Chapter 2 – Thinking

"Saaaaakura-chan!"

Naruto was in full swing today, running toward her, as he was wont to do. For an instant Sakura flinched, remembering the serious look in his eyes, and the words he had said the night before. She could still almost feel the freezing chill of her vision running up her spine. Whatever happened to him the night before was gone now though. Today he was back in his normal form, loud voice and everything.

"Hi Naruto," she started cautiously.

"Sakura-chan, I did it! I made Chunnin!" yelled Naruto. His excitement was practically tangible. "Hokage, here I come!"

She smiled at this bit of normalcy.

"I'm glad to hear it. Any ideas on when your first Chunnin mission will be?" she asked, genuinely curious.

"Actually the old hag wanted to see me right off. I figure she might have something for me to do already," he grinned brightly, "I am the best Ninja in the village, after all!"

She shook her head, already remembering why the normal Naruto grated on her nerves.

He looked up at a nearby clock. "I'd better get going though. Last time I was late she promised to skin me." He pouted. "How come Kakashi never gets her threats?"

Over the four years Tsunade had been a Hokage, she had developed a reputation for intolerance of tardiness. Many a Chunnin and even Jounin had horror stories to tell of when they had made Tsunade wait. Usually they would be assigned to Class D missions for weeks at a time. Kakashi was the sole exception to the rule. With her, as with most everyone else, he was consistently late, sometimes. Thus far, the worst punishment he had received involved her punching the man out of her office. Through a closed door, no less. All the same, this was far preferable to working for a tenth of a normal Chunnin salary for a month while trying not to kill your clients. The only guess Sakura had concerning the reason for his luck was his penchant for finding a new excuse every time.

Naruto, unfortunately, was not Kakashi, and the minute hand of the clock said he was coming perilously close to being late to his appointment.

"Oh, I think the clerk said she wants to see you too," he mentioned over his shoulder before jumping in the direction of the tower.

Sakura paused for a second before giving chase, yelling, "You should've said that earlier, idiot! Now we'll both be late!"

For Sakura, the vengeance of Tsunade was far worse then most could imagine. Adrenaline pumping, she kept pace with Naruto in their dash towards the Hokage.

The two Chunnin ran inside the building totally out of breath. The guards on duty did not give them a second look, as this was a pretty common sight. They ran all the way to the Hokage's office before taking a moment to calm down.

"We should be expected," stated Naruto.

The guards, somewhat slowly, moved away from the door to let the pair through. As they entered they noticed another occupant in the room. Sasuke was sitting in front of the Hokage, the usual picture of solemnity. Behind his eyes the two could see the storm called boredom; he must have been waiting for a while.

The Hokage looked up, "You're late," she noted calmly as the two sat down. Both Naruto and Sakura cringed, "But I guess I'll forgive you this time. More importantly," she focused on Naruto, "Where the hell were you yesterday? We spent hours looking for you when you should have been in the hospital resting."

Naruto had the decency to look embarrassed, "I got hungry," he whined, "And the hospital didn't have any ramen. So I went to Ichiraku's. Then I got tired so I went home to sleep."

Tsunade shook her head. The boy would put himself in an early grave one of these days.

At the same time, Sakura favored Naruto with an appraising gaze. He was usually quite honest, often to the point of extremity, yet he did not even comment on their meeting.

"Now then, the reason I called you all here," Tsunade decided to cut to the chase. "I know it's not what any of you expect, but I would like to request all three of you spend some time teaching at the Academy."

There was a pause as the request sank in.

"What!" Sasuke joined in with Naruto and Sakura this time, coughing and looking quite embarrassed when he realized what he did, "Hokage-sama, I understand your need to punish these two for being late, but why should I be included?"

He was on the receiving end of Naruto and Sakura's death glares this time.

"This isn't punishment," said Tsunade, before turning to Naruto, "First off, for you to become a Hokage you need to spend at least a year as an academy instructor to prove your desire to help the village. Even I had to do it when I was young – er.

Naruto nodded reluctantly, grumbling under his breath.

"As for you two," she looked over at Sasuke and Sakura, "You guys are some of the best at what you do in the village. Even after my return we still have not had as many Genin as I would like to specialize in medical techniques. This is where you come in Sakura. I would like you to find those with the potential and begin teaching them some of the things I have taught you."

"Sasuke, you've proven to me that you can be trusted with the duties of a Ninja of Konoha," said Tsunade with a far off look, remembering something, "But some members of the village still have some reservations. Think of this as free publicity."

