*Chapter 12*: Chapter Eleven: Strangers with Biijuu

Previously: The mission is completed in a spectacularly bloody fashion. Shikamaru deals the killing blow to Mokujin Roshi, Naruto kills an Amagakure Missing nin as well as copies his first Sharingan acquired jutsu, and Sasuke demonstrates that nobody can host a barbecue like an Uchiha. After the mission, Kurenai discovers Hinata has a jealous side, and both Naruto and Kurenai discover that dancing around a subject can lead to a misunderstanding. Now, for the journey home... And the unrest that follows...

Chapter Eleven: Strangers with Biijuu

Sasuke and Shikamaru gave Kurenai a questioning look as she returned alone. As she ignored them both with dignity, Sasuke looked over at Shikamaru. "Where's Naruto?" He whispered.

"Dunno. You think maybe she..." Shikamaru whispered back, letting the question hang.

"Nah. No blood, she's not hurt or tired."

"She is a jonin."

"So was Zabuza."

"You think maybe he let her?"

"No way. Naruto's not a quitter." Sasuke said emphatically, albeit still quietly.

It was an uneasy half hour or more before Naruto returned. If anything, he was more distracted than he'd been on the way to meet up with team eight. And he was carrying around that stupid coin again.

Both relieved and annoyed, Shikamaru and Sasuke gave Naruto a wave. Naruto greeted them warmly, for him- but he wasn't very conversational. Instead, he kept looking over in the direction of Kurenai Sensei and Hyuuga Hinata.

"Report."

Anko looked at Kakashi. "You're taking mission reports, now?"

"When necessary." Kakashi replied.

"And right now it is necessary." Added Maito Gai.

"Any particular reason why?" Anko asked.

"Yes, but that can wait until after your report." Kakashi said. "How did it go?"

"Well, those three are probably the deadliest group of genin I've ever encountered. I like them." Anko said. "They don't hesitate, they don't give quarter, and they don't let a mistake slip past them. Naruto has an interesting ability- I don't know if you are already aware of it?"

"I am." Kakashi said. "And, while Naruto's abilities are currently considered S-rank classified, Gai is also cleared for the information."

"Ah. Well, he calls it the Kamigan- it's some kind of odd dojutsu. For some reason, his dojutsu seems to function similar in principle to what I've heard of the Sharingan, except it seems to be able to also conceptualize complex machinery in their entirety, and allows him to divine their function." Anko described. "I tested it out on a headset communicator, and after about fifteen seconds of examining it, he described the interior of the device in exacting detail, even going so far as to figure out the likeliest purpose of each piece of the unit. He even taught me something about microphones."

Kakashi looked surprised even through his mask. "I wasn't aware of that ability." He sat back and thought for a minute. "That makes him doubly valuable to Konoha. We could use him to dissect captured enemy equipment without destroying it in the process, and possibly even gain understanding into how and why they work."

Anko nodded. "I'd thought of that myself. But it seems to be as valuable in the middle of combat as well as outside of it. He understands the shape of things, the flow of the fight, and steers it into what he wants to happen. It's uncanny."

Kakashi nodded. "Alright, go back to the mission. You returned with Roshi's head, so I assume that everything went well?"

Anko nodded. "Only a few minor injuries, and, save for a fatality in Naruto's wardrobe, the mission went off very cleanly. Shikamaru is an able tactician, and capable of planning for contingencies without over thinking things. And Sasuke lives up to the reputation of his clan."

"By team eight's report, there was an interesting... interaction at the end of the mission." Kakashi said. "What happened?"

Anko snorted. "Should have properly been described as 'Kurenai go shot down on her first pass' instead."

Kakashi sighed. "We need to unwind him. Between the Mangekyou and his paranoia, Naruto may snap and start attacking anything at random. We need to find a way to defuse him. I'm considering having him sedated."

"You know why we can't do that." Gai said seriously. "The council would never allow it, my eternal rival."

"Doesn't mean I can't wish." Kakashi said with a sigh.

