SORRY THIS IS SO LATE, I GOT BUSTED TAKING DRUGS AT SCHOOL!

June: OMG I've been dying to post this chapter, this is the last chapter before we catch up with Sai and the others. This is also the beginning of NarutoRaven NaruIno. Now for people thinking Itachi is going to change everything to be with Raven blahdy blah, she's all Mary Sue for him, You. Are. Wrong. A little secret, I was originally planning for Itachi to kill Raven off, but when people wanted Naruto x Raven, I dropped the idea. So trust me when I say, the pairing will make a hell of a lot of sense later, but Itachi does NOT LOVE Raven. The pairing is a past pairing.

Kit: She said everything didn't she? I feel so unnecessary...

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto if I did it would be renamed, Akatsuki - they are so cool! I do own Raven, Kawaii Ichigo, Llida, Jiino and Nina. Nick them and burn, also Jiino and Llida, aren't real names, I came up with them on a random high.

EXCITING NEWS! I have a ad. for ANBU Elements designed by my co-author Kit, 2 pieces of Raven fan-art and 1 piece of Kawaii Ichigo fan-art, These are my Third and Fourth Ocs to receive Fan-art, Llida feels unloved though :(

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ANBU Elements
Chapter 7: Paint My Nails!
By June x

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Flashback

Naruto was happy. He had spent all day training with Kakashi-sensei and now he was going to his best friends room to see how her day went. The little 5 year olds' grin only grew bigger as he continued skipping down the hall way. Arriving at a black painted door with a purple lightning bolt drawn on the door sign, Naruto knocked.

The door opened to reveal a 7 year old girl, who mechanically glared at her visitor, upon realising who it was her eyes softened before letting her best friend into her room.

Naruto happily skipped in and spun round to face Raven, he automatically began taking in her outfit, it was a brand new one as she had just passed her genin test. Raven wore a purple t-shirt with a fishnet shirt underneath, she wore a black leather mini skirt that had slits up the side and black jogging shorts underneath. On her arms she wore black silk fingerless gloves that came up to her elbow and black knee high boots. Her long raven hair was tied up in a loose high ponytail so strands of hair had come loose and framed her face, and to finish the look off she wore the gold raven necklace that he had given her in acknowledgement of their friendship. Naruto felt a bit plain in his black t-shirt and orange shorts. Shaking his head, Naruto broke out into a grin.

"So?" Raven only raised an eyebrow in return "Did'ya pass?" Raven nodded and gave her friend a small smile as he began to jump around the room happily "YATTA! I knew you would do it Rae, I bet your the best genin ever! Did'ya meet your team and sensei?" Another nod "Well?" Raven just ignored him and walked over to her Music System "I'm not a mind reader Rae, so your going to have to tell me." Raven still ignored him and put on System Of A Down, Chop Suey, Naruto sighed as his friend began to head bang to the music. Sure Rae wasn't the most talkative of people, but she usually spoke more than this, either she had spoken to her dad, or she got stuck with a really bad team.

"My life sucks," Raven said finally as she flopped down on the bed looking up at the ceiling, Naruto only rolled his eyes as he heard his friends favourite angst phrase, he also flopped down on the bed joining his friend staring at the ceiling. "The team sucks." she continued.

"It can't be that bad," Raven only replied with a scream of frustration before burying her face in a pillow. Naruto sighed realising his friend was very tense, reaching towards her raven hair he pulled out the hairband and let the dark locks fall loose, reaching towards his side he picked up the hairbrush on the bedside table, slowly and softly he began to brush her hair, in the year he had known her Naruto had learnt this was the best way to soothe the girl. "So... who did you get stuck with?" she gave a low growl, Naruto only laughed "That bad, huh?"

Raven all of a sudden rolled over and jumped off the bed, facing Naruto she put a hand on her hip and began to relay her day to him. "So Dad says be a good girl Raven take the exams, so I take the stupid exam, which was ridiculously easy, no wonder so many ninjas are KIA if the tests are like that, the Academy totally sucks. So anyway because I did so well, not that I had to try or anything, I get put on a team that had lost a ninja, bet you she died because she didn't know what to do, stupid Academy don't teach the right stuff. So I'm on a team with some no-name sensei, which totally sucks, and then I meet my team-mates, their both Uchiha geniuses, and one of them's grinning at me like there's no tomorrow and I wonder why he's not dead yet, and he introduces himself as Shisui and he blabs on and on, but I ignore him because what he talks about probably sucks, and then the other one is the well known Uchiha prodigy Itachi, what do people see in him, doesn't look like anything special just an ice cold prick, the only thing decent about him was his killing intent, but I think it was directed at me, so that sucks too."

