Chapter 4 - Another's Shoes: 1

“What do you think, Kakashi?” Gai asked with the type of nervous excitement you’d find in a small child. 
 
“I don’t know…its sounds like a good idea,” Kakashi replied, rolling the small container in his hand. 
 
The two men stood in the doorway of a small house; Kakashi on the inside, Gai on the front door mat outside. The half moon lit up the small array of flower pots sitting by the door, giving the house a pleasant, calm feeling. The wind blew slightly and seemed to change speed several times, causing Gai’s hair to blow against his face. 
 
“Wonderful!” exclaimed Gai and smiled, taking a few steps back from the door. 
 
“Tomorrow then?” asked Kakashi, raising an eyebrow. 
 
“Yes, yes..., that sounds good,” Gai laughed, “I’m quite curious to know what will happen.” 
 
“As am I.., it will make for a good lesson..,” Kakashi’s voice trailed away. 
 
“Alright, Kakashi,” Gai said and waved goodbye, “See you later.” 
 
“Bye,” he answered and shut the door. Holding up and examining the tiny pill bottle, he made his way to his vacant bed, thinking of all the strange things that might happen in two days time. 
 
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“Medicine?!” Naruto bleated. 
 
“No, Naruto, I already told you; it’s to help give you all an extra boost today in practice. You’re chakra should be able to travel very smoothly in today’s lesson,” Kakashi repeated, shaking his head. 
 
“You mean…it powers up our chakra?!” Sakura said in rapturous excitement.  
 
“Precisely,” Kakashi said. 
 
“I don’t need it,” said Sasuke, looking at the pills in disgust, “I don’t need an ‘extra boost’” 
 
“Sasuke,” Kakashi said sternly, “it is required that you take this pill in order to participate in today’s lesson. You’re taking this.” 
 
The young ninja glared at his sensei. Couldn’t he see that Sasuke was already strong enough? He didn’t need some stupid pill to help him like some child. However, Sasuke figured it wouldn’t hurt to do it this once and, seeing as he had no choice, decided to take it without complaint. 
 
After each student took the pill, followed by some shouts of disgust by Naruto, Kakashi continued on with a simple lesson of running up trees and standing on lily pads. Of course, the way each one of his pupils succeeded didn’t change, as he knew they would. The little green, pink, and tan pills weren’t meant to be used to increase chakra level and control anyway.
 
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The buzzer on Naruto’s clock went off, awaking him from the strangest dream about birds, but, the only problem with this was- Naruto didn’t have an alarm clock. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. Groggily, he swung his legs over the side of his bed, and closed his eyes in a large yawn. 
 
When his eyes reopened he sat in utter confusion for the longest time. Where was he? This wasn’t his room…it was…too clean. He turned his head to look at where the clock was still buzzing; something hit the side of his face as he did so. His hand shot up to his cheek in alarm and found long, silky smooth, hair. He examined it, discovering that it was the color brown AND attached to his own skull. He slammed his fist down on the snooze button and stuck his head under the unfamiliar pillow he’d been sleeping on, in a sorry attempt to “wake up” from whatever kind of weird dream this was.
 
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Sakura woke up just after 6 am, as always. Early sunlight leaked through her closed curtains and lit up the ninja weapons displayed on her walls. Strange, she thought, I dreamed about weapons all night, too… Whoa…hang on a sec.; she didn’t have weapons hung up on her walls!! 
 
She jerked herself up and her eyes darted around the room, stopping here and there on things that she was positive were not her own. Where the hell was she? This was insane!! This wasn’t her room! This wasn’t her bed! She put her hands up to each side of her face to pull her own hair in aggravation, but gripped nothing. What?! She had no hair!! Her hands jumped to the top of her head and, to her tiny relief, rested on two even buns. What?! She undid one of the buns and looked at the brown hair that unraveled from it.  
 
Who was she?! She noticed a mirror hanging on the back of the closed bedroom door and scrambled of the bed to get to it.
 
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Sasuke was lying on his side when he slowly opened his eyes. He had had the most disturbing dream which involved Gai, his own sensei’s rival. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d dreamed about anything else but Itachi. This was strange. 
 
The scene that lay before him, however, quickly pulled him off his train of thought. He sat up and studied it, his brow furrowed in concentration. This was not his room. 
 
