Disclaimor: I don't own Naruto.

A/N: I know and i'm sorry i took so long to get this chapter up. I could either choose to write this story...or study for finals...and no offense to you guys but the latter was a little bit more important.

Anyway...i'll talk more near the end...hope you enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 15: One Bad Decision!

---Border Between Wind Country and Rain Country---

Five men were jumping from tree to tree in a dark forest. All five of them were dressed in a gray shirt and gray pants. They each had dark gray masks on and wore sound hitai-ates, labeling them as Shinobi from Otogakure. They all jumped onto the main road and started rushing down it.

The five men suddenly paused when they saw a lone young woman, standing in front of them. She wore a simple black kimono and seemed to have a large object on her back. All five of them glared, at the same time, the second they saw the sand hitai-ate keeping her blonde hair out of her eyes. She smirked at the five men, "About time you guy's showed up…"

One of the men chuckled, "Who let the kid out of school early?"

The one in front smirked, "Better get out of our way little girl before you get hurt-" He paused when he heard the sound of a blade flying through the air behind him, but after quickly calculating the trajectory, none of the sound nins moved. They all smirked when they heard the blade hit the ground behind them, seemingly harmlessly, hitting the shadow of one of the sound nins. They glanced back slightly to see a trench knife on the ground, a few feet away from them. The leader laughed, "What good is a throwing weapon if you can't aim worth a damn!", he called out, obviously knowing that the girl had at least one ally with her. They all stared at the girl as they slowly began to advance on her. But only four of them were moving.

"What the hell?" The four that had advance looked back towards their ally, "I-can't move!"

The leader sneered as he turned back to the girl, "I don't know what you pulled, But I'll pulverize you for that!" he yelled as he and the other three mobile sound nins rushed her.

She merely smirked, 'How did these losers get to the rank of Chunin', she thought as she pulled off the thing on her back and flicked it open, revealing a giant fan, with three purple dots on it. "Kamaitachi no Jutsu!", the girl yelled as she waved her fan straight at the group of Sound nin, releasing a gust of slicing wind.

All four nins clearly heard the rushing winds coming from the fan and quickly jumped out of the way and into the trees. However without his ability to move, the fifth sound nin had no way to avoid the razor sharp winds, "Aaaaaahhhhh!", he screamed as the winds started slicing through him.

The girl smirked as she sensed the ninjas start to surround her, still hidden in the trees, 'Hope those two idiots can pull it off without a babysitter."

---Somewhere in the woods---

Two of the sounds nins were standing on a branch of a large tree staring at the girl, "She's pretty good, though any idiot could take out Crim."

The one closest to the trunk of the tree turned towards his teammate, "How do you think they immobilized him?"

The other shrugged as he started searching the forest with his eyes, "I don't know, but we better start searching for her teammates. Let the boss handle the girl." He said as he noticed the other two sound nins jumping out of the forest. "Let's go-" He paused as he felt a large chakra signature appear next to him.

The chakra felt so large…so evil, that they could barely move. They gathered enough courage to turn to their right, straight towards the trunk of the tree, whose branch they were standing on. They saw a pair of red eyes that sent a chill down their spines. The one who was closer to the trunk was effected a lot more by the pulse of chakra, "What the hell-" he began but was cut off. The one farther away, sensing the danger, quickly jumped to the next tree branch. The one closer, didn't get the chance. Once he was safe, the nin who ran quickly turned back to check on his ally. He stared in horror as some type of purple demonic head, which looked like a fox, was coming out of the tree and had its maw enclosed around his teammate's neck. The man shivered slightly as he saw the demon stare at him with glowing red eyes, before literally retreating back into the tree, ripping it's prey's throat out at the same time; sending the man hurdling to the ground, drowning on his own blood as he struggled to breath. The man's eyes widened as he felt the demon's chakra completely disappear.

"I g-g-got to g-g-get the hell out o-f-f-f here", he stuttered as he jumped away, heading to the clearing where the girl, and hopefully his two teammates were. As he was about to land on the next tree branch he felt something connect with his head, which sent him flying backwards, and crashing onto the hard ground. "Ughh…" he groaned and after a moment he slowly picked himself up into a crouching position and looked up to see a boy standing on the branch. The boy had wild blonde hair and cold blue eyes, yet he was smiling as if it were his birthday. He wore a blood red jacket, with a dark blue shirt and pants. The sound nin glared at the boy's Hitai-ate, 'Who the hell uses a tree as the symbol for their village.'

He started doing hand seals, his hands almost completely covered by fingerless red gloves, "Doton: Retsudotenshō no jutsu (Earth Release: Split Earth Turn Around Palm Technique)!"

The man's eyes widened in recognition, as he jumped to his feet. Just as he did, the blonde quickly slammed his hand into the tree branch he was standing on. The man looked at the blonde oddly, 'you have to slam your hand onto the ground for most Doton jutsus to work…he can't do it through a tree-' he stopped his thoughts as the ground around him exploded; five large rocks uplifting themselves out of the ground around the sound nin before quickly flying straight at him. The sound nin, regaining his instincts, quickly dodged the first stone, jumped over the second; moved between the third and fourth, pulling out a kunai at the same time, and jumped over the fifth stone before chucking the kunai at the grinning blonde, "Take that you bastard!" The projectile sailed clearly towards the blonde, catching him on the chest. However, the moment the blade made contact, the boy transformed into a log. The man didn't have a chance to react as a foot collided with his head, knocking him into tree.

After a moment he managed to get back up and glared at the blonde, still dazed from the kick, "You bastard!" he yelled as he launched himself at the boy.

The boy never stopped grinning as the man came at him, "Figures I would get the weak ones…" he muttered before doing a quick hand seal and quickly spinning around the disoriented man, screaming, Mokuton Hijutsu: Shokubutsu Henkan no jutsu (Wood Release Secret Technique: Plant Transformation Technique). As he moved around the man, a large purple thorn seemed to grow in his hand, as he pushed the point straight through the man's back and into his heart. The man yelled before collapsing on the boy's blade. The blonde pulled out his 'sword' before putting his hand into a hand seal, a moment later, the blade started to shrink before disappearing in the boy's hand, "Wonder if Temari and Shikamaru are having more fun."

---Somewhere in the Forest---

The leader growled as he saw the wind cut through his immobile ally, who went sprawling to the ground.

"Boss, Crim is down, and I don't see Kazada or Taichi."

