Chapter 6- The End of the Wave Mission

After a few more days of training, and another incident of Naruto relieving his frustrations on the poor, poor trees, the day of the battle of the bridge was at hand.

The two girls, who had trained themselves to near-exhaustion the night before, slept in.

Of course, it wasn't their idea to train so hard.

They had decided that they needed some more Naruto-kun time, and had both insisted to remain behind and train with him when he said he wanted to do his personal training.

So, Naruto had them start off on a light workout.

A 'light' workout.

Basically, it involved using up as much chakra as possible, in as short a time as possible.

Not knowing any easily spam-able useful jutsus, the two girls just spent about 20 minutes making bunshin after bunshin.

Then they passed out.

Thus they woke the next morning, to the sound of Gatoh's two thugs in the house.

Normally, the thugs would have been attempting to capture Tsunami.

However, when they walked into the house, the first thing they saw was Sakura and Ino.

Who were dropped on a couch by Naruto.

In a rather compromising position.

So when they awoke, with Sakura's face in Ino's chest, and Ino's hand between Sakura's legs, they were both fairly embarrassed.

Then they were excruciatingly angry, because one of the two men had the gall to wolf-whistle.

No one ever found the bodies.

"Ino... We're never going to talk about this again."

"...Yeah. I guess we should get going to the bridge, then."

At the bridge, the mist began to thicken.

Naruto and Kakashi were standing near Tazuna.

And then they heard laughter.

"Hehehe... I've been biding my time, until I could get my vengeance on you, brat! I don't know what the hell you did to me... But you made it personal. Kid... Because of you, I've seen hell! But... since I don't want to risk it, you'll fight Haku."

The mist grew denser.

"Hehe... Now that I know you used a doujutsu... Let's see how well you can see through mist this thick!"

Then Zabuza's laughing turned maniacal.

Unfortunately, it only lasted a few seconds.

Because soon after he began laughing, Naruto finished his hand seals.

"Fuuton: Daitoppa."

A huge blast of air shot in Zabuza's direction.

And it cleared out the air.

"Well... Shit."

And down Zabuza went.

"Oh, hell no! I'm back here again..."

"It's you again, eh? Zabuza of the Mist? You're just in luck! I was just looking for a man like you..."

"... Why? Why must I be tortured like this?"

The Kyuubi just ignored that. He had gotten rather good at ignoring people's pleadings for mercy, in his reign as the strongest demon. And he had been refining his torture techniques for the last 5 or so years.

"I needed someone who was good with kids... Ya see, my kids' Softball league was just starting up, and I needed a coach..."

"... Kill me. Just kill me now."

Kakashi, Naruto, and Haku stood there, staring at each other. Awkwardly.

"So, uh... Do you surrender?"

Kakashi was eager to just let the battle end, because the longer that Naruto used his Tsukiyomi, the greater the chance that he might accidentally Tsukiyomi one of his teammates (read: Kakashi).

Haku, though... Had strict orders to engage Naruto, and to kill him.

Luckily for Haku, he was still wearing his mask.

Unluckily for Haku, Naruto could kick the crap out of her.

"I'm sorry, but Zabuza-sama said that I must kill you. It's nothing personal."

'Odd. That voice sounds strangely familiar. I wonder where I have heard it before?'

Kakashi stood to the side, guarding Tazuna.

Zabuza lay motionless on the ground.

And Haku moved to attack.

"Sensatsu Suisho!"

"Hmm... One handed seals? Impressive. Dattebayo."

"Huh? How did you dodge? You were right in front of me!"

"Foolish little... hmm... I remember your voice now. You are that man-girl from the woods. Well, clearly you live in an unsightly enough manner to put up a good fight."

'Man-girl? What the heck is Naruto talking about?'

Kakashi was confused.

Haku was embarrassed. But not embarrassed enough to compromise his fighting ability.

"Perhaps you could avoid my Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death... But you cannot defeat the penultimate form of my bloodline... Makyo Hyosho!"

'A bloodline? Hmm... I remember this one... The ability to control and create Ice from water... That is a very powerful, very useful bloodline.'

Haku was still wearing her mask, though... So Naruto could not capture him in a Tsukiyomi.

Yet.

"Gai-sensei! I have found another person who wants to fan the Flames of their Youth!"

"Oh, it is such a joyous occasion, to find another child impassioned with the Flames of Youth! Of course you can train with us!"

