Chapter 34

We make it to our hotel room without further issues. Actually we make it there without talking at all which is rather impressive for our group. Basically Sasuke and I are both too embarrassed to speak and Tayuya is too smug.

Tayuya walks up to the receptionist to check in and get our room key. After a rather heated argument with the unfortunate receptionist she stomps over to us. "Boys, we have a problem."

"Oh Kami now what? I just want to be a chunin! Is that too much to ask? The exams haven't even started yet and stuff is going wrong?" I can't believe it, this is ridiculous. What can possibly be the issue?

"The Chunin Exams are bringing in a lot of spectators. Kusa is going to make all of it a public event, not just the final tournament." Tayuya explains. "Something about bringing in tourist revenue to help stimulate their economy."

Sasuke speaks up. "I don't see how that's a problem. We have masks, no one will recognize us." He's got a good point. So what if people will be watching? It isn't the spectators I'm worried about, it is the Konoha shinobi.

Tayuya rolls her eyes. "Not that idiot. The hotels have filled up. In their infinite wisdom, they saw fit to cram all of the coming shinobi into as little space as possible. Long story incredibly short, we have to share a room."

"That's the issue?" I say in disbelief. "Not a problem. You can have one bed and Red and I will share the other. Simple."

"It's not that easy. There is only one bed." Tayuya grimly informs us.

"That is a problem." Sasuke grins wickedly, even through his mask I know. Something bad is about to happen. "I don't know about Green, but I'm not willing to share a bed with you."

"You would if it was Blondie." I quickly retort before Tayuya can say yes or no. I'm morbidly curious to find out how she would reply to that.

Sasuke's body stiffens. "I thought you weren't going to bring her up."

"I thought you weren't going to imply Tayuya and I are together. You knew my terms, and you broke them. She's fair game again." Revenge is swift and sweet. "Anyways, that isn't a problem. I might have a solution, I'll tell you once we're in our room."

"No point in wasting time." Tayuya leads us to our room.

It is very minimalistic, basically a one bedroom apartment. One semi large room has the bed while the kitchen area, a couple chairs and a table are in the living room. The bathroom is connected to both of the rooms. Pretty basic, the walls are a generic white, the floor is hard and unforgiving, and there are no personal touches at all, not even hotel brand logos.

"Lovely." I say sarcastically. My room back in Sound is bigger than this. "They really scraped the bottom of the barrel."

"Alright Green. What's your brilliant solution?" Sasuke asks the moment the door is closed. "There isn't even a couch in here to use. They gave us terrible accommodations."

"Not terrible. Shitty. They gave us shitty accommodations." Tayuya growls. "You better have a damn good idea."

Sasuke and Tayuya look at me expectantly. If there wasn't pressure before there certainly is now. "I'm going to make us hammocks."

"Hammocks." Sasuke blandly says. "How?"

I grin. In hindsight I can't expect my facial expressions to communicate anything while we're here. "Summoning Jutsu: Weaver!" I slam my hand on the floor.

POOF

Once the smoke clears we are treated to an interesting sight. A large orb-weaver spider, easily the size of a bulldog, appears before us. It is wearing a bright purple scarf around its... neck? I think that's the neck, it's the part where the head joins the abdomen. The scarf matches its body colors surprisingly well, it compliments the arrays of blacks and yellows in a very pleasant way. It is really throwing me for a loop, I didn't know that the Spiders used clothing of any kind.

"Summoner! The Summoner!" It happily scuttles over me me and extends one of its legs out to me. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you! Oh the girls back home will be so jealous when I tell them I met you first!"

I gingerly shake its hairy leg, no need to be rude. "Please, call me Alvarcus. Actually, if I'm wearing my mask call me Green or Summoner. Otherwise my name will do just fine."

The spider recoils from me in shock. "I would be honored." She, I'm assuming it's a she, bows deeply. "I insist you call me by my name as well. I am Murasakino."

"Murasakino, as nice as it is to chat, I summoned you for a task. Are you up for it?"

"Of course! Whatever you need! If I can't do it I'll find someone who can!" She eagerly assures me.

