Here I am with another chapter of Swift Ninja. I know it's been about a year since my last update, and I apologize for that. My home computer is shit, but now I'm in school. It's a computer class, so I've been writing my ass off for the time being. Well, I've already had you waiting for entirely too long so, here you go.

Disclaimer: I don't own this, that, or anything.

Naruto The Swift Ninja Chapter Five

{Ten Minutes Later}

Team Seven spent the past ten minutes in silence as they decided to quickly run back to the village.

Naruto smiled and looked over at his teammates, Kurenai behind them. "Good job team. Our first C-rank mission was successful. That'll surely make the Hokage proud."

Kiba smirked and gave the blonde a thumbs up. "Did you really think we would fail?" he asked with a chuckle.

"Hell naw!" the blonde yelled with a laugh before Kiba joined in.

Sakura sighed and rolled her eyes, while Kurenai groaned and shook her head. "You boys and your cockiness." Sakura said before smiling.

Naruto grinned and looked at Sakura. "And I'm proud of you too Sakura-chan. You handled things really exceptional at the house. Though there was no need to try and bury them in the backyard." Naruto said, stifling a chuckle as she blushed at the memory.

She raised her fist in preparation to hitting Naruto, but instead gave him a thumbs up. "All thanks to you and sensei. I really appreciate you two preparing me for this life I'm now living." she said with a smile.

Kiba playfully growled in annoyance. "What about me? I helped you too."

Sakura couldn't help but giggle, hearing the playfulness in his tone. "You too Kiba, thank you for letting me pound you into the ground." she said giggling as Naruto laughed.

"Whoa Sakura-chan. Too much information." he said, still laughing as Kiba joined in.

Sakura growled with a blush and charged towards Naruto, only to fly through his afterimage. She yelled in annoyance and saw the blonde further ahead of them. "I'll get you hentai!" she yelled before racing forward.

Kiba laughed and sped forward as well. "I'll save you bro!"

Kurenai blinked a few times and shook her head. "I swear these kids forget I'm even here." she said before noticing the blonde running beside her.

"I'll never forget about you sensei." Naruto said before flashing her a toothy grin.

It happened unexpectedly, but Kurenai giggled in response, before cutting it off as if she surprised herself. "Of course you won't. Now go on, before your teammates figure out your back here with me." she said before Naruto saluted her and disappeared.

She shook her head again, thinking back to when she giggled at his little flirt. Her thoughts quickly turned to Kakashi's sister and if there was anything about the two birthday buddies she should know.

{Two Weeks Later}

After they had returned to the village and gave their report to the Hokage, the old man informed them of his anger at their stupidity. In his anger, he told them that, because of the gang's involvement their C-rank mission progressed into an A-rank.

The team immediately noticed the smile on the old man's face when he said that before the Sandaime told them he was extremely proud to see how they all handled their assignment. He went out of pocket, and paid them A-rank prices for their mission.

His berating wasn't for naught though and for their future missions they exalted the utmost amount of caution.

Two more C-rank missions since their first and they quickly became the talk of the academy at their progress.

Though, the team didn't let the attention to their head, not even as they trained in their usual training ground.

"I'm telling you Naruto, if you touch my butt one more time, you'll be sorry." Sakura growled at her blonde sparring partner, as she dashed at him, throwing a flurry of punches and kicks accompanied by the psychedelic effects of her Genjutsu.

Naruto grinned widely at her threat, knowing she would most likely castrate him if she got the chance. "I'm sorry Sakura-chan, honestly. It's just, my hands have minds of their own." he smirked as he dodged both of the Sakura's his eyes was seeing. "By the way, excellent work with the Sakkaku no Ken." he said with a grin as his body became distorted as her fist passed through his chest and he threw a punch that hit her right in the jaw.

He was surprised to see it passed through, though she still flew back. He blinked and saw that she was holding her shoulder. "Very good job Sakura-chan. You're getting better at the defenses for the style as well. Work on your reflexes and you'll literally be untouchable to most of the weak minded shinobi and kunoichi this entire nation has to offer.

The pinkette blushed slightly at his praise, momentarily forgetting about the pain in her shoulder. "Thank you perv." she chuckled before rolling her shoulder as it ached.

