Opening - Uragiri no Yuuyake by Theatre Brook

As Naruto was led from the Hokage's office, Jiraiya turned to face Koharu. "Why didn't you just tell him?"

"That information is above his clearance level," Koharu replied simply. "Should he pass Ibiki's test and become ANBU, you have my permission to tell him yourself."

"Even if he fails, he's better off knowing the whole truth." Jiraiya frowned thoughtfully. "One way or another, I have to tell him when we go looking for Tsunade. That sort of information is bound to come up when I talk to her."

"So be it," Koharu sighed. "But make sure he at least keeps it to himself, Jiraiya."

X

Naruto, meanwhile, had simply been led down a hallway and a flight of stairs, into an Academy classroom currently occupied solely by a blond-haired, teal-eyed man leaning against the blackboard at the front of the room. "Inoichi, this is Naruto Uzumaki. Naruto, meet Inoichi Yamanaka. He'll be conducting the second test."

"Nice to meet you," Inoichi greeted politely.

"Wait, second test?" Naruto spoke up. "Is this like the tenth question in the Chuunin Exams? Was the first test just signing up?"

"I'm afraid not," Ibiki chuckled, "But the good news is that the test for becoming ANBU doesn't have anything to do with knowledge or skill, and it won't take us long. It's about how your mind works, and how much it can take, so don't worry about having to overcome any kind of challenge here. 'Test' really isn't the right word, it's more like an 'evaluation,' which brings us to the first test."

Ibiki gestured to one of the students' desks, on which sat a written test. "Answer the questions written there, and answer them with complete honesty. The only wrong answer is a lie."

"Okay." Naruto sat down, and read the first question.

Note that your answers for the following questions are not restricted to a simple yes or no. You are encouraged to use detail in your answers.

ANBU are sometimes requested to carry out black operations where Konoha must deny any involvement. Should you fail such a mission and your identity be revealed, Konoha will declare you a missing-nin and you will be unable to return to the village. Are you willing to risk this?

Naruto frowned, and thought for several long seconds before writing, Yes. I will take such missions if I feel I'm capable of carrying them out, and if not, I'll recommend a shinobi or team I consider better suited to the task.

Are you willing to torture captured missing-nin and enemy shinobi for information?

Again, Naruto hesitated. Yes, I'm willing. If the safety of the village somehow requires me specifically to do so, I will, but there will certainly be ANBU more capable in this field.

Are you willing to assassinate a fellow shinobi?

Yes, provided they are not a loyal Konoha-nin.

Are you willing to assassinate a civilian?

Naruto recalled the atrocities Gatou had commited in the Land of Waves. Yes. He paused, and considered scratching this out before remembering one of Iruka's lessons. He smiled, and added, Civilian targets are partially protected by Konoha's policies, which require the contractor to prove they aren't a civilian criminal, have some form of reason why their target should die, and the target him/herself must not be 'innocent,' the definition of which is flexible to a degree. I trust my superiors to see these conditions met.

As a shinobi, you have shown your willingness to risk your own life in battle. Are you willing to risk the lives of your allies?

Only if they agree to it, knowing the full extent of what they're getting into. Even then, I'll hold back any subordinates I feel are unlikely to complete the mission and thus are likely to die. I'm sure this goes without saying, but it felt right to write it anyway.

Are you willing to put your subordinates into a strategy where you expect them to die, but the team as a whole is predicted to complete the mission.

Naruto scowled. I know what I'm supposed to write here. I'm supposed to say yes, but my answer is no. Not unless there's absolutely no other way, and there's ALWAYS another way. I'll find it myself if that's what it takes. The mission will go perfectly, I will see to that.

"Stop."

He flinched, and watched with horror as Ibiki took the test from him. "What did I do wrong?" he asked immediately. "Was it that last one?"

"Actually, you finished it," Ibiki smirked, and showed him that the most recent question was at the bottom of the page, and there was no second page under it. Ibiki scanned over his answers, and scoffed quietly. "Idealist. I should've known, what with you being a kid and all." Naruto winced. "Ah, it's not that bad. I find your answer about civilian assassinations interesting; not many shinobi think of that. Still, you should know that the ANBU program is going to make you think darker thoughts, kid. After a full two-year term, you'll probably be willing to torture people, for instance."

