Naruto: Alone

by Arganaut

The meeting between the council and Sarutobi did not go as planned.... how will Naruto survive growing up without the help of the Third?

22. Chapter 21

Naruto Alone

Alright folks, Arganaut here to present to you the next installment of Naruto: Alone! First off, allow me to thank you all for having pushed me over the 1,000 mark for reviews. Really, all of you who have taken time out of your day to not only read this story, but give me your thoughts on it, both constructive and congratulatory, are the ones responsible for this, and for that I applaud and thank you, and hope that my plans and plots can continue to titillate and interest you. From the very bottom of my heart, thanks to you all.

Anyway, speaking of reviews, here are the responses, as always if I didn't respond to your specific review, its either because a question was not asked, or if it was, it was answered in a different review.

VFSnake- He's hanging in there, but now that he's been caught, and now has two persons knowing of his crimes, he's not going to be there for long, hopefully.

Vallavarayan- Yeah, it kind of does doesn't it. Huh, didn't think about that. Anyway, Hinata and Naruto'll have their moment over this in due time, for now its time for Wave.

weixuan 18- It was Naruto, and he's really just stealing anything that'll give him a rush in the process.

Doctor Yami- She went to Kakashi mostly because he was Naruto's sensei then and now. He's the person who's going to be around the most often, and really, the only person who wouldn't be too busy (Iruka with the Academy) to help Naruto out.

firelordeg- Oh, okay.

KaliAnn- Thanks for the compliments, and I agree. Kakashi'll get to it soon enough.

justanotherguyathiscomputer- Hehehehehehehe...

ShadowFaux- Thanks. As to the song suggestion, I can't really make a song omake out of a song who's lyrics are just 'Inspector Gadget' and 'woohoo'.

c3xv-011- - Don't worry about it, it'll all come to you in time. Hell, look at me, it took me years to get the point where I'm writing like I am now. Just takes time and practice.

farticus3000- Never saw the movie, though I recognized the song. The song actually was already a cover for a classic rock song: 'I Wanna Rock'. As for the suggestion, the movie's cover of the original song wasn't even that good, and I'd rather not touch upon a piece of rock history.

Paintball-Gamer- Thanks man, glad to hear that you liked the chapter. I'm sure you'll enjoy this next one just as much, or at the very least, I hope you will.

Dragon Man 180- His hideout.

Chronostorm- Well, it really wasn't on his own. Like I explained, Kakashi's training has been not only helping him, but all of them. But I do see your point.

ShineX- Welcome aboard.

soundless steps- You're quite right, the mistakes in the seal pattern did result in the creation of the Spark Grenade. As for the suggestion, you'll see how I round it all out.

The Epitome of Eccentricity- Thanks, and welcome to the fic.

FictionReader98- Same to you my friend, very glad you enjoyed the chapter. And all I can say on future plans here are that you'll just have to wait and see how things go, and how I deliver them.

Shinichi06- Thanks, that was what I was going for.

VampyreVixen16- Actually, the idea for the jutsu came from inFamous, but I gave it to him primarily because he is a Lightning Specialized Chakra user, and because I have different fighting plans for Naruto as time goes along. Anyway, good to see you again, was wondering where ya popped off to.

Alright, all the reviews are out of the way, its time for the chapter to begin. I know I've had you all waiting for a while now, so let's dig into the beginning of the Wave Arc with this the next chapter of Naruto: Alone.

Chapter 21: New Mission: To The Land of Wave!

Last Time on Naruto Alone:

"Indeed. Now... go get Sasuke and Sakura, mission time." Kakashi said, Naruto only nodding as he ran off to his two teammates. Kakashi just stood there for a moment, before slapping his hand onto his face. "Ugh... sensei would've been so much better at this...." Kakashi said, shaking his head as he sighed.

"Oh well.... I'll get another chance to talk to him soon enough..." The silver-haired Jounin sighed, shaking his head as he looked up at his students... the full weight of being a teacher finally reaching the man's shoulders.

And Now For Our Feature Presentation

---------- The Mission Office ----- Twenty-Five Minutes Later ---------

For Sarutobi, the job as Hokage came with some of the most endearing and personal rewards a man could ever receive. The honor of protecting his home, the pride of being looked upon by the citizens of his village as a man of great respect and dignity, and of course, for him personally, the access to boundless information and knowledge that few others could even deem imaginable.

Of course, all these bright spots came with pay-backs and blights. If Sarutobi had to pick out the worst, it would've been the paperwork that, even at this very moment, was covering his desk back at his office. However, the old man would admit, his hours at the mission office came at a very, very close second.

The job, quite simply, could become very tedious in a very short amount of time, especially during the time of peace Konoha found itself in. Most of the time he found himself either handing out D-Rank missions to Genin just on their way, or C-Rank missions to newly inaugurated Chunin (or deserving Genin) whom would need more advanced work that was also, relatively, safe. B-Rank missions were rare, A-Rank even more so... and the last S-Rank missions that were given out by him were given out in the wake of the Kyubi attack twelve years ago. Sarutobi, while thankful for the peace, still found it hard to keep himself from rapping his fingers across the wooden desk he was currently sitting at.

Compounding this tedium was the fact that the job, as it was now, basically turned Sarutobi from Hokage to glorified cashier. Really, what more was there to this than taking someone's money, handing them over ninja to use, and then at the end of that mission paying the ninja for having done their service? The answer was that there was no more to it than that: Sarutobi's 'job' for several hours on straight would be to just sit in that hard, wooden chair, just sitting and waiting for people to stop by with mission requests, or for ninja to return from the missions.

Had Sarutobi not been allowed to take relief in the sweet tobacco he was currently smoking, the man was quite sure he'd go insane. Of course, misery loves company, which was why the aged Hokage was also thankful that he would often be joined by various Chunin from time to time. Some were more fun than others, with some relieving the boredom of the job... others making it much worse, or pushing it to the point where even tobacco couldn't keep Sarutobi's mind from spinning.

Fortunately, the Chunin joining him this time was Iruka Umino, a nice young lad whom he had frequently spoken with and met when the young man became orphaned. The Academy Teacher seemed to be keeping himself busy by filing away mission reports... mission reports that would eventually find their way to Sarutobi's desk back in his office. Sarutobi sighed as he tossed more tobacco into his pipe, producing a match to light it soon afterward.

"How long has it been so far Iruka?" The aged Kage asked as he took a long drag on his pipe, the Chunin merely averting his eyes for a moment to look outside before shrugging.

"I'd say an hour, maybe two." Iruka said in an idle manner, Sarutobi nearly choking on his pipe upon hearing that he had only been in this place for so short a period of time. Iruka couldn't help but chuckle at the old man. "If we're lucky maybe some of the more... excitable teams will start rolling in soon, that always makes time fly." The Chunin said with a small smile, Sarutobi looking over at Iruka, a small grin of his own forming.

"Right." The old man said quite shortly as he took another drag on his pipe. Most of the day teams of Genin, Chunin and Jonin would just waltz in, take their missions and go, with only a question or two extending their stay. However, there were a few teams whom actually would present some form of entertainment to brighten Sarutobi's stay in the mission office. The two just sat quietly for a moment when suddenly the door opened, both looking up and smiling as Iruka leaned over.

"Speak of devils and they will appear..." Iruka whispered over to Sarutobi as none other than Team 7 entered the office. Naruto, as always, was the first into the room, the grin that was normally present on his face much more exuberant than normal. Sakura and Sasuke looked as worn down as ever, both Genin entering the office with shoulders somewhat slumped and beads of sweat still on their foreheads. Kakashi followed in last, looking much more distracted than normal, with his head so deeply buried into his book that only his hair was visible around the smut.

"Well well, was wondering when you all would arrive." Sarutobi said with a small smile, taking one last drag on his pipe before setting it to the side. Naruto, the only member of his team fully aware of the situation, just smirked at the old man as he put his hands to his side.

"Well wonder no longer old man." Naruto replied with a laugh, Iruka sighing as he placed a hand on his head, the Chunin still somewhat embarrassed by Naruto's none too endearing nickname for the Hokage. Still, even after the nickname was once again fired off, Sarutobi's improved mood remained. "So, what do you have lined up for us today?" Naruto asked, as he did every day when he came in, and just like every other day, Sarutobi noticed a small amount of dread just underneath the surface of the boy's demeanor, which was far more noticeable in the bored expression on the Uchiha's face, and the hidden annoyance he could see twinkle in the Haruno's eyes.

"Straight to the point as always, eh Naruto?" Sarutobi asked with a chuckle as he pulled out a few mission dossiers that had been brought in that morning. Sarutobi shuffled through the scrolls, his old eyes quickly going over their ranks and titles.

"The sooner these are done the sooner I don't have to be doing something dull like fixing a rocking chair, or cleaning some clothes.... or working at the cattle ranch..." Naruto said as he shuddered at the mere memory: the Genin still convinced that the cow had decided to give birth just as Naruto would've been the only one around to help out. The old man merely chuckled as he listened to Naruto; as funny as he found the stories Genin would bring back from their D-Rank missions, he couldn't help but agree.

The missions did seem... a tad odd for ninja to be doing. Though, as Hokage, Sarutobi got to take a close look at Konoha's books... and in times of peace where high paying missions were rare, beggars couldn't be choosers. If people were willing to pay Genin to do household chores they either couldn't do or dreaded doing, then he wouldn't very well turn them down.

Still, Kakashi's reports on Team 7 had been unusually bright: the team's performance in training sessions and on missions were good, if emphasizing the room for improvement. As Sarutobi's hand glided over a mission scroll that had been turned in just this morning... it was a guarding mission, with the buyer requesting two teams of Genin to escort him to the Land of Wave, and protect him until he could finish a construction project...

