Chapter 21

AN: I'm back for an insanely quick update. I found a stopping point for this chapter though it was originally going to be about two or three times longer. I have an education project due tomorrow, more homework, and not to mention practicing! So, my apologies for the short chapter, please enjoy!

Early next morning, Hikaru's apartment…

A muscled blur barged through the door, intent on showing three young men the meaning of YOUTH. The blur stepped around the colony of cochroaches in the doorway. It carefully avoided the kunai traps.

Odd, my youthful neighbor Naruto never has any traps up; truly, Hikaru is the picture of YOUTH to be so prepared! I must reward him with his very own YOUTH suit.

The blur had avoided all this and more, and was at a cross roads; two rooms opposite of eachother. Which one to open first? Deciding since left was his most youthful new neighbor Deidara who would appreciate being picked first, the blur kicked the door in.

And this his most grievous mistake was made.

Might Guy, esteemed jonin of Konoha, had walked right into a lion's den.

Several hours later…

Naruto stumbled out of bed and towards the kitchen at the smell of tea while wiping bleary eyes away. The blonde had spent the majority of the night before sparing with Ro in the forest of death. Leaping through the infested trees while avoiding bombs, roots, and jutsu was exhilarating, if not exhausting.

"Chibi-kohaiiiii; bring your sempai some coffee would ya?" Hikaru's voice called after Naruto when he reached the door.

"And milk." Angel agreed. Naruto rolled his heavy lidded eyes and put his hand near the handle but stopped; A single cockroach was perched on the knob and bowed to him.

"…Sempai, your roach bowed to me. I am officially going crazy." Naruto said bluntly. Hikaru scoffed in the background.

"Baka, my pets are highly trained; bowing is the least of their abilities. Now, coffee."
"Get it yourself, lazy ass." The young ANBU shot back and flicked the roach away with a finger. "Angel, I'll bring your milk, just stay still and let your ribs heal after that last kick." He added. Angel had improved to the point of fighting genin was child's play, but Tenzo kicked harder than most jonin, much less genin. While at her maximum size she was flung effortlessly thirty feet after meeting the captain's foot.

Ignoring the rustle of unhappy an unhappy Hyuga and roaches, Naruto stepped into the hallway. He smirked when he heard a bed sheet being dragged along, signaling Hikaru was begrudgingly following.

Stepping into the kitchen stopped the pair cold.

There was Deidara sipping on hot chocolate with his pinky sticking out.

Next to him on the ground by the chair was Guy…wrapped in a clay centipede and gagged with his leg warmers.

And he looked positively terrified of Deidara.

"Ah, Fishcake, Roach-teme; come and join me for some morning tea and coco." Deidara said when he noticed the pair and gave them an all too innocent smile.

"B-but" Naruto tried but failed to speak, instead opting to point at the bound jonin.

"Oh, him? Well the fool thought waking me up at four am was a good idea" here kick from Deidara connected with Guy's stomach "and I simply had to show him why that was not, un."

"Hell hath no fury like a kunoichi scorned" Hikaru finally quipped once his voice returned. The Hyuga found himself bound right along Guy before he could blink. Deidara turned towards the last standing member of the living room and asked in a voice that could have frozen a volcano,

"Now, Fishcake; care to join them on the ground or me for some coco?" Naruto gulped.

"I'd love some hot chocolate." The two sat in compensable silence while futile struggles came from below. "Just a quick question though; how did you use your clay animals if I resealed your chakra last night?"
"..."

"…"
"…Some questions are better left un-asked, Naruto," Deidara replied sagely. With a sweat drop and mental promise to speak to Dragon about it later, he nodded and took another sip of his hot chocolate.

Later…

When Dragon went to the training grounds Guy was supposed to be working his three youngest ANBU to the bone in he was rather puzzled by the lack of said ANBU and Guy. Resummoning his crow assigned to Mouse, Dragon asked,

"Where's my ANBU? They should have been here at four; it's ten. Mouse is due for another session with his chains." The crow gave him a dull look.

"You should really stop stalking your subordinates, you know. They're all at that idiot Hyuga's apartment. Anything else or can I go home?"

"No, no, you may go. Thank you, Ryo. I'll summon you again later."

When the commander arrived to where his subordinates were supposedly, he didn't know whether to chuckle or punish them for skipping out on his extra training.

He decided on both.

"So my underlings decided to waste the day away so close to the exams, eh?" He said, putting on his Tenzo impersonation. It worked as everyone gulped, even Guy who was currently being used as Deidara's foot stool. "Well, it's nice to see you all have some relaxation."

"Really?" Naruto asked hopefully.

"Of course not! Now, prepare to entertain me…"

Orochimaru's lair, Rice…

Orochimaru, renowned sannin and researcher, was throwing a tantrum.

