Chapter 2

[Sho]

"That's all for today," the teacher said and he could only sigh.

An entire year had gone by already and they had barely made it to the starting line. It was such bullshit. Maybe if Hyaku and he had had an extra year, been dropped a year early… Alas, there was no use crying over something that wouldn't change. They just had to make do, as they had so far.

It didn't change the fact that it was all still bullshit.

With another sigh, Sho started placing all his things inside the battered backpack that was more of a sack. It was full of sewn holes and what had once probably been white had turned into a cream color… or maybe it'd been brown and the color had gone away? He didn't know. Maybe the original Sho would have…

Or maybe he'd gotten the thing like that?

Suna was such bullshit too.

"See you tomorrow, man," he told Hyaku, massaging his face as if that would help any with the weariness or the stress.

"You are leaving already?" a voice said and it was definitely not his only friend and fellow transmigrator. It was the Canon-Relevant spar practice guy… also known as Kankuro. "No wonder you were retained for a year."

Sho pondered on the merits of antagonizing the guy some more. He'd done that plenty through the day already. Maybe if he nudged him a little more, he'd snap and start a fight? He could hope. Alas, he needed to get going, so patience won that round… for once.

He didn't have time to make friends. If the new classmates were going to be assholes, then he'd be an asshole back. Starting a fight would give him more taijutsu experience if nothing else. Hyaku and him needed all the chances they could find to get better, after all.

They'd lost enough time just catching up, and the end of the world was coming.

"Have fun, Sho!" Wara called from behind him and he held back a grimace, as he usually did when his friend spoke through his puppet. Ever since the first day it happened, he'd been unnerved by the thing. Alas, it wasn't like Hyaku had a choice in the matter…

"You two, man," he heard, but he thoroughly ignored the Kazekage's son. Maybe it could be considered dumb of him, but he really couldn't give a fuck. One year in Suna and he felt like he could have a staredown with fucking pre-fixing Gaara. He was that done with everything.

There was some grumbling or maybe some cursing coming towards him from Kankuro's clique, but he just walked out of the door and started leaving the Academy. It probably wasn't making him any friends, since everybody hated slackers. The teachers were sure to get pissy with him now, but he'd already attended the extra classes the previous year and there were better ways to use his time than that now.

He wasn't too clear on the details, but from what he'd heard, the Kazekage was doing his damn best to produce quality ninja, probably in hopes of improving the situation of the village. For that, he was pouring what funds he could into specialized extra classes for last year Academy students. Furthermore, Sho was fairly sure people were encouraged to treat anyone who didn't take those courses like they had leprosy or something of the sort.

It was one of the reasons why he'd signed for one of those the previous year, on top of trying to catch up as best he could.

Either way, that treatment – from teachers and other school staff – understandably bled into the students' behavior. So, it all boiled down to school life being pretty shitty for anyone that didn't "put in the effort", as it were. Sho wanted very much to approach each and every one of those people and punch them in the face.

Alas, he was still not even at Genin level, so it was outside the realm of possibility unless he was suicidal.

Which he wasn't… yet.

Fortunately, dealing with his new status as a slacker and a waster of tax-payer money was future Sho's problem. Current Sho had shit to get done, which was why he all but power walked his way outside the Academy and then towards the nearby building where ninjas went to get missions. Once he was there, he didn't go in. Instead, he moved to its sides and approached a seemingly empty alley, moved behind some half-broken wooden boxes, and waited.

Sure enough, a man appeared out of nowhere – he still had yet to figure out what jutsu that was, even after months –, walked up to him and passed him a sheet of paper.

"Usual rules," was all the man said before crumbling into a pile of sand that the wind of Sunagakure's dispersed. Sho didn't pay too much attention to that. Instead, he started reading through the list he'd been given.

A small, stupid part of him felt like he was dealing drugs or something equally as dumb. Admittedly, he really didn't know how legal what he did was but surely someone would have caught him or the bunch of others who did the same thing. He was sure it was more like… unofficial business of sorts.

'Chore, chore, chore,' he read, skimming over the useless ones. 'Chore, but could be useful. Chore, chore, chore. Oh, what's this, huh?' he paused, blinking and looking at one particular job.

