Chapter XIV

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

All ten of the genin lounged in the grass by the edge of the training field.

"Come on, Jaitan will start looking for us soon," Sakura whined. "We should start training.

"Yes. She's right. Come on!" Oscar jumped up. When his words garnered no response, not even from Sakura, he shouted, "Come, my loyal minions!"

"I'm not your minion," Choji muttered through a mouthful of chips.

Oscar put on a serious expression. "Well, you have to be somebody's minion. It's very hard to find good work as a freelance minion."

"Aren't we all technically freelance minions, seeing as we're ninjas?" Sasuke asked.

"Not exactly freelance. We do have teams," Shino pointed out.

"As scintillating as this conversation is," Everyone twitched in surprise.

"Log, Jaitan! I wish you wouldn't do that!"

Jaitan continued smoothly, "I am your sensei, and, therefore, you are all my minions. So, thus said, good little minions are going to learn how to water walk today! Doesn't that sound like fun?" Everyone groan, both at the prospect of getting up and doing work and at the faux-enthusiastic note in Jaitan's voice. "Tsk tsk. That's not how my minions will behave." The body that had, up until then, been completely silent, broke into an enormous grin and drew a sopping wet, and probably icy cold, towel out from behind his back. He twisted it into a thick whip shape and cracked it loudly, causing shivers to run down the spines of his charges. The ten genin stood up and fled toward the small pond at the other side of the field. They were pursued the whole way by their sensei, one of his bodies holding the whip and the other cackling, "Flee! Flee before me, wretched minions!"

"Now, channel your chakra out of the soles of your feet. You are using the chakra to hold yourself off of the surface of the water in a way that is slightly similar to tree climbing. This time, however, you're not just sticking yourself to the surface, as that would dump you at the bottom of the pond with a thin layer of water stuck to the bottom of your feet. Here, you have to also infuse your chakra with the surface of the water. You need to create a sufficient amount of surface tension to be able to use your chakra to float on it. When you progress to actually walking on the water, you will find that you have to modify your chakra flow as you go, adjusting to the movement of the water. For now, I will be content with you just learning how to stand on it, though you will learn how to walk on it before I'm through. For now, just practice in the shallows. I'll come around and correct you. Any questions?"

"Um, yeah," Kiba said, raising his hand to shoulder height. "Why are you still holding the whip?"

The Jaitan who have been speaking looked over his shoulder. Behind him stood his clone, still wielding the wet towel. "Call it an incentive." Both faces shared a brief, but no less evil for that, grin.

A few minutes later, Naruto landed with a splash, floundering and choking. "I can't do it!" he yelled in frustration.

"Geez, calm down. No one else can do it yet either," Shikamaru yawned. He caught his sensei's eye and hastily tried to look busy attempting to grasp the jutsu.

"I know," Naruto said frustratedly. "But I thought that I did it for a second." The blonde stood up, rather depressed, and not just because the seat of his pants was completely soaked. He glanced over at Hinata, who was tactfully pretending not to notice his recent failure.

A rather damp, and slightly discontent troupe of genin left the field that day. Not one of them had been able to fully walk on the water. A few of them had been able to get one foot to float successfully, but once more weight was put on it or the water shifted under them, the thin layer of cohesion was broken and the foot just fell through.

Naruto wasn't really paying attention to his surroundings. He could walk back to his apartment on autopilot, and he really wanted to change his cold, wet clothes. Because of this, it took him a moment to realize that Hinata was trailing a few feet behind him. He slowed down a little to let her catch up.

"Hey," She said. Naruto noticed that her stutter had almost entirely vanished, at least when she spoke to him. She continued, "Oscar-kun just gave me this. I th-think he gave them to everyone. What- I mean, do you know what it is?" She held up a little white envelope.

Naruto frowned at it. "No, I don't. Open it, see what it is."

Hinata slid a thin, pale finger under the sealed flap and slit it open. She pulled out a little, hand-lettered card. She read it over quickly and then passed it to Naruto with a slight blush. It read-

To whom it may concern-

You are formally invited to a

SLEEPOVER PARTY

Hosted by Oscar Junomaru.

