Team 7: A Retelling
By: Tellemicus Sundance
#10: Training for the Next Mission

Outside Konoha

With a weary sigh, the teenaged blonde spotted the famous gates of Konohagakure through the dense forest as she approached the top of a small hill. Though it was nothing like the large canyon that surrounded, hid, and protected her home, she had to admit that the large wall and gates were an impressive sight from the distance. And she could even see the faces of the four Hokage on the mountain even farther behind it, all their faces solemn with power.

But as impressed with the sight as she was, Temari found herself quickly distracted from it. Sometimes, she truly hated being a kunoichi. As much as she loved to travel and fight, it also obligated her to leave home for unspecified lengths of time. Now if she had simply been forced to stay at her old training oasis that was hidden out in the far western desert, it wouldn't have been a problem since she'd have been in an environment she was familiar with. But all the green here in Hi no Kuni, grass, trees, flowers, vines, bushes, weeds, streams and rivers, everything was just so foreign and alien! It was putting on edge out of principle. Of course the overwhelming humidity was the absolute worst of all. She was quite familiar with extreme temperatures of heat and cold, being from a desert, but she had never been forced to endure high levels of humidity like this! The only saving grace was the winds that helped keep her from breaking out in an unsightly drenching sweat.

But, as much as she disliked the alien environment, there were two other reasons why she was stressed and exhausted. The first being the circumstances for which she and her team had been forced to come to Konoha in the first place. An unexpected rebellion had sprung up among the Shakuton clan. Temari still didn't entirely understand the reasons behind this sudden rebellion. As a genin and regardless of her father's position, she naturally wasn't entitled to such sensitive information. The rebellion had already come to bloodshed, resulting in several deaths among the ninja, quite a bit of collateral damage, and a multiple civilian causalities.

The approaching Chuunin Exam was a sort of blessing in disguise, even she could see that. It gave her father a viable excuse to get Gaara out of and as far away from the village as possible. Though Gaara would've been unquestionably invaluable in the struggle to put down the rebellion, there was an incredibly high chance of him running amok and start killing all combatants indiscriminately in his bloodlust. It was a risk that no one, besides Gaara, wanted to take a chance on. Alas, the Yondaime Kazekage had taken it upon himself to send her and her team to Konoha a bit earlier than was otherwise necessary to 'acclimate themselves to the environment'. Although, she also had a strong suspicion that her father had other motives, such as what the mystery letter addressed to the Hokage he'd given Baki-sensei shortly before their departure.

"Finally, we're almost there," she couldn't help but mutter to herself. After a week of traveling through the desert, over mountains and rivers, and then forests, she was fully anticipating being able to sleep in an actual futon or bed than a sleeping mat, whichever was available. As well as being able to have a nice hot meal instead of travel rations.

"Yeah," Kankuro agreed, mostly speaking to himself as he smiled slightly at thoughts of what lie ahead. "Maybe we can visit Konoha's hot springs? I hear the babes are really something else here. Heheh."

"Be quiet, Kankuro," Gaara said quietly, his soft voice cutting off Temari's immediate tirade with ease. "Or I'll kill you."

Flinching visibly as a fresh sheen of sweat appeared on his brow, Kankuro nodded hastily, "S-Sure thing, Gaara!"

Amaguriama, Konohagakure

Lunch for Team 7 was devoured in earnest as they sat upon the benches outside the sweet shop. Sure, what they had wasn't much in the way of food but it would sate their appetites until dinner. Naruto had several sticks of bocchan dango, Sakura was relishing some anko dango, while Sasuke was content with his chadango sticks. Despite himself, Sasuke couldn't help but eye the sticks of sweets that Naruto and Sakura were so happily eating. How could they stand all that sugar and sweetness? He himself loathed anything sweet, it made his teeth rot just thinking about it!

Kakashi was the only one absent from their little lunch break. He had said something about stopping by the Hokage Tower to talk with the old man about something. Sasuke had a strong suspicion that he knew what it was, but he was trying not to let his anticipation get the best of him. He knew that the Chuunin Exams were fast approaching and that there was a very strong chance that Kakashi would enter them in it. Even if they didn't pass, he would see the Exams as a good way of gaining actual practical experience in the ways of ninja.

But to Sasuke, the Exams meant something else entirely. To Sasuke, it meant that the end of the beginning was fast approaching. In his many plans and observations, his elder counterpart had always pinned the Exams as the start of when things really started heating up. Orochimaru would assassinate the Yondaime Kazekage, temporarily assume his position in order to get Sunagakure to back his attack on Konoha, he would enter the Exams in disguise in order to observe and estimate Sasuke's potential as a ninja and the extent of hatred in his heart to see if he was 'worthy' of being branded with a curse seal. Following that would be the Chuunin War and Sasuke's own eventual betrayal of Konoha in order to gain power.

