Scooby Nin of Konoha

Author: Anime Ronin

Rating: M for harsh language, sexual references and violence

Summary: Sunnydale 2.0, this time with 300 percent more ninjas!

Disclaimer: I own nothing and make no profits from this.

Chapter 1

(Sunnydale, 1996)

Willow Rosenberg was sitting in a tree. This wasn't new. She liked trees, heck, she was named after one. The issue, if anyone saw her, would come that she was sitting on the underside of a branch, upside down, seemingly ignoring the laws of gravity.

Xander Harris was also sitting in the tree. Again, this wasn't new. He liked trees, he just often hated what they inhabited (noisy birds, aggravating tree-rats, aka 'squirrels', and bugs). He, too, was also seemingly ignoring the laws of gravity, only he was standing perpendicular to the trunk.

Buffy Summers stood in the tree as most people would. This… was new. She didn't like trees for some reason. Go figure. Still, she needed to talk with her long-time friends, friends she technically hadn't made yet, and this spot was as secluded as they were going to get. "How are you guys doing?"

Willow shrugged and, with some chakra manipulation, was sitting on top of the branch. Dressed in her overalls and a long shirt, she was just like Buffy remembered her, "It's kinda weird being young again."

Xander snorted and walked up the tree before joining them on the branch, "Wills, you've only had two other chances to get it right." Dressed in a pair of normal pants and a t-shirt, over which was a solid-colored over-shirt, he looked something like Buffy remembered him.

Willow stuck her tongue out at him. Xander returned the favor.

Buffy rolled her eyes, "Children? Can we please take stock of our situation before the games begin?"

Both pouted and muttered, "Fine."

Xander spoke up first, "Obviously I'm not up to par on anything. Strength, speed, conditioning and dexterity are all shot to hell in a hand basket. Chakra reserves are about a third of what they were when... we 'left'. Control, surprisingly, is only a few ticks below 'abysmal'."

"My control's about where it was before, but my reserves are toast," Willow grumped. "Speed and strength are in the toilet and my conditioning is like that of an asthmatic gerbil."

Buffy shrugged, "Everything's peachy with a side of keen with me."

Again there were tongues being stuck out, only this time in her direction and with the additions of raspberries being blown.

"Put those away unless you're going to use them, you two."

Willow squeaked and blushed. Xander arched an eyebrow and leered. Buffy felt mortified that the old line had slipped from her lips as easily as it had.

"All fun aside, though, what in the hell are we going to do, girls? My memories of last time are a little fuzzy but there's still some stuff I'm not going to let happen." Xander shifted on the branch a bit, causing the leaves the rustle, "I mean, I'd rather see Jesse alive than dust this time."

"Me too," Willow said quietly. "He's a bit of a horndog-"

"A bit?"

"Alright, a big one. Happy, Xander?"

"As long as he's alive? Yes."

"He's a big horndog, Buffy, but he's our horndog. I… I think you would have liked him, once he calmed down."

"Can we get him neutered instead?" The girls gave Xander a scandalized look and he shrugged, "What? It's either that or we take him to a pro and let him get his ashes hauled for a few hours. If that doesn't calm him down, well, it's back to the neutering."

Buffy rolled her eyes, "All men are perverts."

"Then explain Anko to me."

"She's a psycho with sadistic tendencies," Willow growled.

Buffy sighed, "Wills? I know you had your issues with her, but she's at least a dimension away. Can we put away the hostility?" When Willow grumbled 'fine', as grumbling seemed to be the mildest thing she did where Mitarashi Anko was involved, Buffy went on, "Alright. Xander raises a good point – what do we do this time? What do we change, if anything else besides Jesse?"

Xander raised his hand, "I vote we take Angel out right now and I can defend this statement."

"Please do."

"Until the beginning of senior year, he was useless in that he only helped when he had no other choice or when Buffy was involved. After the fact, he still only helped where Buffy was involved or where he thought he could start doing some good. I still don't trust him."

Willow decided to drop in her own two Ryou, "What if we told him about the clause in the Curse? Do you think that would help?"

Xander shrugged, "Without proof? No."

Buffy sighed, "Speaking of proof, we have to deal with Miss Calendar, if only in telling her that we know the truth." She rubbed her brow and winced, "I'm getting a headache. Time travel sucks."

"Not as much as dying did." Willow rolled her shoulder, "Dying does the physically impossible – it sucks and blows at the same time."

"It's not impossible, Wills, just… difficult," Xander said with a slight smirk on his lips. "Much easier to do with the right partner."

Buffy smacked Xander on the back of the head, "Pervert." Xander blew a kiss at her but she went on, "Anyway, anything else? I vote for training." Xander and Willow groaned and Buffy frowned, "What?"

"Train, train, train, Buffy. That's all you do. If we didn't know any better, I'd say you were infected by Maito Gai."

Willow smacked Xander on the shoulder, "That's mean, Xander. True, but mean."

Buffy didn't let her feelings get hurt, given that Xander was still the lazy one of the three, "Alright, Mister Nara-alike, we can train ourselves if you don't want group training."

"I'll have you know I do more than cloud watch and play Shogi, Buffy, and I don't even like smoking," Xander grumbled. He disliked being compared to the Nara, if only on principles. "Alright, let's go ahead and break this up. We have places to be and Brits to annoy."

Buffy smiled and leapt out of the tree with Xander while Willow rolled her eyes and simply dropped, "I missed Giles. I'm going to break your record, Xan."

"Keep dreaming, faux-blondie. Wha- ow! Hey, quit it! Stop hitting me, Buffy. Ow! WILLS!"

AN: Alright boys and girls, this is the beginning of something that's been hammered on for a while. Numerous revisions, numerous dead bunnies, but they all run into the same issue – someone will say 'but they'll be vastly over-powering the forces in Sunnydale'. You're right, they will be. They've also got years of re-training to get where they were. Now, where were they? That'll be gone over in future chapters in the dreaded flashbacks. Read and Review, please.