Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys.
Look on them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death!
-Sun Tzu

Chapter 6: Leadership

"What's next?" Choji sat on one of the seat cushions and chewed on his dango. It was quite handy having them go to a restaurant, but it didn't appear that much was going on around here. A few scattered people around the shop were sitting on various stools and brightly colored seats as they ate their own dango. It seemed very ordinary. Choji had been at Dangoya often enough to remember how the layout looked. Everything looked exactly the same.

So they would have to scour the place. It raised the question: how do you search a joint without seeming to be juvenile delinquents? Choji wasn't particularly sure. They didn't have the authority to search stores so it would be difficult trying to convince the owner they should be allowed in. Even then, Choji didn't want to get on a cook's bad side. They had a tendency to put raw meat into your food as revenge.

Brown eyes looked over towards two of his teammates that huddled in the corner. Naruto had pulled Hinata over to a small two man table and was talking animatedly with her. He cast wary glances towards the Uchiha intermittently. The black haired boy was conversing with the store owner. Fortunately the owner was a female.

"Hinata-chan, listen to me. I think we should overthrow the teme as leader. He has no clue what he's doing and you have to admit he's a pain. We're not going to get anything done with such one sided leadership. So, will you join me? As long as you, Akimichi-san, and I group together then he shouldn't be able to complain too much without us. There's no way to enforce his rule upon us after all." Naruto spoke in a hushed tone. It pained him to be plotting against a squad mate, but they were just temporary teammates. Inoichi on the other hand was sure to torture him if he didn't collect all the artifacts.

"E-eh? A-are you sure that's wise, Uzumaki-san? Wouldn't our sensei get mad at us for doing that? I-I don't think Kurenai-sensei would approve of us double crossing one another... E-even if we don't like him as a leader, don't we have a duty to follow him?" Hinata stuttered slightly. Sasuke was still a shinobi of Konoha. Did they have some sort of duty to be on his side? Turning against him just seemed so wrong.

"Inoichi-sensei once told me that 'leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.' Sasuke is not being a leader and I do not recognize him as such. The only thing that makes him the leader of this makeshift group is that he has the bug. We take it and there is no 'Uchiha-sama'. So, what do you think?" Naruto flashed a smile and leaned his hands on his fists. What the jinchuuriki didn't say was that Inoichi had also said: To fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting. Naruto would do exactly that.

Hinata bit her lip. It was true that no one had ever officially declared Sasuke to be the leader. Kurenai would have been happier if she actually completed the mission rather than having a power struggle. Doing this would also lend herself to being happier rather than being stuck with a rude commander. "Alright. I-I'll join you. Have you talked to Akimichi-san yet?" It was the best decision, all things considered. Hinata thought it would be kind of sad to not be able to understand her own sensei's clue.

"No. But I wondered if you could present the inquiry for me, Hinata-chan!" A mischievous glimmer entered the boy's eyes. "He'll be more likely to listen to you than to me. Akimichi-san is disposed to remain passive unless the occasion absolutely calls for it. On the other hand, if a girl asks then he'll take a stronger opinion on the subject. He doesn't like saying 'no' too much, if you get what I mean." Naruto shrugged his shoulders innocently and leaned farther over the table. Ignoring the girl's blush he said, "You can do it, right Hinata-chan?"

The purplette squeaked before stuttering out a yes. Naruto felt a bit bad manipulating the girl like this, but Hinata was far too gullible. Inoichi had told them to collect information on their companions, though. It was a command in and of itself so Naruto would follow it. He did understand the practicality, but it didn't stop his heart from quivering a bit. It was so strange to be doing this.

Hinata got up from her seat and inclined her head slightly to her blonde companion before scurrying off towards Choji. His cerulean eyes focused upon the two for a moment. He didn't doubt that this would be pulled off easily, but he needed a second step beyond this. To reaffirm his leadership, Naruto would have to do something to continue the search with success in near sight.

Naruto looked around the Dangoya. A few customers were scattered around the hut. What really caught Naruto's eye was the odd woman out. Most of the customers were civilian, but this woman was a shinobi. She twirled a dango stick between her fingers aimlessly as she stared at the wall. It wasn't something to be overlooked even now.

The purple haired woman sighed and put her head down miserably upon the counter. Kurenai had bribed her to come and sit here for who knew how long. It was downright boring! Anko had noticed the ragtag group of genin enter the dango shop, but they seemed to be making no movement towards her. She would have thought they would think something was suspicious after a jounin sat in a dango bar for not only thirty, but fifty minutes. No one in their right mind would eat dango for that long, not even her.