As strange as he found the criteria for which teams to send, Sarutobi couldn't very well argue with a man whom had the money to pay for this mission. With the first team already having been picked and informed... Sarutobi began to wonder if this team would make for a good second.

"So, Naruto, you really find all of these missions to be that dreadful?" Sarutobi asked offhandedly, his hand grasping the scroll and pulling up on it, the blond ninja shrugging.

"Don't get me wrong, the pay's nice, but... this isn't exactly what I had in mind when I signed up for this." Naruto replied, Sarutobi nodding, before Naruto continued. "I mean, we all think so. Sasuke and Sakura can barely keep themselves from cus-" Naruto couldn't continue his comment, for as soon as he mentioned his two teammates, both the dark-haired Uchiha and the pink-haired Haruno slapped their hands over Naruto's mouth, a duet of 'Shut up!' muttered underneath their breaths as they tried to silence the blond blabber mouth. Iruka, whom was sweating bullets over Naruto's statement, looked over to the Sandaime, who merely raised his eyebrow..

"Oh really, well, Uchiha-san, Haruno-san, why not tell me about this apparent dissatisfaction over the D-Rank missions?" Sarutobi inquired, his grip on the C-Rank scroll grew steadily tighter, and he prepared to lay it on the desk. Sasuke and Sakura looked nearly as nervous as Iruka, while looking back to Kakashi, who still had his damn head buried in the book. With no possible route of escape or distraction, or, seemingly, even Kakashi ready to step in to bail them out, the two decided to just follow the idiot blond's lead and speak their mind.

"With as much respect as possible Hokage-sama, I agree with the dobe." Sasuke began, a low mutter coming from Naruto's still covered mouth. "We're ninja, not servants, and it's wasting our training and talents to be treated as such." Sasuke finished off his statement, Sarutobi merely nodding somewhat to himself. Of course, Sasuke being an Uchiha, the young boy would have his pride rather prone to being insulted by being demoted to 'servant', so he was no surprise to Sarutobi. Still, his point was valid.

With Sasuke done, everyone looked over to Sakura for her piece of mind, the pink-haired girl seeming flustered. The girl seemed to stumble all over her sentences.

"Well, sir, you see... my feelings on the missions... well, they're... umm... no disrespect but... well..." Everyone just stood and stared at her while she tried to formulate some form of sentence. Soon enough, Sakura just sighed and drooped her shoulders in defeat, as she looked up with a sheepish expression. "Hokage-sama.... the missions suck...." At that point, everyone in the room slammed their face into the nearest surface available to them, the bluntness of the Haruno's statement.

Sarutobi was the first to lift his face from the desk, laughing a little as he did. This really had been the first block of Genin who, all together, had been so willing to sing what must've been many Genins' complaints with the D-Rank mission system.

"Well." Sarutobi began, coughing into his fist. "Perhaps then I have something to remedy these feelings..." Sarutobi began, Kakashi finally glancing up from his book. Sarutobi, at that moment, lifted the scroll to put it in Kakashi's line of sight, allowing the Jounin to clearly see the label on the scroll: a large C. The silver-haired Jounin blinked a few times upon seeing the mission's rank, and admittedly he was rather surprised: usually C-Rank missions aren't given out to Genin teams for several months after they've become ninja, and even then its hardly done too seriously. Hell, the main idea behind it is to quickly sober up Genin to the life of a ninja, so that their complaints of the easier D-Rank missions wouldn't be quite as frequent or passionate.

There would be times where the team would get through the mission with flying colors, and would go on to ask for more in the future... a result Kakashi could see rather easily happening with his team. Though... perhaps that was a point within itself. His team, in his view, could be quite capable of handling a C-Rank mission... maybe it could prove a good test for them. Besides, if they did somehow manage to get into trouble, he would be there to bail them out, so it was not as if they didn't have a safety net.

'Not to mention...' Kakashi began to think, glancing over at his blond pupil. 'C-Rank missions usually take a few days to accomplish... might give me enough time to figure out how to talk with sticky-fingers here...' With that thought, Kakashi had managed to convince himself. The cycloptic ninja returned Sarutobi's glance and giving the older man a small nod, Sarutobi smiling as he put the scroll on the table.

"Well then, perhaps this will be more in line with what you all had in mind." Sarutobi said with a small smile, as the three Genin allowed their eyes to rest on the C-Rank scroll in front of Sarutobi Of course, the look of surprise on the three Genin's faces was quite hilarious to Sarutobi, as the mix of surprise and glee, or mild approval on Sasuke's, tickled the old man's spirit. Iruka's own eyes laid quite carefully on the scroll, the Academy teacher's concern for his former students peaking.

"Hokage-sama, are you sure about this? They are very fresh Genin, and... well, maybe it'd be better for them to wait longer, get more experience." Iruka said in a matter akin to imploring, the Genin of Team 7 looking at him with an expression that begged him not to change the Kage's mind. Quite fortunately, in their eyes, Sarutobi only shrugged his shoulders lightly before addressing Iruka's concern.

"Under other circumstances Iruka, I'd agree. However, as Kakashi would attest to, this particular team has shown some... particularly interesting growth, not normally associated with the average team, even ones whom would be considered seasoned." The aged Kage said, choosing each of his words carefully. "Besides, Kakashi himself would be going with them, so they'd be in safe hands... unless you find his hands unsuited?" Sarutobi, begging the question, looked over at Iruka, whom merely frowned a bit, realizing that he had been put into a bit of a corner by the Hokage.

"No... I guess." Iruka responded, sighing the last part as he nodded. "Alright, I see your point, and you are the Hokage here." Iruka conceded his worries, the Genin of Team 7 smiling quite brightly as Sarutobi nodded, tossing the scroll over to Kakashi.

"Indeed I am." The Sandaime said with a small smile, before turning his attention to the smiling Genin. "Now then, let us introduce you to your client." Sarutobi said, Iruka taking the hint to get up and head over to the door. Kakashi stood to the side as his students turned to look over, awaiting the face of their clients. In Naruto's head he was already expecting some grand noble, someone who's payout for the mission would be as grand as his estate. Sakura and Sasuke, while their expectations were not as fantastic and grand in scale as Naruto's, were still equally as anxious to meet their client.

Sasuke's thoughts were quite tame, at least in comparison to his teammates, thinking that at the very most the person requesting the mission was some merchant afraid of a few highwaymen. Naruto's mind had already gone of on tangents of the rich and the... well, rich. His mind ran scenes of a wealthy noble asking for protection from great barbarians, and once the mission was completed, would award the young rogue with a sack filled with gold coins. Though, Naruto's daydreaming was nearly outpaced by Sakura's, whom imagined a mission where she would impress Sasuke enough to go out on a date with her, ignoring any thoughts of whom they might be working for.

However, all daydreams come to an end, and these particular thoughts came to a crashing for the three when a dirty old man, wearing a grey-green shirt with the sleeves cut off, a dirty pair of pants, sandals with the souls completely warn, a beard that had who knows what in it, and breath that smelled he had been dunked into a twenty-gallon drum of saki a half-dozen times: a smell attributed by the huge jug of booze the man was carrying around, along with a pack on his back.

'Oh boy, somebody's been drinking...' Kakashi thought to himself, though his face betrayed no emotion of possible worry over their client... his Genin, on the other hand, weren't so restrained. Both Naruto and Sakura had looks of complete and utter disappointment written all over them, whilst their Uchiha comrade, while not nearly as distraught as his teammates, did betray a bit of frustration on his face: after all, even though he hadn't even been as outlandish as either of his teammates, this guy still managed to go below his more normal expectation for a client, an accomplishment if there ever was one.

"Ehhh, you, the guy with the eye..." The old, drunk man said in a slurred tone. "Tell these little brats to stop gawking at me like that, they're pissin' me off." He quickly followed up, causing the Genin of Team 7 to just continue to stare at their 'employer', while Kakashi just put his hand to his forehead.

"This is Tazuna-san, an engineer and construction worker from the Land of Wave, where you'll escort him to, and then guard them until his upcoming project is complete." Sarutobi quickly jumped in, trying to avoid the incoming fight... unfortunately, Tazuna wasn't willing to oblige.

"Can't believe that these'r the bunch of brat who're s'posed to be protecting me? This bunch's worse than the last batch." The construction worker complained as he took a swig from his jug, Kakashi forcibly holding Naruto by the collar, lest he move forward to clobber their employer.

"Wait, last batch?" Kakashi, being the only member of Team 7 who wasn't particularly frustrated or enraged by Tazuna, asked as he looked back at Sarutobi, who merely nodded as Iruka jumped in.

"Indeed: Tazuna-san came in requesting two Genin teams for the mission. The other team left to prepare just a while before you all arrived." The Chunin said, as Tazuna scoffed, interrupting further conversation or questions.

"Didn't think ninja standards had gotten this low..." Tazuna said as all three Genin had veins, throbbing upon their foreheads. "I mean, the freak with the whiskers, the pink-sore thumb, and the little broody brat... how much wood did you carve out while scrapping the bottom of the barrel?" The Wave Citizen said in a sarcastic, drunk manner, Kakashi growing a tad more nerved as even Sasuke and Sakura appeared ready to walk over and beat Tazuna within an inch of his life.

"Let us go Kakashi-sensei, we'll clobber him!" The 'freak with the whiskers' growled at as Kakashi shook his head.

"Tazuna-san." Kakashi began, sweat dropping as he held his Genin back. "I can assure you that these Genin are very skilled and quite exceptional." The Jounin said as he pulled Naruto all the way back to his side. "Besides, you have nothing to worry about if they get into trouble: I am a Jounin, and I will be able to handle anything they aren't." The cycloptic Jounin said with a curved eye... not seeing the small glint in Tazuna's eyes as he shrugged.