It was almost sickening how he could so easily see the lines of destiny mapped out like that. But he had to remind himself that things might not go as planned. After all, his team and he himself were quite different from what Sasuke-ura had predicted. Naruto, while still somewhat slow and uncoordinated, was a force to be reckoned with in a fight. Sakura was much stronger, driven, and possessed an unexpected power. Sasuke wasn't too sure what changes had occurred within him, but he was sure that they were there. How would these changes affect that which was to come?

"Well, well, if it isn't Team Dattebayo!" a loud voice called out, cutting into his thoughts. Looking up, Sasuke quickly located the source of the voice. It was Inuzuka Kiba, wearing a rather arrogant bestial sneer as he approached them. "Taking a little break from your training, eh?" There was no mistaking the mocking tone in his voice.

"Hello, Kiba-san," Sakura greeted in a strained voice, her face was that of tensed politeness. Something that went unnoticed by the Inuzuka as an aura of coldness began emitting from her subconsciously, causing her teammates to scoot ever-so-slightly away from her in reflex. She never really liked Kiba all that much. He was almost as loud as Naruto but possessed an arrogance that was almost unmatched. Only Sasuke (at his absolute worst) could justifiably beat Kiba at that, even more so now that his Sharingan had evolved. To Sakura, Kiba was nothing much more than a slightly better educated brute and he had a long way to go to gain any type of real respect from her, as far as his personality went at least. "What do you want?"

"I was walking down the street earlier and heard something rather interesting," Kiba answered, a peculiar flux in voice as he gazed at them. "'Team 7 beat last year's Rookie of the Year within ten minutes' is what I heard. Isn't that an interesting little rumor?"

"A rumor isn't a rumor if it's true," Sasuke pointed out bluntly, somewhat annoyed.

"And not to split any hairs, but it was Naruto who beat Neji," Sakura added in shamelessly.

"Is that so?" Kiba asked, glancing pointedly at Naruto with a raised eyebrow.

Following his gaze, Sasuke and Sakura stared blankly at their teammate. Naruto was sitting off to the side, having moved away without them noticing, and was having an avid conversation with Hyuuga Hinata who had arrived when they were distracted by Kiba. Having set his dango stick aside, Naruto giving a vivid rendition of his recent victory to the young girl, waving his arms about in flamboyant gestures as he said, "And then I said 'I don't need chakra to beat down your ugly ass, bastard!' You should've seen the look on his face, Hinata-chan! It was priceless!"

Hinata was giggling quietly at the exaggerated story Naruto was telling, covering her mouth with a dainty hand as her shoulders shook nearly uncontrollably.

"Some reason I doubt that, very much," Kiba said dryly, returning his attention to Sasuke and Sakura. "Why don't you tell me what really happened?"

Hinata was easily able to tune out Kiba's conversation with Naruto's teammates as the boy paused in his story long enough to take another bite of his dango. Using the opportunity, she hesitantly asked, "Did that really happen, Naruto-kun? Did Neji-niisan really use the Hakke on you? And you were still able to stand afterwards?"

"Yup!" Naruto chirped easily, smiling widely at her honestly surprised and awestruck expression. "I'm awesome, ain't I?"

Despite himself, Naruto couldn't help but once again silently thank Sakura. If not for her, he probably wouldn't have made such a good friend with the quiet, strange Hyuuga girl. Apparently, about two years ago, Sakura had noticed that Hinata seemed very interested in Naruto and had managed to talk him into approaching her. What followed was a fast friendship between the two as Naruto showed her some of the training tricks and games that Sasuke and Sakura had taught him and Hinata helping him to study for the occasional paper test. Naruto had discovered very quickly that Hinata was very smart, a good listener, and was genuinely happy to have made friends with him and he valued that friendship with her almost as much as he did his friendship with his teammates. If he had had the choice, he'd have chosen being put on Hinata's team if he couldn't have been put on Team 7.

"It is very impressive, Naruto-kun," Hinata acknowledged truthfully. "Even more that you could still fight using the tenketsu of your legs and feet. That must've been difficult, especially since you were using nature chakra."

Blushing under the praise, Naruto chuckled weakly. "Yeah, but I'm actually pretty good at Fuuton chakra!" Smiling widely, he boastfully said, "Just you wait, Hinata-chan, in a year I'll be able use my Fuuton to fly!"

Before Hinata had a chance to reply, loud laughter suddenly cut into their conversation. Turning, they glared at the three men who'd been passing them and apparently overheard their conversation. By the way they were standing, it was clear that all three with drunk. The potent smell of alcohol surrounding them only reinforced this.

"HAHAHA! Have you ever seen a ninja fly?" one of the men asked his companions, unintentionally earning the attentions of the rest of the genin.

"Well, I've seen a horse fly," a second said.

"I've seen a dragon fly," the third said.

"I've seen a house fly," the first said, causing all three to erupt in loud laughter again.

