Disclaimer: All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites.
Warnings: Mild to moderate violence, character death, alternate universe (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), some moderate Dumbledore bashing (he's more manipulative than evil but mostly just stubborn), and who knows what else.
AN: This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance.
Chapter 26: Shifting Forward
Sarutobi Hiruzen leaned back in his chair and studied the members of Team Four as they filed into his office.
First there was Aburame Satoshi, Team Four's Jounin-sensei, roughly eighteen and a half years old, and wearing his customary oversized blood red jacket that hid the lower half of his face and hung down to hide the top half of the hitai-ate tied just above his left knee. The Jounin's pitch black hair stuck up all over the place like usual above the worn and faded dark red bandana he wore tied around his forehead. Hiruzen could feel the weight of the young man's piercing emerald eyes on him though the rectangular lenses of his dark sunglasses and he nearly fidgeted beneath the intense inspection he knew he was receiving in return.
Moving on, his gaze settled on the next young man who was a near carbon copy of his older brother; Aburame Shino, twelve year old Genin and Satoshi's adopted brother. Though they were not brothers by birth they both were similar enough in appearance that you wouldn't know one of them had been adopted just by looking at them. Like Satoshi, Shino had wild dark hair that stuck up over the hitai-ate he wore tied around his forehead and a rather pale complexion.
He too wore dark sunglasses (with circular lenses) and an oversized coat to hide his eyes and face, though Shino's was dove gray rather than the bright red of Satoshi's. If you looked closely you could see the differences in the two brothers; the slight difference in the shape of their faces, their different colored eyes (Shino's being brown like their father's), and in their bone structure; Shino standing a good three inches taller than Satoshi even though Satoshi was almost seven years older than the boy.
Next there was the only blonde on the team, the brash and boisterous eleven year old Uzumaki Naruto. He too wore an oversized jacket in a dark burnt orange that hung down to his knees; though unlike the two Aburame, Naruto wore his unzipped to show off the black t-shirt with a large, red Uzumaki swirl that he wore underneath. His hitai-ate, like Shino's, was proudly displayed on his forehead, keeping his equally messy locks from obstructing his vision. His mischievous ocean blue eyes held a wealth of intelligence and intensity that Hiruzen knew equaled that which could be found in the hidden eyes of the two Aburame. Naruto stood even with Satoshi's mere five foot four inches, though his stockier frame made it appear that he was far larger than the Jounin.
Standing between the two younger boys, was the kunoichi of Team Four; eleven year old Hyuuga Hinata. Like the previous members of her team, she wore an oversized pale lavender jacket trimmed with white fur over top of her clothes, though hers lacked the high collar and so didn't actually hide any portion of her face. Unlike her fellow Genin, she wore her hitai-ate around her neck like a necklace instead of on her forehead. Her dark lavender tinted hair, in stark contrast to all three shinobi on her team, hung straight and neat down to the middle of her back. Pale, pupil-less, lavender eyes held equal measures of determination and confidence in addition to the same intelligence that her teammates' eyes held. Height-wise, the young kunoichi stood an inch taller than both Naruto and Satoshi.
The unofficial fifth member of the team made her presence known at that point when she poked her head up out from inside Satoshi's jacket where the young Jounin still carried her against his chest. Little Aburame Saki, now roughly eighteen months old, was just as petite as ever; weighing roughly seventeen pounds and measuring a hairbreadth over twenty inches in height (still well below average for her age). Her hair had thickened and lengthened over the months since she was born and currently hung in a messy braid down her back; an obvious attempt to tame the wild locks that she'd inherited from her father.
The color of her hair had also darkened so that at first glance it appeared to be solid black like her father's until the light hit it just right and brought out the natural red and purple strands mixed in with the black ones. Her two-toned pupil-less eyes (dark green around the edge of the iris and pale tan shot through with emerald threads near the center) held a wealth of intelligence and boundless curiosity that hinted at the high possibility that the girl had inherited her father's eidetic memory. Hiruzen had no doubt that she'd be just as troublesome as both of her parents in a matter of years.
"Down?" Saki asked as she glanced around the room before glancing hopefully up at her father.
Satoshi hummed and scanned the office with what Hiruzen imagined was a jaundiced eye; calculating just how much trouble the toddler could get into should he let her down as requested. The aged Sandaime didn't know whether or not he should feel insulted that Satoshi hesitated to trust his daughter in his office; a glance at the paperwork and his pipe sitting on his desk made him think that the younger man's concerns were at least partially valid. After a brief moment of inspection, Satoshi turned his attention back to the Hokage.
"Hokage-sama, would it be an inconvenience if I allow my daughter to stretch her legs for the duration of our meeting?"
"You are welcome to let her toddle about; our meeting shouldn't last long enough for her to get into any real trouble."
"You don't know the little caterpillar very well, do you, jijii?" Naruto asked in a dry tone that said he thought the Hokage was going senile if he thought the one and a half year old couldn't get into trouble in even a minute's time.
"She has started walking," Hinata pointed out as she gestured to where Satoshi was currently leaning down holding his daughter's hands while she found her balance on her tiny legs.
"If she had a middle name, it would be trouble," Shino added in a tone filled with equal measures of exasperation and fondness.
"Oh don't be so overdramatic you three," Satoshi chided as he straightened up and watched Saki toddle her way to the Hokage's desk where she stopped to pat the back of the desk; giggling over the hollow sound her hand made each time she slapped the desk. "You wished to speak with us, Hokage-sama?"
"Yes; where would you say Team Four stands right now; skill wise?"
Satoshi tilted his head to one side and considered the question though it was patently clear that the eighteen year old's eyes were firmly on his daughter. The Jounin then shot a quick glance sideways at his three Genin before flashing them a silent order to keep an eye on the little toddler still thumping her hand against the Hokage's desk as he finally looked up to meet Hiruzen's eyes.
"You want to know if I think they are ready to enter the Chuunin Exams," Satoshi guessed instead of answering the actual question; his three Genin sucking in sharp breaths beside him over the unexpected statement. "Which village are you considering sending them to?"
"We received more invitations this year than were originally expected and while I was easily able to assign the thirty-eight teams that were entered by their Jounin sensei to each of the usual villages with whom we participate in the bi-annual exams; I find myself in a bit of quandary as to who I can send to the final village," Hiruzen revealed as he reached out to pick up his pipe only to pause when he noticed Satoshi stiffen slightly; sighing he withdrew his hand from his pipe and stroked his chin instead. "In reviewing the records for all Genin teams currently in existence, I stumbled across Team Four's file and found it curious that you were not one of those who'd put their team forward based upon their performance over the past year and a half."