"Whatever, but you better be right, I didn't pay as much money as I did to get squat." Tazuna said with yet another swig, Team 7 relaxing a tad bit while Kakashi just shook his head a bit.

"Well, with that settled, I suggest you all get on your way: I informed the other team that you would be meeting them at the main village gates at noon, sharp." Sarutobi immediately shot a look towards Kakashi, shaking his pipe at the Jounin. "This time, don't be late." The aged Kage warned the chronically late Jounin, who merely put his hands up in a small defense.

"Alright, alright, I'll be there by noon... ish..." Kakashi whispered the last part under his breath, turning to his team before the Hokage could reprimand him, or before the situation between his students and their client could turn ugly again. "Alright guys, you heard Hokage-sama, meet up at the main gates at noon, and don't be late." The scarecrow said, disappearing in a plume of smoke as he did. Team 7 coughed a bit as the sudden explosion of smoke caught them off guard, Tazuna just sighing.

"Might as well get some more saki... I have a feeling I'm going to be needin' a lot of it over the course of this trip." Tazuna took one last swig of his jug, before exiting the room, the Genin sweat dropping as Sasuke began rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"Great... our client's a drunk..." The Uchiha groaned as he began walking out of the room, Sakura following him soon after, the pink-haired girl seemingly as distraught as her crush. Naruto, uncharacteristically, was the last one of the Team in the room, something that caused some trepidation on the part of Sarutobi and Iruka.

"Something the matter Naruto, not quite what you imagined your first C-Rank client to be?" Iruka asked his former student, said student turning with, surprisingly to both the Chunin and the Hokage, a small grin on his face.

"Not at all, couldn't have been further from what I had hoped." The blond said, before shrugging. "Still, that doesn't mean this doesn't rock! My first C-Rank mission, I can barely believe it!" Naruto said with a wide smirk, causing Sarutobi and Iruka to smile a bit. "Hey, old man, Iruka-sensei, thanks for this! You'd better have a big old sack of gold for pay when I get back!" The blond thief said, causing Iruka and Sarutobi to sweat drop while chuckling, Naruto finally exiting the room to go get prepared.

As Iruka sat there, the Academy Teacher suddenly slapped himself on the head, looking over at the Sandime.

"Hokage-sama, we forgot to tell them who the other team was." Iruka said, Sarutobi just responding with a lighthearted chuckle.

"I don't think we have to worry Iruka... I have a feeling it will be quite the surprise." The aged Kage said as he drew in a deep breath upon his pipe, Iruka just chucking in a nervous manner..

"No doubt about that........" The Chunin said as he began to go back to filing and re-filing paperwork with Sarutobi, the day from there would, beyond a shadow of a doubt, be far less entertaining than what had just transpired.

--------- Konoha's Main Gates ----- 11:55 A.M. ---------

A lot of things can put a spring in people's steps. For some people, a good meal can uplift their mood. For others, a nice cool breeze can help cool their feelings. For Genin fresh out of the Academy, the best way to get their blood pumping is to give them a C-Rank mission. Evident was this as Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto were the first to arrive at the main gates of the village, five minutes before even their client. The three Genin stood around, every few seconds looking up to check if either their client or other Genin were showing up.

"So, who do you think the second team's going to be?" Sakura asked her teammates, both boys taking a moment to think.

"It would have to be a team that's pretty uptight about timing and scheduling... so Shikamaru's team is out of the picture." Naruto said, his team nodding as Sasuke thought.

"Its possible we'll be running into Team 8... but I don't know if their sensei would get them on a C-Rank mission yet... she seemed cautious." The Uchiha grumbled as the pink-haired kunoichi in the group threw her arms up in exasperation.

"So we'll likely be heading out with a bunch of strangers." Sakura sighed, as the blond member of the group jumped in.

"Hey, what about the others from our class?" Naruto asked as Sasuke just chortled.

"What about 'em? I really didn't care to get to know anyone, and can you honestly say you remember, or even knew, any of the others besides those six and us?" Sasuke retorted as Naruto attempted a come back... before blinking.

"... Alright, you got me there." Naruto conceded, rubbing the back of his head. Before the trio could continue their topic of conversation, Tazuna returned, hardly missing a step as he walked right up them.

"Looks like you all got here early, joy." The drunken construction worker said sarcastically as the jug of alcohol at his side swung lightly.

"Oh, sorry you're sad, because we're so happy to be hanging out with you..." Naruto said with a grunt, Sasuke and Sakura inwardly agreeing with their teammate's sarcasm, Tazuna just giving the blond a dirty look. "Oh, I'm serious, on top of having such a wonderful personality, you smell quite the treat too: the 'brewery on fire' smell is just doing wonders for you." The blond continued to poke at Tazuna, whom just narrowed his gaze at the whiskered Genin.

Just as the verbal back and forth was to begin, something off in the distance caught Naruto's eye: it was a large cloud of dust that was rapidly moving towards Team 7 and Tazuna.

"What the hell is that?" Inquired the young blond, garnering the attention of Sakura, Sasuke and Tazuna. The four looked at the cloud of dust, within moments two, small black figured could be seen at the front of the cloud, running rapidly towards the group. Then, a small sound began to make its way into the ear canals of the Genin, a bit of a high-pitched noise that they couldn't quite make out.

Whilst Naruto stood right in the middle of the road, keeping his ear out to try to figure out what the noise was, Sakura and Sasuke immediately began to feel unnerved by the approaching figures, and moved themselves out of the way, Tazuna quickly following them while leaving Naruto to whatever fate had just been pushed upon him. As the cloud and figures quickly came within about twenty yards of the blond, Naruto could finally make out what they were screaming:

"YO~UTH!!!" The proud battle cry of youth rang loudly in Naruto's ears, the young Genin momentarily stunned by the scream. That moment was all that was needed, as the figures ran right over Naruto, the cloud of dust quickly rolling over the trampled Genin. Sasuke, Sakura and Tazuna looked on in horror as the dust cloud began to lift, and Naruto laid flat upon the ground, sandal marks all over his body.

Standing with their hands at their hips, and their chest jutting proudly forward were... two persons wearing matching green jumpsuits, the taller and older of which wearing a Jounin flak jacket. They both also shared a very similar bowl-hair cut, and when they turned to face each other, it was plain as day that the two had HUGE eyebrows atop his head.

"AHA! Arrived with moments to spare! Truly, Lee, our youthful flames helped push us into this great success!" The taller of the two strange ninja exclaimed as he pumped his fist into the air, his younger charge, Lee, nodding his head vigorously.

"Gai-sensei, perhaps next time we should try doing two-hundred laps in an hour, in order to further push the boundaries of our youth!" Lee exclaimed, as, Gai apparently, looked at his student with a shocked look... before smiling brightly.

"LEE! SUCH YOUTHFUL FIRES YOU SHOW! Once this mission is over, we shall attempt such a feet! If we cannot do that, then we shall attempt to do five-hundred push ups in one-minute!" Gai excitedly proclaimed, Lee getting ready to jump right back on in... before Kakashi suddenly appeared, a distraught look on his face.

"... Of all the teams..." Kakashi muttered under his breath, as Gai took notice of his rival.

"AH! Kakashi!" Gai said in a jovial tone, running up to his rival and patting him on the shoulder. "What brings you here my youthful rival?!" The taijutsu master asked, Kakashi merely removing Gai's hand from his shoulder.

"Well, for starters our teams are going to be working together protecting Tazuna..." The scarecrow Jounin began, Gai's eyes lighting up almost immediately. "Also, you ran over my student." Kakashi added, pointing at the trampled blond student of his. Gai and Lee looked down at the blond mess on the ground, and both grimaced a bit as they ran over to help Naruto up. In the same moment as Lee and Gai were lifting Naruto off the ground, two other figures, tiredly, ran up with the group.

One of the two, a young female, wore her brown hair in two buns on either side of her head, just above the band of her ninja headband. A pink, short-sleeved vest with golden straps across the front, along with a plain pair of dark slacks adorned her. The other, a young male, wore his brown hair long and somewhat loose, ending in a ponytail, his bangs covered up by his own headband. His attire was even more plain than the girl he arrived with, a plan, tan shirt with a pair of black shorts, though he had bandages tied around his right arm. Both had on standard ninja-sandals, and both had their weapons pouch tied to their thighs, as it was with most ninja.

"Sorry we're late sensei, we just needed to ca-..." The girl began, her words dying in her throat as Naruto was pulled all the way into a standing position, his whiskers prominently displayed now that they were out from the dirt road. The two arrivals and Lee fell completely silent, before Naruto suddenly found himself on the receiving end of a Rock Lee bear hug.

"Naruto-san!" Lee exclaimed through tears of youth as Naruto gasped for air, the blond's air-deprived brain still being able to recognize the voice hadn't heard in a year's time.

"L-Lee?!" Naruto gasped out in shock, looking over at the two arrivals, recognizing them almost as immediately. "N-Neji, T-Tenten..." Naruto barely had enough air to say both names, as he slowly began to turn blue.

"Lee, let him go, you're suffocating him!" Neji quickly shouted at his teammate, Lee finally looking up at Naruto and, upon seeing his eyes slowly roll into the back of his head, let go of the blond, a sheepish look on his face.

"Thanks..." Naruto said in a gasp, taking deep breaths as he stood back up, only to suddenly find himself face-to-face with Tenten, whom immediately began shaking him by the shoulders out of excitement.

"Naruto-san! It's so good to see you after all this time, I mean, how long has it been, ten months, a year, who cares, it's just good to see you again!" The weapon's master exclaimed in a very, very quick manner, Naruto's head wobbling back and forth, the possibility of whiplash none too distant.

