Though we have heard of stupid haste in war, cleverness has never been seen associated with long delays.
-Sun Tzu

Chapter 4: A Lie or a Secret

It hadn't been exactly comfortable after that conversation. They had all dispersed soon afterwards because of the mood. The room was chilly though Shikamaru just couldn't figure out why. Obviously the high numbers had something to do with Naruto's mood, but what? Shikamaru had done a bit of brainstorming on his own.

He had managed to slip into the shinobi library before it closed and checked out A Statistical Guide to Chakra Levels. He sat on his bed quietly flipping through the volume in his lap. The book had nearly four hundred pages filled with data and he didn't have the time to read through the entire thing. The index had listed chapters detailing information on the levels depending on the numerical rank the person had. Briefly, he recalled Kei saying that Naruto's rank was 2045.

A finger scrolled down the index until he reached the bottom. Chapter 28: Chakra Levels 2000+ on page 392. His dark eyes narrowed. The book chronologically rated the levels and if Naruto was near the absolute back that would definitely require for him to have jonin level chakra stores. Shikamaru turned the book on its back before pulling open the back cover. He turned five pages over to the chapter beginning and began to read.

Upon discovering a chakra level over 2000, it is advised that the person be retested a few more times for confirmation. If the retests give the same result, it is strongly recommended that the person be restrained for public safety. The average jonin chakra level of 1700 is the conventional limiting base for shinobi safety. Advanced chakra levels over 2000 can have detrimental effects on the person such as schizophrenia and dissociative personality disorder.

The cause of such levels must also be examined. Through medical studies, medical ninja have found that even through breeding of ninja with high chakra stores, no normal ninja can reach stores over 1900. Thus, other means must have caused the rank. A study to note is the jinchuuriki Killer B from Kumogakure. After examnination, Killer B was noted to have stores at 2872 at the time the study was produced. Several updates to the study show that his stores have since then grown to 3189.

It is therefore believed that these chakra stores can only be obtained through a connection with a tailed beast or another creature of that nature. Humans with bloodline limits have also shown an affinity for a higher chakra rating such as Uchiha Madara. Before his defection, he reportedly had a chakra level of 2391.

Any discovery of levels over 2000 is to be immediately reported to the nearest authority possible. If anyone is suspected of having said levels, it should also be reported for the safety of fellow shinobi. If someone of this nature is obtained, they are to be restrained until a personage of authority decides what to do.

Shikamaru closed the book softly and stared back at the creased leather. The boy puzzled over what the book had told him. Most notably he thought about the causes. It spoke of a 'jinchuuriki, but what was this jinchuuriki? Shikamaru set the book over to the side before slipping out of his room. He padded down the hall towards his father's office and peered through the door.

His father was huddled over an oak desk scribbling madly onto various sheets of paper. The sound of the door opening hardly fazed the man as he continued on with his work. "What is it, Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru scanned the busy room quickly before turning to look at his father. "Father, what is a jinchuuriki?" Shikaku's pen froze mid-word. The utensil shook ever so slightly in the man's grip before being put down on the table.

"Who told you that word, Shikamaru?" The elder's eyes flashed dangerously as he stared down his son. The casual man was now replaced with someone that was purely business. Shikamaru flinched under his father's calculating glare. He had seen people submitted under his father's political pressure, but had never truly been rebuked before. Mother had done plenty of that, but never his father, his mentor.

"I just heard it on the street. I can't say who." Shikamaru lied. It tasted bitter in his mouth lying like that. It was a protective response though. Shikaku reacted so negatively to the word that Shikamaru knew that if he mentioned the book he had read it in, it would be confiscated. He couldn't let go of that volume quite yet.

Shikaku leaned back into his chair and sighed. "Even if I don't tell you, you will dig for the information won't you?" The defiant look in his son's eyes was all he needed as a reply. "Sit down, Shikamaru." He motioned to the shorter wooden chair beside him. Shikamaru twitched as he looked at the chair. It was ever so obviously lower down than his father's chair which if he remembered correctly, had been given another six inches in height for that purpose. It was a fantastic intimidation technique.