The blonde grinned. "Anytime, now ignore the pain and continue." he said goading her with his hands.

She nodded and dashed towards him.

Meanwhile, with the other members of the team, Kurenai was teaching Kiba and Akamaru to be more perceptive to Genjutsu. "You two have a deep connection with each other, so why not have Akamaru work as a way to get out of illusions if you cant dispel them yourself. Though, it would require Akamaru to cause you a deal of pain to escape certain illusions. That or he could push his chakra inside you to disrupt the technique." Kurenai suggested as Kiba shook his head.

"Akamaru doesn't have enough chakra to do any good in that regard, only when he eats a soldier pill. He's going to have to bite the hand that feeds him." Kiba said petting the dog on his head.

Kurenai nodded and prepared a seal. "Okay, I'll do an illusion technique that should be in your capabilities at the moment. I don't want you being the weak link when it comes to illusions." She shook her head with a sigh. "Not while I'm your sensei." she said before activating her chakra and the illusion in Kiba's mind.

In the boy's mind, he felt as if he was falling down from an incredible height. The purpose of the technique was to give the target a fear that would make them panic, but give them a sense of weightlessness to prolong their fall.

Wind blew loudly in his ears and his eyes teared up with it. His hands felt numb as he looked through narrowed eyes at the ground approaching. He resisted the urge to scream before he flattened his body as best as he could, increasing the wind resistance and closing his eyes and concentrating on his chakra.

Outside of his mind, Kurenai watched, her hands still in the seal as Akamaru readied himself, hopping off of his partner's head and landing on the ground.

Back with the others, Naruto was being pressed by the pinkette as she incorporated weapons in her assault. The blonde easily evaded her slashes and shimmered out of the way of her throws.

He smirked before grabbing her left wrist, twisting around her, but refraining from kicking her up from under her feet, and simply twisted her arm.

He watched as she did a flip with the twist and kicked at the blonde's midsection, while concealing her attack with her kunai hidden with Genjutsu.

The blonde saw the slight twinge of her shoulder, before it stayed where it was. He smirked and caught her leg and lifted it, hoping her kunai didn't stab her leg as her body flipped.

Sakura exclaimed in surprise, only cutting slightly into her leg before she landed on her back. She winced at the pain as Naruto crouched beside her. "Whoops… just don't cry."

Sakura tried to ignore the pain and kick at the blonde, but he quickly caught her leg, impressed with her. "That's enough Sakura. Let's get you patched up. We'll even make it a little medical training session." Naruto said softly lowering her leg.

The girl sighed and nodded. "Fine, though I'm still surprised you know that kind of thing."

Naruto smiled softly. "You learn a lot of things when you're an orphan." he said softly as he helped her to her feet. He looked over at the others and smiled he saw Kiba cheering. "Looks like Kiba's getting better at breaking out of Genjutsu…" he trailed off as Sakura slowly limped over to congratulate him.

Naruto stayed in his spot, his head turned to looked at the tree lining to his left. A signature over in that direction, hard to find and easy to detect at the same time. 'Root, no doubt.' he thought to himself as he turned back and walked over to his team.

{In The Tree Line}

A cloaked individual stood on a branch, their eyes looking at the blonde. This person's mission was to keep their eye on the blonde, and determine whether or not the boy should be let into the plan their master had.

When the blonde turned in their direction, they got a good look at his blue eyes. A sudden wind blew their hood off, revealing a female's face with purple hair and deep blue eyes, the pupil being just as blue. A lollipop was in her mouth as she continued watching, wondering how he could be so cheerful and full of emotion.

A light blush was on her cheeks as she watched him turn and walk to his team. "I wonder… how that feels?" she muttered softly before blinking and putting her hood back on.

{Hours Later}

The team had taken another mission, a basic C-rank mission. The group was currently leaving the forest of River country, heading to Suna to give the Kazekage a scroll. The contents classified to their eyes.

"I'm telling you, this is probably secret messages to the Kazekage. It's possible, since all old people seem to know each other." Kiba suggested, as the Genins were all too curious about the contents of the scroll, they couldn't even open.

Naruto and Sakura looked at each other and laughed as Kiba grew angry. "That would be a good suggestion, except for the old part. The Yondaime Kazekage is young, like our beautiful sensei." the blonde said, looking back at the woman.