I kneel down so I'm closer to her eye level. "I think this is right up your alley. See, we kinda got shortchanged on our room for the next five days. There are three of us but only one bed. Could you make us two hammocks?"

She flounders about, scurrying back and forth. "Oh I am so unprepared! I didn't bring any materials with me, I only have my own silk!"

"I'm sure that will be fine, if it is half as good as what I'm wearing there will be no issues." I try to calm her down. It isn't that big of a deal, we just need somewhere to sleep that isn't the unforgiving floor.

"Half as good!" She's offended. I offended her? Oh great. "I made the scarf you're wearing, it will be at least as good as that, if not better. I take great pride in my work, thank you!"

Time to play peacemaker. "You made my scarf? I have no worries at all then! Wonderful job on it by the way. It is much better than I expected, and I had very high standards."

Her eyes light up in joy. All eight of them. "You like it? Really?"

"Of course. I'm even considering making scarfs a permanent part of my attire." I tenderly loosen it from around my neck, showing her the front part of my scar. "I get a lot less looks from strangers, I never realized how much attention my scar attracted."

"Oh you poor thing." She comes close to examine it, softly placing a leg on my shoulder an pulling me down closer to her. Hmm, maybe I should have kept it hidden? "How did that happen?"

I chuckle darkly. "Crazy nut-job with a big ass sword."

"Did you kill him for what he did to you?" She seriously asks me.

I chuckle in humor this time. "Not yet, but he is on my people to kill list." Actually, I might be able to sway Kisame to our side. He's in Akatsuki because he genuinely believes he's helping the world move towards peace, I could tell him what is really going on. Plus I think he likes me, he did only go through one heart. "We've become distracted! Could you get those hammocks up for us?"

"Oh dear, you're right. I'll get right on that!" Murasakino scurries over to one of the corners and climbs up around 75 centimeters and starts spinning a web. Sasuke, Tayuya and I all watch in silence. It is a very interesting thing to watch, she's expertly crafting what is shaping up to be a very nice looking hammock. She's even weaving patterns into it!

Only a brief ten minutes later she is done with the first. Ten minutes after that she finishes the second. We now have two very sturdy and pretty hammocks in the room, one in each corner. Say what you will about her personality, but that spider can work.

"All done!" She happily calls out to me. "Did you need anything else? Another scarf perhaps? Oh, I know! Ten more scarfs! All different colors too, I can make them varying lengths and widths. You'll have one for every occasion. Formal wear, casual wear, combat wear. I could even weave in a wire and you can use it to strangle opponents!"

"No thank you, I still need to break this one in. I will let you know if I change my mind!" She's rather bubbly, I can see why I got so many clothes on my first order. If all of the weavers are like her I got off lucky. "Tell the others I like their work, they did an excellent job."

"Of course! I best be off then, the others must be wondering where I am!" Without any more fanfare Murasakino poofs back to the Nest.

"Well that was eventful. Dibs on this one!" I rush over and throw myself onto the hammock farthest away from the front door. "Oh... this is very nice." I have plenty of space. I can sprawl out as much as I want to. It's perfect, better than I imagined. I'll have to do this for every campsite, this is way better than the ground.

"Green?" Tayuya says timidly. I look over at her and Sasuke. They both seem deeply disturbed, Tayuya is visibly pale and I'd bet good money that Sasuke is too under his mask. "Can you not do that with me here next time?"

"What? Why?" I'm confused, what is wrong with Murasakino? She was kind the entire time and made us hammocks!

Tayuya openly stares at me in disbelief. "Because that was terrifying. You summoned a giant spider to make you a hammock? Did you not see it?"

"Her." I narrow my eyes. "Yes, I saw her."

"I can barely stand Mister Spider, and it dwarfs him!"

"Careful." I warn her in a cold tone. "You're coming dangerously close to insulting my summons, insulting me."

She has the decency to look ashamed. "You're right. Sorry, I wasn't ready to see him."

