"Number what's next?" Naruto asked. After what had just been shown to them he was a little bit apprehensive but they needed to know more.

The screen lit up once more. This time it had something different written on the screen. 'Special episode: April fools edition'.

"April fools? What's that supposed to mean?" Sasuke asked.

Shisui laughed. "I know right. It's currently August."

"I guess we'll find out."

The scene starts with a cicada chirping on a tree. A clear indication that it's hot outside. The art style of this scene is a lot more cartoonish. Then the narrator start speaking.

"We're in the middle of a brutal heatwave." Then the screen pans over to Naruto, Sakura, Neji, Lee, Tenten, and Konohamaru. They're all eating ice cream. "Looks like Lee and the gang are suffering too."

"Why are they chibi's?" Iruka asked. So far they had only seen them in realistic proporionts.

"And what in the world is this even about." Hiashi had to agree. He wanted information not any of this weird nonsense.

Naruto starts complaining. "So hot, I can't even sleep at night."

"Air conditioning. We need A/C." Konohamaru complains.

"I know the feeling. It's even worse if you have to keep your composure during a mission with such a heat." Shisui complained. Since it's currently August as well they had to deal with it even more now.

"Why didn't they get A/C installed then?" Tsume wondered. She always made sure to keep the house well cooled to make sure that the dogs don't overheat with their thick fur coats.

But Neji doesn't quite agree. "We're a sorry group of ninjas if we need to rely on A/C!" Even though he's sweating bullets as well.

"I don't think it works like that." Itachi said.

"I agree. Back in the day we didn't even have A/C, and let's just say we weren't better ninjas for it." The Hokage added to the conversation.

"You lived in a time without air conditioning?" Naruto stared at the man with wide eyes.

The Hokage could only smile. "I remember well when it was invented."

"Jiji you're old."

"Neji's right." Rock Lee starts. "We should solve this like real ninjas!" Then he takes out two Uchiwa fans. "With wind-style jutsu!" He then begins spinning around like crazy, creating a large wind in his wake.

"That's not a wind style jutsu." Shino told them.

"Well, it's not like Lee is able to use jutsu, so he has to get creative." Tenten gave as a possible explanation.

"Hey, this is pretty refreshing." Naruto says.

"Nice work!" Konohamaru adds.

"But this mist." Neji starts.

"Gross." Came the collective grunt of most people in the room.

"Ew, it's sweat." Sakura yells out.

"Cut it out!" Tenten adds.

"This isn't ninjutsu!" Neji complains looking ready to jump into action.

"Jutsu like that don't exist." Naruto adds to the complaints.

"You weren't complaining earlier." Sakura stared at Naruto in the real world. How could he switch side so easily.

"I have to agree, this is too gross for words." Jiraiya had to resist a shudder. Even thinking about something like this was grossing him out.

"You're getting everyone worked up!" Konohamaru yells out.

Lee continues spinning and from the symbols in his eyes it's clear that he's getting dizzy. Then Tenten takes out a paper fan and slaps him. "Enough already!" A questionable scene flashes before Lee's eyes and then he falls to the ground.

"Go Tenten!" The kids cheered for the girl.

"Is this the first time we've seen Tenten in action?" Sasuke wondered out loud. Most of the people they've seen in action so far included Naruto and his team.

"Pretty much." Shisui nodded.

"We just need to beg Gai-sensei to let us turn on the air-" Tenten begins before she interrupted by the man in question.

"Denied. There are countless ways to cool off without air conditioning." As Gai appears on the screen he's seen wearing a white bathrobe.

"Gai. What in the world are you doing?" Kakashi shook his head. His friend might be dear to him but he could be so strange.

"That outfit… Don't tell me." Naruto and the gang look a little suspicious at the man.

"Oh yes, a summer ghost story." Gai has even put on a fake mustache to make the look even more convincing. "Tonight we'll all tell scary stories, and send chills down everyone else's spines!" Gai strikes an epic pose. "I call it my, 'I swear it really happened,' ghost story training!"

"I've never had such training before." Iruka smiled.

Jiraiya laughed. "I don't think this is actually some kind of training."

"Can scary stories cool you off?" Naruto asked. Maybe he should keep that in mind for next time when it's so hot.

"Not that I'm aware off." The Hokage smiled.

The gang is shocked and partially terrified. "Ghost story training?"