Not at all surprised at the compliment, Kurenai smiled. "Do you ever give up pervert? You are too perverted for sensei to like you." Sakura butted in as Naruto chuckled.

"Perverted? Whatever is she talking about Naruto-kun?" Kurenai asked, looking over at Naruto with a look that wanted answers.

"Sakura is just jealous sensei!" Kiba answered quickly as Sakura let out a growl of annoyance as Naruto pointed forward.

"Hey look, another sand dune. Let's continue this interrogation… never." the blonde said as he and Kiba sped up forward away from the females on the team.

"You two better not put too much distance between us. This country is chaotic with their sandstorms." Kurenai warned, but a strong wind muffled her voice at 'too' and sand swirled around them, nearly causing them to lose their footing in the sand.

Kurenai and Sakura shielded their eyes, both of them widening their senses and not being able to sense the others. "Sensei, what's happening!?" Sakura exclaimed in worry.

Kurenai turned to Sakura as the wind and sand settled down and the boys were nowhere in sight. "I don't know Sakura-chan, but I don't think this was natural. We just lost the tracking members of team." Kurenai said quickly running forward, with Sakura following her closely behind. "We need to regroup with the others quickly… I hope they're okay."

"I hope they don't lose the scroll." Sakura said, to hide her own worry.

{With The Boys}

The boys found themselves swept up by a huge and sudden sandstorm. "Holy sh-" They both yelled in surprised as they were lifted off of their feet and lifted high in the air and basically launched in different directions.

Naruto and Kiba yelled as they soared in their separate directions, both of them flying for half a mile away and landing deeply in dunes with nobody in sight.

Naruto groaned as he laid on his back, a mountain of sand lifting in the air and coming down on him. Time slowed down as it descended. 'This is gonna hurt.' he thought before he heard a yell.

"Don't let it cover you!" Kyuubi warned as Naruto furrowed his brow and quickly did a substitution with a bundle of sand as the sand covered the substituted sand. "Cant you feel the chakra in the sand. It's not normal sand, it's my younger brother, Shukaku. His Jinchuriki is here." Kyuubi said just as the blonde saw a young boy, around his age, atop a nearby dune of sand.

His height was that around the same as the blonde. His hair was short and red and a red kanji for love was on the left side of his forehead. He had black markings around his eyes like a raccoon and a crazed grin was on his face as sand swirled around him, some coming from the huge gourd on his back and the rest coming from the actual sand beneath his feet.

"Mother knew it was you. Mother hates you. Mother wants your blood." the boy ranted, holding his head.

{With Kiba}

Kiba found his top half of his body inside of a dune of sand, with Akamaru biting his shirt and trying to pull him out. He struggled for a minute and succeeded in tumbling backwards to the bottom of the small mountain of sand.

"You alright Akamaru?" Kiba groaned, holding his head as Akamaru barked on his chest. "That's great. You have any idea what the hell just happened?"

The little white dog barked again, before turning to the right and growling. The young Inuzuka got up quickly and saw a young woman, a few years older then him with a giant metal fan in her hands, a single moon on display.

Her hair was dull blonde and was fashioned in four wild ponytails behind her. "Sorry about that, we needed to get you separated. We got a mission to do, and you wet behind the ears Genin aren't gonna stop us." She said before swinging her fan again.

{With The Girls}

The girls continued their way forward, knowing that they'll eventually see the boys if they keep going forward. Though, they weren't able to see the tornado of wind that split them up, so their efforts were in vain.

"Where could those boneheads be? Shouldn't this be a simple case of looking around, since this place looks the same?" Sakura complained as Kurenai shook her head.

"This is the desert, the land of natural illusions. The pure heat, makes it harder to see long distances and the dry air makes it impossible to stay hydrated. All I know, is that we were supposed to meet a team of Genins, but I guess they didn't show." Kurenai said, her hand raised to her eyes, to prevent sand from getting in them.

"Or they caused this in the first place. Suna never did fully recover after the Third Shinobi World War, they could very well still hate us. Even with the treaty in place, some might find it impossible to forgive and forget." Sakura said as a chuckle was heard.

