It was 8 in the morning when the ninjas woke up.
Usually, they would wake at 5 for some early training. But with all that had happened yesterday, well, the need to sleep in was needed.
Ino's plans had worked perfectly...a little bit too perfect:
Hinata fluttered her eyes to see Naruto's face very close to hers. Not only that, but their legs were tangled together and he was hugging her very close to his torso. Hinata, with a vivid red color coloring her face, let out a small squeak. Just a small sound, but it still managed to rouse Naruto out of his sleep.
He unwound his arms from her waist and reached up to stretch. He sat up, the blanket falling off of his torso and rubbed the sleep away from his eyes.
"Is it time for training already," he whined a bit.
Everybody started to wake up from their slumber.
Tenten reluctantly removed herself from Neji's warm embrace and clambered out of the blanket fortress. Stretching, she grabbed her clothing and went straight into the girls' bathroom. Neji yawned, got out of bed, and put on his usual practice clothing. After combing out his silky long hair and pulling it back into its usual low ponytail, Neji went and made the bed.
Choji grumbled a bit before he, too, started preparing for the day.
Sakura embarrassingly removed her arm and leg that had been tossed on top of Sasuke's stomach.
Shino and Lee woke up and made their beds. Surprisingly, Lee didn't shout anything about youthfulness.
Shikamaru sluggishly moved out of his rather comfortable position on the bed. Nudging Kiba's head from off of Akamaru's back, he entered the boys' bathroom with a huge yawn to clean up and prepare himself for the new day. Kiba rubbed his eyes and back-flipped off of the bed.
"Hey, boy. Time to wake up."
Akamaru stretched out his stiff muscles and stood next to Kiba. Kiba got on Akamaru and just observed everyone else, maybe catching a few z's here and there.
Sai and Ino, whose foreheads finally closed the small distance between each other at night, opened their eyes.
Turquoise irises met raven ones. The turquoise pair blinked twice before the cheeks underneath blushed a vivid red.
Ino quickly scrambled out of bed, pressing a hand to her heart in a attempt to slow down her racing heartbeat. She peeked over her shoulder to see Sai making their bed. When Sai looked up at Ino to only make eye contact, Ino whipped her face forward. Her face was almost as red as a tomato.
Harry and Ron had surprisingly woke up at the same time. Exiting their dorm, they saw a unfamiliar room next to theirs.
Peeking in, Harry on bottom and Ron's tall gangling form on top, they saw the ninjas getting ready for the day.
'Couples' waking, the making of beds, someone with a pineapple ponytail trying to snag the last few moments of sleep ("I think that's Shikamaru," Harry whispered up to Ron), and general chatter with one another.
They would've considered it them all normal...if it wasn't the multitude of sharp weapons hanging around the room at various points.
Foreign, sharp weapons along with some they recognized were everywhere; on the floor, hanging off of the canopy, placed on the drawers, peeking from underneath pillows were only some of the places.
There were even some dangling only a few inches above of Ron's head!
The two friends looked at each other and slowly backed away into their own room.
They sat at their beds, their eyes wide and their minds mind-blown at the sheer amount of weapons in there.
Ron finally broke the silence, "Either they have a thing for sharp weapons or they are following Moody's advice to a capital T." (A/N: You know, "CONSTANT VIGILANCE!")
They stored this information away and resolved to tell Hermione later; soon, they started getting ready for the first day of their fifth year.
The wizards were having a lovely breakfast in the Great Hall when the ninjas appeared in the doorway.
Everyone immediately silenced and stared at them.
If they were uncomfortable with the gazes, they didn't show it.
They splitted up into the same groups as dinner last night and sat down.
Being near Japan sure has influenced their breakfast choices, Hermione noted.
They all requested to their plates a typical Japanese breakfast, gave thanks, and started eating it.
As they took their time to eat while talking to one another across the room, the time for classes drew near for the wizards.
Reluctantly, the Golden Trio left Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke to their breakfast as they went to History.
