Endless (a naruto fan fiction)

Part 25 Party poopers

I AM SO FREAKING SORRY ABOUT HOW LONG IT'S BEEN SINCE MY LAST UPDATE. I've been so busy for the last few months, between vacation and school starting back up again and after school stuff and job hunting. It's been a mess, but I promise it won't happen again. I've got some fresh ideas after so long away, and I'm ready to continue writing again! Sorry again, but still wishing you happy readings,
        -EZwriter101

                                  ~+~
(Rin)

My eyelids opened slowly as my mind began to function after a long night of partying and a few hours of sleep. I began to think about last night and being with all of my friends and couldn't help bit smile. I looked around, and had a bit of a startling realization; all of those friends are still here.

I am in the living room, sprawled out on the floor. Naruto is over on the couch, taking up the whole thing. Sakura is nowhere in sight, but sauske is sitting by the window with his legs folded, not far from me. Ino is also outta sight, so maybe her and sakura went home some time last night. The guy who I learned was actually named Shino has vanished as well. Chojii is leaned against the arm if the couch, but is fast asleep. Hinata is on the floor a bit away from me, sleeping peacefully with Jynx in her arms. Shikamaru is sleeping with his hands behind his head, flat on his back.

But the most alarming part of all of this is that right next to me, so close we're nearly touching, is Kiba, sleeping like a rock. I blush and hurry to my feet, lightly stepping over people to put some distance between us.

By the looks of it, it's still very early in the morning, before the sun is even up, but I can tell that I won't sleep anymore. So, I begin to clean up, picking up trash and wrappers silently, weaving between bodies on the ground. Making my way to the bedroom, I see that Ino and Sakura are actually sleeping in the bunk-bed and Shino is in ...the bathroom? Yeah, sprawled out on the floor, amazing me with his ability to fall asleep so comfortably on the cold tile floor.

I decide to take a small break from cleaning and step outside into the night air for a bit. I take a quick walk around the village, enjoying the quiet of the night.

Suddenly, I'm engulfed in a familiar puff of smoke, leading me to suspect Akio is summoning me yet again. I'm ready for a fight, but, as soon as Akio comes into view, relaxed as ever, I relax a bit, too. By now, I think it's safe to expect to be in my other form every time Akio summons me, and this time is no exception.

He just stares at me for a while, making me feel a bit nervous. Although I know he can't possibly know who I really am, the thought can't help but come to my mind. He suddenly begins talking, making me jump just a bit.

"What are you? Lately, I've been getting more and more curious about you. You seem already trained, but apparently don't have another ninja to summon you, you seem to understand me when I speak, and you know jutsu. You seem well-behaved and well-trained, and able to relay your thoughts to me thoroughly enough. What else do I need to know? Can you write? Can you speak? Do you have a family? What happened to you to make you so trained?"

I'm not sure how to respond. Obviously, I want to talk to Akio and the others, but I don't think now is the best time. I need to wait until I know it's the best time to tell him. Luckily, I didn't have time to respond because I was interrupted by a puff of white smoke, revealing Rei.

"Akio, we've been summoned by leader-sama." She said, to which Akio nodded. Then, talking to me, he said...

"We are not done with this conversation. You come with me. I'd say it's about time you met leader-sama."

~+~

I've never been in the village Akio calls home before. It's very small, mostly fields with forest surrounding it. By the looks of it, it's a farming town. There are a handful of scattered houses surrounding a marketplace that only has eight or nine shops itself. Still, it feels cozy and warm.

I earn some very strange looks from the few people in the village. Mixes of fear, wonder, and almost anger at Akio for bringing me here spread across the faces of the adults, but the kids came running with curiosity and glee, asking Akio if they could pet me.

Akio looked at me for a response, not sure if I'm okay with kids or not. I nodded to him and liked one of the little girls faces for effect. She giggled and hugged me neck. Akio sighed, but smiled for the kids and told them they could.

I ended up walking to the leaders small hut-like house with four kids on my back and two sticking closely to my sides. Playing with the kids seemed to have calmed down most of the adults, who now only had a slight look of caution on their faces.

Once we arrived at the leaders' house, Akio politely shooed the kids away, promising they could play with me later. They were a bit upset, but left anyway.

The house itself smelled strongly if smoke and, stepping inside, it was clear why. The man inside was old and he had a large metal pipe between his teeth. His desk was layered with papers and ash from his pipe. There were old pipes scattered around the room messily, making it hard to believe that this was their leaders' place.

The old man had messy grey hair, like a birds nest atop his head. His round face was wrinkled and stern, but his eyes were soft, kind, and welcoming, merrily laying on me. Quickly, he shifted his gaze to Akio, who was entering the room with Rei and Suki not far behind.

"Children" the leader said smiling "I have some exciting news for all of you, however, first thing's first; what is this?" He motioned to me, but looked to Akio.

"This is my new summoning, sir. Her name is Miyako. She's very well-trained, I assure you."

"Hm. Alright, I suppose. Now, onto business. I assume you have heard of the infamous chunin exams the great nations hold yearly?"

"Actually, this is the first I'm hearing of it." Suki squeaks from across the small room.

"The chunin exams" the leader begins "is a test of sorts held by one of the great nations twice a year. This test is to see if a Genin is skilled enough to move up to the rank of chunin. Normally, only Genin of the five nations are allowed to be examined, however this year, the hidden leaf has allowed an exception for the land of Infinity. I have decided to send you three to represent us."

The chunin exams. I've wondered how they decide who becomes a higher ranked ninja, but I'd thought it was more like from observation and experience. Now I'm going to have to compete against skip in the test.

Then again, what if he summons me? People will figure out that I've become a summoning, for starters, and if Akio sees the real me and tries to summon me... well, that'd just get messy. I'll need to be careful about all of this.