Hinata couldn't help but glare at the three men. She didn't like it when people mocked Naruto. He tried and trained too hard for her to ever mock him. Plus he was kind and caring to her, helping her as best he could. His efforts were not just in vain, since some of the stuff she'd learned had actually gotten a bit of approval from her father. And approval from her father was notoriously hard to get, especially for her.

Before she could work up the courage to defend her friend, Naruto abruptly climbed to his feet and faced the men. "Wow, really?!" his voice was perfectly rehearsed to sound as innocent and awestruck as possible. "Well, would you guys like to see something else?"

"And what's that?" one of them slurred.

"How about seeing some drunk flies?!" Naruto asked, forming a dozen Kage Bunshin before him, causing the three drunks to stumble away in surprise and alarm at the sudden army of blondes.

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled from nearby. "You know about the policy of no fighting in the village!"

"Don't worry, Sakura-chan," Naruto called over in a soothing voice. "I won't even have to touch them!"

"What—?" was all anyone managed to utter before the blondes brought their hands into a seal and yelled. "Henge!"

As the smoke of the transformation jutsu cleared, the trio of drunks was suddenly assaulted by twelve of the most beautifully alluring blondes they'd ever encountered. The blondes had perfect hour-glass figures, long blonde hair tied into twin ponytails, and three whisker marks on each of their cheeks that only added a level of animalistic seductiveness to them. The fact that they were all butt naked didn't help matters for the three drunks. Within only five seconds, each of the drunks were knocked flying through the air via rocket-propulsion strength nosebleeds, landing in sprawled heaps unconscious.

Laughing hysterically at their reactions, Naruto dropped his Harem no Jutsu and looked over his handiwork with glee. "That'll teach you mock the great Uzumaki!"

"Naruto," the single most dark, sinister, and evil voice he'd ever heard whispered softly in his ear, causing him to instantly freeze in absolute fear. Like a rusty robot, he stiffly glanced over his shoulder to see the creature of darkness whom he'd unintentionally provoked. And, indeed, calling her as such would not have been an exaggeration. What with the rampaging aura of evil darkness circling around her wildly as nitrogen-cold eyes seemed to glare out of the darkness. It was the single most terrifying sight he'd ever seen; much, much worse than being under the effects of Zabuza's killing intent. "What did I tell you about using that…jutsu?"

"Uh…Um…I—I d—eh," Naruto stuttered out in fear. It was then that his survival instincts suddenly kicked in with a vengeance. In a burst of speed borne of instinctive terror, Naruto fled with only a small dust cloud to mark his departure. "I DON'T WANNA DIE!"

"GET BACK HERE, UZUMAKI!" Sakura roared, blasting out of her seated position like a rocket, following the dust trail that was her teammate's fleeing figure.

There was a moment of silence that hung over the remaining genin before Kiba turned back to Sasuke with a conceited sneer. "Wanna tell me again exactly who beat that Hyuuga?"

Sasuke didn't even dignify the remark with a response as he glared after his teammates in annoyance. Really, you'd think that Naruto would've stopped using that 'jutsu' after the first time Sakura had seen the Oiroke. And he had honestly thought that Sakura had gotten over her impulsive need to pummel the blonde for using perverted jutsu by now.

"Hey, Sasuke-san," Kakashi said as he dropped down from a nearby building. "Where's Naruto and Sakura-san?"

"Probably committing several felonies and a murder by now," Sasuke remarked dryly, ignoring the look of surprised alarm on Kakashi's face. "I think they'll limp back in about an hour, maybe two if they're really going at it."

Catching the cynical tone that Sasuke was using, Kakashi felt himself relax slightly out of his initial alarm. But only slightly, though, since he now had a pretty good idea of what 'felonies and murder' they were enacting. "Well then, we better go get them. As teammates, it's our job to stick by them through thick and thin."

Sasuke just gave Kakashi a deadpan look as though to say 'are you crazy?' Kakashi happily ignored this as he grabbed ahold of him and disappeared in a gust of leaves.

"But I didn't get my question answered!" Kiba whined after the retreating scents of Team 7.

"Actually, you did, Kiba-san," Shino stated from behind the Inuzuka, shocking the boy and puppy with surprise as they were positively sure that he hadn't been there a moment ago. "Team 7 have made it abundantly clear that it was Naruto who defeated Hyuuga Neji-san in combat. I have also heard other rumors that—"

"Okay, okay, I got it!" Kiba yelled before turning away from Shino. "Seriously, I just wanted to see if I get Sasuke to fight me next. I'd be a much better opponent than some boring Hyuuga."

"That's not nice, Kiba-san," Hinata said somewhat sharply, surprising Kiba yet again when he didn't notice her approach.

To be honest, Temari was finding herself enjoying the entertainment far more than she'd have thought she would. Once they'd arrived in Konohagakure, Baki had immediately given them some yen and told them to get a meal while he went to visit the Hokage. Rather than obey the order, Gaara had simply disappeared once Baki had left. So she and Kankuro were the only ones present at the restaurant called Yakiniku Q.