The leader turned to his subordinate, "I can see that you idiot. This was obviously a trap", he muttered to the man, "Chances are this whole forest is booby trapped, best chances are to grab the girl and hold her hostage."

The other nin nodded as they both launched themselves out of the trees and into the clearing.

The blonde girl turned her head to the right in time to see both sound nin rushing her. She smirked when she saw the shadows of the trees lengthen, the sound nins, on the other hand, didn't notice a thing.

"Kage Nui (Shadow Sewing)!" they all heard someone mutter in the forest. The leader's eyes widened as he saw, what looked like tendrils start to materialize out of the very shadows, he could see that he and his teammate were completely covered with shadows. He saw three coming straight at him and quickly managed to jump out of the way and out of the shadows completely. The other sound nin wasn't as fortunate, as he felt a tendril pierce through his arm and another through his leg, sending a spray of crimson blood out of both wounds. He opened his mouth to howl in pain, but was stopped when another tendril pierced him in the chest, and right through the heart, ending his life.

The sound nin growled as he saw his comrade die. He launched himself at the blonde girl, grabbing a kunai out of one of his pockets. He quickly brought the blade down on the blonde's head, attempting to end the fight quickly. The girl merely brought her fan, snapping it close at the same time, in front of her, parrying the blade with the metal edges of her own weapon. The sound nin quickly attempted to kick the girl, but paused when she pushed him away from her, using her fan, sending him sprawling backwards a few meters.

The sound nin leader growled as he started doing hand seals, "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" he screamed as he breath out a giant fireball straight at Temari.

They girl smirked as she quickly waved her fan straight at the fireball, screaming, "Kamaitachi no Jutsu!" and at the same time sent a wave of wind straight at the flame. The two elemental blasts slammed into each other and quickly dispersed in an explosion of flames and wind. Neither the leader nor the girl was harmed. The girl smirked again, "You should really just give up…your out of your league."

The sound nin glared at the girl, "Your pathetic jutsu wasn't able to beat my fireball. What the hell makes you think you can beat me?"

"The fact that the two jutsu canceled each other out." Both ninja turned to the new voice, seeing a dark haired boy standing on a tree branch, wearing a standard chunin outfit which labeled him as a shinobi for Konahagakure. "Both your jutsu were C-rank, but just the fact that you were using a fire jutsu and Temari was using a wind jutsu, should have given you a clear advantage, the fact that you didn't, proves your weakness; in other words your struggle is a troublesome waste of time, you should just give up", he muttered in a apathetic voice, looking up at the clouds.

The man sneered, "Fool! You have no idea what I'm capable of", he yelled as he started doing the same set of hand seals, however in his rage he didn't notice Shikamaru throwing a trench knife directly behind him. He did notice the sound directly behind him, the sound of a knife hitting the ground, and the fact that he could no longer move his body. "What the hell?"

Temari smirked as she walked over to him and started patting down his jacket, "That lazy ass can stop your movement by throwing one of his chakra enhanced trench knives at your shadow. After a moment she unzipped it, and reach inside, pulling out a small scroll at the same time. "This should be sufficient."

The man opened his mouth to yell but quickly halted when he heard objects explode out of the ground and felt things start to encircle him. He couldn't move his head, but was able to look down just enough to see what looked liked roots completely wrapped up his body. He grimaced when they reached his head, and started wrapping that up as well, into a cocoon like shape, only leaving an opening large enough to see his face. The branches were about half a foot in diameter.. "W-w-w-w-hat the h-h-h-h-h-ell!"

"Hayashi Kyū (Forest Coffin)…" muttered another voice. The sound nin had just enough mobility in his eyes to see a grinning blonde sitting on a tree branch. "Can I kill him?"

The blonde girl waved him off, "Only if he say's they word 'no' to me."

"I wonder if this is how she get's dates?" the male blonde could hear a voice laugh in his head, the comment making him chuckl as well.

The girl turned to look at the sound nin, having been looking at the scroll the entire time, "Tell me, the information on this scroll seems rather…trivial. Why does Orochimaru want it?"

The sound nin sneered, "Like I'd ever tell you a damn thing-AAAHHHH!" The man screamed as most of his body exploded in blood, due to the four-inch thorns that just recently grew out of the roots.

The blonde girl nearly gagged at the sight, which surprised her greatly, having seen multiple scenes of such violence before hand, from her own brother. She did however turn to glare at the blonde responsible, "Idiot I was trying to talk to him!"

Naruto shrugged, "Hayashi Sōsō (Forest Funeral)…", he didn't seem phased all by Temari's intense glare. He shrugged again, "What? Technically he did say 'no'. Anyways our mission was to get that scroll and kill these five ninja, nothing was ever said about doing any kind of investigation."

Temari sighed, opting to ignore the idiot, 'I'm sure the ANBU can find out the importance of the scroll…' "Idiot", she muttered.

"Why do you have to do troublesome things Naruto…"

Said blonde sighed, 'How the hell did I get myself into this…'

---Flashback (two weeks ago)---

A man, with spiky white hair, done in a ponytail, was standing on a sandy hill. Desert all around him, except right in front of him. He smirked as he saw the small forest in front of him. It looked so abnormal surrounded by the vast desert. 'That idiot…why doesn't he just start screaming, Hey AKATSUKI! I'M HERE, I'M HERE!' thought the man as he started walking towards the patch of green. 'None of those plants are natural in the desert, he must be sustaining them on his chakra alone…'

The man walked into the forest, which couldn't be greater in length than a large mansion and higher than a three-story building. He noted that the canopy was to thick too see the sky. He started walking through it, ducking underneath some vines and dodging between a few trees. As he continued walking, he noticed that the trees began to change. The trunks of the trees started to change from a dark brown to a sickly purple color. The sight of them slightly made him shudder. After a moment of walking he heard multiple things explode out of the ground. He turned around to see multiple plants come out of the ground. They were thin purple branches, which expanded near the tips. They parted near the center of the expanded portion, forming large maws with teeth made of wood. The plants made the man chuckled slightly, each one of the bulbs was about as wide as his arm, and about a meter tall, though the old man was sure that they were much longer underground, "I don't know what game your playing Naruto, but these plants are definitely not some of your best works", the man called out into the forest. He noted that they were eight in front of him as he began to pull out a kunai. He paused when he heard more explosions from the ground around him. He saw that five more appeared on his right, another six on his left, and another four behind him. He sighed as he saw all of them shoot towards him. He quickly grabbed a kunai out of his pouch and to the untrained eye, it seemed like he did an ordinary horizontal strike around him; slashing all but one of the plants to bits. He grabbed the remaining plant just as it was about to chomp down on his arm. The plant was about an inch from his face, trying to chomp at him. Jiraiya raised an eyebrow when he noticed that the plant stopped snapping at him and started making a bizarre sucking sound. His eyes widened when he noted that a miniscule amount of his chakra was leaving him.

