Authoress's Note: Hey guys, I'm really sorry about the delay on this chapter. And I'm sorry if the last chapters haven't met your standards. I've had company down for the past two weeks and I've been exhausted. Anyway, here's Chapter Thirteen: Field Trip! I hope you enjoy this one, and I made it longer than the others too :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the characters that it portrays. I do own this little twisted plot, the students, and the place for the field trip (can't give the secret away :D). Anyway, enjoy:)

The next few days went by with a few bad qualms, but nothing too dramatic for Sasuke's taste. Sai had finally been released from therapy on account of he wouldn't tell Anko what the heck he was in there for, and he'd gotten whacked so many times by her behavior stick that he'd been given a concussion. Anko had been forced to release him or else she'd be demoted from Jounin.

Sasuke would have preferred she got demoted and forced to stop the therapy more than he did watching Sai heal.

Naruto was released on the second day of the therapy, but was forced to return because, well, he wouldn't shut his mouth and Tsunade didn't like it.

Neji's case of paranoia over the bunnies was too severe for Anko's ravings, so he was sent to the higher level of mental therapy's exerciser: Shikaku Nara (who was currently not on any missions and had nothing better to do).

Jiraiya was released as an unsolvable case, and no further questions were asked.

No one really wanted to know the reason behind his behavior.

Izumo was released on good behavior, and because Kotetsu hadn't actually been there for a serious reason, he was able to go as well.

Shikamaru was just kicked out because Anko was tired of hearing him snore through her lectures.

And Sasuke himself was still there because of the blonde Hokage herself. Thankfully he'd already been there for a week and a half, and had merely four more days to go. He couldn't say he could complain a lot, considering he'd figured out how to get around the behavior stick.

All he had to do was blame everything on Naruto. Then he wouldn't get hurt, and he could laugh mentally as Naruto did.

With the Academy, things hadn't been too exciting. Sasuke would help build it until he had to go to therapy, and most of the time he was able to avoid the children, considering they had to work too.

Tai had been forced to stay away from the school because of his injuries, but Sasuke knew that he would be returning soon, and prayed that the kid would stay away for a while longer.

So, life hadn't been too bad for Sasuke for the past week and a half.

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Sasuke tossed the heavy board at the blaring alarm, sending it smashing through the window. It didn't shut off, though, to Sasuke's confusion.

Wait – window? Board?

Sasuke sat up in bed and stared at the window he'd just shattered. He blinked his sleep away and realized that the blaring alarm he'd heard was just the streets of Konohagakure getting ready for the day.

He also realized that he was still at the Academy.

I must have fallen asleep after everyone left . . . I wonder why I wasn't woken up by someone, he thought as he stretched and stood up, picking up his pack and heading towards the dango shop for a cup of coffee or hot herbal tea. Whichever smelled better when he got there would be enough for him.

The day before he had been working at the Academy all day because Anko had been forced to go on a one-day mission and had cancelled the day's lecture. Sasuke didn't complain.

Working on re-building the Academy was much better than sitting through two and a half to three hours of pure shouting from that woman.

He walked into the dango shop and walked over to the counter, ordering a cup of herbal tea. He sighed as he stared lazily at the bulletins stacked up on a tack board behind the counter.

Any and all help required to rebuild the Academy.

Sasuke smirked as he read this one. Now he understood why some of the new people had shown up to help out with the Academy.

He read through a few more about help wanted in the shops around the village before his tea was brought to him. He thanked the man stoically before turning on his heel and heading towards his house.

It had been growing cold around the area recently, and had forced him to wear a long sleeved shirt thanks to it. Not that he minded the cold. Cold kept kids away, and kids away from Sasuke meant he was a happy man.

He ended up completing his entire cup of tea before arriving at his house, so he made himself some coffee while he changed into some better clothing. He sighed as he realized he'd been following something close to the same routine for the past three days. He'd fall asleep somewhere different, and end up coming here to change.

What was the point of even owning a house?

He'd actually woken up one day to find a squirrel sleeping in his hair one morning. That had disturbed him, considering he didn't like squirrels, and it had buried its acorns in his shirt collar.

