I do not own Naruto or any associated characters. Now without further ado, here is chapter 5!

For our second C-rank, we're delivering new orders and intel to a Konoha outpost. This time, I'm the first to arrive at the gate. My teammates show up a few minutes after me with Yokuto-sensei arriving last. He carries the scroll we're supposed to deliver to the outpost.

"Listen up." Sensei says. "We're delivering intelligence to one of our border outposts. We'll travel via tree. Once at the outpost, we'll stay overnight before heading back."

We nod before heading out. Yokuto-sensei takes the lead with the boys and I trailing behind him. We travel in a loose diamond formation. Traveling through the tree 's a bit awkward at first; my teammates and I have all the skills to leap between the tree branches, but we've never practiced. Eventually we get the hang of it, gliding swiftly through the tree branches.

By the end of the day, we arrive at the outpost; all three of us are exhausted. As Sensei flashes through several hand signs, providing the proper code, a chunin appears with a shunshin. "Yokuto-san, good to see you." The chunin grins.

"Likewise Daichi-san. How's border patrol treating you?"

"Ahh." The Chunin takes the scroll, beckoning us into the genjutsu hidden base. "Decently enough. We've had more skirmishes than normal though. Things are heating up."

"That's what I'm afraid of." Yokuto sensei hums. "Anyway, this is my genin team." We head down the concrete corridors, stopping at a bunk room. Three of the beds are already taken. "Hisao-kun, Saburo-kun, and Aka-chan, say hi to Daichi-san."

"Hey!" Saburo grins, bouncing over to the chunin as I wave and Hisao murmurs a quiet hello. "How do you know Sensei?" Saburo questions.

"We participated in the Chunin exams together; one of your Sensei's genin team mates got injured on a mission so I filled in for the chunin exams."

"Chunin exams! Really? Sensei didn't let us take the exams this year, but we will be ready by the time next year comes around!"

"I don't doubt it." Sensei smiles fondly at us. "You guys are getting pretty good."

"You bet we are!" Saburo fist pumps.

"You're still pretty young though."

"Ahh, but Sensei." Saburo whines.

"I didn't say you couldn't do it. The Hatake boy managed to make chunin at six."

"Really Sensei?" Hiaso asks disbelievingly.

"Yah, really sensei? That would mean he was the same age as Aka-chan!" Saburo cries smushing me in a hug. "Look how tiny and adorable she is."

"Hatake won the whole exam too."

"What!" Saburo releases me from the hug slowly examining me. "I just don't see it sensei."

"Saburo-kun" I whine. "Just because I'm six like Hatake was, and I've already graduated, doesn't mean I'll make Chunin at six. You just said we're not competing this year."

"Oh yah." He chuckles sheepishly. Hisao rolls his eyes at the response.

"Why don't you three get some sleep." Sensei smiles fondly, ruffling Saburo's hair. "We'll be heading back to Konoha tomorrow."

We turn in for the night quickly falling asleep. We're not asleep for long.

Boom. I bolt out of bed as an explosion echoes through the base. Panicking, I look at Hisao. "What's going on."

"We're under attack." The older boy states.

"What should we do Senpai?" Saburo questions.

"Let's gather our weapons and head towards the explosion." Hisao is confident in crisis, completely opposite of his normally nervous demeanor. "Just make sure to keep your head down and stay out of the battle. We won't interfere unless our help is needed."

We quickly gather our weapons and head closer to where the explosion came from. I've never been more glad that Sensei insisted we wear mission clothes to sleep.

There's a giant hole in the side of the base. Rubble litters the ground, and three of our chunin lie dead, Daichi is one of them. Sensei works in tandem with Hiroto, trying his best to hold his own against the two Iwa jounin attacking him. "Frick." I breath out, heart pounding. Konoha is outnumbered. Sensei and three wounded chunin are trying to hold their own against four enemy jounin and and a chunin. There are three more chunin heading towards us to secure the fight was practically over before we arrived.

"Frick. We need to get out of here." We duck back into the base, rushing back the way we came.

"We need to help Sensei." Saburo hisses back at me.