"Alright, I told you what you wanted to know." Anko said. "Now you tell me- what's going on?"

Kakashi and Gai exchanged a long, concerned look, before Kakashi turned back to Anko and said, "This is going to take a while."

"C'mon, Moegi!" Shouted Konohamaru over his shoulder. "We gotta-"

Whatever he'd been about to say was cut off as he ran into someone and fell down. Looking up from the ground, he met the eyes of a teen in face paint, wearing all black, carrying some sort of large, oblong bundle on his back. The look in his eyes clearly said he was NOT amused.

Naruto was walking along the street, his thumb rubbing slowly across the face of the Koemi token. His thoughts were elsewhere.

(Won't you get in trouble?)(If I do, it would be only a fraction of what I owe you for saving my cousin.)

(If you like, I won't say anything at all if they ask. You at least have the right to your privacy.)

(I'm very glad now, that I didn't send Hinata to do this. You would have completely broken her heart.)

He was interrupted from his reverie by the sound of a female's voice- a familiar one. "He didn't mean to, it was an accident! Let him go!"

Huh? What's going on? Naruto wondered.

He turned a corner to see a group of genin shinobi. Two of them wore the Hitai ate of Sunagakure, while the third was... Sakura? One of the Suna nin was holding an academy student dangling from his hand while the other suna nin- a kunoichi in fishnets and carrying a large combat fan- was looking half disgusted, half amused. "Hey, he slammed into me, and the little twerp is gonna pay fot it!" Said the Suna nin in the face paint. He pulled a hand back to slap the kid across the side of his head.

"Not on my watch." Naruto said.

"Not on my watch."

Those words were the only warning Kankuro got.

One second, he was getting ready to slap the little ninja wannabe around. The next, he barely let go of the kid and pulled his arm out of the way of a rising sword stroke that would have taken his arm off at the elbow. Before he could adjust his stance to defend, the blond ninja with the massive sword spun backwards, not swinging the sword, but instead reversing its momentum, driving the butt of the handle full into his solar plexus. Kankuro folded up like a card table and would have likely died from the overhand attack had Temari not interposed her warfan in front of the strike. There was a horrible screeching of tortured metal as the fan bent under the force of the blow; the blond ninja jumped back half a pace and assessed her with cold, killing eyes.

Her weapon all but ruined, Temari staggered back a step herself and looked at the damage inflicted on her warfan- the outer metal on one side had been sheered through, and the reverse side bent almost thirty degrees, protected from the same fate as the first side only by the wickedly tough woven metal cloth in between them. As it was, seven of the nineteen spars supporting the cloth were severed, the remainder as badly mangled as the semi-intact half of the outer casing. Temari looked into the eyes of her opponent, and for the first time in her life felt terrified that Gaara wasn't here. The blond konoha nin sniffed, as Temari hefted her ruined weapon, preparing to sell her life as dearly as possible- and afraid that it would still be effortlessly taken by the blond killer before her. He stepped back one more step into an attack stance.

"Naruto, NO!" Shouted someone nearby, a dark haired ninja with hair bound tightly into a topknot, running over as quickly as he could. "Let it go!"

The blond Konoha nin froze, but didn't relax, warily eyeing the two Suna nin for any signs of hostile intent.

"Naruto, let it go!" Yelled the pink haired kunoichi who'd been there since the beginning of the confrontation. "Konohamaru is okay, the incident is over!"

The other new arrival walked over cautiously, as though approaching a poisonous snake. "It's okay, man, it's over!" He said carefully.

"The hell it is!" Snarled Kankuro, clambering painfully to his feet as he pulled Crow off his shoulders.

Kankuro froze at the sound of the voice he'd lived in fear of now for almost twelve years. "Kankuro, this isn't what we're here for. You're a disgrace to our entire village."

