SeikoTuNeR: Hey, everyone. To be truthfully honest, I'm at a loss. I've been loosing focus on this story ever since I was accused of stealing the 'Drunken Lee goes nuts at the party' scene from LD 1449's 'Demons glory' in its 38th chapter. Some of you should recognize him; he's written some fairly big hitters. I'm not THAT bitter at him, since I called him out on it and he apologized, its the fact that I got accused of STEALING. Especially since Blondie has review dates in the second chapter before that guy was even a member of this place. And whoever it was that accused me of it, you're a moron.

Disclaimer: Naruto is the property of Kishimoto and what not. I'm only writing this for fun.

Chapter 8

The great, well, actually not so great Suna Village is very large. If push comes to shove, the great land of sand can nearly accommodate a large portion of Konoha. But the possibility of it actually happening was extremely low. A good three fourths of the land was and still is uninhabitable. Springs are a rarity throughout the desert and the ones that are found are given special care for tourism.

And thus we find Temari. On her trek back home from Konoha, she had come across a small spring, already sprouting a bit of an oasis around. Not bothering to report the finding since it was a bit too far from the encampment, she set up to laze about the small piece of paradise. She was, after all, a bit too close to chakra exhaustion. For a typical shinobi, from Konoha to Suna was a three day trip. But with her mastery of wind and her fan, flying across the way was a easy. But she shouldn't have flown all the way here. She was in fact rather lucky she found the oasis. Being a good fifty miles away might have been too risky along with the damned heat. Plus with the exams soon coming, it might be her only chance for a little rest and relaxation.

Filling all of her water containers with the spring she took off all of her clothes and dipped herself into the spring, contamination be damned. A good couple of hours later, Temari deemed herself fit to go home.

Perhaps it was because she was too tired, but she never noticed a wide eyed Naruto staring at her from behind. Nor did she ever notice him stealing her extra fan while she was resting. Or her underwear for that matter.

wwwww

'He cant do it. There's no flipping way.'

Those were the general floating thoughts floating about in the minds of those ready to leave for Suna. Apparently, the Jonin chaperons had left a day before, leaving only three teams to fend for themselves and make their way to the desert.

Naruto had been complaining. Loudly.

"Bah! I do NOT want to burn three days trying to get there!"

Neji was busying himself with trying to spot ANBU personnel running about the village.

"And how else do you suppose we get there then? I'd rather not head there at full speed the entire time and possibly die before the exam even starts."

Naruto sported a wide grin.

"Wanna take a bet? In fact.. does ANYONE want to take a bet?"

The group Naruto had been addressing was an odd one. The remaining 'Rookie 9' that had not rose to the Chunin rank was Kiba, Ino, Sakura, and Naruto. Team Gai was loafing around nearby, while Sakura's fan groupies, Team 16, seemed to be giving Naruto apt attention. Although the male of the group looked extremely out of his mind in a passive sort of way. If it was possible.

"I'm game. I need some money for a new set of pouches." Though Kiba neglected to mention why, but it was obvious with Akamaru sitting there gnawing on what any moron could guess, a kunai pouch. One would note that it was a very large Akamaru.

Naruto looked rather maniacal at that point. Though Team Gai wouldn't have notice since Lee attempted to push himself off the ground with only his hips..

Tenten sighed.

"Lee, find a dictionary and look up the word 'tact'."

Naruto clapped his hands.

"Ahem! Does any one think I can bring something back from the Suna village in the next ...uuh.. five minutes?"

"Naruto," Neji began, "traveling by foot there is a three day trip. The fastest anyone has ever reached Suna without killing themselves was roughly a little over a day. What sort of asinine bet are you trying to pull? Five minutes? Don't make yourself an even bigger idiot than you already are."

"Are you saying that you'd take that bet?"

In the brief moment of silence, an odd phenomenon occurred. Time seemed to have froze for everyone but himself. As he surveyed everyone, everyone looked so wrong. Despite the fact that everyone seemed to be nonchalant and relaxing, there were signs showing otherwise. He noticed Kiba and Akamaru located to the front of the group, towards the main gate. Though he was sitting down, and in the middle of a yawn, there seem to be a sort of tension and alert state to the way he was in mid motion. Akamaru was sniffing directly towards the main gate, as if expecting something. Ino was up against a wall, but the way she was positioned, she could easily have grabbed a kunai and hurl it in any directions except for the wall behind her.

