All of you must hate me at this point.

All of you are now going to hate me even more.

Sorry! D: (You'll see why)

He thinks of saffron. He thinks of cream and spice and the sharp tang of pepper. Dreamily, he imagines distant brick houses with chimneys hard at work and puffing out black smoke.

No one ever suspects him of dreaming on the job, of not giving it any less than his very best. But these sets of could-be and never-will-be Chuunin causes him to snort in disgust and turn away, and he'd certainly get a notice, at least a warning, for that so -

So he dreams as they write. And with his pericheral vision, he catches the stupid cheaters and the obvious shuffles of paper with hardly a blink in their direction.

This isn't work, he thinks. For him, Ibiki, this is child's play, and yet the Hokage asked him -

He smiles at their mute horror when he lays down the rules for them to be Chuunin. Well, perhaps this is work, he muses to himself, as he puts down his hat and hears the gasps at his much-scarred head. Perhaps, but not much...

He sees children timidly putting their hands up in noble sacrifice, and of teams trooping off by the tens. He sees a girl with pink hair stare at him resolutely and a blue-eyed Hyuuga prod her fingers together in deliberation.

"Sir," a voice pipes up. "Sir, if you please, may I have a word?"

Ibiki starts at the noise, and focuses on a blond kid who sits propped up by his chair, cerulean eyes intent upon Ibiki's and, by all means, friendly as he offered the man a quick smile.

"Yes?" Ibiki barks, and can't help the smile when a bunch of never-should-be-Chuunins jump up from the table behind the blond.

"I've noticed that you're lacking a considerable amount of hair, sir," the kid says, and then quickly backpedals. "No, let me say that again. You must have gone through much trial and tribulation."

Silence. A team quietly trooped outside.

"Sir," says the blond kid, and a shaft of light from the window hits his eyes - and Ibiki notes their striking cerulean shade - and illuminates them brightly. "I don't think that you, sir, have ever backed out of a mission because of the danger involved. You're much too respectable and scarred for it to be otherwise, right?"

Ibiki pauses, and then feels the weight of the kid's words hang in the air like a gaunlet. All of the Genin stop moving - stop breathing - for a moment and -

"You have nerve," Ibiki grinds down on his teeth at last. "What's your name, kid?"

And the quick friendly smile and flash of blue-blue eyes - "Uzumaki Naruto." And it was with a feeling of something twisting in his stomach that Ibiki recognized the boy for what he was...

"Pfffft, some Forest of Death, right? I swear I just saw an itty-bitty flower off that corner - "

"Naruto - "

"And it was all yellow and stuff and I think that it's a sunflower and that's awesome, but this is still the almighty Forest of Death and that's sort of sad - "

"Okay, what happened to you being all cool and polite? You were really awesome just a second ago and now you're Naruto again."

"What do you mean, Sakura?" Naruto asked as he loped across a tree branch. "You mean when I was talking to Ibiki? He's tons better at that psychology stuff than I am, him being head of the intelligence department and stuff. But now that I'm back with you guys - "

"Spare me, Naruto, really," Sakura said dryly.

"I'm back to being my usual cheery old self. That's awesome too, right?"

"Hn."

Pause, then - "Did Sasuke-kun just -"

"Agree with me?" Naruto's eyes sparked with mischevious delight. "I'm taking that as a definite yes. I'm brilliant - "

"Not," Sakura interjected.

"And so is that sunflower-dandellion thing that we passed a couple of minutes ago," Naruto concluded. "And Sasuke agrees, right?"

"Hn."

Sakura shrugged. "I give up on you two, really."

"Lovely to know how much you care," Naruto said dryly.

Sasuke shifted the weight of his pack to the left and said nothing.

"Hey, I have an idea," Sakura quipped. "How about we all act like a team and be awesome together?"

"What, and ruin my individual charm?" Naruto teased. "You just want to get in on my fame."

Pause, and - "You're hopeless, Naruto. You really are."

"Of course, Sakura. Who do you think that I am?"

Hollow walls and a feeling of burning, intense and ravaging (and the eerie ring of bone on bone)

This place - what does it mean? With a vague recollection of red, red buildings and screams and gods and demons and -

And a blond man with blue eyes and flamboyant style - red-white cape and headband tucked low on the bangs.

He feels as if its been years. Once lustrous and glossy, his fur is now scraggled and punctured and damp with moisture.

He remembers eyes.

Cerulean, beryl, serpentine. Onyx, almost - but it fades from his memory.

The grass will wither, and so it had. No grass here - but slime and mold grew from the bars of a metal cage. But you, accursed demon, you shall forever remain.

He slumbered and quivered in dead sleep -

And, at last, the break of day. The sound of birds and voices and the ting of sunlight:

"... itty-bitty flower off that corner - "

How positively human, he thinks jadedly, but doesn't pick up the pieces yet.

And then, in flashes:

A blond man cradling an infant, a seal that burned itself into his memory, death, death, death... and life - in that child?

In a second, he draws together the puzzle-pieces, links together the final pieces and looks back at it for the full effect. He knows now, he knows - and -

And with a roar, Kyuubi begins to wake.

"I feel something."

"The wind? Yeah, it'll do that to you sometime. Sneaky little bugger ought be put to court for how many ninjas that it's double-crossed," Naruto sighed. "Nothing to be done about it, though. Good observation, though, Sasuke."

"No, not the wind." Irritation jaded his words. "It's energy. Chakra. Something's coming."

"I don't feel anything, Sasuke," Naruto said bluntly. "You sure that it's not anything else?"

"I can feel it too, Naruto," Sakura offers timidly. "It's not just Sasuke."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"

"It's chakra," Sasuke said loftily. "And lots of it."

Pause - and only the dying wind to witness them. And then -

"This feels like a trap," Naruto said at last. "We should run - "

Too late.

Far, far too late, he saw sand trickling across the forest floor - visible as tiny golden beads in the dying grass and withered weeds -

And then the onslaught of chakra like a tsunami rising up to cover him in its velvet waves.

I'm giving up.

I'm sorry - Really, really, I am. But even when I was struggling to write this chapter out, I couldn't get myself to focus like I had for the last few chapters. D: I'm not interested in fanfiction and manga anymore - and I'm an awful person for saying this, but I thought that I might as well give you guys what I'd come up with so far, so you're not left entirely in the dark.

If anyone wants to claim this story - rewrite it, continue it - PM me and I'd be glad to give you permission.

I'm sorry - I really didn't mean to end the story like this. But I really can't find myself inspired to continue this thing.

Thanks. It's been really fun writing this. And I'm glad I came up this far - and thank you, everyone, for supporting me for so long and being patient about my stilted chapter breaks and all. :D You're all awesome.