'Excellent... Clearly, these two possess quite the ability, if they can fan my inner flames... And that spandex outfit must be quite the armor, with the way they can take punches. Yes! My path is clear! I must train with them!'

Tenten arrived at the training grounds, twenty minutes later.

She had decided that she would give her team one more chance, before just deciding they were all fucking lunatics, and just go and train on her own.

'What the... There's someone ELSE in the green spandex now?'

And then she saw Sasuke.

'... Fuck it. Just fuck it. There are no normal men anywhere... At least not my age. If this is what all the guys are like... I... I might just have to start playing for the other team.'

And with that, Tenten made an about-face, and walked away.

'Hell, it'll probably be easier to find a willing girl then it would be to find a straight man.'

Hyuuga Hinata was a strange girl.

She had a thing for losers, and for people who kept on trying against all hope.

It didn't matter if they were dead-last or a bloodline genius, if they kept on trying in the face of adversary, they were worthy of her admiration.

And, in this case, she had decided that the person who tried their hardest, no matter what they had to face, was Uchiha Sasuke.

Because no matter how many times he lost, no matter how many times he got his ass kicked, and no matter how many times he wet himself, he still got up and tried to defeat Naruto again.

So she had taken to stalking Sasuke, the same way she would have stalked Naruto.

Normally, Sasuke would have caught her easily... But this Sasuke was far too caught up in creating the perfect plan to defeat Naruto.

But now... Hinata was greatly disturbed.

She had been very freaked out when her cousin Neji first donned the green spandex.

After all, despite how much of an asshole he was, Hinata still liked Neji.

And then he started wearing his hair up, in a braid around his head. That weirded her out even more.

Then he started stealing her make-up. And that pissed off Hinata.

She went out and bought her makeup with her own money, damnit! He should go buy his own!

So she was reasonably worried when she saw her crush don the green spandex.

'Would... Would Sasuke-kun steal my make-up too?'

She saw Tenten approach the training grounds. Neji had introduced Tenten to his cousin one time when Tenten had met up with Neji at the Hyuuga compound. Tenten was a friendly girl, and was pretty nice to Hinata.

Seeing Tenten look at her team, look at Sasuke, then just turn around and walk away... Hinata felt the need to go talk to her, to find out what was wrong.

After all, it was the nice thing to do.

'And Tenten would know best if Gai-sensei's training causes men to steal make-up.'

"What... How did you do that?"

Haku trapped Naruto with her bloodline.

At the same time, Sakura and Ino had arrived, just to see Naruto become in cased in ice.

Both immediately ran over to the prison, to try and break him out somehow.

But... Naruto had been practicing his version of the strongest fire technique there was for the last week.

So before they could get there, Naruto flashed on his 'mangekyo', and roasted the prison.

Shocking Haku in the process.

Capitalizing on Haku's shock, Naruto went in for the victory, punching Haku in the face.

Breaking the mask.

Before Naruto could use his Tsukiyomi, though... His attention was drawn away...

"Naruto-kun! Are you ok?"

... To a screaming Haruno Sakura.

Who, because she surprised Naruto just as he was about to use it, once again took a Tsukiyomi to the face.

"Woah... This looks like that place where I had that weird nightmare about fish..."

"Oh, you're just in time! We needed a new umpire!"

Sakura turned... to see a softball field?

'... How do those foxes hold baseball bats, anyway? And what the hell are those other things?'

Looking around, she saw two dugouts.

One was filled with Kitsune. The other was filled with strange tentacle-beasts.

'And is that Zabuza over there with the Kitsune? He's just sitting there, with his face in his hands...'

There were also two huge stands.

Each could easily fit a couple hundred humans... But each only had one... Thing... sitting on them.

She easily recognized the Kyuubi no Kitsune... But she couldn't even look at the other.

She shuddered... Just looking at the other monster made it feel like she was quickly going insane.

The Kyuubi spoke up once again.

"Yeah... Team Cthulu just killed the last umpire... So it was rather timely of you to show up now..."

Sakura shuddered.

'Oh God... If normal parents are bad at sporting events... How bad are huge ass demons?'

Sakura died a little on the inside, thinking that.

'Well... At least it was Haruno I hit with the Tsukiyomi, and not Yamanaka... Haruno has proven that she can handle it.'