She itched to walk up to one of the brats and hand them the box, but she could feel Kurenai watching her from outside. Anko grunted in annoyance. Dratted woman would throw a fit if Anko made it too easy for the kids. "Another box, please." She said lazily to the passing cook. The man nodded in return and rushed back behind the curtains to prepare another batch.

Her gray eyes peered back towards the genin to see the blonde staring right back at her. A smile crept across her face. Maybe this one was smarter than the rest. After all, the black haired one wasn't exactly inconspicuous the way he was 'flirting' with the store owner. She sent a cocky smile over at the blonde before turning back towards the counter. Now it was a game to see if he'd approach her or not. She certainly hoped that he would.

Naruto frowned slightly at the lady's back. It almost seemed as if she knew that he would be there. Most people didn't just smile at random people they had never met, especially jounin. Most of the jounin he knew were either strongly maternal or were elitist. This woman was neither of those. Her smile was snubbing him too much for that. He stared at the back of her overcoat a bit longer before he was tapped on the shoulder.

He turned to the side to see Hinata and Choji standing beside his table. Naruto immediately placed the smile back on his face. "So? What do you think, Akimichi-san?" He inquired. The longer he stayed in this place the more wary he felt about that jounin.

"I accept. But if this gets back to our sensei then I want immunity from this. I'll go along with it, but that doesn't mean I'll take the fall if this goes under." The chubby boy nodded solemnly and stuck another stick of dango into his mouth. Sasuke was a proud boy and the thought of his power being usurped would not please him one bit. The last thing Choji wanted was to get caught in the crossfire between the two sides.

"That's acceptable. You don't have to come with me to confront him if you don't wish it. Neither do you, Hinata-chan. It is nice to know you semi-support me though." Naruto cracked a smile before standing up and brushing the nonexistent dust off his person.

"I-I'll go with you! It would help with appearances wouldn't it?" Hinata paused before blushing and added on, "N-not that I'm implying that you aren't a strong enough figure or anything!" She bowed slightly and a slight shiver shook her frame. A part of her felt disappointed in herself for being like this. However, she had grown up like this. Every word could have a double meaning and if someone was offended, then all of hell would rain down.

"Thank you, Hinata-chan." Naruto patted her on the shoulder then proceeded past her and towards the Uchiha at the front table. A part of him chilled as he realized the jounin was watching him. But she was a Konoha jounin, right? It could have just been curiosity in the next generation, or was it something more?

"Uchiha-san, we have something to tell you. If you don't mind coming outside with us?" Naruto gestured politely to the exit before gripping the boy's arm tightly. He jerked the boy outside the curtains before turning on him. "The bug if you don't mind, Uchiha-san?" Naruto held out his hand and smiled innocently.

Sasuke jolted slightly at the question before snarling. "What makes you think you have any right to order me around? This is stupid. You're interrupting me and all you can do is get in my way. Go back to your corner and let me handle this." Sasuke sniffed haughtily before making an attempt to return back to the building.

"A-ah. It's not going to work like that." Naruto grabbed the scruff of Sasuke's shirt and twirled him back around. He grabbed the boy's wrist tightly before looking over to Hinata. "Can you use Byakugan to see where the beetle is?"

"Y-yes! Byakugan!" The veins on the side of her head pulsed out as she began to look over the boy. She looked him over quickly before noticing a chakra discrepancy on the side of his neck. Hinata fed more chakra to her eyes and zoomed in towards the signature. It was the beetle. The faint purple glow of animal chakra confirmed her hypothesis. She formed the release sign and turned towards Naruto and said, "On the right side of his neck."

Naruto sent her a thankful nod and put his hand on the side of the Uchiha's neck. The boy squirmed under his touch and struck out with a fist towards his companion only to be blocked by the Hyuuga girl. Her eyes spoke a silent apology as Naruto found the small beetle. He put out a finger and watched in satisfaction as the beetle crawled up the appendage and down his arm.

The two released the black haired boy and shared a glance. That had worked surprisingly well. "So, let's get down to business why don't we?" Naruto clapped his hands together and gave a malicious smile. "Uchiha-san, how about you go charm some lady and get yourself some dango. Or, if you are in a particularly helpful mood, how about helping us get this clue down?"