"There's nothing we can do for sensei. We are genin. We'd just get in the way." Hisao states as we rush through the base. "We need to get help and let someone know that Iwa infiltrated the border. You know that's what Sensei would order us to do."

"Fine, but how do we escape? There's no other exit. We can't blow open a new one without being heard and caught. Aka's genjutsu isn't high enough leveled to hide us, and we can't get past those Iwa-nin without being noticed. There's no way out but fighting."

"Frick, he's right." I hiss. "Our stealth isn't good enough to escape. But how could we even help sensei? We'd just get in the way."

"She's right Saburo." Hisao mutters. "We'd just get captured and then Sensei would surrender so they wouldn't kill us." We end up back in the bunk room.

"Anything is better than just sitting here waiting to die." Saburo spits angrily. "We should find an emergency flare and set it off." Our eyes widen at that comment and we quickly turn to the three taken beds, ruffling through the packs set at the foot of them. None of us are equipped with emergency flares of our own.

Saburo lets out a quiet whoop of triumph as he finds a flare. "Okay, we'll blow a hole in the wall then set off the flare."

"We'll die." Hisao mutters. "We're genin, no useful intelligence. They'll kill us."

"We're shinobi." Saburo states. "We protect Konoha with our lives."

"Wait." I interrupt.

"What is it?" Saburo asks.

"Reverse summoning."

"What?"

"If you do the summoning jutsu without a contract you'll be dumped somewhere in the summonings world. You might form a summoning contract, you might be killed, or they might just dump you back in the human world, but at least you'd have a chance. Boar. Dog. Bird. Monkey. Ram."

Hisao laughs incredulously. "Okay, Let's do this." We set off several explosion tags breaking a hole in the wall before launching the flares.

Boar. Dog. Bird. Monkey. Ram. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" We scream in unison, vanishing as the Iwa chunin slam the door open and rush into the room.

Honestly, my teammates and I might be a bit insane. Just a bit.

I stumble slightly as I reappear. A large forest stretches out to the left of me, and grasslands fill the rest of the island. The island is hilly, but not mountainous. It's quiet and peaceful, with just the gentle lull of the ocean and the humming of insects. It's really quite beautiful

I head further inland, towards the center of the island. I appeared fairly close to the shore. Neither of my teammates are anywhere insight, disappointing, but understandable. There was no way that we'd all end up in the same summons realm. Hearing the scuttling of claws I turn my head sharply.

There's a large lizard; it's at least eight feet long. It's head is flat and its tail is long and sinuous; it looks vaguely like an alligator. "Komodo dragon" I breathe.

The komodo dragon lunges towards me, claws extended. Yelping, I duck before spinning around and lashing out with a kunai. The komodo dragon, surprisingly nimble for its large size, easily dodges. "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu" I shout, spitting out a fire ball. The komodo dragon swallows the fire ball before spitting it out back at me. I gawk. What the frick? Is it Natsu from fairy tail or something?

The komodo dragon slashes forward, claws racking my left cheek. I hiss in pain, dodging as it spits several smaller fireballs at me. I throw several kunai at the komodo dragon, not wanting it to turn any more of my fire jutsu back on me. The kunai bounce right off its armored scales. Seriously?

Then it spits more fireballs at me. Komodo dragons couldn't spit fire in my last life. That has to be some chakra BS. I yelp as one of the fireballs hits my shoulder. Quickly patting the fire out, I continue dodging the fire balls. These summons are honestly awesome!

"Shiro. Cut it out." The komodo dragon I'm fighting, Shiro apparently, stops as an even larger Komodo dragon appears. His scales are pitch black and a scar bisects his left eye.

"The King wishes to meet the potential summoner."

Shiro snarls. "We've never had a summoner, and we don't need one. Besides, the brat is too young. We should kill her."

Ignoring Shiro, the larger Komodo Dragon gestures for me to follow. I quickly do so, not wanting to stay with Shiro any longer. He definitely doesn't like me.

The King is tiny. Grey wisps of hair float around his head, and he is quite obviously blind. "This is the child." He rasps.

"Hai."

"Hmmm. Her inner fire burns bright. She would make a good summoner. Tell me child. What is your goal in this lifetime?"