"But we'll get to that later. Suffice it to say, you passed. This test wasn't to see whether you could become an ANBU, but what sort of missions you're willing to take starting out. Now let's start the second test. Inoichi, you're up."

The Yamanaka nodded, and stepped forward. "Stand up." Naruto did as he was told, and Inoichi continued, "I'm going to scan your mind, to see how strong it is and also to be certain of your loyalty to the village, although we don't really doubt it. To do this properly, I need your permission."

"Go ahead," Naruto replied, then paled. "Wait, uh, do you know about..." he trailed off helplessly.

"The Nine-Tails? Yes. I was told this morning that you opened the seal, which theoretically could allow it to step in and block me from reading your thoughts, but now that I've warned you, it theoretically shouldn't interfere."

Kurama in his human-sized form leapt out of Naruto's chest, and addressed Inoichi directly. "He. I am a sentient being with a name, hence 'it' isn't the proper way to address me. My name is Kurama Ootsuki."

"Ootsuki?" Naruto, Inoichi and Ibiki all repeated at once.

"My father's clan name," Kurama explained shortly, and seated himself on the floor. "Proceed," he gestured toward Naruto's head with his single tail, noting with a hint of amusement that neither shinobi had shown any shock at his arrival.

"...Right," Inoichi nodded, and laid his palms on Naruto's temples, accessing his mind without any need for hand seals. Naruto blinked, watching Inoichi close his eyes while the Jinchuuriki himself was unaffected.

"Ootsuki," Ibiki said again, incredulous. "So who was your father, anyway? An even more powerful demon?"

"Hardly," Kurama snorted. "My father's full name was Hagoromo Ootsuki, and you know him as the Sage of Six Paths." Ibiki's eyes widened. "I can't imagine how you humans managed to lose track of arguably the most important name in the history of your race. Now, let me ask you a question: why aren't you terrified of me?"

"Jiraiya-sama's report explained your situation thoroughly." Ibiki paused. "Also, you're not as intimidating when you're human-sized. If I didn't know better, I might mistake you for a summon."

Kurama chuckled at that. "You're honest, if nothing else."

Ibiki couldn't think of any way to reply to that, so he remained silent until Inoichi removed his hands from Naruto's head. "How'd it look in there?"

"It's passable," Inoichi replied. "He can take a considerable amount of mental trauma and recover from it, but nothing like what the usual older recruits can handle. He does have one thing going for him though: the Will of Fire, big time. Its ideals are built into the very foundations of his psyche. It's my professional opinion that he can handle ANBU duty without a doubt."

"And that brings us to the third and final test." Ibiki turned to Naruto with a dead serious expression. "I need your permission to carry it out." Naruto opened his mouth to ask what it was, but Ibiki continued, "I'm going to show you a genjutsu which will take the form of the person you love most being killed." The Jinchuuriki's eyes widened. "Remember that it's just an illusion."

After a few moments of silence, Naruto nodded. "Do it."

Ibiki made a few quick hand seals, and called, "Demonic Illusion: Glimpse of Death."

Hinata appeared in front of Naruto, along with a kunai floating at her throat. Naruto's heart immediately began to pound; even though he knew it was just an image he couldn't help but panic. He began to reach for her, but it was too late. The kunai dragged across her windpipe and opened it.

It was all Naruto could do to keep himself from screaming. He shuddered violently and looked away with an audible gasp. After several long seconds of silence, Naruto shakily turned back to where Hinata had been. The illusion was gone, and there was no sign that it was anything but a genjutsu. No blood on the foor, no kunai, no scent of blood, nothing.

"I... I think I get it," Naruto breathed, still shaking subtly. "Is the purpose of this test to see how calm I can be, when I see a genjutsu like this?"

"No," Inoichi replied. "It's to see if you can stay sane if this really happens, and stay on task, finish the mission."

"Then fail me," Naruto shivered again. "I wouldn't have been able to take that if you hadn't told me it was genjutsu."

Again, silence hung over the room heavily, until Ibiki cracked a small smile.

"Welcome to the ANBU."

Naruto opened his mouth blankly. "But... I just said to fail me..."

"Earlier you asked about a scenario like the tenth question in the Chuunin Exams. This is it, kid." Ibiki's smile broadened. "The first two tests were to see how much your mind could take, and now you've passed the third test by responsibly admitting to what you can't handle. Simply put, we expect you to be a shinobi, not a sociopath. What you just saw is one thing no shinobi can be expected to take. We're still human beings, and to our species, connection with our loved ones is what drives us instinctually to survive."