"I had originally intended to enter them the next time that Konoha was scheduled to hold the exams," Satoshi carefully revealed (much to the shock of his Genin who'd not known that he'd been considering entering them just yet). "They are strong enough now; their team work is flawless, they've mastered everything they have been taught to date, and they have diligently kept up with their studies. It was not a lack of confidence in their skills that prevented me from putting them forward at the first possible opportunity but a desire to allow their first attempt at the Chuunin Exams to be here, in Konoha."
"Would part of your reason for wanting to keep them in the village be the adorable little tyke currently trying to steal my sandals?"
"A large part, yes. Another reason is because all three of my Genin are heirs to their respective clans."
"If I sent additional Jounin with you to provide a guard for your team, would you consider allowing Team Four to participate in the upcoming Chuunin Exams?"
"It would depend upon the village you intend to send us to, the individuals you are planning to assign, and your reason for selecting my team out of all of the Genin teams currently in rotation; a number of which have Genin that are far older and far more experienced than mine."
"There may be older, more experienced Genin out there but their teams don't have the skills or track record that your team has; specifically the fact that your team has never failed any mission it has taken to date, has not returned from a mission with any serious injuries that required extensive hospitalization, and they have a rather diverse range of skills that sets them apart as one of the most versatile Genin teams currently on the payroll," Hiruzen pointed out as he reached down to rescue his shoes by lifting Saki up into his lap; unknowingly bringing her curious little hands within reach of the items on his desk. "The fact that all three of them are heirs to some of Konoha's greatest clans is another plus in their favor as they represent Konoha's future."
"That would only matter if you were considering sending them to one of the villages from one of the other four Great Shinobi Nations and given the fact that Konoha is on friendly terms with Suna and have a rather rigid treaty with Kumo; that would mean you intend to have me take them to Iwa since Kiri adopted an isolationist policy shortly after Zabuza's failed coup and the Kaguya uprising."
"You are correct; the invitation giving me the most trouble came from the Sandaime Tsuchikage in Iwagakure as a gesture of goodwill in the hopes of further stabilizing the precarious relationship our two villages have. To decline the invitation outright would have dire consequences; telling them we either see ourselves as above attending their exams or that we are too weak to send anyone to their exams. As you can see; I have to choose carefully, least we insult them and trigger yet another war at some point down the line."
"I don't like it," Satoshi growled in his whisper soft voice as he glanced from the bouncing babe seated in the Hokage's lap reaching for the many items of great interest sitting on top of the desk to his now nervous but hopeful Genin. "Tsuchi no Kuni is the one country I have never set foot in and there will be many an Iwa shinobi nursing grudges for their losses during the previous war. I also dislike that you'd consider sending the son of the one man that particular village hates above all others right into the heart of their village."
"You doubt your ability to keep Naruto's heritage a secret?"
"No, I just don't like the idea of walking in blind knowing one little slip could create a boatload of trouble and the secret doesn't prevent people from noticing the physical resemblance between father and son. You mentioned something about guards?"
"Yes, if you will allow me to put your team forward to take the exams in Iwa, I will allow you to select up to six individuals to make the trip with you; that way you will know that you can trust them with your back and your team."
"Are we the only Genin team you would be sending?"
"No, I will be asking Teams One and Two from the same graduation year as Team Four to consider accepting Iwa's invitation; since those two teams also showed great promise and excellent mission records."
"Those are Ranka and Kunugi's teams. I did not think either of them were planning to enter their teams this go around; which means you most likely picked them the same way you picked our team," Satoshi stated as his brows furrowed slightly; an indication that he was frowning behind the brim of his jacket.
"Team One is a strong offensive team and their teamwork has improved tremendously over the last year now that Amaru has caught up to Fuu and Torune in regards to skill if not force and stamina. Team Two is a good team as well but they are strictly an information gathering team; their focus has mainly been stealth and infiltration. Though, I admit both teams are fairly skilled in both kenjutsu and taijutsu and more than capable of working well with my team since we have trained together for one and a half years now (or longer in some cases). I suspect that if I decline you will send those two teams anyway?"
"As much as I as I know you will dislike my answer, yes; Teams One, Two, and Four were the only ones that I felt were qualified to handle themselves with diplomacy that were also strong enough to handle anything thrown their way both during and after the Exams. There were older teams that I had considered but their teamwork is not as cohesive as your team or the other two teams. I approached you and your team first because I would like for you to lead the delegation and oversee the preparations for the trip into and out of Earth Country due to your excellent organizational skills and because I trust you not to insult Iwa or the Tsuchikage in a fit of anger."
"Flattery will get you nowhere, Hokage-sama; though I appreciate the confidence you have in my abilities. If I'm going to be responsible for the delegation, then I'm going to ask that you assign Team Kakashi with Tenzou filling in for me (since I'll be with my termites) and the Uzutsui twins as additional guards and trainers."
"Sensei-nii… isn't that…?" Naruto blurted out in confusion only to cut himself off when Satoshi's right hand sliced through the air; an unspoken command to be silent.
"That is a highly unusual request," Hiruzen stated as he narrowed his eyes at Satoshi. He'd expected the eighteen year old to ask for his old team and further expected him to ask for the members of his former AnBu squad to make up the other half of the group; not that he'd request to have himself as backup.
"They may be unorthodox but they are damned good shinobi and I know that I can trust them to watch my back."
He intends to watch his own back because he has a vested interest in keeping trouble from touching any of the children and he merely wants permission to use his magic to make it possible, Hiruzen thought to himself as he contemplated the young Jounin's request. The only problem is that those two are not known for their diplomacy so there are a handful of individuals that will question their presence. And if I tell him no, he's liable to find another way to get around the order in order to have them there anyway. If I do allow it, there will be a valid reason for the twins not to be seen around the village while he is gone without the need for him to leave clones behind.
Decision made, Hiruzen offered, "I will allow them to go so long as you take full responsibility for keeping them in line for the entire duration of your stay in Iwagakure."
"I will personally make certain they stay on their best behavior," Satoshi replied with a soft laugh and Hiruzen just knew the gaki was smirking at him from behind his jacket.
