Author's note: Here comes another chapter. Unfortunately, I didn't finish the promised illustration. Maybe next time. I've been unyouthful. I'll go run a hundred laps around Konoha now.

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

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Not even the Flames of Youth.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Konoha Academy~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hana's patience was being tested to its limits. Having been released from the hospital two days before, but not declared fit for heavy duty yet, she took the mission of replacement teacher in the Academy until one of the regular staff got over her cold. She had thought it would be a piece of cake compared to what she had already gone through. Oh, how naïve of her. She had one younger brother at home, so she should have had some idea how this assignment would go. Now take Kiba as he was a couple of years back, multiply by thirty and you might get an idea. Unfortunately for the kunoichi it didn't occur to her to do the math beforehand.

"Just where do you think you are going?" she growled at the unruly academy student she caught sneaking away. The first year of the Academy was more of a kindergarten than a place of study, with the children too young to be trained it hardly could be any other way. But the instructors were obliged to instill some skills and knowledge into them, so here came today's tracking exercise.

"I was following the track," the six-year old answered with confidence, completely unfazed by her bared fangs.

"Oh?" she quirked an eyebrow. "And pray tell me, what track do you see there?" She pointed in the direction the boy was trying to take off. There was a stripe of mud and not a single footprint disturbed its smooth surface.

"That one," the boy with a strange cap on his head pointed at the undisturbed surface. He probably thought that by being confident he could undermine her own confidence. Well, he was in for a surprise.

"There are no tracks there," she informed him, "and if you want to lie, come up with something believable. Are you a ninja or not?"

"Of course I am!" the student-beginner shouted in rage. "I'm the best ninja you'll ever meet!"

"It sure doesn't look that way," she replied nonplussed. The kid turned red.

"But I am!" he shouted. "I will be the Hokage!"

"You?" Her voice was filled with doubt.

"You'll see!" the squirt insisted. "I'll just beat grandfather and then he'll have to give the hat to me!" Only now the Inuzuka realized who she had been holding. There were so many kids that she couldn't remember them all. Now what was the Honorable Grandson's name? She had the vague idea that it was something long, but she couldn't recall it.

"You aren't going to defeat your grandfather if you keep skipping classes," she told him frankly, bringing him closer to his face.

"Please let go of Konohamaru-chan," a girl with twin pigtails pleaded. So that was the brat's name! She knew it sounded stupid.

"Yes, let go of me, you hag!" Konohamaru shouted. 'Hag?' Hana's eyebrow twitched. This little piece of… called her a hag? Now, the dog mistress was usually even tempered, well, for an Inuzuka anyway, but after listening to little kids bickering all morning, her patience was running thin.

"As you wish," she replied with a smirk and dropped the struggling student right into the aforementioned patch of mud. He landed with a satisfying splash.

"How dare you drop me into the mud?!" Konohamaru shouted in outrage.

"And why should I not?" the Inuzuka heiress shrugged. "When you're talking dirty, it's only fitting you look the part."

"You…you…," the Honorable Grandson was struck speechless. He was reduced to trembling with rage.

"Are you alright, Konohamaru-chan?" the pigtailed redhead asked with concern.

"He'll live," a dark-haired boy with a runny nose said, "but I'm worried about the teacher. There's no telling what he'll do to her."

"I think she can take care of herself, Udon-chan," the girl replied.

"You know how Konohamaru-kun gets when he's pissed, Moegi," Udon countered.

"Stop it, the three of you," Hana interrupted them, "and return to the rest of the class." Udon and Moegi obeyed quickly, dragging the still seething Konohamaru with them.

They returned to the group. The other instructor, a chuunin by the name Suzume Namida, welcomed her with a nod.

"I see you caught them."

"It wasn't hard," the Inuzuka replied.

"You are getting the hang of it," the older woman smiled.

"It's easy when there are four of us," Hana smiled back, looking at her canine partners. The Haimaru siblings were running in circles around the group, herding in any wayward students. They were no sheepdogs, but they learned quickly. Only the very best got through them.

"Maybe you should consider taking a job here on permanent basis," Suzume offered. "You are good with the children."

"Heaven forbid," the younger kunoichi shuddered. "I don't think I could bear with them any longer. I hope Yutaka-san will get better soon, or these little hellions will drive me crazy."