He sat down in the light chair and calmly looked at his father. They knew better than to hide things from one another. Or, they had known. Shikamaru had just broken the cycle a minute ago. "You can't tell another else what I'm about to tell you, Shikamaru. This information is still technically a secret, though less so. A jinchuuriki is a bearer of one of the nine demon animals. I'm sure you've heard the legends about that."

That he had. Raccoon, Cat, Turtle, Gorilla, Elk, Slug, Beatle, Octopus, Fox, they were the nine animal spirits of the world that infested the corners of the ninja continents. They fed upon ill will and manifested themselves in the hearts of the evil to ravage the land. In the normal style of all tales told to little children, the spirits would assault little children that lied to their parents. He laughed softly. Would one of those beasts come after him now? He seriously doubted it.

"The spirits do exist. They inhabit humans, but they do not will it. However, they make do in their containers. Shikamaru, if you ever encounter one of these jinchuuriki..." He spat out the word with disgust, "Run away from it. They are the devil, Shikamaru. The human container had no way to possibly retain any shred of humanity after being one with a demon for so long. Promise me that, Shikamaru."

Shikamaru stared at the floor. All he had to do was play connect the dots. Naruto had to have a spirit within him. The boy obviously didn't come from a bloodline and even then he would have had to go through extensive training to reach such a level. To start out with such a high rank he would need to have one of these 'demons'. He clenched the arm of his chair until his fist turned white.

Naruto. The boy couldn't be a demon, could he? His father had told him so, but was it really true? There was a fine line between brainwashing and giving advice because you knew more than the other person. It was just hard to figure out the difference between the two. His bangs drifted before his eyes as he wracked his mind for answers.

Naruto hadn't seemed to be evil. He was kind to the point of willingly hurting himself for others. He had made a commitment to always protect his friends. Shikamaru had looked him straight in the eyes when he had said that. There wasn't a shadow of doubt when he said those words. Shikamaru just couldn't force himself to believe that the blonde was lying. However... His mind drifted back to an hour earlier when he had left the blonde's apartment.

The boy had been so cold to them at the mention of his counts. He appeared as a totally different person for that brief moment. It kind of scared Shikamaru. Was that the demon in him speaking? "Shikamaru?" Said boy jumped in surprise as he looked back up at his father. He remembered his father's request and bit his lip before saying, "You know I can't keep that."

Surprise flickered in Shikaku's eyes before the cold mask was put on once more. "A-ah. I see you realize now... Don't tell anyone this, Shikamaru. But if you ask the Hokage, I'm sure he would be willing to place you on another team. Anyone would understand your reasons for the switch."

Shikamaru paused for a moment before shaking his head. "No. I'll stay with them. Both of them." He emphasized 'both' as he fixed his father with a compassionate glance. "You said it yourself, didn't you? Jinchuuriki's are containers. They are not the demons themselves. I imagine the demon can only surface in its jinchuuriki if the jinchuuiki is weak enough to break under the creature's advances. Naruto isn't like that. He's..." He breathed in before finishing, "He's the kindest person I know."

They were two entities, Naruto and the demon. Shikamaru would not fall into the mistake of confusing the two.

-TSUME-

A rapping on the window brought Kei to her senses. For a moment she thought she had imagined the sound, but the sound repeated once more. She turned towards the window to see a small sparrow had lighted upon the sill. The brown and white bird gave a muffled cheep from outside the glass before tapping a few more times. The girl groaned in annoyance and got up from her futon and stretched her back.

