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Chapter Three

"Er, I’m Hikaru and that is Asuka. We’re your new neighbors," I said carefully. Given what I’d heard, there was no telling what kind of emotional baggage this kid was toting around. Just my luck to get my clock cleaned by someone I wanted to befriend.

"We thought people were breaking into your apartment again," Asuka added. "They broke the door down the other night, so Hikaru beat them up."

Naruto frowned. "I thought that door looked a little different."

"The ANBU replaced it. Why were you fumbling around in the dark?" I asked.

"Oh," Naruto said. "They turned off the electricity again. At least I didn’t have any milk in the refrigerator this time."

I frowned as a drop of sweat inched down my bare back. The room was stifling. "Okay, this place is like an oven with no air conditioning. You want to sleep on our couch tonight?"

Naruto’s eyes widened in surprise. "Really? I mean, you don’t mind?" he asked.

"Of course not," I said. "Besides, there’s something I wanted to talk to you about."

"Sure, sure," he said as he dashed into the bedroom and returned with a sheet and a lumpy pillow. Asuka extinguished her jutsu as we exited the apartment and Naruto locked up.

The air was definitely cooler back at our place. Asuka led Naruto to one end of the couch and sat him down. He seemed more amused at her bossiness than anything else. She sat down on the opposite end of the couch while I pulled up a chair.

"So…" Naruto said, peering at Asuka, "are you shinobi?"

I nodded. "We will be," I said. "We should be graduating from the Academy pretty soon now."

Naruto frowned. "That means you were in the class behind mine," he said, "but I don’t remember seeing you there. And I’d definitely remember you with those weird eyes," he concluded, rather tactlessly, I might add.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Asuka wince.

"Are they a jutsu?" he asked after a moment.

"No," I grated. "They’ve always been this way."

"Awww," he pouted. "I was hoping they were. That way, you could teach me, and I could use it to scare the crap out of Sasuke!"

That brought me up short. No one ever said they wanted eyes like mine. "We’re transfer students. We came from Iwakagure."

Naruto smiled. "Really? Did you learn a lot of cool jutsus there?"  

"Not really," I said. He really did have a one-track mind. "I was a prisoner, as was my sensei."

"How could you be a prisoner?" Naruto asked, outraged. "If you haven’t graduated yet, then you’re just a kid. What did you do?"

"I didn’t do anything, Naruto," I growled. "I was imprisoned for what I am."

Naruto just frowned in confusion.

"You’d better show him or we’ll be up all night," Asuka said, sighing and rubbing her temples.

"Why don’t you show him?" I challenged her. Sometimes her bossiness rubbed me the wrong way. Just a little bit, anyway.

"Because I’m a girl," she said in a withering tone, implying that Naruto wasn’t the only idiot in the room.

I sighed and stood up. I suppose since I don’t sleep with a shirt on, it’d be easier for me to do it than to argue. I guessed she was feeling modest, but her seal was on her stomach. It wasn’t like it was on her… well, never mind. I circulated some chakra through the seal, making it glow green for a moment. "Does this look familiar?" I asked.

Naruto’s mouth dropped open.

"I have Hachimata, the eight-tailed dragon sealed inside me the same way you have the Kyuubi," I continued in a level tone, resisting the urge to make any remarks; this would be difficult enough as it was. "Asuka has one was well, but we’re not sure which one was bound to her."

 Naruto’s mouth closed with an audible snap. "It always comes back to the Kyuubi, doesn’t it?" he asked in an aggrieved tone.

"Perhaps," I agreed. "My sensei was imprisoned because he refused to break my mind so the Tsuchikage could use me as a weapon." I saw Asuka flinch, but I couldn’t gloss over this and still make my point. "What they did to her was nearly as bad," I added. She looked at me sharply. "Before he died, the old man told me about you and how the Fourth Hokage imprisoned the Kyuubi within you, saving the village. He figured if there was any place someone like me would have a fair chance, it would be where a Jinchuuriki was the village hero."

Naruto opened his mouth to protest, but I raised my hand to forestall him. "I know, I know. The villagers don’t see you that way. For once, it seems the old man wasn’t cynical enough… But still, you are free, and allowed to be a shinobi. Asuka and I as well. That’s a better deal than we’d have most places." It might be deflating to realize, but he really did have a better deal here — even if knowing that did limit his potential for teenage angst.

Naruto stuck his chest out. "It doesn’t matter how they act now," he declared. "I’ll be Hokage some day, and then everyone will have to recognize me!"

Asuka and I just stared at Naruto for a moment after his grandiose announcement. I opened my mouth to make a smart remark, but something gave me pause. He really believed it, and for just a second, so did I.

Now, ordinarily, I don’t believe in much. The old man once said, "When you are in prison, hope is the deadliest of poisons." Just a little can corrode your soul over time, leaving it poisoned and driving you mad. For Naruto to believe in his childish proclamation so strongly as to move me…? Such charisma was usually the province of madmen, visionaries, and true leaders. While Naruto seemed relatively sane, despite his taste in clothes, I don’t think he had the brainpower to be a visionary either. That left only one option.

"Well," I said slowly. "If you become Hokage, then I imagine Konoha will be an even better place to live for people like me and Asuka." I turned to my room mate. "What do you say, Asuka? Think we should help him become Hokage?"

"I’d like that," she said with a smile. Were her eyes a little shiny too?

I turned back to Naruto. "We’re in, oh future-Hokage-sama."

I doubt I’ll ever forget the look on his face.

OoOoO

It was a while after that before we got everyone settled down and asleep. I had to remind Naruto and Asuka that we had class in the morning. Naruto was pleased to discover we were working with Iruka-sensei as well, but agreed that falling asleep in class was a bad idea if you didn’t like being lectured.

Morning came all too fast, seemingly about twenty seconds after I closed my eyes. Asuka and I bustled around the apartment, getting ready for classes. I got some rice cooking while she ducked into the shower. Naruto was just stirring on the couch.

"When do you have to be up?" I asked as he looked blearily about the room.

"Not for a while yet," he yawned and then sat up, scratching lazily at his hair. "My sensei is always hours late for team meetings, so I don’t bother showing up on time anymore."

Great. More Leaf weirdness.

"All right," I said. "We have to go soon, so I’ll leave the spare key with you. Lock up when you leave."

He nodded, but didn’t say anything as he took the key from my hand. Finally, he frowned. "Hey, is Asuka like your sister or something?" he asked.

"Not really," I said. "But she helped me escape. I owe her a lot."