"This lifetime." I ask. How does he know?

"I may not see with my eyes, but I can see the heart, the fire of your soul, and you burn gold Uchiha Ayaka. Or do you prefer Caitlyn?"

I wince. "It's Aka now. I've put the past behind me.

"Aka then. Why do you need our help. What goal does your fire burn so brightly for?"

"I want to protect my family. My brother. My genin team."

"Oh? And what of the rest of the world. Would you protect it?"

"If possible."

"And if it was your loved ones vs the world? Who would you choose?"

"I'd find a way to save both. But if that wasn't possible, the world" I wince. "But only because my family would never forgive me if I put them above the world. Or them above Konoha."

"Hmmm. You speak true and from the heart. The Komodo dragons will help you in your quest as long as your fire continues to burn bright Uchiha Aka." He passes me the summoning scroll and a brush. Cutting my finger with a kunai, I carefully write my name in blood. It's the first name on an otherwise blank scroll.

"Thank you… ah?" I don't know his name.

"It's alright child. I haven't had a name in a long time. He dismisses me with a wave of his hand, and I reappear in the bunk room.

Thankfully the Iwa chunin are gone. "Aka-chan" Saburo whisper yells. You're back. Are you okay?" He eyes my scorched clothes and bleeding cheek.

"Yah. I have a contract with the komodo dragons now."

"Really? I landed on some really weird grey bear things. They were sleeping and were really disgruntled when I woke them. They were surprisingly vicious, but super cute. Weirdly enough, they didn't have a contract. Something about it taking away from sleeping time."

"Oh. Koala bears! They sleep almost 20 hours a day."

"Twenty hours? Are they part Nara?" Saburo sweat drops. "Anyway, after they got bored of chasing me, they sent me back. I arrived a few minutes before you and scouted the base. Reinforcements haven't arrived yet, but The Iwa nin are gone. Sensei has vanished as well; I think they took him captive."

Poof. Hisao reappears in a cloud of smoke. "Hisao!" Both Saburo and I grin.

"Are you okay?"

"Did you get a contract?"

"Ughh. yah. I'm a bit wobbly from the venom, jellyfish summons, but my medical ninjutsu held the venom off. When they accepted me as a summoner, the jellyfish healed me so I wouldn't die. It was some sort of test about summoners needing to withstand their venom. If I was any less capable with medical ninjutsu I'd be dead."

"That's a relief." I sigh. "We should guard the border while waiting for reinforcements." The three of us take up posts in the trees, watching the forest. It's doubtful we'll be any help, but at least we feel useful this way.

Reinforcements arrive about five minutes later. They're Konoha ANBU. "Genin. Report." I yelp in surprise as a bird masked ANBU appears behind me, barely refraining from drawing a kunai.

"Uchiha Ayaka. 0011254. Iwa-nin." I stammer. "Four jounin and four chunin."

"How did three genin escape?" His voice is calm, and it soothes my trembling hands. Huh. I didn't even notice how panicked I was. Now everything feels nice and happy.

"We were sleeping when they attacked. We went to see what was happening and Sensei was outnumbered. We would have just gotten in his way if we tried to help. We retreated back into base and decided to set off an emergency flare to get help. We then decided to reverse summon ourselves in order to escape."

"Reverse summon? All three of you have summoning contracts?"

"Ah, none of us had summoning contracts, but it seemed like a better plan then being killed or taken captive." The light happy feeling seems to lift. Oh. Genjutsu. Probably one to help calm people down and make them more receptive to giving information.

With a shunshin, we appear in front of the base. Two more ANBU members appear with my teammates. They quickly communicate with hand signs before a tiger masked ANBU addresses us. "Stay at the outpost. We're going after your sensei. Have two people patrol the border together while the other sleeps." With a couple of hand signs a small bird summon appears in front of him. He passes the bird a scroll and it flies away. "Reinforcements should arrive in two days at most. They'll say 'When the eagle flies south' and you'll respond with 'we march north tall and strong.' Try to avoid reckless plans like reverse summoning yourselves next time."

We sheepishly nod as the ANBU team vanishes.