"Well, you don't have to worry about that. I forgave your village, but I'll never forget." A voice said as a rush of air blew pass the duo, who quickly ducked. Kurenai winced, her left eye closing as a small cut appeared on her cheek. She looked up to see her assailants.

It was two males, one older than the other. The oldest was wearing the garb of a Suna Jonin, while the other was wearing some kind of weird cat suit thing with make up and lines on his face.

Kurenai and Sakura glared at the two as a small trail of blood leaked from the wound, only moving an inch before stopping. "Why are you doing this? We're delivering a letter to your Kazekage." Sakura said as Kurenai put an arm in front of her.

"Calm down Sakura, I think I know what's going on." Kurenai said as the young teen scoffed loudly, a large thing wrapped in bandages on his back.

"Like a girl could understand anything." he said as the male Jonin groaned and the two girls flustered in anger.

"If your sister heard you say that you would get beat up." the man said putting his hand on the teen's head. "Sorry about that, we've seemed to have gotten off on the wrong foot. Let me tell you our mission. We were tasked to simply give you resistance, you see, the Kazekage likes to know that his messages are in good hands. My name's Baki, and this is Kankuro, and we'll be the ones judging you." He said before Kankuro pulled out three smoke bombs and threw them at the duo of girls.

{With Naruto}

Naruto continued to evade the tendrils of sand, annoying the hell out of the other container. "I have no idea who your mother is, but you must inherit her crazy." He said as a hand of sand formed behind him and he jumped onto the middle finger and prepared to jump again, but his foot sunk a bit.

"I got you!" the boy yelled as the sand quickly covered his leg and he swung his hand, sending the blonde into a dune of sand. He formed a seal and two hands formed around the blonde and prepared to clench around him.

Naruto acted fast and jumped out of the way and was surprised as shurikens of sand burst from the ground. "I'm sorry I said you were crazy!" Naruto yelled, some part of him not wanted to harm his contained brother.

"There's no point in holding back against Shukaku. He's always been crazy and reckless. He needs this beating, just don't kill the container. His seal isn't like yours, if he dies, Shukaku gets released. I know you think you're strong, but you can't possibly survive against Shukaku, especially while in the desert." Kyuubi informed the blonde, only making him excited at the strength of his opponent.

'Really…' The blonde grinned and stopped running. "Hey, Ichibi, What's your name?"

Naruto's question had unexpected results. The Ichibi container screamed loudly, clutching at his head, making the blonde take a quick step back in surprise. "MOTHER WANTS YOU DEAD!" the boy yelled, doing a few seals and slamming them on the sand, causing a large tsunami of sand to rise in the air.

Naruto wasn't surprised at this turn out and cursed himself under his breath. "Don't get sunk under the sand. If you do, you're dead."

Naruto went through seals of his own and inhaled deeply. "Futon: Mugen Daitoppa." he quickly exhaled a huge gust of wind and sand. It was just in time too, because he effectively punched a hole in the wave of sand, emerging harmlessly.

Though his victory was short lived, as shurikens erupted from the sand all around him again. The blonde growled and ducked quickly and dashed under the projectiles on instinct and appeared in front of the crazed redhead, his fist cocked in preparation.

The punch that landed on the boy sent him backwards a few meters, his body tumbling in the sand. When Naruto's feet touched the sand, he vanished once again. He reappeared above the boy, his right hand clutching his neck as his left punched the boy again, sending him down into the sand dune. "Calm the hell down, I only asked your name."

Naruto then jumped to another dune of sand and watched the one he punched his opponent into. He only waited thirty seconds before he heard laughter. He turned his head to the left and saw him slowly rising out of a different sand dune, his forehead and left cheek showing cracks.

"You.. you punched me twice. I haven't been touched ever and you manage to strike me twice. You're more deserving of death then I originally planned… My name is Gaara, container for the Ichibi no Shukaku. Since you asked my name, what's yours?" He said in a surprising calmness, his voice monotonous, reminding him of the Root agents under Konoha.

The blonde watched Gaara and grinned. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki, holder of the Kyuubi no Kitsune." he grinned wider when he saw the small and nearly unnoticeable widen of Gaara's eyes.

"I see…" he said before turning. "My mission is complete, lets go meet up with your teammates and complete yours." He said walking away, leaving Naruto blinking.