Later, Naruto and co. finished their breakfasts.
They were now just having small talks here and there.
Neji said out loud to everybody, "Well, we got nothing to do right now. So, how about we all spar a bit?"
Everybody, having no better idea for the time being, agreed.
Naruto jumped out of seat and said eagerly, "Well, let's go!"
Shikamaru nodded as well, "Let's go to the lake. They seem to have a large abundance of trees, and we can practice sparring on the lake, if we want."
"Yup!"
"Sure!"
"Let's go."
"Hn." (X2)
"Okay."
(Choji made plans to sneak down to the kitchen he mistakenly stumbled upon during a late midnight trek.)
It was fifth period, when the Gryffindor and Slytherin fifth-years had Care for Magical Animals that the ninjas decided to come out of the castle.
Hagrid looked up from the blast-ended skrewts to greet them.
" 'Ello there. Have ya com' to see da blast-ended skrewts?"
The pink-haired one, Sakura, shook her head.
"No, sorry. We just came out to spar a bit."
Hermione, who had read a brief account concerning ninjas' fighting style, decided to chance it.
"If you don't mind, well uhm, would you mind if we can watch you...spar?"
Sakura looked at the person to her left, which happened to be Neji.
Neji shrugged at her.
"Well...sure. Don't take this wrong way, but uhm. Make sure you stay back at least 10 feet, we don't want to injure you during a spar (which can get pretty intense)."
Draco scoffed loudly, "What? Think you can hurt us? With what? A stick? Might I take this chance to say that wizards, even a Mudblood one, are superior than mugg- ahem, pardon me ninjas?"
Sasuke 'hn-ed' while glaring at the snobbish wizard with the patented Uchiha Glare. He may be a defected ninja gone rogue, but even he still had pride in his abilities. Nobody isi allowed to insult and get away with it.
Kiba grinned a evil smirk, "We might a few surprises tucked up in our sleeves. We haven't isolated ourselves from the Outside to do nothing."
Naruto sighed in impatience, "C'mon! Let's go spar! Maybe I can finally beat the Teme at something!"
Sasuke snorted at Naruto, "You can try, dobe. But you won't beat me."
This, of course, sparked a childhood banter.
"TEME! WHADYA CALL ME?!"
"I called you a dobe, which was the truth."
Hermione was shocked at the casual insulting between the two.
Ino noticed her expression and laughed.
"Don't worry, this kind of thing happened a lot when we were younger."
"Uh...huh."
Hagrid stored back the Skrewts in their crate and placed it back in the pumpkin field adjacent to his cabin.
The students stayed in the field next to the ninjas' training field, per Sakura's request for their safety.
The ninjas got in their positions with Sakura counting down.
"5...4...3...2...1...GO!"
The ninjas leapt away; so fast that only the color of their shirt betrayed their otherwise invisible movement.
Harry was startled; even he can't that fast on his broom.
For a while, there was only silence in the field.
Malfoy snorted, "Hah! So they can leap far distances. Big deal."
There has been never a greater want for Harry except for now, where he really wanted to help Malfoy tape his mouth shut.
Naruto heard the arrogant platinum-haired boy snort, "So they can leap far distances. Big deal."
He rolled his eyes at his remark. If he was at the war back home, then he wouldn't be snorting that snobbishly.
Heck, even Konohomaru can do better than that S-Class teme. (Sasuke was only a C-Class teme.)
All of a sudden, his sensory nerves flared.
Naruto stood at attention on the tree branch he was crouching on, scanning the ground and the air above him for any of his friends.
...He didn't look behind him, where Tenten was approaching. Feeling safe from the Ten-Tails must be making him go soft in his reflexes.
A resounding crash sounded in the Forest.
Harry, as well as everyone else, started at the loud noise.
Leveled dirt created a large dust cloud; billowing out of the Forbidden Forest and into the open field.
A figure leapt out backwards high in the air.
A distinct whistling sound was heard in the dust cloud.
