Chapter 9: Fire in the Hole!

You never realize just how fast a week goes by until it's the weekend. Then you sigh with relief and go THANK HEAVENS FOR SATURDAY!

But hey, Sasuke kept to his promise to let us come by on the weekend to hang out with Itachi for a bit. Even better, Sasuke had told us that Itachi was actually going to blow stuff up for us! Ah, I couldn't wait.

.oOo.

We all pretty much met up at the park and walked to Sasuke's house. Neji tagged along as well, so that was an added bonus. Upon arrival, Itachi was in the backyard doing something completely unintelligible...oh wait! He was swinging a sword!

No, no, not a real sword, just a carved wooden one. He was pretty good at it if I do say so myself.

"Hey, nii-san."

Itachi looked over. "Hey, guys." He greeted before swinging the sword again.

"When are we going out?" Sasuke asked.

"When Shika gets here." Itachi stated. "Is Neji here?"

"Yeah, I'm here." Neji waved at him from the porch.

"They said they were going to drag you along, but I wasn't sure." Itachi flipped the sword before tossing it to Neji.

Neji caught it by the hilt and jumped the porch railing. By then Itachi had another sword and they immediately began to spar. It was the most epic thing I had ever seen. Then I recognized some of the movements.

"HEY! That's from that fantasy epic you were in!" I cried.

Neji laughed.

"Wow, Itachi. How do you know all the moves?" Sasuke asked.

"I choreograph the fight scenes!" He said triumphantly.

"I thought Deidara did that." Sasuke pointed out.

"No, Deidara does stunts like...THIS!" Itachi kicked out at Neji.

Neji faked getting the hit and went sprawling backwards as he did in the movie. It wasn't as epic for the lack of special effects, but it was real and humorous all the same.

"OI! WEASEL! I'M HERE!"

"Weasel?" Sasuke laughed.

"DEER! IN THE BACK!" Itachi called.

"Okay then?" Sakura laughed.

A few seconds later, a man who was clearly Itachi's age walked through the gate into the backyard. He had black hair tied up in a spiky ponytail.

I heard a gasp behind me. I turned to see Ino totally swooning. Okay, usually not a big deal, but Ino usually squeals when she sees a 'hot' guy. To see her swoon was a totally different story.

"Hey, Neji," Shikamaru greeted, raising a hand.

"Yo," Neji replied and high fived his hand.

"Are Blondie and Reddie meeting us there?" Shikamaru asked Itachi.

Itachi nodded. "Yup."

"What are we going to be doing, by the way?" Sasuke asked.

Itachi put a finger to his mouth. "It's a secret!"

Shikamaru gestured to us. "So, introduce me to these guys?"

"Technically, I don't know all their names." Itachi chuckled.

Shikamaru decided to do it himself. "Okay, I know you're Sasuke, so get out of here."

Sasuke shook his head and walked from the porch. He looked at Naruto. "I don't know you."

"Naruto Uzumaki!" Naruto replied.

"I'm Shikamaru Nara, nice to meet you." He moved onto the next person which happened to be me.

"Tenten Akiyama." I said before he could ask.

He smirked. "Shikamaru as you now know." He moved onto Ino who just about fainted when he looked at her. Now THIS was an event. I have never seen Ino so tongue tied.

"And who are you?" Shikamaru asked.

"I-I-I-Ino..." She stuttered. WOW! Ino never stutters! He moved onto Sakura.

"Sakura Haruno. And let me guess...Shikamaru Nara."

Shikamaru gave a fake look of surprise. "It's like you read my mind!" Then he laughed.

"Come on, guys." Itachi called. "We're going to the bomb range."

"WOOT!" Shikamaru cried. He jumped the railing and followed Itachi. Sasuke and Naruto followed eagerly with Neji taking up the rear.

Ino grabbed both Sakura and I.

"Oh. My. God." She said with emphasis. "Did you see him?"

"Who? Shikamaru?" I asked.

"He is so fucking hot it's not even funny."

I stared at Ino. "Girl, he's probably five years older than you!"

Ino tossed her head. "I honestly don't care! He's hot!"

Sakura laughed. "I'd call him cute, but whatever you say, Ino."

Ino released us and we followed the group into Itachi's van.

.oOo.