Naruto had to bite his lip to prevent himself from laughing, he knew why Raven was unhappy, and it was really quite pathetic. Ravens father, who she completely hated, was good friends with the Uchihas, so she considered them as her enemy, the other reason was with a prodigy like Itachi on her team Raven would completely disappear into the background, contrary to how Raven acted she wanted her father to be proud of her for once, but instead he treated Raven like a tool. Ravens dislike was only from misguided hate and maybe some jealousy, quite shallow really, maybe he should tell her.

"So in conclusion my day completely and utterly sucked." Naruto couldn't hold it any longer and just burst out laughing, through his giggles and tears of laughter he managed to tell Raven his thoughts.

"You...do...realise how...shallow...you sounded! Hahahahahah...sorry it's just too funny seeing you angst about something like jealousy!" Raven just glared, making Naruto laugh harder.

When Naruto had finally stopped laughing, he told Rae to give her a team a chance, though she was reluctant she decided to listen to her optimistic sunshine. Hours went by and the two friends just enjoyed spending the evening in each others company that was until Naruto came up with a burning question.

"Rae..."

"mm..."

"What's the point of genin teams, I mean surely it holds you back from your potential because you will all have individual dreams?"

"Chance,"

"That makes no sense, or are you just not saying the whole thing?"

"Everyone is getting a chance to be Hokage. If the leader of the village is self-centered and doesn't know how to treat people, the village will ultimately begin to fail."

"I still don't get what this has to do with teams..."

"Teamwork and leadership, learning how to co-operate with other people, a necessary quality for Hokage."

"Aah...sou ka. I'm a natural at co-operation aren't I Rae?"

"If you mean a chatterbox than yes, otherwise your a stubborn brat."

"Mou, so mean. But Rae why would you want to be Hokage?"

"I don't. It just mean tonnes of paperwork, which sucks. If you ever find out why be sure to tell me sunshine."... "Now help me paint my nails"

"Nani?" Naruto asked surprised

"Paint my nails baka!"

"Doushite?"

"Because Itachi paints his."

"I thought you didn't like him?" Raven just glared "Alright, alright, I'll shut up." And so they began to paint Ravens nails black while Naruto hummed the nursery rhyme 'Pop goes the Weasel'

End Flashback

Naruto pulled himself out of his meditative state and blinked owlishly taking in his surroundings. He was sat on his bed in his room the time was eleven in the day, he looked down into his lap where his pet fox Kyuubi was curled up, he could stll remember Llida giving it to him about a year and a half ago now, sighing he picked the fox up and put it on the bed, he strapped on his weapons shooters that Anko had given him and rechecked his ninja gear, putting on his mask, Naruto checked the time 11:07, good he had time.

Kyuu?... Kyuu?... OI KYUUBI-SENSEI!

Nani! Stupid Gaki!

The memory?

Oh... Right... yeah, did you get the information?

Weren't you watching?

Err... I was sleeping?

...Your useless

Shut up kit! Did you get the information anyway?

Yeah, If I'm right the point of these squads is teamwork, so I just have to make sure Kiba, Ino and I work together on this little survival test.

Good now hurry and get there early, so you can familiarise yourself with the surroundings so your sensei doesn't have an advantage.

xxx

Naruto arrived at Training Grounds 22 at half eleven, the first thing he noticed was trees, lots of them. That will be useful for concealing my presence, I wonder if any of the others can suppress their chakra? If not then we'll have to take full advantage of the trees. Now what else is there? Naruto continued to scout the area, looking for land advantages and such.

Normally Naruto wouldn't bother with this procedure, a ninja should be familiar with their fight surroundings, well at least try to know as much as they can, but a ninja should also be able to fight in any situation. But Naruto was fighting with two amateurs, Ino and Kiba were good for their age, but he was just out of their league.

