Kasek: Well, I guess nobody really searches for Zelda in the Naruto section... well, I'll keep writing this until I'm finished with it! Which won't be for a long time...

As for the pairings report, I think so far I'm going with Konohamaru/Hanabi, and... well, the other characters haven't been introduced yet.

Disclaimer: I own neither the manga/anime/video game series 'Naruto', nor the video game/manga/comic/cartoon series 'Legend of Zelda', nor any of the affiliated characters.


Legend of Naruto: Hokage's Pendant

Chapter 2: Village of the Sand

It had been a few days since they had left Konoha, and they could almost see the entrance to Suna. Good thing, too, because Konohamaru wouldn't stop complaining about the heat. Naruto wondered if the boy realized that wearing an over-sized scarf in the desert wasn't a very good idea... Heck, wearing an over-sized scarf (which Konohamaru had somehow managed to avoid tripping on) at all wasn't a good idea.

Naruto's mind began wandering back to his much younger teammates. Hanabi didn't seem too different from her sister; Hanabi was very polite, but sometimes Naruto would catch the occasional Hyuuga Look of Disdain ( copyright currently in the possession of Hyuuga Hiashi) on her face, usually whenever Moegi and Udon spoke. However, whenever the Konohamaru Corps. got to close to their team, she would start blushing like crazy; maybe she was just shy in a crowd? Naruto decided he was going to help fix that.

Sheik was a bit of a mystery. He looked like the silent type, yet seemed to enjoy conversations, and also seemed to enjoy Konohamaru's and Naruto's company more than Hanabi's. Naruto couldn't truly blame him; Hanabi was no boy, and was certainly not the type to 'just talk'. Also, Sheik seemed to enjoy playing travelers' games. A LOT. Particularly 'I Spy'. That was another reason Naruto was glad to have gotten to the desert; there was nothing left for the odd boy to play 'I Spy' with out here, unless you counted the sand.

"I spy, with my eye..." Holy... the kid was STILL going at it? "Something... brown."

Naruto glanced back at him and raised an eyebrow. "Brown?"

Sheik nodded. "And covered in shinobi."

Naruto immediately scanned the horizon, and could spot what looked like the beginnings of a cliff in the horizon. Naruto recognized it immediately; it was the entrance to Suna. "Wow, I wouldn't have noticed that. How'd you get so good at spotting stuff?"

Sheik glanced in Naruto's direction with that one eye of his. "By playing 'I Spy', of course."

Naruto would've yelled some kind of insult at him, but decided against it. Right now, Sheik was probably smirking at him, anyways; might as well let him enjoy this one victory. He moved over to Konohamaru, who was still busy whining about the heat to have taken notice of what Sheik had said. "Konohamaru, didn't you hear? We're almost there."

Konohamaru's mood immediately brightened, and he then went into 'I'm going to beat everybody and become a Chunin' mode. After a moment, Naruto got a little annoyed and bonked him on the head. "Konohamaru, how many times to I have to tell you, it's not that easy. There are some people who try all their lives to pass these exams... and some people who's lives end on their first try." The speech seemed to unnerve the Konohamaru Corps. Naruto had neglected to mention that little detail earlier.

After a little bit, they could finally see the actual entrance to Suna, and weren't totally surprised that there was somebody there. However, everyone (minus Naruto) was shocked, to say the least, at who that person was. There, standing at the entrance to Suna, was the Kazekage himself. They were even more shocked when Naruto ran up to him.

"Hey, Gaara, how've you been?"

Gaara smiled, which, a long time ago, would've made everybody in the immediate vicinity run for their lives. Now, however, the guards smiled too, thankful that the Gaara of today no longer had that particular quirk about him.

"I've been fine, Naruto, but the papers for these exams are killing me..."

Naruto had a look of mock concern. "Hey, hey, I don't want you dying on me again, Gaara."

"Do not worry, Naruto, I won't be dying again for a long time."

They both laughed (okay, just Naruto), and then Naruto noticed something weird about his friend.

"Hey, Gaara, how come your eyes are... you know..."

Gaara raised his his hand to his face, touching the black circles that still surrounded his eyes. "Ah, well, my body is used to not sleeping, so I just stay awake out of habit. Besides, I fell asleep the first day, and not even Temari could wake me up. I had already been missing for several days and I was asleep for two days, so now, I only fall asleep when there's a lull in incoming paperwork."