He idly noted that she filled out, very much so.

Sakura was in the same sort of stance she used when she had fought him. It didn't look like much, but in a way, she could easily move to another position for an incoming attack.

Tenten looked, to him at least, erotically dangerous. She was in the middle of flicking a set of customized shurikens and the way she was hunched over in a crouch showed Naruto very much that she was prepared for anything.

Lee didn't look like he could do much lying on the ground, but as a taijutsu user, he could attack from virtually any position. And there were no weights on him.

With the way the fresh Genin were positioned, the trio was flanked to his left. They had filled the gap between Kiba and Lee. The whole grouped actually had a perimeter around him.

Then there was Neji.

Naruto was never in denial during the first Chunin exam. He had watched Neji effortlessly beat Hinata. Despite her efforts, she hadn't even managed to make him break a sweat. Then there was Lee's declaration of Neji being stronger than himself. Naruto was already in a bit of awe of Lee's strength..

He knew he had a slim chance of defeating him, foolishly hoping Kakashi was going to teach him some trick to easily defeat the Hyuuga. He was so immature. He narrowly won that match. With help from the demon and his usual unpredictable scheming, he literally got under Neji's guard and delivered the Kyubi powered upper-cut.

Looking at Neji now, Naruto could hardly believe this young man held the rank of Genin. Neji was on guard, on alert, and was prepared for anything.

Time was going back on track, and for all his bravado and mouth, Naruto was left speechless.

Something was odd.

wwww

"Naruto?" Sakura was genuinely concerned. After Naruto tried to goad Neji into a bet, he spaced out for ten or so seconds.

He seemed to be scrutinizing something then his eyebrows quirked. It was definitely odd.

"I'll take that bet."

Naruto didn't seem to pay any attention to Neji.

"Naruto!" Neji asked, a bit loudly.

Naruto's eyes darted over to Neji then had a very suspicious look on his face.

Sakura walked up to him.

"Whats the matter with you? You blanked out just now."

"Nothing..Anyway! Alright, who's on the bet for me bringing something back in less then five minutes?"

Silence.

"Okay, who's on the bet against me not getting there?"

There was a loud unison of "Me".

Naruto giggled.

"More money for Gama-chan!"

A clone popped into existence but Naruto moved too quickly for anyone to be surprised. He dumped all of his money into the clones hands and counted.

"Alrighty! I have about six hundred altogether. If I don't win, you guys can spread the cash out yourselves."

Ino was the first to object, interestingly enough.

"Hey! Not all of us want to bet that much."

Naruto gave her an appraising smile that almost made her blush. Almost.

"You think I might have a chance?"

She snorted.

"No, but I don't carry that sort of money on me, ramen-head. I only have... a hundred or so."

Naruto shrugged.

"Everyone can bet what they want. Hand it to my clone."

With everyone's glare, Naruto sighed.

"Damn. Its not like I don't LIVE in the same damn village with you people. Give it to the newbies. They're not allowed to bet in this."

They protested.

"What do you mean we can't bet?!"

"Hell if I know, but your huge scary Jonin sensei said no betting. To me. Screw him if I'm going to be a babysitter for you little tots!"

The three grumbled but wordlessly took the money from their elders.

"Oh! I see! Don't want to hand the money to Naruto, your adorable friend, but to a group of newbies, its OKAY?"

Everyone made it out of their way to ignore him. Though Tenten was feeling rather mean today.

"Aww, its okay." She pinched his cheek and gave it a little shake.

"To make it all up, I'll give you the honor of being my donkey for the day."

With that said, she hopped on his shoulders and grabbed his hair.

"Good donkey!"

Naruto was just about to shout when he noticed Lee walked up to him with a very humble expression.

"Be a good donkey, Naruto. The path of the donkey is lonesome and hard. The road is narrow as it is dark, you shall be downtrodden, abused, but always remember, that you have been chosen to be the next, donkey."

"Damn it, Lee! Do you always have to spoil my fun?" Tenten dismounted Naruto and gave Lee the finger.

Lee leaned in rather close and whispered, "You're welcome."

Naruto burst into laughter and slapped Lee's back.

"You're awesome, Lee, really. Haha! Man. What a guy.. Okay everyone done?" He whistled. "You guys are really going to make me rich."

Kiba slapped his hands together.