All of your fellow genin will be there

Attendance Mandatory

RSVP unnecessary

Plan to arrive around 6:30pm

(Wear your pajamas and bring a sleeping bag)

Date: Tonight

There followed a list of directions on how to get to Naruto's apartment building. Naruto bit the inside of his cheek in amusement. "Trust him to do something like this. You coming?"

"Er, well N-naruto-kun, the card s-says Attendance M-mandatory." Hinata turned faintly pink at her own daring.

"True," Naruto said. His mind was not completely there; part of it was wondering what kind of pajamas Hinata wore. "Will your father let you come?"

Hinata sobered. This was a problem she had evidently been avoiding contemplating. "I-I hope so. I'll have to be really tactful and d-downplay e-everything."

"Maybe you should go ask him now and get it over with," Naruto suggested, dubiously. He did not like the idea that Hinata would have to fight her father just for permission for something as small as a sleepover. "Do you want me to come?"

"Well, I want you to, b-but, I th-think it's better if I appear b-before my father a-alone." Naruto understood. His presence was not welcome in the Hyuuga clan compound.

Naruto surveyed the room dubiously. There wasn't much sign that there was about to be a sleepover party, apart from the food that sat on the table. Also, he wasn't quite sure if ten people would fit into the small apartment room. But hey, it wasn't his party.

"Okay," Oscar said, "I need you to go into your room for a minute, and I'm not letting you back in if you're not wearing your pajamas. Also, bring a sleeping bag. You'll need it."

"Slight problem, I don't own a sleeping bag," Naruto pointed out.

"True. Neither do I, come to that." The dark boy frowned. "Just bring some blankets, then."

"Right." Naruto left, shutting the door behind him. He didn't really want to crawl through the tiny connecting door if he didn't have to.

By the time he came back wearing his pajamas and nightcap and dragging a blanket, Oscar was already in pajamas and had set up his own blankets on the floor. He caught Naruto's confused look. "What? It wouldn't be fair if I slept on the bed."

Naruto nodded. "Yeah. What time is everyone coming again?"

Oscar picked up the watch that was lying on his bed and studied it before tossing it back down. "They should be here in a few minutes. Before they come, I have a question." There was not a trace of a smile on the shorter boy's face. "Have you told Hinata about the Kyuubi?"

"You mean, the fact that I have a homicidal demon fox inside of me? No, not yet. I know I'll have to, and soon, but I haven't really gotten around to it yet." He noticed the tense look on his friend's face. "Why? Should I tell her tonight?"

Oscar opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by a sharp rap on the door. Looking half guilty and half relieved, the dark boy scuttled over to the door and threw it open to reveal Shino, Sakura, and Ino, all carrying sleeping bags and pillows and dressed in pjs. Naruto was interested to see that Shino still wore his sunglasses, though the sun would be completely going down in two or three hours. Over the next twenty minutes or so, the rest of the genin arrived, all pajama-clad, emotions ranging from dubious to excited. Sad though it may sound, none of the young ninjas had ever attended a sleepover before. To everyone's silent relief, however, Ino and Sakura had wisely decided to leave their handmade Sasuke dolls at home.

The genin made themselves at home, laying out sleeping bags and talking. Led by Choji, they all drifted toward the food before sitting in little groups on the floor. Oscar, who was sitting slightly apart from his guests, looked slightly nervous, but determined. When he judged the most people were done eating, he called for quiet.

"Okay, guys," he said, "Now, there is a reason why I called you here tonight, but I can't tell you until you're all facing me. Why don't we form a circle?" he waited while his peers scooted around, finally forming a wobbly circle on the floor. Oscar inserted himself between Sakura and Sasuke, perhaps sensing that this was a prudent move. He looked around the circle, making sure that every eye was on him. They were. He cleared his throat. "Alright. Well. Lets start here." He turned to Sakura, put a hand on her shoulder, looked her right in the eye, and said, "Do you trust me?"

Sakura gave a slightly creeped out look. She leaned back a little. "Well, it's kind of-"

But Oscar cut her off as he turned to Sasuke on his other side. He did the same thing. "Sasuke, do you trust me?"

Sasuke was better at controlling his face, but he could not stop it betraying a flicker of unease. "It's not-"

But Oscar cut him off, too. "Ino," he said, his face completely serious, "Do you trust Sakura?"