Nodding, she picked up three sheets of paper with the assignment guidelines, "You will be paid the standard instructor fees plus a bonus for your rather special qualifications, which will put you at B5 pay grade, so please remember to act the part, " she passed the papers out to the waiting Chunnin, who were quite surprised at this pronouncement.

The ninja pay grades were arranged similarly to the mission difficulty, starting with D for the new Genin. The C rank was reserved for both Genin over third year and Chunnin. Up to there the money was not enough to provide a living, as at these ranks, it was expected that the Ninjas would have either parents or the orphan program supporting them. Past that the payment went up noticeably. Only upper ranked Chunnin earned a pay grade over B1, and B5 was one step away from new Jounin. That they were promoted so high was a clear statement the Hokage expected excellence from them.

"Yes M'am," the three replied in one voice, even Naruto showing a measure of respect he usually avoided.

"Now, I want you to sign off on the orders and go turn them in to Records. From there you will receive detailed information about your posts. I expect to hear good things from here on. Dismissed," Tsunade nodded toward the door.

As the tree got up to leave she reached into her desk and pulled out a manila folder. Out of the corner of her eyes, Sakura noticed the letters R.S.O. prominently displayed on the front, followed by a long string of numbers.

Tsunade placed the folder on her desk and spoke again, "Naruto, wait up a second. I'd like to talk to you about some... interesting things I found recently."

Naruto turned around. Upon seeing the folder, he frowned. Turning to Sasuke and Sakura, he said, "Don't wait up guys, this may take a while."

Sakura walked with Sasuke toward the Records section.

"What do you think that was about, Sasuke-kun?" she wondered.

The boy paused and glanced back down the hall, "I may have an idea," he stated. He had his calculating look in his eyes, something Sakura found quite annoying after having been exposed to it as many times as she had.

When he had accepted her request for a date two months ago, she was ecstatic. Finally, she would get her chance to prove her love to him. The date went rather well, too. They had gone to a tiny café where she tried to engage him in small talk, and eventually he did open up, well, as much as he could, anyway. At her prodding he told her a few bits about his childhood, surprisingly clean of the darkness that followed Itachi's betrayal. They discussed their time as Team 7 and reminisced about some of the more entertaining missions they'd been assigned. Thankfully, never once did the topic drift to Sasuke's betrayal and the years that followed.

It was during that dinner that she had first been subjected to the look. It wasn't particularly dark or malicious, but it was not how she expected the love of her life to look at her. His eyes were distant, calculating. True, there was some warmth in them too, but it was not enough.

She ignored it then, and they followed up the meal with a movie, a darker drama that was quite popular among their peers, male and female. Sasuke seemed quite bored throughout the whole thing, however, he did demonstrate his capability of being a gentleman by commenting on the film afterward, keeping his annoyance out of his voice. Following the movie he walked her home, leaving her with a feeling that something was missing.

The following week she tried again. Each time he looked at her she would notice that same gaze she had seen during her first date. She took it in stride and kept on going. This time their dinner was silent, each lost in thought. After he had paid the bill she suggested they take a walk, not wanting to risk another boring movie.

The pair went into the park, and there they finally talked about the years after the betrayal.

She had learned many things she was sure she should not have known on that day, and it put many of the ninjas she knew in a new light. At last they talked of their feelings. It was less of a disappointment then Sakura expected to learn what Sasuke really thought of her. They were close, closer then most teammates, but something was missing. He would protect her of course, as would Naruto and even Kakashi, but when he looked at her, he could not feel what she thought she felt for him.

They had spent the rest of the night in silence. When Sasuke left Sakura at her house he kissed her, a chaste kiss on the forehead. It was then that it finally sank in. She may have won, but she still did not have a chance.

Getting annoyed at the look, Sakura reached up and placed her finger in front of Sasuke's head, ready to flick. She was still some ways off from Tsunade, but even so her strength was impressive.

"Well, out with it," she demanded.

"It's about yesterday," he said somberly, the look she had thought was meant for her directed back down the hall.

She frowned before voicing her suspicions. "You saw it too then? The dance?"

He nodded, before turning and resuming his trek towards Records. "He could have beat me, I think."

It was difficult thing for Sasuke to admit. Over the years he had strived to be the best, strived to triumph over his brother. In the end he had achieved his goal, his brother defeated at his feet. In the process, though, Naruto had grown stronger yet, and gained skills Sasuke had never even seen.