The next day he'd woken in a restaurant and had been forced to sweep the place for staying so long.

And this morning he'd woken in the Academy to find himself breaking a window while thinking it was an alarm clock. He sighed. Stress wasn't fun at all.

He headed back towards the Academy, a dull sway in his step.

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"Sasuke-san! I'm so glad you're here! I have a favor to ask of you," Iruka said as he saw the raven-haired boy coming up the road.

"What is it?" Sasuke asked as he stared at Iruka boredly. What did he want him to do? Iron wood or something?

"We're going to be putting the walls in, since the framing's all finished with. It's too dangerous for the children, so could you take them to the zoo for me?" Iruka asked, looking at Sasuke seriously.

"We have a zoo here?" Sasuke asked, not totally sure that he understood the concept of this favor.

"It's new, and just down the street from the village," Iruka explained.

"So, it's like a . . . Field trip."

"Yes, basically, except they can learn a few things from there," Iruka said matter-of-factly.

"They can learn what exactly?"

"Well, they can learn how the different seals are contributed to by the animals and how they reflect them," Iruka explained. "I taught your class like that, except without actually having animals involved. So, take what you know, and put it together with the actual animals."

"Okay. Who's going to be coming?" Sasuke asked monotonously as he looked at Iruka. Sure, he could handle taking a few kids to the zoo. Maybe he could even leave some of the more animalistic kids there and pass them off as gorillas for money. That would be fine.

"Well, there's going to be Iria, Makoto, Naoko, and Ouya . . ." Iruka continued to list off students, and Sasuke didn't really pay much attention, at first. Sure, Iria and the other first two would be pains, but he could handle them.

"Katsuaki, Yumina, and finally, Tai," Iruka finished, smiling at Sasuke, who suddenly looked about three shades paler (if possible) than he already was. Iruka gave him a funny look.

"Are you okay, Sasuke-san?"

Sasuke felt nauseous. He nodded to Iruka anyway, and managed to speak straight. "When are we leaving?"

"You leave as soon as everyone's here," Iruka said, his smile returning. "Once everyone I named arrives."

Sasuke paled even worse, almost looking white.

There were three reasons for this. One, he was going to have to escort some brats around stinking animals. Two, he couldn't leave Tai behind. Three, there was absolutely no way he was going to remember all of those names.

Iruka laughed, noting Sasuke's different expression. "Don't worry," he said, pulling out a sheet of paper from his pocket. "I made you a list of the names, and I drew you a map of where the zoo's at on the back."

"Thanks," Sasuke stated monotonously as he calmed down a little. This wasn't going to be so bad, right? He took the list from Iruka and waited for the group to arrive.

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Tai was the last person Sasuke was waiting on, and it was annoying the poor man quite badly. Through his boredom, he tried his best to stay awake, considering his last attempt at doing so didn't work so well and he'd woken up looking like a mutant.

Iria and Naoko were playing together while the boys talked as they all waited for the evil young boy.

And finally, he showed up, using a crutch to help him balance. He smiled at them all, which spelled disaster for Sasuke. The elder tried to ignore this as he addressed the students.

"We're going to be heading to the new zoo outside of the village," he announced. "There are rules involved, too."

"What are the rules, Sasuke-sensei?" Tai asked kindly, which spiked Sasuke's guard up sky-high.

"The rules are that you have to stick close to me so that you don't get lost, you stay away from the animals, and you don't argue," Sasuke stated firmly, crossing his arms. "Understand?"

Everyone nodded, though Tai seemed the brightest in his response. He caused Sasuke to mentally shudder, though he couldn't explain why. The kid just creeped him out.

"Well then, let's get going," Sasuke sighed as he turned on his heel and began walking on the all-too-familiar path out of the village.

It took them about fifteen minutes to get to the zoo, and nothing suspicious had happened yet. In a normal person's view, anyway. To Sasuke, they were planning something.

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"Sasuke-sensei's acting funny," Iria mumbled as she moseyed along beside Makoto. "He keeps looking around like someone's going to attack him or something."

