Please go here and add the following:

friend add _rokudaime_sama
friend add autumnal_road
friend add clumsy_kunoichi
friend add dark_shades
friend add deer_shadows
friend add dokidoki_poke
friend add konoha_penis
friend add little__flower
friend add rathersneaky
friend add sakura_shannaro
friend add short_strings
friend add sunakazekage
friend add sunaotome

Please comment here with what your character has been up to recently (before the fall of Konoha). What is their rank? Have they been on missions? Become cell leaders for genin teams? Medics? Joined ANBU?

Let us know. ♥

FROM THIS POINT ON, RESTARTING OF THE GAME.



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Out of the frying pan of the bullshit festival and into the fire of the meeting after. Kankurou had never been the type to like meetings, especially ones at the scale of this one, so he sat at the end of the table designated for himself and his siblings and generally tried not to meet anyone's direct gaze. The purpose of this meeting, in the simplest terms possible, was to recap the past four months---to discuss the aid that Suna had lent them and the things they would expect in return in the future (reciprocation, for the most part), the current state of Konoha, and how the two villages planned to rebuild and restructure themselves over the next couple of years.

All in all, boring shit. Kankurou would be the first to point out that a lot had happened in the past four months and that Konoha had sprung back out from the ashes with an elasticity and strength he'd learned to expect from the Fire Country's people, but thinking of the last four months inevitably led to thinking about where he'd ended up, and that was depressing at the very best. If anything, he'd weakened. He'd been struck down by the Akatsuki, he'd been poisoned, he'd been overworked, and he'd realized that there were unexpected soft spots in what he'd assumed was an amazingly controlled emotional drive. Something in him had broken down, and he didn't even dare give those walls and boundaries names.

Kankurou didn't know what the span of time had done to the other jounin present in the meeting, and their neatly folded hands and carefully blank expressions betrayed little of what the significance of this anniversary was to them. Despite the festival, the shinobi of Konoha seemed to be a more somber group now, still remarkably whole in light of their losses but nonetheless teetering on the edge of breaking down at any time. They were still fragile.

After the Konoha envoy had left, Gaara had to face a new set of problems in Suna.  There were many things running beneath its surface and Gaara couldn't seem to keep up fast enough.  It was more than a balancing act.  With so much at stake, Gaara was working long hours--checking and double-checking to make sure he had missed no angles but with little information to fill in the enormous gaps.  However, there was at least one positive piece of news.  Kinda, he thought bemusedly.  It would depend on what she had to say when she arrived.

Working at his office, Gaara was multitasking as best as he could.  There was a letter to respond to from the Wind Daimyo.  He had proposed a new defense and evacuation plan to the council but the bureaucracy was delaying the process.  He had to meet with the ANBU captains tomorrow morning.  And he had just gotten a strange report from an outpost in the farthest border.  Nomad citizens were moving.  Some of them had already disappeared.  It was certainly curious, but Gaara was most concerned at this point about the mystery of Kiri.  The team that had gone on an investigative mission had gotten back.  And all Gaara had to do was wait.

She had been gone for what seemed like ages after all the events that had occurred recently.  Gaara was glad that Temari had arrived safely back into Suna.  He was a little worried though.  There were rumors running throughout the village which people were no doubt happily sharing with her.  Akatsuki threats looming over Suna.  Council members who were displeased (for any number of stupid reasons, thought Gaara).  Konoha kunoichi who were luring men away.  Gaara winced.  He hoped none of the fangirls had accosted her.

Even though Ino had sworn up and down that she wasn't going to take any part in preparing for this festival, she was standing around with a clipboard and doing what she did best-- yelling at people. Her father was running around with flowers and streamers, her team was following him trying to be of help, while Chouza set up the wooden stands and the rest of the village busy with food, music, and other things to please the Daimyo. Naruto was still healing and Shizune... well, she had enough stress as it was, so Ino took it upon herself to supervise.

"THAT BANNER IS CROOKED. ARE YOU BLIND? MOVE YOUR ASSES," Ino blew her whistle (yes, whistle) and pointed in all sorts of directions, having the time of her life. "AND WHERE IS MY WATER?"

Technically she was in charge of the entertainment and since they were still tight on money, Ino had signed up all of her friends, her kunoichi friends, to put on some sort of show. They could sing and play instruments and throw flaming weapons, right?

Baby Obito, hanging from her hip, gave out a little yelp at the sound of the whistle in his ear. "Sorry, kid. Maybe one of these days your mom will stop hitting the bottle and actually babysit," Ino said with a sigh.

Tea was apparently scarce in her house too. In fact, after ten minutes of searching, all Tenten found was a dusty box ominously labeled "Gai-sensei's Secret Mixture of Youth, just add water". She smiled a bit, remembering somewhat fondly the way her sensei always had something for them to drink at the end of their training. She opened the box and her nose scrunched up with disgust. Right... fondly was too kind a word. Sensei's drinks were always... well...

She carefully the box put back into the cupboard and nudged into a dark corner where it would do no one any harm.

Giving up on finding anything, she went back to the living room, crashing on the couch. Her hands picked up the nearby pillow and she found herself twirling the yarn fringes that bordered it. After a few minutes of that, she put the pillow down and tried to remind herself that she was being silly and most likely overreacting. Naruto had, in his short tenure as Hokage, never proven to be unfair. She should be confident in the idea that he would see that the kids were more useful as members of the village then prisoners.

And having Neji listen to her argument would help that confidence too. If anything, he'd most likely be as able to see holes in her argument as easily he tended to see them in her defenses during training. As an added bonus, she'd be able to confirm for herself what the medical reports had said, that any lingering effects from the attack were already starting to fade.

She propped her feet up on the arm rest and grabbed the scroll from it's resting place on the table next to the couch. Even if she wasn't on duty at the moment, it didn't mean there wasn't more then enough paperwork to keep her busy.

It was past dusk when Hinata let her team go for the night, though despite the evening rush, the wait at Ichiraku wasn't terribly bad. With the promised ramen in hand, she hurried to Naruto's new apartment. She hadn't really gotten a chance to see it, other than where it was, since he'd moved in, so this was as good an excuse as any to check it out.

She wandered the apartment building for a few minutes before finding the right one (the only one with ANBU watching it) and knocked lightly against the wood door. At least the building was well-kept and repaired since the invasion.

He wasn't going to admit it but Neji would much rather have sent one of the other little headaches from the complex to do his little shopping for him- he had recovered from the gloom of his room and all though the sun fell on his pale skin warmly and welcoming, he preferred the shadows and silence of his bedroom. Konoha was lively today as he walked through the busy market place in attempt to get his hands on freshly brewed tea- according to his calculations the tea would be hot and freshly brewed when he arrived.

( Why Neji needs his tea in the morning )

With a smug sense of accomplishment, Sasuke was pleased with the interruption of his brother's plan.  He was also somewhat pleased with what had occurred after his encounter with the Konoha team.  They were still as he remembered, they were still easy to predict.

After leaving them, he had traveled a long way--recovering his stamina as well as reformulating his plans--to find the first of his new vision.  A core made up of himself and three others to finally destroy Itachi.