A sneer began to form on the blonde girl's face as she eyed her rival. Oscar didn't let her even begin to form a reply, instead, he asked Sakura if she trusted Ino, and got much the same response.

"Alright," Kiba burst out, "That's nice, no one trusts anyone here. What's your point?"

"That is my point," Oscar said. "We are shinobi, which, as a general rule means 'trust no one and rely only on yourself.' However, while we are still genin and still have teams, and still train and live together, we should trust each other a little better."

"So this whole party is just one big trust-building exercise?" Choji asked, mouth full.

"Yup."

"That's funny, coming from you, considering we barely know anything about you," Kiba shot at Oscar, who, to his credit, barely winced.

"I agree, I haven't exactly offered information about my childhood, but I want to now. I want everyone here to. Perhaps," he slid Kiba a sly look, "you'd like to start?"

Kiba clutched his sleeping puppy's fur and growled in his throat, the challenge obvious. "Alright, but it's nothing you couldn't already guess. I was born and raised in Konoha. From birth, Akamaru has been my friend and practically my only companion. We fight together, work together, go places together, and have basically the same opinions. He even came to the academy with me every day, and faked being sick to get out of going to the academy whenever I did." Kiba stared down at the little white dog in his lap. He seemed to be thinking. "That's pretty much my life." Still not looking up, he stroked Akamaru's fur.

"Good." Kiba looked up, giving the dark boy a defiant look. "Now I know something about you. It wasn't painful, was it? I propose that we all go around and do what Kiba did."

"Why don't you go now?"

"Because that would be going out of order. Choji, you're up next." Catching a look from Shikamaru, Oscar elaborated, "I'll take my turn! I just want to go in order. It makes it easier to keep track of who's gone. Choji?"

Choji took a single chip for the bag he was nursing and then set down the bag. At a raised eyebrow from Shikamaru, who was sitting on Choji's right, the Akimichi explained that bag was empty, anyway. Everyone listened attentively at Choji gave his own life story, paring it down so that practically the only things he mentioned were being bullied by kids at the academy and his friendship with Shikamaru. When he had finished, Oscar had to prompt Shikamaru to get him to tell his story. When the lazy boy had done so, leaving out almost everything worth knowing, it was Ino's turn.

The blonde girl with very passionate, talking about how she looked out for Sakura when they were younger, how their great rivalry had sprung up when they discovered that they shared a fangirlish love for Sasuke-kun, and ended up by asserting her self-proclaimed position as Sasuke's true lover. Sakura was glaring daggers at Ino by the time the latter was finished, and Oscar had to quickly move on to Shino before things could escalate.

Shino, who wasn't one to use unnecessary words, spent his time talking about his bugs and his bug collection. Several of his peers gave little shudders as he tried to describe the feeling of thousands of tiny insects crawling under your skin. Oscar seemed genuinely interested, though, much to Sakura's disgust.

Hinata was up next. Knowing what was coming, Naruto gripped her right hand in his and put his left arm around her shoulders. Hinata, voice trembling and stuttering, described her early childhood, her unfair treatment at home, the way her father favored her sister, the time she got kidnapped and how her cousin had hated her ever since. Her story made a few of her fellow genin shift guiltily, knowing that they had never tried to make friendly contact with the Hyuuga heiress at the academy, even if most of them had not teased her outright. When she had finished, Hinata swallowed, blinking back tears and leaned against Naruto's shoulder, waiting for him to take a turn. She knew that he would need as much support as she had during the recounting.

However, instead of launching into his story of life as the village pariah, Naruto looked over Sakura's head, right at Oscar. In a low, steady voice, the blonde asked, "Can I go last?"

Oscar gave him a quick searching look, before nodding. Sakura seemed annoyed at that. "What was all that crap about want us to go in order if you're just going to let Naruto go last?" she demanded.

"One, it wasn't crap, and two, you should be thanking me. By the time he's gone, you'll be glad you didn't have to try and top his story by going after. Your turn."

She gave him a malevolent look, before starting a story that bore a remarkable similarity to Ino's, though it was told from the other point of view. She described how she had been picked on in the academy and had had no friends until Ino had begun talking to her. She had thought Ino the smartest, prettiest, most confident person she knew. Until she saw Sasuke. Their friendship had suffered due to their mutual attraction for the boy and they had ended up nemeses.

