Disclaimer – Kishimoto owns Naruto and the characters therein.

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Memories Of Others

Chapter 29

A Genin's Reunion

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"Naruto." Sasuke said as he sat down opposite Naruto. Naruto looked up from his bowl of Ramen to give the new arrival a nod. "Sakura will want a favor from you soon."

Naruto sucked up the noodles and swallowed before answering. "What sort of favor?"

"Resupply from her house." Sasuke shrugged. "I'm sure that you remember that… incident in the forest. Ruined her clothes, had to lend her some of mine. She wants to send a note to her parents asking them to pull a couple of outfits from her wardrobe."

"Sounds do-able." Naruto replied. "I'll have to charge, though. Say… half a low D-rank? Can't afford to be taken for granted… heh. Literally."

"I'm going to ask to hire you as well." Sasuke said, earning a surprised look. "I heard about Wave and I've met Inari. I approve of him, but that's neither here nor there. I need to hire his grandfather to build a house for me. With Orochimaru after me, I need somewhere relatively safe and even though half of the Uchiha sector is rented out, I don't think I'm going to feel safe there any more."

"Understandable." Naruto nodded. "Cost?"

"As the Last Uchiha, I inherited everything, so I can afford it. There's a former police station near training ground seven that was abandoned as surplus to requirements a decade ago, if that gets torn down, it'll be a good place to build the new house. Accomodations for the whole team, even though I think only Tobio'll join me there. Although Kakashi-Sensei might, especially with Orochimaru after me."

"Tobio is an orphan as well." Naruto agreed. "Alright. Get Sakura to write that note and you write yours, I'll deliver them both and get Tazuna over to talk plans with you."

"Thanks." Sasuke said as he rose from his seat. "Oh, Naruto? Prepare for impact."

Naruto put down his bowl and gave Sasuke a confused look before Hinata glomped him straight off the chair.

"Hey, Hinata." Naruto smiled as Sasuke walked off snickering. "I see you made it."

"Hell, yeah!" Kiba called as he stepped up and grinned at the grounded duo. "It was all thanks to all that training we did against you. It let us spot the trap and dodge it, taking the attackers from the side. Hinata took down two of them while Akamaru and me distracted 'em."

"That's good to hear." Naruto smiled as he stood up, pulling Hinata into another hug once he was back on his feet. "I assume Shino took the third one down?"

Shino stepped forwards and nodded.

"Well, there's another three days until the test ends, so I'm afraid you have to stay in the tower until then. However, I can show you where the training salles are, if you think you need to get some practice in."

"Cool." Kiba grinned. "Being cooped up for too long tends to drive us Inuzuka slightly nuts."

"Wait." Naruto said. "I've seen where you live, that's a small place, right?"

"With a fairly big window." Kiba protested. "And the Den is just that, a Den. It's for sleeping and storing stuff. Oh, washing and the occasional meal as well, but mainly sleeping and storing stuff."

"Hence the shower." Naruto nodded.

"Inuzukas hate baths, just like their ninken." Hinata giggled.

"Yep, and it's working out cheaper for me too." Kiba continued, ignoring Hinata's comment. "I mean, now I'm independent, I only really have to pay for the utilities, the basic clan-tithe and whatever food I claim from the commissary. Aside from those, every Ryo I earn is mine!"

"So, are you going to save up for a larger place?" Naruto asked and Kiba shrugged.

"Maybeso, maybeno. I'm putting half my income into an account to earn extra cash from interest. Better safe than sorry and all that.'sides, when I hit Chunin, I'll be able to go on the higher-ranked missions and get even more money!"

"The capability to increase ones income should not be abandoned without preliminary consideration." Shino offered. "After all, an increase of finance allows for an expansion of the hive."

"…yeah." Kiba finally agreed. "I mean, I'm happy with my den and all, but paying someone to do my laundry will give me a few more hours training time."

"Training time is always good." Naruto agreed. "I use clones for mine, but I have so much chakra that a Kage Bunshin to me takes less proportional effort than a Bunshin does to a normal genin."