"Really? Consider it seriously, it would get you off the frontlines." The teacher couldn't understand how anybody could want to fight in the first line. Hana in turn couldn't understand how anybody could want to deal with the little hellspawns on regular basis.

"Battlefields aren't as stressful as this," she muttered. "And where do you two think you are going?!"

"Samo! Chen! Come back!" Suzume supplied the names of students Hana couldn't remember. The two culprits reluctantly returned to the fold.

"And don't even try to tell us you were following a track," the Inuzuka scolded them. "The exercise is already over. We're heading back."

"You wouldn't want to miss lunch, now would you?" the more experienced teacher added. It had a miraculous effect on the students' morale. Now they raced who would be the first back in the Academy building. It took a while to make sure that no stragglers remained in the training grounds, but eventually they could call the exercise successfully finished. Hana had her doubts if they would retain anything of the knowledge she tried to impart on them, but that wasn't her problem anymore. Now she was going to have a nice, tasty lunch an then… well, then she would have to teach another class. But she wasn't going to let that prospect ruin her meal.

But her ideal noon break wasn't going to be. As soon as she took out her bento, her ears picked up a loud shout. That in itself wasn't strange in the building filled with unruly kids and their frustrated teachers, but this one was a grown man's voice. And although she couldn't be sure thanks to all the walls distorting the sound, she thought she heard her young teammate's name being called. That of course piqued her interest, so she took off to investigate.

It didn't take her long to locate the source of the disturbance. She came upon a tall man with a bowlcut dressed in green spandex and jounin vest, currently manhandling one of the Academy teachers. The silver-haired man, whose name slipped from her mind, was looking scared.

"What's going on in here?" she shouted, putting all the authority of a clan heir into her voice.

"He's crazy!" the chuunin screamed. "He's trying to kill me!" Hana somewhat doubted it. The other man looked like a jounin and if he was really trying to kill him, he would have been already dead.

"Tell me where are my students!" the black-haired man bellowed.

"I don't know what are you talking about," his captive defended. But he smelled like lies to Hana's nose. It was almost drowned by his stench of fear, but she could detect it nevertheless.

"Really, what's going on here?" a new voice entered the discussion. The Inuzuka turned to look at the speaker. It was a young chuunin with a high ponytail and a scar across his face. She recognized him as Umino Iruka, teacher of her brother Kiba.

"This unyouthful person sent my youthful students on a mission they weren't ready for!"

"That's not true," the silver-haired chuunin gasped.

Iruka took a moment to process the sentence. "Gai-san, please release Mizuki-san. We can talk about it like civilized people."

Gai showed no intention to obey. "He might try to run."

"Why would he run?" Iruka objected. "And how could he outrun you?" That convinced the taijutsu master. He dropped his captive unceremoniously on the ground. Mizuki slid along the wall, breathing heavily.

"He's insane," he gasped.

"Where did you send my students?!" Gai scowled at him.

Mizuki turned pleading eyes to Iruka. "Help me here!"

"First say where is my team!" the jounin demanded.

"Why do you think he knows where is your team, Maito-san?" the scarred chuunin interjected.

"He sent them on a mission yesterday!"

"I did not!" Mizuki protested.

"They saw you!" Maito Gai accused.

"Who did?" Iruka questioned.

"That's not true!" Mizuki protested.

"That one chuunin," Gai answered. "I can't remember his name."

"And what exactly did he see?" Iruka inquired.

"He saw Uzumaki arguing with him that he couldn't accept a C-rank with a fresh team."

"Naruto?" Iruka frowned. "What does that boy have to do with anything?"

"So my teammate was with them?" Hana asked.

"Your teammate?" Mizuki asked. The look in his eyes at the moment… it was gone too quickly to be properly identified, but the kunoichi didn't like it.

"Yes," she confirmed. "So where did you send them?"

"I didn't send them anywhere," he replied. "They refused the mission."

"Then why did they leave Konoha?" Gai inquired.

"How would I know what was the demon brat thinking," Mizuki spat.

"Don't talk about Naruto that way," Hana growled. "And by the way, you smell of lies. Lies and fear."

"Now, now," Iruka interjected. "What are you accusing my colleague of?"

"I'm not accusing him of anything," the Inuzuka answered. "I'm merely stating the facts. So spill it. What did you do?" The Haimaru growled and bared their teeth. Mizuki visibly paled.