Naruto nodded with understanding. "You mean... I really..."

"That's right. As of right now, you're an ANBU, but you can't actually act as one until we finish sorting out a few more things. Your mask, your tattoo, your gear... speaking of which, please make an effort to conceal your identity when on missions. Wield a different sword, keep your blond hair concealed, don't rely too heavily on your wind jutsu, that sort of thing."

X

I wonder if Naruto-kun is okay... Hinata sighed, and adjusted her grip on the heavy cardboard box she carried, walking down an otherwise empty street at sunset. I really need to stop thinking like that. He was with Jiraiya and two of Konoha's elders, and he was just promoted to Chuunin. There's no way he was in any danger in that room.

"But..." What if this is about the Nine-Tails? There were even civilians who managed to deduce that he was connected to it, even if they don't know what a Jinchuuriki is. If there's a group of shinobi who think the same way... what if Koharu and Homura are...

Hinata's grip tightened on the box, and she turned. I know this is crazy, but I still- her eyes widened and her heart leapt into her throat. A shinobi in an ANBU mask was tailing her.

The ninja smoothly turned around a corner into an alley, almost as though he was heading in that direction all along. But to a Hyuuga, sight is the most important and most honed sense. She saw her stalker subtly tense before he turned, realizing he'd been spotted.

"Byakugan," she called quietly, and peered through the building he was hiding behind. The ANBU was wearing a white cloak with sleeves over his uniform, signifying he was a squad leader. Normally this would've hidden his equipment, but Hinata focused her Byakugan to easily see through the cloak. His uniform was typical of Konoha ANBU: A black sleeveless shirt and pants. Metal arm guards lined with black fabric. A grey flak jacket with no pouches on the outside.

The only abnormality was his sword. Rather than the typical chokutou with a matching grey synthetic hilt and scabbard, his weapon had a slightly curved blade, a hilt with room for only one hand, and a white synthetic handle and scabbard. Like an ANBU chokutou, it had no guard, and the hilt and scabbard flowed smoothly together. He uses one-handed kenjutsu, like Naruto-kun, she observed. I know how to counter that style.

Then she blinked, and her gaze darted up to his mask. It couldn't be... The mask was vaguely canine in appearance, but like most ANBU masks it didn't clearly represent any specific animal. The only marks on the mask were six orange slashes on the cheeks, like three thick whiskers on each side. Combined with the hood covering his hair, this meant the shinobi's identity was completely concealed. It couldn't be!

Her vision pierced the mask and hood, revealing Naruto's trademark grin underneath. "N-Naruto..." she smiled and sighed in relief. They... made him an ANBU? She turned, still smirking slightly. I don't understand what's going on here, Naruto-kun, but it's you under that mask, and you're smiling. This is just another prank, isn't it?

She started walking again, and kept her Byakugan activated. Are you really trying to sneak up on me, Naruto? She blinked, watching him form the Tiger hand seal, still grinning. Ninjutsu... the air thickened with mist around her. "The Hidden Mist Jutsu?" she asked quietly but out loud. Ah... The chakra in this mist appears to glow when I use the Byakugan, meaning I can't see through it.

She turned off her doujutsu and spun around to wait for Naruto's arrival. "Naruto-kun, why are you doing all of this?" she asked loudly.

"So you did spot me." Naruto flash-stepped in front of her, and removed his mask to display a sheepish smile. "Sorry if I worried you, Hina-chan."

"What's this all about?" Hinata smiled back to show she wasn't upset. "Were you trying to prank me somehow? And is that ANBU outfit... real?"

"I just finished joining the ANBU," Naruto began his explanation, "And I found you as quickly as I could, then I waited for the street to be empty except for us. They told me if I wanted to reveal my identity, I had to do it securely and only with a small number of people I trust. Obviously I'd start with you."

"So you weren't trying to prank me?"

Naruto laughed loudly. "Maybe a little, but if I took it too far you'd think I was really trying to hurt you, and we'd have our Chuunin Exam match all over again. Imagine how much stuff we'd break if we did that here." Hinata nodded, and Naruto glanced at the box in her arms. "What's that?"