"That… is a lot of chakra." Shino remarked, sounding slightly shaken.

"Thank the Kamis for Hinata-hime, or I'd still be struggling to get something resembling control. She's awesome. Compared to her, I'm an idiot."

Kiba's eyes widened, then he fell over laughing as Hinata stopped and blushed.

"Kiba, perhaps we should leave them alone so that she can follow through on her threat."

Hinata's blush went almost flourescent as Kiba stuggled to breath.

"Naruto…" She growled in fond exasperation.

"What?"

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"Fuck!" Shimaru swore as the Tower door slammed shut, the final arrow that Dori had fired penetrating it, but not passing through.

"Should we try to pursue?" Gura asked and Shimura shook his head.

"No. They made it into the tower and if we go in without two scrolls, we'll be ejected from the exams. We have no choice. We need to find another team and take them down."

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"Made it." Suigetsu gasped as he slammed the door closed behind him, then ducking as an arrow penetrated the wood by his head. Several voices could be heard cursing, then they faded away as the pursuers left in order to find new prey.

"Zabuza-sensei won't be mad at us." Chojuro agreed. "But damn, those archers were evil! Thank the Kamis for your ice mirrors and Suigetsu's hydrification ability."

"My mirrors do make good shields." Haku agreed, looking round. "Aha, that poem must be a clue as to what to do next."

"What poem?" Suigetsu asked, then he looked up at the large, framed calligraphy poster. "Oh! That poem. Erm, what does it mean?"

"That you need to study more." Haku snarked and Suigetsu glared at him. "No, seriously. Once you decode the metaphor, it says those who are strong but untrained need to study while those who are weak but skilled need to get stronger."

"Zabuza-Sensei's been forcing me to work on that." Chojuro noted.

"That's only the first half, though." Haku continued. "If I've got the second part right, we need to unroll the scrolls now."

"After all the fuss we went through to keep them both safe?" Suigetsu queried and Haku nodded.

"They seem to be standard twelve-foot scrolls and we need to unroll them so that the Heaven Scroll goes over the Earth Scroll. Suigetsu, stay there and prepare your scroll. Chojuro…"

"Already on it." Chojuro said as he positioned himself. "Ready."

"Suigetsu, unroll the scroll!" Haku commanded and Suigetsu sent the scroll rolling away from him, the previously concealed parchment revealing the squiggles and runes of a fuuinjutsu array.

Without the need for prompting, Chojuro sent his scroll rolling to cross over Suigetsu's and the scrolls glowed before a cloud of chakra smoke formed above the intersection.

"Nicely done, brats." Zabuza said as he stepped out of the cloud. "You have two days until the test ends, so find yourself a room, then join me in the mess hall. I'll debrief you as we eat."

"Hai, Zabuza-Sama."

"Haku…" Zabuza began grumpily, then he sighed. "Just… get moving."

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"Uchiha Sasuke?"

Sasuke looked up to see a grey-haired stockily-built man standing at the end of the table he had claimed.

"Master-builder Tazuna, I assume?"

"That's me." Tazuna smiled. "Naruto said you had some business for me."

Sasuke nodded, then turned to the other man sitting at the table.

"Umino-san, this is Tazuna, whom I hope to hire. Tazuna, be known to my former Academy Sensei and legal guardian Umino Iruka, the man who is in charge of my finances until I either reach chunin or the age of sixteen."

"Pleased to meet you." Tazuna nodded as he sat down. "So, Sasuke, you said you were hoping for a new house?"

"I am." Sasuke said. "Hang on."

Standing up, Sasuke turned and bent down to pick up the folder he had stashed by his chair.

"What's that thing on your back?" Tazuna asked as Sasuke placed the folder on the table.

"The Uchiha Fan, the symbol of my clan, although I'm all that's left of it." Sasuke said. "Why?"

"Just a thought." Tazuna said, pulling out his notebook and making a couple of sketches. "So, you want a house and quickly… it's the foundations that take the longest, but since this is a ninja village, you could ask some of them to ninj the foundations for the house… what?"

