Woohoo! Chapter 5! Uh…I added something new and different from before. It's going to add humor to the story so it won't be a dull dark story. Enjoy!

Chapter 5: Graduation/Teams/Thief

Two years later...

"Today is the final exam," the sensei told the class.

Zin and Seiko were buried, and Kwan has been living alone for the past two years. He didn't speak much and barely did anything, except training in the forest and go to school.

"The final exam will be a one on one battle with me. I will judge you as we fight. Shadow Kwan does not need to participate because he is the top of the class." There were a few whispers in the room; many were guessing that the sensei was afraid to fight Kwan. "Now follow me outside. Kwan, you can either stay here or come outside and watch."

The class followed him outside as Kwan sat there motionless. The last person out was the same girl who moved up to higher classes with Kwan. She was staring at Kwan as she walked out. Kwan vanished.

The class walked to the field and saw Kwan leaning against a tree in the shade with no expression on his face. The students merely glanced at him; they were used to his sudden appearances. One by one the students went up and fought. Kwan watched showing no emotions and not noticing a certain stare in the crowd. Eventually, the fighting was finished and everyone was lying on the ground exhausted. After a moment of rest, the class walked back inside. Kwan vanished once again.

The class was back inside finding Kwan sitting in his seat. The class sat down chatting anxiously and nervously as the sensei went into another room to look over his notes. After awhile, the door opened and the sensei walked in with a big box and set it down and turned to the class.

"Well…" there was a brief moment of silence "You all pass!" The crowd erupted into cheers and hugs. After the class calmed now, the sensei continued talking.

"I will now hand out your forehead protectors." He opened the box and inside was brand new forehead protectors. Everyone rushed up to get their own. Kwan merely took one by using his skills with shadows and never left his seat.

The forehead protector had a black cloth and the symbol of the country of Darkness. The symbol was a crescent moon to represent the dark night. Kwan placed it on his forehead and tied it. Everyone put their forehead protectors on (on any part of the body) and quieted down and the sensei spoke again.

"We will now divide you into teams of three and your new sensei. I will also give you the location and time of where you will be meeting up," and he proceeded in naming the teams. Then, Kwan was finally put into a team.

"Team 8 will consist of Shadow Kwan, Kuromori Aiko, and Okawa Mai. Your sensei is named Rai. He wants you guys to meet at Kwan's house at six." Kwan glanced at the two other girls.

Kuromori Aiko. She is the one who moved up a level with Kwan and had red eyes. She was the second best in the class, second from Kwan. She apparently seemed really happy with her group.

Okawa Mai. She —who was a years older than Kwan and Aiko like everyone else in the class— was the third best of the class and had green eyes. She didn't appear to have any problems with Aiko but was slightly disappointed with Kwan. She shrugged it off remembering that Kwan was the top of the class and the strongest and that would aid them greatly in missions.

"Well, class is dismissed. You can now gather together. Good luck! You are all now Genins!" The class cheered and the teams formed. All of the teams (except Team 8) left school and began to spend time together. Aiko and Mai stood together staring at Kwan who had stayed in his seat. Kwan stood up and walked over to Aiko and Mai and stared at them.

"Um…let's go get something to eat. Okay?" Mai suggested.

"Okay!" Aiko agreed. The two stared at Kwan waiting for an answer.

Kwan had his eyes closed and was apparently deep in thought. Then he opened his eyes.

"Sure," he said.

The three left school and walked to café. They got some soda and cakes and sat down at a table.

"Aiko…" Kwan spoke.

"Yes, Kwan?" Aiko answered smiling and having a very slight blush.

"You're that girl who did very well on our first day of school during the fights."

"Oh…" blushing a little bit more "that? I was only little, so it wasn't that great."

Mai, sensing something was going on, stood up and said she needed to do something.

"No you don't," Kwan looked at her. "I can see it in your eyes. You have nothing to do. I think you should stay. We need to spend more time with each other since we are going to be teammates.

Mai sat back down surprised. "Well what are we going to do then?" she asked.

"I don't know. Aiko, you got any ideas?"

Aiko stared at Kwan with many thoughts going through her head. "Uh…let's…hmm…."

"Oh I got an idea!" exclaimed Mai "We can say how we feel and think about each other, truthfully." The other two agreed.

