Ahah...let's pretend it hasn't been three months, okay? :3

Sorry, I started sixth form, stopped watching Naruto, and started questioning the meaning of life, ultimately depressing myself to the point where any thought of doing productive stuff was met with painful groans and hiding under the duvet.

I know what I'm doing for the next chapter, but I'm winging this one.

Sorry again about the wait, though. There won't be such a big gap between updates from now on.

And without further ado...

let us begin!

(Also I'm switching to past tense because present is effort).

Hinata had been having a good day so far. Her father hadn't given her that awful disappointed look over breakfast, Hanabi had been cordial in her attitude towards her sister and Kurenai-sensei had trained them instead of giving them a D-rank. She had even been praised by Kiba for her quick thinking when she realised that Kurenai had put them in a genjutsu while they were sparring. She was perfectly content just walking along, thinking about someone with blonde hair...

Her day was about to get...well, more interesting.

"Hinata-chan!" She looked up from the dusty path at the yell.

There were five Narutos.

Five.

One Naruto was more than enough to get her heart racing but think of the things that could happen with five, even if two were female but who cared because it was still Naruto anyway...

She stood there in shocked silence for a couple of seconds before turning bright red and fainting.

"Hinata-chan?"

Shikamaru sighed as he sat beside Naruto's hospital bed. Why was the blonde so troublesome? He groaned aloud, hoping the noise would sink into Naruto's subconscious so he could see how annoying he was being, but there was no visible change to the sleeping body.

And no doubt all the other rookies would expect him to figure out how this had happened, because he was supposedly the smart one. Not that he hadn't already come up with a multitude of different solutions to the problem, but in the end he was no master of jutsu. Shizune-san had just said that hopefully he would wake up at some point, and they would figure it out from there.

He definitely wasn't using this as an excuse to get out of training...and besides, if he woke up Shikamaru would get to be the first to explain the situation to him, which was well worth sitting around for a while.

Not that he was enjoying himself. He groaned again, but there was still no reaction. A quiet "Troublesome..." under his breath. For all his reasoning, the body didn't stir. Naruto slept peacefully on, hooked up to several machines recording his vital signs.

If he tilted his chair back a little more, he could just about see the clouds outside the window...

"Six of him?"

"Well, seven," Sakura explained to Ino, "If you count the original as well. He's such an idiot, I swear..."

"Seven?! You don't think it's permanent, do you?"

Both girls took a moment to imagine seven Naruto's running about Konoha for the rest of their lives.

Behind Ino, several flowers wilted.

"No," Sakura stated, trying to reassure them both. "That couldn't happen."

"Kabuto!"

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama?"

The medic nin watched Orochimaru's face carefully as he spoke his next sentence. "Something big is amiss in Konoha. We will hold off on retrieving Sasuke for the time being."

He turned away, halfway through mixing more medication. A silver eyebrow arched behind his glasses as he pondered on Orochimaru's expression. Had that been wariness on his face? "Whatever you say, my Lord."

"Ah, you won again, my eternal rival!" Gai bellowed in disappointment. "But never mind! The flames of my youth burn like a thousand stars, and next time I shall be victorious in my attempt to break your winning streak!"

"What was that?" Kakashi asked flippantly, calmer now that the Narut'os weren't present. As Gai was struck over the head by his own disappointment, he focused on the nearly undetectable chakra signatures surrounding them. Two to the right, two to the left...another two straight down the path facing them and one hidden in the foliage in the gap that was left. Seven ANBU. His eye crinkled as he considered was that meant. Tsunade wasn't underestimating him, then, if she thought he needed seven ANBU around to restrain him.

He shot a look at Gai, who was now crying with frustration. Had he been trying to talk to him again? Hmm...if he really was cracking up, he figured the spandex-covered jounin would be able to restrain him by himself, anyway. Enough if he did look (and act) like an idiot, Gai was clever, shrewd. He could probably tell that something was happening.

Out of nowhere, Gai flung his arm over Kakashi's shoulders. He would have jumped in the air if Gai hadn't been, quite literally, pinning him down, and for a second he's back in the ANBU training where they're being taught to resist torture and...Gai lets out a low hum, short and very quiet, so uncharacteristic that Kakashi is brought back to himself. And then he relaxes and so do the ANBU - what Gai is doing is a clear sign that he can manage him anyway (and if it's a madness shared by two lets face it the ANBU don't stand a chance). After a couple more minutes of Gai and Kakashi bantering they disperse, at ease, and Kakashi counts two minutes after the Usagi ANBU leaves before turning to Gai.

He's still a bit startled from the physical contact (Kakashi doesn't do contact. Ever) so Gai starts. "Something is troubling you, my rival. What's happened?"

And by this point Kakashi is not only fraught with nerves at the thought of Orange Naruto's disappearance (as well as what Tsunade will do to him if she finds out she let him slip away) but he's also kind of worried about original Naruto, too, because jutsu are unpredictable things and he is Minato-sensei's legacy and if anything happens to him it'll be his fault so he turns to Gai and says "We were assigned a D-rank mission today..."

The dog whined piteously as it buried it's head inside Kiba's jacket. It wasn't the only animal ill at ease; several of Shino's bugs were buzzing around the boys head and the teen, if he didn't look so stoic, might even be concerned too.

"What's up, Akamaru?" Kiba queries, and ruffles the fur on his head. He's answered with another whine and Akamaru tries to burrow down further.

"My insects are tense too." Like every other one of Shino's sentences, it is short and to the point. "They detect a inconsistency in the chakra in the air."

"Weird," Kiba mutters. As they keep walking, they see a figure laid out on a bench, alone. "Hey, is that Hinata?" he asks, even though they can tell that it is by the point. They run over to her, forgetting any talk of uneasiness.

By this time, the sun is beginning to set over the hokage mountains, illuminating them from the top downwards and casting the faces into odd shadows. Evening had arrived.

The sun was setting on the day that went down in history as the only one where the Akimichi's lost their appetite.

Huzzah! I hope that's vaguely satisfactory after the long wait D:

I thought it would be cool to get a little bit of everyone, but I got stuck when it came to Chouji, so...

Naww, worried Kakashi. I didn't want to overload it with humour, so that happened. He really is getting all the trouble.

Orange Naruto next chapter, maybe.

Or the chapter after.

*shakes review tin* If it wasn't for all of your reviews I might not have bothered continuing, so thank you a ton for those :)