When the pink-haired girl had finished, more than one of the genin in the circle were thinking what a shame it was to have a perfectly good friendship go to ruins over a boy who didn't even want them.

Finally, it was Oscar's turn. After first ensuring that he had a full audience, (he did) he began. "Well, all of you must know that I don't come from around here. I was born and raised in Kumo and was only sent here a few months ago by my parents. I should probably start with them. Both of my parents are medic-nin, not quite good enough to be known here, but good enough to always be in demand in our village. When I was younger, they were hardly ever home. They were always at the hospital, dealing with a crisis. When they were home, while they didn't neglect me, they didn't take the time to get to know me at all. They would talk about work and never really talk to me, though they would make sure there was food in he house and things like that. I was jealous of that hospital. I know it sounds weird, but it was the place where my parents spent their time and the place my parents talked about. I had never seen it, but I knew it was there, like an older sibling who's always busy but still gets all the attention." Everyone was too focused on Oscar's story to notice Sasuke stiffen. "When I was old enough, my parents began insisting, in addition to my academy studies, that I study medicine as well. They were determined that I become a medic, too. I didn't want to do it. I had seen how that career could take up your entire life, dealing with one crisis after another. I fought against it for a while, but finally realized that I had the key to my parents. I though that if I was a good medic, they would pay more attention to me." He let out a tired sigh.

"So I studied hard. I even read the most boring psychology texts, looking for anything to impress my parents. I think it even began to work. Two or three years ago, they started asking me to come with them to the hospital to observe. I really hated that. I couldn't stand it, the white walls and the smell of sickness. I kept coming back, because I wouldn't disappoint my parents, but I grew to dread those hours helping out in the hospital. It made me feel sick and unclean. I wanted to get away. When my parents finally announced that they were sending me here, I pretended to be sorry, but it was probably the best thing that could have happened." He looked up. He hadn't been making eye contact the entire time. Now he did so, steeling himself to meet every eye in turn.

"I had no friends, either. I was always at home studying. Anyway, I doubt anyone would be my friend if I had tried. Though my parents never knew it, most of the people in my village thought I was dangerously unbalanced. They thought I would spread my insanity to their children, who they kept out of my way. I probably behaved worse at home than I do here, partly because it was expected of me by then, and partly to get my parents' attention." He stopped looking perplexed. "The end."

There was a brief silence. Finally, Shikamaru gave a low whistle, which seemed to snap Oscar out of his reverie. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"You told me," Sakura said, looking a little dazed, "That you hadn't had any medical training."

"I lied. I wasn't ready to admit that I may need the things that my parents taught me. Anyway, that was all of it, so I daresay you all know more about me than I do about you, now." He shook himself, as if hoping to rid himself of the damp trails of misery. "Sasuke, your up. And Naruto after that."

Sasuke, who seemed to have been as affected by Oscar's story as the dark boy, moistened his lips before speaking. "Though you were all as young as I was when it happened, you must all remember the Uchiha massacre." He stared straight ahead, as looking back to that day. "You know that I was the sole survivor, the only one spared. What you may not know, because the Hokage asked people not to speak of it, was that I am not the last Uchiha, though that's what I intend to become." His eyes hardened. "My entire clan was slaughtered by my older brother, Itachi. I was very young at the time, but I burst in on him, standing over the murdered corpses of our parents. I couldn't believe it. Itachi and I had been so close, as brothers and friends, though there had still been jealousy. My father favored him, Itachi the genius, making chunin at ten years old and ANBU at thirteen. All I wanted was to be as good as my older brother. But on that day, everything changed. My parents were dead and my brother a monster. He cast a genjutsu, so that I would watch him kill my parents a million times over, stretching the three seconds I was under into three days. I do owe him one thing. Before he left me forever, he gave me a new mission in life: to train and become strong enough to kill him." Sasuke's last words were met with a chilly silence.

Sasuke, having achieved the desired effect, let the silence stretch for a few seconds before turning to Naruto and meeting his blue eyes. The blonde boy was still holding Hinata. "Your turn," he said, though Naruto could sense the unspoken words 'top that.'