'Uhh…' he thought in confusion. 'What a weird guy.' he added as he followed.

{With Kiba}

Kiba used his own speed to continue his evasion while Akamaru attacked from several other angles.

The Inuzuka jumped back and threw half a dozen shuriken at the blonde girl. She opened her fan more, showing a second moon and swung, sending the projectiles back at him, along with a strong burst of wind.

The brown haired boy jumped in the air, barely evading the counterattack and begun spinning rapidly. "Tsuga." (Passing Fang) he yelled and spun right at the girl.

She was about to jump back, before she felt a sharp pain coming from her left calf. She looked down to see Akamaru biting into her flesh. She let out a wince of pain and closed her fan and hit the dog off, looking back up and barely held her fan up to protect herself.

She was barely able to brush him to the side, causing him to burrow into the sand. At that point, she knew she was in trouble as another hole was in another dune. "The dog too?" she muttered to herself, her eyes darting all over.

She didn't have to wait long as both of them burst towards her from behind. She turned around and smirked, opening her fan all the way, showing three moons. "Gyaku no Kaze." (Inverse Wind) she said swinging her fan strongly.

After that the two techniques battled for dominance, the two being only a few feet from each other. It didn't take long before the girl's technique did it's job and stopped the Inuzuka's spinning completely.

The boy and his dog fell flatly on the sand with a oof. "How the hell did you stop our technique?" he asked lifting his head at her.

The girl smirked and closed her fan. "I saw you were spinning clockwise and so my technique spun you the other way, effectively stopping your spinning altogether." she said turning her head to see her brother and Naruto approaching them.

"Kiba, what are you doing? Did you lose?" Naruto asked as Kiba stood to his feet, brushing the sand off of himself and Akamaru.

"Hell no, I was only stopped momentarily." he said as the blonde girl laughed.

"If you wish, we could have a rematch after you finish your mission? My name's Temari, and I would relish the opportunity to beat you up again." she said as Kiba scoffed.

"Oh please, all this sand prevented all the maneuvering I could do. And if it would have continued, I would have won eventually." Kiba responded with growl.

Naruto cleared his throat. "Whatever, just shut up. Lets go find our teams." Naruto said turning his head for a while, before jumping over a few dunes in search of the rest of their respective squads.

{With The Girls}

Kurenai was currently nowhere to be seen on the sandy battlefield. Though, that was all the Suna Jonin could tell. Currently the man was under an illusion he couldn't get out of. Even with the awareness that he was in the illusion, getting out seemed like it was impossible.

He was trapped in what was a pure red background with chains and hooks digging into his limbs and torso. The pain he was feeling was both real and intense. It took her about three tries to secure him in a technique, but she finally got him.

The illusion specialist was attacking the man's pain receptors, directly in his brain. It was what was keeping him from concentrating on his chakra.

In reality, he was simply crumpled on the sand, nearly brain dead from the assault on his mind. Kurenai was in trouble though, she was running low on chakra, since she's had him in the technique for the past ten minutes. She knew that if he was in it for any longer, he would actually become brain dead.

She worked quickly and began tying him up, slapping an explosive seal on his forehead and looked to her female student.

Sakura was on the defensive against the cat suit wearing individual. She found herself fighting a puppet, with the puppeteer only three dozen yards away.

She knew what she had to do, but any attack at the puppeteer was blocked by the puppet she was fighting. At times the wooden construct showed amazing speed. Speed, she knew she could track, but was still unable to go. She knew the puppeteer was smart, but she was going to have to outsmart him.

She was also at a further disadvantage with fighting the puppet. Not able to use any Genjutsu in the fight was leaving her at a loss for options. The one punch she landed on the puppet, did little damage to the hollow puppet… 'Wait, I know what to do now.' she thought with a grin as she pulled out a kunai.

The handle around the kunai was white, wrapped with an explosive tag. She knew how the puppet always protected its controller, now she was counting on it.

She jumped high into the air, dodging the puppet's attempt at a grab and threw the kunai with all of her strength, grunting slightly as the exertion of the throw.

Unlike she predicted, the puppeteer jumped to the side and sent the puppet into the air after her. "This was too easy." he said as a slew of hidden weapons sprouted from the puppet and prepared to strike the young kunoichi.