"Mokuton Hijutsu: Chakra Hiru Oni Ki no jutsu (Chakra Leech Demon Plant Tree Technique)!"

The older man turned to the sound of the voice. He saw a young blonde teenager standing on top of a tree branch. He was wearing long blue plants, matching ninja sandals, and a white shirt. He had a red Hitai-ate, with a tree symbol, on his left arm. Lastly he had on two wristbands made out of leaves and blood red finger-less gloves. Too a normal person, if they didn't see the Hitai-ate, they would never guess that he would be a ninja. Though they may mistake the grin he bore for that of a madman.

Jiraiya sighed, "What the hell is this Naruto, it'll take at least a few hours for this thing to suck a GENIN dry of chakra!"

The boy continued smirking, "That's because it isn't latched on to you. And besides…the simple fact is that these trees aren't meant to fight alone, they are easily produced…here let me show you." He started doing handseals, "Mokuton Hijutsu: Chakra Hiru Oni Ki no jutsu!"

Jiraiya blinked as at least a hundred similar plants exploded out of the ground.

Naruto started chuckling as he jumped away, leaving the man to his fate…

Jiraiya sighed, "…hmmmm wonder if he's still pissed off about the Rasengan and pink tree incident…" The older man muttered while doing a few hand seals for a simple fire jutsu.

Naruto, though far away, still heard the pervert's words…

---End Flashback---

Naruto grimaced slightly, leaning against the tree, who's branch he was sitting on. 'That was embarrassing.'

---Flashback (2 and a half years earlier)---

Naruto at the side of the road, leaning up against a sign. The area around him was purely a grassland, and he opted to use this time to learn something, and take a break from traveling.

He was currently reading the book that Shizune had given him, growling every time a cloud covered his sunlight. He felt gratitude towards Shizune, though after thinking about it he should most likely be thanking Tsunade, who thought ahead enough to write side notes, which helped him understand most of what he was reading.

It had been a week since he had left the village of Junon, and he had been reading the book almost none stop, pausing only a few times to read some of Kakashi's scrolls. He felt that he needed more mastery over the two combination elements of mokuton, before he tried learning something as complicated as the Moku Bunshin, and as a result the other scroll Yamato had given him also took a back seat as well…

After a moment, Naruto lifted himself off of the ground. "Ok, I think I can do this."

"What? You've only been reading that damn book for three days and you think your ready for this?"

'Hey! I've been using Mokuton for a while now…and this book uses plants as examples for most of it's explanations…I think I understand this. I can normally grow an ordinary tree. I think I may be able to grow a tree that bears fruit.'

"Idiot", muttered the fox. "Make it an apple tree…"

Naruto ignored him, and started doing his hand seals for Mokuton Hijutsu: Jukai Kotan.

'Ok, all I need to do is alter the plant's DNA to make it into a fruit tree…'

"Apple tree…" muttered the fox.

Naruto's eye twitched as he finish his hand seals, opting to close his eyes to help him concentrate, 'Ok…'. In front of Naruto a sapling started to grow out of the ground. 'Now I'll pump it with a bit of Kyuubi's chakra…' A small amount of red chakra surged from Naruto and straight to the plant. The sapling continued to grow, and it didn't turn demonic as Naruto noticed. 'It feels…different…I think it's working…' Naruto waited for a few moments before he noticed that the tree finished growing. "Did I do it?" he asked as he opened his eyes, his jaw dropped, 'Its…Its…Its…'

"…Pink…" muttered the fox as he saw Naruto's creation.

It was an ordinary tree, with the exception that the trunk and branches of the tree were a dark pink. The leaves were pink as well, though they were the same color as Sakura's hair.

"…Well, at least you've got something to give your Iruka-chan…"

Naruto's eye twitched again, "I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that…"

"I said…Well, at least-" the fox started, but stopped when they both felt someone land behind Naruto…

Naruto quickly turned, aiming one of his bracelets straight towards the interloper…he didn't have to do a thing…it was Jiraiya, "What the hell do you want?"

Jiraiya ignored Naruto, and looked straight at the plant, "Is this what you do in your free time? Make a bunch of fruity looking trees?"

Naruto's eye twitched…again, "What the hell do you want you pervert…"

Jiraiya stared at Naruto, "Are you still sore about that whole Rasengan incident?"

Naruto growled, "You lying-"

"Get over it." Jiraiya stated flatly…

Naruto growled louder.

"Listen, believe it or not, I didn't have a choice, I was bound by a promise to your father to teach you and your sister that technique", Jiraiya held up his hand when he saw Naruto about to protest, "And even if he didn't, Naruto that technique is powerful and a great way to practice form manipulation…Besides it will probably save your life one day…"

Naruto growled, "I'll survive on my own abilities…not ones created by that bastard…"

Jiraiya sighed, "Fine whatever…if you think your better off without it…I won't try to preach it to you anymore…" 'He wanted me to teach it…never said a damn thing about making him master it…' "Listen Naruto, I don't know why you lied to all your friends, telling them you were going off alone like that, and I don't know what your doing out here…we'll be heading in the complete opposite direction…"

Naruto stared at him confusion, though his blood began to boil, "What!"

Jiraiya merely smirked at Naruto, "Brat…don't you remember…Akatsuki is looking for you…and as far as anyone knows…you and me ARE traveling TOGETHER! And the people who you've told that you were traveling alone have been NOTIFIED of YOUR 'Change Of Heart'…" Jiraiya was winking all throughout this statement. Naruto almost smirked at the older ninja, if he wasn't still pissed at him.

"Oh, I almost forgot…"

Jiraiya leaned in close to Naruto, "When your walking, cover you face, or at the very least your whisker marks…when you make camp, stay in the forest, Don't use your last name…" Jiraiya whispered in Naruto's ear but paused for a moment, to stare at Naruto's arm "And keep that Hitai-ate on, don't wear your Leaf one…"

Naruto nodded.