"Nothing," he refused to change his story. "Get them off me!"

"Not until you tell the truth," she informed him.

"Lying is so unyouthful," Gai added.

"Now let him be," Iruka defended his friend. "He already said he didn't do it."

"And we already said we don't believe him," Hana shot back. "So you better spill your guts soon or my darlings will do it for you. They didn't have lunch yet and neither did I."

Mizuki was now shaking. "They're both insane."

"Are we?" the brunette raised an eyebrow. "And shouldn't you humor the lunatics, lest there is no telling what they might do?"

Before anything else could be said, two ANBU appeared in the hallway. Following behind them was the figure of a chuunin Hana was familiar with.

"That's him," Izumo pointed at Mizuki, who was still squirming on the ground.

"It wasn't me!" the accused shrieked.

"What's going on?" Iruka demanded.

"Touji Mizuki, you're under arrest," one of the ANBU declared.

"That must be some mistake," Iruka said. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. He knew Mizuki since their Academy days. The man wouldn't do anything wrong. Would he?

"I didn't do anything," Mizuki protested, but the ANBU paid him no heed. They grabbed the silver-haired chuunin and roughly pulled him to his feet. They dragged him away without any delay.

"What is this all about, Izumo-san?" Iruka turned to the person he knew the best.

"Mizuki assigned a C-rank mission to a fresh genin team, his team," he pointed at Gai, "and their temporary chuunin commander, despite their protests. He didn't make any record of the mission assigned."

"Than maybe the mission wasn't assigned at all," Iruka tried.

"It was," Izumo corrected. "The team left and showed the mission scroll to the guards. They even had their client with them."

"That must be some mistake," the scarred chuunin shook his head. "Mizuki wouldn't do that. He wouldn't endanger three innocent children…"

"Four," Hana growled. Haimaru growled with her.

"What?" Iruka asked startled.

"There are four innocent children," the Inuzuka clarified. "Or did you forget about Naruto?"

"I didn't," the chuunin answered.

"Then why didn't you count him?" she demanded.

"Because he's…"

"He's what?" she prodded.

"He's already a chuunin," Iruka stammered, hoping the answer would placate her.

"Hn," Hana growled. She knew very well that this wasn't what he wanted to say, but decided not to pursue the matter. "He's younger than them."

"My poor youthful students," Gai wailed. "What happened to them?"

"Before you tear up each other," Izumo interjected, "The Hokage wants to see the two of you."

"Let's go!" Gai shouted and sprinted towards the tower. Hana followed behind him at a slower pace.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Forest~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Konoha was low on manpower, that's what the Hokage had said, and couldn't afford to send too many of its elites to chase after one genin team and one jinchuuriki, who maybe weren't even in trouble. Mizuki hadn't cracked yet when they left. Also most of their troops were tied on war-related duty somewhere and they couldn't afford to pull them on such mission. So it was now only her, Maito Gai and one Hatake Kakashi. Hana remembered the man. He was one of the ANBU guards accompanying the Hokage to the fateful Chuunin Exams. She had also heard about his reputation. The only surviving student of the Yondaime Hokage, known also as the Copy Ninja or Sharingan no Kakashi, feared by enemies, hated by the Uchiha clan. She had taken an instant dislike towards the man. He had answered the summons to the Hokage's office late, openly reading Icha-Icha Paradise, another thing he was notorious for. But she was glad he was with them, even when Gai shouted at him something about his 'eternal rival' and Kakashi ignored him pointedly. She felt that his strength would be needed in what was ahead.

Late in the afternoon, they reached the trading outpost of Ogawa. The Haimaru swiftly wove their way through the hustle and bustle of the trade village until they reached the Dancing Crane Inn. A couple of workers were repairing a hole in the façade.

"What happened here?" Hana wondered.

"Are you Konoha ninja?" a man, judging from his self-important air probably the inn owner, asked in a sharp tone.

"That's what our headbands say," Hana replied.

"So you have to pay for this!"

"What?"

"Yes you!" The man pointed at Gai. "It was your son who started it!"

"Your son?" Hana raised an eyebrow.

"Oh! How youthful! This youthful man thinks Lee is my son!" The Green Beast started shedding manly tears of joy.