"I guess I'll go first since I started the topic. Aiko, I think you are going to be a girl who will be easily underestimated. Even though you are a very great ninja, you still act like another everyday girl and have the same desires of one." Mai smiled and Aiko smiled back.

"And Kwan…uh…I think you are very mysterious and that you like to hide yourself from the world. You never participate in a social activity and you are always lurking in the shadows. And it also seems as if you don't have any friends..."

Kwan sat there with his eyes closed and sighed. "All true. Though, I hope to change the last part soon, because I'm hoping to become friends with my teammates." He smiled, which was awkward for everyone, even Kwan himself, because he hasn't had a full conversation in a long time and let alone smile.

"I guess I'll go now. Mai, you are pretty and you get along well with other people. Since you are older, in missions you would work well for distractions or when infiltrating something. And Aiko, you are also pretty, but since you are my age, you can't really distract older boys. You would work well to come up with a strategy and fighting. During school, I also noticed that you talk to many people, but you don't have any real friends…"

Aiko blushed, "Yeah. I don't have any real friends because everyone is older than me. But like what you said, I hope to become friends with my teammates."

"Well of course we are going to become friends!" Mai interrupted. "Teammates work together and friendship holds that bond." She looked at Aiko. "Oh…your turn…"

"Well, Mai, I'm hoping that you will become like a sister to me where I can talk about girl things and maybe look up to."

"Aww!" Mai hugged Aiko. "This will be like a sisterly moment!" Eventually, Mai let go.

"And uh…Kwan, uh…you're..." Aiko was blushing a little bit.

"Theif!" they heard someone cry in the streets. They looked to see what was going on and they saw a man running down the street carrying a purse. The three stood up.

"Let's make this our first unofficial mission," Mai suggested.

"Alright!" the other two agreed. Just when Mai and Aiko were about to spring off, Kwan grabbed them by the shoulder.

"If we are going to be teammates, then you girls need to learn how I like to travel."

Everything around them seemed to blur and swirl and it grew dark. They vanished. Everything the saw was black and white (no shades of gray, in Photoshop, it's a threshold effect) and everything seemed to move more slowly. The two girls looked at each other and saw that it was all black.

"What happened?" Aiko asked.

"We're in the Shadow World. We have become shadows, that is the reason why we are all black. This is the method of traveling that I am able to do. We no longer exist in the real world. We cannot do anything in this world except move around. We are merely drifting in this world."

The world around them began to move past them.

"Wait? Are we moving? Or is the world moving?" Mai asked.

"We are moving at my will. Everything moves slower because we are traveling at a fast rate. To travel to a location nearby will seem instantaneous, but something far away will take awhile. And nothing can detect us as we are traveling among the shadows. I can travel alone, and I can bring other people along and travel together."

They drifted to a spot in front of the running thief. The world began to blur and swirl and the colors restored. The speed of everything also returned. The thief's eyes shot wide open as he saw three people suddenly appear out of no where.

"What the hell?" the thief cried out in confusion. "You kids get out of my way!" He was greeted by a fist in his face as Mai punched him. She quickly grabbed the purse.

The thief attempted to run but was cut off by Aiko who kneed him in the stomach. He fell over unconscious. A woman came running up to them.

"Oh thank you!" the woman cried out.

Aiko handed her the purse. The three left after a lot of thank you's and cheers from bystanders.

"Could you use that traveling technique in a battle?" Mai asked.

"No, I wouldn't be able to. It takes a lot of concentration for it. I could probably only do it for a surprise attack but that's all."

"Oh…well, it's getting late. I think we should get going," Mai spoke.

"Yeah. You girls know where I live right?" Kwan asked.

"Yeah. It's in the directory," Aiko replied.

"It is? I wouldn't know, I've never actually looked you up," Mai responded.

"Well see you tomorrow then," and Kwan vanished going back to his home.

Mai and Aiko said good-bye and they departed, going their own ways.

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uh…………..nothing from Sand and Konoha…I couldn't come up with anything since the characters of Darkness graduated a year earlier…so…..

But I did come up with something. I was just sitting here remember over the anime I watched and I remember Record of Lodoss War 2. The anime was mostly action and there was very little or no humor parts. But at the end of each episode, there was a little extra thing to add humor. It would be the same characters, but they become very OUT OF CHARACTER! Like in one episode, an assassin dark elf from the original show becomes an elf who wants to steal some cupcakes… um…yea…you can basically compare this to the episode when Naruto forgot and started the show 27 minutes early. So, I feel like writing something like it…so here it goes!