Apparently, someone had lost a pet. A shit job to take, in the grand scheme of things. Stuff for a D-Rank mission, at best. Alas, that's what the list was, after all. What one could say were E-Rank missions. Jobs that people not only couldn't afford to have actual ninja help with but they also couldn't afford anyone to do, really.

Well, Sho supposed they were still D-Ranks, they were the same thing he remembered from the series, after all. It was just that Suna didn't give their ninja chore missions. They couldn't afford to. They needed to bring in money because they were getting poorer and poorer at a breakneck pace. They needed their ninja doing ninja stuff.

Suna was, after all, a very fucking poor place to live. However, people still needed help with shit jobs from time to time. So, in came the shit jobs that didn't make it to be an actual mission and instead ended up in the hands of desperate people hoping against hope to get some much-needed Ryo.

Desperate people existed everywhere, and that was the harsh truth.

That's where Sho came in.

'Well, I need to work on my tracking skills, I guess,' thought to himself, sighing, marking the job and then placing the sheet inside one of the broken boxes.

[}-o-{]

[Hyaku Bunraku]

"Have fun, Sho!" Wara said from his spot on top of his shoulder.

Hyaku watched silently how Sho left the classroom with a lazy wave of his hand. A minute frown grew on the mute transmigrator's face, his eyes locked on his friend's retreating form. He looked far more worn out than before the break. He had to be overworking again.

"You two, man," an unwanted voice said from his side, forcing Hyaku to swallow a sigh. "One would expect that being held back a year would kick both your asses back into gear, but there he is, skipping class. At least one of you is staying, right, buddy?"

Kankuro approached with a smile and wrapped an arm around him, resting his hand on Hyaku's shoulder. Neither of the gestures had an iota of friendliness in them. It seemed that they had managed to make it into Kankuro's shit list in record time.

Joy.

Well, it was necessary either way. They weren't exactly in the best of social positions at the moment given that they were held back a year, so they needed to send a message as fast as they could. As it turned out, the tried and true method of picking a fight with the biggest and meanest guy worked both in prison and baby ninja classrooms, apparently.

"Hey! Acceptable social distance from us, pal!" Wara said from his shoulder, slapping Kankuro's hand away. "You are gonna smear all our clothes with the amount of make-up you have on your face!"

Kankuro's eye twitched at the mention of his make-up. It seemed to be some sort of sore spot for him. Not a good thing to have in a ninja world, but he was in no place to judge.

Were they being unnecessarily antagonistic toward a canon character that also happened to be the middle child of their current very cutthroat militaristic village's leader?

Yes, yes they were.

It wasn't something that could be helped though. They learned during their first year in this new life that showing weakness wasn't exactly a wise thing to do in the shinobi world. This was especially the case in Suna of all places, where people were too busy trying not to fall into poverty to have time for things like pity or empathy most of the time.

Kankuro just happened to be the perfect target to pick a fight with. He could help them show that they weren't going to take insults sitting down and if it devolved into violence, that they could pull their weight. Not to mention the kid's presence was a constant reminder that their preparation time was starting to run out. If their math was right, they had about two more years before canon started and they had already wasted one just to match with the average of their current class. A class that wasn't even made of proper genins yet.

Needless to say, they weren't exactly in the best of moods.

Kankuro removed his hand and took a few steps back.

"And here I thought we could be friends," the Kazekage's son said insincerely. "You know, given that we are fellow crafters," he continued with a nod towards Wara.

Hyaku's eyes moved toward his puppet. A small thing about the size of an adult's head, dressed and styled with clown aesthetics from his previous world. A minimal twitch of his finger made the small puppet scoff as he mimicked the act of shaking off something dirty from its costume.

"Puh-lease, as if an amateur like you could consider themselves on the same level as Hyaku here. The guy built me after all," Wara said with a cocky tone, standing on his shoulder and leaning its body against his head with crossed arms.

"I'd say that the cute puppet is right about that, Kankuro," a feminine voice said from his side, making a blank-faced transmigrator turn toward the interloper. He made sure to make Wara pretend it lost balance and just barely managed to keep on his shoulder without falling. A relieved sigh escaped the puppet before turning and glaring at the puppeteer.

Realism was everything when it came to the arts of puppetry. That is the first lesson his new clan and family had taught him.

