Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Unkown ❯ Chapter Four ( Chapter 4 )

Me: Hey guys! Time for the next chapter. Kisame!

Kisame: Phsycobratt doesn't own Naruto, we all belong to our lord and master Masashi Kishimoto. -_-

Rating: PG13

Pairings: You should know by now.

"Blah" Speech

`blah' Thoughts

"Blah" Demon Speech

`Blah' Demon Thoughts

Chapter Four

Naruto watched, half amused as two of his three new charges paced about impatiently. He guessed his third pupil had already seen him, seeing as though he wasn't trying all that hard to conceal his whereabouts, but it was still fun to watch their antics. He jumped down the roof top and onto the cracked pavement in front of the three, catching the attention of the only female on the group, while the other two continued to pace and rant about their stupid-late-mysterious-good-for nothing-teacher.

"Yo!" he greeted cheerfully, after waiting a few minutes for his two other students to notice him. The two boys glanced at him in surprise, before boy wearing almost an exact replica of his previous jumpsuit, except this one being dark blue, broke into a grin and pounced onto Naruto.

"Naruto-niichan! What are you doing here?" the boy asked enthusiastically, jumping off the elder shinobi.

Naruto grinned, patting the brunette on the head. "I'm here to meet my group of ninjas-to-be, Konohamaru." Naruto said happily.

Konohamaru blinked. "Really? Who?"

"Us, you moron." The female of the group said monotonously.

"Now, now. Why don't we all get to know each other over some ramen. Then we can move on to the test." Naruto said, draping an arm over either boys shoulders and leading them into the small stall.

"Ano, niichan, we already took a test." Konohamaru replied as Naruto ordered for both Konohamaru and himself, the other boy ordering a chicken ramen while the girl ordered a glass of water.

"This will be to test if you are ready to become Genin, you fail my test, and you'll be sent back to the academy. The purpose of the your test in the academy was simply to eliminate any hopeless cases." Naruto explained calmly, ignoring the expressions of two of his charges. They took their seat on a couple of empty stools, waiting for their new sensei to continue. "Out of the twenty-seven students in your graduating class, only nine will be accepted as Genin. The other eighteen will go back for more training. The test I will give you has a 66% rate of failure." He stated grimly, then proceeded to eat his ramen. The two boys gasped, while the female member simply took a sip of her water.

"So what will be our test, sensei?" she asked coldly, narrowing her eyes.

Naruto smirked. "The test involves only the members of the team."

"What is it?" the other boy asked, slightly nervous.

"Survival exercises." Naruto replied simply, ordering his third bowl of ramen.

"How's that a test? We were always doing survival training in the academy." The boy asked. Naruto snorted, placing his chopsticks beside his bowl. "Yes, but you'll have to survive against me. It won't be your typical practice." He said. "But enough of that, I'd like you all to tell us a little bit about yourselves. You know, favorite thing, what you hate most, dreams, hobbies. Stuff like that." Naruto explained, glancing from one to another. He sighed. "Okay, how about I go first. I'm Uzamaki Naruto. I like instant cup ramen. I hate the three minute wait after I pour in the boiling water. My dream is to one day become Hokage." He said, his speech causing Konohamaru and the other boy to laugh. Naruto smirked, then pointed to Konohamaru. "Alright kid, how about you go next."

"Right." Konohamaru said, fixing his headband. "My name is Sarutobi Konohamaru.[1] I like hanging out with my two best friends and eating ramen. I hate when people refer to me only as Honored Grandson. My dream is to one day be a better Hokage than any before! My hobbies are, playing ninja with my friends and idol!"

Naruto smiled. "Good, next." He said happily, running a hand through his hair. The other boy nodded, pushing away his empty bowl of ramen. "I am Akakami Koji. I like girls. I hate getting dumped, not that I ever am. My dream is to get every girl in Konoha to go out with me. My hobbies are girls." Koji finished, winking and blowing a kiss towards the last member of their group. Naruto sweat dropped. `Well that was… different…'

"Alright, and finally. The young lady." Naruto said, nodding towards the silent girl.

