Well, here we are again. Sometimes I'm really shit about opening a new chapter- occasionally I'll just blank and I can't figure out how to start. This chapter was one of those.

But I got it in the end.

Hooray.

Firstly, please excuse the fact that this chapter is kind of full of exposition- even the canon tends to get long-winded when it's explaining a new concept.

Secondly, I can finally make this announcement on a wider scale: I got a Beta! And Secretary, haha. Her name is Ashfall 'Call Me Ash' Architect, and she's an old friend of mine who has finally managed to convince me to include her in my work- at least as far as this site is concerned. She started in the middle of March, so some of you are already familiar with her. She'll be helping me with whatever I need, which is most often keeping me focused and helping me bounce ideas and eliminate the strays. She's also been and will continue to be a kind of public face, despite remaining totally anonymous; responding to PMs and Reviews that deserve a response, and passing relevant ideas/praise on to me in a less work-intrusive way than I ever could. She's really an awesome person, and I'm glad I get to know her. Honestly I don't deserve her help on this silly hobby of mine, but she's super insistent.

Tl;dr: Ash is awesome, and she's gonna be around, doin' Beta and Secretary stuff from now on.

Okay. Now that's done.

Let's do this.

Enjoy~

(~HJN~)

Naruto woke up to a pillow being thrown at his face and a scowling Uchiha. "What gives, that was a good dream!"

"Tch. Come on, dobe. They're summoning us," he said, turning and heading for the other side of the room to check his pack.

Naruto sat up and kicked the covers off, frowning at the other boy. "What do you mean, what for?"

"The Second Task is over. I guess we're being assembled for the Third Task," Sasuke answered, not looking up.

Naruto made a noise of understanding and swung his legs off the bed to begin putting his sandals on. "So... Have you given what Kakashi-sensei said any more thought, Sasuke?" The Uchiha paused, but continued inventorying his ninja tool pouch, not giving an answer. "Cause," Naruto continued, "I still don't know what to do..." Again, Sasuke was silent. "To be honest, I've... kind of been avoiding thinking about it."

Sasuke sighed and stopped his busywork. "Yeah... me too."

~~(~Dancer~)~~

On the second day they were in the tower, Naruto and Sasuke were sitting in fair silence, Sasuke leaning against the wall on his bed with his eyes closed, while Naruto fiddled with a tripwire hook to keep himself busy. They both nearly jumped when someone suddenly knocked on the door. They looked at each other for a moment before Naruto, who was already on the edge of his bed, stood and moved to the door.

"Ka- Kakashi-sensei!" he had said, surprised. Sasuke swiftly slid off his bed to stand beside Naruto and see that Kakashi had, indeed, come to see them.

The Jonin did not smile with his visible eye, did not give them his customary wave and greeting. Kakashi simply stepped forward into the room and softly closed the door behind him. They all stood, the air tense, teacher looking at students, students staring right back, all seeming ashamed. Even Sasuke.

Kakashi startled them both by placing one hand each on their shoulders, his eye serious. "Naruto.. Sasuke... Who..." He seemed to struggle to get the words out, as though afraid of their answer, "Who.. do you blame..?" he asked, looking each of them in the eye in turn.

Sasuke was surprised, and Naruto looked down at the ground. Then they both met each other's eyes and nodded slightly. Turning back to face their master, they said with the same timing and the same conviction, if not the same volume, "Orochimaru!"

At Kakashi's widened eye, Naruto proclaimed, "If he hadn't knocked us out- hadn't sent those Oto dicks to kill Sasuke- hadn't brainwashed Kin..."

Kakashi finally choked out, "Y-you fought Orochimaru?!"

Sasuke scowled. "If he hadn't put that seal on me, I might've been awake in time..."

Naruto elbowed Sasuke and thrust a thumb into his own stomach, yelling, "Yeah, if he hadn't put those seals on both of us, we could have helped Sakura! Those Oto guys would have gone down, no problem, with all three of us!"

Kakashi's grip on their shoulders tightened as he asked in a panic, "Orochimaru put seals on you?!" Before either of his disciples could respond, he had spun them around and yanked on their collars, exposing their necks and making them protest. A look at Sasuke made him mutter, "As I was afraid of.." But when he saw Naruto, he asked, confused, "Where's your seal, Naruto?"