Sakura worked fast and formed a seal, her body quickly substituting with her thrown kunai. She pushed more chakra into the seal and watched the explosion in the air.

The cat suit wearing Genin was more than surprised at the change of events. He looked towards Sakura with his shocked expression. Seeing her approaching him, he immediately went on the defensive. As a puppeteer, he was highly trained in evasion, though with her mix with Genjutsu was proving difficult.

But still he had a few tricks up his sleeve. His fingers twitched as chakra strings connected to three of his puppets many hidden weapons, now scattered across the desert. His smirk cautioned the pinkette and she pushed more chakra into the Genjutsu technique and caught the boy by surprise when he was suddenly punched across the face, the sight of her fist appearing two full seconds after the strike.

Three more connected with his face, shoulder and face again, respectfully. The male Genin began stumbling backwards in a daze, before Sakura grabbed his collar and yanked him forward and threw a final right hook.

Kankuro fell to the floor, groaning slightly. "So, how'd I do little judge?" Sakura smirked triumphantly, cracking her knuckles.

"You can more than handle yourself." he admitted, sitting up slightly as he coughed and held his jaw. "For a girl." he muttered, while his hand was in front of his mouth.

It was just low enough to escape Sakura's hearing, but not Kiba's. "Then maybe that girl should give you another beating." his loud voice said, dropping down next to his teammate. "Cause the first didn't seem to do its job." he added as the others, Temari and Gaara dropped down, not too far away.

"Wow, Crow got destroyed. That's impressive pinky." Temari commented as Sakura's brow twitched.

She didn't know whether to take the comment as a compliment or an insult. But if Naruto taught her anything, it wasn't to control her temper in these situations…. and to never turn her back on him.

Not too far away, Naruto dropped down next to his sensei. She was panting a bit as she ended he technique the man was under. "Wow sensei, remind me to stay on your good side." the blonde said looking at the cut on her cheek. "He had it coming anyway, hurting my sensei, he's lucky I didn't get my hands on him." he said looking at the unconscious Suna Jonin.

The Konoha Jonin crossed her arms under her breasts. "Give me a status report. What's the skills of his students?" she said looking into his eyes.

Naruto put his hands behind his head as he thought. "Let's see. My opponent was named Gaara, youngest brother of the other members of the team. His skill with Sand Ninjutsu is amazing, something that was bolstered immensely by the fact that he's the container of Ichibi no Shukaku." his news shocked his sensei greatly. She knew Suna had their own Biju, but with it so close to them, she knew Naruto had to be more skilled than he's showed since not a single sliver of youki, from either of them was detected.

"Well, Naruto-kun, I'm glad to see you're okay. What about the others?" she said, blinking slightly. "I know that the other boy was a puppeteer, judging by the object on his back."

"You would be more than correct, and a greatly skilled one too." the blonde said before grinning widely. "Though, he'll be without his puppet for a while, since our favorite pinkette destroyed his puppet. The details are beyond me, but she was victorious in her own fight." he wipes his eye as he dramatically sniffs. "Our little girl's growing up more and more." he said before Kurenai rolled her eyes and pokes the top of his head.

"Focus Naruto-kun. What about the eldest sibling? The lone girl?" she said looking off into the distance to see the girl in question.

Naruto looked over as well, eyeing the giant metal fan on her back. "That's another wind user. That hunk of metal is actually a fan. I saw her use it against Kiba at the end of their fight. It was pretty impressive, she stopped Kiba's and Akamaru's Gatsuga technique."

"Oh really, how'd Kiba react to that?" she asked as she watched Naruto put the male Jonin over his left shoulder.

Naruto smirked, holding the man's legs. "The same way he always reacts. Loud and obnoxious." he said chuckling. "What about this guy?"

Kurenai shook her head. "He too is a wind user, though its more cutting style than the pushing his student uses. I have to say though, it was a bit difficult keeping him in a Genjutsu. I had to put in a few layers of illusions, all different kinds. I'll give you the details when we're not in the middle of a desert and I haven't had a bottle of water in an hour."

The blonde nodded. "Alright sensei, we'll get the directions from his students. We'll complete the mission and return to our village and just relax." he said as they began walking.