Naruto, after recovering from the shock of hearing the longest sentence that he had ever heard from Gaara, nodded, knowing exactly what he was talking about. "Yeah, I can only imagine the amount of paperwork that piled up over your little 'vacation'."

By now, everyone was gaping at the scene in front of them. Naruto had just walked up to the Kazekage and started talking to him as if he were an old friend. Listening to their conversation, everyone gathered that they probably were. Gaara turned to them. "So, these are all of the participants Konoha has for the exams? I was expecting more than this."

Naruto turned back to his teammates. "Yeah, as far as I know, this is it. But, with me here, this is all Konoha NEEDS."

Gaara smirked. "I don't doubt it. Do you mind introducing me?"

Naruto turned around and pointed at Hanabi. "Not at all! This is Hyuuga Hanabi," at this point Hanabi bowed, "this is snicker Sheikah Sheik," Sheik was glad that there wasn't even a flicker on the Kazekage's face, and also bowed, "this is Sheikah Impa-sensei," Impa bowed and muttered a 'greetings, Kazekage-sama', "this is the Konohamaru Corps., which consists of Sarutobi Konohamaru, and... hey, Moegi, Udon, do you guys even have family names? Ah whatever... and that's closet perv-sensei!" Ebisu immediately blushed, while Gaara- and every female in the vicinity, particularly the Gaara fan-club, who's members had somehow gone unnoticed until now. Ebisu bowed, and muttered under his breath that he 'wasn't a pervert.'

Naruto turned back to Gaara. "So, what do we do now? We've still got a week until the exams, right?"

Gaara nodded. "There's a hotel that's been reserved for the Chunin exam participants, I'll have someone meet up with you and bring you there. In the meantime, I have to get out of here before the fan-girls cut off all of my escape routes. See you later, and good luck with the exams." And with that, the wind picked up, kicking up the surrounding sand. A moment later, the wind stopped, and Gaara was nowhere to be seen. The fan-girls, disappointed that Gaara had escaped, started back to their respective lookout-posts (searching for Gaara). Naruto turned back to his fellow Genin.

"Well, then, let's go!" Everybody face-vaulted, and Konohamaru was first to get up.

"Uh, Boss... shouldn't we wait here for that someone Kazekage-sama's sending to bring us to the hotel?" (Wait, Konohamaru has manners? Gasp!)

Naruto looked at them weird. "Oh, come on, I'm sure they'll be able to find us. Come on, let's explore!" As Naruto boldly walked into town, everyone just shrugged and followed him.

---

It had been a few minutes, and everybody was bored... and lost. Konohamaru had had enough, and stepped out in front of the group, walking backwards as he talked. "See? What'd I tell ya, Boss? It's only been five minutes, and we're already lost! We should go back to the gate!''

Naruto looked up in Konohamaru's direction and grinned. "Come on, Konohamaru, you oughta have more faith in Suna's shinobi." Konohamaru raised an eyebrow, and then felt himself bump into something (that's what he gets for walking backwards). He turned around and found himself looking into a certain Suna Jonin's face. Naruto's grin grew even wider.

"Hey, Kankuro, it's been a while."

Kankuro looked back and forth between Konohamaru and Naruto. "Huh, deja vu. Anyways, Gaara sent me to get you guys and bring you to the hotel. Come on, follow me."

They all silently followed Kankuro (except Naruto, who was talking to Kankuro) back to the hotel, where they found three rooms reserved for them- one for Ebisu, Konohamaru, and Udon, one for Naruto and Sheik, and the last one for Impa, Hanabi, and Moegi (the boys are split up by team, and the girls have their own room). The Konohamaru Corps. plus Hanabi were more than happy to get to their slightly cooler rooms. Meanwhile, Naruto, Impa, Sheik, Ebisu, and Kankuro stayed in the lobby. Ebisu and Impa, who knows why they stayed, but Naruto wanted to talk to Kankuro some more, and Sheik wanted to see if there were any more competitors around.

"So, Kankuro, how's life been going for Gaara?"

"A lot better than his last one. Although, he wishes he could get rd of the fan-girls without having to kill them..."

They both chuckled, and paused when they heard some yelling.

"Watch where you're going, Smoke-Boy!"

"Me?!? You're the one who bumped into me, Tree-Hugger!"

Apparently, two 10-year old boys (Naruto: Just how many little kids could they POSSIBLY let into these exams? I don't remember there being ANYBODY younger than us when WE took the exams...) had just gotten into a fight. Naruto saw there hitai-ate, and while the headband of the green-clothed kid was completely new to him, the one the gray-haired kid was wearing was kind of familiar...