"Hn, did you say something?" Kakashi remarked from behind his orange book. Hana had no idea when did he take it out.

"Yes," shouted the innkeeper enraged. "It was your brat who started the fight so pay up!"

"Lee would never do that!" Gai protested. "Starting a bar brawl is unyouthful!"

"I don't care what is youthful or unyouthful, I only care about getting my money," the businessman informed them.

"How unyouthful!"

"Stop the crap already," the innkeeper scowled. "Your son got drunk and trashed my inn. Where is my money?"

"My Lee wouldn't drink! That's unyouthful!" Gai insisted.

"Shut up and pay!" The innkeeper insisted.

"Huh? Did you say something?" Kakashi peeked from behind his book.

"I said give me my money!" the innkeeper bellowed.

"We're not responsible for the damage another team have supposedly done," Hana snapped. She wasn't sure whether it was true, but she figured out the innkeeper didn't know either. "If you want your money back so much, send a complaint to Konoha and the bureaucrats will sort it through, in a few months. Or years. We're on a mission and we cannot afford to lose time with you. Or would you like to be listed as the cause of mission failure?" She turned on her heel and left, commanding the Haimaru to pick the trail again. Kakashi and Gai followed her, Gai with a shout about youth, leaving the speechless innkeeper behind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Crossroads~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The place was a battlefield. Any shinobi worth their headband would know it upon the first glance. But what exactly had occurred there? That required an experienced ninja to decipher.

"Only one dead body here," Hana summarized her findings. "Judging by his scent it's their client. And he's been dead since yesterday evening."

"Lots of Wind jutsu damage to surrounding trees," Kakashi observed.

"That's Naruto's style," the Inuzuka replied.

"And lots of little dead insects on the ground," Gai added.

"I noticed them as well," the kunoichi said. "They look strange."

"You're right," Kakashi said examining one of the tiny bodies closely. "Those are Kamizuru bees."

"Kamizuru?" Hana's eyes widened. "The Iwa clan?"

"Yes," the masked man confirmed.

"How did they get here?" the dog mistress wondered. "This is the opposite side of Fire Country than the frontlines."

"The patrols must have been unyouthful in their duty," Gai frowned.

"That doesn't matter now," Kakashi interjected. "Can you tell which way did they go or should I summon Pakkun?"

"Of course I can," Hana growled. Insulting her dogs' noses was one of the worst insults you could say to an Inuzuka. "They went that way," she pointed at the road to Sagae. "Both Naruto and his team and their pursuers. Naruto created multiple Shadow Clones and had them Henge into your team to confuse the tracks, but the Iwa group didn't fall for it."

"Did you find out anything new about them?"

"Not really," she shrugged. "Two men, two women. One of the men has something strange in his scents. There's something familiar about it, but I can't put my finger on it. It might be they're somebody I've encountered before, but only briefly."

"We should go. We're still a day behind," Kakashi pointed out.

"Yosh! Let's save my youthful students!" He took off at a sprint. Kakashi and Hana sighed and raced after him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Former Bridge of Heavenly Peace~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Well, Gai, your students are sure leaving an impression," Kakashi commented surveying what remained of the once famous bridge.

"Their Flames of Youth must have burned too brightly," Hana remarked looking at the molten ground. It had cooled down since yesterday, but the level of destruction was still clearly apparent.

"Yosh! I will run a thousand laps around Konoha!" Gai exclaimed. No-one knew why.

"Let's get serious now," Kakashi suggested. "The damage around wasn't caused by any ordinary jutsu."

"You're right," the dog mistress agreed. "Even Naruto's Firestorm doesn't melt stone in this way."

"I know only one person capable of this," the masked jounin said. "Roushi, the jinchuuriki of the Yonbi, can create lava."

"He was at the Chuunin Exams," Hana remembered. "That's why he smelled so familiar. And now that I think about it, two of the others were there too."

"My youthful students are in so much danger!" Gai wailed.

"So what now?" the Inuzuka asked.

"Now we cross the bridge the enemy so conveniently left behind and resume pursuit," Kakashi shrugged. "What else?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Sagae harbor~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I'm sorry," Hana said standing on the pier, "I can't follow their trail anymore."

"So they boarded a ship," Kakashi mused. "But where did they go?"

"Maybe somebody saw them," Hana suggested.