"But you two sleep in the same room," he said, making a face. "Isn’t that kind of… weird?"

I bit back the first three things I wanted to say. "Look," I snapped. "She had a very bad time getting out of Iwakagure, and she has terrible nightmares about it. If I’m not there to wake her up when she’s having one… bad things happen. And while we’re on the topic, you want to be careful about startling that girl. She’s really good with fire jutsus, and I won’t be held responsible if you surprise her and she lights you up."

Naruto’s face turned red and he looked away, embarrassed. I felt a sudden urge to smash my forehead against the wall. Embarrassing him was, of course, a simply brilliant way of getting to know him. I needed to learn how to curb my defensiveness where Asuka was concerned. Even if I did feel guilty about what happened, I had no business taking it out on someone else. I sighed. Time to leaven the stick with some carrot.

"But you do bring up a good point. We have a spare bedroom right now, so I’ll talk to Asuka when we’re at school today. If you move in with us, we can share expenses and maybe the villagers will stop messing with you so much," I said, looking down as I picked at my nails. I decided not to mention it being a bit less lonely for him, from what Iruka had told us. Guys don’t talk about stuff like that.

"Or they might start messing with you two as well," Naruto pointed out.

"Hey, we’re in this together, aren’t we future-Hokage-sama?" I replied with a smirk.

"Oi! You make us sound like the Konohamaru Corps!" he said with a laugh.

Of course, I had to get him to explain that one, and soon learned about the Third Hokage’s reality-challenged grandson. "All right, Naruto-sama," I agreed. "But if you call me Udon, I’ll have to get you."

"And how would you do that?" He asked in a superior tone, holding his nose up in the air. The effect was somewhat spoiled by the corners of his mouth twitching upwards.

"Evil masterminds always find a way," I said in a low, dramatic voice.

We were both laughing like lunatics when Asuka came out of the bathroom, dressed for school and rubbing a towel through her short, damp hair. "Boys!" she said in a despairing tone as she hung up the towel and headed out the door with her bag.

"Wait up, Asuka-chan," I called out as I staggered to my feet and followed.

OoOoO

Classes were a little less tense that day. For the most part, people seemed to be getting used to us, so we weren’t constantly the center of attention. I was still a little nervous in unfamiliar social situations, not that I would ever admit it. On the other hand, Asuka seemed to notice when I was out of my depth and helped smooth things over. She didn’t make a big deal out of it… she just took charge when I had no idea how to respond to something like a shopkeeper haggling, or a classmate asking a question. Later, I would ask her what the hell was going on, and she would fill me in. I tried not to dwell on that too much.

Of course, our nice, stress-free day couldn’t last forever. During our lunch break, we quickly ate our increasingly bland rice balls. Then we spent the rest of the time in the training yard, leaning back on a bench, staring up at the sky, and plotting ways to make some ryou. Staring up at the clouds for long periods of time is one of my more wholesome vices. Considering how I grew up, I figure I’m entitled to admire the sky just a bit. Endless space over my head was still a slightly intoxicating concept.

My contemplations were disturbed by a trio of prospective genin from our class who walked over and began speaking without any introductions. Their apparent leader was a boy with a prominent scar on his cheek that gave him a permanent squint. "My father is ANBU," he informed me. He must consider that to be highly important, given the way he said it.

"Good for him. Why do they always wear those masks?" I asked.

He didn’t answer my question when he replied. "He said you came from Iwakagure!" he accused. Maybe he didn’t know about the masks. Was it classified information? Or did they all have facial deformities?

"That’s right," I answered, sitting up. Asuka sat up as well.

"My father fought the Rock Ninja in the war!" the husky boy on his left blustered.

"Mine too!" added the skinny, pock-marked kid on the right.

Asuka looked very uncomfortable.

"Good for them!" I snarled, thrusting my head forward. "I hope they killed a lot of the rotten bastards!"

The boys stared at me with wide eyes, stunned at my vehemence.

"What?" I asked. "Did your ANBU daddy forget to mention that we were fleeing from Iwakagure? Or that we had to kill a handful of Rock-nins ourselves in order to escape? Or are you just congenitally stupid?" I glared at them, my upper lip curled back to expose my slightly-larger-than-normal canines.

The boys backed away as I shifted my weight forward and acted like I was getting ready to leap up from the bench and wreak some havoc. "Beat it," I spat.

They fled.

Asuka turned and glared at me. "You scared them."

"Yep."

"You liked it!" she accused.

I shrugged. "Yeah. So?"

"You didn’t have to do that," she said, crossly.

"They were irritating me, so I made them go away," I said, then paused. "I did forget to mention that you got more of the enemy than I did. Sorry about that."

"That isn’t what I meant," she insisted. "You can’t always go around bullying people like that."

 "Well, I thought they were bothering you too," I said defensively.

Her eyes narrowed. "Would they have irritated you so much if I wasn’t here?" she asked.

I shrugged and decided to go with the truth. Given her mood, it was probably safer. "I don’t know. What do you think about having Naruto move in with us? He can use the spare bedroom."

"That would be nice," she said quickly smiling. And then she frowned just as quickly. "You changed the subject on me," she accused.

"Yes. Yes, I did," I admitted with a smirk.

"That wasn’t very nice," she shot back.

"I’m not very nice," I said, widening my smirk.

Asuka scowled. "I’m not a little baby you have to protect," she pouted, folding her arms and looking away. I declined to inform her how sticking her lower lip out like that made her look even younger.

"No," I agreed, "you are not a little baby. But you are my friend." I scowled as her head snapped back around and she looked down, cheeks reddening. The bell marking the end of the period saved me from any further embarrassing revelations.

Of course, my little performance had consequences. By the time it had circulated through the gossip network, the bare facts of our journey mutated into something unrecognizable. Not only had we defeated hundred of enemies to reach Konoha, but Asuka was now a fugitive princess! (Which actually wasn’t too far from the truth, now that I think about it.) And me? I was a demon of the underworld that she’d tricked into becoming her faithful manservant. Given that I did all the cooking in our apartment, that part hit a little close to home.

Of course, all this rumor-mongering made Asuka suddenly one of the most popular girls in the class, despite her being a little younger. Nobody seemed to really believe I was a demon… not out loud, anyway. But I didn’t have anyone eager to hassle us after that, so maybe it was worth the embarrassment. Did these kids read too many fanciful stories? Or were they fed too much sugar as toddlers? Or was this all just another example of that all-pervading Leaf Weirdnessâ„¢?

And did I really even want to know the answer to that question?

