"What!" Sasuke yelled.

Itachi repeated himself. "I said, I was the one who went after you in the Forest of Death. I was the one who gave you the cursed seal. I was the one who did everything."

"What!"

"Are you deaf? I said, -"

"I heard what you said," he snarled. "but it's definitely not possible. Your chakra doesn't match Orochimaru's, the one we encountered." Sasuke tried to strike Orochimaru again.

"Oh, no, you don't." Emi looked at him. Once again, he was frozen on the spot. "Just because I released you earlier, doesn't mean you can start this nonsense again."

"Kuso! I can't move!" His body was shaking in his attempt to shake off her spell. "What the hell is this!"

"You have problems." Dawn said. "Listen to reason, here."

"Who cares about reason, dammit!"

"He needs to get shot." Asuka said unemotionally.

"Hey! Dammit, get off!" Naruto was struggling against her pin. "And give me back my jacket!"

"Shut up."

"That jacket thing was random..." Dawn commented.

"Who cares about a freakin' jacket? I know that chakra!" Sasuke insisted. "It's his!" He glared at Orochimaru.

"Sasuke-" Sakura started.

"You shut up."

"Hey, hey," Orochimaru wanted to keep the peace. "Let's talk this over. I really wasn't the one who gave you my signature seal-"

"You just said it." Sasuke smirked. "Signature seal."

"Just-shut-up." Emi glared and tightened her hold over him.

"Uh-oh."

The urgency in Gaara's voice made everyone look at him. "What? What's wrong?"

He looked at them and paused.

"Well?"

"We're out of cookies."

Everyone on their feet, save for Sasuke, who was frozen, and Emi, who was too mad, toppled over.

"Niiiiiiiice...Ga-chan, I think that just made Emi even angrier." Asuka nervously said.

"Eh...eheh...I think I hear more food calling me." Dawn turned to Asuka. "Wanna come?"

"Hell, yes. Let's go." She dashed out the door, dragging Naruto after her. "Hey, forehead girl and nii-san! Get moving!"

Orochimaru nodded, and grabbed Sakura. "We need to go." They dashed out.

"H-hey! I'm coming, too!" Gaara ran after her. "I need to get more cookies!"

"Wait up!" When she ran to the door, Dawn told Itachi, "For your own safety, you'd better come with us."

Curious, he walked out after them and locked the door behind him, leaving behind his younger brother, Emi, and the still unconscious Neji. Casually strolling down the hall, he was taken aback when he found out that the group before him did not go to the kitchen. Their trail led straight out the door. Baffled, he followed. He stepped out the door to find them all waiting for him.

"Sheesh, hurry up!" Dawn whispered urgently.

"Tch. Seems like the Uchiha brothers are both in desperate need to get shot." Asuka sighed.

"What's with you and the work 'shot'!" Naruto asked.

Gaara was impatient. "Never mind about that! We can talk about those later! We need to get out of here!"

Orochimaru had to agree. "Well, then, what are we doing standing around? Let's go to the nearest ramen place." He ran off in the direction of Naruto's favorite ramen shop.

"Oh, yeeeaah!" Naruto put his hands up as he ran after him. "Damn Oro, I never knew you were so cool!" He quickly disappeared into the night.

There was silence.

"Okaay..."

Suddenly, loud noises filled the air. Bam! Boom! Smack! KABOOM!

"Wah! She's started!" Gaara screamed. "Let's go!" He ran off, with the rest following close behind him.

When they arrived at Ichiraku's, they were surprised to see the rest of the ninja there. Shikamaru, the closest one to the door, greeted them with a lazy wave. "Hey."

When Itachi entered the room, however, they all panicked again. "Aaaahh!"

"Calm down."

They stopped. The voices were so commanding and full of knowledge that they stopped entirely...until they saw Orochimaru.

"Aaaaahhh!" They started running around again.

"Calm down."

This time, Orochimaru said it. The Genin were surprised to hear a kind voice. They looked over him, and were even more surprised to see that he was embarrassed.

"Is that...is that the real Orochimaru?" Kiba whispered to Shikamaru.

"It looks like it." he whispered back. "His chakra is huge-"

"I can tell that! Akamaru's shaking!"

"Geez, I was just answering." He sighed. "How troublesome..."

Ino butt into the conversation. "So it is? How come he looks so...nice? I mean, everyone knows his reputation..."

Before anyone knew it, they were all whispering in various side conversations.

Orochimaru and the rest of the group sighed. They walked over to an empty table and sat down.

"While they're acting like gossipy housemaids, we need alot of explaining." Naruto was actually serious for once. Or at least, he looked serious. "Was it necessary to leave those two alone just so we can hook them up!"

Gaara rolled his eyes. "Like I'd go along if we had a plan like that. No, you idiot. Right about now, I'd say Sasuke's getting beat up."

Naruto choked on the glass of water he started to drink. "Say what!"

Asuka nodded. "I don't know much about this, but from the stories I've heard of her anger from Ga-chan and Nii-san, it won't be pretty." She smirked. "Looks like pretty boy's not gonna look so pretty anymore."

"What?" Dawn asked. "Stories from Ga-chan and Nii-san? How come I've never heard them!"

"You were always beating up some jerks you didn't like." They said in sync.

"Oh..."

Sakura was horrified. "What do you mean, 'Looks like pretty boy's not gonna look so pretty anymore'?"

"I mean what it sounds like." Asuka said bluntly.

Naruto was in a panic. "Oh, Lord...so what are we doing here! We need to get Sasuke!" He stood up.

Gaara had his sand sit him back down. "I wouldn't do that."

"Well, anyways, the stories!" Dawn exclaimed. "I need to hear these stories!"

Gaara narrowed his eyes and looked at her. "Are you sure...?"

"Yes!" She and Sakura yelled at the same time.

"Well, then, I'll just tell you the scariest experience of mine." he said. "It was the first time I met her..."

The young Gaara walked alone, looking at everyone with eyes full of hate. He understood now that the people of this village hated him because he was a monster. He headed to a secluded place a little out of the village where no one would find him.

When he reached it, he sat down. Almost immediately, a shadow was in his view. "Hello!" he heard a voice call out.

"Go away." he growled.

"Want to play?"

He looked up to see a girl around his age. He glared at her. "I said, go away." With these words, he called upon his sand and attacked her. Just when the sand was almost completely surrounding her, she disappeared. "What!"

"That's not nice."

Gaara spun around to see the girl behind him. "How did you-"

She attacked him...

"Well? Well?" Naruto asked. "You can't just stop there! What happened next!"

"Let's just say...that was how I got this." He lifted his shirt and turned around to show a huge scar across his back.

"Oh, god, no way!" Dawn was horrified to learn that Emi had actually hurt Gaara. "How did she..? But she loves you so much! Why did she...?"

"That was then remember?" He reminded her. "Years and years ago. Before she left for a year and brought back you two."

Asuka shook her head. "Yeah, but still...it's hard to believe."

Orochimaru laughed a bit. "That's your scariest? That's nothing compared to mine."

A shocked Naruto and Sakura turned to him. "Nothing?"

Asuka leaned back in her chair. "His is even harder to believe. It makes me think he's lying." She sighed. "He probably is..."

He snorted. "No way. You could ask her yourself. Well, anyways, this is my story..." He was about to begin when three new people showed up at the shop's entrance.

They turned. "Oh, Lord..."