"ARGHHH!" He roared while ripping the heads off his cannon fodder experiments. A foolish one armed man takes a kunai off his dead friend and charges at Orochimaru, who spares him not a glance as his arm points at him.

"Striking shadow hands" The sannin hissed and enjoyed the sound of the fool's neck snapping.

The sound four were huddled on the ceiling while their leader raged. So far, after two hours and a hundred people, the prospects were not great.

Orochimaru heaved heavily over the carnage when more than two hundred bodies lay across his arena.

'Kabuto, my best agent and scientist! Dead, all for a pitiful scroll I really didn't need to beat Sarutobi-sensei. Stupid, stupid. Even his team died in a futile attack on my sensei. At least they died before they interrogated them, if these reports are to be believed.

Unaware that his plan was known by the enemy and that Kabuto died for less than nothing, he began formulating new plans.

'I don't need the scroll, and it's no doubt been moved to one of the ANBU record towers, if protocol is the same… No, that idiot Jiraiya is there. I need that jutsu just in case. But who? Sneaking in is impossible. But a frontal assault could work, as the majority of ANBU will be focused on the incoming genin. Kukukuk, this could still work.'

"Kimimaro! Take Guren and three of the missing ninja teams to Konoha. I want that jutsu." Kimimaro appeared from nowhere and passed his master a towel.

"It will be done, Orochimaru-sama. Though, where would the Konoha trash have put it?"

"Kuku. I have an idea as to where my old sensei is keeping my prize; gather the forces and I'll debrief them soon."

"Very well, but sneaking in will be a challenge…"

"Oh, I'll give them something else to worry about and keep them off your backs. No, go!"

With a bow Kimimaro left.

"Well?! You're my guards. Get down here and clean this filth up!" He hissed and slithered to his lab.

'Soon, soon I'll have Sasuke and Konoha will fall. Damnit, Kabuto. I'll have to revive you for the invasion. Oh well, an immortal assistant might not be so bad, kukuku.' And with that the snake sannin began preparing a slightly early trip to his old home.

Next Afternoon, Hokage tower….

Naruto and Angel paced the hallway anxiously. Even clad in his ANBU uniform and mask, which always gives a sort of confidence, Naruto was nervous. The meeting to decide Yakumo's fate would be soon after another meeting wrapped up, and Naruto had to make this perfect. Yakumo deserved it.

'Mouse, calm down; you look like a new dad waiting for their wife to give birth' Hawk signed. The captain and his squad were on tower duty for the day and found Naruto's actions rather amusing.

"Yeah, Naruto. Yakumo-chan wouldn't want to see you like this" Angel purred from atop his head.

'Quit it, your worrying is making me sick' Kurama growled grumpily. The blonde gave mental eye roll at his tenant.

'Look, I already promised I wouldn't use the chains on you! What more do you want?'

'Go away.' Kurama said after a moment. Naruto sighed, wishing his friend would stop sulking over something so silly. He realized he was still pacing and stopped sheepishly.

"Y-you're right, both of you." He began, remembering the conversation moments before, "But, I can't screw this up. Not for Yakumo-chan, not after what she's been through."

"Oh ho! Gaki has a little girlfriend?" An amused voice speaks from behind. Naruto whips around, causing Angel to claw into the top of his mask to hang on.

"Jiraiya-sama! It's not like that, she's just a lot like me and I don't want to see her hurt more…" Naruto trailed off in a mumble. The Toad Sage hid a smirk and poked his mask's forehead.

"Suuure. Keep telling yourself that. Let's go see sensei and get this over with." Putting his godson in a head lock Jiraiya dragged them inside despite the protests of both Hawk and Naruto. "SENSEI! We're here for the…meeting…" Jiraiya trailed off. Inside was every jonin sensei sniggering at the sight. Kakashi even snapped a quick picture.

Sarutobi gave a deep sigh at his student's antics and Naruto prayed he'd be exempt from blame for this.

'Oh Mouse' An almost creepy sounding sign signaled him from the rafters. Ro was on room duty for the day as well- in fact the blonde would be joining them after the meeting.

Naruto froze when his captain's masked face and hands alone appeared from the shadows, illuminated somehow like a ghoul.

'Yes, captain?'

'You interrupted the meeting in your uniform, making Ro look bad.'

'But Jiraiya'

'Isn't in Ro.' And as suddenly as he appeared, Tenzo was gone. Most of the jonin were too busy sniggering at Jiraiya's interruption to notice, but Jiraiya did. The Toad Sage decided then and there he needed to get Naruto's captain laid.