Sasuke flushed red with anger. How dare they disrespect him! He had thought better of the Hyuuga until just now. No one had ever shown him such blatant rudeness before, not even his sensei. Kakashi had given him advice, but had never honestly critiqued him. There had been no negative feedback, only positive. Sasuke had to put this behavior under the classification of the two not knowing who they were dealing with. They were just ignorant fools. If they were not in a civilian district Sasuke would have sent aKaton no Jutsuat them.

"If you didn't notice I was getting something done while you both plotted against me. I assume the Akimichi was also in on this? Whatever you may say I refuse to participate in this worthless endeavor. You two may do whatever you wish, but I shall solve this clue on my own without either of your help." Sasuke bit out before turning sharply and heading back into the building.

"That went over surprisingly well, don't you think, Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked innocently. So far, they were all much too predictable for their own good. Sasuke was too easy to manipulate because of his volatile emotions. A well placed prod would get the boy in a flurry with no real effort. It was kind of pathetic. Hinata on the other hand was far too kind. A considerable amount of her time was used thinking about how others would take her actions.

The girl did have some talent despite this and Naruto could see her becoming a strong kunoichi if she learned to forget what others thought. Because of her dependency, she also ended up becoming clingy when it came to friends. In her own team she appeared to attach herself onto Teru, but with him gone, Naruto was the next best choice. The only interesting thing remaining would be to see which one of them she preferred. Would she leave him or would she leave Teru if it came right down to it?

Teru had the advantage of knowing her longer, but Hinata seemed to throw everything into relationships. She would become too easy to break if an enemy approached her.

"Yes it did. You did well, Uzumaki-kun." Hinata smiled broadly and let a twinge of pink touch her cheeks. She was proud of herself. She had even managed to block a strike that wasn't even coming directly at her. Not only that, but Hinata had proven herself to be useful with her Byakugan!

"Come inside then. There's something I think we should check out." Naruto motioned towards the entrance before heading back into the busy Dangoya. He turned towards his former table and gave a thumbs-up to Choji. The round boy returned the gesture before getting out of his seat and walking towards the pair.

"Glad to see you're still alive." Choji said merrily.

"I'm hurt that you doubted me for a moment." Naruto bantered back. "But we've already wasted two hours. We should hurry up since the walk back is an hour anyways." That was the inconvenient thing about being a genin. Your sensei didn't teach you flash step until at least a month or two into training. Their green status meant that none of them could flash back to the courtyard where Shino was waiting for them.

"So what's your great master plan then?" Choji raised a brow and crossed his arms. He had mezzo-supported Naruto because of Sasuke's inability to lead. However, he didn't have much faith in the blonde's own leadership abilities. He had assumed that new blood would have been better than Sasuke, but this would be the test to see if he had any talent.

The Akimichi may have been known for their naiveté and blasé nature, but it was anything but true. A clan didn't last for so many generations by being stupid. Strength was not the only thing that kept their clan alive, they were smart as well. Not as smart as the Nara clan, but they were intelligent in their own right. The Akimichi had a different path of succession from the other clans.

The Hyuuga, Yamanaka, and Nara clan heads all passed on their leadership through their children. The Inuzuka clan chose their head by the strongest female of the pack, preferably of the main lineage. The Akimichi didn't trust in human nature. If a child was born that grew up spoiled and bratty no matter how much the parents tried to change the child, that child would not be heir. The maturity of the child as well as strength played in to choosing the line of succession.

Choji was the unofficial heir of the Akimichi, but was currently nothing more. The boy had been trained for the longest time to be wary of anything that seemed too good to be true. Naruto was one of those things.

"We're in the civilian district, right? You've noticed all the strange looks we're getting just for standing in here. Shinobi don't come around here too often. Not to mention the fact that most people don't eat dango for an hour. Now look over at the bar." Hinata and Choji looked over Naruto's shoulder at the woman that was draped on the counter. The glint of a forehead protector met their eyes and they turned back to the boy.

"She's been here longer than we have. This isn't a bar and they don't even serve sake. You can't eat dango for over an hour and still want more. Akimichi-san, even you are getting tired of dango by now, right?" The boy nodded in return. He could see where this was going. The woman was acting far too suspicious.

"Plus the clues didn't explicitly say that the item would be laying around for us to see. What if someone is holding it for us to take? We should at least ask what she's doing here. What do you guys think?" Choji was pleasantly surprised by the boy. Choji sighed wistfully. Naruto's team was lucky to have him around.