"My name is Hyuuga Hanabi. I hate many things, and there are few things I actually like. I don't see any reason for me to talk about my dreams with the likes of you. My hobbies include training and meditating." Hanabi said, glaring at Koji who had chosen to stare at her like a love sick puppy.

Naruto nodded and stood. "Well, that's enough of that," he began, leading the others out of the stall. He turned around and smiled. "We'll meet tomorrow morning at six on the practice field so that I can evaluate your skills and weaknesses. Bring all of your weapons and tools. Don't bother with breakfast, unless you enjoy throwing up." He pulled out three sheets of paper from his front vest pouch. "Here are some details from the test, memorize it and don't be late." With that, he was gone in a puff of smoke. The three parted ways in what would have been silence, had Koji not decided to flirt with Hanabi. Then the fool decided to wrap an arm around her shoulders, which ended in him having his head stuck through a wooden fence, with no feeling below the neck.

Naruto smirked to himself, and deciding he knew less about Koji, followed that boy when he finally managed to get feeling back in his limbs and pulled himself out of the fence. Naruto shook his head, biting his limp in attempt to hold back his laughter every time the poor boy was turned down, and/or beat down. The boy spent a good three hours attempting to get a date or any reaction other than a violent one from a girl, before giving up and heading back towards the practice fields to train. Naruto sighed and leapt away from the grounds, heading for the Hyuuga mansion instead. `Well that was absolutely pointless.'

He found Hanabi training in some private grounds, and reminded himself to pick up his stealth slightly now that he was in Hyuuga property. He didn't know how experienced she was with her Byakugan, but he knew there was still a mansion full of Jounin level Hyuuga's. The girl trained herself past exhaustion, then proceeded to meditate.

"What are you doing here?" a cold voice questioned. "The Hyuuga property is off limits, you of all people should know that."

Naruto smirked, never taking his eyes of the young Hyuuga girl. "And why would I of all people know that." he retorted.

The other snorted, jumping down from the foliage and next to the blonde on the branch. "She too young for you."

"Pervert, I'm just surveying her; seeing what she does outside of school." Naruto replied.

"Sounds like stalking to me."

Naruto punched the other on the arm, scowling. "I never knew the Hyuuga genius could be such a pervert." Naruto snapped. "I'm not stalking her. I'm her new sensei, I just wanted to observe my new students. Is that so wrong?"

Neji snorted. "You're her sensei? You only became Jounin five months ago and your already stuck with the worst job possible. I pity you."

"Was I asking you, Hyuuga?" Naruto growled.

"Don't get so worked up, Uzamaki." Neji replied amusedly. "You might as well leave now. Your lucky I was the one that caught you, or else you'd be in a world of trouble for spying on the next heir." Neji stated acidly.

"Right, see ya around." Naruto said, rubbing the back of his head in a nervous manner. `Jeez, what a prick.'

*************************************************************** **********

[Next Day]

Naruto smiled down at his new students, enjoy the calmness while it lasted. The two boys were fidgeting, eager to start the test. "Don't go easy on them, brat." His smile faltered slightly, but thankfully the kids didn't notice, or if they didn't, thought nothing of it. `Don't you trust me?' Naruto thought back telepathically. "No." Naruto rolled his eyes and cleared his throat, catching their attention. "Good morning, kids." He called enthusiastically, noting that they had all arrived at the exact same time.

"So? So? What's our mission… or test, whatever. What is it?!" Konohamaru shouted, jumping up and down ecstatically.

"Well," Naruto started, pulling out a small alarm from one of his front pouches. He placed it down on one of the three tree stump beside him and hit the top button. "The timer will go off at noon. And here," he pulled out two bells from his pocket and smiled, holding them out. "I have two bells. You have to steal these from me before the alarm goes off." He stopped smiling and tied the bells to his belt loop. " Anyone who fails to retrieve a bell… doesn't get lunch. Instead, you will be tied to a tree stump, then I'll eat your lunch in front of you."

Konohamaru and Koji groaned. "So that why you didn't let us have breakfast."