Naruto stood, bemused, as Sakura violently attacked Haku, for 'daring to lay a finger on her Naruto-kun.'

Haku was dodging her attacks, oddly trying to apologize the whole time.

Ino stood on confused, not understanding what was happening.

And Kakashi was stunned...

'Sakura can resist the Tsukiyomi? THAT LUCKY BITCH!'

Naruto, observing Haku fight, began to think.

'Hmm... It seems that Haku's bloodline is a very powerful one. If I had not had a fire jutsu as powerful as the Amaterasu, I doubt I could have blown apart his...her? Ice prison. In fact... The only weakness the bloodline seems to have would be genjutsu... Wait... I have an idea... But first I must confirm...'

Out of nowhere, Naruto appeared behind Haku... And ripped Haku's shirt off.

"I knew it. You are a man."

The fight immediately halted, with Sakura staring at Haku... seeing his face, Sakura had immediately thought Haku was a girl, too.

Haku was highly embarrassed, though. His secret had been revealed, in such a public way. He quickly pulled another shirt out of nowhere, and pulled it on.

"Yes... Yes, that would be perfect... You are coming with us."

And with that, Naruto Tsukiyomi'd Haku.

Ino stepped forward.

"What the hell is going on?"

'Where am I? Is this what happened to Zabuza-sama, too?'

Haku looked around...

"A softball field filled with demons? And that pink-haired girl from before? ZABUZA-SAMA!?"

All eyes turned towards Haku when he shouted.

And with a team full of eldritch horrors... That was a lot of eyes.

"Oh, good... Team Cthulu was getting jealous of the fact my team has a coach..."

Haku stood quaking, as the Kyuubi no Kitsune stared down at her.

The shaking got worse as the Kyuubi began to frown. Or as much as a giant fox could frown.

"... Kid... What the hell are you? I mean, I'd like to consider myself an expert on human anatomy... But are you a girl or a boy?"

Over at his bench, Zabuza began to cry.

"Would someone explain to me what the hell is going on?"

The battle was done. Zabuza and Haku lay twitching on the ground.

But Ino was confused... Why the hell was Sakura acting like THAT?

Naruto stood, uncomfortable, as Sakura had herself wrapped around him like an octopus that got sharinganed into thinking it was a leech.

Kakashi was standing off to the side, frowning. Ino took that to mean that he disapproved of the unprofessional way Sakura was acting...

But it was actually because he still didn't understand how she got right back up, and continued to function, after being Tsukiyomi'd.

'It's just not fair!'

Normally Ino would be kicking Sakura's ass for being all over Naruto... But after seeing Sakura go ballistic on that weirdly feminine boy... She didn't want to risk it.

Hearing Ino's question, Naruto turned to address her. With Sakura still draped over him like a poncho.

"I have subdued the enemy, whom we will take into custody and back to Konoha. Momochi Zabuza undoubtedly has a large amount of knowledge that would be useful to Konoha, and Haku possesses an extremely powerful bloodline, that would be incredibly beneficial to Konoha to have. So we will take them with us when we leave. Dattebayo."

"But won't they constantly try to escape?"

"... Then I will have to keep them subdued until we reach Konoha."

Tazuna stepped forward.

"So, uh, I guess I'll get back to work?"

"Muwahaha! I don't think so! If those foolish ninja couldn't kill you... My mercenaries will!"

Everyone turned, to find Gatoh, along with his assorted mercenaries, standing on the edge of the bridge.

Naruto analyzed his options.

'Amaterasu will cause too much structural damage to the bridge. I have never attempted to Tsukiyomi that many people before... Perhaps now would be a good time to try?'

So Naruto, still with Sakura all over him, turned and activated his Mangekyo Sharingan.

It was like watching dominos... Naruto just turned his head, and rank after rank just fell over.

But what on earth could Kyuubi do with that many random humans, especially when he was in the middle of watching his kid's softball game?

It was the bottom of the 9th.

2 outs.

Full count.

Bases were loaded.

A small 2 tailed kitsune was up at bat.

They were down by 3 points... They needed the Grand Slam.

Zabuza was biting his nails... The Kyuubi had told him what would happen if his kids lost.

And frankly, he never wanted to experience his sword going THERE.

The fox hit a pop up straight to the centerfielder.

Zabuza hung his head, realizing it was game over.

Until, that is, a random human appeared right next to the centerfielder.