"Alright then, blondie, if you're really going to try you have to bring back some sort of proof.. some undeniable proof."

"Sand would work." Neji said.

Kiba shook his head.

"There's lots of river banks nearby with sand."

"But the sand from the suna village has unique minerals only identifiable from that area." Lee piped up.

"Feh. You guys are lame. Naruto, try and get some .." his voice lowered to a whisper " undergarments from Temari."

Both Sakura and Ino threw a rock at him.

"You're such a pig, why do I have to be teamed up with a pervert?" Ino complained.

Naruto smirked. "No problem."

Kiba glared. "You can't fake it either. I got a nose and Akamaru is here. And since we both remember her smell, you know what that means." His glare turned into a lecherous grin.

This time, all of the females threw a rock.

"Oh come on! It was a joke! Like he's really going to to suna and steal that crazy blonde's thong. Its not going to happen." Kiba deadpanned.

"No problem, dog-breath. I got you covered."

Kiba nodded along, playing along thinking Naruto couldn't do it.

"It better be fresh. I'll know if its been sitting somewhere out there in the forest."

Neji lightly coughed.

"This deal may be better than you girls would think. He has been traveling around for nearly three years. He easily could have hidden sand somewhere around. But as Kiba said, its easy to spot and notice -cough- used undergarments that's been settled down somewhere.."

Naruto waved his hands.

"Whatever. Alright. No peeking!"

A large group of clones popped into existence and formed a wall between everyone and Naruto.

"Neji! No stupid Byakugen!"

Neji glared and reluctantly turned it off.

"I got five minutes starting... now!"

A large puff of smoked revealed no more clones and minus one Uzumaki Naruto.

"Neji, Byakugen!" Tenten said.

Neji was already on it. He frowned.

"He can't be that fast. Wherever he is, he's out of my eight hundred meter scan."

Tenten cursed.

"I emptied all I had on me! You don't think he'd notice if I took some out right now do you?"

Lee waggled his finger.

"That would be highly dishonorable."

"Shut up. How much time is left?"

The stoned looking newbie replied.

"Four minutes and forty-six seconds."

wwww

As fast as he could, he ripped out the demon's chakra and ripped open a portal. He envisioned the land of sand, near the outskirts of the village. He meant to go closer but he couldn't remember what Temari's home looked like.

As he stepped out of the portal, he felt her. Temari held a distinguishable aura that he could tune to immediately. He guessed it was because of her constantly around Gaara. He never really knew for sure. Wondering what she was doing out here in the middle of no where he lightly padded through the dunes. He edged just above the sand hill to view Temari, wind user extraordinaire, bathing.

Naked.

The only true reason for Naruto to not just stand there and stare like a complete idiot was traveling Jiraiya. With the old lecher leading them places, a beautiful naked female wasn't a site not common. Remembering his mission, as well as the large sum of easy earned cash, he grabbed her conveniently placed underwear and miniature battle fan. He edged back, ripped open another portal and went back.

wwww

"Naruto has less than forty-five seconds left."

Ino looked a bit giddy.

"Someone please tell me they don't want their share of his loot? Dear god!"

Everyone felt a wave of nauseating charka then Yamanaka's piercing shriek came from the form of Naruto right to her side with an arm snaked over her shoulder.

"Oh.. Hell no.." Kiba was sniffing. Sniffing rather noisily..

Neji was the second to voice his disbelief.

"Inuzuka.. It can't be real." There was a sense of curious dread to his voice. He was carrying a lot of money on him..But Naruto couldn't have done it..

Naruto, a very smug looking Naruto, flung the tiny bit of cloth at Kiba.

"Oh my.. And I thought you couldn't be MOREdisgusting!" Sakura accused. The rest of the females shared her sentiments.

"Hey! I'm investigating the truth of the used undergarment! For all you scent challenged morons, HE " Kiba made a big show of pointing at the orange glad nin " could have taken some other dame's panties! So sorry if I don't want to loose cash!"

Akamaru seemed to bark in agreement.

"Yeah.. You tell em', boy!"

Both Lee and Kiba were inspecting said garment, though no one noticed, Neji kept glancing in their direction.

"Settle down, children! I brought back something for the girls to look at too!" He delicately pulled out Temari's customized miniature fan.

Tenten held it in near awe.

"The grooves, the complex patterns and designs.. It's.. really Temari's.."