As Kankuro tried to diffuse the situation- mainly by just picking them up by the back of their shirts and hanging them in midair until they calmed down- Naruto decided to analyze these potential rivals (though Naruto seriously doubted they could've been much better than him when he had first entered the exams). The one on the left had blond hair and blue eyes, much like himself, and was only wearing a weird green cap and a simple green tank-top over a pair of green shorts, separated only by his hitai-ate, which was being used as a belt. Naturally, he had a kunai pouch on his leg. Naruto looked at the symbol on the hitai-ate; it looked like some kind of nut that had been cracked half-open. The boy's eyes shined with arrogance and pride- not two traits Naruto particularly liked.

The gray haired boy- whom Naruto realized also had gray eyes- was fairly typical of a ninja. He was wearing a zipped up ash-gray vest over his bare chest, and was wearing black pants. His hair was mostly short except for the bangs, which covered his forehead, and consequentially, his hitai-ate. Naruto stared at it for a minute trying to remember where he had seen such a mark; it looked like some kind of squiggly question mark. After a minute of racking his brain, he remembered what the green-kid had called him; Smoke-Boy. A light-bulb turned on in Kyuubi's cell; that's where he had seen it before! Those weird ninja from a few years ago had that same symbol on their hitai-ate! Now what was the name of the village... Moya? No, that was the name of the ninja themselves... ah! Now he remembered! It was Kemuri! Kemurigakure!

Currently, the two boys had been silent for about ten seconds, and Kankuro gently set them down. They immediately dashed off to what Naruto assumed to be their respective rooms. Kankuro walked back to Naruto. "That Mori brat keeps causing trouble... if he keeps this up, he'll get his team expelled from the exams... shame, too, cause his teammates are actually pretty nice... and the Kemuri punk isn't too much different, though he doesn't actively seek trouble. I swear, kids these days..."

Naruto laughed at that last comment. "Hey, hey, you're starting to sound like an old man! 'Kids these days...' you need to lighten up!"

Kankuro cracked a smile. "Yeah, I guess you're right. But these Chunin exams are such a hassle for anyone involved with them."

Naruto nodded, having heard about it from Shikamaru back in Konoha, and Gaara when he had arrived. "So, who were those kids?"

Kankuro gave him a glare. "I'm not telling you anything that would give you an unfair advantage over them, if that's what you want. The blondie was Kokiri Mido, from Morigakure, and the gray kid was Kemurino Kaijin, from Kemurigakure. From their personalities, I'd guess that they come from some important families or something, seeing how they've got the arrogant pride bit down."

Naruto's head bobbed momentarily in acknowledgment, and looked to Sheik, who had been leaning against a pillar. "You spot anybody else interesting?"

Sheik didn't move, but his eye opened, acknowledging Naruto. "I saw two shinobi that looked to be on Mido's team; one male, one female. They all wear similar clothes, and are of the same age. Also, I did not see anyone else from Kemurigakure, nor anybody else from the other villages. I guess we're just early."

Naruto nodded again, and then his stomach rumbled loudly. "Well, if you're done with your observations, I say we go get some ramen!"

Kankuro shook his head. "Sorry to break it to ya, but Suna doesn't have any ramen stands."

---

Gaara flinched when he had heard that pained scream; he would've investigated it, but not only did it sound like Naruto, whom Gaara knew could take care of himself, but that momentary lapse in Gaara's concentration had caused him to splotch the ink, causing him to have to start over with the forms he was filling out. Gaara sighed, and pulled another form from the mile-high stack on his desk.


Kasek: There, five pages' worth, finished in the wee hours of the morning! I hope that whoever's reading this likes this story!

I added the OCs (Kaijin and his two unmentioned teammates) because I mostly just need people to fill up the ranks, and also because I've had the idea of a Kemuri Genin team stuck in my head forever. I'm sure that EVERYONE who's reading this fic (and has played OoT) will know who Mido's teammates are. Speaking of which, who did you guys think I was talking about when I described Mido? And I have absolutely no fashion sense whatsoever, so could what Mido wears be considered a tank-top, or is it something else?

I apologize if anyone is offended by the personalities I have given Hanabi and Sheik (Sheik in particularly), but that's just the way I see them being. If you want me to explain, PM me or say something about in in your reviews. As for Gaara's eyes... come on! Gaara just wouldn't be the same without the dark rings under his eyes!

Well, review, review, review, and all that jazz. I'm going to get some much needed sleep right now. Good night!