Then a wounded Lee appears from beneath. "Nice!" And the gang turns on him quickly.

"Stay down!" And they push him against the camera.

"This is funny." Lee laughed. Even if it was him that was the butt of the jokes so far. At least the people are laughing again.

"It's been a while since we've seen something lighthearted like this." Neji agreed.

Epic scene break

Then the scene turns to the academy and then turns to nighttime.

"We'll start with you Lee. Tell us a tale so chilling it will make our teeth chatter." Gai begins as the rest of the kids sit around a circle with candles that make the atmosphere even scarier.

"Very well." Lee begins in all seriousness. "I will tell you all the gory details of something that happened to me just the other day."

"Why do I get the feeling it's not going to be scary at all?" Kakashi grumbled. He might not know the boy that well but he thought he had a pretty good grip on his character.

"It's Lee that we're talking about." Iruka laughed.

The screen focusses on Lee. "A story centered around a particular video tape."

Then Naruto starts screaming like crazy. And the girls are a little freaked out as well. Naruto gets so annoying however that Sakura punches him to the ground.

"Is it a tape where you die one week after you watch it?" Tenten asks.

"Oh I've read that book." Itachi said.

"You read?" Shisui gave his friend a little shove. "I've only seen the movie."

Lee shakes his head in all seriousness. "No, that's kid's stuff. The horrors I endured were much, much scarier."

The screen fades to the story in question.

"It was a dark and stormy night." Lee begins his narration. "And I had finally gotten around to cleaning my room. I came across a very old VHS tape in the back of my closet." The lights in Lee's room flicker off.

"Wow. He certainly knows how to set the scene." Tsume laughed. If being a ninja didn't work out for him, he might do well as a story teller.

"It's a bit cliché though." Hiashi told the woman.

"What's?" flashback Lee says.

"A foreboding feeling crept into my heart. There was no mistaking it." A clap of thunder could be heard in the background. "That tape…"

The screen flashes to the tape in question. The words Make-Out special were on the front of it.

"Jiraiya!" Mikoto had a makeshift weapon in her hands already. She was ready to beat that pervert up for corrupting the kids.

"What? I did nothing." The man in question tried.

"Then why did he find a movie adaptation of one of your books." Mikoto pointed at the screen.

"I swear I have nothing to do with this."

The Hokage nodded in agreement with Mikoto. "Even in this fragment Lee is way too young for such movies."

"Was one I rented over three years ago and still hadn't returned!"

"Especially if he rented it three years ago." Was added as a second thought.

We turn back to the kids in the room. Lee is crying and the rest is completely unimpressed with the story they were just told.

"They are so not impressed." Shisui laughed. Those expressions. He wished he could see them in real life and record them with the sharingan. They would certainly cheer up his dreams.

"The late fees are going to bankrupt me!" Lee despairs. "Just thinking about it terrifies me!"

"That's not the kind of scary we're looking for." Tenten tells the boy.

"It wasn't?" Lee wonders and begins flipping through a joke book for another story. And then he begins narrating again. "That night, I finally got around to cleaning the fridge."

"Really, a joke book for scary stories?" Sakura sighed. She should have expected this.

Ino agreed with her. "If you want truly scary stories you should go on the internet."

"Depends on where you're looking." Shikamaru pointed out. Not all stories from the internet are actually scary.

Lee is shown on the screen rumbling through the fridge in the dark, though it is rather odd that the fridge does have power and the other lights in the room don't.

"Suddenly, deep in the crisper drawer, I saw a year-old potato!" on the screen appears said monstrosity of a potato. And Lee in the story begins screaming.

"Wrong again!" Tenten is getting agitated.

"Lee. What in the world?" Neji sighed. This is the person he had to spent so much time with in the future. He better get that chunin promotion during the chunin exams.

"I have to agree on that. What in the world?" Tenten nodded along. She had similar thoughts to Neji.

"I'm sorry." Lee looked a little down. He thought it was funny.

"Don't worry about it. I'm pretty sure it's just for comedic effect." Kiba tried to console the boy. He knew what it was like to be at the receiving end of such comments.

"You don't think that's scary?" Lee complains.

"Of course not!"