"Her." Sasuke corrects. Interesting, maybe he isn't as repulsed as I thought. "Murasakino is a her." He even knows her name, I'm impressed. "Whether or not you like her, at least be civil and courteous. Who knows, the Spiders might save your life one day." He turns to me. "That being said, a warning next time would be nice."

I roll my eyes, the gesture is lost on them both. Stupid mask. "Fine, while out of combat situations I'll give you a heads up. I reserve the right to ask the same of each of you if you two have some strange power that freaks me out."

"Deal." Sasuke says. I don't think anything he has would ever be able to creep me out that much. Only the Snakes or going level two possibly could and I don't have an issue with them. As long as they aren't trying to eat me or attempting to spear out a heart again.

Sasuke goes over to his hammock and climbs in. "Oooh, this is very nice. Pass on my compliments next time you summon her. We should do this for every mission we go on, this would be easy to set up outside too. Much better than the ground."

"I know right?" Finally, someone sees the value of my Spiders.

"They can't be that good. I've never seen anything that's better than the beds back at Sound." Tayuya haughtily says as she stomps over to my hammock. She lays a hand on it and I can see her eyes glaze over. Oh Kami no. I see her legs tense.

"Tayuya no!" I shout at her. She ignores me and leaps into the hammock with me. "Bad Tayuya! Bad!" We scuffle around, each of us trying to evict the other.

"Mine!" She says in a crazed voice while trying to shove me off with her feet. "Get out now!"

"Ahem." Sasuke's voice cuts through the air, Tayuya and I freeze in place. We are a tangled heap of limbs at this point. Somehow during our brief scuffle she managed to end up on top of me with my hands on her hips. "If you two lovebirds wanted some alone time all you had to do was ask."

"Mmmm... Not how I imagined today would go, but I find myself enjoying it." Tayuya says from on top of me. She tenderly runs a finger down my mask. "Too bad this is here, you look much better without it."

"Nope, this is not going to continue." I let the Jiongu out and use it to toss her halfway across the room.

She expertly lands on her feet. "Hey that's cheating!"

I climb out of the hammock. "If you aren't cheating you aren't trying. I win, the hammock is mine. See ya in a few hours!"

With those wonderfully inspiring words I bravely leap out the window to avoid the situation. Yes ladies and gentlemen, the mighty Alvarcus, the Hearth Thief, the Jiongu's host, the first Spider Summoner in generations is fleeing from a girl barely two years older than him.

Sasuke turns to Tayuya in my absence. "What do you see in him? It isn't his physique you're attracted to, no one has a thing for stitched on masks and overly scarred bodies."

"I don't know, his scars give him a rouge-ish look. I kinda like it." She jumps into my recently evacuated hammock. "It's still warm." She mumbles to herself.

"You didn't answer me." Sasuke presses onward. He's determined to know, she has his full attention. "I want to know why him. Of everyone you could have possibly chosen you picked him. Why?"

Tayuya raises her head up to give Sasuke a irritated look. "Why do you care?"

"He's my only friend." Sasuke says in a deadly serious tone. "We protect each other, both on and off the combat field. And you are practically throwing yourself at him, I want to know why."

"Oh my Kami, is this some weird form of a overprotective brother complex? Isn't that usually for sisters?"

"Tayuya!" Sasuke bellows. "Answer the question."

She withdraws into herself. Her bravado deserts her, she isn't the mission leader right now. She's an insecure young woman, not the deadly kunoichi she usually is. She's vulnerable, exposed. She barely whispers out, "He isn't disgusted by me."

Sasuke patiently waits for her to continue.

"You know how the curse seal has multiple levels?" She asks him. He nods, he has a hazy memory of spearing his best friend in the heart. Certainly not his best moment, it is one of his worst. "He's seen me go level two." She takes a shaky breath. "Do you know how he reacted?"

"No. Tell me." He urges her to continue.

"He laughed. He said that he's the monster, not me. His exact words were 'what's a couple of horns and a new skin color when I have a literal monster inside me?' He wasn't phased at all, not even for a moment. But that isn't all, he's actually a nice guy. He doesn't flaunt his power, he doesn't abuse his strength. We joke about who would win in a fight between us, but after seeing him train I know I'd lose badly. He knows it too, but he's never challenged me once. He's humble, he treats everyone with respect. I've only heard of one time he's actually lashed out at someone."