"My new armor," she replied. "Tenten finished it this morning, and gave it to me after we left the Academy." She shook the box gently, and Naruto was surprised to hear metal clinking inside. "Along with some prototype weapons she asked me to try. So... ANBU..."

"Jiji set it up," Naruto admitted, "in his will. I don't fully understand why yet, but I know three reasons so far. One, he wanted me to gain experience as a ninja, as quickly as possible. Two, there's this." he reached into his pouch and pulled out a black, unmarked book. "The Bingo Book. He wanted me to have one, and it was completely out of the question for me to be a Jounin at my current level, which only left ANBU. Which leads me to the third reason: Wearing this mask gives me a tactical advantage."

"Against Akatsuki," Hinata realized.

"Not just them. Jiji knew about a group of people within Konoha that wants me dead."

"Because of the Nine-Tails?"

"It's not that simple... it's more like I'm a threat to their plans. Danzou's plans." Hinata's eyes widened immediately. "ANBU have a way higher clearance level than Genin and Chuunin, and jiji hoped that with this mask, I'd be able to open more closed doors and interfere with this conspiracy."

Hinata nodded, then paled. "Wait! If you're ANBU now, we'll be put on seperate teams!"

"Ah, they gave me a way out of that too. This white ANBU cloak means I'm a squad leader, or I will be when I assemble my team. Our team, actually." She let out a sigh of relief, and Naruto continued, "Along with you, I'm sure Gaara and Tenten are a good idea for the team, but I'm only allowed one more member after that. Should that be Kiba, or...?"

"Kiba was actually talking about putting together a team with Shikamaru and Chouji..." Hinata paused. "I know! What about Haku?"

Naruto considered this. "He's strong, and he hasn't been assigned to any kind of squad... Yeah, sure, I'll talk to him about it. Thanks, Hina-chan." He put his mask back on, and added, "I'm gonna go home and change out of this uniform. You wanna meet up at Ichiraku's for dinner?"

"Sure," she answered with a smile. "I'll head home and deal with my gear too." she shrugged with the box still in her hands, making it rattle.

"Right. See ya in about... an hour?" she nodded, and he grinned under his mask. "Bye, Hina-chan." he dispelled the Hidden Mist and flash-stepped away.

X

"So... What happens now?"

Gaara frowned at his bowl of Ichiraku's beef ramen, then turned to Tenten. "My sensei, Baki, has been talking with your village's elders," he began, realizing immediately what she meant. "They've agreed I should stay in Konoha for now. Somehow they've come to the conclusion that Akatsuki intends to make a move soon, just to test the waters. It seems Jiraiya's spy network has someone watching Akatsuki, if not one of their members than at least a contact they frequently use."

"So Akatsuki's coming here? For you?" Tenten set down her chopsticks. "How soon!? How long do we have to get ready?"

"Don't worry about it, they-"

She glared at him. "Don't think you can talk me out of being right there to fight them with you!"

"I know you better than that," he replied calmly. "I was about to say their only known base is between the Lands of Wind and Fire. If they wanted to, they could be here in two days, but the information your elders have claims they haven't all gathered in a single place in years. The contact also specified that Akatsuki was likely to send only two members here, which we should be able to handle if we're expecting them."

"Why two? And how do you know all this?"

"The contact claims this is typical of their plan. Two members head out alone to take down and capture a Jinchuuriki, bring it back to the nearest base, and extract the Bijuu within, killing the host. As for how I know, I was in the room when Baki, the elders, and several ANBU were discussing it. I'm one of the two targets of this attack, after all." Gaara paused to take a bite of ramen. "What confuses me is that there are only nine of us, none of whom have ever been attacked in this way. The Fourth Mizukage, Yagura, was the Jinchuuriki of the Three-Tails and is the only Jinchuuriki currently missing, but there was never any sign of Akatsuki's involvement in his disappearance."

Tenten frowned, and silently contemplated this. "Then how does the contact know of the plan?" she held up a hand. "Don't answer that, actually... the contact is a member of Akatsuki, isn't he?"

Gaara nodded. "It was my conclusion as well. If it's true, then we really only have nine S-rank criminals to deal with, and we have one on our side."

FLESHBAG! Shukaku roared gleefully, making Gaara clutch his head in pain. You're never gonna believe this!

Quiet down in there, Gaara replied, then addressed Tenten. "Shukaku wants to talk to me for a moment." she nodded, and resumed eating. What is it?