Naruto ignored them, face grim and serious. "All you need is a bell apiece. And, since their doesn't seem to be enough for all of you, on of you will be definitely head for a stump, and whoever that is, will be the first of you three to fail, understood." Naruto watched with slight amusement as all of them, excluding Hanabi, gulped at the last sentence. "Use all your weapons if necessary. Attack as though you mean to kill, or you'll never stand a chance."

"Ain't that a little too dangerous, I mean, we got a lady here." Koji shouted.

Konohamaru laughed. "Your gonna get yourself killed, Naruto-niichan. You couldn't even dodge that ramen bowl Sakura-san thew at you the other day!" he shouted, placing his arms behind his head, much how Naruto used to do, and smiling broadly.

"Must you talk so big." Naruto mumbled, sighing. "Now, let's forget the brat, and we can start on my signal."

Konohamaru pouted. "Hey!"

Naruto folded his arms over his chest and smirked. "Ready… steady…GO!"

The three students left in a flash. `Heh, all three are doing a good job of hiding… now all that's left is Konohamaru to mess up and do something stupid," he sighed, running a hand through his hair, hearing a loud thump to his left, followed by cursing. `Right on cue.' "These whelps are pathetic, except the Hyuuga. She has potential." Naruto quickly made a bunshin to stand were he had previously stood as he slipped into his own shadow and headed for the trees. He had learned to perform low level jutsu's by merely thinking the hand seals, and it had definitely come in handy. [2] He performed quick hand seals, murmuring: "Taju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." creating over a hundred clones, hiding them everywhere, and stationing them on different trees. These clones were different from his old one because it was harder to tell the difference between the clones and himself even with the Byakugan or Sharingan. Sooner than he'd liked, Konohamaru came into view, challenging the clone to a fight. `Oh well, at least now I can figure out where the other's are hiding.' He jumped to the next tree silently, searching for any distinct chakra. The kids, after all, were still fresh out of the academy, and thus had not learned to perfectly hide their chakra.

He felt two well hidden chakra signals, one to his right, and one in front of him; minus Konohamaru's chakra, which he knew was still busy with the bunshin. `Right' he dashed off to the right, jumping from tree to tree with incredible stealth, which none would have expected from the villages so called loudmouth ninja.

Naruto found Koji crawling around under bushes, very un-ninja like, mumbling things to himself. He smirked, `It's time to do a Kakashi.' His hands moved quickly, performing hand seals he had long ago come to memorize. "Henge." He transformed into a mauled Hanabi and dramatically staggered out of the bushes, in front of Koji. The brunette blinked several time before a high pitched screech came out of his throat, causing Naruto to wince and almost drop the jutsu, before passing out onto the forest grass, thick and moist with morning dew. Naruto smirked, and with a pop and a lot of smoke, transformed back to his normal male self. "One down, two to go."

He jumped onto the nearest branch and made his way back in the direction he had left Konohamaru in, finding the boy tangled in a net. He shook his head sadly with a humorous smile on his lips, then taking off to find the Hyuuga member of his group. He leaped off his current tree, stepping onto the other one foot at a time, when he heard the large cracking noise and immediately jumped out of the way, narrowly missing the dozen or so kunai sent his way. The kunai embedded into the tree vertically, a small crack forming between each. `She's good. Probably using Byakugan.' Naruto narrowed his eyes, suddenly alert as small metallic object whirled by his head, followed by three more, and soon dozens. Naruto gasped as he suddenly realized something. Glancing down to his pants loop in which he had been keeping the bells, smiling slightly. `The shuriken were merely decoys, all just to distract me from the bells. She is good, I shouldn't have underestimated her.' He jumped down onto the clearing just as the alarm rang, Hanabi quickly following. He turned to her and smiled warmly. "Hanabi-san, why don't you go find and retrieve Koji. I'll get Konohamaru down."

"Very well." She stated monotonously, disappearing back into the forest. Naruto walked towards Konohamaru, grabbing a shuriken out of his pouch. He stopped only a yard away from the boy, who was pouting and glaring miserably, then hurled the shuriken at the rope holding up the net. Konohamaru stumbled onto the ground, scowling.

