Excerpt from the journal of Tsuchi Rei:

"We've finally done it. We're out. It's strange, you think that you remember something you haven't seen in a long time but when you finally see it, feel it, again you realize that it's nothing like you imagined it. It's so much more vivid and real. That's how it was to feel the sun on our faces when we came out of the Mountain. I saw the light on the faces of my comrades and I saw them as they were rather than what I could only guess in the semi-luminescence of the underground fungi. All of their faces, marked at birth to show our inner demons. I wanted to thank whatever gods had freed us and then remembered that we freed ourselves. Now that it's done, I'm frightened. After living for seven years underground, how can we live above it? Especially the younger ones who barely remember what life was like up here. But they have to learn the hard way, or not at all. I only hope that the years we spent teaching them will help them cope with the outside world, especially shinobi. Gods know I'm casting the dice now and I can only wait to see how They'll react when they discover that we've escaped. After all, nothing remains a secret long when you live in the world of the shinobi."

Two figures walked silently down Konoha's busy streets. One watched the people pass by them with a strange smirk, pushing back lank black hair from his intense green eyes. The other was staring up at the monument dedicated to the Hokages, thoughtfully biting his lip as he kept his hands tucked in his pockets. They both looked fairly young, maybe in their mid-twenties. The green-eyed one had several kunai tucked in his belt, despite the fact that he wore no band to show which village he belonged to. He also had strange horizontal stripes on either side of his face. The other had a blank headband that only served as a way of keeping his dull green hair out of his face. He also had a curious white oval on his forehead. Both of their clothes were plain and stiff, the colors serving only to keep them inconspicuous. Finally the dark-haired one turned to his companion.

"Too bad the runts couldn't have come. I'm sure Uzumaki would have appreciated it." he remarked, casually pulling out a kunai to clean his nails.

"Naruto has his own mission. This would only bring back bad memories and make him lose sight of his goals. Our former villages mean nothing to us now. We're working to secure our future, not avenge our past." The other replied calmly, flicking his dark eyes over to his companion as if to warn him not to start something.

"You're such a tight-ass!" the green-eyed one goaded, "A little revenge would give him a peace of mind. Besides, he needs to grow up. Hell, even our little tanuki killed before! Uzumaki's doing no one a favor by staying soft."

"Is that what you think he is?"

They both stopped in a deserted side street, now facing each other, black eyes fixed firmly on green. The green-eyed one smirked and pushed his dark, tangled hair out of his face in a careless gesture.

"You coddle them too much, Rei. Not just Uzumaki, all the little guys: Gaara, Nii, Hokubu! We're the Jinchuuriki, the living shells of demons. The sooner they come to terms with that, the sooner they'll fight for us!"

"Musan." Something in the tone of the other made Musan lose his smile. Rei's face was blank, but his hands were now clenched white-knuckled at his sides.

"We are no longer tools. None of us are…for anyone or anything. I hear you speak like this again and I'll tear your voice box out. Are we clear?"

"Crystal." Musan's voice was light, his eyes mere slits in his face. He soon smiled, though, and wrapped a playful arm around Rei's shoulders.

"C'mon, Rei-kun. They're not kids anymore."

"Were they ever? Were we ever kids, Musan?"

Musan was caught off-guard. He studied Rei's bittersweet smile for a moment, then shrugged and let go of Rei to lean comfortably against the worn wall and stare up at the fire escapes above him.

"Dunno. Bastards that raised us never gave us anything close to a childhood."

"Exactly." Rei leaned next to Musan, watching several genin chase after a frantic cat.

Musan scowled after the brats and glanced over at Rei who was still watching the genin shriek with dismay as the cat escaped through a window.

"You're a weird one, Rei."

Rei grinned and, tucking his hands in his pockets once more, strode past Musan.

"That's the popular theory."

Musan smirked and followed him, folding his arms comfortably behind his head.

"Seriously, though," he called to Rei, "What are we doing here? Not to get back at the bastards for your precious kitsune, ne?"

"Hardly. We're just testing the waters."

"Meaning?"

"Getting a good look at our competition."

"Sounds like fun."

Musan sped up a bit to catch up with Rei and began walking in step with his companion. They passed over a bridge and into the more wooded section to Konoha.

Rei and Musan both stopped. There were two jounin blocking their path. One had a shock of grey hair and a mask that covered the lower half of his face. His headband was pulled at an angle so that it covered his left eye, so that the only part of his face that was visible was his dark right eye. The other jounin wore dark glasses and a head band with concealed his hair. Both were deceptively relaxed as they faced the two strangers, but Rei saw the stance of their feet: perfectly ready to spring at a moment's notice.

