A/N: The next few chapters will be a deviation of the actual plot. Think of these chapters as a sort of "what if this had happened in between the Konan/Tobi arc and the Itachi/Kisame arc but the author wasn't thinking, and didn't write this". Also, don't forget about the poll on my profile!
Brandon likes to believe he has helped me write this. XD
It's officially the one year anniversary of this story! Oh my Taylor, I can't believe I could write for an entire year. Or my story would still be as popular as it is a year later. Thank you all for reading this, and making me laugh with your reviews!
Chapter 25: The What-If Chunin Exams Part 1
One day, after Konan and Tobi had 'attacked' the Mayonaka members, but before Itachi and Kisame attacked them, Taylor had the most wonderful idea. That wonderful idea caused her to tackle Leila from behind with a grin.
"LEILA! I had the most wonderful idea ever!" Said Rinnegan user slipped out of Taylor's grip easily, glaring slightly at their over-excited leader.
"Why must you always tackle me when you have an idea?" Leila asked. Taylor just shrugged.
"Because I feel like it. Anyways! Do you all wanna hear my fabulous idea?!"
"Why not. We're not exactly doing anything." Victor said, from next to his sister. He was waving a rather large stick around like a sword. He kept swatting Lucinda on the arm 'accidentally', and she would punch him in retaliation. Taylor grinned widely.
"We all need to participate in the Chunin exams!" Brandon made a choking sound.
"W-What?!" He shouted. Taylor huffed, annoyed.
"We. Need. To. Par. ti. ci. pate. In. The. Chu. nin. Exams." She said slowly, as if talking to a child. Brandon glared at her.
"I got that, dumbass, what I meant was where in the world did you come up with that?!" Taylor rolled her eyes.
"Geez, B-dog, you're forgetting that I am so awesome and spectacular that I know everything and you have to follow my whims otherwise, as God, I am forced to kill you. And Taylor doesn't want to kill you all, because Taylor somewhat likes you all." She said, slipping into third person for emphasis.
"Whatever." Brandon mumbled. Serenity leaned forwards a bit.
"Do you even know where the Chunin exams are this year?" She asked. Taylor blinked, before sitting on the ground. She adopted a thoughtful expression, and grinned once more after a few seconds.
"This years' Chunin exams are in Suna, minions! We need to go there!"
"But don't we need to be from a village to enter the Chunin exams?" Nari asked, raising her hand slightly. Taylor nodded, stood quickly, and stole Brandon's bag from him. She started rummaging around inside.
"Oh hey, you did bring them B-dog!" She exclaimed, pulling out a bunch of forehead protectors from the bag. She unceremoniously dropped all but one of the ground. She flipped the one she had in her hands around, showing a metal plate with a large smiley face carved in it. "There are four smiley ones, four angry ones, and four that have a swirl on them. Kinda like the one that Whirlpool used to have." Taylor said, tying the smiley face one in her hands around her forehead.
"How are we gonna divide ourselves into teams?" William asked, as he picked up one with a swirl on it.
"Uh..." Taylor sheepishly grinned. "Hadn't thought that far. Um... just pick one up and go with the others who have the same headband as you?" Everyone nodded, and picked a forehead protector up.
Oddly enough, Brandon, Celia, Taylor, and Rhea were all on the same team. They chose Rhea to be their 'Jounin sensei'. Taylor argued that, as God, she should have been the pretend Jounin, but everyone else, even those not on her team, stated that she would give them away in a heart beat if it meant meeting some other Naruto character. She ended up pouting as a unanimous vote of eleven to one got Rhea the position. Rhea then declared that the team be called Team TMNT, standing for 'The Minions or Nunus of Taylor', to feed Taylor's god-complex. Taylor said that the team name reminded her of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, while Brandon complained that, aside from Celia, he was stuck with a two insane idiots.
Lucinda, Serenity, William, and Nari ended up being Team Swirl-Swirl, as Rhea dubbed them. They all immediately decided that William was their pretend Jounin sensei, which made his ever-present smirk lessen. He had exclaimed his want to participate as the teams were being formed. Eventually, after ten minutes of everyone pointing out all the pros that came with him being the pretend Jounin, he agreed to do it.
Victor, Leila, Jun, and Bara made up the last team, dubbed Team Angry Bitches by Taylor. They all resented being called that, but they ended up not caring about it much after a few minutes. Bara had volunteered to be their pretend Jounin sensei, as she did not want to participate at all. She especially didn't want to participate once Taylor got into some of the more gory details of what could happen. It did not help that Lucinda, Leila, and William were adding their own bits and pieces of blood filled danger at random intervals.