"He could have, but something was missing. It's not that he was holding back, but more like the moves were incomplete," Sasuke mused. "That's probably why he made the challenge about not using the Sharingan."

Sakura had forgotten all about her teammate's bloodline ability. It had been a long time since she had seen him fight full out. With the fresh revelation of the agreement between the two boys, coupled with her vision the previous night she began to realize that there was more to Naruto's dance then met the eye. In fact there was something about it that Sasuke simply must not copy.

"Sasuke," she started, "I want you to promise me one thing. Please don't copy that dance."

Surprising her, he nodded. "Yes, I think that may be for the best."

With that resolved, the two continued in silence.

Despite Naruto's warning, his friends decided to wait for him in the Records Hall. The room looked exactly as one might expect: rows and rows of shelves holding stacks of boxes, each meticulously labeled in some cryptic script that only the Records employees could recognize. Here, mission requests would be matched with appropriate data and sent to the Hokage for approval. The briefing and debriefing logs for all missions since the conception of the village could be found in the boxes, and all the minor details that the Hokage was far too busy to decide were handled by the clerks. Also, mission details were given out here, as well as promotions.

The clerks were a strange bunch. All of them had some ninja training of course, most able to act at least at a Chunnin level. Most rarely stepped out of the tower, however. Lodging was attached directly to the Hall and food was provided in the nearby cafeteria, providing the added benefit of keeping the clerks from being swayed by the courts of public opinion, each operating based only on what was kept within the halls. None of them had ever sent Naruto any hateful glances or raised Sasuke onto a pedestal.

In order to maintain security, the clerks also had their own written and spoken language. Thirty sets of characters existed to help organization, with each clerk knowing ten. Whenever a request was yelled out only a clerk who knew the section requested could retrieve the file. This served the dual-purpose of ensuring a captured clerk would not pose too much of a threat, and more importantly, frightening away visitors.

The woman on duty at the front desk ignored Sasuke and Sakura as they waited in the provided chairs, looking at the papers laid out in front of them. It was not her place to ask, nor care about what anyone past the desk did.

Finally, the door opened and a quiet Naruto walked in. Looking around, he quirked his eyebrow at his two teammates. "So you stuck around, guys?"

Ignoring his questions, Sasuke shot him an inquisitive look. "What was that about?"

"Oh, the old lady found some documents from when the Fourth was Hokage. She thought I might like to see them and help her figure them out," said Naruto dismissively. "It turned out to be nothing I didn't know."

Sasuke nodded. Documents from back then probably had to do with the Kyuubi, so it was none of his business to inquire. Sakura wondered what the initials she had seen stood for, but she too discarded the idea of further questions.

"Come on, let's get our assignment!" Naruto regained some of his cheer and ran up to the desk, slamming his mission specification down. "Hey lady, give us the mission details for the future Hokage and his friends!"

The clerk looked at the boy with some curiosity – it was not every day someone started yelling in the hall – before looking down at the papers. A high paying teaching assignment, she noted, before shouting a long combination of syllables.

They did not need to wait long before a pale man ran up, handed the head clerk three folders, and disappeared back into the maze of shelves.

"So then," started the woman, looking at the first folder, "Let's see what we have. One Haruno Sakura, medical specialist, B5 pay grade. You are assigned academy room 312, in charge of the new special medical section class."

Sakura nodded, expecting something like this. She picked up the folder that was presented to her and began to leaf through the various pages of information.

"Next we have an. Uchiha Sasuke, Ninjutsu specialist, Sharingan bloodline ability, also B5 pay grade. You are in room 108, in charge of jutsu training and demonstration. It says here that you are expected to expand your Genjutsu ability in order to provide a full range of training to the students."

Sasuke accepted his folder. The job would be somewhat boring, but he would not mind some peace now that his brother was taken care of.

"Finally, Uzumaki Naruto, advanced training, demonic container, and of course B5 pay grade," the three cringed at how easily the woman told what was supposed to be the village secret.

"Now this is strange," she mused, looking within the folder, confused, "With grades like that?" she shrugged and continued, "Anyway, you are in academy room 302, in charge of Konoha history."

Naruto leveled a blank look at the woman while his teammates started at him incredulously, "Excuse me?" they asked in tandem.

The woman shrugged and handed him the folder, "See for yourself, and I hope you have greatly improved in this area, young man. I fear for our children if you teach them with grades like yours."