"Achem, I'm thrilled that you are ecstatic for our discussion, Jiraiya, but kindly be quiet while I finish here." Sarutobi gave a light glare. Jiraiya gave a sheepish nod and waded through the crowd to wait next to his sensei, depositing Naruto in a heap on the ground.

"Snigger, how does Naruto put up with him?" One jonin asked another.

"I know, the legendary Jiraiya-sama. What a joke" Another added.

"NARUTO?!"

Moments before, Iruka…

Iruka glared a the sanin and blonde ANBU that cut off his triad about allowing genin less than a year out of the academy into the exams. Sure, he knew about the plan for teams seven and eight, but letting team ten who had very little extra training join was ludicrous! After the Hokage chewed them out Iruka was about to redouble his efforts to at least make team ten drop out when he heard it.

"Snigger, how does Naruto put up with him?" One jonin asked another.

"I know, the legendary Jiraiya-sama. What a joke" Another added.

Naruto? But surely not, he's a paper pusher ninja! Wait, blonde hair, barely five two… Naruto!

"NARUTO?!" Asked/demanded at the pint sized ANBU who was currently dusting himself off. At the slight flinch Iruka had his suspicions confirmed.

The room tensed, as did the ANBU above. Most ANBU had their identities hidden from every chunin and below- except family, of course- and they had been informed by the Hokage to keep extra silent on the Jinchuuriki being in the corps.

"Hey, Iruka-sensei." Naruto chuckled and gave an awkward wave. Iruka wanted to protest, say hi to his student he hasn't seen in months, or just wave, but he couldn't.

"Achem. Since no other teams wish to partake in the exams, everyone but Jiraiya, Mouse, Kurenai, and Iruka are dismissed. Asuma, your team is included in the participating ones. Make Konoha proud." Sarutobi ordered.

Asuma gave a stiff nod and used a shunshin to leave. Moments after everyone else was gone except the ANBU observers the door opened again to the elders, Koharu and Homura, walking in.

"Iruka" Sarutobi said sharply and the chunin snapped to attention.

"Yes, Hokage-sama?"

"We will discuss your questions later, and I'll send Mouse to find you for dinner. I don't think I need to remind you about the ANBU identity rules?"

"N-no, Hokage-sama." With a bow the chunin rushed out the door.

"Hiruzen, we just received your notice about the Kurama girl; what's happened?" Koharu asked a bit frantic. She didn't want to think about the seal breaking.

Sarutobi gestured to Naruto, who cleared his throat while unsealing a folder. The Hokage only knew about the subject, not about the why for the gathering.

"I've come to convince you all to let me unseal Yakumo Kurama and let her face her Id- essentially merging with it."

A pin drop could be heard.

"What?" Was Kurenai's intelligent comment. Koharu and Homura nodded in agreement with the jonin.

"Only you, Naruto." Hiruzen Sarutobi groaned. "Let's hear it."

End! I am having a lot of tests this week so I couldn't finish this conversation and I didn't want to let it wait for a week or stop in a weird place. Oh, and yes, the Iruka thing was planned, as it would have been logical if the chunin saw Naruto in his uniform he'd be able to piece the dots together.

I'll post around Friday, with the rest of the meeting, and start of the chunin exams, as well as more Orochimaru stuff. Anyways, here's an Omake I and Silverdragon310 worked on together over email!

Omake: Deidara's MINE! One week after Kabuto (Note, doesn't bare any weight on the story lol)…

"Sempai! He's moving in with me- he's a natural Guy deterrent!" Naruto wailed.

Nope, sorry Chibi-kohai, but I can't trust your teenage hormones with a young lady in a one bedroom apartment" Hikaru rebuked, hiding his nervousness. Deidara was helping with cooking now and he kept the insane green man away, something not even Naruto's seals seemed to be able to do.

"First of all, you're a teenager too. Second, Deidara's male. And third, I'm taking him!" Naruto said firmly and grabbed a gaping Deidara's hand and pulling him. Hikaru grabbed the other arm.

"NO! He's mine" Hikaru argued while yanking. Deidara felt his shoulders pop.

"NO! Mine! I need him to keep Guy away!" Naruto screamed.

"Well I need him to cook and help with stuff!" Hikaru screamed back. The two butted heads, releasing Deidara.

"FINE THEN! A SPAR FOR DEIDARA!" They yelled together and got into stances.

Meanwhile, Deidara was wondering what went wrong in his life for his two friends/teammates to fight over him like a school yard crush.

P.S. Go check out 'Naruto the Scarecrow'! It just updated and it's getting really heated. It's interesting and I recommend it.

Next, go read ANYTHING slythefoxx22, but mostly his 'seals are easy, people are hard' and 'Storm Shadow'. Both are new, and equally amazing- Storm Shadow really throws you for a loop!

Anyway, Ja ne, see y'all next week.