Back again. Finally. My apologies. Let's get to it.

I do not own Naruto, or Ender's Game.

Having packed his bags and said his goodbyes to his family, Ender found himself in a quiet car, joined only by the chauffeur and the serious general. With a wistful sigh, he looked away from the drab interior and watched as the familiar scenery quickly fell away. "So. This battle school. What will it be like?" He asked, as he stared at a passing bird. Graff raised an eyebrow, giving the young child a quick glance before he took a quiet breath. "It is a place without much compare, aside from maybe our more advanced space craft. There, you will be with other students, all who have passed our tests in one way or another. It is a place where you will be looked at as a possible equal, rather than just some child who got lucky. But even more so than that, it is a place where we hope to mold tomorrow's legends. Men and women who can have humanity's hopes pinned on them, and make it through any adversity."

Nodding at what must have been an almost comically over-used explanation, Andrew looked at the officer for his next question. "And your colleague I asked you about? What about him? Will he be there?"

Graff stiffened slightly at this, a movement not unnoticed by Ender. "I suppose you could say that. He is…a very difficult man to understand sometimes, I would not doubt that if he wanted to be there, he would be. As it stands, I believe he has actually taken an interest in you. He does not often allow himself to be seen. Much less long enough to actually know what he wears."

This answer peaked young Andrew's interest, so he opened his mouth to continue his line of questioning. However, Graff spoke again, before words could be uttered. "I know what you are going to ask, and yes. He is odd. His chosen name, is Kitsune, and if you meet him again, I believe the answer will be obvious as to why. In terms of being seen however. That is a whole can of worms by itself. He refers to himself as a shinobi. As far as I can tell, it's from the old Japanese language. In standard, it roughly translates to 'Ninja'. Do not ask me why he chose such a title, for I do not know myself. Just know that if there was ever someone to learn stealth, or even hand to hand combat from, it would be that man. Now, enough about him for right now. He is a very secretive man, and that is just about all I know about him myself, and what little else I do know, are things he would rather reveal himself." A shudder ran down the officer's spine at his last sentence, as he remembered what happened to the last person who revealed his actual physical appearance. The man still had a fear of toilets to that day.

Slightly disappointed with the little bit he did receive, Ender looked back out of the window. So far, the man was proving to be quite a puzzle to him. First he appears out of nowhere, and now he has a supposed interest in him? In a rare moment, Ender found he wasn't so sure of what he should do with the information he had. Should he track him down? Should he try and find him at the school? Maybe just let the matter drop entirely, and focus on his education. He scratched his head for a moment, before filing it away for later thought. As he continued to stare, the monotonous ride finally started to take its toll, causing him to succumb to sleep, a bird flying high the last thing he saw.

Watching his young charge slump as the sand man took his next victim, Graff sighed and looked down to the phone he carried for one person only. Startle to see the new message icon flashing on the small screen at him, he opened it, only to stare with furrowed eyebrows as the one word message revealed itself.

Toilets?

With a small shudder, he snapped the phone shut and proceeded to rest his head on the back of the seat, trying not to think of his unfortunate co-worker, or the hell he had apparently been put through. No, just better to avoid the topic altogether. When his eyes shut, he just missed as their driver looked at him in the rear view mirror, his eyes changing to a deep blue, before flashing back to a more forgettable brown.

Ender found himself being shook awake in the back of an unknown vehicle, and for a moment was ready to fight, before his senses returned and he remembered the events of that morning. Blinking the sleep out of his eyes, he looked around and gave a quick stretch, so as to loosen the cramped muscles in his neck the seat gave him. "How long was I asleep for?" Looking up, he realized it was their driver, and not Graff who woke him up.

"Long enough, young padawan. Colonel Graff is collecting his bags as we speak. You may want to get out to do the same." After a quick scramble with the seat belt, Ender got out and moved to the back of the car only to find the driver already there, grabbing his bags out. With a quick glance back, he double checked to make sure that he was not still dreaming. 'Did it really take me that long too get out of the car? And how did I miss him walking around like that?' He thought with a frown on his face.

"Distracted there young padawan? That is not good. What troubles thine young mind, too make thee frown so?" Looking at the driver again, Andrew wondered about the word he had called him. It sounded familiar, but old. Very old. "That. Title, you keep calling me by. What does it mean?" Chuckling, the man slung his bags over one shoulder and closed the trunk with a thud. "It is from an old movie series. One of my favorites actually. It is called Star Wars, and the term padawan is used to describe an apprentice of sorts. Where the master would teach them all they could about the universe, and their role in it. It was quite a good series actually. Sometimes, I like to think as one of the actors, try and imagine how I would do certain things. But alas, they were made thousands of years ago, and that would surely be an impossibility. Oh well." Giving a lopsided grin, he directed Ender to follow him, as he led him to a small apartment complex. "So why would you call me padawan then? Surely you don't mean to tell me that you are one of the teachers at the academy? Why would you be here driving us if that were the case?"

Chuckling again, the man glanced at him over his shoulder. "I like to think that anybody can be a teacher in some way or another. Just because I might not seem like a whole lot now, doesn't mean I couldn't be a major person later on, does it?" Giving a full laugh at the confused face his 'padawan' had, he rolled his eyes. "Relax. I'm just messing with ya kid. I just like to think of it as fun little things to say. Besides, I meant what I said, about the whole learning from anybody thing. Just because someone doesn't look like much, doesn't mean they have no knowledge about anything. Besides, who said what you learned had to be useful in any way?"

Carrying the bags inside, he set them down by the front door, and proceeded to walk away, but not before saying one last thing. "Either way, I think you'll find the boss to be a pretty good teacher." Looking at the man in confusion, Ender stopped to ask him what he meant, but only watched in shock as the man was swallowed by a thick cloud of white smoke. When it cleared, he was nowhere to be seen. "What the…?" Looking around, he couldn't see a sign of the man. "What did he mean by the boss?"

"I see you had a run in with a friend. Tell me who was it this time?" Looking up to see Graff, his eyebrow raised. "It, it uh, was the driver."

"Really? And I didn't notice? Huh. That's odd. Oh well. There is nothing to worry about. He'll be back tomorrow. Let's get some sleep. You're gonna be going to school in the morning." Nodding his head, Ender grabbed his bag and walked to the room he was given. Watching him, Graff sighed and shook his head. "It's too late for your antics. Just get some sleep or whatever it is you do." Hearing a long familiar puff of air, he sucked his teeth and walked to his own room. A long ways away, a set of eyes with bar pupils cracked open as their owner began to chuckle. "It's never too late." Closing his eyes again, he took a deep breath and fell back into his meditative stance, an orange tail slowly wrapping around his waist. "What do you think Kurama? Shall we make an impression tomorrow? It has been a long time since we actually let loose." Hearing a small growl of agreement, he smiled and made a singular hand sign. "That's what I thought." With naught but a sound, he vanished, all ready to travel with his two unknowing students.