Naruto's eyes snapped to the right, to see a third suna nin standing upside down, hanging from a tree branch. Three of them now... he thought to himself. I don't know how capable a combatant Sakura is, but at least Shika's here. They're both really smart, so they can probably hold the other two off until I finish this new guy. Naruto's eyes narrowed, as he prepared to engage the Kamigan, when the appearance of the suna nin struck him. Dressed all in black, except for an orange sash that appeared to be holding some kind of gourd on his back- and a back tattoo on his forehead. His eyes had circles so dark around them that he appeared to be part raccoon. Does that say... Love?

I FEEL SOMETHING... FAMILIAR ABOUT THIS BOY. Kyuubi said quietly in the depths of Naruto's mind.

"It's... annoying, to see you lose your temper in a quarrel with a child, enough that the child's fellow ninja have to step in to stop you." The new arrival said. "Have you forgotten why we're here?"

"That little brat started it!" Protested the Suna nin in the facepaint. "He slammed into me, and when I called him on it, the blond teme attacked me!"

"Kankuro, shut up. Or I'll kill you."

Naruto noted with raised eyebrow that the one called Kankuro visibly wilted in the face of this statement, breaking out in a cold sweat. "You're right. I was out of line."

The kunoichi with the ruined warfan was attempting to placate the newcomer. "We're sorry, okay Gaara? REALLY REALLY SORRY!"

The Suna-nin with the gourd on his back hopped the distance to the ground in a single, rapid swoop, so quickly he seemed to teleport. "Sorry about my friends." Turning his attention to his comrades, he commented, "We're early... but we didn't come here to play around. Let's go."

"Wait!" Yelled Sakura.

The three Suna nin paused, looking over their shoulders. "Yes?" Responded the one the kunoichi had called Gaara.

"You're all from sunagakure, according to your hitai ate. And it's true that Sunagakure and Konoha are allies. But by our treaty, your nin are not allowed to cross the border without authorization." Sakura's voice gained a bit of firmness. "State your business! We can't just let you go on your merry way."

None of the Suna nin seemed particularly bothered by the statement. The Kunoichi pulled out a card holder, revealing travel papers. "Well, you're aggressive but not very informed, hmm?" She said, her bravado somewhat forced. Her eyes flicked to the suna nin with the gourd, before her voice gained strength again. "We're genin from Sunagakure. We're here for the chuunin exams."

Naruto wasn't paying much attention. In fact, he was standing in his alert mode, much the same as he did right before he burst into a fit of unrestrained violence, usually resulting in a lot of dead opposition. Shikamaru started to worry- the last thing Naruto needed was to start an international incident in the middle of Konoha.

Naruto looked at the kid with the gourd on his back. "Hey- what did you say your name was, again?"

Darkly shadowed eyes fixed on Naruto as the Suna Kunoichi asked, "Who, me?" in a slightly alarmed tone of voice.

"No." Naruto said, his eyes alight with excitement. His gaze was intensely on Gaara's forehead, focused singly on the tattoo reading "Love." "You... with the chakra..." He said with a dark smile on his face.

I KNOW THAT CHAKRA. Said the kyuubii suddenly.

The sand genin's eyes began to come alive as well, as a smile crept onto his own face. "My name? Subaku no Gaara." He said.

Shikamaru's eyes widened as he watched Naruto's face, while Temari and Kankuro likewise watched Gaara with growing alarm. All three gained identical looks of panic as killing intent began rolling off of the two Genin in a sudden tide.

"SAKURA! GET KAKASHI, NOW!" Shikamaru shouted, grabbing Konohamaru and heading for an alleyway nearby.

Sakura broke off in a dead run as the cork popped out of Gaara's gourd, and Naruto encased Kubikiri Houcho in a thin layer of glass.

"The timing could not be worse." Kakashi said to Asuma. He turned his attention to Maito Gai. "Are you certain of this?"

"I had at first merely thought he was missing, but this confirms it." Gai held up what he'd found, a Hitai Ate of Konoha, with the Leaf symbol gouged across. Tears stood at the corner of his eyes as though he was in disbelief.

"Shit." Kakashi said sourly. "What can we do?"

"At this point, we have to go on as if everything is normal." Asuma said, nibbling nervously at the end of his fukimibari. "Only we higher jonin who are already aware of the situation can be filled in."