She flipped open the window latch and pushed open the glass. The sparrow cheeped in happiness before lighting on the girl's hand. It arched to the side to reveal a small scroll wrapped around its leg. "Calm yourself down, Tsuki..." Kei mumbled to the sparrow. The birds they had all been assigned to had been given names. At least, Inoichi said they had been assigned names. Team Tsume had been given messenger birds to communicate with Inoichi for summons. Kei was given Tsuki, the sparrow. Naruto received Hime, the raven. Lastly, Shikamaru partnered with Kin the mourning dove.

Tsuki was a brat to say the least. She would not stop pestering you until you had already read the entire message, she would track your eye movement, and write a response. Kei wasn't quite sure why she had to write a response to a single word message, but she did. She unlatched the scroll and read the message. Come. That was the only thing that their sensei had told her? He didn't even give her a place and time!

She grumbled slightly before fumbling around for a stick of charcoal. Of course, the ever so helpful bird was pecking at her forehead while she did so. She finally found a stick and wrote down, Yes, Sensei. She tied the paper back around the sparrow's leg before sighing as the bird took off. Her ruffled hair was pulled messily back into a ponytail as she began the painful process of slopping herself towards the training grounds. If Inoichi didn't say when or where, it would safer to assume he meant their group place and that he meant right now. What a nuisance.

She pulled on her ninja gear, a small assortment of goods that primarily came from the discount rack. The wise fellow that decided to give genin mediocre amounts of money should have been cursed. Your parents immediately assumed that since you were making money, you didn't need their money anymore. Good thing that each D rank brought in about enough for a small bowl of ramen if you didn't add in any meat.

Kei sighed woefully as she finally fastened the leather belts around her waist. Fishnet underneath her vest had been a rather cheap way of dress compared to the silk heat resistant clothing. She realized she looked slightly like a rainbow with her brown shorts, red shirt, black neck band, and orange wrist guards. But a discount was a discount and she was going to have to make do for a good while.

She left her house and closed the door behind her softly. It was still five am and no doubt her parents were still asleep like any normal human being. She padded down the dirt streets as she headed towards the grounds. The residential district sat on the farther outskirts of Konoha which made travel to these impromptu meetings convenient. The small rock placard on the ground signaled that she had reached Training Ground 17.

Before her, Inoichi was sitting on the ground and feeding Tsuki a bit of bread. She hid the sound of her footsteps as she made her way behind her sensei. "You enjoy training them to torture us, don't you?"

Inoichi turned around to face her with a smile on his face, "Now, now. You don't think your beloved sensei would purposefully try to annoy you, do you?" The skeptical look on her face said otherwise. Inoichi feigned hurt and put Tsuki back in her bird cage.

"I am sorry for leaving you three to your own devices, but I have something to make up for it. I'll wait for the other two to arrive though." He waved Kei over and patted the ground beside him. The girl sat cross-legged on the earth and waited. "What has happened in the past week, Kei-chan? Is there anything you want to tell me?"

The incident last night flashed across her mind. She had read all sorts of analysis on chakra levels and clearly a rank over 2000 without any sort of professional training was not normal. The book advised for her to alert authorities if any such level was found, but some things didn't quite add up. Naruto had been tested before entering the ninja academy for his chakra rank. The medical nin had to have seen this before her, but they didn't act upon it.

She had noticed how they had all despised the boy when he came to his checkup. They all scowled at his mere presence and didn't perform their examinations all too gently. Had they been bribed to pass him as acceptable? No, that couldn't have been right. If they were being black mailed they would see him as someone that could give them all hell. They were treating him far too poorly for it to be blackmail. It would have to be willful hatred then.

It was probably linked to what the townspeople talked about. The demon. From what she had seen, it was Konoha's best worst kept secret. She had heard the whispers about the demon when Naruto passed by, but when she inquired as to the nature of his 'demonic heritage' the conversation was immediately diverted. The information gatherer in her wondered what they were hiding, but the other part thought it would be best if she didn't know. If such a multitude was committed to keeping it a secret perhaps it would be better for her not to know.

