August 22, 13 AK

It had turned out Sensei had actually prepared a curriculum in advance just in case something happened. It was a little unnerving at first, and rather made Sasuke question how 'accidental' the whole encounter with the jinchuuriki had been, save that it wasn't one plan, but nearly a dozen, all neatly charted out depending on how well each of them had progressed in various skills.

There were a nearly insane number of flowcharts and long tables of figures in the notebooks Fovea had shown them, covering everything from the specific techniques their Jounin Sensei had wanted them to master to the food they should be eating, including specific weights of grains and protein with recipes attached. Mostly it was self-study, practicing techniques to boost their elemental affinities and make the jutsu they knew stronger; the rest was teamwork exercises and suggested codes for them to memorize or invent.

The curriculum was surprisingly a little more reasonable than what they were used to, since they were all at a decent level of physical conditioning after three months with Hiroki; their substitute instructor however was completely insane.

"Okay, so, now just do the thing with the thing and then you're done!"

The purple haired girl gnawing on a stick of dango was probably the most unhelpful person Sasuke had ever met. If he wasn't reasonably sure that she was one of Hiroki's assorted lovers he would have wondered if she wasn't deliberately trying to obstruct their progress with her inane comments and visible disinterest. As it was she was still unhelpful, but presumably entirely by accident which was honestly somehow even worse.

"Do you mean channel the lightning chakra down the sword?"

The barely decent kunoichi nodded distractedly and waved her hand indifferently, as if the answer should be obvious to anyone who was paying attention.

"Yeah, just, you know, try to be less terrible at it this time."

He let his shoulders slump in resigned acknowledgment and pushed a lock of sweaty hair off his forehead. Seeing as how he had nearly electrocuted himself almost a dozen times trying to get a handle on the maneuver, that wasn't setting the bar very high. The young Uchiha raised his gaze to the heavens, which were currently mocking his despondent mood by being a rather nice shade of blue which reminded him of Naruto's eyes for some reason, and prayed for release from this torment.

"Anko-chan, dearest dagger in my back, you said you knew how to teach."

Sasuke jolted bolt upright, looking for the source of the familiar voice.

"Sensei!"

At his surprised shout Naruto and Sakura stopped sparring and ran over to them.

Hiroki looked rather worse for wear; his cousin had always been pale but now the Jounin was bordering on pallid. Still, despite the nearly green tinge to his skin, he was smiling tiredly all the same.

"Hello sweet students. I'm sorry I've been indisposed for so long. It took… somewhat longer to accommodate my new partner than I had thought. I'm afraid I'm still not at peak condition, but I can at least relieve dear Anko from the… arduous task of keeping an eye on you."

The Special Jounin frowned aggressively and stepped in close to their masked instructor.

"And what's that supposed to mean then?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes as the older Uchiha tried to backpedal.

"Nothing dear one, nothing; it's just that you-"

"Yes?"

The younger Uchiha was never more pleased to be free of the tangling influence of a girlfriend as when he had to watch his cousin deal with irate females. Though watching his relative start to crumple into a compliant puddle as Anko threatened him with a kunai and significantly more breathy, chest-heaving motions that should be appropriate in a public setting was entertaining, he had to admit.

Eventually though, he had to break it up. He was getting worried about the oddly intense looks Sakura was shifting between their trenchcoated temporary instructor and his own person. It wouldn't do to give her ideas.

"Sensei when did you get out of the hospital?"

"-yes Anko-sama, this lowly worm- eh?"

Sensei blinked around his girlfriend to appear slightly behind the Genin.

"Ah, yes, just an hour ago. Tsunade-hime was quite irritated that we somehow managed to turn a second C-rank into an A-rank encounter. But worry not; your Sensei is ready for action once more!"

The cheerful proclamation and pose was given lie as Hiroki began to cough excessively, and Sasuke's brows wrinkled slightly with concern as he caught the unmistakable scent of blood when the Jounin covered his mouth, faint drops of crimson seeping into the wraps around his fingers.