"There a problem?" Rei asked quietly as Musan tensed beside him. Please, for the sake of all of us, don't do anything stupid, Musan!

"Nothing of the sort," The one with the glasses adjusted them stiffly, "We only ask that you tell us what your business is in Konoha."

"Our business is none of yours." Rei replied, "We don't want any trouble. Just let us go on our way."

Rei tried to pass through them and found himself slammed back. He automatically twisted, landing in a crouch in front of them. He realized too late that they were testing him to see if he was hostile and he'd passed with flying colors. Musan whipped out a kunai and threw it at the masked one. Before he could even dodge it, Rei intercepted it with a thrown shuriken.

"Please," he gasped, mostly for Musan's benefit, "We don't want to fight."

Musan glared at him.

"Chicken shit, we can take 'em!" He shouted whipping out another kunai and racing towards the one with the dark glasses.

"Baka." Rei growled under his breath as he began making the necessary hand signs.

"Doton: Doryuu Heki!"

A huge wall made of mud rose between the two jounin and the Jinchuuriki. Rei grabbed Musan by the arm and yank him sharply as they sprinted for the buildings of Konoha's busiest sector. They rushed over the stream, sending ripples briefly over its surface as they leapt.

Soon they reach a good-sized crowd and slowed to melt into the wave of people.

"C'mon," Rei hissed and tugged Musan into a clothes shop.

"You fucking coward." Musan muttered as he followed Rei into the shop. He made the necessary hand signs to cover the two of them with a genjutsu that made them virtually invisible to the bored shopkeeper.

Rei ignored him and picked out a good-sized red robe. He held it out and studied it briefly then nodded and threw it over to Musan.

"Put this on and hurry."

"This is a girl's robe!" Musan protested, "And anyway, a good genjutsu works just as well."

"You don't know who we're fighting," Rei replied, pulling out a dark blue robe and pulling it over his head, "Konoha's famous for its clan, the Uchihas. Their sharingan can see through any genjutsu and predict most ninjutsu and taijutsu. As far as we know, it can't see through clothing."

"You know a lot about this village." Musan commented as he climbed into the bright robe and pulled its hood up.

"You forget that I came from Iwa. Our greatest enemy was Konoha during the Ninja Wars. Every soldier had to be taught about Konoha's strengths…and their weaknesses."

"And said weaknesses include cross-dressing ninjas?" Musan griped as he pulled bleakly at a delicately-embroidered sleeve.

"No, I just thought you should get in touch with your feminine side since you can't seem to control yourself around other men." Rei replied with a straight face as he pulled his hood up as well.

Musan glared at him as Rei slid the door open quietly and made a quick check of the street. He motioned for Musan to follow him and they both walked slowly down the crowded street, keeping their heads down.

"This didn't go well at all." Rei muttered, "Let's just hope the others are having better luck on their missions."

Talk about bad luck! Naruto tensed, feeling the enemy shinobi's hot breath on the back of his neck, the cold steel pressed against his throat. Then his training kicked in and he reacted.

Naruto slammed his head back, but his attacker dodged the blow and jumped back. Naruto twisted to face the genin and sent a flurry of punches and kicks which his attacker easily dodged and parried.

Growling in frustration, Naruto decided it was time to use his ninjutsu. Forming a single seal with his hands, he snarled, "Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" Several identical clones popped into existence as his enemy halted in confusion. Naruto grinned smugly. Let's see how you like fighting several at once, he thought gleefully as they all leapt at the shinobi.

Suddenly, the genin twisted in a fast circle and all of the Shadow Clones were "poofed" out of existence as they hit a strange chakra barrier and Naruto was thrown off of the tree and into the clearing. He lay dazed for a moment until a large soft weight smashed on top of him and knocked the wind from him.

"Gaara?" he choked as he felt Gaara shift on top of him in preparation to fight off their attackers.

"Wait!" the old woman protested, rising to her feet, "Do these honestly look like enemies to you?"

"With all due respect, hime-sama," the dark-haired jounin replied, "This is ninja business. Enemies can take many forms and easily deceive their foes."

"Oh, Gai-sensei, you are so wise!" An identically-dressed genin gushed. The jounin grinned widely in response, complete with a cheesy tooth flash and accompanying "ting!"

We're losing to these freaks? Naruto could almost hear Musan laughing in contempt. He scowled and forced his aching body to climb to its feet. There was no way that he was going to lose in his first battle! He didn't even have to look to know that Gaara was standing next to him, hands clenched and ready to use his sand.