As the human, one of Gatoh's thugs, looked around, he began screaming in horror and pain.

Because the centerfielder decided that he'd prefer a snack to winning the ball-game.

The right fielder made a dash (or it would, if it had legs. It was more of a snaky-sliding using a bunch of tentacles) for the ball, hoping to get a man out at second.

When another human appeared in front of him.

Team Cthulu had been on the brink of victory... But decided that a feast was worth more then a softball game.

That was one lucky break for Zabuza... Though Haku was probably scarred for life.

And Sakura? She had just taken to hiding in the corner, and calling everything fair. No one could really blame her, but that didn't stop Cthulu from coming over and kicking sand at her.

After that, no one COULD blame her, as she had been partially buried, and couldn't get back over to home plate, anyway.

So Team Kitsune won their first Softball game of the season, 7-6.

Though Zabuza was rather upset when he was informed that he had to take the team out to pizza.

"Where the hell am I going to find a Pizza place around here? I don't even know where the hell we are!"

"That's not my problem... My kids want pizza, and you're going to get them some."

But, luckily for Zabuza, that was the exact moment he was released from the seal.

Tenten noticed Hinata standing off to the side.

Tenten, in her rage, decided that one Hyuuga was as good as any other, and figured that she would make her first attempt at lesbianism with Hinata.

"Hey, Hinata! What are ya doing all the way out here?"

Hinata, though, was here for almost the exact opposite reason. She was here to ask Tenten if the guy she liked would remain straight under Gai's training.

"Hello, Tenten. I was, um, looking for you."

"Oh? What can I do for you?"

'Maybe this will be easier then I thought?'

'... Did Tenten just wink at me?'

Hinata began blushing, and poking her fingers together.

"Well, Tenten, I'm sure you, uh, have noticed the changes in Neji-niisan."

"They'd be impossible to miss..."

"Well... I just wanted to know if that's because of Gai-sensei's training..."

"Yeah... It probably is. Why?"

Hinata's face fell. Before her mind could catch up with her mouth, Hinata started to answer the question.

"Because Sasuke-kun..."

Tenten sighed. 'She's having boy trouble too, eh?'

"Look, Hinata. The way I see it, there isn't a single normal straight guy in our age range! Every single one is completely fucked up!"

Hinata felt it was necessary to defend her teammates

"Kiba-kun and Shino-kun aren't bad..."

"Doesn't one of them walk around with a dog on his head, and the other has bugs in his body?"

"Well, um, yes?"

"HOW DOES THAT SOUND NORMAL TO YOU!?"

Hinata was confused at Tenten's vehemence on the subject. She started thinking about all the other guys she knew... There weren't a lot.

But the first that came to mind, in this context, was the guy that all the other girls liked.

"Well, um... There's always Uzumaki Naruto... All the other girls seem to like him."

'Hmmm... Well, it couldn't hurt to try, I suppose. I could always try out some tacos if the hotdog ain't to my liking, I guess. But maybe...'

"Hmm... Well, I have an idea, then. How about we both try to meet this Uzumaki kid? After all, we're both looking for a normal guy, and no guy would turn down two girls at once..."

Hinata, being rather innocent, missed the sexual connotations in the last sentence.

And, since she was rather nice, decided to agree. For Tenten's sake.

But she wasn't sure she liked some of the looks Tenten was giving her.

"Huh? I'm back... OH THANK GOD I'M BACK OUT HERE!"

All eyes turned towards Zabuza, who began to sit up.

"Momochi Zabuza... I see that you are awake. Dattebayo. Will you cooperate?"

"Hell no! I'm outta here! Screw you- :thump:."

"Back so soon? Well, you're lucky... I found a pizza place. Now go and take my kids there... Here's a list of all the things each one is allergic to. If any of them break out in hives because of you not paying attention... It's going to come outta your ass."

"... But... They all look the same... How do I tell them apart?"

"Not my problem. Have fun!"

"I hate the world."

Kakashi could only shake his head at Zabuza.

'The fool will have to learn to just do what Naruto wants... But for some reason, I don't think he will...'

Ino, though... She decided that she finally had enough. No one was allowed to molest her Naruto-kun, not while she was around!

So Ino walked over to where Naruto stood, and ripped Sakura from his back.

"Get your hands off Naruto-kun, Forehead! Clearly he doesn't want you touching him!"