OoOoO

Naruto was waiting for us when we got home, his mission that day involving a rather disastrous demonstration of how not to weed a garden. I wasn’t sure I really believed that a hidden grass missing-nin gave him that black eye though.

His contusions, both to body and pride, were forgotten when I asked if he still wanted to move in. Between his enormous smile and the fact that he was bouncing from foot to foot in his eagerness, Asuka couldn’t stop giggling.

As we helped him pack, I moved his bed away from the wall and saw a slip of paper flutter to the ground. I picked it up and examined it for a moment, only to have Naruto snatch it from my fingers.

"Be careful!" he cautioned, "that’s an explosive tag!"

"That?" I asked, and let out a snort. "The ink is smudged, the characters are poorly executed, and half the symbols are mis-aligned. I’d be amazed if it even went off."

Naruto scowled and looked away. "It’s all I can afford," he muttered sullenly.

I winced. One of these days I was going to learn how to watch my mouth. I’d probably be elected Iwakagure’s Most Popular Shinobi first. Well, time to make amends. "Tell you what," I said in what I hoped was a jaunty tone, "after we get your stuff moved, I’ll make you some good ones."

"You can make explosive tags?" Naruto asked in an amazed voice, his pique instantly forgotten. In fact, he looked like he’d just been told it was raining ramen outside.

I nodded. "I should be able to. The theory behind the design isn’t that complex."

"You are the greatest room mate ever!" Naruto said happily.

"I thought my title was Head Minion and Evil Plotter?" I asked.

Naruto rubbed at his jaw, even though he was way too young to start shaving yet. Asuka later explained that he’d probably seen it in a movie. "If you can make explosive tags, then I’ll have to promote you."

"You are too generous, Naruto-sama," I said sarcastically.

"I’ve already carried over my share of his stuff," Asuka announced. "So stop standing around talking." Her voice had taken on a scolding tone, but her green eyes were practically dancing with laughter as Naruto and I quickly picked up stacks of clothes, scrolls, and weapons. There were also several crates of something called ‘cup-ramen’. I assumed it was edible—the ramen that is, not the cup.

It took a surprisingly short amount of time to move Naruto’s belongings down the hall and into the spare bedroom. He was just going to leave everything in a huge pile, but Asuka was having none of it.

"If you want to live with other people," she said, tapping her foot and narrowing her eyes, "you can’t be messy."

Naruto started to scowl, but then he cracked a mischievous smile and brought his hands together to form a seal. I was suddenly aware of a rather large amount of chakra being hurriedly molded. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto yelled, and suddenly his room was extremely crowded — between the three of us and an extra half-dozen Narutos.

I was wondering what use the illusionary duplicates would have when I saw one open a drawer. "Those things are solid?" I asked. No wonder that took so much chakra.

Naruto nodded proudly. "It’s my ultimate technique!" he announced.

"Good," Asuka said, her eyes dancing at this little revelation. "Then you can do all the picking up around here, and I will do the laundry while Hikaru cooks."

"What?" Naruto asked, outraged.

"Just have your little friends do it," she said dismissively. A couple of the bunshins made rude gestures at her. "Be nice!" she warned, "or I might get carried away when I dry your clothes. I think you’d look better in brown than orange anyway. Right, Hikaru?"

"Er, that seems like a fair division of labor," I said carefully, trying to think of something to say before I was either pummeled or toasted.

Naruto shot me a betrayed look and started to open his mouth.

"Do you want to stand around and argue, or do you want me to make you some tags?" I asked quickly.

Naruto grabbed my elbow and dragged me out of his room, while his slightly disgruntled-looking clones continued to put things away. I’m pretty sure one of them flipped me off as I left.

I paused for a moment in the living room to grab my school bag, and then led the two spectators into the kitchen. Sitting down at the table, I removed several items from the bag.

With a sharp kunai, it required less than a minute to divide a single sheet of unmarked paper into four equal-sized strips. I uncapped a fresh bottle of ink, and then used the point of the kunai to cut a deep slit in the pad of my thumb. Naruto gasped, but Asuka just stared silently as I squeezed the cut over the bottle of ink, letting a thin stream of dark red dribble into the even darker pigment.

When I judged that I’d spiked the ink with enough of my blood, I pushed the edges of the cut together while I got up from the table. As usual, the cut healed almost instantly, before I even started to wash my hands or clean off the kunai. After drying the blade, I cradled the bottle of blood-spiked ink in my hands and began to push my chakra into it. This continued for several minutes, during which Naruto began to fidget, and then finally got up from the table.

After the blood-spiked ink had absorbed as much chakra as it could hold, I carefully held the bottle up to the light. The chakra-impregnated ink seemed to glimmer slightly under the kitchen lights. As Naruto fiddled with the stove, I took out my brushes and dipped the thickest one into the ink.

It wasn’t like this was that difficult… I’d practiced these designs hundreds of times, only using a hunk of my own hair as the brush. Still, I almost botched the first tag. I wasn’t entirely used to writing on a surface that wasn’t fixed in place — like the stone floor of our cell. But I was able to hold the tag along the edges with the fingers of my left hand while I drew the chakra-storing seals with bold strokes.

My confidence increased as the tag slowly took form under my brush. When I finished the edging, I immediately started on the next one. I didn’t want to give the prepared ink time to dry out. The first tag was nearly dry as I finished the last one, capped the ink bottle, and straightened up. Naruto’s attention was wholly focused on the flimsy-looking container of cup-ramen in his hands. (Asuka later identified the strange white material as the mystical compound ‘Styrofoam’. Supposedly, no one knew where it came from.)

Asuka was similarly focused on her own cup. I frowned as I stood up to go rinse out my brushes. Being upstaged by reconstituted noodles was bad for my ego.

On the other hand, there was a third cup waiting in front of my chair when I sat back down again. Naruto grinned over at me. "Got to eat it while it’s hot!" he told me. At least he was generous with his obsessions, and it was quite good. Not as savory as the fresh stuff from Ichiraku’s, but tasty nonetheless.

By the time I’d drunk the last of my broth, the first tag was completely dry. I carefully picked it up and forced my chakra into the storage seals in the center of the design. When it felt ‘full’, I lightly brushed my fingertips across the design and primed the seals. The next time it was directly touched with chakra, the storage seals would begin to break down. After precisely five seconds, the chakra stored within them would be released. If I’d constructed it properly, the ‘fire’ and ‘concussion’ seals would convert this chakra into a small explosion. I repeated this process with the other three tags and then stretched again. Naruto was eyeing the tags spread before me on the table. I handed him one.