"I wouldn't count on it," the masked jounin shook his head. "Didn't you mention that your Naruto was good with disguises?"

"He is," she confirmed.

"Then we can be almost sure nobody would recognize them even if they saw them. The question is, what would they do? You are the one who knows him the best."

"Hm," the kunoichi scrunched her brow in thought, "Konoha is upstream, but Naruto rarely does things simply. So he'd be more likely to go downstream, but that seems too obvious."

"So where did my youthful students go?"

"I think Naruto would leave the ship on first occasion," the chuunin mused aloud. "But where could he go?"

"Maybe I have an idea," the one-eyed man said.

"Where?"

"There."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Aboard the ship~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"It's finally dark," one of Naruto's henged clones remarked.

"So I noticed," Tenten replied. Their cabin had no lights and they could barely see each other in the darkness.

"Prepare yourself," the chuunin ordered, "we'll be leaving the ship as soon as the crew falls asleep."

"I don't see it happening anytime soon," Neji observed. He was right. Some of the passengers and a couple of sailors had opened a huge jug of sake, passed it around and were teaching each other drinking songs. They showed no sign of stopping anytime soon.

"How unyouthful of them," Lee commented.

"They won't be a problem," Naruto decided. "Soon they will be too drunk to notice anything outside their group."

"And we're ninja," Tenten added. "If we weren't able to hide from a bunch of drunks, we wouldn't deserve our headbands."

"Well said," Naruto smiled, "but you shouldn't say such things aloud. You never know who's listening."

"Sorry," she grinned sheepishly.

"Nothing happened. I'd notice if somebody was close by."

They waited for about an hour. The party was still in full swing, but now few people were sober enough to notice what was going on around them. The quartet of Konoha shinobi had discarded their disguises, at least the parts that would slow them down. Especially Neji was nearly ecstatic to get rid of the pink kimono and parasol, even if he still looked like a girl. Sneaking off the ship was ridiculously easy. Though Rock Lee made a loud splash when he jumped into the water, the inebriated people paid it no mind.

They swam to the shore quickly. Naruto led them to a part of the shore, where a tree was growing directly above the water, its branches hanging low enough for the genin to grab. He wanted to avoid leaving tracks in the mud as much as possible. He quickly climbed onto the tree. Neji and Tenten followed him. When Lee tried it, the branch broke and he landed in the water with a splash that carried miles away in the quiet night.

"Lee!" Tenten hissed angrily. Neji frowned.

"I'm sorry," Lee apologized. "The tree couldn't hold my youthful training weights." He showed the metal bands around his ankles.

"You swam with these on?" Naruto asked, dumbstruck.

"Yosh!"

"How?"

"Gai-sensei taught me. Everything is possible when your Flames of Youth burn brightly!" Naruto decided not to ask any more. He felt it would be better for his sanity not to know.

"Whatever," he shrugged. "Now let's go. If the Iwa team is anywhere nearby, they must have heard this."

They ran through the treetops, Naruto leading the way, Team Gai following him. The night around them was quiet. Naruto wanted to remain on guard, but the sleep deprivation was slowly catching up with him. Keeping his eyes open was slowly becoming more and more of a struggle. One moment he realized they were running alongside a creek and he had no idea when did they see it first. Did he black out? Was he sleepwalking? Did he accidentally turn and led his team in a wrong direction? He looked up to check the stars. He sighed in relief. They didn't lose the way. They were still on the right track. And if everything went well, they would reach their destination in the morning. And hopefully they would be finally safe.

He prayed that he didn't miscalculate. When he had travelled in this area with Jiraiya during their search for Tsunade, the old pervert showed him that there was an outpost for Konoha ninja nearby, supposed to take care of sudden trouble arising in the region. But because the region was stable, the crew usually wasn't big. And being so far away from the frontlines, it might have been abandoned completely. Or manned with genin with one chuunin in command. That would have done them no good against the Iwa team. That made him pause. What if he was leading the enemy to massacre a bunch of helpless rookie shinobi? Shouldn't he change directions and try his luck elsewhere? They haven't seen hair nor hide from the Iwa team since yesterday evening, so maybe they lost them. Or maybe not and there was a trap waiting to spring any moment. He had no way to know. He could only hope that there would be some jounin at the outpost and that they would be able to help. Even if they won't be any help against Roushi, they could at least take care of the other three. The Yonbi Jinchuuriki would be Naruto's problem.