Naruto opened his folder, allowing them to confirm what was already said.

Giving off an uncomfortable laugh and scratching his head, he said, "Well, I'll do it. Anything to become Hokage, right?"

Seeing that her task was complete, the head clerk leaned back in her chair and returned to her previous activities.

Sakura resisted the urge to hit her head against the wall. Over the past week she had developed a newfound respect for all of her old teachers. How they were able to put up with little horrors like these she would never know. The job was not completely thankless though, and she felt a great sense of pride at the interest some students showed towards the medical profession.

From down the hall she heard sudden laughter, no doubt Naruto's class enjoying themselves as usual. That boy had shocked everyone with his approach to teaching, and his apparent success. However he did it the students loved him, and would eagerly talk about his class, even at the expense of other lessons.

The bell suddenly rang, announcing the end of the day. The students bowed and began to file out. Sakura followed them, thinking about Naruto. It had been almost three weeks since the Chunnin exam, and since then, Naruto had not once shown the face she had seen that night. She was starting to think it was a dream. At that particular moment Naruto exited his class, still somewhat ahead of her, talking to one of his students.

"That's why you should keep working on it. After all, even the wildest dreams can become reality," she stopped and gaped at the coincidence. It was in that moment that he sent her a mysterious smile and a wink. They were gone in an instant, but the sense of foreboding she had been feeling earlier returned full force.

Naruto returned his focus to his student. "I'll see you tomorrow, Ari-chan. Don't forget to study."

As the girl ran off, Naruto turned towards the stairs, glancing up at Sakura. "This is a nice job, isn't it Sakura-chan?"

Still feeling some apprehension, Sakura nodded. "It has its ups."

The two headed down towards the teachers' lounge.

Inside, they found Sasuke sitting, his hands crossed in front of his face in his classical brooding position. In front of him was a sheet of paper showing all of his students and their recorded abilities.

"Hey, teme!" yelled Naruto.

Sasuke glanced up to acknowledge them before glaring at the harmless sheet again. "So pitiful, all of them," he muttered, "No redeeming qualities."

One would need to be very familiar with Sasuke to discern anything but scorn in the statement. Fortunately, both Naruto and Sakura knew him far too well. He was enjoying this little foray even more than Naruto, and it seemed like teaching really was the position in which he flourished. Sure his students sometimes found him scary and unapproachable, but with him looking over them they worked hard, and when he gave them one of his rare praises they would truly beam.

Naruto and Sakura both sat at their usual places, and Naruto began a rather quiet conversation with his rival. The two had grown closer these past weeks, their experience helping change them for the better.

Sakura thought about the events of the day, such as Naruto's opportune statement and the knowing smile that followed. That was no coincidence, she was quite sure. Once again, her mind drifted to what he said that night.

"It's better that you never learned."

She wondered what caused him to say that, when he was always asking her to become stronger.

"You would not die, you would lose the right,..."

That made no sense. He seemed so gloomy when he said it, and sure, too. What was it that she should fear more than death?

And that vision.

She realized that she would need to come up with an answer, if not for Naruto, then at least for her own heart.

"Saaaaakura-chan!" Naruto stuck his face in front of her.

"Sasuke and me are hungry, come on, let's go eat," he offered. Unable to come up with an excuse, she accepted, and the trio left the room.

It was a week later that Sakura found herself looking toward the ceiling as she lay in bed. All this thinking and she still had no answer that satisfied her. Perhaps it was time to confront Naruto and ask for his help. True, he seemed to think she should decide on her own, but this wasn't getting her anywhere.

Slowly, she got up and threw on some clothes. It was still late spring, but a recent cold front made the nights rather chilly.

Quietly, she snuck out of her room and down the stairs. Making sure she had her keys, she left the house, thankful that her parents were heavy sleepers.

The chill night air teased her skin, and she was surprised to see her breath congealing into fog; it should not have been that cold. Ignoring the strange quirk of nature, she headed towards Naruto's apartment. She hadn't been there too often, but enough times to memorize the location.

She passed through downtown, enjoying the silence and solitude in a place that was usually so full of life. Above her the stars twinkled, taking her breath away by their beauty, and at the same time filling her with a sense of danger, as if each one was watching her intently. Ignoring the confused feelings, she continued on.

At last she reached Naruto's apartment building and happily walked in, enjoying the warmth on her chilled skin. The front door was never locked, so she let herself in and headed up the stairs.