Naruto had no doubt that he could take down a jounin if he fought to his normal standards, but Kurenai specialised in his weakest area, making her a formidable opponent, therefore if Naruto wanted to fight her, he wouldn't hold anything back. Now in most situations Naruto was comfortable with that plan, going all out stretched him to his limits, so he then knew how much he had to push his training. However, he would have his two team mates as spectators and if he went all out with them around, they would surely get hurt. So if Naruto wanted to pass this test he would have to enforce teamwork, as Raven would say 'this sucks'.

The others soon arrived Kiba was first, and began to play catch with Akamaru, then Ino came and after exchanging not so kind greetings with Kiba, latched herself onto Naruto, after 5 minutes Naruto could already feel his arm going dead. But to his joy Kurenai arrived, and told Ino to let go of his arm, before greeting them.

"Glad to see you're all here, you pass test 1: Courage in the face of the unknown." Naruto sweatdropped, Ino squealed and Kiba cheered, How the hell was that a test! Ne, Kyuu-nii, I don't think I will learn anything if this is the sort of thing I will be challenged with!

Nah, this is just a courage boost, she thinks you're all going to fail and is just trying to give you a few last moments of happiness and confidence before she crushes your dreams brutally.

You make everything so pleasant, note the sarcasm.

Yeh, well it's what being a demon is all about, sadism and sarcasm is the true base of society.

If you say so... Maybe Anko and Raven were demons in their past life.

Strangely enough, I can kind of believe that, unless they're around you their almost as sadistic as me, and that's saying something.

Aw, I feel warm and fuzzy, I can tame she-demons.

Watch your mouth Kit, if Raven ever catches you saying that you can wave your friendship with her goodbye. And then run and hide.

I'll keep that in mind, oh senseis talking again.

Kurenai held in her hand two bells which were jingling "As you can see I am holding two bells, the aim of the test is to take a bell from me within the next hour, if you fail to get a bell from me you will be sent back to the acdemy. One piece of advice, come at me with the intent to kill. Your time starts now." and with that the three genin disappeared into the trees.

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Brief story interruption:

I am still learning how to do fight scenes so please bear with me, if someone will help me write them I would be very grateful unfortunately one of my co-authors, Dark Angel is unavailable, and he writes the action scenes for me. Also I chose the bell test because I believe it to be the the official Konoha genin test, after all Sandaime and Kakashi used it. Also Kurenai won't fight properly, because on studying the anime bell test in the first past of Naruto I realised that Kakashi put next to no effort into that test, it makes no sense for Kurenai to go and use a genjutsu against what she believes to be three rookies. I am sorry if this will disappoint anyone, I apologise for this interruption.

June
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Impressive, ne Kyuu-nii? This is actually a well thought out test. By using two bells we are unwittingly set against each other, this tests our logic to realise that a mere genin cannot defeat a jounin, it also tests our ability as shinobi and team mates, to put aside our pride and work together. Now how to go about this?

As Naruto finally came up with a plan, he was left with yet another problem, where were his team mates? Luckily for Naruto his assumption earlier had been correct, Ino and Kiba did not know how to suppress their chakra and conceal their presence.

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I wonder how the others are doing? No doubt Naruto has already come up with a plan, the guys almost as smart as Shika. And Ino...well Ino is probably dreaming about Naruto.

Kiba suddenly felt a tap on his shoulder, warily turning round he came face to face with a black face mask.

"Gah!?!" Kiba yelled jumping back, he relaxed a bit when he saw who the face mask was on, "Oh, Naruto, it was just you," Kiba glared when he saw Naruto raise an eyebrow in amusement "Well what do you want?" Naruto gave him a confused look "You tapped me on the shoulder..." still confused, Kiba growled in frustration "And there was me hoping you might have a plan." Narutos eyes lit up.

"I do!" Kiba sweatdropped at his team mates slight forgetfulness "To get the bells we have to work as a team..." Kiba nodded, well that made sense, "So before I tell you the plan we have to get Ino." ...that didn't make any sense at all.

"Why would we need Ino? She's useless!" Kiba complained

"No she's not Kiba, no matter how...boy obssessed Ino is, she's still a good kunoichi and her clan abilities are a valuable asset to this team." Kiba sighed in defeat.