"I must say," the girl continued, seeing the byplay with an amused smile as she hugged a doll-like puppet tightly to her chest. "It's amazing, the fluidity of movements. It's almost as if there's no response delay at all. I guess it's to be expected of a Bunraku," she tittered behind a perfectly manicured hand as she kept staring at Wara, who puffed its tiny chest in mock pride.

Kankuro mumbled something Hyaku couldn't quite catch, but it sounded like a reluctant agreement given his sullen pout.

"I do wonder though. What kind of materials did you use to make it move so well? Cloth isn't the best material for conducting chakra strings, even when perfectly treated. I'd know," she said as she showed off her doll puppet. "Is it some kind of wood and cloth hybrid? And what kind of system did you use for the voice? It sounds so life-like. Oh, how I wish I could get it for my dear Reina!" the girl exclaimed, excitedly getting close to his personal space.

The girl seemed to completely ignore his uncomfortable flinch as she continued to ramble on. He didn't remember her from the anime, but it wasn't like he remembered every single chapter of the story. Naruto had far too much filler for someone other than a hardcore fan to recognize everyone from memory alone. Shippuden had been a hot mess, after all. At some point he had even started stacking chapters together, just to get at least a bit more than two minutes of canon in one sitting.

The thought of the second part of the series and the power of the world ending threats ahead put another dampener on his mood. Still, Sho and him had far more pressing matters to attend to than the end of the series.

It was not even guaranteed they would even survive the Chunin Exams, after all.

While it was true that Shippuden — which is when power scaling started going out of control — was still a long way from the point they were at, being part of Suna meant that they were probably going to take place in that foolish plan to ally with the snake sage and invade the land filled with the power of friendship. Hyaku doubted they had the plot armor to survive that war and be forgiven like the three siblings were. So it was up to them to manage to survive their own nation's equivalent of mass suicide.

To make their situation worse, they didn't exactly have the cheats many transmigrators often had and liked to abuse to make themselves unbeatable in the span of a week. They didn't even have the previous bodies' memories, for that matter. So they had to start from zero and work the long and arduous conventional way to get up to par with their peers. They would have to train as hard as they could and hope to come out of the whole mess alive by the end of it.

"Hey! Asshole!" someone screamed right next to him, snapping him from his thoughts and making him turn.

A girl stood right next to the doll girl directing a fierce scowl in his direction, a pair of boys right behind her. He noticed that the girl's and one of the boy's hair colors were almost the same shade of purple as the doll girl's. Not for the first time, he wondered if they were related, or if purple hair was just something common in Suna because they were hardly the only ones he had seen around.

"You should be honored that Saya's talking to you at all and you are spacing out?" the girl all but snarled at him, making Hyaku raise an eyebrow at the hate and vitriol directed at him. The purple-haired boy just sighed, while the other, whose wide eyes looked bloodshot, continued to stare at him while shaking in place. "Are you even listening to-?!"

"Hey! Hey! We can hear you, lady. No need to get so worked up," Wara said, imitating the action of massaging his non-existent ears. "Me and your girlfriend were just talking here-"

"G-girlfriend!?" The angry girl recoiled as if struck. Her facial complexion changed to something resembling a tomato as she stole glances at the doll-girl who Hyaku now knew was called Saya. "No… I'd never…"

If anything, this made the purple-haired dude sigh even harder.

"Heh, the first thing you said I agree with," Kankuro unhelpfully added. "A dog should learn not to bark when people are talking."

"The fuck you said-?!" Whatever else the girl was about to say was interrupted by a dainty raised hand from Saya.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't talk to my cute little group that way, Kankuro," Saya said as she engaged in a staring match with the Kazekage's son. Some kind of unsaid dispute went on as they measured each other before both looked away. "As for you," she said to the previously angry girl who now found the floor very interesting. "Please don't interrupt my conversations, Sana. Especially so rudely."

Sana, the angry girl, drew back and mumbled a quick apology before stepping away along with the two boys behind Saya. A glare was still directed at both Hyaku's and Kankuro's direction but she didn't dare to utter a single word after being told to shut up.

"I apologize for the lack of manners, Hyaku Bunraku. My friends can get… a bit hot-headed when they perceive a slight to my person. I'll make sure it doesn't happen again."

