Zoro sighed as Iruka went into another lecture. He was just glad that he had only one year to go before he left the academy. Zoro curled his lip at the thought and looked around the room. Nearly everyone had a 'non-ninja' weapon…or more politely, shuriken and kunai. Don't get him wrong, nearly everyone had them too, but a lot had taken unusual weapons as well. Zoro did not see what the problem was, but some of the older gen were against the new weapon surge…idiots.

Having exhausted the sights in the room, Zoro looked out the window, but instead of seeing what he expected…he saw monks? Peering closer, Zoro saw that they were wearing orange robes and appeared to be training, using both swords and bow staffs. "Hey Iruka!" Zoro called out. The only reason that he did not use the term sensei was that there was only one man he respected enough to call that…and he was long gone.

Iruka looked at Zoro, then he followed Zoro's gaze out the window to see the monks. "They are the monks of fire here on a visit. If you guys wish, I can ask if we could have a weapons-only spar with them?" Iruka asked, but he knew the answer. After Zoro's fan girls took up weapons, it started a chain reaction in Konoha. It was predicted that Konoha would become more like Mist in terms of diversity in weapons and styles in few years.

Zoro's only indication that he wanted to go was the fact that he stood up and started to walk towards the door. Ino, seeing her 'true love' heading to the door, quickly followed him, along with the rest of the class. Zoro paused outside and took the time to notice some of the other student's weapons. Ino, despite what she had tried before, now sported a pair of knife boats. The knife boat was a strange weapon even by ninja standards. It had a blade mounted on the side and when used in a swiping kick, it extended past the bottom of the boat to cut into the opponent. The weapon required very strong legs and near perfect footwork. Zoro still did not know were she had put his old shirt….he just knew that it was her that had taken it. Sasuke, for all his faults, had become a decent ANBU sword user, although Zoro still trounced him in every fight. Chouji had taken up a war hammer that was very large and seemed to be made completely out of metal. The head of the hammer was shaped like two triangles intercepting each other, giving the hammer a v-shape on the top and bottom of the head.

Zoro shifted his thoughts away from his classmates as he looked at Iruka who was talking to an older monk with a shaven head. They seemed to be pleased with how the conversation was going, so that meant that he would have a new sparring partner soon. Watching closely,. Zoro saw that the conversation was coming to the end and stepped forward as Iruka made his way to his class. Similarly, the monk returned to his compatriots. "Okay guys, here is the thing. You will be paired against one of their monks. You will only be allowed your weapons and hand to hand skills for this, however the head monk also wants us to attempt to use dirty tricks to prepare his students to face ninjas." The class knew that monks sometimes had to defend themselves against ninjas from other nations.

Soon they were paired off. Zoro was paired with a monk his age named Lee. Lee's weapons of choice were twin hook swords…Zoro was excited at the prospect of facing such unique swords. Lee bowed his head to Zoro, who had risked a quick look to the two observers…he was asking without words if he could do what a Ninja would do if the opponent bowed before a match….Iruka nodded. Zoro wasted no time drawing his swords before running straight at his bowed opponent and delivered a savage kick to the head before dancing away. Lee looked at Zoro with shock "Rule number one when fighting a ninja…we do not fight fair." Zoro said calmly through the sword in his mouth. Zoro then charged again, swinging the swords in his hands in a downward arc.

Lee's mouth firmed, and seeing the attack moved his twin swords to block. He was also looking for a way to disarm or get under this strange new style he was fighting against. Lee watched as the ninja-in-training named Zoro attacked without pause as he was forced to block those lighting-fast strikes. Lee started to notice a pattern in the style. Zoro right arm would drop a little bit when he struck with the blade in his mouth…it was not much but, he would take it.

Zoro decided that he should end the fight now as he rushed in to try and position the blade in his mouth with Lee's neck. In his confidence, Zoro did not notice the excitement in Lee's eyes or he would have halted his attack. Lee used the slight opening to hook Zoro's right blade and pull/flip it away. Zoro watched wide-eyed as his blade sailed though the air and time seemed to slow down as it impaled the dirt….this marked the first time since the passing of his Sensei that he was disarmed.

The Leaf-Nin trainees were stunned as no one had ever been able to disarm Zoro in any fight. Even their instructors were never able to disarm him…so that begged the question- just how strong were this monks? Some or most of the trainees began to wonder what their chances could be if Zoro was disarmed (even though he still had two swords).

Zoro stared at his sword in the ground for a fraction before removing the blade from his mouth and grasping it in his empty hand. Zoro felt a kind of hatred towards the man that had dared to disarm him. "How dare he…do that!" Zoro thought as he frowned darkly. "How dare he spit in the face of all my work!" Zoro subconsciously knew that although these thoughts came from him…they were not his normal thoughts.