Kurama just contacted me through the Tailed Beast Dimension. The One-Tail laughed. We managed to reach Isobu and Choumei as well!

I remember Kurama's name, Gaara noted. The Nine-Tailed Fox inside Naruto, but who are Isobu and Choumei?

Isobu is the Three-Tails, my brother, and Choumei is the Seven-Tails, my sister.

"The Three-Tails?" Gaara exclaimed quietly. But he was sealed inside Yagura. Does that mean the Fourth Mizukage is still alive!?

That's right. Isobu and his Jinchuuriki are hiding in the Land of Iron. Your connection with me is shit though, and that combined with the interference of this seal meant that I got pulled out of the Tailed Beast Dimension after about a minute. I don't know what went down after that, but Kurama seemed downright humble with us. It was creepy.

I'll talk to Naruto about all of this. Thank you, Shukaku.

Gaara turned, opening his mouth to share his new information with Tenten, but his eyes widened slightly and he glanced past her to see Naruto approaching Ichiraku Ramen wearing his old orange oufit. "Naruto, have you heard from Kurama about Isobu and Choumei yet?"

"Isobu and Choumei..." Naruto scratched the back of his head. "He mentioned those names a while back, yeah. They're two of the other Tailed Beasts, but I kinda forgot which ones, ya know?"

"Three and Seven," Gaara replied. "Shukaku just talked to them, and he believes Kurama is still doing so as we speak."

Naruto's eyes widened. "That's great!" he exclaimed. "The sooner all nine of us meet, the better prepared we are for when Akatsuki decides to move against us. Kurama hasn't said anything to me yet, so he must still be in the Tailed Beast Dimension. You know what that is, right?" Gaara nodded. "Anyway, I'll talk to Kurama when he's done. Hina-chan's supposed to meet me here in a few minutes, but since you guys are here, I might as well tell you..." he grinned. "The two of us are joining a new team now that Genin Team Eight's been dissolved. It's being led by an ANBU captain, and he wants you two on the... team..."

Gaara and Tenten followed Naruto's wide-eyed stare, and spotted Hinata approaching. Instead of her civilian outfit complete with her newly replaced hoodie, she was wearing her new armor.

She was wearing a similarly skintight bodysuit to what Guy, Lee and Tenten wore, but the similarities ended there. Her suit was made of slightly thicker, heavier-looking fabric, but was still sleek and smooth over her body, not bulky at all. The suit bore a brown digital camo pattern as she'd requested, but Tenten had made the pattern gradually fade into a slightly lighter brown over her belly and the insides of her arms and legs. On her back and the outsides of her arms, the brown was slightly darker.

There were bands of chocolate brown leather two inches wide on the outsides of her arms and legs, from her wrists to her collar and her ankles to her waist respectively. She'd removed her headband from around her neck and was now wearing it as a belt. On her right shoulder was a small, curved metal plate with a dull grey finish that didn't reflect sunlight, and hidden under it was an Uzumaki fuinjutsu. She was also wearing fingerless gloves of soft black leather, bearing another fuinjutsu. Since this covered the bronze ring on her right hand and prevented her from unsealing her weapon, she was now carrying it in a black leather scabbard on her back.

"Whoa," Naruto breathed. "K-Kami, Hina-chan, you look good."

"Not bad at all," Tenten agreed. "So, we know he likes it," she pointed her thumb at Naruto, who blushed faintly, "But what about you?"

"It's comfortable," Hinata replied after a moment and blushed at Naruto's comment. "And..." she triggered the barrier seal hidden under the shoulder plate. "It works great, too."

The new Uzumaki fuinjutsu released a drastically different barrier than Tenten's original prototype. Rather than appearing as a substance like clear blown glass, the new barrier appeared to faintly glow a pale blue color. A close examination would reveal that it was actually a pattern of small, vertically elongated hexagons fitted together to make up the entire barrier. The thin, faint edges of the hexagons glowed greener than the rest of the barrier.

As Hinata deactivated her new layer of defense, Tenten nodded in satisfaction. "So what about the gloves? Do they work too?"

"Perfectly." Hinata formed a small Water Bullet in her right hand and let it float there, without using any hand seals. "Thank you, Tenten. It's a masterpiece."

"What about the prototypes I gave you?" The inventress asked eagerly. "Did they work too?"