Naruto and Sasuke both wrenched out of his grip and Naruto lifted his shirt, channeling his chakra. A black spiral surrounded by eight symbols formed on his stomach, prompting Kakashi to sigh, and say, "Naruto, that seal is..." But he went quiet when five more seals appeared over the top of the existing seal.

While Kakashi gaped, Naruto said, "I had Sasuke take a look with his Sharingan. Those five at the top are new. The rest of it.. well, I don't know what it does, but I've had it my whole life, ever since I learned to summon my chakra."

Sasuke frowned down at the five symbols, watching his teacher crouch and raise his headband to reveal the single Sharingan hidden there. "You see it, right? The big one that Naruto says is 'normal' is holding something back, but it doesn't seem to really be messing with him. The additional five seals are a problem, though. They're restricting his chakra, and causing problems with the seal they're laid on top of."

Kakashi nodded, closing his Sharingan eye and lowering his headband back into place. "Yes, I can see that. Naruto, the original seal is very important. Do not ever try to remove it, or let anyone else do so. I'll tell you what it really does later, but just know that it... it could kill you, and everyone around you." Naruto gulped, shocked, but eventually nodded. "This other seal, though... We can do something about that. You're not supposed to receive much medical assistance until the Second Task is officially over, but I'll pull some strings and try to get that removed. In the meantime..."

Kakashi turned to address Sasuke, his face serious again. "Sasuke, you must tell me everything that happened involving that seal. Every detail."

And so he did. From Orochimaru biting his neck and placing it there before delivering his speech about power, to waking up in a rage and nearly attacking Shikamaru and Chouji.

"Even now, it doesn't seem like anybody knows what happened to Ino, but she pulled me out of that rage and... did something to the mark. It was like.. she pulled something out of it." Sasuke shook his head, "I don't think the girl even knew what she was doing, especially with how she acted afterwards."

Kakashi seemed... troubled by the news, but after a few more questions about whether the mark was causing Sasuke pain, or if it had tried to activate afterwards when he used chakra- all of which was answered with a solid 'no'- he seemed somewhat relieved. Further questioning by the two boys was sidestepped, as Kakashi moved the conversation into a yet more worrisome topic.

"You aren't a team, anymore. Not quite."

Naruto, of course, had been beside himself with confusion and denial, but Sasuke shushed him and pointed out that a ninja team is at least a three-man cell, with under-ranked teams like Genin having a fourth member, usually higher-ranked or older.

"That's right, Sasuke. A three-man cell with more than one Genin requires a fourth, even when a captain isn't necessary. We can't just be a team, ourselves. Now, if one or both of you were to be promoted..." he left the idea hanging in the air for a moment before continuing. "We'd still need a fourth for higher-ranked missions, especially if only one of you advances, but as a registered unit we'd no longer be Team 7. We'd likely be Team Kakashi, and we could take on even C-ranked missions on our own. That said... I don't think I would authorize such a shift, even were both of you to advance."

Calming their initial surprise and anger, he explained, "You've both come far, and I know none of us really want to talk about this, but losing Sakura has shown me that I haven't been diligent enough in being your sensei. The fact that you've both come as far as you have is a testament to your own skill and drive, not my ability as a teacher. Since I don't feel that I've taught you well enough, a third Genin will join this team and round you out. Now if you'll both shut up for a minute, you do have a say in this." He looked them both carefully in the eye before continuing. "Tsuchi Kin has formally requested sanctuary in Konoha, citing an unwillingness to follow Orochimaru any longer, and providing quite a bit of intel as her bargaining chip. Her request is still being processed and debated, last I heard, but one strong voice with a new point is usually all it takes to sway a vote one way or the other. If you both decide you want me to, I can request that she be placed on Team 7 to replace Sakura. A sort of penance, if you will, since she was the one that dealt the blow. Most of the ones arguing to execute or exile her would be satisfied with that, and I can't see any of her supporters being against it. Though if you choose this route, I'd recommend talking to Kin about it. If you don't want Kin, that's okay. This is our team, and you are two-thirds of that team. Personally, I don't have an opinion about Kin. I know all too well what a Genjutsu is capable of, so until I meet or at least hear about her real self, I don't have anything against her, and whether she joins us would be up to the two of you.