"Don't sweat it, sweetie. It'd take a lot more than that to offend Hyaku here," Wara joked while patting the puppeteer's head. "As long as she doesn't try anything funny, we won't hold it against her."

"I see, I'll make sure to keep it in mind," Saya replied with a smile and a cordial bow to Wara. Her personality seemed to turn from the excited girl she was when talking about her puppet, to someone more refined almost in the blink of an eye. It was quite disconcerting, honestly.

His answer was cut short by the sound of the door of the classroom opening. The teacher entered the room carrying a small stack of papers Hyaku recognized from last year as the elective class forms.

"Alright, everyone. Enough chit-chat already. Let's start with this year's electives. Please make sure to write your preferred choices and you'll be sent to your respective classes according to them," the professor droned on handing the stack of paper to the tall brunette girl who sat at the front of the class. She grabbed a copy and handed the rest of the stack to a dour-looking pretty boy next to her.

"I'd be delighted if you were to join us at a later date to discuss more about your cute puppet. I'm sure someone that comes from such a renowned family of puppet crafters would have a lot of information to share about the subject," Saya addressed him again before turning towards her seat with the rest of her group, not even bothering to wait for his answer as if his agreement was a forgone conclusion.

"Well, you got the attention of the biggest group of weirdos in the entire class in a single day, lucky you," Kankuro snarked as he turned towards his group.

"Fuck off, make-up boy," Wara grumbled.

Hyaku could already feel the headache that would come from this mess. That girl didn't look like the kind that would take no for an answer.

God, he hated school drama already.

[}-o-{]

[Sho]

The desert sucked.

That was one of the conclusions Sho had arrived at after an entire year living in Suna. Why? Because it was hellishly hot most of the day. It held like that all the way until it didn't anymore, when night came about, and suddenly the temperature seemed to go down to arctic in about an hour. He wasn't sure if that was regular desert weather or if it was magic-world bullshit. After all, the world of Naruto didn't make much sense, even down to something as basic as the weather.

Sho felt his skin prickle as he made his way back home. The thin hoodie he wore did almost nothing to shield him against the cold. He took a deep breath in and let it out slowly, focusing his mind on other things, like the mist coming out through his lips. His brain went over things they'd learned in class, all the studying he'd had to do to catch up to the level old Sho was supposed to be at before the unfortunate accident that had landed… New Sho in the situation he found himself in.

Still, even with as bad as things were, they'd been so much worse the previous year. They'd been dropped there, unceremoniously, with no idea what was going on. The only thing they'd had going for them was a convenient injury that allowed them to play the semi-amnesia card to explain their weird ass behavior and loss of a lot of knowledge.

Unfortunately, that still left them in a crumbling village in the middle of a world quickly approaching a war of apocalyptic proportions… So, the two of them had to scramble around trying to play catch up as best they could. Countless nights were spent studying, just as many hours were spent practicing and they'd devoured as much as they could from the classes, even if half of them went over their heads because they lacked the previous knowledge.

In the end, it hadn't been enough to pass their graduation test… which wasn't as bad of a thing if not for the fact that it left a mark on their reputation and also stopped them from advancing further for the moment. God knew Sho could do with actual missions that paid more than a pittance, but alas…

It was what it was.

He was pulled away from his musings as he reached the door to his new home – if he could even call it new anymore, after almost a whole year – and proceeded to open it.

"I'm back," he called, not quite shouting but still loud enough to be heard around the whole apartment. Not that it said a lot, considering the place. A single person had to struggle to move around and the walls were almost literally paper thin. "And I brought dessert," he added, smiling slightly when he saw a mop of brown hair perk up from behind the tiny dining table and beside the brown-haired woman.

"Sho!" a childish voice called and the mop moved around the table to reveal the rest of little Saki. His – Sho's, original Sho's, not his – little sister, the one thing that could shine a little light in the shittiest of days, really. "You are late again!" she whined as she wrapped her short arms around his leg and gripped his pants with her tiny hands.

"Sorry about that, Saki, but I did bring dessert," he reminded her softly, planting a hand on her head and ruffling her hair. Not that it was the only thing he brought, but it was the one that mattered… to Saki, at least. It was also true that there was not much in the bag. The one item had taken much of his hard earned money, after all.