Sasuke grimaces. "The Suna nin, how he earned his title. The day he became like me."

"Yeah. That. Al- Green sees himself as a monster, a murdering piece of filth that is the lowest of the low."

Sasuke's whole body coils in anger.

"Quit that, that's how he sees himself! You see him for who he really is, I do too. A friend, an ally, a human. I want him to look at himself the way we see him. We don't see a monster, we see a good person."

"Okay." Sasuke says.

"Okay? Okay what?" Tayuya asks from Alvarcus's hammock.

"You have my approval." Sasuke states in a no nonsense tone.

"Kami I was right!" Tayuya's spunk is back now that she's not being questioned. "It is an overprotective brother complex!"

Sasuke huffs in mild irritation. "That's what he is to me, a brother. If you hurt him, you face my wrath."

Tayuya laughs. "Please, I'd have to go all out just to stand a chance in a fight against him."

"There are other ways to be hurt. Believe me, I know from experience. Physical pain isn't always the worst pain." Sasuke says in a distant voice.

"Way to kill the mood." Tayuya grumbles.

That Night

I stealthily open the door to our hotel room. I'm confident in my stealth skills that I can sneak past a sleeping Sasuke and crash in my hammock. Easy.

There is just one minor problem.

"You're back." He's still awake, he's sitting at the table sipping on a steaming cup of liquid. Tea, it is too late for coffee. "I was wondering when you'd show up. What were you up to?"

I sigh in defeat. My grand plan of sneaking past him is already foiled. "I summoned Shirokumo and we went around town checking up on the spy network. It was rather boring to be honest."

"Really? You have it in place already?" Sasuke sounds surprised.

"For the most part. Word is traveling that I'm in the information business now, the spiders of this world are eager to help out. They all should know to go to Shirokumo if something important comes up, otherwise I can just ask him about things. He's planning to manage all of it with some help from me on the side."

"How long until you have all of Kusagakure covered?" Sasuke says over his cup.

"A week at the most. He's very efficient and charismatic, spiders naturally fall in line for him." I quietly walk over to my bunk and change out of my elaborate get up into pajamas. Just because Sasuke is up doesn't mean Tayuya is too and I really don't want her to confront me.

"Impressive. He doesn't look like much but he's good." Sasuke just complimented my summons. Is the world ending soon? I thought not for another few years at least.

"Anything else you want to talk about? Cuz I've been looking forward to sleeping in my hammock since it was made." I plop down into it and pull my blanket over me. The weavers are amazing.

"Nothing that can't wait. Sleep, I'll be quiet." Sasuke says.

"Night."

I get a few blissful hours of sleep before I'm awoken.

"Pst! Alva- Green!" Something pokes me in the shoulder. "Pst!"

I groggily crack open an eye to see Tayuya standing over me. "Whadda want?" I yawn out. "It's sleep time, talk later."

Tayuya cutely plays with the hem of her nightshirt. It's a familiar yellow one. "I can't sleep. It's too cold here, do you have any spare blankets?"

"No, I don't have any. Just brought the one." I somehow form a coherent sentence. "Use my coat?"

"Ew gross. You wore that thing the entire day!" Tayuya exclaims.

I lethargically raise my head up to give her a stern look. "Unless you want to climb in the hammock, I've got nothing else for you." I shut my eyes to try to go back to sleep. I can't believe she woke me up for that.

The hammock tips over to one side. My eyes snap open. "What are you doing?"

Tayuya climbed in.

"Taking you up on your offer." She lifts the blanket up and snuggles against me. "Whoa, you're really warm."

I sigh, I doubt I'm getting out of this one. "It's a Jiongu thing. Don't know why though. You do realize that I was kidding right?"

She pulls my arm around her so she can use my chest as a pillow. "I know, so I cheated. 'If you aren't cheating you aren't trying.'"

