Bakura walked into the Jounin area and grinned. Anko prompted tackled him as soon as she saw his distinct white hair. He had just taken a nap after making sure to inform the Hokage about their new residence in the Uchiha complex.

Sasuke was happy to let them use the previously empty rooms once he brought it up with Bakura and Naruto. Haku and Zabusa were officially under Bakura's watch until they passed the Chunin Exam for Haku, and the Jonin exam for Zabusa.

Meanwhile he had to wake up earlier so he could train the newer Shadow Summoners...which the Hokage allowed once Bakura demonstrated how the skill would in fact help with the ninja arts.

(Case in point, Naruto and Haku. Both had figured out what their element was after learning their Ka beast, which now helped them learn how to manipulate their element with and without chakra.)

Right now Bakura had a few students, and all of them were ninja.

Hinata, Kiba, Sasuke, Shino, Naruto, Haku, Anko, Kakashi and surprisingly enough Sakura and Ino.

Each of them had to at least be able to summon or know what their Ka looked like.

Hinata-Hiita the Fire Charmer

Kiba-Lycanthrope

Sasuke-Crystal Beast Ruby Carbuncle

Shino-Insect Queen

Naruto-Wynn the Wind Charmer

Haku-Eria the Water Charmer

Anko-Serpent Night Dragon

Kakashi-Silver Fang

Sakura-White Magician Pikeru

Ino-Ebon Magician Curran

Most of them had been able to summon their beast, with the exception of Kiba and Anko. But Bakura put that problem up to the fact that one was a ritual monster and the other was a high level one and Anko still wasn't used to summoning.

Still, he was determined to get them up to Naruto's level at least before the Chunin exams arrived...which was in two months.

So far only Sasuke, Hinata and Haku were even close to Naruto in summoning power. Kakashi, Sakura, Shino and Ino were still on bringing it out to fight while Anko and Kiba were still trying to learn how to bring theirs out. Anko was almost there, but Kiba was going to have the hardest time.

Naruto on the other hand, was currently learning how to control the second form of his beast, and afterwards he planned on bringing out the third form. So far he was having luck in control, but the third form was being a pain. It simply refused to come out.

Bakura was secretly proud of his students, and said as much to Ryou and Malik. He planned to move on to another topic once Kiba and Anko could summon theirs at least once.

Ryou was doubtful about that being a good idea, but Malik decided to help the dog boy as he called him (Kiba).

A month before the exams, and there had been major progress. Anko finally summoned her beast, which she loved. Kiba was starting to catch a glimpse of his, which meant it was close to coming out finally.

Which is why he moved the five with perfect control and summoning technique onto another aspect of Shadow Magic. Naruto, Sasuke, Hinata, Haku and Kakashi now worked on tracking and finding lost objects...without the use of a Sennin Item, which was harder than it appeared.

Kakashi had an easier time of that, and soon found a trick which worked. Once he mentioned it, soon the others were having a better time with it.

He tied a thin string to a brand new kunai with no blood on it and concentrated on what he wanted to find or track.

Once Bakura saw what he was doing he remembered how his Ring once acted the same way. If that was the case, he knew just what to give those who passed this part of the test. He saved up all the money they earned after the mission in Wave and his later assignments in the T and I department to get them, but they were well worth the cost.

Bakura had ordered specially made daggers which were very reminscent of kunai in appearance. But they were made to channel magic instead of chakra. Each dagger was made of resilient metal (mostly the same type used to make ninja weapons) and silver. All along the edge was a series of runes which he got from Ryou. On the end which the wielder held was a long steel wire and a hoop which would hang from the wrist. It could be taken off with a small application of chakra.

Naruto was the first to master the trick of it, and so was the first to get the new dowsing blade. Kakashi was next, then Hinata, Sasuke and Haku. By the time they got the blades Kiba had finally figured out how to summon his beast and Anko was getting used to bringing out her own.

Sakura, Ino and Shino had perfected their control a week before the exams and would soon move on to dowsing.

Bakura stood with the other Jounin instructors and nominated his team proudly for the Chunin Exam. Iruka looked like he wanted to object, but after the way team 7 got on his case for not telling Bakura about the number of D ranks needed for a C rank to become available to them, he held his tongue.

Only because the lashing he got from three pissed off and cranky teens made him flinch. Some of the things Sasuke and Naruto described gave him nightmares after he learned from Anko that they were in fact possible to do...with the removal of a lot of bones.