"Include Yamato and Haku." Kurenai interjected. "They're already aware of the situation, and Haku, even though he's only a genin, is... extremely devoted to Naruto. He won't betray anything that could harm Naruto's standing in the village."

Asuma nodded. "Yes, they can be useful in their own circles for damage control and enforcing the deception, although Yamato and Haku are too prominant right now in their respective social circles to retreat from them. Haku is too new here, knows too few of those in the village, to be effective at the deception, and Yamato is a terrible actor anyways. Too wooden. The rest of us will have to take turns-"

All of the ninja stopped cold as the huge wave of killing intent rooted them to their spots. Kakashi began to sweat. I do not believe in-

"Kakashi Sensei!" Screamed a girl's voice from outside.

"KUSO!" Swore Kakashi.

"MASTER KAKASHI!" The girl's voice screamed louder, loud enough that even from the street below, it was recognizable as one of Asuma's genin, Haruno Sakura. "COME QUICK! NARUTO'S ABOUT TO KILL SOME SAND GENIN!"

Kakashi sprang immediately into action. "Kurenai, mobilize ANBU! Asuma, Gai, clear out any civilians!" Kakashi practically tore off his hitai ate to reveal his sharingan eye as he tore out of the window from the Hokage tower at top speed.

Naruto and Gaara were facing off, the fight already begun but neither of them striking a blow... Yet. They stood carefully gauging one another, Naruto with the first stage of Sharingan engaged while Gaara's sand swirled around him. Their hesitation was uncharacteristic, but each realized that they were against a foe unlike any they'd faced before. Both genin tensed, their three companions cringing as they knew their reprieve was over, Kubikiri Houcho inched back slightly-

-And suddenly Naruto was tackled by Kakashi and two ANBU. Other Anbu swept the area for Kage Bunshin, while chakra suppressing seals were slapped onto Kubikiri Houcho (Glass fell away from the sword in delicate, splintered sheets), Naruto (Who vanished in a puf of smoke) and Naruto's Hitai Ate (Which turned into the real Naruto).

Several more ANBU faced off against Gaara, alert but not overtly aggressive. "Sir, we must respectfully ask you to step away from Uzumaki san. For your own safety."

Gaara's surprise was so complete, he forgot completely his urge to kill. Strangely, Shukaku wasn't pushing him to fight, even as he watched the ANBU restraining Naruto.

Naruto forced his head up to stare at Gaara. "You're like me."

Everybody froze, tensing.

Gaara's eyes widened slightly. "...what?" He asked softly.

Naruto looked over at Kakashi. "I'm not going to kill him." As Kakashi and the ANBU hesitantly released their hold on Naruto's arm, Naruto stood up, lifting up the left side of his shirt to reveal his scar, "Trust."

Gaara's eyes flicked to his own tattoo. Suddenly, in the depths of his mind, Gaara heard fear in the voice of Shukaku for the first time in his life. KYUUBII NO KITSUNE!

"Kyuubii?" Asked Gaara out loud.

Naruto grinned ferally as he replied, "Yes... Ichibii no Shukaku."

"The council wishes for Uzumaki Naruto to compete in the Chuunin Exams."

The Hokage paused, thrown off his pace. "I... beg your pardon?"

An older woman raised a hand to stop Danzou's response before she herself stood. Mitsuuga Linali, that was her name, wasn't it? "Hokage sama, we received word of a report from your interim replacement for Kakashi on team sevenMitarashi Anko?" The Hokage nodded. "By her reports, team seven performs brilliantly. Expecially the Uzumaki child. His abilities are quite probably beyond chuunin level- he deserves this chance." The old woman ignored Danzou's angry growl. "But this is only one of two reasons."

The Hokage concealed his surprise at Naruto's acknowledgement and gestured for Linali to continue.

"We have also received word about a confrontation yesterday at the West Gate."

The Hokage did not bother to conceal his grimace.