"This isn't fair, Naruto-niichan! I don't wanna go back to that stinkin' academy, with stupid Iruka!" he whined.

Naruto frowned. "Hey now, Iruka-san is my friend. Show a little respect." With that he turned around and walked towards the three tree stumps to wait for his other students. Konohamaru caught up with him quickly and quietly, slightly uneasy at getting Naruto mad.

Hanabi and Koji made it to the clearing a few minutes later, Koji blushing and Hanabi… being Hanabi, with an attitude as big as Neji's. Naruto straightened himself out and smiled. "Alright guys, times up."

"Yeah, but none of us got a bell. Does that mean we all have to go back to school?" Koji asked, rubbing his head.

"On the contrary, Koji, Hanabi-san was the only one of you two to get both bells. It's up to her what to do with the second bell." Naruto said, smiling as he leaned back against one of the tree stumps. Hanabi watched him with a bored expression in her icy silver orbs. There was a dramatic silence, as the two boys turned to look at her with hopeful gazes. Hanabi turned around slowly, and walked over to the boys, placing a bell in each of the hands. Naruto smirked, and waited to see what she'd do next before saying anything. She made her way over by the monument, which held each of their lunch bentos, and snatched a dead, orange leaf from it, turning around to face the puzzled faces of both her teammates.

"It's late spring," she explained as the leaf erupted in a puff of smoke, revealing a bell. "If you morons had paid any attention, you would have known it was simply genjutsu." She glanced at the bell for a second, before turning her gaze upon her smiling sensei. "It was a clever one, though, I'll give you that. I had to use Byakugan to sanction my presumption." She crossed her arms, stuffing the bell in her shuriken pouch. "Now, I believe we have all passed."

"Maybe." Stated in a bored manner. He stifled a yawn, then smirked. "But I don't think I should." Naruto became serious in a flash, standing up fully, towering over his students. "You three say you want to become great shinobi, but you lack one of the most important aspects of being a true ninja. Read the hidden meaning within the hidden meaning; that's what my sensei used to say." He paused for a moment, eyeing them all, then sighing at the boys clueless expressions. Hanabi, however, seemed to be catching on. "Why do you think you and all your other classmates were put into teams of three?"

Konohamaru snorted. "Cause Hokage-sama's doesn't have enough Jounin's for everyone to get their own sensei, duh."

Naruto glared, causing all, including Hanabi, to visibly shiver. "You are a disgrace to the shinobi, and the village. You are all a pathetic bunch of spoiled brats. Obviously, you missed the entire point of this exercise." Naruto spat, glancing at Konohamaru with a hint of disappointment, which almost broke the younger boys' heart. Non of the three dared to speak at that moment, fearing for their safety. Naruto ran a hand through his golden locks, some matted to his face from sweat. "Teamwork. Hanabi may have gotten the bells, and figured out the genjutsu, but the whole point of this was teamwork. In battle, in missions, you need to learn to not only rely on yourself, but on your fellow comrades as well. You can't afford to be arrogant, egotistical idiots in a mission, it could cost you your life, or that of your teammates. If you brats had attacked me together, strategize something as a team, you could have stood a chance." Naruto explained in irritation.

Koji frowned. "Hold on a sec, if we were supposed to work on a team, how come you only had two bells? I mean, sure, there was that hidden one, but other than Hanabi-chan, we didn't even know about it. Even if the three of us had worked together for this, one of would have still gone without lunch and fail. C'mon, you're talking crap about us not working as a team, but you were playing us against each other all along!"