Then, about midway through their meal, a loud commotion erupted outside. Through the windows, Temari could see a young pink-haired girl beating the stuffing out of a smaller blonde boy. The boy really wasn't even trying to put up a fight, just defending himself as he futilely tried to calm the girl down. It was futile because Temari could easily recognize the feminine aura of righteous rage that the girl was giving off as she tried to punch past his defenses.

At first, Temari had thought that the two of them were just civilians of the village. However their considerable speeds and high levels of fighting techniques quickly revealed them to be ninja, genin most likely. Of course, the hitai-ate they were wearing also helped in identifying them as ninja. Then, unexpectedly, a layer of ice formed on the ground behind the blonde as he was backing away from the pinkie. The ice disrupted his footing and sent him to the ground, which was all the girl needed to finally begin visiting pain upon the blonde. Curiously, the ice seemed to vanish once the blonde had fallen, something that did not escape Temari's notice. Did that girl know some kind of special jutsu that could create ice? How curious…

A few minutes of indescribable violence later, the girl dusted her hands off irritably and began walking away, a large vein still throbbing on her rather large forehead. Behind her was a bloodied heap of mangled limbs that only vaguely looked like the blonde from earlier, his dying soul ghosting out of his mouth.

"Poor kid," Kankuro said, quite sympathetically since he'd been in that position several times himself, at Temari's hands actually. "I wonder what he did to deserve that."

"Naruto!" a voice called from nearby, out of Temari's field of vision. "Ichiraku's having a free ramen sale!"

"FREE RAMEN?!" Naruto yelled, drooling as he bounced back to his feet, seemingly miraculously healed of all wounds. "REALLY?!"

"No," a brunet boy said bluntly as he dropped into view on the wooden fence beside the blonde. Despite herself, Temari felt a warm flush coat her face as she watched the positively gorgeous boy in a white vest and blue shirt glare sternly down at the blonde. Whereas the blonde and pinkie gave her a first impression of violent civilian children, this kid seemed every bit the cool and collected ninja that many aspired to become.

Ignoring the fuming blonde, the brunet turned towards Pinkie and called, "Sakura, if you're done murdering Naruto, Kakashi's got something he apparently wants to tell us."

Visibly collecting and calming herself, Sakura nodded. "Alright, let's go."

"HEY!" Naruto yelled, drawing everyone's attention to him, even Temari was reluctantly forced to tear her gaze off the brunet. "Who are you guys?! You're not from Konoha!"

It took Temari and Kankuro a moment before realizing that the blonde was in fact speaking to them. How he managed to notice them over the news that the gorgeous brunet had delivered, Temari just couldn't comprehend. Still, that didn't stop Naruto from approaching them, blatantly ignoring his two friends' annoyed expressions in the process.

"I'm talking to you!" the blonde declared boldly as he stopped only a few short paces away from the siblings, arms crossed over his chest in what he likely thought was an imposing stance.

"Jeeze, you're loud," Kankuro stated bluntly. Looking past the blonde to his two reluctantly approaching friends, he asked, "Is he always like this?"

"Pretty much," the brunet acknowledged, his eyes narrowed as he studied the pair of strangers in his village. "Who are you?"

"I'm Kankuro and this is my sister, Temari," her brother said, lightly tapping his own hitai-ate. "Genin of Sunagakure."

"Sunagakure?" Sakura said, staring at him and Temari in confusion and surprise. "What are you guys doing here?"

"You kids really don't know anything, do you?" Kankuro asked, sneering at the girl's confusion.

"You're gonna take part in the Chuunin Exam, aren't you?" the brunet asked, earning surprised glances from his friends at his quick assessment. "That's the only reason why genin from yours would be in our village. Although, aren't you a bit early? The Exams aren't for at least another week."

"We got a special pass," Kankuro said dismissively.

The boy's gaze hardened at that response. "What do you mean?"

"Circumstances forced our Kazekage to send us ahead as an advance squad with news for the Hokage of what's taking place back home," Temari said, feeling her flush deepen faintly as the brunet turned to face her. "Besides, he wants us to acclimate to the environment so we have a better chance of winning."

The brunet smirked at that statement. "You'll need all the help you can get, I suppose."

Her flush quickly faded as she stared hard into his confident eyes, no longer feeling as attracted to him as she had been. "And why's that?"

"Because, if we enter, you won't have a ghost of a chance at making it to the Finals," he answered, confidence rolling off of him in waves. "After all, we're Konohagakure's best genin combat team." Even his teammates straightened up with pride at that statement, transforming into hardened fighters right before her eyes. Heck, even the slight grins on their faces were identical to the brunet's.

"And we're Sunagakure's best genin team, period," Kankuro boasted, drawing himself up to match the team before him shamelessly.