"Good, though you do realize that their origins will cause a stir; as will Kakashi's ancestry and presence, ne?"
"No one will look twice at the twins despite the fact that they are known to be descendants of Uzushiogakure shinobi; they haven't really made much of a name for themselves outside of Konoha, though I suspect that that will change after this trip. On the other hand, I had not considered Kakashi's connection to the Konoha no Shiroi Kiba and how the Iwa shinobi will respond to his attendance; I would still like it if he would consent to be a part of our entourage but I will leave it up to him to decide if he feels comfortable enough to go."
"Does that mean you're going to allow us to enter the exams now, sensei?" Hinata inquired after sharing a quick glance with the other two Genin.
"I will allow it; providing that you can convince your parents or guardian to allow it," Satoshi replied with a shrug. "Speaking of which; maybe it would be best to ask Ko if he would be willing to take Kakashi's place since Hiashi-sama is bound to want to have a member of the branch house to watch his daughter's back."
"That would give you a total of six Jounin (including yourself), three Chuunin, and nine Genin," Hiruzen mused as he once more turned his attention to the child on his lap only to find she'd fallen asleep after tangling herself up in his Hokage robes. "I think if Kakashi agrees to go, despite the risks, I will send Ko or another Chuunin level Hyuuga with the group anyway; I like the idea of having an extra set of eyes to watch over the Genin."
"A large enough show of strength that they would hesitate to attack us but not strong enough that they would fear us causing trouble," Satoshi agreed as he too took in his daughter's current position. "I will also apologize now for my daughter making a mess of your robes."
"Hnn?" Hiruzen hummed in confusion as he studied the sleeping toddler closer before he groaned as he realized she'd managed to get hold of his open bottle of blue ink and had spilled it down the length of his robes.
"I told you she was trouble," Naruto pointed out in an 'I told you so' tone of voice.
"I should have known she'd take after her father far too much for my sanity," Hiruzen groused as he lifted the little troublemaker free from his robes to reveal several ink soaked documents, his pen, and the now empty ink bottle still wrapped up in her hands. "I seem to recall your father's many warnings about never allowing you to become bored. I should have listened more closely to him and applied that knowledge to this little one."
"Someone had to properly train the next generation to keep you old guys on your toes," Satoshi quipped without an ounce of remorse as he reclaimed his daughter and cleaned both her and the Hokage with a flick of his wand.
"Impudent gaki."
"I live to serve."
Hiruzen just snorted as he passed the eighteen year old the packet of applications for the exam along with the invitation that would get him inside the village once he reached Iwa. He already knew Hiashi and Shibi would allow the children to enter; he'd spoken to the two older men, along with a number of his other advisors, the moment he'd received the invitation two days earlier and first considered sending Team Four. Many of them had brought up the same concerns that Satoshi had raised about sending Team Four into potentially hostile territory and it had been their input that had given Hiruzen the answers he'd passed along to Satoshi.
He had actually expected Shibi to put his foot down and refuse since Hiruzen was essentially sending his only heirs (both of his sons and his nephew) and three of his clan's wards (Naruto, Sai, and Shiho) off to a village with which they had rocky relations. When the Sandaime had asked him why he wasn't protesting, Shibi's answer had been simple; he trusted Satoshi to take care of the others and bring them home safely. As he watched Team Four shuffle out of the room, Hiruzen wondered if he should feel any remorse for setting that particular shinobi loose on his former enemy's village; three times over.
After a moment, Hiruzen started chuckling softly as he picked up his pipe, tamped the bowl full of tobacco, and placed the stem in his mouth as he struck a match to light it. Two seconds later, he was coughing and choking as acrid blue smoke curled up from the bowl of his now discarded pipe. He had no idea how she'd done it but little Aburame Saki had managed to fill the bowl of his pipe with ink and he hadn't noticed it until after he'd lit the blasted thing and now he had ink all over his face and hands in addition to inside of his mouth and lungs. Then again, it could have just as easily been Satoshi who'd spiked his pipe with ink in order to get back at him for sending his team to Iwa in the first place.
Hiruzen felt the smallest modicum of shame and remorse for letting those villains loose on another village but at the same time he looked forward to the long break their absence would provide him with.
Six hours later…
"Based upon your scowl and the fact that you are sharpening kunai and counting senbon, I take it the Hokage finally spoke to you regarding the upcoming Chuunin Exams."
"Hai; he spoke to me this morning," Satoshi replied as he glanced up from where he was currently counting said senbon to see his father leaning against the doorway before he glanced over to check on the shadow clone he had sharpening the kunai. "I'm not particularly pleased about it as I would have felt far more comfortable if they were participating here in the village rather than in Iwa. However, they are ready and it is important that we provide a decent showing in Iwa so as not to appear weak or allow them to think that we believe them to be beneath us."
"There's also the fact that it is a chance for you to visit the only elemental country and one of the handful of hidden villages that you have not set foot inside," Shibi pointed out with a soft laugh, knowing his son well enough to know that his curiosity had been piqued.
Satoshi snorted but didn't refute the claim, it was true after all, instead focusing his attention back on the senbon he had been counting and inspecting; taking care that he kept the exploding senbon he'd created separate from the normal senbon. He'd thought his father had left until the older man cleared his throat to gain his attention once more and Satoshi glanced up expectantly.
"There is one thing I wanted to warn you about," Shibi began and Satoshi sat up straighter as he registered the grave tone that his father was using. "There is a clan of insect users based out of Iwa, though they do not host any insects inside of their bodies like we do, and there is bad blood between them and our clan."
"About six years before I found you in the forest (right about the time when the war between Konoha and Iwa was first starting), the Kamizuru Clan attempted to invade Konoha and our clan was responsible for driving them off; killing more than half of them during the process. I do not know if any members of the clan survived the war but if any of them did, then they will likely try to cause trouble for you or more specifically they will try to cause trouble with Shino and Torune due to their ages in retribution the moment they learn the three of you are from our clan."
"Joy… what kind of bugs are they known to use?"
"Bees and wasps; though I am unaware of whether it is a summoning contract they have with them, if they just have an affinity for the creatures, or possibly both."
"Have you ever personally faced them in battle?"
