I dislike explaining myself, so I'm only going to do it once.

Yes, that was indeed Orochimaru at the end.

Yes, he did indeed set this up to get at Sasuke (and to take a look at the kyuubi's vessel as well, although it's not nearly as important as far as he's concerned).

No, there will not be a sequel.

This is intended to segue straight into the manga events occurring directly after the Zabuza/Haku arc. It is meant to provide a sort of transition between Naruto and Sasuke behaving almost like friends during the Zabuza debacle, and then suddenly acting hyper-competitive just before the Chuunin exam starts.

There is no need for me to write a continuation, because what was set down by Kishimoto-sensei has created and described events far better than I could hope to, and I don't want to rewrite the Chuunin exam and the following events. They stand beautifully on their own. I just like to offer my views and theories as to what goes on between the scenes. I also enjoy coming up with ridiculous scenarios (such as "Team 7 Isn't In Konoha Even Though They Think They Are" or "Nearly All Of Konoha's Ninjas Suddenly Vanish For No Apparent Reason") and then trying to make fics out of them, which is where this one came from. It's no fun for me to rewrite events which have already been dictated; there's rarely any challenge in it.

I would also like to thank all of you who took the time to review – it makes me very happy to know that I can bring a few moments of enjoyment to someone else. In chronological order, many thanks to:

Ayako, Bishiehuggler, evafreak, Saria-the-green-haired, silverstream, JadeTiger, Morien, myth, Spinny Roses, Nemi, esaure, firedraygon97, Escuro de la Lus, Remorseful Youth, Red Rose, Ishida Kat, :D, Neko Senshi Erin, Crying Forever, TheSeer, Faith, Ithil, SW, cevgar, ThaKat, avocado girl, Silver Dragonfly, Foxgrl, and Japime gurl.

I hope you enjoy anything further I write (or anything I've already written) as much as I enjoy (or enjoyed) writing it. That's what this is about, really. So – have fun!