He gingerly turned it over in his hands, eyeing it with some care. "Will this really work?" he asked bluntly.

I grinned at him. "Want to test it out?"

And that was how the three of us found ourselves at one of the training grounds well after dark. Asuka was a little less enthusiastic about this, but maybe it was just a guy thing. Naruto was chuckling to himself as he told us to stay still. He ran across the clearing and stuck the tag onto the trunk of a tree. I’d warned him that I wasn’t exactly sure how strong the explosion would be. I rather carefully avoided mentioning that these were the first real tags I’d made. Old man’s lessons had, by necessity, been limited to theory on many subjects.

Naruto lightly slapped the tag and began to run back toward us as fast as he could. He was most of the way back when the tag detonated and the shockwave sent him tumbling into us. Asuka and I staggered backwards, surprised. Of course, I managed to trip over a tree root and sit down hard with a thump.

On the other side of the clearing, the tree was completely gone - as were its immediate neighbors. In their place was a ten foot wide crater and above that a huge, green-tinged ball of fire rose into the night sky.

We were all silent for a moment after climbing back to our feet. "I’ll make you another batch of tags," I promised a wide-eyed Naruto. "I can make them a lot smaller."

"Nah, these are fine," he assured me, still staring at the smoking crater, a smile spreading across his face.

Maniac.

OoOoO

Between Naruto’s giddiness and Asuka’s worries about getting into trouble, it took us a while after we made it back to the apartment for us to settle down for the night. Even after we went to bed, sleep eluded me for the longest time, leaving my mind to wander.

I suppose part of this was due to the satisfaction of seeing my tag work so well. It felt good to know that I was able to put the old man’s teachings to good use. He’d only been able to lecture me on the theory, but I still got it right the first time. According to Naruto, they didn’t even teach tag-making at the Konoha Ninja Academy, which got me wondering.

Then it hit me. When the Tsuchikage’s men were looking for someone to complete his secret weapon, they’d searched Earth Country for the best seal-master they could find. That had been the old man. And he’d spent nearly every waking moment of almost ten years teaching me everything he could. That was both a humbling and a scary thought. And being scared and humble was not my cup of tea, either.

I wrenched my thoughts back to the present. The tag Naruto detonated was nearly an entire order of magnitude stronger than I expected it to be. That and the odd green hue made me wonder if Hachimata’s chakra was helping me. The seal on my stomach was supposed to help convert the Biju’s chakra into something I could use, and I wasn’t nearly as tired after making those tags as the old man warned I would be.

This brought up the matter of economics. Naruto was an active-duty genin with steady work completing missions, yet he said he couldn’t afford better than that crappy tag I’d found behind his bed. Were tags that expensive? If making them really exhausted the chakra of the creator, it was possible. That meant I might have an opportunity to bring in some ryou.

I smiled. Asuka had helped me adjust to many aspects of life outside of my prison cell. She subtly corrected the worst of my social miscues, patiently answered my questions, and did a lot of other small things that I won’t bother to include in this narrative. There are a lot of things people outside my situation don’t really appreciate.

Have you ever stopped to wonder at the miracle of modern technology known as the flush toilet? I know it’s something people use every day, most likely without even thinking twice about it. But from the perspective of someone who had to use a nasty-smelling bucket their entire life, it’s damned miraculous.

Almost as miraculous as the way my mind wanders when I’m trying to sleep.

But for all of Asuka’s experience as a member of the Tsuchikage’s household, she’d been the youngest of a very privileged family. As such, she had little knowledge of how the common people made a living. Hell, I never had a hot meal until I came to Konoha, but I ended up doing the vast majority of the cooking. I swear that girl could burn water without using a jutsu…

Even though I hadn’t spoken aloud, Asuka stirred restlessly on the mattress. I gently nudged her and she settled back down again. Maybe her mind was wandering as much as mine was.

I rolled onto my side, trying to get comfortable. If I could sell tags that I made, we might make enough money to live a little more comfortably. Not only could we buy food to go with the plain rice, but I’d feel better if we weren’t entirely dependent on the Hokage’s largesse. And I only needed to make enough to keep us going until graduation. Once Asuka and I were genin as well, performing missions for pay should be more than enough to support the three of us.

That was a comforting thought. As our future seemed to become more secure in my mind, Asuka rolled over until her shoulder was pressing into my back. Despite the distractions, my mind finally decided to pack it in and let me sleep.

OoOoO

The following morning, I made a special point of arriving at school well before class started. Iruka was there as well, going over his lesson plans.

"Ah, sensei?" I asked.

"Yes, Hikaru?" he said with a smile. How the hell anyone could be so chipper first thing in the morning was beyond me. Maybe he took soldier pills or something.

"Are we going to be covering explosive tags soon?"

"Yes," Iruka confirmed. And, like the teacher he was, he proceeded to explain why. "We started covering them right at the end a few years back after some… incidents. There were a few students that liked to pull pranks, and once they learned about tags, they began using small ones to set traps for each other. The building maintenance budget skyrocketed."

I winced and nodded. "I can see where that would be a problem," I agreed. "Do we bring our own tags?"

Iruka shook his head. "No, you don’t need to buy your own. I’ll be going out this weekend and picking some up for the entire class."

I smiled. "I’ll charge you twenty percent below the going rate," I promised.

Iruka frowned. "Hikaru," he said in a disappointed voice. "I can’t bring stolen materials into my classroom. And if the Hokage found out, you could-"

"Not stolen," I said sharply.

Iruka looked puzzled. "Then how? Did you bring some from-?"

"I’ll make them," I said, smiling again.

As expected, Iruka’s mouth dropped open. "You can make them?"

I shrugged. "My old sensei was a seal master, and he taught me a lot. Why don’t you cover it in class?"

Iruka shook his head. "Hikaru, that’s considered a very advanced skill, especially for genin. I’m not sure it would be right for you to-"

"Tell you what," I interrupted, "Tomorrow is Friday. I’ll bring in some samples for you to examine. I’ll make an assortment of sizes and we can set off a few after school and you can pick which size you want to use. I’ll make them over the weekend and deliver them to you on Monday, for twenty percent less than whatever you normally pay."

Iruka was silent for a moment. "Why are you so eager to earn money, Hikaru?" he asked. "If you two don’t have enough, I can talk to the Hokage."

Now it was my turn to shake my head. "I’d rather not have more charity," I said. "Besides, Naruto moved in with Asuka and me last night, and we can’t let him pay for all the food, can we?"