We all piled into Itachi's van. Luckily his van had an extra seat between the two seats at the front that could be pulled from the floor at will. Itachi was driving while Shikamaru sat in the passenger seat. Because of this, Ino sat in the row just behind said passenger seat beside me who was in the middle beside Neji who was beside me. In the back were Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto.

"Weasel, give me your iPod." Shikamaru ordered.

"Hey, Buck Norris, relax." Itachi handed over his iPod touch.

Shikamaru laughed. "Buck Norris?"

"A male deer is a buck, and I just decided to rhyme it with Chuck Norris."

Shikamaru laughed harder than I had seen anyone laugh.

"How long is the trip, nii-san?" Sasuke asked from the back.

"About half an hour." Itachi replied.

Shikamaru plugged the iPod into the stereo system as Itachi fired up the van and backed it out of the driveway.

AC/DC began to echo through the speakers.

Oi, Oi, Oi, Oi,

Neji laughed. "I love this song."

Naruto began bobbing to it in the back screaming Oi along with the words. Naruto's energy was totally infectious, and soon Sasuke was doing it as well. The entire car was bobbing in perfect sync.

See me ride out of that sunset

On your color TV screen

Out for all that I can get

If you know what I mean

Women to the left of me

And women to the right

Ain't got no gun

Ain't got no knife

Don't you start no fight

"WAIT FOR IT!" Shikamaru cried. Then at the same time, whoever knew the lyrics chorused.

"CAUSE I'M T-N-T!"

I howled with laughter. Neji had done it, and now even he was laughing.

I'm dynamite,

"T-N-T!" the car chorused.

And I'll win the fight!

"T-N-T!"

I'm a power load,

"T-N-T!" Even I joined in that time.

"WATCH ME EXPLOOOOODE!" Naruto screamed.

"YEAH!" Itachi cried from the front seat. The whole car was laughing.

"You guys are right about this Rock n' Roll stuff!" Ino cried. "It IS awesome!" She laughed.

"YES!" I cried triumphantly. "INO SEE'S THE LIGHT!"

"That would mean that she's dead!" Shikamaru laughed as the lyrics started up again.

I'm dirty, mean and mighty unclean

I'm a wanted man

Public enemy number one

Understand?
So lock up your daughter

Lock up your wife

Lock up your back door

And run for your life

The man is back in town

So don't you mess around

"CAUSE I'M T-N-T!" The car roared.

I'm dynamite,

"T-N-T!"

And I'll win the fight!

"T-N-T!"

I'm a power load,

"T-N-T!"

"WATCH ME EXPLOOOOOODE!" Naruto soloed again.

Shikamaru broke out in a sick air guitar. Itachi was shaking his head, doing his utmost best to not be distracted by his friend.

"T-N-T!" The car chorused.

"OI! OI! OI!" Sasuke and Naruto roared.

"T-N-T!" Everybody else cried.

Naruto and Sasuke continued with the "OI! OI! OI!"

"T-N-T!"

"OI! OI! OI!"

"T-N-T!"

"OI! OI! OI!"

"I'm dynamite!" Shikamaru screeched.

"T-N-T!" We chorused. Sasuke and Naruto were still doing the "OI" thing.

"And I'll win the fight!" Itachi joined in that time.

"T-N-T!" (Oi, Oi, Oi)

"I'm a power load!"

"T-N-T!"

"WATCH ME EXPLOOOOOOODE!" We all roared.

Shikamaru broke into air guitar again. Naruto did as well as it began to get more and more bonkers. When the song was over, we all killed ourselves laughing.

.oOo.

The rest of the ride was just as bonkers. Half an hour of insane crazy rock with your friends will leave you in a good mood for the rest of the day. Especially if you have just arrived at a bomb range.

We all jumped out of the van eagerly.

"HEY!" Shikamaru cried to a pair of guys standing by a concrete bunker.

"Finally!" The red head cried.

The doors opened and we all piled out eagerly.

"You brought an audience?" The blonde laughed.

"Heck, yeah we did!" Itachi cried. He was still in the driver's seat. "Open up the garage. I want no damage done to this van when we're through."

The red head pushed a button and the bunker's garage door swung open, letting Itachi drive in and kill the engine.

Shikamaru and the other two followed him in, so we took it as an open invitation to join them.

"So, where is everything?" Sasuke asked.