Hinata's smile fell, and she pulled the first weapon out of her pouch. It appeared to be a thin, elongated box with straps to fit over the wielder's forearm, but the double-edged blade meant to be retracted into this casing and released from the end of the wrist was loosely flopping out of the end. "I'm sorry, but as soon as I tried this one, the mechanism completely shattered."

"Damn." Tenten sighed. "I was so sure I had it right... okay, what about the cloak with the barrier on it?"

"At first it worked," Hinata replied, "But when the cloth moved around, the barrier couldn't keep flexing in so many directions at once. It destabilized and turned off. I was able to turn it back on again, but the same thing kept happening." she pulled a scroll out of her pouch. "I sealed it in here for you."

"So if the barrier can't keep up with the rustling of loose clothes," Tenten frowned, "then I won't be able to make a more loose-fitting version of the armor..." she slurped some ramen, then asked, "Did any of the other prototypes work?"

"Yes," Hinata replied, and pulled out another scroll, setting it next to the first scroll and the arm blade. "The bracers worked great, actually, but since the seals are triggered by the same chakra flow as my barrier armor, I couldn't use the barrier without releasing the Fuuma Shuriken. All of them."

"Fuuma Shuriken?" Naruto asked, interested.

Tenten handed him the scroll. "In here, there's a couple of leather bracers that each bear a seal containing twelve Fuuma Shuriken. The seals are at the end of the wrist, just under the palm, and you can unseal them right into your hands. But if they don't work with the barrier suits..." the inventress shrugged. "You can only use one or the other, I guess."

"Can I use them, then?" he asked. I'm supposed to change my fighting style as an ANBU anyway, so I might as well try a new weapon.

"Sure," Tenten replied with a grin. "They're all yours." she turned back to Hinata. "There's still the kunai. Did that one work?"

"...Sort of," Hinata admitted, and drew a kunai from her pouch. Gaara noted that it was elongated and painted black, similar to the Suna ANBU blade he'd given Tenten. She swung it at the open street, and this action unsealed a normal kunai from the tip of the blade in her hand. Tenten watched with interest, realizing that the unsealed blade didn't fly with enough momentum to be of any use.

"I can fix this one," she noted, and Hinata handed her the kunai. "Yeah, see the problem is that your swing doesn't have enough force behind it to throw the kunai properly. Maybe if I rework the seal so it takes in pressurized air passively, and shoots the kunai with more force... Yeah, that should work. Thanks, Hinata. That just leaves the sword. How'd it go?"

Hinata drew a kunai hilt without a blade from her pouch. The thicker-than-normal handle merely ended in a smooth circular cross-section with a hole in the center. Hinata pulsed her chakra into the handle, triggering a storage seal that released a full-sized katana blade. The tang locked into place inside the handle, making it a fully functional sword. "It works," she announced with a smile, and resealed the blade inside the hilt before handing the weapon back to its creator.

Then, she turned to Naruto. "So, Naruto-kun... we were supposed to be here on a date..."

"That's right," Naruto nodded with a grin, then stepped forward and kissed her, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her close. "And you look beautiful," he murmured.

Hinata blushed a deeper red than she had in a while, but not the dark shade of maroon she had a long history with. "N-Naruto-kun..." she glanced toward Tenten and Gaara, embarrassed, then simply decided to kiss him back, sighing contently into his lips and resting her arms around his shoulders. "Thank you."

"Hm?" he pulled away slightly. "For what?"

"You said I look beautiful," she clarified, with her face still somewhat flushed red. "Thank you."

"But it's true," he replied, not fully understanding, "so why thank me?"

Hinata smiled broadly, and kissed him again. "Never mind."

Tenten glanced over her shoulder at the lovebirds, then shrugged. Eh, why the hell not? "Gaara."

"Hm?" he turned to face her, and his eyes widened signficantly as she lunged forward to kiss him passionately. After a moment of hesitation, his suprise wore off and he returned the kiss. "Tenten... Let's go spar again, tonight."

The inventress grinned broadly, and kissed Gaara again. "You think you can take me?"

"I have a Tailed Beast on my side," he replied with a trace of his old battle-lust showing in a smirk. "Do you think you can take me?"

"Eh..." Naruto began hesitantly, "You two were making out two seconds ago. Now you're talking about fighting? Why?"