"Its-good-to-see-you-too-now-will-you-stop-shaking-me-I'm-going-to-be-sick!" Naruto's words were sudden and forced as the blond tried to speak whilst his head was swinging so quickly. Tenten, in an embarrassed manner, let go of Naruto, the older girl blushing a bit as she scratched the back of his head. Naruto's eyes rolled around in their sockets, the blond grabbing onto his head as he tried to prevent his dizziness. The blond's eyes finally stopped rolling to see Neji walking up to him, Naruto quickly putting himself into a defensive position, ready for whatever crazed action Neji might take.

"Hello there Naruto." Neji's calm, collected voice surprised Naruto, whom only blinked as Neji smiled a bit and held out his hand. "Its good to see that you succeeded in becoming a ninja, though considering who I'm talking too, it's none too surprising." The Branch House Hyuga stated, Naruto smirking himself as he took Neji's hand to shake it.

"Heh, you got that right, after all, I was going to be a ninja no matter what, remember?" Naruto said, his ego proudly on display as his former fan club members chuckled, Tazuna, Sakura and Sasuke looking on in a bit of shock, whilst Kakashi and Gai looked on at their students.

"Ah, young friends reuniting after a long period of wait! A truly youthful and exciting event, eh Kakashi?" Gai asked his Jounin counterpart, whom merely blinked as he looked over at Gai in a bored manner.

"Did you say something?" Kakashi asked, smirking underneath his mask as the almost gut-wrenching reaction came from Gai, whom broke out into tears.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! Kakashi, your cool once again deeply penetrates my spirit!!!!!" The green-spandex wearing Jounin lamented, as the other members of the group, save Lee, just sweat dropped at the man's expense. Sakura, after a few moments, finally recognized Lee, Neji and Tenten, and immediately began sweating. Of course, it wasn't long before the three Genin of Team Gai also recognized Sakura and Sasuke, the three of them blinking for a bit.

Before the two groups could more deeply engage in... conversation, Kakashi quickly jumped in.

"Alright, now that the gang is all here we should probably begin the mission." The cycloptic Jounin spoke quickly, catching the attention of the Genin. "Of course, if the six of you recall, we'll be traveling all the way to the Land of Wave, and then staying there until Tazuna is finished with his project in Wave." Kakashi began, looking over to the drunken Tazuna. "That just about covers it, correct?"

"Yeah, yeah." Tazuna grumbled out, glancing at all the gathered ninja, his eyes lingering on the Jounin. "Can we get going now, I'd rather be back home as quickly as possible..." The aged man said, readjusting his pack a bit.

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea. Everyone-" Kakashi began as he waved his hand up towards the towers on both sides of the gate, the ninja in those towers moving to open the gate. "-let's go." The silver-haired ninja said with a bit of a kick, the gates opening almost as soon as Kakashi finished his sentence. The six Genin looked at the opening gates with anticipation, their eyes opening widely as they saw the endless stretch of forest right in front of them.

The least doe-eyed of the bunch, of course, was Naruto, whom just walked right on out of the gates, whistling as he looked around.

"Heh, as often as I've been out and about in the woods, I keep forgetting that all of it is surrounded by this huge wall." Naruto said with a huge smile, taking in a deep breath of air. The other Genin followed Naruto, though they were far more stunned than the blond. For most of them, travel even within the wall was limited to a few hundred yards away from the main section of the village... and now they were actually outside of the village, not technically even in Konoha anymore.

"First time getting outside of the village is always the most exciting." Kakashi said, walking right on out the gates. "Believe me, it loses its novelty after a while." The cycloptic Jounin added, as his fellow Jounin suddenly jumped forward.

"Kakashi, you grossly underestimate the youthful energies outside the village walls!" The green-spandex clad Jounin thrust his fist into the air as he spoke. "Why, the world is filled with a passion that lifts the hearts and souls of many, and while it is undeniable that Konoha is the bright, fiery star of spring-time youth in this world, there is no denying that the entire world burns with youth and promise with just as much heat and light as Konoha's!" As Gai finished his soliloquy, Kakashi could only bury his face in his hands, shaking his head.

"... Sometimes I wonder just how sane you are..." Kakashi muttered, the silver-haired Jounin's distraught reaction not being the only one, as all the Genin just stared in a dumbfounded (and, in Neji's and Tenten's case, a completely embarrassed) manner... save for Lee, who could hardly contain his feelings of excitement caused by Gai's energetic speech. Tazuna, on the other hand, just looked on with a very distraught look etched onto his face.

"...... I'm doomed..." Tazuna muttered under his breath as he drank deeply from his jug. "Alright... let's go..." The construction worker said gravely, Kakashi nodding vigorously.

"Yes, let's." The silver-haired Jounin said quickly as he and Tazuna immediately began moving with Sasuke, Sakura, Neji, Tenten and Naruto all too happy to follow them immediately. Gai and Lee snapped out of their youthful stupor in time to follow. As the group walked, there was a slow separation into small groups. While Sasuke and Sakura were, for the most part, on their own, Naruto and the Genin of Team Gai were all together, talking with each other to catch up on lost time. Tazuna fell in just behind the Genin, while Kakashi and Gai stayed in the back, able to hand out directions when needed.

Sakura looked back at Naruto, Neji, Tenten and Lee, her face looking a tad blue as she pulled at her collar nervously.

"What's your problem?" Sasuke asked, rather suddenly, catching the pink-haired kunoichi off guard, making her jump a bit.

"Oh, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura said, in relief, laughing a bit as she sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "What do you mean?" She tried to deflect the question, Sasuke only cocking his right eyebrow, a 'don't play dumb' look if there ever was one. Sakura's nervous chuckles died down as she looked to the side. "Well... you remember the Sasuke Uchiha Fan Club and the Street Fox Fan Club?" She asked, Sasuke looking like he was considering the question, before shaking his head.

"Not really..." The Uchiha admitted, Sakura just staring at him with a blank expression.

"Y-You don't?" The former co-head of the SUFC asked, Sasuke nodding.

"The only time I really paid attention to any of the fan club nonsense was while I was avoiding you all, while you all were trying to ask me out or something else annoying." Sasuke elaborated, Sakura face-vaulting as the verbal shot was fired, getting back up with a very embarrassed look on her face.

"R-Right..." Sakura weakly muttered, before continuing. "Well... long story short, they were in his and I was in yours... and we didn't get along... and now I'm kind of worried about... well..." Sakura stumbled around for the words, Sasuke immediately jumping in.

"You're worried that they might still be holding onto those old feelings." Sasuke said as more of a statement than a question, Sakura only able to nod in affirmation. When she did, Sasuke just sighed a bit, shaking his head. "Don't see why you're worried. If they do, they do, and if they don't, they don't. Besides, you're acting like they're actively plotting your demise as we speak." Sasuke said in a dismissive tone, Sakura looking back at them before sweat dropping.

"I guess you're right." The pink haired kunoichi said somewhat silently as they quickly moved on. Whilst this small conversation was going on, Naruto, Neji, Tenten and Lee were busy conversing themselves, the four trying to catch up on the year they had been separated.

"Man, can't believe I'm seeing all of you again, and at once too! Who'd a thought you'd be on the same team, stroke of luck huh?" Naruto said with a small grin, his question met with a vigorous nod from Lee, while Neji and Tenten seemed more apt to shrug. Before Naruto could ask, Tenten could leaned up close to the boy and began whispering.

"It can be... but between Gai-sensei and Lee.... things get a bit... oh, what's the word I want to use..." Tenten thought on it, Naruto looking back at Gai-sensei whom, at that moment, seemed to be badgering Kakashi, Naruto only able to make out the loud screams of 'youth' and 'rivalry' from the bowl-cut Jounin.

"Insane?" Naruto suggested, the weapon's master snapping her fingers.

"Yeah, that's the word!" Tenten said, as Lee jumped in quite swiftly.

"Do not take too much too heart Naruto-san, Tenten-san just does not quite grasp the concept of youth that Gai-sensei wishes to pass onto us through his training!" Lee proclaimed loudly, Tenten sighing as he placed her hand on her head.

"Oh... geez... the training... excessive is putting it lightly." The weapons kunoichi remarked as she raised her hand up. "Walking dozens of laps on your hands around the village... stand on one hand for hours on end... thousands of push-ups, hundreds upon hundreds of sit-ups... jumping across roof-tops with weights tied to us... oh, and the one-on-one practice bouts with Gai were just fantastic, let me tell you..." Tenten said with a bit of a groan.

"While I agree his... methods might be... well, are questionable, the results certainly speak for themselves." Neji, rather silent to that point, suddenly spoke, interrupting Tenten's listing off as he looked over to Naruto. "The three of us have gotten much stronger and faster since we last saw each other... in fact, I'd say that we could easily outrun you now Naruto." Neji commented, a small smirk forming on his lips as Naruto just chuckled.

"Big talk comin' from you Neji." The blond returned in a joking manner, Neji just nodding.

"What can I say, when you have the facts to back up your words, it isn't just talk." The Branch Hyuga fired back, Naruto just chuckling.

"I guess when we have some down-time, we'll just have to race..." Naruto said with a wide smile, Neji's response dying on his lips when, suddenly, Lee jumped forward.

"AH YES! A RACE BETWEEN US FOUR FRIENDS TO CHALLENGE EACH OTHERS' SPEED AND ABILITY! CERTAINLY IT IS THE MOST YOUTHFUL WAY FOR US TO TEST OUR GROWTH IN THE SPAN OF THIS YEAR!" Lee loudly shouted, Tenten shaking her head a bit, though a small smile was on her face.

"While I'm not as excited as Lee here, I think a race would be fun." Tenten said with a grin. "It'd be good to see if you're as fast as we remember you being." The weapon's mistress said in a near-teasing manner, as Naruto just chortled.

"Please: I'm not just as fast, I'm even faster now." The blond Genin brushed his thumb across his nose, the Tenten shaking her head a bit at Naruto's pride, while Neji just nodded.

