Author's note: Thanks to all my readers and reviewers. The last couple of chapters I was worried I scared you away, but the last chapter shows you are back. Thanks. And because you were so nice, you'll get a serving of fun and Flames of Youth as a reward. And as an extra reward, I post an illustration on my DA profile.

A.N.2: Now reposted with less grammar and spelling errors.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Village gates~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Here you are," Gikata Michi said impatiently, even though they had five minutes to spare. Naruto bit back a comment, but not all of his teammates showed the same restraint.

"We're five minutes early! Lying is so unyouthful!" Michi glared at him in a very unyouthful way. Naruto sighed. This was going to be a long mission. He was only grateful that Nagai was only two days travel from Konoha. He didn't think he could bear this for longer.

"Let's go," the blond said. "Team, keep diamond formation around our client. I'll be at the point, Neji will be at the back. Tenten and Lee take the flanks. Neji, you will use your Byakugan to check for possible hostiles, but don't exhaust yourself." The Hyuuga nodded.

They showed their mission scroll to the chuunin at guard gate. He looked at them suspiciously, but waved them through. The first C-rank mission of Team Gai had started.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The inn~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The first part of the journey was uneventful. They had walked through the forests surrounding Konoha and the only people they encountered were Leaf shinobi maintaining the security around the village. They detected their presence only thanks to Naruto's keen nose and Neji's Byakugan. Then the forest had thinned and meadows and fields replaced it. The occasional houses appeared, hidden in the shade of fruit trees. Late in the afternoon they reached a trading village, named Ogawa, and although the four ninja wanted to continue, their client insisted he was tired and decided they would spend the night here.

They booked into the Dancing Crane Inn, the biggest one in the settlement. Michi wanted to book them two rooms, but there was a caravan staying in the village and nearly all rooms were taken. They had to settle all into one, much to the merchant's dismay.

"Just don't bother me during the night," he grumbled as they were settling into the room.

"Please don't be so disappointed," Naruto replied. "We are professionals, we know how to behave." 'I hope,' he added mentally. With Team Gai, anything was possible. "Besides, one of us would have to stay with you all the time anyway. Such establishments aren't always safe. You never know who might sneak into your room and rob you blind or even slice your throat in your sleep."

Their client winced. "You're right," he admitted. "Sorry I doubted your abilities. May I buy you dinner to make it up?"

Naruto wasn't one to ever refuse free food. "We're honored," he answered, "but you really don't have to bother. We're only doing our job." Lee and Tenten perked up and even Neji's white eyes lightened up for a bit, despite his best efforts to keep a stoic face. Even if they didn't want to admit it, they were all hungry after a whole day's journey.

"Don't worry about it," Gikata smiled. "I insist."

"Well, if you insist…" Naruto shrugged.

"Then let's go."

They settled at a table in the locale. Michi waved at the waitress and ask her for the menus. He also ordered a jug of sake. The team thought it was for him only, but the girl came back with five cups.

"We're too young to drink," Tenten pointed out.

"And we are supposed to stay alert," Neji added.

"As their commander, I must have their best performance as my priority."

"Don't be so shy," the merchant prodded pouring each one a cup. "It's only a little bit. It's my treat. Besides, it's impolite to refuse when someone invites you to a drink."

"Being impolite is unyouthful," Lee proclaimed and downed his cup in one healthy swig. What happened then would haunt everybody present in their nightmares for a very long time to come.

Lee swayed in his seat a bit, then stood up abruptly, throwing the table at Neji, who was sitting across him. The Hyuuga barely avoided a serious injury, but he ended up soaked thoroughly in the sake from the jug.

"I'm the besht!" Lee shouted. "Watsh it, I'm the besht! I'll make Gai-shenshei proud!"

"Is he already drunk?" Tenten wondered.

"Obviously," Michi answered.

"Why did you have to pour him the sake?" Naruto complained. Neji was busy trying to squeeze his shirt dry. They had no time to wonder about Lee's condition. The bowl cut boy fixed his sight on the Hyuuga prodigy.

"Watsh it Nedshi, tshish time I'll gonna defeat you!" The white-eyed boy only scoffed, obviously about to say something about fate. Before he could open his mouth, he was sailing through the air into the opposite wall. Lee stood on the same spot he had occupied just a moment before. "I shaid I defeat ya!" he shouted victoriously.

Naruto blinked. He didn't even see the green-clad boy move. How did he get so good so suddenly? This was far above anything he had shown during the last week.

