Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and company, their world, the organizations in that world, or anything else you read in the manga. I do own the characters I bothered to give personalities to and the organizations I put them in and I shall flame you to hell if you use them.

Start Here

The rest of the play was lost on Naruto. He couldn't stop wondering why Sasuke had joined a traveling theater and why the people he had seen ruthlessly beat up veteran ninjas were performing along side him.

He was able to ponder through another scene and another act, and only came to when the audience started clapping, yelling, and in general, signaling the end of a good play. The actors filed onstage, and yes, there, sandwiched between the very loud Hermia (taking her bows as Yuki) and Oberon/the Lord of London (Naturu) was his ex-pale friend, a slight, forced smile on his face.

"Excuse me!" Da Ten (Tatiana) "but we do not demand ticket fees, and are able to run our theater on kind donations from audiences who loved our show, so if you enjoyed A Midsummer Night's Dream, please, drop whatever you feel you can afford into the hat our stage hand is managing."

"Adieu, adieu, parting is such we sorrow!" Lysander (Keiyo) recited as they all took their last bow before vanishing with a slight poof.

"Did anyone find Puck to be too familiar, actually, the whole cast?" Naruto asked after he dropped his money into the mask the no-face person who changed the scene cards was wearing, not looking at the stagehand.

"Most of them were competing in the Chunin exam." Hinata said, just loud enough to be heard.

"Really?" Kiba asked, Akamaru barking.

"But now that you mention it Naruto, that Yuri did look familiar." Lee said.

"Yuri?" Naruto asked

"That's what they said Puck's real name is." Lee said.

"He looked kinda like that Uchiha kid." Kiba said, Akamaru barking his agreement. When Akamaru didn't stop barking, everyone looked in the directions of the barks. The white puppy was now growling at the silver-haired ninja heading their way.

"Yo," he said, coming to a stop in front of the genin quartet.

"Hey Naruto," Kakashi continued, "The Hokage wanted to see you about something, said it's urgent." he then continued on his way.

"Ummm…guess I'll see you guys later." Naruto said apologetically.

"Don't worry about it. If the 5th wants to see you now, then you go." Kiba said, Akamaru nodding from his spot on his head.

"Thanks; see you tomorrow?" he said, reaching the crossroads where they would part.

"We'll be seeing you, but you won't be seeing us." Kiba said, bizarrely cryptic.

"Why do you say that Kiba-kun?" Hinata asked

"Because tomorrow's the third round of the Chunin exam!" Lee yelled, startling passers-by.

"Wow, a month sure has gone by fast." Naruto said, surprised.

"We'll be rooting for you!" Lee said, waving as he took his turn.

"Well, Tsuade will be pissed off if I don't get there soon." Naruto said, leaving Kiba and Hinata at the crossroads.

When he finally made it to the Hokage tower, he was roughly shoved into the proper office. There, grinding her teeth in frustration, was the old hag herself and, surprisingly, Neji.

"Oh Naruto," she started as the door was slammed behind him, "please sit down, there's something that I have to discuss with you." he politely took a seat on one of the few chairs not piled with paperwork.

"What's up? Pervert-sensei blackmailed you into going on a date and you need my help to get out?"

"Nothing so trivial." she said, shaking her head, but smiling at the joke. "Do you know who does shinobi work for the countries without hidden villages?"

"Don't they come to us?" Neji said skeptically.

"Yes, but only if they can afford to have the financial transaction written down, for more…unsavory jobs, they find a Shadow-nin."

"Hey, aren't there Shadow-nins competing in the Chunin exam?" Naruto asked his curiosity pricked.

"Yes…it them that I actually want to talk to you two about." she said, totally serious now. "You see, Shadow shinobi are very wide-spread and don't care who they have in their ranks, including several powerful Missing-nins. The reason why the hidden villages don't go after them as a whole is because they make sure that every Orochimaru type out there can't start amassing forces, they track down a majority of demons and kill them before they get too powerful, they keep a lot of Missing-nin from rampaging around the countries, can be hired as mercenaries if a country losses to many shinobi, have spies in almost every community, organization, and important group over two, and can easily match the number of any hidden village man to man." she finished.

"Yeah, but what does that have to do with me?" Naruto asked, slightly confused.

"Well, recently, they have been rather mysterious about their actions, and out of the blue, they said that they were going to attack me personally and the Leaf Shinobi as a whole if we didn't give them two things."

"And those things are…"

"You two."

"WHAT!" the almost war-cry echoed over the Hidden Village of Leaf

"Naruto!" Tsuade reprimanded the blond, "Not so loud." the blond smoldered in his seat, but remained quiet.

"I don't know why they want you, Neji I can understand, it happened before, that other countries have wanted the Huyga Clan's abilities…"

"Maybe they know about…" Naruto poked his stomach, more specifically, the demon seal. Neji gave him an odd look.

"The only person who knows about It would be Gaara of the Desert, but he hasn't been seen for about 2 months." Out of the corner of his eye, Naruto could see Neji's brow begin to furrow as he became progressively more confused. Tsuade coughed and changed the subject.

"They said that you could finish the exam, but when they come to collect you, you have to go."

"Couldn't we run off into the forest?" Naruto asked.

"No, I spent some time in one of their city, then I lost ever cent I had, and then some. I left the next morning and the police were on me in maybe…an hour. That was back when I had a heard of lucky pigs. They could track you two down as soon as they find out you've left; then kill me as a breech of contract."

"…So we can't get out of this." Neji said, staring off into space.

"Pretty much." Tsuade concluded.

"Do you know when they plan to get us?" the pupil-less teen asked.

"No."

"What about the Shadow-nins competing in the Chuunin exam?" Neji asked,

"They're your age, could you kidnap two ninja in broad daylight?"

"So basically, you don't know anything?" Naruto asked glumly.

"Don't be disrespectful. I'm giving you an A-class mission." Tsuade said flatly, noting that Naruto perked up at that, "Report about whatever you can about Shadow-nins."

"We won't fail you!" Naruto said, almost officially adjourning the meeting.

Stop Here

The crowd roared in anticipation.

next chapter: the final round of the chuunin exam, excited? i thought not. well, feel free to press the little purple button in the right hand corner. i understand that it isn't very exciting, but i'm decent at fight scenes; give me a chance? love y'all. bye!