Iruka rubbed at the scar across the bridge of his nose. "He’d probably do it without thinking twice," the chuunin said quietly. Then he straightened and looked me in the eye. "Bring your samples tomorrow. If they pass inspection, we’ll set off a few to gauge them and work out the details of the order. Does that sound fair?"

"Yes, sensei!" I said eagerly.

Iruka smiled. "And I’m glad you are getting along so well."

I shrugged. "I’m just getting in good with the future Hokage," I said.

Iruka’s eyes widened for a moment, then he burst into laughter.

After that, class itself was almost anticlimactic. The wild rumors about Asuka (and myself) continued to multiply, and people generally left me alone. That was fine for me — I’m naturally antisocial. Asuka dealt with the attention rather well though. I suppose being raised in the Tsuchikage’s household got her used to socializing with the gullible.

But Iruka’s reminder in class about the approaching genin exams got me to thinking. I shared my thoughts with Asuka at lunch and she agreed.

That was why we sought out Jaboru during the taijutsu drills.

"What do you want?" he asked warily as we approached.

"We want to graduate," I answered. "I assume you do as well."

"What does that have to do with anything?" he countered.

"My taijutsu isn’t going to improve from working with most of the people here," I said bluntly. "And neither is yours. That leaves us both in danger of failing."

"Oh, please," he said, rolling his eyes dramatically.

"My weapon skills suck," I admitted. "And your ninjutsu isn’t much better. We both need to nail the taijutsu portion of the exam to make up for the other parts."

Jaboru stood very still for a moment before pointing his chin at Asuka. "What about her?" he asked.

"She’s in the same boat as I am," I said. "She needs to spar with someone as strong as you to improve. Also, she’s just as fast as I am, which you need to work against to improve."

Jaboru nodded thoughtfully, and when Iruka’s whistle blew, we both settled into fighting stances.

OoOoO

By the end of the period, all three of us were winded and sweaty. My arms were sore from blocking those tree trunks that Jaboru called arms, but his lungs were working like a bellows. Asuka’s hands were trembling from fatigue, making her scowl.

But it had also been one of the more productive training sessions we’d had yet. No one had used chakra, so we could concentrate on developing our physical abilities, and those had been sorely tested. But as we walked back inside, Jaboru gave us a quick nod before returning to sit with his friends.

As far as declarations of peace went, it wasn’t much. But then again, I’d trust in need and mutual convenience a lot more than any flowery words.

We were sore enough that it was hard to concentrate on the lecture afterwards, but I think it was worth it. By the end of the day, I was mostly recovered, though Asuka was walking a little slower than usual. I ambled along at a pace to match hers, but didn’t say anything. Like Naruto, I didn’t want my clothes getting ‘accidentally’ scorched.

We were halfway home when a cheery voice called our names, "Oi! Hikaru! Asuka-chan!" I looked up and saw Naruto walking down the opposite sidewalk, accompanied by another boy, a girl, and an old man with white hair and a mask across the lower half of his face. I turned to Asuka, but she was already crossing the street to meet them. I sighed and followed her. I wasn’t sure who was in charge around here, but it sure as hell wasn’t me.

I sauntered after her to go and meet Naruto, and what I presumed was his team.

I wasn’t really sure what to make of them. I mean, the girl had pink hair. What kind of ninja would want pink hair? And it really clashed with that red dress too. Between that and the orange jumpsuit, I wondered if their sensei was color-blind or something.

On the other hand, their sensei was dressed rather sedately, except for that freaky mask. And what I could see of his face above it was unlined, so he either bleached his hair or was prematurely grey. I’d bet on the former, given the preponderance of Leaf Weirdnessâ„¢ I’d seen so far.

The other boy had a very serious expression on his face, no doubt the result of hours of practice in front of a mirror. His dramatically upswept hair, indicative of serious styling-gel abuse, was somewhat scorched in places, as were his shorts and over-sized t-shirt. I had some suspicions about those burns.

"Kakashi-sensei, Sakura-chan! These are my new roomies," Naruto babbled loudly at his team, "Asuka and Hikaru!" He paused. "Oh, yeah, and the crispy guy is Sasuke," he added as an afterthought.

Sakura gave Asuka a sympathetic look. Then she turned toward Naruto and shouted, "Do you have to be so loud?"

Naruto flinched back, but continued in a more reasonable voice. "But they are really cool, Sakura-chan!"

The pink-haired kunoichi rolled her eyes, as if to say, "Then why are they with you?" but Naruto didn’t seem to notice.

"Asuka is really good with fire jutsus," he continued, "and Hikaru can make explosive tags!" He then turned toward me, grinning. "We practiced trap-building today, so I put those tags to good use!" he said, looking far too pleased with himself.

The dark-haired boy’s eyes flickered toward Asuka when Naruto mentioned fire jutsus, but Sakura’s reaction was more extreme. She rapped her knuckles across the back of Naruto’s head. "That wasn’t funny," she fumed, "Sasuke-kun could have been hurt!"

She missed the glare that Sasuke shot at her, but their sensei finally chimed in.

"Those tags were quite a bit stronger than usual," he agreed, "but you cannot assume your enemies will always have substandard equipment." He looked up from the orange-covered book he was reading. What the hell kind of title is "Icha Icha Paradise" anyway? Was it some kind of training manual? I mean, it looked like the two figures on the cover were fighting… I think.   He leaned forward, peering at me. "I don’t know you," he said.

"I doubt you would," I agreed, "unless you’ve been doing missions in Iwakagure."

The jonin’s one visible eye sharpened its gaze, and I abruptly began to feel uncomfortable. Maybe he was a weirdo, but suddenly he was also a scary weirdo. I fought the urge to shove Asuka behind me, or better yet, grab her and run like hell. Struggling to keep my voice even, I continued. "We left Earth Country and formally sought asylum from the Hokage-sama, which he granted."

That subtle pressure was suddenly gone, leaving me rather annoyed. The white-haired jonin abruptly turned and walked away.

"Sensei?" Sakura called out.

"You’re dismissed for the day," he said carelessly. "I have to report to the Hokage." His nose was already buried in his book again.

Naruto snorted in amusement at his sensei, and then turned back toward us. "Hey! Want to get some ramen?" he asked.

I shook my head. "We need to save our money right now," I said. "Maybe next week-"

"My treat!" Naruto insisted, digging an enormously bloated frog-shaped wallet out of his pocket.