"Again, I know that this is still a raw subject, but it does need to be dealt with. Trust me... I've been through it, myself. If you don't want Kin, you have four other options. Option one: You can be restricted from out-of-village ninja activities while the three of us screen and observe the upcoming Academy pre-graduates. As an understaffed team, we have priority and can hand-pick any graduate or near-graduate we like, provided we start the process soon. The next group will graduate in six months, and that is how long you will be restricted from out-of-village missions. We can all take an active part in this selection, or you can leave most of it to me- honestly all that matters is that it gets done and we all agree on who it is. We'll have to select a couple of them, though- since once they graduate, the three of us will have to test them ourselves. If the first choice fails, we need backups. If all the backups fail, we'll wait another eight months for the next graduating class. Unless, of course, you've both grown enough that I feel we don't need a fourth, anymore."

Seeing that neither of them seemed particularly excited about either of the choices so far, he continued. "Option two: We can select from an existing pool of Genin that have lost their whole teams. These will be Genin who, for one reason or another, no longer have a team or a sensei. They will likely need to be convinced to join us, and all of them are likely older than you. Not to mention that something has clearly been keeping them from being taken into another understaffed team." Again, neither had been happy to hear that option.

"Option three: You can abandon Team 7 altogether." Their shocked faces made him a little happy, but he explained regardless. "You will join a pool of ninja that are looking for a shisho- a master to be apprenticed under. Jonin and Tokubetsu Jonin who don't want a whole squad will sometimes request an apprentice. They choose from upcoming Academy pre-graduates like we would in option one, and a pool of existing Genin and Chuunin. You can maybe impress one of them and be apprenticed on your own. Since I refuse to choose one of you over the other, I will not be taking either of you as an apprentice.

"Option four: We can continue to train without an additional member- with other teams. We'd never do team training without someone else, and any mission we decide to take- whatever the rank- would be done with another team, or by 'borrowing' a member of another team with their sensei's approval. This is usually only done when a member of the team is temporarily out of comission for more than a month, but we may be able to twist the rule around for our situation if you really want to.

"You don't have to decide now," he said, seeing Naruto's overwhelmed look and Sasuke's irritated, lost expression. "You've still got a while to think about it- A month, we'll say. But by the time that has passed, I really hope you two will have come to an agreement. As a team."

He left them then, but not before warning Sasuke not to try and use that 'cursed seal mark' until some professionals can take a look at it.

And they retreated back into their silence, their thoughts becoming even more clouded and clogged.

~~(~Dancer~)~~

Naruto had since had Orochimaru's seal removed by some Jonin in goggles, and they were currently heading down the hall to gather in the large arena-like atrium. Once there, Naruto took note of the other teams that had made it- Team 8 and Team Gai were among them, which made Naruto sort of happy. That creepy guy from Suna and his brother and sister also seemed to have passed, big surprise.

He saw Ino smile at him when she met his eyes, and he half-smiled before looking away, blushing. That girl had been his biggest headache lately; he didn't know what to think of her. On the one hand, she was clearly trying to be his friend. On the other, she had always seemed to merely tolerate his existence before Sakura...

And now Ino was kissing him! Well- not quite. In hindsight, she had meant to kiss his cheek, and he screwed it up. But then she didn't seem upset about it- maybe she understood that it was an accident?

'Dammit,' he thought, 'Now my first kiss- which doesn't count!- AND my first real kiss were accidents! Man, I really am a loser when it comes to girls..'

He was pulled from his rumination by a deep and old voice welcoming and congratulating them on making it through the Second Task. Naruto listened to the Hokage speak about the meaning of the Chuunin Exams, how it's sort of like a stand-in for war and field promotions, a way of showing a village's strength and ability to raise talented ninja without bloodshed. Naruto snorted and he saw Sasuke shake his head in front of him at that. 'Without bloodshed, huh...'