Neji slowly picked himself up from the ground. He fixed his teammate with a murderous glare. Lee somehow noticed it even in his inebriated state.

"You shtill didn't have enough? I'll deshtroy yah!" He started to fulfill his words, but this time Naruto was prepared. He jumped to tackle the drunken genin before he finished speaking. Even that way he barely made it. Lee moved in such an impossible way, that he avoided the blond's attack and punched him in the face.

'Dam, that hurt,' thought the chuunin. 'I'm going to have a blue eye. How did he get so strong?'

"You unyouthful vermin!" Lee shouted. "How dare you int-iner-ter-inter-hic-ferter-in- hic… How dare shpoil my fight? 'M gonna d'shtr-hic-oy you!" He showered the jinchuuriki with a literal hail of punches. Naruto tried to block them, but found that he couldn't. Every time he thought he had guessed the trajectory of one of Lee's fists, they suddenly changed course and impacted with his body before he could blink. If he tried to counterattack, his hits were always blocked or avoided, every single time in manners defying the laws of nature. It was extremely frustrating.

'I can't let this continue,' Naruto thought. It was only thanks to his unnatural resilience that he was still in fighting shape. 'But I can't use any too harmful jutsu on him as well. Crap, what do I do?' In that moment, Neji rejoined the fray. He tried to use juuken to close Lee's tenketsu, but he had as little success as Naruto. The thick-browed boy evaded everything. But something good was accomplished with his brave charge. Lee turned his attention to him.

"I'll d'feat yaouh, my et-hic-shernal rival!" the inebriated genin shouted. He turned his back on Naruto. The blond spotted his chance. He jumped at Lee's back and held tight. The spandex-wearing taijutsu prodigy tried to shake him off, but he refused to let go no matter how many tables and walls he smashed him against.

"Quick, Neji," the chuunin shouted. "Close his tenketsu! I can't hold him for much longer." The Hyuuga nodded in acknowledgement and activated his Byakugan. It took much struggle yet, but they managed to subdue the Green Beast Jr.

"Is he out of it?" Tenten asked anxiously. She stood on the sidelines, prepared to offer her support if they needed it, but she was reluctant to throw her weapons at her comrades. She at least made sure nothing happened to their client in the fray.

"What was that?" Michi asked wide-eyed.

"I don't know," Naruto answered, "but I don't want to see it ever again. Tenten, tie him up until he's sober."

"Hey, you!" Everybody turned to the source of the voice. The innkeeper stood there, looking furious. He waved his arm around, pointing at the scene of total destruction that used to be the Dancing Crane Inn just a half-hour before. "Who is going to pay for all that?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~On the road~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Needless to say, they weren't welcome in the Dancing Crane Inn anymore. They weren't welcome in whole Ogawa as well. It was all they could do to settle the matters with the innkeeper. It was made worse by the fact that they couldn't agree whose fault the damage was, whether Michi's for pouring Lee a drink or the ninjas' for actually inflicting it. In the end it fell to the shinobi, but they didn't have enough money on them. Naruto, as the leader, had to sign a bill.

"I'll be paying that for ages," he grumbled.

"I think you'll be finished before you make jounin," Tenten offered.

"I hope."

Michi wanted to settle into a different hotel, but after the third one slammed the door in their faces, even he had to reluctantly agree it was hopeless.

"There's still over two hours of daylight left," the chuunin said. "We can travel a fair distance before we'll have to settle down."

"It's easy for you to say," the merchant scowled. "I'm not as young as I used to be."

"You're not old either. Besides, you aren't the one carrying him." He pointed to the unconscious form of Lee on his back. "And weren't you in a hurry to visit your sick relative?"

"You're right, kid," Gikata agreed. "Let's go."

Nearly an hour later Lee began to stir. "Oh my head," he groaned. He tried to grab it in his hands but found out he couldn't. "Why am I bound?"

"Can't you remember?" Naruto inquired.

"No." Lee shook his head, which served to worsen his hangover.

"Are you sober now?" the chuunin inquired.

"Yes," the spandex-clad genin nodded, making waves of pain surge through his head. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"I'll untie you now."

"Thanks."

"Is it safe?" Michi asked fearfully.

"Yes," Naruto answered with conviction. "And Lee," he turned to the green-clad genin, "always remember this: It's most unyouthful to drink."

"Of course it's most unyouthful to drink," the genin answered. "Why would I ever want to do that?"