"Stop right there!" Naruto felt something sharp digging into his back. Gaara tensed next to him and glared at the girl standing with a short spear placed at Naruto's back.

"If you try anything, he'll die." She informed Gaara.

"I'll kill you before that happens." He promised coldly, reaching out with one arm to direct his chakra-imbued sand. The girl was quick, though, and dodged the sand arm easily. The four shinobi were now grouped in front of their client, all of them in position. Gaara and Naruto tensed, waiting for them to make the first move.

This isn't good, Naruto thought, we're outnumbered four to two. And they probably know this place better than we do. Why hadn't they listened to Rei-sensei and stayed out of trouble?

"Who are you?" the jounin asked sharply, "Why did you come to attack us?"

This was too much for Naruto.

"Attack you? You're the ones who started this!" he shouted angrily, "If anything, we should be the ones yelling at you, dattebayo!"

Gaara rolled his eyes heavenwards. Trust Naruto to have a flair for dramatics!

"You were spying on us." The long-haired genin with pale eyes replied coldly, "If you value your lives, you will cooperate or be defeated."

"C'mon then!" Naruto challenged, making the seal for his jutsu again, "Let's do this!"

"Are you boys hungry?"

The old woman now stood and held out her roast rabbit. She smiled benignly as their eyes widened at the treat.

"I'm sure we can talk a bit over dinner, what do you say?"

"Alright! I'm starving!" the boy sang.

"I'll have two orders of the soba noodles, three orders of vegetable tempura, um, ten pork dumplings and ten beef dumplings, and uh how's about some rice and tea to wash it all down? Oh yeah, this comes to how much?"

"Um…" the flustered waiter looked down at the notes he'd hastily jotted down, "About 890 ryo."

"Let's make it an even 900. What do you want, Yugito-chan?" The boy with the long brown hair and strange brown marks over his eyes extending to his chin smiled over at the scowling blonde sitting across from him in the small-town restaurant. Her hair was wrapped in a braid and her large, slanted eyes determinedly avoided his.

"Do they have any pickled radishes?"

"And some pickled radishes."

"I was kidding."

"Okay, cancel that! C'mon, how's about some fried eggs on steak? She'll have fried eggs on steak!"

Yugito Nii, container of the Nibi no Nekomata and eldest of the "runts" of the Jinchuuriki, scowled at Kudo Hokubo from the across the polished wooden table, and considered ramming her chopsticks down his annoying throat. She then dismissed the idea when she remembered that she would have to be the one to pay the bill. And besides, someone needed to be the bait for this mission! She fiddled with the milk-white beads that were coiled around her right arm. She could've been with Rei-sensei or Tohru-jiji, or hell even "Mistress Sword" would have been better than this jerk!

"Yugito-chaaan!" Kudo leaned across the table and stuck his face directly in front of hers, "What are you dreaming about?"

Eviscerating you! "Nothing." She replied in a monotone.

"Are you thinking about how cute I am? You don't have to hold back! We are on a date, sort of."

No, evisceration was far too quick. She'd start with those fingers of his, rip off the nails and dip them one by one in acid. Then she'd get started on his face…

"Ah, finally!" Kudo shouted as trays of steaming food were put in front of him, "Itadakimasu!"

Yugito just stared in disbelief at the greasy egg-topped steak set in front of her. The sight of it made her feel sick. Years of living off of fish, fungi, and whatever else they could find had shrunken her stomach, but it only seemed to increase Kudo's appetite.

"Mmph? Yugito-chan?" Kudo mumbled through a mouthful of soba, "Aren't you hungry?"

"I don't like meat." She gritted out, trying to shut out the invasive smell of egg and sauce.

"Oh, sorry." Kudo had the sense to look abashed, "You should have told me."

"Just eat it for me and give me some of that rice!"

She slid her chopsticks into the rice and shoved some hastily into her mouth. Warm, soft rice. How could she have forgotten what it tasted like?

"Psst, Yugito. Ten o'clock!"

She glanced briefly at the table to their left which was now occupied by two well-dressed men. One of them looked nervous, the other smug.

"You've got to be kidding me," she whispered scornfully, "Mobsters?"

"You see anyone else? I'm telling you, I smell some quick ryo."

"Shallow ponds always dry up. We should be looking for something a little more profitable, and less dirty."

"We can't afford to be choosy," he replied gloomily, "This dinner brings us down to a hundred ryo. That'll be enough for a place to sleep, maybe."