The walls were painted light blue and weights and scrolls littered the floor. His eyes lingered on a photo beside his bed of Gai-sensei flashing an annoying smile. Beside the photo, on the night stand itself, were scribbled the words “Gai-sensei rules” in various fonts. 
 
Unless he was terribly mistaken, Sasuke felt his eyebrows and hair; he was none other than the notorious, 14 year old ninja, Rock Lee.
 
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Neji glared at the Naruto staring back at him in the mirror, a stupid walrus-like hat atop his blond hair. What on earth was going on? First, he wakes up to no alarm, and then he discovers he is in an unfamiliar room, and now, his reflection is revealing everything. Was this some sort of sick Genjutsu? He didn’t think it was very funny. He looked down at the pathetically clutter-strewn floor, kicking a pair of boxers aside and smirking. Whoever did this was going to pay.
 
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Lee stared, wide-eyed, at the large poster on the door. The word “Itachi” was written in big bold letters and many kunai had been thrown at it, directly into each photo that surrounded the name. A young man who remarkably resembled Sasuke was smiling with  a women, fishing with a man, perhaps his parents, and hugging a small-looking version of Sasuke. Lee guessed it must be his family and went back to observing himself in the mirror. He lifted up his shirt and looked at his pectorals, two less than his real body had. He smiled mischievously, and his appearance would certainly attract the ladies. 
 
“Hello, Sakura,” he said to his reflection, “Would you like to kiss me? Would you like to kiss me on the lips?” 
 
He glanced around the bedroom and pulled out a pair of Sasuke’s clothes, pulling them on and returning to the mirror, “Would you like to walk with me, Sakura-chan? I love you, Sakura-chan. Kiss me again, Sakura-chan!!” 
 
He continued to kiss up to his imaginary reflection until he decided he should probably go to Gai-sensei and ask about what was going on. As much as he knew Sakura would love the new him, he really did miss his Gai-like appearance and thought it best not to tamper with Sasuke’s.
 
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“Noooo!!!” Tenten groaned with her hands on her chest, “She’s so…FLAT!” 
 
“Sakura, honey, are you alright?” a woman’s voice sounded from somewhere else in the house. 
 
“Yes!” Tenten called back, panicking, and quickly started to pull on some of Sakura’s regular ninja-wear. She needed to find her sensei and ask whether or not this was Genjutsu or something. She’d already tried to transform into her old self, but for some odd reason it wasn’t working. She could transform into other people, but not herself. This wasn’t normal and she was determined to, Tenten sniffed sorrowfully, clutching her chest again, get them back.
 
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His face was red and distorted with the immense amount of concentration and effort he was exhorting. To any onlooker he might even look seriously constipated. 
 
“TRANSFORM!!” Naruto shouted for the umpteenth time, only to see Neji in the mirror again, “AGH! WHY ISN’T IT WORKING?!” 
 
“Neji!”  a sharp voice shouted from just outside his door, Naruto turned to face it just as a man with long brown hair and a kimono burst into the room, “What are you still doing in your underwear, boy? Get to practice! Now! You’re incredibly late!!” 
 
With that, the man slammed the door, leaving Naruto feeling more frustrated than ever. He pulled on some of Neji’s clothes he found in the neat drawers, which he demolished, and quickly set off to find his Kakashi-sensei. He’d know what was going on…right?
 
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She was Tenten! That one girl on Lee’s team!!! She felt herself from head to toe, smacking and pinching herself, just to be sure she wasn’t dreaming. She started to throw on some clothes. She had to find Kakashi. He could change her back into her beautiful...boobless….self…Sakura stopped in the middle of pulling on Tenten’s shirt. Nice, she thought, and quickly went back to getting dressed. She sprinted out the door and headed to where Kakashi had instructed them to meet that morning.
 
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Sasuke grunted with discomfort as he stopped running for the fifth time to adjust his uniform. Sure, Sasuke felt like he was able to run faster with less weight than what his usual clothes carried, but it was so uncomfortable! Sasuke’s secret dislike for Lee grew even more; not because of their first fight or his annoying attitude, but because of what he wore. If he just wore clothes like normal people, Sasuke wouldn’t have had to wear them right now in such an odd situation. 
 
I don’t care who did this, he thought, coming close to the place where Kakashi had instructed their next meeting, I’m seriously going to kill them.

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