"Never mind. Can you walk?"

"Yosh! I can walk. And if I can't walk, then I'll walk on my hands!"

"Glad to see you're back to normal," Tenten smirked.

"Let's go," Naruto said. "It's not evening yet."

The sun was almost setting down when they reached a crossroads. There was a pole with arrows pointing in two directions. On the right was written

Nagai, Silver Pines Lake

On the left stood

Heavenly Peace Bridge, Sagae Town

"Well make camp here," Naruto decided. "It's evening already and this spot is good." Nobody disagreed. The three genin went to work on building the camp.

"Crap," Tenten said after a while, "these bees are driving me crazy. Why are they even flying so late?"

"Does it matter?" Neji shrugged.

"I guess not," the kunoichi admitted. "They'll make good practice targets," she finished pulling out a handful of senbon.

"Don't do it," Naruto warned. "If you kill one, others will come and sting you."

"They won't be flying during the night anyway," the bun-haired girl pointed out and let her weapons fly. "Only two out of three?" she grimaced. "Not good enough. Well, let's try again. Ah, where did it go? Never mind." She pocketed her remaining senbon and went to gather those she flung. One of them fell close to Naruto's feet and he reached down to hand it to her. But as soon as he gripped it, he paused. It was indeed a strange bee Tenten had hit. For once it was too big. And its shape was also wrong. It resembled a hornet more than a regular bee. Most people would write it off as a strange subspecies typical for faraway lands, but Naruto wasn't most people. He believed that if there was something strange, he should figure it out. And he couldn't shake the feeling that he had seen such bees before and that it wasn't on a pleasant occasion and that the occasion wasn't unpleasant only because he got a stinger. But where was it? And then he remembered. His eyes widened.

"Crap," he cursed. "That's a Kamizuru clan bee!"

"What?" "What does it mean?" his companions exclaimed in confusion.

"That there are Iwa ninja close by," the chuunin explained.

"Here?" Michi looked frightened. "But we're on the other side of the Fire Country! Can't it be a mistake? Insects look all the same to me."

"No," the blond answered with conviction. "Those are the Kamizuru clan battle bees. I've encountered them before. We must pack the camp immediately and leave!"

"But we just settled down," their client stammered.

"Do you want to get butchered?" the Uzumaki snapped. "No? I thought so. So you'll do as I say."

"Hey! I'm the one paying you!" Gikata protested.

"And we're the ones protecting you," Naruto retorted. "So please let us do our job or ask for your money back once you get back to Konoha. So what would it be?"

Before Michi could answer, Neji interrupted.

"Somebody's coming." His Byakugan was active and he was staring back the way they had come from.

"Who and how many?" the chuunin asked in a business-like manner.

"Only one," Neji reported. "It's a woman. Judging by the way she's traveling she's a high-ranked ninja."

"So we can't outrun her?" the chuunin inquired.

"No," the Hyuuga shook his head. There was a slight tremor in his voice suggesting that he wasn't as calm as he tried to appear.

"How long before she reaches us?" Naruto inquired.

"Three minutes at her current speed."

"Make traps around the perimeter. We'll give her a proper welcome. When she comes, I'll handle the fighting. You three protect the client and hide. Somehow I doubt she's after him." The three genin looked at their temporary commander in puzzlement, but they obeyed. Soon there were strings of ninja wire and Exploding Tags all around the camp.

"She's almost here," Neji announced.

"Everybody into position," Naruto ordered. "Neji, tell me when and where she reaches the outer perimeter. And watch out for the bees. Don't let them sting you."

For a minute, they waited in silence.

"Now," the Hyuuga announced pointing to where he could see the woman. Naruto waited for three more seconds before he brought his hands up in a seal.

"Boom," he whispered. In the distance a handful of Blast Notes went off.

"She's still on her feet," Neji announced.

"What is she doing?" the chuunin wanted to know.

"Standing there. Wait – now she released her bees."

"Hn." He created two dozens of Shadow Clones and sent them to make a perimeter around them. "I won't allow them near." He waited until the bees flew closer. Then all his clones performed the Wind: Great Breakthrough. It caused quite a storm. The bees were blown away. Some trees near the crossroads were uprooted.

"She's sending out more," Neji announced. "Wait!" He shouted. He turned on his heel in an instant and grabbed Michi's arm. In his hand was a dangerously looking dagger with some suspicious greenish substance covering its blade. "What are you doing?"