"I'll check up on you in a few weeks…"

Naruto quickly turned to Jiraiya to complain, but the second he did Jiraiya disappeared. 'Jackass…' the boy thought to himself as he turned back to the pink tree. 'Hmmm…maybe increasing my library of Mokuton Jutsu FIRST, would be better than trying to alter the ones I already have…'

"Makes sense…"

---End Flashback---

"Hey IDIOT! Hurry your ass up!" screamed an annoyed Temari.

Naruto sighed, 'If I knew what I was getting myself into…I probably would've chosen to become a missing nin…'

---Flashback (two weeks ago)---

Naruto continued walking away from where he left Jiraiya to deal with his chakra eating plants, thinking about the incident which happened over two years ago, "Maybe I should go back and double the number of plants I'm attacking him with", mused the blue-eyed boy.

"Don't bother!"

Naruto quickly turned around to see Jiraiya standing right behind him, "Your still alive?"

Jiraiya's eye started to twitched, "Who the hell do you think you are brat? Some kind of Super Ninja? I am the great Toad Hermit! You think a few little plants-" Jiraiya paused when he noticed Naruto turn and walk away, "BRAT!", the older man yelled as he started chasing the young blonde, "At least wait when I'm yelling at you!", he yelled grabbing the boy by the shoulder, the second he did though, he noticed something very odd about him. Jiraiya smirked, "I guess you weren't just lounging around all this time…I didn't even notice that this form was a clone. Moku Bunshin?"

'Naruto' nodded, "Yep…but that's not even the best part."

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow, "The best part?"

'Naruto' nodded as he turned his head to look at the pervert, grinning the whole time, "The effects of combining Moku Bunshin with Kyuubi's chakra."

Jiraiy still looked confused, "And what are the effects-" He paused when he felt two chakra signatures on both sides of him. He glanced on either side of him to see two animals, one on each side of him, literally coming OUT of a tree. Jiraiya quickly corrected himself, demons would be a better word than animals, though he wasn't sure if he would use that word either. They looked like one of Naruto's demonic plants, their bodies composed entirely of pale purple leaves, from head to tail. Inside of their maws, Jiraiya could see sets of teeth that he could only assume were made out of very sharp thorns. Lastly came the eyes, they had none. Where the eyeball should be, was merely a semi transparent red-flame which Jiraiya immediately recognized, as the chakra of a certain nine-tailed biju, which is, hated so much in his home village. Overall, the 'demons' were in the shape of foxes, appearing very much like the Kyuubi, without the monumental size and nine tails; they only had one. Jiraiya sighed as he saw the beasts snarl at him, and 'Naruto' turn around and pull out a kunai.

"Is this really necessary Naruto?"

The clone shrugged, "Not really…", he muttered before launching himself at the older man, the two 'foxes' following.

---In the center of the Oasis---

Naruto sighed contently as he continued lying by the water. In truth, the 'forest' was Naruto training his Mokuton skills by expanding the Oasis into a full forest.

After a moment Naruto opened his eyes, noting that his clone was destroyed, and it's memories coming back to Naruto in almost an instant. He laughed at the thought of the older man fighting his Oni Moku Bunshins (Demon Wood Clones). They were made mostly of Kyuubi's chakra; the blonde having received an increase in the amount of demonic chakra the fox had allowed him to keep, merely tripling it, which equals about one-half of Naruto's natural chakra reservoirs. He remembered the fox telling him that even Naruto's large chakra capacity didn't even equal half of one of Kyuubi's tail. Naruto sighed, as one of his demonic clones was just defeated. The demonic clones, not having the fingers to use jutsu, were really only good for surprise attacks. They could dissolve themselves into large trees, becoming almost undetectable to everything but a Byakkugan, which made them very useful for surprising enemies in a forest. And of course, they had their massive regeneration. He sighed; the last one was just destroyed.

'Hmmm, I can either continue screwing around with Ero-Sennin, or continue lying here…' Naruto thought about it for a while until finally his lazy side won, figuring that this wasn't a life-threatening situation. He closed his eyes, trying to fall asleep…ignoring the older man appearing right next to him.

"BRAT!"

Naruto sighed as he opened his right eye to look at the man, noting that he didn't seem to have a scratch on him. "What?"

Jiraiya seethed, about ready to strangle the kid, "I came here to give you a message, not to be your gardener!"

Naruto laughed to himself, "Damn, Tsunade has you delivering her mail now? So much for the great Toad Hermit…", the boy continued laughing.

Jiraiya's eye twitched, 'Damn…you…Arashi…' "The Sound Village is acting up much more than usual, so Tsunade is recalling all traveling ninja to help with the war effort."

"Nope…" 'I'm out already, no way in hell is the old bat going to drag me back to Konaha.'

Jiraiya sighed, "The Council will force Tsunade's hand, and hunter-nin will be sent after you."

"Don't care..."

Jiraiya sighed at the ice in the boy's voice, "Yea…Tsunade more or less guessed that this was how you were going to react, so she thought of a way that you didn't have to go back to Konaha and you could still avoid being put on Konaha's most wanted list for a bunch of bull shit reason's that those old bastards will make up."

Naruto cracked open an eye, obviously intrigued. He seemed to think it over for a moment, "Go on…"

"As a kind of peace treaty, we've been exchanging ninjas with Sunagakure. If you agree to join Sunagakure for a while, you'll get those old farts off your back. At the same time you'll make yourself some money."

Naruto was now looking at Jiraiya suspiciously, "There's a catch…"

Jiraiya shook his head, "No catch…"

"You mean I can just join Sunagakure for the war and those old bastards will leave me alone…that's it?"

Jiraiya nodded.

Naruto looked at the old man skeptically, "Why do I feel like I'm being screwed over?"

---End Flashback---

The catch was their however, in the form of being put under the command of Sabaku no Temari; though in the end, it was heaven compared to going back to Konaha.

Naruto had originally come to Wind Country to train his Mokuton. Believing that the harsh desert would be the greatest spot to train, which indeed helped him out dramatically. As long as he stayed away from any major villages, and avoided Suna ninja, he would be all right. And just in case one of them gave him trouble, he always had his paper work as a wandering ninja, which saved him from having trouble with multiple shinobi.

Naruto, after he arrived at Suna, he met up with Gaara again. The two spent about twenty minutes just staring at each other, Naruto's happy smile looking straight at Gaara's apathetic look. Soon he was reintroduced to Temari and Shikamaru, the latter who would be staying in Suna for a few months as part of the pact between the two villages.