"No, I was only twelve at the time and was therefore left behind; though Shikuro, who was sixteen at the time, did face them as did your grandfather. Otousan never said much about the confrontation; only that they were poorly organized and their control of the bees haphazard at best (though they were strong enough to take down a few of our clansmen before the end of the battle). From what I gathered, several of their members had gotten caught in their own jutsu which left them vulnerable to the attacks that the Aburame launched in return. It was bad business all around despite it reaffirming the Aburame Clan as one of the great clans of Konoha."
"I will be on my guard and have Shino and Torune be extra careful," Satoshi promised. "The Hokage asked me to lead the delegation and I plan to make certain that none of the Genin wander off on their own anyway; no sense in tempting those that might be less than pleased with Konoha and Iwa having a less hostile relationship."
"What are you going to do with Saki-chan?"
"I have two choices at this point; I could leave her here with you and make arrangements with the Hyuuga for daily chakra therapy sessions (much like the ones I used to attend) or I can take her with me and hope that we don't run into trouble. I'm not fond of either choice because I'm not certain how she'd react to me being gone for so long but I also dislike putting her at risk."
"I will take time off work if you decide to leave her but we both know that your mind wouldn't be as focused on your mission as it should be if you leave her here and I am confident that between you and the two elves, our caterpillar will be safe and far happier having you near to hand. While it is true that you may run into trouble, the Tsuchikage would lose face if you were to be attacked at any point after you enter Earth Country on his invitation and I suspect you will be the pampered guests of the Tsuchikage's family for the duration of your stay. He will undoubtedly assign guides and guards to watch over you until you are safely out of his country."
"When you put it that way, it makes it much easier to be selfish and keep her near to me; not that I wouldn't trust you to watch after her…"
"I know; but since the day she joined our family she's not left your sight for more than a couple of hours and even getting you to do that was like pulling teeth from a butterfly."
"Ano, tousan, butterflies don't have teeth."
"I know; the point I was making was that it was (and still is) nearly impossible to separate you from your daughter and knowing you, if you left her behind you'd be back within two hours to collect her anyway."
"I seem to recall ojiisan saying something similar to you about me after you brought me home," Satoshi slyly pointed out as he grinned at his father.
"Yes, well I still remember your leech-like tendencies; I think some of my older jackets still have the finger indentations from where you gripped the fabric so hard you warped the threads."
Satoshi snorted again and rolled his eyes at his father, already knowing the man was exaggerating while the older man chuckled before he ducked into the nursery to spend a little time with his granddaughter. Before Satoshi went back to the task of sorting and counting his senbon, he created another clone that he sent to put in a large order of pranks and traps from the Weasley twins so that they could have everything ready by the time they were due to leave.
He was just finishing up with his weapons inspection when Torune and Sai entered the room to let him know that Ranka and Kunugi wished to speak with him. Knowing the other two Jounin had probably just been informed of the Hokage nominating their teams for Iwa's Chuunin Exams; Satoshi left his clone to put away his weapons so he could go meet with the older men.
Over the course of the next week, Satoshi met with the Jounin and Chuunin that would be going several times to discuss the routes they would take to and from Iwa (both routes intentionally different in order to prevent someone from setting up an ambush along their back trail in hopes of catching them off guard on the way back home). The group would be traveling at a fairly leisurely pace on the way in, allowing for them to scout for potential ambushes and so that their Genin would not be exhausted once they did reach Iwa.
They also spent several hours discussing the training they would give to the Genin each night when they made camp in order to prepare them for the first two tasks of the exams. He held similar meetings with the help of the other two instructors for all nine Genin. Only this time they went over the rules that the Genin would need to follow the moment they left the village and let them know what kind of training they could expect to receive during the days leading up to the first task of the exams.
On the night before their delegation as due to leave, Satoshi handed each member of the delegation a scroll holding an assortment of weapons, pranks, and trap supplies that he'd put together for everyone in the event that they ended up having to fight their way out. The only difference between the kits he'd put together for the adults and the ones he'd created for the children was that the Jounin and Chuunin received a selection of the Weasley's lethal inventions. Satoshi was pleased to see that all nine Genin were taking things seriously, treating their trip and the upcoming exams like a mission rather than a lark or a vacation; it made him feel just a little bit better about taking them into potentially hostile territory.
The next morning, Satoshi and the rest of those heading off to Iwa, met outside of the gates bright and early along with the delegations that were heading to Kumo, Suna, and Kusa. Their group was, by far, the smallest delegation with only three Genin teams; the others taking a minimum of ten teams each (a total of twelve heading to Suna) in addition to a few extra Jounin and Chuunin. Satoshi couldn't help but note that this was the highest number of Genin teams Konoha had ever sent to attend the Chuunin Exams in the other villages and he wondered if it meant that Konoha had finally recovered from the war and the Kyuubi's attack or if the Sandaime was preparing for yet another rising conflict. It was food for thought that he'd have to think about another time though; it was time for them to head on out.
The Iwa bound delegation traveled with the group heading to Kusa for most of the first day before they broke away to take a more northerly route that would shorten their journey by two days. They traveled at a steady ground eating pace that was faster than a civilian but slower than they would normally move; allowing for them to cover a decent number of miles without running the Genin into the ground.
They set up camp just before sunset that night and Satoshi gave the three Genin teams their first lesson of the evening; barrier seals. He taught them to recognize the seals he used to set up the protective barriers that would hide and protect their selected camp for the evening, how to activate the barriers, and how to dismantle the barriers. Once the lesson was over, he passed a packet of pre-made barrier seal tags to the person on each team with the best understanding of fuuinjutsu and the least likely to misplace the tags (which happened to be Hinata, Sai, and Fuu).
Their second lesson was two on one battle training, with Team Four facing both Team One and Two in an all out melee while the Jounin monitored the entire battle. Thirty minutes later, Satoshi called an end to the spar and set the Genin to cooling down while the Jounin discussed the battle at length; pointing out mistakes that had been made, suggesting alternate tactics that would have been more effective, and making certain each team also knew what they had done right. A light meal was shared at that point before the Genin broke into their separate teams for a little more specialized training; the Jounin (except Satoshi) breaking into three pairs and taking a team while Satoshi and the three Chuunin patrolled the forest outside of their camp.
Saki had spent the day safely tucked into her sling on Satoshi's chest with her head peeking out of the jacket so she could watch the passing scenery. It was a familiar and much loved pastime for the year and a half old as she was a very curious child; much like her father had been at her age. She got a short break around the noon meal to stretch her legs under the watchful eyes of Team Four (so Satoshi could do some advance scouting) and burn off a bit of energy so she would take her afternoon nap with little fuss.