"I-I agree, Uzumaki-kun." Hinata bobbed her head up and down. Now that Naruto had said it, the woman had been sitting there for an awfully long time. Most of the other people had left after the first half hour. The purple haired woman had at least been around for an hour or so.

"Might as well try, right? It can't hurt." Choji nodded his assent and reached back towards the table where his small plate of dango lay. He picked up a stick and chewed on it thoughtfully. He remembered that their sensei hadn't been too particular about what they meant by the item. They had said nothing about it being blatantly obvious what they were to find. Having a person to hold the item was completely fair game.

"Come on then." Naruto motioned to his companions and hopped over towards the purple haired lady. He tapped her once on the shoulder only to find her unresponsive. A frown creased his face and he tapped her again, this time a little harder. The lady still lay trapped over the counter. Naruto twitched in annoyance before poking her soundly in the ear.

"OI! Brat!" Anko lazily got up from her repose on the counter and turned to look at the kids. "Trust me, brat. If a lady ignores you it means that she doesn't want to talk to any munchkins like you. Now beat it." The purplette crossed her legs and leaned back against the counter with a cold gleam in her eyes. Even if the brats were supposed to come and find her, she didn't particularly like being jabbed in the ear.

"B-but... We just want to ask you something..." Anko's eyes widened. Oh no, it wasn't... She turned to look at the young stuttering girl and froze. Drat, Anko always was a sucker for cute little things. The woman grunted and mumbled, "So ask already..."

"D-did Kurenai-sensei ask you to give something to a group of genin if they came in here?" Hinata stuttered out. She had gotten the nudge from Naruto that she should be the one talking. She didn't quite understand why she was the one talking, but if it would help she would.

Anko rubbed her hand against her face and groaned. She had always struggled against cute things. Well, Kurenai did say that if the genin came up to her and asked, she should give them the note. After a bit of work of course. The test was completely up to her though.

A mischievous grin worked its way up onto Anko's face. "Give wouldn't be the word I'd use, sweetie. There will be a wee little bit of work involved if you're up for it. If not, then get out and let me go back to sleep."

The genin shared glance before saying, "We can do it." Anko quirked a brow.

"Don't forget to look before you leap, kiddos. Walking around accepting propositions with no questions asked is dangerous. And shouldn't y'all be asking what the Uchiha brat thinks as well?" She jabbed the air in the direction of Sasuke who was in the middle of a one sided conversation with one of the waitresses.

"He's not with us." Choji replied with a yawn. It was true. Sasuke was technically unaffiliated with them now. Perhaps they should ask the bug to relay that. It was a funny think about the beetles. Shino could sense their chakra pulses from extremely long distances. So if the bugs sent out the waves in Morse code, Shino could translate it as a message. Admittedly, Shino must have been incredibly bored all this time.

"Ah." Anko replied skeptically. "Sure. I'd believe that if I didn't have a brain to match my amazing body. Now let's go little grasshoppers! We'll see if you're worthy of getting this artifact of great power!" Revitalized, Anko hopped out of her stool and rushed out the door yelling, "Just add it to my tab!" behind her.

Naruto's eyes widened and he immediately bolted out the shop after the mad lady. He looked around the streets for a moment before spotting her hair from the corner of his eye. "Akimichi-san! Hinata-chan! Follow me!" He waved his arm before diving through the crowds after his query.

"Why are there so many blasted people?" Naruto shoved yet another passerby out of his way as he followed Anko down the street. The woman had the unfortunate advantage of being able to hop across rooftops compared to the genin's slow walk on the ground. It wasn't at all fair.

Anko turned to the right and began heading towards the outskirts of Konoha, much to Naruto's displeasure. The boy growled before cutting his way through an alley only to find a wooden fence barring his way. "Ah shoot." He looked to the edge of the alley and saw a pile of boxes leaned up against the fence. A part of him bubbled with excitement as he began jumping up the boxes.

Shikamaru and he had been running around Konoha quite often, despite the genius's initial disgruntlement. After a few trial runs, they found that running inside the boarders of Konoha was much more effective than simply running laps. The fact was that while running inside a street, you got nowhere fast. To actually get anywhere you would have to use backstreets and smaller corridors to bypass the traffic. If it required jumping over a fence, then heck, they'd jump over a fence.

Naruto landed on the ground roughly before continuing his sprint after the lady in question. He didn't check to make sure his teammates were following him. If they thought about it enough, he was sure they'd just track him down using Hinata's Byakugan. They'd arrive eventually and provide back up.