The Hokage approved, and Bakura handed the papers to the three the next time he saw them. All three immediately signed up and waited for the day, spending the entire week perfecting their current assignment with Shadow Magic. Even though Bakura had given them his word that no special training would be issued if they took the week off.

Apparently his methods of teaching had gotten them in the habit of training without his threat of a run in the Shadow Realm hanging over their heads.

On the plus side, each member of his team now had at least three Jounin level techinques at their disposal.

Naruto could use two different high level healing jutsu and one taijutsu he learned from Ibiki.

Sasuke could create a high level dragon of fire, use lightning in his hand and one minor healing jutsu.

Shino had two taijutsu and one family technique.

Naruto informed Bakura that Hinata had done the same as him and could use four Jounin level jutsu...and all of them were without her father's knowledge. She actually admitted to him that she couldn't wait to see the stunned expression on her bastard father's face when she revealed what she really spent her time doing.

Neji knew...he was the one who helped her get this far. In exchange for his help she promised to help him learn what his beast was and how to summon it...with Bakura's permission.

He was actually making better progress than Ino in that respect.

Why wouldn't the spike haired bastard shut up? Kankuro thought tiredly.

Ever since that white haired Chunin from the Leaf showed Gaara how to bring out the spirit which had been pestering him since he was five, it refused to shut up. They didn't care if it was a bloody King! His yammering had almost gotten them killed ten times already!

The only good thing about the entire ordeal was that Gaara gave them full permission to eviscerate or maim the idiot. It didn't hurt that he figured out a way to make him stay in physical form for a week either.

Hence why Atem (formerly known as Yami) was now their official practice dummy for new jutsu meant to kill enemy Nin. It was a great source of stress relief.

Still, now that they were heading to Konoha, Gaara got his hands on one of the messenger birds to at least warn Bakura they were heading his way.

And got a message back via a fox like creature with a fire lit tail.

(MESSAGE)

Thanks for the heads up, Chibi. Sasuke says he doesn't give a damn if you stay at his place, which has plenty of room for you and your siblings. If you want I'll see if I can get ahold of Yugi Muto. Maybe the gods will let him take back the damn pharoah...or he can help you shut the idiot up.

In order to find the place keep an eye out for a blond wearing an orange jumpsuit or a girl with a loose cream colored robe and staff. The blond is my brother Naruto, the girl his summon beast Wynn.

Either way you can stay with us.

Bakura Uzamaki.

The minute Kankuro had seen the name he paled. Seeing his younger brother's look of question, Temari explained.

"Bakura Uzamaki, Konoha's best torture specialist. Ibiki Morino is best at interrogation, but Bakura is the reknowned expert at getting information without killing the subject. How the hell did you meet him?"

Gaara looked at them in surprise.

"He's the one who showed me how to bring out the guy we use as target practice."

Yugi couldn't believe it. Ryou had passed him a message which had him going back to the Elemental countries without an entourage. He was officially there to check on how well the offshoot of the Kaiba Corp was doing.

The real reason he was there was because Bakura said the Pharoah was coming to Konoha, and he needed his help to shut the spirit up.

So here he was going back to the Land of Fire. At least this time he would have a room...even if he was sharing with Bakura.

On the plus side, said evil thief had found a suitable outlet for his darker tendancies (which were actually encouraged) and was reasonably easier to get along with. Naruto acted like a buffer for his more homicidal tendancies.

Malik and Ryou shared a large house together, partly because they trusted one another...but mostly because they were an official item.

Yugi arrived in a large building...which looked nothing like the dingy apartment Ryou mentioned the brothers lived in. Naruto saw a bizarre hairstyle and yelped.

"Yugi! In here!"

Yugi politely walked in and held back a gasp of surprise.

The entire room was filled with Summoners and beasts.

Bakura looked a little too smug.

"Several nin showed an aptitude for Shadow Magic. They happened to be interested and I became a teacher. Old man Hokage suggested I try to become an academy teacher so I can teach a larger group."

Yugi was immedaitely introduced to each beast and Summoner. Apparently they had given their creatures names.

Naruto looked up, and held out his dagger for Yugi to see. Once Bakura explained what it did, it actually made sense.

He was trying to substitute the Sennin Items. His first trick was replacing his old Ring. Next would probably be the Eye or Scales. Right now Naruto was trying to find ancient souls. First it pointed to Bakura...but then it abruptly pointed to where they knew the front gate to the village was.

