GIANT AUTHOR NOTE OF HAPPINESS: Thank you everyone who read/reviewed/favorited/alerted/or even looked at this story! Seriously, every time I got a review/alert/favorite update, I was in a great mood for the rest of the day! I really enjoyed writing this story, so much that I have started a prequel and a sequel to it. Here are some little teasers for those stories that I hope you guys liked. Thanks again for reading!

If you enjoyed Small Surprises, check out the other stories involving these characters :)

Title: The Steep and Thorny Way to Heaven

Rating: T

Relation: Prequel

Summary: Akahana Hayashi has worked her ass off to be the shinobi she has become. She gave up everything to make it as far as she has, but because of a horrible accident involving a team in the Suna, all kunoichi have been placed on a sort of probation. Team Akahana, an all kunoichi team, can only go on a useful mission with the addition of a male shinobi. That male is Kakashi Hatake.

Status: Two chapters are now available for reading :)

.net/s/8105008/1/The_bSteep_b_and_bThorny_b_bWay_b_to_Heaven

Excerpt from Chapter 1:…

"You wanted to speak with us Kazekage?" Akahana said as she came into the room with her team, all of them antsy with anticipation.

"Mm, yes, I have a mission for you three," he said, making all of their faces light up with excitement. "It's an A rank body guard mission." Now they were practically exploding with excitement.

"Oh thank you so much Kazekage. We'll make sure to do really well," Akahana started, feeling elated.

"I know you will, but this mission won't happen for another month or so," he said, dropping their mood from excited to slightly disappointed. "I wanted to give you all time to adjust to the newest member of your team."

"We're getting a new teammate?" Miyuki asked, confused by why they needed another team member.

"Yes," he said sternly. "I can't have you three going by yourself on that mission, and all of our other jonin will be or are busy on very important missions, so the leaf village has graciously allowed us to borrow one of their shinobi."

"Who?" Kazue asked, not liking this more and more every second.

"Kakashi Hatake," he answered. "He'll be a good person to have around and keep you three level headed. We can't have another mistake caused by female emotions."

"Kazekage," Akahana said angrily, trying as hard as she could to cover it, "I don't mean any disrespect, but I am a jonin of this village and highly capable of leading this mission without his help."

"The anger that you're trying so hard to hide just strengthens my argument," he said, almost with a smirk. "Kakashi Hatake will be here within a week or so. I trust you three can make living arrangements for him and that you will welcome him as a member of your team. I haven't decided yet, but I may make him the commander of this team for this mission."

That sent Akahana off edge. No way in hell was some Konoha brat going to come in and take over her team. She had worked her ass off for two years, jumping through the ranks to finally become a jonin and have her own team. Now it seemed like in a matter of minutes, that was all going to be taken from her.

"You three are dismissed," he said firmly. The three shinobi turned and left his office in silence, once they were a good distance away, they erupted.

"THERE IS NO WAY IN HELL THAT SOME DICK FROM KONOHA IS TAKING YOUR PLACE!" Kazue screamed once they got into their house. "Where does the Kazekage get off even suggesting that?"

"Don't worry about it," Akahana said, her tone showing her cold rage. "I will be the commander of this team, even if he claims this Hatake guy is. Trust me."

Continued in The Steep and Thorny Way to Heaven

Title: When Lightning Meets Fire

Rating: T

Relation: Sequel

Summary: It's been quite a few years since Hiroshi moved to the Leaf Village, and a lot has changed. Not only has he moved up the ranks to a chunin, but his father's team was disbanded, all of the members of Team 7 taking their own paths. Once Naruto returns, strange things begin to happen in the forests surrounding Konoha. Will the shinobi uncover the secrets behind this purple beast wandering the forest before it's too late?

Status: Will be up on Friday at the very earliest.

Excerpt from ROUGH DRAFT of Chapter 1:

There was an excited air floating through Konoha today. Hiroshi wasn't sure what it was exactly though. Things were a lot different in Konoha after the Chunin exams those years ago. Naruto left to train with Jiraiya, Sasuke left, and Sakura trained with Tsunade, the new Hokage. During this, Hiroshi graduated from the academy, and last year was promoted to Chunin.

Deciding to go see if anything was happening, Hiroshi zipped up his Chunin vest and walked outside, but stopped when he heard a yell.

"It's great to be home!" yelled the yellow hair shinobi that Hiroshi would never forget.

"Naruto!" he yelled, hurrying down the stairs and out into the city. There he was, standing up on top of a building, no one other than Naruto Uzumaki. "Naruto!" Hiroshi called again, this time getting the ninja's attention.

"Hiroshi? Is that you?" he called back, hoping off of the roof and landing in front of his sensei's son. "Wow, you grew up." Naruto was shocked when he saw Kakashi's son, who was far from the little boy he remembered. He was taller than Naruto was at that age, that was for sure, but he wasn't sturdy looking. Instead, he was more lanky and scrawny. Now that he'd grown out of his baby face a bit more, anyone could see he was Kakashi's son. His face was starting to look similar, to the point where Naruto couldn't help but wonder if Hiroshi looked like a younger version of how his Sensei looked without his mask.

"You did too," he answered back with a smile. "You're done training with Jiraiya?"

"You bet," he said, his voice holding conflicting sounds of excitement and sadness. Hiroshi didn't understand why Naruto had to leave or where Sasuke went, even though Kakashi had tried explaining it to him several times. All he knew was that Sasuke had left to work for the enemy, and it made the rest of Team 7 upset in their own way. "So you finally passed the academy?"

"Actually, I'm a chunin," he said proudly, flashing his headband. Naruto's pride instantly started deflating as he realized this 11 year old boy was a higher rank than him.

"Ohhh, great. So, where's Sensei? And Sakura?" he asked excitedly, moving quickly past Hiroshi out ranking him.

"I don't know, sorry. I haven't seen much of Sakura for a while, and Dad… well, you know him," Hiroshi said with a shrug. Before they could start the adventure of looking for the two, they both heard a voice calling for Naruto in the distance.

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled again, running up to her old teammate and throwing him in a hug. "Look at you! You grew up!"

Naruto's face turned bright red as he looked at his teammate who had definitely grown up while he was away. He rubbed the back of his head, still smiling at her.

"Yeah, that happens sometimes," he said simply. Feeling awkward, Hiroshi excused himself from the conversation and decided to head over to the training field and practice, like he'd planned to do this morning. Since Hiroshi was a rank ahead of his old team, Tsunade decided it would be best to change his team, meaning he had no one to practice with. He never really liked his teammates anyways.

"Hoy, Hiroshi!" Guy Sensei called to the chunin. Hiroshi didn't even get to begin practice before it was interrupted.

"Yes Sensei?" he asked fondly. Even though he'd been afraid of Guy the first time he'd met him, throughout his years in Konoha, Guy had become something like a crazy uncle to Hiroshi. At first he couldn't figure out why his father liked Guy, but after hearing bushels of stories from their childhoods and watching them do different challenges, Hiroshi started understanding his charm.

"I have a challenge for you," he said, sharply pointing at the young boy.

Continued in When Lightning Meets Fire