"What'd you bring?" she asked, eyes all but shining. As he moved to drop his bag on the ground, he crouched – having to peel Saki off his leg – before pulling out an orange fruit from his bag. "An orange! I love oranges! Mum! Sho brought an orange!" she exclaimed excitedly.

Sho could only smile sadly at the sight.

A child shouldn't be that happy about getting a single fruit, even when considering how rare they were to come across in Suna.

"Sho, you know what I've told you about spending all your money like that," their mother – Sho's and Saki's, not his – told him, turning to give him an unimpressed look. "You'll need that to get equipment when you graduate."

When he graduated, no doubts about it, regardless of the fact that original Sho wasn't doing so hot at the Academy or that his already bad grades had plummeted so hard after he took over that he had to repeat the last year of the Academy. Original Sho had been one lucky bastard… Up until he wasn't, and lost his life to him by some freak accident. Now, the "new" Sho was left to pick up the pieces… and he hadn't even been able to start.

Hell, he'd made things worse, really.

Their little family's situation was bad enough as it was, really. The money from the late father – who had been a ninja apparently, which afforded them some money after he died – had run out already and they were barely scraping by. Sachiko worked like her life depended on it, and it did, just like theirs.

That was the reason why Sho had gone out of his way to find the unofficial missions and opted out of the extra classes at the Academy. Maybe he was earning almost nothing, but almost nothing was still better than actual nothing. Anything he could give back to Sachiko after she'd put up with his useless ass for a whole year, he would. Anything he could do to allow Saki to have a better life, he would. It was the least he could do, after replacing someone so dear to them as he had.

Anything to stop the guilt, even for a second.

"I had some extra," he said, not even having to lie. The extra was almost nothing, but again, that was better than the alternative. "I think I'm getting the hang of this haggling thing," he boasted slightly. Not like he had a choice. Having so little money, Sho had been forced to get creative in many ways.

"Just… don't push yourself too hard, ok?" Sachiko told him, like the hypocrite that she was. Still, Sho just nodded and smiled, even if her words went through one ear and straight out the other in record time. "Now, you are just in time for dinner," she added, checking what she'd been cooking one last time before moving it to the table.

Sho was almost convinced that she'd been waiting for him, actually, even if probably not for long. She wouldn't let Saki go without eating just because he was being stupid, after all. So, he didn't waste any time and took his seat, helping Saki to hers.

Looking at the food, it was… Well, there was room for improvement, but Sachiko did what she could with what little they could afford, really. Sho had to commend her for being able to make edible stuff, quite honestly. Regardless, he ate his part… almost entirely, leaving a little in his bowl.

"Can I have another?" Saki asked shyly. Even as young as she was, she knew that the answer to that was likely no, after all. It was a harsh, depressing thing to see, but that was just how it was.

"I'm full," Sho said before Sachiko could answer, lying through his teeth. "You can have what's left if you want," he added, pushing his bowl towards Saki.

"You are the best, Sho!" the girl exclaimed happily, taking the offered food and swiftly digging in, even if it wasn't much. With her distracted, Sho turned towards Sachiko, expecting the same mix of sadness, disappointment, and frustration from before. Instead, he was met with a simple resigned smile.

Well, at least he wouldn't have to argue with her again.

[} Chapter End {]

Arc: And that is the second chapter from Sand In the Gears (or SItG for short) It was mostly focused on giving some light on our characters and their current circumstances.

Adrian: Also explaining some of the things we left a little too open (maybe?) in the last chapter.

Arc: Either way, these two guys are now in a race against time. Counting every minute until the fights start involving never-ending eye powers and nukes. Which, turns out, is quite a problem when your local RoB doesn't see fit to provide you with some kind of cheat to even the odds. Well, at least they remember like… 70% of canon, that has to count for something, right?

Adrian: Truly unfortunate, huh? I wonder what the Rob was thinking… Hehehe…

Arc: I am sure he wasn't. But! That said, we hope you enjoyed the chapter! As always, don't forget to follow and leave a review to let us know if you like this story.

Random Arc Question: What do you think about our headcanon on unofficial D-Rank missions (the chore kind) being a thing in Suna?

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