When they set up camp for the evening, Satoshi set up a specialized corral ward that was designed to prevent small children from wandering off and let her explore the camp under the watchful eyes of Aranami while he was working with the Genin teams. During the evening meal, Kakashi (who'd not hesitated to accept the mission the moment he knew Satoshi would be leading the delegation, despite the risks) fed and played with the toddler before passing her back to Satoshi so her father could settle her back into her sling to sleep.
When the watch changed around midnight, Satoshi had a bottle ready for his daughter as she woke up briefly and he quickly changed her diaper. Satoshi then settled his daughter into his sleeping bag which had been placed inside of the corral ward in order to prevent the toddler from wandering off if she happened to wake up before him (which sometimes happened depending on Satoshi's schedule) before he used the time turner to go back eighteen hours to repeat the day as Arashi. The second time he turned back was for Aranami and at the end of the night she would sit with Saki for one hour before the older version of Satoshi that was taking her place turned up; at which point Satoshi would release the henge and curl up beside his daughter to live through the coming day as himself.
The rest of the journey to Iwa passed along in a similar vein with the three Genin teams taking turns watching Saki during the morning and afternoon meals and Satoshi's three selves taking turns watching her in the evenings along with Kakashi while his other two selves helped with the training. The training sessions focused on different material each night as well; covering traps (setting, detecting, and dismantling), tracking (both how to follow a trail and how to hide one), and stealth (how to remain unseen and how to see the unseen). That was in addition to the nightly melee that would set one team against the other two with the team standing alone rotating each night.
When they passed out of Hi no Kuni into Tani no Kuni, the delegation slowed their pace and began spending more time scouting their way forward with far more care. They crossed paths just once with a shinobi patrol from Takigakure no Sato (Tani no Kuni's Hidden Village) and exchanged pleasantries before continuing on their way. They camped near the border of Tsuchi no Kuni in the late afternoon of their seventh day of travel, not wishing to enter the land of their one time enemy during the late evening hours when they would be at a disadvantage.
Before they moved out in the morning, Satoshi sent out a third of his swarm to scout the way ahead while ordering Shino to watch their back trail. He also sent another third of his swarm steadily exploring their way across every inch of Earth country between the borders of Tani no Kuni and Na no Kuni and Iwagakure so there was less of a chance of them getting lost or trapped by the terrain if they were forced to flee or fight their way out. Kakashi would be scouting the way forward alongside Satoshi with his ninken, Hinata watching their sides from the middle of the group, and Ko would work with Shino to watch their backs. The rest of the Genin would be spread out in between the lead group and the rear with the other Jounin and Chuunin splitting themselves into two groups and covering the sides in case they were ambushed.
They were met by a small force of patrolling Iwa Nin shortly into their second day of travel within Earth Country and Satoshi presented Konoha's invitation to the Chuunin Exams as proof that they had a legitimate reason for being within Earth Country. It was no real surprise that two of the Iwa Jounin were dispatched to give the village advanced warning of their arrival while another two were ordered to escort them the rest of the way to Iwagakure and Satoshi made no protests though he also didn't let his guard down just because they had an escort now.
Satoshi was glad that they had taken it easy for the first part of their journey as the Iwa Jounin escorting them set a fast pace and they would have been hard pressed to keep up if they'd been traveling hard for the entirety of their journey. The new pace saw them reaching Iwa later that evening just as the sun was setting and Satoshi felt more than a little apprehensive when he noticed the rather large welcoming committee that was waiting for them. He shoved his anxiety to the back of his mind (knowing things would be fine since his later selves hadn't indicated any trouble when they first arrived the night before) as their group came to a stop in front of the Sandaime Tsuchikage.
Ryoutenbin no Oonoki was a crotchety old man that was around the same age as the Sandaime Hokage. He was also a rather short and slightly vain man; as evidenced by the fact that he was currently perched upon a small constructed platform that allowed him to stand on equal footing with most of the Konoha delegation (though that put him several inches above Satoshi who was the shortest shinobi in their group). Satoshi and the rest of the delegation bowed to the Kage in greeting, Saki clumsily mimicking them from where she stood beside her father with her hand in his (her presence garnering almost as much attention as the rest of their group).
As his father predicted, their group was declared honored guests of the Tsuchikage and his family after he gave a brief welcoming speech about reestablishing old ties and setting aside differences. They were then led through the city to the Tsuchikage's Estate where an entire guest house had been set aside for their use and given a chance to freshen up before they attended a small feast in their honor. As the leader of the delegation, Satoshi (and by default his daughter) was given a seat up at the head table with the Tsuchikage's family where they made political small talk throughout the meal.
The eighteen year old found Oonoki's granddaughter, who was roughly the same age as him, to be somewhat abrasive and overbearing but he got along quite well with the Tsuchikage's body guard who reminded Satoshi of a big kid (emphasis on the big; he was nearly twice as tall as Satoshi). Oonoki's son was a rather stoic individual prone to long silences with a strong military background (which was not surprising given the fact that the older Jounin was the current Commander of Iwa's shinobi forces). Oonoki himself was a pessimistic old man who was rather set in his ways and an unexpected source of entertainment as his back would give out on him at the most inopportune times and his reactions to his own pain were as comical as they were predictable.
Satoshi enjoyed the evening despite the individual quirks of his hosts; helped in no small part by the presence of his daughter.
The next three days passed by fairly slowly as they toured the village and waited for the final few delegations from the other villages to arrive. During the tours they split up into three groups and Satoshi sent one version of himself with each group in order to keep track of everyone with the other Jounin and the Chuunin splitting themselves up evenly between the three groups (each group consisting of three Genin, one Chuunin, and two Jounin except for the one with Satoshi which had three Jounin; Kakashi never straying far from Satoshi and Saki's side as he'd assigned himself as the pair's personal body guard – not counting the times Satoshi turned time to relive each day).
Kurotsuchi, the Tsuchikage's granddaughter, was assigned as Satoshi's guide (her grandfather making a not so subtle attempt at matchmaking after learning that Satoshi was single) while a Chuunin by the name of Ittan escorted Team One and Aranami and another rather young and attractive kunoichi watched over Team Two and Arashi. It was both amusing and exasperating to live through those tours three times while at the same time being flirted with by two of their three escorts (Oonoki's granddaughter the only one not flirting).