"To ninj the foundations?" Iruka repeated as if he was struggling not to wince.

Sasuke smirked, then paused as a person he had read about entered, followed by three others.

"Isn't that Zabuza?" He asked and Iruka glanced across the mess hall.

"Wooo, time for… Holy shit! Zabuza?!" Kiba's voice echoed through the hall as he bounced through the door before coming to a screeching halt as the swordsman turned to see who had spoken.

"Hey, aren't you one of those brats from Wave?"

Kiba stared at the swordsman, then found himself moved aside by Hinata.

"Naruto-kun! I'm back!"

Hinata seemed to blur across the room and into Naruto's arms as Zabuza started chuckling.

"I don't think she even saw me."

"I did." Hinata said from Naruto's hug. "But my snuggly is more important."

"Snuggly?" Naruto repeated in amused disbelief as Zabuza started to laugh.

"Naruto's here?! So, should we start screaming like little girls now?" Suigetsu asked and Haku face-palmed.

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"I'm done!" Sakura called as she opened the door to the bunkroom she was sharing with her two team-mates. Tobio strightened up from his slouch against the wall as he saw her.

"Looking good." He said, his eyes examining her. "Fully stocked?"

"Weapons and medical gear." Sakura confirmed, letting her hand brush over one of her Kunai pouches, then she turned enough that he could see the pair of scrolls stored against the small of her back.

"You realize we won't need them until tomorrow?" Tobio asked as he moved to walk alongside her as she headed down to the mess hall.

"Better safe than sorry." Sakura shrugged. "So, who's made it so far?"

"Us, obviously." Tobio snarked, earning a look from Sakura. "Team Eight, the Sand Siblings from Suna… heh, alliteration. Team Sword from Mist, the team from Sound came in last night, Team Gai came in just an hour ago."

"That explains the shouts of Youth I heard earlier." Sakura deadpanned and Tobio managed not to burst out laughing. "Anyone else?"

"Not yet." Tobio shrugged. "Of course, if what I heard from Naruto is true, we'll be having some fights to winnow things down further."

Sakura sighed. "I think I need to do some more training."

"I'll join you." Tobia replied. "Those sword users looked scary."

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"Tomorrow, the second stage ends." Hinata sighed as she snuggled up to Naruto, her gaze on the sunset. "I wonder who I'll be matched against?"

"Officially, it's random." Naruto said with a small shrug. "I asked Ibiki-san about it and he pointed out that should any Jonin-sensei express any doubts about the process, the backup plan is for the names to be written on bits of paper which are put into small metal spheres, which in turn are placed in a large container and shaken up for fifteen minutes before being emptied onto a pair of metal rails and the Jonin who complained selects which end to start from."

"Sounds complex." Hinata smiled and Naruto nodded.

"Yep, it's meant to be so that the Jonin-Senseis only complain if the manipulation of the names is more than minor. Unfortunately, that means that you're likely to be facing your cousin."

Hinata blinked. "What?"

"The finals are meant to showcase the village's skills to potential clients, and as many of those skills as possible." Naruto explained. "Having two Hyuuga would cut down on the variety on display…"

Hinata sighed as she slumped in Naruto's arms.

"Then Neji-niisan should represent Konoha." She stated. "He's better than me in Jyuuken."

"But… but you have the Hiraishin and the Rasengan…" Naruto protested, only for Hinata to place a finger on his lips.

"Those are your techniques." She said quietly. "For me to be promoted because I know your techniques while you can't be promoted through the exams like you deserve…"

Naruto gave her a long look and she sighed.

"Alright. If it's anyone other than Neji, I'll fight. Alright?"

Naruto nodded and Hinata turned her gaze back to where the sun was sinking below the horizon. As they sat in each others arms, neither of them noticed the red-eyed woman fading away, having overheard their entire conversation, nor the white-eyed boy on the balcony above who was staring at the sky in confused contemplation.