"...Taylor, do you even know where we are going?" Lucinda asked. They all had started walking in what Taylor assumed was the direction of Suna. Taylor grinned.
"Sure I do! We're going to Suna, remember?" Lucinda sighed.
"Yes, I know that. What I meant was, do you even know where Suna is?"
"Nope! Not at all!"
"Okay, seriously, where the hell are we?" Leila said, as they walked into a dingy looking town. The entire group looked towards Taylor, who just shrugged.
"I dunno. Let's ask for directions to Suna though!" With that said, she ran off into the town, leaving the rest of Mayonaka alone.
"How much do you wanna bet she returns with a dog, an ice cream cone, a random stranger, and an Akatsuki member?" Rhea shouted cheerfully, placing two dollars on the ground front of her. She sat, and looked over the group.
"I bet she returns decked out in complete ninja gear, including a mask." Celia chimed, holding up a dollar. She placed it on top of Rhea's two dollars. Brandon sighed, and got out his own dollar.
"I say she returns with Naruto or Kakashi."
"I say she returns with the Hokage." Serenity placed another dollar on top of the pile.
"I bet she returns with Gaara or one of his siblings." Leila added another dollar.
"I say she comes back empty handed with no directions either." Victor said, throwing a quarter onto the pile.
"I only got a dime... I bet she returns with Jiraiya." Lucinda added a dime to the pile.
"Aw, you guys took all the good ones." Nari whined, before pulling out a quarter. "I say she returns alone with directions!" William, who had remained silent the whole time, pulled out a dollar.
"I bet she doesn't return at all." Jun grinned, and got out her own dollar.
"I bet she returns with lunch!" Bara, who was the last to bet, got out a nickel.
"Uh, I guess I bet that she returns with the Raikage..."
"Goodie, goodie! Now we just need to wait until Taylor returns! Whoever wins the bet gets the entire $8.65! Your stakes are 10 to 1!" Rhea said, clapping her hands together.
Around half an hour later, the members of Mayonaka saw Taylor walking down the road, chatting with a redhead. A blonde teen and a teen in what looked like a black cat-suit and purple makeup lagged a little behind them.
"Aw, Leila won the bet. I wanted to win!" Rhea said, handing all the money to a grinning Leila. Taylor was within hearing distance by then.
"...and then I said to her, 'Ko-chan! Teach me the hand signs to the transformation jutsu!'. She agreed only after I said I would give her some free alcohol. But now I can transform like a Boss!" She fist pumped. "So, Gaara, do you have any tales of awesome?" The redhead, now identified as Gaara, shook his head.
"None of mine can top yours... you know, you remind me of a real good friend of mine." Taylor perked up a little.
"Really? What's his or her name?" Gaara smiled faintly.
"Naruto Uzumaki." Taylor grinned. She turned her head a little, and spotted the rest of Mayonaka.
"Oh hey! Gaara, I have to introduce you to my minions!" She grabbed his hand quickly, and dragged him over. Gaara was staring at her hand in wonder, as his sand shield hadn't even tried to defend him against it.
"Leader-chan, you're backsies!" Rhea said, bouncing up to them. Taylor glared a little a Rhea.
"Dammit Rhea, what did I say about calling me 'Leader-chan'?! One more time and you are no longer my nunu!" Rhea pouted slightly.
"Sorry." Taylor just grinned.
"Anyways! Gaara, these are my minions." She pointed at most of the members of Mayonaka. "My minions consist of Brandon there," A finger pointed at said glaring Mayonaka member. "Celia," Celia waved a little. "Lucinda and Victor, the twins of awesome," Both twins smirked. "Leila, my Rinnegan minion," Leila rolled her eyes. "Bara is the timid one there, and Jun is next to her. And next to them is Serenity, my Uchiha, and Nari, my fishy nunu." She pointed to them, one after the other. Nari tilted her head at her in confusion.
"Why am I fishy?" She asked. Serenity popped in.
"And why am I your Uchiha?" Gaara turned to Taylor as well.
"Yes, please explain. It was to my understanding that all the Uchiha were wiped out."
"Well it's simple!" Taylor flashed Gaara a large grin. "Nari is fishy because Kisame is a shark, and Nari isn't intimidating enough to be a shark, so the next best thing was fishy! And since she is almost as awesome as Kisame, she is a nunu!" Gaara and his siblings, who had just finished walking up to them, blinked in confusion. The Mayonaka members just sighed. "And Serenity is my Uchiha because she has a Sharingan, therefore she is an Uchiha!" Everyone nodded. Gaara shook his head.