During their guided tours, Satoshi noted the split reactions of both the civilians and the shinobi of Iwa; half of them displaying a rather indifferent attitude towards the Konoha contingent while the other half made snide comments under their breath and shot the Konoha shinobi heated glares. Despite the obvious ill-feelings present in half of the village's citizens; neither the civilians nor the shinobi made any attempts to cause trouble with them. Part of that was undoubtedly due to the presence of their escort and Satoshi suspected the rest was due to Oonoki's firm hand.
In any case, Satoshi was just happy that things were not as bad as they could have been given the bad blood between their villages; a few glares and angry insults were easy to ignore.
The fourth day of their stay in Iwa marked the start of the Chuunin Exams and Satoshi, Ranka, and Kunugi dropped their Genin off at the entrance of the academy with orders to do their best and watch out for one another. The trio of Jounin then headed towards the lounge that had been set aside for visiting shinobi to watch over the written portion of the exams where they joined the rest of their fellow Leaf ninjas. Aranami and Arashi flashed Satoshi a grin and thumbs up, which the diminutive Jounin interpreted to mean that all three Konoha teams passed the first part of the exam. Not that he'd had any doubts as Satoshi had, like Kakashi had prior to his first Chuunin Exam, warned all of the Genin that things weren't always what they seemed and for them to look beyond the obvious to find the true meaning behind the tasks.
To the shock of the Jounin present from other villages, Satoshi seemingly ignored the monitor that showed the classroom where the Genin were taking the exam as he played pat-a-cake and several other silly games with his daughter. He wasn't all that worried about missing anything as he'd sent a number of Kikaichu with each of their nine Genin and they would watch the exams for him and inspect the Genin from each of the other villages (plus his later selves were watching the monitors for him).
So, he felt it more important to give his daughter his most of his attention; something he hadn't really been able to do since they'd left Konoha and, if Saki's childish giggles were anything to go by, the eighteen month old was thrilled with the attention. Kakashi and Tenzou both evenly split their attention between watching over father and daughter and keeping an eye on the monitors to mark the progress of the test.
Three hours later, Saki was curled up inside Satoshi's jacket once more, sleeping contentedly against his heart, as Satoshi and the rest of the adults that had come with him congratulated all three Konoha teams on passing the first task. There was just enough time to treat the nine of them to a light lunch before they were escorted to the Pit (Iwa's equivalent to Konoha's Forest of Death, Kumo's Circle of Death, and Suna's Caverns) where they would have seven days to collect three scrolls; one which they received prior to entering, one they had to steal from another team, and one that they had to find within the Pit itself.
Half of the teams entering were given a blue scroll that they called the sky scroll, the rest teams received a gray scroll called the rock scroll, and the third scroll they had to find was a brown scroll labeled as the earth scroll. That portion of the test was much like Konoha's in that if they opened the scrolls before they had acquired all three, they would be disqualified and had them facing off against another team in order to collect at least one scroll. It was also like Kumo's and Suna's tests in that they had to find something hidden within the Pit instead of just rushing through.
Satoshi watched the teams being lowered down into the Pit by a rather old fashioned rope and pulley set up attached to a large rough-made bucket that would hold no more than six people at a time. He sent up a brief prayer to his ancestors and the gods to keep the children safe as he watched his termites disappear beneath the rim of the old mining pit. He knew they could take care of themselves but he also knew that there were other people down in that pit with them that had far fewer morals. People who wouldn't think twice about killing another team in order to win this make believe war their villages fought twice a year to determine who had what it took to move higher in the ranks of the shinobi versus those who still had a lot of growing up to do.
A comforting hand on his shoulder had him glancing up to give Kakashi a tight smile before he turned and followed the rest of the Jounin away from the edge of the Pit now that the last of the teams had been lowered down into the depths.
The next five days were some of the hardest Satoshi ever faced and that was saying something. Those five days reminded him just how much he loathed waiting. There was nothing worse than knowing that something was happening and that there was nothing he could do but wait. The only saving grace he had during those five days was his daughter; she was the only one that could put a smile on his face and draw him out of his brooding as they waited for any word on their three teams.
In fact, it was almost as if she knew that something was happening as she acted more outrageous than usual; even managing to have her second (or possibly third) outburst of accidental magic. Her first outburst had occurred when she was seven months old and Kakashi had unintentionally startled her so bad she turned his hair, skin, and clothes bright turquoise. This time, the outburst was more internalized when she slipped off the chair she'd been climbing up on and bounced across the room like a not-quite-inflated basketball. Poor Saki hadn't known whether to laugh or cry when she finally came to a stop against the wall; her two-toned eyes wide and bright with unshed tears.
On the evening of the fifth day, Team Four was transported (through the three scrolls that they had collected) to one of the thirty rooms that sat beneath the Iwa Arena where the third and final task would be taking place. They looked a little worse for wear and were covered with dirt, blood, and bruises but aside from being exhausted, there didn't appear to be anything wrong with them; to Satoshi's relief. Their team was the third team to make it out of the Pit with all three scrolls. Satoshi, Saki, and Kakashi had been the ones to greet them upon their return in addition to Kurotsuchi (who was still playing guide and guard for Satoshi); Saki doling out hugs and kisses to her long absent uncles and aunt (since five days often felt like five years to a toddler).
Teams One and Two would turn up halfway through the sixth day; both teams slightly more battered than Team Four had been with Team Two having come out the worst as both of Sukima's legs had been broken in several places in a rock fall on the third day of the task. They had been separated from Team Four within hours of the test starting (the three teams had made a pact to stick together through the first two parts of the exam) when they were chased for a good two hours by a stampede of colossal cave rats that had been stirred up by another team.
Team Four had attempted to find the others but Hinata's Byakugan had been impeded by the minerals in the walls of the endless maze of tunnels that made up the Pit and the rats had completely eradicated any scent the Kikaichu could have used to track them (though that hadn't stopped Shino from sending them out to search). Unable to navigate the tunnels as easily as they had originally hoped, Team Four had set up traps in order to capture another team in order to claim the two scrolls that they needed to pass the task.
Teams One and Two had stayed together with Sai scouting the way with his ink drawings, Shiho drawing out a map of the tunnels they covered, Sukima hunting for any sign of Team Four, and the other three doing the majority of the fighting when they encountered wild animals or rival teams. After Sukima had been injured, they made good use of the pre-made barriers that Satoshi had given their two teams to set up a command center from which they could strike out in various directions to gain their scrolls and search for the others.