"From all the reports, the Jinchuuriki of Konoha stepped in to the confrontation alone, without support, against a full team of Sunagakure genin who were bullying an academy student. It is the belief of this council the jinchuuriki of Sunagakure was not the initiator of this incident. None the less, the clash between the two could not have hoped to be contained to a small area- enormous amounts of collateral damage would have inevitably developed as a result of their contest. Furthermore, we are aware that Naruto is aggressive when encountering a good fight, and the Suna nin is bloodthirsty. They may well seek one another out, now that they are aware of each other's existance- unless we make it all but certain that they run across one another in a controlled environment, such as by entering Naruto into the chuunin exams. Then their confrontation will take place in an arena meant for such encounters, or at least, where the citizenry will not be endangered." Linali explained.

The Hokage sat back in his chair, trying to figure out what to do. On the one hand, this played directly into Danzou's hands, by granting the opportunity to take away the Jinchuuriki from Suna, or else eliminate Naruto's presence permanently. Either way, it was a coup for Danzou. On the other hand, the proscribed set of actions were a sensible precaution.

Additionally, the presence of the Suna jinchuuriki was also a sign. One does not wisely reveal the existance of one's greatest weapon without intent to use it.

The Hokage thought long and hard on his predecessor. What would HE decide in a moment like this?

He would choose whatever was best for the village, no matter the personal cost- and he did. Which is why I'm here, in this situation right now.

The Hokage put his hands behind his back. "Very well then. I agree." The Hokage smiled a thin smile at the surprised look on Danzou's face. "Does this amaze you?" He asked. He went on without waiting for Danzou's answer. "It surprises me as well. But then, even a stopped watch is right twice a day."

Danzou growled through his teeth. "And one that has fallen behind is never right at all." He shot back.

"I've recommended you all for the chuunin selection exams."

Shikamaru frowned. "Sounds like a lot of work."

Sasuke smiled. "Sounds like fun."

Naruto had been watching Kakashi's eye as he spoke. "Sounds like you aren't telling us everything."

Kakashi fixed his eyes on Naruto. Evidently, his sight doesn't need to be activated to affect his perceptions anymore. This could be troublesome. "And so I'm not. Your team is receiving a fourth member."

"Who?" Naruto asked.

"Come on out." Kakashi said.

After a moment, a long haired boy in a black body suit stepped out from behind a tree.

"Haku?" Said Naruto after a moment.

"Haku." Kakashi confirmed. "By special dispensation, as well as the synnergy you three have together, it was decided to keep you three as a fixed unit. Until further notice, team seven consists of you three, as a core group. Additionally, you will receive an additional, single member on occasion for training purposes, either the new member, yourselves, or a combination of the two. This new member will be a specialist in one aspect or another in the art of assassination. Finally, your team designation will no longer be team seven- your new designation is team Akachi."

Team Blood Red- An appropriate name for a team whose greatest talents were to take lives. "Should you choose to apply for the chuunin exams," Kakashi held up a small stack of stapled forms, "Then fill these out and turn them in at room 301 at the Academy tomorrow by Four o'clock." Kakashi paused. "Because of circumstances outside of our control, I will not be representing you as your jonin instructor during the exam. That will instead fall to Anko. I will be representing team Gai instead."

The surprise was evident on all their faces. Kakashi summarized. "Gai Maito is currently unavailable due to an S-class mission only he is suited to. As a result, since I have some experience with team Gai but Anko does not, it was decided that this arrangement would be best for all concerned."

Naruto blinked. Then, he turned to Haku. "Well, welcome aboard."

Haku smiled and looked away. "Th-thank you." He replied with a blush.

Naruto looked confused, Sasuke shaken, and Shikamaru shocked. The latter two looked over at Naruto, then looked at one another. Neither one needed to say anything. He's completely clueless.

"The situation has gotten worse." Said Toji.

"How so?" Asked Kakashi.

The Hokage's office was empty, save for the two of them. Kakashi sat to the side of the Hokage's desk, doing paperwork that by all rights should have been Sarutobi's job.