She did have a sneaking suspicion she knew what the secret was though. It was just a matter of confirming if it was true or not. Was Naruto really the Kyuubi? She didn't really know how it would work with him being the Kyuubi. However, the Kyuubi was known as the demon which ravaged Konoha twelve years ago. The date would make sense for Naruto's birth after all. However, Naruto didn't really look that much like a nine tailed fox to be perfectly honest. For Naruto to be considered a demon and for him to be walking free on the streets, it had to be something genetic rather than an evil he had done. If he was really a mass murderer he wouldn't be let off scott free, right?

Kei looked back up towards her sensei before shaking her head. Naruto didn't seem evil. He'd done plenty to earn her trust. She rather liked him. He had obviously wanted to avoid the subject of his high chakra levels. Bringing it up with Inoichi would do little to make him feel better about it. Inoichi probably knew anyways from the medical report. In fact, her knowledge of his chakra levels would raise unwanted questions and it would be best to avoid the entire ordeal.

"Not much. We did fourteen D ranks this past week, including five Tora missions. I think that cat made me swear off any pet cats for the rest of my life. I'll get nightmares." Inoichi laughed at the maroon haired girl. He squinted his eyes down the road before getting up. The two figures down the road waved at him as they approached.

Shikamaru glanced over towards Naruto meaningfully. The genius had gone over to Naruto's after receiving his summons. The blonde was consistently slow to rise and Shikamaru knew he had a good chance of catching the boy before he left. They had needed to have a little talk.

"Uzumaki-san?" Shikamaru rapped on the door patiently before the door was opened. The blonde peered out at his comrade through the window before looking away. He unlatched his door before joining Shikamaru on the outside. "Hey." Naruto murmured softly. He turned the key in its latch before pocketing the metal.

The walk was silent, at least for a little while. Shikamaru broke the silence, "I know." Naruto froze in place before continuing on stiffly. A thousand thoughts ran in the jinchuuriki's head. He had known that eventually both of them would find out about him, but he never wanted it to be so soon. Everyone that learned about his 'condition' hated him from then on out. No one wanted to befriend the demon that massacred their brothers and sisters.

Naruto loved Shikamaru and Kei as friends. He didn't want to lose them so soon. Not yet. A shadow fell over his eyes and he made a small whimpering sound. He didn't want them to shun him... A hand clasped his shoulder and held it tightly. Cerulean eyes looked up pleadingly at Shikamaru. "Don't worry about it."

Confusion overwhelmed him. "Why?"

"You're not it. Pandora's Box was not evil in of itself. It contained evil, but it was not evil."

Naruto smiled widely at his sensei. It felt as if a burden had been lifted from his heart. Of course he still worried about what his other friend thought, but at least he would have Shikamaru. And this had been the first time anyone had explicitly told him that he was not evil. Even Inoichi had always skirted around the subject when it came up. Being told that he was normal made him feel so... free.

"So what do you have for us, Sensei?" Inoichi blinked at the beaming boy before recollecting his thoughts. He secretly wondered what had happened to make the genin feel so happy. Surely it had not been the D ranks.

"A few of the other senseis and I have decided to set up collaborative genin tests. Admittedly, it is a sort of competition among us as our students compete with one another, but it serves another purpose. I have always told you, 'Knowledge is Power'. Unfortunately it is hard practicing information gathering unless you have another party around. So these meetings will become your practice sessions and the other genin will be your subjects. I want you to glean as much information as you can from the other genin and tell me what you learn."

"I don't want anything like, 'Kiba likes dogs'. Tell me how he thinks. Tell me if he has an imbalance in his stance. I want to know if he twitches an eyebrow when he's worried. Nonverbal cues are just as important as the verbal ones, you know."

"The first group mission for you all is at noon today. You still have a good six and a half hours to prepare for it. In that time I'll give you a briefing and something else to toy with. Are there any questions beforehand?"