"Oi, oi!" a fourth voice called from them. Looking up, Temari found a gray-haired man wearing Konoha's standard ninja attire with his hitai-ate slanted over his left eye, crouched down on the roof of the restaurant as he looked upon them. "Now that you're done interrogating the intruders, get up here! You've got a new training exercise to master before your next mission!"

Out of her peripheral vision, Temari was able to see each of the genin flinch. As she turned to them again, she felt some of her annoyance at the brunet bleed away as she saw a curious amount of sweat begin to form on his brow. And, much to her surprise, his hand lashed out at high-speed and caught the collar of his teammate's orange vest, yanking the fleeing boy to an immediate halt.

"'A new training exercise'?" Sakura repeated carefully, nervousness clear in her voice. "Why do I get a bad feeling from this?"

"Let's go," the brunet said, "before he decides to make us do the spiked stakes exercise again." All of them flinched at the memory, much to Temari and Kankuro's confusion. With clear resignation, they leapt up towards their sensei, even the blonde.

Glancing at his sister, Kankuro said, "And I thought we were an odd team."

Temari could only nod in agreement.

On Yakiniku Q's roof, the team turned to their sensei questioningly. Kakashi just smiled benevolently when he saw the obvious symptoms of repressed fear that each of them was exuding in spades. Letting his smile broaden, he said, "Your training exercise today is…theft."

"Eh…?" each of them asked in confusion, cocking their heads slightly to the sides in unison. Kakashi was easily able to read their thoughts from their expressions: 'That sounds way, way too easy!' But none of them voiced this observation since they all knew that he was likely to throw in a sadistic twist to increase the level of difficulty.

"This exercise is a bit redundant, I admit," Kakashi continued after a moment. "But it's a way for me to judge whether or not I feel you're ready for this next mission."

"What kind of mission would we be doing that requires thievery, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked, voicing the boys' question.

"Can't tell you yet, mission protocols and all," Kakashi teased, smiling at their annoyed glares. "But, if you all manage to pass this exercise, on the first try I might add, I will qualify you to start taking solo missions." This statement earned a wide eyed gawk from all of them.

In Konoha, a 'solo mission' was in fact when a genin team was granted permission to perform a C- or even B-ranked mission without the supervisory of a sensei…or so they thought. In truth, they were still being observed, usually by a Chuunin or Tokubetsu Jounin. Solo missions had two purposes. The first was allowing certain well-trained genin teams the privilege of taking missions without their Jounin, letting them exercise all they've learned without guidance. The second reason was that solo missions also allowed the Jounin to restart taking their own missions, ones that were usually too dangerous for a genin team to go on.

"Really, sensei?!" Naruto cried, starry eyed as he jumped upon the man, hugging him with a wild abandon. "I take back everything I've ever said about you being an oni! You're the best sensei ever!"

"Eh…thanks, Naruto-san?" Kakashi uttered awkwardly, having not at all anticipated such a response from his most unpredictable student. "But I still haven't explained the terms of the training exercise."

Remembering that little tidbit, Naruto let go of the man and joined his teammates in waiting for a further explanation.

"Now, there are only two conditions to this exercise," he said, holding up two fingers to make sure they understood. "The first condition is that your targets have to be ninja. Not civilians, or that's an instant fail." All of them nodded solemnly, having expected such harsh terms. "And you have to steal something from their person, not raiding their homes for spare clothing or weapons." Again, he received no complaints.

Smiling in a benevolent way, which instantly put all three on their guards, he continued, "And the second condition is you have a time limit. Thirty minutes to acquire something from a ninja, starting—" He idly checked his watch. "Eleven minutes ago."

"I take it back!" Naruto yelled, raw fury in his expression and voice. "You are an oni!"

"Why are you still here then?" Kakashi asked his only remaining student. One glance told Naruto that Sasuke and Sakura had already vanished to complete their exercise.

"I hate you!" Naruto yelled as he too jumped away.

"Ah, kids," Kakashi smiled lovingly as he created a pair of clones to shadow Sasuke and Sakura.

Naruto quickly switched into his Master Prankster mentality as he stood upon a towering power pole, scoping out his potential targets. There were ninja everywhere, but many of them seemed too skilled to him from just a glance for him to safely lift something off them without their knowledge. Jounin were simply out of the question, Chuunin would be hard but not impossible, and while Genin were probably closer to fifty-fifty, it still would be difficult.

Besides, he really, really didn't want to steal from ninja of his own village. It was just…wrong. Wait…ninja from his village? That thought triggered a new one in his head and caused an evil smirk to cross his lips. This was gonna be fun!

Launching himself off the pole, he raced off towards he'd last seen the new ninja in Konoha. Bouncing off the rooftops, he made quick progress back to Yakiniku Q. Just a quick glance into the window told him that the Suna-nin were gone. Not panicking, he quickly glanced down the streets, seeking out the telltale blonde hair and black outfit that they were wearing. His grin widening as he found them, they were probably heading towards one of the many motels of Konoha.