Naruto danced to the current holder of the prize. "Ahem... So I'll be taking this.."

"Wait a second!"

Naruto sighed.

"What, Ino?"

"This. Is. Bullshit. How in the world did you travel that far in less than five minutes? It's impossible! Is Temari around here somewhere? You can't.. you"

"Now now.." Naruto chided. "A bet is a bet. Dog-breath, smell me, I know I even smell like sand."

"Yeaaah.. He does, Ino."

"See?"

Ino twitched.

"Its too.."

"Absurd? Inconceivable? Stupidly, insanely, not even remotely possible?"

Sakura sighed.

"That's Naruto.."

Ino twitched.

"How can ANY of you believe he somehow ran all the way there? There's nothing humanely possible he could have done to get there that fast!"

For a slight nanosecond, Neji along with a few others, felt a burst of.. something and by the time it was over Naruto was once again by Ino's side with an arm around her shoulder.

"Aww c'mon, Ino-chan. You have no faith in the abilities of your ex-classmate?"

Just before she could reply, a number of Naruto's came walking in from different directions.

"Who says I ran there?" One said.

"Who says I didn't ran there?" Another.

"Who says I was even here in the first place?"

Naruto gave a wide grin. Misleading people was rather fun. To him at least.

Tenten eyes went wide.

"You cheater!"

All expressions of outrage neatly butted out the fact that they thought Naruto had somehow manage to control his clones miles away stole Temari's belongings and made a 3 day trip back to come back right on time for this sole single event.

And people called ME dumb..

Keeping up his misleading rouse he lifted a hand.

"The bet started five minutes ago. What I was doing before that doesn't count. And I clearly said, in the next five minutes."

Tenten shook her head.

"You are something else, you know that? You're evil. You planned all this out so that you'd arrive sometime around now to show what you brought?"

Kiba interrupted.

"No. These are fresh. She couldn't have took them off more than fifteen minutes ago.."

Everyone looked at Naruto expectantly.

"Pff. Like I'll tell you my little secret."

After a bout of silence Ino bopped Kiba on the head.

"Honestly, will you stop staring at it? Pervert."

Kiba begrudgingly put it away.

"Fine."

"Oh my .. Kiba! Get rid of it!" Ino shrieked.

Kiba reluctantly tossed it to the ground.

"Sheez.. Act like its her damn thong..."

"Say something?"

"..talking to Akamaru."

Sakura rolled her eyes and glanced at her watch.

"We need to be going, people. Is everyone ready?"

"Eeh, Tenten! Could you do that sealing thing you do for Temari's fan? I'd hold it but.. I might break it."

Naruto handed her the fan while she looked puzzled.

"You sure you want to give this to me? I might still carry a grudge against her, you know?"

Naruto waved her off.

"Bah. If you do anything to it, it'll be on your head and not mine. So its fine by me."

"Jeez, Naruto. You're so sweet." She deadpanned.

"Absolutely!"

Naruto beamed at her and walked over to where Neji and Kiba discussing the route to Suna.

"I say we keep an easy pace and rest once a day for several hours or more. It shouldn't take much more than four days."

Naruto nodded fiercely.

"I'm with Kiba."

"We shouldkeep to schedule. We should head there moderately fast and only rest when needed. It would be better if we had a day or two to survey the village and get a feel of our surroundings."

Naruto scratched his head.

"Hmm. That makes sense.. I don't know. Let the girls decide." He then added quietly "They'll be doing the most complaining so you might as well."

Neji put on his best -I-don't-really-care face on.

"Ladies. Decide amongst yourselves which would be better. An easy moderate pace that would leave us a day to ourselves at Suna to roam, or a more faster approach in which we'd have two days or so to roam. Which will it be?"

wwww

"Quit your smirking, Hyuuga!" Kiba barked.

"I'm not really sorry but sorry. I'm pleasantly surprised by the decision made by our female counterparts."

"Yeah, you would." Kiba muttered.

They had been traveling now for a few hours and Sakura kept giving Naruto sorrowful glances. They were supposed to be friends. And because of their infernal teenage hormones, it, for the time being, seemed totally ruined. Not to mention all the times she insulted him or compared him to Sasuke.. Sakura's lips formed a thin line with a glare towards Naruto. She refused to let her friendship with someone who seemed willing to go to hell and back just to keep a promise made when they were stupid kids.. With a burst of speed she linked her arm with his tried to give him a warm smile. Though the smile lost most of its effectiveness when the person its directed to lost the circulation to his left arm.