"I see. And those two there?" He pointed to Rhea and William.
"Oh yeah! That's Rhea, my swirly nunu, and that's William, my snake-sannin nunu!" Rhea raised her hand.
"Swirly nunu?" She asked.
"Yeah! Because you have a Sharingan too, and it swirls a lot more than Serenity's, plus Tobi's mask is very swirly as well!" William coughed.
"And I'm your snake-sannin nunu why?"
"Well, Oro-pedo is the snake-sannin, and since you like Orochimaru so much, and you have his ring, you're pretty much him in my mind. Except you are much less creepy." William glared a little.
"Right..." Gaara cleared his throat, bringing the group's attention to him.
"Yes, well. My siblings and I will be escorting you to Suna. The Chunin exams begin in three weeks, and it will takes us about an entire week to get to Suna, even by tree hopping. We are going to leave at about noon tomorrow. It is getting quite late, though." Everyone nodded.
"So we'll go to an inn or a hotel, and get a room." Brandon said. Gaara gave him a nod.
"Yes. We'll stay in the same inn. We have a few rooms booked down the road. Follow me." Gaara turned, and started down the road, his siblings at his heels. As Mayonaka started to follow, Taylor turned to Rhea.
"So, Rhea. Who won your bet?" She asked, surprising a few members. Rhea crossed her arms angrily.
"Leila did. If only you had returned with a dog, an ice cream cone, a random stranger, and an Akatsuki member, I would've won! But no, you had to return with Gaara!" Taylor laughed.
"Yeah, well, I was about to return with every one of those things, but I couldn't find an Akatsuki member. I just happened to run into Gaara in the ice cream store." She looked up, and saw that Gaara had stopped in front of a cozy looking inn. "Oh, hey! We're here!"
About an hour of Taylor haggling the innkeeper for cheaper prices later landed the entire group with a whole floor reserved for a night. And Taylor got away with paying only ten dollars. However, she also had to buy the weird old lady who lived in the back some apples. But now, in the wee hours of the night, Mayonaka was just lounging around in their rooms, getting ready to sleep. Since there were only seven rooms on the floor they reserved, everyone had to buddy up. Gaara and his siblings took one room. Taylor grabbed Rhea, and they took another. Brandon and William, being boys, went together. Celia and Bara went into one room. Lucinda and Victor, being twins, went together. Serenity and Nari took a room, and Jun and Leila took the last room.
Celia, Bara, Jun, the twins, Serenity, and Nari all fell asleep quickly. Gaara's siblings were out by 11 PM. Leila and William retired at around midnight. That left Taylor, Brandon, Rhea, and Gaara the only ones awake. They all had decided to sit in Taylor and Rhea's room, as there would be no sleeping roommates. Gaara sat by the window, Brandon sat in a chair by the door, Rhea leaned against the wall near Gaara, and Taylor lounged on one of the futons. They were all just chilling. It was around one in the morning by that time. Brandon yawned, and stood from his chair. He opened the door, and turned to them.
"I'm getting pretty tired. I'm gonna go to sleep now." Taylor waved him out. He shut the door quietly.
"Yeah yeah. I'm pretty tired as well." She mumbled, before snuggling into the blankets. A few minutes later, and she was out. Gaara shifted his position, and looked to Rhea. Her chakra had taken on a malicious edge.
"...you do know that if you become even a tiny threat to my village or it's people, I will execute you on the spot." He said, his eyes narrowed. Rhea's Sharingan activated, and she smirked.
"Oh, I know." She purred, pushing off from the wall. "And if you pose a threat to my group, I will murder you in a very humiliating way." Gaara smirked back, and stood.
"Well, I should get back to my room. We're leaving at around noon tomorrow, it'd be wise for you to get some sleep." He walked to the door. He opened it, and looked back once more. Rhea grinned, and sat on the unoccupied futon in the room.
"You're a good person, Gaara. Be careful in the coming weeks, eh?" She said. Gaara nodded.
"You too. Goodnight, Rhea." With that, he walked out, closing the door behind him. Rhea's Sharingan glowed in the darkness of the room for a few seconds, before she deactivated it, and laid down on the futon. She closed her eyes, and quickly fell asleep.
A/N: End~ Note, this chapter coming out so soon does not mean I am back onto a regular update schedule. I just really wanted to get this chappie out in celebration for the story's one year anniversary~
Remember, this is a sub plot. Don't forget to vote on my poll (which is on my profile)! After this subplot is over (about two or three more chapters) I will determine if this will be one long story, or several shorter stories.
Fun Fact: Lucinda makes her brother give her piggy-back rides when she doesn't want to walk.