"We like to fight each other," Gaara started to explain. "We grow stronger and closer together at the same time." his smirk broadened into a full grin, albeit one that still made him look much more stable than he used to. "When I'm fighting Tenten, I feel more alive than ever. The power flowing through our bodies, the battlefield being torn apart by our powers, the collisions of our weapons between us... When I fight you, Tenten, I know exactly why I'm here in this world, the reason for my existence... that reason is you."

Tenten grinned back, unconsciously imitating Gaara's own wicked smile. Naruto cleared his throat quietly, drawing both parties' attention. "Uh... That was really touching, and a little bit creepy, but could you not start fighting here? Ichiraku's has the best ramen in the Land of Fire, and I'd hate to see you two destroy the place."

"Don't worry," Tenten replied, and her grin slowly began to fade. "Gaara and I have a spot picked out for our fights, where we only destroy dead trees and boulders."

X

When the two young ninja arrived at their chosen training ground, the sun had long since finished setting. The moon was nearly full over a clearing in a dead, burned forest courtesy of the Nine-Tails, with the ground still churned and torn apart in places from his claws. Boulders that had once been buried underground had been exposed to the surface, where bushes and young trees began to grow over them. One day, those trees would stand as tall as the burnt remains towering above them, but without the First Hokage's Wood Release it would take roughly a hundred years.

"Stain, Kuroshi."

Tenten reached for her belt, where her favorite scroll was fitted into a spring-loaded mechanism. She pulled the scroll open, and the mechanism clicked as it locked into place, letting the sealed paper dangle from her waist. A push of a button would retract it in an instant. "Wrath of Heaven."

Armed with a fistful of explosives, Tenten charged, and was surprised to see Gaara do the same, gathering his sand into a humanoid form around his own body. She reached around her waist to push the button and retract the scroll in case Gaara intended to rip it away with his sand, then finished closing the distance between them and rammed her right hand into the torso of Gaara's Avatar of the End.

Just before the explosives went off, Gaara's arms of black sand reached past Tenten and transformed into a dome that held Tenten inside. Her attack detonated, throwing her back against the wall, and Gaara emerged from within the dented torso of the sand creature to face her with sword in hand. "You upgraded your barrier," he observed, recognizing the new style from what Hinata was wearing.

Tenten nodded, and dusted herself off as she stood inside Gaara's sand structure. Her barrier, unlike Hinata's, glowed a vivid red, and the hexagonal tiles making up her armor were distinguished by dull orange edges. "I don't know for sure why Hinata's armor is colored differently from mine, but I think it has something to do with affinities. Hinata has the Water Release, and hers is blue. Mine's red, for the Fire Release."

Gaara raised his sword and took up a basic kenjutsu stance Tenten had taught him, then dashed forward and swung at her. She reached into her pouch and drew the bladeless kunai hilt Hinata had returned to her, then unsealed the blade within to complete the weapon and parry Gaara's strike. With kenjutsu, she had the upper hand, but he was armored in diamond sand so any hits she landed were as harmless as her explosives and his sand.

In short, neither one of them could actually injure the other, meaning that a fight like this would drag out for as long as they wanted. It also meant that Gaara had no reason not to create an arm of black sand behind Tenten, wrap its claws around her, and lift her high into the sky while he remained near the ground. As he directed much more black sand up to engulf her, he also pulled her arms out to her sides with it, preventing her from unsealing any more explosives.

Tenten made sure her barrier ninjutsu was using as much of her chakra as the seal could use, since she expected him to use his Sand Coffin on her, but instead he let the sand fall loosely into a hill in midair, much to her surprise. Slowly, she managed to move her arms and legs enough to make the hill partially collapse, exposing her head. She gasped for air, then glared at Gaara before realizing he seemed to be standing on air in front of her. "...How are you doing that?" she asked after a moment.

"I'm levitating my sand armor while I'm still inside," he replied. "Now... First Incarnation, Corruption."

Tenten yelped as the mound of sand holding her fell away, spreading out over the air to create a flat panel of sand for them both to stand on. She dusted herself off, looking around to see how broad the surface was. "So now we're gonna fight in the sky?" she asked, confused. "Why waste your chakra to keep us both up here?"

"What makes you think I'm staying up here?" he grinned darkly, just before a hole in the sand opened under his feet. He immediately plummeted through, and the hole in the sand sealed itself after he'd passed through. Tenten seized the oppurtunity to pull her scroll open again, and fill both of her hands with explosive paper balls.