"Sakura?" His confusion easily read through his eyes, and with the death grip on his arm, he didn't try to break free and continued to run. Sakura held on firm.

"Yeah, we kissed, Naruto. We kissed and we enjoyed it. But I didn't recoil in horror because of you. I recoiled because of what could have happen that would almost certainly burn any chance a strong friendship between us. Do you realize there are only four strong male figures in my life? My father, Kakashi-sensei.." She seemed to pause for a bit as if considering what to say next. "Sasuke, and you."

Naruto's eyes widened.

"I had no idea.."

"Do you even know why I was so ticked off when you horsed around pretending to be David instead of speaking to me? You were gone for two years, Naruto. Two long years with no letters or anything. I thought of all the things I wanted to say to you, there was.. too much."

The pair had slowed down the pace a bit to lag behind the others but close enough that every eavesdropping individual could hear every word.

"I don't even know where to begin.. I.. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for all the shit I've thrown your way. I'm sorry for all the insults, I'm sorry for all the times I compared you to Sasuke, I'm sorry for the shitty way .. I..I've treated you the entire time I knew you. Please forgive me for the calloused way I treated you and your lack of family."

The two had stopped running completely.

"Should we stop too?" Tenten asked. Ino shook her head.

"Whatever is going on between those two, its been a long time coming..We should slow down a bit though."

Sakura had long released his arm and Naruto awkwardly pulled her into a hug.

"Sakura.. You didn't need to apologize. With all the crap that bastard pulled, I'm still willing let him back with questions asked. You think I haven't already forgiven you just because you were a bitch?"

Sakura wiped her watery eyes and nodded.

"I guess I deserved that."

Naruto smiled.

"Feh. And then some."

wwww

No one said a word when the duo returned. Ino gave Sakura a look but she waved it off. Which basically meant 'I'll tell you later.' But the boys could only guess. The rather large group had been traveling for a while until Tenten noticed a certain jailer was missing.

"Where the hell did Naruto go?" Everyone looked around and sure enough he wasn't around.

"How long have you noticed he's been gone?" Kiba asked Neji suddenly.

"The second he disappeared. Which was nearly ten minutes ago." Neji really didn't seem to care though.

Kiba rubbed his chin in thought.

"Yeah. But the second he disappeared I caught a whiff of something dank. But it smelled familiar. Yah know, he smelled like that when he disappeared for the bet. You think maybe he has gas?"

Sakura gave Kiba a large smile.

"Come now, Kiba. You of all people should know what that smells like."

The laughs all stopped at a single question.

"Did anyone catch all the times Naruto blanked out?" Ino had asked in a soft voice, something that years later when asked about, Ino would vehemently deny.

"Jiraiya-sama mentioned that Naruto might space out and that its nothing to worry about.." Tenten ventured. "Did he ever do things like that before?"

No one knew and they all looked to Sakura.

"No.. Not that I ever noticed at least.."

The fresh Genin were totally lost. Apparently there had been some sort of briefing about Naruto and they knew nothing about it.

"I could have sworn.." Ino started again in her highly lower volume tone, "For a split second he glared at us."

"Not so much of a glare, but more of a distinct face of suspicion." Neji corrected.

"What I don't friggen understand is, why the hell would Jiraiya tell us to not worry if spaz spaces out? Naruto's been spacin' out since the friggen academy! Hell, Shikamaru probably did it more than he did!" Kiba voiced out loud.

It was all rather confusing. After the forms for the exams were filled out and turned in, the toad hermit had suddenly appeared and issued an odd warning about Naruto.

"Naruto doesn't look like it, but he's quite the thinker. You'd all be surprised with all the crap going on through his head every minute. So if you happen notice him .. maybe a little too quiet and he doesn't respond to the usual smack, don't worry about it. In fact, it'd be better if you ignored it entirely when he does.."

With a smile and a wink, the odd old man disappeared. No further explanation or any sort of follow up to his odd statement.

"That crazy old coot wouldn't have said something like that for no reason. But the fact that he said it but then told us to not worry about it makes it all the more insanely annoying!" Kiba pulled out a piece of jerky and started to chew.

"What the hell is his angle? And why the hell is that idiot the source of all my miseries today?" Kiba had been absentmindedly patting the now thin wallet in his pocket.