Yugito grimaced and took a sip of the hot tea. Yes they had to start out small, they were inexperienced after all. But to work for thugs and petty crooks? It was so…degrading.

"Fine. You want to be the pitcher?" she muttered.

"No need," he replied cheerfully, "They've decided to come to us!"

Yugito suddenly felt a hand fall onto her shoulder as an oily voice said,

"My, a cute little lady like you should really be with better company."

I'm going to kill him, Yugito swore, but first I'll have him settle the bill.

"You want me to pay for that?"

Tezema Setsu just glared at the indignant old man from behind her pink lenses. It was the only part of her that was bright or colorful. From her short-cropped pale blonde hair to her plain black uniform, she didn't cut a very impressive figure. Save for the katana strapped to her back and her pink-tinted shades, nothing made her particularly stand out. It was only when people came close to her that they noticed her flattened nose and yellow eyes.

"I spent over seven years in a dark cave with no one but idiots and brats for company," she snapped back, pushing the frame of her glasses higher up the bridge of her nose, "I'm entitled to a few luxuries!"

"More useless crap for that blade of yours?" Tohru snorted, "Don't make me laugh!"

Gaidoku Tohru was the eldest of the Jinchuuriki. And probably the most powerful, although it had never come to a point where he'd been forced to prove it against one of his kind. He preferred to keep to himself, a fact that every one of the Jinchuuriki knew. So why that brat of a weasel felt he had the authority to pair him with this female…

Setsu just smirked over her pink shades and walked past him confidently.

"I couldn't care less what you think of them, ouyaji. It's already been paid for, so piss off."

Tohru scowled after her. His hair had already turned white with age and was tied loosely back with a leather thong. His clothes were loose and light. The only distinguishable thing about him was the dark patch across the bridge of his nose and across his cheeks.

"We've already spent enough, Mistress Sword. Your sword's survived seven years in the damp; it's not going to shatter because you haven't polished it enough."

"So? Kei-kun is getting restless and I think I'll soon have use for him once more. It doesn't pay to leave a good sword to rust."

Tohru just sighed and rolled his eyes as he followed the middle-aged kunoichi. Years of living and fighting alone had made him unprepared for spending seven years in close quarters with other people. Yet he grew used to them after a while and even fond of a few of them, although he'd sooner rip his arms off than admit it aloud. But, now what? Where was he to go? He'd briefly considered leaving them and making his way out on his own but no, the weasel had needed him. There was no way that young pup would be able to hold these people together and get around the shinobi. So he'd stayed, for better or for worse. Only now, he was beginning to reconsider his decision.

"Oy!" he called, "And who exactly do you intend to use the sword on?"

"Dunno," she replied, "You volunteering, ouyaji?"

Women, he thought with disgust as he caught up with her, there's just no living with them.

Suddenly, Setsu leaned her head against his shoulder. Flustered, he tried to push her away only to have his wrist grabbed and positioned on her shoulder.

"What are you doing?" he hissed.

"Don't look, but someone's following us." She murmured quietly.

Tohru stiffened, but then purposefully relaxed so that he was tucked closer to Setsu, making them look more like an intimate couple.

"You're sure?" he asked softly.

"I don't wear these glasses just as a fashion accessory, you know."

"Our tracker?"

"Young, round glasses, wearing a cloak. I think it's male."

"Hn. We'd better take this somewhere private."

"Let's go."

Well, there were a few perks that came with working side-by-side with a partner. He'd tear his tongue out before admitting it out loud, of course.

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Wow. I'm pretty overwhelmed. Anyhoo, pretty much all of the Jinchuuriki have been introduced. Sorry if some were longer than others, but I was a little rushed on this chapter since I'm leaving on vacation pretty soon. Tell me what you think, please!

Congratulations to IEatChicken and xX-Silver-and-cold-Xx, you guessed it! Originally your prizes would have been cute plushies of your favorite Naruto characters, but I'm broke! Sorry about that, but thank you for the reviews and I'll try to update soon!

Sorry PagenGodessOfTime, but a good guess anyways. Glad you liked the new chappie!

To griffin blackwood, imsooobored, The Three Stoogies, Graceful Storyteller: Thank you guys SO much for reviewing! It really powers me up!

Coheed 16 the man in the diary: I really don't want to go overboard with giving Naruto too much new power. He has received more intense training partially due to being stuck with the same people and having literally nothing to do but train, but his power and stamina are still the same, as is his intelligence (ha! ha!).

moasan: yeah, I'm evil! I just looove cliffies! Thanks for reviewing!