Michi looked scared for a moment, but then recovered his bearings. "What are You doing?" he hissed. "I just want to be able to defend myself."

"It looked more like you were trying to stab me in the back," the Hyuuga prodigy answered.

"And you can see in the back?" the man asked increduously.

"Of course I can," the white-eyed boy confirmed. "I'm a Hyuuga."

Michi's face twisted in an ugly sneer. He threw the dagger at Neji. Tenten deflected it with her thrown kunai. Both weapons clattered on the ground harmlessly.

"Thanks," Neji said. Then he downed their traitorous client with a couple of Juuken strikes.

"So he was an agent," Naruto stated. His clones sent another wave of wind against the approaching bees. "Those are sure bothersome. Hang on in here, I'll deal with the woman."

He commanded his replicas to hold their positions and ran at the Kamizuru clan member. She responded with concentrating her bees on him. They encircled him and fired their stingers on him. He blocked them with a Wind shield. The kunoichi responded with summoning more insects. They proved to be just as vulnerable as the previous two swarms. That was when she decided to go serious.

"Kuchiose!" Only Naruto's sensitive hearing allowed him to pick up the name of the jutsu. Unfortunately he didn't hear what she was summoning. He saw it soon enough. A giant bee/hornet appeared above the trees.

'Time to get serious as well,' the Konoha chuunin thought. He created a Kage Bunshin to stand beside him. Then he fired his patented Firestorm on the giant insect. He expected the summon to dispel, but this one proved to be tougher. The hairs on its chest were charred, but that was the extent of the damage. The blond frowned. 'Not enough?' He called forth four more clones and tried again. The humongous insect tried to evade, but the flames were bigger and hotter than it expected. Its wings caught on fire and it fell onto the trees. But it still didn't dispel. 'Tough one, aren't we?' the jinchuuriki thought. But he wasn't worried. The bee couldn't move anymore. He sent his clones to deal with it. Even with what little movement it could perform, it managed to destroy a fair share of them, but in the end it was cut to pieces by Wind Blades. Even then it didn't disappear, instead remaining lying on the ground, obviously dead.

'Such faithful summons? That's unusual,' the boy thought. 'And what's more important, where's its summoner?' Try as he might, he couldn't detect the kunoichi anywhere. He ran back to the crossroads.

"Can you see her, Neji?" he asked.

"She left the range of my Byakugan a minute ago," the Hyuuga answered.

"Where did she go?"

"She headed in the direction of Ogawa."

"So she was a scout." Naruto grimaced. "That means there would be more coming and soon. Gather your most important things. We're leaving now."

"Where are we going?" Tenten asked.

"Everywhere."

"What?" The three genin looked at him like he just grown a second head. Naruto motioned to his clones. A quarter of them transformed into perfect replicas of Tenten, another quarter into Lee and yet another into Neji. They then formed teams of four and ran into all directions.

"That should confuse them for a while," the blond smiled. "And now we should be going as well." He headed to the road leading to Sagae, the River Harbor Town.

"Why there?" the Hyuuga inquired.

"Because of the bridge." He didn't offer any further explanation.

They ran at top speed. Lee had some trouble due to the remnants of his hangover, but he refused to slow down, because that would be unyouthful. Not to mention suicidal, but that didn't seem to bother the bowl-cut boy so much.

"How far are we from the bridge?" Neji asked shortly after the sun completely disappeared under the horizon.

"I'm not sure," Naruto answered, "but it shouldn't be far now. He tried to remember every bit from his geography lessons with Tenzo now. He felt eternally grateful for them now. "I think around three miles. Why do you ask?"

"Because I think I noticed somebody following us with my Byakugan."

"That's bad," the chuunin frowned. He hoped they'd have more time before the enemy would catch up with them. "Can you tell me more?"

"I'm sorry," the genin apologized. "They're still too far to recognize any details."

"They?" Naruto questioned.

"There seem to be more then one person."

'How in hell did they find us?' the blond wondered. 'They must have some excellent trackers to recognize the real trail among the false ones. Or did the bastard Michi put a tracking seal on us? He had the opportunity, that much is sure. Well, no use musing about it now. We have to cross the bridge first.' He created a Shadow Clone and had it dispel immediately.

"Run the fastest you can," he ordered his team. They obeyed, but they were fresh genin and their maximum speed wasn't anything impressive.

"They're gaining on us," Neji announced after a while. "I can see them clearly now."