"We won't relax for long. You and the others are going to spend the next month training for the upcoming Chunin Exams. Luckily for you, it'll be in the village, so we wont have to travel to any other hidden village."

Naruto blinked a few times and turned his head to look at her. "Oh really, already? Any tips on what to expect during the Exam?" the blonde said, tilting his head a bit.

Kurenai shook her head as they approached the others. "All I have to say is, stick with your team and there's no way you can fail." she smiled before looking at the group of Genins. "Alright, the sooner we get to the village and deliver the scroll, the faster we can leave and head back to Konoha."

"Don't worry about that, we'll have you in Sunagakure in no time." Temari said, looking towards her brother, watching him still searching for pieces of his broken puppet. "Right after Kankuro finds the rest of his puppet."

Naruto turned to Sakura and flashed a grin, something she returned a slight blush on her cheeks. She turned her head and watched as the red headed boy began walking away, his face blank and his gait calm.

{Entrance To Sunagakure}

After everything was settled before, the two groups of teams walked into a large, hallway like structure, which functioned as the entrance to the hidden village. Naruto looked around, a bit amazed at the height of the walls as they seemed foreign compared to the walls of Konoha.

"This place looks amazing and we didn't even get inside yet." The blonde said with a smile as he and his fellow Genin looked on in wonder.

"Wow, Naru-kun, I thought with your speed, you would have been already seen each of the hidden villages." Kurenai teased her young helper which made the young blonde blush a bit.

"Well, they're still hidden you know." He said rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, making Kiba laugh.

"Yes, the is the point of hidden villages. Now if you'd follow me, I'll take you to the Kazekage's office." Baki said as the other's just noticed that they had traveled through the entrance already.

The team from Konoha nodded and followed the man, moving quickly over the sandy rooftops of Suna.

Within minutes they arrived and were already standing in front of the leader of the village. The Kazekage was a redheaded man, resembling his son to a degree, not unlike the comparison Naruto had to his father.

"Kazekage-sama…" Baki said bowing to the man, while everyone else, with the exception of Gaara, did the same. "We have returned with the shinobi from Konoha." The wind using man said as Kurenai took a step forward, the scroll already in her hand.

She set it on the desk. "And we have come bearing gifts from the Hokage." She simply said as the man nodded and took the scroll from the desk and opened it.

The raven haired Jonin stepped back to stand in front of her team, while the man read the contents of the scroll. Amazingly, nobody blurted out what was in the scroll, since she knew they all wanted to know.

"Ahh, yes… of course. Alright, that'll be all. You're dismissed." The man said putting the scroll down.

"WAI-" any further response from Kiba's apparent outburst was deterred by the hand clasping around his mouth. Surprising it was Sakura's hand around his mouth.

"Thank you Kazekage-sama. We'll be going now. Thank you for the escort into your village." Kurenai said bowing as Kiba thrashed around a bit before Naruto gave him a look that told him to calm down immediately, something he had no choice but to follow.

"Now that our mission is done, we'll be on our way. Until next time…" Naruto said nodding at Sakura as she let Kiba go, before looking to Gaara. "I'll see you at the Chunin Exams." He said as Gaara just gave him a blank stare, though the look in his eyes told a different story as they only seemed to scream in anticipation.

With that, team seven made their exit. After ten minutes, they were running out of the village, on their way home.

"Damn it, Sakura, why'd you go and cover my mouth like that? You know you were curious as to what was in the scroll too." The Inuzuka complained as they jumped from dune to dune.

"You already know it doesn't matter what we think. It's not our place to look inside our packages. I guess I'll have to beat some more sense into that thick skull of yours." The pinkette said as Kiba laughed.

"Yeah right, you don't have anything compared to me and Akamaru's strength." He bragged as the little white dog barked in agreement.

"Both of you just cool your heads. The quicker we get out of this desert, the quicker both of you will be able to think more clearly." The young blonde said as the two nodded reluctantly.

"Good job Naruto-kun, now let's get to River Country quick and take a dip. It's entirely too dry in this country." Kurenai said as they all cheered in agreement.