I scowled. I felt bad enough about accepting the Hokage’s money, let alone charity from someone practically my own age. "That’s okay, Naruto. We don’t need to be borrowing money from you-"

He cut me off again. "Make me some more of those tags and we’ll call it even," he said with a grin.

I sighed. "All right, but I’m making them smaller next time. I don’t want your sensei on my case because you went and blew up your team."

"All right!" Naruto cheered. "How about you, Sakura-chan?" he asked, turning soft eyes on his team mate. I wondered if he had a crush on her or something.

Sakura looked from Naruto to Asuka, distaste warring with curiosity on her face. "I… suppose so," she said. But then she turned toward Sasuke with a hopeful look, missing Naruto’s shocked but joyous expression.

The dark-haired boy pushed his hair back with a practiced toss of his head. With an inarticulate grunt, he turned and stalked off.

Sakura looked disappointed for a moment, but then she turned to Asuka and began speaking in low tones as the two of them headed off for Ichiraku’s. The conversation that ensued was incredibly confusing. It jumped from boys to clothes to hair to shopping back to clothes again and then on to something they would only discuss in whispers. I had a suspicion that I really didn’t want to know who or what they were discussing at that point.

Naruto just stared after them with his mouth hanging open until I nudged him with my elbow. "They’re going to leave us behind," I warned him.

He began walking, but was uncharacteristically sullen. I tried to jolly him out of his mood by asking his favorite flavor of ramen.

Huge mistake.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I like ramen just as much as the next shinobi, maybe even a little more. The first hot meal I ever had was a bowl of ramen, so it’ll always hold a warm spot in my heart. I can really pack it away when I’m hungry too. But I was nowhere near Naruto’s level. I wasn’t a connoisseur.

It was a ten minute walk to Ichiraku’s and he was still going on about seasoning combinations and broth consistency when we arrived.

Asuka (rather cleverly) grabbed one of the end stools at the counter, and Sakura sat next to her. I let Naruto pick next and he sat down next to his team mate. Unfortunately, Sakura also shifted on her stool until she was turned partially toward Asuka, pointedly ignoring Naruto. I frowned and took the last stool.

The cook bustled over, beaming at what was probably one of his favorite customers. I let Naruto order for me, since he was obviously more familiar with the menu, but I cut him off after two bowls. That’s how I ended up with a bowl of pork and a bowl of miso-flavored ramen, while Naruto had both of those and a serving of beef as well. Asuka got the crab-flavored again, while Sakura ordered hers with a vegetable broth.

The girls talked in low tones, while Naruto frowned. We mainly just listened to Sakura and Asuka talk, but I stole the occasional glance at my room mate. I made a note to make sure I kept Naruto from gambling as I watched the emotions play across his face. I revised my earlier opinion: he didn’t just have a crush on the girl, he had it bad.

Asuka wasn’t oblivious to this, and started trying to involve Naruto in the conversation as well. But Sakura soon finished her bowl and stood up. After saying goodbye to Asuka, she thanked Naruto politely before leaving… but I noticed that she never made eye contact with him.

Naruto stared after the kunoichi as she walked away, and I re-revised my previous opinion. He had it really bad.

But he shook himself after a few minutes, had another couple of bowls of ramen, and called it a night. We were mostly silent as we walked home in the warm twilight. But Asuka and I did exchange glances when we saw some villagers glaring at Naruto. He just seemed to ignore them though, and I pondered the Hokage’s words. Stupid frigging villagers better watch their asses.

When we returned to the apartment, Naruto went directly to his room, saying he needed to organize his scrolls. I wasn’t going to object if he wanted to be alone for a bit — I had tags to make for him, not to mention the test batches for Iruka to examine.

As I sat down at the kitchen table to work, Asuka boiled some water for tea. While that was about as adventurous as she was willing to get in the kitchen, I still watched her from the corner of my eye.

But nothing untoward happened and she sat down at the table with a cup of hot tea, setting its twin next to my elbow as I completed a seal. "Thanks," I said as I put my brush down and took a sip.

"He really likes her, doesn’t he?" she said in little more than a whisper.

"Naruto?" I asked. "Yeah, but she doesn’t seem to feel the same way."

Asuka shook her head. "No, she likes that other boy on her team, Sasuke. But he’s very cold to her… and Naruto gets on her nerves."

I snorted. I wasn’t even sure if this Sasuke kid had any use for girls. I mean, seriously, any guy who spent that much time on his hair…? "While there is a certain poetic justice there," I said with a smirk, "Sakura isn’t our problem. Naruto is."

Asuka smiled. "Because he’s one of us, right?"

"Right," I agreed. Asuka seemed somewhat fixated on that idea, but I wasn’t going to chide her for it. She’d lost a family, of sorts, in Iwakagure, so I couldn’t blame her for wanting to have a new one here. "So what do we do about it?" I asked her.

Asuka frowned. "Well, he’s ‘been pestering her’ since they were both in the Academy. But I get the feeling that he wasn’t very popular there."

I shook my head, recalling Iruka’s worries. "No, he probably wasn’t. If the adults all act like they hate him…"

"You saw them glaring, same as I did," Asuka whispered angrily.

"Exactly," I agreed. "The kids probably picked up on that as well. That means finding someone better for him will be difficult, if not impossible."

Asuka frowned. "I don’t think Sakura is likely to change her mind. Even if Naruto becomes Hokage."

"What the heck did you two talk about?" I asked.

Asuka shrugged. "Girl stuff."

"Very informative," I growled as I returned to work on the tags. At least with seals there was a right way and a wrong way to do something, and you could tell which was which.

By the time I was nearly done, Naruto returned from his room, his normal, cheerful self. He sat down at the table to watch me work, and soon began talking about this big mission he’d been on to Wave Country…

OoOoO

Asuka and I lingered after class the following day, limping a little after another hard workout sparring with Jaboru. After everyone else left, I walked up to Iruka-sensei and handed him a folder I pulled out of my bag. He opened it and began to page through the sample tags I’d created as the three of us walked out to the training area behind the school.

"These look very good," he said approvingly. "But what’s this one?" he asked as he pulled the largest tag out of the folder. The stiff paper was over a hand-span wide and two hand-spans long, with two large quadruple trigrams for chakra storage and a border of zodiacal symbols and lesser elemental seals to add stability to the whole. This was not a tag you wanted going off by accident.

"That’s an Uzumaki Special," I said, rolling my eyes at the title. "One of Naruto’s stories inspired the design, so I named it after him. It was only fair." That and he whined a lot as well. "His team had a mission to guard a bridge from enemy ninjas, so I got to thinking about demolition tags."