In front of Naruto's door she paused, thinking of what she was about to ask, and praying that he would not misinterpret her visit for something more than it was.

Finally, gathering enough of her wits, she knocked and waited.

And waited… and waited…

Getting annoyed, she knocked again, this time much harder. True it was midnight, but he owed this to her.

The annoyance turned to frustration, and she tried the doorknob, to find the door unlocked. Sighing at her teammate's carelessness, she opened the door, looking cautiously around for any traps he may have put in to protect his home.

Seeing none, she entered.

The room was quite bare, the same as it had been the last time she was here. A sofa was pushed against the wall facing a tiny television. Through one doorway she knew she would find the kitchen area, full of cup ramen and little else. Through the other would be Naruto's bedroom, a few posters, a bed and a dresser.

That was her destination. She put her hand on the door and took a breath. If he misunderstood this, god help her, she was going to pound him into the floor. That she was trespassing never occurred to her.

"Naruto!" she yelled, flinging the door open.

She was greeted by silence.

Looking around the room, she noticed that the bed was untouched. Wherever he was, it wasn't here.

Sighing, she left the apartment. She would search for him then, he had to be somewhere in the village. She didn't know why she was going through so much trouble, but she wanted to have an answer, for him and for herself.

Standing outside, she looked at the starry sky again. What would she do when she found him? How would her answer affect her life? These were all worries she let flow from her mind. For now her task was simple: find Naruto and ask him what she could do.

Tired of standing she took off, running up a wall of a nearby building to get to the roof and continuing from there. Normally such an action would be frowned down upon. Showing off your ninja skills in the middle of the civilian population raised feelings of jealousy from the ground bound humans. Now, deep in the night, she could go all out.

There was a time years ago that she could not do something even that simple. Her chakra reserves were pitiful back then, barely enough for a few clones. Then Tsunade came along and that changed. These days she was still well behind people like Naruto and Sasuke, but she felt, if in the right mindset, she could perhaps give Neji a run for his money. She kept going, no particular destination in mind. Her eyes were scanning left and right, trying to find some activity. She caught the occasional movement of on duty ANBU or Jounin guards going about their business, but was quite sure her friend was not among them. Her passage was unchallenged; it was assumed any Ninja out this late inside the village knew what they were doing, and thus were not disturbed.

She noted absently that the buildings were getting fewer and further between. Soon she would be forced to drop from her high path and go by ground. She was near one of the training areas she realized, sixteen if she remembered correctly. It was a large section of forest that was once used for stealth exercises. These days a newer, more appropriate field existed for the purpose, so this area remained unused, protected by various laws requiring the preservation of old training areas

She was about to turn back before she paused. These days, coincidences were almost a daily occurrence. Since she was here she might as well look deeper; after all, one never knew what one might find.

Jumping to the ground, she walked into the forest, secure in the knowledge that she could handle any animal that might choose her for a midnight snack.

The training area was even quieter then the town she had just left. Gone were the random dogs barking and the faint whistling left by traveling ninjas. The canopy blocked the light from the moon and stars, so she focused a bit of chakra into her eyes to give her a better sense of her surroundings.

She walked like that for what felt like hours. The cold was starting to get to her and the silence was unnerving.

As she got deeper into the forest she began to realize the temperature had climbed down, and was now hanging below freezing. She had not dressed for something like this, but her resolution would not wane, so she continued forth.

Suddenly, she spied a faint light ahead, most likely coming from a clearing. Sighing in relief, she let the chakra flow out and moved towards it.

As she got closer she realized she was right; it was a small clearing with a lake. But that was not the most interesting part. It seemed that the air was colder here than anywhere else. Suddenly her breath caught. There, in the middle of the lake, was her quarry.

Naruto stood on the mirror-like surface of the lake, his arms folded out and face turned toward the sky, a wooden staff leaning against his shoulder. He did not seem to notice when she entered the clearing, as he remained silent.

The water must have frozen from she cold, she reasoned, since she did not see a single ripple; how Naruto was able to tolerate the cold was anyone's guess.

A faint breeze blew, brining with it even more of the cold air. She shivered and tried to rub some feeling back into her near frozen arms. It was time that she called to him and resolved the question plaguing her mind.

As the breeze reached Naruto, he burst into motion and the words Sakura had on her lips faded in awe.