"Fine lets go get Inoodle." Naruto looked at him for a second before cracking up into hysterics at the nickname, Kiba rolled his eyes at his team mates antics, though secretly he was cheering, he was the only one who could get Naruto to laugh and smile regularly, he never saw the smile just the curving of the boys eyes, but he knew that Naruto by nature was a smiling and happy kid, he knew this because of Narutos laugh, it suited the boy, the laughter was breezy and free. Kiba often wondered what made Naruto try and hide that laugh.

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It was a simple plan really it just worked on the element of suprise and distraction. Naruto would make two shadow clones, his two team mates would set about making traps. Once Ino and Kiba had made the traps, one clone would begin aiming kunai and shuriken at their sensei, another clone would then attack Kurenai engaging her in a taijutsu battle, because Narutos taijutsu skills were above genin level Kurenai would have to concentrate in order to land the hit needed to make the clone disappear, avoid the projectiles being aimed at her, and also avoid the traps, as soon as she landed the hit Kurenai would be caught off guard by the fact it was a clone, Kiba would appear from behind catching her unaware, holding her still she was left victim to Inos Mind Transfer Jutsu, Ino would then hand over the bells to Naruto.

That was the plan.

Kurenai fainting once being released from Inos jutsu was not part of the plan.

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Kurenai awoke feeling slightly groggy (A/N is this even a word?) she blinked in a daze for a few moments before her eyes focused on the boy crouched beside her, grinning like a fool. Blinking again she recognised the Inuzuka boy, looking up she saw the other two genin looking down at her quite concerned, she did a double take when she saw that Narutos arm was around Inos waist, she then realised it was to support Ino who was also a bit faint from using that jutsu, and though Ino was looking fine now, it was obvious she wasn't going to tell Naruto anytime soon. drawing her attention to Narutos other arm her eyes widened at what Naruto had clenched in his hand. The bells! Either I'm really weak or this is an exceptional team...for the sake of my ego I'm going to go with the latter. Looking up at the three genin Kurenai gave them a smile. "Well that was some impressive teamwork from you guys, so I guess I have no choice but to pass you, Congratulations!" Kiba and Akamaru began to jump around in joy, while Ino just beamed at the praise and Naruto let out a small but very beautiful laugh.

"Well you know what this means right Naruto-kun?" Naruto sent Ino a very confused look "We have to go shopping to celebrate!" Naruto grew very scared and threw Kiba a desperate look, Kiba just laughed at his team mates predicament, Naruto growled and as Ino began to drag him off he grabbed Kiba and pulled him along, Akamaru followed his master barking. As they started to walk out of her sight Kurenai laughed as she could still here Inos chattering, Narutos wails for help and Kibas scream of frustration at Naruto for pulling him along, all of this accompanied by Akamarus barks.

Team Kurenai was loud, argumentative and childish and yet they had the potential to be the best.

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Ino squealed "Naruto-kun isn't that just the cutest!" Naruto gave another weary nod "Oh, Naruto-kun, wouldn't that just look great on me!" Naruto gave Ino another weak smile before turning and clinging onto Kiba like he was the boys lifeline. Kiba patted the boy on his back as the blonde gave another muffled wail of terror. "Naruto-kun, Dog-breath, carry my bags for me!" the girl said before dumping another ridiculous load of bags on the poor boys.

"HOW DOES SHE DO IT!" Naruto yelled in Kibas ears. Kiba turned round and yelled his answer back to Naruto in a desperate attempt to be heard over Inos squeals.

"I don't know, but I blame it on the stupid kami up there who decided to give these girls ridiculous stamina and what seems to be endless amounts of money!"

"OH NARUTO-KUN LOOK AT THAT!" Naruto looked up at Inos especially loud squeal, looking up he shook his head in amusement. Hanging up in a stall were three particularly large plushies, one of a pig, one of a kitsune and one of a dog. "Aren't they just perfect?" Ino questioned Naruto giving him what sounded like a lovesick sigh, "One for me, you and Kiba. It's like a sign that this team was meant be." After the purchase of the three plushies the team mates waved goodbye to each other and set off home.