Iruka’s eyes widened at that. "How would you arm such a thing?" he asked.

I shrugged. "Chakra wires or a Kage Bunshin with a death wish," I speculated. "But I wouldn’t test it here," I warned. "We’d need a much larger training area."

Iruka shook his head and slid the tag back into the folder. "I think we can pass on that," he said calmly, which actually impressed me a bit.    I was a little bit disappointed, though; I was sort of curious about how much damage it could actually do…

Of course, I’d arranged the tags in order of increasing strength, so it wasn’t like there was a shortage of explosions that afternoon. Iruka tried not to show it, but he seemed to have a lot of fun using some of them to slowly reduce a partially buried boulder into scorched gravel.

Before long, I had an order for nearly two hundred explosive tags, for which Asuka and I would receive more than enough ryou to get the taste of plain rice out of our mouths.

I was eager to get started, so we headed home immediately. Asuka was a great help — mostly by keeping Naruto distracted and out of my hair while I worked at the kitchen table.

While the work was repetitive, and I suppose many might consider it tedious, it was still strangely satisfying. As I’ve said before, working with seals was far less ambiguous than dealing with people — particularly some of the weirdoes I’d seen lately. If you drew the design properly, it did what it was supposed to do. That was a lot more straightforward than trying to figure out how to deal with Naruto or Asuka. Neither one of them was really happy, but damned if I had a clue of what to do about it.

Added to that was the strange satisfaction of doing something I was good at. There weren’t a lot of things I could truly claim to be an expert on, but this was one of them. The old man had trained me well, better than I knew. It was but one of the things I owed him for, but perhaps putting his knowledge to good use was one way to pay him back. I know that as my hands were kept busy, my mind wandered back through the memories of his lectures.

Before I knew it, I was done.

I got up from the table and stretched… then immediately regretted it as my back cracked rather loudly. Awareness of several things I’d been putting off sent me scurrying off to the bathroom. When I returned, a glance out the window revealed that it was apparently mid-morning. I just hoped it was Saturday, and not Sunday. Naruto was sprawled on the couch, but Asuka had fallen asleep sitting at the kitchen table, her head pillowed on her forearms.

I blinked and yawned a bit, but I wasn’t as tired as I expected to be… especially considering how much chakra I’d forced into those tags. But I was hungry, so I started some rice cooking and boiled water for tea.

Asuka stirred when I patted her shoulder, and then began coughing. I set a steaming cup of tea down next to her and went back to stirring the rice.

OoOoO

We arrived well before class Monday morning to deliver the tags. Iruka smiled when I handed him a thick sheaf of tags for the class to use. Then he handed me an envelope with the payment. For a moment, I felt like one of those lotus smugglers the old man had told me stories about.

Asuka and I bowed politely, and then sat down in our seats to wait for the other students. I carefully tucked the money into the bottom of my bag. Asuka would kill me if I lost it. Not only would that money buy some more interesting food, it also meant we could buy some more clothes. Asuka wasn’t fond of having to do laundry every other night. If anything happened to the money, I’d be hearing about it until I was a chuunin — death might be preferable, now that I think about it.

My musings were cut off by the bell. Iruka started off with a reminder about the upcoming exams, and a warning that we needed to prepare if we wanted to pass with our classmates. But the class perked right up when he mentioned that they’d be covering explosive tags today.

Asuka and I kept perfectly straight faces as Iruka-sensei passed out our tags. She made a point of examining hers very closely, which I found somewhat offensive. "There’s nothing wrong with them," I whispered testily.

Asuka gave me a grin, and I knew she was teasing me again. She seemed to derive an inordinate amount of satisfaction from that, which only confirmed my place in the universe: Comic relief.  

I’ll admit I tuned out a bit while Iruka lectured us on the theory behind tag design and how they were commonly used. His lurid descriptions of careless shinobi blowing arms and legs off with mishandled tags were certainly entertaining though.

His cautionary tales also meant that no one was too eager to go first when we went outside to practice using the tags. I rolled my eyes when Iruka called on me to go first. I suppose if I was afraid to use my own tags, I didn’t have any business selling them, right?

My tag was easily secured to the handle of a kunai with a bit of wire, and then I armed the tag and threw the kunai in one motion. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that using explosive tags on your kunai meant that pin-point accuracy was no longer required. As the stump I was aiming at vanished inside a five-foot ball of greenish flames, I realized that it was nearly impossible for anyone to even see where my kunai landed. All they saw was the explosion enveloping the target, and leaving it much worse for the wear when the smoke cleared.

It just goes to show that most problems can be overcome with enough explosives.

Of course, now that I had done it, everyone assumed it was easy. With the fear fading, they all lined up in several queues to practice throwing explosive-tagged kunai at the sturdier targets available.

Inevitably after my success, the Laws of Muir Fé had to have their due. One of our queue mates, a boy named Senjiro, drastically overestimated the amount of chakra needed to arm his tag. Using too much chakra wasn’t a problem, but taking too long to arm the tag was. He realized his error as the tag grew warm in his hands before he’d even pulled back to throw the kunai. In his haste to throw it, he managed to bobble it instead. The point-heavy weapon fell to the ground point-first, sticking in the turf.

Senjiro jumped backward to get clear of the imminent explosion, but he backed right into a kunoichi from another queue and they both went down in a tangle of limbs, far too close to escape serious injuries.

I’d already given Asuka a hard shove away as Senjiro jumped back, but when he and the girl went down, I found myself diving forward and grabbing the tag. I knew I had less than a second before it exploded, but I’d made this tag. I knew exactly how much chakra was needed to disrupt the seals on it and I poured energy into the ofuda as rapidly as I could. I felt the concussion seal let go first, and the fiery chakra-conversion seal was partially disrupted when the storage trigrams released their chakra into it.

So instead of my hand being blown off, it was enveloped in a mass of flames and blue-green chakra. I screamed as I felt the skin burning away, possibly the worst pain I’d ever felt in my life to date. But even as the scream ripped through me, the pain began to lessen as the flames spiraled upward away from my hand. The column of flame soared up into the sky and then scattered into falling embers. I tumbled to the ground, gripping my right wrist with my good hand and willing my lungs to breathe. I rolled onto my side waiting for the shock to kick in and dull some of this frigging agony for me. I looked up, not wanting to look at blackened skin anymore, and saw Asuka sprawled on the ground from where I’d shoved her, staring at me with eyes that glowed like candle flames.