Team One could have finished on the fifth day like Team Four but chose to stay behind in order to help Team Two get their final scroll. Team Four's choice to set up traps and hide behind one of the barriers not long after they'd been separated from the others meant that they had to fight far less than the other two teams, which is how they avoided any serious injuries. All three teams were relieved to know the others had made it out relatively safe and sound as were their Jounin instructors.
Satoshi used his wand to scan Sukima's legs and frowned slightly when he found a couple of the breaks poorly set; due to the fact that the only member of the three teams with any formal medical training beyond the basics was Hinata, they'd only been able to provide rudimentary first aide. There was no sign of infection, thankfully, but they'd need to realign his bones fairly quickly least the young teen end up crippled for life. Satoshi mentally kicked himself for not requesting for Kanpou to be one of the additional adults that came with them as none of the other adults had any real training as a medic and while Hinata could have helped, she was still a little too exhausted to do much.
After a few minutes discussion between the three Jounin instructors, an Iwa medic was called in to heal Sukima's legs with Satoshi prepared to vanish and regrow the young man's legs with magic and a couple of potions should the medic be unable or unwilling to fully heal the breaks. He needn't have worried; Sukima received the best of care and his legs were quickly straightened out and the healing process sped along with healing chakra. Iwa's medics had plenty of experience dealing with broken bones due to their shinobi frequently getting caught in rock falls and an assortment of crushing earth jutsu during training and no reason to withhold said expertise (least they be accused of sabotaging Konoha's Genin).
All three Konoha teams officially passed the second task, though only eight of the Genin would participate in the preliminary round a day and a half later; Sukima's legs needed more time to heal before he could walk on them, let alone fight on them. Satoshi spent a bit of time cheering the injured boy up when he saw how glum he was feeling over being too injured to continue; telling the boy how he too had been forced to forfeit during his first attempt at the Chuunin Exams due to a severe injury that had almost killed him.
Satoshi told him he was brave for sticking it out for three days when he must have been in considerable pain since all the Genin had had in their medical kits were over the counter aspirin to take the edge off the pain. The pep talk cheered the teen up tremendously and when it came time for the other eight to face off against the other passing teams in the preliminaries, he sat in his wheelchair and cheered loudly for his teammates and friends.
Satoshi leaned against the railing of the balcony that over looked the arena where the preliminaries would be held and studied the forty Genin that were standing down on the arena floor as he listened to Oonoki give a speech. Of the fifteen teams that had passed the second task, three of the teams had had serious enough injuries that one or two members had dropped out of the exams (including Team Two from Konoha). Only twenty of those gathered down on the field would move onto the final task of the exams and the eight from Konoha had a fifty-fifty chance of making it through the preliminaries; it all depended upon who they faced.
As he watched, Satoshi had to repress the urge to ask his older selves if his termites made it into the Tournament since he didn't wish to spoil the coming matches. The Tsuchikage finished making his speech about strength, perseverance, and war a moment later and each of the Genin drew lots to see who they'd be facing off against. A few minutes later, the field was cleared of all but a single Iwa Genin that would be facing off against a Kumo Genin.
Satoshi watched the unfolding battle intently; analyzing their fighting styles and estimating their abilities and skill level so he'd know the best way to train their Genin to beat the winner in the coming tournament. Behind him, his daughter squealed in delight as Tenzou gently rocked her on the wooden rocking horse he'd made for her when she'd grown a little fussy due to the fact that she was bored. The battle ended roughly twenty minutes later in favor of the Iwa Genin when the older boy buried the Kumo Genin beneath a pile of rocks.
Fuu was up next, facing off against a kunoichi from Ame and the young Yamanaka chose to use a combination of hand to hand combat and weapons to overpower the slightly older teen for the win. Satoshi approved of the tactics that Fuu used as he gave away nothing in the ten minutes that the battle lasted and whoever he faced in the Tournament first would be caught flatfooted if they thought Fuu's only strengths were his weapons handling and his taijutsu. The next battle saw a Suna kunoichi facing off against a young man from Taki in a rather short battle that the kunoichi won when she knocked the man unconscious with a wind jutsu.
The battle after that was between two Iwa Genin that lasted for nearly thirty minutes before the older boy caught the younger boy in an earth trap and knocked him out with a blow to the back of the head. Torune was the next of the Konoha Genin to face their opponent and the Genin from Ishigakure that he faced didn't have a chance as Torune's Dokumushi infected him the moment he made contact; crippling the man with intense pain as the venomous Kikaichu began destroying his chakra network just seconds after they passed through his skin.
After that match was called, Torune stayed on the field just long enough to remove his Dokumushi from his opponent both to end the man's torment and to prevent anyone from figuring out exactly how he'd injured the guy. The only drawback to the match was that his win meant Torune would have a hard time repeating the fairly easy feat as the other Genin would be on guard against whatever it was he used to cripple and 'poison' his opponent. That's not to say that Torune didn't have other strengths, because he did, he just wouldn't be able to infect his other opponents as easily.
The next two matches passed by fairly quickly as an Iwa shinobi faced off against an Ishi kunoichi and an Ame shinobi faced one of the two Kusa Genin that had made it into the preliminaries; the Ishi Genin and the Kusa Genin both winning their respective matches. The first of Satoshi's termites was up in the eighth match as Naruto faced off against an older teen from Kiri and Satoshi gripped the railing hard as he watched the match unfold.
Like Fuu, Naruto chose not to give away any of his hidden aces as he rushed forward the moment the match began and engaged the other Genin with taijutsu. Two minutes into the fight, Naruto used one of the Weasley's Day Trippers to trip up the older Genin; allowing him to pull out a coil of ninja wire to tie the other Genin up before straddling his back and holding a kunai to the teen's neck for the win. Satoshi was proud of his honorary little brother for the well executed strategy while expending a minimum of energy to gain the win.
Sai's match against one of the Yu Genin ended almost as quickly as Naruto's match, with Sai using a similar tactic to Naruto; only the older boy used a slew of ink snakes to tie up his opponent. That gave away Sai's ability to manipulate ink but allowed those watching to think that his Ink Manipulation was his biggest strength and gave the impression that he was a long range fighter instead of a close range fighter.