{One Week Later}

Naruto stood in front of the team, it was after hours and they were still a bit tired from the training Kurenai had them do earlier. "Alright team, thank you for coming back here. I know its midnight, but we still have a lot to do to strengthen our teamwork. So welcome to our survival training."

Kiba yawned as he softly scratched his head, barely missing the white dog that was napping on said head. "So our training with Kurenai-sensei isn't enough for the Chunin Exams requirement of teamwork." He said causing Sakura and Naruto to blink in surprise. The Inuzuka looked at them and tilted his head. "What?"

"You must get a little smarter when you're tired." Naruto jabbed at his teammate.

"Then we should make him tired permanently." Sakura stated as well.

"Whatever." Kiba shrugged their words off, being too tired to fight back.

The blonde narrowed his eyes and vanished from their eyes, appearing between both of them, his hands on their shoulders as they both received a jolt of electricity.

They all, Akamaru included, yelped in surprise as they got over whatever fatigue they were experiencing. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR!?" They yelled in unison while Akamaru barked his complaint with them.

"For what I have in mind for you two, you're going to need as much energy as you can muster. I hope you packed for a week like I told you, because we're spending our time in a danger filled environment and I… did not get permission so let's try to stay alive alright?" he said smiling brightly.

Kiba and Sakura shared a look in confusion before they felt wind rushing pass their faces as they were caught up in Naruto's high speed technique. Minutes later and they were found themselves in front of a large gated forest. "What the hell was that? What are we doing here? Where are we? Akamaru, where are you, are you ok?" Kiba blurted out a series of questions.

The pinkette stood by Naruto as they watched Kiba search for the dog that somehow fell off his head. "You know, if he wasn't doing it… I would." She said.

The blonde laughed and shook his head. "Alright you two, let's get serious now." He said as the white dog made his appearance, jumping straight at Kiba's face.

Now with everybody reunited the blonde stretched a bit. "Alright, the first order of business is exploration. With that, we'll make a mental map of the forest. Second order of business is survival, so we gotta stick together and work as a team. And lastly, the third order of business is staying alive. Do not get eaten. Kurenai would be really mad at me, your fine mom would be mad at me and I won't see your little booty anym-" he said pointing at Kiba and Sakura briefly before they both rushed at him.

He exclaimed loudly and made his way into the forest, jumping over the large gate that clearly read 'Stay Out'

{One Kilometer In}

About a single kilometer inside the forest, the team met their first obstacle. As they approached from a gate where the river was located, they found a giant piranha hopping out of the water as they were running over it.

Their yells echoed throughout the area as they continued to jump out of the way of its many teeth. The sight was actually comical if you were to look at it. Akamaru was holding on for dear life as they kept getting splashed by the giant fish.

Even their balance on the water was a chore to keep, as they damn thing kept disrupting the water with its inconsistent pursuit of their meaty bodies.

"Can we pleas-" Kiba started saying before the piranha jumped right under Kiba, jumping about ten feet in the air. Kiba exclaimed loudly as Akamaru fell off his head, for the second time that hour.

Naruto and Sakura gasped as they saw this. The young Inuzuka acted fast and moved his foot in the way, allowing the little dog to use it as a foothold and jump out of danger. When it came for the time that they began descending, Naruto went into action and vanished and kicked the fish in the side, launching it into three trees.

Akamaru was caught by Sakura and Kiba landed on the water, unharmed. "That was a close." Kiba said holding his chest as he panted dramatically. "I thought I was a goner."

Naruto laughed and looked over at his team. "That was fun." He said as they shot him a glare. "Well at least we have something to eat." He said, jabbing a thumb in the fish's direction.

Sakura and Kiba looked at him in disgust. "Ugh, never, fish is nasty." They said in unison as Naruto shrugged and began walking in its direction. It was at moment Kiba's and Sakura's stomachs growled in unison as well. "Ooh, fish, sounds yummy. Save some for me." They said once more as they ran to catch up to the blonde.

A/N: I was thinking of making it a little longer, but I don't have that sort of luxury as I've had you readers waiting for far too long. Plus I don't know how long I'd have time for all of this, so I must work hastily and quickly, and even more rapidly. I know this chapter wasn't as good as it's supposed to be, but man it's been entirely too long since I've been able to do this. I'm back and I'm mad that I left.

JayJay's Out BITCH!