Of course, it was at that exact minute that Sakura 'awoke' from her visit into the seal.

So Ino was a little shocked when Sakura started twitching, and began to cry a little.

'Maybe I threw her down too hard?'

Kakashi would have been curious, too... If he hadn't pulled out an Icha Icha, and started reading.

Ino leaned down, to try and comfort Sakura, and apologize.

Sakura could barely remember what had just happened... She knew it was fresh in her mind a minute ago, but every second that passed it was fading.

Though she didn't know it yet... All but the strongest memories she had with the Kyuubi were being shunted off to the side, eventually creating a new splinter persona.

But that was still a long time coming.

As Sakura got a hold of herself (which didn't take that long), Haku began to stir.

Haku had had it far worse then Sakura or Zabuza.

When she arrived, he was promptly put in the Cthulu dugout, and told that she was the coach.

She wasn't very effective, though, as the tentacle beasts just kept on staring at him.

He was extremely freaked out when one started to reach out towards her with its tentacles... Before another demon slapped away the tentacles, as if chiding the first.

He wouldn't know it... But the monsters were having a debate on whether Haku was male or female, and therefore which demon was appropriate to have its ways with Haku.

This was pretty much the only thing that saved Haku from the fate of the former umpire.

So when Haku arrived, he was far more subdued then Zabuza.

In fact, all she did was just lie there, hoping to God it was just a dream.

Then Naruto spoke.

"Haku... You and Zabuza will be accompanying us to Konoha. Do you have any objections?"

Naruto had turned on his Mangekyo again, prepared to subdue the fem-boy.

Before Haku could respond, though, Ino spoke up.

Ino had just pulled Sakura to her feet, where she had managed to pull herself together, and forget the specifics of what had just happened. Though she would go through the rest of her life with an aversion to Softball, Sakura would live.

But Ino decided to scold Naruto, for threatening the poor boy.

"Naruto-kun, that's enough. Can't you see the girl...boy is terrified?"

And, in a fit of universal irony, Ino was sucked into the seal, in exactly the same way Sakura had been earlier: She had distracted Naruto right before Naruto utilized his Tsukiyomi on Haku.

Kakashi sighed. 'Well, at least it works on one of them...'

'Muwahaha... After just watching these people train for five minutes, I've already stolen the basics of their style. I'll just take some time perfecting it with them... Then I will defeat Uzumaki once and for all!

'Plus... The spandex is surprisingly comfortable...'

Sasuke stood laughing, already descended into the cult of the Green Beast.

"Akamaru says Hinata is over here somewhere... What the hell is Sasuke wearing?"

Kiba and Shino had been out looking for their missing teammate, as it was time for them to meet with their sensei.

Their tracking had led them in the right direction... Where they found Gai's training ground.

And all they could do was stare.

Kiba could only ask one question.

"What on earth are you wearing?"

"Ok... Where's the one who's allergic to cheese? I've got your slice right over here..."

The scene Ino arrived to was odd.

Then again, this kind of thing was old news to the girl.

Not the whole 'Fox Demons eating Pizza at a place with a man in a giant rat costume' part. That was new to her, too.

No, the whole 'being disconnected from her body' feeling was something she was something of an expert in.

After all, that was the basis of the Yamanaka techniques.

Whereas most people had no clue of the rules that governed a physical personification of your mind... Ino was intimately familiar with them.

Thus, she was in complete control of everything that happened around her, much in the way that the Kyuubi was.

However, that was beside the point.

All she saw was a little four tailed fox standing on a table, with its face in a pizza pie.

And there was only one thing she could think, as it lifted up its head, showing a spot of tomato sauce on its nose.

"That's so cute!"

"Maybe he's finally snapped, and thought wearing green spandex would give him an advantage over Uzumaki?"

"That would make sense."

"Shut up, the both of you! I have found a powerful shinobi to train me, and this outfit is a specially prepared battle-suit that can withstand all but the strongest of punches!"

As Kiba and Shino began to laugh... Lee and Gai entered the scene.

Of course, that just made the two laugh harder.

"Yosh! Are these two more young men who want to fan the flames of their youth?"

"Yes, Gai-sensei! More people have heard of your youthful vigor, and want to study at your feet!"

Kiba and Shino looked up at that, confused. What the hell were those two weirdoes with crazy eyebrows talking about?