"Tenten, I don't think you understand. Do you have any idea how terrifying a year-old potato looks?" Naruto and Konohamaru are sleeping in the background. "Have you seen one? Have you? It's all wriggly and squishy and yucky-"

"Gross. I don't need that kind of description." Sakura shuddered. Spoilt food always made her stomach twist.

"Me either." Ino nodded along.

"It's still not the right kind of scary!" Tenten yells back just as loud. "We need ghosts and monsters and stuff!"

"Exactly, Lee." Gai begins. "Just because it scares you doesn't make it a ghost story!" Then Gai turns to the next person. "You're next Naruto. Tell us your story."

"Naruto's turn." Sasuke smirked. He couldn't wait to see what Naruto could come up with.

"It's probably not going to be scary either." Chouji shrugged. Naruto was too scared to come up with scary stories of his own.

"All right." Naruto starts, his voice is shaking. "Just thinking about it freaks me out. But I had a really scary experience once." The screen turns to that of a bathroom, with a ghost Tenzo? Hidden in the room. "It was late at night and I had to hit the bathroom." Naruto is standing there and then he feels a shudder come over him.

"Why there and why not in your own apartment?" Lee asked. He usually went to the bathroom in his own house.

Tenten gives him a little shove. "Shh. It's for the story."

"But it doesn't make any sense."

"Suddenly, I heard a sad voice moaning in pain." The Naruto in the scene is terrified. "Slowly I turned and looked out the window. And I saw tears streaming down the old Third Hokage's face!" And that was exactly what was shown on the screen.

"At least that's a bit more like it." Sasuke laughed. It wasn't that scary but definitely more in the creepy style than Lee had going.

"How is that even possible though." Itachi wondered. As far as he knew there was no plumbing behind the faces of the Hokage.

"Ghosts Itachi." Shisui explained.

"Ghosts don't exist."

Then the flashback ends and Naruto is screaming like crazy once again. "That's my story." Naruto says after he's done screaming. "How was that? Pretty freaky, right?"

Then Lee raises his hand. "Oh, that was me." The rest turns to him in question. "Actually, that night." The scene flashes back to the faces of the Hokage. "My training was 10,000 pull-ups on Mount Hokage." The rest of the group looks at him in horror. "Boy that was painful! I was sweating buckets!"

"What the fuck!" Jiraiya yelled out before he got another pan to the head from Mikoto.

"It's not even physically possible to sweat that much." Iruka sighed. Only Lee could do such a thing.

"It was just your grunts and sweat?" Tenten asks enraged by the grossness of it all.

"You fail! That was no scary ghost story!" Gai tells Naruto. "Next is Konohamaru."

"It's not like Naruto could help that." Sakura grumbled. Naruto smiled in appreciation.

"Finally." The young boy cheers. "I've got a real scary story for everyone."

Konohamaru starts narrating. "It was the day we all went to that new curry restaurant. Only three of us went in but for some reason they served us four plates!" The three in question were Konohamaru, Lee, and Neji.

"That's not really that creepy." Neji said.

"Someone must've ordered double or something." Kiba nodded along. He did it all the time, on purpose of course. He's a growing boy, he needs to eat, and if Akamaru eats half of it as not much is left over.

"Then, there was someone invisible sitting next to you?" Sakura asks.

"A g-g-g-ghost?" Naruto clings to Sakura for his life.

"Naruto why are you so scared of ghosts?" Sakura asked. Naruto had been screaming about ghost since way before these fragments even started.

Naruto resists a shiver. "Sometimes late at night I get the feeling that someone is watching me but I don't see anyone, so it must be a ghost."

Kakashi whispers to Iruka. "It's probably the ANBU guards." Iruka nods and leaves it at that.

"Get off me." Sakura tells the other.

"Oh, whoops." Lee interrupts once again. "I accidentally put in four orders."

"Lee again?" Ino sighed. She should have seen that coming.

Lee looked down once more. "I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it." Tenten tells him. "It makes for a great time."

"It was you again?" Tenten yells at Lee. Neji could only sigh.

"Sorry, I'm afraid that's not a ghost story either." Gai tells them. "You're up Sakura."

"Mine's not actually a story but look at this." She pulls out a picture taken at the beach, it has Naruto, Sakura, Tenten, Lee and Neji in the picture. There's also a strange yellow glow behind Lee.

"I can see where this is going." Itachi grumbles. Does this all have to be so gross.

"Gross." A couple other shudder as well.