Then the proctor for the Third Exam took over the proceedings, and told them that there were just a few too many teams that passed. They'd have to hold another elimination period- this time in the same sort of vein as the Chuunin Exam Finals: a series of one-on-one matches. That sounded kind of lazy to Naruto, even the part about how a lot of foreign dignitaries come to the Finals, necessitating a speeding up of the fights.

Still, the dice were cast, so to speak, and two names lit up on the large board high on one wall. Uchiha Sasuke versus Akimichi Chouji.

Naruto punched Sasuke lightly in the arm, "Lucky bastard, you get to go first!"

"Make sure you keep watching- you might learn something."

"Hah, yeah right! Just don't sell Chouji short- he might surprise you!" Naruto grinned at the round boy. "Good luck, you two!"

Chouji smiled back despite clearly not wanting to really participate. "Heh... Thanks, Naruto."

Naruto followed Team 8 and Team 10 up one set of stairs, seeing Neji's and Gaara's teams filling the other catwalk. Carefully pretending not to notice Ino trying to catch his eye, he watched Sasuke and Chouji bow to each other, marveling at how the brooding Uchiha had been opening up, lately. 'Ino, Sasuke... maybe there's just something in the water around here.'

"It's really quite amazing, how much change a single life can bring..."

Naruto blinked, glancing around in a panic, as suddenly he wasn't standing on the balcony anymore, watching Sasuke and Chouji face off. Indeed, he was now in a much darker, wetter place, staring in shock up at the massive bars of a cage, intimidating giant red eyes slowly opening to regard him from the other side of the bars.

"...should the right one be snuffed out, in the right way."

Suddenly it was as though light had filled the cage- or at least, the darkness had retreated. Staring down at him, lying with its head resting over massive paws, was a truly gigantic being that simply radiated power. It was a 20-story, long-eared orange fox, no less than nine white-tipped tails swishing lazily in the air behind it, or curled about its body. It was a being that was instantly recognizable, responsible for countless deaths and battles, and its very presence demanded respect and fear.

And Naruto didn't care in the slightest. "Hmph. I gotta admit, I really didn't think I'd actually meet you, Kitsune-baka."

A rumble was heard, rolling up from the Kyuubi no Kitsune's throat. Whether is was a growl or a laugh, Naruto wasn't sure. "To be truthful, I had intended to never speak to you like this until recently. Your life was so inconsequential and boring to me that I almost wish I was still under the power of my previous captor.."

Naruto crossed his arms and leaned to one side. "So what changed, huh? Did you decide that maybe I'm not as bad as whoever was calling the shots before?"

"Oh there is no doubt that you will at least end up as less of a thorn than he. And indeed, if you and he ever cross paths, I demand you make it your personal mission to end his disgustingly prolonged life. But that is a subject for later discussion. No, what primarily changed my mind about actively associating with you is... that."

Naruto watched the fox's slitted red eyes shift and look down at the damp floor between them. The blonde took a startled step back, seeing the five complex but somewhat familiar kanji-like symbols burning on the ground in purple, silent flames. "Wh-what the hell- I thought we got rid of that snake asshole's seal?!"

"Not completely, it seems. The mark is indeed gone from your body, and the debilitating effects it had on me and your chakra have disappeared, as well... Yet here, a seal remains."

Naruto scrunched up his face, suddenly confused. "Wait.. so if it's not affecting me anymore, why worry about it? It's just... like a scar now, right?"

The Kyuubi seemed to sigh, his ear twitching irritably. "Such simple-mindedness... While it is true that original goal of its application has been neutralized, it seems that there is some kind of residual side-effect in place."

Naruto tilted his head to the side in deeper confusion. "... You talk weird." The Kyuubi seemed to stare at him, deadpan. "But I think I get the jist of it. The seal's still there, it's just doing something different now, right? So, what's it doing, 'ttebayo?"

"That, indeed, is the question. It's storing chakra at the moment, and has been generating it since the original seal was removed. I'm unsure of how 'full', for lack of a better term, it is at the moment, but the chakra it is generating is different than your normal human chakra, as well as my own Biju chakra. If I didn't know any better..." The fox trailed off in a mumble.