Seeing an oppurtunity to teach his students a new trick, he had a few of the less experienced follow Naruto and had the boy explain what he was doing and how. Yugi followed with interest.

It took less than fifteen minutes for Naruto to lead them to a group of Sand ninja who had just checked in.

Pale green eyes stared at sapphire blue. Naruto looked at the boy in front of him and said "You wouldn't happen to be Gaara by any chance?"

The red head seemed relieved, took one look at Yugi and scowled.

Bewildered, Yugi wondered why the boy looked so annoyed at his prescence. Then the kid made a clone and he realized why.

This was the poor kid who got stuck with Atem. The one who was almost driven insane. Atem took one look at Yugi and tried to tackle him.

Instead he ended up on his face in the dirt. Yugi had actually tripped him!

Because Yugi showed his annoyance that his old darker side had been causing problems for his hikari, Gaara quit glaring at him.

Still, Atem gave Yugi a shocked and hurt look, and Yugi surprised him even more when he said "If the rumor I heard was true you earned that. Honestly Atem, how could you treat your hikari like that?"

"But I missed you!" was Atem actually whining?

"Atem, you do know that the gods gave Bakura a real body first because he worked to help his hikari, don't you? And yet yours had to use a jutsu to give you physical form."

"He's our favorite guinea pig when we learn a new killing technique," Gaara informed him.

Yugi looked at his old yami in disappointment.

"I don't believe this. The Pharoah of shadows was beaten by the Thief King because he wouldn't accept the fact that he has to work."

"On the plus side, thanks to the fact he's around I can finally sleep at night. I just shove Shukaku on him and I can sleep."

Naruto grinned.

"So has the idiot even bothered to teach you how to use Shadow Magic at least?" asked Bakura who had caught up with them.

Seeing the confused expression, Bakura cursed...loudly.

"That's it. Grab your stuff and come with us. You have a lot of catching up to do."

Both of his older siblings came with him, more out of fear than anything. Bakura took one look at Kankuro and guessed which beast he had. Temari was fairly easy to guess as well.

Then he thought about Gaara, and how most people around him had their beast and wondered if the red head would end up with an elemental charmer.

Gaara ended up with Aussa the Earth Charmer. Temari got Harpie Pet Dragon and Kankuro they found had the Mysterious Puppeteer.

The day before the exams officially started, and Bakura was relieved that his newest students were finally on par with Sakura, who was the weakest summoner of the lot. He gave them his full permission to summon their Beast without supervision, once they demonstrated how easily they picked up the basics.

Something interesting happened the night before the exam though.

Yugi was about to fall asleep when he felt himself being pulled into the Shadow Realm. Before him were the three gods of Egypt. Ra, Slifer and Obelisk. He gave them a bow, and was only mildly surprised that they bowed back.

'We come to you, Pharaoh of the Shadows and Light, to make a decision in concern to Atem. He has done more damage than good.'

'What decision do you wish me to make, oh Lords of Egypt?'

'We wish to know whether you will allow Atem to go onto the afterlife and pass on. Or should he be placed in your care until you reach the afterlife?'

Yugi didn't think twice. As much as he missed Atem, his former Yami would never handle working for Kaiba without wanting to duel him on sight. And he had finally gotten over Atem being gone.

'Send him on to meet his friends and family on the other side. Why did you bring him back anyway?'

Ra looked a tad embarrassed.

'It was supposed to be a final test for Bakura. To see if he would return to his old ways...'

'Did he pass?'

'He got a new body, didn't he? It seems the Pharaoh and Zorc were the problem before.'

Ra became a pillar of flame, and Yugi watched once more as Atem left for the afterlife.

'What happens to Gaara now?'

'The boy we left Atem with?'

'Yeah, he and his siblings have been using him for target practice. And they've begun to summon their Ka beast thanks to Bakura.'

Slifer looked interested.

'Well...the Priest has been complaining about dealing with his reincarnation for a while now. Perhaps he could take the Pharaoh's place?'

'That would probably work. Kaiba hasn't been too happy listening to his ancient counterpart bitching about the Pharaoh lately.'

Slifer gave him a toothy grin.

'So be it. If the Priest succeeds he gets to chose his own body, since it would be troublesome for there to be two Seto Kaiba around.'

Bakura was in a mood. He felt the shift last night, and he wanted to know what the hell caused it. So when Gaara performed his morning clone to get rid of the Pharaoh, they were all in for a surprise.