Upon his arrival home Naruto had only just stepped in the house when he was glomped by his kaa-san and nee-chan. "Anko-nee, Kaa-san, LET GO!" The two women just ignored his yells and proceeded to drag him into the kitchen where Jiino, Genma (who was on a mission during Narutos birthday coughauthoressforgothimcough), Iruka, Old Man Hokage and even Kakashi sat. Looking at them all Naruto gave them a huge grin.

"I take it you passed then." Kakashi said in his oh so casual way, Narutos grin just grew even bigger, that was until he was glomped by his squealing kaa-san, Anko, Kakashi and even Genma, the others just stood by laughing at the childish antics whilst Naruto yelled out about being unwillingly attacked twice in one day. Grinning Naruto escaped his 'family' and grabbed his shopping bag and sprinted into his room, taking off his mask and throwing it onto the bed side table he looked into his mirror and almost burst out laughing at the idioticly happy grin he sported, pulling over the shopping bag he brought out the fox plushie, looking around his room he checked for anyone else, seeing the coast was clear he gave a squeal and hugged the plushie to death. Once he was sure he had hugged the cute thing enough he introduced it to his pet fox.

You forgot about me didn't you?

You saw all of that! YOU WERE MEANT TO BE SLEEPING!

Well I wasn't!

Damn Fox!

Damn Brat!

With a small smile Naruto put the plushie on his bed and headed downstairs, but stopped when he heard murmurs coming from the kitchen, stealthily he began to eavesdrop.

"It's good you know."

"mm, It's about time he started to make solid friendships."

"He has friends but they aren't close enough."

"Mm, too make him grin like that, you know what this means?"

"He's forgetting about Raven, Sai, Kawaii and Llida."

"About time..." Gasping in shock Naruto ran away before he could hear anymore, as he made it to his room tears began to leak from his eyes, rushing into his room, he looked into a mirror and fell backwards in shock.

No, it can't be true. Please NO!

KIT! Calm down! KIT! Listen to me!

But Naruto blocked out Kyuubis pleas, looking over at his bedside table Naruto looked at the two precious items he had forgotten about this morning, clutching them he fell onto his bed, tears soaking his pillow, Naruto fell asleep crying.

And as the moon rose that night, two objects glinted in the moonlight, two necklaces, one an orange choker and the other a golden kitsune pendant. Both necklaces were being held tight to the chest of a crying blond boy.

xxx

Naruto growled at the Hokage.

If I have to do another D mission I swear I'm going to run away and find the ANBU Elements team, I'm fed up of pointless missions and endless training, I want to be out on the field!

Luckily for Naruto so were Ino and Kiba.

"That's it Hokage-sama, surely we're ready by now! Don't you think we could do a harder mission, the team's impatient!" To everyone's surprise it was Kurenai that spoke. The Sandaime smiled, this team was working well as one unit, even their sensei was on the same wavelength.

"Fine I give, I will give you a C-ranked mission, please show in the custome.r" The door opened to reveal a drunken old man. "Tazuna-san here needs you to escort him back to the wave country."

"I am Tazuna the master bridge builder...and wah!?! These brats are the one's escorting me?"

"Who the hell do you think your calling brats!" Kiba yelled, Akamaru barked in agreement

"Two brats a mutt and a bimbo!"

"A bimbo!" Ino shrieked in anger, Naruto quickly put his arms round her waist to restrain her before she could jump the customer, Ino blushed when she realised her back was against Narutos chest.

"Tazuna-san, I assure you we are more then capable of being escorts please do not judge us by our looks, Kurenai-sensei here is also a Jounin in the case of the worst she is more then able to deal with the situation." Kurenai slightly blushed at the praise, while Tazuna cowered slightly at the glare the boy was giving him, a glare that just dared him to defy his words.

"Fine, I'm sure you will do fine." Tazuna said in defeat.

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(A/n slight change in events here guys, the Demon Brothers attack Narutos team a day later K?)

The same night as they left Konoha, the team pitched their tents and set up camp. As they all settled in for the night, Ino lay in her bed, she tossed and turned lacking comfort and something else, sighing Ino sat up, it was a nice lukewarm night and she was wearing a black silk nightdress, which ended just underneath her knees, she had bought it when Naruto, Kiba and herself, had gone shopping, wrapping her fluffy black blanket around her slim figure, Ino stepped out of her tent, deciding to go sit by the campfire.