He looked at his squad. Inoichi was rather proud of their dedication. He hadn't just left them to their own devices for no reason. It was a test of their dedication to becoming real ninja. A mere genin would have just taken the time to go play while their sensei was gone. However, a ninja would have continued on with missions.

As no questions had been presented, he continued on. "The jonin senseis have hidden four artifacts around the village. At the time we all group together I'll reveal the clues for each artifact. If I gave them to you now you'd have a time advantage. However, we designed them so that you'll have to use different ninja skills to retrieve each item."

"Of course, there'll be a little incentive if you manage to get all the items by the time limit of 6pm. My incentive for you three has to do with what I'm about to introduce you to." Inoichi stuffed a hand into his breast pocket and took out three slips of paper. "These are chakra sheets. They help determine your first elemental affinity."

He handed each of his students a piece before adding, "Try and insert your chakra into the paper. When my sensei first taught us how to insert chakra into objects he said, 'pretend the object is on fire and it's burning your hand off'. A crude way, but naturally our minds react to the pain. Our chakra systems then try and force bits of chakra into the appendage that is hurt and it can transmit to the item. Don't worry if it takes you a few tries. It took Shikaku nearly two hours before he stuffed enough chakra in."

Naruto eyed the paper cautiously. He flipped it about a bit and pulled slightly on the edges. By all means it was just an ordinary piece of paper. Was it really supposed to tell them their elemental affinity? He had heard that ninja normally never mastered their first affinity until they became jonin. From there on they were taught how to gain access to their second affinity. The entire process had interested him.

With two affinities you could mix elements, such as wind and water, and create something totally new, like ice. His delusions of grandeur seemed somewhat dulled down now as he stared at they brown paper. Something a bit more explosive with glowing lights seemed more fitting for the discovery. The boy sighed before trying to force chakra into the paper. Nothing.

Naruto growled at the sheet and tried again. There was still nothing. "Now look here. I don't like you, and I'm pretty sure you don't like me. Then again it is hard to tell. But just work why don't you?" He hissed. Over the next fifteen minutes he tried all sorts of things. He imagined being caught in a burning building, having his hand cut off, and even being stuck with Tora. Nothing seemed to be working.

"JUST WORK, DARN YOU!" He yelled at the sheet. Chakra flared out around him before the paper split into two pieces. The other half of the paper slowly drifted down onto the ground. Naruto looked at the piece in his hand and then back to the one on the ground. "OH YEAH!" He whirled around to his sensei before bounding to where the man stood. "Sensei! Look, look! I got it!" The boy glowed with pride as he held up the piece of paper in his hand.

Inoichi quirked a brow before smiling back at the boy. He ruffled Naruto's hair before saying, "Congratulations, Naruto-kun. You're a wind affinity." Inoichi was already scrolling through possible tutors for Naruto. The wind affinity wasn't particularly common in Konoha. He, himself, was an earth type. As far as he knew, Sarutobi Asuma and Shirakumo Hayama were the only wind affinities within the hidden village. Asuma recently got his own batch of genin so it would a bit cruel to ask him to take on another student if only temporarily. Hayama on the other hand was a fine jonin without a squad of his own. Perhaps he would take on Naruto. Inoichi made a note to ask the man later.

"It seems Shikamaru-kun is the last one to find his affinity. I have a feeling it is genetic." Inoichi lamented sadly. The spiky haired boy was sitting crossed-legged on the ground in the midst of a staring contest with his paper. His normally lazy eyes were narrowed viciously at the sheet of paper. Inoichi shrugged before turning back to his other two students.

Kei was the first to find her affinity. It was fairly average considering her low chakra levels. While Shikamaru was a 390, Kei was a mere 239. Her chakra control would be the strongest of the trio considering how little of it there was. Kei poked the soggy sheet aimlessly as she pushed it further into the dirt. A few tears had accumulated in the paper as she continued the boring action. A water affinity seemed to suit the girl though once again Inoichi was hard pressed to find her a tutor.