Naruto walked closer to the circle of burning kanji, crouching down and observing the purple-blue flames. "Why's it on fire?" He asked simply, after a moment.

The Kyuubi didn't seem impressed by the question, but answered anyway. "As far as I can tell, the flames, along with the size of the seal itself, is representing how much chakra it has stored up. The seal was so small as to be invisible when you first had the original removed, and it has since grown to the six-foot diameter you see before you. It should be noted that I had been working on halting its progress, erring on the side of caution, before I called you in here. So far, I've only been able to slow it down." Naruto continued to watch the flames until the fox spoke again, drawing his gaze. "Gaki... A seal with similar traits adorns your Uchiha friend's neck."

Naruto stood up and frowned. "But... Kakashi-sensei said..."

"Disregarding the fact that your sensei likely only has second- or third-hand information, the situation remains that the seal that was placed on you has mutated. Whether by design, by chance interaction with the seal that holds me here, or by some mistake of the man who tried to remove it, I cannot say. Perhaps there are even other factors in play that we cannot see. Regardless, the Uchiha's... what did Hatake call it... 'Curse mark' is currently doing something similar- drawing in, generating, and storing chakra. I can feel it from here."

Naruto crossed his arms and thumbed his chin, thinking. 'From what Kakashi-sensei said, the Curse Mark was meant to activate when Sasuke drew on chakra. Then, as far as I've heard, it would make him bloodthirsty and give him a huge boost in chakra, practically driving him crazy as it made him stronger. But after Ino broke him out of it, the Curse Mark hasn't done any of that. Teme said it doesn't even hurt, like Kakashi-sensei said it should. So I guess all it's doing right now is making that weird chakra he told me about...' Naruto looked down at the flames again, trying to imagine them as the 'sinister chakra' Sasuke had described. It wasn't difficult, what with their ominous appearance. "So... now what? Am I going to lose control and attack my friends the next time I use chakra? I need that!"

The Biju growled. "Didn't I just say that I didn't know what its purpose or effects were anymore, beyond generating this other chakra?! Listen to your elders!"

Naruto flinched, despite himself. "Ano.. Sorry, Kyuubi. It's just... Everything's kind of confusing, lately, and this stupid reminder of that asshole isn't helping."

All was silent for a moment as Naruto stared into the blue-violet flames. It was short-lived, however, as his head snapped up at the Kyuubi's low voice, "Kit... That seal was not the only reason I wished to speak to you." When Naruto had a simultaneous look of remembrance and curiosity, the beast continued. "That man.. Orochimaru.. That is one of the few men I know that represents nearly everything I loathe about humankind and this world in general. Inhuman greed, to the point of becoming inhuman, an undying obsession with undeath... Only one other man has ever infuriated me more, clinging as he no doubt is to a twisted perversion of life, objectifying the essence of existence and warping it into a parody of life..." The Kyuubi trailed off, growling at his own memories.

Naruto stared at the giant fox, not expecting a response like that in the least. "Kyuubi.. You really do talk funny. Uhm... what does 'objectifating' mean?" If he had both the room and the lack of poise, the Kyuubi would have face-faulted at that. "Better yet... What are you getting at, here? You want me to beat this guy up for you, or something...?"

That.. seemed to give the Kyuubi pause. Gradually, like the clouds parting before a crescent moon, the Kyuubi grinned, his muzzle splitting to reveal a maw of vicious-looking teeth. "Why Naruto.. That's an excellent idea," he said, the low rumble taking on a deeply pleased timbre. "I had been trying to broach the subject of a sort of... temporary partnership. I want Orochimaru to leave this mortal coil as much as you do, after all, and learning to use my awesome power would give you a significant advantage over a mere mortal, even one as inhuman as he. The question had been, as is always the case with such things, what I would ask for in return."

The Biju trailed off, looking at him expectantly. Naruto didn't need long to connect the dots, having already had the thought, himself. "You want to help me take out Orochibaka, in exchange for helping you take out this other guy?"

A deep rumble was heard, and this time Naruto was sure it was laughter. "Oh much more than that, gaki. I am offering you a partnership- A binding of our goals. I would teach you, and help you control my vast power, giving you the tools you need to eliminate Orochimaru and, presumably, accomplish whatever else it is your heart desires. And in return... I want you to help me kill Uchiha Madara."