"I really need to stop saying that. You know, if Sasuke sees us he won't let us forget it." I try halfheartedly to get her to leave again. At this point I'm not really against it.

"Yes. Now shut up. I'm tired." Tayuya orders. It isn't a terrible idea, I'm tired too.

We both drift off to sleep.

The Next Morning, Six Days Until the Chunin Exams

I'm woken up by a curious feeling. Something is faintly brushing across my chest. I crack an eye open to see a mess of pink hair.

"Oh, so that wasn't a dream then." I quietly say to myself. It is Tayuya's hair that is brushing across my chest. "Oh Kami, please still be asleep Sasuke." I lift my head and glance towards his hammock, thankfully my luck is strong today, he's still asleep.

"Tayuya!" I urgently whisper and give her a little shake. "Tayuya!"

"Wha?" She groggily says. She sits up and rubs her tired eyes. "So that wasn't a dream?"

"No, it wasn't." Funny, we had the same reaction. "You need to go back to your room before Sasuke wakes up or he will never let us forget it."

"But it's so cold there." She lays back down and wraps her arms around me again. "Mmm, warmth."

"Tayuya! You have to-" I immediately stop talking. Sasuke is waking up, the chance for Tayuya to have a clean escape is over. We're caught unless I think quickly. I pull the blanket up so that Tayuya's head is covered which has the side effect of exposing my feet to the cool air. Lesser of two evils, merciless teasing or cold feet.

Sasuke climbs out of his hammock with a huge yawn. "Were you talking to someone?"

"Nah, just woke up myself actually. Since you're already out of the hammock you can have the bathroom first." Please go. Just go, I don't know how long I can keep this act up. Go already!

With a grumble Sasuke grabs clean clothes. "Unless Tayuya is already in there. Then we will both be stuck for a while."

I can feel Tayuya shake with suppressed laughter. Don't crack now! Not when were so close! "Something tells me she's not in there, call it a feeling."

"Does it have anything to do with why there is an extra pair of feet sticking out of your blanket?" He asks with a smirk on his stupid face. I can't believe I missed that, when I pulled up the blanket to hide her head I didn't expose just my feet, I exposed hers too.

"Uh... No?" I weakly say back to him.

A faint snicker comes from under my blanket, Tayuya finally cracked. She couldn't hold it in anymore.

"He was awake when I woke you up last night. He already knows." Tayuya says from under the covers.

I groan in defeat. "Dammit. Sa- Red, what can I offer you to have you never mention this to anyone?" I'll do just about anything, imagine if he told Orochimaru! We would never live it down.

"Let's say you owe me a favor, I can't think of anything right now." Sasuke says from the bathroom before he shuts the door. "I'll cash in on it later." He closes the door, now it is just Tayuya and I.

"I really hate you sometimes. You do know that, yes?" I tell Tayuya as I pull the blanket back to reveal her head again. "You knew he knew the whole time, that is why you were laughing and also why you didn't leave."

"Yep!" She chipperly replies. "Watching you panic was hilarious by the way. You two have a very strange relationship."

I roll my eyes at her. She isn't wrong, Sasuke and I are unique. "Everything about me is strange, you should know that by now. Even our relationship is weird, half the time you're latched onto me and the other half we're bickering."

She laughs. "We're all strange, it is a requirement to be an Oto shinobi. Didn't you know?"

"Isn't that a depressing thought. Welcome to Otogakure, where being normal is abnormal." I chuckle at my own joke. "That should be our slogan."

"I don't think it would fly well with our Kage." Tayuya rises up from her laying position. "Anyways Red will be out of the bathroom soon. Dibs on next." She climbs out of the hammock and makes her way to the bedroom.

"Whatever, I'm content with laying here for the entire day." I'm not even joking, if someone brought me food I probably would lay here forever. This is the first day in a very long time that I don't have to worry about facing Orochimaru for either training or some twisted meeting.

Today is going to be a good day. I can just kick back and relax.

Later That Night

"Why am I here?" I whine to Sasuke and Tayuya. "I don't need to be here. You could have left me back at the hotel but no! You just had to drag me along."

