A/N: And so somehow they won the rest of the tests. (Come on now, you didn't actually want to read fifteen chapters of fighting, did you? - and we will admit that we were too lazy to write it. Really now.)

WARNING: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS YAOI/BOYXBOY if you are not inclined to read it, pleas skip from "Friday (8:39:08 PM)" to about "Friday (10:53:38 PM)" but if you're feeling brave, read the whole thing through- James

PS: This is the end. We may or may not write an epilogue.

--

Friday, two days after the completion of the Chunnin exams

All the congratulations seemed directed toward Naruto but the others seemed indifferent about it, they were strangers and therefore not as important. Naruto had found a place, and surrounded by the rookie nine (excluding Sasuke of course) and his former teachers he (blah blah blah) ...

"Let's get to the party already!" Saiki snapped. She was tired of waiting for the narrator to complete the description of the party. They of course had yet to ask Tsunade(sama) who was to become chunnin at this point, but Tsunade had been drunk since just after the tournament. (Or had pretended to be because she didn't want to have to do any of the paperwork.)

Friday (8:39:08 PM)

"Hey! Anko! What are you doing!?" Anko gave a drunken hiccup. "I know you aren't drunk Anko, so stop pretending." Iruka said severely. Anko frowned at him. "You only had two glasses of tequila. That's not enough to get you drunk." Anko snorted.

"Iruka you seriously need to lighten up! I just want to get you into the mood!" She half-whined. But she didn't stop pushing.

"By pushing me into a closet?" Anko dead panned.

"Of course not." Iruka's confusion gave her just the advantage she needed. Gai appeared out of nowhere to yank the door open and Iruka found himself falling into the (much larger than it appeared) closet. He braced himself for the impact, thinking that the next time he saw Anko (and Gai) he was going to take all of her dango and eat it in front of her face, then take some green spandex (copyright) and burn it in front of Gai's face. He was so wrapped in his thoughts of revenge that he didn't notice that he had stopped falling and that he was laying on something soft and warm. That is, until he stopped thinking. (Which in most cases is a bad thing. Except with Naruto; thinking usually gives him a headache.)

"Uh..." Iruka touched the mass with tentative fingers. It drew a drunken giggle. He reached up to grab the light switch and pulled, the bright light illuminating the (larger than appeared) closet. It earned him a pained groan.

"Maa, maa. Iruka sensei. Trying to celebrate our reunion by blinding me? Though I can't say I don't like your other present." Kakashi said carefully, because it was quite hard to speak coherently when drunk. The jounin leered at Iruka and the chunnin, confused, looked down. He sat straddling Kakashi with one hand on his chest (that drew a giggle.) Immediately he tried to draw back but Kakashi's hand had wandered behind his back and now held him closer. Kakashi sat up. "I didn't give you permission to leave." He slurred.

Iruka frowned and stopped trying to leave. But that didn't mean he went down without a fight. Kakashi leaned in to kiss Iruka. That is, until his face met Iruka's palm.

"You aren't actually drunk are you." He said flatly. It wasn't a question. The change was immediate, as Kakashi dropped the act, his expression becoming sharp. Kakashi shrugged. Iruka peered into his face trying to glean some emotion, a thought, anything from him. "Then why?" Kakashi shrugged again and the hand at Iruka's back became more heavily applied.

"Oomph." Kakashi leaned upward to speak into Iruka's ear.

"Because you aren't drunk either." Iruka blinked.

"Oh." After a moment of silence Kakashi spoke again.

"How did you know I wasn't drunk?" Kakashi asked. Iruka snorted.

"I may be a chunnin but I'm not stupid." He raised an eyebrow at Kakashi. "You don't even smell like alcohol."

Kakashi blinked. "Oh right." Iruka still hadn't attempted to pull back though. "So can I still kiss you?"

Iruka gave a slow, sly smile. "Maybe if you're really good."

"I'll be good sensei."

--

Friday (10:28:15 PM)

Iruka and Kakashi finally came out of the closet. Iruka staggered over to the coffee table, fastidiously fending off Kakashi's advances. He picked up his cup of sake and downed it. He sputtered. Since when was sake carbonated?! He stared at it intently and tried to figure out what happened, but was having a very hard time of it with Kakashi practically attached to his neck. Iruka stood suddenly and Kakashi fell backward. Both heard a huge ruckus coming from the living room.

Seeing Jiraya, Tsunade, Anko, Ibiki, Genma, Raidou, Izumo and Kotetsu doing the Soulja Boy dance wasn't actually as surprising as it should have been. That might have just been because of the alcohol though. Slightly more surprising was the fact that Neji, Gaara, and... Tim Gunn(!?) had joined them. Iruka shook his head in disbelief and briefly wondered if someone had put a hallucinogen in the drinks. He honestly wouldn't put it past some of the hornier jounin. Unfortunately Tim Gunn wasn't going away. In fact, he was talking to Tsunade about revising the design of the standard Chunnin vest. Granted, that wasn't exactly a bad thing, the things were very uncomfortable and not exactly the optimal in storage space.