"Mah, well, maybe in a week or so… but that's okay, and do you know why?"

Sakura raised her hand excitedly, smile only slightly forced as she tried to remain supportive despite their teacher's dishevelment.

"The Chunin Exams are here!"

He and Naruto perked up at the mention of the promotion opportunity, glancing at Sensei for confirmation. The Jounin brought out a trio of forms with a little flourish, spreading them like a fan for the Genin to inspect, an array of fireworks going off behind him, prompting Sasuke and his teammates to dispel the genjutsu. He still didn't know how his teacher managed to cast them without any visible trace.

"Yes indeed. And, if you all are willing, I think your skills have matured quite well over the last three months. I submitted your names for consideration, and I have the forms right here for you."

They each grabbed a page out of Sensei's clean white bandaged hands and Sasuke scanned the sheet quickly with his Sharingan. Standard legal waiver, nothing to worry about. The masked Jounin let out a small noise before popping back over to Anko, who was making a very scary face and almost fellating a kunai.

"Right, well, I'll let you munchkins think it over tonight, and if you're still interested in the morning we can do a last check up before you submit them the day after tomorrow. Yes Anko-sama, I'm sorry, please forgive this worm…"

Sasuke stared after the retreating back of the older ninja, face set into a determinedly blank expression as he edited certain parts of the past few minutes out of his memory for his own safety.

"Right. Well, I suppose we'll see each other tomorrow morning then."

With a wave to his teammates he set off to find some place quiet to think and meditate.

He had only been wandering the village idly for about twenty minutes when his Naruto-senses started tingling, distracting his attention away from bored observation of all the oddly dressed people passing by in the street below and idle thoughts of visiting Saiko. Sasuke couldn't quite explain it, but he had started to notice that whenever the blond idiot was in dire peril he would feel an odd prickling in the base of his skull. He had a sneaking suspicion that it was some sort of hidden seal left behind by Sensei, but he hadn't managed to find anything when he last searched his entire body for any marks that might have been a fuin, still wary of Sensei's initial suggestion that they shave their hair off. At any rate, it was a useful thing, seeing as even though Naruto had become more competent in leaps and bounds in recent months the orange-wearing numbskull somehow managed to stumble into more trouble than a blind goat in a meat grinder factory.

The tree next to the road provided a good vantage to assess the situation which… hmm. Was his Naruto-sense malfunctioning? The blond was growling at a pair of Suna Genin, one of whom was dressed in a rather stupid catsuit and apparently threatening- oh. That would be why he was alerted then; Konohamaru was one of Naruto's friends, and nothing ever worked Naruto up like a threat to one of his few precious people.

He tsked under his breath and rolled his eyes in frustration. This had international incident written all over it, and as per usual, it was up to him to defuse the situation his more hot-headed teammates had gotten themselves into. Though seeing Sakura just a step behind Naruto made him rather disappointed in the girl. She was supposed to be the smart one, after all.

The oddly dressed Suna-nin dropped Konohamaru with a little yelp of pain as Sasuke's thrown pebble hit the foreigner's wrist. As the kid was distracted looking towards where the stone had come from he executed a rapid Shunshin to place himself right behind his orange teammate.

Game faces on.

He threw a companionable arm over Naruto's shoulder and leaned in, giving the Suna-nin a heavy-lidded stare.

"Ne, Naruto, these twerps bothering you?"

The blond paused for a moment before giving him a wide smile in return, showing off his abnormally sharp canines.

"They're foreign! That means I can eat them, right?"

Sakura recovered admirably from her earlier anger and sniffed dismissively while flipping her hair, shooting the girl with the four ponytails a venomous look and covering her mouth with a delicate hand, the very picture of a noblewoman condescending to her lessers.

"Now Naruto, you know better than to eat something you found on the street. Who knows where they've been?"

The boy in (was that makeup? Gay.) growled and pulled the odd, wrapped bundle off his back, thumping it heavily onto the ground.