"When the Hokage came to release Naruto after the... incident, last week, he ordered an investigation as to security breaches and possible infiltration of the village." Toji said.

Kakashi nodded. "I was there, if you remember."

"Yes, sir. Well, that investigation has taken place," Toji said with an unhappy expression, "and we have come up with something."

"Come up with something?" Kakashi asked, carefully setting his pen and the paperwork to the side. "What do you mean?"

"We have evidence that the village will come under attack soon." Toji said. "Hard evidence. We've uncovered a traitor in our midst."

"You have my full attention." Kakashi said.

"Out investigation of the village regarding the security breach revealed that Aburame Kenji of the Aburame clan has been in close contact with Otogakure." Toji stated, pulling out a sheet of paper and handing it to Kakashi. "The captured insects were able to relate the following data with the translation help of another member of the Aburame clan. It is far from complete, but we have ascertained from the message that there is another informant, although we couldn't find his identity. The insects revealed the data you see on Konoha's defenses, but of the insects which we could not stop, we are uncertain what information they may have been carrying. When we attempted to capture Kenji, he killed himself with some sort of suicide mark before we could subdue him."

Kakashi sighed. Just one more complication. "Call a meeting of the Nine- except for Haku. He has to remain in position for the time being. We can brief him after the first portion of the exam."

Naruto, Shikamaru, Sasuke, and Haku stood together in front of the academy.

"Seems so long ago." Commmented Naruto. "And yet, here we are again."

Sasuke looked at Naruto. "Hey, where's that stupid coin you're always carrying around?"

Naruto looked down at the ground for a second. "I... spent it."

Sasuke looked over at Naruto's new wardrobe with a smile- much better than what he used to wear. Naruto had gotten himself a new coat, mid thigh length, with red flames on the bottom that faded to black as it rose to his chest. His orange pants has been traded in for red as well; the other members of team akachi had likewise acquired similar clothes to mark their designation, with the exception of Haku, who still wore his black bodysuit. Now, it wasn't even particularly embarassing to be seen in public with him. "You know, nobody's gonna recognize you without that awful orange crap you used to wear. You oughta thank that Amagakure nin who destroyed the coat." He said. Then, as though just thinking of it, he snapped his fingers. "Oh wait, scratch that. You gotta find which portion of her corpse used to have her ears first, else she'll never hear you."

Naruto sighed. "You weren't even there, teme." He responded tiredly. "You were outside barbecuing."

"At least they didn't have to wring out a mop to do the autopsy on any of MY kills." Sasuke shot back with a smirk.

Shikamaru scowled as the two of them bickered. Finally, he'd had enough. "You two are acting like idiots. Let's get this show on the road."

Haku stood quietly to the side, eyes scanning the area, before Naruto and Sasuke aimed irritated snorts at one another but stopped arguing, as the four of them continued up the steps and into the academy.

Behind them, Temari looked after the group of four Konoha genin, most specifically at the blonde on. In her mind, she was thinking back to the conversation they'd had together in the Koemi clan shop. His apology for destroying her weapon, his extension of friendship, to her and her brothers.

(Don't tell anyone. Especially your brothers- just say you had a spare.) (But... they know I didn't have a spare- and this fan is a masterpiece weapon!) (The Koemi clan is famous for their craftsmanship. Besides, if it hadn't been for me, you wouldn't have lost the first one... and since you're the sister of Gaara... well... he and I are, I guess, brothers of a sort. So I guess this is my way of making up for my earlier temper. Cause you're like a sister because of it. Or something.)

In one month... we'll be enemies. Temari thought to herself. Your friends may die at the end of this weapon... Damn you... How can I fight you if you... Kami, what's happening to me...

Temari looked at her new warfan- if anything, a finer weapon than that she'd owned before.

And all it cost her was... her will to fight.

End Chapter Eleven

Preview of Chapter Twelve:

Kabuto didn't register much else. For the next several minutes, the proctors questioned the other genin in the room, before nodding and taking up positions in the sides of the room.