(~Dancer~)
(~Dancer~)

"Winner by knockout: Uchiha Sasuke!"

Sasuke took a steadying breath, his heart slowing as he heard that Chouji wasn't dead. He looked up at the balcony, seeing Naruto's closed eyes, and wondered what the blonde was thinking about. He also saw their sensei giving him a meaningful glare, and knew he would be chastised the moment they were alone.

He hadn't meant to. His emotions just elevated in time with his heartbeat, he couldn't help it. It was how he fought, how he was. The fact that the Curse Mark would apparently activate on its own if his emotions ran at a high enough degree was, to him, irrelevant until afterward. After he had sent Chouji flying at the wall with significantly more force than necessary.

'I suppose I'll have to treat him to barbecue, later,' he thought as he took another deep breath before heading up to join the remnants of his team, Chouji being carried away on a stretcher.

Sasuke made eye contact with Kakashi and shook his head slightly, hoping to get the message across. He really didn't want his sensei to think he had done that on purpose, and he especially didn't want to cause a scene. Unfortunately, he couldn't escape the subject entirely.

"Sasuke-kun, that was kind of harsh, don't you think? Chouji didn't deserve that."

The Uchiha sighed, leaning his back against the railing as he turned to regard Ino. "I can honestly tell you it was an accident. Also it seems your little 'solution' to my 'problem' from earlier wasn't completely effective." He watched out of the corner of his eye as confusion crossed Ino's face, before she suddenly seemed to understand as her eyes drifted to his shoulder. He nodded imperceptibly, but said no more, turning to his teammate. "Oi, dobe. Don't hurt yourself, thinking like that."

Naruto's eyes snapped open with the suddenness of a snake striking at prey- a comparison that set Sasuke's blood to a simmer. The blonde looked at him, and seemed to think for a moment, his face devoid of the playful comeback Sasuke had been expecting. "Sasuke..." When he spoke, Sasuke straightened, sensing an uncharacteristic amount of seriousness coming from his teammate. "I need to talk to you.. Later. Alone. And I'm going to need you to be completely honest with me when we do."

Well, then. Sasuke didn't exactly know what to say about that. He'd seen Naruto have moments of contemplation, or calm. And recently Naruto had even shown signs that he was capable of being serious, however tinged with hyperactivity it was. But this.. 'It's like he just flipped a switch.' He could only nod to the blonde's intense gaze, schooling his features to hide how it affected him.

And in the next moment, it was gone. The Naruto he thought he knew had returned, and acted like he had just noticed what was going on. "Ah, Sasuke! Did you win your fight?"

The raven-haired boy's eye twitched. "I suppose with how hard you were thinking earlier, you probably missed most of it, huh? Yeah, I won... A little more... 'definitively' than I had meant to, but what's done is done."

Naruto blinked, his lips pursing curiously. "Mm.. What's that mean," he asked under his breath.

Before Sasuke could respond in any fashion, the proctor's voice called out through the room, "Sabaku no Kankuro and," a round of quiet coughs interrupted him, "Nara Shikamaru, please come down to the floor."

Sasuke smirked slightly when he heard the second boy mutter under his breath, bemoaning his luck. As the two contestants met on the floor, he turned around to watch. He was interested to see what the Suna nin had up his sleeve, and how it would stack up to the heir to the clan of legendary tacticians.

(~Dancer~)
(~Dancer~)

"Hajime!"

Shikamaru started off with three shuriken, observing Kankuro dodge them and come racing in for melee. The Nara would have none of that if he could help it, and immediately dropped a smoke bomb.

While usually used to disguise a retreat or an ambush, Shikamaru hoped to use it to get some intel. When Kankuro stopped, engulfed in the smoke, Shikamaru slipped behind him and examined the wrapped object on the other boy's back from a few feet away. Counting in his head as he watched Kankuro change his mind and leave the smoke, the young genius stayed in it for a few more seconds, thinking.

Then, with more bravado than he felt, he stepped confidently from the smoke and said, "Alright, come out of there! Troublesome as this is, I'd rather not be talking to a piece of wood the whole time."