Naruto rolled his eyes and sighed. "God your thick." He crouched down, sitting on his heels, his knees digging into the grass. "Yeah, the assignment was meant to cause dissention amongst yourselves. This was set up to reveal, which of you would put any personal differences aside, and work together with your teammates for the good of all. Instead…" he paused, turning to look at Koji, glaring. "You Koji, ignored a fellow teammate, who was right in front of you all along, focusing only on Hanabi-san, though you didn't even know where she was." He stated, his voice lowering threateningly. "Konohamaru here, tried to take me on by headfirst in what should have been teamwork. And Hanabi-san," he looked at the girl who was watching him with little to none interest, and smiled sadly. "You were great kid, but you need to learn to trust others. Yes, I know that as a ninja one should not always rely on others, but what is even important now, is teamwork. All three of you have your own abilities, strengths and weaknesses. The three of you have the ability to become incredible shinobi, but you have to know how to work together. It's a necessity." He said grimly, disappearing in a puff of smoke and reappearing behind Hanabi, a kunai to her neck. "Koji, kill Konohamaru, or Hanabi dies."

Konohamaru and Koji gasped, staring at their sensei as if he had grown three head, a tail, and a pair of wings. Hanabi remained calm though, and quirked an eyebrow at Koji's hesitance. Naruto put the kunai away and sighed, stepping away from Hanabi to face them all. "The day will come when such a decision will have to be made." He sighed again, and smiled sadly. "Now, I'll give you all a second chance, and unless you are complete morons, I suggest follow my advice and work as a team. I'm passing you for today, but you can say you'll be more on probation. If I don't see any teamwork, you'll be sent back to the academy. I couldn't are less about whether you want to or not. Not many get this kind of chances so be grateful. If I fail you however, I want to hear NO complaints. I've given you the rules, I've explained to you everything you'll need to know. all you have to do is prove to me that you are worthy of becoming a full fledged ninja. Understood?" he announced, frowning. The three nodded mutely, causing him to smirk. "Good. You guys can go home, you are to meet back tomorrow morning at five. Don't like it, deal with it. You're ninja's now, things aren't always gonna go how you want it to go. Eat your lunch and go home." With that he was gone, vanishing in a puff of smoke. He reappeared in Ichiraku, and sigh tiredly.

"Hard day?"

He didn't need to turn around to know who it was, so he simply grunted in response and sat on a stool. He rubbed the bridge of his nose, willing his headache away. He had been getting al lot of those lately. Which was weird, because the fox was supposed to heal everything. If this was how it felt now, he didn't want to fell the headache without the fox's help. He had begun getting them the morning after his birthday party, but they hadn't been as strong as they were now. Probably stress though. He turned to the Jounin beside him and gave him a half hearted smiled. "Hey Kakashi-san. What's up?"

Kakashi smirked behind his mask, giving the blonde a pat on the back. "Nothing much, couple missions here and there, now that Hokage-sama has you to pick on." He replied, chuckling slightly. The silver haired Jounin eyed his former student for a moment before his eye curved into a half crescent, indicating he was smiling. "New wardrobe?"

Naruto snorted. "Yeah, Temari-chan didn't like my orange jumpsuit."

Kakashi laughed. "Where was she all those years ago?"

Naruto rolled his eyes, then turned his attention to his ramen, which he finished quickly, yet still managed to remain neat. How? We may never know. Kakashi yawned, taking out his book of Come Come Paradise. "So, how were your new students?"

Naruto coughed, almost choking on his ramen. He turned to Kakashi, who had actually lowered his book in interest, and smirked. "It was hysterical, you'll never believe who I got!"

Kakashi put his book down and smiled, although no-one could really see it. "Who?"

Naruto pushed his half-empty bowl away, causing the owned, his daughter, and many customers to gasp. "Konohamaru, Akakami Koji, and Hyuuga Hanabi. Can you believe it?! I mean, I did the whole bells thing with those three, and it was like dejavu. I had all these bunshin set up around the place and one in the field while I watched. Konohamaru just charged the clone, almost exactly like I did on our test, except his went a little more bad seeing as though he's extremely cocky. Then I found Koji, pulling a Sakura. He completely ignored Konohamaru, and spent the whole time looking for Hanabi-san. I swear that boy is obsessed with girls, just like Sakura-san was with Sasuke." He paused, taking a breath, then exhaling. "Then there's Hanabi-san. That girl's like Sasuke and Neji put together. She's really good though, and managed to get both bells, AND find the hidden bell."