"It's a picture of us the day we went to the beach." Everyone's eyes turn to the strange yellow glow behind Lee.

"A picture of a spirit?" Neji wonders.

Then Lee laughs. "Sorry, that was just me farting!"

Chouji had put down the food he was eating. "Why do I want to vomit?"

"Because it's just disgusting." Shikamaru explained, not that it was needed.

Tenten grabs him by the neck of his clothing. "You actually fart visible clouds?"

Then Sakura starts screaming. "So, that's what that smells was."

"Is everything Bushy-Brows' fault?" Naruto wonders.

"At this point it might well be." Neji said, he didn't understand why his future self was so involved with this all.

"It's quite fun that this is so focused on Lee. It's usually Naruto that's in the spotlight." Kiba said. He just wished he could be in the spotlight for once.

"Quite refreshing I agree." Neji nodded along.

"So much for scary stories." Konohamaru states. "This is turning into another comedy act." Neji sighs.

"Another?" Itachi blinked.

"Did this happen before?" The answer was a resounding who knows.

"Your turn, Tenten. Let us have it!" Gai nearly pleads to the girl.

"This didn't happen to me," she starts while still holding Lee in her hands, "but Lady Tsunade told me a story."

The screen flashes to the academy once again. "In the girls bathroom on the third floor of the Academy, there is a row of mirrors. At 3.33 AM, if you look into the third mirror from the back, you'll see a face other than your own." On the screen it appeared as if Tsunade was said scary person but according to the story that didn't seem to be the case.

"How could Lee be responsible for this?" Sasuke wondered, he couldn't come up with anything.

"I haven't a clue." Kakashi smiled at his future student.

Naruto and Sakura start screaming again. "Is that true?" Sakura asks.

"A-a real ghost?" Konohamaru asks. Neji and Lee just stare.

"Was it you again, Lee?" Neji asks the other.

"Neji teasing someone?" Hiashi blinked. He hadn't seen the kid act that carefree in a long while.

"Is that out of character or something?" Tsume asked. Did her old friend treat his nephew right at all?

"Ridiculously."

"Oh no. Even for me, that's too much." Lee waves his hands in innocence. "I don't go hanging around in the girls bathrooms in the wee hours."

"That's a good thing." Mikoto said while sending another glare Jiraiya's way.

"What?" Now Neji is truly shocked.

"Then it was a real spirit?" Sakura wonders.

Gai looks at his watch. "Good timing. It's almost 3.33 right now. How about a test of courage?"

"Why is Gai so serious. It's creeping me out." Naruto said. So far he had only seen the man act super strange and weird.

"Tension, maybe?" Sasuke shrugged. He had no idea either, not that he was going to say that out loud.

The gang is shocked with fear. Next is shown the group walking through the halls of the academy.

"We should really go back." Naruto begins.

"It's pretty creepy being in the school at night." Tenten agrees with him.

"Creepy as it is, it's still hot as heck." Konohamaru complains.

"I still don't think it's possible to cool down from scary stories." Naruto said. If it worked like that he would be cold every single night, but that was not the case.

"I have to agree with you on that." Itachi said.

"Yeah, all this running around just makes it worse." Neji agrees.

The next thing the group hears is the sound of water hitting the floor. Naruto and Sakura jump in fear but it's just Lee sweating again.

"Why do you sweat so much?" Tenten asks.

"Good question." Iruka sighed.

"I really don't sweat that much. That would be impossible." Lee said.

The other people nod. "So, they play that up or something."

"This is the girls bathroom." The group stands in front but doesn't enter yet.

"We better use the sexy jutsu before we go in." Lee says as he quickly changes into a swimsuit.

"That's hilarious." Jiraiya laughed. After seeing Naruto perform that jutsu it's quite funny to see someone like Lee do it as well.

"I guess that's how Lee would have to do it." Sakura said. It's at least a bit more respectful than whatever Naruto was doing.

"That's quite unnecessary." Tenten says while the rest just watches.

They walk in and look and find the right mirror.

"You really think we'll see someone else in the mirror?" Sakura asks.

"That would be improbable." Itachi said. Shisui sighed at his friend being too serious again.

"Go check it out Naruto." Lee says as he shoves the boy in front of the mirror. Naruto is resisting as much as he can.

"No way!"