She stood there and looked around, awaiting Gaara's ambush with a grin. He took just long enough to move that, for a brief moment, she forgot she was standing on black sand, and that was when he struck, startling her enough to actually scream out loud as the platform of sand was wildly distorted into jagged mountains and valleys.

She was thrown even higher into the air and lost her grip on several bundles of explosive tags, but when the shock wore off, she recovered and threw what weapons she had left in her hands, detonating them as they touched Gaara's sand. I've gotta get through that sand to reach Gaara, but I can't just blow a hole in it and fall to the ground. Even with this barrier, the impact from this height would kill me, and that only leaves me one choice. I'll have to use his sand to cushion my fall.

She reached down to the scroll flowing from her hip, unsealing dozens of explosive spheres and letting them rain down on the sand barrier before detonating them. She grinned when the smoke cleared, showing that the barrier had broken into falling streams of black sand, and she folded her arms to her sides aiming herself at one.

She was able to catch up to the falling sand and flatten herself against it, and she then waited until it neared the ground before lighting up her barrier and revealing her location to Gaara. I can't let him catch me! she felt the sand beneath her hit the ground and decelerate rapidly, stunning her for a moment before she threw herself from the top of the mound to the ground beneath it. She scrambled to her feet and sprinted at Gaara, ducking and rolling under an arm of black sand to continue her approach.

She leapt forward and tackled him to the ground, drawing a kunai in an instant and pressing it against his neck. After a quick skyward glance to confirm he wasn't readying an attack from above like last time, she grinned. "I've got you this time!"

"And I have you," he replied calmly. Her eyes widened briefly before countless grains of sand under her armor began to race over her skin in all directions. She cried out and rolled off of him, laughing hysterically as he tickled her.

She writhed on the ground helplessly, laughing and trying to brush away the sand that was already under her clothes. "Oh Kami, G-Gaara, st-stop! S-Stop it, that t-tickles!" he obliged after a moment, and she relaxed as the sand stopped moving, laying on her back next to him. "I really thought, I had you, that time," she gasped. "How did you do that?"

"I saw you riding that stream of sand to the ground, with your barrier inactive, and I made a bit of that sand flow through the fabric of your suit," he explained.

She cried out and blushed furiously as he crawled upright and pinned her as she'd done to him a moment before. "Gaara, w-what are you d-doing!?"

"Tenten, thank you." he leaned down closer to kiss her, pressing his chest against hers.

"F-For what?" She managed to reply after the kiss regrettably ended.

"For existing."

X

At the border between the Lands of Wind and Fire, a young man contemplated his path in life, and the next step he was about to take on that path. He was only seventeen, but he looked and felt far older, with the lines on his face, fading vision, and horrifying past.

Not to mention his even more horrifying future.

I was never forced into this life, he reflected yet again, I chose it myself, and I don't regret my choice. All things considered, I could be far worse off.

"Yo, Itachi." an inexplicably blue-skinned man with a bundle of white bandages on his back spoke up. "You know this terrain better than me, so how far are we now?"

"I've said it before, Kisame." Itachi gazed in the direction of his home village without blinking. His Sharingan, as usual, was active and taking in every detail of the landscape it watched. "We'll arrive early in the morning, just after sunrise."

"Right. But shouldn't we go a little faster, and get there during the night? We could catch the Nine-Tails without a fight if he's asleep at the time."

"I see your point, but an entry during the night is more likely to arouse suspicion, since our identities are concealed by these hats and cloaks. If we're being tailed by ANBU when we encounter the Jinchuuriki, then we're far less likely to escape without complications as Leader-sama requested. On the other hand, we should be able to subdue Naruto Uzumaki if he's alone. He's only thirteen, after all."

"When you were thirteen, you slaughtered the entire Uchiha Clan," Kisame replied with a smirk. "We shouldn't underestimate the kid because of his age. He's still got the power of the Nine-Tails at his fingertips, not to mention the Rinnegan. If he's anything like Leader-sama..."

"He isn't." Itachi's Sharingan whirled around his pupils as he turned to face his partner. "You must remember, Kisame, that I was ANBU when I was thirteen. Naruto, for all his potential strength, is not ANBU; he is a Genin. We can handle him with little to no difficulty."

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