Scurrying along the top of the roofs as he stalked his prey, Naruto began quickly plotting his trap. The siblings both had something on their backs, weapons of some kind. It took a moment, but he soon guessed that the blonde girl had a large tessen. But what her brother had, he couldn't figure out because of all those damned bandages that were coating it. Choosing his target, he began sorting through what he knew of them, what he could infer about them, and some other miscellaneous information. If they were in Konoha for the Chuunin Exam, as Sasuke suspected, then it was obvious that they were quite well-trained and likely would notice if he tried to steal from them from the shadows. And they noticed him at any point, it would make it that much harder to get what he wanted, even more so to get away if he did manage to steal it. Maybe he should go with the upfront distraction method?

As a fresh idea formed, he couldn't help but grin. This was going to be so much fun!

Forming a Kage Bunshin, he sent it ahead as he dropped down onto the street and began discreetly making himself up to them.

"Hey, Suna-nin!" his clone called out as it dropped to the street a few short paces ahead of him. Its shout and sudden arrival caused the pair to flinch back in surprise. "I've got a question for you!"

"What is it?" Temari asked, somewhat annoyed at the loudmouth's return. But she was also somewhat reluctantly impressed. She hadn't even noticed him approaching them until he was quite literally in front of her. If that wasn't skill, she didn't know what was.

"Would you like to see a bit of heaven and hell?" the clone asked, grinning wickedly at the confused duo. Unnoticed by them, the real Naruto managed to sneak up behind them and was already starting to filch what he wanted.

"Is that a threat, chibi?" Kankuro asked, moving forward slightly as he unslung the strange object from his back and set it down threateningly in front of him.

Chuckling loudly, the clone just held up his hands in surrender, his grin widening for reasons they didn't understand. "Not at all, no need for that! I was just asking because I think you, especially, would enjoy this awesome ninjutsu I created!"

"What do you think, Temari-neesan?" Kankuro asked, not taking his eyes off the potential threat.

"I think he's actually being serious," Temari answered, her eyes narrowed as she tried to figure out what he was up to. It was obvious that he was trying to do something, though what she couldn't tell. Just in case, she began to incline her hand towards her tessen. "But you know, kid, there's a standard policy of 'no fighting' in most ninja villages. If you want a fight, we should move to the training grounds."

"Oh, don't worry about that, Yonbi-chan!" the clone said, waving aside her slight warning with careless ease as he ignored the angry glare she shot him for the nickname. "I don't wanna fight, just show you something! Trust me, you'll forget it for the rest of your lives!"

Before they could answer, he brought his hands up into a handseal. "Henge!" Emerging from the smoke cloud came something that proved the truth of Naruto's statement.

After all, how could they forget the sight of a gorgeous nude blonde girl launching herself towards Kankuro and cooing seductively as she rubbed herself against his surprised form? Reacting as any hot-blooded male would, Kankuro blushed the deepest shade of red imaginable before being sent into a high arc through the air from a massive nosebleed.

Dropping the Henge, the clone laughed hysterically at the downed figure of Kankuro. "Told ya you'd never forget it!"

Then, like earlier, he sensed a potent bloodlust washing over him from the demonic creature he'd now purposely provoked. As the blonde girl came barreling down on him, the clone took the surest path to safety that its self-preservation instincts gave it—"Kai!"—and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Temari only had a chance to blink in surprise as the clone disappeared before familiar laughter erupted from the side. Turning, she spotted the blonde standing upon the roof a nearby building, laughing his head off as he leaned onto a familiar looking—

Gasping, Temari reached for her back as she noticed a disturbing missing weight. Her grandmother's tessen was gone! "Give that back!"

Cocking his head, Naruto eyed her with a mischievous grin. "I don't know…You sure didn't seem to care enough about it to notice it missing until now, Yonbi-chan."

"STOP CALLING ME THAT!" Temari yelled as she flung herself up into the air, intent on visiting justified harm onto the blonde.

Laughing harder, Naruto jumped away and bounced across the street. "Catch me if you can, Yonbi-chan!"

Landing on a building's wall, he quickly jumped away and dodged the Suna kunoichi's lunge. After a quick glance behind him to show him Temari's position and following lunge, he looked back to where he was traveling. Spotting the angle he was at and the speeds he was traveling through the air, an idea lodged itself into his mind.

Laughing as he attached the giant fan to his feet with chakra, Naruto landed upon the next building's gutter, sliding along it as though on a surfboard. "HA! Who needs a half-pipe when you skate a gutter pipe!"

Walking down the street, Sasuke couldn't keep the satisfied smirk off his face even if he wanted to. His thievery exercise had proved far too easy. So easy, in fact, he was almost half-considering returning it and seeking a more difficult target. Still, maybe Ino would think twice about jumping on him like that again in the future now? It was a frail hope, but one he couldn't help but to indulge in.