"Don't chicken out now. It's almost 3.33." Lee turns Naruto around so he's staring at the mirror. Naruto screams and closes his eyes. But nothing happens.

"I think Lee is the one chickening out here." Tenten laughed.

"Well, it's just us." Lee says.

"Guess it was just a tall tale." Konohamaru looks a little sad at it.

"But Lady Tsunade was sure she saw something." Tenten says.

"Tsunade-sama?" Lee suddenly has a realization. "Eureka! Lady Tsunade must've gone to the bathroom, and caught a glimpse of her own face without any makeup."

"I don't think that's how it works. I mean she has to apply the makeup in front of a mirror as well." Itachi said.

Mikoto agreed with her son. He's just cute like always. "Yeah. She should know her own face by now."

That's when they hear the flushing of a toilet. A hand with red nail polish appears above the door. "What was that about my face?" Comes the scream of an angry Lady Hokage.

"It's real!" Neji and Tenten scream. Then Tsunade begins beating Lee.

"Karma." Kiba laughed. Good thing he was not in this scene, or else he might have suffered the same fate.

"That's funny." Naruto agreed with him.

"Good to see she hasn't lost that temper." Hiruzen smiled. After seeing everything she went through it's good that she still had that part of herself.

Lee looks into the mirror once more. "I definitely see a face other than my own now." But that's only because he looks beaten up.

"Well, so much for the ghost story." Tenten walks back into the candle room.

"Humans are the scariest of them all." It seems that Tsunade has joined the group.

"True." Most of the adults agreed with that. They had seen the scariness in front of them, and might have committed things like that as well.

"Hidan is way scarier than anything they've talked about so far." Ino agreed.

"Guess there's no such thing as ghosts after all." Konohamaru agrees.

Everybody goes to sit down once again.

"You're the only one left, Neji." Lee tells him.

"Right."

"That's right." Gai starts. "Okay, Neji, you're our last hope. Tell us a terrifying tale that will chill us to the bone!"

"Yes!" Neji doesn't look too sure of himself. I really need to nail it, but I don't know any really scary stories, and why should I? What should I say? Neji is deep in thought.

"Why is this getting so serious all of a sudden." Naruto blinked. The only thing Neji had to do was tell a scary story.

"It's not that big of a deal." Sasuke agreed with him.

"You can do it!" Sakura cheers him on and so does the rest of the group.

"Go for it Neji." Lee gives him a thumbs up.

Neji has tears in his eyes from the emotions these people have given him. That's it. I've got one! Neji looks a lot more resolute now. But should I really tell them? There'd be no taking it back. No, this is no time to waver. I need to be strong.

"Why in the world are they talking like it's the end of their lives if Neji doesn't succeed." Shikamaru said. This whole scene was just weirding him out.

"Dramatics." Chouji said, he had started munching on some food again.

Neji stand up and walks in front of the window. "This is the story about a wolf-man that I was told as a child."

"Oh god, not that one." Hiashi put his head in his hands.

Tsume turned to the man next to her. "You know it?"

"My brother would tell that one every chance he got. I'm pretty sure it was just to annoy me."

Naruto gulps. "Wolf-man?"

The moon shines red behind Neji. "Once, on the night of the full moon…" then he takes out his hair tie and his hair flows free. "A man with wild, unkempt hair took a comb from his pocket, and howled…"

"He's certainly got the dramatics down." Shisui laughed as he put that in his notes.

The group waits with anticipation.

"I'm shedding!" (It's a pun, it's pronounced pretty much the same way as wolf-man)

"This is so bad." Inoichi groaned.

"No wonder this would get annoying after hearing it so many times." Tsume agreed with Hiashi.

"It's the worst."

Then everyone turns into ice.

"So cold." Tenten shivers. Neji could only stare in shock.

"And thus, Neji's noble sacrifice on this sweltering night left everyone frozen for just a moment." The narrator speaks once again.

"Sacrifice?" Ino stared at the screen. That's not the word she would use.

"It's just plain ridiculousness."

Notes:

Naruto and the gang are bad at telling scary stories.

Lee sweats way too much to be humanly possible.

Lee is kind of gross.

Neji is dramatic

That's it. I was originally planning on doing this last year but things got in the way. So, here it is. We'll get back to seriousness next chapter. Because Gai unlocking the 8 gates is next!