The scarred jonin's words to someone else nearby were the next thing he remember as his inner ear settled down. "Then you acted in defense of a comrade- but you made a mess in the back of my classroom. I expect that to be cleaned up, or I'll charge you with littering."

The scarred jonin turned to face the other two Otogakure genin, who were standing shivering, staring numbly at the corpse of their team mate, still cooling in his drying pool of blood. "As for you two, this exam is open solely to those who have the maturity to follow mission parameters, and to curb the reckless impulses of members of their cel who otherwise don't control themselves. Since only a complete cel can enter the exam, and since your team mate unwisely got himself butchered, the rest of his cell is disqualified with him. A dead body can't become a chuunin, although," He added with a cold, thin smile, "A chuunin certainly CAN become a dead body."

AN: ALRIGHT! First, a new warning- I've had several problems crop up at the same time, most notably a spike in business means I've a couple new accounts and getting new accounts set up in Vending is a lot of grunt work for at best questionable return for the first year or so. On top of this, I'm having trouble linking the next few pieces of the story together- I've got about three more chapters written in my notebook, and they're striking, well written, unutterably cool- and since they were based on my written notes, they have virtually no connection to what's already been published online. Which means I have about twenty thousand words or so of re-writing to do before I can post them online. And therefore, from this point forward, I'm going to be working off my online story, not what is in the notebook, so hopefully I don't f-k up like this again. What this ends up meaning, though, is my next few chapters may be a little slow in coming out- for me, at any rate.

A note about the conversation between Naruto and Kurenai. People when they are uncomfortable with a topic will often refer to it without directly saying it outright. In this case, Kurenai is uncomfortable with what she sees at the very least as poaching, not to mention Naruto is still just a child in her eyes. Naruto, on the other hand, is feeling trapped with two options- kill a jonin of Konoha(A person with whom he has no real problem with) or die(Which he DOES have a problem with). It's something of a no win situation, which in turn means he doesn't even want to think about it, much less talk about it directly. "So, do I kill you, or let you kill me? Just wondering what your opinion was, think about it for a minute. I won't go anywhere." Doesn't really work for him. As a result, each of them ends up discussing "it" without really stating what "it" is... and their conversation dovetails depressingly well. And no, Kurenai doesn't know the details of Iruka's mission.

As to Naruto seeming to change from one moment to the next- from thoughtful or even playful to battle hungry or murderous- this is an effect of the ongoing psychological damage he's had. The dichotomy between his normal activity and his fighting mindset is creating almost an entirely separate persona that he uses to deal with what he does all the time. The switching into this persona frees him from all responsibility and moral restriction- and when he comes out of it, he is becoming increasingly disgusted with his actions when he is fighting. The evidence is becoming more obvious; I've done this on purpose, in an effort to portray the gradual decline of his state of mind, until when he... Ah... but that's a secret...

That's it, except for an exceptionally bizarre Omake that occured to me.

Omake:

"That little brat started it!" Protested the Suna nin in the facepaint. "He slammed into me, and when I called him on it, the blond teme attacked me!"

"Kankuro, Silence, I keel you!" Gaara yelled.

"You keel heem?" Asked Temari. "You keel heem DAYD?"

"He gon KEEEL me!" Shouted Kankuro. "Don't KEEEEELLL ME!"

"DOO EET!" Shouted Naruto. "DO EEEET NOOOOOWWWW!"

"BOOM!" Roared Gaara, and exploded.

The rest of them stood staring at the blackened spot on the ground. "Um... What did that prove?" Asked Shikamaru.

"I keel him for he is an INFIDEL!" Said Gaara from thin air.

"Um... aren't you dead already?" Asked Sakura.

"Oh, right." Gaara said.

End omake... And no, I have no idea wtf I wrote that for, it just sort of wouldn't let me go untiul I typed it out... -.-;

Any questions, review me or message me, and I'll try to respond promptly- if I miss you, don't be mad, it's not a brush off, just idiot me not noticing an email.

Ja mata.

-AXENOME