The Pharaoh was gone. Instead was a darker version of Seto Kaiba. Bakura swore...so this was what happened last night!

Yugi yawned and said "Morning Priest."

The Kaiba look a like bowed slightly, saying "Yugi."

Bakura turned to Yugi, who was the only one who wasn't surprised.

"Ra sent Yami on to the afterlife and put Priest in his place. Said if he passed he got a new body like you."

"Another Kaiba?" asked Naruto.

"No, Slifer said they'd give him a new one to avoid confusion. All I know is that now I won't have to listen to Seto bitching about his ancient counterpart comparing him to the Pharaoh."

"I only did it so I could annoy him."

Bakura chuckled a bit about that.

"And if he fails?"

"I'll tell the gods to feed me to Amemit to avoid my dear cousin," said Priest.

"You have a name, or do we just call you Priest?" asked Kankuro, drinking his coffee.

"Best call him Shiro Ryu."

The Kaiba look alike gave him a look.

"It translates roughly into white dragon," Bakura explained.

"Ryushiro it is then," said Temari with finality.

Ryushiro shrugged...it was better than being called Priest all the time.

"Ryushiro knows about as much as I do in concerns to summoning, possibly more since he was trianed to use it."

Seeing the look in Shiro's eyes (his official nickname) Bakura gave him a grin.

"I've found several people capable of Shadow Summoning. If they show an interest I train them. Naruto here is my best student and little brother."

"What's your Ka beast?" asked Naruto with a fox grin.

"You can go outside to show them if you want," said Sasuke, pointing to the door.

Shiro saw no problem letting them see his beast. He was rather proud of it.

A large white dragon with stunning blue eyes roared as he summoned it.

He felt the subtle hum of shadow magic, and turned.

Standing behind him was a line of beasts standing next to their masters. At least six of them had humaniod beast, an almost sure sign of a spellcaster.

One boy had his beast sitting on his head, which made him chuckle quietly.

A knock on the door, and the boy with the cat like creature yelled "In the back!"

A woman with little to no modesty, a girl with long pink (pink, really?) hair, a third girl with long pale blond hair, a boy with a dog in his coat, and a third man with silver hair and one eye showing came in.

"Who's the new guy?" asked the man.

Bakura introduced them and everyone else.

Finally Shiro said "How far along are they?"

Apparently he was willing to teach them out of boredom.

Bakura grinned.

Naruto was the farthest along in terms of magic, but not ninja trianing. Which meant Bakura spent most days teaching him how to be a better thief.

Sasuke and Haku were still getting the hang of dowsing.

So Shiro offered to teach the ones who still needed work while Bakura focused on the more advanced applications.

They walked past the obvious trick to the third floor, completely ignoring Lee and the others. Bakura was waiting, with a grin.

"For those of you who passed the test on invisible summoning, you may find a pratical application during this exam. Don't let Ibiki fool you, while he is a hard ass he becomes a whiny bitch when he gets a hangover."

Naruto grinned at that information. He had met Ibiki Morino more than once...when he was hung over. And he was whiny.

The funny thing was that only those with elemental charmers had mastered the invisible summoning.

Naruto took stock of the other genin. Most he dismissed as a nuisance, but a few stuck out.

Gaara and his team. A trio of Rain ninja which sent alarms going off in his head. Three with a musical note. A silver haired boy with glasses and untrustworthy aura. Everyone else fell under either danger or possible ally.

Bakura would be so proud!

Haku took advantage of his Water charmer to spy on the obvious chunin in front of him. Naruto, Hinata and Gaara were borrowing from his answers thanks to their monsters being able to communicate. It was a bit of a surprise when they found that bit out, but it made things ten times easier.

Especially since Naruto had mentioned off hand he was more of a hands on person, and written tests were his biggest weakness.

So now they had to wait for the final question.

One which Naruto passed without a second thought. While he was a bit more serious than he used to be, he was still the goofy fox boy who rushed headlong into things. Before Ibiki could say anything, the window was completely destroyed by a mysterious assailant...who turned out to be Anko.

Naruto had a very Bakura like grin on his face as once again Anko displayed her horrible sense of timing. Anko gave him a slight grin, then went all serious.

"Anko, your timing still sucks," said Naruto with a mild whine.

Anko stuck her tongue out in reply.

"Meet me tomorrow afternoon at area 44!"

Naruto went to Bakura, who was talking to Anko.

"How long are you sticking us Genin in the Forest of Death, Anko-nee?"