Naruto laughed to himself when he remembered Shikamaru's reason's for coming here. He was unofficially being punished for calling Ino and Tsunade the most Troublesome Blondes In Konaha. To say that they were annoyed would have been an understatement.

"The Fifth gave me the option of spending a few months in Suna...or a few months as her assistant."

Needless to say, spending a few months doing missions in Suna seemed somewhat less troublesome.

"Come on you two lazy Asses! We're heading back to Suna!" screamed Temari as she started jumping from tree to tree.

Naruto and Shikamaru both sighed, as they less than enthusiastically followed the girl.

Only somewhat less troublesome.

---Sungakure, Kazekage's office, Two Days later---

The three ninja stood in front of the red headed, insomniac Kazekage, Sabaku no Gaara.­

­­­­­

"And that's what happened." Temari finished explaining to her youngest brother, Gaara; Kankuro sitting in the corner, listening to the report as well.

Gaara nodded, "Very well…I'll have the ANBU analyze the scroll", he said gesturing to one of the ANBU standing guard at his door. Said ninja walked towards Gaara's desk, picking up the scroll at the same time, and walked out of the office. He then turned back to Temari, "I have another task for you, as you know Konahagakure is holding the next chunin exams. I need you to go down there and assist them with the third part of the exam."

Temari nodded.

Gaara turned towards Naruto and Shikamaru, "You two go as well."

Shikamaru nodded, "Sure…"

Naruto, however shook his head, "No thanks…"

Gaara cocked his eyebrow up.

"To be perfectly honest, the only reason I'm here is because I refused to go back to Konaha, and I'm not really interested in going back for whatever period of time", Naruto said flatly.

Kankuro and Temari grimaced at this declaration. Their brother was nowhere near as bloodthirsty as he was two and a half years ago. But noone had ever denied a request made by Gaara, and they didn't think it would be a good idea for someone to start.

"Very well…" Gaara said with an equally flat voice, which visibly shocked both his siblings. "Instead I'll put you on guard duty…" 'In the end, Temari should be able to handle the mission on her own anyway.'

Naruto nodded, though he hated the idea of guard duty, he decided to live with it.

Temari and Kankuro were still visibly stunned on how incredibly lenient Gaara was being. 'Well…we did have a discussion earlier on how we have too many ninjas out doing missions as it is, so having Naruto stay back wouldn't hurt', thought Kankuro.

Gaara turned back to Temari and Shikamaru, "Your both dismissed." The two nodded as they left Gaara's office, he turned back to Naruto, "Kankuro will give you your location." Naruto nodded as Kankuro gestured him out of Gaara's office, knowing that it would be a long few weeks.

---Konahagakure, Three Weeks later---

Tsunade sighed as she sat down in the chair, of her office. She had just sent away Temari and Shikamaru, who had been helping them with the chunin exams recently, back to Sunagakure.

She sighed contently at the results of the chunin exams. Her favorite student, and said student's teammate both made it to the finals and ended up in a draw. They had been the only two ninja from Konaha, out of ten other ninjas, to make it to the finals. To say that she was proud of them would have been an understatement. 'I knew that putting Sakura and Rei with Haku would be a positive influence on their training.' Haku had taken the chunin exams; a few months after the three girls became a team, and easily outclassed every genin in the exams. Six months later the Jounin exams were being held and Rin had insisted on Haku participating. Tsunade remembered Kakashi's report on Zabuza saying that Haku was much stronger than himself, and that day she proved it. She was able to pass the jounin exams that year. Sakura and Rei, who took the exam with a new genin named Amy, would become chunins this year.

Asuma's group became more deadly as well. Neji quickly improved his skills and was able to achieve the rank of jounin quickly. Shino and Chouji had become more deadly with their family's techniques as well, the former learning a few things about strategy from his new sensei. They both achieved the rank of chunin early on.

Kurenai's team improved greatly as well. Being around Ino and Tenten for most of the day quickly boosted the confidence of Hinata, increasing her skill with her family's Taijutsu. Ino, armed herself with a good bit of Kurenai's extensive library of genjutsu. Tenten continued to increase her ability with ranged weapons and even learned to use close quarter's weapons, as suggested by Ino. All three of them were chunin.

Team Gai… at that point Tsunade started chuckling to herself. She still remembered watching their first encounter on her crystal ball.

---Two and a half years earlier---

Gai stood in the middle of the open field, in his normal green eyesore. Off to the side sat Rock Lee, wearing the same thing, sans the jounin vest; Kiba, minus Akamaru, who was still injured; and Yukina, the only one that didn't have a scratch on her…

"OK! My youthful team of youthful individuals! We will begin our first meeting as a team by introducing ourselves…"

They hadn't been able to have a team meeting yet, since Kiba and Akamaru were in bad shape. After a while Kiba was declared healthy enough to continue his training, though Akamaru wouldn't be on his paws for another two weeks. Rock Lee wasn't in to bad of a condition, though that was due to the fact that Gaara had arrived to save him from Kimmimaru.

Gai pointed his thumb at himself, "I AM MAITO GAI! MY HOBBIES INCLUDE TRAINING MYSELF AND TRAINING MY STUDENTS! SO WHEN YOU WAKE UP EVERY MORNING, BE PREPARED TO SWEAT!" Gai looked to see that Kiba and Yukina were hugging there own faces, inexplicably on top of their ears, 'Must be some new HIP thing all the kids are doing…' and he noted that Kiba had tears of 'joy' in his eyes. Lee, on the other hand, had stars in his eyes. Gai quickly pointed to Lee, "YOU! TELL ME WHO YOU ARE!"

At this point Kiba and Yukina noted that many civilians, who were just passing by, were staring at them annoyingly.

'Can't this guy keep his voice down…' (Kiba)

'Why didn't he take us to a private training site…' (Yukina)

Lee quickly jumped to his feet, getting into his Nice Guy pose. "MY NAME IS ROCK LEE! MY HOBBIES INCLUDE TRAINING AS WELL, GAI-SENSEI!"

Gai went up to Lee, putting a hand on the boys back and pointing off into some invisible point in the sky with his other hand, said, "Yes Lee, together we will train our youthful bodies…" At this point Yukina and Kiba noted the rising sun behind the two Green Beast of Konaha, "…and we will become the best ninjas that Konaha possesses." And just as quickly as it appeared, the sun was gone…

Kiba's eyes widened slightly, "What the hell?", muttered the boy, looking for the rising sun, noting that it was noon.