All right, I will, Naruto thought, grimly. I just hope Hinata takes it okay. Naruto sat up straighter, pulling Hinata closer for moral support. Where to begin? "Er, well, I've spent my entire life being shunned and hated by practically everyone in Konoha. You know how it is; some of your parents do it, too. This is the thing, though- it's not because I prank the living daylights out of everyone; there's a bigger reason. On the night of the Kyuubi attack, I wasn't the only orphaned child. Hundreds of people, shinobi and civilians, lost family members that day to the fox." This sentence rang oddly on the ears of his listeners. Why should he call the Kyuubi no Kitsune something so informal? He continued without pause, "Most people blame me for those deaths. Why? Because that big, fluffy, deadly fox-thing was sealed inside of me at birth, stopping the attack and making me the best siphon for the anger of the people. Oh yeah, and a demon container."

He stopped, not knowing what else to add. That was his life in a nutshell, unless he was going to say something about ramen. Somehow, one did not bring the Kyuubi and ramen into the same thought. His musings were shattered by a snort from Kiba.

"Nice try, Naruto." The Inuzuka said, rolling his eyes. "But that was biggest pile of bullshit I've ever heard. You should have at least tried to make it sound convincing."

Naruto felt his face heating up. "I'm not lying," he said through clenched teeth. "I can prove it to you." Gently, he moved Hinata aside, not even risking a glance at her face to check her reaction. No doubt she hated him as much as the others, now. Naruto pulled up the tee shirt that he always wore to bed and channeled some chakra, not forming it into anything in particular. As soon as he did, an ornate seal appeared on his stomach, growing blacker and more ominous-looking the more chakra he channeled. After a few seconds, he dropped the edge of his shirt to hide it and looked around. His friends' faces showed only shock. They had all believed, like Kiba, that Naruto had been lying. From the looks on their faces, they were now furiously going though anything they knew about Naruto and watching those things fall into place.

Ino was the first to speak, eyes wide and voice trembling slightly. "Can- can it get out?"

"No, much as he'd like to."

"So, you've talked to it?" Sasuke asked. The Uchiha didn't seem to have a single quip for this type of situation.

"Yup. He would have killed me, too, if he could have." He found his arm griped by a surprisingly strong force, and looked around to see Hinata's face peering intently at his.

"Is th-that what you were doing in the training g-grounds the other day?" she asked

Naruto nodded. His heart stood still as Hinata stared at him long and hard before she slid her arms around him and hugged him, right in front of everybody. She butted the top of her head against his chest, and Naruto discovered that she was crying again. He took it as a good sign and put his arms around her with relief and genuine affection. After a minute he picked her up and set her in his lap so that he could hug her more easily.

Instead of dissolving into smaller groups again to talk, the ten shinobi stayed in the larger circle, talking of the things they had learned. Oscar was asking Shino about his insects, Choji was asking Ino about her friendship with Sakura, and nobody bothered Naruto and Hinata. No one wanted to bother Sasuke, either. He sat and brooded, until Shikamaru crawled over and sat down by him. The two didn't say anything for some time.

It was a half hour to midnight when the genin finally crawled into their sleeping bags, exhausted. Oscar did not lie down yet, however, his gaze was riveted on Shino, waiting for the bug boy to take his sunglasses off. He was most frustrated when the Aburame took out a plain black sleeping mask and slid it down over his eyes behind the sunglasses before removing the dark lenses.

Most drifted off to sleep at once, but Naruto and Hinata stayed up for a further hour, speaking in whispers, their sleeping bags and blankets pulled close together. The only thing that disturbed the night's sleep was when Sakura woke everyone up at two in the morning by throwing her pillow at Shino and shrieking at him to stop humming!

A/N: Yay! The deed tis done. I've been planning this chapter ever since I began writing this fic. Thank you to Steveshakespere for suggesting that Oscar have a medical background. Thank you also to Midnighter67 for being the ONLY ONE TO REVIEW FOR THE LAST CHAPTER!

I did manage to include the Log in this chapter! Yes, Hinata did get permission to go to the sleepover (obviously.) I'll update Oscar's bio to include the new information.

So, without further ado, I bid thee farewell, and beg only that you submit a review before you leave. Bye!

ps-The song that Shino was humming was Crawling by Linkin Park (the first four words of the song/ chorus of the song are 'crawling in my skin')