"Uhh... No, we weren't coming here to train..."

Gai just brushed aside Kiba's protests.

"Nonsense! Why would you be here for any other reason but to train?"

"Yosh! Let's start training now, Gai-sensei!"

And with that, Lee began the attack.

'My god... Sasuke was telling the truth about that spandex! I've hit the guy so many times, and he just brushes them off as nothing! Man... It might almost be worth it to wear one just to get that kind of protection... I wouldn't have to rely on Akamaru so much, then...'

After Tenten and Hinata's conversations finished, they turned back to where Gai and the rest were training.

And saw Kiba accepting an outfit from Gai.

Hinata hung her head in shame.

Tenten spoke. "That Naruto kid... He better be worth it, Hinata. Remember... you promised you'd come with me..."

"Yes, Tenten..."

Tazuna began immediate work on his bridge, with a bunch of the townsfolk doing manual labor. There were numerous Kakashi kage bunshins helping, because Kakashi wanted to get the hell out of here, too. So far, he was the only one remaining that hadn't been Tsukiyomi'd from his team... And he didn't want it to happen out here.

Ino awoke from what she thought was the cutest dream of her life. Kyuubi had stayed away from her, because he wasn't sure how the presence of someone versed in mind walking would effect him in the seal. He was sure he could overpower her with sheer force of will... But he didn't want her to screw with him before he was sure he could reverse any changes she accidentally made.

Haku sat in Tazuna's living room, not moving. He hoped that if she stayed still, Naruto wouldn't see him. Or have any reason to Tsukiyomi her.

Sakura was sitting with Haku, confused. Naruto had told her to 'spend time with Haku. Fraternization is acceptable. Dattebayo.' It sounded to her like Naruto was suggesting she do THAT with the... boy.

But that couldn't be, because she loved Naruto!

Zabuza was having the worst time. He just couldn't accept that Naruto had captured him, and constantly tried to escape.

Which, really, just made it worse for him.

"Oh, you're back! Well, after your first win, I decided to hire you on as our full-time coach! Our next game is against Team Tanar'ri. They beat Team Balrog yesterday, so you're going to have to train the kids up for a bit."

"... I told you what would happen if you lost. I warned you... But after losing to that asshole Demogorgon... I guess I'll have to do something even worse. I'll even give you a choice...

"Ya see, one of my kid's birthdays is coming up, and he said he wanted ponies. But I would need to get a permit to have ponies come.

"So... You can either deal with all the bureaucracy that comes with demonic government permits... Or you can dress up as a pony and let my kids ride on your back."

"Ya know... I thought you'd have more dignity then that, and would have gone with the permit choice. Then again, demonic licensing forms are a bigger pain in the ass to deal with, anyway...Literally. Tentacle demons can be like that. Anyway, breaks over! Get back out there! And neigh, damnit!"

Yeah, Zabuza was having a pretty shitty time.

Ino still didn't know what happened to her... She just thought she had him sort of weird fainting spell, and since it hadn't repeated since, she just brushed it off as an incredibly cute dream.

Kakashi was angry over the fact that he seemed to be the only person on his team who would be vulnerable to the Tsukiyomi, but there wasn't much he could do there. He sat frowning behind a pair of googly-eye glasses, reading his Icha Icha.

'That just means that I just have to make sure Sakura or Ino stays in the line of fire, then... They can handle it, it seems.'

And so it went that the bridge was built, and Team 7 headed home, with the terrified Haku and the unconscious Zabuza being dragged along.

Back to Konoha, where so many awaited their return.

Author's Notes: Well, more of the sub-plot revolving around Gai and his minions has been revealed.

Also, more was expounded on the Zabuza/Kyuubi interaction... Lots of this was influenced by ideas given over at TFF, though most of the suggestions mirrored what I was going to do anyway.

Both Sakura and Ino have a form of protection from the Tsukiyomi... Ino's seemingly protects her more, but she still loses control of her body, while Sakura goes through the complete torture, but its mental impacts are lessened, and her body remains under her control (sort of), too.

The Softball idea came from a reviewer, named Michael68. He left a couple good ideas, actually... But Zabuza being the Kyuubi's first choice as his softball team's coach, because he had impressed the Kitsune so much with his handling of his children, struck me as hilarious.

As always, many thanks are given over to the people at TFF. Lots of inspiration comes from them.