"Screw you! You lost like a typical sucker, so quit whining about it already!"

Naruto had once again popped up behind them several meters but was holding a bowl of noodles.

"Stop phasing in and out like that! And where the hell did you get ramen?"

Naruto chuckled knowing Ino had no idea how true she was.

"I stopped and made a quick fire. Duh. Some shinobi you'll make, Ino." In truth he went all the way back to the stand but wasn't quite up to mentioning his unique ability just yet. He gave her a smile and stuck out his tongue to let her know he was just teasing but she got fired up all the same.

"You little..!" Her voice trailed off as Naruto gave her the most piercing stare she had ever seen on anyone directed towards her.

Piercing meaning leaving her weak in the knees and blushing. Slightly. Till she figured out what he did.

"Since when did you learn to do genjutsu like that?!"

"Bah. Don't bust a vein over it. It was a simple little trick. If someone like maybe Kakashi-sensei used it, you'd be a blubbering piece of mush."

Ino glared.

"And did anyone think that maybe Jiraiya was just screwing with all of you?" Naruto said, startling everyone since he heard. Despite all all of Jiraiya's faults of taking his money when he obviously had plenty, womanizing perverted way, or grueling training scheme, Naruto was more annoyed at his suspicions than anything.

He had never actively seek to commune with Kyubi. It had all been accidental. Jiraiya had given him a little over an hour of free time. He chose to use that time to meditate. Though meditation was supposed to be used to free your mind of all distractions, he in a bit of an unconventional way used it to ponder his life thus far. He nit picked his childhood, looking at how he could have done better to perhaps make himself more approachable to his classmates, study harder, and possibly his one most regrettable experience, the things he said when he had first tried to befriend Sasuke.

Sasuke wasn't actually all that bad before his parents were murdered. He was just one of those kids that tried hard and actually paid attention in class. When he or Naruto would bump into another during the year, he was never rude or insulted him. Naruto, in his immaturity never tried to hang around since he was top of the class and Naruto found himself rather low in the rankings. But when they both found themselves the parent less duo of the class, Naruto remembered his first lines of stupidity that seemed to have changed Sasuke's opinion of him. It vaguely went something like this, "Hey you know, we're not all that different. We both don't have parents.. maybe we should try and be friends?" And thus rivalry began.

As time went on with his continued meditation, he slowly would find himself in the familiar dark almost sewer like area of his mind. But he would immediately snap out of it, afraid of its inhabitant. But curiosity finally got the better of him and he ventured in.

Naruto cautiously stepped towards the dim light at the end of the tunnel. His hands guiding himself along the wall, he noticed he couldn't feel the wall. He couldn't feel the ankle deep water, he couldn't smell, all his senses were void.

The complications of the sealing technique just left him confused so he just left it alone and lumbered towards the gigantic beast behind bars.

"Human."

There wasn't the usual anger or or murderous tone in the voice of the fox. It was more along the lines of acknowledging the fact that there was an odd smell coming from the toilet.

Naruto didn't respond.

The fox gave a yawn but Naruto could feel it gathering that foul nauseating chakra. Jiraiya had always pestered him to call upon the fox's power, but he was always reluctant. It wasn't that he felt that using it was unsportsmanlike. With all the crap he got for imprisoning the damn thing, he felt justified if he used it more often, but the fox's chakra was just unbelievably foul. It reeked of death and decay, and always left him feeling dirty.

And he could feel Kyubi forming it near its paw so fast he couldn't react correctly. He started back peddling when he saw a long row of sharp teeth.

He assumed the demon was grinning. It suddenly struck at the bars. Instead of hearing the clang from hitting the bars, its paw seemed to have disappeared and materialized right before him.

And plowed right through his torso.

"Eh?"

The fox gave a grunt and yawned again. Naruto was waving his arms through its paw before Kyubi pulled it back.

"You can't touch me, can you? Eh, bitch?"

Naruto's insulting didn't seem to stir Kyubi at all.

"I don't understand your need to ask stupid questions. Did you not just notice my claws go cleanly through your body? Stupid lump of flesh."

"Of course I noticed you stupid bastard. I was just trying to see if I can piss you off since you can't do squat about it!

The fox started to gnaw on his paws.

"Does your idiocy knows no bounds? Of all the worthless mortals I get sealed in, it has to you. I receive no sense of notoriety of being imprisoned in you. You're just some worthless human with cheap tricks."