He stumbled through the room, trying to remember why he'd come out of the closet in the first place. Oh right, he'd been thirsty. So why hadn't he gone right back into it after he was done? Oooh. Right. His drink hadn't been sake. Now why was it that Sasuke singing on the karaoke machine, holding a cup of clear liquid while several cherry faced ninja cheered him on reminded him that his sake was gone? And why did his mind think that Sasuke being here was weird?

"And I would walk 500 miles and I would walk 500 more!" And why was Naruto draped on his shoulders? "If I get drunk, well I know I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be the man who gets drunk next to you." And then Sasuke pressed his lips against Naruto's. And Sasuke looked about as surprised as Naruto did, especially when the blond reciprocated his... enthusiasm. Why was it that Iruka thought this was somehow his fault? (And why was Jiraya breaking away from the Soulja Boy group and hurriedly scribbling things in that notebook of his?)

Oh well, he decided. Especially since Kakashi had just suggested blowing this joint. He laughed – ninja did not giggle, thank you very much (except some of the girl-ier kuonichi... and they could still gut you twelve ways to Sunday if they really wanted to) – and they staggered drunkenly out of the room.

"Naruto the orange clad dumb ass!

Had a very shiny kniiiife

And if you ever saw it,

you would even say it blinds"

Several of the people around the room turned as the high-pitched tone rang through the room. (Others lay incapacitated on the floor or on the couches.) Some began snapping their fingers in time (drunkenly, which is to say not in rhythm at all) with the tune, though somehow nobody questioned the fact that whoever was singing was singing the tune of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. And it was mid-July.

"All of the other ninja

used to laugh and call him names

They never let poor Naru

Join in any ninja games"

Many held back applause for the spur of the moment improvisation. By now everyone was quietly listening to the song. Or at least as quietly as a whole village of drunk ninja can be. Several were searching for the voice, but it seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once. It wasn't even loud either. So much for ninja "Skeelz."

"Then one foggy Christmas eve,

Godaime came to saaaaay,

Naru with your kunai so bright

Won't you kill that guy tonight"

A couple of the rowdier and more bold of the Genin stood up to sing with the mysterious soloist. Their words were slurred and less than intelligible. Several were quite lewd, others just a tad morbid. In all actuality, the original singer was now lost in the sea of voices. The party resumed with full vigor without further delay. The sentiment of the song, however, was not lost to Naruto and his closest friends. Even with the brief ridicule in there. It was all in good taste. The song, however, would later be renamed "Naruto the blue-eyed ninja," rather than "Naruto the Orange Clad Dumbass."

--

Friday (10:53:38)

Saiki and Melo sidled up to the couch Naruto and Sasuke were currently on. Or rather, Sasuke was on and Naruto was sitting in his lap. They snickered and tapped the two on the shoulder (evoking annoyed grunts) – though not before taking several pictures, and were about to throw a bucket of water on them when Tobi tapped Saiki on the shoulder. Which, in turn, caused her to twitch/spin violently and splash the entire room with ice cold water. Which was epic fail.

"What do you want Tobi?"

"Oh sorry, I actually need the girl with the hair." Saiki's eye twitched.

"I have hair." She pointed out flatly.

"Uh... the girl with more hair." He said. Saiki rolled her multi-hued eyes and beckoned to Melo with a small head jerk. Melo nodded and the two skipped off into the sunset. That is to say, they went to the bathroom for privacy.

Friday (11:09:09 PM)

"So what did you need Tobi?" Melo asked, yawning.

"I need you to show me how you use your zen." Melo stilled, her eyes widening. Not only had Tobi referred to himself in the first person, he was also talking about something he shouldn't know about.

"What are you talking about?" She asked, eyes narrowed. Suddenly his hand struck out at her and she put a shield of zen up, unconsciously. But his arm moved slowly through the field and pushed her. She unbalanced and fell backward in a slow motion that she was unable to stop.

Friday (11:11:11 PM)

Saiki ran into the bathrooms when she heard the toilet flush and a garbled screech that sounded like Melo come from the tiled room. The door opened with a smash, wood splintering and bouncing over the tiles. Water was splashed over the floor and huge craters in the walls, made by Melo's fists, scattered broken pieces of porcelain. Saiki glared at Tobi.

"What did you do to Melo?" Her voice was dangerously soft.

"Tobi flushed her down the toilet of course." Tobi said.