The figure quickly grabbed something from one of its pockets and battled the things while still in the air.
When the dust cleared, the figure was revealed to be Naruto holding a sharp, triangular-looking knife with a bandaged handle with a open circle on top (kunai).
He batted the silver blurs away from him with precise parrying that sounded with a clear ping!
The silver blurs he defended himself against was a collection of other sharp objects not yet identified obviously meant to tear into someone's flesh.
Hermione shuddered at the thought.
Looking at the few that landed near them, Hermione identified some of the 'knives' to be a tiny windmill-like shuriken, knives that look similar to the one Naruto was holding as kunai, and needle-thin senbons.
Ron leaned away from the few that landed only a few feet in front of him.
Bloody hell, how strong are these ninjas? Hermione told us they were almost supernaturally strong, but damn!, admired a trembling Ron.
Harry grinned. These ninjas could give Voldemort a run for his money on the fear meter and they were only in their mid-teens. That was saying a lot for their skills.
Naruto grinned. Tenten definitely improved by leaps and bounds, thanks to her and Neji's daily spars against one another.
Tenten appeared from the shadows, grinning too.
"Wow, Naruto. You've gotten better at dodging and defending. Jiraiya sure did something to you, all right."
Naruto just grinned back at Tenten, when all of a sudden he found himself not being able to move.
Naruto cursed inside his head, he forgotten about everybody else.
Obviously, the one causing his lack of moment was Shikamaru.
All of a sudden, Naruto froze in his spot.
Two figures stepped out from the shadows.
One was Tenten who was the one throwing the various weaponry at Naruto and the other one was Shikamaru, although he was clasping his hands in a weird position.
Hermione gasped pointing at the ground.
"Harry, look at his shadow! It's elongated! It's connecting to Naruto's!
Shikamaru grinned, "Ninja Art: Shadow Paralysis Jutsu! Complete!"
Everybody was stunned, even Draco had his mouth hanging. No wonder they didn't need magic, they had a inner container of magic that allowed them to do completely different spells! Or as the ninja call it, 'jutsu'.
Shikamaru didn't let go of his weird handclasp and instead called over his shoulder, "Neji, now!
A black-colored shadow flew forward to engage Naruto.
His long hair pulled back into a low ponytail whipped around him.
For some strange reason, Neji's veins around his eyes bulged prominently against his skin.
Hand-movements for the wizards' eye to fast to track only left the afterimages of Neji's hands.
"8 Trigrams Sky Palm! 16 Trigrams Sky Palm! 32 Trigrams Sky Palm! 64 Trigrams Sky Palm!"
Shikamaru then released his hands, his shadow zooming back to its original length.
Naruto fell forward before he staggered on his feet.
He grinned, turning around to face Neji. Slightly battered but none for the worse of wear, he was able to continue.
Neji grinned just a bit, "Looks like my tenketsu doesn't do much of a thing now."
Naruto smirked folding his arms behind his head, "Nah!"
All of a sudden, another weird knife, one with a zigzag edge surrounded with a faint blue light, zipped forward from the trees.
It was only Naruto's and Neji's quick reflexes that saved them as the knife continued on to bury itself deeply within a tree trunk.
Naruto turned around to face the direction in which the chakra blade was thrown from.
"Oi, teme! Trying to still kill your best friend here, are ya?!"
Sasuke leapt down from the tree branch, scowling at the slight taunt.
"Not a chance, usuratonkachi."
Naruto stuck out his tongue at him, "I haven't been 'deadlast' for 4 years now, teme!"
Sakura jumped out of the forest, leaping high enough to cover the sunlight.
For a moment, she hung in the air.
Soon enough, she began to come back down in a familiar stance; her chakra-enhanced fist poised and cocked back.
Naruto blanched and yelped out, "TAKE COVER! A UGLY HAG IS COMING FOR US ALL!"
Neji, Shikamaru, Sasuke, Tenten and Naruto all took off for the forest with Sakura screaming murder.