Spotting a familiar head of pink walking towards him, Sasuke saw that there was a slight spring in her step as well with a small smile to complement it. Spotting what she held in her hand, he couldn't help but raise his eyebrow in question.

"A Chuunin," she said, answering his unspoken question as she held up her weapons pouch trophy. "I froze the ground under him, he slipped, and went out cold. You?"

Holding up his hitai-ate trophy, he said, "Ino." It was explanation enough for Sakura, though she frowned forlornly.

"I hope you'll return that before she gets into trouble," Sakura said, giving Sasuke the best disapproving glare she could muster.

"Maybe next time she won't jump me from behind," Sasuke replied, his tone neutral. "Where's Kakashi?"

"And…time," their sensei's voice called out. The man was standing under a tree, lowering the watch he'd been using as he looked over towards the two. "Good work, you two. Though, I have to agree with Sakura-san about you giving Yamanaka-san her hitai-ate back before you leave tonight."

"…So we got the mission?" Sakura asked hopefully.

"As soon as Naruto's done playing around, you can go get the details from the Mission Assignment Desk," Kakashi said, smiling as he nodded his approval. "I'll also be formally submitting the solo mission request."

"So, you're not coming with us on this one?" Sakura asked, blinking in surprise. "Why, sensei?"

"Unfortunately, I can't come on this mission," Kakashi said. "Something's come up and, in accordance with alliance treaties, I and my team are being sent off on an S-Class mission."

Sasuke's mind was racing as he took in this information. He didn't remember anything like this happening being mentioned in any of his ura-self's scrolls. This was to second change in the same day that had happened. As this thought registered, he blinked in surprise. Could it really have been that simple? "Are you being sent to Sunagakure for something?"

Sakura glanced at Sasuke in surprise before catching onto his line of thought and looking towards their sensei in expectation. The gray-haired Jounin just chuckled somewhat embarrassedly, rubbing the back of his neck. "I had hoped you would've forgotten about those two."

"So you are," Sasuke said, finality in his tone. "What's happening in Sunagakure that requires Konoha to come help?"

Sighing heavily as he glanced at the last Uchiha, he said, "This isn't going to be good news, I'm afraid. Do you really want to hear about it now?"

"Tell us," Sakura demanded, crossing her arms and staring at their sensei imperiously.

"…There's been a rebellion in Sunagakure," Kakashi said. "For reasons we don't yet understand, one of the clans of Sunagakure is revolting against the village. The Kazekage has requested that we postpone the Chuunin Exams for two weeks and that we send some ninja to aid in suppressing this revolt before more innocent people are killed." Catching the darkening glare in the Uchiha's eye, Kakashi cut him off by saying, "There have already been reports of escalating violence, at least two dozen deaths of noncombatant bystanders, and a lot of damage to the village. The Kazekage has been trying to reach a peaceful solution but nothing has been successful at this point."

"Maybe he's simply not listening to the reasons behind the rebellion in the first place," Sasuke muttered darkly as he glanced away. This sounded far, far too familiar for him. In fact, his logical side was telling him, it was what probably could've happened had the Uchiha rebellion actually taken place. Growling, he forcefully tried to suppress those dark thoughts and lock them away.

"It's an order from the Hokage that I'm going," Kakashi said, trying to return the subject back to the original topic matter. "Which is why I'm allowing you all this chance at the solo mission and—" his concerned glance at Sasuke was quite obvious to even Sakura. "—a chance to get out of the village to clear your heads."

"But do you really think we're ready for solo missions already, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked, trying to put the previous matter out of her head. "We've only been genin for about two months, after all."

"And you've already handled yourself far above that which other teams your age and relative experience levels usually perform," Kakashi pointed out, smiling at the blush of embarrassment on the girl's face. "I trust that you kids will handle this solo mission just fine. Of course, heheh, you have to catch Naruto-san first." Turning as he started to walk away to deliver the promised paperwork to the Mission Assignment Desk, he called out, "Good luck with that! Last I saw, Naruto-san was having a bit too much fun."

"Why do I not like the sound of that?" Sakura couldn't help bemoan to Sasuke as Kakashi disappeared in a gust of leaves.

Sighing heavily as he focused his thoughts away from the disturbing similarities that were playing out in Sunagakure, he turned to his teammate as he said, "Let's go find the dobe and get started."

"Come on, Yonbi-chan! What's taking you?" Naruto called out exuberantly from where he was hanging carelessly upside-down on a clothesline. "You're really slow, you know that, right?"

Heaving out heavy pants, Temari could only glare up at the blonde bundle of what seemed like limitless energy. He had quite literally been bouncing all across the streets, off houses and building, everything, and she still couldn't catch up him, even when she was running in a straight line and he was obviously wasn't! "I'm gonna…catch you eventually…"

Pulling himself upright while crouching balanced on the clothesline, Naruto picked up her tessen and examined it with interest. Despite her potent desire to, Temari couldn't even lift herself off the ground from her kneeling position and attack the distracted blonde. And what made it worse was that she could tell that he also knew that she couldn't, which was why he was doing it.