"A five minute walk away from here. This is where we keep our cars, so they don't get damaged." Itachi replied.

After nabbing the cameras, and various other equipment, we all trudged to a bunker off in the distance. Once we got there, the four special effects experts stood in a circle and began to discuss what they were going to do. I heard some exciting words such as 'thermite', 'C4', and various other words that got me pumped up for what they were about to do.

"Hey look at this thing!"

We all turned to see Naruto looking at a robot in the corner. He reached out to touch it.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, step away from the robot," The red head ordered.

Naruto backed away.

"Thank you." He sighed.

"You guys haven't been formally introduced yet," Itachi said suddenly. "Blondie over there is Deidara, and Reddie is Sasori."

Deidara nodded with a crooked grin on his face, while Sasori checked on his robots.

"This is my brother Sasuke, and these are Sasuke's friends,"

"Hey, Neji! Long time no see!" Deidara cried.

Neji gave a curt nod and Sasori turned around.

"Well I'll be..." He laughed. "Neji's here!"

Itachi began to introduce the rest of us. "And this is, Tenten, Ino, Sakura and Naruto."

"All right, let's get this started." Deidara stated simply.

Sasori and Shikamaru dragged a compressed air rig out of the bunker.

"This one's safe enough to watch outside." Itachi told us as he followed them out with a large metal drum with the top cut off. Deidara supported the back of the drum.

It took the team of four several minutes to set up the giant drum complete with air cannon. Eventually, a couple of people showed up. I guessed it was Deidara's dad and some other person. They helped to set up.

"Okay, we test it with sawdust?" Shikamaru asked rubbing his hands together.

"Heck yes." Itachi laughed.

In came a forklift and a bag of sawdust was dumped into the bin. The group was cackling as a flare was lit and jammed carefully into the sawdust.

Sasori began to roll a wire from the sawdust cannon. It was attached to a button to release the compressed air. Itachi waved us back a good distance from the monster of a cannon.

"Are we rolling?" Sasori asked.

Itachi held a laptop in his hand. Wirelessly, he turned on all the cameras. Then he double checked it.

"We're good to go."

Sasori nodded. "All right, sawdust cannon, in three! Two! One!" He jammed his finger on the button.

PFFF!

The air released, and fired the sawdust into the air. The sawdust caught immediately and turned into a massive fireball.

"WHOA!" I screamed. I took a few steps back. "That was EPIC!"

"You haven't seen the creamer yet!" Deidara laughed. He was getting pumped up.

With that, they began to set the cannon up again. And in went the coffee mate as Sasori pumped the air pressure back up.

Deidara went back, cackling like a madman.

Itachi lit the flare and stuck it in before running back to the group. He activated the cameras again.

"Go for it!" Itachi looked up.

Sasori started up the countdown again. "Non dairy creamer cannon in three! Two! One!"

The creamer went up, then caught a second later.

"HOLY SHIT!" Neji booked it before cackling manically at the smoke drifting into the air. Sasuke looked like he was in a state of shock while he laughed from anxiety.

"That was AWESOME!" Naruto cried.

We took a break after the creamer cannon while we waited for them to take down the cannon. An hour later, they began setting up the next part of their insanity.

Deidara was far off to the side in a full body heat suit while he mixed thermite. I could be wrong, but I think he was doing a little dance while he did so.

"Hey, Neji," I turned towards him. "What's thermite?"

Neji shrugged. "The best way I figure something out, is the thoughts I get from hearing a word."

"What does the word 'thermite' make you think?" I asked.

"Hmm..." Neji thought about it for a second. "The 'therm' part makes me think of 'thermal' and 'thermostat', and since both are related to heat, I'm going to assume it's something that's really hot. The 'mite' makes me think of chemicals or the periodic table of elements, and those things can be unpredictable, so I'm going to assume that thermite is something really hot, and it does something crazy."

I heard a laugh behind me. Neji and I turned to look at Sasori.

"What would you do if I told you that you got it bang on?" Sasori laughed.

"I did?" Neji grinned.

Sasori nodded. "Take a look at him." He gestured towards Deidara. He was still doing a dance.

Neji sniggered. "The bigger the explosion the more excited he gets, eh?"

"That's the way he is. He loves explosions. However, thermite doesn't usually explode. It burns at a temperature of 2500 degrees Celsius, or 4500 degrees Fahrenheit." Sasori stated.