"Tayuya is showing us the building where the first exam in going to be held. You do need to be here." Sasuke informs me.

I stare Sasuke straight in his masked eyes and say monotonously, "It's the green building -and green is being generous, it really needs a new paint job- three streets east and two streets north near the edge of the village. Large half oval with three stories, closer to arena stands than a building if you ask me. We will be competing in the field it is facing, the spectators will be in the stands to watch. A Kusa team of four barrier nin will be erecting a transparent barrier to stop stray attacks and shield the spectators from general harm. An additional four will be on standby to step in if the originals get tired or they need a stronger defense for an incoming attack."

Tayuya is staring at me in open disbelief. I think Sasuke is too, we're wearing full face masks and it makes his already hard to read body language almost impossible to decipher.

"I didn't actually do nothing the whole day. Come on, how lazy do you think I am?" I could be eating dinner right now, instead I'm outside to look at a building.

"Shirokumo works fast." Sasuke compliments my summon. "He found all that out already?"

"He found more than that out. He knows what the Exams are going to be. He's got someone in Kusa's jonin lounge and they were gossiping about it." I smugly inform both of my teammates. See how great the Spiders are!

"Well, go on. What are they?" Sasuke presses me to share information with him. "We should get a plan together."

Whoops, that didn't come out right. "You misunderstood. I don't know, he does. I can't know."

Sasuke's hand twitches towards his kunai holster. "What is the point of having him make a network if you're not going to use it?"

I sigh, "Red, use your head. If you and I take the exams and we already know what they are it will look bad on Sound. No one knows what I'm having Shirokumo do and I plan to keep it that way. The only other way we could possibly know is if we were told by someone who does know, namely Orochimaru. Do you really want to risk that? Risk implying that Orochimaru broke the rules so we could have a better chance?"

"That would be bad. Very bad. Good call, we shouldn't know what they are. Has he found out anything else interesting?" Sasuke asks. "Something you can tell us?"

This should be entertaining. "I don't see how it is relevant, but this is certainly interesting. A pair Kusa shinobi decided to have a late night fling on the Kusakage's desk."

Sasuke and Tayuya both stumble. Even a passing kunoichi falters. "Really?" Tayuya asks once she has steadied herself. "On the desk?"

"Yep! They were quite enthusiastic. Ended up pushing it across the room. Honestly I'm surprised no one heard, if what I was told is accurate they were vocal too." Maybe sound dampening seals are in the room? That would make sense, it is a Kage's office after all. Important things are talked about in there, things not meant to be overheard. Thankfully I already have eyes and ears inside the room.

"Hey Kid!" A surprisingly rough feminine voice calls out. "You with the green mask! Hold up!"

I stop and turn to face the newcomer. It is the Kusa kunoichi that stumbled, a chunin I think. I'm not completely confident on assessing her skill level but she is wearing what appears to be a chunin vest. "Can I help you? I don't think I broke any rules, unless there is a new one about gossiping that I wasn't told about."

"No, you're not in trouble. I just want to know how accurate your source is. There's a running bet going on between some of the local nin and you might have won me it." She greedily says. "The pot is huge! It has been going on for weeks!"

"Interesting." So this is happening, definitely not what I expected when I rolled out of the hammock today. "What's in it for me?"

"You're here for the Chunin Exams right? I'll give you a hint." She offers. Good enough for me, I don't want to know what the exams will be but I'll take a hint.

"Deal. My source has never been wrong before." He's also never told me anything before, but she doesn't know that.

Her face lights up in joy. "I can't believe they did it! This is great, we've been trying to catch them in the act for months! No one could prove they were meeting in the Kusakage's office until now." She is way too happy, there must be one hell of a pot on this. "Anyways, you held up your end. My hint: The numbers are more important than you think."

"I'll remember that. Thank you for your assistance." The Kusa kunoichi leaves us while laughing gleefully. I think she has issues. "The numbers are more important than you think."

"What numbers?" Sasuke asks. "The number of gennin sent? The numerical order we enter? It could be anything! How's that a hint?"