"Oh, you had a hidden bell?" Kakashi interrupted.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, just a little bonus. She's good, but it's all about playing it solo with her. damn, this is gonna be hell, man. I've got a hyperactive loud-mouth, love struck moron, and an arrogant, egotistic, spoiled brat."

"Ah, the good old days." Kakashi quipped, scratching his wild silver locks. Naruto rolled his eyes but smiled.

"Right." He stood up, bowl in hand, and took a last sip before placing it down on the counter and pulling out his wallet. "Well, I better go. I've got a long day tomorrow." He said, paying his bill. He pushed the cloth behind aside and was about to step out when a hand grabbed his forearm. He turned back with a confused, and slightly pained expression. It wasn't that the grip Kakashi had on his arm was hard, it was the fact that his migraine was beginning to get worse, he almost felt like crying. "Yeah, what is it?" he asked as calmly as he could. He frowned, Kakashi looked serious. Kakashi was never serious unless it was something really important.

Kakashi examined him a minute before answering. "Naruto, have you been feeling okay? You seem kind of pale, and a little less observant. Your chakra seems to be a little out of control, and every now and then I can sense the… demon." Kakashi said in a deadly calm.

Naruto shrugged carelessly, and smiled. "Couple headaches, nothing too out of the ordinary. And Kyu's been talking to me a lot lately. So it's probably just that. don't worry so much."

Kakashi didn't seem to be entirely convinced, although it was true. He had been getting headaches every two or three hours, unusual but nothing to worry about.

Kakashi shook his head slowly, raising his left arm and resting his hand over his left eye, the covered one; the sharingan. He gripped it slightly, holding it for a second as if reconsidering whatever he was going to do, then slid it up, revealing the crimson eye with tri tear-drop pupils. "Naruto, I've seen the demon chakra appearing in your own. That thing could be trying to get out. Maybe we should go check this out with the Hokage."

Naruto snorted. "Right," he spat sarcastically. "Look, Kakashi, the Kyuubi may be the nine-tailed demon fox, but the one you all new is gone. Sure, she may still be a smart-ass, sarcastic, blood-thirsty psychopath. But she's my smart-ass, sarcastic, blood-thirsty psychopath. With out her, I wouldn't be the ninja I am today. She's trained me more than you or Ero-sannin ever have before. Not to be rude, but I suggest you keep your stupid theories to yourself. Kyuubi is one of the closest things to family I've had all my life." Naruto said in a low, cold voice. His eyes narrowed, darkening to an icy indigo. "I need to go." He spun around, heading in the opposite direction of the stand, towards his small apartment studio, leaving a gaping Kakashi behind.

Naruto stomped up the stairs to his apartment, which couldn't have been a good idea, considering they were a little ways away from becoming saw dust. He pulled out his key and slipped into the slot, turning it to his right, while turning the knob and opening the wooden door, which was in some desperate need of polishing. He kicked the door shut and locked it, slapping his palm onto the door in anger.

His apartment was extremely neat, his bed made, and dishes washed. It was plain, and not exactly what most people would imagine when they think of Naruto. He had moved out of his old apartment a little while after retrieving Sasuke, who had had to be put under probation nine months, with no missions. Back to the apartment, it was very simple, but radiated a cold aura.

The floor was a dark, polished mahogany wood, which when he first bought the apartment, had been full of chips. His walls were a dull white, almost gray, empty of anything apart from his calendar. Across the front door was a small balcony with glass sliding doors, covered by straight navy blue curtains. To his right was his bed, with tan sheets and a black cover; chosen by Temari. Beside the bed was a small wooden table, with a small alarm clock and photo of himself, Kankuro and Gaara. Gaara and Kankuro were on either side, both looking extremely bored, while Naruto beamed, arms around their shoulders. On his left was a door leading to his bathroom, and the walk in kitchen. Everything was organized and clean, though his cupboards were mostly filled with ramen cups. A small round table was situated in the center of the room, with two identical chairs on either side. A small chest sat at the foot of his bed where he kept his scrolls, weapons, and other necessities. His closest was beside his bathroom, now filled with his new clothes.

