Soon, the time to dine was over.

The ninjas could tell dinner was over when the plates self-cleaned themselves free of food. (Chouji pouted, he barely ate his fill. Naruto almost cried, he only ate 50 bowls of ramen. There was still at least 30 more to go!)

They automatically turned forward to the front where the Headmaster stood.

Dumbledore smiled at both the scattered ninjas and the still-slightly-nervous wizards; his eyes twinkling in amusement.

"A new semester has begun, and so, a new year to once again fill up our brains. I would have said more, but the need for sleep is immediate. Now, pip pip! Off to your beds waiting for you in your common rooms."

The ninjas were about to follow the people they sat with when all of a sudden, Dumbledore called out to them, "Please stay for a moment longer."

The few laggers looked back curiously before they were shoo-ed out of the Great Hall by Hagrid.

Dumbledore sat back in his chair and peered over his half-moon eyeglasses at them, "I understand wizards and ninjas hadn't the best of relationships since 4 centuries ago, but I would like to ask for a favor from all of you. A job, perhaps. If you don't mind, would you please protect Harry Potter?"

He then directed his attention to Squad 7 (who immediately stood at attention once his gaze fell upon them), "Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke, you all had sat at the Gryffindor table. The boy with the, I admit, messy black hair and green eyes was him. He has been targeted by a Dark Wizard since birth. I would feel very assured if a strong group of ninjas, such as you all, protected him."

Neji stepped forward, being the voice of them all, "We would of course accept. But...what would be in for us? We have a war going on back in our homeland, and as quickly as possible, we all want to be back there fighting. Not to mention the amount of money you will be willing to pay each of us is still yet to confirmed."

Dumbledore, along with the Head of the Houses, nodded as if they were expecting Neji's response, "Of course we will immediately get to work trying to identify what sent you and how. And once figured out, we will try our best to send you back. Hmm, the pay though. Would 9,000,000 yen (or 10,000 galleons) per person be fitting?"

Neji looked back at Shikamaru who nodded back at him, Neji sighed.

"Very well. We accept your job and the pay. Please have the pay ready when you figure out the way to send us back."

Shikamaru, who was silent during the exchange, suddenly thought of a very important question.

"Where are we going to sleep?"

Shikamaru was a man who cared much about the prospect of sleep/naps. It was part of him being a 'lazy genius from the Nara Clan' as his friends kept calling him. Ino and Choji both playfully rolled their eyes at him, even giving a fake sigh of exasperation for further emphasis.

Professor McGonagall answered that, "Since you will be all protecting Mr. Potter, I have prepared a room in the Gryffindor Tower. The password is 'Mimbulus Mimbletonia.' Remember it well, for it is the only phrase that will allow you access into your sleeping quarters."

...She forgot to mention there were only a limited amount of beds available in the new room. (7 in total)

The ninjas found out that little forgotten tidbit of information the moment they entered the room.

There were two rows in the room; 3 on the left and 4 on the right.

Ino had a 'Inner-Ino' moment.

This was the chance to put her ships together. There will no other chance like this once they go back home, so she might as well take the chance to do so, right?

Meanwhile, as Ino was contemplating her ships, the others were confused about the sleeping arrangements. Would some have to sleep on the floor?

Shikamaru was about to dive onto a bed when Ino's voice rang out in the room.

"WAIT! I know! How about two people share a bed? Since nobody else will put it together, I'll arrange us!"

Ino pretended to look at them all, as if she really didn't have a clue, then she clapped her hands as if the idea of putting her ships together never came to her in the first place.

She pointed to a bed by the window, "Neji and Tenten-chan over there!"

Next to that bed was, "Hinata-chan and...Naruto!" (Hinata turned a brilliant shade of red and immediately fainted. Naruto started, "Hinata-chan-!")

To the right of Hinata's and Naruto's new bed was, "Sasuke-kun and Sakura-chan!" (Both didn't comment, although Inner-Sakura was yelling out, "Shannaro!" with a pumped fist inside her head.)

To the left of Neji's and Tenten's new bed was, "Shikamaru and Kiba-kun!...Sorry Akamaru, no room for you on the bed. Although, we could get you some large, fluffy pillows instead." (Tch, shame Temari isn't here! She would've been perfect for whipping Shika's bum for being lazy! ...They have great potential becoming canon.)

The middle bed on the left side of the room was given to, "Chouji! That one is for you!" Chouji was delighted; he had a bed all to himself. No one to share with and no one to nag him about spacing. He pleasantly forgot the fact he got a bed all to himself was because of his 'big bones'.

The two remaining beds were the ones closest to the door.

The one on the left were Lee's and Shino's new bed. Hopefully, Shino can deal with Lee's antics.

The final bed was given to, "Me and Sai! Alright, that's the bed arrangements! No switching, no whining, no complaining!"

...This was all said with a 'sweet' smile which hid thinly-veiled threats.

Kiba shrugged at all this, completely ignoring Ino's 'smile.'

"Well, we get a bed and we get to clean up! I couldn't much less. I just wanna shower and crash. ("Akamaru, you gotta bathe! Look at all that dirt!")

The others agreed with Kiba; they just wanna shower and replenish their energy. They didn't fight the Jyuubi , but they were all exhausted from traveling and various other causes.

9 boys, 4 girls, and 1 nin-dog showered/bathed and crashed into the beds with their partners.

Neji and Tenten slept close to each other in a way that suggested they were a little more than friends. But that was expected, since they had many camping trips as Team Gai with only two sleeping bags to split amongst them. At this point, they willingly cuddled against each other. Tenten leaned her head against Neji's (bare chest) while Neji hugged his teammate closer to his body and positioned his chin to be on Tenten's braided hair.

At some point at the night, Naruto had unconsciously pulled Hinata into a hug thinking she was his gray body-pillow. Hinata didn't mind...much. She, in particular, enjoyed it very much.

Sasuke and Sakura had to move closer to each other in order to share the blanket comfortably...but they didn't say a thing to each other about that fact.

Shikamaru and Kiba faced opposite sides of the bed. Kiba was sort-of on and sort-of hanging off the bed, as his head was resting on Akamaru's back and his feet were on his pillow, his mouth hung open.

Lee and Shino were actually okay with each other, but they of course settled down some rules. No crossing the middle area, no bugs (Shino), and no kicking, punching, handstanding, etc. while sleeping (Lee).

Ino, acknowledged as 'beautiful' by Sai, had taken off her ponytail. Her hair was like silken gold in the moonlight filtering in by the curtains while Sai's pale face shone silver in the light. It was like they were purposely trying to exemplify the term "sun and moon". They faced each other with a tiny space separating the two from actual contact...unlike NejiTen and NaruHina.

And so, Day 1 of reconnecting with the Outside was complete. Nobody was bleeding, no one was sporting a bruise, no trees were destroyed (...yet), and most importantly, no weapons were thrown. You could say it was a success, in a way.