He worried about what the outcome of this tracking would be. All Naruto had really learned was the academy techniques, and even then his talents for them were abysmal. If it came down to a fight then Naruto was sure he would lose even if the jounin restrained herself to only using a leg.

As he ran along the alleys, Naruto found himself strangely glad of his resident. The Kyuubi helped free up not only his chakra system, but his blood circulation as well. Oxygen passed through his body much quicker than it would otherwise and it helped him keep his breath while running. It gave him a natural advantage in brute force.

The city slowly started fading away into the suburban lots and the crowds started dissipating. Before him, Anko was sitting lazily up upon a willow tree. Her legs swung down carelessly as she rocked them back and forth. At the boy's arrival she let out a bored, "Ah. You finally got here." She dropped down from the branch and landed gracefully on the ground. "It took you a pretty dang long time, boy. Where are your little companions? I'll be screwed if I let any of them get kidnapped or beaten up by thugs."

She looked over Naruto's head to see the forms of Choji and Hinata making their way down the beaten path. "Thank goodness they came. My life is saved!" Anko threw her arms up in the air dramatically before settling herself down upon the ground. She motioned for the kids to join her in sitting.

"So brats. I assume you know what I'm here for, correct?" Not bothering to wait for their answers she continued on, "Yuuhi already told me about your little test. She also told me not to beat you brats into miserable puddles on the ground, which totally sucks the fun out of playing with you. On the other hand, she did give me limited reign on what I would have you do to get the item." Anko stuck a hand into her overcoat and pulled out a small envelope.

She waved it before their faces before sticking it back into her breast pocket. "So, I'm going to play with you three for a bit. Try and avoid getting caught for five minutes and I'll give you the note. You can all try as many times as you like and only one of you has to make it. Ready? You aren't? Too bad. no Jutsu!" Anko flew through the handseals and slammed her hands down on the ground in front of her.

Six snakes appeared in a writhing ball before their heads turned towards Anko. "What do you want thisss time?" Hinata squirmed uncomfortably. Snakes had never been on her favored animal list. In all realism, she would rather be a good ten feet away from any reptile. Apparently it was not meant to be.

"You six get to play tag. Two snakes to a kid. Don't kill them, but for each time you guys catch one I'll get you a piece of steak. Have fun~" Anko chirped happily in a sing-song voice. There was nothing quite like watching people flee in terror from her summons. The snakes could do what Anko never could when it came to terrifying people. Even skinning people didn't work as well as a good snake.

Hinata screamed as two of the green snakes went slithering towards her with frightening speed. The girl jumped up from the ground before turning tail and running. "BYAKUGAN!" The veins on the side of her head pulsed out as her kekkei genkai activated. She saw the gray outlines of the serpents following her. Anko had never mentioned any restrictions on their part, so Hinata assumed anything was fair game. A hand reached down to her kunai pouch and the girl twirled out three of the knives. She threw the kunai a few inches ahead of the snake in an attempt to hit them while they moved, but, much to her despair, they swerved away and the kunai hit the ground. And they never stopped moving.

Choji wasn't much better off. The boy didn't really fear snakes, but he did fear the ominous liquid that seemed to be dripping off of the creatures' fangs. He bolted up from the ground and turned tail much like his female companion. Despite their large size, the Akimichi were not slow by any means. However, they were prone to tiring rather quickly.

A minute into the exercise, Choji was sweating bullets as he stumbled along the ground. A few years ago, Chouza had begun teaching his son some of the Akimichi clan techniques. Unfortunately, he had neglected teaching his son evasion techniques. Choji left several large craters in his wake, but none of them seemed to deter the black and yellow serpents that chased him. Nothing seemed to stop them. Choji had even taken the effort to climb one of the larger trees, only to find that the creatures could slither up the sides!

The tree exploded into a burst of splinters as Choji slammed his chakra imbued fist down upon the wood. He leaped out of the mess while shielding his face to see that the summons had disappeared. The boy sighed in relief before feeling an unfamiliar cold sensation around his ankles. His vision slowly angled down to see the both of the serpents coiled along his legs.

The boy's eyes widened and his heart began to race. His gut reaction made him reach down to pull the creatures out only to have the snake bite him on his fist. He faintly heard the disapproving scolding of the purple haired jounin before things started getting blurry. Choji stared at his hand hazily and noticed the two red marks on his fist. "Ah. Not good." The large boy tumbled to the ground in an unconscious slump.