Of course, at the first sign of trouble, Iruka-sensei was probably already in motion. I saw him when he jumped over a knot of panicked students. He took one look at the situation, grabbed me and slung me over his shoulder like a sack of rice.

The next thing I knew, we were traveling across Konoha at a high rate of speed. From my perspective, it took a second before I realized that he was leaping from roof to roof to avoid traffic. While I appreciated his sense of urgency, I was also about to puke down the backs of his legs. Choking to death while being rushed to medical attention was just a little too painfully ironic for me.

Between the bouncing and my lack of wind, I was having trouble getting Iruka’s attention, so I finally resorted to whacking him in the ribs with my good hand. He came to a sudden halt on a tile roof and eased me forward off his shoulder.

"Is the pain getting worse?" he asked worriedly. "I’ll have you at the hospital in just a few more minutes, Hikaru!"

The pain in my hand was lessening, so I shook my head as my stomach settled down and my breath began to catch up with me. "Don’t bother," I finally gasped. "By the time we see a doctor, he’ll think you’re playing a joke on him."

Iruka frowned. "Hikaru," he said quickly, "I know you don’t have much money, but the hospital doesn’t charge for something like this. Besides, you were seriously burned! You could lose some fingers!"

I shook my head and carefully held up the burned hand. It was definitely hurting less. I gritted my teeth and slowly began to flex the fingers. Pain flared anew as the crisped skin cracked and seared bits flaked away. Iruka made a face, but then his mouth dropped open when he saw new skin peeking out through the ruins of the old. It was raw and sensitive, but whole.

"How…?" was all he could ask.

"It’s a… side effect… I guess you could say, of the condition I share with Naruto," I said, breathing shallowly and waiting for the new pain to subside.

Iruka looked thoughtful. "You still need to clean it up," he said after a moment, "but we can do that in the infirmary at the academy." He leaned forward to hoist me up again, but I held out my good hand.

"Er, could we go a little slower this time?" I asked.

OoOoO

I turned my hand over under the stream of warm tap water. All the bits of char and ash were gone, as was the last of the scorched flesh. I carefully dried the pinkish skin, wincing as I touched a sensitive spot.

Iruka pulled a roll of bandages from a pocket on the side of his vest and carefully wrapped my hand up. "This will remind you to take it easy," he said, "as well as delay any uncomfortable questions."

I nodded. The pain was mostly gone, except for a deep ache that ran all the way up to my elbow. I tried to increase my chakra circulation through there to speed the healing, but the pain abruptly increased, making me gasp.

"Did I wrap it too tightly?" Iruka asked, concerned.

I shook my head and described the pain.

He frowned. "What exactly did you do to prevent the tag from exploding?" he asked.

I described how I partially dismantled the conversion seals, letting the chakra escape without triggering an explosion.

Iruka nodded. "So if that chakra was just released like that, you probably have chakra burns. You likely strained the coils inside your arm as well. I was going to excuse you from taijutsu today anyway, but now I have an even better reason."   He crossed his arms, looking serious.  "If this is still hurting tomorrow, at all, you will accompany me to the Konoha General Hospital, where you will undergo a thorough examination by a chakra specialist." He paused. "I understand your situation, Hikaru, but the Hokage knows some trustworthy people there, and I will make sure you see one who is… discreet."

I sighed. "All right, if I’m still sore tomorrow, I’ll do it."

"On the other hand," Iruka continued, "some of the students saw how severe those burns were. How do we explain this?" He rubbed at the scar across the bridge of his nose as he thought.

I was starting to worry about whether I’d be able to even take the genin exam when I recalled something Asuka had said about a prominent shinobi family in Iwakagure. "Can we just say it’s like one of those bloodline things?"

Iruka nodded. "That might work. No one knows much about the Iwa bloodlines, but I’ve heard stories about shinobi who could heal extraordinarily fast."

I let out a sigh of relief.

"Hikaru," Iruka asked after a moment, "exactly what happened that caused the accident?"

I explained about Senjiro taking too long after arming the tag and then dropping his kunai. Iruka shook his head in despair.

"Something like this happens every few years," he said, "no matter what precautions we take. I’ll have to speak to him and his parents about needing to be more careful. I hate to say this, but I’m glad it wasn’t the tag that malfunctioned. There’s likely to be an inquiry, and they might object to me not purchasing tags from the normal supplier as it is."

I grunted. "If they object too much, remind them that if I hadn’t made that tag myself, then I wouldn’t have known exactly how much chakra to use to break down the seals. I didn’t have anywhere near the time to figure it out by trial and error."

Iruka smiled at me, making the scar on his nose bunch up. "That was still a brave thing you did — you could have been killed. The Hokage will be glad to hear that he made the right choice."

I rolled my eyes at his blatant exaggeration and followed him out of the infirmary and back to our classroom.

With no teacher to watch them, hardly any of the students were in their seats when Iruka opened the door. Most of them were standing around, talking or horsing around. Most of them, that is.

A dark red blur slammed into my chest, knocking me back a step. Asuka squeezed me so hard that I couldn’t inhale, so I patted her back awkwardly with my good hand and wondered how long I would stay conscious. Then she just as abruptly released me and took a step back.

The tip of her index finger indented the end of my nose, and her whole body was rigid with barely-suppressed rage as she snarled at me, "How could you do something so stupid?" she asked.

I felt very conscious of all the curious eyes watching us, and willed my face not to heat up. "Can we discuss this later?" I hissed under my breath.

Asuka didn’t answer, but she gave one sharp nod, jerking her head so far forward that I couldn’t see her eyes anymore. Then she spun on her heel and stalked off to her seat, ignoring the stares from half the class.

I had a feeling that I wasn’t going to enjoy the conversation I’d just put off.

Author’s Notes:

Many thanks to Runsamok and Bibliophile for their beta work!

As you can probably tell from the clues, this chapter takes place directly after the Wave Country story arc. Currently we are in the period of time between Team Seven’s return and when Kakashi signed them up for the exam. The ‘doing D-rank missions with Naruto annoyed as Sasuke’ montage covered at least several days, possibly longer.

If you were wondering, yes, the Academy is going to graduate another class soon (a one year interval seems long, given that Naruto has failed the exam multiple times). Teams Seven, Eight, and Ten will still be considered Rookies when they enter the Chuunin exam, as they are still in their first year.

Question and answers can be found on my yahoo group, Viridian Dreams, the link for it is in my profile. I am also looking for a native Japanese speaker to answer a question or two…

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