"It sounds like you're training as proceeded well then: despite what I can only assume to be a rather-" Neji began, glancing over at the other members of Team 7 for a moment. "-rough set of teammates." The Hyuga finished, Tenten and Lee nodding in agreement with their teammate.

"Yeah... given all the stuff that happened at the Academy..." Tenten said, scratching the back of her head as she recalled the rather rambunctious attitudes taken by the two sides in those days. Naruto took on a thoughtful look, before shrugging his shoulders.

"Not as bad as I thought it was going to be, if you can believe it." The blond admitted, capturing the attention of the three beside him. "I mean, the first day and most of the first training session was... tense, to say the lease, but after that... we don't tend to get in each others way, and we work together... fine, I guess." Naruto reached for words as he tried to describe the situation, as Lee suddenly jumped in as he finished.

"A story for the ages! A group of people, once set against each other by feelings and beliefs irreconcilable, have put their feelings aside in the name of youth and teamwork! Truly the flames of youth radiate in all of y-" Rock Lee's monologue was ended when Tenten threw her elbow into Lee's side.

"Lee not withstanding, at least it sounds like things are better than would've been expected." Tenten said with a bit of a smile, Naruto nodding.

"Yeah, it is..." The blond said, before quickly moving onto a new tangent in the conversation. As the group continued discussing with each other the events that took place since their last meeting, the pace of everyone in general continued on at its slow pace, with Tazuna's normal speed setting the standard for the group. It was only an hour later, after much shouting on Gai's and Lee's part, and much more silent conversations on the part of everyone else, that the rather quiet tone was disrupted.

It was inconspicuous, that puddle in the middle of the road. Just sitting there, barely even rippling as the group meandered past it. While the Genin barely even noticed the small body of water just sitting there, Gai's and Kakashi's eyes flickered to the tiny pool of water, and then flickered back towards each other, a silent message going in between the two Jounin as they kept up their normal demeanor.

It hadn't rained in several days, so what was a puddle, of even such a minuscule size, doing out and about on the road. Soon enough, both Jounin's suspicions were to be confirmed, as the puddle begin to shift and twist as the group walked right on by it. The rattling of chains and the twisting of metal caught all ears as the group guarding Tazuna turned, seeing moving quickly across the terrain two Mist-Nin, connected by a chain that was attached to a gauntlet on each man, one on his left arm, the other on his right. The men wore large masks on their face, one Mist-Nin wearing a large metal face mask over the lower-half of his face, while the other wore a strange face-mask, a breathing apparatus, over top of his mouth. The rest of their bodies were concealed by large, black, torn cloaks that fluttered in the wind as they ran directly for Gai and Kakashi.

The two Jounin quickly found themselves tied together by the spiked chain, the two Mist-Nin standing on either side of the Jounin.

"Waaay closer to you than I EVER wanted to be!" Kakashi said in a bit of a disturbed tone, that momentarily disarmed the chain wielding Mist-Nin, whom were further confused by Gai's sudden eruption.

"Kakashi, these chains, though strong, can barely even compare to the chains of youthful rivalry that connect us two together! We two have a connection of chains tha-" As Gai attempted to get out the last youthful speech he would give, the two Mist-Nin pulled tightly on their chains, the spiked metal thrashing and slicing straight through the two Jounin in an instant, much to the apparent pleasure of the Mist-Nin.

"Dammit, I thought the green one would never shut up!" The Mist-Nin with the metal mask over his lower-face said in a sadistic manner, as quickly the two assassins turned their gaze upon the rest of the Genin, whom looked absolutely horrified over the gruesome end that the two Jounin met.

"Let's make sure not to give these brats a chance at last words before we slice open the old man." The opposing Mist-Nin droned out through his apparatus as they began charging for the group, Tazuna quickly backing up far behind the Genin, a terrified look on the old man's face. As the brother's chain tensed, the Genin were quickly snapped out of their stupor, as they quickly realized that if they didn't get moving, they'd soon have to be cleaned off the Mist-Nins' chain as well. The first move was actually collectively made by Naruto and Sakura, whom quickly produced a large amount of shuriken, which were promptly thrown at the Mist-Nin with the breathing apparatus.

The offensive forced the assassin to stop in his tracks to put up a proper defense against the onslaught, the sudden stop causing his brother to jerk on the chain, further tensing the already tight metal-work. Sasuke made the next move, the Genin dashing forward towards the center of the chain, lobbing a kunai right into the center-link. The Uchiha then jumped forward and kicked the butt of the kunai, the tensed metal of the chain breaking with the additional strain and pressure the metal instrument was placing on it.

With the two Mist-Nin separated, the two Genin teams began beginning their own offensives on each of the cold-blooded assassins. The metal-mask wearing Mist-Nin found himself within the line of fire of Team Gai, with Neji dashing towards the unbalanced ninja, Neji's Byakugan eyes flaring as the Mist-Nin came within striking distance. The Mist-Nin, regaining his balance as Neji closed in, tried to lash out at the Hyuga with a swipe from his claw.

Try being the key word, for as the Mist-Nin pulled back his claw in preparation for his swipe, he found his weapon bombarded by kunai, shuriken and various metal implementations, courtesy of the weapon-mistress of Team Gai, Tenten. Tenten's weapons each met their mark as every kunai and shuriken strike at one of the joints of folds in the claw, either piercing straight through into the Mist-Nin's hand, or outright dismantling sections of the weapon.

The pain from the sudden attack slowed the Mist-Nin's swipe, given Neji ample time to duck just below the attack, and deliver his own. Neji's fingers moved fluidly across the assassin's body, massive amounts of damage to the Mist-Nin's chakra circulatory system and muscles being done as the Jyuken delivered piercing blow after piercing blow of chakra. As a finish to his own assault, Neji jutted his palm towards the top of the Mist-Nin's neck, the metal mask covering his chin too well. The attack, none the less, shot the assassin's head straight up, Neji smirking as he rolled away, allowing his last teammate to deliver a the finishing blow.

"Aaaah! Leaf Hurricane!" Lee had roared as the taijutsu-expertised Genin rushed forth to the Mist-Nin, quickly delivering a crushing kick to the side of the Mist-Nin's head. The Mist assassin's eyes bugged out, as the blow from the kick rocked his skull, with even his mask beginning to fall apart from the blow of the kick. The pain of the situation wasn't helped much as the Mist-Nin ran, face first, into the trunk of one of the trees at the side of the path.

The Mist-Nin staggered about as blood began to spill lightly from his lips, Tenten slowly walking up behind the assassin as he stammered about. Tenten delivered one, quick punch to the back of the Mist-Nin's head, forcing his face right back into the tree. With a small groan, the Mist-assassin slowly slid down the trunk of the tree, before flattening out on the ground.

Meanwhile, Team 7's efforts against the other Mist-Nin were running, while not as smoothly, well. Sasuke, after having separated the chains, ran straight for the Mist-Nin with the breathing apparatus, managing to land a few hits upon the other half of the assassin pair before being forced to jump back away from the clawed foe. Sasuke's efforts continued in much the same manner, the Uchiha moving quickly around the Mist-Nin, whom would try to strike the agile little bugger with his claws.

"Stand still you little brat!" The annoyed assassin roared as he raised his claw far over head, to slam down into the Uchiha's skull, only to find his moment of anger taken advantage of by the blond Genin that had, up until that moment, remained on the sidelines of the fight. As the Mist-Nin raised his gauntlet, Naruto quickly raced behind him, and looped several rounds of ninja-wire around the Mist-Nin's wrist, before ducking down and through the assassin's legs, the wire still in his grip.

"How about you go ahead and chill for a bit?!" Naruto exclaimed as he quickly ran forward, keeping his grip on the wire tight. Before the Mist-Nin could even comprehend what had just happened, the ninja-wire around his wrist, with the force of Naruto's full speed sprint behind it, pulled the assassin's arm directly down, and behind the Mist-Nin, the force of the sudden pull and shift in position pulling the Mist-Nin's shoulder out of socket.

"Aaaah!" The yelp of pain was Sasuke's signal, as the Uchiha ran full steam at the Mist-Nin, and rather unceremoniously, slammed his fist right into the enemy ninja's throat. Choking and gasping for air, the mist-nin couldn't realize that Naruto was still pulling quite tightly on the wire, the tightness of which wasn't being helped by the assassin's backward movement as he tried to recover from Sasuke's blow. With another great pull, Naruto managed to force the Mist-Assassin right onto his back, Naruto grinding his teeth as he pulled out several more feet of ninja-wire.

"Sasuke, flip him over!" Naruto shouted as he ran for the Mist-Nin, both he and the Uchiha knowing that it would only be a matter of time before the ninja was right back up onto his feat on his own. Sasuke obliged, forcing the Mist-Ninja onto his stomach, barely dodging a rather meager swipe from the assassin's claws. Naruto quickly came upon the Mist-Nin, the boy putting years of practice tying up prey to use by wrapping the ninja wire all around all of his limbs, before swooping up all the wires together, pulling his various limbs up into the air, and tying them all together. Whilst securing his knots, the Mist-Nin began to come back to full awareness... and finding himself in the precarious situation he was in wasn't exactly comforting.

"What the hell did you do to me you little brat?!" The assassin grunted out as he tried to wriggle free from the ninja wire, all in vein as Naruto, in a moment of triumph, placed his foot right on top of the Mist-Nin's head.

"What's it look like, I tied you up!" Naruto said, receiving a glare from his would be assassin. "Gee, no wonder you got beat by three Genin: you're an idiot!" The blond Genin gloated, the Mist-Nin now rabidly cursing at Naruto as he tried to undo the knots of the wire. The celebratory mood on the Genins' part was disturbed when the slow sound of tears began to come from where Kakashi and Gai had been sliced, as Lee stood over the pile of what they presumed to the be the remains of each of their sensei. Team 7 and the remainder of Team Gai slowly began to realize the reality of the situation: Gai and Kakashi were dead... leaving the Genin all alone with Tazuna.