He spun grabbing the staff and struck out in front of him, using it as a spear. Next, he proceeded to move in an intricate figure eight, striking high and low at some imaginary opponent. In the next instant he jumped and spun, the staff in a position to have clipped the opponent's head with its end. He recovered from the spin with a quick roll striking upwards, and then swung around in a full circle.

These moves were nothing like she had seen during the exam, Sakura realized. Here the dance was different, more savage and so much faster. The entire sequence of events had taken less than a second; she was surprised she could follow it at all.

Naruto did not stop. He was now running all over the lake, engaged in his intricate kata. He handled the staff with one hand, while the other was free for unarmed attacks. With another spin he made a blocking motion with his staff and struck out, faster than lightning, at chest level.

It was then that she saw them, small shiny claws, nothing like the one time she had seen him fully Kyuubified. He gracefully struck out two more times before thrusting with the staff into the same area. Entertaining a clue, she put Sasuke in place of the imaginary opponent and realized that, had this been a real fight, her old crush would now be impaled on the staff, his body ripped open.

Naruto was not done yet. Drawing back, he moved the staff out of it's imaginary confinement, his free hand passing as what she guessed to be neck level, in a terrible finishing move. Still Naruto would not stop. Another shadow opponent had obviously appeared in his mind's eye as his assault continued, arms, legs and staff moving together in a perfect dance of death, something even her nightmares could not have imagined.

All she could do was sit there, watching fascinated as the boy danced and danced. Time lost all meaning to her and the cold seemed so very welcoming now.

An hour passed, and then another. It was nearing 3 am she realized, yet here she was as the one everyone had always underestimated lay waste to what must have already been an imaginary army.

Finally, Naruto stopped, back in the position he had started in, arms spread out, facing the sky. His staff touched the surface, sending ripples toward the shore; the water had never been frozen.

Finally he turned towards her, his eyes heavy with the weight of what he must have been hiding for a long, long time.

"Yes."

It was all she could think to say, the answer that her heart and mind had puzzled over for the entire month.

"Teach me everything."

He nodded and opened his hand to her. Following his silent instruction she stood, shocked that her body did not feel at all affected by the long wait in sub-zero temperature. Sakura walked onto the lake and took his hand.

Today, her fate would change. Her previous life would not matter she realized, but perhaps it was for the best.

Dance, gestured Naruto.

And she did.

Shadris Corner:

Absolute Assault Style – Primer 1 – The absolute assault combat style is an invention of Raien An'Endrai during her time at the watcher Academy. The main reasoning behind its conception was applying more physical aspects of combat into the heavily remote Direct Assault style favored by a majority of the Shadris. While it can and will not replace the Direct styles it does serve to bridge a necessary gap, allowing combatants more interaction. It is said that one who is master at Absolute and Direct assault will win against a master of either five times to one. A rather huge margin for the Shadris race where even changes of a percent from and even half are monumental.

The style is based around a central art, its origins heavily based on the Martial Arts practiced by many races of the existence. As is common, it is arranged into seven levels each of distinct name and focus. Also linked to the central pillar are nine outer arts, among them being the partner dance of Soieh, and several other special techniques.

In most cases a student will progress through the first and second ranks with little guidance from a master outside of the basic instructions. After that a permanent master is found, he or she will guide and teach the student for the duration of the other five levels of mastery or until the student believes to have learned enough.

The style past the first level focuses mostly on the energy that composes the body, mind, soul and surroundings of the practitioner. The higher physical performance could be attributed to the understanding of such concepts and application to the practitioner's own body.

Once the fourth level of mastery is reached the student is expected to begin learning at least one of the outer branch arts. This training will continue, and will grow to expand all nine outer branches by the time the seventh level of mastery can be worked on.

To achieve the seventh level all outer branches must be mastered to completion and an elder sage, either one of the Great House leaders or an upper ranked House Raven operative must acknowledge the user.

By the time the sixth rank is mastered the user is expected to have been converted to the Shadris had they not been one since birth.

Author's Notes:

So, Chapter 2. Things happening now, hopefully someone finds it at least remotely interesting. Reading over the first chapter I've found various mistakes that I've tried to correct. Among them being Naruto's last name (Thanks for pointing that out by the way), Sasuke's age (They are meant to be 15, not 16 for now), and the general spelling mistakes found most everywhere.

Thanks for the reviews, they really make me feel like this crap is half way decent.

Tiki.

Ch. 2 – Version 1.1

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