Kankuro's shock was to be expected, as well as the frustrated expression that came after. "I don't know how someone like you figured it out, but it's fine with me!" Kankuro removed the bundle from his back, letting the wrappings fall to the ground to reveal... Kankuro. The previous one's skin and clothes crumbled and tore, coming apart and unfolding to reveal a wooden, six-armed puppet, larger than either of them. "I'll be able to use Karasu's full arsenal this way, anyway!"

Shikamaru hadn't been expecting quite such an elaborate killing machine, but he had planned for it. Running through a few leisurely handsigns, seven copies of himself materialized around him. They all shuffled around as they ran at Kankuro, confusing the puppeteer for a moment. It was only a moment, however, as Karasu was quickly directed to extend several blades from its many limbs, racing at the crowd of Naras. One after the other, and with rapid precision, each Bunshin was eliminated. Faced with only the original, Kankuro smirked. "Don't worry. I don't need to kill you to end this with my Black Secret Technique." Shikamaru tried to dodge, but Karasu managed to cut into his arm. And then Shikamaru vanished.

Kankuro's eyes widened, his body freezing. "A-Another Bunshin?! But I thought... Did I miscount?!" His instincts screamed at him, and he slid to one side, avoiding three kunai. He looked behind him, where the attack came from, but saw nothing. Then, in the corner of his eye, he saw movement, and instantly sent Karasu to attack. But he turned out to be jumping at shadows, as Karasu swiped at nothing. Kankuro growled and yelled, "You tell me to come out, and then you go hiding?!"

"I'm really not. By the way... Checkmate."

Kankuro's eyes widened yet again as he felt his body lock up. Casting his eyes around, he could find no reason for his paralysis. "W-what is this?!"

Shikamaru dropped down from where he had been perched on the ceiling, making some of his friends laugh or gasp in understanding; it seemed nobody had seen him escape up there just after he had made eight clones. "My talent is capture. I can use my shadow to bind someone else, and even make them mimic me. I tried to conserve chakra and just make the lights up above cast my shadow directly onto yours, but you saw my shadow moving. Fortunately for me, you use wires to control your puppet."

Kankuro looked down at the Nara's feet, seeing how the shadow was stretched and connected to Karasu's shadow. The situation dawned on him, and he whispered out, "You can move your shadow across the existing shadows of my wires?"

Shikamaru shook his head, Kankuro noticing how the action forced his own head to rotate. "Are you kidding me? Wire like that doesn't even cast a shadow, the amount of light is too strong. It's too troublesome to explain it fully... Basically, I just bound your puppet and stretched my shadow as thin as I could before jumping it to yours. Obviously you didn't pay it any mind, thinking that your wires were just casting a shadow. Of course, you were a little distracted with how much I tried to frustrate you."

Kankuro closed his eyes and grit his teeth. "I see... So you used my own frustration to help your shadow avoid my notice..."

Shikamaru made a noise of confirmation before raising his hands to mimic Kankuro's puppeteer stance, completing that part of the link. "Now, let's see what this does.."

And so Shikamaru proceeded to twitch and bend his fingers systematically, observing Karasu as Kankuro's hands were forced to manipulate the puppet. At one point, one of the machine's arms suddenly popped off, and Shikamaru cocked his head to the side. "Weird... Still, I think I've got the gist. Which means..." A flurry of finger movements, and Karasu had one of its many blades held by Kankuro's neck, the boy grinding his teeth furiously. "Forfeit, or I slide this against your throat."

The whole room was tense for a pregnant moment. Kankuro soon opened his mouth, glaring at Shikamaru, but a female voice screamed at him, "Kankuro, you fucking idiot! Just give up, it's not worth your dumb pride!"

Shikamaru looked up at the blonde girl from Kankuro's team who had screamed, which coincidentally turned Kankuro's gaze in the other direction. Which made it rather humorous when he yelled back, "You shut up! I may be proud, but I'm not an idiot! Proctor, I forfeit!"

