Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!

Summary: Everything in the village hidden in the leaf had settled down. No more Madara, Pein, or Akatsuki. Naruto was perfectly at ease. But when Tsunade puts the Konoha 12 in a 'Battle of the Bands' and they are forced to compete with and against each other and other teams of ninja. They want to back out… to bad they all play instruments.

Chapter 5

Over the next two months, Naruto's band worked, ate, wrote songs, ran errands and hung out together. Most of their time was spent in Ino's basement.

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Month Three!

To say Naruto was overjoyed right now would be an understatement. He was ecstatic! The last two months his band had done everything on the list for the first two months. Today they'd start month three and the first thing they were going to do was…"Alright my friends, lets check the list." Tenten pulled the sheet of paper out of a drawer.

Month One:

Get familiar with other band members playing ability. Check.

Write at least one song together as a group. (Tsunade recommended teamwork) Check.

At least 3 songs done, practiced and known by all band members. Check.

Ask Tsunade who the judges are. Check.

They found out that Kakashi was one of the judges, with Tsunade herself and a special guest judge. But Tsunade also told them that it wasn't up to the judges at the end. The audience would decide by voting off people they didn't like and keeping the people that they liked. The judges were just there to give their input and announce.

Month Two:

Two Songs done, practiced and know by all band members. Check.

Practice other 3 songs as well. Check

Check out Leaf competition (Sakura's band and Kiba's band). Check

When they went to erm… 'Check out'… cough … cough … spy, on the other Leaf bands, they were shocked. Kiba's band was amazing! Kiba could actually sing and play drums at the same time! Hinata's voice was like an angel's. And Sakura's band was fantastic as well. It seems as if everyone was getting along just fine, even with Lee yelling about his 'musical flames of youth'. Watching the other play made Band 2 kind of intimidated. Because of this Naruto's band swore to make their last song the best.

Currently they had written five songs. Naruto wrote three, Ino wrote one, and the fifth song was written by all of the band members.

Month Three:

Finish Last Song. If we have enough time, write another just in case.

Practice all six/seven songs.

Check out the other village competition at the music bar place one week before the battle actually starts.

Finally: Compete and WIN!

Tenten put down the piece of paper and Ino then spoke up. "Okay guys. Today is the first day of the last month. We already have five songs finished, we need at least one more for the competition. And we WILL win!" The Yamanaka had flames in her eyes and started to daydream of winning. The other three looked at Ino with aggravation and then sighed. Ever since the second month when the band had spied on Sakura's band, the blonde med-nin had gotten a lot more serious about winning. She seemed to have a need to win. Tenten then came to a conclusion that the old rivalry between Ino and Sakura had once again shown its ugly face. The males of the band agreed with her.

Neji got up from where he was sitting. "Then lets get started." The two still sane band members nodded and also got up. "Oh and Naruto, do you think you could wake Ino up from her daydream?" The foxy blonde looked like a deer caught in headlights. He then frowned.

"Again? I did it yesterday! Why can't you-." He looked around to see the brunettes already setting their equipment. What he didn't notice was the evil grins plastered on their faces.

The spiky haired blonde cursed under his breath. Its not that he didn't like her, because trust me, he liked her a LOT. For example, in month two Naruto and Ino got really close. Some nights it would be just them at her house. They would talk for hours on end. They found out that they had a lot in common. They even wrote a song together. Only for fun of course, not for the battle, but still that's a large accomplishment. But anyway waking up Ino was hard. Yesterday, he had to wave smelling salts under her nose. Man did those stink!

Naruto walked over to the bunk Ino was sitting on and tried shaking her, snapping his fingers near her face, talking to her, everything. He got closer and was about to yell, but Neji shoved him from behind (amazing how fast ninja move… eh?). The Uzumaki was sent crashing forward toward the other blonde. Since his face was right in front of hers when he fell… well… Naruto Uzumaki was officially kissing Ino Yamanaka. Now let me tell you something, smelling salts were nothing compared to this. Immediately the aqua-eyed female was torn out of her daydream. She looked around lazily before noticing the other blonde attached to her lips. Her eyes then grew to the size of dinner plates. She took a moment to compose her thoughts. A minute ago she was ranting about winning, now Naruto was kissing her… Wait! Stop! Hold the Presses! He was kissing her, while she was sitting there like a complete idiot.

He pulled away from her and blushed. "Listen, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…" The Kyuubi holder continued to mutter words no one could understand. But inside, his mind was speeding into overdrive. 'Did I just… Yes I did… It was so strange, but I felt something in that kiss… Something really different. Different but… really good.'

Ino was having thoughts along the same line. 'Wow… I… That was… Wow… Even though he only kissed me for a second, I defiantly felt something strong in it.'

While both blondes tried to gather their thoughts, Tenten was rejoicing in her head. 'YES! Finally it happens! Its only a matter of time before they sort out their feelings! Thank you Neji!' Said Hyuuga was smirking at the confused faces of his two friends. 'Well that was easy.'

Naruto was the first one to break out of the daze. "Uh, lets get to that song writing." He spoke very slowly and quietly.

Two Weeks Later…

After the incident both blondes were keeping a distance from each other. They were on speaking terms but both were still acting awkward around the other. Both were still confused about what they felt. But, all things put to the side, they had finished another song, and it was written by all the members of the band. They felt as if this was one of their best.

So now the checklist looks like this:

Month Three:

Finish Last Song. If we have enough time, write another just in case. Half Check (might need one more)

Practice all six/seven songs. Check! All six songs practiced well!

Check out the other village competition at the music bar place one week before the battle actually starts.

Finally: Compete and WIN!

Today was the day when all of the other bands arrived in Konoha. They had gotten word that all of the bands would be coming to 'Sakko's' Bar tonight. Tonight Band 2 could scout out all of the other competition.

So that day Naruto's band met up at Ino's about an hour before everyone was due to arrive at the bar. The Kyuubi holder grabbed everyone's attention, "Alright guys, tonight we need to go in one of three directions. One, we could keep a low profile and surprise our competition in a week. Two, go all out and act all confident in hopes that they will be intimated. Or three, just see what happens, and play it by ear." He looked around waiting for answers.

Both girls looked at him and said in unison, "One!" Ino looked to her band mates. "We probably need to save up our skills." Neji nodded along.

Naruto smiled. "I guess we will go with plan One!"

Oh how wrong he was. If he only knew what would happen that night.

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AN: Yo. I'm back. Sorry for not updating for the last week, the damn Internet didn't start to work again until yesterday. Oh and I need a suggestion for the Kiri team. Should I keep it as a two man band? (Ao & Chojuro) Or add another person? And if yes them should I make an OC or what? You tell me what you want to see.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

P.S.: Still open to song suggestions for Kiba, sakura and the sand ninja's band. And open to requests for songs that you still want to hear. I can most likely fit them in. :D

Review please. It keeps my soul alive… well that and Redbull… Anyway…

See ya next chapter.

-peace