Water affinity users had been herded towards the other hidden villages and had generally abandoned Konoha. Konoha was primarily an earth and fire affinity village now. A few lightning users were mixed in, but it was rare to find one of those. It seemed Inoichi was cursed with two students with rare affinities. The only jonin he remembered with a water affinity was Hatake Kakashi. Even then, Kakashi only used water as a supplementary affinity to his base one.

Kakashi was also bridled with his own three genin. If memory served, Kakashi had received the Inuzuka, Uchiha, and Haruno. The two boys were sure to be a bundle of trouble, but perhaps Inoichi could convince Kakashi to give scraps of help. A little 'convincing' might be necessary though.

"How troublesome... Inoichi-sensei! I got it." Shikamaru pointed at the cloud of dust in palm before blowing the earth into the wind. He got up from the ground before dusting himself off. His palms went back behind his head and he leaned back into them. It was time to rest again. Conserving energy was an important ninja trait after all.

-TSUME-

"Shut up, Uchiha." Kiba hissed at the black haired boy beside him. The monosyllables were really beginning to frustrate him. Heck, next thing everyone knew there would be a certain dead body on the ground. The beloved prodigy had nothing on him. The boy had the fame. Oh yes, he certainly had that. The tragic Uchiha heir that had his family assassinated right before his very eyes. Yeah yeah, it was tragic, but the boy seemed to have some sort of morbid pride in the fact! The holier than thou thing was enough to make anyone mad.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted out. He looked away from his 'teammates' with disdain. Why had he gotten stuck with the two stupidest ones of the lot? The Haruno girl had little to no value at all. He had taught her quickly enough how worthless she was. She was nothing more than an eyesore to him and everyone would be better off if she just quit being a ninja. And the Inuzuka? He had the brain the size of a grain of rice. The boy thought with his nose and kept on hauling along a white mongrel. Neither of them deserved to be in the same team as him.

Sakura looked between the two boys despairingly. Her dream of becoming Sasuke's bride had become shattered almost immediately after being near the boy. She couldn't help but choke up at remembering their first team meeting.

"You... I have no time for worthless wretches that cannot even begin to compare to my own strength. You have no potential. You have no skill. You have nothing. Just stay out of my why. Better yet, leave this team. I have no use for worms."

She lowered her head and let tears prickle at the corners of her eyes. Some part of her still hoped that she would be able to kindle some sort of relationship, but it was quickly dwindling. But she couldn't quit being a ninja now, not after all the money her family had put in to her education. The pinkette hardly knew where she could possibly start becoming a respected shinobi. She had begun running and lifting exercises, but it all came so slowly. Every day it seemed there was no change and every day it seemed that her motivation dwindled.

Her legs swung back in forth as she sat on the wooden bench. The other teams were going to be arriving soon, albeit they didn't know which ones. She looked up at her sensei, silently pleading him to stop her teammates from fighting. Kakashi flipped another page in his book and cast a wayward glance up at the two boys and back at the girl before shaking his head. There wasn't anything he could do that would bring a conclusion to their fight. "It's better to just let them get it out before the others arrive."

Kakashi hadn't failed countless genin teams for no reason. He had never really looked forward to teaching because brats would be brats. There had never been any other group that could make him, the infamous copy-nin, feel so helpless. They had assigned him to tutor the Uchiha heir, but Kakashi couldn't say he enjoyed the job. The boy was a brat. There was no other way to say it. The Inuzuka had his own problems as well, but that was another can of worms.

Kakashi had taken a bit of a shine to the Haruno though. He felt sorry for the girl. She was only twelve and innocence was meant to last longer than that. Children weren't meant to become so sad, not yet. They may have been adults in law, but not in mind.

"Yo! Kakashi-san!" Kurenai waved at her comrade before sauntering over to the bench and plopping down beside the pinkette. "I see your group is as lively as ever." The comment fell entirely flat on the two from Team 7. "My three should be here in a bit. Ah! There they are~" She got up for a moment and waved the three kids over before sitting back down.