"YOU!" Gai yelled, pointing directly at Kiba.

Kiba sighed, 'Why couldn't I have stayed with Kurenai-sensei?', "My name is Inuzuka Kiba, and my partner is Akamaru, though he isn't here at the moment, my hobbies include…Hmmmm I guess walking Akamaru-" He paused when he saw that Gai had gotten a blank look on his face, something which made the boy shudder slightly, "-I…mean…training till…I…drop…"

Gai quickly regained his composure as he pumped his arm into the air, "YES! AND WITH THIS KIND OF ATTITUDE I WILL SURELY MAKE YOU GREAT! TWO MORE GREEN BEAST HAVE JUST BEEN ADDED TO OUR RANKS!"

Yukina blinked, praying that the two green beasts he was referring to, were Kiba AND Akamaru…

"YOU! TELL ME YOUR NAME!" He pointed to the Kazama heiress.

Yukina winced slightly at how loud his voice was, "My name is Kazama Ryuu Yukina, and my hobbies include…" She paused when she saw Gai and Lee staring at her intently; she quickly glanced at Kiba who was staring at her with tears in his eyes, "…training."

Tears started falling downs Gai and Lee's eyes like waterfalls, "AND A THIRD GREEN BEAST HAS BEEN ADDED TO OUR RANK! THIS ONE THE GREAT AND HONORABLE DAUGHTER OF THE GREAT AND HONORABLE FOURTH HOKAGE! SOON THE GREEN BEASTS-"

At that point Yukina started tuning him out, something that she would previously had been reprimanded for, however she couldn't stand listening to him anymore. She glanced at Kiba, he obviously was doing the same thing, and Lee was obviously listening to every word the older man said. 'I wonder if Tsunade-ne-chan is still upset with me…'

--End Flashback---

Tsunade sighed as she stared back to her desk; it was littered with paper work. She quickly looked around to make sure no one was around and that her door was locked. She then reached under her mahogany desk and pulled out a bottle of sake.

---Somewhere in Konaha---

"Achoo!" Sneezed one princess of Fire Country. The girl was wearing a standard chunin outfit, with her weapon of choice sealed within a scroll, hidden in her vest. 'I wonder if somebody is talking about me?', she wondered as she was strolling through the village, she turned her head to the right slightly to see multiple villagers looking at her and whispering things about her. She turned her head to the left to see the exact same thing; all the of the villagers having faces of admiration for her. 'One would thing after spending over two years with them, they would stop whispering and looking at me like that.' She paused when she saw a child run in front of her. She looked at him curiously.

He quickly held out a flower for her, smiling the whole time, "For you Yukina-Hime!" Her ears were then barraged cries of "Ohhhh's" and "Uhhhhh's". She smiled at the child, grabbing the flower from him.

She quickly put the flower to her nose and inhaled, smelling the sweet smell. She then bent over and gave him a kiss on the head, "Thank you very much." He smiled at her, slightly blushing before walking away. She smiled at him as he walked away.

"…here's the story about the boy who was condemned by his father to become the vessel for a demon. This was done to protect bunch of people who would later do everything in their power to make the boys life a living hell…"

Suddenly, Yukina's smile fell. Something about this moment, the people around her staring at her, the little boy who just gave her the flower, something about the whole moment just…made her stomach turn. Saddened and disheartened, she kept walking on her way. 'I wonder what he's been doing this whole time?' she wondered, sighing. 'Hmmm, perhaps after my team meeting, I'll go visit Tsunade-ne-chan', she thought, addressing Tsunade the way she had told the younger girl to address her by. She felt a chill creep up her spine, remembering the time they first met.

---Flashback, two and a half years ago---

Yukina walked into Tsunade's office, wearing a simple pink Kimono. Tsunade had opted to wear her regular robes…

The two blondes smiled at each other and Yukina bowed politely, "It's good to finally and formally meet you Tsunade-sama."

Tsunade chuckled, "Just call me Tsunade-ne-chan", said the older woman, as she gestured for the younger one to sit, "We are technically related."

Yukina smiled and nodded, as she sat down, "Yes Tsunade-ne-chan."

Tsunade continued smiling warmly at the young girl, "I've been wanting to meet you ever since Jiraiya informed me of your existence." Tsunade sighed, "I honestly thought that I lost my last relative a long time ago…though Shizune is technically my neice in-law, though me and her uncle never did get married. I was so happy when I found out about you and your brother." She instantly felt a wave of confusion swell over her when she saw the younger girl's expression drop. Yukina looked away from the older woman. "Is…there something wrong?"

The younger girl sighed, "It's…difficult…" The younger girl paused for a moment to look at the older woman, Tsunade was staring at her patiently. "Ever since I was a little girl…I have hated the very thought of Naruto." Tsunade cocked an eyebrow up, slightly shocked at the girl's statement. "Ever since I read my mother's letter, I've felt so much loneliness, even though I had my grandparents with me every step of the way. This loneliness was caused by the nine-tailed fox, and that just seemed to manifest itself into hatred. My mother's letter spoke of the truth of the demon's defeat. He was sealed inside the body of a boy, and ever since then, I've blamed this boy for my loneliness…" She sighed, "I even tried to kill him, when I first met him…" She sighed as she found it harder and harder to continue, "He beat me…rather quickly too, it required two ANBU to stop him from killing me; and even while he was being restrained, I tried attack him. It was all black and white for me since then, Naruto was a demon fox and he needed to be killed."

Tsunade sighed, "It seems that many people have the same opinon as you do…"

"Did" the girl corrected, "Do-Did-Do…I just don't know…Ever since I read my father's letter, I've been so confused. Part of me had a huge ache in my heart ever since I've read the truth. The other side of me couldn't believe a single word that my father wrote of. My grandparents, after having a long talk with Jiraiya-sensei, expressed their concerns for him, that they wanted to have a nice long chat with him; and they expected me to do the same. However, some of the senior ninja's that I've spoken with have declined this fact, that my brother died a long time ago and all that is left is the demon fox that lives in his body."

Tsunade nodded, though Yukina noted a twitching vein above her eye. "And what do you believe…"

"…Until a while ago…I didn't know what to believe. I've spent the seven weeks that Naruto was gone, going to find you, thinking about this situation. Then the night before he left…I went to go speak to him." Yukina looked down, "He didn't even give me a chance to speak, he just exploded completely."