"You think you can make fun of me?!"

"Kankuro. Shut up or I'll kill you."

All the Genin turned towards the new voice, coming from the tree Sasuke had been in not a moment ago. Another Suna-nin hung there, a massive gourd on his back, regarding them all with an apathetic expression. Despite the apparent disinterest Sasuke could detect the tickle of killing intent in the air, and he could feel the slight pressure of chakra wafting off the younger boy even down on the street.

Naruto grew very still under his arm, turning to face the newcomer head on. The blond took a deep breath through his nose and let his eyes close slightly, mouth slightly open to taste the air. Sasuke slowly shifted position to leave his sword free to draw if he got the signal while his teammate spoke slowly, a thoughtful lilt in his tone.

"You smell like blood, and sand, and lonely."

Naruto's eyes widened and Sasuke noted the pupil had elongated into a slit. Double plus not good.

"Who do you serve?"

That was the code phrase for another jinchuuriki, and both Sasuke and Sakura slid into ready positions behind their center, studying the small redhead intently.

The Suna jinchuuriki merely stared back impassively for a moment before he disappeared in a swirl of sand to emerge next to the other foreign Genin.

"Temari, Kankuro, we're leaving."

"Wait."

The boy paused at Sasuke's word, merely regarding the Uchiha without a hint of question in his expression.

"What's your name?"

For a second it seemed as if he wouldn't get a proper answer, before the redhead nodded slowly.

"Gaara, of the Desert. And you?"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, considering, before he smiled thinly back.

"Uchiha Sasuke. I look forward to seeing you in the Exams."

Without another word, the other trio vanished into the blur of a body-flicker, and Sasuke felt his shoulders slump just a hair as he swept a red-eyed glance over the nearby rooftops. The act had worked, probably, but... Shit.

"Who does he hold?"

Sakura spoke quietly as she moved up right next to the blond and raven, still in a ready mode in case they came back. Naruto continued to stare in the direction the Suna-nin had disappeared, breathing slightly heavily, and gaze set in the vague and unfocused expression that meant he was communicating with the Kyuubi.

"I think the Ichibi. Fuzzy thinks so too. The Tanuki was good at controlling sand." -a low bass growl rumbled in the air for a second as the orange ninja exhaled and uncrooked his back from the feral slouch- "He thinks Gaara's Seal might be weak. There was some leakage; could you feel it? And the eyes, and the gourd… a lot of leakage."

Sakura and Sasuke exchanged a glance before he spoke up.

"Could you beat him?"

Naruto hummed for a moment, and Sasuke noticed that the blue eyes had gone back to normal. Eventually the blond nodded, confident, even though uncertain.

"Yeah. Wind can cut through anything. So long as we weren't ambushed. But we probably shouldn't try. That kid smelled like old blood, and a lot of it. Some of the biju are angrier than others, and if Gaara's Seal is letting so much leak through there's a chance he can't stop listening to the Ichibi. He might be… unstable."

Sasuke met the other boy's gaze unflinchingly, a slight crease of his brows the only indicator of the turmoil he was feeling. Naruto frowned reflectively, mirroring his mood of troubled concern.

"We shouldn't try to meet him in the exams, even if we have good matchups against him." -he frowned thoughtfully- "It's actually a little worrying that they sent their jinchuuriki out of the village for a Genin exam."

Sakura chewed on her lower lip thoughtfully, hand sliding into her sleeves to stroke over her hidden tessen. Sasuke wouldn't admit it, but he would have dearly liked to hold onto his sword as well.

"We should tell Sensei. He might know more. At the very least he can give us some advice for how to handle it."

. . .

A/N: Anko is a naughty girl. Though only Hiroki will be punished.

I really like feral Narutos, but in this case, it is merely an act. Intimidation is an extremely important part of ninja life, and pretending to be a little violent and a little crazy serves the dual purposes of scaring away some people and making the rest underestimate you.

More frustration with the limited formatting options of FFN.