Shino quick walked pasted Kakashi before standing on the far side, away from his teammates. His trench coat was pulled higher than usual with only his sunglasses poking out from his hideaway. The Aburame was irritated with both of his teammates and didn't look forward to the exercise one bit. The two were so... infuriating when in one another's presence. Hinata wasn't that bad on her own, but with Teru she became annoying.

The purple haired girl glowed with happiness as she chattered with the blonde haired boy beside her. Teru smiled cockily as he made wild hand motions as he told his story. The two had gotten quite close over the past week and it was clearly visible. "I'm telling you, Hinata-chan, they were this big!" He stretched his hands out as far as he could manage for emphasis. "Golly, I've never seen such big fish before. But my father and me—"

"It's my father and I.."Shino shot back callously before muttering, "you nitwit."

"Ah! That's right, Shino-kun! Well, anyways, my father and I reeled 'em in like it was nothing! It was totally awesome. I wish you were there, Hinata-chan! Oh, and you too, Shino-kun." Teru's green eyes taunted the Aburame. It was absolutely infuriating.

Shino was about to reply when a loud screech filled the air. All the genin turned around to gawk at the blonde Yamanaka that was screaming at her teammates. "Stop talking like that already! There's no freaking way that a flowerpot is going to kill you! Be a man, why don't you? Even Choji is better than you though that isn't saying much!"

The brown haired boy dipped his head low at the rebuke from his childhood friend. He looked at the bag of chips in his hand once before putting it away into his satchel. Ino just had this way about making him feel no longer hungry. It wasn't to say that he didn't like her or anything, but he just felt depressed. Maybe they weren't meant to be.

Ryuu looked dully over at his exuberant teammate before commenting, "Yeiko-san was killed by a flowerpot. I'm sure that I could be killed by one. Depends on the flower of course, but it is a viable way to die you know..." The blue haired boy sighed before gloomily looking at the rest of the genin there. He faintly recalled their faces, but he had long ago forgotten their names. How hopeless.

"Yo ho!" A cheery voice called out before scuttling into the crowded courtyard. Naruto waved at his fellow genin energetically. He popped up from behind all of them and greeted them all in a rush. It was really great to see such familiar faces. He was beginning to feel like a shut in after only really seeing five people over the past two weeks.

"How troublesome... Learn how to conserve your strength, Uzumaki-san." Shikamaru slowly sauntered after the boy. He stopped beside Shino and gave the boy a nod in greeting before turning to his teammate. "You're going to burn out before the six hours are over and who knows what we'll have to do."

"Ehh? But I'm really glad to see everyone again! Lighten up, Shikamaru-san!"

"He's right, Uzumaki-san." A feminine voice came from behind above them as Kei sat calmly in one of the neighboring trees. She scribbled a few notes in her booklet about the other teams before starting a new section on the future data she would collect.

The clock struck noon and Inoichi shunshined into the clearing. "I suppose it's time to begin now isn't it?"

OMAKE: The real fish

Teru sat quietly by the river watching the bobbing of his lure down the stream. His eyes widened as he saw the shiny metal being dragged down the stream. It was a fish! He pulled on his rod and watched as the line swerved back and forth. This just had to be a big fish the way it was struggling so much! He got up from the ground and took a few steps back as the fish came to the surface. "I GOT IT!" He pulled sharply on the rod and the fish came flying out of the stream. The fish landed on the riverside and Teru looked at the fish excitedly to see... A minnow of approximately four inches in length.

Thank you Mzr90! I finally figured out how PMs work so I'll begin PMing all the reviewers back from now on. :D Thanks to everyone for reviewing and adding this story to your favorites and alerts! I know some of you wondered a bit about the other genin teams so it's going to be time for a bit of unhealthy team bonding! Hope to see you all soon~