This realization seemed to be even more horrifying for Tazuna, as the old man recalled just exactly who was right on his tail. Before the group could think of new options for their situation, Lee began to speak up.

"Gai-sensei... though you're honorable flames of youth have been extinguished by these dishonorable and lowly assassins'-" Lee began, receiving an insulted look from the still conscious Mist-Nin, and a small gurgle from his battered counterpart. "-... I PROMISE TO CONTINUE YOUR PROUD LINE OF YOUTHFUL THOUGHT, AND TO SPREAD EVERYWHERE THE IDEALS AND WORK ETHIC OF YOUR FLAMES OF YOUTH!" Lee suddenly cried out, tears streaming down the sides of his cheeks rapidly. Before he could continue, however, there was a small sniffle at his side. Lee turned slowly, and was surprised to see Gai, whose own eyes had swollen with rivers of tears.

"Lee..." Gai said slowly, before his youthful energy caught up with him. "SUCH WORDS OF SPRING-TIME YOUTH! TRULY YOU'RE NOT JUST WORTHY TO BE MY STUDENT, BUT YOU HONOR ME WITH A FIERY SPEECH OF PASSION, KINDNESS, AND STRENGTH!" Gai said, as Lee suddenly ran forward, forgetting the pile of scraps at his feat, and enveloped Gai in a great hug.

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI...!" Both sensei and student cried out together, as slowly but surely the forest behind them seemed to be replaced by a cliff-side, and a great wave crashed against the rocky edge. Whilst the two spandex wearing ninja were having their moment, the rest of the Genin, Tazuna, and the conscious Mist-Nin found themselves just staring, half-amazed and half-terrified, at the seemingly resurrected body of Gai-sensei, who just a few minutes early had been turned into bits along with Kakashi.

"So... is he a ghost or something... cause I'm getting a little freaked out here..." Naruto asked the others with in a jittery tone. Ordinarily, such a question would've been received by a slap to the back of the head... in this case, however, the others in the group just shrugged, honestly unsure of whether or not they were looking at the undead.

"Oh, I assure you, both he and I are very much alive." A rather mono-tone voice rang in the ears of the remaining Genin, raising their heads up towards the source of the voice. Sitting atop one of the branches of the trees was Kakashi, whom looked down at the group with a somewhat curved eye as he waved. "Yo." The cycloptic Jounin greeted the other members of the group. There was a moment of stunned silence among the Genin, before the utter relief began to wash over them. After all, they had just watched the two Jounin get cut into chunks by the two Mist-Nin, and so...

"Hey, wait a minute!" Naruto shouted as he looked over to the pile of 'flesh'. "How did you-" An explosion of smoke interrupted Naruto's question, as from the plume of smoke, several chunks of log replaced the bits of Jounin that had been left there. While Neji and Tenten seemed a bit amazed, Team 7 was hardly pleased, and in fact, a little annoyed.

"Figures..." The younger Genin said under their breaths, this being the second time, third for Sasuke, that Kakashi had pulled that trick on them.

"So that's why you and Gai just stood there and blathered on like you did!" Tenten said, pounding her fist into her hand. "You two were just buying time to use the Replacement Jutsu." The weapons expert said in an impressed manner, Kakashi just sweating lightly as he jumped down from the limb.

"Well... yes, that and..." The scarecrow Jounin began, glancing over at Gai and Lee, who were both still hugging each other. "... that was really physically closer to Gai than I ever, and I mean ever, wanted to be." Kakashi said, causing the members of Gai's team to mutter a quick 'who could blame you'.

"Still, why didn't you help us out if you weren't really dead?" Sakura suddenly asked, Kakashi's gaze slowly moving over to the Haruno. "I mean... we won, yeah, but if we hadn't managed to pull that off, we would've died.." Sakura muttered under Kakashi's gaze, as the Jounin merely shrugged a bit.

"Both Gai and I were ready to jump in at a moment's notice should any of you have landed in serious trouble." Kakashi began, as he looked at both the Mist-Nin, smiling a little bit under his mask. "Looks like we were right to just let you handle this on your own though, excellent work all around." Kakashi praised the Genin as he walked over to the two Mist-Nin. "It's not every day that the Demon Brothers of the Mist are taking down by six Genin, after all." Gai said, ignoring the curses coming from the still conscious Demon brother, as he pulled out a scroll.

Biting the edge of his finger, Kakashi opened the scroll and lightly dabbed a kanji towards the beginning of said scroll, before dropping the scroll onto the ground. With a few seals following, a plume of smoke rose from the blood, covering the seal completely. As the smoke died down, a large, long line of rope had appeared on top of the scroll, Kakashi picking up the line and threw it to the Genin.

"Now, I need you all to tie these two up to that tree..." Kakashi said, with a look over to Gai. The other Jounin looked at his rival, noticing the nod over to Tazuna's direction. "Gai and I need to have a few words with our client." Kakashi spoke, slowly turning his head towards the normally drunken man, whom merely swallowed a lump in his throat as Kakashi began to approach. Gai quickly followed, ending his hug with Lee as he directed his student to help with the wrangling of the Demon Bros.

While the Genin went about tyiing up the assassins', removing their gauntlets just in case they were to try anything, Kakashi and Gai had begun grilling Tazuna.

"Tazuna.... I find it rather interesting that, amongst a group of eight ninja, two of which being rather famous in Konoha... that you were on the Demon Brothers' mind at all." Kakashi said, crossing his arms. "We want a bit of an explanation..." The cycloptic Jounin stated firmly, as Tazuna put up his hands in a defensive posture.

"Look, i-it's not what it looks like..." The aged man said nervously, Gai raising his huge eyebrows as spoke.

"So, it doesn't look like you lied to Konoha about the potential dangers our Genin would be facing on this mission, which seems to include some high-ranking, and very malicious, ninja?" The Taijutsu specialist asked, which merely caused Tazuna to swallow another lump in his throat.

"Alright... it's exactly what it looks like..." Tazuna began, before shaking his head. "But, you have to understand..." Tazuna tried to speak, before Kakashi interjected.

"No, you have to understand that you paid for two C-Rank missions, Genin teams specifically, which only called for us to protect you from highwaymen and other robbers... at this point, we have every right, and in fact responsibility, to just head back to Konoha right now, and leave this all behind us." Kakashi stated firmly, as panic seemed to fill Tazuna's eyes.

"W-wait! Please, let me explain myself first!" The old man pleaded with the two Jounin, clasping his hands together and bowing his head a tad. Kakashi and Gai glanced over at each other, and then back at the Genin. With a small nod at each other, Gai took the initiative and spoke.

"Alright, we'll let you explain Tazuna-san" The youthful Jounin said, Tazuna looking up at them with a relieved look. "Though, I doubt right in the middle of the path where we were just attacked would be the best place for you to begin." Gai noted, Tazuna nodding vigorously.

"Yes, of course... there's a boat ferry, just a little way's ahead of us! I'll explain on the boat ride... and if you all still feel like leaving me after I've explained, then you can just take the boat back here and leave me to my fate..." Tazuna said, ending on a solemn tone, as Kakashi and Gai once again nodded.

"Alright, Gai, start gathering up the Genin, I need to send a message back to Konoha to pick these two up." The scarecrow said as Gai nodded, walking over to the Genin as Kakashi prepared to send one of his Ninken back to Konoha to deliver the message. After the message was sent and the Demon Brothers firmly secured, the group moved forwards once again. As Tazuna had said, a row-boat was waiting for them on one-side of the shore... and it was a pretty small row boat.

"... You really expect all of us to fit into that..." Naruto spoke up first, Tazuna shrugging as he just kept walking towards the row boat.

"Look, couldn't really afford any better, so I had to go with what I could get." The older man said with a bit of a sigh, as the eight ninja skeptically looked at each other before boarding the boat. The small boat was able to carry and fit the ten of them, the tenth of course being the rower, though it was an extremely tight fit, over which muttered curses could just barely be heard over the sound of the moving water as the boat left shore.

It was a relatively silent beginning to the ride, as the ninja all awaited for Tazuna to begin explaining exactly why he felt the need to, effectively, scam Konoha into this sort of mission, the old worker sitting there, gathering his thoughts as he readied himself. Just as Kakashi was to push for Tazuna to get on with his story, the old man began.

"Let me start by saying that I didn't have much of a choice in the matter when it came to tricking you all." The aged man began, as the ninja listened intently. "My town, my village, pooled almost all of our remaining money together in order to find a bring ninja back to Wave to protect us... I just couldn't afford either a B-Rank or an A-Rank mission, even with all of that money we got together." Tazuna said with a bit of a sigh, as Kakashi just continued to look at the old man skeptically.

"We gathered that much just from the situation... mind telling us precisely why it was so important to get any of us in the first place?" The scarecrow Jounin asked, Tazuna just nodding.

"You see... it wasn't all that long ago that Wave was a prosperous section of the world. Our island was right at the delta of a river that led deep into the mainland... great place for anyone to trade. Boat's would come down the river to bring goods from the upstream, ships would come out from the ocean to trade their own goods, and all the while we stood right in the middle of it, handling the transactions, repairing ships, and even trading a few things we were making... life was good, and that I remember for certain."

"... Then a while back, some rich-bastard named Gato came along. The guy had a fleet of merchant vessels that he had built up from trading in other areas, and wanted to add our particular spot to his business empire. The bastard basically locked us off from the ocean or the river: instead of having ships come down to trade, he'd have his merchant vessels, save them the trouble by going upstream, and would go out into the ocean to save the islanders the trouble of coming to us."