After everything was settled and Shikamaru had released the Suna nin, Kankuro was bundling his puppet back up. "You know, that's a really complex piece of work, you've got there." Kankuro turned to regard his previous opponent, resentment being cooled by the compliment. "I admit, the concept is interesting, but... Hahh, it was almost too troublesome to learn what little I did. I wouldn't want to try to figure out an entire moveset for something like that."

Kankuro chuckled, his ire gone. "That's actually kind of a shame. What you learned in under a minute takes even the most prodigious puppet user weeks to do. If you ever found the drive, I bet you could be the best puppeteer that's ever been seen."

"Hn. Therein lies the problem: 'the drive'. It really just seems too troublesome. Thanks though, I guess."

Kankuro nodded to him. While he didn't agree with the boy's attitude, he had to respect natural talent like that.

(~Dancer~)
(~Dancer~)

Ino sighed as Shikamaru made his way back to the stairs. "I suppose I should praise him now, huh?" Smirking, she took a deep breath and, cupping her hands around her mouth, yelled as loud as possible, "WAY TO GO, SHIKAMARUUU!"

She giggled as he recoiled and held an ear, glaring up at her. "Dammit, woman, must you do that?"

"Well you looked like you were about to fall asleep the second you got up here," she replied, still laughing.

"Well, that was certainly interesting."

"Yeah, totally! Shikamaru's pretty good at making you look one way when he does something somewhere else."

"It's called 'misdirection', dobe. It's essential to any shinobi. But you're right, he does take it even further than that."

Ino turned to watch Naruto and Sasuke discuss the fight, surprised. Naruto had seemed distracted, before, and Sasuke was never this vocal. But it seemed the two were getting along a lot better, which made her smile a bit. Perhaps they'd be alright. Sakura was gone, and she'd seen that fact affecting them both, but they were still acting like a team. Even more so, in fact. Ino was never one to wish ill on a friend, or find joy in someone else's misery, but it did seem like Sakura's death did some good amongst all the bad.

"I'm glad they aren't arguing as much."

With the mental note that she needed to get used to that, Ino glanced at Sakura's ghost as she appeared beside her. She knew that the apparition could and would carry the conversation herself as needed, so she didn't bother trying to find a way to respond. Instead, Ino patted Shikamaru on the back as he finally joined her and Asuma.

"I don't see Chouji... I guess this is the Third Task?"

Ino very slightly shook her head and muttered to Shikamaru, loud enough for Sakura to hear, "Seriously, good job on your Preliminary match. How long do you think they'll give us to rest before the Third Task?"

Shikamaru looked confused as to why she was asking, but shrugged. "Long enough for them to get all the foreign dignitaries here and to promote it to the public, I guess. I remember my dad took me to see one a few years ago. They hosted it in a big arena where a crowd could watch."

Ino and Sakura both uttered a drawn-out "Ohhh," in understanding, Ino following up with, "So, you think there'll be time to train? Pick up a few more tricks so that everyone here won't have seen everything we've got before the Third Task?"

Shikamaru shrugged again, but his next words weren't a response. "Looks like all of Team 10 is getting their fights out of the way first. Wonder what the odds were for that.."

Ino frowned at the change in subject, and looked up at the spinning board of names. Her eyebrows went back up as she noticed that one panel had stopped on her name, the other one slowing and coming to rest on...

Ino slouched, annoyed. "Aw come on, why him?!"

"Alright, Akamaru! Let's do this!"

"Arf!"

Sakura giggled and leaned over to look into Ino's face. "Well, good luck with that!"

Ino just groaned.

(~HJN~)

And there it is, kind of short, but I don't care at this point. I swear, this story is the hardest of my released works to write in, at the moment. Sorry, Mike! I'm trying, though, and Ash is helping a lot.

Not sure there's much I want to say here, just that Ash is awesome, and you all should thank her for the hopefully completely errorless chapter!

Now, without further ado, we made some progress on the challenge:

{Kyuubi can be Male or Female, and MUST help Naruto get strong, why is up to you.}

That objective is obviously of an ongoing nature, but this is the chapter that it is discussed/begins, so I'm marking it as technically complete.

Hopefully, Shifted Dreams is next up, followed by a new story! We'll see how long that plan lasts, heheh...

Ja ne~