"Lady Hokage?" Shizune asked, knocking politely on the door to the office. Inside, Tsunade woke with a start and brushed away the papers sticking to her face.

"Enter," Tsunade said dramatically, waving her hand. Shizune opened the door, stepped in, and shut the door behind her. Tsunade groaned.

"More paperwork? When will it end?" She moaned as she spotted the armful of kanji-filled parchment, putting her head in her hands.

"Well, maybe there would be less of it if you did some while new paperwork came in," Shizune said. "But actually, I thought this one may interest you." Shizune picked a piece of paper from the top of the pile and managed to drop it on the desk. Tsunade swooped it up and her eyes scanned over it.

"A traveling circus?" She said dumbly.

"From the Village Hidden in Shadow. They're on their way now, and they'd like permission to stop here before continuing to their destination. In the meantime, they're offering performances in the village. Tickets will be sold upon entering."

"I haven't heard of that village before," Tsunade said, frowning. Shizune shrugged.

"No one has. They say it's a very small village somewhere near the Village Hidden in Stone. But I've heard that particular circus is very good, plus it's more well-known than the village itself."

Why is there a Hidden Village I don't know about? Tsunade wondered. I'm the Hokage, shouldn't I know all the villages?

"Ah. Well, I suppose a circus wouldn't hurt. The children would enjoy that, I'm thinking. You can go ahead and welcome them when they arrive, make sure you keep their way into the village clear, because I don't want any kids run over by their oxen or whatever."

"Actually, I hear it's more... elephants," Shizune said hesitantly. "Like... big, gray, leathery ones."

"Oh, what fun," Tsunade said dully.

"But they assure us that we need not do any extra work while they're here. They'll take care of it all, so no worries."

"Shizune, when has anyone ever said that and actually done it?"

"I have."

"Right. My mistake." Tsunade grinned suddenly, a surprisingly impish look overcoming her normally stern, motherly features. "Let's do it. This oughta be fun."

~ Meanwhile ~

"A circus?" Lee's eyes widened. "In Leaf Village?"

The posters were up all over the city by now, gigantic black and red posters with pictures of acrobats and fire-breathers and animals and clowns. One picture, showing a pretty girl with long red hair billowing down her back and nine rings in the air in a circle above her plus one in each hand, said "The Girl Who Plays With Fire" in kanji at the bottom.

Lee was already hyper. This made it just slightly worse.

Neji examined the poster carefully.

"'The star attraction in tonight's show by the Shadow Village Circus will be performing the fire juggling routine. This includes our singer, Chiaki, singing throughout the duration of this amazing routine where our 火で遊ぶ女の子 will show off her fire juggling skills. Don't miss it!'" He read out loud. "Hm."

"What is it, Neji?" Tenten asked from beside him, examining his expression.

"Nothing. It just sounds interesting," Neji said evasively, nonchalantly moving to stand by their sensei, Gai, who held up a handful of tickets with a huge smile on his face.

"Yes, Gai Sensei! You're so cool!" Lee exclaimed, tears appearing in his overly wide eyes.

"All of us?" Tenten asked with glee. Gai Sensei struck a pose, the sun glinting off his teeth.

"All of us," Gai said proudly, stuffing the tickets in his pocket with his free hand. Neji turned slightly to watch a cloaked girl head down the street with someone next to her. The cloaked girl turned to talk to the person next to her, and the person nodded and moved aside.

The girl threw her hood back as she examined the fruits and vegetables for sale by a street vendor. She picked some items, put them in her bag and, smiling, dropped a handful of coins in the man's hand. The man looked down at the coins in surprise, and took about half of them and tried to give them back. The girl shook her head, reaching out to fold the man's hand around the coins.

She said something Neji couldn't hear and the man grinned and made a grateful bow. Then, smiling, the girl turned the other way.

Neji could easily recognize the mane of red hair and the pale, unblemished skin. She was the circus's mane attraction from the poster, the Girl Who Plays With Fire. Apparently other people did too, because soon she was surrounded by people asking questions and begging for her autograph.

Neji realized she was much younger than she looked on the poster. In fact, she couldn't have been much older than he was. She signed some slips of paper and then waved to the crowd, flipping her hood back up and gliding away, her companion hurrying after her.

Tenten and Lee were talking to Gai Sensei and had noticed nothing.

"Front row seats?" Lee exclaimed. "I love you, Gai Sensei!"

Guy Sensei grinned proudly, though Neji was moderately sure he only got tickets because his rival, Kakashi, had gotten tickets for his subordinates, and they were probably not front row. Of course, both Jonin probably wouldn't be able to make it themselves, seeing as they were almost constantly on missions.

Neji sighed. I guess I'm the only one who'll keep my cool, he thought. Oh, well.

~ Later On ~

"Welcome to the Shadow Village Circus Night Show!" The ringmaster's voice boomed. He stood on a block in the middle of the arena, his black suit and shiny top hat glinting in the bright colored lights. He was a tall man, with a mustache and thick eyebrows and a rabbit's foot on a chain around his neck.

"You will enjoy our main attraction tonight," he said with a wink. "It's gonna be hot!"

Circus music started playing and the ringmaster left the arena. A woman dressed in (Neji shuddered) basically nothing but feathers with a long black braid down her back came out riding on an elephant's head, followed by a man with a whip and a lion trailing after him.