So he really didn't give away too much since he could fight effectively with both taijutsu and kenjutsu in addition to using his ink drawings. The fact that Sai was fairly skinny (much like Satoshi) also meant that most of the others present would think he lacked the physical strength to face another at close range; something that couldn't be further from the truth, though he was no where near as strong Torune or Naruto (and he could still hold his own against both boys individually).
Another match passed between a kunoichi from Yu and another from Iwa with the Iwa kunoichi winning after a fifteen minute exchange of ninjutsu attacks before Amaru faced off against another Ishi Genin. Amaru gave a good accounting of herself but she was no match for the twenty year old from Ishi; though she took her defeat in stride as she graciously thanked the older man for not holding back and treating her as if she was weak.
Next up, Hinata faced off against a Genin from Ame and Satoshi found himself chuckling as the fourteen year old approached the fight as if he'd have an easy win because he was facing off against an eleven year old girl. After Hinata dodged the water jutsu the boy had tried to overwhelm her with (something she had lots of practice in doing since Satoshi frequently used similar tactics in their spars) she closed in with the slightly older boy and wiped the floor with him using a slightly altered version of the Juuken Ryuu that utilized her flexibility.
There were two additional matches that saw a Genin from Suna and another from Kiri winning their matches against a pair of Iwa Genin before Shino faced off against a shinobi from Kusa. Shino took a leaf out of Naruto's book of tactics by using a special smoke bomb to obscure the arena floor before allowing his Kikaichu (which had developed an immunity to the smoke from years of practicing with smoke bombs to acclimatize his swarm to the scent of the smoke) to drain the other Genin of his chakra.
When the smoke cleared, there was no sign of Shino's swarm and no evidence that Shino had done anything to knock his opponent out to the confusion of the other participants and the judges. There was no doubt that he'd won the match though because the other Genin was unconscious and extremely low on chakra. Satoshi was practically beaming by this point as all of his termites had won their matches as had Sai, Fuu, and Torune (all three of whom Satoshi had personally trained for over two years now).
The next four matches passed by fairly quickly as Suna, Kumo, Iwa, and Ishi each had a Genin win their matches against their opponents. The last match of the preliminaries saw Shiho facing off against a kunoichi from Kiri and ended with both kunoichi out cold as Shiho incapacitated the other kunoichi with a Snooze Bomb while the other kunoichi knocked Shiho into the wall with a powerful water jutsu mere seconds before succumbing to the sleep powder in the bomb.
Overall, the Konoha Genin had given a good accounting as six of the eight participating in the elimination round would compete in the upcoming Tournament. Just before the Genin were released, they drew lots a second time to determine who would face each other in the first round of the Final Task in one month's time.
That night, Satoshi and the other Jounin treated the nine Genin to supper at a rather upscale restaurant before they took the exhausted children back to their guest house for some well deserved rest. While they slept, Satoshi wrote out a coded report for the Hokage regarding the end results of the first two tasks and the names of the six that would be participating in the Tournament.
In order to bypass the risk of the report being intercepted, Satoshi threw up a privacy ward and called for one of his elves, giving the elf the report after allowing the elf to spend a few minutes doting on Saki (all of Satoshi's elves, of which there were seventeen, adored the littlest Aburame though Dobby and Pinny were her primary watchers).
Pinny and Dobby, of course, were near at hand; though no one outside of Satoshi and Saki had seen the elves since they hid themselves with elfin magic and would only show themselves in order to protect Saki from outside harm.
Translations: Japanese to English
Hi no Kuni – Fire Country
Iwagakure – Hidden Rock Village
Konoha no Shiroi Kiba – Konoha's White Fang
Kumogakure – Hidden Cloud Village
Kusagakure – Hidden Grass Village
Na no Kuni – Vegetable Country (The location for this country is not known and I took the liberty of placing Kusa in this country in order to name the country that sits between Earth and Fire countries.)
Ryoutenbin no Oonoki – Two Alternatives Oonoki or Oonoki the Fence Sitter
Sunagakure – Hidden Sand Village
Takigakure no Sato – Hidden Waterfall Village
Tani no Kuni – Valley Country (The location for this country is not known and I took the liberty of placing Taki in this country so that I could name the country they were traveling through. Much as I took the liberty of putting Swamp Country on the peninsula above Tea and Fire Country and Vegetable Country as being the land right next to Valley Country and the home of Kusagakure.)
Tsuchi no Kuni – Earth Country
AN: And that is one canon event that has now been completely shot out of the water but you can't say I didn't warn you that I was going to be changing things. I had also decided to have Iwa and the Tsuchikage be the ones to extend the olive branch of peace since most people tend to paint Iwa in a bad light. I wanted to do something different with them though and after a decade plus of recovery, I believe that they would seek to test the strength of Konoha now that so much time has passed since the war and the Kyuubi's attack.
Don't worry, not everyone will be pleased with things turning out this way... and that's all I'm going to say about the matter for now. The next chapter will pick up from where this one left off and will cover the one month of training, the tournament matches, and the end result of the diplomatic mission to Iwa.
This next note is word for word exactly what I posted on the bottom of the latest chapter that I uploaded for my other stories as I am posting it in each WIP story I have right now so as to insure that all of my readers see it as it explains why I was gone.
Anyway, I will apologize for taking so long for getting this chapter up but I needed these past two months off to work on some issues I was having with my writing. For those of you who have been trying to get a hold of me through PM, I appreciate your concern and will to respond to those this weekend after I finish posting the updates that I've spent preparing.
For those who want to know why I haven't responded to anyone, or even bothered reading the PM's just yet, all I will say is that there are now two people blocked/banned from messaging me due to the inappropriateness of their messages. I do not deal well with abusive letters due to past experiences at my former workplace where clients spewed abuse on me for things outside of my control or because of their own incompetence. I was one keystroke away from deleting every single story I had posted due to those PMs but decided against it at the last second because I refused to allow two idiots to chase me away from something I love; writing and sharing my work with my readers.
I also couldn't punish everyone who has been so supportive and patient with me. So, after taking some much needed to handle the mess and coax my sanity back into a semblance of order, I am back again and ready to post lots of updates. On top of the pre-written chapters I will be posting, I also wrote over 100,000 words on several different stories and did a ton of research for new and current stories.
Anywho, that's enough out of me... except for me to express my appreciation for your patience these past two months. All of the recent reads, favorites, and reviews were much appreciated now that I've taken the time to peek at my statistics since I spent very little time on this site these past two months. ~ Jenn