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Warning: Out of Characterness

-In one of Konoha's classrooms-

Kwan and Gaara was standing near each other (not THAT near…more like a few feet near) while Naruto was on the other side of the room doing something to the door.

"Heh heh heh!" Naruto laughed as he stuck a chalkboard eraser between the door and the wall.

"No one is going to fall for that idiot," Kwan told Naruto in monotone voice.

"Well we were told to meet here like thirty minutes ago, so who ever told us to deserves it," was his reply.

"And don't act all bossy around me, I got a demon inside me you know." Naruto stuck out his tongue.

"You big ass idiot," Gaara spoke. "We all have a demon in us."

Naruto stopped and put his hands behind his head. "Oh yeah…"

"Well at least you guys have only one spirit living in you. I got two," Kwan spoke up.

"Well, I can't sleep!" Gaara replied, getting angry.

"Well, a lot people are afraid of me," Naruto spoke up wanting to be part of it.

"YOU IDIOT! PEOPLE ARE AFRAID OF US TOO!" Gaara and Kwan screamed together with the demonic faces. They both punched Naruto in the face sending him across the room.

"Well, at least you have a family!"

"Well at least someone loves you!"

"Racoon-boy!"

Gaara stared at Kwan. Unable to come up with a comeback, he launched himself on Kwan and they began to wrestle each other.

Naruto was about to fully recover when the door opened. Everyone in the room stopped and looked at the door. Naruto's face paled. The eraser had fallen on Sakura's head.

Gaara and Kwan immediately stood up and pointed at Naruto.

"Uh…uh…uh…you look lovely Sakura-chan," Naruto managed to say and he gave a weak smiled.

Sakura's eyes twitched and then her face became demonic.

"YOU IDIOT! YOU ARE GOING TO PAY!" Sakura screamed in rage.

"No wait! I can explain!" but before he could explain he was slapped so hard he flew through the window and far out into the distance.

Kwan and Gaara stared at what happened. They began to feel uneasy, which was quite rare among these dark boys.

Sakura looked and Kwan and Gaara, her face all normal and pretty now.

"Oh, I someone wanted to talk to you to," she spoke. Two girls walked in through the door.

Gaara and Kwan gulped.

"Hi Temari…"

"Hi Aiko…"

Aiko spoke first, "What did I tell you about calling him 'Raccoon-boy' and fighting him…"

"What did I tell you about fighting your equal…" Temari spoke.

"Wait? What? Equal? Kwan is way better than Gaara."

"What? I was being nice when I said equal. Gaara is obviously the best one here."

Kwan and Gaara looked at each other and began to teleport away with their shadow and sand abilities.

"OH DON'T THINK ABOUT LEAVING!" the two girls cried as they picked up a vase out of no where and threw it at Gaara and Kwan.

For some odd reason, their shields did not defend them and they were knocked unconscious.

"Gaara is better!"

"Kwan is!"

"Sharingan wannabe!"

Aiko gasped. Unable to think of anything, she launched herself at Temari. They began to wrestle each other. Then they broke apart and began to do a real battle.

"Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" Aiko cried as she complete the seals..

"Kamaitachi no Jutsu" Temari cried as she swung her fan.

The two forces collided causing the fire and wind to wrap around each other and fly upward. The beam above them broke as it fell and crashed onto their heads. Both girls fell to the ground unconscious.

Sakura stood there, her mouth wide open in shock.

"Hey sorry I'm late!" a voice came from the door. Mai was standing there looking inside confused and shock.

"I guess eating ramen together is out of the question then," Sakura spoke.

"Yeah…" Mai agreed looking around.

"Want to be my future boyfriend?" Sakura squealed.

"Okay!"

The two ran outside.

"Sasuke-kun! Where are you?" Sakura cried out.

There was a sigh under the desk.

"Whew! She's gone," Sasuke whispered.

"Who's gone?" a voice behind him asked.

Sasuke turned his head slowly.

"Ahhh! Sakura!!!"

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Well…what do you think? Very very Out of Characterness. I warned you though. . Well please review! THANK YOU!