"What do you see?" Naruto inquired.

"There are four of them," the Hyuuga reported. "Two men and two women. One of the women is the one we fought before, the other is very young. One of the men has a strange chakra, similar to yours."

"Oh no," the jinchuuriki groaned. "He sounds like an old acquaintance. Just what we needed."

"What's so bad about him?" Tenten inquired.

"He's a demon vessel," Naruto explained. "He has power you cannot even imagine. If he is the one I think, he can use lava for his jutsu. You three, don't even try to fight him. Let me deal with him. He's here after me."

"How do you know?" the girl questioned.

"Because I'm one as well," the chuunin replied. "And I pissed off the Tsuchikage."

"Oh." There wasn't anything else to say.

"So if things get bad, just run," Naruto repeated. "They might let you go."

"And if not?" Lee questioned.

"Then we'll give you a drink," Tenten deadpanned.

"Why?" the green-clad boy scrunched his face in confusion. "Drinking is unyouthful." Nobody bothered to enlighten him.

They ran through the mildly wavy forested countryside. The darkness was falling fast, but the sky was still illuminated by the remnants of the daylight. The little rolling hills sometimes obscured Neji's vision of their pursuers, but every time they appeared again, they were closer. Two teams of Naruto's clones appeared at different times and attacked the pursuing party. They slowed them barely for a minute, both of them destroyed by well-aimed jutsu.

"Can you tell what it was?" the original Naruto asked Neji.

"I'm not sure," the Hyuuga answered. "I've never seem anything like it before. It was hot, but it wasn't fire."

"Lava," the chuunin said. "So it really is an old acquaintance. If we cant' reach the bridge in time, we're screwed."

"Fate seems to be merciful to us now," the obsessed boy replied. "I can already see it."

"How far?" Tenten asked. Everybody perked up.

"A little over a mile."

"We can make it," the blond whispered.

It came as a pleasant surprise when they actually did. A wide and deep canyon opened in front of them, a river surging through rapids below, a thin rope construction swinging in the wind too high above its surface.

"Get on the other side!" Naruto commanded. "Now!"

"What about you?" Lee shouted.

"I'll catch up in a moment!"

The three genin pushed whatever chakra they still had to their legs. The bridge felt unsteady under their feet, but they managed to hold on. Naruto created a swarm of Shadow Clones. He used the cloud of smoke they made to cover his movements and quickly planted what little Explosive notes he still had under the bridge. Than he ran across it, letting his doppelgangers to fend for themselves.

Their pursuers were almost at striking distance now. Soon first long-range jutsu could be shot and hit their marks. Naruto's clones now recognized that there were not one, but three old acquaintances there. Beside Roushi there was Kurotsuchi, now dressed in black instead of red, and her sensei, whose name Naruto didn't quite catch. He cursed. Those weren't likely to give up.

One half of the clones ran forward and attacked with the Firestorm combo. He got proficient enough with it that barely any of his clones popped anymore. There were mostly rocks near the edge of the canyon, so they didn't have to worry about causing a forest fire.

A wall of lava rose from the ground, forming a half dome, blocking the flames from reaching their targets. The people behind it had to be still uncomfortably hot, but they wouldn't be harmed.

The clones cut the jutsu when they realized it had no effect. Before he could come up with an alternate plan, the lava surged forward, threatening to bury them alive. The clones scattered, but some of them were still destroyed by the blazing river.

The lava flowed forward and for a moment the Naruto clones were scared that it would reach and destroy the bridge before the three genin and his real body could reach the other side. But then the river split in to two, both streams falling over the edge of the canyon down to the river below. Steam rose where the molten rock met the water.

'Do they want to get us alive or do they want to get us personally?' Naruto mused. 'Probably the second.'

"What are you doing?" shouted a high-pitched female voice. Naruto thought he recognized it as Kurotsuchi's. "You almost destroyed the bridge!" Only a grunt answered her.

Naruto's clones launched another attack, this time pure Wind. It had the same result as the first charge. It was stopped by an unyielding wall of lava. This time spikes shot out of the wall, impaling some of the clones standing close. The others abandoned their charge and backed off. It turned out they didn't get far enough. The ground under their feet grew hot, melting into lava. It happened so fast that most of the clones didn't have enough time to jump into safety. They popped immediately.

"Don't melt off the whole cliff," somebody shouted.

"I know what I'm doing," Roushi snapped back. "It's only the surface."