Lee gasped as he saw Zoro's eyes flash red before Zoro once again pressed the attack. Lee was too stunned by the evil aura that Zoro now gave off to even move to block as two crossing cuts hit his chest and Zoro appeared behind him. The monk fell forward and hit the ground unconscious.

Everyone watched speechlessly as the dramatic fight came to an end. Zoro's class was stunned as they had never seen him move that fast. One second he was there and the next the monk had a X cut into his chest while Zoro was behind him with his swords uncrossed. The monks were surprised that their best sword user had been taken down by an attack that was based on speed and power alone…not to mention that it was incomplete as Zoro was missing a sword.

Zoro looked back at the opponent that he should by all rights feel great about beating…but he didn't. The victory that was should taste sweet, just left a sour taste in his mouth. Zoro sighed, frowning, then walked over to his fallen sword and sheathed it along with the swords in his hands. He paused a moment, then walked by his classmates, ignoring them as they congratulated him on a victory. Zoro ignored their cheers as he put his back against a nearby tree, closed his eyes, and folded his arms. With a frown still on his face, Zoro let sleep take him…

Ino watched Zoro sleep and knew that this was not a time to touch him as he only let sleep take him standing up when he was thinking about something. She looked around and could see the other match-ups taking place. Ino had fun watching her classmates go toe to toe against the monks and finding that the one Zoro fought was the most skilled….she also knew that Zoro was a heavy sleeper after spars…so he should still be there when Iruka dismissed the class after the sparring.

Zoro felt time pass and realized he felt cold for some reason. He opened his eyes and found himself shirtless…his arms still folded across his chest? Zoro reached up and touched one of his cheeks and pulled his arm back as on his fingertips were smudged with lipstick….Zoro sighed as he pushed himself upright and walked home.

Meanwhile somewhere off the coast, an beautiful orange-haired girl was floating in a boat. She was laid out neatly with her eyes nearly closed. Her body looked limp and lifeless. She was wearing a blue and white shirt and a light brown mini-skirt, demurely folded around her thighs. She looked like a well-developed 14 year old. The weathered boat she was on was pretty simple as it had only a chest and a wooden staff in it.

She floated peacefully until a small ship holding three burly thugs loaded with gold approached the small boat. "Hey guys! Look at that cute babe in the boat, hehehe." One of the thugs points out the orange-haired beauty as they pulled close.

A wrinkle appeared on her brow, then the girl opened her eyes and looked at them "Think god you've come. I've been out here for days without food or water. Please, for some food and water you could help yourself to my treasure." The girl weakly pointed at the chest.

"Yeah…we'll take it alright." The big bald thug said as he tried to look down her shirt. One of the other thugs heaved the chest that was on the girl's ship into their own, while all three jumped into the small boat.

The girl eye's seemed to take on a mischievous light when, all of a sudden, she aimed a vicious kick to one of the thug's… lower regions. She then flipped up her staff into the air as she jumped on the now-crouching thug and then caught it before sending it straight into the faces of the other thugs. After the two thugs were knocked out by her staff, she then stomped on the head of the thug under her feet…knocking him out.

Sometime later, the thugs opened their eyes…only to see their boat floating away. They grabbed for paddles, only to realize that there were none. The girl grinned at the thugs as she and all the treasure floated away from them. "Thanks for the treasure suckers!" The girl yelled out at them as she stuck her tongue out.

The thugs looked at each other wide-eyed before speaking in unison. "Gatou will kill us!" they shouted while grabbing each other.

Iruka looked over his class of 13 years olds as he mentally rehearsed what he was going to say. "Class, as you know graduation is coming closer…however, the Hokage has need of some of you to take part in a mission." Iruka knew that the only reason his class had been chosen was due to the diverse weapons in his class and the only reason Iruka's gen and above were not chosen was because they preferred standard ninja weaponry. "When I call your name, you are to make your way to Wave by the means I call." Iruka continued in a slightly quieter voice as he now knew he had the entire class's attention.

"Roronoa Zoro, you will be going by row boat. Your role is to act as a pirate hunter...Don't worry we have been spreading rumors to up your rep." Zoro nodded in agreement as a row boat would help work out his arms. Shikamaru and Chouji will take the road disguised as civilians." Chouji and Shikamaru nodded to one another. "Ino, you are going there disguised as a archaeologist named Nico Robin…we will have to dye your hair." Ino was a little dejected over the fact that she would need to dye her hair as she thought dye was damaging, but she perked up at the thought of some real action. "Okay, the names I have called you will be escorted to where you are to begin your roles." Iruka could only hope that everything would go smoothly.

There, chapter 2 is done. I hope you enjoyed it. Please review.