"SHANNARO! NA-RU-TO! WHADYA CALL ME?! I'M GONNA GET YOU FOR THAT! UGLY, ME?! THAT SHOULD BE INO-PIG!"
The moment Sakura jumped into the air, the four boys and one girl scrambled to their feet and took off for the Forbidden Forest.
Malfoy laughed at them, "So even the four big, bad boys are scared of a-!"
The arrogant boy stopped short the moment Sakura pounded the ground. Harry was, too, scratching his head at why the others had took off at the sight of Sakura cocking back her fist. His question was answered a moment after.
The moment Sakura pounded the field, cracks in the ground immediately appeared.
With just a fist, Sakura leveled the entire ground. Dust billowed out, a wind was ripped out, the grass was flattened, a huge crater was created, and huge rocks were tossed into the air.
If it wasn't for the various hastily yelled protection spells, Harry was sure that even the field they were standing on would've been leveled too.
Hermione gasped in fright, terror, shock, and in awe as did everybody else at destruction.
The awe the fifth-years had for Sakura was soon interrupted when another enraged female voice sounded.
Thanks to Sakura saying 'Ino-Pig', Ron was able to tell that the insulted one had heard it.
"SHUT THE HELL UP, FOREHEAD!
"NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS, INO-PIG!"
With that, she leapt away, leaving the destruction behind for the wizards to openly gape at.
And this was only one person. Just one.
Naruto peeked out of the foliage he was cowering under. He was sure he would've have been in for a major head pounding if it wasn't for Ino's favorite insult for Sakura.
Naruto popped his head our of the bush and looked over to see Sasuke in a tree.
"Your girlfriend is scary, teme. I'm sorta starting to feel bad for your child in the future, dattebayo."
Sasuke scowled at him, "Sakura and I. Are not. Girlfriend and Boyfriend. Get it, dobe?"
"Just admit it already, teme. You like Sakura."
Shikamaru sighed from a bush next to Naruto, "How troublesome. Sasuke's girlfriend is mad...we're in for it now."
Sasuke audibly growled at Shikamaru, "For the last time already! We're not romantically involved!"
Tenten giggled from her treetop position, "You say that now, Sasuke. But we all know how you loooove Sakura."
Neji appeared next to Tenten, "Like Naruto said, just admit it already. Don't be a...what did the civilian females call it? Oh yes, a tsundere. Better to confess now, Uchiha."
Sasuke frowned, "I give up."
With that, he jumped away. Possibly to find a new area to sulk in.
Naruto shrugged, then turned back to his new team.
"We still haven't met Hinata, Kiba and Akamaru, Shino, Lee, and Sai. I know Sakura well enough that she found Ino already and is trying to pound her to a pulp."
As if Naruto had predicted the future, a small boom sounded out.
Naruto didn't even turn around to acknowledge the sound.
He just cocked back a thumb, "See?"
Shikamaru nodded, "Yeah, we just gotta root out Hinata, Lee, and Sai; all possibly in trees to keep watch. Shino is probably somewhere with bugs (This place has tons of troublesome bugs.) Kiba and Akamaru are probably are lying in wait for someone to come and attack him, seeing that Akamaru can't climb trees."
Tenten voiced in, "Yep! We probably should assign people to root them out. Neji, you're going to take on Hinata-chan since you're also a Hyuuga and know her the best."
Neji nodded in confirmation.
Tenten pointed to herself, "Me, I'll take on Lee since I know where he'll most likely to be hiding and know his fighting style."
Shikamaru nodded, approvingly.
"Shikamaru, you take on Sai. He's a nice challenge for you and not that 'troublesome' for you. And Naruto, you can have Kiba and Shino. With your new sensory abilities, I bet you already pinpointed Kiba's position and you got the chakra reserves to take Shino and his bugs."
Shikamaru grinned 'I'm-going-to-win-this-match'; a rare smile only present when he's playing shogi. Naruto saluted Tenten, grinning a evil smirk.