"Maybe we made that big of a dent on him. It's just boring now that Tai hasn't come up with any ideas for us to do to Sasuke recently," Makoto muttered. "I sure hope this promise he made us about what he's going to have us do to Sasuke will be worth the wait."

"I hope we don't have to wait until Tai's off of his crutches," Naoko sighed wistfully as she brushed a few strands of hair out of her eyes. "I mean, it's so boring having to let Sasuke go through the week without doing anything to him. He's our main source of fun."

"Well, what do you want us to do about it?" Iria snapped. "It's not like we can just leave Tai out of it. You know how good his plans are. And you can't forget that he's the one who gave us the chances to get to Sasuke-sensei in the first place."

"Yeah, yeah, we know, we know," Makoto sighed. "It's just the fact that Sasuke is so fun to prank. He's so . . . Babyish when he gets his looks messed up."

"Like you are when someone steals your hair curler?" Iria asked, referring to the fact that Makoto had short curly hair.

"Iria, I do not have a curler!" Makoto snapped, glaring daggers at her.

"Sasuke-sensei doesn't even notice you two arguing," Naoko sighed, crossing her arms. "He's such a boring sensei. He's never any fun when he acts normal."

"Yeah," Makoto muttered, coming back to his normal personality. "I want to prank him, but I don't know what I want to do. So, guys, what's the best you can come up with?"

". . . Tripping him and watching him stumble down a steep cliff and laughing as he rams into a puddle of mud," Naoko said blandly. Makoto and Iria stared at her incredulously.

"You do know that that actually might kill him, right?" Iria asked, still trying to get over her friend's twisted sense of humor.

"Yeah, but it'd still be fun to watch."

"You're weird," Makoto grumbled, before turning to Iria. "So, what about you?"

"I wish we had a way that we could get a ton of birds to attack him. That would be cool," Iria giggled.

"But . . . We don't have a way to do that, so it's out of the question," Makoto sighed. "The best I can come up with is ultimate wedgies, but I don't think we can do that . . . Not even to him."

"Why not?" Naoko asked, an evil glint in her young eyes.

Makoto groaned. "Because it really hurts."

"Don't worry, guys, I'm back," Tai said as he limped over to them on his crutches. "And I've got a plan that's going to leave Sasuke trembling in his shoes."

"You do?" Iria asked, smiling cheerfully. "Finally! I missed the old Tai, and now you're back!" she said, hugging the boy happily. Tai nodded as they came into the zoo. "And it's going to happen right in this place . . ."

---------

Sasuke turned to all of the students that were currently following him. He had successfully ignored each and every one of them the entire way here. And the best part of this was the fact that none of them had left.

He wasn't in trouble for ignoring them because they couldn't prove it.

He sighed as he looked at the group. Everyone seemed to be rather well contented, so he didn't complain. "The basic reasoning behind coming here is for research on how the animals reflect on the hand seals that we use in the Ninjutsu and Genjutsu hand signs," he explained. "I'm only going to repeat the rules one more time."

The kids nodded, which Sasuke was surprised to see.

"One, you have to stick close to me so that you don't get lost or hurt."

"We can handle that, Sasuke-sensei, right everyone?" Tai asked, looking at the group.

"Yeah!" The kids said happily.

Sasuke noted that the kids had a positive response when Tai spoke. Maybe this kid was a good ally after all.

"Two, you will not get near the animals," Sasuke added, watching as the kids nodded in agreement. "And you will not argue with me."

"Okay," the children said in unison.

"Er, right," Sasuke said, still a little baffled at the responses he was getting. "So, let's get going," he said, turning and walking away.

He didn't see the high-five that Tai and Makoto slapped each other, or the wicked glint that sparked in Naoko's eyes when he turned his back.

Plan 'caged Sasuke' was going nicely already at such an early stage.

This was going to be a piece of cake.

There's my latest chapter! This little crazy tale is coming to an end in either the next chapter or the one after, unfortunately. I really hope you've enjoyed it thus far. :D Anway, please review!

Shebby