The few remaining clones regrouped for one last attack, when a small ball fell among them. It exploded immediately and the clones were dispelled.

'Not good,' Naruto thought. The whole skirmish was over so fast that he was only halfway across the bridge. Thankfully the three genin nearly reached the end. If the bridge was cut now, they would survive. 'That is if they can use their chakra to stick to it. Otherwise they'll be in trouble.' And he was unsure whether such young genin could treewalk.

"Kurotsuchi stop!" a male voice shouted so loud that he could hear it all the way. He thought he heard the hissing of the tags activating, but that was impossible over the distance. Not to mention there were only remotely activated tags, so nothing should happen. Then he heard a blast and the bridge started slowly falling. Crap. Did he accidentally mix a proximity-activated one among them? Tenzo always berated him that such mistakes could prove fatal and in his current situation, they most likely would.

He glanced into the depth below him and immediately wished he didn't. Even in the darkness he could se the raging rapids too far below him. The foam splashing over the boulders looked ominous to him. Even with his unnatural healing abilities, he had no desire to find out whether he could survive this fall and what shape he would land in. But what could he do? It wasn't like he could fly. 'If I get out of this alive, I'm going to learn how to do it,' he decided. But first he had to get out of this alive.

The only question was how. He didn't have solid ground under his feet to use a Shunshin and the other side of the canyon was too far for a Kawarimi, even if there were handy rocks to exchange himself with. They were almost mocking him. Then he noticed something else. There was a kunai embedded in the rope bridge about halfway to the other side. It must have fallen out of one of the genin's pouches, probably Tenten's. It was still a stretch, but it was a performable feat. He wasted no time and switched himself with it. There was always a bit of time delay when performing the Kawarimi and he found himself considerably lower than before. But thanks to the bridge's swinging, it also brought him closer to the other side of the valley. A quick glance to the cliffside showed him a handy boulder for another Kawarimi. He performed it immediately.

He landed hard, but he was thankfully in one piece and conscious. His feet slid over the edge, but he used chakra to stick to the rock. It was instinct now. Tenzo knew well what to teach his students. He took a deep breath and started climbing upwards. He prayed that his genin were alright.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Near the end of the bridge~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Ow," Tenten groaned. She had grabbed on the rope railing the moment the bridge gave under her feet and held on tight. She somehow managed to keep her grip even during their impact with the cliffside. It was just as bad as when Gai-sensei once forgot himself during a team spar and kicked her with too much force.

Something struck the side of her head, but it was nothing compared to what she just went through. Then something pressed on the top of her head. She managed to steal a glance upwards. She saw a blue sandal and orange leg warmer.

"Lee!" she shouted. "That's my head you standing on!"

"Sorry, Tenten." The green-clad boy apologized. "How unyouthful of me. I'll do a thousand kicks to make up for my mistake!"

"Whatever," she grumbled. "Just climb."

"Oh, sorry!" Lee disappeared over the edge. Now where was Neji? If she remembered correctly, he was right behind her when the bridge fell. That would mean he was under her and also that the impact was worse for him. She looked down, afraid of what would she see there. Would she see his horribly mangled body? Or won't he be there at all?

He was there and he seemed in one piece. She even couldn't see any blood, though in the near-darkness in would have been difficult anyway.

"Neji!" she called him.

"Tenten?" he answered.

"So you're alive," she rejoiced.

"It wasn't my fate to die here," he stated.

"Whatever you say," she shrugged. "Are you wounded?"

"No. I cushioned my fall with chakra. And we should really climb up now."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The other side of the canyon~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What did you think you were doing?!" Takeshi-sensei berated his student.

Kurotsuchi's black attire, which she started wearing after the death of her brother, was charred and smoking, but the girl herself was unharmed. She had pulled a quick Kawarimi when she had heard the Explosive Tag ignite.

"I just…" she started, but the jounin interrupted.

"Didn't think, that's it. And now that you destroyed the bridge, how do you suppose we get on the other side?"

The young chuunin remained silent.

"Don't worry," a female voice interjected. "Now you'll see why our clan used to be one of the greatest in Iwa." With those words, Kamizuru Suzumebachi stepped away from her companions. She smeared a bit of blood on her hands and ran them through a series of seals.

"Kuchiose: The Queen Bee."

And here I leave you with a Kuchiose: Evil Cliffhanger no Jutsu.

Next time: How will the team survive? And will somebody in Konoha notice their absence? And Flames of Youth!