The brown haired boy's companions all halted for a moment to stare at the body before taking off at double the pace. Both Naruto and Hinata had made the first three minutes with full success, but neither found it remotely easy. Naruto had found himself paired with a kindly pair of spitting cobras. Neither of them was at all reluctant to fire their toxins at him.

He rolled to the side as the dusky red cobra shot another round of poison at him. "Who is she kidding? This isn't remotely safe, dangit!" Naruto scrambled up from the ground and away from the creatures. His mind was going through all of the short list of jutsu that he knew. A bunshin wouldn't work unless the snakes were incredibly blind. A henge would have an even lower probability of succeeding. Kei had mentioned something about giving him a jutsu, but what was the confounded thing? A kage bunshin or something? But what were the handsigns?

Naruto wracked his mind as he continued madly running around the field. "One minute left, kiddos! And don't worry about the fat one. My summon just accidentally injected him with a wee bit too much paralysis toxin. He'll be ok in an hour or three." Somehow Anko's words didn't calm the Uzumaki at all. All thoughts were immediately cleared from his mind as he gave up any hope of a coordinated strike back. He would have to just run like his life depended on it. With Anko's reliability, his life was probably on the line after all.

The next minute seemed to pass slowly for the two. Hinata made it to the four and a half minute mark before one of the snakes managed to coil itself around her feet and caused her to tumble to the ground. Fortunately for the girl, the snake following her wasn't venomous and it merely began constricting around her ankle. Not that it felt much better having a limb squeezed off.

Hinata cried out in pain as she felt a worrying popping sound come from her bones. "Hasn't it been five minutes yet?" Naruto yelled out manically as he flew past his fallen comrade. Hinata gasped as she noticed the jets of acid following the boy. It made her feel almost pathetic after crying from a bit of constriction.

"Eh? Oh yeah! I guess it is five minutes! Come back lil' guys! As promised I'll dole out the food later. Now poof." Anko dispelled the jutsu and sauntered over to the girl that lay upon the ground. "Lemme help you, bratling." She grabbed Hinata by the scruff of her jacket and hauled the girl to her feet before looping an arm around her shoulder.

"You'll be fine in a bit. I didn't hear any cracking so it means no broken bones." Hinata's eyes widened. Anko would have let the snake crush her bones? That was rather much for an exercise, wasn't it?

"You there! The blonde brat! What's your name? You did surprisingly well! I was sure it would take at least a half hour before any of you managed to actually evade them! Though I do suppose you guys only had two chasing each person. If I ever see any of y'all again we'll work on increasing the numbers." Anko smirked at the both of their paling expressions. Kids really were fun. She would enjoy the day she got assigned brats of her own.

"Uzumaki Naruto... Please forget it." Naruto hung his head gloomily. He had to reveal his name as she was technically his superior, but somehow he felt that he had just signed his own death warrant. He didn't even plan on dying any time soon!

"Naw naw. I'll remember it for a good long time, brat! But here." Using her free arm, Anko grabbed the envelope out from her breast pocket. "I suppose you brats deserve it. But now let's work on transporting you guys to the hospital, now shall we?"

None of them even noticed the small beetle sending out microscopic flashes of chakra as they limped towards the medical center.

The good news is that this is a new chapter. The bad news is I lied about finishing this clue thing up quickly (oops). Depending on how long the other clues take me, you may be seeing more of this. It turned out a lot longer than I originally intended... Ah well. Also in happier news... (Drum roll) I HAVE A BETA! Thanks a lot Pokepikachu1 for betaing for me. He helped me learn about some of the proper Romanji for some of the Japanese words. So I'll be trying to stick to those from now on.

I'm trying to get a few chapters out now because next week will be really busy for me. My cousin's getting married and since my family is fairly stingy we are driving down to California... From Washington State (cue getting stuck in uncomfortable car with dog). Hopefully I'll be able to update one more time before then! But if I'm gone, that's where I'll be.

Thanks to everyone for reviewing, alerting, and favoriting this story!

Katon no Jutsu || Rank C of fire affinity. The user turns his chakra into fire and dispels it from his mouth.

Kuchiyose no Jutsu || Rack C of no affinity. A Summoning technique that calls upon any contracts that the user has signed with a creature. The more chakra that is put into the jutsu, the stronger the animal that is brought out.