Anko turned to Naruto, then debated whether she should bother telling him.

"You really want to know or you just asking?"

"More like I'm mildly curious."

"Pretend you're being sent out of the village into the wilderness for a while then."

"Thanks for the tip."

Naruto promptly put a henge on and went weapon shopping. His order should be done by now.

The guy who owned the weapons shop only did a mild glare at him, probably because he was reading Icha Icha at the time, and not because of what he carried.

"You got my order, pops?"

The man put his book down and went into the back. He came out with a long package that was rounder at one end. Naruto bought a few extra shuriken, some larger weapons he would store in his pack and paid for his new staff.

Shiro took one look at his staff which shrank into a circle that hung around Naruto's neck when he applied chakra. He then offered to show Naruto how to hit people properly with it.

Naruto walked with his team to area 44. More commonly known as the Forest of Death...and Anko's favorite place to take Bakura on a date. (Bakura actually confided in Naruto he liked the place too...only because Anko helped him practice torture techniques on the more blood thirsty animals there. The Hokage didn't know what to think when he found out most of the largest predators in the Forest were now terrified of the white haired jounin.)

Naruto was fully prepared for at least a week. His food was in his special scroll that Bakura bought him for his birthday. His weapons were all within easy reach, except for a few of the larger shuriken. His new staff was around his neck like a pendant, hidden in plain sight.

To be fair, most wouldn't look twice at the odd amulet. Bakura helped him by doing a very good recreation of the top part of Wynn's staff, dragon and all. Naruto had him adjust it to become a full circle, and even added a few points which made the entire thing look reminscent of the Sennin Ring. The point would vanish and become the pole of the staff when he applied shadow magic to it.

Anko did annoy him when she made her usual sadistic move to scare the other genin. The hair on the back of his neck raised when the Rain ninja gave Anko her kunai back. He left, and Naruto hissed at her "He smells like you Anko-nee. He smells like snakes and death. Only it's stronger than yours!"

Anko kept her surprise hidden well, but would alert the Hokage the first chance she got. Naruto had the strongest nose outside the Inuzuka family, so if he smelled snakes...it was a good chance Orochimaru was back in the village.

Soon the genin went into the forest, and Anko went to the Hokage and reported what Naruto told her.

He immediately sent her and Bakura to patrol the outside of the forest. Bakura said if he found the freak he would give him a one way trip to the shadow realm.

A few ANBU found the bodies of the missing Rain genin, Bakura and Anko immediately went into the forest to find the boys and warn them.

Bakura had his dowsing blade out, and Anko was right behind him. She went looking for Orochimaru while Bakura spread the warning to his students, who would let the others know through their beasts.

He found them and a sight he never would have believed possible.

Naruto was drawing on the power of the Fox, Sasuke was freaking out and Shino was doing his best to help Sasuke. Suddenly Naruto was hit with a strange seal he had never seen before, and the Kyuubi's chakra was abrubtly cut off.

Sasuke snapped out of it, and narrowly avoided being bit by the Snake man. Shino called out his Insect Queen to distract Snake until Sasuke could call out something.

Naruto's eyes snapped open, and his staff appeared. His blue eyes were a glazed greenish blue, and a whirlwind was swirling around him.

Storming Wynn came out of the wind, and stood beside Naruto easily. Petit Dragon was in it's familiar form, and encircling his arm, boosting his natural wind mastery.

Sasuke brought out not Ruby Carbuncle, but another beast. Something from his deck, which was in his hand.

Magician of Chaos.

Chaos destroyed the snake summon, while Shino prepared their defense so they could escape. Naruto was destracting the Sannin with Wynn, forcing him back. Finally he opened a portal to the Shadow Realm and they escaped to another place in the forest...right next to Hinata's team.

Bakura followed Orochimaru into the forest, and helped Anko deal a devestating blow to the man.

"Serpent Night Dragon! Attack!"

Anko had summoned her beast, and now had Orochimaru paying for the hell he put her through so many years ago.

Clearly he never expected his former student to find a jutsu even he couldn't pull off. Bakura grinned, and soon Orochimaru attempted to brand him like he did Anko.

"What the fuck Snake freak? I'm not into guys!"

Anko grinned at him, and they headed out of the forest to report what happened. She was weak kneed from using her magic in a proper shinobi battle for the first time, so Bakura did something that had the Sadist of the T and I department blush.

He carried her on his back.

Not that Anko would admit she blushed. She would deck the first person to say such a thing.