"Notoriety? You tellin' me you'd be a little less grumpy if I was famous for something?"

The fox didn't respond. It just kept gnawing on its paws.

"Stop fucking doing that!"

"I'll stop when you cease being worthless and stupid."

Naruto narrowed his eyes.

"Worthless and stupid? Can a lowly human like me copy exactly what you did a minute ago? Eh? Watch!"

Kyubi snorted.

"Inter dimensional rifts are simple. Even a fool like you can accomplish such a mundane task."

Naruto ignored the Kyubi and tried anyway. He concentrated on drawing on its power, though the implications of what he was doing was giving him a 'mental headache'. He was within his mind drawing on the power within him.

He laughed.

Feeling the foul chakra flow through him, though slightly annoyed how he 'felt' it, he focused it to his hand, using the way he forms the Rasengan to give it shape.

"The hell do I do now? Maybe if...."

He focused on continually maintaining it and drew his hand away. It looked as a sphere of red blackish chakra swirling around in mid-air. He put his hand through and watched his hand disappear.

"HOLY SHIT!"

He stuck his arm in until his shoulder wouldn't allow him to move no further.

"If I add more?" Putting more into the blob, it was big enough to fit him.

"Sweeeeet." He stepped in.

He couldn't fathom what was going on. He panicked as he stumbled around failing to regain balance. He felt as if he were in the incarnation of chaos.

Dark angry colors whirled around him, his sense of balance was off and he was thrown to the floor, better described as muck that seem to want to eat him alive. He wildly looked around for some sense of order but found none. He wondered aimlessly for what felt like hours. He couldn't use chakra. Not his or the monster's. A sense of desperation ran through his body.

How long would he be stuck here?

He plopped on the ground. Even now, the ground seemed to slowly cover his body.

"Stupid hungry floor! Quit it!" He shook it off.

"I'd rather be back with the stupid fox in the stupid dank sewer with the stupid water with the stupid bars.."

Slowly an image appeared before the landscape and began to form into exactly that.

A watery sort of image appeared before him. It was the sewers. He tried to dip his hand through.

"Weird. Oh heeell no!" He walked through. He found himself standing before the gates that held the almighty Kyubi.

"Did you enjoy your time in the world between worlds?"

"You set me up! Stupid DEMON. How long was I freaking wondering around?!"

"I must admit, mortal, that you came out much sooner than expected."

"How LONG?!"

The fox stopped talking.

"You're boring me."With another yawn the fox just went back to sleep.

"Gaah! Stupid fox.. stupid Hokages running around sealing demons into babies.."

Naruto sat in the murky water and began to meditate again.

"The hell with this place.."

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

Thus began, Naruto thought, Jiraiya's somewhat justified paranoia. Its not everyday a Jinchūriki runs around and yell about the fact that a demon had taught its jailer something.

Kinda. More like hoping it could cause its container some grief but nonetheless, taught.

Back to the situation at hand, only Sakura responded.

"Okay, if Jiraiya-sama is just messing with us, we all noticed you blanking out for a bit."

"Yeah.. So I was thinking about something. You guys were all standing around pretending to be doing nothing when I'm damned sure you all were waiting for someone to attack us or something."

"We're ninjas you moron. Of course we're all like that!"

"Blah blah, whatever pinky!"

The group resumed a quicker pace when the two started bickering.

Neji sighed, though how he sighed while looking stoic was anyone's guess.

"This is going to be a long three days."

SeikoTuNeR: Hmm.. A select few wants this to jump to the romance.. Bleh. I dunno.

And where's all the love from the Metal Gear Subsistence players? Damn it all! I cannot BELIEVE they took down the online play. I almost want to move to Europe because the servers over there are still up and running.

Damn them all!

Anyway, the last few chapters may seem dry to all my action oriented readers out there, but it should pick up in this next chapter. One more flash back to go and action time! But I've been re-reading and there's lots of stuff I want to redo in this fic so far. Do some good ol' fashioned editing. So don't be surprised if the next update is a bit slow.

If anyone is interested, I scoured the damn web for at least ONE damn Naruto/Tenten fan drawing.

I found one. Its a bit on the erotic side but nothing explicit. Something possibly in the pg-13 side. If you want to the link just go to my other stories Worthless or Enjoy Life and head to the author's page from there.