My jaw dropped.

"Have you heard of the Hindenburg?" Sasori asked.

"The zeppelin that blew up?" I tilted my head.

Sasori nodded. "They coated the Hindenburg with thermite."

"Why?" Neji cried.

"Thermite can also be used for heat insulation, so I suppose they were trying to keep the hot air inside the zeppelin. Regardless, it was filled with hydrogen, and that was pretty much a death sentence." Sasori looked at something behind us. We turned around to see Deidara in the heat suit walking towards us.

"Greetings earthlings! I come in peace from Jupiter!" Deidara said, raising a hand. He laughed.

"Oh really?" Neji raised an eyebrow. "Well we come from Mars."

I looked at Neji. "What?"

Neji shrugged. "There's a rumour that a meteor crashed into Mars millions of years ago, and sent little rocks to Earth, and that's how life on Earth started."

Deidara pulled off his helmet. "That's a scary thought."

"So, is it ready?" Sasori asked.

"Heh heh heh..." Deidara rubbed his hands together. "Oh yeah..."

"HEY DEIDARA!"

"What?" Deidara asked, pulling off the heat mask.

Shikamaru and Itachi approached the group carrying a cooler between them.

"What is it?" Sasori asked, walking towards it.

"What's the best way to cool down thermite?" Shikamaru asked.

"Uh...Don't light it?" Deidara shrugged.

"No," Itachi stated.

"You put it on ice!" Shikamaru cried, flipping the lid of the cooler.

"Ta daa," Itachi made a motion with his arms to give it a bit of emphasis.

Deidara didn't seem to get the joke. "You're going to put thermite...on ice?" He said slowly.

"If it makes you feel any better..." Shikamaru crossed his arms.

"Thermite explodes when you put it on ice." Itachi finished quickly.

Deidara's eyes widened. "Really?"

Shikamaru laughed. "Actually, the ice explodes. But it still explodes."

"How do you know?" Deidara asked.

"The Mythbusters." Itachi and Shikamaru said simultaneously.

"Why didn't I ever see that episode...?" Deidara sighed.

"We just Googled 'thermite'." Shikamaru laughed. "We got a whole bunch of results for it, including Mythbusters stuff."

The group set up a platform of plywood and bricks to put the ice on. Then they pulled out a bunch of brick sized ice blocks and formed a nice sized block. Deidara set up the bucket of thermite and the fuse.

"Let's blow up some ice!' Shikamaru cried.

"YEAH!" Itachi, Deidara and Sasori cried.

A few minutes later, we were all huddled behind Plexiglas barriers that separated us from the block of ice with the bucket of thermite on top. Deidara lit the two foot long slow burning fuse that lead to a book of matches and ran from the block and behind the barrier.

"How long does it take for the fuse to burn through?" Neji asked.

"It's slow burning so it burns through six inches in 30 seconds." Deidara stated. "It should go any second now."

We watched the fuse enter the bucket...

Nothing happened.

"Uh oh." Sasori chuckled nervously.

"Now what?" Itachi laughed.

"Wait a few seconds just in case it actually goes..." Deidara stated.

It didn't.

Deidara began putting the heat suit back on. Nobody said a word. This was a tense situation. With unfortunate happening of the thermite not igniting, Deidara had to go in close to reset the fuse.

However, the thermite could go at any second.

"If it ignites, just book it, Deidara." Sasori said as Deidara started for the bucket of thermite. Deidara got to the bucket and reset the fuse without any more unfortunate happenings, and ran back to the barrier as the new fuse burned.

This time, it ignited.

There was a shower of sparks as the thermite ignited. Then, a small pop was heard. Half a second later, there was a loud POP that sounded like a popcorn pop, only magnified 20 times. A huge smoke cloud shot into the sky while still glowing pieces of ice and thermite shot in all directions.

"WOW!" Deidara cried. "That was BEAUTIFUL!"

"I have to agree." Sasori laughed.

.oOo.

After the thermite explosion, it was time to head on home, unfortunately. We all piled back into Itachi's van and headed back to Sasuke's house, and civilization. Deidara and Sasori had their own ride, and thus, parted with us when the day was done.

The drive home was quiet considering the racket we made on our way to the bomb range in the first place. I think we were all tired. I certainly was.