"And do you blame him…"

"To be honest that night I was furious with him, but to be honest, at the moment I don't. And so he left…"

Tsunade had a thoughtful look on her face. Yukina couldn't even meet the older woman's eyes. Tsunade continued thinking until out of the blue she just started giggling. After a while she started out right laughing to herself. Yukina looked at the older kunoichi in confusion, partial anger, but mostly in fear.

"Ummm? Tsunade-ne-chan?"

Tsunade stopped giggling, "Hmmm, it'll probably be best to wait a few years…" she muttered to herself.

Yukina raised an eyebrow, not hearing what the older woman said, "Tsunade-ne-chan? Did you say something?"

Tsunade looked at the younger girl, "Nothing at all…listen I didn't bring you hear to bring up bad memories, tell me a bit about yourself…"

Yukina looked at her oddly, "…Well…ok…"

---End Flashback---

To this day Yukina couldn't figure out what was so funny or what Tsunade was thinking about. She sighed as she continued walking. They had spent the rest of the afternoon talking.

'I wonder-'

"YUKINA-HIME!" yelled two voices in an eerie sync.

The blonde girl, looking directly ahead of her, seeing her sensei and teammate who almost looked perfectly alike. With matching green spandex, orange leg warmers, and chunin/jounin vests. Behind them she could see her less than enthusiastic teammate, Kiba, leaning against his rather large dog, Akamaru. She forced a smile as she walked to them.

---Wind Country---

Surrounded on almost all sides by the burning desert, stood two figures, cloaked almost completely in black, with red clouds. They each had a straw hat, which almost completely concealed their faces. They were both walking, with a destination and a target in mind. They could see it over the horizon…

The Village Hidden in the Sand, Sunagakure

---Sungakure---

Naruto sighed as he continued walking through the streets of the village. Despite all the sand, and the burning sun, it was actually quite nice. Naruto had especially grown fond of the people, mostly due to the fact that they had accepted Gaara as a human and not a demon. They didn't know a damn thing about Naruto, but many of them glanced at them with something that looked like respect, just because of the fact that Naruto was a ninja.

Naruto looked around, not really finding anything suspicious. Children were running around. Adults were buying things from the merchants. 'And all those birds are doing nose dives straight toward us.'

Naruto sighed as he pulled out a kunai, not knowing exactly what he was too expect when the birds landed. He saw three out in front of all the others, they would be the first to collide with the earth, and they were going too fast to land. They crashed against the earth, away from the civilians, and started exploding. The explosions caused the citizens to start screaming in terror and rushing away.

Naruto's eyes widened at the debris and dust created from the explosions.

---Kazekage Tower---

Gaara body flickered outside of the tower, to be met by a large group of jounins, his brother out in front. Gaara looked at the crowd of gathered Jounin, obviously some of them were still in the village trying to help some of the villagers.

Gaara opened his mouth to speak but paused when he felt two chakra signatures just outside of the village. He turned to the crowd, "All of you go out and help the villagers." He turned to Kankuro, "You come with me." Kankuro nodded as all the ninja jumped away into the village.

Kankuro sighed as he fingered the scroll in his pocket, a moment later he jumped away to, following his brother to the two chakra signatures.

---Village---

"MOMMY!" screamed a child, completely surrounded in flames. He kept looking around for someone to help him and his eyes widened when he looked above him, seeing another one of the exploding birds coming straight at him. "AHHHHHHH!!!" He screamed covering his head.

Seconds before the bird hit, the child felt a strong pair of arms wrap around him and his body flying through the air, he heard the explosion, but didn't feel a thing afterwards. After a moment he felt himself be placed back on the ground. He looked up to see his savoir, a blonde teenager, with whisker marks on his cheeks.

Naruto stood back up after placing the little boy on the ground. The first three birds crashed harmlessly, however there were at least a hundred more that weren't nearly as kind. He noted that there weren't any more birds attacking the village. However, all around him were many people who were strewn all about, dead. "MOMMY!" Naruto snapped his head in the direction the little boy was running, he ran to the body of a woman on the ground and started shaking her, muttering "Mommy."

Naruto walked towards the woman, he crouched down right next to her and placed two fingers on his neck to feel for a pulse, there was none. Naruto stood up and shook his head. At this point the boy was bawling on his mother's corpse.

Naruto growled as he searched for the two chakra signatures he had felt earlier, his eyes changing blood red. A second later Naruto disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

---Outside of Sunagakure---

Naruto landed a few meters from the fighting. On one side he could see Kankuro, controlling three puppets, facing off with a hunched back, wearing an Akatsuki cloak. On the other side he could see Gaara facing off with a blonde man, also wearing an Akatsuki cloak.

Naruto growled when he saw more birds encircling the blonde and walked over to them both.

Deidara laughed when he saw Naruto walk to stand next to Gaara, "Uzumaki Naruto, I never thought I'd have the pleasure to take both you and Sabaku no Gaara out."

"HA! This idiot doesn't know what he's talking about", the fox laughed.

'Give me your Chakra!'

The Kyuubi nodded within his cage as he started pumping the blonde with demonic chakra, as the boy's eyes changed crimson red and his pupils changed from round to slit-like. His whisker-marks became larger, and claws grew on his hands.

Deidara smiled as he sent eight birds straight at the two ninja. Naruto quickly did a few hand seals, "Mokuton: Moku Jōheki!", a moment after he called out his jutsu the birds collided, surrounding him in smoke and dust.

Gaara on the other hand didn't move at all. His sand acted on it's own to protect him from Deidara's attack, the explosion causing smoke to appear around Gaara, but not enough to block their view of each other. Deidara smirked when he saw Gaara easily defend against his attack. Deidara laughed, "At least one of you has a decent defense-" Deidara paused when he saw the smoke from the attack on Naruto clear up revealing what looked like a wooden dome.

Naruto, behind the half-dome, started doing hand seals. "Mokuton Hijutsu: Oni Moku Bunshin!" Red chakra started seeping out of Naruto's body and started forming two demonic fox figures.

Deidara raised his armed, forming ten birds out of clay at the same time. "Come out come out…NINE-TAILED FOX!" He screamed as he sent the birds straight at Naruto's wooden shield.