A soft sigh escaped his lips as he removed his clothing, leaving only his shorts and boxers on as he slipped into bed. He closed his eyes, and five minutes later found him deep in slumber.

[[ Naruto's Head]]

Kyuubi paced back and forth in her cage, something she had found herself doing every minute of the day, remembering the incident only three nights prior. She was not only furious as to how Shukaku had managed to appear in her host mind, and enter her cage, but she was also confused about a couple of things. One she didn't even one to think about, the other being about her vessels' constant headaches, which she had the feeling had something to do with how Shukaku appeared. Finally, the thing that confused her the most being what Naruto had said about her earlier. She didn't know whether to be insulted, or be happy. She didn't even know why she felt so strangely when he had said he considered her family. Kyuubi came to a halt before her cage doors and sighed in frustration, wrapping her slender fingers around the bars and banging her head. It didn't hurt, she had a high pain tolerance. Rolling her eyes, she growled. "I suppose I should… thank him… or something…. Damn, I'm not any good at this kind of crap. I'm a fucking demon! I shouldn't have to degrade myself like that!" she snapped at no-one in particular. Orange hair framing her seemingly delicate face, over-shadowing her crimson eyes. She sighed, closing her eyes in defeat. "But he did defend me, it's the least I can do." She mumbled, standing up straight, her hand coming to rest over her forehead. "Damn brat, you better be grateful." She murmured.

"Do you always talk to yourself?" a familiar voice asked sarcastically. Kyuubi flinched, `How in the seven hells does he do that?!'

"What do you want now? Tired of torturing your host?" she shot, spinning around and glaring at the shadowed form of Shukaku. "And how the hell did you get here?! First of all, it's over a thousand miles from the Wind country, and second, it's impossible!"

Shukaku chuckled. "Not quite, I'm here aren't I? Besides, aren't you glad to see me?" he asked, feigning hurt.

Kyuubi snorted. "Hardly." She muttered, snapping her fingers. A large Victorian chair appeared behind her, red chakra surrounding it like flames. She sat down and sighed. "What is it you want, Shukaku? I have many things to do, non of which include you."

Shukaku emerged from the shadows and smirked, his robes fluttering from the sudden movement. A relative silence engulfed the fox demon's chambers, both demons watching each other intently; one in frustration and caution, the other with dark amusement.

.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.

[1]: I don't know if that's really his last name, I just read it somewhere, so I'll leave it, unless someone knows it, then please tell me.

A/N: Whoa, that's the longest chapter I've ever written. Anyway, I've started school already, so I might not be able to update for a while. As for my other story, I've got major writers block on that one, plus no plot. I had it all written out, `cause I always forget things. But somehow, someway, my little brother got his hands on it and it found it's way to the dogs. True story. So now I have to think up a whole new plot, because for the life of me, I can't remember any goddamn thing that was on that paper. My life is hell! Anyway, it's kind of weird having only one pairing, and I really think I should pair Naruto with someone too. But who is the problem. That's why I need you guys. Review and tell me who you want to him to be paired with. I probably should tell you, I. HATE. SAKURA!!!! There is no way in hell I'll pair him up with that stuck up, self centered bitch. Hinata is ok, I have nothing against her, but I just can't see her with Naruto. Maybe Gaara or Sasuke, which is soooo cute, but never Naruto. It's too predictable. Why I prefer her with those two is still a mystery to me. Anyway, that just leaves Ino and the rest of the guys. So there's a good chance there'll be yaio, even though I think I said there wouldn't, I'm the author and I have the right to change my mind. Oh, and I know that TenTen and Temari are still available, but one, Temari is more of a mother figure. Two, I don't like it when guys date older women, it's just weird. Okay, I think I've said all that needs to be said. Wait, one more thing. When you send e a pairing, try to give me a reason or something, especially if it's one of the guys - which the chances of it being one of them are pretty high, having only Ino - because I've never, ever written yaio before. Give me a break, this is only my second story! I'm new.

Please review me!