"I don't know, we'll find out once the exams starts. It should make sense then, besides we don't need the hint. We're better than that!"

"That remains to be seen." Tayuya scoffs out at us. "Don't go in thinking you're the best here, that is a terrible mindset to have. Even if it is true, you'll develop a habit of underestimating opponents and it will lead to your downfall. All of the Sound Four are that way, we're too confident. I'm trying to work on it."

Good, as weird as Tayuya is I don't want her to die. I've grown used to her unique brand of crazy, I'd hate to have to deal with a new person.

"Anyways, now that we've established that we have literally no reason to go see the stands because I know more about it than what we would learn by seeing it, can we go back to the hotel? Do you two know how rare it is that I have a day to myself?"

Back at the Hotel

"Finally!" I shed my outer layers and plop into my hammock. "I should have never left."

"Yeah yeah, we're jerks we get it. Next time I'll ask you if you have information." Tayuya dryly says back to me. "Still, it is rather impressive that Mister Spider found out that much in such a short time."

That reminds me, I should check in with Shirokumo and see if he has any new information. At the least he should be able to tell me which village's gennin has shown up.

"Oi. Scaredy cats, I'm going to summon Shirokumo." Under my breath I grumble, "Still can't believe I have to warn you idiots when I summon a spider."

POOF

"About bloody time!" He angrily screeches at me.

I jolt upwards in my hammock. This will require my full attention.

"Do you have any idea how long I've been waiting to talk to you? They're here. Alvarcus, they're here."

"The Konoha gennin." It can only be them, Shirokumo wouldn't be freaking out this much for anything else. "How many? What did they look like?" I want to know which of my friends are here.

Shirokumo starts pacing back and forth near me. "They came in teams. Twenty of them, sixty gennin total. There is an extra jonin with them though, it doesn't add up."

Who is the mysterious extra jonin? What is Tsunade's plan? "Interesting. We will need to find out why the extra is here."

"I'm working on it already. It is the new priority." Shirokumo assures me as he continues to wear a track on the carpet.

"Back to the gennin. Were any sent that fit the descriptions I gave you?" I described everyone to him, anyone who could possibly be competing.

He stills. "Al, all of them are here. I have a match for everyone you gave me a profile on."

I heave out a sigh, "So much for relaxing and wandering around town. Now I have to be alert all the time. Where are they staying?"

"Across town, whoever organized this is good. They're keeping each village's nin separate as much as possible." Shirokumo pauses his pacing. "You're not freaking out. I thought for sure you'd freak out."

I roll my eyes, my mask is off since we're in our room. "We knew this was going to happen for over a month. It isn't a surprise, actually the extra jonin is more worrisome than anything else. They're here for a reason and I want to know what it is."

"I'll find out." Shirokumo assures me.

"Anything else important?" I hope not, even if I planned on everyone showing up I didn't want them to. My luck must be running out.

The mood changes from business to something more lighthearted. "The weavers are in an uproar. Something about hammocks and scarfs?"

I wince. I should have seen this coming, Murasakino seemed like a gossiper.

"I knew you were to blame. I just knew it." Shirokumo accuses me. "Whenever something strange happens it is always because of you."

"I was only two hammocks! I swear!" I quickly yell out. "And the scarf thing is so not my fault! I just said that I like them, that I might make it a permanent thing. Do you have any idea how many stares I used to get?"

"I thought you wanted people to see it." Sasuke interjects from across the room. "I distinctly remember you talking about an intimidation factor?" He's taking the news of our friends being here well.

"Yeah, but only when I want to intimidate someone. There's no need to always have it on display, even if it does look majestic."

"Majestic? It looks like you don't know how to duck." Sasuke says.

Shirokumo, Sasuke and Tayuya all share a hearty laugh.

"You're all jerks. I'm going to sleep. Shirokumo, do whatever. Stay here, go back, chase Tayuya around while laughing maniacally I don't care." With those inspiring words, I lay down on my hammock and pull a blanket over my head. "Don't wake me up unless someone dies."