The chuunin suddenly realized that the creek they had been following was nowhere in sight. Was he lost so deep in his thoughts that he lost track of his surroundings again? It seemed so. He gazed at the stairs again. At least he didn't lose his sense of direction. It would be really embarrassing if they got caught by the Iwa team because they were unable to locate the base. They would be the laughing stocks of Konoha, if the village ever learned of their fate. He could just see some of the worst bigots in the village laughing about how stupidly the Kyuubi brat died. And there was no way he'd give them the satisfaction.

He was snapped from his musings by a sudden sense of chakra accompanied with a killing intent. It actually took him several moments to reorient himself, remember where he was and realize what was going on.

"Dodge!" he shouted even as several clay balls landed between them. The genin were quick to obey. The following explosion only flung them away instead of hurting them. Naruto quickly raced to them, searching the surrounding forest for the danger.

"You didn't really think you could get away from us, did you?" an unpleasant female voice sounded from the darkness. "All the effort you put into it. The clones. That must have been exhausting, wasn't it?" Naruto privately agreed, but didn't show it. "And the disguises. How long did it take to convince that Hyuuga to dress up as a girl?" Neji blushed deeply, but nobody could see it. "And the ship trip. That must have cost an arm and leg, didn't it?" It did, but considering that Naruto used his transformed Shadow Clones instead of real money, it didn't really bother him. "Well, guess what, it was all in vain. My bees can detect even the slightest difference in scent between the real you and your clones and can follow your scent even above water. So you see how foolish your efforts were?"

Unfortunately, Naruto could see. No matter what he did, he didn't manage to shake the pursuers. And now they got the drop on them. How did it happen? Why didn't he smell them? Besides being half-asleep on his feet, the Iwa team came upwind. And why didn't Neji's Byakugan detect them? Well, he forgot to instruct the genin to activate it periodically. And it didn't occur to the Hyuuga to do it. Or maybe it would have been too exhausting. He had no idea how much chakra did the Byakugan use. But there was no use in crying over spilled milk. They had been caught unawares and the only thing Naruto could do now was to figure a way to get them out of this situation alive. The problem was that he had no idea how to accomplish it. He could only stall for time and hope that his sleep-deprived brain would come up with something.

"You must be proud of yourself for catching a bunch of genin," he said. In the next moment he realized that taunting the obviously stronger enemy probably wasn't a good idea. He cursed inwardly. His brain really wasn't working right today.

"Who cares about the genin," the Kamizuru said dismissively. "It's you we're after. If you just left them behind, maybe you could have gotten away."

"I don't leave my comrades behind to die," the chuunin snapped angrily.

"Oh spare me," Suzumebachi groaned. "Konoha ninja and their Will of Fire. It makes me want to puke."

"Don't insult the Will of Fire!" Lee shouted angrily.

"I'll insult it all I want!" the bee-user shouted. "Don't think your so-called Will of Fire will save you here. No one will."

"We'll defeat you with our Flames of Youth!" It got a chuckle from the unseen enemy. Naruto just wished it was so easy.

"If it is our fate to die here, we will," Neji commented stoically. The whiskered chuunin suppressed a sudden urge to kick him.

"You're going to see that Konoha ninja aren't easy to kill," the blond stated.

"Ninja? What ninja?" a male voice asked derisively. "I see only a bunch of wet-behind-the-ears kids. In fact, you are the only one worth the effort, though just barely. But we have a bit of a problem here."

"What is it?" the chuunin inquired.

"We can't agree which one of us gets to kill you," the man explained. "Everybody has a valid claim and we just cannot agree whose is the strongest."

"Then draw straws or something," Naruto advised him.

"We tried," a girl's voice explained. "Everybody cheated."

"Can you stop arguing and kill them now?" yet another, irritated voice asked. "I'm getting bored here. If you don't act now, I'm doing it."

"Roushi is right," the first male voice said. "Let's stop fooling around and kill them." He followed his words by throwing a ball of explosive clay on Naruto. The chuunin countered it with a kunai that deflected the projectile into the underbrush, where it exploded harmlessly. Then the battle started.

And that's it for today.

Next time: Will Naruto & co. survive?