The bird-woman did fancy leaps and bounds on the elephant's back, and the lion-tamer had the lion jump through hoops and walk on balance beams.

The trapeze artists came out and began flying all over the stage, wearing colorful bodysuits. One man held on to another man's ankles, then let go and grabbed another man's shoulders as he swooped underneath.

Then the contortionist came on. She bent her body in impossible shapes, twisting into knots and relaxing, then twisting again. The crowd oohed and ahhed at this remarkable performance.

Finally, it neared the end of the show. All of the lights came off, and there was hushed murmuring. A single light came on, alighting the girl in the center. She was dressed in a simple black and red corset tank top and leggings laced up the sides, and her gorgeous curly red hair was tied behind her bowed head.

The light moved to the other side of the arena, where a woman who looked very similar, even dressed in the same way, took a deep breath and began to sing. As she began to sing, the girl lifted her arms and revealed a bunch of rings on each arm. She tossed them into the air, and they burst into flames.

"Can you feel the breath of lost dreams,

In the wind against your neck?

The fire bites, the fire screams!

The fire dances in the breeze.

The fire leaps, the fire cries!

Ember tears that lay all lies."

Chiaki sang as the fire whirled in the darkness. The girl herself could not be seen, nor her movements, but the patterns that were left in the air by the dizzying speed of her tossing the rings across and seemingly straight through other rings was easily visible.

Neji was captured in fascination. He hadn't expected such a show, especially from a village he had never heard of, but this was spectacular. He could see why they called her the main attraction. Then, without warning, the singer went hoarse and stopped suddenly and the fire halted. Neji looked around, wondering if something was wrong, but then a new voice picked up the song.

"Dance and sway,

On the wicks of candles.

Burn away,

Taste the light of a new day!

Leap and bound and twist and turn,

Scorch and scream and hurt and burn.

The fire does not take survivors,

None survive the fire's ire."

Neji realized with a start that not only had the girl started juggling again, but now she was also the one singing. Chiaki hurried offstage, obviously embarrassed. Neji wondered what had happened. Nevertheless, the fire still whirled through the air and the music still played, and the girl's clear song pierced the air almost like the light of the fire.

"Byakugan!" Neji murmured, focusing his Kekkai Genkai on the fire dancer. He could see her chakra weaving through her body, and he could see her body now even though it was still dark. Her movements were exaggerated, but still fluid.

And then he realized what he was seeing. Just before she threw a ring into the air, it flared with her own chakra.

This was not a magic trick. The rings were really being thrown at each other, but instead of bouncing off, they just slipped right through each other. Neji watched with renewed fascination using his Byakugan as the girl fearlessly danced among the flames, tossing and catching rings at an astonishing pace.

Finally, the song ended and the girl halted, head bowed, the snuffed-out rings once again on her arms in the beginning pose. Everyone stood up and started cheering, and the girl bowed politely and headed out. The ringmaster proudly strutted out.

"Can you believe it? And to think, she learned it entirely by herself!" The ringmaster crowed. The lights came back on and everyone began filing out. Neji drummed his fingers on the armrests of his seat.

"What is it, Neji?" Tenten asked curiously. "Wasn't she amazing?"

"Does the Hokage know about the Village Hidden in Shadow?" Neji asked.

"I assume so. Why?"

"No reason." Neji got up with Tenten and Lee.

"Hey, Bushy Brow!" Someone called, heading towards them. Neji sighed. Naruto came running down the hall towards their seat, waving at Lee.

"Naruto," Lee said, surprised. "Is Sakura here?" He asked, looking around eagerly.

"Yeah, up there with Kakashi Sensei. Hey, did you see that show? Wow! She's really good!" Naruto said eagerly. "And the fire...!" He shook his head. "Unbelievable!"

"Come on," Neji whispered, pulling Tenten along.

"What are you doing?" Tenten hissed, but she came with him. Neji followed the crowd and then headed around the tent to where the smaller tents were.

"... terribly sorry, I don't know what happened!" A female voice wailed. Neji signalled Tenten to stay quiet, and he crouched by the door.

"It's fine, really, Chiaki. It worked out okay in the end. Luckily for you, I remembered the rest of the song," The girl's voice said cheerfully.

"Are you certain you're all right? Usually after the show you get all tired and-"

"I'm fine, Chiaki. You go ahead, I think I'm going to get some rest."

"If you're certain..." Chiaki said hesitantly. Neji pulled Tenten to the side as Chiaki headed out of the tent. "Good night, Kozue!"

"Good night, Chiaki."

Chiaki disappeared in the maze of tents, and Neji stepped closer to the tent.

"Byakugan!" He murmured, focusing on the tent. His eyes slid through the fabric – Neji looked away, blushing fiercely. He didn't mean to intrude on her privacy as she dressed for bed. He waited a minute, then tried again.

"Byakugan!"

The inside of the tent was plain, with only the necessities and no heavy furniture so that it could be easily packed up and moved to another place. The little bed was on the far side, and Kozue lay on it, staring up at the ceiling of the tent. Her gaze shifted curiously to where Neji was on the others side, and Neji got up.

"Come on, let's go," he said softly to Tenten, and they both headed back to the main tent.