Naruto glared at the owl. "Shut up! How could you not know me, the almighty Uzu-"

"How dare you!" The large gray owl leapt forward and smacked him with its wing. "Don't speak that way to our king, young'un!"

"KING?" cried Naruto. "He's younger than you! You slavishly obey the commands of an-uhhhhhhh!" Twilight and Sakura had hit him at the same time, shutting him up pretty well, and good riddance to him!

"Peace, Twilight," said Coryn softly. "Do not be too harsh." He had expected the newcomers to be shocked as his position as king. He turned to look at the others. "Is this owl a member of your group? Otherwise why would you fly together?"

Kakashi stared at him. "Perhaps it is because we were turned into owls by some sort of curse and thrown into this area? But yes, we are a group. I am the teacher, or sensei, of the rest. My name is Hatake Kakashi."

Sasuke said nothing, except for snarling a little. "Untie me," he commanded. He attempted to slash out with his talons, but only ended up hulimitated on the floor. He growled loudly, and attempted to get up. Coryn leaned over him, the ember still held in his beak.

"Promise, first, not to attack us."

"Why?"

"Your teacher, or ryb, as we call them, attacked us. We must first be sure you will not."

"WHAT?" screamed Kakashi. "That-that crazy owl tried to kill us! It's a good thing I sensed his precense!"

"He's not crazy, he's just protective!" Otulissa objected.

Coryn was hesitant to interfere, so Soren stepped in to help. "Please, please, will you all stop fighting? Just calm down, and we'll figure out how these owls can help us."

"Thanks, uncle," Coryn whispered to Soren.

"No prob," Soren replied with a wink. "Now shall we untie them?"

"Alright," said his nephew hesitantly, "but we'll need supervisors."

"Watch out, Naruto! You nearly dropped that coal!"

"Sasuke! Lock your battle claws!"

"Sakura! Are you paying attention?"

By the end of the day...night...day, Team 7 was utterly exhausted. As the sun rose, they flew to their newly assigned hollow to sleep. Even if the sun was rising high, they were dead tired. Sleep would feel good.

"So?" Soren whispered to his friends. "What do you think?"

"They're not very good at anything," muttered Twilight. "They drop coals, they don't know how to handle battle claws, they can't even succeed at Ga'Hoology... I mean, seriously, how much effort does it take to learn about the plants and the tree!"

"Don't be so harsh," muttered Eglantine, but she was too shy to say it out loud. She's Eglantine, after all!

"They have hope," said Gylfie.

"Yeah," agreed Digger, "and they did quite well for beginners."

"Hey," said Soren thoughtfully, "what did they mean by 'turned into' owls? What were they?"

"We'll ask next moonrise..." muttered Gylfie as she slid off to sleep.

"Is anyone still awake?" Sakura muttered sleepily. "I'm dead beat, but I just can't fall asleep. I mean, it's morning!"

"Me too," agreed Naruto. "How do you like this place?"

"Tiring," said Sakura. "Simple as that." She sighed, and tucked her head into her wing. Perhaps she could fall asleep now...

Wheeeee! So how do you like it?