"No matter how much we tried to break Gato's increasingly tight grip, something always seemed to happen that would just so happen to help him, while hurting us. We get a shipment of rare tea from one of the islands, that shipment would later be floating out towards the ocean the next morning. Any of the merchant vessels we had just laying around would quickly find themselves ablaze and sinking to the bottom of the waters. Any of us try to stop his bullying of our merchants... he'd just send even more the next day... and those who'd try to fight would find themselves hanging around town by a rope."

"Eventually... most of the money we had left was gone, and eventually the will to continue fighting left right along with it in most people..." Tazuna's speech slowed down towards the end, his head lowering a bit, his aged eyes showing the depth of the sorrow he and his village had experienced, causing the ninja gathered aboard the boat to frown somewhat. "But... there were enough of us... enough of us who decided that we'd see Wave freed from Gato's tyranny. So, we began devising a plan."

"We needed to think of a way to break Gato's monopoly around the trade in our region. The first few suggestions were just plain old foolish, some of the younger men in the bunch proposing we just storm wherever the hell Gato was hiding out and be done with him. Eventually, the ideas began to become even more serious. The first serious idea we had was the idea of building a bridge to connect us to the mainland, perhaps we could beat out Gato's monopoly on the sea with overland trade."

"Of course, several holes in the idea formed after we thought about it. Even with a bridge, Gato would still hold the monopoly on rare goods coming in from the islands, and furthermore he could travel up and down stream of the rivers faster than even the fastest amongst us could run or ride, so it'd basically do no harm to his grip on the trade important to Wave. Plus... there's the practicality of actually building a bridge long enough to connect us to the mainland."

"What do you mean?" Naruto chimed in, Tazuna just shrugging.

"First let's just talk about the financial means. The stuff needed to build a bridge strong enough to go for so long is expensive, and was just out of our league. Secondly, it'd take several years for us to even get the bridge finished with the rather small amount of volunteers for any of our efforts. Finally... well, you stand up." Tazuna began, a small glint in his eyes. Naruto, curious, did as Tazuna said and carefully stood up on the boat. "Now, say you're the bridge. You can't move at all and you're an eyesore that can be seen from a long ways off, thanks to how long you have to be built." The aged man said, Naruto sweat dropping at the 'eyesore' comment.

"Okay..." The blond said slowly, as Tazuna raised his foot a bit.

"Now, say my foot is a few dozen pounds of explosives." Tazuna said slowly. Before Naruto could even realize what the old man was getting at, Tazuna quickly swept his foot under Naruto's legs, causing the young ninja to fall right back down onto his seat, bumping a few heads and elbows on the way down, causing general pain amongst the group. Before any of them could retaliate, Kakashi and Gai managed to grab a hold or put an arm out in front of them, the two Jounin nodding.

"Alright, so a bridge wasn't just beyond your means, it was also completely open to being destroyed at the drop of a hat. If that's the case, what did you decide to go with in the end?" Kakashi asked, keeping his grip on Naruto as Tazuna continued.

"In the end, the idea we decided to go with was this: what if we built a ship. Not just any ship mind you, but a ship that's never been seen before! It'd be huge, with several hundreds of square feet dedicated to cargo space, but with enough sails with the winds at their back to move just as fast, if not faster, than any of the merchant vessels Gato's got running. If this could be made, then we'd be able to get more goods back to Wave from the islands, and attract those inland with just the sheer bulk of it all." Tazuna continued his tale, as all the ninja nodded.

"When the designs were finished up, we were pretty confident of the possible success... we just needed to be able to build the thing without Gato burning the thing in the middle of the night. We started off by building the frame on-land, just told Gato's goons that we were building a new temple... hehehe, believe me, they aren't the brightest bunch, so they bought it for as long as we needed them to."

"When the frame was just about done, and while it was still light enough for us to drag off, we waited bad enough storm to come by. We moved the frame down to some of the shallows Gato's ships and guards don't normally pass by while the storm gave us cover, and afterward told Gato's men that the storm destroyed what we had built of the temple, and that the remains of it had been carried off by the wind, or had been destroyed by a strike of lightning. They believed us, and we were able to continue building the ship in the shallows."

"Course, the ship had to be moved from the shallows, and then into some of our remaining dockyards. We had a lot of close calls in those days: the ship was pretty well out in the open for Gato's men to see, and there were times where we'd only have a twenty minute head start to move the thing out of the docks, and to another part of the water. Still, as luck were to have it, we managed to keep it hidden from Gato, and we actually thought we might be able to finish the thing..." Tazuna said, sighing as he lowered his head a bit.

"I take it something unexpected happened." Kakashi added, Tazuna scratching the back of his head as he sighed.

"I guess we should've known that Gato would've gotten suspicious eventually, and that eventually he'd try to get a better idea of what was going on himself. His thugs got up one of the men working with me on the ship... Kokuzoku, and dragged him off. When Kokuzoku came back, he told us that Gato offered him a large amount of money to tell him about the ship construction, and about how we'd been keeping it secret from him for so long... and Kokuzoku told Gato." The shipwright relented, Sasuke immediately jumping in.

"What'd you do to him?" The Uchiha asked, the question immediately being what the rest of the ninja had on their mind.

"Nothing." That was not the answer that the ninja had been expecting.

"Nothing?" Kakashi asked in an incredulous manner. "You didn't punish him at all?" The scarecrow Jounin added, Tazuna looking up at Kakashi with a bit of a tired expression.

"Punish him for what? Trying to survive?" The old man asked, the surprised expressions remaining on the shinobi's face. "I'm not kidding when I say that Wave's become dirt poor. There's a lot of people in Wave who can no longer afford to take care of themselves... much less a family of their own." Tazuna said, leaning back. "What Kokuzoku did was wrong, no one in our town disputes that... but we also realized that most of us would've done exactly the same in his situation." Tazuna finished, each of the ninja taking on a look of empathy, with only Naruto seeming to take a true understanding of the situation.

"Moving on... we knew, from that moment on, that Gato would be coming for us. There was no doubt in our mind that the midget would make a personal appearance for the execution... so, a lot of the people I had worked with ran to hide. The rest of us stayed... decided that if we were going down, we were going down with our dignity intact."

"The night came and went, and the next morning, Gato came shuffling along with his goons to the docks. We stood there, ready to take whatever he could dish out... what we didn't expect was for him to walk right up to the ship and start complimenting it. 'Oh yes, this is a marvel of maritime engineering. It'd be a great shame for such a wonderful piece of construction to find itself moored at the bottom of the sea'." Tazuna said, contorting his voice into a tiny, slimy pitch.

"We all thought he was just buying his sweet time before setting it ablaze, and sending us down with it... that's when he really surprised us. He said that he wasn't going to sink the ship, and that furthermore, he nor his men were going to kill us. The bastard... said that just killing us wasn't obviously enough, that upstarts like us didn't learn our lesson from the last time, which is another story for another time." Tazuna quickly said the last piece of the sentence, interrupting the potential flurry of questions.

"He said this time it was going to be worse... he said this time he was going to have us killed with no blood on his hands... but blood all over the ship and dockyard. 'I'll hire one of the very best ninja, I'll have him kill you, then I'll have him parade your mutilated bodies all around town, for everyone to see.' He wanted to make sure that this time everyone got the message."

"After he left... well, those of us who weren't panicked quickly found ourselves nerve wrecked. We called together a meeting in the town, and tried to decide what to do about this. I'm sure you can tell that, our solution ended up being to hire our own ninja to help protect the docks from Gato. Everyone in town chipped in as much money as they had on them, and it was decided that they'd send me off to hire the ninja... thinking that even if Gato's ninja arrived before ours could, at least if I were alive I'd be able to continue the ship building process."

"Before I left Kokuzoku... the man came up to me, and practically forced pouch of money into my hand. It was his way of apologizing I suppose, even if we didn't think he had to... it was a welcome help though, believe me." Tazuna said, smiling a bit before sighing. "So, took me a couple days to get to Konoha on foot and on this dingy, and when I arrived I got straight to the mission center to try and hire out a Jounin... understand that I never intended to cheat you guys out of a mission in the first place..." Tazuna began, before Kakashi's visible eye widened a bit.

"But even with all you had, you still didn't have enough, did you?" The scarecrow Jounin asked, Tazuna nodding.

"No... I wasn't even close. I could've barely afforded a small squad of Chunin as it was. It was devastating: Gato had all the money he could ever need to hire out the very best ninja in any of the lands, and yet there I was standing, needing to defend my home, with barely enough money to get a few Chunin..." The shipwright said, before adjusting his glasses.

"That's when I noticed one of the many Genin teams leaving for a C-Rank mission.... it wasn't the Genin that caught my attention... it was the Jounin that accompanied them." Tazuna began, an 'Oh no..' being muttered under Kakashi's breath. "When I learned that if I hired out a Genin team, that team's Jounin would automatically accompany them, I was ecstatic. It may have been lying, I may have been gaming the system, but dammit... I didn't have much of a choice at that point." Tazuna said, a very impressed expression coming over most of the Genin's faces, while Gai and Kakashi looked somewhat disturbed that the ranking system, which had been put into place in order to PREVENT such happenings, had just been gamed by an ordinary old man.

"I thought that if I could get back to Wave with the team in tow, and then if Gato's ninja were to attack, the Jounin in the team would have little choice but to fight off Gato's ninja for survival. When I went out to purchase a C-Rank, I noticed that Kokuzoku's bribe money would've let me hire out two teams... which, as we can see, I did." Tazuna said, sighing as he scratched the back of his head. "That... of course... brings us right back here." The shipwright wrapped up his story, leaning back on his boat seat as the tale ended. "Look... I won't hold it against you if you do end up deciding to go back to Konoha... what I did was wrong, and I acknowledge this... but please, from an old man and his village, help us. I promise to eventually pay you back in full when I can." Tazuna implored the gathered Shinobi, each of them taking on a thoughtful expression.