"Can't sleep?" A familiar voice called out, her eyes caught movement and she recognised a figure sitting against the trunk of tree near the campfire.

"Naruto-kun, you too?"

"Hai, my mind is filled with troublesome thoughts." Naruto said sighing and looking up into the starry sky.

Ino giggled "You've been round Shikamaru too long... I can't sleep because something's missing..."

"Like what?" Naruto asked quirking an eyebrow.

"Nothing!" She replied quickly looking away ashamed, a cute blush spread on her cheeks, Naruto looked again at Ino, she looked stunning, her face illuminated by the fire and moonlight, her eyes glittered and her hair fell like a golden waterfall out of its usual ponytail, her lithe figure looked fragile and small beneath the large black fluffy blanket she had wrapped around herself.

"You can tell me," Ino looked at him and blushed again, she then murmured something which Naruto didn't quite catch, "Gomen, what was that?" Ino spoke again but a bit louder.

"I said, I can't sleep without my plushie." Her face was almost completely red by this point.

"The pig one we bought together?" Ino gave a meek nod. Naruto sighed "Well that is a problem isn't it?" Ino nodded again "Come here," Ino looked confused for a moment before going to stand infront of the boy, in one quick movement he had grabbed her round her waist and she was sat next to him leaning against the tree, "How about for tonight, I'm your plushie hmm?" Ino looked at him shocked before giving a slight giggle and wrapping her arms around him, "Sleep." He whispered into her ear, she inhaled the boys scent and gave a slight sigh, he smelled like the forest, fresh, it was the only way to describe it, her eyes fluttered close as she felt his arms wrap around her pulling her close, Ino sighed in happiness again, she felt so safe in his arms, under the starry night sky and near the warmth of a fire, it was utterly perfect.

xxx

As the group began their journey again the next morning, a quiet atmosphere was amongst them, it confused Tazuna as yesterday the group had been chatting non-stop. The truth was Kiba, Akamaru, Kurenai and Naruto had all noticed a suspicious looking puddle, Ino however was caught up in thoughts of last night. Kurenai subtly fell to the back so she could deal with any problems that arose. In one moment two figures attacked, their chains wrapped around Kurenai who managed to perform substitution in time, Ino gave a scream in shock before Naruto grabbed her arm and pushed her back to stand with Tazuna where Kiba and he could easily protect her. Kiba and Akamaru had peformed their Beast Clone jutsu each one of them taking on the one of the two nin.

Naruto rushed to help one of the 'Kibas' as the one of them was thrown against a tree, Naruto rushed in to defend his team mate.

"Wind Cyclone Jutsu!" The jutsu hit the nin and he was blown back and knocked unconscious. He jumped when he heard Akamaru give a yelp, the other 'Kiba' had been defeated by the other nin, 'Kiba' had transformed back into Akamaru, but the other nin had disappeared. Naruto whipped around and began to run as he realised who they were aiming for, and who would be caught in the crossfire.

INO!!!!!!!!!!

Rushing to get in between the nin and Ino, Naruto saw the nin raise his claws to slash at the girl, Inos eyes were wide with shock.

Blood splattered everywhere.

The claws went through a chest.

"NARUTO!!!!!!!!!!!!" Ino screamed as the boy fell at her feet, a deadly wound through his chest.

xxx TBC xxx

June: You hate me don't you?

Kit: Damn, that was actually good! AND YOU LEFT IT ON A CLIFFHANGER YOU BITCH!

June: And you want to know the worst bit? You don't find out what happens for another two chapters because the next chapter we catch up with the ANBU Elements.

Preview kinda:

Ravens suffering from nightmares, Kawaiis losing IQ points, Llida is at war with a squirrel, Sai is in the red light district! This can't be good! Will Raven meet a new character? Will ANBU Elements get a new team member and why? Will Sai learn emotions and social abilities from whores? Is Sai gay? Will Kawaii heart be broken? And will Llida lose IQ Points with Kawaii? Will Naruto live? And will we ever learn what Naruto so goddamn confused about?

Excited? I am!

Look Forward To The Next Update For ANBU Elements! Please Review!

June
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