the question. "Which part? There's a lot too it." Shikamaru responded slowly.

"The training part," said Sarutobi. "Do you know how we recruit for ANBU and train those recruits?"

"I have no idea," Shikamaru responded immediately, "It's all kept secret."
"It's quite simple really," said the Hokage casually, "we scour the village for students who appear to have potential, then have them somehow prove that they might just have what it takes to guard the village. It's usually some kind of assessment interview, and if they pass we'll assign them to apprentice under a real ANBU scout out in the wilderness. They'll learn from the scout, go on missions, and make a very hefty salary, rather than earning money by the mission. Would any of this interest you?"

"Why do you ask?" Shikamaru scowled as he quickly worked the problem through his head, and came to a quick, concise conclusion.

Sarutobi just smiled and lit his pipe. "How do you like the desert?"

SC

Meanwhile, team seven was having almost no difficulty with their trek through the forest around Konoha. The biggest mishap was when and Sasuke had become so involved in a conversation regarding the Fourth Hokage's actions during the wars, that neither of them heard Kakashi warn them of a dip and a puddle in the road. Naturally, neither of them saw the pitfall and blundered right into it.

Sakura and Tazuna, who had been walking and talking about some of the fundamentals of being a ninja, both turned and chuckled but offered the boys a hand up, and the five of them continued on their way. Sasuke insisted on acting like nothing had happened, while Naruto was just embarrassed enough that he followed suit, despite trying to shake the mud out of his sandal every other step.

"Don't' you think it's kinda weird?" asked Sakura about a quarter mile down the road. "That it's been dry as a bone the past few days, with no rain and low humidity yet there was a puddle back there?"

Naruto, Sasuke, and now Tazuna were wrapped up in a rather heated debate over whether or not Konoha was the most powerful village in the region. Sasuke was somewhat apathetic, though he did lean towards Konoha being dominant, while Naruto was vehement in his declaring Konoha the greatest. Tazuna however seemed to think, given dozens rumors that an incredibly powerful force was the founder, that the Sound Village might have some running in the power race.

Guess it was nothing, Sakura thought to herself.

"Sakura," Kakashi said quietly.

"Yes Sensei?" she responded.

"That was a good observation. It might be wise to be on your guar- Aurgh!"

From the shade of the canopy of trees, a long, metallic whip, fastened of interlocking blades, had snapped out and wrapped itself around Kakashi's torso and arms. Quick as a flash, a second and identical whip shot from behind a twisted bramble and tangled around Kakashi's legs, leaving him completely bound up.

"Kakashi-Sensei!" shouted Sakura as the others realized what was happening.

Two figures shrouded in grey and black robes leapt from the shadows and pinned the group in. The taut lashes were wrapped around their arms, and before anyone could even flinch, they jumped away from each other, stretching the bladed whips even more.

The razors dug into Kakashi just a little before the attacking nins ferociously wrenched their weapons to finish the job. The genin could only watch as their leader was literately cut to shreds before their eyes. The blades passed through him like he was made of paper, and the dark nins jerked their whips back to their sides as bits of Kakashi fell to the ground before they had even had time to bleed.

"Brother! Kill him!" shouted one of the black figures in a raspy voice.

Immediately the two rushed straight for Tazuna, lifting their arms and brandishing wickedly curved metallic claws protruding from their gloves. Sasuke jumped in their way, performing a lightning fast series of seals in the process and out his fingers to his lips. As he drew in a breath, the raven haired boy glanced at Naruto and nodded.

The enemies, in mid jump, could do noting but come together in the air and propel themselves off one another in opposite directions to avoid the stream of fire Sasuke heaved at them.

Naruto, a wakizashi in each hand sped and leapt forward, swinging mightily at one of the brothers before he could react and brought the blade straight down on his head. The wakizashi shattered the bone in its path and cleaved the Nin's skull completely open, spilling blood and brains all over the path as Naruto jerked the blade back and stood aside to avoid the gore. The body fell forwards and collapsed in a heap.

Naruto, not wasting any time, spun and hurled the bloody sword at the other brother who had just landed. The edge grazed his ear and moved by, burring itself in the trunk of an oak beyond.

The nin diverted his attention from Sasuke and screamed when he saw his brother's mangled corpse bleeding out on the ground. He flung a small kunai at Sasuke, catching him off guard and clipping his ribs. He rushed towards Tazuna, only to be stopped dead in his tracks, as Kakashi materialized seemingly out of nothing. The copy-nin's fist was glowing brilliantly and screaming like a legion of angry birds.

"Chidori!" shouted Kakashi as he drove his hand through the nin's heart.

The demon brother, impaled by the still glimmering weapon, began to fall away, but suddenly became translucent and glassy, then fell to the ground with a splash.

A water clone!?! thought Sakura, gasping in horror at the battle in front of her. But then- she turned to look for the real one and her heart nearly stopped as she saw a shadow in the canopy diving like an arrow for Naruto.

"Naruto!" she shouted, as she ran for him, "Look out!"

The shadow took the shape of the Demon Brother, ready to strike. Kakashi and Sasuke turned too late to do anything… and Sakura threw herself in front of Naruto just as the assailant drew back and struck out.

"Sakura!" yelled Naruto, reaching out and taking hold of her, trying to spin and put himself in the enemy's way.

Kakashi charged forward, sightless with fury and splitting the air with blinding speed. He grabbed the demon brother around the neck and reared back, strangling him in the air, not letting his feet touch the ground.

The black figure kicked wildly and slashed at Kakashi with his claws. He tried to use his whip but was too close for it to be effective.

The copy-nin ignored the slashes in his arm, and only squeezed all the tighter. His fist clenched shut with a crack as the demon brother's spine gave under the tremendous pressure and snapped in two. This time the body remained solid and Kakashi tossed the body like a rag doll to the ground.

"Sakura… Sakura," Naruto whimpered.

Kakashi rushed over, followed quickly by Sasuke, and then by Tazuna. They all knelt down beside Naruto who was on his knees, and clutching at Sakura. She had a death grip on his jacket, and was rasping as she tried futilely to breathe. A long, deep incision across the middle and right side of her throat was made it near impossible for her to breathe at all as the blood poured down her front, drenching both her and Naruto.

"I'm so sorry," Naruto began to cry, "I tried to save her."

Kakashi cursed and snatched Sakura from him. Cradling her in his arms and pressing down on her throat he leapt up and dashed off towards Konoha.

SC

Kakashi sprinted along the ground as fast as his legs could carry him, faster that he'd ever run before. He didn't care what obstacles were in his way; trees he'd simply dart around, while brambles and streams he'd jump over as nimbly as a cat. His life's goal had suddenly become to get Sakura to Konoha alive.

Slowly Sakura looked around her as the world slowly became less and less defined. Trees that were flying by gradually faded into a murky river of drab colors. The air whipping all around became a dull and indistinct roar. Her attempts to breathe had all but stopped, and the flow of blood had been reduced to a trickle from between Kakashi's fingers as Sakura closed her eyes.

"Sakura!" Kakashi gasped when he could no longer feel her pulse against his blood soaked hand. "Sakura wake up!" he yelled without slowing, "Sakura!"

SC

Naruto fell to his hands and knees crying. "This wasn't supposed to happen!" he shouted, "I was supposed to save her! It's my responsibility! She's not supposed to die!"


AN: Well everyone, I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. As requested by VenomLord I did mix things up a little didn't I. As always, I crave reviews, so if by some chance you want to know what happens next, send me lots of reviews. See you all later.