"... Gai, what do you think?" Kakashi asked his fellow Jounin, who struck a thoughtful pose, his eyebrows a bit low.

"Well... while lying to and cheating people are two of the most un-youthful things someone can do..." Gai began, as suddenly the green-jump suit wearing Jounin stood up straight on his face, rocking the boat a bit as tears streamed down his eyes. "THIS MAN HAS TRAVELED LONG DISTANCES, RISKED HIS LIFE AND WELL BEING, AND EVEN RISKED PENALITIES OF LAW IN ORDER TO HELP SAVE HIS HOME, HIS VILLAGE, HIS FRIENDS, HIS FAMILY! TRULY, EVEN IN HIS OLD AGE, TAZUNA-SAN IS ONE OF THE MOST YOUTHFUL PEOPLE IN THIS WORLD! TO NOT ASSIST HIM IN HIS SPRING-TIME QUEST OF PASSION WOULD BE MOST HAINOUS!" Immediately after Gai's youthful monologue, his protégé immediately leaped up to join him, further rocking the boat.

"OOOOOH! GAI-SENSEI IS RIGHT! TAZUNA-SAN MUST BE ASSISTED, IN THE NAME OF ALL THAT IS YOUTHFUL!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENS-"

"DON'T, YOU'LL TIP THE BOAT OVER!" The two green beasts of Konoha were shouted down by the other passengers on the small row boat. Gai and Lee, sweat dropping a tad bit, immediately sat down, still giving a thumbs up to Tazuna to signal their support. After the two spandex wearing ninja were stopped, Kakashi looked at the other Genin.

"Well, what about you all? If we end up going to Wave, your lives will be just as on the line as mine or Gai's..." The masked Jounin tossed the question out there, Naruto being the first to step up for an answer.

"Lying, cheating, hiding, sneaking around, using devious tactics in order to around an obstacle..." Naruto counted off on his right hand... before smirking a bit. "Wave sounds like my kind of place, and this old fart isn't as big of an ass as I thought he was." The blond quipped, Tazuna's smile immediately falling into a glare when Naruto insulted him, twice in a row. "No way I would say no to helping them out." Naruto said, throwing in with Gai and Lee, before Sasuke suddenly smirked.

"If the idiot's brave enough to head into this, no way I'm getting left out of it." The Uchiha threw in, Sakura immediately following up Sasuke's answer.

"Like you said Kakashi-sensei, we're a team. If Naruto and Sasuke are going, I'm coming right with them." The pink-haired kunoichi said with a smile, Tenten chuckling a bit.

"Hey, don't be forgetting about us back here." Tenten said with a smirk, quickly pulling out a kunai. "But I agree with the others, we've come this far, we can't just chicken out now." The weapon's mistress said, giving the small weapon in her hand a quick twirl. The last unannounced Genin was Neji, whom was sitting in the back of the boat with the rower, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Gato obviously has more ninja, and more skilled ninja, lined up for us... it's not going to be quite as easy as with the Demon Brothers back there..." The member of the Branch House muttered to himself, before tilting his head forward. "If anything, if Kakashi and Gai-sensei fight, it'll be even easier." The Hyuga said, a confident smirk growing on his face. "I'm with the others: we should go." Neji declared, with utmost confidence, as everyone looked to Kakashi, whose eye just curved.

"Well, that settles it then." The Hatake said, turning to Tazuna. "Looks like you have a full, energized group of ninja right behind you Tazuna-san." Kakashi said, Tazuna smiling at the entire group, the elder man nodding in appreciation of his, effectively, volunteer guards.

"Thank you all." Tazuna thanked the ninja, just as the mist began to die down from the river, and land began to become visible on the other side of the river bank.

"Alright, this is as far as I can take you all. Sorry Tazuna, but much further and we'll run right into Gato's more active trade routes." The rower said solemnly, as Tazuna nodded.

"Just get us to the shore and we'll walk the rest of the way to the village." The old shipwright instructed, the rower following through with the order, landing at the shore. The ninja, quite thankfully, got off the tiny rowboat and right back onto firm, solid ground. As the rower pushed the boat back out to the sea, the ninja and Tazuna walked into the forest, making their way down the road towards Tazuna's home village.

As they walked, however, two figures far off into the forest observed the group from afar, the taller of the two figures grunting to itself.

".... Two of them, one is the copy-nin, Kakashi Hatake, the other... some freak in green... spandex." The figure said, sweat dropping. "I'm starting to think you're worrying over nothing Haku..." The tall figure said to the short, Haku, as the young man looked up at the taller figure.

"Zabuza-sama, often times appearances can betray the true lethality of the person underneath." Haku said to the tall figure, Zabuza, who just growled a bit.

"I suppose you'd know quite a bit about deceptive appearances Haku." Zabuza said to Haku, whom chuckled lightly. "Fine, you try to get the spandex freak away from the Copy-nin and the Genin... I'll handle Hatake... and then finish the job." Zabuza said, Haku merely nodding in compliance with the larger man as the two suddenly disappeared into the darkness, their excite as silent as their appearance...

… Their appearance does not bode well for our traveling heroes...

Song Omake

Hello- Lee Singing

Hello- Naruto Singing

Hello- Tazuna Singing

Hello- Gai Singing

Hello- Tenten Singing

Hello- Sakura Singing

Hello (with no ")- Kakashi Singing

"Hello" - "Neji singing"

"Hello" - "Sasuke Singing"

Hello- All males Singing

As the troupe of ninjas, and the old shipwright, traveled through the forest, boredom quickly set in upon the group. After all, there wasn't much to do while you were, quite possibly, marching to your death.

"Man... the silence... it's unbearable..." Naruto complained quite loudly, a small myriad of groans accompanying his.

"Well then Naruto, perhaps you should try to find a way to break the silence..." Kakashi said idly, having gotten over the deafening silence and boredom by pulling out his copy of Icha-Icha Paradise. Naruto sighed as he tried to think, before Sakura jumped in.

"How about a marching song?" The pink-haired kunoichi suggested, Neji and Tenten immediately paling beyond belief.

"... No, don't. Really, a marching song is an awful idea...." Neji said, Tenten shaking her quickly as she tried to subtly point over in Lee's direction, which, sadly, no one caught.

"Well, then it's settled, a small marching tune to keep our spirits up." Kakashi said, curving his eye as he closed his book. Neji and Tenten sighed in defeat, knowing the great annoyance that was soon to visit them. "Alright, boys, let's start this off." Kakashi ordered, the other guys sighing as they got ready to sing:

For a long time we've,

been marching to, new land

In this tiny group,

with this old man that I can't stand

Naruto's interruption in the opening moment of the song wasn't taken too kindly by Tazuna, who merely glared at the young boy. While the other males in the group tried to ignore Naruto's outburst, Naruto just kept right on going.

Despite this catchy beat,

my aching feet aren't easy to ignore!

HEY!

Naruto nearly jumped out of his skin as Rock Lee, in a flash of speed not having been witnessed previously, popped up right behind Naruto, and screamed right into his ear.

Think of instead,

a girl worth fighting fooooooooor!

… What?

Naruto's question went unanswered, as Neji and Tenten only gave the entire group an 'I told you so look, whilst Lee took off from there.

That's what I said,

a girl worth fighting foooooooor!

I'd want her paler than the moooon!

With eyes as green as reeds!

Naruto, finally finding something not so monotonous, joined in Lee's chorus immediately.

My girl would marvel at strength,

adore my, lightning speed!

Both of the singing boys quickly found themselves shoved out of the way, as Tazuna decided, in a bit of a drunken fit, to join in on the song.

I couldn't care less what she'd wear

or what she'd look like!

It'd all depend on

what she cooks like!

Beef, pork, SAKI! YUM!

The drunken shipwright wasn't done, as he soon decided to begin messing with the other Genin males, starting with the stoic Uchiha.

Bet the local girls thought

you were quite the charmer!

"Don't even get me started........." Sasuke muttered, as Tazuna moved onto Neji, pulling off the boy's headband, and tapping the metal plate.

And I'll bet the ladies

love a man, in armor!

Neji immediately struck Tazuna about the head, taking back his headband to cover his forehead, as the shipwright just shrugged, and kept going.

Between staying with you,

and looking for my gal',

between the two I am tore!

What do we want?!

A girl worth fighting for!

Sasuke and Neji, despite their distaste for the song, relented, and joined in the madness, rather than be abused by Tazuna's teasing.

"My girl would forgive me for my faults."

"Think I'm a major find!"

Neji and Sasuke, however, soon found themselves approached by Sakura and Tenten.

How 'bout a girl who's got a brain?

Who always speaks her mind?

NAAAAAAH!

Tazuna's suddenly shoved Sasuke and Neji out of the way as he yelled, being granted a quick punch to the stomach from both girls, knocking the drunkard down. Just as Sakura was moving away, she soon found herself approached by Lee.

My youthful ways, and dazzling gaze

are sure to thrill y-her!

"He thinks he's such

a lady killer..."

As Sakura moved away from Lee, Neji soon walked up right behind Lee, punctuating the last word of his sentence with a sweeping kick underneath Lee's feet, knocking him to the ground.

I have a girl back home

who's unlike any other!

Just as Gai declared about this girl, Kakashi slowly leaned back to the Genin, and whispered to them.

Yeah the only girl who'd

love him is his mother

But when we come home in victory

they'll line up at the door!

What do we want?

A girl worth fighting for!

Wish that I had...

A girl worth fighting for!

A girl worth fighting-

Just as the men were about to finish off the song, a large sword suddenly passed by over them, and slammed itself into a nearby tree, Zabuza appearing atop the giant sword, clapping his hands together.

….. for......

R&R