Gaara's eyes widened as he saw two fox-like creatures jump out from behind Naruto's shield and right into the line of flight of Deidara's birds, taking a full on collision and exploding. Deidara smirked as he saw the two foxes blow up. A moment later his eyes narrowed when the smoke clear, he saw both foxes still standing. One of them seemed to have deep scratches throughout its purple body. The second was in a similar condition but was also missing it's front right limb, trying to balance on the remaining three. Deidara grinned at the state of the two beast, but his eyes widened as the two foxes started glowing red, and their wounds started healing. The second fox's limb started to re-grow as well. A moment after the initial explosion, the foxes were completely healed. They both glared and growled at Deidara before pouncing at him. Deidara stood his ground as the two demons pounced on him and sunk their teeth into his each side of his neck.

Gaara's eyes narrowed when he saw no response on Deidara's face. A moment later he saw Deidara smirk, before his body completely exploded, completely obliterating the two clones, sending sand flying into the air blocking Gaara's view. However, with a quick wave of his hand, all the sand quickly fell back down to the ground. The Kazekage didn't even turn around when he felt the chakra signature behind him, or when he heard the birds explode behind him. He turned his head to see a grinning Deidara behind him.

Deidara raised his hand to create more clay, but paused when Naruto, burning with red chakra, appeared right in front of him, delivering a punch against the man's face. Deidara quickly dodge Naruto's attack, and sent his own fist and connected with the blonde's stomach, sending Naruto flying backwards. Deidara pointed his hand straight at Naruto, showing the mouth on the palm of his hand. Deidara smirked as Naruto landed as he started forming more birds out of clay.

Naruto landed on his feet and started doing hand seals. He could see that Deidara had about twenty birds around him, "Mokuton Hijutsu: Jukai Kōtan no jutsu!" Just then eight demonic plants exploded out of the ground and flew straight at Deidara.

The missing nin from Iwagakure quickly jumped backwards to avoid the first plant's maw and quickly sent three of his birds to crash into it, blowing the plant up. He avoided the second and third plant by rolling to the side and sent another six straight at them, blowing them to pieces as well. Deidara then threw his remaining birds straight at the other five plants, which were all coming at him at the same time. He smirked as the massive explosion engulfed all of Naruto's demonic plants.

After the smoke cleared he could see Naruto standing in the same location, still bursting with red chakra. Deidara smirked as he raised his hand to create more clay but was forced to pause when he couldn't move his arm. He grimaced when he felt his arm surrounded by sand "Sabaku Sōsō", he heard Gaara muttered as he felt the sand crushed his right arm and tore it off at the elbow, it took every bit of Deidara's strength not to cry out. He could see the sand, which was carrying his arm; slowly move straight to Gaara, before going back into his Gourd. Deidara smirked as he tightened his cloak at his elbow, using it as a bandage to stop the bleeding. He then raised his left arm to the air, gathering a large amount of his remaining clay to create a large bird, at least five times as big as either of the ninja were. "Say goodbye to your village Kazekage."

Gaara's eyes widened as he saw Deidara launch the bird at his village. Gaara concentrated all of his chakra to completely disperse his Gourd into the sand that created it and he raised it all to intercept the bird that would destroy his entire village. "Ryūsa Bakuryū (Quicksand in the Style of a Waterfall)!" Gaara yelled as he sent a wave of sand straight at the bird, catching the creature in sand's clutches.

Naruto could only stare, as Gaara's sand stretched out from the ground to high into the air, barely managing to keep a hold of the bird.

Gaara quickly clenched his open hand, "Sabaku Sōsō!" Yelled the young Kazekage as the sand crushed the bird, creating a giant explosion

Naruto quickly shielded his face as a giant cloud of dust and sand passed the young blonde, engulfing the battlefield.

It took several moments before the dust cleared enough for Naruto to see. He turned his head to see Gaara, crouching on the ground, panting. Naruto quickly started looking for Deidara. However, the sound of another explosion quickly went through Naruto's ears as he snapped his head back towards Gaara. Seeing the young red head being blown forward and landing on the ground, unconscious. Naruto's eyes were at their widest, 'The explosion pierced through Gaara's defense-'

Naruto paused all thoughts when he felt two blades pierce his back. Naruto's eyes were still at there widest as he turned his head to see the other Akatsuki member, Sasori, behind him, piercing him with two kunai.

"YOU IDIOT! YOU LET YOUR GUARD DOWN!", yelled the enraged fox.

Naruto could taste blood in his mouth, 'I…can't…move…can you…heal me?'

He could hear the fox growl, "No…the reason you can't move is because your suffering from the effects of a strong poison…my chakra is doing everything it can to cure it."

Naruto felt his muscles go numb as he fell to the ground, losing consciousness soon after.

Deidara laughed as he appeared right next to Gaara, holding his own arm, which was released when Gaara released his gourd to block Deidara's attack. Deidara gathered the rest of his clay and formed it to create a giant bird. "Very nice find, eh? Sasori no Danna?"

Sasori nodded as he picked up Naruto, slinging the blonde over his shoulder. He paused when he heard Deidara growl. "What's wrong?"

Deidara turned to Sasori, "I didn't have enough clay to create a big enough bird, I don't think it will be big enough to carry all four of us…"

Sasori growled, "Idiot…" But paused when he turned back to Suna, "More ninja's are coming, this could prove to be problematic. We can't afford to let these two die. The Kazekage will be better of here. We'll take Naruto and come back for Gaara."

Deidara nodded as Sasori threw the blonde onto the bird, jumping on himself, quickly followed by Deidara. A moment later, the bird took off, leaving the unconscious Kazekage, and his defeated brother, in the desert.

A/N: I hope this chapter was to everyones satisfactory...because if it wasn't...then i pretty much kept you all waiting for NO reason at all. Next chapter...i need to update one of my other fics first...but i promise that i'll get the next chapter up before my christmas break ends...(which reminds me to find out WHEN my christmas break ends).

So Naruto get's captured instead of Gaara. What will happen next? Will Naruto's friend's save him? Will Naruto Lose Kyuubi? Will he even care?

I DON'T KNOW!

...or do i?

F.Y.I. somone asked earlier what religion had to do with reviewing...to be honest...it doesn't...i just wanted an excuse to use Jedi, Sith, and Klingon in here and that's how it worked out...yea...

Please review. (OH! and feel free to rate Naruto's new abilities, on a scale of 1(sucks) to 10(awsome))