"Are you Fuuton user?" Naruto asked amicably as he opened the giant fan slightly. "This thing doesn't seem like it'd make for a good weapon. Sure there's metal in it, but it'd been cumbersome to use in a fight."

"You really don't know anything about Fuuton ninjutsu, do you?" Temari said, blandly. "Fuuton ninjutsu is meant for long-ranged attacks."

"What, really?" the blonde blinked in surprise. "That's weird. How come my Fuuton jutsu aren't then?"

"What?" Temari blinked. Did she hear him right? "You know Fuuton ninjutsu? But you're only a brat!"

"Yeah, so?" Naruto demanded, glaring down at her.

"It takes years of practice and experience to be able to use Fuuton!" Temari snapped, trying to force down the surprise and anger filling her. She had trained, shedding tears, blood, and sweat for countless hours to be a respectably skilled Fuuton user, and this foreign bundle of energy claims to one as well? It was like a stake to her pride. Then a new thought occurred to her. "If you really can use Fuuton jutsu at your age, then you must have Fuuton nature chakra. But that's one of the rarest nature types out there!"

"Really? Wow, I'm even more awesome than I thought I was!" the kid asked, smiling broadly as he reveled in his own awesomeness. "But then, what did you expect from the future Hokage?"

Springing to her feet and lunging while he was distracted, Temari shot through the air towards the blonde. Then, just as she was sure that she had caught him by surprise, he simply leaned back and let gravity take him. With his feet firmly stuck to the clothesline with chakra, he swung down and around, cleanly dodging her. Landing awkwardly on another clothesline not too far away, it took her a moment to gain her balance on the thing and to use her chakra to keep both ends of it safely attached to the buildings around her.

Turning back to the blonde, she glared at him again. "I'm really beginning to dislike you, kid."

"Name's Uzumaki Naruto!" the kid introduced himself, giving very exaggerated bow to her for a moment. "Remember that name because I'm gonna be the best damned ninja you've ever heard of!"

"Now you're just boasting, Naruto-kun," a girl's voice said from nearby. Glancing over, both blondes spotted the speaker standing upon the roof of the building. "Quit goofing around, Naruto-kun, we passed the exercise. Let's go!"

"Wait, does that mean…?" Naruto trailed off as he stared at Sakura with a bright, enquiring gaze.

"That's right," she nodded. "Now, come on! We want to go before it gets too late!"

"You bet, Sakura-chan!" Naruto cheered, leaping easily towards the building to follow his teammate.

"Excuse me!" Temari yelled, drawing their attentions. "Aren't you forgetting something, Naruto?!"

Cocking his head slightly as he tried to think remember what he'd evidently forgotten, he said, "I don't think so. What is it, Yonbi-chan?"

"MY TESSEN!" she yelled, irked at this apparent simpleton. "Give it back!"

"Sorry, no can do!" Naruto chirped, smiling broadly as he ducked under Sakura's swing. "You didn't even touch me, Yonbi-chan! If you can't do that, then you're not good enough to get this back!" Yelling over his shoulder as he turned away, he said, "Maybe next time!"

In her exhaustion, Temari could only find enough strength to jump off the clothesline towards the building. She collapsed as soon as she landed, growling bloody murder under her breath. Noticing that the pink-haired girl was still present, she looked up imploringly at her.

"Much as I hate to admit it," the girl said, shaking her head. "Naruto's right. You need to train a lot more if you're already this tired from a little chase around the village."

"I'll have you know that this was hardly a 'little chase'," Temari growled. Then she hung her head in defeat as she remembered one important part about the chase. "…But I could barely even keep up with him."

"I think he might like you," Sakura said suddenly, earning Temari's questioning gaze with a crooked eyebrow. "Otherwise he'd have given you your tessen back and completely forgotten about you within five minutes. I think he wants to play with you some more."

Without another word, she turned and jumped away as well. Despite herself, Temari couldn't help but notice something of interest in the girl. The speeds she was traveling at were almost like those of Naruto's. "Tsk, maybe that other kid wasn't just boasting when he said they were the best."

(Author's Note) I wonder how many people can find the 'Dumbo' and 'TMNT' references in here. Although, I have to say that I hope I didn't mess up Temari's character too much with her reactions and opinions here.

Amaguriama/Sweet Chestnut Sweetness—Fun fact: Amaguriama appears in Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 3, where the player can spend time with the female Naruto characters like Hinata, Sakura, Temari, Tenten, Anko, Hanabi, and Shizune as they eat dango.

Anko dango: commonly known as (sweetened) red bean paste

Bocchan dango: dango that has three colors. One is colored by red beans, the second by eggs, and the third by green tea

Chadango: green-tea flavored dango